Earlier (2011): John Derbyshire On Understanding China And The Chinese

[Excerpted from the latest Radio Derb, now available exclusively through VDARE.com]

Having been writing about China for forty years, I was naturally interested to see what Trump and Biden had to say about the country in last Thursday’s debate.

Answer: Nothing with any real insight or understanding. There was a lot of back and forth about whether this guy or the other guy was taking money from the ChiComs; then some bluster from both candidates about how tough they have been with China.

Watching it, I thought I could hear from the far distance the sound of the ChiCom politburo rolling around on the floor hooting with laughter.

For a clue to my frame of mind here I refer you to David Goldman's October 19th article at Asia Times: Covid-19 Launches The Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Deploying diagnostic tech, detecting patterns with AI, Asian countries suppressed pandemic with little testing https://t.co/uPNN8rLTLL

— Asia Times (@asiatimesonline) October 19, 2020

Goldman describes in detail how the ChiComs have used the pandemic to advance their lead in AI (Artificial Intelligence). He concludes:

Computer science could not have devised a more useful dataset for the development of AI than the propagation of the Covid-19 virus. The exercise requires sophisticated real-time management of datasets involving impossibly large numbers of individual observations, and the ability to correlate locational, medical and demographic data with population sampling through forensic tests.

 AI helped control the pandemic, but the pandemic gave Chinese AI an unprecedented push forward. The West hasn't even begun to address the problem. And that is the most troubling observation of all.

[Excerpted from the latest Radio Derb, now available exclusively through VDARE.com]

Earlier: Biden Calls For Nation-Busting Amnesty In Final Debate

That President Trump will lose his re-election bid is a common opinion among people who wish otherwise. It’s not just me. I got an email from an old friend who is nine times smarter than I am, and a Trump voter.

On the side of the Democrats are: The FBI, the CIA, the federal bureaucracy, academia, Facebook, Twitter, Google, Hollywood, NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, NPR, the NYT, every magazine on the shelf, BLM, Antifa, 50 million illegal aliens, and now, the Chinese Communist Party.

If they can't steal an election with that group of supporters, what does it say about their general level of competence?

So Trump has an uphill battle—but he also has poor mountaineering skills. That’s what mainly got my attention in Thursday night's Trump-Biden debate

Some of this has already been elaborated by my VDARE.com colleague James Kirkpatrick here..

• Why didn't Trump punch back good and hard when Biden said he would give citizenship to 11 million illegal aliens?

The number is likely closer to twenty million; and with chain migration following, that twenty million would bring in another forty, fifty, a hundred million. Why didn't Trump say that?

Earlier, by Peter Brimelow, 2015: GOP Should "Thank Heaven Fasting" For Trump But Instead Plans To Shoot Self In Testicles

Stupid Party hacks and Cuckservative Inc. cowards are at it again. As they did four years ago, they believe the Main Stream Media Narrative that November 3 will be a Big Blue Wave, and are maneuvering to betray the president [‘The president is likely toast’: Trump's woes raise GOP fears of a blue wave, by Sahil Kapur, NBC News, October 9, 2020]. These traitors want a return to the Paul Ryan GOP. Trump’s nationalist appeal to the Historic American Nation—which Ruling Class Republicans hate more than Kamala Harris Democrats—was an aberration, they say. It was a one-off that must never be repeated. They believe that the base will accept cuckservatism without complaint. But they underestimate not only Trump’s appeal as a candidate but also the appeal of his American First nationalism. Win or lose, Trumpism is here to stay.

Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse leads the pack of backstabbing ingrates. Endorsed by Trump in the GOP primary and an almost certain winner in two weeks, Sasse repaid Trump by tearing into him, significantly echoing Democrat talking points during a conference call with constituents this month. The president had ignored COVID and “kisses dictators’ butts,” Sasse fumed. Trump “ignored Hong Kong,” “treated the presidency like a business opportunity,” and “flirted with white supremacists.” Even worse, Trump might create a “permanent” Democratic majority with his policies and behavior [GOP Sen. Sasse says Trump ‘kisses dictators’ butts’ and mocks evangelicals, by David Drucker, Washington Examiner, October 15, 2020]. Some say the call was “leaked” by persons unknown. Others believe Sasse’s the culprit.

To his credit, Trump thumped the Yale-Harvard grad on Twitter: “The least effective of our 53 Republican Senators, and a person who truly doesn’t have what it takes to be great, is Little Ben Sasse of Nebraska,” a one-two punch began. Trump finished with this uppercut: “Little Ben is a liability to the Republican Party, and an embarrassment to the Great State of Nebraska. Other than that, he’s just a wonderful guy!”

...Nomination to run for a second term. Then he went back to his rather stupid and obnoxious ways. Must feel he can’t lose to a Dem. Little Ben is a liability to the Republican Party, and an embarrassment to the Great State of Nebraska. Other than that, he’s just a wonderful guy!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 17, 2020

But Sasse is not alone. Trump better be ready to rumble. Little Ben and his crew are out to get him:

When Amy Coney Barrett was nominated to a judgeship on the U.S. Court of Appeals in 2017, Sen. Dianne Feinstein was taken aback by the Notre Dame law professor's Catholic convictions about the right to life.

"Professor," said Feinstein, "when you read your speeches, the conclusion one draws is that the dogma lives loudly within you, and that's of concern."

Feinstein, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, got a second chance to quiz Barrett during the Supreme Court nomination hearings conducted by Chairman Lindsey Graham.

Believing, after four days, that she and her colleagues had been treated fairly, Feinstein volunteered across the aisle, "This is one of the best set of hearings that I've participated in."

She gave Graham, a friend and colleague of decades, a brief hug.

To shocked Democrats, however, this was collusion, consorting with the enemy in a time of war.

Earlier: Ann Coulter On Trump's Victories—Including The Muslim Ban!

In 2015, Donald J. Trump decided he was going to run for president on popular ideas. This was a stunning, historic breakthrough in American politics. He made his announcement in a speech talking about Mexican rapists, pledging to deport illegal aliens and build a wall. And the rest is history.

I’m thinking he should try it again this Thursday night.

Recall that Trump’s famous escalator speech provided any number of possible campaign themes:

• Bomb ISIS!
• Take their oil!
• Protect our veterans!
• Bring our jobs home!
• Repeal Common Core!
• Repeal Obamacare!
• Protect the Second Amendment!
• Make China pay!
• Concealed carry!

But that’s not what the crowds chanted. They certainly weren’t chanting “Reform Social Security!” or “Protect Ukraine’s national sovereignty!” No, the slogan that inspired a million T-shirts, chalk etchings, replicas and hashtags was: Build the wall!

Month after month, at every rally, whenever Trump mentioned the wall, the crowds went wild. It was Trump’s one surefire standing ovation, his “Free Bird” at a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert. Even before Trump would take the stage, his supporters would start the chant: “BUILD THE WALL!”

Before the 2016 Iowa caucuses, Daily Beast columnist Michael Moynihan tweeted: “Talked to lots of Trump supporters in Iowa. When I pointed out he wasn’t a conservative, all had same answer: ‘So? The wall!’”