Jimmy Kimmel is Back

Summary

---

Podcast Summary: Part Of The Problem

Episode: Jimmy Kimmel is Back

Host: Dave Smith
Co-Host: Robbie “the Fire” Bernstein
Release Date: September 25, 2025

---

Overview

In this episode of Part Of The Problem, Dave Smith and Robbie Bernstein focus on the controversy surrounding Jimmy Kimmel’s recent brief suspension and dramatic return to late-night TV after offensive comments about a recent political shooting. The hosts analyze the media circus, free speech hypocrisy, government censorship, and the ongoing narrative battles between mainstream liberal culture and the dissenting right/libertarian voices. Throughout, Smith and Bernstein use satire, sharp critique, and insider comedy observations to deconstruct Kimmel’s apology and the broader media-political landscape.

---

Key Topics & Discussions

1. Jimmy Kimmel’s “Cancellation” and Return

• (01:22–07:44)
• Dave and Robbie open by discussing how Kimmel was “indefinitely” suspended but returned after only a few days, calling into question the legitimacy and effectiveness of the cancellation.
  • Dave calls out the strategic blunder of making Kimmel a "free speech martyr":

    “You just took a guy who was dying saying stupid stuff, nobody cared until he said something offensive and they made him like this free speech martyr... probably just gave him the best ratings he's gonna have in years. Just stupid and counterproductive.” (03:00)

  • Robbie jokes that ABC/Disney handled this like a Trump PR stunt — all hype with no real consequences.

2. Dissecting Kimmel’s Apology: False Victimhood and Non-Apology

• (05:02–07:44, 12:52–18:29)
• The hosts play clips of Kimmel's monologue, noting his emotional tone and attempt to “split the difference” — coming close to apologizing without admitting fault.
  • Robbie’s summary:

    “Sorry that, that you took it that way and that you were offended. Of course that's not what I meant because I'm the nice guy.” (06:09)

  • Dave highlights how Kimmel centers the situation on himself, saying,

    “You start, you're crying, but as you're crying, it's kind of more about you... No one really accused you of making fun of Charlie Kirk. What you did was you tried to use that as an opportunity to mock MAGA... Either stand by that or apologize for it. I don't care either way... but don't do this bullshit thing in the middle where you're like pretending people misunderstood what you said when they didn't.” (13:13–16:17)

3. Liberal Cancel Culture & Media Hypocrisy

• (09:01–12:52, 19:39–25:55)
• They expand on the broader culture of liberal media, observing how liberal personalities become victims of cancel culture only when it targets “one of their own.”
• Smith points to confirmed government pressure on big tech (e.g., Google, YouTube) to censor dissent, noting how establishment media voices are mostly insulated from the consequences regular people face.
  • Key Quote:

    “It's the dude who, like, sprained his ankle telling the guy in the wheelchair that we both know what it's like to be handicapped or something like that. Like, no, you don't. And it's really just so insulting to anyone who's been paying attention at all.” (12:19)

4. Media Bubble & The Regime “Puppet” vs. Organic Support

• (28:39–35:39)
• The discussion shifts to the difference between artificial media figures (like Kimmel, Lemon, Cuomo) and creators with organic followings (e.g., Tucker Carlson, Joe Rogan).
  • Dave Smith:

    “So in a way in this experiment you got to figure out who is real, who has organic support from their people and who essentially is a product of the machine... The fact that you knew this was such a penalty proves that your whole thing is bullshit to begin with.” (31:18)

5. Government Threats & True Free Speech

• (35:39–46:14)
• Kimmel’s concern about government intervention is contrasted with the liberal support for censorship until they’re threatened. Smith brings up past examples of bipartisan governmental gangsterism.
  • Dave, on Biden’s COVID comments:

    “If the President said, ‘we've been patient with you, but our patience is wearing thin.’ Is that a gangster threat? Because I took that as a pretty gangster threat when the President of the United States of America said that.” (43:03)

  • The hosts point out the selectivity in who gets their speech protected or sanctioned.

6. Final Analysis: Principles vs. Hypocrisy in Censorship

• (51:42–end)

• Smith and Bernstein conclude that censoring mainstream regime figures like Kimmel is not only wrong on principle but counterproductive: it hands them a PR victory and temporarily revives their relevance.

  • Dave’s strategic advice:

    “Let these guys go die. Keep the government away from us... let's not contradict the whole thing now or even if it's not truly hypocrisy, don't give them this talking point to say, look, it's hypocrisy and all this. Like, we just got to the point where we can talk on the Internet without having to worry about getting silenced for it.” (53:12)

• The episode closes with Robbie agreeing, and Dave emphasizing that instead of state censorship, the market should be trusted to let artificially propped-up media fail on their own.

---

Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Cancel Culture's Double Standards

  “Have come up, literally made our careers during the reign of tech censorship and Cancel Culture. To hear these guys talk about it, like, as if this isn't just what everyone constantly deals with... And you're one example of a guy who didn't get canceled, as it turns out.” (07:18 – Dave Smith)

• On Liberal Media Bubble

  “Liberals... are really bad at seeing outside of their group... They can't remove themselves enough... If we got rid of your show, what, we'd only have Fallon and Colbert and every other show that has the exact identical politics to you.” (20:04 – Dave Smith)

• On Artificial Media Stature

  “When you’re just a puppet, people don’t—nobody has loyalty toward a puppet. And so, like, you kind of know you’re not gonna, you’re not gonna bring that with you.” (34:39 – Dave Smith)

• Kimmel’s Ratings “Martyrdom”

  “Oh, did you just figure out that the government does gangster shit, Jimmy?... It’s almost like the whole nature of the government is just the gang that’s perceived as legitimate. Yes.” (42:43 – Dave Smith)
  “Even he can say that, like, oh, this was the best thing that happened to me. Is that Donald Trump? Oh, yeah. Donald Trump, you say my ratings suck. Not tonight. Tonight they're gonna be good.” (51:42 – Dave Smith)

• On Free Speech Principles

  “I don't view this as, like, a—like if... the FBI ruled to disarm the CIA, like, I don't think they're violating their Second Amendment rights. It's a conversation between governments... I'm saying, like, I don't care about it. Like, I don't actually. I don't care. Anybody who, like, just in my own, like, ethical framework, anybody who, like, voluntarily, like, became a mouthpiece of the regime and enriched themselves in doing it, like, I don't care about their voice being squashed.” (59:21 – Dave Smith)

---

Timestamps of Key Segments

• Kimmel’s return & the industry response – 01:22–07:44
• Breakdown of Kimmel's apology segment – 12:52–18:29
• Government censorship & tech companies – 10:02–12:52
• Media’s organic support vs regime mouthpieces – 28:39–35:39
• Discussion on government threats and hypocrisy – 35:39–46:14
• Final strategy: Why censorship is counterproductive – 51:42–62:18

---

Tone & Language

The conversation maintains Dave Smith’s signature mix of articulate libertarian analysis, irreverent humor, and critical deconstruction of media narratives. Robbie supplements with punchy quips and comedic asides, creating a conversational but sharp dynamic.

---

Takeaway

This episode illustrates how "cancel culture" in mainstream media provides only surface-level consequences, especially for establishment-friendly figures like Jimmy Kimmel, while true dissenters still face real censorship. Ultimately, Dave Smith argues that liberty—and truth—win on a level playing field, and that calls for state censorship, even against media villains, backfire and fortify the regime’s propaganda figures. Letting bad ideas fail on their own remains the best policy.

---

Transcript

[Pacific Life Announcer]

What can 160 years of experience teach you about the future? A lot. Especially when it comes to protecting what matters. At Pacific Life, we've helped people and businesses confidently embrace the future with life insurance, retirement income and employee benefits. With strategies built on strength and trust and a promise to be here for you today and tomorrow, ask a financial professional how Pacific Life can help you today. Pacific Life Insurance Co. Omaha, Nebraska and in New York, Pacific Pacific Life and Phoenix, Arizona.

[Audible Announcer]

Audible's Romance collection has something to satisfy every side of you when it comes to what kind of romance you're into. You don't have to choose just one fancy a dalliance with a Duke or maybe a steamy billionaire. You could find a book boyfriend in the city and another one tearing it up on the hockey field. And if nothing on this earth satisfies, you can always find love in another realm. Discover modern rom coms from authors like Lily Chu and Ali Hazelwood. The latest romantasy series from Sarah J. Maas and Rebecca Yarros, plus region. See favorites like Bridgerton and Outlander, and of course, all the really steamy stuff. Your first great love story is free when you sign up for a free 30 day trial at audible.com wondery that's audible.com wondery.

[Dave Smith]

What'S up? What's up everyone? Welcome to a brand new episode of Part of the Problem. I am Dave Smith. He of course is Robbie the Fire Bernstein. And how are you feeling today, sir?

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Pleasure to be with you. And friendly porch reminder, St. James, not to be confused with little St. James, but that's going to be this Thursday night in Long Island. Then I got Omaha, which is oddly always a good show. I wouldn't have thought that the Omaha crowds would be good crowds, but I think they just have nothing else going on. And then Kansas City and that's this weekend. And you can find even more porch dates@pinch tour.com and then of course you and I got some dates coming up.

[Dave Smith]

Oh yeah, we're going to be in Dallas, Fort Worth, Detroit, Tampa, Poughkeepsie. I'm missing something. I might be forgetting one in there. Comicdavesmith.com for, for all of those for the rest of our, our dates for the year. And then yeah, got a bunch of, bunch of fun stuff coming up. So make sure you go the porch tour.com get your tickets. Come on out. All right. Well there's been, there's been quite a lot going on over the last few days. I guess the thing that has was dominating the conversation. It seems Yesterday and into today was the, the return of Jimmy Kimmel, who we all seem to, I guess we all got a little out over our skis there and thinking that he was canceled. You know, the network said he was like indefinitely pulled and turns out indefinitely meant a few days. Anyway, we could kind of get into this. I found the moment and the spectacle of all of it to be kind of interesting and somewhat revealing. But I gotta say, Rob, I really think that I, you know, look, Rob, as you know, I'm used to being right about stuff, but this is, it is remarkable how quickly my prediction came true that the FCC chairman just totally screwed over all of right wing America. Like, it's just unbelievable. You have this guy Jimmy Kimmel. And I mean, look, again, just to be clear as I may, as I made clear on the show, I wasn't even objecting to this on moral first Amendment grounds simply because Jimmy Kimmel isn't a person and doesn't have rights. It's a little more complicated than that. But that, but like just strategically speaking, you just took a guy who was dying saying stupid stuff, nobody cared until he said something offensive and they made him like this free speech martyr or whatever and probably just gave him the best ratings he's gonna have in years. Just stupid and counterproductive. 1 One more win for libertarians on, on pragmatic grounds. But anyway, what were your thoughts?

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

ABC Disney pulled a real Donald Trump and they said that they were going to take extreme measures, got everyone all worked up, drew a whole bunch of attention and didn't do what they said they were going to do. So, you know, they're learning from the master himself.

[Dave Smith]

Did you see, did you watch any of it?

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

I think I saw a couple clips where, you know, he was kind of crying and saying, obviously I didn't mean harm on anybody else, blah, blah, blah. I did think that it was funny that they gave him apparently one condition to return and it wasn't be funny. I would have thought, I would have thought that that would have been the one thing when he went on the whole thing that they gave me one condition. But I watched scatter clips. I didn't care to actually watch his monologue here.

[Dave Smith]

Natalie, see if you could pull it up or pull up a couple of clips of it. There were a couple of moments that I thought were interesting and kind of almost like worthy of a response. I probably, I apologize. I should have had these, these clips and timestamps ready to go. But there, there was just, there were a few things about it that I Thought were like, first off, it was like classic liberal progressive behavior. Like, there. There was just certain things that I found kind of revealing. I will say this on that. I was surprised by the way he handled it. I thought he was just going to double down. There had been a lot of reports that part of the reason why he got pulled was because he planned on going even harder the next day on the show. That wasn't what we got. Most people were speculating that it was going to be like a binary option. Either he was going to apologize or he was going to double down. What he ended up doing was somehow trying to split the difference. Like, sounding almost as if he was apologizing without actually apologizing.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Sorry that, that you took it that way and that you were offended. Of course that's not what I meant because I'm the nice guy.

[Dave Smith]

I did think, again, there was something. Look, if you want my honest opinion, I thought there was something kind of in bad taste about just all of the, like, even as, you know, like the, oh, Germany will have me here. Like, as if you were the victim of hardcore authoritari or something like that. And it's, I think, a big, you know, there was a dynamic throughout Cancel Culture, the reign of Cancel Culture that I think still continues to this day, where there is almost this. This fundamental premise built into liberal progressivism that you're the good guy and the other side are the bad guys. And so there would be this thing that would happen all the time where, you know, a liberal would end up getting canceled or threatened to be canceled, and they'd go, whoa, guys, I think we're going too far because, like, you've kind of got one of us now. And there's just this, like, very. It's. It is wild for, like, people like us who have gone through, you know, have. Have come up, literally made our careers during the reign of tech censorship and Cancel Culture. To hear these guys talk about it, like, as if this isn't just what everyone constantly deals with. And you're one example of a guy who didn't get canceled, as it turns out. And like, it's. I. I don't know. There is something I find to be in very poor taste about the whole thing.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Classic liberal playing the victim and the nice guy.

[Dave Smith]

Yep. Yep. All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, brand new sponsor, and that is Vandy. Did you know all chips and fries used to be cooked in tallow? Up until the 1990s when big corporations switched to Cheap processed seed seed oils. Well, today, seed oils make up to 20% of the average American's daily calories. And recent studies have linked seed oils to metabolic health issues and inflammation in the body. Vandy Crisps decided to do something about it. They created a tasty and delicious potato chip with just three ingredients and no seed oils. And that grass fed beef tallow is not just for flavor. It's packed with nutrients which are great for your skin, your brain and your hormones. Snacking on Vandy is nothing like eating regular chips. With Van, you feel satiated, light and energetic with no crash bloat or gross sluggish feeling afterwards. Vandy is 100% American made with zero compromises. It's the best chip you'll ever have. If you're ready to give Vandy a try, go to vandy crisps.com Dave and use the promo code Dave for 25 off your first order. That's vandy crisps.com Dave promo code Dave for 25% off. All right, let's get back into the show.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

There's also just something kind of funny to me about him going off about I'm here sharing my beliefs and it's like, that's what we do on this show. That's not really necessarily your job as a talk show host.

[Dave Smith]

Well, right.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

I mean, you're like, I understand if you got something in government that you object to and primarily your job is I'm supposed to go out here every night and be funny, but let's just go with the Vietnam war. You're so opposed to the Vietnam war. You're like, listen, I know that this is in my lane, but I do have to say I think what's happening is terrible. And you know what I mean, like that's. And then you got to make this statement two days later. That's one thing. But he's really just going off. Like, I understand that on this show I just talk about my personal opinions and beliefs, which, by the way, seem to be very aligned with the left and some of the propaganda that we've had to go through over the last couple years. But it just kind of feels like an admission of what the show is.

[Dave Smith]

Yeah.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Where you're not like, hey, there's really no reason for me to be delving into these topics and I'm here to be funny and put on a show. He's kind of admitting that that's not what he's there to do.

[Dave Smith]

Yeah, well, just to be. Just because, like, look in the backdrop of all of this Right. This is what's. What else going on is. I don't know if you saw, but Jim Jordan subpoenaed, like, Google's top executives or whatever, and they essentially admitted that the Biden administration pressured Google to censor Americans and remove content that did not violate YouTube's policies. The bide administration's censorship pressure was unacceptable and wrong. Public debate should never come at the expense of relying on authorities, and that they will going forward. Or they, they vowed to, like, reinstate some of the people who were kicked off for that. And so this is years later, many years later, we've gotten a pledge from Google. Not a small company, Rob. Google, the biggest search engine in the history of the world, who has done all types of crazy things. Like, if you remember when Tulsi Gabbard was the most Googled woman in America, after the Democratic primary debate, they. They banned her link so it wouldn't go right to her website. How many people have been kicked off of YouTube, flagged on YouTube, demonetized on YouTube yourself? Include, like, tons of people going through this. And now they. They finally are going. They're saying, yeah, that did happen. They're admitting that it happened, admitting that it was government pressure that led to it, and saying, maybe we'll rectify that situation. Like, I, I guess the, the point like that I was making in the last episode when we were talking about it, that I think you're making here too, is like, in what world am I not to. Am I not supposed to consider that to be like, that's when you should start making jokes about Germany will have us or whatever. Like, I'm, I'm supposed to not care that regular Americans actually, people who were just giving their views, people who were really having an uncontrolled conversation about issues that matter, that during the biggest tyrannical period in modern American history, they stood up and told the truth about the regime's lies and their, Their, you know, the kind of tyrannical nature of the regime's policies. Those people get silenced. Directly pressured by the government, they get silenced. But that some. What that's, like, doesn't register. But a regime propagandist missed a weekend, and so now I have to celebrate that. It's just like, in this context, you just, like, have no idea it's them, you know, whatever. It's the dude who, like, sprained his ankle telling the guy in the wheelchair that we both know what it's like to be handicapped or something like that. Like, no, you don't. And it's really Just so insulting to anyone who's been paying attention at all. Here, let's play, let's play. I think we found the part that I wanted to have to say.

[Jimmy Kimmel]

It's going to make much of a difference. If you like me, you like me. If you don't, you don't. I have no illusions about changing anyone's mind. But I do want to make something clear because it's important to me as a human. And that is, you understand that it was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man.

[Dave Smith]

Let's, let's just pause it already for a second. Okay? Okay, so there. So this is, this is what's like, in a nutshell, infuriating about liberals. Like it. It's like, first of all, you start, you're crying, but as you're crying, it's kind of more about you, you know, it's more about like what you were. I don't want anyone to have the misconception that I was making fun of a 31 year old man who got murdered. And it's like, well, that wasn't really anyone's misconception. No one really accused you of making fun of Charlie Kirk. What you did was you tried to use that as an opportunity to mock MAGA and say that they were desperate to pin the shooting on anybody except one of their owns. And this was after there had already been multiple press conferences held by law enforcement about the V. There was no indication at all that it was maga. Every indication is that it was a left wing guy. Yet you still went on there to say maga's desperate to pin this on anyone else and then started making fun of Donald Trump. Now, look, either stand by that or apologize for it. I don't care either way. And I don't like then. And by the way, of all the things that I'd want if you actually were looking for a heartfelt apology from Jimmy Kimmel, that wouldn't even be in the top of the list, in my opinion. How about like, apologizing for saying like, that your fellow Americans who don't get the vaccine shouldn't get medical treatment and then saying they should go die while you call them wheezy. That I think would. But anyway, if you want to apologize, fine. If you don't want to apologize, fine. But don't do this bullshit thing in the middle where you're like pretending people misunderstood what you said when they didn't. And now, and you're also like, what, you're brought to tears because, okay, so you're brought to tears. What are you, what are you brought to tears by right now, Jimmy? You're brought to tears by the thought of a 31 year old man with a wife and two little kids being murdered in front of thousands of college kids. Okay? But you weren't like, you did a show after that happened and you didn't cry and you didn't have this reaction. Your reaction was to make fun of MAGA people and then make fun of Donald Trump. Which, like, is also fine. You don't have to cry over that. But it's a weird thing to come back and cry now and then go, oh, no, you guys misunderstood what I was saying when it's just not true. We all heard what you were saying and you weren't saying this. You actually, you didn't have a human moment until you thought your show might be ruined for it. So what is really moving you to tears here? Because it's not as if you're coming out here and going, listen, that was wrong. I should have had more of a human reaction. I was wrong for what I did. You're going, no, I apologize if you got the wrong, if you misinterpreted what I did. But obviously I have nothing but feeling for a 31 year old. It's like, yeah, but you did a show the next day and no, you didn't. You didn't have any feeling for him. We all saw that. It's like, whatever, either apologize or stand by it. What is this?

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

He's got better acting chops than we realized. Put it on the street right here.

[Dave Smith]

Yep.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

I guess over the thought that you might think that he's not a good person.

[Dave Smith]

Yes, right, exactly. That's kind of what it seems like you're really crying about. Let's keep playing.

[Jimmy Kimmel]

I posted a message on Instagram of the day he was killed sending love to his family and asking for compassion. And I meant it and I still do. Nor was it my intention to blame any specific group for the actions of what it was obviously a deeply disturbed individual. That was really the opposite of the point I was trying to make. But I understand that to some that felt either ill timed or unclear or maybe both, and for those.

[Dave Smith]

Did that, I, I understand where it seemed unclear to some people. You said MAGA is freaking out to pin this on anyone other than them. There was nothing unclear about it. This goes. I'm so sorry if. Did you get the interpretation that I was trying to blame that on somebody? Like, yeah, you clearly were you clear? Again, I don't care. I don't care what Jimmy Kimmel thinks. This whole thing is so stupid. He was just dying a million deaths. He'll go back to dying anyway. This just gave this episode a shot in the arm for no reason. Who gives a shit what he was thinking, what he. What he. Whether he apologizes or stands by it. But this is just such cowardly bullshit, like, no one misinterpreted anything. And of course, now also, the other thing that happened is in this time is that he's been proven, you know, completely wrong. And so now it doesn't go to like. Like you made the comment that MAGA was freaking out to try to blame this on anybody else. Meanwhile, what was actually going on was liberals were freaking out trying to blame this on everything else. You were an example of that. And now that it's clear that that's the case, you go, listen, this was just a shooter. He doesn't belong to either team. Doesn't matter which side. He was like, oh, well, then what the hell was the whole point of your joke? I don't know. What do you think, Rob?

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

I mean, weasily liberal, going back to his propaganda show.

[Dave Smith]

Yep. Here, let's keep playing, because there was one more moment coming up that I thought was interesting.

[Jimmy Kimmel]

I get why you're upset. If the situation was reversed, there's a good chance I'd have felt the same way. I have many friends and family members on the other side who I love and remain close to, even though we don't agree on politics at all. I don't think the murderer who shot Charlie Kirk represents anyone. This was a sick person who believed violence was a solution, and it isn't. Ever. And also, selfishly, I am. I am a person who gets a lot of threats. I get many ugly and scary threats against my life, my wife, my kids, my co workers, because of what I choose to say. And I know those threats don't come from the kind of people on the right who I know and love. So that's what I wanted to say on that subject. But I don't want to make this about me because. And I know this is what people say when they make things about them, but I really don't. This show. This show is not important. What is important is that we get to live in a country that allows us to have a show like this.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Yeah.

[Dave Smith]

I've had the opportunity. Pause it for a second.

[Jimmy Kimmel]

Spend time with comedians.

[Dave Smith]

It's just so funny because it's. And. And I know I've brought this up. Before on the show. But there is really good social science that backs this up. And I know Jonathan Haidt covered this in his book was the Righteous Mind. Is that it, Rob? Do you remember? Right, I think so.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

I read that book.

[Dave Smith]

Yeah, it's. But so he's. This is like very easily demonstrated and there's been a bunch of, of literature on this. But liberals, like are. They are. They are really bad at seeing outside of their group. Like they're, they are. They really struggle with giving you the other perspective. There's like, if you, if you sit a bunch of conservatives down and ask them to describe what a liberal believes, they're by and large able to do it. But if you sit a liberal down and ask them to describe what a conservative believes, they always straw man them. It's not always, but overwhelmingly like it's, the numbers are crazy. Like they just cannot. So it's like they can't remove themselves enough front. Like they there and, and part. There's, there's a lot of reasons for this. I'm not, you know, I have my own theories on it. I don't exactly know if we know for sure what the reasons are. I do think some of it's kind of personality type, but a lot of it for sure is just that like liberals dominate the media, they dominate the culture and have for so long that it's just it, it's. You'd actually have to go experience conservative America to understand that culture. Whereas like, like, even if you're living in rural Alabama, let's say you're around our age and you spent your whole life living in rural Alabama, you have like, you've watched movies and sitcoms and every last one of them took place in New York or LA and featured a bunch of liberal people. None of them were made out to be monsters. They were the good guys. And your friends, this was Jerry Seinfeld and you know, Ross and Rachel or something like that. Like it's not, you know, and, and even, even shows like say the Office that takes place in Scranton, Pennsylvania, it's just, it's still a, a show made up of people who live in Los Angeles. You know what I mean? Like, it's just not. Anyway, but there is something where Jimmy Kimmel can even get up and say, you know, it's not about this show, it's not about me. It's about living in a country where a show like this could exist, you know, and it's just so removed. Like, like what do you, what do you see yourself as here, Jimmy? Kimmel, you're like the. The Truth Telling show. You know, I. I flip through the channels and everything's the same. And then there's Jimmy Kimmel and it's that, dude, if we got rid of your show, what, we'd only have Fallon and Colbert and every other show that has the exact identical politics to you. Identical. All of them, Seth Meyers and Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen A. Smith and all of the. I'm sorry, Stephen Colbert, all of them have the exact same politics. It's just so, like, what. The idea that we're supposed to go, oh, yeah, it's really. It really represents, like, the freedom of exchange that we have, that we could have yet another show with the exact same views as all these other shows we're supposed to celebrate when, in fact, we all know when over the last 10 years, when there were actually voices that were different, voices that say were outside the Overton window, voices that were challenging the regime or pushing the envelope, they all would have immediately gotten fired from corporate news or any type of corporate television show, and they would have been facing censorship on the Internet at the direction of the government. Like, that's just. We. Anybody paying attention knows that that's the case. And so it's just something. There's something particularly infuriating to see someone like Jimmy Kimmel, who, of course, like I'm saying, with all the liberals, is just totally ignorant of all of this in his own mind, I'm sure, actually does conceive this as. It's like the regime is Trump and we're the little guy standing up to them. And even this goes like, yeah, we're the little guy backed by every giant corporation in the world. It's unbelievable. All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, one that is very near and dear to my heart. Of course, I'm talking about Body Brain coffee. I've been drinking Body Brain coffee for a couple of weeks now. I love it. It's delicious. I feel great. And it is, of course, the company founded and run by my brother, Louis J. Gomez, who is really a big part of the reason why part of the problem exists and has existed for so many years. He's always been a backer of this show, and now he's made this amazing product which genuinely, everyone is raving about. It's really excellent. As you guys know, testosterone levels have been plummeting, and you need to do everything you can to get those things back up. This is a big part of why we're not as free a country as we should be because the men are acting like women and body brain coffee is going to fix that. And now with my promo code, you can get 20% off. Just go to bodybrain coffee.com, use the promo code Dave20 and get 20% off your order right now. Guys, this project is very near and dear to my heart. As I said, we're on a mission here. We're going to blow this thing up and we're going to make sure we do it with my promo code so I can hold that over Lewis's head for eternity. So make sure you go to bodybrain coffee.com and. And make sure you use the promo code, Dave. 20 and you'll get 20% off. And you get a delicious coffee with all types of stuff in it. That's great for you. Tongkat Ali, Ashwagandha, Lion's mane. It's all going to make you feel energized. Without the crash, you're going to be healthier, you're going to feel better, and you're going to be drinking a delicious cup of coffee. Go check them out. Bodybraincoffee.com promo code Dave20 for 20% off. All right, let's get back into the show.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Yeah. And the fact that he didn't get anyone's celebrated Tucker being fired. Celebrated at least I'm gonna say that based on your comment of that people without vaccines shouldn't get healthcare, I'm sure that he was quite pleased. I'm sure if we look back during COVID he was making fun of anyone that was criticizing what was going on during COVID And I'm sure he would have had the perspective that if you were censored by the government, it's because you're a dangerous voice. And so, you know, he doesn't actually believe in these principles of free speech and that we need to live in a country where you can voice your opinion, even if it's not the opinion that government doesn't want. He's just a liberal and he wants to be able to be on the side that is doing the censoring.

[Dave Smith]

Yep, yep. That's right. Here, let's keep playing.

[Jimmy Kimmel]

Ian's talk show host from countries like Russia, countries in the Middle east who told me they would get thrown in prison for making fun of those in power. And worse than being thrown in prison, they know how lucky we are here. Our freedom to speak is what they admire most about this country. And that's something I'm embarrassed to say. I took for granted until they pulled my friend Stephen off the air and tried to coerce the affiliates who run our show in the cities that you live in to take my show off the air. That's not legal. That's not American. That is un American, and it is so dangerous.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Please pause for a second. The Stephen Colbert thing, I think that's purely just money. And if anything, I think Jimmy Kimmel probably got lucky here that that guy made a comment that he shouldn't have on a podcast, which, by the way, I think I'm, I think the administration's in the wrong on its comments that it's made.

[Dave Smith]

Oh, absolutely.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

To censoring speech. But I do also believe that Kim will probably dodged a bullet here because otherwise it seems, I mean, it's debatable as to whether or not the affiliates were actually starting to get upset about lack of profits or if that's just something the administration's telling you. So. But anyways, I mean, the Colbert points just, that's, it doesn't. Where's the evidence that he's being censored for Donald Trump comments when he was losing as much money as he was for as long as he was.

[Dave Smith]

Yeah, no, that's, that's right. And again, like, how many people. Because we're using the standard here of him losing his show and it's just like how many shows slash social media accounts were lost from people for not doing what he won't even apologize for and like, like getting it wrong, stated differently.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

How many people get to just keep shows that make zero money for long periods of time? And what is the apparatus here that allows you to do so?

[Dave Smith]

Yeah, and there is something. Right. Like, there's one of the things that's interesting and there does seem to be a bit of a left, right divide in this. But I don't think it's just that. I think it's a little bit more. But, you know, like, we've talked a lot over the last few years because we've, we've, we've been able to run an interesting experiment that we really never, you know, and I'm somebody who's like, been paying attention very closely to the media for 20 years and I've done a whole lot of paying attention to what the media was like before that in the last 20 years. And look, there's just never been a time quite like this where, like, you, where the, you know, the Internet is so much bigger than the traditional media and, and all of this stuff. But so you see, like, you know, we use the. Because I think they got fired in the same day or the same 48 hours. But you look at like the Tucker Carlson versus Don Lemon effect. You had the number one guy at Fox News and you had the number one or number two guy at, at, at CNN, I guess he was number two and then became number one after they got rid of Cuomo, I believe. And so, but even Cuomo is another example of that too, right? Where like so you have these guys and then they go on the Internet. Now Tucker's bigger than he's ever been. These other guys are almost completely removed from the conversation. Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon come up randomly in an Internet clip when they say something particularly dumb, dumber than just their average rants and then everybody laughs at them. That's essentially what their role is. Whereas Tucker Carlson is like leading the news cycle, you know, like he's getting the interviews with foreign leaders, he's getting the interviews with the big American politicians. He's doing the big stories on 9 11. The bit like he's, he's getting millions and millions of views and just killing it. And so in a way in this experiment you got to figure out who is real, who has organic support from their people and who essentially is a product of the machine, right? Like it's, it's, it's not that Don Lemon was Don Lemon, it's that he was the 9pm hour at CNN. And if you take that apparatus away, you see what his real support is. Joy Reid. These people go to disappear. And I think the truth is that all of us know that we all think Kimmel was going on his way to disappear. So just to like add to your point, it's, it's like in this moment there's a lot being revealed about like what is really or inorganic and in a sense what is really speech, what is really a show where it's like, oh hey, there's this one person who's got this point of view and there's an audience of people who want to hear from him, who verse. There's a guy being presented to you by one of the biggest corporations in the history of the world who is going to give you all of these regime approved talking points, who there isn't even really an organic audience for. It's all just smoke and mirror, smoke and mirrors to the tunes of billions of dollars. That's another thing that's being revealed here. And, and in a way, you know, look, as I say all the time, right, But Joe Rogan is bigger than everybody. On tv. Like, he's. He's just bigger than all of these people, all of them put together, and he's over here on the Internet. So, like, if you really did have this organic support, it's not really a punishment to get canceled from your network show these days, right? Like, if Jimmy Kimmel was a Tucker Carlson type guy, he could go do more creative shit, push the boundaries even more, and rake in way more money by leaving the. The network. Maybe not more money than their crazy contracts, but still, like, it'd be. So, like, in a way, the fact that you knew this was such a penalty proves that your whole thing is bullshit to begin with. Does that make sense?

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Yeah, because it just shows that you were getting, you know, fabricated profits for the value or actually bringing to the marketplace.

[Dave Smith]

That's right. And look, when somebody. This is a natural thing that happens. It's something I experience, Rob. It's something you experience. And you probably experience it more than ever, as you've been just on the road more than ever, doing more of your own shows. When. When you. When you're, like, telling the truth and you're, like, standing up against a dominant narrative against what the regime that you live under wishes for you to view, it just. It builds up a certain amount of loyalty that the people who listen to you have, and something me and you have both benefited a lot from over the years. People appreciate that. They're like, thank you. You know, when they find you, they're like, thank you. Someone's fucking saying what I've been goddamn thinking. We got a lot of this during COVID you know, and whereas if you're a regime propagandist, people appreciate you being in this position of power, you know, saying the approved things. But as soon as you're out of that position of power, it's like it was never really about you. We could just get someone else in there who's going to say all the same things. How much does it really take to, in the height of COVID say, you really should get your vaccine, stay socially distanced, because we care about people. Anyone can do that. And so you just don't build any actual loyalty to you. Like, no one really cares about you. And there's been so many examples of this over the year. I mean, think about, like, think about Andrew Cuomo. They were all celebrating him like he was going to be the next president. They were Cuomo sexuals is what they called themselves, Rob. And as soon as they went, no, he's down there. Oh, okay, cool.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Who's Next, for anyone who was a cuomosexual, you can just go work for him.

[Dave Smith]

You could do it. Yeah.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Very, very easy. Get that. Cuomo, love.

[Dave Smith]

It doesn't pay well. But he is hiring. There's. But. You know what I'm saying? Like, it's just. There's not even with Joe Biden himself, like, you just. There is something where. When you're just a puppet, people don't. Nobody has loyalty toward a puppet. And so, like, you kind of know you're not gonna. You're not gonna bring that with you. Whereas Fox News firing Tucker, it was like all of Tucker's audience was like, we are going with him, and Tucker's doing better than ever before, and Fox News is doing worse than ever before. Since they fired Tucker, it's been a disaster for them. Now they're still the number one in cable news, but that's number one in cable news. Way diminished from what they used to be. And it's also because CNN and MSNBC have also been diminished, you know, but, like, that was bad for them. And these guys just. They don't have any of that here. Let's. Let's see if we could get to this next part, because there was something here that he said. It's when he starts talking to Donald Trump about the ratings. And it's right. On topic of what we're saying, I thought it was very revealing.

[Jimmy Kimmel]

Should the government be allowed to regulate which podcasts the cell phone companies and WI fi providers are allowed to let you download to make sure they serve the public interest? You think that sounds crazy 10 years ago? This is crazy. Brendan Chairman.

[Dave Smith]

Yes, it does sound crazy, man. But it's also like. Sounds a lot like the United States of America over the last 10 years. It's like as if, like the Twitter files and the Facebook files and the stuff that I just read from the Google hearing, like as if none of this happened. That there wasn't a. What were all those apps? Rob was it. Gab was one of the big ones. Right. And they were other. Where they straight up, they tried to start free speech versions of Twitter and then they pulled them off the Apple Store or they pulled them off the app.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

It was worse than that. It was the Twitter competitor that was doing well. I can't remember the name. I think, yeah, they lost their server that was through Amazon and they were pulled down from the Internet. You got a fact check me on that, but I seem to. Yeah, but that was the storyline.

[Dave Smith]

It was crazy what they went through. Parlor was one of There were like a bunch. Yeah, yeah, there were a bunch of these ones where they just destroyed these companies. And of course, we know from all types of examples of people where they just got their, you know, their, their like, like Alex Jones where like in one week he gets kicked off of itunes, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, you, YouTube, you know, like Spotify, every single one of the things. And then people have even been like debanked and like where you can't open a checking account anymore. So again, it's like, yeah, that does sound crazy. That's what actual dissidents have been facing now. But I guess that's the, that's the game we're in, I guess.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Jimmy Kimmel's coming out against net neutrality, so that's a plus.

[Dave Smith]

Right, Right.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Because of course the Democrats were looking for more censorship of the Internet. And I agree with him. Listen, I, I think what they did was 100% wrong. And the fact that they've never used this public good cause against anybody else, I think that is. But he's also, he's under the FCC and cannot do what we can do with podcasts. He cannot go on and do Legion of Skanks one night, right? Three of you on and say, you know what, this is your show for tonight. We're doing the Legion of Skanks takeover of Jimmy Kim. So he's also just talking, in a sense, he's also talking nonsense because he does have regulations that don't exist on the Internet. And the entire audience would agree, should Jimmy Kimmel be allowed to play porn in his time slot on abc? But no, do we think off the Internet? I don't think so.

[Dave Smith]

Right, right, exactly, But. Right, exactly. So you're right. It's not a one to one comparison. That's a very fair and important point as well. But. And I'm sure that someone like Tom Elliot or someone like this, who, who's real good at making these things, I'm sure will get like, there'll be a compilation of all the things Jimmy Kimmel said over the years. But just to sit here and go like, hey, do you think like, is this like, because he, he invokes podcasts almost to be like, hey, come on, aren't all you guys have all been about free speech and you want your libertarian.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

When the government's coming from them, everyone's not in power. Oh my God, they got every libertarian principle in the book.

[Dave Smith]

Everybody, everybody believes in liberty when there's a gun pointed at their head. You know what I mean? But then as soon as they're pointing the gun at someone else's head. They, you know, for, for Jimmy Kimmel to be saying this, how many times you go, hey, but dude, look, we got all these podcasts out there. I mean, you really want the government to be in the business of regulating what podcasters can say, what has. What do you think the whole missing disinformation thing has been about? Like, how many times did you talk about that, right? How, how many different people on Jimmy Kimmel's show? How many times did Jimmy Kimmel himself, how many times did all of the liberals sticking up for him talk about misinformation on social media, misinformation on podcasts, all of this stuff, they set up a ministry of truth, the, the board on, on mis and disinformation that the Department of Homeland Security was supposed to be enforcing, right? Like, this is the whole thing. But yet when Jimmy Kimmel says actual misinformation, like actually in his. Inherent in his thing was him saying MAGA is freaking out, trying to blame this, trying to act like this wasn't one of their own, when, like, that's not what was happening. That was, that was misleading information. And you got a little, you got, you missed a show or two. And now, hey, what country do we want to live in? Like, this is the country we've been living in. All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, a brand new sponsor which is Cowboy Colostrum. They offer the highest quality bovine colostrum available in the United States. Cowboy colostrum is 100% made in America from 100% American grass fed cows. Unlike other Colostrum brands, Cowboy Colostrum is sourced from the first milking of us grass fed cows. Don't worry, Cowboy Colostrum only collects the surplus Colostrum after baby calves have had their fill. And they don't over process or strip the colostrum like other brands do, leaving it whole, full fat and high protein for ultimate nutrient density, making it the highest quality bovine colostrum you can buy. And it's made with delicious natural ingredients and no artificial flavors. You simply add three gram scoops of either their chocolate, Madagascar vanilla or strawberry into your coffee or smoothie. And as an added bonus, the natural growth factors and peptides in Cowboy Colostrum will make your hair and skin look great. And for a limited time, our listeners can get 25% off their order. Just head to cowboy colostrum.com Dave and use promo code Dave at checkout that's 25% off at cowboy colostrum.com Dave when you use the promo code. Dave at checkout. All right, let's get back into the show. But anyway, let's, I, I'll, I'll close on a thought on that. But anyway, let's go back to this because I want to get to this other part.

[Jimmy Kimmel]

The FCC telling an American company we can do this the easy way or the hard way, and that these companies can find ways to change conduct and take action on Kimmel. Or there's going to be additional work for the FCC ahead. In addition to being a direct violation of the First Amendment, is not a particularly intelligent threat to make in public. Ted Cruz said he sounded like a mafioso, Although, I don't know. If you want to hear a mob boss make a threat like that, you have to hide a microphone in a deli and park outside in a van with a tape recorder all night long. This genius said it on a podcast. Brendan Carr is the most embarrassing car Republicans have embraced since this one. And that's saying something.

[Dave Smith]

Okay, here, let's pause it here for a second. Writing job somewhere.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

It's just unbelievable how bad the jokes are.

[Dave Smith]

Yeah, it's so bad, too. It's also like Jimmy Kimmel. This is the level of joke writing of Jimmy Kimmel is that he's like, oh, did you just figure out that the government does gangster shit, Jimmy? Yes, that's right. It's almost like the whole nature of the government is just the gang that's perceived as legitimate. Yes. And again, this is where I talk about with the thing from liberals. And this is why it's like, this is why whoever the fuck the person is who still watches this show, whoever the, you know, if, you know some people, like, I know some people who are still kind of like, vote blue, no matter who. Just old Democrats, you know. And to be fair, I know some Republicans who probably aren't any more informed than them, who just vote Republican, like, Right. Regular people. And I'm not holding anything against them. I'm just making the point that, like, back to the stuff that Jonathan Haidt published that it's like these guys are so clueless about the world around them. And where you go, like, look, first of all, okay, so we agree with you, right? Like the spirit of what Jimmy Kimmel is saying here, like, look, the government's doing some gangster, and why should the FCC be threatening in a very gangster like way? No question. Right. He said we could do this the easy way or the hard way. It's like a gangster line is what he said. It's like, okay, yes, you're right. Okay, obviously we all believe, like me and you believe the FCC shouldn't exist. This whole model's stupid. The government should never be talking about what some comedian has to say. Sure, that's fine. How about if the President of the United States of America were to, like, talk about people who didn't want to consume a pharmaceutical product that was completely based off lies sold to the American people based off lies, totally misrepresenting what the, the clinical trials had shown, and now this experimental product was going to be forced down. You. Now, let's say there's some Americans who are like, I think I'll choose not to take that. And then the President said, we've been patient with you, but our patience is wearing thin. Is that a gangster threat? Because I took that as a pretty gangster threat when the President of the United States of America said that. The president. There's been, of course, Rob, as you know, through at the Twitter files, all types of different examples of the President himself, his campaign team, his transition team, the administration themselves calling up Twitter, going, what's this guy still doing on Twitter? What's that? You know, specifically, Jen Psaki used to come up to her press conference with lists of people which they straight up said, we gave the social media companies lists of people who we wanted to be banned, who we wanted to be silenced. Zuckerberg, the owner of Facebook and, and Instagram, straight up said that the government pressured him into censoring different people, including news organizations, including one of the biggest newspapers in the, in the country, and, and censoring all types of regular Americans. In fact, he admitted to censoring people who were saying things that were true, to censoring the truth, at least in your case, you're talking about censoring something that you got wrong. So anyway, it's just like they say this, they, they convince people who aren't paying attention that, yeah, that does kind of sound right because he's saying some freedom sounding and that, that has a way of sounding right, you know, because it kind of is, but it's just totally divorced from reality, from the context of, of what's going on. All right, let's keep playing.

[Jimmy Kimmel]

FCC has a tradition of meddling where they shouldn't under many administrations, but it wasn't always like this. There was an FCC commissioner back in 2022 who worked under Joe Biden who was spot on. He wrote, president Biden is right. Political satire is one of the oldest and most important forms of free speech. It challenges those in power while using humor to draw more people into the discussion. That's why people in influential positions always targeted it for censorship. You know who wrote that? FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, who later was appointed chairman of the FCC by this former crusader for free speech.

[Guest or Caller]

If we don't have free speech, then we just don't have a free country. It's as simple as that. If this most fundamental right is allowed to perish, then the rest of our rights and liberties will topple just like dominoes.

[Dave Smith]

One by one, they'll go down.

[Jimmy Kimmel]

That was also a 2022. And I wonder, how did that guy turn into this guy?

[Dave Smith]

Who would you like to see replace Kimmel on Late Night?

[Guest or Caller]

A lot of people anybody could replace. I had no talent. Kimmel had. Look, he was fired. He had no talent. He's a whack job, but he had no talent. And more importantly, the talent he had, though, because a lot of people. I'm not talent to get ratings, but he had no ratings.

[Jimmy Kimmel]

Well, I do tonight.

[Dave Smith]

Thank you. All right, so this is this big punch line which gets a huge standing ovation. We can cut it off. That's what I wanted to play. And I just. I. I thought that was the moment that was, like, kind of revealing where he's like. Like he's basically admitting it, right? That. And it is true. He's 100% right. I mean, this is essentially what I was saying. Look, I was saying before, like, I don't actually care about the government shutting down Jimmy Kimmel's free speech rights. As I said last time, I. I just feel like, you know, with a lot of these guys, I have been pushed to a point. I, I don't. I still have never. And I still reject the idea that, you know, like, you'll see some. Some right wingers who will say, well, you know, the left played like this, so we're going to play like this, too. Like, we are going to abandon our principles. We're going to be hypocrites, because the other side doesn't have those principles. I don't believe in that. I think that's. That's. It's a fundamental misunderstanding of what principles are to begin with. And it's also just bad strategy, and it's just wrong. I don't agree with any of that. What's different to me about this is that I'm not talking about, like, a group of people here. I'm talking about on a very. On an individual level, like a person Like Jimmy Kimmel, when you just become a mouthpiece for the regime. I don't care about you anymore and your speech rights. There's a different dynamic here. You're like a guy with a rifle who joined an invading military. You're a part of that now. Whether you're officially a part of it or not is irrelevant to me. But it was just always so obvious that this was just so stupid, man. Like, talk about backfiring. If you were working for the liberals, you couldn't have done a better job than Carr did by coming in here and putting your finger on the scale. And then when they reverse it, he can now say he can call out your hypocrisy, rightfully so. And as he admits himself, he was getting terrible ratings, but now he's not. Yeah. So that's what was accomplished by this government. You know, it's like one, one of the. Forget the lessons of, like, free, free speech on moral grounds, which I still do believe in and, and will always defend. But don't you think, like, seeing as how we just went through 10 years of the, the, the liberals censoring their critics. Right. And seeing as how the liberals completely lost the national conversation and now their critics are 10 times bigger than all of them are, in what world did anyone think, like, oh, I guess this will be a good strategy now that Jimmy Kimmel's down and no one gives a fuck what he says and no one's watching his show. Let's have the government come in here and threaten to censor him. And then they just gave him a show that'll get just millions and millions of eyeballs on it and, and, and allow him to, at least on the surface, kind of play it like he's being the good guy here, you know, as much bullshit as that is, it's just so stupid, man. It's like, God damn. And, and, you know, I'm not, like, blaming, like, everybody on the right wing. It's. It's been a, a crazy couple of weeks, and so I understand everybody, but, like, think about just how bad the strategy is here. People who were, like, cheering this on and celebrating it. It's like, no, this is the last thing you want to say. It's like what I said. Why would you want the ref? Like, why would you. You're winning in a game. Why would you want the ref to come in and cheat at the last minute? You're winning. Just win. I don't know.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Any other thoughts, Rob, I agree with you on that. This was a poorly implemented strategy.

[Dave Smith]

Yeah, I mean, like, it's just, again, I mean, I don't know what the numbers are going to do, but I'm sure they will be huge. And it's, it's funny that even he can say that. Like, on some level he knows that, like, oh, this was the best thing that happened to me. Is that Donald Trump? Oh, yeah. Donald Trump. You say my ratings suck. Not tonight. Tonight they're gonna be good. And because of course, everyone wanted to tune in to see, like, is he going to double down on it? Is he going to apologize for it? Is he gonna cry like a. And we got the, we got all three. The ladder. Yeah, right. We got all three. Somehow he did all of them. All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is Ridge. You gotta check them [e-mail]. i've been telling you about them for many years. I love the Ridge wallet. I use the Ridge wallet. It's great. It's cool. It's. It's just you don't need a big bulky wallet anymore. You feel lighter with it in your back. All you really need is your cards and your cash. And then now you can carry it in a sleek Ridge wallet. That looks awesome. It's all metallic and cool. That's just way better. It's a way better thing. It's also just a great gift. You can't think of a gift to get someone. A Ridge wallet's always a cool one. They have over 100,000 five star reviews. It's all. They're all made with premium materials like aluminum, titanium, carbon fiber. They're conversation starters. They're just like a cool gift, a cool wallet to have. Also, if you're, if you're worried about losing your wallet, Ridge has an air tag attachment. So you'll always know exactly where it is before panic mode kicks in. And Ridge isn't just wallets. They create premium everyday carry essentials like key cases, suitcases, rings, all built with the same sleek, durable design. Whatever you pick, Ridge has free shipping, a 99 day risk free trial and a lifetime warranty on all of their products. And for a limited time, our listeners can get 10% off at Ridge by using the promo code POTP10. Just head over to ridge.com and use the promo code POTP10 and you're all set. You get 10% off. After your purchase. They will ask you where you heard about them. Please make sure to mention part of the problem. All right, let's get back into the show anyway. I don't know. I, I think that, that there's the right wing in America, I think should try, should try to really think about the fact that any of these kind of systems of censorship, first of all, they're not necessary and, and second of all, they're counterproductive. Like you. I, I think particularly with the latest brand of like, progressivism that has come to characterize the, the regime that we've lived under for the last, you know, decade and a half, two decades, the. This thing gets destroyed when there's a level playing field. Like, their arguments just don't hold up. Their comedy isn't as good. There's not like, it's just. I've watched it. I've watched it on every level. I mean, literally my friends, as being someone like me and you, Rob, where we've got like, our foot in, like, we're in the world of comedians and then we're also like in the world of talking about the news and stuff on both ends. And now like, I've got a lot of friends in both worlds. I've just watched all my friends dominate all the people in the positions of. Of corp. You know what I mean? Like, all my funny comedian friends, like, there's. I know a whole bunch. I mean, I don't know all of them, but like Comedy Central and, and HBO and Netflix for many years and like all these things were giving out shows and things like all this type of comedy. And then I just watched my friends like Nate and Shane and, and Joe and you know, like all these guys just run laps around them from doing it their own way. Nate got all the corporate stuff, but, you know, like, all these other guys who I know are just like dominating them and, and then in the news world, I mean, it's like, you know, the exact same thing. Like all these people just running circles around the corner and you know, to. Even now I understand, like, Charlie got killed and a lot of people are emotional and all this stuff. But I also do feel like guys like, for, for right wingers to like, even start like, talking about embracing like the cancel culture stuff or even talking about, you know, like this stuff, like embracing like say the FCC threatening Disney or something like that. It's like guys like, we just started rolling all of this stuff back and winning. Like, let's not be, you know what I mean? Like, let's not contradict the whole thing now or even if it's not truly hypocrisy, don't give them this talking point to say, look, it's it's its hypocrisy and all this. Like, we just got to the point where we're, we can talk on the Internet without having to worry about getting, you know what I mean, silenced for it. It's like, let's just leave this stuff alone and let these guys go die. It does not matter. They're. They're in a. They've put themselves in a box where they can't succeed. This essentially, I think is the only way. I think almost, Rob, this might be the only thing that could have happened today that would get the, the possibility of like 10 million people watching an episode of Jimmy Kimmel, which like, I'm sure he'll hit on this one. I, I don't know. What else could you think of that would get 10 million people to go watch any of these shows? Like it's some. Only something like this. And so what are you even driving? Look, these guys, all of them, they went all in on being mouthpieces for the Democratic Party. They are essentially spokesman for the dnc. But they picked that at a point where Democrats are historically unpopular. You know, it's not even, it's not even. Oh, they turned out. They tuned out half of the country. They turned out 75% of the country. Democrats have like a 25% approval rating and that's who they went all in on. And also they like somehow, I mean, it's, you know, like people don't actually believe you when you tell them that Jimmy Kimmel was funny once. I know this. I've had this with young people. They do not believe when I, I've, I've talked to like kids, you know, like I say, kids, I mean in their 20s, you know, who are like fans of the show. And you tell them Stephen Colbert used to be hilarious. Like they think you're crazy. They just don't know any better. I understand. I'd probably feel the same way if I didn't know. But it was like, I don't know, Rob. Like woke progressivism. It was like all of them. Like you, you remember in Space Jam when the aliens like sucked all the basketball players ability to play basketball out of them? It was like that. Like they, all their, their creativity and funny, it all just got sucked right out of them. So just let these, let these guys go die. Keep the government away from us. I don't know. Final, final thought to you, Rob.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Well, we only got six minutes here, but I'm curious. You know what I gotta, I gotta give a second. Listen to your Jimmy Kimmel breakdown. Episode. And then maybe on the subscriber episode, I will. Which is tomorrow, I will challenge you on whether or not it's good. Good freedom for government to be censoring potential state actors.

[Dave Smith]

Well, what do you mean? Like, like. Oh, like within. Like. No, look, I don't think it's good. Just to be clear on it. I don't. I'm not, like, supporting it. I'm saying I don't view this as, like, a. Like if. In the same way that, like, if the. If the FBI ruled to disarm the CIA, like, I don't think they're violating their Second Amendment rights. It's a conversation between, like, governments is that I almost look at it that way. Like, at this point, when you're talking about companies like Disney on the level of Kimmel, like, you're just, like, to me, you're an official mouthpiece of the regime. I'm not even saying that's right or wrong. Technically, he's a private citizen. I'm saying, like, I don't care about it. Like, I don't actually. I don't care. Anybody who, like, just in my own, like, ethical framework, anybody who, like, voluntarily, like, became a mouthpiece of the regime and enriched themselves in doing it, like, I don't care about their voice being squashed.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Like, I think it's. I think it's more productive if you either remove funding and then they fail because you're able to showcase the fact that it was actually just state funds that were 100%.

[Dave Smith]

No, no, but just to be crimes. But just to be clear, like, as soon as you said, I think it's more productive, that's essentially my whole point, is that I just go, look, I don't even. Whether I even care about the speech rights of Jimmy Kimmel or not. This is just a stupid way to do it. It's not productive. And I completely agree with you, essentially, like, that's. And maybe this is why I Like when you give me pushback sometimes, because it also helps me, like, clarify and kind of, like, better articulate my point. But that's why I was making the point of, like, the connection between the people who could go from a network thing to the Internet thing and be even bigger is because they have organic support. And then he's even himself admitting that, like, oh, I did have terrible ratings, but I got. Now I got big ratings because of you. It's like, so don't give them the thing. Like, that's my point. Try to remove the funding. Try to remove the system that Props them up. There's no need to suppress. Like, let them fail. It's such a better strategy. It's so much more like, it's, it's.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

A little bit like, if Donald Trump Tomorrow just said CNN's illegal, that would absolutely be suppression of free speech. Now, with that said, if you want to prove to me that CNN's actually been funded by the CIA and it's got some inappropriate relationship with the deep state and that they've engaged in illegal behavior, or if you want to make pharmaceutical and military companies illegal to advertise there so that it's no longer profitable for CNN to be on the air, those are all great things. But for the government just to say, hey, you've been working against me and criticizing me the whole time, you can't exist. Like, even if the other two things are true, you're still just suppressing free speech because you're using a mechanism that can be used against honest people.

[Dave Smith]

That's right. And even if you agree with my argument. Right. Like, I'm making kind of like an advanced libertarian theory argument here, which I could understand. Like I said on the thing, it's, it's, it, it. There's an aspect of subjectivity to it where you go like, yeah, but who do you say is the part of the regime and who isn't part of the regime? And I get that, but I'm just saying, like, I, I would still make the argument. You got to draw the line somewhere. And I consider Kimmel like a regime actor. And so even if I make the argument that, like, I don't care about his free speech, I don't care if a different part of the regime shuts him down, that muddies the, the message. Like, if you're talking about what's going to get across to, like, the average person, it's like, just stay in your principle. We believe in free speech. That actually does appeal to most people. And we still believe that. We still, even whether we think Jimmy Kimmel's a part of the regime or not, we still do believe. Yeah. What is the FCC even talking about this stuff for? What are you doing? Don't start threatening these guys. It's. I also, I do think, like, to my analogy, just of the refs cheating in the game. Like, think about even the fact that, like, people are arguing because, look, this one, it's like, a little bit in dispute, you know, a lot of people. And there was some stuff that did suggest that actually there were some of the affiliates who were just complaining because they were getting pushback. They were just complaining because people were like upset and like, hey, yeah, like, you know, that's part of being a television host. You can't upset most of the country for that long before it'll it'll affect your ratings and your job. But like you could already see where it's like, dude, if Jimmy Kimmel gets fired for bad ratings, then that's a win. But if Jimmy Kimmel gets fired because the company was scared that the FCC was going to prevent a merger, then that's a loss. Then you lose. Then like you didn't he wasn't really driven. Like he didn't really lose the argument. And my point is that he has. So just let it let that be clear. Just better all around for everyone. 1 All right, let's wrap up let's wrap up on that porch. Tour.com comic Dav Smith.com catch you guys next time. Peace.