President Trump and guests Xi Van Fleet, Richard Barris, and Senator Josh Hawley dissect his China mission, asserting the CCP is an ideological enemy founded by Russians to defeat capitalism. They argue the U.S. holds leverage via American consumers, urging a pivot from the Middle East to Asia while forming an "Asian NATO." The group demands strict protections against Chinese ownership of U.S. farmland and real estate near military bases, opposes decoupling only if it harms American jobs, and proposes suspending federal gas taxes to boost the economy. Ultimately, this strategy aims to reshape the global order by forcing China into a reciprocal trade relationship that secures American industry and prevents further communist expansion. [Automatically generated summary]
Transcriber: CohereLabs/cohere-transcribe-03-2026, WAV2VEC2_ASR_BASE_960H, sat-12l-sm, script v26.04.01, and large-v3-turbo
Time
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Honest Elections and War End00:09:45
Hey guys, it's Jack.
I wanted to let you know that we're starting a new push for subscriptions here on Human Events Daily.
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Look, we've done so much over the past couple of years since this show started, and we're only going to do so much more.
Let's get it.
You know, he's a great doctor, and he's having some difficulties, but he's going to go on, and he's going to do well.
We have, everybody wants that job.
So, Mr. President, would you send the National Guard or ICE to voting locations in November?
Would you do that?
Well, you know what?
I'd do anything necessary to make sure we have honest elections.
We have to have honest elections.
So, you're not going to do that?
Two quick questions, Mr. President.
This month is considered to be the month of Africa.
On May 25th, we'll be celebrating Africa Day.
Would you mind doing something special?
10 minute interview to speak about your views on the African continent.
Ceasefire is all logical.
Is President Xi the process to bring it back to life?
Well, we'll see what happens.
We're going to have a great meeting in China.
The wonderful guy is a friend of mine, and we're going to have a great meeting.
We do a lot of business with China.
We do very well with China, and they do well with us, and the relationship is very good.
We're going to have a great meeting.
What do you think you want to change?
to do me for your lenience.
Whatever he can do to help me out.
The end of the war in Ukraine, I really think, is getting very close.
Will China invest a trillion dollars in the U.S.?
Will China invest a trillion dollars in the U.S.?
When you're negotiating with Iran, Mr. President, to what extent are American financial situations motivating you to make a deal?
Not even a little bit.
The only thing that matters when I'm talking about Iran, they can't have a nuclear weapon.
I don't think about American financial situation.
I don't think about anybody.
I think about one thing.
We cannot let Iran has a nuclear weapon.
That's all.
That's the only thing.
Mr. President, will China invest $100 million in the US, or NATO?
What is more broken, NATO or OPEC?
Well, OPEC is having some difficulty right now because one of those things, but that has nothing to do with me.
NATO was very disappointing to me.
NATO was not there when we wanted them.
We don't need NATO.
We don't need NATO.
But if we did need them, they'd just Warrant there.
He could.
I mean, it might be.
I don't think we need any help with Iran, to be honest with you.
They're defeated militarily, and they'll either do the right thing or we'll finish the job.
They're either going to do the right thing or we're just going to finish the job.
The message, sir, to the Chinese people as you embark on this.
Swimming and we're going to have a great relationship for many, many decades to come.
My relationship with Presidency is a fantastic one.
We've always gotten along and we're doing very well with China, and working with China's been very good, so we look forward to it.
As you know, Presidency will be coming here toward the end of the year, so that'll be exciting.
I only wish we had the ballroom finished.
The ballroom is right on budget and ahead of schedule, but I wish we had a finished.
You also may want to do one other thing.
You may want to go see the reflecting pool because that's under construction and for the first time since 1922 it's going to work properly.
Sure, and the gas tax in Congress?
Open up your oil in the North Sea and get help on immigration.
Should he stay or go?
Europe is being very, very hurt by immigration.
Open up the North Korea, one of the greatest sources of energy in the world.
Open up the North Korea.
Do this state governor drop taxes on oil?
Would you ask them to do that?
I think it's a great idea.
Let's ask the president.
We ask you two questions.
So, has there been any understanding between you and Putin that Russia should get entire Donbass?
No.
Mr. President, you have a standing invitation to travel to Russia.
Do you think it might happen this year?
I will do whatever is necessary.
That war, I've settled eight wars.
That war is getting closer.
Believe it or not, it's getting closer.
And we think we're going to end up getting a settlement between Russia and Europe.
What is the ultimate goal of your trip to China?
I think more than anything else, there will be a massive relationship with China.
We're the two superpowers.
We're the strongest nation on earth in terms of military.
China's considered second.
Who knows?
Who knows?
But we are.
There's nobody even to come close.
And you see that whether it's Venezuela or whether it's Iran.
Iran's military is decimated.
I have a great relationship with President Xi, and I think it's going to remain that way.
But we have a lot of things to discuss.
I wouldn't say Iran is one of them, to be honest with you, because we have Iran very much under control.
We're either going to make a deal or they're going to be decimated.
So one way or the other, we win.
What am I talking about?
We're going to be talking about, we're going to be talking with President Mitchie about a lot of different things.
I would say more than anything else will be trade.
Before I get to the point, did you say earlier that the only thing that matters to you when it comes to Iran is a nuclear weapon?
You're not considering the financial impact of this war on Americans?
The most important thing by far, including whether our stock market, which by the way is at an all-time high, but including whether or not our stock market goes up or down a little bit, The most important thing by far is Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.
What about the Americans in crisis right now?
How concerned are you about Americans, how they're feeling about it?
Every American understands, and we just had a poll, like 85%, which is surprising, it's only that they understand that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.
If Iran has a nuclear weapon, the whole world would be in trouble, because they happen to be crazy.
They're not going to have a nuclear weapon.
Now, if the stock market goes up or down a little bit, the American people understand it.
When it's over, you're going to have a massive drop in the price of oil, which a lot of people thought would be higher.
I mean, it was $100, it was $99 yesterday, which is low, which is relatively low.
When this war is over, oil is going to drop, the stock market is going to go through the roof, and truly, I think we're in the golden age right now.
You're going to see a golden age like we've never seen before.
The minute it's announced, and I'll be the one to announce, Because I'm the one that makes that decision.
I could leave right now and it would take them 25 years to rebuild their country.
But I don't want to do that.
I want to have it complete and total.
Are you ready?
As soon as this war is over, you're going to see numbers like you've never seen.
Stop the pushes.
Stop it.
But they personally opposed the Iran war for years.
I'm happy about it.
But look, I live with a lot of different people.
The voters who are confused about the changing maps, the changing dates, the African Americans concerned that this is going to draw blacks and other communists off the map, what do you say?
Well, I think it's been a wonderful process.
They've been the Democrats, or as I call the Democrats, because they are dumb in so many ways.
They've redistricted for years, and now we took our shot, and it looks like we're going to pick up a lot of seats, and that's a good thing.
Viewing China as an Enemy00:15:28
We want voters to have their choice.
We want fair voting.
We want fair elections.
The Democrats have been cheating on elections for many years, and all we're doing is winning.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you, sir.
All right, folks.
So there we just saw President Trump as he departs for Marine One.
He's about to take off there from the South Lawn of the White House on his way en route to Air Force One.
We're going to be giving you that live shot and that live feed as soon as we can.
With President Trump there departing for this historic summit in China, Xi Jinping, the Beijing boardroom, bringing with him these leaders of industry.
Of course, you remember.
Us here, Human Events Daily, the China files, which we put together so many years ago.
I want to remind everyone to go and get those.
I'll post the link again.
You can, of course, search for it on our feed.
Just look up China files.
You'll be able to find the entire thing.
I wanted to also bring on, of course, I am remiss for not saying, ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard today's edition of Human Events Daily here live, May 12th, 2026.
Anno Domine, I want to bring in our first guest, Xi Van Fleet, the author of Made in America.
Xi, how are you?
Okay, thank you so much for having me.
Tell us your thoughts as President Trump prepares to sit down with another member, someone who shares a similar surname, Xi Jinping in Beijing.
No, it's a different name.
My name is a gaming name.
His is a family name and a different character.
I know, I hate to be associated with him, but pronounced similarly in English.
Yes.
Yeah, please tell us how you see this trip and what you hope to see from the sit down.
I, first of all, I really wish a safe trip for our president.
I am concerned.
I'm really concerned about his safety and with all these cabinet members and important people with him.
And I'm sure it will be okay.
And I don't know what to expect out of it.
But one thing I know that despite what Trump said about Xi Jinping being his A friend and whatever, he knows who he's dealing with.
I have full confidence that Trump will get what he wanted, or and he would not just trust the CCP.
And he had experience with them.
And I also think it's very, very important that we're not just talking about CCP, we're also talking about communism.
And I believe that Trump is our only president who understands the threat and danger of Chinese communism.
And I think that we have to deal with it because it is now a major power.
But I think he knows what to expect.
That means no trust.
You can't trust them.
They were signed anything and they were promised anything, but we know that they're not going to carry through.
And that's exactly right because we see what's going on.
The CCP now is being put in a vice grip because they need the oil.
They need the oil from Iran, they need the oil from Venezuela, but President Trump has cut that off.
From Venezuela, and then of course the Strait of Hormuz, the leverage position that China offers potentially there could be very, very huge for them.
And they're going to have to offer some kind of concession to the United States in order to receive that.
That's why President Trump has set up this situation while he's going to sit down with Xi Jinping.
People said, why don't you finish it beforehand?
Because it puts them in a bad position to make a deal.
I absolutely agree.
And also, I think that.
Both of them understand.
She's being on the stand.
It's not about Iran and it's about China.
And everything Trump has done since his second term, it's about China.
From tariff to Greenland to Panama, you know, it's all about China.
He knows it.
And now, with strict Hamas not opening, who suffered?
They, they absolutely.
So they are in the position of weakness and we are in the position of strength.
And that's where you're able to come in and say, look, we know you have some reserves, we know you have some help, but ultimately, their economy, because of the Chinese economy slowdown, because of the decoupling that President Trump is already working on in terms of tariffs, that has been a way to put the pressure further and further towards the Chinese Communist Party by saying, look, if you don't have that full employment, and Xi Van Fleet, you know better than anyone,
what is the ability of the United States to decouple?
What would that do to undercut the leverage and the influence of CCP in their own country?
Yeah, we already see it.
And this is not being reported widely.
China is in shambles.
And the stories we hear from inside China is that the economy is so bad.
And there's a lot of business closing.
And the people I know who were complained that just a few years ago, they complained there's no more bonuses.
And today they'll complain.
They're worried about their jobs.
There are so many people losing their jobs, and young graduates from college have no jobs.
And all they wanted is a job that pays 300, 3000 yuan a month, which is like $600, and they can't even get that.
And everything is just really in disarray.
And I really think there's a lot of problem with still a lot of elite here.
They refuse.
To see the reality, they still see China as strong.
And I just heard an interview with this political science professor of Chicago University named Robert Pape.
I think that's his last name.
And he was just yesterday.
He said, China is 20 years ahead of us.
And he gave an example that in China, they apply AI not just in the company, not just in the industry, but in the community and in the city.
And he gave the example that here we will get a traffic ticket, probably after a month or so.
He said, in China, you're going to get it in two minutes.
And I said, he is just so, so, so stupid.
Stupid is the word.
He had no idea.
Not only did they get the ticket in real time, and the fine would be withdrawn from their bank account in the next two seconds.
That's what the kind of total control that the Chinese Communist Party has on the Chinese people.
There is absolutely, you can't expect countries like that.
To prosper without the help of the American companies.
And I think that finally, with Trump, we understand that they are our enemy.
CCP is our enemy.
It's not a competitor, it's not a partner, it's an enemy.
And the idea is that they'd want to come in, and they could, by the way, help out on so many of these things.
They could help out on Iran, they could help out.
On Russia, they could help out in so many places, but they don't actually view themselves as peacemakers because they are the ones behind so many of these things.
Isn't that true?
Their enemy, the top enemy, is the United States.
And it's not just today, it's not just yesterday.
It is in the DNA of CCP.
It's in the day that it was founded in 1921 by the Russians, that was their goal.
Their goal was to defeat.
Capitalism, Christianity, and the United States.
That is always there.
When they are weak, they pretend that they're just like reformers.
And as soon as Xi Jinping took over in 2012, he showed his teeth because he believed that now he's strong enough.
And this is something I really, really want American people to understand.
CCP view America always, always as their enemy.
And I remember this from when I was there.
I remember this from traveling there, from living there for two years, learning Mandarin, that they view America as.
It's interesting because they have respect for what America's position was in the world as the number one.
But I can remember them saying, we view you as number one.
Our goal is to take you down and to put us in your place.
Exactly.
And this is something I think, of course.
Without the help of the mainstream media.
And people just don't know.
People still view China as just a normal country.
It is not.
It is a communist country.
It's not a capitalist country.
And we don't have to argue.
Look at that.
Look at the sign, the hammer and the sickle.
And also the other thing, as long as you see Chairman Mao's portrait hanging on the Tiananmen Square Tower, you know it is a communist country.
And we have to regard it as that way.
And today, not only CCP is our Primary threat.
Communism itself is our greatest threat.
And communism is not over there.
It is here, here in America, here in our institutions, and here in, you know, especially the educational system.
They're absolutely controlled by the American Marxists, American communists.
So our enemy is both CCP and communism.
Tell us again about your book.
Because you're talking about the power of economic leverage.
That's really the best way to fight back here.
Yeah, it's more than that, but decoupling.
I know it is difficult.
It is very, very difficult because we let them in.
We let the CCP into this world order, and now they're destroying it.
And so then what we have to fight back is really, really remake the world order.
And that's exactly what Trump is doing.
I call it a great reset, use their term.
We have to reset the term.
And so what Trump did, Trump withdraws from the World Health Organization.
And I think we should withdraw from UN, from all these organizations that have been captured by the CCP.
And of course, tariff is one of the best weapons we have.
So we have to understand their threat and act accordingly.
Amen to that.
All right, we know President Trump on his way there.
Shivin Fleet, thank you so much for joining us.
Human Defense Daily.
You know, you talk about influencers.
These are influencers.
And they're friends of mine.
Jack, where's Jack?
Jack, he's done a great job.
Eric Human Events, Daily Real America's Voice.
We see that's Marine One on the tarmac live shot.
We'll have that up for you as President Trump departs on his way to China.
And this is the Beijing boardroom meeting.
What we've been telling you all about, this is the big one.
This is about President Trump's strategic grand deal that he's being able to put together.
I want to bring on now Richard Barris, the people's pundit here on Human Events.
Rich, you've been looking at this entire situation.
Walk us through the state of play geopolitically between China and Iran.
As President Trump is on his way to the tarmac, has to do.
I heard his comments before, but you know, in reality, Jack, we've been talking about this, you and I, and your show since the beginning of this.
He needs to talk to China about the situation in Iran, even get their help, try to elicit their help if he has to.
Because the best, most favorable thing for Donald Trump to do at this point is to wind this thing down as fast as he can, Jack.
So, you know, it's just the reality of the situation that you're going to have to deal with China because obviously they back Iran.
Same thing, eventually.
Jack, again, we can't have these enemies to the north of the Gulf and enemies to the south of the Gulf kind of just squeezing our position there.
We just can't have it.
So you're going to have to deal with them.
It's sad to say, and I'd be remiss if I didn't say this.
This has put Trump in an opportunity to reshape that world order that we've been talking about, but this is something he's going to have to deliver on now because now we're kind of in this position due to the war.
So we have to do it.
Got to engage.
Yeah, and there's a few different things.
You know, I'm sort of just looking at my notes here, trying to determine, you know, what is it that the United States has to offer to China.
And, you know, I've seen the media and, like, specifically the Wall Street Journal, which I think you can see the stenography, you know, off talking about licenses on Chinese EVs and others.
By the way, President Trump just now, you know, for folks who are on the audio side, he's now walking across the tarmac.
He's flanked by Secret Service, by, looks like, Air Force.
And he is on his way to Air Force One.
It doesn't look like he's taking any questions at this point.
So, press motorcade on their way.
He salutes and he's headed for the stairs.
See, he's waving.
And yes, no questions.
He's going right up the stairs.
You got the Secret Service flanking him, and he is on his way.
Got the big plane, got the big plane for Air Force One.
I do see a number of other members of the presidential.
Those look like he has a few others of the presidential air wing out there.
So it could be that other members of the senior staff are heading along as well.
The White House might be sending multiple planes.
Balancing Eastern Europe Policy00:04:24
There's a large delegation that's going to be heading over in addition to the business leaders.
Go ahead, Rich.
Yeah, I was just going to say two things, actually.
One, Is this what I like to see from Donald Trump because this is where he shines, Jack.
And the deal making is what made him such a consequential president in his first term, especially.
But that's number one.
Number two, again, it may not be my most favored way to get here, but I think we've been talking about this for a long time.
We do need to make changes in the global order.
We have to wind down in the Gulf, we have to pivot to Asia.
So if it takes being pushed into it like this, then good, I'll take that.
I'll take it on a silver platter.
This is where he's going.
You know, and we've talked about this, but unfortunately, but Rich, unfortunately, what we've seen is we're not pivoting to Asia.
In fact, we're pivoting.
What we've done is actually pivot so much of our military away from Asia back to the Middle East.
Yeah.
And, but this is this, this is what I'm exactly what I mean.
I'm kind of hoping that they're forced into it, Jack, because it doesn't look like naturally the blob is going to let, you know, this entire, this giant ship that we're on with foreign policy.
It's not like they're going to let it change course in a second.
This is going to be a huge correction.
It would take a huge correction.
But again, you said before, you know, what is it that they need?
It's a misnomer that China's economy is doing great.
It's not like they're hot on fire over there.
We have economic things we can give them.
And for those of us who were very reluctant to get into the Middle East and see this war kick off because of, you know, concerns like this, again, I'll take it any way I can get it, brother.
Give it to them.
Let's move forward.
Yeah.
And I would say, you know, I would obviously say, short of.
You know, short of, of course, you know, Taiwan recognition or something like that, but perhaps looking at some deal on that's not on the table, right?
Of course, it's not on the table, but you know, some sort of economic package where look, and this is the way that I've always seen it described is that you know, the U.S. and China are always going to have a relationship, and it's probably better for the world that we do, right?
It's probably in general better for the world if we do rather than try to, you know, isolate and cut everyone off like we did.
with Russia.
And what did that do?
That just pushed Russia into a corner and it didn't end the Ukraine war.
It prolonged it.
And it continues today for, you know, what, four and a half years almost now that it's been going.
And so that was a complete failure.
If you wanted to quote unquote change Russia's behavior, you back them into the corner.
That being said, when it comes to China, you have to recalibrate.
I think you have to recalibrate.
You have to reconstitute.
You have to shake the relationship up there.
But at the same time, say, look, we need this thing with Iran.
We know that China came in with Syria in the past when there were chemical weapons concerns.
China was someone who came in that was seen as a neutral party in a sense and was able to come in there.
I think they could play the same role with Tehran.
We would just have to make it worth their while.
Let me just clarify, too, by saying, piggybacking off of what you just said, what you just described was a giant balancing coalition that our policy in Eastern Europe and elsewhere.
Led to balancing against us now, you know.
So the Russia, China, even India, you know, kind of anti US or anti NATO balancing coalition cannot be allowed to form.
But that, when I said give it to them, just to clarify, not the factories on foreign soil, Jack.
That is an absolute political catastrophe in the making.
So don't do it to them.
I see those things as, I'm going to tell you right now, I see the factories on foreign soil and the EV licenses.
That is a wish list.
That's wish casting from the U.S. Chamber.
I said that on War Room this morning.
They're the ones trying to put that out there.
That's what they want.
That is not what President Trump is putting on the table.
Yeah.
I mean, look.
That's just, that's not going to fly with not only his base.
I think that wouldn't fly beyond even his base.
But again, I just, I cannot see him doing that.
And look, there are these exemptions for the oil embargo, which once upon a time in Trump's first administration, he would slap them with those and it hurt their revenue, Iran's revenue.
Patriot Mobile Quality Promise00:02:14
He could use that.
I mean, he has a number of tools at his disposal.
It doesn't have to be something like that.
The tools are there.
Let's hold off on that and get back.
After the break, President Trump on his way to China, Air Force One now loaded.
President Trump now, Air Force One loaded up on the tarmac, about to take off, direct flight, Washington, D.C. to Beijing.
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Rich Barrister, we're watching President Trump.
He's on his way over.
He's going to be sitting down.
With Chairman Xi.
The fact that he's got these heads of industry going along with him, all the tech giants are going, Elon Musk is going, Tim Cook, the heads of Meta, I believe the head of Google is going over as well, just all the Silicon Valley companies.
Recalibrating Global Relationships00:08:12
This really shows to me, and I've made this point on the program all week, that this is about continuing to find a way to rebalance and recalibrate our relationship.
And there's no better way.
To highlight that, then point out the fact that Silicon Valley does not do its manufacturing in the Silicon Valley anymore.
They do it in China and they do it in Taiwan largely, but they do it at the detriment of American workers.
They do it with Chinese labor.
So those are the guys, and BlackRock, Blackstone, et cetera, so many others, those are the guys that President Trump knows that he needs to get in the room and say, look, you guys got to remember who your loyalty is to.
You live here.
You want this country to continue to protect you.
It's time to fix the problem.
Before we think it's, you know, that that's just a big carrot.
Let's see what happens.
And, you know, it could also be a very big stick, right?
I mean, that's what happens when you put those, you know, that that number of key figures in the same room.
It's not just that there's Trump saying something.
If you can get everybody on the same page, then it makes it obviously you have to take, if you're the Chinese, you have to take it more seriously.
I mean, that's it's a smart play.
And I'm not even sure the last time we saw somebody do something like this, right?
Could you think back to the last time you saw a president?
Take an industry delegation like this to another global power.
And it's, you know, again, at this point, you know, we've put, we've decided where the boundaries were and what was on the table and what wasn't.
I say let him cook and let's see what he can do here because these changes, he's long known.
I know that people might feel like he's, you know, hit a couple of speed bumps with certain things as the war really takes your mind away from other priorities.
But Trump has long seen what we have been talking about.
He gets that.
I mean, remember, this was the president in the first administration that wanted to do this, wanted to scale back away from NATO to the great, by the way, to the great number of bellyaches we heard from the neocon wing of the Republican Party, right?
It was insane to make a pivot more toward Asia and to wind down on NATO.
Well, if there wasn't that kind of pushback in the first Trump administration, we might not even have a Ukrainian war right now.
We may not have a Russo Ukrainian war.
And he'd be able to be that much more focused on what needs to be done in the East, because that is where we should be focused.
That's where we need to spend our resources, outside of our own hemisphere, of course.
And it really is.
Look, people need to understand that when we face this, We've been, and I say it like a broken record.
We did the China files here where we explained this.
We've been paying for our own demise.
It's the old Vladimir Lenin quote, right?
That a capitalist will sell you the rope that you use to hang yourself.
And that's exactly what we've been doing with the Chinese.
We have been sending all of our jobs over there.
We've been sending all of our work over there, and including that, all of what?
The foreign direct investment.
That's a huge piece of that.
Trying to find a way to redirect investment.
To the United States, trying to keep American capital in the United States.
That's why the Midwest is like the Midwest.
The South is the South.
The entire Northeast is deindustrialized.
Rich, you and I, come on, we talk about the Rust Belt all day, every day.
This is why the Rust Belt is the Rust Belt.
And Rich, you know as well as I do that when you go to those voters in Ohio, in Michigan, in Wisconsin, in my beloved Pennsylvania, you say the word China, that is a four letter word up there.
Yeah, and we're getting to the point, I was just going to go here.
We're getting to the point where A very large, more than super majority of the country does want Donald Trump to be doing this, right?
Whether they see this as a, they may not know all the details, but voters aren't dumb, all right?
If they're looking at Donald Trump, you know, getting on Air Force One and heading across the ocean like that to go speak to somebody and negotiate, that is going to be, that's what they want.
So again, we're at a point now where it's more than a super majority who says, you know, negotiate and do what you got to do to end the war and let's get back to other things.
This is one of those other things that got Donald Trump elected.
The first time around, and again, of course, the third time around.
This is why he performs the way he does because he does care about these issues.
And voters in that part of the country are savvy enough because more than the average bear, because they have been impacted by it more than the average bear, this entire global order.
So, again, when I understand there may be some people who are worried about what goes on and what is he going to give him?
Are we going to end the war, especially the more hawkish side of the party?
Are we going to end the war on bad terms?
This is what needs to be done.
This is what voters want him to do.
It's the president that they elected, this is the president they like.
So let him get it done and get back to some of those original priorities that he had, which was, of course, reshaping the world order and confronting the East when we've ignored it at the behest of the Middle East for how many years to, like you said, our own detriment.
This entire concept is what sells in the Rust Belt.
So let him cook, let him do his thing.
Look, and I keep saying it, I keep saying it all day long, is if you really want to recalibrate the pivot to Asia, you build the Asian force.
Uh, we were coming up on X the other day.
We were coming up with some you know potential names for like an Asian NATO.
Um, you let Japan remilitarize, you let Japan remilitarize.
What was the one?
I think we had Poto at one point, we're calling it Poto.
Uh, you know, uh, yeah, I forgot to step for the Pacific, uh, you know, Pacific Ocean Treaty Organization, so like that.
Um, but you get the Philippines, obviously, you get the Philippines, you get India, you get Japan, you get South Korea, you get all of these nations, Australia, obviously, you get all of these nations on board.
And then you have the ability because the United States has since World War II, the United States has been a Pacific power.
This is what people need to understand from a naval perspective.
We won World War II.
The most strategic victory that we had was not Europe, by the way.
It was the Pacific Ocean and control of the Pacific waterways, which, yes, we took from Japan.
That has been America's economic engine since World War II.
Now, unfortunately, what did we do with it?
We handed it over to this deal with the Chinese communists after the 1990s and the World Trade Organization WTO ascension.
We didn't need to do that.
We never should have done that.
But that's what was done because they saw all those waterways, all those roadways as totally wide open.
And so it was sold to the American people as oh, you're going to get a smaller house, but a bigger TV.
And people took the deal because big TV, who doesn't want that?
Yeah, you know, it's funny.
Post the World War or pre the post World War II era, if you look at the history of American expansion and even defensive posturing, but still, it's always been to the West, Jack.
Even though I would argue even before.
Knowing that we needed to be a naval power in order to defeat the Japanese in World War II or any other, honestly, the open door policy was obviously to lay the framework of the groundwork for Western expansion and beyond, right?
As an economic empire, we're not a colonial empire.
It's a little bit different, but that's always been the way it is.
The post World War II era just got us hung up on Europe, which is, you know, there's a good name for it.
It's an appropriate name, Jack, the Old World, right?
It very much is in many senses of that.
You know, of that phrase, right?
It is the old world, and we're behind the ball.
We've been behind the ball on being able to pivot.
And just one thing out of the, I remember the Obama administration.
It was actually one thing out of the Obama administration that I felt like I could get behind, Jack.
And I know the button was stupid.
You remember the reset button with Russia and all of that?
Yeah.
I remember when it was, you know, it was silly and we all made fun of it.
But that's what Obama never actually believed in it because he kept us in the Middle East the entire time.
Rich Barris, that's all the time we have.
Senator Hawley on Statutes00:10:16
I could do this with you all day long, man.
Where can people follow you?
The best place, Jack, always on locals, peoplespundit.locals.com.
But follow the gram at peoplesunderscorepundit.
Coming in, Holler on the Gram with Rich Barris.
We'll be right back.
Senator Josh Hawley joins us next, Human Events Daily.
This is the Jack Posobic Appreciation Hour.
I can say confidently, I believe, I think Josh Shapiro would be the vice presidential nominee if it wasn't for Jack Posobic.
And that is, I'm being honest.
All right, folks, Jack Posobic back live, Human Events Daily.
And we're very honored to have on once again, Senator Josh Hawley joins us.
Senator, how are you?
I'm doing great.
Thank you for having me.
Well, Senator, I know you've got big legislation that you're going to be introducing today, but we did just see President Trump.
He made his departure from Andrews there, Air Force One.
He's loaded up.
Talk to us just very quickly.
What are your hopes?
Because I know that you focus so much on Silicon Valley, China, these two relationships that have been intrinsically paired, President Trump bringing so many Silicon Valley leaders here.
What is your view on what we hope to get out of this summit?
Well, I hope that we get out protecting American industry, protecting American technology, most importantly, American jobs.
Nobody, nobody in my lifetime. Has done what Donald J. Trump did to put the China issue on the agenda.
He's basically the only guy who would talk about it going back to really back to the 90s.
You know, he said admitting China to the WTO would be a huge mistake.
He was right.
It was.
It was stupid.
It's cost us tens of millions of jobs.
Now they want to buy up a whole bunch of our industry.
They want to buy up our farmland.
And I hope we make clear to them we're not going to let that happen.
You know, China shouldn't own any farmland in America, period.
They shouldn't own real estate around our sensitive military bases, other areas that are sensitive from a national security perspective.
And I credit the president again for taking a tough line on China.
He's the only guy who's been willing to do it.
I hope he'll continue to do that at this summit.
They need us a lot more than we need them.
Let's just be honest about it.
And this is the time to drive a hard bargain, in my view.
Well, that's exactly right, Senator.
And I've been traveling to China and spent time there and was a Mandarin linguist in the Navy.
And the idea that China would have its rise and have all of its power fueled without a customer base never really made any sense to me.
We're the ones who actually have the leverage here, not them.
100%.
And that's always been true, which is why it was catastrophically stupid for the Clinton administration and then the Bush 43 administration to welcome China into the trade system, to treat them as a developing nation.
We have basically zero tariff access to our economy while they got to tariff up and protect their economy.
You know, we funneled, we fueled, we funded their rise.
And you think about it, it's insane.
And the first person in my lifetime to point this out and be honest about it, again, was President Trump.
Who said that was stupid?
Decades of stupid policy.
He started to reverse it in his first administration.
He's continued down that path, and I hope that he'll continue to stand strong here.
Why are we paying for their military?
Why are we funding their AI companies?
We shouldn't be funding a dime.
We want our jobs back from them that they've stolen.
And there's a lot we can do to continue to protect American jobs, American industry, American farmland.
That ought to be our priority.
Well, I couldn't agree more.
This recalibration, and I really hope that that's what comes out of.
This summit, obviously, is hope for some mediation perhaps or leverage over Iran, shut down that.
Because this Iran situation that we're also looking at, I know that's been one of the big overhanging questions of the summit with Beijing, is the price of fuel as it's bottled up out of the Strait of Hormuz, as those tankers still haven't just begun flowing the way they normally do.
That has risen or caused the price of gas to rise so much here.
At home.
And a lot of people have looked at that and said, okay, well, it's a bottleneck situation.
What are we going to do?
We need a deal.
The deal hasn't come.
Iranians were counseling, et cetera, et cetera.
You, though, have perhaps a way to help Americans directly find relief while the geopolitics play out on the world stage.
Yeah, let's suspend the gas tax.
Easy.
Federal gas tax is about 20 cents a gallon.
Diesel, it's even a little bit higher.
Let's suspend them both.
I mean, let's just cut taxes right now.
I thought that's what Republicans were good for.
So let's do it.
Let's cut taxes for the American people on gas and diesel.
Let's do it immediately.
The president endorsed this yesterday.
He talked it up big in the Oval Office.
I was delighted when he did, and I hope that Republicans will take it.
His leadership on this.
This is the right thing to do.
We need to give the American people relief.
You know, you just mentioned China and the Strait.
I hope the president will make this Strait issue China's problem.
They get most of their oil out of the Strait.
We don't, but the bottleneck in the Strait is driving up prices for the American people.
Let's give them a tax cut.
So, how does that work going forward?
This is obviously different from, of course, remember when Biden was draining our strategic petroleum reserves during the onset of the Ukraine war when that was going on, which Wasn't, by the way, wasn't even something that we were involved in, except that Biden wanted us to be in.
Now, that was something, though, that the president could do by himself.
When it comes to suspending the gas tax, what's the procedure there?
Congress has to pass it.
Congress has got to do it by statute.
That's why I've introduced legislation that would do it immediately.
It would suspend that tax for 90 days, and then it would give the president the authority to suspend it for another 90 days without having to come back to Congress if he deems that it's necessary for our economic well being and national security.
So, you know, we're looking at half a year at least of cutting that tax.
And, you know, that's real money.
I mean, that's 20 cents right off the top.
In my state, that would make a huge difference.
It's huge for farmers who are paying diesel, who are using diesel.
It would take a little more than 20 off the top for them.
And my view is why not do it?
Why not give the American people that relief?
I also think it strengthens our hands, frankly, in negotiations with Iran.
Iran is counting on the fact that the pain that we're paying at the pump, that we're feeling at the pump, the prices that we're paying will ultimately squeeze the president.
Well, we can relieve some of that pressure.
You know, Iran has the pressure here.
We ought to keep up the pressure on them.
Let's take the pressure off the American people.
Well, it's certainly something.
And by the way, last time I checked, not exactly a partisan issue, is it?
Well, it shouldn't be.
I mean, this is going to be a real test now because the Democrats have been saying for the last two months, well, hey, let's cut the gas tax.
Okay.
President Trump comes out and says, yeah, let's do that.
Let's do that.
Okay.
Well, I'm going to let's see how many Democrats now are for it.
I want to give them the opportunity to vote on this.
They thought it's such a good idea.
And by the way, Democrats have voted for this in the past under Democrat presidents.
So let's have a vote.
Let's just see who is actually for helping the American people and who just wants to score political points.
But make no mistake, cutting that tax right now.
Huge help to every single American.
So, pass legislation, it gets done by statute.
That, of course, means it's got to come up to a vote.
Is this something?
Walk us through just, you know, the Senate procedure on this because we had the Save Act situation, Save of America Act, and a lot of people saying, wait a minute, that didn't happen.
That seemed to run into all these procedural hurdles here.
How do we get around that?
Well, this could go on the Senate floor tomorrow if the majority leader wanted to put it on the floor.
Here's how the Senate rules work.
The majority leader, Senator Thune, controls the floor.
It's one of the big privileges, a big majority leader.
It is a very powerful privilege.
He controls the floor.
He could put the gas tax cut on the floor today, tomorrow, whenever he wants.
He could set it for a vote.
You know, under the Senate rules, it would need 60 votes, so you'd need to get all the Republicans, seven Democrats.
But that's what I say.
Let's put these people on the record.
I mean, let's see who is for higher taxes on the American worker in a time of war.
Let's find out.
Let's just find out.
I predict it would pass.
It goes over to the House, pass that thing through.
Jack, this whole thing could be done in a couple of days.
If there was the will to do it, there needs to be the will to do it because the American people need the relief.
We need to put the pressure.
Pressure back on Iran.
This is a great way to do both things at one time.
Well, I think it would be excellent, Senator.
I couldn't agree more.
We saw the president talking about that.
I do have you for one more minute.
If you'd permit me, I did also see the president tweeting about another piece or posting, true thing, about another piece of legislation in the Senate the Housing Act, the Road to Housing Act.
I wanted to ask your views on that.
I know that the big push is to try to get these big institutional buyers out of the housing market, make it more available for single payer.
Do you think this is the right bill for it?
You know, I'm all for anything we can do to get the big Wall Street guys out of buying single family homes.
This is happening in Missouri.
It's happening everywhere.
These Wall Street banks and investment funds are coming in and they're buying up single family homes, taking them off the market, turning them into rental properties that drives up the cost for folks who are trying to get their first house.
We're talking about working people.
This is the backbone of the Trump Republican coalition.
Folks want to be able to buy their own homes.
Young men starting their families, they need to be able to get a home.
To have these Wall Street banks and investment companies, hedge funds coming in and buying them all up is ridiculous.
It is ridiculous.
We ought to say, listen, you want to go build homes on your own, Wall Street?
Go ahead, fine.
You want to build condos, whatever, but you should not be able to come in and buy up single family homes and take that stock away from the American people, especially those first time home buyers.
I'm for anything that can get that done.
I would be honest with you, I'd go stronger than the bill that passed the Senate.
I think that we could be even tougher and give more power back to first time home buyers, more power back to the people.
That's my general posture.
But I'll take whatever.
I mean, you know, let's take the first step on.
Understood.
Understood.
Senator Josh Hawley, God bless you.
Thank you for joining us again.
Hey, thank you.
All right, ladies and gentlemen, as always, you have my permission to lay ashore.