How China Wages (Economic) War on the US | Peter Schweizer
Summary
Disintegration Warfare: The guest argues China wages a covert societal war against the U.S. through non-kinetic means that fragment society and politics.
Fentanyl Supply Chain: Chinese precursors, pill presses, encrypted tech, and state-linked banking enable a lucrative fentanyl pipeline with profit margins far exceeding cocaine.
Canada and Mexico: Canada and Mexico are portrayed as key logistical nodes for production and transit, prompting U.S. tariff threats to force cooperation on fentanyl enforcement.
Elite Capture: The CCP allegedly co-opts Western political elites via business ties and family deals, reducing resistance to Chinese influence and access to capital and technology.
Panama Canal Ports: Concerns highlighted over Hutchison/Li Ka-shing’s control of Canal access and links to Beijing, framing calls to reassess strategic port control.
Glock Switches: Chinese-made devices converting pistols to automatic weapons are shipped directly or via Mexico to U.S. gangs, escalating domestic instability.
Policy Posture: The Trump approach is described as pressuring allies and adversaries—“don’t tell me, show me”—to curb fentanyl flows and isolate China geopolitically.
Foreign Money Risks: Weak campaign finance transparency via PACs and 501(c)(4)s enables foreign influence, necessitating stronger disclosure and enforcement.
Transcript
This is actually a poisoning rather than a drug overdose that that is occurring, and China is at the center of this. The profit margins are so great 30 times what they are for cocaine. Doesn't matter if you lose portions of your customer base. The money is just so good. Fentanyl is the weapon of choice in a covert war that China is waging against the us. If the Trump administration's tariff threats against Canada, Mexico, and China, or threats to take back the Panama Canal have been confusing to you. Today's interview will give you the context you need. Peter Schweitzer is the author of Blood Money: Why the Powerful Turn of Blind Eye while China kills Americans? He's president of the Government Accountability Institute, a number one New York Times bestselling author, and he's our guest this week for an important conversation. I'm Ed D'Agostino, and this is Global Macro Update. Peter, I'm just so excited to speak with you today. I really appreciate your time 'cause I think your work can really explain to a lot of people, a lot of Americans out there and beyond. What's going on right now? I think a lot of what's happening politically, a lot of what's coming out of this administration is confusing to people. Um, so, so to set the stage, I just wanna read a quote from your book, how you introduce your, your just amazing book, blood Money. Um, it's a quote from Chinese General Sun Zu who wrote the, the, the Art of War. Be so subtle that you are invisible, be so mysterious that you are intangible. And then you'll control your rival's fate. So what are you talking about there? Yeah, I'm talking about a war, uh, that has been going on. Um, I would say since, uh, president Xi uh, came to power. Um, but it's not a war as we think of it in the West. We think of kinetic wars. We think of, uh, you know, tanks in battle, aircraft fighting, missiles being launched. Uh, China's approach to war is very different than ours. Theirs is a, uh, in, in a sense, a societal war. Um, and they call it, uh, the most recent iteration. It's, it really builds on sun zoo's strategies. Um, but they call it disintegration warfare. Uh, and the idea is to sort of fragment and. Disintegrate as it were, uh, your political opposition. You do so by engaging in activities that are just short of military action. Um, that way you have plausible deniability. Um, so you look at, uh, opportunities to create social disruption. Uh, you look at ways to actually kill members of your, uh, competing, uh, population through things like fentanyl. Uh, and you look for opportunities to, um, sow division internally within your political opponents. Uh. And I think they've had great success in doing so. And what you're seeing with Trump, uh, I think is sort of a pushback or an exposure, uh, of that bringing into stark relief. And I think when you look at a lot of the issues related to tariffs, et cetera, it all goes back to China and this sort of struggle that we are engaging in right now. We're just finally joining a war that has already been going on. I think that goes a long way to explaining, for example, why Trump is sort of. Picking on, if you will, Canada. Right. Um, and we, I work with a lot of people in Canada. Um, everyone I think initially was really confused as to what's going on, but now the story. Around tariffs is coming out. That, that this is all about fentanyl. I've spoken with journalist Sam Cooper about this and Hi. Hi. His work, which I know you, you're familiar with, uh, really goes into detail on how the CCP has in many ways compromised Canadian politicians all the way to the top. So what, what's your view on how Canada fits into this whole, this whole. Puzzle that we're, that we're dealing with. First of all, I'm a big fan of San Cooper and his work. Uh, I, I think it's been groundbreaking, um, and so critical in bringing into relief exactly what's going on. But yeah, I think a lot of the fire, as it were, that Trump has directed against China. It's not really against ordinary Canadians, it's against the political elite. Um, who, um. You know, obviously Canada elects their leaders. They can do, uh, as it were, but if those elites are captured, uh, in what the Chinese call elite capture, uh, it means you're not getting actually the representative government that people expected. And I think Trump's approach is to really highlight and, and, and to bring that forward. Uh, in addition to that. America has this massive fentanyl problem. Uh, estimates are a hundred thousand people are dying every year. It's now including other, uh, uh, drugs and additional fentanyl, car, fentanyl and others. So those are, uh, sort of expanding the portfolio of drugs that are being brought into the United States. Much of it comes through Mexico, but it also comes through Canada. And what, what I think people, it's crucial for people to understand is this is not your typical drug abuse problem. This is not cocaine, this is not heroin because the vast majority of people that are dying of fentanyl overdoses aren't even aware they're taking fentanyl. Um, the news media kind of does a, a disservice here when they talk about the fentanyl crisis. They'll show somebody on the streets of San Francisco that is sort of shaking and, and going through withdrawal. These are hardcore fentanyl consumers, but most people are dying. These are, you know, college kids who think they're taking an Adderall, uh, to focus for an exam or I. They have some pain or something going on in their life and they, they think they're taking a Vicodin, but it's actually a counterfeit drug that is spiked with fentanyl. Um, so this is actually a poisoning rather than a drug overdose that that is occurring. Uh, and China is at the center of this. Uh, as I talk about in my book, when you look at Mexico, you could do the same thing in Canada. Every single step in the equation, every single link in the chain from the precursors in, uh, produced in China to the actual laundering of drug money profits involves China at, at, at its core. Uh, they're, they're brought into Mexico in ports that are controlled by Chinese companies. The precursors are taken to Northern Mexico where we now know according to leak, government officials, uh, that I quote, uh, the documents in my book. There are 2000 Chinese nationals that are helping turn these precursors into fentanyl drugs, uh, in both Canada and in Mexico. They are using, uh, uh, you know, pill presses that are produced in China that according to our DEA, are being sold to drug operators at cost. Meaning that these Chinese, uh, pill press companies aren't even making a profit on these pill presses. The communication devices that these drug cartels use are, are encrypted Chinese technology because they know that the Chinese will not share that with us law enforcement and even the laundering of drug profit money. The old drug cartels, the Pablo Escobar days, they used to lau their money in Latin American banks. They now all use Chinese state owned banks. So Mexico's the main player, but Canada is absolutely involved in this as well. Uh, and this is really what you're seeing from the Trump administration when it comes to terrorists and these issues. And he said, so he said, this is about fentanyl. You need to help us on fentanyl and, and help shut this down. Can you give a little bit of color, Peter, for, for people who maybe are new to this story? Um, we, we talk about it's China doing this, but it, it, it it's really a few steps, right? Or a few different groups culminating in the, the Chinese Communist Party and the leadership of China knowing what is happening. And, and deciding not to do anything about it because it serves their needs. Is that, is that fair? And can you expand on that? Yeah, no, you're exactly right. And, and it's really because of an alliance that was struck in the 1980s between the CCP. Then the leader, Deng Xiaoping, uh, sat down with the Chinese organized crime, uh, uh, syndicates, uh, and basically made peace. Uh, he said, look, if, if, if you acknowledge that the CCP is the Supreme authority in China, and as long as you don't get outta hand. Here in China, if you operate and you engage in criminal activity overseas, that's fine. We'll be your partners, we'll cooperate with you, we'll provide you protection. Uh, and the criminal syndicates agreed in return to carry out certain intelligence functions for the CCP. So it was really a partnership between Chinese organized crime and the CCP. And it's been in place since the 1980s. So when you look at the Fentanyl crisis. Um, it really began around 2012 and what happened is we now know that a Chinese gang, um, uh, that, that, uh, operates out of China, that's headed, uh, in part by a guy named White Wolf. Um, introduced to the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico, fentanyl. Um, and, and what is so revolutionary about fentanyl is before the Sinaloa cartel was, you know, selling marijuana, but primarily cocaine, uh, making good money doing so. I. But cocaine production and distribution is difficult. Um, you know, you have to carry around these quantities. It has to be grown, uh, you know, agriculturally, it needs to be transported. Um, and the profit margins are great, but fentanyl changed all that. What, what Chinese organized crime told the Mexican drug cartels and through their operations in Canada as, uh, as well, what they said is, look, we've got this product that is so potent. It makes cocaine look like aspirin and the profit margins on fentanyl are 30 times what they are with cocaine. So going to business with us, we'll provide you the precursors, we'll get the chemists here to, to create this deadly cocktail for you. And the drug cartels said, we are all in. Um, this has been known to the CCP. In fact, some high ranking members of Chinese organized crime sit on Chinese Communist Party consultative bodies. I quote them and mention them in the book. Um, so this is not, you know, some hidden underground thing. It's being done out in the open. And the CCP recognizes this as a. Form of, uh, disintegration warfare against the United States. 'cause you're essentially killing a hundred thousand Americans every year. It's the leading cause of death in the United States for people under the age of 45. And oftentimes, to be blunt, it's the best and the brightest. It's college students, it's young people who, again. Think they're taking, uh, you know, Vicodin or something else, uh, to help them with a particular issue. So this is known by the CCP, it's sanctioned by the CCP. It's a form of warfare and it's also highly profitable, not just for the drug cartels in the Chinese gangs, but also for the Chinese government itself. Yeah, I mentioned to Sam, uh, Sam Cooper that, uh, I know a young woman who, uh, recently passed away. Who is very bright in college and this is exactly what happened to her. Uh, so I've been trying to impress upon people like, you just don't know where this stuff is coming from. You don't know what it's going to be in. Um, and it could be deadly. You write in the book about, um, large marijuana growing operations in the United States. That, that are run by these Chinese criminal organizations and then they're lacing it all with with fentanyl, which just sets the stage and nobody would expect that. Their bag of weed, um, that they picked up on in their dorm room is going to be laced with fentanyl and now they're gonna be sent down a road of, uh, of addiction or, or way worse. Yeah, that's right. Um, you know, and I, and I get, people ask me sometimes, well, you know, these, these, uh, drug cartels, you know, their businesses, why would they wanna poison their own customers? And the reality is the profit margins are so great 30 times what they are for cocaine. Doesn't matter if you lose portions of your customer base, the money is just so good. Uh, and again, you're advancing the interests of of the CCP. So it's a major problem. And this problem of illegal marijuana growth taking place in the United States, it's also happening to some extent in Canada. I think just signifies the problem as it exists. Uh, and that is that we in the United States are just completely. Ignorant and blind or, or to use the term that Sam uses in his book, willfully Blind by our leaders, uh, to ignore. So these illegal marijuana growth are being done by a Chinese organized crime. A lot of the Chinese that are coming across or having coming across the southern border in Mexico. Come here to work on these, um, grows. Um, and it's enormously profitable because they can sell, uh, below the rate of, of the stuff that's being sold legally. They're not paying taxes on it, and it's much more potent, which is what a lot of, uh, uh, recreational marijuana users prefer. The problem is you point out is. It's oftentimes laced with fentanyl to make it more potent, uh, uh, potent. And that means that there are lots of cases where people have actually died, uh, from fentanyl poisoning, uh, as a result of just smoking marijuana. You write in your book, and I just, I can't plug this book enough blood money. Um, why the powerful turn a blind eye while China kills Americans? I mean, you can't get more direct than that. You, you, you point out in this book that some politicians have tried. I. In Mexico, in Canada, and in the US to to call attention to this. But then something happens. They seem to sort of forget about the issue or not bring it up. Can you maybe cite some examples of, of both abroad and closer to home of, of how that's happening and why It's the strategy that, uh, China calls elite capture. Uh, and again, it's, it's, it's, it's a brilliant strategy. It essentially says. You know, if we're competing against the United States or, or we're trying to co-opt Canada or Mexico, the best way to do that is just to effectively buy off their political leaders. Uh, and you do that by giving quote unquote legitimate business deals, uh, to their family members. Um, and one of the most prominent ones I write about in the book, uh, involves, uh, Joe Biden and his son, hunter Biden. Hunter Biden took him some $31 million. From Chinese, quote unquote businessmen. Um, and rendered no, uh, uh, legitimate business service in return, the money kept showing up. And you saw Joe Biden go from a, a senator who once called out China for their involvement in the 1990s when he was on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee call them out for their involvement in the heroin trade, and rightfully so, but then when it came to fentanyl, was almost completely silent. Uh, and I think the flow of money is one of those reasons I. Uh, to pick somebody from the other side of the political aisle. You could also say the same thing about Senator Mitch McConnell, um, of, uh, Kentucky, the Republican leader. Uh, um, at least, uh, until recently for, uh, the Republicans in the Senate, I. Uh, you know, his wife, uh, and, and her family have a, a shipping business, um, foremost shipping. Um, and as I recount in the book back in 1993, he's a young senator, goes to China with his wife. They are guests of the Chinese State Ship Building Corporation, which is the state owned ship building company. It's one of the biggest military contractors in China. And they essentially strike a deal with the McConnell Chow family, whereby they say, look. We will build these large shipping, uh, uh, uh, boats for you. We will finance the construction for you. We will provide crews for you and we will give you contracts from Chinese state-owned en entities, um, to help you build your business. Uh, and they took the deal. Uh, the problem is, is that foremost shipping now is so dependent upon China, that industry, people say that if, if Mitch McConnell were to take a position, stake out a position, uh, that Beijing didn't like, uh, that they could destroy the family shipping business overnight. And that's the kinda leverage they want. It's important to point out by the way, that it doesn't mean that these political leaders can't criticize China from time to time. Uh, Chinese leaders recognize that in the West you need to maintain political viability, so you can criticize them for the treatment of the uyghurs. You can criticize them in general on human rights issues, so long as you give them what they want, which is basically unfettered access to our technology and to our capital markets. They call this big help with a little bad mouth. That's the the rough translation of the terms and what they mean is, yeah, okay, you can criticize us as long as you give us big help in the areas that matter. And there are people in the United States and in other countries that absolutely have done so and it's been a brilliant and effective strategy for Beijing. You bring up shipping, I think that. Touches on Panama, which is another issue that's been in the news lately that a lot of people don't understand. Like, what, why is Trump trying to take back the Panama Canal? Um, and then, you know, right, right after that was announced, we had this blockbuster deal where the ports in Panama where massive amounts of traffic between China and the US go go through. Um. Sold by the Hong Kong tycoon, who you mentioned in your book. Yes, exactly. Um, it's interesting that company that owned those two, uh, uh, sort of entry points to the Panama Canal is Hutchinson, uh, which is owned by Lee Khang, uh, who's a very, uh, very close to mainland China. Um, the, that's the same company by the way, that owns ports in Western Mexico where the vast majority of Fentanyl precursors are being smuggled in. And Hutchinson, by the way, has a long history, um, of, let's just say a cozy relationship with Chinese intelligence in the Chinese military and has been criticized, uh, going back to the Bill Clinton administration. Uh, for being, let's just say, uh, uh, controlling ports that are hotbeds for smuggling. So there, there are ample grounds to be concerned about Hutchinson. Um, and so it's not just that this was a Chinese company. It's a Chinese company that controls the access to the Panama Canal that has this long history of association with the CCP and has been a troublesome port manager elsewhere. So this, I think, is one of the reasons that Trump. Uh, has staked out this position. And I think it's also, by the way, one of the reasons that, that, you know, not to veer too far from the topic, but, uh, you know, to look at the Ukraine war, what, what everyone's views are. My view is clearly that Putin is the aggressor, and I'm glad that Putin has been punished and punished severely in that war. But the fact of the matter is, I believe that what Trump is trying to do to Ukraine is create peace in Ukraine, but also peel Russia away from China. To further isolate China. It's kind of reversal of what Ronald Reagan did in the 1980s when he went to China, uh, and said, Hey, guess what? We'll sell you arms and let's share intelligence. As long as you disconnect completely with, uh, with the Soviet Union. So it's the same kind of strategic move and I really do believe this is at the center point of what much, mostly what Trump is doing in global affairs. I wanna circle back a little bit more on, on Lee Kushing. Um. And Hutchinson because, uh, some of the things that both you and Sam Cooper talked about were just kind of shocking for, for someone new to the story. When I was just getting up to speed, I'm reading about this man who's, uh, probably in his seventies or eighties at this point, a long time. Hong Kong tycoon, sort of one of the most wealthy people in that part of the world, a bi, a billionaire. And, and yet you're, you're both wrote about how he was, has, has direct ties to what are called triads and that was really kind of shocking to me at first, like why would a successful, genuine billionaire business person also have ties to organized crime? But that's just sort of. How it's all done, uh, in, in, in China, right. You're, you're, you're, you're the, the, the, the organized criminal can also be the business tycoon and can also be a member of, of CCP or, or close to it. That's very well said. Um, and yeah, you can say that out a Lee, uh, Lee Kushing. You can also say that about President Xi. Um, if you look at Xi's political rise, um, he was, he spent most of his. Um, a time in one place, which was Fujian Province where he was the political leader. He was a sort of a more subordinate person than he was the political leader. Fujian Province is the hotbed that is the location of where most of the triads in China are based out of. Uh, and there are lots of stories. Uh, I mentioned some of them in the book were Fujian Province in the early two thousands when he was the leader. There were numerous instances where US law enforcement was trying to get Chinese organized crime figures who had been in the United States, who had participated in murders, they had been participating in, in, uh, drug activities, fled to Fuji on province. Uh, and they got zero cooperation, uh, from Xi, uh, saying we don't know where he is. Even though these people, according to New York Times, reporters were walking around openly in Fuji Province. So there's been this long. Associated history, uh, between, uh, president Xi, um, and these organized crime figures. And, and it's also known that he has at least a cousin. It could be, uh, other family members who are involved in organized crime activities in Australia. Um, so this is just kind of the way that you do business there. Uh, remember, these are not societies that function on the rule of law. Uh, that's not to suggest that we don't have problems in the United States or in Canada or in other countries that are rule of law, but the point is the law changes depending on the whims of the ccp. Um, and so what that means is you have powerful figures that are making decisions and they decide who's in and who's out. And if they decide that organized crime figures are in because they have commercial ties or because they're performing some useful service for the Chinese state, those people are in. And that's the kind of situation you're dealing with. Uh, with President Xi. So the notion that. They are just going to have a crackdown on Chinese organized crime would essentially mean cracking down on their entire political network. And that's why this issue is so thorny, and that's why people like, uh, Lee Kushing are always engaged in this balancing act, serving their masters in China, uh, but also trying to run their businesses. And, and you notice that, you know, leeching, you know, planned to sell his ports in the Panama Canal. Uh, to, uh, Blackstone, or sorry, BlackRock in the United States. And apparently the c p's angry about it, uh, said you didn't consult us first on the matter. So he's caught in the middle and I think I know which side he's gonna end up on. That's the side where the CCP wants him to be. So it's not just drugs, it's not just fentanyl. You write about something called Glock switches. Yeah. Being imported, which is, well, maybe you could just explain that a little. 'cause it's just jaw dropping. A Glocks switch is, is a small device, uh, just about the size of a quarter metal device. If you slide it into the back of a Glock handgun, it turns that Glock handgun into a fully automatic machine gun. Uh, meaning you just squeeze the trigger and it is gonna empty the magazine. Um, they are of course, highly illegal in the United States. You can obtain one if you are a federal firearms, uh, uh, licensed dealer, but you undergo obviously a very severe background, a check. You have to control that device. You can't just carry it around wherever you want. Um, so it's highly, highly regulated. Um, and we got, um, access to some leaked, um, department of Homeland Security documents that shows beginning in 2018. These started showing up in massive numbers in the streets, uh, of, of America, thousands of them. Um, and I recount a lot of the cases in the book, uh, and they were all coming overwhelmingly from China. Uh, they were being sold openly on Alibaba. They were being sold on websites in China, in English. Um, and according to the Department of Homeland Security, they were particularly being, uh, uh, focused their sales on organized crime syndicates in the United States, drug gangs, motorcycle gangs, street gangs, et cetera. Uh, and these small devices were being sold, you know, for a hundred bucks a pop. Um, so if you go on YouTube now, and you know, Google, you know, Glock Switch Police, you're gonna find numerous instances where. Uh, gang members are unloading basically machine guns on law enforcement in the United States. This is part of that disintegration warfare strategy, uh, by China. Um, they want to see fragmentation in American society. They, by the way, ran stories in their official media about, look how crazy things are in America. They even got machine guns in the hang of gangsters. Uh, and of course, they never mentioned the fact that they were the ones that had provided them in the first place. So, um, it is. Anything that, that sows fragmentation in the United States. That can be drugs, that can be guns, uh, that can be, you know, supporting divisive. I'm talking about extreme political groups in the United States, uh, that are involved in violent street protests. I. There are links with those organizations to Beijing as well, and they're, they're happy to do so because they believe it shows that the United States is unstable, uh, and it leads to a lack of trust, uh, in the United States, in our political system, which is part of their objective. So these devices are being shipped, not, not through a port, um, you know, in Panama going to Mexico and then being smuggled across the border. They're literally being mailed from China. Get on a ship and then delivered by the post office to, to, to the end user. Right? That's how it started. Um, they've tried the postal services now, tried to screen them, so, so now packages coming from China, um, they will, they will try to x-ray them, so they're having some success. Um, but that continues. But you have the additional problem now that there are reports that, that these Chinese manufacturers have now gone to Mexico and again, working with the drug cartels are starting to produce Glock switches to smuggle across the border or to import, uh, from Mexico. So it is a constant battle that you have, and again. By the way, you get no cooperation from Chinese law enforcement on this. Uh, uh, you cannot have, uh, a Glock switch in China. It's illegal to have it there. It's illegal to have a firearm in China. Uh, and yet when our law enforcement has identified, uh, to Chinese authorities, individuals that are mass producing them and exporting 'em to the United States, uh, the Chinese government does not arrest them. Um, and, and doesn't do anything. The Chinese authorities have a pretty good handle on what's being shipped within their country, right? I mean, if they said, stop. They could stop it. Yes, 100%. I mean, uh, you know, remember the stories where, um, probably about eight or 10 years ago, um, some people started comparing, uh, president Xi to Winnie the Pooh, saying that there was a resemblance. Um, and it was just sort of a cute, cute meme. Uh, Xi of course didn't like it. Uh, guess what? Guess what? There are no products produced in China. No posters, no stuffed animals that show President Gee is Winnie the Pooh because they've decided it's not gonna happen and it simply does not happen. So yeah, they could shut down this stuff immediately. They could say to those producing precursors, if you send a precursor, uh, chemical to Mexico. Without a licensed established recipient, you'll be thrown into jail. Uh, they could tell the Chinese pill. Press producers, by the way, US Federal Law, federal law and Canada and elsewhere, is, um, that if you import a pill, press, um, there needs to be a licensed notification sent to the Food and Drug Administration. Precisely because you don't want drug dealers getting these industrialized pill presses. The Chinese government does not get their manufacturers to comply with that. Uh, and it's the same thing with the Glock switches. So they are not gonna cooperate in these areas, even though this is a government that has essentially whole control over its own people. President Obama, in his term, had an agreement of sorts with China to tamp down on on these types of activities and President Trump. In his first term, had the same type of agreement. Nothing changed. Nothing changed. And I think part of what you're seeing with Trump, um, is his anger, uh, at the fact that when, you know, he, I think they had, uh, dinner in Mar-a-Lago, um, 2017 or 2018, I. And Xi promised him to his face, we will take care of the Fentanyl issue. Trump tweeted out about it and Xi didn't do anything about it. Um, and, and, and I think Trump, uh, uh, you know, is quite angry about that. Um, and now the expectation is don't tell me, show me. Uh, and I think that's what he's applying to China. I think he's also applying that to Shine Bomb and Mexico, and he's also applying that to Canada. Um, shine Bond sent 10,000, uh, uh, you know, Mexican soldiers to the border. Well, remember in his first term, they sent 7,000 to the border and it didn't make any difference. So, you know, stop with the, uh, theatrics. Let's actually show us that you're dealing with this issue and, and now time is gonna tell whether they actually will do that or not. So do you think we're on the right path? And, and if you don't, what else do you think needs to be done for us to, to fight back? I think this is, uh, the right path and I think the, the difficult, painful thing. Uh, particularly for, uh, countries that, that generally we consider friends, is that sometimes between friends, you have to call them out, uh, when they are failing to protect you the way that friends are supposed to. Um, if you look what's happening in Europe right now, on the one hand they're all saying, oh, America's abandoning us, poor Trump. But what they're actually doing is, you know, Germany just announced a trillion dollar investment in their national defense. France announced they're boosting it. The point is, is that his action has compelled our allies and friends to be doing what they should have been doing in the first place, which is be prepared to defend themselves and not rely on the United States. And I think it's the same thing as it relates to. Fentanyl. I would certainly want to think that if the United States were allowing it to be used as a base of operation for criminal activity, that was severely affecting Canada, that Canada would come to us and say, wait a second, friends, don't allow this to happen. Can you not take care of this problem? That's where we've been with Canada on Fentanyl, you know, going back to the Obama administration with very few results. Certainly that's been the case with Mexico. With no results. Um, so we're simply asking our friends and allies to do what they should have been doing for a long time, and that we've asked them politely to do, and they failed to do so. This is a way to get their attention. It's easy to be a Monday morning quarterback. Um, but I, you know, I, at first I was confused as to what, you know, where it, it was in an announcement of tariffs first, and there was no mention of. Actions to be taken or fentanyl or, and, and I suppose looking back it was, um, well, now that we have your attention, here's what we need you to do. Um, it certainly is, seems to have been effective. We'll, see, I think that there, there, there are times when you, uh, can certainly say that, that, um, Trump could say things more diplomatically. Or more directly. But you know, at the end of the day, this is a real estate, uh, negotiator deal maker from New York. Um, and, you know, you can, you can envision him going up to a building that he wants to buy, uh, and let's say he wants to pay 400 million for, and it's listed for 600 million. He's gonna go in there and say the, all the, the electrical system is shot, the foundation is cracking. This neighborhood is crap. You know, I'll give you three 50 for it. I mean, it's, it's part of a, it's part of a negotiating tactic. Um, but that said, um, I, I, I think it's the, the, you know, you wanna have honesty and transparency in the, in these types of discussions. I do think that the, um, you know, the, the, the jokes about the 51st state, um, is really a way to get the attention, um, and what you're seeing, I think in Canada. Uh, is is very healthy. You're seeing this, this sort of rising nationalism, this sense of pride, uh, and hopefully it's going to lead to saying, you know what? We need to take care of some things that have not been taken care of because we've been lackadaisical in the past. Peter, I guess last thing I would want to ask you is in the us our political system, in some ways it seems pretty ripe for outsiders to corrupt it. Uh, and I'm thinking specifically about. PACS Political action committees and there's the ability to to take in phenomenal amounts of money. From who knows where and influence our elections. Um, do you have any thoughts on that? It's a huge problem. Um, two things, um, that I think are surprising to a lot of people. Um, if you are a permanent resident in the United States, um, which by the way, you know, means you're not a US citizen, of course, but it also means that you don't actually have to live here. There are lots of people in China and and elsewhere who have permanent resident status, who only visit from time to time. A permanent resident can't vote in American elections, but guess what? They can contribute to campaigns. Think about that for a second. Um, the second thing to realize is that you have these, um, entities called 5 0 1 C fours. These are nonprofit organizations. They're not tax, uh, exempt, um, but they are, they can function effectively as political action committees. Um, they don't really have to disclose their donors. Uh, and they, a lot of them will accept donations from LLCs, limited liability companies. You know, they'll receive a $5,000 check. Nobody really knows who owns that LLC. It's registered in Delaware to a law firm. Uh, and they're not under any legal obligation to actually explore who is sending them the $5 million. So this is another massive loophole, um, in our funding. So I think we've gotta get our hands around. Foreign money coming into campaigns. We also have to get our hands around the issue of transparency. Okay? Maybe you can make the case that foreign nationals should be able to fund our campaigns. Um, you know, the Supreme Court and the Citizens United case said that political contributions are a First Amendment right. Uh, and certainly permanent residents in the United States have some First Amendment rights, but. Should there not be some disclosure, should there not be some transparency so people know if a certain political candidate is getting a lot of money from foreign nationals that happen to be living in the United States, those are the sorts of things we should be looking for. It's a huge problem because as we have become more global in orientation, meaning you've got a lot more commerce, a lot more interconnections between countries, uh, it means that a lot of foreign governments. Corrupt foreign governments and oligarchs have a lot to win or lose, depending on decisions being made in the United States, and they're willing to drop tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions of dollars into our politics to get what they want. And usually what they want is not what the rest of us really want. Can DC address that or is DC just too addicted to, to money that they, that they just won't do it? It's a good question. I, I know that there are, uh, people actually in both political parties who have raised this issue. Um, the, the banning of donations from foreign nationals was actually in the original McCain Feingold bill 15, 20 years ago. There were a lot of things I didn't like about that bill, but it was something that they tried to address. Um, and I think there are people that want to, the challenge I think is that. Realistically in the next two years, there are so many things that Congress is gonna be wrestling with. You know, the tax cut of spending, everything going on with Doge. Um, these are highly complex competitive issues. You've got a razor thin majority for the Republicans in the House of Representatives, so it makes it very, very hard to take on these kinds of issues in a consistent way. But they need to be highlighted. They need to be focused because foreign influence campaigns in the United States. Are a massive, massive problem. Uh, we hear a lot about, you know, uh, Russian attempts. We should hear about those, but honestly, they're pretty clumsy. Um, they're, they're sort of blunt forced instrument types of efforts by the Russians. That tends to be their style. I am more concerned about the highly sophisticated efforts by the Chinese and by other, uh, actors that are far harder to detect, and I would argue are far more effective than this kind of stuff we get outta the Kremlin. Peter, the work that you do is, it's so important. And I really, really appreciate it. Your book, blood Money, this, this is just the latest, uh, of your efforts. Where can viewers go to learn more about you and your organization? Thank you for your kind words. Uh, first of all, um, yeah, you can follow me on, uh, Twitter X at Peter Schweitzer. You can go to peter schweitzer.com or you can go to, uh, the Drill Down, which is the, uh, webpage from my podcast. And also we put up a lot of, uh, research reports and things, uh, that. That, um, that we're working on our, our orientation is to expose cronyism and corruption in Washington dc which as a friend of mine who used to be a pilot in the Air Force, uh, called it is a target rich environment. Um, so we have a lot of work to do and we're gonna continue to do that work and we'll, we'll call out either side, uh, when they're engaged in that kind of behavior. Fascinating conversation. Again, I appreciate everything that you do for us. Thank you, Peter. It was a pleasure.
How China Wages (Economic) War on the US | Peter Schweizer
Summary
Transcript
This is actually a poisoning rather than a drug overdose that that is occurring, and China is at the center of this. The profit margins are so great 30 times what they are for cocaine. Doesn't matter if you lose portions of your customer base. The money is just so good. Fentanyl is the weapon of choice in a covert war that China is waging against the us. If the Trump administration's tariff threats against Canada, Mexico, and China, or threats to take back the Panama Canal have been confusing to you. Today's interview will give you the context you need. Peter Schweitzer is the author of Blood Money: Why the Powerful Turn of Blind Eye while China kills Americans? He's president of the Government Accountability Institute, a number one New York Times bestselling author, and he's our guest this week for an important conversation. I'm Ed D'Agostino, and this is Global Macro Update. Peter, I'm just so excited to speak with you today. I really appreciate your time 'cause I think your work can really explain to a lot of people, a lot of Americans out there and beyond. What's going on right now? I think a lot of what's happening politically, a lot of what's coming out of this administration is confusing to people. Um, so, so to set the stage, I just wanna read a quote from your book, how you introduce your, your just amazing book, blood Money. Um, it's a quote from Chinese General Sun Zu who wrote the, the, the Art of War. Be so subtle that you are invisible, be so mysterious that you are intangible. And then you'll control your rival's fate. So what are you talking about there? Yeah, I'm talking about a war, uh, that has been going on. Um, I would say since, uh, president Xi uh, came to power. Um, but it's not a war as we think of it in the West. We think of kinetic wars. We think of, uh, you know, tanks in battle, aircraft fighting, missiles being launched. Uh, China's approach to war is very different than ours. Theirs is a, uh, in, in a sense, a societal war. Um, and they call it, uh, the most recent iteration. It's, it really builds on sun zoo's strategies. Um, but they call it disintegration warfare. Uh, and the idea is to sort of fragment and. Disintegrate as it were, uh, your political opposition. You do so by engaging in activities that are just short of military action. Um, that way you have plausible deniability. Um, so you look at, uh, opportunities to create social disruption. Uh, you look at ways to actually kill members of your, uh, competing, uh, population through things like fentanyl. Uh, and you look for opportunities to, um, sow division internally within your political opponents. Uh. And I think they've had great success in doing so. And what you're seeing with Trump, uh, I think is sort of a pushback or an exposure, uh, of that bringing into stark relief. And I think when you look at a lot of the issues related to tariffs, et cetera, it all goes back to China and this sort of struggle that we are engaging in right now. We're just finally joining a war that has already been going on. I think that goes a long way to explaining, for example, why Trump is sort of. Picking on, if you will, Canada. Right. Um, and we, I work with a lot of people in Canada. Um, everyone I think initially was really confused as to what's going on, but now the story. Around tariffs is coming out. That, that this is all about fentanyl. I've spoken with journalist Sam Cooper about this and Hi. Hi. His work, which I know you, you're familiar with, uh, really goes into detail on how the CCP has in many ways compromised Canadian politicians all the way to the top. So what, what's your view on how Canada fits into this whole, this whole. Puzzle that we're, that we're dealing with. First of all, I'm a big fan of San Cooper and his work. Uh, I, I think it's been groundbreaking, um, and so critical in bringing into relief exactly what's going on. But yeah, I think a lot of the fire, as it were, that Trump has directed against China. It's not really against ordinary Canadians, it's against the political elite. Um, who, um. You know, obviously Canada elects their leaders. They can do, uh, as it were, but if those elites are captured, uh, in what the Chinese call elite capture, uh, it means you're not getting actually the representative government that people expected. And I think Trump's approach is to really highlight and, and, and to bring that forward. Uh, in addition to that. America has this massive fentanyl problem. Uh, estimates are a hundred thousand people are dying every year. It's now including other, uh, uh, drugs and additional fentanyl, car, fentanyl and others. So those are, uh, sort of expanding the portfolio of drugs that are being brought into the United States. Much of it comes through Mexico, but it also comes through Canada. And what, what I think people, it's crucial for people to understand is this is not your typical drug abuse problem. This is not cocaine, this is not heroin because the vast majority of people that are dying of fentanyl overdoses aren't even aware they're taking fentanyl. Um, the news media kind of does a, a disservice here when they talk about the fentanyl crisis. They'll show somebody on the streets of San Francisco that is sort of shaking and, and going through withdrawal. These are hardcore fentanyl consumers, but most people are dying. These are, you know, college kids who think they're taking an Adderall, uh, to focus for an exam or I. They have some pain or something going on in their life and they, they think they're taking a Vicodin, but it's actually a counterfeit drug that is spiked with fentanyl. Um, so this is actually a poisoning rather than a drug overdose that that is occurring. Uh, and China is at the center of this. Uh, as I talk about in my book, when you look at Mexico, you could do the same thing in Canada. Every single step in the equation, every single link in the chain from the precursors in, uh, produced in China to the actual laundering of drug money profits involves China at, at, at its core. Uh, they're, they're brought into Mexico in ports that are controlled by Chinese companies. The precursors are taken to Northern Mexico where we now know according to leak, government officials, uh, that I quote, uh, the documents in my book. There are 2000 Chinese nationals that are helping turn these precursors into fentanyl drugs, uh, in both Canada and in Mexico. They are using, uh, uh, you know, pill presses that are produced in China that according to our DEA, are being sold to drug operators at cost. Meaning that these Chinese, uh, pill press companies aren't even making a profit on these pill presses. The communication devices that these drug cartels use are, are encrypted Chinese technology because they know that the Chinese will not share that with us law enforcement and even the laundering of drug profit money. The old drug cartels, the Pablo Escobar days, they used to lau their money in Latin American banks. They now all use Chinese state owned banks. So Mexico's the main player, but Canada is absolutely involved in this as well. Uh, and this is really what you're seeing from the Trump administration when it comes to terrorists and these issues. And he said, so he said, this is about fentanyl. You need to help us on fentanyl and, and help shut this down. Can you give a little bit of color, Peter, for, for people who maybe are new to this story? Um, we, we talk about it's China doing this, but it, it, it it's really a few steps, right? Or a few different groups culminating in the, the Chinese Communist Party and the leadership of China knowing what is happening. And, and deciding not to do anything about it because it serves their needs. Is that, is that fair? And can you expand on that? Yeah, no, you're exactly right. And, and it's really because of an alliance that was struck in the 1980s between the CCP. Then the leader, Deng Xiaoping, uh, sat down with the Chinese organized crime, uh, uh, syndicates, uh, and basically made peace. Uh, he said, look, if, if, if you acknowledge that the CCP is the Supreme authority in China, and as long as you don't get outta hand. Here in China, if you operate and you engage in criminal activity overseas, that's fine. We'll be your partners, we'll cooperate with you, we'll provide you protection. Uh, and the criminal syndicates agreed in return to carry out certain intelligence functions for the CCP. So it was really a partnership between Chinese organized crime and the CCP. And it's been in place since the 1980s. So when you look at the Fentanyl crisis. Um, it really began around 2012 and what happened is we now know that a Chinese gang, um, uh, that, that, uh, operates out of China, that's headed, uh, in part by a guy named White Wolf. Um, introduced to the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico, fentanyl. Um, and, and what is so revolutionary about fentanyl is before the Sinaloa cartel was, you know, selling marijuana, but primarily cocaine, uh, making good money doing so. I. But cocaine production and distribution is difficult. Um, you know, you have to carry around these quantities. It has to be grown, uh, you know, agriculturally, it needs to be transported. Um, and the profit margins are great, but fentanyl changed all that. What, what Chinese organized crime told the Mexican drug cartels and through their operations in Canada as, uh, as well, what they said is, look, we've got this product that is so potent. It makes cocaine look like aspirin and the profit margins on fentanyl are 30 times what they are with cocaine. So going to business with us, we'll provide you the precursors, we'll get the chemists here to, to create this deadly cocktail for you. And the drug cartels said, we are all in. Um, this has been known to the CCP. In fact, some high ranking members of Chinese organized crime sit on Chinese Communist Party consultative bodies. I quote them and mention them in the book. Um, so this is not, you know, some hidden underground thing. It's being done out in the open. And the CCP recognizes this as a. Form of, uh, disintegration warfare against the United States. 'cause you're essentially killing a hundred thousand Americans every year. It's the leading cause of death in the United States for people under the age of 45. And oftentimes, to be blunt, it's the best and the brightest. It's college students, it's young people who, again. Think they're taking, uh, you know, Vicodin or something else, uh, to help them with a particular issue. So this is known by the CCP, it's sanctioned by the CCP. It's a form of warfare and it's also highly profitable, not just for the drug cartels in the Chinese gangs, but also for the Chinese government itself. Yeah, I mentioned to Sam, uh, Sam Cooper that, uh, I know a young woman who, uh, recently passed away. Who is very bright in college and this is exactly what happened to her. Uh, so I've been trying to impress upon people like, you just don't know where this stuff is coming from. You don't know what it's going to be in. Um, and it could be deadly. You write in the book about, um, large marijuana growing operations in the United States. That, that are run by these Chinese criminal organizations and then they're lacing it all with with fentanyl, which just sets the stage and nobody would expect that. Their bag of weed, um, that they picked up on in their dorm room is going to be laced with fentanyl and now they're gonna be sent down a road of, uh, of addiction or, or way worse. Yeah, that's right. Um, you know, and I, and I get, people ask me sometimes, well, you know, these, these, uh, drug cartels, you know, their businesses, why would they wanna poison their own customers? And the reality is the profit margins are so great 30 times what they are for cocaine. Doesn't matter if you lose portions of your customer base, the money is just so good. Uh, and again, you're advancing the interests of of the CCP. So it's a major problem. And this problem of illegal marijuana growth taking place in the United States, it's also happening to some extent in Canada. I think just signifies the problem as it exists. Uh, and that is that we in the United States are just completely. Ignorant and blind or, or to use the term that Sam uses in his book, willfully Blind by our leaders, uh, to ignore. So these illegal marijuana growth are being done by a Chinese organized crime. A lot of the Chinese that are coming across or having coming across the southern border in Mexico. Come here to work on these, um, grows. Um, and it's enormously profitable because they can sell, uh, below the rate of, of the stuff that's being sold legally. They're not paying taxes on it, and it's much more potent, which is what a lot of, uh, uh, recreational marijuana users prefer. The problem is you point out is. It's oftentimes laced with fentanyl to make it more potent, uh, uh, potent. And that means that there are lots of cases where people have actually died, uh, from fentanyl poisoning, uh, as a result of just smoking marijuana. You write in your book, and I just, I can't plug this book enough blood money. Um, why the powerful turn a blind eye while China kills Americans? I mean, you can't get more direct than that. You, you, you point out in this book that some politicians have tried. I. In Mexico, in Canada, and in the US to to call attention to this. But then something happens. They seem to sort of forget about the issue or not bring it up. Can you maybe cite some examples of, of both abroad and closer to home of, of how that's happening and why It's the strategy that, uh, China calls elite capture. Uh, and again, it's, it's, it's, it's a brilliant strategy. It essentially says. You know, if we're competing against the United States or, or we're trying to co-opt Canada or Mexico, the best way to do that is just to effectively buy off their political leaders. Uh, and you do that by giving quote unquote legitimate business deals, uh, to their family members. Um, and one of the most prominent ones I write about in the book, uh, involves, uh, Joe Biden and his son, hunter Biden. Hunter Biden took him some $31 million. From Chinese, quote unquote businessmen. Um, and rendered no, uh, uh, legitimate business service in return, the money kept showing up. And you saw Joe Biden go from a, a senator who once called out China for their involvement in the 1990s when he was on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee call them out for their involvement in the heroin trade, and rightfully so, but then when it came to fentanyl, was almost completely silent. Uh, and I think the flow of money is one of those reasons I. Uh, to pick somebody from the other side of the political aisle. You could also say the same thing about Senator Mitch McConnell, um, of, uh, Kentucky, the Republican leader. Uh, um, at least, uh, until recently for, uh, the Republicans in the Senate, I. Uh, you know, his wife, uh, and, and her family have a, a shipping business, um, foremost shipping. Um, and as I recount in the book back in 1993, he's a young senator, goes to China with his wife. They are guests of the Chinese State Ship Building Corporation, which is the state owned ship building company. It's one of the biggest military contractors in China. And they essentially strike a deal with the McConnell Chow family, whereby they say, look. We will build these large shipping, uh, uh, uh, boats for you. We will finance the construction for you. We will provide crews for you and we will give you contracts from Chinese state-owned en entities, um, to help you build your business. Uh, and they took the deal. Uh, the problem is, is that foremost shipping now is so dependent upon China, that industry, people say that if, if Mitch McConnell were to take a position, stake out a position, uh, that Beijing didn't like, uh, that they could destroy the family shipping business overnight. And that's the kinda leverage they want. It's important to point out by the way, that it doesn't mean that these political leaders can't criticize China from time to time. Uh, Chinese leaders recognize that in the West you need to maintain political viability, so you can criticize them for the treatment of the uyghurs. You can criticize them in general on human rights issues, so long as you give them what they want, which is basically unfettered access to our technology and to our capital markets. They call this big help with a little bad mouth. That's the the rough translation of the terms and what they mean is, yeah, okay, you can criticize us as long as you give us big help in the areas that matter. And there are people in the United States and in other countries that absolutely have done so and it's been a brilliant and effective strategy for Beijing. You bring up shipping, I think that. Touches on Panama, which is another issue that's been in the news lately that a lot of people don't understand. Like, what, why is Trump trying to take back the Panama Canal? Um, and then, you know, right, right after that was announced, we had this blockbuster deal where the ports in Panama where massive amounts of traffic between China and the US go go through. Um. Sold by the Hong Kong tycoon, who you mentioned in your book. Yes, exactly. Um, it's interesting that company that owned those two, uh, uh, sort of entry points to the Panama Canal is Hutchinson, uh, which is owned by Lee Khang, uh, who's a very, uh, very close to mainland China. Um, the, that's the same company by the way, that owns ports in Western Mexico where the vast majority of Fentanyl precursors are being smuggled in. And Hutchinson, by the way, has a long history, um, of, let's just say a cozy relationship with Chinese intelligence in the Chinese military and has been criticized, uh, going back to the Bill Clinton administration. Uh, for being, let's just say, uh, uh, controlling ports that are hotbeds for smuggling. So there, there are ample grounds to be concerned about Hutchinson. Um, and so it's not just that this was a Chinese company. It's a Chinese company that controls the access to the Panama Canal that has this long history of association with the CCP and has been a troublesome port manager elsewhere. So this, I think, is one of the reasons that Trump. Uh, has staked out this position. And I think it's also, by the way, one of the reasons that, that, you know, not to veer too far from the topic, but, uh, you know, to look at the Ukraine war, what, what everyone's views are. My view is clearly that Putin is the aggressor, and I'm glad that Putin has been punished and punished severely in that war. But the fact of the matter is, I believe that what Trump is trying to do to Ukraine is create peace in Ukraine, but also peel Russia away from China. To further isolate China. It's kind of reversal of what Ronald Reagan did in the 1980s when he went to China, uh, and said, Hey, guess what? We'll sell you arms and let's share intelligence. As long as you disconnect completely with, uh, with the Soviet Union. So it's the same kind of strategic move and I really do believe this is at the center point of what much, mostly what Trump is doing in global affairs. I wanna circle back a little bit more on, on Lee Kushing. Um. And Hutchinson because, uh, some of the things that both you and Sam Cooper talked about were just kind of shocking for, for someone new to the story. When I was just getting up to speed, I'm reading about this man who's, uh, probably in his seventies or eighties at this point, a long time. Hong Kong tycoon, sort of one of the most wealthy people in that part of the world, a bi, a billionaire. And, and yet you're, you're both wrote about how he was, has, has direct ties to what are called triads and that was really kind of shocking to me at first, like why would a successful, genuine billionaire business person also have ties to organized crime? But that's just sort of. How it's all done, uh, in, in, in China, right. You're, you're, you're, you're the, the, the, the organized criminal can also be the business tycoon and can also be a member of, of CCP or, or close to it. That's very well said. Um, and yeah, you can say that out a Lee, uh, Lee Kushing. You can also say that about President Xi. Um, if you look at Xi's political rise, um, he was, he spent most of his. Um, a time in one place, which was Fujian Province where he was the political leader. He was a sort of a more subordinate person than he was the political leader. Fujian Province is the hotbed that is the location of where most of the triads in China are based out of. Uh, and there are lots of stories. Uh, I mentioned some of them in the book were Fujian Province in the early two thousands when he was the leader. There were numerous instances where US law enforcement was trying to get Chinese organized crime figures who had been in the United States, who had participated in murders, they had been participating in, in, uh, drug activities, fled to Fuji on province. Uh, and they got zero cooperation, uh, from Xi, uh, saying we don't know where he is. Even though these people, according to New York Times, reporters were walking around openly in Fuji Province. So there's been this long. Associated history, uh, between, uh, president Xi, um, and these organized crime figures. And, and it's also known that he has at least a cousin. It could be, uh, other family members who are involved in organized crime activities in Australia. Um, so this is just kind of the way that you do business there. Uh, remember, these are not societies that function on the rule of law. Uh, that's not to suggest that we don't have problems in the United States or in Canada or in other countries that are rule of law, but the point is the law changes depending on the whims of the ccp. Um, and so what that means is you have powerful figures that are making decisions and they decide who's in and who's out. And if they decide that organized crime figures are in because they have commercial ties or because they're performing some useful service for the Chinese state, those people are in. And that's the kind of situation you're dealing with. Uh, with President Xi. So the notion that. They are just going to have a crackdown on Chinese organized crime would essentially mean cracking down on their entire political network. And that's why this issue is so thorny, and that's why people like, uh, Lee Kushing are always engaged in this balancing act, serving their masters in China, uh, but also trying to run their businesses. And, and you notice that, you know, leeching, you know, planned to sell his ports in the Panama Canal. Uh, to, uh, Blackstone, or sorry, BlackRock in the United States. And apparently the c p's angry about it, uh, said you didn't consult us first on the matter. So he's caught in the middle and I think I know which side he's gonna end up on. That's the side where the CCP wants him to be. So it's not just drugs, it's not just fentanyl. You write about something called Glock switches. Yeah. Being imported, which is, well, maybe you could just explain that a little. 'cause it's just jaw dropping. A Glocks switch is, is a small device, uh, just about the size of a quarter metal device. If you slide it into the back of a Glock handgun, it turns that Glock handgun into a fully automatic machine gun. Uh, meaning you just squeeze the trigger and it is gonna empty the magazine. Um, they are of course, highly illegal in the United States. You can obtain one if you are a federal firearms, uh, uh, licensed dealer, but you undergo obviously a very severe background, a check. You have to control that device. You can't just carry it around wherever you want. Um, so it's highly, highly regulated. Um, and we got, um, access to some leaked, um, department of Homeland Security documents that shows beginning in 2018. These started showing up in massive numbers in the streets, uh, of, of America, thousands of them. Um, and I recount a lot of the cases in the book, uh, and they were all coming overwhelmingly from China. Uh, they were being sold openly on Alibaba. They were being sold on websites in China, in English. Um, and according to the Department of Homeland Security, they were particularly being, uh, uh, focused their sales on organized crime syndicates in the United States, drug gangs, motorcycle gangs, street gangs, et cetera. Uh, and these small devices were being sold, you know, for a hundred bucks a pop. Um, so if you go on YouTube now, and you know, Google, you know, Glock Switch Police, you're gonna find numerous instances where. Uh, gang members are unloading basically machine guns on law enforcement in the United States. This is part of that disintegration warfare strategy, uh, by China. Um, they want to see fragmentation in American society. They, by the way, ran stories in their official media about, look how crazy things are in America. They even got machine guns in the hang of gangsters. Uh, and of course, they never mentioned the fact that they were the ones that had provided them in the first place. So, um, it is. Anything that, that sows fragmentation in the United States. That can be drugs, that can be guns, uh, that can be, you know, supporting divisive. I'm talking about extreme political groups in the United States, uh, that are involved in violent street protests. I. There are links with those organizations to Beijing as well, and they're, they're happy to do so because they believe it shows that the United States is unstable, uh, and it leads to a lack of trust, uh, in the United States, in our political system, which is part of their objective. So these devices are being shipped, not, not through a port, um, you know, in Panama going to Mexico and then being smuggled across the border. They're literally being mailed from China. Get on a ship and then delivered by the post office to, to, to the end user. Right? That's how it started. Um, they've tried the postal services now, tried to screen them, so, so now packages coming from China, um, they will, they will try to x-ray them, so they're having some success. Um, but that continues. But you have the additional problem now that there are reports that, that these Chinese manufacturers have now gone to Mexico and again, working with the drug cartels are starting to produce Glock switches to smuggle across the border or to import, uh, from Mexico. So it is a constant battle that you have, and again. By the way, you get no cooperation from Chinese law enforcement on this. Uh, uh, you cannot have, uh, a Glock switch in China. It's illegal to have it there. It's illegal to have a firearm in China. Uh, and yet when our law enforcement has identified, uh, to Chinese authorities, individuals that are mass producing them and exporting 'em to the United States, uh, the Chinese government does not arrest them. Um, and, and doesn't do anything. The Chinese authorities have a pretty good handle on what's being shipped within their country, right? I mean, if they said, stop. They could stop it. Yes, 100%. I mean, uh, you know, remember the stories where, um, probably about eight or 10 years ago, um, some people started comparing, uh, president Xi to Winnie the Pooh, saying that there was a resemblance. Um, and it was just sort of a cute, cute meme. Uh, Xi of course didn't like it. Uh, guess what? Guess what? There are no products produced in China. No posters, no stuffed animals that show President Gee is Winnie the Pooh because they've decided it's not gonna happen and it simply does not happen. So yeah, they could shut down this stuff immediately. They could say to those producing precursors, if you send a precursor, uh, chemical to Mexico. Without a licensed established recipient, you'll be thrown into jail. Uh, they could tell the Chinese pill. Press producers, by the way, US Federal Law, federal law and Canada and elsewhere, is, um, that if you import a pill, press, um, there needs to be a licensed notification sent to the Food and Drug Administration. Precisely because you don't want drug dealers getting these industrialized pill presses. The Chinese government does not get their manufacturers to comply with that. Uh, and it's the same thing with the Glock switches. So they are not gonna cooperate in these areas, even though this is a government that has essentially whole control over its own people. President Obama, in his term, had an agreement of sorts with China to tamp down on on these types of activities and President Trump. In his first term, had the same type of agreement. Nothing changed. Nothing changed. And I think part of what you're seeing with Trump, um, is his anger, uh, at the fact that when, you know, he, I think they had, uh, dinner in Mar-a-Lago, um, 2017 or 2018, I. And Xi promised him to his face, we will take care of the Fentanyl issue. Trump tweeted out about it and Xi didn't do anything about it. Um, and, and, and I think Trump, uh, uh, you know, is quite angry about that. Um, and now the expectation is don't tell me, show me. Uh, and I think that's what he's applying to China. I think he's also applying that to Shine Bomb and Mexico, and he's also applying that to Canada. Um, shine Bond sent 10,000, uh, uh, you know, Mexican soldiers to the border. Well, remember in his first term, they sent 7,000 to the border and it didn't make any difference. So, you know, stop with the, uh, theatrics. Let's actually show us that you're dealing with this issue and, and now time is gonna tell whether they actually will do that or not. So do you think we're on the right path? And, and if you don't, what else do you think needs to be done for us to, to fight back? I think this is, uh, the right path and I think the, the difficult, painful thing. Uh, particularly for, uh, countries that, that generally we consider friends, is that sometimes between friends, you have to call them out, uh, when they are failing to protect you the way that friends are supposed to. Um, if you look what's happening in Europe right now, on the one hand they're all saying, oh, America's abandoning us, poor Trump. But what they're actually doing is, you know, Germany just announced a trillion dollar investment in their national defense. France announced they're boosting it. The point is, is that his action has compelled our allies and friends to be doing what they should have been doing in the first place, which is be prepared to defend themselves and not rely on the United States. And I think it's the same thing as it relates to. Fentanyl. I would certainly want to think that if the United States were allowing it to be used as a base of operation for criminal activity, that was severely affecting Canada, that Canada would come to us and say, wait a second, friends, don't allow this to happen. Can you not take care of this problem? That's where we've been with Canada on Fentanyl, you know, going back to the Obama administration with very few results. Certainly that's been the case with Mexico. With no results. Um, so we're simply asking our friends and allies to do what they should have been doing for a long time, and that we've asked them politely to do, and they failed to do so. This is a way to get their attention. It's easy to be a Monday morning quarterback. Um, but I, you know, I, at first I was confused as to what, you know, where it, it was in an announcement of tariffs first, and there was no mention of. Actions to be taken or fentanyl or, and, and I suppose looking back it was, um, well, now that we have your attention, here's what we need you to do. Um, it certainly is, seems to have been effective. We'll, see, I think that there, there, there are times when you, uh, can certainly say that, that, um, Trump could say things more diplomatically. Or more directly. But you know, at the end of the day, this is a real estate, uh, negotiator deal maker from New York. Um, and, you know, you can, you can envision him going up to a building that he wants to buy, uh, and let's say he wants to pay 400 million for, and it's listed for 600 million. He's gonna go in there and say the, all the, the electrical system is shot, the foundation is cracking. This neighborhood is crap. You know, I'll give you three 50 for it. I mean, it's, it's part of a, it's part of a negotiating tactic. Um, but that said, um, I, I, I think it's the, the, you know, you wanna have honesty and transparency in the, in these types of discussions. I do think that the, um, you know, the, the, the jokes about the 51st state, um, is really a way to get the attention, um, and what you're seeing, I think in Canada. Uh, is is very healthy. You're seeing this, this sort of rising nationalism, this sense of pride, uh, and hopefully it's going to lead to saying, you know what? We need to take care of some things that have not been taken care of because we've been lackadaisical in the past. Peter, I guess last thing I would want to ask you is in the us our political system, in some ways it seems pretty ripe for outsiders to corrupt it. Uh, and I'm thinking specifically about. PACS Political action committees and there's the ability to to take in phenomenal amounts of money. From who knows where and influence our elections. Um, do you have any thoughts on that? It's a huge problem. Um, two things, um, that I think are surprising to a lot of people. Um, if you are a permanent resident in the United States, um, which by the way, you know, means you're not a US citizen, of course, but it also means that you don't actually have to live here. There are lots of people in China and and elsewhere who have permanent resident status, who only visit from time to time. A permanent resident can't vote in American elections, but guess what? They can contribute to campaigns. Think about that for a second. Um, the second thing to realize is that you have these, um, entities called 5 0 1 C fours. These are nonprofit organizations. They're not tax, uh, exempt, um, but they are, they can function effectively as political action committees. Um, they don't really have to disclose their donors. Uh, and they, a lot of them will accept donations from LLCs, limited liability companies. You know, they'll receive a $5,000 check. Nobody really knows who owns that LLC. It's registered in Delaware to a law firm. Uh, and they're not under any legal obligation to actually explore who is sending them the $5 million. So this is another massive loophole, um, in our funding. So I think we've gotta get our hands around. Foreign money coming into campaigns. We also have to get our hands around the issue of transparency. Okay? Maybe you can make the case that foreign nationals should be able to fund our campaigns. Um, you know, the Supreme Court and the Citizens United case said that political contributions are a First Amendment right. Uh, and certainly permanent residents in the United States have some First Amendment rights, but. Should there not be some disclosure, should there not be some transparency so people know if a certain political candidate is getting a lot of money from foreign nationals that happen to be living in the United States, those are the sorts of things we should be looking for. It's a huge problem because as we have become more global in orientation, meaning you've got a lot more commerce, a lot more interconnections between countries, uh, it means that a lot of foreign governments. Corrupt foreign governments and oligarchs have a lot to win or lose, depending on decisions being made in the United States, and they're willing to drop tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions of dollars into our politics to get what they want. And usually what they want is not what the rest of us really want. Can DC address that or is DC just too addicted to, to money that they, that they just won't do it? It's a good question. I, I know that there are, uh, people actually in both political parties who have raised this issue. Um, the, the banning of donations from foreign nationals was actually in the original McCain Feingold bill 15, 20 years ago. There were a lot of things I didn't like about that bill, but it was something that they tried to address. Um, and I think there are people that want to, the challenge I think is that. Realistically in the next two years, there are so many things that Congress is gonna be wrestling with. You know, the tax cut of spending, everything going on with Doge. Um, these are highly complex competitive issues. You've got a razor thin majority for the Republicans in the House of Representatives, so it makes it very, very hard to take on these kinds of issues in a consistent way. But they need to be highlighted. They need to be focused because foreign influence campaigns in the United States. Are a massive, massive problem. Uh, we hear a lot about, you know, uh, Russian attempts. We should hear about those, but honestly, they're pretty clumsy. Um, they're, they're sort of blunt forced instrument types of efforts by the Russians. That tends to be their style. I am more concerned about the highly sophisticated efforts by the Chinese and by other, uh, actors that are far harder to detect, and I would argue are far more effective than this kind of stuff we get outta the Kremlin. Peter, the work that you do is, it's so important. And I really, really appreciate it. Your book, blood Money, this, this is just the latest, uh, of your efforts. Where can viewers go to learn more about you and your organization? Thank you for your kind words. Uh, first of all, um, yeah, you can follow me on, uh, Twitter X at Peter Schweitzer. You can go to peter schweitzer.com or you can go to, uh, the Drill Down, which is the, uh, webpage from my podcast. And also we put up a lot of, uh, research reports and things, uh, that. That, um, that we're working on our, our orientation is to expose cronyism and corruption in Washington dc which as a friend of mine who used to be a pilot in the Air Force, uh, called it is a target rich environment. Um, so we have a lot of work to do and we're gonna continue to do that work and we'll, we'll call out either side, uh, when they're engaged in that kind of behavior. Fascinating conversation. Again, I appreciate everything that you do for us. Thank you, Peter. It was a pleasure.