[laughs]

... a, a man heard it in Nashville and he said, "Why don't you come up here and present to our record company? We might be interested in you." So I flew up there, Nashville.

Uh, they interviewed me, and, uh, they said, "Come back after lunch.

We'll give you an answer." Came back after lunch, and they said, "You need help." [laughs] They said to, "You, you know, would you be open to forming a group? Do, you know, a, a duo, trio, quartet?" I was like, "Wow, I hadn't thought about that." I was very disappointed, but they said, "Come back to us in a little bit and just see what you have." So I flew home, very disappointed they didn't want me, and, um, so I called these two guys, Dan Dean, Shawn Craig, who were friends of mine.

They're preachers' kids, too, and pastors, and great, uh, singers and writers.

I said, "Let's, you know, let's see what happens." So they flew to Austin, Texas, and we put three songs on a cassette.

Do you remember those, Jim, cassettes?

Yeah

So I'm wondering, Randy, w- what your take is on that, considering the risk that Chinese cyber attacks potentially pose to US national security.

Uh, thank you, Pamela.

That, I think it's a very important issue, obviously.

The, um, uh, the fact that China has been engaged in cyber attacks against America and others, uh, for many years now, and are quite adept at it, is something that should concern every American.

Uh, it would've been better, in my opinion, [laughs] if the, the president maybe didn't say that out loud on Air Force One.

But, uh, the fact is, China is a very important issue for the United States.

We certainly, uh, pay great attention to what China's doing, and China obviously has the US as its number one target.

Help us better understand, Randy, um, the significance of that and what that actually means tangibly.

R- Randy, given your experience in the, in the region, what, and in the country, what, what stands out to you about what we've heard so far?

Well, thank you, Anderson.

I, I mean, I agree with what Ambassador Burns just said.

I think, uh, you know, a lot of pl- good pleasantries and all, but, uh, the details are obviously still lacking.

We have, uh, the US side putting out what the Chinese have supposedly said, but the Chinese haven't put out what the Chinese supposedly said.

So there's gonna be a, a major difference in that situation, so we're gonna have to watch and see what comes out after the end of the meeting today.

I think it's, uh, the Taiwan point is certainly very important, uh, at the uppermost here, and I couldn't agree more with Ambassador Burns that, uh, we cannot allow China to dictate, uh, what we do and do not do in terms of arm sales to Taiwan.

Randy, can you just remind viewers why the fate of Taiwan is so important to China and to so many American politicians as well, and obviously the, the Taiwanese?

And also, does the Washington Post report, citing this confidential American intelligence assessment that China's leveraged the Iran war into an edge over the US across multiple geopolitical sectors, including economic military, does that sound right to you?

Uh, I think it does, and I think that, uh, Rahm's points are, are spot on.

Uh, that assessment that the Washington Post just reported on, I think, uh, points out in, in several different areas that this is all playing out to China's advantage.

You know, certainly, uh, as Rahm just said, in, uh, on the diplomatic front, uh, and with Europe, other US allies, um, sowing some doubt about the ability of the US to sustain the support.

And in, and frankly, the pressure campaign that we had before and some of the concerns with, uh, the rivalry with China, we're now offering a backdoor way for China to recover some of its ground.

I mean, it's one of those things where China comes out looking like the, the more, uh, s- factor of stability in the world as compared to the United States.

And as we have alienated allies and, uh, uh, friends alike, that this is something to China's advantage and they're taking advantage of it right now.

... that China is this viewed as the stable actor on the world sta- stage now, and that the US is an errati- erratic, irrational player.