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Welcome to Nation States with Yates. The news comes at you fast. The world comes at you fast. Whether you're in the White House or in your house, we here at Nation States with Yates seek to serve as your personal national security advisor, helping you navigate all the mixed signals that come through the news and the noise. Hopefully get some good Main street clarity to the challenges facing our nation state, but also some of the simple things that we can do as average everyday Americans to interact in our communities with our elected leaders, hopefully to make our own nation state great, safe, good for our friends and our families. These are the simple things we aim to do here at this program. I appreciate you joining every episode and last month we got some very good news about the number of downloads. We strongly encourage all of you to, like, subscribe, tell your friends, let's build the audience, build the community that's talking about Nation states right here with Yates. Today we're going to talk about a fun topic, teased it in the last episode, a concept called America Maxing. It's one of those new bits of jargon that are out there. I've heard it jump from gaming to social media into the word choices of the President of the United States. But we're going to talk a bit today about what this is America maxing, at least from my humble point of view, and how it fits in with our strategic competition with some of the greatest challenges out there in the world to the American way of life, first and foremost coming from the People's Republic of China. So today, thank you for dialing in, joining in, clicking in, whatever your preferred mode of engagement is with the podcasting world. Thank you for joining Nation States with Yates. And after a brief break, we're going to come back for our deep dive into America Maxing. How America wins the China Challenge and helpfully makes the future brightest for all of us. Back after the break. Welcome back to Nation States with Yates. Today we're going to talk about America Maxing. What does it mean? Why is it good for you? What are we really talking about here with this slang that we take from social media and the Internet? Well, you've probably heard from previous episodes and maybe you've gone through the news a bit. You've heard things called malign influences, fancy pants way of saying some bad influences that come from the People's Republic of China, things that can hurt our families, hurt our economy, hurt our national welfare, sometimes our own national security. There's a number of ways that the People's Republic of China is challenging American interests and our Way of life. Talked about some of those that are near and dear, whether it's loved ones that are losing their jobs, loved ones that go off to serve in our wonderful, beautiful military, who face the challenges that come after our nation in a defense or national security way, but also in our streets, when we have things like fentanyl getting flooded into our zone, and we have loved ones that are taken from us in too high a number and really an unacceptable kind of threat to our way of life. Well, where is that all coming from? The. These are the malign influences of the People's Republic of China. We'll shorten it a bit to just say China. Just making clear that I at least love a lot about the Chinese culture and tradition, spent the early parts of my life studying it. Classical language, the history, the culture, religion, all of those things. But the People's Republic of China I consider to be a cancer on the great Chinese civilization. And as sad as it might be for the Chinese people, it's even more of a challenge for us in the greatest nation known to mankind, the United States of America. So what do we do in the face of a challenge, which as, again, we talked about in the trade episode and some of the others, where the United States of America, together with many others, invested a lot in making this challenge to our way of life stronger? We basically created a problem, amplified the problem, and now our government is coming back to us saying we need to invest unprecedented amounts in our defense, that we need to engage in some significant regulatory reforms, and we need to do some important things to reorder the strategic industries of the United States in order to be resilient or sustainable in a time of crisis. These are weaknesses that the greatest nation had invested their lives in making America insulated against. They lived through a Great Depression. They lived through a world at war, and they spent a lot of their careers making America great, making the economy the envy of the world. And so why are we now, in 2026, having to do some of these things? Well, there's more to that story and we'll get into it. But one of the things that I like to point to as the first best thing that we can do to put ourselves and our country in a better position to overcome whatever challenges come our way from anyone, but especially those unique to the China challenge is America maxing. So let's get right at what is this America maxing Crazy Yates is talking to you about today. Well, there's the notion of maxing spelled with two X's in case you want to spell it right with the kids comes out of the gaming world, where, of course, lots of our pop culture comes from people with a lot of time on their hands. Maybe you're one of those people that plays in the gaming world where you had characters in some of these very in depth interactive games and you would max out sort of the capabilities of these characters in these games. Things that became sort of larger than life, became the very core focus of what you were doing in that particular game. Well, it's crossed over from the gaming world into social media, things like Instagram and TikTok. Not that I watch too much TikTok, but things that had to do with looks maxing, where there were lots of people that were trying to modify by filters and sometimes physically how they appeared in order to look much prettier than they are in real life. Of course, of course we don't do that here. But there are people that were getting into this heavy kind of odd notion of looks maxing. So we go from maxing characters in games to maxing individuals or people actually becoming the characters in social media. And then it slipped more broadly into pop culture lingo. Things that had to do with sleep maxing or money maxing or gym maxing. That's how the maxing term comes into being, into the ordinary everyday life of people and media and politics and even the President of the United States talking a little bit in America's 250th anniversary of independence about America maxing. In fact, what he was doing with the UFC fight on the South Lawn in Washington D.C. and the massive, massive fireworks and flyover display there was in Washington D.C. and many other cities in the United states for the Fourth of July. This 250th anniversary of independence is legitimately what the President's talking about as America maxing. But what I'm talking about with America maxing is, yes, all of that, but a little bit more. And it directly relates to the things I was opening with about the challenges that come from China. You may have heard of some of these influences in our politics. There's a politician or two that's had someone who turns out to be a spy working as their driver or as their staff, an occasional elected leader sadly having an amorous affair with one of these people who is a compromising member of the Communist Party of China's influence operations in the United States. You might have heard of things in the education system where there are large numbers of people who come from the People's Republic of China, some of them Might be perfectly fine. But among them, there are definitely people who are coming to the United States. Not to just study what's great about America, to get a leg up to be able to compete in a competitive private sector economy, maybe invent new things, improve the livelihoods of good and ordinary people around the world, but really to keep an eye on others that are from China. Keep an eye on Americans who might be developing the next great things to help America compete economically, or worse, try to get into the sensitive programs of research and development in our country that are core to our national security enterprise. Fundamental aim is to keep America safe, but by doing so, also having the capability to keep allies and friends safe. So you want to stand on America's side, Come on into America the right way, get a good education and work with us on how to make our way of life the safest, most prosperous way to help advance humanity. These are great things. So these malign influences come in many forms. You might also have heard of challenges in public health. There's this little thing called Covid that was out there in the world and the response to it had a profound political, economic and, and national security impact. So with all of that, there's a lot of reasons why people might think, well, shoot, this challenge is really big. We've really dug ourself deep in the soup with this one. How do we possibly pull ourselves out of this web we've gotten caught in? And how do we find a new way to organize and compete in a way that allows us to avoid war? Of course, responsible good, meaning people should want to avoid wars, but sometimes when you just want to avoid something, you increase the odds of it happening because the enemy that knows your fears plays on them and it actually increases the likelihood of a conflict. So that's the mess. But there's good news in this. We have a way out of the mess. Now we've got to do some things that our government is talking about trying to do. Reforming the the supply chains that help our defense industrial complex get better at delivering things on time and on budget, to deliver the things that apply the most advanced technology so that we're not winning the wars of the past with the technology of the past, but we're winning the wars of the future without even having to fight because we're using the bleeding edge technology so that our soldiers don't bleed. That's, I think, the notion of how we're getting ahead now and trying to reform some things. But what it really comes down to is trying to take a great leap forward to steal a word from the People's Republic of China's own history, to get our country moving forward in the right direction, that's ultimately where the comprehensive strategy that's being used against us interacts with the best first step for what we can do about it. What I mean by that in simplest terms is the People's Republic of China, led by the Communist Party, begins first and foremost with political warfare. What they do is they engage in campaigns that try to divide and conquer. They also then control information in ways that gets people to manage the words that they use. They might even physically edit history so that when major events, say, like the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, where thousands upon thousands were at least injured, if not outright killed by the military of China, turned on its own people, a whole generation of Chinese people were educated in a system where that wasn't even talked about. And you don't even really find it in China's controlled Internet and media. And so that's how the they engage in political warfare and control. It begins with what they do on their own people, but they do it internationally too. So one of the things they do internationally is to try to talk about America, invest in groups in America that talk down America, accentuate our divisions, try to make us less positive, less optimistic about where our country is going. And the shortest version of this is that China's rise is inevitable. They are overtaking us in terms of leadership in the world, economically, militarily, and so others, our friends and allies, maybe they ought to jump on this bandwagon while the getting's good and not wait until China's super strong and you have to cut a better cut, a more challenging deal. Forget about those Americans. They're on the downward slide. They've got this crime ridden culture. They are at war with themselves politically. They can't stop fighting with each other about whether the President should be in office. They've got their hands full, so to speak. And so the leading edge of technology, the leading edge of economic development, and the supporter of the rules based International Order of Trade and Security is now China, that's the narrative they're trying to sell. Of course I don't believe that. And I don't think you at your dinner table should believe it either. The United States of America, at this time of celebrating the 250th of our independence ought to be very, very proud of our history. China should be proud of its history, the long history, the one that respected family and faith, the one that had a deep culture Literally written into its language, which what the different roles were in an extended family, not the People's Republic of China that whittled the family down to two generations of a one child policy, literally losing the roles of aunts and uncles and cousins almost entirely. But it used to be that they would value aunts and uncles that were older or younger than your parents on your mom's side or your dad's side. They had special words for that. No longer. This is the editing that happens in comprehensive political warfare on their side. So on America's side, what America maxing translates into is really flipping the script, not taking what the Communist Party of China is trying to sell. And what a lot of the world is willing to believe, that somehow America is just one bad news cycle after another, caught up in terminal political conflict. But that America is actually the greatest gift to mankind. That our governments from time to time may not be the best representative of our peoples in whatever diversified opinions we've got among 300 plus million thriving Americans. But our economy is doing pretty well. Could it do better? Yeah, we gotta get out of our own way. But that's a part of America maxing when we are getting out of our own way so that we're investing in the things that will amplify productivity, creativity, individuality, all the things that are part of the American experiment that's unique in mankind. Now remember, take a moment to reflect while the world is thinking about at our 250th birthday. Well, our country is much older. We have a pub in our neighborhood that's hundreds of years older than America. Well, what's your pub done to spread freedom around the world? This little idea experiment of America is, has done more to make people wealthier, healthier, safer and more developed than any other experiment ever tried in mankind. It succeeded beyond the wildest dreams of any reasonable person who's a student of history, which is full of conflict and plagues, disappointments. Well, the rise of America has been completely different. We've gone through our periods of, of turmoil for sure. We have grown from an infancy where we were an idea and a small power, then a medium power, to then a superpower. Along the way we've done things to correct some things, some of the mistakes of the culture that we inherited and moved into the modern era, I think in ways that are elevating humanity more than is warranted in sort of the doomerism that goes out in pop culture. So when I talk about America maxing, I'm talking about this pride, the being proud of Our origin story. I'm talking about the pride of recognizing the greatness that is being brought into our communities, our states and our country by ordinary Americans. Think of the kinds of things that have been invented in, in the United States of America, even just in recent times. We have one of the most innovative inventors in the history of mankind in Elon Musk, who's an American citizen, and he's literally made rockets that will take off and land themselves and can be used again. We have communication systems where we can go almost anywhere in the world and communicate at relatively low cost. And in my own lifetime, I remember when I wanted to make what was then called a long distance phone call across the United States. You got charged in minutes and those minutes added way up. And sometimes you could get in big trouble with mom and dad for talking on that long distance phone call for too long. And if you wanted to call some of the far flung parts of the United States of America, like Alaska or Hawaii, well, buckle up, buttercup. That was going to be an expensive big bill. Today you just have your own handheld device and you're talking immediately to people frankly, in almost any part of the world at no added cost to you. You can talk to almost everyone in America. And now you can be safe going out into the wild wilderness that still is America. Our national parks are big, wide open spaces, some of the best, most beautiful things to explore in America. You can go there, communicate with one another, and keep up your way of life. What an immense blessing this is to live in this kind of an era. We've improved public health with invention of lots of ways of being able to eradicate diseases, but also to just improve general health. If we're wise enough to choose to walk down that right path, we now know more and at an affordable cost, can get more to stay healthier and better able to love and nurture our families, to be creative and contribute to our communities, and to be the best representation of what our Creator has given us for this life's journey. That I think is a beautiful, beautiful thing. And in America, it remains more beautiful than it's ever been, despite whatever you're seeing in the news, whatever complaints we might have in politics. So America maxing, be proud. America maxing, do everything we can to get out of our own way, to build more, invest more, learn more, teach more, hold up our fellow man more, but put ourselves with all that we have in the best possible position to compete, but also help our neighbors in the world if they choose to behave like neighbors with us, and if they don't choose to be like neighbors with us. America maxing means we're going to have the best funded, best equipped, best trained military, and we're also going to have the best companies with the protection of our government, the support of our people, and the world's most powerful and wealthy stock market to allocate capital to, to those that are driving technology, development, manufacturing in the direction that helps the people of the United States and our friends benefit first and foremost. That's America maxing. And the more we do this, the more we're proud of ourselves, the more we produce for ourselves, the more we educate ourselves and the more we stay grounded in the core principles and beliefs on which our country was founded. The refining fires of history, of war, conflict, depression, famine, all the things that we've overcome, these have refined this American experiment in a way that truly makes it great, something that we should treasure and protect. Now all of that wrapping ourselves with a flag is a beautiful and good thing, but we still have work to do. We've got to find ways to be less dependent on other countries, especially those that seek to do us harm. I have a few key areas that I would focus on and how America maxing, all that emotionalism I was sharing fits into the core of what China strategy really is. And China is just one example. This, this applies to things we want to think about with other regions of the world too. But the first step, as I say, in overcoming the China challenge and for America winning, is to revive and protect America. Unleash prosperity, innovation, energy, abundance, protect our homeland, stop funding a threat. Too often through history, especially over recent decades, we have transferred wealth, technology and opportunity to an adversary committed to using it against us. We gotta stop that, and it begins with stopping it. So we gotta dial back the transfer of wealth, technology and opportunity to the People's Republic of China. We can still have trade, we can still have transfer of some of these things, but we've gotta be prudent about this. We've gotta reduce dependence on a threat, as I was alluding to, gotta minimize our dependency on the People's Republic of China for any strategic goods that are vital to our national security and resilience in a time of crisis. This is called strategic decoupling. We've talked about this in the past and will again in the future. But if there's something that's vital to us in a time of crisis, prudence would tell us and you would tell us from your own dinner table. It's what you do for your own family. If you're going to be ready for what may come, you're going to make sure that you're not dependent on the very person, place or thing that wants to come and take away what you love. So we need to reduce our dependence on a threat, enhance the independent and collaborative capabilities of our allies. Just makes sense. Again, thinking about your household, if you want to make sure that your house is safe, your family is safe, well, you want to make sure that your neighbors also are safe, that they're on the right track. Because if you're standing alone in your fortress and you're all well and good, that's beautiful, congratulations. But how much better for you if you're in a whole neighborhood or community or, or city or state or nation that is similarly well disposed? The better we are at building out the independent capabilities of our allies means that those who seek to do us harm or take advantage of us have a much harder path to getting to us to do it. And that we've got many, many more options to make what we need to do to protect ourselves easier and less risky. So that's good. Good common sense, all of those things are what puts the United States of America in the best possible position to compete with China and win. Compete with anyone and win, really. But also to be able to contain the malign influences that they're bringing our way. Until the beautiful day when decisions made by another capital, especially Beijing, don't have the ability to fundamentally threaten America's way of life. And in a time of health crisis, they can't withhold critical things that we need. In a time of economic crisis, they can't withhold critical inputs to our high technology or our manufacturing supply chain that are vital to keep America humming and safe, or our military from being able to do what it needs to do. This is the core logic behind this America maxing strategy that I like to advocate for anything because we love America, but also specifically for the China challenge. So I hope this deep dive into this fun idea of America maxing has been interesting. Intriguing, maybe relevant to what you're thinking about in your life and if it comes up at the dinner table, in your church, social, at work, wherever the spirit moves you, you can hopefully feel a little bit more comfortable about throwing around this lingo, but having some meaning behind what it is. Because it's actually really important for our national leaders and our community leaders to be on the same page with this idea of America maxing to help us overcome the challenges that we face, but do it in a right way. An honorable way. A way that makes our next 250 years even greater than the last 250 years were. So go America. Go America Maxing. And please stick around after the break and we'll have some parting thoughts. Welcome back to Nation States with Yates. I hope you enjoyed today's conversation about America Maxing. Being the best version of America we can be. Proud of our origin story, proud of our accomplishments and contributions, proud of our strengths, while mindful of our shortcomings. A country of makers, not takers. That's something to be really, really proud about. But it's also really important to do so that we're ready in time of trouble or crisis. Maybe even so ready that it avoids said trouble or crisis. That's the idea. I hope you understand it better. Like it. Feel free to improve upon what we did in the conversation today. If you'd like to reach out to the program, Please email nationstates yatesmail.com I want to take a moment to thank all of you who have downloaded episodes and have listened, shared, liked, subscribed. If you are so inclined, please continue to do so. Write a favorable review on their platform of choice and that really, really helps the program grow and develop. We're going to come to you soon with some, even a broader range of ways to engage. Going to have some written material to share from time to time, some special interviews and episodes in between podcast episodes. Great things on the horizon. Thanks to you for making Nation States with Yates a part of your conversation and journey in your home, in your life. Can't thank you enough. Now our next episode, we're going to jump into supply chains specifically. Sounds a little bit wonky, but it's actually really important and and understandable for what's going on with America's national security, the health and welfare of this beautiful nation state we call America. So please stick around. Please continue to like, subscribe and share. And as always, please continue to come back to Nation States with Yates to serve as your personal National Security Advisor to understand this wild and woolly world that's out there. Take good care.