“Danny Russel, a vice president at the Asia Society, who served in the Obama administration, said the Trump administration had long since ‘crossed the Rubicon in terms of undercutting any credibility the United States may have had with the Chinese public about our commitment to values and to our principles.’
“Trump tweets and actions this week ‘are just gratuitous validation,’ said Russel, who added that a theme running through Trump’s domestic and foreign policies ‘is the theme of polarization and divisiveness. It really goes back to the point that the actions Trump is taking both at home and in the China context are not aimed at solving problems — they are aimed at exploiting and in many cases exacerbating the problem. If your business model is to profit from stress and discord, you would behave in this manner…'”