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One is that Trump has turned Theodore Roosevelt’s maxim to “speak softly and carry a big stick” on its head: He speaks loudly and carries barely any stick at all.

“Speak softly, and carry a big stick,” Theodore Roosevelt advised, though he never envisioned a successor would prove capable of obliterating cities half a world away in under half an hour.

It is quite common these days to hear those who specialise in Taiwan studies quoting the old maxim from President Theodore Roosevelt to "speak softly and carry a big stick".

“To use Theodore Roosevelt’s phrase, Biden’s approach to China can be described as ‘speak softly and carry a big stick,’” said Yuen Yuen Ang, a political scientist at the University of Michigan.

In 1901, President Theodore Roosevelt described his foreign policy as “Speak softly and carry a big stick.”