Burritos Shouldn't Cost $20

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 Burnstein. He's at home. My God, Robbie Burnstein at home, a rare sight 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, somewhere else in Massachusetts, Walpole, 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, I'm doing Madison on Sunday, you and I are doing Appleton over the weekend. So come porch every month. Chicago, we should be able to make that happen. What's the date? 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 13 through 15th. Me and you will be there. Commentate Smith dot com for those days. Of course, porch short dot com for all of Rob's dates. And then I do want to just say I 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, Grey's comedy club in the world, the 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 day for a few weeks before the date, people are hitting me up. People are posting like, how can we get tickets? Well, so if you do want to go make sure you go grab those tickets now, comment ate 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, go get them now because they're going to, 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, and then I was almost kind of like, eh, is it a little bit old now to talk about, but then a huge internet debate spark that was kind of on the same topic. So I think it's good to talk about, but so the topic I wanted to talk about was the vape from the Swamis speech at young Americans for Liberty. And then this big debate on, on Twitter erupted over $20 tacos. And I kind of felt like there were a lot of similarities between, between, you know, kind of the debate that was happening and the response that the vape 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, I think I mentioned this on the show the other day last week, but I was supposed to go down to Cincinnati for, 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. The vape was there and gave a speech and evidently got glued off the stage. And I, you know, I got to say I was pretty surprised by that because like Rob is you could say, first of all, you know, the vape isn't, isn't exactly as much like, you know, those kids favor it. 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 the vape 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 talk 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. And I don't know, I think it's something interesting and something to pay attention to when I don't know anytime you kind of see that thing. Like, I was very surprised that the reaction to the vape 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 with me and you talked a little bit about the debate time. I don't think it served Biden too well when they were up there telling people that their fourth of July barbecue wasn't going to be more expensive because look at the price of beans. Everyone's fourth of July favorite food. I think, you know, 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 casual food place I'm eating at. And yes, it 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 shot at the airport because everything is at airport pricing. And I think if, uh, generally speaking, you have kids that, you know, don't really feel like there's 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 my, I mean, that's people's lived experiences. It's hard to tell people that they're just not only says 25, 25 bucks. I'm saying it's just, I listen, I want a perfect dad on current pricing. I can tell you that when I'm out and about things, do you feel more expensive? And I think you'd be hard pressed to find people that feel like they're walking into most doors 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 launched their new product, Smile. Say bye-bye to receding gums. Gum recession is not just cosmetic. Millions of people deal with bleeding gums, tooth sensitivity, and even tooth loss. And once gums start pulling back, most toothpaste do absolutely nothing to help. But now meets Smile. The Wellness Company's next generation toothpaste designed to support gum repair, strengthen teeth, reduce sensitivity, and gently whiten your smile. Smile is powered by healing peptides like BPC 157 known for helping reduce inflammation and supporting the repair of gum and bone tissue. The result of using Smile is stronger gums, healthier teeth, and a brighter smile. So head over to twc.healthslashproblem and use the promo code problem to get 10% off. Once again, twc.healthslashproblem promo code problem for 10% off. All right, let's get back into the show. Yeah, you know, that's right. And it's a weird thing, you know, the vague 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 the vague had this thing where look, he's a little too like over polished. There's something, you know, it's and like his background in the farm industry is not great. But I think probably both me and you would have gone like, yeah, but there are like several issues that the vague is inserting that kind of no one else is talking about and he's talking about and that's something valuable. Sorry, did you want to get in there? The vague certainly flirted with some really bad ideas. The two biggest ones that come to mind 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 druggings in South America. I believe like terrorists and taking a military action against that. They got that drone bombing the cartels. Yeah. 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 walk right out of doge and say, Hey, this is bullshit. So yeah, well, it's kind of 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 thing to say to young 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, it's a range of libertarians to libertarian leaning young people, and that's one thing, but then he framed it as winners versus winers, and that there's the winners, and then there's the winers, and then kind of like with, 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, and, and, for vague as well. And so when you're talking about how they're like, there are winners, and they're like, you know, a lot of 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 are just wanting them, 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, because 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 vague Ramaswami 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 a 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 on, something like October 7th happens, that should be something, you know, you got to address that. It was 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, Austin, is your understanding that there can never be oppression? 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 is, 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, 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 like, I thought you do politics. I thought that's what you're doing here. This is political malpractice, like Joel Barry arguing that it's cheaper to make burritos at home and at the store, what are you talking about there? This is insane. I want to know, can I complain about corporate welfare? Can I complain about the fact that government's created policies where they steal money from me first, through inflation, they drive up the costs 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 rigged system that are robbing from people who are in 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 all in the market and we don't currently have that. Yeah, no, absolutely. And just like the, man, there's just something really like the idea that you're going to win over young people without at least like somewhat kind of acknowledging that 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, the, you know, I mean, we could go, actually, you know what, 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 there's a little fucked up to be honest, if I'm being completely honest. But like, you know, it's 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 the speech rub where he kept referring to the founders like as, as we, and he kept going like, listen, 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, and there was something where I go like, I just remember in an interview where Vivek said that his father opted not to become a set of sun 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, 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 deaf 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, and fold disclosure here, maybe there's something fucked up about what I'm saying because like, my jeans don't, my, my, my lineage doesn't go back that far in the country. You know, like, my, my grandfather came here on my mother's side and then 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, I, I just think that there, there's something about getting to a place, showing up their 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, 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? But 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. It's just a little bit weird. And I just wonder why instead of that, the vape 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, 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 mom Donnie, 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. So 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 it is. Like, there's never a point where you could do it. 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 the vape is not the same as those guys. I'm not trying to pretend he is. Go Rob, you're talking to him. You're worth, but we looked it up. You were right. He's whatever they say. He's worth $3 billion 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 your 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 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. It 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 your 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. All right, your speech is for you, Vivek. I'm unbelievable, dude. Just send your shit to Rob. It's like unbelievable. Every propagandist, every politician, everyone giving a speech, send your shit to Rob. He does this. It's almost like an instinct. It's like I just touches me 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. That's exactly right. If he had come there and said, listen, man, I was able to have like, do you know how hard it is for so many people who grew up where my family grew up? up in the struggle and the poverty and the back and how tough it is of 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 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 billionaire 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 winers. 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 windmills strategies and average, and trans 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, nah, 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. Right. Right. Right. And then that obviously has effects on other prices, but no, that's exactly right. All right, guys. Let's take a moment and think 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. They hold up to 12 cards plus cash. So it's like a minimalist wallet. It's just everything you need, but I'm telling you, you pull one out. It's a conversation starter. They all look really cool. They have 50 plus colors and styles to choose from. They're all made from premium materials like aluminum, titanium and carbon fiber. All Ridge products have a lifetime warranty. 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If you alluded to this earlier, right, do you remember the Korean Jean Pierre press conferences where it was around the 4th of July, when you feel like people are talking about prices, 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 were 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 it's, but probably it's even worse, just like the around 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 higher. 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 Walls tweet that went super viral. And, you know, Matt Walls was, you know, there's 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. As grocery prices are insane, this week 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 and 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 nitpicky there, but I think maybe grocery prices, like price, 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 that that's a good point? And how can you deny grocery prices are insane? 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, it 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 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 me 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 to write up, it's not. 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 board or 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 stopped focusing on that. And so this pissed off a lot 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 Colvet, wait, and now for anyone who doesn't remember, Andrew Colvet 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 you know, I met Andrew when I was down there at that event that some people think got him killed and some people, but whatever, I was at, 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, let me just pull that tweet back up here because I almost want people to see this as I say this, you know, I, 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 other thing I think is really fucked up is that Charlie Kirk was adamant that no matter despite the pressure, Tucker Carlson will never be counts, you know, like he will never not be invited to our events. Megan Kelly will never not be invited to our events like he, he, that last big event he had, you know, not the one he died of at the one before that was me and Tucker and cast and they're never having any of these people back at this point, because I think it's kind of way. But anyway, let me just say something, you know, Andrew, dude, look at this fucking tweet. Like, but 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. Trump did, right? I have the 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? Why not? I mean, don't get me wrong, Biden kept spending. But anyway, I'm sorry, I just have to pick on this a little bit. The lived experience, dude, if you're not a queer, a queer liberation college professor, did everybody lived experience? Oh, God, I hate leftist terms like this. Hey, Rob, I can 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 notes. And then, and then to go, it just feels like basic things cost too much. Are you going to put the tweet down? Why are you, why do you tweet like this? I thought you're supposed to be the antidote to dumb leftist shit. It feels, does it feel that way? Or does it feel that way? It is that way. It gives a shit with 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, 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 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 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, $4 years ago? And if you wanted to make the burrito at home, well, it's 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, then to go, how dare you, you could be cooking at home, quick and plain-ing. Yeah, and also, 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 talked 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 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 there, 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, now, 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, 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 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 considered. 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 think our sponsor for today's show, which is crowd health, a long time sponsor of this show. I've been telling you guys about this company for years because I really believe in what they do. And of course, summer is in full swing. And if you want to enjoy your beach days and barbecues without the constant stress of broken health care, go check out what real medical freedom looks like for under $100 a month. crowd health is now offering the black swan membership, the no BS alternative for people who want control over their care, their costs and their lives for just $85 a month. 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That's right. Ring in the summer with healthcare that puts you first. 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 watch Ben Shapiro jump in on this debate. And what side of the debate is he on? We need the money from 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? 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, 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, 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 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 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 whose slanders, smears attempts to ruin all of the most effective people who criticize the world. 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 yeah. I'm sorry, this does take up, that's crazy man, then you got to leave, you got to leave. Anyway, regardless of that, one of the things that's real interesting that Matt Walsh 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 printed the government policies, we've printed more money than any for 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, maybe, maybe injecting tens of trillions of dollars in 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 had a post about this today, what will he say is causing higher prices? Oh yeah, tariffs, that's what Ben Shapiro will say, tariffs. Now tariffs do cause higher prices, Rob, right? But so does keep in the state 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 gonna 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 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 Barry. You're 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. Yeah. So that's the way socialism works. If you're in the group that's getting the hand out because you 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 gonna spend money on it, then, you know, that's the way socialism works. You're in the winning group and you're not gonna 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, he's in the winning group. That's a great, yes, and Natalie just puts that all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal. That's a great one. I thought a guy, 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 hope, I don't know, I only read the code. I only read the code. I read it. I read it. I read it and loved it, but it was decades ago. But I did. I like the animal farm better than 1984 and I liked 1984 a lot too. 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, I had time to read fiction in a long goddamn time. Anyway, okay, is there any other thoughts on this? Yeah, no, I guess make it like it really just is, you know, you watched this a lot with Democrats over 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 is, 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 the climate change was huge, you know, I mean, change was never that big of an issue for American people. Which is not like, you know, if you, if you go even in the liberal areas, even in liberal areas, but by 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-vax, transgender, 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 there are 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 get punished democratically and man, I mean, watch in this like I just couldn't, again, I couldn't think 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, 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 socialist. And there's a, 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. I'm 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 spending more money than anybody, a interval, a, 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 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, that's a pitch to people of all right, at least you're going to represent me in this corruption game. Yeah, that's, that's right. You know, I was thinking about this the other day, I was reading up a little bit about the, I don't know, did you see any of this rub that like mom Donnie going to the 9/11 Memorial, I guess is like a big controversy, the Catholic League, the head of the Catholic League wrote him a letter asking him not to come. And you know, I don't know, by the way, I'm a little, not that I have like a super strong opinion on this one way or the other, you know, I don't know. He's a politician. He can't pretend he cares about a tragedy that happened. That's ridiculous. Well, right, right, like that's the job, yeah, it is something great, like that's all, that's all they really can do. But I guess there was, so the, the, what they were saying was that, you know, well, because of, you know, a big disproportionate. amount of people who died, a 9/11 were Catholics, and that's why it was from the Catholic League, you know, it 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, or whether. But anyway, so anyway, I was just reading about this, just kind of like thinking about this recently, and I was thinking, as I was reading this letter, that it was like, you know, I wonder, kind of the point you got out there like, man, let's just say it wasn't Cuomo, but he would want, 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, 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 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. It's just that 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 think 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's a, 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 debatement 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 Goldback is tackling that. They're real 24-karat gold that you can spend like cash. They're one of the most affordable ways to own fractional gold and they've already become the leading non-crypto alternative currency out there. No accounts, no fees, no data tracking, just person-to-person transactions in a currency tied to gold, accepted at thousands of businesses across multiple states. So stop relying on a broken system, head to goldback.com/dave to learn more. That's goldback.com/dave. 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 is kind of been interesting to revisit that. But I, Stephen A. Smith, apologizing to Aaron Rodgers, oh, excuse me, not to Aaron Rodgers, 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, a lot of people have been since Fauci's, you know, 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 amazing basketball player. And like one of the best players in the NBA and refused to get vaccinated, 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 an effect. It really was a huge thing. And Stephen A. Smith would 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 Irving. I bring his name up because I have 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 Irving. Kyrie Irving stood out in 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 and eligible for home games. 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. His willingness to stand up and say, no, I'm not doing that. It's just a tougher reflection to look at things differently. Well, I will say, Rob, I really appreciate that. That's the first thing I'll say. And now, no, I mean, I mean, look, like there's not a lot of people to do that. You know, look, dude, you could sit here and say, he doesn't really mean it. I see you smirking already, Rob, with 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 shred him up as much as you want to. When someone does that, you do guy to admit it almost puts a magnifying glass on how rare that is. So that's just what I'm saying. Like 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 jump in on this, Rob. But second, I will say that, like, look, as almost everyone knows, like adults, adult to adult, like in any relationship, a friendship, a business relationship, a romantic relationship, saying sorry isn't the end of it. You know, like, you know, if you, especially if you do something kind of reprehensible, you know, and you 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, and I start, 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, I was wrong about that. I got to go, and I got to go, look, I'm sorry about this. 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 and 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-vax 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 is 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 our opposites, right? So if you got it this wrong, I appreciate you apologizing. You shouldn't be anywhere near leadership again. I'm not going to say again with Stephen Eastman, 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've got it that colossally wrong, on that colossally important of a thing, there's 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 at that wrong. I'm sorry, we have a right to say that. You demonize somebody for saying I'm not going to put like a poison into my body. Fuck you. Go away. Get out of this. Anyway, that's about that. I think 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 I don't know the context of what he said then and I'm watching a clip right now. 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, you're just hopping on to what's kind of popular, which is demonizing Fauci. So I don't know that to me, this isn't brave. It's actually in my, it's good politicking that he's kind of reading the moment. And so he's hopping on to 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 what he's doing this. But yeah, completely agree. All right, watch short.com. Comic Dave Smith. Yeah, let me open the Chicago porch. Let's go go Wednesday. Rob's news from it. gmail.com. Shoot me an email. Let's get it done. Sorry. I talked over you. Say the email again. Rob's [email protected]. 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.