Can America still outcompete China?
Yes, but only if it stops acting like a revisionist power. In this follow-up to my Condemned to Lead series, I argue that the global order isn’t collapsing because of China’s rise. It’s collapsing because the United States is withdrawing from the symbolic responsibility of leadership. America still commands the world’s admiration. People want to be American. No one wants to be China. But symbolic power is useless if it isn’t matched by narrative coherence and strategic will. If the U.S. continues to sabotage the system it built, the collapse won’t be China’s fault. It will be America’s.
