Striking out wherever he can

Stressed and frustrated narcissists are dangerously aggressive and fly out of control. You are seeing it happening on an international stage now.

President Donald Trump launched a blistering attack on China Friday, naming misdeeds that range from espionage to the violation of Hong Kong's freedoms, and announced a slew of retaliatory measures that will plunge US-China relations deeper into crisis.

"They've ripped off the United States like no one has ever done before," Trump said of China, as he decried the way Beijing has "raided our factories" and "gutted" American industry, casting Beijing as a central foil he will run against in the remaining months of his re-election campaign.

  CNN

And in the process, bring down hate and crimes upon not only Chinese Americans, but all Asians in the United States, because to his ignorant followers, "they all look alike."

Trump appeared in the Rose Garden at the end of a week when the US hit 100,000 deaths in the coronavirus pandemic and as massive protests roiled Minneapolis after the death in police custody an African American man, but mentioned neither, focusing instead on casting Beijing as an existential geopolitical threat.

[...]

The President also blasted Beijing for passing a national security law that fundamentally undermines Hong Kong's autonomy, announcing that going forward, the US will treat Hong Kong the way it treats the rest of China. Trump said the US will strip Hong Kong of the special policy measures on extradition, trade, travel and customs Washington had previously granted it.

WTF did Hong Kong do??? Oppressed by China and now attacked by the US. Jesus.

"This week China unilaterally imposed control over Hong Kong security," Trump said Friday, calling it "a plain violation of Beijing's treaty obligations with the United Kingdom."

As a result, Trump said Hong Kong "is no longer sufficiently autonomous to warrant the special treatment that we have afforded the territory" and his administration would "begin the process of eliminating policy exemptions that give Hong Kong different and special treatment."

[...]

Trump announced the US would pull out of the World Health Organization even as the global coronavirus pandemic continues to claim lives, claiming that China has "total control" over the WHO, an organization of 194 member states.

[...]

"US-China relations are in full crisis," said Richard Fontaine, the CEO of the Center for a New American Security. "We've hit the floor and keep falling through it. Beijing will retaliate in response to the Hong Kong steps the administration takes, and then the ball will be back in the President's court. Things will get worse -- potentially much worse -- before they get any better."

[...]

"Ironically, it would be more impactful for trade if China were to respond with an escalation and forceable takeover of Hong Kong's trade policy," [Chad Bown, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics] said. "If Beijing were somehow able to extend its retaliatory tariffs that would have a bigger impact, as the United States exports over $30 billion a year to Hong Kong."

[...]

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a Thursday interview with Fox News that Trump would make "a series of announcements" on China "in the coming days" and suggested that visa restrictions on Chinese graduate students and researchers could be among them.

And they're some of our brightest researchers and grad students

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE: