“ FINAL WORD
here in Western Pennsylvania who makes 2000-pound JDAMs [guidance packages for smart bombs]. Probably some of those JDAMs saved my life on the battlefield in Afghanistan. The tariffs hurt his bottom line. He knows that. But he also said, “Look, I’m a businessman. We had to rip the band aid off with these tariffs at some point.” He’s saying this would be better for the country in the long run, which is kind of selfless and remarkable when you think about it. Yes, these tariffs have hurt businesses in the short term, but every business owner I’ve talked to said it needed to be done to help the American worker and the American economy in the long term. So China is absolutely our No. 1 geopolitical enemy. But I think our president is doing a great job. I also think we have to always keep Islamic extremism on our radar. It’s extraordinarily difficult to combat. They only have to be right once, while we have to be right 100% of the time. We stop a lot of attacks, but these Islamic radicals and Islamic extremists that I faced on the battlefield, this is a long- protracted fight to them. And I think lastly, another grave threat that we face is our debt and deficit. We have to do something to figure out that problem. I don’t want to oversimplify it, but the fact of the matter is that we don’t have a revenue problem. This country has a spending problem and we have to do something in Washington to curb our spending. I think the answer to that is lowering taxes, lowering regulations to grow the economy, and an unprecedented cut in spending in Washington. And the hope is that the
,㨫ùã¨ãã¨ãØ«ĕÜã¨ã¨¨Ü put on China have hurt the Chinese ÊÃÊÂú¡ØÂÊØã¨Ãã¨úʰó¨èØã the American economy.
platoon leaders with me – men and women who have experienced direct combat – are now leading the United States. And I think that’s a very, very good thing for our country. The fact that generals have actually been on the ground and experienced combat is good. I think that over the next 10 years, our military is going to be stronger because the ground combat leaders are going to be making strategic decisions for the U.S. military. I think we’re in a good place. I think we have a good, strong president who’s decisive. And we have a strong military that has been at war for 20 years and knows how to kick butt and take names on the battlefield. Today, you’re running for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 17th congressional district. From a national security perspective, what do you see as the biggest threats facing the U.S.? Sean: China from a geopolitical standpoint is America’s biggest threat. The Chinese military is massive, right? And that just can’t be understated. I think the president has taken the right tactic with China. I think that the tariffs that he has put on China have hurt the Chinese economy far more than they’ve hurt the American economy. For example, I talked to a business owner
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January 2020
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