Ronald Reagan as President of the US weakened the Soviet Union to its extinction soon after his term. In like fashion, Donald Trump could best the PRC.
Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer. Sometimes it happens when an individual considered personally close to a leader may actually turn out to be a foe where some of his advice is concerned. President Yoon Suk-yeol of the Republic of Korea, or South Korea, was brought to his present parlous situation by an informal adviser who convinced him that China and North Korea were planning to send South Korea into chaos. Indeed at least one of them, China, was. However, rather than contain the situation, the policy urged on Yoon by his advisor (who may turn out to have been a Chinese Communist Party asset acting under its direction) was to declare Martial Law. Chaos did indeed descend on South Korea, but not in spite of, but because of, the declaration of Martial Law. President Yoon swiftly realised his mistake, and ordered the withdrawal of the proclamation just six hours later. But that brief period was enough to anger much of the population of South Korea, who took control of the streets and secured enough support within the legislature to get a majority of lawmakers to approve his impeachment. Yoon had made a correct diagnosis, for South Korea has been honeycombed by agents of North Korea, and even more plentifully, of China out to weaken Yoon. Much of the credit for the success of the South Korean economy is because of a strong executive led by the President.
What Yoon’s traducers seek wittingly or not to do is to upend the system of democracy in South Korea by in effect changing its mode of governance from a Presidential to a Parliamentary executive that would be much less stable where South Korea is concerned. Both Pyongyang as well as Beijing would celebrate the weakening of not just the South Korean executive but its economy as well. Yet were President Yoon to have his impeachment confirmed by the Constitutional Court of South Korea, that is what may happen. Arresting a sitting President, that too for a decision taken in good faith in what was perceived to by him to be in the national interest, but quickly reversed when it was clear it was not, is itself illegal as per law. And where in the law or in the South Korean Constitution does it say that a lawfully elected President temporarily declaring Martial Law is ipso facto committing an illegal act?
President Donald Trump needs to beware of a few of those who move closely in his personal orbit, for they have financial and personal linkages with the CCP. An example of advice which would have toxic consequences is the view expressed by some in his circle of friends to have a catchall policy on tariffs that would not just concentrate its most deadly fire on China, but apply the same rates to countries that are close to the United States, and which are essential partners for the US to ensure the victory of the democracies during Cold War 2.0, which has begun taking place between China and the democracies, the largest of which are the US and India. A tariff uniformly applied to a multitude of countries including China would allow the CCP to escape the consequences for its rule of such a tariff. It would ensure that the PRC continue to scoop away much of industrial capacity from the rest of the world.
Ronald Reagan as President of the US weakened the Soviet Union to its extinction soon after his term. In like fashion, Donald Trump could best what the CCP refers to as the PRC, creating in the process an alternative governance model that gives personal and political freedoms to the Chinese people. Like Reagan was in his time, Trump has been derided as a showman. Like Reagan, his qualities were derided. Yet like Reagan, he may succeed in besting (the 21st century version of) the Evil Empire that was fought until it was close to collapse by Ronald Reagan in the previous century. Reagan worked closely with like-minded leaders such as Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of the UK who helped him achieve his objective of bringing down the Evil Empire of their times. So can President Trump build strong alliances with leaders such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi who has played a key role in diluting the influence of the PRC in the Global South. The national security picks of President Trump are such as to ensure his success as the slayer of the far more deadly version of the Evil Empire, the PRC. President Trump is on track to fulfil his role as the Ronald Reagan of the 21st century. Ensuring the confirmation of his security picks by overcoming the influence of the CCP in domestic US policies, including in parts of the US Congress, may turn out to be his first challenge.