What are your thoughts, please, on this me- this epic meeting?

Yeah, I mean, I would imagine that Iran, you know, as it was when they met in May, I mean, Iran was a, uh, was a big issue then.

It's, it's gonna be a big issue now as well.

This is something that has not yet re- been resolved in, in, in favor of the United States, uh, and the Trump administration.

So the situation's changed a little bit.

Um, uh, Xi Jinping is not, uh, his, his, his, his, his chair is a little more comfortable, uh, this time than it was, uh, than it was back in May.

And, you know, there's also news coming out.

Yes, yes.

I was curious, and getting back to the British Open with the wins, and like you mentioned, the variety of ways you can play a hole, how important is the caddy in an event like this? And in your opinion, are there caddies on tour that would be considered like, this is a crude comparison, but like the Andy Reid of caddies, or a caddy that is known to be worth more than maybe some others.

Yeah, absolutely.

I would say there will be a ton of factors that go into that.

But, you know, I think you probably start with experience.

You know, hey, when do I pat my player on the back? When do I kick them in the backside, you know, and give them kind of the tough love? I think then you go into probably the data in that, you know, how much information can my player handle? How much do they want when it comes to where's the ball going to land? What is it going to run out to? Where's the wind? What's the impact on the wind? Right to left shot, left to right? And so I think experience and data comes in.

And then probably the third, and those two things kind of combine into the third, is knowing your player and knowing what they need and what they deserve at the right time.

And I think the caddies that have been around, that's why it's always interesting to me of a lot of the players that have converted from experienced caddies over the last, call it five, six years, to friends, you know, and sometimes friends maybe don't have that level of experience that a tenured tour caddy would have.

What did you make of all that?

Is that a sustainable, viable off ramp to actually conclude that this operation is successful? Or do we need to see more than that when it comes to the nuclear issue, the ballistic missile issue and so forth?

Well, that's the most important thing to get done immediately, because remember, the reason that preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapons program has always been not always, but for decades now, it's been a vital American interest is not to protect Israel, but to protect those shipping lanes.

Right.

Because the the idea of the Iranians having a bomb and then using it or threatening to use it.

To close the Strait of Hormuz would destabilize global energy markets, and that is a real threat to our peace and prosperity.

So first, the Strait must be taken.

And then, right, I mean, we still have to deal with – and you see this.

Raises the obvious question as to why, if we saw this coming, why has it been such a struggle? And I guess the corollary to that is, is now the time, do you believe, where the administration is going to be truly, truly serious about getting to that result and actually having an open straight? And then I guess on top of that, is there a timeline you think that is realistic for that to actually happen? Yes.

For weekend golfers like me that are driving around listening to us right now, when they watch the Scottish Open this week or certainly the Open Championship next week, or as we refer to it, the British Open next week, biggest difference between those golf courses over there and what we experience here in America?

Yeah, no, it's a great question, Hack.

I mean, without getting into the nerdy details of different types of turf and a lot of golf courses over there not even having irrigation systems or limited coverage irrigation systems, the biggest difference is that you're going to see really the ground used as a weapon.

So many more shots being played lower to the ground or on the ground, especially around the greens.

And then weather conditions tend to play even more of a role in the events over there.

And so green speeds will actually be significantly slower.

You know, what we consider here as being fast 12, 13 on the stint meter.

Now that people have had a couple of weeks to digest what the future of golf looks like, what has been the reaction around the golf game for what's coming down the line?

Simple question: Why, year in and year out, is the US Open the hardest tournament going?

Yeah.

I, I think, um, Mac, it's a good question.

I, I think every, you know, call it major event has its own identity.

Um, and, and I think every event that wants to be a major wants to create its own id- uh, identity.

And I think at, at Augusta, you know, they have a tradition and, uh, you know, past ...

They lean into past champions and, and those types of things.

From a player's standpoint, how much of a challenge is that when the wind is different almost on all 18?

What is happening, and what do you make of, of Donald Trump's in- internal calculations and how he sees this conflict at this time?

Well, we saw that the president said something today to a reporter about, "Well, you know, we- we've- we've given the Iranians a big chance, and they're just stringing us along, and so maybe I'm gonna start bombing their bridges and, uh, you know, energy infrastructure." Uh, un- unfortunately, at this point, you know, these, these threats have been made before, and they haven't been realized.

And what we're seeing [laughs] is the Iranians continue to string the president along.

We saw, uh, we saw details recently in a New York Times article about what they're, uh, you know, about what the issues are, whether it's enrichment, whether it's the, uh, nuclear facilities, whether it's about IAEA, IAEA inspections.

Excuse me for that.

Uh, these have been the issues for quite a while.

These were the issues under the Obama administration.

Uh, how does that ultimately unfold there? I- I- I- I- is Hezbollah going to, to, to be dealt with in, in a meaningful way, or if there is a deal reached be- between the US and Iran, will Hezbollah essentially just stay in power in South Lebanon as well?

Mm

... with the, uh, selling the Iran deal.

This was back in 2014, 2015.

Uh, and the Iran, a friend of mine, uh, wrote about it, famous article, about Ben Rhodes, and how he created an echo chamber to market the Iran deal.

We saw that same communications infrastructure used to manufacture Russiagate as well, right? All you needed to do is, is control a few choke points to make people believe absolutely insane things, right? Whether, uh, giving a nuclear weapon to the Islamic Republic of Iran is a good thing, but that's the effect of Barack Obama's Iran deal.

Was, uh, candidate Donald Trump a Russian spy? Was he a spy in the White House? This is all insane.

But we saw-How the country was split and divided on this because, and, and I'm certainly not dismissing foreign propaganda, I just wanna hit on domestic propaganda for a second 'cause this has been a, an even bigger problem for us.

That we do around here

Why is that?

Yeah.

Uh, presidents have shied away from human rights in China since at least Tiananmen Square, right? That this is something that presidents have not only shied away from, but they've essentially covered up for.

This is what, uh, George...

This was, you know, Tiananmen was in 1989 under the George H. Bush administration, George H.W. Bush administration.

Then Bill Clinton, who, uh, you know, who was at first criticizing Bush in their d- in their debate in 1992, said, "I wouldn't do that.

I would stand up for, uh, you know, for the Chinese people who, uh, you know, who are being repressed by this terrible communist regime." And of course, he did nothing of the sort.

Lay out that argument, and what can President Trump do now?

Why is that?

Yeah.

Uh, presidents have shied away from human rights in China since at least Tiananmen Square, right? That this is something that presidents have not only shied away from, but they've essentially covered up for.

This is what the George, this was, you know, Tiananmen was in 1989 under George H. Bush administration, George H.W. Bush administration.

Then Bill Clinton, who, uh, you know, who was at first criticizing Bush in their d- in their debate in 1992, said, "I wouldn't do that.

I would stand up for, uh, you know, for the Chinese people who, uh, you know, who are being repressed by this terrible [laughs] communist regime." And of course, he did nothing of the sort.

He was the person who ushered along the world tre- the, the WTO, China's access to the WTO by, uh, by getting China permanent, uh, permanent normal trade relations, PNTR.

... and what can President Trump do now?

So I think that, you know, you need to use your data, look at what you're doing and just constantly have a voice and partner with other leaders to ensure that The good parts, right? Like you're saying, you don't want it to just be when there's something negative, but you want to support those pieces to keep sterile processing in the limelight with C-suite in a good way, not just like what Kevin said, when it's something bad that comes up.

What I'm trying to say is we need to really take what SPD does and attach that to the patient.

So what I mean by that is for every scope that is not cleaned and every infection that that causes, How much does that cost us as a hospital? And I don't mean just physical costs, financial costs, but our brand, our reputation, morale, all of those things.

I think the C-suite responds to how does it affect the patient? How does it affect the bottom line? And when we can quantify that and we can say that this patient, this one scope is tied to 10 infections or one scope is tied to five infections.

That is something that a C-suite member can understand.

And along with that, the second thing I would add is bring the C-suite into sterile processing.

A lot of times we like it when they're not in our space because we can kind of do what we can do and we don't feel the pressure of having somebody kind of looking over our shoulders, if you will.

All right, Leigh.

Do I have that about right?

No, I think you're absolutely right.

I think that people, uh, uh, if, if I, I, if I, if I could, uh, make one wish of the president, it's, it's that I, I, I wish that he would explain to the American public why tariffs are so important right now, and it's about China.

Because his-His main point is that it's the trade deficit with China that's killing us.

So a lot of people talk about Taiwan and the first island chain.

They talk about, uh, Chinese tech, Chinese AI, all these different things.

And the case that the president makes is it's our enormous trade deficit.

Mm-hmm.How do you see some of this playing out? We do need to significantly increase our defense spending also, don't we?

Donald Trump is a warmonger"? And what about these people that keep accusing me and a few of my friends of getting us into this war? I mean, obviously, I support what we're doing, but I don't remember being commander-in-chief, do you?

Well, it's not just that.

I mean, the history's, you know, the, the history-- there, there are many of us, Mark, who are old enough to remember nineteen seventy-nine, the embassy takeover.

I mean, that's a formative event.

And the argument that I make, I think that was also a formative, uh, form-- a formative event for President Donald Trump and what's happened in the last forty-seven years, the way the Iranians have targeted, uh, A-American servicemen and women, diplomats, academics, civilians, uh, targeted them all throughout the Middle East.

There were plots here against Americans here in the homeland, including plots against the president [chuckles] you know, President Trump.

So yeah, these people are sick.

Mm-hmm

We now go to the spring of twenty nineteen, the trade deal for the first Trump term, and the Chinese present the fact to Mr. Trump that they can't close the deal.

Well, this is very important, John.

I'm really glad you're-- w- we're getting a chance to talk about this because I think, you know, we're talking about the headlines today.

I think it's very important for people to understand what, uh, Donald Trump learned during his first term dealing with Xi Jinping and what he's gonna be looking at in a second term.

A lot of the, a lot of the, uh, demands that the Trump administration made during negotiations, these continue to be demands, are things like: Well, you have to stop manipulating your currency, uh, you can't demand tech transfers from American companies, you have to stop stealing American intellectual property.

Um, and the Chinese said, "No." W- this, this is what it fell apart on.

This was the big comprehensive deal during Trump's first term.

Mm.

Lee, what did that mean to Dianne Feinstein? What did it mean to Jiang Zemin, and especially Dianne Feinstein's entrepreneurial husband, Richard Blum?

Well, I mean, uh, S- uh, San Francisco was, I believe, the first Chinatown in the West.

Um, so s- there's always been sort of close ties between, uh, that Pacific, that Pacific, uh, Ocean powerhouse, San Francisco, cultural and also, uh, certainly tech powerhouse.

So that relationship has gone on for a long time, but of course, after, uh, you know, after the nineteen forty-nine revolution, that sort of complicated the things, complicated things in San Francisco.

There were a lot of people...

There were people there that were nationalist supporters.

That's what San Francisco had classically been, and then now came a lot of supporters of, of Mao's revolution, started moving into, uh, started moving into San Francisco as well.

Scowcroft went there within, uh, days after Tiananmen.

However, I wanna spend some time with Henry Kissinger.

Hmm.

We don't hold people responsible w- who weren't alive in nineteen seventy-two, so help them understand who Lee-- Henry Kissinger was.

Well, Henry Kissinger is now, you know, regarded as the, uh, greatest American statesman of the, of the modern era, and I'd say the twentieth century.

And, and Kissinger's been, uh, uh, uh, immensely influential, especially his understanding of the US relationship with China.

It was really Kissinger who set up that relationship.

But institutionally, if you look at all the different think tanks and universities that have a Henry K- Kissinger fellowship or a Henry Kissinger chair in US-China relations, so Kissinger really dominates...

He really owns the narrative, right? We talk about the, the victors writing history.

Help us.

Thank you, John.

Well, this was a celebration of, uh...

I, I believe I call it the coming out party for globalism.

I mean, it's a real celebration of the, uh, of a plan, a project that had been set in motion many years before, and it was to tie the, uh, fortunes of American elites and other Western elites as well, to the, um, to the manufacturing power of the, uh, Communist Party slave state.

The e- everyone knew what was going to happen at that time.

They all knew they were gonna get fantastically rich because they were all basing it on, um, on slave, on slave labor.

Why did China want it? What w- what was it thinking when it convinced the Clintons to, to shepherd it through?

Can you set the stage for us? What's happening on the ground? Why is it happening? Where is this going?

Well, I mean, y- you're right.

First of all, it's hard to tell exactly what's happening on the ground.

Some of the accounts on social media can be trusted, others can't, and as Donald Trump pointed out, CNN is probably, at this point, uh, not a reputal- a reputable relayer of international affairs.

Look, the, the big thing that's happened here that we know that there have been- uh, Iranians have, have taken to the streets many times over the last several decades, most memorably in 2009, and Barack Obama sort of turned his back on them, because what was important to Barack Obama was clinching the Iran nuclear deal.

In other words, uh, legalizing the nuclear weapons program of a terror state.

And as Donald Trump pointed out in that, um, in that clip that you showed, Jesse, the big difference is Donald Trump, who has shown his willingness to use force.

Are they?

So what is The China Matrix? Is that...

Well, the matrix is really how these, these two groups of cohorts of elites, the Chinese Communist Party elites on one hand and American elites on the other, how they've basically become the same thing.

I mean, they're fighting, fighting for the same thing, and that is for...

Americans are not n- most of the Americans are not directly fighting to make China the great world power.

What they're fighting for is their own money, which w- i- is in turn making China an enormous power to replace the United States.

But clearly, these Communist Party elites, that's what they want.

They want, uh, PRC primacy.

Hmm.

So what is the China matrix? Is that...

Well, the matrix is really how these, these two groups of cohorts of elites, Chinese Communist Party elites on one hand and American elites on the other, how they've basically become the same thing.

I mean, they're fighting, fighting for the same thing, and that is for...

Americans are not...

Most of the Americans are not directly fighting to make China the great world power.

What they're fighting for is their own money, which w- is in turn making China an enormous power to replace the United States.

But clearly, these Communist Party elites, that's what they want.

Hmm.

What is your assessment of what's to come?

I think it's important to understand when Donald Trump walks in that room and he'll be meeting with Xi Jinping again, they've met several times, and Donald Trump knows he's dealing with a man he cannot trust.

First of all, Donald Trump has a rich and deep background understanding China for more than a quarter of a century.

He wrote a book about it in 2000, or it's included in his 2000 book.

Donald Trump during his first term wanted a comprehensive trade deal in which he wanted China to stop manipulating currency, stop stealing our intellectual property, and stop demanding transfers of technology, among other bad things the Chinese were doing.

Xi backed out of that deal.

And then when they negotiated a smaller deal known as the phase one trade agreement, the Chinese have not fulfilled their obligations under that deal struck January 30th, 2020.

Lee, what would be your advice to President Trump when he goes in as to maybe the one thing he could try to get that he has some ability to take from Xi Jinping? Is there some place they can find some common ground? Where would that be?

We can't just get off it overnight, but has he been hard enough on China? Has he been too hard on China? I, I know he's trying to navigate quite a minefield here.

Well, look, the very important thing is it's not just being hard on China.

It's, it's being hard on American companies, and that's one of the reasons why Donald Trump, uh, celebrates Tim Cook.

Remember, he was at the, uh, joint session of Congress back in February, and Tim Cook has visited the White House since then, this is the, the head of Apple, uh, because Donald Trump is trying to get American companies to move back to the United States.

When we talk about the trade imbalance with China, what people need to understand is the bi- a big chunk of that trade imbalance is with American companies and other Western companies who have moved their manufacturing to China.

This is crucial to understand.

It's Americans who are selling out not just American workers, but endangering American national security, our peace and prosperity, by moving their manufacturing to China.

They don't have any options left, right? Setting a- aside all personal preferences, what options do they even have?

How panicked did they become when they, they went, "Oh my gosh, he's actually gonna be president? He's actually going to have access"? How much did they ramp it up at that point?

Well, I mean, w- you know, what happened, uh, it's im- I, I, I think it's important to break Russiagate down into two different parts.

The first part is the re-election part, whereas you say, and this is the Hillary Clinton campaign funneling the Russia garbage into the media, and we see different eruptions of this in, in, in every possible liberal publication that still exists.

Um, but they did something very bad pre-election and that was that the FBI, uh, used this, uh, you know, used this nonsense as, uh, as the predicate for a warrant to spy on the Trump campaign.

That was a very, very bad thing.

That was unlawful.

After the election, it turns into something else.

Is treason too, too strong of a word?

Okay.

Uh...

I... you know, I mean, he's a former president of the United States, though of course with DNI Tulsi Gabbard said is exactly correct, that that, uh, intelligence community assessment was changed on Obama's orders.

And in fact, that's, that's been, that's been out there, and it didn't even take, uh, an investigative reporter to get to the bottom of that.

That's what their own press was saying.

It's Obama who ordered it, and he wanted it done before he left office.

So, all, all that is exactly true.

Why would you take a step like that?

Go ahead, I'm sorry.

100%.

No, no, I, (laughs) I agree.

Uh, the pseudo MAGA influencers, they're, w- what I say is it's just Barack Obama in a skin suit.

They're pushing for the exact same pro-Iran policies.

Um, they're anti-Israel, and, uh, I don't know if they understand the details of this policy, but what it is, is it's an anti-America policy.

That's Iran's number one target.

Mm.

Iran's nuclear program, how did they start it? Why did they start it? Why has it accelerated? What, w- w- give us some background on it.

Well, I mean, you know, this c- I mean, actually the Iranian nuclear program probably goes back to some time in the '70s.

It predates the Islamic Revolution.

One of the reasons that the, uh, Islamic Republic has wanted the nuclear weapons program is, is to be able to push the United States out of the Middle East.

It's very important to understand that for all the talk you've heard, "Oh, the Iranians are rivals with Israel or Saudi Arabia." No, that's not true.

That's not how they've ever seen it.

They see the United States as the, uh, power in the Middle East, in the Persian Gulf, as it has been since 1944.

Mm-hmm.