Using Donald Trump’s attack on Venezuela as a leaping-off point, Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and international risk management expert Ian Bremmer jumped on the president for ignoring a substantially bigger threat that China poses to the U.S.
Noting that the president seems obsessed with Venezuela's natural resources — mainly oil — as one of his main reasons for securing the arrest of President Nicolás Maduro, Bremmer said Trump is missing the boat, much to China’s delight.
Speaking with the hosts on MS NOW’s “Morning Joe," Bremmer said, “Privately they [the Chinese] love it because it means they are being given that sense of equality because they are the ones who hit the Americans back so hard; they have the critical mineral supply chain that the Americans couldn't be bothered to build up over the past 20 years.”
“They are building electricity, the 21st century economy, focusing on electrons. The United States is doing molecules, we’ve got 13.5 million barrels a day. We’ll get more with the influence over Venezuela, but that is not energy prices coming down,” he elaborated.
“The Chinese are laughing to the bank,” he added. “They can’t believe how fortunate they are that they have been able to stand down, stare back at the Americans and stand them down while American allies are all feeling incredibly vulnerable.”
Gallego then offered, “They have been able to stare down and stand down Donald Trump.”
“There has been an understanding from Democrats for years that we have to deal with the China problem,” he added. “The problem is Donald is a coward. And when he meets somebody of equal power, he backs down. He knows he doesn’t have an easy way to bully China so he backs down. He then tries to find other wins.”
- YouTube youtu.be
