http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-37724839 "It's the most entertaining campaign ever and the essence of American politics is entertainment." The view of one 19-year-old Chinese student watching the US presidential race from Beijing. He's not the only one laughing. Whether Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump wins on 8 November, the Chinese Communist Party believes it is already a winner. For decades it has said that American democracy is a sham, rigged by and for a narrow elite. Now the Republican candidate for the White House says the same. For decades Beijing has smarted under American disapproval for locking up political enemies. Now Donald Trump says "crooked Hillary" should be in jail, and that he "can't wait to begin the purge of liberals from America". Purges and political prosecutions are staples of the Chinese Communist Party rule book, but no-one, least of all in China, expects that rule book to provide any guide for the United States. And then there's the trading of personal insults and allegations about Clinton's mishandling of emails and Trump's treatment of women. "The race to the bottom will make people rethink the value of democracy," commented one Chinese state-owned newspaper. Another said the presidential race had become "an unprecedented joke". ... ************ Not sure about this "purge of liberals from America" claim, though. When did Trump ever say such a thing? Aside from that, though, this is kind of funny and sadly accurate. We're making less democratic regimes look good by comparison.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/07/trump-hopes-to-purge-civil-service-of-democrats.html Truly scary proposition, a return to the old "Spoils System" no less. This man CANNOT become our President and the Republicans have done us all a grave disservice by allowing him to even come close. We should have adopted a new three syllable chant of our own. "THROW THEM OUT" referring to Trump's lickspittlles in the Congress
Well now, that's a clearly slanted piece that is written to sound scary. I just found this about it: http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/tru...-appointees-make-firing-public-workers-easier New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has indicated that Donald Trump would seek legislation making it easier to fire public workers and purge Obama administration appointees from the federal government if he wins the election. The governor said Trump's White House transition team, which he heads, has already started a list of potential federal employees they'd like to see gone. A top priority for Trump is replacing the leadership within the Environmental Protection Agency and, perhaps, the agency altogether in hopes that the reduction in regulations would help revive the U.S. oil and coal industries and improve national security. Reuters obtained audio of Christie talking to donors at a closed-door meeting at the convention in Cleveland: “As you know from his other career, Donald likes to fire people." But one potential snag could derail Trump's plan if Obama decides to change his political appointees into civil servants, which would give them better job security in the next administration, whether it's Democrat or Republican. Christie explained why it's so time consuming to fire civil servants: “It’s called burrowing. You take them from the political appointee side into the civil service side, in order to try to set up ... roadblocks for your successor, kind of like when all the Clinton people took all the Ws off the keyboard when George Bush was coming into the White House. "One of the things I have suggested to Donald is that we have to immediately ask the Republican Congress to change the civil service laws. Because if they do, it will make it a lot easier to fire those people." -------------- I'm not sure how I feel about it. It sounds like 0bama is appointing people and then potentially making them impossible to remove again by making them civil servants, and Trump and Christie are talking about combating that. I don't know if that would really mean a "purge of liberals" from government. I do know that I don't like this situation as a whole, this apparent hostility and extremism where each side is trying devious tricks to get its way at the expense of the other. It's practically government in-fighting, something we shouldn't have if we're to have an effective and responsible government. What Trump is considering is bad, perhaps, but then it looks like it's in response to something else that's bad from the current president. So, I can't agree with vilifying only one side here..
The Chinese take on the US election is interesting. It is in their self interest to criticize democracy where it looks a bit chaotic from afar. They like order and harmony and the unruly confrontational approach of multiparty systems strikes them as dangerous because it cannot be controlled.
Isn't lobbying the old spoils system? Isn't Hillary's little ally sitting on the intelligence board, despite having NO qualifications the old spoils system? It never went away, ever. But I'm going to run to change that.
Trump's Asia Trip is looking pretty good! Trump in Danang Vietnam hosted the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting, which President Trump addressed on Friday. He reiterated that he believes in fair trade. From President Trump: Today, I am here to offer a renewed partnership with America to work together to strengthen the bonds of friendship and commerce between all of the nations of the Indo-Pacific, and together, to promote our prosperity and security.At the core of this partnership, we seek robust trade relationships rooted in the principles of fairness and reciprocity. When the United States enters into a trading relationship with other countries or other peoples, we will, from now on, expect that our partners will faithfully follow the rules just like we do. We expect that markets will be open to an equal degree on both sides, and that private industry, not government planners, will direct investment.Unfortunately, for too long and in too many places, the opposite has happened. For many years, the United States systematically opened our economy with few conditions. We lowered or ended tariffs, reduced trade barriers, and allowed foreign goods to flow freely into our country.But while we lowered market barriers, other countries didn’t open their markets to us. Now the Counterfeit Conservatives love to say Trump opposes free trade. But free trade is a two-way street. We do not have that now. We will. From Trump: Countries were embraced by the World Trade Organization, even if they did not abide by its stated principles. Simply put, we have not been treated fairly by the World Trade Organization. Organizations like the WTO can only function properly when all members follow the rules and respect the sovereign rights of every member. We cannot achieve open markets if we do not ensure fair market access. In the end, unfair trade undermines us all.The United States promoted private enterprise, innovation, and industry. Other countries used government-run industrial planning and state-owned enterprises.We adhered to WTO principles on protecting intellectual property and ensuring fair and equal market access. They engaged in product dumping, subsidized goods, currency manipulation, and predatory industrial policies.They ignored the rules to gain advantage over those who followed the rules, causing enormous distortions in commerce and threatening the foundations of international trade itself. You cannot defend that and then claim you are for a free market. They do, of course, because the Counterfeit Conservatives sold their vaunted principles out for tax-exempt donations from the people who benefit from unfair trade. From Trump: We can no longer tolerate these chronic trade abuses, and we will not tolerate them. Despite years of broken promises, we were told that someday soon everyone would behave fairly and responsibly. People in America and throughout the Indo-Pacific region have waited for that day to come. But it never has, and that is why I am here today -- to speak frankly about our challenges and work toward a brighter future for all of us. President Trump speaks for America. Not that group of leeches in Washington, but for the people who make Washington possible. I trust the people of the world understand that. http://donsurber.blogspot.com/2017/11/trump-in-danang.html#more
I think ^^^ that is the party line, China is clamping down on dissidents more than ever, uni students in Australia are being harassed (their family members in China visited by Chinese officials) to prevent them from speaking out against the regime. Free speech is as dead as ever in China and the state will try to demonise anything that could serve as a potential risk. Besides what happened in America is anything but democratic, the Russian interference and Hillary's control over the Democratic party is not democracy. The US election was riddled with forces aimed at destroying democracy..... warfare, espionage & corruption. Trump didn't deserve to win and Hillary deserved for Trump to win.
The Chinese are happy with their communist government that wouldn't hesitate to roll tanks over them if they stepped out of line? I wonder how they teach about the 1989 Tienneman Square massacre in Chinese schools. They probably talk about "foreign influences" and "anti-Chinese" radicals. But the victims were just simple college students that wanted a more open and democratic government. Communism sucks.
Your last sentence is right on the money. One has to wonder what the two major parties were thinking. One gave us a candidate that was seen in a positive light by only 36% of all Americans running against another candidate viewed positive by only 38%. That means approximately 60% of all America didn't want Trump and 60% didn't want Clinton so most of America voted for the candidate the least wanted to lose. Not Win! Good summation of last years election. If our choices boil down to candidates very few people really want to govern over them, maybe Democracy is dead in the good old USA. Our two party system is completely broken, probably beyond repair.
