0:01In this case, a country that you love, America, that you're from, that you fought for at the highest levels, served in the military, served in the CIA, you know, you've been around the block with some of the most powerful parts of the government. How do you feel when you see something like that happen? Does that make you lose faith in the system in its entirety, or do you view that as sometimes these horrible things happen, and when they do, we need to point them out?
0:27>> I lose faith in the system.
0:30I've seen too many of them happen. I That inter- that particular interview, I mean, some of these interviews get to me, you know, you you listen to them. At least you listen to a couple of them, and we get deep, and and it's Yeah, I lose faith. I realize politicians are political prostitutes, and they will stop at nothing to get what they want. And and and that's what that was. That was There were oil deals involved. There was a status of forces agreement that needed to be re-signed.
1:05And um and and to just to know that there are people out there. I mean, these guys are You watch the interview. These are just red-blooded Americans who wanted to defend the country and fight for the country and and and protect US dignitaries. And and they did a phenomenal job doing that. Like I said, Blackwater has never lost a principal, ever.
1:27And and and to throw these to to throw these guys Three of them are going to prison for what, 30-something years? One of them, Nick Slatten, was going to prison for life.
1:38>> Without parole.
1:39>> How the [ __ ] do these people sleep at night?
1:42>> Yeah, I >> And how the [ __ ] are they still in? How is one of them the president of the United States now, you know? Yeah, it gets to me. It really gets to me.
1:51>> Well, it's it's a career, you know? That That's the problem.
1:55If I could sum it all up in in one judgment, the problem with Washington is that it's a career. And that's not just the politicians. I mean, look at K Street. Look at Look at the the I mean, I'll I'll I'm not a Trump guy at all, but I will give him this.
2:12When he termed that thing the swamp, I mean, that was pretty spot-on. I don't know if he came up with that or someone else did, but props because that's To me, that's exactly what it is, and I think a part of it, just trying to look at it from the outside, is people will do things when they don't have to see it.
2:33You know? And you could probably relate to this when you hear people like me or anyone out there give opinions on the military or stuff like that. There has to be a party that's like, "Well, you haven't [ __ ] been there." Right? But, >> [laughter] >> at the same >> a big part of it.
2:45>> Think of that same psychology, though, with these politicians. Like, yes, there are some straight-up evil politicians.
2:50I'd say a lot of them are. But, they make these choices behind a desk when they got five [ __ ] staffers outside who are then going to go tell some other guy to do something and tell some other guy some other guy, and eventually someone goes to prison at the end of that loop. There's no like there's no personal facing it with accountability right now right there.
3:09They're not like standing next to those guys' prison cells and look them in the eyes and saying, "You deserve to be in here."
3:14>> Mhm.
3:14>> You know? There's a piece that gets lost, and then tragedy or even corruption, in this case I would call it, happens.
3:26>> [sighs] >> No matter what, it's a shame, you know?
3:29And these people need to pay for what they've done.
3:32>> They're probably not going to, though.
3:34>> They probably won't.
3:35But, they need to.
3:37And it it And it just keeps happening, and and it's going to keep happening if people don't start digging into this [ __ ] you know?
3:45And I understood it because I understand it because I had the same opinion as you, and I had walked in those shoes, you know?
3:54And I just automatically assumed they were guilty. I mean, everybody everybody was out to get these guys and and this goes along the same lines as the Eddie Gallagher case, too, but it's >> [clears throat] >> it just goes to show you you cannot trust what you're being what you're watching on the news.
4:14You can't trust it. There's so much more, you know, and and and these people are being told what to say. They're being censored.
4:22They're being told what narrative to push. And and then you watch an episode like that and you see you see how bad it actually is.
4:30>> Yeah, and I think I look, to put on the tinfoil hat with it for a second, I don't think it's much of a tinfoil hat at all, but I think there is a long-standing movement in this country that comes from within it and from outside it to sow division and to to look at narratives never with any nuance. So, at my gym a few years ago, I used to have like this little game that I didn't even have to play cuz it was just automatic all the time every night, but when I would go to cool down on cardio afterwards, there would be three TVs on.
5:07And they were always they were on mute with captions on and they were always MSNBC, Fox, and CNN. And I used to just sit there laughing my ass off watching the two on the outside tell the same story the one in the middle's telling.
5:20And they're both like the left and right are calling each other completely evil and the other side has absolutely no argument and painting entirely different stories about the same god damn thing.
5:31And I'm like, how is this not programmed? Like there's no way this is not literally programmed in because it makes money and it also accomplishes a bigger goal, which is you make people fight over all these not to play down some stories, but let's call it what it is. Day-to-day smaller one-dimensional type stories so that whatever the hell they're doing in the back scenes that that they don't want you to see, >> Mhm.
5:56>> they distract you from by getting you pissed off on all this stuff.
6:00>> Very I mean, that's very true.
6:02The The media is manipulated in so many ways, you know, it's just it's it's it's an advertising platform that's for sale. That's a good way to put it.
6:15>> It's a good way I I have another theory on this. Would love to get your thoughts on it, but I call it the the front page theory. And I'm sure someone else has come up with this before, but it's just something I thought about talking with a few people, but if you look at all the major publications that now we'll see like tweets with their headlines when it's funny cuz you're like they actually printed this. You think like New York Times, Washington Post, whatever.
6:40I think there are a lot of good journalists at these places.
6:44I think that those journalists don't get on the front page very often though.
6:47When I've talked with other journalist friends of mine who are in the field, the way it seems to come out to me is that if you break down the entire [clears throat] system, you basically have 80/20.
6:59On the 80% side, 50 of those 80 are really good journalists who really care and just want to get to the truth.
7:0730 of those 80, they care, they're just not very talented.
7:11And then you get the other 20.
7:13And the other 20 are those front page [ __ ] who will write whatever they got to write or say whatever they got to say, report whatever they got to report according to whatever predisposed narrative there is at that [ __ ] time to get their ass on the front page. And I don't have to name names. You can go pull up the New York Times. You can go pull up the Washington Post. There are people who are just on there all the time and they're constantly, you know, in beautiful prose, I might add, reporting things where it's like, well, what the [ __ ] who wrote this headline?
7:40Who wrote this paragraph right here? And to me, what it's doing is it's destroying the faith in the media as a whole, righteously so, but it's also taking away from a lot of the brilliant people, including some I've had in here, like Andy Greenberg and Joby Warrick, who write at some of these places and do a tremendous job and have for years. But once, you know, you have that next your name, there's a subset of the population that through past events is going to be like, oh, can't listen to that, no matter what. And you get you get looped in with it.
8:11>> Well, that's the beauty of podcasting, right?
8:14This has taken over the news. It is taking over the news. And it's the only place that you can come and get your your your message out uninterrupted, un- un- filtered, um no agenda, depending on which podcast you pick, but I mean, these long-form these long-form interviews, I mean, they're diving deep. You're diving deep.
8:41I'm diving deep.
8:43Concrete's diving deep.
8:45There's a There's a handful of podcasts out there that are really that are getting truth out and they're getting new ideas out, new opinions out that that aren't being heard. And that's shaking things up. And And look what's happening. The media's It's crashing.
9:01It's crashing. People are losing confidence in the media.
9:05And more and more more and more I'm seeing in comments and reviews and emails and messages, everything, that people are coming to podcasts, especially my podcast, I mean, cuz that's the messages I read, obviously, but they're coming there for That's where they're getting their news. That's where they're getting truth. That's where they're diving deep into these subjects. And it's it's it's shaking things up. And it's going to take a lot people like us to do that.
9:31>> So, Shawn was here for over 4 hours talking with me, and there was another part that we ended up recording that is different from everything we discussed in this episode that I do not want to cut. So, I'm going to put it out and I'm going to put it out as its own separate probably about 1-hour long conversation sometime in the week after I record this podcast. So, just keep your eyes open for that. It's really really good and I will see you when that drops.
10:00>> 100% but actually you would mention this earlier your your friend Eddie Gallagher >> Mhm.
10:09>> that [clears throat] whole case. That was another one you litigated on your podcast.
10:14>> Well, we're trying to wreck your spot and I look over and they had uh kids' heads little kids' heads on the spikes.
10:21There was dead bodies all over the place. We had our turp blown in half. Uh I got pulled into the Master Chief of the Trident um and said, "Hey, you're under investigation."
10:33>> So, when you saw that case cuz you didn't work with him in the Navy SEALs, right?
10:38>> No.
10:40>> What was your first thought? Did you think the media was doing that or did you think he actually did it?
10:44>> I thought he did it.
10:46>> Really?
10:46>> Yeah. I thought he did it even when there were people that I respected that say he didn't.
10:57There were people that I respected more who were still in who were saying that he did do it. And because those guys were in I I thought, "Well, they have more information than I do." You know, I'm I and I really value uh the information that I get from some of the guys that I still know inside of there but when they told me that I was like, "Definitely, if if they're saying that, he's guilty."
11:27>> And can you tell people what he was accused of specifically?
11:30>> Oh, he was accused of a couple things.
11:32He was accused of the main the main thing was he was The one thing that I didn't get, and this was the the main thing, was he was accused of killing an ISIS fighter in war.
11:46Supposed to be a good thing.
11:48Right?
11:49But once again, you got half the country jumping on this train. He I mean, let's think about what ISIS was doing to us and and all these other terrorist organizations.
12:00They're cutting our dicks off after we're dead, stuffing them in our mouth.
12:05They're raping little kids. They put little kids in cages and burn them alive. They chop off news reporters' heads on national on international television. They put people in cages and slowly drown them in the river, you know? So, why anybody in this country would be [ __ ] outraged that a Navy SEAL killed an ISIS fighter is beyond me.
12:33It is. It's beyond I I I just can't think of any circumstance that somebody wouldn't be happy that one of those people were eliminated off the earth. So, we'll get through that, but that was the main That was the main thing, right? He killed an ISIS fighter.
12:49>> He like stabbed him to death or something. Stabbed him to death. But you thought he was Now again, you thought he was guilty talking to the guys whose opinions you value. So, even though it was an ISIS fighter, you thought there was something bad to it?
13:00>> No, I didn't I That always confused me.
13:03But then if you go back in the media, then when that didn't stick, then it was always killing women, always killing children. He's killing He's killing all these people, and it's all It was like, well, this didn't stick, so let's add this. Let's add this. Let's add this.
13:19And anyway, so because I was I had valued the opinions and and the information that I was getting from uh former teammates of mine who were still in.
13:29I mean, I figure they've got to know. I mean, what the hell do I know? I've been out for over 10 years at this point.
13:36>> [clears throat] >> Close to, anyways.
13:38Then when I got him on the show, much like the Blackwater episode, it I I realized I was like, this guy got steamrolled, too.
13:47You know? And even after the Actually, I don't want to say that cuz I'm not 100% I I don't remember the exact timeline of the case, but I do he may have been uh it may have been thrown out after this, but even a Marine came out and said, "I'm the one that killed him."
14:10>> Oh, they killed the fighter?
14:11>> Yes. "I'm the one that killed the fighter."
14:14Which I believe that's what got it thrown out.
14:17>> Mhm.
14:18>> But the Navy was still on him. They were trying to they tried to pull his trident, which is their Yeah, it's the seal and insignia that you wear as a Navy SEAL. They tried to take his retirement. And that's where Trump kept having to to step in and say, "Give the [ __ ] guy his retirement back. Give the [ __ ] guy his rank back. Give him his trident back. You're not going to do this."
14:42We already went through this. It's been through court, you know? And they had witnesses lying on the stand. They You know, and so when he came in for the interview, it like I said, it was much it was very similar to the Blackwater episode where I I became I just I'm going to be honest, I was disgusted that I was ever in a SEAL for weeks after that. I couldn't believe that I had spent time within a community that [ __ ] burns their own people like that, that will that that for killing an ISIS fighter. I mean, it was >> Do you think they just bought what they were sold, kind of like you did though?
15:18>> is what That is what happened. They had upper head shed throughout the SEAL Teams running around telling telling the knuckle draggers like me, "Hey, we have video of them doing this.
15:30It's all going to come out in court."
15:32>> But, they didn't.
15:33>> They didn't have any [ __ ] video of it. Nothing came out in court. It was all lies. All of it.
15:41>> That's the See, that That's That's where you lose me. When you start like making claims about stuff you know is not true.
15:47Like, "Oh, we got video." No, you don't.
15:48>> Yeah.
15:50>> And my understanding is that he was a particularly hardo known as like a hardo within the community, but also within like the training realm. So, some of the guys didn't like him because of that. And so, perhaps that's maybe why some of the people who were {quote} witnesses were pressing that Oh, yeah, he probably did that for sure.
16:12>> Look, just like you have lazy pieces of [ __ ] in corporate America, you got lazy pieces of [ __ ] in the SEAL Teams, too.
16:18And especially not all of them, but it came with this came with the next generation. You know, you got It came with the gaming generation. That's how I think where it started. You got guys that would rather sit on their [ __ ] ass and play Call of Duty and play these video games rather than go out and do the real thing. And Eddie is from Eddie's around my age, you know, he's my generation.
16:47He was around when the war kicked off.
16:49He wasn't a SEAL when the war kicked off, but you know, he was around then when it was There was a lot of country pride. It was Twin Towers got hit. Time to go [ __ ] these people up.
16:59>> Mhm.
17:00>> You know, and and that's what we went in to do. Everybody from my generation and prior and almost everybody after, you know, that was That's why you join. You join to go in there and [ __ ] kick these people's ass and kill them, you know, for what they did to us.
17:20But, then the then social media came around. And you had guys that were starting to make it through Buds and make it through the SEAL teams only to get out to become an influencer. Mhm. Or, you know, [clears throat] and so you had like these small pockets of of SEALs and other special operations units where that's that was the goal. I'm here to make a following.
17:45I mean, there's guys on There's guys on YouTube right now that were in that that are in or were in that are running around and that's their whole focus.
17:53Let's Let's build a following. Let's make videos. Let's do Instagram posts.
17:59If you're doing that, you can't be you you cannot be a good SEAL and be a be a [ __ ] social media icon.
18:07>> Now, you you were in for 15 years. You also did nine of those years were after being in the SEALs. So, like you had a legit long career, multiple tours, all that stuff.
18:19>> Mhm.
18:20>> Do you worry about your type of platform being bastardized by people like that on the come up like, "Ooh, I want to be Shawn Ryan, so I'll be a SEAL and then start a YouTube channel."
18:28>> Oh, yeah. I mean, do I worry about? No, cuz they can't be me.
18:34They can't >> Or do their own thing like you.
18:36>> Yeah, they'll they'll do it, you know.
18:38They'll I mean, it is what it is.
18:40There's not [ __ ] I can do about it, you know what I mean? They're >> Yeah.
18:44>> They lowered the standard and they let them in.
18:46>> Yeah, I I don't think that there should be like I I get really upset about that when you look at different communities and then people who do good things are stripped down just for doing those things cuz like you were pointing out earlier with some people complaining like, "Oh, why did they get to do that?
19:01Why is it not me?"
19:02Totally agree. I think that's crazy. I I do wonder how that can be looked at by kids coming up though who then think that's what it is. They see you in this seat and they think, "Oh, Shawn Ryan's a podcaster. He just did this Navy SEAL thing on the way."
19:20Which couldn't be farther from the truth, nor did you ever know you were going to do that. You came into it very honestly and and have created a great platform, but you know, I would imagine especially with as you pointed out like the the younger generations who are not just kids, but also different-minded.
19:35They I don't want to say like they're too dumb to see through that, but some of them might be too dumb to see through that.
19:41>> Well, most of them I mean you know, to be 100% honest and and fair to the teams and then in the community, I mean they get they got to get 99% of these guys. I mean, you're not going to make it through that training pipeline, you know, wanting to be an influencer.
19:57>> Right.
19:57>> You know, and so there's that aspect as well.
20:01But I I mean I can't even believe that they're able to post this some of the [ __ ] that they're able to post and make videos and become and become a public figure. I mean, that was a that was an opsec violation when I was in. That was a major security concern.
20:18>> Yeah, I wasn't even aware that was a thing that active guys are doing that.
20:21>> Yeah.
20:22>> Maybe I'm totally like out of the loop there, but that See, I don't I don't like that for the same reason that like I know there were like some military and Marine guys who when TikTok was coming out were posting on all the on on all the bases and stuff and drills and then they got banned from doing that. Cuz you know, it was like a China-owned app.
20:42>> Yeah.
20:42>> And that wasn't exactly good for data.
20:44Like I thought that was like as far as it went. I didn't know that there aren't rules against this.
20:48>> Yeah, I just want to clarify too that I'm not just making this [ __ ] up. This is information that's coming from the younger generation who's pissed that this is happening. You know, there are I don't want to like [ __ ] on the younger generation because they're they're phenomenal. They're the ones doing this now, you know, and this is but this is This is the kind of [ __ ] that they complain about. We got these people that slipped through the cracks, and this is This is This is their real motivation, and it [ __ ] up the team dynamic.
21:20>> It's like like you mentioned talking about Eddie and and also about like your own background with it. Like you got in when [ __ ] was hitting the fan.
21:30>> Mhm.
21:30>> You When did Did you enlist right after 9/11, or was it before?
21:34>> I enlisted before 9/11.
21:36>> So it was in '01, but it was before 9/11.
21:39>> Yeah, I went in July I think it was July 1st of 2001.
21:42>> Okay, but then that happens very quickly, and now it's like whole new ball game as far as like what's going to go down.
21:49And you know, I get real uncomfortable with the conversation when people start talking about the complacency in society and how you've heard this a million times the quote like 9/11 sucked, but 9/12 was great. And the We all know what the connotation is there. Like, "Oh, it would take something disastrous like that to bring us all back together."
22:11I don't want to see that happen at all.
22:13I just also don't for the life of me know how to simulate people understanding what they can't understand and in English to put that better than that not so broadly. Like these kids coming up maybe who are 20, 21, 22.
22:32All they've ever known is a free island in the West here of America. It's never been invaded and you know, it doesn't really have a lot of problems. And oh yeah, there was that thing before I was born or when I was a baby that happened with 9/11. That sucked, but we mopped the floor with those guys and we're good now. And it's almost like there's that Oh, this is Life's just going to keep going on. Nothing's going to happen. And usually when you look at history, when you're thinking nothing's going to happen and that becomes a societal thing, something happens.
23:01>> It's already happening.
23:03This is the new warfare.
23:05Everything you're seeing.
23:06>> What do you mean by that?
23:08>> It's a propaganda war happening.
23:10And people are thinking that people aren't putting the pieces together of everything that's happening in this country.
23:18The division, the propaganda, the the I mean, look at it. It's everywhere you look.
23:26People aren't putting it together that this is all engineered to weaken us.
23:30>> Who's engineering it?
23:32>> Who's engineering it? I think both political parties are engineering it. I think China's engineering it. I think Russia's engineering it.
23:42>> I agree with you.
23:43>> Yeah.
23:43>> Yeah. I I I think, you know, I don't know what I don't know, but when I look at things that look suspicious, which is pretty much every god damn day, >> Yeah.
23:50>> in the informational warfare, I do play the game in my head like, oh, I wonder which one that was. You know, like if that's from here or from there or from this other place. It's like there is there is a ton of informational warfare, but you when you're saying like it's already here, how does that I'm trying to think how I want to ask this.
24:11>> What I'm what I'm trying to get at, Julian, is war looks different now than it did. Yeah, we see this [ __ ] going on in Ukraine and Russia, right? That's like conventional war.
24:23What we're seeing here is unconventional war. And it's a new era of war. So, >> [clears throat] >> you know, I know you had Bustamante on, who's phenomenal, right? And I think a lot of the stuff that he says is spot on, I think, but he also is very very CIA-ish and he will not he will not it has to be 100% fact. And that's I'm not saying that's a bad thing. That's an extremely good thing and more people should do that. But, unless it's been proven, he's not really going to put it on the table.
24:58>> Julian, do you see what you're doing?
24:59You are now you are now artificially creating the confines [music] of the exercise.
25:03>> Cuz he was in existence.
25:05>> Because you're looking for something specific. You're not having a hypothetical conversation. You're digging for some kind of specific parallel. You're not having a true >> I think the leverage I think you you just can't I I know where you're coming from and I get it, but the leverage just [music] isn't that particular piece.
25:19Return is everything.
25:21Does that make sense?
25:22>> 100%.
25:23>> So, what I'm getting at is let's look at all these different angles and I brought up a lot of this stuff during our interview, right?
25:30>> [sighs and gasps] >> Look at all the different angles that China has on us with our power grid, the fentanyl crisis, um the supply chain, COVID, all this all these I'm missing stuff cuz I'm not I didn't know we were going to dive into this, but um they're buying our farmland. Look at all these weird things that keep happening all over the country, all these food plants that are blowing up, chemical spills, water sanitation issues, you know, even our power grid. You want to talk about the power grid, I mean just interviewed the hacker. I know what these guys are capable of because I've seen this [ __ ] working for the agency.
26:10You know, the spy balloon that came over.
26:13I made a big stink about that. All the people who don't know [ __ ] about espionage and and cyber warfare and all this stuff and I don't even know much about it. I just know some of the capabilities that are out there. When that spy balloon flew over, what was it?
26:28Everybody's like, oh, who gives a [ __ ] You could get this information on Google Earth.
26:33That's just a that's a face palm.
26:35>> you explain why that's why that's a face palm?
26:38>> Because they're no they're not looking at Google Earth. They don't need imagery. They need [ __ ] data. And so, when the things like that go over, what it's doing is it's sucking data. It could be sucking data out of your phone.
26:51It could be sucking data out of the computer, It be sucking data out of our nuclear silos, could be sucking data out of Area 51, could be sucking data out of the White House, anything that it flies over. How do those things work? 90% of the time it's line of sight. You have to have at least a line of sight uh to get it. That information gets sucked in.
27:12China's claiming that they can communicate through quantum entanglement, which I won't get into because I'm not a quantum physics guy, but um >> Oh, sorry. This thing right here. I see that going out. Just do this.
27:26>> Oh.
27:27>> If you grab that, and you're good. I I forget to tell people that sometimes, but I usually just tuck it in the side of my chair, and you're good.
27:32>> Okay.
27:33>> It's not affecting the audio, though.
27:35It's just in your ears.
27:36>> Uh where was I?
27:37>> You were talking about how it's everything is line of sight, and they can suck up the data.
27:42>> Yeah, so they suck up the data, and then it gets transmitted to China. You know, and what and and everybody thought I was full of [ __ ] Oh, this guy's [ __ ] crazy. He's a quack, whatever. Well, then what? A month later, it comes out all over media, which I hate media, but it did but that's how you validate it, because that's what people still believe is telling the truth. A month later, the media is pushing out the exact same [ __ ] information that I had warned everybody about with these damn things.
28:14You know, and power and and power grid, you know, we're we want the green energy, right?
28:20Everybody's uh not everybody, but we have this narrative we need to move towards green energy. Fossil fuels are horrible.
28:26They're going to [ __ ] kill us all, and the planet's going to go to [ __ ] That's great. Cool. I'm all for green energy. Let's go. Let's make green energy happen. Let's do it the right way, whatever. I don't And they claim we're going to get energy independent. I'm trying to weed through some of the narrative, but I'm getting sidetracked.
28:43>> No, that's >> That's great, but we're not going to be [ __ ] energy independent. You know why we're not going to be energy independent? Because we're going to import all of the materials that it takes to move to green energy from [ __ ] China.
29:00What do you think they're going to put in our power grid? Power power grid?
29:04>> Power [laughter] grid.
29:05>> They're going to put these firmwares and things in there, and they can control the power grid. Just Have you Have you seen the documentary Power Up Grid Down?
29:14>> No, but this is I I love what you're talking about.
29:17>> Watch that. Watch that.
29:19>> So, our power grid is extremely weak. It hasn't been updated since I don't know when.
29:27It's [clears throat] failing all over the place. We saw what green energy did in Texas, right? Everybody froze to death when that [laughter] when that You know, when that I mean, it's >> green energy in Texas?
29:38>> I mean, all those >> unaware of this.
29:40>> You were?
29:40>> I was totally I mean, I've never been to Texas.
29:43>> failed.
29:43>> Oh, that's right.
29:44>> Yeah.
29:45>> [ __ ] that is green energy.
29:46>> Yeah, that's green energy, man. So, all those materials, they come from China.
29:51How do we How do we get the batteries that it takes, you know, that these uh solar devices are are storing energy?
29:57They store it in batteries. Well, guess what? Guess who is in Afghanistan the [ __ ] minute we pulled out. China, waiting to negotiate with the Taliban to get one of the biggest lithium deposits in the [ __ ] world to produce America's green energy batteries.
30:14So, if they want to [ __ ] come to war with us, what do they do? They cut energy production.
30:19What makes a country powerful? Energy.
30:22We're throwing our [ __ ] energy away.
30:26>> Can we dig into this right now?
30:28>> What do you >> I love this topic. I You just introduced like 40 things right there.
30:32>> What What do you want to dig into?
30:33>> to dig into China.
30:35Because everything you say right there not only has a lot of truth to it, it could be completely true, and it's all problematic for say like over the next 5 to 10 years like where we're at 5 to 10 years from now looking at race in the world so to speak like between countries.
30:53The thing about China that confuses me is like I I had been turned on to looking into this maybe I think when I was in college. I've been looking at China for a long time, very concerned. And it felt like for a long time no one would talk about it. It even felt like for a time in the media like you couldn't talk about it, which was very weird to me, very strange.
31:16And then out of nowhere last I want to say like June, something like that, the one of the like kind of DC-ish policy institutes started putting out reports like scathing reports about China.
31:34Then news dropped about the FBI dropping scathing reports about China.
31:40Then the media started talking all about China.
31:44And I put my hands up. I'm like, wait a minute.
31:49This is happening really really fast.
31:51And I'm here for it cuz like let's all the things you just laid out laid out about China all problematic. Let's also consider the fact they're run by a tyrannical sociopath, right? Let's also look at the fact that they have had the CCP, the Communist Party of China, in power now effectively since World War II. Right? So they haven't been around for 5 minutes. They have therefore developed staying power in this country.
32:15Albeit with only 6.9% of the country a member of the party. And let's say to be conservative about it, 20% of the country is sympathetic to it. Meaning 80% of the country don't even like this.
32:26And yet it's still in power, which is scary to me. You also have for the moment an enormous population. I say for the moment because ironically the same country that was having the one-child policy 20 years ago is now having like people aren't having kids problem, which is interesting. But right now, 1.4 or 1.5 billion people, whatever it is.
32:46And it makes all the sense in the world, especially when you've looked at the quote-unquote like war footing patterns you've seen over the past probably 3 4 years specifically, that it's like gearing up this US-China thing.
33:04My only question there is not like, "Yo, is Xi Jinping evil?" We know that. It's not like, "Yo, are they stealing our data?" Evil. Yeah, we know that. It's not like, "Oh, are they taking advantage of other countries around the world financially?" Yeah, we know that.
33:17They're doing All this stuff that's real.
33:20But whenever I see something get pushed that hard, that quickly on a dime, I start to wonder if maybe it's not maybe they're a little more [ __ ] than I think. Maybe maybe a guy like Peter Zeihan has some points. Have you heard this guy talk at all?
33:41>> Yeah.
33:42>> He's very interesting. Now, he's one of these dudes who's like, in my [clears throat] opinion, just from what I can see, I don't know him, so brilliant that like he's like 12 steps ahead on everything. And he also comments on [ __ ] everything. So, he's got to be wrong about some stuff. Like it's not possible to be right about everything. But he is so hardcore like, "Oh, China's fucked." Which I'm not I don't think that.
34:08But when I hear that at the same time, you know, this guy who's operating as his own geopolitical whatever online, and then at the same time the whole power of the media is going behind this whole China thing, I start to wonder if it's not quite what we think, if like they really are behind and if they are in the end days of the CCP, which would be, I think, great for the world if if the people there rose up and took out that government and replaced it with something more free. Do you ever wonder if like some of this maybe isn't quite what we think and isn't going to be as big a problem and we're potentially
34:42using the military-industrial complex to gear up for a war to create an enemy for this country?
34:50>> I'm going to answer your question with a question.
34:54Would you bet your livelihood on that?
34:56>> Absolutely not.
34:58>> Me neither.
34:58>> Yeah.
35:01>> Why would you?
35:02When we can produce it at home. You know, and yeah, it's starting to make the the mainstream media. It is. And but I want to go through now that I've been now that I'm back on my have my brain back on this subject, you know, they are behind the fentanyl crisis with the cartels. They're settling Africa.
35:23Now they're negotiating lithium mines in Mexico.
35:27>> What do you mean they're settling Africa?
35:29>> So, Africa is being settled by China. I mean, obviously, you know, Africa's obviously extremely poor. They're building cities in Africa. Not I'm not talking little villages. I'm talking major cities with massive infrastructure. Well, what happens when you put in the massive ins- infrastructure, put the money up for that? Well, then the that government owes you, right? And so, they're doing that all over Africa.
35:57We're nowhere to be found.
35:59What's Africa rich in? All these minerals.
36:01>> Mhm.
36:02>> Right?
36:04>> So, that's in they're buying in all these resources >> They're going to control that. They now control the lithium mines in Afghanistan. They control Africa.
36:13They're controlling the lithium mines in Mexico.
36:16They're buying our farmland. They own one of the biggest uh meat meat production companies in the country. Now, that just came out.
36:26They're buying up our they're buying up our real estate.
36:31It's a lot of influence.
36:34They made COVID. Whether it was an accident, whether it wasn't an accident, it's their fault.
36:39>> Yes.
36:39>> I don't give a [ __ ] what anybody says.
36:41>> Yeah.
36:41>> Whether it was man-made or whether it was an accidental release, it came from them.
36:47No repercussions. All of our medical equipment, where does it come from?
36:50China. Where does all the clothes on your body come from? China. Where do these microphones come from? Probably China.
36:56>> Probably, yeah.
36:57>> You know? Everything. Everything.
37:00>> Didn't some of that though I >> Our power grid.
37:03Where's that made from? Even the power grid that we have right now.
37:07The transformers and stuff are made in China.
37:10>> I thought you were saying that actually.
37:12>> have to do, Julian, is push a button and it's over.
37:16It's done. We don't even produce the own [ __ ] for for our own power grid anymore.
37:20>> up. What do you mean they push a button and the power grid's done?
37:23>> You don't think they're putting anything in to our power grid that they can hack into it with?
37:28>> What did you say they're they're producing our transformers you said for it? What else are they producing for our power grids?
37:34>> Well, all the green energy stuff that I just said that we're moving towards.
37:39>> So, you're saying they could be putting like computer systems within some of this stuff that they're providing.
37:43>> They are.
37:44Not they could be, they are.
37:48>> The power grid thing is the thing that scares me the most. I don't think people have any concept of what a serious >> What a power outage does?
37:57>> Yeah.
37:58>> Whole population's gone in about 3 days.
38:0090% of it.
38:02>> Yeah, I've done a lot of content on that and [clears throat] I I look at the comments and I go, "Damn, people really don't get this."
38:08>> They don't.
38:08>> There was a uh >> They have it too good here. They don't dive in. They don't research all the [ __ ] that we were talking about at the beginning of this podcast.
38:17Oh, I had a hard day at work. I just want to drink a beer. Go ahead, drink a [ __ ] beer, and watch your TV because when it gets cut it's not coming on and you're going to [ __ ] die.
38:25>> Do you have a a backup plan for if that happens?
38:29>> Oh, yeah.
38:30>> Yeah.
38:31>> Do you?
38:31>> No.
38:32>> [laughter] >> You struck me as the guy I should talk to about that.
38:36>> you a couple pointers.
38:37>> Yes, I would love that.
38:39It's because there was there was a book my friend Annie Greenberg wrote in 2016.
38:45He's a reporter over at Wired. He wrote a book called Sandworm and this one was focused on the GRU team in Russia that does a lot of hacking.
38:53>> Turns around, goes into [music] the into the master bedroom and finds the cause.
38:58>> But he does all kinds of reporting on China and North Korea. Like he's very aware of of the capabilities of all these different governments. And I would say anything Russia can do China could probably do times two, at least. So, one of the things he reported on that we've covered a lot in here and it's had some clips, you know, spread on the internet where I get to see how people do not think about this at all, but you know, in 20 I forget if it was 2014 or 2015. It was December.
39:28The the Russian government did a test run of outing some grids in Ukraine.
39:35And they did. And it was just like for fun. It's like for shits and gigs to see what what they could do. And it's it's interesting to me that they haven't from what I've seen at least. I don't know what I'm missing, but they haven't done a ton of that in this latest in in the war yet with Ukraine, but they proved [ __ ] eight years ago, nine years ago, they had the capability to do it. And the amount of problems that having to your point having the power grid out could cause.
40:02Like I had a clip where I closed saying if they shut down our power grid for I think I even said like a month. I was being conservative. You know, I was like, you know how many how many people would die in this country? Millions. And people were laughing their ass off at me. And I'm like, what do you think powers everything we do including the full-blown supply chains we have to get people their basic sustenance every day?
40:23The [ __ ] power grids.
40:24>> Everything's done. Everything Everything that you know is done.
40:30And desperation kicks in, there won't be any food, there won't be any water. The water that comes out of your faucet, what do you think that you just [ __ ] turn the faucet on and water comes out?
40:40No, it's run by power at a water plant. And so when the power goes out there goes your water, there goes your food, there goes your heat, there goes your cooling, there goes your gas, there goes your transportation, there goes every the world as you know it is over. It's done.
40:58It looks like a combination of what happens when a hurricane hits.
41:02>> Mhm.
41:03>> You know? You can't get water down there. Why? Because there's no power. The roads are blocked.
41:10There's no There's no power to get to clear the roads to get supplies down there. They got to bring it in by air half the time. Then people start getting desperate. You see looting. You see crime rise.
41:22It Crime's rising in the hurricanes just cuz people want some new sneakers. Wait till you see what it looks like when they just want something to [ __ ] eat cuz they haven't eaten in 3 days or they're they're starving to death.
41:34They're dying of thirst. They're dying of heat exhaustion.
41:39Then throw in like some of the stuff you saw during the BLM antifa riots.
41:45Add that to the mix.
41:47Because we're talking mass scale. We're talking an entire population with no power. The only way you're going to survive it is get out of the city number one.
41:56But and then you look at look at nine Look at most Americans. I mean there are no plumbers, there are no people can't even change a light bulb half the time nowadays, you know? You think you're going >> [laughter] >> You're going to survive with no power?
42:10Let them laugh.
42:12Keep laughing.
42:14>> It's scary. I like I didn't know if I was It sounds like I'm not I didn't know if I was crazy to think it though when I was first really concepting this when I heard about when I was reading the reporting about that attack and and what this could do on a mass scale, but I'm like damn, if they took down like half of the power grids in America for whatever length of time, a week.
42:34>> No money.
42:35>> Oh, no >> No communication. Everything is gone.
42:39>> Am I crazy to say that that's like worse than a nuclear bomb?
42:44>> Well, I mean, some of the nuclear bombs, that's what they do. That's what an EMP does.
42:51>> [sighs] >> It just feels like the last few years, and I know COVID's like a good thing to reset our perspective on this and to use it as an opportunity consider stuff like this, but it's scary. It's like the last few years, I can't help but think how fragile society is.
43:11>> Yeah, we're hanging on by a thread, buddy.
43:15>> I never I don't want to say I was knowingly complacent, but I was obviously passively complacent to that.
43:30It It shocked me. I mean, you heard me mention what my dad said about how fast society adjusts to stuff, but like even with COVID and how people started treating each other like that.
43:41You know, there's this idea that kids never really grow up. They just become adults with courtrooms instead of sandboxes.
43:52Pretty hard not to think that when you see that. Imagine a power grid.
43:55>> Yeah, it would be I mean, it would be a complete reset.
44:01>> Now, here's the other question though.
44:03Is there anything that they could do that we couldn't do to them times 10 if they even tried it.
44:12>> I mean, I don't know. You know, I'd love to tell you that yeah, we could, but I don't I mean, I've been out for since 2015 and that wasn't, you know, that wasn't my expertise. But, I can tell you this.
44:25We're not producing their power grid.
44:29>> True.
44:30The power grid is a real >> They are producing ours. We are not producing theirs.
44:41What do we produce here in America now?
44:43>> Not a lot.
44:46Not a lot.
44:48>> I mean, they've really they've They've got some good angles on it.
44:53They've played it really smart. I mean, look at the I mean, you're a Wall Street guy. You know more about the devaluization of the dollar than I do.
45:00Are you aware of all this stuff? France is now talking about dropping it. Brazil dropped it. Saudi Arabia dropped it.
45:07Iran dropped it. Who else? Argentina is the latest one, I believe. They're getting ready to drop it.
45:14>> The currency is a big problem.
45:15>> Yeah.
45:16>> And that was not, to be clear, that was not my space at all on Wall Street, but knowing the basics of that at least.
45:22The cur- That scares me because you put Like I I respect Biden for not putting boots on the ground in Ukraine and just running into a war. I like that.
45:34But, the box you put around Russia to put them completely on their back feet from the west to now have them playing in the same sandbox, those two countries right there, China and Russia.
45:46That's not great.
45:48>> Mhm.
45:48>> To me, when I see that, now you are talking about shared resources. Now, will they eventually turn on each other?
45:55Of course, they will. They're [ __ ] two dictators. That's what they do. But, on the lead up to that happening, they you know, they they might not turn on each other for a decade.
46:02It's a lot that can happen in [ __ ] 6 months.
46:05Let alone a decade.
46:06>> Mhm.
46:07>> And you know, I I think I think there's a lack of respect in the world for us as a leader right now and that [clears throat] is a part of what is good not just the blowback on Russia, but that is a part of what is leading to a loss of confidence in the things that are literally the underlying of what makes us powerful, which is our currency.
46:33>> [sighs and gasps] >> I mean, you you take I don't know if you can see this on camera, this coaster, right? Look at all these angles they have on us. Power grid, fentanyl crisis, owning our farmland. Let me get in front of the mic.
46:47Um All right, let's start >> Hold on, wait. We we just had to come back. His his mic went out for a second.
46:53So, you were saying there's an angle you >> So, yeah, let's say let's just say this coaster here is the US, you know, look at all the angles they have on us. They have our power grid. They're settling all the other uh continents in the world. Now, they're going into Antarctica. Did you see that?
47:06>> No, I haven't heard about that.
47:07>> into Antarctica [laughter] now. But, we got fentanyl, we've got the power grid, we got the supply chain, we got currency, we've got they're buying our farmland. We've got the I'm missing something. What am I missing?
47:22>> I mean, you're probably missing several things, but that's a lot right there.
47:24>> Yeah, just just those things right there. Look at the fentanyl crisis.
47:28They're shipping in the the supplies for the cartels to make the fentanyl. On top of that, they're also sending in the chemists to teach the cartels how to make the fentanyl.
47:39Now, what do we do? We went from heroin, now we're at fentanyl, now according to Luis Chaparro, who I've had on my podcast a couple of times.
47:49>> Yeah.
47:49>> Now, they have the next thing that's going to overtake fentanyl, which is even more deadly than fentanyl.
47:56>> What's that?
47:57>> I can't remember the name of it, but it's already It's already been introduced. It's already coming through.
48:04Why aren't we locking our [ __ ] border down?
48:07>> So, here's a difficult question that you'd be a good guy to ask as someone who who worked in the CIA.
48:14When I hear something like that, one of the one of the, you know, conspiracies online cuz a lot of people don't like the CIA. I hear about that all the time when I bring on some of these guys. I think it's way overboard, but you know, they'll get on the CIA for doing things that are very, very uncomfortable or think they do things that are very uncomfortable. Like they talk about, you know, CIA involvement with the cartels, for example.
48:41When I hear something like this, where you have China training chemists in the cartels how to make this [ __ ] it tells me that perhaps in a in what is a very dirty world, you don't have to like it, but that's what it is.
48:57Why the [ __ ] aren't we running like if we can't end the cartels cuz they're not in our country technically, so that's not easy to do.
49:05Why the [ __ ] aren't we running some missions undercover to [ __ ] work with them?
49:09Like as as I know how uncomfortable that sounds to people, but like if that would stop a fentanyl crisis here, forget the border for a second. That's a whole 'nother point. But like why why are we not doing that? That seems like a pretty geographically easy thing for us to pull off.
49:26>> I don't know, maybe we are.
49:28You know, I don't know why we wouldn't be doing that, but in the end, if we were to start doing that, it would just be a money game.
49:36It's going to be who pays the most to the cartels, you know, so maybe we're being outspent.
49:43Or maybe nobody gives a [ __ ] >> That would really worry me.
49:47>> You know, but what I'm saying, the reason I kind of brought up all these angles is all they have to once they pull the trigger on one, they just pull the trigger on all of them. There goes the supply chain. Hey, let's release another pandemic.
50:02Kick up the fentanyl crisis.
50:05Destroy the meat plants. Like I said, that a lot of our food stuff is coming from there now, too. You know, I'm trying I'm just Truth be told, I'm trying to start a supplement business. I don't want to get too too in the weeds on what it's going to be. Turns out all all of the ingredients that I want in the supplement is from China. Even the stuff that says it's from that says it's made in the US or it's sourced in the US, if you really dig it comes from China.
50:37But So, you see what I'm saying? They could have our power grid, kick the fentanyl crisis up, then we have the propaganda piece.
50:44I mean all these things, once they all go, it's over. I mean, they're just set up. It's not like, "Hey, we're just going to send an army over there and take these [ __ ] out." That's not how it goes.
50:56It's a domino effect. We're going to kick one off then all this shit's going to happen. You know, and it's all That's what I'm saying, it's already happening.
51:05It's already in motion. That's why people need to get informed on what's happening. You know, 3 years ago, if I would have brought this up, I would have been slapped with a you know, I would be at the biggest racist in the country.
51:19>> [laughter] >> You know what I mean?
51:21>> Yeah. Funny how that was like the whole attack. Like God forbid you talk about another country and [ __ ] their government's doing.
51:26>> Yeah.
51:27>> That's just a crazy thing to me. But >> And now look, now look where we are.
51:31It's getting worse and worse and worse.
51:34And people are starting to pay attention, but they should have been paying attention 10 years ago.
51:39>> Why does the So, we've already established, and I agree that the media sows a ton of division in our country, which is a huge problem and is leading to s- you know some potential worst-case scenarios.
51:55Why then is the same media pushing this so hard now? That's the only thing that because I've thought all this [ __ ] and even if by the way, even if Peter Zeihan is right about some of the downfall China's going to have, one thing he does say is he's not talking about tomorrow. He's talking about 10 15 years out. And we've already also established a lot can happen in 10 to 15 years on the way there that can [ __ ] us in the process. So that that it does scare me a lot. But like why are they why is the same media who seems so intent on making money by just dividing us and pissing us all off now trying to unite us around a foreign
52:38power that 3 years ago like you said, you're being called racist if you even mention that COVID, you know, came from there.
52:45>> I mean, I don't know. You know what I mean? I'd love to be able to answer that. Maybe it's I mean, you you know they're failing. Everybody knows media's failing, you know, and and they're I mean, they're not going to go out without a fight, you know, whatever is going to get people to click on their [ __ ] they're going to click on it, you know, and I mean man, I really hate going into this, you know, I don't even I I don't like getting into politics, but I I think a lot of it had to do with you know, Trump was tough on China. He was. He was extremely tough on China and that's why it all came out, you're a
53:23racist. You don't like China, you think this virus came from China, you're a racist. You know, and and and it sucks that they did that because that word doesn't even carry the weight that it should anymore because it's been overused. But I think that's a big part of it. Now they're trying to make this new guy, you know, look like some kind of a [ __ ] hero when he's just He doesn't I mean Come on.
53:49>> You talking about Biden?
53:50>> Yeah, I'm talking about Biden.
53:51>> They're making him out to be a hero?
53:52>> I mean, yeah. You know, they're they're start they're trying they're trying everything they can.
53:56>> I think they're trying to make him look competent and I don't think he's competent. I don't know if they're making him a hero.
54:02>> Well, whatever.
54:02>> to do.
54:03>> All right, hero, I don't care. They're trying to make him look good.
54:06>> Right.
54:07>> Why are they trying to make him look good?
54:09>> Cuz they like him better than Trump.
54:11They're that small-minded.
54:13That's just it like you know, it's a sad state of our country when like that's your choice there. But I agree with you like I can't talk.
54:24He can't talk.
54:24>> Yeah, I know. I mean, I remember I remember cuz I don't you know, yeah, I'm a conservative but I hate conservative media. I hate liberal media, you know, and I thought that first debate, I was so tired of listening to right-wing media talk about how incompetent he is and he can't put a sentence together and he's not there and and I was like, this is [ __ ] There's no way in hell that somebody's going to run for president that cannot put a sentence together.
55:00And then I watched the first debate and I I looked at my wife and I was like, holy [ __ ] like this is real.
55:07>> Yeah.
55:08>> This guy can't He can't formulate a thought.
55:12>> I think all my thought is that their candidates were just so bad. Like they were overthinking it and then COVID happened and they're like, well, we got a guy who's been there for 45 years. It's something people have seen. We'll just market it and hope he doesn't talk too much.
55:28>> Yeah.
55:28>> And I guess it worked cuz enough people hated Trump, but you know, to have again, to have those options it just it's an indictment on on the country to me. And and you know, this guy he I I used to caddy at Wilmington Country Club for years where he's a member. And I I used to caddy regularly for someone very close to him. I never met him. I never caddied for him, but I stood on, you know, on the practice tee with him on Saturday mornings sometimes.
55:54And what's crazy to me is the last time I saw him was like late summer 2014.
56:02And I knew he was there because the the Secret Service golf carts were all there. So, I'm like, "Okay, obviously Biden's here."
56:08And I'm down on the practice tee behind the guy I'm going to caddy for, and he walks on the tee, and I mean, this guy was busting everybody's balls. Like, "Hey Jim, how are you? Go [ __ ] yourself, Joe." Like all this [ __ ] Gets up, straight takes out the driver, stripe 250, stripe 250, stripe 250. Like he looked yolked and everything. And I'm like, I'm looking at him. I'm like, "Isn't this [ __ ] like 70 years old or some shit?"
56:32Like, "Yeah, he looks pretty good." I was like, "Damn, like this guy could He might run for president."
56:37And then he didn't run in 2016.
56:40And then he goes and gives he announces his run >> [clears throat] >> I think March 2019. So, this is less than 5 years later.
56:48And I remember I believe he gave the first speech like in Philadelphia, and it was outside.
56:53And they played this on TV. Or I guess I probably saw it on Twitter.
56:58And I'm like, "What the [ __ ] happened to this guy?"
57:01Like he like he couldn't he couldn't talk right away. Like this wasn't like it happened like as you got close to the election. Like literally from the first speech like I'm like, "Did he have 10 brain aneurysms? Three? Like what Like what happened between then and then?"
57:14And like to me it's just such a slap in the face that like this is this is what we're going to get. Like what do you think the world thinks of this? Like we already had Trump for 4 years. That was not ideal in the world.
57:25Now you're going to give this guy who can who at least Trump could talk. You know what I mean? Like it just there's no way that doesn't have downstream effects. You cannot convince me of that.
57:38>> [clears throat] >> I mean, I don't I don't know. I don't want to beat a dead horse and this isn't a uh topic that I like to discuss because then you get labeled. You're this supporter, you're that supporter. I'm I'm just [ __ ] calling it how I see it.
57:56>> That's fine. And do it.
57:57>> And um and it's it's it's sad. People were misled and they weren't informed and that's how this [ __ ] happens.
58:11>> What do you think happens in the next election? Do you think it's a rematch?
58:16>> Um man, I hope not.
58:20>> [laughter] >> Dude, I'm right there with you.
58:22>> But uh I don't know, man. I hope some younger blood comes in, you know, but >> [clears throat] >> Yeah, I don't know. I mean, who do I got to [ __ ] for like a 50-year-old? I mean, this is crazy. We've got 80-year-old guys talking about running the country.
58:37That's just not not to be like disrespectful to older people, but like you had your time, you know what I mean?
58:42Like there you need someone younger and and vital in there. I just don't know why that's not like a requirement of of the job, but you know, in caught in all the middle of the politics though is this is the ever important, always happening foreign policy of the world that we've been talking about. And so I I like I'm I'm glad you let me play some devil's advocate today with the China thing. But again, like I all the problems you point out are things that I have been concerned about and I think are fair to have concern about.
59:13>> be catastrophic if any one of these things kick off.
59:18Food supply, especially the power grid.
59:21It's I mean, it's that's the end.
59:26>> Thank you guys for checking out this clip. If you haven't already subscribed, please subscribe and hit the like button on this video. It is a huge, huge help.
59:33And if you'd like to check out this clip's full podcast episode, that link is in the description below or right here. And finally, you can follow me on Instagram and X by using the links in my description below.
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