Retired U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt and retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer told Newsmax on Thursday that as President Donald Trump is trying to "level the playing field" with tariffs, China is facing inner "turmoil" as the Chinese Communist Party makes moves against President Xi Jinping.
"Xi Jinping has a threat; it's not the United States," Holt said on "The Chris Salcedo Show." "It's the People's Liberation Army. There is so much palace fighting going on right now amongst the Chinese Communist Party top elites. Xi Jinping did something yesterday that was absolutely unprecedented. He took what is effectively his personnel manager, the most powerful position in the politburo, and replaced him, switched jobs with the guy who has the United Front, basically their version of the Gestapo.
"So now, what's happening is those who are loyalists to Xi are falling away, and the Chinese Communist Party is putting in anti-Xi people," he continued. "Everything you're seeing about the bluster is a reflection of that turmoil. It could become dangerous for us, given all the illegal Chinese soldiers who are on our landmass right now, the fentanyl labs that are killing over 100,000 Americans, the illegal spying that goes on, and the Confucius Institutes. So, watch China. This is a big deal."
On Wednesday, Trump raised the tariff rate on China to 125% hours after China increased duties on American imports to 84% and vowed to "fight to the end." Shaffer said that "there is no commerce" in China; Beijing has merely "liberalized their trade a little bit."
"The Chinese have engaged in a form of warfare across the board, total warfare – economic, social, military is kind of the last option, which, as Blaine said, even that's on the table now because of their internal strife," Shaffer said. "But one of the things that we have to pay attention to, no matter what, is that it's not just about the economics. It's about the fact that we, the United States, have to reestablish economic dominance in our own right. We have to reestablish industry. We have to reestablish our ability to make our own pharmaceuticals. Are you kidding me? These are all things which President Trump will push for that go beyond China.
"But, regarding China, make no mistake that everything that's going on is based on the fact that there's a handful of people in the Communist Party who run things," he continued. "There is no democracy, there is no economic freedom. And that's why we have to level the playing field. President Trump is simply doing now what politicians have been saying they would do for the past 20 years. He's taking action. They refused to do so."
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Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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