Looks like she’s gonna do it, and it’s probably a good thing. Pelosi’s going to Taiwan. It makes one wonder what this signals about the modern American Democratic Party, frankly. This tweet sums things up pretty well. In short, the Democrats are struggling to deal with the Biden family’s connections to China, now no longer secret thanks to one infamous laptop.

Republicans have made it clear that if the White House makes any move to deter Pelosi from her insane escalation against China it will be weaponized against the Biden administration and used to spin the president as a puppet of Xi Jinping. Just wonderful.https://t.co/qzdu0Scty7 pic.twitter.com/aoq9d2dPK7

— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) July 26, 2022

Conservatives have taken the strange position of backing Pelosi on her trip to Taiwan, rightly noticing that allowing China to dictate the travel plans of an American politician is a weakness the U.S. can’t afford to wear. And not just presently, but ever.

However, present circumstances do deserve special consideration. Peter Schweizer and The Heritage Foundation have both lately been warning about the Chinese strategy of “elite capture,” a practice that precedes concern about it by many, many years. And it’s not just at the federal level, as Schweizer told Fox News.

Schweizer said the Chinese Communist Party leadership calls their strategy “elite capture” — looping in American business titans with lucrative contracts or deals that get them to look the other way as Beijing rises globally.

“If we can capture them with sweetheart deals, with other benefits, we can effectively lobotomize the United States by making them unresponsive to our threats,” Schweizer said of Beijing’s collective thought.

The Heritage Foundation warns that China made serious inroads with state leaders — and some early in their careers — that possibly leaves some of these states now scrambling to disengage with a more pugnacious China. (Is some of the pushback against Trump from some conservatives a result of this capture? Unclear, but certainly worthy of consideration given Trump’s rough-handling of the Asian nation.)

That states are unprepared for the magnitude and persistence of PRC influence operations is understandable: Never has a foreign adversary had such deep inroads in U.S. state and local politics. The range and persistence of China’s operations far surpass those of previous geopolitical rivals, such as Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Beijing targets schools, churches, and community organizations. Its influence is felt on university campuses, in board rooms, and in governors’ mansions. Its agents cultivate aspiring politicians, business elites, and academics early in their careers and use these relationships to influence policymaking decades later, largely unbeknownst to their victims.

So you see, Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan is very, very important, indeed.

I talk about all that on today’s show, as well as give a short overview of the very fun jungle romp, “The Resort” (trailer below). Oh, and Kaep’s back. And he’s — surprise! — working with an entertainment foundation.

The show lives on Spotify and you can also find me at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, FCB Radio’s Spreaker, and Deezer.