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Did Trump offer arms to Xi Jinping? What happened on the White House tour · The Morning Edition

• 0:06
  S1: When the competing leaders of the two biggest economies on
• 0:09
  S1: earth meet for a summit, there's usually a lot to
• 0:12
  S1: tussle over. Military buildup, trade, critical minerals, AI, but not
• 0:17
  S1: so much when Donald Trump and XI Jinping met last week.
• 0:22
  S1: I'm Samantha Salinger Morris, and you're listening to The Morning
• 0:24
  S1: Edition from The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. Today,
• 0:28
  S1: international and political editor Peter Hartcher on the moments that
• 0:32
  S1: could signify a startling break with decades of American policy.
• 0:37
  S1: It's October the 1st. Peter, welcome back to the podcast.
• 0:42
  S2: My pleasure. Samantha.
• 0:43
  S1: Okay. Can you just set the scene for us, this
• 0:46
  S1: summit that Donald Trump and Chinese leader XI Jinping had
• 0:49
  S1: at the end of last week, was it meant to
• 0:51
  S1: be important in some way? Like, was there a goal
• 0:54
  S1: behind it?
• 0:55
  S2: Donald Trump had talked it up for months, said how
• 0:58
  S2: important it was, the great trade deals that China was
• 1:02
  S2: going to give him. What a great friend XI Jinping is.
• 1:07
  S2: How he was. He really wanted the ballroom finished in
• 1:11
  S2: time so he could show it to his great friend,
• 1:12
  S2: XI Jinping. Unfortunately, they didn't make the deadline. It's not finished.
• 1:17
  S2: So yeah, he really built it up. The perhaps the
• 1:20
  S2: most bizarre juxtaposition here, though, is that this is at
• 1:24
  S2: the same time, Trump is mustering his greatest insults for
• 1:28
  S2: the Democrats by calling them communists. And here he is,
• 1:33
  S2: falling over himself, in fact, fawning over, I would say,
• 1:39
  S2: the leader of the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party,
• 1:43
  S2: the biggest, most prominent and most powerful communist in the world,
• 1:47
  S2: and a guy dedicated running a system dedicated to the
• 1:50
  S2: downfall of the US. And yet he's excitedly building him
• 1:55
  S2: up and excitedly showing him not the ballroom, but he
• 1:58
  S2: did get around to showing him some other pet infrastructure
• 2:01
  S2: projects and decorating. Yes. Excitement of the president.
• 2:06
  S1: Yeah, he certainly did. So I guess it's not so
• 2:08
  S1: much what we heard about sort of trade and defense
• 2:11
  S1: and AI. Not much of substance, as I understand it
• 2:13
  S1: was discussed on those fronts, which there's a lot to
• 2:16
  S1: tussle about there. But instead it is those moments that
• 2:19
  S1: and especially those moments that you just wrote about, which
• 2:22
  S1: for those following at home and for those who, like myself,
• 2:24
  S1: who aren't sort of really au fait with how these
• 2:26
  S1: things normally proceed, they were quite unusual and they told
• 2:30
  S1: a much larger story. So perhaps tell us about take
• 2:32
  S1: us to the moment when, um, Donald Trump welcomed XI
• 2:35
  S1: Jinping at the foot of an aircraft stairs at Andrews
• 2:40
  S1: Air Base. This is rare or odd, right?
• 2:43
  S2: It's a it's a rare sign of respect and affection
• 2:49
  S2: to do such a thing. The Andrews Air Force Base,
• 2:51
  S2: which is Washington. Um, it's only happened twice in the
• 2:56
  S2: last 70, 80 years. The last time that a president
• 3:01
  S2: went to greet a foreign dignitary as he emerged from
• 3:05
  S2: his plane was the pope. Obama welcomed the Pope in 2015,
• 3:10
  S2: and before that, you have to go all the way
• 3:12
  S2: back to John F Kennedy, welcoming Harold Macmillan, the British
• 3:15
  S2: prime minister, in 1962. And now Trump accords the same
• 3:20
  S2: status and respect to a dictator sworn to the destruction
• 3:26
  S2: of his country. This puts in perspective how astonishingly rare.
• 3:33
  S2: This is why people, including Republicans, by the way, were
• 3:37
  S2: complaining about this. And one of the Republicans, former assistant
• 3:40
  S2: secretary of defense, who was appointed by Trump in Trump's
• 3:43
  S2: first term, Randy Schriver said to me, for that alone,
• 3:48
  S2: for the president personally going to the airstrip, normally it's
• 3:51
  S2: done by a protocol officer, totally faceless official. If the
• 3:54
  S2: president to do that, we should have got something in return,
• 3:57
  S2: said Schriver. And he said, I'm not sure we did.
• 4:00
  S2: And as the visit unfolded, we saw that he really didn't.
• 4:03
  S1: Okay. And there was some more moments that I would
• 4:06
  S1: love if you could talk us through. So another one
• 4:08
  S1: was when Trump was, I think, showing off the white
• 4:11
  S1: House helicopter landing pad to XI Jinping. Uh, and then
• 4:14
  S1: he told reporters, she loves good granite. Now, now that,
• 4:19
  S1: you know, I guess we're used to Trump's non-sequiturs or
• 4:22
  S1: some of his bizarre utterances. But I did notice that
• 4:24
  S1: one British news show called it, quote, one of the
• 4:26
  S1: most globally humiliating moments in modern American presidential history. Now,
• 4:31
  S1: that might be going a bit far, but what was
• 4:33
  S1: going on there and why is it of any note?
• 4:36
  S2: Well, first of all, just the particular event. And then
• 4:39
  S2: why is it of any note? So lately, in recent weeks,
• 4:44
  S2: increasingly Trump talks about his legacy vanity projects rather than
• 4:49
  S2: talk about the war in Iran. No mystery trying to
• 4:52
  S2: change the subject. One of the reasons he was so
• 4:53
  S2: keen to get XI Jinping and talk up the visit,
• 4:55
  S2: because it's an alternative to talking about his failing war,
• 5:00
  S2: or the Epstein case or other unpleasantnesses that he would
• 5:02
  S2: rather not discuss. So he extended that pattern of talking
• 5:06
  S2: about his infrastructure delights when XI Jinping arrived, and among
• 5:11
  S2: them was in public view. He took XI Jinping on
• 5:15
  S2: a tour of his helicopter, one of the Marine One choppers,
• 5:20
  S2: and then showed him the helipad, which is a large
• 5:25
  S2: installation that Trump has put in made of granite. And
• 5:27
  S2: he said, exactly as you said, it's great granite. I
• 5:31
  S2: love the granite.
• 5:33
  S3: He likes. He likes granite. He's an expert on stone,
• 5:37
  S3: aside from many other things. And he loves good granite.
• 5:40
  S3: Thank you very much.
• 5:41
  S2: And of course, during all of these events, by the way,
• 5:44
  S2: whenever Trump is gushing with enthusiasm, XI Jinping, although he
• 5:48
  S2: speaks rudimentary English and he had a he had translator
• 5:52
  S2: at his shoulder the whole time. Plus his wife was there.
• 5:54
  S2: She speaks good English. XI Jinping says nothing. He lets
• 5:58
  S2: Trump gush. He stands with an enigmatic smile, looking completely
• 6:04
  S2: indifferent to whatever's being shown to him. And what's the
• 6:08
  S2: point of that? I mean, to me, it was like
• 6:12
  S2: an insecure adolescent desperate to try and show his favorite
• 6:16
  S2: toys to the cool kids, so the cool kid would
• 6:19
  S2: like him. It was. That was, as far as I
• 6:21
  S2: can tell. I'm no psychologist, but that seemed to be
• 6:24
  S2: the point. And if it. If it was. Judging by
• 6:26
  S2: XI Jinping's reaction on the spot, it didn't really work.
• 6:30
  S1: And there was another moment which I think was more
• 6:32
  S1: overtly perhaps strange or even more telling, I guess. And
• 6:36
  S1: this is when Trump took XI Jinping on a personally
• 6:38
  S1: guided visit to the National Archives. This was to show
• 6:42
  S1: him the US Declaration of Independence. But tell us what
• 6:46
  S1: he told XI Jinping during this moment.
• 6:48
  S2: Well, as they exited the National Archives, there were reporters.
• 6:52
  S2: Trump turned to them and talked to them. She said
• 6:54
  S2: nothing as usual, Trump said.
• 6:56
  S4: We're just comparing. Harris goes 250 years, which is great
• 7:01
  S4: and we're proud of it. But theirs goes 6000 years.
• 7:06
  S4: So there's a little difference between 6000 and 250. But
• 7:09
  S4: we're very proud of our 250.
• 7:11
  S2: Now that was it. But implicitly they have much more
• 7:15
  S2: time honored continuity, depth, culture and legitimacy is implicit in
• 7:22
  S2: that versus 250 years. Now, the thing is this Trump
• 7:28
  S2: has done this on many levels, different points. Trump is
• 7:31
  S2: simply repeating Chinese Communist Party propaganda. Whether he knows it,
• 7:36
  S2: I assume he does. I mean, again, it's part of
• 7:39
  S2: his groveling to XI Jinping, but it's his job to
• 7:44
  S2: talk up the other country, which happens to be the
• 7:48
  S2: country that he campaigned on confronting, which is the source
• 7:53
  S2: of most of the current hostilities in the cyber world. China,
• 7:58
  S2: of course, is arming and assisting Iran and Russia with
• 8:04
  S2: dual use technologies, with intelligence, with the whole thing. XI
• 8:09
  S2: Jinping is the man behind the arming, uh, and and
• 8:13
  S2: assistance to the so-called Shrinks Alliance, which is China, Russia, Iran,
• 8:20
  S2: North Korea. XI Jinping is the leader of that alliance,
• 8:23
  S2: de facto alliance. It's not a formal one and cooperates
• 8:26
  S2: and helps him on the battlefield. And is it really
• 8:29
  S2: Trump's job to not only host him, to fawn over him,
• 8:32
  S2: but to repeat his proper propaganda lines? Uh, implicitly demoting
• 8:37
  S2: the US's standing with that sort of line? Apart from anything,
• 8:42
  S2: it's complete nonsense. In its current political, uh, constitution, its
• 8:46
  S2: current republic, the US, is 250 years old. Sure, but
• 8:50
  S2: in its current political constitution, the People's Republic of China
• 8:53
  S2: is only 76 years old, only half less than, you know.
• 8:57
  S2: Not even a third as old. Yeah, but by just
• 9:01
  S2: simply repeating these lines, he is, according XI Jinping and
• 9:06
  S2: the Chinese Communist Party, a stature and a status that
• 9:08
  S2: they crave and a legitimacy that they lack. All being
• 9:13
  S2: done by the president of the United States. It's frankly,
• 9:17
  S2: this is astonishing stuff.
• 9:19
  S5: Okay. So what would you say to.
• 9:20
  S1: Those listeners, though, who are who are listening and they're thinking, well,
• 9:23
  S1: you know, maybe this is Trump's charm offensive. You know,
• 9:26
  S1: people often say people who who meet with him and
• 9:28
  S1: who don't even aren't fans of his political moves, they'll say,
• 9:33
  S1: you know, he is surprisingly charming in person. You know,
• 9:36
  S1: he's a good listener and he's all these things. And
• 9:38
  S1: then maybe he'll, you know, stab people in the back. Uh,
• 9:41
  S1: you know, behind their backs, as per, you know, perhaps
• 9:43
  S1: what he used to do in the business industry. Like,
• 9:45
  S1: what would you say to people going, well, actually, is
• 9:47
  S1: this so important? You know, maybe this is just him charming.
• 9:49
  S1: And maybe this has no bearing on what he'll do.
• 9:51
  S2: Well, fair point. Uh, the test then is if. If
• 9:56
  S2: he is simply using charm to achieve national ends and advantage,
• 10:02
  S2: where's the advantage? What's the evidence? The evidence that XI
• 10:06
  S2: Jinping cut him any slack, any favors, any concessions is zero.
• 10:12
  S2: And why would he, when Trump gives him all of
• 10:16
  S2: these concessions for free? There is no incentive for XI
• 10:20
  S2: Jinping to either make new commitments or concessions, or to
• 10:24
  S2: deliver on previous ones he's made to Trump, which he
• 10:26
  S2: has not delivered on. There is no incentive. He gets
• 10:29
  S2: everything he wants, and it cost him. It costs him nothing.
• 10:33
  S2: So the point of all this fawning and groveling, it
• 10:36
  S2: seems to well, it has no evident return to the
• 10:41
  S2: US national interest.
• 10:43
  S5: And then speaking, I.
• 10:44
  S1: Guess, to what concessions Trump is or seems to be
• 10:47
  S1: making to XI Jinping, there's more substantive, I guess, even
• 10:51
  S1: concessions that the former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell.
• 10:56
  S1: This is under Joe Biden that he told you, is
• 10:58
  S1: perhaps happening between Trump and XI. So tell us why
• 11:01
  S1: he had said to you. It's hard not to be
• 11:03
  S1: deeply troubled by their last few summits.
• 11:06
  S2: Right. So Kurt Campbell, who, as you say, was deputy
• 11:10
  S2: secretary of state under Joe Biden and has spent more
• 11:15
  S2: than a generation at the forefront of Us-asia policy, including
• 11:19
  S2: dealing in the front rank of dealing with Chinese officials
• 11:22
  S2: during all those years. He said these last few summits
• 11:26
  S2: of Trump's with XI Jinping have demonstrated the advent, the
• 11:30
  S2: arrival of China as a great power and XI Jinping
• 11:34
  S2: as an important leader. While Trump is in the process
• 11:38
  S2: alienating the US from other countries. And you can see
• 11:41
  S2: that almost every day of the year. But that particular summit,
• 11:44
  S2: it just happened that to go to Washington to meet
• 11:47
  S2: XI Jinping, the timing was such. And the timing, of course, was,
• 11:50
  S2: you know, had to have been Organized by the white
• 11:53
  S2: House itself. Trump walked out of the UN leader's week
• 11:57
  S2: meeting in New York, 350km away, to go and fawn
• 12:01
  S2: over XI Jinping. So. And there were more than 100 something,
• 12:03
  S2: 120 or 130 national leaders at the UN. So the
• 12:09
  S2: implicit message there is this man is supremely important. He
• 12:13
  S2: doesn't even need to come to the UN. He he's
• 12:16
  S2: my special guest. One on one at the white House.
• 12:19
  S2: The implicit message is he is paramount in the world
• 12:22
  S2: and nobody else ranks.
• 12:27
  S1: After the break.
• 12:30
  S2: You put that together. And all of that, of course,
• 12:32
  S2: was Maga approved with his current conduct. It's like his promise.
• 12:37
  S2: No new wars. And then he launches one in Iran.
• 12:40
  S2: This is not what he promised. It's not what Maga expected.
• 12:43
  S2: And it doesn't seem to be doing him too many favors.
• 12:56
  S1: Okay, but Kurt Campbell. He's obviously a Democrat, so he's
• 12:59
  S1: not been a fan of Trump's. Is it only the
• 13:01
  S1: Democrats that are sort of telegraphing concern over the last
• 13:04
  S1: few summits between Trump and XI Jinping?
• 13:06
  S2: No, not at all. And in the last week, Republican
• 13:10
  S2: senators Roger wicker, for example, who chairs the Armed Services
• 13:13
  S2: Committee in the Senate, John Cornyn. There was Thom Tillis.
• 13:19
  S2: All of them have been critical of the imbalance in
• 13:24
  S2: the relationship and the way Trump elevates XI Jinping and
• 13:27
  S2: doesn't seem to adequately cater to the US national interest.
• 13:32
  S2: So it's by no means a Democrat line of criticism.
• 13:35
  S2: Even Fox News has been has had reservations about the
• 13:38
  S2: way he does this. Remember, Trump campaigned to confront China,
• 13:44
  S2: talked and then talked about the China virus, blaming China
• 13:48
  S2: for the pandemic, and then talked about how China was
• 13:52
  S2: the lead country in running unfair trade policy, which Trump said, quote,
• 13:56
  S2: is raping America. So you put that together. And all
• 14:00
  S2: of that, of course, was Maga approved with his current conduct.
• 14:05
  S2: It's like his promise no new wars. And then he
• 14:07
  S2: launches one in Iran. This is this is not what
• 14:11
  S2: he promised. It's not what Maga expected. And it doesn't
• 14:14
  S2: seem to be doing him too many favors. And especially
• 14:16
  S2: because the trade concessions that XI Jinping that the US
• 14:20
  S2: has demanded and XI Jinping has agreed to in the past,
• 14:23
  S2: as recently as May, the soybeans, for example, XI Jinping
• 14:28
  S2: is always promising to buy hundreds of billions of dollars
• 14:30
  S2: worth of US soybeans. And the actual delivery on that
• 14:33
  S2: promise is meager. They never. It never comes near the
• 14:38
  S2: promise level. Trump doesn't seem to be able to do
• 14:41
  S2: anything about it. So if you're a soybean farmer, you're
• 14:43
  S2: not impressed. And that and that feeds through a lot
• 14:46
  S2: of the US electorate and helps. Just one more reason,
• 14:49
  S2: I suppose, why his approval rate keeps falling as he
• 14:52
  S2: heads into these midterm elections.
• 14:54
  S1: Absolutely. And I believe one thing that Kurt Campbell signaled,
• 14:57
  S1: and I think others are perhaps worried about it as
• 14:59
  S1: well in the United States, is concessions that Trump is
• 15:02
  S1: making over Taiwan to XI Jinping. So tell us about that,
• 15:05
  S1: because it's it's significant, to say the least.
• 15:08
  S2: This is this is really the big one. Uh, because, um, Taiwan,
• 15:14
  S2: of course, is XI Jinping's greatest ambition to take it over,
• 15:18
  S2: to absorb it. Um, and consistent with previous Chinese presidents,
• 15:23
  S2: he's never renounced the use of force or he's always
• 15:25
  S2: reserved that as an option if necessary. The US, Japan,
• 15:29
  S2: South Korea, all U.S. allies, in fact, to a lesser
• 15:33
  S2: or greater degree countries right through the Asian littoral have
• 15:39
  S2: concern about this is that for China to take. Taiwan
• 15:45
  S2: then allows China to break through the so-called first island
• 15:48
  S2: chain and to, if it chooses to exert hegemony over
• 15:54
  S2: trade flows through. Through those corridors. South China Sea, East
• 15:58
  S2: China Sea, about a third of all global commerce passes.
• 16:02
  S2: Including most of Australia's trade, including almost all of the
• 16:06
  S2: oil that gets to Japan, South Korea. I mean, it's
• 16:10
  S2: it's enormous as well as it would allow the ever
• 16:14
  S2: growing Chinese navy, which is the world's biggest by a
• 16:16
  S2: number of ships and its ever expanding nuclear capability, by
• 16:20
  S2: the way, which almost nobody ever seems to mention. And
• 16:23
  S2: certainly Donald Trump doesn't seem concerned. It would allow China
• 16:27
  S2: to push the US Navy way back from the Asian coast,
• 16:32
  S2: beyond the first island chain, and allow a historic assumption, really,
• 16:39
  S2: of power and influence over not just Asia. But remember,
• 16:43
  S2: the Asian economy is most of the world economy. Now,
• 16:46
  S2: if you're controlling the export import all the sea lanes,
• 16:51
  S2: the ability of navies as well as commercial shipping to move.
• 16:54
  S2: That's a vast power. The US is occasionally abused. It.
• 16:57
  S2: Things like the Vietnam War, that detail. So that's why
• 17:01
  S2: Taiwan is such a big deal, quite apart from the
• 17:04
  S2: fact that it's a democratic, self-governing island and there's a
• 17:08
  S2: sort of a moral democratic question about whether the US
• 17:10
  S2: should allow that to be assumed by force by the
• 17:13
  S2: Chinese Communist Party. And on this, all of Trump's signals,
• 17:18
  S2: without ever saying there's an explicit change of US policy,
• 17:22
  S2: all if Trump signals an individual decisions and his rhetoric
• 17:26
  S2: point to him downgrading Taiwan. The Taiwan Relations Act, which
• 17:32
  S2: is an act of the US Congress, commits the US
• 17:36
  S2: to arming Taiwan for its self-defense. Trump early. Early on,
• 17:42
  S2: he did authorize arms sales to Taiwan. But since the
• 17:46
  S2: last summit and and continuing now after this summit, XI
• 17:49
  S2: Jinping asked him not to sell any more arms, and
• 17:52
  S2: Trump has been sitting on. He's been deferring arms sales.
• 17:56
  S2: The current package before the Congress is about 14. That
• 17:59
  S2: was passed by the Congress, about 14 billion USD worth.
• 18:02
  S2: The Taiwanese are sweating on it, and Trump is stalling
• 18:05
  S2: on it to gratify XI Jinping. So that's a big one.
• 18:08
  S1: And tell us what the American ambassador to China, David Perdue,
• 18:14
  S1: told reporters about what Trump reportedly offered to XI Jinping.
• 18:20
  S2: This is again, an astonishing, uh, breakthrough change in US
• 18:26
  S2: policy here. So Perdue said in an interview on Fox
• 18:30
  S2: News that.
• 18:31
  S6: President Trump continues to say, hey, we sell arms to
• 18:34
  S6: other people around the world. He actually asked president see,
• 18:38
  S6: would he like to buy some? At one point.
• 18:40
  S2: While withholding the arms sale that the Congress had already
• 18:44
  S2: approved to Taiwan? Now, apart from all of that, China
• 18:48
  S2: is busy supplying Russia and Iran. I mean, Trump is
• 18:53
  S2: in a hot war with Iran. China is supporting it.
• 18:56
  S2: And here he is offering China more weapons.
• 18:58
  S1: Which is against American law. Let's just make that point
• 19:00
  S1: as well beyond anything else. It's actually prohibited because Beijing
• 19:05
  S1: is considered a primary strategic and economic competitor.
• 19:07
  S2: So anybody else, apart from Trump in the, you know,
• 19:11
  S2: national security and defense realm with any expertise, recognizes China.
• 19:15
  S2: And in their official statements, China is recognized as the
• 19:19
  S2: greatest single threat, systemic threat to US power in the world.
• 19:23
  S2: And here is Trump offering. It's simply astonishing.
• 19:28
  S1: It actually beggars belief, and it has to be said.
• 19:31
  S1: Trump denied making that offer on Monday. But assuming that the, uh,
• 19:35
  S1: the ambassador to China is not flat out lying, this
• 19:38
  S1: would actually mark an extraordinary break with decades of American policy,
• 19:42
  S1: would it not? I mean.
• 19:42
  S2: Well, what leader offers to arm the enemy country sworn
• 19:48
  S2: to its destruction.
• 19:49
  S1: You tell me, Peter.
• 19:50
  S2: I can't think of any. Yeah. It is. I mean,
• 19:52
  S2: so maybe. Maybe Purdue was dreaming. Made it up. We'll
• 19:57
  S2: find out for sure one day. Because there are records
• 20:00
  S2: of conversations. And we'll get the minutes one day. But
• 20:03
  S2: maybe he was having a lend of XI Jinping. I
• 20:07
  S2: don't know, but either way, it simply it simply degrades
• 20:14
  S2: the US that he would deal with with, you know,
• 20:17
  S2: foreign rival in such an offhand way while at the
• 20:22
  S2: same time denying arms to the country that he is
• 20:26
  S2: by law sworn to arm for its own self defense.
• 20:30
  S2: It's it's baffling really.
• 20:32
  S1: It really does beggar belief. And Peter, just to wrap up,
• 20:34
  S1: is this is this something which is animating the American
• 20:37
  S1: public at all? I mean, we're only weeks out from
• 20:39
  S1: the midterms. Is this something that animates voters or given
• 20:43
  S1: that it really does directly impact their own well-being, Or
• 20:47
  S1: is this just doesn't get much air time?
• 20:50
  S2: Uh, I think the American voter is much more concerned
• 20:53
  S2: about inflation, petrol prices, the consequences of Trump's misguided attack
• 20:59
  S2: on Iran than it is on on these foreign policy questions.
• 21:04
  S2: Although I don't think it's escaped many Americans attention that
• 21:09
  S2: Trump is groveling to XI Jinping and that they don't
• 21:12
  S2: necessarily see any return on that. I mean, as a
• 21:15
  S2: last point, just to indicate how little XI Jinping is
• 21:20
  S2: prepared to give Donald Trump apart from the two pandas.
• 21:23
  S2: I mean, he gives two pandas to every country he visits.
• 21:25
  S2: You know, Trump posted on his social media account that
• 21:31
  S2: he had talked to XI Jinping about renaming artificial intelligence superintelligence.
• 21:37
  S1: That's right. Artificial intelligence was not accurate, I think, Trump said.
• 21:40
  S2: Trump has been talking up the renaming of artificial intelligence
• 21:44
  S2: because he thinks calling it superintelligence will make it more
• 21:47
  S2: acceptable to the American voter, and he's all in favor
• 21:49
  S2: of cranking up the AI sector.
• 21:52
  S4: From this point forward, all of United States documents, and
• 21:56
  S4: hopefully the world will be changed to use the much
• 21:59
  S4: more accurate term super as opposed to artificial. So it's
• 22:05
  S4: super intelligence. In other words, welcome to the new world
• 22:10
  S4: of superintelligence. Dash SISI. Let's see if that goes. It
• 22:16
  S4: sounds much better.
• 22:17
  S2: And so he posted. I talked about this. I think
• 22:20
  S2: XI Jinping agrees with me. It would be super to
• 22:23
  S2: call it superintelligence. And everybody agrees with me. He actually
• 22:28
  S2: posted that. And then when XI Jinping issued his government
• 22:32
  S2: issued a statement, all the references were to AI, not
• 22:37
  S2: s I. He wouldn't even cut Trump that tiny concession,
• 22:41
  S2: even when Trump had already exposed himself publicly. It's almost
• 22:47
  S2: a calculated insult that he would do that, and knowing
• 22:52
  S2: that it will make no difference to Trump's attitude, Trump
• 22:54
  S2: will continue to fawn over him like a like a
• 22:57
  S2: lovesick adolescent.
• 22:59
  S1: It's just baffling, Peter. But as always, thank you so
• 23:02
  S1: much for walking us through it.
• 23:04
  S2: A full of surprises. This this man, this relationship. But
• 23:08
  S2: always a pleasure to talk it over with you, Samantha.
• 23:22
  S1: Today's episode was produced by Kea Wong. Our executive producer
• 23:26
  S1: is Tammy Mills, and our podcasts are overseen by Lisa
• 23:29
  S1: Muxworthy and Tom Mackendrick. If you like our show, follow
• 23:33
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• 23:36
  S1: Apple or Spotify. Thanks for listening.