The War Goes On

Summary

Part Of The Problem – "The War Goes On"

Podcast Summary — May 27, 2026
Host: Dave Smith (with Robbie “the Fire” Bernstein)
Podcast: Part Of The Problem
Main Theme: The persistence and politics of the current US-Iran conflict, the mechanics and incentives of American foreign policy, and candid reflections on Libertarian movement organization.

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Episode Overview

Dave Smith and Robbie Bernstein dissect the seemingly endless US-Iran conflict, the inability of US leadership to make meaningful progress toward peace, and the repeated cycles of escalation and political backtracking. They critique Donald Trump’s handling of foreign policy, examine the peculiar stalemate over the Strait of Hormuz, call out the incoherence of official narratives, and unpack the deep-rooted obstacles preventing a negotiated end to hostilities. Later, they turn an unsparing eye on the recent events within the Libertarian Party—lamenting its direction, membership, and recent embarrassing convention.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. US-Iran Conflict: The Never-Ending War

• Recent Escalation: US bombed Iran the previous night, claimed as a “defensive strike.”

  • CENTCOM claimed Iran was laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz and provided that as justification for the strike.
  • Dave points out the oddity: If the US claimed peace was on the brink and strait re-opening likely, why would Iran sabotage its own interests by mining?

  "It's kind of hard to launch a war of aggression and then claim you're being defensive." — Dave Smith [03:02]

• Trump’s Predicament:

  • Trump alternately signals willingness for peace, then quickly backtracks under pressure from hawkish factions and the Israel lobby.
  • “This whole time [Robert Pape] says we’ll keep going up the escalation ladder because Trump’s trapped. I’ve always hesitated to fully agree, but…every time Trump signals a move toward de-escalation, he gets dragged back by political realities and public embarrassment.” — Dave Smith [06:01]

• Contradictory Narratives & Media Spin:

  • "If...our desire is that the straits are actually just open and no one's tolling it and we can't have that, wouldn’t that to me indicate that we do not, in fact, control the Straits?” — Robbie Bernstein [27:23]

• Iran's Rational Interest:

  • Robbie notes that Iran has every incentive to see the strait open and sell oil, making alleged mining activity during negotiations nonsensical.

• The Abraham Accords Gambit:

  • Dave mocks the “demand” that Iran sign onto normalization with Israel as a diplomatic non-starter, inserted as a poison pill to sabotage progress.

2. Israel’s Role & the Limits of US Presidential Power

• Lebanon as a Sticking Point:

  • Israel’s continued attacks on Lebanon directly contravene the ceasefire terms Trump publicly announced, with no repercussions—highlighting Israel’s significant influence over US policy.

  “They make this claim that turns out to be objectively wrong, and then move on. None…come back and go, oh yes, it proved Israel isn't pulling the strings when Trump said you are forbidden from doing this, but Israel does it anyway.” — Dave Smith [13:38]

• Why Can’t US Restrain Israel?

  • The hosts lament the political reality that US leaders cannot or will not apply pressure on Israel—even when in America’s own interest for peace.

  “…It seems to be a political reality…that it's impossible to rein Israel in. And that just leads to people speculating—why the hell is that?” — Dave Smith [15:14]

3. Marco Rubio Clip & Foreign Policy “Adults”

• Rubio’s “Unacceptable” Line:

  • Rubio rails against Iran’s “tolling system” but offers nothing actionable, behaving like a child playing dress-up, in Dave’s analogy.
  • Dave and Robbie note the absurdity in high-level policymakers echoing platitudes about “unacceptable” actions, yet ignoring how past interventions produced the present mess.

  “It is, dude. It's so just fundamentally unserious…” — Dave Smith [18:36]

• Irony Over Ukraine/Russia:

  • Robbie observes Rubio rightly worrying about unintended escalation in Ukraine, yet failing to recognize the same dynamic at play in Iran.

4. Elite Self-Deception & Accountability

• Historical Amnesia:

  • Dave references Obama’s memoir: Obama regretted not planning “what next” after toppling Libya’s Gaddafi, yet such oversight seems a running theme in US intervention—despite Iraq as recent history.

  “…We just did Iraq. You're telling me that didn't…that was an oversight?” — Dave Smith [22:16]

• Media Hackery:

  • CNN’s Scott Jennings called out for spinning US “control” over the Strait of Hormuz, despite evidence to the contrary.
  • Ben Shapiro and Jennings are likened to “champions” for eviscerating strawman progressive arguments, yet are revealed as shallow when substantive scrutiny is applied.

5. Tulsi Gabbard’s Resignation: Betrayal of Principle?

• Tulsi Steps Down as Director of National Intelligence:

  • Her stated reason: Her husband’s bone cancer.
  • Dave is sympathetic to the personal situation, but cannot ignore the irony: Gabbard, long-time opponent of regime change wars against Shiites, held her post while two such wars were launched, and leaves without a word of protest.
  • Robbie speculates the illness may be a convenient narrative to exit a compromised situation with minimal noise.

  "She made this her issue...she ends up resigning anyway and doesn't even, even on the way out, doesn't say a word about the war...perhaps the most blatant political betrayal I've ever seen." — Dave Smith [35:47]

6. The Libertarian Party Convention: A Movement “Book Club” in Disarray

• Convention Post-Mortem:

  • Dave and Robbie lament the current state of the Libertarian Party, describing the convention as “a gigantic embarrassment.”
  • In-fighting, procedural drama, public freakiness, and a general lack of seriousness are cited as factors making the party an ineffective tool for advancing liberty.

  "It’s almost like all factions…should be able to recognize that was a gigantic embarrassment." — Dave Smith [45:57]

• Membership and Leadership Crisis:

  • Scott Horton’s convention speech—brilliant but ultimately ignored by a “membership [that] is really not good.”
  • Justin Amash’s speech was “the most embarrassing blue-pilled speech I’ve ever heard.”
  • New chairman described as “a really embarrassing guy.”

• Message to Party Members:

  • Dave urges serious libertarians to reevaluate whether their time is best spent within the party as currently constructed.
  • The party is “a tool, not a team”—unless used with purpose, it’s irrelevant.
  • The party, once filled with promise (referencing Dave’s and the Mises Caucus’ prior takeover), now has as few as 6,000 members— “ripe to be taken over again,” but only if there’s a specific credible plan.

  "I think for the good people, for the serious people…maybe it's time to reassess what you're putting your time into. What really is the goal here? What is achievable?" — Dave Smith [47:30]

• Freak Show, Not Revolution:

  • The disconnect between the great intellectual content libertarians could offer and the real-world cringe of party events.
  • “The worst thing you could do for the cause of human freedom is to wrap yourself in the name Libertarian and then just humiliate everybody who, who uses the term.” — Dave Smith [46:02]
  • Embarrassing incidents at the convention included a physical altercation, constant infighting over by-laws and dress codes, and spectacle over substance.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Endless War (04:51):
  "It seems right now, as the dust settles, we're right back to where we've always been. We're right back to the same fucking spot." — Dave Smith

• On US Political Incentives and Israel (14:35):
  "There just seems to be a political reality…that it's impossible to rein Israel in. And that just leads to people speculating, well, why the hell is that?" — Dave Smith

• On Leadership and Adult Supervision (18:36):
  "[Rubio's] just children putting on suits and ties and playing adult. It is…so just fundamentally unserious." — Dave Smith

• Critique of Political Betrayal (35:47):
  "She made this her issue...she ends up resigning anyway and doesn't even, even on the way out, doesn't say a word about the war...perhaps the most blatant political betrayal I've ever seen." — Dave Smith

• Libertarian Party Self-Sabotage (45:57):
  "It's almost like all factions…should be able to recognize that was a gigantic embarrassment." — Dave Smith

• “Book Club” Analogy (50:29):
  "It's almost like there's this book club and the book club studies freedom and revolutions and history…and then outside of this little room, there's…a revolution taking place…and the people in this book club…don't seem that interested in the fact that they're living through one right now." — Dave Smith

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Important Timestamps

• US bombs Iran; US logic on ‘defensive’ war ([02:55]-[06:00])
• Iran’s interests, Trump’s back-and-forth, Abraham Accords ([04:50]-[11:18])
• Israel lobby influence, ceasefire skepticism, Lebanon escalation ([11:18]-[15:14])
• Rubio clip: unserious policymaking and foreign policy irony ([17:13]-[22:16])
• Obama’s Libya lesson, elite amnesia ([22:16]-[23:39])
• Scott Jennings/Ben Shapiro as establishment “champions” ([28:05]-[31:37])
• Tulsi Gabbard’s resignation, political betrayal ([31:37]-[37:46])
• Libertarian Party convention analysis ([41:07]-[64:34])
• Final thoughts on LP irredeemability and seriousness ([62:10]-end)

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Tone and Style

Dave and Robbie are blunt, sardonic, and frustrated. Their language is candid and at times profane, mixing dark humor with a sense of exasperation, especially about political cowardice and the dysfunction of ideological movements. Their critique is less about policy nuance and more about exposing hypocrisy, institutional inertia, and the missed opportunities for peace and liberty.

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Conclusion

This episode is a deep dive into the inertia of US foreign policy, the traps of political posturing, the hidden forces behind endless war, and the limitations of supposedly radical organizations mired in their own dysfunction. For listeners interested in antiwar activism, realistic politics, or the struggles within the broader liberty movement, it’s an unflinching, unsparing look at why “the war goes on”—and why the revolution won’t come from inside the book club.

Transcript

[Marco Rubio]

Foreign.

[Dave Smith]

Welcome to a brand new episode of Part of the Problem. I am Dave Smith. He is Robbie the Fire Bernstein. How are you today, sir?

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

I'm having a good day. How about you, my friend?

[Dave Smith]

Having a good day? Having a good day. People loved the morning show, which, well, wasn't actually a morning show. We recorded it last night. But I, I was popping in the, the comments section before and people loved that the show came out on YouTube early in like the morning show. But it doesn't really work for us. Yeah, sorry to do, I mean I

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

get to, to do it live at 9am means I got to be up at like 5am I got no interest in that.

[Dave Smith]

Yeah, it's just the problem is that just the way I like to do it and the way Rob likes to do it too is we like to read the news in the morning, formulate our opinions on it, get our thoughts on it, and then by 1pm we come here and we give our thoughts to you guys. Then you, the general audience gets it that night because you know it's got to be edited and we got a whole system going here. It doesn't really work for us to do it. So it's released in the morning. But if you do enjoy the morning show, you got one this time. So there you go. Maybe it'll happen again at some point, but if you want to, I can't offer you a morning show, but you can get the show at 1pm every day. If you sign up [e-mail] you can watch it live so it's closer to the morning. You just got to pay me. You just have to give me your money and then you get it a little bit earlier. Thank you.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Ad free.

[Dave Smith]

Thank you.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

With, with premium additional content, you get a full extra episode a week. And what is it part of the problem.com? i have no idea.

[Dave Smith]

Yeah, well, there you go. Yeah. Or as Natalie just suggested, you can just watch the show the next morning. It'll feel like a morning show, but it'll be a day old. Anyway, thank you to everybody who did has subscribed [e-mail] and please, if you haven't already, please consider doing that. And if you can't, no big, but try to, you know, like share, subscribe, share the podcast with a friend. All that stuff helps too. Also, if you'd like to come see me and Robbie live doing stand up comedy, we will be in Toronto on, on May, excuse me, on June 5th. And then we will be out in Denver, Colorado. Really looking forward to that. We're making a stop in G.R. what's called Greenwood Village, which is outside of Denver. So on the 18th, we'll be there, and then 19th and 20th at the Denver Downtown Comedy Works, one of the best clubs in the country. Love that place. Can't wait to go. Comicdavesmith.com so you can find all of our links. Me and Rob will be traveling together for the. For the rest of the year, so come on out. And then, Rob, you also have some gigs you're doing on your own?

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Yeah. Upcoming is Burdett, New York, Byron, Michigan, Pittsburgh Penns, White Bear Lake, Minnesota, Varda, Colorado, Hampstead, North Carolina. And you can find a whole lot ofdates@pinch tour.com.

[Dave Smith]

hell, yeah. All right, well, let's get into some stuff. Rob, starting to think the war is not over. I've been piecing little bits of information together, and it just hit me this morning. I was like, I don't think the war is over. And I'm starting to suspect that it is, in fact, a war. I know this sounds like crazy talk, but I guess the major thing is that we bombed Iran last night, so that didn't seem good. Now the US Is claiming that this was a defensive strike, as they put it, which really stretches the layman's understanding of the word defensive, but you know what I mean? Like, it's kind of hard to launch a war of aggression and then claim you're being defensive. But anyway, the claim, Rob, is that the claim from CENTCOM is, is that they struck like a ship that was putting water mines in the Strait of Hormuz, and that then they had to attack, like a rocket system that was aiding that, you know. So essentially, they're saying they were blocking the Strait of Hormuz. But then, of course, that, Rob, doesn't seem to jive very well with the fact that the president claimed way back this weekend. I understand it's as far as Tuesday now, and then I got to go back to the weekend. But this weekend, he claimed that we were on the precipice of this major deal where the Strait would be opening up. And if centcom's claim now is that the Iranians were, you know, putting water mines in the Strait, I don't know. It doesn't look great. It doesn't seem like we were about to have this thing open. So, I don't know. It seems right now, as the dust settles, we're right back to where we've always been. We're right back right Back to the same fucking spot.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Look, these storylines are particularly tough to follow as every single week we get, we're close to a deal and then a strike. So it's unclear exactly what's happening. If yesterday's reporting was true in terms of just how much Donald Trump was willing to give up in order to come to the end of this war, it does not make sense to me that Iran would then be out there laying mines when part of the agreement is that they're reopening the Straits. And reopening the straits with Iran able to sell oil is in Iran's best interest. So it doesn't make a lot of sense to me that if yesterday's reporting was true, with all the walkbacks that Donald Trump had made, that Iran would be out there mining the straits. Now, as to whether or not that is what happened, I can't tell you, but it just doesn't. It just doesn't sound. It sounds like Donald Trump is torching his own potential peace agreement here because he took enough flak from the right wing that, you know, the war, the war party hardliners.

[Dave Smith]

Well, you know, it's like the Professor Pape guy who runs the Escalation trap substack, which is very good and absolutely worth reading. He's an interesting guy to listen to. You know, he's been saying this whole time that we will keep going up the escalation, you know, ladder because essentially Trump's trapped into that. Now, I've been. I understand the point he's making. I've been a little hesitant to really agree with that, and perhaps I'm wrong on this. I'm still a bit hesitant. We've talked about this, Rob. But I just, broadly speaking, like, do I see Donald Trump actually putting boots on the ground or using a nuclear weapon or like, what? No, I don't think so. That still seems just too crazy because it's just such certain disaster behind door number two. But the thing that does le, like, lend credence to that theory is that we've seen now, Rob, several different times where Donald Trump has come out. And. Well, like, for example, when he, when he first announced the ceasefire and he said he accepts the ten point plan, and we were all like, yo, the Iranian ten Point plan is essentially complete US Capitulation to Iran. So that's kind of crazy. He's really saying he's going to accept that. And then he got so much heat from the Israel lobby that he. And just, you know, in general from a lot of the, the Iran hawks that he backed off of that and he went, well, no, I can't look like a, like that. And it seems like that's kind of what just happened. Again, he again said, we're real close to, to negotiations. We have, you know, it's not even like they have a deal here, Rob. No, no one's even pretending we really have a deal. There haven't been face to face negotiations since J.D. vance and, and Witkoff and, and Kushner met for 24 hours or whatever in Pakistan. And they said that led to nothing. And those were the last time there were face to face negotiations. They're not even claiming we're coming up with a nuclear deal or anything like that. What they're claiming is that we're very close to working out a memorandum of understanding which will serve as the framework for negotiations to start again. And then hopefully, months into that, we could come out with a deal. So it's not like we're close to a deal, but that's the way Trump, you know, talks about it. But once again, Donald Trump kind of goes, we're close to a deal. The military realities right now, however you feel about it, the realities are making a deal with the Iranians is going to involve us not getting any of the war aims. Like, that's just not happening. And so when he signals that again, again, he gets embarrassed. Again, people call him out on it and again he goes back to bombing. And so again, I'm not saying we're going to get to boots on the ground. I still don't think we are. I still, if I had to call this, I do think at some point Trump just quits. I'm hoping that's the case. But I got to say, it does, as I said, it lends credibility to that theory. When you, you're watching it, you're watching him try to get out and then get sucked back in, you know? All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is Proton Mail. Look, we talk a lot on this show about the government and Big Tech, constantly looking over your should. So for now, let's think about your emails. Think about the stuff in your inbox, probably your finances, your medical info, your private conversations. While we all use encrypted apps for chatting, most email providers are still treating your inbox like an open book. Gmail and the rest of Big Tech are literally scanning your life to build a profile on you in order to sell you stuff. It's creepy. And honestly, your emails deserve better. That's why I use and love ProtonMail. Proton is the private secure alternative. They use zero access encryption, which means only you can read your emails. Not advertisers, not the tech giants, not even Proton themselves. No ads, no trackers, no spying. Plus it works great. You can block trackers by default, unsubscribe from spam with one click and clean up your digital life. Switching from Google takes less than three minutes. Just go to Proton Me part of the problem right now and you can start for free. Fight back against big tech. Take control of your privacy and get the email that actually puts you first. That's Proton mail one more time. Proton Me slash part of the problem. All right, let's get back on the show. Yep.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

I'd also just like to, if we could have a little bit more actual evidence of the fact that Iran was out there laying mines while these negotiations supposedly are taking place. And even if they were, you know, America did move into a blockade position during the last time that there were negotiations going on. So I don't know that there's, I mean, I guess there's a difference of a mine versus a blockade, but it just seems like Donald Trump is walking back yesterday's potential peace plan.

[Dave Smith]

No, that's right. I think you're right. I mean he got embarrassed and now he's trying to cover it up with, you know. Well look, that's what we were saying yesterday. The demand that everyone joined the Abraham Accords is clearly just to sabotage the whole thing. I mean that's, it's difficult enough to just get a memorandum of understanding right now, but to throw that in and look, to be clear, he said it was mandatory that they join the Abraham Accords and that Iran has to do it as well. Just think about that. The idea that you're trying to get Iran to recognize Israel. Good.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Don't think it was actually hard line demand of Iran. I think it was more. It would be nice if Iran did this too.

[Dave Smith]

Yeah, I guess maybe you're right. Maybe it was a little bit. He said it was mandatory of the other Gulf states. Maybe you're right about that. Maybe I'm overstating to say it was mandatory for Iran too. But even just the idea of Iran getting in the Abraham Accords, this is a non starter obviously. And the other thing, thing, which of course we've covered quite a bit of and that makes us very anti Semitic to, to even talk about this. We are obviously self hating Jews. But look, and the other major factor here is as we talked a little bit about Yesterday. But this is just. Look, and I guess the waters are a little bit muddied on this because the Trump supporters, like the vocal Trump supporters at this point, just have lost all, you know, certainly have lost all of my respect, but they're. They'll just defend him no matter what. And so if you remember, Rob, if you're old enough to go way back a few weeks ago when, when the ceasefire was first announced, okay? And the, you know, the ceasefire, which most of this war at this point, we're going on three months, and it's. The majority of this war has been in the ceasefire period. The. It's the Strait of Hormuz. And our blockade of their blockade has been the action. Obviously, yesterday we went back to some bombing, but we haven't gone back to the major bombing campaigns that we had in the beginning of the war. But when the ceasefire came about, as you remember, Rob, Lebanon became the big sticking point. And Israel attacking Lebanon, that Israel was to cease attacking Lebanon as part of this ceasefire. The Iranians made this very clear. The Pakistanis confirmed that this was part of the ceasefire agreement. Then, Rob, if you remember, Donald Trump came out and said, israel is forbidden to attack Lebanon. And, oh, my God, did all of the Trump supporters say, see, this proves it. This proves that Israel isn't calling the shots because Donald Trump just stepped up and told them they are forbidden to attack Lebanon. And in the few weeks since then, since then, Israel has not only ramped up the attacks on Lebanon, but at every opportunity, publicly announced that they are escalating the campaign against Lebanon, including, again just this weekend, restating that there. So, again, this is just the game that all the people who want to defend Donald Trump play. They make this claim that turns out to be objectively wrong, and then they move on. None of them are coming back to that and going, oh, yes, it proved that Israel isn't pulling the strings when Donald Trump said, you're forbidden from doing this thing. But it doesn't prove anything that they just went and did the thing anyway. And by the way, the thing is putting this whole goddamn ceasefire in jeopardy. How do you. What do you. What do you describe that as? Other than a foreign country dragging us into war,

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

I think we're back to square one, which is the only way out of this is restraining Israel and giving Iran the victory of probably tolling the straits and being able to sell oil to other countries. But Donald Trump's not. Not willing to admit that defeat yet.

[Dave Smith]

Yeah, yeah. And I, I guess the thing, and this is what this is why there are so many conspiracy theories and this is why they will continue to persist, is that nobody can exactly explain why. It's. There's just this inability to do that because, you know, like, it, it was clear, let's just say at the very least, at the point when we pivoted to a ceasefire, blockade of their blockade, okay, it was obvious that this isn't working, that what Netanyahu sold is not true. Donald Trump clearly at this point realized that, you know, when the plan is we're going to bomb the crap out of them, and then the people will rise up and overtake their government, and then you bomb the crap out of them and the people rise up and chant, death to America. Death to Israel. We support the regime. It's hard to say it worked the way you thought it would. And so he had realized already and he knew he had to get out of this because he knew it's a disaster. And clearly he's been trying to. And Israel's thwarting that. And it does just make you wonder, like, as, as you said, the only way out of this is we lose. We make a deal that's worse than the jcpoa, we don't achieve any of the war goals, and we have to restrain Israel. That's obvious. And if you're Donald Trump, very clearly, all the political incentives would have been like, dude, just rip that band aid. You got to do that. And then you got to count on the fact that, that it's a 24 hour news cycle and there's always a new scandal next week and this will fade into memory by the time the midterms come around. You know, that's like your best hope. Not saying that'll happen, but that's your best hope yet. They still just can't do that. It seems to be a political reality in Washington, D.C. that it's impossible to rein Israel in. And that just leads to people speculating, well, why the hell is that? Why. Why is a tiny little country, the, the size of one of our smaller states, halfway around the world with a few million people, you know, like, how do they have this much dominance over our seedless watermelons? Yeah, I mean, I guess that's it. It'll go a long way. It is annoying getting those seeds out. It's nice to have a nice seedless watermelon. All right, let's, let's go to Marco Rubio. Here was the Secretary of State and National Security advisors. Thoughts on the latest?

[Marco Rubio]

So I need to be open. What's happening There is unlawful, it's illegal, it's unsustainable for the world. It's unacceptable. I don't know of any country in the world that does it. The Russians are not in favor of the tolling system. The Chinese are not in favor of the tolling system. I mean, there's no country in the world that's in favor of the tolling system except the regime in Iran. So that's not acceptable. That that cannot happen. The streets need to be open unimpeded without tolls. And, and obviously that needs to happen immediately as soon as anything's agreed to

[Dave Smith]

ask about Nicole Clo.

[Marco Rubio]

He said the readout that he's trying

[Dave Smith]

to encourage the US to draw staff

[Marco Rubio]

from, from ke well, they sent a notice to all the embassies and I think he was just calling the person to tell me. They told all the, the seas keep going to be a very dangerous place. Keep in a very dangerous place, not for a number of years, but the danger in all these wars as they continue and they go on is that they always have the threat of escalation spreading into something new. So I spoke to him yesterday about that and a couple other topics. And obviously the Putin wanted, had asked him to call me to relay the message directly to the President, which I did, but obviously we had already seen the notice sent out to all the diplomatic facilities. And I said, you know, right now there is no active like scheduled negotiations ongoing with Ukraine, but the US is always prepared to play a constructive, helpful role that opportunity presents itself. What about these big Russians?

[Dave Smith]

Oh my God. All right, that's enough. We can cut this off. You know, Rob, I, you know, my, my four year old boy sometimes, you know, I'm a cute little kid. He'll, he likes to put on my clothes. Like, he'll put on like, he'll get like a pair of my sweatpants and one of my shirts and you know, the crazy baggie on him. And then he says I'm the daddy and it's a game he likes to play. It's really adorable. And, and that's, it's not so cute when Marco Rubio does it, is my point. Like, it is almost. And, and honestly, they're about the same size, but they're, it's just, there's something that's adorable about a little kid doing it, but really not so cute when it's just like that. Literally, like they're children, dude. Just children putting on suits and ties and playing adult. It is, dude. It's so just fundamentally unserious. To. For. For your take on this to be like, you're the fucking National Security Advisor and your take is, it's unacceptable. I don't think anyone wants tolls except for Iran. Like, yeah, okay. I mean, yeah, you kind of are ignoring that they did this in response to the retarded war that you launched and that you brought us to this place. But even leaving that Aside, I mean, Rob, 80%, 90% of the world lives under tyranny. Is that acceptable? Well, no, it's not accepted. I don't know. Would we like it to be that way? No, but if the National Security Advisor to the United States of America is talking about that. That what an adult would be talking about is what are our options? You know, like, yes, most of the world is run by dictatorships, and, you know, their human beings are not guaranteed any sense of natural rights. And there's horrific abuses of, you know, humanitarian abuses all around the world. And I could just say, that's unacceptable. But then you go, yeah, but what's the plan? What are we going to do? And invade every country And, And. And then what? Then we have to occupy them and nation build and install the Declaration of Independence, which, by the way, we don't even live up to here in our country. Not even close, but we. We. Right, so it's like the question is, what are the logistical realities? Oh, okay. At this point, this is what Marco Rubio still has to say. Well, we don't like it. We don't like that the Straits closed. Okay, what can you do about that? Because your own Pentagon says it would take six months and you could only do it if Iran agreed.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

I think the part that was striking to me here was his second half when he's criticizing the Ukraine war, and he goes, the problem with wars is that you get strikes and that they continue to escalate. And I'm like, you know, you should really listen to that analysis and maybe apply it to this Iran situation. And I think he goes off, if I remember correctly, a little bit more on the risks of war continuing. And I'm like, how do you not take that exact statement and now just apply it to, this is why we got to walk away from Iran.

[Dave Smith]

Yeah. I mean, it's just unbelievable, dude. Like that. Just you. Even as you say something like that, you go, yeah, wow. Are like, are you just coming to that conclusion? Are you telling me that this wasn't so obvious, that. Yes, that's something you have to think about before every war. You don't know where this is going to go. Things are unpredictable. And even if you got some fucking egghead child playing grown up, who tells you, no, sir, we've mapped it out and it's all gonna go well. Like, it may not go that way. And man, if only we had 25 years of examples like that. Like that. It's, it's. I remember Obama. I believe it was in his memoir he wrote about Libya, and I believe he described it as his biggest regret. And, you know, he kind of went through how he was like 50, 50. It was like, I forget exactly who Hillary Clinton was, the one who was really pushing it. I think Biden was against it. And I believe, if I'm remembering correctly, I think Gates was for it. I believe Gates was his defense secretary at the time. And, and, and he says in his memoir, he goes, he goes, you know, the big mistake that I made is not planning for, you know, what we would do the day after Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown. You know, like, not thinking of that. Remember, just made my blood boil reading this shit because you're like, dude, we just did Iraq. You're telling me that didn't. That you, that was an oversight. You didn't ask the most basic question, okay, we're gonna topple this guy, but then what happens? That wasn't a question. And by the way, the, what happens is it turned into a failed state just at literally the most, the worst results you could have had. Like one of the richer countries in Africa turned into, I think still to this day, Rob, they have those open air slave markets where they straight up just sell Africans the most barbaric medieval ever is going on there. That's what happened the next day. Because Obama went, oh, yeah, should. Oh yeah, I forgot to think about that. I, I don't know, it's pretty crazy. It's like I dove into the pool and the one mistake was that I didn't think to ask myself, have I filled up this pool with water? And you're like, yeah, that's a really, really important question to forget to ask yourself. All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is Superpower. I love this company. I'm thrilled that they're on board as a sponsor. I don't know about you for, uh, but I feel a lot of the times, like when I go to the doctors, they essentially don't do anything. I don't know, I mean, they, they, you know, they give you a basic physical, but they don't really find out what's going on with your health. Now, if you really want to find out what's going on with your health, you got to check out Superpower. Check this out. Superpower sends a licensed professional to your home, or you can visit a nearby lab. It's up to you. 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Each test builds on the last one so you can actually see the progress that you're making. Instead of starting over every January with some vague I'm going to get healthy this year plan, you actually know how you're doing, how you're getting healthy, and what your body specifically needs. So really cool company. It's really interesting, but definitely check them out. Head over to superpower.com and use the promo code problem at checkout and you'll get $20 off your membership. You can detect early signs of over a thousand different conditions. This is a really cool opportunity. If you care about your health, this is the way to level up. Superpower.com promo code problem for $20 off your membership. All right, let's get back into the show anyway, man, this is, we're, we're at the same place. We're at the same place that we've been, which is essentially that they have nothing. There's, they're not any close. You know, I saw Scott Jennings, the CNN guy, and he said it's so pathetic the way these people debase themselves just defending this nonsense. But he goes, he goes, look, they have, they have the deal. They've got 95% of it done. Is like all that's left to figure out is the Strait of Hormuz and the nuclear object. You're like, oh, is that it? It's just that it's Just the two main things. Like, okay, well, in that case, you have nothing. And to even say you're 95% of the way there, we just don't have the Strait of Hormuz or Iran's nuclear program figured out. And you're like, okay, but then what is the 95%? Exactly. What are all the other war demands? That. That Iran stops supporting Hezbollah and the Houthis and Hamas. That Iran what? I don't know. Because you're not getting any of that either. So in other words, you gave up on all of that and now you just need to figure out these two things, neither of which you can figure out.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

I've also seen Scott Jennings spin it, that we control the Straits because we have the blockade out there. But controlling something usually would mean that your desired outcome is something that you can have because you control the situation. And if our desire is that the straits are actually just open and no one's tolling it and we can't have that, wouldn't that to me indicate that we do not, in fact control the Straits?

[Dave Smith]

Yeah, it's. Oh, of course. It's the most dishonest, manipulative, like semantics.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Yeah, we're 90 percent1 and we control the Straits. So then I guess they're not much of a threat and the war's over and we can just bring troops home. I mean, if all that's true, then we're done.

[Dave Smith]

Yeah. Yeah, I'm sorry. I guess we're crazy for assuming that. If that were true, then that would mean the war is over. Also, we had the President of the United States of America told us the war was over last week. But anyway, no, I mean, it's on the level of, like, if somebody, if somebody was pinning someone down on the ground and you were like, I demand that you let that person up. And they were like, no, we're not going to let the person up. So then you just got on top of the person who was pinning the person to the ground and then you went, I have total control over this person being pinned to the ground. You're like, yeah, but if your goal was to get them up, then this is counterproductive. They're more down than they were before. And that's exactly what's happened. Fewer ships have been passing through the Strait of HORMUZ since the U.S. blockade of the blockade than we're passing just under the Iranian blockade. So, okay, we control it. Great job, Scott Jennings. It was good. And I know we've talked about this before, but that guy is such A great, like little microcosm, like a great little example of how the dialectic works. You know what I mean? Like how the kind of they do this thing where you got, you get like five progressive retards and you put them around a table and then you have one Scott Jennings there just not being insane. And then that gets him like this street cred. Oh yeah, have you seen this guy? Oh, he's so. It's. I, I mean, over the years this always just drove me crazy because they, there would always be, they got. Ben Shapiro is, is another example of this where there would always be this thing where even when you agree with that, right? So when we on, on let's say culture war issues, we probably largely agree with both of those two guys, you know, but there'd be this thing where like you remember back in the day when Ben Shapiro used to like go to a college campus and then there'd be like some, some trans kid would like, you know, like a dude in a dress who's 19 would get up to the microphone and be like, well, I heard you say really bad things about trans people. Why don't you recognize me as a woman? And he was like, let me ask you a question. How old are you? And the guy would be like, I'm 19. And be like, okay, why aren't you 90? And he'd go, oh, well, what? Because, yeah, why can't you identify as 90? And then you go, well, that, because you're just objectively not 90. And they go, and you're objectively not a woman. And then everyone's like, wow, yes, this dude's on fire. And like, look, obviously I don't think you can change your gender and I think the trans hysteria really was insane. But are we really going to celebrate this guy as some intellectual champion just because he could, you know what I'm saying? Like this is anything that like a 10 year old should be able to do this. And so likewise with Scott Jennings. They get, they put him up against these progressive insane people and then conservatives go, yeah, this guy's up there battling. But then when it comes down to it, he's just, he's awful and he's completely dishonest. The total George W. Bush era hack just def, just always on the side of launching stupid wars and then goes into complete propaganda mode because he can't just admit the obvious truth, which is that, oh yeah, we shouldn't have done this. Oh yeah, I was wrong. And why the hell did I think I was right? Why would I think after watching six disastrous wars in the Middle east, that I bet this seventh one will be a good idea. I bet this will be the one time that it goes, well.

[Marco Rubio]

Just.

[Dave Smith]

I don't know. Whatever. It's infuriating these guys. All right, let's. Why don't we. Because we haven't gotten to this. There's a couple things that we have not, given our take on that I suppose we have to, but we should talk. Tulsa Gabbard stepping down as a Director of National Intelligence. I don't know what. What can you say about it? You know, when I first. I first. My phone started blowing up this weekend, you know, people texting me and stuff, that Tulsi stepped down. And I did. I. My first thought was really like, now, because I just assumed it was over the war. You know, when you first heard it, it was like, well, I mean, Joe Kent had stepped down from her office, but just made no sense to me. I was like, wait. But she didn't. She waited all this time to now step down like this. And then, of course, I saw it had nothing to do with the war, presumably, but that her husband is. Is very sick, evidently has a rare form of bone cancer and is. I heard someone say it was stage four. I'm not sure if that's accurate, though. I didn't hear her say that. I think I read that somewhere. But, I mean, I guess first and foremost, I'd say it's very sad to hear that my. I lost my grandmother to bone cancer. Bone cancer is fucking horrible. It's extremely painful. It's brutal. Would not wish that on any. Anyone. And so, you know, thoughts and prayers to Tulsi Gabbard's husband. But I guess I can't. I don't know. I mean, Rob, what can you say? I mean, so Tulsi Gabbard spent an entire political career, not just largely opposing regime change wars, specifically opposing regime change wars against the Shiites, because she knew the difference between Sunnis and Shiites, and she knew that Shiites had not been the terrorists who attack us that we've never had. And Iran has never killed an American on US Soil ever. And so that was like. She was like, that's not the enemies. And in fact, she even knows enough to know that they fight the terrorists who attack us in America and that Iran is not friends with Al Qaeda and that Bashar Bashar Al Assad was not friends with Al Qaeda. Famously, she went and met with Bashar Al Assad trying to prevent the disastrous regime change war that we had there. And this war was the war she was against. I mean, she literally, there's just no. She sold no war with Iran T shirts when she was running for president. Like, she opposed this specific war and then sat as the Director of National Intelligence when Donald Trump not only launched the war, but then launched another war. Like, she was the Director of Intelligence of national intelligence during the 12 Day War and through this one. And then it's like this thing, Rob, where she doesn't, she doesn't resign over them launching the war that she spent her whole career trying to prevent, ostensibly, and now she's resigned anyway and still hasn't said a damn thing against the war. I don't know. I mean, look, I'm sorry. Her husband is sick and that's terrible. And I hope he makes a recovery or if that's not possible, I hope it's as painless as, you know, as possible. But I'm sorry, I'm not going to not comment on the most blatant political betrayal perhaps, that I've ever seen, perhaps ever is even more so than, even more so than Donald Trump or Barack Obama or George Bush or lots of people who have run on one thing and then governed in a different way. She made this her issue. This. It would almost be like to even get as big a political betrayal out of Donald Trump. It would be like if Donald Trump had wide open borders right now, like the border crisis under Joe Biden and he just wasn't going to do anything about it. And you'd be like, dude, this was your whole thing. This was her whole thing. And she ends up resigning anyway and doesn't even, even on the way out, doesn't say a word, a word about the war. I don't know, Rob. What? That, that's, it's just crazy. It's like, I, I don't know that I've ever seen anything like this, you know, like, even Bobby Kennedy, even when he was asked recently about the. What's the chemical? I can't remember it. Yeah, that's right. When he was asked about that and he said something like, well, I wasn't happy about that one, but you know what I mean? Like, even he said something about it. I don't know. Really. I mean, I don't know. Tulsi Gabbard. Yeah, she just, she really. I, I don't. Maybe she gets some cushy position somewhere. I don't see how she possibly can show her face to her, like, people ever again. I don't know. What are your thoughts, Rob?

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

I'll be less classy than you. And I'm not saying that her husband doesn't have cancer, that they're not dealing with a tough time, but this strikes me like, hey, Donald Trump, I can't stick around for this anymore. What's the easiest way for me to leave without creating a problem? Oh, husband's got cancer. Just say that it's that and we'll go our own way. And either there's some cushy job for maybe, maybe she turns and tells tale, but I feel like she made a deal with the devil on this one. Now she's walking away with nothing. She needed to oppose this thing at the start of it. She did not. It's only getting worse. And I think she doesn't want to be there anymore and refuses to actually tell tale. And so she's, she, she already did that. She already served her part and no one's upset with her and she doesn't want to stick around for it. I'm just that, that's what I'm speculating possible.

[Dave Smith]

But I guess that in a way

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

of covering the tracks though, of always never having to admit fault, defeat, apologize, anything. So it's just too convenient of a storyline. But what do I know?

[Dave Smith]

Yeah, look, I get what you're saying. I mean, I guess who, who really knows? But there is something to it where it's like, look, when Tulsi Gabbard, when they launched this war that, you know, Tulsi Gabbard has been against her entire career and she doesn't say anything. I guess the assumption on some level, if you're trying to be as charitable as possible, you know, as people would say, well, she's in a very tough position, look, do you want her to step down and then someone much worse ends up getting in there or if you're Tulsi, then at least, you know, like people would make these arguments that it's like at least you still have one, you know, level headed voice in the room. She can try to get the President good intelligence, you know, and so if you're being charitable about it, you go, well, she thinks she can do more good in that position than outside of that position. So she's going to take the reputational hit and you know, hang on to the power because you could maybe do some good with that power. Now I don't agree with that argument at all, but that was an argument that some people were making. And, but then you go, well, hey, even if you have to step down for your husband or whatever, well, now you're in a position where you can say whatever you want. You're already giving up the power. Someone worse than you will be replacing you. You're not going to be able to do any good with that power. But even then, she doesn't bother to say one word about the war. And like, you know, I don't know, I just, I, I don't know how you look at that as not like a fundamental betrayal. Like, God damn, man, you get. There's just no honor in our political system whatsoever. Like, you go around the country, you speak to millions of people, you, you promise them that you're gonna be here to try to avoid this war, and then you just go along with it and don't have to say, I don't know, man. I don't know what the punishment should be for that. It shouldn't be your husband getting bone cancer, that's for sure, but there should be some severe punishment to you for that. I mean, it's just horrible. Just absolutely, utterly disgraceful. I don't know what else you can say about it. All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is Ultra Pouches. Love the Ultra pouches. It's a nicotine free, zero nicotine, zero caffeine, guilt free pouch. As you guys know, I'm a big pouch guy. I love them. I like the nicotine ones too. But if you don't like nicotine, you don't like the buzz or the jitters or whatever. Well, now there's a pouch for you. Ultra partnered with leading neuroscientists to design these pouches. So they're nicotine free, they're caffeine free. They use clinically proven nootropics and adaptogens to deliver immediate focus and smooth energy that lasts for one to two hours. So basically, there's no bad stuff in them. They're going to make you feel good. They're designed to sharpen your mind and lift your energy. All without caffeine, nicotine and no crash. That's the idea. And they're really great. I really enjoy them. 90% of users saw significant improvements in their overall focus level. Calm, steady flow state, focus enhanced memory, smooth energy, mood balanced, all again with zero nicotine and zero caffeine. So if you want to check out Ultra, the ultimate guilt free pouch, go to take ultra.com and make sure to use the promo code problem. That'll get you 15 off your entire order. That's take ultra.com promo code problem for 15 off. All right, let's get back into the show. All right, let's. I guess I got, we got to talk about the Libertarian Party convention a little bit. And I do. Just, when I say that, I really mean it. I feel like, well, we have to do this. I don't know. I feel an obligation to weigh in a little bit to this. I, you know, I got a lot of people on social media and stuff who are asking for my, my opinion and, oh, God, I don't even know where to start. So obviously, you know, we, me and you, Rob, we were, we got very involved in the Libertarian Party for a few years there. Me a bit more than you, but we were both fairly involved. And, you know, I, I, I was at the previous two national conventions in D.C. and in Reno, respectively, and, you know, I was not at this one. There were, there were a lot of people I know who were there. It was just really sad to watch some of the stuff happen. It's kind of heartbreaking. I mean, the, the state of the party is just an absolute mess. It's an absolute mess. The state of the membership is really not good. There's, and there's, there's some good people in the Libertarian Party, but overall, the, the spectacle that was this last Libertarian Convention is just, it's almost like all factions involved should be able to recognize that that was a gigantic embarrassment. Just absolutely, you know, like, the worst thing you could do for the cause of human freedom is to wrap yourself in the name Libertarian and then just humiliate everybody who, who uses the term, essentially. And, and the fact that there's an inability, like, okay, all the, the factional people in the Libertarian Party are arguing like, no, you're the one who made it an embarrassment. No, you're the one who made it an embarrassment. And it is like a thing where it's the Family Guy meme. Kids, kids, you're both terrible. Like, you're all embarrassing us. And like, I mean, I don't know if you could just recognize that this is pretty embarrassing. It's like, well, then just stop. You guys are not helping. Just stop. I know there are good people in the Libertarian Party, and I understand that, that a lot of them still show up and still fight to try to get the thing to be better than it is, because all things being equal, it'll be better if that thing is better than worse. I would really say at this point, people who are, I would say if you're, if you're still involved in the Libertarian Party, and particularly if you're still like putting sweat equity in or you're still putting a lot of hours into your work in the Libertarian Party. I really think you might just want to question whether that's the best use of your time or not. Like, what really is the goal here? What is achievable? What are we going to do? Because, you know, I look at, I look at some of the stuff I saw this weekend and it's just, you know, Scott Horton gave a great speech there, an unbelievable speech. It was like perfect in the way that only Scott could do. And then he introduced a motion and it failed. They didn't get the votes for it. We got our best guy on his topic and then these fucking, these members who literally half of them. I mean, I don't know what to say. I say like, Scott's forgotten more than they know is an understatement, you know, and then they just make up. No, we disagree. Like, oh, okay, here you go. And anyway, I saw Justin Amash gave a speech. I very much like Justin Amash. It was the most embarrassing blue pilled speech I've ever heard. It's just like, like Justin Amash is there to tell the Libertarian Party how to be political winners. And it's like, Justin, like, dude, you're not a political winner. You got, you got chased out of the House, you ran for Senate and got absolutely blown out in your own state. Like you've, you burned your political credibility and now you're trying to school these guys to how they should be doing it. And it's just, I don't know, just. Anyway, the whole thing to me is really bad. They, they evidently put a really embarrassing guy in his chair now. And what can I tell you? I just, I really, you know, I think let these guys who want to have the Libertarian part, let them have their little fiefdom, they are going to do nothing with it. They're going to remain irrelevant. But I think for the good people, for the serious people, I'm not saying leave the Libertarian Party, but I am saying maybe it's time to like reassess what you're putting your. Listen, there is. And this isn't like a fixed pie fallacy, right? There are time and energy, are limited resources and maybe it is time to just think what's the best use of yours? Because there's like, one of the things that's fascinating watching the Libertarian Party, right, Is that it's like, it's almost like there's this book club and the book club studies freedom and revolutions and history and all this stuff and this book club has taken place in this very little room. And then outside of this little room, there's this huge world. And in that world, a revolution is taking place. And the people in this little book club who read about revolution all day don't seem that interested in the fact that they're living through one right now. It is, it is amazing how removed Libertarian Party politics is from the country that they live in or the world that they live in. Like, what's going on in the real world is that the Overton window has exploded. Every mainstream institution has lost all credibility. Our ideas are largely winning in many fronts in terms of public opinion and the foreign policy. The American people largely agree with us on government corruption. The American people largely agree with us on we got our work cut out on economics, don't get me wrong. But there's this huge movement taking place. There are huge voices in the liberty world. As Judge Napolitano's show is humongous. We're doing pretty good for ourselves. Scott Horton is on Rogan and Tucker and his book is. Is killing it. You know what I'm saying? Like, there's all these people, Tom woods and Clint Russell and, and you know, Ron Paul and Dan McAdams are still there. There's this huge, like, conversation happening with a lot of our ideas being inserted into the conversation. And then there's a small group of freaks who, you who use our word, who are arguing about the latest drama on the LNC or which state party should be disaffiliated. And it's like, guys, how can anyone who really cares about human liberty decide in those two options, I'm going to get in here and fight with a pink haired lady about who sits on the lnc. Like, if you're not a freak and you're an intelligent person, and there are lots of those in the Libertarian Party, really think about what we're going to do here. I'm not even saying it'd be the worst plan in the world to try to do something with the Libertarian Party, but we got to have some type of plan. Does that make sense? Rob, you're going to be meaner again. Rob's always just coming in to be a little bit meaner.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

I actually don't want to be. I don't want to be meaner on this one. I kind of feel like these people are your fans.

[Dave Smith]

These are the people who buy tickets to your show. You don't want to be mean to them.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

No, I feel like I got a lot of things in my life I'm trying to get off the ground and grow and I got a long way to go. So I don't really like criticizing other people's passions, particularly if it's for freedom. It does make me sad that most of the clips that I see are not inspiring but are more embarrassing. And so I do think that they need to figure that out. And some of these characters in the lp, I don't know why they're there other than feds to like thwart the movement. I don't understand why they're drawn to liberty. I don't know why they're not just far left activists. The one cool thing that I did see was Joe Kent. I didn't watch the speech, but I saw him giving some remarks, marks in front of the rage against the war machine.

[Dave Smith]

Yeah.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

And I thought that that was a smart pickup to potentially get him affiliated because he's out there with a good, you know, anti foreign intervention message. But it does, it, it, it's saddening that there's people affiliated with freedom and liberty. And when I see the clips, I find it embarrassing.

[Dave Smith]

Yeah, no, that's right. And you know, you got to understand that and this is like, you know, Carnegie how to Win Friends and, and influence people. But it's like, look, if you look, obviously there is nothing in the philosophy of libertarianism itself that says, hey, you need to not be a freak. You need to like grow up and be presentable. Okay, that's true. And in fact, the only thing that strictly speaking libertarianism would tell you about being a freak is that, well, you have a right to, you know, as long as you're not initiating violence on someone else, you have a right to do it. But then again, just because you have a right to do something doesn't mean it's right to do that thing. Right? So like it's the bottom line. This is something outside the scope of libertarianism and falls into this realm of common sense which many libertarians struggle with. But like, if you, if you seriously believe in a set of ideas or a set of principles, then it is incumbent on you to try to present those in a way that might be compelling to other people. And that, I mean, just look at those videos and you tell me if you think any normal person is going to look at that and go, oh, this is something I could get behind. Now the thing that's, as you said, what's painful about it is that there's so much of libertarianism that is common sense and is beautiful and correct and Noble that a lot of people could get behind. Very serious people could get behind that. Like, if you were to get out there and say, like, we're bankrupting our country, fighting wars on behalf of foreign nations. This is ridiculous. Our country's falling apart. Washington corruption is out of control. Government debt and spending are out of. You know, there are messages here that almost everyone would be. Would look at and go, yeah, that's pretty undeniably true. And instead, it's being presented in this manner. Now, I will say this. Okay, and this is. I guess this is what. But what holds me back from just saying abandon this thing is that I'll say this. And I've talked about this maybe before, but just to put these thoughts together in 2024, there's something very interesting that happened. So for people who have followed the show for years and they're familiar, essentially, there was this old horrible guard in the Libertarian Party, and they started trashing Ron Paul and Tom woods and Jeff Dice and all our Libertarian heroes. And so then we. We, like, formed an insurgency and took over the party. Our caucus was called the Mises Caucus. You know, I was pretty out front. Like, I announced that we were going to take over the party, and we kind of are. This show was largely, not entirely, but largely was the engine that kind of took over the Libertarian Party. Like, I made a call to action. We're all joining the party. We're going to take it over. We did and we did. And in Reno, we took over the whole party. And with super majorities, we got every single position. Literally, I. I picked every single position on the LNC and, you know, with Michael Heist and Scott Horton and Angela McArdle and a bunch of those people. And, you know, the. I had. I had planned on running for president, and then I backed out of doing that for a lot of reasons I've explained before. But so then essentially. So this happened in 22, we took over the whole party. So then the next convention, they're every two years. So the next convention was in 24. 24 happened to be a presidential election year. Now, I had already decided I wasn't running, but the state of the party was essentially like, it was all set up for me to run. Then I didn't. But our guys controlled the entire lnc. And I. I was viewed. I'm not sure this is exactly accurate, but I was viewed by many as the leader of the party. Truth be told, I was never really the leader of anything because these Libertarians don't much like being led. I'VE come to find out. But that was how it was viewed. And one of the things that was very interesting. So in this presidential year, I ended up becoming quite friendly with Vivek Ramaswamy and Bobby Kennedy. And I think my status in the Libertarian Party was a big reason of why they were so interested in being friendly with me. And both of them would be calling me on the phone a lot, asking stuff about the Libertarian Party. Now, they were outsiders, so they didn't really get it. And I had to explain to both of them because they essentially both wanted me to support them as the nominee. Well, actually, Vivek didn't want to be the nominee. Vivek wanted me to deliver the Libertarian Party to Donald Trump. But that Vivek was the one who got it delivered, you know, so he wanted that credit with the administration. And Bobby Kennedy wanted to be the nominee because he was running as an independent. He had switched from Democrat to independent at this point. And it's, it's, you know, he's just killing himself spending tons of money just for ballot access. But if you get the LP nomination, you get all the ballot access that the Libertarian Party already has. So it was going to save him, like, $30 million to get the Libertarian Party nomination. And I had to explain to both of them that I was like, look, even though you view me as being like the leader of the Libertarian Party, that's not really how this works. Like, if I go to the Libertarians, if I go to the members, and I go, hey, guys, I know I'm not running, but you should support Bobby Kennedy. They'll all just go, what? No, he's a liberal supporting a liberal. You know, and so, like. Anyway, but, but the point I'm making is that one of the things that was very interesting about that is that you. You realize that there's like, hey, these guys who are, like, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, who are famous guys, or at least the Vegas, I don't know what Bobby's worth, but a lot. These guys, literally from a political legendary family, these guys really see a lot of value in the Libertarian Party. And that's kind of interesting because sometimes there's many Libertarians who don't see any value in the party, but then these guys really see value in the party. All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is Body Brain Coffee. And I gotta let you know, Body Brain Creamer is finally here. And this thing was specifically designed to stack perfectly with Body Brain Coffee. This Isn't some sugary, gross store creamer loaded with garbage ingredients? This is a functional creamer built to actually do something for you. We packed it with MCT oil. Oil for clean energy, collagen peptides, cordyceps, mushrooms for endurance and stamina. 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Gomez, and here's how you can pay it back and get yourself some good coffee that's going to make you feel good at the same time. Bodybraincoffee.com Bodybraincoffee.com and make sure to use the promo code Dave20 that will you 20% off your order. Get the coffee, get the creamer. Bodybraincoffee.com promo code Dave20 for 20% off. All right, let's get back into the show. And so I guess my point is, as I always tried to say, the Libertarian Party is a tool. A tool is not something like all political parties. They're, they're instruments, they're tools. And now a tool is not something that you get emotional about or you fall in love with or you become a partisan to, like, I'm a wrench guy. It doesn't make any sense. You don't love your wrench, you don't cry. Your wrench can either get the job done or it can't. It's either the correct tool or it's not. Now, if you recognize the party as a tool, you go, okay, how can we use this tool? Is there a way to be effective? And in theory, there really is. Like, for example, right now, look Look, Thomas Massie's flirting with running for president. Would that be helpful to have the Libertarian Party under good hands right now? Sure, potentially. That could be really good. Can the Libertarians play spoiler and get some bad Republicans? You know, we've been the difference before, we will be again, or we could be again. Could they spoil some bad Republicans and then get some better Republicans in? Yeah, like there are really cool things that a third party could do. The real foundational problem is that too big a percentage of the membership are just allergic to anything like that and they're essentially in it to, to purity spiral. And so or either that or they've got like this worst form of pragmatism where it's like, well, let's be pragmatic and just run Bill Weld like candidates. And you're like, yeah, but that'll never win anything thing. There's like a good form of radicalism and a good form of pragmatism that could be merged together there. Anyway, the. In order for that to happen, you would just have to get a bunch more people to join the party who were like minded. It's not that impossible. And I think, dude, there's something like 6,000. I think someone said on stage that there's 6,000 members now. The party is just like completely collapsed. It's fallen apart part and so it's ripe to be taken over again. The thing is you got to have a real specific plan so that there's a real specific call to action to get people excited to do something like that. And as of right now, I don't see it and I don't see how I could be helpful to that cause. So for me it just makes sense. It's like I'm in the business of communicating these ideas. I've been able to really insert myself on some huge platforms. We've been able to build this platform up. I've been able to move the needle on some, some issues. And it seems to me like that's what makes sense for me to put my time and energy into. I just, I do feel bad because I know there's still a lot of our guys, you know, behind enemy lines, so to speak, in the party. And I think that, you know, if, if there is, if the Libertarian Party is to be utilized in a productive manner, it's going to take a plan and it's going to take a drastic change in membership and in attitudes and straight up, like some of these people need to be kicked out of the party. If you were going to do that you need to just, like, get rid of some of these people. Otherwise it's kind of unworkable. So I don't know. Again, I'll say this in the final thought. Thought. There was always kind of an asymmetry here between kind of like the people in the Libertarian Party who really hate our guts and us, because I don't really hate any of them now. There's a few people I know who are like, really reprehensible people. I also still don't really hate them. Just don't really care. You guys take the party. Go do it. Go run Chase Oliver one more time. Oh, that's sure to move the needle. I've never seen anything. I've never seen somebody run a presidential campaign and become a less visible figure as a result of it. Literally never including Joe Jorgensen. She still became a more visible figure. Alphabet. I don't know if Chase still exists, but anyway, I don't know. Any other thoughts.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

He was always just a construct.

[Dave Smith]

He was always just a social construct, that Chase Oliver. He never really existed. Anyway, I wish the Libertarian Party lots of luck, you know, best of luck to all those guys. But it just seems. It seems like the whole thing has become. It's not even a book club. A book club would be a substantial improvement over that. Book clubs are interesting, you know, like, you might read a good book and have a good discussion on it. That's where half the people in the Libertarian Party, it seems like. I don't even think they read books and have good discussions on them. I think they're interested in the ideas. They seem to be much more interested in the. The Georgia vice chair race or something like that. You know, that. That seems to be what it's about.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Or maybe I'll just continue as a Looney Tunes cartoon where Jeremy Kaufman comes in and yells and then they just slam the gauntlet anyways and he tries some new scheme and they just gauntlet anyways and just goes back and forth in an endless cycle.

[Dave Smith]

Yep, it was. Yeah, there was. Well, at least Jeremy got gave a little bit of a comedy, you know, break, you know, a little bit of levity from. From him in the situation. But the whole thing is just embarrassing, man. And I know there was an incident with, like, a guy punching a chick because she was stealing. Yeah, it's just like a whole, like. Oh, my God. What the. Yeah, I got arrested at the convention. And it's just like, guys, you just. I don't know. You can't.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

There was some article in the paper. I Didn't even care to read it, but it was about whether or not there should be a dress code. And I just started laughing that that's the way libertarian. Like, I mean, firstly, in my opinion, there shouldn't have to be a dress code.

[Dave Smith]

Right.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Libertarianism. You should be able to dress however the hell you want. I know. Like, even. I know you hated Vernon Supreme. I wasn't really following it, but I kind of like the. What would I call that? It's kind of an artist.

[Dave Smith]

Like, the showmanship of it.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Yeah, it's a performance artist. And I kind of got. I. I kind of got the goof of it. And I thought that there was a place for that kind of thing. And I think that there is a place for, you know, the occasional person who wants to dress strange in a performance artist type way. I don't really believe that you need a suit and tie dress code, but I think when it's making the newspaper that that's the problem at the convention. You missed your opportunity to share the message.

[Dave Smith]

Yeah, no question. Yeah. It's like, there's also. There. There's a difference. Look, I never liked the Vernon supreme thing. I thought it was stupid. But there's a difference between doing, like, a performance art bit and just being a freak. There's a difference between the two. And like, yeah, you kind of can't have the latter. And like, you. I agree, Rob. Like, I don't really care if someone's wearing a T shirt or a sweater or a suit and tie, but, like, you're like, yeah, there shouldn't need to be a dress code. Because, like, I thought it was already, like, understood. You know, it's like, where there's like a. That, like, no, no, no pants, no shoes, no business sign or something. And you're like, I thought we all just figured out we're supposed to wear pants when you go out to a restaurant. You know what I mean? Like, you don't need a strict dress code to just be like. But you will be wearing pants. Right? That's. That's where the Libertarian Party's at. It needs to be explained that you have to wear pants. We got to change the bylaws. We gotta have. We gotta do an hour and a half of, you know, Robert's Rules of Order or whatever. God, democracy is such a mess. All right. Anyway, I guess that's it. I'm sorry that I don't have, like, kind of more to say on it, but that's really just where I'm at there. A lot of our ideas are winning right now, and this. This party is doing nothing but lose. And it's occupied by a lot of losers. And I think even the good people inside the party know that that's the truth. And so either we're gonna find a way to get a lot more people on board and we're gonna take it over again. But if we do that, it's got to be with a specific plan. Otherwise, you know, I can't just be in the situation where every couple years I'm telling my guys we're taking it over again, and then something's gonna lead to something. We got to really have a plan if we're going to do that. And I'll be the first one to let you know know if. If somebody presents one to me that I like. All right, thank you guys very much for listening. Appreciate it. Catch you next time. Peace.