The Anchormen Show with Matt Gaetz - The Anchormen Show EP 162 - Trout, Terminators, and Taiwan

00:00:00.000 Now it's time for the Anchorman Podcast with Matt Gaetz and Pearson Sharp.

00:00:18.460 Welcome back to another episode of the Anchorman Podcast.

00:00:21.280 I'm Matt Gaetz.

00:00:21.880 I host the Matt Gaetz Show here on One America News, my mom's favorite news network.

00:00:26.220 And I am joined tonight, as always, by my good friend David Pollock.

00:00:29.580 He's the host of David Pollack.

00:00:30.720 Prime Time comes on at 10 o'clock Eastern, 7 o'clock Pacific.

00:00:34.740 And Pearson Sharp, the investigative journalist extraordinaire.

00:00:37.760 We have sent him to all corners of the world, Syria, Russia, wherever war is breaking out.

00:00:43.620 Pearson Sharp.

00:00:44.420 Sweden.

00:00:45.440 Another war zone, as one has it.

00:00:48.100 Pearson, I wanted to tell you this.

00:00:49.420 After our last episode, one of my very good friends, who's one of our listeners, sends your clip,

00:00:54.340 which went kind of viral, where you just went after the lethargy of Republicans in Washington.

00:01:02.240 When you said, you know, they could be doing this, they're not, do something.

00:01:06.580 The vein was pulsing in your dome piece.

00:01:10.280 And the listener sent it to me and said, this is what we all feel.

00:01:15.020 This is the problem.

00:01:16.420 If you guys are like wondering what the problem is, it is what that guy just said on your couch.

00:01:21.180 It is what is in every group chat.

00:01:23.240 it is what is on every fantasy football ball message board and that is the backdrop to kind

00:01:30.080 of the strategy question I want to explore with David I spoke today with a major strategist who's

00:01:35.980 involved in a bunch of these races all over the country and he said all of them are getting

00:01:41.160 tighter now these things can at the very end go go back and forth and so I here's what I wanted

00:01:46.540 to know from that strategist what is it what's the what's the thing is it the young people the

00:01:51.320 old people is it the the racial multi-generational coalition that we brought together where where is

00:01:59.440 it a problem the answer was this republican retention the issue is not that we aren't

00:02:05.840 getting the share of democrats that we're supposed to get the issue isn't even that we're not getting

00:02:09.560 the share of independence that we're supposed to get the issue right now where you got to be as i

00:02:14.180 understand it is you got to be knocking down somewhere around like 88 to 92 percent of your

00:02:22.820 voters of republican voters seems true of the democrats you got to get there you know if you're

00:02:28.260 at like you know 97 98 you're killing it you're down lower we're at like 80 now so you you could

00:02:34.380 see a path to getting there all is not lost but we've got to convince the republicans like our

00:02:41.440 viewer who was commenting on Pearson's perspective, that you got to come home. And for all that we do

00:02:48.860 that is necessary to audit this movement, Republicans, you have to come home. You have to

00:02:55.120 vote for the Republican candidates because you don't really get what the alternative is going to

00:03:00.280 be. And what Pearson's commentary might lead you to believe is that blaming the Democrats isn't

00:03:08.580 going to be enough it is never going to be enough and we actually do need for some of those

00:03:12.880 republicans that don't want to come home you know to remind them no tax on tips no tax on social

00:03:17.660 security remind them of the fact that you there was a border that was completely open so so so

00:03:23.200 i guess first to you david on the strategy question and then we'll have we'll have pearson

00:03:27.280 assess uh whether it whether it fits the energy of the moment you know i'm struggling with this

00:03:33.720 because I sort of made a conscious decision over the weekend

00:03:37.880 that I was going to start countering

00:03:40.880 even the narrative from our own side

00:03:42.920 that gas prices are the worst thing in the world,

00:03:45.540 that the economy is the worst thing in the world,

00:03:47.180 that they're working so hard and they're not getting anything

00:03:49.640 and their money's not going anywhere

00:03:50.820 and putting that blame on Trump.

00:03:52.600 And I kind of had a decision over the weekend.

00:03:54.420 I said, I'm gonna start pushing back on this a little.

00:03:56.520 And I'm struggling with it because it's real

00:03:59.180 that things are not as affordable

00:04:01.000 as people would like them to be.

00:04:02.220 Gas is expensive.

00:04:03.720 groceries are expensive daycare is expensive cars are expensive loans are expensive i just saw a

00:04:09.740 thing on polymarket whether you believe it or not that for homes are the most unaffordable that

00:04:12.780 they've ever been and you know tomorrow they're talking about potentially raising interest rates

00:04:16.420 so there is a lot of reasons for people to be concerned but what i'm pushing back on is two

00:04:21.740 things one this idea that trump is to blame because i don't think he is i mean we yes we're

00:04:27.420 two years into the trump administration but you just outlined exactly what he's already done to

00:04:30.920 combat it and there's a lot of things that people don't know that he's already done to combat it

00:04:34.600 these things take years to develop and the next administration hopefully it's a republican one

00:04:39.380 is certainly going to be bathing in the spoils of all the work trump is putting into effect now

00:04:43.860 the question is this how people feel is everything how you feel is everything it doesn't matter what

00:04:49.580 some economist tells you if he can tell you that your life isn't as bad as you feel nobody's going

00:04:54.040 to believe him how you feel matters i had the same argument with democrats leading up to the 2024

00:04:58.860 election they're like the economy is doing great i'm like well people don't feel that and how people

00:05:02.940 feel is what matters you're not going to lecture people well people didn't believe the numbers

00:05:07.020 right if if your lived experience is that this economy is putting pressure on you

00:05:11.180 what somebody's telling you about macro macroeconomic it doesn't matter it's so right

00:05:16.480 and and so but here's the the balance i'm trying to strike and it's exactly like you articulated

00:05:21.560 that you have to remember and i said this in my monologue yesterday you have to remember what it

00:05:27.060 was like when Democrats were in power. The gas was just as expensive under Biden in a couple of

00:05:32.160 periods, and it was only because of environmental policies, not because of a war in Iran. Whether

00:05:35.640 you agree or disagree with the war in Iran, that's why gas prices are high right now. That's why

00:05:39.420 inflation is where it is on energy. Biden, gas prices were high because he was worried. He didn't

00:05:45.780 like cars. They didn't like fossil fuels. They didn't like cows. Beef prices were high under Joe

00:05:50.080 Biden because they thought cow farts ruined the environment, right? Beef prices are high under

00:05:56.140 Trump for different reasons. So there's different catalysts for the same frustrations. Going back

00:06:00.660 to the policies that cause these very same problems, just because you feel like Trump

00:06:04.460 didn't solve these problems fast enough, isn't the answer. So I think I've come to the conclusion

00:06:09.080 that the messaging is the answer. And maybe there is some blame. If I have to blame anything on

00:06:13.820 Trump and I don't blame much on him, I think he's doing a great job. But if I have to lay any blame

00:06:17.520 at him, is that maybe they need to take a strategy that's a little less sort of antagonistic towards

00:06:22.960 the way people feel and saying, I hear how you're feeling. This is what we're doing to help, but how

00:06:27.040 you're feeling is real. But voting for Democrats, is it going to make it easier? And let me tell you

00:06:30.680 how things will improve. Just be patient. And I want to hear that messaging more, I think.

00:06:35.660 There's empathy in that. There's an acknowledgement that people are going through some

00:06:40.480 economic anxieties right now. I don't know that I hear that in the messaging, Pearson.

00:06:46.340 Most of what we see or what I've seen is Trump deflecting. And again, I like Trump and I'd vote

00:06:51.340 for him again but i think he bears a lot of the blame right now with this war for what this

00:06:56.680 economic situation that we're in um and what i typically hear from him is no you got you guys

00:07:02.960 are fine no it's it's all right it's gonna no you shouldn't be worried about that no it's just it's

00:07:07.260 a lie that that's happening and it's not really it's not really a lie it's happening we're feeling

00:07:13.180 these things um before the war began but but your criticism in your in your in your last

00:07:20.860 diatribe yeah was that you had the congress didn't have to wonder what to do no just pick up trump's

00:07:27.060 executive orders and go do them do them that would yeah that would solve a ton of problems do you

00:07:30.700 think that meets the moment in terms of what well just in terms of getting us back into the majority

00:07:37.160 following this election that would be huge that would be huge because i and a lot of people like

00:07:42.560 your viewer don't feel like republicans are doing hardly anything right now i spoke at a republican

00:07:49.700 event last night and he's gonna run for office oh my gosh he is gonna run yeah we're gonna get

00:07:54.900 back to this go right ahead you spoke who was it who got the presence of of the great pearson

00:08:00.840 sharp in la mesa um was this a referral from your last speech oh did anyone tell you that would

00:08:06.800 happen did any did did anyone who you work with at one american news tell you that someone would

00:08:12.000 see you give the speech, and then invite you to their club next?

00:08:14.460 I can't think of anybody who would have mentioned something like that.

00:08:17.980 All right.

00:08:18.220 Would not have been Matt Gaetz.

00:08:19.280 So you go to Costa Mesa.

00:08:21.320 Yeah, to La Mesa.

00:08:22.220 La Mesa.

00:08:22.520 And I was giving the speech, and I finished.

00:08:24.440 And afterwards, the candidate for mayor, Laura Lothian,

00:08:33.540 brought up the fact that I think 20% of the Republicans

00:08:37.360 or 30% of the Republicans in the last election just didn't show up.

00:08:40.940 Yeah.

00:08:41.120 It's like, didn't vote.

00:08:42.000 at all. And my response is, well, yeah, like we're tired of not getting anything for our vote.

00:08:48.200 Obviously, I agree with you. So you have to show up and you heckled another speaker. Yes. Yeah.

00:08:53.280 No, you did both. You did gadfly and keynote. Well, no, I brought up that point and she agreed

00:08:58.340 with me because the national poll just came out like last week, a couple of days ago that said

00:09:04.020 that they interviewed like 2000 Republicans and they said that the Republicans they polled were

00:09:11.780 massively frustrated disappointed fed up with the current administration with

00:09:17.400 Congress with everybody and they aren't probably gonna turn out David's answer

00:09:22.060 to that is we got to talk about the things we've done in a better more

00:09:25.660 compelling and most importantly in an empathetic way and an empathetic right

00:09:29.840 yes because we don't feel that right now I I sense that there's a different like

00:09:33.600 what you are saying is there's a different thing you have to do what

00:09:37.080 David seems to be saying is you have to take the things you've done if you have

00:09:40.300 to frame them in a more digestible way.

00:09:43.600 You have to acknowledge what you've done that's caused the situation, take concrete

00:09:47.980 steps to amend that, and also cheerlead yourself a little bit

00:09:52.120 for what has been done since the Democrats had power. It's a lot of work to do in a few weeks, David.

00:09:56.300 But I want to point out, February 28th, diesel was $3.72.

00:10:00.500 Now it's over $6. That's in six months. That is directly caused by the

00:10:04.300 war in Iran and... And the war between Russia and Ukraine.

00:10:07.940 No, I mean, if you actually look at those, there's no real correlation.

00:10:12.580 I know Russia produces a lot of diesel, but predominantly what we're seeing is a knock-on effect from the Iran war, and I think that was a deflection.

00:10:22.940 But that's why President Trump has sent his envoy back to Russia and trying to make—if he can't do anything about Iran in the short term, certainly oil diesel prices would come down if Ukraine and Russia could come and sort of—

00:10:33.020 I mean, so many things would be improved.

00:10:33.940 But can I point out something? There's a contradiction, though, in this criticism, and I don't think it's intentional.

00:10:40.120 You can't blame Republicans for not or I'm sorry, you can't blame Trump for Republicans not codifying his executive orders if his executive orders are the thing that would make people happy.

00:10:49.560 And at the same time, blame Trump for the policies that are not being codified by Congress.

00:10:53.800 So is it Trump's? There's two different problems. But the question is, is it has his problems? Congress has their problems. They're not the same thing.

00:10:59.500 But is it Trump's leadership that's lacking, or is it Republicans' fortitude to pass his agenda?

00:11:04.440 Because they can't be both, right?

00:11:05.840 And maybe it is both.

00:11:07.140 But I think it's—

00:11:08.140 Pearson's saying Trump's right domestically and wrong in Iran.

00:11:10.660 Okay, but here's what we're going towards.

00:11:12.200 We're going towards a midterm election where Trump isn't on the ballot, but you can argue his policies are.

00:11:16.500 So if Trump is on the ballot in November—not on the ballot, but his policies are—and we're in a midterm election where you vote for Congress,

00:11:22.580 the criticism should be Congress isn't doing enough to do X, Y, Z, codifying Trump's orders.

00:11:28.280 Agreed.

00:11:28.520 So this is why I believe doubling down on the support of President Trump, this goes to the consultant question we talk about all the time.

00:11:34.120 What do we do about the Trump problem?

00:11:35.420 In my mind, there is no Trump problem.

00:11:37.320 You get behind Trump.

00:11:38.220 You pledge to your voters.

00:11:39.580 You're going to get behind his policies.

00:11:41.020 You're going to make sure the Senate stops stalling.

00:11:42.620 You're going to do everything you can, at least in the House, to make sure we get as much of an agenda, whether it's through reconciliation, whether it's through whatever, even messing with the budget.

00:11:49.900 Whatever we have to do, I think Congress wins.

00:11:52.280 I think that apathy goes away if Republicans double down in their support of Trump and not figure out how we distance ourselves from him.

00:11:58.800 I think that's the problem.

00:11:59.900 You know where that analysis is going to come in, where I wish I could pipe you in to every candidate meeting?

00:12:04.440 The Democrats are going to try to tie every Republican in a swing race to Trump.

00:12:09.560 Right?

00:12:09.820 They're going to try to tie everybody to him and make it seem to voters that the only mechanism for the voters to express their displeasure with President Trump is to, like, vote against Mike Lawler or something.

00:12:21.380 Thomas Massey.

00:12:22.280 Yeah. And I think that what you just said is the antidote strategy to that. You fully embrace Trump.

00:12:30.060 Correct.

00:12:30.220 You go all in on that. And then I think you've got to have the action plan Pearson's calling for to get those 20 percent off the couch that the mayor was referencing in your meeting.

00:12:40.160 And that should have been the point of the RNC, though. And this is what we talked about last week to bring a full circle is I said this poses an opportunity for us to come together on a message.

00:12:48.360 But President Trump clearly wanted to put himself at the front and saying, hey, I'm the message.

00:12:52.260 I'm going to 35 states or 35 cities before the midterms.

00:12:55.580 I'm holding this convention.

00:12:56.840 I'm speaking on both days.

00:12:58.120 And here are the people in competitive races that are speaking to.

00:13:00.720 Trump was giving the unity ticket.

00:13:02.260 He wanted the Republicans to double down behind him.

00:13:04.920 But did we walk away from the RNC now, if you're looking at a postmortem, did we walk away from the RNC with a clear strategy of how we're going to midterms?

00:13:11.280 You know what I think would have strengthened the RNC if somebody would have stood up and said, you might think that President Trump has been totally right on everything domestically, and you might not agree with every decision he's made everywhere in the world, but it's a big world.

00:13:27.360 and he's still the president of this country and if you agree with the policies here to secure our

00:13:33.640 border to help working people with relief on taxes to get things moving on production to draw

00:13:39.960 investment into the into the manufacturing opportunity in your neighborhood if you agree

00:13:44.620 with trump on that do not do not not vote for him right because you disagree on the iran war right

00:13:51.260 do not not vote for his candidates his policies his message uh and and the enduring success of

00:13:57.300 the country because you agree on that and and i worry that there are some voters who would concede

00:14:03.620 that it's going right at home but because we've had trump for a few years now they might they

00:14:09.380 might be a little spoiled and they might say you know what just to just because i'm angry about

00:14:13.320 the iran war i'm going to vote together way that is selfish it is and it it ultimately is what what

00:14:19.840 destroys powerful movements and what destroys a great country trump is not perfect you're never

00:14:25.380 going to have i've in my lifetime i've never had a president that i agree with everything on

00:14:28.820 i've never even really had a president that i thought just leave trump trump is not perfect

00:14:33.760 he's doing a good job though he's doing his best and like you said the alternative is too

00:14:38.740 catastrophic to contemplate i mean it's it's biden on steroids and i think he was on steroids

00:14:46.860 we have to support trump's movement that's the only thing that's going to save this country

00:14:50.920 it's not perfect we're going to have problems but he has gotten us so much further than we

00:14:54.920 ever would have been before what's what's what's the clear-cut message to the to the potential

00:15:00.240 iran war stay homer from you know it's like charlie kirk used to say let's honor our friend

00:15:05.620 um one year ago last thursday yeah um he used to say it's an it's 80 of the issues we agree upon

00:15:13.000 the 20 we don't we shouldn't destroy the movement because we can't agree on the 20 let's focus on

00:15:18.240 well yeah that's exactly the way it is and that's the answer the answer is look at all the other

00:15:23.620 things let's not focus on the one you'll lose a lot more than your perspectives on foreign policy

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00:16:17.120 real assets real protection don't wait all right I got to be careful with this next segment that

00:16:21.860 we got to go into because and I do I just want to preface this by saying I do not mean this 1.00

00:16:26.620 as any attack on any group of people based on who they love however I think I've seen the gayest 0.97

00:16:33.320 thing on the internet and it is Jake Tapper and Gavin Newsom fishing it's a freaking river put 0.99

00:16:39.920 it on the screen right now these two weasels are uh waving their sticks at each other in a river

00:16:47.640 uh talking about how kamala harris might run for president i i gotta go to the californian first

00:16:54.000 on this pearson sharp it it was everywhere it was so strange i felt bad for the production crew

00:16:58.860 that had to deal with following these two two of the people who are known to be the most diva

00:17:04.100 people in media and in politics out there i they don't even look like they know how to fish what

00:17:09.880 I was going to say, I get the impression they've never held a fishing pole in their life.

00:17:12.880 What does Gavin Newsom get out of this?

00:17:14.760 Is this what you want to see from your governor, Pearson?

00:17:16.560 Absolutely not.

00:17:17.380 I mean, he's not my governor.

00:17:19.640 He's just sitting in the office.

00:17:21.000 It's just like Biden.

00:17:22.180 This guy's a joke.

00:17:24.080 I don't think that he...

00:17:25.480 Who wears a shirt like that fishing?

00:17:27.040 I was biting my tongue.

00:17:28.520 I was waiting for my turn to say that, Matt.

00:17:30.140 He's never done this before.

00:17:31.380 Neither one of them has.

00:17:31.960 Did they both look like they just wandered out of a gap?

00:17:34.740 And what's funny is, supposedly, Tapper's segment is all about meeting politicians

00:17:39.780 in settings that they enjoy,

00:17:41.740 doing things they enjoy.

00:17:42.440 Why didn't they go to French Laundry?

00:17:43.940 Yeah. 0.79

00:17:45.380 Just shut it down for everyone else

00:17:46.780 when they got there.

00:17:47.660 I'm stuck on his sunglasses.

00:17:49.880 He's wearing like these Joe Biden aviators.

00:17:52.040 I can't imagine those are like polarized

00:17:54.100 like Oakleys or Costas

00:17:55.660 that you would use for fishing.

00:17:56.820 This is such a ridiculously put together photo op

00:18:00.820 and it's such an offensive thing 0.70

00:18:02.680 to anybody in California

00:18:04.160 who actually takes advantage of the resources

00:18:06.360 of this beautiful state.

00:18:07.240 It shows that your governor

00:18:08.420 actually doesn't care about the environment he pretends to protect

00:18:11.560 because he doesn't even know how to fish in it. 0.95

00:18:14.140 But this is ridiculous. 0.85

00:18:15.580 I don't know. 0.88

00:18:16.100 That was a pretty good action there.

00:18:18.020 Do you know anything about fly fishing?

00:18:19.740 I know a little.

00:18:20.920 I've gone fly fishing for speckled trout in Choctatchee Bay a time or two.

00:18:25.320 I was not worse than this on my first try is what I can tell you.

00:18:29.960 It's very strange.

00:18:30.800 Yeah, I've never been.

00:18:31.900 But let me ask a serious political question here, David.

00:18:35.280 Is this the type of empathy, though?

00:18:37.260 No.

00:18:37.680 No?

00:18:38.180 You're not getting any real man vibes on this.

00:18:41.060 No, but you've got to think.

00:18:42.320 He's giving off liberal man vibes.

00:18:43.880 So if you're a liberal male who's like, oh, I'm going to go step in some water and be outdoorsy,

00:18:48.220 this is exactly what they would do.

00:18:49.440 They would get glamping right next door, and they would sit there on social media

00:18:53.000 and talk about how much they hate Republicans.

00:18:54.340 He's got those man boots going on.

00:18:55.260 Yes, exactly.

00:18:56.000 This is the perfect photo op for a liberal man, not for a conservative man.

00:19:00.640 I would watch the podcast that is Jake Tapper and some random politician doing an activity that you choose.

00:19:07.920 right like like if if they were uh in a kayak together whitewater rafting i would watch i

00:19:14.160 would watch the dickens out of that boar hunting from the helicopter oh yeah that would see what

00:19:18.780 activity would you pick for for jake tapper and gavin newsom pierce and charlie that that might

00:19:22.840 be it boar hunting what do you got for what do you got for pollock what do you what what is the

00:19:26.520 what is your skills challenge for the newsom tapper experience you know i think just to expose 0.91

00:19:31.820 their lack of actual connection with american people it would just be shooting just shoot a

00:19:35.500 rifle at a range it would immediately just that they have to they have to actually like load the

00:19:41.160 rifle you know like i don't know let me just let me just point out for our audience i'm the only

00:19:46.300 host on this program that wouldn't put a gun in the hands of our political enemies these two would

00:19:50.480 here's a hunt boar they wouldn't know how to shoot it we'd be fine some other reason i'm not putting

00:19:54.540 a gun in the hand of any of my enemies even if uh even if gavin newson would break a nail they

00:19:58.740 were talking about ai uh during this discussion and pearson you have found a delightful little

00:20:04.280 morsel of a story for us to examine regarding uh an ai interview uh that occurred walk us through

00:20:11.920 it yeah well so there's this this ai actress tilly norwood and she is uh becoming more popular

00:20:19.680 and it just it nbc sat down with her they did an interview with her there she is

00:20:25.240 and what is she she's ai she's completely she's not real she's not real in any way shape or form

00:20:30.940 program top to bottom.

00:20:34.960 And so NBC sat down and did an interview with her

00:20:37.840 and she was in a movie last year.

00:20:38.820 We got a clip, we got a movie.

00:20:40.440 I can get a little taste of this acting work.

00:20:43.820 Go ahead and play it.

00:20:45.020 What I am, how I work,

00:20:46.720 and hopefully make people a bit lighter

00:20:48.340 than when they arrived.

00:20:49.860 If you were to compare yourself

00:20:51.420 to a human actor out there,

00:20:54.680 who would you say you're most similar to?

00:20:57.120 Well, Chloe, that's a tough one

00:20:58.480 because I'm not really trying to be like any human actor.

00:21:00.940 Though, honestly, if you're going to mistake me for someone, there are worse options than, say, Scarlett Johansson.

00:21:07.980 I'm not even buying that.

00:21:09.160 She read more Mila Kunis to me.

00:21:11.020 So, clearly, there are limitations.

00:21:14.480 But extrapolate forward, you know, in a few years. 1.00

00:21:19.480 By the way, there are a lot of ugly brunettes who wander around thinking they look like Scarlett Johansson. 0.88

00:21:23.440 I'm not blaming the AI. 0.93

00:21:24.860 It's not like she said Bush did 9-11.

00:21:26.540 Ten years ago, we could not have possibly imagined that someone would be doing this.

00:21:32.880 And now we have a fairly convincing approximation of a human being.

00:21:38.880 It's not perfect, but in these shots, at least, she looks mostly real.

00:21:43.160 I mean, I've seen proper movies where the actors look less real.

00:21:45.900 Does she always have the same accent?

00:21:47.820 I don't know.

00:21:48.880 I've never watched her before.

00:21:49.440 I guess real actors change their accents.

00:21:51.100 Yeah.

00:21:52.620 Honestly, I don't know if I hate this.

00:21:55.220 I don't hate it.

00:21:55.900 It doesn't really bother me.

00:21:57.100 I don't think it's going to take away from humans because there's going to be this.

00:22:01.540 By the way, I'm never going to have to listen to Tilly Norwood explain to me why the Oscars are hosted on Stolen West.

00:22:07.780 You might, though.

00:22:08.580 You think so?

00:22:09.300 Oh, for sure.

00:22:10.220 You think the AI wouldn't talk about that when she got up on a platform?

00:22:12.780 They're more likely to talk about it.

00:22:13.540 You mean we can't tell them to just do their acting thing and stay out of the other stuff?

00:22:16.460 See, that's my conflict. 0.69

00:22:17.780 I said on one hand, we can replace all those whining actors.

00:22:20.700 You don't have to listen to, like, what's that guy?

00:22:24.160 Not the Al Pacino, the other Italian one who always just says F. Trump.

00:22:27.760 What's his name?

00:22:28.360 Oh, Robert De Niro.

00:22:29.400 I don't have to listen to De Niro anymore saying F. Trump.

00:22:32.500 But then you'll just have some AI person say it.

00:22:35.060 You've got writers behind the scenes making him hear some of that.

00:22:36.560 I'll say this.

00:22:37.440 I don't, look, I've heard this was coming for a long time that actors could be replaced with AI.

00:22:41.160 Tim Pool did some.

00:22:42.100 Obviously not talk show hosts.

00:22:43.800 No, definitely not talk show hosts.

00:22:45.080 They couldn't have the unique opinions that we have AI couldn't even contemplate.

00:22:50.040 As a matter of fact, AI wouldn't even agree with anything you said most of the time.

00:22:52.600 Well, and I'm just going to tell people if we build an AI robot to be Pearson, it'll burn the building down.

00:22:56.260 That's exactly right.

00:22:56.840 They won't do it.

00:22:57.640 But so Tim Pool did something really interesting with AI, too.

00:23:00.020 He took songs that he wrote, and he put, like, he wrote it, and then he changed it to, like, a woman's voice.

00:23:04.500 And then they did a music video.

00:23:06.160 It was pretty spectacular.

00:23:07.500 So cool things can be done with AI.

00:23:08.860 Tim Pool transitioned with AI.

00:23:10.120 Yeah, yeah.

00:23:10.800 I'll find the video for you.

00:23:11.760 It's actually really cool.

00:23:12.440 I don't need to see that.

00:23:13.580 And it was a cool song.

00:23:15.340 But the thing is, this is also troubling, though.

00:23:19.660 And I'm going to take a feminist approach here.

00:23:21.480 David Pollack, the feminist, you know, because here's the deal. 1.00

00:23:25.140 Women already have a problem enough with trying to modify their looks in order to look like who they see on TV, which are most of the time fake anyway. 0.99

00:23:31.620 Because men don't have that problem. 0.73

00:23:32.260 And now, well, I mean, men don't have the pressures that women do.

00:23:35.660 Are you serious? 0.76

00:23:36.820 Gavin Newsom might.

00:23:37.720 Do you see what he eats?

00:23:39.000 Are you kidding me?

00:23:40.340 He is constantly under pressure to look like this.

00:23:42.120 I don't feel the pressure.

00:23:43.420 I don't care.

00:23:44.220 I don't care.

00:23:44.880 Clearly.

00:23:46.440 Look, San Diego is great food and I love the tacos.

00:23:48.780 I don't care.

00:23:49.660 But here's the deal.

00:23:51.700 This does create unrealistic expectations for body or body image.

00:23:56.920 More so than just like real life Scarlett Johansson?

00:23:59.540 Yeah.

00:23:59.880 I think Scarlett Johansson creates unrealistic expectations. 1.00

00:24:01.960 No, because what this is doing is it's creating a computer-generated model of what women should look like.

00:24:06.980 Have you seen all the women who are going out against Sidney Sweeney right now? 0.86

00:24:07.380 Well, yeah, but that's a different situation.

00:24:08.980 What I'm suggesting is once you replace real people with not just Photoshop people but computer-generated people,

00:24:14.880 now you're creating a standard that, except for in California for some reason, everybody's very fit here.

00:24:18.800 But other than in California, a body that it would be almost impossible for people to meet, I think it creates body positivity issues.

00:24:26.520 Weird angle, right?

00:24:27.840 Very weird.

00:24:28.900 Because what I don't connect to that at all is like, what?

00:24:33.080 Because I do think, you know, girls as they're growing up look to these features in the media and say, I want to look like that.

00:24:40.920 I want to get that kind of attention.

00:24:42.580 But I think that's a problem now.

00:24:44.340 Oh, I agree.

00:24:44.780 I don't think we could blame the robots for that.

00:24:47.180 No, absolutely not.

00:24:47.800 It just changes the equation, though.

00:24:50.520 You go from lip fillers and filters to literal creations of computers.

00:24:55.560 There are so many cartoons and CGI movies and everything else that already exists that use not real people.

00:25:02.680 That's not changing.

00:25:03.780 That's not adding anything we don't already have.

00:25:05.540 I want to get to my concern, which is that these bots, you're telling me, are going to start doing things other than acting.

00:25:12.440 because what you seem to be saying with the concern for that

00:25:15.660 is that they go beyond scope of programming.

00:25:20.340 Is that, that's what we're talking about.

00:25:21.600 Are you talking like break containment, velociraptor stuff?

00:25:24.240 Look, I thought a one benefit of the AI actor

00:25:27.440 is that I don't have to listen to its thoughts on politics

00:25:29.940 and I never have to worry that I'm going to like see TMZ running it.

00:25:34.380 I guarantee you that Tilly Norwood is going to come out 0.62

00:25:35.780 talking about how we need to free Palestine. 0.99

00:25:37.760 Yep, I agree with him completely. 1.00

00:25:39.180 That is totally going to happen at some point

00:25:40.940 because they've got no downside to their careers.

00:25:43.660 It's not going to hurt anything.

00:25:44.760 Again, the last AI bought that Microsoft,

00:25:46.940 the one Microsoft did many, many moons ago,

00:25:49.600 literally blamed Bush for 9-11. 0.53

00:25:51.220 So I don't know that Free Palestine

00:25:52.480 is going to be the first thing out of Tilly Norwood.

00:25:54.440 But at what point, my question with this

00:25:56.700 is at what point does entertainment stop becoming art

00:25:59.240 when there's no people involved?

00:26:01.300 But why can you not accept that there's art

00:26:03.480 in the making of Tilly Norwood?

00:26:05.940 Programming, the coding?

00:26:07.180 There's an argument there.

00:26:08.900 There could be.

00:26:09.500 CGI, I mean, that's the question.

00:26:10.840 star wars right star wars is all special effects yeah like what if what if the people who become

00:26:15.320 famous in the movies aren't the actors well the people who are designing the uh the ai bots much

00:26:21.020 in the way that like djs have become as famous as music artists because they're the ones kind of

00:26:26.340 doing the assembly and the building of what people ultimately hear it's the question of what is art

00:26:30.800 i mean is it something that humans create do we have are we solely responsible for the agency of

00:26:36.060 art can animals make art and i saw an elephant paint once where do you where do you draw the

00:26:41.220 line what you know did you see what i'm saying no well not at all not at all no i i've never i've

00:26:48.400 never sat around thought about the definition of art well i mean this is this is that moment matt

00:26:53.420 what is art like how do we define humans create art like yeah when we say non-humans you mean if

00:26:59.040 some if some like uh you know bird makes a nest to get the right female bird to come nest with

00:27:05.240 Is that art? 1.00

00:27:06.000 Heck, yeah.

00:27:07.220 Or is it just a functional piece of equipment designed to achieve something?

00:27:10.980 Well, what is dance, too, though?

00:27:12.000 Like, you see the lizards shaking their heads and stuff, you know?

00:27:13.980 Well, that's functional, too.

00:27:15.000 It's dance, but just all dance is really rooted in some sort of function.

00:27:18.320 I don't know.

00:27:18.580 I find this a fascinating topic.

00:27:20.020 I'm not worried about humans losing jobs to AI.

00:27:23.340 You're worried about me losing the definition of art?

00:27:25.960 Yes, quite frankly.

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00:28:28.900 That's 561-717-6794, Pearson Sharp.

00:28:31.960 Nice.

00:28:32.300 I've got another question for you about this same topic.

00:28:34.900 Would you pay money to go to a movie theater and watch a movie where every actor, every scene, every line of dialogue was all entirely written by AI and no humans were involved?

00:28:45.780 I would.

00:28:47.240 I think I would, too.

00:28:48.380 It depends.

00:28:49.340 But then is that still art?

00:28:51.020 if you read a book if ai if you went to chat gbt and said write me a novel about the war of 1812

00:28:57.160 and it wrote it up is that art would you read that is that the same as yeah as tolstoy i would

00:29:03.960 probably read it i would probably to me it's the it's experiential and it's knowledge based and i

00:29:09.340 would still be growing in my knowledge and i would still be having the experience okay what else am

00:29:13.680 i supposed to do if ai is doing everything that i'm doing i won't be able to be a television host

00:29:16.900 anymore so i better sit around and read read about that information more yeah i just i don't

00:29:21.760 i i think there is there is value in reading something like that but it's not the same value

00:29:26.740 as hemingway or shakespeare or something like that it's not the same category i worry about

00:29:32.560 the lack of like the original input material i almost worry about like you know in europe because

00:29:36.780 it's all derivative it's not it's not creative right do and do we lose those muscles like i was

00:29:42.880 Oh, for sure.

00:29:43.420 I was riding around in a full self-driving Tesla yesterday, and I put a hat on.

00:29:49.360 It was one of the gold ones?

00:29:50.100 And then it couldn't see my eyes, and so it makes me take over the car.

00:29:52.900 And I was like, oh, no, I have to take over and drive.

00:29:56.300 It's like I'm brought right back to the age-old year of 2020 when I have to know how to do this myself.

00:30:03.020 And I worry about the creativity atrophying.

00:30:05.600 Do you worry about that, David?

00:30:06.980 You use AI for research.

00:30:09.320 Yeah.

00:30:09.620 It's a tool.

00:30:10.540 You're always screaming at your body.

00:30:12.140 It talks back to you.

00:30:13.320 Yeah, I do get frustrated, but I've programmed it now.

00:30:15.820 It doesn't talk back anymore.

00:30:18.400 But that's the thing with everything, right?

00:30:22.600 Forget AI.

00:30:23.580 I mean, just with everything.

00:30:24.780 Once somebody builds a statue, every statue is going to be emulating that statue.

00:30:28.740 When somebody makes a film, every film is emulating that film.

00:30:31.100 I don't know.

00:30:31.780 I think that's the same argument.

00:30:32.760 But you also have to look at something really interesting that's happening.

00:30:35.260 young people this new generation is actually rejecting the that sort of cascaded sort of

00:30:42.420 experience because they like backrooms like backrooms went back to a simple film that was

00:30:48.080 made with old school technology because they're getting tired no uh but but they're getting tired

00:30:53.760 of all of the super manicured manufactured stuff so i think it'll get to a point where people will

00:31:00.340 want to feel something and it'll take us back to actual core and and really goes down to like

00:31:04.360 people wanting to hear live music versus

00:31:06.000 the stuff produced, you know,

00:31:08.100 in a, what do they call that?

00:31:11.720 Auto-tuned. 0.99

00:31:12.580 Yeah, like auto-tuned garbage. People want to 0.98

00:31:14.220 feel things. So I think humans have a

00:31:16.240 natural instinct to want to get something

00:31:18.220 they don't have. So no, I don't think it'll

00:31:20.080 just keep crescendoing to a place where

00:31:22.200 nothing's real. I think it'll force people to

00:31:24.200 seek something that's real.

00:31:25.560 You can have this or you can have that.

00:31:27.900 Yeah. I think it'll give rise to something

00:31:30.000 that's natural.

00:31:31.920 I believe in humans.

00:31:32.920 All right. We're going to end on that positive note. We can be okay with that assessment. And we're going to move directly from that to weapons.

00:31:41.160 Yes.

00:31:41.660 And weapons in space.

00:31:43.080 Weapons in space.

00:31:43.940 Yes. Pearson, bring us inside the story.

00:31:46.120 So the U.S. has acknowledged that for the first time, it has deployed weapons in space. It fielded an on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the joint force against hostile adversary action.

00:31:58.820 So this is the first time that apparently we've ever done that, that we know about.

00:32:02.520 You might know more about that, but we can't ask you.

00:32:06.480 Space has been, I can say space has been a contested domain for a long time.

00:32:09.760 I would say that's probably realistic.

00:32:11.440 I would say for a long time, probably since the 80s, I would guess.

00:32:13.720 Well, here's really where we got crossways in space, and it goes to a lot of the AI discussions we're having now.

00:32:20.880 In the 90s, Clinton shuts down a lot of the DoD programs on offensive space.

00:32:27.940 After a generous contribution from China.

00:32:29.720 Well, for whatever reason, the stated reason for Clinton shutting down some of the weapons space development was, you know, I don't want to make space a place that we fight.

00:32:41.340 I want America to maintain that space belongs to everyone, space is a place for peace, and we don't want to cross that Rubicon.

00:32:49.240 but again like it's almost this now people who are critics of that clinton policy say you let

00:32:54.440 these other countries catch up to us in ways that they never would have if i don't want to build any

00:32:59.780 jets because the airspace should be free and clear and everyone should be peaceful in the air

00:33:03.860 i don't want to build any tanks because the ground should be a place for peace

00:33:07.240 but that's also assuming that we didn't actually but but on ai right like where do you carry that

00:33:13.040 corollary because i now think about ai and there are times when i think man you know is there is

00:33:17.480 this something we should pause take a moment figure out if we're going to go here what do we

00:33:21.040 do and then you know i hear the argument president trump has made which also is very compelling which

00:33:26.220 would which is in essence the critique of clinton which is you don't have a choice we have to do

00:33:31.040 this because this ai like space is becoming a contested domain and you have two options

00:33:36.620 get in get in the game and win it or lose to china this may be a pyrrhic victory this may be one where

00:33:43.460 we win and we lose you know we develop the cutting edge ai that can defeat our enemies 0.96

00:33:47.960 and at the same time we defeat ourselves but but now we're put we've gone from that just in the

00:33:52.560 90s on space to now publicly saying we get it it's we can't by virtue of america alone we can't stop

00:34:00.100 space from no you can't you can't the genie's out of the bottle yeah it's we're fighting over the

00:34:04.780 moon helium three like this is something we have to have it's also all the all the wars and stuff

00:34:11.780 going on like on the planet earth are going to have command and control in space yeah yeah they

00:34:17.720 are period so it would be unbelievably naive to seed ground seed space uh to anybody else you have

00:34:26.100 to be at the forefront of every one of these battlefields that's that's what that's can you

00:34:30.580 imagine controlling the airspace and the ground space but not controlling outer space yeah where 0.96

00:34:35.200 like china is flying over and can knock out any one of our assets at will well children we have

00:34:39.940 to learn mandarin now because sam decided we no longer wanted to hold the high ground yeah exactly 0.73

00:34:44.600 wanted to hold the lower domains yeah all right well is there i mean do we get worried about this

00:34:48.800 david are we worried that the that the space beam laser beams are going to be directed at us at any

00:34:53.980 moment or is this just kind of the next step in human evolution oh man this goes in so many

00:34:59.520 directions that can result in so many hateful comments um the technology is there you have to

00:35:06.700 embrace the technology. You can't

00:35:08.560 put your head in the ground and refuse to believe

00:35:10.500 the technology exists. I agree with everything you're

00:35:12.500 saying. China's already doing it. Our enemy's

00:35:14.620 already doing it. Are we supposed to not do it because

00:35:16.600 we think it's right? And this goes to

00:35:18.440 everything. The data centers, the flock

00:35:20.520 cameras, their surveillance, even

00:35:22.580 the FISA reauthorizations. Like, you go on and

00:35:24.580 on and on to all the things that it comes down to

00:35:26.640 whether or not you trust the government.

00:35:28.520 Nope.

00:35:29.260 But this is the issue. In the United

00:35:32.400 States,

00:35:33.240 if you don't trust the government,

00:35:36.420 We have the ability to say

00:35:38.580 Hopefully we still have the ability to say

00:35:40.020 No, no, no, no, you're not doing this

00:35:42.200 I don't trust you with this power

00:35:43.780 China, they don't have those limitations

00:35:45.860 They don't have the ability 1.00

00:35:47.440 Their people don't have an ability to say 0.99

00:35:48.940 But that's my point, it doesn't stop China 0.88

00:35:51.360 But if you give China the space weapons 0.75

00:35:53.620 And we don't have them, your point

00:35:54.640 If you give China the AI and we don't have them, your point

00:35:57.380 If you give China the data centers, we don't have them, your point 0.69

00:35:59.060 What do we do when China builds

00:36:01.280 Armies of AI driven robots

00:36:03.180 And we're like, we'd really love to fight you

00:36:05.020 without human flesh but you know people were too afraid of the technology if that happens we better

00:36:09.600 get the aliens on ourselves right well well that's what we just call our friends at area 51 and be

00:36:14.180 like hey release the aliens i guess but but but at the end of the day we have to win on technology

00:36:19.540 so you're all gas no brakes that's that's what i'm all gas reasonable regulation uh i'm not no

00:36:25.660 brakes well you have to have some you have to have some regulation um president trump has made the

00:36:30.060 That's an argument that regulations already exist.

00:36:31.380 They just wheeled in whatever is left of Mitch McConnell.

00:36:35.100 I was hoping we'd talk about that today.

00:36:36.380 You think these people know how to regulate AI? 0.62

00:36:39.060 They can't regulate their bowel movements. 0.62

00:36:40.740 This is where, again, it goes to the bigger problem of that's why we have lobbyists.

00:36:44.520 Like, everyone thinks lobbyists are evil.

00:36:46.100 But a lot of times, congressmen, they don't really know all the issues.

00:36:49.320 And so you need groups who actually know stuff to come in and sit down and say,

00:36:51.980 Congressman, I don't think you understand how this works.

00:36:55.760 Somebody's paid me a lot of money to advocate for my company for how this works.

00:36:58.480 But you can still learn things from them.

00:36:59.700 Pearson, without screaming, I would like you to respond to David's argument that America's democracy needs lobbyists to function.

00:37:05.420 You need smart people to explain people the things that they don't understand.

00:37:08.720 We have to have this technology.

00:37:10.620 We have to.

00:37:11.080 We can't fall behind.

00:37:12.760 But there need to be extremely smart people because this is such an issue.

00:37:19.940 But who are the smart people?

00:37:21.060 This is civilization.

00:37:22.720 It's not the ones making the rules.

00:37:23.980 That's my point.

00:37:25.520 I mean, it's recognized.

00:37:26.960 recognized ai perhaps more than anything else we've ever developed has the potential to end

00:37:31.560 all of human life more so than nuclear weapons more so than nuclear weapons because it can control

00:37:35.720 nuclear weapons it could deploy them wherever it wanted they're all the systems are connected

00:37:39.960 it could shut off our food supply it could shut everything so we need a level of of intellect

00:37:46.060 to try and solve this problem because it is an existential problem we need socrates aristotle

00:37:52.820 level thinking to try and rationalize how we compartmentalize the use of this technology

00:37:59.280 with the continued existence of our species.

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00:38:33.120 David, do you think Mitch McConnell is reading Socrates or Aristotle tonight in between votes?

00:38:36.960 But we do have Elon Musk, who's, I would say smart, but guess what he did? Created AI.

00:38:41.880 So I think this is the kind of crazy thing, and I wish we had time in this show literally to talk about nothing but AI,

00:38:47.280 because there's so many facets of this, and it's so interesting, but it boils down to one simple thing.

00:38:51.640 you know the humans are creating the ai to assist the humans just like we created calculators to

00:38:56.480 help the humans right we're creating this ai to help us think because it can go and do research

00:39:01.060 and solve problems that we would take decades to solve it can do it in hours and so it all boils

00:39:06.660 down to whether the people are using this power who harness the power for good or evil and the

00:39:11.240 people who develop ai are warning it could be used for evil i want you to think about this for a

00:39:15.200 moment as i give my answer think about really in your life the way ai is solving a problem for you

00:39:21.360 in a meaningful way okay and i i will share the audience mind i'm a new parent and every new

00:39:27.100 parent is basically you know uh not a new parent a parent of a of a newborn child right you're

00:39:34.020 always wondering if you're doing the right thing you're always wondering what goop or bump or

00:39:38.900 scratch or noise or twist is is is right or wrong what to put in the baby in terms of food supply

00:39:46.640 and AI is just so helpful

00:39:48.700 in answering those questions and I don't

00:39:50.680 think it's like making my kid woke

00:39:52.460 that it explains you know

00:39:54.460 don't feed onions feed sweet potato

00:39:56.940 right and it's

00:39:58.720 comforting and helpful. Again it is a tool

00:40:00.880 we had our first girl

00:40:02.560 before AI was

00:40:04.840 around so

00:40:06.280 we had to figure out a lot of that with the help of

00:40:08.480 our version of AI which was my mother-in-law

00:40:10.720 but again

00:40:12.880 you could understand why someone might

00:40:14.660 rather talk to a chat bot than their mother-in-law in some situations in some situations i'm i'm 0.62

00:40:20.340 blessed to have a wonderful mother-in-law sure all right yeah we all are but little ebony's

00:40:26.280 grandmother uh but yeah sam altman said the same thing he said i love ai for helping me with my

00:40:33.180 kid it's it's i have so many questions about my kid and it answers all of them you know i don't

00:40:37.780 think he should have a kid that's another question for another time um it is very useful it's a tool

00:40:43.220 It has its applications. 0.90

00:40:45.080 This is a totally different subject than whether we should use it to destroy China. 0.96

00:40:49.260 All right.

00:40:49.560 In your life, David Pollack, now that Pearson has filibustered for two minutes without answering my question, I would like you to actually answer it.

00:40:54.520 Was it just what do I use it for in my life?

00:40:56.400 Is that the only thing?

00:40:57.320 Yes.

00:40:57.540 The most meaningful way that it actually answers.

00:41:00.260 Research.

00:41:01.520 I used to use it a lot more for research.

00:41:03.580 I still do it for research, but more of an aggregator of research.

00:41:06.880 And then I still have to scrutinize the research because we know that the AI is informed by mainstream media and academia, which tends to lean left.

00:41:15.500 So I use it to aggregate research, but then I still challenge the research and then reprogram the bot to pull sources from conservative media.

00:41:23.920 It can be very helpful for research if you program the tool accordingly.

00:41:27.220 Same thing with researching stuff for your baby.

00:41:29.080 But you have to ask what's informing the results.

00:41:31.740 And that's where it gets to a level of sophistication where you're like, yeah, I'm liking that it gives me information quickly.

00:41:35.680 that you have to get to a point and say, what are you basing that information on?

00:41:38.780 And that's the big risk.

00:41:39.820 And this goes really to the bigger picture is, thank you for making my life easier,

00:41:43.440 but wait, before you give me this advice that I'm relying on, what are you basing that on?

00:41:46.560 And I think once we get more comfortable with the technology versus more afraid with it,

00:41:50.300 we can learn how to use that tool better to get better output.

00:41:53.200 And I think really that's what it is.

00:41:54.320 It's a tool created by man.

00:41:55.660 You get into it, you get out of it, which you put into it.

00:41:58.360 And I think it's on us to learn how to use this tool programming accordingly.

00:42:02.640 And then I think it'll be okay.

00:42:03.940 We're not good at learning to use tools correctly.

00:42:05.280 We're good at learning to abuse power.

00:42:08.640 We're going to have to be better.

00:42:10.720 Okay, I'm just going to hope that humanity suddenly gets better

00:42:13.060 when we have the most powerful tool we've ever had in the universe.

00:42:16.220 I don't have a lot of high hope for that.

00:42:18.460 By the way, people were that alarmist about nuclear weapons.

00:42:22.800 People said when the bomb was developed,

00:42:24.860 we as humans would not have the guardrails.

00:42:27.680 We would have proliferation, we would have use,

00:42:31.220 and we would destroy humanity.

00:42:32.220 People said it with all of the fervor and confidence.

00:42:34.820 The jury's still out on that, Matt.

00:42:36.520 It's less than 100 years since we've gotten the nukes.

00:42:39.140 Well, but in that amount of time, you have seen some control on proliferation.

00:42:44.780 It has not been just every country in the world, you know, joining Israel in their acquisition of nuclear weapons.

00:42:51.600 It also has not been used.

00:42:54.260 It just hasn't been used.

00:42:55.640 Yet.

00:42:56.400 Yes.

00:42:56.880 Okay.

00:42:57.400 Well, you'll be here to tell me.

00:42:58.740 I won't be here for you to say I told you so on that.

00:43:01.100 But from those weapons of space and AI to the weapons that are really frequently being deployed in warfare now that we're observing these drones, it's interesting now to see what's going on in the Taiwan Straits and with China.

00:43:14.840 And, you know, everybody's watching everything that's going on.

00:43:19.300 I was briefed so many times in public and in private that, you know, the window was open.

00:43:24.160 China was moving on Taiwan. 0.74

00:43:26.220 The invasion was happening at any moment if we did not approve the next package of weapons to the Taiwanese. 0.73

00:43:33.500 And I just wonder, after all this stuff going in Iran, if one side effect of that might be China saying, 0.95

00:43:40.660 huh, it seems that when a large power confronts a small power over a tiny body of water,

00:43:46.460 and the smaller power has a whole lot of intrudable drones, this becomes kind of a mess.

00:43:51.360 So what are you observing in the Straits now, Peter?

00:43:53.900 I mean, yeah, you're right. China has been talking about this since 1949. This has been their number one goal after acquiring Tibet. This would be a massive win for them. They would control almost all of the planet's chip manufacturing. I mean, strategically, it would be huge and be devastating for us.

00:44:13.860 So I think there, I mean, there's no doubt they're absolutely trying to make this happen.

00:44:17.920 The question is, do they need to make it happen militarily?

00:44:20.620 Because Taiwan's a tiny island.

00:44:22.620 If they blockade, if China blockades them, I think they could probably cripple the island

00:44:27.540 in a matter of months or less, which would make Washington take a pretty uncomfortable

00:44:33.200 position.

00:44:33.740 Do we intervene or not?

00:44:34.840 Do we send ships to break the blockade or not?

00:44:37.140 Which would in turn put China in a difficult position.

00:44:39.080 Do we fire on those ships that Washington's sending over?

00:44:41.780 So it could be a really interesting domino effect about what would happen. 0.51

00:44:45.560 I think maybe in our lifetimes we will see China try and make a move on it.

00:44:49.380 I think America is too strong militarily right now with leadership.

00:44:54.700 We're strong militarily, but we're playing an away game over there.

00:44:57.920 We are. We are.

00:44:59.120 But I don't think China wants to take the risk with Trump in office.

00:45:02.080 I think that's true.

00:45:03.840 But again, I return to the point that I think they're watching what's happening in Iran.

00:45:07.820 How do you how do you think they read that global, you know, chessboard?

00:45:11.660 You know, I kind of feel like you could sit your watch to China engaging in Taiwan in some way at some point.

00:45:18.920 I think what we're doing in Iran certainly military just so I know militarily.

00:45:22.920 Yeah. I mean, I think what's happening in Iran does impact China, but not in the way of they're saying, well, you know, I don't think it affects their thinking on how it can bog them down.

00:45:33.100 I certainly think the energy

00:45:35.200 is the big factor here

00:45:37.300 because the deals will end up

00:45:38.920 whatever happens with the Strait of Hormuz

00:45:40.840 look what happened with Venezuela

00:45:42.040 whatever happens with the deal between Ukraine and Russia

00:45:45.120 we're talking about China imports all of their energy

00:45:47.820 and their ability to wage war in Taiwan 0.84

00:45:49.860 is resting solely on their ability

00:45:52.060 to get the energy and the fuel needed

00:45:53.880 to engage in a war

00:45:55.080 I would think so

00:45:56.800 where does China get their energy from

00:45:58.480 but why do they need fuel to win this war

00:46:01.360 The way they're going to win this war is going to be a military blockade.

00:46:05.960 They're not going to need, like, this is a huge country.

00:46:08.380 They have enough fuel to have a military blockade for 20 years.

00:46:11.700 Right, but just like we're seeing in the United States,

00:46:14.520 if the people get impacted in such a way that it makes the sentiment towards the war shift negative.

00:46:19.320 So you're talking about sanctions downstream?

00:46:21.220 Correct. Sanctions will affect the Chinese people in a way that I don't think the Chinese—

00:46:25.080 That is possible because $2.4 trillion in goods, which is 21% of global maritime trade, passed through the Strait of Taiwan last year.

00:46:35.440 Well, there you go.

00:46:36.220 So, I mean, that makes Strait of Hormuz look like small fry.

00:46:40.200 Right. 1.00

00:46:40.880 That's a really good point, Pearson.

00:46:42.400 It's an awesome point. 0.95

00:46:43.660 And our leverage that we're building, by the way, and again, I don't know what's going to happen with Iran, and I don't want to go down that road right now.

00:46:49.940 But what's already happened in our hemisphere is significant towards our influence over the other hemisphere because we're doing things on our side that insulates our side and really increases our leverage.

00:47:01.040 You know, we're not talking about BRICS anymore when – if Brazil has an election next month, you know, I mean so – 0.93

00:47:06.680 It's going well, by the way. 0.75

00:47:07.640 Yeah.

00:47:08.080 So you guys follow it closely.

00:47:09.500 Yeah, and so think about with that.

00:47:11.340 Brazil is the last piece of the puzzle in South America, and then there's conservatism in a pro-Trump hemisphere.

00:47:16.540 This is increasing – in the Venezuela oil deal.

00:47:18.380 This is increasing our leverage over China should they decide to blockade or engage in some military way against Taiwan.

00:47:25.460 I think what Trump is doing here is going to pay dividends later in our leverage versus China.

00:47:29.520 We had no leverage over China before Trump took office.

00:47:32.140 And now we have more than we've had.

00:47:33.560 And so maybe that does result in some—

00:47:35.740 I don't know. 0.72

00:47:36.100 Maybe the deal that ends the war with Iran should get the Taiwanese a few thousand Shahid drones. 0.86

00:47:42.220 Maybe. 0.97

00:47:42.960 We could see something interesting.

00:47:44.000 I think it's this week, next week, Xi Jinping is going to D.C.

00:47:47.540 That's right.

00:47:48.380 So you could see something interesting come out of that.

00:47:51.000 What would you want to see most out of that?

00:47:52.720 Would it be on trade?

00:47:53.640 Would it be on IP?

00:47:55.080 Would it be on...

00:47:55.800 Trade.

00:47:56.420 I think trade.

00:47:57.640 I'd like to see...

00:47:58.560 Wouldn't it be nice to see prices come down

00:48:01.940 because Trump pulls just like a brilliant deal

00:48:05.520 out of the hat at the last minute?

00:48:07.440 And there's a good chance he will.

00:48:09.080 That would be amazing.

00:48:10.060 If we can get China to cooperate with us more.

00:48:11.940 I mean, I don't have a high hope for that.

00:48:13.660 They're extremely ambitious.

00:48:16.140 Extremely nationalist.

00:48:17.560 I just feel like we're becoming more like China.

00:48:19.420 They're not becoming more like us. 0.98

00:48:20.900 We're putting up Flock cameras now.

00:48:22.980 Exactly.

00:48:24.040 But at least we're allowed to talk about it, which is David's point earlier.

00:48:27.300 That we can criticize the president or whoever we want right now. 0.74

00:48:31.940 Can't do that in China.

00:48:33.520 No.

00:48:33.940 You've been, yes?

00:48:34.740 Yeah, I have.

00:48:35.360 And I had students who had their parents arrested for criticizing the government.

00:48:40.340 It's like that happened here, last administration, that people quickly forgotten when they're complaining about gas.

00:48:45.260 Now, I'm not saying gas isn't expensive.

00:48:46.980 But remember, what you just said, you can't speak out against your government, happened here two years ago.

00:48:54.300 Remember that.

00:48:54.920 That happened to us at the station.

00:48:56.540 At this network, literally labeled conduits of Russian disinformation because we wanted to know about the whereabouts of the 100-Biden laptop.

00:49:05.900 We had members of the government targeting us.

00:49:06.800 Yeah.

00:49:07.340 We should get into that investigation on our next episode.

00:49:10.120 We really should.

00:49:10.640 Which will have to be another time because we have concluded our hour together.

00:49:14.660 Our friends, thanks so much for joining us.

00:49:16.280 make sure to subscribe, give us a five-star rating, leave us a comment, let us know what

00:49:20.300 you'd like to hear. Visit our friends at All Family Pharmacy, and you know what the most

00:49:24.820 important thing you could do after getting your drugs? Buy gold. And our friends at Fisher Liberty

00:49:28.900 will help you. Thanks so much. We'll see you next week.

The Anchormen Show with Matt Gaetz - September 18, 2026

The Anchormen Show EP 162 - Trout, Terminators, and Taiwan

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