In May, U.S. energy officials <a href="https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/ghost-machine-rogue-communication-devices-found-chinese-inverters-2025-05-14/">released</a> bombshell findings about China’s ability to turn out the lights across America. Rogue communications devices were found inside Chinese solar power inverters. In addition, undisclosed cellular radios were found inside Chinese batteries. These Chinese Communist Party sabotage efforts are reminiscent of CCP-tied Huawei’s infiltration of our communications network, which gave Beijing the ability to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/23/politics/fbi-investigation-huawei-china-defense-department-communications-nuclear/index.html">disrupt our nuclear arsenal communications</a>.
Beijing seeks the ability to remotely access and destroy the systems upon which Americans depend for everyday life and upon which our military depends to project power across the globe. The U.S. rightly began to remove Huawei technologies from our market <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/ghost-machine-rogue-communication-devices-050547906.html?guccounter=1">in 2019</a> because of security risks. Since then, ironically, we’ve allowed China to flood our market with network-connected technologies such as routers, drones, cranes, healthcare devices, cameras, green tech, and more, which collectively constitute a deeper penetration of our vital systems. This trend must be reversed through new laws and better law enforcement to block and remove all Chinese network-connected technologies. 
American tax dollars should not fund technologies that facilitate Chinese espionage and sabotage efforts. At the federal level, Congress should ban federal procurement of Chinese network-connected technologies. Congress should also codify President Trump’s Information and Communications Technology <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/05/17/2019-10538/securing-the-information-and-communications-technology-and-services-supply-chain">executive order</a> from 2019 and fund ICT programs to block CCP tech. During March 2025 testimony, former Biden Administration official Dr. Rush Doshi <a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/oS_aZXE6W0k">argued</a> that codifying Trump’s order “would let us prohibit certain [Chinese] goods,” especially power converters and network-connected technologies, “from being in the U.S. market.”
States must excise CCP network-connected technologies from their critical infrastructure and government systems. For example, Texas’ 2021 <a href="https://www.jw.com/news/insights-texas-lone-star-infrastructure-protection-act/">Lone Star Infrastructure Protection Act (LIPA)</a> forbids Texas businesses and government from contracting with China, Russia, North Korea and Iran on critical infrastructure, especially if foreign parties would gain remote access or control of the infrastructure. A 2023 Nebraska law <a href="https://flood.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-flood-applauds-bipartisan-work-ban-state-funds-huawei-equipment">prohibits</a> the state from providing public funds to telecommunications providers that have not yet removed Huawei 5G hardware from their cell towers. Utah passed a 2024 law to end procurement of Chinese technologies such as computers and routers. All states should adopt these measures.
Furthermore, the U.S. must enforce the rule-of-law. The Chinese Communist Party has made tremendous gains at the expense of the U.S. in part because the U.S. and its allies have failed to enforce their own laws upon malicious CCP agents and entities. At a fundamental level, the two legal systems are incompatible because <a href="https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/statement-national-security-advisor-robert-c-obrien-011521-2/">China’s laws require businesses to engage in espionage for the party-state</a>, while America’s laws require data privacy. America must pivot and crush CCP lawlessness. Consumer fraud and data privacy laws must be tightened, and robust enforcement actions must be taken by both federal agencies and state attorneys general. 
In March 2025, the FCC’s Council on National Security <a href="https://www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/fcc-investigating-china-companies-national-security/743316/">opened an investigation</a> into several telecommunications companies, including Huawei, for engaging in unfair, deceptive, and fraudulent business practices such as selling banned equipment in the United States. The FCC can go further by revoking telecom licenses from corrupt entities. Meanwhile, other federal agencies must get in the fight.
State AGs must enforce the law against Chinese manufacturers that embed hidden backdoors in products, and American companies that “white-label” such products must also be held accountable. For example, according to the federal <a href="https://www.cisa.gov/resources-tools/resources/contec-cms8000-contains-backdoor">Cybersecurity &amp; Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)</a> the Chinese company Contec sells healthcare monitors with embedded backdoors that provide Beijing with access to patient data along with the ability to manipulate readings of a patient’s vitals. AGs should investigate Contec for potential violations of consumer and medical data protections. As a recent FDA Safety Communication states, <a href="https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/safety-communications/cybersecurity-vulnerabilities-certain-patient-monitors-contec-and-epsimed-fda-safety-communication">Florida-based Epsimed</a>, which sells Contec products in the U.S., should also be investigated.
These security concerns are amplified by ethical concerns. Chinese green energy technologies are not only riddled with backdoors, they often <a href="http://www.cecc.gov/events/hearings/from-cobalt-to-cars-how-china-exploits-child-and-forced-labor-in-the-congo">rely on slave labor</a>. Too many environmental activists have been hoodwinked into promoting cheap CCP hardware to “save the planet,” all while supporting slave labor and compromising our energy grid.
The United States <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/ghost-machine-rogue-communication-devices-050547906.html?guccounter=1">2019 actions against Huawei</a> were a strong step, but since then we’ve lost ground. Rapid and concerted action is needed to protect our way of life against Chinese Communist Party sabotage, and to build an economic system based upon rule-of-law rather than communist infiltration and subversion.
* * *
Michael Lucci is the Founder and CEO of State Armor, a 501(c)(3) non-profit advocating for state solutions to the global threats posed by the CCP. 
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

TOPSHOT-CHINA-TECHNOLOGY-AI

CCP In The Machine: How China’s Tech Continues To Infiltrate American Hardware

Attorney General

China

Communism

Espionage

Foreign Policy

Opinion

Spying

Technology

Recently, the news stories in the media have been coming so fast and furious they’re almost like a group of muscular bald men driving hot cars out of airplanes, landing them on top of other cars, and then driving away at high speed while firing a rocket launcher out the window&#8230; because they’re fast and… well, never mind.
Anyway, I began to wonder: how can the news media report all this news in a way that reflects the outlooks of Americans everywhere across this great land, from the pine forests of Vermont to the golden wheat fields of Kansas, across the vast expanses of Texas to the sun-baked beaches of the Pacific Coast? So I decided I would take a look at the headlines of news outlets from 40th Street in Manhattan all the way to 47th Street — because that’s about all of them.
So for instance, in the news, inflation slowed to its lowest rate in more than four years.
Here’s the headline from The Wall Street Journal: &#8220;Trump’s Tariffs to Cause Massive Inflation Very, Very Soon, Experts Who Predicted Massive Inflation Because of Trump’s Tariffs Very Soon Say.&#8221;
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-andrew-klavan-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Andrew Klavan Show</a></h3>
Here’s One From The New York Times: &#8220;Hardworking Migrant Juan Ortega May Lose His Chicken Farm as Trump’s Policies Cause the Bottom to Fall Out of Egg Prices.&#8221;
And here’s the Report from NPR: &#8220;How Lower Inflation Spurred the Rise of Hitler,&#8221; a historical report read by a person with a very soft, sleepy voice that will make you want to hurt yourself just to make it stop.
Another news story: Trump negotiated a ceasefire between hostile nuclear powers India and Pakistan.
From The Wall Street Journal: &#8220;Nuclear Devastation Averted, Leaving Millions Alive to Suffer Massive Inflation Very Soon Because of Donald Trump’s Tariffs, Experts who Predicted Massive Inflation Very Soon Because of Donald Trump’s Tariffs Say.&#8221;
Or from The New York Times: &#8220;Environmentalists Worry that Trump’s Reckless Actions on the Indian Subcontinent Will Leave Earth’s Population at Levels Sure to Cause Devastating Climate Change.&#8221;
Or the story as reported by NBC News: &#8220;Biden’s Policy of Mindlessly Prolonging Foreign Wars to No Effect Finally Pays Big Dividends by Bringing Peace Deal Between India and Pakistan.&#8221;
In other news, Trump negotiated the release of Edan Alexander, the last living American hostage being held by vampiric Palestinian monsters.
The headline in The Wall Street Journal reads: &#8220;Released Hostage Finds Himself in a World Soon to be Wracked by Massive Inflation Caused by Trump’s Tariffs, According to Experts.&#8221;
The New York Times headline was: &#8220;Sad Little Palestinian Boy Jihad Muhammed Sharia Jihad Jihad Muhammed Sheds Sad Tears of Very Sad Sadness as Genocidal Israelis Steal the Wonderful Friend his Parents Kept Chained up for Him in the Basement.&#8221;
And of course, CNN featured an interview with a Columbia University professor who once read part of a book on Israel and says the Jews sound genocidal to him until Scott Jennings knocks him unconscious and jumps up and down on his face.
Then there was the news that Donald Trump had negotiated several trillion dollars in American investment from Saudi Arabia.
The Wall Street Journal reported the story with the headline: &#8220;Saudis Want to Invest in America but Whoa Nellie, Just Wait Till They See the Massive Inflation that’s Going to be Caused by Trump’s Tariffs Any Day Now, Experts Say.&#8221;
The Headline in The New York Times reads: &#8220;Sad Yale Historian Who Studies Fascism Says He Is Leaving America Because Trump’s Presidency Will Look Just Like Fascism as Soon as It Looks Like Fascism.&#8221;
And CBS reported: &#8220;Weak Trump Caves to Saudi Demands that he take their Money.&#8221;
In other news, Trump struck a deal with China to free us from their hammerlock on our supply lines, brought down drug prices, bombed the Houthis into submission, opened U.K. markets to American farmers, made progress on a nuclear deal with Iran, and the headlines say….. oh, screw it.
***
This excerpt is taken from the opening satirical monologue of “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-andrew-klavan-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Andrew Klavan Show</a>.”
The views expressed in this satirical article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
Andrew Klavan is the host of “The Andrew Klavan Show” at The Daily Wire. Follow him on X: <a href="https://x.com/andrewklavan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@andrewklavan</a>
Klavan is the bestselling author of numerous books, including the Cameron Winter Mystery series. The fourth installment, “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1613165536?ref_=dbs_m_mng_rwt_calw_thcv_3&amp;storeType=ebooks" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A Woman Underground.</a>” His most recent nonfiction release is “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Kingdom-Cain-Finding-Literature-Darkness/dp/0310368340/?_encoding=UTF8&amp;pd_rd_w=nMYjR&amp;content-id=amzn1.sym.bc3ba8d1-5076-4ab7-9ba8-a5c6211e002d&amp;pf_rd_p=bc3ba8d1-5076-4ab7-9ba8-a5c6211e002d&amp;pf_rd_r=133-8344803-2786917&amp;pd_rd_wg=7a8J3&amp;pd_rd_r=5791ea0f-6d96-4732-9d6a-3a4e6b348bb5&amp;ref_=aufs_ap_sc_dsk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Kingdom of Cain: Finding God in the Literature of Darkness.</a>” (May 2025, Zondervan/HarperCollins).

Donald Trump, Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani

Trump’s Global Triumphs Cause Inflation Apocalypse, Say Analysts Cheering For Inflation Apocalypse

Andrew Klavan

Donald Trump

Economy

Inflation

Legacy Media

Satire

Tariffs

President Donald Trump praised American troops as the &#8220;tip of the spear&#8221; in the fight against the &#8220;enemies of civilization&#8221; in a Thursday speech at an American military base in Qatar.
Trump made the comments to troops at the Al Udeid Air Force Base, the largest American military facility in the Middle East, before departing Qatar for the United Arab Emirates. In his speech, Trump laid out his priorities for the Middle East and promised that American troops would soon get a raise through his proposed budget bill.
“All of you are the tip of the spear, you&#8217;re the finest we have, anywhere in the world, you’re the finest we have, you’re the finest anyone has in the fight against the enemies of civilization,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;You’re the people that are defeating chaos, combating terror, defending our interests, supporting our allies, securing our homeland, and making America incredibly proud, and you know what, making America great again.”
Trump also promised the troops that he would make the U.S. military &#8220;bigger, better, stronger, and more powerful than ever.&#8221;
“You are without a doubt the greatest fighting force in the history of the world. That&#8217;s the way it is. I said it last night. I said it&#8217;s strong. We have the strongest military in the world. It&#8217;s not even a contest. We have the best equipment, nobody has equipment like us, nobody has the planes or the missiles or anything else,&#8221; he said. 
Echoing his speech on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia, Trump said he was focused on keeping the peace by projecting American strength.
&#8220;As president, my priority is to end conflicts, not start them — but I will never hesitate to wield American power if it&#8217;s necessary to defend the United States of America or our partners. And this is one of our great partners right here,&#8221; Trump told the troops on Thursday.
The day before his speech, Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-signs-major-defense-deal-with-qatar-despite-past-accusations-of-terror-financing?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump+Signs+Major+Defense+Deal+With+Qatar+Despite+Past+Accusations+Of+Terror+Financing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">signed</a> a defense agreement with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, where the country signed a letter of intent to purchase $2 billion worth of MQ-9B Reaper drones and $1 billion in counter-drone technology. At the same time, Trump has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-defends-400-million-flying-palace-offered-as-gift-from-qatar" target="_blank" rel="noopener">faced criticism</a> over his acceptance of a $400 million luxury jet from Qatar.
In attendance at Thursday&#8217;s speech to the troops were comedian Theo Von and country music singer Lee Greenwood, who sang &#8220;God Bless America&#8221; before Trump took the stage.
Throughout his Middle East trip, Trump has signed defense agreements with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, announced billions of dollars worth of business deals with both countries, and met with the president of Syria, marking the first time the leaders from the two countries have met since 2000. Trump is now headed to the United Arab Emirates to meet with President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and other top officials.

QATAR-US-DEFENCE-DIPLOMACY

Trump Praises American Troops In Qatar: ‘Tip Of The Spear’ Against ‘Enemies Of Civilization’

Air Force

Executive

Middle East

Military

Politics

Qatar

U.S. Military

President Donald Trump arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday with a large delegation from his cabinet for meetings with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other high-ranking Saudi officials.
Air Force One landed at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh at around 9:49 a.m. local time after an escort from a pair of Saudi F-15 fighter jets. Once on the ground, Trump was greeted by Mohammed bin Salman, who then took him inside the airport for a brief welcome with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and Energy Secretary Chris Wright.
From the airport, Trump and the American delegation were brought to the Saudi Royal Court by an escort of Arabian horses. While speaking with the crown prince, Trump said he believed Saudi investment in the United States could create up to two million jobs, adding, &#8220;I really believe we like each other a lot.&#8221;
&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a> is greeted by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 🇺🇸🇸🇦 <a href="https://t.co/81qUv6hi7D">pic.twitter.com/81qUv6hi7D</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1922190356692557858?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 13, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Trump announced in March that Saudi Arabia had committed to investing $1 trillion into the American economy.
“I made a deal with Saudi Arabia…I said I’ll go if you pay $1 trillion to American companies, meaning the purchase over a four-year period of $1 trillion, and they’ve agreed to do that,” he said at the time.
Many prominent businessmen and investors, including several Americans, are being hosted for lunch by the crown prince. Attendees include Elon Musk, Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, LinkedIn Chairman Reid Hoffman, FIFA President Gianni Infantino, and many others, according to the White House.
“As you know, we have the biggest business leaders in the world here,” Trump <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/05/13/trump-middle-east-saudi-arabia-qatar-uae/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> during his meeting with the crown prince, according to the Washington Post. “They’re going to walk away with a lot of checks for a lot of things that you’re going to provide.”
The lunch is being attended by top Trump officials as well, including Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Trump&#8217;s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, according to a list provided by the White House.
The Saudi Arabia trip is Trump&#8217;s first stop on his second foreign trip of his second term. Trump attended Pope Francis&#8217; funeral in Vatican City on April 26. He is expected to visit Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and possibly Turkey.
RELATED: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/zelensky-asks-trump-to-join-russia-ukraine-peace-talks-in-turkey">Zelensky Asks Trump To Join Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks In Turkey</a>

President Trump Makes First Middle East Trip Of His Second Term

Trump Arrives In Saudi Arabia To Kick Off High Stakes Middle East Trip

Global Politics

Saudi Arabia

Trump Administration

Vice President JD Vance said on Wednesday that he still views Europe as &#8220;on the same team&#8221; as the United States, adding that his recent criticism of the continent is not out of any animosity toward America&#8217;s longtime allies.
Vance made the remarks during a Munich Security Council Q&amp;A nearly three months after he <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-people-have-a-voice-vance-warns-europe-about-censorship-the-threat-from-within" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ripped</a> European countries over censorship, immigration, and foreign policy at the Munich Security Conference.
&#8220;I still do very much think that the United States and Europe are on the same team,&#8221; Vance said. &#8220;Sometimes I&#8217;ve been criticized as a hyperrealist, [that] I think of foreign policy purely in terms of transactional values &#8230; and focus so purely on the transactional value of it that we ignore the humanitarian or the moral side of it. And I think at least with Europe that&#8217;s not a full encapsulation of my views.&#8221;
The vice president added that he believes the United States and Europe are connected by far more than transactional agreements.
&#8220;European civilization and American civilization, European culture and American culture are very much linked, and they&#8217;re always going to be linked,&#8221; Vance said. &#8220;And I think that it&#8217;s completely ridiculous to think you&#8217;re ever going to be able to drive a firm wedge between the United States and Europe.&#8221;
At the Munich Security Conference in February, Vance told the audience that he feared Europe was leaving behind its &#8220;fundamental values&#8221; that it shared with the United States, such as free speech and fair elections.
&#8220;The threat that I worry the most about vis-à-vis Europe is not Russia, it’s not China, it’s not any other external actor,&#8221; Vance <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/remarks/2025/02/remarks-by-vice-president-vance-at-the-munich-security-conference/">said</a> in the speech. &#8220;What I worry about is the threat from within, the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values — values shared with the United States of America.&#8221;
The vice president acknowledged his February speech on Wednesday, saying that the United States and Europe will continue to &#8220;have disagreements&#8221; and criticize one another. He added, &#8220;I do think, fundamentally, we have to be and we are on the same civilizational team.&#8221;

JD Vance/Wolfgang Ischinger

Vance: U.S. And Europe Still ‘On The Same Team’

Europe

JD Vance

Vice President JD Vance said on Wednesday that the Trump administration thinks Russia is pushing for &#8220;too much&#8221; in the peace talks with Ukraine.
Vance spoke at a Munich Security Conference Q&amp;A, where he addressed numerous foreign policy issues, including the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine and the effort to negotiate a peace deal between the two countries. The vice president said that to end the war, President Donald Trump has been trying &#8220;to understand where the other side is coming from.&#8221; As peace talks have hit multiple roadblocks in Trump&#8217;s first 100 days in office, Vance said he isn&#8217;t giving up hope that the two countries can come to some sort of agreement.
&#8220;I wouldn&#8217;t say that the Russians are uninterested in bringing this thing to a resolution. What I would say is right now, the Russians are asking for a certain set of requirements, a certain set of concessions in order to end the conflict. We think they&#8217;re asking for too much,&#8221; the vice president said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
JD Vance says Russia is &quot;asking for too much&quot; in peace talks with Ukraine. <a href="https://t.co/zyIIsW61Ta">pic.twitter.com/zyIIsW61Ta</a>
&mdash; Zach Jewell (@zach_d_jewell) <a href="https://twitter.com/zach_d_jewell/status/1920137276190846991?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 7, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The Trump administration is hoping to take a step back from mediating negotiations.
&#8220;We would like both the Russians and the Ukrainians to actually agree on some basic guidelines for sitting down and talking to one another,&#8221; Vance continued. &#8220;Obviously, the United States is happy to participate in those conversations, but it&#8217;s very important for the Russians and Ukrainians to start talking to one another.&#8221;
“We think it’s probably impossible for us to mediate this entirely without at least some direct negotiation between the two, and so that’s what we focus on,” Vance added.
The Trump administration has been talking to both Russian and Ukrainian leaders for months, seeking a way to end the war. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff recently spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow for the third time. Some of Russia&#8217;s demands include ensuring that Ukraine will never be admitted into NATO and the recognition of its occupation of Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula it invaded and annexed in 2014. Ukraine, meanwhile, continues to push for NATO membership, a request Trump said in February that Ukraine should &#8220;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgShN8V5dW0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">forget about</a>.&#8221;
Vance said that the Trump administration has &#8220;moved beyond&#8221; pushing for a 30-day ceasefire after those talks went nowhere with Russia.
&#8220;We&#8217;ve tried to move beyond the obsession with a 30-day ceasefire and more on what the long-term settlement would look like,&#8221; he said. &#8220;And we&#8217;ve tried to consistently advance the ball.&#8221;
The United States took a major step forward in talks with Ukraine last week, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-ready-to-sign-minerals-deal-with-ukraine-as-soon-as-this-afternoon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">signing</a> a minerals agreement with Kyiv. The agreement provides Ukraine with continued military assistance in exchange for the United States getting access to some of Ukraine’s vital natural resources, including aluminum, graphite, oil, and natural gas.
Russia <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/russia-hits-u-s-over-minerals-deal-says-ukraine-is-about-to-disappear" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blasted</a> the minerals deal shortly after it was made, mocking President Trump and saying that Ukraine “is about to disappear.”

Vance Says Russia ‘Asking For Too Much’ In Ukraine Peace Talks

Russia

Ukraine

Ukraine-Russia War

Vladimir Putin

President Trump on Friday signed an executive order extending the deadline for TikTok&#8217;s Chinese parent company to sell its United States operations for a second time, saying that the acquisition “requires more work to ensure all necessary approvals are signed.”
“We do not want TikTok to ‘go dark.’ We look forward to working with TikTok and China to close the Deal. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114280893859636366">said</a> on Truth Social.
Had Trump not granted an extension to ByteDance, the Chinese-owned parent company of TikTok would have been required to carry out a “qualified divesture” of its United States business per a law signed by former President Joe Biden in April 2024, with internet service providers and app stores prohibited from hosting the platform.
The app, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/bradadgate/2024/09/24/in-an-election-year-more-americans-are-using-tiktok-as-a-news-source/">used</a> by over 170 million Americans, has faced scrutiny from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle amid growing concerns about China&#8217;s technological influence and data collection capabilities.
Biden’s law went into effect on January 19, with Apple and Google removing TikTok from their respective app stores until Trump extended the deadline by 75 days on January 20 when he took office.
According to CNBC, several major American tech companies have <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/04/trumps-extends-tiktok-second-time.html">expressed interest</a> in acquiring TikTok&#8217;s United States operations, including Oracle, AppLovin, and a consortium of private capital firms like Andreessen Horowitz and Blackstone. Amazon has also reportedly made a last-second bid to purchase the social media platform.
Despite interest from American companies, any deal still requires approval from the Chinese Communist Party, adding complexity to negotiations.
The announcement came just days after Trump announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs, imposing a 34% tariff rate on China, which, combined with existing tariffs, creates a total rate of 54% on all imports from one of America’s largest trading partners.
Trump appears wary of the impact tariffs might have on the CCP’s willingness to approve a TikTok deal, insisting that China continue to negotiate in “good faith” despite the hefty tariffs.
“We hope to continue working in Good Faith with China, who I understand are not very happy about our Reciprocal Tariffs (Necessary for Fair and Balanced Trade between China and the U.S.A.!).”
The president has also indicated he might consider reducing China&#8217;s tariffs to facilitate a TikTok deal.
“Maybe I’ll give [China] a little reduction in tariffs or something to get it done,” Trump <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/26/trump-says-he-may-reduce-china-tariffs-to-help-close-a-tiktok-deal.html">said</a> in late March, “TikTok is big, but every point in tariffs is worth more than TikTok.”

TikTok Logo With US Flag

Trump Extends TikTok Sale Deadline By 75 Days As Acquisition Talks Continue

Big Tech

TikTok

On Wednesday, President Trump declared that it was “Liberation Day.” He said this is our economic Declaration of Independence now.
The markets were rocked after the announcement and there’s a reason why, which I will explain.
The president seems to believe that international trade is a zero-sum game. His giant tariff policy is predicated on a few false notions about the American economy. One is that the American economy has been a giant failure for the last 40 years. That is simply not true. This is a myth that is propagated by both parties.
I know, it&#8217;s a fun myth. It&#8217;s something people like to believe, that yesterday was economically better than today.
But then you look at all the stuff around you, the phone in your pocket, the computer, the fact that you can literally order any product at any time from anywhere on earth and it arrives at your doorstep in two days at a price you can afford, and you think to yourself: Would I rather live in 1980 when the only person with a cell phone was Gordon Gekko on a beach holding a shoe box to his head, when central air conditioning was kind of a rarity? When the cars, if you were lucky, had electric windows? Was that better? Were things better simply on an economic level?
Forget about everything else. You can make a case about the descent on the spiritual level. You can make a case about the dissolution of the family. I agree with many of those cases. But we&#8217;re not talking about the life of the spirit within. We&#8217;re talking about economics, which is the distribution of goods and services.
America has done well for decades and has not stopped. A myth that all politicians like to tell is that America has not done well, that America has been hollowed out by deindustrialization and we are not actually manufacturing anymore in this country.
That is not true. In 1997, the United States was producing $1.4 trillion in real manufacturing value added. In 2025, we are producing $2.4 trillion. That is an arithmetic increase.
So, if we are manufacturing more, why aren&#8217;t there more manufacturing jobs? The answer is technology. We manufacture more because we have better robots and they are doing much of the work that people seem to have a very warm and fuzzy feeling about, but then never want to do themselves.
I notice a lot of people say, “Why can&#8217;t I have a factory job just like in 1955 at Ford? Working in a non-air conditioned factory riveting all day?” It’s unlikely that’s your ideal job.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/bss-ep-2172-member-exclusive?row=2&amp;elementPosition=4&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
We&#8217;ve been told the lie that the American middle class has been hollowed out by international trade.
But here is what actually happened to the American middle-class over the course of the last several decades. The American middle-class stayed approximately the same or shrank a little bit. Why did it shrink? Not because people became lower middle-class or poor, but because a huge number of Americans went into the upper middle-class. The number one change in the status of American families in terms of income from just before 1980 to about 2015 was a 16% increase in the upper middle-class.
In other words, people got richer. And by the way, everyone got richer, including the poor, because the stuff you can get as a poor person in America in 2025 is way better than the stuff you could get as a poor person in America in 1980. That&#8217;s just a reality.
How about wages? We keep hearing that wages are stagnant and have been stagnant since 1979. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, however, there was a steep increase in wages between 1980 and 2025. 
I know this cuts against the conventional political wisdom, which says that the American economy sucks and it&#8217;s because everybody is cheating us. 
One of the things President Trump is predicating his tariff war upon is the idea that trade deficits are inherently bad. A trade deficit is where, in terms of value, we import more stuff than we export. As I have pointed out before, you have a trade deficit with literally every business you do business with unless they&#8217;re buying your product.
So, for example, I have a trade deficit with my local grocery store, a huge trade deficit. They have received pretty much nothing from me. But I have bought tens of thousands of dollars worth of groceries over the years from my local grocery. They’re not taking advantage of me; I&#8217;m getting value for my dollar in the form of food and supplies.
As the great economist Thomas Sowell points out, “If the goods and services available to the American people are greater as a result of international trade, then Americans are wealthier, not poorer, regardless of whether there is a deficit or a surplus in the international balance of trade.”
In fact, I can name a period in American history where there was a fairly large surplus in America&#8217;s balance of trade: the entire Great Depression.
As it turns out, trade deficits have pretty much nothing to do with the health of an economy. They don&#8217;t tell you very much.
19th century French economist Frédéric Bastiat once wrote on this topic, essentially saying, “Look, if you&#8217;re so worried about trade imbalances, then actually what you should do is you should sink ships filled with your own exports before they ever get to the other side.” So if we&#8217;re exporting oranges to Europe and they&#8217;re going to send us apples in return, the best way to ensure that no trade imbalance takes place is we should send our oranges out of the country and sink the ship before it ever gets to Europe so they can&#8217;t send us apples back. Then we’ll have a large export on our ledger and no imports. Great idea. The economy will be stronger.
So, there is a fundamental misunderstanding of trade deficits. This is not about balance of payments, which is a different thing. Balance of payments is about the flow of gold. We&#8217;re no longer in a gold standard, but it&#8217;s about currencies.
Trade deficits are a different thing.
In reality, I think the Trump administration is likely to try and leverage headlines out of various foreign nations suggesting they&#8217;re going to invest in America to the tune of some billions of dollars before lowering the tariff rates again.
I do have faith that President Trump actually responds to headlines and to the news. He lives in the world of reality and won’t simply ignore that the markets hate all of this.
Yesterday, The White House quietly put out a fact sheet that read:
<blockquote>These tariffs will remain in effect until such a time as President Trump determines that the threat posed by the trade deficit and underlying nonreciprocal treatment is satisfied, resolved, or mitigated. Today’s IEEPA Order also contains modification authority, allowing President Trump to increase the tariff if trading partners retaliate or decrease the tariffs if trading partners take significant steps to remedy non-reciprocal trade arrangements and align with the United States on economic and national security matters.</blockquote>
Now, other countries could say they will invest in the American economy and President Trump gets a huge win. That could happen. I&#8217;m hoping that&#8217;s what Trump is planning on doing.
Is President Trump going to send out surrogates, like the Treasury Secretary, to walk some of this back and to try to point out where an off-ramp is? Or is he just going to keep doubling down on the theory that it&#8217;s short-term pain for long-term gain? If so, he&#8217;s going to have to explain how short-term the pain is and what exactly the long-term gain is, because that has not even been spelled out at this point. Is the idea that other countries are going to reshore to the United States to take advantage of our markets in some way, but we will leave tariffs on stuff that they export to us? They could also form trade blocs themselves and then go make time with the Chinese.
There are real-world implications for this sort of stuff. Trade wars are not good and not easy to win, particularly if you don&#8217;t actually have a plan. You actually have to have a plan.
So, I want somebody to make the case as to why this is actually excellent policy, why this is going to be salutary for the United States, why this is going to benefit the people of the United States en masse. And if you&#8217;re going to call for sacrifice from the American people, the question is, what is the thing on the other side of that sacrifice that is better and good?
What I&#8217;ve heard so far is a lot of casting of various aspersions at foreign countries for engaging in trade with us, regardless of whether they are good or bad, because we&#8217;re treating Canada the same way we&#8217;re treating China.
This is why I think the markets are confused. Investors are confused. Confusion and fear are going to breed sell-off. Less investment, less job growth.
It&#8217;s all avoidable. We need to hear an actual narrative, not a bunch of talking points that are generated from a cork board filled with statistics made up by some sort of AI.

President Trump Holds “Make America Wealthy Again Event” In White House Rose Garden

Liberation Day. What’s The Plan?

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President Donald Trump secured a $1.4 trillion commitment from the United Arab Emirates earlier this week to invest in American energy, manufacturing, and technology over the next decade.
“This new framework will substantially increase the UAE’s existing investments in the U.S. economy in AI infrastructure, semiconductors, energy, and American manufacturing,” the White House said in a Friday statement announcing the framework, per Bloomberg.
The investment framework resulted from Tuesday&#8217;s Oval Office meeting between Trump and the UAE’s national security adviser, Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, combined with Vice President JD Vance and Cabinet members negotiating with a UAE delegation over dinner, a White House official with knowledge of the matter <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/after-trump-meeting-uae-commits-10-year-14-trillion-investment-framework-us-2025-03-21/">told</a> Reuters. The UAE delegation included leaders of several major national sovereign wealth funds and companies.
Bin Zayed <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-03-21/uae-to-pledge-1-4-trillion-us-investment-after-trump-meeting">said</a> the UAE is committed to “strengthening its economic ties with the U.S. by accelerating investments in artificial intelligence, advanced technology, infrastructure, energy, and healthcare.&#8221;
As part of the framework, according to Reuters, UAE investment fund ADQ and U.S. partner Energy Capital Partners announced a $25 billion initiative targeting American energy infrastructure and data centers, while XRG, the international investment arm of UAE state oil company ADNOC, committed to supporting U.S. natural gas production through an investment in the NextDecade liquefied natural gas export facility in Texas.
The companies involved in these negotiations reportedly have additional plans to make substantial investments in additional U.S. assets, such as gas, chemicals, and energy infrastructure, beyond what the framework already lays out.
Trump had previously highlighted the importance of foreign investment during his campaign, arguing that bringing significant capital back to American shores would help revitalize manufacturing and create new jobs in technology sectors.

President Trump Signs Executive Orders At The White House

Trump Secures $1.4 Trillion UAE Investment Deal For American Industries

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The Trump administration is pausing aid to Ukraine after a tense clash between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week.
The pause comes after a Friday confrontation at the White House when a proposed mineral deal between Ukraine and the United States fell through as Zelensky argued with Trump and Vice President JD Vance in front of the media. While Trump has said that he is looking to bring the war to a swift close through a peace settlement, Zelensky has predicted that the end is “still very, very far away.” 
“The president has been clear that he is focused on peace. We need our partners to be committed to that goal as well. We are pausing and reviewing our aid to ensure that it is contributing to a solution,” the White House said Monday evening. 
The White House noted that the aid may resume at some point, but only if Ukraine is committed to working toward peace. 
“This is not permanent termination of aid, it&#8217;s a pause,&#8221; one White House official <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-pauses-aid-ukraine-fiery-meeting-zelenskyy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> Fox News. &#8220;The orders are going out right now.&#8221;
Under previous President Joe Biden, the United States sent Ukraine tens of billions of dollars worth of military supplies and committed to indefinitely supporting Ukraine. In contrast, Trump campaigned on bringing peace between Ukraine and Russia and has said that Zelensky doesn’t seem to want the war to end. 
Zelensky on Monday <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/zelensky-warns-deal-with-russia-is-very-very-far-away-but-says-he-still-expects-american-support" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claimed</a> that a peace deal with Russia was “very, very far away” but that he expected the United States to continue to support his efforts. 
Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-explodes-on-zelensky-for-making-the-worst-statement-on-the-ukraine-russia-war" target="_blank" rel="noopener">responded</a> by saying that it was the “worst statement” that Zelensky could have made. 
“It is what I was saying, this guy doesn’t want there to be Peace as long as he has America’s backing and, Europe, in the meeting they had with Zelenskyy, stated flatly that they cannot do the job without the U.S. – Probably not a great statement to have been made in terms of a show of strength against Russia. What are they thinking?” he posted on Truth Social. 
That came after the heated Oval Office meeting on Friday when Zelensky argued that giving Russian President Vladimir Putin room to negotiate was effectively giving the Russian leader a win. During the meeting, Trump said that Zelensky was “gambling with World War III” by not doing more to seek peace with Russia after the Ukrainian president suggested the United States &#8220;will feel&#8221; the consequences of Putin&#8217;s aggression &#8220;in the future.&#8221;

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Trump Admin Pausing Aid To Ukraine After Clash With Zelensky

Volodymyr Zelensky

Israeli filmmaker Yuval Abraham accepted the award for Best Documentary Feature for his movie “No Other Land” at the 97th Academy Awards on Sunday at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles.
During Abraham’s <a href="https://x.com/THR/status/1896384917967085849">anti-Israel acceptance speech,</a> he took a swipe at U.S. foreign policy and blamed the United States for the lack of resolution in the conflict.
“We made this film, Palestinians and Israelis, because together, our voices are stronger. We see each other, the destruction of Gaza and its people, which must end, the Israeli hostages, brutally taken in the crime of October 7, which must be freed,” Abraham said.
“When I look at Basel [Adra, co-director], I see my brother—but we are unequal,” he claimed. “We live in a regime where I am free under civilian law and Basel is under military laws that destroy his life and he cannot control, there is a different path. There is a political solution without ethnic supremacy, with national rights for both of our people. And I have to say, as I&#8217;m here, the foreign policy in this country is helping to block this path.&#8221;
“Why? Can’t you see that we are intertwined, that my people can be truly safe if Basil’s people are truly free and safe?” Abraham continued, claiming there is “another way, it’s not too late for life for the living.” 
The comments from Abraham were met with thunderous applause and cheers from the stars in the room.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The team behind <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NoOtherLand?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NoOtherLand</a> accepts the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Oscar?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Oscar</a> for best documentary and speaks about the Iraeli-Palestinian conflict <a href="https://t.co/3ilRwmdkzf">pic.twitter.com/3ilRwmdkzf</a>
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) <a href="https://twitter.com/THR/status/1896384917967085849?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 3, 2025</a></blockquote>
“No Other Land” won Best Documentary this year despite having less cultural influence and fewer viewers than the hit DailyWire+ documentary, “Am I Racist?”
The past two winners in the category include “20 Days in Mariupol” and “Navalny,” which were both critical of Russia. This year’s winning selection was made by a Palestinian-Israeli collective of four activists seeking to paint Israel as the aggressor in the ongoing conflict by highlighting the destruction of a West Bank village.
Producers had to self-distribute the film in the United States after no major studios picked it up. “No Other Land” was the highest grossing documentary of all the nominees yet <a href="https://www.indiewire.com/news/box-office/no-other-land-box-office-oscars-1235099277/">earned</a> only $420,000 at the domestic box office.
Amanda Harding contributed to this piece.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/shocker-barely-anyone-went-to-see-anti-israel-oscar-winner-for-best-doc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SHOCKER: Barely Anyone Went To See Anti-Israel Oscar Winner For Best Doc</a>

Oscar Statuettes For The 76th Academy Awards Displayed In Hollywood

Best Documentary Winner Gives Anti-Israel Speech, Slams U.S. Foreign Policy

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The Biden-appointed federal judge who is attempting to halt President Donald Trump’s freeze on foreign aid has a long history of engaging in far-left, anti-Trump activism, working for an organization that pushed for prosecutors to drop charges against leftist rioters and accusing the president of harboring religious hatred, The Daily Wire has learned.
Judge <a href="https://www.dcd.uscourts.gov/content/district-judge-amir-h-ali">Amir Ali</a> of the Washington, D.C. District Court recently ordered the Trump administration to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/judge-orders-trump-administration-to-unfreeze-foreign-aid-6da9608d">unfreeze foreign aid</a> and disburse millions of dollars through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), despite the President’s decision to halt the funding.
The Supreme Court <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/trump-administration-says-it-cannot-meet-court-deadline-foreign-aid-payments-2025-02-26/">paused Ali’s order</a> through an administrative stay, allowing Trump to freeze foreign aid while it considers the president’s request to block the federal judge’s ruling. But Ali’s history of leftwing activism, donations to Democrats, and involvement with explicitly anti-Trump organizations, threatens to throw the Canadian-born judge’s impartiality into question.
Ali has donated to Democratic candidates, giving <a href="https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=Amir+Ali&amp;contributor_occupation=Attorney">$2,000</a> to former President Joe Biden when he ran against Trump in 2020 and another <a href="https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?committee_id=C00696153&amp;contributor_name=Amir+Ali">$580 to Democrat Jaime Harrison</a>, a former United States Senate candidate in South Carolina who chaired the DNC from 2021-2025.
The federal judge opposed Trump well before the 2020 election, however. Ali’s anti-Trump agenda extends back to the early days of the president&#8217;s first term, when he articulated how federal courts could <a href="https://takecareblog.com/blog/the-ninth-circuit-can-doom-trump-s-travel-ban">“doom”</a> the president’s travel ban, which critics called the &#8220;Muslim ban,&#8221; and pointed to a legal approach that could “be a huge weapon for those challenging the ban.”
“By continuing to block the entry ban, but allowing the government to conduct its 90-day review, the Ninth Circuit can give the challengers back this powerful argument to put an end to Trump’s Muslim ban,” he also wrote, using inaccurate leftwing rhetoric to describe Trump’s policy.
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jun/27/us-supreme-court-muslim-ban-protection-discrimination">He also wrote</a> in The Guardian that Trump’s travel ban was rooted in a “campaign of animus against people of the Muslim faith.” Ali stated in an <a href="https://hulr.org/fall-2022-1/fighting-for-dignity-and-justice-in-the-nations-highest-courts-a-conversation-with-amir-ali">interview</a> that he had hoped to inform the Supreme Court, which was ruling on the travel ban at the time, of “the full record of President Trump’s history of animus and hatred towards Muslim people.”
He went on to charge that the legal profession should be diversified. “Within the Supreme Court bar in Washington, D.C., I am one of few people of North African or Middle Eastern descent, one of few immigrants to the country, and one of few Muslim Americans,” Ali said during the interview. “That’s true of many other backgrounds as well, and it is a problem.” He touted his work with the Appellate Project, which Ali stated “is breaking down the barriers to the representation of people of color and other minorities in the appellate profession.”
Ali became formally involved in leftwing activism when he <a href="https://www.macarthurjustice.org/celebrating-amir-ali/">joined</a> the MacArthur Justice Center, a far-left organization that pushed to defund the police, allied with the Black Lives Matter movement, and advocated for prosecutors to drop felony charges against Black Lives Matter rioters. Ali would go on to become its director in 2021.
The group <a href="https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/biden-judicial-nominee-leads-left-wing-group-that-wants-to-defund-police/">posted</a> “#DefundPolice” in 2020, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/macarthurjusticecenter/posts/3971225506225093">lobbied</a> the New Orleans City Council to commit to defunding the police, and <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wJ9WAenSfHrQdwhuQZC6JtRI8JMJU1TG/view?fbclid=IwAR310SnOEMea6XeTf9-MjY68WsO5WaJ8I2YtJpPf_Te8HhaAn1JesRjFMog&amp;pli=1">allied</a> with the Illinois BLM Uprising Defense in “calling for prosecutors to drop felony charges against rioters at Black Lives Matter protests in Chicago.”
“These protests occurred because our criminal legal system has continuously devalued and disregarded, brutalized, tortured and killed Black people,” a letter from the organizations read as it attempted to justify the rioting.
Under Ali’s leadership, the organization <a href="https://archive.ph/OGRUG">filed</a> a brief arguing that asking potential jurors about whether or not they support the Black Lives Matter movement “undermines judicial principles of equity and the public’s confidence.”
The judge’s activism extends beyond his role with the MacArthur Justice Center. Ali documented his role as the director of another leftwing organization on his <a href="https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/ali_sjq.pdf">questionnaire</a> for the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Called Mosaic Theater, the organization celebrated the Black Lives Matter riots, <a href="https://mosaictheater.org/mission-values">writing</a> on its website that “a summer of Black-led uprisings against state violence have made clear that this country requires fundamental changes, both systemic and institutional” and listing “equity and anti-racism” as its values.
“We believe that anti-racism, promoting racial and gender equity, working against abuse, and reducing harm are imperative to the art we make and how we make it,” the organization states. The theater also hosted a pride festival in 2022 that celebrated a <a href="https://www.washingtonblade.com/2022/06/09/celebrate-pride-month-in-d-c-with-theater/">playwright</a> behind a play called “Alma,” a “poetic riposte against Trump’s anti-Mexican rhetoric.”
Ali’s activism won him the support of various other far-left organizations and activists. The federal judge was honored with a <a href="https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/biden-judicial-nominee-honored-by-anti-israel-group-whose-board-member-cheers-hamas/">“Justice Tribute” award</a> from the Arab American Civil Rights League in 2023. The organization not only supports the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement against Israel, but even counts on its board a member who openly supported both Hamas and Hezbollah.
“Whether it&#8217;s called Hamas, whether it&#8217;s called Hezbollah, we stand with everybody who stands against the Israeli occupation,” said board member Amer Zahr, who was in attendance at the event in which Ali received his award.
Ali was also lauded by the Michigan branch of the NAACP, led by Rev. Wendell Anthony, who claimed that the United States was “choking the life out of black America.”

Judge Amir Ali

Federal Judge Who Stonewalled Trump’s Foreign Aid Freeze Has A Long History Of Liberal Activism

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