Trump’s “fantastic future”: made in China, resold in America

Beijing rolled out the red carpet and promised a “fantastic future” between the two powers. Fantastic, indeed — for a product line. Factory-priced caps, wholesale shirts, campaign props ready to ship. The summit as a showroom. The handshake as a purchase order.

Sovereignty now trades like merchandise. Washington dreams of selling oil to China in exchange for boxes of caps to fuel the rallies. The barter of the century: crude for swag. Russia steps in as a strategic partner with energy and military weight. A leader in Pyongyang listens as if the summit were a rehearsal for the next parade. Iran waits in the doorway, asking what the margin is — and whether what gets resold is oil, or the dignity of a nation.

In that marketplace, sovereignty is just another bulk item.

This “fantastic future” is not diplomacy. It is a catalog. China manufactures, Russia backs, North Korea listens, America resells. In that marketplace, sovereignty is just another bulk item, shipped with free delivery and a grin. The cartoon draws itself. The tragedy is that so does the policy.