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Speaker 1: With the morning briefing for Friday, the 4th of September, 2026.
Speaker 1: First up is our executive summary. Inside the Beltway News,
Speaker 1: President Donald Trump said the U.S. is preparing and stockpiling
Speaker 1: munitions for any contingency. The Department of Justice ended its
Speaker 1: 37-year monitoring program of the Teamsters Union. Domestically, the Young
Speaker 1: Democratic Socialists of America said its membership has expanded by
Speaker 1: 50% in 2026. The Trump administration announced the launch of
Speaker 1: Foundry School, a training program for engineers, technicians, and industrial leaders.
Speaker 1: In homeland operations, ICE announced a new record for enforcement arrests,
Speaker 1: almost 51,000 arrests in August. Globally, German police announced the
Speaker 1: fourth attack on their power grid this week, utilizing improvised
Speaker 1: rockets designed to short out high-voltage power lines. Also, Treasury
Speaker 1: Secretary Besant reported that the European Union has joined Operation
Speaker 1: Economic Outcast to isolate Iran.
Speaker 2: Also, the U.S.
Speaker 1: And Taiwan announced that Taiwan would be investing another $ 20
Speaker 1: billion into U.S. chip fabrication. Let's move into the meat
Speaker 1: of the report. I'd like to bring on Robert. Good morning, Robert.
Speaker 3: Good morning, Matt. Good morning, everyone.
Speaker 1: All right, Robert, the Trump administration, excuse me, the Federal
Speaker 1: Southern District of New York approved an agreement between the
Speaker 1: Department of Justice and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Union
Speaker 1: to end the 37-year federal monitoring of the union. What
Speaker 1: is the federal monitorship and why is it ending now?
Speaker 1: And does this signal the end of the Italian mafia?
Speaker 3: Well, so federal monitorship, they were imposed on In this case,
Speaker 3: the Teamsters Union back in the 80s, and this was
Speaker 3: to counter organized crime influence in the union. Some of
Speaker 3: the moves made to end this federal monitorship began at
Speaker 3: the very tail end of the Obama administration. But I
Speaker 3: think this is being sped up by the Trump administration
Speaker 3: because I think Trump is trying to court the Teamsters
Speaker 3: rank and file ahead of the 2026 midterm election, just
Speaker 3: like he did ahead of 2024. So in the 2024 election,
Speaker 3: about 60% of the membership voted to endorse Trump ahead
Speaker 3: of the election. But Sean O'Brien, the Teamsters president, decided
Speaker 3: not to endorse either candidate, which was in effect an
Speaker 3: endorsement for Trump because mostly the other union leadership of
Speaker 3: other unions endorsed Kamala Harris. And traditionally, there is a
Speaker 3: break between the rank and file and union management on politics.
Speaker 3: But in this case, I think this break we're seeing
Speaker 3: like the teamsters especially the rank and file but even
Speaker 3: sean o'brien is getting closer to the administration the republican
Speaker 3: party is between white blue-collar union workers and white-collar and
Speaker 3: service industry union workers because other unions like the united
Speaker 3: auto workers have been expanding into uh universities and service
Speaker 3: industries to bolster their numbers so i think what we're
Speaker 3: seeing here is really uh this blue red bifurcation by
Speaker 3: economic stat by job status basically where the blue america
Speaker 3: is the information economy, white-collar services economy, and red America
Speaker 3: is the blue-collar labor economy. And I think this is
Speaker 3: another one of those kind of symptoms of the red-blue bifurcation. Okay.
Speaker 1: Now, Robert, I'd like to bring Jared in here, our
Speaker 1: China expert. President Donald Trump said the U.S. is preparing
Speaker 1: and stockpiling munitions to for any contingency, President Trump added
Speaker 1: that the U.S. is producing munitions, quote, at levels never
Speaker 1: seen before, and, quote, we are taking them for ourselves. Now,
Speaker 1: these comments from Trump follow a statement this week from
Speaker 1: Secretary of State Rubio that there is high demand for U.S.
Speaker 1: missile interceptors from around the world, but that the U.S.
Speaker 1: has its own defense needs. Now, what are these two statements,
Speaker 1: both from Trump and Secretary Rubio? What does this indicate
Speaker 1: for the Trump administration? Is this a further indication that
Speaker 1: the U.S. Patriot missile inventory specifically is lower than is
Speaker 1: obviously wished for by the Pentagon and the White House?
Speaker 3: Well, I think this is an indicator of two possibilities,
Speaker 3: two potential courses of action. The Trump administration... One of
Speaker 3: those being the Trump administration is preparing for this anticipated
Speaker 3: 2027 U.S.-China crisis or conflict over Taiwan. And the second
Speaker 3: being that this could be an indicator that the U.S.
Speaker 3: stocks of these interceptors are significantly drawn down, not just
Speaker 3: from Iran operations over the last six months, but from
Speaker 3: years of transfers to Ukraine. And the Trump administration is–
Speaker 3: this is an indicator the Trump administration is at least
Speaker 3: talking about suspending foreign military sales of those weapon systems
Speaker 3: to rearm, to refill those stocks.
Speaker 1: Now, Jared, I know that you were doing some research
Speaker 1: here on U.S. military equipment sales. What do you have
Speaker 1: on that?
Speaker 4: Yeah, so I actually monitor this every day, and the
Speaker 4: State Department is– one of the first agencies to really say.
Speaker 2: Hey, here's what we intend to approve. Congress, can you
Speaker 2: go ahead and get this done?
Speaker 4: I believe it was just the 21st of August that
Speaker 4: they had just approved another set of missile sales. These
Speaker 4: were sidewinders, but the point is they are still selling munitions.
Speaker 4: In the official reporting, they are it's been pretty routine
Speaker 4: all throughout summer that they're still selling munitions.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: Well, we'll definitely keep an eye on this. We have
Speaker 1: a little bit of conflicting information here. The congressional, the
Speaker 1: congressional reporting is that we are still selling munitions and
Speaker 1: president Trump.
Speaker 4: They're asking for congressional approval to sell it. So the
Speaker 4: state department is still trying to sell it.
Speaker 3: Oh, okay.
Speaker 1: Okay. Well, thank you for that clarification. And Jared, we'll
Speaker 1: bring you back for global a little bit later. Now, Robert,
Speaker 1: the Young Democratic Socialists of America said its membership has
Speaker 1: expanded by 50% and it's started more than 50 new
Speaker 1: chapters so far in 2026. Now, the YDSA said it
Speaker 1: now has more than 3,000 members across 160 chapters and
Speaker 1: the highest membership in the YDSA's 60-year history. Now, the
Speaker 1: YDSA said its ultimate goal is to, quote, build power
Speaker 1: at the campus and to fight the transfiguration of the U.S.
Speaker 1: university system. Robert, why is the DSA and the young
Speaker 1: DSA expanding so much in 2026? What's driving this expansion?
Speaker 3: Well, I think, well, first off, like the DSA, likewise,
Speaker 3: has grown the membership and expanded significantly this year. I
Speaker 3: think this is likely we're seeing this increased support for
Speaker 3: the DSA and the young DSA. The young DSA on
Speaker 3: a smaller scale, obviously, because the DSA is now has,
Speaker 3: I think they said when we last reported on it, 120,000
Speaker 3: dues-paying members now. I think this is likely due to
Speaker 3: the younger Democrat voter base and their frustration with establishment
Speaker 3: Democrats and that they are more open, according to opinion polling,
Speaker 3: more open to progressive and democratic socialist policies, especially economic policies.
Speaker 3: I think that's why we're seeing this record growth by
Speaker 3: both the DSA and the young DSA. Okay.
Speaker 1: Now, Robert, have you noticed any significant differences of the
Speaker 1: extremism between the young DSA and the mainline DSA?
Speaker 3: I think the white DSA is probably a little bit
Speaker 3: more extreme on their public opinions because the DSA is
Speaker 3: not just an act like a far progressive, sort of
Speaker 3: on the far left progressive line group. They're also a
Speaker 3: political group, and they're running candidates in office. They're backing
Speaker 3: candidates in office. So there's also a struggle going on
Speaker 3: within the DSA as well over some DSA factions that
Speaker 3: want to be more pragmatic with electoral politics and some
Speaker 3: that are trying to maintain the more radical character of
Speaker 3: DSA politics.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: Now, moving over to a quick update on ICE agent
Speaker 1: Castro that we've been covering here. Federal grand jury returned
Speaker 1: an indictment against ICE agent Christian Castro for making false
Speaker 1: statements after an ICE officer involved shooting in January. The
Speaker 1: Department of Justice said Castro is still under investigation and
Speaker 1: more charges are may be coming. Robert, what do you
Speaker 1: think that this indicates? Is the Trump administration, is this
Speaker 1: an effort by the Trump administration potentially to shield Agent
Speaker 1: Castro from state charges in Minnesota?
Speaker 3: It's possible. So what happened here is federal prosecutors in
Speaker 3: Minnesota wanted to charge Castro with civil rights violations and
Speaker 3: that was apparently put on hold by DOJ headquarters and
Speaker 3: now they're charging him with lying during the investigation of
Speaker 3: the shooting. I think it's possible that this is a
Speaker 3: way for the Trump administration to kind of control the
Speaker 3: news cycle on this and say, hey, look, we are
Speaker 3: conducting oversight over ICE agents because they're There have been
Speaker 3: a couple incidents like this where we've seen ICE agents
Speaker 3: exaggerated the events happening around arrests. There was one earlier
Speaker 3: this year that I talked about where there was a man,
Speaker 3: an illegal alien arrested in Texas who resisted arrest with violence.
Speaker 3: But the ICE agents reporting basically made him out to, like,
Speaker 3: be a terrorist, a domestic terrorist, you know. At the time,
Speaker 3: I said, I think this is undermining the credibility of
Speaker 3: ICE when they're conducting these operations. This might be a
Speaker 3: response to that by the Trump administration to try to
Speaker 3: mitigate that happening by charging Castro and also avoid the
Speaker 3: civil rights charges.
Speaker 1: Well, I think it's also an important signal from the
Speaker 1: Trump administration to ICE, to CBP, which is that there
Speaker 1: are absolutely limits. You can't just You can't just break
Speaker 1: the law. Even if you're an ICE agent and you're
Speaker 1: on duty and you're pursuing a fleeing felon, you still
Speaker 1: have to follow the law. And it certainly appears that
Speaker 1: Agent Castro, it appears that he's misrepresented the actions that
Speaker 1: led to his officer-involved shooting. Now, moving forward here, the
Speaker 1: Trump administration announced the launch of Foundry School, a training
Speaker 1: program for engineers, technicians, and industrial leaders to build an
Speaker 1: American manufacturing workforce. The Foundry School program will be hosted
Speaker 1: by Stanford University beginning in January 2027 and host U.S.
Speaker 1: and foreign students from the Trump administration's Pax Silica Partnership program. Robert,
Speaker 1: I'm actually not familiar with the Pax Silica program. I
Speaker 1: know that our listeners probably think that we know everything here,
Speaker 1: but I don't know what Pax Silica is. Remind me,
Speaker 1: what is that and how does it fit into the
Speaker 1: grand strategy of the Trump administration?
Speaker 3: So Pax Silica is basically an international strategic initiative. The
Speaker 3: idea is to secure supply chain, global supply chains, specifically
Speaker 3: for the advancement of AI. And so that means like industry, semiconductors,
Speaker 3: electrical equipment. And as far as how this fits into
Speaker 3: the Trump grant strategy, if we look at the list
Speaker 3: of countries here that are provided in the report at
Speaker 3: the State Department announcement, This includes South Korea, Japan, Taiwan,
Speaker 3: and India. And those are all countries, I think, as
Speaker 3: we were discussing before the show, Jared pointed out, they
Speaker 3: all have beefs with China. And I think this is,
Speaker 3: to me, this looks likely to be part of the
Speaker 3: larger Trump administration grand strategy to economically isolate China. And
Speaker 3: when we talked about this the other day, I pointed
Speaker 3: out that really you can't extricate supply chains and geography.
Speaker 3: In this case, they're doing the same thing here. They're
Speaker 3: What this program sounds like to me is there are
Speaker 3: going to be U.S. students there, and this is more
Speaker 3: like a professional program. This isn't really like a college
Speaker 3: degree program. And they're bringing guys to build up U.S.
Speaker 3: supply chains domestically, but also foreign partners to then return
Speaker 3: those students back to those countries to build up their
Speaker 3: own supply chains, secure their own supply chains, and build
Speaker 3: up their own reindustrialization with the idea that this is,
Speaker 3: I think, the intent to bolster this strategy to isolate China.
Speaker 1: Now, didn't TSMC have some sort of partnership program here
Speaker 1: in the United States where they sent over various high-level,
Speaker 1: highly skilled technicians and engineers to train the U.S. workforce
Speaker 1: to operate the semiconductor fabrication here in the United States?
Speaker 1: Does this foundry school sound like it's a similar, perhaps
Speaker 1: an expansion? of the arrangement that the United States had
Speaker 1: with TSMC on chip manufacturing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, because this goes beyond, this seems to be, to
Speaker 3: go beyond just semiconductors. Like, this is much more broad.
Speaker 2: Okay, now, excellent.
Speaker 1: Now, let's move over to Homeland Operations. The Department of
Speaker 1: Homeland Security said ICE conducted 50,915 immigration arrests throughout the
Speaker 1: United States in August, setting a new record. Now, DHS
Speaker 1: said this is the second time consecutive month of more
Speaker 1: than 50,000 arrests by ICE. Robert, is this the result
Speaker 1: of the 287G agreements coming into effect?
Speaker 3: Not quite, I don't think. And so we've seen this
Speaker 3: massive expansion of the 287G program, but they still account
Speaker 3: for a small number of the arrests every month. And
Speaker 3: I think that's because there's going to be a time
Speaker 3: lag between when the agreements are signed between DHS and
Speaker 3: And the local and state law enforcement agencies, because they've
Speaker 3: expanded from they've expanded like almost 200 percent, I think,
Speaker 3: since January. They're up to over 2200 agreements now. And
Speaker 3: I think there's a time like that because when they
Speaker 3: when they're putting in these agreements, eventually, like after the
Speaker 3: agreement is signed, then then those local or state officers
Speaker 3: have to be sent off to a training program, sometimes
Speaker 3: at FLETC. And then they can begin enforcing federal immigration
Speaker 3: law under these different models of 287G. I think as
Speaker 3: we see that happening over the next few months, we're
Speaker 3: going to see the number of arrests coming out of
Speaker 3: 287G increasing, which means overall the arrest numbers are going
Speaker 3: to increase because there's still only a small portion of
Speaker 3: the total monthly immigration arrests. So the two data points
Speaker 3: are not a trend, obviously, as far as setting a
Speaker 3: new floor. But so far, above 50,000 for two months
Speaker 3: in a row. And I think they could be setting
Speaker 3: a new floor for immigration arrest numbers, especially as those
Speaker 3: 287G partnership programs become operational.
Speaker 1: I don't want to beat a dead horse here, Robert.
Speaker 1: But just to be clear, you're saying that you believe
Speaker 1: your analysis is that How many– first of all, how
Speaker 1: many 287G agreements does the United States have right now?
Speaker 3: I think it's over 2,200. I'd have to double-check the
Speaker 3: website again.
Speaker 1: Effectively they haven't begun full operations yet because of just
Speaker 1: plumbing problems in that the local law enforcement agencies, they
Speaker 1: haven't conducted all the paperwork, all the training that they
Speaker 1: need to begin law enforcement immigration enforcement at the local level.
Speaker 1: So you're saying that this $ 50, 000 could easily be exceeded
Speaker 1: once all the 287G agreements are in effect?
Speaker 3: I think so. Because when we published the numbers last
Speaker 3: month on Florida, for example, almost half of the agencies
Speaker 3: with 287G agreements had conducted zero arrests yet. So some
Speaker 3: of these programs have had officers go off to the
Speaker 3: training and they are currently active. But I think that
Speaker 3: points to that some of the programs, possibly a lot
Speaker 3: of the new ones that have been signed this year,
Speaker 3: have not yet become operational. And then that's also not–
Speaker 3: there's also the potential that they're undercounting those arrests because
Speaker 3: I know that's happened here in Florida with individual agencies
Speaker 3: with these 287G programs where the arrests were initially undercounted. Okay.
Speaker 1: Now, Robert, that will actually wrap up domestic reporting for today.
Speaker 1: I'd like to ask you to stay on for global.
Speaker 1: Bring Jared in here. Good morning again, Jared. Now, let's
Speaker 1: talk about Germany. We talked about it earlier this week.
Speaker 1: Police are investigating a new series of improvised rocket devices
Speaker 1: near Dusseldorf, Germany. The devices were designed to short out
Speaker 1: high-voltage power transmission lines. Here in the United States, we
Speaker 1: call them high-tension power lines. This is the third incident
Speaker 1: this week. Now, the rocket is designed to overfly the
Speaker 1: power lines here. with a trailing wire that when it
Speaker 1: comes into contact with various electrical lines, it short-circuits the system. Robert,
Speaker 1: as a GWAT veteran, where have we seen this type
Speaker 1: of TTP before?
Speaker 3: Well, this tactic, technique, and procedure was very common during GWAT,
Speaker 3: during the Global War on Terror, in that insurgents would
Speaker 3: set timed launch devices for basically improvised indirect fire, and
Speaker 3: that would allow them to set a weapon system, whatever
Speaker 3: type of improvised rocket or mortar or non-improvised military rocket
Speaker 3: or mortar, and leave the area ahead of the launch.
Speaker 3: And then so when they did launch, whenever counter-battery fire
Speaker 3: came in or there was some type of response, like
Speaker 3: quick reaction force response, they wouldn't be there to be killed.
Speaker 1: Absolutely. Now, for our listeners, I actually came across this
Speaker 1: tactic technique procedure in Afghanistan myself. Where Afghan insurgents had
Speaker 1: set up rockets on a hillside targeting the camp I
Speaker 1: was at out in the sticks. And it was exactly
Speaker 1: what you just talked about. It was rockets with these
Speaker 1: improvised tripods, a car battery and rockets. an egg timer,
Speaker 1: a kitchen timer. All of this was wired together, and fortunately,
Speaker 1: some of our Afghan partner security forces were able to
Speaker 1: find this before it went off. We sent out EOD guys,
Speaker 1: and that's how they disarmed them, and that's how I
Speaker 1: was able to actually really see the nuts and bolts
Speaker 1: of this so it's it's pretty interesting that you know
Speaker 1: this ttp has traveled from the global war on terror
Speaker 1: to domestically in germany and i just want to be
Speaker 1: clear here for the listeners that while the improvised rockets
Speaker 1: have been something that we've seen before i am not
Speaker 1: aware of this specific ttp with the utilization of the
Speaker 1: wire the the conductive wire i assume it was they
Speaker 1: don't say in the german reporting i'm assuming it's copper
Speaker 1: the copper wire to short out the electrical high tension
Speaker 1: power lines. Now, attacking the lines instead of the substation
Speaker 1: defeats perimeter security. No amount of hardening the electrical substations,
Speaker 1: the transformers, is going to prevent this type of attack
Speaker 1: that we're seeing in Germany now several times this week. Now,
Speaker 1: even if the groups doing the operation are motivated by
Speaker 1: beliefs about climate change, which is what is being currently
Speaker 1: reported in German media, it is a known technique for
Speaker 1: foreign intelligence services to use cutouts and proxies for their
Speaker 1: own goals. Now, Russian involvement is assessed with moderate confidence
Speaker 1: as likely here due to German support for the Ukraine conflict. Now, Robert,
Speaker 1: are you familiar with this type of cutout operation historically
Speaker 1: by intelligence services? What's another example of this?
Speaker 3: Well, in the United States, and this was pointed out
Speaker 3: in the Cuba report from the State Department, is that
Speaker 3: the Soviet Union was using, in Cuba, were using domestic
Speaker 3: political movements here, like the Black Nationalist movements, in order
Speaker 3: to affect their own political strategies to undermine the United
Speaker 3: States foreign policy. There's one other thing to point out here.
Speaker 3: If this could be a just a domestic German far-left
Speaker 3: group doing their own thing. In Europe, the far-left groups
Speaker 3: are much more militant than here in the United States.
Speaker 3: Especially Greece is one big area where the far-left is
Speaker 3: very aggressive. But historically, it's not unusual, especially during the
Speaker 3: Cold War, for these far-left groups, like the Red Brigades
Speaker 3: and the different movements in France, in Spain, in Germany,
Speaker 3: in the U.K., to travel to the Middle East and
Speaker 3: have some interaction with what we now consider Islamist groups,
Speaker 3: which a lot of these, like the Palestinian Liberation Organization,
Speaker 3: the PLFP Popular Front or PFLP Popular Front for the
Speaker 3: Liberation of Palestine, they started out as explicitly leftist groups.
Speaker 3: So there was, it is possible that this group may
Speaker 3: have picked up this technique from some other type of training.
Speaker 3: that they are using for their own domestic objectives. Historically,
Speaker 3: that is not unusual for the far left groups in
Speaker 3: Europe to travel to the Middle East for training.
Speaker 1: Now, Robert, as impactful as it is what the motivation
Speaker 1: of these attackers are and where they got their training,
Speaker 1: I think another point of view here is the bigger picture.
Speaker 1: which is because the method has now been publicized, security
Speaker 1: professionals in the United States and around the world, but
Speaker 1: since our audience is primarily in the United States, security
Speaker 1: professionals here need to update their threat scenarios for the U.S.
Speaker 1: power grid, which is something that we talk about here
Speaker 1: quite a bit. Now, thank you, Robert. That'll actually wrap
Speaker 1: your section up today. Jared, what news do we have
Speaker 1: coming concerning Iran?
Speaker 2: Almost got myself. All right, so a couple big pieces
Speaker 2: out of Iran.
Speaker 4: So last night, Treasury Secretary Besant reported that the European
Speaker 4: Union has joined Operation Economic Outcast in order to economically
Speaker 4: isolate Iran. Anonymous sources in South Korea report that South
Speaker 4: Korea is preparing to send logistic ships and maritime patrol
Speaker 4: aircraft to support the U.S. 's efforts in the start
Speaker 4: of war moves. However, the South Korean presidential office did
Speaker 4: say that they denied the claim, uh, but they are
Speaker 4: in discussions to find out how they can contribute to
Speaker 4: restoring peace and stability in the Middle East and inside
Speaker 4: the street. That's a direct quote from their presidential office.
Speaker 4: And additionally, Peru, rather low level, but it is important
Speaker 4: to note that Peru severed relations with Iran. Now, I
Speaker 4: think all this is pointing towards the ally, pointing towards
Speaker 4: something significant here. The allies joining in against Iran is
Speaker 4: an indicator that the U.S. 's international influence remains strong
Speaker 4: despite the the unending reports that the U S allies
Speaker 4: are going their own way or even joining China. Uh, additionally, uh,
Speaker 4: vice president Vance held a press conference yesterday. And in it,
Speaker 4: he stated that the Gulf Arab States have been quote,
Speaker 4: begging the United States to continue operations in the Strait
Speaker 4: of Hormuz, because if the U S were to leave,
Speaker 4: it would lead to a worldwide energy crisis. And that
Speaker 4: was basically anytime he touched on the Strait of Hormuz, which.
Speaker 2: Uh, let me pull that back up for you guys.
Speaker 2: Here we go.
Speaker 4: Uh, He did bring on that if the U.S. had
Speaker 4: done nothing, this would have led to a worldwide energy crisis.
Speaker 4: Vance refused to commit to any timeline on when retaliatory
Speaker 4: strikes and a naval escort would end because he said
Speaker 4: that depends solely on when the Iranians stop shooting ships. Ultimately,
Speaker 4: I do think that this is heading towards what I've
Speaker 4: assessed here as will be the new normal where Basically,
Speaker 4: along the Iranian coast, there are nuisance strikes against commercial shipping,
Speaker 4: and that will result in a coalition anti-piracy effort.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 1: Now, Jared, moving over to South America for a moment,
Speaker 1: what news do we have coming out of Southern Command?
Speaker 2: Yeah, so this is just a trend I've noticed coming
Speaker 2: from South Com.
Speaker 4: The last three reported boat strikes that they had, which–
Speaker 4: They went on a bit of a lull, and then
Speaker 4: all of a sudden we have a bunch of boat strikes.
Speaker 4: They're taking out refueling ships for the cartels. Now, these
Speaker 4: vessels are operating in support of Los Troneros, an Ecuadorian cartel,
Speaker 4: which the Ecuadorians are also running a joint operation with
Speaker 4: Colombia right now to counter that group. And these were
Speaker 4: clear of personnel before South Com destroyed them. Now, we
Speaker 4: previously reported on South Com disrupting a regional narcotics distributor
Speaker 4: on the water. So similar vessel, but they would distribute
Speaker 4: drugs in order to get to the go fast boats
Speaker 4: that would then carry on the rest of the supply chain.
Speaker 4: And this is another midstream disruption to the narcotics supply
Speaker 4: chain from South America to the United States.
Speaker 2: Now you and I have.
Speaker 4: Discussed previously, you've got a little bit more experience with
Speaker 4: this than I do, but those go fast have a
Speaker 4: pretty limited range. They're pretty high end speed boats, but
Speaker 4: they're still just speed boats. And they would be heavily
Speaker 4: dependent on these refueling boats to make the extended journeys.
Speaker 4: So without these, this is likely intended to further drive
Speaker 4: the narcotic supply chain toward territorial waters and onto aerial routes.
Speaker 4: And that makes this generally easier to interdict and to
Speaker 4: pressure countries that these groups are operating in to conduct
Speaker 4: the interdictions as well.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: Now, Jared, another Taiwan element here. The U.S. Commerce Secretary
Speaker 1: Howard Lutnick and Taiwanese Minister of Economic Affairs each separately
Speaker 1: announced that Taiwan would be investing another $ 20 billion into U.S.
Speaker 2: Chip fabrication.
Speaker 1: Now, Lutnick tied the investment to additional tariff relief on
Speaker 1: more upcoming U.S. tariffs on semiconductors. Jared, you're our China guy.
Speaker 1: What have we reported on this topic in the past? Like,
Speaker 1: what does this mean?
Speaker 4: So we've talked about TSMC moving out specifically to Arizona,
Speaker 4: basically from the very beginning.
Speaker 2: This, this is.
Speaker 4: Largely been, it's largely been an effort to mitigate China,
Speaker 4: China's ultimate economic effects. And it's, all of this is
Speaker 4: about just preparing for that 2027 deadline. And just to
Speaker 4: clarify that we mentioned that earlier in the show, but
Speaker 4: I want to be perfectly clear. That is not to
Speaker 4: say that, China is 100% moving on.
Speaker 2: Taiwan in 2027.
Speaker 4: And in fact, we previously assessed, I assessed the beginning
Speaker 4: of 2025. No, I don't expect China to move in 2027,
Speaker 4: but the United States government is treating it as a deadline.
Speaker 4: That way they.
Speaker 2: Are prepared in case China does. So I think this.
Speaker 4: Is part of a broader effort to just generally dampen China.
Speaker 4: And we have seen other efforts to do similar things.
Speaker 2: I can get into that a fair bit later if
Speaker 2: you want to. I know you've got a few things
Speaker 2: to say as well.
Speaker 1: Well, actually, Jared, I would like to wrap up the
Speaker 1: show right here and for the subscribers to look for
Speaker 1: our full analysis in the written report. Now, due to
Speaker 1: Labor Day being Monday, we'll be back with you Tuesday
Speaker 1: at 08 Central on the show and in your inbox.
Speaker 1: And I'd like to thank all of our new listeners.
Speaker 1: have a good have a good rest of your day
Speaker 1: and have a great weekend and stay out front.