BROADCAST BIAS: Networks spin Trump’s Xi meeting as weakness despite strategic gain

President Donald Trump flew to China to marque bully with communist person Xi Jinping this week. It didn’t dependable similar the Cold War, oregon the caller commercialized wars. The connection "détente" was successful the air, truthful for anti-communists who didn’t emotion President Richard Nixon successful China oregon President Jimmy Carter kissing Soviet dictator Leonid Brezhnev connected the cheek, it wasn’t the champion look.

Trump called Xi a "great leader," which sounded much similar the Chamber of Commerce than the Victims of Communism Museum. The connection "communist" is typically missing from broadcast web sum of China, which began bemoaning "capitalist" China decades agone nether Deng Xiaoping.

The worst web successful Beijing, unsurprisingly, was ABC News, which reliably casts Trump successful the astir antagonistic light. The China travel was hampered by the warfare successful Iran, which Trump is supposedly losing. White House analogous Mary Bruce, who often sounded affirmative oregon antiaircraft notes astir President Joe Biden, deed the theme.

"The president had envisioned that helium would get present contiguous victorious successful Iran," she announced, "that helium would usage that momentum to assistance unafraid deals connected commercialized and technology, different investments and artificial intelligence, that this was a accidental to reset the U.S. narration with China. But those ambitions, present mostly overshadowed by the warfare with Iran."

TRUMP-XI’S CHINA SUMMIT IS A DEFINING TEST FOR AMERICA IN THE NEW COLD WAR

President Donald Trump listens arsenic helium meets with China's President Xi Jinping astatine the Great Hall of the People, Thursday, May 14, 2026, successful Beijing. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo)

ABC turned to overseas analogous James Longman, who besides formed a pall implicit the Iran situation: "The large question: however overmuch much symptom tin the U.S. instrumentality from precocious state prices created by the situation successful the Strait of Hormuz? And, successful galore ways, you know, the Iranians person realized they don't request a limb of wide destruction, a atomic weapon. They've got this limb of wide disruption implicit the Strait of Hormuz. I'm reminded of an Economist mag beforehand screen past month, which attributed a punctuation to Napoleon Bonaparte, which said, ‘never interrupt your force erstwhile helium is making a mistake.’ That feels similar China’s strategy close now."

The Economist mag is arsenic reliably anti-Trump arsenic ABC News, truthful that citation came arsenic nary surprise.

Then, for different acceptable of assemblage blows, ABC overseas analogous Ian Pannell saw America sinking: "In immoderate senses, this is simply a diminished America. I deliberation its influence, if not its power, is present successful superior doubt, not conscionable from its adversaries, but besides from its friends." The warfare successful Iran divided Trump from European allies: "The wide presumption here, I think, is that this was a warfare of choice, has brought thing but economical misery for not conscionable the aged world, but particularly Asia."

MORNING GLORY: WILL XI FREE LAI?

The astonishing web was CBS News, due to the fact that – surprise! – they someway failed to get a visa for their caller evening anchor Tony Dokoupil to get into China. Instead, helium broadcast from Taiwan this week and ended the Wednesday, May 13, "CBS Evening News" connected a antithetic note. "Finally, contiguous from Taiwan: arsenic President Trump and China's Xi Jinping hole to meet, you volition perceive a batch astir American diminution and the emergence of a almighty caller China." Yes, from ABC.

He continued: "Xi’s China is simply a marvel by galore measures," but there’s besides negatives: "China's colonisation is successful decline, though, good beneath replacement rates. Unemployment is high, with millions successful agrarian provinces surviving successful poverty, and monolithic lodging complexes that present beryllium empty. Most importantly, and possibly I'm stating the evident here, nary of these problems are a taxable connected the Chinese evening news. In fact, pessimism itself is forbidden connected the Chinese internet. The freedoms we have, they simply bash not." This is the payment of not having "minders" pursuing you around.

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On Thursday, Dokoupil went further connected the taxable that, portion "communism had failed successful the aged Soviet Union" and ideology seemed triumphant, contiguous China is challenging that argument. So Dokoupil brought up "democracy activist" Jimmy Lai, present successful a Hong Kong prison. He ran a clip of CBS’s Holly Williams noting Hong Kong is simply a fantastic metropolis with prosperity. Lai replied: "That's what Chinese think. They deliberation we conscionable person a body, we don't person a soul. You guys conscionable marque money, person a bully life, don't deliberation astir politics, don't deliberation astir freedom, don't deliberation astir quality right, don’t deliberation astir of law, conscionable eat. Enjoy life….We person soul. We are not a dog."

The worst web successful Beijing, unsurprisingly, was ABC News, which reliably casts Trump successful the astir antagonistic light. 

Dokoupil concluded: "And erstwhile you measurement back, that is the bigger representation this week, not conscionable which superpower walks distant with a mightier subject oregon a larger economy, but whose ideas should pb the future?" This does people a quality from the aged Peter Jennings oregon Dan Rather model, and could marque an statement that Bari Weiss has changed things, astatine slightest portion of the time.

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NBC anchor Tom Llamas was successful Beijing and secured an interrogation with Trump which the liberals thought wasn’t confrontational enough. CNN "fact checker" Daniel Dale claimed Trump lied repeatedly, and Llamas failed to close him successful existent time. Some of them were evidently mendacious (like Trump claiming helium won successful 2020) and immoderate were nitpicking (China doesn’t wage tariffs). NBC published its ain "fact check" online.

Because the code betwixt the 2 leaders was positive, the extremity effect was little antagonistic than the emblematic week connected the broadcast networks. But if Trump’s blimpish backers started complaining astir being excessively accommodating to communists, they mightiness predictably pounce connected a "MAGA split" and "more antagonistic quality for Trump."

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