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Dave Smith
What's up? What's up everybody? Welcome to a brand new episode of Part of the Problem. I am Dave Smith. He is Robbie the Fire Bernstein. We were here yesterday, Rob. We sat right here in these seats and the world was crazy. But today it's been all figured out now
Rob Bernstein
about the Trump administration.
Dave Smith
There you go. He figured it out and he blew it again. What's happened between in the last 24 hours? Oh, Rob, things are still. Things are still going pretty crazy. Luckily that's what keeps this show in business. How are you doing today?
Rob Bernstein
I'm doing well. And porches this weekend. Raleigh, North Carolina. Hampstead, North Carolina, Myrtle beach and then lot A lot of dates. You can go to portstore.com you can check them all out all over the country. And then you and I, we got some stuff coming up.
Dave Smith
Oh yeah, we'll be in Houston, Texas. That's our next stop. Houston, Texas. Looking forward to that here.
Guest or Additional Commentator
I should.
Dave Smith
We got a few many things coming up. Let me read them off here.
Rob Bernstein
Yeah.
Dave Smith
Houston, Texas, coming up July 9th, 10th and 11th. Then Huntsville, Alabama. Nashville, Tennessee. I will be speaking at the Young Americans for Liberty event in Cincinnati, Ohio. By the way, this summer. Summer as well. Me and Rob will be doing comedy in Fort Lauderdale. Appleton, Wisconsin. Austin, Texas. Louisville, Kentucky. Fort Worth, Texas, Dallas, Texas. Did I say it wrong? Event, Louisville, Louisville, all over the place. Comicdavesmith.com But Houston, Texas, that's our next date coming up.
Rob Bernstein
I gotta say, my favorite barbecue spot in Texas is in Houston. So I'm always excited to go there. I don't know the name of it, but I know where it is. I don't know the name of it, but I always know how to refind it. That's the way I clock information. I got an internal fat guy map.
Dave Smith
All right, I like that. There you go. You just got go off the, like the smells, the memory, that's very sensory. Okay, I, I respect that. All right, Rob? Well, Donald Trump is, look, you got to kind of give him, I guess, a little bit of a pass on this, but Donald Trump's trying to thread a needle of how to get this deal done, how to get through. I mean, it is, let's just say, Rob, we got the, there's, we have a memorandum of understanding, right? This is not, it's not technically a peace deal of any sort. It lays the barest kind of structure in which negotiations can take place. And it gave a very brief period of time of 60 days to negotiate some very complex things as we've talked about on the show. Took two years to negotiate the jcpoa. This is two months. Very challenging, although I suppose you could copy paste a lot.
Rob Bernstein
But
Dave Smith
that being said, you have two months of negotiations. It's already off to, let's just call it an incredibly rocky start. The thing almost, the signing ceremony almost fell apart according to a bunch of reporting things off to a very rocky start. Donald Trump is coming underneath enormous pressure from one very specific lobby, obviously, but also just in general that, look, I mean, this is the, the position we find ourselves in here, Rob, which is a little bit tough, is that we want to get this, get through these 60 days. We want to come out with some type of agreement here. We want to just result this, to result in no more war and America getting out of this at the same time. Obviously, Donald Trump has a lot of vulnerabilities here because he has talked mad shit for a hundred plus days and now is backing off of every last one of the things that he said. But so he's got to try to, you know, look tough. He's got to try to sell this as victory. We always said this is going to be very tough. Here is from Donald Trump this morning, Rob. Despite the, sorry, one second protestations and false statements to the contrary, coupled with the drumbeat of the fake news, which is doing everything possible to make the US Victory as small and insignificant as possible, Iran has fully and completely agreed to highest level nuclear inspection inspections long into the future. Parentheses, infinity, exclamation point. This will ensure, quote, nuclear honesty. If they did not agree to this, there would be no further negotiations. Based on this and other major concessions being made by Iran, I have agreed to allow the Hormuz Strait to remain open with no further naval blockade. However, all ships are remaining in place should it be necessary to reinstitute the blockade. Blah, blah, blah. This is a humanitarian crisis, he says, about sending money into Iran. So there you go. Rob, I gotta say this. If I was advising the White House. Give me your thoughts. This, to me, just seems very ineffective. I don't think this is good. Just keep talking about how devastating the economy is being hit and how much we need to open the strait. I think this. Trying to sell this as some victory narrative is just too. It's. It's a lie. It's a lie that requires a lot of people to prop it up and. And not enough, nearly enough people are willing to prop up this lie. It seems like right now, this lie that we won and the media is just. They're just not reporting what an obvious American victory this is. What do you think, Rob?
Rob Bernstein
Well, on the. Trying to sell this lie, the amount, the contingency of media support of people that were. You got the people that were against the war, and you had. The people that were for the war, and the people that were for the war are not exactly for walking away. And the people that were against the war think that this entire thing was a mistake. And so they're not gonna celebrate the victory of the mistake you made. So there's a very small contingency of people who can be getting on the media to try and sell this as a win. I'm seeing a little bit of a trend here. Firstly, at this point, for Donald Trump to be yelling at the fake news for bad reporting. You guys have lied every single day about this war and what's going on in this war. It's very hard to go, hey, trust me, they're the fake news. And the information you're seeing isn't true. And the writing of the agreement seems to indicate everything is being a complete and total capitulation and loss, that Iran is getting money up front, that there is no nuclear agreement in place. And now it seems like Donald Trump is trying to change the terms of the deal, which I guess is very art of the deal of to just, you know, give people what they think they're getting and then just absolutely walk back the concessions. Perhaps the pathway to victory is that Iran can now sell its oil and they realize, you know what, we're getting along with the rest of the world here. This is pretty good. And they actually do decide that they want to do nuclear inspections or they actually do decide, you know what, we do have to buy medical supplies and wheat. And so if it makes Donald Trump look better to take the funding to have to go purchase that, we'll do it. But I can't imagine that Iran was agreeing to that. That's clearly not what, that's not what's in the terms. That's not the way it's written out. And so you got to wonder if this is a Donald Trump negotiating trick or if he was actually buying himself some time to get the straight open and they're actively blowing up the deal by clearly walking back, which was, hey, yes, we will admit that it came down to someone needed to admit that they lost. And the US Basically did it when they said, we'll give you your money up front. And now they're changing it to no, we never said it's the doll here presidency, which I've said a million times. I never said I give you a million dollars. I said doll hairs. Oh, I never said I give you your money up front, I'll give you your funds, but paid for in wheat and American medical supplies and soybeans that no one will buy from us right now.
Dave Smith
Right.
Rob Bernstein
And we'll send that over to you instead. Oh, and then this line of, oh, clearly I never would have done a deal with you guys if it didn't include nuclear inspections. So even though you guys came to the table and signed a deal that didn't agree that obviously I was going to do that. So it's just common sense that that was included. Yeah, well, they didn't agree to it. That's the point of sitting down and negotiated an agreement.
Dave Smith
Yeah, look, I mean, I think that much like, look much like the way he's conducted the entire war, I think a lot of these are like very short term lies just designed to like get you off his back for five minutes so he can get his head above water. No, we're getting big concessions out of them. They're agree. Now, look, I would, I would say that I don't think it's beyond the realm of possibility that you could maybe get nuclear inspections as a result of some nuclear deal. I mean, it's somewhat surprising that Iran has floated the idea of entering nuclear negotiations now. Again, as you alluded to there, Rob, their red line has been that they get money up front and then we'll talk about all that. So we'll see what ends up happening there. The idea that Iran could maybe at the end of this 60 days agree to some type of inspections regime is not that crazy. I mean, again, they've agreed to this in the past, so perhaps they could. What would you need to give them in order to get them to that place? Well, that's a really big question. And then of course, Rob, again, I mentioned this on yesterday's show. It's really worth repeating. Look, throughout this entire war, I've been saying, guys, you got to pay attention to what the Iranian regime is saying here, too. You got to read drop site and Jeremy Scahill and Ryan Grim and these guys. And you got to see what that side is saying. And it gives you a big advantage in terms of understanding how this conflict is going to not just hear from one side, but hear from both sides. Obviously, that's, that has paid off and, and given a big advantage to people who have paid attention to that. Okay, again, as I said yesterday, right now notice there's huge internal splits within Iran about why they should even be, whether they should even be negotiating. This is a controversial move, if you could imagine. Like, you know, everything's got a left, right spectrum and even the Iranian government has a left, right spectrum. These are the liberals who are there having a negotiation right now. In fact, Rob, the supreme Leader himself didn't even endorse this. He was very careful with his wording. He said he'll allow these negotiations to go on, but, like, didn't exactly support it. So again, the fact that for Donald Trump to be selling already that we've got this inspections regime, it's like, dude, this isn't on paper, this isn't agreed to, this isn't confirmed, let alone actually being implemented. It's way early in the process. And I think what you said,
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you
Dave Smith
know, there's a very good point, there's to your comment about how Donald Trump can't really call the media liars now because the last hundred days he's just completely torched any semblance of credibility that he has. What do you mean? They are liars. This whole thing was sold off lies. And then you just lied every day throughout the whole thing, including right now. And yeah, it's true that a lot of the, the people in the media are criticizing him for making this deal because they want the war to continue. And he is right in a sense that, you know, a lot of them are liars. But hey, what position are you in to criticize them for that when you've been feeding us the bullshit you have
Rob Bernstein
for the last hundred plus days on the food claim. Because I saw JD Vance going off on this as well that you know, all the news agencies are lying to you. We're not just giving them money. If you read the agreement, there's nothing in there that says the funds can only be used to purchase American humanitarian goods, which I guess is basically food and medical supplies. It's not in writing. Then J.D. vance goes, how dare you guys say we're just giving them money. Well, buddy, that's what's written right here. And then of course the Iranians turn around and go, we never agreed to that. Give us our money. And yet you still have J.D. vance going, how dare you guys pretend that we're capitulating and just giving them the money. It's like, well, that's what's written. You guys have repeatedly lied to us about what Iran has agreed to. And they're not saying that, so why exactly is your story more truthful? But I guess that's what makes this administration so infuriating.
Dave Smith
All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is Trollco. Great company. Thrilled to have them on board. Trollco was built by two guys from the oil patch who were sick of clothing companies pretending blue collar workers don't exist. While most brands chase trends and influencers, Troll Co was made for people who work with their hands. They solve real problems and keep the world running. It's built on that simple dirty hands, clean money mindset. Show up, work hard, provide for your family and earn everything you've got. No handouts, no shortcuts, just respect for the overlooked guys doing physical, demanding, essential work every single day. The podcasters, if you know what I mean. Trollco makes tough, comfortable hoodies, tees, hats and real work wear that actually holds up and you don't need to be in the trades to wear it. Okay, well there you go. If you value self reliance, response, responsibility and hard work, Trollco is for you. All right, they've got me back in. Go check them out right now@trollco.com problem. That's T R O L L C O.com problem. Make sure to use the promo code Dave25 to get 25 off your first order. Troll Co, dirty hands, clean money, support a brand that supports real people. All right, let's get back into the show. Listen, I'll tell you man, they'd be better off like in the same way with negotiations, say with the negotiations with Iran. Right. The reason why this is a good deal to make is because clearly there was a recognition. Oh, okay, we're not in a place of strength. We gotta just throw money at them. It's good to be honest, to have an accurate self appraisal and know where you're at. And I think for the Trump administration to even try to be making this argument that actually we're winning, we're getting all these concessions, I think, think it's almost like you got to accept that there's no saving this, there's no saving this presidency or defending this, this war. Donald Trump would be better off if I was advising him to just point out how the media, the corporate media has such bloodlust, you know, to just go, man, I launched the war. But look at these guys. I mean, they would just have you fight the war forever. Oh, look at, oh, CNN's criticizing the deal. What's your position on what we should do? Cnn? Oh, I guess that like, he'd be better off to just point out how much they all love war than to sit here and try to argue that he's got some amazing concessions out of Iran. Again, this is, by the way, Rob, this is what you find yourself in a lot with this war is you're getting into arguments over what the administration claimed versus what the reality is. So like Donald Trump is claiming what we've gotten Iran to agree to new on the ground nuclear inspections. Well, that's not exactly clear that we've gotten that agreement. But Rob, really, even if we did, even if we did, I mean, so what? America's gotten this concession out of negotiations with Iran before Donald Trump had entered rounds of negotiations specifically where this was offered before. This is no big deal. You know, the fact that this is even the thing he's lying about to try to spin this, that I got a thing that I could have gotten before, that Obama got before that, that the international community had up until up until his 12 day war last year. What, what are you, what is there here to brag about?
Rob Bernstein
Yeah, well, not only are they bragging about winning, they're shaming everyone for even spinning this is not a win and claiming us all liars while, you know, even if we have it wrong, the other versions in writing, and you're not really presenting your story. And that's just what really gets me. It's the bitchy shit of like, how dare you guys pretend that this is us just sending the money. And it's like, well, where's the evidence of the other storyline.
Dave Smith
Yep. Yeah, absolutely. That's right. All right, let's, let's talk a bit here about, you know, because there'll be plenty to talk about, I'm sure, going forward about the very fragile state of this memorandum of understanding. But the big, the big, I don't know, news or the big viral clip that is really has all the, the commentator class chirping about it is what Tucker Carlson said in a recent interview. I did think, you know, this was really something worth, worth talking about and, and discussing on the show. You know, obviously, full disclosure, Tucker Carlson's a good friend. I've been a guest on his show a lot of times. He's been a guest on this show. There is probably, you know, there's me and, me and Tucker have different worldviews in, in many ways. I'm sure there's issues, substantial issues that we disagree on, but we got a whole lot of overlap about how we see the world and what we think, you know, U.S. policy ought to be, particularly on foreign policy. And well, I mean, look for people like us, Rob, I mean, Tucker Carlson is the biggest and has been, you know, Tucker Carlson has, he had the number one show in cable news for years. The number one show on cable news through the pandemic. The number one show, you know, up until he gets fired in, what was that, 22 or 23. He goes to, to the Internet and starts his podcast. It's become the biggest news podcast in America. Substantially bigger than his show on Fox News was. And he's a guy who's got almost, you know, like really, really represents the non interventionist right wing foreign policy. So it's been, it's pretty incredible for us that we've got a guy like that who represents our view. We kind of, in a way get a seat at the table because Tucker Carlson is, you know, nobody else. And this is also why I get defensive about Tucker when he's, he's criticized by people. But the truth, because I think he's an American hero. I mean, and I think he's a very genuine person as well. Nobody else who's in the game in Washington D.C. was going to interview Mike Pence or Ted Cruz or Mike Huckabee and ask them the questions that we wish they would get asked. You know what I mean? Like, only one guy was doing that, and that was Tucker Carlson. He's been relentlessly telling the truth and been great on the most important issues for years now. I mean, for, for quite a long time. But at least for the last Six years. Tucker Carlson has just been phenomenal. So anyway, this was, let's, let's go to the clip here. Was Tucker Carlson giving his, you know, his thoughts on the state of where he is with the Republican Party.
Guest or Additional Commentator
I would not support the Republican Party. There's no chance I would support the Republican Party not to support the Democratic Party. I don't know what I'm going to do. But at this point, you know, how could you support, how could I or any American voter support a political party that's not loyal to the United States, that puts the interests of a foreign country above those of its own citizens? Like that's, that's, you know, it's not possible to vote for people like that. And I'm not going to. And I think I voted Republican my entire life. I worked at Fox News, CNN, MSNBC. I've been a consistent defender for 35 years of the Republican Party. I mean, very consistent defender. But there's no defending this because it's immoral and it's exactly the opposite of what a political party in a democracy is charged with doing, which is representing its own voters, its own citizens, its own nation. And they're not doing that. So, no, I'm out. And if I'm out, then I think a lot of other people are out. I would not support.
Dave Smith
All right, Rob? Well, I, I thought that was interesting. I thought it was particularly interesting that it's, it's, it's coming out now that he's saying it now in this moment, obviously, I think all of us are rooting for Trump and Vance to be able to get this negotiation done and get out of this conflict. None of us are really confident that they're going to. But look, obviously, I mean, I guess everyone could kind of guess my take on this. I've been, I'm, I'm a bit younger and a bit more of a hothead than Tucker is. And so of course, I've been for a year, you know, calling for Donald Trump's impeachment or whatever. But I do think, obviously when Tucker Carlson says this, this is a big deal. It's a very big deal if the guy who's been the number one, you know, the, the number one right wing talk show host in the country for years now, the number one guy is saying he's so disgusted with this party he won't vote for them anymore. And I think that's a really big deal. I think it's really good. And I'm curious to get your thoughts on this, Rob, but I would Say, just first of all, there's, there's a lot we could talk about here. But first of all, this, the whole thing of like voting, I think only works if there's a carrot and a stick, right? Like even the way, the way in 2024 the whole podcast circuit kind of got together. The whole Libertarian Party and the podcast circuit and the Maha movement. There were like all these different little like coalitions that all came together like, we're going to support Trump. And when you put them all together, it was like, that's enough to win the popular vote and all the swing states. All right, well that only works to actually get us what we want if we will also be willing to withhold that vote when you don't give us what we want. You know, like that's, it's like, okay, so it's, it can't just be. Here's the thing. Because otherwise. Rob. Right, let's just say, hypothetically, let's say the election comes up in 2028 and we all go, including me and you. We all go. You know what we're throwing behind J.D. vance. I mean, fuck it. You know, J.D. vance, he did a good job negotiating the end of this. And you know, he's running against AOC or Gavin Newsom or whoever it is. And so certainly me or you could make an argument why he's better than them on a lot of different issues and blah, blah, blah. But the thing is that if we go, okay, you know what, one more time, the Libertarians and, and Maha and you know, whatever, all these different groups of people, the comedy podcast bros, whoever, we're all going to get together and support JD Vance, then essentially what we're just saying is just like, eh, you could lie us in a war to Israel and there's no cost to you for that. You still get our support. Even though you did that. Well, why, why would we be saying that? No, I think the message is this, even though we're supporting them getting out right now, it's like, yeah, how about no, you don't have our support and no, that's it. No one from this administration can be the person going forward. I mean, I wouldn't again, like, and I'm sure Tucker would probably agree. I haven't talked to him about this, but I'm sure you would probably agree. Like, I mean, I don't really care if you're a Democrat or a Republican. It's like, about the person. But like, yeah, why should we, why should we support anybody who put some foreign governments like Loyalty to them above loyalty to this country. I'm not seeing it. Any thoughts, Rob?
Rob Bernstein
I agree 100%. It's good to have the red lines and to let a party know that if they cross them, they won't have your support. And it's true that there are consequences too, if Republicans by and large, sit out the midterms or sit out the next general election because the liberals actually do have horrible policies that are overwhelmingly stupid and do influence our lives. Uh, the worst of which is, you know, potentially tech censorship and just more socialism for very stupid causes. But, you know, if, if you just constantly, if your vote is just constantly included in the base because you're just going to vote against the other team, you're never going to get representation. And it could be that, you know, let's just assume Massey's not running, but it could be that if enough Republicans just sat out the next election and said, f you, I understand that I'm gonna get stuck with the Democrat, but F you, that becomes a cleansing mechanism of, oh, we really can't go out and we can't get involved in these wars. And at the moment we've got an election cycle where it's literally best liar wins. That's the entire process here, is that people get up, they pretend to represent basically libertarian values of freedom and anti war, and then they get into office and they just represent the donor class. And I guess the one thing that could hopefully change is needing to have a track record of not being that person, which is a massy route to victory. And that maybe people actually opening up that on the campaign trail. For example, if J.D. vance comes around and pretends, hey, I was always anti war and I will have different foreign policy than Trump, I've learned my lesson about these foreign entanglements. I will make sure to represent you. I got an end to the war that people will go, nope, you're a liar. And actually dictate people who have been in Congress, Senate governors or otherwise that have a better track record on these issues so that, you know, have actually proved that they're against these things and aren't just lying because this is what people want to hear.
Dave Smith
Yeah, well, one of the things that was very interesting about Tucker saying this is that a lot of people have speculated that Tucker was going to be like a major force pushing J.D. vance in 28. You know, obviously his son, I think, worked for J.D. vance for a bit there. I don't think he does anymore. But this, at least to me seems to be a signal that that's not where his mind is, you know, and in fact, he's like, I'm disgusted by the whole thing. I think it, it embodies. It's a great thing for the American people to hear from one of, if not the biggest American political commentator is that he goes, my God, I'm just so disgusted with the Republicans, I'll never vote for them again. Obviously, I can't vote for Democrats. You know, it's just like, I give it like both these two political parties are just too beyond the pale. But look, when it comes to. Look, it's not even just that Donald Trump launched this war. It's that Donald Trump. You know, Rob, I don't know. I don't think I'm crazy in saying this in the same sense that in any, in any relationship, in life, in any friendship, business relationship, romantic relationship, you. Any person with some self respect has to have some boundaries. There have to be some lines you can't cross or we can't continue this relationship or. You know what I mean? There's. And in this case, it's not just that Donald Trump launched the war after promising not to.
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It's.
Dave Smith
It's that as he broke that promise, he, he then also ridiculed all of us. I mean, dude, he insulted Tucker and Megan and Candace and Alex Jones in the most vicious language, promoted Mark Levin and Lindsey Graham. He said, you know, horrible things about Joe Kent remarrying after he had gotten his wife killed in Syria. I mean, just like really, like he really, really crossed the line. And then, I mean, was just completely unhinged, was tweeting he's going to commit war crimes on Easter in the name of Allah. I mean, it got pretty wacky back there, Rob. And so the idea that you would think you can do all that, it almost should be a given that, like. Oh, yeah, of course. I mean, I've been saying this for at least a year, but it should just, in my opinion, it should almost be a given. They're like, oh, yeah, obviously, like, no, like J.D. vance, Marco, Ruby, no one from this administration can ever be supported again. That's that, like, if there's a Republican who. Well, obviously I'm openly pushing for Thomas Massie to run, but if there's an outside. If he doesn't, and, and there's an outsider Republican, if Tucker Carlson wanted to get in there or if there was someone else who wanted to fill that lane, I'm open to that. Hey, if, if a Democrat outside around, I'd be open to that. But no, you can't support anyone from this administration. We have to do that. Otherwise. There's no otherwise. Like, look, I can rob. I can respect almost like the agorist view against voting. I've made it myself before. If you want to argue that, like, voting is just a waste of time or you shouldn't vote at all, I understand there's an argument to that. But if you're arguing for voting or political action of any kind, then it. It makes no sense to. Not when someone insults you, this much crosses a line. This one breaks promises this much that you wouldn't go, okay, well, then I'm gonna.
Guest or Additional Commentator
I'm.
Dave Smith
I'm gonna use the only piece of leverage that I have to now punish you for that. So that's what we should do.
Rob Bernstein
Yeah. And it is fascinating hearing this from Tucker with the potential of a JD Vance run the next time of, hey, I'm out. And it's also fascinating to hear, Tucker, because this is. This has basically been my stance on voting, is I don't want to feel responsible, and I'm not going to empower the bastards. So I'm. I'm a willful dissenter. You know, make them. Make them earn your vote. And if everything's just voting against the other party, then, you know, you're never actually getting any representation.
Dave Smith
Well, I also do think that, look, from my perspective, and obviously, I mean, look, you get into, like, kind of. Of complicated questions here when you ask. When you ask about regrets or something like that, because, look, I made the decision to endorse Donald Trump with the information I had at the time. So if you ask me, do I regret that, it's like, well, I don't exactly know if I regret that, but, like, given the information I have now, that sure might change how I would feel about that. But, like, I can't go back and change that. Anyway, the point is, I hope this makes sense, Rob, but given the fact that I was a part of this effort, like, given the fact that that's in the past, and I can't change that now, but let's say I was a part of this effort of, like, you know, like, I was on Patrick Bet David's election day show, and I was on Joe Rogan's day after election day show in 2024, like, cheering on Donald Trump and talking about why we were coming together with this coalition where, you know, I was a part of a whole bunch of people who supported Donald Trump, who were like, question marks who didn't typically come out and endorse either the Democrat or Republican that ended up being a part of something that got him elected. Why would I not want now, given that that was the case now, wouldn't I want to even maximize the point of that? You'd want there to be a punishment now for not coming through on the anti war part of it. Like that just makes sense. It just makes it that much more of an effective thing to go.
Guest or Additional Commentator
Yeah.
Dave Smith
See, if you win these people over, you can win. If you don't win them over, it costs you, hopefully cost them winning. I don't, you know. All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is Brunt Workwear. I've been telling you guys about Brunt Workwear for a while. The most comfortable pair of work boots you'll ever own. Let me tell you something crazy that they do. They let you actually wear their boots to work before deciding if you want to keep them. Real job site days, not just walking around your house. And if they're not right for you, you send them back for a full refund. That's a 100% risk free trial. The reason they're doing this is because you're going to love them. Traditionally speaking, good work boots that held up on tough jobs were going to really brutally kill your feet. No more. Now you can get a pair of work boots that will stand up to the toughest job and they feel like a worn in pair of sneakers the first time you put them on. I'm telling you, I have a pair of these boots. I use them all the time. They're genuinely great. Go check them out. For a limited time, our listeners can $10 off at Brunt. When you use the promo code problem at checkout, get the most comfortable pair of work boots you will ever own. @bruntworkware.com use the promo code problem for $10 off. That's Bruntwork Wear.com promo code problem for $10 Off. All right, let's get back into the show. Okay, so as Tucker Carlson is having this moment, there was also another clip that I saw going around from Michael Knowles, good friend of the show, good personal friends with Rob. They were bar mitzvah together. It was a co. Bar mitzvah circumcised. Michael Knowles pretends to be Catholic, but he was a Jew. He grew up with Rob Bernstein in Connecticut. They're Jewish. But so he is making almost the opposite plea of his audience. And so I kind of thought, just immediately seeing this, the, the, the kind of juxtaposition of the two arguments was interesting to me. So I wanted to go through it because I have seen this. This seems to me to be, and again, I know I'm poisoning the well here, but I'll let you hear Michael's argument. But this seems to me to be like kind of the desperate plea of the Trump coalitionists, which at this point to me just seems to be like a lost, a long lost battle. Like the idea of even being in the game of like let's keep this coalition between Tucker Carlson and Ben Shapiro going is like, I don't think that's going to happen. But anyway, here, let's, let's go to Michael Knowles and hear his. For the rebuttal to Tucker Carlson.
Sponsor/Ad Voice
So you got, you got the Never Trumpers going after Vance. You've got a bunch of podcasters going after Trump cuz they're complaining about Iran or whatever other policy you've got all of. I'm not even saying these are minor issues. You know, the right always has factional disputes. I'm just pointing out while the right is doing all of this in fighting and to some degree a lot of navel gazing, settling personal petty grudges in some cases while that's going on, the left is waiting. The left is waiting to bring this back. The left is waiting for the right to destroy itself so that they can bring back transing your kids. That's what this, that's what this is about. This Father's Day. Just remember.
Dave Smith
All right, what can you say here, Rob? This also to me just seems like this really isn't going to work. I mean, even the language, and I appreciate that he kind of stops himself and corrects, but even the language using is like what? You got podcasters picking a fight with the president over Iran. I understand it's an important issue. Yeah, dude. With the commander in chief over what is this petty issue. I keep picking on the commander in chief for lying us into an unwinnable war and then losing said war, just devastating the global economy, costing us tens, if not hundreds of billions of dollars. Americans dead, little kids dead. All for nothing just to be internationally humiliated. But what is that? It's kind of like a petty beef. It's kind of like a. What is this, Rob? Oh God, it's He said, she said. Oh, there's, there's the podcasters fighting with Donald Trump in the schoolyard over unconstitutional wars. Grow up. We got woke movies to worry about.
Rob Bernstein
Grow up.
Dave Smith
There's a black little mermaid. Rob, please do culture war stuff with me. Not this yes. Yes. The President, the Commander in Chief, promised no new wars. He abandoned one of his core promises to his constituency and then mocked said constituency as he launched a war on behalf of a foreign country, only to lose the war and be internationally humiliated and degrade our entire country.
Guest or Additional Commentator
But
Dave Smith
the, the left still wants to trans the kids. Well, I don't know, Rob. You know, I, I, I mean, obviously me and you are as against trans and the kids as anybody else's, but the answer here can't be, look, you just gotta look the other way over this silly little, you know, unsustainable, permanent militarism, war, and crushing debt because there's some shit that's being pushed in the public schools. I don't know what to tell you. We've all been battling against this shit for many years now. This is the reason why none of us can send our kids to public schools, or one of the reasons why none of us can send our kids to public schools. But, yeah, I don't, Sorry. I mean, that's just that much more of a reason why we needed Donald Trump to be our defender and our protector, and we needed him to not get sucked into this bullshit adventurism. Any thoughts, Rob?
Rob Bernstein
Well, you know, it's an easy argument to make that the Democrats are actually worse until you launch a bad war. And then all of a sudden, it becomes a little bit of a conversation of, hey, maybe we've been better off with Kamala Harris. Maybe Kamala Harris was trying to stick around for two terms, and at least this was so risky she wouldn't have engaged in it. So you kind of did the one thing that makes it hard to convince people, hey, the Democrats are worse. And so we gotta rally around Republicans now. There's a lot of terrible things that come with the Democrats. I will never vote for a Democrat. They are. They're horrible. I lived through the Biden years. I lived through tech censorship. I've lived through, you know, being flirted with literally being a public enemy, a person who. What? I don't know, what were the health terms that they were throwing out? A detriment to public health, or maybe even a violent domestic terrorist with, you
Dave Smith
know, domestic terrorists, super spreader, you know, whatever.
Guest or Additional Commentator
The.
Dave Smith
What was the thing? The problem is you. The unvaccinated. Yeah, yeah.
Rob Bernstein
And then in speaking out against global warming, dei. Esg. You know, my entire worldview makes me a public enemy of the Democratic Party. Depending on how much power they have and how much they try and throw their agenda down our throats. The Democrats are terrible, but you guys cross the line where it's now a conversation. Are they actually worse? And what are we going to do to clean up the Republican Party so you guys don't lie us into more wars, get into office and just represent the donor class and all the people that you pretended you were going to get out of Washington and clean up. So I don't know, in my opinion is if you vote, you're actually responsible. You're empowering the bastards. And so, you know, to sit this one out and let the Republicans pay the consequence of the Democrats coming back, firstly, you're kind of assuming that the Democrats come back with so much power that they're actually able to pull all these things off. It could be that the Democrats have learned a little bit of their lesson that, you know, why. First, the trans issue this much, it's very unpopular and this is how we lose support. So, you know, you're kind of like assuming the worst version of the Democratic Party that they were just punished for. And it would almost be silly of them, the same as it was silly of Donald Trump to get into power and launch a war. It'd be pretty silly of the Democratic Party to come back and instantly go, oh, we're signing, we're making this legislation to make it easier to trans your kids. I, I that it would be silly of them. They might be that stupid, but it would be silly.
Dave Smith
I agree. I mean, look, dude, if you want to fear monger about what could happen if the Democrats come back into power, I'm not going to argue with you. They really pushed some crazy last time and I wouldn't be surprised if they push some crazy this time. I do tend to agree with you about particularly leading with the trans kids stuff, but again, this is just, this is yada, yada ing away what the issue is here, and there's just no amount of downplaying it that can start. It's like, what are we talking about here? We're not. This is, again, this is all, I don't know what like, like, this is all a matter of applying logic within reason. You know, if the case was that we had some very minor beef with Donald Trump, but he was so much better on all the most important issues, it would make sense to go, dude, what are you doing? You know, like, for example, whatever. Like, if, if there was president who like, generally you liked, but they were a little bit bad on tariff policy, a little bit bad on tax policy, and like Joseph Stalin was running against them. And you're like, I'm Sitting out the election, it would be fair to be like, dude, what are you doing? I mean, okay, you got your issues, but, but what are we talking about here, dude? We're talking about lying the country into war. A country that, that's on the verge of bankruptcy, that's on the verge of collapse, that, as you said, is on the verge of letting these crazy Democrats come back in. Well, this guy just handed it to them. So just take that anger out on the administration that launched this war, not on the supporters who don't like being lied to and mistreated.
Rob Bernstein
And you know what Democrats are going to be running on? It's going to be, hey, we got to not be in wars. We got to actually be America first and be spending money here on our socialist agenda and not on military adventures. Hey, Donald Trump, they brushed away the Epstein files and covered that up. We need to clean up the deep state and not be covering for pedophiles in Washington. And they're also gonna be going after Donald Trump for his personal corruption storylines. Now in some areas they're gonna be anti ice and you'll see those storylines. But there will be Democrats running for office as someone needs to oppose this president who's engaging in financial corruption and pulling our country into war. And for, for those Democrats that are running under that angle, I, I mean, I'm not going to be voting for them, but that's a better pitch than voting the Republicans who will empower Donald Trump to do more crazy, stupid shit.
Dave Smith
Well, maybe that's. Listen, man, maybe this is part of what just gets me annoyed with Michael Knowles making this, this argument and with lots of other people. It's not just him. And again, it's like, I like Michael Knowles despite the fact that he works at Daily Wire. I've always kind of liked that guy. I just, I think he's smart and he's well read. He's an interesting guy. And lots of people who I like take this position of like, well, we got to support the Republicans because they're better. I just like, I hate the idea of like putting the onus on the Republican voters to blindly support the Republicans rather than ever putting the onus on the Republican politicians to ever support the Republican voters. Like, why don't they have to do what's right for us and then we support them for coming through rather than us always having the obligation to support them. And, and it, they, they flip it around in this weird way where it's like, what are you doing now? We're gonna lose to the people who want to trans their kids. It's like, no, what's Donald Trump and Marco Rubio and Pete Hegseth doing now? We're going to lose to the people who want to trans the kids? Like, what? You know, Rob, even as you say it, you're like, oh, what are they. What? They're sitting here going like, oh, no. You have to be worried about their Democrat. The Democrats and their socialist agenda. You have to be worried about, you know, Mamdani and Mamdani's endorsed candidates winning their democratic socialist agenda. And from me and your perspective, we're just sitting here and we're like, oh, no, wait, are you telling me, Are you telling me their socialism for Americans policy was more popular than your socialism for the entire world policy? Okay, I can't believe you lost that one. Are you telling me that their, their wokeism for the kids policy was more popular than your wokeism for Jewish students? You're all the same. You're just. How about, why don't you oppose their woke socialism with individualism and liberty and being America first and then, and then, yeah, let's see. We could win that. We could win that with super majorities. But you don't want to actually be for any of those things because you're also a bunch of woke socialists. You just do it on behalf of Lockheed Martin in Israel. All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is Pron by El Nutra. Look, long work weeks and busy weekends can leave you feeling and looking depleted. But Prolon's five day fasting mimicking diet works at the cellular level to reset and rejuvenate you from the inside out, supporting sustained fat loss, lean muscle metabolism, slower aging, and even glowing skin. And look, you can start just five days, guys. You basically. I've told you about this before. You basically get all the benefits of fasting without actually having to give up food.
Rob Bernstein
So.
Dave Smith
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Rob Bernstein
into the show and okay, let's just say that the Republicans ran a very successful campaign of hey, we got to keep the Democrats in check. And so guys, this is the Democratic agenda. You got to vote Republicans. And let's just imagine that the Republicans win the midterms in a landslide. Donald Trump will get up the next day and go, you see, this is how great I am. This is how much American support I have. And he will go harder on the ego driven, unresearched agendas such as tariffs, foreign interventionalisms. They will not turn around and go, oh, we fucked up in the first half of this. We're going to get back to actually representing you guys. Thank you for support. It's probably, I'm not voting for Democrats, I'm not pitching anyone to vote for Democrats. Sit it out, I guess. But you know, Democrats getting in, if anything will just be a check on Donald Trump's power, which being is being used for foreign intervention and, and his own profiteering. So you know, for, for the government to be bogged down for the next two years and for Donald Trump to just be trapped in a Democratic mess of everyone coming after him is probably a better two years for us than Donald Trump getting a landslide win and going, look, everybody loves me. Here's more of what I'm doing.
Dave Smith
Yeah, yeah, that's right. Here, let's keep playing. Michael Knowles,
Sponsor/Ad Voice
you want to trans your kids. So says the New York Times is just waiting to bring back all of the racial politics of 2020 is just waiting to bring back all of the heavy handed government suppression of 2020. 2021.
Dave Smith
Here, just pause it real quick.
Sponsor/Ad Voice
We need to bring back all of it.
Dave Smith
I guess this is again just another point, like as I was saying, like from our perspective, you're every bit as socialist as they are. You're every bit as woke as they are. Like bring back the racialist politics. When did they leave? Exactly, Rob? I mean, I would argue that yes, there's been a shift from like the woke racialist politics of say like 2016 or maybe even Obama's second term, say 2012, 2013 through 2023 or something like that, 2022, but then it's just become the Zionist Jewish identitarianism has just totally dominated since then. I just. I just see it. I don't know. I mean, I know they like to call us the woke Reich or whatever, but they're. They're. They're just the woke left. The Zionists are just more of the same. Just. They just care about a different group, I suppose.
Sponsor/Ad Voice
This.
Rob Bernstein
It's also pretty telling of where this administration is at, and we saw this with Steven Crowder, where the pitch just boiled down to, okay, there's nothing to support here, but you gotta be there. The other thing's terrible. So, I mean, this is quite an admission of. Yeah, there's absolutely nothing good here for me to pitch to you guys. But just remember that the other side's really bad and is more your enemy.
Dave Smith
Okay, well, we're fighting over. While we're fighting over what's bad about us, they're over here, and they're so bad. All right, let's keep playing.
Sponsor/Ad Voice
I'm not saying the right needs to sit down and shut up. I'm just saying that as the right works out all of its problems in the lead up to the primary for 2028, what happens after Trump, as that happens? I am just. I am imploring the American right. Please keep some perspective. Your enemy is not some podcaster. That's not your chief threat. Your enemy is not JD Vance or Marco Rubio or Ron DeSantis or Ted Cruz or Rand Paul or this guy or that guy or this guy, anyone who might run for president. This is your enemy. This is the threat. These are the people who want to castrate your kids. These are the people who want to fling open the border. These are the people who want to take control of your life. That's the threat.
Rob Bernstein
Yeah. They're not the ones that want to take me to war with Iran.
Dave Smith
Yeah. I mean, like, what do you. It's like, a weird thing. Like, first of all, right, trying to find this kind of middle ground of, like. Guys, it's not a podcaster. But the thing that, like, what's carrying his entire argument here is just the tone. It's just. Because it's not a podcaster, it's not the Commander in Chief launching an illegal war that he lied you into. It's not Pete Hagg, Seth and the War Department. Wait, why? Other than your tone, why is that not my enemy? Yes.
Guest or Additional Commentator
The.
Dave Smith
The guys who just, like, bled hundreds of billions of dollars from the global economy, caused up the American taxpayer, I think, confirmed $60 billion. Way more than that. When they add everything up. There's, like, 15 dead Americans, hundreds wounded, thousands of innocent people killed. Why? Why is that not what I'm supposed to be against? Well, yes. Okay. People pushing. Like, if your argument is like, don't also, like, you should also be against people pushing trans, you know, ideology in schools, then, okay, I think we're all sold on that. But number one. And again, I guess this really is what.
Guest or Additional Commentator
But
Dave Smith
it's just like, look, if your argument is that, dude, we just can't be paying this much attention to what the fuck's going on with Iran, then I. Then that makes sense. Like if. If your argument was just like, dude, we're worried about, like, whether, like, the Shiite crescent is fully aligned or broken up, and whether there's now a Sunni radical in charge of Syria, and therefore the weapon shipments from Iran to southern Lebanon have been interrupted. And if Israel can annex. That's. It's like, what are you talking about, dude? We got people trying to trans our kids right here. We got, like, lots of pro. Then, okay, fine, but why are we paying so much attention to Iran? Because Donald Trump launched a war there. So what the hell, man? If this is your perspective, then obviously you should be the biggest critic of this administration for doing this, because you launch a war somewhere. Yeah, we're going to talk about that. And my God, if you launch a war and get it completely wrong and lie and lose the war, that's going to really hurt your coalition. And if your coalition is the only one capable of defeating the people who want to push the trans stuff on kids, then it's.
Rob Bernstein
And.
Dave Smith
And you recognize that as a big concern, then, okay, you should be against this dude destroying his own coalition, as I've been since he's been doing it. And the other thing here, Rob, is just that, like, we're gonna look again. I like Michael Knowles, I like Matt Walsh, but they do often times it seems like kind of comment on these things without touching the elephant in the room with the expectation that we're all supposed to not mention the elephant in the room, which is that you work for Ben Shapiro. You work for Ben Shapiro at the Daily Wire. I mean, you work for an organization that is a part of the Israel lobby, an integral part, and sitting it while J.D. well, who's making it out like J.D. vance is the worst, by the way. Hold on here. Let's just go. Let's play what Ben Shapiro was saying. We played him on yesterday's show. Let's play Ben Shapiro's latest. Rob, as. As you got his. His guy There at his company, saying, we can't be acting like Republicans are the problem. Here's Ben Shapiro there.
Rob Bernstein
He was talking about how awesome Pakistan. They're just the best.
Guest or Additional Commentator
They're.
Rob Bernstein
They're a Chinese cutout gang. Pakistan is in the negotiations because the Chinese wanted them there. They're an Islamist dictatorship.
Guest or Additional Commentator
This is.
Rob Bernstein
This is ridiculous
Dave Smith
about the Pakistani roads.
Sponsor/Ad Voice
Very good.
Dave Smith
We love Pakistan.
Guest or Additional Commentator
Thank you.
Rob Bernstein
We love Pakistan.
Sponsor/Ad Voice
Okay.
Rob Bernstein
He says he walked through him. We love Pakistan. Do we? Do we love Pakistan?
Dave Smith
Can we again, every time we play Ben Shapiro, you can just see what a dishonest tool this guy is. What's he doing here, Rob? What's he doing? It's complaining that J.D. vance is being pleasant in the negotiations, but he's saying nice things about Pakistan and nice things about their leadership, because that's what you do when negotiations, dude. In fact, Pat Buchanan's talked about this before, which is very interesting, but Pat Buchanan was a speechwriter for Richard Nixon. Now, when Nixon went to China, he talked about. He had to, like, write nice things to say about Mao Zedong. And he talked about how it, like, drove him crazy because he's like, you know, the most murderous dictator ever. But, like, I don't know if that's what you do when you. Now, I don't necessarily love that we could get into a long conversation about it, but, like, you're trying to end a war. Pakistan is the country that's mediating the negotiations. What's he supposed to do? Go there and punch the dude in the nose and say, your wife's a whore or something? Like, what do you want, Rob? So this is literally Ben Shapiro sitting here just trashing JD Vance, just trying to undermine the negotiations. He's got no legitimate complaint. He's like, let's show a clip of him coming in and saying, we love Pakistan. Like, what? So he's just. Just trying to undermine that. So anyway, Rob, do you see my point here? How are you going to be Michael Knowles, work at the Daily Wire and go, guys, guys, we can't have all this right wing infighting. We got this clear threat that is the left trying to trans the kids. When your boss, the company you work at, the flagship show of this network, is 100% dedicated to undermining the right, so long as they're not fighting Israel's wars. And everyone knows that, like, straight up, you're essentially what Michael Knowles is saying in a way. Does it. Could we stop fighting about Israel? Could we stop all having to constantly fight about Israel? All right, I get that. But why is it that we're fighting? Oh, you work for an Israeli spy in effect, right?
Rob Bernstein
Yeah.
Dave Smith
I'm like, okay, that's kind of the issue here, man.
Guest or Additional Commentator
We could.
Dave Smith
Cuz, Rob, if it wasn't for that, guys like me and you and Michael Knowles could probably all be together and just go, yeah, dude, we're against the left Trans and kids. Speaker 1 let's focus on that.
Rob Bernstein
And here's the pitch. Ben Shapiro didn't want a big tent. Remember, you can't have the crazies in the tent. Ben Shapiro wants a tent that specifically is Israel first. And so now your pitch is you come back to us and you go, listen, the Republican Party's gonna be Israel first, but the other guys are worse, so you gotta get on board. And Well, I don't know if it's the Israel first 10, are you guys really the better option for one and for two, why do we gotta remake the Republican Party as Your smaller Israel First 10? Oh, and by the way, you have to support us because the other guys are worse. Great. So it's like a hostage negotiation of that we're stuck with you. You got to give me a better pitch for, for, you know, for, for me to push support or that you guys are the better option. I just.
Dave Smith
And there's also, look, I mean, there's something where, look, let's just say hypothetically, Rob, like, you, you move into like a town or something like that, and let's say the town is like, like, you know, 80 socialist or something. All right, I don't know, this isn't a great example, but let's just say you lived amongst a bunch of lefties or something like that, and there was like a vote coming up for stuff, and you kind of just like, accept, like, all right, I'm not gonna like win the vote on all these things. So maybe like, you support a group of people who like, agree with you. Like 20. Because the only people only agree with you 10. So you're just like, all right, I'll get a little bit more. Like, I understand being a junior partner in a coalition. This is, by the way, something that a lot of people have said to libertarians over the last year as we've been trashing Donald Trump. And they go, hey, well dude, you're a junior partner in a coalition. So like, you don't get everything. You get a few things that you want, but the majority gets much more of what they want because they're the bigger portion of the coalition. Well, it's like, okay, well, first of all, okay, fine, but then I still get to voice my opinion, because that's what that means. You wanted me when you wanted my support. But that also comes with me getting to say what I want. So whatever. But then also, you know, Rob, whatever position you may have had in this town, that was 80% socialist. Well, now let's say the town is 80% free market libertarian, and someone comes to you with that same offer where you get 20 of what you want, you might go, no, not taking that deal now, because, like, why should. No, like, you're the junior partner actually, in this coalition. Well, okay, what coalition are we talking about here? Now listen, I'll be the first to admit that if you're talking about me and Rob's more hardcore libertarian, you know, views, if you're saying, like, hey, we should abolish the central bank, something me and Rob both believe in, does that have overwhelming super majority support? No, not really. Most people probably don't even know what the implications of that even mean. Maybe people would be open to it, but like, no, Rob, is that an issue that's at the forefront of people's minds that they're really thinking about, like us abolishing the central bank and getting rid of fiat currency and instituting sound money? No, this is not an issue that people are thinking, by the way. Take me and Rob's word for it. You should. You should think about that and you should do it. But regardless, what are we talking about here? Support for Israel? Support for endless wars? Support for the war in Iran? These are issues where super majorities of the American people are on our side. Not just this Donald Trump's coalition, but the American people, Rob, why should we be in the. Like, it's not as if we're in a position where, look, the overwhelming percentage of the American people support this war. So we're either with the people who like the war or we're with the people who like the woke. Shit. The point of view that we represent, me and you on this, Rob, is that we think preaching trans ideology to kids is insane and criminal. We also think this war in Iran is insane and criminal. You know who that represents? The overwhelming majority, like 80 of the country or something like that. So why the hell should we not? Just like. You know what I'm saying, Rob? Like, sometimes this does just become like a. A negotiation of sense. Why shouldn't we be asking for more here? The market dictates that this is where the people are at. Why the hell should. Why is Ben Shapiro the major part in this coalition when the people are with Tucker Carlson.
Guest or Additional Commentator
Right?
Rob Bernstein
I agree 100% here.
Dave Smith
Let's just play the last little bit of Ben Shapiro here and then we'll wrap up.
Rob Bernstein
Was praising the Pakistanis to his Field marshal in Pakistan, Aseem Manir.
Dave Smith
I will say that since Field Marshal Munir welcomed us with the prime minister
Rob Bernstein
in Islamabad, I have joked that I have two very, very important people in
Dave Smith
my life, an Indian and a Pakistani. The Indian is my wife, and the Pakistani is Field Marshal Munir. And I've probably talked to Field Marshal Munir more than I've talked to anybody
Rob Bernstein
else over the last three months. That's magical. Isn't that nice? Isn't that wonderful? No, it's weak and ridiculous. That field Marshal has literally called for the destruction of the state of Israel, which is our ally in this war, unless you forgot.
Dave Smith
Oh, so that's the problem. He's talking to somebody who called for the destruction of Israel. It's like, again, we're trying. We. The reality here, dude, is that we lost a war. The global economy is on the brink. The commander in chief, who put all of his entire reputation in on selling the war, has admitted that the global economy was on the brink. And that's why we had to end it. We're in this very delicate process of trying to negotiate an end to this thing. And so we're not living through a steep recession by this time next year. And Ben Shapiro is doing everything he can to undermine it. He's complaining about how the vice president has basic pleasantries that he made a joke about how it's. It's basically my wife and this guy. What's the joke? The joke is that he spent a lot of time with this guy. They've been working on the negotiations, right? What's the. Ben Shapiro's issue is that he took a picture. So, like, for all these people here, like, I guess just look, man, we're with Tucker Carlson on this because it's obvious, like, the move here is to tell the truth and to stand up for what the vast majority of the people of this country believe in. Why? You know, just because we're in the world of, like, talking about the news doesn't require us to be sociopathic liars or political actors, as they call them. Rob, you know, we don't have to go around here and lie through our teeth and be like, okay, like, because the lefties who want to trans the kids are so crazy. I'm going to pretend that launching a mass murder campaign on behalf of Benjamin Netanyahu in the Mossad in Iran is no big deal. Nothing, nothing requires that of me. And I don't feel like it. All right, that's it for us today. Come on out, Houston, Texas. Comicdabesmith.com Come see us go find, Go follow Rob on the porch tour. Where are you gonna be, Rob? One more time.
Rob Bernstein
Raleigh, Hampstead and Myrtle beach, something like that. And check out run your mouth podcast. That's it. Thanks, dudes.
Dave Smith
All right, sounds good. Catch you guys tomorrow. Peace.
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Rob Bernstein
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Host: Dave Smith (w/ Rob Bernstein)
Date: June 24, 2026
Network: GaS Digital
In this episode, Dave Smith and Rob Bernstein dive deep into the ongoing fallout from the Trump administration’s failed Iran war and the Republican Party’s response. The show’s theme is catalyzed by a viral, blunt statement from Tucker Carlson declaring his break with the GOP, thus raising urgent questions for libertarians, paleoconservatives, and all those who feel politically homeless in the current climate. The hosts critically evaluate the narratives from Republican influencers (notably Michael Knowles and Ben Shapiro) and whether appeals to “lesser evil” coalitionism can survive Trump’s failures and betrayals.
Timestamp: 02:56–17:56
Timestamp: 17:56–25:46
Timestamp: 21:05–27:47
Tucker’s Bombshell Statement:
Smith highlights Tucker Carlson’s viral, damning break with the Republican Party, delivered in a tone of deep moral frustration. Carlson insists the party now serves “a foreign country” above its own citizens and refuses to vote for them going forward.
The Importance of Leverage:
Smith stresses that “carrot-and-stick” electoral discipline is necessary: “withhold your vote when the party betrays,” lest policy demands be ignored.
Consequences for Betrayal:
Bernstein endorses burn-it-down withdrawal, willing to let the GOP lose and Democrats take over, so long as the cost is felt and future betrayals are deterred.
Timestamp: 32:04–51:26
Michael Knowles’ “Lesser Evil” Plea:
Knowles (from The Daily Wire) urges the right to stop factional infighting (“over Iran or whatever”) and focus on defeating the left, who will “bring back transing your kids.”
Smith and Bernstein’s Rebuttal:
The hosts hammer Knowles’ argument as profoundly unserious—dismissing core conservative liberty and antiwar values as petty when compared to Trump’s catastrophic war.
The Elephant in the Room - The Israel Lobby:
Smith points out Knowles’ and Shapiro’s direct institutional interests—working for The Daily Wire, which he alleges acts as part of the “Israel lobby,” undermining any non-interventionist, America First turn in GOP foreign policy.
Timestamp: 51:26–63:36
On Trump’s Failed Iran Messaging
On Political Loyalty After Betrayal
On Right-Wing Media Hypocrisy
On the Terrain of American Opinion
The episode is both fiery and reflective, with Dave Smith and Rob Bernstein expressing deep frustration at right-wing media’s attempts to minimize or distract from Trump’s war failures. They argue for a genuine, antiwar, anti-woke populism, and uphold Tucker Carlson’s “walk away” moment as a much-needed signal to the party apparatus. Despite the sometimes caustic banter, their call is clear: the base must exercise real leverage, refuse coalition under false pretenses, and demand actual representation on core liberty and antiwar values.
For listeners:
If you care about liberty, anti-intervention, and being more than just a plank in establishment power, this is essential listening. The gauntlet is down: what will the post-Trump right look like, and will populist, antiwar voices shape its future?
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