You Don’t Hate Neocons Enough

Summary

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Podcast Summary: "You Don’t Hate Neocons Enough"

Podcast: Part Of The Problem
Host: Dave Smith (with Robbie "the Fire" Bernstein)
Date: August 11, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Dave Smith and co-host Robbie Bernstein dive into the fallout of the ongoing Iran war, the failures of neoconservative foreign policy, and the contemporary debates within American media and politics about interventionism, Israel, and American priorities. Dave critiques the historical amnesia and hypocrisy of American pundits like Mark Levin and Ben Shapiro, addresses charges of anti-Semitism, and speaks candidly about the disconnect between the ruling class and everyday Americans. The episode presents a sharp, unsparing libertarian critique with comedic flair, staying true to Smith’s irreverent voice.

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Key Themes & Discussion Points

1. The Debate Culture & Dave’s Challenge to Neoconservatives ([03:54]–[06:49])

• Dave Recaps Recent Media Appearances: He recently debated Democratic Socialists and argued with Cenk Uygur on Piers Morgan’s program, noting the surreal consensus on how failed socialism is but asking why it’s still branded as a legitimate alternative.
• Calling for Debates: Dave proposes two big public debates — one with a top defender of the Iran war, and another with a leading Democratic Socialist (naming Hassan Piker and Zohran Mamdani as possible opponents).
  • Notable Quote: “I want someone to actually sit down and argue with me right now as we’ll get into what the latest in the war is there… We should be the guy. But, yeah, like, if I could get. Mamdani, that’s still… a dream I’ll hold onto…” ([04:37])
• Debate Fatigue: Smith reflects on his record in debates, joking that he’s “won all the debates” and notes big names fear debating him after previous opponents were “humiliated.”

2. The Iran War: Total Failure and Historical Parallels ([06:51]–[18:18])

• Failed Predictions: Dave observes how easily neocon talking points get memory-holed when proven disastrously wrong, contrasting his own on-the-record stances.
  • Notable Quote: “The other side just really counts on you forgetting what they said through the whole time.” ([07:23])
• War Status Update: Robbie goes over Trump’s failed policy moves, from blockades to attempted deals — all rebuffed by Iran, whose “maximalist demands” now effectively humiliate the US ([09:44]).
  • Notable Quote (Robbie): “Donald Trump has basically just returned to, all right, we’ll just stick with the blockade because their economy is in a worse position than ours… we’re going to bleed them dry. Which obviously hasn’t worked thus far…” ([10:50])
• Iran’s Strategic Win: The hosts analyze Iran’s chess-like maneuvering, closing the Strait of Hormuz and neutering the US agenda.
• Nuclear Realities: Dave highlights that, ironically, US policy has made Iran more likely to develop nuclear weapons; an outcome neocons claimed they were trying to prevent.
  • Notable Quote: “We probably just pushed Iran to go nuclear. Great job, neocons. You do not hate neocons enough, dude.” ([17:28])

3. Mark Levin Clip — Sacrifice, Boomers, and Neocon Hypocrisy ([23:01]–[48:27])

• Mark Levin’s Rhetoric: The show features and eviscerates a Mark Levin monologue glorifying WWII-era sacrifice while lamenting America’s unwillingness to “destroy that country” (Iran) today.
  • “I remember a time when America would say, let’s go. Let’s destroy that country, destroy that government. You don’t get to kill thousands of our fellow citizens…” ([23:35] – Mark Levin)
• Critique of Levin: Dave and Robbie ridicule Levin’s “boomer” myth-making and hypocrisy, invoking WWII for present-day wars unwilling to shoulder risk themselves.
  • Dave: “He’s saying all these other guys made a sacrifice, so you guys should go make a sacrifice. Notice this: This in many ways is the essence of the critique against the boomers. It’s like: invoke the sacrifice of the last guy to employ the next guy to make a sacrifice.” ([25:05])
• Reframing the Narrative: The hosts stress the difference between WWII and America’s interventions since, noting the lack of genuine threat and public support.
• Mockery of Sacrifice: They skewer calls for more sacrifice from America’s youth, pointing out the economic hardships already faced, and call out the double standard of elite pundits who risk nothing.
  • Notable Moment: “Could we even do a draft anymore in this country?… That’s the real problem we have.” ([32:14] – Smith, mocking Levin)
• On War Worship: Dave identifies the perverse tendency to glorify suffering itself, as though rationing, bereavement, and economic harm justify endless intervention.
  • “He’s bragging about the suffering. There was rationing, regular people had to collect copper. There was food insecurity. Everybody sacrificed. People were waiting to find out if their kids were dead.” ([47:53])

4. Ben Shapiro & Bill O’Reilly: Contempt for Americans and the Politics of Anti-Semitism ([50:26]–[66:19])

• Culture War Dynamics: Bill O’Reilly bemoans Jon Stewart’s insufficient outcry against anti-Semitism. Ben Shapiro claims most Jews are “Jews in name only” if they do not back Israel, conflating Zionism with real Jewishness.
  • Shapiro: “If you are looking at people who actually care about Jewish practice… who care about Israel, which is part of Jewish practice… that is what real Judaism means.” ([56:07])
• Smith’s Critique: Dave accuses Shapiro of using a “deception technique,” only counting Jews as pro-Israel when convenient and weaponizing Jewish identity to delegitimize dissent.
  • Notable Quote: “If support for a foreign country is a religious obligation for you, sorry, you can’t get offended when people point that out and criticize it. Dual loyalty is no longer an anti-Semitic trope, Ben Shapiro, because you just said it’s part of our religious duty.” ([57:40])
• On False Charges of Anti-Semitism: The hosts argue that labeling critics of Israel as anti-Semites actually fosters real anti-Semitism, and stress that criticizing a government does not equate to bigotry against a people.
  • (Robbie) “If someone like Jon Stewart is criticizing the actions of Israel, it keeps people from actually being anti-Semites.” ([54:22])
• Disinformation & Group Identity: Smith attacks the way Shapiro and others treat Jewish identity as a flexible concept: the whole group is invoked as victims when convenient, but critics are written off as “not real Jews.”
• Broader Media Impact: The segments with O’Reilly and Shapiro reveal a media climate where boomer conservatives and neocons resentfully resent public resistance to war and social engineering.

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Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• Dave Smith: “The other side just really counts on you forgetting what they said through the whole time.” ([07:23])
• Robbie Bernstein: “Donald Trump has basically just returned to, all right, we’ll just stick with the blockade… Which obviously hasn’t worked thus far.” ([10:50])
• Mark Levin: “I remember a time when America would say, let’s go. Let’s destroy that country, destroy that government. You don’t get to kill thousands of our fellow citizens…” ([23:35])
• Dave Smith: “He’s saying all these other guys made a sacrifice, so you guys should go make a sacrifice…” ([25:05])
• Ben Shapiro: “That is what real Judaism means… who care about Israel, which is a part of Jewish practice…” ([56:07])
• Dave Smith: “If support for a foreign country is a religious obligation for you… Dual loyalty is no longer an anti-Semitic trope, Ben Shapiro…” ([57:40])

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Memorable Moments

• Dave and Robbie roast the image of Mark Levin scolding modern Americans for not being “cannon fodder” ([32:14]–[34:44]).
• Mockery of out-of-touch boomers with old-fashioned names (“Mildred… Gertrude… a malted”) ([34:19]).
• **Sharp libertarian retort on foreign wars: “A soldier dying in a foreign country is not the same thing. Like, you grabbed a gun and put on a uniform and invaded a country. You’re a military target now.” ([29:39])
• Dave’s deconstruction of “dual loyalty” accusations and the shifting Overton window among conservative celebs ([55:54]–[62:43]).

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Conclusion

Throughout the episode, Dave Smith and Robbie Bernstein mount a comprehensive and biting critique of neoconservativism, American interventionism, and the hypocrisy of elite media figures. The show challenges persistent narratives about sacrifice, patriotism, anti-Semitism, and the morality of US foreign policy, offering clear-eyed, often scathing libertarian commentary. The episode is especially timely amidst current events, providing listeners with both a historical context and a sharply irreverent take on today’s political discourse.

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For listeners seeking a blend of incisive critique, historical perspective, and sardonic humor on America’s endless wars and media culture, this episode of "Part Of The Problem" delivers.

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

What's up everybody? What's up? Welcome to a brand new episode of Part of the Problem. I'm Dave Smith. He is Robbie the Fire Bernstein. How are you feeling, sir?

[C]

I'm doing well. Great weekend of porches and already this Wednesday I'm back in Chicago. Then you and I are in Appleton, Wisconsin. I'm going to film those shows because that's an excellent room. And then Sunday I got Madison. I still got a lot of porches. Davey Philly next week along with Doylestown, doing a gig in Porchester. And Max is the original porch. And got to put together my September. So if you got a Kansas City or Reno, hit me up.

[B]

That's this weekend. We're in Appleton, Wisconsin, few days, few days away. August 13th, 14th and 15th. Looking forward to that. Yeah, that was a great club. We really love that club. Hate that town. Well, like the people who came out to our shows were cool. Just like the town. What it has to offer. You guys know you live there.

[C]

I don't even know if there's a town. I was staying by a river that I went for a run and there were too many bugs and there was nothing edible to eat. Unless you like fried cheese curds, I guess.

[B]

Well, there, yeah, we did have a tough time finding stuff to eat. You know where there's not a tough time finding stuff to eat is Austin, Texas, which will be the next stop after that for me. I know the early shows on Friday and Saturday are sold out for the mothership, but late shows and Sunday, I believe I'm gonna check right now. Yes, late shows and Sunday still have limited seating available, so go grab Those. Comic Dave Smith.com Porch Tour.com for all the Rob's dates. All right, let's get into some stuff. So I, I gotta say this was. So I just recorded an episode of Pierce Morgan which was, I thought a particularly good one, but one that I was like, oh, I wish there was more Time to get into some stuff. But I did end up. Well, we ended up talking about, like, the. The topic was like, the Democratic Socialists and Mamdani and all these guys winning their primaries, you know, the. What's the name out in Michigan and them. And. And then Hassan Piker became like, a big topic of the thing. And I did end up, like, arguing with Jank a little bit because, you know, you go see it for yourself. But, like, Jank's position was essentially like, hey, look, this is what the war hawks do. They try to ruin anybody who has anything controversial that they've said, but they really hate them because they're critics of ISRA warfare state. And I was kind of like, yeah, I know. And that sucks when they do that, but we all know that's not why I'm doing it, right? So why does he love Ma so much? You know, like, what the hell? Like, this is really weird, man. And a lot of reasonable people got some reasonable concerns about socialism. Why on earth are you branding yourself after the most failed thing that humans have ever invented? You know? And, like, so it ended up getting into kind of, like an interesting conversation, I thought. But it was kind of. I guess one of the things that was kind of cool about it, too, was that it's almost like the consensus is already that we all disagree with them. But now let's get into the argument about which one of us, you know, critics is not insane.

[D]

I don't know.

[B]

I thought it was like, a good, important conversation to have. I want to try. I want to try a lobby hard for that Hassan Piker debate because he had already accepted it, man. And we really should make that happen. And I'm friends with his uncle. I should be able to make this. This happen.

[C]

But anyway, I like the idea of that debate, and I also like the mom. Donnie, sit down. We got to make this happen.

[B]

This is my thing right now. In fact, I'm going to put out a tweet about this later today, because I'm going to start this. This is what I want to do, okay? Because it's been a little while since I've done. I mean, I do the Piers Morgan debates regularly, but it's almost been a little while since I've done, like, a big debate outside of that. And part of it is because it's all over. I've won all the debate. Like, I don't know what to say. I've won all the debates. Like, what else is there to debate?

[C]

And.

[B]

And it did also kind of hit a level where like, and I knew this, I knew this with Cuomo and I knew it with Douglas Murray, where I was like, I'm not going to be able to get too many more of them. You know what I mean? Like, I'll get a couple big names.

[E]

I'll.

[B]

I'll humiliate them. But then it's going to be very tough to get, you know, more big names to want to step up and do that. But what I want to do is there's two debates that I want to have, right? And I want to have. I want to do a big. These don't have to be live or whatever, but I would kind of like to do. If we could do a way to do it in person, I would like to do that. But I'm flexible on all of that because it does make it much easier if you don't have to do that. But I want to do a big debate on Iran. Who is the biggest talk. Who is the biggest talk at this point? Who will still come defend this shit? Like, who can we get? You know, that's what I want. The biggest person who's willing to man up, who defended the 12 Day War in this war in Iran. I want someone to actually sit down and argue with me right now as we'll get into what the latest in the war is there. And then the other one is Democratic socialists. And Hassan seems like the guy for that, that we should. We should be the guy. But, yeah, like, if I could get. Mom, Donnie, that's still. That's still a dream I'll hold on to, which I won't give up on. Come on, Mom. Donnie. We're just a couple of New York City Jews trying to find our way in the world. Let's. Let's do it. But that's what I'd like to do. I'd like to do the biggest advocate of the war in Iran and the biggest advocate of democratic socialism that I can get. I think that would. I think that would be good and useful. And I don't know. That seems like that's what fits the moment right now would be. Would be those two debates. All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is the Wellness Company. And they've just launched their new product, Smile. Say bye bye to receding gums. Gum recession is not just cosmetic. Millions of people deal with bleeding gums, tooth sensitivity, and even tooth loss. And once gums start pulling back, most toothpastes do absolutely nothing to help. But now meet Smile, the Wellness company's next generation toothpaste, designed to support gum repair, strengthen teeth, reduce sensitivity, and gently whiten your smile. Smile is powered by healing peptides like BPC157, known for helping reduce inflammation and supporting the repair of gum and bone tissue. The result of using Smile is stronger gums, healthier teeth, and a brighter smile. So head over to TWC Health problem and use the promo code problem to get 10% off. Once again, TWC Health slash problem. Promo code problem for 10% off. All right, let's get back into the show.

[D]

Love it.

[C]

New heads for the mantle.

[B]

Well, I tell you, I, I just shared on Twitter if anyone wants to look. It's amazing how well this, this, it ages when you're not saying indefensible, horrible things. But it's like I posted a clip from Pierce Morgan that was just about a year ago, a little shy of a year ago. It was from September of last year. So we're. It was, in fact, I think it was posted on September 9th, I want to say. And so that would be what, just basically a month short of, of a year. And let me, let me double check on that. But. Yeah, but so it's the. And it's at the time when the Defenders of the 12 Day War are arguing about how, you know, it was such an easy thing or whatever. And, and I was saying that we're at halftime as they're bragging about this whole thing, you know, and it's like just a. A year later, like the argument completely collapses. One side, one is completely vindicated, the other one completely collapses. And then it's tougher to get these people to, to want to show up and defend that. They were saying that the whole time. But it really is, it's. It's remarkable. And I know probably we do it a little bit too much. I shouldn't say we. I do it a little bit too much. But I mentioned how good our track record is. But like, it's amazing how much the other side just really counts on you forgetting what they said through the whole time. And I gotta say, as much as Cenk has been cool to me personally and I, I like the guy and respect him. I do. I did get a little bit of a feeling with that too, where, like, it's like now when Wokeism comes up, you know, it's like AOC and all them. Did you see the AOC quote? She goes, Look, Wokeism 1.0 was crazy.

[C]

I did not. But that's remarkable.

[B]

Yeah. Just look, Wokeism 1.0 was crazy. We'll all admit that now while taking no responsibility for it. Like, no one wants to talk about what they were saying in the middle of COVID or what they were saying in the middle of the trans insanity, or what they were saying at the beginning of Ukraine or what they. You know, it's like they. They run away from those positions, and it's almost as if were to pretend that they never had them. Whereas, like, I don't think there's a single position that I want to run away. I'm not saying I didn't get anything wrong, but, like, I definitely got some things wrong over the years. You know, I thought masks worked at the beginning of COVID Like, I got some things on Covid wrong. I was always against the mandates, but I remember just generally my position being like, yeah, probably helps a little bit to be wearing a mask. So I saw those studies that were like, no, it didn't. The mask compliance didn't have any. So, okay, I adjusted. But, like, I don't know, I'm pretty. I'd be pretty comfortable for you to pull any random Piers Morgan appearance I've had over the last three years or whatever, and I'd be like, yeah, I'll defend everything I was saying. Doesn't seem like that crazy of a standard. Okay. So anyway, the latest in the war, Rob, it's not going very good. What have you heard?

[C]

Oh, well, it seems like Donald Trump is desperate to just leave, and the Iranians are making it tougher for him to do so. He flirted with land blockade. That was a dumb idea. I guess they asked people for creative ideas. No one came forward with. With anything. Then he said, we're going to do the biggest strikes we've ever done. And obviously just walked completely away from that because, you know, all of our people that we buy oil from the region were like, you guys are making too much of a mess. Please don't blow up all the oil we want to sell you. So if you could not do that, that would be better for us. And then Donald Trump finally accepted, I guess, that the war is over. They finally admitted that our supply of critical missiles is running low. And he goes, all right, let's. Let's cut a deal on the straits. And so the Iranians came back with an even worse deal than the MoU, which was, the straits are open for everyone but America and Israel, and you guys got to pay up. We want the $300 billion upfront in restoration. All those terrorist people that we're supporting in the region, you now have to walk away from those battles as well. And you got to see them as our partners. I mean, they really put some punishing language into their new terms for calling it a war. And so now Donald Trump has basically just returned to, all right, we'll just stick with the blockade because their economy is in a worse position than ours. And so we're not really going to negotiate with them. We're going to walk away eventually. I don't need a nuclear deal because I've already solved that. I'll strike him again if he hasn't even said this, but I'll strike him again if we have to. But essentially he's just back to, we're blockading them and their economy is a bigger problem than what we're seeing. And so we're going to bleed them dry. Which obviously that hasn't worked thus far. And there's no evidence that I've seen that Iran is on the, on the verge of an economic collapse.

[B]

Yeah. And certainly not acting like a country you would expect to act if they were on the verge. It is, you know, it's true. When you read about, like, military history, sometimes you have this. I guess it's kind of like, like, I was never a big chess player, but if you ever played chess, you know, in your life, you know, and like, if you play chess and which I guess is supposed to be a metaphor for war is kind of the idea of the game. But if you, if you play chess every now and then when someone has, like a really big move, there's just kind of like a moment where you're like, you're, like, going, going. And then it's just like, ooh, ooh. That was a devastating little move right there, you know, like, oh. And like, if you really read about, like, military history, find these. And I gotta say, that was a little bit of one by Iran the other day. This was detailed, everything Rob's talking about in a, in a major piece by the Wall Street Journal yesterday. And there's been some more that's come out since then. The latest being that Iran said that they're, they're closing The Straight through 2029 was just reported a couple hours ago. Now, who knows that's exactly true, but this is to show you this is what they're saying now. We think we'll just do this, let that whole midterm election thing sort itself out, and then we'll discuss. Open it. But so essentially what happened is the Wall Street Journal reports Donald Trump is, is saying to his, his top Generals. Now he's ready to walk away. He's, he's ready, Essentially what the reporting was robbing is that he's ready to acknowledge, forget the nuclear deal, which is what the whole thing was about. Right? One sentence of what this war is about. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. Okay, he's ready to bail on that, but he just needs this straight open. And so Iran, it's almost like you went, hey, here's you, you get your win. And then they turned around and they, they made their ooh, move which was maximalist demands. I mean, maximalist demands. And you just laid them out right there, right? 300 billion. Yes to the proxies. We control the strait, everything. This was, listen, this was a devastating move and man, just in terms of military strategy, a very smart way for the Iranians to play it. But that's the backdrop of this. I mean, we are at the point where we have kind of like most officially lost this thing. It looks worse than it's been the whole time. And in fact now. Well, I'd say maybe it doesn't look worse in the sense that it may have looked like Donald Trump was going to follow through on some of those terroristic threats for a brief period at the, at the end of the first month of the war. But he's not even really talking like that anymore, Rob, in the latest, like

[C]

it's not even like last three days.

[B]

Yes, no, no, no, that's true. Fair enough. But it does just seem like in this, this latest round of oh, we just want to get out now and they're making maximalist demands. It's just one more look, maybe he'll pivot back to threatening terrorism again until they all compete. But as you said at the end, there just no reason to suspect that that's going to do anything other than it did the last few times that he did that. So.

[C]

Well, they're not, they're not outselling it anymore. And that's only, you know, it's only been a couple of days that, but you don't hear, they have no navy, they have no ships. You seem to be hearing an acknowledgment of the amount of military equipment that we've used and that seemingly the Pentagon's trying to be like, guys, that we can't do any more of this. It's depleting too much of our stocks and we don't have a pathway to victory. And actually, actually dealing with the escalation dominance that you were talking about six months ago, that if we bomb civilian infrastructure in Iran. They are going to retaliate on Saudi Arabia and the other Arab nations, and we don't actually want that fight.

[B]

Yep, 100%. And on top of all of it, as we've talked about the whole time, the cherry on top is that if this happens, let's say this goes through, or let's even just say for the sake of some version of this goes through. Let's, let's. I don't think. I don't know, Rob. I said this after the MOU was officially signed. Iran's never getting that 300 billion. You know, like, I don't actually think our word is good and who knows what will end up coming of this, but if some version of this happens, where Donald Trump goes, okay, essentially what is going to probably happen is that we're not getting a nuclear deal, at least certainly not right now. We're going to end this. We're going to come to some type of agreement. Iran's going to maintain control of the strait, but, you know, we'll charge a dollar fee, whatever, and not destroy the global economy when that happens. It seems almost certain at this point that Iran will race to the bomb. You know, I mean, they have, by all accounts, in fact, this is what the hawks rely on. But this is actually true. They have the ability to produce uranium and the knowledge to enrich it. They have mastered the fuel cycle. They have, you know, this was the point of enriching up to 60%, right? Essentially. And I've, over the last year and a half read enough nuclear experts to kind of get this much into my head. Not that I understand it that well, but the whole point of enriching up to 60% is that you could break out to weapons grade. You're, you're demonstrating that you get. So in other words, although they had never made the decision they were going to make nukes, they had made the decision to demonstrate to the world that they can. And so we know they can. And they don't even have to buy their uranium on the global market. They can make their own. So they have the ability to do this. And now, Rob, I mean, they've got a complete umbrella to build, right? Like, what are we going to do? You know, we. They've essentially lost the big threat. The reason they wouldn't break out before, well, you could say they really religiously believed in it. Okay, well, that Ayatollah is dead. And the other thing is that they were worried this would happen, but now this already happened. You don't have this threat to play. And do you think anybody like, honestly Rob, at this point after this thing, if we were to end this after this disaster and then they started building a nuke, is any president really going to say we're launching the whole war again over one more state having nuclear weapons? I kind of doubt it. I can't, you know, so that is my guess here. I think around on top of all the rest of it being a disaster also we probably just pushed around to go nuclear. Great job, neocons. You do not hate neocons enough, dude. If anyone's been wondering why I was like, why is Dave. Why for 20 years has Dave just hated neoconservatives with the passion of a thousand horses? It's like because it's this. By the way, let's get. I'm sorry if you want to add something, but let's get into the Mark Levin stuff because this is so perfect here, but go ahead.

[C]

On the point of them going nuclear, I do think you're right that everything Donald Trump has done has only made it more likely and given them more of a reason to. If Donald Trump does walk away here and the Iranians are now allowed to sell their oil on the open market and they're able to toll for the Straits, I think they're just set up in such a better place than where they ever were and they kind of have enough power in the region that perhaps they actually don't want to rock the boat on ongoing nuclear. I think what it will more come down to is if over the next 10 years people basically start figuring out how to engineer making the Straits irrelevant, which I'm still surprised is not doable on a quicker timetable. It's 20% of the world's oil supplies. I can't believe that we can't start building pipelines to make it irrelevant in a five year timetable. I think if that were to start to happen, then they need a. Then they would need a nuclear deterrent again. I think at the moment, you know, they've. If they start having the money coming in from owning the Straits and being able to sell their.

[B]

I get your point for sure. Yeah, no, it's a good point. You're right. And maybe essentially that the control of the Strait would essentially equate to a nuclear umbrella because you still have that nuclear option kind of of that being said, you're global power now. You control the Strait of Hormuz, you have that. You know what else global powers like to have nuclear weapons. It's just that much more protection and like you said they've got to be that. What you just said has got to be a major thought in the Iranians heads. Now that like, okay, there's going to be. The world is going to be racing to find alternatives to this for the next time. So very important points. All right guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show which is Ridge. I love this company. I've owned the Ridge wallet for years now. It's way cooler than that giant crusty leather brick that I used to carry in my pants. If you are looking for a gift for a guy in your life who's tough to get a gift for or if you just want to have a real cool new wallet. They're unique, slim, modern design. They hold up to 12 cards plus cash. They're all made with premium materials like aluminum, titanium and carbon fiber. And they have over 50 colors and styles to choose from. I will tell you, they look really cool. Plus like all Ridge products, they have a lifetime warranty. So this is the last wallet you're ever going to have to buy. It comes with all the bells and whistles, RFID blocking technology, the Ridge AR tag attachment. So you'll always know exactly where it is. There's a reason why they have over 100,000 five star reviews. So go check out Ridge if you haven't already. For a limited time, our listeners can get 10% off at Ridge by using the promo code POTP10 at checkout. So go to ridge.com use that promo code POTP10 to get 10% off off your entire order. All right, let's get back into the show. Okay, let's, let's jump to this. Here is Mark Levit. Like, listen guys, I gotta say I know it's a little bit strange because as you know, Rob and we've discussed this dynamic on the show. You know, years ago on this show essentially we used to spend most of the time just eviscerating the corporate media. But then corporate media became very irrelevant and it just felt, it was just like, what are we going to do? Play a segment on Ms. Now and talk about how dumb they are? It's like, yeah, that's right. That's why no one watches Ms. Now. And then I got to say, probably at a time around say 24, when Trump was, you know, riding on his way back to the greatest political comeback of all time, it seemed like guys like Mark Levin and Ben Shapiro probably weren't even worth playing anymore because they had been totally defeated and totally drawn out of the, you know, they're laughing stocks at this point. Who cares? But then once the administration went in the Ben Shapiro, Mark Levin direction, it seemed like now these guys are kind of the relevant media to take on because they do represent, in a way, the media still defending the actions of this regime. And they're the, they are integral parts of pushing this policy on the American people. And like, so once, once the sitting President of the United States says, hey, MAGA isn't Tucker Carlson and Alex Jones and Megyn Kelly and Candace Owens. MAGA is Mark Levin and Ben Shapiro. Well, now our job becomes, once again, to destroy Mark Levin and Ben Shapiro. And so that's why we will continue to do it. But here is. Just think with that backdrop, as you've just imagined. The backdrop is that once again, the neoconservatives have convinced us to enter yet another Middle east regime change war. And once again, they've been wrong about everything and it's a disaster. And it goes nothing like the way they would say, once again, they've done that. That's the backdrop. And here's what Mark Levin has to say about it.

[E]

Things have become the Greatest Generation endured the severe economic scarcity of the Great Depression during their youth, followed by massive global combat and home front mobilization during World War II. Over 16 million Americans served in the military and facing intense physical danger. Hundreds of thousands of casualties, strict civilian rationing of food, gas and clothing. We sit here with a war in Iran against an enemy that has killed thousands of Americans, maimed thousands of Americans. I remember a time when America would say, let's go. Let's destroy that country, destroy that government. You don't get to kill thousands of our fellow citizens, military or civilians. You don't get to try to assassinate our president. You don't get to threaten us with potential nuclear weapons either. Now it's a debate.

[B]

All right, pause it, pause it right there.

[F]

You a neo.

[B]

Well, I mean, what, what can you even say about this? I mean, it's not. This is the pathetic type of propaganda that would work on boomers, I suppose. It's, it's. Look, man, think about all the sacrifice during World War II. We're not making that sacrifice right now. A bunch of nonsense about how Iran has killed. By the way, this is, it's also, I know this isn't the first time I've made this point. I mean, I've tweeted this before. I tweeted this at Mark Levin the other day. But, like, you know, if you're gonna say we've Been at war with Iran for 47 years. Then Ronald Reagan committed treason. Just so you know, like your favorite president of all time sold weapons to the Iranians. So if you're saying we were at war with them the whole time, then they committed treason. All the nonsense about trying to assassinate the president, all of this, but it's just, it's, it's quite something. You know, Mark Levin is, he's praising the greatest generation for their sacrifices here. We could get into a bit more about that. It knows Mark Levin isn't of the greatest generation. Mark Levin is one of the kids that they made when they came home from that war. That's what's known as the baby boomers, the post war babies. So he's saying all these other guys made a sacrifice, so you guys should go make a sacrifice. Notice this. This in many ways is the essence of the critique against the boomers. It's like invoke the sacrifice of the last guy to employ the next guy to make a sacrifice. And you may happen to notice there, Rob, what was missing. Who didn't have to storm the beaches in Normandy. I mean, ain't that convenient? You know, it is unbelievable to me. You know, say what you will about the Dan Crenshaws of the world and they're pretty pathetic, don't get me wrong. But like it is amazing that you get to have Mark Levins and Douglas Murray's and these guys who just go, I'm going to spend an entire career advocating for war. From the time I'm a military aged man and never serve in any of them. But like, you know, I'll lecture other people if they don't want to sacrifice that way anyway, there's a lot of angles here. So what are you thinking, Rob?

[C]

Well, you know, World War II might have been worth the sacrifice. And no Americans right now think that this one is worth the sacrifice. And you would have said the exact same thing during Iraq and Afghanistan if the country was as against those, you would say, hey, World War II, you know, the country was willing to do these things. And yeah, we've learned Since World War II we don't win these things and they cost us a lot of money and they don't leave our country in a better place, so let's not do them. And we didn't have the debt that we have now when World War II. And the point is, you guys haven't sold us on the idea that Iran is going to end our country. And when you're telling me that Iran's committed 10,000 deaths. How many deaths have been on American soil because of Iranians? When is America actually been threatened? Maybe the idea of American empire, which I don't agree with and I think costs us basically our ability to live good lives within this country. As powers bigger than you and I play the American empire game for their particular businesses, and it's not actually in our interest, but I mean, what threat exists from Iran for me living in Stamford, Connecticut, and how many deaths have taken place in Connecticut by the hands of the Iranians?

[B]

Yeah, the answer is zero. And, and it's interesting you say that because, you know, just a little bit of history for people. Like, if he wants to say, oh, the greatest generation made this sacrifice, they went to World War II. But let's just be honest about what happened here. The American people did not want to get involved in World War II for obvious reasons. And in fact, they elected FDR, reelected FDR, who was running on keeping us out of World War II. The America First Committee had like 700,000 members. There was a, There was huge resistance toward the war. And then fdr, you know, and FDR knew this and knew he needed Pearl harbor to get us into it. And then he, you know, whatever, There's a whole interesting history there, but kind of go to the Japanese into it. But what happened is Japan attacked America. And look, okay, Pearl harbor is awfully far, Rob, but that was American territory and they came and they attacked us. And then after that, immediately Hitler declared war on America. And then millions of people signed up and were ready to go. So, like, yeah, you didn't get any of that first part.

[C]

Sorry.

[B]

Not like you're like, hey, put a bunch of pissed off Saudis and a couple of Egyptians attacked New York City 25 years ago. How come I can't get my war with Iran that I've been trying for ever since then? Like, because they didn't attack us. You could spin it however you want to and you could say that, yes, when Ronald Reagan sent Marines into Lebanon, that there were militants who were linked with Iran, who got in gunfight with our boys. But come on, Rob, like you said, that is just different, man. That's just different than someone coming over

[C]

and question of that.

[B]

Yes, Reagan literally wrote that I un, I, He's. He turned, he said, I swore I would never tuck tail and run, but I underestimated the irrationality of Middle Eastern politics. And so I got the Marines the hell out of. Out of Beirut, okay, And then sold weapons to the Iranians a couple of years later. So no, it was not. His lesson was not that, therefore we're at war with the Iranian people now, because otherwise that would be treason to give aid and comfort to the enemy in wartime.

[C]

Maybe the lesson here is quit playing these empire games of overthrowing governments because we won't have enemies like the Iranians 47 years later.

[B]

Well, look, I mean, like, in the same way that anybody would just recognize your distinction between killing Americans over here. Look, man, like, if I told you that my neighbor shot me, and, you know, you were under the impression that the story was that my neighbor broke into my house with a gun and shot me, but then you found out that. No, the real story was that I broke into my neighbor's house with a gun and then he shot me, that changes the freaking nature of the story quite a lot. And everybody sees that. Like, I'm sorry, like, a soldier dying in a foreign country is not the same thing. Like, you grabbed a gun and put on a uniform and invaded a country.

[D]

You're.

[B]

You're a military target. Now, this has been understood since the Enlightenment, at least. I think before that there was distinction between civilians and military combatants. But anyway, okay, so then another angle on top of all of this, Rob, is also just like, imagine asking this type of sacrifice of young people. Like, like this is. I mean, you wonder why neoconservatism is so unpopular. You wonder why it's a label that no one even uses anymore, as you remember.

[C]

I'm listening.

[B]

Sorry, go ahead. So as. As you remember, when I, When I was debating Douglas Murray, I said neoconservatives once, and he goes, oh, the N word. You're going to bring up the N word? And I went, hey, what was the name of your book again? Oh, yeah, the Case for Neoconservatism. Like, they. They run away from that word now, but they liked it at a time. The reason they run away from it is because it's enormously unpopular. And, like, could you imagine anything more unpopular than this? Hey, 20 year old, by the way, this. This whole thing started off the $20 burrito debate. That's why he's bringing this up. Hey, 20 year old, you know how you're complaining that you can't participate in society because the price of everything is completely, you know, unaffordable? Oh, yeah, well, you should be cannon fodder. This is political malpractice. You know, I mean, this is like, this is a Zoran Mamdani, you know, support or couldn't come up with anything better Here, let's keep playing. Let's keep playing from the great one

[E]

or a warmonger. Is this a war of choice? We don't even have a draft, but a draft even work with young people today. I wonder, could we even fight World War II today we're whining about a dollar.

[B]

Pause it, gasoline. See, I also, I mean one of the things. But Mark Levin is just such a remarkable person in so many ways because Rob, I mean he is just there is. Could you think of a less appealable like human being? A less appealing human being that just this guy, like a little angry bald man screaming at you about how you're not cannon fodder.

[D]

And.

[B]

And could we even do a draft anymore in this country? Could we even Rob that. That's the real problem we have in America. You know, you might think that the problem in this country is that, you know, that I don't know that we. Tens of thousands of OD deaths every year. Hundreds of thousands of people who sleep on the streets or that were $40 trillion in debt or that 25 year olds have no job opportunities or that there's tens of millions of illegal immigrant immigrants in the country. Like whatever problem you may think, but Mark Levin's major problem is that right now I'm not sure we could enslave a whole generation of young people to go be cannon fodder they might resist.

[C]

Yeah, everything.

[B]

Another stupid war that won't work out at all the way Mark Levin tells you it.

[C]

Well, everything he's describing sounds like societal. Societal improvements that people are woken up enough to the fact that, you know, the empire building is not working out in our favor. And so let's not do it.

[B]

But think about the biggest bloodbath in human history. Rob, we may not be able to do that again. Okay, here, let's keep playing.

[E]

Well, it went up 60 cents. What are we going to do, Mildred? What are we going to do? I don't know, Frank.

[C]

I went up at the highest.

[B]

Dude, pause it right there, Rob.

[D]

That's.

[B]

I did not catch that. I did watch this once before. That might be the most hilarious thing about all that. Mildred was just the random like name that he went through. He goes, no, you know, you know how it is. You're a young whippersnapper. You say to your friend, hey Gertrude, grab Edith, meet me over for a malt. A malted. That's hilarious, dude.

[E]

How.

[B]

I mean, again, how out of touch these people are. How out of touch these people are. A guy like Mark Levin, what is he worth $50 million or something? Like that and lecturing people about, oh, what you're upset about a 60 cent increase? Is that like, dude, I don't know what to tell you. Like, a 60% increase for a gallon of gas is a big goddamn deal to a lot of people. How, how disconnected do you have to be to not like, like, I don't know. It's also just this, this dumb thing where it's like, oh, here, here's the message to young people. Your struggle isn't that bad. Yours, what do you complain? It's like, you know, there's a legitimate grievance that they have. Not being able to own a house is a legitimate grievance. There's no reason why young people should not be able to own houses. Young people were able to own houses in far less, Less productive, far poore. That's a legitimate complaint. Now, if you want to point out that young people, other people have had it hard, that's one thing. But Rob, oh, Mark Levin did this to you. Like, it's also, say whatever you will. I know he tries to walk away from it now. He visited the President several times advocating for this war. He publicly advocated for this war. We launched this war. You got the policy. Now it's a disaster and it's hurting people. It's causing prices to go higher. Your response to that can't be, oh, worse things have happened. If I punch you in the eye and then you, you're upset about that, and then I go, dude, people have been stabbed. That's not a good response. I can't just tell you other people have suffered worse than this before. Okay, but was this suffering needed? You told it you, Mark Levin looked in the camera and said, short term pain for long term gain. Right? Remember, Rob, we played it. Where's the gain? We're six months in. What, what did you mean by long term? Because everybody assured me that this is what they meant by long term, that six months later we wouldn't be having this conversation. All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is Body Brain Coffee, the brainchild of the great Louis J. Gomez. It is amazing. If you're looking for a delicious cup of coffee that naturally boosts your testosterone, you have found it. I don't. You know, look, I'm in my mid-40s now. I don't know if you're like me, but I was not going to start doing supplements. I certainly wasn't going to start doing injections, but I didn't mind drinking a delicious cup of coffee every day. And that's what I do. I have one cup of Body Brain coffee every day. I've never felt better. It's got nothing but good stuff in it. And the creamer is finally here. It was specifically designed to stack perfectly with Body Brain. All of it just has a bunch of good stuff. It makes you feel good. It naturally boosts your testosterone. Plus, it was created by my. My brother, Louis J. Gomez, who is the guy who's run the podcast network for this podcast. He's the guy who really encouraged me to start this thing. So if you love this show and you want a delicious cup of coffee that naturally boosts your testosterone, make sure to go to bodybraincoffee.com and use the promo code Dave20. It'll get you 20% off your entire order. I really believe in this product. I really want to help blow it up. So please do go to bodybraincoffee.com promo code Dave20 for 20% off. Get that new creamer, too. It's delicious. All right, let's get back into the show. Do I had. Oh, whatever. It's off target. But anyway, yes, it's.

[C]

And this. Go ahead. This is one of the many miscalculations that these individuals made at the beginning of the war was, if the country doesn't actually support it and so you don't have what you need to win it, then it's a mistake to do it. And now you're losing it, and you're pointing out a variable that existed at the beginning of the war, which was, hey, the country's not actually into this. And that's why we shouldn't do it, because you're picking a fight that we don't.

[E]

I.

[C]

We were smart enough to realize, hey, we don't want to do this. But then if you're the military strategist and you go, we have no option for a ground invasion. This is unwinnable. They're going to shut down the straits, and we don't actually have the stockpile of missiles and they have escalation dominance. We have no way to win. Then it was better off not doing. And guess what? We would have been in a better place because Iran might have still been afraid of the potential threat of taking a fight with us that they are now not. This is all of your. You're complaining about your own miscalculations here.

[B]

Yeah, no, that's right. That's right. Here, let's keep playing

[E]

through both the draft and voluntary enlistment, leaving their homes, jobs, Families for years at a time. One hell hole they went into after another, including members of my family. Troops face brutal conditions across global fronts, resulting in more than 670,000Americans, hundreds of thousands.

[B]

This is including members of my family. Like, yeah, members of my family, too. Lots of people have family who fought in World War II. My grandfather fought in World War II. Like, I. You didn't fight in anything, Mark. Like, I don't know. Now you're claiming the valor of your family. Okay, yes, yes, they suffered a lot. Our boys in World War II suffered a lot. Okay. Anyway, keep playing

[E]

of deaths. Families live with constant anxiety, receiving telegrams, reporting wounded, missing or killed loved ones. The vast majority of us are utterly unaffected, personally, our families, by what's going on in Iran with our troops, without you. It's going on way too long. Way too long. You know, the price of gasoline and the price of a taco now, it's just. It's just crazy, you know, this has gone on long enough. Are we going to the movies tonight? I don't know. Should we see a play? I don't know. Is football on TV yet? I don't know, but this has gone on way too long. You understand the government, limited access to everyday goods like meat, sugar, coffee.

[B]

Mark, it's unbelievable, dude.

[C]

He hates you. He's. He hates the idea of you living in comfort or you living a normal life. And he thinks that that's something that you're supposed to sacrifice, so I guess Israel can be safe and that he can have a bigger paycheck. But he's literally. Listen to this disdain he has. And by the way, there's plenty of other activities that people engage in. He could have. He could have said in the same condescending voice, oh, so you want to go to church? Oh, so you want to volunteer here? He's picking mundane activities, but at the end of the day, who's he to judge how you want to spend your time if you're being peaceful and he literally has to steal.

[B]

You wanted to spend some time with your family. Oh, you wanted to get a week off with your kid, who you never see because they're at school all the time and you're at work all the time because you've been picking up extra shifts because the price of everything is skyrocketed by 35 over the last five years. So you're picking up extra shifts and you say, oh, you needed a little vacation. You wanted to be able to take them to the lake for the weekend. Might as well be saying that yeah.

[C]

Do you have a disdain for the concept of comfort and the idea that nobody's sacrificing? I mean, well, where's our country going to be if we keep fighting wars like this in the next 10 years? Can we afford this forever? I mean, if Donald Trump keeps us going and you actually have a significant stock market problem, like at that point, was that a sacrifice that was just, oh, easy peasy. Oh, so your stock portfolio crashed. Oh, so you got fired from your job because the economy is in a recession because government overspent and then decided to do a stupid war for no reason. I mean, how many things are you just going to downplay is, hey, you're supposed to live a miserable existence and it's for you to sacrifice yourself so we can make sure that Israel stays safe.

[D]

Yep. Yep.

[B]

And I gotta tell you, man, even as Mark Levin says it and goes like, oh, what do you have to say? It's, it's also like, well, yeah, you don't have to sacrifice. You're in the class of people who really doesn't have to sacrifice that much, financially speaking. I am too. I'm not trying to like, pl. You know, like there's, you get over a certain hurdle when, even when you get killed by the inflation, okay? But if you own a house and you have a little bit of money and you know the, the inflation, okay, so you have a mortgage and your mortgage debt actually goes down a little bit now in real dollars, right, because you're holding debt and then the value of your house goes up, so you almost get compensated a little bit. But if you're just a renter out there, you just get destroyed for it. Mark Levin is literally sitting here and he's mocking the fact that people are resentful over the sacrifice they have to make because it's not as much as the sacrifice that they had to make in, in World War II. And he's sitting here mocking the sacrifice. And as you said, Rob. And, and again, if they would just be honest about it, it is what it's for Israel. And that's like you, you said it. He hates you because you have the nerve to think you shouldn't, like young people today think they shouldn't have to sacrifice higher prices for Israel. It's that blatant. I mean, listen, dude, there's, there's quotes of the, the neocon architect Irving Crystal. He just says it straight up. He goes, listen, we can't have a non interventionist foreign policy because that would be bad for the interest of Israel. And Why does Mark Levin want to overthrow Iran? As we all know this, it's just too ridiculous to not be again. I, I, this is kind of the same thing I said to Jank on, on Piers Morgan show today because he said at one point, you know, when I started like, trashing Hassan, he goes, oh, so you're going into, like, trying to cancel him now? And I go, no, I'm not trying to cancel anybody. I'd like him to, to be honest about what his position is. Like, if you're a communist, just say you're a communist and that that's what you're fighting for. But don't give me that, you know what I mean? And same thing with Mark Lev. I'd respect it a lot more. This is what he said. You got to sacrifice for Israel. Toughen up. These guys did it. All right, let's keep playing. A little bit more coffee.

[E]

Shoes, gasoline and tires. Using ration books and point systems, citizens routinely collected scrap metal, rubber, aluminum, paper to redirect raw materials into the military manufacturing supply chain. I can't even imagine our young people doing this today. I can't imagine most people doing this today, can you? That's why it's the greatest generation. What is our generation? Millions of civilians, including women entering the workforce and heavy manufacturing and defense plants.

[B]

Our generation. Like, dude, you're 80. What generation do you think you're a part of? And, and just by the way, I mean, I'm, I'm sorry, Rob, but I just, as a man, how can you have this conversation without offering up? What are you sacrificing? You're talking about what they sacrificed compared to what these kids should sacrifice. What skin in the game have you put in? But as, as you said, Rob, I think he just gets a cushier contract. He doesn't, I don't know. Is he sacrificing everything? I have, there's, there's at least confirmed, like 16 or 17Americans who have made the ultimate sacrifice in this. There's all their families have made a sacrifice in this. The taxpayer is on the hook for at least a couple hundred billion dollars. The global economy has lost several hundred more. There's sacrifice going all around. And Mark Levin's lecturing you that you haven't made more while making none himself. It's unbelievable. Any other. Is there more of this? That's, that's worth playing, Rob, or should we switch over to Shapiro?

[C]

I think there's a little more, but it's all, it's all in the same lane of, hey, hey, you go make a sacrifice for this great country because this is important.

[B]

Go back a little more Mark Levitt, and then we'll switch over to Shapiro.

[E]

Work long grueling shifts under high pressure conditions. Having grown up during the 1930s financial collapse, Americans learned extreme frugality, self reliance and deferred personal dreams to survive deep poverty before being called into global war. Affordability wasn't even an issue. Victory was the issue. Unity against an enemy was the issue. I don't think they were debating the price of a burrito or taco today as opposed to back then, 0.4%.

[C]

We got to pause again.

[E]

1.3 million Americans serve.

[C]

And, and what kind of censorship existed in that environment from FDR that led to a landscape of the entire. And firstly, I wasn't there. So I'm just taking it your word that you're just stating that the entire country was into it. Also. Listen, you'd be more, you would handle a debate better about whether or not World War II is worth it. But what do you feel about Vietnam? You want to defend that one? You want to defend Korea, you want to defend Afghanistan, you want to defend Iraq, you want to defend World War I. So fine, World War II was worth the sacrifice. And Americans saw it at the time from your perspective, was worth it. And people saw that and they were willing to contribute. And now we've got 50 years of wars since that were a disaster. And people are looking at this one and going, hey, I didn't vote for this. I don't want it. You said that you were going to be America first. We've got problems in this country we're looking to fix. And instead you guys decided to fight this war on someone else's behalf.

[B]

Yeah, we weren't attacked. We were in the middle of negotiations and we launched the Pearl harbor style sneak attack. This is different than that war. And this, the whole point just amounts to people sacrificed a lot. I think about how perverse it is when people worship war like this. Like, look, he's bragging about the suffering. There was rationing, regular people had to collect copper. There was food insecurity. Everybody sacrificed. People were waiting to find out if their kids were dead.

[C]

All right, yeah, all things that we

[B]

don't want, nobody wants that nobody agrees with you. You lost the, the arg. And so nobody wants to sacrifice for Israel and for these stupid wars. It really is something, Rob. All right, let's, let's, let's switch over to Shapiro for a little bit because I did find this to be very Interesting too. So you see, Bill O'Reilly evidently has a show and he interviewed Ben Shapiro. I found this to be kind of interesting in a way because there, there was a time where Bill O'Reilly was the biggest host in cable news and he host the conservative, the biggest conservative show and Ben Shapiro was the biggest conservative podcaster. And now. Well, I don't know Rob, if you, if you saw some of the clips of this or, or watch the whole interview, one of the things I found very interesting about it is that the whole, even the whole topic, even all of the questions that, that, that O'Reilly is asking Shapiro are just, you can see how much the Overton window has moved and how much it's even affected like old Z guys like a Bill O'Reilly like on his hit cable news show. These never would have been the questions that he would be asking Ben Shapiro, which is never would have even been the topic of conversation. But a lot was discussed. I found it rather interesting. I, I will say one of the things I find interesting as you, as you put your finger right on it with Mark Levin, like he hates you, there is something about that with Ben Shapiro too. The amount of contempt both these men have is, is really something. Again, don't get me wrong, I not claiming that I don't have contempt back for these men, but you know, my contempt is over you trying to push our country into war, whereas your contempt is over Americans maybe wanting to have a vacation with their family and not paying more on behalf of Israel. So it's a little different. Anyway, let's, let's roll the first clip. I got a couple here. Here is O'Reilly and Shapiro.

[D]

Now Jon Stewart's a Jewish man and you know that I have a long history with Stewart.

[F]

It.

[D]

And we've always been respectful. It's always worked out well. But Stuart's a good example you're bringing up. There are many famous influential Jewish Americans. I'm not going to say they justify the anti Semitism. And I think that's.

[F]

Oh no, they do. I'll say it, I'll say it. They do. I mean they do.

[D]

You and I would would probably differ. Then they enable it. Okay, so I don't see Steward going back to his nice place on the Jersey Shore jumping up and down that anti Semitism is on the rise.

[C]

I don't see that we pause here.

[B]

Yeah, pause it for a second. I gotta say, there is something so remarkable about just how dumb Bill O'Reilly's whole like framing always is. I remember Bill O'Reilly actually used it. His show was entertaining to watch. It was so stupid, but it was like dumb fun kind of dumb. But isn't it just already the framing of just being like, okay, well, you say Jon Stewart does hate Jews. I say he just enables all these people who hate Jews. And then Bill O'Reilly actually says, Imagine just hearing this, like, out loud. I don't see Jon Stewart going back to his home and jumping up and down about anti Semitism. I don't see that. Like, what did you just say? What just came out of your face? Was that supposed to be a thought? You, that's true. You don't see that. You don't see what he does at home at all, that you're, you're starting with something that you don't see and then concluding that you don't see it, then repeating in an astonished tone that you don't see it to give the illusion of a point being made anyway. But why on earth should. John, here's the position you have, right, that Bill O'Reilly just think about how weird this is. Rob, Bill O'Reilly is talking to Ben Shapiro and he's going, why isn't this other Jew jumping up and down about racism on his way back to his mansion? That's the question. Well, take this in for a second. The conservative Bill O'Reilly and the conservative Ben Shapiro, think about what they've made their careers off of. They are going, why isn't outrageously successful Jewish person a part of an outrageously successful Jewish people in the United States of America? Why is he not jumping up and down crying about racism and how it's wrong? And obviously the fact that he's not indicates something right. We can, we can debate whether the, the, whether the correct thing to extrapolate from that is that he is himself a vicious Jew hater or he just enables vicious Jew hatred. But you understand, we're saying the fact that a very outrageously successful person from a very outrageously successful minority group is not screaming about racism, that is Indicate that is indicative of something. It's almost like, let me try to see if I could put this in more simple terms, Rob, maybe it's not enough to be passively not racist, one must be actively anti racist. I guess would be another way to put that jumping up and down. And if I don't see you jumping up and down anti racist, then you are a racist.

[C]

All fair points. I was more picking up on the false framing that criticizing the state of Israel and not supporting the Iran war makes you an Anti Semite. And I'm of the belief that the people who try and pretend that if you criticize the actions what Israel did in Gaza, or you try and criticize how much lobbying power Israel has that were involved in this, and you try and pretend that that's anti Semitism, you actually do create anti Semitism because you're pulling a little weaselly Jew trick and everyone sees it and that creates real anti Semitism. And this is just playing with the false framing that someone like, someone like anti. I actually think if someone like Jon Stewart is criticizing the actions of Israel, it keeps people from actually being anti Semites. The only thing that makes you, the only thing that makes that anti Semitism is if you are of the false belief that criticizing the actions of Israel makes you an anti Semite, which it does not. And so this entire conversation exists within that false framing.

[B]

Yes, absolutely. Absolutely true. All right, let's keep playing.

[D]

I see Jon Stewart defending the radical elements, as you just pointed out, not going to turn on them, mainly because of his audience. But the larger question is, Mamdami got the majority of Jewish voters in New York City. That's stunning. Is it not?

[E]

So.

[F]

Well, I can explain this pretty easily. So this is a category error. So Jews, they kind of cross a variety of categories, right? The big question about Jews, are Jews a religion? Are Jews an ethnicity? Are Jews a tribe? Like, what exactly are Jews? So when we talk about Jews and how Jews vote, typically we are talking about people who self identify as Jews, meaning they were born into a Jewish family and maybe they had an occasional bagel. If you are looking at people who actually care about Jewish practice, who care about Jewish philosophy, who care about Israel, which is a part of Jewish practice, right? I mean, as an Orthodox Jew, we pray, for example, for the restoration of Jerusalem three times a day. And this has been a regular thing in Judaism for several thousand years.

[B]

Let's pause it right? And so let's pause it right here because it is truly just despicable what Ben Shapiro is doing here. And this is a trick, it's a conscious trick. He knows exactly what he's doing. But so hear what he's going to say, right, essentially is that you don't count as a Jew. And when we're talking about Jews, we're only talking about the real Jews, like me, people who really believe the religion, people who actually know what they're talking about. We're not just talking about the people or something like that.

[C]

Right?

[B]

And now he's going to, he's going to Say that. Oh, for the rest of Jews, I don't know, it's like eating bagels or something like that. But you're, you're even completely. But if you're a real Jew, then that your religion supporting Israel is part of that religion, then that is, that is what real Judaism means. Now, first of all, let's just be clear here. It's like, okay, okay, if you want to draw this distinction between like, say like, so I'm not a Jew is what Ben Shapir is saying, right? If I'm not, I don't go to temple regularly. I'm not a religious observing Jew, therefore I'm not a Jew or whatever, something like that. Okay, fine, but then let's be consistent. So then there's two things here. Number one, you just admitted that support for a foreign country is a religious obligation for you. Sorry, you can't get offended when people point that out and criticize it.

[D]

Then.

[B]

Now, then it's not. Then if that's part of Judaism, then you can't say it's anti anti Semitic for me to point that out, because now you've made that part. Right. So dual loyalty is no longer an anti Semitic trope. Ben Shapiro, because you just said it's part of our religious duty to do that. But then also, if you want to delineate these things this way, fine, but then keep that consistency. Then Hamas didn't kill a bunch of Jews on October 7th, right? I mean, they killed some. Maybe Rob Wright at the music festival. How many of those were Jews? Israel isn't a Jewish state. Really, Rob, the majority of Israel isn't Jewish, right? I mean, this changes everything if you're going to throw it around this way. But no, you want to claim the entire group when convenient and then switch and act like we're talking about a whole different thing. It's not a category error, it's a deception technique. Yes, there's a difference between religious Jews and Jews the people. But we all already knew that, right? All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is Prolon by El Nutra. Look, everybody sets health goals and many of us fall short of them. But we'd all like to be a little bit healthier. But now there's a whole new way to do that with Prolon. It's a plant based nutrition program featuring soups, snacks and beverages that are designed to nourish the body while keeping it in a fasting state, triggering cellular rejuvenation and renewal. It was developed over decades with USC's Longev Institute and it's backed by top US medical centers. Prolon has been shown to support biological age reduction, metabolic health, skin appearance, fat loss with muscle protection, energy and a healthier relationship with food. And essentially what it does is it gives you all the benefits of fasting without having to give up food. So you get everything you need prepackaged, ready to go. Each order of Prolon's five day program comes with five boxes labeled by day so you know exactly what to eat. There's no prep or planning required. Prolon is the first and only patented nutrition program to support longevity through cellular rejuvenation. It's a science backed nutrition that has been shown to support healthy cardio metabolic markers. Prolon can help change your relationship with food in just five days. So definitely check it out by going to prolonlife.com that's P-R-O-L-O-N-L-I-F-E.com prolonlife.com P- to get 15 off site wide plus a $40 bonus gift when you subscribe to their five day program. That's prolonlife.com POTP for 15 off site wide plus a 40 bonus gift when you subscribe to the five day program. Prolonlife.com POTP all right, let's get back into the show. I don't know any, any thoughts on, on this, Rob. I don't know which part of the the people Jews you are if you are one anymore.

[C]

It's infuriating for all the reasons that you described. And you have religious who are against the state of Israel and Turi Carta would be the best example. Those are the guys who get out there and protest the Israeli day parade. And then you also get secular juice. So are you condemning that? Jerry Seinfeld doesn't get an opinion on Israel. He's pro Israel, but he's not a practicing Jew. And then also when you're praying, Ben Shapiro, when you're praying in the morning and by the way, you know there's a lot of prayers he asked for health. There's a lot of stuff in there. But I don't even know which line of the 18 blessings, which is like kind of like the biggest part of the prayer ceremonies particular for Israel. I just don't remember remember. But are you praying for the current nation state of Israel? Is that what the prayer is about? Isn't it about like a messiah and a restoration of the temple and like a religious government? I mean, is There anything about that text that. That applies to the current secular government of Israel?

[F]

That.

[C]

That's what you. That's what you think you're praying for when you're. When you're standing in synagogue and you're praying to God, you're praying that God supports the current state of Israel. The current Netanyahu is supposed to go out there and build the temple.

[F]

That.

[C]

That's what you think is the. Is the religion and what's in there?

[B]

Or is the state of Israel a truly a religious state? Are they operating on Old Testament law? You know what I'm saying? Like, gay marriage is legal in Israel. They have, like, a huge LGBTQ population. They brag about this when convenient. By the way, if Ben Shapiro was ever bragging about. About the contributions that Jews have made to society. Something. Rob, I bet you there's a video of Ben Shapiro bragging about. Do you think he didn't count the secular Jews? Did he only count the religious Jews? Or is this a. When convenient, we retreat to this position?

[F]

I'll.

[B]

I'll let you guys figure that out.

[C]

This all just fits into the false framing that, you know, people can point out it's not anti Semitic to be Jewish and criticize Israel because look, how many Jews. Jews who live in America don't actually endorse the killing of innocent civilians in Gaza, and they're not anti Semitic. And so then this goes. I mean, and also, how much worse does that make religious Jews look? Well, if you were actually practicing the real religion, then obviously you're in favor of the killing of innocent civilians.

[B]

Yes, and also, I guess I should say, because there's another point that I guess could be made here where, you know, you know, they. They start with the conversation being like, hey, why, you know, Jon Stewart won't condemn the radicals. And so that's how we know he really kind of agrees with them. Meanwhile, the radicals that you speak of are the only ones in Jon Stewart's political world who are standing up and saying, we think what Israel did to Gaza is wrong and we shouldn't be fighting this war in Iran. And so maybe that's why he doesn't want to condemn the radicals, because he agrees with them on that. But then the point is that they also, Rob, are. Are so reliant on pretending that something different is happening. Look, how many of them have said that Mamdani is a jihadist or that he loves Hamas or that? But the thing is, I can't find any evidence of that anywhere. And I say this as someone who doesn't like Mamdani, who hates socialism, who doesn't like it. You know, I was talking to a couple friends of mine, like, people I grew up with, Jews from New York City.

[D]

City.

[B]

They're telling me over this week, I haven't talked to these guys in a little bit. They're telling me about how. What's his name, the guy who just won in Michigan and just won his Democratic primary there. They're telling me about how he said that we deserved 9 11. And I'm like, no, he didn't. That's Hassan Piker quote that you're quoting. But Hassan Piker said that. And then he apologized for that. And then he said he didn't really mean that. And then they asked this guy about the quote and he goes, no, absolutely. That's ridiculous. I don't agree with that at all. Of course that's not true. But what they're. To them, they're just like, no, he said that. So then they feel like you're not condemning the thing that. But. But he didn't say that. It's not even a thing. And honestly, Rob, do you not.

[F]

If.

[B]

Listen, I'm not even going to argue with someone who wants to tell me that Mom Donnie secretly is a jihadist or that some of these guys secretly have these awful views or whatever. But, like, if mom Donnie ever came out and actually said something against Jews, actually said something anti Semitic, like, what would me and you consider to actually be an anti Semitic statement? Well, we would consider anything that's not just like, blast of. If you're not blasting a person for what they did and you were just like, lumping in a random Jewish person, too. We should keep our eyes on these Jews. We really got to get. Because you can see what they do in Israel. So we got to keep our eye on these shifty Jews here at home. That would be something, I think that me and you would go, oh, that is legitimately anti Semitic. That's actually, you know, like, you know, whatever. Jon Stewart would stand up and criticize that. We all know that. Like, if he came out and said something like that, we all know for a fact Jon Stewart, the next J. Don Stewart would be like, what, the fight that. No, we don't agree with that at all. So it's just like. It's also this. They're working off of this foundational claim that just isn't true. It's just not true that these guys are saying all types of. About how awful Jews are, and nobody's standing up against it, it's not the case. So the whole thing is just, it's, it's all just imaginary. It's two men in suits and ties sitting here pretending they're analyzing a thing. The thing isn't even real.

[E]

Real.

[B]

There is no thing there. It's really quite hilarious. All right, we're going to wrap up there. Catch you guys tomorrow with a brand new episode. Peace. Oh, come out and see us this weekend. Comic Dave Smith.com what's the the town again this weekend?

[C]

Rob Port Store.com Chicago and then you and I are doing Appleton, Wisconsin. And then which [e-mail] and then I'm doing Madison on Sunday.

[B]

Hell yeah.

[D]

All right.

[B]

Catch you guys tomorrow. Peace. Carol g. Get tickets now [e-mail] don't miss Carol G. Carol G. And live nation. Bundo con note g.