Robbie the Fire Bernstein (7:26)

You know, my experience with Rumble is, listen, there's some great content over there, particularly Glenn Greenwald and there's some other exclusive content over there. I've personally found Rumble very difficult to navigate, which includes when I was posting my content over there, I couldn't search and find my own content. So Rumble has some. I mean, I'm not on the site too often. Sometimes it does have that old YouTube feel where it's throwing information at me that I'm more interested in than what I might be seeing in the YouTube algorithms. But its search function is pretty terrible. And I don't know, I literally don't know if our show is still there or not.

Dave Smith (8:02)

Listen, I, there's no question in my experience, I would say that the, like, the user Friendliness of YouTube is just like. And maybe it's just that that's what I'm used to, but that it is the best in my opinion. But Rumble, you know, we did start a channel. I think we're still over there. If not, I'm going to make sure we continue to be or we go back to posting the episodes there because we should. And I do want to do, you know, what I can to support the platforms that I, that I appreciate, you know, remaining free speech platforms. However, I'll just say, even though we've, we've posted many of our shows at Rumble, we're not like exclusive to Rumble and we have a much bigger channel on YouTube than we do over there.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (8:43)

I mean, yeah, not only are the episodes there, but the Trust, the science got 108,000 views on Rumble alone. So.

Dave Smith (8:49)

Wait, is that true?

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (8:51)

Yeah, according. I mean, the last episode I'm seeing is the Hunter Harden Park. Yeah, I mean, we're there and things are getting a pretty decent amount of views. So I still corrected.

Dave Smith (9:05)

So we stand corrected. We're huge on Rumble. Turns out well, though. Okay, so I. Listen, I confess I have not checked in on the Rumble channel that much I try. You know, we, we wanted. I remember when we first started the channel over there, we were like, yeah, we got to like have a Rumble. You know, just in our own interest as. Because it's like, oh, if we get banned off Other places we can go there. But also, you know, it's, you kind of feel like there are, at least there are a lot of people who take the position. I've seen this, I'm sure you've seen this on social media a bunch, Rob, where if you post something to YouTube, people will go, not supporting YouTube, like, just put it on Rumble and I'll watch it there or like, where. And I understand why people do that. And for those people, you know, I want them to have the option to watch it at one of these sites that is a free speech site. And really I, at least to my knowledge, I think Rumble has been pretty steadfast on that and not buckled and really done a phenomenal job of standing by their, you know, their, their people. Something I value very much. So anyway, let me just say before we even get into the piece, the first point is that you already see the bias, the very blatant bias in calling Rumble a right wing site. Well, they call them the right wing YouTube. And you know, I will say it probably is true. I don't know this for absolute sure, but I think I'm right that the, probably the majority of the big shows on Rumble lean right what would be considered right by most Americans. And so there is, you know, to some extent a plausible, you know, justification there to say, oh, it's a right wing site, but, you know, for a fact that YouTube would never be referred to as a left wing site if it was brought up in the New York Times like that. It would just be YouTube, you know. And so the interesting dynamic and why it's, you know, how Michael Malice says, like the corporate press is often factual but not truthful. And it's not exactly that this is factual. I'm just saying there's, there's an argument to be made on kind of the surface level that it's a right wing site, but the way in which that's factual but not truthful is that, you know, like, what is Rumble? What is the first thing you would describe it as? What's what? We all know, everybody in this space knows that the thing about Rumble, why would the right, why were the right wingers even going to Rumble to begin with? Was because you don't get kicked off there, right? So that's why these, these people went there. It's not as if nobody, there was never any other even plausible reason. If anybody in this space, everyone knows, left, right, just anyone paying attention to this world knows that the reason people went to rumble over YouTube was never anything else. It Wasn't like, oh, they have a bigger audience there or they have, you know, I don't know, it's easier. Or there was no other advantage. The whole thing was that for a while YouTube would just kick you off, or at least you were always at risk of that. And so do you get my point, Rob, where it's like to describe it as a right wing site when you wouldn't describe YouTube as a left wing site when the dynamic at work here, even if some of the big shows there are right wing, the dynamic here is that you have one group that's kicking the right wingers off and the other group going, we won't kick anyone off yet. The one who won't kick anyone off gets labeled as like having a bias and the one who's actively kicking off one side gets labeled as neutral. So you see, like, isn't that a perfect example of how they're like, factual but not truthful? And I'm stretching factual a little bit, but you get my point. Like, it's not exactly a lie what they're saying, but the framing of it totally puts like a 180 degree false spin on the actual dynamic. And this is, anybody who pays attention to this world knows it. Right? And that's, that's one of the interesting things. It's like where they still already just in the title. Every time the corporate media acknowledges this world, this world of Internet shows about politics, they can never actually deal with what it is. Like, they can never just because they just have to like make it this false framing. But the problem is that everyone in this world knows what's up. No one here doesn't know why people went to Rumble. This isn't a mystery to anybody. It's not because, oh, that's where the right wing audience was or you know what I'm saying, Like, this isn't like a thing like Fox News that you go there because that's where the right wing audience says Rumble was. You go there because you won't get kicked off. You'll be able to say what you want to say. And if in that environment more right wingers flourish than left wingers, well, that. What does that tell you? I mean, something. And also the other thing, I guess I should add is that like Glenn Greenwald and Russell Brand, I think has a huge show over there and these guys are just in no way right wingers. And they do and they have succeeded over there. So that kind of tells you like, oh, that's the type of left winger who can survive in this world, the ones who are honest and talk about the real corruption that's going on. Anyway, if there's anything you want to add to that, I'm just. It's amazing how there's so much to rant about, which I think is a justified rant just off the title of this piece.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (15:04)

I'm with you. That even the framing has spin.

Dave Smith (15:07)

Yep. Okay, now this again is. We're not even getting to the article. Imagine me reading this on the plane. Rob, we haven't even gotten to the first sentence of the article. I'm still. And let me explain. We're not going to get to that first sentence for a little while over this next line. That's the title trade. I traded my news app for Rumble, the right wing YouTube. Here's what I saw by Stuart A. Thompson. Stuart Thompson has monitored right wing Media since 2020. He watched 47 hours of video on Rumble for this article.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (15:52)

It's a pretty good amount of time of sitting around, watching, just watching stuff.

Dave Smith (15:56)

Well, dude, I just want to say, though, it's really not. And it's. It's. You know, there's something where the thing that I thought of, I guess that's.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (16:05)

10 podcasts or 20 podcasts. I guess you're kind of right. That's one week of casual podcast listening. For some people.

Dave Smith (16:11)

You. Well, that's the point. It goes, oh, congratulations, You've. You've. You're the newest guy consuming this world's content, and now you're in the position to write a piece for the New York Times. You know, the thing I thought about, it's like, okay, if you remember, you remember when Sam Harris called me out and Sam Harris's dig on me, which I said at the time, not entirely unfair, you know, not entirely unfair of him, but his dig is, who the hell is this Dave Smith guy? Like, I'm supposed to listen to him like he's fucking Henry Kissinger or something like that now, you know, forget the Kissinger example. You can kind of get what Sam Harris is saying there, right? Because like, what is this? A comedian who just, like, says he reads about this stuff, gets to come on the Joe Rogan podcast, the biggest show, and, like, break down the history of Ukraine or the history of Israel, Palestine, like, what? There should be, like, an expert who does that now. Okay, If I'm being completely honest about this here, I do lay that shit down, though, when I'm on Rogan. Like, I do. It is pretty great. But anyway, I get his point there. I get that. But the thing is that there's two like outrages happening here. Like Sam Harris is right, I shouldn't be the guy doing this. None of this should be nothing that's happening. If you haven't noticed that at least in the last four years of America, nothing that's happening here is right. None of this is the way it's supposed to be. Okay? But the thing is there's two scandals going on here, right? One, one scandal is that, is that, oh my God, people are getting their news from fucking comedians. This is insane. All right? I'll grant you that. That's one issue. But then there's this other issue on the other side, which wouldn't you think if you recognize both of these issues, that this second one I'm going to lay down is a little bit more of an important one than that one. If your concern is the experts and your concern is the expert class, the New York Times, the newspaper of record, the newspaper that is, according to every powerful person, the most important newspaper in the United States of America and thus in the freaking world. Because America is the world empire, ok? So the New York Times, the newspaper of record, is going to report on this phenomenon of how the entire media landscape has changed. And the qualifications for the guy doing this is that for four years he's been paying attention to right wing media. Like listen to Sam Harris's point about me, right? I, I got obsessed with this world in 2007. So that is 17 years, right? Is my math correct on that? 2007 to 2024.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (19:12)

You're grooving, just go with it.

Dave Smith (19:14)

17 years, I think so in the 17 years, I mean, when I first came in, it was the Ron Paul presidential campaign in 2008. I got fascinated with it. I've been obsessed with this world and the things that Ron Paul was talking about then that I was reading every book I could get my hands on about and trying to learn everything I could about. The things he was talking about was like the war on terrorism in the Middle east and the economy and central banking and you know, messes in economics and boom bust theories and all of these things that when you see me, you know, ranting about some shit today, like you see me talking about Syria or Ukraine or the fucking Federal Reserve or whatever, all of the stuff that I talk about, it's shit I've been fucking really paying attention to for like 17 years. And you're right, even with that, that doesn't make me the fucking expert in it. But here you have a guy whose credentials is I've watched this shit for kind of like four years. You don't fucking understand anything at four years, dude. I wasn't doing any of the things you're talking about. I wasn't the guy ranting on Joe Rogan's podcast four years into paying attention to this shit. You know what I mean? Like, I was way, way levels beyond that. And it's not like I. On this show, it's never. The claim has never been that, like, um, we are just so smart, we're just so brilliant that we understand this shit that you can't understand. We. We're not, you know, we're not dummies. Like, we're regular people. A reasonably intelligent people. You meet them all the time. They're all over the place. And for. If a reasonably intelligent person has paid attention to something really thoroughly for 17 years, they're going to have some things to say about that. They're going to have some insights on that. And then I think the real deception is to think that the people at the New York Times or something like that are so much more impressive. They're so much more intelligent, they're so much more professional. They're all. This guy's been paying attention for four years. That's nothing. You're a fucking rookie, kid. You don't know this world. You don't know the dynamics of what you're talking about. You know, how long you have to look into any of these things to really start to get a little bit of understanding of it and then, you know, to say, 47 hours. What? That's what you put in. So again, Rob, like, you're saying to a normal person who listens to a lot of podcasts, that's like a week or two or something, whatever. Let's just say, are you the expert now on all those podcasts you're listening to? You're not the expert on one of them. You don't even know one of them. If, if there's somebody who's a regular listener of any one of those shows and you tried to talk to them about the show, you wouldn't know what you're talking about, right? This is the Dyn. Like, this is Rob. I've. I've been watching baseball for. For 70 hours. I'm like an expert on it now. I'm gonna write a piece on it. It. Doesn't that seem like maybe you should have a little more understanding if you're talking about such an important thing like the collapse of your industry at the New York Times? They're doing a piece about the collapse of the industry that the New York Times is in, and they have a rookie who doesn't know what he's talking about already. I can already tell you before the first sentence, he has no idea what he's talking about. Am I. Am I. Am I missing something here, Rob?

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (22:47)

Well, I think the baseball is a good example, but then sometimes they do write pieces where you'll go to a rodeo, and it's the perspective of a guy who knows nothing about the rodeo who's like, hey, I spent three days at the rodeo. Here's. Here's what the rodeo is like. So I guess it kind of depends on how you're presenting the piece.

Dave Smith (23:08)

Yeah, okay, fair enough. I'm just saying it's in the New York Times, you know, like, this is.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (23:14)

No, but I. It's.

Dave Smith (23:15)

It's.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (23:15)

Point well taken. I can go watch people do jiu jitsu for four days and then go, hey, here's my weekend of watching people do jiu jitsu. But that wouldn't qualify me to do color commentary at the ufc.

Dave Smith (23:26)

I guess more. The point that I'm really trying to make here is that when I rant about the corporate media on, like, some huge show, I'm somebody who's been, like, really in depth, paying attention to them for 17 years. You know, was. I was watching them before that, just, like, not that religiously, but I was, like, aware. You know, we've all, like, seen the news in our lives. So it's just, like, when I talk about them, it's with so much more expertise than when they talk about Glenn Greenwald or whoever the Dan Bongino is. I think one of the biggest shows over there, Charlie Kirk, I think, has a huge show over there. But when they talk about any of those guys, they don't know what they're talking about. So I'm just making that point that, like, almost for people to understand that, like, the Sam Harris objection, there is some merit to it, but it's just only when you focus on that problem and not. How about this, that actually we are coming from a much more educated point of view when we talk about the corporate media than when they talk about us. They just don't know. All right, so let's getting into the article here. As soon as President elect Donald Trump won the presidential race, influencers on Rumble, the right wing alternative to YouTube, flooded the platform with a simple catchphrase, quote, we are the media now. The idea seemed to capture a growing sense that traditional journalists have lost their position at the center of the media ecosystem. Polls show that trust in mainstream news media has plummeted and that nearly half of all young people get their news from quote, influencers rather than journalists. In its place, they argue, are right wing digital creators who have found hordes of fans online. Rumble, for instance, is tiny compared with YouTube, but it is a primary source of news for millions of Americans, according to Pew Research Center. So it's very interesting, as we've pointed out many times to see since the election, the corporate media dealing with this dynamic, mentioning it, it's beyond the point where they can't mention that, oh, we're dying and this other industry is flourishing. You know, you get to a certain point where you can't not admit that, but isn't it crazy that you already know every time you hear it that they will never really deal with the issue, the reasons why this dynamic exists, they will never look into it. It is, Rob. I know I've, I've used like examples before where it's like cheating on your spouse or something like that and they catch you. But it, when I read this, what I, what I think about almost. And I guess because me and you've been doing standup comedy for a long time, but it's like, imagine like if you were, if me and you were talking and I was like, you know, there's a real problem where the crowds don't laugh anymore. You know, isn't that almost the comparison to like the New York Times talking about how people don't trust them anymore? Like, that's the dynamic. It's the same. But as you in the audience, imagine you came to me, Rob, you're like, you know, the problem is like the amount of layoffs I get has been plummeting. And you know, the reason for that is I think somebody's poisoning these people against me or somebody, you know, and like to actually not just have a conversation about this, but to like write a piece and put it out there and not have, you know, the focus be some self reflection, some introspection. What have we done? How have we gotten to this point? You know what I mean, Rob? They never seem to get there. Right. Sorry, where were we here? Okay. On election night, its active viewership we're talking about. Rumble here topped out at more than 2 million. And the company said in a statement that it averaged more than 67 million monthly active users in the final quarter of 2024. So, I mean, in other news, there's a lot of people who watch Rumble. I mean, we checked just earlier in this show and we were kind of surprised to see that a lot of people are watching, are watching Rumble. Then we didn't even realize on our own channel, okay. Dan Bongino, host of the Dan Bongino show, says viewers should follow his program with other Rumble creators in a bid to replace mainstream media. If Rumble was the media now, I wondered, what would it be like to consume an all Rumble diet? So on November 18, about two weeks after the election, I deleted my news app, unsubscribed from all my podcasts, and filtered all my newsletters to the trash. And for the next week, from early morning till late night, I got all my news from Rumble.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (28:34)

That's a very funny time to do that because that's also when you would have had two weeks of admissions of, oh, my God, we've been wrong for two years. In fact, completely removing mainstream media to not parallel with what's going on in another platform, I would think would really remove your ability to see what the accuracy of that other information, like, if you're not comparing it to. You know what I mean? It's. You almost kind of have to compare it to, hey, how is the New York Times showcasing this piece versus how, how are these people breaking it down? Yes, two weeks after the election would have been an excellent time to actually probably see a very similar story on both places.

Dave Smith (29:12)

Yeah, no, this is, that's my whole point, man. It's like something would have been a real, like you'd expect from the New York Times if you're going to tell me, like, yeah, but, you know, you, you guys are just comedians. Like, what the fuck do you know about this shit? You don't have the credentials. But then I'm looking at the New York Times and you're like, wait, so the way you would tackle this wouldn't be like, hey, where were these Rumble influencers? And where was the New York Times on, say, like, the 10 biggest stories of the election? What side of this? What were they saying? What were they saying? What were people interested in this news for? What were people interested in this news? Instead of being anything like that, or having someone, like, why is this so crazy, Rob? Having someone write a piece for the New York Times who actually knows what the fuck they're talking about when it comes to this subject? We are not the only ones. I'm not the only one who would have made the point that, like, no, they're going over to Rumble because they don't censor people. Right? This is not, this is not some brilliant insight that it is. Why is it, if we're just the dumb comedians and they're the respectable ones, why is it that they can't have the standard of just knowing what we know of. Of. Of knowing some basic thing? Why, why can't we expect that the New York Times would have someone write a piece who knows something about this? This. This piece is almost already. The premise of it seems like it should be in Seventeen magazine, you know what I mean? Like, it should be some. Like, I wanted to see what it would be like to have a sleepover for nine straight days. And so I just jumped into it and now I'm in sleepover world and blah, blah, you know what I mean? Like, this is like a silly little puff piece. This shouldn't be running in the serious newspaper. This shouldn't be their take on how. I mean, he just said it right there, right? Like he, in fancy New York Times words said what I said. Your industry is evaporating and this other industry is flourishing. He went, hey, none of these people really trust the, you know, the corporate media anymore. And look, you know, Rumble is pulling in tens of millions of fucking downloads every month, right? That's the. That's the story here. And so we get a Seventeen magazine, like, I don't know. I'm going to dive in for two weeks and tell you what I think. All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is Sheath Underwear. Love this company, love the people who run it, and I love their product. Most of all, Sheath uses moisture wicking technology to create underwear that keeps everything breathable and incredibly comfortable for you downstairs. Sheath Smart underwear comes in a number of different styles, including a brief with a dual pouch that just. It separates everything, keeps them where they're supposed to be. It's a real game changer. I am wearing a pair of sheath underwear right now as we speak. And that's true every time I speak to you because they're the only underwear I own. I say this with full sincerity. The most comfortable pair of boxer briefs I have ever worn in my life. And right now, you can get your new favorite pair of underwear by going to sheath underwear.com and use the promo code PROBLEM20 for 20% off your order. That sheath underwear.com promo code PROBLEM 20 for 20% off your order. All right, let's get back into the show.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (32:22)

This does feel like puff piece. The second you said that, I got rid of everything. It feels like puff piece template of.

Dave Smith (32:29)

Yes.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (32:29)

I decided to go see a health and wellness. I went to a health and wellness retreat. So the first thing I did is I got all the junk food out of my apartment. And now I get to experience what is being on this health diet for a week. Actually feel like this is that classic campaign.

Dave Smith (32:43)

I decided I'm going to move on from Dylan. So I threw out all his stuff and all the pictures we had together, and I was just living a Dylan free life, or that's literally what it sounds like. There's nothing serious about this. And after the two paragraphs, again, we're dying. They're flourishing. You would think that would take, like, some seriousness to follow it. Not this nonsense.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (33:07)

Okay, start. Does he slowly start getting one over? He was like, these people seem a lot more masculine and they talk about eating meat. And I started eating meat and wow, I felt better, too. Now I'm thinking about shooting guns and drinking beers and actually hanging out with all those friends. And I was calling a racist thing.

Dave Smith (33:23)

This goes. The end of this article is he just gets cool.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (33:25)

Yeah.

Dave Smith (33:26)

That's all that happens. Anyway. Yeah, I just made. I'm actually a cool dude now. All right, let's go back to the piece I started by visiting Rumble's homepage on Monday morning where I saw my first recommended video. It was about the risk of nuclear war with an AI generated photo of President Biden laughing maniacally above a headline that read, World War 3 incoming question mark, Biden authorizes strike on Russia ahead of Trump taking office. So that's the first, like, piece of news that he points to.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (34:01)

And again, headline packs a punch.

Dave Smith (34:05)

Yes. Well, well, look, there's. I don't know the piece. I have not read it. I believe there is a link in the article. I believe, but I have not jumped into. I don't know if I'd agree with the argument or not that's being made in the piece, but there is just on. It's on the face of the title that they're putting again, they're still so clueless when trying to deal with this world that they think that title is damning. They think that title is like, it's World War three. Incoming question mark. Biden authorizes strikes on Russia ahead of Trump taking office. Dude, the store, that right there, the headline, nothing to disagree with. That sounds great. Yeah. That's a huge story. And it's worth making the question after. Donald Trump has been running and campaigning on ending the war, stopping the killing, negotiating a deal, while Biden for four years now has been all in on the war. And then after Trump wins the election, Biden decides to approve strikes deep within Russia with US Weapons, which all reports on the ground indicate can only be operated by, like, either NATO or the US but, yeah, that's a huge story. Why wouldn't that be right up there? And how would your takeaway from that not be like, oh, yeah, maybe we should be covering it that way? All right. Rumble was once an obscure video platform featuring mostly viral cat videos. Founded in 2013 by a Canadian entrepreneur, it was designed as a home for independent censors who felt crowded out on YouTube. Independent. I'm sorry, independent creators who felt crowded out on YouTube. But the platform took a hard right turn around the time of the capitol riots on January 6, 2021. So they say in 2021, when social networks and YouTube cracked down on users who violated their rules. Now, I just want to already say this is. So this is where they finally get to addressing, you know, at least kind of, that there was some censorship out there. And I guess that is part of the story.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (36:10)

The birth of the censorship. It would have been. Nope. Stuff. Oh, that does not sound accurate, Rob.

Dave Smith (36:15)

We are not going to let him rewrite history like that, dude. That is not what happened. No, it is not. Yes, there were some people who got kicked off after January 6th, but that was just how it was back then. Anytime there was, like, a big thing, they'd use it to kick some more people off. But I'm sorry, the year. The whole year of 2020. Okay, January 6th was in 2021. And the entire year of 2020 was a mass censorship spree. And it didn't start then. The wave really started back in, like, 2017. It was right after Donald Trump got elected the first time, after they hauled the big executives in. That's when it happened. We remember, Rob. Me and you were there.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (36:59)

Yeah, that sounds. I mean, if you're going to write an expert piece and say that people ditch the platform because of censorship over January six, that just you're. That you're neglecting the entire Covid story.

Dave Smith (37:10)

And you're obviously, again, just trying to, like, kind of you're doing this thing. It's like if the tactic doesn't work, so you're just going to write and do another piece where you're like, we're going to frame it as this. It's like, oh, yeah, you remember. Hey, reader, you remember those January 6th people? Well, that's who went over there. And it's like, that's just not true, man. That's not like that's. That's not what actually describes the dynamic of what happened with Rumble.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (37:36)

Also, Covid is a little bit like anti war and that. That should not be a right wing talking point. It's almost a shame on the classic liberals that they took the side of government authority and censorship because of this, you know, that this, this virus we're all going to die from. I'm just saying that there's no reason why that should be considered a core conservative issue.

Dave Smith (37:58)

Oh, no, it's the idea. And that's part of why they can't frame it that way. Because it's like the idea of if you really get to like, it's not. They're trying to tell you, okay, conservatives.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (38:09)

Took an issue with Big Pharma and it's control over government.

Dave Smith (38:12)

Right, right. It's like they're trying to tell you that the real issue here is like, it's right wingers and it's January 6th type people. And we all know, like, that the implied thing here is that what it's. They believe conspiracies, misinformation, they. All of these. But if you just mention that the whole thing again, the whole. It's not this, you know, the way he frames it. Oh, the January six people. And then some of them got censored. Like, some of them got kicked off. It's like, no, the. There was censorship for years and years and years and enough people, you know, many of whom could. I don't think the way the dynamics are right now, I think that Glenn Greenwald probably could have a show on YouTube permanently and just be huge and make lots of money. I don't think he's getting kicked off right now. I don't think all the big shows over there, I don't think any of them are like getting kicked off if they were on YouTube right now. Okay. And like me and you, Rob, we've managed to stay on the platform over the years and lots of good people have the. During. There's certain topics.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (39:22)

Run your mouth. Did not.

Dave Smith (39:23)

Huh?

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (39:24)

Run your mouth. Did not. I mean.

Dave Smith (39:26)

That's right.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (39:27)

I was repeatedly done temporary or long term bans. I never got the channel completely banned, but I had repeated strikes on the channel.

Dave Smith (39:36)

Right, right. Yeah, no question. And a lot of people. Look, there were a lot of topics and there were a lot of things. There's still a lot of topics that you just know you cannot talk about on YouTube that just. You kind of have to stay away from that. There's always been. And right now it's what? It's calmed down a lot. It seems to be one of the better periods of time in recent memory. But there are things you cannot do. And throughout the years, there have been things you really couldn't do, things you could not say, or you would get booted off the platform. And for a lot of people, I think, like Dan Bongino and Glenn Greenwald, and I think a lot of them, they could just do a show on YouTube right now. I don't think they would get kicked off, but I think a lot of them have something in common, even though they have, by the way, the two people I just named, like Glenn Greenwald and Dan Bongino, have radically different politics. Radically different politics. But what both of them have, I think is kind of like, well, I don't even want to be worried that I could get kicked off for saying something, you know, like, I don't want to be. When the big thing happens, when it's January 6th or when it's, you know, whatever, the war in Ukraine breaks out or the COVID vaccine is being pushed, whenever you have the big thing, maybe these guys who have gigantic audiences just want to say, hey, you know what? I'm going to go with the company that says, no matter what I say, you got my back. I have a right to say it. That that in itself is like a big part of the reason why so many of these people went over there, but it's all about that. It's all about the free speech issue. And to the point you were making, Rob, if you admit that it's all about the free speech issue, well then you can't frame it as this fringe right wing issue because free speech is just not a fringe right wing view. It's like you could place it wherever you want to on the political spectrum, but that can't be it. It's not a fringe right wing view to believe in free speech in no sense of the like, like philosophically or historically. The far right wing are not the free speech people. Like, that's not what that means. And if you are calling the free speech people far right wing, you probably have something all messed up in your head. Free speech is a, is a liberal value and that, you know what I mean? Like, and always has been. And until the last, like few years. Until the last few years, it's always been like a bedrock liberal value since the term liberal was invented. So anyway, that's why they can't frame it that way. Any other thoughts, Rob?

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (42:21)

No. I'm curious to hear what else this guy gets flagrantly wrong.

Dave Smith (42:25)

All right, let's say, okay, I chose a selection of popular quote news shows to watch along with political content from other areas, like its active conspiracy section, because my experiment. Because my experiment began so soon after Mr. Trump swept to victory on November 5th. I expected many of the videos to feel triumphant. There were a few moments of joy after the hosts of Morning Joe, the MSNBC talk show, visited Mar a Lago. Hosts of rumble shows gleefully mocked them, saying they went to kiss the ring and bend the knee. Clips of NFL athletes doing Mr. Trump's dance moves were a sign. I'm sorry, wear a sign, the Host said that Mr. Trump had. From the clutches of Hollywood liberals. Sorry, one second here. Okay, so, you know, again, the other thing that they do here, which you may have noticed, is that when, when you do these things, they'll, they'll kind of. Already he's talking about how he sees all these things that are kind of like mocking and shitty. And it's like, rob me. And you have watched the corporate media, they also do the same thing, right? I mean, did they not engage in that tactic as well?

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (43:44)

Yeah, turning, turning Joe Rogan green and saying that he's taken horse to armor. I mean, that's just the top example that comes to mind. But I've seen it hundreds of times.

Dave Smith (43:54)

Whatever. It's a.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (43:55)

Do you believe these lunatics is essentially the, the, the characterization on the news.

Dave Smith (44:01)

The, the Rogan one is a great example to mention, but it's all the time. It's like every single show, that's what they do. They look into. They're constantly just saying, like, oh, my God, these. Rita, really, you believe this? You believe Donald Trump? And can you believe there's people out there who actually think they know better than the experts? And all this. That's what the whole, that, that's what all of them do.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (44:27)

So can you believe that people are going to back this criminal Donald Trump, who's been found guilty in all these court cases? And can you believe that they're willing to pretend like our president has dimension? We'll put out deep fakes out of context. Can you believe. What did you just did you see.

Dave Smith (44:43)

Today, Rob, that fucking STEPHANOPOULOS Cost fucking ABC 15 million bucks. You see this shit? They just settled with a fucking over a defamation suit because, and I remember watching it, I think we talked about it on the show because we were saying, like, these guys in the corporate media will literally just say Donald Trump was like convicted of rape or something like that. And you're like, what? No, he fucking wasn't. And it's. And you can't say that. I mean, by our current laws, like, you're not allowed to say that. What do you mean? And it was Stephanopoulos in that interview where he was trying to press that Congress lady. And he just goes, I think he didn't say convicted, but he goes, donald Trump was found civilly guilty of rape. But that's not true. It was like a defamation suit. Like, she somehow argued that he defamed her by denying her allegations. But that's not being convicted of the crime. Right. And like, so anyway, so Donald Trump fucking. He's got $15 million that they had the ABC had to donate to, like, his library or some shit like that. So again, it's always like, and I.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (45:48)

Hope every book in the library is a George Stephanopoulos. He's a piece of shit. How I won $15 million. Like, it's just all, all petty books or it's nothing but the art of the deal. It's an entire section of it.

Dave Smith (46:01)

Yeah, well, I also, like, you know, you just, you get it a lot where people will use these, these standards to smear someone or to smear a group of people where they just, they use these very, you know, these blatantly unfair things where, like, you know, they'll talk about, like, oh, you know, so and so's Twitter followers are known for attacking people, you know, but then, like, they'll never point out that, like, everybody's Twitter followers are known for attacking people. Like, all of them. What does that even mean? Like, that's just how Twitter is. You know what I mean? Like, that's one aspect of Twitter. If you're looking for that, you'll find it very easily on that website. But, like, that's not. But they use it just about you. So they'll point out, like, oh, I saw that. You know, whatever. That's random. Things that aren't. They're not really taking on, like, what Glenn Greenwald is saying, you know, like, you want, you want to do something here, the newspaper of record, take on Glenn Greenwald, take on the arguments that he's making and make a compelling case against it. Instead of just like the constant framing, the constant, like, you know what I mean, Rob? Like, they're writing. It's like they're writing a horror novel or something. They're trying to scare you. We're trying to write in this language that convinces you these are the boogeymen, okay? And by the way, one of the, you know, things is that at least by. By traditional standards. When I say traditional standards, maybe that's not the right term. I mean, by the standards of my lifetime, the way things have been throughout my life, none of those people, whether it's Bongino or Charlie Kirk or Glenn Greenwald, I don't know if I'm. I'm missing like, Russell Brand, I think. I don't know, I'm missing like, who the other big names on Exclusive to Rumble are. But none of those guys, by the standards of my lifetime, are even somewhat radical. They're all like, within, well, within the spectrum of like, just reasonable politics. None of them are like fucking anarchists or communists or fascists or like anything like that. They're all Democrats and Republicans. They're all just kind of have like. Glenn Greenwald is like, economically, like, much more, you know, of a leftist than. Than me or you. And I think he would have the government having a huge, huge role in major industries. But I certainly don't think he's like, he's not trying to have a workers revolution of the people or anything like that. Like, Glenn Greenwald knows enough about like, authoritarianism. He's like, yeah, I don't want to do any of that. I just want to have like, these government programs or something. I think, I think I'm right in saying that. I probably. I'm not 100% about that, but I'm pretty sure that's where he would fall. He's just a moderate. Like, he's not a. I shouldn't say he's a moderate. Like, he's a left wing guy, but he's just. He's with. Well within the realm of like, the political spectrum that was allowable opinion up until the last few years, up until say like 2016, that he was. Yeah, you would always. Everyone in the media would always place him on the left wing as like, well, within the. The normal left wing space of like, yeah, he probably wants a little bit more social services and a lot less war and a lot less spying and a lot less three letter agencies and a lot more free speech. You know, like, that's pretty standard. Um, Dan Bongino is just a Republican. He's just a guy who would have voted for Reagan when he was running, voted for Trump when he was running. But now, I don't mean that as a knock on him. I just mean that's where he falls on the political spectrum. You're not talking about a group of radicals. This isn't a group of far right wing Extremists or something. It's just not true. And that's why they're, you know, that's why they don't want to take on that. The department of Sorry. But their happiness quickly gave way to a relentless outpouring of anger and frustration as they fixated on the cast of perceived enemies to blame for America's troubles, from Democratic politicians to TikTok personalities to Republican adversaries. Just a few hours into the experiment, it was clear that I was falling into an alternative reality fueled almost entirely by outrage. Among the claims I heard. Okay, before we go through these claims again, what he's describing is all media. All media, including the New York Times. Right, Rob? That he's going to say it's fueled by outrage. This you. The entire corporate media was literally telling us that Adolf Hitler is taking over the White House. That's what you were telling us for a full year. Democracy is on the ballot. We now live in a fascist country. And I mean, then you stopped as soon as. We now live in a fascist country, evidently. Am I missing something here, Rob?

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (51:03)

It was like the irony of Kamala Harris saying she was running the JOY campaign and then completely fear mongering and demonizing the other side.

Dave Smith (51:11)

Yeah. I mean, it's like, it's just so wild for them to come over here and go, oh, they have, you know, the thing. It's like James Lindsay describing the woke. Right. And then like the definition is the vaguest thing ever that you could apply to anyone if you wanted to. They think, you know, they think of politics and identity purposes or something. Like, ok, what? It's like the similar thing. This is nothing. You're like. It quickly turned into a relentless outpouring of anger and frustration. Yeah. Are they angry about something that's worth being angry about? What are they angry about? Or they blame other people. Who do they blame? Just saying they're angry. They're angry and they blame others.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (51:56)

That's awesome.

Dave Smith (51:56)

That's everyone. That's everyone making comments about politics.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (52:01)

You're almost just describing the genre of talk radio. It's almost like if you're like this WWF thing where they're all in a ring wrestling with each other. Yeah, that's kind of what it is.

Dave Smith (52:11)

It's on the level of, yeah, I go to rumble and I click on news and everyone's just ranting about politics. Huh. It's just all. Again, all of this is just. It's like fluff and then just framing, all framing. Imagine like, like that was our beef. If, like our Beef with the corporate media. You know, like I said before, and again, this is just objectively true. When I criticize the corporate media, I'm somebody who has, like, just extensively consumed corporate media. Really very, you know, like to a pretty large extent, you know, for at least 17 years. This is somebody who's, who's like a week in to experiencing this world. It's just. That's the reality. And this. But when I'm criticizing the corporate media, as I've been known to do, I'm never criticizing them. It would never be something like, I turn on the corporate media and all right, let's just see what this is about. And oh, they're so angry. And, oh, look, everyone's always pissed off. And then I turn on the far left msnbc and everybody's just so mean and they're always trying to get you scared. It's like whenever we criticize them, it's like, they said this, it was a lie because they knew this then and this then, yet they still told you this then they are lying to you. It's not just this empty framing and fluff. Like, get to the argument. What did someone say that was wrong? All right. Just a few hours into the experiment, it was clear that I was falling into an alternative reality, an alternate reality fueled almost entirely by outrage. Among the claims I heard, some people at think tanks in Washington were, quote, morons and, quote, crazier than any schizophrenic. The Department of Homeland Security was running a sex trafficking operation, a claim apparently based on a misreading of a government report. The report by the Department of Homeland Security's office on the Inspector General indicated that more than 300,000 unaccompanied minors had not received a notice of blah, blah, blah, blah. Okay, so she's claiming that there was a story that was wrong, a story that was wrong that was about a sex trafficking operation in the government. Now, by the way, I'm not saying I'm not up on this story. I'm not saying it's wrong. I'm saying that's essentially the point here. She found a story that was wrong. I mean, like. Or he. I'm sorry, he found a story that was wrong. Anyway, like, we could even wrap up here. But you just. The article goes on, but you understand, like, this is what it is. I feel like you only have to go like that far into the article to just kind of go like, okay, I just see what you're going to do. Cherry pick some bad information here. And, you know, no one no one in the corporate media, including this article. I just do not believe it's. It's like a genuine attempt. Let me say this. It's not that I don't know enough about this particular writer. Maybe he is, like, just really shallow and thinks he made a real attempt to, like, understand this world. But for the New York Times as an organization, for this to be their attempt to grapple with this, it just shows, like, they don't actually want to. They don't actually have any interest in doing it. They just want to frame it as something that they can. Because the truth is, if you wanted to really take it on, it is true that in this new kind of, like, decentralized world, you can get a lot of bad information. Like that is true that you can get articles that are wrong. You'll get. There are bad sources on the Internet. There's a lot of misinformation that much is true. But the thing is that there's also some truth out there. There's also some really good people who really actually like, call out the rampant corruption of the regime that we live under. So there's also some really great stuff out there in the corporate media world. It's, like, all garbage. It's all. It was all garbage. And Tucker Carlson. And then you guys fired Tucker Carlson. So now it's pretty much all garbage. I shouldn't say that there's a few people out there in the corporate media who are actually pretty good, but those people who are pretty good, they all know exactly what I'm saying. And those people, the few people in the corporate media who are good would, like, be clapping when they heard me say it's all garbage. There's just. So, at least in the decentralized world, we have a shot. We have a shot to get some good stuff. And I'm sorry, but Glenn Greenwald and Tucker Carlson, those guys are better than anybody in the corporate media. Anybody. Anything you want to add, Rob?

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (57:02)

I gotta. I gotta read the rest of this piece. See. See what this guy was trash and rumble for? It doesn't sound like he's got a whole lot.

Dave Smith (57:10)

Yeah, it's just like. It's. It's. You know, look, we can. Here. We could read a little bit more of it. We'll see what he. He gets into. Okay. It's. It seemed clear that actual news, the objective details about complex situations like election proceedings or the war in Ukraine, mattered far less than how these situations could be contorted to support Mr. Trump or deride Democrats. Nearly every show created A visceral feeling that the nation was barreling from crisis to crisis. Okay, so again, also.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (57:42)

That's funny. Do you want to take the other side of that? Do you think the debt's not a problem? Do you think these wars aren't a problem? Do you think the border wall is not a problem? Do you think inflation's not a problem? What particular topic are these people addressing that you think we're doing great on?

Dave Smith (57:57)

Yeah, really.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (57:57)

In fact, is the New York Times just a paper of sunshine and roses? Hey, this morning you wouldn't believe there are more roses in the Capitol than last week because everything's going great and we have absolutely nothing el report on. Is that usually what's in the news?

Dave Smith (58:12)

Yeah, and 100%. And again, to just be, like, the whole thing. I mean, what essentially is being said here other than, like, the whole thing leans pro Trump and the whole thing? I mean, what did she say here exactly? That they don't care about objective details about complex situations. That matters less than how these situations could be contorted to support Trump. So always trying to get Trump over, and then they're always, like, deriding Democrats and saying that we're going from crisis to crisis. Okay, well, like, okay, let's take a few of these things apart here. So, yeah, I mean, that's probably true. Right? It is probably true that during the election season and even, like right now after the election, people are on. On the Trump side, like, spinning every argument to favor Trump probably a little bit more than is even fair at times. No question. We've seen a lot of that, me and you, Rob. You know, and, yeah, they're deriding Democrats in there, but it's like, look, if you turn on the corporate media, it's all the same thing, but reverse. And here's the dynamic. The system is set up, and not by the people, but by the powerful. The system is set up so that, like, either Donald Trump or Kamala Harris was going to win the presidential election. Those were the options. And, you know, my point is just that, you know, as somebody who's been in a third party for some years, you know, the entire system is so rigged against third parties. And that's not because of anything that's written in the Constitution. That's not because of anything that was, like, the true supreme law of the land of this country or whatever. It's just that the Democrats and Republicans are the ones that write the laws. And so they decided to write the laws to rig the fucking whole election systems against third Parties, Parties. And so, okay, I'm just saying that the system is, you're going to get one of these two options. And so of course that pushes people into being on one of those sides or the other, you know, and when obviously the entire corporate media apparatus, the one you represent, the one that is collapsing, is pushing this one candidate, why is it so unreasonable that, hey, we happen to find that this other media apparatus that is very critical of us and the candidate that we're pushing, of course they won't admit that they're just pushing this candidate, but everyone knows they are. And hey, corporate media, by the way, a little secret here. You'd be better off to just admit it at this point. It's. The secret's out. You were all trying to get Kamala Harris elected and before that Biden and before that Clinton. But okay, but now you're outraged at somebody who opposes everything you stand for, opposing the binary other option that they have besides your candidate. And the only other option they have who might actually win, might actually be president, was Trump. And now because Trump's in there, there's at least a shot that they get some people who are going to try to stop what we don't like that you stand for. And so why would you be. What does it say for your comment to be, yeah, they like that guy. We like this girl, but they like that guy. That's what I found when I was over there. But you can't just say that. So you have to write it up in, like, scary language. Ooh. They were only trying to support Trump. They didn't care about objective facts. That's right. You know, the corporate media who said Biden was sharp as attack, they cared about objective facts so much. And by. That's not, you know, is that a petty thing to be an objective fact? Like, is that, is that a petty issue that the commander in chief is fucking Leslie Nielsen in like one of his later movies? That. That's. We're not supposed to point that out and you're going to lie about that anyway. But they don't care about objective facts because they're trying to get a candidate over. I mean, the fucking. What would the Jews say, the chutzpah, Rob, to. For the corporate media to turn around after, you know, saying Joe Biden is not senile while you could see he was senile. They're going to say these guys don't care about objective facts as much as they do about getting their candidate over. That's the complaint. Ok? Progressives were getting away with galling levels of incompetence or corruption. The host said over and over again, even though Mr. Trump and the Republicans would soon control the White House and Congress and conservatives have a majority on the Supreme Court, they were more. There were, quote, more battles to come. I shouldn't say quote, but it's a link, you know, again, because they can't actually grapple with any of the. With any of the substance of the dynamic here, what he's going to just keep doing. And we can wrap on this, but what he keeps doing here is, you know, like, without addressing the core of why you guys fell apart, particularly over these years. And I know a lot of it has to do with technology, but come on, man, couldn't you look at, like, after we're coming right after the COVID regime and the Biden administration and trusted media has collapsed, and you don't kind of see some of the dynamics here, that. Some of the dynamics are that, you know, because when he sits there, he goes, oh, man. They just. Essentially, the last two paragraphs are. It's. It's somehow, like, paranoid or it's not based in fact. It's just designed to scare you because they have this idea that, like, we're going from crisis to crisis and that. That even though Trump is one, there's still this huge battle to be fought, even though they have the Congress and the White House. And you're like, well, who could say we haven't been going from crisis to crisis for the last few years? Could you say that? Like, from 2020 to now, we're almost at a hot war with Russia. We went through lockdowns, we went through, you know, inflation. We went just, like, so many, like, major things. The whole vaccine debacle, just all of this stuff. These are all. And to say there's still work to be done. It's like, yeah, the thing is, dude, you can't just say that's a ridiculous position without, like, getting into it, you know, you can't say that without taking that down. Who wants to argue that any of those things I just mentioned were not a crisis, that we weren't going from crisis to crisis, and that Democrats certainly had a lot of blame in that. What's the argument against that anyway? This is why. This is why they're destined to lose, Rob. Anything else? Anything else you want to say?

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (65:11)

Doesn't. Doesn't seem like they did their homework or put together a good article.

Dave Smith (65:15)

Yep. Yep, that's right. All right, guys, thanks for listening. We will catch you next time. Oh, Go ahead.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (65:20)

I do have two shows coming up this week. First Thursday out in Jersey, the political comedy J which I'm probably going to relabel we the Stupid down the line. But anyways, it's going to hybrid show, stand up, comedy, news clips, podcast, the works, everything. I do filming sketches for it. It's going to be a good time. And then on a Saturday I'm in San Antonio, Texas with a roster of great comics. So if you're out in that area, please come, come hang out. Both shows in the episode description, just click the link, you're right there.

Dave Smith (65:49)

Hell yeah. All right, catch you guys next time. Peace.

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