Beware Susan Thornton and her toxic ‘clientitis’

Foreign Service Officers often exhibit symptoms of “clientitis” – pathologically promoting the interests of some foreign government, rather than their own.

Susan Thornton is a case in point. As a diplomat, she tirelessly flacked for the Chinese Communist Party. When that behavior finally got her fired from a senior State Department job in 2018, Thornton continued in that role outside of government, most recently penning an op.ed. entitled, “Fears of a Global Chinese Takeover are Greatly Exaggerated.”  

In fact, China’s dictator-for-life, Xi Jinping, has made no secret of his ambitions to dominate the world. His party’s behavior regarding the Chinese pandemic attests to its determination to weaken the United States and other nations. And his military build-up and colonial empire-building are creating the capability to exploit such weakness.

Shame on those, like Susan Thornton, who would have us believe otherwise – and know better.

This is Frank Gaffney.