How China is Weaponizing America's Immigration System, with Peter Schweizer, PLUS Why Ossoff Has Democrats Buzzing

Summary

Podcast Summary: Next Up with Mark Halperin

Episode: How China is Weaponizing America's Immigration System, with Peter Schweizer, PLUS Why Ossoff Has Democrats Buzzing
Date: February 10, 2026
Host: Mark Halperin
Guest: Peter Schweizer (author, "The Invisible Coup")

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Episode Overview

This episode is divided into two central themes:

1. Democratic Messaging & Jon Ossoff’s Speech: Halperin’s “reported monologue” explores why a recent speech by Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff has energized Democrats and worried Republicans, highlighting its implications for the party's strategy in 2026 and beyond.
2. Weaponized Immigration – Interview with Peter Schweizer: Investigative journalist Peter Schweizer joins to discuss findings from his bestselling book, "The Invisible Coup," focusing on how China (and to a lesser degree, Mexico) are exploiting America’s immigration system for strategic purposes.

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Democratic Messaging: The Ossoff Template

The Democrats' Messaging Dilemma (08:55–12:55)

• Halperin unpacks the repeating cycle of political parties critiquing each other’s ‘messaging’ versus policies.
• Trump’s Influence: He diverts Democrats from winning issues (like the economy) and baits them into culture war distractions.
• Key Challenge: Democrats want to address economic concerns (where Trump is weak) but often get sidetracked by outrage at Trump’s actions.

Jon Ossoff’s Speech: A Game-Changer (12:55–21:00)

Halperin describes Ossoff’s Atlanta speech as uniquely effective, sparking optimism among Democrats and concern among Republicans. The speech’s strengths:

• Direct, vivid criticism of Trump

  • Notably, Ossoff called Trump’s social media conduct reminiscent of a "Klansman."
    • Quote:

      "You’re seeing what I’m seeing, right? The president posting about the Obamas like a Klansman at 1am."
      — Jon Ossoff ([13:10])

• Framing Trump as part of a corrupt elite

  • Ossoff asserts Trump’s government serves “the Epstein class.”
    • Quote:

      "But this is a government of, by and for the ultra-rich. It is the wealthiest cabinet ever. This is the Epstein class ruling our country."
      — Jon Ossoff ([14:14])

• Acknowledging systemic political failures

  • Ossoff connects Trump to deeper issues of entrenched corruption and inequality, challenging the Republican claim as the “working class party.”
    • Quote:

      "Donald Trump is a symptom of a deeper disease—decades of deepening political corruption, growing inequality of power and wealth. These are the failures of an ancient and visionless political class entrenched in a system built to keep them in office forever."
      — Jon Ossoff ([15:34])

• Injecting optimism

  • Despite sharp attacks, Ossoff encourages faith in voter power and future change.
    • Quote:

      "There’s a wave building. And come November, the people who have been looting this country and desecrating our values are going to feel it... The power of the presidency is nothing compared to the power of the American people."
      — Jon Ossoff ([17:36] & [18:16])

• True grassroots organizing

  • Ossoff demonstrates organizer’s credibility by mobilizing supporters live:
    • Quote:

      "I want you to take out your phones...text JOIN to 51015...say vote, say vote now."
      — Jon Ossoff ([19:38])

Halperin’s Conclusion:

• Both parties see Ossoff’s speech as a “template.”
• It fuses anti-Trump passion, derision toward perceived corruption, economic focus, optimism, and tactical organizing.

Key Analysis ([21:00–24:30]):

• Democrats are likely to use phrases like “Epstein class” and pivot from process criticisms to economic populism.
• The GOP’s concern: If Democrats widely adopt Ossoff’s formula, it could be very effective in the midterms.

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Peter Schweizer Interview: Weaponized Immigration

Book Premise and Focus (27:04–28:52)

• Schweizer’s book, "The Invisible Coup," investigates foreign adversaries’ purposeful manipulation of U.S. immigration, especially China’s industrial-scale tactics.
• Distinguishes “weaponized” immigration from ordinary migration.

China’s Birthright Citizenship Strategy (Birth Tourism) (28:52–35:07)

• Core Concern:

  • China is facilitating and encouraging elite families to send pregnant women to the U.S. to give birth, securing American citizenship for their children (who then return and are raised in China).

• Scale:

  • Chinese government/opinion research firms estimate 100,000+ such births per year for the past 13 years—over one million U.S.-citizen children now raised in China.

• Implications:

  • These individuals become eligible to vote, donate to campaigns, and access sensitive jobs when they turn 18—without meaningful connection to America.
  • U.S. government doesn’t track parental nationality in birth certificates, so has zero oversight.

• Notable Example:

  • The industry caters to high-ranking CCP elites, including military/intelligence officials, ex-foreign ministers.

• Quote:

  "We literally have a million American citizens, according to Chinese numbers, living in China right now that are going to be able to vote and engage in all kinds of other behaviors, and they literally have no connection to our country whatsoever..."
  — Peter Schweizer ([31:38])

• Further concern:

  • Surrogacy angle: Elite Chinese fathers pay U.S. women to have children who gain U.S. citizenship and then are sent to China.
  • One billionaire reportedly has over 100 children born this way ([35:07]).

Surveillance Gaps and Policy Recklessness ([36:50–41:00])

• U.S. policy is labeled “foolish” by both host and guest, creating an “asymmetrical advantage”—China can move these citizens freely, while Americans have no similar ability in China.
• Even if the numbers are somewhat exaggerated, tens to hundreds of thousands of “Manchurian babies” are significant and unmonitored potential assets for China.

Training Chinese Pilots in the United States ([41:00–44:21])

• Practice:

  • U.S. flight schools, motivated by profit, are training thousands of Chinese nationals in basic flight.
  • China says it needs 5,000 new pilots per year but can train only 1,250 at home—so outsources to the U.S.
  • The most talented are recruited into the Chinese military (PLA Air Force).

• Context:

  • Post-9/11, U.S. cracks down on flight school access for terror-linked countries, but China wasn’t included in such restrictions.
  • Estimated 2,500 Chinese pilots trained in U.S. in 2025.

• Process:

  • Students arrive on regular student visas; tuition is paid by the Chinese government ($90,000/year).

• Quote:

  "We are teaching them to walk so they can run and get the advanced military training. And for the life of me, I can’t understand a good reason to be doing this at all."
  — Peter Schweizer ([43:38])

Research Methods (44:53–45:08)

• Schweizer’s team employs Mandarin-fluent researchers; all sources are public documents.

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Mexico’s “Weaponized” Immigration Approach

Mexican Consulates and Representation (54:42–61:00)

• Scale:

  • Mexico operates 53 consulates in the U.S.—far more than any other nation (UK has 6, China 7), including 4 in Arizona alone.

• Political Engagement:

  • Mexico has established a network of senators/representatives who live in the U.S. (some are undocumented, citizens, or on permanent residency) and serve Mexican citizens on U.S. soil.
  • These officials use social media, government-funded media (Migrant TV), and events to organize and politically mobilize the Mexican diaspora, often with a clear anti-Trump perspective and activism against U.S. immigration enforcement.

• Quote:

  "Mexico has created ... a network of elected officials that serve in the Mexican Senate, serve in their Chamber of Deputies ... that live full time in the United States. And their job as congressmen and senators is to represent Mexicans living within the United States. That in and of itself, to me, is a massive infringement upon our sovereignty."
  — Peter Schweizer ([55:48])

• Media Influence:

  • Example: Migrante TV, launched in 2024–2025, streams content to U.S.-based Mexicans, pushes identity pride, strongly anti-assimilation, and politically charged messaging.

Mexican Govt Response & Author’s Rebuttal (63:02–64:56)

• Mexican diplomats publicly dispute Schweizer’s claims, denying political interference and illegal organizing.
• Schweizer counters with public documentation and direct quotes from Mexican officials, as well as transcripts of meetings involving U.S. Democrat activists and Mexican diplomatic personnel planning political engagement.

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Writing and Publishing Insights

The Bestseller Game (47:52–53:50)

• Schweizer has written five consecutive #1 New York Times bestsellers, attributing success to original research and surfacing information unavailable elsewhere.
• Halperin and Schweizer discuss the “mystique” of the NYT bestseller list, its opaque mechanics, the industry’s obsession, and common attempts to game the system.
• Schweizer’s books achieve their rankings via genuine readership, with no “bulk purchase” manipulation.

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On Ossoff as Messenger:
  "What they want now is they want someone who will take it to Trump, who will be optimistic, who will fuse the notion of holding Trump accountable ... and will organize to try to win these elections." — Mark Halperin ([20:02])

• On U.S. Security Vulnerabilities:
  "Even if Peter’s thesis is partially true, let's say there’s not a million. Let's say there’s a hundred thousand. If there’s a hundred thousand Manchurian babies ... that's massive. And it’s a hundred thousand more than we have, because the Chinese aren't letting us create a bunch of dual citizenship babies ..." — Mark Halperin ([37:32])

• On Immigration’s Changing Nature:
  "Immigration before generally was people voting with their feet, right? People wanted to come to the United States. ... Today we live in an era where it’s more complicated. Complicated. You have state governments and actors that are seeing it as a tool of subversion." — Peter Schweizer ([39:05])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Democratic Messaging and Ossoff Breakdown:
  • The problem with Democratic messaging: [08:55–12:55]
  • Ossoff’s speech excerpts and analysis: [12:55–21:00]
  • Conclusions and party strategy: [21:00–24:30]
• Schweizer Interview – China Focus:
  • Book premise and history: [27:04–28:52]
  • Birthright citizenship/birth tourism: [28:52–35:07]
  • Surrogacy and further exploitation: [35:07–38:32]
  • U.S. vulnerabilities and quantification: [38:32–41:00]
  • Chinese pilot training: [41:00–44:21]
• Book Business Insights: [47:52–53:50]
• Mexico’s Tactics and Controversies:
  • Consulates and political representation: [54:42–61:00]
  • Media & government activism: [61:00–63:00]
  • Diplomatic pushback: [63:02–64:56]
• Personal Story & Book Pitch: [65:08–67:32]

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The Episode’s Takeaways

• For Democrats:
  Ossoff’s approach spotlights a narrative/strategy—linking populist, anti-corruption messaging with future-focused optimism and organizing muscle—that could reorient the party’s 2026 and 2028 campaigns.

• On Immigration:
  Schweizer challenges conventional, domestic-only immigration debates, highlighting international actors’ (China/Mexico) calculated use of America’s own laws/loopholes to gain advantage—posing questions of sovereignty, security, and future-proof policymaking.

• On Policy and Politics:
  The episode is urgent, skeptical about established practices, but encourages listeners to watch Ossoff’s speech and to consider new dimensions to the immigration debate brought forth in "The Invisible Coup."

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For further details and direct quotes, listeners are encouraged to find Ossoff’s speech online and review Schweizer’s sources as cited in his book.

Transcript

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First, I'm going to give you my reported monologue on Democrats thinking they found a messenger, or at least a message. John Ossoff, the Democratic senator from Georgia, gave a big speech over the weekend that had a lot of Democrats and Republicans buzzing. My reported monologue on what they're saying about why what Ossoff said may well be a template for Democrats in 2026 and 2028. Then the rest of the episode we're spending with a guy who's been very successful writing about the power players in Washington, in politics in both parties. Peter Schweitzer is here. He's the brains behind a new number one New York Times bestseller called the Invisible Coup. We're going to dissect how foreign adversaries of the United States and China and the government of Mexico in his reporting, do things with immigration into this country that are not necessarily, to say the least, for the good of the United States. What's happening with China in particular, as you'll hear from Peter, is quite something as they basically take advantage of our immigration policies to create competitive asymmetrical advantages over the United States. We will dig deep with Peter on this reporting. It will surprise you and alarm you, I suspect. But before Peter's here, we're going to talk about what Senator Ossoff said over the weekend and why Democrats are so fired up. My reported monologue is next. Are you being lied to? They tell you to max out your 401k and your IRA and then make you beg for permission to use your own money. It's time to get the truth and discover a better way to grow and protect your money. Bank on yourself is the proven retirement plan alternative that banks and Wall street desperately hope you never hear about. It gives you guaranteed predictable growth in retirement income even when the markets tumble. 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Not the policies, but the messaging, the communication, how it's talked about. Both sides say the same thing. They always say, our side say the Republicans will say about the Democrats and vice versa. Our side's not good at messaging. They are so good at messaging. Our policies are better, but they're so good at messaging. But then they also say all the time, you know, the other side's missing the opportunity. They have a winning message if they would only stick to it. But they don't stick to the winning message. They get off on tangents. So it's weird because those things obviously are internally inconsistent. Now the press always has a point of view about what the right message should be and they get that from talking to consultants. So consultants will say, well, the president should be talking about the economy, but he shouldn't be taking saying it's too good. Because if he says it's too good. People won't. Will feel that. He doesn't feel their pain. The press tends to, as there's another asymmetrical bias. Tends to be more critical about Republican candidates and presidents who are off message than Democrats, particularly Donald Trump. Right. Joe Biden was off message all the time. But Donald Trump is famously talks about things maybe he shouldn't talk about, or at least that's what a lot of the consultants in the press says. I think back to 2008, when Barack Obama ended up beating John McCain so easily. But McCain gave one speech shortly after he became the Republican nominee. He gave one speech about reform and about special interests. And the Democrats saw that speech and they said, if that's the message that John McCain has for the rest of this campaign, he's going to be very tough to beat. He had been the most popular politician in America for eight years. McCain never gave that speech again. Never gave the speech again. And Obama, people always wondered, why not. This question of what people should talk about in politics, ideally for a party, everybody in the party is talking about the same thing. If it's a midterm year, every House, Senate candidate, gubernatorial candidate, all on the same message, whatever the best message is for the party. If it's a presidential year, you want the top of the ticket, but being echoed by other people. Democrats have struggled to message in the Trump era. Why is that? Well, first of all, because President Trump creates these distractions, right? He talks about things that make Democrats so angry. A lot of it has to do with violations of norms, has to do with stuff that election integrity. Some voters care, but not all voters care. And it gets them off talking about the economy. And then the other thing, President Trump's good at talking about issues where his party's popular, where Democrats are on the wrong ends of things. So he gets Democrats away from talking about things where Democrats are more popular. And Trump is pretty good about talking about things that Democrats lose on. Continues to lure Democrats into fights where Trump thinks he can win. And Trump knows even when his position might not be as popular, he can fight them to a draw because he's such a great communicator. The challenge for Democrats, as they think about the 2026 midterms, has been they want to talk about the economy because they know affordability is where Trump is weak and where voters care the most. But they're daily outraged by Donald Trump. They're outraged by what they say is the most corrupt administration of all time. They're outraged by what he does on social media. They're outraged about the destruction of the East Room of the White House. There's so many things they're outraged about. And so the challenge has been, as the party has thought about, what's our message for 2026? The challenge has been how do they talk about the economy without failing to say the things that they feel in their heart and that they know a lot of the base cares about, which is all the things they're outraged about about the conduct of the president of his administration. So that's been an evolving debate within the Democratic Party. And you see it publicly in the way Democratic leaders like Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer talk about things. They've of late tried to fuse the two of late. You've heard them say, you know, this corruption is bad because it's keeping working people from getting tax breaks that are going to Trump's cronies. That's been the message. So this weekend, on Saturday in Atlanta, Jon ossoff gave a 30 minute speech that really set off my sources in both parties and caused me to do a lot of reporting about what's going on here with this guy. He's a Senate candidate. He's the incumbent Democratic senator. He's trying to win his second term. Jon Ossoff was a longtime congressional staffer, ran for a House seat in Georgia and lost, and then ran for a Senate seat and won. He's a liberal Democrat young guy from Georgia who's running for reelection. And he's favored to win reelection even though it's a state that President Trump won. It's more of a red state than a blue state, for sure, something of a purple state. But there's something about that speech that really got people talking. Now, they talked a little bit about Ossoff as a presidential candidate in 2028, and I touted that in my newsletter, and I took a little heat for that. But mostly they talked about the message. So I've been saying to Democrats and Republicans, what was it about that message that you found so important as a template from the Democratic side in a positive way and from the Republican side in kind of an afraid way, in kind of a way that said if Democrats really imitate what Ossoff did, they will be formidable in the fall. And it has to do with rising above the traps that Donald Trump has set for Democrats for over a decade now, where, as I said, he gets them to talk about issues that are not of primary concern to a lot of voters, working class voters in both parties and independent voters, they might, they might be appealing to the msnb, Ms. Now crowd, but also issues on which Democrats are more or less popular, where the Republican position on something like immigration or the Republican position on trans athletes in women's and girls sports, where the Democrats are on the wrong side of public opinion. So Ossoff is an interesting guy. He's been on my radar for a while. Any, any Democrat who wins a Senate seat, any statewide race in the south these days is, it's got something going on. He's a, he's a very idealistic guy. He's, he's very smart. He's a very smart political operator. Very smart policy. Yeah, he's, he's, he's unusual in how idealistic he is. He understands how government works. He understands, he's worked in a congressional office. He understands constituent service, the importance of doing the job to help people. He's, he's not as into fame as a lot of senators. And that's why a lot of you probably maybe never heard of Jon Ossoff. Maybe not on your radar. First term Democratic senator from Georgia. He's also, to many eyes, a handsome guy. He's a young guy. He's, even though he's a United States senator, he's got the feel of an outsider because he's, he's, he's, he's young and not, you know, been on the stage for a long time. And he's got a very loyal, very skillful team around him. They really believe in him. All of those are ingredients for somebody who could run for President 2028 in this wide open Democratic field. Young, energetic, serious, idealistic, very likable, understands politics and organizing, understands rhetoric. But put aside whether Jon Ossoff might run for President 2028, and certainly he's got to get reelected in Georgia this year. And, you know, even though he's ahead in the polls right now and against a crowded Republican primary, three guys running to face off against him, you can't take it for granted. It's gonna be a tough race. Any Democrat winning statewide in the south, even an incumbent's gonna be tough. So leave aside the question of whether Ostov could be a presidential or vice presidential candidate anytime soon, and focus on this question. Why did Republicans look at that speech and say, wow, that was well written, well delivered? And why did Democrats say this speech is a template? So I talked to a bunch of folks this week. Here's, here's what they told me. First of all, Ossoff understands that the table stakes for being Someone who inspires the base of the Democratic Party is you got to take on Donald Trump and you got to be on the news and you got to be aggressive and you have to speak in a, in a plain way about calling him out. Gavin Newsom has been the leader in this for the Democrats on, on X going right hard at the president. So here's Ossoff on that. Table stakes tough on Trump talking about that social media post the president did that had a depiction of Barack and Michelle Obama as monkeys, as apes. Here's Jon Ossoff from his speech in Georgia on Saturday. S1.

[C]

Now, many of you are here.

[B]

Because.

[C]

You just can't stand what's being done to our country. You, you're seeing what I'm seeing, right? The president posting about the Obamas like A Klansman at 1am.

[B]

Now, that's got resonance, of course, in Georgia talking about the president as a Klansman. But throughout the Democratic Party, to paint that vivid picture of the president in the middle of the night, up late on social media, comparing him to a Klansman. Again, table stakes. You gotta, you gotta go hard at Trump. But you also, and this is the, maybe the heart of why Democrats reacted so well to this, you gotta fuse up, they say, talking about the economy with what he calls the corruption of the Trump administration. The notion that a president who's focused on enriching himself, enriching his family, enriching his special interests, cronies is not going to be working to make the lives of rural people better in the United States. Here's a couple of the examples from this speech. And again, Democrats looked at this and said, this is the template. S5, please.

[C]

Now, you remember we were told that Maga was for working class Americans. You remember that? But this is a government of, by and for the ultra rich. It is the wealthiest cabinet ever. This is the Epstein class ruling our country.

[B]

All right, The Epstein class is a phrase from the speech that so many Democrats and Republicans have cited to say that's very vivid, right? It takes the energy and anger that exists across the political spectrum in many quarters about, about Epstein, about this notion of a group of rich men and women protecting special interests, corruption behind the scenes at the expense of little people playing by different rules. Bill Clinton used to say he was working for the people who played hard, worked by the rules and got the shaft from the wealthy. And then this notion of special interests, powerful special interests going straight at what has been Donald Trump's greatest strength on the national stage now for more than a decade, converting the Republican Party into the working class party. That's Ossoff's attempt to say we're the working class party. MAGA does not stand for the working class. Here's more along the same lines from Jon Ossoff. S7, please.

[C]

Now, look, defeating Donald Trump and his allies is essential, but it's only part of the job ahead. Because Donald Trump is a symptom of a deeper disease. Decades of deepening political corruption, growing inequality of power and wealth. These are the failures of an ancient and visionless political class entrenched in a system built to keep them in office forever.

[B]

Ladies and gentlemen, that could be out of the mouths of Donald Trump in the main because the long arc of the Democrats disillusionment with the party as a working class party, the long arc of the rise of ber Bernie Sanders. The long arc of the rise of Donald Trump is the decline in manufacturing, the distrust over trade deals, the belief in poll after poll of Americans saying, my kids and grandkids won't have the same economic opportunity that I had. The belief that the system is rigged for the powerful and the wealthy. What Jon Ossoff is doing in this speech is trying to reclaim that, to say, don't believe that Donald Trump is the one who can do this. Don't believe the Republican Party is. Don't believe that the elites of both parties are the ones who, who are working on behalf of the working class. He's saying, I'm going to be part a leader to do that, to actually work on behalf of the working class. Incredibly powerful. Now, here's another thing Ossoff did. The Democrats I talked to found so encouraging. It's been easy for Democrats. You see this with Senator Schumer. You see this with Hillary Clinton at times when she was running. It's easy for Democrats to be so angry about Donald Trump, so angry about his success, that they sound like pessimists, they sound down, they sound pessimistic about the future of America. We all know anyone who studies politics or works in politics, people want optimism. They want someone who can lead them to a better place. So here's Jon Ossoff. Same speech in which he's being very dark about Donald Trump and about the past. Here's Jon Ossoff being optimistic about the Future. This is S8 Atlanta.

[C]

There's a wave building. And come November, the people who have been looting this country and desecrating our values are going to feel it. And here's the thing, Atlanta. Here's the thing, Atlanta. They know it and they Fear it. And that's why their abuses are becoming more reckless and desperate. But as long as we don't give in to doubt or despair or division, our victories will be so decisive that no half baked plot and hatched in the White House will foil the will of the people.

[B]

Atlanta.

[C]

The power of the presidency is nothing compared to the power of the American people.

[B]

You don't hear a lot of Washington speak there. He's not talking about passing a bill out of his subcommittee. He's saying the people will rise up, that the people will be unstoppable if they rise up in opposition to what, what he's criticizing that, that optimism, that confidence, that youthful energy is something a lot of Democrats say they absolutely need. And that even if Jon Ossoff is not on the national ticket in 2028, even if Jon Ossoff loses his race this year, it's vital that whoever, that the Democrats all talk in an optimistic way because people want optimism. Lastly, from the speech I want to highlight for you, this is a tactical thing, but it goes to the vital problem the Democrats have. They lost to Donald Trump in 2016 and 2028, 2024, rather, certainly in 2024, in part because they were better organizers. The Republicans knew how to turn out voters. And Ossoff, again, he's got the, he's a senator, but he's got the, the spirit and the mentality of an organizer. To win in Georgia as a Democrat, you need to turn out folks, you turn out liberals, white liberals, you need to turn out Democrats, Hispanic voters. Listen to Jon Ossoff organizing for himself at his rally, telling everybody, take out your phone and sign up. This is S6, please.

[C]

If you're looking for something to do, this is something we can do right now. I want you to take out your phones. You got them? Hold them up, let me see them. All right, you are going to text join to 51015 everybody watching online. It's 51015 text join join. All right, you got to hold that phone up when you're done.

[B]

There you go, Atlanta, say vote. Say vote now. Look, I'm not saying John off is going to win his race. I'm not saying he's ever going to run for president, let alone in 2028. What I'm saying is my reporting demonstrated that this speech quite struck a chord. If, if you, if you're interested in politics, go watch the whole thing. It's on YouTube. But the excerpts I played showed you. What they want now is they want someone who will Take it to Trump, who will be optimistic, who will fuse the notion of holding Trump accountable for what they say is favoring of special interests and how that connects the real economy for working people and will organize to try to win these elections. Jon OSSOFF in that one 30 minute speech inspired Democrats from around the country to say there is a winning message. We do not have to run in 2026 in fear. And as I said, I heard from more than a few Republicans as well and I called folks about it. In addition, there they see a template there they worry that if Democrats stick with this message with discipline, it could be tough for them in the midterms. Ossoff is a very skilled candidate, so not everybody can do what he did there in that speech. But that message, that message, I guarantee you, you're going to hear more Democrats talk about the Epstein class. You're going to hear more Democrats pivot from criticizing Trump for, for process things and for violations of norms and for some of the, some of the business deals, pivot from that to connecting it up to the economy and saying the reason the economy is not working for the working class is because of these special interest things that they're saying the president does. This is a, this is a big moment for the Democratic Party because they think they finally found a winning message from a messenger who inspired them. All right, I'd love to know what you think about that. Let me get an email from you, tell me what you think. I'd love to hear from you. Send me an email. Next up, HalpernMail.com tell me if you think Jon Ossoff is onto something and my Democratic sources are onto something too. Love to hear from you again. Nextup halpernmail.com Two quick housekeeping notices always to keep you ahead of the curve to know what's next up. If you're watching on our YouTube channel, you're missing, potentially missing the full experience. If you don't go in there to subscribe, make sure you get every bit of content we post on YouTube by subscribing to the YouTube channel. Go to YouTube.com NextUp Halperin, hit the subscribe button right now. Go do it immediately. If you're watching on YouTube, just go ahead and subscribe and like it and you'll see all our content there, the clips, the full shows and bonus content. And those of you who listen to the show because you're on the move and don't want to see what I look like. Every, every episode you listen on a podcast, make sure you subscribe there, whether that's on any of your podcast platforms. Apple, Spotify, Next up with Mark Halpern. Wherever you get your podcasts. And do me a favor, also check your settings. Make sure downloads are turned on there so you get every episode automatically. Do that now and then, whether it's YouTube or the podcast. Tell all your friends, tell them to sign up as well to make sure they always know what's coming. Next up. All right, stay tuned. Next up after the quick break. When we come back, Peter Schweitzer is going to be here. He's the author of the bestselling book number one New York Times bestseller the Invisible Coup. He's the president of the Government Accountability Institute. And what he's going to tell you about what China and Mexico have done to basically infiltrate this country with folks coming across our borders will astound you and probably piss you off. Peter Schweitzer's Next up An E commerce business order fulfillment can make or break your your success. Ship stations all in one platform combines order management, inventory tracking, returns, warehouse integration and powerful analytics. Compare rates across USPS, UPS and FedEx to unlock discounts of up to 90% off. Import your own negotiated carrier rates to keep every savings. Plus ship station automation save average users 15 hours per week. Proactive tracking sharing cuts customer increase by 12% and built in returns. Insight reveal what product is coming back and why while analytics spotlight savings and optimization opportunities. One platform with maximum efficiency try SipStation free for 60 days with full access to all features. No credit card needed. Go to shipstation.com and use the code NextUp for 60 days for free. Free 60 days gives you plenty of time to see exactly how much time and money you're saving on every shipment. Again, that's shipstation.com the code is nextup shipstation.com Use the code. Next up Lifelock how can I help?

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All right, next up and joining me now, an author of a book that's doing quite well commercially and is an inspired, an important discussion at least here in North America. Peter Schweitzer is the author of the bestseller the Invisible Coup in two weeks on number one on the New York Times list. Also, he is president of the Government Accountability and Government Accountability Institute. This book is is one of many Peter's written that's gotten a lot of attention and inspired conversation and discussion and like with most successes in America, also some attacks. So, Peter, grateful to have you here. Congratulations on the book. And I have to say, you know, as an author myself, and it's, you know, books a couple hundred pages, I'm always very sensitive to authors because really it's your, it's your baby. We should talk about all 200 pages. We won't get to all 200. And I'm also so aware that immigration, such a complicated issue. And you're not your book doesn't deal with every aspect, but it deals with this question of people coming to the United States. Why are they coming? How are they coming? What's the role of American nonprofits of the left? What's the role of foreign governments? That's, is that, is that a good way to characterize it? Is what's the role of groups in, in sending people to the United States, both legally and illegally? Is that a fair summary of what the book's about?

[A]

Yeah, the book is, is about what I call weaponized immigration, which is actually a concept that has played out throughout human history. You know, it happened in the Mariel Boat Lift, for example. And my argument is that what we're witnessing today is incre, weaponized immigration, not the sort of, you know, organic regular immigration that we're used to in most of our history.

[B]

Yeah. So you mentioned the Maribo lift. That was a case where the Cuban government wanted to send a category of people president, largely what President Trump would call bad hombres. The United States. Your book, your book, again, it's a big sprawling book, but a big, big focus on Mexico and China and the role that the governments of those countries have played. And there's a lot of sub themes and sub stories. We'll get to them. But I remember in 2011, I saw President Trump give a speech at CPAC and he talked a lot about Mexico and China and their hostility to the United States. And of course, he's talked about those two countries a lot in the intervening decade and a half. They're different. Mexico we think of as an ally. China we think of as, at a minimum, an adversary or a rival. Let's start with China. There are a lot of Chinese Americans, a lot of Chinese nationals in the United States. People come as students, people come to work. Some people come illegally, including through Mexico. What is the history and scale in the modern era of people coming from China? Leave aside, we'll get to the question of what role the government's playing, but what's the history of the scale of that saying, say, in the last, since the 1990s, we're talking about millions of people. How many people are coming, have come to China, from China to the United States?

[A]

Well, I tell you, the biggest concern I raise in the book involves China's industrial scale exploitation of birthright citizenship. Supreme Court is obviously going to be handling this case. But when we think of birthright citizenship in the United States, we think of somebody who maybe comes here illegally. They make a life. They have children here. Those children are granted citizenship. China has a vast industry called birth tourism. There are literally thousands of companies in China whereby members of the Chinese elite will hire these firms. Pregnant mother will come to the United States, give birth to the child. The mother and child will then return to China where the child will be raised in that CCP system. But they're granted U.S. citizenship simply by the virtue of them being born here. The problem here, Mark, is, is that our federal government has zero idea how many citizenships are being granted through birthright citizenship because they don't track it. They'll tell you we don't track it. When you get a birth certificate in the United States, it's issued by a local government, they don't write down the nationality of the parents. So we have no clue how much of this is happening. The Chinese government, beginning in 2011, started actually encouraging people to do this. They ran large articles in the People's Daily, the major mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, encouraging members of the elite to do this. And of course, it begs the question, why would a government want members of its elite to get citizenship for their children in a rival country? And we'll leave that aside for a minute. So they started encouraging this and they allow this vast industry of birth tourism to thrive in China. So what are we talking about in terms of numbers? According to the Chinese authorities, the numbers are eye popping. The Chinese government, private research firms believe that for every single year going back 13 years, roughly 100,000 Chinese babies are born in the United States. So, again, these are people that are born here, but they're raised in the Chinese Communist Party system. But when they turn 18, they're U.S. citizens. So they have the right to vote. They have the right to donate to political campaigns, to apply for government jobs. So this is a massive problem. It is an example of this weaponized immigration. So my concern about Chinese immigration, certainly we can have a discussion about the broader issue. My concern is about this weaponized immigration because we literally have a million American citizens, according to Chinese numbers, American citizens that live in China right now that are going to be able to vote and engage in all kinds of other behaviors, and they literally have no connection to our country whatsoever, other than that they were born here over the course of a couple of days when their parents were here.

[B]

Yeah. So I want to step back on a bunch and follow up on a bunch of stuff you laid out really well. Again, the book's called Invisible Coup, and it involves a broad look at some themes, but there's specific examples, and Peter has just laid out one of them. If you are born in the United States, regardless of the immigration status of your parents, you be our American citizen. That's been in the Constitution. President Trump's challenging it. As Peter said, the courts will decide it. But for now, unless the court rules against for the president, for now, you come from any country in the world, regardless of whether you're on a visa, whether you're going to Disney World, whatever it is, if you give birth here, that baby's born here, you're a citizen. Now you're saying, what year did you say the numbers start in?

[A]

The numbers started about 13 years ago when this rust.

[B]

So every year for 13 years, 100,000 of these cases occur where Chinese, American, Chinese citizens come here. And you're saying probably. I think what you're saying is the large majority of those are on purpose. It's not by accident that the baby's born early because most people would not purposely want to have their baby born in another country unless they had a purpose to do it. You're saying there's over a million babies who were born in the United States to Chinese nationals who then go back to China and are American and have American citizenship. Correct?

[A]

Yeah, that's right. And, and if you look at the websites of the companies that do this, these birth tourism companies in China, they list their clientele and the clientele is military officers, intelligence officers, senior ranking officials in the ccp. A former foreign minister from China has done this. So this is, you know, I'm sure there are maybe political dissidents or people that are looking for a escape hatch that might be doing this.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But from the industry wide perspective, these are people sort of at the heartbeat of the CCP elite. And again, you know, when they're 18, they're going to be granted all of these rights as US Citizens. And we have no clue at the size and, and shape of this wave that's going to start hitting us, you know, roughly in 2030.

[B]

Right. Again folks, I, I, I, I'm so respectful of the, the, the scholarship. There's footnotes in the book and Peter's a very careful grabber of facts. We're talking about a few of the specifics, but the overall theme, I'll say again, this is an example of a wider practice that, that Peter's identified of foreign countries, focus on China, focus on Mexico use weaponizing the capacity of our open border. Right. Because if, if the parents come here, they're in the country, if they give birth here, nothing anybody can do that. That child is now an American citizen. They're also a citizen of China. But the point you just raised is a big one, which is some of these are, you know, some professor comes here and they have the baby here because they don't want to fly home. We have good hospitals here. But you're saying that, that it appears to you from the nature of the services and the nature of the people doing this, that this is a, a government inspired or encouraged opportunity for them to exploit our, our practice of birthright citizenship to create an army of a million and counting of people from China who are part of the Communist Party who can then come here as adults and, and not just enjoy the benefits of United States citizenship, but potentially be infiltrate the United States. Correct?

[A]

Yeah. I mean, Mark, here's what we know. We know that beginning in 2011, the Chinese Communist Party, as I said in People's Daily, started running extensive articles. I mean, imagine the irony here, running articles in this Communist Party publication saying you Chinese nationals have a constitutional right based on the 14th Amendment to do this and you should do it. So we know that they brought this in, in attention to the Chinese population. And we know, second of all, that they've a lot, sorry, have allowed this industry to Thrive. The one other component here that should be mentioned is this was a problem in Hong Kong in the early 2000s where Chinese nationals were going to Hong Kong giving birth. And it reached the point that more than half the children being born in Hong Kong were Chinese nationals. Hong Kong in 2010 ended birthright citizenship precisely because of this issue. And the argument then was that they were doing it for subversive purposes. Now, Hong Kong, obviously much smaller than the United States, but still, when you're talking about these kinds of numbers, and I will add, Mark, there's the added problem of surrogates. So in the case of surrogacy, this is where a member of the Chinese elite will donate his sperm. He will hire an American woman to carry his child, pay her 50, $60,000 to do so. The child will be born. The child will be a US Citizen. It was born here. The biological mother is also American. That child will be returned to the father in China where he will be raised. We have no idea how widespread this is, but I'll give you two quick facts. Number one, the Wall Street Journal ran a front page story about four or five weeks ago about a single Chinese billionaire close to the CCP who had more than 100 children that had been born this way. This is on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. Second, data point. In our research, we identified 107 Chinese companies in Southern California that were sizing in China for these surrogacy services. So that's another aspect of it. Again, we have no idea because surrogacy is essentially a run, unregulated industry and there's no records kept on the nationality of the parents as such. So again, that's another element of this problem, and the root of it is this issue of birthright citizenship.

[B]

If you believe, as I do, that America and many people in our government and analysts do, that our existential fight with China is the. The story of the future of America. Then you understand why I'm spending so much time on this, even though there's plenty more in the book. Again, it's called the Invisible Coup. There's a lot in the book that we're not going to get to today. The reason I'm spending so much time on this is even if Peter's. You know, Peter, you don't know why they're doing it. A higher percentage might be doing it because they love America, but they may be doing it just because they're here and they have the baby. But even if Peter, Eve. Peter's thesis is partially true, let's say there's not a million. Let's say there's a hundred thousand. If there's a hundred thousand Manchurian babies that the Communist party is bringing back to China and doctrine, and then, you know, in 18 years they're going to send them back to the United States. Even if it's a hundred thousand, that's massive. And it's a hundred thousand more than we have because the Chinese aren't letting us create a bunch of dual citizenship babies that we can then send to move freely around the Communist country. Because they come back here, not only are the American citizens, but they're living in the freest country in the world. They can live in Montana, they can live in, in anywhere they want because they're, they have a Social Security card. They're going to have, they can have an American passport. We don't know that's a, that's an asymmetrical advantage. And, and if, and if it is a million, that's an army. That's not, that's not a hundred thousand tactical. That's an army. Why are they publishing the numbers? You say you can see that how many? There are a hundred thousand every year. Why is that? Why is that? Why the Chinese making that number available?

[A]

That's a good question. So the estimates that I list in the book, one is from the Chinese government and the other two are from Chinese research firms that, that track that industry. One of the research firms posited that just in 2018 alone there were 150,000. I don't know how to verify that. But you know, they, I think are, we're curious because this industry has exploded in China. Again, I, I recognize the fact that there's some people in the Chinese elite who want maybe a safety valve, a way of escaping an escape hatch. But the fact that the Chinese government has allure allowed this industry to thrive and, and operate unregulated. You cannot advertise things online in China without the explicit approval of the Chinese government. And you go on the Chinese Internet, you know, behind the Great Wall as they call it, and it's all over the place and they're talking about it on social media. So we have to get a grips on the fact that immigration has changed. And what do I mean by that? Immigration before generally was people voting with their feet, right? People wanted to come to the United States. They wanted to aspire to be Americans. They wanted to embrace the American dream. Today we live in an era where it's more complicated. Complicated. You have state governments and actors that are seeing it as a tool of subversion. And that's not me saying that. That's what they are describing as their activities and as it relates to China, that's a particular concern because it even has national security implications. You've got this whole issue now. We're literally in the United States right now. We are training thousands of Chinese pilots that are coming here on student visas, the best of which are going to be recruited and joining the People's Liberation Army Air Force that will be squaring off against our pilots. That is an example of this weaponization of immigration that I'm talking about.

[B]

The pilots was the other part of the book about China I did want to get to. Because like the, like the, the anchor baby example, we're just. We're. We're fools. Our public policy and the practice were fools. We're allowing them to build this potential army of Chinese American citizens who are loyal to the Communist Party, who can come here whenever they want and do whatever they want. And then the example you just introduced, which is, we're training the Chinese pilots right now. Why does this exist? Why are there. Why does it. Why are there programs that allow Chinese citizens to come to the United States to train? What is that? Because companies want to make money. How could the government allow this to happen?

[A]

It's a great question, mark. So we all remember the horrific days of 9, 11, and the. The terrorists that went to flight schools and said, we don't want to learn how to land, we only want to learn how to fly. As a result of that, one of the reforms that Congress enacted was the screening of flight schools. If you came from a terrorist sponsoring country or era or region, you underwent great scrutiny because we didn't want to train people doing that. That certainly did not apply to China back in 2002. I think the sense of competition between the United States and China was not as great, but that has changed. So what's happened here is you have flight schools that are looking for students. By the way, we have a pilot shortage in the United States. But these flight schools are largely populated by Chinese nationals. There's one in Merced, California, a former Air Force base there was privatized. A flight school was built there. It believe. I believe it has Korean and Chinese investors. And you look at the profiles of the students, and I would guess 90% of the students are Chinese nationals. The tuition is paid for by the Chinese government. It's $90,000 a year. There's another flight school in Arizona. There are some in Florida. Other Locations around the United States. And China's reason for doing this, Mark, is they say, and again, this is their literature. They say they need 5,000 pilots a year, civilian and military, but they can only train 1250 because the military restricted restricts airspace. So there's not enough, you know, space to actually train in the air. So they have outsourced it to the United States and these flight schools are happy to do it. They train the pilots, they give them basic flight training, they go back to China, and the best pilots are then poached to get advanced military training for the pla. So we are teaching them to walk so they can run and get the advanced military training. And, and for the life of me, I can't understand a good reason to be doing this at all.

[B]

So in 2025, say last year, how many, how many did Chinese pilots did we train in the United States?

[A]

The estimate would be, I mean, they don't give the, you know, identifier for all that. I would say roughly 2500 in the United States were trained here.

[B]

Yeah, again, madness. If we're, if this is a country we're competing against, what would they come on? Student visas. How do they get here?

[A]

Yeah, they come here on student visas. Tuition is $90,000 a year. As I said, it's a, you know, 10, 11 month program. But yes, they're coming on student visas. The same as the student that's studying bioengineering at mit.

[B]

Yeah. And again, as I read the book, I had the same thought Peter raised, which is after 9, 11, after we trained the people who committed acts of terror against the United States, we trained them to fly. We're, we're screening people more, but we're letting our biggest adversary, with whom we're in an existential struggle, we're letting them send people here to learn how to fly planes that someday could be used in a battle against the United States. It's totally, totally nuts. Tell me how you did your China research. Did you use like AI to translate things? Did you hire a translator? Do you read Mandarin? How'd you do that?

[A]

We have a gentleman on staff who's fluently fluent in Mandarin. And yeah, we spend a lot of time on Chinese. These are public sources, by the way. We never use anonymous sources. These are public sources. Government documents, research reports from institutions, etc.

[B]

Yeah, incredible. All right, we're going to take a quick break, but more with Peter. Again. The book is the Invisible Coup. We're going to talk about the process of writing a book like this as well as same thing. We just talked about China. Here we're going to talk about Mexico and how Mexico is engaged. Peter's thesis and an invisible couple to use immigration in a very specific and purposeful way. Back with Peter Schweitzer. He's next up. Small businesses. They're the backbone of the American economy, but getting funding from traditional banks can be an uphill battle. Of the 36 million small businesses in the United States, over 70% report needing additional capital every year while revenue is at an all time high. Big banks are tightening standards and approving fewer loans than ever before, leaving owners stuck with mountains of paperwork. But if you want bank rates without the bank delays, check out Cardiff Co Mark for up to $500,000 in same day funding. Cardiff is the largest privately held small business lender in the US having funded over $12 billion since 2004. Their application takes less than five minutes. No impact on personal credit and approvals happen in minutes. With same day funding, banks try to lock out small businesses. Cardiff has the key. Big banks may not want to approve your business loans, but Cardiff does. If you've been in business for at least a year and you're pulling in 20,000amonth in revenue, apply now for up to $500,000 in same day business funding at Cardiff Co. Slash mark again. Cardiff Co slash mark. Real growth fast funding Cardiff Borrow better.

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All right, next up, back with Peter Schweitzer Moore from the author of the best selling the Invisible Coup. Peter's also the president of the Government Accountability Institute. Peter, how many number one bestsellers have.

[A]

You written now five in a row. Five in a row, yeah. The pressure, the, the pressure is on. And I wish I could say that this is all intricately planned. It's not. I mean, as you know, a lot of it has to do with the news cycle. What's going on in the news. Is what you're writing even relevant? And in the case of this book, I didn't know if it was going to get attention or not. I think what happened in Minneapolis and the ongoing discussion about immigration certainly, certainly helped, but that's always the challenge in these cases. So I feel very fortunate. The last five have done very well.

[B]

Five in a row is super special and hard to do. I did two in a row and I know how hard that was. So for people out there who are just interested in the book business or maybe want to write a New York Times number one bestseller, what's your theory? What makes a number one New York Times bestselling nonfiction book?

[A]

Well, I think the challenge is, Mark, that a lot of people that write books, it's kind of an extension of their career. So maybe, you know, they're scholars, maybe they're media figures, maybe they have a podcast or a TV or a radio show and they write a book that's an extension. And, and I think it's hard in those cases to really capture the imagination because there's so much free content out there. I really feel like the threshold with books has become so high because you're essentially telling people, yeah, there's all this information out there for free, but I'm asking you to plunk down 20, 25 bucks to read the information in this book. So what I really try to focus on is finding information and research that people are not aware of. And the good news for me is I hate writing, but I love research. So I spend probably, you know, I have a two year cycle when I do a book. I would say probably 80% of that time is focused on the research process. I have a team of researchers, as I said, people fluent in different languages, including Mandarin. And we spend a lot of time digging through public source information and then using that to try to uncover what's going on and think about things in a way that people don't ordinarily think about them. And that's, that's always the challenge. I wish there was a methodology I could share. I. I really can't because you don't really know it until you're in the middle of the book where the story is. And I imagine that's probably similar to your experience in your books as well. It's the information leads you to where you're going.

[B]

Yeah, I forget whose quote it is. But some famous writer said, I hate writing. I like, I love having written very, very good to very good to get it done. The New York Times, you know, they, they have like a monopoly practically. People sometimes talk about the Amazon number, but most authors like you, like in your cover of your books and in your publicity material, number one New York Times best selling author. Why should the New York Times have a monopoly on a kind of sanctifying book success?

[A]

It's a good question. I think it's really tradition. That's the main thing. They've been the, the longest list for a time. The Wall Street Journal has a list. Publishers Weekly has a list.

[B]

USA Today. Yeah, but nobody cares about any of the others. You go into Barnes and Noble, you go into Barnes and Noble or an independent bookstore, they'll say, number one near. Here's the list of New York Times bestsellers. I just think you're right, it's tradition. But it's just weird that they've maintained that monopoly. It's a monopoly. No one cares. No one would ever put on their book number one Wall Street Journal unless they weren't number one New York Times. If they're number one New York Times, it's all that matters. And it's like, it's like saying, I went to Stanford. You know, it's like, it's like a thing. Oh, you're a number one New York Times bestselling author. It's just strange to me that they still, and somebody like you who writes from a conservative perspective with conservative affiliations, imagine be it's a little dissonant, right, to say, well, New York Times best selling authority.

[A]

Yeah, that's, that's always the joke, right? People on my side hate the New York Times. Until the New York Times agrees with you or praises something you've done. What's interesting about the New York Times list, of course, is they use this sort of secret, secret formula that nobody quite understands. So it's based on sales, but it's also based on reorders from book publishers. It weighs independent bookstores. So nobody knows the secret sauce of how it's done. And I will say there's, there's been a lot of criticized criticism of the New York Times cooking the books, as it were, against conservative authors. Honestly, that's never happened to me. I've always been very, very fortunate in that regard. But yeah, it continues to be the industry Standard for good or bad.

[B]

Yeah, we'll get back to talking about the book in a second. But just a couple things on the Times list because again, it's just such a. If you're an author or you're interested in publishing, it's so fascinating that they have this monopoly. They aren't transparent about how it works. And in part I think that's a good thing because if they were more transparent, people could try to figure out how to game it. And there are services you can hire. I know you haven't needed to do this. I haven't either. But people do it where you say, okay, I'm going to hire someone to go into every independent bookstore or a lot of independent bookstores and pay them to go buy copies there. Because that, that Jimmy's the list. The other thing you can do to get on the list is bulk purchases, right. You can go out and say, you know, I'm going to have the Republican national committee buy 200,000 copies. If the, if you do that, the Times will put it in the list. A dagger symbol next to your title. And the dagger signifies that you've. That bulk purchases have helped raise your number. Yeah, sometimes there are two daggers. And one of my books I think was my second number one New York Times bestseller number one for some number of weeks. I think five weeks. And then on the six weeks we were number two and number one was Mitt Romney. But Mitt Romney. But Mitt Romney had double daggers next to his title. And I just thought some, some Bain Capital billionaire bought his way ahead of my book. But you're, I look, you've got no daggers. There's no bulk purchases. Is all real, real people buying it. So again I can. I congratulate. I congratulate you.

[A]

Thank you.

[B]

Okay, let's talk about Mexico and this, this is another thing telling folks how you get a bestseller. There's always been my flossy. It's advice I give to all my friends who are writing nonfiction books. You want people talking about it in the real world. You don't want. Because we're not a day now where you can't even getting on 60 Minutes or Oprah book selection. It just doesn't sell books the way it used to. And as you said, there's so much content on there. What, what drives book sales for non stop fiction books is people talking about it in news. Right. I tell people who write political books you want two front page New York Times stories. Back to the New York Times people talking about the book. So you've written about Mexico. The Mexico stories got thematically the same as the China story. A government trying to serve its own purposes by sending people to the United States. Mexico's different. More, how many consulates does Mexico have in the United States?

[A]

Yeah, they have 53.

[B]

And anybody else have that number?

[A]

No, the. The UK has six and China has seven. Mexico has four consulates just in Arizona. So they have almost as many in Arizona as the UK has across.

[B]

Now, to be fair, there's legitimate purpose for that, at least partly because there are a lot of Mexican nationals in the country and, and they responsible for making sure in Arizona border state. But you've got, you've got a thesis about what Mexico's doing. And I will say again with respect, this is one where some people have expressed skepticism and as I read the book, skepticism too, about whether your theory goes beyond the facts. Okay. And the Mexican government, you told me before we started, I didn't know I should have. The Mexican government has read the book and noticed the book and now they're responding. So talk about. And again, we'll talk more broadly about what you say about Mexico in the book. But what did you write in the book that the Mexican government is now responding to and what's your point and what's their counterpoint?

[A]

Yeah, so it really begins with looking at the Mexican government itself. And we in the United States have this view, I think unfair, that basically the Mexican government is corrupt and hapless. They're really not capable of any kind of strategic thinking or advancing their own interests. And it also begins with looking at what the Mexican elite consistently says about mass migration to the United States. And I'm just going to Mark, give a couple of quotes because I want to emphasize this is not me saying this. This is the Mexican government. I could read dozens of these quotes. The first one is from a December 2024 report written by Gabriella Rodriguez, a top Advis Steinbaum. She said, quote, we already know that the Mexican population in the United States reaches 39.9 million. We Mexicans are reclaiming our territory. And I'll read one other one. This is from a Mexican senator, Felix Salgado. He is a member of the ruling Morena Party. He sits on the National Defense Committee, which is the most powerful committee in the Mexican Senate. He said just a couple years ago, quote, mexicans are in our territory, California, Nevada, Texas, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado and Wyoming. We're going to take back the territory that was stolen from us. Now, when I first read these, Mark I thought, okay, well, this is just kind of like bravado, right? These are just things that. That they're saying to sort of explain away why so many millions of people are leaving their country and coming to the United States. But then when you look at the actual infrastructure that Mexico has created in the United States and their statements, their views on the issue of American sovereignty, you realize that. No, there. There is a different thought here. Do they actually think that Texas and California are going to be part of Mexico? No, but what I think they believe, and I think the evidence shows, is they are trying to exert sovereignty in our country. So now, what do I mean by that? Mexico has created. And when I briefed members of Congress and people in the White House about this, they were stunned. Nobody knew this. Mexico has a network of elected officials that serve in the Mexican Senate, serve in their Chamber of Deputies, basically their Congress that live full time in the United States. And their job as congressmen and senators is to represent Mexicans living within the United States. That in and of itself, to me, is a massive infringement upon our sovereignty. But then when you look at what these officials are doing and what they say, they are involved in some of the anti ICE protests, they're involved in ginning up some of these riots that have occurred. They are meddling in our domestic politics, trying to put their thumb on the scale. They don't like Trump's border agenda, which is fine. But again, foreign officials getting involved in our elections. So you have that apparatus and then you have this apparatus of the consulates. Yes, as you said, they absolutely can perform legitimate functions. But you have consular officials. I. I got a hold of a transcript of a meeting in May of 2024, an election year, held in the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma consulate. They brought diplomats from Los Angeles to Orlando and everyone in between. They flew in people from Mexico City, and among the people that were meeting with them were Democratic Party activists. And this discussion was, we turned California from red to blue. We turned Arizona from red to blue. How are we going to switch other states so we can stop Trump? That is not what foreign diplomats are supposed to be doing. So we have to start realizing that this image we have of Mexico is just kind of this hapless, corrupt government is not accurate. And the things they say and the things they are doing speak to a weaponization of immigration to the United States.

[B]

All right, a ton to unpack there. We're going to extend the show seven hours because I have a lot of followers. Now, you mentioned, you say there's a group of representatives who live in the United States representing other Mexicans in the United States. What's the immigration status of the. Of the representative representatives? Not those they represent anybody of.

[A]

Yeah, great, Great question. I'm sorry. Anybody of Mexican heritage, you can be in our country illegally, legally, you can be a U.S. citizen. You register with a Mexican consulate and you vote. You can also vote, of course, in the presidential election that occurs in Mexico. So the status does not matter. And these elections are regularly.

[B]

But as a matter of fact, how many are there and how are they living in the United States? Are they. Are they on visas? Are we talking about 20 people, 400 people?

[A]

The representatives. I'm sorry.

[B]

Yeah, the representatives.

[A]

Yeah. So the representatives. Some are here because of daca. They came into the country illegally, and they're here because of daca. Some are US Citizens, Some have permanent resident status.

[B]

And how many are we talking? How many people are we talking? The representative.

[A]

There's at least. It's unclear because they don't identify them as such. In the parliamentary records of Mexico, we've identified at least a dozen. At least a dozen that live in the United States. I imagine there are more.

[B]

And how do they interact with their constituents?

[A]

They do it on social media. They do it through the government apparatus in Mexico. There is also something that the Mexican government has created called Migrant TV. Migrante TV, which was soft launched in 2024 and officially launched in 2025. Again, this is a Mexican government project. This BE is designed to specifically beam and stream information to migrants in the United States of a political nature. So these representatives will appear there. They provide political coverage, I'll put that in air quotes, of political races. They. They were highly pro Kamala Harris, as you can imagine, anti Donald Trump. And since 2025, the coverage of this government, you know, media outlet for migrants has been highly negative on ice, calling them brown shirts and things like that.

[B]

Where's that distributed? Is that like Brit Box? You got to pay 12amonth. How do you get.

[A]

No, no Brit Box. You can stream it. You can go on YouTube, you can go on Twitter X. You can go anywhere and get it.

[B]

And they have live programming or like.

[A]

How much they have live programming and then they. They replay it. One of the things they like to do is replay regularly the Migrant hymn. This is a song that President Sheinbaum had commissioned. I quote the lyrics in the book, but the. The lyrics are, you know, there are no borders. And when you are in the United States, be a proud Mexican and act like a pride. Proud Mexican and. And the point I just want to make here, that's, that's important is there are many Mexican Americans that want to become American, and they want to embrace the American dream. The Mexican government actively fights against that. I mean, they run a campaign to say, if you Americanize, you are a traitor to Mexico. And, and the officials that say this, say that this is Sheinbaum's position as well. So there is a resistance to wanting Mexicans in the United States to assimilate and become American.

[B]

Right. So I want to go back to what I raised earlier and talk about more this, this question of the Mexican government responding to your book. Because every author's dream to have, again, some real life activity. It should be every author's dream nonfiction. So what, what is the Mexican government saying about your book?

[A]

They're saying a couple of things. They're saying, first of all, you know, I make the case, and I think I present evidence that they're involved in politics, they're involved in these violent protests. They say that's categorically not true, Their diplomats function according to international agreements, and they engage in no inappropriate behavior. So it's a blanket rejection of it. On this issue of exerting sovereignty into the United States. The Mexican ambassador went on CBS after I had appeared there and said that this is ridiculous, this notion of recognition. Keon Keysta, he said, look at the size of our army. Look at the size of the American army. We would never think of trying to take American territory, which is, of course, not even the point remotely that I'm trying to make. So they have not specifically responded to it, and what I'm simply asking them to do. And the people I quote in the book, one of these migrant representatives who serves in the Mexican Parliament, Alejandro Robles, lives apparently in Ontario, California. He went around in 2025 quite vocally, and I quote him extensively on podcasts on meetings that he had with Moreno party officials, saying that he was, quote, organizing the militancy in the United States against Donald Trump. So what does he mean by that?

[B]

And.

[A]

And how does that not conform with what the Mexican government is saying? Or this consular meeting in Oklahoma City explain what was going on here instead of these sort of blanket rejected statements. So that's where the conversation is so far. I anticipate they will probably be saying more in the days and weeks ahead.

[B]

You know what I want to do, and I'm talking to the audience, and I'm talking to you, but I'm also talking to my producer colleagues. I'd love to book you and the ambassador to come on this show or come on two way and have some of this out. Can we do that?

[A]

I would love it. That would be great.

[B]

I might need your help in booking the ambassador, but let's try to do that, everybody. Lovely dedication in the book to your mom who passed away, as you said, during the, the process. Talk about your, your parents and their immigrant story.

[A]

Yeah, I mean, I, I, I'm a big believer in immigration because I'm a product of it. My mother grew up on a farm in Sweden, you know, didn't see a car until her late teens. Married my father. My father was from Switzerland. They met in Stockholm, Sweden, came to the United States. I was born here. And I dedicated the book to her because of the encouragement and love she gave me over the years. But she also, in my mind, a of piece epitomized what, what I hope we all want the immigration story to be, which is you come to the United States, you embrace America and you love this country. Doesn't mean you have to have a certain set of politics, but your design and your goal is for America to thrive and be successful and your allegiance is to this country.

[B]

So my parents, how did they come here? They student visas or had they come here?

[A]

So they came here. My father trained as an engineer at the Stockholm Technical Institute. He got a job job in Springfield, Vermont, working for a small company. He then got a job opportunity to work for Boeing. So I was raised in Seattle, Washington, and they became citizens in 1977. That's 15 years after they came here. So an amazing story. And I, and I owe them a huge debt.

[B]

Did they ever fly Chinese warplanes, your parents? Probably not.

[A]

And they didn't train any Swedish pilots either.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. The book's available now, the Invisible Coup. It's a great read. But, but just who would, who would you, who would you recommend buy it. What kind of person, what, what kind of reader would be interested in your book?

[A]

I think if you're interested in public affairs and you want to have a fresh view of what's going on. Look, the immigration wars have been going on for decades. You've, you've covered the mark. There have been books written. I would argue this is a very, very different book because it's saying the way you think about immigration as it relates to wages, jobs, culture is not really what this book is about, is it is about something different. So if you're concerned about the security of our country, you're concerned about the issue of immigration, and you want to view it in A way that is completely different. That is the, the audience that I think would like this book.

[B]

Ladies and gentlemen, I can tell you something about number one New York Times bestsellers. Besides, they're popular because they're popular, they'll start to sell out. So if you want to get Peter's book, I recommend you buy it today. Otherwise if you delay, you might go on Amazon or to your neighborhood bookstore and they'll say, yeah, we haven't had any of those. Now if you buy, go to the bookstore and they'll log into the computer. You say, well, when do you expect more? They'll log in. I'll tell you what they'll say. You know, I can't tell. It doesn't say because that's the way it works. So if you want to buy Peter's book, buy it now and again. Available wherever you get your books. But it's, it's going to make the list again. It's probably number one third week in a row. The minute it hits number one again for the third week in a row, everybody's going to buy them. So go right now. It's called the Invisible Coup. Peter Schweitzer is the author of the bestseller and the president of the Government Accountability Institute. And we look forward to Peter having you back here and or on two way with the Mexican ambassador. Thank you, Peter. Congratulations again.

[A]

Thanks so much for having me, Mark. I enjoyed it.

[B]

All right, that's it for today's program. We're going to be back on Thursday with another brand new episode. Just subscribe to Next up on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast. We'd love to continue to grow the audience. I tell you every week, until our audience is as big as the number of people who buy Peter's book, we won't rest. So right now, go YouTube, Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast. Be part of the community here. Be a nexter so you always know it's coming. Next up.

[D]

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