Thread by @RickSmithShow

Max Burns: This is foot-stomping by China. They're looking at Russia & Ukraine & seeing what they can get away with, using money laundering & illicit finance.
@themaxburns @thedailybeast

Max Burns: Using the Magnitsky Act is how you take down China or Russia, not via war but via banks.
Rick: Repubs don't want the Biden admin to do well with cyber warfare.
Max: The Repubs used to make it a priority till Trump, who had numerous deals w/ shady regimes.
@themaxburns

Max Burns: I think the America COMPETES Act will pass. We do have a bipartisan vote for this when it comes out of committee to the Senate.
@themaxburns @thedailybeast

Max Burns: In Russia, you see the Putin gov't say how can the US gov't lecture us on stable democracies--their people stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6.
@themaxburns @thedailybeast

Max Burns: There's a $50 billion investment to build domestic semiconductors. We've seen prices on everything that has semiconductors, incl cars, computers, & even toasters, b/c we depend on China for those semiconductors.
@themaxburns @thedailybeast

Max Burns: It's a nat'l security concern as we can't even build our own war items w/o semiconductors.
@themaxburns @thedailybeast

Max Burns: This is the end result of globalization. We want the cheapest goods possible with no regard for slave labor, fair labor practices, etc.
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Max Burns: The decline of unions has led to the really weak position we're in.
@themaxburns @thedailybeast #1u #UnionYes

Max Burns: There's a broad & belated push to look at energy as a national security issue. Do you want your military to have the fuel, vehicles, & capacity to respond in an emergency without worrying about the supply chain?
@themaxburns @thedailybeast

Max Burns: Our enemies have been thinking about this much more than we have, and for decades.
@themaxburns @thedailybeast

Max Burns: There are 100,000 Russian troops on the border with Ukraine. The Repubs won't let the US take any action.
Rick: I fully believe Putin wants to get the whole gang back together again. If Ukraine falls, the others will prob fall, too.
@themaxburns @thedailybeast

Max Burns: This is a result of a Repub party that used to be a very foreign policy-focused Repub party before Trump drained the place of career diplomats.
@themaxburns @thedailybeast