Not Without Incident: Questioning Big Brother's Platitudes

Can You Hear the Sounds of Hysteria?

The 2024 election is looming, and with it, constant prattle in the halls of corporate media and the US government that Russia, as well as China, are already preparing to interfere to try and boost Trump’s chances against Biden.[i] In an article for Mother Jones, serial fabulist David Corn, a prime mover of the now thoroughly debunked Russigate conspiracy theory, drones on about Vladimir Putin’s alleged efforts to warp American’s opinions of Ukraine ahead of November’s presidential election.

Corn refers to recent testimony from Biden’s Director of National Intelligence, Avril Haines, where she declares impending Russian election interference through disinformation campaigns and the use of bots as a primary target for the US intelligence community. He then writes that:

“In fact, disinformation experts in and out of government regularly say a crucial element in thwarting such operations is to alert the public that it is being targeted by bad-faith actors with false messages. Basically, you have to educate people about the big picture and then try to counter the specific instances as they occur. Here’s the rub: In a time of political division, not all major players are keen to do this. Especially when they, too, are engaging in similar activities.”[ii]

Firstly, no one is a “disinformation expert”, and no one person is better equipped than another to spot disinformation. There is no scientific process or studious analysis that goes into identifying bunk. The profession of “disinformation expertise” is a bogus credential gifted to pompous cretins whose goal is to ensure that their preferred narrative is propagated by all mass media, not to seek and destroy lies and mythologies from their enemies like Russia. It’s amusing that Corn notes that many major players “are engaging in similar activities”, meaning, engaging in the spread of disinformation. Corn is unwittingly referring to his own activities, as well as those of the publication he writes for, Mother Jones, which regularly spat out articles covering the wasteful, fantastical Trump-Russia investigation with drooling anticipation of Trump’s arrest.[iii]

Corn also wrote a book with joke journalist Michael Isikoff titled Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin’s War on America and the Election of Donald Trump.[iv] This book reads more like a Robert Ludlum novel than a work of serious investigative journalism, as it is crammed with tales of intrigue, espionage, pay-offs, and back door deals. It is similar to Luke Harding’s book on the Russia investigation, Collusion: Secret Meetings, Dirty Money, and How Russia Helped Donald Trump Win.[v] Harding bizarrely asserts that Trump’s visit to the then Soviet Union in 1987 was part of an effort by the Russians to “cultivate Trump”. Harding argues that in the face of a hawkish Raegan administration, especially compared to the weak and pathetic Carter and Ford administrations, Russia was desperate to infiltrate the US through cultivating elites, and he writes that “It was around this time that Donald Trump appears to have attracted the attention of Soviet intelligence. How that happened, and where that relationship began, is an answer hidden somewhere in the KGB’s secret archives. Assuming, that is, that the documents still exist.”[vi] This illustrates the glaring issue with the ‘intrepid reporting’ of Harding and others like Corn. Harding admits that there is no evidence, and he says that it might not even exist. If it does not, how can he be sure of his claims.

Jonathan Chait made the same claims about Trump being cultivated by Russia since 1987, and he writes in an article before the Trump-Putin summit in 2018 that:

“As Trump arranges to meet face-to-face and privately with Vladimir Putin later this month, the collusion between the two men metastasizing from a dark accusation into an open alliance, it would be dangerous not to consider the possibility that the summit is less a negotiation between two heads of state than a meeting between a Russian-intelligence asset and his handler.”[vii]

Again, this is more speculative fiction than serious reporting. Most of the literature on Trump and Rusia should be moved from the non-fiction to the fiction section in all bookstores and libraries. While they criticize Republicans and those who question illiberal liberal orthodoxies like the doom of climate change or the poison of global white supremacy, they spout baseless conspiracy theories and insist that it is not them engaging in conspiracism.

Not only that, but those who point out the inanity of their conspiracies are called victims of Trump’s disinformation sphere. One such example is Tucker Carlson and his audience, which dwarfs that of all corporate news shows combined. A recent article published by Newsweek claimed that Carlson had started airing a show on Russian State TV, however, a few days later, it was updated due to their being no evidence.[viii] In other words, it’s utter junk.

Newsweek has a section of its website dedicated to stories about combatting fake news and disinformation. Recent additions include an article discussing a study published by the magazine Nature on how fact checking fake news may cause people to believe it even more, and another on how Trump has been sharing altered versions of news articles on him to erase negative opinions about him.[ix] Not only is Newsweek’s fake news article on Carlson still up, but it is not subject to the same scrutiny that media like Carlson’s show is all the time. There are different standards depending on who is concocting lies, and who the lies hurt. As Corn identifies, those who complain about disinformation engage in it themselves- this includes him and publications like Newsweek.

The new alarming threat, say disinformation experts, is use the of deepfakes, through AI generated audio and video, in attempts to undermine US support for Ukraine. This will apparently benefit Trump and the MAGA Republicans. [x] The notion that if Trump is elected, funding to Ukraine will cease, is a myth. The corporate media still runs with narrative that Trump will withdraw from NATO and will cut funding of Ukraine if elected president. However, this is totally contradicted by Trump’s role in getting the last aid package to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan delivered as he coordinated with the Republican leadership in the House to get the bill passed and then signed by Biden. [xi] Trump has also said he will continue to support NATO. Just like he did in his first term, he is walking back positions that repulse the ruling class. Despite this, he and his campaign cronies project an image of anti-establishment populism. This is also contradicted by Trump’s actions in office versus his stated positions on Russia during his 2016 campaign. He went from decrying the Obama regime for being outsmarted by Putin to taking an even more hardline stance to Moscow, bending to the will of bloodthirsty imps like John Bolton and Fiona Hill.

Since Trump’s view on Ukraine and Russia mirrors Biden’s, what is in it for Putin to push for Trump’s victory in 2024. Aid to Ukraine and US membership in NATO has already been ‘Trump proofed’ by the illiberal liberal class. Thus, even if Trump, on a whim or an attempt to assuage his loyal supporters, decided to reverse course and cut off aid to Ukraine or to begin US withdrawal from NATO, he is prevented from doing this unilaterally through legislation directed at him and enacted out of fear of his rashness. Thus, the entire basis for fearmongering about Russian interference in the upcoming US election is at best a contradictory, and at worst, a ridiculous conspiracy theory intended to plant the seeds for election denialism if Trump wins over Biden.

Russiagate is the first installment of Trump’s Stop the Steal crusade after his loss in 2020. If Trump does become president-elect in November, his victory will be hailed as a win for Russia, and we will see a replay of 2016-2020.

The craven and malicious disinformation industry is a far bigger threat to the West than Russia, China, or Iran. Those who scream the loudest about Russian disinformation are projecting, as they are not infuriated that Russia is propagating anti-Western disinformation and propaganda, they are frustrated by Russian narratives colliding and competing with their narratives. On the digital battlefield, all the major combatants are spreading falsities and magical conspiracy theories. The difference is on whose behalf are the conspiracies spread, the bad countries who, according to the illiberal liberal class, comprise a new axis of evil, or the exceptional West.

---

Tariff Man the Second

The result of the Biden regime’s years long review of Trump’s tariffs imposed on China in 2018 is to implement more, not to rescind them as he promised to during his 2020 campaign.[xii] Biden’s election in 2020 was welcomed by the Western foreign policy elite for many reasons, but importantly, his election signalled a shift away from protectionism and back to unfettered free trade and support for the WTO. However, since Biden entered office, he has hardened Trump’s trade policy and is even more protectionist. The exact approach that he and his cheerleaders criticized Trump for, unilateral protectionism, is what he has concluded is the only option to stop the threat of China.

Biden has gone from arguing that Trump’s trade war with China is misguided and costly to American workers, who Trump claimed to be fighting for, and Biden, when he was running for the Democratic nomination for president in 2019, said in a speech outlining his foreign policy strategy that, “President Trump may think he’s being tough on China. All that he’s delivered as a consequence of that is American farmers, manufacturers and consumers losing and paying more,”[xiii] Yet, after reviewing Trump’s tariffs and admitting that they had economic consequences, Biden has decided to impose more tariffs that he claims are “strategic” and “smart”. The claim that there is a stark difference between Biden and Trump’s approach to trade and tariffs, and that there is no difference in their rationale, is absurd, despite what scholars like William Alan Reisnch argue.[xiv]

Trump and his cronies like Peter Navarro may depict the US as a victim of China’s unfair trade practices, like currency devaluation and steel dumping, but Biden does not take a more nuanced approach than this. He instead masks Trump’s victim narrative under the guise of strategic competition and the insistence that China “follow the rules of the road”, meaning bend to the will of the US led global economic order. Biden may not assert, like Trump did on many occasions, that China is “raping” America, but he is bolstering the narrative that it is China who resorts to economic coercion and unfair trade practices, not the US. While it may be true that China engages in economic coercion, they do no do so in isolation and without the example of the US and the entire West doing the same for decades.

With Biden at the helm, US trade policy may be differentiated from Trump’s in its manner, leading to Biden being noted as the overseer of “polite protectionism”, but the underlying policy is the exact same.[xv] Biden’s regime is taking the same exact approach as Trump’s, and Robert Lighthizer and Peter Navarro have already promised to go further if Trump is victorious in this year’s election.[xvi] It Is possible that even if Biden is re-elected, tariffs on Chinese imports will be raised anyways.

An obvious motivation behind imposing additional tariffs is capturing the Rust Belt in the November election.[xvii] Trump and Biden are each trying to outdo the other on hiking tariffs, with Trump promising to put 200% tariffs on electric cars from China, as well as higher tariffs on cars imported from Mexico.[xviii] Proposing a change to America’s current trade policy with China is political suicide, and the Biden regime knows it. His escalation of the trade war with China forces Trump to promise even more escalation. Biden needs to capture the Rust Belt states in November to guarantee 270 electoral college votes, and appearing tough on China, but spinning his approach as somehow smarter and more targeted is his 2024 campaign’s way of saying, we were wrong in 2020 and Trump was right, but we promise under our administration the conflict with China will remain a cold war, and will not spiral out of control, whereas, under a second Trump administration, inevitably populated by Navarro and Robert Lighthizer, who together with Wilbur Ross form what The Cato Institute referred to as “the protectionist triumvirate”, supposed strategic competition with China would not be managed, it would be mismanaged and allowed to devolve into chaos and potential conflict.[xix] This assurance is at best shaky and should be treated with the utmost suspicion.

Anyone in favor of an unfettered international free trade regime should not be satisfied with Biden’s team of anti-China protectionists. There are some who have accepted that no matter who is elected in November, protectionism is here to stay in the US, especially in relation to China. Many scholars lament the recent decline in support for free trade among American voters in both major political parties.[xx]

The lurch towards deglobalization that accelerated under Trump and has continued under Biden is a result of a shift in politics in states hit the hardest by globalization starting from the Reagan administration. In its effort to sever ties with China and to ensure that it is not granted access to advanced technologies, the US is unwittingly furthering deglobalization that was so lamented during the Trump era. Even scholars who acknowledge the immense and devastating costs of globalization argue that the strategy of deglobalization, of what they refer to as isolationism, is misguided and will worsen the consequences of globalization, not remedy them. Richard Haass makes this plea on behalf of the unfettered free trade regime when he writes that, “Globalization is not a problem for governments to solve; it is a reality to be managed. To embrace wholesale deglobalization is to choose a false cure – and one much worse than the disease.”[xxi]  He also argues elsewhere that China’s unfair trade practices must be combatted, as do other scholars who, as they argue for a reversal of America’s recent lurch towards protectionism, are adamant that China must be economically contained. They may disguise their preferred strategy for taking on Chinese trade coercion as multilateral and alliance oriented, but it is simply Western versus Eastern imperialism. Globalization must include China and Russia, as well as countries like North Korea, who are totally excluded from the WTO and the global free trade regime. If it does not, then it is not a truly global phenomenon.

The result of US protectionism will not be a successful blow to China’s already fragile and fracturing economy, but the creation of a new trade alliance that excludes the US and its remaining partners. The US is making itself an outlier in such a renewed trade system. As Scott Lincicome of The Cato Institute points out, “Being that outlier means not just losing out on trade’s proven economic benefits, but also being a non‐​participant or backbencher in whatever spaghetti bowl of new international agreements that supplements or supplants the WTO.”[xxii] The WTO, a system built by the US and designed to benefit it at the expense of its adversaries, like Russia, is burning down and the Biden regime, like its predecessor, is letting it happen. The confused fear of many in the illiberal liberal class who hoped that the election of Biden in 2020 would mean a turn back to liberal free trade and away from protectionism is perfectly captured by Lincicome when he writes that, “Maybe abandoning it makes for good politics in the Rust Belt, but at what cost?”[xxiii]

Importantly, Biden’s decision to continue Trump’s trade war undermines the whole notion of strategic competition. If the US is blocking China from certain technologies, like advanced chips from companies like Nvidia, then how is that fair competition, and if, as Biden claims, “American workers and businesses can outcompete anyone—as long as they have fair competition.”, then why react to China’s unfair trade practices by implementing equally unfair practices.[xxiv] The White House says that “The Biden-Harris Administration recognizes the benefits for our workers and businesses from strong alliances and a rules-based international trade system based on fair competition.”, and their emphasis on fair competition, and their alleged affinity for a rules based global trade system is ridiculous and obviously false.[xxv] They are openly blocking China, their competitor, from a level playing field and we are supposed to believe that such behavior is justified because China is a bad country. As Patrick Lawrence notes, policymakers in Washington, out of desperation and as a consequence of decades of shoddy and carefree economic policy, are “Keeping a competitor out by erecting walls made of import tariffs, when viewed from this perspective, is the desperate choice of people who simply cannot measure up to a moment that requires more intellect, imagination and courage than they can summon.”[xxvi] Instead of compete according to the much-lauded rules based order, the US and its policymakers are rigging the competition and contrary to what people like Kevin Rudd say, who advocates for a policy of “managed strategic competition” between the US and China, there is no competition, and the US is not living up to its proclaimed reputation for economic competition.[xxvii] The economic war between the US and China is a contest of dualling imperialisms- not one that is liberalism versus autocracy.

---

[i] Benen, Steve. “Evidence Suggests Russia Is Targeting U.S. Elections (Yes, Again).” MSNBC.com, February 27, 2024. https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/evidence-suggests-russia-targeting-us-elections-yes-rcna140737., Chalfant, Morgan. “U.S. Braces for Foreign Interference in 2024 Election | Semafor.” http://www.semafor.com, March 6, 2024. https://www.semafor.com/article/03/06/2024/us-braces-for-foreign-interference-in-2024-election., Lindsay, James M. “Election 2024: China’s Efforts to Interfere in the U.S. Presidential Election.” Council on Foreign Relations, April 5, 2024. https://www.cfr.org/blog/election-2024-chinas-efforts-interfere-us-presidential-election., and Marquardt, Alex. “Top US Intel Officials Warn Russia’s War in Ukraine Hasn’t Lessened Kremlin’s Desire to Interfere in US Elections | CNN Politics.” CNN, January 10, 2024. https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/09/politics/russia-war-ukraine-us-election-interference/index.html.

[ii] Corn, David. “Here Come the Russians, Again.” Mother Jones, May 24, 2024. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/05/here-come-the-russians-again/.

[iii] Corn. “It All Began with Russia: Donald Trump’s Four Great Betrayals of the Nation.” Mother Jones, January 19, 2021. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/01/it-all-began-with-russia-donald-trumps-four-great-betrayals-of-the-nation/., “Trump Aided and Abetted Russia’s Attack. That Was Treachery. Full Stop.” Mother Jones, March 24, 2019. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/03/trump-mueller-report-russia/., and Friedman, Dan. “The ‘Russia Hoax’ Narrative Just Took a Big Blow.” Mother Jones, May 21, 2022. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/05/trumps-russia-hoax-narrative-just-took-a-big-blow/.

[iv] Isikoff, Michael, and David Corn. Russian Roulette. Twelve, 2018.

[v] Harding, Luke. Collusion: Secret Meetings, Dirty Money, and How Russia Helped Donald Trump Win. New York: Vintage Books, A Division of Penguin Random House Llc, 2017.

[vi] Harding. Collusion: Secret Meetings, Dirty Money, and How Russia Helped Donald Trump Win.

[vii] Chait, Jonathan. “What If Trump Has Been a Russian Asset since 1987?” Intelligencer, July 8, 2018. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/07/trump-putin-russia-collusion.html.

[viii] Cole, Brendan. “Tucker Carlson Show Aired by Russian State TV.” Newsweek, May 21, 2024. https://www.newsweek.com/tucker-carlson-launches-show-russian-state-tv-russia-24-1903045.

[ix] Newsweek. “Fake News.” Newsweek, August 20, 2023. https://www.newsweek.com/topic/fake-news.

[x] Yerushalmy, Jonathan. “AI Deepfakes Come of Age as Billions Prepare to Vote in a Bumper Year of Elections.” The Guardian, February 23, 2024, sec. World news. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/23/ai-deepfakes-come-of-age-as-billions-prepare-to-vote-in-a-bumper-year-of-elections.

[xi] Fleetwood, Blake. “Trump’s Enabling of Ukraine Aid Passage Offers RFK a Big Political Opportunity.” The Hill, May 2, 2024. https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/4628966-trumps-enabling-of-ukraine-aid-passage-offers-rfk-a-big-political-opportunity/.

[xii] The White House. “FACT SHEET: President Biden Takes Action to Protect American Workers and Businesses from China’s Unfair Trade Practices.” The White House, May 14, 2024. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/05/14/fact-sheet-president-biden-takes-action-to-protect-american-workers-and-businesses-from-chinas-unfair-trade-practices/.

[xiii] Pramuk, Jacob. “Biden Slams Trump’s Trade War Even as He Calls to ‘Get Tough’ on China.” CNBC. CNBC, July 11, 2019. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/11/joe-biden-slams-trump-china-trade-war-in-foreign-policy-speech.html.

[xiv] Reinsch, William Alan. “The Return of Tariff Man—but Not the One You Were Expecting.” Www.csis.org, 2024. https://www.csis.org/analysis/return-tariff-man-not-one-you-were-expecting.

[xv] Bacchus, James. “Biden and Trade at Year One: The Reign of Polite Protectionism.” Cato.org, 2022. https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/biden-trade-year-one., Lemieux, Pierre. “Biden’s Protectionism: Trumpism with a Human Face.” Cato.org, 2022. https://www.cato.org/regulation/fall-2022/bidens-protectionism-trumpism-human-face.

[xvi] Lighthizer, Robert. No Trade Is Free. HarperCollins, 2023., and The Economist. “Donald Trump’s Former Trade Chief Makes the Case for More Tariffs.” The Economist, March 24, 2024. https://www.economist.com/by-invitation/2024/03/08/donald-trumps-former-trade-chief-makes-the-case-for-more-tariffs.

[xvii] The White House. “WHAT THEY ARE SAYING: Labor, Business, and Elected Leaders Praise President Biden’s Actions to Protect American Workers and Businesses from China’s Unfair Trade Practices.” The White House, May 16, 2024. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/05/16/what-they-are-saying-labor-business-and-elected-leaders-praise-president-bidens-actions-to-protect-american-workers-and-businesses-from-chinas-unfair-trade-practices/.

[xviii] Palmer, Doug. “Biden Attacks Trump with New China Tariff Announcement.” Politico, May 14, 2024. https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/14/biden-china-tariff-trump-00157906.

[xix] Ikenson, Daniel J., Daniel J. Mitchell, and Caleb O. Brown. “Trump and Trade: The Protectionist Triumvirate.” Cato.org, 2024. https://www.cato.org/multimedia/cato-daily-podcast/trump-trade-protectionist-triumvirate.

[xx] Burns, Tobias. “How Trump and Biden Killed the Free-Trade Consensus.” The Hill, September 25, 2023. https://thehill.com/business/4222035-how-trump-and-biden-killed-the-free-trade-consensus/., Hanson, Gordon H. “Washington’s New Trade Consensus.” Foreign Affairs, December 12, 2023. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/washingtons-new-trade-consensus-hanson-lighthizer., Hufbauer, Gary. “Biden–Trump Lurch to Tariffs a Turning Point in World Economic History.” East Asia Forum, June 2, 2024. https://eastasiaforum.org/2024/06/02/biden-trump-lurch-to-tariffs-a-turning-point-in-world-economic-history/., and McNally, Christopher A. “Tariff Wars and Industrial Policy.” China-US Focus, May 30, 2024. https://www.chinausfocus.com/finance-economy/tariff-wars-and-industrial-policy.

[xxi] Haass, Richard. “Deglobalization and Its Discontents” Project Syndicate, May 12, 2020. https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/deglobalizaton-discontents-by-richard-n-haass-2020-05.

[xxii] Lincicome, Scott. “Donald Trump Staggered the Global Trading System. Joe Biden Might Finish It Off.” Cato.org, 2024. https://www.cato.org/commentary/donald-trump-staggered-global-trading-system-joe-biden-might-finish-it.

[xxiii] Lincicome. “Donald Trump Staggered the Global Trading System. Joe Biden Might Finish It Off.”

[xxiv] The White House. “FACT SHEET: President Biden Takes Action to Protect American Workers and Businesses from China’s Unfair Trade Practices.”

[xxv] The White House. “FACT SHEET: President Biden Takes Action to Protect American Workers and Businesses from China’s Unfair Trade Practices.”

[xxvi] Lawrence, Patrick. “The Price of Biden’s New China Tariffs.” ScheerPost, May 24, 2024. https://scheerpost.com/2024/05/23/patrick-lawrence-the-price-of-bidens-new-china-tariffs/.

[xxvii] Kennedy, Scott. “U.S.-China Relations in 2024: Managing Competition without Conflict.” Www.csis.org, January 3, 2024. https://www.csis.org/analysis/us-china-relations-2024-managing-competition-without-conflict., and Rudd, Kevin. The Avoidable War. Hachette Australia, 2022.

---

References

Bacchus, James. “Biden and Trade at Year One: The Reign of Polite Protectionism.” Cato.org, 2022. https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/biden-trade-year-one.

Benen, Steve. “Evidence Suggests Russia Is Targeting U.S. Elections (Yes, Again).” MSNBC.com, February 27, 2024. https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/evidence-suggests-russia-targeting-us-elections-yes-rcna140737.

Burns, Tobias. “How Trump and Biden Killed the Free-Trade Consensus.” The Hill, September 25, 2023. https://thehill.com/business/4222035-how-trump-and-biden-killed-the-free-trade-consensus/.

Chait, Jonathan. “What If Trump Has Been a Russian Asset since 1987?” Intelligencer, July 8, 2018. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/07/trump-putin-russia-collusion.html.

Chalfant, Morgan. “U.S. Braces for Foreign Interference in 2024 Election | Semafor.” http://www.semafor.com, March 6, 2024. https://www.semafor.com/article/03/06/2024/us-braces-for-foreign-interference-in-2024-election.

Cole, Brendan. “Tucker Carlson Show Aired by Russian State TV.” Newsweek, May 21, 2024. https://www.newsweek.com/tucker-carlson-launches-show-russian-state-tv-russia-24-1903045.

Corn, David. “Here Come the Russians, Again.” Mother Jones, May 24, 2024. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/05/here-come-the-russians-again/.

———. “It All Began with Russia: Donald Trump’s Four Great Betrayals of the Nation.” Mother Jones, January 19, 2021. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/01/it-all-began-with-russia-donald-trumps-four-great-betrayals-of-the-nation/.

———. “Trump Aided and Abetted Russia’s Attack. That Was Treachery. Full Stop.” Mother Jones, March 24, 2019. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/03/trump-mueller-report-russia/.

Fleetwood, Blake. “Trump’s Enabling of Ukraine Aid Passage Offers RFK a Big Political Opportunity.” The Hill, May 2, 2024. https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/4628966-trumps-enabling-of-ukraine-aid-passage-offers-rfk-a-big-political-opportunity/.

Friedman, Dan. “The ‘Russia Hoax’ Narrative Just Took a Big Blow.” Mother Jones, May 21, 2022. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/05/trumps-russia-hoax-narrative-just-took-a-big-blow/.

Haass, Richard. “Deglobalization and Its Discontents” Project Syndicate, May 12, 2020. https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/deglobalizaton-discontents-by-richard-n-haass-2020-05.

Hanson, Gordon H. “Washington’s New Trade Consensus.” Foreign Affairs, December 12, 2023. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/washingtons-new-trade-consensus-hanson-lighthizer.

Harding, Luke. Collusion: Secret Meetings, Dirty Money, and How Russia Helped Donald Trump Win. New York: Vintage Books, A Division of Penguin Random House Llc, 2017.

Hufbauer, Gary. “Biden–Trump Lurch to Tariffs a Turning Point in World Economic History.” East Asia Forum, June 2, 2024. https://eastasiaforum.org/2024/06/02/biden-trump-lurch-to-tariffs-a-turning-point-in-world-economic-history/.

Ikenson, Daniel J., Daniel J. Mitchell, and Caleb O. Brown. “Trump and Trade: The Protectionist Triumvirate.” Cato.org, 2024. https://www.cato.org/multimedia/cato-daily-podcast/trump-trade-protectionist-triumvirate.

Isikoff, Michael, and David Corn. Russian Roulette. Twelve, 2018.

Kennedy, Scott. “U.S.-China Relations in 2024: Managing Competition without Conflict.” Www.csis.org, January 3, 2024. https://www.csis.org/analysis/us-china-relations-2024-managing-competition-without-conflict.

Lawrence, Patrick. “The Price of Biden’s New China Tariffs.” ScheerPost, May 24, 2024. https://scheerpost.com/2024/05/23/patrick-lawrence-the-price-of-bidens-new-china-tariffs/.

Lemieux, Pierre. “Biden’s Protectionism: Trumpism with a Human Face.” Cato.org, 2022. https://www.cato.org/regulation/fall-2022/bidens-protectionism-trumpism-human-face.

Lighthizer, Robert. No Trade Is Free. HarperCollins, 2023.

Lindsay, James M. “Election 2024: China’s Efforts to Interfere in the U.S. Presidential Election.” Council on Foreign Relations, April 5, 2024. https://www.cfr.org/blog/election-2024-chinas-efforts-interfere-us-presidential-election.

Lincicome, Scott. “Donald Trump Staggered the Global Trading System. Joe Biden Might Finish It Off.” Cato.org, 2024. https://www.cato.org/commentary/donald-trump-staggered-global-trading-system-joe-biden-might-finish-it.

Marquardt, Alex. “Top US Intel Officials Warn Russia’s War in Ukraine Hasn’t Lessened Kremlin’s Desire to Interfere in US Elections | CNN Politics.” CNN, January 10, 2024. https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/09/politics/russia-war-ukraine-us-election-interference/index.html.

McNally, Christopher A. “Tariff Wars and Industrial Policy.” China-US Focus, May 30, 2024. https://www.chinausfocus.com/finance-economy/tariff-wars-and-industrial-policy.

Newsweek. “Fake News.” Newsweek, August 20, 2023. https://www.newsweek.com/topic/fake-news.

Palmer, Doug. “Biden Attacks Trump with New China Tariff Announcement.” Politico, May 14, 2024. https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/14/biden-china-tariff-trump-00157906.

Pramuk, Jacob. “Biden Slams Trump’s Trade War Even as He Calls to ‘Get Tough’ on China.” CNBC. CNBC, July 11, 2019. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/11/joe-biden-slams-trump-china-trade-war-in-foreign-policy-speech.html.

Reinsch, William Alan. “The Return of Tariff Man—but Not the One You Were Expecting.” Www.csis.org, 2024. https://www.csis.org/analysis/return-tariff-man-not-one-you-were-expecting.

Rudd, Kevin. The Avoidable War. Hachette Australia, 2022.

The Economist. “Donald Trump’s Former Trade Chief Makes the Case for More Tariffs.” The Economist, March 24, 2024. https://www.economist.com/by-invitation/2024/03/08/donald-trumps-former-trade-chief-makes-the-case-for-more-tariffs.

The White House. “FACT SHEET: President Biden Takes Action to Protect American Workers and Businesses from China’s Unfair Trade Practices.” The White House, May 14, 2024. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/05/14/fact-sheet-president-biden-takes-action-to-protect-american-workers-and-businesses-from-chinas-unfair-trade-practices/.

———. “WHAT THEY ARE SAYING: Labor, Business, and Elected Leaders Praise President Biden’s Actions to Protect American Workers and Businesses from China’s Unfair Trade Practices.” The White House, May 16, 2024. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/05/16/what-they-are-saying-labor-business-and-elected-leaders-praise-president-bidens-actions-to-protect-american-workers-and-businesses-from-chinas-unfair-trade-practices/.

Yerushalmy, Jonathan. “AI Deepfakes Come of Age as Billions Prepare to Vote in a Bumper Year of Elections.” The Guardian, February 23, 2024, sec. World news. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/23/ai-deepfakes-come-of-age-as-billions-prepare-to-vote-in-a-bumper-year-of-elections.