Hosts - Kathleen Winn & Dave Smith. Guests - Ava Chen, Anthony Dunham
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A Nuclear Circle Forming Around Taiwan, LD-17 With $1 Million Coming Against It, and a 4 A.M. Flight That Made It Home
Wednesday on Winn Tucson was a show assembled in motion. Dave Smith was holding the studio alone when the show started, Anthony Dunham was in-studio ready to talk about the LD-17 State Senate race, and Kathleen Winn was still in the air somewhere between Washington, D.C. and Tucson — having started the day before 4 a.m. She made it. By midday she was on air, back from the Presidential 1776 Award finals at the White House and steering straight into China Watch Wednesday, which arrived with intelligence about a new nuclear pressure circle being assembled around Taiwan and Japan, Chinese police deployed in South Korea's elections, and the framework that explains every seemingly isolated political event happening around the world simultaneously.
Anthony Dunham: What Motivated a Senate Candidate, $1 Million Coming Into LD-17, and What Hobbs Has Been Doing to the Budget
Anthony Dunham is a candidate for the Arizona State Senate in Legislative District 17 — the largest legislative district in Pima County, plus-ten Republican in registration, and one of four districts the Arizona Democratic Party has specifically targeted as a key to flipping the state legislature.
What Pushed Him Over the Edge
Dunham had been thinking about running since 2021, motivated initially by the 2020 election. He explored the idea, put it on the back burner when the timing wasn't right, and then last fall, the assassination of Charlie Kirk became the moment he could no longer delay.
"When the left-wing assassinated Charlie Kirk, that was really kind of my call to action — that was the straw that broke the camel's back for me. I could no longer look at the example that Charlie set, and standing up for what you believe in, and being a voice of reason, and being willing to have the discussion, and tell my children to be difference makers, and sit back and do nothing myself."
He connected the 2020 motivation directly to what Dave Smith had observed: the anomalies that would, in any law enforcement context, constitute reasonable suspicion requiring investigation. You don't need proof to open an inquiry. You need a credible pattern of anomalies. Those exist. And the media's immediate labeling of anyone who raises them as a conspiracy theorist — rather than engaging the substance — only strengthens the rational basis for concern.
Seth Keschel's book, The American War on Election Corruption, was plugged as required reading for anyone who wants to understand what good election integrity looks like in documented structural terms.
The Elections Are Not Just About Arizona
Dunham drew a straight line between the California experience — Nithya Raman going from well behind to second place with zero votes for Spencer Pratt across multiple batches of tens of thousands of late-counted ballots — and what is already being set up in Arizona.
"Arizona is not that far behind."
His specific observation about LD-17: the district is R-plus-10.5 in registration but consistently performs at R-plus-3 in actual results. That gap is not a mystery and it is not fixed. It is purely a voter turnout problem — and the Democratic Party knows it.
"The Democrats are prepared to put a million dollars — one million — into a legislative race."
They are running candidates for all three seats in the district. Dunham's analysis of why: LD-17 is one of four districts that are key to Democrat control of the state legislature. If they flip the legislature, it does not matter who the governor is.
"If the Democrats control the legislature, whether or not we get a Republican governor — moot point. They're going to obstruct. Do you want our elections to look like the circus that's happening in the People's Republic of California right now?"
Grassroots Means Saying No to the Money That Comes with Strings
Dunham made clear what it means to run as a grassroots candidate. It means declining the money from corrupt organizations, lobbyists, and unions — and accepting that you will therefore be massively outfinanced.
"When you're a grassroots candidate and you're convinced you're going to make sure that these seats stay in the hands where they belong — that is we the people — you don't take money from corrupt organizations and lobbyists and unions and things of that nature."
The financial machine behind the Democratic Socialist operation, as he and Dave identified it, includes the Arabella network, George Soros, and billionaires whose money has explicit CCP-adjacent strings. Winn made the connection directly: the conversation in the second hour about CCP financial infiltration was not separate from the conversation about LD-17 fundraising. The same money that flows through global partners eventually shows up in Arizona legislative races.
The Voter Roll Problem That Hasn't Been Fixed
Dunham raised an issue that should alarm every Arizona voter: the voter rolls have not been meaningfully cleaned since 2020. He cited his friend Bob Dohse's research showing over 100 voters who are reportedly over 120 years old still listed on active rolls.
"There's none of the people in the cemetery voting for Republicans, I'll tell you that much."
The solution he advocates: a Florida-style election law requiring voters to request their mail-in ballots every election, verify ID and signature and residency at the time of request, and have the rolls maintained continuously. The Pima County Recorder's current practice — placing party identification information on the outside of the supposedly secure ballot envelope — is a structural vulnerability that invites sorting and manipulation.
"The person going through them can decide: 'Oh, this person's part of that party, throw it in this pile, throw it in that pile.'"
Hobbs: The Veto Queen and What She's Blocking
On the budget fight that consumed most of the Arizona legislative session: Dunham named the specific harm. Governor Hobbs has vetoed over 400 bills since taking office. The budget that the Republican legislature advanced would have conformed Arizona tax codes with the Big Beautiful Bill's provisions — no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, capital improvement credits for small businesses, conformity measures that would have meaningfully reduced the cost of living for Arizona families.
Hobbs blocked it. The practical effect: Arizonans who are already eating hamburger instead of strip steak — because hamburger is now seven dollars a pound — are paying for a failed political calculation made by a governor who has chosen obstruction over governance.
Andy Biggs, he noted, is running his gubernatorial campaign on eliminating as many state taxes as possible. But none of that matters without a legislature that passes the bills.
The Christian Voter Problem
Dave and Dunham spent time on one of the most persistently frustrating data points in Arizona conservative politics: 54% of evangelical Christians who identify as such do not vote.
Tucson is one of the least church-attending cities in the United States. The churches that do operate have, in Dave's analysis, largely abdicated their responsibility to preach on the moral and values questions that are directly before their congregations as citizens.
"If you have if you're a person of faith, look at what are your values. What is it you believe in? And then vote for people who share those values."
Dunham's argument for why the pulpits need to get bolder was direct: you can advocate for biblical values — the sanctity of life, the family, the protection of children — without ever endorsing a candidate or crossing an IRS line. The Bible has positions on these things. The platforms of the two parties have positions on these things. That comparison can be made openly and honestly from any pulpit in the country without jeopardizing a nonprofit's status.
"Where's the pastors that stood up and said: when it becomes illegal to preach, you've got to drag me out of here in handcuffs?"
On Nanos
Dave noted that two days away from Tucson had produced a new Nanos chapter: the sheriff had arrested podcasters, and tributes that had been left at the Guthrie family home were removed — while the family said they had not asked for that removal. The recall effort continues with a July deadline approaching.
Ava Chen: The Nuclear Pressure Circle Around Taiwan, South Korean Elections Stolen in Real Time, and Eight Agreements with America's Security Enemy
Ava Chen, co-host and member of the New Federal State of China, took the wheel the moment Winn arrived in studio and began with the geopolitical development that most Western media did not cover: Xi Jinping visiting North Korea.
The Sequence That Tells the Story
The visits: Xi met with the Kuomintang opposition leader from Taiwan in April. Xi met Trump in May. Xi met Putin in May, immediately after Trump. And now, Xi visited North Korea.
"Within a very short period of time, he's talking to all the bad actors in the world."
The sequence is not coincidental. It is operational. The goal, per NFSC intelligence: Xi Jinping is building what Chen called a nuclear circle — a ring of nuclear-armed states surrounding Taiwan and Japan, designed to create pressure without necessarily firing a shot.
The members of the circle as it currently stands: China, North Korea, Russia, and Pakistan — all nuclear powers, all in various stages of alignment with Xi Jinping's strategic objectives.
"These are the circles that Xi Jinping has already formed. They're already nuclear power nations, all of them."
North Korea provides the close-range nuclear threat aimed at Japan. Russia provides the geopolitical weight and the willingness to absorb Western sanctions while continuing to supply China through workarounds. Pakistan provides the land corridor and the diplomatic cover — the "iron brotherhood" relationship signed during the May visit, the agreement to act as peace broker while actually piggybacking on China's strategic interests.
The goal is not invasion. The goal is coercion.
"He probably doesn't have to shoot it. But the fear is projected."
The Countermove Against Trump's Iran Strategy
Winn caught the implication that Chen had laid out methodically and made it explicit: as Donald Trump works to neutralize Iran and eliminate its nuclear threat from the board, Xi Jinping has been simultaneously securing and activating every other nuclear threat position in the region.
"Every step of the way that Xi Jinping is undermining the United States, undermining the current sitting president of the U.S., President Trump."
This is not reactive. The moves were prepared in advance, ready to be deployed the moment the American administration applied pressure in one direction, to demonstrate that the pressure had been anticipated and countered.
South Korea: A Live Demonstration of How They Steal Nations
The most operationally detailed portion of the segment addressed the South Korean national election of June 3rd and what NFSC intelligence identified as a live demonstration of CCP election interference.
The backdrop: South Korea installed a new president — Lee — in June 2025. Chen was blunt: "According to our intel, he is 100 percent communist." His party, which holds power, is the CCP-backed party.
On June 3rd, a national local election for governors and other significant offices was held. The results: the CCP-backed party won at least 12-14 seats in a landslide. The opposition secured four.
The mechanism — documented in multiple viral videos available for anyone to find online — mirrored the American election integrity concerns point by point:
Running out of ballots. In 67 polling stations across South Korea, citizens who showed up to vote were told the polling station had run out of ballot paper.
Closed-door counting. Ballots were collected and taken behind closed doors for tabulation. When members of the National Assembly — whose statutory function includes supervising the count — arrived to fulfill that role, they were physically blocked by police outside the door.
"The most strange thing happened. People show up at the ballot box and being told we're running out of ballot paper. And that happened — not one. Sixty-seven polling stations."
Winn's dry interjection: "In Arizona, we had ballots that were the wrong size."
The police blocking the door were not Korean police. They were identified — through multiple videos — as Chinese law enforcement personnel embedded within the South Korean police apparatus, unable to fluently answer questions in Korean.
Eight Agreements: The United States Invited Them In
Chen then disclosed a piece of documented intelligence that explains how Chinese law enforcement presence in a U.S.-aligned country becomes legally shielded.
The United States Ministry of Public Security — China's — is one of the most frequent policing partners of CCP-controlled countries including Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Russia, and the United States itself.
The United States signed eight law enforcement cooperation agreements with the Chinese Ministry of Public Security between 2006 and 2017. Six agreements were signed by 2011. One more in 2011. One more in 2017.
"These are basically counter-drug measurements and immigration and border enforcement."
The effect: Chinese law enforcement entities have been invited into the American enforcement framework under the cover of drug interdiction and border cooperation agreements. The CCP says it will ensure the fentanyl doesn't come from China. Meanwhile, the CCP routes it to Mexico and through the cartels. The agreements provide the legal shield. The activity continues.
"So you have a criminal to secure your border. This is crazy."
Winn connected it: the agreement framework gives the CCP a legal foothold that its own bilateral activities would never produce on their own. It is the same mechanism used in South Korea, in Cambodia, in Vietnam. Invite the police in through an agreement. Once the agreement exists, the enforcement becomes embedded in the local system. Then the election happens.
"When CCP has taken over your law enforcement, these are dark powers. They corrupt everything, everything they touch."
How to Follow the Money
Chen's universal instruction for voters looking at any political figure — locally, statewide, nationally, or internationally — was identical whether discussing Graham Platner in Maine, LD-17 candidates in Pima County, or the South Korean election.
"Look at the interest. Look at the money. Because when you run election money, who supported them? And how does that interest connect with the CCP's interests?"
She extended the framework: follow who they sleep with. Follow the sex. Follow the inefficiency. In every case, when you find a politician whose actions cannot be explained by the interests of their constituents, the answer is almost always: follow which entity is providing the funding, and trace that entity's connections.
"I can bet you the one link you have to look into is: CCP — do they have market access? Do they actually partner with CCP's offshore companies? Do they have a third-country cut-out organization?"
Tim Walz, she noted in closing, had a pseudonym under which he reportedly made repeated trips to China. The story had not fully developed at broadcast time. She and Winn agreed it warranted watching. How many other politicians have pseudonymous Chinese travel records?
The connection between election integrity in South Korea and election integrity in Arizona is not metaphorical. It is the same operational playbook, at different stages of implementation, under the same strategic direction.
"Your midterm is coming. The CCP is not going to be idle."
The White House and What Kathleen Saw
When Winn arrived at the studio from the airport, having left Washington at 4 a.m., she brought back a report from the Presidential 1776 Award finals that was not primarily political — and was more patriotic for it.
The competition, sponsored by the James Madison Foundation, gave $250,000 in combined scholarships to the top three finishers from a pool of 8,000 student applicants across all 50 states and territories. The top prize: $150,000. The second and third prizes: $50,000 each.
D.C. was beautiful. Clean. Mostly devoid of the homeless encampments that define the visual landscape of cities like Tucson, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
"I would love for that to be Tucson — to see two or three."
The 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence is the context for the competition, for the Sparkle for Freedom Gala, and for the broader national conversation about what this country is and what it is still worth fighting for.
Dave's closing: he remembered 1976 as a young man — the Miracle on Ice at Lake Placid, the outpouring of American patriotism. The feeling that the country was something worth celebrating. He wants that back.
"The absolute hatred has got to stop. There are problems we can solve if you park your politics. We need to re-embrace our values, our beliefs, and celebrate this country."
The test: stack the Supreme Court and the Constitution becomes irrelevant, interpreted any way a political majority decides it should be interpreted. Don't stack it and the Constitution remains the guarantee it was designed to be.
That's what this election is for.
Winn Tucson airs Monday through Friday, 9 to 11 a.m., on KVOI 1030 The Voice. Tomorrow, June 11th: the Arizona Secretary of State debate airs at 6 p.m. Scott Schara — Grace's father — returns for the final installment of his seven-part series.
Anthony Dunham for Arizona State Senate, LD-17: donate, volunteer, and put up yard signs. Early ballots arrive approximately June 24th. Primary: July 21st.
China Watch Wednesday returns next week with Ava Chen.
Voter registration deadline: June 22nd. Last day for PND voters to request a Republican primary ballot: July 10th.