Rebel News Podcast - April 20, 2023


DAVID MENZIES ｜ Brewing controversy： Trans-forming Bud Light was a misguided attempt at virtue-signaling


Episode Stats

Length

42 minutes

Words per Minute

135.92126

Word Count

5,782

Sentence Count

370

Misogynist Sentences

13

Hate Speech Sentences

31


Summary

Bud Light continues to rage, but is there something more at play here, rather than Americans simply simply boycotting a brand of beer? To find a list of our sponsors and show-related promo codes, go to gimlet.fm/sponsors


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Tonight, the Bud Light fiasco continues to rage, but is there something more at play
00:00:21.520 here rather than Americans simply boycotting a brand of beer?
00:00:26.240 It's Thursday, April 20th, 2023. I'm David Menzies, and this is the Ezra Levent Show.
00:00:45.760 Given the events taking place in the beer biosphere for the last several days,
00:00:53.360 I was thinking about one of my favorite business books from yesterday. It's entitled The Miss
00:01:00.480 Fortune 500, subtitled The Worst Bosses, The Dumbest Strategies, The Most Disastrous Products.
00:01:08.780 In particular, I was thinking of the tragic beverage tale that appears on page 10, namely
00:01:15.220 the Schlitz beer saga. I shall read verbatim from The Miss Fortune 500, quote,
00:01:22.600 In the early 1970s, Schlitz was the second best-selling brew in the U.S., the beer that
00:01:29.380 made Milwaukee famous. But then blunderheaded management changed the taste and created a
00:01:36.600 beer that made Schlitz infamous. In a cost-saving move in 1974, management decided to radically
00:01:45.020 shorten the brewing process. Schlitz substituted cheap corn syrup for some of the costly barley
00:01:52.860 malt and rushed through batches in half the time that most brewers spent. The patented brewing
00:01:59.980 process called automated balance fermentation not only ruined the taste, but left visible flakes of
00:02:08.200 yeast floating in the beer. To make matters worse, drinkers couldn't find a head on their draft.
00:02:15.380 Entire markets were lost virtually overnight. Sales nosedived from 24 million barrels to 15 million
00:02:24.280 in 1980. Schlitz reverted to something close to the original taste, but by then it was too late.
00:02:32.240 By 1985, the brand had only 1% of the market. End quote. Obviously, the head honchos at Schlitz nearly 50
00:02:42.180 years ago were motivated by greed, the strategy being that by lowering input costs, the end result would be
00:02:50.040 a more robust profit margin. Hey, as Gordon Gekko said in the 1987 film Wall Street, greed is good.
00:02:58.960 Well, maybe, sometimes. But the Schlitz executives probably should have paid closer attention to another
00:03:06.600 classic business adage, that being, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Indeed, what do you want to bet
00:03:14.520 that the folks at Anheuser-Busch feel likewise now that they are collectively suffering from buyer's
00:03:21.940 remorse vis-a-vis the marketing initiative that is the Dylan Mulvaney Bud Light debacle? Unlike Schlitz,
00:03:31.000 Anheuser-Busch, their prime directive, well, it had nothing to do with greed, really, but rather
00:03:36.260 it was all about virtue signaling and proving how woke the brewery is, all for the sake of, well,
00:03:44.000 virtue signaling and proving their wokeness. It was all about unnecessarily taking a knee to the
00:03:51.100 cancel culture mob, as if Anheuser-Busch was preemptively waving the white flag of surrender
00:03:58.320 even though there were no soy boy barbarians at the gate to begin with. Bizarre. And much like
00:04:07.160 Schlitz's ill-fated brewing experiment half a century ago, the end result for Anheuser-Busch today
00:04:13.980 is the same. Sales of Bud Light are tanking. Indeed, at one point, Anheuser-Busch's share value
00:04:22.200 had plunged by US $5 billion. Yikes! Talk about a bitter aftertaste. In any event, allow me to provide
00:04:33.120 a postmortem on a marketing campaign for Bud Light that seemed to be all about inexplicably
00:04:39.680 destroying a brand as opposed to bolstering it. Now, the idiotic call to action begins with hiring
00:04:47.900 Dylan Mulvaney, who identifies as a trans woman, which is to say he's a biological male who might
00:04:54.700 very well be experiencing mental illness. Yeah, that's exactly the sort of person I want as my
00:05:01.620 brand ambassador. Take it away, Dainty Dylan. Hi. Impressive carrying skills, right? I got some
00:05:08.940 Bud Lights for us. So, I kept hearing about this thing called March Madness, and I thought we were
00:05:14.900 all just having a hectic month, but it turns out it has something to do with sports. And I'm not sure
00:05:20.700 exactly which sport, but either way, it's a cause to celebrate. This month, I celebrated my day 365 of
00:05:29.380 womanhood, and Bud Light sent me possibly the best gift ever, a can with my face on it. Check out my
00:05:35.920 Instagram story to see how you can enjoy March Madness with Bud Light and maybe win some money,
00:05:40.840 too. Love ya! Cheers! Go team. Whatever team you love, I love, too. Okay. Love ya. Okay. Break a leg.
00:05:52.120 Just wondering, in this day and age of wokeism, has the feminist movement completely gone AWOL?
00:06:00.980 Because if I was a female, especially a female sports fan, that ad would be akin to a slap in the
00:06:08.340 face whether the commentary was coming from a real woman or a fake one. Indeed, Dylan plays up the very
00:06:16.180 worst female stereotypes. You know, that women are scatterbrained and can't possibly comprehend sports.
00:06:24.240 But March Madness is surely the second biggest sporting event in the U.S. after the Super Bowl.
00:06:30.680 Even those who aren't into NCAA college basketball know full well what March Madness is.
00:06:37.040 Oh, but not for fake femme Dylan. You know, I have no idea if his so-called conversion to womanhood meant
00:06:47.220 having his wedding tackle sliced and diced to resemble a fake vagina. But it seems as though Dylan thinks
00:06:54.700 that being a real woman means that he has to pretend as though he just received a lobotomy. Again,
00:07:02.820 where are the feminists? Or are they too busy chanting trans woman or real woman as they throw
00:07:10.320 real woman under the bus? Now, undoubtedly, the Dylan Mulvaney creative was atrocious. And the response
00:07:17.680 to it, at least the response by actual Bud Light drinkers, it continues to be overwhelmingly negative.
00:07:26.140 So what does Anheuser-Busch do in the Department of Crisis Management? Well, this corporation,
00:07:32.820 doubles down on stupid by having Elisa Heinerscheid, Bud Light's marketing VP,
00:07:41.000 explain to all the Neanderthals out there why the company was using a transvestite to promote Bud Light.
00:07:48.180 Alas, her pithy pros only had the effect of throwing high-octane gasoline on a raging dumpster fire.
00:07:56.620 Check it out.
00:07:57.380 I'm a businesswoman.
00:07:58.240 Um, first of all, what's a businesswoman? I mean, there's a female U.S. Supreme Court judge who
00:08:05.500 cannot define the word woman. After all, so I'm already terribly confused. Let's continue.
00:08:12.720 I had a really clear job to do when I took over Bud Light. And it was, this brand is in decline.
00:08:19.220 It's been in decline for a really long time.
00:08:21.520 In decline? Really? Folks, do you have any idea what the number one selling beer is in America?
00:08:26.820 It used to be Budweiser, but for years now, the numeral uno brew in the U.S. has been,
00:08:33.860 drumroll please, Bud Light. So tell me what exactly had to be remedied here. Let's carry on.
00:08:42.460 And if we do not attract young drinkers to come and drink this brand, there will be no future for
00:08:48.380 Bud Light. So I had this super clear mandate. It's like we need to evolve and elevate this incredibly
00:08:54.120 iconic brand. And my, what I brought to that was a belief in, okay, what does, what does,
00:09:01.380 what does evolve and elevate mean? It means inclusivity. It means shifting the tone. It means
00:09:07.180 having a campaign that's truly inclusive and feels lighter and brighter and different and appeals to
00:09:14.040 women and to men. And representation is at sort of the heart of evolution. You've got to see people
00:09:19.580 who reflect you in the work. And we had this hangover. I mean, Bud Light had been kind of a
00:09:26.460 brand of fratty, kind of out of touch humor. And it was really important that we had another approach.
00:09:36.980 Okay. This marketing genius wants Bud Light to be more inclusive. And in order to accomplish
00:09:44.280 inclusivity, she wants to exclude one of the biggest demographics for Bud Light, that being
00:09:52.020 frat boys, you know, those guys carrying out cases of Bud Light from the liquor store for their weekend
00:09:58.900 parties. Say, do you think that Dylan Mulvaney is even capable of hoisting a six-pack without
00:10:05.380 breaking a nail? Actually, do you think Alisa Heinerscheid knows what March Madness is? Do you think
00:10:12.940 Alisa Heinerscheid is still the marketing VP for Bud Light? If so, why so? In any event, we know what
00:10:21.920 happened next, which is to say B is for Bud Light and B is for Backlash, big time. My favorite response
00:10:31.140 vis-a-vis the backlash file is Kid Rock expressing both his First and Second Amendment rights at the very
00:10:38.520 same time. Check it out. Grandpa is feeling a little frisky today. Let me say something to all
00:10:50.040 you and be as clear and concise as possible.
00:11:06.940 Fuck Bud Light and fuck Anheuser-Busch. Have a terrific day.
00:11:11.740 You know, I think I'm going to buy some more Kid Rock songs this weekend. Meanwhile, sales of Bud
00:11:21.160 Light continue to tank. Perhaps Anheuser-Busch thought they had a beer monopoly, but here's the
00:11:28.020 deal. They do not. So who needs a preachy Bud Light when one can kick back with a sermon-free
00:11:35.820 Coors Light? Currently, a Bud Light boycott remains in full force, and this boycott shows no signs of
00:11:44.820 ebbing. In fact, it's growing. It's certainly a fashionable cause to pursue in many conservative
00:11:51.500 circles, and in some other circles for that matter, more on this aspect later on. Now again,
00:11:58.560 in the Department of Damage Control, what did Anheuser-Busch do? Well, they could have taken a page
00:12:05.320 from Johnson & Johnson, which wrote the book on crisis management decades ago. Back in 1982,
00:12:12.380 the company was broadsided by the tainted Tylenol tragedy. That's when some psychopath purposely
00:12:18.920 laced Tylenol tablets with cyanide. Seven people died. Johnson & Johnson immediately apologized,
00:12:27.740 even though the vast majority of consumers realized that the company itself was not to blame and was
00:12:34.160 actually also being victimized by this saboteur in terms of brand reputation. As well, Johnson & Johnson
00:12:42.220 recalled billions of Tylenol tablets all over the world, even though all the poisonings were confined
00:12:49.780 solely to the Chicago area. The company then went on to pioneer tamper-proof packaging to help make
00:12:57.420 certain that such a tragedy would never occur again. Tamper-proof packaging is now an industry
00:13:04.300 standard the world over. Now, when the tainted Tylenol story originally broke, many commentators
00:13:10.700 predicted that Tylenol, as a brand name, was deader than disco. But they were wrong. Today, Tylenol,
00:13:18.560 thanks to the way in which Johnson & Johnson handled the crisis, actually has greater market share in the
00:13:24.960 pain relief category than it did back in the early 80s. The lesson here is clear. The public is very
00:13:32.740 forgiving as long as the offending corporation is transparent and sincere in making amends.
00:13:40.760 But this has not been the case with Anheuser-Busch. Last Friday, for example, Anheuser-Busch CEO,
00:13:47.580 Brendan Whitworth, didn't issue an apology, but rather he offered up a nothing burger statement,
00:13:54.540 check it out, said Whitworth, quote, as a CEO of a company founded in America's heartland more than
00:14:02.500 165 years ago, I am responsible for ensuring every consumer feels proud of the beer we brew.
00:14:11.420 We're honored to be part of the fabric of this country. Anheuser-Busch employs more than 18,000 people,
00:14:18.420 and our independent distributors employ an additional 47,000 valued colleagues. We have
00:14:26.240 thousands of partners, millions of fans, and a proud history supporting our communities, military,
00:14:32.840 first responders, sports fans, and hard-working Americans everywhere. We never intended to be part
00:14:39.980 of a discussion that divides people. We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer,
00:14:47.180 end quote. That's it? What? Um, to quote Mr. Horse. No, sir, I don't like it. Speaking of horses,
00:14:57.520 after the CEO's statement went over like week-old flat beer, Anheuser-Busch resorted to Plan D, or is it
00:15:05.320 Plan E by this point? Namely, the company's ad agency hastily created a wannabe good old-fashioned
00:15:12.420 piece of patriotic creative heavy on those famous Clydesdale horses and trumpeting the American
00:15:18.960 dream. It was all about the USA and the good old days, you know, when men were men and women were
00:15:24.180 women and drag queens were confined to gay bars as opposed to public libraries. Check it out.
00:15:30.120 Let me tell you a story about a beer rooted in the heart of America, found in a community where a handshake
00:15:52.920 is a sure contract. Brewed for those who found opportunity in challenge and hope in tomorrow.
00:16:05.100 Raised by generations, willing to sip, share, risk, remember.
00:16:14.500 This is a story bigger than beer. This is the story of the American spirit.
00:16:28.540 Whoa, hold your horses, Budweiser, because you've now gone from tiny transgender time to
00:16:37.140 exploiting the horror of 9-11? To get out of a communications crisis? To get back to selling
00:16:44.980 more Bud Light beer again? Are you kidding me? Indeed, as my colleague Ian Miles Chong stated in
00:16:52.500 a recent written piece, quote, prominent figures like Red State senior editor Brandon Morse and actor
00:16:59.860 Matthew Marsden have taken to Twitter to criticize the advertisement. Detransition activist Ali London
00:17:08.420 called attention to Anheuser-Busch's failure to apologize for the backlash, while Judicial Watch
00:17:15.480 president Tom Fitton accused corporate owners of trying to pretend their support of a transgender
00:17:23.380 extremist never happened, end quote. Then again, folks, on the bright side, Anheuser-Busch
00:17:29.840 exploitation of 9-11 wasn't as bad as the most appallingly tasteless 9-11 themed commercial
00:17:38.460 ever filmed. Actually, what I'm about to show you might be the worst and most appallingly tasteless
00:17:45.160 commercial of all time, regardless of the category. It comes courtesy of the marketing geniuses employed
00:17:51.220 at Miracle Mattress in San Antonio, Texas. Buckle up for this one, folks.
00:17:57.120 In Texas, poor taste doesn't begin to describe this ad from a local mattress retailer.
00:18:03.740 What better way to remember 9-11 than with a twin tower sale? Right now, you can get any
00:18:08.140 size mattress for a twin price. Store-wide sale all day long.
00:18:14.760 Oh, my God. We'll never forget.
00:18:18.900 Are you... Anyway, in a statement, the owner of Miracle Mattress says the ad was tasteless
00:18:23.760 and crude and the employees behind it will be held responsible.
00:18:28.260 Incredible. And me thinks, here's another lesson for Anheuser-Busch. Do not commercially exploit
00:18:36.060 tragedies. That is something fraught with danger. But Anheuser-Busch's Bud Light fiasco continues to
00:18:45.020 devolve from simmering crisis to outright boiling catastrophe. And suddenly, Anheuser-Busch, thanks to
00:18:53.600 its own doing, finds itself in a no-win position. Which is to say, these days, it is being denounced
00:19:01.060 by all sides. For example, those on the left are now lambasting Anheuser-Busch for not standing up
00:19:09.780 to so-called anti-trans sentiment. Check out this column by John Casey in theadvocate.com.
00:19:17.300 The headline in deck says it all. It is entitled Boycott Budweiser for Validating Trans Hate.
00:19:25.980 The subtitle states, quote, rather than defend its partnership with trans activist Dylan Mulvaney,
00:19:33.900 Budweiser's CEO poured alcohol all over an extremist's fire, end quote. So this marketing disaster
00:19:42.760 is now in unprecedented territory. I mean, when you have Florida Governor Ron DeSantis boycotting
00:19:50.680 Bud Light on one end, and a left-wing Looney Tune like Whoopi Koldberg boycotting Bud Light on the
00:19:57.720 opposite end, and both camps are boycotting the beer for completely different reasons, the question
00:20:05.040 arises, is anyone currently drinking Bud Light? Because right now, Bud Light is not America's
00:20:12.580 number one selling beer. It's more of a punchline, really. In fact, it's now fashionable to parody
00:20:19.520 this beverage. Check this out. Are you a young drinker who is looking for a beer to drink?
00:20:25.240 Do you feel that you want a beer that has evolved and is elevated? Do you want a beer that is
00:20:30.460 inclusive, has shifted the tone, feels lighter and brighter and different? Then you need a beer that
00:20:36.040 represents the heart of evolution. Are you tired of beers that are fratty and use out-of-touch humor?
00:20:41.420 Do you feel it's important for a beer to have another approach? Then make it a Bud Light because
00:20:47.120 Bud Light is made for a man who wants to be a girl. In the final analysis, the story of the still
00:20:53.560 ongoing Bud Light fiasco is not so much a modern-day retelling of the Schlitz beer disaster of yester
00:21:01.840 decade. In fact, this story isn't even really about beer at all. Rather, in the bigger picture,
00:21:10.060 I think the Bud Light backlash is a turning point in terms of those Americans and others across the
00:21:17.000 globe who are just sick and tired of political correctness being shoved down our collective
00:21:24.660 throats. Indeed, in 2023, the virus that is wokeism, it's everywhere from government and academia to
00:21:33.640 professional sports and Hollywood. Bud Light crossed the line. It ignited a fuse and millions of people
00:21:42.180 who are sick of perversity being the new diversity are now screaming, enough is enough already.
00:21:51.020 I totally get it. Hey, when I go to a hockey game, I don't want to see some grotesque drag queen show
00:21:57.180 break out during the second period intermission. When I watch a movie, I don't want to be lectured
00:22:02.480 about privilege and or white supremacy, especially when the lecture is emanating from perhaps the most
00:22:09.460 privileged white people on the planet, i.e. the Hollywood elite. And when I buy a case of beer,
00:22:15.540 I don't want to hear some phony baloney female mocking real woman as being brainless bimbos.
00:22:23.900 And I also don't want to be lectured by some moronic marketer as to why the brewer would much
00:22:30.740 rather prefer to sell its beer to a demographic that doesn't care to buy the stuff while this same
00:22:37.140 idiot denounces the brand's core consumer base. In fact, unless you're an Anheuser-Busch shareholder,
00:22:44.700 I believe the Bud Light fiasco is a good news story. For example, in light of the current
00:22:52.020 backlash, do you think any other companies that were about to launch some woke ad campaign featuring
00:23:00.300 a creepy transgendered spokes thingy are still plowing through with those plans? Methinks those
00:23:07.560 campaigns have already been scrapped and buried. It's back to the drawing board, unless the unspoken
00:23:13.960 agenda is to commit corporate suicide. The moral of the Bud Light story is clear. When someone reaches
00:23:22.280 for a beer, they want the suds in the can, not pompous propaganda. They don't want political
00:23:29.880 messaging. They don't want a lecture. They don't want to be told how stupid they are.
00:23:35.400 Anheuser-Busch just experienced its Hillary Clinton-like basket of deplorables moment.
00:23:43.720 Yet, given that this beer behemoth still has yet to issue a genuine apology to try and win back its
00:23:52.760 once loyal consumer base, the question arises, has Anheuser-Busch actually learned anything at all
00:24:00.600 from this moronic marketing fiasco?
00:24:15.640 Finally, some good news to report regarding Chinese police stations operating in other sovereign nations.
00:24:23.400 Earlier this week, two New York City men were arrested for allegedly acting as agents
00:24:29.640 for the People's Republic of China. They were also charged for obstructing justice by destroying
00:24:36.360 evidence. We will watch how their trial unfolds in the weeks and months ahead.
00:24:42.040 But as the US is apparently getting more serious about illicit Chinese police stations operating on
00:24:49.320 American soil, what is the situation in Canada? We have previously exposed that such police stations
00:24:57.400 are indeed operating in Canada. Yet all the RCMP will say, dating back to last September,
00:25:04.200 is that the matter is under investigation. But the questions arise, what's going on here?
00:25:11.000 How is it even possible that Chinese police officers are stationed in Western democracies in the first
00:25:17.480 place? And what sort of law enforcement are they responsible for? And joining me now to try and make
00:25:25.000 sense of it all is columnist, author and lawyer, Gordon G. Chang, whose most recent book is The Coming
00:25:32.920 Collapse of China. And he can be found on Twitter at Gordon G. Chang. So first things first, thank you so
00:25:41.320 much for joining me, Gordon. Thank you, David. And what I'm really trying to wrap my head around with this
00:25:48.680 story, Gordon, is what is the ostensible policy reason for Chinese police stations operating in
00:25:57.080 countries such as the US and Canada in the first place? With regard to the US, and that was the police
00:26:06.360 station in Chinatown, which was shut down. Beijing said, well, they're just merely helping Chinese
00:26:12.200 citizens with routine administrative matters, like driving, driver's licenses. But we know from
00:26:18.280 Chinese propaganda that those who were assigned to the Chinese police station in the United States
00:26:23.960 were helping with law enforcement matters, getting Chinese officials back to China, those who had fled,
00:26:30.440 also Chinese dissidents in the US. So really, this was an attempt by Beijing to make sure that it could
00:26:37.960 get what they considered to be fugitives. And the broader issue here is that Ministry of State
00:26:45.880 Security agents and consular officials had been regularly violating American sovereignty almost
00:26:51.080 openly for decades. And so it's understandable why the Chinese felt that they could get away with
00:26:56.440 actually establishing a formal location. This was the result of American feebleness. And so the Chinese
00:27:02.760 just took advantage of it. And I'm sure the same is true in other countries like Canada.
00:27:08.840 In accord, this to me is outrageous. I mean, how do they get away with it in the first place?
00:27:14.760 I know in Canada, I mean, Justin Trudeau infamously said 10 years ago that he has admiration in his heart
00:27:22.040 for the basic dictatorship of China in terms of getting things done. It's astounding how a future
00:27:27.720 leader of a Western democracy would admire a regime like Beijing.
00:27:32.760 The level of admiration I actually have for China, because their basic dictatorship is allowing them
00:27:44.600 to actually turn their economy around on a dime and say, we need to go green as fast as...
00:27:48.680 But, you know, in terms of these police officers operating, in terms of these quasi police stations
00:27:57.880 springing up, I mean, I'm not even certain how they got away with this in the first place.
00:28:04.120 Isn't this a direct attack on the other nations' sovereignty?
00:28:08.120 Yeah, it certainly is. This is a gross violation of sovereignty.
00:28:13.000 You know, Western leaders, and you can see this in the US, they wanted to cooperate with China.
00:28:19.240 They felt that if they were indulgent, China would sort of reciprocate, and that Beijing would
00:28:24.280 eventually come to see that it had an interest in maintaining the existing international order.
00:28:30.920 Also, on a sort of more base explanation would really be that, well, there are elements in the
00:28:37.720 American society that were making money from China, and so that they were influential in Washington
00:28:42.760 in making sure that the US government didn't protect American sovereignty, because that would cause
00:28:50.280 friction, and friction would inevitably affect business. So I'm sure the same motivations were
00:28:55.880 in Canada as well. But clearly, the Chinese just took advantage of this, and they felt that they were
00:29:01.400 going to go full bore on it. And so we should not be surprised. This is the direct result of American
00:29:08.600 policies in our case, and I'm sure it's the same north of our border.
00:29:14.120 And Gordon, in terms of reciprocation, I can't for a second believe that Beijing would welcome with
00:29:22.200 open arms the FBI, the CIA, the RCMP, CSIS, etc., into Chinese territory. So it's a bit of a double
00:29:31.560 standard, isn't it? Yes. Well, we have not insisted on reciprocity. So the Chinese have not felt that they
00:29:38.520 had to open up their country. And this is not just police stations. This is when we talk about,
00:29:43.960 for instance, TikTok. American apps are not allowed in China, but we allow Chinese apps in our country.
00:29:50.920 So the Chinese are taking advantage of us. And so we shouldn't be surprised about that. But the American
00:29:56.600 people should be outraged at American presidents who have known about this and allowed this to continue.
00:30:03.000 And this is not just a recent phenomenon. This has gone on for quite some time, China violating our
00:30:08.520 sovereignty. And Gordon, can you tell us what do we know about those two individuals that were arrested
00:30:17.240 in New York City earlier this week? They were politically influential. There's that infamous
00:30:24.760 photograph of one of them standing next to Eric Adams, who is now mayor of New York,
00:30:30.520 and Chuck Schumer, the majority leader in the Senate. So we know that they made large donations
00:30:37.080 to the Democratic Party. We have known this for quite some time. And it's only now. The thing about
00:30:44.440 this, David, that is interesting is that we didn't learn about these police stations from our own
00:30:50.440 government. We learned about it because of the Spanish-based NGO, Safeguard Defenders, who wrote
00:30:57.720 a report about a year ago and who've updated that report to show the increase in the number of Chinese
00:31:04.040 police stations around the world. So the FBI in the United States, they're just reacting to pressure.
00:31:12.200 They weren't going to do this on their own. And that really shows how influential China is.
00:31:17.400 China is more influential in the United States than the American people. And we ought to take note of
00:31:22.680 that and understand that our republic is at risk. You know, Gordon, this is scary to me because,
00:31:29.240 I mean, the fact that this is OK with the Democratic Party, one of the ongoing stories we have right now
00:31:36.040 in Canada is that the Chinese government was influential in the last two Canadian elections of
00:31:43.960 2021 and 2019 and perhaps even earlier. I guess what I'm getting at is that China on the international
00:31:54.760 stage, it's a bad actor. It's not a nation you want to get in bed with, even if it's politically
00:32:02.040 expedient. It almost sounds treasonous to me. I know that's a harsh word that you would allow a regime like
00:32:09.560 that to carry out law enforcement again in a Western democracy. Yeah, that's a great word for it.
00:32:18.360 But, you know, whatever the motivation is of American and Canadian leaders, we know that
00:32:23.320 they're not defending their countries. Their highest obligation, most solemn obligation is to defend
00:32:30.360 the United States and Canada from foreign attack. And they've completely failed to do that.
00:32:35.880 So we have to understand that I don't think it's possible to accommodate China for various reasons.
00:32:43.160 And that means we need to remove Chinese contacts from American soil, from the United States,
00:32:49.720 because we have not been able after decades to find a way to accommodate it on an acceptable way.
00:32:56.200 And Gordon, on in our country, we've been working on this story. We haven't been getting much
00:33:01.880 cooperation. The RCMP will simply say it's under investigation. Other than that, no comment.
00:33:08.200 I have gone to the alleged three buildings that are supposedly hosting Chinese police officers.
00:33:16.840 One is a Chinese Canadian business association in Markham, also in Markham. It's just a residential
00:33:26.520 house. And in the Scarborough area of Toronto, a convenience store. To me, it's surreal. And I'm just
00:33:36.200 wondering, are they purposely housed in, I guess, fronts like that to avoid suspicion?
00:33:42.600 Probably. But also they're housed in locations where there are a lot of Chinese. So it gives them
00:33:50.760 cover. There's a lot going on here. But you know, whatever the reason is, they're not acceptable in
00:33:57.560 any location. So, you know, it's up to the Canadian people to demand that their leaders start removing
00:34:06.200 these locations. And it's going to be the same dynamic in the US, that it's going to be up to
00:34:12.120 the American people to force President Biden to do what he doesn't want to do. But we've seen a change
00:34:19.720 in American political opinion. And I would hope that there would be a similar change in Canada as well.
00:34:25.320 I hope so, too. And tell me, Gordon, I've had off the record conversations with people
00:34:31.960 that are on this file. And what they tell me is that they're not like typical police. They don't
00:34:37.000 wear a uniform. They don't have a badge. They don't even carry firearms. And basically, at least in
00:34:42.280 Canada, the situation has been they've identified people who are so-called enemies of the state, that is
00:34:49.240 to the government of China. And they basically do the soft sell. They go, listen, we can do this
00:34:55.800 the easy way or the hard way. You can either get back on a plane and go back to China and face
00:35:02.440 discipline. Or we know who your friends and family are back in China. We can have our associates in the
00:35:10.520 homeland take care of things. It's almost like extortion to me. And I think if that is true, this makes
00:35:17.640 it even more outrageous. Gordon, your thoughts? Yes, certainly. And the other issue here in the US is
00:35:24.600 that Chinese consular officials have been involved in these activities and others that violate American
00:35:31.240 sovereignty. And we've known about this for decades and nothing was done. You know, fortunately, when Mike
00:35:38.840 Pompeo was secretary of state in July of 2021, they closed the Houston consulate. And they said the
00:35:46.040 official explanation was that it was because of espionage being conducted there. Well, if that were
00:35:51.880 the explanation, the Trump administration should have closed all five Chinese consulates. But what
00:35:58.360 was occurring in Houston, I believe, is China was providing logistical and financial support to violent
00:36:04.440 protesters in the United States. And that was more than just subversion, David. That's an act of war.
00:36:10.120 So really, the Chinese will engage in attempts to destroy the American government. And I'm sure they'll
00:36:18.600 do the same thing in Canada as well, if they're permitted to do so. And we've got two political
00:36:25.800 systems that have accommodated China in ways that are inimical to the countries. So it's up to the
00:36:31.800 Canadian people. It's up to the American people to make sure that it is politically impossible to allow
00:36:37.960 China to move against Canada and the United States. And Gordon, since you mentioned former US President
00:36:45.480 Donald Trump, you know, I can see why the Democrats would go easy on China. But certainly, former President
00:36:53.960 Trump, he took a hard line on China. I'm just wondering why there wasn't more house cleaning
00:37:01.320 regarding this matter in the US when Mr. Trump was in power.
00:37:07.160 Well, you know, China was not the number one issue when when Trump took over in 2021. So
00:37:17.400 there was, sorry, in 19, 2017. But there really is, you know, now a growing awareness of this. And
00:37:26.520 let's got to be clear that the Democrats are not the only party in the United States who are at fault.
00:37:32.920 The Republicans have had atrocious China policies as well, sometimes worse than the Democrats.
00:37:39.880 So there's a bipartisan failure in the United States. And it just so happens right now that
00:37:48.440 Joe Biden has views of China that are outdated. He's trying to reach cooperation with China,
00:37:56.360 which China doesn't want to cooperate with him. And so he is not taking those measures that I believe
00:38:01.160 he's constitutionally required to take. But this will be up for the American people in the next
00:38:06.120 election, because China is becoming increasingly political in the United States, which is a good
00:38:11.480 thing. People are now looking at it with a much harder eye. And it is going to be an issue where it
00:38:17.480 hasn't been in the past.
00:38:18.680 Interesting. Gordon, one last question. I'm going to ask you to do a little crystal ball gazing.
00:38:24.760 What we see with the two men in New York charged, is this maybe the unraveling of Chinese police
00:38:34.680 stations, not just in America, but maybe the world over? Or is this maybe just a statistical blip?
00:38:41.640 It's a one off and business as usual shall go on.
00:38:48.680 This is the start of a trend. It's not a one off. There are six other police stations in the US,
00:38:54.120 and I suspect that they'll be closed fairly soon, though not soon enough. China has crossed the line
00:39:00.680 in the US with, for instance, that spy balloon that entered US airspace on January 28th and also
00:39:07.720 crossed Western Canada. So I think that there is no going back. The issue is, will the American and
00:39:16.520 Canadian publics move fast enough? And I believe that they will, because what we're seeing is a
00:39:22.760 change of opinion. And I don't think there's anything right now that China can do to change it.
00:39:27.240 It has done too much, and it has crystallized opinion, at least in the United States. And as I
00:39:33.320 mentioned, I hope in Canada as well. I hope so too, my friend. Well,
00:39:37.880 thank you so much, Gordon, for your insight. I greatly appreciate it.
00:39:42.840 Thank you, David. Thank you. And folks, that was Gordon G. Chang,
00:39:46.600 and you can follow him on Twitter at Gordon G. Chang. Please stay with us.
00:39:52.440 More of the Ezreal event show to come right after this.
00:40:06.280 Well, folks, lots of feedback on Sheila Gunn-Reed's monologue on the Liberals' controversial
00:40:12.840 online streaming legislation, and her interview with our colleague, Alex Dalliwal,
00:40:18.840 who was frog-marched out of a Rachel Notley press conference. Despicable.
00:40:24.680 Now, in reference to the online streaming act, James Friedman writes,
00:40:30.280 this BS is brought to you by tolerance and compassion. Yeah, it's funny. It's always about
00:40:37.160 tolerance and compassion when it comes to a dictator telling you how you're going to live your life
00:40:44.760 or else. I go back to election night 2015 when Blackface said this was going to be the most
00:40:52.760 transparent and honest government in Canadian history. It's proven to be neither. And with
00:40:58.520 regards to Mr. Dalliwal being kicked out of the Rachel Notley press conference, Mark Blaine writes,
00:41:05.720 Notley is into censorship. That alone is a reason not to vote for Notley and the NDP. You know,
00:41:14.280 you're absolutely right. And here's what I say at another press conference. I remember
00:41:19.240 Rachel Notley calling out a staffer with Western Standard. She said she wasn't going to
00:41:24.920 answer questions from him until he apologized for alleged homophobic content. Well, you know something,
00:41:31.640 folks, given that our colleague Alex Dalliwal is Muslim, maybe we should fight fire with fire,
00:41:38.360 which is to say, hey, Rachel Notley, how dare you be Islamophobic by kicking a Muslim reporter out of
00:41:47.320 your own press conference? Despicable. Greg Pearson writes, start throwing the CBC, CTV and Global
00:41:55.720 out of conservative events. But you know what? I don't think so. We're not like them, folks. Let's not
00:42:03.560 get in the trough with the pigs. Let's show that we're better than they are. I say simply defund these
00:42:11.320 entities. See how they will fare in a free market economy. Oh, that'll be a blood sport worth tuning
00:42:18.360 into. Well, folks, that wraps up tonight's edition of the Ezra Levin show. I shall be back here tomorrow,
00:42:24.920 Friday, April 21st, for another round. In the meantime, as always, stay safe and stay sane.