So much for the Great Bipartisan Hope:
The House committee charged with helping the U.S. confront China risks losing momentum and falling into irrelevance amid partisan infighting on the panel, legislative dysfunction and signs of significant disagreement with Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
The House China Select Committee — established two years ago to craft strategies and shape legislation to fend off Beijing — has had a rare reputation for bipartisanship and getting bills passed. That reputation may not last much longer.
Already, partisan agendas have started to affect which legislation the group tries to push through. And the incoming Trump administration, while pledging to be tough on China, is expected to bring different priorities — making it difficult for the panel to get Trump-friendly Republicans on board with its proposals.
As we saw with the continuing resolution chaos before Christmas, the problem was getting the Freedom Caucus rebels to vote for a bill that had been negotiated with Trump’s blessing (even though he pretended that he didn’t know about it) all because Elon didn’t like it.
Now we will see that the Musk-Trump followers are looking to break up the consensus on this bipartisan committee as well:
The China Select Committee’s cornerstone crusades have included helping fortify Taiwan against a possible Chinese invasion and rallying congressional opposition to the Chinese-owned TikTok social media platform.
President-elect Trump, by contrast, has said Taiwan needs to do more for its own defense and pledged during his campaign to “save TikTok.” And his close adviser Elon Musk has business interests in China that some lawmakers and former officials say could prompt him to push Trump to soft pedal U.S. security concerns to maintain good ties with Beijing.
“Trump’s statements on China and Taiwan and his relationship with people like Musk who have interests in China say it all,” in terms of his sympathies and possible policies after he takes office, said committee member Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.).
If the China hawks all capitulate to the Musk-Trump business interests we will know that the corporate wing of MAGA really is firmly in charge of foreign policy. The big question is if Trump will muck it all up with his ignorant loose talk and insistence on throwing his weight around to look tough when the truth is that nobody really takes him very seriously — it’s clear all you have to do is kiss his feet and he’ll do whatever you want. Xi Jinping ate chocolate cake at Mar-a-Lago and feted Trump like a medieval prince when he visited the country making him believe they were buddies, just as Vlad is. I’m fairly certain that’s not true.
So who knows where all this is really going? We’re led by imbeciles, weirdos, fascists and greedheads. Anything can happen.