Trump Told Xi Jinping He’d ‘Bomb the Sh*t Out of’ China If It Invades Taiwan
AP Photo/Susan Walsh
Former President and current Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump reportedly threatened to “bomb the shit out of” China if it invaded Taiwan during a meeting with Chinese dictator Xi Jinping back in 2020.
In a recent interview with NOTUS’s Haley Byrd Wilt, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) recalled the incident. “He [Trump] told me he told Chairman Xi — I’m not sure I’ve ever said this publicly — that ‘I’m going to bomb the shit out of you if you invade Taiwan.'”
“He’s got this, like, crazy, unpredictable… That’s deterrence,” he added.
The anecdote was included in a larger piece about the prospect of an attack on Taiwan occurring in the wake of America’s 2024 presidential election.
“My gut tells me we will fight in 2025,” argued U.S. Air Force Gen. Michael Minihan in 2023. “Taiwan’s presidential elections are in 2024 and will offer Xi a reason. United States’ presidential elections are in 2024 and will offer Xi a distracted America. Xi’s team, reason, and opportunity are all aligned for 2025.”
The United States maintains a policy of strategic ambiguity on Taiwan, declining to commit to or rule out defending Taiwan in the case of Chinese war of aggression.
Trump made headlines back in 2016 by accepting a phone call from Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in contravention of longstanding U.S. convention which has discouraged such direct communication so as not to provoke the Chinese.
Some conservative foreign policy hawks expressed their approval of Trump’s message Xi.
“It’s good if our adversaries worry we might bomb them! Keeping them guessing about our response is effective deterrence,” observed former Congressman Peter Meijer, who lost his seat to a Trump-backed primary challenger after voting to impeach Trump in 2021. “If your adversaries assume a calculated rational response they can enter that into their cost-benefit calculus prior to action.”
Another hot take:
It’s good if our adversaries worry we might bomb them! Keeping them guessing about our response is effective deterrence.
If your adversaries assume a calculated rational response they can enter that into their cost-benefit calculus prior to action. (1/2) https://t.co/IF4DWpruZG
— Peter Meijer (@RepMeijer) August 8, 2024
“The higher you make that first rung on the escalatory ladder the more a reach it is,” he added.
