Why China will beat us to the moon — and to everywhere else.

 

If you are a MAGA and or simply are a Trump supporter, do not read “The China Issue” of WIRED Magazine. You won’t like it for two reasons:

1. It tells the truth and
2. It’s for intelligent people, so you won’t understand it.

Right there on the cover, the magazine gives away the plot of the entire issue:

CHEAPER AI, SMARTER ROBOTS, FASTER TRAINS, WEIRDER APPS, SCARIER DRONES: WELCOME TO THE CHINESE CENTURY.

The first thing you will read is this paragraph:

Whether you realize it or not, you’re already living in the Chinese century. From batteries to milk to electric vehicles, China is undoubtably doing it better—while the rest of us kick our feet up and watch. China is soaring ahead of the US in a space race called by Trump; China is putting up buildings in a day’s time; China is light-years ahead of the rest of the world when it comes to solar energy.

On page 12, you’ll see an article titled “Power Play, ” by Zeyi Yang, a senior writer at WIRED. The summary line  is:

“With factories and manufacturing deals on nearly every continent, Chinese battery companies are taking over the world.”

The article continues:

Chinese manufacturing is spreading far beyond China’s borders. in the pas decade, at least 28 Chinese firms have built or announced a minimum of 68 lithium battery factories overseas. By the end of 2025, nearly half of the had gone into production.

Trump believes the way to win the technology race is to hamstring American production by deporting experienced workers and not allowing new workers in (unless they’re white Christians). Meanwhile, he punishes our best research schools (like Harvard) for being too “woke” (whatever that means), and he takes money from NASA and other research sources.

Finally, he makes it almost impossible to fund new manufacturing, because the tariff rules change daily at Trump’s whim, so no one can trust investing in the future.

Then, on page 16, you’ll see an article titled, “Hello Humanoid,” which describes China’s lead in devoling in human-shaped robots. The lead paragraph of the article reads,

“The first workforce to walk among humans will almost certainly be Chinese.”

Sadly, America will really, really need those robots, because Trump, for no reason other than pure hatred, is on a mission to please his bigot MAGA followers and deport everyone not born here. (He’s tried to deport many who were born here, but amazingly the supplicant Supreme Court, by the thinnest of margins, decided to uphold the clear words of the Constitution regarding birthright.)

In any event, robotics, the future of manufacturing and home appliances, will be dominated by China.

Turn to smart watches, which have gone from ubiquitous to universal in China, and will be so in the U.S. Apple makes most of its watches in China, some in Taiwan and Vietnam. Another article in WIRED reads:

At what age should a kid get a smartwatch? In China, parents are buying them for children as young as 5. Kids can use the watches to buy snacks at local shops, chat and share videos with friends, play games and stay in touch with their families.

And then:

These days, it’s local imports that are exciting Chinese consumers. It’s local brands, and some are going global.

li-Ning Shadow Runner Sneakers: Chinese consumers are embracing domestically born sportswear that blend performance with street style aesthetics.

Herbeast Reishi Mushroom Sunscreen SPF50:Sleek packaging and science-forward claims treat makeup and sunscreen as lifestyle products signaling the wearer has superior taste and self-discipline.c

Huawei Free Clip Open-ear Wireless Earphones: Looking more like jewelry than dorky earbuds, the FreeClip series shows how Huawei has evolved into a design powerhouse.

Changee Ceylon Black Tea Latte is part of a wave of homegrown coffee and tea brands in China like Luckin Coffee, Heytea, and Mixue, which have gradually chipped away at Starbucks’ share of the market.

To summer Kunlun Snowmelt Candles and perfumes blend Eastern-inspired scents with minimalist design, reflecting the growing appeal of carefully curated home environments for younger Chinece consumers.

Songmont Mini Drippy Roof Bag-Chinese shoppers once gravitated toward handbags from labels like Louis Vuitton but now brands like Songmont are finding traction with consumers drawn to understated silhouettes, thoughtful details and the idea that food taste doesn’t require a foreign name.

Meituan Power Bank – Meituan’s bright yellow power banks are nearly unavoidable in Chinese cities, stacked outside restaurants, subway station, and inside malls. A dead phone is a genuine crisis, cutting off payments, navigation, messaging and even access to buildings.

The power bank demonstrates China’s leadership in electronics acceptance by it public. Many other Chines brands — ZEZE Cat Tree with Scratching Board & Play Structure, Lightweight Camping Chair, and Camel  Arctic Sentinel  Elite Jacket are additional Chinese brands gaining popularity.

Then there was the article that began on page 48: “ECLIPSED.”

Senator Ted Cruz wanted President Donald Trump’s nominee to run NASA, Jared Isaacman, to pledge that the US would not lose (the race to put people on the moon).

Isaacman agreed.

But by the time of his testimony, the Trump administration had started a process that would lay waste to NASA, pushing more that 4,000 agency employees to quit. Then the White House proposed a massive, 24 percent cut to NASA’s budget.

Then, Trump yanked Isaacman’s nomination and named a new pat-time acting chief, a fellow who boasted in his official NASA biography that he is one-half of “America’s first and longest- married reality TV couple.” Then that guy picked a fight with Elon Musk, who’s building NASA’s moon lander. And Isaacman was back in the running.

This disfunction is one of the many reasons why the vast majority of the two dozen sources I interviewed for this story, believe that China will put people on the moon first.

Read the story to learn how incredibly screwed up our space venture is. It was bad before, but now with a President who has no concept of science (he hired yet an0ther fool to lead healthcare, and a n even worse fool to head the military) it will be a miracle if we ever get to the moon. Perhaps a coal-fired rocket . . . ?

Then, there’s energy:

In 2024, the total installed electricity capacity of the planet — every coal, gas, hydro and nuclear plant and all of the renewables — was about 10 terawatts. The Chinese solar supply chain can now pump out 1 terawatt of panels every year.

In China, one problem with all this new solar is that it’s completely over-whelming the national electrical grid. If only there was more electrical storage — technology that holds solar power generated during the day and releases it in the evening — then a lot of the issues that torture China’s renewables market would be resolved.

Of course, China has come to dominate the fast-growing (battery) sector as well.

And they’re revolutionizing another increasingly Chinese -dominated green industry that going fast, cheap and out of control: automobiles.

Tesla’s Shanghai gigafactory was completed in 168 days. It quickly became Tesla’s largest in the world.

Donald Trump hates many people and things, but wind turbines and solar panels seem to hold a special place of contempt in his heart.

His administration has attempted to cancel major offshore and onshore wind projects along with plans for a solar megabase slotted for the Nevada desert that would have been worthy of western China.

Trump and his energy secretary, Chris Wright, often speak of American energy dominance, but they are crippling American firms’ ability to deploy and build the cheapest source of electricity in the history of this planet.

Trump’s focus in life is Donald Trump, his money, his fame, his legacy. He cares nothing for America, for you, for me, nothing even for the MAGAs, who worship him. He would throw any of them under the bus for one extra street or one more golf course named “Trump.”

He is far and away, the best ally Vladimir Putin ever has had. I’m guessing that Putin has something on Trump that is even more embarrassing than being convicted of attacking a woman. (What’s wrong, Donald, did some of Epstein’s young girls refuse you?)

When Trump is insulting someone, which seems to occupy 100% of his time, he often claims they are “communist,” The irony is not lost.

Trump single-handedly has damaged America’s (already poor) health-care system and murdered thousands of believers by denying COVID, then promulgating fake cures, while denigrating the real prevention of vaccination.

He has weakened the military by hiring an idiotic TV talking head with vast inexperience to run the United States military organization. The idiot’s primary action has been to insult allies while firing women and gays and claiming that in this world of computers, high-speed missiles and drones, what we need are muscular men. Intelligence and experience are of no matter.

But hey, what does a weakling draft dodger with fake heel spurs care about the military?

Trump has weakened the workforce by deporting thousands of honest, hardworking, tax-paying immigrants and accepting new applications only from white-skinned people from South Africa.

He has weakened NATO at Putin’s behest by his incessant insults and his attempts to steal Greenland from a NATO member, Norway.

Also, at Putin’s behest, Trump has dragged his feet about supporting Ukraine and even blamed Ukraine for being attacked. So little Ukraine burns as Trump fiddles.

Trump has weakened myriad federal agencies by letting Elon Musk fire at random thousands of good workers, so you whatever services you may have expected from the government will be harder to obtain. After all, who needs people?

Trump has damaged Ameraca’s image among other nations who wonder what kind of fools we are to elect this psychopathic, convicted criminal, often-failing, Hitler wannabe not just once, but twice.

Trump unilaterally ended a treaty with Iran, then started an illegal war after promising he would not start wars and now is begging Iran to enter into another treaty that won’t be as good as the first one and will leave Iran in charge of the world’s most vital oil passage. If you were Iran, would you trust any treaty Trump signed? The mullahs know better, and are way too smart for Dumb Donald.

And we don’t even need to discuss his vile personal life of cheating on three wives, attacked women, cheated workers of their wages, cheated banks with multiple bankruptcies and stole government documents.

Oh, did I mention the inflation that Trump’s war and rediculous, spur-of-the-moment tariffs have caused. Fear not; it will get worse. He hasn’t even served 2 years. Think of the damage he’ll cause in the next 2+ years.

And let us not forget January 6th, when Trump sent a crazed mob to attack Congress, tried to persuade the Vice President to break the law, tried to persuade the Governor of Georgia to break the law, lost 62 court cases where he lied about the election being stolen, continues to lie about it, and now has engaged the full force of the U.S. government to harass and punish anyone who told the truth. Oh, and he pardoned every nut who tried to overthrow the U.S. government, yes, Proud Boys, too.

Finally, yes China will beat us to the moon and set up bases in the most strategic locations, because the only thing worse than people not having democracy is people having a truly stupid, dishonest egomaniac as their leader, backed by a spineless political party, an extremist Supreme Court.

How the hell did we Americans let this happen to us?

Rodger Mitchell