The battle between the Borg and the Disunited Federation of Countries is engaged. The dueling images on the front page of The New York Times print edition on July 2 tell the story. If you only saw the website you would have missed the message delivered by the juxtaposition of these two images and articles. A picture is worth a thousand words so these pictures alone are sufficient for a battle report from the frontlines between the Middle Kingdom and the one-time City on a Hill.

CORONAVIRUS

The first item of note is that in the American picture the people are wearing masks while in the Chinese picture they are not. In so doing the images contrast the records of the two countries in the handling of the coronavirus. In general terms, regardless of the origin of the virus, the Chinese handling of it proved successful. The country went through some drastic steps which would not have been possible in a free country but which were eminently doable in a country devoid of both freedom and the desire to be free (outside of Hong Kong and those who lie back). The result was a country which snapped back to normalcy far quicker and far more successfully than anyone else. That record enabled China to assert the supremacy of its way of life and government over the democracies who failed abysmally in their responses.

As always, one must keep in the mind that the world does not watch Foxhub. What the world saw in the United States was country with a leader who was out of his league. His simple-minded and silly prognostications and recommendations guaranteed him a place of honor in the Hall of Ineptitude and Incompetence. He will be joined there by his counterparts in Brazil and India. In the years to come, people will not know whether to laugh at his stupidity and dishonesty or cringe in recognition at the hundreds of thousands of people who needlessly died as a direct result of the shortcomings of the greatest mass murderer of Americans in history. In time, more and more White House people will tell the tale of what really happened. In the battle for world leadership, score one for China over the United States due to the catastrophe of having an immature child as president during a crisis.

There are two caveats to this that can put America back in the game despite China’s success and America’s failure. First, China is a HAT country (Honest as Trump). That means China cannot tell the truth about the origin of the coronavirus. That failure undermines its position in the world. Second the American vaccines are superior. While the United States is not yet geared up to save the world, the rest of the world still is more willing to accept America’s role as the rescuer if we want the job. So at this point, China is ahead on the coronavirus, but as the American economy roars back, travel resumes, and vaccines are distributed, the United States can regain some of the status it lost under the previous administration provided there is no return.

“Audacious” TAX FRAUD versus THIRD TERM

The leaders of both countries want a third term and to rule for life. The image from China article shows Chinese people rehearsing for an event where the Chinese leader would all but announce his intention to govern for a third term, breaking the two term convention. There should be no doubt that he intends to govern for life and should be expected to do so.

The American photograph tells a different story. It shows the Chief Financial Officer of the Trump Organization being escorted to court. He stands accused of multiple accounts of audacious tax fraud over a fifteen-year period. So far the only defense offered by the Chief Executive of the organization is that such perks are standing operating procedure. Everybody does it. His acknowledgment that other people in the organization indulged in similar activities guarantees additional charges against addition people.

So far his preference to preside for life has not worked out. As least legally it has not. He no longer lives in the White House. The issue of how he would arrange for a third term has been replaced by a different consideration. He remains the real but-powerless President in his second term to tens of millions of Americans who yearn to return him to Office on January 20 or March 4 or in August or January 1, 2023 as Speaker of the House or back in White House in January 2025. The same people who think the coronavirus was a hoax, who would not wear a mask, who will not be vaccinated, and who vilify America’s health leaders, are eager for their Lord and Savior, the Chosen One, Blessed Be his Name, to be restored to power since only he can save them.

The contrast between a united China under one-man rule for life and a divided country could not be more stark. The Chinese leader speaks from a position of strength ruling a united country. By contrast the United States is a divided country experiencing a civil war. Local rulers are deploying military forces outside their jurisdiction in support of the policy they believe is the correct. I did not know that governors could deploy their military forces outside their state without federal authorization. Apparently they can and with private money funding these militias as well.

These actions guarantee a reciprocal action by state forces on the other side of the civil war in the event they deem it necessary.  One can anticipate such deployments at the two upcoming critical moments – the elections of 2022 and 2024. The forces assembled in the nation’s capital may there to remove Joe Biden from the White House or to keep him there or both. Either way, the ratcheting up of the level of confrontation in the United States will show to the world that we are not united, not a democracy, and not governed by the rule of law (except when the winning side changes the law to support its entrenchment in power). The global coverage of the American civil war in 2022 and/or 2024 will undermine any effort by the United States to maintain a leadership position in the battle with China.

After all the talk about the previous President being a Russian asset, his “Stop the Steal” dividing of America turns out to be the greatest gift he could have given the Chinese.

WAVING THE FLAG

A third image from the two front-page articles is of the Chinese waving their flags. True, the contrast between the masks in the American photograph and the flags in the Chinese photograph could be equalized. There are plenty of pictures of American’s waving flags at the nation’s capital. Take January 6, for instance. The difference between the two countries is that flags are a symbol of unity in China and division in the United States. Flags are becoming like masks, a weaponized symbol in the American Civil War. If you think “defund the police” was an incredibly stupid political slogan for Democrats, then their abandoning the flag and the claim of being patriots to the Trumpicans is an even bigger blunder.

The more Democrats cede the American flag and national anthem to the Trumpicans, the more they jeopardize their slim majorities in Congress. The more the Democrats cede the American Revolution 250^th to the Trumpicans, the more they jeopardize both their slim majorities and the presidency. Between now and the elections in 2022 and 2024, the Woke will have numerous opportunities to enable Foxhub to characterize the Democratic Party as a party of traitors even though it was Trumpicans who lead the assault on America on January 6.

There are signs of hope, that all is not lost. Consider this example from an article “On July Fourth, Stars and Stripes and Division,” (July 4, 2021, NYT), an article that does have a picture of an American flag. It is a story about a farmer who displays a flag on his truck and the assumptions people make about his political views as a result. The article concludes with three vignettes about people who are neither Trumpican nor Woke and need someone to champion them.

The first example is from a white male Republican who sometimes votes Democrat. He flies the American flag and said:

There is a lot of history with this country, some that maybe people don’t like today, and some that people are being judged for today for what they did 300 years ago. It’s still our country, and very good and bad thing made it our country. And that’s what that [the flag] represents.

The second example is from a female El Salvadoran immigrant who wore an American flag T-shirt and intended to do so on July 4. She said in Spanish:

This symbolizes this country and I live in this country. This flag is for all.

The third example is an African American Democrat who used to display the flag regularly until recently. When she just saw a forest of flags not at a political rally but as a peaceful “field of honor” installed by the local rotary club in honor of people who had helped the community. It led her to say:

I’ve always loved the American flag so much, and now seeing it by the carousel I felt happy again. And I haven’t felt that way about the flag in such a long time.”   

These are the people on whom America must build its future if it wants to win the war against China for world leadership. The American Revolution 250^th provides the opportunity to forge a We the People identity that we can showcase to the world. All we need is the leadership.