Xi’s world or Trump’s? The choice is between prosperous authoritarianism or chaotic freedom in the new cold war

Which do you prefer: the world according to Xi Jinping or the world according to Donald Trump? One is the steely leader of an authoritarian state determined to remake China as the Middle Kingdom which dominates the world. He is changing the constitution so he can be leader for life if necessary to achieve his goal.

The other is the mercurial leader of a democracy who wants to make America great again but has made it less so during his first year in office. He would love to be leader for life – and has said so – but is powerless to change the constitution. He will be president for another seven years at most.

In the world according to Xi, authoritarian rule has trumped democracy as a superior model. He wants to export it to willing countries as an alternative to democracy. He is shrewdly wooing them by dazzling leaders with roads and railways paid for with cash China earned from the West. At home, he has whipped up nationalism and pride among the population by distributing rice and cooking oil in villages, raising living standards, supersizing the country’s infrastructure, and masking his toppling of political foes as a fight against corruption. Aside from opposing factions and some in the intelligentsia, every mainlander I have met worships Xi.

In the world according to Trump, exporting American goods supersedes exporting democracy. Instead of showering countries with American largesse, he has spooked them and allies alike with threats that the US will no longer be a sucker by policing the world at its own expense. He wants allies and others fearful of an authoritarian state becoming the dominant global power to pay their share for security. He wants the world to acquiesce to his demand to make America great again. Patriotism is an inborn American trait. But, instead of uniting the people through nationalism, he has divided them through politics.

Xi wins applause from a jingoistic population for imposing punitive trade measures against places such as Taiwan, South Korea and Japan for daring to defy his wishes. But Trump gets brickbats from politicians and businesses for sparking trade wars through higher tariffs even though tariffs are in retaliation for unfair trade by other countries.

So, which gives you the jitters, Trump’s world or Xi’s? Before you answer, think cold war, not trade wars. A cold war is already in the making. Those who don’t see it are in a state of denial.