Inside the Iran war, China’s hidden role, and the economic shock about to hit your wallet

Broadcasting around the world, this is on the record with Christian Briggs.

Serious talk about what's happening around the world and how it affects you.

Unfiltered truth for a world on edge.

Follow us on X at BMC, underscore H-A-M, live in three, two, one.

Welcome back, welcome back.

We are on the record today. It is Wednesday.

The 8th of April and boys, they're a lot going on.

We are going to do several different things today as far as going deep into

this Iranian conflict and what's really behind this?

I mean, there's more people out there.

Alex Jones is going crazy against the president and talking about the 25th minute,

which is out of control, which is wrong.

Not right. There's not like that.

But what is really going on? What's happening?

What's making the administration do World War III just short of nuke?

Well, actually, he actually did threaten to use nuke in the last 24 hours.

So what's going on?

And what is exactly happening to where we can get a handle on,

or at least a viable understanding that makes the most of my sense,

that comes from some kind of pillar of truth and not just conjecture,

not just hypothetical conspiracy and all of the different variables that,

or at least the adjectives that are trying to describe the situation,

because we're going to be on the record today.

This is Christian Brakes. We're going to be going deep on this one.

My guest today is Mr. Chris Walker.

He's got a big S on his chest and his red cape.

I always tell him he's going to keep that at the door, though,

because otherwise he outdoes me here on these shows.

So we're going to be going right into it.

So let's start right now. Chris, say hi.

Hello. Thank you for having me.

I'm glad you came. So,

Trump administration, you were the cheapest app for Senator Thompson of Tennessee

back in the day. Did you ever see chaos like this before?

No. You know, when I was working with Virtua Burows,

this comms director and one of the things that we found so interesting was we were talking about

the OA financial crisis, the Arab War, so many things in the news that were just constantly changing.

I think this is a hyper level of even more of that.

We've got market fluctuations. You've got AI.

You've got China. You've got Russia.

You've got Ukraine. You've got Iran.

You know, the Middle East is changing rapidly. South America is changing rapidly.

This feels like rocket fuel compared to what we thought was very, very, very

turbulent times and the odds from, you know, 0-3 to 0-8-0-9.

And so, this is a new experience in a lot of ways.

But, you know, what's old is new again.

But the Bible says, we repeat ourselves and history.

History is repeating itself again a year in a way.

Just the information flow and the speed with which we're getting information is

overwhelmingly quick and feel, you know, in some regards, it's kind of like

probably how the president felt of 2000 with intel coming in.

Now we all have intel coming in quickly through social media.

And that's a buffer of that is getting more and more eroded.

So, who was the difference or two terms or one?

Two. So, half of he ended up serving the final two years at Al Gore's term and Al Gore won

in 92. So, Fred was elected in 94, Bob got reelected again in 96.

No, with Clinton. So, what was the EP in 92?

And so, Fred ran for Al Gore's seat in 94.

He didn't serve out the rest of his term until 96 got reelected in 96 in a walk

and decided not to run for reelection in 02. So...

Well, let me ask you this. Do you think he regretted running?

Because I know a lot of gadgets are like once they realize what that swap is like up there.

They sometimes wish they could put that genie back in the bottle.

It was a different time. I don't think he regrets running at all.

I think he regretted. Obviously, we lost him several years ago or so.

But he loved being in the arena and loved being part of the major discussions that were happening

in foreign policy and campaign finance reform and all the things that he was really working on

as a Tennessee senator. He loved it. He loved his thirst for policy and ideas was infectious and

really kind of took a very young Chris Walker who was straight out of the college

and taught him a lot about how to kind of look into issues and see a bigger picture.

And I'm eternally grateful for my time with him for sure.

What would you think he would be today?

What do you think? Let me define that. What would he be in support of all this?

What would he be in support of it? But then what would you do as far as advice?

What would he tell President Trump?

If he's sitting there right now, what would he say to him?

For me, I would hate to speak for him since he's not here anymore.

But knowing him in the 2000s finished the job.

If you're going to do it and you're going to take on the threat of radical Islamic extremism,

you need to see it through. I think he obviously saw a consistent threat from Iran

relative to them funding terror organizations across the globe and continuing to

be an unsettling force within the Middle East where we've seen, as a result of President Trump's

decision to go in, lack of stability in the market in part because you're just in the middle

of so much energy production in that area. So Fred, I think, again, I feel low to speak for him,

but I think he would be supportive of what's happening, but certainly seeing him through the

process of finishing the job and making sure that there's a stable and willing ally,

which the Persian people in Iran are that they've just been under incredibly hostile regime

since 1979. If that changes and we see a real flourishing kind of ally in the region,

it changes the whole dynamic for the globe and for the world. And so I think in a way,

you got to see it through and make sure that we're getting the outcomes we want out of that.

So this is a big, big shock to the economy, domestic and global, international numbers are

for inflation. And I didn't realize Japan had zero domestic oil. Yeah. Zero. Yeah.

I can't get zero. Like I need one percent. Well, non-investing, I think a lot of these countries were,

and you know, I don't know the geological abilities of Japan, but you know, I would suggest

part of that is based on the fact that people are going to reliant on the traits out of the

equation for decades. You know, President Trump, like him or not, you know, has really talked about

the need for countries to really start to reinvest in the military, reinvest in energy production,

in part because in a lot of ways the United States has been footing the bill alone for a long time.

You know, there's trade and there's an ally ship that I think is valuable. But there's also a

point where, you know, this is something that's really needed and for global stability.

Ari Fleischer talked about this. This week, he got some heat, but also has some good points in

the fact that NATO probably is not going to be the same after this. You know, the idea of

the United States quitting the bill for all of people's national defense, I think those days are

starting to end. But at the same token, we're seeing this instability as that's up to change.

We've seen with President Clinton, we've seen with President Bush, we've seen with President

Obama, the idea of telling NATO to be, to diplomatically talk about how they can increase their

dues and increase their work. It didn't work or 3 plus years. And now we're seeing that President

Trump's kind of hammer mentality is more direct than it was the diplomatic side. This is, you know,

Trump's in a lot of ways the modern day tidy Roosevelt. And we're seeing that with the big stick

policy that he's taking the foreign policy right now. Well, this is foreign policy. Let me,

let me just kind of read you a little bit here kind of like what we're seeing today and how

Trump's threat of fear to be an extension. Of course, the last 24 hours of the 10 day deadline,

the expire of this last Monday, you know, China has been preparing for this for decades. Like,

they literally for decades have been knowing that at some point, and they didn't know the day or the

week, but they've been preparing well from an energy, military, financial that one day the US

would catch on to what they were doing. They would understand that the complexity of China's

whole whole system, all of this investment around the world, all these developing countries,

all these resources that they were grabbing was nothing more than to undermine the US's ability

to maintain the consistency of the strength of the control, the the superpower, which they hate

that. They're jealous. It's like the jealousy. Well, I think it is. If you're going to break it

down, it's always jealous. He seems like. And so when they when they got slapped, you know, in 2018,

when they got hit hard with those first set of tariffs with Trump, okay, what happened with

them, which is an interesting perspective was they knew. So they they had Biden in the pocket. He

was blackmailing. He was being extorted. I mean, he was just total trader. Him and his son Hunter

about two biggest traders outside Obama. But sure of all that, they were exploiting his

corruption for all the money that Hunter take from the China government. He took a ton of it.

And they were using that to expand as taxes that could strengthen ties with countries,

strengthen their energy policy, capabilities to withstand any new tariffs, any energy

disruptions because they were going solar. Have you seen their solar stuff? No.

Dude, if anybody listening, go look up China's solar farms. Well, there's probably more solar

panels in China than there are people. Wow. Yeah, that's a lot. Yeah. So they knew. And so they were

they were getting less and less depended upon third party or Middle East Venezuelan, all right,

but not all the way. That's one of the interesting factors that I have discovered is that

is that. But what we're looking at right now, what we're looking at right now is a complete

and a complete takeover of the energy of Middle East, not not in every drop, but a takeover

from a leadership role. Iran was definitely in the driver's scene a lot of ways. They had the

wealth. Maybe not as much wealth as Saudi Arabia, but they had the fear factor. They had

money enough to create the fear. So they had the wealth to create the the state's

sponsoring terrorism. Even Saudi was nervous. Yeah. They were like these people are crazy.

We'll die for the lie. So Trump had to annihilate them. But in doing so, he got rid of three things.

One, first of all, he got rid of a regime that was just destroying the people. Man, absolutely.

Good one. We'll get wake up every morning and put a black sheep sheet over their heads and

these poor women or the men that had to go work in labor camps. But they're even right to work.

They just kill them. And then number two, which I thought was interesting, would have been

the fact that Iran was sponsoring some of the most, was gruesome and malicious state sponsoring

terrorism, destroying, killing, mainly, whatever. And the third thing was they were supplying low-cost

oil to China and in return, China gave them some protectionism, some technology access, weapons,

intelligence, spy stuff, how to hack, you know, like the various stuff. So at the end of the day,

Trump was like, look, we're going to liberate the people. We're going to put an end to their

sponsoring of terrorism. We're going to cut China's energy supply. So they slow down this

aggressive approach to annihilation of the US and take it over the world. And what was the fourth

thing, weaponizing a nuclear grade uranium? Yeah. Okay. I wonder if that was the least of the

fourth things. One thing about the president, he's very much a...

He's consistent in his position. He's taking several sides of a position sometimes,

but I think in a lot of ways you've been telegraphy for a long time. And this is not to be a surprise

for anyone that he has said consistently that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon. That is not

ever going to change. It hasn't changed. And his work, because I mean, again, this is a man who

he's in New York or first. And I think was dramatically impacted by, you know, seeing the

twin towers come down more than a lot of people, particularly in our in our leadership class.

Because I think for him, it was personal. I think we saw in the 2016 election, Ted Cruz

attacked him for New York values. And, you know, his retort, which was brilliant, said, you know,

I remember the city coming together like nobody ever had before after 9-11, in part because

of the grid of the city. And that's New York values. He's a New York values kind of guy in a lot of

ways. And so he saw firsthand the reach that radical Islamic terrorism can take. And I think

we've seen that to the degree of will that they would attack anywhere and anyone with the most

weapons that they could have. He was very crystal clear that ranch and I haven't been a weapon.

So I think it's not the lowest. I think it's certainly high up there. But look, he was

handed a raw deal. You know, China has been aggressively growing, basically since permanent

trade status in 99. And we've seen the rapid acceleration of the city state of China ever since.

And as a result, Trump, I think kind of had a position to say, okay, we have to start changing

this this equation because frankly, another 10 years of this and we'll be on the wrong side

of a lot of different pieces of we've talked about quantum computing for before we've talked about

a lot of different things. But ultimately, you can't have an ascended China surpassing the west

from a technological or leadership perspective. So Trump taking this, and I know we're talking

about Iran, but they're connected. Like you said, because of oil and everything. Trump

has smartly is moving the oil distribution network away from China towards the west with Venezuela

and with Iran and you know, you and I both have heard that Cuba is in the mix. We talked about

Greenland before. This is a president who is going to leave office with a strategic rethinking of

the global order in favor of America. And that's a positive thing. But we're we're seeing a lot

of ripple effects port right now because we're right in the middle of it. Okay. So let's let's look

at the consequences of this global reshaping. Yeah. So I'm going to read it from this is from yesterday.

Chicago Federal Reserve Bank president, Austin Goolsbee. I've seen this kind of thing. I know Austin. Yeah.

Okay. Said Tuesday, he's concerned that the oil shock from the Iran war could potentially

drop up prices in a stagflation area way. Goolsbee stressed that the oil price shock comes as terrorists

were working their way through the economy and already led to higher inflation that was expected

to fade later this year. Okay. I buy that. But here's an interesting comment that he makes and

continues here. This one part of my concern at the immediate time is what we got to do to get

our heads around it oil shock because he's right. We went from $63 to $118 a bear. It's a 50%

increase. 50. You know, it's almost double. Well, I'm sorry. I don't double right. Sorry. Yeah.

It was the other way. I went yes. Yes. And think about that. If you go to the grocery store and

things double and price in 60 days, you can't afford it. Most households can't think about how much

money we spend on energy. You don't just have gas and diesel on your cars and trucks. You've got

utility costs. Everything's going to go over oil goes up just because the price of celery goes

up or carrots, that's all it affects. Well, we're seeing that in decision making. We're seeing CEOs

already seeing purchases going down. People making tough decisions, buying cheap food, buying

cheaper food and traveling less, looking at Vegas, Vegas is a dead down right now. You're doing a

movie called zombie treat by like in Vegas recently. Yeah. It's I mean, it's it's bad. So

there's a there's a lot of folks living on credit right now in a way that that's pretty harmful

that when those bills come due, there's going to be a bigger credit crisis that we're going to have

to deal with. Jamie Dimon, we talked about this yesterday came out and talking about we're kind

of on the precipice of another 2000 even a lot of ways. So this is this is real. This is people's

pocketbooks and this is is a is a really strong challenge. Two positive things to think about.

One, the market has been relatively resilient. You know, there's a lot of up and down. So

it's frankly unsettling. Again, the market's down. I think 30% or so my math may be off again, but

you know, we've seen up a big downward trend in the market of the last 30 days. Now,

if we see a swift revolution resolution and we see the straight reopened and we see a pro-western

leadership class come in in the in the in the rain is really taking retaking over the country.

That is potential to 3x the market up in the right direction because you're going to have a massive

change in in hell that's played out. I would like to see that. We'll see how that all shakes out.

It seems to me that the status quo of the Middle East has changed irrespective of what

President Treball has to see. We've seen now Iran becoming like a toll keeper for the

straighter for moves for ships coming out. That's a revenue generator for the country that has

never not been there before and something that if is allowed to continue would drastically change

how the oil market is done. Again, we're at the early phases of this. I think it's hard to look

in a crystal ball and say, okay, this is how it's all going to shake out, but we do know that the

President reacts to the market more than anything. We saw him kind of back down a little bit from

tariffs off of the bond markets over about to crash last year. The same type situation here,

the President is not going to accept as a long-term outcome of a market crash that they're

comportioned. I think we'll see some level of level happiness come through on this, but you

got to finish the deal. Fred Thompson would probably would have told him, if you're still alive,

I think it applies to the President now, you have to finish the job. You can't rely on domestic

politics to take this. What are your generals and what are your strategic advisors saying?

That's really what matters right now more than anything. Because the short-term pain that we're

dealing with is for a much longer-term game is what we're hoping for as you're at the White House.

Yeah, well, let's do it as you'd be on the White House because right now we get this little

pause here, and the real question comes right down to the significance of how much more military

is left, how much more fighting is that than the Iranians?

They're giving a hell of a fight here. One of the, one of the, you know, the thing about this

we're saying, you know, when Beijing on Tuesday basically said, yes, we're ally with Iran and you

just stand down. This is wrong what you're doing. And they said there's a wide-ranging consequences

of the American is really war against Iran, or President Trump obviously did the deadline,

things like that. And what's interesting is they even said that Islamic Republic will strike a

deal or they will live in hell, according to President Trump, right, as we said. But now the Chinese

have basically said they're going to support Iran in this both during and after. I wonder how deep

China goes down with China, Iran, like how would their deep their roots are, how to connect it,

because it sounds like they're, that they're wanting to support each other, that they think they

can take on the U.S. They, they are, they've been building, they've been building military,

they've been building technical capability, and particularly scary as they've been building

an energy infrastructure. We haven't been doing that. And so in a way, I think China's threats

have some merits. But I think what we've seen too is Iran attacking UAE and Iran attacking Saudi

Arabia and the resolve of those two countries who were kind of starting to align with China

have come quickly towards our side on that as well. So I'm not sure China has the friendship

network that they are projecting that they have. But you know, I have not seen the intel to that

to go one way or another. What we're seeing is, and I hate to use the term access because I feel

if you just who responds to World War II and kind of an enemy situation that I'm not sure is

useful here, but in Iran, Russia, China, access would be a very troubling development coming out

of this that I think we need to be very, very cognizant of. Again, we're not seeing a Europe that's

reliable right now. There are into a lot of institutional and structural change over there,

cultural change happening over there. And so the reliability of Britain and France is not as

solid as it was 20 years ago. There's a population ship tapping over there. They're not necessarily

going to choose the west in terms of their values and ideals. So how do you address that as well?

I think it's very important. And again, that's something that I think we saw from

signal gate last year, where I think some of the vice presidents' division towards our European

allies may have been accurate, but needs to be revised because we do need a strong England and

a strong France looking towards the west as allies as we deal with this new kind of developing

access that's coming up. Okay. So if you were president Trump, what now? I mean, good thing about

this for say you got this country that's just sitting there 99.5% of the people are not in the

management of the country 99.9. You got to handful the guys who run it. And if you're not in

the management and you're not managing this thing, you're kind of like just a follower. You're

sitting there looking at this can get destroyed. You're looking at what they're starving or they're

having lack of food, lack of water, lack of empathy. Just the empathy. Well, I think president Trump

showed that he did when we saw from the Iranian regime earlier this year when they were cracking

down on the on the uprising. It was reports that they killed upwards of 30,000 of their early

impulse. I saw the president said, you know, helps on the way. It's I think and I actually think

that might have been the turning point for the president because there were no aircraft carriers

outside of the Middle East at that point. I think that was probably a if I already guess that I've

not this is just an observation from me, but I think when they killed 30,000 of their people,

I think presidents resolve really changed the point where he was going to make a change over

in Iran because that's just it's an anthem out of him to see that happen. You know, you can have

a lot of people on the left, hate them. You can have a lot of people in the media hate him, but

this is a man who generally disfavors that level of a genocidal nature. And so seeing an enemy

like that, taking that resolve, I think he's resolved we're going to change this. I'm not going

to I'm not going to allow this to to go to continue to whoever succeeds me. And so I think it was

it took a lot of fortitude, but you know, ultimately, you know, we're going to we're going to see

move out to answer question. You got to see it through. If you're the president, you got to see

it through. You know, you have to ensure that Iran doesn't stabilize. We've I think we've lived

the Iraq situation enough to know that stabilization might be a myth, but creating an environment where

the Iranian people can take it back over away from the mullahs and turn it into more of a a society

for Iran and not for the radical Islamic element of it. You know, it's funny when you talk about things

like Iran and China and the connection. We're going to break here in a second. We're going to

come back. Here's my topic. What is the Iran, Iran, China oil connection? What exactly is it? When

we get back, we're going to go through that China is Iran's largest trading partner and the

destination for roughly 90% of its oil exports, acting as a crucial economic lifeline that enables

Iran to bypass the U.S. sanctions. Think about that for a second. You want to know how Iran has

been able to maintain and grow their their economy and their cash flow for weapons. I mean,

these tag on things is drones by the tens of thousands. We're going to break it down with the key

aspects of the Iran and China oil connection when we get back. We'll be back in a few minutes.

On the record with Christian Briggs, we'll be right back after a word from our sponsor.

Gold has more than tripled since September 2022 rising from $1656 per ounce to over $5,000

by February 2026. That's a 205% gain outperforming the market and proving why gold is the ultimate long-term

hedge. As global debt sores and currencies weaken, central banks are hoarding gold at record pace.

Why aren't you? Call 844-426-4653 or visit bmcham.com. Protect your future with real assets.

Own gold now. We'll get ready, my fellow Americans. July 2nd, 3rd and 4th.

America Out Loud. News in partnership with Clear and the Wellness Company invites you

to Nashville, Tennessee for a red, white and blue celebration you'll never forget.

We're saluted 250 years of America and 10 incredible years of America Out Loud news.

Stand in strong for truth justice and the nation we all love. Three days of high-impact speakers,

powerhouse voices delivering dynamic unforgettable insights that will fire up

your Patriot Spirit. And on July 4th, embrace yourself because you'll experience America's

most explosive fireworks show, lighten up downtown Nashville and pure Patriotic glory.

You can reserve your spot with early bird pricing right now at americaout Loud.News

forward slash Nashville. It's America Out Loud news 2510 and Nashville even.

The smartest food on the planet doesn't come from a lab or in a package. It grows in a class jar.

I'm Doug Evans, author of the National Best Seller, The Sprout Book. Sprouts deliver up to 100

times the antioxidants of mature vegetables. They grow in just three to five days for under a

dollar serving. Get your sprouting kit at thespoutingcompany.com slash Out Loud. Use the code Out Loud

for an exclusive offer. Gross Smarter. I'm Dr. Kelly Victory with the wellness company and I know

this personally. I exercised a to healthy diet and had no symptoms when a routine mammogram

resulted in a cancer diagnosis. It revealed a hard truth. Even healthy people can get cancer

and much of modern medicine is reactive, not preventative. So I began asking a different question.

What can we do daily to support the body before something goes wrong? That question led me to

formulate shield. Shield is a two-part nutraceutical system designed to support immune balance and

antioxidant defense and cellular health. A chemical-free cocoa mix and soft gels containing medicinal

mushrooms, turmeric, green tea extract, olive leaf, burberry and black seed oil, prevention is

power. Visit twc.health slash Out Loud and use code Out Loud for an exclusive discount.

We wouldn't go a day without washing our hands, brushing our teeth and washing our nose.

Well, wait, we wash our nose. Yes, the number one place where bacteria, viruses and pollen

enter the body is through the nose. So the average person breathes over 23,000 times a day.

That's 23,000 opportunities for bacteria, viruses and irritants to get into your nose and

make you sick. For an extra layer of protection, wash your nose with clear. That is clear,

XLEAR. Clear's drug-free nasal spray features xylitol and ingredient proven to block adhesion of

many nasty bacteria and viruses and effectively clean, not just rinse like a saline, but wash your

nose. Clear nasal spray quickly alleviates congestion, opens your airway and ensures your body's

natural defenses are strong. Read the research studies for yourself at clear.com.

That's x-al-e-a-r.com. Protect yourself from the pathogens and junk you breathe.

Pick up a bottle for you and your family today. Have you been looking for a healthy snack

for on the go? Well, not all energy bars are soft and sugary. Bear bars are a crunchy,

savory bar made from just six simple natural ingredients. Bear bars are plant-based organic

gluten-free, contained six grams of protein in a low temperature dried for a unique crunch.

Most energy bars are based on chocolate or fruit and are held together with serps or sweeteners.

To learn more, just visit bearbar.com slash out loud.

In just two minutes per day, you can reclaim your health and vitality and cut your grocery

bill in half with one simple convenient product. Our doctor formulated green 85 juice

formula's powerful dose of ultra-concentrated essential nutrients, stops hunger in its tracks,

and supplies your cells with what's missing in the grocery store food. It's packed with wheat

grass, karella, dandelion, maringa, spirulina, broccoli sprouts, osse berry, beetroot, probiotics,

enzymes, vitamins A, D, K, B12, just to name a few. Go to chemicalfreebody.com,

forward slash out loud today, get nature's super multivitamin, green 85,

empower your immune system, cut down on your grocery bill, and save 20% on your first order.

Prepare for the next pandemic with the wellness company's contagion emergency kit,

designed by Dr. Peter McCullough, get life-saving medications like ivermectin

and hydroxychloroquine, plus a free nebulizer and a guidebook for safe use. Order now by

going to TWC.gov forward slash out loud and use code out loud for $65 off your first order

plus free shipping.

Okay, welcome back. So let's talk about this China and Iran and what is their connection?

What is going on that puts the pace of Iranian military push back? I mean, they put up a

hell of a front. Would you agree? Yeah, I mean, yeah. The last four weeks now? Well, they've been

preparing for this for a while. China, you've been trying to prepare as well. I think they

they have people in rooms figuring out what would happen if if if some of them were to attack

like we do the same. And so, you know, not surprising that there would be resistance.

They're going to take advantage of their position to try to win. Although I think it is

important to note that from a military material to a position, there's very few targets left

for us to actually hit. In fact, we're sending palms to already destroyed targets so they're basically

just rearranging the rumble of places that have already hit. Strategically, we'll see how that

shakes out, but I mean, there's no plane. You know, there's no ships to attack. The planes and

the infrastructure in the military are pretty much wiped out. So in a way, the present is somewhat

out of military options, but you know, we're seeing Iran resort to what these guys do, which is

bringing kids into the mix and in other types of humanitarian disaster potential because this

is just kind of how they operate. It's terrible, it's unfortunate, and hopefully we can figure out a

way to kind of save the lives of innocent while also prosecuting a position to get Iran to a position

where the Iranians are where we want where we hope that it can be as an as an ally and not as

hostile regime. They don't want to give up control. Of course not. Who would? Yeah, the good deal

going. So let's talk about this through it through the literally a 25 year strategic partnership,

China and Iran, or Beijing purchases, discounted Iran and oil. We know this right, the cruel,

but but what's interesting is they're using small, primary finalries and a shadow fleet of tankers

to provide the means of which to get the oil. And Iran is getting billions of dollars a year in

sales, which is cash. They need that desperately. And it circumvent all the sanctions. A question

to you is, if this has been going on for as long as it has 25 years, Iran's had sanctions on them

for years. Why don't we stop it? I mean, the thing about this here, let me end before you answer that.

And to avoid US sanctions, much of the trade involved at smaller Chinese banks, right,

in immediate firms and a shadow fleet of tankers that often turn off transponders. I mean,

listen, I'm not really here. Yes, I'm here, but you can't look at me. You get my transponders off.

You're not allowed. And these banks over here, yes, they're laundry money, but you're not allowed

to talk about that or do anything about it. And so the transactions were frequently settled in

Reminbee, which is the Chinese currency, using China's cross-border interbanked payment system

called the CIPS, which obviously can be coming to central bank digital currency payment system,

which is hit with the BIS. And it's all hooked up with a bunch of others. But they're bypassing

the US dollar-dominated swift system. They literally learn through oil and circulating sanctions

with Iran and other countries for various business dealings to circumvent the US, which is hurting

the dollar. That was one of the things that Trump made points with. And then in 21, they signed

this agreement, which secured it's a 25-year deal of signing in 21, which secures a steady

discounted supply of oil for China and exchange for investment in Iran's infrastructure and energy

sectors. There we go. If you really want to get to it, we give you tons of money. You'll give us

tons of oil at a discounted rate. We'll circumvent the dollar. We'll kill the US's dollar or at least

that the reserve currency status, the daily transactional status, and we'll be able to win.

And here comes Trump going, not today, okay? The relationship remains somewhat

in tapped, even though China and they did come to these aid of Iran with various things,

like weapons and intelligence. I mean, I know there's some drones. Russia did the same thing.

The real question is, don't you think if China was deeper with them, or at least had this in

the sincere understanding of the cooperation between which they signed in 21, I would have thought

they would come. And maybe they did secretly. Maybe they'd offered more. I don't know. I just

don't know. I don't know. I thought they would do more. Yeah. What do you think? That's a great

question. And almost it requires a whole other episode to answer. I would say this. I think

China, well adversarial, still needs the United States. From an economic engine standpoint,

from a good purchasing standpoint, from even from a tariff generated international trade perspective,

United States economic might still is the number one kind of source of driver of decisions for

China just as well, because ultimately, Iran cannot replace the United States leadership on

the global scale for the economy. So I think while there is some, you know, President Trump,

again, you know, it's disappointing that the China summit has been delayed by six weeks. I think

hopefully that gets rescheduled soon. There is even if there's an underhanded work against the

United States, there still needs to be a public facing productive conversation and work towards

China, United States relationship, because it's important to keep that somewhat afloat in alive,

because it really does impact both economies so drastically. You want to see a global breakdown.

It's not Iran and the straight-of-form moves. It would be a complete shutting down of the US

China, you know, I don't know if the relationship that would be global disaster. Okay,

it's dropped. It's dropped. We kind of saw it a little bit through COVID and just the

destruction of so much of the economic growth of the world by just shutting down. This would

actually be even worse because it would actually be even more direct hostility rather than trying

to work together to kind of keep the economy going. And so 2020 would be just a drop in the bucket

in terms of what would happen if the United States and China really just switched through all

economic ties. And so I think we're, we don't like seeing the increase of growth and the increase

of a competitive nature, but I think we also have built a long-standing 23rd, almost three-year-now

relationship on the economic side that I think we need each other in a way that that's not easy

to untangle. Well, I would agree with that, but at some point China's going to be able to detach

from us. I think they're working toward that. It's just not today. Well, you know, so that's why I

think they're, the President is trying very hard to, to, you know, limit that growth. And also to,

I think it's why China isn't fully involved with Iran because I think at the end of the day

would be catastrophic now for them to do so. I think, yeah, I think the nuclear weapons were,

was BS, I think I was just one of the, the cover. Oh, I don't think they were quite there yet.

Or were last year or this year? No, I think we took an out last year. I think the uranium

enrichment systems that they had in place last year were taken out. I'm not so sure that it needed

to be to this level. I think it was more about cutting off the oil to China and breaking up the

suppression of the people and possibly with the third thing. And then we might have been part of the

the weaponization of the rich uranium, but I also believe it was China cutting the oil,

helping these poor people 47 years live under. I mean, this thing was like tyranny. Yes,

it was as bad as this one. It's been gig is calm running that country. And the third thing, of course,

was also trying to put Iran back out of the sponsoring of all the terrorism around the world,

put them back into where they were back 50, 60 years ago. I mean, when the shot ran,

they met up like them, but they live well. Have you seen pictures of Iran? Oh, yeah,

they're wrong. I mean, it was a tremendous. It was like, oh, what are you?

It's a very great question. Again, I would say, man, you should have some radio show or something.

I'll be going to get another short on here, but we'll talk about it. But seriously,

think about this for a second. I'm old about it. Yeah, I thought it's the deal. I think what

you're saying is right. I would say that the president's calculus on the nuclear weapons wasn't

there was BS, but that there is a constant effort on a rants park to reconstitute it irrespective

of what we do. Yeah. So instead of blowing it up one more time, and then them going back to try

to rebuild it over again without any view and inspection without any IEA efforts to try to monitor

and control it. They try to do a rogue. And I think the president's patience on that was

somewhat light out. So I don't think the nuclear part of it was BS, but I think it was certainly

why are we going to go do this again in 10 more in like five more years when they built it again?

And it's just like, let's get this. Let's remove this from the board. I think that's part of it.

But I think you're exactly right on the China strategic piece that again, look at what's being

done. Venezuela, Iran, Cuba, Greenland, these are all places strategic to to strategic located

rich with natural resources and minerals that are necessary for growth and computing and other

types of things as well. They're all being systematically moving in the direction of China that I

think is a little too uncomfortable for anyone in the United States leadership position.

And if the president is taking a shop seriously, which he does, those decisions are being made at

a rapid pace because he knows is, frankly, one part running out of time. And two, it's not going to

leave a mess to the degree that I think he was handed from the Obama administration to the Biden

administration and others. Yeah. So, okay. So all of this 120 are oil. Well, not quite. Well,

actually kind of is Europe. Yeah. I mean, like with 200 bucks plus on a diesel barrel.

Well, what is it? I know. I saw some statistics that we get what, less than 8% of our oil from

from the Middle East. I was shocked by that number, but that was a very low. No, we actually

feel bloody when we do that. Do you know about that? Right. Oh, yeah. Okay. Is that what you do? But,

you know, we are able to be self-sustaining in a way that Europe and Asia is not, which I was

just surprised. When you read the news, you think when you kind of see the national narrative,

you would think that all of our oil came from the Middle East. It does not. So in a way,

from other parts of the world, we do import a lot. Well, in everything is ripple, right? The

global market is still the global market. One thing that happens in one area is going to

affect the rest of the market. You can't assume that it's not going to have a direct impact

because it does. But I just, I think we're going to see 120 barrel oil as a temporary part of it

because ultimately the goal is to shift more resources back to the West, rather than to China.

And so it's bad right now. It really is. I think it's going to be very harmful to us in the

midterms of 2026. Us being Republicans are conservatives. But on the whole, the idea of, I think this

is short term pain for long term gain. Yeah, I agree. And I'm hoping. No, I agree to you. Yeah,

I got a good feeling that this will be good. The question is, how does this stack up as an impact

today? Okay, so if you look at like the two fed guys today, we're talking about, oh,

yesterday, it was like three or four between the two days. How is it? Well, this will spike

inflation. The question is, will oil ever get back below 85? I've got people telling me, no,

it's not going to happen. I mean, there are people in the oil industry saying that there's going to

be a fear factor left in oil for at least six months. I think that's entirely possible. I think

that is also, again, to go back to COVID and the inflation that came from literally putting

billions and hundreds of billions of dollars in the economy in a way that wasn't there.

It was goodly. The prices never have gone back down post COVID. Yeah, I think a scenario is

developing here where prices may not go back down with the three that we want them to.

Is there a reset to 85 dollar barrels? Maybe is there a reset to 95 dollar barrels? I hope it gets

lower, but all that's going to start getting baked into costs. Again, that is a ton of inflation

over a January period for talking all the way back to 2018 to 2016 to now. We've just

put that the economy has bared born the brunt of so much inflation that costs are

epically high and really harmful to people who are making ends meet in a way that aren't

aren't having major salaries. Again, you've got a tech situation coming in where people's

economies and livelihoods are at threat. This is a very dangerous 3D chess happening here from

a global market standpoint where you have a tech energy and geopolitical tensions all

coming into a same basket of really hard decisions. Yeah, so okay, so

5% inflation, 5% inflation by your end. Just think about every single thing that will

impacts. Yeah, everything is nothing. It doesn't impact. Literally everything. Everything.

It was like I said earlier in the program where I said salary and carrots go up 50% who cares,

okay, there'd be some pissed off rabbits out there without their main

main stay and so but for us, it's everything. It's everything you buy at the grocery ad

or was transported there by a truck. Maywee is on vacity. Every oh yeah, your grocery bill is

going to go up 30% and that is a huge, huge impact on people in the long haul. If your stakes

more rice and beans and yeah, you know, that's when you are a restaurant owner, fewer people

are coming to your restaurants to eat when you're a, you know, people take an extra three weeks

to get a haircut rather than going regularly. Just every single piece of your involvement in

the economy becomes slower and tougher with higher gas prices and higher oil prices and so

yeah, it has huge ripple effects that I think we're only beginning to see the effects of that are

going to impact a lot of places, Sabbath. Yeah, yeah. Okay, so let's talk about farmers for a second.

Just think about this for a second. Jay, so I was trying to say it earlier but everything. Yep.

Okay, you ready? Here we go. Let's say, okay, fertilize your prices. When you mention farmers or

you mentioned the carrots in the salad, which I guess brought up the like the rabbit food.

Everything. So driven by, okay, I'm going to fertilize your prices. This is a quote skyrocketed

in early 26. Yep. Driven by surging oil and natural gas prices following the US

Israeli conflict with Iran, which began on the 28th of February of 26th. The crisis has disrupted

shipping through the straight of our most a key artery for 20% of the global oil and a significant

portion of the fertilizer export is like, well, think about that for farmers. There's your food supply.

Well, we're getting into growing season. So we're not even to a place where we've even seen

those costs go up yet. Again, every farmer is going to have to raise the prices for their crop

because the prices of fertilizer are gone up and that are going to then impact groceries. And so

in restaurants and McDonald's and all of the places that are getting food for us to consume

everything's going on. And so that means that food is how we fuel ourselves, but that also means

that everything else goes up, dolls, toys, you know, just. Mutuality. Yes, cable prices for

people who watch the low is in the car. All is a hire is so you have very, very difficult

rest of the year coming up with these prices increasing so rapidly that we seem to be having

only at the beginning side of only five weeks into the Iranian conflict. I missed the war.

It was called the Iranian War. We're only five weeks into it. That is a drop in the bucket in

terms of the economic impact that we're about to see. And so to be honest, we're at the very

beginning of it. And that's and that's challenge, which is also a reason why a swift resolution

has to come not from an external position of a political reasoning, but also just from the

to stabilize in the market and getting to the results we need in Iran. It's very, very important

that we end this quickly, but also accurately, completely. Okay, you know, some stats. Yeah.

Okay, there's some stats. Here's some statistics that aren't going to go well.

Supply chain disruptions. Over one million tons of fertilizer,

have been reported stuck in the Gulf region as of just a week ago,

yeah. New to shipping disruptions. Okay, we get that one million tons. That sounds like a lot,

doesn't it? No, but yeah. Okay, that sounds like a lot. Nitrogen fertilizer prices

significantly have spiked by as much as 50%. 50%. And we'll take what that means to the bottom

line here, has segments terrible. The immediate aftermath of the conflict and hydrous ammonia

prices are expected to exceed a thousand dollars per ton. That's a record, world record price.

Okay, the Middle East accounts for a significant portion of global fertilizer trade. Okay,

there was a place in Saudi Arabia, believe they got bombed, yeah, which made all this fertilizer

and okay, other petrochemical banter. And they were talking about how when the farmers are

facing substantially higher input costs with estimated estimates indicating a potential 10%

rise in fertilizer expenses. For some, this has meant that extra hundred thousand or more cost.

There's nothing to make, yeah. That's all they make and they're lucky if you make a hundred grand

a year doing corn or wheat. And it was the corn and soybean prices falling, rising fertilizer costs

have created a vicious circle for the farmers. They're seeing lower returns at higher

financial risk. I mean, it's just staggering how much this stuff has gone up. I mean,

it's almost 60% of the pump. Yeah, 60%. That's

funny cow untenable. Well, yeah, because it's a shock. It's sticker shot. Yeah, you know,

you get you've been buying a car. Okay, it's like buying a car, new or used car is supposed to be

back. It was the experience like flying. Oh, it's great to fly. You had this wonderful

alternative person that would wait on you and tell you, oh, I'm a flight attendant. I'm a

store is whatever. And what do you need? Oh, do you want the steak or the chicken? Buying China

tablecloth at the Appkin, right? Yeah. Why was it an experience? It was a luxuries. It was,

yeah. Okay. Could culturally status seek that? It was. It was an experience fast forward.

And when you now look at what we're going through in life, very few things are that had a

level of experience. It's really about just get to work, get it done, go along. We grind it out.

It's life is not that experience anymore. But here's an experience. I'll give you today. You're

ready for experience. Yeah. Fill up your car. It's not something that was a gallon used to be for.

It used to be three. It used to be two. That's that's an experience you don't want. That's not

an experience I'm looking for. No. Yeah. And flying now is not an experience. Now you've got this

ticket. I'm using ticket prices of 50%. Yeah. 50%. No. In a month. I know. I mean food prices.

Everything toothpaste. Well, it just makes people make tougher decisions. Are they going to take

that work trail? Are they going to do that extra extra thing to work on? That's right.

Buy more groceries or buy less groceries. Yeah. Just every single economic decision that

family makes is going to be a lot tougher for the next few months. Again, from a local standpoint,

as the congressional masks are coming, you know, the congressional races for them in terms of

coming in November. Real challenge. Real headwinds for the GOP right now is a result of that.

Yeah. I see the headwinds. Who's who's who's the biggest headwind?

Oh, that has the house. The houses are really, really difficult to keep.

I'm going to go on the records. There will lose 10 seats. Oh, I think it'll be a lot more in that.

For you too, but I would have been the bad. You take the under. I'll take the over. And,

you know, we'll see. What are we betting? Some pizza. Some 80% inflated pizza.

80%. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. The cost of everything. Where did I?

Where did I just see something that made me mad? Okay. So now, as we kind of look at the

the racer that you're going to be getting back, if this thing was to, if oil stays

element, let's say above 100 above, let's just say 100. Yeah. Because we're clearly there now.

Yeah. For let's say a month, the inflation will be like 5%.

That just keeps building. Yeah. Yeah. It keeps going without that. Here's, here's my question.

I'm trying to, I'm trying to be very delicate. How bad could it get? I'm just going to say it.

I mean, could we lose the Senate in this cycle? Yes. We could. We could.

Texas has a choice here in a couple of months. Are you willing to pick for their, their nominee?

One nominee of Ken Paxson will be a tougher general election campaign than,

then John Corden, probably to the tune of $80 million spend in the state versus 20.

That's a reality. We'll see our Republicans pick and, you know, they have the right to make

what they want. But one candidate's going to be a much tougher general election candidate.

It's just, it's just the facts. Yeah. Iowa with the tariffs that we're seeing is going to be

different for the GOP. There's other states out there, Michigan, Maine. I think Susan Collins

is a, is a, is a force in Maine that people kind of underestimate, but still a blue state

in a red, you know, center of that's all the way it's there right now. You should that read.

No. You know, she should be some moderate. She's purple. She's very purple. And she represents a

but a blue state. So, you know, she's navigated that well for a long time. I mean, again,

I just, I find it hard to believe that the Democrats, whoever they put up,

three, Susan Collins, because I just think Susan Collins has done such a tremendous job

representing Maine as long as she has and has done enough to show that she's independent

and not for she's not just going to throw the party lot of them out of the GOP.

Not good. That great. That one. Because there's been times when she has looked

as if she was going to go left on some things. And she did, she did get a few of the first term

appointees through through confirmation. Yeah. For Trump, both on the Supreme Court,

obviously, and the administration. So we'll go. You know, we could talk about this another time,

but I think the idea of the Senate weighing in so partisanly on nominations needs to kind of

be revisited. I mean, Fred, you get to pick who he wants. And the Senate being a guard rail

against that is one thing, but a Senate that obstructs people who are just part of the president's

team really kind of limits the effectiveness of what Merrick people elected a president to do.

So in some regards, it's become such a partisan thing. We're usually these things. We're usually

90 to 10. Now they're 50, 50. And I just that's not a good outcome for the country.

Digital lucky. You get 50, 50. Yeah. And then JD Kat throws in his.

Well, I'll wait for some cash. You know, you also need to spine call to Canada.

Some of these candidates don't deserve to be confirmed. But a lot of people did ask

to watch it. We'll do that. Christopher, Matt Gays for AG, but you know, on the whole, there is

it's two partisan up there. And we can again get off a rabbit all on that. But

um, the the partisanship of Senate confirmations is a little too aggressive these days.

Uh, I agree with that one. Okay. Well, thanks for joining me.

Thank you for having me. All right. We're done. We'll be back next Wednesday.

Stay tuned on the record with Christian Briggs.