Alan Zendell, May 16, 2026

As I looked through today’s news reports and opinion pieces from CNN, Fox News, and  the New York Times, I was surprised at their consistency. There were no wildly opposed partisan views, which suggests that much of what I read was likely true.

To organize my thoughts and avoid my biases I imagined my thirteen-year-old grandson responding to a school assignment to watch Trump’s encounters with Xi Jinping and report on what he saw. Looking at it as I imagine he might gave me a simple, common-sense perspective.

President Trump arrived in Beijing lavishing praise and adulation on his Chinese counterpart. Trump can be extremely charming when he wants to be, but anyone who’s been exposed to him for any length of time knows his charm is disingenuous. It’s a character he plays. When he invited television personality and Trump critic Bill Maher to the White House for dinner, Maher said afterward that he was amazed at how friendly and charming Trump was. He added, though, that while Trump allowed Maher to criticize his policies, there was no chance that anything Maher said would make a difference.

Xi did not reciprocate Trump’s obsequious behavior. He never praised Trump or said anything positive about him directly, instead addressing the importance of them being able to work cooperatively. While Trump was fawning over him, Xi delivered a stark warning that if Trump interfered in the dispute between Taiwan and China, it could mean war, but unlike the bombastic Trump, whose threats are always exaggerated and bullying, Xi was subtle, especially when he referred to America as a declining power while China was on the rise. My grandson would have gotten the message clearly.

Trump told anyone who would listen that it was all about relationships, and he was building one with Xi. After the summit meeting he told Fox News he considered Xi a friend. No doubt, he was desperately hoping Xi would say something that was at least conciliatory, but Xi only talked about the importance of the United States and China getting along. When a reporter asked Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi if Xi considered Trump a friend, Yi said China and the United States would continue working together.

Coming home on Air Force One, when he could say anything he wanted, he bragged about trade deals he made, suggesting China would buy 750 planes from Boeing, for example. But when asked to confirm that, China would only say it was considering buying a few aircraft but there was no deal. It was much easier to agree that China resume buying soy beans from American farmers, because that is in both country’s interests. But when it came to the three things Trump needed to get China to agree to, he came home with nothing.

About Iran’s enriched uranium, Xi repeated China’s long-standing position that Iran should not have nuclear weapons with neither specifics or offers of assistance. About the Strait of Hormuz, Xi said it should be open to all shipping, again, without offering to help, and that resulted in Trump telling the media he didn’t need help and wasn’t asking Xi for any favors. Finally, on an issue that has enormous impact on American industries, security, and the competition to develop AI, no one said anything. China processes 93% of the world’s rare earth minerals, which are vital to all three. Trump understands that if China restricts it’s exportation of rare earths it could destroy our economy. Xi had the leverage going in, and he still does.

Trump’s attempts at flattery and his desperate need to be revered by Xi were on full display when he referred to the United States and China as the world’s two superpowers, quipping “I call us the G-2.”

When XI met with Vladimir Putin before Russia invaded Ukraine, he said the friendship between China and Russia was unbreakable, and both China and Russia have strong ties to Iran. Both countries have been assisting Iran in Trump’s war with satellite intelligence and drone technology.

Putin will visit China next week. The pomp and ceremony Xi showed Trump was a skillful play on Trump’s narcissism. That’s what powerful leaders do when they disrespect the person they’re hosting but have to play the diplomatic game regardless because one serious misstep could be catastrophic in the nuclear age. I can’t wait to see how Xi receives Putin. Wouldn’t you love to be a fly on the wall when Putin and Xi mock Trump’s fantasy of a G-2 that excludes Russia?

My grandson is a smart kid who won’t draw conclusions without evidence. The only way he could possibly answer the question, “what did Trump accomplish in Beijing” would be, “nothing of substance.” For all his bombast, Trump’s hanging out there on his own. The rest of the world sees him as a deranged, dangerous clown. There’s no clear exit from Iran, and the likelihood of a deal to remove Iran’s enriched uranium that was as good as the Obama deal Trump tore up is vanishingly small.