novelraw Page 140
Page 140
The other staff members basically shared this attitude. They all believed that Europe was the center of the world. Even though Europe had declined after World War II, it was still the most important fulcrum in the world. Only by controlling this fulcrum could the United States better control the whole world.
There was nothing wrong with the strategy itself; at the time, we certainly didn't deserve to be valued so much by the United States.
The United States did indeed achieve effective control over the world after World War II through its control of Europe. However, no strategy is absolutely foolproof. When the United States decided to focus on Europe, it meant that it could not deploy overwhelming power in Asia. For the United States at this time, unless it went all out, it simply could not maintain its dominance.
To put it bluntly, a country's strength is limited, and it is impossible to complete all tasks indiscriminately. There must be a focus, which is why each generation has its own tasks.
This statement can also be understood as investing limited resources in the areas most needed in the present era.
Trump stood up, walked to the world map, and said with his back to the crowd, "Gentlemen, you are all America's elite, and I trust your judgment. But as America's elite, we must plan not only for the present, but also for the future."
"Xinhua is a huge, latent threat. They are still very weak now, but if we ignore their strength and potential because of their weakness, then our descendants will pay a heavy price for our arrogance today."
"The Korean War only ended not long ago, and we still have many soldiers in the Bitong POW camp. Our commanders know very well how tenacious Xinhua soldiers are. Everyone thinks that democracy is the key to cultivating such tenacious soldiers..."
Trump paused, then continued, "Don't forget that in history, China was the master of Asia for a long time. They looked down on the whole world with arrogance. They were invincible at that time. It was only because of some mistakes of their own that they were ruled by foreign powers for a long time. But even in those darkest years, they still called themselves the Celestial Empire."
"This is Xinhua, now hidden next to the Soviet Union, a behemoth that will surpass the Soviet Union in the future."
"Remember, they are not a vassal of the Soviet Union, but a dangerous and powerful adversary."
"I know that none of you here will believe what I'm saying today, but that's alright. I am the president, and I have a duty to consider the future of America. I also have the right to ensure that the country carries out my will. Therefore, I demand that you devise a plan to contain Xinhua, or better yet, to split it up and eliminate it."
As Trump said, Eisenhower's staff didn't quite understand why he valued Xinhua so much, but that didn't stop them from serving the president and devising the plans Trump wanted.
However, after seeing the details of the plan, Trump was completely unable to contain himself.
What the heck? Teaming up with India? No, dude, are you serious?
Section 17: Enemies That Will Blow Your Mind
“Listen, you can unite with anyone, anyone, you understand? But not India. India is a pile of dog shit! A pile of dog shit that looks very fancy!”
Others may not understand India, but how could Trump, who seems to have traveled from the 21st century, not understand it? In the past, cooperating with India was a last resort, but now that he has a choice, he really doesn't want to step into that cesspool.
The idea that India can stand up to Xinhua is ridiculous. If a real war were to break out, India would be like a fragile glass doll that breaks at the slightest touch. Xinhua would only need to deliver a few punches to turn India into shards of glass.
During the Sino-Indian War, Xinhua had no plan for a full-scale attack on India, but India almost disintegrated on its own.
In some northern Indian states, people have even started learning Chinese, and many Indians are even prepared to serve the Chinese.
It was 1953. Objectively speaking, India at that time had very little cohesion and was even more disorganized. If India, with its strange self-confidence, clashed with Xinhua, it would definitely be crushed.
Then Xinhua will become even more dominant in Asia. Is your plan intended to contain Xinhua or to help it achieve its dominance?
The staff looked at Eisenhower with bewildered expressions.
No, Your Excellency, didn't you agree to this before? Why are you suddenly going back on your word? It's very difficult for us staff members to keep changing our minds like this.
"Your Excellency, India's size and population are our only hope in confronting Xinhua. Other countries are too small to pose any threat to Xinhua."
"That's what's giving me a headache."
At this point, Trump, who was now Eisenhower, sighed.
It's too difficult, really too difficult. Aside from the Soviet Union, which could somewhat restrain Xinhua, other countries were essentially just decorations.
Trump initially thought he would have many opportunities after time travel, but after looking at the map, he realized that opportunities never existed in the first place. Xinhua has been the number one power in Asia for too long, and the surrounding countries, whether they like it or not, have essentially become like Xinhua. They don't even dare to completely sever ties with Xinhua, because that would mean a break in their culture. Relying on these cultural heritages left over from more than two thousand years ago, it wouldn't be too easy for Xinhua to suppress these small countries.
What makes Trump even more uneasy is that the reason he can use these small countries to cause trouble is mainly based on Xinhua's desire to save face.
If Xinhua truly embarks on a hegemonic path in Asia, then no country in the surrounding region, including the Soviet Union, can stop this dragon.
Thinking about this, Trump stood in front of the map for a long, long time, and then he turned his gaze to the larger red bear to the north.
"Do you think there's any possibility of easing tensions between us and the Soviet Union? Let's unite as the top dog and crush the second-in-command."
Upon hearing this, Eisenhower's staff were stunned.
Mr. President, what are you saying? Mr. President!
Eisenhower's staff were starting to panic. Why was the president behaving so strangely after recovering from his illness? He was completely different from before; what kind of outlandish actions were these? Cooperating with the Soviet Union? How could that be? They were a socialist country, and we were a capitalist country; their purpose in being founded was to eliminate us.
This is a life-or-death enemy relationship; how could there possibly be a basis for cooperation?
Even if we wanted to cooperate, Stalin wouldn't agree.
Of all the advisors, everyone except Kissinger was opposing Trump, while Kissinger was deep in thought.
Trump's idea is not ahead of its time. In the history of the Cold War, the United States did indeed consider dividing the world with the Soviet Union, each occupying its own base, supporting proxies at the top and bottom, and fighting without breaking apart.
However, such compromise is meaningless. When the Soviet Union became Soviet revisionism, the hegemonic powers became the biggest enemies, and the intensity of the conflict was even greater than when the Soviet Union was not revisionist.
The reason is very simple. Before the Soviet Union was revised, it was at least genuinely working for the benefit and well-being of its people. Such a country would not be interested in waging war unless forced to. But the Soviet revisionists were different. For the sake of their red imperial hegemony, they could do anything, including trampling on their former great beliefs.
So cooperation is very difficult. At most, we can cooperate on issues related to Xinhua, and then Kennedy died. Tsk tsk tsk.
However, Stalin would certainly not cooperate with the United States now. Putting aside everything else, given the strength of the People's Revolutionary Union, if the Soviet Union dared to betray socialism, Qin Shan would dare to carry out a major overhaul of the Soviet Union. He certainly had a suitable team to replace him.
If the Soviet Union is unwilling to do it, there are plenty of others who are.
But Trump's wildly imaginative ideas have indeed inspired others. Kissinger, with his approach and tact, is very realistic, and pragmatic American politicians are willing to try. However, it's just an experiment; now is not a good time for cooperation because the two sides truly lack a foundation for collaboration.
After some persuasion from Eisenhower's presidential staff, Trump suddenly realized that the United States today is not the United States of the past, but a parallel world's United States, and McCarthyism 2.0 is still rampant.
You want to oppose communism and the Soviet Union one minute, and then you have the Secretary of State shake hands with the Soviet Union and make peace the next. The people simply cannot accept that.
What was the point of all that trouble? Is it a joke?!
"Damn it, what kind of mess is this? Stop this immediately!"
"Your Excellency, this matter has been largely resolved. We have indeed eliminated many spies, and the existence of Cybertron and Prism has severely damaged our American intelligence system."
"What is that?" Trump instantly calmed down.
The Prism program, Cybertron—is this something the US has right now?
Okay, no, the predecessor of the PRISM program was the "Terrorist Surveillance Program," a program that was fully implemented after 9/11. Before that, only the FBI was doing this work, but later it was rolled out in a comprehensive manner, with indiscriminate surveillance.
Cybertron... The earliest G1 animation was from 1984!
Human Revolutionary Alliance, Human Revolutionary Alliance... wait, Human Socialist Revolutionary Alliance... this name sounds familiar...
Trump frowned, then a strong sense of crisis arose.
If I can travel through time, why can't others? Are there other time travelers in this world? And are these time travelers already beginning to profoundly influence this world?
The moment he thought of this, Trump felt a shiver run through his body, his hands and feet were ice-cold despite the hot weather, as if his body had been hollowed out.
He then began to wonder if his own time travel was part of a huge conspiracy, and whether he was merely a pawn in that conspiracy, forced to become a game when needed.
After carefully considering these possibilities, Trump gave up.
If such a person really exists, then one has no power to resist. Instead of focusing on things that one is absolutely powerless to change, it is better to look for a way to break the deadlock in the current situation.
Right now, there is only one thing I need to focus on, and that is confronting America's enemies.
Thinking about it carefully now, Xinhua may not necessarily become an enemy of the United States. Without targeting Xinhua, the country's reaction is actually quite passive. On the contrary, if it is repeatedly provoked, it will be digging its own grave.
Look at the countries surrounding Xinhua, including the Soviet Union. Those who provoked Xinhua, none of them had a good ending.
Just because we're not taking action now doesn't mean we won't seek revenge later. Xinhua is terrifying when it comes to holding grudges. As the victor of the Korean War, no one doubts Xinhua's determination and the intensity of its revenge.
Therefore, America's primary enemy at present is indeed, and can only be, the Soviet Union. Forcing the Soviet Union and Xinhua to completely align themselves would be the beginning of disaster.
After figuring all this out, Trump decided to adjust his way of looking at the world. He could no longer make judgments based on his habits from his previous life. He needed to re-examine this parallel world, but at the same time, he also had to be wary of other time travelers.
Who knows if there are time travelers on Xinhua's side, how many time travelers there are, or even time travelers in other countries and within the United States besides themselves? These people can do a lot of things simply by relying on their understanding of history.
However, the McCarthy 2.0 movement in China really needs to stop. What kind of mess is this? If the first McCarthyism was at least about arresting traitors who were detrimental to capitalism, then this one is just creating traitors.
So Trump began to use his presidential power to end McCarthyism 2.0 as soon as possible. As for those two organizations, they were obviously the work of time travelers. The investigation into these people must be carried out in secret. If they continue to do it in such a high-profile manner, it will only cause chaos throughout the United States.
But by the time Trump began to order an end, he found that things were already out of control.
Compared to Eisenhower, Trump is far more experienced in this kind of situation, having previously stirred up his LGBTQAWSE movement.
It's the same kind of mess. With his keen business and political sense, he knew that someone was definitely benefiting from it, and making huge profits. Otherwise, it wouldn't have lasted this long. There were vested interests who needed to keep the chaos going, so they kept pushing for chaos and even actively joined in.
Players are mixed in with all sorts of people, so it's impossible to identify them if you want to make a clean profit. But by analyzing the beneficiary groups, Trump quickly identified those Jewish financial groups.
Damn it, it's you guys again? World War II just ended not long ago! The Führer was really incompetent in suppressing the bandits, he deserves to go to hell!
To be precise, the biggest foothold of Jewish financial groups in the United States is Wall Street. Therefore, if Trump wants to stop McCarthyism 2.0, he must confront Wall Street. If he confronts Wall Street, he is likely to be regarded as a mortal enemy. Given their attitude towards the US president, a convertible car with wildly imaginative ideas is already on the way.
So, should we move forward or retreat?
Section 18: Bullets Fired at Wall Street
Because he has always regarded a certain mysterious Eastern power as his rival, Trump has conducted in-depth research on Chinese culture. Therefore, when dealing with issues on Wall Street, his first reaction was "If the name is not correct, the words will not be proper."
If you want to mess with someone, you need to have a reason that can withstand scrutiny and gain the support of the majority.
The time Trump was ousted by Biden in his past life, the MAGA storming of Capitol Hill was enough to prove the fighting power of ordinary people. In the new world, the opponent of Xinhua is that great man, so Trump is very uncertain now.
Others learned about that person through being beaten up, but Trump learned it from history books.
Moreover, the Xinhua News Agency in history books didn't have many cards to play, yet that person still managed to make it look like a royal flush. What if the opponent really did hold a royal flush?
Oh, by the way, Xinhua in this world already has intercontinental ballistic missiles and hydrogen bombs, making it more advanced than the United States.
Holy crap, this timeline is making my Pennsylvania spin and dim.
After internally grumbling, Trump still decided to prioritize internal stability over external threats.
This statement became a meme on the internet in the 2010s due to the amazing operation of a certain micro-management master. However, in terms of the literal meaning, the statement itself is not wrong; the person who said it is wrong.
What frustrates Trump is that even such a scoundrel is still America's most capable proxy before its collapse.
As expected, one cannot expect much from the insects' fighting prowess. A country that relies on intrigue and scheming will inevitably attract those low-class creatures.
This is where the advantages of being a time traveler from the lower reaches of history become apparent.
After realizing that the United States was completely incapable of competing with Xinhua at that time, Trump decided to implement a strategic retreat.
The United States' military presence in Asia has become a hostage that effectively ties up and wastes American energy, leaving them stranded on small islands. Before the development of the Chinese navy, it was indeed a very effective deterrent, but now it is just a target waiting to be cut off from logistics and die.
The Pacific Ocean is so vast, there's absolutely no need to make trouble with Xinhua, which is not to be trifled with and has the backing of a great leader.
On the contrary, after the United States withdrew from Asia, Xinhua would become the most influential force in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and even Central Asia and the whole of Asia. This would not be good news for the Soviet Union, and it would certainly cause trouble.
Thinking of this, Trump, with his beast-like keenness, grasped the key point.
If the US continues to pressure Xinhua, it will certainly provoke a counterattack from the combined forces of China and the Soviet Union. But if the US withdraws, won't those areas still need to be filled? Won't the Soviet Union have its own ideas then?
The more I think about it, the more I realize it's true. Hehehe, I truly am a great leader with astonishing wisdom.
As for the US's original plans to support India and intervene in Vietnam, they are now completely abandoned. They are taking a big step back, stabilizing the domestic situation before discussing anything else. Besides, is it necessary to extend their reach so far? The Americas right on their doorstep and Europe in the Atlantic are good places to exploit. There is absolutely no need to disperse the US military in order to control the world.
Yes, the US deployment in its past life was a complete mess. Global military bases sound impressive, but in reality, at the operational level, these military bases far from the US mainland cannot form an effective deterrent against truly powerful nations.
Given the land area of China and the Soviet Union, even if the United States dropped all its nuclear weapons on them, it wouldn't make a difference. In addition, both China and the Soviet Union now have their own nuclear weapons, and Xinhua's intercontinental ballistic missile technology is incredibly advanced. In short, all these factors combined mean that the United States cannot directly confront them at this time. Appropriately giving up is another form of gain.
So Trump began his global strategy, and his reasons were as described above. After the example of the Korean War, no one really knew how to refute the president's views, because the fact was that they simply couldn't win on land.
As for the sea, they have fleets now too.
However, the traditional American political elites who serve as presidential advisors are clearly still unable to break free from the inertia of thinking about global deployment, since this involves the interests of the military-industrial complex.
Don't forget, this era belongs to American industrial capital. The powerful US military equipment relies on the vast industrial base of the United States. As a military-industrial complex capable of comprehensive physical critique, it doesn't mind providing such physical output to its enemies when necessary.
Fun fact: Kennedy offended both Wall Street and the Federal Reserve, so you know what that means.
"Our aid to the Kuomintang..."
Upon hearing this, Trump's first reaction was: "Aid? They're begging us, not the other way around, for the Kuomintang to give us money!"
Everyone else was taken aback; this business-like statement was so unlike Eisenhower.
It was only then that everyone suddenly realized that after recovering from his illness, Eisenhower was becoming more and more like a businessman, doing everything based on accounts, and all of them were economic, completely disregarding politics and other factors.
You're the president, not a bookkeeper. This way of thinking is wrong. And your problem is your heart, not your brain. Why can heart disease cause such a drastic change in a person's personality?
Unfortunately, their President Eisenhower has been possessed by the spirit of Trump, so his style of action is naturally not that of a traditional American politician. However, one can still see some of Roosevelt's influence. But how should I put it, doesn't it feel a bit too cautious? You are the President of the United States, and the United States is now a superpower. Can you please be a little more courageous? Don't just withdraw all your military forces in Asia as soon as Xinhua takes some action. That would make you a laughing stock.
Well, that's why the US can't implement a strategic retreat right now. Before it gets completely crushed, the arrogance within the US will cause votes to flow to a more hardline leader.
We are the United States, the world's number one superpower, the winner of World War II. Why can't we be a little more arrogant?
Looking back from the downstream of history, the United States at this time seems to be suffering for the sake of saving face. But you have to know that if it weren't for the confrontation with Xinhua, the United States' record of victories would still be verifiable. Victories against the weak are still victories. Not every country can still say that it will fight to the death when faced with the US military's nuclear weapons and aircraft carriers.
So even if Trump's words make perfect sense and others agree, the US will not retrench until it is truly threatened with a strategic retreat, because that would make the US appear weak and put it at a disadvantage against the Soviet Union.
Trump is feeling exhausted, in every sense of the word.