Sidelines is a column by CGTN's Social Media Desk

Cook-off shows have become my new distraction from the epidemic reality. The ease with which the contestants conjure dishes of art is so elegant that it almost borders on the delusive. These shows make it seem as if anybody could master the craft were the pandemic to ground us any longer. 

My favorite ingredient is fish. To observe a chunk of, say, halibut sizzling into safely brown is a surprisingly calming experience. If cooked appropriately, the meat can barely stand a light poke by the fork without collapsing into flakes that are still big enough to serve a mouthful. Pinpointing this sweet spot is an intricate operation against heat and time. Even the professionals occasionally bungle under pressure.

Chinese cuisine may differ from the West by serving fish with the head attached, but it, too, recognizes the difficulty of presenting seafood delicacy with every flavor being spot-on. The consensus dates back to antiquity. The Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu is believed to have elevated fish cookery to the same footing of state governance. "Govern a great country as you would cook a small fish," he said (i.e., to stir as little as possible). 

Analyzed against modern U.S. politics, Lao Tzu probably leans toward a Republican. With a stretch, his non-interventionist principle may be closer to the small government ideal and free-market orthodoxy. Between negligence and micromanagement, what the Taoism founder seems to stress with the cookery metaphor is the wisdom of ruling in the judgment of timing and degree to intervene.

What would former U.S. President Donald Trump be like in the kitchen? Judging by his record of stirring domestic sentiment in favor of his signature policies, he probably can't be trusted to do a fish dish justice.

Has Trump ever believed in a wall to stop immigrants, tariffs to compensate the federal coffer or inject bleach to purge the coronavirus? Does he truly understand the mechanisms of the Iran nuclear deal, the Paris Agreement or the World Health Organization before withdrawing the U.S.? The questions and answers are probably not relevant at all as far as his populist communication strategy is concerned. If voters love simple answers to problems caused and complicated by the "self-serving" Washington establishment, a populist leader has to play along by producing them, turning any possible policy debate into a "people versus elites” shouting competition.

This "talent for low intrigue and little art of popularity," in the words of Alexander Hamilton, might not be very unfamiliar among Chinese antiquity thinkers who believe in political and moral integrity's importance to ruling. Lao Tzu may define a good government very distinctively from his contemporaries and a constellation of philosophers after him, but his fish cooking metaphor can still send a relevant message to modern politics: Be careful when playing with fire.

Policy is meant to coordinate the interests of unpredictable human agents predisposed to making irrational decisions. Consequently, unintended outcomes are part and parcel of policymaking since no trial can exhaust all possible scenarios beforehand. Public communication, therefore, is for the elected officials to negotiate with voters for greater latitude within which to act upon their mandate, instead of shrinking it. Sadly, Trump opted for the latter by provoking the public and eventually became a prisoner of his own popularity.

Toward the end of his presidency, the partisan rivalry had already suffocated the political oxygen needed for cross-aisle cooperation to tackle the pandemic. Faced with a choking disease that engulfed the country and a cutthroat election, Trump allowed populism to hijack his agenda: stirring hatred, blaming others, deflecting the attention, all intended to shield his administration than helping the ill, until the strategy backfired in the looting of Capitol Hill. When the actually simple solution of wearing masks to contain the contagion appeared unpopular with his supporters, he hesitated.

Many say that excited Trump supporters' sacking of the Congress building marks the darkest day of American democracy. It may not be accurate. The day had arrived long before that. When the Trump camp decided to strategize Covid denial for his campaign – it actually had worked to a point – American democracy had already taken a dark turn. Trump has left frontline politics, but the voters he had mobilized will not. Now it's Joe Biden's turn to decide how to negotiate with them.

Presumably, being the president of the United States leaves little time for fish cooking, nor would the Oval Office occupant have to exhaust ancient Chinese philosophy classics for inspiration. Yet, hopefully, the current POTUS can read from his predecessor's mistakes and understands better the delicate art of playing with time and fire.