title:  Trump Escalates Confrontation With China In Move That Could Spark A Massive War
text: Donald Trump is moving the United States closer to a war with China over some tiny islands.The relationship between the United States has been cordial and peaceful for decades now, but Trump plans to change all that. For someone who claims that our military is depleted, Trump sure has no problem putting our country on the brink of war.China is currently making claims to islands in the South China Sea, which is an international body of water. The matter could probably be settled through diplomacy, but Trump has chosen to bully China instead. And he is inviting a catastrophic war in the process.According to Reuters,The comments at a briefing from White House spokesman Sean Spicer signaled a sharp departure from years of cautious U.S. handling of China s assertive pursuit of territory claims in Asia, just days after Trump took office on Friday. The U.S. is going to make sure that we protect our interests there,  Spicer said when asked if Trump agreed with comments by his Secretary of State nominee, Rex Tillerson, on Jan. 11 that China should not be allowed access to islands it has built in the contested South China Sea. It s a question of if those islands are in fact in international waters and not part of China proper, then yeah, we re going to make sure that we defend international territories from being taken over by one country,  he said.Tillerson s remarks at his Senate confirmation hearing prompted Chinese state media to say the United States would need to  wage war  to bar China s access to the islands where it has built military-length air strips and installed weapons systems.The strong language suggests Trump is considering military action or a naval blockade to keep the islands out of Chinese hands, but even Chinese state media has warned that such action would lead to war between the two nations.And that would be a catastrophe. Not only would this be a war between two nuclear powers, it would be a war between the two largest economies in the world, which means a war between China and the United States would have serious global ramifications.But war is apparently what Trump is thinking about as he has repeatedly treated China with antagonism since before Election Day.And Americans should not expect our allies to help us either. If Trump starts a war with China, America would be on its own. Our troops would be fighting and dying because of Trump s fragile ego. The deficit and the national debt would also skyrocket, especially since Trump has promised Corporate America that he will cut their taxes in half, which would deprive the government of revenues to keep our military strong. That means Trump will get the revenues from the middle class and the poor.China s military and navy are improving rapidly, and they are the most populous nation on Earth. That means Trump would have a reinstate the military draft he himself dodged during the Vietnam War to get enough soldiers to put on the front lines. Even thinking about a military confrontation is insane.The longer Trump is allowed to remain in office, the more dangerous he becomes. This country is now on a path to a war that will cripple our nation and Trump doesn t give a damn because he thinks it makes him look tough. In reality, it just makes him look like an idiot.Featured Image: Spencer Platt/Getty Images