WEBVTT - Let's Talk About Dave Rubin 0:00:02.960 --> 0:00:08.200 Uh au Uh is that an introduction? Is that how 0:00:08.240 --> 0:00:11.639 a podcast starts? Okay, well that's the introduction of the podcast. 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:15.200 I like the intro you did before we started recording 0:00:15.440 --> 0:00:19.119 better when I said, what's sophieing my liftmans? Yeah, because 0:00:19.120 --> 0:00:21.919 I was. I'm obsessed with myself, I know, but I 0:00:21.920 --> 0:00:25.760 can never do the same introduction twice. That's fair, son, 0:00:25.840 --> 0:00:30.480 happen part of my contract with the government. So this 0:00:30.560 --> 0:00:34.600 is Behind the Bastards podcast about the bad people in 0:00:34.640 --> 0:00:37.199 the world. And uh, we're doing something a little bit, 0:00:37.280 --> 0:00:39.320 a little bit, a little a little bit different today. 0:00:39.360 --> 0:00:42.560 See it's helpful in this show with all the breaking 0:00:42.600 --> 0:00:44.479 news that happens in the world and the fact that 0:00:44.479 --> 0:00:48.440 I sometimes go cover it live. Uh, to have a 0:00:48.520 --> 0:00:51.120 little bit of a backlog built up gives us some flexibility, 0:00:51.200 --> 0:00:53.360 let's just do things. And we lost that backlog this 0:00:53.400 --> 0:00:57.000 summer because of all the riots that I had to attend. Um, 0:00:57.080 --> 0:00:58.760 So we're trying to build that backlog back up. But 0:00:58.760 --> 0:01:00.400 I got it right, like twenty page is a week 0:01:00.520 --> 0:01:03.080 just to just to to keep moving. So we're we're 0:01:03.080 --> 0:01:05.000 working on some ways to get some to get ahead 0:01:05.000 --> 0:01:07.640 of it, and and one of them is Today's special episode. 0:01:08.080 --> 0:01:10.959 We're focusing on what I would call a little be bastard, 0:01:11.280 --> 0:01:14.040 someone who would not be enough to get an episode 0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:16.160 behind the Bastards on his own, but I do think 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:18.959 is interesting in the way he's shitty. So I've written 0:01:18.959 --> 0:01:20.840 a short essay about him, and then we're going to 0:01:20.959 --> 0:01:24.840 delve into his book um and to help me explore 0:01:25.000 --> 0:01:29.160 this particular little be bastard. This this this, this special 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:35.520 piece of crap. Uh is Sharine Lana Yoda. I'm back, fam, 0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:45.759 I'm back. Come monshurin weird talking about David Rubin. Oh, 0:01:45.920 --> 0:01:49.320 thank you? That was wow the last little bee. I 0:01:49.320 --> 0:01:53.000 thought you would say, David Ruben? Should I David Reuben? 0:01:53.520 --> 0:02:02.120 I think? I mean that's good? Should I? Who? David Rubin? Is? No? You? 0:02:02.120 --> 0:02:06.520 You shouldn't? You sun't. He's very popular among people who 0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:12.680 are trash, um, very popular. He's like moderately popular because 0:02:12.720 --> 0:02:15.600 he hangs onto people who are very popular among people 0:02:15.639 --> 0:02:19.320 who are trash. But he himself is of of it 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:23.160 best modest notoriety. Now, he's been very successful at writing 0:02:23.160 --> 0:02:25.280 the coat tails of some of the shittiest people in 0:02:25.320 --> 0:02:29.720 our discourse to modest success actually significant, like a lot 0:02:29.760 --> 0:02:36.679 of money, but that's the trash leach a trash leach. Um. 0:02:36.960 --> 0:02:40.080 Robert is stepped away, so it's my opportunity to say 0:02:40.240 --> 0:02:42.200 off the top. I just want I want to get 0:02:42.240 --> 0:02:45.920 out of the way. But I don't know if I 0:02:45.919 --> 0:02:51.040 could top my last appearance. That was a trip for me. Um. 0:02:51.200 --> 0:02:53.600 But I just really, really really want to thank everyone 0:02:53.639 --> 0:02:57.080 that reached out to me via email, Twitter, Instagram. I 0:02:57.160 --> 0:03:00.280 read everything you wrote. I tried to respond to everyone 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:03.280 that I could, but it really meant a lot to me, 0:03:03.639 --> 0:03:08.000 Um and um, yeah, it was just really sweet and 0:03:08.040 --> 0:03:13.200 really affirmed that I should be vulnerable and normalizing. Talking 0:03:13.200 --> 0:03:15.799 about sex and sexuality is so important to me, and 0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:19.840 it's okay if I'm the vehicle for that sometimes. But 0:03:19.840 --> 0:03:21.760 but yeah, I just wanted to say a really quick 0:03:21.919 --> 0:03:24.519 thank you to all the listeners that are listening now 0:03:24.560 --> 0:03:27.840 that maybe have reached out to me, because your words 0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:32.720 really meant a lot. Thank you. That's very sweet to 0:03:32.760 --> 0:03:36.440 hear and very and very soulful, which is appropriate because 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:39.600 the person we're talking about today, um doesn't have a soul, 0:03:39.800 --> 0:03:43.640 not a single ounce of soul. Yeah. Good to know. 0:03:43.800 --> 0:03:47.880 Good to know, which makes which makes this episode, which 0:03:47.880 --> 0:03:49.960 makes you the perfect guest was episode because you are 0:03:50.000 --> 0:03:54.840 full of soul and love and warmth. Oh thanks, I 0:03:54.840 --> 0:03:56.600 really feel dead inside most of the time, so that's 0:03:56.640 --> 0:04:02.640 nice that you have that impression of me. So, Sharine, 0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:06.760 you you don't know David Ruman. He's like a YouTuber. 0:04:06.800 --> 0:04:08.480 He's a right wing YouTuber. He gets a lot of 0:04:08.520 --> 0:04:11.760 coke money, um, and he's he's pretty trash. So we're 0:04:11.760 --> 0:04:13.880 gonna read a little essay about Mr Reuben, and then 0:04:13.880 --> 0:04:17.400 we're gonna read from his book, which is called Oh 0:04:17.480 --> 0:04:20.960 You're gonna love it, Sharine. It's called don't burn this book, um, 0:04:21.080 --> 0:04:24.839 which is I think a pretty sad attempt to make 0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:30.159 people like to act as if there's anything actually um 0:04:30.320 --> 0:04:33.400 uh disruptive in there, as opposed to just being another 0:04:33.480 --> 0:04:37.000 cash grab by a guy who's basic modus operandi is 0:04:37.040 --> 0:04:41.400 to support the Republican Party. So David Joshua Rubin was 0:04:41.400 --> 0:04:45.880 born on June nine six. Obviously, since this isn't a 0:04:45.920 --> 0:04:48.159 standard episode, I'm not writing ten pages on this guy. 0:04:48.200 --> 0:04:49.719 But we do have to get some context of his 0:04:49.760 --> 0:04:53.159 career because it's interesting and he's emblematic of a species 0:04:53.240 --> 0:04:55.480 of grifter. He grew up in what he called a 0:04:55.560 --> 0:04:58.880 fairly secular household in Long Island. Uh. He came of 0:04:58.920 --> 0:05:01.839 age in Siosit, New York or psioset. I don't know 0:05:01.839 --> 0:05:05.000 how you fucking East Coast fucking I hate that whole 0:05:05.000 --> 0:05:07.800 fucking coast shrine. Um, it's s y O S S 0:05:07.800 --> 0:05:09.840 E T New York. He grew up there. He got 0:05:09.839 --> 0:05:13.560 a bachelor's degree in political silence at Binghamton University. UM, 0:05:13.640 --> 0:05:16.200 and despite a complete lack of talent and charisma, Dave 0:05:16.279 --> 0:05:18.720 decided that he was going to be a stand up comedian. 0:05:19.000 --> 0:05:21.920 So Dave decided that, like I, he was going to 0:05:22.000 --> 0:05:23.800 be a stand up comedian. And he's he had no 0:05:24.360 --> 0:05:28.680 talent in comedy, uh, no ability to really work a crowd. Um, 0:05:28.720 --> 0:05:30.400 but he decided to give it a shot anyway. So 0:05:30.480 --> 0:05:32.560 he started rampaging through a bunch of open mics in 0:05:32.600 --> 0:05:35.080 New York. Most of his jokes centered around the fact 0:05:35.120 --> 0:05:38.280 that that he was a gay man, and isn't that funny? Uh? 0:05:38.600 --> 0:05:42.120 Like that that kind of comedy? Heard that before? Yeah. 0:05:42.160 --> 0:05:43.919 In the early OTTs, he was one of the hosts 0:05:43.920 --> 0:05:47.360 of a podcast called Hot Gay Comics, UM, which I'm 0:05:47.400 --> 0:05:51.159 sure was very I love when people make their sexuality 0:05:51.200 --> 0:05:55.000 their entire personality. Yeah, I'm gay and I do comedy. 0:05:55.040 --> 0:05:58.159 That's the joke. Yeah. Uh. He made a public access 0:05:58.200 --> 0:06:00.440 fake news program like like a parody of a new 0:06:00.480 --> 0:06:03.560 Show in around two thousand UM, and he co founded 0:06:03.560 --> 0:06:06.599 a couple of comedy clubs. His career in Standoff never 0:06:06.680 --> 0:06:09.480 really took off like he was he was he had 0:06:09.600 --> 0:06:12.480 a certain level of prominence, like within a certain community, 0:06:12.520 --> 0:06:14.080 but it was not the kind of thing he was 0:06:14.120 --> 0:06:16.279 ever going to make a good living at, which is 0:06:16.279 --> 0:06:19.520 why he quit in two thousand seven UM. And I 0:06:19.920 --> 0:06:23.320 think looking at a few clips of him being a comedian, 0:06:23.400 --> 0:06:26.080 it's very clear why his career didn't take off, because 0:06:26.120 --> 0:06:28.480 he's he's very, very bad. He's he's a he's a 0:06:28.560 --> 0:06:30.760 void of charisma. And I'm gonna send you a link here. 0:06:31.120 --> 0:06:33.000 I was just gonna say, I love that you put 0:06:33.000 --> 0:06:35.120 yourself through that, but now you're putting me through that, 0:06:35.240 --> 0:06:38.320 so oh yeah, no, absolutely thankfully. This is from a 0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:40.479 tweet by Nathan Robinson. I'm not sure if he's the 0:06:40.480 --> 0:06:42.960 person who collected the videos or not, but somebody took 0:06:42.960 --> 0:06:45.240 clips from a bunch of his different stand ups over 0:06:45.320 --> 0:06:47.000 I think it was probably over a couple of years. 0:06:47.320 --> 0:06:49.400 And so we just have him like a few different 0:06:49.440 --> 0:06:52.240 punchlines of his so we can see how how the 0:06:52.279 --> 0:07:02.359 crowd reacts to Dave Ruben lesbian's love. Am still, what 0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:07.560 is that? What is it? It tastes like water? Is 0:07:07.600 --> 0:07:10.600 there anything hotter than a lesbian spitting? Am still light 0:07:10.640 --> 0:07:16.480 all over herself? This is But I'm very uncomfortable and 0:07:16.640 --> 0:07:21.200 you I think you're gay? Are you? But your am? 0:07:21.200 --> 0:07:31.000 I right? No? Really, no Mormon? You raise your hand. 0:07:32.840 --> 0:07:36.160 Does anyone need their genitals warmed up? That is our show? 0:07:36.320 --> 0:07:46.800 All right? Did you guys have fun? Does anyone need 0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:52.840 their genitals warmed up? Yeah? That's a joke, get it? 0:07:52.880 --> 0:07:57.960 Because he's he's not straight, So that's the joke. Um, 0:07:58.000 --> 0:08:00.520 I did post this is this is pretty funny. But 0:08:00.560 --> 0:08:03.800 I did post this image the other day that has 0:08:03.840 --> 0:08:06.680 this wound on someone's arm and it says white guilt 0:08:07.200 --> 0:08:08.880 and then there's a band aid come and go over 0:08:08.920 --> 0:08:13.360 it that says queerness. Um. And I do think some 0:08:13.440 --> 0:08:16.800 people use their sexuality and or queerness, and this is 0:08:16.800 --> 0:08:20.520 coming from a queer person. White people use their queerness 0:08:20.600 --> 0:08:24.520 sometimes as a way to skirt around the fact that 0:08:24.560 --> 0:08:28.040 they're problematic, and that gives them this like leeway to 0:08:28.040 --> 0:08:31.480 say whatever they want when really, uh, it doesn't do 0:08:31.520 --> 0:08:33.960 that at all, if that makes sense. I'm like summarizing 0:08:34.000 --> 0:08:40.640 that meme in a very uh roundabout way, but weaponizing 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:45.760 your sexuality is never really to to disparage someone else 0:08:45.800 --> 0:08:50.200 has never really uh advised in my opinion. Yeah, And 0:08:50.240 --> 0:08:52.800 I don't think he was meaning to be disparaging at 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:54.680 this point. I think it was just a matter of like, 0:08:55.480 --> 0:08:58.800 he's not a very good comedian and so, like, you know, 0:08:58.840 --> 0:09:02.680 this was the early early two thousands that was sort 0:09:02.720 --> 0:09:04.880 of like like you you watch a lot of TV 0:09:04.960 --> 0:09:07.400 shows that had like gay characters in them, and like 0:09:07.440 --> 0:09:09.480 the joke was that they were gay, but it wasn't 0:09:09.520 --> 0:09:12.360 like they weren't trying to be mean. It was like attempting, 0:09:12.440 --> 0:09:14.640 Like there's a Simpsons episode that won an award for 0:09:14.679 --> 0:09:18.800 gay representation that is cringe e to watch these days, 0:09:18.840 --> 0:09:20.439 but like at the time they were like, oh my god, 0:09:20.800 --> 0:09:23.120 the gay people in the show aren't monsters. Like it's 0:09:23.200 --> 0:09:27.160 like so I think he was kind of writing that wave, um, 0:09:27.360 --> 0:09:30.040 which didn't last long because people were like, oh, what 0:09:30.120 --> 0:09:33.200 don't we just treated everybody like people? And like didn't 0:09:33.440 --> 0:09:39.040 didn't you know and and Dave for material and really 0:09:39.320 --> 0:09:42.880 he couldn't reach very far. No, and he yeah, you 0:09:42.920 --> 0:09:45.199 can see. They're like, he can't work a crowd. He 0:09:45.240 --> 0:09:48.680 has no charisma. People don't like him, um when he 0:09:48.760 --> 0:09:51.360 does like a live show. And this made, you know, 0:09:51.800 --> 0:09:55.120 a career in live performances less than an ideal professional 0:09:55.200 --> 0:09:57.640 route for Dave. But he did have some talents. You know, 0:09:57.679 --> 0:09:59.520 he was good at organizing things. He put together some 0:09:59.559 --> 0:10:02.480 comedy clubs, you know, he was he I assume his 0:10:02.520 --> 0:10:05.160 show was funny enough that it earned him some like 0:10:05.200 --> 0:10:08.040 the the Local Access show, that it earned him some attention, 0:10:08.080 --> 0:10:11.640 and he got an internship with the daily shows John Stewart. Um, 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:14.439 what yeah, which is big And this is like early on, 0:10:14.520 --> 0:10:16.440 like when John Stewart is like kind of having his 0:10:16.480 --> 0:10:20.040 big rise to prominence, you know. Um, so Ruben does 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:22.240 that for a little while and I think it eventually 0:10:22.320 --> 0:10:24.960 leads him to get hired by the Young Turks Network 0:10:25.240 --> 0:10:27.319 and it moves to California and stuff, and the Young 0:10:27.360 --> 0:10:30.240 Turks is like a yeah, so like we'll talk about 0:10:30.240 --> 0:10:31.640 them in a second, but yeah, so he gets his 0:10:31.679 --> 0:10:34.560 own show, the Reuben Report on the Young Turks Network 0:10:34.840 --> 0:10:37.960 back up in thousands thirteen, Jon Stewart and the Young Turks. 0:10:37.960 --> 0:10:40.520 That's pretty left, you know. Yeah, and he's left at 0:10:40.520 --> 0:10:44.160 this point. Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah, he's he's he's at 0:10:44.240 --> 0:10:46.920 least masquerading as a progressive at this point. So he's 0:10:46.960 --> 0:10:49.079 like thirty seven years old when he gets his show 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:52.360 with the Young Turks, and that's kind of his big break. Now. 0:10:52.400 --> 0:10:55.480 The Young Turks are a progressive left wing news network 0:10:55.559 --> 0:10:58.960 unadvisedly named after the architects of the Armenian Genocide for 0:10:59.000 --> 0:11:02.480 reasons to complicated to explain here. The network's number one 0:11:02.520 --> 0:11:04.839 claim to fame was providing the launchpad for the career 0:11:04.880 --> 0:11:07.520 of one of my favorite journalists, Ken Clippenstein, who who's 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:12.880 pretty fucking cool, elips best Twitter follow you could ever 0:11:12.920 --> 0:11:16.439 hope for. Yeah, he fucking rules. Um So for a while, 0:11:16.520 --> 0:11:18.680 like that's kind of like it's a pretty you know, 0:11:18.720 --> 0:11:22.000 progressive network. Um, not hard left, but not democrat like, 0:11:22.080 --> 0:11:24.360 kind of soft left like sandersy. It's kind of where 0:11:24.400 --> 0:11:27.360 we'd say it. Um. And for a while, David's show 0:11:27.520 --> 0:11:30.560 was pretty standard like soft left wing fair I'm gonna 0:11:30.600 --> 0:11:33.720 quote from rational Wiki here, kind of summarizing the stuff 0:11:33.760 --> 0:11:36.360 that he got up to on his and the Reuben Report. 0:11:36.400 --> 0:11:40.040 In its Young Turks days, he publicly criticized National Rifle 0:11:40.080 --> 0:11:43.040 Association commercials trying to incite the fear of consequences of 0:11:43.080 --> 0:11:44.880 gun reform laws being planned to be passed by the 0:11:44.960 --> 0:11:48.000 United States Congress. Addressed a decision by McDonald's to remove 0:11:48.040 --> 0:11:50.280 healthier foods from its menu in a critical manner. On 0:11:50.360 --> 0:11:52.400 a two thousand fourteen episode of The Young Turks, he 0:11:52.480 --> 0:11:54.959 rebuked self regulation in the economy and claimed that it 0:11:55.000 --> 0:11:57.439 has never worked, and he was supportive of single payer 0:11:57.480 --> 0:12:02.120 health insurance. So ok, yeah, he's fine, Like right, He's 0:12:02.200 --> 0:12:05.959 like a pretty normal, like kind of lefty democrat. Um. 0:12:06.280 --> 0:12:12.079 Nothing something too outrageous. There were, however, some early signs 0:12:12.200 --> 0:12:14.679 that something might be a little odd with Dave. In 0:12:14.720 --> 0:12:17.640 two thousand and fourteen, when Israel invaded Gaza, they had 0:12:17.720 --> 0:12:20.800 that they had their war in Gaza. Um, the Young 0:12:20.840 --> 0:12:23.240 Turks did like a forty minute sort of like episode 0:12:23.320 --> 0:12:25.000 round table where they all kind of talked about what 0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:28.040 was happening, and Dave got into fights with absolutely everybody 0:12:28.120 --> 0:12:30.679 by kind of like not kind of by repeatedly defending 0:12:30.760 --> 0:12:33.760 his reel's behavior in the war UH and in subsequent shows, 0:12:33.840 --> 0:12:37.360 he repeatedly denied like war crimes that had been committed 0:12:37.400 --> 0:12:41.120 by Israel. He showed up on like a radical atheist 0:12:41.240 --> 0:12:44.280 kind of podcast to express a bunch of like like 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:48.000 pretty much outright lies about Palestinian people in the Palestinian cause. 0:12:48.440 --> 0:12:51.160 So like there were some signs like, Okay, Dave's, something's 0:12:51.200 --> 0:12:53.800 going on with Reuben here, something a little bit not 0:12:54.240 --> 0:12:57.400 not the standard for the melieu he occupies as I'm 0:12:57.440 --> 0:13:01.640 wearing my Palestine shirt. Yep, Yeah, Palestine isn't free. Yeah, 0:13:02.080 --> 0:13:06.240 and neither is my time. Dave, Sorry, I should know 0:13:06.320 --> 0:13:08.360 that's nice. I didn't see the lower part. Palestine is 0:13:08.480 --> 0:13:14.680 free and neither is my time. That's funny, so Dave, uh, yeah, 0:13:15.480 --> 0:13:17.400 it's a little bit odd. And he keeps getting into 0:13:17.480 --> 0:13:20.120 arguments with um, with other folks at the Young Turks, 0:13:20.160 --> 0:13:23.040 particularly the founder of the network, Shank Wager, and this 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:26.440 is probably more or less like why he winds up 0:13:26.559 --> 0:13:29.400 leaving the Young Turks network. He and Jank had an 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:33.800 escalating series of disagreements that started with Ruben's comments about Palestine. UM. 0:13:34.040 --> 0:13:36.560 Reuben himself would later claim that he grew apart from 0:13:36.600 --> 0:13:39.240 the left because of its obsession with identity, polics, hostility 0:13:39.240 --> 0:13:42.959 towards free speech, and unwillingness to debate openly. Um, he 0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:45.599 now has a completely different story for why he he 0:13:45.960 --> 0:13:48.560 left the left, But um, you know that that that's 0:13:48.840 --> 0:13:51.880 as will cover. That's the main reason that he's prominent 0:13:51.960 --> 0:13:53.520 now is that he used to be on the left, 0:13:53.600 --> 0:13:56.360 and he gives a bunch of lectures on why he left. 0:13:56.720 --> 0:13:59.760 Uh So that's kind of the whole He's just monetized 0:13:59.800 --> 0:14:03.199 that very effectively. So the Young Turks allowed Ruben to 0:14:03.280 --> 0:14:05.400 take his show and its YouTube account with him. He 0:14:05.480 --> 0:14:08.320 bounced around from company to company, including or A TV, 0:14:08.559 --> 0:14:11.600 which was founded by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim and Larry King. 0:14:12.360 --> 0:14:14.440 That didn't work out, and Ruben went through a number 0:14:14.520 --> 0:14:16.880 of different hosts and networks over the course of about 0:14:16.920 --> 0:14:21.760 a year from until um which suggests he might have 0:14:21.760 --> 0:14:23.160 been kind of a pain in the ask to work with. 0:14:23.640 --> 0:14:26.040 In two thousand and sixteen, the Reuben Report went independent 0:14:26.240 --> 0:14:28.800 and Dave Ruben finally found the thing he was good at. 0:14:29.600 --> 0:14:32.520 See two thousand sixteen is like the easiest possible year 0:14:32.520 --> 0:14:34.080 you could have picked to get into the business of 0:14:34.160 --> 0:14:37.480 making right wing propaganda on YouTube. The mix of prevailing 0:14:37.560 --> 0:14:40.600 political winds and Google's algorithm meant that even an idiot 0:14:40.680 --> 0:14:43.520 could make money spreading quasi fascist propaganda for a while. 0:14:43.960 --> 0:14:46.560 And Dave, unfortunately was not a total idiot. In a 0:14:46.640 --> 0:14:48.800 move that showed just how savvy he could be, he 0:14:48.880 --> 0:14:52.240 pivoted his show to almost exclusively hosting guests who are 0:14:52.320 --> 0:14:54.600 members of what would come to be called the intellectual 0:14:54.800 --> 0:15:02.280 dark Web. Remember that thing. Yeah, so he Yeah, he 0:15:02.480 --> 0:15:05.640 sees that all these guys, these like kind of regressive 0:15:05.720 --> 0:15:09.640 right wing thinkers are rapidly gaining in popularity thanks to 0:15:09.680 --> 0:15:11.560 a mix of Google's algorithm and like just sort of 0:15:11.600 --> 0:15:14.640 the political you know. So he he starts having all 0:15:14.680 --> 0:15:17.360 these dudes on his show as they're rising, which number one, 0:15:17.640 --> 0:15:19.840 builds a relationship with them, so they keep showing up 0:15:19.880 --> 0:15:21.720 even as they get big, and it kind of allows 0:15:21.800 --> 0:15:24.120 him to siphon off from their fan bases and build 0:15:24.160 --> 0:15:26.240 a large fan base of his own, and this is 0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:30.360 a very effective tactic. Um he starts interfacing more directly 0:15:30.400 --> 0:15:33.200 with other chunks of the right wing UH information sphere, 0:15:33.200 --> 0:15:37.120 including Prager University UM, where he starts in a viral 0:15:37.240 --> 0:15:40.960 video called why I Left the Left UM and I'm 0:15:41.000 --> 0:15:43.760 gonna send you this clip. We're gonna start it at 0:15:43.880 --> 0:15:46.520 three minutes and twenty nine seconds, and you're gonna run 0:15:46.560 --> 0:15:48.720 it to four minutes in three seconds of that. Okay, 0:15:48.920 --> 0:15:52.760 lucky me. I know you're going to really be happy today. 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:57.720 I will say the minute you look him up on Google, 0:15:57.960 --> 0:16:01.120 his face, well, I know I say this maybe every time, 0:16:01.440 --> 0:16:05.640 but a very punchable face, a very very if you 0:16:05.720 --> 0:16:09.280 look a punchable face, that's what comes up. For these reasons, 0:16:09.400 --> 0:16:12.440 I can no longer call myself a progressive. I don't 0:16:12.440 --> 0:16:16.120 really call myself a democrat either. I'm a classical liberal, 0:16:16.280 --> 0:16:18.560 a free thinker, and as much as I don't like 0:16:18.680 --> 0:16:22.560 to admit it, defending my liberal values has suddenly become 0:16:22.640 --> 0:16:26.120 a conservative position. So if you think people should be 0:16:26.160 --> 0:16:29.280 able to say what they think without being punished for it, 0:16:29.560 --> 0:16:32.320 that people should be judged by their behavior, not their 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:35.040 skin color, and that people should be able to live 0:16:35.160 --> 0:16:38.360 the way that they want to live without government interference, 0:16:38.800 --> 0:16:43.160 then there's not much left on the left for you. Yeah, yeah, 0:16:43.200 --> 0:16:45.440 you get the idea. Yeah, that's the way he and 0:16:45.800 --> 0:16:47.720 the video is very successful. I don't know how many 0:16:47.760 --> 0:16:49.960 views is that fucker have right now? Serene, Oh my god, 0:16:50.120 --> 0:16:54.640 it has over fourteen million views and two hundred and 0:16:54.800 --> 0:16:59.480 twelve thousand likes, and that has too many. All this 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:03.520 to other with like having people like Ben Shapiro, Jordan Peterson, UM, 0:17:03.800 --> 0:17:05.880 and you know the kind of I d W intellectual 0:17:05.960 --> 0:17:08.359 dark web crowd on his show over the course of 0:17:09.119 --> 0:17:12.800 builds a huge brand for David Reuben UM. And again, 0:17:13.240 --> 0:17:16.359 the appeal is not Reuben himself, although I think he 0:17:16.480 --> 0:17:18.280 probably thinks that it is. The appeal is that he 0:17:18.359 --> 0:17:21.560 has all these people who are really popular on and controversial, 0:17:21.640 --> 0:17:24.720 and he's willing to UM. He's willing to have conversations 0:17:24.800 --> 0:17:27.880 with all of these people. UM. And he he consistently 0:17:28.080 --> 0:17:30.119 refuses to identify his right wing, as he said in 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:32.439 the video, he calls himself a classical liberal. He endorses 0:17:32.480 --> 0:17:35.359 a libertarian, not Trump at Steen. But in spite of this, 0:17:35.440 --> 0:17:38.320 he repeatedly agrees with far right talking points, even endorsing 0:17:38.400 --> 0:17:41.440 banning Muslims from entering the United States. He has people 0:17:41.520 --> 0:17:44.560 like Mike Sernovich and Milo Yanopolis on his show, and 0:17:45.040 --> 0:17:47.760 Lauren Southern, who like went on his show and defended 0:17:48.040 --> 0:17:53.480 Richard Spencer, while he goes, uh huh, yeah, it's uh yeah, 0:17:54.119 --> 0:17:58.199 so much so. Yeah, his his episodes with these out 0:17:58.280 --> 0:18:02.119 and out fascists like Milo. We're ostensibly the civil debates 0:18:02.200 --> 0:18:04.520 that he claimed that he loved, but he never actually 0:18:04.560 --> 0:18:06.560 pushed back against any of these right wing folks like 0:18:06.680 --> 0:18:09.040 not never. Um, So they're not really debates. They're just 0:18:09.160 --> 0:18:12.919 him platforming and agreeing with terrible people because he's terrible. Um. 0:18:13.200 --> 0:18:16.360 Even when, like Ben Shapiro, his quote unquote friend expressed 0:18:16.400 --> 0:18:19.240 the opinion that Ruben's very marriage is itself a moral 0:18:19.400 --> 0:18:21.880 because Ben Shapiro doesn't then gay people should get married. 0:18:22.200 --> 0:18:25.639 Rubens like doesn't. None of this provides any conflict for 0:18:25.760 --> 0:18:29.120 Dave Ruben because, as will become increasingly clear, he's never 0:18:29.280 --> 0:18:31.520 believed in a single thing in his entire life other 0:18:31.600 --> 0:18:34.360 than Dave Ruben being famous and rich. I mean, that's 0:18:34.400 --> 0:18:36.720 not that's a huge that's a great point. It's never 0:18:36.840 --> 0:18:40.320 about the platform or the politics or anything. And it's 0:18:40.320 --> 0:18:43.680 all about ego and is never about anything but ego. 0:18:43.960 --> 0:18:47.159 And he's just doing everything he can possibly do to 0:18:48.320 --> 0:18:51.880 enslate his ego. And and it's just it's not money, 0:18:51.880 --> 0:18:54.359 it's not about standing up for anyone but himself, And 0:18:54.480 --> 0:18:56.040 I mean not even that he doesn't even stand for 0:18:56.080 --> 0:18:58.359 his own marriage. I wonder what his husband thought about that. 0:18:58.880 --> 0:19:01.160 He talks about how dis agreements with jenk Or while 0:19:01.160 --> 0:19:03.400 he left the Young Turks, but also like the Young 0:19:03.480 --> 0:19:05.640 Turks were never gonna make him rich, Like I think 0:19:05.640 --> 0:19:07.879 they pay a living wage and he I'm sure he 0:19:07.960 --> 0:19:10.399 got a living wage. But you don't get rich working 0:19:10.480 --> 0:19:12.960 for those folks. I mean maybe Jenquez, but like that, 0:19:13.240 --> 0:19:15.520 you're not gonna get rich doing that gig. You can 0:19:15.640 --> 0:19:18.520 get rich, especially in two seen being a far right 0:19:18.800 --> 0:19:21.280 YouTube group. And I mean the other thing about the 0:19:21.320 --> 0:19:23.320 Young Turks is that he would never be the main character. 0:19:23.600 --> 0:19:25.399 You know, he wants to be. He wants to be 0:19:25.480 --> 0:19:29.200 front and center, spotlight. He is not because it's about 0:19:29.240 --> 0:19:31.360 his ego, it's not by anything else. And the sad 0:19:31.440 --> 0:19:33.399 thing is he's still not the main character because he 0:19:33.520 --> 0:19:36.600 only has gained success by like attaching himself lamb prey 0:19:36.720 --> 0:19:40.639 like to more successful grifters. Um I'm gonna quote from 0:19:40.640 --> 0:19:44.840 Business Insider here. Ruben's interviewing style is to rely on civility, 0:19:44.920 --> 0:19:47.120 which in practice serves as a platform for the guests 0:19:47.160 --> 0:19:49.680 to present their arguments unchallenged. But the idea seems to 0:19:49.760 --> 0:19:52.240 apply for only one side. In a two thousand nineteen 0:19:52.240 --> 0:19:56.040 interview within Democratic presidential candidate Mary Ann Williamson, Ruben scolded 0:19:56.080 --> 0:19:58.639 her for making what he called a slippery slope argument 0:19:58.720 --> 0:20:02.399 and comparing the Holocaust slavery. Guests like far right provocateur 0:20:02.440 --> 0:20:05.200 Milu Unapolis, who said Jews control the banks and media, 0:20:05.480 --> 0:20:08.280 Stefan Mulineux, who said blacks have smaller brains than whites, 0:20:08.359 --> 0:20:11.240 and Lauren Southern, who defended Richard Spencer's white nationalism is 0:20:11.280 --> 0:20:14.880 distinct from white supremacism, whom Reuben later called fearless, were 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:17.439 met with no pushback at all when making egregious statements 0:20:17.480 --> 0:20:24.200 on the Reuben Report. Oh my god, Wow, wow wait 0:20:24.400 --> 0:20:28.879 can you that was too much? My brain can all 0:20:28.960 --> 0:20:31.600 of that? Yeah, it's a lot, right, because he's a 0:20:31.640 --> 0:20:35.000 piece of shit. He's just he's just garbage. Do you 0:20:35.080 --> 0:20:37.400 want to think about what you want to say while 0:20:37.480 --> 0:20:41.399 we take her quick? You know who's not garbage? You 0:20:41.480 --> 0:20:47.280 know who won't platform? Lauren Southern? Oh who products and 0:20:47.320 --> 0:20:52.440 services who support this podcast? Wow? No way, nice segue. 0:20:58.960 --> 0:21:05.960 We're bad. Got a little bit of good news before 0:21:06.000 --> 0:21:10.840 we dive back into Dave Reuben Uh. Harvey Weinstein's lawyer 0:21:10.960 --> 0:21:13.560 just said that if not released, till die in prison 0:21:14.400 --> 0:21:17.320 with the picture of him on a walker, which is like, okay, 0:21:19.480 --> 0:21:28.000 don't threaten me with a good time, bro, Like I don't. 0:21:28.119 --> 0:21:31.600 I actually hate the idea of incarceration effectively used as 0:21:31.600 --> 0:21:35.880 a death penalty. But also, I'm not going to I'm 0:21:35.920 --> 0:21:38.880 not gonna. I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna use any 0:21:38.920 --> 0:21:41.440 of my fox that I have to give on fucking 0:21:41.480 --> 0:21:44.960 Harvey Weinstein right now. You know what I'll promise, for 0:21:45.000 --> 0:21:48.320 the sake of intellectual consistency, if we deal with thirty 0:21:48.440 --> 0:21:51.720 or forty thousand more pressing problems, I will care about that. 0:21:51.840 --> 0:21:57.520 Injustice yeah, yeah, I mean down the line. Maybe yeah, 0:21:57.640 --> 0:21:59.760 sure we we we take care of a few tenth 0:22:00.040 --> 0:22:02.240 and problems. Deal with climate change, you know, stop the 0:22:02.359 --> 0:22:05.840 rise of fascism. Reform the criminal justice systems, the black 0:22:05.920 --> 0:22:08.280 men stop getting murdered by cops, and indigenous people stop 0:22:08.400 --> 0:22:11.159 getting murdered by cops. Uh. In the war on drugs, 0:22:11.240 --> 0:22:14.920 release everybody with a drug related conviction. Um, you know, 0:22:15.760 --> 0:22:20.040 we we get all that done. Um, then I'll be like, yeah, 0:22:20.119 --> 0:22:22.280 we should. We should make sure Harvey, you know, dies 0:22:22.440 --> 0:22:26.120 in a two bedroom apartment that is comfortable. It also 0:22:26.240 --> 0:22:28.479