And so ends the American Empire. Asia is the most important place in the world and now the US brings nothing to the table. Its military force in the region is all but unusable without a corresponding economic foothold. The US just turned the region over to China and proved, decisively, that it cannot be a reliable ally. The end will be a slow decay (though Trump will likely greatly accelerate it, as Bush did) but the writing is now on the wall. Coming back from this will be next to impossible.