{"id":5317,"date":"2026-08-25T19:10:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T19:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=5317"},"modified":"2026-08-25T19:10:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T19:10:19","slug":"former-navy-pilot-sounds-alarm-trump-is-either-duped-or-in-denial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=5317","title":{"rendered":"Former Navy pilot sounds alarm: Trump is either ‘duped or in denial’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

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.<\/p>\n

Read more Kentucky GOP candidate scrubs campaign from any mention of Trump and MAGA<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIs Trump getting duped and he\u2019s in denial? Or does he know something we don\u2019t and is trying to hide it? Either would be a problem,\u201d Roland told the Fulcrum.<\/p>\n

Roland points out that Trump keeps shrinking the Navy\u2019s 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\u2019t even confirm it publicly until three weeks later \u2014 after the news discovered the situation on its own.<\/p>\n

\u201cPutting aside the pattern of the Pentagon withholding information, if we\u2019re 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,\u201d said Roland. <\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

And where it does not dominate with power or strength, China now muscles with \u201csoft power,\u201d buying and cajoling influence through generosity and lifesaving food, medicine and donations as the Trump administration guts USAID.<\/p>\n

\u201cBack in 2021, Admiral Philip Davidson told the Senate that China could move on Taiwan within six years,\u201d said Roland. \u201cHis successor, Admiral Charles Richard, predicted reunification \u201cby 2027 if not sooner.\u201d 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\u2019t have a policy. He seems to think he and Xi are buddies. I don\u2019t buy it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Supreme Court expert exposes huge contradiction in latest pro-Trump ruling<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the Busan summit, Trump came home bragging he\u2019d rate the meeting a \u201812 out of 10.\u2019 Scholars watching the exchange called Trump \u2018extremely deferential to Xi Jinping,\u2019\u201d said Roland. \u201cI\u2019ll say. He told Xi, on camera, \u2018You\u2019re a great leader. I say it to everybody, you\u2019re a great leader.\u2019 He also said Taiwan \u2018never came up.\u2019 Then he explained he didn\u2019t need to raise the issue because Xi Jinping\u2019s people \u2018know the consequences.\u2019”<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s either getting fooled or he\u2019s in on it, suspects Roland. But our Pacific allies have reason for concern. <\/p>\n

\u201cDays 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,\u201d said Roland, despite China outright \u201csupplying weapons to Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIndeed, 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\u2019d be ‘quite disappointed’ if it turned out to be true, because Xi had personally told him China wouldn\u2019t do it. When told the shipment was expected within weeks, Trump\u2019s response was, ‘well, that would be surprising,'” Roland wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe deserve leaders who are competent, consistent and concerned with our best interests \u2013 and who care enough about national security to answer a simple question about the South China Sea,\u201d said Roland, referring to Republican senatorial candidate Darline Graham\u2019s saying she\u2019s \u201cnot that informed on national security\u201d when asked about the issue of Taiwan. \u201cWe deserve a president who wants a Congress capable of meeting that challenge, and a president who can meet that challenge himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more The \u2018legal loophole\u2019 Republicans have to save Trump: ex-federal prosecutor<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5316,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nFormer Navy pilot sounds alarm: Trump is either 'duped or in denial' - Next Address America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=5317\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former Navy pilot sounds alarm: Trump is either 'duped or in denial' - 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