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Drawing on Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson’s stark assessment of Donald Trump’s Beijing summit with Xi Jinping — and the broader collapse of U.S. geopolitical dominance after the disastrous Iran war — here’s a ScheerPost-style intro and article package.
Donald Trump arrived in Beijing promising strength. He left looking desperate.
In a blistering interview with Glenn Diesen, retired Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson — former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell — painted the Trump-Xi summit not as a diplomatic triumph, but as a humiliating symbol of America’s accelerating decline after the failed war on Iran. While Chinese President Xi Jinping stood “rock solid,” Wilkerson argued, Trump arrived flanked not by serious diplomats but by billionaires, CEOs, and oligarchs searching for economic lifelines as Washington’s global influence slips through its fingers.
The interview cuts to the heart of a growing geopolitical reality many in Washington refuse to acknowledge: China is negotiating from strength, while the United States — drained by endless war, internal decay, and economic instability — is increasingly bargaining from weakness. Wilkerson describes a White House consumed by delusion, corporate greed, and militarized decline, warning that America’s ruling class is walking the country toward catastrophe while refusing to admit the empire is cracking in real time.
At the center of the discussion is the fallout from the Iran war itself. Wilkerson flatly rejects Trump administration claims of victory, pointing instead to leaked intelligence assessments suggesting Iran retains much of its missile capacity and strategic leverage. Meanwhile, China and the BRICS bloc continue consolidating power around development, infrastructure, trade, and technological expansion — a stark contrast, Wilkerson says, to an American empire increasingly defined by sanctions, war, surveillance, and oligarchic control.
Perhaps most chilling is Wilkerson’s warning about the domestic consequences of imperial decline. From attacks on whistleblowers and journalists to growing authoritarian tendencies inside the Trump administration, the retired colonel argues the United States is entering profoundly dangerous territory. Comparing America’s current trajectory to the collapse of the Roman Republic, Wilkerson warns that the country may be drifting toward political instability, repression, and even internal conflict as elites refuse to confront the limits of American power.
As Trump attempts to project dominance abroad, Wilkerson suggests the reality is far darker: the empire is no longer commanding the future — it is scrambling to survive it.
Highlights
- “The Chinese owned the summit.”
Lawrence Wilkerson argues Xi Jinping completely controlled the choreography and substance of the Trump-Xi meeting, exposing America’s weakened global position after the Iran war. - Trump arrived with oligarchs, not diplomats.
Wilkerson mocked the makeup of Trump’s delegation, saying the trip looked more like a corporate business mission than serious statecraft, with billionaires and CEOs seeking deals as U.S. power declines. - Iran war exposed U.S. weakness.
Despite White House claims of success, Wilkerson says intelligence leaks show Iran still retains significant missile and military capabilities, undermining Trump’s victory narrative. - China and BRICS are rising through development — not war.
Wilkerson contrasts America’s reliance on sanctions, militarism, and coercion with China and BRICS focusing on infrastructure, trade, cooperation, and technological expansion. - “The empire is walking into hell.”
One of Wilkerson’s harshest warnings came when describing the direction of the United States under oligarchic and militarized rule. - Strait of Hormuz crisis still unresolved.
The interview repeatedly returns to the danger of escalating conflict around the Strait of Hormuz, with fertilizer shortages, energy disruptions, and global economic fallout already intensifying. - Press freedom under growing threat.
Wilkerson warns Trump’s attacks on whistleblowers and journalists — including threats toward major outlets like The New York Times — represent a dangerous escalation toward authoritarianism. - China sees America declining in real time.
According to Wilkerson, Beijing believes the United States is weakening itself through endless wars, economic overreach, and internal political decay. - Wilkerson compares the U.S. to the fall of the Roman Republic.
The former colonel warns America’s political trajectory increasingly resembles late-stage imperial collapse and elite power struggles. - “We don’t have a way to remove this guy.”
Wilkerson delivered a chilling warning about Trump’s increasingly erratic behavior and the structural inability of the American political system to restrain executive power. - Follow Prof. Glenn Diesen: Substack: https://glenndiesen.substack.com/ X/Twitter: https://x.com/Glenn_Diesen Patreon: / glenndiesen YouTube: / @gdiesen1 Support the research: PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/glenn… Buy me a Coffee: buymeacoffee.com/gdieseng Go Fund Me: https://gofund.me/09ea012f
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