Food For Thought: Kissinger's Thucydides trap – Did Xi tell Trump the United States is in decline?

"Trump and his team have exited that imperial world. They're openly rejecting globalism. They're kicking over the geopolitical chessboard. And most importantly, they're reviving the American system which gives the United States independent economic strength to act.

"Again, look at the industry leaders that Trump brought with him to China. And look, especially, at the manufacturing revolution that is underway in the United States right now, and the fact that Donald Trump has established our energy independence. All of this gives us the freedom to act in our interests and not be controlled by the empire."

"Susan Kokinda analyzes President Trump’s May 14 post responding to Xi Jinping’s remarks about the 'Thucydides Trap,' arguing media coverage framed the US as declining while Trump asserted America’s renewed strength. She says the summit’s real significance was Trump bringing an unprecedented delegation of top US CEOs into the bilateral meeting and including the Defense Secretary, breaking a post-1972 pattern. 

"Kokinda highlights Trump raising denuclearization directly with Xi and rejecting war-driven 'geopolitical trigger points,' including on Taiwan, emphasizing avoiding a distant war. She contends the Thucydides Trap concept popularized by Graham Allison is British-influenced 'fake history' that obscures imperial manipulation, and claims Trump is dismantling that paradigm by reviving the American System—tariffs, manufacturing, and energy independence."

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