Trump Orders US Navy To DESTROY Iranian Gunboats, US Warships Deployed Near China, Is WW3 Nearing?
Trump Orders US Navy To DESTROY Iranian Gunboats, US Warships Deployed Near China, Is WW3 Nearing? Trump recently ordered the US Navy to destroy any and all Iranian gunboats that harass our Naval vessels, warships have been deployed near Venezuela, Russian jets are intercepting US jets, and now the US has deployed warships to the South China Sea.Dramatic escalations around the world could signify a coming world warOr perhaps its international conflict as usual.Its possible that as we lose focus on the Democratic and Republican election fight due to the international crisis we start to hyper-focus on these international tensions instead.But it could also be that the crisis is causing desperation.Could this lead to World War Three?
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Tensions between the US, Russia, Iran, China were already bad before the start of the coronavirus pandemic, and now there's all the more reason for everything to get a lot worse.
The UN says we're facing a famine of biblical proportions.
Russia has just suspended exports of wheat, and Donald Trump has just tweeted, I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea.
Now this is escalating tensions.
It was not that long ago that US naval ships in the Persian Gulf were swarmed by Iranian gunboats.
This is a kind of natural escalation, I suppose.
But the next and main story I have for you, it's actually really scary.
The U.S.
has sent warships into the disputed South China Sea.
Now, I'm not a military analyst.
I'm not going to necessarily tell you how China could or would respond to this, but there's a lot in this story.
There's a lot going on, and I have said in a previous segment, we're on the brink of war with China because of something called Thucydides' Trap.
It basically states that as a rising power seeks to challenge a dominant power, war becomes inevitable.
Now, it isn't inevitable, but according to some academics who wrote for The Atlantic, 12 out of 16 times over the past 500 years, when a rising power has challenged a dominant power, war has been the result, and now the U.S.
has deployed warships into the South China Sea.
China views this as their territory.
I don't know how they will respond, but I can only surmise that at least to a certain degree, they will view this as an act of...
Well, let's call it trespass, to say the least.
But sending military vessels into territory you claim as your own, I can only imagine, will lead to very dangerous escalation.
And Australia is joining in.
This is the next big update.
Australia joins U.S.
warship in South China Sea as tensions grow.
Beijing angered its Southeast Asian neighbors by creating two administrative units on the disputed Paracel and Spratly Islands.
Donald Trump ordering the destruction of Iranian vessels is the most serious statement we've seen in a long time.
If these Iranian vessels, which they've confirmed has happened, take action and the U.S.
shoots them and blows them up, I can only imagine things could essentially spark something greater.
Now, that story in and of itself is, it is what it is, and I'll go over some of these details, but the powder keg is what I feel is most important.
The US vessels in the South China Sea, the Chinese strike group moving near Taiwan fears that China may move to strike Taiwan to seize it because there's a big dispute.
Let me read these stories and we'll break things down.
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Let's read the news from the New York Times.
US warships enter disputed waters of South China Sea as tensions with China escalate.
The move comes as a war of words between the United States and China over the coronavirus pandemic intensifies.
Now, there's a lot in here.
And I'll tell you what, some of it is scarier than just this.
American warships have sailed into disputed waters in the South China Sea, according to military analysts, heightening a standoff in the waterway and sharpening the rivalry between the United States and China, even as much of the world is in lockdown because of the coronavirus.
The America, an amphibious assault ship and the Bunker Hill, a guided missile cruiser, entered contested waters off Malaysia.
At the same time, a Chinese government ship in the area has for days been tailing a Malaysian state oil company ship, carrying out exploratory drilling.
Chinese and Australian warships have also powered into nearby waters, according to the defense experts.
Despite working to control a pandemic that spread from China earlier this year, Beijing has not reduced its activities in the South China Sea, a strategic waterway through which one-third of global shipping flows.
Instead, the Chinese government's years-long pattern of assertiveness has only intensified, military analysts said.
It's a quite deliberate Chinese strategy to try to maximize what they perceive as being a moment of distraction.
And the reduced capability of the United States to pressure neighbors, said Peter Jennings, a former Australian defense official who is the executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
Since January, when the coronavirus epidemic began to surge, the Chinese government and Coast Guard ships, along with the maritime militias, have been plying contested waters in the South China Sea, tangling with regional maritime enforcement agencies and harassing fishermen.
Earlier this month, the Vietnamese accused a Chinese patrol ship of ramming and sinking a Vietnamese fishing boat.
Last month, China opened up two new research stations on artificial reefs.
It has built on maritime turf claimed by the Philippines and others.
The reefs are also equipped with defense silos and military-grade runways.
Over the weekend, the Chinese government announced that it had formally established two new districts in the South China Sea that include dozens of contested islets and reefs.
Many are submerged bits of a toll that do not confer territorial rights according to international law.
It seems that even as China was fighting a disease outbreak, it was also thinking in terms of its long-term strategic goals, said Alexander Vuving, a professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu.
The Chinese want to create a new normal in the South China Sea, where they are in charge, And to do that, they've become more and more aggressive.
So here we have an image, and I'll explain just what we can see.
We're just around, say, the Gulf of Tonkin.
We've got Taiwan to the northeast, the Philippines to the east, Malaysia to the southeast, Malaysia to the southwest, and then we can see Vietnam So China is trying to claim this as their territory.
We are moving in.
They say, after the sinking of the Vietnamese boat, the State Department urged China in a statement to remain focused on supporting international efforts to combat the global pandemic and to stop exploiting the distraction of vulnerability of other states to expand its unlawful claims in the South China Sea.
The Chinese government has made vast claims to the South China Sea that conflict with demarcations made by five other governments.
An international tribunal has dismissed most of China's claims to the waterway, but Beijing does not recognize the ruling and has instead built naval bases on reefs it now controls.
While the U.S.
has no territorial claims in the South China Sea, the American Navy says it has kept the peace in these waters for decades.
American military officials have chastised China for its increased militarization of the waterway.
Quote, Through our continued operational presence in the South China Sea, we are working with our allies and partners to promote freedom of navigation and overflight and the international principles that underpin security and prosperity for the Indo-Pacific, said Lieutenant Commander Nicole Schweigman, a spokeswoman for the United States Indo-Pacific Command.
The U.S.
supports the efforts of our allies and partners to determine their own economic interests.
The Chinese government has countered that the United States is the country destabilizing the region.
The appearance of the American and the Bunker Hill may do little to dispel this narrative.
Here we can see in this image.
The Chinese Navy during a military display in the South China Sea in 2018.
And we've got what look like some kind of fighter jets, as well as a carrier and the rest of their strike group.
They say, and regional governments have worried, the United States has a habit of briefly showing up in hotspots only to depart, leaving them to contend with an increasingly muscular Beijing.
What is the intention of the US here?
Said Ian Storey, a South China Sea expert at the ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute, a think tank in Singapore.
Is it just to say we're here?
Or are they going to shadow the Chinese survey ship to try and stop it from operating?
The United States Indo-Pacific Command did not specify the exact location of the two American warships, citing operational restrictions, but it confirmed the warships were in the South China Sea.
On Tuesday, the United States Navy posted pictures of the warships on Twitter, accompanied by a third vessel, a destroyer called the Barry, saying the Expeditionary Strike Group was operating in support of security and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.
Now, let me just add my hope that this is just going to be a military display.
My concern, however, is that we have reports of Kim Jong-un potentially being incapacitated.
That could absolutely destabilize the entire region, which could spark serious international conflict.
But it goes beyond the South China Sea.
We are seeing military conflict in numerous places, pitting the United States, Russia, Iran, Venezuela, and China all into the... It's pitting them against... Well, okay.
It's pitting them against us.
The U.S.
is being pitted against Russia, Iran, China, and Venezuela.
In this story, we can see that Australia has joined the U.S.
warships in South China as tensions grow, which I showed you already.
This story from Politico.
Russians, Iranians, hassle U.S.
military in separate incidents.
11 Iranian vessels conducted dangerous and harassing approaches of U.S.
warships in the international waters of the northern Persian Gulf on Wednesday.
This is what Donald Trump was responding to.
This was on April 15th.
You may have heard me talk about it in several videos.
If this escalates, and Donald Trump is serious and has instructed this, I don't know what the likelihood is that they strike, but it seems like war has never been closer.
So, you know, I've talked to some people.
Many are concerned about the coronavirus.
And as I mentioned in several videos as well, that people have said, Tim, man, you gotta bug out.
So when I hopped in the van, which you may notice I'm in the van, a lot of people have said, oh man, did Tim really bug out?
No.
I'm going on a road trip, going to the West Coast to do a show.
But a lot of people are that concerned.
It's not just about the coronavirus.
What we are facing is a global, unprecedented disaster, and to say that we are sitting on the precipice is a bit of an understatement.
I've said that several times, but we are hanging from it.
Not only do we have this pandemic, which is rocking the economies of several nations and creating desperate times, we also have escalating military tensions and a famine brewing.
Many of these countries are withholding resources, shutting down international trade, or closing their borders.
And this could make things very, very dangerous.
In this story from CNN, Russia intercepts U.S.
Navy aircraft over the Mediterranean Sea.
This story from just two days ago.
A Russian fighter aircraft approached a U.S.
Navy aircraft over the Mediterranean Sea Sunday.
Both governments confirmed while offering different accounts of the incident.
Sixth Fleet said in a statement Sunday, the Russian aircraft, an Su-35 jet, flew in an unsafe and unprofessional manner while intercepting
the U.S. Navy P-8A Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Aircraft. The U.S. Navy, it said,
was the second time in four days that U.S.
pilots made unsafe maneuvers while intercepting U.S.
aircraft.
The unnecessary actions of the Russian Su-35 pilot were inconsistent with good airmanship and international flight rules, seriously jeopardizing the safety of flight of both aircraft, the U.S.
Navy said.
While the Russian aircraft was operating in international airspace, the interaction was irresponsible.
We expect them to behave within international standards set to ensure safety and to prevent incidents.
Now the concern here with the economy is that as people, as I mentioned, people become more desperate.
We are going to see more of this.
Now these may have happened in the past and we don't focus on them because we're focused on other issues, internal issues, domestic issues, say the presidential election.
But now we have to contend with a major global crisis.
Many people are saying these protests to open up the economy are stupid, and these people are going to get us killed.
In a segment I did for 1PM, which for those on the podcast will be coming up shortly, what I mentioned is that we are potentially looking at hundreds of millions of people starving to death.
That means the death from the economic slowdown is going to dwarf.
It's going to make the coronavirus look like nothing.
And we need to make sure we balance.
Now, if we reopen the economy to prevent this famine, it's very possible that we see more coronavirus death.
And now for the next story.
It's very possible that if we do not reopen this economy and strengthen our country and get our manufacturing back, we are facing international war we will not be prepared for.
I don't think... I think very few people want to see a war of this scale.
And I say very few, because there are some that love the profiteering.
They know they'll make money from this.
But there's another reason why the economy needs to be started up again.
The U.S.
just entered the South China Sea, along with Australian aid.
Will China take this as an act of U.S.
trespass into their territory?
They very well may.
Now I think China knows full well they don't actually own this territory.
And they're trying to slowly assert that they do.
They're expanding.
They're putting military bases on these atolls.
And if the U.S.
does nothing, eventually it will be theirs.
But we've sent this group in now.
I don't know how that will play out, but there's so much more going on.
Iranian Navy temporarily seizes vessel sparking Persian Gulf Alert.
This is from the 14th.
These are around the same stories we're seeing the U.S.
coming in.
These tensions are escalating, and there's more.
Iran says its missiles can hit ships more than 400 miles away, has boats three times faster than the U.S.
Navy.
This from just the other day.
They are prodding us.
They know the COVID has weakened us.
And as I mentioned, when this outbreak happened, if they want to go up against the United States, what better time than now?
And the good news for the U.S.
ain't nobody going to be invading our shores.
Too many people in this country own guns.
But it does mean that we will lose access to resources and it will knock the U.S.
down in a very dramatic way.
It means that our military could be under fire.
It means that a world war could happen.
And if that war goes nuclear, It won't matter.
Nothing will matter.
The coronavirus won't matter.
Famine won't matter.
Because we'll be in post-apocalyptia.
Now, we do have more news on Iran.
Iran's guards say it launched its first military satellite into orbit, meaning they're expanding their military powers.
We have the story.
Donald Trump deployed U.S.
anti-drug Navy ships near Venezuela.
For those that haven't been following, this story happened, I believe, what's the date on this?
April 1st.
A Venezuelan ship tried to commandeer a vessel opening fire on a German cruise liner.
Now, the German cruise, I believe it was a civilian vessel, was a polar exploratory vessel.
So, in a rather pathetic display, the Venezuelan ship rammed into it and then sank itself.
But the Venezuelans, in their desperation, still open fired and tried to see this vessel.
We then saw shortly after that the U.S.
was going to be deploying anti-drug navy ships near Venezuela.
It may be completely unrelated, but regardless, Venezuela is escalating tensions.
The U.S.
is sending warships.
We are seeing flybys with the Russians.
We are seeing potential tensions rising in the South China Sea.
The powder keg is being filled.
The fuse may be the coronavirus.
And if that fuse... Or the shutdown of the economy and the desperation caused by the coronavirus.
If that fuse to the powder keg is the economy, our ties, and the coronavirus was the light that started it up, the fuse is now burning and the powder keg could go at any minute.
There are many people protesting saying we got to stop it.
Many people on the left say, no, let it burn because we don't want that fire on this side.
Let it go.
I don't know what to tell you, man.
But I'll say this.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un recently had surgery.
Could be incapacitated, U.S.
officials say.
We don't know.
There's conflicting reports.
Some say maybe he's brain-dead.
He's 36.
He's morbidly obese.
He's a heavy smoker.
And we're also facing a global pandemic.
Well, a lot of people are talking about the fact that he received cardiovascular surgery.
It's entirely possible.
I'm just making an assumption here.
Maybe he got the coronavirus.
I mean, look, it started in China.
North Korea borders China.
It's entirely possible that the virus spread, he contracted it, and as someone who has these underlying conditions, he's been incapacitated by it.
Perhaps what happened is that he's on a ventilator, I have no idea.
But if Kim Jong-un goes, that's going to, I worry, destabilize the region.
Let me slow down a second, because I want to show you this next big story here from AM Greatness.
China might try to take Taiwan.
Now that would definitely be a spark lighting the powder keg.
It's always important to point out that stories like these happen all the time.
It's a fact.
When we weren't so focused on this, when Trump wasn't tweeting about destroying Iranian vessels, these things were happening.
And we saw, you know, Iran was seizing oil tankers, potentially, you know, putting sea mines out.
We don't know for sure.
Stores like this have been happening.
And it could just be not that we're on the brink of war, but that we're hyper-focused on tensions that have always existed.
The reality is, we've always been in some kind of conflict with our adversaries.
For food, for resources.
One of the reasons, they say, why we have to occupy the Middle East is that, you know, Iran and Russia and China would fill that vacuum if we weren't there, so the U.S.
goes to do it.
I'm not a big fan of that argument.
I don't think the U.S.
should be the world's police.
But there is fear within the U.S.
government that if we're not, someone else will come in and they will do horrifying things to people.
I'm not a big fan of how Vladimir Putin is basically the king of Russia, and we all know it.
I'm not a big fan of the Communist Party of China.
The United States is far from perfect, but it's certainly better than basically every country on the planet.
I think, what is this saying?
Democracy, it's something like, democracy is the worst, you know, it's a horrible form of government, but it's the best we've ever had, or something like that.
It's the best form of, like, the worst government, whatever.
The point is, we got a lot of problems with how our country functions, We've got a lot of problems with crony capitalism and corruption, but it's not nearly as bad as it is in many of these countries.
This story from A.M.
Greatness.
China might try to take Taiwan.
Not since the interwar period has the American military position in the Pacific been weaker, and the Chinese know it.
And now, with Theodore Roosevelt having most of its troops evacuated due to the coronavirus, they know we've been put in a very, very weak position.
And they know they can take it.
Here's what they write.
Even though it was the source, of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
China appears to be the only country benefiting geopolitically from its knock-on effects.
China's number one strategic goal has been to reclaim Taiwan, an island it has long considered merely to be a breakaway province.
It seems poised to accomplish this task.
Many analysts, such as Ian Easton of Project 2049, have argued that China would try to reclaim Taiwan at some point in the next decade.
Yet reality often presents opportunities, and the pandemic is the strategic opportunity of a lifetime.
The warning indicators are flashing.
Or they should be in Washington.
Not only has the Chinese People's Liberation Army Force, the PLAAF, Air Force, sorry, been conducting ongoing aggressive flights into Taiwanese airspace, but last Thursday, the PLAAF performed a detailed reconnaissance mission over southern Taiwan.
Then on Saturday evening, China's only aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, sailed from China through the Japanese-controlled Strait of Miyako, escorted by two guided-missile destroyers and two additional guided-missile frigates.
That move prompted Taiwan to scramble its navy.
The Liaoning and its escorts sailed beyond Okinawa, turned south, and kept going, its ultimate destination unknown to all except Beijing.
Of course, we can guess where the carrier is headed.
In all likelihood, the carrier is sailing south of Taiwan.
It is following a pattern that the Chinese military employed last year during what was, at the time, China's largest war game since the 1996 Taiwan Strait crisis.
Most of those who are paying attention to China's military movements both around Taiwan and in the South China Sea believe that China is merely flexing its muscles, albeit in a big way.
In response, the Trump administration ordered a display of force.
The B-52 bombers assigned to the U.S.
military base in Guam, roughly 1,800 miles away from China, conducted an elephant walk, wherein the bombers are lined up on the runway ready to fly.
The implications of this move are clear.
Should China try any funny business with Taiwan, there is no guarantee that Washington will sit on its hands.
Of course, after this show of force, the Trump administration ordered all B-52s out of Guam with no replacements being flown in.
It is likely that this is because China has a missile they call the Guam Killer.
that could potentially destroy the entire B-52's force on the island should war erupt.
Clearly, there are concerns about China's growing hostilities since the COVID-19 pandemic spread from China.
The Trump administration is merely replicating the pattern the Clinton administration began in 1996.
At that time, Taiwan's citizens were set to vote in their presidential elections, and a pro-independence candidate was likely to win.
In order to prevent a pro-independence leader from gaining traction in a place like Beijing, in a place Beijing views as a rebellious province waiting to be reclaimed, China's military was deployed to intimidate the Taiwanese people.
Salvos of missiles rocketed over the besieged island routinely, and the Chinese military conducted mock invasion drills of Taiwan.
It all ended when the Clinton administration sailed two U.S.
Navy supercarriers through the Strait of Taiwan, signaling America's intention to intervene militarily to protect Taiwanese sovereignty.
That move stopped the crisis from spilling over into armed conflict.
Taiwan's election proceeded unhindered by China.
China took a key lesson from that episode to heart.
To reclaim Taiwan, it needed to divorce the American military from its defense of Taiwan.
In 1996, two supercarriers operating miles away from China's exposed coastline were more than enough to get Beijing to back down.
Today, this is not the case.
The Trump administration's decision to elephant walk B-52s on the tarmac in Guam is an admirable attempt to deter Chinese aggression against Taiwan.
Ultimately, however, It will prove insufficient.
It also highlights American weakness in the Pacific.
Chinese leaders likely wonder why there were no aircraft carriers available.
Oh wait, that's right!
America's two supercarriers assigned to the Pacific, the USS Ronald Reagan and the USS Theodore Roosevelt, are both out of commission because of COVID-19 outbreaks on board.
Chillingly, China's carrier, the Liaoning, is now the only operational aircraft carrier in the Indo-Pacific at this time.
Not since the interwar period has the American military position in the Pacific been weaker, and the Chinese know it.
Now I'll point out, the Chinese military is relatively weak.
They have one aircraft carrier.
It's nothing compared to what we have.
But we're disabled by a virus right now, and that's scary.
I don't know if this will lead to war, but I do feel like we are closer than we've ever been.
Let me remind you Donald Trump just ordered, at least he claims he did on Twitter, the US Navy to destroy Iranian gunboats.
Warships have just entered the South China Sea.
That may not be enough to deter China's moves right now.
It seems like China is waiting for an opportunity to seize Taiwan.
Should the U.S.
be the world's police and intervene?
I don't know.
If Kim Jong-un is sick and goes, maybe that potter cat goes up, and then we've got a conflict in Korea, we've got a crisis in the entire Southeast Asian region.
I guess only time will tell.
Next segment will be coming up at youtube.com slash TimCastNews, 6 p.m.
Thanks for hanging out.
And I will see you all then.
The other day we heard that Donald Trump wanted to ban all immigration.
But now we're getting things clarified.
Trump has announced a 60-day suspension of all green cards.
So that's people who want to come in to be permanent residents.
Now some people have pointed out it doesn't make a lot of sense.
If he's talking about protecting our health from the coronavirus, wouldn't we want to suspend temporary visas as well?
So like tourists and stuff.
It's a really good point.
But it appears that Donald Trump is not taking this action because he's trying to stop the flow of the virus, which is already widespread in the U.S.
He's doing it to protect jobs.
And when you look at it that way, it actually does make sense.
Green card holders who come here are the people who have access to jobs.
Considering we now have potentially 22 million people unemployed and some speculating that unemployment could reach substantially higher in the coming weeks.
What Trump is doing, it does make sense.
Now, Democrats have slammed him.
They're saying this is a distraction.
He's trying to distract everybody from his failures on the coronavirus.
I completely disagree.
We have a poll from Ipsos showing that 79% of people in this country wanted Trump earlier this month to suspend all immigration in the wake of the coronavirus.
So it's a popular position.
Basically, the way I put it yesterday was that while Democrats are trying to claim that Donald Trump is distracting everybody, he's actually, well, he's doing his thing, but it's also kind of a trap for Democrats.
Back in January, he enacts the travel ban.
They say he's xenophobic.
They say this is going too far.
Then, you know, earlier in this month, we see Bill Maher and other people saying Donald Trump's travel ban didn't go far enough.
40,000 people still coming in from China.
Missing the context, of course.
Those are American passport holders and green card holders.
Which is where it gets interesting now.
You complained about Trump not stopping the green card holders and the passport holders from coming in.
Guess what?
Now he's suspending the processing of green cards.
You can't stop American passports from coming in or people from getting passports if they're American citizens, but you're getting what you want.
This isn't Trump distracting in my opinion.
It's the opposite.
It's him stealing the limelight back.
That's the way I described it.
But what I want to show you, I got some interesting things I want to talk about.
Kind of an update on, you know, where we are at this.
We have this story here.
Trump announces 60-day ban on immigrants seeking permanent status.
I've actually got the poll for you showing that 79% of people in America want this.
They wanted this to happen a while ago.
So it is the popular position.
And as I frequently point out, what I find particularly strange in this media cycle is that you have a media that consistently will take unpopular positions And an activist base that hates Trump that will follow suit.
That's why I call this a trap.
If a poll shows 80%, okay I'm rounding up, want this to happen.
So Trump says, alright everybody, I will give you what you want.
The media and the Democrats do the same thing they always do.
They counter Trump by saying everything he does is wrong.
Well now you've got this two-fold problem for the Democrats and their friends in the media.
You've got a widely popular position that they oppose, but even their own position they oppose.
Because they were just saying the other day, like I mentioned, Bill Maher saying, you got 40,000 people coming in.
Well, you complained about it.
Dan Crenshaw said, if you want to make an argument, passport holders and green card holders can't come back in.
You can make that argument.
Well, Trump just did.
Where do you go from there?
Let's read this story.
The Guardian says, Trump announces 60-day ban on immigrants seeking permanent status in the U.S.
Donald Trump has announced a 60-day ban.
The U.S.
President framed the executive order, which he expects to sign on Wednesday, as an effort to protect American workers from foreign competition.
He said it would apply only to those seeking green cards and not temporary workers.
Okay, that seems kind of odd to me, and I'll address this.
But he did not explain how those whose applications are currently being processed would be affected.
It doesn't quite make sense to me.
If you want to protect the economy, temporary workers?
Shouldn't that be suspended as well?
I suppose it's fair to point out it may be because temporary workers could be brought in right now for critical issues, meaning we've got a major pandemic.
And one of the things brought up the other day was that people who might be exempt from this, as the New York Times reported, Are people who are critical for the recovery of the country.
In which case, temporary jobs might make sense.
But in the end, I think the issue is, in the long term, Trump is going for a popular position.
Whether it makes sense or it doesn't, whether you agree or not, 79% of Americans are saying this is what they want.
Quote, by pausing immigration, we will help put unemployed Americans first in line for jobs as America reopens.
So important, Trump told reporters at Tuesday's Coronavirus Task Force briefing.
It would be wrong and unjust for Americans laid off by the virus to be replaced with new immigrant labor flow in from abroad.
We must first take care of the American worker.
I mean, he should.
The pause would be in effect for 60 days, he added, after which the need for an extension or alteration would be reviewed based on economic conditions at the time.
Under questioning, he confirmed that he might then decide to add a further 30 days or more.
I'm gonna go ahead and say it's going to be extended 100%, but let's keep reading.
Trump said this order will only apply to individuals seeking a permanent residency.
In other words, those receiving green cards.
Big factor.
It will not apply to those entering on a temporary basis.
We want to protect our U.S.
workers, and I think as we move forward, we will become more and more protective of them.
The president, who has long campaigned against illegal immigration and again touted his U.S.-Mexico border wall at Tuesday's briefing, added the move would help conserve medical resources for U.S.
citizens.
Yeah, but not if you're still letting in temporary workers and tourists.
Technically, yes, but I don't see it that way.
I really don't.
The math doesn't add up.
I get it for the economy in the long run.
Not for medical supplies.
Not for preventing the virus.
About a million people were granted green cards last year.
The biggest share are family-based immigration sponsorships for permanent residency of foreign nationals by their American spouses.
Alexander Hunter Mihalik, a CNN producer, tweeted, My wife's green card renewal is being or was being processed.
What does that mean for her?
The remarks followed an ambiguous tweet on Monday night that caught his own officials by surprise and provoked an angry backlash from immigration rights groups and Democrats.
This is where we get good and spicy.
Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee to take on Trump in November's election, said, rather than execute a swift and aggressive effort to ramp up testing, Donald Trump is tweeting incendiary rhetoric about immigrants in the hopes that he can distract everyone from the core truth.
He's moved too slowly to contain the virus, and we are all paying the price.
Donald Trump has just gotten Joe Biden to go back and forth on his own policy positions.
Slam dunk, man.
It's popular, and now you got Joe Biden opposing it.
I said the other day, this was a trap, and they have fallen right into it.
Biden being played like a fiddle by Donald Trump.
I don't know what's wrong with these people.
Look, I often reflect on my content, and I'm like, how is it the Democrats are always doing this?
And the reality is, they are.
Listen, let me give you the logic.
Joe Biden tried to go strong against Trump.
He tried to say Trump was not strong enough on China.
He complained in an ad, his team, the Democrats, that 40,000 people came into this country.
Those were green card holders.
Trump just goes, we're going to ban them.
We're not going to give any more green cards.
There you go.
You happy now, Biden?
unidentified
And Biden goes, oh, harumph, I say, you can't do this.
If Donald Trump came out right now and said, due to complications, we have no choice but to like, you know, remove the ban, Trump supporters would just say, Trump, no, you need to do it.
You need to backtrack.
They wouldn't claim they hate him.
They wouldn't vow to turn on him.
They would be very much behind him, just saying, do better, do better.
With Joe Biden, you've got different factions.
You've got the moderates that do blame China.
And if Biden doesn't give them what they want, they say he's being soft, so they try and go after Trump.
And then the progressives say he's racist.
I'll tell you what, man.
Well, I did highlight this before in the video I did about Joe Biden.
Cecilia Wang of the ACLU says, We get it.
You guys think everything is racist.
Donald Trump is racist.
of fear-mongering is causing violent attacks on Asian Americans, we get it.
You guys think everything is racist, Donald Trump is racist.
Look, Donald Trump has isolated something that Americans want.
Let me show you this tweet.
This is Roy Beck, founder and CEO of Numbers USA.
I'm not super familiar with it, but he does cite a legitimate study from Ipsos.
He says, With tens of millions unable to work, most immigration at this moment makes no sense.
Trump's tweet indicates a sensitivity to a primary purpose of immigration laws of every country protect workers.
Status quo at this time would show callous disregard for broad economic suffering.
A temporary halt in all immigration is extremely popular right now.
In an April 9 to 10th survey, USA Today and Ipsos polling found that 79% of Americans supported temporarily stopping immigration from all countries.
And there it is.
Trump has effectively... You know, I don't necessarily want to say it's 4D chess, but I've often said the Democrats are playing checkers, Trump is playing chess, at least.
So they've come out, they go after Trump, he steals the limelight back, and now once again the left is criticizing Trump for doing what the American people want him to do.
The one effective thing, there's a few effective things the Democrats have done, or potentially could do.
The first effective thing they did was shut down Trump's press events.
That helped them wildly.
Trump's polls started going way down as soon as they removed it.
But Trump's polls are still higher than they've been for most of his presidency.
I'm sorry, but it bears repeating.
The next best thing they could do is put Michelle Obama on the ticket.
That would help them greatly.
But there is a potential pitfall for Donald Trump.
So, I can't tell you whether or not the pandemic is going to be good or bad in the long run.
For the most part, it's actually been, in many ways, good for Trump.
I mean, he's still fundraising.
He's like $200 million above Joe Biden right now, which is remarkable for the Trump campaign.
I mean, it's huge.
But his polls have gone up because even Democrats, yes, many Democratic voters, although not most of them, but a decent amount, and independents are supporting the president's actions.
Now that's gone down in recent times as they've taken him off the air, which makes me think.
This is why the most effective thing the Democrats and the media has done is cut off his press events.
You've got a bunch of Democrats that blindly trust the media, and that's bad.
You can't just do that.
The media has gone sour for the most part.
With Trump breaking through by holding these events, showing Dr. Birx and Dr. Fauci and Mike Pence and himself, even Democrats started to come around, and that caused a panic.
They shut him off.
Now these Democrats are just watching CNN again, and they're getting fake news.
And it's ridiculous how much we can see it.
This is what's truly shocking to me.
You know, the whole Chris Cuomo thing.
You even got Ben Smith, formerly of BuzzFeed, now The New York Times, calling them out for this.
But if you only watch that stuff, you're gonna believe Orange Man bad.
That's working.
That's a potential danger for Donald Trump come November.
I can't tell you how the coronavirus will necessarily impact us in the long run.
Like I said, there's some good, some bad.
If we have a second wave, And we are not prepared for this.
I truly believe Trump will be wiped out in November.
And that's, look, I often say Trump's on track for a major victory, Trump's gonna win, landslide Trump because of all the pitfalls of the Democrats, but let's be honest.
If we see a second wave, or even a third wave, around October, there's many big factors that are going to absolutely cause damage for Donald Trump.
Notably, Mail-in voting.
There's a potential for fraud, but it's also going to light up a ton of voter bases that normally don't care to vote.
Now, Republicans have complained about this.
There's some quote, probably out of context, where some Republican said, mail-in voting means like Republicans will never win again or something like that.
But one of the reasons why Republicans might actually get hurt by this is the youth vote.
And voters like this, right?
Young people overwhelmingly vote Democrat, but they don't care to go vote.
If the ballot comes in the mail, they'll just go, whatever, rubber stamp.
And that will give massive votes to Democrats.
Now Democrats argue, so you're saying that if everyone voted, we'd win?
Well, yes.
If passive, uninitiated people who don't care voted, then you probably would get major gains.
Because you've got emotional arguments versus tough arguments.
The emotional argument for immigration is, we love all people.
The poor, suffering babies bring them in.
The mature argument is, we'd love to do that, but we can't afford it.
Okay?
That's a challenge.
And so when you offer up someone pie in the sky dreams, they'll just rubber stamp it because it sounds good.
And that's an easy win for Democrats.
The point I'm making is, I certainly believe everyone should have a right to vote.
I don't believe we should change the rules.
That's the big problem right now.
I also don't think mail-in voting is going to be that big of a factor.
I think it's being hyper-focused on the real issue for Trump is that you're going to see older, more vulnerable people potentially not coming out and voting, but if he doesn't handle this properly in the next wave, you're going to see a collapse in voter turnout.
Well, actually, that should benefit Donald Trump greatly.
That's why I'm saying, I can't tell you for sure how this will play out, but I can now make a more, I don't know, YouTube's going to get mad at me for this one.
I'll put it that way.
This is a tweet from Erica Andiola.
Hashtag, don't look away, she says.
She says, I am a Dreamer and I don't trust you, Joe Biden, at all.
Your administration, the Obama administration, raided my home and deported many people I love.
That's why our Latinx community is not supporting you so far.
No thank you.
Bye bye, Biden.
Well, with all due respect, Miss Erica Andiola, first, let me point out, I am absolutely in favor in a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers.
Many people have said that's a concession from a 10-year-old policy proposal.
Yes.
Yes.
10 years ago, you offered something to the negotiating table, and everyone said no.
That doesn't mean you can just skip right over that process and now go to give them all citizenship outright.
No.
We're still there.
You put it on the table.
We want Dreamers a path to citizenship.
And I believe that's the right thing to do.
Because what do you do?
Do you take these people who spent most of their life here and send them to a country they've never been to?
I understand it's tough.
Many people disagree with me.
I think it's an ethical conundrum, a problem we're facing.
But let me just be critical of Miss Erica here.
You're a dreamer.
You don't get an opinion on the president.
I mean, first of all, you can have an opinion on anything you want.
But what I mean to say is, I don't care about your opinion on the president.
Because you are not a citizen of this country.
I believe that moving forward, we should figure out a way to get you that right and get you that access.
But for the time being, let me tell you what's going on.
You were brought into our house by someone, and you didn't know what was going on because you were a minor.
That person is now sleeping on our couch, and we've agreed we don't want them to be sleeping on our couch anymore.
What do we do with the child?
Well, now that they're an adult, we don't want to just boot them out into the cold, so we're having an argument.
Me and my roommates are trying to figure out what to do with the person who's been sleeping on our couch.
Now, you may be pitching in on rent and utilities and stuff.
That doesn't change the fact that you're not on the lease.
Okay?
So, half of us are saying, look, let's just put them on the lease.
They can take that bedroom.
The other side is saying, no, dude, we don't want to do that because we've already got too many people here.
I mean, it already takes long enough to use the bathroom.
You don't step up and then say, I think so-and-so should be right.
My respect to you as an individual, your dignity, and your constitutional rights, because everybody gets those, but let us have a discussion about how to deal with the people who came here in violation of our laws, and we'll figure that out.
That's going to get me in trouble on YouTube.
But I do think it's kind of funny.
I mean, this tweet's from March.
That in the middle of a pandemic, we're trying to figure out how to deal with our economy, our jobs, and how to keep our people healthy, and how to make sure that they have access to hospitals.
And what I mean by our people is the United States of America and its surrounding territories.
And it does, to a certain degree, include immigrants, green heart holders, etc.
But undocumented people who are here, we struggle to track, that came here in violation of our laws, you don't get to just skip the line.
I'm willing to make those concessions, alright?
And I think people are deserving of some kind of amnesty.
But I recognize not everybody is.
And I recognize it might be too pie in the sky, we can't afford it.
But you know what?
I do take particular offense to someone coming into my apartment, I'm advocating for you, bro!
But if you're going to come in here and now argue that someone should, you know, that you want to decide who gets to be in charge of how rent is paid, who goes on the lease, running, you know, my apartment.
I, I, this has been my house the whole time and now you're crashing here.
Let me advocate for you.
I'm going to argue with them, but you can't do that.
All right?
Listen.
Right now, the American people want immigration stopped.
There's nothing you can do about that.
No one has a right to just say, ignore the will of the people.
That would be undemocratic.
You, and your activist friends, and those who are criticizing Biden for not supporting the Trump position, and Biden himself, who's now criticizing himself, you're in the absolute minority on this.
It's shocking to me.
Trump took a bold, popular position, and you're opposed to it.
Listen, what we've seen over and over again, and this really does blow my mind, is that Trump has consistently tricked the media and Democrats to adopting fringe minority positions.
Like he's done it with propping up the squad, right?
Saying, oh, you know, the squad do this, do that.
These people are, you know, and then all of a sudden you get the media saying, oh, how could Trump say this?
You look at the swing state polls, they hate Ocasio-Cortez.
They hate Ilhan Omar.
I hate the strong word, but it's like 78% disapprove of them.
Trump knows the weaknesses and the vulnerabilities.
I think if you want to talk about protecting the economy and everything right now, it probably makes sense to suspend all immigration.
Period.
Including the temporary visas, tourism.
But I think the issue is this.
Temporary workers and tourists bring money here.
Temporary workers might be a net negative because they're going to come, they're going to spend money they have, they're going to make money, they're going to leave.
So it might go back and forth.
Permanent green card holders will come here, spend some money, and it's money from external coming into the U.S., but then eventually enter the economy and displace other workers.
It seems like it's not a short-term solution.
I believe Donald Trump will extend this.
I believe he's wanted this for a long time, and now he's getting what he wants.
He's using the coronavirus pandemic to his advantage.
He's playing the Democrats, and they're walking right into it.
Alright, you get the point.
I mean, no disrespect to Ms.
Erika Andiola over this tweet, but I do kind of feel like, listen man, why are you saying bye-bye Biden?
Please.
Like, I'm even on your side and I disagree with you as an intersectional feminist, but I believe that we've got to figure out some way to bring Dreamers into the fold and give them access, citizenship, whatever it could be.
But I will draw the line at you telling me who should be the president and who shouldn't be the president, even though I agree with you Biden shouldn't be the president.
It's an issue of principle.
We disagree on why Biden should be president, but we both agree Biden should be president.
So, look, we're going to have this discussion and we'll figure things out.
For the time being, 80% of Americans want this.
And what are you going to do about that?
If you want to go out and support unpopular positions, do it.
And then wait to see what happens in November.
I'll leave it there.
Next segment's coming up at 1 p.m.
on this channel.
And if you haven't noticed, I am in a bathroom of an Amtrak car.
I'm just kidding.
Someone asked me that.
They said, are you like recording this in an Amtrak cart bathroom?
I'm in the van.
We got new lights because the other day it was too dark.
Truck stops are amazing.
And I'm on the road heading to Los Angeles to do a show.
Stick around.
Next segment's coming up at 1 p.m.
on this channel.
I will see you all then.
A bunch of morons are going to get us all killed.
And I'm not talking about the stupid protesters waving signs like, I need a haircut.
They'll likely just get themselves killed and potentially some other people if they spread the coronavirus.
But yes, many people shut up to protest the lockdowns and many of them had very stupid signs.
This was fodder for leftist memes to say, to be used to make the claim that the protests are all BS and that we shouldn't actually lift these lockdowns.
And I say, it is those people posting these stupid memes that are going to get us all killed.
Do you know, there's a certain point where the economy collapses, and not only do you get famine, starvation, you get riots and fighting in the street.
We get suicides, and people are already, unfortunately, I hate to say it, but yes, people have already taken their lives.
I don't... This segment is not going to be entirely just about these stupid signs.
You clicked the link, you know what it's about.
It's about this story.
The UN has warned of biblical famines of a quarter of a billion people as coronavirus threatens to leave three dozen nations starving.
And when someone comes out and says, we must reopen the economy, what do we get?
A bunch of half-baked moron memes from people who don't know what's actually happening.
So I make a joke on Twitter.
And I get a bunch of people saying, Tim, people are going to get us all killed because they want haircuts.
Some people have just shaved their heads.
Some people, like, I think, didn't Sargon just do that because he couldn't get a haircut?
Something like that.
I don't know.
Check it out.
His head's shaved.
It looks good, by the way, Sargon.
But it's not about getting haircuts.
And I will absolutely criticize the stupid people.
I will absolutely criticize those without principle who would criticize protests on the left but then demand they get a right to protest.
The reality is, everybody's allowed to protest.
But we are facing biblical famines, warns the UN.
And I'm going to read this for you.
But the first thing I want to do is explain to you why it... Listen.
If you want to protest and lift the shutdown orders because you're concerned about small businesses, that's fine.
Do so.
If you don't like the shutdown orders because you have a constitutional right to assemble and worship, fine.
Do so.
But if anyone asks you, Like, what's going on and why you need to protest.
Tell them it's not about just your small business.
It's about how all of these small businesses work together to create a sustainable economy supporting human life.
At a certain point, with the economy shut down, people start dying.
Biblical famines!
A quarter of a billion people could be starving.
At a certain point, we have to accept the harsh reality that there is a trade-off.
As the economy goes down, it might become more destructive.
The UN is telling us this.
But let me show you some of these grand memes.
I'm going to read you the story.
I'm going to tell you about the famine.
That's the important information you want.
But I've got to push back on these annoying memes.
First of all...
Some of the signs held by protesters calling for an end to the coronavirus lockdown raise eyebrows.
Quote, I need a haircut.
Yet, please don't do this.
No, you don't need a haircut.
You need a small business to function.
See that sign next to it?
Save our small businesses?
That I recognize.
That I understand.
But if you want to go out and hold this silly sign, then fine.
Don't be surprised when you look really, really bad and everyone blames you.
Let my people golf.
Are you kidding me?
Here's one.
Give me liberty or give me death.
Now that, that I understand.
Simple statement.
And I understand it and agree with it.
Now listen.
I don't know the context of these photos.
Some people will argue and say they're fake or they're jokes.
That's fine.
Some people will say it's leftists trying to make them look bad.
That's possible too.
Because I'm going to show you this tweet right here.
This is a poster, a flyer for a protest that's going around, that is very obviously fake.
It says, end the lockdown rally, no mask needed, bring your children, non-essential workers, if you're sick, still come, it's your right, Sunday, April 19th, conference house lawn, 11am, keep America great.
Hashtag end the shutdown NYC.
It's fake.
Nobody showed up, there was no plan, somebody made a fake flyer, took a picture of it, and now you get a ton of people who are just sharing it.
Whether or not they accept that it's real or not.
Notably, David Pakman, for instance, posted this.
That's actually where I found it.
He quote tweeted saying, wow, looking at this, which is very, very obvious.
He says, wow, just wow.
Very, very obviously fake.
I'm not sure if he knows it's fake or why he's sharing it.
He's not saying much.
Perhaps he'll say that he just posted saying, wow, because he knew it was fake.
I don't know.
The point is, don't share fake stuff.
Okay?
It's fake.
Nobody is saying, don't come and wear a mask and bring your kids.
But there's more.
Let me, let me go through some of these memes.
This is one that's been going around on Reddit.
Actually, no, that's not the argument being made.
just obey authority. Conservatives, it affects me now, so now I don't believe in obeying authority.
Actually, no, that's not the argument being made. First and foremost, police brutality is wrong,
and police should be held accountable 100% when they violate the rights of an individual,
regardless of the color of their skin. We do have problems with racism in this country.
That's a fact.
And there are a lot of people who ultimately just trust the police when they're policing.
It's not an issue of just obeying authority.
That is not fair.
Conservatives just obey authority as it pertains to illegal immigration.
Right.
They're saying, obey the laws of our country.
Guess what?
When the protesters come out and say, we want the lockdowns lifted, they are still saying obey authority, the Constitution.
The government does not have the right or the authority to decree anything.
They are saying the governments must adhere to the authority of the land, the Constitution.
But by all means, there are hypocrites on the right who won't stand up for people who are brutalized by police or by some, you know, by just general abuses by law enforcement.
Of course there are.
But to create a caricature of what's really going on is what really bothers me.
The people protesting for their right, for their First Amendment right, are protesting for civil liberties the same as you would be.
So I'll tell you what, let's flip the script.
When you say we should, we should, you know, protest the police brutality, but now when it comes to the government arresting women for going to playgrounds, arresting dudes for paddle boarding, you speak out against it?
The hypocrisy is a mirror image!
Stop playing these games and actually stand up for people's rights.
And then I have this last one.
The curve is flattening.
We can stop social distancing.
And then you see the same guy in a parachute.
The parachute has slowed my fall.
I can take it off now.
At a certain point, yes.
If you are parachuting from a plane, and you have begun to drift towards a volcano, you might want to say, well, I can just go for the volcano, or I can take the parachute off and fall, and I'll probably survive, but I'll be injured.
You get the point.
These people are making these insane memes to tell you to let people starve to death and die.
And it's the most frustrating thing to me.
The UN has warned of biblical famines.
Biblical famines.
We are not talking about getting a haircut.
And that's what people are saying to me, Tim, what about these people who just want to get haircuts?
I don't care.
I don't want to see 250 million people starving because starving people, like we're trying to help people.
People deserve to eat.
Well, Whether or not they can get food is a challenge.
What we're talking about is people working and producing food.
There was another meme where it said, the same people that are protesting the end of these lockdowns are the ones who demanded a shutdown of social services for families.
And I'm like, that's not even a point to be made against them.
You're right, they'll agree with you.
They're not asking for a handout.
They're not protesting the government give them anything.
They're protesting for the right to keep working and make their own things.
And when those people stop, the government can't just give you things.
It's not magic.
These people who are slamming on these protesters don't realize that food has to be made by someone.
And when you shut down the economy, food isn't being made by someone, and it can't be sent to other people.
The government isn't just going to fabricate food in its magical Elysium lab, and then give it out to all of the people of the worlds.
Oh, they'll print money for you, and then eventually the money becomes worthless, and you can't eat it.
I love it.
The leftist activists love to have that saying.
You know, it's a famous quote where it's like, only after every tree is destroyed, after every lake is poisoned, after every farm, you know, blighted or whatever, will people finally realize you can't eat money.
I wonder if these leftists will recognize that right now.
The hypocrisy is palpable.
I have seen protesters on the left go out and people on the right mock and ridicule them and tell them to get out of the road and get a job and all that stuff.
And I've seen people on the left slam conservatives now protesting for their rights, saying you're hypocrites, blah, blah, blah.
Look, both people who do that are hypocrites.
The reality?
Most people recognize the right to protest.
Most people recognize we must defend our rights.
It used to be the left.
Calling out the intelligence agency's abusive powers.
Are they doing that today?
For the most part, no.
They're supporting them, saying, ha ha, orange man bad, go for him, spy on us.
Now they're starting to come back around a little bit, but it's strange to me to see movies like Zeitgeist, which actually has quotes from Alex Jones, and here's like a lefty guy, and now a right-wing guy.
It used to be anti-authority, now the left has adopted authoritarianism.
Let me actually read you the story.
The United Nations warned the coronavirus pandemic could trigger famine as the worldwide freeze on commerce sent shockwaves through financial markets.
The bleak warning came on Tuesday as deaths from the virus surpassed 174,000 worldwide, with governments anxiously trying to chart a path out of the unprecedented global health and economic emergency.
One World Food Program director warned widespread famines of biblical proportions could force millions in already vulnerable countries into starvation due to the global crisis.
The economic impact of the pandemic could lead to a humanitarian catastrophe with a number of people suffering from acute hunger projected to nearly double to 265 million this year.
The UN's World Food Programme warned.
265 million.
So about 132 million people will be made to starve because it's doubling the number.
So you already have starving people.
You want to double that number?
How many people will die?
174,000 people around the world have died.
I get it.
That's really, really bad.
You know, we're heartbroken, we're scared.
If we stay on this course, the UN is telling us 132 million people will be put at risk.
If even a small percentage of those starving people die, it will dramatically surpass the coronavirus.
Now, let's be real.
If we reopen the economy to make sure there's food for everybody, it's entirely possible the amount of death from the coronavirus exponentially increases.
Potentially a second wave.
I don't know the math.
I just know that you can't outright dismiss the fact that the economy needs to function.
Unless, of course, you want people to die.
It's annoying to me that, you know, even people I know, like I've said, I apologize for reiterating it, but I can't believe my own friends would be like, Tim, we gotta stay locked down.
It's not about a haircut.
I'm like, you're right, it's not.
Have you actually read this news?
They haven't.
They see memes.
They base off these low-grade garbage memes and they think it's reality.
And too many people do that.
I don't care about your political faction.
They say, debates are raging worldwide over when and how to relax lockdowns imposed to prevent the spread of the highly contagious virus.
We have this major forecast, which just about doubles the number.
These people are gonna lose their lives, man.
Many leaders fear triggering another wave of infections, but are also worried about the mounting economic costs and signs of social tension.
These people like to pretend like the economy is just some stupid rich guy in a loft in New York City.
It's not.
It's food growing from the ground, being sent to a plant to be processed, and a loaf of bread being delivered to a poor family who bought it with food stamps.
That's the economy.
It includes the government.
It includes the people who need the food.
It includes the taxpayer.
It includes the trucks, the oil, the farmers.
That's what we're talking about.
We are on the brink of a hunger pandemic, WFP director David Beasley told the UN Security Council in a video conference.
Millions of civilians living in conflict-scarred nations, including many women and children, face being pushed to the brink of starvation with a specter of famine, a very real and dangerous possibility.
The worst-case scenario could see famine in some three dozen countries, Beazley said.
As the WFP warned of potential famine, group of 20 agricultural ministers pledged to ensure sufficient global food supplies for the poorest, the most vulnerable, and displaced people.
Freezes on whole sectors of commerce are already playing out dramatically on oil markets, where prices have crashed due to the drop-off in energy demand and a supply gut.
Before the pandemic crisis, Beasley was appealing to donor countries to increase food relief funding to the poorest countries because war and natural disaster were putting severe strain on food systems.
In East Africa, 70 million people were out at risk of starvation after locust swarms tore through crops earlier this year.
He told The Guardian, I was already saying that 2020 would be the worst year since the Second World War, on the basis of what we forecast at the end of last year.
Now, my goodness, this virus is a perfect storm.
It has taken us to uncharted territory.
We are looking at widespread famines of biblical proportions.
Please, whenever someone comes to you and says, Your protest is stupid.
We don't need to do this.
Just send them this.
Send them the article.
Go to the Daily Mail.
Send them the article.
Send them the video.
Let them know.
We are not talking about Karen getting a haircut.
We are talking about hundreds of millions of people dying from starvation.
The United States is now the hardest hit country with more than 43,000 people dead.
My heart goes out to them, their families, The problem is, we want to minimize death.
And there's no way to stop it.
We want to minimize it, okay?
We gotta take into consideration the facts that the economy plays a vital role in making sure people have heating for their homes, access to healthcare, food to eat and water to drink.
As the economic downturn starts to bite, President Donald Trump announced the U.S.
would temporarily halt immigration to the country, claiming it would save American jobs, some 22 million of which have vanished in the wake of virus shutdowns.
The vague threat.
Yeah, I'm not super concerned about this.
In hard-hit Europe, some countries are cautiously creeping out from confinement, though large-scale gatherings appear to be out of the question for the foreseeable future.
While Germany is allowing small shops to reopen, authorities cancelled Oktoberfest, a beloved beer.
We know what Oktoberfest is.
Spain announced it was scrapping its annual ball-running festival in Pamplona.
In one week, though, children in Spain who have been housebound for over a month under a tight lockdown will be allowed to accompany parents on food, shopping, and other sanctioned outings.
Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has also promised to soon unveil a plan to start reopening the hard-hit country.
This is good news.
Things are going to start reopening.
People want to see it reopened.
I'm happy to see it.
But we're also seeing many countries now suspend exports of food.
Russia.
Other countries in Eastern Europe.
Many nations are concerned they won't have food for themselves.
It's not just about individuals going to shops and hoarding foods.
Governments are doing it as well.
And this means food relief and trade will no longer be available.
Now, for most people, you might argue we shouldn't be sending too much food aid, or food aid at all, to certain countries.
The argument is, feed a man a fish, teach him for a day, teach a man a fish, feed him for the rest of his life.
What we've tried doing in many poorer nations that are starving is give them the resources to learn how to farm better, grow more crops, and have food available.
Many nations require food aid.
Now, it's a double-edged sword.
You give them the food, you save these lives, but then they just need more food in the future.
How we solve it, I don't know, but I'll tell you this.
Some of these places aren't necessarily impoverished.
But they produce specific things, not food.
Like, if there's a region that produces, say, rare earth minerals that we use for our electronics, they don't have food in this region, but they can trade this for food in return.
If countries are suspending exports amid this lockdown, see, not just economic issues internally, then these regions that typically produce other products we need won't have food and will stop.
The train will come to a stop immediately and every car will be thrown off the track.
People will die.
Now, the bigger fear I have for all of this is the potential for war.
A lot of stuff is going on in this front, and I'm going to save it for the next segment I do at 4 p.m.
For those listening on the podcast, you've already heard it, because it will be my main segment.
War is a very real possibility.
I am sick and tired of these snooty, elitist, upper-crust media elites who have jobs, who have paychecks, who don't understand how bad it is, and they say to me, hey, man, I'm watching my friends get laid off, so I'm worried, too.
No, you're not.
You haven't failed to pay rent.
You haven't questioned whether or not you'll be able to buy food at all.
You're sitting there saying, I hope I don't get fired.
There's a very real difference between saying, oh man, I might get fired, and sitting there saying like, oh no, the power just went out.
You want to talk about stress and fear, wait until that happens to you.
Now, maybe once these people in media start feeling the brunt of this, their opinions will change, but they're on top.
So, as the ship is sinking, they look around, it's like that, they love this Titanic meme, where the back end of the Titanic goes up as it sinks, and they say, if we're really sinking, then why are we so high up?
That's you, media personalities, not realizing the boat is going under, you're coming next, and because you're in your insulated Hollywood bubble, you have no idea what's coming.
So I can't necessarily blame all of them.
It's ignorance and naivety.
But let me just show you what's happening.
These memes are ridiculous, and they're annoying because they're on the front page of Reddit all day, every day.
It's a bunch of children who are living in wealth.
I understand things are getting bad for everybody.
I understand you've been locked down, but you are still the wealthy, privileged elite.
As everyone goes down, and you go down with them, you are still on top.
And you telling these people they're stupid and advocating for longer shutdowns are ignoring the fact that we are facing biblical catastrophe and maybe even war.
But you get the point.
I feel like I'm just preaching to the choir so often.
So what more can I say?
If you support the video, I'd appreciate it if you gave it a share.
This, to me, is one of the most important things.
I don't think every person protesting is doing it for altruistic reasons.
I think some people just want haircuts.
I think that's stupid.
But to outright dismiss the fact the economy must be restarted soon is insane.
Everybody needs to shut up.
We need to look at what's going on in these places.
I'll leave it there.
Next segment's coming up at 4 p.m.
Thanks for hanging out, and I'll see you all then.
CNN is evil, and I don't use that word lightly.
You may have heard me if you watched my other segment on this, but they are not doing news.
They are actively trying to make it harder for you to understand what's going on while telling you not to watch other channels because they're real news.
That is evil!
It's as evil as you can get, man.
People need to know what's really going on so we can solve our problems.
And in today's CNN is evil story, CNN's Don Lemon rips stay-at-home protesters for complaining That they don't have haircuts.
A gross mischaracterization of what is actually happening.
Why?
Because the unhinged rant from Don Lemon about, what is wrong with these people?
Where he was like, Trump posted a meme and he goes, what is wrong with these people?
Don Lemon is making things up because it's entertainment.
It is fake news.
It is the epitome of fake news.
And you know, Ben Smith of the New York Times, formerly of BuzzFeed, I got to shout him out every time because he called him out for this.
But I want to show you how CNN does it and the right way to do it.
See, Piers Morgan also came out saying, I know you want to fight for your liberty, but the real threat to you is the coronavirus.
A much more respectable argument about why we should be locked down.
And I appreciate it.
Well, we'll show you what Don Lemon said, and I'm gonna smack him down for being evil, a liar, a deceiver, and then I'll show you the right way to ask people to stay home.
Because, surprisingly, Piers Morgan's been doing a good job ever since he left CNN.
Well, Fox News writes, CNN's Don Lemon rips stay-at-home protesters for complaining that they don't have haircuts.
Please.
CNN anchor Don Lemon went on a fiery tirade.
Let me just call it an unhinged rant.
against the stay-at-home protesters who have taken to the streets across the country pressuring governors to reopen states.
It makes me so angry because every night when I leave the studio and when I come in, there's an army of people through New York City, an army of immigrants and people of color and people who are keeping the city running.
Lemon began the rant during his nightly handoff with colleague Chris Cuomo.
They are disinfecting offices.
They're cleaning people, they're changing bedpans, and they are working.
And those people are out there complaining that they don't have haircuts?
Who the hell do you think you are?
No, Don, who do you think you are?
In New York City, people have been flocking to parks.
They have been ignoring these orders since they were enacted.
There's videos of when the naval vessel came in.
All these people outside run and start forming a huge crowd.
So no.
Nobody is perfect.
And you want to rag on somebody, we're not going to rag on the people who are doing a good job in New York City of trying to keep things clean.
Nobody is.
We'll rag on the New York citizens who are flaunting this, the LA citizens who go out driving, the people who ignore this.
And you know who I'm not going to rag on?
The protesters demanding the economy and their freedom because they're not wrong to do so.
But you know who is wrong?
The people who for no reason are meandering about in your city's parks.
So you want to act like you're all high and mighty.
Nah, I'm not playing that.
You see, this is Don Lemon doing what CNN does best, performative fake news.
the demonstrators for slapping the face of health care workers for not abiding by social
distancing guidelines and for holding guns the protest. You see, this is Don Lemon doing
what CNN does best performative fake news. He said, you're slapping the face of the people,
the health, the health care workers who put their lives on the line every day
because you want a haircut.
You want to play golf.
Of course you're concerned about your business.
Tell the president that.
And you're out there with guns, with weapons strapped to your chest, saying you're fighting against the people, trying to tell you to stay at home, trying to save your lives.
You're upset with those people.
In the meantime, there are people who are keeping your cities going, keeping your loved ones alive, and you want to get a haircut?
Who the hell do you think you are?
What is wrong with you people?
I don't understand what is wrong with people.
Yeah.
He says, uh, Lemon went on to invoke the athlete protesters who kneel.
You have the right to protest.
You have the right to protest.
Everyone does fine.
I'm sure I will be criticized for this.
Oh, don't you know it!
And guess what?
You have the right to criticize me.
Thank you, sir.
But I don't want to hear from those people who are out there protesting with guns, right?
You got a problem with the Second Amendment, then you got to fight against it.
You got to change the Constitution.
It's never going to happen.
So you want to complain about someone fighting for their rights?
Sorry, don't care.
He says, and that is threatening, a threatening look for people.
Don't criticize people who are taking a knee at a ballgame, Lemon cried.
And people are saying, I don't want people protesting at a ballgame.
When there are people protesting, don't give me that you're out there protesting with guns, saying I want to get back to work, I want my liberty.
When, well then, you should be out there standing up for people who are.
I want to hear the same argument.
And go out there and help people protesting their government as well, for the treatment of their government as well.
Don't be a hypocrite.
Stand up for those people as well.
I'm so mad today, Lemon fumed.
Yes, because Don Lemon pretends to be angry, much like many of us in this political space, or cultural commentary space, pretend to be angry.
That's the joke I make.
You know, I did a video, a couple videos actually, where I was like, something with birds of prey.
I was like, birds of prey flopped, and feminists are pretending to be angry about it, so I'm pretending to be angry about them pretending to be angry.
It's this whole thing.
So, you know, I will say, I don't really pretend to be angry, for the most part, but sometimes, I guess the fair way to put it is, this stuff doesn't really matter a lot of the time.
Now, this does, but there's a lot of stuff that we talk about culturally that I really think just doesn't matter.
I guess I'll give my opinion because I enjoy doing it, you know, but I certainly, I guess, out of most of the people, I'm the least likely to pretend to be angry.
I say that more facetiously as a joke, as self-criticism, but I think it's fair to say You know, a lot of what we see on YouTube, a lot of what we see in the content produced and all this stuff, it's just, it really is performative.
Now look, man, I really do mean it, I'm sincere in my opinion when I talk about things.
But my headlines can be bombastic, many of you know this, and it's unfortunately, it's the sad truth of YouTube.
You know, I want to make a punchy headline, I try to make sure they're within certain constraints, but hey, you can criticize me all day and night, I'm playing the same game they are.
But I do believe there's two possibilities here with Don Lemon.
The first is that he's looking at a caricature of protesters.
He sees these exaggerated photos and he thinks that's everything.
And the right can do the same to the left.
When they look at videos of Antifa and they say leftists and they say those are the Democrats, that's not accurate at all.
You look at the average Democrat, they're not even paying attention to any of this stuff.
But this is the game that everyone plays.
Now Don Lemon is different though, because I'll tell you what.
I make opinion videos on YouTube.
I don't work for a big company.
I mean, I have a small business.
Don Lemon is doing what CNN has been doing for a long time, and it's performative.
Now, look, if you want to criticize me because I do bombastic opinion stuff... I mean, actually, I did that back.
Everybody calls me the milquetoast fence-sitter, so I'm probably the least bombastic out of most people.
But CNN's not supposed to be that.
CNN isn't supposed to yell at people and create caricatures of who the right is.
He's supposed to say something like, while there were some people holding signs saying, I want a haircut, there were most people holding signs saying, give me liberty or give me death, and talking about how they want their jobs back and they're concerned.
And the more fair point is that the protests aren't wrong.
The economy is in serious trouble.
So no, we don't need this from you, Don Lemon.
We really, really don't.
I do think our whole political commentary, cultural space, is getting bogged down with hyper-partisan garbage like this from Don Lemon, who's now making it worse.
But let me show you this from Piers Morgan.
He said, I can understand why Americans are protesting against the lockdown of their liberty,
but they're wrong. The only tyrannical enemy we need to worry about right now is the coronavirus.
Is that is that what he said?
Because that sounds absolutely respectable.
I mean, I disagree.
What you've got to know is that the economy is in serious trouble, and we're looking at hundreds of millions starving.
There are a lot of people protesting, but if you're concerned the virus will be more serious, then you're entitled to do so, because we don't know if we're at the peak yet.
Then, we have to... I mean, look, we may have plateaued, we may be coming down, but I guess this is a whole Piers Morgan article.
I'm not going to get into it because he basically recaps everything that happened, but it's an excellent way of framing it.
If you want to fight for your rights, I respect it.
Please consider the coronavirus.
And the best thing you can do is, if you do go out, wear a mask.
Social distance.
They're doing it in other countries.
Now, I personally believe we've got to get the economy going again.
And I don't know what we can do to mitigate the damage from the coronavirus because...
It could come back in a stronger second wave.
And that could get really, really bad.
But we're looking at the numbers, right?
We have potentially hundreds of thousands of people in the world who could die from this in total.
Potentially hundreds of millions who can die from starvation if the economies don't restart.
I am never, I never want to be the person who has to flick that switch to make that decision.
But I think an honest conversation is the right way to approach this.
And I think if we don't take this stuff seriously, I mean, we're in serious trouble.
Now, unfortunately for us, we have a very unserious news network in CNN.
It appears Morgan used to be there.
And it's sad.
They've become performative reality television.
They are the definition of fake news.
I would like to see NewsGuard, who I use, strike them down for their fake Chris Cuomo segments.
To start pointing out that the host they do for Late Night is more akin to Alex Jones than it is to Bret Baier.
It's funny, isn't it?
Fox News, with Bill Hammer, Brett Baier, America's Newsroom, doing a much better job of actually reporting facts.
And CNN, the most trusted name in news, they say, has become just rage-bait drivel.
Look, man, criticize me all day, I get it.
My videos are often anti-something.
You know, I do, like, my main segment videos, like today, it's talking about war and stuff like that, and so it's much more serious and news-related.
I don't get into this because I want to pretend to play a game where, you know, I get to be mad at Don Lemon.
I think CNN is doing real harm to our society because, well, Don Lemon isn't interested in really telling you what's going on.
And we don't have a strong news apparatus to inform the people anymore.
We've got showboaters like Don Lemon and Chris Cuomo and Jim Acosta and Brian Stalter.
It's just, they've turned the whole network into a fictionalized version of itself.
So you know what the last thing I'll say?
For shame, Oliver Darcy.
For shame, Brian Stelter.
You two are truly some of the most evil people in the entire industry.
And that is a fact.
Because your network has become this mess.
It has become this fake news, hyper-partisan caricature of what it should have been.
And where is Brian and where is Oliver to call out the fake news that CNN did?
Even the New York Times did it.
How long will this last?
I don't know.
But how can you be media reporters?
You're not.
You're reality TV stooges.
And you know, I know a lot of people have been ragging on CNN for a long time saying they're fake news.
Come on, man.
You know, to a point, you can say CNN's got a perspective, or they're biased, or they're hyper-focused.
I often rag on Democrats all day, and they call me biased.
But I try my best to give you the facts, and explain to you why I feel the way I do.
Brian Stelter and Oliver Darcy are actively trying to make it harder for you to understand things.
That's evil.
You guys are evil, man.
I got a couple more segments coming up in a few minutes, and I'll see you all shortly.
Now, why would Harvard need millions of taxpayer dollars when they have billions of dollars in their endowments?
It's a question many people are asking, and some people are asking it wrong.
You see, a lot of people are saying, Harvard, why are they getting small business loan money?
They're not.
They're getting higher education relief money.
It doesn't matter.
Why are they getting money at all?
Now, I understand that they employ people and they need to make sure that they can sustain themselves, but their endowments are in the billions of dollars.
Certainly, they don't need us to bail them out.
I mean, I'll be real with all these other businesses, too.
I also wouldn't mind seeing a lot of companies that failed to save go out of business and the small businesses be saved.
But hey, that's a whole other argument.
I get it.
We want to make sure people have jobs.
That includes people who work for big companies like oil companies.
I'm just a little...
Peeved that a lot of these big companies did not prepare for a rainy day because I know my business does and then they get access to you know hundreds of millions of dollars in the small business loan money and my company doesn't because we couldn't move fast enough because they dumped the money in the middle of the room like Hunger Games and made us all chase after it.
But that's a whole other issue.
Let's take a look at what's going on with Ivy League universities who don't need the money, getting the money, and then we have to pay for it.
Now Trump has said they're gonna pay it back, and they're saying we're not gonna pay it back.
It's our money.
You know what, man?
Rich people, am I right?
Right?
Daily Caller says, universities flush with cash, set to receive millions in federal coronavirus
funding.
The Ivy League is comprised of eight elite private colleges that control endowments with
a combined value of over $140 billion.
That's a B, ladies and gentlemen.
Five of the schools reported operational surpluses of over $200 million in their 2019 financial
The eight elite schools are set to receive a combined $61.7 million in taxpayer-funded federal coronavirus stimulus funding.
Good job, government.
Good job, government.
I don't know why these schools are going to get it.
Let's jump over to this story, though.
Harvard clashes with Trump over coronavirus relief.
Rebuffs call to return money.
Oh, you want to keep it?
I tell you, man.
Let's read.
Harvard University rejected calls from President Trump on Tuesday to return coronavirus relief money to the federal government maintaining that the funds from a higher education program under the CARES Act are being used to provide direct assistance to students facing financial turmoil during the pandemic.
The president on Tuesday had accused Harvard of taking money, of taking money, from the government
and claimed they'd be paying it back. This came amid scrutiny of the Paycheck Protection Program
under the CARES Act, which was meant to help small businesses but has aided some large companies too.
Look, I think there's an issue when these big companies are getting this cash,
but someone made a really good point on Twitter that if Shake Shack's got, you know, hundreds or
thousands of employees, they only got access to $10 million out of $350 billion.
I know there's small businesses who need that money too, but these are just companies trying to keep money to, you know, to save their employees and not lay people off.
It's a good point, and I can agree with it, so, yeah, look at me, milquetoast fence-sitter, right?
I still think if you're a big company and you did not prepare, come on, man.
And now we're looking at Harvard.
It's the same problem.
Harvard has all of this wealth, all of this money, and they need ours?
Harvard drew particular scrutiny from the President given the massive size of its endowment.
But a Harvard spokesman noted that the nearly $9 million in taxpayer aid it claimed did not come from the PPP program.
So what?
But rather from the CARES Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund, which helped many universities and colleges.
Harvard did not apply for.
nor has it received any funds through the US Small Business Administration's Paycheck Protection
Program for small businesses. Harvard spokesman Jason Newton said in a statement late Tuesday,
reports saying otherwise are inaccurate. President Trump is right that it would not have been
appropriate for our institution to receive funds that were designated for struggling small
businesses. Excellent misdirect, good sir, but I reject your notion. You shouldn't be getting any
money. Look, I argued that many universities deserve money too.
They have staff, they have employees.
Some companies that are getting these loans are still making money, but everyone's taking a hit.
In order to make sure we don't lay people off, we give them cash.
The problem with what we've seen so far, and you know what?
I'm still a little milked up on this one.
Let me explain.
We rushed through this relief package.
I agree that it was probably a good idea to do, because we need to rush through more money for small businesses.
This means we're going to deal with the repercussions.
That's what I said.
One of those repercussions is Harvard getting money they probably don't need, and other people who actually need stuff.
I think it was Rand Paul who said, giving a check for $1,200 to someone who didn't lose their job is not going to save us from this virus, or we need to reopen the economy.
It's a great point.
I know a ton of people who have good-paying jobs who got Trump bucks.
Got some fat Trump bucks in their bank.
And I'm like, but they don't need it.
They really didn't.
I mean, you know, fine.
It kickstarts the economy.
Get that money going all around.
And the reason why I'm not going to be upset that regular people got access to this money, even if they're still working, is because you know what, man?
We pushed this through quickly because it was an emergency.
And that I can respect.
Now Harvard, let's stop now.
Now we got the money out.
We're going to do more money for small businesses.
Let's say this.
If you're one of these big companies like Shake Shack and you don't need the money, give it back.
Harvard, do you really need the $9 million?
Because if you don't, you should give it back.
Because I don't think it's fair that the poor people themselves, all the taxpayers, got to pay your bill.
That's not cool.
Like most colleges and universities, Harvard has been allocated funds as a part of the CARES Act for Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund.
The fund includes $14 billion in aid for universities.
The law allocated the funds to all colleges that participate in federal student aid programs, through a funding formula based on the number of students at an institution receiving federal financial aid, through Pell Grants, and on the overall institutional student enrollment, according to Harvard.
The allocation of the funding, according to the CARES Act, directs that 50% of the funds
received by a college or university be used as direct financial assistance grants to students,
with the remaining money used to cover costs incurred by the college or university related
to the COVID-19 pandemic. You know, I'm not a big fan of this stuff when it comes to these
grant-type deals because you'll end up with someone who's in need of help. The school can
just say, oh, we'll help you.
Now, our tuition normally costs a hundred grand, and we'll cover that hundred grand out of the pocket of the government.
This means these schools could just say, hey, they're giving us free money to enroll people, and we set our own prices?
All right, you're going into the Special Gifted Scholars Expansion.
That's twice the price.
Don't worry, daddy, uncle, or uncle, daddy, daddy government, or Uncle Sam will be paying for it.
Here's what they said.
Harvard has committed that 100% of these emergency higher education funds will be used to provide direct assistance to students facing urgent financial needs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The financial assistance will be on top of the support the university has already provided to students, including assistance with travel, providing direct aid for living expenses to those we need, and supporting students transition to online education.
So let me get to the milk toast part.
I mentioned we rushed this through.
Everybody's gonna get some stuff.
Listen, as much as I would prefer Harvard and these universities cover their own bills, if you've got students who can't come, well, that's your problem as a business.
We are still talking about them making sure people can pay for their travel.
So we need oversight.
And that's a point brought up by Democrats.
I think it's a very fair point.
AOC actually made a good point where she said, we've already seen the problems.
Why are we going to try and push through a weak stimulus bill that doesn't do enough?
That's a good point.
And she's also added that after seeing these businesses get access to this funding, maybe we should rethink these things.
I disagree.
I agree and I disagree.
You're right.
You're right about all this.
But do we really have the time?
I mean, things are getting bad.
The oil price tanking, the demand is down.
But, you know, Rand Paul, I'll throw it to him because he's right.
Nothing is going to solve this problem.
None of these Band-Aids, these quick fixes, dumping money into the economy isn't going to change the fact there's no demand for oil.
And that means all of these industries are going to collapse, and they're going to collapse around us, and it's going to negatively impact Harvard and everyone else.
What people need to realize about this money is that it's not anything tangible.
It's just like an activation.
It's like, go ask for something you need.
Well, if I can't work, I can't make you the thing you're asking for.
And there lies the big problem.
I'm particularly frustrated by my many far-left activists because they assume that money is a thing.
It's funny.
No.
It's not.
It's access.
It's a trade medium.
The product of the labor is the value.
The labor itself is the value.
So Harvard got this money.
You know what, man?
I roll my eyes.
I get it.
They don't need it.
They're super rich, but you know what?
It's worthless.
And maybe once this money goes out to all these people, and they try and buy the things they need, and guess what?
You can't.
Maybe that's when they say, uh, we need to restart the economy.
But I'll tell you what, we're gonna see, there's a gap in the supply chain right now.
You know, it's like, what's the best way to explain this?
We've got all of these things coming in, all these truckers, all these shipments, right?
And the supply chain is re-upping itself consistently.
When you go to the store and buy a bunch of stuff, there's already a shipment en route to replace the products that haven't even been bought yet.
So right now you got all these people saying, give me money, give me money.
I'll tell you what, bro.
In one month, when that broken supply chain hits, and they can't refill those shelves, they can't get you the oil you need, or whatever you need, or the books you need, you're gonna be like, this money is worthless.
And that's when the rapid inflation and the danger comes in.
If we hit that point, and we very likely will, it is going to be pandemonium.
I mean, the oil prices tanking the other day were freaky.
And you tack that on top of the escalating conflicts with China, the South China Sea, and the potential for war, and boy, I'll tell you what.
This seems so petty, doesn't it?
Does Harvard need $9 million out of a $14 billion aid fund for schools?
Yeah, probably not.
They're gonna be giving it to students, that's fine, but a lot of people are still upset because, dude, you can afford to give your students out of your own endowments, out of the money you have.
You're operating on a surplus, right?
But I guess it's just, it's not fair to single out these individuals during an emergency, and I think it's almost a scapegoat.
I don't think they should receive the money.
But I gotta eat this one.
You know what I mean?
I gotta own up to this.
I said that we need to push this through fast to make sure people can get the funds so the economy doesn't stop.
Well, in response to that, we are seeing the negative.
And you know what?
I accept that.
I do.
I would like to ask Harvard to listen to the President.
You know, give that money back.
And if they don't, well, you know what?
That's the price we pay for rushing through an emergency.
Don't be surprised.
People, you give them an inch, take a mile.
If Harvard uses the money and they use it well, then so be it.
Otherwise, we've got to act quickly.
But I think the only answer really is just reopen the economy, man.
I'll leave it there.
I've got one more segment coming up for you in a few minutes and I will see you all soon.
Twitter is aflame with claims that the Gates Foundation, that the World Health Organization, the NIH, and the Wuhan Institute of Virology have all been hacked, and their usernames and passwords have been leaked online, and people have been granted access- Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Full stop.
No.
Unfortunately, it's not technically true.
It kind of is.
What we're actually seeing, according to numerous sources, is that there was previously hacked information that was dumped and being aggregated and then put online.
But what we can confirm, according to multiple sources, is that experts were able to use this login information to actually access these websites.
Does that mean that real information, emails and otherwise, are going to be released?
Possibly.
I'm not sure.
But I can tell you one thing.
The information is legit.
The Washington Post has confirmed it.
The logins work.
Now, whether or not the information coming out is going to be clean, that's going to take a whole other... It's going to be a whole other issue.
But we could get some big stuff.
We could.
And one of the things we've seen is that with this information being previously hacked, man, the security for these companies, or for these organizations, are just in the gutter.
Apparently, some people's passwords were password.
Or change me.
Let's read the story from the Washington Post.
They say, nearly 25,000 email addresses and passwords allegedly from the NIH, the World Health Organization, Gates Foundation and others are dumped online.
Who posted them is unknown, but they immediately became fodder for right-wing activists attacking the organization.
The Washington Post says, Unknown activists have posted nearly 25,000 email addresses and passwords allegedly belonging to the National Institutes of Health, the WHO, the Gates Foundation.
Okay, we got that already.
Well, SITE.
The site Intelligence Group was unable to verify whether the emails and passwords were authentic.
The group said the information was released Sunday and Monday and almost immediately used to foment attempts at hacking and harassment by far-right extremists.
Spare me your excuses, okay?
I don't care about who's doing what.
Tell me about the hack.
An Australian cybersecurity expert, Robert Potter, said he was able to verify that the World Health Organization email addresses and passwords were real.
The lists, whose origins are unclear, appear to have first been posted to 4chan, a message board notorious for its hateful and extreme political commentary, and later to Pastebin, a text storage site, to Twitter and to far-right extremist channels on Telegram, a messaging app.
Neo-Nazis and white supremacists capitalized on the lists and published them aggressively across their venues, said Rita Katz, site's executive director.
Using the data, far-right extremists were calling for a harassment campaign while sharing conspiracy theories about the coronavirus pandemic.
The distribution of these alleged email credentials were just another part of a months-long initiative across the far-right to weaponize the COVID-19 pandemic.
I don't care at all.
Whenever the media throws the Nazi thing out there, I just shut it off.
I'm not interested.
Tell me about the names.
What did you find?
What did you verify?
I don't care if a bunch of, you know, I don't know, people dressed like clowns wrote the names down on a bunch of bowling pins and juggled them around.
What's being done by these people is irrelevant to me.
I would like to know if the information released and the information You know, the usernames and passwords are legit and was this a hack?
And it turns out, thanks for wasting our time, Washington Post, for the most part.
They did confirm, at least from one expert, the names were real, that this is not a new or unique hack.
It's actually old information they believe was bought or collected off of the dark web.
Now, I'll show you this tweet.
This is from Nicole Perlroth.
She's a cybersecurity reporter for the New York Times, and she tweeted,
I spent the vast majority of my day confirming the dumped usernames and passwords from who?
Gates Foundation and NIH are from old dated breaches of other companies.
Someone went through all of this trouble to pull their credentials off dumps from other hacks.
Their credentials spread from 4chan to Pacement to Twitter to far-right channels on Telegram and were blasted to my colleagues and I at the New York Times and apparently other outlets.
Harassment and going viral is the goal.
Please, let's not give this more attention than they're due.
Many thanks to Steve D3.
I believe that's... I know Steve.
Yeah, Steve Reagan.
Cool dude.
Follow him if you're interested in cybersecurity.
As for the PR folk who tried to spin this to get press for your clients today, maybe vet these yourselves first.
I love it.
Good job, Nicole.
Steve's a good dude.
If Steve says it, I trust him.
It looks like people are aggregating this information from other breaches.
Now, what's interesting about this...
is that this shows the Gates Foundation, NIH, WHO, etc.
was not hacked.
Okay?
Technically.
Let me break this down for you.
What this means is that other websites were hacked, and people used their email addresses and passwords there, but because people often use the same credentials from various different sites, if someone signed up for say, Facebook, And they said their email address was like john at thegatesfoundation.org and their password was password.
You could try that same combination on any other site and it might work.
This has been confirmed.
So now the real question is, while this wasn't an initial hack, the people who are exploiting this information and breaking in, it's technically a breach.
Will information come out of this?
If these are authentic, that it stands to reason, yes.
And this could be very, very huge.
Or, as we've seen from some screenshots, they lead you to dead and unused user accounts that don't really have access to anything.
Though some people are saying they've gotten access to the emails in their entirety.
Because you've got to understand, outside of what you could actually get from these websites, which is probably an employment portal or something pointless, You can actually get access to their communications, and that's when things get spicy.
People have supposedly said... I'm sorry, people have posted emails claiming that these are legit, you know, here's what's happened.
We don't know if that's true, but I can tell you that if they're verifying some of these usernames and passwords have worked, it stands to reason some of these communications could be legit.
Now, they've got to be verified.
The challenge will be whether or not Gates Foundation, Wuhan Institute, you know, etc.
will actually admit to some of these things.
We'll see.
Let me read what they say.
A little bit more from the story.
They say, The report by Cite, based in Bethesda, said the largest group of alleged emails and passwords was from the NIH, with 9,938 found on lists posted online.
The CDC had the second highest number.
The World Bank had 5,000.
The WHO addresses and passwords totaled 2,732.
Smaller numbers of entries were listed for the Gates Foundation.
We know who they are.
You know, Bill Gates.
They also targeted was the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a Chinese research center in the city where the pandemic began.
It's been accused of a role in triggering the outbreak.
Now, here's what I can't confirm and I want to just make sure.
Look, a lot of people are sharing the screenshot.
Claiming that there's an email showing somebody from Wuhan planted something contaminated so that it would infect this seafood market, or I'm sorry, that wet market.
I do not believe it makes sense because we have reports coming out from like Fox News that it didn't even originate in the food market.
That was always being questioned.
So, for someone to come out and say, like, boom, there's an email saying that's where it originated, it's like, but they don't even think that's where it came from.
Let me tell you, man.
Fox News reported that sources, U.S.
intelligence, believe it came from a lab that China screwed up, had a breach, and it broke out.
If that's what the U.S.
intelligence is saying, and it's being reported by, you know, CNN's reporting, U.S.
intel is saying that Fox News had their sources confirm this, Washington Post has a Rutgers University professor saying it's possible, then it's probably not the food market.
So, if someone's going to come out with a leaked information, be like, ah, it is, Okay.
Maybe you can argue it's a reverse conspiracy that US intelligence is trying to protect China.
I'm sorry, man.
I don't buy it.
Let's check it out.
This is great.
They say this.
Potter, chief executive of Australian company Internet 2.0, said he was able to gain access into the WHO computer systems using email addresses and passwords posted on the Internet.
The WHO has come under heavy criticism, including from Trump, who suspended funding to it for its response to the coronavirus and has been accused of being too deferential to China.
Their password security is appalling, Potter said, of the World Health Organization.
48 people have password as their password.
Others, he said, had used their own first names or, quote, change me.
Oh man, I love how bad cyber security is for all these companies.
Mind-boggling.
Botter said the alleged email addresses and passwords may have been purchased from vendors on the dark web.
The dark web, for those that don't know, it's just non-indexed websites.
Some of these are nefarious, most of it's just random trash that no one cares about.
Like, the way I explain it to people about the dark web is, it's a portion of the internet that is not indexed by most search engines.
You know what you find in the dark web?
You find gifs of, like, 1990s macho man Randy Savage doing a dance or something.
Remember those old websites?
Now, because these media outlets want to be like, the dark web, ooh, a nefarious black market, they lump it all together.
In reality, people have private sites that are not indexed that you can access through certain browsers if you want to find some stuff.
Let's see what we got.
Yeah.
Cats of Sight said that while material from old hacks does appear in the dark web occasionally, we have not yet found any rock-solid proof of that for this specific case.
In which case, we don't know where this stuff came from.
And they're saying it wasn't hacked.
They're from old breaches.
And it looks like we have this confirmed.
And I really do... I do trust Steve.
Shout out, Steve.
So if that's the case, then I don't think it was... I don't think it was hacked, and it very likely did come, then, from a black market site or something like that, unless it was the people from the previous breaches who had them and compiled them, which, I don't know, I guess it's possible.
So, you know, that's the gist of it, I guess.
They say, among the most prominent telegram venues to share the information was a Nazi channel.
I don't care.
Look, man, lots of people are sharing the information.
And it's gonna go up on tons of different sites.
You can't just single out, you know, one group and be like, oh, look who it is, because they're trying to discredit what's actually going on.
I'll tell you what.
There's going to be some anti-establishment types.
They're going to latch onto it.
We'll see how it plays out.
We'll see if any information comes of this.
But for the time being, let me tell you, it seems that the passwords and names are legit.
Whether that proves the information coming out is or isn't irrelevant, it just means that we may actually see some breaches.
They'll have to be confirmed, and then we'll go from there.
I'll stick to the story, and I'll see if I hear anything else, and I'll keep you guys updated.
