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The Art of War Comes to Washington: How China May Be Winning Without Fighting [1]
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Date: 2025-09-02
Lady Luck favors the prepared, or so they say. Ever since Mao's revolution, China has harbored ambitions that align with the ancient Middle Kingdom's belief that it was the natural center of the world. First in Korea, then in Vietnam, China grew bolder as it fought the West first to stalemate, then to victory. But somewhere along the way, as modern China began seriously studying its own classical texts, particularly Sun Tzu's Art of War, the leadership realized that armed struggle was an inefficient path to global dominance.
And so the Chinese Communist Party embarked on a generations-long campaign, capitalizing on every opportunity, using subtle arts of influence rather than overt confrontation to win battle after battle without firing a shot. Now, it seems, they may believe they're on the verge of victory over America, with what remains of the free West merely a mop-up operation to be completed after we finish our slide into fascism.
This isn't conspiracy theory, it's pattern recognition. And the pattern suggests we've been outplayed by strategic thinkers who measure success in decades while we measure it in election cycles.
From Battlefield to Boardroom: China's Strategic Evolution
The transformation didn't happen overnight, and remarkably, every major geopolitical disaster of the past four decades seems to have benefited China's strategic position. Coincidence? Or evidence of patient, opportunistic, perhaps even orchestrated, statecraft?
Consider the Soviet Union's fatal mistake in Afghanistan. Could China have had a hand in drawing their nuclear neighbor into that devastating quagmire? They surely didn't appreciate having such a strong, ideologically competitive power on their border. The USSR's collapse removed China's most dangerous rival while creating the chaotic conditions that would later allow a more manageable, and corruptible, Russia to emerge.
And what about Russia's democratic experiment? How convenient that it failed so spectacularly, creating the oligarchy system that concentrated power among controllable actors. Even more remarkable: the rise of Vladimir Putin, a former deputy mayor of St. Petersburg with no national profile, to become Russia's dictator. Did China simply get lucky that Russian democracy collapsed into exactly the kind of authoritarian dependency they could work with? Or were there more active influences at play? Did they pull some strings to raise a manipulable strongman into power?
The 1980s-1990s: While America celebrated the Cold War's end, China quietly studied why the Soviet Union collapsed, and perhaps helped ensure it stayed collapsed. The lesson wasn't just about economic systems, it was about strategic patience versus reactive thinking. As Russia's democracy crumbled into oligarchy, China began its economic integration with the West, gaining access to markets, technology, and influence networks.
But perhaps most remarkably, this period also witnessed the inexplicable fascination of an already-wealthy Australian media mogul with American politics. Rupert Murdoch, who had built a successful empire in Australia and Britain, decided to focus his attention on reshaping American conservative politics. In 1996, he founded Fox News Channel with the explicit goal of appealing to conservative audiences, creating what would become "a powerful force in American political life" that would "play a central role in reshaping the Republican Party, driving it to the far right, discouraging compromise or conciliation."
How fortunate for China that American conservatism would be systematically redirected away from traditional principles of constitutional governance, international leadership, and institutional strength. Fox News would operate "less like a traditional news service and more like a conservative political advocacy group," polarizing American politics and undermining the social cohesion necessary for effective democratic governance. Was Murdoch's timing and focus simply a business decision, or another stroke of "remarkable luck" for Chinese strategic interests?
The 2000s: September 11th provided another perfect opening, but was it entirely organic? The Middle East had been destabilizing for decades in ways that consistently drew American attention and resources away from Asia. Might China have once again drawn a major opponent into a land war in Asia, in Afghanistan, no less? It certainly proved convenient, allowing China to launch patient, systematic influence operations while America spent $8 trillion and two decades on unwinnable conflicts.
Meanwhile, Fox News amplified every division, conspiracy theory, and institutional grievance that made collective American response to foreign influence more difficult. The network's promotion of "mis- and disinformation, conspiracy theories, and outright propaganda" created exactly the kind of fractured information environment that Chinese doctrine identifies as necessary for successful influence operations.
The 2010s-Present: With economic leverage established, media fragmentation accelerating, and American attention diverted, the institutional capture phase began in earnest. The Belt and Road Initiativerepresented the world's largest peacetime influence campaign—$1 trillion invested across 147 countries while America remained mired in Middle Eastern warfare and domestic political dysfunction amplified by Murdoch's media empire.
The Congressional Capitulation Mystery
But perhaps the most revealing pattern lies in American domestic politics itself. How did so many politicians with obvious vulnerabilities end up in positions of power? Dennis Hastert, a wrestling coach who admitted in federal court to molesting children, becoming Speaker of the House? Rick Santorum's documented history of bizarre and offensive statementscoinciding with his rise in Republican leadership? The statistical improbability of so many compromised figures reaching influential positions suggests something beyond random chance.
The Associated Press documented Republicans in Congress showing "unusual eagerness to fulfill the requests of their party's leader, often disregarding the potential implications for themselves, their constituents, and the institution of Congress." This defies basic political logic. Why would legislators voluntarily surrender the "power of the purse"—Congress's most fundamental constitutional authority?
Republican Congressman Tim Burchett offered his own theory: some GOP colleagues were victims of "honey pot" operations where "nefarious entities had recorded their indiscretions to use as blackmail leverage." His question resonates: "Why in the world would good conservatives vote for crazy stuff like what we've been seeing?"
Was this systematic elevation of compromised politicians another stroke of fortune for China? Or evidence of more deliberate selection processes designed to ensure a compliant political class?
The Useful Idiots Emerge from the Shadows
Enter the Heritage Foundation and their Project 2025—a 900-page blueprint for authoritarian consolidation. These domestic monarchists finally stopped hiding their agenda, openly advocating for concentrated executive power and dismantling constitutional governance.
How fortunate for China that American "conservatives" would abandon conservatism itself, systematically destroying the separation of powers that made America's system resilient. Did Heritage Foundation leaders independently conclude that democracy was the problem? Or were they influenced by networks that recognized authoritarian consolidation would serve foreign strategic interests?
The spectacle of watching supposed patriots systematically advocate for dismantling constitutional governance would be comedic if the stakes weren't existential. Sun Tzu would recognize them immediately: the enemy's most valuable allies are those who defeat themselves while believing they're winning.
And how convenient that Fox News, having spent decades conditioning conservative audiences to distrust democratic institutions and embrace strongman politics, provided the perfect media ecosystem to promote and normalize Project 2025's authoritarian agenda.
The Three Warfares in Action
China's contemporary military doctrine explicitly incorporates Sun Tzu's "three warfares": psychological warfare, media warfare, and legal warfare. This framework describes exactly what American politics has experienced for at least two decades, but was American dysfunction organic, or systematically amplified?
Psychological warfare: The amplification of social divisions, conspiracy theories, and institutional distrust. Americans now inhabit separate information universes. How convenient that this fragmentation makes collective resistance to foreign influence nearly impossible.
Media warfare: The fragmentation and polarization of information systems. Fox News pioneered the model of partisan "news" that prioritized political advocacy over factual reporting. Was the collapse of shared factual understanding, which is a prerequisite for democratic debate, a natural evolution, or were existing tensions deliberately exploited and amplified?
Legal warfare: The weaponization of regulatory and judicial systems. How fortunate that Americans learned to use these tools against each other, normalizing authoritarian governance methods that would have been unthinkable a generation ago.
The Economic Foundation: Strategic Masterstroke or Lucky Break?
China's admission to the World Trade Organization in 2001 now appears as perhaps the most consequential strategic victory in modern history. But was American support for Chinese WTO membership simply misguided idealism, or were key decision-makers influenced by networks that recognized the long-term implications?
The economic relationship became the foundation for everything that followed: trade dependencies, supply chain vulnerabilities, technology transfers, and financial entanglements that created multiple pressure points for coercion. By the time political influence campaigns reached maturity, economic leverage was already locked in place.
How remarkably prescient that China positioned itself to benefit from every major American policy decision, from trade liberalization to military interventions that consistently strengthened China's relative position.
Pattern Recognition: The Escalating Timeline
View recent history through the lens of strategic opportunism, or orchestration:
1980s : Soviet Union drawn into Afghanistan, begins terminal decline. China's most dangerous neighbor weakened.
: Soviet Union drawn into Afghanistan, begins terminal decline. China's most dangerous neighbor weakened. 1990s : Russian democracy fails, oligarchy emerges. Nuclear rival becomes manageable dependency.
: Russian democracy fails, oligarchy emerges. Nuclear rival becomes manageable dependency. 1996 : Fox News launches, beginning systematic conditioning of American conservatives against democratic norms and international cooperation.
: Fox News launches, beginning systematic conditioning of American conservatives against democratic norms and international cooperation. Post-9/11 : America enters Middle Eastern quagmire. Chinese influence operations accelerate while American attention diverted and Fox amplifies every division.
: America enters Middle Eastern quagmire. Chinese influence operations accelerate while American attention diverted and Fox amplifies every division. 2008 : Financial crisis creates social tensions ripe for amplification through information warfare.
: Financial crisis creates social tensions ripe for amplification through information warfare. 2013 : Belt and Road launches while American political dysfunction prevents coherent response.
: Belt and Road launches while American political dysfunction prevents coherent response. 2016 : Unlikely candidate with documented foreign leverage concerns wins presidency. Fox News fully embraces authoritarian governance model.
: Unlikely candidate with documented foreign leverage concerns wins presidency. Fox News fully embraces authoritarian governance model. 2021 : January 6th demonstrates democratic vulnerability to global audience.
: January 6th demonstrates democratic vulnerability to global audience. 2025: Project 2025 advocates open authoritarian consolidation while Congress cedes constitutional powers and Fox News normalizes the transition.
Each phase removed obstacles to Chinese strategic objectives while creating new vulnerabilities to exploit. The progression shows remarkable consistency: every major crisis weakened either American capacity or that of another adversary, while strengthening China's position.
Is this the greatest intelligence operation in history, or the luckiest sequence of coincidences ever recorded?
The Compromised Political Class
The elevation of compromised figures to positions of power deserves particular scrutiny. Beyond Hastert's documented history of child molestation, consider the broader pattern: politicians whose personal vulnerabilities made them susceptible to various forms of pressure consistently rising to influential roles.
Was this a statistical anomaly, with so many compromised figures reaching positions where they could influence American policy in ways that happened to benefit Chinese strategic interests? Or evidence of selection pressures that ensured a compliant political establishment?
The current behavior of Republican leadership suggests either genuine authoritarian conviction or systematic coercion. Both possibilities serve the same strategic purpose: dismantling American democratic resilience from within.
Almost Checkmate, But Not Quite
We're approaching what strategic analysts call a "decisive point", the moment when accumulated advantages become overwhelming. If this analysis is correct, China's leaders may believe they've achieved their generational goal: displacing American hegemony without direct military confrontation.
The media infrastructure is in place to prevent collective recognition of the threat. The political class shows systematic compliance with authoritarian consolidation. The economic dependencies make resistance costly. The useful idiots genuinely believe they're saving America while dismantling its democratic foundations.
But the game isn't over. Recognition of the pattern is the first step toward effective response. Americans still possess the economic, technological, and institutional resources to chart a different course, if only we can overcome the artificial divisions that prevent collective action.
The Path Forward
For ordinary citizens, the response requires both immediate resistance and long-term strategic thinking:
Immediate resistance: Call out politicians who abandon constitutional duties. Support transparency measures that assume institutional compromise. Resist authoritarian consolidation regardless of partisan affiliation.
Media literacy: Recognize that Fox News and similar outlets operate as political advocacy organizations, not news services. Seek diverse information sources. Resist echo chambers that prevent democratic deliberation.
Economic sovereignty: Reduce dependence on supply chains controlled by strategic competitors. Recognize that every dollar strengthening adversaries weakens our position.
Institutional defense: Support democratic norms and separation of powers. Demand accountability. Recognize that constitutional governance requires active citizen participation.
The Stakes
This isn't about partisan politics, it's about whether democratic self-governance can survive systematic assault by more patient, strategically focused adversaries. Whether through remarkable opportunism or deliberate orchestration, American institutions have been systematically weakened while Chinese global influence expanded.
Fox News alone has created "a society that is starkly divided, embroiled in cultural disputes and afflicted by distrust and dysfunction." The network has "propelled a shift further to the right, manipulating the truth and leaving the public and political leaders grappling with a diminished sense of trust." How convenient for Chinese strategic interests that this happened precisely when coherent American response to Chinese influence operations became most crucial.
Sun Tzu taught that "the supreme general wins before the enemy realizes they're at war." If this analysis is correct, we've been at war for decades without recognizing it. The question now is whether Americans can adapt quickly enough to preserve the freedom and sovereignty that generations fought to build.
The Chinese strategists may believe victory is inevitable. They may be right, unless we wake up to the possibility that decades of seemingly unrelated crises and political dysfunction weren't accidental, and start responding accordingly.
As long as the spark of liberty burns in American hearts, the outcome remains unwritten. But that spark won't survive indefinitely without deliberate effort to protect it. The choice is ours, for now.
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