Rebel News Podcast - Trump suspends payments to the UN’s World Health Organization — and Canada should too

00:00:00.000 Hello, my friends. An amazing statement yesterday by Donald Trump, just so casually, and boom,

00:00:04.980 it's done. He said he's, well, he's not quite ready to pull out of the World Health Organization,

00:00:09.900 but he's going to pull out his dollars. And it was just a taboo that he just broke like so many

00:00:15.980 others. He just said it and did it. I'm going to talk a little bit about why we should do it too.

00:00:22.120 Before I do, let me invite you to become a video subscriber to this podcast. Join Rebel News Plus.

00:00:27.860 It's eight bucks a month. You get my show, Sheila Gunn-Reed. It's a weekly show, same with David

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00:00:36.900 that at rebelnews.com. Get your eight buck a month subscription. Okay, here's the rest of your

00:00:41.600 podcast. Tonight,

00:00:57.860 Donald Trump suspends payments to the UN's World Health Organization, and Canada should too.

00:01:03.640 It's April 15th, and this is the Ezra Levant Show.

00:01:08.040 Why should others go to jail when you're a biggest carbon consumer I know?

00:01:11.860 There's 8,500 customers here, and you won't give them an answer.

00:01:15.940 The only thing I have to say to the government, the wire publisher, is because it's my bloody right to do so.

00:01:21.800 Donald Trump announced yesterday that he's suspending all U.S. payments to the World Health

00:01:32.180 Organization. Here's his announcement.

00:01:33.820 Today, I'm instructing my administration to halt funding of the World Health Organization while a

00:01:41.240 review is conducted to assess the World Health Organization's role in severely mismanaging and

00:01:49.420 covering up the spread of the coronavirus. Everybody knows what's going on there.

00:01:56.000 American taxpayers provide between $400 million and $500 million per year to the WHO. In contrast,

00:02:04.720 China contributes roughly $40 million a year and even less. As the organization's leading sponsor,

00:02:11.800 the United States has a duty to insist on full accountability. One of the most dangerous

00:02:17.820 and costly decisions from the WHO was its disastrous decision to oppose travel restrictions from China

00:02:26.700 and other nations. They were very much opposed to what we did. Fortunately, I was not convinced

00:02:33.620 and suspended travel from China, saving untold numbers of lives. Thousands and thousands of people

00:02:40.220 would have died. That's amazing. It's even more amazing that Trump said all that just a day or so

00:02:45.340 after the World Health Organization's boss, an Ethiopian political boss himself named Tedros Adinam,

00:02:53.260 was telling the world just how well he got along with Trump and how much Trump loved him. Look at

00:02:58.060 this great video mashup put together by our friend Avi Yemini. The United States is actually the largest

00:03:04.760 contributor to WHO. American taxpayers provide between $400 million and $500 million per year. And I have met

00:03:13.400 President Trump a number of times. Everybody knows what's going on there. And what I know is that

00:03:20.400 he's supportive. It's a disastrous decision to oppose travel restrictions from China and other nations.

00:03:27.620 They were very much opposed to what we did. Fortunately, I was not convinced and suspended travel from China.

00:03:34.320 And I hope the funding to WHO will will continue. Today, I'm instructing my administration to halt

00:03:44.000 funding of the World Health Organization while a review is conducted. And the relationship we have

00:03:51.300 is very good. And we hope that this will continue covering up the spread of the Corona virus.

00:04:00.540 What a laugh. Now, the World Health Organization, that name sounds so good. Who could be against

00:04:05.880 that? But it reminds me of one of historian Robert Conquest's famous sayings. The simplest way to

00:04:12.480 explain the behavior of any bureaucratic organization, he wrote, is to assume that it is controlled by a

00:04:19.680 cabal of its enemies. So, for example, the Dairy Board is really about stopping imports of affordable

00:04:27.460 affordable dairy. The Taxi Commission is really about keeping out drivers like Uber. You get the

00:04:34.200 picture. So, the World Health Organization, it's not really about world health, is it? In fact, no

00:04:40.640 organization has done more to make the world sicker in the past 90 days than the disgraced, discredited 0.98

00:04:46.140 United Nations entity and its corrupt leader, Tedros Adhanom.

00:04:50.940 Kean Bexley did an excellent video on just who this Tedros character is. I'm not going to call him

00:04:56.520 doctor, even though he likes to call himself one, because he's just got some PhD. He's not actually

00:05:02.760 a medical doctor. He's the first non-medical doctor to lead the World Health Organization,

00:05:08.380 which again goes to Robert Conquest's point. Why would you not have a doctor running a health

00:05:13.280 organization? Why would you do that? Well, why would you choose a corrupt political bully from Ethiopia 1.00

00:05:20.660 who oversaw massacres and was actually complicit in covering up cholera epidemics? 0.97

00:05:27.300 Why would you choose him as your global health czar? Well, precisely for those reasons. If you

00:05:32.940 were communist China, which installed him in the UN, they're taking over so many global institutions, 0.98

00:05:39.780 and what luck for them that their capture of the WHO was complete just before this Wuhan coronavirus.

00:05:45.800 If you want something specific, look at this. This is from January 14th.

00:05:51.540 Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human

00:05:56.180 transmission of the novel coronavirus identified in Wuhan, China.

00:06:01.300 That was a lie. Everyone knew or should have known it was a lie.

00:06:04.880 Other people saw right through the lie. Remember what that Taiwanese doctor told me the other day?

00:06:09.020 Things were so suspicious about this virus. Even in December,

00:06:11.620 the Taiwan sent in a little squad of their own to check things out in Wuhan. And what they saw,

00:06:17.360 and the Chinese government's hostile reaction to their inquiries, was enough to make them pull up

00:06:22.360 the drawbridge on travel from Wuhan. So in late December, there was our CDC person already

00:06:29.860 take note about what's going on. So they sent an expert to China in Wuhan in early January. And that

00:06:38.160 really, that was real action to see, oh, there was a problem there. So I put it the long way.

00:06:46.200 But you see, we are very close to China, and we are aware that there is something we cannot handle.

00:06:54.480 You know, there was no information sharing. We are always on this alert. And that makes us well prepared.

00:07:00.740 Yeah, so we know that China lies. But now we know that WHO lies for China. So why would any self-respecting 0.84

00:07:07.500 country stay in the WHO? I mean, let China and its colonies stay in whatever. What's the point of a 1.00

00:07:13.020 World Health Organization that isn't for the world? It's just for China. It's not about health. It's about 0.97

00:07:17.540 propaganda. And in terms of organization, well, I don't know about that. They seem pretty disorganized to me.

00:07:24.260 Flip-flopping on the virus, flip-flopping on masks, denouncing anyone who is for closed borders.

00:07:29.340 It sounds exactly like Canada's health bureaucrat, Theresa Tam, with her bizarre advice on those

00:07:35.020 exact same subjects. And that is not a coincidence. Because not only does she support the WHO,

00:07:41.620 she's on a supervisory committee of it. Do you see the problem? Canada is up to its eyeballs

00:07:47.220 in this fraudulent organization. Remember that doctor who hung up on the Hong Kong reporter,

00:07:52.580 who simply asked him about Taiwan and how they fought the virus?

00:07:55.500 Would the WHO consider Taiwan's membership?

00:08:08.220 Hello?

00:08:09.780 I couldn't hear your question.

00:08:12.940 Okay, yeah. Let me repeat the question.

00:08:15.560 Let's move to another one then.

00:08:17.440 Right. Because I'm actually curious on talking about Taiwan as well, on Taiwan's case.

00:08:22.560 We decided to give Dr. Alward another call to follow up.

00:08:34.540 And I just want to see if you can comment a bit on how Taiwan has done so far in terms of

00:08:39.460 containing the virus.

00:08:40.660 Well, we've already talked about China. And, you know, when you look across all the different

00:08:46.840 areas of China, they've actually all done quite a good job. So with that, I'd like to thank you

00:08:52.920 very much for inviting us to participate. And good luck as you go forward with the battle in Hong Kong.

00:08:59.360 Yeah, this guy.

00:09:00.480 If I had COVID-19, I want to be treated in China. 1.00

00:09:03.340 I'm embarrassed to say he's a Canadian. And of course, the liberal government here just loves

00:09:07.980 him. So we're in deep with the WHO as we are with so many parts of the worst parts of the UN.

00:09:15.460 And I have to tell you, whatever else Donald Trump will be judged on in the full course of history,

00:09:20.900 I think his appointment of conservative judges will certainly be one legacy that will last.

00:09:24.820 I think his boosting of NATO will be remembered.

00:09:27.480 I think his ending the charade with Iran, pulling troops out of Afghanistan and Syria.

00:09:33.100 I think his total support for oil and gas and coal, those will all be Trump legacies.

00:09:38.120 But one of the most important, surely, will be his rebuke of the United Nations, not just

00:09:41.760 the WHO, but remember this glorious, glorious moment.

00:09:47.000 I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.

00:09:54.480 I represent Pittsburgh, not Paris. Isn't that great?

00:09:58.720 He's out of the global warming scheme. He's out at least financially from the health scheme.

00:10:03.320 Maybe he'll leave other parts of the UN too. Let the Chinese have it. 1.00

00:10:05.980 They already do, really, along with the Qataris. Let them have it. 1.00

00:10:09.540 What's the point of the place if China has a veto over the Security Council, which it does? 0.73

00:10:14.640 What's the point of the place if in the General Assembly, tiny little countries like Nauru and

00:10:19.440 Tuvalu have one vote, just like mighty America has one vote?

00:10:23.380 I mean, there's only so many times that the UN can vote to condemn Israel and condemn America

00:10:27.740 and cheer on North Korea and Iran. We get it. We get it. You're corrupt and run by dictators,

00:10:32.700 and it shows. So why not pull out altogether? 0.71

00:10:37.200 I truly think it's possible now, probably not under Trudeau for Canada. He's too wedded to the UN.

00:10:42.360 He loves it. You might recall that in February, when the virus was really on its air in Canada,

00:10:47.180 Trudeau just up and left Canada for nine days to go on a UN vote hunting trip to Africa,

00:10:52.140 visiting one dictator after another, dumping foreign aid money to bribe them for their votes

00:10:56.780 at the UN. It was shameful. Why are we even doing that? Well, Trudeau will be Trudeau,

00:11:03.260 but perhaps other countries will get out of the World Health Organization, too. Other countries

00:11:06.680 follow America's lead on things. For example, when Trump moved the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem,

00:11:12.660 a number of other countries followed, including big countries like Brazil and Hungary, places like that.

00:11:17.440 And remember, Trump has always been friendly to Taiwan. He made waves back in 2016 when one of

00:11:23.800 the first world leaders he talked to on the phone was President Tsai of Taiwan, even before he was

00:11:30.720 inaugurated. Not only did China hate that, but of course, all the fancy people in foreign affairs

00:11:36.460 did, too. So maybe Trump will get a few other countries to leave the World Health Organization

00:11:39.820 with him. Maybe he'll leave a few other agencies at the UN, too, pull out not just personnel,

00:11:45.260 but money and just get out. And maybe set up something that works instead with allies,

00:11:50.580 democracies. Trump likes allies. Trump works well with groups. Ask NATO.

00:11:56.020 The good news is that the allies have started to invest more in defense. After years of cutting

00:12:04.320 defense budgets, they have started to add billions to their defense budgets. And last year was the

00:12:11.040 biggest increase in defense spending across Europe and Canada in a generation.

00:12:15.500 Why was that last year?

00:12:17.240 It's also because of your leadership, because of your clear message.

00:12:21.800 They won't write that.

00:12:23.080 No, I have said it before. But the thing is that it really has, your message is having an impact.

00:12:31.440 So wouldn't it be great if Trump joined forces with the best health care systems in the world

00:12:35.960 from a pandemic control point of view? Wouldn't it be great if the USA and Taiwan and South Korea and

00:12:41.940 Japan set up a real health agency? I'd want to join that one instead of the World Health Agency.

00:12:47.500 Wouldn't you? Who knows? They might even elect a boss of it who's a real doctor, not a corrupt Chinese 1.00

00:12:53.800 agent like Dr. Tedros. Hey, I'd nominate Jane Philpott from Trudeau's Fired Cabinet. 1.00

00:13:00.640 What do you think? If you want to support our petition to get Canada out of the World Health

00:13:07.440 Organization, well, that petition is over 20,000 names strong. Go to whowantsout.com and add your name to it.

00:13:17.700 That's enough.

00:13:32.340 That's enough.

00:13:33.360 We cannot tolerate that. But since I don't have any inferiority complex when I am personally affected

00:13:42.160 or attacked by racial slurs, I don't care because I am a very proud black person or Negro.

00:13:50.320 I don't care being called even Negro. I am.

00:13:56.080 That's what came from some quarters. And if you want me to be specific, three months ago,

00:14:02.400 this attack came from Taiwan. We need to be honest. I will be straight today. 1.00

00:14:08.100 And Taiwan, the foreign ministry or so, they know the campaign. They didn't dissociate themselves.

00:14:20.900 They even started criticizing me in the middle of all that insult and slur.

00:14:25.860 But I didn't care. Three months.

00:14:30.820 Tedros Adhanom, the Chinese-backed head of the World Health Organization in the United Nations.

00:14:36.020 I don't want to call him Dr. Tedros because, of course, he's not a medical doctor.

00:14:40.900 If someone in the theater said, help, is there a doctor in the house?

00:14:44.600 He couldn't say yes. That's the test for me.

00:14:47.180 I'm happy to say that Tedros Adhanom has been taken down a peg by no one less than Donald Trump,

00:15:15.980 the president of the United States. Joining us now to talk about the World Health Organization

00:15:19.500 and Trump's decision is our friend Ben Weingarten. You know him as the author of American Ingrate,

00:15:27.100 the book about Ilhan Omar. And he also writes for The Federalist, where his latest essay,

00:15:31.740 let me quote the title, is World Health Organization director, again, parrots Chinese propaganda in 0.60

00:15:39.180 anti-Taiwan tirade. Ben, how are you doing? Nice to see you again.

00:15:43.840 I'm doing well, Ezra. Thanks so much for having me on today.

00:15:45.980 Well, let me ask you this question. Well, it's a pleasure to have you on, by the way. You always

00:15:49.960 bring a lot of smarts to the show. A lot of the usual suspects are clucking about the United States

00:15:57.840 stepping away from the World Health Organization, but they're the people who have skin in the game.

00:16:03.260 They're people who would profit from it. They're people who are associated with it. But just like

00:16:09.220 when Donald Trump quit the UN global warming scheme, I don't think any normal people cared.

00:16:16.200 In fact, they sort of cheered. Can you tell me what the American reaction has been to this Trump

00:16:22.260 decision? Is there a grassroots uprising saying, no, no, no, stay in? Or was it just meant with shrugs

00:16:29.400 and no one even cares? Well, to put sort of an empirical glean on this, the American people pull

00:16:39.160 overwhelmingly in the way of saying that they believe China is disproportionately responsible

00:16:45.200 for the coronavirus. They agree with the Trump administration's policies on trade to punish

00:16:52.060 China for their lack of free, fair and reciprocal trade with the U.S. And on this issue of the WHO

00:16:58.940 in particular, while, as you note, the elites who think of themselves as being in the mainstream

00:17:04.440 in their views are all up in arms and predictably, frankly, shamefully parroting Chinese propaganda

00:17:11.360 on this, claiming that the administration is trying to make a scapegoat out of the WHO or

00:17:16.760 the administration is trying to make a scapegoat out of the Chinese Communist Party, in effect.

00:17:22.100 The reality is, I don't think that most Americans, the man on the street, really buys that line

00:17:28.240 of reasoning. And I think the very simple argument to be made for this decision is, why would America

00:17:34.280 spend another penny on an institution that is doing the Chinese Communist Party's bidding and who,

00:17:40.140 in so doing, has caused American loss of life, limb, and obvious treasure as well? It would be a

00:17:47.180 suicidal policy to do so. So what the president did was entirely rational to rational people in

00:17:53.200 the country, but it's not rational people that are the ones populating the newsrooms on the East Coast

00:17:58.020 and West Coast of this country.

00:17:59.280 Yeah. You know, at least when Trump pulled out of the global warming conference, that had a lot of

00:18:05.660 media attention. Year after year, it was this time in November or December where it was like a week

00:18:10.940 of global warming politics coverage. So people sort of were aware of it. I really don't think anyone

00:18:17.420 severely normal, as I like to say, had really thought about the World Health Organization,

00:18:23.420 really knew anything about it. And so to hear that Trump is pulling out of it, it's sort of,

00:18:28.860 okay, I didn't, it's like when Sir So-and-So's obituary appears. Well, a lot of people didn't

00:18:35.100 even know Sir So-and-So was alive in the first place. So I think it's a, it's a no downside decision.

00:18:42.380 And I find it an encouraging foreign policy statement of finally standing up to China 1.00

00:18:49.420 and the globalist institutions that it's managed to colonize.

00:18:54.300 It's absolutely right. And I hope that the administration makes the point and will make

00:18:59.040 the point here that look, China having a Chinese Communist Party backed director general of the

00:19:06.220 WHO is illustrative of their much broader strategy, which is to try to influence, corrupt and pervert

00:19:14.980 every global institution to which they are party. And their kind of chosen figures are leading any

00:19:21.700 number of UN-linked and then outside UN, global institutions as well. This is a clear part of

00:19:29.300 their grand strategy. And so the fact that we are showing now that we will pull the plug on an

00:19:35.140 institution that works in an adversarial fashion towards US national interest and the interest of

00:19:42.260 the West more broadly, I think is a very positive sign. And I assure you that in Beijing, they are

00:19:48.020 taking note of it. Yeah. You know, I was reminded recently that one of the first phone calls Donald

00:19:54.180 Trump made after he was elected, before he was even inaugurated, was with President Tsai, the leader of

00:20:02.340 Taiwan, President of Taiwan, who has been marvelous in this whole pandemic. And I understand that since

00:20:10.180 they've got enough masks for themselves, they're now sending masks to allies like America and the UK.

00:20:16.820 Trump has always been skeptical of China. He's always been a friend to Taiwan, more or less.

00:20:23.140 Do you think that Trump will step things up diplomatically or militarily or economically with

00:20:31.460 Taiwan? I mean, I remember that phone call in 2016 created such a stir, oh my god, you're picking a

00:20:38.180 fight. I like plucky little Taiwan. And I wonder if America could or should do more. You don't want 0.71

00:20:45.620 to needlessly provoke a conflict with China. But it's again, symbolism. We should speak clearly about

00:20:52.420 who is a trustworthy ally and who's an untrustworthy enemy. Absolutely. And the Trump administration

00:21:00.020 throughout this crisis has not only maintained open communications with Taiwan, which as you know,

00:21:05.460 it has dealt with this pandemic perhaps better than any other land on the planet. But as well,

00:21:11.780 they've also tried to push for Taiwan to be included in WHO emergency conferences on this issue,

00:21:19.860 in particular because under Chinese pressure, the WHO has not let Taiwan participate, for example,

00:21:25.780 at the World Health Assembly over the last several years. The Trump administration and actually Congress

00:21:30.980 as well have also taken steps indicating a desire to further strengthen relations that go far beyond

00:21:37.860 just the area of public health and welfare as well with respect to Taiwan. And I suspect actually that

00:21:44.980 that's part of the reason why you've seen this pushback from the Chinese Communist Party by way of their

00:21:50.100 mouthpiece in Tedros. I would suggest it was bizarre that he even raised this issue in the middle of a press

00:21:57.860 conference, which was largely about the fact that Tedros was being criticized for foretoeing the Chinese

00:22:03.700 Communist Party line. So what was his reaction to that? It was to play the race card, but in particular

00:22:08.660 to play the race card against Taiwan. And Taiwan is a thorn in China's side. I think in large part,

00:22:14.900 besides the obvious historical issues surrounding Taiwan, that Taiwan shows what a truly free and democratic

00:22:22.340 China could actually look like. And that really poses an existential threat to the Chinese Communist 0.98

00:22:27.780 Party, because it really shows the failure of the CCP in many ways. Yeah. Oh, it's such a wonderful

00:22:33.460 country. You know, we tried to send a reporter there about a week ago, but the Taiwanese diplomats were

00:22:40.180 insistent that he spend two weeks in quarantine on the Taipei side, and we just couldn't take a reporter out

00:22:46.820 of action for two weeks. But I was appreciative, even though I was disappointed, I was appreciative

00:22:52.100 of how seriously they're taking border controls. That's why they've had only single digits mortality.

00:23:00.100 But let me come back to that bizarre rant that we started this segment with. Listen, politics is a

00:23:08.020 rough and tumble business. Everyone gets criticized, especially in the era of social media. A lot of

00:23:14.180 criticism is mean, even racist, personal insults. But for the secretary general of such a massive

00:23:22.420 organization in the middle of the largest crisis of its existence, to go on a weird tangent like that,

00:23:31.060 playing the victim. And even in that clip, I think he said the insult was made like three months ago.

00:23:37.300 Like it was such a weird, whiny complaint. It was bizarre to begin with, and unseemly and childish and

00:23:43.700 oversensitive. But take a look at these images, Ben. These images are pouring out of China.

00:23:51.460 Hand, little videos from cell phones of Chinese police rounding up anyone who is black. And to my

00:24:02.500 surprise, there's a lot of Africans, including from Nigeria, in China. This is Guangzhou, I believe.

00:24:11.940 They're being rousted out of their apartments. They're being rounded up. And just based on the

00:24:19.860 color of their skin, I think we have one more image of signs that are going up in English,

00:24:24.580 because Nigerians read English. Yeah, this is a restaurant in McDonald's saying no black people. Do 1.00

00:24:31.060 you see that? We're informed that black people are not allowed to enter the restaurant for the 0.97

00:24:39.380 sake of your health. Consciously notify the local police. So this is a sign that's being put up in 0.98

00:24:47.060 English for Nigerians to read around town. And by the way, this was all confirmed by the Chinese 0.96

00:24:52.660 foreign ministry a couple of days ago. So this is not disinformation. They really are rounding up

00:24:59.460 anyone who's black, blaming them for the virus, Ben. The chutzpah of that, and Tedros Adhanom, 1.00

00:25:08.340 completely silent. It truly is an amazing juxtaposition. And I actually reached out to

00:25:16.420 spokespeople at the WHO to ask some very pointed questions about, can Tedros point to any specific

00:25:22.900 examples? Can he link those examples to Taiwan, let alone Taiwan's government? And Taiwan, of course,

00:25:29.620 has flatly denied it and essentially called it slanderous, what he accused the Taiwanese people

00:25:36.340 of. And then, of course, post that episode, there were all of these accounts, it's been revealed,

00:25:41.860 that were posing as Taiwanese, thanking Tedros and apologizing to Tedros. But of course, 0.69

00:25:47.460 they were communist China-backed accounts, it appears. So juxtapose that with a Chinese Communist

00:25:53.540 Party regime that discriminates on any number of bases. And these images that you're showing,

00:25:59.700 speak volumes in and of themselves. But of course, this is a regime, a regime that discriminates on

00:26:05.220 race, it discriminates on religion, it discriminates on ethnicity. And of course,

00:26:09.380 it discriminates on holding any sort of political views, antithetical to or dissenting from the

00:26:15.140 prevailing Chinese Communist Party orthodoxy. So chutzpah doesn't even necessarily do justice.

00:26:22.820 The idea that there was something like a Chinese Communist Party disinformation operation

00:26:27.380 that effectively Tedros was participating in versus what actually occurs on a daily basis,

00:26:33.940 if you were in the crosshairs of the government to China today.

00:26:37.060 Yeah. Well, occasionally, voices in the West speak up for Tibet. I think of,

00:26:45.700 I think it was Richard Gare was the name of one Hollywood actor that really focused on that. I think

00:26:49.860 that was for personal religious reasons. What I mean is like at the Oscars or the Grammys,

00:26:56.820 when you have all the lovies, the Hollywood lovies going up there, and they're making a very short

00:27:01.620 political point. I don't see any of them taking on China. And I think that's because China is an 0.95

00:27:07.940 important box office market for Hollywood now. But this racial aspect, this anti-black aspect is so

00:27:16.980 acute. Can you tell me, are there any voices in America that traditionally speak up against anti-black

00:27:24.980 racism, whether it's the NAACP or even the Anti-Defamation League, the Southern Poverty Law Center,

00:27:31.780 the Black Congressional Caucus, the Squad, Ilhan Omar, who you've written a whole book about?

00:27:39.460 Is there any leading anti-racism activist in America that you've seen who has even mentioned

00:27:49.060 this, I'm going to call it a Jim Crow style crackdown on blacks in China? Have you seen anything?

00:27:55.460 To my knowledge, no. And it speaks volumes about the way in which the relationship between the US

00:28:04.740 and China has evolved, such that really, the Chinese Communist Party corrupts everything that

00:28:10.500 it touches. There are so many people with such a vested interest in maintaining the status quo sort

00:28:16.580 of relationship that even on these matters, such as racism, for example, where people are so passionate

00:28:23.380 about them. And if nothing else, there are people on the left who would want a virtue signal in a

00:28:28.100 situation like this. The silence really is deafening. And again, I would suggest that it's a function of

00:28:34.340 the fact that so such a great vested interest in maintaining this relationship. And then sadly,

00:28:41.380 there's also the cynical political angle of this, which is that any attack on China is probably viewed as

00:28:47.380 helping Trump. And all too sadly, that is sort of what I believe you can reduce a lot of the coverage

00:28:53.780 of this issue to, is that this pandemic is about Trump. It's not about who perpetrated it and what

00:28:59.780 the proper response should be. It's about how can we use this to leverage this for political ends.

00:29:04.980 It's really sad and shameful. But that has been sort of my takeaway, having analyzed this since it really

00:29:10.900 began, I call it in late February or early March here. Yeah, you know, I saw something the other day.

00:29:15.860 Of course, we all know that the US Navy carrier Theodore Roosevelt had to dock at Guam because there were

00:29:22.820 some virus cases on the ship and there was some controversy around that. I see that the Chinese 1.00

00:29:29.860 propaganda outlets are boasting that their aircraft carrier, I think it's called the Liaoning,

00:29:36.500 is sailing. I mean, clearly designed as a counterpoint. Look how strong we are. Okay,

00:29:43.140 that's China. That's propaganda. That's their job. But CNN, take a look at this. CNN actually published

00:29:51.460 a snarky attack quoting Chinese propaganda saying, ha ha, look at that. China can keep their aircraft

00:30:00.260 carrier floating and Trump can't. And actually citing China, quoting the People's Liberation Army

00:30:08.580 Navy, as it's called, outright stenography for the communist propaganda. These are the same folks who

00:30:17.780 for three years were saying Russia was meddling in our democracy. Now they're actually handing the mic

00:30:27.700 over to Chinese propagandists. Yeah, I think there's been sort of a meme going around about calling it

00:30:34.100 Xi-NN. And I think that it is wholly proper. And of course, it's not just CNN incidentally, but any number

00:30:41.540 of publications that have revenue streams associated with either running Chinese Communist Party-linked

00:30:49.380 inserts within their publications. They did, many of them had these kinds of relationships with Russian

00:30:54.660 sources as well, not talked about during the whole Russia hysteria of the last three years.

00:31:00.180 But it's an excellent point that really hasn't been exposed to a great enough extent, which is that you

00:31:05.860 have people serving as unregistered foreign agents for the Chinese Communist Party today. We've had

00:31:11.460 hysteria for more than three years about untoward foreign influence, where there was none. Here you

00:31:17.540 see a clear episode of it in real time of a hostile adversarial power propagating these narratives that are

00:31:26.580 wholly designed to try to delegitimize us, deflect from the fact that they covered this up, suppressed it,

00:31:33.220 and as a consequence, thousands of people have died around the globe. It's shameful from our media,

00:31:40.180 and it really needs to be called out their hypocrisy on this. They don't have any standards except 0.93

00:31:46.020 double standards is really, I think, the only way to summarize it. Let me ask you one last question,

00:31:51.060 because about a week or so ago, an ethnically Chinese reporter with a Chinese accent asked a

00:31:58.980 question of Donald Trump in his White House briefing. And he may or may not have known who

00:32:04.740 she was. He may have been shown a list because he said, where are you from? And she said, Hong Kong.

00:32:11.220 And he said, you know, owned by the government. Here's a quick clip of that. Take a look.

00:32:17.060 Allah has agreed to spend $250 billion, many billions of dollars in our country, much of it

00:32:24.900 going to farmers and manufacturers. So I'll let you know. I mean, I hope they're going to honor the

00:32:30.340 deal. We'll find out. Are you cooperating with China? I don't know. Who are you working for,

00:32:34.260 China? You work for China or are you with a newspaper? Who are you with? Hong Kong Phoenix TV.

00:32:39.700 Who owns that? China? Is it owned by China? No, is it owned by the state? No, it's not. It's a private owned company.

00:32:46.900 Okay, good. Okay. Look, so she said, I don't know if you saw that, Ben. She claimed that she was from

00:32:55.780 Hong Kong, a privately owned company. But Hong Kong Phoenix is actually run by a former high ranking

00:33:03.380 Communist Party official invested by the mainland China. And there was another reporter who did the

00:33:08.980 same thing to Trump. He claimed he was with Taiwan. But of course, it was a pro-Beijing propaganda

00:33:16.100 outfit. Let me ask you this question. Why is the White House allowing these deceptive reporters

00:33:26.660 into the White House briefing? There may be some journalistic validity to their questions,

00:33:32.980 but that's an accident. Their main point is to poke and prod and be agents of

00:33:38.580 Communist China in that White House briefing. Do you understand what's going on there? Do you think

00:33:44.180 it's trickery? Do you think Trump likes it? Why are basically China propagandists allowed to press some

00:33:51.220 questions? Well, what I would say is this. The State Department has essentially said that if you work for

00:33:58.100 a Chinese-backed outlet, Chinese mainland-centered outlet that you are effectively serving as a

00:34:08.260 propagandist if you're working in the U.S. And of course, we've expelled some of them and they've

00:34:12.980 expelled then some Americans, not that it's at all reciprocal in any sense. The reason that these

00:34:18.980 reporters have been allowed to participate is as a consequence of the American media that has given

00:34:25.860 them entree to this particular organization that enables you to serve as press in a White House

00:34:32.420 briefing. I have to believe that in the case of this particular questioner, that what the

00:34:38.260 administration was doing was actually allowing the media to walk into a trap and expose themselves

00:34:43.700 by permitting there to be a Chinese Communist Party-backed, effectively journalists participate.

00:34:50.020 All that said, it was right to expose our media for engaging in, frankly, I don't see any other

00:34:56.660 way to describe it, but sort of treachery. But that said, going forward, I do not think that any of

00:35:02.580 these reporters should ever be able to step foot on White House grounds, period, full stop. I mean,

00:35:07.540 again, it's sort of an asinine paradigm that we face. Could you imagine the Chinese Communist Party 0.97

00:35:13.140 permitting American reporters to go into a briefing like that with Xi? It's completely unimaginable. And I think

00:35:18.820 that says it all about the unfair nature of this relationship and why it's been so essential that

00:35:24.660 I think the Trump administration has reoriented it to an unprecedented degree, certainly since Nixon

00:35:30.260 first went to China back in 1972. Yeah. Well, every once in a while, I refer to a Pew research study of

00:35:38.180 international attitudes towards China. To my surprise, Sweden, in their latest report, was the most hostile

00:35:45.220 country towards China in the whole world. I found that unusual. Canada was number two. That's because 0.99

00:35:49.860 they've taken a couple of Canadian hostages and hold them still. US, Japan, Korea were not far behind.

00:35:56.660 I would love to see a new Pew research study. I would love to see what they think of China in Italy,

00:36:03.300 in Spain, in the UK, in Nigeria. I wonder if Pew will even do that because I've got to think this

00:36:10.660 is backfiring with severely normal people, even if the CNNs of the world still love it. What do you

00:36:16.740 think? Has China come out poorly here or is the propaganda working? Look, I think their propaganda 1.00

00:36:24.100 is effective but only to a point because people cannot deny what they see in front of their eyes,

00:36:31.060 and that is a shutdown of the global economy because of something that originated in China,

00:36:36.340 that China sought to suppress, and that now China is cynically seeking to take advantage of by after

00:36:44.180 hoarding all of this essential personal protective equipment, then trying to sell it back to the rest of

00:36:49.700 the world at a marked up price, much of which was defective. And now, of course, they're putting

00:36:54.100 on export controls supposedly to try to prevent there from being defective supplies being shipped

00:36:59.780 out. So the rest of the world is not getting the supplies that we need. I just don't see them

00:37:04.500 fooling anyone at the end of the day. It doesn't mean that I necessarily believe that China is going

00:37:09.700 to pay the price that I believe China desperately deserves to pay for what they've inflicted on the 0.99

00:37:15.220 world. But I do think that this is hurting them immensely. And if you want to look at a concrete

00:37:19.460 example of it, one element of this is that the UK, which has typically taken a very soft line

00:37:26.180 with respect to China, several officials, senior government officials in the UK are now saying that

00:37:33.620 they're rethinking the Huawei relationship and they have to take a serious relook at their entire

00:37:40.180 relationship with the Chinese Communist Party. That would be a major domino to fall from the perspective

00:37:45.780 of halting the Chinese Communist Party's grand strategy. And I really hope the rest of the world 0.99

00:37:51.140 follows suit.

00:37:52.500 Yeah, me too. Well, Justin Trudeau will be the last domino to fall. He couldn't be more in the tank

00:37:57.700 for China. It's just by every measure, he is absolutely submissive to them, even though, as I say,

00:38:04.100 they maintain two Canadian hostages. It'll be interesting to me to see what the NBA does, to see what

00:38:09.220 Hollywood does, to see how much the American public will let them sell out. I look forward to seeing

00:38:16.420 how that goes. Ben, you've been very generous with your time today. I want to plug your book one more

00:38:20.420 time. It's called American In Great. What a fascinating detailed analysis of Ilhan Omar. And

00:38:27.380 I just love that title. It's so spot on. Ben's also a columnist with The Federalist. Appreciate all your

00:38:32.900 time today, Ben. My pleasure, Erza. Thank you so much. All right. Well, thank you. Okay, stay with us.

00:38:39.220 More ahead on The Rebel.

00:38:48.820 On my monologue yesterday about Justin Trudeau breaking social distancing rules, Jake writes,

00:38:54.020 my widowed father spent Easter by himself because we chose to do the right thing. This is absolute

00:38:58.260 tyrannical hypocrisy from Trudeau. Yeah. And he just sort of said it and did it. And the media were 0.94

00:39:05.460 fine with it because they're all on his payroll. Laura writes, I've seen so many sheep defend the 0.95

00:39:11.220 PM's hypocrisy saying that he deserves it because of his hard work. How can you not think this is

00:39:15.460 insulting to all healthcare workers working nonstop and leaving their children behind? Shame on him

00:39:19.700 and his supporters. Well, listen, I think we left the shame part a long time ago. I mean,

00:39:25.220 they voted for a guy who was in blackface so many times he couldn't even list a number of how many

00:39:30.100 times. On my interview with Jim Carahelios, Ron writes, I received my tax receipt today for a

00:39:36.340 donation I made to Carahelios campaign. I told them that I want my money back if they stick with kicking

00:39:40.980 Jim out. Yeah. Look, I mean, I like Jim. Um, as if you, I don't remember my first interview with him,

00:39:47.700 I asked him some critical questions. Does he really have the team? Does he have the horsepower? He's a

00:39:51.940 good guy. He's a gadfly. Frankly, I like the cut of his jib. He's a good rebel, isn't he?

00:39:56.980 I don't know if he's a prime minister in the making, but I like what he has to say. But let's

00:40:01.380 say I'm dead wrong on that. Let's say he's the worst thing that could happen in the conservative

00:40:05.460 party. He's totally wrong. Let's say his email about Waleed Solomon and Aaron O'Toole, which is

00:40:12.020 sort of an obscure inside baseball thing. Let's say he was so wrong on that. All right.

00:40:16.500 So what? Why not let the conservative party members make that decision? In fact,

00:40:23.860 wouldn't that be a vindication of the official people being right? Look, we knew he was wrong

00:40:29.860 and the party voted him out. If you have to kick a guy out through trickery, that sort of says you're

00:40:37.140 worried that maybe the party would vote for him. I don't know. I think for them to choose to fight

00:40:42.340 him in court, it sounds like they have too much money if they're choosing to do that. Oh, well,

00:40:48.020 I'm glad I'm not a party member. All right. That's our show for today. Let me invite you to watch

00:40:52.800 Sheila Gunn-Reed's show, which is always great. That's coming up right now on our Rebel News Plus,

00:40:58.760 which you're a subscriber to. And hey, if you haven't already done so, go to whowantsout.com and sign

00:41:04.880 our petition to get out of the World Health Organization. Until tomorrow, on behalf of all of us here at

00:41:09.940 Rebel World Headquarters, good night and keep fighting for freedom.

Rebel News Podcast - April 16, 2020

Trump suspends payments to the UN’s World Health Organization — and Canada should too

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