Caging the Red Dragon

CPAC DC 23

Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty and CPAC board member and author Gordon Chang sit down for a conversation at CPAC 2023 about the effects of China on Hagerty’s state of Tennessee. Tennessee is primarily and most tragically affected by China’s supplying of fentanyl to drug cartels that has led to an epidemic that has in turn killed over 80,000 Americans. Police officers in Tennessee witness increased rates of overdoses and deaths at the hands of opioids every single month. Hagerty has been trying to stop this tragedy for years as ambassador to Japan when he advised President Trump to demand that President Jinping end the shipping of fentanyl to Latin America. As Senator, Hagerty spoke on the floor in favor of renewing Title 42 that would limit border crossings due to health concerns and to add to it the health concerns of the drug epidemic and proposed the Stop Fentanyl Border Crossings Act. Democrats got in the way, however, three times and prevented legislation that would protect American lives. Hagerty’s state is additionally affected by China’s manufacturing industry that creates a reliance by American car companies in Tennessee on many vital components made in China.