Editor's note: This article was originally published on TheBlaze.com.

Did you know that ByteDance, which is TikTok’s parent company, also makes movies? Its studio in Beijing is located close to the headquarters of China’s Ministry of State Security. This is convenient because ByteDance, while streaming billions of individuals onto our screens via TikTok, is also building an artificial intelligence infrastructure that is run by the Chinese intelligence service.

ByteDance is not an entertainment company. It is part of the military intelligence apparatus of the Chinese Communist Party. TikTok’s algorithm was written to keep people glued to their phones. The party has ruled that TikTok’s algorithm is a national security asset.

China is trying to destroy us without firing a shot, and we’re playing footsie.

Military strategists in China say they need mind superiority through “perception manipulation” via propaganda. They do this by changing how people look at the present, cutting off a people's historic memory, warping their view of their own country’s past so people will be open to changing their views.

They aim to change the paradigm of the way people think by targeting people to change the way they view their problems, and thereby, changing their belief. They want to deconstruct symbols. By getting people to reject certain traditional symbols, they modify a nation’s identity.

We’ve got our own people in our own country trying to do all those things. When you’re taking down the statutes or reimagining history, what do you think you’re doing? You’re dismantling historical narrative, so we are more likely to collapse.

Here's the kicker, according to the Chinese Communist Party: The ultimate goal is to manipulate a country’s value and to achieve strategic goals without an actual overt military battle. China is trying to destroy us without firing a shot, and we’re playing footsie .

Meanwhile, we're also having China build everything. The Chinese crane manufacturing company at the center of a congressional espionage investigation denied posing a threat to U.S. national security.

By getting people to reject certain traditional symbols, they modify a nation’s identity.

Here's what happened. At our seaports, China builds ship-to-shore cargo cranes. Those are the giant cranes you saw Tom Cruise operating in “War of the Worlds.” Spying devices were found in all the cranes China was making. China was in complete denial of any espionage activity, but we know the truth: The Chinese are just spying on our ports.

Trojan horse sound familiar?

Then there’s the threat that China poses on a global scale. This week, the chiefs of all the major U.S. spy agencies spoke before the Senate Intelligence Committee. The threats reported during that meeting noted that trade between China and Russia has been increasing since the start of the Ukraine war and that the Chinese exports of goods, with potential military use, rose more than threefold since 2022.

China is helping Russia.

China is partnering with Russia. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), an ally of former President Donald Trump, has so far refused to call on a vote that would provide $60 billion more for Ukraine. The measure has passed in the Democratic-controlled Senate. Why would we want to get into a bigger war with Russia when we now know that China is in bed with Russia? Our real enemy is China.

CIA director William Burns testified that continued support for Ukraine would send a message to China. Would it? Really? “It's our assessment that Chinese leader Xi Jinping was sobered by what happened in Ukraine,” he said.

Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told the committee, “The crisis in Gaza is a stark example of how regional developments have the potential of broader, even global implications.”

Haines also noted attacks by the Houthi militias on shipping and said the militant groups “al-Qaeda and ISIS, inspired by Hamas, have directed supporters to conduct attacks against Israeli and U.S. interests.” Well, that sounds good, right? We should send more money to Iran!

After a protester interrupted the hearing with shouts about the need to protect civilians in Gaza, the spy chiefs turned to protecting the Palestinian enclave. The reality is, children are starving. They’re malnourished because humanitarian assistance can't get to them. Whose fault is that? They said it’s difficult to distribute humanitarian existence effectively unless you have a ceasefire.

Sure.

Emotions rose in the hearing as some senators discussed illegal immigration along the U.S. border with Mexico. Immigration is not a forefront concern of these people. It wouldn’t have been brought up unless a senator pressed the intelligence agency officials to discuss it.

Yet, here tensions rose. FBI director Christopher Wray expressed concern about “terrorism implications” from potential targeting of vulnerabilities at the border. He discussed rising threats from Americans inspired by Islamic groups and other foreign militants since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7.

So, who are we talking about when officials reference a “rising threat from Americans?” What Americans are we talking about?

Are we talking about those monstrous MAGA Trump supporters who are somehow or another “inspired” by foreign militants? Because I know you would never want to say the word “Muslim.” But anybody who believes in the Constitution seems to be on a terrorist watch list right now.

Meanwhile, the Italian police just arrested three Palestinians allegedly planning terrorist attacks in Italy. And what are we doing? The Department of Justice has just issued a gag order that has required immigration judges to seek department approval before speaking out publicly on anything regarding the border.

So, we’re now silencing the speech — the First Amendment rights — of our judges. Toward freedom or away from freedom? You can decide for yourself.