Robert Pape

We try to get everything from behind our computers.

And I know it's ironic that here I am, a professor, spend most of my life behind a computer, and I'm telling journalists and I'm telling politicians, you've got to get out and meet people and see the real world

That's what's happening.

Otherwise, we're just stuck listening to President Trump's vision of the real world.

They would be foolish to do a full-on military invasion, even if they could succeed, because what that would do is it would take the focus off of blame of the United States.

It would push Europe away, push some of the other Asian partners away they want.

So they could help us out.

I say this only half jokingly here to my classes.

The best way to bail out Trump from the Iran war would be if Xi would attack Taiwan, because this would fundamentally help Trump.

And maybe he's going to try to tickle Xi and say, don't you want to do this?

Well, I'm sorry.

I don't want to be too facetious.

But the fact of the matter is what China has done now since the 1996 Taiwan Strait crisis, think about that.

30 years ago, they did some missile gunboat diplomacy.

It totally backfired and failed.

They haven't done that since.

Now they've done some incursions.

I know.

I've been to Taiwan.

I've had the briefings from the National Security Advisor here.