I was in Hong Kong last week for a very informative conference on “Academic Freedom in Asia” (about which I’ll have more to say soon), as well as a talk to the philosophy department at the University of Hong Kong, which was exceptionally hospitable and welcoming. At the hotel one morning, the fellow seating folks at the restaurant for breakfast gave me a copy of the Hong Kong edition of China Daily, which is to the Chinese Communist Party what Fox News [sic] is to the Republican Party in the U.S.: a propaganda organ. On the opinion page was a piece of sycophancy titled, “Governance of China an inspiring path,” lauding Xi’s latest volume of “thoughts” on The Governance of China. One line made me laugh out loud at breakfast: Xi “is presented not only as a leader implementing policies but as a theorist contributing to the evolution of Marxism itself.” Xi’s contributions to Marxist theory are certainly on a par with Donald Trump’s.