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Carol Markowitz
Foreign.
Dave Rubin
Guys, it's time for another Friday roundtable extravaganza. I still am Dave Rubin. This is the Rubin Report. And joining me today are two of my favorite Floridians. First up, New York Post columnist Carol Markowitz. And secondly, although I guess this is in no order, John, you can probably push back if you'd like to have gone first. Make a case. Former NYPD officer and political commentator John Cardillo. Guys, how are you?
John Cardillo
Awesome, Dave.
Carol Markowitz
So nice to be on John.
Dave Rubin
I did ladies first there, but do you want to have the first comment about life or anything?
John Cardillo
Absolutely not. Hand it over to my sister. Carol.
Carol Markowitz
It is freezing in Florida. I know. We suffer, too. Okay? It's like 55 degrees out there. I'm in a sweater. It's unpleasant. I did not sign up.
Dave Rubin
Wow, Carol. Marco. It's working Blue out of nowhere, because I don't think we have any rights to complain about weather in light of what's going on in the country. But yes, there is some weird thing. I've been thinking about it all week. It's been as cold as it's ever been since I've been in Florida in the 40s. Having lived in LA before this, obviously I fled LA, where it's just an absolute disaster right now. Of course, we're gonna talk a bit about that. We're gonna talk also a bit about something that seems like it's way in the past already, but it's only about a week ago, which was the New Orleans terrorist attack. I think it's worth refreshing some of what's going on with that subsequently. And then some sort of fun stuff as it relates to Trump and possibly taking over Canada and GRE and the Panama Canal and a bunch more. I do want to start with one clip from Stephen A. Smith's podcast. I had Stephen A. In this week. We're going to post the interview tomorrow. But a couple days ago he had Bill Maher on his show. And everyone knows I've been talking about this wide 10 thing forever. And what do we do with the sane liberals? And can they put up the fight with the crazies on their side? And can we now welcome them in on our side of things? And they got into it. And I'd love to get your take on it.
Stephen A. Smith
I recently sat down with a guy by the name of Dave Rubin. I'm sure you are aware of who he is.
Dave Rubin
Yeah, I know Dave.
John Cardillo
I went to a Laker game with him.
Stephen A. Smith
That's right. He bragged about going to the Lakers game with you. I Told him, you and I went to the Lakers game together as well recently. And he and I just finished talking, and one of the things that I called him, I said, listen, he's not a lieutenant or general or whatever, but let's say he is, meaning Bill Maher. Consider me a soldier, because I stand directly behind him in support of all the things that he has said, particularly over the last several years, about the left and how the left pretty much lost its way. Getting personal with you for a second, how difficult, if difficult at all, has it been for you to deal with some of the things that have been thrown in your direction just because you were on your show telling the truth about what the left did wrong and how it got in its own way and what it needed to do to fix the party. Your thoughts?
Dave Rubin
You know.
Unknown
You know, Stephen, A. You can't have everything. That's what you come to. As if you live long enough. The things that people say to me, I've been out with every type of celebrity. They don't say the things they say to me to other celebrities, that means more to me than anything. But things that people say to me and how much it means to them that they feel like there's somebody out there who is never pulling a punch and who will just call out anybody, wherever they are in the political spectrum if he thinks they're saying something goofy, that really means the world to me.
Dave Rubin
So the reason I wanted to show that clip is a. I guess everyone should just go to Laker games together and maybe we could work this stuff out. I met James Worthy. That was pretty cool. Yeah. Or Knicks. Oh. We have three former New Yorkers on the show now, all Floridians as well. But the reason I wanted to show that clip is because both of those guys did not vote for Donald Trump. They both voted for Kamala Harris. And if people watch the interview with Stephen tomorrow, he kind of regrets it already, which I thought was quite a concession. But my question to you guys is, what should we do with these guys? Like, to me, they're both a net positive, obviously, but they made the wrong decision. Maybe he regrets it, maybe not. But how do we hold this wide tent thing together for whatever differences we might have?
Carol Markowitz
Carol, it's tough because while I want a wider tent and I want people to understand that the conservative point of view is clearly the better point of view, it's a more serious point of view. I find a lot of leftism to be very childish, and I don't think that it holds up to scrutiny as you get older, a lot of people say they have kids and they become more conservative. Well, yes, that makes a lot of sense. You become wiser, you become smarter. But the thing is, a lot of these people say, if you guys would just change all of these things, then I'd move over to your side. Well, no, I don't think that the people who have been here along need to be changing things. I think that the people who have been wrong for so long and want to move over to the side that's been mostly right, they should be the ones changing. They should be the ones introspective. And that's the thing about, you know, Bill Maher and Stephen A. Smith. Yes, they are brighter and wiser than most of the people on the left, but they're still not doing the correct actions. And, you know, that really disappoints me. They already regret not voting for Donald Trump. They already regret voting for Kamala. Why? What has happened other than it's become easier to say so in the last few months, the vibe shift has happened. The only thing that's happened. No policies have occurred yet, but it's become acceptable to say I voted for Trump. And so, yeah, it's easier for them now to say I regret voting for Kamala.
Dave Rubin
John, putting aside the political differences for a second, you know, for the three of us as New Yorkers, we all grew up in place. You know, I grew up in Long Island. You grew up in Queens, Carol in Brooklyn. You know, it's like we grew up around people that were different than us there. It was always that way, ethnically and economically and everything else. And to me, that's what America's about. That's why I agree, Carol, on the sort of ideological premise of you have to be careful that they don't come and usurp things or change things too much. But I'm very open to this idea. And we have to make sure it just doesn't go off the rails because I grew up with that.
John Cardillo
Yeah, I mean, look, so did I, Dave. Right. I grew up in an area, Queens, that was very mixed by two next door neighbors. Still, to my best friends till this day were Jamaican and Jewish. I mean, we had white kids in the neighborhood, Hispanic kids, Asian kids. And so we lived in a post racial society. I blame Barack Obama. Barack Obama put race relations back 100 years in this country, maybe even longer, maybe put them back 200 years. But that all said, I'm in agreement with Carol now. It's easy to take the anti Kamala, pro Trump position because you're not going to get fired. You're not going to be canceled. You're not going to see this tremendous backlash. You're not going to be demonetized on Facebook, according to Zuck's recent statements anymore. If you decide to shift a little bit to the right.
Dave Rubin
Note, there was no apology. Did you note that he never said, I'm sorry about any of this stuff? He just said, we're changing course. Yeah, yeah.
John Cardillo
And I mean, look, the Babylon Bee hit it the best. They were like, the guy who said there was never censorship on Facebook now says he's going to end censorship on Facebook. Right. I mean, it's laughable, and we know this, but the bigger problem we run into is exactly what Carol pointed out. Whenever somebody is black or Hispanic or gay or trans or whatever it is, and they come out as conservative, we immediately embrace these people without vetting them. And then we start to shift toward them. We start to shift left to placate them and this leftward shift. And one of the things that has infuriated me by many of the MAGA influencers is, well, no, it's a big tent, and, you know, we should move left to bring everybody in so we can win elections. Well, we're gonna go to. If you're gonna go to the left, I'd rather go slow, rip the band aid off and die quickly than have a slow, agonizing, torturous death. We need to bring people back to our side, not constantly placate the leftists, hoping they join us.
Dave Rubin
Yeah, Carol, I want to get your take on that, because I totally hear the point, John, and we talk about this all the time. My feeling is that over time, as I continue to be friends with these guys and we do each other's shows and everything else, I think it's fairly obvious they will keep coming our way. Like, I believe in my thoughts and beliefs enough that that you can prove it to them over time. They're certainly not dragging me that way. But, Carol, what do you think of that?
Carol Markowitz
Yeah, I agree. You know, and again, Bill Maher is sort of a unique case because he was brave during a time where it was more difficult to say so was he. He said things that were unacceptable to be said. And, you know, he was asked, Stephen A. Smith asked him, like, did you get pushback? He kind of played that off. Like, oh, he doesn't. You know, people credit him and they compliment him, and I'm sure that happens, too. But I saw the vicious attacks. He was on Twitter at the time. So he really did take some serious hits for being a little bit outside of the left mainstream. So I credit some of these guys. I appreciate that they are speaking up, but for a lot of the other ones, it's just. It's become safe to do so, and it' little weak right now.
Dave Rubin
All right, well, as we see everything that's going on in the country right now, I think it will become more and more obvious that we're kind of. I hate the phrase, but we're like on the right side of this thing. So now let's bring this to the thing that everyone's talking about this week, obviously, which is happening right now. These crazy wildfires happening in Los Angeles that have largely destroyed the Pacific Palisades. Pasadena is going under the Hollywood Hills. I mean, it's just unbelievable, this video. I wanted to get to it earlier in the week. It's just incredible. Our friend Adam Carolla, comedian and podcaster Adam Carolla, he a couple years ago testified how seven years before that he had applied or. Or it was even more years before that he had applied to be a firefighter in Los Angeles and had to wait seven years and. Well, take a look.
Adam Carolla
Geez. I want to talk about my white privilege so badly. I graduated North Hollywood high with a 1.7 GPA. I could not find a job. I walked to a fire station in North Hollywood. I was 19. I was living in the garage of my family home. My mom was on welf and food stamps. And I said, can I get a job as a fireman? And they said, no, because you're not black, Hispanic, or woman. We'll see in about seven years. And I went to a construction site and dug ditches and picked up garbage for the next seven years. I got a letter in the mail sent to my father's house saying, your time has come to do the written exam for the LA Fire Department. I took it and I was standing in line and I had a young woman of color standing behind me in line. And I said, just out of curiosity, when did you sign up, up to become a fireman? Because I did it or person seven years ago. And she said Wednesday, that is an example of my white privilege, John.
Dave Rubin
I mean, if people want to talk about why these systems are failing, that might be the most perfect example ever.
John Cardillo
Yeah, look, it's nothing new, right? When I took the NYPD test back in the early 90s, they told us flat out, you're a white male. We're going to be taking anywhere between 1.4 and 2 points off of each, for each white male, we're going to be shaving that off of your score and distributing that out proportionally to women, people of color, et cetera. And look, when I went through the academy, we had a woman in the academy who, morbidly obese. She couldn't run around the gym once. So we. And it was a mile and a half run. It was 22 or 23 times around the gym. I'm in my early 20s, I'm doing that in my sleep. Well, this girl was about my age, but about £400 at five foot five, she couldn't get around the gym. I went back to the academy. Five years later, she was still working there in her academy uniform, making the same salary as a New York City cop on the street, receiving the same benefits. This has been a problem in emergency services for years and years, but it's had catastrophic consequences in these LA fires because they promoted up these incompetent people. You know, fire is the one place where you really need to have done every job at the lowest base firefighter level, to be an effective lieutenant captain. They typically don't have sergeants in fire departments. And normally it's lieutenant, captain, chief. It's not like law enforcement where you could skate your way up because there are some people who are competent. This is. You're in direct command of these men and women and you're sending them into burning bush. You need to know what you're doing. And we saw. This is the most tragic thing I've ever seen. DEI killed people and cost potentially over $100 billion in losses. Right.
Dave Rubin
And of course, before the commenters get in there, no one is saying this is all because of DEI and all because of the hiring. And there are obviously great people at the NYPD now and there are great people in the LA fire department now. But Carol, is this not like the most, in some ways the most perfect example as we watch one of the great once great cities of America literally burned down, Is this not the most perfect example in some ways that, that we, we all. Not that you wanted, but like that we could ask for in a metaphorical sense to prove how ridiculous this all is?
Carol Markowitz
Absolutely. And you know, look, the thing is, and this is the, the whole problem with wokeness and cancel culture and all of that, there are things you're not allowed to say. And the thing that you're not allowed to say here is that men do better in certain jobs than women do. And I'm very like, I'm, you know, as pro woman as can be. I'm a very good driver, for example, and I always take offense when, when men talk smack about it.
Dave Rubin
Oh yeah, John, she's a great driver. Carol, you could drive us home from dinner next time.
John Cardillo
Exactly right. You're driving us home from half Tesla self drives.
Carol Markowitz
But. Yes, but if John's 400 pound friend showed up to save me from my burning house, I would not appreciate that. And I think we need to be able to say, look, men do some jobs better than women do. They have better upper body strength than we do. Of course there's going to be some small, you know, exceptions to that rule, but in general, we should aim for firefighting forces to be primarily big strong men who could carry people on their backs out of their, out of their burning houses. I don't think there's anything crazy about saying anything like that. I don't think it's anti woman to say anything like that. And the evidence is here. Look, it's not. Is it all dei? Of course not. It's also terrible mismanagement, it's awful politicians, it's bad policy. There's all of that. But, but DEI is where we should start this, you know, search for what went wrong here.
Dave Rubin
I want to connect this to a tweet from Bernie Sanders from yesterday because he wrote this. 80,000 people told to evacuate blazes, 0% contained. Eight months since the area has seen rain. The scale and damage of the loss is unimaginable. Climate change is real, not a hoax. Donald Trump must treat this like the existential crisis it is. There's so much to unpack there because first off, Donald Trump's not president. We played a video with Dr. Drew yesterday of Donald Trump literally in a forest years ago with Gavin Newsom talking about why Gavin needed to clear out the brush and everything else and how Gavin has gotten rid of dams and all of these things. But Drew made an interesting point that I want you to take on, which is that if I'd love to hear both of your thoughts on climate change, generally speaking, but if climate change is real, if it is real, well then why didn't Gavin Newsom and say Joe Biden and Karen Bass and the former mayor Eric Garcia, why didn't they do any of the things to stop any of this from happening? Putting aside DEI and everything else, Carol, I'll let you go first.
Carol Markowitz
Well, I mean, that's the whole thing, right, with climate change. It's all about us all believing in this thing. And even if you believe, like let's say Leonardo DiCaprio does if you're then getting in your private plane or sailing away on your private, you know, yacht, I think that you don't really want to do anything about climate change. Believing in this concept seems to be enough for these people. And so I've always said if Republicans wanted an answer, they could just say, I believe in climate change. I want to keep living the way I'm living, just like you are. And then nobody does anything. Just behave the way the left does. I think the thing is that we have like a walking shrug emoji in Gavin Newsom. And what else are they going to say? California is controlled top to bottom by Democrats. They failed on every single level, every single barometer of good government. Didn't happen here. And really, so what can they say other than climate change?
Dave Rubin
Let me read this tweet from John Gabriel because I think it gets to that point. He wrote, Just 11 months ago, L. A had the most rainfall in the past 25 years and several extra feet of snowpack in the Sierras. Since California is too busy destroying dams to build new reservoirs, the majority of the precipitation drained into the ocean. Ocean. Newsom's Democrats own this. We played a video yesterday of Newsom talking about how proud he was to get rid of these dams so that they could have more salmon swimming upstream. I like salmon, but clearly they could use a little more water these days. John, I take it that none of this surprises you.
John Cardillo
Now look, I mean, I don't know what's more illegitimate, the cult of climate change or the holiday Kwanzaa. I mean, they were both invented by guys that nobody should listen to. 1.
Dave Rubin
Kamala celebrates both of them.
John Cardillo
She celebrates both of these cards and wears a daishiki. It's awesome, right? I mean, the guy who created Kwanzo used to torture women with soldering irons. And St Gore of love Story invented climate change with that insufferable documentary 20 some odd years ago. And the fact that it has here want to talk about climate change? How do we open this show? We're all sitting in South Florida complaining because it was in the 40s. So no, I mean it's not a thing, okay? And we know it's not a thing. And the fact that it's always their default position. The real problem here, and I think I even put it it into our group text. You know, Nellipd Sargeant I was talking to, I think he summed it up the best. This was yesterday. He said Democrats in California treat first response and first responders like novelties. They don't take them seriously when they ask for more resources. They don't take any preparedness seriously. They don't look at worst case scenarios, analyze them and say, okay, let's be ready up to this. This should be our state of readiness. No, like you said, what do they do? They, they knock down dams, they didn't fill reservoirs because of salmon and minnows and things that might happen but really wouldn't, but sounded really, really good to the big Dem donors in Hollywood. Right. It's all these causes they could get behind to feel good about their own inadequacy and degeneracy in many cases. And so I think what happened here, I'm going to take it a step further. I think when Trump comes in office, one of his first orders of business alongside Pam Bondi, when she's confirmed, is the entire state of California should be put under a DOJ review for mismanagement of funds and emergency resources. I don't think we can do anything less at this point. This is like an extinction level event for certain areas of that state. There needs to be federal review on this. Right.
Dave Rubin
And the point, again, I just really want to drive it home because I think everyone should understand, Even if you 100% believe in climate change, then they, then that's even worse in this case because they still did nothing to stop exactly what happened. I want to connect this to Elon Musk because he's kind of just the center of the universe these days. And before I throw you clip, I should remind everybody, Elon Musk, who lived in California, who had Tesla in California and who was doing the boring company to literally build tunnels to alleviate traffic underneath Los Angeles and brought in billions of dollars in taxes. And all of the employees and everything else eventually fled California to go to Texas because of the mismanagement of Gavin Newsom. And then Gavin Newsom literally celebrated when, when Elon Musk left, he was happy that he left. Well, here's Elon Musk on what's going on with the fires.
Elon Musk
And I don't mean there's some good regulations, but there's just so much that we just can't get anything done. I mean, you take sort of the California wildfires, for example. We really need to have fire breaks and we need to clear the brush back away from houses and we need to make sure the reservoirs are full. These are all kind of obvious things, but due to a bunch of environmental rulings, you can't actually do that in California. So they're not allowed to do the five Rakes and they're not allowed to push the brush back away from houses because it might hurt some red legged frog or something like that. It's like some sort of creature, usually a creature you've never heard of, that is preventing this from occurring. There's like this fish called the smelt, for example. So we have far more freshwater runoff into the ocean than, than we should really, on the theory that it helps this one little fish that likes a slightly briny freshwater salt water mix. And if we keep more fresh water, then the smelt fish will not be happy. But there's no actual evidence that the smelt fish is going to be unhappy if we keep a bit more fresh water, in fact. So we should keep more fresh water, keep the reservoirs full and just have some sensible fire breaks and move the brush away from houses. That's just an example of like, we've saved a lot of trouble, a lot of tragedy in LA if we'd done that.
Dave Rubin
Carol, I think the point there is whether you care about the smelt fish or not. The optics when people are seeing, wait a minute, how is Malibu, which is on the water burning down. And then it's because of the exact type of regulations that he's talking about, he moves out. There's an unbelievable global brain drain and resource drain in California. It is now strengthened the red states. And to John's point, it's like maybe, maybe once Trump's in, the feds do have to come in and be like, no more you, you. If we're the United States, we got to do something about this.
Carol Markowitz
No, I, I tweeted this on X or whatever it's called at this point, but imagine this was happening in Florida. Imagine our fire hydrants were empty and it was Desantis walking around the state going like this. I thought just, you know, I think that there would be basically like troops on our door waiting to get rid of Desantis. It's really, it's gotten so insane that they're getting a pass for this mismanagement. Elon Musk talking about this so long ago and Donald Trump talking about this so long ago. And all of us knew that they needed to cut down this, this, these dry, dead trees and make a better situation because they're so prone to fires. It's scary that they didn't do that because of possibly some fish or some environmental issue that they had a problem with. I'm afraid for the future in places like this. I'm actually a lover of California. I loved LA before. It was really destroyed. I love California, the state. It's so beautiful. The fact that they have managed to bring this state to its knees and yet Gavin Newsom is still not, it's still considered presidential material. He's still in the running for 28. I think all of that is crazy. And I would love to see a, you know, again, going back to these leftists who are opening their eyes. I'd love to see them take this lesson and really apply it moving forward and say we can no longer live by these leftist policies because look what happens, right?
Dave Rubin
You know, that's a great point. And next time I talk to Mar, hopefully on camera I'll bring that up because he wanted Newsom to run for president. President and was talking about how much he liked him. So it's like, okay, the rubbers met the road. You live in the hills. Like, may not be that thrilled at the moment. I want to read this tweet from Chamath Palapitiya from the all in podcast who made a good point about now some of the cascading issues we are going to see. He wrote, the aftermath of the California wildfires will be important for the entire country. Number one, private insurance companies have dropped fire protection from many homeowners policies or made the rate so high as to be unreasonable for most. They will fight tooth and nail to not pay. How do we fix the insurance market going forward? We can't expect 20 million people just to move. Two, California set up their own program with lower premiums but potentially low coverage limits for many of the homes already destroyed. Where will this money come from? The state is running enormous deficits. Three, government bureaucrats will have to answer for inadequate fire prevention procedures. What exactly changed after this exact thing happened a few years ago? Number four, after January 20th, President Trump will have a decision step in and help. Homeowners may also potentially take Governor Newsom off the hook. Stay on the sidelines and it may accelerate a recall and tip California to swing Republican. Number five, inadequate emergency resource personnel was on display as everyone from government officials to private homeowners took to X asking for help. Hopefully this personnel inadequacy didn't come from hiring quotas. How will we find out when calamities like this happen? They tend to make bare everything that led to it. This needs to be documented and then fixed. John, that gets to your earlier point. I mean, it's a little bit of everything, right? It's a little bit of dei, it's a little bit of general incompetence, it's a little bit of now, say private insurance and corporate collusion. It's all of these things. And maybe this finally is like a rock bottom moment where people will reassess things.
John Cardillo
Yeah, look, and it's a whole lot of Democrat arrogance and obstinate. Right. I mean, just think about what Elon was saying with the smelt. For like three and a half billion years, fish have found the right salinity in brackish water to live. But 50 years ago, a bunch of Democrats thought they knew better than nature itself. And so they've. The things they do just defy logic. And for the party of science, Remember during COVID they were the party of science and we were anti science for the party of science. They really do ignore all the science and do things that everybody, like a seven year old with common sense knows are going to have disastrous consequences. But I think that post was, was really on point, especially the last paragraph. Did hiring quotas lead to this? Partially. What really led to this? You know, you're a firefighter. I put up a post earlier on X saying imagine being that paraphrase. Imagine being that firefighter. You're standing in what you literally think hell looks like. You screw that hose onto the hydrant, you turn the wrench and no water comes out. I mean, what are you feeling at that moment? And that that problem rests squarely on the shoulders of Gavin Newsom, Karen Bass and those DEI chiefs. Because those DEI chiefs should be on the phone with the mayor and the governor once a month demanding that their preparedness is at the highest level. But of course they won't do that. Right. They got appointed by these people and they're gonna shut their mouths and play ball. And so I think you really do have to put DEI in the spotlight here. Did it, did it start the fire? No. Did it lead to the losses we're gonna see and the eventual loss of life when those tallies come in? Absolutely.
Dave Rubin
Carol is part of the problem here that things get bad slowly and then suddenly, very quickly. So, you know, all of us having lived in New York, when every time we talk about this all the time, when it's like each time it's incrementally worse. And now people literally, when they're going to the subway, all stand against the wall or you don't go down that certain block because you know they're selling drugs on it or whatever it might be that Cali is dealing with a version of that, which is like, oh yeah, 10 years ago, oh, I did used to walk down Melrose in West Hollywood, but Now we'll just walk on that other side street. Because it doesn't just magically happen overnight until literally fire destroys a neighborhood in, you know, like that, that, yeah, I.
Carol Markowitz
Was going to say that, that it really does move very slowly and then very, very quickly. And that's, that's how collapse of societies happen. That's how different governments fail. This, this is literally what happens. I, I, I know it's, it's kind of crass to blame Californians for this because they're, they're surviving this right now and they're living through this, and I have all, all the sympathy for them, but it's been a long time of bad policies in that state, and they had so many opportunities to vote themselves out of it. I know that the lar, the recall was one of the reasons you moved to Florida. I think that they had a long time of being able to look at these politicians and say these policies are not functioning. And the thing is, I also do feel sorry for them in a way, because I've never lived anywhere where things functioned before. Florida is my first example of living somewhere normal. I lived in New York, I went to college in Boston, I lived in Europe, but nothing ever works in any of those places. But in Florida, when something is wrong, someone is there to fix it. And that's so unusual, and you don't know what that's like until you're living in it. But. So my message to Californians is vote differently next time. But also know that there is a world where your governor is not walking around shrugging his shoulders. You don't have to wonder whether there's water in the fire hydrants. You know, things are going to get done and really try to move in that direction as you move forward as a state.
Dave Rubin
You know, I think I told you guys this story, but the night of the DeSantis reelection, I was there and we were broadcasting, and during one of the breaks, some random guy came up to me and he said, hey, Dave, how you doing? And he was like, he's like, you'll love this story. He was an engineer in southwest Florida, in Fort Myers. And he said he was an electrical engineer. And he said that, you know, three days after the hurricane with the, when the Sanibel Bridge was completely destroyed, the causeway, he said, DeSantis got like 50 of us together. He brought us out there on the edge of the water and basically said, what, what do you need? And they built that bridge basically in a matter of weeks, when it would have taken the federal government months and it's like, yeah, that's basically why we're all here. We're going to do a complete topic shift and talk a little bit about terrorism. That's hilarious. In just a second. But first, Rumble Premium. As you guys know, the war against free speech is in full swing. Rumble, a leader in defending this fundamental human right, has taken a bold stand recently. They joined forces with X to sue a cartel of advertisers and ad agencies who conspired to block ad revenue from platforms like Rumble. Even Dunkin Donuts refused to advertise on Rumble, citing so called right wing culture. To push back and rally support, Rumble has launched Rumble Premium, an ad viewing experience packed with perks for both viewers and creators. By upgrading to Rumble Premium, you're not just enhancing your experience, you're you're actively supporting the fight for free speech. Now's the time to join the movement. Rumble's offering $10 off when you purchase an annual subscription. Just go to rumble.com premium rubin and use promo code. Reuben. Like I said, if you have the means and believe in the cause, now's the time to act. And if you don't, we're just grateful to have you watching us right here on Rumble. So, yeah, there was a massive, horrific jihadist terrorist attack less than 10 days ago, and it seems like it's long in the past. Let's just recap it for you real quick from the Daily Wire. The FBI said at press conference Thursday that there are no additional suspects in the Islamic terrorist attack on the New Orleans French Quarter following reports that indicated that there were at least four others. FBI Deputy Assistant Director Christopher Reyes said at the press conference that 4242 year old Shamsud Din Jabbar, a US citizen who had converted to Islam, pledged allegiance to ISIS before the summer. According to videos obtained by law enforcement, Jabbar killed at least at least 14 people during the attack and wounded dozens more when he mowed down his victims with a truck that he rented. He then got out and opened fire with a rifle before being shot and killed by the public. Of course, the other thing that happened was the cybertruck attack outside Trump International in Vegas. Guys, the reason I wanted to cover this, it almost seems like it's just like long history and why even talk about it? But that's exactly why I wanted to bring it up that we had a major jihadist terrorist attack that killed 14 people. I mean, it seems like we should all know their names. Why didn't Joe Biden say any of their names, by the way? One of them happened to be a Palestinian. The first girl that was killed was black. You would think we would care about these people. Alas, we just move on, John.
John Cardillo
Yeah. And let me tell you something. So let's look at this from a law enforcement lens. Through a law enforcement lens. At a law enforcement public information lens. First of all, they started disseminating information. The FBI, with the asac, the assistant special agent in charge of the office, the woman, Althea Duncan, well, she completely botched it by saying it wasn't terrorism. And so we got a glimpse of her boss, a guy named Lionel Merthyl, who's the sac, the Special Agent in charge over in New Orleans, and the New Orleans field office. Well, this is real interesting, right, because now it gets kicked up to headquarters, which is the swampiest part of the swamp. You've got what they call an A dick. An assistant director in charge now. And notice the way he worded this and the way he phrased this. He didn't say there were not operational cells active in the United States. He said in that particular attack, there are no further suspects. Right. And to me, that's very telling, because all of the intel. I have a lot of sources in the special operations and intelligence community and in law enforcement, obviously, to a person, to a man and woman, they've told me there are active cells operational in the United States, and a lot of them. I am sickened by how the FBI went overboard and worked overtime to cover this up. The American people have a right to know, so. So I'm at a point where I don't trust anything the FBI says. And I read between every line when I see these statements.
Dave Rubin
Yeah, and by the way, that line. What's her name again? The agent who said that this wasn't a terrorist attack.
John Cardillo
Althea Duncan. She was.
Dave Rubin
When she. When I saw that, and it was within hours of saying it, it's like, how the hell would you know that at this point? Wouldn't you say we. At the very least, if you were competent, you would say we don't know. It's not just that she turned out to be wrong. It was. It was going out of her way, basically, to lie. Carol, let me add one thing.
John Cardillo
Not only did she lie, but she lied egregiously because she knew in her custody, in her evidence, a chain of evidence, she had the ISIS flag.
Dave Rubin
They already had it.
John Cardillo
Yeah, they had it. FBI forensics had already processed the ISIS flag. That was one of the most egregious lies I've ever seen told to the American public.
Dave Rubin
Carol, let me take a different angle on this with you, which is, so we got about 10 or so days till we get Trump. Obviously, there's going to be major changes at the top and across the institutions. But are you hopeful that Trump will be able to deal with this stuff properly and deal with the border properly and really, to John's point, deal with the, say, cells? And we don't know how many people on top of the. Just forget terrorists and jihadists, gang members and everything else that are here.
Carol Markowitz
So I am somewhat optimistic about changes that he can make. I think that they're going to be a lot harder than people imagine. I actually broke the name and the story, right, the New Orleans, you know, car rammer. And the only reason that I mentioned that is because there were a lot of people on the right who were convinced it was going to be an illegal immigrant or whatever. There's a lot of different problems that we have right now. And if we focus all of our attention on, say, the border, we're going to miss the fact that there are homegrown terrorists like this guy. So I feel like that. Look, I was in Montevideo a few weeks ago, and I went. I wanted to go see an old synagogue in the city. And we got to the block, and right away I knew which building was the synagogue. How did I know it had concrete blocks outside of it? Americans need to understand that we have a new way of living, and we should have, should have had this new way of living, basically, since 9, 11, you can't have, for example, New Year's Eve events like this and not have concrete blocks. And Americans will say, oh, I don't want to live that way. Well, I'm sorry that way has come to us. We didn't want to live this way, but that life has come to us in so many different ways. We've allowed, you know, bad ideologies to fester, for example. And so if we're not going to stop that, then we need to be proactive in having defensive measures in place. We need to have a completely different way of kind of surviving in our everyday lives and protecting ourselves. Group events, for example, need to have more protection. I think the New Orleans New Year's Eve party was extremely unprotected. It was a dangerous target the whole time, and we need to really learn lessons from this. It can't just be the border. Of course I want Donald Trump to do a lot on the border. I want him to have mass deportations of criminals and people who have entered illegally. I want all of that. But we need to see that that's not the only problem here. And there's going to be a lot of other issues we need to fix. And we should make the small changes that we can make, like cement blocks, like locking school doors, that kind of thing. We should make those changes up front and work on the rest later.
Dave Rubin
Right? I agree. And of course, we can connect this, just like we could connect the fire. Not fully blame the fire on dei, but we can connect this terrorist attack also to dei. Check out this tweet from Robby Starbuck. Six months ago, the New Orleans FBI office was doing DEI hiring events. Maybe they should have been more focused on hiring the best people who are good at catching terrorists. Instead, hiring solely to increase diversity is a threat to national security for everyone. One DEI must end. And then here's the statement from the FBI. New Orleans FBI New Orleans is holding a diversity agent recruiting event and we want to meet you. Agents and FBI executives will provide firsthand information about a rewarding career. Apply now to see if you qualify for the July 17 event in Matterie, Louisiana here. I mean, John, you already illustrated the point with the nypd, but it's everywhere. It is everywhere. And I guess again, maybe we're finally getting to the final bomb with all of it.
John Cardillo
Yeah, well, let me say this. I mean, you know, one, one thing I will say, you can't place all the blame on the FBI here because one of the things that keeps me up at night, having studied terrorism and cells in the US and homegrown actors, are these low tech asymmetrical attacks. What that guy did on Bourbon street didn't require planning, didn't require chatter. In fact, he could have radicalized at his mosque, at home, not really interfaced with anybody and still pull that off. But here's where we have to go back to identity politics. I spoke to a captain in the Louisiana Troopers. So Bourbon street, to Carol's Point, has those hydraulic steel barriers, right? Like they have outside the White House. Well, they were down for repair. And the city promised New Orleans PD and Louisiana State Police they would be fixed by the Sugar bowl slash New Year's Eve and definitely would be fixed by the Super Bowl. Well, they just abandoned it. They made these promises. They felt, then they forgot about it. The cops, both agencies were screaming and yelling to get these things fixed before New Year's Eve. And the mayor, the administration, and the city of New Orleans and the parish completely dropped the ball. And so where, yeah, I don't know if the FBI could have interdicted this because of how low profile and how little planning it took. I think the blame for this one falls more on the city of New Orleans and the parish for not fixing those barriers because had they, that guy would have never been able to make the turn. If you see the video, there wasn't. Oh yeah, his car.
Dave Rubin
He went up in the video right now.
John Cardillo
Yep. He went up on the sidewalk. And had those barriers been in place, this wouldn't have happened. This one is really tragic.
Dave Rubin
Yeah. Carol, I'll give you last word on this and then we'll jump to some sillier stuff like invading Greenland.
Carol Markowitz
Well, I again, I think that our vision for the country needs to be making changes that we can make quickly and, and kind of putting on, thinking ahead on the bigger picture things and doing those along the way. Any changes that Trump can implement day one in office, he should go ahead and do those. And I think that he should use the federal government in a lot of different ways that he didn't get to the first round. I'm sure he's had four years to think over what he'd like to do. I'm kind of looking forward to seeing what those things are. I'm hopeful, I'm optimistic. I would love to see this country.
Dave Rubin
Turn itself around and one of them might be annexing Canada. We'll have more on that in just a sec. It's time to make mornings great again. If your coffee isn't fueling your fight for health and freedom, it's time for an upgrade. 1775's Vitality Coffee isn't just coffee. It's brain fuel for patriots. Packed with lion's mane, reishi, cordyceps, chaga and turkey tail mushrooms, this coffee doesn't just wake you up, it keeps you sharp and ready for anything. Anything. Lion's mane and reishi boost focus. Cordyceps deliver clean crash free energy. And our hand picked Bolivian beans pack a bold flavor. Corporate coffee can't compete with no fillers, no woke nonsense, just coffee that works as hard as you do. Proudly backed by rumble. This coffee isn't for conformists. It's coffee for the bold, the free and the rebellious. Head over to 1775 Coffee.com and use code REUBEN for 15 off. Make mornings great again with coffee that stands for bold flavor, uncompromising quality and the freedom Rumble champions every day. All right, so yeah, Canada, Panama Canal, Greenland, they all might be ours. Here's the orange Man. Canada and the United States. That would really be something. You get rid of that artificially drawn line and you take a look at what that looks like. And it would also be much better for national security. Don't forget, we basically protect Canada to.
John Cardillo
To Greenland and the Panama Canal.
Dave Rubin
So what can you assure the world that as you try to get control of these areas, you are not going to use military or economic coercion?
Carol Markowitz
No.
Dave Rubin
I love the no there. Listen, putting aside whether you think we should take over Canada or we should grab the Panama Canal back or be defending Greenland or any of this stuff, just like all of these idiotic questions when they ask him things, are you going to attack Iran? You think I'm going to tell you that? Um, Effer. Like, there's something at least refreshing about that, regardless of the policy. I think we all agree on that, right?
John Cardillo
Yeah, yeah.
Dave Rubin
Now, now, I don't know if we all agree on taking over Canada. I just don't know that I want to live in the same country as Justin Trudeau. So I'm just. Carol, Carol, what do you think about that?
Carol Markowitz
I am fully opposed to taking over Canada. Why would we want a bunch of libs in some, like, Arctic wasteland? Like, if we're going to take something over, like Turks and Caicos? I mean, let's, like, be smart here. What are we in Greenland for? I have a list of places we should take over before we take over these frozen, you know, wastelands.
Dave Rubin
Yeah, let's snag Bora Bora from the French. They shouldn't be there anyway. John, what do you want? Should we want to.
John Cardillo
I'm with Carol on this one. I mean, Canada is a socialized nation with 40 million people on socialized healthcare. Who's going to pay for that? Greenland, same thing. All right, 56,000 people. There aren't too many. So it's culturally, you know, people in Canada, people in America say, well, we're going to take over Canada. They're kicking out Trudeau. I'm like, yeah, but their conservatives are not our, you know, brand of conservative. They're still anti gun, they're still pro socialized healthcare, and Canada's been launching a shadow war on us. And I'm going to show you some proof of it. I bought this at a farmer's market. Can you see it? That was like 10 bucks. That's Canadian maple syrup. That was like 10 bucks. Okay, now I'm not going to.
Dave Rubin
What are you going to do with that small amount of syrup? That's barely enough for one.
John Cardillo
I'm going to save it. Right. I'm going to have anxiety if I put this on a Belgian waffle. It's not going to be enough. That's exactly my point. So, no, I don't want to take over Canada. I don't want to absorb 40 million socialists. I don't want to take over Greenland. I don't want to absorb healthcare for 40,056,000 people. These are preposterous proposals that I don't think are ever going to happen. Greenland truly has trillions in resources. Why would the Danes ever sell that to us? And if they do, it's certainly not going to be for a number we can afford.
Dave Rubin
I, I, yeah, I think it's also worth mentioning, like, I don't think Donald Trump actually wants to make Canada part of the United States. I think it's just sort of his bravado of just like, hey, Canada, you better start playing ball with us so that the, so that John Cardillo's little thing of maple syrup isn't so expensive and the trade better be a little more equitable, et cetera, et cetera. I thought this video was just kind of funny. Don, Jr. Saw this whole thing about Greenland, so he hopped on a plane and he went there and he arrived and the people were quite happy with him. Guys, we're here in Nook, Greenland. The founder 1721. That yellow house with the red top, it was his original spot. It's where he moves. This is where it all started out here. Just incredible scenery. You know, I don't think we're taking Greenland, but I kind or I don't think we're taking Canada, but I do kind of think we're taking Greenland. Like it just seems to me that Junior knew what he was doing there.
Carol Markowitz
And Carol, I mean, he was greeted as a liberator. So right there. Maybe we should rethink this again. Do you see how cold he is? Why would we need this? Why do we need another cold location Again? Look to the islands. Look, Australia. Why wouldn't we take Australia? These people were sort of normal, right leaning people. And for the last 10 years they've been moved steadily to the left. I think we could recapture sanity. They have a beautiful, you know, continent slash country that we should take.
Dave Rubin
I want to show you this tweet. It's just from a random account, but I thought it summed up the part of this story that I like. I'm not talking about annexing Canada. Canada, literally. But check this out. It's from an account called Lucerne Balvin. The king's firstborn surveys a feudal holding prior to its annexation. We're seeing things that haven't been done in over a century. And for those of you that are listening on the audio podcast, it's a picture of Don Jr. At that Greenland airport. But the point being that Trump just sort of imagines things. He just puts things out there, and then it actually does change reality. Like, we've had four years of a guy whose mind has been muddled, and there's been no dreaming in America. So I'm not saying we should take these things or not. Let's just put that aside for a second. But the idea that we can kind of dream again. And you know what? Since we're showing things, our friend Ben Shapiro wrote this. Elections have consequences. And it's got the 51st state as Canada over there, Trumpland, which is Greenland, the Gulf of America instead of the Gulf of Mexico, the anti European moat, which that would of course be the Atlantic Ocean. Like, it's all being kind of silly, but there is some underlying truth to it, right, John? That America maybe is going to reestablish its dominance as a world power. Doesn't mean take over every nation, but, like, oh, we're going to affect the world again, potentially in a positive way. That seems good to me.
John Cardillo
Yeah, it's great. I mean, it's a restoration of American pride, right? We can joke about the actual end results of these policies, if they'll happen or not, but I think it's great for the American psyche. It's great for American pride. I just feel bad for Greenland. Once Trump figures out how much hotter the women in Iceland are, he'll institute Prima Nokda Day 1. You know, poor Greenland has no idea what's coming. But now, look, it's great for our psyche. It's great for American pride. It's great. One of the things we've really lost sight of is the concept of American exceptionalism. We've been told how horrible we are for so long. So I think if Trump accomplishes nothing else but restores some semblance of that, it's a win. I mean, it's a win.
Dave Rubin
Yeah, I totally agree, Carol.
Carol Markowitz
Yeah, I have to agree as well. I just think, again, we should dream bigger.
Dave Rubin
Why?
Carol Markowitz
Why limit ourselves to these, these frozen tundras? Dream bigger. Take better locations, you know, some warm ones. Sure, why not? I. I completely agree with John, though. I think this is a moment for American exceptionalism to return more seriously and that we should be more prideful of our country. We have a really great thing going. Nobody else has got what we've got. Greatest history, greatest country in the history of the world, and we should act like it.
Dave Rubin
I just love the fact that he can just change so many people on a dime. I suppose there's a danger there, too, but that the America first sort of isolation is. People are suddenly like, yes, it's Gulf of America. Yes, we're taking Canada. Yes, we're taking Greenland, et cetera. Flora. Guys, that is our show for today in that it is quite chilly in Florida. What do two Floridians like you guys? John, you've been here the longest. I'll let you go first. You got here, what, about 20 years ago?
John Cardillo
February will be 21. Yeah.
Dave Rubin
Wow. 21 years ago. What do you do in this? Frigid. It could be in the 50s this weekend. What are you gonna do?
John Cardillo
You know what, though? What you guys don't remember is 2006 and 7. It was like in the 20s for a week and a half in January. At night. It was absolutely frigid. There was frost all over the place.
Dave Rubin
Place.
John Cardillo
I kind of like it. We had a real hot summer. I mean, you guys know that. We had a real hot, really humid and very long summer. So I'm enjoying this after being here 21 years. It's. It feels pretty good to me.
Dave Rubin
So what are you going to do? You're going to jump on the horses and shoot some guns? I know you.
John Cardillo
I'm actually.
Dave Rubin
Yes.
Carol Markowitz
Yeah.
John Cardillo
This. This weekend we're going out. We're doing a clay shoot this weekend, so that's going to be a long one outside. I'll take my horses out. I'm seeing you guys. I get together with you guys for happy hour, so win, win for everybody. The nice, cool weather.
Dave Rubin
Carol, what are you doing this weekend?
Carol Markowitz
Well, it's actually going to be high of 78 on Saturday, so we're going to live again.
Dave Rubin
It's like when we're going to go.
Carol Markowitz
To the beach, because that's what we do when it's a high of 78. Yeah. You know, I have 26 kids, so I'm going to be shuffling them around to their various activities. Robotics, history competitions, and, you know, all kinds of sports. So that'll be my weekend. I will be very warmly bundled up, but I won't be as warmly bundled up as a lot of the Floridian women I see in, like, puffer coats and UGG boots. I mean, ladies, you're doing too much. A sweatshirt. A nice sweatshirt. That's what we're looking for here.
Dave Rubin
It's funny. It's going to go from like 60 to 78. And then we're all going to be like, how many days of complete darkness do they have in Alaska? And then it finally get a little, a little light and everybody comes out. We're all going to be coming out of the, out of the little huts and everything. I've enjoyed this as always with you fine people. We'll see you soon. Thank you for watching. Guys. It's Friday, so no post game show. But tomorrow my interview with Stephen A. Smith will be up across platforms and I am sure you will dig it. We will see you on Monday.
Podcast Summary: The Rubin Report – “Bill Maher Tells Stephen A. Smith What Liberals Tell Him Behind Closed Doors”
Release Date: January 10, 2025
Host: Dave Rubin
Guests: Carol Markowitz (New York Post Columnist) and John Cardillo (Former NYPD Officer and Political Commentator)
In this episode of The Rubin Report, host Dave Rubin engages in a robust discussion with two esteemed Floridians, Carol Markowitz and John Cardillo. The conversation centers around the challenges of fostering a wide political tent, the impact of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies on public services, recent catastrophic events in Los Angeles, and the broader implications for American politics and society.
Dave Rubin opens the discussion by referencing a recent interview between Stephen A. Smith and Bill Maher, highlighting the complexities of maintaining a broad political coalition that includes both moderate liberals and more radical elements.
Carol Markowitz expresses skepticism about the feasibility of broadening the political tent without significant changes from the liberal side. She emphasizes that many on the left are unwilling to evolve their positions, thus hindering the creation of a more unified political front.
John Cardillo echoes Carol's sentiments, arguing that the attempt to include diverse left-leaning individuals without addressing fundamental policy disagreements leads to an unstable and ineffective coalition.
The conversation shifts to a critical examination of DEI initiatives within public services, particularly focusing on the Los Angeles Fire Department and the New York Police Department (NYPD). Rubin introduces testimonies highlighting how DEI policies may have inadvertently compromised the effectiveness of these essential services.
Adam Carolla’s Testimony [09:42]:
Adam Carolla shares his personal experience of being overlooked for a firefighting position due to DEI policies, only to later see individuals he deemed less qualified promoted, ultimately contributing to inadequate responses during the recent wildfires.
John Cardillo provides additional insights from his tenure with the NYPD, recounting standardized testing and physical requirements that were undermined by DEI-driven adjustments, leading to diminished operational capabilities.
Carol Markowitz underscores the necessity of recognizing inherent physical differences without attributing capabilities solely based on gender or ethnicity.
Dave Rubin brings attention to the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles, linking them to alleged mismanagement by Democratic leaders and DEI policies. He critiques Governor Gavin Newsom's environmental regulations, suggesting they have hindered effective fire prevention measures.
Carol Markowitz discusses the broader implications of climate change policies, arguing that mere acknowledgment without actionable steps is insufficient and often hypocritical among leaders who advocate for environmentalism while engaging in environmentally detrimental practices themselves.
John Cardillo criticizes the prioritization of environmental concerns over practical measures necessary for public safety, emphasizing the failure to implement essential infrastructure projects like dam maintenance and fire breaks.
The episode delves into two significant terrorist incidents: a horrific jihadist attack in New Orleans and a cybertruck assault outside Trump International in Las Vegas. Rubin and his guests scrutinize the FBI's handling and communication regarding these events, expressing distrust in federal agencies.
John Cardillo condemns the FBI's initial mischaracterization of the New Orleans attack, citing conflicting statements and the presence of incriminating evidence that was initially downplayed.
Carol Markowitz expands on the need for comprehensive security measures beyond border control, advocating for proactive defensive strategies in public spaces to prevent such attacks.
Anticipating Donald Trump's potential return to office, the discussion explores how his leadership might address the aforementioned issues. Both Markowitz and Cardillo express cautious optimism about Trump's ability to implement effective policies that prioritize national security and operational competence over DEI mandates.
Carol Markowitz [38:47]: "I am fully optimistic about changes that he can make... I'm hopeful, I'm optimistic."
John Cardillo [45:51]: "It's a restoration of American pride... it's a win."
In a lighter vein, the trio engages in a satirical discussion about the impracticality of annexing countries like Canada and Greenland. This segment serves to illustrate the extremity of certain political rhetoric while emphasizing the importance of focusing on domestic issues.
Dave Rubin [40:45]: "So, no, I don't want to take over Canada... Greenland truly has trillions in resources. Why would the Danes ever sell that to us?"
John Cardillo [42:37]: "I'm going to save it. Right. I'm going to have anxiety if I put this on a Belgian waffle."
Carol Markowitz [44:35]: "If we're going to take something over, like Turks and Caicos?... Let's just put that aside for a second."
As the episode concludes, the guests share their personal plans for the weekend, highlighting a return to normalcy amid ongoing national crises. Rubin wraps up the show by teasing an upcoming interview with Stephen A. Smith and expressing gratitude to his audience.
Carol Markowitz [04:16]:
"I want a wider tent and I want people to understand that the conservative point of view is clearly the better point of view... I think that the people who have been here along need to be changing."
John Cardillo [07:54]:
"We need to bring people back to our side, not constantly placate the leftists, hoping they join us."
Dave Rubin [12:56]:
"This is the most tragic thing I've ever seen. DEI killed people and cost potentially over $100 billion in losses."
Carol Markowitz [13:20]:
"Men do some jobs better than women do. They have better upper body strength... it's not anti-woman to say anything like that."
John Cardillo [31:32]:
"I'm at a point where I don't trust anything the FBI says. And I read between every line when I see these statements."
John Cardillo [42:37]:
"I'm going to save it. Right. I'm going to have anxiety if I put this on a Belgian waffle."
This episode of The Rubin Report provides a critical examination of the intersection between DEI policies, public safety, and political cohesion. Through the insightful dialogue between Dave Rubin, Carol Markowitz, and John Cardillo, listeners gain a deeper understanding of the potential pitfalls of current liberal policies and the urgent need for pragmatic solutions to ensure national security and effective governance.