Episode 978: Trump and Xi in China

Newt's World

Gingrich 360

News, Politics

4.6 • 6.4K Ratings

🗓️ 15 May 2026

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Newt talks with Weifeng Zhong, of the America First Policy Institute, about President Trump’s visit to Beijing and his meetings with Xi Jinping. They describe Chinese diplomatic style as highly choreographed, such as the airport reception and elaborate youth choirs that are used to project confidence and set the stage for pressing core issues like Taiwan. Zhong argues that China’s slowing, export-dependent economy and severe demographic pressures from the one-child policy make closer economic ties with the U.S. necessary. Trump’s large delegation of top U.S. business leaders, especially from technology, semiconductor, and AI sectors, is seen as both a bid for market access and a reflection of where U.S.– China tensions are most acute. Their discussion turns to Chinese dishonesty in areas such as arms transfers to Iran, support for Russia in the Ukraine war, fentanyl exports, COVID transparency, and propaganda in state-controlled media, emphasizing the need to read beyond official narratives. On Taiwan, Zhong argues that Xi’s lack of major achievements and the loss of Hong Kong as a credible model make “reunification” with Taiwan central to the Chinese Communist Party’s search for legitimacy.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is an I-Heart podcast.
0:02.5	Guaranteed Human.
0:08.3	Welcome to Newts World Podcast on the IHeart Podcast Network.
0:12.9	A couple big things going on in addition, of course, to the president going to China.
0:18.6	The Senate did finally confirm the new chair for the Federal Reserve, Kevin Warsh,
0:23.5	was a 54 to 45 vote. It's very interesting. Democratic Senator John Federman once again
0:30.4	crossed to vote with the Republicans. Now, give you a sense of how Powell's position had eroded, Powell's the current Fed chairman,
0:40.4	got 80 votes both times he was confirmed, because back then it wasn't a big issue.
0:45.3	But the Democrats have decided that they're not going to go along with Trump appointees,
0:50.5	and so the only Democrat who voted yes was John Federman, And as a result, Warsh got approved by 5445. So, you know, from his
1:00.6	perspective, he's still approved. He is a former Morgan Stanley banker. He used to serve in the
1:06.7	Fed's governing board from 2006 to 2011. But ironically, and I don't understand this,
1:13.8	Trump chose Powell over him in 2017, which I suspect Trump would now say was a major mistake.
1:22.3	Worship will be the wealthiest federal chairman in modern times. And it shows a fortune of about a hundred million
1:29.1	dollars, which is separate from his wife's fortune. He's married to Jane Lauder, who is the heiress
1:36.6	to his stay Lauder, which is a multi-billion dollar worldwide company. Powell, in a break from tradition,
1:43.4	apparently he's going to stay on the board.
1:45.5	Normally, when you step down as chairman, you leave. But I think partly because Powell's in a
1:51.2	argument with Trump, he doesn't want to be seen as getting out of way. So we'll see how that
1:55.7	works out, and it certainly makes Telen Warsh's problem a little bit harder. The other thing was
2:00.6	very interesting that the Senate
2:03.1	voted 99 to zero to advance a resolution that would withhold their pay. Senator John Kennedy,
	...

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