Part Of The Problem – "The Delusional Bari Weiss"

Date: November 26, 2025
Host: Dave Smith (with Robbie "The Fire" Bernstein)

Episode Overview

In this episode, Dave Smith and Robbie Bernstein tackle the recent remarks by Bari Weiss at a Jewish leadership summit, exploring her claims about American values, centrism, and the media landscape. They also discuss Sarah Hurwitz’s justification of Israel’s founding, the resignation of Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Trump’s meeting with New York City's leftist mayor. The tone throughout is sardonic, analytical, and openly skeptical of establishment narratives.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Opening Corrections and Context

[03:00–05:35]

• Dave corrects an error from a previous episode regarding Pollard’s location, emphasizing his commitment to accuracy.
• This episode is framed as a catch-up on numerous recent events, with a special focus on Bari Weiss’s controversial summit clip.

2. Bari Weiss and “Representing 75% of Americans”

[05:35–16:32; 21:05–25:00]

Bari Weiss Clip Analysis

• Weiss claims mainstream podcasters (Tucker Carlson, Hasan Piker, Andrew Tate, Nick Fuentes, etc.) don't "represent our values" or those of "75% of Americans"—those allegedly in the center-left/right who "still believe in the American project" and value “liberty, freedom, and individual responsibility.”
  • Quote:

    "So this is an opportunity to speak for the 75%, for the people that are on the center left and the center right…" – Bari Weiss [05:51]

Dave & Rob’s Critique

• Dave notes the Orwellian nature of claiming a “right to know what is actually going on,” questioning who decides what’s true (“Who is the arbiter of what ‘actually’ is?”).
• They highlight the disconnect between Weiss's assertions and observable audience numbers.
  • Quote:

    "If Tucker Carlson gets millions more views than me, but I say actually more people agree with me, how do you prove that—outside of just asserting it?" – Dave [07:40]

• Dave points out the irony of Weiss—a "Jewish lesbian"—presuming to define American values, especially as her main “value” appears to be loyalty to Israel.
  • Quote:

    "There is something a little funny to me about a Jewish lesbian explaining how you don't have the same values and priorities as us Americans…" – Dave [10:16]

• Rob suggests Weiss’s pitch is just a veiled call for censorship, justified by the claim of speaking for a silent rational majority.
  • Quote:

    "I just hear a pure new pitch for censorship of 'I am what everyone's looking for,' and I'm bringing them the honest news—bullshit." – Rob [13:50]

Market Distortion & Censorship

• The hosts argue that Weiss’s operation is artificial—buoyed by investor cash ($130 million) rather than organic audience demand.
  • Quote:

    "Somebody decided to spend $130 million to propagate your content because that's what they'd rather have people consuming… They're going to distort the market signals." – Rob [15:17]

• They note that, unlike Weiss, smaller independent shows aren't concerned about losing audiences—because they're growing, not shrinking.

Mockery of Weiss’s “Centrist News” Vision

[21:05–25:00]

• Weiss explains her model as “curating” debates between “center-right” and “center-left,” aiming for “good faith, charismatic disagreement.”
  • She cites a debate between Dana Loesch and Alan Dershowitz as an example.
• Rob eviscerates this as establishment gatekeeping: only “pre-approved characters” stage “fake fights within a narrow lane.”
  • Quote:

    "You're describing a kind of censorship worldview where … we’re going to make sure … characters stage fake fights over things within a narrow lane…" – Rob [25:00]

• Dave sees this as Noam Chomsky’s notion of “manufacturing consent”: a narrow spectrum of debate serving establishment interests.
  • Quote:

    “You have a very limited range of allowable topics, but... allow for fierce debate within those limited [topics].” – Dave [25:06]

• Both agree: The true reason audiences are leaving establishment media is persistent dishonesty about issues like Israel, war, and government failures.
  • "[It's] a marriage where you found out your partner had multiple affairs... and yet you won't mention the heart of the issue.” – Dave [30:46]

3. Sarah Hurwitz on Israel’s “Original Sin”

[42:28–58:55]

Hurwitz’s Painful Admission

• Hurwitz, a former Obama speechwriter, confesses she long assumed Israel’s founding harbored an “original sin” she’d be unable to defend—but now downplays it, describing Israel as just “a country, founded like many others, in war, partition, bloodshed.”
  • Quote:

    "It’s a country. It was founded like so many other countries... in war, partition, bloodshed. I wish it had, you know, come about in unicorns and moonbeams." – Hurwitz [43:26]

• Dave calls out the “pivot”: Hurwitz admits the violence but “yada-yada-yadas” over the significance and defense of it. He observes that, unlike other nations' original sins, Israel's actions are still ongoing (occupation, bombing neighbors, etc.).
• Rob points out the hypocrisy: if someone tried to form “Robville” by conquering part of Connecticut today, no one would dismiss the violence as “just how countries are made.”
  • Quote:

    "You're describing the worst thing ever... But now you got one really big distinction: they're still doing the bad thing, which makes it a big difference." – Rob [47:33]

• Dave underscores that Israel is not being treated “like a normal country”—it receives extraordinary U.S. support and deference, and if it wants to be “normalized,” it must accept criticism like any other nation.

Root of Anti-Semitic Sentiment

• Dave points out the double standard liberal Jews apply when defending Israel: Any atrocity or historical grievance is handled with kid gloves and justification, unlike any discussion about American slavery or Jim Crow.
  • Quote:

    “There is this air of superiority where they have appointed themselves as the adult in the room … yet you guys are the ones with glaring holes in your logic.” – Dave [59:13]

4. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Resignation

[36:40–40:41]

• The hosts speculate on Greene’s abrupt resignation after “winning” a battle with Trump over the Epstein files bill, suspecting she was pressured due to unseen leverage or “threats.”
  • "She put up a valiant fight… somebody sat down with her and made the right threat…" – Rob [37:27]
• They discuss Congress’s perverse incentives—how dissenters (like Greene or Thomas Massie) get punished, which is “not good for freedom.”

5. Donald Trump, “Mamdani,” and Socialist Failures

[61:24–65:57]

• The hosts are frustrated by Trump embracing New York City’s new socialist mayor “Mamdani,” instead of letting him fail on his own policies.
  • "If there’s one thing we need, it’s for Mandani to fail spectacularly… The more he implements, the more failures you’ll see." – Rob [61:24]
• They argue that Trump (and Republicans) should stay away, allowing voters to experience the consequences of socialist policies and thus learn organically.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On market distortion (Rob, 15:17):

  "Somebody decided to spend $130 million to propagate your content because that’s what they’d rather have people consuming. ... They’re going to distort the market signals."

• On “manufacturing consent” (Dave, 25:06):

  "You have a very limited range of allowable topics, but then you allow for fierce debate within [them]."

• On Israel’s founding (Hurwitz, 43:26):

  "It’s a country. It was founded like so many other countries in the mid 20th century. Countries founded in war, partition, bloodshed..."

• On establishment’s real problem (Dave, 30:46):

  "…a marriage where you found out your partner had multiple affairs... and yet you won’t mention the heart of the issue."

• On the double standard (Dave, 59:13):

  "There is this air of superiority ... yet you guys are the ones with glaring holes in your logic."

Important Timestamps by Segment

• [03:00–05:35]: Dave’s correction and setup for the Bari Weiss discussion
• [05:35–16:32]: Deep dive into Weiss’s 75% claim and the disconnect with reality
• [21:05–25:00]: Bari Weiss’s centrist media vision; critiques about censorship and market distortion
• [36:40–40:41]: Analysis of Marjorie Taylor Greene’s resignation
• [42:28–58:55]: Sarah Hurwitz on Israel, “original sin,” and what makes Israel exceptional or not
• [61:24–65:57]: Trump’s endorsement of New York City’s socialist mayor and why it’s a mistake

Tone and Takeaways

• The hosts are irreverent, candid, and critical—especially toward establishment narratives on Israel, centrism, and media “gatekeeping.”
• They see the current establishment as deluded, clinging to power and legacy narratives at odds with a rapidly changing audience consensus.

Concluding Take

Dave and Rob argue that neither Bari Weiss’s “centrist” model nor her big-money media project is rooted in actual market demand or mainstream America. Instead, dissident voices on both left and right are exploding in influence precisely because the old establishment has failed—and refuses to admit why.