RE: #14 | POSTED BY GONOLES92 AT 2021-01-10 09:48 AM
Possibly.
OTOH, it just seems so typically political from this administration. This maneuver likely has only three possible outcomes:
1. It sparks a new relationship with China that flourishes into a win-win for both countries.
2. It festers into a foreign policy disaster that (at best) becomes more same-old same-old or, (at worst) heralds in a new era of spiraling animosity that concludes with economic/armed conflict with China.
3. This simply fizzles out and gets lost in subsequent news cycles with little effect one way or the other.
If #1 occurs, you know who will take all the credit regardless if the incoming administration gets stuck with all the heavy lifting to implement it. If #2 occurs, the incoming administration will get smeared with all the blame as no one will recall (or care) who actually "lit the fuse". If #3 occurs, it becomes a non-event: no gain; no loss but at the expense of essentially no effort.
Given the current administrations track record (both before and during this presidency. See: new casinos, foreign trade/tariffs, containment of North Korean threat, "The Wall", etc., etc.), I suspect this is being done and precisely being done NOW to throw just one more Sabot into the machinery to satisfy President Trump's petulance and/or political machinations (or both!).
Re: #4
The article claims LEAST likely and Republicans.
Your anecdotal evidence about Conservatives is irrelevant.
RIF