Loading summary
Progressive Insurance Announcer
Support for this podcast comes from Progressive, America's number one motorcycle insurer. Did you know? Writers who switch and save with Progressive save nearly $200 per year. That's a whole new pair of riding gloves and more. Quote Today, Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates national averaged 12 month savings of $197 by new customers surveyed who saved with Progressive between October 2024 and September 2025. Potential savings will vary.
Progressive Insurance Announcer 2
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy to see if you could save when you bundle your home and auto policies. Try it@progressive.com Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states.
Dave Smith
What's up? What's up everybody? Welcome to a brand new episode of Part of the Problem. I am Dave Smith. Thank you so much for, for tuning in. I'm riding solo for today's episode. Rob's off. But me and Rob will be, we'll be touring together for the rest of the year. Houston, Texas is our next stop. June 9th, 10th and 11th, Houston, Texas. Then Huntsville, Alabama. Nashville, Tennessee. Cincinnati, Ohio. Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Appleton, Wisconsin. Austin, Texas. Bunch of stuff coming up. Comicdavesmith.com Come. Come see me and Rob do standup comedy on the road. All right, so for today's show, I wanted to talk a bit about the, the Democratic Socialists. The Democratic Socialists are coming. They had a big night last night. So I've been thinking about this last night and, and through today. There was Democratic primaries in, in New York City last night, I believe. Zoran Mamdani and what's his name. I'm sorry, I'm blinking. Hassan Piker. I saw him putting out some videos. They, they were like 7 for 7 for their picks, including three big congressional primaries that Mamdani got behind. He won all of them. So this is kind of the big talk of the, of the political town that there is this ascendant group within the Democrats. I, I colloquially call them the Democratic Socialists. I think that's what they, they refer to themselves as. I, I think I've heard mom, Donnie refer to himself as that. I'm not sure that that's correct, but we'll, we'll get into that a little bit. But you know, I thought maybe we could just do an episode kind of talking about this group of, of people who I do think are ascendant in, within the Democratic Party structure. Who they are, why I oppose them and why all of the people who oppose them. Are doing a very bad job of opposing them. Because there's something, there's a lot that's interesting about this and part of it is that probably a lot, a lot of the people who are, let's say, the most hysterical about what happened last night or the most hysterical about Mom Donnie becoming mayor of New York City are a lot of those same people would look to guys like me and go see what type of bedfellows you've made by say, you know, also opposing, you know, Israel's destruction of Gaza or the war in Iran or, or something like that. So that's one aspect that's interesting. We'll kind of get to that. But before, I mean, I think it should be stressed as we go into this that this is a big deal. This is a big sea change within the Democratic Party. There's a real crack up that's happening and it's been building for a while. You know, the last, the last 10 years have been a really wild 10 years, a really wild decade in American politics. A lot has happened. I've been alive for like almost four and a half decades. And this last one, politically speaking, was the wildest by far. It's 2020, say since 2016, we've elected Donald Trump. We went through Russiagate and I mean, Covid, just, Covid alone takes it, the lockdowns and the, the vaccine regime and we went through Biden being senile in Ukraine, the Israel, Gaza. You know, there's, there's just a lot has happened over the last 10 years. And so you always have to be a little bit careful to, you know, a little bit careful to just start creating a narrative over the last 10 years because so much crazy has happened. But one narrative that we can be pretty, you know, that we can observe, that's fairly obvious, is that there was something approaching a civil war within both the Democratic and Republican parties starting 10 years ago when Donald Trump ran for president as a Republican and Bernie Sanders ran for president as a Democrat. And this, both of them were, were like almost internal civil wars where you had these kind of these, these two, you know, you had these establishment candidates and then you had these two candidates that were outside of the establishment that were kind of flanking them from the populist left or right, respectively. And okay, on the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders didn't win. He lost. Donald Trump won and took over the Republican Party. Bernie Sanders lost, but it count. It took them cheating them in order to get him to lose, which we now kind of know a lot of the details about. And it really took them cheating them. And then the second time in 2020, we don't know as many details, but they still kind of cheated him without cheating. Cheating them or whatever. But the, the point is that there was this populist left wing, also called itself Democratic Socialist insurgency, that had to be put down by force, if you will, that had to be cheated in order to give it to Hillary Clinton and then Joe Biden. And so this force has kind of been there for a while, but they've really, you know, been handed a tremendous opportunity right now for a few different reasons. Number one is that they. Okay, so the Bernie Sanders energy now, Bernie Sanders, I think kind of, you know, in a weird way, by the way, two things that are kind of noticeable about last night is that it is mom Donnie who's emerging as the kind of de facto leader of this movement, not aoc, not Bernie Sanders. AOC and Bernie Sanders are strangely absent, leading this movement that almost seems to rightfully be theirs. And I think part of that is because they've both been kind of exposed as the frauds that they are. But anyway, I think we can get into all of this. Part of, part of the issue there is that they're all just kind of a bunch of liberals is what they all really are. But anyway, maybe we'll get into that in a few minutes. But Bernie Sanders and AOC aren't really don't seem to be leading the thing right now. But that thing that energy is, does seem to be the most powerful force certainly on the Democratic side of the aisle. And part of that is because, well, none of their issues and concerns were ever really addressed. Everything that Bernie Sanders talked about is still relevant to American voters. And they, you know, there. Well, it's really kind of a one, two punch in a way. First off, the Democratic establishment that cheated them out of the primary in 2016 and in 2020, the Democratic establishment that insisted that they get in line behind Joe Biden then went and like, humiliated itself in the most, you know, the grandest way imaginable, with Joe Biden collapsing on the job, throwing Kamala Harris in the there in the last minute. And so the liberal establishment that had opposed this, let's call it a left wing insurgency, discredited itself tremendously. And frankly, the people holding it together are just kind of old. And you know, it's Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer. These guys are like 90. It's just, it's fun. And they just went through this Biden debacle and ultimately they got Trump elected for the second time, the Democratic establishment has failed at what their, their clear number one priority was, which was to defeat Donald Trump. So they've failed. And in a sense, the Mamdani wing is like the only thing left standing, not implicated in the Joe Biden failure, let's say. And so they have that going and then they have the fact that the Donald Trump administration has just completely torched its own presidency and coalition. And so in some weird way, by default, they almost become the most energized political movement in the country. Perhaps at least they had a good night last night. But I think that's all, I think all of that's worth paying attention to. Well, let's hear, let's go to the Van Jones clip because here is Van Jones, kind of perennial Democratic insider liberal masquerading as a leftist, if you ask me. But here's his take on last night's elections.
Van Jones
Well, New York City matters because the two most exciting left wing candidates are here, AOC and Mamdani. But also this is the stronghold for the establishment, Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries. This is a battle between the establishment and this insurgency. And the roof is collapsing on the Democratic Party establishment tonight. If Mamdani gets a hat trick, three out of three. This is a new era for the Democratic Party. And you can't write off New York City because this is the place where both it's the power center for the establishment and the insurgency. And they're going head to head tonight. And right now, this is no longer a movement. This is a movement and a machine at the same time. And there's just no way to sugarcoat this. If Mamdani pulls off the hat trick is a new era in Democratic Party politics.
Narrator/Reporter
Well, and if you're a moderate Democrat who's on the election, who's on the ballot this November, Van, I mean, they're all going to get asked about the positions that we're hearing from these other fellow Democrats.
Van Jones
Well, look, I think, you know, from our frontline Democrats will be able to make their case for themselves. I think they'll be able to do okay. We got a lot of national security Democrats in other parts of the country, but this is a, this is a big deal tonight. And I think that, look, I don't know, I don't know what you, what you want me to say here. This is a straight up battle between the establishment and the insurgency. And the establishment is getting its butt kicked tonight in New York City.
Dave Smith
All right. I mean, I think, I think overall in terms of like political analysis, I think Van Jones is right about that. You know, that this is, this is a moment where the, in New York City, as he pointed out, the home of AOC and mom Donnie, but also the home of Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries and a lot, a lot of democratic establishment hacks, the insurgency is dominating them right now. And I think this is something, look, this is something that everybody needs to pay attention to because this is really the threatening force within the Democratic Party right now. And I think that part of the reason why these guys are dangerous is because they, in a way they're kind of like regime approved revolutionaries, which in, in some ways is the worst of all worlds. I mean, perhaps real revolutionaries who wish to kill you and your family are worse than that. But there's something about the regime approved communist, the regime approved revolutionary who isn't actually that much of a threat to the system. You know, there's Bernie Sanders. Oh my God, the, the guy, you know, it's, it's. You almost wonder like in the conception of the average Bernie Sanders fan, like they, they view it that Bernie Sanders is some huge threat to, to power. Like we live in this capitalist system and he's this democratic socialist who wants to take power from the evil billionaire class and give it back to the people. And also everyone kind of likes him. Like in the establishment, he's just kind of a well liked, well received guy who everyone talks kindly. But does that just seem weird? A little bit. Like if he was a revolutionary, they would hate him anyway. That's not really, that's neither here nor there. But I do think that these guys are for several reasons. These guys are a real threat. And one of the reasons is that I think essentially they're not that dangerous to power that they, guys like this could be allowed to become, you know, candidates, congressmen, presidential nominees, who knows. And I think that they've got a lot of advantages. And one of the advantages is that they have been laser focused on shit that people actually care about. Like the unaffordability stuff. You know, they've been really talking about the issues that actually matter. And then one of their other biggest advantages is that this was something that Donald Trump had. And I've really noticed this watching mom, Donnie, over the last, the last year or so, if you remember, one of the things that Donald Trump had that ended up being a quality that really worked in his favor politically was that he would drive people crazy. The littlest thing I remember, you know, sometimes there are like fighters Like, Ilya Toporia was like this. Conor McGregor was like this in his prime. There are these real power punchers where it doesn't even look like they're throwing that hard, but they just like touch guys and guys fall down and it almost looks like, you know what I mean? You're like, whoa. Anyway, Donald Trump always had that thing where he could just touch them and they'd fall the pieces. He could say something slight, something not even that bad, and they'd act like it was like this crazy offensive thing. Mom, Donnie is the same way. I mean, you're watching these people just get furious. You know, you watch like Alan Derrick talk about Mamdani.
Scott Jennings
And it's.
Dave Smith
It's as if Mamdani just ate a Jewish baby on live television or something. Like, he just describes him this vile Nazi, blah, blah. And so anyway, there's just something. When you really piss off all of the worst people that becomes politically attractive. Hey, I listen, I am the most libertarian, free market, you know, against democratic socialist political commentator out there or up there with. I'm tied at least. But out there in the world of people talking about politics, I got. I'm like right up there in the top 1% of the top 1% of the most against government intervention into the economy at all. But even I find myself kind of enjoying Mamdani pissing all these guys off. And of course, all of them fight him in the worst way possible. And this is kind of like Art of War. If you're actually concerned about him as a threat, well, then the last thing you want is, is his, his opponents, his enemies to be the worst people in the world making the worst arguments in the world, which is what a lot of them end up being. All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is Body Brain Coffee. I love Body Brain Coffee. As I've been telling you, I've been drinking the stuff for months now. I feel great. I have a cup every single day. For those of you guys who don't know, Body Brain Coffee was the creation of the great Louis J. Gomez, hilarious comedian, dear friend of mine, the reason why I'm a podcaster always encouraged me to. To start this show and he, he made this great, delicious coffee that naturally boosts your testosterone. I've been drinking it for months now. I feel great. They have the creamer. The Body Brain creamer is finally here as well. It was specifically designed to stack purchase perfectly with Body Brain Coffee. It's not some sugary, gross creamer. You get at the the grocery store, it's packed with MCT oil for clean energy, collagen peptides, cordycet mushrooms for endurance and stamina. Basically, it's just all good stuff in there that makes you feel great. You put one thing of that in the coffee once a day. It's delicious. It naturally boosts your testosterone and you feel better. So make sure you go get yourself some bodybraincoffee.com that is the website, Dave. 20 is the promo code that will get you 20% off your entire order. So bodybraincoffee.com promo code, Dave. 20 for 20% off your entire order. All right, let's get back on the show and yeah, I mean, look, we could go through a little bit here of what I actually think this movement represents. Because I got to say, in a lot of ways, I. I think this movement, this Mamdani, whatever you want to call it, you know, I hesitate to even call it the Democratic Socialists, because even though they call themselves that, that's not what they are, which is a weird little note, but Democratic Socialists at least kind of meant something for a while. And then Bernie Sanders came along and started calling himself that. And again, I'm not saying this just to be mean. It's unclear that Bernie Sanders even knows the. What that means, but if you remember, when he was on Bill Maher's show, it was really shocking. I'd asked Natalie to pull it up now, but they give copyright strikes when we use Bill Maher show, so we won't pull it up. But he was, like, asked. I forget what it was. It was something like a generic question about the difference between, like, equality of outcome or equality of opportunity. Some question like that. And. Or the difference between. No, I think it was equity and equality. And he was just totally dear in headlights. Had no idea what Bill Maher was even talking about. Like, he's just like, not. Anyway, there are real democratic socialists like Ben Burgess, who I've had on the show a couple times. Been a few years since I talked to him. I always liked Ben. Ben's a democratic socialist. He believes in, as members of the DSA often do, he believes in, like, democratizing the workforce, that there shouldn't be bosses and employees like that. There should. This is like democratic socialism. Bernie Sanders never talked about democratizing the workforce or the idea that there shouldn't be CEOs or there shouldn't be bosses or that decisions for private organizations should be made in democratic ways. He's not talking about any of this. What he is essentially, is a welfarist. You know, he lives in a welfare state and believes in more welfare. That's really what Bernie Sanders is. He's really just a liberal. He's really just a little bit outside of essentially endorsing the order of the government, but a little bit more, but like a little bit more health care and a little bit higher of a minimum wage and maybe a little bit more regulations around whatever worker conditions or something like that. And you know, to me, and, and I will say this, I'll probably like, let me give a little bit of a caveat to this next point where I will say this is not exactly my world, like left wing political, you know, the left wing political movement of the last decade. It's not, I don't participate in that world. I don't really interact with many people in that world, as you guys know, which we'll talk about a little bit here. I podcast with some people who are like leaders in that world or people who are influential people in that world. And I, I, so I have some friends in it that way and I talk to them sometimes. But it's not exactly like if you were to talk to me about like, I don't know, the Libertarian movement or the Libertarian Party even, or something like that. I just have more experience in that field and I spend my time reading about the war or reading the news, but I'm not reading necessarily about the inner workings of the Mandami camp versus the, you know, whatever Democratic establishment camp or even the AOC camp versus the Mamdani camp. But it does seem to me in a way some left wingers can argue with me if you want to on this, but it does seem that essentially there's much like with the Trump populist right movement, there's always been something about the Bernie Sanders populist left movement that was more, it was almost a movement in search of a theory. I don't exactly have a theory, don't exactly have a world view. They've got like some directional things that they believe in. They've got some policy ideas and they've got a real populist spirit to them of like that class is ripping off this class. They're, you know, the elite are ripping off the people. If that's Bernie Sanders, that's the billionaire class are ripping off the working class. If you're Donald Trump, that's the, the swamp is ripping off the American people or whatever. But there's that. But they don't really have like a, you know, why Is Bernie Sanders a democratic socialist rather than a social Democrat? And go, that's, that's not real. It, it might be coming up in like the fringes of some left wing circles, but it's not really like a thing that's coming up in the movement. And the same thing with Donald Trump. Like, Donald Trump would say he's for free trade one day and then say he's for tariffs another day and then yeah, like it's, it's convoluted and unclear, you know, and, and so that does trickle down. Like the movement is almost absent that theory because they're, they're essentially, they're kind of like, well, they're not really socialists. Right. I guess some of them are willing to go further than others, but they're kind of like, well, there should be more welfare, there should be more. Now what happened is that they, because movements don't, that, that don't have a strict theory. They're, it's almost like a vacuum. Like they're always looking for something. And so they kind of like, they latched on to Wokeism for a while. They, they latched on to Bernie Sanders ism for a while. And I gotta say they've really latched on to Gaza and now Iran and Lebanon. And I'm glad they did. I'm glad they latched on to those, you know, last ones because it's important to have as many people as we can on those issues. And they've been, they've been very good on, on those issues. And so, but at the same time now it seems almost like affordability. This is kind of the next thing that they latch on to. Now what's interesting is that a lot of people are of the people who are very upset about this, which we're going to get into in a second. A lot of them are covering this from the angle of like, they hate America, they love Islamism, they hate Jews, they hate Israel, like all this stuff. But I don't know that that's, I, I just, I, I think that's a little bit divorced from reality. But what I do see with this movement is a bunch of people who are almost like, look, they reject the democratic establishment. They've now come to like really reject the warfare state, which I think is wonderful. They reject capitalism, they reject the, the, the entire, you know, economic model that we live under. But they're playing with a lot of dangerous ideas. And I do think they're floating around a little bit. You know, people could say they're seeing, this is like, see Wokeism is back. I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe we played on the last episode the Michael Knowles clip. Never did find out what that piece of paper was. But they're bringing back the trans and the kids. I don't know that I really see. I see that. You know, I think a lot of that woke cultural stuff just doesn't play that much anymore. I think a lot of it burned itself out. I think a lot of it just isn't that popular anymore. But, and I think that was always just something in a weird way. It was always a phase. It was always a fad. It was something they were all going through together. And I think this next iteration is going to be different, heavier on the economic socialism, which in some ways I think is a lot more dangerous. Anyway, let's play, let's play a little bit. We got, we got two clips here of, I think one of them. Let's go to The Scott Jennings 1. Frick freaking out about this Mamdani success last night.
Sean Hannity
This is a FOX News alert. Incumbent Congressman Dan oh, sorry, Hannity.
Dave Smith
We'll do this one first.
Sean Hannity
Is fine. From a New York City coffee shop because of his support for Israel, he has now lost his primary to a radical socialist backed by Mamdani. It appears that, you know, a pretty scary transformation is now fully underway in the Democratic Party, especially in a blue state like New York. All right, this is a FOX News alert. Incumbent.
Dave Smith
All right, so there is Sean Hannity talking about Dan Goodman, this guy who was, by the way, they made a story of this. We got another clip on this. Maybe we'll, we'll play this. But the, the story is being made that he was denied, or I guess he wasn't even denied. He went to a coffee shop with his daughter or something like that, and they used the bathroom and he bought a coffee. And they said something, I don't know, but they were said something about how he can't come back or something like that because he's an Israel supporter. And they're trying to make this out. Like, oh my God, you know, some of them were going, it's because he's Jewish, even though the guy he lost to evidently is Jewish too. So there doesn't seem like that's it. But there is something funny and, and really demonstrably broken about just the whole conservative ecosystem, the conservative movement. I mean, just think about the fact that, okay, so you got this mom Donnie guy and, and that's the way Hannity, that's where Hannity's mind Goes that this Jewish congressman is a victim of racism. You trying to like out left flank Momi or something? This guy's.
Progressive Insurance Announcer 2
Oh my God.
Dave Smith
He wasn't allowed a cup of coffee one time. Well, all right. Doesn't seem like that's the best here. Let's go to the other clip, the Scott Jennings one,
Scott Jennings
fascinated by the Goldman Lander primary. I agree with you. I think Dan's going to lose. I don't agree with much of anything he's done in Congress, but I'm surprised you sort of glossed over the main issue in this race, which is Israel. I mean, Dan Goldman is a congressman and he's Jewish. And he went into a coffee shop this weekend in Brooklyn and they said, you're not welcome here anymore. Brad Lander is out speaking in mosques, telling those people that he'd like to go align himself with Ilhan Omar and the rest of the squad. Dan Goldman's only sin, I guess, is that he thinks Israel has a right to exist. And for that that has been the principal issue in this. And you've got the mayor of New York City, Mamdani, out saying about AIPAC and Jewish Americans who have participated in our politics that they are, quote, monsters. What is happening right now in New York City, the Democrats socialist takeover of the Democratic Party should frighten not just Jewish Americans, but all Americans everywhere. Because this is the direction the Democrats are headed nationally. Look what's happening in Michigan. And it is frightening. Throwing Democrat Jewish congressmen out of coffee shops in Brooklyn, New York. It's not 1930s Germany. This is the United States of America, is it not?
Dave Smith
I mean, look, dude, it's just hilarious. Hilarious that the propaganda term that this guy and James Lindsay and Mark Levin and all of them uses the woke, right or the woke, right. They thought that was such a. The woke right wasn't working, so they made it right. They thought that was such a clever turn or something. But you're like, look, what is this, man? What is this? You're down to going, they threw a man out of a coffee shop just for being Jewish? Well, no, that's not right. He's a congressman who votes to fund Israel. That's not for being Jewish. That's for being an elect a. A powerful person. A person in a position of power who uses that power to facilitate a genocide. Now look, man, however you feel about people letting you know people they agree with or don't agree with into their place of business, it's not, I don't know, first off, it's not some Victim story. We're supposed to work up more for this than like the kids in Palestine or something like that. It's not some victim story. And also, don't just lie to me. Don't be a woke leftist and just lie to me and go, oh, they kicked him out for being Jewish. No. If they kicked some random Jewish person out, they had no idea what his stance on Israel was and, and he wasn't even pro Israel or whatever, you know, then okay, that would be. They're kicking random Jewish people out. But all this phrasing about how terror, you know, there, there's something again, it's so. It's a weird thing. And I remember talking about this for many years on the show, like back in say 2017, 2018. This would be the type of thing we'd talk every now and then. And I was still, you know, I was, I was a stand up comedian. I mean, I'm still a stand up comedian. I have to remind myself. But now I'm like a national headliner. Like I tour around the country doing headlining shows. I used to just do showcase shows in New York City, which is what most comedians do for, you know, some comedians do it forever. So what most comics do to start out and you know, a lot of like wokeism and liberalism and leftism, that was all. It was a dominant thing in the New York comedy scene. I used to talk to like some of these woke people at the time and it would be, it would be kind of a fascinating but futile effort at times to like talk to someone who was really in the middle of the woke cult in 2017. And you'd talk to them and they would just swear these, they would make these assertions about our society and you would find yourself had like. It's almost like it's hard to refute this other than to just assert that they're wrong. I'm not sure if that makes sense. But for example, feminists would say we live in a rape culture where women are terrified. Women have to walk the streets every night being terrified of being raped. And like a girl would say, like a 22 year old girl would say this to me who I knew, you know, at a comedy club, who was a waitress there or something. And I'd be like, okay, that's your assertion that we live in a rape culture and women are terrified to know. She doesn't believe this. This isn't real. This is something that like her college professor just told her this week or she saw on a YouTube video and is the latest fat it's this idea that she's playing with like a toy, like a new toy I got for my four year old boy. It's like just a new toy that she's playing with. And then you're sitting there and I'm like looking. I remember this one particular moment. I think I've talked about this before on the show, but we're at Eastville Comedy Club. There's a big like window in the front of the comedy club, but you're looking there. This is the East Village. It's the summer. Every girl is in a mini skirt or booty shorts or what. And you're like, you just told me that we live in the middle of a rape culture where women are terrified that they're about to be physically attacked. And yet I see them out there, they seem pretty comfortable. Like this doesn't look like the Congo. Like you're wrong. That's not true. That's not really happening. And there would be these. Because the claims themselves are so ridiculous. Like they claim we live in a rape culture akin to the Congo and we just don't. They would claim that black kids on Ivy League college campuses were, were under threat of being lynched or something like that. It's just not true. That is not happening there. You're making this up. And much in the same way, dude, I'm sorry, Scott Jennings talking about how Jews must be worried everywhere. This is like, man, this is not true. It's not helpful to the extent that Jews are worried. You're just exacerbating and legitimizing kind of irrational fears. And the idea that we're on like the precipice of some holocaust like thing happening here. There's just no reason to assume that we're like, we're nowhere near an event like that. And I, whatever, I just don't think it's helpful. And it's just not true. It's just like all those other woke leftist claims. First of all, it gives such a misleading, you know, it's, it's just so funny because they have to fight this guy. But this is the thing they want to fight about. And this is the, the, this is the only thing that actually bothers them about him. And so this is where they want to fight Mamdani and these guys that essentially you're all a bunch of Jew haters and Jewish people are terrified now. And the reason, I guess here really think about this, this is the accusation they're making that the reason here that there's so much success is that there's essentially. This is all a secret where Islamist Jew hatering or Islam, what do they call them? Islamo Nazis, Islamo fascists, whatever. Mark Levin says they're Islamo fascists who hate the Jews. But they don't say any of that out loud. They're secret about that out loud. They say it's about free buses and supermarkets and affordability and stuff like that. And they. They say that they don't have a beef with Jews. They just have a beef with Israel and their genocide in Gaza and them bombing Lebanon or whatever. They're just against the war in Iran. That's what they say. But secretly it's really this Islamist.
Progressive Insurance Announcer 2
And.
Dave Smith
And you know, again, much like when liberals would use this shit against Donald Trump in 2016, let me tell you what MAGA is. They're secretly Nazis. They say they're for all this and in fact, they swear they don't hate black people at all, but they secretly really do and they seek and it's just not. I don't think it's. It's not helpful. It's not true. You're just making up. I mean, maybe. Maybe it is true. Maybe that's Mamdani. He's secretly this Islamist. I'm not really seeing it. I don't really think that's what the. The issue is. All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is Shopify. If you've been sitting on a business idea but you're just not sure how to get it started, look no further than Shopify. They take away all the guesswork, making it easy to get your business off the ground. Everything you need to start selling is included and ready from day one. They make checkout easy. From the moment your first customer is ready to pay Shopify. Checkout helps more of them finish their first purchase. And when they come back, their details are already saved. One tap and they're done. Shopify powers millions of businesses worldwide, from household names like Mattel and Gymshark to small businesses just getting started. So you can trust them to make it easy for you. With Shopify, nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make it one. Start your free trial today@shopify.com problem. That's shopify.com problem. All right, let's get back into the show. I don't listen when they make it out. When Scott Jennings and these guys are making it out like that is the case, and that is the problem. And the problem is that Jews are secretly Terrified. Well, first of all, I don't think that's the correct message to give Jews of New York City today. Like, hey, Jews of the Upper west side of Manhattan, you're up against it. You're all gonna die, probably. No.
Sean Hannity
Okay.
Dave Smith
You're not actually. You're fine. You guys are thriving. You're doing good as a group. Also, it's just half. Half of them support Mom, Donnie. I don't know, maybe not the ones in the Upper west side, but like half. You know, it's. I don't know. I haven't seen the numbers, like if they have the exit polls yet on like, what percentage of Jews voted for who in New York. But Mamdani I think took like 40 something percent. Someone double checked me on that. I think it took like 40 something percent of the Jewish vote in New York City. You can phrase it as this. It's like, Mamdani, how many of those, of all those Democratic Socialist candidates, of all those leftists who Mamdani and Hasan Piker backed, how many of them had young activists and organizers and donors and campaign managers who were Jewish? How many Jews you think were involved in all this? Quite a lot, I would guess. So it's like this, all of this framing is just nonsense. And the bottom line is that they act, you know, like. And you see a lot of people here freaking out, right? You see Hannity and Scott Jennings and then on Twitter you'll see Matt Walsh and. And people like all, you know, for that. And all of them have their own ad, you know, angles like obviously what bothers, what bothers Scott Jennings and what bothers Ben Shapiro and people like that the most about this is that they're so anti Israel, they're so critical of the genocide in Gaza, and they claim they're Jew haters or something like that. What bothers, say, Matt Walsh or people like that more is that it's kind of like they're immigrants and they're not American. And you basically got like these Muslim brown immigrants kind of like saying how we're going to change and revolutionize America and like, what the fuck? If you come here, you shouldn't have that. You know, like they've got their own problem with it.
Sean Hannity
I.
Dave Smith
Well, maybe having a tinge of that latter one. Obviously I don't have any of the former, but I do think that the democratic socialist program in general is very dangerous. I think it's essentially built on economic destruction. That's what all of this. You know, they're essentially just liberal interventionists and that's what it does, is it, it destroys economic growth, economic productivity. And so maybe if we have time we can get into a little bit more of that stuff. But whatever issue you have with them, the bottom line here is that attacking them, and I can't believe they haven't learned this from the Mamdani race against Cuomo, but attacking them over the Israel stuff just makes no sense whatsoever. That's the issue they're good on. And you know, the thing about it is, is that it's so it's such an interesting moment now as Donald Trump snaps back into being some type of non interventionist or whatever or he snaps, he snaps back into at least using the language and criticizing the war hawks for how obviously bankrupt the case for war here is. You know, you notice that it's like you sit here and all these guys who are very upset about Mamdani and even let's say the, like the Matt Walsh and the Michael Knowles class, the people who are more upset claimingly not because I'm part of the Israel lobby and these guys criticize Israel, but because hey, you're a bunch of immigrant socialists who are trying to overhaul all of our stuff or they want to defund the police or push woke transgenderism or whatever their issue with them is. Well like even you guys should be able to recognize that. All right, well this policy of back in Israel's genocide and fighting wars with Israel has handed these guys pocket aces to play. You've given them the best cards possible. You know, like they, they, that's right. They've sit here, they, they, they're sitting here and they're opposing this thing. And for anybody paying attention, if you've watched as Israel committed a genocide in 4k in Gaza, as you've watched as even Trump, the most pro Israel president ever is talking about how they're bringing entire apartment buildings down in Lebanon, it's killing thousands of people there. They've displaced tens if not hundreds of thousands of people already in Lebanon. You're watching the thousands of people we've killed in, in Iran. And yeah, it's pretty low hanging moral fruit for them to sit here and say yeah, we're against that, we're against sending our money over there. You know, you want to, as I said in the last episode, you want to oppose their, their domestic socialism with your imperial socialism. Good luck.
Van Jones
Why?
Dave Smith
I mean it's like Donald Trump signs off on the spending bills, the Republican Party signs off on Donald Trump and the spending bills, the Republican voters sign off on Donald Trump. It's like, OK, so you've endorsed a government that spends $7 trillion a year. Now you got to argue with this guy that we don't have enough money to pay for buses. Makes it a pretty tough argument. Whereas if you weren't psychopaths who had to defend. And again, I'm not saying like Matt Walsh or, or these guys because they could technically argue, hey, we're non interventionist too. We don't support funding Israel. It's like, but we are funding Israel in large part because your boss insists on funding Israel and people like him. So we are funding them. And now you've handed the worst enemies a huge political gift. If that's how you see it right now, as far as I'm concerned,
Van Jones
you
Dave Smith
know, people will look at this as I, I, I mentioned earlier and they'll say, well look, Dave, you're, you know, you're, you're making friends with Jank Uygur and Anna Kasparian and Crystal Ball or Ryan Grimm or whoever. And now look at that, all these guys are winning and it's like, dude, I'm having conversations with people and we're telling the truth about stuff. I don't know. That's, you know, there's always this, it was like when the, the woke libertarian idiots used to always get, maybe they go, you know, you're platforming Nick Fuentes or you're, you're palling around with Nick Fuentes. I go, what do you mean palling around, platforming? What do you mean? Yeah, we had a conversation, I have a conversation with those guys too. And the fact that those guys are telling the truth about the war and that that's giving a shot of energy to those, to their movement, that is not a knock on us. And I know this was a point I was making during the last episode too, but it's worth reiterating because it's unbelievable that people throw this around as if it's an argument in their favor when it's clearly an argument against them. I remember when it was, who was it? It was one of those dumb women who Piers Morgan made me argue with about Israel, but where they were saying, you know, it was the argument over the Hamas health ministry numbers of how many people had died in the thing. This was in the middle of it and they had, I guess there was some argument over, you know, she was saying, oh, you can't trust Hamas, Hamas's numbers. And then she said, by the way, they just revised the numbers down because they had recently revised the numbers down. She goes, and they just revised the numbers down so blah, blah. And I was like, yeah, but that's not a point in your favor. That's a point against your. Like, if you're saying Hamas's numbers can't be trusted, why would you add that they revise them down? Because if they revise them down, that just, if anything, that indicates that they are more trustworthy, right? If they're lying, they would revise them up or not revise them down, at least. Anyway, this was months before the IDF came out and admitted that the Gaza health numbers were accurate. And in fact, they were probably well under the real numbers. But anyway, the point I'm making is like, that's not a point in your favor. That's a point in our favor. And in the same way, the fact that you would go, oh, well, this, this war, you're railing against this war and you're talking to them about it, and then that's giving them all this energy, it's like, yeah, so you guys should be good on the war too. You know, they, they are right to oppose this stuff. And, and one of the things that's crazy about it is that it's also socialism. You know, it's like you're mad at the socialists for opposing one form of socialism that you guys are bad on. Well, sorry, I mean, that's, again, that's you guys handing them that issue. Not, not us. The fact is that the biggest opposition right now to the Mamdani guys, all these guys who are freaking out, they're all on record supporting the genocide and supporting this war of aggression. And there is a thing here that's happening where, and, and look, I mean, I guess this, this is one of the lessons of the war in Iran in general right now. One of the things I've been thinking about, you know, it's like I kind of been saying this whole time that this war in Iran is running up against reality, that reality was going to break this situation. And then you see it happen and you're like, oh, yeah, okay, yeah, you can't. None of us are God. You can't break God. You can't break reality. And so you wanna, you know, you wanna sit here and have this, you wanna be tied to the most unpopular war in modern history? Well, then the people opposing that are gonna have a lot to work with. There's, you know, all of this stuff, right? The, the, all of the kind of economic prescriptions that the answer to unaffordability is that the government should be doing more. The government should Be having, whether it's free buses and free, you know, for government supermarkets or whatever, the stuff that Mamdani was proposing, or if it's the broader universal health care, increased minimum wage. All of these proposals, all of them just make us poorer. All it does is make people poor. It's all nonsense. Government interventions, attempts at price controls. It's all using coercive measures to throw off the pricing mechanism.
Shopify Testimonial Speaker
They just.
Dave Smith
They distort genuine markets where people are trading voluntarily. And that's. I mean, I don't. You know, people should really read Ludwig von Mises and, you know, this is like, this is the cornerstone of libertarianism, or certainly particularly of my brand of libertarianism, is like, this understanding of what economics really is and the idea that economics is human action. What pricing is that a pricing mechanism gives you information about a vast, vast amount of different people's preferences and desires and abilities and availability of materials and resources and labor needs. We get a lot of information from prices. This is what makes all of us richer. We trade with each other. This is how we grow economically. All these government policies are going to hurt it. And you could meaningfully oppose a lot of these government policies if you had a leg to stand on. But when you're supporting a government that spends $7 trillion a year already, you know, good luck. You got to argue that it's such a great deal for us to give Iran or Ukraine or Israel or anyone money because they spend it with our weapons companies, and so the money comes back into America. Okay, you're already a socialist, dude. If you're saying that helps the economy and creates jobs, you're already a socialist as much as Mom Donnie is. So what are you now? You don't get to go like, oh, no, he's a socialist. You're a socialist, too. You're just a socialist for war, and he's a socialist for buses. It's all dumb. None of it's good. But you don't get to play that card. And so much of this stuff is them trying to, again, as I guess this has been a major theme of the show now for years. But they're essentially trying to play this card of like, we're morally outraged by this guy because he's a secret Islamist something when everybody's watched you support the most, you know, just inhumane, evil policy in. In modern times. And this is something that, you know, the generation Of World War II was affected by World War II. They were affected by the imagery and the stories. And obviously people who had direct experience with the war were affected by that. You know, Vietnam was the same thing. Had a huge impact on this, this country. The, the period where Iraq and Afghanistan had a huge impact. The period we're in right now, it's like Gaza was the biggest thing, you know, even as is is being admitted. That's what all these issues were about. That's what this guy not getting a cup of coffee was about. That's what all of the, that's what Mamdani's win and all of this stuff, this was the big issue. And the people who supported that, who callously supported a policy where the cost was, you know, crushed. Babies being pulled out of buildings while mothers weep over their, their baby's remains. Like what? You'd see that every day and then you'd see the people who just callously supported that and then smeared the people who criticized that viciously to see them try to pull the moral high ground. You're like, dude, what are you, what are you even doing here? This is just too, it's, it's a lost cause. All right guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is in the Cloud. This is for listeners who are 21 years of age or older. If you're looking for a dispensary, you don't have to find one in person because they got them online now and in the Cloud has everything you need. It is your online cannabis dispensary for quieting the noise. Gummies, curated flour, pre rolls and now zero sugar, zero calorie THC sodas. Yeah, who'd have thought? All federally legal THC DEA certified, lab tested and it shipped in discrete packaging. So if you're over the age of 21, visit IndeCloud co. That's I n D a C L O u d dot co. And if you use the promo code problem, you'll get 25% off plus free shipping. That's IndeCloud Co promo code problem for 25% off and free shipping. Here, let's play, let's go to the other clip about this, this congressman, the pro Israel guy who lost as we'll do a little bit more investigating on this big bagel, this big bagel store catastrophe.
Narrator/Reporter
Congressman Dan Goldman stopped in Poetica coffee in Brooklyn on Sunday with his seven year old daughter who used the restroom. He said they were so kind that he bought a coffee afterwards. Poetica's social media account posted a picture of Goldman at the cashier counter with this message. Hey, Rep. Goldman, we see that you stopped by our shop today for a coffee. Do you see how it doesn't taste like genocide juice? Or are you still having a hard time telling the difference? See, here at Poetica, we don't serve racists, fascists, homophobes, genocide enablers or anyone in between. Too bad we didn't recognize you right away or we would have turned you away. We issued you a refund. We don't need your money. It's probably coming from aipac. Anyways, enjoy your loss on Tuesday. Don't ever come to Poetica. Now, that post has since been taken down, but the Congressman did respond on social media. He said, I'm sorry to see this post. The barista could not have been nicer to my 7 year old daughter and me allowing her to use the bathroom even though we had not purchased anything. I made sure to buy a coffee in return for her kindness. I hope you at least make sure she gets the tip that she deserved. Last night he spoke to CNN's Laura Coats.
Congressman Dan Goldman
It's a reflection, I think, of a sad state of affairs that without knowing me, we could have had such a nice interaction. Two people obviously from different backgrounds, different faiths. But that's what America is and that's what New York City is. That is what I believe in. I am a strong proponent of equal rights, of civil rights, of human rights. And what is going on in the Middle east is horrific. And the idea of accusing someone who you don't know of supporting a genocide, I mean, it's crazy. It's crazy. Now, I may disagree as to whether or not there's a genocide, but come on, we're better than this and we need to be better than this and we have to stop dividing.
Narrator/Reporter
What do you say to those who look at what's happening in Washington D.C. and look at what's happening in the Middle east, who say that they have a vested interest in both and equate the policies of Netanyahu with you?
Congressman Dan Goldman
Well, that's exactly the fundamental problem. Because first of all, I've been very openly opposed to this Israeli government. But just like Donald Trump is not synonymous with the United States, Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Israeli government is not synonymous with the country and state of Israel. I think it's really dangerous when people start conflating the actions of the Israeli government with American Jews who have absolutely nothing to do with what is going on in Israel. And the rise in antisemitism because of what is happening in the Middle East. Here in the United States is really dangerous and it is Escalating significantly.
Dave Smith
All right, so look, man, I mean, this is just. And look, this guy ended up losing, which is good. Sorry. That's good. But this is, I mean, just so appalling and disgusting. He's saying essentially that just a regular Jew was targeted for what Israel does. But the thing is, he's a US Congressman who votes for funding for Israel.
Congressman Dan Goldman
So.
Dave Smith
No, you're not just a random Jew. I mean, look, dude, like, call me if that does just happen to a random Jew. And then. Okay, you've got a story. That's not okay. Look, I'm not a big believer in any of this stuff. Like, you know, I don't own a coffee shop, but if I did, there wouldn't be a political test for who's allowed to come in and who's not. As long as you were being, like, respectful and had manners and stuff. I, you know, I'm not saying that's the right answer, but let's get real. This is a non story. This is a non story. There's no victim, there's no suffering, there's no anything. Some manager of a store saw that this guy was in there, doesn't like him, and made a post about it. He didn't even get denied service anywhere. He got a cup of coffee and his daughter was allowed to use the bathroom. So it's a non story. They made a social media post about him and the only reason to make this a story is to try to turn this into this. Like, oh, look, they're just blaming a random Jewish man for the behavior of, of Benjamin Netanyahu. Except it's not. It's not a random Jewish man. It's a member of Congress who has a track record of voting for funding for Netanyahu. So like, again, this is,
Sean Hannity
this is,
Dave Smith
this should be beneath adults. And if, if mom, Donnie and all these guys are a real threat, which I think they are, then I think right wingers or conservatives or libertarians or free market people, whatever, should look at what I just played there and go, okay, that's a disgraceful way, a dishonorable and just stupid and childish way to try to combat this. Don't combat this by pretending that they're secret Jew haters who just never talk about it. And you don't combat this by pretending they're secret Islamists who, who just never talk about this. Now, you know, if you want to make comments about immigration, there's plenty to be made in there. But I'm sorry, the way to combat this is with a populist message. And, you know, the Republicans, this is a major problem they have. And this is why Trumpism is really kind of doomed in a way, because we've already given up on draining the swamp. We're, we're way past that. And at this point, even though this is. The term was interrupted by Joe Biden, this is Donald Trump's, you know, seventh year of being president or sixth year of being president going into seventh year. And at that point, you kind of endorse the system. If you're saying we're winning so much and this is so great, you're endorsing this system. And these guys have a message about how unaffordable, how unaffordable everything is and how they're going to do something for the people. And you could have a not idiotic socialist message that would also say something like that. You know, so much of, of the whole democratic socialist thing is, is just built on this, this illusion. It's, it's, it's built on this lie that they're going to do something for the working people, but at least they're saying they're going to do something for them. And so people who are desperate can look at that and go, all right, this guy's at least going to do something for me. Well, that's a lot better. If, if you're, if there's a socialist who says, I'm going to do something for you versus a Warhawk Republican who says I'm going to bomb Carg island with those resources, don't be surprised when the socialist wins. You know, the truth is that the, the obvious answer that this, if you really want to take this stuff on, the obvious thing is to have libertarian populism take it on. You know, the obvious thing is to go, hey, look, dude, the government is the boot on the neck of the American taxpayer. Let's talk to that American taxpayer about taking this boot off. All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is Sheath, the underwear of legends, longtime sponsor of the Part of the Problem podcast. And the best pair of boxer briefs you'll ever buy. I swear to God, go get one. If you've heard me say this before, but haven't, go get yourself a pair of underwear from Sheath Underwear. They're amazing. It's all I ever wear. It's the only underwear I own. Sheath.com longtime sponsors of this show. Go get yourself the best pair of boxer briefs you will ever put on your body. Make sure to use the promo code Problem that will get you 20% off your order. Sheath.com promo code problem. 20% off. Support them. Great company, great product. Let's get back into the show. You know, Scott Horton, who of course you guys know as being like the best anti war guy, but he had this, his analogy, or metaphor for, for the IRS was the best, but where he said just his. I think he said, imagine that we were conquered by the Soviet Union. Like imagine we were just a free country, you know, so we were, we were a capitalist free country. No central bank, no income tax whatever. And then the Soviet Union conquered us and they instituted the USS irs, right? So this is, there's this, this new Soviet, you know, institution, and they declare that it's a crime for. To be a productive member of society. To be a productive member of the capitalist economy is now a crime. And the punishment is that there's a fee. If you're a productive member of society, we charge you a fee for the crime of working and producing. And the more you work, the more productive you are, the higher that fee goes. And we're, we're abolishing the fourth Amendment and the fifth Amendment. You, you're forced to incriminate yourself. You have no right to privacy, open up all your books, incriminate yourself every year to the USS IRS, and we'll go back 20 years if we want to. We'll crush you for the crime of being a productive member of society. Well, like, okay, that would make sense in the context of we were conquered by a communist government who hates capitalism and wants to subjugate us forever. Okay, but that's what we live under without the Communists having taken us over. Because the communists already took us over. The Buckleyites created their totalitarian bureaucracy within our shores. And so we already live under that. And then you have these, these democratic socialists. They pose as what, someone who's here to help the working class, not help the working class, get the Gestapo off their back. So see, there could be a message about how we're going to cut these people's taxes and cut regulations and we're going to get these guys off your back and we're going to get the government to actually protect public spaces and to actually work for the local businesses there. And so, you know, like there's a message that you could send. But if the message is just going to be like, you're a racist, that's essentially what they got. You're a racist and you don't support our most disastrous war, well, then we're going to be living In Momdani's America, if that's what you go with. All you guys, you guys who are fear mongering about this stuff, that's why you should oppose the war in Iran. That's why you should oppose this, this administration. Let me tell you something, man. A year and a half ago, the Democrats were devastated. They were, they were completely broken and defeated. 22% approval rating. Wokeism was the, a laughing stock. The culture had flipped. Donald Trump had won. The youth and the culture, they were on the side of, of, you know, giving a big middle finger to Wokeism and all the excesses of transgender ideology and censorship and all this stuff. Why are they, why are these guys coming back now? Why do mom, Donnie and these guys keep coming back? Well, for two obvious reasons. Number one, you didn't solve the inflation problem. The Trump administration didn't even begin to tackle the major problem, which was the currency debasement. And they just continued to debase the currency because they keep wanting to do stuff that we can't afford. The only way to get there is to print the money. And number two, you supported Israel while they committed a genocide. And these guys stood up and opposed that. You handed it to him. Now listen to us if you want to take this away. All right, that's our episode for today. Catch you next time. Peace.
Progressive Insurance Announcer 2
You're listening to this podcast, so I know you've got a curious mind. Here's a helpful fact you might not know. Drivers who switch and save with Progressive save over $900 on average. Pop over to progressive.com, answer some questions and you'll get a quick quote with discounts that are easy to come by. In fact, 99% of their auto customers earn at least one discount. Visit progressive.com and see if you can enjoy a little cash back. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and National averaged 12 month savings of $946 by new customers surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2024 and May 2025. Potential savings will vary.
Shopify Testimonial Speaker
I started Ornod in 2013 and we make bike apparel. The best part of Shopify for me is our ability to run the business as essentially non technical people. We're able to admin everything on the back end, front end and sell things online easily. If Shopify were a bike accessory, I think it would actually be the bicycle. It's the thing that you do the thing on. We run the business on Shopify. Start your free trial on shopify.com.
In this solo episode, host Dave Smith analyzes a major shift within the Democratic Party following sweeping victories by the Democratic Socialists in New York City's latest primaries. Dave dives into why this ascendant left-wing faction matters, critiques both their agenda and the way establishment figures and conservative media are responding, and evaluates the implications for American politics, including the war in Gaza, economic policy, and the limits of both left-wing and right-wing coalitions.
An Ascendant Left-Wing Faction: The Democratic Socialists—represented in New York by figures like Zoran Mamdani—have scored major victories, signaling a power shift within the party. Dave Smith unpacks who they are, their appeal, the failures of both their critics and the broader establishment, and what this means for both left and right populism in America.
"The Democratic Socialists are coming. They had a big night last night." (01:00)
Power Vacuum in the Democratic Party
Quote:
"The Mamdani wing is the only thing left standing, not implicated in the Joe Biden failure, let's say." (Dave Smith, 08:00)
Quote:
"There was something approaching a civil war within both the Democratic and Republican parties starting 10 years ago..." (Dave Smith, 04:20)
Van Jones:
"This is no longer a movement. This is a movement and a machine at the same time... If Mamdani pulls off the hat trick, it's a new era in Democratic Party politics." (09:44-10:36)
Quote:
"What he is essentially, is a welfarist... He's really just a liberal." (Dave Smith, 19:00)
Quote:
"Attacking them over the Israel stuff just makes no sense whatsoever. That’s the issue they’re good on." (Dave Smith, 38:10)
Quote:
"You're already a socialist, dude ... you're just a socialist for war, and he's a socialist for buses." (Dave Smith, 46:54)
Quote:
"There could be a message about how we’re going to cut these people’s taxes and cut regulations ... But if the message is just going to be like, 'You’re a racist' ... then we’re going to be living in Momdani’s America." (Dave Smith, 57:00)
"Why are these guys coming back now? Well, for two obvious reasons. Number one, you didn't solve the inflation problem. ... And number two, you supported Israel while they committed a genocide. And these guys stood up and opposed that. You handed it to them." (Dave Smith, 61:20)
For listeners seeking a fusion of in-depth political analysis, libertarian critique, and biting commentary on the shifting American landscape, this episode offers a sharp and timely survey of the ongoing Democratic Party transformation and the larger populist moment.