A backlash against the "Trump flavor of republican politics" has been brewing for a long time and Trump clearly cares fuck all about it, he even threw oil on the fire by offering a bride to everyone voting republican to keep him and his party at the steering wheel (how crazy is that, for a US president to try bribing the country in order to keep his autocratic style of politics alive and kicking for a while longer, dragging the country even further down with him in the process).
Despite his love-hate relationship with the press, Trump knew that sentiments against him have been building up for a long time now. He's clearly incapable of serious (inter)national politics without making many enemies, left and right.
Trump knew that a crazy nuclear option like this silly bribe would be needed to stem the bleeding from the backlash, even if it was a hail mary that it was going to work (and thankfully it didn't).
Anyone who didn't see this coming was being quite naive.
What's even more crazy: I considered this might not even be a typo.
This is simply untrue—one should take great care in repeating such things unthinkingly.
You may be right, on direct analysis it seems they would not benefit as much. But their strategy is not always about direct short term benefit.
Jensen lacks connections with the powers that be? He has a close relationship with the Trump administration. Reports are coming out that the administration (via the commerce secretary) knew what was happening and were trying to shield Jensen.
> I wouldn't be totally shocked if the Chinese themselves gave him up in a long game to start a dialog with the incoming powers
So the Chinese government was going to give up the guy who was pro-open weight models and who was likely giving China access to restricted hardware? And he was a sacrificial offering to the blue wave that I guess China new was going to happen but took everyone else even the US by surprise?