Dave Smith: Libertarian comedian and political commentator, host of the 'Part of the Problem' podcast and a regular on 'Legion of Skanks'.
What this episode covers
Joe Rogan and Dave Smith spend three-plus hours mounting a libertarian, anti-establishment critique of recent American politics. Smith argues the Ukraine war was provoked by US-backed regime change going back to the 2014 Maidan uprising, ties it to NATO expansion and the Biden-Burisma connection, and frames Putin's invasion as a crossed 'red line.' They pivot to COVID, attacking lockdowns, mask mandates, vaccine mandates and the credibility of Fauci, the CIA, FBI and corporate media, citing the Russiagate saga, the Hunter Biden laptop, and FBI entrapment cases. The conversation also covers Trump's indictments as politicized lawfare, Epstein-style blackmail of elites, J. Edgar Hoover, and the appeal of RFK Jr. and Vivek Ramaswamy. Throughout, both return to the idea that institutions have lost public trust because they were caught lying.
Recommended on this episode
Talking Monkeys in Space
Joe Rogan
“it was watching talking monkeys in space which is still one of my favorite comedy specials ever”— Dave Smith
Rich Men North of Richmond
Oliver Anthony
“so Richmond north of Richmond that's right yeah I want Total Control oh it's a great song it's a great song”— Joe Rogan
Also referenced (named, not recommended)
The Real Anthony Fauci
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“I never even thought it was a possibility until the pandemic until I read his book when I read uh the real Anthony fauci”— Joe Rogan
Ship of Fools
Tucker Carlson
“I remember Tucker Carlson said this once I think it was in his book uh Ship of Fools”— Dave Smith
The Lord of the Rings
“there's kind of it's like the Lord of the Rings thing like the only answer here is kind of like to throw it away”— Dave Smith
Big reveals from this episode
- Smith claims the 2014 Maidan 'coup' in Ukraine was driven by US policy, pointing to Senator Chris Murphy admitting it on C-SPAN.
- He links Burisma hiring Hunter Biden to the company protecting itself after the pro-Russian Yanukovych government was overthrown.
- They replay Chuck Schumer warning that the intelligence community has 'six ways from Sunday' to get back at Trump.
- Smith describes the FBI's Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot as largely entrapment, with most of the alleged plotters being federal informants.
- They play Madeleine Albright's 60 Minutes clip saying the deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children was a price 'worth it.'
- Both argue COVID most likely originated from gain-of-function research funded via NIH subsidiaries and was deliberately covered up.
- Smith theorizes Epstein-style sexual blackmail is used to control and elevate compromised people in positions of power.
- He suggests the US intentionally provoked Putin to lure Russia into an Afghanistan-style quagmire to 'break Russia.'
Worth remembering
- They cite a Cleveland Clinic study suggesting that more vaccine doses correlated with higher rates of COVID infection.
- The Mueller investigation ran more than two years and cost tens of millions of dollars.
- Per Federal Reserve data, the average American lost roughly 40% of their net worth between 2007 and 2010.
- In the vaccine trial, one person in the vaccinated group and two in the placebo group died of COVID.
- The Heritage Foundation's election-fraud database lists 1,438 proven instances and 1,240 criminal convictions.
- Between 1865 and 1912, US federal spending was about 2% of national income with no income tax or central bank.
- Victoria Nuland is married to neocon Robert Kagan, a founder/signatory of the Project for a New American Century.
- They recount Gaddafi having given up his nuclear and chemical weapons programs before the US backed his overthrow.