He went in with an America First plan, a room full of leverage, business owners, innovators, and the kind of business-first strategy most politicians are too clueless to even attempt.

This is what makes Trump different than any other leader we've ever had.

He took one of America's most complicated and combative relationships and approached it like a dealmaker instead of some nervous politician. There's a lot on the table. We've got trade, Taiwan, Iran, technology, American business access, China's pressure campaigns, and the future of U.S.-China relations. Trump showed up personally, he brought major American business leaders with him, and he made it very clear that America was not there to beg.

But none of that changes who we're dealing with, does it?

Xi Jinping is one of the most ruthless political leaders on earth. This is a regime with a long record of repression, surveillance, forced labor, religious persecution, human rights abuses, and a brutal death grip on its own people.

So while Trump may be wise to engage China from a position of strength, nobody should confuse this kind of diplomacy with trust.

Steve Bannon certainly doesn't…

On WarRoom, Bannon delivered a blistering indictment of the Chinese Communist Party, arguing that no regime on earth has inflicted more suffering, death, and tyranny on its own people than the CCP. It's harsh, yes. It's Bannon's opinion, yes. But it also speaks to the larger truth behind Trump's China trip.

You can negotiate with China.

But you'd better never forget what the CCP is.

Bannon's WarRoom:

BANNON: The Chinese Communist Party hates the Chinese people most of all. They've murdered, in cold blood, a quarter of a billion in their reign of terror, and that's before the 450 million forced abortions!

There has never been a bigger collection of DEMONS ON THIS EARTH THAN THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY.