Rick Waters

These visits are traumatic for those of us who have to organize them. The U.S. team rolls in heavy with a few dozen planes, and your carefully choreographed effort immediately falls apart at first contact with reality.

These visits are traumatic for those of us who have to organize them. The U.S. team rolls in heavy with a few dozen planes, and your carefully choreographed effort immediately falls apart at first contact with reality.

You know, we were in the Great Hall of the People for the meeting with Xi Jinping, and the security details got into a giant fistfight right outside the meeting room. What? Yeah. And, you know, at the time, there was a mid-level foreign ministry official named Chin Gong who

You know, we were in the Great Hall of the People for the meeting with Xi Jinping, and the security details got into a giant fistfight right outside the meeting room. What? Yeah. And, you know, at the time, there was a mid-level foreign ministry official named Chin Gong who

And he and I were the only ones in the room, and we were trying to pull these people off of each other as they were in a full-blown brawl 10 feet outside the meeting room where she and Trump were together.

And he and I were the only ones in the room, and we were trying to pull these people off of each other as they were in a full-blown brawl 10 feet outside the meeting room where she and Trump were together.

Well, he didn't manage the policy, right? He was often not in the innermost room when they were talking about policy either. But, you know, what I saw is that the parts of the system that organized visits, they had a certain deference to him. And I think it's because they knew that he was an up-and-comer in the system

Well, he didn't manage the policy, right? He was often not in the innermost room when they were talking about policy either. But, you know, what I saw is that the parts of the system that organized visits, they had a certain deference to him. And I think it's because they knew that he was an up-and-comer in the system

and someone to whom they needed to be responsive because he was clearly empowered by Xi's office to manage what was a very important event for them at the time.

and someone to whom they needed to be responsive because he was clearly empowered by Xi's office to manage what was a very important event for them at the time.

These visits are traumatic for those of us who have to organize them. The U.S. team rolls in heavy with a few dozen planes, and your carefully choreographed effort immediately falls apart at first contact with reality.

You know, we were in the Great Hall of the People for the meeting with Xi Jinping, and the security details got into a giant fistfight right outside the meeting room. What? Yeah. And, you know, at the time, there was a mid-level foreign ministry official named Chin Gong who

And he and I were the only ones in the room, and we were trying to pull these people off of each other as they were in a full-blown brawl 10 feet outside the meeting room where she and Trump were together.

Well, he didn't manage the policy, right? He was often not in the innermost room when they were talking about policy either. But, you know, what I saw is that the parts of the system that organized visits, they had a certain deference to him. And I think it's because they knew that he was an up-and-comer in the system

and someone to whom they needed to be responsive because he was clearly empowered by Xi's office to manage what was a very important event for them at the time.