From the Kitchen Table: The Duffys - U.S. Military Warns That China Is Overtaking Latin America

Episode Date: May 18, 2023

Top Pentagon officials have raised concerns over the growing influence of China in Latin America. Sean and Rachel sit down to discuss how China has been able to grow alliances within the region, and t...he threat that this poses to the United States. Later, they talk about why they believe President Biden has been soft on China during his presidency, how the U.S. can create stronger relations with its southern neighbors, and react to the release of the Durham Report. Follow Sean and Rachel on Twitter: @SeanDuffyWI & @RCamposDuffy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 It's hockey season, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get an ice rink on Uber Eats. But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice? Yes, we deliver those. Gold tenders, no. But chicken tenders, yes. Because those are groceries, and we deliver those too.
Starting point is 00:00:19 Along with your favorite restaurant food, alcohol, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. Hey, everyone. Welcome to From the Kitchen Table. I'm Sean Duffy along with my co-host for the podcast, my partner in life, and my wife, Rachel Campos Duffy. Hey Sean, it's great to be back. Today we're going to be talking about a topic that's really had me very worried. A lot of people don't know that I have a graduate degree in Latin American Studies. I've always cared about it. I've lived in Latin America. I've lived in Peru. I lived for a short time in Venezuela.
Starting point is 00:01:05 And I have been very, very concerned with the rise of China in Latin America. And for the last year, we've done podcasts on this before, kind of raising the alarms. But now military leaders who normally would never want to, you know, say anything because they don't want to seem political. The military leaders of the Southern Command of this area, the Western Hemisphere, are basically saying we can't stay silent anymore. And they're voicing their frustration with what they see as an increasing and menacing presence of China, a takeover, if you will, of that area in our own hemisphere. Yeah. So we've always had this idea of the Monroe Doctrine where we're going to, meaning the U.S., is going to control our hemisphere or be the most influential player in our leader and so what's happened now though with the u.s retreating china has stepped in and um taking a lead role in you know many of the countries in central and south america and just for for example 21 countries in latin america have signed up with china's belt and road Initiative. Can you explain Belt and Road? Yes, that's where the
Starting point is 00:02:26 Chinese come in and they're willing to fund projects like infrastructure, roads and bridges. So it's soft power. Energy development, mining. They're going to help develop their country. Sometimes they'll even say, we're going to help you build a sports stadium. So the Chinese have also loaned billions of dollars to Latin American countries, over $100 billion over the last 10 years. And that kind of influence of the Chinese, and by the way, the US will say the deals that are structured by the Chinese with these third world countries are structured in a way that will truly benefit China. The terms are almost impossible to comply with. And it's going to give China a lot of say and control over these
Starting point is 00:03:11 countries that not so smartly signed these deals for this cash and for this development with the Chinese. Well, it's what they call elite capture. So if you can just look, by the way, at what China has done in Africa. So they were there first. And many people will say they basically raped and pillaged that poor continent. And the way they do it, and you strike a deal with them, and you end up owning and managing and controlling the resources, the ports in these countries. And that family that makes that deal with the Chinese, that dirty deal, that deal with the devil, they know that their family will be rich for generations,
Starting point is 00:04:07 but they'll sell out their country in the process. That is now happening in Latin America. And if you don't think that can happen, I mean, let's think about it, Sean. It's already happening here in the United States. Look at what Hunter Biden has done with the Chinese, selling out America's interests, uranium and all kinds of energy projects with the Chinese, uranium with the Russians. They'll do anything they have to do to facilitate these deals because the Biden family right now is very powerful and rich and they don't care about what's happening to the rest of America. Imagine how much more influence they can have in Latin America where, you know, there's so much more poverty, where the elites there are even less, you know, powerful and are more able to be influenced by Chinese money.
Starting point is 00:04:53 Yeah, this is a system of, again, as you've mentioned, buying the powerful and the elite of a country. So those small few are enriched while they sell out the rest of their countrymen. And you make a good point. It's not just the Bidens, though, here in the U.S. It's corporations, businesses that are willing to sell out their homeland and go to China to make products cheaply. And then buy into the Chinese model of censorship. Don't say anything about the Uyghurs. You can only talk about the things that we say you can talk about.
Starting point is 00:05:24 You can't push back on any of our policies. Taiwan is ours. And if you don't agree with that, you're going to get out of our country. And by the way, speaking of Taiwan, you brought up companies. I mean, the NBA is the perfect example of complete sellout organization. And now LeBron James, you know, if anyone steps up and tries to defend the Hong Kong protesters, LeBron James, who has a huge business interest in China, will tell them to shut up. And, you know, yeah, I believe in free speech, but, you know, you have to be careful what you say.
Starting point is 00:05:54 You know, this Chinese model, the way they control our elites through that process. It's interesting in Latin America, Sean, this has now gone from, you know, and you and I know that economic power is power, right? I mean, when America was energy independent, we were the most powerful. And now we're not. But, you know, economics is power. But now we're actually seeing really weird stuff militarily. So it used to be just like, okay, they have the ports. Well, that has a military implication.
Starting point is 00:06:25 They control ports, for example, in the Panama Canal, major ports in the Panama Canal. But now in Chile, they have, I'm going to find this right here, but they have these bases that they're putting up these six, it's a secretive, I mean, this is really, really, I'm sorry, not Chile, it's Argentina. Sorry, Argentina. In the western Nequen province, the Chinese are putting up, and it's a kind of a remote
Starting point is 00:06:54 area of Argentina. It's a secretive 200 hectare facility. It opened up in 2018. It cost $50 million. It has a 16-story antenna. Now, the Chinese will say, well, this is part of our space and lunar program because apparently the lunar rover that was on the dark side of the moon, they used this antenna. This stuff can easily be used for military purposes. And we know that China's space program is run by the People's Liberation Army. And it wasn't very long ago, Sean, that we saw when people say spy balloons.
Starting point is 00:07:31 No, that was a spy aircraft over our country. So we're seeing all the way down at the bottom, Argentina is having, you know, military Chinese activity. We see the Chinese, because our own president is compromised, allowed to use spy aircraft over our country. What is going on? Because if you talk to Gordon Changshan, he says the Chinese are preparing for war with America. So in Panama, you mentioned these two new ports that the Chinese have built. Our military leaders have said that those can very easily be turned over for military use, transition to military use, and houses the Panama Canal where billions and billions of dollars of goods go through the Panama Canal to go from the Pacific to the Atlantic or Atlantic to the Pacific. It's a huge deal. And basically, we built it.
Starting point is 00:08:26 Pacific. It's a huge deal. And basically, we built it. We, I think Jimmy Carter gave it back to the Panamanians. Ronald Reagan fought against that. That was his border wall issue, was the Panama Canal back when he ran. Didn't want to give it up. And now you see the Biden administration dithering and allowing the Chinese to come in and take over in our backyard. The Chinese provide 80% of all of the telecom equipment for the Mexicans. And the concern with Chinese telecom equipment is that they can tap in, sensor, monitor. They can access all of the information that go over their telecom equipment, which is why the U.S. has said, listen, we're going to make sure that U.S. telecom companies can't use Chinese-made goods to build out our network because they can hack it and they can listen in. They can eavesdrop by the use of their equipment.
Starting point is 00:09:15 Eighty percent is in Mexico. But I think what's also important, and we're going to talk about energy in a second in a specific country, which we have completely made idiotic moves. But before that, there's something called the lithium triangle, which is Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile. 54% of all of the world's lithium or known lithium is in these three countries. And China is the one that's now coming in and mining these critical minerals out of these countries.
Starting point is 00:09:45 And so you might go, well, why do I care about lithium? Of course you care about lithium because lithium goes into every single battery that you have, especially into your electric car. And it goes to the point that the Chinese control the technology, but also the critical minerals that Joe Biden is saying, I don't want America to mine. I don't want America to go to the lithium triangle and develop mines. I want the Chinese to do it. And I want them to take that lithium and refine it back in China, make the batteries in China, so America can buy Chinese batteries with Chinese critical minerals. And what frustrates me is that this is foreseeable.
Starting point is 00:10:28 This is a knowable plan that Joe Biden has engaged in. And you mentioned they're using their economic power. And you have to ask the question, where did China get all the economic power? And I think Donald Trump was right. They were able to steal American technology, willfully steal American companies. And through this theft and this suck of American companies, they have got incredibly wealthy off of all of America's work. And then they take that wealth and they bring it down to our hemisphere where they start buying up our hemisphere and joe biden doesn't do anything about it he's not concerned about it it's like he's like the chinese are good people i'm not afraid i'm not concerned that china has taken
Starting point is 00:11:15 over our backyard which concerns which concerns me concerns of military leaders yeah i was gonna say our military is really worried so i, it's really unusual to have generals. You know, we have General Laura Richardson. She's the head of U.S. Southern Command. You know, she's saying the People's Republic of China has the capability and the intent to eschew international norms, advance its brand of authoritarianism, and amass power and influence at the expense of these democracies. authoritarianism and amass power and influence at the expense of these democracies. It's not just that Joe Biden is compromised by the Chinese and is soft on the Chinese, and clearly they have something over him, because if you loved America and you were looking out for America's interests, you would never allow them to do that. But also the leftists who are basically running this
Starting point is 00:12:00 administration, these are the Obama holdovers that are still running our, you know, State Department and our intelligence agencies. All of these are hardcore leftists. Look at the ambassadors that they've put into Latin America, hardcore leftists. The few countries in Latin America when Joe Biden took office that were sort of pro-America. They have ignored, never visited, and instead they lavish all their attention on these leftist Marxist Latin American countries, the ones that are turning to China right now. Even if you look at Brazil, arguably the most important country in Latin America,
Starting point is 00:12:42 this administration, big tech, and our intelligence agencies all were involved in that Brazilian election. The kind of interference with Bolsonaro versus Silva Lula, the president of Brazil. And, you know, that election, Bolsonaro lost and Bolsonaro was pro-America. He was a China hawk. And now, you know, Silva's in power. And that is not in America's interest. And now, as we've done that, they have even deepened their ties with China. Why would an American president do that? And it's because there are these ideological Marxists that are embedded. This is the really evil communist deep state that's embedded in our government. And they are the ones calling the shots in Latin America,
Starting point is 00:13:36 creating these ties. George Soros' Open Society, by the way, also very active in Latin America and active with so many of our bureaucrats that are involved in Latin America. That's what's happening. Well, so if you're a Latin American country and you say, well, I like America, I love America. If you're in the U.S. government right now, you'd be like, well, you must be a MAGA Republican to love America because we actually hate America and they're not going to, this government, the Joe Biden government, is not going to align with those countries. You make a good point. We have American Marxists in control right now in the federal government and they're not
Starting point is 00:14:16 going to align with American loving countries. They're going to align with other Marxist countries even though those Marxist countries may hate America, they're going to align with a group of people who don't share traditional values. And because China is a Marxist country, an authoritarian country, America will recede so they can advance. And again, I think a lot of people don't understand the question why. I don't see why any American president would do this. And it's because we don't understand what's happened to the psychology of so many people who have gone through the university system and now find themselves in positions of power in the government. And you think Joe Biden might just be a nice old guy who seems affable and friendly. We all know that he's not all with it. And he has a bunch of
Starting point is 00:15:08 radical nutjobs that advise him and consult with him and make sure that these policies have taken over the American government, which is troubling. You know, in Mexico, which is, you know, right on our border here, we see the chaos that has ensued on our southern border and how that chaos is spilling over into our side of the border. The cartels who are basically working with the Biden administration and with the Mexican government to facilitate all of this, The cartels also work with the Chinese. And by the way, we've had, because of the open border, we've had an over a thousand percent increase in Chinese illegals coming over the border. So, you know, it's not just Latin Americans coming over. We have Chinese, we have terrorists coming over, we have spies coming over. But the Chinese are working with the Mexican government and with the cartels.
Starting point is 00:16:09 So many of the things that go into fentanyl are produced in China. The chemicals. The chemicals. And they're coming across. But as Mexico destabilizes, as our border dissolves, this is all in China's interest, Sean. It is. And so I think you take a step back and you have to go, okay, well, where is the largest economy in the world? Like a lot of people would say, well, it's China. That's actually not true. The U.S. is still the largest economy in the world. And we still have great innovators and creators, more so than the Chinese. The Chinese, they're
Starting point is 00:16:43 advancing and advancing very quickly. But we have the capability to out-compete them, to out-innovate them, and to out-play them in our hemisphere. And the question becomes, do you have the will to stop them from setting up police offices in American cities? Do you have the will to stop their spy balloons, airplanes, satellites from flying over America? Do you have the will to stop them from stealing your equipment? Do you have the will to put sanctions on Chinese companies and put tariffs on Chinese goods? And are you willing to engage in Latin America in a way that forced the Chinese out?
Starting point is 00:17:29 Because in the end, we are still the big dog on the street. And if we choose to use that economic strength, we can deal with this problem. But the problem is that Joe Biden doesn't see it as a problem. His administration doesn't see it as a problem. And I'm really amazed, Rachel, at how far our country could fall in just two years of egregious leadership, of egregious policies that don't benefit our country. it over, the fact that Joe Biden doesn't want to drill oil in America. Joe Biden doesn't want to mine for critical minerals in America. But also, Joe Biden doesn't want to send American mining companies to other countries to mine. He wants to let the Chinese mine those critical minerals. This makes absolutely no sense.
Starting point is 00:18:26 And the bottom line is that in the end, we all live on the same planet. If you're using oil from Venezuela or Saudi Arabia, it's still oil. Why not take it from here? And if you're going to mine critical minerals, why not have U.S. companies mine those minerals? Because they're going to be mined. But Joe Biden says, no, no, I want to let the Chinese mine them. And by the way, the Chinese don't do things as cleanly as the U.S. miners mine. And so you have a U.S. miners also don't use child labor as they do in the mines in Africa and probably in many of the mines in Latin America as well. You know, the number of children, you know, like 40,000 children, you know, in the most horrific conditions making, you know, pennies a day, mining for the Chinese. It's just many of them ending up orphans, by the way, because their parents also work there and end up dying in these horrific conditions. Children underground for entire days where they never see sunlight because they're underground mining the cobalt for the Chinese and for the green radical zealots in our country, Big Green, which is responsible for so much. As these kids are mining cobalt, they're just trying to feed themselves and maybe their families. There's a lot of uranium with the cobalt. And so as these kids mine the cobalt, if they don't have protective gear, they're getting really sick and they're dying from the
Starting point is 00:19:56 sickness of the uranium because they're trying to make money to feed themselves by mining cobalt for the Chinese, which is really for Americans. Way to go, AOC. Way to go, AOC. Way to go, Joe Biden. Way to go. Green New Deal. Green New Deal and John Kerry and all these hypocrites. And by the way, these people like John Kerry, their sons and daughters are all invested
Starting point is 00:20:18 in this green energy. They're transitioning us to something else that is actually going to make us more dependent on China. It causes all kinds of humanitarian issues around the country like child labor. And also, there's still no scientific proof that this is moving the dial in any direction in terms of carbon and everything else that they're trying to suppress. and everything else that they're trying to suppress. America would be better off with its own fossil fuels and then using the wealth from our fossil fuels to develop other technologies in due time when it's ready for the transition.
Starting point is 00:20:55 Right now it's preliminary. Hold on a second. In Congress I said this, and now I listen and I hear people say this. It's like I'm all of the above. I'm for all of these energy sources. When they're ready. I'm actually not. I'm in a place where I'm like, you know what?
Starting point is 00:21:11 Oil and gas works. Yeah. And I want to invest in oil and gas. And if you guys are able to develop something else that's better and cheaper and more efficient than oil and gas, come talk to me. Have it compete. Well, come and see me. I might look at buying an electric car if it's cheaper and better and it's going to last longer. Come to me then. But don't take away my oil and gas. And I think we undermine the beauty, the beauty of oil and gas
Starting point is 00:21:37 when we talk about all of the above. I'm sorry, that's not where I'm at. What I'm about is technology that works. Yeah. And electricity doesn't work yet. And it's really dirty and has a huge green, if you want to use green, imprint on the environment as you mine this stuff and develop these cars. So, listen, I want my Suburban. I want my truck. And I want my little gas zipper. That's what works for me. And you don't want to pay $5 a gallon. We'll be right back with much more after this.
Starting point is 00:22:11 It's winter, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get snowballs on Uber Eats. But meatballs, mozzarella balls, and arancini balls? Yes, we deliver those. Moose? No. But moose head? Yes. Because that's alcohol, and arancini balls? Yes, we deliver those. Moose? No. But moose head? Yes. Because that's alcohol, and we deliver that too.
Starting point is 00:22:30 Along with your favorite restaurant food, groceries, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. Tell me about Guyana. So Guyana is, you know, a country in Latin America
Starting point is 00:22:47 and a small, small, small country. Not long ago, they discovered oil there. Exxon, I think, was part of this deal of exploring. And it is the most exciting, biggest, you know, if you're in the oil industry, this is the biggest thing that's happened. Huge discovery. Huge, massive discovery. And this is one of the poorest countries in the world. I mean, it's really impoverished. It's, you know, I think the population, more than 40% of the population, live on less than $5.50 a day. But listen, this is transforming. They believe that it's worth $41 billion. And again, I mentioned that Exxon had been involved in this discovery. There were a lot of deals being made.
Starting point is 00:23:42 But Guyana actually has a history with the Chinese, a long history with the Chinese of their Belt and Road Initiative and so forth. And so once this was discovered, American companies had an opportunity and were starting to ink deals to try and help develop it and therefore help have control over it. develop it and therefore help have control over it, the Chinese are moving in because so many of the deals that were getting made, the green energy crowd, these radical zealots, I guess they would rather have China do it than us. Well, it's interesting because Guyana is a very pro-American country. They love America. And you're right, they're poor. So they find these massive oil reserves, which can change the trajectory of this very poor country.
Starting point is 00:24:33 And it would make sense that an American-loving country would have American oil and gas come in and develop it. And because we have dragged our feet, because there has been limitations that have come, I believe, from U.S. finance and the U.S. government, it's prohibited or made it cost prohibitive for Exxon and others to go in and to develop this region of South America. And because of those roadblocks that have been put in place, now you have the Chinese step in and say, well, resources and rules and regulations are not a problem for us. We'll come in and we'll develop this massive reserve of oil in this very poor country. And by the way, are the... Which will give them an incredible foothold in Latin America, by the way.
Starting point is 00:25:21 Is the Gawainese people, they're not going to be better off by having the Chinese in their backyard. They're better off having America in their backyard. But again, Joe Biden hates energy and all of those little minions hate oil and gas that they want to shut this deal down and cede this to the Chinese. It's also a matter of priority. the Chinese. It's also a matter of priority. So again, a lot of these, if you talk to, and I have very close family relatives who are involved in American business deals in Latin America, and they have to deal with our State Department at times with how they deal with these deals. And they say that our U.S. State Department has totally changed. And they say that our U.S. State Department has totally changed.
Starting point is 00:26:11 Well, since the Obama years in particular, and those people, of course, stay and they're embedded. And this is the way that they've changed. I think it's really important for our listeners, our viewers, and Americans to understand that our State Department is not assisting in helping expand American commerce in Latin America, which would be a great thing as we're competing with the Chinese for, you know, control over the Western Hemisphere. Oh, no, they're not getting involved in that. Our U.S. State Department is their priorities are pushing abortion, pushing green energy deals that the Latin Americans don't want. And by the way, they don't want abortion either. And pushing LGBTQ stuff.
Starting point is 00:26:49 That is their priorities. And so I've talked to plenty of people who do business in Latin America. They are frustrated by the lack of focus and interest on U.S. commerce in Latin America because of the obsession they have with abortion, LGBTQ, and green energy, all of which are policies which huge segments of the Latin American population want nothing to do with. This is contrary to their values in terms of green. These are people who are more concerned with putting, you know, bread on the table, instead of, you know, solar panels in their backyards. They don't
Starting point is 00:27:31 want that. Our government is selling, you know, subsidizing solar panels for people, when actually what they need is help with growing crops, and they need more investment. And instead, it's this social agenda. So but it's fascinating, because the liberals, when they look at America, they're like, oh, they were cultural imperialists. Yes. All of the explorers were imperialists trying to force their culture, their Western civilization culture on Africa, on the Indians in America and Central and South America. So really that's an affront, this cultural imperialism that they've witnessed through history and they want to shame anyone who engaged in cultural imperialism by the standards that they now live by in 2023. However, to your point, they're doing the exact same thing that they criticized their forefathers for doing.
Starting point is 00:28:28 It's cultural imperialism to say, we want you to be green. We want you to promote the LGBTQ plus. I can't even say all the things. And abortion. These are Catholic countries. abortion. Is there a Catholic country? It's cultural imperialism for these lefties to try to force their viewpoints on a group of people who absolutely reject these ideas, but they're using the force and economics of the United States. They'll say, you're not going to get that loan, that IMF loan or that loan for your next project unless you do this. for your next project unless you do this.
Starting point is 00:29:09 And so, again, they always do what they claim they hate, or they always are doing what they accuse you of doing, as we saw with the germ report in regard to Donald Trump and Russia collusion. They were doing the thing that they accused Donald Trump of. But this is a big deal because what's happening with China in our hemisphere dictates our security and our safety in the coming decades to have China on our doorstep. And it starts out economically, but it then transitions to militarily. And I'm telling you what, we're going to have real problems if the Chinese are in Mexico or in Central America. They are. They are.
Starting point is 00:29:47 Already some of these Central American countries have— But transitioning from economics to military hardware. Yes, correct. That becomes a real problem for us. And again, we have such stupid people in our government who don't believe and love the ideas that have made this country so great. And there will be a threshold. I said, we can still fix this. We can still win this hemispheric war. But if we wait much longer, I don't think we're going to be able to roll the Chinese back. Several of these countries have already issued statements saying they don't recognize Taiwan. These are some of the pressure
Starting point is 00:30:27 points that China will put on these Latin American countries in order to build these infrastructure projects or enrich their elites in the process. But what will happen is what always happens, Sean. The poor, the middle class, those who are working hard in Latin America will be the ones to suffer as the elite sell off their country, sell out their countries, sell out their natural resources and their ports to the Chinese in order to enrich their immediate families. This is the history, by the way, of Latin America. There's been a lot of that. And yes, the U.S. has been involved in some of those things. a lot of that. And yes, the U.S. has been involved in some of those things. But by and large, our American Western principles and ideas, as you talk about, Sean, have been forces for good in Latin America and have helped them prosper. A lot of Latin Americans complain about American
Starting point is 00:31:19 influence in the hemisphere. Some things I agree with, some things I don't on that argument. hemisphere. Some things I agree with, some things I don't on that argument, but be that as it may, just wait till your masters are the Chinese. Things will be much worse, but they will also be worse for America because as these countries get worse in Latin America, you're going to see more pressure for people to get out and come up to our country. There's just a lot of problems happening. And by the way, Sean, this was sort of a sleeper issue because Latin America was sort of, you know, this thing we didn't have to think so much about. I was thinking about all the fires going on all over the world. No matter what our government and our media tries to not talk about Ukraine, Ukraine is a disaster.
Starting point is 00:32:05 The Middle East is now getting destabilized. There's problems in Africa with the Chinese. There's problems in our hemisphere with the Chinese. There's so many things happening at one time. And I think that this becomes very overwhelming, right? How do I impact this? I do think, again, as we talk about the importance of our own families, but I also think it's important to learn what's happened in Latin America and, as you mentioned, the elites who have sold their country out for their wealth to impoverish their people. And when it happens in our country, we should acknowledge it, we should call it out. And we should vote with our dollar. I mean, again, I've got an Apple iPhone right here. And so do you. So do many of us. But Apple has sold this
Starting point is 00:32:49 country out. They make all of these in their computers in China. They will bend the will of Xi Jinping because they make all their phones in China, but sell them here. Walmart makes a ton of the garbage that you buy in their stores in China. Joe Biden has sold out to China. I think all of the green energy movement has sold out to China. And sometimes you don't feel like you have power, but you look at what happened with Bud Light. The American consumer became angry and offended by Bud Light partnering with Dylan Mulvaney, a boy who says he's a girl and has lived as a girl for a year. That offended a lot of their beer consumers. And they pushed back and punished the brand.
Starting point is 00:33:39 The brand is down by 20% in sales. Has a real impact. How we use our dollars and choices that we make. And if you go like, listen, I can't go anywhere other than my iPhone. But maybe there's somewhere else that you can go other than Walmart. Find other choices. Because I think they should be punished. Because make no mistake, they're selling you out.
Starting point is 00:34:01 They're selling America out. Because many of these companies can come home. Or they could get out of China these companies can come home or they could get out of China. Don't come home, but go somewhere else. But they choose to stay in China, an authoritarian Marxist regime that hates our country, that wants to control the world, that wants to export their form of government to the rest of the world, which is not freedom, which is not liberty.
Starting point is 00:34:21 It is authoritarianism. Yeah. is not liberty. It is authoritarianism. Yeah. Well, it's a surveillance communist society that unfortunately, that type of surveillance, they've had, I mean, the cultural influence of the Chinese expanded through COVID because surveillance and censorship exploded in America during COVID, and it has not abated. And we are now fighting something really incredible. I mean, who would have thought that Twitter was being controlled by our intelligence agencies? And the FBI. And the FBI and the CIA. And now we know it, you know, only because a gazillionaire,
Starting point is 00:34:59 Elon Musk, came in and took it over and did a huge service to our country by exposing it. Do we know that it was actually a PSYOP operation, you know, by the CIA? I mean, this is an incredible thing that I don't think we've actually really sufficiently processed as a country. But as I look at this, I look at Joe Biden and Hunter Biden, and I am so grateful for Representative Comer that the Republicans are little by little uncovering this corruption. And it isn't because I want the Republicans to win in the next election, though I do. But it is so important because Joe Biden and Hunter Biden are not the only elites who have sold out our country, as you said. But I do think they are
Starting point is 00:35:42 the most important people who have sold out our country. Joe you said. But I do think they are the most important people who have sold out our country. Joe Biden has enormous influence over, as we're now seeing, our entire Western hemisphere, our national security, the Chinese surveilling our country over our own landmass, but now establishing, you know, bases and space stations and all kinds of weird stuff they're doing down in Latin America that our generals, who are generally pretty quiet and trying to stay on the right side of the regime, are now raising alarms about. This is a massive thing. And I think it does actually go back to Representative Comer.
Starting point is 00:36:17 The more we can uncover this corruption, and it's going to be hard, Sean, because just this week, many of the whistleblowers in the IRS have now been, there was a band of whistleblowers in the IRS who were uncovering so much of the corruption and things that Hunter and other family members were doing. The whistleblower that came out, he had like a group of people he was working with. The DOJ has come in and disbanded them. So there is a very deep concerted effort. They know this is dangerous territory for them. There is a deep concerted effort to sideline, punish, silence any federal whistleblowers who can expose this corruption at the highest level of our government.
Starting point is 00:37:06 We want to expose crime. It was a criminal enterprise. And our intelligence, our law enforcement don't want it to be exposed. And they will fight and they'll fire anyone who gets in their way of protecting Joe Biden. I want to go back to just a quick point. We had mentioned the NBA. The NBA makes a ton of money in China. Yeah. But they make way more money in America. Right. Way more money in America. But a good chunk of cash is
Starting point is 00:37:33 made in China. And so they've made the bet that they can appease China. They can do what China asks. And you're still going to watch their games. You're still going to buy their jerseys. You're still going to buy their shoes. And the NBA was right. Yeah, I was just going to say, that's a bet they won. They won. But, again, I'm not a big basketball fan, but I'm not going to watch it. I'm not going to watch a Chinese-aligned sports organization and give them my eyeballs.
Starting point is 00:38:07 But everyone else will, Sean. I know basketball fans, and I know basketball fans who hate what LeBron James did, who hate what they stand for, and when the flippin' March Madness comes, they can't resist. So March Madness, that's college.
Starting point is 00:38:23 Or whatever. You know me. I don't know about sports. Watch your college basketball. I don't care. Oh, that's a good point. Watch college basketball. But if you want to watch the NBA, you are actually – I love how I screwed that up.
Starting point is 00:38:33 This is what I do on Fox & Friends every weekend. You're funding China. And so if you don't have the gumption to turn off the NBA, we're not going to win this war. We're not going to win this fight. That's such a great point. There is an alternative. the NBA, we're not going to win this war. That's such a great point. There is an alternative.
Starting point is 00:38:46 Support college basketball and just sacrifice and give up the NBA games. But people love it and it's really hard. I mean, people do it with the NFL too. They boycott for like a few games because the NFL did something. But the NFL is bad but it's not as bad as the NBA.
Starting point is 00:39:02 Agreed. So again, how committed are we to saving this country and punishing those who hate us and want to see China win? We have to be dedicated and devoted to preserving and protecting this great country. And that means vote with your eyeballs and vote with your dollars. Can I ask you something, Sean? Do you think that the stuff that Representative Comer and the oversight committees are uncovering, do you think they'll get to the bottom of it? I've been, I love them. But like any committee in Congress, yeah, they have some resources. Yes, they have some smart people that work on their teams. And yes, James Comer and the committee, they're dedicated and they're smart and they're fighting. This is tiddlywinks.
Starting point is 00:40:09 The kind of team they have and access to information that they have is like, this is like t-ball baseball. That's the game they're playing. And look at all of the information by playing t-ball baseball. This little rogue team with a little bit of power from the Congress has been able to ascertain about the Biden finances. They've gotten unbelievable information just because they've used a little bit of power and they've asked. And it goes to show you that if the, maybe the FBI already knows. You think this is just the tip of the iceberg of what really is there.
Starting point is 00:40:36 I'm saying this is easy for the FBI to look at, easy for the FBI to investigate, to look at, easy for the FBI to investigate, easy for the FBI to get to the truth on the Bidens. If the Oversight Committee can get this much information, this is the easy, easy stuff. What's the FBI doing? And why aren't they investigating potential corruption within the Biden family, or that Joe Biden is compromised, that Hunter Biden has compromised his father. The whole family has made millions of dollars off of people that hate this country. Why won't the FBI look at it? And again, the FBI, that's pro ball. They have the tools and the mind. They do this stuff every day, day after day, year after year. They have the institutional knowledge to dig in and figure out what actually happened.
Starting point is 00:41:32 But Comer, I mean, they don't do this for a living. They don't do these investigations for a living. They're just trying to do it right now. And again, it just— So you're saying they're getting no help, no assist from the FBI, and yet the FBI was involved in the – we just saw the Durham report drop this week and all the stuff that the FBI was doing to basically impact an election or in many ways I think it was like an administrative coup on this – on the Trump administration. So why do we have an FBI? I don't trust them and a lot of people have been saying that sean get rid of the fbi defund the fbi because if if what they do is interfere on behalf
Starting point is 00:42:12 of liberals in in in russia collusion hoaxes and then refuse to investigate obvious crimes on the part of the bidens why are they there so So it's interesting. Peter Strzok and Comey, they've gone out and been like, listen, what a waste of money. Why do they waste? This was a big nothing burger, this investigation. Are they saying that now? Oh, yeah, they're saying it right now. And they're given platforms to say that on CNN and MSNBC. And if you want to say it was a big nothing burger, it was a big nothing burger in that there was nothing for as a basis to start an investigation on Donald Trump to surveil his team members to tap his phones, crossfire hurricane. There was no evidence to start that investigation. So there was a big nothing burger that this FBI under Comey took and made it a three-year, four-year investigation against Donald Trump. A witch hunt.
Starting point is 00:43:13 A complete witch hunt. And so that they're pushing back and saying, oh, this was a waste of money. By the way, the Mueller investigation costs $16 million. The Durham investigation costs $16 million. The Durham investigation costs $6 million. Wow. So there's a $10 million difference in those two. But these good stewards of Strzok and Comey are like, oh, that costs wasting taxpayer money. Wasteful investigation.
Starting point is 00:43:37 Let me tell you what happened. Answer my question, though, Sean. Durham discovered that rules weren't followed, procedures weren't followed, and they did an investigation based on political intelligence that they could have easily vetted and saw that it was political and false and shut it down. Instead, they ran with it for years. They were called out as political operatives. This is the same institution, the FBI, the DOJ, that went after January 6th people, and they're targeting them. They're continuing. I mean, they're giving 20 year sentences to people. You know, they're continuing. They've expanded their scope. To me, I look at everything they're doing and not doing and how political it is. I'm actually starting to reach the point where I go get rid of it.
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Starting point is 00:44:59 Visit milk.org to learn more. Christopher Ray, when this report came out, issued a statement and basically was like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Saw the report and we have already implemented new policies and procedures to prevent this from happening again in the future. So don't you worry. I've already taken care of this. Is anyone going to be held accountable? Hold on. But think about that. This is the same FBI that has implemented new policies and procedures to prevent this from happening again under Chris Wray. That's the same FBI that was partnering with Twitter and Facebook to shut down conservative speech. And we're supposed to feel comfortable
Starting point is 00:45:38 that your new policies and procedures are going to protect the American people, that you're going to do the work of law enforcement, not the work of political persecution. I have no faith. And so to answer your question, I don't believe the American people are in a place where they want to get rid of the FBI. And again, I can see that. But does the FBI have to have its funding limited and its focus recrafted so they are focused on actual crimes, actually looking at terrorists, looking at terrorist financing, looking at mobsters? How does that happen? How does that happen, Sean? Because the Congress has to act. So why hasn't the Congress act? So the problem is the Congress can act with a Democrat Senate. But I do think that if there's a Republican House and Senate, they're going to navigate a way to reform our intelligence community.
Starting point is 00:46:33 Because, again, this is a political wing of the Democrat Party. And I'm sad to say that. And, again, you've heard this said before, but we have given them incredible power. And with that power comes incredible responsibility on how they use that power. They have breached multiple times, breached the trust of the American people and use it for politics. And therefore, you got to claw some of it back. And in one way, that can endanger the safety and the security of the country. But if you don't claw back the safety and security of the country
Starting point is 00:47:05 and its democracy and its elections and the whole foundation of what we are is jeopardized as well. So I think it has to be recrafted. Or even divide it up. Split it up. Break it up. Like Ma Bell. Break her up.
Starting point is 00:47:23 Yeah. No, I agree. I mean, I look at who they're going after. I'm convinced I'm on multiple FBI lists. They're going after pro-lifers. They're going after pro-life moms specifically. They have profiles thanks to America Liberty First. Is that what they're called?
Starting point is 00:47:38 America First Liberty. They FOIAed – America First Legal. America First Legal. They FOIA'd. America First Legal. America First Legal. They FOIA'd, got Freedom of Information Acts from the FBI, and found out that they were profiling pro-life moms. They're profiling, they're looking for white supremacists where there aren't any instead of focusing on crime.
Starting point is 00:47:57 And then they won't investigate. If you're someone of faith, you like your First Amendment rights, you like your Second Amendment rights. If you don't want your kids to be taught about sex in school or trans in school, you're on the list. And so – It's just so scary. It's so weird. I have different ideas than many of the elites in our country, but I am not violent. Why am I on some FBI list? Because I'm
Starting point is 00:48:25 pro-life. Because you're a brown white supremacist. I guess so. I guess so. Troubling, troubling times. But I do think, I do think if there is a commitment from the American people at the ballot box and demand reform from their elected leaders, this can change. But if Republicans don't see this threat for what it is, these folks are going to continue. I think Republicans do see it for the threat that it is. The question that I have is whether Congress is at all powerful enough. Like when you describe the difference between the power and the money to investigate that Comer and his little ragtag team have
Starting point is 00:49:10 and have done a great job doing versus the power of the FBI. I mean, how do you switch this imbalance? How do you give power back to the people and the representatives? How do you make those agencies afraid of us instead of us afraid of them? Who was the Minnesota senator, the liberal who died in a plane crash?
Starting point is 00:49:29 Paul Wellstone. Yes. Paul Wellstone. I believe he voted against the Iraq War. Maybe Afghanistan. Probably. But he voted against the Iraq War, and he was one of two that voted against the war. Is that back when we actually voted on wars?
Starting point is 00:49:44 Yep. Because we don't do that anymore we just go into ukraine without just do it yeah we do without congressional voting isn't that the democracy yeah fine and functioning but he he voted against it um and he had to go back to minnesota and he got a ton of pressure because everyone voted for it um he got a ton of pressure political pressure back in minnesota and what he did is he went around and he he he gave his philosophy he tried to sell his constituents on why that vote was right why he was right for voting against the war and some people in Minnesota didn't necessarily agree with him but they were like I understand why he's thinking the way he is and why he's doing what he's doing and by the way he turned out to be. I was I would skewer him back then. And I go, you know what, probably Paul Wellstone
Starting point is 00:50:28 was was partially right. And I think that's the interesting thing that's happening. And so my point, though, with that is, these members of Congress, if you believe that it's a threat to your democracy, you got to go sell it. And people are going to give you heat. And you got to stand up and you got to have a good message on why democracy can only survive if you don't have a political intelligence, really powerful intelligence community and a really powerful FBI and DOJ that can take anybody down. And that's unsustainable. You got to make the case. And so many of them are like, you made the case on Fox and Friends, Rachel, and maybe if you can sell my constituents, then I'll do it. It's like, no, you were elected to lead and sell people that this has to be broken up. I'm not saying defund
Starting point is 00:51:14 the FBI or the DOJ, but I am saying they have to be broken up and we have to rethink their mission. It's a tall order, but it really makes the stakes of the next election i mean elections matter i'm i'm again i'm gonna say it again i'm impressed with what representative comar have been have been able to do in a very short period of time yeah you know it's they've just had the gavel it was yeah you're right it was just laying there for the taking it was low hanging fruit but yet over all those years no one um the Democrat – I mean it really shows you how corrupt the Democrats are. That they wouldn't want to expose somebody who's compromised to our enemies. So we just got the Durham report.
Starting point is 00:51:56 Durham report, yeah. Durham report, yeah. So as we – as the Russia collusion hoax was evolving day after day after day. We would sit here and go, this is bullshit. This is all made up. This didn't happen, right? We knew what the truth was. We didn't know that the rot of the FBI and the intelligence community would be exposed. I didn't know that. But when it was exposed, I'm like, I knew it. We knew this was what was happening. But when it was exposed, I'm like, I knew it. We knew this was what was happening. Same thing here. Maybe one day the FBI and the DOJ are going to be exposed on how they covered for the corruption and the crimes of Joe and Hunter Biden, because no doubt they are. I just hope one day there's an investigation to go, how did you handle this case? What did and didn't you look into? And what were the political motivations behind the decisions that you made? We very well may find out, like Russia collusion, we're also going to find out Biden corruption, very same or similar rotten actors doing really bad things with the power we gave them.
Starting point is 00:53:00 It's really amazing to expose it. And I think that's definitely the first step. But then there has to be consequences. And I think about like what's happening, what happened with COVID that Dr. Fauci has not been, I mean, I think what he did was criminal, covering up the Chinese involvement in this COVID leak, funding. And so now we have just last, a couple of weeks ago, we find out that our government is giving more millions of dollars to the EcoHealth Alliance
Starting point is 00:53:24 that was working with the Wuhan lab. I mean, because Peter Daszak and Anthony Fauci were never held accountable for funding gain-of-function research that we know was dangerous, and that they knew leaked from that lab, and they covered it up and took everybody on this other path, that they didn't face consequences. The result is more millions of dollars going to gain a function, more millions of dollars going to the EcoHealth Alliance, more money going to dangerous labs in China and the Ukraine and all kinds of other places. You make a really good point. But then Fauci comes out and is like, I never shut down schools.
Starting point is 00:54:03 I never advocated shutdown. I never told people they had to wear a mask. He, after the fact that we now see he's wrong, he comes out and just tells us bold-faced lies. And the media will run with the lies. Like, oh, yeah, yeah, you didn't tell us to shut down schools. It's like, we have the video. Even the union, even Randy Weingarten, who has like multiple stump speeches, public stump speeches saying how we need to shut down our schools and keep teachers safe. Now she's saying, I never said to shut down schools.
Starting point is 00:54:31 They're gaslighting us all over the place. And the FBI right now is doing the same thing. Like what? Yes. We didn't do anything wrong. He didn't find, he didn't find anything. He didn't find anything here. And by the way, they were like, look at all the people he prosecuted, Durham. They were found not guilty. They weren't convicted. And by the way, the reason they were found not guilty and not guilty was it became very clear that these prosecutions weren't the Clinton campaign trying to dupe the Department of Justice. It became clear that the Department of Justice and the FBI were willingly being duped.
Starting point is 00:55:05 It's like they knew they were being duped. Yeah, of course. I'm not lying to you. You're like accepting my offer of the lie. You're actually the FBI. You're the ones that are at fault, not the defendant who fed you this garbage that allowed you to run with it. Right.
Starting point is 00:55:19 Right. That was a little confusing. No, no, no. It's all very interconnected. And I think we need to get to the bottom of it. We need to have consequences. And ultimately, Sean, it's not going to end until there is somebody that we can trust at the top of the ticket. And the key to all this is the next Republican president has to eradicate the civil service laws.
Starting point is 00:55:46 eradicate the civil service laws. You have to get rid of their unions because if a Republican wins and they try to reform the FBI and the DOJ and the CIA, you can't fire all the rot that's in those organizations. You can't get rid of them because they're protected by the union. And so if you actually want to be able to get those rotten people, those political actors out. I don't want Republican activists in these places. I want good Americans to blindly enforce the law, blindly investigate crimes. That's what I want. And so you're only going to get that when you can fire the bad people. And whether it's at the Department of Education, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, that's job number one on day number one. Get rid of the union and start canning people, throwing them out, and bringing good Americans in. I agree.
Starting point is 00:56:33 A lot of work to do. A lot of work to do. But we can do it. We went kind of full circle there. We did. We did. There is a lot to chew on. A lot to chew on.
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