The Bookworm Mom
A weekly review of a new read by Shannon Grady.
The Bookworm Mom
Made in America - Xi Van Fleet
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Shannon interviews author and friend Xi Van Fleet on her book Made in America.
Xi Van Fleet made waves with her breakout book Mao’s America, exposing eerie parallels between China’s past and America’s present woke revolution. Now, alongside renowned Chinese dissident Yu Jie, she sounds the alarm once more―revealing how the CCP’s rise was not just enabled by Soviet Russia but, shockingly, by the United States itself.
Understanding this hidden history is essential for Americans in confronting the CCP’s global ambitions and stopping the spread of Communism at home.
Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening. Whenever you're tuning into the show, welcome back to another episode of The Bookworm Mom. Today I'm super excited to have a fantastic author and a friend, uh, G Van Fleet, has written two books now. Her first book was Mal's America, A Survivor's Warning, in which she kind of detailed what her life was like having escaped Mal's oppressive uh regime and come to America. And I remember first discovering, G, back in 2021, I think it was, with the COVID shutdowns. Yeah. And Gee, if I recall correctly, you were one of the loudest voices at the uh Loudoun County school board meetings, warning them that what you were seeing was cultural Marxism. Is that correct?
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. And I remember too that uh I told you that I'm thinking about writing a book. And you said you should do it. Yeah, you should do it.
SPEAKER_02Yes, I've so encouraged you. And so now you've got that book under your uh your belt, so to speak, and you have written a second book entitled Made in America: The Hidden History of How the U.S. Enabled Communist China and created our greatest threat. So, you know, tell us a little bit about what it was like to have survived Mao's Cultural Revolution as a child and then immigrate to the U.S. You know, what were some of those experiences from your time in China that then prompted you to write uh Made in America?
SPEAKER_01Um, yes. Well, that would take a long time. I just uh make it as short. And and I uh I of course I was born in China, spent my first 26 years um in Maos America uh in Maos China. And uh when I was uh um in my first grade, seven years old, that's when the Cultural Revolution started. And that lasted for 10 years until Mao's death in 1976. So from 66 to 76. And that is pretty much my youth. And after graduating from high school, uh, Mao totally destroyed um China's economy. There's no jobs, there's just no nothing for young people. And so he sent all of us to the countryside and told us we should go there to continue our our education, and he called it re-education by the peasants.
SPEAKER_03Oh wow.
SPEAKER_01Yes. And I uh worked in in the fields for three years before I could go back, uh go to college, but then um they reopened universities during the Cultural Revolution, it's all shut down. And eventually I was able to come to America in 1986. And um I just want to say a few words about um my experience in America. Sure. I made this mistake, thinking, believing that I left communism behind me, right, and that my life here will be just uh happy ever after. There's nothing to worry about. And until I start to notice things here and there that kind of remind me of the Cultural Revolution, political correctness, identity, politics, um all the stuff, eventually uh 2020. And by then I know that this is not some kind of a sign here or sign there, it is a full-blown cultural revolution. Cultural revolution, yes. And that that's when I started uh to get involved. And the first thing I did is went to the school board.
SPEAKER_02And that was so amazing. I know that's where I saw you, as I said, the first time I glimpsed you. I think you were on Fox News, in fact, and they were showing clips of yourself and a few other speakers from there, and you were so passionate. And I remember at the time I was a president of the women's club here, and I said, I gotta get this lady to come speak to us. People need to understand this threat, and you did. And so um you supported me in my own political uh ambitions to run for office, and and so I'm so excited that you got your book written, and um, and and so you know, you note that you started seeing the signs and realize this isn't a passing trend, this isn't just a fad, this is a danger uh sign. So, you know, what do you see in terms of the decisions that have been made by you know uh U.S. political elites and business leaders and intellectuals that are starting to um kind of rear its ugly head? I know they they did they made some decisions that transformed China from the post Mao, you know, as you call it wasteland into America's greatest strategic threat. So what do you think were some of those worst, maybe it's worse critical decisions instead of most critical decisions? What was the worst decision that our government made to enable China?
SPEAKER_01I can say this. Without uh United States, there is absolutely no chance that uh the CCP would uh succeed in taking power in China and eventually later to rise to the second um superpowers status. It's all because of the United States. It's all because our political leaders and elites and uh journalists fail to understand, first of all, fail to understand um the nature of communism, fail to understand this specific breed, uh the Chinese communism, and then later, you know, we we can see that it's not like they don't understand, they don't care. Right, they absolutely don't care. After um China was uh um opened up and uh the political leaders, thanks to business leaders especially, they don't care. They just want to make profit, yes. And that is the sad story. Um but I really in my book I want people to understand China was uh China the way it was, it's all because of us. And China is the threat, yes, but the real threat is the enemy within. Yes, and I really want people not to consider China merely as an external threat. I want people to look inside and uh and see how we made CCP possible. And so my book really traced back to the very beginning, to the 1920s, to how China uh communist ideology um got into China, and uh how um how we really turned blind eye in the beginning that the uh um the funding of uh um the CCP uh paid no attention. And later on, not that we did not uh um uh pay the attention, by the time we we engaged with the CCP uh during the uh World War II, we just failed to understand or refused to understand that communism is communism no matter what. They they try to convince themselves uh Chinese communism actually is not real communism. They're just a reformer is different, exactly. And uh Soviet Union, yes, that's real communism, but not China. And that that misunderstanding, or that is misinterpretation, still uh working today. It worked and worked and is still working today.
SPEAKER_02Now, if I remember correctly, you even kind of illustrated that you know Shank Kai-shek and his forces really were right there to wipe out the Chinese, and then the United States more or less gave new life or breathed new life into the Chinese Communist Party, and that ended up inevitably with the nationalists having to flee to present-day Taiwan. So um you know, going back to that, um, it just uh so many people don't know their own history, they don't know American history, so they really don't understand the Chinese history and certainly the American involvement in it. So your book does a fantastic job of laying that out, there's no question. Um you also highlighted some of the misguided, misguided rather selfish US elites um who use their corporations and their Wall Street, Wall Street connections to prioritize that short-term profit over long-term security, which is effectively what's made modern China. So if you had to name, say, two or three major businesses, are there any that stand out to you as some of the worst offenders for aiding China?
SPEAKER_01Oh, and yeah, then we're talking about modern day. Uh, I do want to go back later, you know, to the beginning. And yeah, today you we can see a lot. Almost every uh US corporation uh want to have uh uh a share of that uh uh to them. It's uh it's like a big pie. You know, they they they want the um the investment there, and uh um it's every, every. Some are more um um like for example, like uh Google, like Facebook. Sure. They really want to get in. They will do anything to get in. But given that, they see censor people. Yeah, would not want uh them. And today I just uh post something about uh the today is uh um June 4th, the uh 37th anniversary of the uh Tiamat Square Massacre. And uh yes, I remember after the internet, I could see a lot of photos that people uploaded. Um and uh now you can see very few. And I believe that Google was at least, you know, I I when I searched Google, I found I can only find a few. I think actively um hiding those uh um horrific photos. Why? I think that's probably part of their um um their effort to get into their market.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, to the market. And then, okay, so they uh failed to get into the market because they are considered too dangerous um to the uh uh to the CCP. But every corporation that got into it, and what happened? Their technology was uh uh stolen and their market was replaced. There's no good ending for anyone, no one, especially about uh the electric uh vehicle nowadays. Oh, yeah. You can see that uh, you know, Tesla was giving all sorts of uh um good deals, you know, free land, free loan, everything. And now what happened? It was pretty much pushed out, and yet all the uh technology and was stolen, and now they're trying to uh really become the first, the number one uh electric vehicle. Well, G, I'm confident.
SPEAKER_02I'm confident that you would be offered one of their electric vehicles to drive around the United States with all of the you know bug-free devices that are in it. I'm sure they're I'm sure they would not be spying on you at all.
SPEAKER_01Not only that, even if I don't mind being spied on, I don't want to risk my life to be burned alive.
SPEAKER_02Yes, exactly. You're absolutely right. You're absolutely right.
SPEAKER_01That is the lesson that people, I think by now hopefully learned. That is a trap. I wish a trap.
SPEAKER_02I wish I thought that, but you know, I feel like people still have this misguided belief that you know China is just one step away from either entering into a form of democracy that we could relate to or or they're gonna jump into capitalism. I remember when they took back Hong Kong, everybody said, Oh, that's good, they're gonna see the success in Hong Kong and they're gonna implement the same. And that did not happen. Of course. So why do we continue to sort of live with this eyes not wide open, eyes closed? What what what do you see as driving that?
SPEAKER_01I would say that in the beginning, it is probably you give them some benefit of doubt. Right. They probably did not understand. They probably did believe that the Chinese communism was different. But afterwards, after, you know, like in 1972 when uh Nixon went to China, by then tens of millions of Chinese already died under the uh the regime. And uh but uh they did not care. That is the the real reason uh that uh uh why we create such a monster. Because uh Henry uh Kissinger said, you know, we don't care what the uh domestic policies uh are, we just see whether the relationship is beneficial to the United States. It cannot be beneficial to the United States when a regime that you try to collaborate kills tens of millions of its own citizens. And that is something that I think people still refuse to understand.
SPEAKER_02And it seems like we're repeating those same mistakes in country after country, whether you take it in Afghanistan with the recognition of the Taliban, whether you take it in Syria, where we've recognized a guy who literally is a terrorist leader. Um we don't seem to be learning that lesson, and and it's it's gonna come back to bite America pretty hard, I believe. Um now you talk about how you see a parallel between the United States woke movement and the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Can you talk a little bit about that as well?
SPEAKER_01Yes, this is also something that that's why I wrote the book. Because people do not know history because they are not taught real history. When uh when they hit and the woke ideology uh hit here, and a lot of people, um a lot of uh the conservatives just find out what's going on, uh why all this is happening, and and some um um the people on the left just embrace it, thinking this is a great idea. Yeah, we are why or we we we need to be awoke, we need to fight against so-called oppression, but they have no idea because they don't know history. When I saw it, I saw history repeated because I've been there, I experienced something that is basically the same revolution. So, yeah, so that's why it's so so so important uh to uh um to learn history. And that's why I know there's many, many ways to save this republic, but for me, I think the best thing for me to do is to really share with American people my experience living under communism and my uh specific uh perspective because I lived under uh communism, to uh tell American that woke is Marxist and it will lead uh United States to the same ruins. So history, yeah, I believe is the key.
SPEAKER_02Well, having been a history teacher myself, I cannot agree with you more. It's it's absolutely critical. And I think recently uh Ocasio Cortez, Alexander Ocasio-Cortez was speaking about our founders, and she was saying that our founding fathers uh fought against the original billionaires, and I'm sitting here scratching my hands like, what are you talking about? They were not poor people, they were the wealthiest among us, and they weren't fighting against billionaires, they were fighting against a monarchy. That's not even it's not even in the realm of the same thing, but that's just the ignorance that exists, um, and maybe not just on the left, but on the right as well.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I have to add, it's not really you can't just say ignorance because it's more than that. Yeah, it is absolutely the Marxist um lens that is. It's the worldview that they were taught. So through that worldview, they see everything as um uh oppressors versus oppressed. Yes, right? It's a class struggle. That's the classic class struggle of uh Marxist ideology. You gotta be they got to divide a population into oppressors and oppressed. Um and then that's what happened in China. And if you have any land, you have any property, you are deemed as oppressor. It doesn't matter how you got it, um, you are oppressor. And and and that's how they divide the entire Chinese Chinese population into just two categories: black or red. Black means you are oppressor, and uh red means you are oppressed. So I guess here's black and white. Yeah, that's here too. That's exactly how um LC looked at the world. She looked at everything through that lens, oppressor and oppressed. So that's why she said, well, you know, American revolution, it's between profess oppressors and oppressed, the uh billionaires of the day and the oppressed, the poor people. That is how dangerous it is because that is something very subtle. That's how they use the education uh system to really and change the worldview of uh the younger generation from a biblical-based worldview to Marxist worldview. They don't even realize the shift. That's how they look at everything through that lens. And that's what we are dealing with, and that's what I'm trying to wake people up. You have to go back. We as a country, um, we have to go back to the biblical-based worldview. And that's how we built uh the country was funded on. Without that, there's no way we can keep our liberty.
SPEAKER_02Well, you know, talking about the history uh in your book, could you talk a little bit about some of those pivotal moments uh in the United States-China relations that your book identifies as missed opportunities that could have been used to constrain the CCP? What were some things that we should have done that we didn't do?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, for and going back to uh before 1949, and I would say this person is absolutely the most critical um historical figure that we need to learn about. And his name is uh Edgar Snell, and he was uh a journalist in China, and uh he was a leftist, he's a liberal. So he because of his uh political ideology, he wanted to believe that um the CCP was not real communists, they are reformers. So he made a trip to Yang'an, that's where they were based, in the uh northwest um region of China, um in the 30s and 40s. So he went there and then he wrote a book, and that's uh the title of the book is uh Red Star Over China. Yes. And that book became the most influential book. That the book even today, it's in print. Even today. I have a copy of the book. Oh my goodness. That's supposed to be the book um tells the origin of the CCP.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And uh so and and because of that book, it changed the public opinions in the West and also influenced um presidents and uh um and also influenced presidents from uh FDR to Nixon, can you imagine? And um um and also um China. When its trans uh translation was um made available, it influenced a whole generation of Chinese educated youth. And that includes two of my uncles. They abandoned everything and they went to Yan'an to join the communists. And that I would say the most important thing. And uh and then because it influenced uh later, like uh the um the uh diplomats and also influenced uh generals such as uh George uh Marshall, right? What they did too is that uh it's not that they supported um the CCP, it's because they stopped supporting the nationalists who were fighting the CCP, while CCP had full support of the Soviet Union. Because of that, the nationalists failed, and China was lost to the uh to communism, and that history was just totally forgotten, and that's why um the um the uh um we have the uh um McCarthy hearings because they were communists, communist sympathizers everywhere, yes in the State Department, in the universities, in Hollywood, and anyone, everyone that um uh McCarthy um uh
SPEAKER_02accused um were true um communists there's no uh there's no like a it's like a just a false uh uh accuration and what happened he was discredited and then the whole thing was over and now when um young people uh think about McCarthalism they think about uh persecution yeah yeah red scare and that's what happened so I think that um my book helped people to understand what happened and how China was lost I'm curious uh in in my mind through my own reading and research I think the last president the last United States president we had who really understood the threat that communism poses was Ronald Reagan. He got it and he got it all the way back from his days um as the president of the Actors Guild there Supreme Actors Guild Sacks. Yes he got it he understood what was going on and he warned against you know them infiltrating our government and if you go back to Truman Truman actually knew there were communist Soviet spies within our government and he were he was promoting these people so I think I I mean am I wrong? What do you think?
SPEAKER_01I I can't see that any president Republican or Democrat since Ronald Reagan have really done anything to try and stop this onslaught I think uh Ronald Reagan well I think uh Eisenhower too understood um the threat of communism and of course we know that Reagan is responsible for uh dismantling the Soviet Union the Democrats would disagree with you on that well yeah I I don't care right and it's true that's fact yes but also even even Ronald Reagan um failed to understand that Chinese communism is communism yeah and he also bought this uh this this idea that Chinese communism is different right he's less evil yeah he called Chinese communism the so-called communism and so now going back uh and go going forward all the presidents after Ronald Reagan fail to understand that so we only have one president the only one who understand not just the threat of communism but also the specific breed of uh communism in the CCP and that is Donald Trump well I you know I I think given the skeptics and there there are there are gonna be lots of skeptics they'll they're gonna say you're just an alarmist um so you know what would you say recent events what recent events and and what history would you point out as proof that the CCP remains ideologically committed to not just partnering or being a you know the second superpower but actual supremacy they want to dominate and why is understanding that so important now well yeah the first question is uh uh was China now a capitalist country there's a lot of people think China now is oh it's not a communist country anymore it's a China uh it's a it's a capitalist country right and I don't have to argue with uh you with uh with uh data here and there just one thing it's very simple as long as the murderous uh leader of CCP Mao's portrait still hanging on Kian Square in CCP China is a communist country and you don't have to you you you you don't have to argue it tells you and also in its constitution it uh specify that uh it is a Marxist communist party it is a communist country and what does communist uh country do have we learned enough what they do right they absolutely uh are against a free world especially the United States of America and it and no matter what you do for them you help them from the wasteland to the second uh economic power it does not make any difference they want to take over because they consider they review United States the biggest threat to their power so this is something I think that uh I feel kind of sad I still talk about this and and the people that still don't get it yeah and but that's why I wrote this book.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_01Well you know to kind of to kind of close it out with something a little uplifting to give people a sense of hope you know given your perspective you you've chose America you came here and you've been a defender of liberty you know what are some concrete steps that you would recommend that the US take that we could counter the self-created threat that we have you know put upon ourselves with uh helping the CCP what can we do to counter that threat while simultaneously preserving our core strengths and values yeah I I think uh for a lot of uh the um uh business they kind of start to learn their lesson right and uh a a lot of uh uh investment has left China because uh uh especially after the uh the brutal uh COVID uh lockdown and uh they they they they realize this is still a totalitarian regime but the problem is a lot of Americans still don't understand I can tell you one example I I was just shocked um someone who wanted me to talk to her grandson's uh Christian school at uh a Catholic school I think uh about the uh the uh the horror of communism and uh the principal um declined saying that um we have Chinese students in our school and we want to be sensitive so basically that she wants the principal wants to protect her student from knowing the evil of communism and that's uh uh not just a public school that is uh a Catholic school right so I think for me especially for me uh I think the uh the most important thing is to educate people to educate with real history and with personal experience and I think when I do that um I I I think people uh probably will listen even uh a little more is oh she is a witness of the evil of communism and because of that I really feel that I have this um uh obligation that is um something I really really have to um uh it's my mission life mission uh to to educate Americans only when people understand the threat and then then they can demand their representatives their uh the politicians that they also make policies that is uh protective of our country and uh and to to make sure that CCP would not uh take advantage uh of our open um system that for example now uh they're still buying land they're still buying land and that's why because it's allowed it's allowed our law allowed our politicians allowed and uh there's still people come here and give birth and have uh um babies from China and uh why it's allowed it's absolutely allowed why because we don't demand our politicians to um to implement policies to stop all this and so I I think it really um depends on people and when they understand when they demand I think we can see a change better than we just say we hope the politician will do the right thing while they haven't yeah well I'll tell you I could talk to you for hours I know I I'd love to get into the subject of how uh Marxism and Islam has married itself together and we can then we could talk about New York City and and Mandami and you know the first Marxist New York City mayor openly Marxist New York City mayor but uh unfortunately uh don't have the time for to get that far in depth but I am thrilled that you've written this book and I am so thankful that you have dedicated yourself to educating the American people because so many people people who claim to be educated are not they do not know the truth they indoctrinated exactly yeah it's indoctrination not education so please continue to write and speak and I will continue to follow you and and when opportunities arise I will certainly bring you uh into my circle uh my sphere of influence and let your information be shared with everyone but folks thank you so much for tuning in today please if you haven't purchased the book go out and buy the book it's fantastic made in America the hidden history of how the U.S.
SPEAKER_00Enabled communist China and created our greatest threat pick that up today we'll leave a link where you can find that book in the comment section and I think Tripp's got a few things to share with you about uh some events we got going on right now with Liberty Crack Media yes and I want to thank uh uh Z Fan Fleet for being our wonderful guest today on another fantastic Shannon another fantastic Bookworm mom uh podcast and the month of June everybody knows is Liberty Crack Media has Tim can on their cup or Tim can on their hand uh yeah we're we're we're out begging for money uh we have Project 2027 campaign going on um we have pride too right and uh we understand liberty isn't free and neither are microphones uh the uh stuff all these other things and so we're trying to uh to raise some money so if you can go to help us get more programs like this wonderful bookworm mom on the air for you so you have freedom of choice of getting some bold programming into your ears at libertycrackmedia.com and just go to the um to our menu and go to project uh 2027 you'll see a little donate button and we appreciate every dime you get and most people uh that donate uh might find a little freebie coming back their way also and uh here's another thing uh on flag day uh which is sunday the 14th we're gonna have a mini uh a little mini youtube marathon going from 10 till 6 p.m and uh you can enjoy all the fun we're gonna have the microphone monkeys and we're gonna have uh the Hoff is gonna be in here and uh special guests special call-ins special call-outs and just a lot of fun and hilarity so if you can join us at Liberty Crack Media and again thank you again and join us next week for another fantastic episode of the book or something
