Jon Stewart Slams CNN’s “Bombshell” Biden Book Promo Amidst Cancer Diagnosis | Patrick McGee

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Minam is John Short. What a program we have designed for you tonight, have bespoke or teasonal effort that I think you were gonna truly love. And Patrick McGee is gonna be here. Here's this guy. They call them McGee heads. That's the fandom, the Patrick McGee fandom, here to discuss this new book about how Apple's actions in China shifted the entire global economy. The book is phenomenal for a book about Apple. It's banana. That's a little, that's a

Word go back with Breaking News in our Politics lead and a brand new excerpt from my upcoming book with Axios is Alex Thompson.

It's called Original Sin.

I'm not sure if you've heard of it. It's on Biden's Decline. It's called Original Sin. I'm sure you've heard. On May twentieth.

That's Tuesday, Original Sin.

That's coming out in three weeks, on May twentieth. That's just nineteen days away. In one week and one day coming out in just a few days, comes out Tuesday. You will not believe what we found out.

Don't news people have to tell you what they know when they find it out, isn't Isn't that the difference between news and the secret You won't believe when we found out. No, that's why I'm watching Breaking News in a week now. I don't know how the rest of the country is feeling about this book coming out, but I know New York is hyped.

New York City by me, the city the city that never stops reading.

That's our motto, is.

I'm kidding of course? That is footage from the reopening of the Frick Museum. By the way, it is New York, So you know the real name of the museum is the collection. They just put it up there, like, Hey, the freaking collection. What are we doing? So what is this bombshell book about?

A new book is outlining new claims about former President Biden's physical and mental health. The book Original Sin, claims Biden's health had become so severe that there were internal discussions about putting the president in a wheelchair.

He allegedly was napping during debate preparations.

Another bomb show, former President Biden apparently forgot the name of his longtime nade Jake Sullivan, and called him Steve.

O my god, to be fair when you forget a white guy's name, to be fair, And I'd say it with respect for the bombshell Steve. It's not a bad guess. I think even Jake Sullivan at some point was like, is my name Steve? Because when I look in the mirror, I could be or Scott maybe a c. The point is the American news media were hungry for.

More, a new Biden bombshell, dropping bombshell allegations.

A steady drip of new revelations, dans damaging new details. Oh my goodness, they're dripping with the tails a mass of tsunami the drip drip on Joe Biden's decline. Oh God, Fox News built an entire Biden sucks border.

Wall to hold back the raging drips of details in bombshells.

Nothing could slow down this coming feeding news frenzy about Biden's cognitive health, other than maybe a report on his actual physical health, which was not good. But now we got ourselves a little problem. You've prepared an entire Schmortgish borg, schmorgisborg shercuterary boards. I mean you know what I'm talking about. I mean, jeez, entire schorgishborg based on what you thought

Iidam's health was very much in the news even before the cancer diagnosis was announced on Sunday.

That's because of a new book by CNN's Jake Tapper.

This was already going to be a tough week, and this makes it much harder. And that is a reference to the fact that our colleague Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson have a book that's set to publish on Tuesday.

This very tough news, this very challenging news, and at the same time, the backdrop of our colleague Jake Tapper's book with Alex Thompson coming out this week.

It's so hard, it's such a difficult time, so unfathomable in terms of the pain this family must be feeling. And yet if you act now now, and you use the code backslash tap that book, you will Obviously, this twenty percent off offer is not act available for some reason in Tennessee. But the point is forgetting about the fact how fuck weird it is that the News is selling you a book about news they should have told you was news a year ago, for free.

It's just fun.

It's just fun to watch them not only continue to push the book in light of this news, but to actually frame this difficult news as perhaps even more of a reason to buy this book.

The timing of former President Joe Biden's cancer diagnosis is certainly dramatic, coming on the eve of a blockbuster new book about his health and his time in the White House. Go on, I'm sure some observers will say that the reporting in the book is even more important now.

Yet nobody's saying that. No observers will say it's more important now. Some observers might think, do these CNN people work on commission? Like, why are they hawking this fucking thing? So is this a girl scout cookie situation? Whoever sells the most tap of books gets a shwin. Now, Well, that is not necessarily the model they will get. I don't want to disincentivize people from working hard. Obviously, I

We're all, I don't know.

Friday, Wednesday, anyone else want to do this, but pivot the tush push.

Obviously hope for a speedy recovery. I will say it does raise serious questions.

You hate to see something like this happen, but it just raised all these questions.

We're all, of course, praying for President Biden's full recovery, but the reality.

Is, you know, I hope it's over this, but.

Number one, very sorry for his diagnosis and wish him the best. Number two, I am trying to make a very serious point here, and I find it very difficult to do that when you're throwing a totally weird looking dude right in the middle of ass.

That is not fair.

That is not fair to do. That is I don't know if that was like a green screen thing, but whatever's happening here. I imagine if I had a nodule on my pro state, this is what it might look like.

I believe.

It's a little bit.

Why would you get the worst possible haircut for your head shape?

Why would you do that?

My head is long and thin.

Amplify that.

Looks like I have a kosher hobdog asked for a Hitler youth haircut?

How respectfully?

Yes, right wing media definitely pivoted from concerned accusation, but perhaps the most shocking response of all was from the Commander in Chief himself.

President Trump posted, Milania and I are saddened to hear about Joe Biden's recent medical diagnosis. We extend our warmest and best wishes to Jill in the family, and we wish Joe a fast and successful recovery.

That's it. No exclamation points, no off taps, no insults, whole thing spelled correctly. It's really got all the telltale signs of a post definitely written by Donald Trump. I look at I just want to god, Social I wonder when I saw this poke true Social Centema security alert the Cente we noticed some suspicious humanity on your account. If this was in fact you, President Trump, please reply.

This is a very traditional comment in this moment from President Trump to former President Biden.

I mean, it's a very human, very traditional response from President Trump. I was very, very pleased to see President Trump putting forward such a kind statement.

I will note, as an ardent Democrat, it's really important that I speak up and thank President Trump for his gracious statement. A couple of things. It is not important that you speak up at all as a Democrat. As anything, it is not important. What we did was not noteworthy and important. Has any president has any person ever had a lower bar to clear than I have to salute

I'm surprised that it wasn't you know, the public wasn't notified a long time ago, because they get to stage nine.

That's a long time. To be fair, I do think Biden was at stage nine. We should have found out about that.

I don't.

I don't even know that. And he's the one that's fine, right, there's no book coming out on him. He's fine. He's that'll be the next to stage nine cancers. That that's the kind that grows up like an ivy into a building.

I'm playing.

But you know what, maybe it is another cover up. I don't know. If they came out and said, yeah, Biden knew about it five years ago, I wouldn't be shocked if they came out and said Biden found out on Friday. I wouldn't be shocked, and I understand the excitement over an insidious democratic cover up about Joe Biden's mental decline. The thing is, though, it was.

A terrible cover up because we all he knew, all of our knew.

There weren't no cover acts. Pole after poll showed vast majorities of the public thought Biden was too old and too out of it to run again. Dean Phillips mounted an entire primary campaign because of it. I really don't know if that's Dean Phillips, is.

That Dean Phillips.

My point is this, there is a very real person in this shot, probably named Dean Phillips or.

Steve, and he might be in the shot, but he, along with most of the public, knew that it was a bad idea for Biden to run. We knew it. And that's what's so hilarious about politicians. The cover up doesn't work when everyone knows you're lying, and everyone knows you're lying. The tell is when you're so over the top about what you don't want to tell the truth about.

Joe Biden is incredibly competent, and he's incredibly effective.

This is a man who is sharp, who is on top.

Of his game. He has more energy than I do. He works us all under the table. I can't even keep up with him.

Three hours on photo lines, I'm three events a day, then giving speeches.

Are you kidding?

I mean, come on, that's insane. Three hours on photo line, three events a day, that's not free. Hours of photo lines, and then giving speeches, and then at night fighting crime. I have done too much. God, they gotta fucking steroid test these dudes. Look. They used to say, it's not the crime, it's the cover up, but it's starting to feel like politics is all cover up crime or not.

Up inside the bubble with them.

So for those of you watching at home who might like to know what the reality of what they're hiding about our current president would be, look not to the Democrats, Look not to the media. Look to the president's political allies, because their hyperbole is the indictment.

Trump is one of the most transparent presidents of all time.

The bravest, toughest man in the world, enormous compassions.

He's only been bound to we the People's frankly ridiculous that anyone in this room would even suggest that President Trump is doing anything for his own benefit.

Nobody believes that Donald Trump could be bought.

One of the most moral leaders we've had, his.

Pure honesty, the most ethical American I know.

Tafrick twenty thirty one book, It's gonna be way.

When we come by, Patrick madeil join.

Us, So go away, Jar Trump?

Are you doing that? Pitts My guest tonight, is an award winning journalist whose groundbreaking new book is called Apple in China, The Capture of World's Greatest Company. Please welcome to the program, Patrick McGee, I thank you for joining us. The book called Apple and China, The Capture of the World's Greatest Company. I've got to tell you something. You know, I'm not much of a reader. I was gonna wait for the movie to come out, but honestly, like this

Is that Yeah, Like I say that sometimes and it sounds totally unhinged, and I get that, yes, And yet like what happened is like I came across the internal documents after speaking with two hundred people, and I figured out that Apple was investing by twenty fifteen, fifty five

So they're they're they're building the machinery. Yeah, but they're outsourcing that. They're they're hiring companies to build this.

They like outsourcing is the word. And yet there's something so they own it.

They own it.

So I compare it to like the way Uber is the largest taxi provided in the world without owning any cars. It's the same thing for manufactured So none of the factories are owned by Apple, and yet they have like maniacal control over the machinery within those factories, right, And so they're and then they're doing like I quote someone saying, we treat the workers like our arms and legs, like

The numbers seem fantastic, of course.

And you will they do and they don't, right, So so fifty five billion is a year. Fifty five billion is per year. That's the investment. A lot of that is training costs for the employees in China, and the number of employees, like per Tim Cook's public estimate, right is three million people are assembling iPhones and other MAC products in China.

But these are just low level like oh, it's a million, lots of fun skilled.

Jobs, the ones that Howard lutn Like wants to bring back to America. Yes, yep, and lots of PhDs at fox con I lefiscated, right. But my point is like lots of times people think there's great vocational training in China. The vocational school in China is Apple.

They've trained all these workers.

Yes, they've done a huge job. So let me just put the fifty five billion context. I could not find any corporate equivalent for how much someone would is investing in another country, so I had to go to government efforts. So you look at something like the chipsacked, right, Biden's flagship plan. Let's bring chip fabrication back to America. That's fifty three billion over four years, right, another way of saying that Apple is investing quadruple what the Commerce Secretary

And this is one hundred and thirty million dollars in sixteen countries.

Sixteen countries versus one versus one country. Yeah, and it's not one, right, it's like the modern equivalent of the Soviet Union, Like it's our biggest adversary. And so, you know, I sort of ends the book not to sort of like get so ahead of my self here no spoilers.

Yeah, yeah, oh my god, this Apple.

Time well payperback version.

I don't want to tell people.

So I say that as China, you know, as their GDP eventually overtakes America, and especially because they're doing so good in the advanced electronics sector, more people are going to ask how did they do it? Like, how did they go from such poverty fifty years ago into the world's greatest maker of like military weaponry and advanced electronics. And a big portion of the disquieting answer is you're in year out. Apple taught them they do this.

By the way, this is chrya. This is not to single out. This was a decision that that Apple made, not with this intention, no, not at all. It was you know, it began. I guess, well, it began with shareholder capitalism. I guess in the eighties. Yeah, yeah, I mean not to.

Well, that's very much in the book. Yeah, absolutely right.

I mean it's that ethos of you do what's best for the shareholder, so you're you're searching out the cheapest laybor of the lowest product. But it really it seemed like Jijingping in was it twenty thirteen is what made this so fraught? Would that be correct to say, well, yes, because.

I would say so. My thesis is really that they sleepwalked into this crisis. I mean, you cannot blame Apple for moving into China in the early two thousands. For starters, the American consensus was that we're going to inculcate.

That they joined the WTO.

They came in, I mean, there was broad political support to do that. The problem was when Xijinping really turns China in an authoritarian and belligerent direction. It's not like Apple was on the sidelines not noticing they were attacked within thirty six hours. If she ascending to the president.

Tell them about Consumer Day.

Consumer Day is something that happens March fifteenth every year in China and basically goes back to the nineteen ninety one and there's someone in the audience like, I know Consumer Day. I have read this.

Where are the ex Consumer Day? Okay?

So companies are called out for like not living up to the socialist ethos okay, and it's increasing the Western companies in the mid two thousands. And in McDonald's twenty twelve and the book opens with twenty thirteen, Apple is attacked on Consumer Day and it's for warranty differences of all things the store.

It turns out to be not actually true.

Well it's okay, so little how much time do we have? It's the most fascinating part.

Of the AGA program. There's no other program, chickens.

There nothing.

I'm going to give you that thirty second version of this is four chapters in the book. Okay, demand for iPhone in China after twenty ten is wild. Okay. There are four stores for one point four billion people. Okay, so one store per three hundred and fifty million people, and the iPhone becomes the most conspicuous like status symbol

Actually take that as an insult.

So they're exactly so without probably knowing the full story. CCTV, that's just like the state sponsors be at CNN of China attacks Apple for treating the Chinese in a way that's inferior to the rest of the world. That was twelve years ago reported by every media, and like they never figured out what the story was with the yellow cows and how it came to be. So that's why it's so Significant's why it's the prologue.

And so at that moment, shares of Apple then start to go down. It becomes less popular in China. Yes, I honestly don't.

Remember if shares really fall down. To be honest, the media is like eyeballs, we're not on China at all during this time, I mean in China, but sales in China, sales in China.

Yeah.

They first they sort of freeze and then they actually think that's right.

Yeah. So Apple's response to that is what playcate.

Local officials hire a team of people that call themselves the Gang of Eight. These are the first senior people in China title yeah and yeah, so these are the sort of eyes and ears of Coupertino living in China, first time they've had senior people that live there, and they basically strategize like what's our message to Beijing, Like why are we in the country, and how do we demonstrate to them we're not this exploited of power. Look

They trained their competitors to build a product that would be commensurate with their product, but would be a Chinese own company, and those companies start to gain Apple start to gain market share on Apple.

Yeah. So the early years of making the iPhone, Apple was really proprietary about all its processes. It would not want those suppliers to like market their opportunities, their their technical capabilities to everybody else. But what happens is when they like obviate the need for a new design. By Johnny, I've taking a corner and like getting rid of aluminum or something like.

That's the whole deal for Apple, like beautiful, the shit's beautiful.

Yeah, But if if you sort of remove some aspect of the phone and you no longer need that supplier and they're so dependent on you, well what happens They go bankrupt. So instead Apple begins to say, that's a problem for us. So we deliberately say to our suppliers, however fast you're growing with us with Apple, grow that fast with somebody else, because otherwise you're going to be too dependent.

Because they don't want to get blamed for exactly.

But if I'm building a component for an iPhone, what is the skill set I have and what can I do with it? Of course I'm going to supply Huawei and Opo and Vivo. That's the only logical thing to do.

So they now have a real problem on their hands. They have trained their competitors and made it part of their business model that their competitors get healthy and do that. And they're about to face a real struggle and someone saves them. Who is it that saves them? Patrick my record books, somebody declares something about Huawei that puts Apple back on.

Somebody's cleared something. But what that's my.

Trump administration said that huawe was a security there.

Oh yeah, okay, right correct. So in two thousand nine, two the books I give you, So in twenty nineteen, Huawei, China's national champion, outsells the iPhone globally. Apple is panicking about this, and I've got all these internal emails that have never been reported on where I mean, Tim Cook and others basically understand for weeks ahead of an earnings call that huaweih is the reason why their phone isn't selling well, and they deliberately obfuscate this from from And.

That's one of my favorite parts of the book.

I mean, the chapter is called five alarm Fire because a VP at Apple. That's what he describes the situation, like, how do we get sales to be better? And Tim Cook tells deputies, quote, this is a disaster. We need all hands on deck now. And then when he speaks to investors a week or two later, all is fine. Internally, china sales forecast is actually shrinking. It's not growing slowly shrinking, and they don't tell investors any of this. So that's

Right, wants them to come back. He just laying the wood on.

Instead, he totally saves them because when Huawei's at its peak, he goes after Huawei, deprives them of using Google, which of course makes androids.

To clear them a security threat, just clears them.

A security threat, and it deprives them of using you know, wonky things like Qualcom five G chips. Huawei's business nearly collapses. They lose thirty billion dollars of revenue in a year, and their market share really tanks. They have to like hive off assets and stuff great for a while. I mean, the only company that really benefits from that is Apple. So their market share in China like doubles from nine

What I find so interesting about so we think about step out Now in a macro view, we think about these companies as kind of monoliths, as monopolies and all this sort of thing. And the American viewpoint is always trust busting. We got to go in and break up these companies. This is a somewhat of a monopolistic operation, but they are going to break themselves up by training

Yes, it's so much worse than that.

Come on, come on, okay, so talk to me. So much worse than that?

Really, Okay.

The reason it's worse than that because they're not just creating phones. What else can you do if you've got like world leading electronic skills. First of all, what's an EV It's a smartphone on wheels. So the reason why evs and China are so damn good is that Apple taught all their suppliers and the suppliers of phones like Bawe and China.

Factory.

And I have a fascinating section on Tesla who specifically hires Apple people in China to run the same playbook. Like, So, okay, yeah, I'm sorry. The reason why I said it was worse I haven't got to that point. Oh god, alright, what else can you build?

Drones?

Military? Your weaponry? Right, So you're sort of facilitating the potential annexation of Taiwan by giving out these skill sets for the last quarter century.

You know, you could have said that in the book. I didn't see that. It's it's it's it's fascinating. But here's the other part that I think is that's when you realize this whole idea of reshoring in industrialization, that the idea that tariffs, this weirdly simplistic, you know, cudgel that we're going to do there is so woefully short as far as this. This is the result of years of intense state run industrial planning that was intentional, it

Yeah.

So when you think now in Apple says, oh, we're going to spend five hundred billion back in the United States.

Where Okay, so I'm so glad you mentioned this. It's such ludicrous nonsense. Okay. It is the press release that says that we're going to spend five hundred million dollars in US literally says, and we'll create twenty thousand jobs. Like how bad would a government program be if it spent five hundred billion dollars and all I got was twenty thousand jobs.

Right, right, So the mighty.

Makes those sad.

But if it were true, nice, If it were true, then you would have factories springing up in every state you could think of, with jobs for engineers here, there, and everywhere.

This is only my educated guests, but I can't think of how the math adds up anywhere else. They are counting in the five hundred million dollars share buybacks and dividends because Apple spends more than one hundred billion dollars a year on share buybacks, seventy percent of their investors are in America. If so facto, that's kind of an investment in America, right. So that's the only way.

That because we are now living through an announcement presidency, because that really is what we are limiting through this presidency is the missionccomplished presidency. It's just a dude on a destroyer with a giant banner behind him that says mission accomplished, even though it has no basis in reality. And that's how we get things done. And so this idea of like fifteen trillion dollars in investment coming back

Oh, we can actually disagree.

Ah, okay, so friends, what is happening?

So China has things will never compete with, like density of population and the way that the rural population sort of is actually not allowed to raise their children in places like Shenjin, so they have to be floating around.

We can do that here.

So, like, I'm a big fan of friend shoring rather than reshoring. Right, we should be doing what we did in China, but with allied nations like India, like Mexico. But it's probably not going to happen in Pittsburg.

But we have to also though those ancillary businesses. It's our by allowing this, we really did hollow ourselves out. Oh I'm convinced.

The only thing I would say is that that really happened in the eighties and nineties. Yes, and the Apple was the last holdout that did not do that.

Yes, by the way, to be so hypercritical Apple, this is the example, but this is merely one of myriad examples of how our industrial policy got the way it got.

So completely I sort of refer to the book sometimes as a trojan horse, where what I'm trying to sell you on is the sex appeal of the world's greatest company. But what you're actually going to learn about is some Chinese history, the importance of the US China Tech Battle, and things like supply chains. But if I said, John, can you have me on this job? I got a great book about supply chains, you'd be like, no, thanks, Yeah.

I'm sorry. We were saying something about something, but I don't remember what that was. The book is phenomenal and truly like jaw dropping and like generally true. Thank you so much for Lena Apple in China. Avail Now, Patrick, no show, but we're gonna check in with yours for the rest of the week. Ronnie Chang, Ronnie, what's happening to my man?

Nys Sean.

I'm hosting a daily show this week, and I have no idea what the hell Jordan Klepper is doing here.

Well, I don't want to interrupt your week, but my new special is airing tonight right after the Daily Show.

Oh special, let me guess it's called something like MAGA the Next Generation.

Yeah, that's exactly what it's called it's oh.

Oh yeah, oh yeah.

And I bet you're talking to like young Trump's voters about the future of America or whatever.

Again, that nailed at that spot on that's what it is.

Yeah yeah, And I bet as on Comedy Sandra and it streams on Paramount Plot and then it goes up on YouTube at midnight.

Yeah, all of that, All of.

That is true.

Yes, but I like, why are you why are you using that voice?

Because I love and respect your work. I just u sarcasm to shield my real emotions.

Dull. You know.

Actually, you know some of us We're gonna go out and watch it together. You're welcome to to come. Oh it sounds like a nightmare.

Thank you, Thank you so much for your friendship. I'll see you there.

That was really beautiful, guys, that's really nice.

Probably taking Joint Club. Everybody right, check out Joint in special airing tonight.

Here it is your moment is that special?

Let's go five, Let's go some first experience with the New York nig Listen to the Greatest Damn My Life.

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