Red-Handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win

by Peter Schweizer

Hardcover, 2022

Status

Available

Call number

305.5

Collection

Publication

Harper (2022), 352 pages

Description

Peter Schweizer says that, in a quarter-century as an investigative journalist, this is the scariest investigation he has ever conducted. That the Chinese government seeks to infiltrate American institutions is hardly surprising. What is wholly new, however, are the number of American elites who are eager to help the Chinese dictatorship in its quest for global hegemony. Presidential families, Silicon Valley gurus, Wall Street high rollers, Ivy League universities, even professional athletes-all willing to sacrifice American strength and security on the altar of personal enrichment. In Red-Handed, six-time New York Times bestselling investigator Peter Schweizer presents his most alarming findings to date by revealing the secret deals wealthy Americans have cut to help China build its military, technological, and economic might. Equally as astonishing, many of these elites quietly believe the Chinese dictatorial regime is superior to American democracy. Schweizer and his team of forensic investigators spent over a year scouring a massive trove of global corporate records and legal filings to expose the hidden transactions China's enablers hoped would never see the light of day. And as Schweizer's past bombshells like Profiles in Corruption, Secret Empires, and Clinton Cash all made clear, there are bad actors on both ends of the political spectrum. Exhaustively researched, crisply told, and chilling, Red-Handed will expose the nexus of power between the Chinese government and the American elites who do its bidding.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member thewanderingjew
Red Handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win, Peter Schweizer, author; Charles Constant, narrator
Peter Schweizer has written many books revealing corruption in the government. In this book, he carefully details and exposes the corruption of both parties, Democrat and Republican, and
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everything in between, when it comes to enriching themselves, vis a vis China. He names names, corporations, private companies, lawyers, lobbyists and Chinese officials that the readers will surely recognize, as they learn about the ways in which they have used their influence overtly and/or subtly, to influence trade, industrial development and expansion in China, and in the process, also enrich themselves, their family, friends, and associates.
Although much of what Schweizer illustrates or reveals, was already out in the cyberspace, by the time the book was published, it was not generally known to those who do not actively look into the Chinese way of doing business, the lives of Congressmen and women after they leave office, the way the major corporations have their fingers in Chinese pies, or the way that companies are completely controlled and regulated by China, in order to do business there. Those people involved, allow China to spy on their records and eventually have to prostitute themselves to do business there, often behaving like hypocrites, working at cross purposes to the United States as they accept China’s violations of human rights and corrupt business practices, and as they actively protest against far less abuses in the United States. Often, their own positions are compromised or they are even personally spied upon by agents and used in the service of China, as they seek to further their own image and business acumen. Every major technology company, every influential Congressperson, every business that sought to gain advantage in China has had to compromise their souls to do it, accepting draconian rules, ignoring abuses, and pretending to be blind to anything that China did in order to advance their own selfish purposes, regardless of whether or not the requirements to do business there would be legal in the United States.
When prominent men and women retire from influential positions in business or government, they are often sought after and employed by China to enhance China’s ability to compete with America. China steals our secrets and it seems that some are happy to help them, under the guise of operating successful businesses there, or of offering advice, or while serving on boards, or otherwise aiding China’s efforts to surpass America. For that purpose, they are paid well to turn a blind eye to things that would cause massive protests in the United States, protests which they would actively have supported in the past. If they are still influential in America, they often spin the problems they encounter to benefit themselves and ignore the obvious benefit to China, as they pretend that the human rights abuses and unfair business practices do not concern them. In this way, ordinary citizens in the United States are kept in the dark and are treated as if they are too dumb to see what is happening, too naïve to recognize the two-faced behavior of those individuals amassing great wealth at America’s, and therefore, their expense.
The reader will recognize the names of tech giant CEO’s, Gates, Zuckerberg, Dorsey, Schmidt, Musk, of Corporations like Goldman Sachs, Blackstone, Twitter, Facebook, Google, Alibaba, Tesla, and Huawei, of Democrats and Republicans, Ambassadors and Military Officers, members of Congress like Schumer, Biden, Chao and McConnell, Clinton, Pelosi, Bush, of Kissinger, Trudeau, and so many more. From the first efforts of former President Nixon to open up trade with China, the only government official who not only recognized China’s deceit, but actively tried to reign in China’s espionage and business blackmail, was former President Trump, but the Swamp defeated him. Our current President actually allowed his son to actively pursue business, not only with China, but with other countries, in order to benefit himself because of his father’s identity. He amassed great wealth, although he had no skills to offer but his name.
Reading the book, one realizes that controlling China’s covert practices and American cooperation with them, could be an exercise in futility; one soon realizes that this practice of prostituting oneself in the service of an adversary, for personal benefit, will not soon be stopped. The prize, for the services rendered, is too great to dismiss for most people. The pot at the end of that rainbow is simply too great an offer for them to refuse.
Anyone who wishes to understand the way in which our wealthy and elite choose to advantage and corrupt themselves, should read this book. It is an eye-opener into the world of corruption that our rich and famous are willing to not only engage with, but to actively pursue, enrich, and actively participate in, regardless of the negative impact on the world.
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LibraryThing member RajivC
Even if what Peter Schweizer writes is half true, the material revealed in the book is explosive.
I've always known corruption exists in high places, but this goes beyond anything I expected.

It appears the Chinese have infiltrated American elites at various levels and to various degrees. It also
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appears that American elites have actively encouraged this.

If so, Americans are deeply compromised. But then, a book like this should force people across the world to ask searching questions about their leaders. The rot is deep, and it is global.

This book will leave you shaken.
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Original language

English

Original publication date

2022

Physical description

352 p.; 9 inches

ISBN

0063061147 / 9780063061149
Page: 0.5422 seconds