Analysis: China's past reverberates in Trump and Musk's America

A dramatic attempt to eliminate government bureaucracy is being spearheaded by US President Donald Trump and his billionaire ally, Elon Musk. Wang Xiangwei, a former editor-in-chief of the SCMP, claims that China is currently dealing with its own bureaucratic inefficiencies.HONG KONG: A "Cultural Revolution" like to that of the United States is underway. Many scholars of contemporary Chinese history, including this author, find it impossible to avoid drawing comparisons between the Cultural Revolution in China from 1966 to 1976 and the current assault against federal bureaucracy led by US President Donald Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk.

One of the major reasons Mao Zedong started the uprising over 59 years ago was his concern that China was becoming into an aristocratic nation that didn't care about the interests and welfare of the people.He organized the Red Guards, who were primarily high school and college students, to launch attacks on government offices across the nation. Mao famously predicted that "great chaos under heaven" would give way to "great order" as China plunged into turmoil and paralysis.