Loading summary
Transcript87 lines
- [00:00]
Dave Smith
Hey, guys. Today's show is brought to you by yocratum.com home of the $60 kilo. If you are over the age of 21 and enjoy kratom, make sure you get it from yocratum.com longtime supporters of the Part of the Problem podcast, and quite frankly, the best deal you're going to find anywhere in kratom. $60 for a kilo@ Yokratum.com all right, let's start the show. Hello, Hello. What's up, everybody? Welcome to a brand new episode of Part of the Problem. I am Dave Smith, and that lovely cupcake to my left is Robbie the Fire Bernstein. How are you, sir?
- [00:43]
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
I'm doing well. How are you, Mr. Smith?
- [00:45]
Dave Smith
Very good, Very good. I cannot complain. I mean, I always can, but I'm not going to.
- [00:50]
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
Can I. Can I register a complaint?
- [00:51]
Dave Smith
Go ahead.
- [00:52]
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
You know, my apartment's not clean, my studio's not clean, and I don't own this desk, and it's not my desk, but I'm still annoyed by all the shit on it.
- [01:01]
Dave Smith
Well, I mean, listen, this is a. I think of the studio as a shared space. I'll bring it up with hr. That's right. I think none of it is my responsibility. And if I'm being honest, I'm a little annoyed with you, too, that this place is such a mess. Why is it. Why are there waters everywhere?
- [01:17]
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
There's.
- [01:18]
Dave Smith
God. Yeah, I know. I really am. It's unbelievable because it's so. I was always a slob, and I really do. My wife makes fun of me for this, but I really do have this feeling like I used to be a slob. And. And I'm not a slob anymore. And then I realize that I just married my wife.
- [01:36]
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
Right? And she walks behind you with the. Gets it all clean.
- [01:39]
Dave Smith
This is the only room of this gigantic house that I'm responsible for, and it's a goddamn mess. And then I go, every other room is really nice.
- [01:46]
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
It's not atrocious. It's just the pile of books. It's all good. But they're nice books.
- [01:51]
Dave Smith
They're good.
- [01:51]
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
That's Scott Horden's book.
- [01:53]
Dave Smith
I do have right here. I have, of course, provoked. This is the. The early edition copy. It's the fan mail. The fan mail doesn't need to be here. This, by the way, is a fantastic book. Rise and Kill First. Ronan Bergman. Unbelievable. Really dark, but really, really good. This is the book that I was reading first. I had heard the book recommended to me several times. And then Daryl Cooper was like, dude, you gotta read Rise and Kill for. I don't know, maybe I mentioned it that it was like on my list of things to read. And he was like, dude, you gotta read it. It's so good. And you know, Daryl Cooper tells you read a book, you read a book. But anyway, so I take, I took it with me. I always, I bring books on the road. Usually that's when I get my reading done. So I took it with me to Austin and I'm reading this. But the book is about the history of targeted assassinations by the Mossad. And I'm reading it the day Donald Trump got shot, which was really just like, that'll start. Make you. That'll have you connecting dots that maybe you shouldn't be connecting. You know what I mean? But it was just such a funny thing to be reading. And then like, look on Twitter and be like, oh yeah, Donald Trump, just catch a show. All right, well, okay. Anyway. Okay, a few points of order of business before we get into the show for today. Okay. Number one, this is. So there's been a little bit of a change to our schedule. We, we are still coming to Buffalo. The Saturday shows got. Got canceled. It was a booking error on the club. So March 6th and 7th, we will be in Buffalo, New York at Helium Comedy Club March 8th. We're now doing some shows in Saint Catharines, which is just on the other side.
- [03:39]
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
Let's use there. You sure?
- [03:40]
Dave Smith
I. Well, we're going to find out.
- [03:42]
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
All right. We're going to push our luck.
- [03:44]
Dave Smith
We're the good kind, the self hating kind. So how about that? Will you make it? Will you make an exception for a couple of self hating Jews? We will find out. Canada. I have not been to Canada since the Just for laughs festival in 2017 is the last time I was up there. And I think, I believe we had planned. I was planning to go up there during 2020 and then, you know, 2020 happened and Canada was not the place you wanted to be. But so I have not been up there. And I do know, despite, you know, what a communist nightmare that country is, we do have some great fans up there in Canada. So looking forward to that and that.
- [04:25]
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
Support for the Prime Minister. I'll be performing in blackface.
- [04:30]
Dave Smith
Out of support. Rob's going to do all his shows in blackface going forward. Your legacy is not forgotten, Trudeau. Don't worry. And then of course, later in the month, we got Boston coming up. I'm very excited. Go back to Boston and laugh. Boston's a great club and, and Boston's just like one of the best comedy towns in, in the world. So very excited to go back there. The other thing, which I do not believe I have mentioned this on the podcast yet, although I did tweet about it, but I am maybe I mentioned, I can't remember. I talk too much. I am returning to the so or we, I should say are returning to the soho Forum, the wonderful debate series run by the brilliant Gene Epstein. And Rob's gonna do a comedy set and then I am doing an Oxford style debate. I will be debating Alex. I do not mean this is a slight on him, but I always get his last name wrong. Nor wash nor, nor no watch tear or something. It's, it's not. Listen, I'll take 50% of the blame. I always say things wrong. But 50% of this is also on. He's got a difficult name to say. But anyway, we're doing a debate about immigration or like the libertarian perspective on immigration. Me and Alex have had some not so pleasant back and forth on Twitter over the years and we've both been kind of critical of the, of the other one. But this is a debate that was long in the making. And you know, it's always sad when somebody dies, but it's nice that now Alex is allowed to talk to me. So there's, there's the longtime guy at the Cato Institute, David Boaz, who recently passed away, Rest in peace. Had a firm rule about like people not talking to Mises Institute people. None of them were allowed to go on Tom woods show or like anything like that. So now he's allowed to debate me again. And I am, I'm very much looking forward to this. I think it's going to be, I think it's going to be a great night and a really important topic, particularly in today's world, which is actually in the resolution. There's something, it's something like, particularly in modern day America, libertarians ought to support restraints on immigration or something like that. So anyway, the Host, the Soho forum.org is the website. You can get tickets there. Last I heard. These are moving fast. The event is going to sell out. So if you'd like, if you're in the New York City area and you'd like to come spend a night with me and Robbie the Fire Bernstein. Come on out. Come on out. All right, so there's a lot of stuff going on. I'm not exactly sure. You know, let's just start, let's start with the fun stuff. Okay. Because there really is. I gotta say, it's. It's probably a little bit evil how happy this made me, but Joy Reid has been canned at msnbc. What can you say, Rob? MSNBC is. It's amazing. I don't understand how anybody's. I don't understand how they haven't closed up shop. I was looking just earlier at the numbers. The ratings were so bad. I mean, she was. Joy Reid in the key demo was doing like, you want to just take a guess?
- [08:00]
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
200,000 people, right?
- [08:02]
Dave Smith
Because that'd be really bad. Yeah, right. 40,000.
- [08:06]
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
How's that possible?
- [08:07]
Dave Smith
40,000 in the key demo.
- [08:10]
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
That's a small podcast.
- [08:11]
Dave Smith
I mean, it's literally like, it's insane how much the show was failing. And then, and by the way, then like the, you know, if they get 100,000 in the demo, that's like, oh, that's their number one show. That's like what Maddow does. Like, she gets them. Like, oh, that's why they had to bring her back. They have no one there. And then you just think about it, like, you know, I remember it was an interesting thing. Like once, once podcasts first came out and became a thing. I remember just thinking about it, really. The comparison that I would make was Sirius Radio, because Sirius Radio had like, you know, some, some comedy shows there. But then as podcasts started getting big, you would just kind of look at it like on a. Just the business model of it. You're like, okay, so we, the three of us, we're kind of doing a radio show right now, right? Like, what really is the meaningful difference? It's on the Internet versus being on a thing that you have to have like in your car or whatever. I don't know. Okay, Ours is out of the garage of my house. That's our business model. I have a three car garage. I turned one of the car garages into a little studio. Okay. Cost a few bucks to make this room and get the equipment and build the walls. But like, nothing that crazy. Your business model is we're launching satellites into outer space. I don't know what that runs you, but my guess is it's. It's not cheap. You know, and the same with msnbc. Even you look, it's like these gigantic building in midtown. You know, they're at the. I think they're at the 30 Rock building. It's just like the, the expenses that go into all of this. And then for the numbers to be this low anyway, how is it even shocking to anyone? Like, what Is MSNBC is like, who's it for? It's like four leftists who love corporate America. How big did you think that audience was? You know? And Joy Reid, I mean, for people who don't know, the woman is. I mean, she. She's gotta be the dumbest woman in cable news. She's just like, utterly knows nothing about anything, is a vicious racist. I mean, like, ju. Just point blank, she's an insane racist. She sees everything through the prism of. Of race. That's always been her thing. And yeah, it just turned out that after a while, no one wants to fucking watch that shit. Anyway, here she is. This is the fun part. Let's. Let's check in with. As Tucker used to call her, the crazy race lady over at msnbc. Here she is.
- [10:46]
Joy Reid
My show had value and that. I'm sorry that what I was doing had value and value. And in the end, I'm sorry. I try not to cry on tv and I think this is kind of like me on tv, so I apologize and that it kind of. And then it mattered. I see Karen is there and she's been texting me as well. And so what I will just say is that in the end. Thank you. Where I land is that the moment of guilt that I felt that I went hard on so many issues, whether it was the Black Lives Matter issues of a young baby or a mom or dad that was killed, or when we opened up people's eyes to the fact that Asian Americans were being targeted and not just black folks that. Or another racial issue of immigrants who've done nothing. Another racial issue in this country like my parents did and try to make a life and defended them. Or whether we've talked about what the president is doing that is subversive to the Constitution, that is injurious to our liberty, you know, defending books that people find inconvenient, you know, that Nikole Hannah Jones put into our spirit that we need to understand 1619 as the real founding of this country, whether it's talking about any of these issues and yes, whether it's talking about Gaza and the fact that we as the American people have a right to object, to have a right to object to little babies being bombed. And where I come down on that is I'm not sorry. I am not sorry that I stood up for those. Those things, because those things are of God. And, you know, I'm a church girl too, in a way.
- [12:41]
Dave Smith
You're kind of God, you know, all right, let's. Essentially, that's it. But there There is something. And, you know, I remember saying this for years, Rob, but there is something about, you know, the. The look. I mean, there's really no other. The blatant racism that kind of, like, swept culture and universities and stuff like this over the. Particularly over the last decade probably goes back further than that. But I remember I always would say that, like, I would be. I would be pretty goddamn livid, like, if my kids were ever going to a school and they were being taught that, like, you know, whiteness is evil or something like that. Like, that would definitely. I would not want. I would not send my kid to a school that, like, believed in an ideology that was bigoted toward them, but I would be ready to kill someone if I had, like, a black kid or if the. The ideology was that white people are victims. And you are so wonderful. And you. Because I just think that's the most. I think that's actually worse. Like, it's worse what they're doing to black kids in colleges than what they're doing to white kids in college, because it is, like, the most poisonous thing. And you see people like Hart, like, just has it in her. Like, it's. It's racial superiority is what you're teaching, and it's. And also with, like, a victim guilt complex that almost always accompanies racial superiority, by the way. And you just see all she can talk about is how great she was. That's why she got canceled, because she was so great. Like, can you. I just don't. I really can't imagine a scenario where, like, let's just say, you know, whatever the views that our podcast gets, let's say they just evaporated. And after a while, I just went. It went down to, like, no one's watching the show anymore, to the point that it's not economically sustainable. Like, just can't do it anymore. I could never imagine not at least having some element of, like, fuck, what did I do to lose my audience? You know? Like, man, I guess I could have. You know, even if I didn't think I was wrong about the issue, I immediately. My mind would go to, like. I guess I'm not saying this in the right way. You know, I guess I didn't. Like, there's something. Something I did wrong. Not an inch of that. She's crying, talking about how great she is and how she's. Of God and she did everything right. That's her takeaway. The dumbest person on cable news. That's what she thinks of herself.
- [15:13]
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
Well, lucky for her, unless she Has a non compete cause clause. She can take her show to the open market, she can put it out on YouTube and she could see how much the market actually values her programming. And maybe she'll make more money because she doesn't have to pay out a cut to MSNBC and she doesn't need that fancy studio and quite that roster of producers behind her.
- [15:33]
Dave Smith
It can't be that much less viewers. Yeah, I mean, I don't like in a way when you say it's gotta be a higher profit margin for her to just go do a podcast at this point. But again, like, you know, you know these people just don't prove your value.
- [15:47]
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
You got all the, you got an open contract now or someone else might just come scoop you up if MSNBC is not seeing it. But I think we all know, I think the, I think the gravy train of full scale socialism has come to a halt. And as the Biden administration was ushered out and people had placed their bets on continuation of socialism and that the Internet was going to be censored and that there would continue to be state run propaganda and that the, they'd figure out how the pharmaceutical companies or whatever else were going to keep buying out these ad contracts that were going to nowhere so that you could pay for your propaganda. It seems like that's over. And I guess even networks like MSNBC are going like Zelinski at this point. They bet on the wrong administration and the profits aren't coming. So they got to figure something out.
- [16:35]
Dave Smith
There is something. You make a great point and it does just, it feels like a Ponzi scheme falling apart.
- [16:42]
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
Yeah.
- [16:42]
Dave Smith
You know, like it just has that feel, you know, the whole, you know, so Bernie Madoff, who ran the biggest, who ran the. Excuse me, who ran the second biggest Ponzi scheme of all time next to the US Government? There might be, maybe the European Union or something is competing. But he ran a pretty, the biggest private Ponzi scheme I believe of all time. And his, you know, they like straight up just forged the documents. They didn't invest. They would send people like packets of all their investments. It was just complete bullshit. Right. So it's just constantly getting new, new investors to fund. I guess investors isn't the right term, but getting new people's money and yeah, new suckers to pay out, you know, the old suckers. And he was paying like outrageous interest rates. Like I think he was paying 20% at one point.
- [17:30]
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
Don't. From what I recall, it was just that steady 10 to 12%.
- [17:34]
Dave Smith
Oh, was it? I thought it was sold.
- [17:36]
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
The storyline was just that for so many years he was so consistent and deemed to be so safe, I believe.
- [17:41]
Dave Smith
But you might be right. But I thought it was more than that. But regardless, so he's paying them out. And if everyone's getting paid out, like even 10 to 12%, you get in a healthy pay. Everyone's kind of happy with that, you know. And it was until the economy went south. And when the economy went south, he all. I think it was only like, it's not like everyone asked for their money back, but enough big investors did that he didn't have nearly enough. And it's like what's interesting about Ponzi schemes, house of cards in general is that they could take a very long time to build but man, they will fall over very quickly. And I think that's kind of what we're seeing with in a lot of different fields. All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is small batch cigar. Cigar lovers out there. You got to check out small batch cigar. If you haven't already. It is the best place online to go to get the cigars you're looking for. You can find rare, hard to find cigars. They've got a great selection, free shipping on every order. Almost every order arrives within two to three days in the continental United States of America. And the real key to small batch cigars is their packaging. Okay. All of their cigars come with a Boveda pack included in every purchase. They have the most thorough packaging in the industry. This is a big deal, as you cigar lovers know. You could pick the best cigar in the world, but if it's not packaged right, it's going to show up to you in bad shape. You don't have to worry about that with small batch Cigar. Small batch cigar dot com, that's where you got to go. Use the promo code problem for 10 off. Plus you get 5% reward points. One more time. Smallbatch cigar.com promo code problem for 10% off. All right, let's get back into the show. This, I will say is one prediction that I really got right, at least as of now. I got a few predictions pretty wrong about this last year. But I was arguing with, I was arguing at one point with Michael Tracy and I think it was Robbie. Robbie. So who I was basically saying, you know, the best thing about Donald Trump, if he wins again, is that it's going to completely destroy the corporate media. And they were arguing with me somewhat reasonably they were just like. Well, no, actually their ratings all went up the last time he was in. And my, my prediction on this, which I think has really come true, is just that. Yeah, but they're not going to be able to do that again because it was all based off Russiagate. And that completely fell apart. And then the COVID thing got so blown up that, like, I just think people were underestimating how much so many people have woken up to, like, oh, this is bullshit. They're liars, they lie to us anyway. It's always nice just to see people get a little bit of comeuppance, you know what I mean? Like something. Because there's just all these people are so goddamn awful and it seems like nothing bad ever happens to them. So it's just nice. It's nice to see her cry. I don't know, maybe that's kind of evil. This. I, I gotta say, I enjoyed this too. Let's play the, the Rachel Maddow clip. So here was Rachel Maddow, by the way, Ann Coulter, I can't remember which one of her books it was, but Ann Coulter wrote this. This has got to be over 10 years ago. But she wrote about this dynamic and it was if. And I used to watch msnbc and it was a real thing if you watched it, you know what I'm talking about? But Rachel Maddow would always, like, go out of her way to be, like, extremely complimentary of Joy Reid. Like, every time Joy Reid was on her show, she would introduce her as, like, the brilliant godsend Joy Reid. And it was always obviously this like, weird liberal white guilt thing. And, like, and then she'd be like, also Chris Hayes, who's. Look, I don't like Chris Hayes, but he's way smarter than Joy Reid. You know what I mean? So anyway, here is Rachel Maddow responding to the news of Joy Reid being fired.
- [21:29]
Rachel Maddow
An even bigger programming change is at 7pm 7pm Eastern, where joy Reid's show, the readout, ended tonight. And Joy is not taking a different job in the network. She is leaving the network altogether. And that is very, very, very hard to take. I am 51 years old. I have been gainfully employed since I was 12. And I have had so many different kinds of jobs, you wouldn't believe me if I told you, but in all of the jobs I have had, in all of the years I have been alive, there is no colleague for whom I have had more affection and more respect than Joy Reid. I love everything about her. I have learned so much from her. I have so much more to learn from her. I do not want to lose her as a colleague here at MSNBC and personally, I think it is a bad mistake. Mistake to let her walk out the door. It is not my call and I understand that. But that's what I think. I will tell you. It is also unnerving to see that on a network where we've got two, count them, two non white hosts in primetime. Both of our non white hosts in primetime are losing their shows, as is Katie Fang on the weekend. And that feels worse than bad. No matter who replaces them. That feels indefensible. And I do not defend it.
- [22:52]
Dave Smith
Isn't it? By the way, she certainly did learn a thing or two from Joy Reid, make everything a race issue and accuse everyone of being a bigot. But it is wild to me that I mean again, as I said before, her numbers weren't bad, they were atrocious. And for you to say like, it's unnerving and this feels worse than bad that like what See, somehow in these woke people's mind. You just get to call your boss a bigot. Completely unfounded. When there's obvious cause for to cancel the show. That's what happens in shows. If nobody wants to watch it, the show gets canceled. This has been true from the beginning of shows. That's how it works. And yet she's gonna. And like, as if you can't just in your own mind think of the obvious retort which is that like, I don't know in what worldview, Even in like a left winger's worldview. Do you think if Joy Ann Reid's show was getting 10 million viewers a night, MSNBC would, would be like, damn it, this black is succeeding. You know, I just hate, you know, is that how big corporations are?
- [24:03]
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
Not unless they're showing January 6th footage.
- [24:05]
Dave Smith
Yeah, right, exactly. Well, you know, you got a point there. What she'd have to do to get those ratings might actually piss them off. But it's like, it's just such an obvious thing where it's like these decisions aren't being made. Who cares who the non white hosts are? It's like, what are you're in a business and nobody sees value. It's pretty funny by the way, Joy and Reid being like, my show has value. And like, yes, it does. And the market has decided the value is zero. That is the value of your show. It went to zero. If you're like you said, Rob, if your show has so much value, take it to the Internet, find out how much value it has.
- [24:41]
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
And the news shows do well. I mean, Glenn Beck did great after leaving Fox News. Megyn Kelly's doing fine. Tucker Carlson's doing fine.
- [24:47]
Dave Smith
Tucker's on top of the world. Yeah.
- [24:49]
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
So you are welcome to put your show up on the Internet and get all that value for yourself without having to share it with msnbc. And as for that lady Maddow. Maddow, you know, you could leave in solidarity if you honestly believe that.
- [25:05]
Dave Smith
Yeah. I mean, you're working for racists.
- [25:07]
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
Yeah. If you honestly think you're working for racists or it's inappropriate to have a network that doesn't have a showing amongst minorities. So I guess as the white person, you can make a difference and say, I will stand with the minorities until they have a better showing on this network. Because otherwise what we're doing is wrong. Because I guess it's not even.
- [25:27]
Dave Smith
It.
- [25:27]
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
It's because we're clearly being racist and overlooking the talent pool that's out there.
- [25:32]
Dave Smith
Right.
- [25:32]
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
That should be contributing.
- [25:34]
Dave Smith
Yeah. I mean.
- [25:35]
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
I mean, how dare her be a part of such a racist institution.
- [25:38]
Dave Smith
It is. You know, it is. It's kind of a similar type of argument that we've made about Bernie Sanders before, not giving away his third home or his million dollars or something like that. It's like, it's the same. You know, you've seen, like, people who go, like, to college campuses. Conservatives would make that point a lot. Like, they'd be like, okay. To white students. Be like, why don't you give up your spot here for, like, a minority? I mean, if you believe in this, what, Like, I, I just. It. It. I do think it's a. A very fair point. And there is. And. And a very exposing one that it's like, yeah, you're saying you work for a bunch of racists, so, like, stop. Stop working for them. Stop. Cash. Oh, these check. The checks are pretty good, though, right? So you're still going to take all that money. But don't let it be said that I didn't call them racist before I took all their money. I, um. I just. I don't know. I guess it's hard to even, like, come up with the words because it's just so. It's so obvious in a way. But it's like, it's Rachel Maddow in that clip. Couldn't have given you better evidence for why no one wants to watch MSNBC anymore. It's like, this is so incredibly stupid. It's like, this is your deep analysis on Everything. It's not just Joy Reid being fired. It's everything just comes down to, like, your one dumb talking point about race or sex or sexual orientation or whatever. It's like, this is just. It's. It's. It requires you to turn your brain off to think this way. And then you also have to, like, pretend we're living in a world that we're not living in. Listen, it's so. It's like I said before, the example. Like, you know, you have this whole freak out over Covid. Meanwhile, the real health crisis is obesity. You know, you have this entire freak out over Doge. Meanwhile, the real crisis is the government, you know, debt spiral. And likewise the fact that you could sit here and say that it's racist that Joy Ann Reid was fired. This country. Joy. Joy Reid went to Harvard and was then an anchor of a news show for, like, 15 years, and she's fucking retarded, okay? Like, the story here is not that this country has been so horribly racist to her. The story is that it's insane that we bend over backward to pretend that someone like her has anything impressive to say. And, you know, it's just. It's, you know, it's like this weird thing, this victim, like, race ideology. It's like you got these people at the top who grift off of it and make millions of dollars, but the ideology that they're selling is so poisonous. And it is like. It's like basically those are your only options. It's like, you can grift off this somehow or you can let it ruin your life. And you think about, like, the generation of kids who came out of universities over the last 10 years and how much this stuff was pumped down their throats. It's just like, it's a horrible thing to do, a horrible thing to do, especially to, like, young, impressionable people. Thank God not too many people are watching this garbage because, Jesus, is it awful? Just terrible. All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is Proton vpn. Proton created Proton VPN to further protect the journalists and activists and everyday citizens who use ProtonMail. ProtonVPN breaks down the barriers of Internet censorship, allowing you to access restricted online content. Proton Secure VPN sends your Internet traffic through an encrypted VPN tunnel to keep your browsing data safe, even over public or untrusted Internet connections. As a Swiss VPN provider, Proton does not log user activity or share data with third parties. Their anonymous VPN service keeps your browsing history private and enables an Internet without surveillance. ProtonVPN is available on all of your devices, including PCs, Macs, smartphones, and even routers. A secure Internet connection that you can trust is essential to maintaining your privacy on your laptop at home, your mobile device on the road, or your workstation at the office. And to check out an exclusive and limited time offer, go to protonvpn.com Dave Smith Again, this is a limited time offer, so go check it out today. ProtonVPN.com Dave Smith all right, let's get back into the show. And again, Rachel Maddow actually isn't an idiot. And I don't know. I don't. I'm not going to psychoanalyze her, but she was a Rhodes scholar. She's not a dummy. And she's like. The fact that she's, like, bought into all this stuff is. I don't know. It's. It's.
- [30:33]
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
It's what pays the bills for now.
- [30:35]
Dave Smith
Yeah, I guess so. But it is. It is truly madness. Truly madness. All right, you want to. Let's see. What should we. What should we do next, Rob? Well, you want to talk about Dan Crenshaw. You want to talk about. We could do Ukraine or Mike Baker on Joe Rogan. What do you think?
- [30:55]
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
Let's do Crenshaw. Ukraine. I feel like the two go hand in hand.
- [30:58]
Dave Smith
All right, so Dan Crenshaw, I don't know if you guys saw this. Oh, here, you can. Let's play the video. You can hear it from him, although I think the audio is not great.
- [31:11]
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
I like the leprechaun outfit, though.
- [31:14]
Dave Smith
It's not his worst look. Have you ever met Tucker? We've talked a lot on Twitter. Have I ever met him up on the killer. All right, so if you couldn't quite make that out, Dan Crenshaw in this hot mic thing here, he says if he ever meets Tucker Carlson, he will fucking kill him. He says he's the worst person. And at one point in there, he says, I'm not kidding, which is what a lot of people were jumping on. I think you had a take on this that you expressed before the show, Rob. I think you're correct on this. So if you. Go ahead, give. Give your thoughts.
- [31:57]
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
Yeah, it's very leftist to go. Words are violence. That sounds like dude bravado to me.
- [32:01]
Dave Smith
Yeah.
- [32:02]
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
And does not actually sound like a threat.
- [32:04]
Dave Smith
Yes, I completely agree. I think it's like the people who are. First of all, I got to say, honestly, my opinion on this is that I don't I don't like leaked hot mics unless it's like with the exception of government officials talking about government policy. That, that would be my exception to that. Like the John Kerry hot mic or the Netanyahu secret recording, stuff like that I'm fine with. You know, if it's, if it's the prime Minister of Israel talking about how he tricks the Americans into supporting his wars, then okay, sure, that's leak that. But when it's just stuff like this, I just don't like it. I feel the same way about like text messages. You know, there was like a, there was some, Angela McArdle, the former chair of the Libertarian Party. I remember they had some, someone like had leaked some of her like a group chat or something like that. And it was like messages that came out right around the time when I pulled out and wasn't running and she was saying some like, you know, not the nicest stuff about me. And people were like sending it to me like, oh, look what she said. And I'm like, to stop sending this to me. Like, she didn't say that to me. And she's saying it privately. And then someone's going around and you're also like, look, people are allowed to vent. They're allowed to have a moment like that. You know what I mean? Like, it's just. And people, I think, you know, sometimes like I think about it like the example I would give is like, if somebody, let's say somebody like hacked into your text messages and let's say you're like, let's say you're in a long term relationship or a marriage or something like that. And they, they found the text messages from the worst fight you guys had, you know, and then we were like, look, look who he is behind closed doors. And you'd be like, that's not really a rep. You know, this was a thing in the moment you kind of said it. It, this is to me something like that. And I don't like judging people off of that. I'd rather judge Dan Crenshaw off his terrible track record. So there's plenty more to say about that. And look where to, that's really where the, the meat of this is, is. What is his beef with Tucker Carlson really? Oh, Tucker Carlson doesn't want to fight forever wars. That's really his issue. And I've probably been, you know, he's been highly critical of Crenshaw, but Tucker Carlson's response was just amazing. Tucker Carlson respond. Now this is, this is the correct anti woke Way to deal with these things, okay? You don't go like, oh my God, teacher, teacher. He's threatening me. No, he's not. He wasn't threatening Tucker Carlson. The people jumping on that. You're being silly. You're doing the old confirmation bias thing and you're on my team. So like I, I'm not, I don't disagree with you. Crenshaw sucks. He's the worst. Tucker's awesome. But this was not a real threat or a call to violence. Like, let's not, let's not be children about this. Let's not be Rachel Maddow about this situation here, okay? Let's grow up. That's not what it is. Tucker Carlson's response was perfect. He goes, why don't you come sit for a one on one interview? I'll send you my address. There you go. That's the perfect thing. Because first of all, Dan Crenshaw isn't doing anything to anybody. Is like, he can play this Mr. Tough Guy bullshit or whatever. But the truth is that Dan Crenshaw just got invited on the biggest, second biggest show in the world to go sit down and make your. And if you're a Republican policymaker, probably the biggest show for your target demographic. Um, this is, you know, these are the big, these aren't Joy Reid numbers talking about millions and millions of people watching this show. And you're invited to come on and make your case. And he won't because he knows Tucker would humiliate him. Like absolutely body him the same way he did, you know. What's, what's Mike Pence doing politically? Oh, nothing, since Tucker fucking bodied him. So what do you want to do? Go on the Tucker show and then go the way of Mike Pence? He'll end your political career if you go on that show. So literally now you're out there, you know, like saying you're going to kill the guy and you just look like the biggest pussy in the world because you're scared to have a conversation with him, by the way. Not the only person he's scared to have a conversation with. But that's another story for another day anyway. Yeah, I don't know what, I guess we could transition from that into the Ukraine stuff because it does certainly seem like Tucker Carlson and the, the more non interventionist wing which we would both fall into does. It does seem like we are kind of winning the day on this evening, you know, as is always kind of the case. Right, Rob? I think this is true with almost every issue. I think almost Every issue over this show since me and you have been doing the show together that you would say was like a major focus of ours, we almost always get vindicated on it. I actually say always on the major ones. And even now I just see, you know, because I did a lot of these Ukraine debates over the last couple years. And even now I see the tone has totally changed. Like, even when I'm arguing with other people on the other side, everybody's. Nobody's saying that we have to fund them forever. Ukraine will win. Ukrainians just want to fight. We're going to take back Crimea. No one's saying any of this shit anymore. It's like the conversation has just turned in our favor. And as is the case often with these things is just because the reality on the ground is just at a certain point, it's kind of undeniable. You know, this is ultimately what broke the COVID discussion. It wasn't that our arguments were just so good that we persuaded everybody. It was really Omicron. Omicron did what none of us could do. And it was just that it tore through and infected the vaccinated and unvaccinated alike. And it was so contagious and so everywhere that no one could pretend that any of these measures had been successful or that it was just like the whole thing fell apart under the weight of its own bullshit. And the same thing is happening in Ukraine right now. You know, they. In order to. And this is pretty unanimously agreed upon now by almost all the top military people that in order to expel Russia from Ukraine, even Europe couldn't do it. Like, it would take the 82nd Airborne. Like that's what we'd have to do. We'd have to go World War II style into Ukraine to fucking kick. And America could do that. Like, we probably are the only ones who could do it. But nobody actually believes, like nobody thinks we're. There is just no way that there is support at all in America to go to war with the biggest nuclear superpower in the history of the world, to risk our own kids lives to make sure that Luhansk doesn't fall under the control of Moscow, because Luhansk must be ruled by Kiev. Nobody's on board with that. And so there. Dan Crenshaw has. And the other Warhawks have just kind of lost this argument.
- [39:26]
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
And much like Covid, the people that were telling us that this was winnable and they just needed our support, they should be held accountable because a lot of people lost their lives for absolutely no reason.
- [39:37]
Dave Smith
Yeah.
- [39:38]
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
And now, as we find out that some of the territories on the border, I guess, were rich mining areas, the whole thing seems even dumber to have risked.
- [39:45]
Dave Smith
Yeah, yeah, no, that's. That's exactly right.
- [39:48]
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
The. The thing I'm most curious to see is what exactly is the nature of this precious metals agreement that Donald Trump is pushing for? Because if we're ending the war and Ukraine's going to have to give up territory for the war being over, and part of ending the war is that Ukraine's giving up territory and they will not be joining NATO. It seems overly punitive for us to demand that as a part of the war we also get mineral rights. What I'm confused on is, I guess maybe if all of the resources that were given to them was only supposed to be alone and they just had a bad bet on Biden that it wasn't going to be recalled, and now you got a new administration, and that perhaps that is a warning to future regimes of siding with America or trying to go with bad policymakers. It's interesting because it's like, it seems overly punitive and not fair, but is it not fair in that it's good because it's a warning not to work with the United States of America, or does it become a problem? Kind of like the Gaddafi nuclear thing where he actually did work with us and now we'll never get someone else to disarm again because then we threw him under the bus. So in terms of just the fear of. Of America looking weak, I don't know. And I. These are not really my concerns, but I'm just saying for everyone that said, hey, we have to defend the red line in Ukraine, because if Putin thinks he can expand, then China's gonna go Taiwan, and we look weak, and that's bad for the world order, so we have to defend borders. What is this new situation if now we're really the bad guy and we talked Ukraine into the war, we backed them. We didn't let them step out of it. When we send Boris Johnson over there, and now afterwards, we're like. And you owe us. You owe us half of your country's future wealth. That's crazy.
- [41:38]
Dave Smith
Yeah, yeah, it's. It's. I said the other day on the show, I think it was the one where you weren't on, but I said, it's like, it's gangster shit. You know, it's just a pure shakedown. And of course, you know, that's. You know, this is the nature of governments. This is what they do. I think the thing that people like about Donald Trump is that he's at least doing gangster shit in his own mind of like, what's in the interest of our country. But I agree, I mean, look, it's just, look, Donald Trump, I was mentioning this to you before the show, but.
- [42:08]
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
But that's the thing. I don't know if it's in our interest to let everyone know we're bad partners because no, I.
- [42:13]
Dave Smith
Under the bus. Yes, there's, there's also a strong argument.
- [42:17]
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
That we're good partners, but if you're partnering with our deep state, they're going to throw you under the bus and the line to you. But I don't know if that, I.
- [42:23]
Dave Smith
Agree with you that it's quite possibly in our short term interest, but not in our long term interest to just get some minerals but then nakedly be seen as, you know, like doing this gangster shit. I do think that there's, you know, so I had, I mentioned this to you. I'll quickly tell the story. But so I had like my high school English teacher who I liked, he was a good guy and he was one of my few teachers who I liked in high school. And he recently, just the other day, tagged me on Facebook and. Which I don't even use anymore. I happened to just go on it and I saw there was like, oh, shit, Mr. Shelton. So he, he wrote, and it was, it was a New York Times piece, an interview with Bret Stephens, who I, you know, it's just like the absolute worst. And he was like, oh, this is really interesting. I'm curious your thoughts, Dave. And it was Bret Stephens saying that, you know, Donald Trump is transforming us into a predator state and he likes the dictator rather than liking the guy defending democracy. And you know, I was just, it was like, he's a liberal, I think, and everybody commenting on his page was a liberal. And it's like you're almost trying to go like, like I tried to approach it the right way where I was like, okay, look, first off, here's who Bret Stevens is, okay? This is neoconservative Bret Stephens, okay? Like the neoconservative label ought to tell you liberals, you don't have to be on his side. You know what I mean? Like, and, and I said, I mentioned in there because I'm always, you know, try to attack the left from the left type thing. I was like, you remember when Obama made fun of Mitt Romney for saying Russia is our biggest enemy? He was right. Mitt Romney was wrong. Why do you have to Support the Cold War. You're fucking liberals. Like this, literally. Brett Stevens wrote, I'm not making this up. Two years ago, on the 20 year anniversary of the war in Iraq, Bret Stevens wrote a piece for the New York Times and it was titled something like why I Was Right to Cheerlead the war in Iraq. And in his piece makes no mention of the million people who got killed in the thing. He just said, well, Saddam was a bad dictator and that bad dictator ain't there anymore. So no, I don't regret being against that bad dictator. No mention of the, the young men who enlisted and went and fought there. By the way, Brett Stevens was a pretty young guy when this happened and he wasn't amongst them. Would you believe it? The young men who went over there whose lives are ruined now. You know, forget the ones just who committed suicide, but the ones who are like double amputees or just are horribly depressed and can't unsee the, that they did over there. All that. No mention of any of that, no mention any of the costs. And that guy's gonna tell you that ending a war makes us a predator nation. Because Donald Trump is saying some nice things about Putin on the way there. And like, you know, there was a lot. I was on Piers Morgan the other day and they were making a lot over this, this UN resolution, there's like a UN resolution to condemn Russia. And the US Vote didn't vote for it. And they're all going, oh my God. You don't see, like on Piers Morgan, the panel, he loves authoritarians or something. And you're like, guys, why, what's to be gained? He's trying to negotiate a peace with this guy. What, you just want him to call out, come out and call him mean names? And like, I'm not even saying, look, obviously Donald Trump was the art of the deal. And in business he's known as like this negotiator that doesn't always work out the same way in, in government. And I think he, he's failed at several negotiations in his first term. And I don't think, I don't think the way he's talking about Gaza is a good negotiating strategy. But like, come on, it would just be so stupid for Donald Trump at this point to just Putin off for no reason. Like what? It's pure virtue signaling just to say he's a dictator. I condemn what he did. We're trying to end a war here. It's just insane that people think this way, you know?
- [46:27]
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
Yeah. And just condemn Biden for getting Everyone into this mess for absolutely no reason.
- [46:33]
Dave Smith
All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is Monetary Metals. I've been telling you guys about this company for a while. I love these guys, great people who. Who work there, and they're really revolutionizing the precious metals space. There's a better way to own gold and silver now, and that is with Monetary Metals, because you're not just owning gold, you're not just owning silver. You're owning precious metals that work for you, and they generate interest in gold and silver paid in gold and silver. For the last eight years, Monetary Metals has been paying clients between 2 to 5% on their physical gold and silver holdings, all while enjoying free storage and insurance. So, straight up, if you're just collecting fees for storing your gold or silver, you're doing it all wrong. Go to Monetary Metals. You don't have to pay those fees. Plus you get interest in gold and silver, so you're increasing your total ounces over time. Check them out at monetary-metals.com to learn more about putting your precious metals to work today. That's Monetary Dash Metals. All right, let's get back into the show. Well, that's really the issue. You know, the issue is he. So, you know, as far as I can tell on this, and this is what I said to my former English teacher that I was like, look like Brett Stevens making this big thing out of. Why he's. You know how he's talking shit to Zelensky and he's saying, oh, this is because Donald Trump wants to transform us from this nation that supports democracy to a nation that supports dictatorship or whatever. And it's like, no, no. Zelensky pissed him off. Zelinsky. It's been pretty widely reported and has been said, I think, by the people in the meeting. I think it was. I think if I'm not. If I'm remembering this correctly, I think it was Hegseth and Rubio met with Zelensky, and then he came out in the Ukrainian press and like, totally misrepresented, at least they claim misrepresented what was said in the. In the media. And he was somewhat. He was critical of Donald Trump in the Ukrainian media. And Donald Trump being the pettiest human being who's ever lived is like, what he's. He does what he always does, and he starts talking like, that's how Donald Trump is now. Wanna listen? It's not the best quality in Donald Trump. One of the better qualities about Donald Trump is that he'll move on from that shit immediately if there's a deal to be made. Like, it doesn't matter what he said to you or what you say to him. If you can do business after that, he's totally fine to do business. But if anybody. He has. He has the fragilest of egos, and he. Yeah, if you talk shit about him, he's gonna come up with a nickname for you. That's how Donald Trump works, whether you like it or not. That just is the situation. So look, again, to your point, you know, when he says Zelensky started the war, that is kind of fucked up. Cause it's like, really? Look, there's an argument. But the argument would be, you know, like, look, there's a. There's a very strong argument to just say Vladimir Putin started the war. Vladimir Putin invaded the country. And there's. You know, I don't even. You know, I've seen different figures about the war and how many people have died and the ratio of Russians to Ukrainians. But I think it's. It's pretty much. There's a consensus that it's. It's in the hundreds of thousands of people and probably high hundreds of thousands at this point. And Vladimir Putin did that. You know, he decided to take it to the level of invading. And in Scott's book, he has a chapter on, like, what the other options are that he could have done other than invade the country. And I do think that Scott's right about it. Like, it's not. It's not justified what he did. But you really could argue that the Obama administration started the war in 2014. I mean, that. I don't think there's an argument that Zelensky started the war. I mean, yes, you could say he didn't implement the Minsk Agreements or what, whatever. And yes, he was. He. You could blame him for the part of the Civil war that he was responsible for. But look, like. I mean, I know I've said this before. I'm sure I'll say it again, but. And I said this the other day on Piers Morgan show, too. And also, they had, like, a general who I was not familiar with. There's a general was on the show. He totally backed me up on this, which I was not. I was thinking, oh, I'm going to have to debate this general guy, which is always a little intimidating because, you know, they're just like. Like, you know, I'm a podcaster and he's a goddamn general in the military. But then he totally backed me up. On it. And I was just like, look, what do you. And I just said the old thing. I go, look, just game this out. What would we do? What would America do if China said they were gonna bring Mexico into their military alliance? And then we were very concerned about that. And then the President of Mexico decided he wasn't going to do a deal? Like as China's saying, they're going to bring him into their military alliance, they're also floating out in economic partnership. And then the president of Mexico goes, now, you know what? I'm not going to join this partnership, this economic partnership with China. I'm going to join an economic partnership with our neighbor, the United States of America. And then China pumped tens of millions of dollars into a protest movement against that president, democratically elected and got him overthrown from power. And then the new guy joined that deal with that. Like, what would we do? And if you don't think that Washington D.C. would invade that country in a second, there is simply no way that we would ever tolerate that. And in fact, that's what got America into World War I, was that they said they not it wasn't even ever going to happen, but they said Mexico was going to join in with airlines. And we went, okay, well then total war then that's our response to that. And what was Jack Kennedy's response to them putting nuclear weapons in Cuba? He, he said, I'm treating that as a nuclear attack on the United States of America, meaning I will blow up the world. Like, and I'll tell you, I don't know too many people, even real non interventionist libertarian types, which are the circles I swim in. I don't know too many people who think Jack Kennedy was wrong to say that. To say that like, no, no, we cannot tolerate nuclear weapons in Cuba pointed at America. I mean, you know how fucking close Cuba is to us. Like we were there when we were just down in Key West. Right there. Yeah, we're right there. Like it's just right there. People raft over from Cuba, kind of nuclear weapons pointed at you from there. It's a knife to your throat. Which is, I think was a line Putin said about the, about military hardware in Poland. So this is like a knife to our throat and that's in Poland. Ukraine is closer, you know. So again, I think the Donald Trump shit talking Zelensky I think is personal and doesn't really add much to the negotiating. But I think saying nice things about Vladimir Putin is like, that's just a smart negotiating tactic right now. People can have a problem with it if they want to. But I don't see what, you know, it's like in, in D.C. it's just forever. Wars never make you, that never turns you into a predator state, but yet as soon as somebody actually looks like they're going to end one, that's when all these people start attacking. Is the most upside down demonic, like.
- [54:02]
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
Thinking, yeah, I haven't seen or I don't think the full details on it are available. At first it seemed to me that perhaps we were going to continue to back war, but we were saying we want mineral rights in return for backing. Now it sounds like, no, war's over and we still want the mineral rights, which either sounds punitive or perhaps Donald Trump has some different play in mind, which is specifically to get Zelensky out and then maybe cut a better deal with somebody else. But I also don't understand the security guarantee. So they're not going to be part of NATO, but the US Is going to be more invested in the country and Putin's going to be okay with that. And I don't understand how you don't end up with essentially the relationship we have with Taiwan, with the semiconductors, where we've stupidly rely on the semiconductors there. But we're not actually, we're not, we don't actually have the ability to defend.
- [54:53]
Dave Smith
Right.
- [54:54]
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
So why would we have this strategic asset there? So on the same note, if we're not actually going to go to war with Russia over strategic asset in Ukraine of minerals, then firstly, it's not a guarantee. And then it's dumb to be relying on that or cultivating it as a strategic asset.
- [55:09]
Dave Smith
Look, I mean, I can't say anything other than it's just gangster shit. I mean, that's, you're right that that's how the Trump administration is trying to sell it to Ukraine. They're trying to sell like, well, hey, if we're very invested in you because you give us your minerals, then, well, then we'd have an interest in Vladimir Putin not coming in and invading. But at the same time, we're saying you can't join NATO, we can't give you security guarantees. So in other words, it's just like, give us your shit and then we'll be incentivized to protect you. We're not going to protect you. Yeah, it's. And look, I mean, I just, I also do think this is, this is my view of the situation is that I think that like the people of Ukraine, you know, forget their criminal government and Forget the Russian criminal government and our criminal government for a minute, but the people of Ukraine have been real victims of all three of these criminal organizations. Like the worst victims of this whole thing have been. The people of Ukraine have lost their fucking country. It's been destroyed. Many of the women and children fled at the very beginning, and many of the men were not allowed to. It's unbelievable, too. It reminds me of the stuff with all these wars. It's always like, you know, I bring this up now almost every time I'm on Piers Morgan, because the topics I almost always end up talking about either Ukraine or Gaza when I'm on there, and I will. I'll make a point to just bring up how, you know, all the talking points that I was arguing last year on this have all been abandoned. You know what I mean? Like, all the stuff I had to argue for. Like, remember, Pierce, eight months ago, 10 months ago, when I was doing this? And this was the thing I had to argue, you know, the. The Gaza health ministry is inflating the numbers. You don't hear that too much anymore, because all you got to do is look at the drone footage of Gaza and be like, no, I don't think they are. I don't think. I don't think they are at all. And all this like, oh, Hamas uses them as human shields or something like that. All of it. All of it. That's when you look at a picture of. Of southern Gaza and there's nothing. And every single building has been destroyed. What are you telling me Hamas had. Israel estimated that Hamas had, like, I think 40,000 fighters at the beginning of the war. So, like, how. Just do the math here with me. There was a Hamas, you know, cell in every single one of these buildings. I don't think so. And so anyway, but with. In. In Ukraine, it's like the. The talking points, they've all just been abandoned. Like, no one's even arguing this stuff that they were arguing a couple of years ago. I've just totally brain farted. I had a specific one in mind. Maybe it'll come back to me. But it's just. It's like the way these things always go. It's the way they always go. And the whole time, the cheerleaders are like, oh, it's. You know, this is how it's gonna go. They give you the. The picture. You know, how many times did Biden and his. His surrogates tell us that Ukraine was going to win and that they were, and it was all bullshit the entire time Anyway, the point I was making was that. Oh, yeah, here. Here was the example I got it back, was that. I just remember this was the most popular talking point at the beginning of the war, that Ukrainians want to fight. They want to fight. Believe me, they. They want to fight this war. And I would always. Just because it's the most basic libertarian insight of all, I'd be like, well, then why are they fighting with a conscripted army? You know, like, if they want to fight so much, how come There's. I mean, it's just like, very basic. Like, if I put a gun to your head and I say, like, come, come with me. We're going for a drive. And then I say to everybody else, no, he really wants to come for a drive with me. It's like, okay, well, in that case, put the gun down, and we'll figure out if he really wants to come or not. The Ukrainians there, I think they was, the number, I think there was over 100,000 people who were charged with desertion. You know, it's like, oh, they didn't seem to want to fight, you know, and those are the ones who did it, despite it being illegal. Make it illegal. Make it legal. Tomorrow we'll find out how bad Ukrainians want to fight, you know, it's real, isn't it? Something, isn't there? Something so goddamn hilarious about the west writing a blank check to Ukraine, pouring in hundreds of billions of dollars and the country drafting them and forcing them to fight. And then you go, no, these people want to fight. You're like, do they? Do they really? I don't know about that. Anyway, all these guys, they got hundreds of thousands of people killed, and they have absolutely nothing to show for it. Nothing. It's really tragic. Hopefully there, you know, there's a piece can be worked out soon, and at least the killing will stop, as Donald Trump said.
- [60:00]
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
And just to speak to the stupidity of the Biden administration, the whole idea was we need to enforce country lines because if not, we showcase American weakness and we live in a more unjust world. So I guess our inability to do so now proves that to be true. And that's on the Biden administration.
- [60:19]
Dave Smith
Yep. No, that's right. And then always with you know, references to World War II, as is always the case, you know, and then that, by the way, that's where I lost the general. He was agreeing with me about the Russian of shit. But then it came to Gaza, you know, and I was talking about how horrible it is, and he was like, well, I Mean, after, you know, we killed a lot of people in World War II. It's like, it's always what they go to. But it's, you know, all this stuff about how he's going to move on Poland and he's going to, he's going to reconstitute the Soviet Union. It's just all total bullshit, just completely made up. And that's the other thing, which is, you know, Glenn Greenwald actually with Dan Crenshaw. I don't know if you saw that they debated on Piers Morgan the other day. But you know, he, he called him out and it was so great. And Crenshaw just had nothing to say to it. But he goes, because Crenshaw does the thing that they always do where they go, he says the thing goes, Russia is a third rate country. You know, a gas station with nukes or whatever they always call him. And then Glenn Greenwald goes like, okay, well, I mean, which one is it? You know, is he this puny little weak country or is he about to reconstitute the Soviet Union and take over half of Europe? Because it's, I just don't know. Look, one of the major things that did come out of this war is if you remember back there was, it was in one of the Bill Burns memos. I don't think it was the yet means yet one. I think it was one of the other ones that got, that got leaked. But Vladimir Putin had said his famous line was I could be in Kiev in a week, you know, like he was. And I think this was. And in fact, Scott's got it in the book. I can't remember it off the top of my head, but there were like colonels in the military who were already talking about an insurgency in the first month of the war when Vladimir Putin first invaded. So they were talking about us backing an insurgency. In other words, they expected Ukraine to fall and then it would just be an insurgency that was fighting against Vladimir Putin that didn't end up happening. Ukraine did much better in this war than I would have predicted they would have done. Now, of course, that is very related to the fact that they had a blank check from the entire Western world. I mean, that, that Vladimir Putin quite possibly would have been right, absent the hundreds of billions of dollars that poured in from the West. Right. Like if it was just a one on one fight, maybe he would have been in Kiev in a week. Also the fact that from 2014 to 2022, Naito was doing joint military exercises with the Ukrainian military and perhaps that Got them a little bit in better shape. But regardless of that, I just don't even know how anybody. Like, how, how does this talking point even work anymore? He couldn't even. Like, he fought for years in Ukraine and was able to take some pieces of the thing, but not even control the entire country. Where do you get from that that then he's going to launch a war with Poland and take on all of NATO.
- [63:24]
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
Now, I don't want to give Putin too much credit here, and maybe this is just my lack of actual foreign policy information. It's a little bit unclear if it was more of a siege than it was.
- [63:36]
Dave Smith
No, look, that's a fair point, too. It's not clear that the Russians wanted to take all of Ukraine. So that's. That's a fair point to make as well. But regardless, they still have fought and lost a lot of people, and this has not been an easy war for them. The idea that they're reconstituting the Soviet Union is just. This is a. This is like a neocon wet dream of this being a real threat. So we're justified to fight this war. All bullshit. All right, we got to wrap up there. Thank you guys very much, as always, for listening. Comicdavesmith.com Go check out Run your mouth if you have not already Rob's other fantastic podcast. Anything else you want to plug, Rob?
- [64:14]
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
Sorry, date is coming soon. I got to actually take some Adderall and get that done. But shoot me emails robsnewsroom@gmail.com. if I haven't responded yet, it's because I haven't taken my Adderall.
- [64:23]
Dave Smith
Shoot Rob an email. Maybe even shoot him an Adderall. Okay, the other thing I wanted to mention, I forgot to mention before, is that Natalie just created the Part of the Problem Clips channel. Brand new YouTube channel for shorter clips. So please, if you guys can go subscribe to that YouTube channel, help us out over there, that would be really great. It's. What is it called again? Natalie? Part of the Problem Clips. What a great name. What a great name for the Part of the Problem Clips Channel. There you go at Part of the problem clips on YouTube. Go check that out. All right, thank you, guys. See you tomorrow. Peace.