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- [00:02]
A
Welcome to the no Spin News Weekend Edition.
- [00:07]
B
I spoke with President Trump yesterday, Sunday, and that is the subject of this evening's Talking Points Memo. So, as you remember, I was in Beijing about a year ago, and I went there at the request of the Chinese government to talk about America, Chinese relationships. And I debriefed President Trump both coming and going. So now we're in another cycle which is more complicated than it was one year ago, that's for sure.
- [00:48]
C
It is.
- [00:51]
B
I don't know really what the word is complicated is. Underestimating is extremely difficult. So let me run it down. China needs America, no doubt about it, because China's economy is built on exports. People buy Chinese stuff in America and all over. And if the USA isn't buying Chinese stuff to the extent that it used to, then the Chinese economy is going to weaken. Wobble got 1.5 billion people over there to feed. Okay, so they want a trade deal. What we want is help with Iran. Now, a year ago was with Putin, okay? Now that situation in Ukraine is pretty much ground to a halt. We need help with Iran because they're totally irrational. Iran sells China an enormous amount of oil. If China did not buy that oil, Iran's economy, which is on a verge of collapse anyway, would go under. So I expect, although the President did not tell me directly that the offer will be, look, we'll take care of your oil needs, the usa, but you got to get away from Iran. You can't be helping them out. We got to try to convince them to give up their nukes, okay? Not going to be easy, because China is going to come back with, and I know this to be true. Well, we'll do it, but you got to dump Taiwan. You can't be defending Taiwan anymore. Now, Taiwan is a very difficult situation we've gone on since 1949. You can look it up if you'd like to, but the United States and pretty much every other free country does not want the Chinese taking over Taiwan. And if we allowed that, if we withdrew our support from Taiwan, we would look weak to the world and China would proclaim a significant victory. They're not our friends, the Chinese. Okay, so you see what we're doing here? All right, so President Trump's going to be there on Thursday and he knows, obviously knows all of this stuff. And I don't know what they're going to do, what they're going to offer. I'm not privy to, to that as far as the gasoline is concerned. I'm going to tell you a shocking story in a few moments that, again, the President's going to have to think about. Now, the final thing on the board for the it's only two days. It's very hard to get anything done in two days. So this is like, sets another meeting up. So not Thursday and Friday. They're not going to be able to nail down a lot as a I. So China's stealing AI technology from the United States and everybody else, and China doesn't care whether you like it or not. What are we going to do there? But they just stealing it, and they did that with a whole bunch of other technology earlier on. President Trump is under pressure to do something bad. I don't know what he can do about it other than arrest some Chinese people, swear out warrants for them, but it's a fairly big thing. And you have to keep in mind that the Chinese do not respect intellectual property at all. They're going to steal it if they can steal it. You also have to understand that we and China are not friends. They are our enemies. They are our rivals. But President Trump thinks he can make a deal with these people. Okay? Now, the reason that I was on the phone with the president, and again, he called me, I don't call him is because the Chinese want to talk to me before the President arrives in Beijing. This puts me in a very difficult position, and it's a unique position. I don't know of any other journalist ever who's had this kind of access. I have no access to the Iranians, none. But with China, I have plenty of. So they. And they're so polite. I mean, it's amazing. So they ask, can we have a call with you? Well, I said, if the President okays it, then I'll do it, because I love my country and no harm. They're going to ask me questions. I'll answer them honestly, just like I'm talking to you right now, which the Chinese are watching. They watch us on YouTube. Okay, so I got a message to President Trump yesterday, and I said, look, the boys are back in town and they want to talk to me. What do you think? Because I don't want to interfere in what you're doing and I don't know what you're doing. And he goes, no, go ahead. So I got the imprimatur. And then afterward, if there's on a call, if there's anything that he should know, I'll get it to him. Because again, this is my job, not only to report to you as a journalist, but to help my country If I can. And this is a unique position that I am in, which is why I think you're watching and listening to me. Nobody has this kind of access. Nobody in the journalistic world. Okay, so. And if the Chinese go, this is off the record. I will honor that. I won't report it, but I have to. But I'm going to go with the exception of President Trump, which is what I did last time. I said I can't just have an hour conversation with you guys and not report back. I mean, come on. They understand. Okay. And that's the memo.
- [07:47]
A
You're listening to the no Spin News Weekend Edition.
- [07:51]
B
Okay. The new poll. This is a Trump poll run by John McLaughlin, a buddy of ours, McLaughlin and Associates. Thousand general election voters, people who have voted. Okay, first question. Which of the following statements regarding President Trump and his policies comes closest? I approve President Trump and his policies. 34%. I disapprove of President Trump personally, but I like a lot of his policies. 15 said it brings you up to 49. On the policy. I disapprove of President Trump and his policies. Both his policies. 46%. Okay. Not a strong number, but not a catastrophe. Second question, Agree or disagree? The US Military action against Iran, leadership of the Iranian regime are necessary and warranted to protect American lives. Agree. 59. Disagree. 32. You don't hear that in the mainstream media. Final question. If Iran were to develop and build a nuke, would they use it? Yes. 61. No. 20. You know, that's speculative. So. Joining us now from Blauvelt, New York, is John McLaughlin. So your poll is what they call an outlier Washington Post poll just out totally different scenario than yours. But you say the Washington Post is not being straight up with the American people. How?
- [09:26]
D
Well, in that Washington Post poll, they did a poll of over 2,000 adults, and they were not registered voters, not likely voters. They're people that responded to an Ipsos panel. They got a buck or two to fill out the questionnaire. And they only have 29% Trump voters. 29. We got 50% of the popular vote.
- [09:50]
B
Okay, let me stop you. This is, this is a key point. Yeah. So 50% of Americans, the last time around, okay, 24. 50% voted for Donald Trump. But the Washington Post poll only has 29% Trump voters. Is that. That's what you're saying?
- [10:16]
D
Right, Right. Because they pull. They pull adults.
- [10:20]
B
Now, they have to know that.
- [10:22]
D
Yes.
- [10:25]
B
They ask the question.
- [10:26]
D
They do.
- [10:27]
B
Right, Right. So they do that on purpose, of course. Putting out false data, stacking it Out.
- [10:35]
D
Yeah, well, they want to turn public opinion against the president before the midterms.
- [10:41]
B
Sure.
- [10:41]
D
So, so, like our models are based on likely voters, people that say they're going to vote in November, which is even different than 2024. But we have a point or two more of Trump voters in our surveys than Harris voters, and it matches up. Ironically, we set it to the CNN exit polls so it looks like a national sample. But when, when pollsters poll adults and they only come up with 29% Trump voters, they have an agenda, and their agenda is to say that Trump's at a historic job approval lows and the Republicans are losing Congress by double digits.
- [11:20]
B
All right. But they don't tell when they release their poll. The Washington Post does not tell the public they are doing that, correct?
- [11:29]
D
Well, they, they put up the cross tips that I could read it, but they don't tell the public when they run their headlines.
- [11:36]
B
Well, no, it's way down on page 29 or something. Right.
- [11:40]
D
It's in the Internet. You got to go find it.
- [11:43]
B
You got. So you got to look at. It's not what the Post. All right, so the only conclusion or conclusion you could prove in a court of law is that the Washington Post sets out to do polling that's going to make Trump and the Republicans look bad.
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D
Correct?
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E
Worse.
- [12:05]
D
Correct. I mean, our poll, the Republicans are losing the ballot for Congress by four points, but it's a closer race and it's. And the president, we asked his job approval the way we did in the campaign. And you, by the way, you and I saw the president on 911 at Yankee Stadium. And the president said to me, my highest numbers ever. I said, no, your highest job approval is 57%. And your highest favorable was 51% on election day because we ran a campaign. But when we saw him at Yankee Stadium that day, I said, you still had good numbers. Numbers were better, but this is how the way we asked his job approval was to raise his favorables, to raise his popular vote. Now they're in the government, they don't have the same campaign. He's not on the ballot in November. So the Republicans have a lot of work to do. And President Trump, as you said, he's going to China. He's got Iran to deal with. He's, he's doing the things that a president does. And the campaign needs to, needs to step it up behind it.
- [13:13]
B
Now, when, when is your next poll come out?
- [13:16]
D
Oh, it'll be before Memorial Day. We'll do, we do a monthly poll when we Publish it.
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B
Okay.
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D
Lots of polls we do every day, but we don't publish them all the time. We publish. We'll publish the monthly all before Memorial Day.
- [13:28]
B
In the next three weeks, there's going to be a big change in what happens to this country because the Iranian thing can't. I mean, maybe it could, but I can't imagine. So something's going to happen there. Something will happen with Xi and China. Now we have the federal relief on a gas tax. So just give us a heads up because we want to have you back on the next polling. Now, finally, the. You say that the Republicans right now, just across the board in Congress, are running about four points behind the Democrats. Is that where they are?
- [14:11]
D
Correct. So they're, they're even trailing President Trump's job approval, which, you know, I mean, is there at 43%. He's at 49. So the Republicans need to have a contrast election with the Democrats. Chuck Schumer is not popular. Hakeem Jeffries is not popular because their positions are unpopular. They're against voter id. They're for higher taxes, not lower taxes. And certainly, by the way, when you talk about backing up the brave men and women who are fighting the war with Iran to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons, the Democrats want to invoke the War Powers act and surrender like they did in Afghanistan. I mean, I mean, at least President Trump's a commander in chief who plays to win. So, so, so, you know, the Democrats, Democrats need to be held account. You know, they need to be, they need to be on the defense about their positions. Their positions are pretty radical and not. And not supported by the majority of Americans.
- [15:15]
B
No, but if the economy gets worse and the expenses get higher for gas and food and things like that. And I noticed today that the United States is allowing more beef in to be imported in here. So obviously, the Republicans and the Trump administration understands the danger that Americans will vote their wallet. Last word.
- [15:38]
D
Right. Well, you're right. We need a growth package. We got to win the war in Iran. We've got to. We've got to. We've got to have a growth package to keep the economy growing. Because President Trump, he's tried to grow the economy, but you have Chuck Schumer shutting the government down when he can. You have Jerome Powell keeping interest rates high. So they're putting sand in the engine because it's all about the midterms. And the Republicans need to wake up and play to win the midterms.
- [16:05]
B
All right, John, thanks very much, as always. We'll Talk to you in a few weeks when your new poll comes out.
- [16:12]
A
This is the no Spin News Weekend Edition.
- [16:17]
C
Every major story has a version the news gives you and then a version that's actually true. If you're a critical thinker, if you're somebody who's not tribal, if you're somebody who just wants the facts so you can make your own decisions, Keeping It Real with Jillian Michaels is the show for you. Subscribe now, wherever you get your podcasts.
- [16:37]
A
Hey, this is Mike Slater. I have a podcast called Politics by Faith. I would love for you to listen. We take the news of the day and we run it through the Bible. What does the Bible have to say about this? Because there's nothing new under the sun. You read the headlines. Everything's all crazy. World's coming to an end. It's all in the Bible. And after every episode, hopefully you leave with a proper perspective and a biblical piece. Please join us wherever you listen to podcasts. And we also have a YouTube page as well. YouTube.com politicsbyfaith
- [17:07]
B
Here's a schedule. Two days in China. China's 12 hours ahead of us. So when the president comes back on Friday, he doesn't lose any time. He'll zip in there tomorrow. And this is a very tight schedule. There's a banquet, there's a lunch, there's a photo session, and there's a Q and A. President Trump's going to answer questions from the Chinese press. I hope he doesn't call them names so they'll get confused about that like he does with the American press. But it's all lined up. And the Chinese, of course, are, they'll never admit this, but they're flattered because they know, you know, this is a big deal for a president of the United States to go to Beijing. The last time this happened was in 2017 when Trump visited then. All right, 16 CEOs, big shots. Tim Cook of Apple, Elon Musk. You can look it up if you want. They're all going, too. And they are tasked with talking to their counterparts in China about deals, economic deals. Okay, so that's why they're going. We don't know who's going in a press pool. I think Sean Hannity is going. Doesn't seem to be anybody else on the sheet right now. That would be out of the ordinary. I gave Hannity a few tips about, you know, stuff that happens when he shows up. Nothing ominous. But, you know, honey and I are friends and you can listen to me. I believe that's coming up this week, but I'll let you know. Board of Investment, Board of Trade, all of those things. Trade, trade, trade. So anyway, all Americans should be hoping that this works out for the usa, right? But you and I both know that's not happening. We are a very, very divided nation. And the news is not good on the economic front for the Republicans. So inflation hit 3.8%. This is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The 12 months ending last month, April up 3, 8. Okay? Fastest annual pace since 2023. That's not a disaster. But it's up. And it's going, going, going, going, going, up, up, up, up, up, up. This is inflation that will raise everybody's cost of living. All right, you know about the gas prices now, the food prices are igniting again. This is not good for us. And the president knows and he's got to try to tamp it down. And I can't predict it. I wish I could, but I can't. Because the mullahs are crazy, the crazy people. And the Chinese know that because they deal with their own Islamic problem with the Uyghurs in Western China. Also, the US treasury is now paying $3 billion a day in interest. Get a lot of mail on this. So the national debt under President Trump, never a spendthrift, okay, is rising and rising rapidly. It's approaching $30 trillion. So every day, the U.S. treasury has to pay 3 billion in interest. It goes out every six months.
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D
Okay?
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B
Who gets that money? So 81% of people who buy securities in the United States, that's U.S. savings bonds, other Treasury Department, whatever, are regular investors, 81%. And the other are intergovernmental agencies. So say Medicaid has a shortfall that month. They'll borrow from the treasury, but they got to pay interest. When they pay it back, the Medicaid people, that's where the money is going. But 3 trillion, 3 billion a day, that's pretty much out of control. Well, I don't know if it's ever going to be dealt with because Congress, remember, it's not Trump so much, it's Congress. Congress is in charge of the spending, not the president. It's important for you to know that. New poll by Reuters, we've exposed them as being corrupt. Say 66% of the American people believe Donald Trump has not explained the war goals in Iran. It's almost impossible to believe this poll. Okay? It's all about denying the mullahs the nuclear weapon. They don't understand that. I don't know what to say. I don't I just don't know what to say. If you don't understand that by now, then you're so dumb, I can't, I feel sorry for you. That's what it's about. There are other smaller things like terrorism, which isn't small, but it's the nukes. Question is, has Trump clearly explained his goals in Iran? 31%, yes. No 66. And that kind of accurately reflects the engagement of the American citizen with information. About 30% of us pay attention. The others are all over the place.
- [23:28]
A
You're listening to the no Spin News Weekend Edition.
- [23:32]
B
And that brings us to a very important question. If you or someone you know, perhaps a family member, a child, whatever, say, yeah, I hate this politics, I'm not going to even bother, I'm not going to engage, I'm not going to pay attention. I just don't want anything to do with it. Are you a bad citizen? Is that a terrible thing? So joining us now from Beverly hills, California, is Dr. Fran Owalfish. She is a psychotherapist. And I don't know if you're seeing a lot of customers or clients, as you call them, come in crazed about politics, but that's a question. If you don't want to pay attention, if you won't pay attention, are you a bad citizen?
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E
The answer is not necessarily. All of us are born with a different constitution genetically, and we all have different experiences both with our parents and, and in the environment. Each person can tolerate a different amount of anxiety level. And if you are weaker and perhaps more fragile, you're not a bad person. Stronger people are perhaps meant to have stronger shoulders for the weaker ones to be carried upon. So I don't think, you know, we're a generation of shoulds, and I don't think it's fair to expect people who are weaker who may, if they take more on, sink into a sad state, depressive state, anxious state, perhaps obsessive compulsives state where they're more upsetting to us than they are to themselves.
- [25:39]
B
All right, so I get, I get it, they, they might fall apart and do damage to others and themselves because they can't handle the pressure of all the bad news and complicated things. But that still doesn't justify, and I'm being judgmental here, I know that shocks your doctor.
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E
No,
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B
it still doesn't justify walking away from your country. I mean, we all have an obligation here to keep our country safe, honest, and a place where benefit is given to those who live here.
- [26:20]
E
I agree.
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B
Yeah. To me, if I Got some namby pamby who though I can't pay attention, number one, I don't respect that and I should. And that's my fault. I'm going to have to come see you about it. That's my fault because right away I'm going. But if you really look at it okay, every citizen has an obligation to make the country better. And if we didn't have the courage we had in World War II, in the Civil War, if we didn't have that mass courage because it was the greatest generation, my parents, we would have lost it all. Am I wrong?
- [27:05]
E
I hear you. No, you make a very good point. And I want to ease your self judgment by saying you're not as judgmental as some of your colleagues because you invited me on and you're giving some space for, for some people to walk away, which is great. Let me say that we all have an obligation for civic responsibility. So we cannot totally walk away. But where are the obligations and duties? Everybody should vote. There is an obligation. So we should all exert our right to vote and obey laws and treat each other respectfully and kindly. So what does that mean? I think we all have the right to have differences of opinions. The same is true in relationships. You know, in the olden days when I was coming up and dating on in dating space, there was a lot of difference in area of religion. Today it's politics. It's a deal breaker. Guys and gals will not go out
- [28:32]
B
with you if you particularly in California, places that are loaded with ideology. Not so much in the middle of America. I just wrote a book called Confronting Evil. And the theme of the book is that all these heinous people and the mullahs in Iran are included in a book. Ayatollah is on a cover. Okay. They have to be constrained. And if not enough people will volunteer sign up to constrain them, then they'll run wild. And that's what we're seeing in this world now with NATO. And I don't want to draw you into micropolitics too much, but they're just standing back, let America do it or whatever it may be. And therefore evil has a tremendous advantage in the world.
- [29:26]
E
No, you're right. And there's a tremendous amount of fear among people.
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B
You know, is it fear or selfishness?
- [29:38]
E
Well, there's both. I think there is. You know, we raised a generation of very, very self serving, sorry to say, narcissistic kids that are now in their 20s and 30s and they're used to cell phones and Computers and immediate gratification. So there is a certain amount of self serving selfishness, but I think there is fear. And fear of what?
- [30:14]
B
What would be the fear that they're not gonna get a date with Sally, who's a progressive or a right wing person?
- [30:21]
E
No. There are a lot of Jewish people in America that are afraid to stand up. They're afraid of being hurt, afraid of their businesses losing business because people have lost a lot of business. They're afraid of safety for their family. There are many Jews like we're talking about who are not afraid to stand up and protest and go, like with what occurred at UCLA and so many college campuses. But there are many people hiding, like what occurred in the Holocaust. And it's very sad, but there are people afraid. And it is, you know, I'm happy to see our president standing up for Jewish people and protecting them because so many people are even afraid to say I am behind Trump. They're afraid to say that that'll get
- [31:26]
B
you fewer dates in San Francisco.
- [31:31]
E
Beverly Hills, too.
- [31:34]
B
But my philosophy is easy. If you are that simple minded or narrow minded, I don't want to deal with you anyway. You know, if you're going to reject a human being based upon who they vote for.
- [31:49]
E
Right.
- [31:50]
B
You know, I mean, you're doing me a favor by not being around, but that's me again, last question for you. You must see a lot of people in your practice who come in and you use the word at the beginning of the interview with this tremendous anxiety, all right. Because nobody can tell the future. And now we're paying more money for everything and people are having a hard time paying the bills and they got kids they got to put through college and, you know, runs a gamut. Is there anything that you, as a counselor to these people, is there any relief that you can bring them at this moment in history when we're a divided country?
- [32:39]
E
Well, number one, the anxiety that I saw was at its peak during voting during the election time. It seems to have leveled out now that the reality is here, and I'm of course, in a more affluent neighborhood area, so people are not as hit as hard with the financial burdens of what people are dealing with in the Midwest and in underprivileged areas where they are suffering. So the answer is, of course, cutting back is there are a lot of people that can't cut back anymore. And that's very difficult. But being active, taking action is extremely helpful. And the other thing that's very helpful to people is self care. So active exercise Breathing exercises, healthy eating, good sleep, hygiene, going to sleep at the same time each night, waking up in the morning, talking to your kids, talking with your partner.
- [34:11]
B
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- [34:41]
E
Talking expels anxiety and causes a reduction in anxiety.
- [34:49]
B
So in other words, you're creating normalcy and the normalcy brings down the apprehension.
- [34:57]
E
Exactly. And the definition of anxiety is basically fear. It's higher levels of fear.
- [35:06]
B
Everybody's got it.
- [35:08]
E
We all do.
- [35:09]
B
We all do because we don't want to lose rehab. And on and on and on. Hey, doctor, very good discussion. We really appreciate you taking the time. If you can ever return a favor, you let us know. Thank you.
- [35:21]
A
This is the no Spin News Weekend
- [35:23]
B
Edition new CNN poll. Not a honest poll because it's US adults 1499. Not people who vote, not people who pay attention. And as we showed you the other day, when you have just adults, you can have a poll that has 14% of Trump supporters. How would you know? Nobody would know. So Donald Trump got 77 million votes. But. And he easily defeated Kamala Harris with that number. But CNN doesn't have to replicate that number. Use any number it wants. So be skeptical. But I gotta give you the data. First question. How do you think Donald Trump's policies have affected the cost of living in your community? Increased 77%. Decreased 8%. No effect 16%. 77% is a big number. Okay, second question. Do you think Donald Trump's policies have Improved economic conditions? 22%. Worsened them. 65%. No effect. 12. Another big, big number that is going to matter if things stay the same. Now, if there is a breakthrough and we get the Iranians to sign a treaty, they will not enrich uranium and the Straits of Hormuz will be open. Things will turn around, in my opinion, but I think that's foregone. So Iran has a huge advantage and we've been over this, Xi. And China knows all the Iranians got to do is sit it out. They don't do anything because the American economy, inflation is being harmed and the world economy, including China, is being harmed too. But I'm not sure China, you know, they want to hurt the usa. They're not our friends. They can have all the tea they want and. Okay, now tomorrow wraps it up in Beijing and then Friday the President will be back. I'd hold a press conference, an extensive one, and answer the questions if I were Mr. Trump. I hope he does. You don't have to give away national security, but you know, 77%, that's overwhelming number. If the Republicans want to hold the House and the Senate in November. Now, it's a short term gain, short term pain for long term gain. I understand all that, but believe me when I tell you, people get worried about their finances. There's usually a regime change no matter what country. Now yesterday the media started to pile on because they despised Donald Trump. And the New York Times is the league leader in that. So they ran a story the Times did that says the Trump administration has overstated the military success in Iran. This is what the New York Times says. Problem with the story is it's all anonymous sources. Okay? There's nobody identified and everybody knows at times doesn't like Trump. So they can write a story like this. Find somebody who doesn't like Trump in the administration or out and just quote that person, sources close to the story. You know the game. And the game is being played every single day in order to hurt Donald Trump. Okay, so the piece basically says that Iran now has access to 30 missile sites that it did not have access to just a few weeks ago. Who knows? I mean, where does that come from? Is somebody from the New York Times over counting them? You know, I'm very skeptical at any of this stuff. And in my Sunday column, which is still posted on billorilly.com, i show you, I show you the proof of how this kind of stuff is bogus in many. But you go back to the polling. So Atlas, which is a good polling center, they have a poll out and they say, question. If the midterm elections for the House were held today, who would you most likely vote for? Democrat, 55, Republican, 40. So that's big. Okay, second one. Provided that these candidates were who you would vote for in Democratic primaries, who are the 28 presidential election leaders? Alexandria Ocasio, Cortez, number one. On the Democratic side, it's crazy. Pete Buttigieg and Gavin Newsom. That's a weak bench. Okay. On the Republican side, we reported this yesterday. Marco Rubio. No. 1 J.D. vance, 2. Ron DeSantis, 3. So the Democrats are gaining in a hypothetical midterm vote if it were held tomorrow. Now, one more thing, and this is very important. So all of the high oil prices which Iran is responsible for, and some people blame the usa, but come on. I mean, it's all about nukes. If Iran can moderate or Israel and the USA can destroy the structure there, which could happen militarily, those oil prices will go down fast because there's plenty of oil. Just can't get it out of there. Okay. So that is almost unique in a sense that it's not a hopeless situation. It can turn. And obviously, people who don't like Trump don't really want it to turn into people who do like Trump. Obviously, they're on his side. Tomorrow, the president expected part China about 6pm local time. Remember, China is 12 hours ahead of us. And then he'll be back on Friday.
- [42:32]
A
You're listening to the no Spa News Weekend Edition.
- [42:36]
B
And joining us now From Washington is Dr. Melanie Hart is senior director of the Atlanta Council's Global China Hub, which is an outfit that develops strategies to address challenges posed by China's rising global influence. Would you say, Doctor, that you guys are hostile to China? Do you see them as an enemy of the United States?
- [43:09]
C
We see China as a competitor, sometimes an adversary. But also there's space for cooperation where it makes sense. Just to give you a concrete example, China's been developing some novel cancer therapies. If Chinese scientists come up with a new cancer therapy that can cure Americans, we'd love to have access to that. We keep our minds open where we can do great things cooperatively that doesn't injure American interests, let's do that. But where we need to compete to defend American interests, let's do that, too.
- [43:42]
B
All right. But you know as well as I do that for every concession China makes to the usa, it wants something back. They're just not going to give. They're not going to give stuff away. They're going to go, all right, we'll let you take a look at the cancer or medicine. But you got to do this for us.
- [44:02]
C
China always tries to have a tit for tat dynamic with the United States. So that's what President Trump will be dealing with in Beijing over tea, as you put it, with Xi Jinping.
- [44:12]
B
Okay, but the overwhelming problem now is Iran. Do you have anything to bring to the table new about that situation vis a vis China?
- [44:26]
C
That may be the overwhelming problem for the Trump administration. That is not the overwhelming problem for Xi Jinping and the Chinese. Beijing does not intend to help the United States out of the Iran situation or the Strait of Hormuz. A Chinese tanker Trump, well, For example, a Chinese tanker made it through the straight just today. They're doing fine on the energy front. And there, if you look at Chinese government sources and what they're saying about the US Effort in Iran, they expect the US to fail. So what you see China doing, if you assess their behavior, is they are calibrating their actions to avoid making this a fight between Beijing and Washington. Right. So they're being careful not to provide missiles to Iran or to help them militarily, but they're still buying Iranian oil. And just the other day, Beijing ordered the Chinese teapot refineries that refine the Iranian oil to violate U.S. sanctions. The new sanctions from the Trump administration trying to clamp down on the shipments of oil from Iran to China. Beijing said, don't abide by that.
- [45:33]
B
Okay, so that's nothing unusual because Xi wanted to put himself in a position of asking for something from the United States, whether it be opening up talks on Taiwan or better trade agreements, which Xi needs. He needs that from the usa, so he's going to push it to the wall before the chats even start.
- [46:00]
D
Right.
- [46:02]
C
We see no evidence to indicate that China is interested to make a deal with the United States on Iran. They have plenty of leverage over us with critical minerals. They'll use critical minerals and our dependence on China for rare earths to push the Trump administration for whatever it is that China wants. And they have a long list. They'll also use the fact that President Trump wants China to buy large amounts of American soybeans, beef, Boeing aircraft. The Trump team wants a high purchase number, buying goods from American farmers and American companies. That also gives Xi Jinping some leverage. There's just. No. From Beijing's perspective, there's no reason for them to help the US out on Iran. They may. For they may. They will be careful to not cross the reddest of red lines, and that is being caught providing weapons to Iran. And I think we saw President Trump allude to that. They had caught evidence of that and that China had promised to back off. That's exactly what they did with Russia and Ukraine. We've seen that movie before.
- [47:08]
B
Okay. And it doesn't really matter anyway, because the United States and Israel could destroy those weapons fairly quickly. The Chinese know that. All right. I mean, that's certainly a pessimistic view of it, but probably realistic view. So then you come back to UDC. The president does, and he's facing 77% of the American public blaming him for higher prices on not just gas, but food and everything else. So he has to do something militarily, I would imagine, against Iran. He has to move against Iran.
- [47:54]
C
You know, it's a good point with gas prices. You know, for China's gas prices have risen a lot less than ours here in the US our retail gasoline is up 51% since the war. China's is up only 39%. So they're not feeling the same pain at the pump as we are. We rely on oil and gas. That's about 70% of our energy mix. China relies on coal. So oil and gas is only about 30% of their energy mix. Where things, I think the, the, the interesting question that you're really asking is where is everybody's pain point? President Trump has a clear pain point that you're talking about with American voters. And at what point do we begin to decide that the costs are too high? Trust. China does have a pain point, too. It's just a little further down the line. China's okay right now from an energy perspective, but China's problem is going to be if the rest of the global economy is tanking from this energy shortage, they can't buy Chinese goods anymore. So China does have a pain point. It's just a longer fuse than ours. And then the other question is, what's Iran's pain point? You know, where are our relative leverage to each other? And I think we're going to find out in real time, which is a bit of a scary thing, and it's
- [49:11]
B
going to be very fast. China doesn't want disorder. That's the big thing for the Xi government, as you pinpointed. They have to sell their stuff abroad, and they don't want disorder in the worldwide marketplace. So that gives Trump a slight advantage. And I don't know whether Xi on the sly, never do it in public. Okay? We'll say, look, we'll help you out here, but I don't know how he could help Trump out, because these mullahs are so fanatical, they're willing to die. They don't care about their own people. It's not like a regular country. It's a terrorist state. And they've never respected their own people. They shoot them down in the street if they dissent. So I don't know how you put pressure on a government like that. The only way you're going to have to do it is just to destroy their communication centers, it seems to me. I don't see option B.
- [50:11]
C
There's a good parallel between Iran and North Korea, you know, where they have that strict authoritarian but let me stop you there, though.
- [50:19]
B
But China controls North Korea because it doesn't want disorder. And North Korea is so small and so weak that China in a day can go in there and do whatever it wants.
- [50:34]
C
Actually doesn't control North Korea to the extent that a lot of folks in Washington assume. Kim Jong Un is a tough character. He has nuclear weapons. He sometimes does things that anger Beijing. One thing that's common between the two, China doesn't fully control North Korea or the Iranians or the Russians. But China does want all three to stay in place because they keep the US on the back foot. And so China's in this weird situation between. On the one hand, they're happy to have us back footed, but to your point, they don't want things to spiral out of control to the extent they
- [51:14]
B
don't want this order. But if you're going to tell me that North Korea doesn't do what they're told by Beijing, I'm going to dissent from that.
- [51:24]
C
We'll have to disagree on that one then.
- [51:26]
B
Okay, it's all right. But Chinese made it quite clear to Yang. Yang, you get out of line, you know, launch a missile at somebody or something like that, you're going to get punished militarily by us. And the substructure in North Korea can. They're starving now. Those people are starving now. So they got no card to play. But let's get back to our final question on Iran. So you're a presidential advisor. Okay. And Donald Trump comes back from Beijing and he has no assurance that Xi or anybody else over there is going to help him with Iran. It was all nice. And they're going to announce trade agreements and they're all friends and they're going to have another conference coming up in another month. All of that will happen. But he doesn't have anything concrete to show the American people or the world markets. What do you do? Do you hit them militarily? Do you wait it out? What do you do? If you are advising President Trump, what do you tell him to do?
- [52:38]
C
That's a great question. So there's really two different American objectives left on the table. One is to eliminate Iran's nuclear program. The other is to open the Strait of Hormuz. The regime in Tehran has made very clear that they have no intention of giving up their nukes. And if the United States goes in and attacks Iran and tries to destroy the nukes militarily, we run the risk that they just get dispersed across the Middle east and come over to the United States and elsewhere through terrorist networks that are a lot harder to track than they are when they're in Tehran. In the meantime, it seems like getting to agreement on opening the Strait of Hormuz is a more near term objective that's actually achievable. The entire global community, everybody but Iran, agrees that the Strait of Hormuz should be open. China has even stated publicly that they agree with that. So if I were advising the president, I would say let's do that first and buy some time to figure out what is a broader array of options on the nuclear program. And given that the regime in Iran is hunkered down and not giving any ground on that.
- [53:46]
B
All right, but remember, President Trump has, you know, quite clearly said the reason for all of this is to stop Iran from getting enriched uranium to make a nuclear weapon. And if he backs away from that, he looks weak. Last word.
- [54:04]
C
I'll just say that from my perspective as an American, I would want the US President to make decisions based on the information he or she has at the time. If that information changes, the decision should change and just explain that to the American people. I think people would respect a fact based decision if the facts shift over time and there's openness about that.
- [54:27]
B
Okay. Doctor, very good interview. Thank you for helping us out and hope we can talk again.
- [54:32]
A
This is the no Spin News Weekend Edition.
- [54:37]
B
All right, final thought. Governor Andrew Cuomo joins. We'll do it live tomorrow at 6pm on YouTube.
- [54:53]
D
All right.
- [54:54]
B
And 12 noon on Billoriely.com for premium and concierge members.
- [55:00]
E
Another perk.
- [55:02]
B
So you get it six hours ahead and then everybody in the world gets it 6pm so we're very happy to have the governor. I'm surprised we got him, but Chris Cuomo helped out on that and we got a lot to talk about, a lot to talk about. You don't want to miss this. And that is it for us today. Now I have to go over to Penn Station. Let's see what time it is. I got time which a couple of blocks from where we are and then get on the Amtrak, go up the Connecticut coastline, through Rhode island into Back Bay, get off the train and go to the hotel. It's okay. I got lots of work to do. But if the gas prices were what they were two months ago, I'd hop in my car. I'd be there about an hour shorter than taking Amtrak. But Amtrak does a decent job for me. I don't have any complaints from food is a little. But I smuggle sandwiches on which you have to do. Anyway, thank you for watching and listening to the no Spin News and Bill O'Reilly News Sunday column. By that time, I hope we have information on Iran and we are watching throughout the weekend. Remember, ILY is our handle for all of our tweets. I know they don't call them tweets anymore. I don't know what they call them. But stay with us over the weekend because things could happen. And read the column on Sunday. We'll see you again on Monday.
- [56:58]
A
Thank you for listening to the no Spin News Weekend Edition. To watch the full episodes of the no spin news, visit billoreilly.com and sign up to become a premium or concierge member. That's billoriley.com Sign up and start watching today.
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B
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