Robbie the Fire Bernstein (2:37)

Going to be there?

Dave Smith (2:38)

I believe so. I think he's hosting the show.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (2:40)

That's so funny to be in a room with Kid Rock and think I have to talk politics. This guy we're in, you're like, this is my end. I better get this guy's ear because he might have some influence.

Dave Smith (2:55)

There is not nothing better describes the state of America than that. It was just perfect that you just go like, you go, okay, this is serious. I'm meeting Kid Rock tonight. This is a real opportunity to move the needle here. Yeah. Yeah. It is so, so bizarre. It's all so bizarre. Anyway, it's been, it's been a, a fun week. I got, you know, I, I, the coming off the week after a Rogan appearance is always just, you know, like a nutty thing. It's really unbelievable. There's just no. And I do so many shows, but there is just nothing like Rogan's show. The reaction to it, how, how like, and it, like, it doesn't even make sense. Like, the numbers don't even quite justify it. Like, it's the biggest show. But it's not like you'd think doing Piers Morgan or doing Tucker should. Okay, maybe it's only a third of the reaction, but it's not anything like that. It' like Rogan is just like a thousand times more than any other show. You just, every little thing you've said gets put under a microscope. And you know, it's weird, for me, it took like this time, it was almost like I was like, oh, wow. This is actually the response was pretty tame. It was just all positive things until around the 48 hour mark. And then everybody jumped on the, the, the thing that I said that I tend to agree with Daryl Cooper on his assessment of World War II, which is, I will say this, and I mean this, it's like a, in a friendly competition type way that it bothers me so much that Daryl generated so much more controversy than I've ever generated in any of my appearances. Like, oh, man, it eats at me. It's like, come on, dude, I was on, I think I did two Tuckers and like 15 Joe Rogan's before he did one of each. And he just buried me, buried me with how controversy was. And then to throw salt in the wound, my controversy from my latest Joe Rogan appearance is that I said I kind of agree with Daryl Cooper. It's just like, oh, they're just mocking me with this. Like, come on, I've said lots of crazy shit. I must have said crazier shit than any of that.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (5:05)

Well, I've said it before. I don't think that you say crazy or take irresponsible enough opinions and it's time to ramp up on your anti Semitism so that the market, you know.

Dave Smith (5:16)

It'S really the only one about you. I got to go further than Daryl. Whatever he says. I got to just take the crazier position. I'd be like, Darryl. He's soft, that guy. Please. He says both sides were bad. No, excuse me. One side was good. Anyway, it's. So then today I woke up to see that once again. Much like the last time I was on, I got a response from Sam Harris, which I do just, you know, I. I guess it's my guilty pleasure or whatever, but it's like, I know on some level that Sam Harris is, like, just totally humiliated himself and is kind of irrelevant, but at the same time, the. The thing on Twitter, like, blew the up and it was trending and it was a whole thing. So it's kind of like, well, I can't not respond.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (6:09)

He also talks like he's the world authority. He lays it out if you need to respond to him.

Dave Smith (6:15)

Yeah, it really. Well, that is true. So maybe I'm falling into his trap. But I do just, you know, I responded with just one, like, little jab on Twitter. And then, you know, then I get people going like, oh, we'll actually respond to what he's saying, or something like that. So like, okay, here we go. Even though he's not saying much, this is just. It's. It's like there's something guilty about. It just feels like every time he says something about me, I just find myself in the position of feeling like I'm. I'm dunking on a third grader. And then you dunk on a third grader once, and it's like, I don't know, it's like being accountable. Like, you get a taste for it and you're like, that's the most fun thing I've ever done in my life. But it does feel like probably I should, you know, be trying against someone a little bigger, but, like, I don't know. It's Sam Harris, so, like, it. I guess I gotta respond to it. But, um, anyway, third grader doesn't even.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (7:07)

Know that you dunked on him. So it's no harm, no foul. Everyone feels good about it.

Dave Smith (7:11)

Yeah, because I guess, there you go. So, anyway, I should tell you, this is going to Be a little bit of a shorter episode. I do apologize for that. But I got to rush out. I gotta get something to eat and then get to these shows, and then I got a early flight in the morning, but. So let's start with this. Let's. Let's just play the Sam Harris clip, and then we could tear it apart.

Sam Harris (7:34)

Joe is a genuinely good guy who wants good things for people, but he is honestly in over his head on so many topics of great consequence. Right? When he. When he brings someone on to just shoot the shit about, you know, how the Holocaust is not what you think it was, right? Or. And, you know, maybe Churchill's the bad guy in World War II.

Dave Smith (7:59)

Just pause it already.

Sam Harris (8:00)

Or he's got Dave Smith, you know.

Dave Smith (8:02)

Here, pause it and bring it back a little bit so we could hear the part about me. But, like, it's just. There's just no other way to, like, describe this. It is. It is intense dishonesty. I mean, just like, it. Again, it's. It's the thing that I always say, like, I was really confronted with when I debated Chris Cuomo. There's. I've been. You know, I've had this experience, like, on Twitter and stuff like that, but that kind of almost feels like it's a. It's a whole different beast. But there is something about, like, that, I think. I think a lot of people who are decent people, regular people, almost have a tough time because there is like, a naivete that comes along with innocence or something like that where you're just like, oh, you're just a fucking liar. You're just very comfortable just lying through your teeth like, who are you talking about here? He's alluding to Daryl Cooper, I guess, but, like, has Daryl Cooper ever gone on a show and told you to rethink the Holocaust? The Holocaust wasn't really what it was. Like, nobody's done that. You know, the. The point, which, by the way, I made the point, just, by the way, the craziest part of. On Rogan. So I say on the show, and I was like, yo. I'm like, totally making this so clear that no one's going to be able to with what I'm saying right now, because I'm making such a narrow point. But I went. I went. Look, like when Daryl Cooper was on Tucker Carlson show, the thing he said that generated all this. This outrage was. He goes. He goes. You know, I say this to my. My buddy sometimes to kind of prod at him. And, you know, he's an Anglo, so He takes this stuff, you know, personally. And I'm being hyperbolic when I say it, but I say to him, I go, you know, Churchill was the real villain of the war. And then he. He caveats it again and goes, Now, I'm not saying he committed the most atrocities or killed the most people, but he was most responsible. From this thing going from being a war in Poland to being the. The worst thing that ever happened in the history of the world that we now know as World War II. And then everyone who responds to that goes, he said Churchill was the real villain of the war. And you're like, this is just already so dishonest. Like, you know, when someone says they're being hyperbolic, the point he's clearly making is like, Churchill mishandled the war. Okay, so take on that argument. But then. So then, anyway, people still just clipped that and went, dave saying Churchill was the real villain. Like. Like, Jesus Christ, dude. The levels of dishonesty are just crazy. But Sam will just go a step further and go, he's telling people to question the Holocaust. Just made it up. He knows that's not true. He knows. Nobody said that. Ian Carroll didn't say that. Daryl Cooper didn't say that. Has anyone ever gone on Joe Rogan's show and said, hey, listen, man, let's really look into this. Like, the numbers don't add up to 6 million or something like that. Has that ever happened? No, it's never happened. But they'll just say that intentionally to just poison the well so that you already think of this as just like, oh, these are really bad people who are clearly sympathetic to Adolf Hitler and clearly don't believe. Like, either they don't believe he committed these crimes, or they're all for that he committed these crimes. You know, it's just. I don't know what else to say about it. Just intensely dishonest. The. Because he's a liar. I don't know. Let's keep playing.

Sam Harris (11:27)

Or two.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (11:29)

Is that talk.

Sam Harris (11:30)

Or he's got Dave Smith, you know, being treated as an expert on. On Israel and Palestine and the history of that conflict and the moral emergency that came to the world's attention on October 7th. And what is appropriate to think in the aftermath of all of that. Dave Smith is. The only reason why anyone knows what Dave Smith thinks about any of this is. Is very likely because Joe had him on multiple times to talk about it.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (12:04)

Right.

Sam Harris (12:05)

You know, he's a pure misinformation artist and. And, you know, on top of many others. And when Joe talks to someone like.

Dave Smith (12:16)

Okay, okay, I'm a pure misinformation artist. I mean, Sam just started this with a fucking blatant lie. I mean, why is that not misinformation? Like, God damn, like, hasn't that term just been discredited enough along with Sam Harris and his reputation? But like, I'm the disinformation. I'm a misinformation. What did he say? Specialist? Okay, I mean, artist. Okay, you just started this by saying that who is questioning the Holocaust? So how am I pushing misinformation? And then, you know, look, like I said about this last time when he, he does the exact same thing, it's like, I mean, look, I'm not, I'm not the expert. I'm, I'm not. And if people have a perception about me that I'm like the expert on, on the history of Israel, Palestine, where, like, I mean, I don't know, I'm explicitly telling you that I'm not. And so if you have that impression, then I don't know what to say. But, but, you know, the, the thing about it is, is that really I don't have to be the expert because it's really easy to poke holes in Sam Harris and other liars. I just know enough to poke holes in all your. That's essentially it. You don't need to be an expert to do that in the same way as I'm not. I wasn't a, you know, a virologist. But I could tell you that Sam Harris was full of shit the whole time about COVID You know, I wasn't. I could tell you that lockdowns were going to have way bigger costs than benefits because you don't really need to be an expert to do that. And what he means when, when he says that, you know, we, I'm presented as an expert is me and, me and Joe have conversations. That's really what's happening here. He's furious about it because the shit I'm saying is resonating with people. I do have really good arguments. You don't have to be an expert to have really great arguments. As it turns out, I'm proof of that. And so, you know, then for him to go on and say, so this was the only thing I said on Twitter that I was like, sam is correct that the, the only reason people know who I am is because of Joe Rogan. And I said I really should have earned it the good old fashioned way by having my mother create the Golden Girls. I just do think there's something. There's something funny about, you know, someone born with a silver spoon telling somebody else who's like a self made guy that they really aren't. The only reason anyone knows who you are is because of Joe Rogan. It's like, first of all, that that's a huge reason why people know who you are. Sam Harris. That's also like, so what? Yeah, that's right. That's right. Joe. Joe Rogan blew me up. That is true. Okay. The only reason why people know who Jerry Seinfeld is is because of Johnny Carson. You know, the only reason why people know who almost everybody is is because they got some type of break. But the point is then you got to do something with it. And so if I hadn't done. There's lots of people have been on Rogan who didn't, you know, like, get a big audience afterward because they didn't do anything with the opportunity. So anyway, this is all. It's all just so pathetic and stupid. But you're like, hey, if I'm such a misinformation artist, Sam, so take on one thing I said, like, it's unbelievable. These people don't feel the need. Like they. They think they could still play in this dumb old game where you just smear someone but you have nothing. So fucking take on one thing I said. It should be easy since I'm, you know, maybe I'm just such a talented artist that you can't figure it, but like, what's the misinformation? What have I gotten wrong? And then immediately, you know, the way he. It's so funny because so many of the people who would kind of like, position themselves as being critics of like the woke progressive regime, but then they have the exact same attitudes that like, were. What? The way he said it. The what? What would be appropriate to think after the moral crisis of October 7th or whatever, it's like, yeah, I know, Sam, it sucks that you don't get to be the dictator of what the rest of us are allowed to think and talk about. But this is a new day. This is a new world. And if you want to come, if you want to come take me down, then you got to make an argument, dude, something. What did I get wrong? Point to something I got wrong. You want me to point to something you got wrong, Sam, with your dumb. Oh, if you change all the variables about COVID and the vaccine, then I would have been right. It's like, yeah, but when you don't change the variables, you were wrong, dude. It's like, I don't know. You said you wouldn't have. You said you didn't care if Joe Biden had children's corpses in his basement. But I'm, I'm the. The misinformation artist. All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is Small Batch Cigar. Father's Day is coming up. You know how I feel about holidays for men, but it is coming up nonetheless. And people like to get their dad or their uncle or their grandpa something. Men are kind of notoriously hard to get gifts for. But if you got a cigar lover in your life, you've got that problem solved. Small Batch Cigars, it's the place for cigar lovers online. They have free shipping on every order. Almost every order arrives within two to three days. In the continental United States of America. They have the most thorough packaging in the industry, including Boveda packs in every single purchase. This is very important, as cigar lovers have told me. This is what assures that your cigar shows up in really good shape because you can get the best cigar ever with. But if it's got bad packaging and no Boveda pack, then it's going to show up in bad shape. So it doesn't matter how good the cigar is. And at Small Batch, they have an amazing selection of rare, limited and hard to find cigars. Plus, you earn 5% reward points instantly. So go check them out. Smallbatch cigar.com Most people like to click the new first, so they shop their newest arrivals. And don't forget to use the promo code problem. That'll get you 10% off the entire order, plus those 5% reward points that I mentioned before. Smallbatch cigar.com promo code problem. All right, let's get back into the show. I mean, what I, I don't know, Rob. What else can I say to this here? He's, he's not making an argument. People are like, oh, you just insulted him back. I'm like, excuse me, what, what am I supposed to grapple with here? What argument am I supposed to contend with? He asserts that I'm a misinformation artist. I would say I don't think I am. I don't know. Any thoughts on this, Rob?

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (18:50)

Yeah, that's what stood out to me the most. We've done a number of episodes on this show where someone says something and then we take on what they said and tell you why it's wrong. We haven't done all that many episodes where we just go, hey, this guy's an idiot. And look, he doesn't have their credentials to discuss this. And so don't listen to him. Just take it for. Just believe me that I'm right and that that more popular person is wrong. We've never done that. And so that's what really stood out to me, is that if you wanted to take on what you said on the show, as opposed to just going, hey, it's reprehensible. And why is this person looked to as an authority? And particularly if you want to defend Israel and Israel's current actions, and you think that you're such a dummy about what you had to say about it, why not give us the breakdown? I mean, if you're so smart and so right, why not contend with what was said on the show? You got three hours of Dave Smith talking about Israel. Not quite. Maybe an hour and a half on Joe Rogan. And then you've got 72 other hours from debates. I mean, you could. I could summarize the top five points for you, and then you could take them on, do an episode, Interesting episode.

Dave Smith (19:50)

Do one take on one point. One thing I said, there's something real strange about this, this whole appeal to authority. That is all.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (19:59)

Sam Harris, when you say I'm the authority. And based off of what? Who credentialed you as the authority?

Dave Smith (20:05)

Well, that's the thing, right? It's like, first of all, it's like, so Sam Harris, Sam Harris, Mr. Rational Logical Thinker, Mr. Against Emotional Thinking. And for, you know, like grounded, sober, rational thought. All he can cling to is a fucking logical fallacy and the appeal to authority, as if that means you're allowed. But then you realize, like, how much this, this argument falls apart. Like, first of all, Sam Harris, from what I understand is a neurologist. I mean, I think Brett Weinstein's, like, made a whole argument about how he's not even that, like, he. I don't really know. I don't remember. He explained it to me once, but I don't really remember. But whatever. Let's just say it's like, okay, so. So you're a neurologist. Well, we're not. We're not talking about fucking anything in your field of expertise here, right? So are you allowed, Are you allowed to have an opinion on Israel, Palestine? Oh, that's convenient. You are allowed. Well, you're not a fucking Israeli historian or a Palestinian historian. You're not the expert in this field. You know, like, it'd be one thing, it'd still be a logical fallacy but it would at least be a more digestible one if, like, Benny Morris was like, I'm only talking to other historians who have written volumes of, of books and have, you know what I mean, like, have dug through the primary sources and the firsthand accounts themselves. That's all you go, okay, well, at least, like, the guy has expertise in this area and he's only going to talk to other people with expertise in the area, by the way. He doesn't take that position. But I'm just saying, like, that would at least be more reasonable than you. Who the fuck are you? Some shit. Like, I can, you know, if you're, if you're writing a book about how the human brain works, then, okay, fine, you know, which I read his book years ago on, on that topic, actually kind of liked it. But like, okay, that's one thing, but you're not, you're not in your realm of expertise at all. So who do you, who are you to dictate who the fuck. Everybody else gets to have a conversation? And that is to be clear, that is what Sam Harris is complaining about, that other people are having conversations and they're recording them and putting them out for people to watch them. That's his beef. Okay, so take it apart then. You know, like, I don't know, you know, I, my, my mom, little bit about my family history did not create the Golden Girls. I was not born into millions of dollars. I did not have all of the advantages in life that Sam Harris does. And I built, you know, my following and we built our show during what I would argue was an age of pervasive misinformation. We are up. We're up again. We're basically taking on the corporate media, which is a multibillion dollar industry that is permeated by what I would call misinformation artists. Okay. And, you know, like, if I'm correct about this, then, man, this isn't just like one guy who went on a podcast a few times. This was like this entire apparatus. And, you know, what we had to do was we had to tear apart their arguments over and over and over again. That's what we had to do. And make, like, compelling, tight arguments for why the claims that they're making are bullshit. I didn't just get to say, oh, they're all misinformation artists, so shut them down or whatever the, the end goal here is. It's like, no, you have to actually take them on. You have to, you know, take on what they said. How many hours have we Spent doing this, playing the clips, responding to the claim, doing research on the like all. It's like Sam Harris just feels like he can do none of that and then just say, I'm above all of it. It's fucking lame, and there's a reason why this shit doesn't resonate with people. Okay, let's keep playing the rest of the clip because there's a few little bits in here that were great.

Sam Harris (24:08)

Trump or Tucker Carlson or, you know, any of these other guys who. Who lie as freely as they breathe and doesn't push back against any of their lives. In fact, in Trump's case, really fairly energetically helped put his lies into the most plausible possible shape. It is irresponsible. I mean, it is directly harmful. Our society is as politically shattered as it is in part because of how Joe has interacted with information. Again, I don't think this is. I think a lot of this is inadvertent, or maybe all, you know, all of it's inadvertent.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (24:49)

Pause again for a second.

Sam Harris (24:50)

But it's.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (24:52)

It's just his constant theme is that there needs to be a class of people that are lording above you, and I should be that class of person.

Dave Smith (25:01)

Very convenient.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (25:02)

Yeah, that's truly his narrative. It's just an appeal to society. Can't just have freedom. There needs to be someone who can actually orchestrate, make decisions, disseminate the information, and then conveniently, I guess the process should just be Sam or whoever Sam anoints for that. For that role.

Dave Smith (25:23)

Yeah. Again, which I think we've made this point before, and I don't say this as like a. A blind lover of democracy, but there does seem to be something so inherently anti Democratic in this worldview that, like, what, everybody's just too stupid to figure it out except for you? And. And a small cabal of people. The rest of us are all just too dumb. That, like, man, if Joe Rogan's allowing lies to be told on his podcast, then, you know, I guess we'll all be fooled into believing them. And then, so then how can you trust people to have the right to vote? This is like a total argument for aristocracy, right? Like that. That, okay, like, the common person just isn't smart enough to figure all this shit out. And however you feel about that argument, I don't think Sam Harris would be comfortable making it. But again, these are all just. There's nothing here. There's nothing. There's not even an attempt to even pretend to be making an argument. It's just Assertion after assertion after assertion. So, you know, there's a little bit of psychoanalyzing, like, maybe Rogan's not doing this intentionally, maybe, but he's allowing all these lies. He's taking Donald Trump's lies and putting them in the most plausible shape or whatever. It's like, again, to say that, like, if you're looking at how fractured our system is looking, how fractured our politics are to. To even put some of that blame on Joe Rogan, and then it's not. To not even look at, like, okay, but why is it. Why is it that we're even talking about Joe Rogan in this conversation at all? You know, like, what. What is happening? What. Show me in some way. Like, I'm not saying you could scientifically prove this, but if you're gonna make the point that Joe Rogan allows lies on his podcast, it's like, compared to what? Compared to the corporate media? I mean, like, you just. Look, I said this when I was on the show with. With Joe just the other day, but it is wild to think. And I'm a little bit like, you know, just happen to be the guy in. In the room for this. It's not a little bit. I just happened to be the guy in the room for this. But I. I did remind Joe, and I go, dude, how crazy is it? Four years ago, as long ago as that sounds, or less than four years ago, I guess the three. Three years and change ago, right? The fucking huge controversy from our podcast was Joe Rogan telling young people to be healthy. Like, I'm not exaggerating when I say this. I mean, this made it all the way to. The President of the United States of America, had to condemn the podcast that I was on because Joe Rogan advised young people to be healthy. Now, like, the point I'm making here is that if you. I would any day, I would do any debate, any. Any trial whatever, for. Against any person, with any judge, with any moderator, like, whatever you want. And I will take. We will take the corporate media's track record on Covid versus Joe Rogan's track record on Covid, and I will defend Joe Rogan. I mean, there is just no, like. Like, again, these things that were seen as wildly controversial today. Nobody, including Fauci or Biden, if either of them can still, you know, have functioning brains, nobody would argue that it's controversial to tell young people to be healthy. They wouldn't even try, you know, so to sit here and just be like, oh, the Joe Rogan is interviewing this misinformation artist and he's not pushing back or whatever. It's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, compared to what, dude? In the grand scheme of things in the issue, which I think there's really no. No matter what side of it you're on, I don't think you can argue that Covid wasn't the most consequential set of policies in. In Western civilization over the last few years. So on the most important issue, just objectively speaking, he got it so much more correct than the entire corporate media apparatus than any of them. You. You were so much better off listening to Joe Rogan through all of COVID than you were listening to any show on NBC, abc, cbs, msnbc, cnn, Fox News than reading anything about it in the New York Times or the Washington Post or the Wall Street Journal. You were way better off listening to Joe Rogan's podcast. Now that. The aspect that Sam Harris is correct about in all of this is that. And I think Joe would be the first one to admit this, that that is fucking ridiculous. Yes, it is fucking ridiculous that you'd be better off listening to Joe Rogan than listening to the cdc. That's insane. We're all on the same page here, Sam. We think it's crazy, too. We think it's crazy that you'd be better off listening to our show than listening to anybody in the corporate media. But that's the reality. Don't blame us for that. We're as unhappy with it as all of you are. We would also like there to be experts who got a thing right every now and then, but there aren't, you know, I mean, there are, but they're few and far between and they get drummed out of the. The establishment pretty quickly. So, you know, like, again, it's like this weird thing where, look, we all think it's ridiculous that this conversation is left to us, but it is left to us. And you're not looking at the reason why that is. This is like. This is what Jimmy Dore always says all the time that he's like, yeah, it's insane. It's insane. I'm an idiot comedian and I'm better than all these guys. So anyway, I thought there was also.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (31:22)

Something telling about what he said here, which is. This is the first argument I've heard, is that that Joe. The reason why Joe Rogan is dangerous is because he doesn't have the tools to challenge people. And so when he platformed Donald Trump, he actually gave him the best vehicle for shaping and forming his ideas. What you're overlooking is that Kamala Harris could have gone on the show but was such a she didn't feel comfortable talking honestly. Because actually, the Democratic propaganda probably wouldn't hold up in the Joe Rogan environment of just a guy sitting there and wanting to ask some clarifying questions and not just giving you a fluff piece, 45 minute interview. So, yeah, I'm just saying, the one argument that he's putting forward here, which is, hey, this platform is no good. It's actually a better vehicle for honest conversations. And that doesn't serve the Democrats well because they're working with more bullshit and propaganda.

Dave Smith (32:12)

All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is ProtonMail. ProtonMail is an email service by Proton designed to replace your Gmail account for all of your important stuff so that you can have a more secure emailing experience. Your Gmail is full of junk after so many years. ProtonMail is a great way to start over again. Hit the reset button on your email. I know my inbox is a mess. You can continue using your Gmail for garbage, but use ProtonMail for the important stuff. Proton will always have a freemium version and you can later change to a paid product. If you're convinced about the product's benefits to you, you can create an account right now, today, for free. Go check them out. ProtonMail, a more secure way to do emailing, and they have all the benefits that Gmail has. So get rid of that and switch over to Proton. All right, let's get back on the show. Well, yeah, that's, that's a great point. And you know, and this is really where the term Trump Derangement syndrome really does make sense is also just imagine the pretzels that one would have to contort themselves into in order to just have the mentality that you're like, well, look, dude, if, if Donald Trump got pushback, then that might have, like, exposed him. He is there is just, I'm sorry again. This is just like, you know, we can all have our own opinions, but we can't have our own facts. Objectively speaking, he is the most scrutinized, the most detested, the most like the target of the corporate media since he came down the escalator before that, they were cool with them, but since he started running for president, he has just been the most like, scrutinized isn't even the word. Opposed. The most opposed in every single step along this line. So the idea that, like, what, like someone in America just hasn't heard anyone pushing back against Donald Trump yet. And if they had, that would have what, like the wheels would have come off of this thing. It is, it's delusional. I mean, it's like, that's why I think people call it like a derangement syndrome, because it is like you are, you're, you hate Donald Trump so much that you want to like, like the cognitive dissonance that, that it generates to see him like doing well and actually improving on his, his, you know, broad support is so difficult that you have to come up with these justifications for why it is. And of course you have to blame everybody else yourself. You're, you can't be the person who you scrutinize to see like, oh, maybe I played a role in this, maybe the, the, the establishment that I'm champion. Maybe they played a role in this. So instead it's got to be everybody else's fault. But like, imagine that. Like, does anybody think, like, what if, if Rogan had just handled it like cnn, then what it would have been the same waste of time that every single show on CNN is, It's just, it's all so absurd. Now here, let's play the last little bit of this because this was actually maybe the best part of the whole thing.

Sam Harris (35:37)

It is also avoidable. Right. He could actually take the responsibility that really is his to take at this point to get his facts straight and have someone other than Jamie there riding shotgun with him where, I mean, he could have two brilliant journalists whose full time job, he could pay each of them a million dollars a year just to sit there and do, and make sure he doesn't put his foot in his mouth in a colossally irresponsible way. Right. I mean, it's like he, it's, it would be very simple to do a better job.

Dave Smith (36:15)

Yeah. So just, I mean, imagine, just imagine those words coming out of your mouth. I mean, talk about being just removed from reality as an understatement, like catapulted into another stratosphere from reality. I mean, it is, you know. Yeah, imagine if only that, if only we had a couple of journalists fact checking and calling out misinformation, that would change, that would really change the landscape. Right? Rob, do we haven't, we haven't had that. Which, which brilliant journalists are you talking about here? You know, like, and by the way, like, I guess I'm not like, in theory, if Rogan wanted to do that, like have two brilliant people who were fact checking who, hey, maybe that, that's A good. Like, who are you talking about, Sam? What? The same. The same corporate journalist fact checkers who are at CNN and msnbc. They should be of the Joe Rogan experience, too. That sounds like a great recipe to make people not want to listen to the show anymore. The whole point is that we've all rejected you. We. This is the thing, Sam. Like, the same way you started this video when you said Joe Rogan is having people denying the holocaust on the show. Remember. Remember that? Remember how you're a fucking liar? Okay? We've all assessed this, and we've come to the conclusion that you're a liar. We don't trust you. That's why people are. Trust Joe Rogan more like this is the whole thing, and you can't. It's just like you got to pretend that none of that exists. You go, oh, yeah, we could out hire a couple of journalists to be fact checkers. Again, the. The distrust in the corporate media was not always like this. They had the biggest head start that you could imagine. Joe Rogan put a couple of microphones up in, like, an old office, like, you know, like, area in California and started just talking to it and posting grainy video footage online. That's how the show started. Okay? All of these big companies that we're talking about had skyscrapers in American cities all around the country and budgets in the tens of billions of dollars. You had all the advantages in the world with all your journalists and all your fact checkers and all trying to control misinformation. And when you had that, you lied through your teeth. Just like Sam Harris started his video here, lying through his fucking teeth so much. And so to such an absurd extent that everybody figured it out. Everybody figured out that you're not to be trusted, and so now they don't trust you. And, and. And it is true, like, you know, it is true that. That Joe is kind of, you know, I was gonna say he's a regular guy. I mean, okay, he's not a regular guy. He's a fucking phenomenon. And like a, you know, a real, like, you know, again, however you feel about Joe Rogan, I am a little biased. I love the guy, but he's, you know, is a dude who's like a, you know, is a black belt across multiple martial arts and is the number one, you know, MMA commentator of all time. And he's a huge, very. One of the most successful comedians of all time. He's got the number one podcast, you know, ever. Like, he's, you know, not a regular guy. But. But he is a regular guy in the way that he approaches conversations. And he is like, you know what I mean? Like, that is just like, hey, let's just talk. Let's be. Just be a couple. And so, like, there is. There is some truth to that that, like, he'll dive into areas and have conversations about things and. And not be claiming to be the expert or the authority in them. But again, it's like, do you not get that that's what people found refreshing about it, is that he's not fucking lying. He's authentic. He is who he is. That's why he's the number one show. It's funny that, like, a lot of these people, when they're trying to go after Joe, they'll. They talk about it almost in a way that leftists talk about economics. Like, they talk about it almost like. Like it's a given that he's the number one show. And so it's like, well, now being the number one show, you got to do it this way, this way and this way. But it's like, no, he's the number one show because he doesn't take advice from people like Sam Harris.

Gad Saad (40:46)

That's why.

Dave Smith (40:48)

That's it. And again, you know, throughout all of this. And please, if he's done it in some area, please, somebody point me to it, and I'll be happy to actually take on something that has a little bit of substance. He hasn't offered anything so far, but, you know, for calling Joe Rogan, you know, somebody who. Platforms, misinformation artists, or somebody who, like, allows people to lie. Is there ever an onus on you to ever explain one of them, One example, like, like, it's just. Even when he says, get some brilliant journalists, like, who, like, give me an example of one. Give me an example of the misinformation. Give me an example of the lie that. That Joe allowed someone to get away with. It's. It's so bizarre to me to be able to make a video like this and not feel any pressure, like, to do that. All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is Tax Network usa. Look, as we know, the IRS is the largest collection agency in the world, and it just stepped up enforcement for 20, 25. So if you owe back taxes or have unfiled returns, do not wait for the IRS to come after you. Simply avoiding your tax troubles is the worst thing you can do. Getting ahead of this is the smart move. But never, never contact the IRS alone. Turn it over to the team at Tax Network usa. Because not all tax resolution companies are the same, Tax Network USA has a preferred direct line to the irs. That means they know which agents to deal with and which ones to avoid. Tax Network USA has proven strategies that are designed to settle your tax problems in your favor whether you owe $10,000 or 10 million. Their attorneys and negotiators have resolved over $1 billion in tax debt. Talk with one of their strategists. It's free. Stop the threatening letters, stop looking over your should, and put your IRS troubles behind you once and for all. Give them a call at 1-800-958-1000, or you can visit them online at tnusa.com smith. That's tn usa.com/smith. All right, let's get back into the show. I don't know. Any other. Any other thoughts on old Sam here?

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (42:57)

It's well said at the end, just, he's reinserting himself as the authority. What would make for a better show? And it's like Rogan's doing the show he wants to do is, see, people seem to like it, so I guess he doesn't really need your input on what would be better.

Dave Smith (43:11)

And also, Sam Harris had, like, a humongous podcast. He had a huge podcast many years before we had any audience. You know, it's like, so you could have done this, dude. Oh, wait, you did do it, and no one wanted to listen to it. Okay. All right. That's right. So you had your opportunity to do all. By the way, when he goes. When he goes, you know, Joe Rogan could pay them a million dollars a year. Yeah. So could you. Golden girls, kid. Sure. You could pay them both a million dollars a year, too, Sam. Right. So go do it. So go do this wonderful podcast. And then again, it's like. It's like every. Every, you know, intellectual. It's the. Their kryptonite is always the market. It's always the market is always what? Fuck. It's like, why don't you just go do that, man? You got the resources to go do that. Go spend some of your mom's money that she left you and pay two brilliant journalists a million dollars a year and go do your podcast. Oh, that's right. There's no market for that because no one believes your. And now we see the problem. So here, I'll just say this, and. And we'll. We'll. We'll wrap up fairly soon here. But so then the other. The other one is the Gad Video Gad. Sad. What's. I forget what's his last name? So I will.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (44:29)

Sounds right. No, that's the way I think it's pronounced. Got. Gad Sad. Sod. Maybe Todd.

Dave Smith (44:36)

So I, you know, and by the way, I don't know that much about him, but I will say I just thought this was pretty funny. So I saw, you know, because I just get, you know, when someone, Sam Harris or one of these guys does a video about me, obviously I get flooded with people tagging me in it and stuff. But so I did, after the Sam Harris thing, you know, I laughed about that. I texted some people, we all had a good laugh at Sam Harris's expense. And then I just saw that Elon posted this thing again. Now, I happen to know, I don't know that much about him, but I know he's like a crazy pro Israel guy. And so I just assumed, incorrectly so that when. That he was jumping up, piling on me too. And when I just saw it, literally just the first, you know, second I saw that, I just assumed he was making another video pilot on me. And then I saw that Elon tweeted it and I was like, all right, here we go. We got a big one here. But then, to my pleasant surprise, and I suppose in some perverse way, a little bit to my disappointment, because that was just like, oh, this is an exciting day. But that I saw he made this video. So I should. I do think I should play let's play this real quick and then respond and then we'll. We'll wrap up.

Gad Saad (45:52)

Hi, everybody, this is Gad Saad. I just saw a clip on X where Sam Harris is sharing his profound disappointment that Joe Rogan would allow all sorts of people on his platform that quote, you know, spread disinformation and misinformation. He mentions a guy by the name of Dave Smith. I'm not exactly sure who he is. I know he's some kind of anti Israel guy. And then he mentions the fact that he speaks to guys like Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump and so on. And these guys are way too dangerous to be given this platform again. This demonstrates the consequentialist bent that Sam has when it comes to. To freedom of speech, freedom of inquiry, open debate in a free society. I may not like what Dave Smith says about Israel, and I might think that it's completely wrong. The few snippets I've seen. I, you know, don't think very highly of his analyses, but I certainly have never had the reflex to go in public and say, hey, Joe, why are you letting these guys on your show? Because I completely internalize the deontological principle that in a free society you speak to people. Now, you may choose not to want to speak to them because you don't want to give them your time. I don't necessarily debate creationists, not because I'm trying to shut their voice, but because I don't think it'll be a worthwhile exchange.

Dave Smith (47:43)

All right, we could, we could stop the video. I mean, I honestly think that pretty much kind of covers the point. You can kind of see where he's going with that. Now. I will say I, so I, I appreciated that he's, that GAD said that. And I think, like, that's basically, I think he's essentially right, you know, like, and I, I, I would just, you know, I said something, by the way, I said something on Twitter, like, just saying, hey, I appreciate him being principled. And then a bunch of people were like, jumping on me like, he's a Mossad agent and he's pro Israel. He supports genocide and all this. And you're like, okay, guys, like, I'm, I'm not speaking to the broadest scope of everything he's ever said or believed. I don't know that much about the guy. Just like, he doesn't know that much about me. I don't know that much about him. I'm speaking to this. And I thought that this was a, like a noble gesture and I, I appreciated it. And, and I also, like, totally share this, this thought. And I do think that this is something that is like, and even if you want to argue, I understand people will have this kind of knee jerk reaction to go, well, Sam Harris isn't advocating for laws against, you know, you going on, on Rogan's podcast. So I understand where it's, I'm not saying that he's advocating for my speech to be suppressed exactly. Although he does seem to be flirting with that idea. You know, it's misinformation, it's dangerous. There should be fact checkers there seem to imply that Rogan shouldn't have me on at all, where he's like, the only reason why people even know who this guy is is because Rogan asthma. But I do. What I do really appreciate about Gad's sentiment here is that, you know, I feel the same way. I mean, Rogan has had GAD on many times. He's had Sam Harris on many times. Said Ben Shapiro on. He's had, he has Mike Baker on regularly. He Has Coleman Hughes on has. I'm sure there's many more that I'm just not thinking of, but he's got a ton of guys who have really explicitly argued the pro Israel side, and I've never even dreamed. And part of this is just the power imbalance, you know what I mean? Like, we're just so up against the machine that we would never even think, like, you should be silenced. You know what I mean? But I've never, There's never been part of me that's been like, oh, you should have shut that down. You should have had an expert calling out misinformation. Hey, Joe, you didn't push back at this point or this point or this point. My mind never even goes there. It's just like, if anything, I'd be like, oh, I hope I can get back on and respond to that. You know, Like, I don't. Because unlike, you know, there, there is like, I get Gad's point. There is something consequentialist about it. I get his point there. But forget the like, deontological versus consequentialist thing. There's a deep rooted insecurity in Sam Harris's position. Because if you actually were confident that I'm spreading misinformation, then wouldn't you just be like, dude, I can take this apart in a second. You know, when I, like, again, like we said, there's been so many times, so many people who listen to the show. No, you can't even count how many times we've thought someone's getting it all wrong. And we're like, well, let's just grab our scalpels and carve this shit the fuck up, you know? Because like, that's what you do when you think you're right. What you do when you're not comp. When you're insecure about your own position is you start ranting about how this conversation shouldn't happen. Misinformation journalist fact checkers come in here. So anyway, you know, I don't obviously mean me and Gad don't agree on the issue. You know, I did think, whatever, I'm not going to give him any for this because he was ultimately making the correct point. There is just a little thing, like where he goes, like, I don't know that much about Dave. I've seen a few clips and let's just say I don't have a lot of respect for his analysis. It's like, oh, okay, so like, help me out here, dude, because I will tell you the truth and I think this is something that. That our audience knows about us. You know, it's one of the things that I'm most proud of, and I really do think that, like, our. Our audience knows this to be the case. I'm trying to find the truth here, so if I'm getting something wrong, please let me know. So, like, if you're gonna, you know, like, you get my point, Rob. Like, there's just like, a little bit of a feeling where it's just like, hey, if you're gonna say this, if you're gonna just be like, listen, this guy gets everything wrong. It's like, so, okay, maybe, you know, like, give an example. What did I get wrong? What do you not agree with?

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (52:18)

I think in. In this case, although also, I'm not familiar with Gad's work. I don't know any of his other stuff. I think that just wasn't the point of this video. I think he was both saying, hey, I'm not endorsing what Dave's saying. I actually didn't agree with it, but everyone should be allowed.

Dave Smith (52:32)

We.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (52:33)

Free speech is more important. And so I guess it wasn't really. Who knows? Maybe I'll do another video delving into the weeds of what he thought you were getting wrong. That's just not really what he was doing here.

Dave Smith (52:43)

No, you're right. Yeah, you're right. I shouldn't. I shouldn't beat him up for that, because he is. The point he's making here. He is correct on. And I do. I do just. I appreciate that. And I should give him credit for that. No matter what else we may disagree on. We can. We can agree on that. Yeah. Like, it also is just like, look, free speech is a value in itself. And then on top of that, there is kind of. Maybe this is the consequentialist argument for it or just the more practical argument, but it's like, well, what else are we going to do here, dude? What are we going to. You know what I mean? We're getting all go to war with each other. Look, there's a huge split over many different issues. And so what? Like, I'm over here saying, like, I'll pretty much, you know, has been pretty clearly demonstrated over the last few years. Like, I'll go on all of the biggest platforms, and I'll do a ton of debates about these topics, and you're Sam sitting over here screaming misinformation. And it's like, you know, like, so then why don't. Wouldn't the thing be, like, why wouldn't you then just want a debate? Like, why wouldn't you want to tear these arguments apart or even not like a debate, then just make your own thing, make your own video and list out all the grievances. Okay. So anyway, you're right. I should give GAD a pass for that. But. But still, give me something. Give me something here to work with. All right, look, we got to. We got to wrap on that. I do have to get moving.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (54:21)

I'm out in Des Moines this weekend. I'm Friday night doing comedy. Scott Horde and other speakers on Saturdays go to their convention.

Dave Smith (54:28)

Hell yeah. All right. Sounds good.

Robbie the Fire Bernstein (54:30)

And porch tour dates coming out. Rob's. Whatever. My podcast is run your mouth. I should know that.

Dave Smith (54:35)

Rob's newsroom. Run your mouth. Whatever. And yeah, and of course, go to comicdavsmith.com for. For all me and Rob's dates for the rest of the year and. All right. All right. Catch you guys next time. Peace. It.