It just dawned on me today that the two people pictured above, the heads of two of the most powerful countries on Earth, have something very interesting in common. One of them is nearly a dictator, and the other is a dictator wannabe.  But what they have in common is the drive to dismantle the legacy of their predecessors.

In Communist China, Xi Jinping has been called the most powerful head of state since Chairman Mao.  We have observed him, for the past few years, systematically dismantling the legacy of his predecessor Deng Xiaoping.  Deng began opening up Communist China’s economy to elements of capitalism, enabling the rise of huge tech companies such as Alibaba, Tencent, and Pinduoduo; property giants like China Evergrande (in the midst of default); and other large multi-national companies that listed on foreign stock exchanges and opened offices in Europe and the US.

Xi Jinping, however, has been moving his country away from capitalism, and back toward State control of the economy.  He personally stopped the foreign stock listing of Alibaba subsidiary Ant Financial, and has been issuing all sorts of new decrees, putting Communist Chinese companies under increasing government scrutiny. When food-delivery company Didi Global listed its stock on the New York Stock Exchange, Xi went after them, removed the company from the internal Communist Chinese internet, removed their app from the Communist Chinese app store, and basically shut down their business. He decided that many large companies, not just the tech industry, were becoming too powerful, both economically and socially, and evading the control of the State.  Xi has been moving the economy in the opposite direction, including putting Party Commissars in many large companies, and discouraging foreign stock listings.  Gradually, Communist China’s economy is moving away from openness and capitalism, back toward a closed economy, and Communist control.  He is dismantling the legacy of Deng Xiaoping.

In America, Joe Biden began dismantling President Donald Trump’s legacy on his very first day in office, issuing executive orders reversing any of Trump’s actions that he could.  He cancelled the Keystone XL Pipeline project, angering our ally Canada.  He has opened our southern border to nearly unlimited illegal immigration, flooding the country with illegal aliens, drug cartels, terrorists, and disease.  He stopped building Trump’s border wall, and fired many of Trump’s appointees before their terms were over.  He has issued unilateral Federal government Covid vaccination mandates that cover most of the country (and had them held up in court).  And he and his government have pursued now private citizen Donald Trump with myriad court cases and orders, subpoenaed his former aides and colleagues, and demanded his tax returns from before he was elected president.  Not only does Biden want to dismantle Trump’s legacy, but he is attempting to destroy Trump the citizen.

So the Dictator and the Dictator Wannabe are much alike, aren’t they?  Think about that, when you wonder where the thriving Trump economy went, and why you are now paying twice as much to fill up your gas tank.