“So much. Brett Velicovich, thank you so much. We appreciate it. Now let’s bring in Mike Pillsbury, Heritage Foundation Senior Fellow for China Strategy, he’s a Fox News contributor and an old pal of mine. All right, Michael Pillsbury, we’re going to China, okay? We’re going to China. 18 hours, whatever it was.”
“I thought I left all that behind, but here we go again.”
“All I’m saying is regarding Iran, I want us to show maximum strength going into these Chinese talks. I don’t want to wait, I don’t want to give Iran anything. Let them off the hook in any way, shape or form. What do you think about this?”
“Oh, I like your, I liked your message, Larry. I think the Chinese have already got the message themselves. They’re backing Trump on Iran. It’s quite a stunning reversal.”
“Yeah.”
“Iran was, in many ways, their best friend. They let President Trump post on Truth Social in that they promised not to sell weapons to Iran. They summoned the Iranians to this Pakistani negotiation, I think, as a favor to President Trump. So the Iranians have betrayed their ally. They recognize power when they see it. They think President Trump is really very, very serious about no nuclear weapon, and now the Chinese have said that all along. They say that the Iranians signed a non-proliferation treaty, therefore, they should not develop nuclear weapons.
So this is really quite a surprise, that what some people call our enemy, China, has not only betrayed the Iranians and forced the talks to start in Pakistan, but now from what I’ve heard from China they’re laying out a wonderful banquet and sightseeing, and this is their friend, President Trump, is coming to town. Now, that that’s to not because of his personality, which I’m sure you and I both know is wonderful. It’s because of the power he’s demonstrated in Venezuela, Iran and Cuba’s next, as he puts it.
So I’m quite surprised at the Chinese. They used to be so aligned against us, and they used to see us as a collapsing, weak power that had no future. I think that’s changed. It reminds me of you remember the story at a Mar-a-Lago —”
“Yeah.”
“— Trump fired the 59 cruise missiles —”
“Chocolate cake. While they were eating chocolate cake —”
“And he leaned over, let me tape record that story —”
“While they were eating chocolate cake, which is a Mar-a-Lago Trump special. It’s highlighted on the menu there. And that’s when he did it. But look, you’re right. China, I think, is deserting Iran. The reports are that the Chinese Foreign Minister just in the last 24, 48 hours read the riot act to the Iranian Foreign Minister or whatever authority he may have about attacking the UAE and attacking their oil depots and so forth and so on. And I was just going to add to your analysis, you know, it’s a three-letter world, Michael. O-I-L. It spells oil.”
“It does.”
“We are in command of oil. Oil supplies, oil dominance and oil politics. That’s what changes a lot of things, right? China hasn’t gotten my oil, because none of it — even those little whatever they’re called, those teapot oil refineries, they’re afraid to crank them up because we’ve got naval boats right offshore. That’s big.”
“It is big. And I think your other point about China is because they respect strength, we don’t want to be soft now and have them revert or back to the old, bad China. One of Mr. Trump’s books mentions — mentions the two Chinas, the bad China and the and the good China. Mistakes like us showing weakness, they just treated Biden like dirt. It’s the very opposite policy toward President Trump. They respect him and admire him. For strength.”
“Yes, sir, for strength. And I don’t want no letups. That’s why I want these, I want a timetable. Iran must pony up, it’s either fish or cut bait. We’re lucky — they’re lucky that we’re even giving them a chance to negotiate. I’m not in favor of negotiations. I want unconditional surrender. U.S. Grant was my hero. He talked Lincoln into unconditional surrender to end the Civil War, etc.”
