The Exchanges

Q he died in his sleep right after doing so in his forties, and so this is, It's a very, very scary regime. It's a very evil regime. Number two, China's preparing for war. You chair the Senate Intelligence Committee. You probably can't tell us everything you know, obviously. What's the latest you can tell us about their military buildup and its aggression and its nefarious dealings? What are they doing?

A China has undertaken the largest peacetime buildup in the history of mankind. Um, since the turn of the century, um, China's increased its military spending by more than 1000%. It's now got the largest military by far in the world. It's the second most technologically advanced. Um, in some ways it has some advantages over our military because Uh, it was upgrading from, say, junky aircraft in the 19 fifties and taking a huge leap ahead in technology to fourth and fifth and soon sixth generation fighters. Um, but it has expanded its military, um, faster than any nation has ever done in peacetime. And, and that's not just as conventional military either. That's its nuclear arsenal as well. You know, China has long claimed it would, um, only maintain what's known as a minimal deterrence, um, enough nuclear weapons to strike back if it was ever Attacked by nuclear power. Um, that went out the door with Xi Jinping as well. Um, they've more than doubled the number of warheads they have since Xi took office. It's gonna double again, our Pentagon estimates, by the end of this decade, and double again by the middle of the next decade. Um, this is all, of course, directed Towards what they view as the last real remaining piece of unfinished business in consolidating, uh, Chinese communist power, which is, um, going for the jugular in Taiwan and annexing it to the mainland. And of course t…

AI assessment note: “China has undertaken the largest peacetime buildup in the history of mankind.”

Q there, and so they have to be very, very careful in Hollywood not to piss off China, or they're permanently could be banned, it would destroy their, their business, and so China seems to have a censorship block over a lot of what's going on here. Like, it's insane to me we're still allowing this, like, but I don't know, what's going on here otherwise with China and our culture?

A Yeah, you lay it out very well, and it's one of the most One of the most vivid, um, stories I think resonates with most Americans because you just ask them, when was the last time you saw a movie with the Chinese villain or that cast communist China in a bad light? And the answer is it's been a very long time. Probably the last time was When seven years in Tibet was released and communist China came down on, uh, the production studios and Brad Pitt and the other actors, like a ton of bricks and they studios got the message. If you want access to the large and lucrative Chinese movie market. Can't have Chinese villains. You can't reflect communist China in a negative light at all. So you don't have any of the great movies that we remember from the Cold War, like Red Dawn or Rocky for. And speaking of Red Dawn, um, about 10 or maybe 12 years ago, there was an effort to remake Red Dawn in a story, a great story again from the Cold War about Communist Russia invading America and teenage kids fighting back like gorillas against them. Um, the movie was remade, and this time around it was Communist China invading, uh, the United States. That was until the studio suits got wind of it. And in post-production, they digitally manipulated Um, the content to turn it into a North Korean invasion of America. Just, just think about that. North Korea, a starving impoverished nation of twenty-fi…

AI assessment note: “That's the lengths to which Hollywood will go to not offend Chinese Communist censors.”

Q let's see what happens. I really appreciate your work on that. The other, the other part of coming for our kids, I love you right about this. Cause it's how I think about it too. And it's how some Chinese billionaires, by the way, joked to me about it very rudely is that there's a reverse opium war going on over the last decade. Tell us, what does that mean?

A Well, first off, if you've forgotten your high school history, which I often do as well, um, the opium wars, uh, were, uh, wars in the early to mid 18th century, um, that European countries waged against China to force China to keep the opium trade, uh, open for them. And China lost those wars and had to allow the opium trade and it lost territory and had to grant other concessions. In fact, China, China's leaders today still call that the beginning of their so-called century of humiliation. That only ended when, uh, Chinese communists won the civil war in 1949 and took power. Um, and, and now as if American teenagers are somehow responsible for what European imperialists did almost 200 years ago, they're killing American teenagers, um, to the tune of hundreds of thousands in, in recent years. So rather than opium flooding in to China 200 years ago, we have fentanyl Flooding in the United States via Mexican drug cartels. For a long time, it was just finish fentanyl pills, go to Mexico, and the cartels would ship it in. President Trump was able to stop that in his first term, but since then, they've been shipping in chemical ingredients, the precursors for fentanyl, essentially giving Chinese or giving Mexican drug cartels, you know, the ingredients and the menu on how to make it, even supplying pill presses for them, and that's what we have to crack down on now. Because, uh, Ch…

AI assessment note: “rather than opium flooding in to China 200 years ago, we have fentanyl Flooding”

Q on cronyism, and I know politics is the art of the possible. You can't just turn it all off at once. You know, there's, there's bases we might, might not need, but you can't destroy the local economies. But how do we move money away from some of these things that are more job programs to, to towards terrifying and deterring our enemies? Like, how do we think about that?

A Something that Elon Musk and his teams are working on that I think hasn't gotten as much attention, but it should. And they did a good job of highlighting some of these efforts on the, uh, Fox News Channel with Brett Baer, um, recently is that it's not just about finding things to cut. It's about finding efficiencies and streamlining and modernizing a lot of what government does. So at the Pentagon, as you know, Joe, there's always the tendency to make a customized bespoke solution for every problem they have. Um, and if you're building a stealth bomber, okay, well, you can't just go out and find a company that's building stealth bombers for anyone besides the Pentagon. But if you're talking especially about software solutions, but increasingly even smaller platforms, say, you know, unmanned aerial systems, there are a lot of commercial off the shelf providers, and that's exactly the kind of thing that Elon Musk or you or Palmer Luckey have both excelled in doing in the private sector and are trying to help the Department of Defense do. So in addition to identifying wasteful spending or spending that doesn't advance the national interest, Just reforming a lot of our processes and procurement in the Pentagon, improving systems, um, in the Pentagon and throughout the government is, I think something that can be a lasting legacy of the Doge efforts too.

AI assessment note: “reforming a lot of our processes and procurement in the Pentagon, improving systems”

Q happen to be Chinese Americans born here who are patriots. You know, it'd be great if China was not run by these evil madmen and actually could partner with them and work with them and build with them. Is there a chance in our lifetimes that somehow the CCP is no longer in charge and that China becomes an ally and the Chinese people can, can build with us again?

A Well, as I say in the book, in fact, I think the very last thing I recommend that the American people do in the books is to pray for the Chinese people. They are the, uh, first and the worst victims of Chinese communism. Mao was the worst mass murderer in human history. Um, Some people were shocked to know worse than Stalin, worse than Hitler. Um, so the Chinese people, um, have always been the, um, those who are, are most oppressed and harmed by Chinese communism. Um, many communist regimes throughout history appear to be enduring and eternal, um, and what seems impossible, uh, seems impossible until it, um, automatically kind of shifts overnight and seems inevitable. Um, Putting aside communist regimes, just look what happened in Syria a few months ago. Um, Bashar al-Assad had fought viciously to hang on to power in the span of just seven or, or 10 days. His entire government collapsed. You saw that, that happening, um, in the late 19 eighties and early 19 nineties with the Warsaw Pact and then finally Soviet, uh, Russia itself. Um, so I would never say never, but also wouldn't as a, uh, a leader here in America count on that happening. Or say that we're going to direct our policy that we're only going to consider that policy a success if we lead to the defeat of Chinese communism. Um, it'd be great for the Chinese people and for the United States and for the cause of peace a…

AI assessment note: “so I would never say never, but also wouldn't as a, uh, a leader here in America count on that happening”

Q It's good to see you. Mr. Senator, you're the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, member of the Armed Services Committee, and recently the author of a new book, Seven Things You Can't Say About China. You like writing books. How do you have time for that in the middle of all this other work?

A Uh, the Senate Intelligence Committee, maybe an oxymoron if there ever was one. I can borrow an old joke from military intelligence from my days in the Army. Well, you know, they're, they're related. Um, this book more than my previous books really synthesizes a lot of what I've learned, a lot of what I've done and said on the Armed Services Committee and the Intelligence Committee, and now as chairman of the Intelligence Committee, um, I, I wanted to ring the alarm for the American people, um, that however low the opinion is, They, uh, have of China. It's actually much worse. The threat is more immediate and it's more severe. And how do I have time? You know, I, I guess, you know, lots of, lots of nights and weekends, uh, put away once I get the kids.

AI assessment note: “And how do I have time? You know, I, I guess, you know, lots of nights and weekends”