Rational Security: The “No Banner is Safe” Edition

In this episode of *Rational Security*, host Scott R. Anderson and returning guest Benjamin Wittes dive into the aftermath of President Trump’s summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, dissecting a diplomatic thaw that delivered few concrete agreements but potentially signaled a strategic pivot from confrontation to managed rivalry. The discussion reveals a growing consensus that the U.S. is shifting from attempting to discipline China to managing a fundamentally non-market system—though key issues like Taiwan and AI remain unresolved. Meanwhile, the episode turns to escalating tensions with Cuba, where surveillance flights, sanctions, and rhetoric suggest a possible regime-change campaign, with Wittes warning that this may be the next in a series of uncongressional military interventions. On the domestic front, a major court ruling struck down Trump’s Section 122 tariffs, raising questions about the future of his trade policy and the broader constitutional limits on executive power. The episode closes with a surprising endorsement of AI tools like RAGTIME, which Ben Wittes built to analyze legal data, and a heartfelt recommendation for the empathetic, character-driven show *A Man on the Inside*—a rare moment of levity amid intense geopolitical analysis. The episode’s central takeaway is that the U.S.