China’s President Xi Jinping has just concluded another display of diplomatic authority, reinforcing Beijing’s place at the centre of global politics. The optics were clear: China is no longer emerging; it is firmly in command of its own orbit. On the other side of the globe, Donald Trump, never one to miss an opportunity for theatrics, responded with his trademark outburst, declaring that India and Russia had “lost” themselves to “the deepest, darkest China”. The juxtaposition is almost too telling.
What we are witnessing is not merely the showmanship of individual leaders but a larger signalling of shifting power balances. China is playing the long game; methodical, calculated, and patient. The United States, meanwhile, appears content to rely on bluster, with Trump’s rant serving as a convenient illustration of how its political discourse often collapses into petulance. One might even say his tirade, amplified on social media, sounded less like statesmanship and more like a child stamping his feet at being left out of the game. The danger in such rhetoric, however, lies beyond its immaturity. Othering world leaders, dismissing nations as pawns in some imagined conspiracy against the US, and casually stoking narratives of conflict serve no one, except, of course, the elite who profit handsomely from perpetual war. It is warmongering disguised as patriotism, and it is far from harmless.
Moreover, Washington is hardly in a position to lecture others. From decades of political interference in sovereign states to its ongoing, unflinching support for Israel’s campaign of genocide in Palestine, the US’s moral authority is not just eroded, it is threadbare. Perhaps a moment of introspection is overdue. Fix the domestic chaos, address the hypocrisies, and only then look outward. Until then, the world is unlikely to take American indignation seriously anymore, least of all when it comes dressed as a tantrum.