A NationalZero exclusive editorial: Since before Trump left office there has been a great deal of saber-rattling among Republicans about the threat posed by the Chinese government. Since Biden took office there have been numerous examples of Republican lawmakers urging Biden to take a more aggressive stance towards our largest trade partner. There’s one question though that I’ve yet to hear any Republican bother to address when it comes to the US/China relationship, what happens if the US and China do end up in a more confrontational stance, and China ends up suspending shipments of many consumer goods and components for manufactured goods to the US? Do Republicans think that the Chinese are going to continue shipping us tons of wafer boards, basic pharmaceuticals, semiconductors and hard drives while we’re in a shooting war with them?

At the start of the Covid 19 crisis there was a brief preview of what a war with China would be like when American consumers were hit with shortages of hand sanitizer and toilet paper. Concern over availability of key goods led to long lines at big box stores and news stories of people getting into fist fights in grocery store meat aisles. Now imagine going into a store like Wal-Mart or Target, where a substantial portion of the non-grocery items are made in Chinese factories, and seeing empty hangers and store shelves for months on end. Does anyone really think spoiled American consumers will demonstrate the same reserve and good will that their grand-parents did during World War II? Or will they start behaving like monsters and end up tearing the country apart, with news reports of inane confrontations where there are brawls and shootings over mundane items like Christmas lights and a three pack of t-shirts becoming a regular occurrence.

So, a word of warning for those Republicans encouraging a more confrontational stance with China. China doesn’t have to fire a single shot to beat us. They can just suspend shipments of consumer goods for a few months and those irate asshats that you’ve been grooming with a steady diet of conspiracy theories and gun fetishism will start hoarding everything like the paranoid bastards they are, and end up tearing this country apart from the inside, and if that happens, that’s 100% on the Republican Party. Just keep that in mind.