Live from Music Row Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. –  host Leahy welcomed all-star panelist Clint Brewer to the studio.
During the third hour, Brewer stated that relations with China was the number two importance to the United States as Trump’s tough policies will be lightened under a Biden administration. He added that a potential movement is on the horizon which would usher in the reestablishment of more traditional relations with nation-states.
Leahy: We are joined by our all-star panelists Clint Brewer. Clint, we are talking about China. It looks like Joe Biden as we said is compromised on China. His son made a whole bunch of money dealing with the Chi-com bureaucrat, fascist, profit-maximizing dictators over there. And apparently, Joe Biden wants to continue to do deals with China. And have all his pals make money along the way. The story was you know, this guy Anthony Blinken.
You have a name like Blinken and I think of the law firm Winkin, Blinken, and Nod, right? (Laughter) Anyways, Blinken, and the likely Secretary of Defense nominee, Michèle Flournoy had a company called WestExec Advisors and they were helping people make money in China dealing with the crooked and corrupt autocratic Chinese Communist dictators. That sounds like a wonderful plan.
Brewer: Well, you know, here’s the thing. We’ve got sort of an I don’t even know what to call it. I’ll make up a phrase a reality bifurcation in America when it comes to China.
Leahy: Let me just stop. The word of the day is reality bifurcation.
Brewer: I think that’s actually two words. That’s a phrase.
Leahy: It’s a phrase. Thank you. (Chuckles)
Brewer: So on the one hand I have we have you know, what I would consider one of the positive policy legacies of the Trump Administration, which is to deal in a more straight-up fashion with China and what it is and what it wants to become which is the preeminent superpower in the world.
Leahy: They want to crush us.
Brewer: Not just militarily but also economically.
Leahy: And in terms of technology and information.
Brewer: Yes. And you know, we call them communist China because technically they say they’re communists but they also have to battle it out with us every year for the largest economy in the world.
Leahy: Well what they are is I think it’s even of is more of a fascist type.
Brewer: Maybe authoritarian.
Leahy: Where the dictators are making all the money.
Brewer: Here’s the interesting part. So we have that sort of new reality new view of China certainly their handling of the coronavirus. There’s a new story out today about a local report from the province where it originated showing that they mishandled it pretty badly…
Leahy: I’m shocked. I’m shocked.
Brewer: For a couple of months. But here’s the thing that listeners need to remember, and this is not in defense of anybody. It’s just facts. American companies, some of our leading companies both industrial companies and likes a Caterpillar or Boeing or consumer brands like Nike or Starbucks are invested heavily in China. And while they may not get the majority of their revenue from China or even 50 percent of the revenue from China you take a company like Qualcomm and it gets well over 50 percent-plus of its revenue from China.
But all those companies are tied up in our markets. So their revenue base is based on their share and of doing business in China. Their stock price is based on in part of that success and with over 55 percent of Americans invested in the market in some way whether that’s mutual funds or ETFs or Ameritrade accounts or whatever, we have become prior to the Trump administration as an economy, very intertwined with China.
Leahy: And so let me just bring out a couple of things about this. And it’s sort of the biggest advocate for continuing that relationship with China. Not looking at oh all the human rights violations that go on there because apparently if anything even approaching the human rights violation occurs in the United States, it’s a reason for a national protest. But if huge huge human rights violations the thousands and thousands of people occur in China, we don’t want to talk about that.
Brewer: Well and it’s a surveillance state to at a level that I don’t think the world’s ever seen before.
Leahy: It’s really bad. And because of the things that you’re talking about, you know for many many years the philosophy was oh yes, let’s show them all the merits of capitalism and they will see and they’ll change the change their ways. Well, no, it hasn’t happened that way.
Brewer: Well, it worked with the Soviet Union. It’s not working with China.
Leahy: It’s not working at all with China. In fact, it’s just the opposite. They’re trying to get us to change our ways. I harken back, did you see this interview that Megyn Kelly did with Mark Cuban recently? Well, I’ll tell you it was very enlightening. Megyn Kelly, say what you will about her in this particular interview was very good. And she basically said and of course, the NBA makes a lot of money with China and the NBA has zero interest zero in looking at the huge human rights violations going on over there with basically the slave camps for the Uyghurs for instance. It’s been well documented.
And Megan Kelly asked Mark Cuban who owns the Dallas Mavericks and is making a lot of money off of China. Are you willing to say that you’re not going to do business with China until they address these human rights problems? And he refused to say that he would do that. He said no he said, well we’ve got to do business with them even though they are engaged in the suppression of human rights for 100s of 1,000s of their residents. And basically, he said yeah that’s going to continue.
Brewer: Freedom of religion.
Leahy: This is a big problem is and let me just get to that what you’re talking about. I think you’re quite right. This is going to set I think the tone for 2021. The Joe Biden’s of the world the Anthony Blinken’s and the Michele Flournoy’s want to continue dealing with the dictator of the authoritarian money-grubbing Chi-com/fascist leaders of China. and they want America’s companies to continue to do that. That I think is a very very bad thing. But I see that expanding under a potential Biden administration. What are your thoughts?
Brewer: I mean, I think that our policies towards them will you know, there’s a difference between our current president’s rhetoric and our actual policies. But our policies have gotten tougher. I think you’ll see a relaxing of that there. There’s going to be a movement under Biden in all areas to have sort of, I won’t call to normalization but a re-establishment of a more traditional relationship with a lot of nation-states.
Leahy: He’s going to bend a knee. He’s going to subvert American sovereignty to the interest of larger International companies that want to do business with all of these dictatorships.
Brewer: Well, I mean, you know, what what what the markets want what Wall Street wants is predictability. And you know President Trump is not particularly predictable and I think President Biden will be.
Leahy: The markets have done well under Donald Trump.
Brewer: They have done well.
Leahy: Of course markets have done well traditionally. Over time the market really since you know 1932 has done very very well.
Brewer: And there’s a divide a very distinct one now between the state of the common laborer worker in America and the markets.
Leahy: Now I think it’s just hit the nail on the head. This is where I’ve been going with all this discussion about China. So I see a world in which the Biden administration continues the dominance, the favoritism, the special deals, the corruptocrat deals with large international corporations that make a lot of money. And in essence, through their government contracts and government relationships get special treatment. And they’re the people that are going to be hurt are the average small business people.
Brewer: Well, I think what you’ll see is, you know, let’s turn this list this hour into things to watch in. 2021. I mean I think that the relationship with China both at the business level and the government level is aside from the efficacy of the vaccines for COVID-19 I think that is literally the number two thing to watch.
Leahy: You think the efficacy of the vaccine is the number one thing?
Brewer: Yeah. I mean, I think this country can’t move forward until we get people vaccinated and we get well and the death stops and the sickness stops. I mean that’s number one because that affects Is everybody.
Leahy: And number two would be China?
Brewer: In my mind yes.
Leahy: I think you are exactly right.
Listen to the third hour here:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
