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

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 1.00

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 1.00

00:04:47.900 Dylan Mulvaney, who identifies as a trans woman, which is to say he's a biological male who might 1.00

00:04:54.700 very well be experiencing mental illness. Yeah, that's exactly the sort of person I want as my 1.00

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 0.53

00:06:08.340 face whether the commentary was coming from a real woman or a fake one. Indeed, Dylan plays up the very 0.93

00:06:16.180 worst female stereotypes. You know, that women are scatterbrained and can't possibly comprehend sports. 1.00

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 0.60

00:06:47.220 having his wedding tackle sliced and diced to resemble a fake vagina. But it seems as though Dylan thinks 0.99

00:06:54.700 that being a real woman means that he has to pretend as though he just received a lobotomy. Again, 0.71

00:07:02.820 where are the feminists? Or are they too busy chanting trans woman or real woman as they throw 1.00

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, 1.00

00:07:41.000 explain to all the Neanderthals out there why the company was using a transvestite to promote Bud Light. 1.00

00:07:48.180 Alas, her pithy pros only had the effect of throwing high-octane gasoline on a raging dumpster fire. 1.00

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 1.00

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 0.99

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. 1.00

00:11:06.940 Fuck Bud Light and fuck Anheuser-Busch. Have a terrific day. 1.00

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. 1.00

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 1.00

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. 1.00

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 0.97

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 0.73

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. 1.00

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 1.00

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. 1.00

00:22:23.900 And I also don't want to be lectured by some moronic marketer as to why the brewer would much 1.00

00:22:30.740 rather prefer to sell its beer to a demographic that doesn't care to buy the stuff while this same 1.00

00:22:37.140 idiot denounces the brand's core consumer base. In fact, unless you're an Anheuser-Busch shareholder, 0.99

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 1.00

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. 1.00

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 0.96

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. 0.86

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 1.00

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 1.00

00:26:56.440 actually establishing a formal location. This was the result of American feebleness. And so the Chinese 1.00

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 0.97

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? 0.65

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 0.99

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 1.00

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 0.95

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 0.89

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, 1.00

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 0.99

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 1.00

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 1.00

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 1.00

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 0.99

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 0.79

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, 1.00

00:41:38.360 which is to say, hey, Rachel Notley, how dare you be Islamophobic by kicking a Muslim reporter out of 0.96

00:41:47.320 your own press conference? Despicable. Greg Pearson writes, start throwing the CBC, CTV and Global 0.99

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 0.96

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.

Rebel News Podcast - April 20, 2023

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

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