So why would USAID funds have any impact on a foreign election?

Well, we would think of foreign aid as helping people in need, helping disaster victims, helping against disease, helping people get clean water.

But what's happened over the years is you've had this cultural Marxist marching, long march through the institutions that took over the USAID bureaucracy and without much congressional oversight.

So what they did was they took funds that were meant to help people in need and to train community organizers, to train militant activists, to train political activists who then aren't partisan officially.

Of course they are, and they're almost always very left-wing.

So you had USAID over the years training and paying the salaries of these cadres of people who would get out into the streets to organize, to turn out people to vote.

Michael, as we start to finish up, I just want to get your final thoughts on what's at stake with this particular election and more broadly what you're observing with USAID Now significantly trimmed down and with this sort of trend that we're seeing more toward Trump-aligned candidates in Latin America.

Brazil is a hugely important country.

So why would USAID funds have any impact on a foreign election?

Well, it's, you know, we would think of foreign aid as helping people in need, right? Helping disaster victims, helping against disease, helping people get clean water.

But what's happened over the years is you've had this cultural Marxist, um, marching, long march through the institutions that took over the USAID bureaucracy, and without much congressional oversight.

So what they did was they took funds that were meant to help people in need to train community organizers, to train militant activists, to train political activists who then aren't, aren't partisan officially, but of course they are, and they're almost always very left-wing.

So you had USAID over the years training and paying the salaries of these cadres of people who would get out into the streets to organize, to turn out people to vote.

Um, Michael, as we start to finish up, I just wanna get your final thoughts on what's at stake with this particular election, and more broadly, what you're observing with USAID now significantly trimmed down and with this sort of trend that, uh, we're seeing more toward Trump-aligned candidates in Latin America.

Brazil is a hugely important country.

It was, it was a, it was an ally of ours in World War II.

So why would USAID funds have any impact on a foreign election?

Well, we would think of foreign aid as helping people in need, helping disaster victims, helping against disease, helping people get clean water.

But what's happened over the years is you've had this cultural Marxist marching, long march through the institutions that took over the USAID bureaucracy and without much congressional oversight.

So what they did was they took funds that were meant to help people in need and to train community organizers, to train militant activists, to train political activists who then aren't partisan officially.

Of course they are, and they're almost always very left-wing.

So you had USAID over the years training and paying the salaries of these cadres of people who would get out into the streets to organize, to turn out people to vote.

Michael, as we start to finish up, I just want to get your final thoughts on what's at stake with this particular election and more broadly what you're observing with USAID Now significantly trimmed down and with this sort of trend that we're seeing more toward Trump-aligned candidates in Latin America.

Brazil is a hugely important country.

So why would USAID funds have any impact on a foreign election?

Well, it's...

We would think of foreign aid as helping people in need, right? Helping disaster victims, helping against disease, helping people get clean water.

But what's happened over the years is you've had this cultural Marxist, um, marching, long march through the institutions that took over the USAID bureaucracy, and without much congressional oversight.

So what they did was they took funds that were meant to help people in need to train community organizers, to train militant activists, to train political activists who then aren't, aren't partisan officially.

Of course, they are, and they're almost always very left-wing.

So you had USAID over the years training and paying the salaries of these cadres of people who would get out into the streets to organize, to turn out people to vote.

Um, Michael, as we start to finish up, I just wanna get your final thoughts on what's at stake with this particular election, and more broadly, what you're observing with USAID now significantly trimmed down and with this sort of trend that, uh, we're seeing more toward Trump-aligned candidates in Latin America.

So why would USAID funds have any impact on a foreign election?

Well, it's, you know, we would think of foreign aid as helping people in need, right? Helping disaster victims, helping against disease, helping people get clean water.

But what's happened over the years is you've had this cultural Marxist, um, marching, long march through the institutions that took over the USAID bureaucracy, and without much congressional oversight.

So what they did was they took funds that were meant to help people in need to train community organizers, to train militant activists, to train political activists who then aren't, aren't partisan officially, but of course they are, and they're almost always very left-wing.

So you had USAID over the years training and paying the salaries of these cadres of people who would get out into the streets to organize and to turn out people to vote.

Um, Michael, as we start to finish up, I just wanna get your final thoughts on what's at stake with this particular election, and more broadly, what you're observing with USAID now significantly trimmed down and with this sort of trend that, uh, we're seeing more toward Trump-aligned candidates in Latin America.

Brazil is a hugely important country.

It was, it was a, it was an ally of ours in World War II.

Just w- real quickly as a, a third follow-up to this, 'cause it is quite fascinating, is there any evidence that U- US Aid helped Lula in any of the many elections that he participated in?

Yeah.

Th- there ...

Yes, because they were the ones turning out the volunteers and the cadres.

So you don't see aid grants going in to support his party, but you do see them s- supporting the mass organizations and the special interest groups that tur- that train and, uh, mobilize the activists to come out to get people to vote for Lula.

So whether it's LGBTQ militant activism, or climate change militant activism, or just general, you know, progressive, in quotes, uh, left-wing activism, USAID was there funding those people as an industry to go out and to get people to vote.

Now, Lula already had his own resources, and he w- he had his cadres who had been trained by the communists in Cuba.

Um, Michael, as we start to finish up, I just wanna get your final thoughts on what's at stake with this particular election, and more broadly, what you're observing with USAID now significantly trimmed down and with this sort of trend that, uh, we're seeing more toward Trump-aligned candidates in Latin America.

What are your expectations on Cuba?

It's really hard to know precisely what to expect, but it's happening very gradually.

I think the Cuban Communist Party realizes that the jig is up, that it's just a question of how do they survive into a transition.

As long as you don't have them fighting for their lives, it's easier to negotiate something the way the Soviet Union and the whole Soviet bloc collapsed.

So while I'd wish to see progress a lot faster in Cuba, I think it makes sense to do it slowly because Trump simply doesn't have the bureaucracy needed to do what's necessary in Cuba.

So to allow the Cuban regime to be Coming more under the thumb of American influence, the way the Venezuelan regime has been, is a good thing.

And the deal is gone.

Do you see any similarities between Trump and Reagan in dealing with their counterparts leading the communist regime? This time, of course, it's she instead of Gorbachev.

Michael, as a former CIA operative, can you shed some light on how this counterintelligence on China meddling is gathered and then the effort to bury it, as the president has described, and as Rick used the word ecosystem? How does that all kind of coalesce together?

Well, any collection of counterintelligence is to counter the hostile intelligence activities of foreign power.

So we're trying to counter this.

So our counterintelligence people pick this up.

But really, we don't have a way of handling this.

real system to deal with the intelligence threats that countries like China present to us across society.

If our enemies are able to get voter registration lists from practically every city and town in America, all the personal registration data of almost every voting citizen in the country, then that's a really serious breach where we haven't taken the preservation of our own system seriously.

AND MICHAEL, WE UNDERSTAND

Michael, as a former CIA operative, can you shed some light on how this counterintelligence on China meddling is gathered and then the effort to bury it, as the president has described, and as Rick used the word ecosystem? How does that all kind of coalesce together?

Well, any, any collection...

So counterintelligence is to counter the, the hostile intelligence activities of foreign powers.

So we're trying to counter this.

So our counterintelligence people pick this up, but really, we don't have a way of handling this.

We don't have a real system to deal with the intelligence threats that countries like China present to us across society.

If, if our enemies are able to get voter registration lists from practically every city and town in America, all the personal registration data of, of almost every voting citizen in the country, then that's a really serious breach where we haven't taken the preservation of our own system seriously.

What could they do with that data?