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A
All right, ladles and jelly spoons. I'm Dave Rubin. This is the Rubin Report. It is Friday, December 5th, which means it's time for another Friday roundtable extravaganza. And joining me are two Rubin Report returning all stars, host of the Sean Spicer Show, Sean Spicer and host of the Winston Marshall Show, Winston Marshall. It would have been odd, I suppose, if Winston had been the host of the Sean Spicer Show. And well, you get. Gentlemen, how are you?
B
I'm great. I feel underdressed. Look at how well Winston, he always is. But I, at least, at least, you know.
God, that made me feel so much better.
A
Spicer, am I going to ask you to stand up or. It's probably best.
B
I didn't know that we had to wear anything, so I'm in a little awkward of a position.
A
Yeah. I would imagine when you had your rather brief stint as White House press secretary, it was mostly behind the podium, just in boxers, right?
B
Yeah. I mean, if you didn't have to walk that little from lower press on. Honestly, if I knew, I was just top up. Yeah. Not a fan.
A
There's something. I like this juxtaposition here because Winston is dressed like a professional, yet he's got the. He's in Florida at the moment. He's got the Florida background. And you have a very serious background. Lots of degrees, important documents that prove that you're a legitimate political leader.
B
Oh, no, Dave, none of them are mine. I got them on ebay. If you look at the names, it's like Harriet Smitherbomb. And it's like, no, none of them are. I just got the frames at Walmart and then put other people's things in them.
A
And nonetheless, I consider you two sort of, you know, wise political pundits. That may be my mistake. So let's dive right in. We're just gonna catch up on some of the craziness of the week. And obviously the, the big sort of international story, although it really has a lot of domestic touch points as well, are these Venezuelan narco terrorist drug boats bringing fentanyl, cocaine and other illegal drugs to our shores. And Donald Trump has decided to blow up these boats as usual. If Donald Trump does something, even if it's, I would say, objectively good, we don't need more fentanyl here. A certain set of people go absolutely bananas. I want to start with this clip from our friend Batya Unger Sargan on cnn, on Abby Phillips show. And she gets into what I think is the more interesting piece of this, the sort of meta narrative around the entire thing. Take a look.
C
Even on a basic level, don't we deserve answers about who these men were? If he knew exactly what they were and what they were doing, don't we deserve answers about that? I definitely want to know if regime change is happening and I will be very angry if it happens and I was not informed. So the answer to all those questions, I always want more information. But I feel like we're in the midst of another Russiagate hoax. There was a group of Democrats who said you can refuse illegal orders, and now they are out there in search of a war crime and there absolutely isn't one. So what happened was the DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel issued a classified legal opinion authorizing these U.S. military strikes. @ that point, the Department of I guess I have to call it war issued the directive that we were going to start hitting them. At that point, Admiral Bradley gave the order for the first strike. Pete Hegseth watched it. The boat caught fire. Now, in order to establish that a war crime happened, we have to know that the boat was completely destroyed and the military action which was authorized by the doj under Article 2 powers which Trump has the legal right to issue, that that boat was destroyed was no longer a threat and that there were two people clinging to it for life who are also no longer a threat. We do not know that.
B
Yet. You don't really.
C
Know. And what happened is. I tend to disagree. I mean, we do have to have a job lawyer who has a lot of experience with military strikes. I think it's a really. Because only disabled and not destroyed. It is still a legit. The main here is the.
A
Target. All right, guys, there's a lot here because I think there's, there's legal things, there's moral things, there's philosophical things, there's arguments around sovereignty and a whole bunch. But, but I'm interested mostly in the narrative part of this. And I think Bhatia said something really interesting at the top of that. Basically, last week we had this, this, you know, commercial basically put out by the Democrats telling current serving members that they don't have to listen to illegal orders. They never said what the illegals order were and then what they subsequently, several of including Mark Kelly, went on news shows and didn't, couldn't come up with something that was illegal that Donald Trump was doing. But then days after we get this story. Sean, let me start with you first because you are, you were former White House press secretary. You're a D.C. guy. Something about the Narrative. The story around this seems extremely contrived to me. She brought that point up at cnn. They don't deal well with that kind of thing. But what do you make of.
B
That? I don't make of it. I know of it. And what I mean by that is, look, and I have to just give you the disclaimer. All comments and opinions that I share, those are mine and not those of the Department of Defense, Department of War, nor the Department of the Navy. When I read that in the Washington Post, I was like, that's not how operations go down. I've been in the room as a civilian, as White House press secretary, and I spent 27 years in the military, in the Navy. I know how these things happen. The Secretary of Defense isn't giving a verbal order. That's just not how it works. And so the first time when I read the story, I was like, this doesn't pass the smell test. Somebody clearly was disgruntled and wanted to take off a reporter. And I say this respectfully, who's probably never served, who doesn't have any familiarity with how operations work and perpetuated this narrative. And that goes to your point, Dave, when you don't know any better. The initial story out of the Washington Post was Pete Hegseth turned, took a baby, lit it on fire, threw it off the boat and killed a bunch of innocent civilians. And then they all died and a nuclear weapon launched and killed more innocent civilians. And suddenly now we have earlier this week ABC News coming out and saying, well, gosh, actually what happened is the commander with an intel officer on one side and a JAG officer on the other had a legal opinion from DOJ stating that the operation was legal, and then used the intel from the intel officer and the approval from the JAG officer to recognize that this strike was legal, saw some follow on action, revealed that the mission still existed and took it out. My God. That's actually how a mission's supposed to work, Literally how it's supposed to happen. And now everybody's walking it back and trying to put the genie back in the bottle. But that's to your point, they were able to sell this because they didn't like Trump and what Trump was doing. But this is literally by the book how it's supposed to.
A
Work. So I want to get back to the, to the legal stuff in a second. But Winston, you like, I, we're not legal experts. So I want to ask you just sort of an optic, an optics question, which is, to me, this is just a win For Trump, people have had it. Going to our big blue cities and seeing people with the fentanyl fold. I checked the numbers on yesterday's show. 50,000Americans died of fentanyl overdoses this year. It's over 200,000 in the last 10 years. So it's rapidly escalated. It is a type of warfare. If you flood streets with drugs, right. I mean, that's what the opium wars were. And it's not like we're going to be defeated with missiles. So it seems to me, putting aside legal for a second, this is a win for Trump. Blowing up boats that have fentanyl and other illegal drugs on their way to our American shores, especially to the backdrop of all of the illegal immigration stuff, strikes me as a win. And it makes the Democrats look kind of ridiculous, as usual, defending the bad guys. Is that, do you think that's a fair.
D
Estimation? It certainly seems to me that it is a just war insofar is a war. This is a national security threat to America. But I can push back on you a little. It's that I think that the Venezuelan gangs, what they're bringing into America pales in comparison to what the Colombians and the Mexicans are bringing into America. It is nonetheless a win for Trump. And I'm not trying to take that away from him. And anything that can be done to fight, you know, the drug wars, fantastic. Particularly as those related to Venezuela. I'm not trying to underplay your point there. If I can make another point though, on.
A
This. Well, we've also, we've stopped a lot of the stuff. The China and Colombia stuff is being stopped because the southern border is stopped. But that, that's legit. It's not just Venezuela that's bringing this stuff in.
D
Obviously. And in attacking these Venezuelan gangs, it sends a message to the Mexicans and the Colombians and others. But I want to make an important point about this war crimes phrase that is used before we move on. This is a term we have heard not just by Democrats and the Democrat establishment, but by progressives, by the progressive media, again and again, relentlessly now for two years in relation to Gaza. A famous example of that would be earlier this year when a former Green Beret went on not just the Tucker Carlson show, but also on the BBC and other mainstream media and left wing media across the world, claiming he had joined the GHF in Gaza and had spoken to a young Gazan called Amir. And on the Tucker Carlson show, they put up an asset showing a photograph of Amir and this Green Beret called Tony Aguirre says that he spoke to this child, the child thanked him in English and he almost cries when he's interviewed by Carlson. And then as the child is walking away, he witnesses the child being killed by the idf. Now, this story went around the world three or four times. War crime, war crime, war crime obviously leveled at the Israel in this case. And when the news came out two months later that not just the GHF but Fox News had found that child interviewed, that child, the child had been saved from Gaza, was smiling and happy with the child's mother. They named the child the same child. You could see as the same child as in the photograph. None of that was picked up by the mainstream media. It was ignored. Now, obviously, that's a completely different conflict. Why I bring it up is this term war crime is very effective, very effective as propaganda to cut through and scare people into thinking something terrible is happening. And I think, I don't think there's, they might not be immediately linked in terms of the politics, but no, they are in terms of the.
A
Rhetoric. Well, I'm glad you brought it up because, Sean, to that point, actually, that's what I wanted to get back to now. So there's sort of the media narrative around this. You mentioned the sort of standard operating procedures that the military goes through before they do these strikes. But then there is this war crime international law accusation. And I keep trying to explain to people, it's not that we, it's not that we as Americans are not in any international agreements. Of course we are. The President of the United States, however, swears an oath to the cons to protect the Constitution of the United States. And it is his duty and responsibility to protect the borders as he sees fit. So even for somebody that might say the second strike, and we'll show you some follow up video on this in just a second. The second strike, this or that or the other thing. It's the Constitution that at the end of the day is what this is about, not the International Criminal Court or international laws or war crimes, et.
B
Cetera. Yeah, well, two points on this one, just to go back a second on the narrative, just think about what has changed. Joe Biden allowed people to willy nilly come into this country that committed crimes, that brought drugs and said I can't do anything to stop it, which is not true. And yet he was hailed as a hero for helping these folks. Trump says I'm gonna stop drugs from coming into the country, stop criminals from coming to the country. And everybody protests and the media talks about war crimes and all this stuff. I mean, just to your point about how the narrative has shifted, it's unbelievable. But secondly, I have to go back to the process. So if the military wants to conduct an operation and this is to your point about war crimes and everything else, they get an opinion. They go to the Department of Justice and say, we would like to do X, whatever X is. Is this legal or not? And the DOJ says it calls balls and strikes. This is legal under these circumstances. If this happens and then the military sits in a tank a room and says, okay. To my left is my intel officer. To my right is my JAG officer. The intel officer says, based on the plan that was approved, yes. That boat has drugs, it's threatening things. That's our intelligence. The JAG officer says, okay, under what was given to us by the Department of Justice, do we have the legal authority to strike based on what DOJ said, yes or no? Balls and strikes. Then the answer comes to the commander. And the commander says, okay. My intel officer says that boat has drugs. My JAG officer says I have the legal authority to do it. It's now my call whether to do it or not. Right. But it where the problem is. And this goes back to what Winston is saying. What you're saying is people disagree and say, I just don't like it. It wasn't a good idea. That's not a war crime. That you may not like it. Like, it's like higher taxes. I don't like them. But if you pass them legally, it's a fact. It's a law. I have to abide by it and I have to decide to change it or not. What the Trump administration has done, whether you like it or not, is is legal. It followed the process. And what happens is when people don't get their way, it happened. It goes to Winston's point. Well, it's okay. It's a. It's a tearing the Constitution. It's undermining democracy. It's a war crime because you didn't like it. That's very different. There's a lot of things I don't like. Right. But that doesn't mean I get to say they're a war crime or they're undermining the.
A
Constitution. Right. And also. And also does now the hypocrisy part of this, I mean, we all know had Barack Obama did this, and by the way, Barack Obama drone struck.
B
An American citizen that was in the pursuit of the greater.
A
Good. Well, of course, of course. But anyway, a lot of The a lot of this was whittled down to the second strike that it appeared that two of the guys were not killed in the first strike and everyone was saying it was intentional that they killed him and even that now is being walked back. Take a.
C
Look. From FOX tonight, new.
B
Information. According to a source familiar with.
C
The incident, the two survivors climbed back.
B
Onto the boat after the.
C
Initial. They were believed to be potentially in communication with others and salvaging some of the drugs. Because of that, it was determined they were still in the fight and valid.
A
Targets. A JAG officer was also giving legal advice.
This backs up the entire second.
D
Strike. Yes. I mean it doesn't get more crystal clear than that. The mission is take out the.
B
Boat, stop the drugs, keep this vessel.
A
And its cargo from reaching our shore using lethal means. Winston, I want to go right back to the same thing I asked earlier, which is I still think even if the two guys that didn't get killed immediately weren't going back to get drugs and they were just injured and whatever, I just, this is going to sound cold, I suppose I don't care they were drug traffickers coming into the United States. I'm not saying ignore procedure that Sean is talking about, but I just, I don't think the average American, oh gosh, we didn't pick up the guys who got injured while they were bringing fentanyl to our shores. I don't think people care. I mean, I get a hysterical people that want to take out Trump.
D
Care. But I mean, look, I, I understand your why you would feel that way. And honestly if they were doing that to my country, I'd also be, I don't give a damn and they shouldn't have been started doing that in the first place. Having said that, what why America is so brilliant and why it has been the righteous police in the world and a righteous force in the world is because it's held itself to a high standard. And just for the sake of being, I think responsible, I would say I'm not going to fully go along with that clip. We've just so it might be the case that is true what we just saw in that clip, what we were told. But the fact is we don't know yet. And until we do, I will, I will reserve personal judgment. I mean if you were on that boat and you were that drug smuggler and just taking what you said aside for one second, Dave, if you were then drowning in the sea, your reaction is going to try and get back into the boat. And so at that point they are if you, if it was I and you, we wouldn't be in that situation, but if we would try and get back in the boat. And then at that point, we don't know what anything they do is potentially trying to. They could be potentially trying to get in touch with.
Their colleagues wherever they might be. So it's just the whole thing is murky and cloudy. But.
Go along with you, Dave, and agree they shouldn't have been there in the first.
A
Place. Right? Well, that's the point. And I just think that Trump and maybe Sean, you can probably speak to this since you know the president and work for the president. I mean, I just think he doesn't care. And I mean that in a positive sense. Meaning he's saying, we have had it with this situation, we've had it with the border situation, we've had it with the illegal situation, we've had it with the drug situation. And he's basically saying, okay, you want to hop in a boat and bring drugs over, we're blowing you up. And I'm not saying he's saying do it without paying attention to our processes that you've mentioned already, but I just see the way he's responding to this and the way Hegseth is responding to it, and they're just like, we're going to do what we have to do to protect America. And I think that's what Americans want to.
B
Hear. Look, one thing I'll tell you, haven't been in the room with the President, having, watching him order strikes. He is very sensitive, which I'm glad for innocent lives. And I don't mean not innocent, but once you're out of the fight, legally speaking, in terms of the military, if you're not, to Winston's point, if you're out there just rafting, you are not a target. You cannot be targeted anymore. Those are the rules. And the reason I care about that, not only do I agree with what Winston said in terms of having a higher level is because I don't want other countries ever using the justification of what America did as a way to take out U.S. service members or innocent U.S. civilians. Right? So I actually think about it in a much global, a broader global standpoint. I don't want anyone to ever say, well, the US Did X under this auspices, so we get to do it with, you know, some tourists that we believe was posing a threat to us. So I actually believe in it for a variety of other reasons. That being said, I believe that the President is comfortable with it because of what I said. That the President was shown information. And remember, this is where again, Dave, the media is missing this. The Secretary of Defense does not order the strike. He authorizes the guy who authorized it. Admiral Mitch Bradley is a four star SEAL that served in SEAL Team 2, 4 and 6. He was head of Joint Forces, Joint Special Operations Command and Special Operations Command. He was one of the first individuals in Afghanistan. This guy knows rules of engagements and he is a bonafide badass. He is not going to risk his entire career doing something that his JAG officer and his intel officer did not affirm was the correct thing. Right. And this is again where the media won't give you the full context. These strikes were legal and were in keeping with the rules of engagement for that operation. And I think I don't even want to go to, to the point you're making, although it's a, you know, is that once you decide to come into America. Because I believe that we play at a higher level, as Winston said, and I believe that I want to be the example for the rest of the world, which is, hey, look, if there's a close call, but these guys re engaging in the fight deserve like that's at that point, they're fair.
A
Game. By the way, I'm actually not really disagreeing with both of you on that, other than to say I think that most Americans, in their gut, they don't care that much and I'm completely.
B
Sympathetic. Like when a criminal breaks into a house and gets.
A
Shot. And gets.
B
Shot. Sorry.
A
Dude. Yeah, exactly. So I want to show you one other thing on this and then we'll move on. But let's go all the way back time machine it to 1989. You may recognize this guy who was really into these kind of strikes way back.
D
When. The trouble is that the President's proposals are not big enough to deal with the problem. We think we should do more to stem the flow of drugs across our borders. And we think we should go one step further. Let's go after the drug lords where they live with an international strike force. There must be no safe haven for these narco terrorists and they must know it. We have to lock up the dealers for a long, long time and we have to attack the source from which the drugs come. And we have to do that not a piece at a time, but all at once. And we have to do it now. And there's not any reason why we can't do that. We have the power, we have the money, and we have the.
A
Knowledge. Winston, what's particularly fascinating about that clip from again, 1989, that's then Democrat. Well, he was. I suppose he's still a Democrat. He's just not that functional right now. Joe Biden, but George H.W. bush was president at the time. So you have a Democrat senator saying that the Republican president was not going far enough. And I think the key line there was go after them where they live. So that would be literally bombing Venezuela right now. So that guy has very little to do with the Democrat party of.
D
2025. Most striking, I think, is the editorial change in Rubin Report since I've last come on. This is a pro.
B
Biden.
No, we love old Biden around.
A
Here. We love old Biden. Yeah, not old Biden. Oh.
D
Biden. Yeah, right. Oh, no Biden. Well, I guess we'll see. I mean, there's something like 15,000 troops now amassing around Venezuela. And I mean, Sean, you'll know a lot more about this than me. You're a military man. It seems that America is preparing for conflict and I wouldn't be surprised if something emerges. But I also say that Trump, his military decisions have been phenomenal in both terms. And earlier this year there was Midnight Hammer, of course, in Iran. And so he knows how to make precision moves. And perhaps just having the military nearby, there'll be some precision moves, as Biden suggested way back in the late.
A
80S. Sean, maybe you can bring us home on this segment with this that, you know, there's a certain portion of people on the right that seem to be frustrated with Trump because of foreign policy. My position has been we're America's leading through strength again and we've, I think, done a hell of a job in the Middle East. It doesn't mean it's always going to hold. I think he's working on the Russia, Ukraine thing. I think he's sending a signal to Venezuela. I don't want troops on the ground in Venezuela, but maybe moving carriers there is the threat. I mean, these are basic military precepts. Where do you stand with just the overall strategy.
B
Here? Yeah. By the way, I will say this about Biden. It's amazing how many things, not just Biden, I mean, that was probably when he was also pro life, by the way. It is.
A
Amazing. A pro life.
D
Democrat.
B
Yeah. How many contours a lot of these Democrats, including Biden, can put them through and not have any accountability like the idea like that clip. If I were President Trump, I would do an address tonight and be like, ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to do this and just Troll.
A
Him. Right? He should just read that straight up and then be like, oh, and.
B
By the way, Dave, Dave, this is what I think. The President should sit in the Oval Office and say, ladies and gentlemen, I've been thinking about doing something like this. And then it's just the clip that you just played and he goes, so based on that, I'm going to do it and then just drop the mic and walk away. But again, I just find to me, I again can never get over the fact that these guys are never accountable for anything that being said. Look, I'm with you guys. I don't want troops on the ground in Venezuela, I don't think. But, and Winston brought this up and you alluded to this, Dave, like the one thing that I've realized about Trump and this was the case in Iran in particular, is that everybody said like, you can't do this. And even in Gaza it was, you can't, we can't get involved, we can't get involved, we can't do this. And what does the President do? He creates this third option that nobody had on the table and says, dummies, I got it, I know how to do this. And we took out Iran's nuclear capabilities. No boots on the ground, no follow on force. And oh, by the way, there you go. And so what I'm hoping is the case in Venezuela is that he's picked up the phone, as we know. He called Maduro and said, hey dude, you might want to get some binoculars, look off your coast. Do you see that big carrier group, they can take you out. Then I got 15,000 guys willing to come in so we can do this the easy way or the hard way. I tell you what, I'm going to Venmo you some cash you can get out of Dodge and we'll get some new folks in there, we'll set you up nice and block us Astan or whatever country you want to go to. Yeah, we'll give you some crypto and then you're good. But either that or I'm coming in. And after what the President has shown, I get. My guess is that Maduro says, hey, let's get the family together, grab the photo albums and we're out of here. And that's the three dimensional chest that nobody is sort of giving him credit for. That I find fascinating through all these peace deals that he's gotten. America first, in my opinion is getting the job done in a way that puts our interest first without our money and our.
A
People. I mean quite, quite literally go Ahead.
D
Winston. Sean, it's just that the attacks on the gangs in the Gulf is absolutely a threat to Maduro. That is part of that play. It's part of the messaging. I mean, that's why it's. Even though it's not as big a deal as the other drug cartels in the rest of South America. He is. It's a big deal, but it's not as big a deal. But it's a message to.
A
Caracas. Right. And I would just say to conclude this, that, you know, there were all of these people that were saying if we do anything with Iran, it's thermonuclear World War Three. And guess what? Nobody had a shoelace that got untied during that thing. That's how pinpoint precision it was for all the reasons you just laid out. Sean, let's talk about Rumble Premium for a second and then we'll go to Chicago where there's a racist guy talking about racism. Guys, if you want the best experience on Rumble, you need a Rumble Premium Premium. It's ad free, distraction free and built entirely around creators who actually stand for something. You'll get exclusive access to a whole lineup of voices that aren't afraid to think differently. Rumble Premium is how you support a platform that's genuinely built on free speech, not just talking about it. Go to rumble.com premium rubin. That's rumble.com premium rubin for 10% off annually for Rumble Premium. Join the movement today. All right, Brandon Johnson of Chicago who's, you know, it's hard, it's always hard to say who's the most racist of all of these Democrats who call us all racists. He might be the most racist. He got asked a question about the mass violence in Chicago, which as we, I will check the numbers this weekend on the killings in Chicago as we do every week on the show. I'll get you some numbers in a second. But he got asked a question about the violence in Chicago and of course he called someone racist. That you think that a Christmas market across the street from City hall.
D
Is more of a threat to public.
A
Safety than violent black teenagers running down State street shooting people. All right. At a Christmas tree lighting shows your priorities. What do you say to those people? Citizens, business leaders? What do you say to.
D
Those. Got it. Got.
B
It.
D
Yeah. That if they get a phone call from you or they get an.
A
Interaction with you, they should avoid you. I'm not going to entertain things because the whole premise of everything that.
D
You bring up is not only disgusting and racist, it's. It.
A
Just. It.
D
Does. No facts to.
A
It. There is not a person in.
D
This city who spends more time working to ensure that we're protecting working.
A
People. There's not a person that spends.
D
More time thinking about it. In fact, our budget reflects that. My values reflect.
A
That. Winston, if what he just said there is true, that nobody's working harder than him, then he needs to step down. Seventeen people were shot in Chicago last weekend. Four of them were dead. That's kind of average numbers for Chicago. And of course, it's black on black crime, which is why the mainstream media won't talk about it. But that he has the gall to then call this guy racist, it's just. It's just. It's kind of perfect, I.
D
Suppose. Yeah, it's classical rhetorical devices to deflect from his own failures there, and he's pointing it right back at the journalist. But you and I were at an event where we heard Larry Elder speak a couple of nights ago, and I was. I was very touched by what you're saying, and particularly his honesty when he was saying. And this is a. You know, this is really one of the great black spokespersons in America I've heard, because. Because he's truthful. And he was talking about the problem of fatherlessness, which he saw as really the great problem in America not addressed enough by either party. And he was unashamed to say it was a problem predominantly in the black community. And a lot of the black and black crime you might describe, fatherlessness plays a part in that. That is, if you go to the root of it, that is that. But the point here is that if you can't talk openly about problems, you can't solve them. It is not racist to identify these issues. Different communities have different problems. We've got to be able to talk about them, otherwise we can't move forward. But it is a classic progressive sort of knee jerk that they have, that they just accuse everyone of being racist when it's just. Just. It's perfectly.
A
Normal. Well, Larry. Larry did also tell a story about getting out of an elevator without looking and literally kneeing a midget in the head and knocking her over. But we'll leave that for. I'll have to bring him on to explain that further. Wait, Sean, before you jump in, let me just show you something else coming out of Chicago right now, and then you can take it.
C
Away. Tommy Carter is charged with attempted murder after punching an elderly man yesterday morning at the Harlem stop in Forest Park. We're told the victim ended up on the tracks nearly touching the third rail as a train was approaching the stop. Now, the conductor saw the attack and was able to stop the train in time. Police arrested Carter on the platform. We've learned he's had dozens of arrests dating back to.
A
2001. Sean, you can go whichever way you want on this. We don't have to make this about race or anything else. The reason I played those clips is because it just doesn't have to be this way. I don't care about the race of the victim or the perpetrator or any of the rest of it, but Chicago has chosen to allow this level of criminality. It's something we don't do here in the free state of Florida. And they just yet they keep voting for these.
B
People. Yeah, I want to. I mean, hey, that's true. It amazes me how this all breaks down, right? I mean, you just saw the people of Nashville vote for a woman that hates Nashville. That's the one area in the Tennessee 7th congressional district that Afton Bain actually did well on, which is kind of ironic. The one area she actually did well was the place that she said she hated. But let me get back to.
A
Something. Thank God she didn't win the seat.
B
Though. Oh, my God. But this is interesting that what you bring up, what Brandon Johnson was saying kind of ties back into what Winston was saying at the beginning on war crimes, which is this manipulation of language, right? So they don't like what they see, and they suddenly say, pete Hegseth committed a war crime and the Donald Trump's committing a war crime. They don't like you calling out, the gentleman asked a question, hey, why do you think it's okay on this Christmas market, but you don't think it's okay? Legitimate question. Any politician should definitely be able to handle that. Like, here's why I think this, or here's what you don't get, right? But he immediately then pivots to racism. And this is the bigger problem that I think that we have on the right right now, which is they are fighting a war. And I get why the president's upset about affordability, but their use and manipulation of language is something that our side has to understand. I'm guilty of this, too. I dismiss it. I go, there's no way that anyone can think that that's racist or that guy's Hitler or a Nazi, right? But, I mean, like, you saw this the other night. Katie Miller was having a discussion with Abby Phillip, and she's like, katie Miller's saying to Abby Phillip with cnn, you had on a guest. You were on a podcast and watching a woman talk about my Jewish husband being a Nazi. Like that. Just. And yet, Abby Phillip was like, well, that's not really what happened. The left's ability to manipulate language to their side is something that is, frankly, in some ways, I admire as a political operative. And in some ways, we need to understand that, like when they say this stuff, it actually matters. And we need to, as you do all the time, Dave, call it out. Because people. If left unchallenged, then people go. All I heard was Brandon Johnson called that guy a racist because. So something must be wrong. He must be.
A
Bad. It's interesting that. Well, it's one of the reasons that I always say on my show, in some sense, I'm less interested in politics than ever. And I'm much more interested in narrative because everything seems to be driven by narrative these days. Not. Not really the reality of things. Winston, I think this will be a good one for you. I wanna show you video. There's a lot of news coming out of Minneapolis right now in a massive scandal breaking in Minnesota as it relates to money laundering and fraud related to Tim Walls and Ilhan Omar and a bunch of other people. But here is a Minneapolis police officer giving a press conference. And you might notice something curious.
Now, as far as I can tell, that was either Somali or what The. The navi in Avatar. It sounded a little bit like their language. It's one or those two. Either way, I don't speak them. Winston, it seems like a problem to me that we would have police officers in America giving press conferences in other languages. Am I a.
D
Racist? I mean, I thought this was a video coming out of England. I can't believe this is in the United.
A
States. That's why I wanted to ask you about it.
B
First. Well.
D
Done. Of America. This is a big problem, by the way. In England, we have this problem now where a decent percentage of people can't speak English at all. It's because of our mass migration problem. And language is absolutely fundamental to a country. And in our country, we were united by our first, the first king of the English, King Alfred, in four ways. A common law, a common religion, a common history, but fundamentally a common language. Before him, we had different languages in the British Isles, and it was English that united us. And the language is the code. It is the code of culture. It is the code of history and law, all of those things in one. It's great to have different accents and different lingos and different slang and whatever, but as soon as you're literally speaking. I think I picked out ice. I think you did say ice. I picked out that one word there. But then it's real trouble, particularly if that's official, you know, people working for the state in any.
A
Way.
Well, just to be clear, this has nothing to do, in my opinion, with Somali or any other language. I'm here in Miami where there is a ton of Spanish being spoken all the time. And I do find at times, you know, if we take the kids to the playground and they're all the kids are speaking Spanish, well, then my kids likely aren't gonna be friends with those kids, and we're not gonna be friends with the parents. That just then becomes something that, to your point, you just kind of lose that connectivity. But, Sean, what is going on in Minneapolis and Minnesota, broadly? I mean, it just seems completely.
B
Insane. Oh, it's more than insane. I mean, we go back to, again, the theme that started the show that I keep trying to tie everything back to is this narrative, the idea. I mean, kind of. Look, why are they having this press conference? Right? Because they stole a billion dollars of COVID funds from kids. This is literally what Democrats normally rally about. Children and their sake. And we love Covid money. And suddenly, the reason that press conference happened was because the president, United States said, hey, Tim Waltz. 400 employees from Tim Waltz's state. His people said that he knew that these people were scamming the system, and he did nothing. You stole a billion dollars? And of those people, yes, they're all Somalis. So what are you gonna do? Call out, not Somalis? I mean, I don't.
D
Understand. It's much worse. It's much worse than you're.
B
Saying. Oh.
D
Good. Because that money didn't just go anywhere. It ended up in the hands of Al Qaeda affiliates in.
B
Somalia. You are such a.
D
Racist. No, it literally.
A
Did. It doesn't matter. You're still a.
B
Racist. You're still a racist to that.
A
Point. Watch this. Here is Trump on Jacob Frey, who is the mayor of Minneapolis, who's usually speaking in Somali, somehow beat the Somali candidate because it has something to do with aligning with Somali gang members. The whole thing is so bananas. But here's Trump on.
C
Fray. Thank you. The mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey.
D
Is saying that he's actually proud to.
C
Have the largest Somali community in the country. And his police.
A
Chief. Well, then he's a.
D
Fool. Well, his police chief is also saying the largest.
A
Somalian. Look at their nation. Look how bad their nation.
D
Is. It's not even A.
A
Nation. It's just people walking around killing each.
B
Other. Look, these Somalians have taken billions.
D
Of dollars out of our.
B
Country. They've taken billions of. And billions of dollars. They have a representative, Ilhan Omar, who they say married her brother. It's a fraud. She tries to deny it now, but you can't really deny it because, you know, it just.
A
Happened. She shouldn't be allowed to be a congresswoman, and I'm sure people are looking at that. And she should be thrown the.
B
Hell out of our country. And most of those people, they have destroyed.
A
Minnesota. You know, he's still got it. Even the way he says. Even the way he says she married the brother. It's like, ok. But putting that aside, Winston, again, you are from across the pond. You are from a country that has had an integration problem that you just referenced and a language problem and cultural problem. And it seems to me that it's only in the last year that people in America are realizing we have it here. So if we are behind you in some sense, what would you warn us of and what should we.
D
Do? Well, actually, I'll give you a good example which might highlight the problem, which is a good friend of mine, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who is in fact Somali by origin. But she has also become one of the great defenders of the west, living in the West. And what's crucial about Ayaan's story, it helps, of course, that she is now a Christian, although she was a prominent new atheist for some time, calling out Islam. But she has very much integrated. She has understood and proselytized about the great things about Western civilization, the great principles of the individual, and.
All the things that have led to prosperity in this corner of the world, in this corner of time. And she has integrated and she is part of. She's in a Western community, and she is married to a Scotsman. She's now actually Laden Ferguson, and by contrast. So it's not actually about individual Somalis. And I make that point because I know our detractors will claim we're being racist. But it's not about individuals. It's what happens is when you have any group, doesn't matter if they are Latinos in Miami and your neighbors, Dave, or they are Pakistani groups in Bradford in England or Somali groups in Minnesota, if they come en masse to a place, they have no incentive whatsoever to integrate, they will bring their cultures with them. They will form their own enclaves. They will keep their language. Somalis, for example, are the highest propensity of those who practice female genitalia. Genital mutilation in the uk. So we never had a problem of FGM in the uk. We now have one. It came with the Somalis to Britain. We have a problem of roaming street paedophile gangs. That has come with the Pakistanis who have come because that's a thing common to a certain region of Pakistan. Not even common to all of Pakistan, just a common certain region. The point here is that if you bring in whole communities en masse, they will form their own enclaves. They will not integrate. And so trying to work out how to assimilate and integrate that is key. Ayan is the example that it can be.
B
Done. By the way, the idea that there's a nuanced nickname or fmj, that we've now gotten to the point where it's gone from being sort of disgusting and outrageous to having its own little brand and acronym is kind of scary. But you know what? You saw this issue. I visited Australia a few years back and they've got the same problem with the Chinese that they didn't come to assimilate and move into neighborhoods. They came in to take over blocks and areas and neighborhoods, Right? And suddenly they just create their own church, their own stores, and they live by themselves and don't assimilate into the thing. America used to be talked about as this great melting pot you came in. And now you see this in all sorts of places. And I think Winston's right. He's giving us the warning because we see it obviously in Minnesota with the. But we're seeing this with other ethnic groups as well, where they all come in and form a little thing. And there's a difference. Again, I have no problem, like obviously if you want to live close to neighbors and friends and all this, but they don't want to be part of the American fabric. And that's the difference, is that you hear Ilhan Omar and others talk, they despise it. And that's the difference of the example that Winston gave. You want to come here because you embrace the principles and the foundations of what makes America great, this idea of capitalism and entrepreneurism and the freedoms that we have, that's great. But if you want to come here to basically import your bad ways and sort of corrupt ways of your, then, then that's counterintuitive to what we should.
A
Want. Right? And there's also multiple layers of it where certain communities are very insular and then do have sort of anti American beliefs. You know, when I mentioned going to the playground with my Kids and hearing Spanish, it's not because the Cubans are anti America. They freaking love capitalism by and large. I just wish some more people would say, hey, I'm here in America the way my great grandparents who came here from Eastern Europe did. They dropped the language and they said, we are American now, we better learn English. And then my grandparents did, et cetera, et cetera. The other problem, of course, of all of this is that the Democrat party to its core now has become a pro illegal immigration party. Here is. She's a little scary to look at, frankly. Premia Jayapal explaining that she wants DHS to be unable to detain illegals.
C
Enough. Our Dignity for Detained Immigrants act has a remarkable unprecedented. 123 original co sponsors before we've even introduced it. 123 co sponsors. And it overhauls the detention system. It drastically scales back the use of detention. It ensures that every single immigrant who is in detention has their human and civilization rights protected. Our bill also phases out the use of private for profit detention centers. It prohibits the detention of children and families and makes it harder to detain primary caregivers and vulnerable people like pregnant women or seniors or workers who are whistleblowing and unscrupulous.
A
Employers. All right, so again, it's partly what we've referenced a couple of times here. They do this stuff with language. It's protecting rights of detained immigrants, not illegal immigrants. They never say illegal detained immigrants. I think we can kind of liken this to the story up top, which was I frankly don't care that much how we treat illegals. If you are caught here in illegal, you've got to go. I just. And I think that's what most people fundamentally understand. You either have laws or you don't. I'm not saying go out of your way to abuse people, but the Democrat obsession always with the illegal at the expense of the legal is not right, nor just, nor decent, nor anything else.
D
Winston? Yeah. In my country they use the word irregular immigration instead of illegal because they're too scared to use the word illegal. And you're absolutely right. These are criminals. If you've come to America illegally, you are a criminal. It's the same problem we've got in my country. And these guys want to do everything they can not to make it safer for those who are accidentally detained, who are there legally. No, they're trying to thwart the whole operation. That's what they're doing. If they thought that, they would say explicitly, actually, yes, we've got to remove criminal people. Criminals who are here, People who have come here illegal, illegally. No, they are trying to thwart the whole operation. That's clear. And there's other clips of hers and others of Mahmoud Khalil. I'm not sure if you're going to show of.
A
Him. Yeah, well, let's hear. Why don't we. Why don't we jump to this clip? So then Mahmoud Khalil, who was a Columbia student here on a green card, who then took part, partook in the Hamas rallies which stopped Colombia kids from being able to go to school, put aside what they were chanting and everything else. He was on a green card, not a citizen. Leading chant. I have no problem saying, for a terrorist organization that killed 47Americans, he magically shows up. They are being tarnished in the.
B
Media. While they didn't do anything, no.
A
One should be detained for immigration enforcement. No.
B
One. There's no.
D
Need. Need for detention for immigration enforcement. As Congresswoman Jay Paul said, there are so many ways that we can.
A
Enforce immigration.
Process without detention. There's nothing called civil.
D
Detention. Detention is detention.
A
Sean. I'm not as professional as you are, so I'll just say it this way. Who the fuck does this guy think he is? You come here on a green card, you lead those rallies, and then you lecture us on whether we are allowed to. To kick out illegals or.
B
Not. So sometimes, like, I feel like you have to take it down to a very micro level, which is like, just stop. Pretend it's our. Stop pretending it's our country and say, it's your house. Walk home, somebody's in your house. You don't go, I'm sorry, I didn't. I know you're. We didn't invite you. And I know you. Like, this is like, sometimes people forget this. This guy, to your point, comes into this country, breaks our laws, and then says, you can't do the following. I'm sorry, you can't do the following. This is our country, not yours. We actually have the most lax immigration laws in the developed world. I just. To me, this is outrageous. I was thinking as you were going through this clip, and I can't. I'm just not as quick as Winston here. But I'm thinking to myself, soon someone's gonna rob a bank and saying, you cannot detain me for replenishing my account. It's now going to be, instead of robbing a bank, it's replenishing my personal.
A
Funds. Well, it's literally when they. When they burn down Pep Boys or they break into a Best Buy, you know, in for racial justice. And then AOC is like, well, they're hungry. And it's like, no one's eating that plasma tv as far as I.
B
Know. But let's just. This is. We are getting to a point where it's insane. And I just. I cannot believe. The problem is, is that I keep reminding myself, do not forget that if you. You can't just say it's insane. You need to expose it, because that's. Their goal, is to normalize it. We've gone from, remember, it is the law in the United States. If you're in this country, US Code says you are an illegal alien. That's the law. That's not my word. That's not your word. That's not Winston's world. But you heard what he just said. What they've done in England is now made it like you are a temporary friend. Like, they will change this if we don't actually pay.
A
Attention. Let's jump over to New Orleans, where a city council member was asked whether ICE should help get rid of pedophiles. You'd think that's.
B
A. Well, Dave, please don't use that word.
A
Anymore.
B
Sorry. Those are people that have close relationships with.
A
Minors.
C
Go. You heard the DHS spokesperson say that they're looking to target criminals like pedophiles. Do you see the upside in getting people like that off the streets? We already have NOPD here, as well as troop nola, which is. Which are the state troopers. So our NOPD is doing their job in getting criminals off the street. In fact, we're at the lowest amount of crime since the 1970s because of the efforts of our NOPD, assisted by the state police. And so I don't think we need additional law enforcement here in order to round up.
A
People. Guys, I've really been trying to give the Devil is Due on the show here. And I try to.
B
Give. It's not the devil anymore. It's a person who seeks to undermine.
A
God. Yeah. Thank.
B
You. Please do not use words like that in my presence.
A
Again. You're right. You're right. Well, I will take that lady's word for it. I'm just going to pretend she's telling the truth here, that their crime is pretty far down. Let's accept that. If she is right about that, that still seems different to me than saying, but we could still use some help maybe getting rid of the pedophiles or dealing with the illegals, because she's a Democrat. So they're obviously not going to coordinate with ICE like we are doing here in Florida where we're basically booting everybody but Winston. I guess none of this should surprise.
D
Us. I mean, I don't what's going on here. This is just beyond.
B
Parody.
It's not. I mean, that's the scary part. It's not. It's not. It's worse than.
A
That. All right, well, then, since we're beyond parody, we will end with this clip all the way back to 2009, a young Barack Obama when he wasn't insane. This is not going to be a free ride. It's not going to be some instant amnesty. What's going to happen is you are going to pay a significant fine. You are going to learn English. You are going to.
You are going to go to the back of the line so that you don't get ahead of somebody who was in Mexico City applying legally. Wow. Sean, who is that racist guy that sounds an awful lot like Donald Trump right now. You're going to go to the back of the line. You're going to pay a fine, don't cheat the system, blah, blah.
B
Blah. You can keep your.
A
Doctor. Wait, that's a different.
B
Thing. Same guy, though. I think you can keep your plan, your doctor. This won't cost more money. You know, it's funny because I believe that he's tethered to the other guy that says that we should go strike boats. Right? Isn't that the. Yeah, that's maybe that's why people say, oh, Biden. Because they both kind of are full of. Look, I. Again, I go back to what I said earlier. This is insane. These guys, there's no accountability. If a Republican merely. And that's why I said to you jokingly, but in all seriousness, if I were Trump, I'd get in the Oval Office and say, tonight I want to address a really serious issue. Here's Joe Biden. And let that clip play. And then say, by the way, while we're here, I want to talk to you about illegal immigration, since I'm talking about Venezuela and drug dealers. And now I'd like to introduce somebody else, Barack Obama. And just play the clip because this is like, it's crazy how we literally are at a point where merely stating the position of the Democrats is racist, xenophobic, blah, blah, blah, blah.
A
Blah.
B
Right?
A
Yes. The far right Republican of 25 is a moderate Democrat of 1991. It's wild.
D
Winston. Bring us home conservatives, though, both of you. I mean, when you see where the Democrats are today, in a way, given how loony it's Become. Doesn't it not give you some hope? Because you would think that common sense people will see how ludicrous it's become, and it will give support to whoever runs for the.
A
Republicans.
B
Not. I look at what happened with the DEI stuff, right? And it went. And finally, like, even to, you know, the last couple of days, you've seen some corporations continue to. I don't know, maybe it's like they jumped the shark so bad so far that people go, whoa. But the problem is, is that maybe you're right. But I get worried the other way, Winston, that I'm going like, hey, so far, nobody's pushing back. We are literally just. We elected a guy in Virginia, where I live, that wants to kill his political opponents, and 51% of the state said, what's the big deal? He's only gonna be attorney general. And then you elect a guy in New York City, Zorm. I mean, so, like, I think. I hope. But right now, I just. I look at the facts on the ground, I go. I'm not.
D
Excited. So the people actually supporting these politicians. So it's actually. The politicians are very much the politicians that America deserves right now. Is that what he sort of.
B
Suggested? Yeah. I don't know that they deserve it, but they're being.
A
Bamboozled. There's definitely a Batman line about this. I always ask on Fridays what our guests are doing for the weekend. Winston, I know what you're doing. You're having dinner right here at the Rubin Report Compound. Sean, you're a little far. You're a little far over there in Virginia. You're welcome here anytime. But what will you be doing? What does Sean Spicer do on the.
B
Weekend?
So this weekend. Next weekend is Army, Navy. Since I'm not going to be with you, I'll be out there. Go full Navy on this. We've got a lot of kids activities that. That's. That's. We've got a big gala, and the kids, like, I've learned the older you get, and Dave, you're. You're. You're in that mode. But, like, the older the kids get, you start to realize, like, weekends are just like you get. You don't have to dress up as much, but you're.
A
Busier. You're basically going to a soccer game. I think that's what you just said. Soccer and gymnastics.
D
Probably.
B
Yeah. Well, in a basketball gala and then church. But it's like. I'm like, when is Monday? Come on, let's.
A
Go. It was great seeing you guys. For everyone watching It's Friday. No post game show. We'll be back on Monday. Have a good weekend, everybody. Take care.
Of.
Episode Title: CNN Host Goes Silent When Guest Proved She'd Done Her Homework on Drug Boat Facts
Date: December 5, 2025
Host: Dave Rubin
Guests: Sean Spicer (Host, The Sean Spicer Show), Winston Marshall (Host, The Winston Marshall Show)
This roundtable episode dissects the political and media reactions to recent U.S. military strikes on Venezuelan narco-terrorist drug boats and explores broader themes including the manipulation of narrative, accusations of war crimes, illegal immigration, cultural integration, and the weaponization of language in current American politics.
This episode serves as a case study in how political discourse is shaped less by facts and more by dominant narratives and shifting language. The panel contrasts the rigorous legal process behind controversial executive action with the media’s rush to label it criminal, all while highlighting broader societal friction over borders, crime, assimilation, and institutional credibility. The hosts conclude that unless Americans push back against narrative manipulation—and demand accountability—these trends are likely to intensify.