Carney, an absolute running dog of the empire, just said that the rules-based international order was always a farce. How long do you see the world remaining stable if the vassal has thrown away the mask?
This running dog might be talking shit but there is very little hard power being shifted here. America is still largely in control of its vassals and whatever damage has occurred is easily reversible once Trump is gone. Despite how absolutely horrible America is treating its allies now, the vast majority of voices are either a very reluctant few words to seem like they have spines or desperate pleas for Trump to stop attacking them and work together against China.
Wouldn't crippling American production now contribute to the overwhelming military advantage you mentioned?
It would, but it's a one shot cannon and it's a gamble when you fire it. If you do this while America's military is still largely intact as it is now, you risk WWIII. The later you do it, the greater the power shifts to China's side. The more you wait to do it, the less chance of a chance that the US would dare start a final desperate nuclear war gamble. If you wait even longer without being sucked into a war, you won't even have to do it; the US would have already conceded Asia to China.
I wrote before, the final years before the Soviet Union fell were America's most restrained years. Even in the face of Soviet provocation and aggression, America remained calm and non-escalatory, not because it was weaker, but because it felt that trading a bright and rising future to a declining rotting rival in a final nuclear showdown was a very bad deal. Best to gently let the dying die rather than honor him with a brilliant final fight while he's still capable. China feels this now. Our economy and technology have overtaken the US and continue to pull ahead. Our military is racing past them in Asia and into the blue seas. They are waning and we are rising; if we all took each other out now, it's a bad deal for us. If we allow them to use their military before it rots away like their economy and society, it's unwise of us.