If Trump's White House think Ripple is a better alternative, then they're even more braindead than I thought. Please put all your eggs in that basket, idiots. Please. It would prove beyond all doubt that Ripple is centralised (in case that wasn't already crystal clear).
What's wrong with Ripple? I am not really familiar with them.
Well, the short answer is that Ripple is considered centralized. About 70% of Ripple is under control of the company, which is way above accepted standards on the crypto market. They are slowly releasing some of it, but it's still a long way to go. Another thing is that since Ripple is mainly used for collaborations with banks, there is an option to freeze the money on accounts (on gateways) when there is suspicious activity, which is again too much power.
China manufactures most of the world’s bitcoin and cryptocurrency mining equipment and its massive mining farms are supported by the country's cheap electricity prices. Will the US be able to reach China's dominance?
China is playing a weird and dangerous game which can lead it to failure instead of potential economic growth. While being de facto the most serious country in mining business, it banned ICOs and cryptocurrency exchanges. The atmosphere is hostile, though I believe that mining is not against the law yet. I read that this policy leads to shift to other countries like Canada and USA. I think a smarter move would be to welcome and encourage companies like Bitmain to operate there more, than adopt highly centralized Ripple, that can allow Ripple's company to dictate its rules on the market to everyone, including USA.