Democracy Dies in DarknessDriverless electric vehicles. Humanoid robots. Digital billboards promoting Chinese large language models. Beijing is reenvisioned as a showcase of China's aspirations.May 13, 2026Electronic billboards across Beijing are designed to exude a high-tech atmosphere in the capital. (Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images)In the eyes of President Donald Trump, Washington is a “filthy” “death trap” of a city in desperate need of a new ballroom and a giant triumphal arch. On Wednesday, he arrived in Beijing — a capital reenvisioned as a living showcase of China’s ambitions to dominate industries of the future.