Part Of The Problem - Another Response to Ben Shapiro

Episode Date: May 15, 2025

Dave Smith brings you the latest in politics! On this episode of Part Of The Problem, Dave is joined by co-host Robbie "The Fire" Bernstein to discuss Ben Shapiro's video regarding the unfold...ing hostage situation, and more.Support Our Sponsors:American Financing - 866-886-2026AmericanFinancing.net/DaveNMLS 182334, www.nmlsconsumeraccess.orgBlackout Coffee - https://www.blackoutcoffee.com/problemSmall Batch Cigar - https://www.smallbatchcigar.com/ Use code PROBLEM for 10% offPart Of The Problem is available for early pre-release at https://partoftheproblem.com as well as an exclusive episode on Thursday!PORCH TOUR DATES HERE:https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/porch-tour-2025-4222673Find Run Your Mouth here:YouTube - http://youtube.com/@RunYourMouthiTunes - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/run-your-mouth-podcast/id1211469807Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/4ka50RAKTxFTxbtyPP8AHmFollow the show on social media:X:http://x.com/ComicDaveSmithhttp://x.com/RobbieTheFireInstagram:http://instagram.com/theproblemdavesmithhttp://instagram.com/robbiethefire#libertarianSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 What's up, what's up everybody welcome to a brand new episode of part of the problem I am Dave Smith. He is Robbie the fire Bernstein. How are you good, sir? I'm doing well. How are you? Mr. Smith? I'm a little bit annoyed at the moment. I'm suspicious with Delta So, you know, this is by the way, it's a particularly for, for boomers like me, and I'm not a boomer technically, but I really am when it comes to a lot of this shit, especially for somebody who's like my whole job is in technology and, you know, online and podcasting and stuff. But I don't know anything,
Starting point is 00:00:43 but it's like, I figure out kind of what I need to know. But I don't know anything, but it's like, I figure out kind of what I need to know. Like I'm, I'm, you know, I'm better than actual boomers, but I'm just, I'm so used to flying United out of Newark and now I'm flying Delta out of LaGuardia just cause Newark's on fire or something. I don't know. Um, but man, just the little things where I'm like, I know how to do this this I know how to do this on my thing. Why does it have to be different? Here's here's the thing about Delta Delta is a nice lady, but you got to marry her you can't you can't She's no slut if you'll commit to Delta, and you'll get their credit card. They're really nice to you I'm just not in a place where I'm ready to commit to Delta like that
Starting point is 00:01:25 Yeah They're really nice to you. I'm just not in a place where I'm ready to commit to Delta like that Yeah, but if you're showing up and you're just trying to buy the the main whatever the discount flight But that's bullshit. Yeah, they don't then you might as well be on Spirit Airlines But Delta knew what this was they knew I'm having problems with United and so I had to come over to Delta They knew what this was. They said they were down. And now they're acting like I did something wrong. Look at it as an opportunity to win you over. You're a good flying account. You would think if they treat you nice, you might go, wow, this Delta is pretty good.
Starting point is 00:01:54 But no, they're a classy lady. They're like, Maybe that's why no one will commit to you Delta. Maybe that's why you're gonna end up with a bunch of cats in an apartment, Delta, because you never like tried to get any alright Whatever I get your point good analogy not very happy with Delta Delta's not putting out for me So things aren't working out so good on my end anyway
Starting point is 00:02:14 The experience with Delta having said it's night and day like cuz you'll you'll show up There will be no place that you can even check in at literally there won't be a place you can talk to a machine If you try and check in at. Literally there won't be a place you can talk to a machine. If you try and check in, they'll like just scoot you along. But once you have status with them, they have a different place that you walk into. There's no line. There's a separate security line. Like they just, they, they, they, you know, it's, it's class warfare out there.
Starting point is 00:02:39 And if you're on the upper classes, they're all right. It's really, it's particularly frustrating because I've worked my way up. I've worked my way up from the bottom for so many years just to be knocked back down. Listen, my, my guarantee is this. I will be out in Appleton, Wisconsin tomorrow night. I will find my way there. Don't worry. I have flights. I'm just trying to get a better seat, but I, uh, but I am very much looking forward to that. Robbie, of course,
Starting point is 00:03:04 we'll be there as well. Um, we'll be out at the skyline comedy club this week in Appleton, Wisconsin. And then we got a bunch of really, um, great, uh, dates coming up, like some of my favorite clubs in, in the world. I know we're, uh, we're going to this weekend is Appleton, Wisconsin. Next is Salt Lake City. Wise Guys, we love that club. Great time out there. Then we'll be for the first time doing a full weekend
Starting point is 00:03:32 at the Comedy Works in Denver, which is supposed to be one of the best clubs in the country. I'm very excited to work there. We'll be back at what is one of the best clubs in the country, Cleveland Hilarities, Comedy Connection in Providence, Tacoma Comedy Club, Spokane Comedy Club, Detroit House of Comedy, and Tampa Side Splitters.
Starting point is 00:03:50 Literally all of those clubs are like some of my favorite clubs to work. So very much looking forward to all of that. Comicdavesmith.com is the website for all of the ticket links for the shows me and Rob are doing together. And then of course, Rob, it's summer porch time or porch tour season. Can't even call it summer anymore because you do the full spring.
Starting point is 00:04:11 But that's porch tour. Go to PorchTour.com. We got a run of a lot of porches coming up. I'm countrywide. So go check out what's there. PorchTour.com. There you go. All right. So for today's show, you know, uh, some of it, I think we'll touch a little bit on, on the themes from,
Starting point is 00:04:29 from the last show. Uh, but there's a little bit more that I wanted to get into. I want to respond to, uh, uh, Ben Shapiro, uh, clip that's going super viral that I think I alluded to on the last show, but I think it's worth actually, um, breaking down. So one of the things I tell me if you think this was a, a good tactic, Rob, but I thought it was certainly fair and none of the, so, you know, I mentioned on the last show that Mark Levin had called Steve Whitcoff an anti-Semite or using the term neo cons.
Starting point is 00:05:04 And then, uh, you know, Donald Trump, as we mentioned in his speech in Saudi Arabia yesterday blasted Neo cons. And so I, I challenged Mark Levin. Um, I was like, Hey, so let's keep that same energy. Trump's an anti-Semite now, right? And like for all the people out there, I was like, Oh, all the people like pushing the woke right thing and all that. It goes, it's Trump now, right? So what aren all the people out there, I was like, Oh, all the people like pushing the woke, right thing and all that. It goes, it's Trump now, right? So why aren't you guys going to add? None of them are willing to do it, which is kind of funny in a way, right?
Starting point is 00:05:34 Because I do just, I, I, I thought this was an example that was, um, kind of telling in a way because there's, look, there's, there's a major divide. Obviously it's all about foreign policy. Um, or at least for the most part, it's about foreign policy and there's different camps. It's, it's not as if there's, there's two neat camps that you could divide everybody into. There's several different groups involved here,
Starting point is 00:06:00 but I do think it's interesting that like, when, when we talk about having principles, I don't think there's an example where you could look at me or you say, Rob or at people in our camp, broadly speaking, the Scott Horton's of the world or, you know, Tom Woods or whoever. And if you were to say, Hey, okay, you have these principles. Like if I were to say whatever, you know, blank is a war crime and then you were to go, well, Donald Trump just did blank.
Starting point is 00:06:30 I'd go, yeah, he just committed a war crime. Like I just, if I have principles that I'm going to apply them to their logical conclusion. Whereas you have this very clear, like just the day before this happened, you said that neo conservative is a pejorative for Jew. Well, Trump just said neo-conservatives. So what, like do you actually care about fighting anti-Semitism? You know, like cause the president of the United States now, or is it only when it's his envoy and you think you could like turn the
Starting point is 00:07:05 rest of the administration against that guy, you'll go after him, but you, and essentially the point is that all of them, all of them wouldn't dare, they wouldn't dare apply the exact same thing to Donald Trump as we've done many, many times. And I just think there's something about that. That's kind of revealing. It's like, okay, so then you don't actually have these principles Or you're actually not very committed to these principles because it seems like
Starting point is 00:07:31 To me that seems to be a good litmus test for like who actually has principles and who's a fucking grifter because if you're just going like ah, well calling Donald Trump an anti-semite that would lose me all of my popular support. And you're like, okay, then you don't really care about it. I don't know. I just, there's something interesting on that. And I think it's, it's funny that none of them want to touch it. None of them want to go anywhere near it.
Starting point is 00:07:57 But anyway, it's pretty great that Donald Trump did that nonetheless. But anyway, prove me wrong. Mark Levin is my next levin. He's my next Maybe he should be my next debate. Oh that would be a juicy debate. I would love that Yeah, I'd have to wear earplugs to that thing. I'm not sure I could take that guy yelling at me warhawks still out there You know the whole they'll pitch them all Well as we're about to go through this Ben Shapiro Clip you know I will say I don't think it's ever gonna happen, but I would still I would still love Well, as we're about to go through this Ben Shapiro clip, you know, I will say, I don't think it's ever going to happen,
Starting point is 00:08:28 but I would still, I would still love to debate. Um, Ben Shapiro, you know, if he's open challenge is still in effect, anytime, any moderator, I would love to go, uh, do a debate with Ben Shapiro. I think that would be a fun one. I also don't know it like, I don't know who else has left, at least on this topic. Like I don't know who else is left, but I guess I'm open to other names. You know what? The other thing I do kind of more and more, I would, I would love to have a, not a debate, but I would love to have a conversation.
Starting point is 00:09:03 I mean, I would do a debate, but I, I think it would be better, uh, just to have a conversation with Jordan Peterson. He's the one I'd really like to sit down with. I actually think we could have a really productive conversation. And he's the one at the daily wire who I actually think is, um, uh, at least was much bigger than the daily wire and more important than that. And I'm a real, I'm a real admirer of a lot of his early work. So he's the one I'd love to have a conversation with.
Starting point is 00:09:27 I'd still love to debate Ben Shapiro, but I'm not holding my breath on that one. I think we got as close as we're gonna get to that. But anyway, regardless, I did think this was worth breaking down and exploring a little bit more because it's, again, this is kind of, it's on the same topic that we were talking about on the last show,
Starting point is 00:09:47 but it really does just go much like my, the point I was trying to make there with Donald Trump saying neoconservative is, is this still the pejorative for Jews? It goes, it goes toward exposing what people's real priorities are. And I think that's something that's very important in this whole debate about this current conflict to recognize. So let's jump in.
Starting point is 00:10:14 Here is Ben Shapiro from the other day on his show and me and Rob will give our thoughts. Really what Hamas is attempting to do is basically settle all outstanding business with the United States so as to then create separation between the United States and Israel in Iran negotiations. That is what is happening with the Houthis as well. It is not a coincidence that as the Houthis are basically for swearing attacks on American shipping and the United States is saying that the United States is no longer going to worry about the Houthis essentially. Now Hamas is now trying to do the same
Starting point is 00:10:48 by releasing the sole living American hostage in the Gaza Strip, trying to basically say that the United States now has no part in that conflict. Well, okay, fine. I mean, if the United States has no part in that conflict, then Israel should just go into what they need to do. That seems to me a proper solution with regard to the Gaza Strip.
Starting point is 00:11:06 Now the ugliest part, and there is an ugly part to this, is that there are widespread rumors and now news reports that Edan Alexander is going to be flown to Qatar to meet with the Emir of Qatar. This is vile. That's vile. Okay, let's just pause it for a second. You saw an American?
Starting point is 00:11:24 Okay, look The first thing that you kind of got a notice here and this is what I mean about kind of revealing true motivations The first thing beyond any point that you could make is that look here are the facts on the ground Donald Trump a couple weeks ago announced that he's come to an understanding with the Houthis that they will not be attacking American ships anymore and we will not be bombing Yemen anymore and then after that of course as we talked about last episode Steve Witkoff was able to negotiate without giving anything in return the release of the last US citizen who was being held by Hamas. And already you can see Ben Shapiro's pissed off. This is a bad thing to him. I mean, I'm not like adding anything. Clearly.
Starting point is 00:12:13 He's upset about this. I don't think it's that crazy. You could, you could take any clip of our show and you could tell when I'm Jen generally pleased or generally displeased by something going on in the news. This is Ben Shapiro being pissed off just think about that for a second these are unequivocally positive outcomes this is what everybody should be happy about oh okay they're not gonna attack Americans Americans aren't gonna attack them okay these guys were holding an American citizen now they are no longer holding an American citizen this is they are no longer holding an American citizen. This is a positive. And yet Ben Shapiro is pissed off. Now, why is he pissed off? Well,
Starting point is 00:12:51 he's already telling you in his own words that it's because this is a way for the Houthis and Hamas to win favor with America and to maybe not, you know, put some distance between America's necessity to be involved in this conflict and that You know, I mean he's saying that's the reason they're doing it. I don't he hasn't presented any evidence I don't know that it is but that might allow negotiations with Iran to proceed positively so if you're it like
Starting point is 00:13:23 Look, I think it's it's fairly reasonable to say that if you're in a state with, um, like, let's say there's the threat of war is on the table. Like you might go to war with this government and you're in negotiations with them to see if that war can be avoided. Who the hell is not rooting for the negotiations to be successful? Who would prefer that this ends in war? That's like a crazy starting place. And yet that is Ben Shapiro's perspective. All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is small batch cigar
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Starting point is 00:15:17 points as well. And you can spend that at any time of your choosing, but you will get a free cigar if you go order now before June 15th. All you got to do is make sure to go to smallbatchcigar.com and make sure to use the promo code problem when you check out. All right, let's get back into the show. I just find this to be kind of wild. Any thoughts on this, Rob?
Starting point is 00:15:38 I think they're just trying to sell it however they can because Israel does a good job of provoking a fight if we're gonna be there to back them that's there they're looking for us to be involved in the Iran war and so the fact that we've you know I guess the Iran war would be our war it wouldn't be Israel's war so if the big claim is Iran's got all these terrorists in the region and that's why they can't be negotiated with and I guess we've dealt with that problem of having conversations with these terrorists and figured out how to not have their interests actually get in the way of the American interest. That's very upsetting to Ben Shapiro that we've created a platform by which you can actually
Starting point is 00:16:17 have a conversation with Iran because their sponsoring of terrorism in the region is no longer a deal breaker for the US having a direct conversation with Iran. It sounds like he much prefers the framework of Israel's our number one ally and they need to be trusted and so they should be just handling all of this within the region with America's backing. He prefers that framework of Israel deal with it and America will back whatever it is that Israel would like but America first is no why is Israel gonna dictate the terms for America particularly if you're putting our backing on the line so it just sounds to me like he's He's complaining about the exact framework that we're saying is a good shift and he's going this is horrible and despicable
Starting point is 00:17:00 That Donald Trump would step in and want to deal with these with these people directly. Yep. All right. Let's keep playing. America can do so in Israel. There are plenty of places that he, Don Alexander and his family can express their gratitude to President Trump as well. They should go into Qatar to meet the Emir of Qatar. Qatar is a terror sponsor country. Qatar is the number one funder of Hamas. It is disgusting to have a hostage who is taken by a group funded by Qatar go to Qatar to thank the Emir of Qatar for his freedom. That's that's an absurdity on its face if it were to happen.
Starting point is 00:17:40 Can we just pause for a second? Should not be. I'd love to know if Qatar is the number one sponsor of terrorism in Hamas, why aren't we bombing? Why isn't Israel bombing them? Why aren't they exerting influence there? I mean, if you're telling me that that's the number one thing and they're the ones who are able to negotiate these deals, why aren't you going after the Hamas leadership that's got all the money? Yeah. Well, by the way, if you're, if you're disgusted at cutter for funding Hamas, wouldn't you also have to be disgusted at Benjamin Netanyahu for insisting that they continue that support for years?
Starting point is 00:18:20 And it's unbelievable to me how anybody defending the Israeli government can get away with this shit. I mean, listen, again, this is widely reported. It is not something that like we are just making up or it's not something that like we're even saying, hey, our guys have like a good source on this. This is reported in the Jerusalem Post, in the Times of Israel, in Haaretz, in the New York Times, in the Washington Post, according to the defense minister of Israel, the quote he used was that Israel, quote, begged Qatar to continue the funding to Hamas. In fact, just a couple of weeks before October 7th, Benjamin Netanyahu sent the head of Mossad
Starting point is 00:19:05 to Qatar to ensure that the funding continues. And also, yes, Qatar is an ally of the United States of America. They may not technically be called an ally of Israel, but they certainly have a close working relationship with them. So the idea that we're supposed to now be so appalled that this guy whose life, uh, Donald Trump just saved that he's going to, to cut her, to, to meet with Donald Trump. It's just like as if this is the real moral outrage rather than like there's lots of moral outrages you could find here, Rob, right?
Starting point is 00:19:40 But like, why isn't it? Look, if all Witcoff had to do was say, listen, return the last us hostage and this will really gain favor for you. I would think the moral outrage would be like, how has this not been done sooner? I mean, even within, with, within the Trump administration, forget me trying to put this on the last administration say, why did it take a hundred days? I mean, geez, weren't you guys like,
Starting point is 00:20:06 you know, you negotiated a ceasefire in phase one, 20 of the hostages were released. How come the American wasn't prioritized on this list? Like, why don't we make sure we could get him? It seems pretty clear in hindsight, that you could have gotten them. They were willing to give them up. Now, I'm not even making that argument, because as I said on the last show, I think it's a, you know, listen, it's terrible. All hostages being held are terrible. All,
Starting point is 00:20:31 all deaths are terrible, even deaths of soldiers. Um, but he was active duty and he was taken in an IDF uniform. That's just a little bit different. You're not like, it's not the same thing as just you're an American citizen on vacation. Like you were in a war zone on one side of that war. However, that's where you could look if you wanted to find an outrage, but the outrage is what now that he's free, he's going to Qatar. Why isn't it an outrage when the Messiah goes to Qatar?
Starting point is 00:21:00 When Israeli leaders go to Qatar, what are we talking about here? Also, it's just, you know, in the, in the general context of all of the babies who are dying, you'd think that would be a little bit more of a moral outrage, but I suppose it's not. Also, if someone from a, is it Qatar or Qatar? I don't even know. Qatar is closer to being correct. Unless you want to say it like, unless you want to do it, Ben Shapiro does, or
Starting point is 00:21:24 what like Everyone does on cable news when a latino name comes up and you have to say it in the latino accent Villager and to do that thing cutter I think is closer than Qatar, but either is fine. And what would be the Arabic accent for? Qatar I think when Ben Shapiro says There you go, I can just call it that. I would think if someone from Qatar was able to navigate this deal with Hamas and they just got you released, don't you almost have a moral duty to sit down and make a plea for the other ones? And I would just think if you're interested in getting everyone else
Starting point is 00:22:01 out and someone seems to have that kind of pull on Hamas I mean the bombing innocent civilians in Gaza doesn't seem to be the working strategy for getting people released. I would personally like to have as much information on who the Qatar team is that exerts influence over Gaza and even if you want to go the other way of well we're gonna seize their assets we're gonna go to war with Qatar we're gonna cut like I even that but I would just want as much information over who's actually pulling the strings and has the influence Over there And if this guy just got released and he can meet with the guy who made it happen and maybe make a plea for other People that seems like a missed opportunity to go, you know, fuck the guy that got me released
Starting point is 00:22:39 Yeah, but again though, this is kind of my point. It's a very good point But this is kind of like what I'm getting at with all of this. It's like, look, you can tell by someone's like, I don't know exactly how to say this, but you could tell. If somebody is sitting there and going like, uh, this is just amazing. I'm overjoyed that this guy's life has been saved. What an amazing thing the Trump administration did. You know, I'd kind of prefer they weren't meeting in Qatar or I wish they were meeting in Tel Aviv, but you know, whatever. It's pretty great.
Starting point is 00:23:08 Is it like, if that were the tone, there'd really be nothing to talk about. But when you're furious about the whole thing and you're just morally outraged and then your real issue here is clearly that like, look, it's just so obvious here. What's the real issue? Well, now, Rob, negotiations with Iran might proceed negotiations with Hamas might proceed. And then there's really no need for America to backup Israel's war anymore. That's really the problem here.
Starting point is 00:23:35 And so you're really kind of off because it's like all of this was just an excuse for you to keep leveling Gaza and to ultimately take it and annex the whole thing and ethnically cleanse the Gazans out of there. That seems to be what you're upset about. And that's pretty damn sickening. Here, let's keep playing. Facilitated by the United States, Qatar is the sponsor state of Hamas. In fact, if the Trump administration seriously wanted all hostages out of Gaza,
Starting point is 00:24:06 they could do so tomorrow simply by telling the Emir of Qatar that the airbase in Qatar is going away and that it'll move to the UAE, which the United States could do. That should have been the approach of the Biden administration on October 8th. They should have said all the hostages come out or the airbase goes away.
Starting point is 00:24:19 That's how closely tied together Qatar and Hamas are. Laydon Alexander is now 21. Hamas captured him when he was 19 on October 7th, 2023, of course. All of this has some wider ramifications with regard to negotiations in the Middle East against Steve Wittkopf continues to say ridiculous things publicly. So Steve Wittkopf, again, I do not think is a good negotiator. I do not think that Steve Wittkopf has demonstrated his bona fides along any lines.
Starting point is 00:24:46 So far, all of the hostage deals have essentially been kind of mediocre in the sense that maximum pressure has not been exerted on the bad guys. Yesterday, Witkoff said, which was a positive. Doesn't this doesn't this just say everything about who's who and like what side everyone's on sitting here, right? Um, I'm supposed to be the, well, I think I've, as I've been called by a lot of these Zio bots on Twitter that I'm taking some type of Katari money or something like that. Like we're also,
Starting point is 00:25:18 and we're just sitting here. We're like, yeah, no screw cutter, screw Israel, screw Hamas, like whatever, but Hey, it's pretty wonderful that Witkopf's gotten 21 of these hostages out You know for all the debates i've done on this subject and how much people try to like morally lecture you about what about the hostages? I'm the one celebrating when they get released And and ben shapiro's furious about it. He's attacking Witkoff who's saying all types of crazy things, Rob What are the crazy things? Oh Ben Shapiro didn't didn't let you know
Starting point is 00:25:55 By the way, that's always a pretty good tell and someone goes out this guy's saying all types of crazy shit But I'm not gonna tell you what any of that crazy shit He's saying it because you know what the crazy shit is. He goes man There's all these war hawks in our government who just want the war to keep going man Israel just seems committed to continuing this war. That's the crazy shit that Witkoff has said. That's what Ben Shapiro is talking about. That he's called out the neocons and the Israeli government for seeming to just want war. That's the crazy shit.
Starting point is 00:26:20 And he's not, he doesn't really know what his bona fides are, right? Like, what, what makes this guy such a good negotiator? He goes, Oh, well, I guess the 21 hostages whose lives he saved. That seems like pretty good outcome to me. This thing was going on for how long before Donald Trump took office of full year, a year and three months, a year and four months before Donald Trump came in.
Starting point is 00:26:44 None of this progress was made before Whitcoff got on the scene and there's 21 hostages whose lives have been saved since then plus you know I don't get me wrong Israel broke the ceasefire and then started slaughtering people in Gaza again but there was at least a little bit of a period there where they had a ceasefire going all right guys let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show which is Blackout Coffee. I love Blackout Coffee. It's roasted right here in the United States of America by people who believe in liberty, believe in the Constitution and so many of the values that this show is all about promoting. Plus it's just really really good coffee
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Starting point is 00:28:02 promo code problem for 20% off your first order. All right let's get back into the show. It's also interesting to hear that if the US were to exert influence over Qatar the hostages could have been released by the next day and yet I don't think I've ever heard that request from Netanyahu. I've heard a lot of requests for more bombs but I need I didn't even know wasn't even aware that, you know, I guess the Warhawks were aware of a secondary strategy of exerting influence over Qatar. It's something that I was saying, I think, at the outset of this, of go after the actual
Starting point is 00:28:34 leadership. But, apparently, there is a way to financially, according to Ben Shapiro, financially exert pressure over Hamas leadership in Qatar and as to why Israel and America or Israel hasn't applied pressure on America to go that route I mean I guess speaks to the needless killing of civilians in Gaza or why hasn't Israel gone that route I mean you had a close enough relationship with them that you could persuade them to continue pouring in briefcases full of cash to Hamas.
Starting point is 00:29:05 I hear constantly yelling about Qatar the same as Iran. Of Iran's the state sponsor of terrorism in the region. I don't seem to hear a lot of chatter. Now we're starting to. Kid damning Qatar. Yep. It's all fair questions. All right, let's keep playing.
Starting point is 00:29:22 Not willing to end the war. Israel is prolonging it despite the fact that we don't see where else we can go and then agreement must be reached. There's currently an opportunity window we hope Israel and all the mediators will take advantage of. We're putting pressure on all the mediators and doing everything we can to bring the hostages home. It's not Israel's unwillingness to end the war that is leading to hostages being taken. That's like blaming the police for the kidnappers not releasing the hostages. No, actually, that's up to all right. Apples come on.
Starting point is 00:29:47 Let's pause it right there. OK, so now Ben Shapiro embraces my analogy of the police coming to try to get some hostages out again. The problem Ben Shapiro is going to have is he goes, look, this is as ridiculous as blaming the police for hostages not being released. And it's like, well, yes, if instead of negotiating the police came in and just started blowing up buildings because hostages were taken and killing a whole bunch of innocent
Starting point is 00:30:20 people, I do think in fact we would blame the police. That makes perfect sense. And no, it is not the case that because there's a crime and then because the police get called that now it would be crazy to blame the police for any of their behavior. Like the police don't just get a get out of jail free card because they were called like their actions are going to be evaluated as well. And again, the negotiations have been very tangibly successful. They haven't been successful in terms of ending the war,
Starting point is 00:30:56 but they have been successful in terms of getting of retrieving hostages. So this whole thing is just so utterly ridiculous. Yeah. The police are also actors and they also have responsibility and if someone if police got called to a scene because there was like a domestic violence report or something and then they killed a bunch of innocent people when they got there, yes we would blame the police and it doesn't follow that all of this is on whoever the criminal was who initially resulted in the police call. Even within this analogy, what Ben Shapiro is saying makes no sense. All right, let's keep playing.
Starting point is 00:31:34 Ended the war October 6th. It never had to happen in the first place. Meanwhile, all of this is part and parcel of broader negotiations happening over the Iranian nuclear program. According to The Wall Street Journal. The United States said it was encouraged by talks with Iran on Sunday after a meeting, but the two sides remain divided on key questions, including whether Tehran will be allowed to enrich its own uranium. Well, I mean, that is the key question. That is not one key question. That is the key question. The United States should have no interest in a deal with Iran where Iran continues to develop nuclear missiles.
Starting point is 00:32:04 That is ridiculous. Anything that allows them the capacity to continue to develop nuclear materials, which can then be tied to their ballistic missile program, is insane. The United States should not be party to that. That is the JCPOA. That is the thing that Donald Trump labeled the worst deal in history. The United States should not be conceding points to the Iranian government. Again, Witkoff and Iranian Foreign minister Abbas Arahi met for three hours
Starting point is 00:32:28 in the Omani capital of Muscat in their fourth round of negotiations since April 12th. After the meeting, the U.S. cast the latest talks mediated by Omani officials as positive and said the diplomacy would continue in the near future. Iran's foreign ministry spokesman said talks were difficult but useful and better understanding the U.S. position. Now, again, Iran has another goal in these talks if they can't get a Iran's foreign ministry spokesman said talks were difficult but useful in better understanding the US position now again Iran has another goal in these talks if they can't get a bad deal from the Trump administration
Starting point is 00:32:49 And again, I have faith that President Trump is not going to cut JCPOA part two. It would be a rejection of his own legacy if Iran has another goal it is delay and a delay for Iran is as good as a As a deal in October the JCPOA period ends. At that point, they can simply rush to a bomb. Now they could just rush to a bomb right now as well. They can simply violate whatever is left of the JCPOA and they could rush to a bomb. Herein lies the problem.
Starting point is 00:33:18 Right now, there's a window of opportunity for anyone who wishes to end the Iranian nuclear program. That window of opportunity exists because Israel eviscerated a few months back Iran's entire air defense program. So the skies over Iran are totally clear right now. Not only that, but Iran still has not developed retaliatory capacity that would deter action by, say, Israel.
Starting point is 00:33:40 If Iran is capable of standing the Israelis down by negotiating with the United States for prolonged periods of time, that is their win. Simply the negotiations being dragged out over a lengthy period of time is something the Iranians are going for pretty clearly. The two sides are still very far apart on the question of whether Iran gets to retain its nuclear enrichment program. Witkoff has sent mixed messages himself because he has no expertise in any of these issues. He set out what he called clear U.S. red lines that Iran can't have an enrichment program under
Starting point is 00:34:10 a deal nor should they have any centrifuges which enrich uranium. And then Iran came back and said they would never accept any such terms. President Masoud Peshakian, who again is a stand-in for the mullahs, said Iran has never sought and will never seek nuclear weapons but it will not back down from its peaceful nuclear rights. After Sunday's talk, Araki said Iran was open to adjusting the amount of enrichment it does and the purity of the material being produced for a limited period as a confidence building measure. But he said there is no room for discussion about Iran's continued domestic enrichment.
Starting point is 00:34:39 So what exactly is Iran giving away that makes Steve Witkoff and company optimistic in any way? Again, this is this is just what Iran can delay. And if President Trump doesn't want to bomb Iran, which again, he has set out a sort of binary, there is a there's a third option here, by the way, which is that the United States maintains maximum pressure on Iran. And then Israel goes and attacks the Iranian nuclear facilities. I think that is actually the most likely outcome here if I'm just gaming out the possibilities for the next several months
Starting point is 00:35:06 Let's pause all of that said Is it not crazy how much these guys love war That is just like negotiating is that all sides of the negotiation are saying hey, they're going pretty good And this is a real problem because how do we get to war at the end of this? And this is a real problem because how do we get to war at the end of this? Like and again all of this stuff about like there's so many just Assumptions built into this line of argument like you're just supposed to accept that Iran Developing a nuclear weapon would be the worst thing in the world, but that can't possibly be allowed to happen. Why is that?
Starting point is 00:35:48 Like, you know, I'm not saying I don't want Iran to have a nuclear weapon personally. I'd like to see less of them. Nuclear weapons are dangerous, you know? But like, India and Pakistan both have nuclear weapons. They're in the middle of a conflict right now. The only country that I'm aware of that has nuclear weapons that lies and pretends They doesn't is israel They're they're the only ones who somehow are able to get away with just claiming they don't so that they don't have to meet
Starting point is 00:36:15 Any of the legal requirements no other country that i'm aware of is able to do that, but I think you know, it's funny because obviously, as, as many people may know, right? Like officially, Benjamin Netanyahu testified in 2002 that the U S should overthrow the Mullahs in Iran. Israel has been for a regime change there this entire time. They're always attempting to create this sense of urgency. Like this war has to happen right now. And they've gone through a bunch of different bullshit lies over the years of
Starting point is 00:36:51 how, you know, uh, famously, I'm sure most people remember, we've talked about it a lot when Benjamin Netanyahu went to the UN with his Daffy duck bomb and said, they're all the way here. They're five years away. They've been five years away since I was a kid from getting a nuclear weapon. Benjamin Netanyahu himself has said Israel is five years away from a nuke in the nineties in, in 2002. He said it again in 2011. He said it again, just five years away, five years away. But then when Obama signed the, the nuke, the Iran deal,
Starting point is 00:37:24 which they were just referring to, he said, Benjamin Netanyahu said, now that put them on the fast track toward a nuclear bomb. So I guess from five years down to, I don't know what, four, three years, they're on a fast track now. All this time later, everybody acknowledges they still don't have a nuclear weapon, but we're supposed to pretend that their civilian nuclear program is this huge threat because it's been Shapiro says, which I think he's actually correct about this. They could go for a nuclear weapon at any time. They could do it now.
Starting point is 00:37:54 They could do it later. I think the real issue here is that everyone would know if they actually were going for a nuclear weapon. But regardless of that, why is it such a given that this must be a priority for the United States of America? I mean, the, the idea that what they used to say, okay, and they used to say this about North Korea and they used to say it about Iran too. This, this was like the, uh,
Starting point is 00:38:18 the propaganda right after nine 11 was that, listen, a lot of countries have nuclear weapons. We've lived in a nuclear world now since, since world war two. Of course, the only countries ever used nukes against people was the United States of America during at the end of world war two. But what happened after that is the Russians developed them. And then we lived in this world of mutually assured destruction. And so no one's using nukes now because we know if you use them,
Starting point is 00:38:50 the other side's going to use them. We're all going to end up dead. So we can't do that. However, there are these regimes like North Korea and Iran, and they are so suicidal that they don't care about mutually assured destruction. If they get nukes, they'll just start nuking people because they're like religious fanatics and they don't care about whether they get killed too. So we can't allow them to have nukes after that. North Korea developed nukes and has still never used them. Iran,
Starting point is 00:39:17 I guess somewhere implicit in this argument is that they are still so god damn crazy that they would use nukes if they had them. The problem is that if Iran was interested in committing suicide in order to kill some people, they certainly could do that right now. And yet they're not. And yet at every, at every turn, the way that Iran has behaved has totally undermined this claim that they, unlike everybody else, that Iran has behaved has totally undermined this claim that they,
Starting point is 00:39:50 unlike everybody else, they're so uniquely evil and crazy that they don't care about their own survival. Like if that were the case, why did they give the U S a heads up before they flew those missiles at Israel last year? Like, like they've got, why are they negotiating right now? None of this makes any sense if the view is that Iran are so like they're just so Insane and there's such as religious zealots. They don't care about their own survival. They just want to do damage Why are they even negotiating about this? Why aren't they as Ben Shapiro points out racing to get a nuclear weapon right now and then using it aggressively? What is constraining them from doing all of that if the underlying?
Starting point is 00:40:32 Assumption is true There doesn't seem to be any real argument there and like again Look, and and I think this is part of the thing that gets so infuriating about these like Israel, Israel firsters is that it's like, look, number one, it's very clear that Ben Shapiro is motivated by what's best for Israel or what he thinks is best for Israel and not by what's best for the United States of America. Ben Shapiro, by the way, Rob, I should read, there's an old Ben Shapiro tweet that's been recirculating from 2011. This is Ben Shapiro tweeted,
Starting point is 00:41:07 I would gladly waive the born in USA requirement for president for BB. It's on record saying Netanyahu should be the president of the United States of America. Like this is who this guy is. It's who he's always been. You know, some people here may object to that, that idea. Um, but you're sitting here and you're going, look, okay, well, you know, what might have to happen if America is not willing to join in this war, then maybe Israel's just going to have to go at it themselves. They're going to have, okay. As you guys all well know, They're going to have, okay. As you guys all well know when Israel, uh, they, you know, what happened was Israel, um, like it was,
Starting point is 00:41:50 I think it was a drone bomb attack or they killed an Iranian in Syria, um, at an Iranian console. And then as a response to that, Iran sent some missiles to it at Israel, um, gave the U S for warning of this. And then a team of nations, the United States of America, uh, the UK, Jordan, Saudi Arabia. Well, I think Egypt wasn't, I can't remember if Egypt was involved. Definitely Jordan and Saudi Arabia. They all came together to protect Israel and shoot down as many of these rockets
Starting point is 00:42:25 as they could. All I'm saying is like, if you want to have it this like we're going to attack this country and we don't even need you. It's like, okay, fine. But then don't be asking for our defense, as you surely will be when the missiles come firing back at you. Because sorry, not that any of this is perfect perfect but this is the way the world works you fire missiles at a country they may fire some missiles back at you and so if you're not in a position to defend yourself don't go out
Starting point is 00:42:53 you can't then you can't turn around and start talking tough like well if you won't do it then I'm just gonna do it it's just it's it's infuriating anyways it seems like a very convenient storyline of now is the only It's just, it's infuriating. Anyways, any thoughts? It seems like a very convenient storyline of now is the only opportunity for us to strike their nuclear facilities. If we strike their nuclear facilities at this point in time, there will be nothing that they can do back to us. And if we don't do it right now, then they will have a nuclear bomb in the future.
Starting point is 00:43:23 And if that intelligence is true, then go do it. And you know why? I'm going to guess that that's not true. I'm going to guess every piece of that information is not true, that they, that you get a free ride to attack it, that they can't attack back, and that you can actually permanently ruin their ability to get the bomb. None of that sounds true. If all of that is actually true of,
Starting point is 00:43:45 hey, this is our one window of opportunity and it's easy for us to do, then just go do it. I'm just gonna guess that none of that is true. Yeah, yeah, well said. And by the way, if all that is true, why aren't you guys selling that storyline? I mean, if all the intelligence that he just put forward is the current situation of hey
Starting point is 00:44:05 We've got a free shot right now And they will never be able to have a nuclear bomb and this is our one moment And it will be totally free they will not there will be no retribution if we do so Why isn't that every day on the news? I mean if one piece of this is true why and it's any other wants But like why was there chatter of war it sounds to me like we don't need a war. You need a single strategic strike and that would be the end of it.
Starting point is 00:44:28 So why isn't he in America just lobbying for Israel to do a single strategic strike? That sounds very sellable. Yeah, no, it's a fair point. Yeah, because that's not actually what they want. All right, here, let's keep playing. All this ties into broader Middle Eastern negotiations that are happening over everything from the Abraham Accords to the release of hostages to the future of the Gaza Strip to
Starting point is 00:44:50 what's happening in Iran. Now, all of this crosses paths, obviously, with President Trump's visit to the Middle East this week. The biggest story in terms of the media coming out this week is a story reported by ABC News, among others, that the Trump administration is now preparing to accept a super luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet from the Royal Family of Qatar. It is a $400 million gift available for use
Starting point is 00:45:16 by President Trump as new Air Force One until shortly before he leaves office, at which time, according to the deal, the plane doesn't stay with the United States government. It then moves to the Trump Presidential Library Foundation. According to ABC News, the gift had been expected to be announced when President Trump was on his visit to Qatar. A senior White House official said it's not going to happen in Qatar anymore, presumably thanks to social media blowback. President Trump put out a statement on
Starting point is 00:45:41 Truth Social about the blowback, saying, so the fact that the Defense Department is getting a gift free of charge with 747 aircraft to replace the 40 year old Air Force One temporarily in a very public and transparent transaction so bothers the crooked Democrats, they insist we pay top dollar for the plane. Anybody can do that. The Dems are world class losers. MAGA. So again, the arrangement itself is, shall we say, I believe the technical term, legal term is skeezy. Sources told ABC News that lawyers for the White House Counsel's Office and the Department
Starting point is 00:46:13 of Justice drafted an analysis for the Defense Department, concluding it's legal for the DOD to accept the aircraft as a gift and then later turn it over to the Trump Library and that somehow does not violate laws against bribery or the Constitution's prohibition on emoluments. The Constitution literally says the US government cannot accept official gifts from any king, prince or foreign state. Apparently, Attorney General Pam Bondi and the top White House lawyer David Warrington concluded it would be legally permissible for the donation of the aircraft to be conditioned on transferring its ownership to Trump's presidential library before the end of the aircraft to be conditioned on transferring its ownership to Trump's presidential library before the end of his term. And apparently, Pam Bondi, who it should be mentioned at this point was once a national
Starting point is 00:46:52 fair registered agent acting on behalf of the government of Qatar, provided a legal memorandum addressed to the White House counsel's office last week after Warrington asked her for advice on the legality of the Pentagon accepting such a donation. We get to more on that. All right. So, you know, after all this ridiculous kind of cheerleading for war, of course, Ben Shapiro is very outraged about this, the offered gift that the Qataris
Starting point is 00:47:20 have offered to buy Donald Trump a plane. Look, we could get into this a little bit here. I will say it is, it's pretty rich. It's pretty rich for any of these Israel firsters to have suddenly decided that outside influence on U S government is a very big problem. And of course only in one direction. And you know, APAC can say that the A stands for America as much as they want, but like APAC gives tens of millions of dollars to, um, to political candidates. They, uh, I think we're the biggest contributor in the to, um, to political candidates.
Starting point is 00:48:09 They, uh, I think we're the biggest contributor in the last, uh, election. They are enormously powerful and influential. There's also, obviously there are entire organizations like the ADL and the Southern poverty law center that are kind of set up to ruin the life of anybody who's a critic of Israel. Um, so look, I I'm kind of with Ben Shapiro in a sense. I don't like stuff like this. I don't think the Trump administration should do this. I think it's like, you know, it's,
Starting point is 00:48:38 it's particularly the aspect of it being transferred to Trump's library does seem to me to be not okay. Um, however, more broadly speaking, it's like the idea as, as the founders themselves wrote, George Washington spoke about this in his farewell address. It's like be friends with the world talk with people negotiate trade with people Just don't have war guarantees don't get in the middle of these entangling alliances That to me is a much better step then so like the idea of a foreign government
Starting point is 00:49:17 Wanting to like give us a gift while I don't like it if it could at all be considered a bribe Which I do think this could be and I don't think Donald Trump should accept it. That being said, it's like you can see where Ben Shapiro is so angered by like friendly relations to the broader Muslim world by negotiating with the broader Muslim world. That really angers him the idea of another catastrophic war Seems to excite him see or seems to be like what this all should end What the end result of all of this should be and that to me is fucking nuts That's really what's nuts, but I don't know Rob if you have any thoughts on this Qatari plane
Starting point is 00:50:02 Yeah, my thoughts on the Qatari plan is I don't prefer it. I think our country spends enough money if you want to show the grandeur of our country it makes more sense that we're able to afford our own plane. It also sounds to me like a bit of a security risk and that if I was the president I don't think I would want a plane that came from a foreign country. So I don't prefer it. And there certainly are the optics of hey, is there some sort of a favor dealing going on here with it going to the library? I'm getting a little bit bored of myself criticizing everything
Starting point is 00:50:37 Trump does. And so amongst all the things that aggravate me, this one is just not like I don't prefer it. I don't think it's better. I don't think't prefer it. I don't think it's better. I don't think it's necessary. I don't think it's good. I don't I don't instantly go. Hey, this is the worst example of a government official being
Starting point is 00:50:53 bribed and that this is the most horrible thing going on in the country. So I don't prefer it. I don't think it needs that much chatter about hey that this is horrible and will be I'll be curious to see if he goes through with it. And it just sounds like a security risk. I don't really understand. I had that thought too. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it certainly does. You're like, Oh, you show you've really checked this thing pretty good, right? Like they didn't hide anything or rig
Starting point is 00:51:16 this thing in any way. Uh, yeah. You know, I, I tend to agree with you, uh, about that. Yeah. I don't prefer this. It does. It seems like bad optics to me. I also don't like, if the argument is that this is some type of bribe or something like that, it's like, or some type of quid pro quo. It's like, but what, what exactly do you think they're actually going to get out of Donald Trump that they wouldn't otherwise get because they bought him a nice plane? Like is the idea that like, okay, even after Donald J. I don't exactly understand.
Starting point is 00:51:47 Like, so they're giving it, they're not giving it to Donald Trump. They're giving it to his presidential library. But is the idea that Donald Trump could keep flying on this plan? Like after he's out, I mean, I just, I think that, you know, Donald Trump is flying on a really nice private plane. Anytime he flies for the rest of his life. You know what I mean?
Starting point is 00:52:08 Like I don't, you know, I mean, I don't, I'm kind of speaking out of my ass here. Like I don't know enough about this to know, but I can pretty comfortably say that not only will you not bump into Donald Trump at the airport, you know, like that's not going to happen for the rest of your life. He won't be flying commercial like the rest of us. I also don't think Donald Trump will ever be on like a kind of crappy private plane. Like I think he'll always be on like the nicest private plane. I think Trump sees it as a trophy of this is how great and strong I am that other countries
Starting point is 00:52:41 want to give us free stuff. And so this is a trophy of I'm going have that the president of the United States of America in his library Are gonna have this incredible plane because people like me so much and so he actually I think he sees it as positive Optics of look I just saved the taxpayers 400 million dollars on a plane that we would have needed Because people just want to give it to us and I think you're right I think that there's like, there's kind of levels of corruption that exist in government.
Starting point is 00:53:08 And so for example, if you manage to get your ends on the government for everyone to have to take some vaccine and stay in their house and their lives are gonna be ruined, that's really bad. Or if you manage to get an in on the government to fund a war that'll hold a bunch of people in, that's really bad.
Starting point is 00:53:21 But if you got a kid who goes over somewhere and they want to purchase a hotel for overpriced with a name on it and They because you know there's enough other big businesses going on with the oil that it's like a goodwill jet. It's not better I don't prefer it, but there's just like soft corruption and really bad corruption And so Donald Trump getting a plane that he seizes a trophy from a foreign country it's not better but I don't know how much time do you got to spend upset with it it's like well different calculation that it's a trophy and it's well there's no question you're right about that I mean it's it's clear from his tweet about it you know that he likes the like yeah I'm very
Starting point is 00:54:01 smart I got 400 million dollars for nothing the Democrats would have spent 400 million dollars for it but I'm smart smart. I got $400 million for nothing. The Democrats would have spent $400 million for it, but I'm smart. You know, like, yes, obviously this is what motivates Trump. But yes, but just to on top of what you're saying, you're like, if there is some type of corruption or quid pro quo that is a part of a broader context where we're negotiating our way out of wars, like, I'm sorry, that just does not rise to the top of my outrage list. And there's just so many things to be outraged by. I mean, everything, every inch of our federal central government is
Starting point is 00:54:33 built on corruption, the whole goddamn thing. The whole thing is a system rigging the economy against the regular people for the powerful people. I mean, everything down to like the biggest, you know, the biggest portion, excluding Medicaid, which is just, you know, not great for a lot of other reasons. But if you look at the biggest budget items in the U S government, if you take Medicaid out, it's overwhelmingly like the majority of the budget is defense, Medicare and social security. Okay. Defense is all just a scheme to transfer money from the American people to
Starting point is 00:55:12 weapons companies. Social security and Medicare is all just a giant transfer of wealth from a poorer group to a wealthier group. The boomers, not me, the real boomers. Um, it's like the whole, there's so much corruption, but, but so here, this is really what you're exercised about is that before we got into the next disastrous catastrophic war, we went, Oh, maybe we could negotiate our way out of it. That's number one.
Starting point is 00:55:42 What Ben Shapiro's matter. And then one of the negotiating parties wants to buy Donald Trump a really nice gift. That's what you got. That's what really exercises you. And again, you know, you could look at this because Ben Shapiro, like I went back to that tweet from 2011, Ben Shapiro has a long track record of, of this stuff. Ben, you know, Ben Shapiro who supported all of the wars, um,
Starting point is 00:56:14 never gets this exercise about talking about how incompetent some of the people who said these wars would be very easy, how incompetent they are. In fact, he'll still probably have all of them on his show and have friendly relations with them. He doesn't get exercised about that. It's Witkoff. You see not the architects of Iraq and Afghanistan and Libya and Syria and Somalia and Yemen, the war in Ukraine, the current destruction of Gaza. None of that gets him exercised, but Witkoff attempting to negotiate because he happened to say at a certain
Starting point is 00:56:44 point that like, Oh man, there really are a bunch of war hawks in our government. I just want this war to continue. And Israel themselves just want the war to continue. We're trying to negotiate an end to it. That's what exercises Ben Shapiro. And what's, what's beautiful about this is that you can't hide this. Like people read through it and they see like it, dude, I've never seen you get this angry about anything else. I'm just saying like it,
Starting point is 00:57:08 you can, I've said this for many years, but you can learn a lot about where someone stands politically by what gets like, by what gets them the angriest. It's, it's like it's an important way to assess people because essentially we all have to have a hierarchy of outrages. And, and the, when you don't get that right, you end up getting everything wrong. Look, this was a huge problem, huge, huge, huge problem with like a, the woke left with like the,
Starting point is 00:57:41 the insane progressives of the last few years where they would just have no ability to have like a a hierarchy of outrages. So this is why like black lives matter in the middle of black lives matter would just start getting obsessed with like Aunt Jemima being removed from the supermarket. And you're like, wait, what? Like even like forget, listen, I obviously reject a lot of the progressive worldview, but like even by your own stated worldview, like you're saying there are like killer cops who are unaccountable to the
Starting point is 00:58:09 citizenry. How are you even talking about Aunt Jemima right now? Like this is just too ridiculous. It's like where, where, and, but you see with guys like Ben Shapiro look like all I'm saying is find me the video, please send it to me. I will play it on the show and I will apologize. Find me the video where Ben Shapiro is this angry about lockdowns. Find me the video where he's this angry about an aggressive military action that ended up being a disaster,
Starting point is 00:58:39 just killed a bunch of innocent people and nothing productive came out of it. Find me that example. Find me an example where he's this outraged over vaccine mandates or he's that whatever it is, is this outraged about anything that actually matters, that really destroyed people's lives? No, no, no. What he's outraged about is negotiating. And what he's worried about is that the negotiations might lead to a place where America realizes,
Starting point is 00:59:08 oh, we don't, we don't need to be involved in a war here. There's simply no reason for us to need that. All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is American financing. Look, we all know we're living in a high price environment and have been for many years for many people. The answer to this is to reach for your credit cards, and this is why credit card debt has been at all time highs. Of course, the problem with credit card debt is that you're typically paying a very high
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Starting point is 01:01:00 Now if you want to argue, which I'm sure is, is partially the case too, is that look, Ben Shapiro is just so angry about October 7th that he wants, he wants payback for the people who did that. And that's the number one priority here, you know? And so if he sees you being friendly with Qatar, who's friendly with Hamas, or if he sees you being friendly with Iran, who's friendly with Hamas, then that's going to infuriate him. Like, okay, that's fine. I've never like telling anyone they can't have their identity.
Starting point is 01:01:33 I understand that. But I think you should be honest about that. And if you're doing that, then you're not speaking for American conservatives. You're speaking for Israelis. And that's okay. You can do that. You know, like if you really want Benjamin Netanyahu to be your president, you could go to Israel and have that tomorrow. Um, I'm sure Ben Shapiro owns property there and I'm sure he'd be welcomed with open arms. Um,
Starting point is 01:02:00 but I do think you should be honest about that because it doesn't seem to me that revenge for people killed in a foreign country in a very long ongoing Conflict should be the number one motivators for Americans and think the number one motivator for Americans should be what's in the best interest Of the United States of America that seems fairly reasonable to me. Okay, we're gonna wrap up there. Thank you guys very much as always for listening. We will get the members only episode to you, but I'm not sure what time me and Robert are getting into Appleton, so we'll figure that out, but we'll record an episode for you guys out there. Catch you next time. Peace.

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