Nation States Update: Trump's China Summits: Who Is Xi Jinping? Plus the Iran War Reckoning
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
November 9, 2026
President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping could meet five times in roughly one year—an extraordinary stretch of U.S.-China diplomacy. But how much do Americans really know about the powerful Chinese leader sitting across the negotiating table?
Speakers Steve Yates
TopicsDaily NewsNewsNews Commentary
Steve Yates (0:00)
Welcome in for today's Nation States Update. Well, here's something you made out of heard. If the next two meetings happen as planned, President Trump and Xi Jinping will have met in person five times in about a year. Busan, Korea last October at APEC. Beijing in May.
Washington in September. Shenzhen, China later this month, again for APEC. And Miami, Florida in December for the G20. By my count, that puts us on track for a record number of top leader summits between our two countries in a relatively short stretch of time. So here's my question. What do we really know about the man across the table?
Tuesday night, we'll cover what the headlines usually skip. In 2012, Xi's biggest rival, Bo Xilai, was brought down by scandal. Then Xi took Bo's own playbook and ran it nationwide. The party passed over a strong man and ended up with one anyway. We'll ask whether a powerful Xi means a stronger China. We'll ask what that means for the deals Washington is trying to make.
Thursday, we'll turn again to Iran. We'll walk through the stages of this year's conflict and the lessons that still hold now that the midterms are behind us. My take is that we split the difference. It wasn't an Iraq style invasion and occupation, and it wasn't an old Iran deal. So what did it get us?
Both episodes drop at 7 p.m. Eastern. Subscribe and follow wherever you listen, and please share the show with a friend. Until next time, stay strong, America.
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