The Unfortunate Symbiosis of State Banquets and Global Politics As I watched Donald Trump attend a state banquet at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, a phrase echoed through my mind: "the emperor's new clothes.
" It wasn't that Trump looked out of place in his tuxedo among Chinese dignitaries; rather, it was the surreal nature of two leaders from nations with vastly different systems and values putting on a show for the cameras.
The optics were telling. A US president attending a lavish state banquet with China's President Xi Jinping was a far cry from America First rhetoric that defined Trump's campaign and early presidency.