Foreign desk: Trump’s Right on the China Threat

For all the extensive criticisms of President Trump’s trade war with China, he is “the only president of recent vintage” to understand that “China is an imperturbable geopolitical foe” and “the United States ought to be taking a serious look at a long-term strategy to contain and then reverse” Chinese dominance, Ben Shapiro writes at Real Clear Politics. “The Chinese regime is strengthening its totalitarianism” and “free trade isn’t going to cure this.” Indeed, as trade has enriched the nation, “the Chinese government has responded with more repression, not less.” If Trump doesn’t make this case to the American people, “his economic war with China will fail.” Yet he at least sees the threat for what it is — something “the chattering class has, for far too long, ignored.”

Economist: Don’t Overreact to Slowdown

After weeks of stock-market jitters, it’s time to “take a deep breath and soberly assess the current economy and near-term outlook,” former Atlanta Fed chief Dennis Lockhart advises at The Hill. After “strong real GDP growth” in 2018, “it appears that growth in 2019 has settled closer to the estimated longer-run trend rate” — around 2 percent. So, Lockhart says, the current slowdown is “largely in line with what was expected for 2019.” It’s thus “hard to conclude the economy is tanking.” Meanwhile, “employment conditions continue to be strong,” along with “respectable” growth in wages as “consumer spending is holding up well.” Bottom line: The US economy “is far from recession territory.”

Health beat: CDC’s Bias v. E-Cigs Risks Lives

The Centers for Disease Control’s warning against vaping “threatens to undermine public health,” argues longtime anti-tobacco advocate Dr. Michael Siegel at National Review. The CDC now reports 193 cases of acute lung disease as caused by vaping — but, in most cases, “the individual has not been using a legal, nicotine-containing e-cigarette liquid” but rather illegal “e-liquids containing THC.” Some also contain a THC oil, which is known to cause lipoid pneumonia, the condition those 193 patients seem to have. Since “vaping has provided a smoking-cessation tool that is helping millions of adult smokers around the globe,” the CDC’s stance” is “irresponsible and a potential hazard to public health.” Instead of fear-mongering, it “should be giving useful advice.”

Culture watch: Chappelle vs. ‘Woke’ Bigotry

Could Dave Chappelle’s political-correctness-skewering Netflix special mark “the beginning of the end of the PC police?” asks Christian Toto at Hollywood in Toto. The comedian’s act relentlessly mocks “PC scolds scouring social media posts to cancel people out” and jokes about stereotypes and “woke culture,” leading Vice to denounce the special as “transphobic and worse.” And Chappelle is just one of a growing number of comedians criticizing “cancel culture,” from Adam Carolla to Jim Gaffigan to Jerry Seinfeld to even “far-left comic” Sarah Silverman. “It’s worth noting that Netflix didn’t cut ties with Chappelle following the press outrage over his last special” — indeed, it gave him this new one. “On that level alone, Chappelle just scored a major victory in the Culture Wars. Now, will his peers join the fight?”

From the left: Native Act Will Haunt Warren

Sen. Liz Warren executed a perfect apology for her racial claims at last week’s Native American presidential forum in Sioux City, observes Bill Scher at Politico, yet “there was no bipartisan consensus” that’s she’s past the controversy. Democratic strategists think her rise in the poll suggests she’s overcome the issue, while GOPers say she’s still “vulnerable to charges of dishonest opportunism.” Warren may have satisfied progressives and Indian leaders, but “has not done anything to address concerns potentially percolating among swing voters.” As one Republican consultant tells Scher: “She’s never given the answer to the core of the Trump charge, which is: She cheated. She cheated for personal gain.” Which means, notes Scher, Trump could still “connect the underlying concerns about her personal integrity to the integrity of her agenda.”

— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board