Part Of The Problem - Burritos Shouldn't Cost $20

Episode Date: August 6, 2026

Dave Smith brings you the latest in politics! On this episode of Part Of The Problem, Dave and Robbie "the Fire" Bernstein discuss Vivek Ramaswamy being booed at a Young Americans For Liberty Event, the subsequent Twitter discussion about the economy and unaffordability, Stephen A. Smith apologizing to Kyrie Irving, and more.Support Our Sponsors:The Wellness Company - Upgrade your oral care with SMILE! Click www.twc.health/problem and use code PROBLEM for 10% Off onevery order + Free Shipping for U.S. residents.Goldback - https://www.goldback.com/dave/ CrowdHealth - https://www.joincrowdhealth.com/promos/potpRidge - https://ridge.com/potp10Part 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://robbernsteincomedy.com/eventsFind 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#libertarian See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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. He's at home. My God, Robbie Bernstein at home, a rare site these days. How you doing, sir? Yeah, I don't like it.

I did a laundry today that really pumps me out and makes me rethink my entire life. I prefer being out, but luckily, I'm back out this weekend, Newton, Massachusetts, uh, somewhere else in Massachusetts, Walpole, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, and then Providence, Rhode Island on Sunday. And then next week, if anyone's got a porch in Chicago, I'm looking at a Wednesday show last minute before you and I are in Madison, Wisconsin. I want to run the FBI thing for you nice people. And then on Sunday, on week, Appleton. Appleton.

That's right. I'm doing Madison on Sunday. You and I are doing Appleton over the weekend. So come porch everybody. Chicago. Chicago, we should be able to make that happen. What's the day? Someone's got a porch.

Next week, Wednesday. Someone's going to have a porch. And we'll move 20 tickets in four days. I feel good about it. We're going to make it happen. Chicago, make that absolutely happen. Someone's going to come through on that one. Yes, we have Appleton, Wisconsin.

That is August 13th through 15th. Me and you will be there. ComicDavsmith.com for those days. Of course, portshore.com for all the Rob's dates. And then I do want to just say, almost every year I have to give like a special plug to this, but I just checked earlier today. So I'm at the Comedy Mothership in Austin, Texas,

the greatest comedy club in the world on the 28th through the 30th, August 28th through the 30th. The early show Friday is sold out, and the rest still have tickets available. These shows always sell out. Every year I'm at the mothership, the last, for a few weeks before the date, people are hitting me up. People are posting, like, how can we get tickets? So if you do want to go, make sure you go grab those tickets now. Comic Dave Smith, again, for that.

I like to try to, you know, Joe Rogan's club is going to sell out no matter what. but I do like to try to get our fans to, you know, get, you know, get them if they want to. So go get them now because they're going to fill up. Okay. So let's talk about a few things, Rob. You know, this was kind of interesting because, okay, so there was a topic that I had in mind for our last podcast that didn't make it. Because that's what happens. You know, sometimes we want to talk about things, but we run out of time.

And then I was almost kind of like, eh, was it. a little bit old now to talk about, but then a huge internet debate sparked that was kind of on the same topic. So I think it's good to talk about. So the topic I wanted to talk about was Vivek Ramoswami's speech at Young Americans for Liberty. And then this big debate on Twitter erupted over $20 tacos. And I kind of felt like there were a lot of similarities between, you know, kind of the debate that was happening and the response that Vivate gave and the response that a lot of people gave about kind of the high prices today for young people. And I thought it was kind of an interesting thing to talk about on the show. So for people who remember that I think I mentioned

this on the show the other day last week, but I was supposed to go down to Cincinnati to speak at the Young Americans for Liberty event that they were having there. There's terrible weather, all the flights got canceled. I ended up giving my speech remotely. Vivek was there and gave a speech and evidently got booed off the stage. And I got to say, I was pretty surprised by that because, like, Rob, as you could say, first of all, you know, Vivek isn't exactly as much like, you know, those kids' favorite. You know, he's not like, this is the Ron Paul, you know, students for Ron Paul.

You know, this is our people. these, you know, but still like, you'd be kind of surprised to see Vivek get booed off stage. And then I've watched, you know, some of the Trump supporters response to this kind of like $20 burrito or taco or whatever it is thing. And there's something, I don't know, Rob, you see young people have this visceral reaction to people kind of like telling them that the unaffordability crisis doesn't really exist. exist and um i don't know i think it's something interesting and something to pay attention to uh when i don't know anytime you kind of see that thing like i was very surprised that the reaction to vivac was quite what it was and i was i i wasn't surprised about the twitter beef but anyway we could get into some of this but i don't know any thoughts that you had on any of that i know me and you

talks a little bit about the vivac thing uh i don't think it served biden too well when they were up there telling people that their 4th of July barbecue wasn't going to be more expensive because uh look at the price of beans everyone's fourth of july favorite food uh i i think uh you know let let i'm still a working man on a working man salary and every time i go and shop for anything it certainly doesn't feel like it's cheaper than it used to be and more often than not i do get sticker shock and i i live my life on the road so i'm kind of at the mercy of you know whatever a casual food place i'm eating it and yes does feel like everything is shockingly more expensive. The most recent version of that that I saw was,

I was out on the road and there was like some, you know, just rest stop gas station, but like one of like the like government rest stops. And the water bottle prices were in line with what I see at the airport. I now find that general prices are so expensive. I don't have the same level of sticker shock at the airport because everything is at airport pricing. And I think if generally speaking,

you have kids that, you know, don't really feel like there is an opportunity for home ownership on the larger purchases or maybe they're reluctant to start families. And then even on the lower level, you're out in the world and you're like, oh my God, going to a concert now is $125 seeing a movie is. I haven't seen a movie in forever. But, you know, I'm sure. But it's probably 25 bucks. I mean, that's people's lived experiences.

It's hard to tell people that they're just not at least. It's 25, 25 bucks for a movie. I'm saying it just, I, listen, I don't know. perfect dad on current pricing. I can tell you that when I'm out and about, things do feel more expensive. And I think you'd be hard pressed to find people that feel like they're walking into most stores and going, oh, that's reasonable. I mean, it happens every once in a while. You know what I mean? But like, it's not, it's not the norm. All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is the wellness company. And they've just

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promo code problem for 10% off. All right. Let's get back into the show. Yeah. You know, no, that's right. And it's a weird thing. You know, Vivek in his speech for young Americans for liberty. I don't know if people saw this, but it was a kind of interesting little viral moment, and he's running for governor there in Iowa, and he's probably like, you know, he's kind of like the most libertarian Republican guy who ran for president in 2024. You know, I don't know, but he talked about a lot of shit that probably like me and you really cared about. And I think me and you always, well, I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, I don't mean to speak for you. But I think we always kind of had an attitude of like, Vivek had this thing where, look, he's a little too like over polished.

There's something, you know, it's, and, and like, his background in the pharma industry is not great, but I think probably both me and you would have gone like, yeah, but there are like several issues that Vivek is inserting that kind of no one else is talking about and he's talking about and that's something valuable. So did you want to get in there? The Vake certainly flirted with some really bad ideas. The two biggest ones that come to mine are perhaps. mandatory like some sort of mandatory national service to have like a better feeling of

patriotism which sounds to me like robbing people of their time and potentially brainwashing them because the idea that you're going to get more out of a socialized program from the government that you have to do service that that's going to be a better better value of kids of just going to work or college then he also kind of was the first one to start talking about treating the drug gangs in South America I believe like terrorists and taking their military action against them. They've got on that drone bombing the cartels. Yeah. So he's a lot smarter and sharper than really, you know, most, most of the Republicans. And he certainly seems more open to a lot of libertarian ideas or pretending that he's in the libertarian lane. But he does strike me like a guy who, if he was in power,

might have more of like a forcible hand and would be okay with playing ball with the current government apparatus more than looking to clean it up. With that said, he did, he did. He did. did walk right out of Doge and say, hey, this is bullshit. So. Yeah. Well, it was a little bit unclear what, you know, kind of happened behind the scenes there. But I was, so he gave up and his speech was essentially like it was, it was, we're for capitalism against socialism. You know, that was kind of the speech, which is not the worst, you know, thing to, to say to young, you know, libertarians or whatever or young, you know, kind of, I don't know what you, the crowd exactly.

at Young Americans for Liberty, but it's a range of libertarians to libertarian leaning young people. And that's one thing. But then he framed it as winners versus whiners. And that there's the winners and then there's the winers. And then kind of like was as if that is the same as like capitalism versus socialism. Like he almost, I mean, he didn't exactly say this, but he kind of equated that the capitalists get out here and win. while the socialists on the sideline and wine. And like, I don't know, there's just something really off about that.

Because we don't live in anything close to the type of capitalist society that we'd like to. And for vague as well. And so when you're talking about how there, like, there are winners. And they're, like, you know, a lot of time, people do this all the time, people who believe in, like, laissez-faire free markets, where they almost approach the debate, almost with an unexamined given, being that we're currently living in a laissez-faire capitalist society. And so then we can extrapolate from there that the people who are doing well are the winners and the people who are doing better, just whining that no one wants to buy

their goods and services on the market. But like, in reality, Anthony Fauci is a winner in a lot of ways. You see any of the reporting on his net worth, how it did over COVID, Rob? So, like, he won. at least in one tangible metric. And then I guess me and you were kind of whining about that. The Vake Ramoswami himself was also kind of whining about that. Right. So like there is something where like now you're framing things. And I'm sorry, I'll let you go here.

But like I remember having this debate, this really, really dumb guy, libertarian guy, whatever, Austin Peterson. He was really dumb. But he's a, I debated him on Israel Gaza like at the beginning of the thing. And I remember he said to me at one point, I said something about how the Israelis have been brutally occupying the Palestinians for like 60 years. And so when something like October 7th happens, that should be something. You know, you got to address that.

Something along those lines. And he goes, I don't know, Dave, this sounds to me a lot like critical race theory. Oh, the oppressed first, the oppressor. And I was like, wait, also, is you're understanding that there can never be oppression? Like, is that here? I understand that the critical race theorists say that everything can be reduced to an oppressor versus an oppressed, and that's dumb. But to ever say a group of people was oppressed, and so in the same sense, you're almost like, well, look, I understand you could bet. Like, sometimes it's legitimate to be upset about something.

You know, so like, yes, it's, yes, there are socialists who whine about stuff that they're not entitled to. But it just seems like to go there to young people and also, Rob, to be. a like a billionaire, you know, telling young people facing this economy. It's just, just like, I thought you do politics. I thought that's what you're doing here. This is political malpractice. Like Joel Berry arguing that it's cheaper to make burritos at home than at the store. What are you talking about? This is insane. I want to know, can I complain about corporate welfare? Can I complain about the fact that governments created policies where they steal money for me first through inflation, they drive up the cost of goods while returning wealth to individuals

that currently own, you know, property or stocks. Am I allowed to complain about that? Are you allowed to complain about that it's a rig system that are robbing from people who are on fixed income and helping the wealthy who are already own assets? I mean, the idea that not criticizing the government corruption because that's just complaining, no, I'm looking for this to be a fair system of actual capitalism where people can go compete and do well in the market and we don't currently have that yeah no absolutely and i just like the man i there's just something really like the like the idea that you're going to win over young people without at least like somewhat kind of acknowledging there is this thing that really it's like guys like look everybody knows we've

like destroyed our currency everybody everybody who lives in the world knows it you know The, here, you know what, I mean, we could go, oh, actually, you know what, hold on, let me also just address this real quick. The other thing about the Vivek speech, and I know I told you this in the green room, Rob, but I was like, maybe this is a little fucked up to be honest, if I'm being completely honest. But like, you know, I was thinking about this a bit in the context of, you know, there's people like Mom Donnie and, you know, and Vivek and guys like that. But I did find something a bit strange in this speech. where he kept referring to the founders, like, as we. And he kept going like, listen, no, we decided way back then. We decided that we were going to do it this way.

And we were going to do it this way. And we were going to do it. And there is something where I go, like, I just remember in an interview where Vivek said that his father opted not to become a citizen because he didn't want to be one, you know. And, like, there's just something where, like, I think that, you know, there's a little bit something about like just getting somewhere and then like within the first five minutes lecturing everybody else about who we are that i do not i think it's really really tone-deff in the current political moment and i i also kind of i you know i got to say this and this is

somebody who has like pretty radical politics and and full disclosure here maybe there's something fucked up about what i'm saying because like my genes don't my my lineage doesn't go back that far in the country you know like my grandfather came here on my mother's side. I think my great grandfather came here on my father's side, but I'm a third or fourth generation, you know, American, depending on how you want to slice that up. There's a little bit different. I don't know. It's a little bit different to be third or fourth generation than it is to be first generation citizen. That's a little bit different. And I just think that there's something about getting to a place, showing up there day one. Like imagine, if I try to imagine

that like everything falls to crap here in America so bad to the point that like I got to grab my wife and my kids and be like we have to like we're leaving our belongings. We have to escape out of here type situation. And then like Japan is willing to let us in. And I'm like, oh my God. And in Japan, not only is it not the nightmare for America, but there is like 100,000 times more opportunity. right? Let's say I become a billionaire as a first generation, you know, citizen. It's a little bit something about then getting up there and going, let me tell you something about us. That is just a little bit weird. And I just wonder why instead of that, the vague wouldn't approach that from instead of saying, no, it's not, it's not us. But like, I'm so lucky that I'm here because of that. You know what I'm saying?

like there's a different way to do it where you're not kind of like lecturing. And there is something where you're like especially, look, one of the things that I think rubs people the wrong way about Mamdani, about Medi Hassan, about people who, about Elon Omar, about people who get citizenship and immediately are nothing but critical of the country, not just the government like us, but the country. It's like just at least incorporate some gratitude into that would be my advice. You're here for a reason. You became an American citizen for a reason.

Incorporate a little bit of gratitude in there. Maybe talk about that, too. Like, Elon Omar, you're from Somalia. And all you can ever talk about is how racist America is and how awful about it. Like, there's never a point where you could, dude, I could have lived in Somalia, but I'm here. Like, thank the dear Lord. That would help. That would help a lot.

And now, Vivek is not the same as those guys. I'm not trying to pretend he is. But Rob, you're talking. to an all you're worth but we looked it up you were right he's rich whatever they say it's worth three billion dollars or whatever but like those things aren't always accurate you're a billionaire you're talking to a group but like college kids about their thing i don't know i just think framing it as like you're whiners and here's what we americans are for a first generation citizen who is trying to get their votes and excitement like it really literally it was like

political malpractice and same as the Joel Barry stuff just really really bad this is not how you should do this the better message is just uh I'm lucky to be here because I cherish these American values you see the values that you cherish and you go and the problem is the corruption in DC that is undermining these American values you give your examples and that's what's robbing all of you guys of your opportunity and that's why it's so beautiful to see that you guys understand American values and that you're libertarians and that's why I would like to represent these values to make sure that you can have the opportunity towards a great life. I'll write your speeches for you, Vivek. You got money. It's unbelievable, dude. Just send your shit to Rob. It's like unbelievable.

And I mean, every propagandist, every politician, everyone giving a speech, you send your shit to Rob. He does this, like, it's almost like an instinct. It's like I just touch his knee and he has to help you. Just send it to him. He'll do it. He'll hate himself for it. That's exactly right, Rob. It's exactly right. If he had come there and said, listen, man, I was able to have like, you know how hard it is for so many people who grew up where my family grew up in the struggling the poverty in the background, how tough it is up there. And I came here and I have the greatest life ever. And it's because of the values instilled in this country. And that's why it's obviously my obligation. I couldn't even think about not spending the rest of my life trying to

fight to keep this place as great as that. You know what I mean? Like you can say the exact same thing, but say it in a way where, you know, like why not? Look, I'm just saying, Rob, if I, that situation I said, like, shit goes really, really bad and I got to move to Japan. And I become a billion and all that, I'm going to sit there. If I was talking to a group of 20-year-old Japanese people, I would be like, I'd be like, I can't express how much gratitude I have to your fathers and grandfathers for building this great country and this great system that I'm allowed to come in. You know, how is there none of that?

And also, Rob, when you're lecturing them about having fucking gratitude, that's the thing. He's lecturing them about being whiners. this really both in the example of the Republicans who are shaming young kids over complaining about affordability and in the case of Vivek, it feels a lot like what blew up the Democratic Party of trying to shame everybody into their more socialist agenda. And while pretending that costs were going up for average Americans and they were pushing ESG scores and, you know, the diversity hiring and windmill strategies and average and transatlantic and trans. and people and women in sports and people are like, what the fuck? My prices are going up and I want to live a better life and this economy is not great. I don't want to hear about this. And the Democrats were basically, no, shame on you.

Shame on you. This is about propping up the other classes. And you're like, no, I kind of care about me right now. And I'm an American. And I want to hear that you're going to go do something for me. And I think it's a losing strategy to try and pretend that things are better than they are, that you're creating more opportunity than you actually are and trying to just shame people. as you're not patriotic or un-American if you're complaining about the fact that we're spending

money on a war instead of fixing the economy and especially a war when obviously it has at least increased prices to some degree to some degree as a result of this war prices are right right so right and then that obviously has effects on other prices but um no that's that's exactly right all right guys let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show which is ridge you got to check them out I've had a Ridge wallet for many years now. I switched from the traditional leather brick in my back pocket, which I did for far too long. But you got to go check out a Ridge wallet. They're unique, slim, modern design.

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Biden administration did you you alluded to this earlier right if we do you remember the koreen chom pierre um press conferences where it was around the 4th of july when you're like you know people are talking about price we have the worst price inflation we've had in you know like five generations and she's going hot dog buns are down you remember they would just like pick things and go but that's actually you know they're not telling you the whole truth and man you want to try to do this. All right. But Rob, it's even worse. Just like the Iran war is even worse for Trump than it was. It's even worse because you ran against Biden on this, on this very issue. And now to find, you know, the support, now you're in this position where you're going, yeah, but the rate was

hired. Oh my God. It's like just so pathetic. Prices are out of control. People can't afford it. it's undeniable, just undeniable. And, you know, trying to deny that. This is the Biden shit. Telling him the economy is great. So anyway, I want to just bring this up on, as best I could tell, this is kind of how it started. It was a Matt Walsh tweet that went super viral. And, you know, Matt Walsh was, you know, it was a big podcast.

And he's been, you know, I think very reasonable. from what I've seen of his takes since this war in Iran launched. It's a little bit weird because he works for Ben Shapiro, and so that does just kind of create this thing where like, I don't know. Well, here, let's pull up his tweet. So this was his tweet. Let's just pull it up on the screen and I'll read it here.

It says, grocery prices are insane. This tweet got 4.3 million views. Grocery prices are insane. They're still rising. Addressing this problem should be the number one priority of every elected leader. end the stupid foreign wars and focus on this issue. It's one of the main reasons socialists are gaining power. Now, I would say that the only thing I would say is being a little nid picky there,

but I think maybe grocery prices, like prices, you know, the destruction of the monetary, you know, the system, the destruction of the currency and everything being so affordable, I would say more than just grocery prices are the thing that they should focus. But look, it's a banger of a tweet, and how can you deny it? that that's a good point. And how can you deny grocery prices on site? I mean, literally, I remember this, and I don't do a lot of grocery shopping full disclosure. But I remember literally my wife, yeah, might have been a week ago.

And she called me and she was on her way back from the grocery store. And she goes, I just spent $763 at the grocery store. And as typically as the routine, she called that, she calls me, as she's telling me that, she calls me because she's coming home. So she comes into our driveway, so I go down to meet her to bring the bags up. And I don't know, Rob, just after finding out that you spent like, you know, between $700 and $800, I was expecting a lot more bags. I'll say that.

I was thinking like, you know, someone says that to you. You're thinking like, oh, so this is going to be like, it was one trip, Rob, one trip up the stairs. I didn't have to come back again. Like, it was a few bags in each hand and right up. And so, look, I just. it's like Joe Biden saying that you can't get COVID after you get the jab after everyone you know has gotten it or saying that there's no problem with the border saying this is a problem everyone can feel they know is real it just seems ridiculous to even have to argue this but of course he said he threw in there and the stupid wars stop focusing on that and so this pissed off a lot of of conservatives now here's a second tweet because this is to me I thought what kind of started shaping the debate is that Andrew Colvin Wait in. Now, for anyone who doesn't remember, Andrew Colvin is Charlie Kirk's right-hand man,

who now took over the Charlie Kirk show. And I don't know his exact position at Turning Point USA, but I met Andrew when I was down there at that event that some people think got him killed and some people, but whatever. I met him. We hung a little bit at that event. But so he posted this. And I thought this tweet led because then this became the whole thing. So he said one of our Turning Point USA college students gave me his take on affordability, quote, a burrito shouldn't cost $20. Yeah, a lot of this is hangover from COVID and Biden era inflation, but the lived experience is the same. It just feels like basic things cost too much. Now, let me say something and leave this up here for a second.

If you don't mind, Natalie, just pull that tweet back up here because I also want people to see this as I say this. You know, I got, I don't know. You know, obviously, Turning Point USA has taken a little bit of a different direction since Charlie's been gone. I got to tell you personally, maybe I'll do, I've kind of hinted at this before, maybe I'll do a full episode on like my thoughts on the Charlie Kirk and the conspiracies and all this coming up soon. But let me just say, I'll say this right now just for this episode. The one thing I think is really fucked up is that Charlie Kirk was adamant that no matter, despite the pressure, Tucker Carlson will never be canceled. You know, like he will never not be invited to our events.

Megan Kelly will never not be invited to our events. Like he, that last big event he had, you know, not the one he died, but the one before that, was me and Tucker and Kansas. And they're never having any of these people back at this point, which I think is kind of lame. But anyway, let me just say something. You know, Andrew, dude, look at this fucking tweet. Like, I don't know why, Rob, but there's a moment. turning point USA, first of all, a lot of this is hangover from COVID and Biden.

Oh, yeah, of course, that's all it is. There's nothing to do with anything Donald Trump did, right? I have to Biden inflation was Trump's fault. Oh my God, Donald Trump spent more money than anyone in history in 2020. And would you believe in 2021 prices went up? I mean, don't get me wrong, Biden kept spending. But anyway, Rob, I'm sorry, I just have to pick on this a little bit. the lived experience. Dude, if you're not a queer, fucking a queer liberation college professor,

do you ever say lived experience? Oh, God, I hate leftist terms like this. Hey, Rob, okay, I tell you something crazy. Every single human experience has been lived. You don't need the word lived in front of it. It is a signal word. that lets you know you're speaking some like leftist and then and then to go it just feels like basic things cost too much. You can put the tweet down. Why do you, why do you tweet like this? I thought you're supposed to be the antidote to dumb leftist shit.

Does it feel that way? It doesn't feel that way. It is that way. You give us shit what's your lived experience. Rob, you may have an experience, but I have a lived experience. Okay. Anyway, it's like when they say in. living memory.

What the fuck does that mean? You remember it? That's what memory means. You don't need to inform me that it's a memory of things that lived. Okay. Anyway, things are more expensive. They don't feel more expensive. They are.

This is demonstrable. It's tangible. It's a fact. But I do like that. So now this set off a huge. online debate. And Rob, here's the funny thing, right? All of these, they're making all these arguments. So, like, well, if you made a burrito at home, it wouldn't cost $20. And well, if you did this and it's like, and at the end of it, you're like, yeah, that's true. Making a burrito at home

is cheaper than getting one out, Rob, right? Hey, also, a burrito shouldn't cost $20. How was the kid wrong? How is the kid wrong? Dude, I make so much more money than that kid makes. I don't think a burrito should cost $20. Every time I get something, Rob, that is my thought as a 43-year-old who's doing okay in life. Every time I go out and get food, you go, that really shouldn't cost that much, dude. That really shouldn't cost that much. $20 for a burrito? That's not, I am sorry. Like, it's not unreasonable for a college kid to complain about that. And I guess if you really wanted to dig in, the more interesting thing would still be, well, did a burrito cost $20 four years ago? And if you wanted to make the burrito at home, will it still be costing you more than it did four years ago? That would be the more accurate information, which I don't have in front of me, than to go, how dare you, you could be cooking at home, quit complaining. Yeah.

And also, you know, look, and I get this because I think, in fact, I think we had done an episode, Rob, a few weeks ago, where we kind of talk. about this dynamic where it's like, look, I'm not saying there are a lot of things that these kids have that are like advantages that are better than, you know, people used to have in the past or whatever, okay? I get that. And so, look, I'm personally speaking. I'm a very big believer in gratitude. It's something genuinely something I really try to work on. In fact, I've talked about this before, but I do, this is the, I don't like meditate or do like any hippie-dippy shit or anything like that, but I do practice gratitude. Like, I do practice, like, I thank God for everything I have every day.

I think it's good for you to, like, appreciate the things you have. And so I think there's absolutely nothing wrong in a message to young people to try to go like, hey, there's a lot that you do have, you know, to be grateful for. And of course, this is true for all of us. But, you know, I saw some of these people, and they're arguing that, like, well, that, you know, think about how hard it was for people who went to World War II, or think about how hard it was for people who lived in 1890, or think about it. And like, okay, there's something to be said for that. But number one, it's not a real answer to a political gripe.

Number two, it's the dumbest politics. Like, you know, just, just like you're trying to lose. Kamala Harris saying there's nothing she'd do different than Biden. Oh, so you don't want to be president, essentially. I mean, because, look, Rob, if, like, in the same way that, look, all of us have lots of privileges, right? You, you live better than many kings who lived in the world. Like, literally, like, just having, like, access to a hot shower and antibiotics and automobiles and the internet. These are things that men who ruled entire nations didn't have just a couple hundred years ago.

So there's something to be, you know, but Rob, if I were to just, like, stab you. in the thigh and you go, hey, you stabbed me in the thigh, and I go, hey, Rob, you have a better life than most kings. Like, that's not a good response, right? If someone did something to you that materially made your life worse, you have a right to complain about that. And for a response to be, like, okay, so that's to your point. Okay, yes, it's true that all things consider, you are not the biggest victim in the history

of society. But it is totally reasonable for young people to go, you know, the fact that everything around me is so unaffordable while the job market cannot possibly give me the chance to afford this shit. And it didn't have to be this way. That is reasonable. That is very reasonable. All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is

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All right, let's get back into the show. And, you know, I guess the other point I would make, Rob, I'm curious for your thoughts on this. But, you know, like I watched Ben Shapiro jump in on this debate. And what side of the debate is he on? We need the money for the war. Well, he won't say that, of course, but he is like, yeah, stop complaining. You shouldn't be spending $20 on a burrito if you don't have the $20 for a burrito. And like, okay, fine, you know, I mean, I guess.

But is that real your take? But here's the thing, right? And this is why Matt Walsh's tweet set off such a firestorm. And it's an interesting thing that Matt Walsh revealed. Now, again, I will say, Rob, it's a weird dynamic that he works for Ben Shapiro. And it's kind of hard to ignore that. Because if you're going, hey, essentially Matt Walsh's position is this. And I don't think, if Matt Walsh were here, I don't think he would disagree with my synopsis.

I think this is a steel man. Like, I think this is what he really believes. His position essentially is that the left is a threat to the survival of this nation, that they essentially represent the barbarians at the gate who are coming here to, you know, ruin everything that we love about this country. And also, the only chance, the only thing we have to hold them off is the Trump, you know, movement, the Republican, the conservative movement. Also, this is also his position that this war, and now the consequences of it are ruining that

and handing power back over to that. And so he's calling a clarion bell to some degree about that. Not so different from how me and you feel, a little bit, but not so different from how me and you feel. But at the same time, you collect a paycheck from the guy. who slanders, smears, attempts to ruin all of the most effective people who criticize the war. It's what he does, you know? Like, that is his number one.

And so I'm sorry, that is kind of a problem. Like, like, it would almost be on the level, not quite, but like on the level if you found out that, like, I was being financed by the Federal Reserve or something like that, where you're like, I'm sorry, this does take a, that's crazy, man. Then you've got to leave. You got to leave. Anyway, regardless of that, one of the things that's real interesting that Matt Wals revealed is that there's people like Ben Shapiro who, for whatever complaints we may have with Ben Shapiro, does claim to believe in free market capitalism, would be against tariffs, would be against tax increases, things like this. And you would think that he'd be perfectly in a position to explain that, like, well, dude, we've printed the government policies.

We've printed more money than if we're printed in the history of the world over the last 20 years, so obviously prices are more expensive. It's basic supply and demand. This is what Ben Shapiro does. Why won't any of them say that? Why won't anyone, anyone, anyone who supports the wars bring up the obvious monetary component to this? Why is it that when Matt Walsh goes, hey, like everything's so crazy expensive, this is the thing that Americans actually care about.

We shouldn't be fighting these wars. We should be focused on this. That none of these supposed champions of free market capitalism, Rob, whose big beef, you see, is that, right, like one of their big beefs, at least with the woke right, is that they're essentially socialist. And not one of them can point out how maybe, maybe. injecting tens of trillions of dollars and new money into the economy made the dollar less valuable.

Well, why can't they point that out? Because every last one of them knows that you need that monetary policy for the wars. That is absolutely true. Like, that is why they won't point that out. That is why it can't be the response to Matt Walsh, the thing that everyone, and that's why Ben Shapiro, who had a post about this today, what will he say is causing high prices. Oh yeah, tariffs. That's what Ben Shapiro will say. Tariffs. Now, tariffs do cause higher prices, Rob, right? But so does keeping the Strait of Hormuz closed for months, and so does printing

trillions of dollars. But Ben Shapiro can't criticize that because those are the things he loves, the things that fund war and the results of war. And so right there, dude, if you're concerned with these social, I mean, if you, listen, man, again, Rob, we've been saying this for like, I guess over a year now. But if you're going to sit here and tell us, oh, my God, these socialists are coming and they're so scary. It goes, yeah, because this is your counter to them. This is what?

This is all you can say. My God, think about a socialist wet dream, Rob, that this is the Ben Shapiro response. A burrito's 20 bucks, make one at home. Great point, Joel Berry. You've really got, you got a winning coalition on your hands there. It's really, it's truly unbelievable. What's the animal lion farm? All pigs are equal, but some pigs are more equal or something.

So that's the way socialism works. If you're in the group that's getting the handout because you've got a specific industry that is getting government money, or you've got a specific policy that you're looking to enact and government's going to spend money on it, then, you know, that's the way socialism works. You're in the winning group and you're not going to criticize it. And right now, the socialism is benefiting the state of Israel as we fight a war that's not in the American interest. and that's the exact thing that Ben Shapiro wants. So, you know, he's in the have category right now.

So he's not looking to criticize, you know, socialism because he's in the winning group. That's a great. Yes, Natalie just posted that all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal. It's a great. I thought, but I think later in the book doesn't it get changed to pigs because even the pigs kind of size down their winning core? I don't know. I only read the clip notes. I only read it.

I read it and loved it. but it was decades ago um but i did i like that i liked animal farm better than 1984 and i liked 1984 a lot too uh all those books are really worth reading i never read fiction anymore man but i will say all those like those great novels are really worth reading brave new world was great too i said man time to read fiction in a long goddamn time um anyway uh okay Is there any other thoughts on this? Yeah, no, I guess, like, it really just is, you know, you watched this a lot with Democrats over the last, you know,

years, particularly in the Biden administration. But even in, you know, in 2016 and 2020, where, you know, Rob, they would have, like, their pet projects, the things they care about. And they would insist that everybody else, should care about that the most too. You know, like it was always, I mean, like the American people's major issues, you know, we talked about endlessly through, I mean, well, immigration, I guess, isn't as

much right now because it's more under control, but the economy and immigration, these were major, major issues for the American people, the number one and two for years and years. That was never the number one and number two priority of Joe Biden or liberals or Democrats. It was like climate change was huge. You know, climate change was never that big of an issue for American people. It's just not. Like, you know, if you go even in liberal areas, even in liberal areas. But my God, outside of liberal areas, you go and ask people, hey, what are the biggest, like, political concerns you have?

What are the biggest concerns you have right now in America? Climate change is just not coming up on there. But it's always at the top of Nancy Pelosi's list. Always. Ukraine, the COVID-VACs, trans. gender, you know, all these things that are like, these are not the priorities of the American people. They may have, they may agree with you or disagree with you on the issue, but it's not like their number one, number two issues.

Like, and you watch them focus on that and spend all types of, you know, resources on that while these other issues don't get addressed and then them get punished democratically. And man, I mean, watching this, like, I just couldn't, again, I couldn't think just, just there couldn't be a worse political thing that when people are hurting and it's real to tell them that they're dumb and entitled for feeling this way. Just really genuinely, very, very stupid. And then, of course, you know, on top of everything else, you know, winning over the youth was a huge part of Donald Trump's, you know, political.

comeback or at least winning over, I mean, I don't remember the exact numbers, but at least doing so much better with the youth than was even conceivable in 2016. And I don't know if you've seen some of the latest polling, but it's more than all gone. I think he's more hated than ever by young people now. So congratulations, guys. Good job. Well, the worst, the economy is, the more of a lane you have for, you know, kind of a right-wing dictator-type character or for Democratic Socialists. And there's a, you know, an open lane right now. I hate it. The one thing that's promising about implementing democratic socialism is the extent that we have free speech, you'll just watch the policies fail. And as long as we can educate people to why things are worse, I think people will not vote for it in the future.

Democratic socialism, I think, relies on essentially censorship so you can hide your ass about, you know, the unintended consequences of the policy that you're implementing. No different than, you know, what happened with COVID of a centralized authority dictating a health policy. and since it was the government, it didn't actually make sense and it wasn't in our interest. So they had to remove our free speech so you couldn't criticize it at the time. As long as there's free speech, don't worry. Donnie's grocery stores are going to fail within two years. And if we can highlight how they failed, people are going to be like, okay, this doesn't work. But, you know, Donald Trump 20 years ago would have been essentially a Democratic socialist.

The guy's spending more money than anybody. And, you know, the central policy he went for were tariffs and also. critical government investments of, you know, select industries. And those policies have not created new jobs. They have not made the marketplace better. And on it's that simple. And on the Democratic side, the establishment Democrats have become too corrupt. And I think people see that there's a lot of corruption in the system. And they're going, all right, who's going to represent me so that I can get on this corruption and get some free goods? And so the Democratic socialists are going, listen, we're going to forcibly take from other people so that it

comes to you instead of the corporations. And that's a pitch to people of, all right, at least you're going to represent me in this corruption game. Yeah, that's it. That's right. You know, I was thinking about this the other day. I was reading up a little bit about the, um, uh, the, I don't know, did you see any of this rub that like, Mom Dani, um, going to the 9-11 memorial, I guess is like a big controversy.

Um, the Catholic League, the head of the Catholic League, wrote him a letter asking him not to come. Um, and you know, I don't know. By the way, I'm a little, uh, um, not that I have like a super strong opinion on this one way or the other, you know, I, I don't. He's a politician. He can't pretend he cares about a tragedy that happened. That's ridiculous. Well, right, right, right. Like, that's the job. Yeah, it is something great. Like, that's all, um, that's all they really can do. But I guess there was, um, so the, the, what they were saying was that, you know, well, because of, you know, a big disproportionate amount of people who died on 9-11 were Catholics. And that's why it was from the Catholic League. You know, there was a lot of

firefighters and stuff who died. So like a lot of Catholics. And they were basically saying that because he's so concerned about like anti-Muslim bigotry and that was all he cared about on 9-11 that he shouldn't even come at all. But anyway, so anyway, I was just reading about this. I was kind of like thinking about this recently. And I was thinking as I was reading letter that was like, you know, I wonder, kind of the point you got at there, like, man, let's just say it wasn't Cuomo. Would he have won, let's just say the Democratic establishment wasn't what the Democratic establishment was.

You know what I mean? Like, I don't even actually know the answer to that because I think there are some young people who were very excited by Mom Donnie for Mom Donnie's thing. But, like, if the alternative wasn't the lockdown governor who killed old people, people and sexually harassed, you know, just to throw it in there or whatever and was accused of sexual harassment. Like, does he win? It wasn't, the general was like fairly close.

So, you know, it's not unreasonable to think that like if you just had like a cardboard cut out Democrat, you know, who didn't, I don't know, whatever, was just believed what the average Democrat believes, but just wasn't attached to all of that. you know like just just wasn't that guy it's quite possible that they would have handily beat him and so that i don't know that does give you like a whole different perspective on like what exactly is this moment we're living through because i do think like as you were saying it's like such a big part of this is just a democratic establishment has been so destroyed so destroyed that whoever's against them and sitting there going i don't hold all this baggage that you hold

is going to have a huge huge advantage all right guys let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is Goldback. If you haven't watched my interview with Jeremy Corden, he's the CEO over at Goldback, click over and watch that. It was a really good interview. It was one of those ones that stuck with me. There's a lot of problems that we have in this economy that we talk about on the show all the time. Right up there at the top is the debasement of the currency. And that's the problem that Goldback is trying to solve. The dollar has lost over 99% of its value as measured in gold. Now, one of the major problems with gold is that it's not treated as money anymore, but gold back is tackling that. They're real 24-carat gold that you can spend like cash. They're

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All right. I do want to, hey, let's just do this real quick because we kind of wrap up here in a second. But I did. This meant something to me. And I know me and you have been talking about, you know, we've been talking about Fauci and COVID a bit in the last few episodes, more than we have recently, which has kind of been interesting to revisit that. But Stephen A. Smith apologizing to Aaron Roger, oh, excuse me, not to Aaron Rogers, to Kyrie Irving, was I thought something that was worth noting. Let's play that clip. This was Stephen A. Smith just recently, as we have been, and a lot of people have been since Fauci's testified, we've been talking about it and kind of revisiting COVID a little bit. Now, for people who don't remember, Kyrie Irving famously refused to get vaccinated,

Kyrie Irving's an amazing basketball player and one of the best players in the NBA and refused to get vaccine. It was a big thing. He was really shamed for it. I believe he was not allowed to play, like, home games for a while or something, Rob, because the vaccine passport was in effect. It really was a huge thing. And Stephen A. Smith really smeared him for it.

Here was Stephen A. Smith addressing it this week. There were others. who had the courage to say, bump that. One of those people at the forefront was Kyrie Irvin. I bring his name up because I had my issues with him from a leadership standpoint. Never as a player because he's sensational. But with him in terms of leadership, and I didn't look at it as being courageous.

I looked at it as being selfish. And I watched Dr. Fauci on Capitol. Hill yesterday. And the person I thought about most was Kyrie Irvin. Tyree Irvin stood out of my mind because of the heat that he was taking. And our folks were piling on because that was just the latest transgression in their eyes that he was committing and subjecting the public to. He refused the vaccine. New York City's mandate made him ineligible for home games. And he inked and he linked his stance to people losing jobs over vaccine mandates.

In my opinion, particularly hindsight-wise, it didn't make him stubborn or selfish. It made him brave for his willingness to stand up and say, no, I'm not doing that. It's just a time for reflection to look at things differently. Well, I will say, Rob, I really appreciate that. No, that's the first thing I'll say. No, I mean it. I mean, look, like, there's not a lot of people who do that. You know, look, dude, you could sit here and say, he doesn't really mean it.

I see you smirking already, Rob. It's okay. We'll rev him a little bit. It's not just going to be nice. I will say, though, look, let's listen. You can, you could shred him up as much as you want to. When someone does that, you do got to admit, it almost puts a magnifying glass on how rare that is. So that's just what I'm saying.

It's like, dude, one of the crazy things about COVID is that we haven't heard this like 5,000 times more. like shouldn't everyone be doing this at one point okay that's my first thing i have to get that out of the way second i will say and then i'll let you you uh jump in on this rob but second i will say that like look as almost everyone knows like adults adult to adult like um in any relationship a friendship a business relationship a romantic relationship saying sorry isn't the end of it you know like you don't if you especially if you do something kind of reprehensible you know you don't just go, okay, sorry. And then you go, well, I'm not allowed to say anything after that.

You know, usually, I certainly know this with my wife. But when you are wrong, which this does happen, and it's one of the most frustrating things about marriage, but you got to get you like, okay, you have to admit when you are wrong because otherwise, you know, you're being a bad person and you don't have any credibility anymore in the future. So when you're wrong, it's like, shit, fuck, I was wrong about that. I got to go and I got to go, look, I'm sorry about this. But one of the things you realize real quick is that, like, no, that's the start.

I got to go, I'm sorry about this. And then I got to listen to what you have to say to me. I have to hear that and I have to respond to it. So I would just say this. I'm not going to say much more than this, Rob. And I'll let you give your thoughts to close it out. Look, I know you can say in hindsight it was courageous and at the time it seemed selfish. It was really obvious, actually, at the time that it wasn't selfish.

It was actually obvious at the time that it was right. In fact, it was so ridiculously illogical for you to even argue that it wasn't right. Look, if you were saying the vaccines worked completely, then no one else who was vaccinated had anything to worry about. This is what was so maddening about the COVID-VAC stuff, was that you'd sit there and they would literally argue that the vaccinated are at risk from the unvaccinated being around them, which is some of you might be able to put together is logically contradictory, right? It doesn't make any sense.

If the vaccine's so good that it's okay to force on you, then the people who got it are already protected. You don't have to worry about them. Anyway, if you got it this wrong, this bad, I mean selfish to brave are opposites, right? So if you got it this wrong, I appreciate you apologizing. You shouldn't be anywhere near leadership again. I shouldn't say again with Stephen A. Smith, but like, just get rid of all your political ambitions, man. Keep you in the sports, dude, because you're not good at this.

If you got it that colossally wrong on that colossally important of a thing, and just don't ever talk about having a future in politics. You're not good at this. You don't know what you're talking about. The logic was right in front of you. I'm not going to beat you up forever. I really appreciate you apologizing. But you're that bad at this, that you would get it that wrong.

I'm sorry, we have a right to say that. You know, you demonize somebody for saying I'm not going to put, like, a poison into my body. Fuck you. Go away. I got out of this part. Anyway, that's my thought. Anything you got, Rob, go ahead. Yeah, well, what stood out to me while I was watching that is this is not brave to point out now.

When you got political ambitions and everyone's hopping on Fauci and now it's popular to go after him, you're years too late and that there's no bravery. And it's not even that much of an apology. It's just recognition. He's not really apologizing. Yeah, I mean, he's basically, and I don't know the context of what he said then. And I'm watching a clip right now. He was harsh.

Yeah, but, you know, you're not really apologizing. you're just kind of contending with reality and how horribly you got something wrong and you're doing something very unbrave which is now you're just popping on to what's kind of popular which is demonizing Fauci. So I don't know. To me this isn't brave.

It's actually good in my, it's good politicking that he's kind of reading the moment. And so he's hopping onto the bandwagon and he's trying to, you know, play to the more popular opinion and pretend like he's fair or wise. But at the end of the day, if you demonized a person at that time because you were in line with the regime narrative

and now the regime narrative is different, you are not being brave. Yep. 100% agree, man. 100% agree, but good politics. And I think he does want to run. I think that's why he's doing this. But yeah, completely agree. All right.

Portchore.com. Come up with the Chicago porch. Let's get on the post for Wednesday. Rob's newsroomit.com. Shoot me an email. Let's get it done. Sorry. I talked over you.

Say the email again. Rob's news. at gmail.com. Put your phone number in there. I'll call you immediately. We'll get this thing booked. We'll get a ticket link up and we'll porch it. All right. Hell yeah. All right. Catch you guys next time. Peace.