Live from Music Row Thursday 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 panelists, Dr. Carol Swain and Roger Simon in studio to discuss the many ways in which America is being controlled and ran in cahoots with domestic forces related to Big Tech and Fortune 500 companies.
Leahy: In studio with us, all-star panelists Carol Swain and Roger Simon. Okay, guys, here is the big question. Who is running America? Is it the citizens of America, or is it the Chinese Communist Party in collaboration with the leaders of many Fortune 500 companies, particularly the Big Tech companies?
Simon: Chairman Xi. (Chuckles)
Swain: I would also add some of the Islamic leaders to that. And I don’t believe that the American people are in control of their government. And what we have operating in Washington is certainly a government that’s more attuned to foreign interests than American interests.
Leahy: That’s the core of the problem isn’t it?
Simon: I’ll tell you why I think that happened because I’ve been thinking the exact same thing for some time. I don’t think those Islamic leaders have as much power as you may think. I think it’s really the Chinese. And I’ll tell you why I think it is.
It’s because, for some time, a lot of our leaders, the Mitch McConnell types, and those kinds of people have made the conclusion that China is going to win. And therefore, since they’re very interested in money, they essentially vote with the interest of China in mind.
Swain: Well, let me ask you this.
Simon: That’s very cynical I know.
Swain: What do you mean China is going to win? Because here’s what I feel. I feel like in some ways, the America that I knew and loved has already fallen to foreign powers and that we have people in Washington that should have been tried for treason and convicted.
We have no control over our government. And so I think that unless we can turn this around and restore power to the people, we might as well just throw up our hands. America is going to fall to Russia or China, and now we’re trying to pick a fight with Russia.
Simon: Yeah, I think Russia is almost irrelevant. I think China is the real power, but I 100 percent agree with you. I’m not disagreeing at all. What I’m just saying is that a lot of our leadership made the conclusion that China’s already won.
Leahy: So let me put this story out there.
Simon: So they’re bowing down for China and in the meantime, they’re sacrificing everything that we have loved for a nation, everything that’s made us distinctive.
Leahy: It seems like that. Carol. We did some original reporting on this story. Our own Peter D’Abrosca, who’s a first-rate reporter, did this story. Let me just read it and then get your reaction.
Chinese Communist Party expert says Apple CEO Tim Cook currying favor with Chinese government. An expert on the Chinese Communist Party who chronicles China’s current affairs reacted Wednesday to a report that Apple CEO Tim Cook paid the Chinese government $275 billion to curry favor with President Xi Jinping.
Chloe Zhao is a Chinese-born filmmaker and an award-winning reporter. She worked previously as a journalist for China Central Television. She came to the U.S. 20 years ago.
She said that even for a big tech CEO, Cook’s secret $275 billion deal in 2016 with the Chinese government is not typical. “I think this is abnormal, even for Big Tech companies. This is not something happening every day,” she told The Tennessee Star. Roger Simon, your thoughts?
Simon: Yeah. I would disagree. Only one thing. I think it is normal for Big Tech. (Laughter) Google years ago almost provided the search engine for China because they had the technology and China was saying, but by the way, you have to give us the power to censor, of course, because that’s the way they operate.
And then Google got caught. It wasn’t that Google didn’t want to do it. Google was going to do it. But people found out. And Google said oh well, sorry. We don’t do that.
Leahy: So sorry.
Swain: I can tell you back when I wrote my book, Be the People, that was when the Obama administration was forming an alliance with Big Tech, Google in particular. And before that, there had been stories about the Google car that was mapping the United States, scanning the computers of members of Congress that were unscripted.
And so Google has been a danger for a long time. And it was the Obama administration that started setting up the alliances with Big Tech and giving them federal dollars. And so they have had a global reach. And they were involved with the Arab Spring, the uprising.
Leahy: 2009.
Simon: I think the people, the Big Tech people are perfect examples of where I meant who believe the Chinese system is going to prevail because they’re kind of believers in a one-party system.
Leahy: They are sort of authoritarian like that.
Simon: They believe in a one-party system.
Leahy: They’re elitist intellectuals. I know the science. I know math. I know computer science.
Simon: To hell with the people.
Swain: You’re right. To hell with the people. And the thing that’s really frightening in some ways is that the global agenda includes how they’re handling Coronavirus, they do want population reduction. They’ve talked about it very openly.
They don’t believe that the world can support the population that we have now, and they have no fear. As far as those of us who have Judeo-Christian beliefs, we believe in a God. We are restrained by our beliefs and by our morality. If you don’t have that, you can and will justify anything.
Leahy: Yeah. And the problem, though, is with the ubiquitous nature of technology and how we’ve all come to depend on it. And companies like Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon, are the leaders in technology.
And so they are run by these CEOs, these MBAs, these tech people whose loyalties are not to the constitutional republic of the United States.
Swain: No, not at all. But think about Amazon, where all these people that had smart houses and they had everything tied to technology, the refrigerators, when they had the shutdown, their homes did not operate.
And so there’s a possibility that people will decide that maybe it’s not a good idea to have yourself under surveillance all the time. And you don’t know who’s watching.
Leahy: Good point. Also, coming back to the issue of the supply chain, for years at business schools because I know, because I attended business school and have taught at business schools, they praised the international free markets and the benefits of the supply chain.
All the supplies for I don’t know, solar panels are controlled by the Chinese and electric batteries are controlled by the Chinese. This presents a national security risk in mind.
Swain: Wait a minute. Prescription drugs are controlled by the Chinese.
Leahy: As well.
Simon: It’s all lined up off of Los Angeles. By the way, only a few seconds. I’ll say one thing. We can boycott the Olympics ourselves as citizens. I was thinking about what Hagerty was saying. Just don’t tune in.
Leahy: Don’t tune in to NBC. I’m all in favor of that.
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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.
Photo “Dr. Carol Swain” by Carol Miller Swain.
