A journalist discusses Steve Bannon's enigmatic Chinese benefactor

Fresh Air

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4.4 • 34.4K Ratings

🗓️ 20 October 2022

⏱️ 45 minutes

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Summary

New Yorker writer Evan Osnos traces the path of Guo Wengui, a billionaire who fled China and insinuated himself into the MAGA inner circle. But who is he really working for?

Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for this podcast comes from the New Bower Family Foundation, supporting
0:04.7	WHY Wise Fresh Air and its commitment to sharing ideas and encouraging meaningful conversation.
0:11.5	This is Fresh Air.
0:12.8	I'm Dave Davies in for Terry Gross.
0:15.4	In June of 2020, conservative broadcaster and Donald Trump acolyte Steve Bannon stood on a boat in New
0:22.0	York Harbor with a wealthy Chinese businessman for an unusual live streamed news conference.
0:28.0	Bannon and Guo Wen Gui announced the formation of an alternative government for the people of China,
0:33.2	called the new federal state of China.
0:36.0	The news conference ended with Guo enthusiastically chanting a slogan condemning the Chinese communist party
0:42.1	and planting a kiss on Bannon's cheek.
0:45.2	Bannon's embrace of the project was likely fueled by Guo Wen Gui's generous financial backing of
0:50.5	Bannon and Trump's supporters efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
0:55.9	Our guest, New Yorker staff writer Evan Osnos, has a new article about the curious journey of
1:01.2	this business tycoon who fled China in 2015 after a mutually beneficial relationship with the Chinese
1:07.9	intelligence official got him into trouble.
1:10.7	Osnos' article examines Guo's strange career, how he made his way into Trump's inner circle,
1:16.6	and what it says about American politics in the Trump era and our changing relationship with China.
1:22.4	Evan Osnos has been a staff writer at the New Yorker since 2008.
1:26.4	He spent eight years reporting in China and is the author of the book Age of Ambition,
1:31.3	Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China.
1:34.8	Osnos' new article in the New Yorker is titled How a Tycoon linked to Chinese intelligence
1:40.9	became a darling of Trump Republicans.
	...

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