Professor Jiang

**Theo Von** (0:01)
This episode is brought to you by Starbucks.

**Xueqin Jiang** (0:03)
That is fire. Whoa.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:05)
That's good.

**Theo Von** (0:06)
This might be the drink of the summer.

**SPEAKER_4** (0:08)
Okay, I like this one too. I'm not cool with it, okay.

**Theo Von** (0:10)
Try it for yourself.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:12)
Starbucks Refreshers Concentrates are coming home. Find them in the coffee aisle and make it yours.

**Theo Von** (0:18)
Today's guest is a teacher, geopolitics expert, and YouTuber known for his popular channel, Predictive History, where he breaks down why global events happen and what could come next. We covered a lot of ground here, war in the Middle East, China versus America, secret societies. I had a fascinating chat with today's guest, Professor Jiang.
Professor Jiang?

**Xueqin Jiang** (1:02)
Hey Theo.

**Theo Von** (1:03)
Is that correct?

**Xueqin Jiang** (1:03)
That's correct, yeah.

**Theo Von** (1:04)
Professor Jiang, thank you so much for coming by today.

**Xueqin Jiang** (1:06)
Well, thanks so much for inviting me.

**Theo Von** (1:08)
Yeah, very happy to have you. Is this your first time in Los Angeles?

**Xueqin Jiang** (1:11)
It's my first time in Los Angeles, yeah.

**Theo Von** (1:13)
And how's the experience been so far?

**Xueqin Jiang** (1:15)
It's been surreal.
So your producers have been wonderful. They put me in this fantastic hotel.
And I went for a walk around the neighborhood, West Hollywood. So I went down San Monica Boulevard. Oh yeah. It's just gorgeous. Just the streets are so illuminated and the buildings are so beautiful. But then as I'm walking, there's in the middle of the sidewalk a pile of dog shit. So I walked past it and it takes me a couple of minutes to realize that didn't come from a dog actually. So yeah, it's been surreal.

**Theo Von** (1:56)
We got a lot of tall dogs in this area. That's just a little decoration, brother. That's how it goes here. And if you're lucky, it'll have a needle in the middle.

**Xueqin Jiang** (2:06)
It's freedom, man.

**Theo Von** (2:07)
It is freedom, man.
Professor Zhang, thank you so much for just making the trip, for coming and joining us. I know you're from your channel, your YouTube channel, Predictive History. Can you tell us a little bit about your channel for people that don't know about it?

**Xueqin Jiang** (2:20)
Yeah. So I'm a high school teacher. And what I try to do is try to explain geopolitics in a way that students can appreciate.
And what I try to do is, with my analysis, I try to make predictions.
And that's a really good way to engage students, as well as to test my own worldview, my own hypothesis. And so two years ago, while I was teaching this class, I made three predictions. The first is that Trump would win in 2024, and that he would launch this war against Iran, and that he would lose this war. And I blew up online because it turns out that all three predictions should not be accurate.

**Theo Von** (3:02)
Well, the first two for sure, and that's how you came on my radar, was with those two predictions. That's all I learned about you at first. And before we move on with it, do you teach at high school?

**Xueqin Jiang** (3:12)
That's right. I teach at a high school level.

**Theo Von** (3:13)
What's something that's kind of unique about a school in China, maybe that we wouldn't know?

**Xueqin Jiang** (3:17)
Well, there are no guns. Oh, okay. Yeah.

**Theo Von** (3:20)
Good. You win.

**Xueqin Jiang** (3:22)
You win that round. Sorry, I'm sorry. So I've been trying to just brainwash all the time about American schools and culture.

**Theo Von** (3:30)
But at least you've brainwashed not to have guns in school.

**Xueqin Jiang** (3:32)
Yeah.

**Theo Von** (3:33)
That's some of the positive brainwashing at least.
Yeah. You came on my radar whenever I saw the videos about you're predicting your Trump win and predicting the war in Iran. I noticed that you used something called game theory.

**Xueqin Jiang** (3:47)
Yes.

**Theo Von** (3:48)
Can you explain game theory just so people know?

**Xueqin Jiang** (3:51)
Yeah. So the idea of game theory is that if you want to analyze someone's behavior, you have to look at three things. First of all, you have to look at the structure of the game.
How do you win the game? What are the rules? What are the incentives?
Once you figure that out, then you can figure out his or her optimal behavior in this game. So in terms of geopolitics, just imagine the United States, Iran, Israel, Saudi Arabia as distinct players in the game, which they're trying to maximize the outcome against each other. And they will use their own unique strategies in order to achieve so. And that's how I'm able to make some amazing predictions.