When Narratives Go Wrong: Chinese Collusion Set to Explode

Back in February I wrote: Russia Collusion Narrative Dead, Long Live Chinese Collusion!

The Russians sowed discord mainly by being present, allowing the creation of a false Trump-Russia collusion narrative. Basically, they got America to shoot itself in the face. The return on investment is incredible, particularly if FBI and DOJ officials eventually get indicted for turning government agencies against a political opponent and sitting president.

Now with Russia collusion out of the way, make way for Chinese collusion and trade war. Instead of an intrapolitical battle, Chinese collusion will be a bipartisan effort.

In April: America's New Target: China

A funny thing happened when Trump targeted China on trade. There was widespread opposition at first, with lots of political enemies joining with free trade economists. Then came grudging acceptance that Trump had finally done something, even if it wasn't the best thing. He shifted the Overton Window and opened new areas of debate. Russia collusion is fading fast and in its place is the China threat.

...Two takeaways. One, China is going to become the new target for American jingoists. Russia collusion was a joke, China's ascent is not.

More broadly, nationalism is rising. Even the globalists are falling victim to it and advancing nationalist agendas. They should be celebrating the diversity of viewpoints brought by CCP members. They should speak of inclusion, bringing the CCP's ideas on various issues to students. After all, it is such a large force in the world, you can't really understand a globalized world without understanding the Chinese Communist Party's view on things.

Even the globalists are anti-China. Although Trump is seen as anti-China for his trade stance (and he might be very anti-China if he's closer to Steve Bannon in his thinking), his rhetorical fire is always reserved for the "stupid" American politicians who made the trade deals. American internationalists are far more anti-China though. They oppose China for its treatment of Uighurs, its lack of religious freedom, restriction of speech, protest, etc. The globalists also hate China for the same reason they hate Russia: they see it as one of only two competitors to an American-led global order. Once Trump opened the door on China, every anti-China interest group came pouring through.

The globalists and Democrats also laid the groundwork for a jingoist anti-China explosion thanks to the absurd Russia narrative. The "Russia-collusion" narrative is still going strong in some quarters despite the lack of evidence. Meanwhile, the evidence of "Chinese-collusion" is mounting even without a full-on media blitz. China-collusion is also bipartisan, no doubt there are Republicans and Democrats at least skirting the ethical line. An anti-China push will also have the support of the defense and security establishment, whereas the Russia-collusion narrative was mostly a partisan effort by political appointees. If a "Chinese-collusion" narrative takes off, it's going to hit paydirt.

The Federalist: Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s Ties To China Go Way Deeper Than An Alleged Office Spy

As media, intelligence agency, and political scrutiny of foreign meddling is seemingly at its apex, a story with big national security implications involving a high-ranking senator with access to America’s most sensitive intelligence information has been hiding in plain sight.

The story involves China and the senior U.S. senator from California, and former chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Democrat Dianne Feinstein. It was buried eight paragraphs into a recent Politico exposé on foreign efforts to infiltrate Silicon Valley, as a passing example of political espionage:

Former intelligence officials…[said] Chinese intelligence once recruited a staff member at a California office of U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, and the source reported back to China about local politics. (A spokesperson for Feinstein said the office doesn’t comment on personnel matters or investigations, but noted that no Feinstein staffer in California has ever had a security clearance.)

Later comes additional detail:

According to four former intelligence officials, in the 2000s, a staffer in Senator Dianne Feinstein’s San Francisco field office was reporting back to the MSS [China’s Ministry of State Security, its intelligence and security apparatus]. While this person, who was a liaison to the local Chinese community, was fired, charges were never filed against him. (One former official reasoned this was because the staffer was providing political intelligence and not classified information—making prosecution far more difficult.) The suspected informant was ‘run’ by officials based at China’s San Francisco Consulate, said another former intelligence official. The spy’s handler ‘probably got an award back in China’ for his work, noted this former official, dryly.

Maybe there's something there, maybe not. But by the standards of the "Russia-collusion" narrative, Feinstein is far more guilty than anyone working for the Trump campaign. As social mood declines, suspicion of foreigners will naturally increase. The people who most loudly proclaim themselves opponents of xenophobia and bigotry succumbed to the most base xenophobia and bigotry against Russia. The evidence for it is still wisps of smoke. If there is any fire behind the smoke of China-collusion, nothing will stop a full-blown "China-panic."

Feinstein’s dealings with the Chinese must be investigated. But so too ought the links between federal officials and all of our adversaries, be it the Chinese and Russians, the Pakistanis and Iranians, or the Muslim Brotherhood and its state supporters. Feinstein is only one politician. How many other relationships with American politicians have the Chinese and our other adversaries fostered? How many spies might they have recruited?

What about allies such as the Saudis and Israelis? Every foreign nation will try to alter American policy in their favor. Whether it aligns with our interests or not is irrelevant. They aren't acting in America's best interest. If social mood is trending as negative as I anticipate, eventually the U.S. will get around to investigating every source of foreign influence. For now, and possibly for the next few years if not more, the center of attention will be China.