Rebel News Podcast - Canada Pension Plan “Ponzi scheme” divests from US “detention centres” — but invests in Chinese surveillance companies

00:00:00.000 Hey Rebels, I've got a bit of a change of pace for you today.

00:00:02.800 I look at the Canada Pension Plan and some of the companies around the world they've

00:00:06.820 been investing in, including companies in Communist China.

00:00:10.840 You might find it interesting.

00:00:12.440 Can you do me a quick favor?

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00:00:41.420 All right, here's today's podcast.

00:00:43.800 You're listening to a Rebel Media podcast.

00:00:47.080 Tonight, how should your pension plan be invested?

00:00:50.340 For the greatest rate of return by professional managers, or subject to a veto by woke politicians?

00:00:56.340 It's July 9th, and this is the Ezra Levant Show.

00:00:59.020 Why should others go to jail when you're a biggest carbon consumer I know?

00:01:04.880 There's 8,500 customers here, and you won't give them an answer.

00:01:08.940 The only thing I have to say to the government about why I'm publishing it is because it's

00:01:13.340 my bloody right to do so.

00:01:14.820 Exciting news today in the Toronto Star.

00:01:23.720 They're quoting an NDP member of parliament who referenced some public filings.

00:01:29.300 And according to those very reliable sources, the Canada pension plan has sold off its stock

00:01:34.320 in private companies that run migrant detention centers in the U.S.

00:01:39.500 By the way, here's a Human Rights Watch report that shows Canada detains children who try to

00:01:45.700 illegally immigrate to our country, too.

00:01:48.060 About 240 kids a year, according to this report.

00:01:50.600 Of course we do.

00:01:51.300 Every country does.

00:01:52.380 But it's easier for the Toronto Star to hold Donald Trump to account than to hold Justin Trudeau

00:01:58.020 to account.

00:01:58.540 And of course, Donald Trump doesn't have a $600 million bailout for Canadian newspapers for

00:02:03.740 the Star, like Trudeau does.

00:02:05.920 But I'll come back to that news in a moment.

00:02:08.220 I just want to give you a word about the CPP itself, the Canada Pension Plan.

00:02:11.780 Let's be honest.

00:02:12.660 No one under the age of 60 is going to get their money back from the Canada Pension Plan.

00:02:16.800 It's not actuarially sound, as in it's not a true investment.

00:02:20.980 It's political, designed by politicians who, of course, have a very strong bias towards winning

00:02:25.760 the very next election, not ensuring your pension is fully funded decades from now.

00:02:31.020 I mean, the CPP pension plan started paying out right away, immediately after it was created.

00:02:38.180 So those very first retirees, they were just getting a government grant.

00:02:42.460 It wasn't a true return on their own investment that they were getting back.

00:02:46.260 They were taking money from future generations, of course.

00:02:49.420 The Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board, they had a pretty flashy website, and they're

00:02:55.060 pretty proud of themselves.

00:02:55.860 They have $392 billion under management, they say, with an 11.1% rate of return.

00:03:03.700 Now, that's what they'll earn on your money.

00:03:07.360 That's what they'll earn, though, because you will actually get a negative rate of return.

00:03:11.520 Because your money that you pay every time you get a payroll deduction, you know, you

00:03:14.860 see the CPP taken off it, it's not set aside for you in your own account marked with your

00:03:20.460 name, like a real pension plan or a real bank account or an RSP.

00:03:23.520 It just goes into a giant pot.

00:03:25.800 And people who retire before you, well, they already spent some of that money on them.

00:03:31.660 People retiring today are taking some of your money from the future.

00:03:34.540 So by the time you actually retire, you won't even get your money back.

00:03:38.080 You literally would do better if you stuck your money in a mattress.

00:03:42.820 Or as a more normal country might do, let you have your own pension plan, let you invest

00:03:47.000 your money yourself, as many Canadians do with an RSP.

00:03:49.840 I want to tell you that $392 billion, that sounds incredibly impressive, doesn't it?

00:03:55.020 But a few years back, they were audited by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial

00:03:59.140 Institutions.

00:03:59.740 That's basically the bank's regulator.

00:04:02.460 And they found that the CPP's unfunded liability, that is the money they would owe everybody if

00:04:08.900 they actually made good on their promise versus the money they have, they're short about

00:04:13.980 $900 billion.

00:04:17.440 And that's getting worse every year, as in they're missing two-thirds of what they need

00:04:21.700 to be able to keep their promise to everyone.

00:04:23.320 So yeah, all of a sudden $392 billion doesn't sound so big when they're missing $900.

00:04:29.360 So the whole thing's political, it's my point.

00:04:31.300 Now, few politicians have the courage to do anything about this, because making things

00:04:34.700 fair for future generations means making them less rich for today's retirees, which means

00:04:40.740 reducing the overpayments today, that's tough politically.

00:04:43.860 Stephen Harper was taking baby steps in this regard.

00:04:46.160 I think he was slowly making the retirement age when you could claim CPP a little bit

00:04:49.640 higher.

00:04:50.220 I think it was a month, a year, if I recall he was planning to do.

00:04:52.840 So no one would suddenly be cut off or anything.

00:04:55.060 He would just slowly be made more sustainable.

00:04:58.240 Remember, when the CPP was created in 1966, life expectancy in Canada was about 72.

00:05:05.600 And you didn't get your pension until I think it was 69.

00:05:09.460 So frankly, the average Canadian wouldn't collect it until very late in life.

00:05:13.820 And the average Canadian would only collect it a few years before they passed away.

00:05:18.420 Now the age is being reduced to, what, 65.

00:05:22.380 You can even get a partial pension at age 60.

00:05:25.780 By the way, the life expectancy is now 82.

00:05:28.600 So instead of three years on a pension, you got 20 years on a pension.

00:05:33.120 So yeah, it's not a real pension plan, folks.

00:05:36.120 It's just not.

00:05:36.760 But let me put that aside.

00:05:38.260 Because the mandate of the CPP Investment Board, no matter how bad it is, their job is

00:05:43.740 to make as much money as they can to do their best to pay at least a fraction of what you've

00:05:48.500 given to the government in CPP deductions over the years.

00:05:51.540 And they say they're nonpartisan.

00:05:53.060 They say they make their decisions where to invest as professional money managers, not

00:05:57.900 as political appointees.

00:05:59.420 So they say.

00:06:00.020 Now, that doesn't mean they're not infected by politics.

00:06:04.300 Here's their report on sustainable investing, which is just their way of saying being a left

00:06:09.520 wing woke investor, which is always dangerous.

00:06:12.420 Now, I read the document.

00:06:13.720 It says the words diverse or diversity exactly 50 times.

00:06:19.260 But that doesn't mean diversifying your portfolio to manage the risk.

00:06:22.780 That's what diversity used to mean in investment.

00:06:25.260 No, no, no, no.

00:06:25.760 They mean affirmative action quotas, you know, like how Justin Trudeau appointed his cabinet

00:06:30.040 racial and gender quotas.

00:06:32.560 The CPP Investment Board has a quota champion on their staff, senior person, whose job it

00:06:37.540 is is to replace white men with women of color. 0.98

00:06:41.020 How race or gender have anything to do with financial returns, I don't quite know. 0.75

00:06:45.500 To me, they're just demanding racism and sexism.

00:06:49.420 But hey, it's 2019.

00:06:50.980 So roll with it.

00:06:51.720 Let me read to you from Adriana Morrison, their diversity queen.

00:06:54.420 She was asked, can you discuss your group's work on gender diversity and how it fits into

00:07:00.460 the new focus area?

00:07:02.020 And she said, our gender diversity work has been one catalyst for this new focus area.

00:07:07.240 We identified lack of gender diversity on the boards of our investee companies as a

00:07:12.040 business and financial risk a few years ago and have since ramped up our proactive work

00:07:16.380 to address this issue in a number of ways.

00:07:18.800 OK, got it.

00:07:19.740 So the Canada Pension Plan, what they do with your money is they invest it in companies,

00:07:24.080 right?

00:07:24.420 So they do their due diligence on a company.

00:07:27.000 They look at companies that are doing really well in business, not just in Canada, but around

00:07:31.340 the world.

00:07:31.960 Do they have a good business plan?

00:07:33.340 Do they have a reliable team, successful track record?

00:07:36.420 Are they growing?

00:07:37.760 Is it trustworthy enough a company to put Canadians' pension money?

00:07:41.220 And after all that due diligence, after checking it and kicking the tires and reading the financials,

00:07:46.320 the CPP invests money in them.

00:07:49.480 And then the CPP starts lecturing those companies about replacing their management and their board

00:07:55.920 of directors with quota hires.

00:07:58.120 Yeah, forget the guys who built the company.

00:08:00.620 Where are the women? 0.89

00:08:01.420 50% women. 0.99

00:08:02.080 It's 2019.

00:08:03.040 Yeah, not smart.

00:08:03.740 But I'll come back to that in a moment because I think it's a lie, actually, that whole diversity

00:08:09.140 thing.

00:08:09.420 I'll explain in a moment.

00:08:10.500 Let me quote one more part of this diversity wokeness report that I got right off their website.

00:08:15.180 Why does CPPIB not divest?

00:08:19.500 That stands for CPP Investment Board.

00:08:21.520 And divest means why does the CPP not sell stocks of companies that they disagree with politically?

00:08:28.240 I mean, you've heard about woke investors divesting from oil and gas companies in some climate

00:08:34.680 statement or divesting or boycotting from Israel and selling companies there as some anti-Israel

00:08:40.160 statement.

00:08:40.520 So does the CPP do that?

00:08:42.380 And here's their answer.

00:08:43.220 They say,

00:08:44.680 Our responsibility is to maximize investment returns without undue risk of loss.

00:08:49.740 Eliminating entire categories of potential investments would not be consistent with that

00:08:54.440 mandate.

00:08:54.840 Risks of divestment include missing out on potential returns needed to support CPP beneficiaries

00:09:00.760 or being compelled to sell assets at suboptimal times.

00:09:05.680 That's a pretty good answer.

00:09:07.900 See, they're not investing their own money, right?

00:09:10.220 They're investing your money so they should maximize your rate of return.

00:09:15.300 That's called a fiduciary duty.

00:09:17.080 It's actually the law.

00:09:17.860 If individual Canadians who get their CPP payment want to spend their CPP checks on their own

00:09:24.980 politics, have that, but not the investors, not the bankers.

00:09:29.260 So the CPP does say that they use their rights as shareholders to nag the companies in question.

00:09:36.180 You heard from their quota queen earlier. 0.96

00:09:38.100 They say they press for change from the inside.

00:09:41.120 Let me quote.

00:09:41.520 In general, CPPIB believes we can more effectively press for positive change by being an active,

00:09:47.880 engaged investor than we can by sitting on the sidelines.

00:09:51.540 CPPIB treats ESG factors as an integral part of our investment considerations.

00:09:57.380 The aim is win-win.

00:09:59.180 More responsible corporate behavior from investees and higher returns for 20 million contributors

00:10:04.280 and beneficiaries.

00:10:05.120 Okay, so now you're thinking, maybe it's all just BS.

00:10:10.580 Maybe it's just pinkwashing. 0.97

00:10:12.680 Maybe they just want to make maximum money, but they know they have to hire a few token

00:10:17.040 blatherers like this woman who's really woke on climate and gender. 0.98

00:10:22.080 And as long as she's just squawking and they publish this big report, that'll do.

00:10:26.600 And they're just really going to make money.

00:10:27.800 They're not actually going to quit investing in, say, American fracking companies just because

00:10:33.200 some hippie handcuffs themselves to the bank door. 0.71

00:10:36.160 But back to the news peg of today that I read at the very beginning.

00:10:39.260 I'll read a bit more of it than I did before.

00:10:41.140 This is from the Toronto Star again.

00:10:44.040 Canada pension plan divests from U.S. companies involved in migrant detention camps.

00:10:49.780 Canada's largest pension fund has quietly divested from two American private prison operators

00:10:54.660 deeply involved in the detention of thousands of Latin American migrants at the southern

00:10:59.920 border of the United States.

00:11:00.980 According to new Democratic Party MP Charlie Angus.

00:11:04.740 When I want an expert in pension funds and investments and, you know, money stuff, I look

00:11:13.720 no farther than Charlie Angus.

00:11:15.800 He's the guy on the left in this video at this investment strategy conference.

00:11:21.640 Oh, sorry, that's not an investment strategy conference.

00:11:42.020 That's just some socialist MP who plays the guitar.

00:11:45.780 But he's got strong opinions on how the CBP should be managed, people.

00:11:49.280 Anyways, let me read some more.

00:11:52.220 In a letter Thursday to Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Chief Executive Mark Mackin,

00:11:56.880 Angus noted that the Crown Corporation's recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission

00:12:00.660 no longer listed investments into the two companies involved.

00:12:03.980 A welcome change, Angus wrote.

00:12:06.420 The Guardian reported late last year that the CPPIB held millions of dollars in stock in the

00:12:11.300 GEO Group and CoreCivic, two private firms that hold the majority of contracts from the federal

00:12:16.140 government to manage several migrant detention centers in the U.S.-Mexico border, camps that

00:12:20.560 have come under fire for severe overcrowding and squalid conditions.

00:12:25.140 Now, to be honest, I do not know why the CPP divested from those companies.

00:12:30.240 Maybe they got a great offer for them.

00:12:32.400 But Charlie Angus and the leftist extremists, like the Guardian newspaper, have been hassling

00:12:37.100 them.

00:12:37.380 So who knows?

00:12:37.980 Maybe they did, down to the pressure.

00:12:39.860 I don't know.

00:12:40.240 But let me point out a few other things about the CPP Investment Board that don't seem to

00:12:45.920 bother Charlie Angus or the NDP or the Guardian or the Toronto Star or really anybody on the

00:12:51.500 left.

00:12:51.860 Here's a news story just from a couple months ago from BNN Bloomberg, the business channel.

00:12:56.660 Let me read some of the text to you.

00:12:58.780 Headline, CPPIB mulls opening first office in China.

00:13:04.280 The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which manages about $368.5 billion, is considering

00:13:09.640 opening its first office in China as it seeks greater exposure to the world's second largest

00:13:13.540 economy.

00:13:14.480 Oh, okay.

00:13:16.200 So China has obviously declared a trade war on Canada.

00:13:19.400 They have banned our agriculture, banned canola, banned any crops from the West, banned all meat.

00:13:26.300 And if you care about, you know, diversity and human rights and all the things that quota

00:13:31.120 queen at the CPP was talking about, you know, there's that little thing about two Canadians

00:13:35.840 being held hostages there.

00:13:37.320 But, you know.

00:13:38.080 All right.

00:13:38.280 I'll read some more of the story.

00:13:39.160 It's about the diversity hire, the CPPIB, who's going to head up their new shop.

00:13:44.380 Prior to joining CPPIB in 2007, Kim worked at Ontario Teachers Pension Plan and Carlyle

00:13:51.160 Group LP, where she never had a female boss. 1.00

00:13:54.000 When I started at Carlyle Asia Buyout Fund in 2002 at the sole office, I was the only female

00:13:59.000 professional, Kim said.

00:14:00.260 There was no other female working in private equity in the country at the time.

00:14:04.040 While that's changed in the years since, Kim says gender bias is still quite common in

00:14:07.880 the region.

00:14:08.880 All right.

00:14:09.380 All right.

00:14:10.140 So you've got China holding hostages, banning Canadian imports, but we're going to invest

00:14:17.620 billions of dollars in them from our government-run pension fund because apparently investing

00:14:23.180 in a dictatorship like that is sustainable and woke.

00:14:25.860 And after all, a girl is going to be managing it. 1.00

00:14:28.160 So there's that, people.

00:14:29.900 Here's another story from the same news network, BNN Bloomberg.

00:14:33.440 CPPIB's CEO looking to grow China exposure despite trade uncertainty with the U.S.

00:14:37.780 Let me read just a little bit.

00:14:39.220 The head of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board said he is looking to increase the investment

00:14:43.100 manager's exposure to China despite how the country's uncertain trade relationship with

00:14:47.380 the U.S. is weighing on global markets.

00:14:49.080 Now, I read the story, and I read the last story too, and there's not a word about China's

00:14:54.500 abuse of Canadians, the hostages, the bans. 0.94

00:14:58.780 Imagine the chumps they must think we Canadians are. 0.98

00:15:01.980 They take Canadian citizens hostage. 0.98

00:15:05.080 They don't even answer our foreign minister's phone calls.

00:15:08.440 And we say, hey guys, hi, can we give you some more money because you're like totally

00:15:12.700 sustainable and diverse?

00:15:14.320 Here's a Globe and Mail story about just what the CPP is investing in, by the way.

00:15:20.020 You're going to love this.

00:15:21.000 What companies is our money going into?

00:15:22.680 Let me read.

00:15:24.340 CPPIB conducts human rights checks on Chinese investments amid use of surveillance equipments

00:15:29.760 on Uyghurs.

00:15:31.940 Uyghurs, those are the Chinese Muslims in that western province called Xinjiang. 0.98

00:15:35.840 I've been to Xinjiang, and although I was only there for a week, I certainly wandered around,

00:15:40.260 and well, every single person I spoke to and met was Muslim.

00:15:45.320 And I've got to say, it's the most laid-back Muslim community I've ever seen in my life.

00:15:50.120 Zero evidence to my eyes in my one week there of radicalization.

00:15:53.320 No burqas, no niqabs. 1.00

00:15:56.320 I think probably because they haven't been radicalized by either Iranian or Saudi money

00:16:01.220 or the imams that come with it.

00:16:04.040 But still, China has put a million or more Uyghurs in concentration camps of sorts.

00:16:08.920 They're not death camps, but they're re-education camps, they're political punishment camps.

00:16:13.460 I'm generally skeptical about Islamic politics, as you know.

00:16:17.820 But I have to say, from my short personal experience, I'm pretty sympathetic to Uyghurs. 1.00

00:16:24.260 I just don't think they're like, say, Muslim radicals in Pakistan or Syria.

00:16:28.520 They're about as casual and laid-back as it gets.

00:16:31.040 I mean, speaking as a Jew, I was there for a solid week, really never spoke to anyone who

00:16:35.940 wasn't Uyghur, and they literally had no thoughts or feelings about Jews or Israel at all.

00:16:42.220 It just wasn't on their radar.

00:16:43.520 It's probably the least anti-Semitic place in the Muslim world, to be honest.

00:16:47.100 I know that's just an anecdote, but that's what I saw.

00:16:50.580 But hey, no worries.

00:16:52.640 Canada is there to help the Chinese government surveil its own people 0.99

00:16:56.280 using our government investors.

00:16:58.560 We're going to invest in the spying companies.

00:17:00.740 Here's what the CPPIB was asked by the Globe and Mail about that, and here's how they answered.

00:17:05.200 Let me quote the story.

00:17:07.100 Companies that violate human rights aren't positioned to succeed and have no place in any

00:17:12.040 portfolio that exists to deliver risk-adjusted returns over multiple generations.

00:17:16.820 We are monitoring the practices of companies in this regard, said Michel LeDuc, global head

00:17:22.000 of public affairs and communications at the CPPIB in an email statement.

00:17:26.200 In particular, he said, quote, the potential misuse of advanced technology is a concern.

00:17:33.380 Mr. LeDuc was responding to questions from the Globe and Mail about the CPPIB's ownership

00:17:37.820 of Chinese surveillance equipment companies that U.S. legislators want to blacklist for enabling

00:17:44.240 state violations of human rights.

00:17:47.940 Oh, oh, okay.

00:17:49.480 So when we're pouring money into China, we're not investing in banks or airports.

00:17:56.540 We're literally investing in Chinese surveillance companies.

00:18:02.620 Oh, yes.

00:18:03.240 Let me read some more of the Globe.

00:18:04.280 Sorry.

00:18:05.100 Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Company and Zhejiang Dahua Technology Company are major

00:18:11.700 manufacturers of camera equipment that combines video surveillance with advanced computer

00:18:16.800 technologies such as facial and gait recognition.

00:18:20.720 Human Rights Watch had a report this year titled China's Algorithms of Repression identified

00:18:25.320 Hikvision as the winner of a contract to supply China's integrated joint operations platform

00:18:30.200 which undertakes mass surveillance in Xinjiang.

00:18:33.880 Hikvision is partly owned by China Electronics Technology Group, a state-owned military contractor.

00:18:39.580 So let me get this straight.

00:18:40.420 If the Toronto Star is to be believed, Canada's government-run pension investor, the CPP, is

00:18:49.520 divesting from a U.S. company that, amongst its various operations, runs a detention facility

00:18:55.820 for illegal immigrants, just like Canada has a detention facility for illegal immigrants,

00:19:01.420 including hundreds of children.

00:19:02.360 So America is too immoral for us.

00:19:08.060 They're not woke enough. 0.80

00:19:09.580 They're not diverse enough. 0.89

00:19:11.220 Even though I should point out that a great proportion of Americans working in border enforcement

00:19:15.960 are Hispanic themselves.

00:19:17.260 But the Canada Pension Plan that lectures foreign companies about being more woke, they are pouring

00:19:23.640 millions of dollars into China, into companies there that spy on their own citizens, and if that

00:19:29.660 globe story is to be believed, into companies owned by the Chinese military, we're investing

00:19:35.120 our Canada Pension Plan in the Chinese military.

00:19:38.440 I wonder if that quota queen flies over there to Urumqi, that's the big city in Xinjiang, and 1.00

00:19:45.840 gives little lectures to the local Communist Party spies about how they need to be more women 0.74

00:19:52.320 spying on the Uyghurs. 0.98

00:19:53.700 It's not just a man's world anymore, people.

00:19:55.780 Women can be spies too. 1.00

00:19:57.060 Look, each to their own, I say, if someone wants to invest in China, let them, unless

00:20:02.600 there's sanctions on there.

00:20:04.000 I mean, some people like going on vacation to a prison island named Cuba.

00:20:08.780 I don't think that should be against the law, but don't force me to do it with my money is

00:20:12.580 my point.

00:20:13.060 Don't force me to divest from an American company that is enforcing the law, and has

00:20:18.280 been, by the way, under the Obama government too.

00:20:20.800 And don't force me to positively invest in Chinese companies that are doing human rights

00:20:25.660 violations, including one that's owned by the Chinese military.

00:20:28.620 Come to think of it, look, don't force me to invest at all.

00:20:31.000 At least not in a Ponzi scheme, a pyramid scheme, like the Canada Pension Plan.

00:20:35.060 But really, but really, are you surprised by any of this?

00:20:39.160 In 2019, anti-Americanism is more important to this government than our own economic success.

00:20:45.720 Sounds like they've been taking economics and investment lessons from Justin Trudeau.

00:20:51.820 Stay with us for more.

00:21:06.640 Welcome back.

00:21:07.520 Well, you might recall, about four years ago, one of the most exciting things to watch, at

00:21:11.400 least for me, was the Republican Party's wide-open presidential nomination race.

00:21:17.400 It was so colorful, and of course, Donald Trump stood out from the pack.

00:21:21.060 Well, now the Democrats are going through that.

00:21:23.900 By one count, 24 Democrats have thrown their hat in the ring.

00:21:28.200 Obviously, a lot of no-hopers.

00:21:30.120 But listen, Donald Trump, when he entered the race, he was in the low single digits.

00:21:34.540 You never know who's going to break out.

00:21:36.820 I even see in the news that Tom Steyer, the hedge fund manager who made billions in oil,

00:21:43.040 gas, and coal, but has become an environmentalist lately, he's considering throwing his hat in

00:21:48.080 the ring.

00:21:48.340 Joining us now via Skype from Chicago is our friend Joel Pollack, senior editor-at-large

00:21:53.020 of Breitbart.com, to talk about it.

00:21:54.740 Hey, great to see you, Joel.

00:21:56.100 You're in Chicago, which is even more democratic than your regular hangout of Los Angeles.

00:22:01.260 Well, you know, in Los Angeles, illegal aliens vote.

00:22:08.060 In Chicago, dead people vote.

00:22:09.620 So, you know.

00:22:11.380 Well, it's nice to see you.

00:22:13.120 Give us the latest on the Democratic race.

00:22:16.040 Is Tom Steyer, who made all his money in heavy industry before he saw the light, is he going

00:22:22.880 to run for president, too?

00:22:24.140 And if so, is that just another lark like Michael Bloomberg's on-again, off-again race?

00:22:29.500 Well, it's interesting.

00:22:30.560 I think it's a commentary on the weakness of the democratic field.

00:22:36.740 There's a general consensus that the candidates did not look like any single one of them could

00:22:42.360 beat Donald Trump.

00:22:44.260 And aside from that, there's also a consensus that they were too left-wing.

00:22:48.640 Now, Tom Steyer is not going to agree with the latter part.

00:22:52.020 He thinks they should have been more left-wing.

00:22:54.540 He thinks they should all have agreed to try to impeach the president.

00:22:57.460 But this idea that they're weak, I think, is also something that's pulling him into the

00:23:03.480 race.

00:23:03.760 He thinks he can do what the others can't.

00:23:06.620 I don't think the candidates would agree, obviously.

00:23:09.680 And if there's one thing the field probably doesn't need, it's another left-wing Democrat

00:23:13.080 because there are so many.

00:23:14.060 But anyway, he is supposedly telling people he's going to jump into the race.

00:23:19.740 He could do that.

00:23:20.900 He still could.

00:23:21.520 Plenty of time.

00:23:22.160 He's just got to reach certain benchmarks to qualify for the debates.

00:23:26.080 And I think most of the spots are already taken.

00:23:29.120 So he'd have to get into some kind of a tie-breaking situation with people who are already qualified

00:23:33.740 to be on stage.

00:23:34.440 There's some rumors Eric Swalwell might be dropping out at some point.

00:23:38.440 Maybe by the time people see this broadcast, he'll be gone.

00:23:41.260 We don't know.

00:23:42.320 But that could open up space for Steyer or others to enter the race or to move up.

00:23:48.020 And there's still no moderate candidate.

00:23:50.300 This is a field that is running to the left as fast as it possibly can.

00:23:54.020 New fundraising data just shows that Elizabeth Warren has raised $19 million, which is the

00:23:59.020 second most after Pete Buttigieg, who's behind in the polls considerably, but he raised $24

00:24:04.160 million, first gay candidate for president.

00:24:07.820 And a lot of it is coming from that network that he has, the LGBTQ activists really tapping 0.91

00:24:12.880 into the donor base there, giving him a lot of cash to play with.

00:24:16.440 Maybe he can push those poll numbers up if he can get the word out, get some ads going,

00:24:20.540 get some good campaigns.

00:24:22.060 So interesting things happening.

00:24:23.980 But they're all just running to the left.

00:24:25.300 There's nobody hitting the brakes.

00:24:26.900 Even Barack Obama, back in 2008, was smart enough to say, hey, Hillary Clinton, your health

00:24:32.600 care policy is too left-wing.

00:24:34.340 You can't force people to buy health insurance.

00:24:36.840 That's not American. 0.92

00:24:38.380 Well, of course, Obama's own policy would eventually force people to buy health insurance.

00:24:41.900 But Obama knew at least to pitch himself to the center, even as he was intending to implement

00:24:47.340 left-wing policies.

00:24:48.960 We don't even see that.

00:24:50.140 The left basically thinks they can run as far to the left as necessary to win the nomination

00:24:55.080 and still come back and win the general.

00:24:56.900 You know, there's so many candidates.

00:24:58.700 I wonder if I can ask you some quick snappers about some of them.

00:25:02.520 And I'd like to go through about five of them.

00:25:04.600 Can you give me like a one-liner on each of these?

00:25:07.840 I mean, maybe there's not much more to know than a one-liner.

00:25:12.080 But Joe Biden, I mean, eight years of the Obama aura rubbing off on him.

00:25:18.560 But he's been plummeting in the polls, if I'm not mistaken.

00:25:21.500 What's going on there?

00:25:24.340 It's funny how nobody's really even talking about him in terms of his future prospects.

00:25:28.660 There's a kind of campaign death watch.

00:25:31.280 People are expecting him to drop out of the top spot.

00:25:34.440 And that's because he's had an endless series of scandals from which he just can't recover.

00:25:40.660 And one thing after another, the problems with segregation and his comments about segregation, the problems with some of his other political views.

00:25:50.920 But look, Biden's having trouble speaking to a younger generation of American.

00:25:54.860 And look, he's been around forever.

00:25:57.380 And the others are starting to take pot shots at him.

00:26:00.000 Cory Booker is getting a few shots in.

00:26:02.400 So there's a sense that the sharks have smelt blood and they're circling.

00:26:06.520 And he's having real trouble getting past his remarks.

00:26:09.400 He did apologize a few days ago after saying he wouldn't for his remarks praising segregationist Democrats, which, by the way, he made recently.

00:26:18.420 I mean, these aren't these aren't old remarks somebody dug up.

00:26:20.420 He's been praising these people as recently as a few weeks ago.

00:26:23.840 So he's really in a tough spot.

00:26:27.640 It's hard to see how he can build on his current support.

00:26:30.420 How about Bernie Sanders?

00:26:32.060 I mean, he, in some ways, was the true on the ground victor against Hillary Clinton in 2016.

00:26:39.340 She won, some would say, because of the superdelegates, the ex-officio delegates, and maybe even a little bit of vote tampering wouldn't shock me.

00:26:48.080 Bernie Sanders, does he have any momentum or energy left or has he been outflanked on the left, too?

00:26:53.840 Well, I don't think he's growing.

00:26:57.460 He's basically stuck in neutral.

00:27:00.220 And he's still up there in the top two or three.

00:27:03.340 But his fundraising numbers were surpassed by Elizabeth Warren in the last quarter.

00:27:07.580 And he is old.

00:27:10.640 Let's just put it that way.

00:27:11.380 He looked his age on stage, even though he's got a lot of energy.

00:27:14.660 And I give him a lot of credit.

00:27:15.580 I mean, I've seen him up close and personal.

00:27:17.460 I've been on the campaign trail with him.

00:27:19.120 He's very energetic.

00:27:20.080 He's got more energy than most people half his age.

00:27:22.560 But still, his ideas are basically sounding the same.

00:27:25.580 The other problem he has is he has shown that you can run on those ideas without embarrassing yourself.

00:27:30.640 And so a lot of Democrats are imitating his ideas, adopting his ideas.

00:27:35.380 When he proposed Medicare for all in 2016, that was a radical idea here in the United States.

00:27:40.400 Now it's basically the policy of almost every Democratic candidate.

00:27:43.760 So basically, his problem is he's become too successful at propagating his ideas.

00:27:49.980 They're no longer attached to him anymore.

00:27:51.680 And if people see a younger candidate with similar ideas, like Elizabeth Warren, who, by the way, is not that much younger.

00:27:57.660 She's only a few years younger.

00:27:58.780 She looks a lot better, if I can say that.

00:28:00.880 Sorry, Bernie.

00:28:01.820 She looks pretty good.

00:28:03.320 She's 70 years old.

00:28:05.320 But she looks very energetic.

00:28:07.600 And she looks like she is, if I can say this, 20 or 30 years younger than she actually is.

00:28:13.500 Yeah.

00:28:13.800 So you can say that.

00:28:15.580 That's OK.

00:28:17.360 But let me ask you this.

00:28:18.740 I think that the other way around.

00:28:20.740 I'm aware of that.

00:28:21.680 I think Donald Trump has so marked her on that whole false claim of being a status Indian.

00:28:32.620 I think that's the phrase in the United States, to get special privileges and hiring.

00:28:39.440 His nickname, Pocahontas, I found that so devastating.

00:28:42.880 Or maybe that's only how right-wingers think.

00:28:45.520 And maybe liberals and Democrats are sympathetic to her because Trump is bullying her. 0.99

00:28:51.320 What do you think?

00:28:52.260 I think she's totally damaged. 1.00

00:28:54.680 Am I wrong?

00:28:56.500 You are correct.

00:28:58.320 And the moment the race comes down to Elizabeth Warren versus another Democrat, if it comes to that, if it's down to two, that will be a weapon that finally comes out of the holster.

00:29:10.260 That will be an arrow that comes out of the queerer. 1.00

00:29:13.200 Right now, they're letting it sit there because they consider it a Republican attack.

00:29:17.220 But the moment that Elizabeth Warren is any kind of threat to win the nomination and there's another candidate who thinks they deserve the nomination, they're going to throw that at her.

00:29:25.780 And it's a legitimate attack because it is a form of exploitation, really.

00:29:30.720 It's a form of fraud.

00:29:32.380 I mean, this is the person who goes around campaigning, telling people that Wall Street's stealing their money and so on and so forth.

00:29:38.540 I mean, this is a scam.

00:29:39.720 She basically participated in a scam.

00:29:42.260 And I don't know if it got her hired.

00:29:43.940 It may have gotten her tenure. 0.96

00:29:45.280 There was a whole scandal at Harvard at the time about how they had very few minority faculty members at the law school and very few tenured faculty members.

00:29:53.460 And I think there was one who was denied tenure and so left the law school and that left them with one or two African-Americans or something like that.

00:29:59.520 So I think she was already teaching or or I don't know the details of the story exactly.

00:30:05.660 I remember we actually broke some of the details.

00:30:07.960 I know bits and pieces of it, some very well and some not so well.

00:30:11.180 But essentially, the way I understand it is that she used her, quote unquote, Native American identity to advance her career, not so much in the sense of coming through the door as a Native American.

00:30:22.000 But once she was on the faculty stating that she was Native American in some way or once she was a candidate for the position, something like that.

00:30:30.240 What's interesting is how little she did with the Native American community.

00:30:34.240 I mean, Harvard actually has a very active Native American program.

00:30:37.020 And the story I broke back in 2012 when Breitbart and a few other sites were documenting her fraud, the story I broke was that she had never participated in a Native American program at Harvard.

00:30:48.840 That is very hard to do.

00:30:50.080 If you are a Native American at Harvard, this is a fantastic program.

00:30:53.600 I'm not Native American and I participated in the Native American program.

00:30:56.840 I mean, I had friends at college who were deeply involved.

00:31:00.160 I took courses on Native American politics.

00:31:02.000 You know, it's fascinating.

00:31:03.580 And Harvard was actually founded not just to educate the children of colonials, but also the children of Native Americans.

00:31:10.920 The idea was this would be a place to teach Native American kids.

00:31:15.580 And so it goes deep into Harvard's history.

00:31:18.240 And the idea that you would come there as a Native American and not explore any of that is just unbelievable to me.

00:31:23.940 Let me ask you one more question, and it's about Kamala Harris.

00:31:26.820 I mean, listen, I don't have the deep knowledge and experience you do, but and of course, you're a Californian and she's a senator from California.

00:31:35.600 I think she's going to be the pick.

00:31:37.900 She's a visible minority. 0.90

00:31:39.600 She's a woman. 0.82

00:31:40.820 She looks young and energetic.

00:31:42.860 She's a senator right now. 0.99

00:31:44.180 She's got some name recognition. 0.89

00:31:46.020 She's smart and tough, I think.

00:31:49.520 I think she's the pick.

00:31:51.300 I think she's a disaster, but I think she's the pick. 0.69

00:31:54.140 What do you think of my prognostication?

00:31:55.660 I think you're right.

00:31:57.580 And I think she offers something for everybody in the Democratic Party.

00:32:00.960 I don't think she's a good presidential candidate. 1.00

00:32:04.060 I don't think she'd make a good president. 1.00

00:32:06.180 She's got one big weakness, which is that she has never managed anything well.

00:32:11.580 She has never excelled at any of the jobs she has held.

00:32:14.760 And if you go back to her Senate campaign in 2015, 2016, she raised a lot of money for that U.S. Senate campaign and burned through a lot of it very quickly.

00:32:23.340 She is not a good manager. 1.00

00:32:24.760 She's struggling even now to get her organization up and running in key places like Iowa. 0.96

00:32:29.580 Now, she's going to have the money to do it, and people like her. 0.99

00:32:32.220 So she'll probably get it done.

00:32:34.140 But she's not a very good manager. 0.58

00:32:36.860 You're asking her to run against someone like Donald Trump, who has made a billion – he's made himself a billionaire through his management skill, through his ability to manage a business.

00:32:47.160 And now he's been managing the government for four years.

00:32:50.320 You might not like his style, but he's doing it very well.

00:32:53.140 And with Harris, I think that's going to be the big stumbling block.

00:32:56.840 She just does not know how to run things. 1.00

00:32:59.120 You can see that in her policies, which are all over the map.

00:33:02.340 She cannot decide from one day to the next whether she wants to take away private health insurance or not.

00:33:07.580 She gives one answer one day and one answer the next day, and she's done that twice.

00:33:11.360 She's flip-flopped twice on that question.

00:33:13.800 That's not an accident.

00:33:15.540 She's basically not a person who manages things. 0.98

00:33:18.040 She's a crusader.

00:33:19.340 She's an issues person.

00:33:20.880 She's a party person. 0.90

00:33:22.500 She is the voice of the liberal gentry establishment in San Francisco.

00:33:27.160 She is the voice, in a sense, of the identity politics wing of the Democratic Party.

00:33:33.000 She can combine those two aspects, which makes her a very potent threat to win the nomination. 0.97

00:33:38.100 She could win the presidency, too, because she will bring out some of the minority voters that might have sat home last time. 1.00

00:33:45.200 And they'll feel pulled, I think, in two directions, at least those who like Donald Trump.

00:33:50.040 And there's some evidence that he's gaining in the Hispanic and black communities.

00:33:53.640 But I think she's a real threat.

00:33:55.360 I just don't think she's a good candidate.

00:33:57.320 And I think Donald Trump will be able to target her inexperience and actually her mismanagement to bring her down. 1.00

00:34:03.960 But I do think I agree with you.

00:34:05.720 I think she's the likeliest nominee.

00:34:07.980 Very interesting.

00:34:08.600 Well, I have a lot more questions about her, some things that I know about her that I'd love to discuss with you.

00:34:14.980 I think we've used up our time for today.

00:34:16.560 I'm very grateful to you for jamming us in.

00:34:18.760 I know it looks like you're on a family visit there.

00:34:21.360 Thanks for letting us in while you're working.

00:34:23.960 Working at the family homestead here in Chicago.

00:34:26.980 Right.

00:34:27.140 Well, thanks for letting us in.

00:34:28.480 And we're grateful always for your time and wisdom.

00:34:31.640 Thanks.

00:34:32.180 We'll talk to you again soon about Harris because I think she's going to be the pick.

00:34:35.640 There'll be a lot of time to cover that ground.

00:34:37.160 Thanks, my friend.

00:34:38.000 Okay.

00:34:38.260 Thank you.

00:34:38.760 All right.

00:34:39.040 There you have it.

00:34:39.480 Joel Pollack, senior editor-at-large at Breitbart.com.

00:34:42.340 Joining us today via Skype from Chicago.

00:34:44.580 Stay with us.

00:34:45.380 More ahead on The Rebel.

00:34:46.080 What do you think of today's show?

00:34:59.100 I think it's not that surprising that an investment board looking to put a third of a billion dollars somewhere is investing in China.

00:35:08.740 And I don't think it's surprising that it's investing in Chinese military stuff because they're a very authoritarian regime.

00:35:15.700 I just think the fact that at the same time they're lecturing the rest of us to be more woke and more human rightsy and diverse while doing business with the most brutal dictatorship in the world.

00:35:26.720 I think that speaks to the hollowness of the whole politically correct movement, don't you?

00:35:31.300 Well, that's the show for today.

00:35:33.200 I'd like your point.

00:35:33.940 If you feel free to email me at ezra at therebel.media.

00:35:36.820 Until tomorrow, on behalf of all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters, to you at home, keep fighting for freedom.

00:35:42.400 Good night.

00:35:56.720 Good night.

00:36:18.800 Good night.

00:36:19.900 Good night.

00:36:22.580 Good night.

Rebel News Podcast - July 10, 2019

Canada Pension Plan “Ponzi scheme” divests from US “detention centres” — but invests in Chinese surveillance companies

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