Re China: As a furious American, I honestly bear no ill will whatsoever toward China. But I do believe US corporations and investors should be tried for and convicted of treason for the past 20 years of handing off US technology -- most of which was developed with taxpayer funding -- and offshoring jobs and (perhaps most importantly) industrial capacity to China while hollowing out much of the middle of the US.

Sadly, this repeats a common pattern in global capitalism, but the question arises: Why repeat capitalism's most pernicious patterns? No American would have voted to effectively attach US-made rocket boosters to China's rise, and yet this is what's happening. So if the US is to prove truly exceptional in any way as it so often boasts and fails to prove in any constructive way, it will come down to a contest to determine which prevails -- capitalism or democracy.

And capitalism right now is in the driver's seat, not least because (as you note) of its iron grip on the media.