Former Navey pilot Julie Roland was a Naval Officer for ten years, deploying to both the South China Sea and the Persian Gulf as a helicopter pilot before separating in June 2025 as a Lieutenant Commander. And to this day she remains puzzled that President Donald Trump and his henchmen appear to have no cognizance of the threat posed by Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
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“Is Trump getting duped and he’s in denial? Or does he know something we don’t and is trying to hide it? Either would be a problem,” Roland told the Fulcrum.
Roland points out that Trump keeps shrinking the Navy’s footprint in the Pacific. Just this week, the USS George Washington was sent to 5th Fleet, abandoning the 7th Fleet to the Pacific without an aircraft carrier there at all. And just last month, the USS Benfold, a destroyer, went four days without power in the South China Sea. The Navy didn’t even confirm it publicly until three weeks later — after the news discovered the situation on its own.
“Putting aside the pattern of the Pentagon withholding information, if we’re going to make ourselves this vulnerable in the region, it would be nice to hear a clearly articulated rationale for why such a long-understood, long-term threat no longer alarms us,” said Roland.
The Chinese military now employs more than 2 million active-duty troops to our 1.35 million, said Roland, and its Navy just passed 370 ships to our 287, thanks to a shipbuilding industry with 230 times the U.S. capacity. And its tech sector, which was a decade behind us not long ago, is now setting the pace in fields the United States once dominated.
And where it does not dominate with power or strength, China now muscles with “soft power,” buying and cajoling influence through generosity and lifesaving food, medicine and donations as the Trump administration guts USAID.
“Back in 2021, Admiral Philip Davidson told the Senate that China could move on Taiwan within six years,” said Roland. “His successor, Admiral Charles Richard, predicted reunification “by 2027 if not sooner.” Presidents of both parties said out loud that the United States would defend Taiwan if China invaded. Whatever you thought of that policy, at least it was one. Trump doesn’t have a policy. He seems to think he and Xi are buddies. I don’t buy it.”
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“After the Busan summit, Trump came home bragging he’d rate the meeting a ‘12 out of 10.’ Scholars watching the exchange called Trump ‘extremely deferential to Xi Jinping,’” said Roland. “I’ll say. He told Xi, on camera, ‘You’re a great leader. I say it to everybody, you’re a great leader.’ He also said Taiwan ‘never came up.’ Then he explained he didn’t need to raise the issue because Xi Jinping’s people ‘know the consequences.’”
Trump’s either getting fooled or he’s in on it, suspects Roland. But our Pacific allies have reason for concern.
“Days ago, Trump ordered the Pentagon to scale back joint exercises with our ally South Korea to punish them for not providing more support in the war against Iran,” said Roland, despite China outright “supplying weapons to Iran.”
“Indeed, Reuters reported that Iran is soon expected to receive up to 400 Chinese-made shoulder-fired missile systems, worth as much as $70 million. When asked about it, Trump said he’d be ‘quite disappointed’ if it turned out to be true, because Xi had personally told him China wouldn’t do it. When told the shipment was expected within weeks, Trump’s response was, ‘well, that would be surprising,'” Roland wrote.
“We deserve leaders who are competent, consistent and concerned with our best interests – and who care enough about national security to answer a simple question about the South China Sea,” said Roland, referring to Republican senatorial candidate Darline Graham’s saying she’s “not that informed on national security” when asked about the issue of Taiwan. “We deserve a president who wants a Congress capable of meeting that challenge, and a president who can meet that challenge himself.”
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