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- [00:00]
Dave Smith
Foreign what's up? What's up everybody? Welcome to a brand new episode of Part of the Problem. It's good to be back home. We are live back from Houston. Thank you to everybody who came out. We had a great time out there. And of course I'm joined by Robbie the Fire Bernstein. As I was in Houston. How are you, sir?
- [00:24]
Robbie Bernstein
I'm doing well. How are you, Mr. Smith?
- [00:26]
Dave Smith
Very, very good. I cannot complain. I'm a lit. Well, you know, I can now that I thought about it out loud, I can complain a little bit now. I'm just, you know, Mondays after a long weekend, for whatever reason, it's always like, you know, I have a long weekend and a lot of travel and then Monday I have to go in to the city for Legion of Skanks. I have art podcast and it's always like clockwork. That Monday coming off of a weekend of travel is always when Piers Morgan calls or whoever wants to add a show. And always for whatever reason that Sunday night my kids won't sleep. So I'm just up all night. And then for after, after being up all night because you know the way. So like we'll be. I got back to the hotel at like one in the morning on Saturday night and then I had to leave for the airport at three in the morning so there's no sleep that night. And then I come back and I got a, a packed day on Monday and I'm like, all I need is a good night's sleep on Sunday. And my three year old, just somewhere in his soul he hears that and he's like, all right, let's wake up 15 times tonight. How about that? Anyway, I can't complain.
- [01:37]
Robbie Bernstein
Pecan pie from the supermarket went to sleep around 9pm it was great.
- [01:42]
Dave Smith
Well, there you go. I mean, let's listen. There's a, there's benefits to the single life. That's all I'm saying. There's one of them. I do not have the opportunity to do that. Anyway though, it was a lot of fun and I, we had a particularly great time. A lot of our people were out there in Houston. So it was great to see Tom woods and all those guys. So that was a, that was a lot of fun. And then our next stop is in Buffalo, New York and it looks like I gotta. I don't know if I have the go ahead to promote it yet, but it looks like there's. We're going to attach a Canada show to that as well. But comicdavesmith.com for the ticket links There. We'll be up at Helium Buffalo and then doing a show in Canada, looks like after that. So please come out and see us there. Comic Dave Smith dot com. Okay, so there's a few things that I, I was thinking about talking about on today's show. I guess we could just. We. We could start with the fact that since the last. Since our last episode, Cash Patel has been confirmed as the FBI director. Dan Bongino has been added as the deputy director, which was that I had not heard floated out before. So kind of interesting. And so, yeah, this is a big development at this point. I think it's kind of safe to say that basically Donald Trump got all of his controversial appointments through, minus Matt Gaetz. And by the way, when I say controversial appointments, I don't mean that at all as a slight. These were the only guys that I liked were the ones who were controversial. But I. But. So he did get Cash Patel in. He's got Bongino there at the FBI now. I don't know. I'm kind of curious what your thoughts on this are, Rob. Certainly, at least it seems that Donald Trump 2.0, compared to the first four years of Donald Trump's term, has certainly done a better job protecting himself, if nothing else, that he's got some guys who do seem to be loyalists who were outside of the cabal of people who were weaponizing the government against him. You know, keep in mind how integral the FBI was to. To shutting down Donald Trump's agenda in his first four years. So it's a whole different situation, at least currently. What, what do you think about Cash getting in there, Bongino, or any of this stuff?
- [04:17]
Robbie Bernstein
Firstly, Bongino getting in there is a big win for bald loudmouths. So in terms of, you know, just looking at the economic landscape and seeing what your career trajectory could be, the fact that a podcaster who talks a lot of shit just got a job in the political administration, and a real job at that is pretty cool.
- [04:39]
Dave Smith
I never thought about it like that. That's a good point. All right, you have finally. It's like people, when Kamala Harris is running, they're like, think of the little girls who think they can be president. But this is. You're saying for you this is like shattering a glass ceiling.
- [04:50]
Robbie Bernstein
Exactly. I mean, just a couple of years ago, they were keeping us out of all jobs and industries. And, you know, it's nice to see a turnaround as we get rid of the dei. So that. That makes me feel good. I'm not too familiar with his work, but I know he talked a lot of shit about when they tried to kill Donald Trump. And I think he really dove into the Russia collusion story. And so I think Trump's doing, like you said, a much better job of making sure that he has loyalists around him. And I mean, we're seeing him actually push forward with his agenda this time around in a way he never was able to when they concocted that bullshit Russia story the last time. So it's, and it's also fun to have all these just good looking television personalities surrounding him. I do like the just TV element to what Donald Trump does.
- [05:35]
Dave Smith
He's always had that, he's always had this obsession with like central casting and like, you know, the people having the right look. What was his first press secretary? Sean Spicer? Was that his first.
- [05:47]
Robbie Bernstein
He got canned immediately for some hot blondes. Yeah, at first it was the heavy set Huckabee and then he gave.
- [05:54]
Dave Smith
Right. And then he went to the blondes. But it was, but literally him and Sean Spicer, like, like this was their big thing. That he'd be like, you don't look good in that suit. You got to wear this suit. You don't look good on tv and this. But you know, it's, he's got an interesting mind that Donald Trump. I do think you make a very good point. There's something to me that, I mean, I mean particularly like in a self serving kind of way, maybe I find it a little bit fascinating because like we're in whatever this world of shows on the Internet, talking about politics, whatever that world is, and that there's been so many people who are like fixtures in that world now coming into these positions. Now don't get me wrong, you know, like Pete Hegseth, for example, wasn't just a Fox News show host. He had other things on his resume and, and Dan. But Gino was in the Secret Service before he was a Fox News host and then a TV and then an Internet personality or whatever. And Cash Patel was a regular guest on a lot of podcasts and stuff. So it's just, I guess one of the things that I'm thinking about is like we've got these guys, particularly with say Bongino and, and Cash Patel who have like, as you started alluding to then, you're absolutely right about Bongino. In fact, I, I've never been like, I know who Dan Bongino is. I don't think I've ever met him, but I know I know him and I knew who he was when he was at Fox News and stuff. But I, I never, like, watch his podcast, except for after the. The assassination attempt, because I did just find it interesting because he was a Secret Service agent for many years, so it was kind of interesting to have his perspective on it. And he was, look, he. I'm not trying to overplay what he said. Like, he wasn't like, this is a conspiracy, and they did that, but he was pretty leaning on that side of, like, there's. There's something missing in this story here. There's no way they failed this blatantly. And, like, something' going on here. Both of them wildly outspoken about Russiagate and how. I mean, they would literally, at least what they've been saying over the last years, they'd be right where me and you are not just saying that the story was wrong, but saying that this was in an intentional attempted coup by the deep state, using known lies to try to frame the President of the United States for treason. And I gotta say, from my perspective, you know, I had a rant about this a few episodes ago that ended up going viral. And, you know, I appreciate everybody who shares the content. I will say, in some way, I think putting these guys in there, at least in my mind, it almost kind of sets a higher bar now. And I don't think. Think, you know, like, I think this is fairly reasonable of me. I am. I'm somebody who was a fierce critic of Donald Trump through his first four years and then through the four years of Joe Biden's administration while people were defending what he did. And I could, you know, I've gotten into that many times over the years. We could get into that if people want to. I was willing to come on board and throw my support behind him in this last election because, you know, I adjusted to the facts on the ground, and it seemed to be like a lot of things had changed. Kamala Harris was a uniquely horrible and terrifying candidate, and Donald Trump was all of a sudden in a unique position where it looked like, oh, he might actually mean it this time, and he might actually be trying to do some positive things. And I will say, so far, I feel pretty justified in that decision, even though there are some things I don't like in the new administration, but there are. There are massive positives. And this is like, a first for me that I've ever felt this way about the sitting President of the United States. And so, okay, I'm. I'm willing to, like, kind of get on board, and I'm willing to even accept that, okay, some stuff I don't like is going to happen, but maybe we'll get some positives out of this. But once you're giving the FBI to Cash Patel and Dan Bongino, it just seems like it's. It's kind of a reasonable expectation now that you're going to prosecute some of these criminals. I mean, you guys have the FBI now. You've talked about the crimes that have been committed, and these are not minor infractions. This is not Donald Trump paid off hooker, but he had his lawyer do it. And I guess if we use this novel concept, we could say it was a campaign event and then it wasn't disclosed on his business record. Like, I'm not talking bullshit like that. I'm talking like, oh, the CIA and the FBI framed the sitting President of the United States for treason and then interfered in the 2020 election. It's like, okay, well, you're in charge of the FBI now. How is it not. This isn't even like, it seems like this is the moderate position to take. You know what I mean? Like, I'm taking the very reasonable position of like, okay, you said it. You have the FBI. Now you got Tulsi over there as the Director of National Intelligence. If you need any more of the information, you know what you guys are in charge of. You know, I mean, people might forget it, but the FBI is technically supposed to be in charge of investigating crimes. So is it too crazy for me to expect that to happen? All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is Lucy. 100% pure nicotine, always tobacco free. Lucy isn't like every other nicotine pouch company that's all owned by big tobacco. They're like the mom and pop shop of nicotine pouches. The pouches come in a variety of strengths, from 4 milligrams all the way up to to 12 milligrams. And Lucy offers a unique variety of flavors. They have apple ice, wintergreen, mango, espresso. If you're not a pouch guy or gal, they have gum available as well in 2mg, 4mg and 6mg. Set yourself up with a subscription and you can have Lucy delivered straight to your door. So you don't even have to think about it. It just shows up when you need it. Go check them out. If you're a nicotine lover as I am, this is a great company. Go to Lucy Co Co. That's L. C Y C problem and use the promo code problem to get 20% off your first order. Lucy also offers free shipping and has a 30 day refund policy if you change your mind. Lucy products are only for adults of legal age and every order is age verified. This product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical. I'm sure none of you knew that until I just told to you right now. But many of us are addicted to it and quite like it. So go check them out. Lucy.co/proble promo code problem for 20% off your first order. All right, let's get back into the show.
- [12:42]
Robbie Bernstein
I think you're right and it's probably odes the American people in some capacity with these picks. However, you know, there's that old saying, the best revenge is a life well lived. And I think if the FBI were to turn its focus into actually prosecuting all the pedophiles that exist in this country, maybe cleaning up the fentanyl and then just reporting, you know, there was a. I forgot what the number was, but there was a massive amount of the FBI that was allocated just to prosecuting and rounding up the January six people. And now four years later, let's just say you put 100,000 pedophiles in jail and you're able to go look at what the Biden administration left on the streets. And so I think if they while prosecuting, there's a lot of mess to be cleaned up. And if I had to pick what should be prosecuted, it would be the COVID 19 scandal and going after Fauci and the relationship between big pharma and government in terms of the FBI and CIA, I think a lot of those people will probably get fired. And if you actually just start using those agencies for good, I think that becomes the like just the biggest condemnation of the way that these agencies had been used in the past. Because look at the terrible crimes that went unpunished and unnoticed as you just used the resources to basically prosecute political prisoners.
- [13:57]
Dave Smith
Yes, okay, look, there's a fair point there, but I think that point only works if you actually permanently get rid of all of these people. And there's almost like, because the, the baked in assumption there is that in four years a Democrat doesn't come in and then just put all those same people back in the deep state apparatus. Because if that's the case, if that ends up happening, then it's like no, you blew it by not prosecuting when you actually had the opportunity to. So I get your point, like there is something to that Look, I am. I gotta say, I'm somewhat. I. I'm a little bit torn sometimes on some of these issues. I'll tell you this one by the. It's pretty rare that there's an issue of the day that comes up, and I'm like, I do not actually know how I feel about this. Like, I really got to think about this. I mean, I just like you. Typically, at this point, I have an opinion on what's going on, but I was reading about this apparent friction between Tulsi Gabbard and Elon Musk that. That's been going on. And so if. If people aren't familiar, evidently Doge sent emails out to, like, everybody in the intelligence community, asking them to report on what they've been doing. And Tulsi has instructed everybody not to respond to this Doge email. And so I'm. I'm sitting here, I'm reading about this, and I'm like, okay, on the one hand, I love what Doge is doing. I love the idea of government secrecy being, you know, exposed. And, man, I. Going after the intelligence community, you're like, yeah, that's like, that's the motherlode of. Of the evil secrets. On the other hand, I can totally understand where Tulsi Gabbard is coming from, but she's just like, whoa, hold on, wait a minute. I just got this job, and now you are, in effect, asking all of my underlings to give out classified information to people who do not have the security clearance. And you would think, like, she might be in a situation like. Like, I'm open enough to the possibility that you would go, like, okay, look, like, even though all of this evil stuff has probably gone on and there's a whole bunch of secret stuff that never needed to be classified to begin with, it there, you might need somebody there to decide who. What we're going to declassify and in what order and who's. You know what I mean? Like, there's just. I. I could understand where Tulsi Gabbard's gonna have to be like, oh, no. But then you're totally, like, just, like, usurping my authority to actually look at this as a patriotic veteran and go, like, okay, what is in the national interest? Let's expose this. Maybe this, you know, like, needs to wait or something like that. So, I don't know. I'm curious if you have a strong opinion on that, but I'm actually genuinely torn on it off the bat.
- [16:48]
Robbie Bernstein
When I saw that he requested. Everyone in government has to send A short email with five things they did in the prior week, what they were working on, and if they don't, it's considered as if they're handing in their resignation. And as much as I like what Doge is doing, that is some fuck you boss activity. Because firstly, you can fire me or I can quit. Not doing something is not me resigning. So that's just like a nasty boss move of, no, you have to do this or you're resigning. Like, no, you can fire me for not doing the thing. It's not considered. So I don't like that little game. And there's also just something about the pettiness of having to sit down and just do homework because the boss says, hey, I need you to do this homework. So at first, even as much as I don't like government employees and a lot of them shouldn't have their jobs, I saw that from Elon Musk. I was like, fuck you, boss. I'm not writing this fucking email. Then Elon Musk claimed, because that was the attitude of a lot of people, of this is shitty boss behavior that they're trying to clean. I don't know if this is true. He said, they're trying to clean up for fraud and they think that there's a lot of dead email addresses that are collecting paychecks and that this was a simple way to at least figure out who's on payroll and who might just be. I don't know that that's true. And then you had cash. It's also, unless that's one's coming from Donald Trump, that seems crazy to automatically fire government employees if they're not doing a specific Elon Musk regarded homework assignment, that doesn't seem like the best way to be finding fraud and abuse. That seems like boss behavior for, hey, I'm in charge here and you're going to be compliant towards me. So it's tough to get Elon Musk back on this particular way of finding the fraud and abuse. I'm all for finding the fraud and abuse. I'm all for firing, you know, shitty government workers. I can't imagine that this is the most sophisticated way to do it.
- [18:40]
Dave Smith
Yeah, I mean, the thing is, what I try to remind myself all the time is that government employees aren't people. And so you can't feel emotion for them the way you would for normal people. I do get your point about the dickhead boss. I guess I just think, even for me, when it started coming to, like, classified information, you know, at the CIA or the NSA or something like that. I guess that is where I was just like, this really kind of has to be done by putting a good Director of National Intelligence in there and having them make the decisions. And it seems like perhaps we just got that. I could understand why Tulsi is going to resist this kind of.
- [19:24]
Robbie Bernstein
I think that's a nonsense weasel out from her. I don't think Elon Musk is actually looking for progress reports as much as, hey, here's your weekend homework assignment. And I think you could sit there and say, I was working on five classified debriefings and that would be the end of the homework assignment, maybe.
- [19:42]
Dave Smith
Right, right, right. I see what you're saying. Yeah. Okay. So she could. They could respond in a way that doesn't actually give up anything that's classified, which I guess technically they can't legally. They can't just give him classified information.
- [19:53]
Robbie Bernstein
I think Cash and Tulsi were basically going, hey, we just got here. We're going to run our departments, so layoff.
- [20:00]
Dave Smith
Yeah, well, it does seem like, look, and there is especially with, with Cash and Tulsi. And this is why, by the way, I mean, if it wasn't them there, say Donald Trump had just picked terrible people for that position, I think there's no way I'd even. I'd just be like, yeah, I'm with Doge. Screw them. But it's just like, there is something where it's like, look, you. We just put the heads of these departments as people who have been not just critics of the institutions, but have specifically called out these specific crimes that these organizations have committed. And so that is a little bit different than, you know, like, it, it's not me sitting here and saying, no, usaid. If we want to cut that, it should be done by Congress and not by Doge. Because it's like, yeah, well, Congress is never going to do that. And this is. We. We've tried this for decades and decades and decades. It just leads to this mess. So screw that. Doge is the only tool we got. Let's use that. When I see Tuli and Cash in there, I think this kind of relates to the, the opening point that I was making. Now, my expectation is like, we're going to get to the bottom of this, right? I mean, even say, regardless of, like, whether some of these criminals are prosecuted, they're going to be fired, right? It's going to be revealed the crimes that were committed. So if that's the plan, then I'm kind of like, well, actually, we don't need an act of Congress to do this because we already put the people at the heads of these organizations. You know what I'm saying? Like, it's like if we, if we had just put Ron Paul in charge of US Aid and then Elon Musk was coming and going over his head, I'd be like, hey, back off, let him cook. You know what I mean? And so that, I guess that's just a little bit how I feel in this area. But I don't, I'm, I'm humble and open on this one where I'd go, maybe someone can, you know, maybe I could be persuaded either way, I do.
- [21:51]
Robbie Bernstein
Like the back to work or get fired. That one seems fair of, hey, if you don't even want your job enough to figure out how to report in for it, you can't have this job anymore. And then you could have the boss that comes forward and goes, no, this guy's a high productivity worker and he's autistic. He doesn't work well in the office. Yeah, yeah, sure who those people are, but that one, that one feels like a very fair bitch out of. Nope. We're coming back to actual in office work. And if you don't want this job enough to show up for it, you can't have it. But that's fired.
- [22:23]
Dave Smith
That's.
- [22:23]
Robbie Bernstein
Once again, it doesn't have that thing of, well, then you're resigning.
- [22:26]
Dave Smith
Yeah, I know what you mean. And it also, well, it also is the type of thing where like, if anyone in a private company did that, we would be like, yeah, that's a totally reasonable ask. You have to come to work. If you want to have your job, you have to come to work. Before the pandemic, that was something we all just took as a given. That was the, that was what having a job entailed. Part of it was going to work, you know.
- [22:46]
Robbie Bernstein
So anyway, how many people went into ChatGPT and said, Give me five things a person with this government title might have worked on last week?
- [22:57]
Dave Smith
I bet it's more than zero. I bet the answer is a positive number. He might have set it up to trap you for that. You know, speaking of Elon Musk and I guess this is kind of, I wanted to play this, this clip from Breaking Points and kind of respond a little bit to it because it's kind of, it's a little bit on, on a similar topic, but it gets into kind of broader conversations about, about theory and philosophy on, on what government is and different kind of political views. So and let me just, just preface by saying because I, I am playing this clip, I really disagree with much of what Crystal Ball said here. I just do want to state up front that I like Crystal Ball very much and I'm a huge fan of Breaking Points. I think it's a, an excellent show. Sagar and Crystal, I think have done an incredible job. Crystal herself has been like just downright heroic in her coverage of the, the Israel Gaza War over the last year and a half. And I just, I watch the show regularly. I've been on the show, I think a couple times and I very much enjoy it. So just to say that she now she has been a fierce critic of Elon Musk and, and kind of the, the, the kind of tech bro billionaire class that's been around Donald Trump and even within that, even though I've been kind of on the other side of that and I've been cheering on the efforts of Doge I reasonable that like there should be left wing journalists who are like trying to hold his feet to the fire and trying to keep him accountable. You know, as, as you've said many times on, on the show before, Rob and I, I've agreed with you that look, none of us are arguing that there isn't a potential conflict of interest or something like that, or that having powerful billionaires being in charge to some degree of policy is something that you'd have to be, you know, have some realistic concerns about. Of course, Elon Musk is, does have contracts with the Defense Department and stuff like that. And so it's like, okay, like, I mean, I think certainly if we were now by the way, those Rachel Maddow reported this the other day, but he got them under Joe Biden. So it's not as if whatever it's at. The truth is that if you actually examine it and you go, oh, he got government contracts under Joe Biden and still came out against Joe Biden and support somebody else. I don't think it exactly plays into the narrative that that's his end goal here, right, is like to manipulate government policy for his own benefit. But it is possible and I certainly think if we were to see, let's say in the next few months we were to see like a massive increase in like government contracts going to Elon Musk, we might be like, ah, that's a little funky. You know what I mean? Like, you can't have a situation where you just give $100 million to the president and then you get all of this money in return anyway. That's my kind of. My preface going into it. The reason why I actually wanted to respond to this clip is because she invokes anarcho capitalism at one point, which I just. There is like, there's some type of rule of thumb that anytime, like a mainstream person. And when I say mainstream, I just mean like a person with like a huge following or a huge show. Anytime a person with a huge audience mentions anarcho capitalism, they always get it completely wrong. I don't know why that's a law of physics, but it somehow it is. But anyway, let's, let's play this clip and we can, we can talk through some of these ideas because there are actually a few things in here that I found very interesting that I very much disagree with Crystal on. So let's play the breaking points clip and then we could, we could break some of this down.
- [26:51]
C
As we discussed earlier this week, Argentina's president just hyped a massive crypto shitcoin pump and dump, which effectively robbed his own biggest supporters. The whole thing was ultimately quite similar to the scheme Trump also pulled. And lo and behold, some of the same people were involved in this Argentina Libra rug pull. As we're involved in the Melania rug pull YouTube scam investigator Coffeezilla managed to score an interview with one of these fraudsters. And there was a particular part that helped me put together something I've been trying to articulate since the beginning of Trump 2.0, whether with regard to Doge Maha or the new return to outright colonialism and imperialism. The moment came towards the end of the interview after this scammer, his name is Hayden Davis, admits that all crypto is, quote, dog shit. How then does he justify his role?
- [27:36]
Dave Smith
So I just go, before we even get into this more, I guess, because I don't think me and you have actually really talked about this on the show. And part of that might just be because I don't really understand it. And I've always, I, I just, look, I don't know what is go. I get, by the way, like, messages all the time, constantly now about people wanting to collab on a meme coin. And I don't know what that means, but my answer is always no, because that's insane. And it does. I'm again, I'm just full disclosure here. I'm speaking from a place of true ignorance. Ok, but it all seems like a scam to me. But it seems like one of those scams that's almost such a scam that I just, it's Hard for me to work up a lot of sympathy for people if they lose money in it. Maybe that's fucked up or wrong. And, and it does seem to me like my first thought when Trump and Melania were doing the. The coin thing was I was like, oh, why are you doing this? I mean, if nothing else, like, now you're just looking like you're trying to scam your own people. At least it has that appearance. So what's the benefit of doing. I guess the benefit is making money. But, like, it just, it. It's like somebody. Look, if you went and you took your money to one of the major financial institutions that has like an FDIC label attached to it, and even though their investment side isn't guaranteed by the government, but their banking side is guaranteed by the government, and your job to realize that that FDIC label only meant the banking side and not the investing side. And then you went in there, and then they went, hey, we're going to put you in a very, you know, low risk account with all of these things that have been rated AAA by the government. You know, they're. These are excellent mortgage loans or something like that. And then the whole thing goes belly up because it was all like a pyramid scheme. And you're Someone's like some old lady's like, crying because she lost her entire life savings over that. I have enormous sympathy for that woman who was totally ripped off. But if I went up to an old lady and she was crying and she. I was like, what's wrong? And she was like, I lost my life savings. And I was like, oh, my God, would you invest it in. And she went, oh, I bought the Haktua Girls Meme Coin. Am I crazy that I'm just like, well, what were you thinking? I mean, yeah, of course you can't do. So anyway, I don't know enough about this. I don't know if you know more than me or you have an opinion, but going into it, I'm totally open to the idea that this is a scam and these guys shouldn't be doing it. I don't know. What do you think, Rob?
- [30:13]
Robbie Bernstein
I agree that seems like Javier Malay on this one went hawk to a coin girl, but I. And at least from the hawk to a girl, it's the fucking hawk to a girl. Why are you taking investment advice from her? I could see why there's a slightly more of a fraud element. Well, all right, here's the real fraud element is that you think if the government's backing it, that it might become something that the government's actually working on. And then same as like the US dollar as currency because I can use it on my taxes. So you might actually think that there's value there. But then you're still trying to front run the government. It's no different than having gotten suckered into putting all your money into a windmill company because you thought that the government was going to continue to buy windmills. So you know, it's almost no different than any other government policy that tries to get people excited that the government's backing some particular technology or industry or buying additional defense contracts. It's not that much different except in this case, I don't know what the inherent value like at least you can argue the, the plane contracts that got canceled to Boeing that you thought were going to drive profits for Boeing. There's a physical good there. I don't know why he's backing Libra. I don't know anything about it or as to like if it was, you know, if you wanted to claim it was some sort of a payment processing that they were going to incorporate. I have no idea. But I don't even know what the argument is for. Why if you're the leader of a country, you're backing some fringe cryptocurrency. I don't even know. Like it just, it seems messy.
- [31:37]
Dave Smith
Seems to me like you shouldn't do that if you're the leader of a country. So I'll agree with Crystal on, on that much and with you. All right.
- [31:44]
Robbie Bernstein
From here there's nothing to agree on. It gets so flagrantly bad.
- [31:48]
Dave Smith
Yes, yes, yes, that's right. All right, so let's, let's keep playing.
- [31:53]
C
In massive repeated scams of people using this quote unquote. Dog. Take a listen what he had to say.
- [31:59]
D
I'm very proud getting everything away from regulated markets. But I, but I'm, I'm now recognized because I think that that's another game. I think that's an insider game, right? Whether it's if it's the Pelosi's of the world or the, you know, stock game, that's an insider game too. It's just a different type and people have to be more careful. But capital markets are an insider game. The whole thing is like I'm never, nobody's ever going to convince me that it's not rigged. Banks pay hundreds of millions of dollars a year to do illegal because they can make more money other ways like I could keep going on with, with after, after. I think if you're gonna die on the sword of Meme coins being, you know, insider this or sniping that, like, you're full of. Because there's. Every market in the world is like that. That makes a shitload of money.
- [32:49]
E
Well, yeah, I just. I just want. I just want to put a. A note in that. If your argument for capital markets is, you know, they. They are rigged, that's actually an argument for more regulation against rigging than it is for less. Like, you wouldn't look at a rigged game and go, hey, guys, let's take away all the rules we had in place anyway to try to stop it getting rigged, right?
- [33:10]
D
Yeah, but then you have to trust. Then you have to trust the regulators, and most of them are being paid off. And that's been proven time and time forever. Because humans.
- [33:18]
E
Yeah, but, but, but once again, the conclusion to, like, seeing problems in the world is not like, you realize, like, your brakes aren't working correctly. It's not to go like, hey, the brake manufacturers paid off, so let's just not have brakes at all. It's going. It's methodically approaching it and going, okay, we need to advocate for more regulation here. We need to advocate for more rules here. Saying, like, oh, yeah, it's all rigged. Isn't the dunk that people think it is on rules in general?
- [33:51]
Robbie Bernstein
Does that make sense?
- [33:52]
D
Sure. But it's.
- [33:53]
Dave Smith
It doesn't matter for a second here. Go. Go ahead, Rob. You can. You can have the first response.
- [33:58]
Robbie Bernstein
Is the guy with the glasses. Is that coffee zilla or is that. I don't know. I don't.
- [34:02]
Dave Smith
No, I think he's. No, no, he's. He's the guy who's interviewing one of the guys.
- [34:07]
Robbie Bernstein
Okay. What I think he gets incredibly wrong is that the regulation of the stock market, the way that the Fed exists, the way the entire game is played, is more similar to if you thought you had brakes on your car, and then when you went to press the brakes, it turns out that you just injected NOS into the engine. And this is the big wet dream of liberals everywhere, is that we need government to protect us from corporations. Except government is the tools that the corporations use that they don't have to actually compete and create value in the marketplace. And so that they can do everything that the left pretends that they're afraid of corporations doing, which is exploiting us all for money. In an honest market, they have to create value, and that's the only way that they can extract money from you is if they are giving you something of value in Return government is what steps in and changes the rules of the games that they can just extract wealth.
- [35:02]
Dave Smith
Yes. Look, there is a tendency on people on the left. I see this all the time. In fact, I was just talking with a friend of mine who's a very smart guy about this. But there's, There was. We were talking about this leftist who basically was arguing that IQ science is junk science. And it's just. The interviewer is according to the chat. Oh my, my mistake there. Okay, so I'm sorry, but the.
- [35:29]
Robbie Bernstein
Anyway, just about Coffee Zilla, who I never, I think I've heard of before, blast for being a dumbass.
- [35:34]
Dave Smith
Okay, well, there you go. So there. But anyway, so as I said, there is this tendency so as like IQ science is like very sound. Like, it's just like IQ is actually like, I think the best psychological predictor of future results. Like, it's just, it's very sound science. And so you wonder, like, why is it that this leftist is denying this? And it's just very like people on the left have this tendency to straight up deny something if they get cognitive dissonance over it. Like, if it challenges their worldview. They're just like, nope, that's not real. And that you could see why they want to deny IQ science because it's just, it's a, it's a nightmare for the egalitarian worldview. You know what I mean? Like, if your worldview is essentially that like all people, it's just circumstance and just their opportunity and just the amount of wealth that's been redistributed to them, the IQ science just tears this all apart. And like, you could find, you know, if you drop somebody into the worst situation, but they have 160 IQ, they're still going to be way better off. You know, like, you're just way better off than someone in that exact same situation with a 90 IQ. And there, that's, you know, it's. Anyway, there is, it's like trying to explain this to a leftist and they're just unwilling to adjust their worldview around the obvious fact. And so he'll say like, oh, no, granted, yeah, it's true that like the regulators have been rigged and all of this and like, yes, we can demonstrate this, but if you're, if you're arguing that, then that's not the dunk you think it is. You would just be arguing for more regulation. No, you're still stuck in this mindset that the government are the referees in the game. Okay? And so you'd want more Rules, more referees. The point being made is that government is the referee who's working for one of the teams, who's tripping other players on the other team, you know, who's only calling fouls on one side and not calling fouls on the other. And in that case, the last thing you'd want to do is give that referee more power. That just makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. And so, no, it is actually a very fair point for him to be like, look, all of these markets are rigged. And if you're just complaining about these markets, you're kind of demonstrating something about yourself because the truth is they're all rigged. And the government getting involved further rigs the markets to an extraordinary level that you could never get without the government rigging the markets. I mean, listen, use it like anybody who's just like, if you, if you make a little bit of money, I don't even mean like you have real money, I just mean like if you, if you have a decent salary or something like that, you already know, look, dude, you pay enormously high taxes, right? And then why is it that if everybody, you know, contributes to like their 401k or their IRA accounts or whatever like that? Because it's the only way, like the government forces you through taxation to put your money into the stock market, like to gamble in Wall street, you're forced into that unless you just go on to get robbed blind. And then they'll be like, hey, if you gamble it all on Wall street, if you give your money to Wall street for 40 years, we'll let you pay much less taxes on them when you need it to retire. Now think about how much that's just rigging the game for regular people to give their wealth to Wall Street. Now I'm sorry, you could refer to those regulations as rules and somehow I'm against rules now. But I am sorry. The only reason, the only reason why Wall street is a multi trillion dollar industry is because the government has, has rigged the game in their favor, by the way, at the behest of big bankers. Like it's, it's not like a coincidence that the big financial companies have given so much money to politicians. And it's not a coincidence that the Treasury Secretary always comes from Goldman Sachs or Bear Stearns or whatever, you know what I mean? Like this is obviously a rigged game. So it is not true that pointing that out leads to the conclusion that the government should have more power. That, that just there's, you can't get there logically unless you're Just denying the reality of that claim. So this guy gets it all wrong and does not understand what the guy he's interviewing is saying. All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, a brand new sponsor who we're thrilled to have on board, and that is Cornbread. Cornbread and their wonderful CBD products. Life has been crazy over the last few years, and so people are always looking for something to help them unwind. And Cornbread CBD gummies are perfect for that. Cornbread hemp CBD gummies are made to help you feel better. Whether it's stress, discomfort, or just needing a little relaxation. They only use the best part of the hemp plant, the flower. For the purest and most potent cbd. You gotta go check them out. This is all the rage these days. People love their cbd. And right now, part of the problem. Listeners can save 30% off their first order. It's an incredible offer. Just head over to cornbreadhemp.com potp and use the promo code POTP at checkout. That's cornbreadhemp.com POTP promo code POTP for 30% off your first order. All right, let's get back into the show. And now it's Crystal's turn. Yeah, let's go back to the.
- [40:51]
Robbie Bernstein
Also just to expand a little bit. It's all on the back of fractional reserve banking and the ability of the Fed to bail out Wall street every single time that they explode one of their credit asset bubbles. And so the point being, if you think you're being protected by government while it's only throwing fuel on the fire, that's not more helpful.
- [41:12]
Dave Smith
And there are markets to your example, though, right? Like, if the brakes don't work and let's say the brakes were intentionally put in as they're not even breaks, they're just pretend break that don't actually work. Yes. You're actually a lot better off with a big sign that says this car has no brakes than a big sign that says brakes guaranteed by the US Government. Uncle Sam's got your back, dude. Right? So, like, yes, I think that's a good. A good way to put it. Let's keep playing.
- [41:40]
D
That to me like, that to me is kind of a mute. A little bit of a mute point because it's like it doesn't matter. The people that have the most money, the most accessible and the most control, which is insiders in any market in the world always win.
- [41:54]
C
So Hayden basically says, well, mainstream financial markets are scammy too. So I'm going to get mine with an even more brazen scam. Coffey, of course, correctly points out the answer to financial fraud is better laws, enforcement, less corruption. But Hayden's already made up his mind. Since the big banks are imperfect, we should just give up on policing things like rug polls, insider trading, and outright theft. Now, that philosophy actually seems to me to be pretty core to the ethos of Trump 2.0. It's a dark nihilism that effectively says, look, everything's bad, so let's just make it worse. Since the financial system is gamed by insiders, let's just go full open scam. Since money has infected politics, let's just take open bribes. Since we've been hypocritical about international law, let's just revert to pure barbarism. It's an ethos that I think is very much at the core of the anarcho capitalist ideology that elon and Project 2025 architect Russ Vogt have infused the second Trump administration with since government.
- [42:50]
Dave Smith
So this is. I'm sorry, but this is just like a blatant straw man of what was just said. Nobody's saying, like, since first of all, I guess I should address first. Anarcho capitalist. None of them have an anarcho capitalist philosophy. I don't think any of them know what anarcho capitalism is. And what we are seeing today is nothing even remotely close to anarcho capitalism. Again, there is just this thing where it's like, I understand people have and experienced this too in my day. Sometimes you have like a preconceived notion. You have your prior and you find something that challenges it. And there is always kind of the instinct to fit it back into what your preconceived notion was. It's something we all have to be careful about because, you know, it's a natural human tendency, confirmation bias and, and whatnot. But it is wild to see that, like, we're literally the United States of America is the biggest, most powerful government in the history of the world, and you're now talking about the people who are presiding over that government. And while it might be fair to say that Milei actually knows what anarcho capitalism is and has read some of their theorists, the idea that, like, what's going on here, for anybody who doesn't know, by the way, anarcho capitalism, which I'm quite fond of, is the theory is essentially like no government with a capitalist society. So the argument would be that you can have a Capitalist society without a government whatsoever. Because really, by its very nature, a government violates the rules of capitalism, like private property, the non aggression principle, things like that. The idea that we are abolishing government here is just nutty. That is not what anybody is proposing. I wish it were true, but it is not even close to true. But what I think Crystal is getting wrong is that it's not. I don't think it's as simple as saying, well, because the big banks are imperfect, therefore we should embrace outright scams. Or because we've been hypocritical about international law, we just shouldn't even listen to it at all. It's more, I think something like the big banks are a bigger scam than any meme coin could ever be. They are the biggest scam ever inflicted on mankind. And they're only that way because they have the power of the government behind them. Therefore, the last thing you want to advocate for is more government power. Are. I think that's a better representation of what they're saying. And as far as the international law goes, and you know, I was just arguing briefly with Cenk Huger, who I also like from the Young Turks. So we were on Piers Morgan together and it's, it's just funny to me how like he's, he's an anti war lefty and then when I started trashing NATO, he starts disagreeing with me and he's like, no, NATO's a good alliance and it's important. And I'm like, come on, you're an anti war guy. What are you defending NATO for this? It's the European wing of the American empire. What are you talking about? You know what I mean? Like, why. And there is something interesting where it's like you find the lefties defending whether they mean to or not, but in some way defending the big banks or the Federal Reserve system as somehow like, oh, it's imperfect, like a meme coin that's just a scheme. What is the Federal Reserve like? It's not, I'm not dismissing, I'm not trying to play what about ism or whatever they'd say. I'm not dismissing your concern over the meme coins. I'm saying that like, if you care about a big financial scheme, well, guess what? There's a way bigger one that's backed up with your tax dollars. And maybe that's what we should focus on. And in terms of international law, I mean, look, like the thing is it doesn't exist. It's not a question of whether you Think it should or shouldn't or whether you think it should be abandoned. There's nothing to abandon. That's the whole point. Think about international law. Is international law stopping what Israel's doing to Gaza? Did international law stop the US backing the Saudis in their war of genocide against the people of Yemen? No, because international law, when you get to the highest levels of power, there's no such thing as law. That's the whole point. The whole thing was always just a euphemism for empire. We, the US has violated international law constantly throughout my entire life in egregious and blatant ways. But you never even start hearing anything about international law until Vladimir Putin does it, because then they think, oh, it's a tool we could use against our enemies. Essentially. They all have to follow these rules, but we don't. Which, by the way, is identical to the financial markets. You know, like you force the rules on everybody else and you yourself don't have to follow them them. So I just think Crystal is misrepresenting what the argument is here and is certainly incorrect about what anarcho capitalism is. Is anything you want to add to that, Rob, or you want to keep playing?
- [47:41]
Robbie Bernstein
Well, I. I'm just kind of thinking in my head, you know, idiots are going to idiot. And that doesn't mean that you should go out and scam people. But if someone decides that, you know, there's people that lose money in casinos every single year, and I don't know why some people should have the right to operate a casino and other people shouldn't. It's just that government gives a handout to some people that they get to have the business of a casino and other people can't. If I want to have meme coins and sell you meme coins and you're a person that wants to buy meme Coins, why is a government regulator coming into that market? How does that help? If there's a market for meme coins and people are going to buy meme coins, which is essentially, hey, I'm going to gamble on which one of these artificially goes up and when I could sell it. Why does it help to just let single individuals and companies work in that field under the guidance of government? It doesn't like.
- [48:29]
Dave Smith
And if, if somebody, if an advocate of government intervention is coming around and telling you how awful casinos are and how terrible it is that people lose their money there, it's not unreasonable for me to point out that they have a state lottery which way more people lose money in, you know, What I mean, like, it's not crazy for me to be like, wait a minute. I don't think you guys actually really care about gambling because you literally have a state lottery that sucks all of these people into, which is a way bigger scam than casinos. And at least, like, with the breaks example, at least the casino is kind of like, it's a little more obvious that it's just a scam. You know what I mean? Whereas, like, with the government, you give people this illusion of, like, it's not a scam, it's not a scam to open a 401k, Rob, that's a responsible investment tool. You know what I mean? And so it's like, no, but you're doing the same thing thing, in fact, to a much worse degree. All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is Tax Network usa. Do you owe back taxes? Are your tax returns still unfiled? The IRS may be ramping up enforcement. You could face wage garnishment, frozen bank accounts, or even property seizures if you haven't taken action yet. But there's still hope. Tax Network USA has helped taxpayers save over a billion dollars in tax debt and has filed over 10,000 tax returns. They specialize in helping people like you reduce their tax burdens. And they can help you, too. Don't wait any longer. Visit them@tnusa.com Smith or you can call them at 1-800-958-1000 for a free consultation. Their experts will walk you through a few simple questions to see how much you can save. Act now before the IRS takes more aggressive steps. Take control today. Visit them@tnusa.com SMITH or call them at 1-800-958-All right, let's get back into the show. So I, I just think, and, and.
- [50:29]
Robbie Bernstein
Then you look at, like, healthcare. So I, I, I guess on you could have products that just don't do anything for you. I sell you flower petals and I tell you they're good for your health and you purchase them. Lavender oil, it doesn't matter. Just something that doesn't work. And then the worst version of that is I gave you something that can actually be bad for you. And then you go, oh, I can't have people just selling things that might actually be bad for people's health. We need a regulator in. But then look at what the regulators have done. They forced people to get Covid vaccines. How's that helpful? And not only that, but they keep products off the marketplace that would Be more cost effective or could, like, I don't want to sit here researching what peptides actually have healing properties that the FDA won't allow me to have, or whether or not their painkillers are better than like a kratom. But that's. That's the way we work. And are those regulators actually to my benefit or would be better if we got rid of that signal completely so that, you know, people with better incentives came in to, like, I used to keep kosher. There was this organization called the ou, and if you go look at packages, there's a little thing that certifies, hey, that's kosher. Maybe be better off with independent regulators on all this stuff that are actually paid for by the consumers that go, hey, we went in, we did our homework on this. It's actually pretty good for you because it seems like the market mechanisms of the government regulators just favor large corporations.
- [51:46]
Dave Smith
Yeah, yeah, no, that's exactly right. Exactly right. All right, let's. Let's keep playing.
- [51:52]
C
We check corporate power, just disband the government, privatize all functions, and let the oligarch CEO dictators run wild. Don't believe me? Just listen to Mark Andreessen, as influential a person as any in this administration, explain how since democracy will always be flawed, we should just openly embrace oligarchy.
- [52:12]
F
So the iron law of oligarchy basically says democracy is fake. There's always a ruling class. There's always a ruling elite structurally. And he said the reason for that is because the masses can't organize. What's the fundamental problem? Whether the mass is 25,000 people in union or 250 million people in a country, the masses can't organize. The majority cannot organize. Only a minority can organize. And to be effective in politics, you must organize. And therefore, every political structure in human history has been some form of a small organized elite ruling a large and dispersed majority, every single one. And so basically, the. Basically the presumption that we are in a democracy is just sort of by definition, fake. Now, good news for the U.S. it turns out the founders understood this. And so of course, they didn't give us a direct democracy. They gave us a representative democracy, right? And so they built the oligarchy into the system in the form of congress and the executive branch, the judicial branch. But so anyway, so as a consequence, democracy is always and everywhere fake. There is always a ruling elite. And basically the lesson of the Machiavellians is you can deny that if you want, but you're fooling yourself. The way to actually Think about how to make a system work and maintain any sort of shred of freedom is to actually understand that that is actually what's happening.
- [53:20]
C
So the basic message here is democracy is fake. So just give up on letting people have a say and embrace your billionaire overlords. You can see how this ideology also tied to the ideas of Nick Land and Curtis Yarvin, the so called Dark Enlightenment or neo reactionary movements. How this provides a very convenient philosophical backdrop for Elon to execute on his own plans and personally selected goals for.
- [53:41]
Dave Smith
Humanity a little bit. Because again, I think Crystal just, she just gets this wrong and I don't think she's familiar with the argument that's being made here by Andre Andresen. I always say his name wrong, but so he's specifically referring to a book called the Machiavellians, which is a phenomenal book by the way. I highly recommend everyone read it. And I am not Burnham, who's the, the author of the book, it was not an anarcho capitalist. He was like a neoconservative essentially. But so I would disagree with a lot of his political conclusions. But the point that's being made here, see the way Crystal says it's like, so it's almost like, you see there, democracy is fake and therefore we should give up on anybody having any say in anything. And that's not the point he's trying to make. It's more like, like what Burnham is saying is that people have this idea that they're going to live forever. Forever, but you're not going to, you're going to die. Like that's the truth of the matter is that everybody's going to die one day. And so you want to do what you can to extend the life as long as possible. You want to be healthy, blah, blah. It's not saying, oh, because this isn't real, we give up on it, or something like that. The point is, as is being made, which I don't actually think there's a counter to, is that he goes, society is always run by elites. And if you're convincing yourself that you live in a democracy, you're just fooling yourself. Like that's not real. There's no such thing as the rule of the many. Like that just isn't a real thing. And like, I don't even know how anyone could deny that. It's just obviously the case that you, you give me the example of what government, what governing structure does not have powerful elites that have more influence than the regular person. And so then his conclusion from this is that that's why the founders knew this. They limited democracy and they wanted to at least like, okay, we're going to have an oligarchy, but it'll be at least a little bit more of like, okay, here's where we're putting the power. And if we do that, we can kind of still maximize freedom. And rather than just fooling ourselves into thinking that any organization, any structure is truly run by the people there, like, this just does not happen at all. In fact, there was.
- [56:00]
Robbie Bernstein
I forget where.
- [56:01]
Dave Smith
What was it, but there's some. There was one of these real, like, commie, like unions where somebody did a study of it and they even went into the, like the most, like just all socialists in a union together. And then they figured out that even that had a ruling elite in it. You know, there were like a couple. There was like a couple dozen people who had risen to the top and were making all of the decisions. It's just any company you're talking about, any country that you're talking about, any group, there are always people at the top of it who are decision makers. And you can tell yourself that they're decision makers on behalf of the people. But this is like telling yourself that Joseph Stalin or Ma Tong were representatives of the people. Like, no, they weren't. They were rulers. You know what I mean? And this is true in our society, is true in every society. And how could you even look at the United States of America and think that that's not the case? Think that and forget any of the Elon Musk or any of these new class of. Of elites. Obviously this has always been the case in America and everywhere. So again, it's not, it's not like an endorsement of that style of government. It's. It's an argument that this is just a recognition of reality. And I think that's correct. I mean, I think Burnham is absolutely right about this. Now, I think you had bad. It's not that you can't take that understanding and then have very bad policy prescriptions. I think Burnham himself is guilty of that. But. But it's just not true that the argument here is like, what she's trying to frame both of these arguments as is like, hey, you know, I got. I got a cut on my leg, so I might as well break my leg. You know what I mean? Like, but that's not the argument. That's not the argument that they're making. They're not saying, like, ah, this is problematic, so we might as well just go all the way. What they're saying is like, like there is no leg. Like they're pretending that there's a leg. The leg doesn't exist. You've been lied to. And so stop listening to the person who's pretending reality is something other than what it is. That's much closer to the argument than, than like, oh, things are bad so they might as well be worse. Which I think is how Crystal's taking this. Anything you want to add there? You want to keep.
- [58:14]
Robbie Bernstein
Let's keep rocking.
- [58:16]
Dave Smith
Okay, we'll do, we'll do a little bit more and then we'll wrap it up.
- [58:20]
C
He wants total power. And this ideology provides him a pathway to exactly that. I've been reading Walter Isaacson's biography on Elon. One thing you really get is how he has personally cast himself as the savior of humanity. Launches SpaceX. That's a sort of insane boondoggle at the start. He believes he must personally guarantee humanity's future as a multi planetary species. Never mind that none of us voted for this CEO, dictator king to destroy the lives of working class people in order to chase his Martian dream. If Elon's multiplanetary goal takes shredding the Constitution, so be it. If it takes sentencing kids with HIV in Africa to death, so be it. If it takes hijacking the entire resources of the United States government to funnel into space.
- [59:02]
Dave Smith
You know what, we could, we could be done with the clip here because I just, I just listen and I like Crystal, but she's just getting like hyperbolic and a little bit, I think, ridiculous on this part. Look, again, this is something that I think the left is very uncomfortable with with. But it's a fact of reality, is that great men, and when I say great men, I'm. I do not mean that morally speaking. I mean great men like men who move history and so. But in this category would be, you know, like, I don't know, whoever. Every president of the United States. People who achieve an enormous amount and including like really evil people. Hitler or Stalin or whoever. The world is moved by these people. This is just a fact of nature. It's one that makes people uncomfortable. But it's like, it's like Pareto distribution type stuff. What are the exact numbers on the Pareto distribution? Do you know, Rob? But it's something like. Yeah, it's like, it's essentially something like a tenth of any group produces 50 of the output or something like that. And the crazy thing about the Pareto distribution is that it applies on every level too so it. I might have the numbers a little bit wrong, but it's something like that. But so then, like, if 10% of people produce 50% of the production, then within that 10%, 10% of them produce 50% of that. And then within that 10%, it's just. It is kind of the way the world works that there. And look, if you just think about it like this, right? There are things all around us that none of us understand. None of us understand. If me, Nate Bargetsi has a great. A great standup bit about this. But, like, if me and you, Rob, were. Got in a time machine and went 400 years ago and had to explain to somebody the technology that we use to do our job, you think about how. How ridiculous it is that we could not even do it. Like, you realize you're like one or two levels from where you're like, I might as well just say it's magic. I mean, I don't know. I, like, I really. I don't even know. And this is. And I'm. I'm known by people who listen to my show is like, oh, Dave's a fairly bright guy who understands a thing or two about a thing, too. If, If I had to explain to you any of the, like, I don't even know what my best, like, what is electricity, Rob, Explain it. You know, like, put me on the.
- [61:32]
Robbie Bernstein
Spot for this one.
- [61:33]
Dave Smith
No, I mean, I'll try. Like, honestly, if I'm trying, I'd be like, I go, okay, you know. You know lightning. You know, lightning in the sky. You know that. Okay, we harness that, that. And then we run it through wires and it. It can transmit a signal, like, from one end to the other end.
- [61:59]
Robbie Bernstein
But, like, imagine this one. I have the technical end. It's. There's a protons, neutrons, and come. And with those three things.
- [62:07]
Dave Smith
Well, right. I mean, but even, even that I would have known protons, neutrons, and electrons. There's, you know, know. And like, I don't know, man, I'm really tapped out. Like, I really could not explain about. But yet there is. There are people who do understand it. What percentage of us understand that? A tiny, tiny fraction. We all use it all the time. But a tiny, tiny percent. Now, look, when she's talking about Elon Musk having this, like, narcissism and believing he. It's true, she's right about that. Like, he does see himself as, like, I'm going to solve the problem of interplanetary living. And like, like. But, like, I don't know, they're all like this. They're all like this. Again, it's the same Burnham recognition. It's not an endorsement or a criticism of it. It's just a recognition that, yes, Joe Biden also said he was going to save the soul of America. Right? Barack Obama was on record saying about his election that this was the moment when the sea levels stopped rising. And does that. Like, it was this whole speech, but the most grandiose thing you've ever heard. They all, you know, Hillary Clinton, happy birthday to this future president. They all have these incredibly narcissistic, grandiose visions of themselves. But also part of it is because you don't get to that level unless you have that attitude. You know, most of us. Most of us, if you ever said, like, hey, do you think you should run the world or you should save humanity? We'd be like, what? No, like, that's crazy. I'm not that guy. And that's why we're not that, you know, like, that's why we don't end up going down as, like, the great movers and shakers of history. So I think a lot of this stuff, sometimes to me, I think it comes down to almost like an immaturity in one's worldview. And that's why when. When you're presented with someone going like, hey, your whole worldview is fake. It doesn't exist, and here's what really exists, then they just respond to being like, oh, you're a bad person. You're. You're advocating for this thing. It's like, that's not exactly right. That's not exactly right. I do agree with Crystal, but, like, it's important that we have some journalists like her who are, like, watchdog in these guys. There's nothing wrong with that. Obviously, everybody is motivated by their own self interest. But I think that, like, no matter what you. However you feel about it, the world is moved by powerful, highly intelligent, highly motivated people, and democracy doesn't exist. Those are just facts. Like, I think that's just the reality of the situation we live in. And in the same way that if I were to say to you, like, human beings cannot fly like birds, that's not me saying human beings ought not be able to fly like birds, or it's not saying we should chop people's legs off because they can't fly and they can only walk. It's simply a recognition of objective reality. And I think so. So is all of this. All right, gotta wrap up there. Thank you guys very much for listening. Catch you tomorrow with the brand new show.
- [65:15]
Robbie Bernstein
Check out the run your mouth podcast.
- [65:17]
Dave Smith
Run your mouth. Go check out run your map. Make sure you guys, if you haven't already, if you love this show and you've just never gotten over to check out run your mouth, give it a shot. It's really, really funn. Very and very informative too. All right, catch you guys next time. Peace.