President Donald Trump holds all the leverage over Chinese President Xi Jinping following Xi’s recent visit to the United States — and China’s internal chaos proves it.
The high-stakes meeting between the two world leaders came at a moment when the balance of power between Washington and Beijing has shifted dramatically. While China spent the last decade projecting strength on the world stage, internal fractures are now revealing a very different picture — one of paranoia, instability, and economic decline that fundamentally alters the diplomatic calculus.
Government Accountability Institute president Peter Schweizer laid out the receipts on Fox News Channel’s “The Ingraham Angle” Friday night, explaining why Xi came to Washington from a position of total weakness.
“Trump is the one here with the upper hand.”
The evidence is stark. Xi signed orders to detain and arrest two members of China’s Central Military Commission — the most powerful body in the entire Chinese government — while flying to the United States for the meeting.
The timing of these arrests is particularly significant. That Xi felt compelled to issue such orders while en route to a critical diplomatic engagement suggests either profound insecurity about his domestic position or an urgent need to demonstrate control over potential rivals. Either interpretation points to weakness rather than strength.
That commission matters more than Xi’s role as Communist Party leader. More than his presidency. It’s the seat of real power in China. And Xi just purged two more members.
Understanding the Central Military Commission’s role is crucial to grasping the significance of these purges. This body controls China’s entire military apparatus, including its nuclear arsenal, and has historically been the kingmaker in Chinese politics. For Xi to systematically dismantle its membership reveals deep fissures within the Chinese power structure that would have been unthinkable during previous eras of Communist Party rule.
Over the last two years, Xi has purged six of the eight commission members for being “politically unreliable.”
The purge doesn’t stop there. Forty-five Chinese military generals have been disappeared over the past couple of years because Xi doesn’t trust them.
“There are 45 — 45 military generals in China that have been disappeared over the last couple of years because they’re not deemed to be politically reliable,” Schweizer said.
These numbers represent an unprecedented level of internal instability within the Chinese military leadership. Historically, such widespread purges have been indicators of regimes under severe internal pressure. The scale of Xi’s actions suggests he perceives existential threats to his authority from within the very institutions designed to protect his rule.
Meanwhile, China’s economy is cratering. Beijing has stopped releasing economic data at previous levels — a tell that the numbers are worse than they’re willing to admit publicly.
The economic dimension adds another layer of vulnerability to Xi’s position. China’s decades-long growth miracle, which provided the Communist Party with legitimacy and Xi with political capital, appears to be ending. Youth unemployment has reached alarming levels, the property sector faces systemic collapse, and foreign investment is fleeing. When authoritarian regimes stop sharing data they once trumpeted, it signals that transparency has become a liability rather than an asset.
Schweizer argued Trump handled the meeting perfectly. Be respectful. Maintain communication lines. Give nothing away.
But the “master stroke” came at the end.
Before Xi left, Trump showed him the U.S. Constitution. Walked him through the First Amendment. Explained the Second Amendment.
“It sends a message about the battle of ideas, which I think was a great way to kind of end this meeting,” Schweizer said.
This gesture represents more than mere symbolism. By highlighting the constitutional foundations of American governance — the protection of speech, press, and the right to bear arms — Trump drew a stark contrast between systems built on consent of the governed versus rule by fear. For a leader currently purging his military ranks and silencing dissent, the message carried particular weight.
Trump didn’t negotiate from weakness. He negotiated from strength — with a paranoid dictator purging his own military while his economy collapses.
The Left is already spinning the meeting as Trump “cozying up” to dictators ahead of the midterms. But the facts tell a different story.
Xi came to Washington because he had to. Trump made him wait. And when the meeting ended, Trump reminded him what freedom looks like.
The geopolitical implications extend far beyond this single meeting. With China facing internal turmoil and economic headwinds, America’s negotiating position on trade, Taiwan, and regional security has strengthened considerably. Xi’s visit may ultimately be remembered not as a meeting of equals, but as a moment when the power dynamic between the world’s two largest economies fundamentally shifted.
