#59. James Wu: Taking Sides
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What's up, everybody? Welcome back to the show. I'm Justin. You can always reach us at TheHonestDrink at gmail.com, Instagram, or WeChat. Details are in the description. And of course, if you've been enjoying this podcast, go ahead, rate, comment, and subscribe.

Our guest today is an old friend. He's an entrepreneur. We've had him on the show before, and he just got out of a two-week quarantine in China coming from the United States. So he gives us a lowdown on his journey from America to China, and we also get a glimpse of his life back in America. He's a big gun enthusiast, so we talk about guns, we talk about the police, we talk about Donald Trump, and we share our predictions for the current U.S. presidential election.

This conversation turned into more of a debate. We definitely did not agree on everything that was said, but that's good. It makes for a more interesting conversation. This episode was recorded on Halloween. We were in our costumes. It's always a fun time having him on the show. So without further ado, please give it up for James Wu.

Cheers. Okay, let's do this again. Start again. Cheers. Halloween episode. Happy Halloween, guys. Happy Halloween. This is the first Halloween I haven't had a costume in a while.

Like a true costume. And this is the first Halloween I've actually had a costume in a while. You know? Yeah. How are you hanging there, James? I'm pretty good. I'm pretty good. Yeah? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Scale of 1 to 10, how hungover are you right now? It's not hungover. I'm still drunk. Oh. Yeah. Did you get any sleep last night? A little bit. Where'd you go? Core? Core. Is core like bumping these days? It's fun. It's fun. Yeah? It's popping. I enjoyed it.

So what is it like since you... Okay, first of all, let's just... What is it like to be in the world? To be social. Yeah, to be social. No, first of all, let's real quick recap what's going on with your situation. Because you just got back to China. You just finished quarantine. Yeah. Right? So for all the people that want to know how to get into China right now, basically, first, you have to apply with a consulate for a special visa, either visitation for family or work, right? Right.

right? Once you get that visa, they make you go get a COVID test. And then you send that result to the Chinese consulate. They give you a QR code. That's a countdown timer of 72 hours for you to board the flight. Oh, if you miss that time window, you have to go get tested again, go through that process. You get on the plane, uh, however, which way routes you into China. And then once you get off the plane, you get a test. And then, um,

Is the test a nose swab or a throat swab? Nose. You get off the plane. The first thing they do is take your test and then you go into quarantine. So seven days, hotel, if you have your own place. So like Justin, you would be in the hotel for seven days and then seven days at home here.

uh well not unless only uh not unless if you have a family member already or a roommate then you can't yes you can they have to they have to stay home with you yeah they have to stay home with you but yeah so it's like basically you can't because no one if a person who's already like free they're not gonna jail themselves with you just so you can stay at home i mean some people might some people right because they don't have to be in the hotel for 14 days and during that 14 days you get tested

After seven days, and then you get tested again before you leave. So two more tests after that. It's quite vigorous. Yeah, yeah. It's fun.

But you were telling me your flight got canceled when you got to LAX at the airport. So for everyone to know, right now there's no transfers from Taipei and Hong Kong into China. Just no transfer. I mean, Hong Kong people can fly directly into China, but you can't come from another country to transfer into China through those two cities. Other countries are okay, but just those two cities, you can't do transfers.

don't buy the ticket that transfers from Taipei. They won't let you board. - So you were in the airport with your luggage sitting at the, like basically at the terminal when they told you like you can't transfer. - Yeah. - So you had to like cancel that ticket and like rebook a whole nother ticket. - Right on the spot.

where they jack you in cost right yeah jesus don't remind me how much that ticket cost so it was a big ordeal to get your ass back to china oh fuck yeah dude jesus it's not like okay i'm gonna go to china right now no no no no no you you go through hell to get all that done and then yeah in november 6th they just up the uh requirements more you have to get a

antibodies test as well as a covid test and if you have the antibodies in your system you can't come in either so in other words you you can you you can only be 100 covid free yeah you've never had it before in the past then you can come in so what's up with the antibodies because i thought antibodies were good or a good thing yeah i don't know that's just a new regulation

I guess it means that you must have had COVID. If you have the antibodies, you must have had COVID to begin with. So any contact with COVID, like you're out. Yeah. You can't come in. Yeah. I guess that's the logic behind it. Yeah. So if you guys are wondering what's it like in the States. Yes. I'm most curious about that. Okay. Yeah. So...

I was just there. Let us all know what the hell is going on. Minus the quarantine time, right? Everything's normal. Nothing's crazy. I'll speak just for my own city, Vegas. Yeah, where you're in. You're in Las Vegas. I'm in Vegas. I'm not in New York. I don't know what's going on in New York, right? I'm in Vegas and everything is just, everyday life is normal.

Establishments like Target, Walmart, you have to wear masks. Costco, you have to wear a mask. Everybody has to wear a mask. And people wear masks when they go in. You can't go into Trader Joe's if you don't wear a mask. But I hear all these stories of people fighting and arguing. Dude, just listen to me. Yeah, but that's the minority of cases. Media, right? Well, it's not just media. I mean, there are, but the majority of people are following the rules. And most of the time, even during the time where March, where everything was, April was kind of crazy. Yeah.

Everybody's still going about their day as normal. There isn't any panic. There's no... The riots was the BLM riots. That's a whole different story. But in terms of COVID, everything's normal. Everybody goes do what they got to do. You got to wear a mask when you got to wear a mask. Yeah. And now they take it seriously. Everybody wears a mask when they go into Costco. I'll put it that way. In your town. In my town, yeah.

And how diverse is your town? Is it... Vegas is very transient. So, like, there's just a lot of people from LA. They'll come to Vegas from California. So...

Is Nevada historically a red state or like a blue state? It's historically blue, I think. Yeah, is it? But it's borderline. Borderline, right? Well, they sure love their guns over there. That's for damn sure, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can just walk in. So I moved there from California, right? There's a 10-day waiting period. You have to wait 10 days.

To get your gun. To get your gun. 10 excruciating days. What the fuck is that? So I went to Nevada, but I purchased it. They let me take it home right there on the spot. I was just like, this is like heaven. That's how it should be. What's the point of making you wait for 10 days? Oh, and I didn't know this until I got more into the... There's no national database on gun registry.

You think the government has a database as... Like a centralized one? Yeah, the centralized one. But state by state? Any, state or fed. There is no gun registry that says this gun with serial number 1234 is registered to Justin Yang. No, there has to be. Because then what's the point of registering a firearm then if there's no database for it? One step at a time, okay? There is no database, period, okay? So the government does not know how many guns I have.

When I purchase a firearm, they do a background check on my social security number. Have I committed any felonies? Have I done some shady shit? If your background comes up clean with no record, they sell you the gun right there. And there's no other recording. Get it?

So it's just a test to see if I can sell you a firearm, and that's where it just stops. That's where it stops. There's no register. I always thought that this gun was registered to me. If I lose it, they'll track it to me or shit like that. Yeah, they can look you up. No, they don't. What? Are you sure about that? How do you know? Is that just common knowledge? I have a lot of guns, and I did my research. So let's take...

That's some crazy shit. Yeah. I thought there was... I thought the whole point of a serial number on a gun was so that they can trace it. They can. So if it's found at a murder scene with that serial number, they'll go to the gun store.

and the gun store would probably have my name. Oh, so the gun store has to keep a lot of records. But it's not on a federal level. Yeah, it's not on a federal level. Well, yeah, it's not like they can just search it on some like... Exactly, exactly. I always thought it was just in a cloud where it's a database. It should be, though. Everybody has a name and how many guns they have, what serial number. Yeah. There isn't.

Yeah, but this is exactly the type of shit Americans just don't like. They like their privacy, right? Oh, yeah. So when there's any sort of centralized database of anything, people get a little antsy about that. So when I sell you a gun, we go to the gun store...

The gun store does a background check on you for just the background check, right? Make sure you're not a felon. And then they transfer the gun to you. Now there's paperwork that says releasing from my name to your name. So there's evidence right there. So that gun, if it future becomes like involved in something, then they know it's under his name, but there is an essentialized database. Well, there's probably laws for gun retailers to,

that they have to keep their own log of their buying and selling of back how many years, you know, like maybe like it has to go back 15, 20 years or something like that. So by law they have to, so they have to comply. So that's, I guess how they check. But yeah, then it makes it kind of like, you know, you have to do like, you have to do an investigation instead of just typing into a portal and be like, you know, like James Wu. - So I just purchased, most people don't even buy this,

I purchased a silencer. It costs $1,200 and you have to wait a year and a half. You have to wait a year and a half? Why? Why do you need a silencer, I guess? No, but the year and a half, are they doing some sort of check on you? What is that year and a half? They're just doing processing paperwork. It's probably so people don't buy it on impulse.

Right? Like, oh, I want to fucking kill this guy. I'm going to buy a silencer. I want to kill him right now. I want to kill him right now. Like, okay, we're going to wait a year and a half to get it to you. And if a year and a half, you still want to kill this guy, which you probably won't. Maybe he deserves it. No, you got to ask. Most people probably cool off by that. Like, why does anybody need a silencer, right? Well, it's to get away with something, right? That's the whole point.

When I found out I could buy a silencer, and I was like, holy shit, I'm buying a silencer. Like, why would I not want a silencer? But that's only in Nevada you can buy legally a silencer. Every state's different. Yeah, every state's different. But just know that you don't want to deal with guns in California and New York. All the 48 states, they're pretty... They're not as strict. California and New York are the strictest. They're the strictest. They're just...

Gun is taboo bad, basically. In Nevada, I can have the handgun.

Next to me in the glove box or a console and drive around. Do you have open carry? Can you open carry or concealed carry? I mean not a concealed carry, right? That's the one. Open carry is legal. So you could walk out open carry. Like literally walk out with a gun on your side and people see it. And if you put it, tuck it under, you become a felon. You just committed a felony. So in other words, you have to show it. You have to show it. Has to be visible. Clearly visible. Yeah.

So what about concealed carry? Because there's people that are allowed to have concealed carry. I paid $100 for a class, and it was six hours long. And we just talked shit about guns, and then I got my concealed carry. What? You're allowed to conceal carry. James Wu is allowed to conceal carry a firearm in America with paying $100 in a six-hour course. Six-hour course, yeah. With the silencer. With the silencer.

Oh, God. And the silencer is multi-caliber, so I could take it off of my 9mm and put it on my M4, the rifle. The assault rifle. Okay, can we just have a real quick conversation about this? Because I know, I mean, obviously you're purchasing these weapons and accessories. So, obviously you're very supportive of ownership.

Let me make an adjustment right there. Sure. Because it's a misconception. If nobody has guns, I'm okay with not having guns. It's the fact that it's legal that you're going to take advantage of it. Yeah. If everybody kind of has guns, like, why would I not have a gun? Yeah. But if there's a law that says nobody can have guns, I'm all cool with that. I think that's great. Like, it's safer. I don't have to worry about the other person having a gun, right? Ever. Yeah.

Like China. Does that go through your mind, though? Does that go through your mind? Like, I need to protect myself because who knows what other crazy motherfucker is going to be out there. Exactly. Yeah. Really? Yeah. Shit. Everybody in Vegas pretty... Not everybody. Sorry. A lot. I would say 40% has a gun in their center console. Jesus. Yeah. Yeah.

Like, I can understand that, though. 30%. I used to be pretty harsh, like, anti-gun in terms of, like, the philosophy or, like, the reason why you would even have a gun. But if I were to live in the States right now, I would probably also want a gun. Yeah. Because that's the idea of, like, every other motherfucker out there has a gun. Well, right now, because of all the shit's been going down, right? Well, that just amplifies it. But still, if a random dude...

If James Woo can pay $100 for a fucking concealed carry and a silencer... And you know James Woo's character. What about the people that you don't know? Exactly. So it's like, why wouldn't I arm myself if everyone else can? Why would I handicap myself if everyone else is having guns out there? Why even put myself in that position? So I understand that. The thing is when...

it like i don't know i'm just guessing like i guess the fear with like gun gun control is that people even if you tell them like oh no one's gonna have guns people are still gonna feel like well some people are still gonna be able to skirt the system and there's still gonna be some bad apples out there that are gonna find ways to get guns sure and then no one else is gonna be armed but them sure so then we're fucked right is that the mentality you think

I guess. It's almost like it's too late already. Yeah, it's too late. You know? You can't put the genie back in the bottle. We live in a country here in China where, you know, nobody carries, right? So it's legal. So there's no worry of that. You know what I mean? But over there, even if they were to make it illegal, there'd still be a time frame for

of this adjustment period right and plus all the people that already own guns well there's so many guns out there already you literally cannot do it because who's gonna go take a person's gun it's like knock knock can I take your collection of guns please well literally a civil war would break out what's already who

Who's going to go knock on that? Nobody's going to do that. You, James. I'm just silencer. I'm waiting for James to buy a freaking missile launcher. Like, if anything, I feel like that's even more appropriate than a silencer. What's the most badass gun you have? I have a lot of badass guns. But the most badass one would be the 300 Blackout.

That sounds badass. So I build all my guns. I don't purchase it off the shelf. I buy all the parts and I put it all together myself. So it's all just customized. Okay. My own barrel, my own trigger. Everything's just top tier shit put together. Other stuff like SEAL Team 6 uses. Wow. Because that's where you are. So I can't really answer your question. What's my most badass gun? There's no answer. Because they're all so badass. They're all pretty cool. Yeah.

I have a 9mm that holds Glock magazines. Do you guys know what Glock is? I've heard the name Glock, yeah. It's like standard issue for police officers. Yeah, so Glock is the most widely used handgun. It's a brand. It works underwater too, right? No guns works underwater. Oh, no? I thought there were guns that worked underwater. Because when the bullet comes out, it wouldn't... It'll just lose speed too fast. Okay. So you can't get shot underwater.

You can't? You can't. Okay. If it was like this, you can't. Yeah, it was right there. Right there. But it'll lose velocity right from here to that door. It'll have no velocity. So, yeah, back to the Glock thing. So, look, the Glock is a handgun that you can put into a...

a device that turns it into a little a rifle like a rifle because it's got the butt stock right here it folds out so you can take your glock put it in this device fold that out you put a 30 round magazine in there so your handgun just becomes a machine gun looking type of thing it's pretty cool and you have that yeah you have all that shit i have all that shit oh okay

So do you just like prance around your house with your guns, one in each arm? Full tack gear. Bulletproof vest, helmet, night vision. And what are your thoughts when purchasing all this gear? I'm so cool. What do you do? I'm just curious. Honestly, I don't know. The thought process, it's childish.

Like shit, this is all the stuff that you want when you're a kid, right? Yeah. Yeah. I get that. I get that. There's no rationale behind it. Just for the fun of it. Just for the fun of it. What kid doesn't want to play with guns? So Nevada, if you guys come visit me, right? I load it all up in the trunk. We go into the desert. As long as you're half a mile from the freeway, you can start shooting.

Okay, so those are the rules. Yeah. So the land is federally owned. They're not private. It's called BLM land. BLM land? Bureau of Land Management. Wow. Okay. Black Lives Matter land. And then you can go shoot anything.

anywhere you want so i would just take you guys to some nook and cranny in the desert we put our own targets up bottles and just start shooting sounds like a good time yeah yeah that that that does sound kind of fun are there are there laws where like like okay so there's laws where you can't drink and drive obviously are there laws where you can't like drink and fire firearms is there anything like that if you go to ranges yeah you can't be intoxicated but if you just went into the desert who's gonna fucking know

I'm saying like a cop put like... Like if so happened a cop were to be there and you guys were drinking beers, shooting guns, like would you guys get fined or arrested? Haven't happened. I don't know. Probably not good. What about like accidental fire? Because if you're saying like half a mile out and then you're just shooting around, but I mean, bullets go pretty far. Yeah. You know what I mean? Well, to my understanding, correct me if I'm wrong, James, they actually don't go that far because they like drop to the ground rather quickly, right?

The bullet succumbs to gravity rather quickly. Let's put a yardage to this. Rifles have an effective range, I think, 1,500 yards. Oh, so that's a long way. It's almost a mile. 15 football field. So there's two... 15 football fields. There's a range where it still can kill someone, and obviously it loses so much speed that even if it does hit somebody, it won't kill them. So the effective kill range is, I think, the...

1500 for like sniper rifles. Yeah Distance wise well by handgun a lot less. Yeah, I would figure like three full fields Yeah effective kill range around there how many football fields So do you would you guys buy guns? I would yeah I would like like like I used to I would I used to be like pretty heavily on the side of I wouldn't yeah But if I were in the States right now, and I was in a state that was pretty lax about it like in Nevada Yeah, yeah, I probably probably

Just to have. Silence or just to have. Just to have.

Yeah, I would go a lot. You know me. You know me. There's no in between. There's no middle ground. Yeah. If I'm going to do it, I'm just going to go out. I'm going to get concealed carry, the silencer, night vision goggles, everything. Double 15 AK-47s. Hey, look what I just got. But there is a lot of people that just don't understand guns at all. I'm sure. They just don't know how the thing works. They don't understand the physics behind it, even how a gun works. Exactly.

So they're, they're ignorant about it. And then they're just very against guns. Well, like, yeah, it really depends on your environment. Like if you ask me, like living in China, would I ever in my wildest dreams want there to be like legal, uh,

in China, emphatically I would say no. No, I wouldn't either. Emphatically I would say no. Like, I enjoy the idea knowing that I can walk out on the street and not have to worry about getting shot. Yeah, as a gun owner, I would want that too. Like, I enjoy that. And I would fight for that. But, if I'm in the States where the genie's already out of the bottle, it's no going back, everyone else has a gun, okay, fuck it, I'll get one too then. But, I mean, I guess that's the problem maybe. I don't know. What is the problem?

That everyone fucking has guns. That's a problem. What is the problem? That is a problem. What's the problem? When people are walking around with assault rifles, like human citizens just walking around with assault rifles, like pretending they're like badasses. Yeah. You know what I mean? Trying to uphold the law in their mind.

I think that's wrong. But that's the minority of people. Like, let's make it clear. Like, the majority, as far as I understand, the majority of gun owners in America are responsible gun owners. They're educated. They know how to take care of firearms. They know how to use it. And they're responsible about it. But you're going to get bad apples who are just stupid and crazy, right? And those are the people you're going to hear about.

And those are the people out there doing damage. Yeah, and criminals are going to get their hands on guns regardless how many laws you come out. Even if there are, you know, complete ban. If you want it, you're going to find a way to. There's a way. As long as there's money, there's a way. Yeah. All right. Well, I wasn't expecting we were going to talk so much about guns on Halloween. But you mentioned Black Lives Matter. So did that...

Did that really affect you in Nevada? Was that in Vegas at all? There was some rioting, mostly in LA. From my vicinity and what I could see, it was all in LA. Vegas, they kept it pretty under control because the casinos are mobs, right? They have their own security. You can't really go fuck with them. But there were some demonstrations on the street. And I think the whole black... It's stupid, right?

The whole thing is just stupid. I don't see the point behind it. Can you elaborate on that? All right. Hold on. One second. One second. A lot of worms in there. Get the popcorn out. So I think America is already pretty good in terms of equality and treating everybody fairly. It's like the beacon of equality in the world.

Okay, like I just feel like it treats my irony with a lot of thought behind it They're like hey, let's make sure these people don't get like, you know fucked over Let's make sure they they're they're responsible. Hey, you can't say this word because they they're gonna get their feelings hurt If I can look at China, you can do all those things, right? But America is like that one country that goes okay We got to make sure everybody is and yet you get the most revolt from there. Why why is that? Why are you picking on America?

It's already like setting the gold standard of being equal to everybody, right? But you have the biggest riots over what inequality and all that bullshit. I don't get it. Go pick on another country. There's countries with far crazier racial injustice, right? But you pick America. Why? Well, okay. I think there's off the top of my head. I think there's two things to address here.

one thing is that we have to understand that yes in terms of outwardly I agree with you in terms of

politically correct culture, diversity. These are all always at the forefront of talk and discussion in America, for sure. - Equal employment. - Equal employment, gender equality, all these things. They're always a talk. But I think for a lot of people who live in disenfranchised areas and communities,

I feel the talk does not match the reality that they're facing based off of what I am understanding from what they are saying. Right? So I think that babies, no, if it's cry babies, it's like, it's like, yes, you're putting out this message of equality, but that's not actually the reality of things. So it's like, we're trying to divert your attention by talking about it, but we're actually, we're not actually doing anything about it. Number one. Okay. But that's debatable. That's completely debatable. So I don't, I don't really know, but,

Well, my second point is, what you have to understand is, well, let's, the whole, the current Black Lives Matter movement, where did it spark from? It sparked from police brutality.

So it wasn't yet this bigger issue of like all these things that we're talking about right now. There was a very specific case of police brutality that kind of ignited the whole thing. And we have to understand that in the Black Lives Matter movement and camp, there are several, several different factions of people who are believing and pushing different things. They're not that united, right?

There are people who are like, okay, we want to keep this message on police brutality. There are other people who are like, no, fuck you. It's our time to rise up and take it back. There are also other bad players within the movement trying to corrupt the message. I mean, it's not like this united front of people who are all on the same page. It's not like that. So from what I understand, the real Black Lives Matter movement in its current form

was really about fighting against police brutality. And of course, we saw what happened and we've seen what's been happening.

So if we just address that issue, I mean, that is an issue that I think definitely needs to be addressed. Never mind everything else, right? Police brutality, if you confine it to just that, okay, we should address it. They should be better trained. There's no argument against that, right? Nobody's going to say we want more police brutality. But I don't think we should make it into a racial thing. Black, white, Indian, Asian, like, it's not a racial thing. It's just...

Police shouldn't be beating up people or killing them. It's not racial. Well, it's easy for you to say it's not racial when you're not the one being beat up. But when you witness, if you're in a community of people that you think are only being targeted...

for like the vast majority of times that it's happening then you're like okay wait a minute um there seems to be a little imbalance here like you know then then you're gonna be like if police were only brutalizing like chinese people then you'd be like what the fuck has happened what the fuck dude you would be like you would be the same so it's easy for us to be like okay it's not a racial thing which i agree on principle yeah

But if you're the one actually being brutalized and you notice a pattern where it's like, oh, it happens way out of proportion in your community versus others, then you're kind of like, okay, maybe there's a little more happening going on here. It depends on how you portray yourself, I think. If you're like, you know, dress cleanly, you're respectful and you obey the communication between the officer and yourself, I don't think you're going to get beat up.

Whatever race you are. But if you address yourself in like, you know, some... Confrontational way. Yeah. Or like resisting. Or you're going to be like an asshole. You're going to be like just disrespectful. You're going to be like, you're dressed up in like this crazy ass, I don't know what you want to call it, like fucking shit. And then of course you're going to get picked on, you know? It's how you portray, how you want it to be. Well, okay. What you're talking about is stereotypes, right? So like the stereotypes of certain people

ways of dressing or ways of behavior, right? Whether or not you want to call it as hip-hop culture or street culture or whatever. I think that's what you're trying to allude to. Have you guys seen that Chris Rock show? Way back in the days, it's like how not to get beat by the police. Like, listen, be courteous, and then you'll be fine. I think that's fine. And back to that, I think police do have to have certain...

protection um to be because they got to protect themselves they yeah in america it's not china it's you don't know what the other person has in his hands they have unless you ban all guns right then nobody has guns i think we can reduce the level of police um force but if it's there and anybody

Like myself can have a fucking silencer. And then the police has to have that level of protection. Yeah, you're always tense. You're always on edge. You can't lower that degree to a place where it's like, oh, let me be so courteous to the point where like, you know, I'm just going to get shot. You know? So... Well, I think the biggest issue is there are a bunch of people...

historically speaking that get singled out right and even get approached by a police officer for whatever reason get questioned and whatever because that person looks suspicious yeah but the suspicious idea i mean maybe in your eyes is someone that's dressed a little more thuggy or whatever yeah but maybe in a different situation where i've seen examples of they are not and they

they're just black or they're just, you know what I mean? A certain, a certain look. Yeah. You know what I mean? Even like celebrities, you know, like NBA players just normally dressed nicely on the street, get tackled by police because they thought they, they look like somebody, you know what I mean? It's just like, I've seen these videos and, and it's not like it's a lie. I mean, it happens.

So on one side, I can understand what you're trying to say, James, which is, yeah, if you're cooperative and you treat officers with a certain amount of respect, if they treat you back with respect, everything will be hunky-dory. Everything will be okay. But a lot of situations are a lot more complex than that. And that's where the imbalances come in. And that's where the whole movement stems from.

is the fact that it is not balanced. It is not, you know, so black and white. But the world is not perfect. Of course. Right? So, and in the police force, out of a hundred cops, you're going to have like two or three bad apples in there. Yeah. And they're causing all the, and there's 90, 97 good apples in there. Yeah. Yeah. And you're going to have, and they're going to have, fuck the police. Fuck the police.

So I think the police have a pretty tough job. - Oh, for sure. - Yeah. - And going forward, it's so tough now because like, number one, who wants to be a cop now? And number two is like, if you're like a good guy wanting to like protect and serve, I guess, right? And be a police officer, like that job is just so much, so much tougher for you now.

And there's so much more stigma that goes with it. So the whole idea of defunding the police, I'm so against that. I think if anything, you need to give the police more funding. Better training. Because all that requires funding. If you want better training, better quality of people, higher standards, better care, all these things and support, then you need to fund it more to increase it. If you fund it less, the police brutality is just going to get worse because you're going to get more and more...

like non-quality people in there you know i mean i think the other thing that we need to keep into put into consideration is like yes you have to ask yourself why are these people applying to become police officers to begin with right so i mean i don't know the answer for that it could be because i want to be a positive influence in my community and uphold the law but it also could be

For some people, a power trip. Yeah, I want to be a bully. Or I'm a bully. Or like, by wearing the badge and carrying a gun, people better respect me. You know what I mean? Oh, there are definitely cops like that. No, 100%. And just by... You can smell the smugness. Yeah. You know what I mean? When they walk around. They're dicks. No, there are people, right, that you see, and then when they hear something...

someone that they know like became a cop they're like that guy became a cop oh bro dude that guy should not be a cop you know like people who know him and i grew up with him are like well that mother that crazy motherfucker yeah dude that is a bad idea for him to be a lot of those guys that happens all the time officers yeah yeah well that's just the way of the world well it's because it's a standard like i don't i'm speaking out of school i don't know

But it seems like, you know, it's easier probably to become a police officer than it is to be a doctor or a surgeon or a lawyer, right? A different skill set. Yeah. So when you lower the bar like that, obviously you're going to get a bunch of bad apples in there, right? But when you raise the bar, are you going to eliminate all the bad apples altogether? No. But you're going to make it a lot better. And that requires higher standards, more funding, right? More attention. More training. Yeah, more training.

All that stuff. More screening in terms of who you let in to become a cop. It's like a surgeon. Not anyone can just become a surgeon. Okay, so let's just brainstorm real quickly. Maybe we don't need to spend too much time on this, but brainstorm real quickly. What are some solutions that could be taken? We're going to solve this. We're going to solve this right here, right now. On the honest straight. We're going to solve police brutality in America. I'm not saying solve it, but I'm just saying some ideas. So for example, the reason why I said this is because something just popped in my mind. I have never thought...

deeply about the police situation in America and how to solve it at all. But just now we're talking about it, so it popped in my mind. I was like, okay, well, what if there are different levels of power?

Right? So you have like your typical people, like patrollers, right? That patrol the town, patrol the city. China, the police. Yeah. Yeah. Because there's different levels of cops. Yeah. So you got patrollers. China does have a pretty good system of policing. Yeah. Like think about the population here and think about how little crime and how safe it is here. Like, like they're doing something right. Like,

Like they're fucking doing something right. And you hardly ever see cops on the street. But like it's safe. Like everyone knows it's safe. You walk out here, you don't feel in danger at all. With all this population, the biggest population in the world, like come on. You know what I mean? Like they're doing something right. But the level of criminality behind China, it's not as violent.

violent as this states in terms of violence right so here's all petty theft here like a little robbery there but I think that is in part to do with

the quality of policing you get and the quality of like, and the danger you're in if you do do these things. I mean, like, like it all comes together, you know, it's not just like, we can't just sum it up as like, oh, Chinese people are just less violent. No, I think they can be every bit as violent as any other country or race. But the culture here and the system here has worked to a certain degree where when we talk about violence and crime,

Hey, I mean, it is pretty safe here. It is pretty good here. Yeah? I mean, that is pretty much undeniable. Yeah. Talk to anybody. They all say the same thing. Safest city they've ever been in their whole life and all around the world. So anyway, I'm sorry to cut you off. No, no, no. So I'm saying, what if there's different levels of power, right? And so basically any type of one-on-one interaction, you have to lease power. You know what I mean? It's all about, for example, like...

you know, first level is just basically assessing situation and just, you know, check and make sure everybody is not breaking the law, street traffic, petty calls, blah, blah, blah, like that kind of stuff, right? And number two, your next level is maybe you have some sort of protection or some sort of like lockdown mechanism, right?

handcuffing or something like that, but that's about it. There's no like killing, nothing that can kill somebody. You know what I mean? And then maybe the third level is basically it's like a bank robbery or like, you know, there's like a, there's a gun on site and stuff like that. You got to call in people with actual self-defense weaponry, you know, so like different levels like that. So like domestic abuse, there's the type of cops that deals with that. Yeah. Yeah. Things like that. Like, like for different, for different categories of crimes, there's different cops. Yeah.

But that might slow down the response time because if you're on site and something's happening, you have to call someone else in to handle this situation. And you're kind of almost powerless to do anything about it, right? I mean, I'm just picking holes in it. Yeah, sure. You know, what I think would help, and again, I don't know what the numbers behind this would support, but I don't think a police should be a blue-collar job. Because right now, it's a blue-collar job. Why do you say that? Because I think the power...

And the nature of what police do requires it to be of a higher standard. How do you categorize blue collar then? I'm just curious. I don't know specifically how, but is it not a blue collar job? Being a cop is a blue collar job. These people are not making the same as lawyers and surgeons are. They're not.

they're, it's blue collar for the most part. So I don't think it should be that. I feel the standards should be raised so high to be a police officer where number one, they're getting paid more. They're getting paid like a doctor would. The amount of training and knowledge and quality of character and everything that needs to go into becoming a cop needs to be just as high, if not higher to become one.

So you get rewarded for it. It's a good point. So it becomes a high status job, like a doctor or a lawyer, right? And it's not blue collar anymore. And they're getting paid, rewarded for that, but they have to take on that responsibility, right? In a responsible manner where the screening and filtering of these people become so high that like, you know, you're only getting quality people through. Now, obviously I haven't thought this whole idea through. I mean, maybe...

by doing that you're never going to get enough cops to control the population and you'll have a numbers problem there maybe which goes back to the tiered thing yeah that goes back to the tier thing so maybe it's a hybrid of the two ideas i don't know it's like it's almost like elite forces right in a way right so it's like the elite forces come in aka the police officer because you you trained enough you you qualify mentally from an iq level from an eq level

to become a police officer, right? So that when you get called in, it's because it's some major shit. Because I'm just thinking in terms of like, just logically, like what other job asks you to put your life, besides the military, ask you to put your life in harm's way on a day-to-day basis and gets paid so little for it? They don't get paid that little.

From my own understanding, cops in Silicon Valley, they work one day, they get the second day off. They work another day. It's all staggered like that. And they make around... Like 40, 50? 80 to 100. No. Really? Just your normal street cop? Yeah. Obviously not the first year, right? Let's talk about somebody like five, six years into the force. I would guess like 40, 50. We can look it up right now. It's somewhere close to 100K and more.

That's not bad. Yeah, that's not bad. Yeah, the cops are paid pretty well. Are they? Yeah. Okay. Then that just blows my whole argument out of the water. No, but because when you end up growing up in the States, you think of cops as a blue-collar job. You don't think of that as in the same level as being a surgeon, right? It's like two different levels, right, in terms of status in society and pay. Like surgeons can go home to their mansion and their penthouse, you know, like, you know, but you don't really see that's not how cops live.

on a whole. Yeah. Right? And obviously there's a lot more cops than there are surgeons for sure. But,

What I'm saying is I just feel generally what I'm trying to say is I just feel that standard to become a cop should be high and it should be really hard to become a cop. It shouldn't be easy. It shouldn't just be like, hey, me and you out of high school, let's go apply to be a cop, go through police academy. Hey, we're a cop. You know what I mean? I think the screening should be like really strict and it should be like really tough to become a job, to become a cop. And it should be like really rewarding to become a cop. Like, oh, I made it there. You know, where you really value the position where

where you really like hold dear like the work you put in to become a cop yep instead of just being like hey i'm a cop okay now what you know i mean kind of thing i always wanted to be a cop actually really yeah really yeah i never said that you were like a motorcycle drive motorcycle racer was almost or formula one racer that's like dream but like you know as an everyday thing it's pulling people over give them some tickets see you're the exactly the type of person that shouldn't be a cop he has like 50 guns how

How fun is this? We're talking about power trips, right? And he's like, yeah, I was wondering if you could pull people over, give them tickets. I can bend them to my will. It's not the power trip. I don't have that power trip where I get a high off of ordering people. I just think it's pretty fun to drive around.

Talk on a walkie talkie with my buddy. Hey, well, you got that. Like you scan over there. I'll hunt them over here. Like we're speeding, right? Keywords, dude. Keywords.

I will hunt them. No, like you get the radar. Check it out. You get on overpass. So Justin will stand on top with his radar, shoots down the car. And then I'm in the other vehicle, like ready to go on the off ramp, like to go chase the speeders. How fun a job is that to do that, right? It's like, I don't know. Maybe for one time, but like do it on a daily basis. You are the cowboy that cannot become a cop. To...

No, I would be very curious. That'd be very nice. Like, what's the problem? I don't say anything. It's just, I think it would be a fun job. Let's shift the conversation. Yeah. Let's move on. Let's talk about, well, just for the listeners, James, because of the things you're saying, I want people to understand kind of like where you're coming from and your background. Okay. So where were you born?

I was born in Shanghai. So you're Shanghainese. Yeah. Yeah. You're full blown Shanghainese. I mean, you've lived in Shanghai many years and you know, I'm 50, 50 in terms of, I counted when I was like 36, I lived half of my life in the States, half of my life in China. Yeah. So I think that's really important for people to understand when they hear you talk about these things because you're, you, you've had equal experience on both sides of that fence in China and you're Chinese and you were born in Shanghai. Um,

But you're also very American. Yeah. Right? Quote, unquote. I can fit in both country. Like...

Like a fish in the water. I don't get awkward like feeling weird or... I fit right in. Yeah, well that's what I really appreciate about you because like you are like... Hybrid. Yeah, you're really a hybrid. You're so ingrained on like both sides, right? Like you can just go into like the most local Shanghainese like hole in the wall here and just like fit in right away. Speak Shanghainese with them and just like understand the culture completely and live it completely.

And you can go into like fucking Nevada. In-N-Out Burger. In-N-Out Burger with all your guns. And like, you know, you're just like in that community completely. The only thing he's missing is a cowboy hat. They always make fun of me for that because I drive a truck and I got guns. They're like, who are you? I'm actually pretty envious. Just like you said, Justin. It's to be able to swiftly go back and forth on both sides so deeply is amazing. Well, it's...

It's a privilege. Yeah, it is. It's a privilege because the problem is the vast majority of people in this world, no matter what country they're from, can't do that. Yeah. We're in a very privileged situation now.

Where we get to kind of like see both sides and talk about things with that experience and from that perspective. Whereas most people live their whole life in their own bubble. Now, whether that bubble is a racial bubble, a national bubble, a political bubble, whatever bubble. And of course, we're in our own bubbles in many ways. But...

In terms of when we talk about countries and nationality and all these subjects, we're not because we have one foot on each side. Yeah, we do. Right? Between East and West. And actually, so looking at my own life, it's really interesting because a lot of people come to China, what, like for X amount of time and then when they graduate...

Sorry, let me start that over. So people come to the States to study and then... From China. From China. And then they go back to China. I kind of went the opposite way. So I came to China after college for 10 years. And then I went back to America for another five years. So I'm getting a lot of the duality. So I have like... You know how you stay in a place for a while and it kind of changes you for a little bit? Mm-hmm.

You guys have been changed by China for the past 10 years. Oh, for sure. In a way, mentally. Because everything... And then when I went back to the States, I felt like the States was changing me again when I was there. It's really interesting. So, like, I have a little bit more different perspective now than when I was living in China. It's really interesting. That's a really good point. Because you keep bouncing back and forth, bouncing back and forth. Five years there, dude. Yeah. Where you're not letting one place completely reshape you too much because you keep bouncing back and forth. Right, right. Yeah, that's a really good point. So, like...

Okay, so what the fuck is going on right now with America in terms of, like, let's talk about the election, because the election is coming up, what, like, next Tuesday, or when is it? Next week. Next week. Yeah. What day is it? November 4th, 3rd? No, 3rd, right? November 3rd is the election? Yeah, 3rd. Is it the 3rd? I think it's the 3rd. I think it's the 3rd. So I got my ballot in the mail. Did you vote already? The day my plane departed, so I couldn't vote. So are you going to vote? How are you going to vote? I can't, I can't. So you're not going to vote? I can't. I'm in China.

So who would you vote for if you could vote? Trump, of course. Okay. So here we go. Yeah. I remember last time you guys had the told Trump conversation with the other guest here. We're not very fond of Trump on this show, but. Well, this is a great conversation. Exactly. I was just listening. I was like, oh my God, I wish I could just chime in.

and like give them a different perspective on things. Hey, the floor is yours, James. The floor is yours. No, you guys ask the questions. And the same stuff, the topic that you guys talked about, I want to chime in onto it. Okay. Yeah. Trump. Yes. Why? Okay, you don't have to give your whole like soliloquy on why, but like just give me some quick bullet points of why Trump. I don't have the quick bullet points. Name? Okay, we'll start the conversation this way then.

What has he done that's so bad? Wait, hold on. No, you think it's a joke, but seriously. No, no, no, no, no, no. I get you. Okay. No, because you know me, James. You know me. You know me, too. Yeah, no, like, you know me of all people. Like, I'm pretty open-minded when it comes to this kind of shit, right? Okay. Here's my whole deal with the whole situation, right? And while I have admitted that of recent time I am very much against Trump,

If you remember, in the early days, right when he got elected, me and you were talking and we were pretty excited about the fact that he got elected. We're like, oh, he's this outsider. Let's give him a chance. I was giving him so much benefit of the doubt. And I was like, how cool, guys. Let's not rip on him. And I just felt like late night shows and everything, they were bullying him. Okay, so you know where I come from. So I haven't always been anti-Trump.

What I am now though, after having listened, because I know a lot of people who are also pro-Trump. Trump has a lot of support. Let's not be naive about that. He has a ton of support, deep support. But where I stand now personally is that I almost just don't give a shit anymore. Because I just feel like the whole thing is fucked up. The whole thing is corrupted. The whole political system. The whole political, but not just the political system.

especially the media. So whether it's Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times, whatever it is, I've decided not to buy into any of them anymore. Because it's so obvious they're each just spinning their own agendas. It's no more objective journalism anymore. Like that's dead in America. That's dead. So I've just removed myself where I like, okay,

I can't fall victim to thinking that I'm right, I'm justified because that's how the people that are on the other side, that's exactly how they feel about them, about their perspective and the people they support. So there's a certain amount of awareness you have to kind of exercise to be like, okay, this whole thing is just a fucking shit show right now, right? And whether you want to believe this or that,

I choose to pretty much believe none of it anymore because all of it has been corrupted. No matter what side you're on, all the messaging has been corrupted. All the quote-unquote facts have been corrupted. So to me, it's almost a cop-out kind of thing, but I just don't know what to say. I don't know what to believe, and I'd rather just not even like fucking...

pick sides because I think the whole idea, the whole instinct to wanna have to stake your flag on the ground of one side or the other. I have to be this side. I'm left or I'm right. I'm publican or I'm democrat. I'm red or I'm blue. I'm black or I'm white. I'm Chinese or I'm American. I'm like all these things. It's like, it's that very instinct in us to have to pick sides that I think is the fucking problem. Instead, we should just think as individuals without all the fucking messaging around us.

And to me, right now, it's so confusing. And I have to admit, I just don't know what to think. Preach on, motherfucker. Preach on. Yeah? I agree. The whole system is fucked. So right now, I'm not anti or pro anybody. Okay. Because I just think the whole thing is fucked. Yeah, it is. Well, I think, okay, so I'm going to chime in. I'm going to add in real quick with Justin saying, because I'm wholly agreeing that

and I think we've said this a lot, right. On, on the show a bunch of times about, um, media being the biggest force of manipulation. Yeah. Um, it's been a recurring. Yeah. Forget about like left and right. Forget about Republican and Democrat. I mean, media is just, um, skewing side, like, uh, sides, um, in a really negative way. Um, that you don't even know what's fact anymore. Right. So I agree with you. 100% media is just like shit. Um,

But going on that, when you said that you don't know who to believe anymore, you don't know who to trust anymore, I feel like at the same time, if one were to spend the time and effort to, I don't know, like read up or watch all the different type of media outlets that are sharing news, as long as different messaging based off of a certain same topic, you can kind of see the differences, right? And then you can kind of put it all together and form your own opinion.

I mean, in the end, one thing that a lot of my friends hate when I say is I think Trump's, I mean, Trump, based off of his character and his values and the way he speaks and what he believes in and his lies, I just don't buy into his value system. And then Biden is a fucking tool as well. And he's basically just a, I mean, honestly, he's pretty much just a puppet.

So both of them are just idiots, in my opinion. You know what I mean? And so then you have to ask yourself, you're in a situation now where you have no other choice because it's not like you have a third voice coming up. It's not like you have any other options. Well, what do you do? Right? Okay. Sorry. Go ahead. All right. So let me set the – we kind of jumped into that a little fast. Let me set the – Head first. Head first. Let me set the line here.

I'm not saying Trump is a great president, okay? I'm not saying he's awesome. I'm not saying he's perfect. He's actually a pretty bad president. Like, I think Obama's a better president. Like, just how he carries himself. But the problem right now is that I think...

Trump isn't as bad as people think he is because they literally want to tear out his guts and set it on flame, right? Why do they want to do that? It's because they don't like him as a person. They just don't like him as a person. They don't like his demeanor, his mood, the stuff that he says. But they're so blinded by that hate. They're just...

Oh, I hate that guy so much. I'm like, fuck that guy. Like, they don't see anything else that he does. Period. Like, that's how... And I think that's unfair to Trump. Like what, though? Well, not... What do you mean? Everybody's on the bandwagon of fuck Trump. Yeah, but take away his character. Take away that you're saying, right? You're blinded by his character. You're blinded by his personality. Take that away. Okay, what has he done? I think he's done a great job on the coronavirus. Yeah. Yeah.

- Mind blowed. - No, mind blowed. - Yeah, so how are you gonna measure the job that he's done? Is it by the number of people die or is it by the economy? What scale are you gonna be using? - By any of it. - By death? - All of it. - All of it? - Yeah, so let's take the number of affected, the number of deaths and the economy. Have any of those been trending in the right direction?

I think he did a great job by keeping the economy open and just not... Yes, people died. I feel like the economy has been half-assed. And it should have been... It would have been a lot worse if he closed it down longer, though. Let me clarify a thought, though. I believe if any president...

we're in that position where the Corona's virus hit, it would be a really tough job. Yeah. And things wouldn't be like, oh, so great right now if anybody was in there. Yeah. Right. So it would be a tough job for anybody. Okay. So let's just say that. So I'm, I'm being very fair about that, but we cannot sit back because this is from Trump's own words and his own actions that I'm saying this, it's, this is not from like, like the news, like, or late night host telling me something. This is from his own shit. So, um,

He has been pretty much denying the seriousness of this virus from the very, very, very beginning. Now, if you're on the boat of like, you agree with him where, okay, the coronavirus isn't that serious. You know, it's like, it's kind of like the flu. We'll get over it. Well, everything will pass by. It'll blow over. If you're in that, okay, then I can kind of understand where you're coming from, I guess. But if you do believe the coronavirus is a serious thing,

And you turn over and watch Trump and pretty much everything he does, everything he says is signaling to you that he's not taking this virus seriously. He's playing it down, even though he knows it's a serious thing because we heard the Woodward tapes. He's anti-mask. He's anti-social distancing. In the beginning, he was like, oh, it'll blow over. It'll just go away by itself. All these things, like there's countless, like there's a whole laundry list of things that he said that's just like fucking retarded, right?

So, because we're just talking about the coronavirus, we're not talking about all the other things that come with the presidency. We're not talking about his political policies, international policies, just talking about his handling of the coronavirus right now. Then, to me, he's done a terrible job.

He literally lied to the people about the coronavirus. You have to. And he has been continuously lying and playing it down. You have to lie. Why do you have to lie? Because if you tell the truth, like let's say, oh my God, this thing's going to kill you all, right? Everybody's going to go panic.

Like just all the people hoarding the masks and shit. Well, does that speak more to American culture than it does to... Because the whole country would just go into chaos. But China did that. China basically said, oh, this thing is fucking serious. We're fucking locking down millions of people in a city. This is going to kill you. And everyone was like, okay, let's take this shit seriously. And now we're all good. China can do that. Okay. Because Chinese people listen.

Americans, we don't listen to what the government says. Like if you want to lock me down, fuck you. I'm going to kill you all, motherfuckers. That's true. Okay. You're talking about two completely different type of people, right? Chinese people, they're very, very docile. If the government says, okay, stay home, I'm going to stay home. So you think the president should be lying and playing it down to let more people get infected? Yeah.

just to avoid a panic? So the whole death rate is what? People should be panicking over it. If people were panicking over it earlier, then maybe less people would die. I don't know. The whole death rate is like 0.2%, right? So that is... What's the actual number right now in terms of total? That's the actual death rate. And it's not that bad. So if everybody gets infected, you're talking about X amount of people dying. It's kind of like just all old people anyway. So less payment to Social Security. Yeah.

Wow. Okay. How do you... I'm trying to stay open-minded here. I'm trying to be cool, James. I'm trying to be cool. So most of the people, they're not going to die. It's a very small population. And if you're going to...

Let the country go into chaos and forget about locking people down. You can't even get people to wear a mask. How are you going to get Americans to do anything? They're going to do whatever they're going to do. Trump did the exact correct thing. Yeah, but if Trump came out strong and the whole party came out strong with saying the mask is the law. Let me finish. So Trump actually has no power. The Fed doesn't have...

much power at all unlike China where the Fed says this, this happens. Trump, he actually doesn't have that much power. Whatever he says, people are not going to do anyways. So he gave the power to the governors. They're like, hey, each state, you guys kind of decide how your state runs. You guys know your state the best.

whether they're wearing masks, whether they're closed down restaurants and bars. You guys make the decision. Governors, you guys make it. And Texas is different from California. You can't have the same federal one law that make everybody do the same thing. It's just not going to happen. But I think you underestimate the amount of power that the president of the United States has over his own people. I think...

Trump does have a lot of influence and power over his followers, over his constituents. Yes, he does. He does. But he can't make everybody wear masks. He doesn't have the power to do that. But that's okay. Maybe. But that's debatable. But the point is, he didn't even try. Right. Like whether or not it would have been successful is debatable.

But he didn't even try to get people to wear masks. He, from the get-go, he's like, this is nothing. It's the fucking Kung Flu. It'll fucking just go away by itself. And he said this, like, what? Like, back in, like, February or March? And he's like, in a month, this will go away. And here we are. In November now. Or October. You know what I mean? Like, it's... So, like...

I just don't know how he can be... There's many ways that I agree that you can defend Trump and a lot of other things that might be unfairly criticized about him. But in terms of his handling of the coronavirus, just from my own perspective of what I've seen from him directly, I don't think there is anything you can defend Trump with regarding the coronavirus, of his handling of the coronavirus. I think it is completely indefensible. I think...

Like, I mean, he blatantly lied. I mean, like, the fact that the whole, like, Bob Woodward tapes was not, like, not everyone's, like, just jumping up and, like, fucking burning the place down because of that is amazing to me. Because he's literally on tape fucking saying he knows how serious this is. This is going to kill a lot of people. It's much worse than the flu. And this was back in February. It's strategy, though.

And that he's going to lie to the American public. Like, he's literally on tape saying that. Are you saying that political leaders don't lie to the... No. They've all lied. They've all lied. They've all lied. Like, I also... But they shouldn't all get a pass either. And we're talking about Trump in terms of a coronavirus, an actual outbreak that, like, it's a pandemic. Like...

He should not get a pass on that. So you guys are saying he should be more strict. He should make it into more of a bigger deal. Everybody has to take it on more seriously, right? No, he should have just been honest. Like no matter where that road led, he was dishonest about a pandemic. To be dishonest, his reasoning is to not let the economy and let the...

general public go into chaos. But it's still going into chaos anyway. The economy has plummeted. Oh shit, this is coming, but you know what? I'm not going to tell the whole story to my kid. Like, I got to make sure the kid doesn't go crazy. Like, that kind of lie, right? Yeah, but if your kid's life was in danger, would you still lie to him? Yeah, you would still lie. Because you don't... If that, by not lying, you might save your kid's life? Like, what kind of choice is that? That's a bad example, but like...

There has to be a certain kind of lie there to protect the population, I think. So this is a difference of just, I think, principle. It's like this root principle, right? So it's like you have your argument. I understand it. But I just don't agree with that. Even if you use just like let's use another metaphor for the mask because I feel like the mask is just like a big thing.

A big factor in spreading and containing the virus, right? And one reason why Asian countries have been able to contain it a lot better is because of people accepting the mask, right? Now, in the States, you never had the president once say out that everyone needs to wear a mask or even take it to the next level of mandating. If you're in a public area, you need to wear a mask. He let the governors decide.

Like all the government is if you think your state needs the mask, then you guys. Yeah, but that's not leadership. Yeah, exactly. So but at a time of a crisis, if you're letting your middle management be like, okay, you guys call the shots like we're in a crisis right now that will affect the outcome and the bottom line of the bottom line of the company or the existence of this company. Hey, middle management, everyone, you guys decide what you want to tell your own groups like that's not leadership.

That's not why you elect a president. But each state is so different. People in Montana and the way they live and how rural they are is completely different from New York. So you're going to have the exact same mandate for people in Montana and New York? Yeah, why not? Yeah.

seatbelts isn't isn't that a universal you think the virus gives a fuck whether it's this is montana or new york like like it doesn't recognize state lines let's use seatbelts for example right if you're you know you have to wear a law it's a law okay right it's it's for your personal safety i i actually disagree with that law completely as well because you can't harm anybody else other than yourself why is that a law

Like, it's my choice to wear a seatbelt or not. Okay, so like you're in that camp. You're in that whole camp. So like that explains. I can't hurt anybody but myself. Why is that a law? It doesn't make any sense. Give me a reason why that should be a law. Seriously. Because it saves lives. No, but I should have control of my own life, no?

Yeah, but it's about the messaging you put. So as an individual, you're thinking just completely as an individual right now, right? As like, okay, my decision, my life. But what I'm saying is it's the larger message because when you spread a larger message of, hey, seatbelts, it's up to you, whatever you want to do, right? Then generations and after generations of kids growing up in that environment have the mentality of,

Hey, seatbelts are for you. Or like whatever. Like, well, okay. I don't have to have a seatbelt. I would not want my child growing up in an environment, in a society where...

where they can just be like, hey, I can drink and drive because drink and driving. - No, drinking and driving, you're gonna kill other people. So there should be a law. - Okay, so I cannot wear a seatbelt. I can do it, it's my body, my choice, right? - I'm a firm believer that the government-- - It's about the larger message. - Shouldn't have any power over what you do to yourself.

Okay, but here is a really good differentiation between the masks and the seatbelt. A seatbelt, maybe you have a point. Maybe you have a point because it maybe only affects you. It just hurts yourself. Yeah, but a mask, because we're talking about a virus, without wearing a mask, and if you have the coronavirus, you are spreading that to other people. So it's no longer just limited to yourself. Agreed. It's about society's health. Agreed. Society's safety, right? Community health.

So, yeah, fucking say it. Exactly. Fucking say it. What's the big deal?

Wear the mask. He did. He never said, don't wear a mask. He just says, don't, don't, don't. He's implied that several times. He's made it very clear. Exactly. Wear a mask if you want to wear a mask. And I think you should. He said, if you want, but I'm not going to wear a mask. He followed it up by saying that. Let's not forget that. He's like, wear a mask if you want, but I'm not going to wear a mask because I ain't no pussy. The virus is so new. Two, three months into this, when the thing virus has started, I,

i i think nobody knows what the hell is going on how dangerous it is how um the kill how much it'll kill you and then doctors are like all 50 50 on the wall wear a mask don't wear a mask 50 of doctors are like don't wear a mask in america yeah doctors literally on tv says i'm doctor blah blah blah you don't need to wear a mask don't wear a mask i don't think there's a single credible legitimate doctor no later on that will change they all changed

when the thing that says it's like airborne and you can spread it when you have no symptoms. So it says at that point, they says, okay, everybody should wear a mask. They changed all their tone. But at the beginning, it was very 50-50. And there wasn't like a... And now that six, a year into it, then now we all know, okay, mask is effective. And yeah, everybody should wear a mask. But at the beginning, the very beginning, three months into it, nobody knows the answer. Yeah, but Trump's still holding rallies where...

people attending rallies aren't wearing a mask and they're all bunched up right next to each other. Like, he's purposely holding these rallies now. It's like, okay. It's like...

Like, I get it. You have to campaign. You know what I mean? But at the same time, like, if you really cared about the virus, which he clearly doesn't care about. Trump is the kind of person that you just have to understand, look, what kind of person he is. He's not a person of principle. He is a person of 100% selfishness. Of course. So he's going to do or say whatever it takes to get a certain amount of votes and

a certain amount of backing and he understands now that his type of rhetoric now he can lie he doesn't care because his constituents don't care and his followers don't care so he can be like that you know what I'm saying and if you buy into that then I mean I don't want to get into that type of like judging a character or anything like that but

I mean, you just... That's the person you're going to support? You know, a person that has no moral value and all he cares about is himself? But he actually does make America better. A lot of things. Let me explain. Let me explain. Okay. So...

He wakes up in the morning how to make America more richer and more prosperous. He collected, he got the taxes that all of the tax relief from China that shouldn't be there. He canceled all that stuff. He goes into, let's say he goes into the WHO. He goes, why am I paying this bill every year? Nobody else is paying shit.

Fuck that. I'm out. Right? So all other presidents, they don't do that. So they kind of just play the ball. But he's the actual one that goes in there and really fixes the things that should. NAFTA trade deals, it's unfair for the U.S. But it only benefits Canada and Mexico. He goes, fuck that. I'm out of that accord. Whatever that he feels is not good for America, he actually does something about it. Whereas all the other presidents. That's the best point you made. Because that's something I've always believed in as well. I've always felt that his actual policies...

In terms of the actual decisions he's making on policy. He's making America better. But the media never publicizes that. Exactly. Never talks about it. Exactly. They talk about his tweets. They talk about his rallies. Exactly. But they don't talk about the actual policies he's making. So I'm on board with that shit. And he's put on a double standard. Anything he does, if it's a little bit bad, it gets blown out of proportion. Fucking Dick Cheney and Bush took us to war in Iraq. It has no...

WMDs, he gets what? Scots free. He should be on a military trial being judged for crimes against humanity. Okay. But what? Nobody says even a slight like bad word about Bush. I agree with you on that. I agree with you on that. Imagine if Trump led US into a war and didn't find any weapons there. Oh my God. He'd be like lynched. But see, this is why I distrust all media. Yeah. You know, because like, it's like, you can't trust anything you see right now. And I've witnessed this personally. Yeah.

when it comes to American media on China. Because there is no objective factual journalism regarding China in America. It doesn't exist. Everything is spun to make China the enemy. And the thing I'm worried about is like, you know, America is so determined and so resolved to make China its enemy.

and people are believing what they're hearing about it, which is like, which is just once I, because I can see that because I'm actually in China and I'm seeing the news and I'm like, wait a minute, this is not factual at all. You know what I mean? It's not fact. It's like ridiculous, but people are believing it. So it makes me think about, okay, well, what are my beliefs that I feel like, oh, I so believe in that maybe I'm just being brainwashed. So,

Having had this experience, when we talk about Trump, even though, yes, I'm pretty kind of anti-Trump, but I'm pulling away right now, is the fact that maybe my beliefs aren't so accurate anymore. Maybe my emotions are taking over and I'm not actually looking at the larger facts of things. And maybe I'm not looking at it from a completely fair perspective or a completely objective perspective, which is almost impossible these days.

Because I've seen what it has done in other examples, primarily when it comes to China, things like that. So I've seen the spin. I've seen the misinformation dissected out there.

So that applies to everything. It applies to Trump. It applies to the Black Lives Matter movement. It applies to all these things. And then going back to what I started this conversation with, why is there so much hatred on him? What has he actually done that is so bad for America that he's done? I mean, he's a dumbass on stage. He doesn't say the right stuff. Everything's wrong on his character. He lies here. But what has he done that harmed America so much? Well, okay, let me play devil's advocate one time.

Did he get us into a war? No. But okay, as with any leader of anything, the buck stops with you, right? Yeah. Okay. So what has he done for or not for America in terms of where it is now? If we look at America in its state today. No, no, no. My question is, what has he done that's so bad that's earned him the reputation of, I want to pull this guy's guts out and set it on flame? Well, let's look at the state of America today. Is it not...

the most divided you can remember ever? - It's because of the media. - Since maybe like the Civil War, like the literal Civil War, like has it not been so divided? - That's not Trump's, it's not because of Trump that America's divided though. - Hey, the buck stops with him when you're the leader.

Like, you can't be a CEO of the company and the company is drowning and you'd be like, well, that's not because of me. Hey, no matter what, the buck stops with you, buddy, right? So it's like, let's look at the state that America is in today. Okay. Because of all these things, whether it's racial tensions, political division, like whatever it is, right? Like poverty, like everything. Homelessness, the lack of employment.

Hey, man, the fuck stops with him. And I would say this if it was any president. It has something to do with Trump. If it was Obama in office today, I'd be like, the fuck stops with him. Well, but everything's kind of like crap right now because of the coronavirus. If the coronavirus had not happened. So who didn't fucking control the coronavirus?

Okay, okay, hold on. I understand, I understand. So if the coronavirus didn't happen, he would win this election hands down. Like, no problem, okay? I agree with that. Everybody is living good. Nobody's like... Even with the coronavirus, like, it's a 50-50 toss-up, like, who's going to win this election. Imagine if the coronavirus didn't happen. Exactly. Like, Trump would clearly win. People are living pretty good in America the past four years, up until the coronavirus happened, and then everything kind of went to shit. But I just think...

He would win it by a landslide.

Because everybody's doing good. Everybody's making money. The stock market's highest it's ever been, right? Oh, is it right now? Before the coronavirus happened. Yeah, but you can't judge the economy just based on the stock market. Right, but I'm just saying that people's lives... But what do you mean by everybody's making money? I know a ton of people in America that are not making money at all right now. In fact, it's the opposite. Not right now, but prior to the outbreak. Even before the outbreak. Before the outbreak? I have plenty of friends exactly. Really? Yeah. Yeah.

100%. Well, unemployment and homelessness was a problem. That's the lowest it's ever been. No, it was a problem before the outbreak. And the outbreak just made it just like fucking on turbo. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, so, okay. I don't know. But like prior to the outbreak, everybody was living pretty good in my field of view. There weren't any like, everybody's happy. All this, everything, like you can, I can tell like people are buying new cars, the,

RV sales are really good. Like, people are going on vacation. You bought an RV, right? Yeah, I bought an RV. Yeah, we got to travel around in your RV. We got to do that food trip. No, I'm serious. Like, we have to do that food trip sometime in America. I got to stop by all the good food places. RVs are fun, man, because you can just drive everywhere. And then America's set up really well because there's all these campsites that you pay $40, $50 a day, and then you hook up with electricity, water, sewer, everything. No, now we're talking about RVs. No, but like...

Like, you know, James, you know I always appreciate your view. I come in. I'm not saying I'm right. I'm not saying Trump is great. I just want to give a different perspective into this conversation because this conversation has always been bashing Trump. It's so one-sided. It's so one-sided. Everybody sits down and goes, fuck him. I want to fuck that guy. I've noticed that. There's nothing. There's no conversation. And you know why they want to fuck him? Because they don't like his character.

That's it. I just don't like his demeanor. I don't like the way he talks. I don't like he's selfish. That's why I don't like him. That's it. So I'm just bringing a little different perspective into the conversation. That's it. And I appreciate that. I really do. I really do. And I agree with that perspective in terms of like, look, I'm not pro-Trump at all, but in many ways, he has gotten an unfair shake of things in terms of like his, his,

Like how he's publicized. Democrats try to take him out. The day he sat into office, they've been just scheming. It's been a hit job, yeah. Trying to get him out of... Trying to impeach him. But Trump hasn't done himself any favors at the same time either. He doesn't know how to not be himself, you know? He's that... He's kind of like always... But you can separate a person's character and their actions. Because you're saying that we're so like...

reactive based off of his character and his you know whatever but like if you're not going to judge a person by their character i would judge a person by what he does he could be a pompous ass dick but if he's making um the stuff that he does is better in my life they go they go hand in hand does it of course your decisions that you make are based off of your character

Well, then I would say he wakes up in the morning. He has good intentions for America. He doesn't wake up and says, like, I'm trying to make myself more money. How do I make my life better at the end of the day? Yeah, he's trying to make the other rich rich. He's trying to make the other rich rich? Continue to be rich. That's Trump. I mean, that's why, like, people who make good money, they're down with him.

So the other side is the Democrats. They're going, okay, let's take the money from the rich and give it to the poor, right? No, that's not how Democrats work either. That's how Democrats think. No, that's the message they convey. Yeah. But that's not how they work either. Trump aside, how are you guys on this stance? Do you guys think the rich should be taxed to a certain point where money should be more evenly distributed into the society? Or do you guys think like, hey...

You do you. You make as much money as you want. That's good for you. Government should have a little less hands-on type of thing. Out of those two selections, which guys are you guys more in favor of? Take more from the rich and give it to the poor or leave it alone? Let things play out. I think it depends on a lot of things. And I think it depends on how the rich, quote-unquote, are taxed.

and the competence of the system or government that surrounds this particular system, right? Like, it all takes into account, right? So it's like, I believe in the idea of taxing the rich on certain things. Like Andrew Yang had...

basically a technology tax, basically, where like tech companies are taxed because they're using your personal information. And because it's your personal information and they're profiting off of your personal information, you should see some sort of dividend from it, which makes sense to me. So that kind of model makes sense to me. Now, do I think it should just be a blind tax on really wealthy people just to give money to the poor just because? No.

Maybe not. But I think when there is a reason and logic behind the taxing, I am all for it. Just like if Facebook, they're selling your personal information off of your searches, off of your activity online to other third parties and making a profit from it. Should you...

have a dividend from that? I think, yeah. I think that makes sense to me. That's very specific. So that is a case in how it's being taxed and the logic behind it that I am in agreement of. But if it was done maybe in a different way, maybe I wouldn't. You know what I mean? So it really depends on specifically how it's being taxed, why you're taxing, how much you're taxing, and the competency of the system around it to actually enforce it and to regulate it

so that it works, you know? And so that the money isn't just going into the pockets of the politicians and leaders and fat cats. You know what I mean? Like, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's basically my answer. In other words, it's not black and white. It's not blindly taxing the rich and giving to the poor. But this goes on to a more basic question that to me, I think is much more worthwhile talking about. Well, maybe not much more worthwhile, but it's more fun maybe. Is that...

Why do we have political parties to begin with? And why are there just like basically two that are running America? There's Republican and Democrat. I mean, there's others, but like those don't mean shit. I mean, it's just devise the country. Exactly. That's it. Like to me, that never made sense. Like why it should be one party. Like why do candidates running for the presidency of America being the leader of a country of any country have to be like, okay,

I must identify with this one political party first. It doesn't make any sense. In order for me to get my message to you. You know the answer. I know the answer. But like, but like, but like, it's kind of a rhetorical question, but it's like,

Why does there have to be like political parties at all? Why can we not just listen to people based on the merits of their ideas and their position, their perspective and their plans and their strategy? But why do we always have to attach it to

first, is he a Democrat or a Republican? Oh, he's a Republican? Okay, then I'll listen to him. Well, then it's like immediate biases. Immediate biases. And then it corrupts the candidate itself too because they have to compromise a lot of things to fall into line and into favor with that political party for that political party to push them to become a candidate in the first place. So it's like playing gatekeeper, right? It's like you're a gatekeeper. It just shows the corruption. That's all it means. It just shows corruption, honestly. Yeah.

So why can't people just want to be candidate for presidency of the United States and just be like, okay, here are my ideas, regardless of what political party I am. Do you agree with my ideas or not? Why can't it be that simple? And why do we need to filter first? It should be that way. I'm Republican, you're Democrat. But it's not human nature. What the fuck is that shit about? It's not human nature to be that way. We talk about tribalism a lot. Which goes right back to that. Exactly. But it's so blatant and it's so stupid that...

That I don't understand why more people aren't questioning this. Because the people in power know... Everyone just chooses a side. The people in power know that the general person, the sheep of the world, they need to relate. And what's the easiest way to relate is by having a big idea.

Right? Or a big group that represents a big idea. And that's where you have these two parties. And that's the easiest way to gather the sheep.

At the end of the day, that's it, right? I mean, it's like, you know, if I'm going to say something a little bit on the abstract level, people in power or people who are filthy rich or have had the privilege of being in that inner circle of understanding how to get to that power or how to have that amount of money, I mean, they're kind of in this little club, right? I mean...

Whether or not there really is this club, whatever. Abstractly speaking, they're in this club of, well, we kind of get it. We kind of get how to manipulate the system to gain this type of award, right? And that's how we're going to play. And media is part of it. And that's one of their tools, you know? And that's just how it works. That's the world we live in. That's what government is. Government is that too. It's the people that got it.

I understand what power means. I'm going to attain power and I'm going to keep power. And how do I get power is by control. And how do I control is through X, Y, and Z. And forcing people to take sides. Yeah, that's it. That's like the simplest way. It's like woke culture. Sorry, what I just said is woke culture. That's woke, not anything else. You know what I mean? Woke culture is understanding that you're living in a world of power, right?

Done. You know what I mean? Like, that's it. Yeah. Yeah, I see that. God, world culture has been so fucking just... Everything else is irrelevant. It's just taking our time.

Like to discuss what we're doing right now on a podcast. It's just like... Well, it's occupying people's thoughts and energy into picking sides versus discussing the reality of things. Exactly. That's all it is. So who do you guys think is going to win? So everyone's busy taking sides. Who do you guys think is going to win? I don't know, man. Come on. Let's put some money on this. I really think it's a 50-50 toss-up right now. That's why it's more fun. Who do I think is going to win, huh? I think...

I think Biden will come out on top on this one. But I think it's razor, razor close. I wouldn't be surprised if Trump won. I wouldn't be surprised one bit. But I think the tide is slightly favoring Biden right now. And this is without any real education on the matter. This is just my own instinct. But Vegas odds, Trump is the underdog. You have to pay $150 to win $100. Oh, you can bet on the election in Vegas? Yeah, of course.

Where Trump, Biden. Does he put money down? I'm sorry. I got it wrong. Trump is the underdog. So you put down 100, you get 150 back. Biden, you have to put down one. I forgot the exact number. Okay. More than 100 to get 100 back. So Trump is the underdog. So the Vegas odds have Biden winning as well. Yeah. So what do you think? Who's going to win?

I'll put Trump. Yeah? Yeah. I'll take the underdog. No, no, no. I'm not saying if you were betting. I mean, who do you actually think is going to win? Trump. Yeah? Yeah. Okay. Who do you think is going to win, Javi? I think Biden's going to win, and I think Trump's not going to go down without a battle.

What do you think is going to happen? What do you mean? Don't relinquish power. I won't step down. He's going to have a last stand in the White House? It's not him. He's going to barricade himself in? It's not him having the last stand. It's his fucking people. Oh, okay. Well, him as well. The U.S. has... They always talk about it. It hasn't happened in a time where the president don't step down. They don't know what's going to happen. I'm telling you right now. Who's going to enforce it? Exactly. Trump, I'm telling you, Trump is so enamored...

Trump is so enamored by Xi Jinping. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Remember when he met Xi Jinping? He's like, huh, you're the emperor now. Dude, Trump sees what Xi Jinping is doing and Trump's like, dude, I can do that. The real top experts, like the real people behind the scenes in America...

They're afraid of China because they see what's working here. And they see the kind of progress that China's making. And they're like, oh, no, no, no. We can't let that slide. We can't let that fucking slide. Here's an interesting question. Do you guys think China want Trump to win or Biden to win?

I think China wants Trump to win. Really? Yeah. Why? Because I think China knows how to handle Trump. It's an evil that they know how to understand. They know how to speak his language. Biden's not that strong, though. Biden's not that strong, but it's not up to Biden. Again, it's the powers that be behind. Don't you think China... Even with Trump, it's the powers that be behind. So it's like, I think...

I'm just guessing. I don't know. But I think China knows how to deal with Trump. I think they have a game plan for Trump. And so I feel like to them, and I think outwardly to a lot of countries, they see that the division and turmoil that America is in now is

And if you're a country of a rival power, you'll be like, okay, we'll keep that guy in power because it's just going to keep going downhill. And that makes us stronger. I mean, that makes you weaker. So it's just like, I think if they were to choose, they wouldn't have any issue with Trump being reelected. In fact, they might even favor it. But again, this is just me, an idiot talking. I don't know. And middle election, right? I'm the opposite. Okay. I think what Trump has done...

with all this anti-China rhetoric and these tariffs and all that stuff has made China kind of realign its strategy a little bit. Any time you have to realign your strategy, that's like a... I mean, that person symbolizes a certain type of catalyst, you know, where you have to kind of... You're more on your toes now. So you say that China understands Trump and knows how to handle, but I feel like

Maybe, maybe. But I feel like China's just constantly needing to adjust now. For better or for worse, who knows? We don't know yet. But China's adjusting. You know what I mean? It's adjusting its game plan a bit based off of what Trump is doing. I think what Trump has done has been a godsend for China. China.

Speed up its independence. You know what I mean? Exactly. Because if you're leading a country of this many people, what is a primary paramount importance to you? It's for those people to be united behind you and behind the cause. And what has Trump done? Trump has demonized China. So China and all its people, all its industry, all its industry leaders and just normal people

are like, fuck that, we're Chinese. We're fucking proud to be Chinese. We're good on our own. Hey everybody, let's fucking do our own shit. Let's make our own industry. Let's build our own products. Let's ship our own things. Let's build our own economy. So everyone here is now banded together because we have a common enemy now. We have a common cause to rally behind.

And if everything was kumbaya in the world, that might not have happened. And the cream on top is Trump divides America more and more. Yes. While uniting China more and more. Exactly. It's like literally Trump has awoken the lion. Yeah.

So now China is cracking its neck, banging its fist. Like, okay, game on. Let's play. Let's do this. You know what I mean? And everyone's ready to roll now. And everything's speeding up here. Everyone's national pride is at its all-time high here. Everything is happening here in favor of China's development while it's in disservice of American development. But they also have a lot more anti-American rhetoric here. You know, anti-American rhetoric.

Yeah, just making... Well, because I think that comes from the fact that it didn't start that way. The people I talked to, the locals I've spoken to, I've spoken to cab drivers, I've spoken to random people on the street, people in the park, whatever. The biggest difference between their mentalities is that I feel like in America, it's much more of an aggressive anti-China kind of sentiment. But in China, it's not aggressive. It's like...

oh, Americans don't like us? Okay, well then fuck them if they don't like us. All right, I guess if they don't like us, then we got to do our shit then. You know what I mean? Like it's much more like reactionary. It's like, oh, like they feel that way about us? A lot of them are surprised. Like, oh, they want to go to war with us? Like what? Like they're surprised at first and then they're like, okay, well then fuck them.

Where in America, it's more like, fuck China. They're fucking trying to steal our jobs or do this or meddle in our elections. It's much more aggressive and much more deliberate. Whereas in China, I feel the sentiment is much more reactionary. That's the biggest difference I see.

I don't want to detour, but I just need to explain why I was laughing for a second. Because of what you were saying, I was picturing you. Like people in the parks. Like walking around the park like, hey, what do you think about America? Just like going up to random people and be like, hey, what do you think about America? What do you think about America? Like on the spot like a news reporter. Um,

But to add on to that though, I feel a little bit different. It's not disagreeing with me, but I feel like Chinese people know a lot more about America, Americans, than Americans know about Chinese. 100%. There's so much more information flowing here regarding U.S. and how many missiles it has and how many blah, blah, blah. There's a lot of news here in China.

and on the internet that talks about the US and they learn a lot about the US. Whereas I'm telling you, Americans know nothing about Chinese, how they think, Chinese people, daily lives. - Yeah, no idea. - Zero. - But the dangerous thing is they think they do. They think that everything that they're being informed or told in the American media, like they believe it. Like they believe, oh, oh,

that's happening. Okay. Then that, that is what it's like. And then they start formulating all these ideas. I think everyone in China is like enslaved by the government, like walking with head down. But it's, it's, it's a mentality thing where the Chinese mentality is a lot more curious and

Like, oh, like, because before all this shit happened, right? Like decades ago, before all this shit happened, like the Chinese name, like, I mean, it's always been, but the Chinese name for America is Meiguo, the beautiful country. It was a place to look up and aspire to be. It's a beautiful name. Yeah. I mean, it was like, I want to go there. I want to visit there one day. Right? Yeah.

So there's always been this openness and curiosity for Chinese people towards America to learn and understand American culture, America and what it's all about.

But America being kind of like the number one superpower for so long has kind of sat up on its high horse where like we're number one, we don't need to give a shit about anybody else 'cause we're the best country in the world. We're the best. We're the most free, we're the best, America number one, everything, right? So it's ingrained in you growing up there where you don't give a shit about anywhere else anymore. - Yeah, I've just been brainwashed for five years. - So there's no desire to even, or curiosity to even learn

about china like that's the american way in general it's not about china i don't give a shit about china we are the best yeah because america is just you just think about yourself it's a selfish nature i mean that it goes back to the culture it's the mentality it's like there there is no effort to learn anything about china yeah whereas it's different in china like people have an effort to learn something about of course we're generalizing right now in terms of like a general public general right because obviously you're going to have individuals that really care about other cultures and stuff like that but

100% agree with you. In general, the American way of thinking is, I mean, we're number one and our culture is the best. We're a melting pot. Why do I care about anything else? Other countries should be learning from us. We shouldn't be learning about other countries. But that's the way of things. And look, it honestly brings me no joy to say this, but look,

One big thing I've been trying to do lately in the past few years is really look at time and patterns from a macro perspective. Because we always look at things from our own, in the perspective of years, in our own lifetime, every short term, right? But empires do not rise and fall within years or even decades. It happens over like centuries, right?

Like the Roman Empire did not fall within like 5-10 years. It happened over centuries of time. But the fall of the Roman Empire started like, you know, hundreds of years before the actual end of the Roman Empire. Like these things decline slowly when you're talking about these massive superpowers. A.

in terms of a macro picture on time and geography, are we looking at a starting point of a general shift in power right now? Like, very could be. This very could be the beginning

of the decline of American as the premier superpower. Isn't it kind of short in terms of what you just said? 50 years from now, 100 years from now, the landscape could be so different. And we would be looking at this time to be like, okay, this is kind of when it started. The U.S. only has been the superpower for about 100 years. It's kind of short now. It's kind of short? So it should be a little longer. Well, it could be. We don't know. But from what we're seeing now and seeing like, and it's also things might speed up because the world has sped up as well.

Technology has allowed. So changes in kind of world dynamics and world superpower has also sped up along with the pace of the world. So as where things happened very slowly back in the Roman times, right? Like things happen super quickly now. So that could also be an indication. And when you're looking around the landscape and looking at competitors, you're looking at Asia. I'm not just talking about China, but I'm talking about Asia as a whole, as a whole right now.

is on the come up big time. Do you think... And the world has always shifted between Asian and Western cultures. From European empires to Asians. Before it was like the Persian Empire, all these things. The Mongolian Empire. It almost shifted between Asian powers and kind of European and Anglo-Saxon powers. It's almost bounced back and forth. I think you're kind of getting that feedback because you're here.

The feedback when I'm in the States is the general feeling is that China is going downhill. That's funny. We're getting messages. That's the denial. But that's the same. It goes on both sides, right? The message we're getting that China is going to –

because of coronavirus, it's going to go to shit. The economy is going to shit. They don't know what to do. Everything's on a downward trend in Asia. You talk to Americans, they'll be like, fuck no, I don't want to go to China. Hell no, I'm not going there. They think this is the hot spot. Meanwhile, Chinese are like, no, I don't want to go to America. I don't want to get infected in America. But each side, we do get...

wherever you are. So there is some programming here that, you know, China's on the up. 100%, but we can speak for ourselves because we, unlike those people you're talking about who haven't been on both sides, most of them probably never even stepped foot in China before. We have. So we can speak from actual observation, like firsthand account. You know, like we can speak on it. So we don't need to take their account. Like, I mean, they're in denial. Also, another thing I want to add in is

I'm gonna speak for you Justin is living here all this time. We don't read or watch local news Yeah, right so we get our news internationally. Yeah, but we live here Yeah, so so that way so that way of thinking like we still see the rise of China We still so we're not brainwashed by the local media at all because like we don't even watch I don't watch Chinese news I don't even understand Chinese news because I just like talk so fast. I'm like, I don't even know we talking about so everything we're talking about is from first-hand observation and experience. Yeah, I

Yeah. Firsthand. It's not like I'm making this shit up. And you know this. Like, I'm preaching to the choir talking to you. You know this too. You know what I mean? Yeah. So I think...

Probably should have ended it, right? Yeah, why not? I guess we ran a little long. But it was fun, though. It was fun. We haven't kind of opened up these candle worms in a while. We kind of tried to stay away from it. But today we had to acknowledge ourselves. I like these kind of conversations because this is really about opinion. It's real talk. And we're just talking opinions as opposed to just speaking about what we know. No, we're just riffing.

If everybody just sits around and says, fuck Trump, what's the fun there? Yeah. That's why I appreciate having someone from a different point of view. James, welcome back. Thank you. Welcome back, man. Welcome back, brother. You guys don't know how lucky you guys are being here, actually. Why? I want to add in is that...

The social life here in Shanghai is so convenient. That's all I'm saying. It's convenient. You can be part of it. You can be not part of it. You can step out. You guys have Ais here. In the States, my friends, Close Circle, they're just dreading life with their kids and then their...

No nannies. They're working nonstop. The commute. Zero social life. Like, trying to get a dinner together is, like, impossible. Well, what you just said right there is a perfect argument to say that the American way is not the perfect way.

Booyah. Obviously, we're joking. I think we are. I think you are. Just playing around. So being here in Shanghai, oh my God, just like all these new restaurants opening, all these little bars. But Shanghai is a bubble itself. It is. It is. But you got to appreciate it.

Oh, 100%. Yeah. This place is amazing. You can't be thinking like, oh, everywhere is like this. Why do you think it's so hard for me to leave Shanghai right now? It's so cool here. I don't know anywhere else I can go and have a more convenient lifestyle. Taipei. No. No way. No way. Are you fucking kidding me, dude? I never lived there. I'm just fucking... Taipei? No, no, no, no, no. You can't compare Taipei with Shanghai. Taipei is like a third tier city right now. Is it? Yeah. Shanghai, of all this in, you know, I travel.

Shanghai is one of the most advanced and definitely the most convenient city I have ever seen and witnessed. And also metropolitan. Yeah. It's literally like a New York, but even more.

Yeah. On steroids. Yeah. Yeah. Which is mind-blowing if you think about it. Because New York used to be the mecca of... The pinnacle of a metropolitan skyline. Yeah. The hub of metropolis. The hot pot of culture. Yeah.

But I don't know. I feel like China, Shanghai is a hot pot of culture. But we can preach all day long. You won't really understand it or know it or even believe it until you spend some time here. And that's the thing. The people we're talking about are friends and people we've grown up with or countrymen back in the United States. The vast majority of them, 99% of them, I guess, I don't know, have never...

been out here? You know, so they don't know. And they can only believe what they hear in the news, which is complete lies. I was such a farmer the other day. I sat down at a restaurant. I didn't know the menu was by QR code. Oh, did you?

- Oh shit, that's right. - So is that something new that's changed since you were? - Yeah, we don't have that in America. - No, no, no, but last time you were in Shanghai, they didn't have that? - Some did, but I didn't experience it. - It's like the standard now. - I didn't experience it, okay. And what blew my mind more wasn't just that, 'cause I've heard about it, I've seen it, so I knew. - Okay. - When I started ordering, my wife started ordering,

Our orders are listed under our own names. Like what I order and what she ordered, they're all listed into the same app. That just blew my mind. People don't have to be like, hey, order that for me. We could just do it ourselves on our own phone. Technology is a doozy out here. And then when we order from the table, the robot brings over the food. Jesus Christ.

This is in Beijing at some shitty restaurant, like a shitty little restaurant. Oh, like a literal robot is bringing over food. Yes. So I'm showing a video right now to the guys. I was at some really small little local restaurant in Beijing, not high-end premium at all. We ordered our meal from the QR code, and then a robot shows up five minutes later with the food. Like a literal robot. Literal robot. So cool. It's crazy. All right, man. All right, James. Thank you again.

Love you. Good talk, bro. Happy Halloween, guys. Happy Halloween, everybody. We should do this more often. Yeah. All right, guys. I'm Justin. And I'm Howie. That was James. And we love you. Be well. Be good. Happy Halloween, motherfuckers. All right. Peace.