Mike Baker: Former CIA covert operations officer and intelligence-security commentator; host of the chart-topping news podcast 'The President's Daily Brief.'
What this episode covers
Joe Rogan brings in Mike Baker to make sense of two simultaneous global conflicts. Baker argues Hamas deliberately embeds in civilian infrastructure and counts on dead Palestinians as PR currency, that Oct 7 was a massive but explicable Israeli intelligence failure rooted in Hamas/IRGC operational security, and that nearly every road to Middle East stability runs through confronting the Iranian regime. He pivots to Ukraine's grinding stalemate, Russia's staggering casualties, Nord Stream, and a large-scale Chinese 'Spamouflage' disinformation campaign aimed at US rare-earth mining. The conversation veers into nootropics, saunas, Baker's Widowmaker heart attack, and a long riff on US politics, Trump's trials, border security, and progressive-driven urban decline.
Recommended on this episode
Alpha Brain Black Label
Onnit
“here alphab brain this is my favorite this is alphab brain Black Label this is the stuff that I take”— Joe Rogan
Neuro1
Bill Romanowski
“I really like that neuro one stuff you just mix it with water the neuro gum is great”— Joe Rogan
Neuro Gum
Neuro
“the neuro gum is great cuz I I'll I'll chew a couple pieces of neuro gum before I do stand up”— Joe Rogan
The guest's own work
The President's Daily Brief
Mike Baker
“I been getting a lot of compliments about the president's Daily Brief oh that's great yeah did I just throw that out there”— Mike Baker
Also referenced (named, not recommended)
The Three Stooges
“I love the three stoes all roads lead to the three stoes but only curly”— Joe Rogan
Soup to Nuts
The Three Stooges
“it may also refer to a 1930 feature film starring the three stoes called Soup To Nuts”— Joe Rogan
Pod Save America
“whose podcast did he go on what was that called uh pod save America”— Mike Baker
American Badass
Kid Rock
“he walks out to Kid Rock's American Badass with Kid Rock and Tucker Carlson walking in like the right Wing Avengers”— Joe Rogan
Big reveals from this episode
- Baker calls Oct 7 a massive intelligence failure enabled by Hamas's extreme operational security, with IRGC training Hamas operatives in Iran beforehand.
- Despite ~60 Iranian-proxy attacks on US bases, the Biden administration extended a sanction waiver releasing $10 billion in frozen Iraqi assets to Iran.
- Baker details China's 'Spamouflage'/Dragon Bridge disinformation campaign run by the Ministry of Public Security, including secret police stations in New York.
- The campaign allegedly targeted a Texas rare-earth processing facility by covertly boosting environmental groups to block US mining.
- UK intelligence estimates ~300,000 Russian casualties (about 120,000 dead) in under two years of the Ukraine war.
- Latest reporting suggests Ukrainian special operators, not the US, destroyed the Nord Stream pipeline, with Zelensky kept in the dark for deniability.
- Protesters in NYC attacked a UFC bus carrying fighters Robbie Lawler and Jamahal Hill, smashing windows and slashing tires.
Worth remembering
- A report says China is building roughly six times more coal plants than the rest of the world combined, about two a week.
- Gaza contains an estimated 300 miles of tunnels, built partly with money meant for water, schools, and hospitals.
- A 20-year Finnish study found people using a sauna four times a week had a 40% decrease in all-cause mortality.
- Baker suffered a 'Widowmaker' heart attack while taxiing on a plane at DFW and woke up at Baylor Heart Center.
- Hamas's political leadership, living in Doha, are reportedly billionaires per US Treasury, flying private jets while billions meant for Palestinians vanish.
- Baker's 'President's Daily Brief' podcast hit number one in news on Spotify, beating NPR.
- Onnit ran two double-blind placebo-controlled studies at the Boston Center for Memory showing Alpha Brain improved verbal memory and reaction time.
- The US gave three military responses to dozens of Iranian-proxy missile/drone strikes, each followed by more attacks, achieving no deterrence.