Flying back to the U.S. from Beijing, Donald Trump made it clear that he knew his state visit to China was a flop.

He was in a lousy mood.

In his answers to question after question from the press, he revealed that the trip produced no true deliverables. Some of these answers underscored the degree to which Trump was pretty much just a prop, used by China’s president Xi to illustrate China’s ascendancy.

He flattered Xi with praise. He let it be known that Xi had asked him whether he would defend Taiwan, and said he refused to answer the question. Maybe he thought that was deft statesmanship. But the reality is that Xi took it for what it was, a wink and a nod. Trump doesn’t care about Taiwan. Trump doesn’t care about anyone but Trump.

Admittedly, Trump did not start World War III. He did not deepen the economic chaos into which his tariffs and his Iran War have thrown the planet. He spoke of trying to develop a better relationship with China.

Give him some credit for all that.

But acknowledge that we have never seen a trip quite like this one in the 120 years since Theodore Roosevelt made the first foreign trip by a U.S. president.

Trump thought the summit and his proximity to Xi would burnish his deteriorating reputation. Not only did it do the opposite, but it actually undercut the standing of the United States.

If there was one grand theme of the trip—made clear through the remarks of Xi, Trump’s response to those remarks and the broader behavior of the Chinese and U.S. delegations—it is that the U.S. is a declining power and China is in its ascendancy.

Xi made that........

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