The intellectual movement to which they subscribe has been the force behind the planned destruction—figuratively and literally—of the principal pillars of America’s authority in the world: the idea that the greatest nation on the planet was founded on universal ideals of human freedom and dignity. Instead, it insists, like those Chinese Communists, that all along this claim to a unique status in the world has been a fraud, mere sloganeering behind which America has been—and remains—a force for repression and exploitation.

How can a nation prevail in a global ideological struggle when its leaders believe its values are intrinsically evil?

Mr. Yang and his colleagues must have had a good laugh on their way back to Beijing. Indeed they are probably chuckling at much of what they see in the values and principles to which America’s new masters—sorry, nongendered leadership figures—demand loyalty.