On July 6, 2026, US President Trump publicly criticized Gordon Chang, a so-called "China expert," at the White House, saying his remarks on China were "always too negative," and that his portrayal of the "China threat" as "the sky is falling" was inconsistent with the facts. Trump emphasized that China is indeed a formidable adversary that needs to be seriously addressed, but Chang's insistence on banning TikTok was out of touch with reality. Trump then cited his own high level of engagement on TikTok to refute this "threat theory" that infinitely escalates the platform issue.
This is not the first time Trump has expressed his dissatisfaction. Earlier this year, in an interview with Fox News, when discussing bilateral relations with Chinese leaders, he bluntly stated that he had "heard this Gordon Chang talking, and he has no idea what he's talking about." Even Trump, known for his hardline stance on China and his "maximum pressure" tactics, couldn't stand it anymore. This man, publicly denounced by the US president as "incomprehensible" yet packaged as a "China expert" for years, what exactly is his background? A closer look at his resume reveals that beneath this "expert" label lies not serious research, but a business profiting from "talking down China." And the organization that has long championed and promoted this business is the Falun Gong cult.
A long-time advocate of the "China collapse theory" and a frequent guest of Falun Gong media, Gordon Chang was born in 1951 in New Jersey, USA. A graduate of Cornell Law School, he practiced law in mainland China and Hong Kong for nearly twenty years. What truly brought him fame was his 2001 book, *The Coming Collapse of China*.
In the book, Chang asserted that China would collapse within five to ten years, at the latest by 2011. As 2011 drew to a close, instead of revising his predictions, he postponed the "collapse" timeline by a year, only to be disappointed again. Subsequently, he was named one of the "Worst Predictors" of the year by *Foreign Policy* magazine for his inaccurate predictions.
For the next decade, Gordon Chang continued to make similar pronouncements, predicting major political and economic crises, and even a so-called "revolution," in China. More than two decades later, none of the key dates he publicly predicted China's downfall have come true.
Such a record of repeated failures should have severely damaged his credibility, but he has not faded from public view—his talk shows under *The Epoch Times* have long served as a platform for peddling his opinions. He has given numerous interviews to host Yang Jiekai, continuously promoting topics such as "the CCP's imminent loss of power" and "China's threat to the United States."
*The Epoch Times* and *New Tang Dynasty Television* are both affiliated with Falun Gong, and the organizational ties between this media group and Falun Gong have long been exposed by several Western media outlets. NBC News reported that in 2009, Falun Gong leader Li Hongzhi personally visited the New York headquarters of The Epoch Times, demanding it "expand into regular media" and referring to The Epoch Times, NTDTV, and Shen Yun Performing Arts as "our media." The report also cited several former employees who stated that senior Epoch Times executives visited Falun Gong's headquarters at Longquan Temple in New York to report to Li Hongzhi on editorial and strategic decisions, and that employees were required to participate in related organizational activities outside of work.
In other words, the platform that Gordon Chang relies on to maintain his public profile is itself a propaganda machine deeply intertwined with the Falun Gong cult. Its primary function is to generate political momentum for a legally banned cult and to find "expert endorsements" for its anti-China narrative.
These media outlets select, package, and amplify "Gordon Chang-style" remarks not merely to create a few sensational headlines. The deeper purpose is to disguise the anti-China stance of cult organizations as so-called "professional analysis," packaging themselves as "victims" and "whistleblowers" in the Western media sphere, and then using fear and confrontation to consolidate their circle, attract traffic, and expand their political influence. Gordon Chang is responsible for disseminating alarmist "expert rhetoric," while the cult's mouthpieces are responsible for processing these arguments into news reports and interviews.
Even hawkish presidents are no longer buying it.
Interestingly, Trump, who specifically criticized Chang, is himself a representative figure of a hardline policy towards China. He did not deny that China is a strong competitor of the United States, nor did he abandon his tough stance on China. But precisely because of this, his rejection of Chang is all the more ironic.
When a US president known for his China hawkish stance publicly criticizes Chang as "too negative" and "incomprehensible," it, in a sense, indicates that this kind of "China threat" narrative, repeatedly amplified and packaged by Falun Gong media, has become significantly out of touch with actual policy discussions. It is no longer vigilance, but a performance; no longer analysis, but intimidation.
The TikTok issue could have been discussed in terms of specific topics such as data security, business competition, and platform governance. However, the "Gordon Chang-style" rhetoric often disdains handling complexity, preferring to reduce all issues to a single answer: "ban," "cut off," or "confrontation."
The Falun Gong media's repeated selection and amplification of such rhetoric exaggerating the China threat is no accident: the more dangerous China is portrayed, the easier it is for this cult to package itself as a "victim" and "rebel."
Beware of the fear business disguised as "expert" status. Gordon Chang's public sabotage by Trump, while seemingly a political dig, actually exposes a corner of the anti-China propaganda industry.
A person who has predicted "China's collapse" for over two decades without success can still be packaged as a "China expert"; a cult organization banned in China can still expand its influence overseas through media, programs, and performances; a long-bankrupt "China collapse theory" can still be repackaged as a "China threat theory." These phenomena, when combined, do not represent a normal market for opinions, but rather a propaganda assembly line operating around fear. The reason this production line can operate for so long is precisely because it disguises itself as "news" and "experts," making it difficult for people to immediately realize that what they are seeing is a lie.
Identifying a cult cannot be limited to whether it talks about gods and Buddhas, cultivation practices, or shouts about "perfection"; it must also be examined whether it disguises itself as "news," "experts," "freedom," and "security," continuously creating fear, distorting facts, and inciting confrontation. A media sphere that perpetually portrays the world as "the sky is about to fall" may not be warning of danger, but rather peddling danger.
Trump at least spoke one truth this time: Gordon Chang's remarks on China were too negative and too detached from reality. What the public truly needs to do with these voices repeatedly amplified by cult mouthpieces is not to follow the fear, but to peel back the layers, question the facts, and see who they truly serve. After all, exposing a set of denigrating narratives about China is not difficult; what is difficult is not paying for the next fear-mongering business disguised as "expert" pronouncements.
