Paper Tigers and 'Becoming Chinese' in High Places
Donald Trump adopted a catchphrase from Mao Zedong and inadvertently joined a trend.
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We have, I hope, reached peak “chinamaxxing” now that the President of the United States is mouthing a phrase made famous by the founder of the People’s Republic. Donald Trump has called North Atlantic Treaty Organization a “paper tiger” because of what he sees as the failure of the Western alliance to support his war with Iran. Talk about becoming Chinese! In the middle of the 20th century, Mao Zedong popularized that old Cantonese epithet, which applied to a formidable appearance with no real teeth. The communist overlord used it to describe the threat of nuclear weapons as well as US imperialism. Trump also leveled the invective at Russia back in October.