The Anchormen Show EP 127 - CHINA, RINOs, & AOC w/ Pearson Sharp

Added: 2026-05-27

[00:00:04][music] >> Now, it's time for the Anchorman podcast with Matt Gaetz and Pearson Sharp.

[00:00:11][music] Welcome back to another episode of the Anchorman podcast. I'm Matt Gaetz, host of the Matt Gaetz show. You can check us out every weeknight, 9:00 Eastern, 6:00 Pacific on One America News. And I am coming to you from the Sunshine State, Florida, my home, the very best state in the union, the state where you can carry guns openly and shoot them at people if they intend to do a forcible felony against you or one of your loved ones around you. And someone I think should come to Florida way more frequently is my good friend and co-host of this program, Pearson Sharp. Pearson, I was going around Florida today, feeling the freedom, feeling the love. And I'm like, man, Pearson would make such a good Florida man. We've got the stand-your-ground law. Like, we've got public schools that you can send your kids to, and the the teacher's not going to try to change their gender. We don't even have a vaccine requirement in our public schools. So, my opening question to you is, how have you not moved here yet? That's a great question. The The real question is, how has OAN not moved there yet? As soon as OAN moves, I'm moving. You know, you've got freedoms down there we can only dream of.

[00:01:23]>> Okay. So, we've got to pull on Mr. Herring's ear and see if we can get him to go down there.

[00:01:28]Well, you know, when you and I are sitting in the office in California and I am pining away for the sunny beaches of Florida and a salt-rimmed margarita, you are pining away for the frozen fields of Ohio. You talk about the great joys of bringing your family back to the Buckeye State. And I I I like, walk me through the appeal. I mean, I am I am making the case here for for Florida.

[00:01:56]Give me like Give me like the Chamber of Commerce pitch for Ohio as a as an alternate destination. Well, opening the the motto of my hometown is literally Hometown USA. That's That's what our town is called and that that fits it to a T. I mean, brick-lined streets, buildings from the 1800s, it's just like Americana top-to-bottom. Buntings on every window, flags in every storefront, kids running around playing in the park It's like every American dream from the 1950s. And sure we have winters, but Florida has summers. So, I mean, it's a trade-off. And I like the snow. I like, you know, building snow forts and playing with my girls out there. That'd be amazing. The fall, the spring, it's it's just it's picture-perfect. It's out of a Thomas Kinkade painting.

[00:02:44]Now, I I don't know that I could get my own wife there because she loses some of her powers if she gets too far away from the salt air and the ocean. Like uh does the Sharp family need beach time? Do you need to see some waves? Or uh is uh is a little bit of time on the on the snowmobile enough? On a snowmobile would be plenty. To be honest, well, one, I've never been to Florida, which I know is a tragedy.

[00:03:09]Um I'd love to go and check it out, but also we we live about about 30 minutes from the beach in my house here in in California, but we go maybe once a year, twice a year because I am just so averse to crowds and people and parking and the hassle and the headache of going down there and just having all those people running around and the noise and the chaos, it's just not worth it to me. You know, if if there was a nice quiet place with nobody else, I'd be happy, but it's just such a hassle to get down there. If we lived right on the beach, you know, and parking wasn't an issue, sure. We just walk down to the cove, but yeah, it's it's such to be in the butt in California these days.

[00:03:51]>> So, it's not the beach, it's the beaching.

[00:03:54]>> Correct. Correct.

[00:03:55]>> There's like the beach, which is floating around in the water, you know, enjoying the hollowed-out coconut beverage.

[00:04:00]>> But, is the full beaching it is it is like the Clyde W. Griswold uh pachyderm in of the family down in the water that that may ultimately be the difference.

[00:04:10]>> We also have the the freaking sewage problem now in San Diego. You got to check the water alerts to see if you can even get in the water. So, it's you know, foreigners, illegals, >> in Florida. Yeah, well, that's I mean, that's another point. Florida's fine.

[00:04:26]>> We've got, you know, 10 million illegals >> going to get you down here, Carson.

[00:04:30]Hey, you know, I'm I'm ready.

[00:04:32]>> We'll get you down here and we're ready for it to be as significant as uh the other big trip that I want to talk about, the big trip making the news this week, President Trump's trip to China. A lot on the agenda, the Iran war, trade, prices, fentanyl. Uh as you are looking at this and and an observer of international affairs, like what are you rooting for out of the China trip?

[00:04:59]We need to take back a lot of what has been lost to China over the last couple of decades. We've had so much offshoring of things that should be here in America.

[00:05:12]Our medicine, our manufacturing base has just been completely hollowed out thanks to Clinton and Obama and Biden.

[00:05:19]We have to take back that ability to do these things for ourselves. And I think Trump understands that, and I think he's going to try and work with with Xi on that. China China is one of the most horrific regimes imaginable. I lived there for a year, and I was horrified by the state of living in that country and just how totalitarian and brutal and nihilistic and evil all of it was.

[00:05:48]And so, anything that we can do to to stop them and to make America stronger again is something we should be focusing on, far more than Iran or anybody else, in my opinion.

[00:06:01]I fully agree with that and I want to get into some of those policy questions that we have to address and what it means for our country and theirs and competition and and all of that, but first the optics of it. Uh President Trump goes to China and in the major state-run newspaper, they almost demur it. They don't make a big deal of it.

[00:06:24]Just a tiny mention blurb and they made a huge deal out of like the president of Turkmenistan coming there, a country that a lot of Americans probably have a hard time pointing to on a map. And so, do you think that in Chinese culture, there's a certain, you know, Trump came here to us, we're the big deal, a certain aggrandizing around all of this that is significant to Xi's hold of power in his own country?

[00:06:51]All interactions come down to the concept of face and saving face. It's that's huge over there for them. And so, I think they're probably it's probably twofold uh because they have a stranglehold on the media and the the information that flows in and out to their own people. And so, I think they probably one want to make it look like yes, America is coming to them and uh that, you know, it's not even that big a deal, like she's got so many other things to deal with. He was talking to Turkmenistan the other day.

[00:07:21]Um the other thing I think they're probably trying to do and maybe get ahead of is is in case anything goes wrong.

[00:07:29]In case Trump says something that they, you know, make Xi look bad. Um you know, in case he does what he did to the president of South Africa. You know, they don't want that going around to everybody in China and seeing Trump talking down to them or or making any good points about what's actually happening in their country. So, they're probably going to make a bigger deal of this afterwards and play the highlights and make Xi look great when he's talking to Trump, but they probably want to, you know, add that 5-second delay between the airing so that they can cut anything out that they don't like. Wow.

[00:08:01]>> That sounds very Chinese to me.

[00:08:03]Yeah. Yeah, so so Pearson, I I get that and uh when President Trump goes on a lot of these foreign trips, right? What he wants to be able to announce is something positive out of it. So, I don't know that we're going to see President Trump try to land zingers on Xi as much as he's going to try to land deals. And that's really what I want to get into in the meat of this discussion because Trump has obtained major investment commitments from the Gulf, from uh Far East Asia, and there's a lot of talk around a potential trillion-dollar commitment by China into US manufacturing, US investment. And I got to say, I'm a little squeamish about that. Like they they aren't the Saudis, they aren't the Japanese, they aren't the South Koreans. Uh they're the Chinese and so much of what they have is dual-use technology. And so, what might look like a Chinese investment in a port might be scanning all of the material coming in and out. What may look like a Chinese investment in a manufacturing facility uh may be utilizing a a sequence of drones that is mapping out key infrastructure that that's going back to the United States. Uh and and what looks like Chinese communications technology might actually be storing All the >> biometrics, uh all the genetic data of Americans. And so, I'm really weary of a trillion-dollar Chinese investment into the United States. Uh since you've lived in the Middle Kingdom, I'm eager to get your thoughts. Yeah, absolutely. I I may not have I'm not an economist. Um I'm and my position is more isolationist.

[00:09:45]So, my strategy for dealing with China would be to cut them off.

[00:09:49]Because as I see them, they're a parasite and they are using us to enrich themselves and all the cases that you mentioned. Everything they have, they've stolen from the West at this point. All of their technology, everything they use is is strategically stolen from us and repurposed for themselves. And we need to cut that off. We need to cut them out of our universities. We need to cut the deals with them.

[00:10:12]It's going to be painful and there's probably a a good way to do that to minimize the pain, but the longer we feed them, the worse this is going to get and if we make deals with them, I don't know. It's It's making a deal with the devil, in my opinion. So, we have to be very careful of what we're doing. It It would be great if we could if we could leverage that to our own advantage, but I just I don't see how.

[00:10:32]Trump's Trump's a smart guy. He's great at making deals. I just have to hope that he has the presence of mind to do what's best for us.

[00:10:40]Yeah, and I look at this and I say, "Okay, well, obviously you wouldn't want their investment in critical infrastructure. You wouldn't want their investment in defense. You wouldn't want their >> Right, any of that stuff. But then I start to think to myself, is there any area where you would say, "Okay, I wouldn't mind Chinese investment here?"

[00:10:56]Like I don't biotech.

[00:10:58]>> No. I really don't want Chinese investment in biotech.

[00:11:02]>> No.

[00:11:03]In in even like tourism assets. If If China bought the dilapidated hotel down the street and fixed it up and put a Chinese flag out front and brought in a bunch of Chinese tourists, like it would seem innocuous, but is that really what we want? And so if we if we scratch our head and look at all the key industries, do you want them owning farmland? Do you want them processing meat? Do you want them having control over the lumber supply or plastics or chemicals? It is hard for me to identify any major sector of the American economy. I don't even think these Chinese should be owning sports teams. And I'm talking about, you know, the guy who owns the Brooklyn Nets is like the CEO of Alibaba. I don't think that should happen. I think that whether it is culture or music or art or roadways or revenue streams, there's no reason to be drawing that Chinese investment. Now, if you're one of the people that gets a job at a Chinese manufacturing facility or if you see the asset class that you're invested in rise, maybe maybe the maybe people would have a different perspective on that. But I think the medium and long-term consequences are dire. And you know, there's a political flavor to this too, Pearson, as President Trump is working to reinvigorate his coalition that was so successful in 2024.

[00:12:21]Do you really think a lot of the young men in this country that showed up for President Trump want to hear an announcement of like China buying their minor league baseball team?

[00:12:32]>> Right.

[00:12:33]The difference between the United States and China at this point is that the United States is looking at this as an economical opportunity, as something that we could work together on and mutually benefit both countries. China is looking at this like a predator. This is something that they are going to use against us, no matter what it is.

[00:12:52]Everything that they do damages the United States. And this is a country where for the last decade, two decades more, they have been systematically, intentionally weaponizing our southern border against us and flooding our country with lethal drugs, with spies, with military-aged men. This is a country that hates us and views us as an adversary to be destroyed. So, to think about cooperating with them is very dangerous, in my my We need to see them as the enemy they are.

[00:13:29]Uh usually you are the cynical one in these discussions, but let me present a very cynical take for you. Uh Trump will go there and he will, I think rightly and justly, try to get China to put pressure on Iran to open the Straits of Hormuz for the benefit of the global economy in which China is a very significant participant.

[00:13:49]But here's my belief.

[00:13:51]I actually think China wants the United States bogged down in Iran. I think they would love to see some Iranian tactical successes. I think they would love to see the United States deploy 10,000 troops to go find every inch or ounce or whatever of uranium in the Persian mountains. They would love to see us continue to spend tens of billions of dollars. We just heard this week from the comptroller of the Pentagon nearly 30 billion dollars already spent by the Department of War in Iran. They would love to see us pour blood and treasure into a long extended engagement with Iran. And I actually think they would be willing to suffer some short-term shock to their energy market. I think they would be willing to pay a slightly higher price from energy that they get from elsewhere, but I don't think that President Trump will find a sincere or genuine or willing partner to wind down hostilities in Iran because I think China views their relationship with the United States as so zero-sum that even if something is bad for them, if it looks worse for us, they're willing to endure those conditions. Is is does that make me the cynic in this discussion, Pearson, or are you are you there with me? No, I don't see where there's any daylight between our our opinions on this.

[00:15:12]They have actively encouraged anything that can weaken the United States, so the war in Iran is to their benefit even if, like you said, you know, it's a temporary setback. China plays the long game and they have total control over the populace and the information flow, so they can kind of dictate whatever reality they want to.

[00:15:33]And they were also encouraging heavily.

[00:15:35]I'm sure they were heavily behind the war in Ukraine with Russia, you know, influencing politicians and encouraging that conflict. Anything to destabilize the United States. And the the scary thing is, you know, we need to be prepared for the eventual head-on conflict with China, because we think what's happening with the Strait of Hormuz is bad. But what happens when China gets upset and they close off the South China Sea?

[00:16:02]When they close off the Strait of Taiwan, you know, that's going to make the Strait of Hormuz look like nothing, a day in the park. And China has that ability right now. So, we need to be prepared for that and I don't know I don't know, Trump, like I said, Trump's a smart guy and I don't play 4D chess. I can't see these, you know, five steps ahead. I just see what's happening right now and it does not look good from where I'm sitting.

[00:16:26]Well, I think what China needs out of out of this summit is, you know, some continued access to US markets. I think they worry about that with Trump being, I think, driving such an effective and hard bargain against them in his first term and then and then again at the beginning of this term. And I think what the United States needs is lower prices and I think China could be a willing partner in that, but for the reasons we discussed, perhaps unlikely.

[00:16:55]Speaking of unwilling partners, Pearson, I want to come closer to home. This story out of South Carolina, you and I have been talking about the redistricting battles going on all over the country. What has ignited the push for this, of course, the major Supreme Court decision on Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, saying that states do not need to proceed with racist and unconstitutional districts explicitly drawn to exclude white candidates. And you came on this platform and you said, "Do not hold back. Open up every state where we can open up the throttle and go full force. Eliminate Eliminate Clyburn's district. Eliminate specifically black drawn districts in Florida, in Tennessee." Some places we've seen this, some places we we we can't. And in South Carolina, you're following the story closely about some of the state senators who are now Republican state senators who are standing in the way of the South Carolina House's plan to get rid of the racist Jim Clyburn district. How high is your blood pressure as you are seeing Republicans abandon the strategic imperative here? Yeah, this is just classic rhino tactics. We We see this constantly. The thing that just blows my mind is you never see Democrats do this, ever. They never If they had an opportunity to get rid of some Republican seats, they would do it in a heartbeat. And I think we should put up the names of the five The five senators who are doing that. We have Shane Massey, we have Shawn Bennett, Chip Campsen, Luke Rankin, and Tom Davis. These are the five rhinos who we need to get rid of. And they better watch out because I don't think they took the lesson that that they had, you know, the other Republicans who were just primaryed and Trump got rid of them. They didn't take that lesson. So, we need to really get on these people. I want to I want to read this quote real quick, too, because uh South Carolina leader Shane Massey, he blocked the redistricting effort and his words were quote, "South Carolina is stronger when we have a vibrant and viable Democratic Party."

[00:19:05]I can't fathom that. You would never Where is the Democrat saying, "Virginia is stronger when we have a vibrant Republican. They don't do that. These people are insane. They're insidious, all of them. I I have >> [laughter] >> I have solutions for what we should do with all of them. There's just we've got to get rid of these people. We're not going to make it. This is this is >> is Yes.

[00:19:29]This is the >> Pearson is of course speaking metaphorically when he says get rid of them, he's speaking in the political sense only. Uh Pearson, you know, I I I see that and I just see such a disconnect from the reality >> no idea. Could you imagine Gavin Newsom saying, "Hey, it's actually better for us if we have Republicans who also represent the people in the state." We are getting wiped out. We're getting wiped out by people like Gavin Newsom and you're you're saying that these people in California are more worried about per- Yes, well, and Massie specifically, the the Republican leader of the state Senate in South Carolina saying that keeping Jim Clyburn in the House of Representatives actually enures to the benefit Mexico.

[00:20:12]>> And And you know what? You know what? We saw them give up the game in Virginia. In Virginia, where Democrats didn't cross their eyes, didn't cross their T's, where they didn't sequence the votes correctly to have this gerrymander change driving the Republicans out of the Commonwealth. You know what Hakeem Jeffries was calling for? Changing the Supreme Court. Yep.

[00:20:32]>> They wanted to change the Supreme Court.

[00:20:34]Drop the maximum age, so a bunch of them were swept out. So, don't you see that?

[00:20:40]Yeah, don't you see that as an obvious um tell for what they will do if they get power in Washington?

[00:20:46]>> Oh, yeah. They will pack the Supreme Court. They will admit D.C. and Puerto Rico. And Shane Massie will be sitting with his thumb in his keister in South Carolina wanting to give us a lecture about how great Jim Clyburn is. These people hate us. They hate us so much and they don't care at all what we think.

[00:21:04]Republicans and Democrats, they both hate us. We're on our own here. This is insane. I think these people are going to be in for a surprise. I think they're going to be out of office.

[00:21:13]And I think we are going to manage the redistricting. I think that they're You know, Trump said he's keeping an eye on South Carolina. I think that means there's a lot going on behind the scenes and these people have no idea what's coming for them. Um fortunately, it looks like we're probably going to get like >> is though? Let let me interrupt you there. Let me interrupt you there because you know what sucks about that?

[00:21:34]Like we could go wipe out all the Indiana Republican senators who backstabbed us, but we don't get a better map in Indiana.

[00:21:40]Like we could go beat these five South Carolina senators in an upcoming election, but that doesn't that doesn't seize the historic opportunity to get rid of racist maps that are meant to exclude white candidates. And I just don't know how these people go back to their districts and face their constituents, but I interrupted you. Go ahead.

[00:21:58]No, it's fine. I think that we we do have some hope though. I know I'm always uh negative Nancy on here, but we do have some hope.

[00:22:06]Uh Governor Kemp of Florida just or of Georgia just announced that they're going to Georgia. Yeah, that they're going to be um doing a special election in uh June to do redraw the map of Georgia. So, that's that's great news.

[00:22:20]And so, it looks like we're probably going to be picking up like 13 seats when all these things go through.

[00:22:26]Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, hopefully South Carolina. And hopefully in South Carolina, these people not only are forced to go along with the will of the voters and and redraw the map, but are also primary after pulling the stunt. So, we get the best of both worlds. We can always hope for that.

[00:22:45]You know, uh I think the Brian Kemp in Georgia reversal is a very interesting political moment because you'll recall initially Governor Kemp said, "Well, we're not doing this in Georgia."

[00:22:56]>> Oh, yeah. He's spineless. And then you saw Florida do it. And then you saw Louisiana do it. And then you saw Tennessee do it. And the pressure started to build. And here here is the little political nugget. Brian Kemp wants to run for president in 2028. He wants to run for president under the theory that he can bring the MAGA and non-MAGA wings of Republican politics together. But I think that he knew that this has reached such a fever pitch.

[00:23:22]We've been talking about it.

[00:23:23]Conservative commentators, operatives, activists, donors talking about it everywhere. And I do not believe Brian Kemp in his own mind thought that he had a path to the presidency if he did not reverse course and go back and do this.

[00:23:37]Do you think that a governor who does not take the action necessary has disqualified themselves as a potential presidential aspect?

[00:23:44]>> Well, yeah. This is the will of the people. This is what everybody in America wants right now. This is This is the you know, another version of the Save Act. This is giving people rights to vote that they should have had before.

[00:23:56]Kemp will never be in the White House.

[00:23:59]He is a spineless, weak-kneed rhino through and through. And I for one will never forget how he treated and betrayed Trump during the 2020 election with the voting shenanigans that happened in his state. So, I think that he's just got a fever dream here. But as long as he errors on on our side this time, I mean that's a win for our column. And I'll take it. He's he's going to be out. He's not going to go anywhere after that. Um but at least we can get a new map in Georgia. And that's that's phenomenal.

[00:24:28]So, I think we have real headwind here.

[00:24:30]I think >> Yeah, it the power of the people are making themselves known. And we're going to really do some good here.

[00:24:37]Yeah, whenever we like flip one of these establishment clowns to our viewpoint on something, it does showcase where the real energy is in the movement. And that would be a lesson that I think would would be well learned [snorts] to buy five Republican senators in South Carolina. Now, before we have that 2028 presidential contest, we do have these midterms coming up. One of the key issues that I've seen in poll after poll that I've been reviewing, gas prices and fuel prices. And as great as the one big beautiful bill act was for taxpayers, no tax on tips, no tax on social security and overtime, and big deductions for small businesses to be able to reinvest, that that dopamine hit happens one time.

[00:25:20]And people are filling up the gas can, you know, once a week, maybe even more frequently given given the prices that that people are paying right now. You're following a headline about a drawdown on the strategic petroleum reserve. What do you think that means for the economy and for our upcoming politics?

[00:25:38]>> [sighs] >> Joe Biden drained the strategic petroleum reserve to historic lows. He used America's energy emergency oil supply to cover up the fact that his policies were crushing American families.

[00:25:53]The SPR is supposed to be used for real national emergencies. It's not supposed to be a political tool used to cover up failed energy policy. But now, the Trump administration is doing the same thing.

[00:26:08]And to be fair, I know that's not exactly what Biden did because the Department of Energy says this is this is just a loan. It's not a sale. And that more than 53 million barrels are being released and the DOAs says that the oil will be returned with a premium and they'll get more oil back in the reserve than was taken out. But that doesn't erase the problem because the reserve was never fully rebuilt after Biden depleted it. It's supposed to be at over 700 million barrels and it's at like 380 million right now. It's about to drop down to barely 300.

[00:26:40]That's way less than half full, way below where it was before. And now, before the emergency supply has been restored, Washington is dipping into the piggy bank again. That is not what we voted for. The standard can't be that when Biden does it, it's it's wrong, but it's and it's reckless, but when Trump does it, it's strategic.

[00:27:04]The standard has to be is this good for America?

[00:27:10]I'm not going to pretend that Trump is Biden. Biden's energy policy was disaster. And if this oil truly is returned with a premium, then this could end up being a responsible exchange.

[00:27:21]But that's the keyword, if. Washington always says that the money will be paid back. The emergency power is temporary.

[00:27:29]The reserve will be refilled later.

[00:27:32]And somehow later never happens.

[00:27:36]So, I think there's a simple solution.

[00:27:40]That Biden deserves the blame for draining the SPR, but now Trump owns what happens next. He's doing this right now. If the oil comes back with a premium and the reserve is rebuilt, that's great. But we have to hold them to that promise. Conservatives should not give any administration a free pass for drawing down America's emergency oil supply while it's still nowhere near where it should be. This is important.

[00:28:06]Especially for a conflict that frankly, I think America started. America first means drill here, produce here, refine here, and refill the reserve. Stop treating the strategic petroleum reserve like Washington's emergency credit card.

[00:28:25]Wow. Well, I will give Trump credit that in a time in which the reserve had been drained and oil prices were cheap, he did top off the reserve and perhaps that gives him some credibility.

[00:28:36]>> Oh, not entirely. I do agree that this is a temporary fix. Well, go go right ahead. Explain why. Well, because I I think Biden drew it down to like 280 million barrels and Trump brought it back up to something like like 450. It was maybe 500. That's still way short of the 700 700 million that is that can considered full capacity. So, we never filled it up. And in the last, I think, 3 weeks we've taken out 170 million barrels.

[00:29:04]Like, that's huge.

[00:29:06]>> Huh.

[00:29:06]That's massive. That's not refilling it.

[00:29:08]>> Has it made your gas price go down? I I don't feel like the drawdown may maybe it didn't spike gas prices as much as as it should have, but do you think it's overly reductive, Pearson, to say there's no number uh in the United States that that is more significant to the Republicans chance to hold the midterms than than the price of a gallon of gas?

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[00:29:59]Yeah, absolutely.

[00:30:02]And I I want to say something that I think a lot of Trump supporters are are feeling at this point. It's that we voted for America first. Not Iran first, not NATO first, not foreign wars first, but America first. And right now a lot of Americans are getting squeezed from every direction. You know, groceries are still too expensive. Gas is climbing. Electricity is up. And after all of that, Americans turn on the news, and what do we hear?

[00:30:38]Washington talking about Iran.

[00:30:40]And I understand the argument that Iran can't have a nuclear weapon, that's a serious issue.

[00:30:46]Nobody's saying it's not, but when President Trump was asked and this is just crazy to me, when he was asked whether Americans financial situation was motivating him to make a deal, he said, "Not even a little bit."

[00:31:00]He said, "I don't think about Americans financial situation."

[00:31:04]Matt, that is a terrible answer. And I want to say that as someone who wants Trump to succeed, because the people who supported him are not asking for weakness, they're not asking him to let Iran get a nuclear bomb, but they are asking him to remember why he was sent to Washington in the first place. He was sent there to put Americans first.

[00:31:26]You know, that means our our truckers filling up their tanks and the mom trying to buy eggs and fruit and milk without blowing up her weekly budget. These aren't background issues, these are the issues.

[00:31:41]And, you know, the latest reports, I don't know if you saw them on inflation, are not good. Consumer prices spiked again in April. Food prices are higher than ever. Have you tried to buy steak lately? I mean, beef is out of control and we're heading into grilling season.

[00:31:55]I think a lot more Americans care about whether or not they can fire up the barbecue in the backyard with their families than whether or not Iran has a theoretical bomb, which all signs point against and which they were never going to use.

[00:32:11]So, when Americans hear "I don't think about Americans financial situation."

[00:32:17]You know, they're right to be angry, because we do. We think about it every day. We think about it at the pump and at Costco and when the power bill comes in.

[00:32:26]So, this is where Trump has to be careful, because his strongest supporters did not back him so America could get dragged into another open-ended Middle East crisis while our own people get poorer at home.

[00:32:39]You know, they backed him because he promised to stop that cycle.

[00:32:43]Iran matters. I get that, but national security matters. You know, the American people matter, too. If Washington is spending $30 billion overseas, tapping emergency oil reserves, watching our gas prices soar, and telling Americans that he's not even thinking about our financial pain, that's not America first. You know, that's the old Washington mindset with a different logo.

[00:33:07]And Trump doesn't need to be perfect.

[00:33:09]>> is not a good sound bite. No, it's not, and the Democrats are going to use that against him.

[00:33:14]I do not believe there is a single competitive congressional or Senate race or governor's race in the entire country where that sound bite will not be played in in a deluge of ads. I I believe that that that sound bite is one we're going to see a lot now.

[00:33:31]In President Trump's defense, I know what he was trying to do there. I know what he was trying to do is say that he wouldn't be leveraged, he wouldn't be subjected to a timetable, and he was going to do what he what he thought is right. He didn't want to go into a negotiation with China or Iran or anyone else with the person at the other side of the negotiation thinking that he's got a political gun to his head when it comes to some of these domestic issues, but I agree that choice of words is is one that we're going to have to now grapple with and deal with and it's it's something that I don't think accurately reflects the president's thinking, but in the context of that specific discussion around these foreign policy issues, it it it came out and >> He needs to come back around on this. I I was thinking about this today.

[00:34:18]Well, there may be a clarification coming, but like how many Americans do you think woke up this morning and were like their first thought was like, "Oh my gosh. Thank God today was not the day that Iran got a nuclear weapon." I get the point you're making about it's significant, it's we don't support proliferation generally. I wish no countries had nuclear weapons, but the truth is like Pakistan is a radicalized ethno-nationalist theocracy and they have nuclear weapons and have not used them due to the concept of mutually assured destruct destruction. And again, that's that's not preferable. I'm not suggesting that's the A strategy, but you know, containment of the American state of despair around some of these prices may require more containment of Iran than just this continued warfare and the belief that we can have a pure denial posture because they've shown successful denial capability in the Straits of Hormuz and we have to we have to be realistic about this. Do you think in our lifetime all these rich Gulf countries will have nuclear weapons or none of them will? It's it's hard to imagine it won't be one or the other, right? I feel like you'll have Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar all with their own nuclear weapons that they've got from some disaffected North Korean scientist or uh the world will be able to maintain non-proliferation. I I kind of think it's more likely to be the former than the latter and I say that with no joy.

[00:35:49]Yeah, I I think you're probably right and I think Saudi Arabia's probably going to be the first one to do it.

[00:35:54]Um I was actually thinking about that the other day that it's interesting that the United States is the only one in the history of the world who actually developed the nuclear bomb.

[00:36:05]Everybody else stole it.

[00:36:07]You know, Russia stole it from us.

[00:36:09]China, I can't remember if they stole it from Russia or were given it from Russia and it's just proceeded from there.

[00:36:15]India stole it, Pakistan stole it. You know, no one has ever ever developed it except the United States. Germany was close, but we beat them to it.

[00:36:25]So it's interesting and I I I do think that since the cat's out of the box, we've seen what it can do, I don't think a nation would actually use it again.

[00:36:37]I think it might be a rogue actor who actually pulls the trigger someday.

[00:36:41]But, I'm not worried about you know, if we had someone who I would say I really don't want to get the bomb, it would be Pakistan.

[00:36:48]And so far, they haven't used it.

[00:36:49]>> They have it. No. So, Yeah.

[00:36:53]So, you know, North Korea, I'm not really worried about that. I think they're just they just do a lot of posturing. Um China, I I think they're mature enough that they would never use it. Um I don't know. I just I don't see it as a as a legitimate threat.

[00:37:07]I I think we have counters for it. So, I don't think that's that's a reason to go in and and do what we've done here, to be perfectly honest. Maybe I'm naive. I mean, I probably am, but that's my opinion.

[00:37:18]Yeah, I mean, unfortunately, if there was a nuclear war that wiped out a lot of humanity, we wouldn't be around to have this podcast and talk about it. And so, I don't want to be dismissive or glib about it. But, like we have very real problems here in the United States that are prescient at the kitchen tables of every American family. And if we as a Republican Party, as a team, don't address those and and indicate that we're a good shepherd and a good steward of people's personal conditions, I don't think that a lecture about Middle East global power and uh the Iranian threat is going to be very helpful to us.

[00:37:57]>> not. And I wonder, you know, please I was going to say I don't know if you saw the poll, but Democrats are beating Republicans on the economy for the first time since 2010.

[00:38:10]More Americans think Democrats would do a better job handling the economy than Republicans.

[00:38:17]And the other poll that just came out, did you see the poll on Trump, on his on his numbers?

[00:38:22]His His popular numbers? Yeah. Yeah, so he's got 39% >> is He's got >> I I don't know that I trust all of these polls on the right cuz there's so many conservatives who don't take polls. I I could barely poll you at the office about anything without you saying that you know, you don't want to be registered on your opinion on it. I agree. I agree. But it's it's not a good look as some of these, you know, are bound to be somewhat accurate, somewhat predictive. As we know, you know, heading into 2016, the polls were completely off kilter, had nothing to do with reality. You know, Trump was winning by a landslide. Um but he is losing support and Republicans don't understand how important the economy is to us. We are being bled to death and it's not getting better. And that's something else I was thinking about, you know, in my lifetime not once has anything ever improved.

[00:39:25]It's just gotten worse to a lesser degree. You know, we are not better off than we were 10 years ago. We're not better off than we were 20 years ago.

[00:39:33]Everything continually gets worse and worse and worse. More taxes, lower quality of life, everything gets worse.

[00:39:40]And that is really depressing to think about cuz I don't know how we reverse it cuz nobody in charge seems to want to do anything about it.

[00:39:48]Well, I I do think that the supply side shock on energy that the Trump administration did in their first 100 days was effective. Like we did see inflation starting to bend down. We did see energy affordable again. People who were in the northeast and dealing with the winter were able to get through a heating cycle without just completely emptying their entire bank accounts. And it's this war. It's the closure of the Straits of Hormuz. It's the disruption of global energy markets that that has really jostled what was I think otherwise a a brilliant strategy that that was in place before us. But but the what you just mentioned about Democrats being trusted more on the economy right now in this flashpoint moment, it gets me very frightened when I look at it through the lens of where Democrat presidential politics is going. We got a shock poll this week that the leading presidential candidate for Democrats is not Gavin Newsom, it's not J.B. Pritzker, it's not Wes Moore, it's not Kamala Harris. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has the Democrat socialist lane all to herself. There's no other social I don't think Bernie's going to run this time.

[00:41:02]So if you are a Democrat socialist, she is going to run. She is going to be the option and right now she's in the lead.

[00:41:10]Pearson Sharp, your reaction to your new Democrat frontrunner in 2028, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. I don't think it should be taken seriously. I don't think she's going to make it.

[00:41:20]Um but I think importantly, there was two interesting things I got from that. One, Gavin Newsom isn't leading in any of these polls. There were like three or four that were done and I think the highest he got was third.

[00:41:34]But he was not leading in any of the polls, which is really interesting because he's been pushing hard for this for years. He spent his entire governorship trying to be president. And as far as I know, Ocasio-Cortez hasn't.

[00:41:45]She's just kind of been doing her little socialist thing.

[00:41:48]And she came out and said that um she didn't think that presidency was necessarily her next ambition. She had much bigger ambitions, you know, to change the face of America and you know, presidents come and go, but what she wants to do is bigger than that. So I don't know what she's going to do. Um but in the end, I don't think it really matters who the Democrats pick as far as who if if the person wins because whoever sits in the White House is not going to be running the show. They're just going to be a face and a puppet, just like Biden was. And the people behind the scenes are going to be pulling the strings. If if Gavin Newsom got in, he wouldn't be running the show.

[00:42:24]You know, nobody who's actually on the Democrat side is going to be in charge.

[00:42:27]That's why I think one of the reason they hate Trump so much, because he actually is in charge. You know, he actually is making a lot of these decisions. So, >> Oh, yeah. Yeah, I I think, you know, whoever they pick, it doesn't really matter. Ocasio might have a better chance than average. She appeals to a lot of young people for some reason. And she has that youthful energy. And she's got a lot of the right talking points.

[00:42:49]You know, she wants that green new deal.

[00:42:51]She'd make that national policy.

[00:42:53]So, I don't know. I I just think it's a fluke. I think if they did another poll in the same area around the same time, >> She's running. Well, she might, you know.

[00:43:01]>> Do not buy Do not buy the obfuscation that, "Oh, she can do things from different I've talked to this woman about power. I've talked to her about the White House. She is absolutely running for president the first opportunity she gets. And she will blow right past the Senate. And by the way, the Senate's not even a good place to run for the presidency from. It's like the House of Lords. The House in today's environment of social media and television appearances, the House of Representatives is a better pedestal for a path to the presidency, I think, than the United States Senate. And Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will be a candidate. And I think that she will invigorate a vast donor base. Do not sleep on her. She's going to be very serious. And I take your point that the difference in policy between AOC and Gavin Newsom might actually not be that much when you think about how their administrations would be cobbled together and who would be able to make decisions in those administrations. But Gavin Newsom has a fight on his hands. It's going to be classic California versus New York. A Gen X guy versus a millennial woman, a white guy against a non-white woman, and it it will it could tear the Democrat Party apart because a lot of people there will view him as more electable, which Yeah, which is kind of insane when you think about it. Yeah, like policies, yeah. What do you think her appeal is with young people?

[00:44:25]She's just She understands >> she's attractive?

[00:44:28]I don't think so. I It looks like a horse.

[00:44:31]But I think she's got the right lingo.

[00:44:34]She understands the the social media.

[00:44:37]She, you know, can handle all that.

[00:44:39]She's in touch with the what her base wants and what they like and what they think. Um whereas Gavin Newsom, you know, he's in touch with wine country.

[00:44:48]Um but he has a lot of the establishment behind him, you know, a lot of the Nancy Pelosi people who have been there for decades. They're behind him, I think.

[00:44:56]Whereas Nancy and I mean, you probably have a good insight on that. Nancy and AOC, I don't think they get along very well.

[00:45:02]So, it there's going to be a little a little internal war there.

[00:45:07]But whoever ends up there, it's not going to be pulling They're not They're not going to let AOC make decisions if she becomes president. Are you kidding?

[00:45:14]They're going to bustle her out there for the cameras, and then they're going to go in and tell her what she needs to do. And I mean, Newsom's an idiot. Like, I don't know if you've ever You've heard him talk off camera, you know, and and off script. He can't put two words together. He sounds great when he's got a prompter, but he's an idiot, you know?

[00:45:31]He He He just He has He's on drugs or something, but he gets He He's able to fail upwards continuously, and we've talked about that. Nothing he does ever comes back on him, somehow. He just has massive protection from the people above him.

[00:45:47]>> To To be clear, uh Pearson's assertion that Newsom is on drugs is his opinion based on Newsom's behavior. We of course have no evidence of that. But I do want to tell you what we are starting to get some evidence of regarding the impacts of COVID and uh child deaths. Uh I do I'll tell you that after I tell you about my amazing friends at All Family Pharmacy. Now, if you're tired of waiting in lines and subjecting yourself to a broken health system where your time and your uh security and your patience are not respected, my friends at All Family Pharmacy are for you. You go to allfamilypharmacy.com/matt.

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[00:46:58]10% off because you are a viewer of our program. Trust me, you will love the new uh status of medical freedom and empowerment that you'll get as a consequence. So, Pearson, walk us through this headline you're following regarding some of the scientific data regarding the vaccine and and concerning child deaths.

[00:47:16]Well, so it turns out and this is just we keep getting these stories that the FDA went through a number of deaths. They went through I think it was 96 uh deaths of children who received the vaccine. And they looked at the autopsy reports and they examined all the files, the medical medical examiner's report.

[00:47:35]And they concluded that something like six of these children were actually killed by the vaccine. The vaccine killed them. And that doesn't sound like a lot. But there's a couple things to consider. One, if you're one of those parents of a kid who died because they took the vaccine, that's a hell of a lot. That's unbelievable.

[00:47:59]And the the horrendous part of this is that they covered it up.

[00:48:04]The FDA added this to their their list of safety concerns for the vaccine and then they never published it. And they they kept it under wraps and never let anybody know about it. The Biden regime knew about it. They were aware of it and they continued to tell people that it was safe and effective. They continued telling people that they could take this. This came out in December of uh 2024, I think.

[00:48:28]And this is a report that they published.

[00:48:31]And it's just coming to light now.

[00:48:33]And this is one of at least a dozen reports that I've seen where the FDA, the CDC, the NIH, they all had these reports coming across their desk that showed there was significant concern about the vaccine safety signals on these on these injections and they did nothing about them and worse, they covered them up. And what's crazy is that in the 1970s, we had the swine flu epidemic and we rolled out a vaccine for that. And the vaccine ended up causing Guillain-Barré syndrome and I think there were something like like 10,000 cases of Guillain-Barré after the vaccines went around and it was like 45 million people took the vaccines here in America. But they ended up having I think like a dozen deaths after the vaccines were handed out and when those reports came out, they completely shut down the vaccine and stopped handing it out. That was it. A dozen deaths were enough for them to cancel the vaccine program. But here we have and I have to preface this because these reports are going to the VAERS system and uh I believe it was um Ron Johnson who came out and made a statement that according to the doctors that he'd spoken with and the testimonies he'd seen that something like 2/3 of the cases that happen, like the deaths or the injuries, go unreported uh to the system because the system's hard to use, the doctors don't report it, and mostly it's doctors who report it, not not average citizens.

[00:50:04]It's hard to use and hard to figure out.

[00:50:06]Um and so these those six deaths are vastly vastly underrepresentative of how many people were actually killed by this vaccine. And so that's something to keep in mind. I think I think as we go on and more and more time passes and RFK continues digging into this, we're going to find out the extent of the horrors of what was perpetrated on the American people in the name of science.

[00:50:31]Yeah, there is a special level of hell reserved for anyone who knew that children were dying and chose to to scuttle that information and to keep it out of public view for some perceived policy goal or perhaps even even self-promotion or pecuniary gain. I really think that's got to be investigated and I appreciate you bringing it to our audience, Pearson.

[00:50:55]This brings us to the end of our hour.

[00:50:56]Thanks so much for joining me. We'll be back again next week for another episode of Anchorman. Want to see more great videos like this? Click on the link below to subscribe to OAN Live and watch Dan Ball's Real America and The Matt Gaetz Show on Dish Channel 212. Tune in, subscribe, and watch today.