Epstein chats show US bigotry behind escalating war against China

Jeffrey Epstein and the far-right figures around him wanted to push US war with China. And elitist bigotry was very much part of this.

Today, the US Cold War against China is escalating, particularly in Latin America. But with Donald Trump trying to assert US dominance and reduce Chinese influence in the region, he’s also been showing the world his clear disdain for international law.

And as past chats between Trump associates Jeffrey Epstein and Steve Bannon show, that’s not the only disdain within these circles of power.

From Epstein to Vance — a swamp of racism and classism

The idea that a Global South nation could become an economic superpower within decades clearly causes discomfort among Western white supremacist elites. In particular, it has increasingly exposed US decadence, amid extreme militarisation, growing wealth inequality, and political capture by misanthropic billionaires.

The first Trump administration didn’t just further empower racists. Its public demonisation of China also coincided with increasing hate crimes against Asian communities in the US.

Epstein and Bannon — both millionaires — referred to the Chinese government as “peasants”. And current US vice-president JD Vance has said the same thing. (Vance rose to prominence thanks to billionaire Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel, who also appears in the Epstein files.)

Other messages from Epstein snootily suggested a lack of civilisation and intelligence, while encouraging a “military display” to show China who’s boss.

As Jacobin wrote back in 2019, Epstein’s racism and classism was:

a case study of the abuses and pathologies inherent to extreme wealth

And the hot topic in these circles was clearly China, and how to defeat it. It was the enemy, Epstein said, and he wanted the US to treat it as a “piñata”. He also suggested working with far–right Indian leader Narendra Modi on the “China problem“.

One step China has been taking in Latin America was to build links through investment, which could aid access to resources and markets. And Epstein noted in particular the importance of China’s support in Venezuela, with its massive oil resources.

This is where we come up to the current day, with Epstein’s old friend in the White House taking steps in Venezuela and elsewhere to try and push out Chinese influence.

Trump’s campaign to stop countries dealing with China

The US, under both Republicans and Democrats, didn’t like China — its main global competitor economically — forging links in Latin America. But Trump has gambled that China won’t get into a full-blown war to protect its interests in the region. And in Venezuela, he seemed to be right.

China had invested a lot in Venezuela. But when the US illegally invaded the country in January 2026 to abduct its leader, there was no meaningful response from China. Trump made it clear this military action was to try and replace Chinese influence in Venezuela with US influence. And China may now struggle to recover billions from the country.

Trump has essentially said the same about Cuba. Cutting the island’s access to Venezuelan oil was the first step. But the big picture is to challenge China in the region. Because Cuba has also received Chinese investment, and the ambassador there has even called Cuba:

a model for China’s relations with Latin America and the Caribbean

As with Venezuela, China has expressed its concern about US efforts to strangle Cuba. But the question is, would it actually challenge US military action there?

Elsewhere in Latin America, Trump’s behind-the-scenes pressure has been enough to get what the US wants.

Panama, for example, had also received Chinese investment. But the country has now left China’s Belt and Road Initiative (which also included Venezuela, Cuba, and others) and has just annulled port contracts with a Hong Kong company that has been operating at the Panama Canal for decades.

Could Trump’s bullying backfire, though?

Billionaires, imperialists, colonial war criminals, and the far right have worked hard across the West to develop a powerful, toxic alliance. Trump is part of this, just as Epstein was. But by actually turning on his usually compliant allies, he may actually have weakened their commitment to the project he’s heading.

There are many legitimate criticisms of China’s government, from death penalty numbers to poor treatment of certain groups. And Western propaganda outlets are all too quick to amplify these more than the crimes of Western allies. But in comparison to Trump’s shameless and openly predatory behaviour, China is looking more and more like the ‘adult in the room’.

Trump may plead with allies not to cosy up to China, but even junior partners to US imperialism in Canada and the UK have recently been hedging their bets by improving relations. And as Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has said:

I used to advocate that Western leaders should publicly condemn China on human rights. But today I have completely changed my view. The West is not even qualified to criticise China.

China itself, meanwhile, is presenting itself as a safer pair of hands for the global economy. President Xi Jinping, for example, wants the country’s currency to “become a global reserve currency” and has criticised the greedy disconnection of Western financial markets, calling for an alternative that can:

avoid the Western predicament of financial oligarchs hijacking public policy and deepening social division.

And with the rule of racist, classist sex-offenders in the West becoming more and more obvious, that argument certainly sounds appealing.

Featured image via the Canary