I'm sure Xi is beyond having his feelings hurt by Biden, but just look at Bilken's reaction lmao.
Inviting a head of state to your country to publicly insult them is unacceptable anywhere, so this is only going to further tarnish the shitty reputation of American diplomacy.
People call each other brainwashed all the time though? I've heard people say another person is "so/super/incredibly brainwashed" irl. It gets the message across pretty well I think
I'll admit licensing does sound natural in those sentences but I guess I just want a pithier way of saying something similar. It still comes off as academic, like someone saying "contradiction" instead of disagreement.