Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
When the Soviet Union collapsed, China didn’t just survive the Cold War’s end – it inherited the ghost of the USSR’s global propaganda machine. Over the decades, China carefully rebuilt and expanded that machine, positioning itself as the new ideological challenger to the West. It spread soft power through Confucius Institutes, infiltrated media and universities, manipulated social discourse, and seeded division inside liberal democracies.
But in a twist of historical irony, the same propaganda war that China thought would bring down the West may ultimately destroy the Chinese Communist Party instead. Because China didn’t just attack Western values; it undermined the very markets it needed to survive.
Europe, once a potential buyer of Chinese goods, is crippled by its own energy mismanagement, high inflation, and shrinking industrial base. China’s influence campaigns helped push Europe into self-defeating green absolutism and economic policies that gutted consumer purchasing power. Canada, once a reliable trade partner, has followed suit, with figures like Mark Carney using anti-American rhetoric as a platform, seemingly unaware that doing so cripples their own economies and drives up the cost of living for their people.
Even so, the United States was the linchpin – the market China depended on above all others. And under Donald Trump, that market is slamming shut. Tariffs are rising. Supply chains are decoupling. And Xi Jinping, rather than seeking a diplomatic offramp, is doubling down on a trade war he simply cannot win. Why? Because he thinks he holds a strong hand.
He doesn’t.
Xi believes China is in a position of power. He sees America as divided, Europe as irrelevant, and China as the rising hegemon. He sees the BRICS nations rallying behind him, China’s military swelling, and the Belt and Road paving the way for a Chinese-led world order. He thinks the future belongs to him.
The problem is that Xi Jinping doesn’t know what’s actually happening. No one dares tell him.
By purging rivals, centralizing power, and ruling through fear, Xi has surrounded himself with sycophants and cowards. His advisors have learned the hard way that honesty is dangerous. So they lie. They massage data. They report only victories. They frame failures as successes. And the higher up the information chain it goes, the more distorted it becomes. Xi lives in a curated reality – one that tells him China is strong, the West is weak, and history is on his side.
But the real numbers paint a different picture. China’s real estate market is in a state of collapse. Youth unemployment is sky-high. The domestic consumer base is shrinking, both in size and in purchasing power. Xi’s vaunted military is untested, bloated, and logistically suspect. His allies are Russia, Iran, and North Korea – a collection of geopolitical liabilities so dysfunctional they make the Axis of 1942 look like a G7 summit. All three countries are led by autocratic rulers who have a penchant for disappearing those they do not like, making them more like the Three Blind Mice than an Axis of Evil.
This week – on Cutting Through the Chaos!
Cutting Through the Chaos can be heard on Sat and Sun at 9 am ET on America Out Loud Talk Radio. Listen on iHeart Radio, our world-class media player, or our free apps on Apple, Android, or Alexa. All episodes of Cutting Through the Chaos can be found on podcast networks worldwide the day after airing on talk radio.
America Out Loud is the premier news network with a diverse array of talk shows that inform and inspire. A daily resource for smart people.
Comments