In interview, Trump waffles over whether Taiwan is worth defending from China

‘THEY TOOK ALL OF OUR CHIP BUSINESS’: In a lengthy interview with Bloomberg, former President Donald Trump suggested the United States might not come to Taiwan’s defense if China attempts to take over the self-governing island by force — unless, maybe, Taiwan paid the U.S. a lot of money.

In the interview — conducted three weeks ago, but published as a cover story in Bloomberg Businessweek this week, Trump rails against Taiwan’s thriving microchip industry, which produces over 90% of the world’s microchips.

“Taiwan took our chip business from us. I mean, how stupid are we?” Trump said. “They took almost 100% of our chip industry, I give them credit. That’s because stupid people were running the country. We should have never let that happen. Now we’re giving them billions of dollars to build new chips in our country, and then they’re going to take that too, in other words, they’ll build it but then they’ll bring it back to their country.”

‘WE’RE NO DIFFERENT THAN AN INSURANCE COMPANY’: Trump suggested that the U.S. may not be in a position to defend Taiwan because it is so far away.

“Taiwan doesn’t give us anything. Taiwan is 9,500 miles away. It’s 68 miles away from China,” he said. “I just think we have to be smart, but remember, 9,500 miles away. You have to do double loads on airplanes to get them over, by the time they get over here, they have to leave. But it’s a very, very difficult thing.”

“China’s a massive piece of land, they could just bombard it. They don’t even need to — I mean, they can literally just send shells. Now they don’t want to do that because they don’t want to lose all those chip plants,” Trump said. “But I will tell you, that’s the apple of President Xi [Jinping]’s eye,” he added, echoing language he’s used to describe Russian President Vladimir Putin’s desire to take over most, if not all, of Ukraine.

“Taiwan should pay us for defense. You know, we’re no different than an insurance company,” Trump said. “They’re immensely wealthy.”

‘NORTH KOREA HAS A LOT OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS’: Trump also argued that under the administration of President Joe Biden , the world has become a more dangerous place. “The worst thing that happened,” he said, is that Biden, who he called “a stupid person,” forced Russia and China “to get married.”

“They’re married. Then they took in their little cousin, Iran, and then they took in North Korea. They don’t need anybody else. They don’t need anybody else,” Trump said. “China has aligned with Russia, Iran, and North Korea. And North Korea has a lot of nuclear weapons. I can tell you that. I don’t think that’s confidential. They have a lot.”

“This is a different world than it was three-and-a-half years ago,” he told Bloomberg. “I actually worry about the five months that we have left. Right, I think you could end up in a, you could end up in a World War III.”

CHINA AND RUSSIA CHALLENGE NATO AT UN

Good Wednesday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, written and compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre ( @jamiejmcintyre ) and edited by Christopher Tremoglie . Email here with tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. Sign up or read current and back issues at DailyonDefense.com . If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email and we’ll add you to our list. And be sure to follow me on Threads and/or on X @jamiejmcintyre

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HAPPENING TODAY: Tonight's the third night of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, and the party's vice presidential nominee, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), will step into the spotlight before a national audience as he addresses a national television audience of over 20 million people.

Vance, 39, is the first millennial to join a major party ticket. With his youthful vigor and sharp debating skills, he will attempt to draw a stark contrast with 81-year-old President Joe Biden.

Last night, in convention speeches, former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis endorsed Trump after criticizing him harshly during their primary campaigns.

"I'll start by making one thing perfectly clear. Donald Trump has my strong endorsement, period," Haley said of the nominee who she called "unfit for office" while she was still in the race. "You don't have to agree with Trump 100 percent of the time to vote for him. Take it from me. I haven't always agreed with President Trump, but we agree more often than we disagree."

"Though bloodied by our wounds, we must stand up, and we must fight — fight not with violence or destruction but with our voices and our votes," Rubio said in his endorsement speech. "We will not be alone in this fight. For leading us in this fight will be a man who, although wounded and facing danger, he stood up and raised his fist and reminded us that our people and our country are always worth fighting for."

Trump will accept the nomination tomorrow, on the convention's final night.

RNC DAY 3: WHAT TO EXPECT AS GOP PLEDGES TO ‘MAKE AMERICA STRONG AGAIN’

'IT'S JUST UNEXPLAINABLE': The revelation that U.S. intelligence has been tracking an ongoing threat from Iran to assassinate Donald Trump, and that consequently the Secret Service had increased security around the former president, has made the sloppy security lapses around Trump's Butler, Pa. rally Saturday even more baffling.

White House officials said the threats from Iran began years ago, after the 2020 drone strike Trump ordered to take out Qassem Soleimani , leader of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force.

"These threats arise from Iran's desire to seek revenge for the killing of Qassem Soleimani. We consider this a national and homeland security matter of the highest priority," said Adrienne Watson, a spokesperson for the National Security Council.

"It's just unexplainable," Mike Turner (R-OH), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said on CNN. "I mean, obviously, when you have such an unbelievable security failure, and then you have them saying that this is also in the backdrop of them thinking that a state actor, Iran, might be trying to attack the President, certainly makes it even more critical that we look at the failures of the Secret Service."

"I see these reports that they heightened security. This was not heightened security," Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said on The Ingraham Angle on Fox last night.

"We've known for a while. It's been public. It's been publicized that Iran wants to kill American officials, including the President and anyone they blame for the attack on Soleimani," Rubio told host Laura Ingraham . "Now, was this a systemic breakdown, or was this a one incident in which someone made a mistake? Is there something rotten at the core of the Secret Service? I think that's the big question that has to be answered."

"It appears that his Secret Service is in shambles," Turner said, "Even though you have great people there that are willing to risk their lives trying to protect President Trump."

"Thank God, President Trump is alive today, Turner said, "but clearly they have not risen to the occasion."

"This was not some ninja. This guy was not some Navy SEAL or commando. I mean, this was a kid," Rubio said.

SECRET SERVICE ADDED SECURITY MEASURES FOR TRUMP BEFORE ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

"THE PILOT LIGHT IS ALWAY ON': Iran is not likely to abandon its effort to exact revenge on Trump, warns Behnam Ben Taleblu , a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. "Domestic divisions or not, Iranian officials continue to believe that blood will only wash away blood."

"Make no mistake, lapses in security can and will permit Iran-backed plots to succeed," Taleblu said in comments emailed to the Washington Examiner. "While fortunately many have been discovered or thwarted over the years, the rise in Iran-backed terror and kidnapping attempts using proxies and trans-national criminal syndicates means that Tehran believes quantity has a quality of its own and is waiting for a mistake."

"Tehran's terror threat against Trump is like a pilot light: always on in the background and can be scaled up in intensity at a time of their own choosing," he adds.

OPINION: BIDEN SHOULD FIRE THE SECRET SERVICE DIRECTOR, BUT HE WON’T

THE RUNDOWN:

Washington Examiner : Secret Service added security measures for Trump before assassination attempt

Washington Examiner : Republicans threaten Secret Service director to resign or lose salary

Washington Examiner : Green demands Mayorkas, Wray, and Cheatle testify on Capitol Hill about Trump assassination attempt

Washington Examiner : Strengthening Secret Service protection is far easier said than done

Washington Examiner : Trump Secret Service detail noticeably reinforced at Republican National Convention

Washington Examiner : Security increases at White House and nearby park after Trump assassination attempt

Washington Examiner : Opinion: Biden should fire the Secret Service director, but he won’t

Washington Examiner : China and Russia challenge NATO at UN

Washington Examiner : Vance: US should want Israel to finish war ‘as quickly as possible’

Washington Examiner : State Department clarifies Biden comments on Israel-Saudi Arabia talks

Washington Examiner : What Trump documents case dismissal means for special counsels and Jack Smith

Washington Examiner : Schumer calls on Bob Menendez to resign from Senate after criminal conviction

Washington Examiner : From the Air Force Academy to the MLB All-Star Game: Paul Skenes takes the mound

Bloomberg : Trump on Taxes, Tariffs, Jerome Powell and More

AP : Three days after attempted assassination, Trump shooter remains an elusive enigma

AP : Ukraine faces twin challenges of fighting Russia and shifting political sands in the US

New York Times : North Korean Diplomat Defects to the South, Shares News of Political Purge

Defense News : US Renews Call on China to Stop Aggressive Actions in Disputed Sea

New York Times : 9 Months Of Deterring Houthi Attacks In The Red Sea

Reuters : Tanker Assesses Possible Red Sea Oil Spill After Houthi Attack, Maritime Center Says

Military.com : JD Vance’s Marine Corps Service Would Set Him Apart from Most Vice Presidents

Military.com : Delay in Pentagon Sharing Osprey Crash Data Sparks Threats from House Oversight Committee

Wall Street Journal : Musk Says He Will Move X and SpaceX Headquarters Out of California

Air & Space Forces Magazine : Fighters from Around the World Join in on Massive Exercise in Australia

DefenseScoop : Air Force Issues Presolicitation for Next-Gen Target Tracking

Air & Space Forces Magazine : New Engine Core Upgrade for F-35 Powerplant Passes Preliminary Design Review

The War Zone : Navy’s F/A-XX Next Generation Fighter Program Would Be Gutted Under Senate Defense Bill

Defense One : The Pentagon's Generative-AI Task Force Is Trying to Answer a Lot of Questions

Air & Space Forces Magazine : Can JADC2 Help the Air Force Build a New Nuclear Command and Control System?

Breaking Defense : Vacant Chairs Popping Up at Pentagon’s Space Policy Shop

Air & Space Forces Magazine : CSAF Wants Airmen to Read Up on Drone Warfare, George Marshall, and More

The Cipher Brief : In Wake of Trump Attack, How to Stop the Violence? Former CIA Officers Weigh In on a Counterinsurgency Program for America

The Cipher Brief : After Trump Assassination Attempt, a Reckoning for America

The Cipher Brief : Opinion: The Senate Drives a Nuclear Spending Spree

THE CALENDAR:

WEDNESDAY | JULY 17

3 p.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies International Security Program virtual discussion: “The Importance of National Resilience: Implications for Taiwan,” with CSIS experts: Seth Jones , senior vice president; Harold Brown chair; and director, International Security Program; Bonny Lin , director, China Power Project and Senior Fellow, Asian Security; Daniel Byman , senior fellow, Warfare, Irregular Threats, and Terrorism Program; and Jude Blanchette , Freeman chair in China Studies, CSIS https://www.csis.org/events/importance-national-resilience-implications-taiwan

3:30 p.m. Aspen, Colorado — 2024 Aspen Security Forum in-person and virtual discussion: “The Next Gen Industrial Base,” with Gen. Stephen Whiting , commander, U.S. Space Command: Lt. Gen. Jeff Kruse , director, Defense Intelligence Agency; and Doug Beck , director, Defense Innovation Unit. aspeninstitute.wufoo.com/forms

4 p.m. — Franciscan Action Network virtual discussion: "Nuclear Weapons: What You Don't Know Can Hurt You," with James Acton , co-director of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Nuclear Policy Program; Ira Helfand , member of steering group of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons; and Maylene Hughes , regional grassroots organizing and policy coordinator at Physicians for Social Responsibility in Los Angeles https://franciscanactionnetwork.salsalabs.org/nuclearweaponswebinar

6:45 p.m. EDT Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin — Republican National Committee holds the 2024 Republican National Convention, with Donald Trump Jr. delivering remarks

8 p.m. — Jews United for Democracy virtual discussion: "Defining Success in Ukraine and Gaza," with Richard Haass , former State Department director of policy planning and former president of the Council on Foreign Relations; and Patt Morrison , columnist for the Los Angeles Times https://www.jewsunitedfordemocracy.org/event

THURSDAY | JULY 18

9 a.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies virtual discussion: "How Does the Taiwan Public View the U.S. and China?" with James Lee , assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica's Institute of European and American Studies; Wen-Chin Wu , research fellow at Academic Sinica's Institute of Political Science; Hsin-Hsin Pan , associate professor of sociology at Soochow University; and Chien-Huei Wu , research fellow at Academia Sinica's Institute of European and American Studies https://www.csis.org/events/how-does-taiwan-public-view-us-and-china

11:10 a.m. Aspen, Colorado — 2024 Aspen Security Forum in-person and virtual discussion: “NATO, Europe, and Ukraine, with Gen. Christopher Cavoli , supreme allied commander Europe and commander, U.S. European Command https://aspeninstitute.wufoo.com/forms

12:30 p.m. Aspen, Colorado — 2024 Aspen Security Forum in-person and virtual discussion: “Resiliency and National Security,” with Army Secretary Christine Wormuth https://aspeninstitute.wufoo.com/forms

1:05 p.m. Aspen, Colorado — 2024 Aspen Security Forum in-person and virtual fireside chat with Gen. Laura Richardson , commander, U.S. Southern Command https://aspeninstitute.wufoo.com/forms

6:45 EDT Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin — Republican National Committee holds the 2024 Republican National Convention, with Former President Donald Trump delivering remarks

FRIDAY | JULY 19

9 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW — Center for Strategic and International Studies discussion: “U.S.-China relation," with U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns https://www.csis.org/events/fireside-discussion-us-ambassador-china-nicholas-burns

10:30 a.m. — Center for a New American Security virtual discussion: "Adapting NATO's Nuclear Posture to Current Threats," with Vipin Narang , acting assistant defense secretary for space policy; and Stacie Pettyjohn , director of the CNAS Defense Program https://www.cnas.org/events/virtual-event-adapting-natos-nuclear-posture

TUESDAY | JULY 23

6:30 a.m. 2425 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, Virginia — Association of the U.S. Army “Coffee Series” in-person event with Lt. Gen. Sean Gainey , commanding general of U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command https://www.ausa.org/events/coffee-series/ltg-gainey

WEDNESDAY | JULY 24

11:30 a.m. — Washington Post Live virtual discussion: “Cyber landscape, terrorism threat and transnational repression,” with Matthew Olsen , assistant attorney general for national security https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2024/07/24/matt-olsen

2 p.m. House Chamber — Joint meeting of the House and Senate to receive an address from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu