Rebel News Podcast - April 22, 2020


Trump declares a moratorium on immigration: Will it spark a debate in Canada?


Episode Stats

Length

32 minutes

Words per Minute

165.38062

Word Count

5,401

Sentence Count

418

Misogynist Sentences

9

Hate Speech Sentences

14


Summary

Donald Trump announces a moratorium on immigration, and 80% of Americans agree with him. What does that mean for the economy, jobs, and the economy in general? And why is this a good idea? Ezra Levant explains why.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Hello, my friends. Donald Trump has announced an immigration moratorium that comes from the
00:00:05.940 Latin word for death. He's just going to shut it down to zero. And a U.S. poll says that 80%
00:00:12.580 of Americans agree with him. Hey, what do you think the stats would be up here in Canada?
00:00:18.780 Well, before I get to the monologue, let me invite you to become a subscriber to
00:00:22.400 Rebel News Plus. That's what we call our stuff behind the paywall. It's the video version of
00:00:26.880 this podcast, plus a podcast video from Sheila Gunn-Reed, her weekly show, and a weekly show
00:00:32.880 by David Menzies. It's only eight bucks a month. That's two bucks a week. That is pennies a day.
00:00:38.060 And you can get it at rebelnews.com. Okay, here's today's show.
00:00:45.660 You're listening to a Rebel News Podcast.
00:00:47.940 Tonight, Donald Trump declares a moratorium on immigration. It's April 21st, and this
00:01:01.100 is the Ezra Levant Show. Why should others go to jail when you're a biggest carbon consumer
00:01:07.540 I know? There's 8,500 customers here, and you won't give them an answer. The only thing
00:01:12.780 I have to say to the government of a wire publisher is because it's my bloody right to do so.
00:01:23.280 Last night at around 10 p.m., Donald Trump just decided to tweet this. In light of the attack
00:01:30.600 from the invisible enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our great American citizens,
00:01:36.580 I will be signing an executive order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States.
00:01:42.580 Well, there's a bit of news. It was a surprise, but not a shock. Trump has made restricting
00:01:48.740 immigration part of his platform since he ran for the Republican nomination. Precious little
00:01:53.600 of the wall with Mexico has been built, and our friend Joel Pollack repeatedly tells me
00:01:58.220 that's because the Democrat-dominated Congress always foils his plans. I don't know. I've grown
00:02:03.580 a bit skeptical of Trump on that one. As well, Jared Kushner, other high-ups around Donald Trump.
00:02:12.860 I think there's too many Wall Street banker types in the administration. Those are people from the
00:02:17.900 class who have an economic stake in unfettered immigration, open borders. Real estate developers
00:02:25.180 who like people buying houses, mass immigration, bankers, global companies looking for cheap labor.
00:02:31.980 I'm worried that Trump's announcement, which given the fact that it was done at 10 p.m. on Twitter,
00:02:36.500 suggests maybe it wasn't really workshopped through the regular channels. I'm worried it might be
00:02:40.640 watered down by the open borders folks in his administration. There certainly are some of them.
00:02:45.660 But at least right now, it's a bold announcement. And by the way, it would be by far the most
00:02:51.960 popular thing he's ever done as president. By far. Here's a poll by the Reuters news agency,
00:03:00.960 hardly a conservative organization. About 8 in 10 support drastic steps on immigration,
00:03:09.640 imposing mandatory quarantines for people who have traveled to any other country,
00:03:13.440 and temporarily stopping immigration from all other countries. Well, in my view,
00:03:20.180 that first ship has pretty much sailed. Trump did restrict flights from China way back in January,
00:03:26.240 which is universally regarded as having reduced the number of virus deaths in America and bought
00:03:32.060 the U.S. more time. Quarantines are a good idea, too. Even lazy open borders Justin Trudeau has
00:03:38.020 finally brought in quarantine measures to Canada, pretty much the last country in the world to do so.
00:03:42.700 But the second part of the poll there, stopping not just visitors, but all immigration,
00:03:49.000 that's something supported by 80% of people. 80%. Here's the actual poll document itself from
00:03:55.960 Ipsos. Look at question six there. What should the government do? 92% of people want access to the
00:04:03.640 virus tests. I think that's a really good idea. That would allow us to deal with people who are sick
00:04:08.620 differently than how we deal with people who are healthy. And right now, 99% of us are healthy,
00:04:13.160 but we're being all quarantined together as if we're all sick. That's not how a quarantine is
00:04:17.940 supposed to work. And a test would not just set the rest of us free, but it would allow us to focus our
00:04:23.540 resources to give actual help to the people who really need it. Anyways, you can see travel
00:04:28.080 quarantines are on the list there, too. And as you can see, that's up to 81% support from 60% just last
00:04:34.960 month. But look at that. Look at that. Temporarily stop immigration from all other countries, 79%.
00:04:42.540 Now, Donald Trump's partisan approval, according to the Daily Erasmussen poll, clocked in at 46%
00:04:50.540 yesterday. Usually hovers between there and around the 50% mark. So the fact that he's still in the 40
00:04:56.200 to 50, 55% zone with plus or minus, despite the worst crisis to hit America since, I don't know,
00:05:03.920 the Vietnam War, since the Second World War. It's remarkable, not only the deaths and the fear from
00:05:10.380 the virus, but 20 million plus unemployed Americans. It's actually stunning that he's still holding on to
00:05:16.120 the approval ratings he has. I think people watch his daily briefings, and they see that he's doing
00:05:20.600 his best, making good decisions, is actively engaged, is working seven days a week. And he
00:05:26.080 seems to be doing the right things, often while Democrats play games. And they really are. I mean,
00:05:31.980 here's Nancy Pelosi, the de facto leader of the Democrats, going on a late night talk show from
00:05:38.440 her multi-million dollar mansion. And by the way, those fridges behind her, they cost about $24,000.
00:05:46.240 Take a look at this for a second. Oh, my. Wow. Other people in our family go for some other
00:05:54.800 flavors, but chocolate, and then we have some other chocolate here. I've always felt a connection
00:06:01.560 with you, and now I understand why. Since you've been isolating in your house, how much of your
00:06:09.740 regular diet do you think is ice cream and candy? Well, as much as possible. I enjoy it. I like it
00:06:20.080 better than anything else. That was what Pelosi was doing as she was blocking Trump's plans to send
00:06:26.540 Trump bucks to everyone, you know, a quick $1,200 check to every American. Of course Pelosi wants to
00:06:32.440 block that. I understand the checks would actually have Trump's signature on them. Of course she would
00:06:37.700 hate that. That's supposed to be a Democrat move, giving people free money. You know, Trump actually
00:06:43.320 consulted with Andrew Yang, the quirky former Democrat presidential nominee who proposed universal
00:06:48.560 income. It was a move to appeal to the left, and Nancy Pelosi knows it, so she blocked it as best she
00:06:54.960 could. And look at the Republican ad that was just rolled out yesterday about that. This is just
00:07:02.140 absolutely brutal. We turn now to that $350 billion fund to help small businesses and its workers get
00:07:09.760 through the shutdown. It will be up to Congress to restock it. But Democrats blocking that move this
00:07:14.720 morning. They asked for a quarter of a trillion dollars in 48 hours. I said, well, I don't think so.
00:07:20.880 They objected, and I congratulate the Senate Democrats. Speaker Pelosi, what are you going to share with us from
00:07:25.860 your home? Chocolate candy. Thousands have been forced to wait for hours at food banks all across
00:07:31.660 the country. This is chocolate, and then we have some other chocolate here. We just got to restock the
00:07:38.760 ice cream. You don't want to eat up everything at one time. I can't do it much longer. I'm trying so
00:07:44.460 hard. We were, shall we say, enjoying. Having to admit that, yeah, we're starving, and I like it better than
00:07:51.460 anything else. Taping this segment, there are 22 million people out for it. This specific program
00:07:56.620 is about stopping job losses today. This is hurting people bad. Other people in our family go for some
00:08:02.940 other flavors, but. Right now it's survival move. You don't know where that next something else is
00:08:07.740 going to come from. I don't know what I would have done if ice cream were not invented. I just wonder.
00:08:13.300 Nancy Antoinette. It's a bit amazing that a billionaire, an ostentatious guy like Donald
00:08:25.740 Trump has better grassroots working class sensibilities than the Democrats who claim to
00:08:31.120 be the party of working people. But the fact is, it's tough out there, and Trump knows it. 20 million
00:08:35.860 Americans looking for work, and we have the equivalent proportion in Canada too. About one-tenth that.
00:08:41.200 I'm not sure when the official unemployment stats come out, but I presume we're going to be at around
00:08:45.920 20% unemployment, and it will be much worse in places like Alberta, where the price of oil has
00:08:51.140 effectively fallen to zero. Now that's obviously a function of supply and demand. America has been
00:08:58.960 producing record amounts of oil from fracking, but then all of a sudden the world pushed pause on
00:09:05.520 all sorts of economic activity, including driving and flying, which is where a lot of
00:09:10.400 petroleum goes to. At the same time, OPEC and Russia were just giving her on production. So the
00:09:15.780 price of oil plummeted because there's literally more oil every day than everyone wants. We've had
00:09:22.560 that problem in Alberta for a few years because Trudeau and his cronies have simply blocked pipelines. So
00:09:27.780 there's a glut. But for the U.S., this is just a huge overproduction problem. By the way, Trump has a
00:09:33.180 plan for that too. Based on the record low price of oil that you've been seeing, it's at a level that's
00:09:40.560 very interesting to a lot of people. We're filling up our national petroleum reserves, strategic, you know,
00:09:48.440 the strategic reserves. And we're looking to put as much as 75 million barrels into the reserves
00:09:57.740 themselves. That would top it out. That would be the first time in a long time it's been topped out. We'd get it for the right price.
00:10:03.820 Makes sense as a way to sop up some of that extra oil supply to save jobs in the American oil and gas sector.
00:10:10.180 And Trump knows the maxim, buy low, sell high. Pretty basic. If you could buy 75 million barrels of oil right now at
00:10:17.440 next to nothing and be patient enough to hold on to it until the price rebounds, I mean, wouldn't you do that too?
00:10:23.300 Do you see what I mean? Trump is working. He's working on everything. People see that and he's using his businessman's brain.
00:10:28.640 Trudeau doesn't have that brain. But the immigration moratorium in the way, in the way it's the same issue as the oil problem.
00:10:35.340 It's supply and demand. Here's a statistic courtesy of Breitbart. Take a look at this.
00:10:40.200 For four decades, the United States has admitted between 525,000 to 1.8 million legal immigrants annually,
00:10:50.120 the majority of which immediately enter the workforce to compete against Americans for working class jobs.
00:10:57.380 Well, that's the thing. Just like the price of oil has plunged because of too much supply and too
00:11:04.120 little demand. Well, you've now got 22 million unemployed American citizens right now. Talk about
00:11:12.080 huge labor supply. So the price of that labor has fallen. Demand is low. Why would you then bring in
00:11:19.140 a half a million or a million foreign laborers now to add to the oversupply of labor just to undercut
00:11:26.200 American wages even more by working for cheap? And of course, that's just the legal immigration numbers.
00:11:32.980 There's lots of illegal immigration there, too. You'll note that those numbers sound high.
00:11:38.540 Here's the official stats for U.S.
00:11:41.480 immigration on an annual basis. It's about a million a year and has been for about two decades, whether
00:11:46.780 it was President Barack Obama or Republican George W. Bush. The last time it was significantly lower
00:11:53.320 was under Ronald Reagan. A million migrants a year, plus illegals. Well, I got to tell you, that's nothing.
00:12:00.520 That's nothing. Because, of course, we have one-tenth the population of the U.S., so you'd think our
00:12:05.980 immigration would be one-tenth theirs, right? A hundred thousand a year? No, no, no. It's more
00:12:10.940 than triple that. And even during this crisis, when Service Canada workers have basically decided to go
00:12:18.360 on strike, they still continue to process immigration applications to this day. Here's a story from just a
00:12:24.940 couple weeks ago in the Financial Post. The department continues to accept and process
00:12:31.760 applications throughout the period of these temporary measures, Kevin Lemke, a spokesman for
00:12:37.540 Mendocino, that's the immigration minister, said by email. Immigration has and will continue to be
00:12:43.120 critical to Canada's long-term success as we work to recover from the economic headwinds we are facing
00:12:49.120 due to the coronavirus. Following past downturns, says the Financial Post, international migration
00:12:55.880 levels have tended to rebound quickly, aided by a broad political consensus. The inflows are good
00:13:02.800 for the country. Really, eh? A broad political consensus. Now, I suppose it's true. Andrew Scheer
00:13:09.460 absolutely caved on the issue of immigration levels in the last election. And literally, his only answer
00:13:16.320 to the question on how much migration is good is, well, whatever Trudeau wants. Remember this
00:13:22.340 cringeworthy exchange? But you still didn't give a number, and you would have to set a target as
00:13:26.680 government. That's part of your job, is to set a government level. So if the target right now is
00:13:32.080 350,000 immigrants by 2021, is that about what you're looking at? I think that's reasonable, yeah. And
00:13:37.360 again, as long as that's coming from facts, from evidence, from a look at the situation and an
00:13:43.600 understanding of where our society has needs, then absolutely. Imagine going on a show with a state
00:13:51.120 broadcaster, the government journalist, Rosemary Barton, who is personally suing your party. She sued
00:13:59.320 the conservatives in the last election, and allowing her to pressure you into blurting out some immigration
00:14:05.600 policy on the spot. You know, Andrew Scheer had managed to not come up with any statement during the
00:14:10.980 entire campaign about immigration levels. And he literally made it up right there on the spot
00:14:16.140 because he felt some peer pressure from some journalist, and he wanted some relief from 60
00:14:21.100 seconds of discomfort. So yeah, I guess it's true, other than the fact that Canada's most popular
00:14:26.460 premier, at least until the virus crisis, was Francois Legault, who ran on an explicit campaign
00:14:32.620 promise to reduce immigration to Quebec by 20%. I remind you that in real Canada, 90% of Canadians either want
00:14:40.360 immigration numbers to stay the same or fall. Now that's different from a moratorium, which Trump
00:14:46.520 is proposing. A moratorium comes from the word die, to absolutely be cut to zero. But I imagine if a
00:14:52.320 pollster in Canada were to ask the moratorium question fairly, the answer would be similar,
00:14:57.520 especially after 20% unemployment sinks in for a few months. But that's what's been so odd about
00:15:03.840 Trudeau's response. He really isn't in charge of much during the pandemic. I mean, healthcare is a
00:15:09.720 provincial matter. Trudeau doesn't have any hospitals under his command. No nurses or doctors
00:15:14.440 work for Trudeau. Other than that, WHO lobbyist, Teresa Tam, literally Trudeau's only job was to
00:15:21.920 watch the borders at airports and at Roxham Road. He failed both miserably, and he absolutely seems
00:15:28.340 dead set on continuing open borders immigration, at least according to his immigration minister
00:15:33.500 spokesman. And you know, the media party completely agrees. Now we'll see if the U.S. moratorium
00:15:38.420 sparks a debate in our country about open borders immigration too. I'm skeptical because the entire
00:15:44.100 political class, other than Quebec, is in lockstep on it. Do you really think Peter McKay or Aaron O'Toole
00:15:50.660 would dare to oppose open borders even now? I don't. What media would? None, at least none that take
00:16:00.140 Trudeau's bailout, but we'll see. Trudeau often does the exact opposite of Trump just to spite him.
00:16:06.820 When Trump brought in his first limited immigration moratorium in 2017, targeting various terrorist
00:16:13.900 countries, well, that's when Trudeau wrote this on Twitter. To those fleeing persecution, terror, and war,
00:16:21.120 Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength. Welcome to Canada!
00:16:26.260 And he then opened up Roxham Road. It was a pouty rejoinder to Trump. Ironically, it meant 50,000
00:16:32.720 of America's worst people. And by that, I mean people who had been ordered out of the country.
00:16:38.620 Bogus refugees who have had their claims rejected in the States. And literal criminals, they simply
00:16:43.540 walked in from New York State to Quebec, and then on to Toronto or wherever. But hey, nice tweet, bro.
00:16:51.260 Maybe we'll see the same after Trump's executive order comes. Maybe Trudeau will double down on open
00:16:56.620 borders, go even further. We'll see. Back in January 2017, Trudeau himself was still new enough.
00:17:03.560 That was before his blackface revelations, before he fired Jody Wilson-Raybould, before he shut down
00:17:08.980 the oil and gas industry, when the economy was still strong enough, when unemployment was still low
00:17:14.140 enough, before the virus and before 20% unemployment. I'm not sure if open borders immigration will work
00:17:23.100 now, though. Stay with us for more.
00:17:25.640 Well, we've been privileged to talk to the next expert about China matters for years. But now I turn on
00:17:43.920 the TV, I see him everywhere. He's become America's go-to expert for all matters regarding China. You
00:17:50.980 probably know who I mean. It's our friend Gordon Chang, who you can follow on Gordon G Chang on Twitter.
00:17:58.100 Gordon, great to see you again. Thanks for jamming us in. I really am glad that the world is seeking
00:18:04.040 your point of view on China, given how so much of the diplomatic establishment is pro-Beijing. I'm glad
00:18:10.500 you're out there as a counterpoint. Oh, you're so generous, Ezra. And I'm so pleased to be on your show.
00:18:16.160 So thank you. Well, thanks very much. Let me get to some news, because holy cow, the last few days
00:18:21.580 have been packed with him. First of all, let me ask you about reports that seem to be walked back a
00:18:27.360 little bit that Kim Jong-un, the dictator of North Korea, fell ill from the virus. Do you have any news
00:18:33.740 on that? Well, people are saying that foreign doctors, either from China or from Europe, brought
00:18:40.460 the coronavirus to Kim Jong-un. And that's really possible because those doctors were supposed to
00:18:46.700 come to North Korea about February or so. But it's clear that Kim is suffering right now because he
00:18:54.980 didn't show up for the most important day in North Korea's calendar, which is April 15th, the day of the
00:19:00.820 sun, which commemorates the birth of his grandfather, Kim Il-sung. You know, Kim loves a microphone. So for
00:19:07.880 him to be a no-show indicates something is really wrong. So I tend to believe that there is a serious
00:19:15.220 health issue. Of course, you know, we won't know for quite some time, but I don't think that the
00:19:20.400 Chinese and the South Korean reports downplaying what's going on are quite accurate. I know that
00:19:27.320 there's a lot of intrigues there and even family assassinations or un-personing. Do you know who might
00:19:35.320 be the heir apparent if Kim were to die? Would it be some military general? Would it be a family
00:19:43.260 member? Is it clear at all who his successor is? Well, there would be a family member in the mix.
00:19:50.240 And the reason is that the regime needs the PEC-2 bloodline, as it's called. That's for legitimacy.
00:19:57.700 You know, Kim's younger sister, Kim Yo-jong, is generally considered to be the most capable of Kim Jong-il's
00:20:04.600 children. And that really means that she's probably got at least the lead lane right now
00:20:12.420 for taking over. I mean, she's ruthless from what we can tell. And that's an indication that she's got
00:20:19.420 what it takes to survive in a very stressful environment. So the problem has always been for
00:20:26.220 her that in a Confucian-tinged regime, you've got to be a male. But I think she's going to end up at
00:20:32.460 least being the regent and maybe even the power itself.
00:20:37.400 Last question. Sorry, go ahead.
00:20:40.540 No, no, it's fine.
00:20:41.520 I was going to ask one last question on North Korea, and then I want to move around the region a little
00:20:45.080 bit. I don't know how much Donald Trump genuinely got in return for his normalization with Kim Jong-un.
00:20:53.960 But would any successor likely be more hardline or more liberal, do you think? Or is it just impossible
00:21:01.660 to tell at this stage?
00:21:04.020 You know, Ezra, I would think more hardline because being anti-US is just inherent in the nature of the
00:21:11.560 regime. And so, you know, a young leader is or new leader is going to have to prove that they are
00:21:19.260 really North Korean. And I think that it means that whoever shows up and is the next leader of North Korea,
00:21:27.760 if it's soon, is going to have to really take a very tough position on the United States.
00:21:35.260 Very interesting. Well, let's move down to Hong Kong now. It was almost lost in the international news
00:21:42.100 shuffle of the last week that police in Hong Kong arrested very many senior democracy organizers.
00:21:50.740 Obviously, I don't know the names of all of them, but even I knew the names of some of the senior
00:21:55.380 Democrat activists who've been at it for decades. Martin Lee, if I'm not mistaken, was the name of
00:22:01.500 one of them. We interviewed him when we sent reporters to Hong Kong last year. These are very
00:22:07.220 prominent people. Why do you think China is moving on them now? Is it because they want to show
00:22:13.520 strength in their own domain? Or is it because they're taking advantage of the world's distraction
00:22:20.180 or both? Yeah, I think it's actually taking advantage of the world's distraction. I mean,
00:22:26.860 we've seen Beijing do some really strange things recently. So for instance, there have been provocations
00:22:33.140 in both the East China Sea and South China Sea. And it's not just Japan and Taiwan. They've also
00:22:38.420 gone after Vietnam, Indonesia, and their good friend, Malaysia. And you had a Chinese diplomat
00:22:44.300 talk about China actually absorbing Kazakhstan into the People's Republic. This is just stunning stuff.
00:22:52.140 So I think that essentially, you've got a political system that is off the rails in Beijing in terms of
00:22:57.400 only the hardline solutions are politically acceptable. Plus, Xi Jinping,
00:23:02.640 the Chinese ruler probably saw he had an opportunity. And it was just not the mass arrest of the 15
00:23:08.180 figures. It was also an assault on Hong Kong's legal structure. So this is really bad news. And I think
00:23:15.900 the people in Hong Kong are actually going to have to take a last stand against China, because this is
00:23:20.860 where they do or die. I follow a number of somewhat reliable Twitter feeds for dissident videos from
00:23:32.460 China. But you always have to take them with a bit of a grain of sand, a grain of salt, because I don't
00:23:37.480 know if they're as current as they seem to be. I don't know if the meaning is what they purport. But I do
00:23:43.180 see a lot of videos that look like spontaneous grassroots protests of some sort, people whose
00:23:50.420 rents were hiked, people who were shut out of apartments. I see what looks like a slow burning
00:23:57.640 discontent on the streets. I don't know, maybe I'm getting a skewed picture. It's so hard to tell.
00:24:04.340 Based on your sources, is there some brewing discontent in the country that's more than usual,
00:24:11.600 or it's just that everybody's on a cell phone camera now, so we see more of it?
00:24:17.180 I actually think that there is more anger right now. First of all, there was white hot anger
00:24:21.820 about the Communist Party's mishandling of the coronavirus epidemic. People really angry,
00:24:28.140 especially at the death of Dr. Li Wenliang, who was one of the Wuhan 8 on February 7th. I mean,
00:24:34.660 we saw that across China's social media platforms. I mean, they started to, you know, adopt
00:24:41.060 Do You Hear the People Sing, which is that politically impactful anthem from Les Miserables.
00:24:47.200 And that's actually a song that people in Hong Kong sang as a protest against China.
00:24:51.100 Plus, also, Ezra, what makes this, I think, a couple of things are occurring also. First of all,
00:24:57.400 the virus is subsiding in places. So people are now just sort of indulging in recrimination.
00:25:02.080 Plus, also, the economy is contracting. And so China can't say, well, you know, we ensure the
00:25:09.020 continual delivery of prosperity. So I think people are just, you know, it's several things
00:25:16.460 occurring at the same time, all undermining the legitimacy of the Communist Party. And it's going
00:25:21.220 to be a very stressful time for the party to get through this.
00:25:25.140 Let me ask you one last question about China's diplomatic stance. I see that the Chinese ambassador
00:25:33.940 to Canada is implying that any sort of criticism of the virus as a Chinese emanation, whether by
00:25:42.700 accident or on fault, is a form of racism. And I saw a shocking tweet just in the last day or so
00:25:49.140 by not a diplomat, but a sort of diplomat, an English language propagandist for Global Times,
00:25:57.200 who, I think it was him, I followed too many, who invoked the memory of Tiananmen Square.
00:26:06.300 He tweeted an image of a nurse in the street standing athwart some American protester who wanted
00:26:14.940 the lockdown to end. And this Chinese spokesman said, this is like the man versus the tank in
00:26:22.320 Tiananmen Square. I thought, I thought it was a shocking tweet that implied this was America's
00:26:27.460 version of Tiananmen Square. The shocking accusation that Canada is racist towards China. I just see an
00:26:34.740 aggressive tone. Is that just designed to please Beijing and make Beijing feel good? Or is this some
00:26:43.000 sort of larger objective strategy to take on America and the world?
00:26:49.780 Yeah, that's a great question. And I don't have the answer to that. And also, you can add to that
00:26:55.140 the comments from the Chinese ambassador to France. I mean, they were so awful that he got called in on
00:27:02.520 the carpet by the French foreign ministry. But this is occurring across the board. I think it's an
00:27:08.300 indication that people are trying to curry favor with the hardliners in Beijing. And it's a real
00:27:14.520 indication, I think, of actually probably infighting at the top of the Communist Party,
00:27:20.720 because people are lining up on sides. So that's my guess. But it's really hard to tell, Ezra,
00:27:28.220 because, of course, China is not a transparent political system. And right now, I mean, we get
00:27:34.180 hints of infighting at the top. But I think that when you ever have that stress, diplomats go for
00:27:41.560 the default position, which is really the most nationalistic, the most ugly, just the most awful.
00:27:47.260 And it's not serving China well. But that's just the nature of the system.
00:27:52.180 Very interesting. Well, Gordon, we're always grateful when you stop by. I've seen you on so many
00:27:57.080 prestigious channels across America. I've seen you in documentaries recently. And I feel a sense of
00:28:02.960 pride, because I know that we've been talking to you on these subjects long before they became so
00:28:08.100 front page. And I wish you good luck. And your wisdom is being spread. And we hang on your every
00:28:13.620 word. Once again, I want to encourage our viewers to follow you on Twitter at Gordon G. Chang. And good
00:28:20.280 luck, my friend. Keep it up. Oh, well, thank you so much, Ezra. As I said, I really appreciate the
00:28:26.200 opportunity to be on your show. Well, it's nice of you to say standing invitation anytime. Good luck out
00:28:30.960 there. Thanks, Ezra. Right. There you have it. Gordon G. Chang. Very thoughtful and a range of
00:28:38.460 issues. Of course, China is at the center of so many of them. Stay with us. More ahead on The Rebel.
00:28:52.380 Hey, welcome back. On my monologue yesterday, asking if Dr. Tam is part of China's World Health
00:28:57.720 Organization cover-up. David writes, is Dr. Tam somehow compromised by the Chinese Communist Party?
00:29:04.620 Does she have family in China under threat? Communist regimes for the last century have
00:29:08.660 used this kind of leash to control their functionaries. Well, that's a fair question,
00:29:13.780 I think. As far as I know, Dr. Tam comes from Hong Kong, and I would imagine her family is. So
00:29:19.100 I think they're fairly free there. I mean, China is getting more and more brutal in Hong Kong all the
00:29:24.000 time. But I don't think she's under duress. I think she just has the globalist mindset. And she
00:29:31.180 works for the World Health Organization, which is an enormous conflict of interest. In fact,
00:29:35.960 she's on various oversight committees. So she's hardwired to that thing. She can't renounce it
00:29:42.740 or reject it. It's her. I think that's part of the big problem. Gina writes, Dr. Tam was not
00:29:49.580 encouraging people to wear a mask. If she was, we would not have lost that many lives.
00:29:55.040 Well, and that's the thing. I'm wondering, why did she tell people the obvious fib that masks don't
00:30:00.600 work? I mean, we see masks all over the place. The places that are closest to China wear masks the
00:30:06.540 most. South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, because they don't have any time for politically correct BS.
00:30:12.860 They know masks work. So why would she say they don't work? I have two theories. One is because
00:30:18.120 she was obeying the World Health Organization. And I think China wanted to hit the snooze button on
00:30:25.020 the alarm so they could hoover up the world's face masks for themselves. And number two,
00:30:31.060 I think the fact that Justin Trudeau had shipped off our national stockpile of masks.
00:30:36.640 So she was covering for him. If she said, yeah, everybody get a mask. And we realized we didn't
00:30:40.640 have masks. People said, Trudeau, why did he give away the masks? It would get her boss in trouble.
00:30:44.840 So I think Theresa Tam is more of a globalist and a Trudeau activist than a public health doctor.
00:30:51.440 I think that's the problem. On our campaign, fightthefines.com, Paul writes,
00:30:58.260 fight the fines may just as well be fight the fascists when you think about it.
00:31:02.960 Well, what's disturbing to me is that police have no guidance here. And so, and they're probably under
00:31:08.960 stress, although there's not a lot of people out on the streets. I actually don't know how stressful
00:31:13.480 it is to be a cop because a lot of people just are at home in their houses. There are no bars.
00:31:18.640 People aren't going out to the bar, stumbling out into the street drunk at midnight, getting into
00:31:22.460 fisticuffs. There's no dance clubs or nightclubs or places where other young men get into fisticuffs.
00:31:27.620 So in some ways, I think that the stress is reduced for cops. I guess maybe they're worried about
00:31:34.040 getting the virus and then some have. But I think the problem is they don't know what the rules are.
00:31:40.100 And John Tory, for example, the mayor of Toronto does a press conference saying he wants a lot
00:31:46.060 more arrests and a lot more tickets handed out. Well, that's pressure on the chief, which puts
00:31:50.180 pressure on the beat cops. And they don't even know the rules. They don't know about ticketing
00:31:54.100 people for sitting on a park bench. That's ridiculous. So I think it's a combination of
00:31:57.740 political pressure from bullies like John Tory and other mayors, cops who don't know what they're
00:32:03.540 doing. And some of them have an authoritarian instinct and I think a general panic. But I
00:32:08.840 think that panic is passing. Now we're just seeing that what we have left is an authoritarian state
00:32:14.080 trying to seep into the cracks. That's what we've got to fight back on. By the way, we've got a lot
00:32:19.620 more cases coming from fightthefines.com and we'll roll those out in a few days. It just takes a few
00:32:24.280 days to process them, have them talk to the lawyers and then do a video on it. So I expect we'll have a
00:32:29.680 couple more videos this week and thanks for your help. All right. That's today's show on behalf of
00:32:33.860 all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters to you at home. Good night, stay healthy and keep fighting
00:32:38.980 for freedom.