Part Of The Problem - The Dems Are Still A Hot Mess
Episode Date: February 18, 2026Dave Smith brings you the latest in politics! On this episode of Part Of The Problem, Dave and Robbie "The Fire" Bernstein talk about Pam Bondi's Valentine's Day letter, updates on movement i...n Iran, Trump defenders still coming up with excuses on Twitter, and more.Buy Lauren Smith's Book Here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GKH2L18T/ref=cm_sw_r_ffobk_cso_cp_apin_dp_T6ZVP6RDN350MC15HKNRSupport Our Sponsors:The Wellness Company - Recover & Regenerate. Click www.twc.health/problem and use code PROBLEM for 10% off on every order + Free Shipping for US residentsBrunt Workwear - http://bruntworkwear.com/ Use code PROBLEMLovebird - https://lovebirdfoods.com/dave Use code "DAVE" for 25% off your first order!NicNac - Go to http://nicnac.com/dave and use code DAVE for 20% off, or use the store locator to find Nic Nacs near you.Part 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.
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What's up everyone?
Welcome to a brand new episode of Part of the Problem.
I am Dave Smith.
He is Robbie the Fire, Bernstein.
How are you feeling today, Rob?
I'm doing well.
How are you, my friend?
Very good.
Very good.
I can't complain.
I'm excited to go back to Perryville with you this weekend.
We had a great time last time we were there, but it's been,
at least I know you've been there, I think, more recently,
but I haven't been there in, what is it now?
A few years.
I'm excited because I was, I'm driving to and from there.
and their beers are delicious and I usually drink exactly one,
but this time I'm staying over and I'm going to have myself a good time.
Oh, yeah, typically we'd be driving back at the end.
Yeah, there you go.
Well, I'm going to have myself a few beers there too
and then make Mike Harrington be my designated driver
and drive me home while I tell him how much I love him for three hours on the ride home.
So, Mike, ever tell you how much I love you?
I'm so proud of you.
Oh, we should mention it here because I did see that they put,
put out the flyer, but also Rob will be on Timcast on Thursday night.
So Rob's going down to the area a little earlier than me, and he's going to go do Timcast.
We're very excited for you to do that show, your first time on there.
So that should be a good one.
Make sure you guys check that out.
Support Robbie the Fire in all of his endeavors, including Run Your Mouth and Porch and
all that stuff and his headlining shows on the road and stuff.
after Perryville, what do we got?
We got the whole weekend in New Jersey coming up the weekend after that.
So come on out to the dojo of comedy.
ComicDabesmith.com for all those ticket links.
And of course, my amazing wife's children's book is now available in paperback,
healthy hibernation.
You can go get it over at Amazon.
And a bunch of people have been getting it,
and we've been getting such positive feedback.
It's been very, very nice.
So thank you to everybody who's purchased a copy.
All right. So let's get into some stuff today, Rob. It's been, you know, I almost feel it's almost like a bit of a moment. I've felt like for the last couple days where you're almost like it's like we've just been in a deep sea of Epstein files. I kind of feel like I'm coming up to the surface and just taking a breath and almost looking around and going, oh, okay, well, where is this? Where is everything now?
organized or reshuffled in the political landscape.
I did see I was reading a bit about this earlier today, but I saw there's been a few new
polls that have come out that have record low approval ratings for Donald Trump, which is
shocking.
I thought we were in the best economy ever.
Yes, we're in the golden age of winning or something.
Here, let's start out with the clip from the very reliable news network, CNN, who we always side with.
Some bad news in the polling for President Trump.
His approval rating hitting new lows.
CNN's Harry Anton is running the numbers on this one for us.
Hello, Harry.
Where does the president stand?
Happy Washington's birthday, observe today.
That's what it is in the state of New York.
I'm a New Yorker through and through.
Let's take a look at another president, though.
President Donald John Trump. Look at this. I got four numbers across for you on this screen here.
They are all second term lows for the given poster. What are we talking about?
AP Norc, 26 points below order. NBC, 22 points below water. Yahoo, you gov, 20 points below order.
Quinnipiac, 19 points below water. So we're ranging from negative 19 points all the way to negative 26 points.
You know, Kate, there's this question that folks keep asking, you know, where is the floor for Donald Trump?
And I'm not sure there is a floor because if there is one, Donald Trump, at least in term number two, has just fallen through it to another low level.
How does this compare with his first term and how does this compare with Joe Biden?
Okay. So we look at these numbers right here.
One of the things that Donald Trump had been arguing, his proponents have been arguing, oh, you know what?
He's doing better than he was doing in term number one.
No longer is that the case.
What are we talking about here?
Okay, net approval rating at this point in the term.
Look at this.
22 points below order on average when you average all the pulse.
from the last slide. That is actually lower. That is lower than he was at this point in term
number two, term number one when it was 17 points below order. So he's doing five points
worse, five points worse. And he's doing way worse than Joe Biden was doing at this point
in his term number one when he was 13 points below order. So the bottom line is this. Donald
Trump is setting new records for himself in term number two, setting new records for himself
compared to where he was at this point in term number one. And he's doing worse than Joe Biden,
which is, of course, the comparison that Donald Trump does not want.
want to be because we all know what happened to Joe Biden. His party lost the house in term number
one, that midterm elections. And then, of course, Joe Biden was not reelected to another term.
At this point, the numbers are no bueno for the president of the United States.
All right. I'm sorry, I got to say something. Sure. I hate that guy and he sounds like Marco
Robio doing a Donald Trump impersonation. And I've never heard the word more water, underwater, more
times. And while I guess the reporting is, you know, fake news. And so there's really no reason to
see what CNN has to say about poll numbers. It's not a bad breakdown. But my God, did that
guy annoy me? Oh, yeah. No, he's brutal. He's really got just the type of like awful gay energy
that you don't want at a party with you. Um, was that what I was picking up with with the
Marco Rubio flavor. I don't know. I mean, one way or the other, um, he's gay. He's gay.
Either literally or figuratively.
Well, look, I mean, as I kind of always preface with this stuff,
first of all, I never put too much stock in any of these polls.
I do put more stock in the trend lines from the polls.
You know what I mean?
Like if the same pole jumps up 15 points or down 15 points,
that kind of indicates that something's going on there.
And look, I also should say I do, I think one of the silver linings about where
the United States of America is at politically,
is that presidents are just disliked now?
Now, this is very different from like when I was a kid.
You would see those numbers in the positive.
Now it's just a matter of how negative your approval rating is.
It's almost always a minority of the country
who supports the current president.
But that being said, if you remember, Rob,
we did a year ago play a few clips of these same two people
at that same two monitor that's,
at that same monitor talking about how Donald Trump had record high approval ratings.
And there's really no question that in the last year, Donald Trump's approval ratings
have been crashing and it's largely a reflection of his failure as president.
I mean, I just think that's kind of obvious.
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All right, let's get back into the show.
Well, I just got myself a new factory job, so I'm quite pleased with this administration.
Because after years of hardship, I finally get to clock in.
Well, yes, right.
That's right.
All the factory jobs are all the tariffs.
And we, I think we abolished the income tax.
Remember?
Remember when that was a plan?
We were going to abolish the income tax because the tariffs were so good.
Anyway, so one of the things that's been kind of interesting over really just the,
the last couple of days.
I've been seeing,
there's been several viral moments
amongst kind of leading democratic figures.
And,
you know, it's like,
there's something interesting.
Okay, Donald Trump is obviously tanking
and his administration's a catastrophe,
and he's losing support, as he should.
But then you turn around
and you look at the state of the Democrats,
and it really is still such a match.
Like it kind of can't be overstated how much this is like they really just do not have their shit together.
It's still, there's still no leader has emerged.
The leaders that they have are so enormously flawed.
And there is this real question where like, you know, look, I mean, I think there's no question that the Republicans, at least at this point, at this rate, are going to get creamed in the midterm elections.
But when you start looking beyond that to like, okay, then what, what is done where?
with that, it is still, we're in a position where it's very hard to see who kind of takes over
as the leader of this party. And so what is the alternative here? Anyway, I mean, like, you know,
we're still in the same position where we got, you got Gavin Newsom, who's somewhat slick
as a politician, but has this albatross around his neck of being the governor of California.
You know, there's going to be very, very difficult to have that track record and do it, you know, win a campaign.
And then you have AOC who's, Rob, what can you say about her?
Well, and I've said numerous times she's too stupid to run.
And I think later in the episode, we're going to have some clips that showcase that.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, I mean, we could do that now if you want to.
there's a couple AOC clips that have been going viral from the last few days.
And it is, you do kind of, look, she's not quite as bad as Kamala Harris,
but she is really bad at this.
That really is the problem with AOC.
She's almost, the thing about AOC is that it's like,
I think progressives like the idea of her.
And in many sense, I guess some progressives like the idea of Kamala Harris.
the idea of the first, you know, black female president or something like that.
But it's going to be really hard to actually defend what she says.
Here, let's, or sorry, go ahead.
I think AOC is fine when she's kind of in the lane of talking social justice type issues
or, hey, we got to do more for the poor.
But the second you want to have a more substantial conversation,
you can see that her knowledge and acumen or ability to express a,
point of view is pretty thin. And she
doesn't have the Trump flavor
of being able to just go, I don't have to explain
this because it's me. I'm super smart.
I'm so successful. I'm going to make you
successful. She doesn't have that
thing. And so her limited
trying to explain things that are just over
her head, I think immediately comes
clear of I would not want to put my
faith in this person running the country.
Yeah. Here, let's go, we got a couple of clips of AOC
here. Let's play the first one.
either order, it doesn't matter.
What happened in Venezuela, for example.
It is not a, it is not a remark on who Maduro was as a leader.
He canceled elections.
He was an anti-democratic leader.
That doesn't mean that we can kidnap a head of state and engage in acts of war just because
the nation is below the equator.
Well, the Congresswoman reportedly weighed.
The thing that people are jumping on her fit, which I think, you know, is a little bit unfair, is that, but I mean, Venezuela is not below the equator.
That being said, I think, like, it's, it's a, that's a gaff that, you know, people could make.
It's, she tried to describe it in, you know, funny way or whatever.
Anyway, it is kind of entertaining that she said below the equator in the country is, you know, above the equator.
but you know who's going to get hung up on details like that i thought what was more interesting about
this um was and look i don't even know if either of us would really disagree with anything she said
there other than the equator part that we might take issue with but uh there is rob i mean do it
like the democrats are still in this lane where she is where they're doing the fake Hispanic accent
when you say a word like this.
And I just, I don't know.
I genuinely, I mean, I don't mean to be like kind of petty here.
I actually think there's something kind of significant to this.
I still think, if you remember up, I made a lot of this last year when Donald Trump's approval ratings first started really dipping.
And I thought it was really interesting that his ratings were dipping, but the Democrats weren't rising.
is like a bunch of people were turned off by Donald Trump,
but still not going back to the Democrats,
because we're still not doing that shit again.
And I do think there's this thing where essentially that,
that, now look, I know you could say that AOC is whatever she is.
She's part Hispanic or whatever,
and so she speaks Spanish or something like that.
But there's a weird thing that people do.
It's this weird progressive virtue signaling where when they say,
a word
like with that's a Spanish name
they have to break into this thick accent
that they just weren't speaking in
like you have a
you were just speaking
without a thick Spanish accent
but all of a sudden when you say a Spanish
word you have to speak and we don't
do it for anything else we don't
nobody is you know
you would never say like oh I was I was in
London and then I got on
the channel and I went over to
en francais like you just no one does
that you know what i mean like you just you go london france mexico like i don't know it's just like
no one actually ever goes so we were out in california and then we drove down to mexico
and sorry that wasn't very good uh so anyway there is something where i think there's like
look that whole thing has been so soundly rejected by super majorities of the american people
like wokeism and all of that like that's just one little indication that you're a woke person this is what progressives do
there's constantly it's constantly like virtue signaling you know like signaling you know like signaling that I'm in
I'm the good person who's in this click and we've all just rejected that shit because it's up you know it's so
awful and stupid and um selfish and immature and so it's just I don't know I mean I
I don't mean to make too much of a little thing.
I actually look at that and I go, I don't think any, you know, I had said last year,
I actually in a weird way, think she's the frontrunner just because Newsom's got this baggage
and she's three clicks to the left of him, which is actually probably closer to where the party
base is than he is.
But the more I look at this, I don't think anyone doing that can win.
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All right, let's get back into the show in today's America, at least like on a national level.
know what do you think uh personally my favorite a oc is when she's a room full of uh bronx black people
and she puts on the black scent so that that's my personal favorite variation of aOC
um but the talking standard perfect english and then switching to mexican enunciations uh or
spanishansans it's pretty goofy too dude it's so brutal it's so brutal like do you ever see
it it is in a weird way the same thing like you ever see like a
like I had like a few friends who I've seen do this when I was young, but like when they'd start
like talking black around black people. Yeah, we all kind of do it. Just not on stage in front of
cameras when you're giving a speech. Yes. Yeah, I guess so. But like no look, I'm not saying
even like a little bit of doing it, but I'm saying like when it's like a dramatic shift and
you're there and you're watching and you're like, dude, I was just talking to you. I know like
it's I know how you really talk and it's just like cringy. And it is something that by
It's not a coincidence that, and I think this was something that was very appealing about Donald Trump as a candidate to a lot of people and say whatever you will about Donald Trump.
He is authentic in a very strange way because he's such a strange person.
But like Donald Trump is himself.
If Donald Trump goes and speaks to a room, it doesn't matter who's in that audience.
He's speaking the exact same way every time.
The progressive Democrats, all of them, dude, all of them.
Like, I mean, Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, AOC, Gavin Newsom, all of them.
Joe Biden was famous for that.
I mean, there's the most hilarious compilations of these guys that you can go find where they will straight up just become a different person.
Like, they're so phony and full of shit that they will just speak to a different audience and all of a sudden have a completely different.
You know, Hillary Clinton would go and speak at like a church in the South, and she'd get up there and she'd literally be like, y'all ain't going to try to fool me, none now is you?
You know, like, she, and you're like, yo, who the fuck is this lady?
Like, this is just not at all who you are.
They all do that.
And AOC is very guilty of that, too.
And I, you know, I think it's, it's going to be interesting.
I mean, obviously, 2028 is a while away here.
but I still think that the Democrats
are not really
like these people have not adjusted to the fact that I don't think that
shit's going to work anymore. It's just been too exposed.
I've been doing a running series on a run your mouth
of remembering just how dumb the Democrats are
and it's incredible because we spend so much time focused on Donald Trump
who is messing up horrifically and is quite irritating.
but every time you see you get a little glimpse of a reminder of why we hated the Democrats so much
and they have no bench whatsoever.
I think Newsom is the frontrunner and he has a slickness to him.
And it's probably going to come down to how bad the economy is and how much there's a flavor of throw the bastards out,
particularly if it's Ruby or Advance running.
And there still has a lot of discontent with the way the Trump administration essentially lied to us about getting out of wars
and cleaning up government spending and even doing deportations
and the laundry list of things we've complained about.
The Epstein files would be the most recent.
But, yeah, the Democrats have no bench,
and every time they still flirt with these ideas
that were widely rejected in the last election,
you do kind of scratch your head and go,
how are you guys not getting this?
Yeah, yeah.
Well, I mean, I guess the kind of the question in a way becomes like,
look, how many people are the reason why,
again, like you said,
the reason why the Democrats are in a decent situation,
right now is purely because of how much
the Trump administration is fucking up.
That's it. There's nothing else that they've done
except happen to be sitting there
as the opposition party while your
opponent makes a ton of mistakes.
But yeah, I mean,
well, I don't know, Rob.
I mean, there's a whole lot of us people.
I mean, you know, I'm, I don't know how big of a voting
demographic it is, but there's a decent
sized voting demographic who fall into the
broad camp of being like, I
supported Donald Trump in 2024.
And I don't see, I don't see,
I don't see, I mean, aside from obviously if Thomas Massey were to run, I'll support Thomas
Massey and whatever he does, but I don't see a path toward getting guys like me and you
to just be supporting a Rubio or a Vance.
I don't think there's any chance of that happening.
And I don't know that there's really the same version of the Democrats.
Like how many people are there who voted for Kamala Harris who just like refused to vote
for the net?
probably not that many.
And so we'll see.
I guess what it will come down to.
And I did not actually vote for Trump, but I was rooting for him.
And I think it will come down to, put it this way, if Newsom is running and Newsom's running on,
we're going to start regulating Bitcoin.
We're bringing back green energy.
We need to censor the internet for medical discontent.
And he starts flirting with all the horrible democratic ideas that you feel like you need
to vote against because they're actually dangerous just to live as a free person in this country.
You'll see more enthusiasm for even a bad Republican.
But no, that's true.
If he's smart enough to be neutral or if I don't think AOC is the person or if they're
smart enough to have someone to pretend like they're going to clean up government corruption
and that we're not supporting foreign wars and we're rolling back support for Israel and
really playing to kind of I'm going to say the feeling in people's hearts.
of that this country is working against them
and engaging in evil around the world
while we're not concerned with domestic policy
our own economic prosperity,
I think there's a lane for success for the Democrats.
Yeah, well, the thing about it is, Rob,
is that they never run on any of that stuff.
They never run on.
We're going to do internet censorship
and we're going to run on that.
Joe Biden ran on a return to normalcy
and being a one-term president and blah, blah, blah.
You know what I'm saying?
Like it's not, they're going to.
They do run on green energy and essentially increasing socialism.
They might not put it quite in the terms that I did,
but it's pretty transparent when they're talking about dangerous of other people's opinions on the internet
that that translates to internet censorship.
Well, look, I mean, I am genuinely scared of what, of the Democratic establishment retaking control.
because I do think they're going to have to try to crack down on speech this time.
And I think they're going to come back with a vengeance if they come back.
That being said, I'm just kind of starting to look at who is going to be that person for them.
And I, well, look, I'll get to where I'm going with this eventually.
But let's play the other clip of aOC.
There was another AOC one, which is fun.
I think what we identify is that in a rules-based order,
hypocrisy is vulnerability.
And so I think what we are seeking is a return to a rules-based order that eliminates the
hypocrisies around when too often in the West we'd look the other way for inconvenient populations
to act out these paradoxes.
I think what we identify.
You get that, Rob?
You know what?
Maybe she's too smart for me because I'm not sure what she said.
I literally don't know what she said.
She went full Cammy Harris on that one.
Just putting words together that sound nice.
She's just like, I don't know.
I've heard a smart person say rules-based order once,
so maybe I'll throw that out there.
Yeah, I don't know.
AOC is, she is simply not ready for a presidential run.
She's just not, you know, it's a weird thing,
Because she can, as you kind of mentioned, in some settings, she can be kind of charming and kind of be like,
oh, she was a pretty good messenger for this or that.
She's got, she's, she's, I think it really is like a, she's too much of a lightweight
intellectually.
She doesn't actually know anything or have anything to say.
And there is something, I think just particularly after Hillary Clinton and after Kamala Harris,
this particular brand of like woman who's completely full of shit saying nothing in many words
is not going to uh is not going to fly that is my guess i will say rob and this is kind of what
i was leading to before i um i think listen i'm not trying to say anything too bold or you know
over the top here i think right now the sleeper is stephen a smith
Now, I'm not saying he's going to be the nominee.
That's still a long shot.
But Stephen A. Smith really seems to want to run for president.
He went out of his way.
There was like six months, eight months ago where he had this thing where he went out of his way to say,
I'm not closing the door on that.
I am like someone was asking him.
And he was like, yeah, I am considering it.
And look, I mean, obviously Stephen A. Smith has some issues.
Like he doesn't know anything about politics.
Dude, he even said, Rob, I don't know if you saw this, the clip, there's like six months ago, something like that.
Where he said, I'm not closing the door.
I am seriously considering it.
You know, a lot of people want me to run it.
I'm considering it.
And he goes, you give me a couple years to hit the books and really read about policy.
And I'm going to come out prepared and ready to do it.
And it was just like, I don't know, for whatever to me, it was like the most infuriating, insulting fucking thing to say.
Like, first of all, like, the idea of like, I'll hit the books and figure out the
policy thing. Like, I've already decided I want to run for president. And yeah, we'll get to that
whole policy thing at some point. You go, but you don't even know what you're, what side of the
issue you're on? Like, it doesn't even, what do you mean? Policy isn't the thing you could figure
out later. That's supposed to be the driving force for why you'd want to run to begin with,
because you care so much about issues of policy. He's literally, this is how vapid this guy is.
He's just admitting that like, oh, that's, yeah, what I believe in will figure out along the way.
It's also just like, I mean, I don't know.
It shows you how fundamentally unsurious of a person he is that to even think, dude,
like to say like, oh, I'll hit the books for a couple years and then I'll be ready to run for president of the United States of America.
Like it's like me
It's like me Rob if I were to go to you
Like I've never boxed in my life
I've like been on the inside of a boxing gym
Like twice in my life ever
Me and my friends used to throw on the gloves and box
That my buddy's backyard or whatever
That's about the most boxing experience I had
But it'd be like if I were like to you Rob
I was like you know what
I'm gonna start boxing
I'm gonna go join this gym
You know I'm gonna go join this really good boxing gym
And you'd be like oh okay cool
That's a cool thing to do
And I go I'm gonna do it
like a couple years and then I'm going to challenge for the light heavyweight title of the world.
You'd be like, wait, wait, what?
There's no, there's no possible way at a couple years you can be good enough to be at the,
like, I don't know.
I've been obsessively studying this shit for 20 years, dude.
The idea that you're going to catch up in a couple years to even be on the level of like
a podcaster, let alone, anyway, it is ridiculous.
He caught a case of Donald Trump confidence.
Yes, but that's the point in a way.
All of that is just an issue for guys like me and you to be like, that's bullshit.
You don't really know what you're talking about.
But as Trump's proven, that isn't actually what matters.
Dude, that's not what fucking matters.
And I got to say, dude, I'm just saying, looking at the field right now, like,
if you remove all, like, ethics or, or, like, values and beliefs or anything like that,
right?
Like, if you could just remove all of that, and let's just say this was just like, it was your job
to get Stephen A. Smith elected.
You know, if you could put yourself in that frame of mind,
I'd be excited at the prospects right now.
Like, if that was just the job, again, remove all morality and ethics,
and it's just like this is all in a vacuum,
and it's just you get $100 million if you can get Stephen A. Smith elected
and you're completely in charge of his campaign.
I'd go, dude, I think we can win this thing.
And I think I could get this for you.
Like, if you let me fucking do it.
And here's why.
Again, I'm still admitting it's a long shot.
He's the dark horse.
He's not the favorite.
No, no racist, pun intended.
But he, here's the thing.
Stephen A. Smith has a unique set of skills that actually really help in this situation.
He is, Stephen A. Smith is a sports radio click,
bait start an argument guy. He'll take really provocative positions. He doesn't even believe half of
them, but he'll defend him to the death. And he's very good on his feet. He's very good at,
he's had decades of just practicing this skill of shallow bullshit surface level debate that plays
well on camera. And like, that actually is the level of debate that presidential candidates have to
deal with. He's good at reading the room and saying the thing that will get the majority of the room
to start nodding. He's good on camera. That's what he, that's all he's good at is on camera.
And that's essentially as Trump has proven what the whole game is. And there's a big one, Rob.
He has, this is really the biggest one. This is why my eyes would get wide in my amoral universe where I
make $100 million if he gets in. He is completely unattached to all of the failures of the
Democratic establishment, all of them. He has nothing to do with any of them. And he's quite
comfortable to throw them under the bus. Yeah, Biden was a mess. Yeah, Kamala Harris was terrible.
Yeah, Obama is divisive. Yep, he does not attach to any of it. That is the advantage that Donald
Trump had in 2016, is that he could sit from a...
birds-eye view, take these popular positions and then just blast everyone and go, oh, I don't know,
you guys are the ones who broke this.
Me, I was over there in the private sector winning.
I don't know what that.
You know what I mean?
And I don't know.
I just think nobody else is emerging.
This guy clearly wants to do it.
And he does, he is positioned and skilled to maybe be able to pull this job off.
That being said, it'll be, I mean, he's awful and doesn't know what he's talking about and isn't impressive or smart.
But I think there's potential there, Rob.
I don't think he should be underestimated.
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Let's get back into the show.
Well, I guess being good on television, unimpressive and not smart.
It's all a pathway to success in politics.
It's a winning formula in politics.
That's a winning formula right now.
Here, let's play this clip of Stephen A. Smith's going super viral.
Let's play this clip, because this did catch my eye as kind of demonstrating, you know,
what I was just saying.
Does you worry about racism if he ran for president?
No.
I know it exists.
I know that you can't escape it, but I do not believe it is as prevalent as some on the left
would like us to believe.
I do believe a vast majority of Americans judge you on the content of your individual character
rather than the color of your skin.
a lot of people in America, especially in this day and age, now more so than ever before.
It's not about race. It's about the fact that they don't give a damn about it because they
got their own problems. That's entirely different than believing they are superior to you and
they want to hold you back from ascending. That's not what's going on to the degree that it was
decades ago. What's going on now is that we have more white Americans and others suffering and
worried about the state of our nation. And because they're concerned about that, that's where
their worries lie.
Does you worry about racism?
Listen, dude, look,
I understand what he said there is just fairly simple.
It's being universally very well received.
And it is, in a way, I got to say,
look, Donald Trump, in the same sense,
it's almost kind of similar to Donald Trump,
as we've been saying, in a lot of ways.
Stephen A. Smith, much like Donald Trump,
has no views on policy whatsoever.
It does not have, there's not like,
He's not like us.
Like he doesn't have views about policy and you're very interested in it.
And you've read several books on the subject and you feel that this argument is correct.
But what he does have is, and Trump had this too, it's an ability, they're very, very good self-promoters and self-marketers.
And when, like, what, what, what he just kind of did there was actually, I think, fairly sophisticated and represents a lane that Democrats could fill.
You know, like, what he, what he just did there, right, was they go, oh, well, essentially the question isn't even the question.
The question is, what are you going to signal right now?
It's, well, we all know that you're a black man and we live in a systemic racist society and therefore you are a member of the oppressed group.
So you'll be running as a member of the oppressed group, right?
Like that's essentially the question.
Even though, by the way, we had a black president who got reelected and served two terms and was very, very popular, at least at the beginning of his presidency.
And one in a landslide.
And but what Stephen A. Smith does there is he rejects.
the premise of the question. And he goes, no, I'm not running that way. I'm not running as I'm a member
of a marginalized group. And he pivots in a way, he takes it and goes, no, I'll be channeling that
into like an anti-woke pro-populist message. No, the answer isn't that white people are also
evil and that's why they hate black people. The thing is that white people are getting screwed over,
the same as black people are getting screwed over and it's being done by them against all of us.
that is a that is a really fucking powerful political lane to run in then that is where and i'm not sure
the party is smart enough to figure this out but that's where the energy is or that's where the
potential is for the democrats it's what the democrats if they were smart should be running on
is like get away from this racial identitarian shit because that is not popular and it's not
true in any meaningful sense.
But this is the thing, Rob, right?
This is why Donald Trump has really screwed over J.D. Vance's presidential aspirations here.
Is that what Donald Trump's essentially done is he's left the populist lane open now.
And the question is going to be who can take that?
Who can run in that lane?
Now, it's going to be next to impossible for J.D. Vance to do it.
This is how J.D. Bance, this is how he won his Senate campaigns, was running as a populist, and it's how he ran for vice president.
I don't think he's going to be able to do that again in 28.
And I don't think anyone short of Thomas Massey would be able to do that on the Republican side.
Maybe Rand Paul could.
But, or maybe there's someone I'm just not thinking about, but I don't really think anyone else can.
and I don't think AOC, she's just too married to all the woke shit for her to be able to let it go.
It's too much her identity.
And Gavin Newsom, of course, is just too much of an elitist to run as a populist.
He clearly is of the ruling elite.
And so Stephen A. Smith seems to be the guy who could do this over there.
He's famous.
He's wealthy.
You know, he's used to being on camera.
Rob, I mean, again, it's kind of the same point we just made, but we know a thing or two about politics here.
We care about people who are well-read and make good arguments and have the correct policy.
But is that actually what wins elections?
Or is it being rich and famous and good on camera?
You tell me.
On the Republican side, if it's not in 28, it'll be in 32.
But I think Josh Hawley's kind of set him up as the well-spoken, handsome populist.
And I don't agree with him because he's basically just become a social Democrat in his defense of Medicaid and other social programs.
But in terms of trying to win a populist election, I think he's somewhat setting himself up for that.
In terms of on the Democratic side, you know, it's interesting because I think the elites like the fake divisiveness.
And you're right that Stevens playing a winning hand.
But I think in part the Democrats almost don't want to explore that lane because they kind of,
they kind of need that fake divisiveness of that it's not us versus them and it's not the elites
cheating us all out of our money. It's you and your small racial group and some other actual
group in the population that has kept you down and not money printing and other agendas.
Now, Stephen Smith's not going to put together that it's the Fed. He might come to inflation,
but I don't think he's going to quite understand, you know, that money is more available
for the wealthy and people in it with the,
with assets.
Yeah, well, look, I mean, there's no question.
Yes, no, he's not going to figure out economics in the next few months that he's hitting
the books.
I think that you're right that they, broadly speaking, the elite would rather there not be a populist
campaigner for obvious reasons.
You know, this is, and this is a big part of the reason why they, why, why the D.C.
establishment had such a huge reaction to Donald Trump running for president to begin with.
It's a reason why they had a reaction against Bernie Sanders running to be president.
And Bernie Sanders, look at him, he's not a real threat to power.
He's been in the Senate for fucking ever.
He's not a threat to power in any meaningful sense.
But Bernie Sanders is running a campaign where he's telling, you know, an army of young people
that it's the billionaires and the big banks.
And, you know, okay, despite him getting a whole lot of things wrong,
there are a lot of billionaires and big banks out there
that have a lot of influence over this system.
And you start pointing the finger at them,
and they don't like that too much.
And same with Donald Trump.
Drain the swamp is not the message they want to hear.
However, I think it's becoming more and more clear
that that's the only message the people want to hear on both sides,
on both sides, people are well aware of the fact that DC is just the most corrupt goddamn town in the universe.
And Stephen A. Smith to me seems, again, very Trumpian in the sense that I don't think he really cares about anything other than like, oh, this could be huge for me.
I could be the winner.
I could be the guy who does this thing.
And I think they'll smell that all over him and realize that he can be completely controlled.
And so, you know what I mean?
Like, I think there's a chance there to make this win.
And look, we still do.
I mean, not so much in the Democratic primaries, as you know, Rob.
But there is still a democratic process.
And that's the reason why Bernie Sanders was able to give Hillary Clinton a lot of problems.
And the Democratic establishment, it cannot be overstated how much weaker they are now than they were when they were able to just say,
Hillary Clinton has been anointed.
She's been the one who's chosen.
She's going to do this.
Because people have followed the Democratic establishment
into eight years of Donald Trump now.
And so he's going to be in a much better situation to do that,
I think, than he was.
I'm checking in on the chat here a little bit.
Go ahead, Robert.
If there's a Democratic primary,
I think Stephen A. Smith can wipe the floor with both AOC.
And if Kamala Harris decides to try and do a reboot,
I think he will have a problem with Newsom, who will be able to play the card of,
hey, I actually know how to do this job.
And while you and I will be able to see through it and go, hey, you got this terrible track record,
he does a pretty good job of pretending like California is wonderful.
And people seem to buy it from him.
Look, this is the thing that Stephen A. Smith is really good at, though, dude.
And this is why I think he's a sleeper.
he is really good at debating whatever the issue is.
Like Stephen A. Smith is the type of guy who you could go, okay, your take is that Jordan
is better than LeBron.
And he could go out there and argue with the biggest LeBron fan and have a ton of shit to say
and never fucking hesitate and never have a moment of being, looking completely certain
and confident the entire time.
And then you could grab them and go,
okay, now you're going into this debate
and you're debating that LeBron is better than Michael.
And he'd go, no problem.
And go in there with the exact same confidence and the exact.
And I'm telling you, dude, you put him on a debate stage,
even with Gavin Newsom, he's going to be a problem for these guys, dude.
I know this stuff very well.
I know, like, how debates work,
especially these bullshit presidential debates.
And, like, he's got a set of skills that'll be a problem.
And all he's got to do, dude, even what you said there, with Gavin Newsom, he'll prep for that.
He'll prep for like, oh, what are the five talking points that I can just dominate him with and really pick apart how bad California is?
I think he could be trouble for them.
We'll see.
Again, this is all very early.
Checking in on the chat here, if you guys have any questions or comments, go ahead and put them in the chat.
We'll try to get to a few of them.
By the way, if you want to watch the show live and ad-free and uncensored, and you want to
to get the members only fourth episode a week sign up over at part of the problem.com and you also
get to be in the in the live chat um i said um marjorie taylor green is being floated out there
i don't think she's uh really got the presidential quality i like i like marjorie taylor
green she's been she's really surprised me and been a lot better than i thought she would be
but i don't know rob i don't see her running for president um a little bit too much love
a wild card if you ask me yeah i don't see that one either and i also think uh having left congress
i don't think sets are up better right right yeah no i think that's a that's a very good point
um um this is a what is this hold on natalie what is this a oc video that you got oh is this a new
one here was uh no that was that that one was from uh for me and uh it's old it's funny i thought i thought it was
recent and I should have noticed because I was looking. I was like, man, did they OC get attractive
again? Do they clean her up? And then I just realized it was from 2022. But I do think it displays
her lack of understanding of basic economics and a fundamental flaw in her general approach to these
things. All right. Yeah, let's let's play it. And again, it gets more interesting in the second
half where she's explaining how the benefits of COVID should not be,
faulted for inflation, but the entire thing's worth a lesson.
I want to ask you about inflation and interest rates and Fed Chair Powell, who recently said
that the strong labor market made it appropriate for him to soon raise interest rates.
I wonder what your take on that is.
Well, you know, I think particularly when we have this conversation in the context of inflation
as well, it's really not just labor.
just rising wages, but there's a lot of different dynamics that I think are contributing to the
increase in prices, whether it's supply chain complications. Yes, labor issues, but sometimes
lack of labor, a lack of the ability to be able to work consistently in their jobs,
which is also tied to pandemic controls. And also, there's a real distinction to be made
between inflation and price gouging. And there's a lot of evidence that, particularly industry,
with high concentrations, corporate concentrations, whether it's almost oligopoly-level industries,
a lot of these price increases are potentially due to just straight price gouging by corporations.
Are you concerned about inflation and higher interest rates and the impact on working people?
I mean, fair questions.
Wherever prices are increasing.
Are you asking all these big boy questions of little AOC?
here. Also, I mean, whatever. I mean, by the way, do you remember back in 22 when this was like
the talking point that the left, all the left could come up with was like, oh, well, no, it's just that
the corporations are so mean. So they just jack it like, again, like, what exactly even is the
definition of price gouging? Like, is there a certain percentage of profit that then that's
gouging versus not gouging? It's like, you almost like wonder like some of these people, like,
Do you have to take it back to the most basic of economics to just go like, you go, okay, okay.
So first of all, corporations are so greedy that they're price gouging.
Well, why are they doing that now?
Why did they happen to just get greedy after you infuse $9 trillion into the economy?
Like, why weren't they really greedy before?
By the way, also like, why don't they charge even more?
Why did they stop there?
like why i don't know like the you know the corner store who that sells milk why don't they charge
a hundred thousand dollars for milk i mean is it because that corporation isn't that greedy
they just didn't want to gouge and other ones did no dude everyone who sells a good is trying
to sell it for the most that they can sell it for everybody's trying to profit as most as much
as they can. And then this crazy dynamic, consumers are trying to get it for as cheap as they can get it
for. It's like they have no idea that there's this fundamental like balance in the economy that,
right, think about anybody who works a job, you want, like, you want to get paid $10 million a
year and your boss would like it if he could pay you nothing and you would do the job. Why does it end up
being around? Well, because there's a market. And you got to.
to find a price where it's enough that they'll pay you to keep you coming to work,
as if they go too low, you'll go, now I'll go find something else. And if you ask for too high,
they'll be like, no, we won't make any money if we pay you $10 million a year. So you find a,
you know what I mean? You find a price in the middle. Yes, greed, whatever exactly the fuck
greed means. I love what Milton Friedman used to say, what is greed? And he goes, of course,
none of us are greedy. It's always the other guy
who's greedy. But yes,
that is a, that is what we would call
Rob a constant.
It doesn't go up or down.
Corporations always want to make
the profit that they can make.
So anyway,
there's also a storyline of
if you wanted to talk about corporate greed,
I think if you were to look at a Walmart,
it's a greediness of the way that they're
squeezing suppliers or maybe
even importing cheaper goods because
American manufacturers couldn't provide the goods at the prices that they're requiring.
But, you know, some of these producers, some of these bigger companies, they really squeeze
the producers of will buy a lot of your content, but you got to get it for this low over price.
The idea that Walmart's model is trying to squeeze consumers and try and have the market for
the highest prices, that's not, that's not the way Walmart operates.
It's the entire, the entire way that Walmart took over was by undercutting.
everyone's prices. That was their greedy bet, and it worked. And they took a Walmart would close it.
You know, like people would always say, right, Walmart closes down all the mom and pop shops.
But no, it doesn't. It doesn't. You know, it closes down the mom and pop shops. The mom and pop shops
customers who chose to go to Walmart instead. And why do they do that? Because it's cheaper.
And, you know, it's, it's easy for leftists to look at this and just like, if, if,
If you raise prices, that's because of corporate greed.
If you lower prices, well, that's because of corporate greed.
You're putting mom and pop shops out of business.
But, like, no, that's actually for poor people.
It's a really big deal when you lower the cost of clothes for children and food and whatever,
electronics and toys and all that stuff.
So, you know, there was an old, like, free market joke where was something about,
it's like three businessmen are in jail.
And the first guy's in and they go,
what are you in for?
And he goes,
price gouging.
And then he goes,
I was charging more than my competitors.
So they charge me with price gouging.
And then they ask the second guy,
what are you in for?
And he goes,
predatory pricing,
because I was undercutting all of my,
all of my competitors.
And then they go,
the third guy, what are you in for?
And he goes, I charge the exact same thing
as all of my competitors. So they got
me for collusion. And
like the joke is just that like
no matter what, their same
answer will always be. Oh, it's corporate
greed. But like, I'm sorry,
that just doesn't make any sense. All you got to do
is think about this. Use your like common
sense and think about it for five seconds.
It's like, it doesn't make
any sense. All right. I think the second
half of this is
particularly telling of her
acumen and even her ability to defend socialist policies.
All right.
Let's see.
And it's making it difficult for someone to be able to feed their family.
That is always going to be a major point of concern, primary point of concern.
But the real key is making sure that we're diagnosing the causes correctly because the danger
here is that if we say we're helping working people,
too much and say that the cause of this is, oh, it's because we provided too much assistance
during the American Rescue Plan, stimulus checks were too generous.
That is why we are dealing with the problems that we're dealing with now.
What that's going to result in is a pullback in the assistance that some families need the
most right now.
And when we already talk about the cessation of the child tax credit.
The stupidity of if we gave people too much free money and that drive,
rova prices, the idea that we then shouldn't give people free money because it doesn't actually
work because there's another side to the equation of if people have too much free stuff,
it actually makes things more unaffordable.
Well, we can't say that.
Even if that's what's happening in reality, we don't want to say that because then the
conclusion would be it's bad to give people free stuff.
And we can't possibly come to that conclusion.
Even if that is reality, we can't come to that conclusion because it would understand.
my entire identity. It would undermine my entire philosophy. And so let's ignore the unintended
consequence of pretending like we can give people free stuff because sure, in this environment,
it didn't work out well and it drove up prices. But if we acknowledge that, then we can't
continue to do this thing. It's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. No, that is some high level
question begging right there. I mean, it is right, like pure circular logic that essentially goes,
because, well, you know, I get, I really don't like us being out here saying socialism is the reason for price inflation, because then that's going to lead to less socialism.
And so, right, I mean, right.
It's like, look, you may not like the idea that injecting trillions of dollars into the economy makes the existing dollars less valuable.
Like, you may not like that, but that's like these are the laws of economics.
These are very basic laws of supply and demand.
And yeah, that's quite the defense for it.
Yeah, but if we say that, then people won't want more government programs.
Well, yeah, I mean, that's right.
If they understand that these are the costs associated with them,
then, yeah, that would be the logical conclusion to not want any more of this.
It might be nicer if fart smells like, farts smell like cookies, but they don't.
Yeah, right, exactly.
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All right, let's get back into the show.
So, okay, was there more to this that you thought was a, where's that?
I mean, that was the moment that I really was like, wow, this is incredible.
stupid, but there might be more to it.
Well, you know what? I want to, let's switch over to
because I wanted to play just before
we get out of here, because there was this other
clip of Hakeem Jeffries
that was going viral.
And I just thought this was interesting because
again, it speaks to the fact that
and Hakeem Jeffries is
at least in my
life, I think, fair.
I mean, I've thought there were
examples like this in Republican
leadership, certainly in the Trump
era. But
at least to some degree, right, when it was Pelosi in leadership or when it was Schumer,
there was kind of like a feeling that they ran the DNC or they ran the Democratic establishment.
Hakeem Jeffries just seems like he's just like a figurehead like this, you know.
But it goes to show you how much there is no leadership in the Democratic Party
and how there is no lane that they've picked.
So here was a, this is Hakeem Jeffries.
He was on with Joy Reed,
who needs no introduction.
And also that guy who, if you remember,
we responded to the video he made about how brown people
are so much better than white people or something like that.
These guys represent the kind of like one wing of the left,
which would be like the just openly vicious racist wing of the left.
I don't know.
It's a thing that like, I think this has changed a little bit.
But in my life, in our culture, there's for, you know, several reasons.
And a big part of it is how much the narrative has been controlled.
It's very easy for people to just recognize bigots on the right.
It's for whatever reason a little bit tougher for them to recognize it on the left, but that's all these guys are.
But so here you have Hakeem Jeffries being grilled by the woke racist wing of the Democratic Party.
So let's watch that.
With impunity.
Representative, may I, I'm going to give you some numbers.
Just today it came out that ICE is using $38 billion to convert warehouses into camps.
I'm going to call them concentration camps.
Your colleague, Representative Raskin, went to one just yesterday in Maryland and said there were 60 people.
60 people cramped like Sardis in one room who only had access to one toilet.
65% of people taken by ICE had no convictions.
That's from the Cato Institute, a right-wing institute.
ICE has killed eight people this year alone that we know of.
Two of them, Renee Nicole Good and Alex Priddy.
The latest polls came out this week, AP polls.
Over 60% of Americans now disapprove of ICE.
That means in three weeks, it's gone from 30% to 60%.
Now, if I may, I'm going to be a bit blunt here.
Leaders lead.
And what we've seen is people are impressionable.
If you lead on something, people will follow.
It seems the wind is behind your back for the first time ever.
ICE has a history.
CPP has a history of terrorizing black and brown communities.
People are asking themselves, why are we, our taxpayer dollars,
paying for massed, lawless men to terrorize our communities,
kidnap people, take children, and kill Americans.
So I ask you, and I'm doing following up to Joy, because I want an answer to this.
You said you want to rain and ice.
I'm saying, I'm talking about the long term now, why not lead and say abolish ice?
Because what you're telling us is you want our taxpayer dollars to pay for a lawless,
matched armed agency to continue terrorizing our cities.
And I'm trying to figure out how you, as a leader, can be telling Americans that their taxpayer dollars should be going to ice.
Because look, this first of it's pretty funny that he says,
Cato the far right institution goes, yeah, but what are they on immigration?
They're the biggest like open borders, you know, advocacy group.
So that's not exactly making the point he thinks it is.
And just leave aside almost for a second, the bullshit in this guy's question.
And the fact that this is the same guy who we have on tape,
just uttering like racial superiority about his group, you know what I mean?
But anyway, whatever feelings you have about this guy and Joy Ann Reed, they're both dumb, you know, not even leftists.
They're dumb essentially establishment hacks.
But I just want you guys to like think about that.
This is the answer that Democratic leadership has to this question.
Here's Hakeem Jeffries.
I don't understand anything that you just said when I've made, I don't understand anything that you've just said to me when I've made clear.
that taxpayer dollars should be used to make life more affordable for the American people,
not brutalize or kill them.
That's the whole reason we're in this fight right now.
That's the whole reason that the DHS.
But I mean, God damn, Rob.
I mean, just like, this is fucking.
That's Pambondi level right there.
Stock markets up.
Dude, but even just like, I don't know, man,
I just feel like reading one book about economics should inoculate you from ever being a leftist.
Just like to even like be saying like even when they say these things, they go, I believe taxes should be used to make life more affordable.
Okay.
Well, here's the thing about taxes.
They by definition make life less affordable because we have to pay them.
like how do you you know what would make life afford more affordable for every goddamn working person
in this country is lowering their taxes that's what would make life more affordable the idea
that you're just going to say we're going to i'm going to try to make you richer rob by giving
you a big bill what's the what's the problem with that thinking but i guess he does concede it
It shouldn't be spent for the government to brutalize you or something like that.
But look, I mean, he's asked point blank a very clear question here.
Like, why not just go abolish ICE?
Why is that not your position?
And his response is, I don't understand what you're saying.
I don't even understand.
Here, let's keep playing.
It's getting ready to shut down.
That's the only why.
You agree with me, abolish ice.
That is, listen, I'm going to use the language that I want to use.
you can use the language that you want to use.
And the language that I'm using right now
relates to these type of bold, meaningful, dramatic changes
that are designed to save lives right now
and communities that look like the ones that I represent.
And that's the goal.
So let me ask you this.
And I hear what you're saying.
And holding a single Democrat together in the House
and in the Senate is what we're trying
to do to give us the best shot to win this fight right now while we're in the minority.
My question, though, is more about...
Yeah, so, okay, so again, this is just pathetic.
They have no ability...
Like, when he says, he goes, I'm going to use the words I choose to use,
and you use the words you choose to use.
And it's like, dude, it's a very specific question here.
Are you for abolishing this organization or not?
And he can't just muster up the fucking backbone to go, well, no, I disagree with that.
You know, I think we should reign in abuses by ICE, but I don't think we can abolish ice.
And you can't, you know what I'm saying?
Like he can't just like make an argument for why like, no, look, our answer can't be
abolish all border enforcement, abolish border patrol, abolish ICE.
That can't be our answer.
That's not, you know, like he can't.
But again, this is pathetic and would never win.
You know, who would do that is Stephen A. Smith.
But whatever you say about him, he would sit right there in the pocket and go, no.
And I think if you want to run on Biden's immigration policy, good luck with that.
But you're going to get destroyed.
Like, there's no way you're winning an election like that.
And Democratic leadership doesn't have the balls to do that.
I don't think AOC or Gavin Newsom have the balls to do that.
Smith endorses Smith.
I do not endorse.
I don't think, listen, short of like Thomas Massey wants to run.
He's got my endorsement.
It ran Paul or somebody like that.
I don't think I'm going to be in the game of endorsing politicians who I don't really like in the future.
I got burned in that game.
I don't think I'm going to do that again.
but hey we'll see who knows where the country's going to be by the time it's actually
getting at 2028 but anyway look man obviously the theme on our show for for a while has been how
much the Trump administration is the fucking up in a monumental way and that's all still very
true but man the democrats are still a hot mess of garbage that's worth that's worth being
reminded every now and then all right catch you guys tomorrow brand new episode see you guys in
ville, Maryland on Saturday.
That show is almost sold out.
Grab tickets if you want to come out.
All right. Catch you guys tomorrow.
Peace.
