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Nixon thought that fostering ties with China would drive a split between it and Russia. It did.
In turn, that helped prompt the decline of the Soviet Union, its splintering into various nations,
Germany’s reunification and the end of the Cold War.
Inviting China to join the WTO (World Trade Organization) in 2001 led to the huge economic success that China has become.
Capitalists go to where labor is cheapest so as to maximize their profits.
They went to China.
In consequence, our manufacturing base eroded gradually.
America was flying high during that period.
But it didn’t last.
We were betting that China’s economic success would lead them to democracy. It didn’t.
The ruling party — the People’s Party — saw the opportunity to get rich with the new arrangement. State interventionism was too hard to give up.
Giving political freedom to the masses would strip the elites of their privileges.
The transition to a capitalist economy was not well managed in Russia, either, and lots of state industries ended up in the hands of a few, most of whom are Putin’s cronies today.
Where did we fail?
Not in inviting China to enter the World Trade organization — the masses of Chinese needed to better their lives — we failed in not investing in our own people so they could be better educated to deal with the inevitable changes that competition brings.
Who’s to blame for the lack of foresight?
Both Democrats and Republicans.
In 2016, Trump saw a…
