Former AG Bill Barr on CBS's Face the Nation says President Trump should lose his constitutional rights if he s nominated for the 2020 Republican presidential nomination. Bill Barr is a narcissist who will always put his own interests and gratifying his ego ahead of the country s interests.
00:08:41.640Well, friction and certainly confusion, because as you say, military planning that has been going on for
00:08:50.280years, irrespective of the administration, has been the support, military support for Taiwan, should there be
00:08:57.080an invasion, tacit, unspoken, but definitely the stance of the United States, correct?
00:09:06.520Absolutely correct. And it's been increasing in the last few years.
00:09:10.220Well, the DOD has gotten this message, so they're going to be, I think you chose the correct word,
00:09:18.620confused, and in some sense, alarmed. And they're already alarmed because of certain attributes
00:09:27.340of this administration that it doesn't, well, what shall we say, have its act altogether for various reasons.
00:09:34.460Well, this is alarming, I think, to everyone who is focused on this country's sovereignty and the
00:09:43.420defense of this country, because this throws open the South China Sea. It throws open, of course,
00:09:50.940Taiwan. It also means that across the Indo-Pacific, that the United States has basically exceeded
00:09:59.180to hegemony for China throughout the continent, does it not?
00:10:08.140Well, that's what the allies are certainly going to think. And I'm not sure it's hegemony. It
00:10:15.580certainly is with respect to the defense of Taiwan. I mean, I can imagine what's going on in Taiwan today.
00:10:22.780That must be like really pulling their hair out right now. But I think it gives China a much freer
00:10:31.580reign. It's almost an official acceptance of the Chinese military buildup. I think it's almost a
00:10:42.380statement of that the US can't handle all of these confrontations at the same time. Let's not
00:10:49.740not forget North Korea here. It may be off the news today. But you've got a lot of developments
00:10:55.420in the Middle East. You've got attempts to have a tacit agreement with Iran. And we could go on and
00:11:01.740on. But there's going to be a lot of confusion. And it looks like really nobody's in charge with
00:11:07.820these things that the administration is having to back down the rhetoric they've been talking about
00:11:13.580for the last two years. Remember the human rights emphasis, we're going to isolate Saudi Arabia.
00:11:20.140Now, where did that go? Right. And where did human rights go? In China. Now, no posture by any
00:11:31.020administration has meant anything over the course of the past 20 years when it comes to human rights in
00:11:36.940China. And and and in the Middle East, the same is true. It's the human rights is no longer coupled
00:11:46.780with any sort of US foreign policy, is it? I think that's right. And I think we have no idea how to
00:11:58.700increase human rights in China or really in most countries. But it's really designed to appeal to
00:12:09.340the American electorate and particularly a certain kind of class of the American elite where it sells
00:12:15.740very well and gets you to think about other issues away from security, Iran getting a nuclear weapon,
00:12:25.180and North Korea probably having something like a hundred nuclear weapons today. And we could go on.
00:12:32.540Incredible. And there is one news development in that and that we have
00:12:38.220sent out one of our most advanced nuclear submarines armed to the teeth just because of the the missile
00:12:46.780development and launches by North Korea. So tensions are rising in in the area
00:12:54.940for a host of reasons. And this administration seems to be utterly bereft of a comprehensive
00:13:05.260even not forget a comprehensive just any kind of strategy that it can articulate
00:13:11.260whatsoever about what it will do in any region of the world, whether it be in Europe, whether it be
00:13:18.620Russia, whether it be the Middle East, whether it be Iran, whether it be North Korea and China itself.
00:13:25.260The United States is flailing here. This this foreign policy team of this impaired president
00:13:32.380is is looks to be on about the same intellectual level as their commander in chief.
00:13:39.020I think that's right. And I think the real purpose of the secretary Blinken's trip to Beijing
00:13:45.260was to get the Chinese to cool it, saying that we would cool it. We've got to lower the temperature.
00:13:53.820Blinken is saying to President Xi, because we don't want this thing to spin out of control
00:13:59.740because we don't know what we're doing now. If this intensifies, we're going to really be in trouble.
00:14:06.780I've long held that the real fear of the power of the foreign policy team in this administration.
00:14:14.220It's a super version of the Afghan exit crisis. But with China, which is a much stronger, heavily armed country,
00:14:25.340or possibly Iran or North Korea, they're backing away from crises now because they don't want to have
00:14:32.140a spectacular disaster going into an election year. And I think, actually, more importantly,
00:14:38.060their big fear is looking bad because they don't know how to manage these things. And so they're sending
00:14:45.420out these messages to everyone who is our enemy to cool it. And if if they believe that China,
00:14:55.500Xi Jinping will respond to their their their plea to cool it. I don't understand why they would think
00:15:04.860that he would listen at this point because simply put, he's more bellicose than he's ever been.
00:15:11.500He is talking about a war by 2025, telling his military and his nation to be prepared for the worst
00:15:19.580possible scenario. And we're watching the development of his entire military speed, speed ahead. This is a
00:15:31.260man preparing for war, is it not? They are preparing for war. They have a huge military buildup.
00:15:38.540What people are not talking about is an enormous nuclear weapons buildup that is is underway in
00:15:46.540China. I mean, this isn't hypothetical. We have pictures of the silos being dug out.
00:15:53.260And he is preparing for a much stronger China that's going to use its weight in world affairs.
00:16:04.300And everyone knows, including everyone in China, that Taiwan is the number one priority for them.
00:16:11.180Now, this could be lead to a number of years in like I make a distinction between
00:16:17.020force and power. Force is when, let's say a cat catches a mouse and he just eats it. That's force.
00:16:26.700Power is when the cat plays with the mouse. He drops it, lets it try to get away.
00:16:34.140And I can see China like playing with Taiwan for a number of years as a way to weaken the will of
00:16:41.420both Americans and Taiwanese to come to their defense. So there are two different options.
00:16:48.620They're both bad for the people of Taiwan and for the free world. But there are distinctions that I
00:16:55.500think are worth making. I think they're very important distinctions. And I think there is a
00:17:00.300very important analog that's being constructed for the American people. If anyone does not see
00:17:05.500what is happening with it's a result in part of Biden foreign policy and the strategy employed,
00:17:13.980as you're pointing out, as Professor Bracken is pointing out about the distinction between power,
00:17:21.180force and the target. When we come back, we're going to be talking about a new target,
00:17:26.220the target for the Chinese. We'll be back with Professor Paul Bracken in just a moment. Stay with us.
00:17:35.500We're back with Yale University Professor Emeritus and author Paul Bracken. Paul, we were talking
00:17:45.420about, you were talking about force and power and the distinction and Taiwan. Let's bring it to our
00:17:54.220hemisphere. And suddenly we have an administration denying that there are negotiations between Cuba and
00:18:01.180China for the building of what is to be a sizable spy base in Cuba. Your reaction first to the news and
00:18:12.860secondly, why in the world would the administration lie about such a thing initially? Well, the Chinese are
00:18:19.580building a large intelligence facility in Cuba. And the reason is they want to get close into American
00:18:29.820telecommunications traffic where getting close to the target is very important. This is similar to the
00:18:38.380balloon overflights of a few months ago. The value of a balloon is that it borders over the target.
00:18:46.140So you can listen in for an hour or a couple of hours. It's harder to do that with a satellite.
00:18:55.180I don't have the inside story, but I wouldn't be surprised. I'm sure the CIA was aware of this
00:19:02.380Chinese facility under construction. But I'm not sure that people at the top of the government even pay
00:19:08.140attention to pay attention to the president's daily brief because they think they're playing a higher
00:19:13.660level game. And they understand their problem is with the media and with the American people.
00:19:21.420And so it just didn't get on their radar screen. So when they were first brought to their attention,
00:19:30.140they said probably quite correctly that, well, I didn't hear about this thing, so I guess it doesn't
00:19:35.660exist. And I would ask us to think about maybe five or six more things that are not getting the
00:19:44.700attention. And like the dog not barking in the story, that's what we should be worried about.
00:19:56.300And that could be fentanyl drugs coming in to the United States, could be the Chinese nuclear buildup,
00:20:04.140which since it was announced, you don't really hear much about anymore.
00:20:07.500But we have to ask, like, things of omission and things of commission.
00:20:14.700In Washington, it's making a lot of mistakes, but I'm more worried about what they're not even aware
00:20:19.820of. And I happen to be one of those that perhaps I'm guilty of assuming that despite the fact that
00:20:27.340they're not talking about it publicly, do not appear to be engaged. I personally,
00:20:34.220I can't imagine the intelligence services being so inept that they are not creating contingency plans
00:20:44.380with the military, of course, for exigencies as they occur. Let's talk about you mentioned fentanyl.
00:20:51.740There's been no public statement by this administration whatsoever about the death of 100,000 Americans to
00:20:58.860primarily fentanyl. As the Chinese work in league with the Mexican drug cartels, international narco
00:21:06.940organizations, if you will. But whatever you call them, the cartels, you know, terrorist organizations,
00:21:14.220they're working in league with the Chinese and killing Americans. And there's not even a statement of
00:21:18.780threat or any plan for retribution and penalty for doing so. It's astounding how inert this administration is.
00:21:31.740Yeah, I just don't understand that. I mean, it's not just Mexico, but it's all of Latin America
00:21:41.580is really in problematic form right now. And in Mexico itself, you have a situation where the drug cartels,
00:21:50.300which are in bed with the Chinese as their principal suppliers, it's had wide-ranging impacts,
00:21:58.860making a government which was leaning toward corruption ever more corrupt. You've turned the police,
00:22:06.220the federales, and the Mexican military into sort of agents of this process. What I'm saying is the
00:22:15.660effect of this on a net assessment point of view is to weaken the Mexican government like in any area.
00:22:23.500And that's going to go very poorly for controlling immigration or cutting down drugs in the future.
00:22:29.900It's almost the opposite of what their declaratory policy is, which is to go to the source
00:22:37.180and create conditions so there's no need for immigration to cross the border.
00:22:44.700And it's almost the opposite of that, really. I mean, it's a really tough time for the United States. It really is.
00:22:52.220It is a tough time. And would you agree with me that the time started, I would say, just about two and a half years ago?
00:23:03.260I think the rock goes back deeper than that to previous administrations.
00:23:08.060And there's a lot of culpable institutions for this, from the government itself and how you get promoted to universities,
00:23:24.220training people to supply system for putting people into the government.
00:23:28.860And then you have the political process itself. I think it's gotten a lot worse in the last two years.
00:23:37.340Because, well, for I think obvious reasons, you have a president who isn't all there.
00:23:44.140You have a foreign policy team, which is really not as strong as, you know, Republican or Democratic teams in previous administrations.
00:23:53.740So, yeah, I think it has gotten considerably worse in the last couple of years.
00:24:02.460Yeah, I think I would agree with you. It's been a longstanding series of misjudgments about how to deal with the Mexican immigration drug problems that are now our problems.
00:24:17.140It has also been a real issue with our foreign policy in the hemisphere.
00:24:23.780Iran at this very moment is trying to make, obviously, inroads with the Venezuelans.
00:24:30.580China is throughout Central America. Venezuela as well. And obviously, Mexico.
00:24:40.260So, as we look at this, there's just no response. There is no policy, no programmatic response.
00:24:46.460There is no even rhetorical response on the part of the administration.
00:24:52.560Meanwhile, in the Middle East, where it looks as though we are trying to destabilize the Middle East by the effrontery of this administration when it came first to Saudi Arabia.
00:25:05.020And secondly, with Israel. Now, we understand that they're still in strong negotiations with Iran and moving money to Iran to pursue the Obama version of an Iran deal.
00:25:24.500They're trying their best to put a nuclear weapon in the hands of Iran, for crying out loud.
00:26:02.060Because over the last 10 to 20 years, because of the terrorism threat, the institutional apparatus in Washington for economic and financial warfare has grown enormously.
00:26:15.720And we have a better sense of what's going on.
00:26:19.080So you can't tell me that we were unaware of this, that it's on technicality.
00:26:23.260So this had to be known and approved at the White House.
00:26:29.760I think this is something that simply is not going to fly.
00:26:32.740That whatever you think of Congress and, you know, your judgment, if they all stand up to something,
00:26:39.360I just don't think the idea of us giving money to a nuclear weapon-seeking Iran is going to fly.
00:26:46.880And, you know, I don't, it's not the Israeli lobby that's going to block this thing.
00:26:53.220It's going to be the U.S. Congress, I think.
00:26:55.780I think it'll have to be if it's to succeed.
00:26:58.800We're talking with professor and author Paul Bracken.
00:30:07.280They're building a physics package to shrink the warhead.
00:30:10.300So we took really a major step, but having a U.S. nuclear submarine rise above the water and come into port, I can't think of another instance where that has happened.
00:30:26.440Because the bombers did not have nuclear weapons aboard, trust me.
00:31:41.200I'm going to say that just out loud for everybody.
00:31:43.980Our civilian leadership of this government is so weak and perverse that I don't think there's any way in which they could stand up to a single threat, let alone multiple.
00:31:58.600I find that the best thinking on this is neither in universities nor in the so-called think tanks, but rather in the military itself.
00:32:11.920I find that if you go into the Air Force, into the Navy, into the Army, and you get down like two stars, one star colonels, that's where I find the most creative thinking is going on, where they actually accept the world that we're going into.
00:32:29.780I mean, they don't like it, but they're saying we can't change it.
00:32:34.820And that really doesn't become public all that much.
00:32:40.660If you look at the same thing was happening with the Australian nuclear sub deal, it was really the Australian military that, well, with this idea, not the politicians.
00:32:52.900So, you know, after World War II, we had think tanks, and they sort of rose to the occasion.
00:33:02.020I think you're seeing the U.S. military, some elements of the officer corps, some of their war colleges, et cetera, are rising to the occasion with very bold, creative ideas that are not getting the hearing that they should.
00:33:19.300Well, hearing from our Congress, from our Senate, our White House, or hearing from the senior officers, the command officers, the general staff, which is it?
00:33:37.300I would say that it's, you know, as I said, two-star, one-star people, maybe some support elements of the joint staff in the Pentagon.
00:33:48.820Okay, another source of real pressure to think these things through is the Senate Armed Services Committee Nuclear Subcommittee.
00:33:57.420Because when the commanders of Stratcom and the Navy nuclear people come in, they're really getting hard questions from these leaders and their support comes from, saying, well, have you thought about this, and why haven't you thought about that?
00:34:14.900And I find, at that level, there's a surprising amount of bipartisan support, like in the nuclear modernization.
00:34:26.040Remember, we go back 10 years, President Obama was going to eliminate nuclear weapons.
00:34:32.120He was going to abolish them around the world.
00:34:33.940Well, and look how quickly we did 180 degrees, launching into the nuclear modernization that we are doing.
00:34:44.100And the reasons for that are the nuclear parts of the Air Force and Navy, and I would say the Senate Armed Services Committee,
00:34:51.480who really refought leaders pushing in this direction and saying, well, all this nuclear abolition stuff, that's great for a Yale seminar, but let's deal with the real world.
00:35:03.940The real world, though, was Barack Obama insisting on clearing the way for Iran to possess nuclear weapons.
00:35:14.160The way forward was Barack Obama, as I recall, something like within a couple of years of being in office, decided to just absolutely discard the Monroe Doctrine.
00:35:27.660And that is a warning to all global powers outside the Western Hemisphere that the United States would respond quickly, militarily, to any intrusion or intervention in this hemisphere.
00:35:40.600And yet here we are, Russia with ships moving into the Caribbean, China, throughout South America and Central America.
00:35:51.000We are watching what has been an Obama-inspired opening to the world that is creating, I think, dreaded threats, awful threats to the United States.
00:36:07.340We always give our guests, Paul, the last word.
00:36:11.840And if you will, sir, your concluding thoughts today.
00:36:14.520We really appreciate you being with us.
00:37:01.320The popularity of the end of History Club is rapidly declining.
00:37:08.900And we're beginning to accept a world very different than we wanted or thought was going to happen.
00:37:15.000But at least we're beginning to accept it because the contradictions we're seeing in Iran, Taiwan, the Middle East are too transparent to deny.
00:37:26.040And maybe that's precisely what's required for our stilted administration that's been in office now for two and a half years.
00:37:37.760Perhaps it has to become so obvious that not even they can ignore it or mistake shadows for substance.
00:37:45.780Paul Bracken, we really appreciate you being with us.
00:37:49.600And thanks, as always, for your insight, your knowledge.
00:37:52.980We appreciate you so much here on The Great America Show.
00:38:00.900Our quote today from President Monroe, who authored the famous doctrine,
00:38:05.240which might well apply to these moments as the Biden regime averts its eyes from China and China's intrusion in this hemisphere.
00:38:14.320Secretary Blinken might muster the courage to tell the Chinese that the United States would, quote,
00:38:21.020consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety, end quote.