Talk radio host Hugh Hewitt says despite political differences, Americans need to rally against the real threat to our democracy — China.
Hewitt made his remarks in a column for The Washington Post on Monday.
"Whatever the root cause, our current venom-based politics will cripple our country if only by diverting our eyes from the one genuinely existential threat: the Chinese Communist Party," he said.
"Make an early New Year’s resolution for your country’s sake: Even if you won’t put down your dueling sabers with the other side in our endless cultural and political wars, you will at least try to see that the real danger is China."
He noted elections in 1968, 1980, and 2004 were pushed by "unique national security" concerns.
Hewitt said: "The elections of 2022 and 2024 might fall into this category if the country’s political and chattering classes reject both the tyranny of their extremes and the obsessions of social media and cable news. The country cannot afford another 15 years of self-absorption. We can’t afford five."
Hewitt stated that China’s President Xi Jinping is "backed by a Communist Party as ruthless as any of its predecessors."
He maintained the U.S. has largely paid no attention "to the rising challenge of China" for the past 25 years, adding that the U.S. is only now "approaching an appropriate level of alarm."
"Two decades of battles with Islamist extremism might seem to have left the United States too exhausted for a long struggle with China, much less with a China potentially aligned with Russia and Iran," he said. "But there isn’t much of a choice here: Rally, or face eclipse. Eclipse will not be pleasant. Not for the near term and most certainly not for our grandchildren."
Hewitt noted that "rallying" against China is possible, allthough Hewitt said it "requires indifference to the radical 1% at each end of our politics, who are addicted to trashing the other extreme, yet refuse to compromise with their own compatriots."
He added: "We should hope our political battling never ends — it’s a central mark of our freedom. But it needs perspective. Now."
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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