Read on Twitter
Riffing on @S_Rabinovitch point: What happened in DC is ugly, but not what Xi wants people to see. US institutions managed out an unpopular leader, and rebalanced against his party's extremists through legal processes. The military stayed on sidelines. 1 riot isn't civil war. 1/x
There is a giant toxic pool in US society, but so far the political system is digesting it, albeit with some noxious side-effects. That it withstood so much pressure from a powerful President shows that on balance, checks still work. Let's compare that to China 2/X
In Hong Kong at the height of the pro-democracy/anti-Beijing demonstrations, protesters stormed legislature and trashed it. In retaliation for that, for holding a primary, and planning vetoes, the entirety of the opposition leadership has been just arrested for subversion. 3/X
(caveat to prior post, some oppo politicians remain at large) Imagine if Biden arrested the entire Republican leadership for treason because they planned to obstruct his legislative agenda , held a primary, or ideologically supported the DC riot. 4/X
The CCP brags a lot about the political stability of its model, but it hasn't figured out the art of the peaceful interregnum. Xi's ascension required imprisoning a huge faction of military/security/bureaucratic opponents, who were allegedly organizing a coup. 5/X
Xi is now firmly in control, but he is one man. The country is still one personality away from another violent power struggle - or the ascension of a leader who takes the country in an economically destructive direction as Mao did. 6/X
There are indisputable strengths in Chinese institutions, especially financial regulators, which have matured. They have delivered growth and pulled people out of absolute poverty. But a system that has to constantly censor and imprison political critics is not "stable". 7/X
My worry is Americans (on both sides of aisle) who are jealous of China's model. Without democracy we could build infrastructure/crush unions/ram thru free heathcare/block fake news/deplatform racists/communists! Yet IMHO this result supports opposite view. (So far.) [ends]
