The Coalition is Officially Dead

Summary

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Part Of The Problem - "The Coalition is Officially Dead" (March 19, 2026)

Episode Overview

In this episode, Dave Smith and co-host Rob dissect the massive political and cultural fallout from the recent resignation of Joe Kent, Director of Counterterrorism, over U.S. involvement in the Middle East war, particularly in relation to Israel and Iran. The main theme centers on the collapse of the Trump-led populist political coalition, driven by the administration's foreign policy decisions and the exposure of political, media, and institutional hypocrisy around the latest war. The hosts deliver a passionate, sharply critical libertarian review of U.S. foreign policy, the Israel lobby’s influence, Trump’s betrayal of his base, and the political/media establishment’s complicity.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Personal Updates & Grim National Mood

• Dave opens with personal anecdotes about returning from Disney with his family, juxtaposing normal family life with grave national news and a sense that "this is just like such a dark time for our country" [01:16].
• Sets the grim background for why the following political developments feel particularly significant.

2. Joe Kent’s Resignation: “A Goddamn Big Deal”

• Who: Joe Kent, Director of Counterterrorism (not Counterintelligence, as Dave briefly misspeaks)
• Why: Resigned over the U.S. entering the war with Iran, citing there was "no imminent threat" and specifically called out "Israel and the Israel lobby pulling us into a war" [03:55–05:55].
• Significance: "I've really never seen anything like this... It's not just that he said that, but it's also that he said that this war is like Israel and the Israel lobby pulling us into a war. This is a goddamn big deal for the Director of Counterterrorism." – Dave [05:55]

3. Tulsi Gabbard’s Role & Congressional Testimonies

• Criticism of Tulsi: Dave is sharply critical of Tulsi Gabbard, now Director of National Intelligence, for her evasive testimony before Congress regarding the basis for war.
• Key Moment: Congressional questioning where Tulsi avoids confirming any imminent Iranian nuclear threat, instead saying, "The only person who can determine what is and is not an imminent threat is the President." [42:23]
• Host response: "This is more comical than anything out of the George W. Bush administration... It's exactly your job [to assess threats]." – Dave [42:51]
• Context: Tulsi had long warned about the risk of war with Iran, positioning herself as anti-war, but now refutes her past stances in testimony, leading Dave to call her “the Colin Powell of this administration” [10:35, 42:51].

4. The Administration’s Duplicity & Collapse of Populist Coalition

• Trump’s Actions:
  • Dismissed intelligence warnings, instead “going with his gut” and “what donors and other country leaders want” [45:45].
  • Blamed Kent as “always weak on security” after his whistleblowing [48:20].
  • Prioritizes Israel’s interests over American voters (and over his own stated platform).
• Impact: Smith repeatedly insists Trump “murdered his coalition”: “You pick a side so strong like that and say the ones attacking them are wrong. And like, first of all, the ones attacking him are all really playing defense… You blow up your coalition.” [57:28]
• Media’s Role: Both the legacy and online media, including even “the never Trumpers” and figures like Mark Levin, have exposed themselves by gleefully supporting war and smearing dissenters.

5. Media Acquiescence & Manipulation

• CNN’s “100% Approval” Poll:
  • Hosts lampoon CNN's stat claiming “100% of MAGA” support Trump post-war, showing how media redefines "the base" to fit their narrative (now defined as only those who still support Trump, regardless of prior positions).
  • Rob satirizes: "You can conduct this poll by calling people and go, ‘Hey, I saw you were a Donald Trump voter. Do you support this war?’ And they say, 'No.' And then you go, ‘Well, you’re not MAGA.’” [68:40]
  • Both hosts argue the only true constant in media is the push for more war, even when it means supporting their former political enemy.

6. Critique of Conservative Media Figures

• Dave and Rob call out right-wing media personalities for “goalpost moving” and sacrificing integrity to sell the war, e.g. Ben Shapiro, Mark Levin, Steven Crowder, Will Chamberlain: “You were just saying this the other day. You were just saying that this isn't what was going to happen.” [52:15, 57:06]
• Dave mocks Trump’s open embrace of Levin, while spurning former allies like Tucker Carlson, Thomas Massie, Candace Owens, and the “surging” populist right [57:28].

7. Nature of Political Coalitions & Breaking Point

• Smith emphasizes that for many on the right, being lied into another Middle East war was always a true “deal breaker”:
  • “There's just too many of us, we're not going to go for this. Doesn’t matter however you dress it up.” [75:39]
  • “If it's gonna be this, I don't want a coalition with you against anything… And, OK, I might be 0% of MAGA Republicans, but I don't give a f***.” [77:45]
  • Trump’s coalition is gone; the base is “destroyed,” and no establishment Republican (e.g., Marco Rubio) could repair it.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Joe Kent’s resignation:
  “This is a goddamn big deal for the Director of Counterterrorism…It’s a big deal to have that guy resign anyway, in verbatim that this is a war on behalf of Israel.” – Dave [05:55, 14:16]

• On Tulsi Gabbard:
  “She is the Colin Powell of this administration.” – Dave [10:35]
  “What a fucking evil person Tulsi Gabbard turned out to be. She’s lying us into war… If there was an imminent threat, then the answer to that question is yes. She can't say that because she knows it's not true.” [42:51–44:15]

• On Trump blowing up his base:
  “An absolute given is that Donald Trump has murdered his coalition. Murdered. It's just absolutely ruined. And anybody telling you anything else is just out of their mind.” – Dave [29:23]

• On media’s poll gymnastics:
  “Did you first think to yourself, when have you look at what they're doing? When have you ever seen anyone measure polls by what MAGA Republicans think? What the fuck does that even mean?” – Dave [67:14–68:40]

• On coalition-breaking wars:
  “If it’s gonna be this, I don’t want a coalition with you against anything… You’re every bit as bad as the thing we were coalitioning against.” – Dave [79:39]

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Important Segment Timestamps

• Joe Kent’s Resignation and Explanation
  [03:55–08:33, 14:16]
• Debate Over Tulsi Gabbard’s Congressional Testimony
  [17:11–24:15, 40:03–44:15]
• Trump’s Responsibility and Response
  [48:47–52:02, 57:28–65:14]
• CNN’s 100% MAGA Poll Segment
  [65:27–71:05]
• Reflections on Coalition Breaking and Conservative Media
  [72:23–82:54]

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Episode Tone & Style

• Unfiltered, passionate, and darkly humorous.
• Dave is unflinching in his criticism, especially targeting hypocrisy, war propaganda, and betrayal of populist/anti-war principles.
• Rob provides frequent comic relief and sharp satirical asides, but both maintain a sense of urgency and seriousness given the subject matter.
• Direct language and rhetorical flourishes abound (“murdered his coalition,” “lying us into a war,” “this is North Korea shit,” etc.), staying true to their populist libertarian roots.

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Conclusion

This episode serves as a hard-hitting libertarian post-mortem on the death of the Trumpian anti-establishment coalition, exposing the war establishment’s bipartisan stranglehold and the media’s unwavering support for war—regardless of who the president is. Dave and Rob articulate the reasons for the coalition's collapse, highlight the hypocrisy of political and media actors, and make it clear that for a huge swath of former Trump supporters and anti-war conservatives, a regime change war for Israel is a principled red line that destroys any possibility of political unity.

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For listeners (or readers) seeking a compact but comprehensive understanding of how the war, political betrayals, and media spin have converged to shatter the last decade’s populist movement, this episode encapsulates the outrage and recalibration occurring on the anti-war right in 2026.

Transcript

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[Rob]

There's nothing like coming back from family vacation, being like, man, I need another vacation. That, that just took the life out of me, dude.

[Dave Smith]

It's. I. So I took the family to Disney a week and is great. Is, you know, I know it's a big evil corporation and all that, but the, the kids, the kiddos just love it. You know, they have an amazing time. But for people have been through it. This was my second time. This one was longer. It's a. Being a dad at Disney is, it's, it's a lot, it was a lot of fun. But man, does it beat you up. You know, it's just, you're just, you know, all day you're carrying.

[Rob]

Daddy, I need a bathroom.

[Dave Smith]

Daddy.

[Rob]

Daddy.

[Dave Smith]

You don't stop moving the entire time you're there and you're the dad, so you're always carrying the heaviest. You know, I'm there with my, you know, I got two kids, my wife and her parents. So I'm the one, you know, like, I'm just any. I mean, she was the one, she planned out the whole thing. I shouldn't say that. It's me and her. She, she did a lot of that, but I, you know, just a lot of work and I don't know. Anyway, it was a great time. It was a little bit strange in, in a way, just everything going on. You know, this was planned out six months in advance and. Yeah, just a little bit weird. I mean, because I do think this is just like such a dark time for our country, genuinely. And I also just have, I have a friend who had like a, like a family tragedy and it just felt Like a little bit weird of a time to go there. But then of course, once you're there, my, my cute kids can suck me into their world, you know, very easily and we all start kind, you know, having a great time. Anyway, I, you know, I tried at, you know, I checked the news times here and there and I tried to keep in touch with everything. There's been so much. And then when I got them to sleep at night, I would just go on tweet storms and you know, try to give my take on some of this. Because Rob, this is like, this is one of those episodes where there's just so much, you know, we, we got, I don't know, several episodes worth of content here and stuff to talk about, really important stuff. But you know, as exhausted as I am coming back here, I was just like, I can, I can't wait to talk to you guys till tomorrow. We have to do it tonight. I can't wait to talk to you, Rob.

[Rob]

I see you without podcasting, just being on the lines and being that guy who's chewing people's ears off. Like, do you not know what's going on right now? We're at war. Why are we here?

[Dave Smith]

No, no, no, I wasn't doing that to other people. I mean, me and my, my father in law were talking a whole bunch about it, but. No, no, no, But I'll tell you, there's one funny thing about Disney. I don't know why this was just making me laugh so hard on the trip. But so, you know, my, you know, so anyway, the, you know, if you could picture, my two kids are in, in a double stroller. You know, my, my two, my mother in law and father in law are on two scooters and me and my wife are just walking for seven days. But you know, so like my, my father in law, he's had like double knee replacement surgeries and yeah, he's got some hip issues. He's like 74. He's, you know, he's not gonna walk the entire, you know, so he gets a scooter, but then he'll start like tightening up and stuff and he'll be like, I gotta walk for a little bit. And so I take the scooter. But now at this point in in my career, like I, you know, I'm not like a huge famous guy, but I get recognized a lot. And so I'm just going around and I mean, Rob, it looks like I got a scooter for myself and I make my 75 year old father in law Walk. And people are like, hey, Dave Smith. And a couple times I was in that scooter, I was like, ah, man, that I. I really want to. Like, I wanted to say. He wanted. He wanted me to do that. This is his. He wanted to walk a little bit, but I didn't. Anyway, okay, let's get into it, man. Where. Where to start, Rob? I mean, what do you say? We got to start with Joe Kent, right? Yes. This is the. The, you know, big let's. There's a bunch of stuff that we're going to have to comment on here, but it kind of just seems like let's talk about the biggest latest thing first and then go into the other stuff. So. Okay. Joe Kent resigned and put out an unbelievable resignation le letter. I've really never seen anything like this, Rob. Um, you know that he was the Director of Counter Intelligence, and he. He resigned over the war. Said there was no imminent threat confirmed. What all of us know. I just. I genuinely don't see how this is one of those things where it's like there. There are two sides, like the. The people who are lying to you and the people who aren't. There's just. No. No person who looks into this can actually think there's any reason to suspect was any imminent threat coming. And in fact, our own goddamn, you know, National Security Adviser is on record saying that the threat was that Israel was going to attack and then Iran was going to respond and hit some of our guys. So the threat was Israel, not them. Anyway, it's not just that he said that, but it's also that he said that this war is like Israel and the Israel lobby pulling us into a war. This is a goddamn big deal for the Director of Counterintelligence. You know, there were resignations during Joe Biden over Gaza, but nothing this high level. I don't know. What do you think, Rob?

[Rob]

So I could be wrong here, but I believe he was the Director of counterterrorism, not counterintelligence.

[Dave Smith]

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm miss. I apologize. I'm misspeaking. Yes, counterterrorism. That's correct.

[Rob]

Going loop de, loop de on all these Disney rides. You got the song?

[Dave Smith]

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[Rob]

Yeah. Finally someone put their balls on the table and it's nice to actually see someone put that directly in paper. This is behalf on the Israel lobby and I'm sure we're going to be segueing shortly to the hearing that went on today. But my God, Tulsi Gabbard, unbelievable. I mean she's the one that really needs to resign and speak out against this. And I can't believe that she wants that job this badly that she's unwilling to do it.

[Dave Smith]

Yeah, you know I again I listen, I said last summer when Tulsi Gabbard, I mean after giving her annual threat, I mean just think about how crazy this is. After giving her annual threat assessment and testifying under oath before Congress, she said that Iran has not made the political decision to start attempting to make nuclear weapons. That's what she said, that they weren't trying to do it. That the 60, she knowing about the 60% enriched uranium, that whole thing, that was the justification. She said full well knowing that with an IAEA report on her front desk that said they are enriching at 60% uranium, she goes yes, but they have not decided that they're making a bomb. In other words, Rob, why do you enrich up to 60% if you're not planning on making a bomb? Asking the question differently, why wouldn't you just break out and make the bomb? Why once you enrich to this, once you've mastered the fuel cycle, you've enriched to 60%. You can make nuclear weapons. That's they can do it. They've proven they can do it. So what, by implication of her testimony, what she's saying is that yeah, they're hanging out here for what reason? To have, you know, nuclear threshold status, to have a bargaining chip to. You know what I mean to say. Hey, listen, we want to let you know that we could make a bomb, but we haven't made the decision to make one yet. I mean that. Okay, so then right after Israel bombs them, she goes, they were months away. Like, you know, then I, I said back then I posted on, on Twitter that, you know, she just became the Colin pal of this administration. And this is, you know, I don't know. Again, it's not, it's very hard to resist the I told you so urge. It's a human thing. I guess it's kind of an ugly quality. But it's just like, not just on behalf of me, but like ever, as I've been saying, every Critic of the 12 Day War, man, has been so goddamn vindicated, Rob. So vindicated. Because Colin Powell, is that not the perfect thing to call her? The one in the administration who fucking knew better and still didn't do shit, still went along with it. The one, you know. Ok, I guess we just have to play the Tulsi video now. Maybe some more things to say about Joe Kent.

[Rob]

I will just say it is a little bit concerning that the head of counterterrorism in this country just decided I don't want any part of this. What does he know is coming? I don't want to, I don't want to scare people too much, but there's a little bit something concerning that most people don't resign and, and, and make this move and it's usually because they know that they don't want to be a part of the mess. That's really the only reason to do it. Unless you're an honorable person and none of these politicians ever are.

[Dave Smith]

Well, I, listen, I, I get that. But I will say in the case of Joe Kent, you know, look, so fine, let's do Joe Ken a little bit and then we'll go back to Tulsi. Okay, so in the case of Joe Ken, listen, the dude really is like a decorated combat vet who lost his wife in these wars. And look, he has not always been great on everything. But I think that this is a heroic move one way or the other. Like even if he's doing it with self interested, you know, whatever. Like, I just don't want to be a part of this mess or whatever it is. But I think it's quite possible that you could just take him at his word on this, that he's just, he. He's kind of a unique case. He's not just like your average politician. This is a dude who was like, really in this and I think really did have like a sincere kind of like, change of heart about our foreign policy. And again, I don't know, but I wouldn't. Look, is there a concern when you're talking about the counterterrorism stuff? Like, look, man, how many terrorist attacks have we seen since this war started already? This has not been going on long and we've had three, I think. And so, like, I don't know on that front, but I think it also just could be that, look, if you, if you're really against this policy and you care about the country at all, or maybe you actually care about more people over there, over there dying at all, this is a huge thing you could do right now for the anti war movement. And so who knows for sure what's, you know, what's motivating any of this? But I just don't see, like, I've seen people, like, speculating about different conspiracy theories or something like that. He's doing this as a play to do, but none of it, none of that really seems to make too much sense to me. So some people on Twitter saying, like, this is part of a play to, like, help J.D. vance, like, shield, you know, blame from this. But I was like, but how does that make sense? How does he, how does him resigning help JD Vance at all when JD Vance is still there and has to say he's going along with this? J.D. vance is done. His political career is over. It's so funny, man. I've seen people. Sorry, sorry, Rob. I apologize. I'm rambling, but I, you. I see people, some of these commentators talking about how, like, Marco Rubio is going to be the next nominee or something like that. Like, you think this country's electing Marco Rubio? Are you guys this out of touch? Do you know how much bigger the populist support in the Republican bases over the neocon support? No winning elections. But anyway, go ahead.

[Rob]

I was just going to say it could be you climb up high enough the government ladder and some people can't handle the heat of just how much Israel there is. You know, you go high enough, you're like, wait, it's this much Israel. I can't do this.

[Dave Smith]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, it's possible. But anyway, it's a big deal. It's a big deal to have that guy resign anyway, in verbatim that this

[Rob]

is a war on behalf of Israel. I mean, that should be the highest of conspiracies. And he just said it, put it in writing.

[Dave Smith]

You know, I see people. Because one of the other very interesting things about Joe Kent, and this is one of the great things, in a way he did for us, is when something like this happens, it exposes a lot of the war hawks. And you know, look, the theme of the last two plus years in this country really has been the war hawks being exposed to the public. Now, that hasn't affected policy one bit, obviously, but that has been a major, like, cultural force in America. And what you. To see him having this record that he has and then. And then being like a conscientious objector to another war in the Middle east, which, Rob, I mean, we have like super majorities is like an understatement. Like there was like a. As goddamn close to a political consensus amongst the people of this country that we do not want to fight more stupid regime change wars in the Middle east, you know, and here you have a guy, a conscientious objector, resigning over that. He's a decorated veteran. He lost his wife in this whole thing. And immediately Ben Shapiro and Mark Levin and every dumb warhawk in the country starts calling him a coward and he's weak. He's this, I mean, dude. It's just. I don't know, it's just so you just see who these people are, you know, like, even if he was wrong and they thought, no, no, no, this is the, the one that's gonna go right, Even though they all else went bad, you'd have to admit. Look, I get where a goddamn combat vet of these wars wouldn't want to do this anymore. And that to me is just. I mean, it's. You know, in a way you're kind of like happy about it because it's. Well, look, you're revealing yourself in front of everyone even more. You're being exposed. But it is just so despicable. There's just really, really like the worst of humanity. You're like, who are you people? Are you like even made of the same stuff that the rest of us are like? You know what I mean? Like, I don't know. Anyway, let's play the Tulsi clip. Let's. Let's get to that. Suarez, do you have that one thanks. Oh, oh, I'm sorry. This is the one. Where is the YouTube? So we've got actually a few different portions of this that we're going to play. We got a bunch of content here from Tulsi. Sorry, keep going. Source.

[Congressional Hearing Official]

Seen consequences of the war. And that strikes me, Madam Director, is what amounts to a historic mistake. Now, my second question is, did the intelligence agencies assess that the Iranians could respond to a regime change attack from us by attacking US Forces and other Americans in the region? The IC assessment has always taken very seriously the threat of the Iranian regime's missile capabilities and how our American troops within the region may be put at risk. Again, you know, it seems to me with Americans dying in the war, it's hard to see how you can sit here and say that the intelligence agencies couldn't provide a clear warning that if attacked, the Iranians would respond by attacking our people. Now, on Monday, Madam Director Donald Trump was asked about Iranian strikes on the Gulf states. He said, and I quote, nobody. Nobody. No, no, no. The greatest experts. Nobody thought they were going to hit the Gulf states. You all are supposed to be the greatest experts. That's what we have you there for. Director Gabbard, did the intelligence agencies assessed that Iran could conduct strikes on our own partners in the region if it was attacked? The intelligence community has continued to assess the potential threats to the region, the existing threats to the region, and providing those assessments to the policymakers and decision makers.

[Rob]

You got to stop.

[Congressional Hearing Official]

Let me move.

[Dave Smith]

Yeah, pause it. Pause it right there. I mean, that. Listen, man, just pause it right there. I mean, what you have here is just. This is Tulsi Gabbard lying us into war. That's what we got. You know, I gotta say, man, there were always issues with Tulsi Gabbard, you know, if you remember, Rob. I mean, we. She was only ever half good on the war on terrorism to begin with. If you remember, we had an episode back in. I want to say it was 2023, and I believe the title was Tulsi, you're the terrorist, where I really went pretty hard on her. She's. But, you know, I, I do got to say, to some degree, I, I also was never very impressed with her, like, intellectually. I, I just remember. I remember there was one time when I went on. On Rogan when the Ukraine war had first started. Then I, I had a whole thing on that, and it. It went like, super viral. The clip at the time, it was like the biggest clip I had ever had out. And it really, It. You Know, like, I, I don't know, I just got, at that time, I got more like heat off that. And I thought it was cool because it, it. A lot of people got to hear what I had to say on it and I thought it was important or whatever. And then Tulsi went on the next episode. And so I had played, I had told Joe about the, you know, that Gideon Rose interview with Stephen Colbert, you know what I'm talking about, where he's breaking down how we're stealing Ukraine away from him. And it like blew Joe's mind. He hadn't seen it before. He's like, yo, that's crazy. Like, a lot of people, like, didn't know about the whole Made on Revol and the American involvement and stuff like that. And so he has her on the next day and he asks her about it. So then he plays it again on the show. And I was like, oh, man, this is awesome. Like back to back episodes he played that video and then he throws it to Tulsi. And I was like, yo, this is crazy. We're both going to like, destroy this war. And then he goes, so, Tulsi, what's going on here? You know, And Tulsi goes, you know, I forget exactly. But it was literally something like, you know, the problem is that the military industrial complex has far too much power in Washington D.C. and we are no longer a government of for and by the people. We are a government of for and by the military industrial complex, like something like this. And I was like, oh, I. At the time, I kind of really respected Tulsi. And I was like, oh, maybe I'm going to learn something from her. Maybe she's going to have a nugget that like, I didn't know, you know, that she knows. She was in the Congress and all that, you know, and you're just kind of like, oh. But I do have to say, you know, when she, when she used to do that, like, her little shtick about like, my brothers and sisters, you know, she was embedded in a medical unit in some of the worst years in Iraq. So she saw some shit, you know, like she saw. And she used to talk about her brothers and sisters needlessly dying in this war that politicians led us into. And I gotta say to Tulsi, and I hope you hear this, like, you really had me going there for a little bit with that, you know, for. I kind of believed you on that part of it. I kind of believe that you actually gave a shit about the people you watched having their limbs Blown off and shit like that, you know? And yet here you are, lying us into a fucking war that you've been predicting fucking publicly for at least a fucking decade would go this way. What the fuck are you talking about? The President of the United States said that no one could have predicted this. I predicted this. I'm an idiot. Fucking Scott Horton predicted this, and John Mearsheimer predicted this, and Jeffrey Sachs predicted this, and Tucker Carlson predicted this, and the fucking Pentagon predicted this. What are you talking about?

[Rob]

Yeah, well, she's going to sit there.

[Dave Smith]

She's going to sit there and just fucking dodge the question.

[Rob]

Yeah, she can't criticize the president, and so she completely dodges the question and just says we're accumulating information, and as we get information, we give it to the President. Which is not an answer of yes or no. Was the President informed of this or. And if not, why were our intelligence agencies completely blind to this level of risk?

[Dave Smith]

Yeah, but. And of course the answer is they weren't. They weren't blind to this. They all knew it. It's why generals were warning Donald Trump not to do this. You know, it's. I don't know. It's. There is just something about watching these people, like, yo, you're destroying our country, man. You're like, what are you doing? What are you doing? You're risking all of this, just killing all these people. And. And, you know, like, it's like. Anyway, I don't know. But Tulsi here. And I'll say this because I've heard from a few different people who have said that, something like, along the lines of, yeah, well, you know, Tulsi resigns, and they're just gonna put someone worse in there. You're like, oh, yeah, someone who might lie us into war. You're gonna put someone worse in there. Like you. You are worse. Now you're as bad as any of them. If you'll do this. This is. No, I'm just saying, like, this is the whole thing. This is. What do you mean, worse? Worse is this. This is worse. Worse is lying us into a war. Like, that's the thing. What's the worst thing a Director of National Intelligence can do? It's this. It's what Tulsi's doing right now. And it's about the war that she sold T shirts to get keep us out of. It's the war she's been talking about her whole political career.

[Rob]

If Tulsi Gabbard were to resign in the same fashion as what was the guy's name. Kent. Can't.

[Dave Smith]

Joe.

[Rob]

Ken.

[Dave Smith]

Sorry.

[Rob]

That definitely wasn't his name. My bad. No reason for that joke. Especially when he did something honorable. I retract what I just said. Comedic instincts when I'm floundering. If Tulsi Gabbard were to resign, it would create a real demand for accountability of to what extent are we just engaging in activities on behalf of Israel? And it would become very undeniable if someone in her position turned around and said, I cannot support this action and this is clearly not in the American interest. And believe me, when they lose the Congress, the amount of pressure and activity of going after Donald Trump for why did you not take your own intelligence agency's recommendations and go into this war? We're talking about an. A completely different political atmosphere.

[Dave Smith]

Yep. Yeah. All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is my Patriot Supply. A great company, really, really proud to have them on board as a sponsor. If a major disruption happened and couldn't get to the store, how long do you think you would last with what's in your house right now? If it's anything less than a month, you need to check out our friends at my Patriot Supply. They're America's number one preparedness company with over 3 million satisfied customers. And right now, when you go to preparelike Dave.com you can get their bestselling four week emergency food supply that comes with an additional week of free food. This is the best long term storable food you can find. You're getting at least 2,000 calories a day. Real meals made with real, real ingredients, no artificial flavors or colors, and the shelf life is measured in decades. Look, we all know we need to have some food stored for emergencies. Why not get it from the most trusted folks in the business and get a free week of food while you're at it. Just so you guys know, this is the same stuff that I keep in my house. After Covid, I really kind of vowed to myself that I will never be without, you know, a reasonable, a few months supply of food and water and, you know, the firepower to protect it if need be. So if you want to be Prepared, go to preparelikedave.com and get your free week of emergency food today. That's preparelikedave.com all right, let's get back into the show. That's right. No, it'd be, it'd be the hugest thing in the world for the people who are trying to stop this catastrophe. It'd be the hugest thing. I'm like, what is even, Rob, what is the, what is the best case scenario here, really? Let's think it out here. Because I'm not like, I'm saying best case scenario, like, okay, so let's say the best case scenario is like we kill thousands of people, but not into the tens of thousands of people. Probably going to be almost impossible to avoid 10,000 dead Iranians at this point, I'd imagine. You know, I don't know that we have reliable numbers on this yet, but I'm just kind of ballparking it. So, like, the best case scenario is that it doesn't get into the high tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands or something like that, as it did in Iraq and Afghanistan and Syria and probably Libya and Yemen. Okay, so, so only like, like 10,000 or 20,000 people get killed. What's the best case scenario is that this only ends up costing like tens of billions rather than hundreds of billions or trillions like some of the others. And then the best case scenario is that out of all of that, like some more liberal or, or more plays ball with Israel type and America type, like, you know, regime arises when this one falls. Is that, is that the best case scenario? That's the best case scenario right now, right? That we, we just spend billions of dollars, tens of billions of dollars, we kill thousands of people so that a government that really causes us no harm, certainly no harm over here. The only even argument for harm, you could say, is that they are harming our ability to topple governments on behalf of Israel. They are, you know what I mean? Like, they, they, when, whatever, you know, in Iraq when we were doing that, they were a pain in our ass or something like that. And half that stuff's exaggerated. But whatever. The point is, just like even in the best case scenario of this, how would it possibly be worth it? And then, Rob, what is the likelihood of that last part of the best case scenario that I just laid out? What, what is it? What is the likelihood that like, it's possible the first parts, like, maybe we only kill 10 or 20,000 people and maybe we only spend 10 or $20 billion or something like that. I think we're way over 10 or $20 billion if you count all the damage at this point in the Strait of Hormuz being closed and the global economy blow back on us and all that. But that's the best case scenario at that, at that point that we just, we stop at that and Trump stops in a week and we Come back. And we just did that. The best case scenario here is that. And, and what's a given already here, Rob, an absolute given is that Donald Trump has murdered his coalition. Murder. It's just absolutely ruined. And anybody telling you anything else is just out of their mind. If you listen there, this, this is. Not 100% of Trump's base doesn't feel this way. But when you're talking about putting a coalition together, that can be the difference between winning or losing, the difference between winning the popular vote or winning the swing states or something like that. If you think there wasn't enough of a percentage of Donald Trump's base who it was a deal breaker to lie us into another war in the Middle East. Living in a fantasy land, an absolute fantasy land.

[Rob]

I agree 100%. Let's roll the other clip, which is they ask her the same person.

[Dave Smith]

Okay, and then you know what? Because I just want to make sure. Because I just got this in my head, because what we got to still do here is we got to do Tulsi Gabbard, then we got to do Donald Trump, and then we got to do the media a little bit on, on, on this stuff. So let's, let's try, maybe we'll go a little bit over time, but let's, let's try to get all that in. So here's, let's go back to the Tulsi.

[Rob]

I would roll. Yeah. This clip, I think it's a similar question, but in regards to the Hormuz strait.

[Congressional Hearing Official]

See, between what the intelligence committee community has reported over the years and what the president has said in terms of his, of this action. For example, Senator Wyden read the report from a year ago that strikes against neighboring states and action to close the Strait of Hormuz was predicted by the intelligence community. And yet the president says nobody knew. And my question is, did you tell him? Anybody want to answer that question?

[Dave Smith]

Senator, I'll. Is this hilarious? Just pause it for a second there. It's just like, you know, when they, when the Trump administration fucks up so bad that they make, like, politicians look good. But just, just think about that question, the fact that that question has to get asked and like, how utterly reasonable an expectation is that you'd have to have an answer for that. Like, there was this intelligence. And by the way, it's not just, I mean, he cited one, like, intelligence document, but, like, dude, this has been U. S. Intelligence since at at least 2007. And I'm, I'm sure it was known before that. Too. But it's consistently, it's always been known. That's what like the entire conversation, right? Like the entire debate about war with Iran that really has been going on since 911 and George W. Bush put Iran on the axis of evil list. Like, it's a very blatant, like, hey, these are the governments that we're looking at over this 911 thing. There's been a debate about war with Iran going since then in the country. It's been 25 years. And this has always been a central part of the debate. It's just so ridiculous to say that no one could have predicted this. This has always been what everybody who was analyzing intelligence or military preparedness or debating the topic in public talked about. And the President said he's never heard this. Like, you know, it's just such a crazy claim because no one told him. Like you're saying he never heard this. None of you ever told him this. How? Anyway, what a question to even be able to ask someone. Let's play briefings. The President gets briefings constantly about intelligence.

[Congressional Hearing Official]

Now the comments that you talked about,

[Dave Smith]

I had not heard.

[Congressional Hearing Official]

But what I can tell you is that Iran had specific plans to hit

[Dave Smith]

US Interests in energy sites across the region.

[Congressional Hearing Official]

And that's why the Department of War and the Department of State took measures for force protection and personnel protection in adv. Of Operation Epic Fury. I think that's what's most important. Any, any predictions, President, about the Strait of Hormuzza?

[Dave Smith]

Pause it. Just you, you take this one, Rob.

[Rob]

I mean, it's just such a non answer of. Well, I can't tell you whether or not that specific information was relayed, but we did everything we can to protect our people in the region. Well, the question was the President just said that nobody was aware of this information. We know that our intelligence agencies have put together this information. Was he not told that? Well, we did everything we could to protect our people in the region. In other words, you refused to answer this question about whether or not Donald Trump was informed on this and if he was, then is lying. Which leads to the question of why is he lying and working against the information of our intelligence agencies. Oh, is it because he's doing this for somebody else?

[Dave Smith]

Yeah, yeah. You know, it's, it's just the political theater of all of it is just so tired. Like, you know, I remember when I first, when I first got in this game of being an anti government extremist, Rob, I. It was almost like you had to make the case that this was all Political theater. You had to try to convince people that, like, dude, Obama and Romney don't really hate each other. Like Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell don't really hate each other. This is all theater. They're all on the same side, you know, and. But now it's just, like, it's so obvious. You don't even have to, like, explain to people that, like, Rob, what is the point of having this if you can just not answer the question, why? You know what I mean? Like, why even do this? Why even sit there and ask questions like, from the congressman's point of view, you're like. Like, why am I even wasting my time asking this then? If you're just. When in the most important question that a government official could possibly ask another government official. You know what I mean? Like, we're talking about a war we just launched, and you're saying you didn't have the intelligence about that war that was widely available to everyone.

[Rob]

Well, the important thing is they can just not answer to keep people safe. We didn't actually keep them safe, but we took measures, and that's the important thing.

[Dave Smith]

This is supposed to, like, convince the American people that, you know, it's just too. It's too ridiculous. All right, let's. Let's. Let's go to the Tulsi Gabbard one, because this really is the juiciest of. Of all of them

[Congressional Hearing Official]

on the ground.

[Rob]

Yeah, well, no, we're going to the. The next clip, which is. I think it was a center. Oh, man.

[Dave Smith]

Or something.

[Congressional Hearing Official]

Discussion about the.

[Rob]

If. If you go into the email, there's a certain email that has the time stamp. It's close to the end. I think it's like, 145 off the top of my head. But hold on.

[Dave Smith]

No, it's two hours. Two hours and 15 minutes.

[Rob]

There you go. I was wrong.

[Dave Smith]

Wait. Nuclear capability obliterated. Okay, I didn't. Yeah, I didn't get that part. No, I thought. Is this the one where Tulsi. I wanted the. The Tulsi imminent threat.

[Rob]

The longer version of when Tulsi says

[Dave Smith]

the imminent threat clip. Yeah, yeah, that's what I want. Okay, great. Hey, live chat. That's how the sauce. Okay, so two hours and what? One second. So you said two hours and what? Two hours and 15 minutes. Okay.

[Rob]

Yeah, that's the guy. Handsome fella. Never heard of him before.

[Dave Smith]

Yeah, I think I may have seen him a time or two. I don't know nothing about him, though.

[Congressional Hearing Official]

So you provide the Congress, quote,

[Dave Smith]

timely,

[Congressional Hearing Official]

objective, and independent of political considerations. Correct? Yes. And you noted in your opening statement you're here fulfilling a statutory response ability and that your testimony, quote, represents the I D assessment threats. Correct.

[Dave Smith]

That open. This is coming through like really awful.

[Congressional Hearing Official]

Correct you. That's right.

[Dave Smith]

Just pause for a second.

[Congressional Hearing Official]

Intelligence community. Yes. So the assessment of the intelligence community,

[Rob]

I think it might be worth pulling it back, let it load up a little bit, take a couple comments and then just give it a clean edit and play it.

[Dave Smith]

Yeah, I mean, if you're recording locally, I suppose it won't come out, but it's really hard for us to comment on it like this. So, yeah, do what Rob said. Just let, let it load up for a little bit. We'll take a couple questions from the chat and then we'll edit this out.

[Rob]

Maybe go to like two 15, 32, 14.

[Dave Smith]

Unless, I guess, unless one of your questions are really good here. Go ahead, put in a question in the live chat if you want one. Look up. Why doesn't Ben Swan get more exposure? Everything I've seen from him has been good over the years. Think he'd be a cool guest? Yeah, I would. I would have been on for sure. You know, I'll say this to you guys and we will edit this out of the episode. But, you know, I think, I think working at RT is. Really hurts. Really hurts. You. You know, I, I like Ben a lot. I think Ben's great and I've, I've been a fan of his since back in the day when he was at that Fox affiliate wherever and I used to watch his, his viral clips all the time. He was like a big figure in the Ron Paul revolution days. But I do think going, I like I. To me, it's just like at this point too, especially like, you know, back when, when Adam Kokesh and what's her name. What's what's her name just blanking on it. The, the lefty anti war lady had their shows there. It was a little bit different because it was like, well, shit, that's the only fucking thing that'll let you on TV to say all this is rt and it's a little weird to take money from the Russian government, but like you can say some real on there and you can't. But now it's just like, man, everyone's got shows, dude. Just do a show, you'll reach just as many people. I mean, I understand you get money because now it's just the money in a way. You know, I think it kind of creates a little bit of A perverse thing. I know Kaku worked for them, too, for a little bit. I mean, like, I like all those guys. I'm not trashing them. But until I think it takes you out of the conversation a little bit, gives you too easy of a thing to be able to dismiss you. All right, let's. Let's go to the Tulsi Gabbard statement.

[Congressional Hearing Official]

Under the law, you are responsible for providing national intelligence to the president, correct? Yes. And to the heads of executive branch departments and agencies? Yes. Yes. And to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and senior military commanders across the ic? Yes. And to the Senate and the House and relevant committees, Correct? Yes. And the law states that the national intelligence you provide to Congress, quote, should be timely, objective, and independent of political considerations, correct? Yes. And you noted in your opening statement you're here fulfilling a statutory responsibility and that your testimony, quote, represents the IC's assessment of threats. Correct. That opening statement, as submitted to the committee in advance of this hearing, stated that as a result of last summer's airstrikes, quote, Iran's nuclear enrichment program was obliterated. End quote. Correct? That's right. And is that, in fact, the assessment of the intelligence community? Yes. So the assessment of the intelligence community is that Iran's nuclear enrichment program was obliterated by last summer's airstrikes? Yes. And the opening statement you submitted to the committee last night also stated, quote, there has been no effort since then to try to rebuild their enrichment capability, end quote. Correct? That's right. And that's the assessment of the intelligence community? Yes. The White house stated on March 1st of this year that this war was launched and was, quote, a military campaign to eliminate the imminent nuclear threat posed by the Iranian regime, end quote. That's a statement from the White House, quote, the imminent nuclear threat posed by the Iranian regime. Was it the assessment of the intelligence community that there was an imminent nuclear threat posed by the Iranian regime? The intelligence community assessed that Iran maintained the intention to rebuild and to continue to grow their nuclear enrichment capability. Was it the assessment of the intelligence community that there was a, quote, imminent nuclear threat posed by the Iranian regime? Yes or no, Senator, the only person who can determine what is and is not an imminent threat is the President. False. This is the worldwide. This is the worldwide threats hearing where you present to Congress national intelligence, timely, objective, and independent of political considerations. You've stated today that the intelligence community's assessment is that Iran's nuclear enrichment program was obliterated and that, quote, there had been no efforts since then to try to rebuild their enrichment capability. Was it the intelligence community's assessment that nevertheless, despite this obliteration, there was a, quote, imminent nuclear threat posed by the Iranian regiment? Yes or no? It is not the intelligence community's responsibility to determine what is and is not an imminent threat. Okay, that is. Here's the problem. On a volume. No, it is.

[Dave Smith]

It is.

[Congressional Hearing Official]

Precisely.

[Dave Smith]

It is positive. I mean, this is. This is more comical than anything out of the George W. Bush administration. I never seen anything like that before in my life. It is not our job to assess threat. It's exactly your job. You put out an annual threat assessment. That is your job. You can't just say it's not your job, Rob. I mean, listen, this is as simple as this, man. What a fucking evil person Tulsi Gabbard turned out to be. She's lying us into war. She's lying us into the war that she warned about, spent her entire career warning about, sold T shirts about. And here's as simple as, you know, she's lying us into war, Rob. If there was an imminent threat, then the answer to that question is yes. Simple as that. If there was an imminent threat, and she said, did the intelligence. You know, does the intelligence say that there's an imminent threat? She'd go, yes, it says there's an imminent threat. She can't. She can't say that because she knows it's not true, and so she won't admit that it's not true. Okay, not telling the truth is the same as lying in this situation. We're talking about the DNI testifying about a war that was just launched. She's lying us into a war knowing full well that she's doing it. You know, she is the Colin Powell of this administration. I'll take my apologies from all the people who said I was being hyperbolic or I was a panic in. In the 12 day war. All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is massive chips. You don't have to overhaul your whole life in 2026. Start with the simple swaps, like upgrading the snacks in your pantry to ones with real ingredients, like Massa. It's the easiest way to eat clean without feeling like you're on a diet. Masa chips contain just three ingredients. That's it. No seed oils, no mystery chemicals, just real food. These chips don't only avoid all of the bad stuff, they taste incredible. Snacking on Massa chips is nothing like eating regular chips with Massa. You feel satiated Light, energetic, no crash, bloat, or sluggish feeling afterward. And because these chips are made with real food, they're more satiating, so you don't find yourself uncontrollably binging and still feeling hungry afterward. Also, if you love Masa, give Vandy Crisps a try. Vandy is Massa's sister company. They make the most delicious potato chips. So Massa makes the. The tortilla chips, Vandy makes the potato chips. They're both delicious. We keep both of them in my house. My kids love them. I love them. And if you're ready to give Massa a try yourself, find out what all the hubbub's about, go to massachips.com Dave and use the promo code Dave for 25% off your first order. That's massa chips.com/dave, promo code Dave for 25% off YOUR first order. All right, let's get back into the show.

[Rob]

This is the most dead to rights I've ever seen a politician be ever in one of these hearings where he defines the job title, defines what her job is, and then goes, well, then how does this add up? And she refuses to answer it. And in fact, what we're finding out now is that the way that these decisions are made is that Donald Trump has a feeling about something. The feeling is informed by donors and leaders of other countries. And then he goes back to the intelligence agencies and goes, based off of my feeling, here's what the actual threat is. And then the intelligence agencies go, okay, it's so absurd.

[Dave Smith]

I can't even believe she went with this. Just lie, Tulsi. You're lying either way. So just lie. Like, what are you doing? Like you're sitting here saying only the President can determine whether there's an imminent threat or not.

[Rob]

I thought your job is literally to inform him. And the question is, did you inform him of the intelligence or not? Somebody's at fault here. Either Donald Trump decided to ignore the intelligence and he's at fault for this, or for some reason the people in the intelligence agencies literally did not present him the information he needed in order to make an informed decision.

[Dave Smith]

Rob, it's so much more basic than that. An imminent threat is a thing that exists in reality. There either is one or there isn't one. The President decides there's one. He's either correct or incorrect. It's not his decision that makes the threat imminent. This is just the dumbest goddamn shit I've ever heard in my life. I guess she thinks people are that Stupid that they. This is just like. Again, this is. This is more ridiculous than anything out of the George W. Bush administration. Anything out of the Obama. It's more ridiculous than saying Biden isn't senile. Like, there's. There's a chance that Biden could have not been senile, even though we could clearly see he was like, I. I mean, I don't know. This is worse than any of that. To go. It's. It's a. It's an imminent threat. If the president says it's an imminent threat, this is like, look, it's the truth. If the president says it's the truth, the sky is blue. If the president says the sky is blue, this is just insanity.

[Rob]

Trump made the mistake, and this is why he's dumber than the Bush administration, was that he didn't get the intelligence reports in line before he took action. So the Bush at least took steps to make sure that there were falsified reports, pretending that there was a nuclear risk, and so then he could point to, look, we had these intelligence reports, and then years later, we find out that it's all fabricated. In this case, the intelligence agencies were putting out the exact opposite information and warning him against it, but he just decided, I'm Trump and I'm going for it anyways. And my guess is this is gonna come back to haunt him. Maybe not because our government is completely corrupt, but he didn't get his ducks in a row. There's a way to play the corruption game, which includes that you have to fabricate these things, that there's some plausible deniability. And here we're finding, dead to rights. Oh, Donald Trump ignored the information, and we did have this information.

[Dave Smith]

Yeah, yeah, that's right. Look, I mean, let's. Let's talk about Trump a little bit here now, because he, at the end of the day, he's the biggest villain in all of this. He's the person most responsible for it. I mean, you can certainly put a lot of blame on Benjamin Netanyahu, but, like, Donald Trump is our, you know, elected leader, he is our commander in chief. He's the one who's moving the US Military here, and it's his responsibility. And I mean, this. Even if this would cost him his life, even under the worst blackmail, you have a profound moral responsibility to not, you know, lie your country into a war when you're their commander in chief. And if that means. I'm just saying. I'm not even saying they would kill him or they have blackmail on him. I'm saying there is no excuse. Like, even if they did have that, then it's your responsibility to give up your life before you go take the lives of so many other people needlessly. It's your responsibility to let your deepest, darkest secrets come out before you go kill a bunch of innocent people for no reason. And Donald Trump, I mean, oh, my fucking God, Rob, you know, we were talking about this last week before I went away, but in the week since I've been gone, I mean, I think this might actually top the, the Epstein cover up. When he was saying, like, when he was saying, why are you asking me about this? This now when there's floods in Houston, only loser Democrats ask about the thing that I, in my entire, you know, campaign ran on. All of my surrogates ran on. Only, you know, losers ask about that. It's just like, it was too crazy. But this, I mean, there's so many different. I mean, he's like, on record now saying that. He's on record saying that he didn't. No one could have predicted the most thing that was predicted the most about the war. He said that his director of counterterrorism was always weak on security and that he always knew that Donald Trump is more concerned about bashing the guy who just blew the whistle on this whole thing that he doesn't even think that, like, that's acknowledging that you put someone weak on security. You've always known they were weak on security and you gave them the job of director of counterterrorism. Like, what he said it's good if oil prices go up, you know, like he said. Like, I mean, he's saying, like, if it hits all types of things about the economy and just, I mean, this is like, I just cannot believe that anyone, like, is staying by this guy on this. It's just like, what, what can you say?

[Rob]

I broke it down on run your mouth that I figured out how Trump 5D chess works, which is whatever happens, you claim that's exactly what you wanted and it's victorious. So even something like gas prices going up, you turn around and you go, I always wanted higher gas prices. I always said it.

[Dave Smith]

Spending years campaigning and railing against the Biden gas price increases and talking all the time about how awful that is now. It's no big deal. I mean, look, it's just so obvious on its face here that again, it's not even like, like I can kind of. And I'm sure I will get in these debates. You know, I, I'm, I'm back now. I got a bunch of big shows coming up. I'm going to be making the rounds, but I will make sure. I'm sure, you know, to schedule some debates. I'm sure I'll be on Piers Morgan debating somebody about this soon. And, like, I can. It's a very weird feeling. I almost feel like I'm, like, uncomfortable accepting the premise of the debate, because is this even a debate? You know, like, if someone wanted to debate over whether it was Israel who got us into a rat, like, whether we fought a rat because of the Israel lobby and the Israeli government. Okay, there's a debate. Libya debate, Syria. I could debate it like this one. Are we even debating, like, who drew us into this war? Who was pressuring for this war? Netanyahu visit. How many times did he come over here in the last couple months to push Trump to do this? Trump is on record saying that, like, his biggest donors, just fucking all they care about is Israel. And every goddamn day, they're demanding more stuff for Israel. And I always give it to him, and they always give me more money. Like, it's. This isn't. It's completely out in the open. This isn't even. What are we even debating here? And so you just have this, like, the most obvious example of the president just completely bullshitting, just lying through his teeth, and I don't know what. You know, completely going back on the whole spirit of his whole political existence for a foreign country. What could. There's not much that could be worse that a leader could do that's worse. I mean, I guess he could start genociding his own people. That'd be worse. It's not. It's pretty up there. Yeah. I guess here in the. In as we get. Toward the end of the show, just like, I guess a few words about the. Well, and maybe we'll go a little bit long because there's a few more things we should get to here, but. Okay, so the media coverage of this, and when I say that, I mean, I guess there's different quarters of it, but the. The people who kind of are, like, blindly, you know, just supporting Donald Trump through all of this. And I mean, I'll say first, like, whatever you want to call the influencers or the podcasters or whatever the people on the Internet who are. Because this is kind of the most dominant now. It's more important than the corporate media, but you got people like, I don't know, it's like Benny. Benny Johnson and. Who's a good one, Maybe like Steven Crowder. He did a piece on me. Maybe I'll respond to that tomorrow or something. It's really just awful. Low IQ slop. But these guys like Will Chamberlain or I don't know, just like the ones that are just always, or even the Ben Shapiro's, I mean, but I'm not just talking about like the guys who are actually like Israeli lobbyists or Israel firsters or whatever you want to call them, but the guys who are just it if you've watched them all, Rob, like it is literally like the goal posts moving on, what the hell their position even is because essentially they're just trapped in this thing where like whatever Trump does, they're going to support. And so they kind of come up with the best argument they can for the last thing, but then he does the next thing which completely destroys their position on the last thing. And so then they pretend like they have this new position which is that actually this is a good thing that we did the thing that we're not, you know, it's just so ridiculous, so ridiculous. You know, from, from them starting with like Israel, you know, Israel can do it alone. To, oh, we're gonna need you to drop those bunker bombs, but we don't need you to do anything else other than that to actually, oh, we need you to take care of the missiles. You know, like the people these guys would have been arguing were arguing with me a year ago, excuse me, last summer they were arguing that I'm so dumb for thinking this was going to get us into a protracted conflict where lots of people die. Now, now it's just like, oh, you're so dumb for whatever the next thing. Like they just keep moving the goal post, keep, to just defend this guy. It's like they're just like, I don't know, just I, I find it so strange because I go just on like a self serving, self interested level. Like don't you want to preserve like an ounce of your integrity or your perceived integrity? You know, like, isn't it, isn't this going to be so transparent to people that you've like, you were just saying this the other day. You were just saying that this isn't what was going to happen.

[Rob]

Well, I guess it's unbelievable for the few Trump loyalists left. They like, whoever will take the victory lap with Donald Trump and get in line with the newest lies and my God, I guess Donald Trump will serve up the glory for you because soon enough Mark Levin's going to be state run media. That's going to be all that we can consume the only patriot left.

[Dave Smith]

Well, yeah, let's. Actually, we should. Let's, let's pull up that Donald Trump tweet because that was an important one. I'm sorry, I forgot to do that at the end of the Donald Trump thing. That's how I wanted to finish it. Let's, but, so let's pull up that tweet and then a couple more thoughts on the, on the media. But this was, I, I thought this was very interesting. Donald Trump tweeted and I gotta say. Well, here, let me read the tweet. Okay. Mark Levin is a truly great American patriot, is somewhat under siege by other people. Can you make it a little bit bigger? Actually, yeah, maybe. Actually, I could make this larger here. So Mark Levin is a truly great American patriot, somewhat under siege by other people with far less intellect, capability and love for our country. Mark is tough. All right. Mark is tough, strong and brilliant. Hence the nickname, the Great One, conceived by our MAGA friend, the wonderful Sean Hannity, after years of dealing with Mark in legal media. Okay. So he comes out with this just ball washing Mark Levin post and then basically says, screw all the guys coming at him. Okay, yeah, we can take that down. There's, you know, this is an interesting moment. And you know, I remember I had a little bit of a moment that was kind of similar to this with the President where for those of you who may remember, I, I debated Douglas Murray on Joe Rogan's podcast. And like the day after, maybe two days after Tucker, Donald Trump had a tweet about how great Douglas Murray was and again promoted his book and stuff like that. Now I don't know for sure that it was like in response to my debate, but I will say that, you know, that debate was for that week, like the biggest goddamn thing on the, the, like everywhere. And you know, it felt like it was kind of a response. Maybe I'm making more of a big deal than it was, but I think most people seem to take it that it was like that. And I remember when that happened, it was kind of like, well, there's this, there's a real signal there. But of course this was before, you know, the 12 Day War and before the Epstein cover up and before obviously this war and this one obviously is like a 10,000 times bigger deal. This to me, Rob, I, if you remember, I used to say that, or I've said many times over the last, you know, year and a half that, and I think in many ways this was the best case, this was the best outcome of Trump Winning the election in 24. This was the reason why I supported him. And I said this at the time, I said it was the number one reason, or I guess that number one and two one was that it would destroy, you know, the Democrats and prevent Kamala Harris from being president. Then I thought the second best reason was that it would be the nail in the coffin of the corporate media. And I think I got that call right. And there was something very interesting. Like it had been dead for a while. You know, it was we, we, me and you, Rob. We used to always talk about how ridiculous it was that Brian Stelter, you know, positioned himself as like the expert in the room and the fringe. Joe Rogan was over here. We were like, guys, we all see the numbers. Like, we all know who the mainstream is. But after the 24 election, they admitted it. The media all went, you know, we need to find our own Joe Rogan. We're not really where it's at anymore. They're where it's at. They weren't saying that until that defeat, you know, five minutes earlier they were saying, kamala Harris probably going to win this thing. So in a way, this kind of felt like, I don't know, Rob, if you agree with this, but this felt like it's been over for a while now. But Trump made it official that he's blown up his, his coalition. You know, like you, you, you pick a side so strong like that and say the ones attacking them are wrong. And like, first of all, the ones attacking him are all really playing defense. Like he's the one who started attacking everybody. And this is just the truth, Rob. Like we all kind of know this. No one was really still talking about Mark Levin. Mark Levin wasn't really like, Mark Levin almost got some relevance back by just being the most over the top, ridiculous name calling guy, going after everyone. And then it was like, because Mark Levin kind of used to be a fixture, that was enough for a lot of us to go, I'll, I'll stomp this dude. Okay? No problem. It just gets, literally, he gets ratioed to death on social media every day. Every day. I did it to him today earlier. It just, it's very easy. Everyone's against him, at least on social media. He's got a, a dwindling, quite literally dying audience of 90 year olds who listen to him. And the people who he's fighting with are Megyn Kelly and Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens. Like the most surging, you know, people like Nick Fuentes, the guys like this, myself and the other, you know, it's like people who are surging, including the people at the absolute top, like Tucker and Megan and Candace. And Trump just goes all in with him. I mean, look, Trump destroys coalition with the 12 Day War and the Epstein cover up. He destroyed it beyond repair with this war in Iran. And this was just kind of admitting it. This was making it official. You know, I'll be honest, I was a little stung when Trump posted about Douglas Murray after our debate. You know, you're also a little bit kind of flattered in a weird way. But this I was just pleased with. I was happy he made this post. Like, okay, just like, let it be known then. Let it be known. You, you, you're official. You think Tucker Carlson and Thomas Massie are losers and hacks and, you know, and, and you love Lindsey Graham and Mark Levin. All right, good luck. J.D. vance or Marco Rubio, you're toast. That's it. Destroyed the winning coalition. There's just no chance. There's just no question about it. All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is Prolon. I've been telling you guys about Prolon for a while. Prolon is a plant based nutrition program featuring soups, snacks and beverages designed to nourish the body while keeping it in a fasting state, triggering cellular rejuvenation and renewal. So you've probably heard a lot of people talking about the benefits of fasting and the idea of Prolon is that you basically get all of those benef without having to give up food. You trick your body into thinking you're fasting so it goes into a fasting state so you get all those benefits without, you know, the cost of actually having to not eat anything. And this is serious. It was developed for decades with USC's Longevity Institute. It's backed by top US medical centers. 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[Rob]

And Mr. President, I will yell on your behalf every day, even if nobody's listening. The entire world needs to know Iran's always been the enemy. You're the only one braving us to take them on.

[Dave Smith]

Did you, man? Dude, I love it. It's amazing. Did you see? Let's, let's do this. And we could wrap up in a few minutes here. But let's, let's just play the cnn, the poll, the MAGA poll. This was just. I mean, I thought this was AI. I could not believe they went with this. This is just the way. Oh, you haven't seen this, dude. Oh, Rob. Oh, I'm almost jealous that you haven't seen it. It's, it's. And just keep in mind, just the way CNN has covered Donald Trump, I mean, it's really just amazing to watch, like, all the never Trumper, you know, all the people just celebrating right now that Donald Trump's fighting this war, all the fucking Israel firsters, the Ben Shapiro, the Mark Levins, all the guys who were the never Trumpers. And now think cnn, the ultimate personification of just, you know, we're going to fucking frame the guy for treason all day long. We will bash Donald Trump all day long. That was CNN for all these. Here's, here's what they're doing to Donald Trump right now. Let's play this clip. And this is one of those, because just take a look here. MAGA GOP view of Trump approve 100%. 100%. If you are a member of MAGA and the GOP, you approve of Donald John Trump, 0% say that they disapprove. You don't have to be a mathematical genius to know you can't go higher than 100%. He is the 1972 Miami Dolphins. Now, there are some Republicans who disapprove of Donald John Trump, but they are not members of the Make America Great Again movement. The bottom line is this. If you are a member of maga, you approve of Donald Trump. It's interesting, though, because there have been a couple prominent people who have sort of come out online and they're very ma about this war with Iran because

[Congressional Hearing Official]

he promised no new wars. Is there any sign that people might be leaving Maga relative to 2024?

[Dave Smith]

Yeah. Okay, so, you know, I've said it before and, you know, the theme of this segment is Tucker Carlson B dart. And when we look at the number. So here. Okay, so that's it? That's all you need? Yes. So. Oh, my God, Rob. I mean, dude, this is North Korea. Shit. This is literally like the craziest thing I've ever heard. In my life, they go, oh, you know, MAGA Republicans, 100% of them support this thing. And you know, that's got people a little bit confused because all of the biggest voices in MAGA Republican world are totally against this thing. And it's like, dude, did you first think to yourself, when have you look at what they're doing? When have you ever seen anyone measure polls by what MAGA Republicans think? What the fuck does that even mean? What does it mean to be a MAGA Republican? He said there's lots of people who don't support it, but if you're in the MAGA movement, you do. Well, everyone who doesn't support it has left the movement. What's the size of the movement? What's the size of the coalition? Trump's now down to? This is why they're selling the war. Trump's down to semantics. I define what MAGA is, you don't. And it's like, ok, so you're saying we define MAGA as everyone who agrees with this war. And we found that when 100% of people in that category agree with this war, how the fuck else do you ever get to 100% of something that's stated, stated differently?

[Rob]

You can conduct this poll by calling people and go, hey, I saw that you were a Donald Trump voter. Do you support this war? And they say, no. And then you go, well, you're not maga.

[Dave Smith]

Yes, that's right. That's what they're doing. There's not. Listen, Donald Trump. Look, as I said, the polls now, now say that if the election were today, Kamala Harris wins in a landslide. So where's that coalition? It's destroyed. It's gone. Donald Trump's approval ratings are the lowest they've ever been. This war is the least popular war going in in American history. These are what the polls say. And yet CNN is over there telling you that it's a 100%. That's obviously implying 100% of his base. Well, yeah, if you're not in his base anymore over this, there's like a huge. Look again, obviously, right? A huge percentage of people supported Donald Trump, like a very sizable percentage, because at least in large, large, large part because they didn't want to fight more regime change wars in the Middle east and they didn't want to get lied into them. And when you lie them into one, that's the type of thing that they leave your base over war. So those people aren't in the president's base anymore. That tells you precisely zero information about anything, that every war is 100% popular, if you measure it that way, Rob. And this is what they're doing. And then isn't it just so you know, doesn't it just give you the whole game right there that even CNN is carrying water for Donald Trump? And why? Because he's fighting a war. Because that's what they're in the business of selling. That's it. You know, I always. I always said this for so many goddamn years. Like, every single time I've been on Joe Rogan's show, every single time I think I've been on a big show, I've made the point that their whole thing is being in the business of selling wars. And what could prove that more than CNN carrying water for Donald Trump? Like, why would they be doing that? You know what I'm saying? Like, if. If your number one thing was to ruin a guy who you hated, It would prove that that actually wasn't your number one thing. Your number one thing was selling wars, and he's doing that. So that actually outranks your number one. What was perceived to be your number one thing.

[Rob]

Yeah, this is. This is the most legitimate thing to actually trash him for is abandoning his base in the name of a foreign country and pulling us into a quagmire. Yeah. So if you have no interest in actually criticizing him on this, but instead sell it, that this is what his supporters like, I think that does. That does quite validate your theory.

[Dave Smith]

Yeah, yeah. And I just, I think there's people who, like, just don't understand, you know, what's going on in the media, in the world, talking about stuff too. You know, I saw, like, there's, there's been all this talk about, like, the podcast, you know, wars and, oh, should Megan Kelly have said micro penis Mark back to Mark Levin? And I don't know. Like, I'm. I'm kind of firmly in the camp that, like, yeah, she should have, like, that, like, why should she sit here and let all these guys talk to her? And this is how it happened. All these guys started talking to her, and she was like, hey, guys, can we please not get someone else killed? That was literally her response. Months, the first time that Mark Levin started talking wild shit to Megyn Kelly. And, and it's so weird because, like, he calls her so literally, I've seen Josh Hammer, Mark Levin, and Laura Loomer.

[Rob]

So the committee people with micro penises,

[Dave Smith]

including, yes, they, they all. And they started calling her Grandma Groiper, which is like, on there's There's. It's just really hilarious on two levels. Like, number one, the. The funny. And then number two, kind of the serious aspect of this. Like, number one, you're in what, like, grandma. Like, that's the insult. Like you're old or something like that. It's like, first off, Megyn Kelly is just clearly a mom, not a grandmother. Very clearly. And number two, in what universe does Laura Loomer comment on Megyn Kelly's looks? In what universe does Mark Levin and Josh Hammer say, I have something to say about how Megyn Kelly looks. It's just. This is too insane. Like, that's what you went with. Go with anything else. Anything else. You guys are not coming out on top in that one. And. But then the other thing is that they call her a groiper. Like, a groiper of all things. Not even that. Not even the name you'd associate with Tucker Carlson, the name you'd associate with Nick Fuente, that you think you're gonna win that argument? Yes. Guys, there's no daylight between Megyn Kelly and Nick Fuentes. Does this even warrant a response? You know what I'm saying? But, like, at the same time, it's like, no, I actually think she does need to fight back. And I actually think sometimes it's like, it's. It's important that the people out here, because there are different categories of people here. There's. There's people who are doing shows, there's people who are telling you what they think. And we may have different worldviews and different arguments and, and different principles, but we're. We're making our arguments. And there's, like, the people out there who are, like, lying the country into war and viciously smearing their enemies. And, like, yeah, we kind of do have to battle those people. That's. That's part of this. And also because they slander the. Out of you. If you just point out their hypocrisy, you just point out their track record, you just argue that we shouldn't do this. They. That's what you're met with. Trust me, as somebody who's done this, that's what you're met with. Not a rebuttal to your argument, but an absolute smear on your character. And, you know, and then there's just, like, there's a lot of people who just don't get it. I see that out there, too. You know, I. I saw. I watched a clip. Clip the other day or. I'm sorry, I watched a clip earlier today of Patrick bet David and his crew. And, you know, honestly, like, I look, I like Pat, and I. I respect him. He's. He's. You know what I mean? Like, he's been cool to me, and he's. Obviously, I'm. I'm grateful to. To Patrick. He's facilitated the Chris Cuomo debate for me. He's hosted me on his enormous platform many times. He had me a part of his election night coverage. And, like, you know, I'm always very grateful to people who have helped me in my career. And I. And I respect Pat. I respect, you know, him as a person. But I was listening to this clip, and, you know, I like him. I like Vinnie. You know, I don't like. I. I went off on Adam recently on Twitter, but, you know, and maybe it was a little bit nasty of me, but, you know, the guy has been, like, talking about me for months and months and months. I just never said anything because it's like, I don't know. I'm. I'm sorry. I don't mean to be a dick, but I'm just above, you know, like, kind of responding to Pat's guy who doesn't know anything about anything. But I did snap it in those. Because he's been talking so much to me and. And, like, I don't know, just, like, insulting, like, being, like, saying that I'm uninformed and I'm dumb when it's like, dude, like, I don't know, man. The topic we're talking about objective. No matter where you are on the issue, you think I'm wrong about everything. I'm objectively a thousand times more informed than Adam from the Patrick Bet David show about everything I talk about whether I'm getting it right or wrong. That's just a reality. But so I'm watching them. They're this segment, and they're, like, talking about how the problem is that, you know, Charlie was the guy trying to unify all of us. But then after Charlie gets killed, Pat says Megyn Kelly could have been the one trying to unify all of us, but instead she got into these wars. And then they're talking about how Marco Rubio is going to be the nominee and, like, all of this, and it's like, man, they're talking about how we're all just so Israel obsessed. You know, you turn on Tucker's show, every show is about Israel. And I don't know, man. I mean, just talk about intentionally missing the point. Intentionally missing the goddamn. Like, how are you guys really missing this? It's like, no, no, Megan never could have kept us all together. Charlie never could have kept us all together if Charlie was alive. Right now, there's just absolutely no chance for some of us. Lying us into another war of choice was a deal breaker. And it's that simple. It is that simple. This was a deal breaker for a huge part of the coalition. There's no way, no way you were keeping us in it if you were going to do this. The Epstein cover up probably was too, but certainly lying us into another war. It's just, there's no way you were going to keep that coalition together. I don't care if you had a thousand Charlie Kirks. It's just not going to happen, you know, and the idea that Marco Rubio could carry that coalition. I don't know what you're talking about, man. I just don't know what planet you're living on where you think someone could run with Marco Rubio's foreign policy and have a shot at winning. It's just like, I guess you guys just haven't been here for the last, you know, five election cycles or whatever. There's. And, you know, in terms of saying we talk about Israel all the time, believe me, I'd love to stop. I'd love to stop, but it's impossible to right now. This is where the action is. This is what's going on. Yeah, They're a huge goddamn part of this. We're conducting a war together with them right now and it is not in our interest. And they perceive it to be in theirs. We don't even perceive it to be in ours, or their leadership perceives it to be in the interest of Greater Israel or whatever it is, but I just think it's like, you could try to dance around this all you want to, but that's the heart of the matter right there, is that there's just too many of us. We're not going to go for this. Doesn't matter. However you dress it up, you know, perhaps Donald Trump could have continued, you know, funding and arming Israel even while they were doing the horrific shit they were doing to Gaza. I don't know. I think perhaps if that hadn't eventually come to some type of limited ceasefire, it really was getting ready to tank his presidency anyway. But, like, if that stopped and Trump just continued the policy of, like, we send Israel $4 billion every year, we still don't allow the Palestinians to have statehood and all this stuff, stuff like maybe he could have kept a coalition together on that, it probably would have been a matter of time, you know, till that really, really hurt a lot. I mean, he was going to have a huge critic in me. As long as he kept that policy up. He was going to have a huge critic in. In Tucker and other people, I think as long as he kept that up, at least in Tucker's case, of being critical of the policy. But this, there's no way. There's no way. Absolutely no shot. And, you know, it's. It's like this thing that I think a lot of them don't understand where, you know, it's like, the reason why that's a. So. So I'm listening to Patrick with David talk about this, and he's almost talking about it. Like, it's. It's this weird thing where they almost go, well, like, look, man, if we don't keep this coalition together, we're gonna lose. So obviously the goal is to keep this coalition together. And I just think it's like, I understand that mentality in a sense, but I just like, brother, to drive it home to you, we don't wish to keep that coalition together if it means this, because you're every bit as bad as the thing we were coalitioning against. You're as bad. You're the same. It's all the same. Like, what's the worst thing about the woke left progressive establishment? What is the worst thing about it? What? They had open borders. They were destroying our country. Okay, this is destroying our country. This. Another war is destroying our country. That's risking it. At least that. Okay, like, they love abortion, and that's. That's murder. Like, this is murder. This is also murder. You're murdering a bunch of people. Or they. They teach woke garbage to our children. Like, yeah, you're ruining people. You're ruining people. This war is ruining people. Like, it's all the same thing. You're them. There's no. Like, if it's gonna be this, I don't want a coalition with you against anything. And that's. I'm not the only one who feels that way. And. And, okay, I might be 0% of MAGA Republicans, but I don't give a. I'm not a MAGA Republican. Like, not anymore. And if that's what you want to call it, like, okay, fine, Trump gets the name maga, whatever the hell that means. Fine. You guys who support regime change, wars of choice can have the name maga. That might be sad for some people, but it's, like, really not for me. You can't have America First. That doesn't belong to you. And you know, you can't have whatever, you can't have the whole non interventionist. Right. You can't have any of it. So. Okay, that's the way it is now. No, and, and I will say that, you know, whatever it is, whatever our role is in that, Rob. I mean we're, you know, there's, there's bigger voices out there than us, but we gotta, at this point, you know, we got a little nook here for sure. And we're like pretty close. I think we're like just right outside of the, like consistently of the top 10 news shows on Spotify. And we've got a big, you know, following on YouTube and stuff and for whatever that represents. Well, like, okay, we got a little nook here. There's people who are much bigger who, who represent, you know, there's Tucker Carlson's of the world. And yeah, we're more than enough to cost you your coalition. That's for sure. More than enough to make sure you can't win and you do like this and you're as bad as them. So I don't know. That's it. You blow up your coalition. Any other thoughts, Rob? Or we could wrap up.

[Rob]

Yeah. That was a pretty impassioned speech to call an episode. I'm not gonna top that. That was perfect.

[Dave Smith]

Well, thank you. I appreciate it. All right, listen, we'll, we'll be back tomorrow with a brand new episode. We'll, we'll. Let me think about this for a little bit. But we'll do. We're gonna have to do another public episode tomorrow because there's just so much to talk about. I know we've been a bit behind on the Members only. We will get all caught up on that over the next few days. But anyway, thank you guys very much for listening. We will catch you next time. Peace.