Nixing China: The Road from De'tente to Dete'ste
A Three-Act Zoom Opera Libretto (excerpt)
Dramatis Personae
Donald Trump, President of the USA (boratone)
Mike "Pomp" Pei, Secretary of State of the USA (vulgar bassus)
Xi Jinping, President of PRC (tinny tenor)
Li Keqiang, Premier of PRC (tenor eleven)
Melania Trump, First Lady of the USA (sobrano)
Peng Liyuan, First Lady of PRC (contraro)
The action takes place in various locations (as indicated) streamed Liveà "ž by Zoom.
ACT ONE
Scene 1: Zoom meeting between Trump and Pomp (Oval Office) and Xi and Le (Zhong Office)
(The respective offices of the presidents, each with flag backgrounds; soft-porn photos, not quite adding up to kompromat, behind Trump, a bookshelf, where Bolton's book can be seen, behind Xi. It's early-morning EST in DC and late-night UTC in Beijing. It's July 4, 2020. The air is full of shocking electricity and there is errant birdsong, like a cuckoo gone dicky Tao. We hear troops marching, to the respective beats of their nations. Trump plays with toy soldiers, arranging them around a toy White House. "Pomp" Pei wears a Trump baseball cap. Xi is holding a book by Diogenes the Cynic.)
CHORUS (ten college-aged Asian-American voices)
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