The guys is almost 80 73, he’s an old man.
He’s been very successful in his tenure, carried out great anti-corruption campaigns, overseen a pivot to green energy, helmed China as it has retaken its place in the sun.
At the same time there’s a lot of foreign policy stuff that leaves some wanting. There’s still cliques of liberals (as far as I understand, which is very little, which is why I ask) that are working towards something very different (I hear Shanghai is really bad?) not to mention some impending economic doom, according to some China posters here.
Whatever the case is, Xi has been monumental and at the forefront of a great wave of change. One must Imagine he has planned for his retirement, moved things around to ensure some of His Guys are in good positions to take over.
Or maybe not?
So what happens when he goes away? Who is likely to take his spot? What will happen on the world stage?
And my point is that the idea that they would be prosecuted beyond a slap on the wrist is extremely ahistorical. Even within Nixon’s administration, which was extremely conspiratorial, bordering on and often surpassing the legal definition of treason, only got smacked because it withheld information from both the Democrats, Republicans, AND the wider security state, and even then, they were pardoned or given minimal fines and sentencing.
Trump and his lackies wouldn’t just have to be ‘covering their bases’, they would have to be insane on a level rivaling Pol Pot or Jim Jones. And I don’t think they are. They know they are protected, they know who butters their bread, and they will not get in the way of elections.
As someone who lives in this country, and understands how people within it operate politically, it would be genuinely shocking if Trump suffers any consequences, and I will, literally, boil and eat my boots if he cancels elections, which I will probably have to anyways since everything would go to shit immediately if he did. It simply isn’t going to happen.