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Dave Rubin
All right, people, I'm Dave Rubin. This is the Rubin Report. And yes, do not adjust your screen. I am back in the free state of Florida after a couple days in D.C. it was a spectacular, spectacular trip, which was definitely connected to some of the things that we are going to talk about on this Friday. And since it is Friday, it is time for another roundtable extravaganza. And joining me is the host of Primetime With Alex Stein. Alex Stein, and also an economist and the head of the Brownstone Institute in Connecticut in the Northeast, Jeffrey Tucker. Gentlemen, welcome back to the show.
Jeffrey Tucker
Good to be here.
Alex Stein
Thank you for having me.
Dave Rubin
Before we do anything here, we have to get something out in the open because something very weird happened right before the livestream began. We were just chatting, as we do as friends. We're all friends here. And I mentioned that I was in D.C. and that I went to dinner with Tulsi after her confirmation hearing, which we'll talk about in a few minutes, and that she's a vegan. So before the vegan dinner, I did stop and I had a steak over at Joe's in D.C. by the White House. And then Alex Stein said something that is so disturbing, we almost didn't do a show today. Alex, you're a vegetarian. I did not know that. You look bizarrely healthy. You have color in your skin. You seem to have decent posture. How is this possible?
Alex Stein
Well, you know, it is not the recommended lifestyle. And it is like my scarlet letter. I have to kind of be in the closet, honestly, in the circles that I run in. So listen, you're just making me feel more guilty for me trying to make animals have a happier life because I love the animals, Reuben. I mean, Dave, like, these animals to me are as important to humans. And that's where I get made fun of a lot. But I really do. I really, I'm so sick of my head. I see a homeless person. I don't hardly really. Maybe I give them a buck. I see a stray animal. I've been bit twice in the past year by trying to rescue dogs at Bachman Lake, the park near my house. So that's how sick I am about animals, Dave. It's a sickness.
Dave Rubin
Have you ever tried just like a really good steak?
Alex Stein
Oh, I've been eating so much steak. You know, when I was doing the keto and I was in great shape, but I was getting my digestion. It kind of affected my digestion. So I did it for my digestion as well.
Dave Rubin
All right. Well, I'm just putting that out there as a trigger warning to you guys. Obviously, anything that Alex says is under duress throughout the next 40 minutes or so. And Jeffrey will focus on you. A meat eater more so. But we're gonna talk about RFK and Tulsi, obviously, all of the Doge stuff. And then really the fact that Trump in this last month is, as they're saying now, even on the televised mental institution known as msnbc, he's flooding the end zone. He is just doing a, a million things at once. We are watching change happen so fast, it's spectacular. And before we get to all of that, first let's talk about BHMD1. We've been told our whole lives that wrinkle creams were the easiest way to look younger. Now one doctor says that's nothing but old News. According to Dr. John Lake, the world renowned Beverly Hills beauty expert, most wrinkle fixes on the market are nothing but glorified moisturizers. They hardly make a dent on your appearance and some can even be harmful to your skin. He said. Recently, Dr. Lake has focused his attention away from mainstream cosmetic practices. Why? So he can pursue a revolutionary anti aging breakthrough. One that some experts say could empty the wallets of the cosmetic industry. It's almost like Photoshop for your face. You may even be mad after seeing how easy it is to visibly erase your wrinkles from view. Lake told reporters his personal clients have dubbed his new do it yourself technique the age rewinder method, because it can take years or even decades off your appearance in under two minutes. In light of this amazing breakthrough, Dr. Lake has released a step by step video to the public public, free and uninterrupted, where he outlines exactly how to use this simple solution from home. You can find out more about this yourself right now. Go to bhmd1.com ruben or click the link in the description box below. That's bhmd1.com Ruben again. Go watch the video at bhmd1.com RubEN right now or just click the link in the description box below. All right, so the big news obviously was Tulsi's confirmation for dni, which happened on Wednesday. We'll get to that in a moment. And then yesterday Bobby Kennedy officially head of hhs. We've got some info here from the Daily Wire. On Thursday, the GOP led Senate confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. To become president Donald Trump's Secretary of Health and Human Services, ending a saga which members grappled with the nominees skeptical views on vaccines. The final vote was 52 to 48. All but one Republican voted for the cabinet pick, Senator Mitch McConnell from Kentucky, a childhood polio survivor who had previously warned against undermining public confidence in proven cur. The only GOP lawmaker to break ranks and vote against Kennedy Jr. Along with all of the Democrats and a pair of independents who caucused with them in November, Trump picked Kennedy Jr. To lead HHS, saying for too long Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation and disinformation when it comes to public health. Trump added, the safety and health of all Americans is the most important role of any administration. And HHS will play a big role in helping everybody ensure that everybody will be protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products and food additives that have contributed to the overwhelming health crisis in this country. Mr. Kennedy will restore these agencies to the traditions of gold standard scientific research and beacons of transparency to end the chronic disease epidemic and to make America great and healthy again. Jeffrey, I will go to you first, not only because you're a meat eater, but also because every time I bring you on the show, for now and in perpetuity, I will always point out that you were right on Covid from day one when it came to lockdowns and masks and social distancing and everything else. And I think it's worth repeating for the rest of your life cuz you got it when most people did not. Seeing someone like Bobby come in with a little skepticism as it relates to science, you must be quite pleased today.
Jeffrey Tucker
He was the leading critic of the COVID lockdowns. His book, the Real Anthony Fauci came out in November of 2021 and it blasted ont the scene. The NIH at the time, the CDC worked to try to suppress that book. They wrote Amazon said take this book down, don't let anybody search for it. That led to lawsuits. The courts have said that he was unjustly censored. His second book, called the Wuhan Cover up, is even better. But both of them are heavily documented. This is the world's top most erudite, passionate and knowledgeable critic of the key thing that drives this nomination and this confirmation, which contrary to everything you read, is in fact the COVID lockdowns themselves. They shut our churches, they shut our schools, they shut our. They turned off weddings and funerals and made you stay in your home and practically abolished dentistry for six weeks. And so on it goes. It was an egregious time. And then why? Why did they do that? So that we could take the magic injection which is going to cure us, and it didn't. So this is the scandal of the ages. And it didn't happened in the US happened all over the world. So this nomination and this confirmation is all about a massive, if only symbolic, so far, repudiation of everything that's happened to us over five years.
Dave Rubin
So, Alex, to that point, isn't this the confirmation of Bobby at hhs? Isn't this exactly what they all deserve? Like he really is gonna go in and do some things. We all may have differences, or people watching this may have differences when it comes to vaccines or scheduling or whatever that might be, but just the idea that kind of like what Doge is doing with the finances, we're just going to look. We're just going to look at who's doing what and why are they doing it. And is any of this sound like this is exactly what these people deserve? It's what we deserve as a community, actually.
Alex Stein
Well, 100%. I mean, Dave, you know, this really. I mean, we're trying to keep it light, but, you know, this isn't a funny thing because Dr. Fauci somehow already got a pardon from the Biden administration, so he wouldn't get this pardon if he didn't commit some sort of crime. So it's very obvious that they were able to. The only way they were able to get the emergency use authorization of the vaccine was to say that there was no other remedies from COVID So basically, they murdered people in order to make it so that they can give this vaccine to everybody. So, like, this is not that hard to solve. So rfk, really, for me, the pressure is on because, you know, I lost my mom to Covid. They gave her remdesivir and she died. And, you know, it's just so obvious that the protocol in the hospital was not to save people's lives. And when you look at Nigeria, they had a lower Covid mortality rate than the United States of America. They couldn't give anybody ivermectin. There was no other protocols that a hospital could give other than remdesivir, which was killing, you know, thousands. If anybody died, it was from remdesivir, because a lot of people got the vaccine. We're fine. A lot of people got vaccinated and had heart attacks, myocarditis. So it's just. It's easy to kind of solve this puzzle, put it all together. So now the pressure is on for rfk, and I like rfk, but right Now, I don't really want retribution. I just want it all transparent. I just want the truth out there that will make me feel better at the end of the day.
Dave Rubin
Yeah, I think that's a good point. When Donald Trump says that his best revenge will be success, that's sort of what you're saying, too. It's like, we don't need to destroy all these people or jail everybody. That would be my opinion. Although I think probably some people should be in jail. But at least let's uncover what's going on here and let's look at these vaccines and everything else. Here's Bobby right after being confirmed for 20 years, I've gotten up every morning on my knees and prayed that God would put me in a position where I could end the childhood chronic disease epidemic in this country. On August 23rd of last year, God.
Jeffrey Tucker
Sent me President Trump.
Alex Stein
He's out given me.
Dave Rubin
He's kept every promise that he's made to me. He's kept his word in every account, gone way beyond it. I'm so grateful to you, Mr. President. A lot of people told me that I couldn't trust President Trump. I better get it in writing. And we did a handshake and everything that he told me he was going.
Alex Stein
To do, he has done.
Dave Rubin
And I'm so grateful to him. And I've told you before, I genuinely believe that you are a pivotal historical.
Jeffrey Tucker
Figure and you are going to transform this country.
Dave Rubin
First off, I'll never get over the fact that he's married to Cheryl Hines, who is Larry David's wife on Curb youb Enthusiasm. Like there's just some kayfabe thing going on there with that. But, Jeffrey, look, as a libertarian, you don't want big government, but I suspect you do want competent people in whatever government positions we have to have. Right?
Jeffrey Tucker
That's a decent way to put it. Article two, Section one, says the President is head of the executive branch. And now you've got courts all over the country saying, no, that's not true. He can't hire and fire. He can't tell the agencies what to do. He can't, you know, deny them money. They're trying to take his presidency away from him. And people are calling Trump a despot. It's a strange despot that reimposes free speech, that wants to control government power, that wants to got the executive agencies of the people that are oppressing us. Okay, so that's the kind of power that he's, he's using so far. And you've got these lower Federal courts all saying, no, you can't do that. So this is going to have to go to the Supreme Court. You know, we've got to have a president in this country. It's arguable that it's been a long time since we've really had one, maybe a very long time he's trying to be president. And yes, that makes him a pivotal figure. And his interests are overlapped very tightly with rfk, who's been suing government agencies for years and years. One of the things they both have to do is release all the documents to Alex's point. I mean, like, we just need to know. And I think that might be one of the things that RFK can do at HHS and people at FDA and NIH and so on. We need to get the information out there, post it on X, we'll take it from there. I think that's going to be his real power because otherwise he's dealing with, think about it, 80,000 bureaucrats underneath him. Come on, Alex.
Dave Rubin
One of my calculations when I was supporting Desantis during the primaries, and I have no problem having a mea culpa about it, was that I thought that Trump wasn't going to be able to staff with the right people. This was two years ago. It was a very different world than now. I have no problem admitting that not only was I wrong, but I was cataclysmically wrong. And I think it's great that we're here at this very moment, but when you see Bobby and we'll get to Tulsi in a moment and hopefully Cash gets through and Pete Hegseth who's doing a bang up job already and Rubio's crushing it. It's like we have competency back and we completely forgot over the last four years at least, and maybe it was longer than that, what competency was.
Alex Stein
Well, you know, it's funny you say that, because when you look at 2020, you think like, oh, maybe you know, this was the worst thing ever. January 6th happened and Biden went in. But really for Donald Trump, it couldn't have been any better that he got to take those four years off. Everybody got to see how terrible things are with the shadow president, how untalented, you know, Kamala Harris is. So really, for Trump, it gave him four years to kind of sit back and strategize on what moves he needed to make and what his base really wanted. And listen, I was with you, Dave. I was like, there's no way they're gonna let Trump win. They're gonna try to use some sort of legal way to stop him. Cuz they kept on trying to give him all these phony charges. So I just, I really thought the possibility of them ever letting him be president again was basically zero. And I'm so happy that I was wrong. And I campaigned for Trump, I debated for Trump, but I still, you know, I didn't really think it was real until about a week after the election. So, you know, those four years off has made him like a ninja currently. And that's why these people are so frustrated, because he's able to kind of show them compare and contrast, why he's already so much of a better president than the last administration.
Dave Rubin
Right. They basically threw him into that pit that Bain was in and now he's like, I'm back. Now you are in trouble. I was just trying to work that. I was just trying to work that in. I'm very pleased with that one. That was pretty good, right? I was more than it.
Jeffrey Tucker
You know, this really is a people's movement. Politico ran a very interesting article yesterday asking the question why more pharmaceutical companies and medical doctors and public health people didn't come out in more overt opposition to Robert F. Kennedy. And their answer was that they knew it was hopeless, that the support from him is wide and broad, that there's a ferocious movement out there that's brought together Maga, Maha and Doge and we've never seen anything like this. And they realized it was completely hopeless, so they just gave up. Now the fight really began because of course they're going to try to use every bureaucratic trick in the book to stop his influence. And just like they're doing with Doge and they're doing this with Hegseth and so on. So it's gonna be a daily struggle. I'm really all for champagne celebrations, but really the real struggle begins now.
Dave Rubin
Yeah, no, there's a fight to come and I think everyone gets it. Alex, hang on one sec. Let's get to Tulsi real quick because obviously she was sworn in on Wednesday. And I think we've got an image of that that was at the White House. And then right after that, just four seconds. Yeah, I got the hug. I was at the swearing in. I think we've got the video right there. And I should tell you what I whispered to her that she laughed at was I said, my work here is now done. I can retire. Because I, for years was encouraging her to leave the Democrat Party and do the whole thing. And she did it. And I'm feeling very proud. And it's like, man, this is a woman who not only was a Democrat four years ago, but who Hillary Clinton was calling a Russian asset while she was a current member of our military. And, Alex, it's just like, man, the all star team is here.
Alex Stein
Well, and that's why they really can't stop them from getting nominated or actually getting the position. Because if you really look at RFK and Tulsi, they're both basically liberal, I think. You know, you look at me and Bialik, that woman from. I forget which show she was on, like 30 Rock from the Sun. One of those shows, one of those stupid shows. But Hollywood used to be anti vax, Jim Carrey, Ginny McCarthy. They used to go around on every show talking about how they didn't like vaccines and they weren't canceled. But it became this weird cultural shift, I guess, after the Occupy movement, where these liberals felt like all of a sudden they had to be support wholeheartedly our healthcare system, which has only gotten worse as we've gotten along in our country's existence. Our healthcare system sucks, but these people all support it blindly. So it's weird because these were the people that occupied and were anti vaccine. So. So we've had a huge cultural shift. And now you got people like Tulsi, who's super talented, who's moderate, same with rfk. So they're for everybody, and they're the populist party. And I think that's why Donald Trump's such a great president, because he's a true populist.
Dave Rubin
Jeffrey, how worried that even, you know, you mentioned Doge and getting caught up in the courts, which we'll get to in the next segment. But someone like Tulsi coming into DNI having to do major reform. Are we using our own systems and institutions against us? Like, she's got a lot of work to do.
Jeffrey Tucker
The other day, Trump sent out an order inviting all the CIA employees to resign. The first edict, the first offer of buyouts did not include the intelligence agencies. And after about a week, they rethought that and said, all right, you know, you got to go, too. So I think it's very likely they're all going to be gutted. You know, I'm toying around, Dave, with a theory that what's actually going on here is the formation of a kind of a third political party within the structure of the existing two. Almost everybody in a top leadership position within the Trump administration are refugees from the Democrats. Right. And Then you've got. But all the democrats voted against, 100% of them voted against RFK, even though he's a scion of the greatest Democrat, you know, family in the country. They all voted against him. And then you've got the old line Republicans who join, you know, McConnell and voting against him too. So it seems like we're seeing this complete political realignment take place within the structure of the existing two parties. I'm not sure if anybody's described it that way.
Dave Rubin
Yeah, no, no, no. I think that's a great point. I've been talking about that. Right. And the idea that you now have McConnell, who's the old irrelevant Republican now with the Democrats, and then you have all of the good liberals say the are now joined with maga. I think the trick over the next year, to your point earlier about the fights that are coming will be to make sure that they don't drive a wedge on whatever those small differences are, let's say on abortion or something that Maha might, you know, that Bobby or Tulsi might have with the traditional MAGA person. I think that's the key. But we gotta keep going. Let's get over to Doge. But first, Rumble Premium free speech is under attack. But Rumble refuses to back down. Rumble has always believed in empowering voices, no matter how unpopular. And now Rumble, Rumble's taking that fight to the next level. When major advertisers conspired to pull their dollars, even brands like Dunkin Donuts turn their backs, labeling Rumble as having a right wing culture. But Rumble's not here to fit a mold. It's here to defend free expression for everyone. To strengthen this mission, Rumble is launching Rumble Premium, an ad free experience packed with exclusive benefits for viewers and creators. More than a subscription, it's a stand for free speech. Your voice matters. Join Rumble Premium today For a limited time, get $10 off an annual promo code. Rubinrumble.com premiumrubin Whether you subscribe or just keep watching, your support keeps free speech alive. Let's turn the tide together. All right, so let's jump over to Doge because that's really the meat of where everything is at right now. And I can tell you, having been in D.C. for a couple days, it's what everyone's talking about at every table, at every bar, everywhere. So this is wild. So this is a director for an NGO called Project on Government Oversight. He was invited to the Capitol to talk about government waste. And because irony is dead, he's blind. Waste is different from fraud. Fraud is different from abuse. And abuse is different from both. When we talk about improper payments, they are a subset of those other three categories. But that doesn't tell us the whole picture either. Sometimes improper payments are a function of bad record keeping. Sometimes they are a function of outdated information technology systems. Sometimes they come about through human error, and sometimes they come about through negligence. There are a variety of reasons why improper payments happen. It just simply is not the case that improper payments are only a function of bad people doing bad things with bad intent. Alex, I'm not making fun of blind people here, but the optics, let's say, of having a blind man from an NGO come in and explain that we can't see the fraud or kind of give us the shell game on all the ways that they're allowed to mismanage things like, come on, scriptwriters, come on.
Alex Stein
Well, Dave, I mean, if you really thought about it, if you're in the writers room and somebody pitched the idea that, hey, let's make a blind guy in charge of the oversight committee, they'd say, no, that's just not realistic.
Dave Rubin
Over the top, baby.
Alex Stein
So reality is truly stranger than fiction.
Dave Rubin
Jeffrey, there are gonna be an awful lot of people at these NGOs who are gonna say things like that, right? It sort of makes sense. And there's some truth in what he said. Okay? There's a lot of ways you could have fraud or negligence or whatever. But the point is, it doesn't matter. We've just had enough of this, and DOGE is coming in to make sure we have no more of it.
Jeffrey Tucker
Well, what are we doing here? We're trying to bring normal systems of accounting to government. There's not a business on the street on which I live that doesn't have books in the back that are checked every day. If there's $9 missing, they're gonna figure it out. You know, every payment coming in has to. You know, every payment going out has to have an invoice attached to it. You know, and there has to be a line in there for what purpose and who got it and what was bought with us called accounting. Right? But listen, I don't know if the two of you saw this article the other day. And I keep screaming about this. I can't believe it's not a national scandal. But four days ago, the New York Times ran an article by five former secretaries of Treasury. I don't know if you saw this or not.
Dave Rubin
I don't think so. I don't think so.
Jeffrey Tucker
Listen to this. They said in this article they were really upset that DOGE had penetrated the holiest of holies, namely the payment systems in the federal government, because they said that that space belongs only to. These are their words. A small group of non political civil servants are supposed to control the payment systems and nobody else is allowed. And they said that this has been true since 1946. That's what they said. Which means that no elected leader in this country or their appointees has actually had real time documentary access to federal payment systems, which I asked Grok how much that would be and they came up with $198 trillion have been flowing through that over the last 80 and there's been no independent audit ever. And not even a single person elected or appointed by the voters has ever seen those books until last week. Okay, So I mean, like, I know we've all become cynics, we've all become dark, we're all trying not to be black pilled. We're all almost there. This was something I never even imagined, nor did I imagine that five former secretaries of the treasury would go to the New York Times and admit this. In defense of perpetuating the system. As if it's a good one.
Dave Rubin
Right? It's rather extraordinary. I'm going to read the article immediately after. And as I tweeted out and it caught fire, it's like, guys, anyone watching this, if you don't care about the government or anything else, or fraud or Deep State or any of that, anyone that has ever run a business or even how you handle your own accounting when you have to do taxes at the end of the year. Imagine if you went to your accountant and he was like, no, I'm not going to show you your taxes. Like, I'm just gonna do them, you're not gonna see them. No one could operate like this except the United States government.
Jeffrey Tucker
You know, Dave, just yesterday I got a call from the person who keeps our books because in fact we Brownstone Institute, you know, had a nine dollar charge on its credit card and nobody knew what it was for. So I spent several hours running it down. We eventually called the bank, we found. I eventually ran it down. But this is what you do, you know, you. That's called accounting. That's called accounting is related to accountability, right? I mean, those are all the same things. So that's all really, we need to be clear about. That is all that Doge is trying to do, bring normal standards of financial accounting to government. That is what the hysteria is about. That's what the panic is about. That's what the freakout is about. And imagine from Elon's point of view, he runs, I don't know how many businesses. So you don't have. You don't have accounting, the federal government. You don't have independent audits of anything. What could this possibly mean? No company can go public and sell public stocks on the stock exchange without having independent auditors come in. And really, they follow every nickel that is spent in these companies. You have to pass the audit or else you can't sell your stock. The government doesn't have, apparently. It's been 80 years since there's been any kind of serious look at the books. I mean, the American people need to know about this. They need to understand. They need to imagine the full implications of that. It's beyond anything I ever imagined.
Dave Rubin
So to that exact point, let me throw this video of Caroline Levitt, the White House Press secretary, just because. It's not just that. It was that. We're finally getting some transparency. As we get the transparency, we're seeing the levels of the ridiculousness of what we were spending the money on.
Caroline Levitt
As for the actual receipts, we are happy to provide them. And I actually brought some today because all of you know, I love to bring the receipts. We have contracts upon contracts that we can send and provide this information to you. Let me be very clear. We are not trying to hide anything. We have been incredibly transparent and we will continue to be. These are screenshots of contracts that those found across our government. This is a DEI contract. $36,000 for US Citizenship and Immigration Service. That is against the President's policies and his America first agenda. This is a $3.4 million contract. A Council for Inclusive Innovation at the U.S. patent and Trademark Office, Department of Commerce. Another DEI contract that Doge identified. I can continue to go through these. Oh, I love this one. 57,000 bucks for climate change in Sri Lanka. What is this doing to continue the interests of the American people? Absolutely nothing. These are the line items across the federal government that DOGE is identifying daily. They're moving very fast. There's a lot of paper that we can show you, but we're happy to do it. This administration has been more than transparent about what DOGE is doing. And here's one of their tweets that they posted about the mine. I believe this is in Pennsylvania, where the Federal Employee Retirement System is being processed. Did anybody know this was even happening in our country before Elon Musk talked about it in the Oval Office yesterday?
Dave Rubin
A lot of Americans didn't, Alex it's genuinely mind blowing. And we're seeing so much of this and it's billions and billions of dollars. I do want to note that my director Connor is a big fan of the trans Peruvian comic book that we were funding. So if we let that one slide for a moment, the rest of this is a bit much, wouldn't you say?
Alex Stein
Yeah. You know, the transgender studies in Ecuador for $25 million. You're right. Why not? They need to learn how to tuck it. It's. And it's not cheap. You know, it takes supplies and it takes discipline. So, yeah, you know, I'm so happy. But you know what's really scary, Dave, are the bootlickers that are like getting mad that Elon Musk is auditing the government. I mean, how is this. How is this not a bipartisan thing? How is it that not both sides want to get a little transparency on where our money is going? And maybe potentially even the people on social services, if they had half a break, and maybe they would actually have social services that benefited them instead of Venezuelan gang members in New York City, they get a free hotel room for months on end.
Dave Rubin
So speaking of the bootlickers who are defending the system that has been stealing from us, we the people. Check out this video. So this is Scott Jennings, who is like the sole lone sane voiceover on cnn. He's shutting down the nonsense about Doge being not transparent. And you'll see what the meme makers of the Internet did with that. It's quite good. He's not been transparent. I mean, there may be. They are making routine announcements about the things they are finding and they are inviting questions about the things they are finding every single day.
Jeffrey Tucker
But by definition, he's not being transparent.
Dave Rubin
They're not. They're.
Caroline Levitt
They're not providing data for the things.
Dave Rubin
That they say they have found evidence of. They just aren't. There is that. I mean, the White House has provided. You can make announcements. And he also did admit that he actually. You just don't believe it. I mean, they are providing information. You just choose not to believe that it's true. Do you see why they wanna censor the Internet? Like, that's exactly it right there. Kate Bolden, I think that's her name on cnn. It's like they're not being transparent. And then there you go. They are doing this in the. We're so. It's unimaginable how transparent this is actually relative to the last four years, isn't it, Jeffrey?
Jeffrey Tucker
Yeah, they just don't wanna Believe it. I don't know if you watched the press conference with Elon the other day when he had little X on his shoulders.
Dave Rubin
And he.
Jeffrey Tucker
But he explained something really interesting in that I was so intrigued by this. He was trying to account for why is it there are Social Security recipients who are 150 years old continue to get payments? And he made this funny remark that he doesn't know anybody that's 150 years old, and if there is such a person, they should be famous. He made this remark, but he explained that within the government that the entire thing is about minimization of complaints. So what they. He explained this, that if you're sending millions of dollars out or billions of dollars out or whatever, and you start asking questions about it and you deny the payment, then you're going to get emails and phone calls, complaints, and have to do work to explain why you've denied the payment. It's much easier just to let it go through, even if it doesn't pass accounting standards. And this has been going on for decade after decade after decade. It's just like bleeding money. It's just been pouring out with nobody really entirely aware of where it's going and nobody exercising any kind of controls. This is what happens when you put an administrative state in charge of the world's biggest, most powerful government with an unlimited printing press. They go crazy. And they've been going crazy for, you know, apparently since 1946. And Doge is the first person who's like the first institution that's actually looking at this. And Trump is so scandalized by it that he's now passed an executive order giving Doge access to anything and everything within the government. They need to go in there and at least look at the books, get read only access as a predicate to getting the auditors in and figuring out, listen, we've got four years of, of amazing revelations coming towards us. If we're really going to get independent audits of the IRS and the Federal Reserve and, you know, all at 425 agencies, we're going to find out some unbelievable things. I'll tell you something else. I think it's entirely possible that things are so bad that it very well could be. I'm not going to predict this with certainty that that Trump's first budget that he signs from Congress, it could actually be balanced.
Dave Rubin
Yeah, I agree. We covered that last week. The numbers could bear that out.
Jeffrey Tucker
Yeah, yeah, I think it's really possible. And I used to maybe, like you, when presidents would say, oh, we're gonna eliminate waste, fraud and abuse. I'd always kind of dismiss that. Oh, well, you know, that's surely that's not most of it. Well, maybe it is.
Dave Rubin
So look, we've got some numbers. Let me read you some numbers. This is from the Doge Live Tracker. We have already saved 45.59 billion taxpayer dollars. That's about $303 per taxpayer, which is only 2.3% of the progress to the ultimate goal. They've done 60 total initiatives. They're just diving in. And to illustrate the point that you made earlier, Jeffrey, about the realignment that we're seeing now, the liberal, you know, the decent libs saying, come on over to the MAGA side and watching the old school Republicans go to the Democrats. Check out this video. You might know some of these once. Well, you might say once decent libs. I don't know what to call them anymore. But Al Gore, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, what they used to think about government waste. This report tells us how to cut.
Jeffrey Tucker
Waste, cut red tape, streamline the bureaucracy.
Dave Rubin
Change procurement rule, change the personnel rules, and create a government that works better and costs less. I've read it.
Alex Stein
And where it says the president should, the president will.
Dave Rubin
Among the 800 recommendations, eliminating 12% of the federal workforce.
Jeffrey Tucker
Merging some government agencies like the FBI.
Alex Stein
The DEA, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
Jeffrey Tucker
Closing hundreds of government offices outside Washington. From the day I took office, one.
Dave Rubin
Of one of the commitments that I made to the American people was that we would do a better job here in Washington in rooting out wasteful spending. We thought that it was entirely appropriate for our governments and our agencies to try to root out waste large and small in a systematic way. It means cutting some programs that I think are worthy, but we may not be able to forward. Right now a lot of the action is in Congress and legislative. But in the meantime, we don't need to wait for Congress in order to do something about wasteful spending that's out there. We haven't seen as much action out of Congress as we'd like. And that's why we launched on our own initiative, the Campaign to Cut Waste. And we're going to keep on finding every possible way that we can do that, even if Congress is not active. There you go. Alex, you are a world class entertainer. And you know when you're writing a script, a movie or a sitcom or whatever it might be, the key line that they always tell you is show it, don't say it. And those guys just said it. But Donald Trump is showing it. That seems to be the difference.
Alex Stein
Well, 100%. And you hear Obama talk about efficiency, government efficiency. That's the opposite of what Obama did in office. I mean, he made things so much less efficient. He made so many more problems. And he dropped a drone strike every, I think, 15 minutes for eight years. Like, you know, he's just, he spent a lot of money on military spending when, if you really think about it, we have a trillion dollar military budget. We could save some money right there, but maybe not blowing so many people up. And I know that might sound crazy because a lot of people have stock and Halliburton and Raytheon, but, you know, for me, I'm a conflict interventionalist. I think that we could save a lot of money if we actually look into our military spending. We audit the Pentagon, and all this stuff potentially will happen under Trump presidency. But, you know, so I'm happy, I'm happy.
Dave Rubin
By the way, Pete Hegseth is already saying that we're gonna do that, that he's welcoming Doge to come into the Department of Defense. And for anyone, I'm a strong military guy. I want a strong military so we don't have to use it. But military and technology has changed. You can do more with drones now. Maybe you don't need giant fleets of every ship and everything else, but let's not go up that. But Jeffrey, again, it's like, man, what happened to those Democrats?
Jeffrey Tucker
Thank you for showing those clips. I've realized I've changed my whole outlook on the world. I think if you'd showed me those clips like six months ago, I might have thought, well, they try to do their best. Maybe they had every good intention. Now I look at them and I think, marionettes. You know, this is all just theater. And it's been theater for a good part of our lives ever since Doge and Trump have gotten active on this whole thing. I see everything in a completely different way. You just want to scream at that press conference where Clinton's yammering on and Obama's yammering, listen, do you have access to the books? Can we bring in an outside auditor that look at what's going on in federal payments? What would they have said if a reporter had bothered to ask such a question? We didn't know until really last week, until earlier this week, that none of them really had access to any of the books, that it was a handful of civil servants that were looking at the payments coming and going, and that everything else is just rhetoric and political theater. And really gibberish. Now we're seeing real change and, and just the promise of it is so enormously exciting. And, you know, I love the way they're framing it. It's like if the government is spending money on things that we don't need and shouldn't be spent on, they're robbing money from you.
Dave Rubin
Right?
Jeffrey Tucker
You know, you're paying your taxes out to these people. They are squandering your money. That is not justice, that is not liberty. That is not good finance. That is fraud and pillaging. And it has to stop. And this message is so powerful that this is why Trump has historically high approval ratings right now. And they're only gonna get higher as long as they can stay on this message.
Dave Rubin
Right? Well, that's what I love. That's what's so great here. Because it's like they're pointing out, hey, there are people stealing from you. And they're defending the stealing right in front of your face. So it's like, okay, keep going hysterical, guys, because when the budget comes back and it is balanced or inflation starts going down, or your taxes get lowered because the government doesn't need as much money, I think that's a pretty winning argument for the most part. We'll have more on the media reaction to some of this in just a sec. But first. 1775 coffee. Did you know that drinking two to three cups of coffee daily can lower your risk of death by 29% and nearly halve your chances of heart complications? But let's be real. What's the point if your coffee tastes like it was brewed by someone who thinks soy lattes are the peak of sophistication? 1775 coffee. Handpicked Bolivian beans roasted in the USA, delivering pure single origin brilliance. No gimmicks, no deceit, just coffee for those who crave truth, depth, and the clarity to cut through life's illusions. The best part, every dollar you spend gets you entered to win A blacked out 2024 Tesla cyber truck. A modern day arc built for any of life's challenges. Plus 30 grand in cash. Not bad. Here's what to do. Go to 1775 Coffee.com stock up and fuel your mornings with rebellion. Use code Reuben for 15. Don't miss your shot to sip bold, authentic coffee and drive a Cybertruck with 30k in your pocket. 1775 Coffee.com Fuel your mornings, forge your path. All right, so as all of this good stuff is happening over on msnbc, they're very concerned that too much good stuff is happening, and it's overwhelming their ability to control your mind? No, I was gonna say no. To bounce off what Evan's saying. Like, you're not even really seeing that from Democrats, though, either. There's so much happening right now that something as major as this and, you know, let's say Donald Trump was president two years ago. They made all these announcements about their plan to end the war in Ukraine, and it involved Russia keeping Ukrainian territory. There would be a firestorm in Congress.
Jeffrey Tucker
You would see people lighting up the floor.
Dave Rubin
People are giving floor speeches. It would take up an entire day's news cycle. But there's about 15 other things right now that that deserves our attention. And so this is getting kind of buried.
Caroline Levitt
Okay, here's one.
Dave Rubin
Is this kind of the genius of what Trump is doing right now? He's doing all of the things he promised to do, and he's doing them all at the same time. So these people who are not particularly good at their jobs in calm times are, I would say, doubly bad at the moment. Alex.
Alex Stein
Well, you know, and the scuttlebutt is that Trump is going to solve this crisis in Ukraine within the first hundred days of his presidency. Like, that is what everybody's saying. And it's kind of of a sad solution in a way, because it's basically what they wanted at the beginning. Like, the Donbass region would go to Russia, which was already autonomous, basically. And it's like, why is Ukraine costing their citizens livelihood for a small part of their country? And listen, they won't join NATO. And I agree with that. So it's a very simple solution, actually. And the fact that all these people had to die, I believe almost a million Russians, and I think it's like 100,000 Ukrainians is the numbers I think they give us. So it's just an unfortunate thing. Some of the videos we saw with the modern warfare, with the drones and stuff, it's very scary. It's just very unnecessary to have to go through that in this modern era. And Trump will fix it. But Ukraine's gonna end up losing. It's gonna be exactly like they wanted at the beginning. It's just gonna be all a waste here.
Dave Rubin
Connor, let's jump ahead for a second. Let me read Donald Trump's truth social post about what's happening in Russia right now, because to your point, it's going to be resolved exactly the way most of us thought it was gonna be resolved about three years ago. Trump posted this yesterday. I just had a lengthy and highly productive Phone call with President Putin of Russia. We discussed Ukraine, the Middle east, energy, artificial intelligence, the power of the dollar, and various other subjects. We both reflected on the great history of our nations and the fact that we fought so successfully together in World War II. Remembering that Russia lost tens of millions of people and we likewise lost so many. We each talked about the strengths of our respective nations and the great benefit that we will someday have in working together. But first, as we both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the war with Russia. Ukraine. President Putin even used my very strong campaign motto of common sense. We both believe very strongly in it. We agreed to work together very closely, including visiting each other's nations. We have also agreed to have our respective team start negotiations immediately. And we will begin by calling President Zelenskyy of Ukraine to inform him of the conversation, something which I will be doing right now. I have asked Secretary of State Marco Rubrio, Director of the CIA John Ratcliffe, and nsa, NSA adviser Michael Waltz, and Ambassador and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff to lead the negotiations, which I feel strongly will be successful. Millions of people have died in a war that would not have happened if I were president. But it did happen, so it must end. No more lives should be lost. I want to thank President Putin for his time and effort with respect to this call and for the release yesterday of Mark Fogel, a wonderful man that I personally greeted last night at the White House. I believe this, this will lead to a successful conclusion, hopefully soon. I mean, Jeffrey, I know your feelings about the Ukraine war and the boondoggle and the money and all of that stuff, but some sort of negotiated settlement, kind of like Alex just laid out there where there's gonna be some sort of territorial concession by Ukraine. NATO's probably gonna be a little bit off of Russia's borders. And this was all just a giant waste and I think deeply connected to the money laundering that we've been talking about for the first 40 minutes or so.
Jeffrey Tucker
So none of this would have happened without the money. It would have stopped long ago, and it wouldn't have even begun were it not for, as Trump pointed out, were it not for Biden's announcement that Ukraine would join NATO. That's what provoked this conflict in the first place. And so I'm so glad Trump is saying this. And it's so interesting to listen to these MSNBC reporters. I don't know how you do it.
Dave Rubin
I don't know.
Jeffrey Tucker
Well, God bless your producers who watch mainstream television and listen to these people, but they're all completely complaining that the old order is going away and they want it back because they want to talk about their stupid things that they used to talk about. Their stupid little narrow paradigms of nothing, nothing, nothing. You know, the fake world they used to inhabit and create, you know, every single day, which, you know, I was so sick of it. And now that they're just upset that that is gone and that the subject has changed. We're talking about reality. We're talking about fiscal responsibility, we're talking about peace, we're talking about preserving free speech. We've changed the subject. They're just mad about it because they don't know how to talk about the new subjects. That's why the guy was complaining. He's like, can you believe they're saying these things? If they had said that last year, our heads would have exploded. Yeah, exactly. I mean, that's all you've done for years and decades is explode and anger at common sense.
Dave Rubin
By the way, you bring up an interesting point about how do we watch these clips? I get that question a lot, Dave. How do you put yourself through all these clips? We actually hired a new associate producer. His name's Joseph. Right there. We keep him in a small five by five cage with a giant TV that plays MSNBC all the time. And then we feed him fish heads once a week. It's going okay, right?
Alex Stein
Yes.
Dave Rubin
Look at him drooling. Oh, it's sad. It's sad. But there's more good stuff happening, guys. Let's just jump over to more good stuff. Pam Bondi, who's the new Attorney General General, she's had it with this sanctuary city bullshit. So she's heading to New York and cracking skulls.
Caroline Levitt
We're here today because we have filed charges against the state of New York. We have filed charges against Kathy Hochul.
Dave Rubin
We have filed charges against Letitia James.
Caroline Levitt
And Mark Schroeder, who is with dmv.
Dave Rubin
This is a new doj and we.
Caroline Levitt
Are taking steps to protect America, Americans, American citizens and angel mom, like the mom standing right behind me, who you're going to hear from in a moment. New York has chosen to prioritize illegal aliens over American citizens.
Dave Rubin
It stops.
Caroline Levitt
It stops today. As you know, we sued Illinois and New York didn't listen. So now you're next. Millions of illegal aliens with violent records have flooded into our communities, bringing violence and deadly drugs with them.
Dave Rubin
Here real quick, just to be nice, because I'm feeling it today on this Friday, Joseph, we just let him out of the cage for a second do you love your job? Do you love your job? Wait, a little closer, a little closer. Look at that. Thumbs up. He loves his job. We let him out of the cage. It's very exciting. All right, go back, go back, Jeffrey. The federal government stopping sanctuary cities and sanctuary states from, I would say, destroying themselves as New York and Los Angeles and so many other cities have. This would be competent good governance.
Jeffrey Tucker
Yeah. I mean, I'm so impressed with what she's doing. You remember when they went after Eric Adams, the New York Mayor of New York City? And it was interesting because I was all over the press. New York Times.
Dave Rubin
Oh, no. Corrupt mayor.
Jeffrey Tucker
Oh, really? In New York City? That's really unusual. How's that possible? But the things that they, that he was accused of were actually on the verge of being hilarious. As I read the stories, it was things like, oh, he got like a thousand dollar kickback from a restaurant that.
Dave Rubin
He got upgraded on a flight. That guy. Because that's never happened.
Jeffrey Tucker
Yeah, there was that and there was a. Like he gave a fire permit to a restaurant in exchange for, like, I don't know, a thousand dollar KitKat or something. It's like, what. How is this. This is not like mega. This is not so. But once you realize that he was complaining about the fact that major portions of Manhattan real estate and hotels are being turned over to recruit fake voters from all over the world to inhabit fancy apartments at taxpayer expense so that they could make sure that New York stayed blue, which is, in fact, what was going on. And he blew the whistle on it. And of course, the indictments came down from the Justice Department. Right. It was outrageous to see this corruption, just the corruption was not Eric Adams. It was the Department of Justice that went after him. You know, and so to see that Bondi has figured this out, they all knew this. In fact, Trump said this at one dinner because he saw him sitting out there, he said, they're going after you too. You must be doing some good stuff. Of course, of course. So the new Justice Department is reversing that and many, many other things that have been going on in this country. And it's just, it's such a blessing to watch it all unfold.
Dave Rubin
All right, so we're gonna stop this sanctuary city nonsense. So we're gonna stop the blue states from destroying themselves as badly as they want to. And get this, Alex, you're in Dallas, Texas, but a little south of you is that border with Mexico. And look what the Marines are doing. Those crazy guys. Yeah, they're a building a wall Alex, is that exciting or racist?
Alex Stein
Well, if I'm being honest, you know, I'm all for Tom Homan. I support ICE wholeheartedly. We need to get the, you know, all of the gang members, especially the Venezuelan gang members, all the criminals that have, you know, criminal records for violent crimes. But I really wish, Dave, you could help me get this to the Trump administration that not everybody is bad, specifically Big Booty Latinas. If we can just support everybody else except for the beautiful abuelas, the grandmothers, they're not violent. Unless you cheat on them or something, then they might hit you. But honestly, at the end of the day, let's get the gang members out. But some of the nannies and housekeepers, they get to stay. If my housekeeper got deported, I would be absolutely sick there. So not everybody has to go.
Dave Rubin
All right, so I'm writing that down and I will. I'm in direct contact with the administration.
Alex Stein
Thank you.
Dave Rubin
Save the Big Booty Latinas. We will make that happen. I got one other thing for you guys. In this incredible time of change and prosperity, we're also on this AI horizon. The world is gonna look so profoundly differently, even five years from now, than it looks right now. And there's a great video making the rounds of JD versus the woman that might have been President Kamala Harris on AI. Take a look at this. The United States of America is the leader in AI, and our administration plans to keep it that way. The US possesses all components across the full AI stack, including advanced semiconductor design, frontier algorithms, and, of course, transformational applications. Now, the computing power this stack requires is integral to advancing AI technology and to safeguard America. His advantage. The Trump administration will ensure that the most powerful AI systems are built in the US with American designed and manufactured chips.
Caroline Levitt
AI is kind of a fancy thing.
Dave Rubin
First of all, it's two letters. It means artificial intelligence.
Caroline Levitt
But ultimately what it is is it's about machine learning. And so the machine is taught. And. And part of the issue here is what information is going into the machine that will then determine, and we can predict then.
Dave Rubin
If we think about what information is.
Jeffrey Tucker
Going in, what then will be produced.
Caroline Levitt
In terms of decisions and opinions that may be made through that process.
Dave Rubin
Jeffrey, we dodged a bullet, didn't we?
Jeffrey Tucker
Yeah, but she's actually more erudite after cocktail hour, which for her, which starts at 2:00. Yeah, maybe. Yeah, I think a little earlier, maybe five o'clock somewhere. But she attended a basketball game the other day. Did you see this? That she was at an NBA?
Dave Rubin
Yeah, I think she Went to a.
Jeffrey Tucker
Lake and everybody just ignored her. She was like, she's like Khrushchev sitting on a park bench in 1959, you know, feeding the pigeons, you know, just ignoring her. No, I mean, I can't believe that. And so when do you think everything really collapsed? Sometimes I think it was Kamala because she was so fake, so ridiculous, and nobody actually believed she could ever be president.
Dave Rubin
Well, I think it probably collapsed before that. But she was the last dying effort of a system that had nothing left. Right. We went from dementia guy to dei, right?
Jeffrey Tucker
Yeah. I revealed to the whole public that the entire system was a fake. Biden was implausible enough, but when he was replaced by this woman without any vote, just like, oh, here's your new choice. It was so crazy. I think I sort of thought she was going to win. I'm embarrassed to think that now it turns out we do have a functioning democracy. Votes do actually matter. If you eliminate enough fraud, then the public can speak. And yeah, we. She's just gone. And thank God. I mean, if she were president right now, I don't even think Brownstone's domain would be alive. I think probably you would be off the air.
Dave Rubin
No, I know. I'd be doing this from Gulag 42B. Alex, I won't bludgeon you and make you comment on Kamala Harris, but that video right there where JD is clearly laying out that we better lead on this. And he comes from the tech world also and was a VC guy, knows a lot of these guys. He deals with this in a mature, honest way. Well, just watch this video. I didn't show this to you guys before. We normally send everyone the rundown. This was just an addition and I thought you could comment on this because it's coming whether we like it or not. This is Melody, one of our robots. She speaks various languages and she's built in a modular fashion so we can take off her face, replace it with another face, and have her speaking as a different character. Our skills are having very realistic skin and our AI is very different. It's functioned to create companion and friendship and social type interactions with people. So our robots don't do physical human labor, but they're really meant for personal interaction. So you can think about it at a theme park, at a conference like this, or even at a senior's home. Yes. Yes, buddy. That's what everyone's going to be doing with them. Bringing them to the theme park in the old age home. Alex, how many ports is that doll gonna have?
Alex Stein
I Don't know. I mean, I'm gonna need a long charger, though, to keep that thing charged up. But, you know. You know what's sad, though, Dave? This is what they predict is that in the future that there's gonna be some sort of neural link that hooks to your brain, and that will immediately create an orgasm. And they say that human beings will just give themselves a thousand orgasms a day. I hope that doesn't happen. But that's what. That's what this technology. That's what their goal is. Believe it or not, so very insane. Do not get a sex robot. Go on one of these dating apps. There's a lot of these women, and they want to do it just as bad as these guys. That's the problem, too, Dave. A lot of these guys don't have enough confidence. They're going to robots. Go out there, try. You might swing. You might miss. But, you know, a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while. So don't go bang a robot. Go find a lovely lady or a guy. Depends on your preference.
Dave Rubin
And that brings us home. Don't have sex with robots. People. Have sex with real people. They're better. Are they better? I mean, they're all right, I guess, is the point.
Alex Stein
They are better. They are better. We don't want to do the robot. I mean, that's just so dystopian. Oh, my gosh. That's gonna be bad.
Dave Rubin
Jeffrey, unless you want the final word, I'll let you off on this one.
Jeffrey Tucker
Let me just say I'm extremely bearish on transhumanism. I think it's all baloney. And my experience, my read on Situation. Everybody's sick and tired of this. Of this crap. You know, we use AI for the tool for when it's good, but, you know, we draw the line at all this transhumanist nonsense. I'm fed up with that. I'm ready to go back to the real world. Real food, real people, real communities, real life. That's what's coming back.
Dave Rubin
Well, look, Jeffrey, you were right on Covid. And maybe you will be right on. People having sex with robots. Only time will tell. Gentlemen, I thank you very much. Guys, we got a post game for everybody else in about 30 seconds. Rubenreport.locals.com and if you have not. If you have not seen it yet, yesterday's show, because I was Traveling back from D.C. we aired my interview with Ro Khanna, who is a Democrat. He is the first Democrat that I have sat down with in about five years. Even though. We invite them all the time outside of Tulsi and Bobby, who obviously are no longer Democrats, and we got into it, to say the least. So if you haven't seen it, do check that out. Post game. 30 seconds. Thanks, guys. Have a great weekend.
Jeffrey Tucker
Thank you, Dave.
Alex Stein
Thank you, Dave.
Caroline Levitt
I don't swear in public very well, but we have to trump.
Jeffrey Tucker
I love you too, but you're not my type.
Podcast Summary: The Rubin Report – "Oval Office Crowd Stunned by RFK Jr.’s Unexpected Admission in His Acceptance Speech"
Host: Dave Rubin
Guests: Alex Stein (Host of Primetime With Alex Stein), Jeffrey Tucker (Economist and Head of the Brownstone Institute)
Release Date: February 14, 2025
[00:14] Dave Rubin reintroduces himself from Florida after a visit to Washington, D.C., setting the stage for an engaging roundtable discussion. He welcomes Alex Stein and Jeffrey Tucker, highlighting their backgrounds and expertise.
[06:15] Jeffrey Tucker discusses Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s confirmation as Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). He emphasizes RFK Jr.'s critical stance on COVID-19 lockdowns and public health measures, referencing his books The Real Anthony Fauci and The Wuhan Cover-Up.
Jeffrey Tucker ([06:15]): "He was the leading critic of the COVID lockdowns... This nomination and this confirmation is all about a massive, if only symbolic, so far, repudiation of everything that's happened to us over five years."
[07:40] Dave Rubin concurs, praising RFK Jr.'s qualifications and his role in bringing transparency to public health policies.
Dave Rubin ([07:40]): "Bobby... has kept every promise that he's made to me. He's kept his word in every account..."
[16:00] The conversation shifts to Tulsi Gabbard's confirmation as Director of National Intelligence (DNI). Rubin shares a personal anecdote about encouraging Gabbard to leave the Democratic Party, expressing pride in her achievements despite past criticisms.
Dave Rubin ([16:00]): "It's like, man, this is a woman who not only was a Democrat four years ago... And, Alex, it's just like, man, the all-star team is here."
[21:22] The discussion delves into the role of Project on Government Oversight (DOGE) in auditing federal payment systems. Jeffrey Tucker highlights a New York Times article revealing that federal payment systems have lacked independent audits for decades.
Jeffrey Tucker ([23:27]): "No elected leader in this country or their appointees has actually had real-time documentary access to federal payment systems... $198 trillion have been flowing through that over the last 80 years without independent audits."
[25:03] Rubin underscores the unprecedented transparency brought by DOGE, likening governmental accounting practices to business standards.
Dave Rubin ([25:03]): "Imagine if you went to your accountant and he was like, no, I'm not going to show you your taxes... The government doesn't have, apparently."
[34:25] The trio explores the administration's initiatives to eliminate wasteful spending. They discuss proposals such as reducing the federal workforce by 12%, merging agencies like the FBI, DEA, and ATF, and closing numerous government offices to streamline operations.
Jeffrey Tucker ([34:30]): "Waste, cut red tape, streamline the bureaucracy."
[36:10] Alex Stein criticizes previous administrations, particularly Obama, for inefficiency and excessive military spending, advocating for audits and reforms under Trump's leadership.
Alex Stein ([36:10]): "Obama... made things so much less efficient... We're going to audit the Pentagon."
[37:17] Discussion turns to defense strategies, with mention of Pete Hegseth welcoming DOGE into the Department of Defense to enhance oversight and efficiency. They also touch upon the modernization of military technology and budget reductions.
Dave Rubin ([36:54]): "Pete Hegseth is already saying that we're gonna do that, that he's welcoming DOGE to come into the Department of Defense."
[27:03] Rubin shares alarming statistics about unaccounted federal expenditures, emphasizing the necessity for DOGE's interventions to ensure fiscal responsibility.
Jeffrey Tucker ([27:03]): "We're trying to bring normal systems of accounting to government... The American people need to know about this."
[28:59] An advertisement segment for 1775 Coffee interrupts briefly but is excluded from the main summary as per instructions.
[51:00] The conversation shifts to artificial intelligence (AI), with discussions on its advancements and ethical implications. They showcase a video of an AI robot named Melody, designed for personal interactions, and debate the future integration of AI in everyday life.
Dave Rubin ([52:05]): "AI is about machine learning... What information is going into the machine..."
[56:43] Jeffrey Tucker expresses skepticism towards transhumanism and advocates for maintaining human connections over robotic interactions.
Jeffrey Tucker ([56:43]): "I'm extremely bearish on transhumanism. We need to go back to the real world. Real food, real people, real communities."
[46:37] The panel addresses immigration issues, highlighting Attorney General Pam Bondi's actions against sanctuary cities and states. They discuss the political realignment occurring within the Republican and Democratic parties, emphasizing a unified effort to curb illegal immigration.
Alex Stein ([50:17]): "We need to get all the gang members out... but some of the nannies and housekeepers, they get to stay."
[37:17] Jeffrey Tucker critiques mainstream media's handling of government transparency, praising DOGE's role in uncovering financial mismanagement and corruption.
Jeffrey Tucker ([48:38]): "The indictments came down from the Justice Department. The new Justice Department is reversing that... it's such a blessing to watch it all unfold."
[19:17] The discussion touches on the political realignment within the existing two-party system, suggesting the emergence of a third political faction driven by transparency and fiscal responsibility.
Jeffrey Tucker ([19:17]): "We’re seeing this complete political realignment... It's a people's movement."
[57:09] As the episode nears its end, Dave Rubin encourages listeners to engage with upcoming content, including an interview with Democrat Ro Khanna, emphasizing open dialogue across political spectrums.
Dave Rubin ([57:09]): "If you have not seen it yet... we got into it, to say the least."
[57:45] The podcast concludes with a brief post-game segment, maintaining a lighthearted tone amidst serious discussions.
Jeffrey Tucker ([06:15]): "This nomination and this confirmation is all about a massive, if only symbolic, so far, repudiation of everything that's happened to us over five years."
Dave Rubin ([25:03]): "Imagine if you went to your accountant and he was like, no, I'm not going to show you your taxes... The government doesn't have, apparently."
Alex Stein ([50:17]): "We need to get all the gang members out... but some of the nannies and housekeepers, they get to stay."
Government Transparency and Accountability: The episode heavily emphasizes the need for transparent accounting practices within federal agencies, highlighting DOGE's pivotal role in uncovering long-standing financial mismanagement.
Political Realignment: Rubin, Stein, and Tucker discuss the shifting dynamics within the Republican and Democratic parties, suggesting the emergence of a new political faction focused on fiscal responsibility and transparency.
Public Health Critique: RFK Jr.'s appointment to HHS is portrayed as a significant move towards addressing perceived failures in public health policies, particularly those related to COVID-19 measures.
Immigration Reform: The panel supports stringent measures against illegal immigration, advocating for targeted deportations while recognizing the contributions of non-violent immigrants.
Technological Advancements and Ethical Concerns: The introduction of AI and robotics is discussed with a critical eye towards their societal implications, urging a balance between technological progress and human connections.
Military and Defense Efficiency: There is a call for auditing and reforming military expenditures to eliminate waste and enhance operational efficiency.
This episode of The Rubin Report offers a thorough examination of current political and governmental issues, blending incisive critiques with forward-thinking solutions. Guests Alex Stein and Jeffrey Tucker provide valuable perspectives on transparency, fiscal responsibility, and the evolving political landscape, making it a comprehensive discussion for listeners interested in American politics and governance.