it’s so funny that he has to do this whole ritualized prostration to come out against China, and he does the ritualized prostration, and he’s done it for years, and now everyone is calling him out on it for being infelicitous, like he was swearing under oath, and not just rhetorically prostrating himself.

all he would have to say now is, like, well, i was there, and i saw a lot of nascent dissidence and people wanting liberal freedoms, but much of that was stamped out and i’m not surprised it wasn’t allowed to be covered by the press. like dog, just double down, you just look silly stammering halfbaked excuses, you’re a politician, you have to keep playing the game. you have to keep saying the lines.