Jim Geraghty
National Review, Aug. 19, 2022
“The veracity of the emails does not depend upon what you think of the New York Post. They nailed the story.”
On the menu today: President Biden and China’s Xi Jinping are expected to have their first in-person meeting in Indonesia this November, leading some to argue that the administration should set preconditions for Xi before granting him a face-to-face meeting with the American president. (This is a little tougher for a president to do once he’s chosen to fist-bump Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.) Of course, Biden’s renewed engagement with China’s leaders also brings us back to an infamous, mysterious, wildly underexamined phrase in our national life: “ten percent for the big guy.”
‘Ten Percent for the Big Guy’
Ira Stoll, writing in the New York Sun a few days ago: America may not realize it, but it has the upper hand. Even China’s own bogus economic data show high unemployment and slowing economic growth there. It turns out that communism doesn’t work. Goldwater was correct.
A weaker American position will only fuel suspicions of corruption — “10 percent for the big guy.” Why are the Chinese Communists so desperate to buy off American elites? Because on some basic level, deep down, they know the truth is Goldwater was right. Communism is beyond hope. The Communist Party in China, like the Soviet one before it, is just buying time until the eventual ineluctable reckoning with freedom.
There is a remarkable national lack of curiosity about that message, “10 percent for the big guy.” If I said to you that a company that was effectively controlled by the Chinese government paid Hunter Biden almost $5 million for vaguely defined “consulting” and legal work, wouldn’t that bother you? Even if you’re a loyal Democrat — even if you were so progressive you’re to the left of Bernie Sanders — do you want members of president’s family to get in bed with the Chinese government*? … [To read the full article, clickhere]