Popular Reviews of Dissident at the Doorstep

This was an interesting podcast that felt like it held back in its portrayal of its main character. It was a seriously reported longform piece, but in the end I think it asks too much from Guancheng. It tries to draw some conclusions about Chinese dissidents, but Guancheng is, at best, acting on short-term impulses rather than a long-term plan based on deeply thought-out philosophical positions -- or, at worst, trying to cope with the repercussions of his uncontrollable outbursts and actions that put both him and his family in the path of great harm. There doesn't seem to be a moral core in this story, and the portrait that emerges, despite the reporters' best efforts, is one of a man who can't stop himself from just being very publicly contrarian for borderline self-aggrandizing purposes. If they had leaned into this revelation and accepted him for the man he is, maybe his pivot to MAGA would have been less of a head-scratcher for them.