 The Venezuelan president just asked a Hong Kong reporter to speak Mandarin and this clip is going viral. Yeah, this went all around the world and back. Let's play the clip of Nicolas Maduro during a state visit to Beijing being asked a question by a Hong Kong reporter from Phoenix TV. I'm the journalist from Hong Kong, Phoenix TV. So my question is, you have mentioned... No translation. No translation. Hello, Mandarin. Oh, yeah. Why? No translation in English. Oh, yeah, how was it? The New World. Oh, yeah. Boom. Long story short, Andrew, the reporter opens up in English, right? Because he's figuring they're going to translate the English into Spanish and the guy's like, No, habla Mandarin, habla Mandarin. But then he also says, Nuevo Mundo. So the Venezuelan president is like, oh, it's a New World. Right, right, right. But I do think a lot of people are saying like, basically there wasn't a translator at the moment that was translating English to Spanish because they're in Beijing and the Beijing translator for him was translating from Mandarin questions to Spanish for him. Right. But his last comment sort of sparked a ton of controversy, at least in internet circles. All right, guys. So let's talk about what the Venezuelan president meant by this and what people are discussing. Please hit that like button and check out other episodes of the Hot Pop Boys right after this. Hey, Andrew, from Silly to Serious, I'd say it's a silly clip. Maduro is laughing. Everybody's laughing. But in terms of how the internet took it, I'd say they took it pretty serious. Yeah. But you know what else is serious, Andrew? The flavor that you're going to get from adding Smala to any noodles, pastas, rice, dumplings, get it at SmalaSauce.com. Andrew, real truffle. Yeah, made with real truffle, made in America. Pre-orders are still going on right now, guys, but we're very excited to ship it out soon. So please check out SmalaSauce.com. Let's just get into some quick thoughts, Andrew, because this could get very murky. This could get very muddy. Like we said, sort of any sort of talk, Andrew, of changing of the world order. What are the dominant empires and ultra bird's eye view in the world? It gets people emotional, right? Yeah, and I think at the end of the day, listen, a lot of people are writing for their team. You know, if you are born and raised in America, you're probably going to be more pro-American and you're going to be listening to the pro-American news. If you're from over there, if you're in China, maybe you're going to be more proud that China's coming up. But I'll tell you this, both places have problems, okay? Everybody in the world is having problems. By the way, Venezuela has a bunch of problems, too. I'm not going to say I'm an expert on it, but I just know that. Everybody's got problems. Everybody's got problems in their country. But it's just funny because obviously, like, whether your country is like the preeminent, dominant power on a metric level or how everybody feels about it, it's sort of like, can trickle down the feelings of nationalism, right? Amongst individual citizens on the internet, right? I mean, let's just put it out there. Before we get into our quick thoughts and the comment section, essentially what the Venezuelan president was kind of getting at and hinting at kind of jokingly was saying, hey, it's a new world. Like, yeah, speak Mandarin, not English because more people are teaming up with China. Look, I'm in China right now. So, like, you know, maybe the world is moving away from teaming up with America and Britain and stuff. Guys, this is what it is. And obviously that made a lot of American people or Western world people feel some type of way by him even saying that. Right, right. Because it sounds like an anti, like, I guess, anti-Anglo-dominator or English-dominated world statement. Right, right, right. But people are saying, oh, how much was it? Was it just like a casual joke? Was it this? Was it that? Like we said, there is a smattering of opinions. Real quick, Andrew, is it really slipping on a global stage? I would say this. I would say this. It feels like- What is slipping? Like American dominance or Anglo-dominance. I would say it feels like the lead is shortening, but it's still like definitely number one. Yeah, I think it's very hard to tell the truth on what exactly is happening because you'd have to factor in probably 100 different factors. You'd probably have to talk to some experts from different industries and different sides of the world. But I think anecdotally, obviously a lot of people are saying, yeah, America's slipping. Right, right. And this is the whole concept of Ray Dalio's book, right? The changing world order and things like that. I do think the Venezuelan president, he is very cavalier and sort of trying to make cool statements. He seems like a guy who wants to be cool. Yeah. I mean, is it fair to that a lot of people question the Venezuelan president and being like, well, who is this guy? Like his country's got a ton of problems and he's not known to be a good leader. So who cares what he says? Right, right. If you guys know about Venezuela, it's like got like hyperinflation right now. It's crazy. Like a lot of people are trying to leave and come to places like America, et cetera, if they can get out. I think a lot of people, they don't want a dual polar and they don't want a multipolar world, right? I think obviously since the UK and since the US, the world has been more unipolar and definitely I can understand the fear of changing that order, right? Well, real quick, what does it mean to be unipolar? Basically, it means that there's like a pyramid of like power distribution hierarchy. Geopolitically, this is like super bird's eye in America was the only country at the very, very top of the pyramid. Yeah. So you're saying that the system was simpler when America dominated the globe essentially. And now that America is probably still dominates the globe, but now is losing some steam. That now they're going to have to share a space a little bit more with China, making things more complicated because it's less complicated when one person rules. Yes, yes, yes. But it's obviously it's not just China. It's India. It's any country, you know what I mean? That wants to be more in that top power. But I guess you would say that maybe like China is the one that everybody thinks about, right? They're like the mast of that ship, right? And I think it really also brings on a way more micro level, Andrew. It just makes you think, man, it's kind of complicated to be Chinese American, you know? Because, you know, it's almost like everybody's rooting against China, but you're Chinese American and you kind of feel like you're like, well, in a way, guys, maybe the civilization that my ancestors come from. I don't know. They kind of deserve a chance to, but then you see how they're doing it and you're like, yeah, I can see why everybody doesn't like it. It's complicated. Yeah. And then I mean, you're American and then people, you know, I know there's going to be comments being like, well, you guys are born and raised in America. You're America. America is not a race. That's a nationality. And I'm like, yeah, of course, for sure, you know, like I'm American. I'm not moving to China anytime soon. But what I'm saying is like, I guess I'd like to think that, you know, our motherland could come up as well without it tearing things apart. Yeah. Why does it have to be so stressful, right? Right. Right. For sure. For sure. And like we said, guys, I mean, everybody's going to have their own opinion about it. I'm sure the comment section is going to be crazy. But yeah, I mean, definitely, I wish it wasn't going how it's going though with the whole like beef and the rivalry. Anyway, let's just get into the comment section, guys. Again, make sure you like this video. Somebody said, I'm sure Maduro had an interpreter to translate the Mandarin in Spanish so he could understand this situation just happened and it got blown out of proportion like it was meant to be this gigantic like viral moment. No, I think it's legit that they didn't have a translator because a woman comes on and says in Chinese, no translator. Yeah. She's like male finding. Yeah. So that's that's not him saying he just played into the moment, but literally they didn't have the translator on hand at that moment. I'm sure they have the translator in general, but because he's from a Spanish country, they probably didn't expect any reporters to ask questions in full English. And then, of course, Andrew, there was a bunch of comments saying, yeah, but they mostly speak Cantonese in Hong Kong. So how come he didn't say how black and Tonesa how black and Tonesa? But then, of course, Andrew, they were in Beijing. He's not going to ask a question in Cantonese in Beijing to get translated into Spanish. Right. Right. Yeah. Um, somebody said, why doesn't someone ask Maduro? Why his people are fleeing Venezuela and droves for the U.S. Him and his predecessor Chavez didn't do a good job in governing. They switched it to a socialist country and now they got hyperinflation and everybody wants out. So basically someone was like, who cares what this guy thinks this guy got his country going bad, right? Yeah. Right. Right. Yeah. I mean, it's true. Right. I guess people kind of like would judge the statements of a leader of like if it was France way differently, right? Um, somebody said, you know, one of the major things that China has to do is that it doesn't have to deal with Venezuelan refugees or any sort of refugee situation. Um, they, whereas America does and they're talking about like, I guess when two countries are trying to be competitive, the U.S. does get a lot of refugees, whereas China essentially gets none. Right. Makes sense. Yeah. From a functional perspective, somebody just said, um, yeah, like, of course, when a nation becomes more prosperous, many people want to, um, migrate to prosperous countries. Right. Um, I mean, still to this day, I mean, you can say what you want about America. Most people want to move here. Yes. Most people want to move and stay here. Yes. I agree with that. And I just think that how we manage that diversity is just, I think we just got to do a better job of it. I think we did do a good job in the past, but maybe the way we were running the scheme back then, we got to think of a new scheme and we got to get everybody on the same page. That's not going to happen. Everybody's just gridlock trying to fight each other over the system changes. Right. Right. Um, somebody said, man, if you guys really understand it's all the sanctions and the US State Department always meddling in Central and South America, it bungled everything. Now, of course, now they all want out to come to America. Right. Yeah. I mean, this is what a major criticism of American foreign policy is, right? So, so, so some people are criticizing saying that so many people from Venezuela want to flee Venezuela and come to America, but then here's the president of Venezuela kind of sort of taking a jab at America. Right. So, because, uh, they, I guess they got a big oil deal to go to China, right? Um, somebody said, we are moving to a multipolar world and that's a very good thing. Somebody said, yes, I'm fine with that, but I'm ultimately in the minority because I'm not scared of seeing the possibilities but changes constant and those who remain in charge are more ignorant than necessary. So basically, um, yeah, somebody was just saying, don't be scared of the changing world because this always happens. Uh, that is sort of Ray Dalio stance, but I could see a lot of people, they are scared. I guess anytime there is change, there's usually some conflict. I don't know what that looks like nowadays. You know what I mean? But that's what people are probably scared of. I hope not. I hope that there's not conflict. Somebody said, the world is choosing sides. I had hoped that my kids would be able to live in a world of peace, but it doesn't look like they will get to. And someone said, indeed, waves of lunacy repeat. Andrew, this is a crazy comment to emerge from just the Venezuelan president saying Habla Mandarin, right? Yeah. It goes to show you that I felt like this topic was really on people's minds. And then this is just like almost like a, it's almost like an emotional visual incident to draw it out. Right? I guess to see a president of another country, no matter what the country is, say something like this. Uh, yeah, it is, it is kind of like visceral. Like it hits people. They're like, Oh man, what now? It's not just the internet conversation. It's not just a conversation between economists. It's like presidents are saying this now. Right. Like it's so matter of fact. Right. Even though technically it's the president of a country that is not doing so well right now. Um, somebody was saying, you know, the reason why America is going down is because we're divided internally because we, uh, China and Russia got a hold of the tick tock algorithm and they're dividing people through identities. So we can't get anything done anymore. Yeah. That's ridiculous, man. I mean, that is on tick tock in China being controlled, man. This, this, that's like not the thing. I, and then somebody said, no, listen, guys, I'm a proud American and Americans always fight internally and we get divided just cause that's what we like to do because we get bored with how good everything is. But then once there's a foreigner that becomes strong enough, we band together and then we remove that threat and then we go back to our normal routine of just fighting each other again. I thought that that was a really funny break down. Um, somebody was just saying, Hey guys, if you speak English, Mandarin, Chinese and Spanish, you could probably communicate with about 85% of the entire world. That's actually true. Andrew, the next biggest languages are Hindi, Arabic and French, but of course a lot of people in India actually speak English as well. Um, somebody said choosing to support China as its economy is crumbling is smart, huh? And then somebody was saying, uh, yeah, it has to do with ever grand Andrew and aging population. A lot of the kids in China right now cannot find work and this kind of goes to like another thing that's really popular in the media right now where a lot of people are saying that China is never going to reach that one B status because of things that are out of its control. Oh, you mean like China did come up a lot, but it's not going to actually ever be on America's level. It's never actually going to break into the top tier because it has a lot of a stifling issues right now that it can not control. Right. And I honestly, there's actually some truth to that too. I don't know how much I see what they mean, but does China need to be one B to even still challenge America? Not really. No, I don't know what does it mean to be one B? Who cares about the ranking or who doesn't care? Like, does that make you feel better if they're not one B or are you are you safe or like, Oh, America one of its one C for for China for one one China policy. Yeah. All right, Andrew, let's just get into our takeaways. Obviously, this is a hot geopolitical topic or people are going to be like, Oh, there's a dad because people feel so emotional about these type of things. One, you know, the thing that was interesting and real quick. This is a silly thought Andrew. The president's name is Maduro and they also eat Maduro's in Venezuela, which is like a fried plantain. Shout out. I've had a Patagon piece out over in New York. They have like where it's like a sandwich, but sandwich between mashed plantains together. So that's like the bun. Why do you think such an innocuous clip just sparks like this whole world of discussions? Right? I think there's some people love talking about on the Internet, man, and people feel so many different types of ways. And I think a lot of you see a lot of people on the Internet think they understand the situation. I don't try to pretend I have all the exact numbers, right? Everybody just generally is like, there's like a general consensus of what's going on, but you don't really know unless you actually study this stuff like in and out. Right, right. And then even then you might just have like a biased perspective. I think the truth is nobody really knows. My best guess is this, Andrew, I do not think that China is ever going to take over the world like the UK and America did. Like I think English is going to continue to be the predominant language globally. It's going to even be more of a lingua franca as it continues. English is a dope language. Actually, it's my favorite language. It's very flexible. It incorporates foreign vocabulary very well if you guys actually study the structure of English. I think the China's rise to number two, Andrew, if it does get there, it's going to be more like Skechers to Nike. Did you know that there's a few years, Andrew, where Skechers actually outsells Nike? Like the number one selling shoe model that year is a Skechers model, right? Like it surpassed New Balance, A6, Adidas, all these like much cooler brands. Nike's still dominant and Nike's not only dominant from a bird's-eye perspective, but also from a cool level. Skechers, Andrew, not cool. So Skechers sometimes, depending on the year, outsells Nike in revenue, but nobody really thinks about Skechers and nobody thinks Skechers are cool. But if you think about it, all the workers, nurses, a lot of older people, a lot of people where Skechers, even though you don't think Skechers is cool. Yeah, anytime you see a shoe and you don't know what it is and it's just like servers at a restaurant, there's a chance that those are Skechers. Right, right. So that's why I'm always saying like people are like, no, they'll never be another Nike. I'm like, nah, because Nike's dominant and cool, but you could just have a really big brand like Skechers. Right. So China might dominate in a way, but will never be that cool or on a kind of like soft power level. Yeah, that's what I honestly think will probably happen. Yeah. So I don't know if people want to be terrified of that. Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of people say think dominance, that means a bunch of Chinese people are going to start marching into every city and like taking things over and like taking your business. I'd like, dude, it's not talking about. It's just, I think in 2023, it's more like macro economic ownership, to be honest. I mean, ultimately, I think the thing is it might never have like the peaks of the US or the UK, but it might also not have as many like wars or like drug or gun issues too. Right. Yeah. I mean, it makes sense guys. It's just going to look different from the East from the West. Let us know what you guys think of the comment section below. Was Nicholas Maduro wild and out in Beijing? Who knows what? Hey guys, and what do you think about this quote? And how do you guys feel about it? Let us know about the multipolar world and what your opinions are. So please let us know in the comments down below. Yeah, we encourage debate in the comment section. Keep it civil, guys. Try to use facts until next time. We out. Peace.