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May 9, 2018 - The Joe Rogan Experience
02:45:19
Joe Rogan Experience #1115 - Mike Baker
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joe rogan
53:22
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mike baker
01:47:23
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benjamin jaffe
00:04
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jamie vernon
00:05
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Speaker Time Text
joe rogan
Five, four, three, two, one...
Mike Baker, ladies and gentlemen.
And we're live.
mike baker
Ladies and gentlemen.
joe rogan
What's going on, buddy?
mike baker
Yeah, the usual.
joe rogan
You're hiding from wolves over here?
mike baker
That's right.
That's right.
I left the state of Idaho because we're overrun with wolves.
Wolves and that's it.
Yeah, that's all we got.
joe rogan
I was just listening to a podcast where these guys were talking about wolves and about how they were hiking and they found four dead mature bull elk inside of like a couple mile stretch.
That had been torn apart by wolves and they started to freak out.
mike baker
Well, I mean, two things we got this time of year.
We got a lot of wolves and we got a lot of rattlesnakes.
The rattlesnakes are starting to, you know, pop up and make their appearance.
joe rogan
It's getting a little warm.
mike baker
Yeah, exactly.
And there are some seasons where you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a rattlesnake.
unidentified
Really?
mike baker
And of course, if you swing a dead cat, a wolf will show up.
So that's not a good idea in case anybody's wondering.
joe rogan
I've never been.
I'm going June 30th to Boise.
I just announced the tickets today.
mike baker
That is fantastic.
joe rogan
I'm excited to be there, but I... I keep hearing about wolves.
Is that a real issue up there?
Or is it people just exaggerating?
mike baker
Not at the CenturyLink arena.
It won't be a problem.
So you should be safe from that.
But yeah, bring your gear.
Idaho's an interesting place because it's a part-time legislature, which is the way I think all states should operate, which means everybody goes home to their jobs.
Well, if you look at the top of the state, the governor, Butch Otter, great guy, Brad Little, lieutenant governor, terrific guy.
They're both ranchers.
Full-time?
Yeah, basically.
They look at it from a different perspective.
Here in California, if you say you've got a wolf problem, that raises one perspective and one issue.
joe rogan
People go, no, we have a people problem.
The wolves are amazing.
Exactly.
mike baker
Those wolves are so special.
And in a place like Idaho, or, you know, you get a place like Montana or somewhere else, I suppose, they look at it differently, right?
It's a working issue that you gotta sort out, particularly if you're a rancher or you're living off the land, whatever.
So...
But I tell you what, Boise's going to go crazy when they find out that you're coming up because it's a huge fan base.
They love you up there.
It's all people stop me and want to talk about, right?
I keep thinking, you know, someone says, I'm sorry for interrupting.
And I think, okay, they're going to ask maybe something about North Korea, right, or something about Iran or some bigot.
Not that you're not a big issue, but then they'll say, what's Joe like?
Well, that's kind of what I say.
joe rogan
You go, what about Iran?
What about North Korea?
You fucking kids today, you don't even care.
mike baker
Damn it, did you know Joe's North Korean?
You didn't know that, did you?
joe rogan
I'm on the seat tip.
mike baker
Oh, by the way, before I I need to say your biggest supporter, your biggest fan probably in the entire UK is a young fellow named Jack Burton.
I've known his family forever.
I've known this kid since he was a baby basically and going to school with my daughter.
And he is an enormous fan and highly respects what you do.
He's getting his master's in physics, and I promised him I'd give him a shout-out.
joe rogan
Shout-out to Jack Burton.
mike baker
Jack Burton, man.
joe rogan
Stay out of Idaho, you'll get eaten by wolves.
mike baker
Yeah, they don't have that problem in London, although that would make some kind of movie.
joe rogan
I think that's the werewolf out front.
mike baker
Oh, that's right, yeah.
A great space, by the way.
joe rogan
Thank you.
mike baker
Yeah, I haven't been here since you moved in.
joe rogan
I'll give you the full tour.
I didn't give you the gym side.
Did you go to the other side?
mike baker
I have not, not yet, no.
joe rogan
The other side's where the gym is.
mike baker
The gym and the indoor pool.
joe rogan
We've got a lot of stuff here.
mike baker
Yeah.
It's a great...
How big is it?
It looks like about 200,000 square feet.
joe rogan
No, it's 14,000.
mike baker
But compared to the last studio...
joe rogan
It's a lot bigger.
I got bored with that other place.
It's too little.
You've got to expand.
mike baker
Well, you get your rollerblades out and you can go do laps or something.
joe rogan
So we've got a lot of shit to talk about, Mike Baker.
There's a lot going on in the world.
What are you scared about?
What should I be scared about?
mike baker
Well, I mean, people are losing their minds right now over the past 24 hours because of Iran, right?
And so what you're hearing is you're hearing a lot of the critics of the current president, and apparently there are some, that are saying, oh, he's inching us closer to a military conflict with Iran.
Well, these are the same brainiacs that said he was inching us closer to a war with North Korea, and everybody was completely wrong on that.
I'm not saying that Rouhani and the others in the Iranian regime might not decide to become more bellicose, I think they're looking at it wrong.
I mean, this idea that – because there's a couple of parts.
Part one is that they're saying, oh, look, he doesn't have a plan B, implying that it's either this deal, which even our European allies say is inadequate, right, or it's a military conflict.
And that's kind of what the previous president was all about.
We either get this deal or we're having a military conflict.
Well, no, there's other things in the works.
There's other options in that decision tree.
And so I think that's a false premise.
And the other thing when they talk about it over the past 24 hours anyway is that, well, look at this.
This is going to make it harder to get a deal with Kim Jong-un from North Korea because he's going to think that we don't support our deals.
Well, I look at it a different way.
I think that Kim Jong-un is going to look at this and think – Okay, they're not going to put up with an inadequate deal, right?
So he's going to look at it and say, well, yeah, because nobody disagrees with the Iranian deal.
They want to talk about how, look, the Iranians are complying with it.
Well, the Iranians are complying with what they agreed to allow in the deal, which is none of their military sites.
The number of times inspectors have actually gotten on and inspected a military site, including Parchin, the most important military facility in Iran, since that deal was signed in 2015, was zero.
Haven't been there because the Iranians didn't agree to allow any of those sites in this deal.
So that's like saying, That's like saying if you're a serial killer, you'll allow the police to come in and search your home, but you can't go in the basement.
Not that all serial killers put their bodies in the basement, but I suspect that's the case.
So anyway, it's an interesting thing, and I guess I wanted to throw that out there right off the bat because I think Iran right now is consuming so much of the oxygen for people out there.
joe rogan
So people thinking that the reason why we're backing out of the deal is because the president's being unreasonable and we're forcing one.
You're just saying it's a shit deal, period.
mike baker
Yeah, I think the idea that we have to stay in it because it's better than the alternative when the alternative, you know, being war.
Is not framing it properly.
I don't think that doesn't make any sense to me.
But I think that the fact that the UK, the French, the Germans have all agreed publicly that it's an inadequate deal and needs to be fixed, that tells you something.
But it also tells you that they have real strong financial incentives for continuing to do business in Iran.
And as do Russia and China, frankly, the other signatories.
So, you know, and also, here's the other part.
I mean, Trump, you know, what is it now?
We're 16 or 17 months into Trump's administration.
So it's not like he got into the White House and the next day, you know, he canned the deal.
He's been talking, but nobody listens to anything.
I'm not a supporter of Trump, necessarily.
I mean, I want the government to work.
So it's not that I'm supporting Trump.
I want the government to work, just like the previous administration.
I wasn't a supporter of Obama, but, hey, I want it to work.
I want good things to happen.
And so he went out there and there was some talk about, look, let's see if we can find some way to get rid of the sunset clause, some way to rein in their ballistic missile development program, some way, although it's not going to happen, to rein in all the...
You know, the shenanigans, if you want to call it that, that they're engaged in the Middle East.
And, you know, that didn't happen.
So I think he, you know, took a step that is not as god-awful as his critics would like us to believe.
joe rogan
Well, isn't that a real problem?
I know your phone's going off over there, little fella.
unidentified
Oh.
joe rogan
Damn it.
You've got to check your watch, too.
What a world we're living in.
mike baker
I know.
Look at that.
I know.
This is good.
joe rogan
Your phone.
You've got to check your watch.
mike baker
My wife got me this.
This Apple.
Does it float?
It does.
It's waterproof, I think, to a certain period of time.
But it...
It does all sorts of things.
I don't have a clue what it does.
She got it for me so I could check my heart rate.
And just, you know, for health reasons.
Just, you know, if I'm out running or working out.
And she said, yeah, you should have something like that.
Because I refuse to wear a Fitbit or whatever they call it.
joe rogan
What's the difference between a Fitbit and that?
mike baker
Well, this, it's like Dick Tracy.
If I knew how to do it, I could talk on my phone.
I could answer it.
It rings.
I have no clue.
joe rogan
It can't be too hard.
mike baker
I don't think it's that hard.
joe rogan
Let's try it on air.
mike baker
Yeah, okay.
Somebody call me.
Somebody give me a shout.
It seems like a great thing, but honestly, God, the only thing I've used it so far is to glance at the time and then to check my heart rate.
All the other crap on there, and everything happens on it.
So if I'm using my phone for directions, I get directions on my watch.
I mean, it's a little bit overwhelming, so I'm going to go back to a normal watch, I think.
And if my heart gives out, it gives out.
joe rogan
Yeah, I got this G-Shock.
It does all kinds of shit.
Never used it once.
I used the time part.
With all the altimeter and it works as a compass and all kinds of shit.
I've never...
mike baker
Compass is good.
I think a compass is good.
It's good to have.
We spent a long time, and this is how old I'm getting, I guess, but in our early training...
We spent a long time working maps and compass, right?
You know, shooting azimuth and figuring out where you're at and trying to...
joe rogan
Shooting azimuth?
mike baker
Yeah, you know, I mean, well, figuring out...
You're basically...
I don't want to oversimplify this, but you're basically triangulating and figuring out where you are at any given point in time.
joe rogan
Right.
Why do you call it azimuth?
mike baker
Yeah, that is a very good question and not one that I asked when I was in the outfit.
I was one of those people that would just accept things as they were told to me.
And that's why I got along so well.
I never questioned anything, which is an interesting point.
I don't want to roam all over this place, but...
Today was confirmation hearings for Gina Haspel.
And I'll caveat this by saying I'm a big supporter of hers.
I think she's an outstanding choice for this.
joe rogan
And she's the new head of the CIA. Right.
mike baker
The new director-designate for the CIA. And so today she went up on Capitol Hill, had open and then subsequently closed-door session with the senators.
And some of the senators, the reason I bring this up is because a handful of the senators were asking her and seemed focused on saying, well, how about this rendition program, the rendition and interrogation program?
How did you feel about it?
You know, morally, you know, did you have any quandaries?
You know, we know that the agency was doing what was allowed within the Department of Justice because the Office of Legal Counsel was directing that from the Department of Justice for that program all those years ago.
And laws have subsequently changed.
But at the time, they didn't want to necessarily talk about that because I don't think they wanted to highlight the fact that the DOJ had said this is, you know, what is able to be done.
So instead, they focused on how did you feel?
And I guess the reason I bring it up is because when I was in the outfit, I'm not a deep thinker, right?
So I never stood around and thought to myself, how do I feel about this on any given moment, right?
No matter what we were doing, it never occurred to me to sit there and question it, you know, as long as we knew what we were doing was proper and legal and was pursuit of, you know, tasking from national security concerns.
Then, yeah, and I don't think you want your military or your intel service, I don't think you want everybody out there at the pointy edge of the spear, you know, saying, well, I'm going to do things based on how I feel about it in the moment.
And it just seemed like a strange line of questioning.
joe rogan
That is a strange line of questioning.
Who was responsible for that?
mike baker
Let me think.
There were actually three or four, yeah.
Senator Reid and...
joe rogan
All Democrats, obviously.
So what they did then was different than what is legal today.
Is that the case?
mike baker
Yes, exactly.
So the DOJ, in the wake of 9-11...
I mean, there's so much here.
I mean, in the wake of 9-11...
You think about the context.
Most people, you know, young people don't even know what it feels like, right?
I mean, you know, and other people have forgotten or they're just tired of it all and they don't want to think about it.
But in the wake of 9-11, there was a feeling, there was a sense, right, that it was going to happen again.
And there certainly was evidence and there was a very large effort here to try to ensure that we protected American lives.
So the DOJ was issuing very clear guidance on what could and could not be done for the rendition and interrogation program.
And that guidance was then provided to the general counsel, the agency.
That was then disseminated to personnel out in the field.
joe rogan
And tell people, so if they're just listening to this for the first time, what you used to do for the CIA so they understand that you're coming from a position of – you actually understand this stuff.
mike baker
Yeah, I was in the operations directorate.
So the agency is made up of, essentially, they change the name sometimes, but four directorates.
So you have operations, you have intelligence, which is all the smart people, the reports or officers, or sorry, the analysts.
You have science and technology, which is where they develop all the amazing gear that comes out of the agency, a lot of which then ends up in the commercial sector.
So if anybody's walking around with a defibrillator, that battery technology came out of S&T research, drones, satellite technology.
The U-2 stealth program, U-2, you know, plane was developed out of and run out of the agency.
So incredible things would come out of there.
And then admin.
But I was in the operations directorate and worked on everything from counter-narcotics operations to counter-insurgency operations and then obviously counter-terrorism operations.
So I guess the point is that – I mean there's something here.
I'm not quite sure how to explain it, but there's an interesting point that I think I've been pondering, which is that listening to the hearing today and listening to the way that the senators – the Democratic senators who were looking to kind of make this the key issue, there's – There's a sense of...
We're not putting it in context of the time and the national mood.
And that's a dangerous thing because the laws were different than they are now.
And they were different...
And what that means is that because in the wake of 9-11...
And I don't want to say that values change, but I think that they do in the sense of what people are willing to do.
And whether you're talking about, okay, we're willing to have a rendition interrogation program in the wake of 9-11.
Now we're not, of course.
Anyway, I think there's a danger to that line of questioning where they kept talking about how did you feel about it.
They're mixing this, and I'm not eloquent enough to explain it, but I found it fascinating that that was a question they wanted to focus on.
joe rogan
I think there's a real danger to people or for people that don't have any experience in actual war or really understand combat or really understand What can happen and what can go wrong in talking about it with the same sort of language that you would use to describe office politics?
mike baker
Yes.
Yes.
See, that's what I was trying to say.
joe rogan
How do you feel?
How do you feel about this?
We don't want a bad work environment.
Should we torture?
No, we want to save lives, but we don't want this guy to feel bad.
mike baker
We don't want him to feel bad.
I mean, look, there was actually this – some people were entertaining the idea that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed would come out and talk – To the senators, you know, as they're going through this confirmation process about what?
Explain who he is.
Well, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was a mastermind of 9-11.
joe rogan
And he actually requested to talk about her.
mike baker
Right.
And about his – I guess I just wanted to reflect on the whole – from his perspective.
joe rogan
And isn't he still locked up?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
He's still in Guantanamo Bay?
mike baker
Yeah.
God forbid he should rot in jail.
But I think that's sort of where we've come to.
And I think in part, again, because there's distance, right?
There's time.
So anyway, she should, again, she should be confirmed.
The whole rendition interrogation program was reviewed ad nauseum, thousands of pages written.
And interestingly enough, a lot of the people up there on the Hill right now in this confirmation process, the senators, who are saying that they need to know more are the same ones who were there before.
So theoretically, either they didn't read all the material that was given to them about this, or they've forgotten it, or they're, you know, or in reality, this is more about Trump than it is about her, which...
I don't want to be shocking anyone by saying that perhaps there's political grandstanding going on.
No way.
But she is eminently qualified.
joe rogan
That never happens.
mike baker
No, it wouldn't happen up there.
joe rogan
Not in America.
mike baker
Maybe somewhere else.
Not here.
joe rogan
So you support her.
You think she's an excellent choice.
mike baker
Look, seven operational tours, several management positions, and I guess at the end of the day, it comes down to I would rather have somebody Who's gone through that experience.
She played a small role.
She was not a senior person.
By the way, John Brennan was far more senior in the organization at the time of that program being run.
And he was confirmed as President Obama's director.
So maybe the senators have a different standard for a female candidate.
I don't know.
joe rogan
Do you think it's that or do you think it's maybe more time since 9-11?
You know, obviously, Obama came into office, it was not that long after 9-11.
There was still, you know, seven years later, still thoughts in people's mind about it.
mike baker
Well, interesting enough, I mean, that was in 2013 when he was confirmed.
But in 2009, He was – they wanted to confirm or they wanted to bring him up as the appointee for the director of the CIA. Again, it would have been President Obama's first term, but they decided not to because they – for the reason that they thought, well, maybe it's too close to after the – and they didn't want to go through the heartburn of having this process.
So instead, they brought him into the White House.
He became assistant to the president and deputy national security dude for counterterrorism.
And then four years later, they brought him in as a – they confirmed him as the director for the CIA. So – I guess – and he has now come out in support of Gina Haspel, the new director-designate.
So I think she will get there, as she should.
The focus should be going forward.
She's been very clear about we are not revisiting the old days of rendition interrogation.
It's not going to happen.
And she's been very clear about that, including today during the hearing.
So hopefully it will get done because it would be nice to think the senators would do their job and choose somebody who's appropriate for the job.
joe rogan
Well, it's strange who gets to choose and who doesn't get to choose who runs an organization like the CIA and whether or not they have an actual understanding of what goes on behind the scenes.
mike baker
Yeah, that's a really good point because some of the questions today from some of the senators made you believe that perhaps they don't really.
They do.
I don't want to be glib.
You know, look, they all sit on the committees.
They theoretically are privy to all this information.
There is a very well-worn path that goes from Langley where the agency headquarters is based up to Capitol Hill from briefers going back and forth and back and forth and discussing programs and that, you know, they're classified material, but these people, the Gang of Eight, the people that are the minority majority leaders, the heads of the committees, The intel committees, they're all privy to this information.
And they were all privy to the information about the rendition program and the interrogation program.
And they all knew about it.
There were no objections raised at that time, 2002, 2003. So these people all knew about it.
So maybe those senators are asking her how she feels about it now.
Maybe they should turn around and look in the mirror and ask themselves how they feel about it.
But they're not going to do that.
So anyway, enough said.
She's eminently qualified.
Should happen.
Because we've got big issues.
We've got Iran.
We've got North Korea.
We've got dealings with China and the South Pacific.
We've got issues with Russia.
We've got a lot of things going on.
joe rogan
Oh, I know what I really wanted to ask you about because we've been discussing this and I don't really understand it.
It was about Huawei, that Chinese company, electronics company.
They make these kick-ass phones and the State Department has said, please do not buy them.
mike baker
Yes.
Yeah.
Along with ZTE, another corporation.
If you start from the premise that...
That China is the number one perpetrator of economic espionage and theft of intellectual property.
And also, by the way, the number one perpetrator out there of cyber shenanigans, you know, activity in cyberspace.
joe rogan
It's so bad with theft of intellectual property.
They have fake Apple stores over in China with all fake Apple stuff.
mike baker
Yes.
joe rogan
Fake Apple laptops, fake Apple phones, everything fake.
The labels look identical.
None of it is actually Apple products.
mike baker
And it all works, frankly, as well.
joe rogan
Does it?
mike baker
Yeah.
I mean, it's all good stuff.
You know, I would say that, yeah, it's astounding.
And so...
The reason why they're raising the alarm with Huawei and ZTE is because of the voracious appetite of the Chinese government and their commercial sector for information.
It's a little bit like, you know, shutting the door after the horse is headed down the hill because we're late to the game.
They've been doing this for years and years and years.
They've been, oddly enough, you know, a lot of our military gear have parts in it manufactured in China, right?
And so, you know, we should have been raising the concern about this and talking with China and trying to come to terms with this issue years ago.
I mean, we're trying to have that conversation with them now.
And up on Capitol Hill, you know, the Congress is trying to enact legislation, kind of like this Huawei thing.
They're doing it in a clumsy fashion, but the overriding principle is correct in that China made some decisions years ago that they were going to become a major power in the world.
In a certain timeframe.
And to do that, by definition, you've got to compress your research and development time, right?
And there's one way to do that, essentially, and that's to steal information, to acquire information if I want to be diplomatic about it.
And that's what they've done.
Japan came out of World War II and their idea was we're going to become a major power through manufacturing.
So they did.
They built up their manufacturing base and created this amazing result.
China decided we're going to skip the R&D for the most part, and all of that entails the cost and time involved, and they're very adept at it.
They throw an enormous amount of resource out there into hoovering up everything, not just from us, but from everybody.
And using that to advance their goals.
They have no firewall between their intel service, the PLA, military intelligence and others, and their commercial sector.
So not only are they there to protect national security, they're there to promote the commercial side of China.
And that's why it's so important.
And so that's why they're talking about Huawei, because of the potential for them to use their reach to further their desire for information, whatever it may be.
They'll hoover it up and then decide whether it's useful or not.
But they have the resource to do that as opposed to, you know, a smaller country that maybe doesn't have the resource and is much more targeted and focused.
On their intel collection or their efforts to gather information.
So that's sort of a, you know, that was a wordy explanation.
joe rogan
No, but it makes sense.
And when I read it, I read a bunch of tech articles where people were questioning whether or not it's even possible for Huawei to be using those phones to spy on people.
But then there were some other articles where Huawei was being charged with, what was it again that they were using?
They were selling illegal technology to Iran?
There was something...
mike baker
They were breaking the sanctions, I think.
joe rogan
Yeah, they were...
mike baker
No!
No, I'm saying shocked.
unidentified
No!
mike baker
That couldn't happen.
joe rogan
Yeah, but is...
Wow.
So they were selling things to Iran, and this was a big part of it.
What the tech people were saying, they were incredulous.
Here, Huawei under...
Is that you again?
You son of a bitch?
Jesus Christ.
mike baker
I've turned this thing off, too.
I don't understand why it keeps going.
joe rogan
It's your watch!
mike baker
You know what I'm gonna do?
I would put it on airplane mode, but I don't have a clue how to put it on airplane mode.
unidentified
I gotta swipe up from the bottom.
I gotta swipe up from the bottom.
mike baker
Okay, everybody get your phones out.
joe rogan
Your fucking watch is ringing.
mike baker
Get your watch out.
I feel like Dick Tracy.
joe rogan
It really does feel like Dick Tracy.
When we were kids, the idea of talking on your phone would be so ridiculous.
That's never going to happen.
mike baker
Can you do that for me?
You've got your password on.
joe rogan
Oh, Christ.
unidentified
When you take it off, the password comes on immediately.
mike baker
Oh, really?
joe rogan
As soon as you take it off?
mike baker
No, no, that's a dial tone.
That's a keyboard.
unidentified
Oh, that's the keyboard.
mike baker
Yeah, yeah.
I don't even know.
joe rogan
Oh, Jesus Christ.
mike baker
Jesus Christ.
Okay, right now people are thinking, "Really?
That guy worked at the CIA?" Yeah, let's listen to him.
joe rogan
It's perfect when you're- We're on a phone call.
Hopefully they- I don't know how that was.
It's hilarious because you're talking about technology and then this happens.
So we're talking about whether or not we should be worried about Huawei and you can't even figure out how to use your fucking watch.
mike baker
That's perfectly understandable.
Anybody that knows me...
Knows that that's the case because, I mean, and to be fair, back in the old days, again, we had compasses and maps.
But even when we started developing new technology and gear, quite frankly, if you've got to go out and do anything, the first thing you do is throw everything away that's got a battery in it.
And so we weren't necessarily...
You dumb it down because you assume something's going to go wrong.
And usually it does.
And usually it's based on kit, on gear.
And so, yeah, I never really became very adept at it.
We've got a...
I got these three little boys, Scooter, Sluggo, and Muggsy, and I got them...
joe rogan
Those are hilarious names.
mike baker
And they're hilarious.
They're great kids.
But we got a gaming system.
I'm trying to remember what the hell...
joe rogan
Xbox or PlayStation?
mike baker
Xbox.
It's at Xbox.
Because my youngest, Muggsy, he's six, and so he's still trying to pronounce his words, right?
So it's Xbox, and it's very cute.
I can't do it.
It sounds stupid when I do it.
When he does it, it's enormously cute.
So we got this thing, and I'll sit there with him and try to play like NBA 2K or something, and it just doesn't work.
It's not intuitive to me, right?
There's nothing that's intuitive about it.
joe rogan
Kids know how to...
Fanagle shit and press the right button.
mike baker
They're not scared of it.
They just assume they're going to get it.
joe rogan
They can unlock hidden characters by moving the joystick a funny way.
mike baker
Yeah, Muggsy talks to LeBron James directly.
Apparently they communicate through Xbox now.
unidentified
Interesting.
mike baker
Yeah, I know.
There you go.
joe rogan
So the tech people that are skeptical, what they're saying is that if Huawei really did have something in their phones that allowed them to spy on people, you'd be able to find it.
And the tech guys would find it.
Do you buy that?
mike baker
Here's what I would say about that, is that I'm sure there's obviously a lot of very smart tech guys within diligence for all your information and security needs.
We have some very smart tech people.
But when you're talking about the Chinese state and the resources and capabilities that that entails, yes, if you're saying that NSA could possibly detect this, but if you're talking about just dispersing kit out into the marketplace, And the way that that thing gets spread and disseminated and inserted into companies and then potentially allows points of access into these businesses.
And again, it doesn't matter.
It's not like they just have to go after IBM or Raytheon or something.
They're going after everything because it potentially is all of interest to them.
joe rogan
So their idea is to just steal as much technology and as much intellectual property as they can and recreate it over in China.
mike baker
That has been the plan.
unidentified
I don't want to keep – I don't want to – Demonize an entire nation.
Right.
mike baker
Exactly.
But they have proven themselves enormously adept at doing this.
And they've – and not that others don't, right?
Russia does the same thing.
A variety of others.
Even a lot of our allies.
Everybody, to the degree that – They have the resources and the motivation and they consider it an issue related to national security, whatever it might be.
They're willing to do it.
They're willing to try.
So it is interesting.
But yeah, the Huawei thing and the ZTE, again, I think the rollout of that concern and the rollout of sort of trying to provide guidance has been a little clumsy.
Yeah.
joe rogan
So, one thing that was speculation was that people didn't have to worry about the phones, but what essentially they're trying to do is cripple the company financially and not allow them to get a foothold in America, because they're the third largest cell phone manufacturer in the world.
Number one, Apple.
Number two, Samsung.
They're number three, but in America, no one knows who they are.
And so the idea is, what they're trying to do is make sure that the Chinese government It doesn't get a foothold in this country where those companies, or Huawei, the company Huawei, becomes a popular brand for people to buy.
And that would allow them, even if they didn't have any spy device on this phone, it would allow them to get other devices into people's homes that could potentially spy on them.
And then more importantly, get into companies and spy on the companies.
And this is one of the pieces of speculation that I read about was that they had certain servers That we're sending an exorbitant amount of information out, and they were trying to figure out what was going on with them, and that there was like an excessive amount of information, data, that was leaving the servers versus coming in, and they're like, this really seems like some fucked up shit's going on with this.
mike baker
Right.
Huawei, first of all, Huawei's already present here in the country.
They manufacture a lot of things besides phones, and so they've already got a pretty big footprint in this country, and with our allies as well.
So, I think it's smart to consider the nature of a particular regime or government when you're talking about the potential for their products to enter into the commercial sector where They may have access because if they've shown a pattern of activity for acquiring intellectual property,
which is again a very delicate way to put it, then I don't think it's a stretch to say we should be concerned by their efforts to put communications gear, even if it seems pedestrian at the outset.
I'm not sure that I'm buying the idea that it's some nefarious plan to shut out Huawei so that they don't get a foothold in the phone business.
No.
And I say that because I've been, you know, 30 years, I've been You know, dealing with the Chinese in terms of their efforts to acquire information, both in the government and the commercial side of things.
So I come at it from a very cynical point of view, much like I do with the Iranian issue and the likelihood that they have not been living up to, you know, their part of the bargain.
And people will say, well, again, I go back to the same thing.
Well, we've been inspecting and they've been complying with all of that.
Well, yeah.
You know, this limited amount of inspection that we have to their civilian sites.
It's not a secret, you know, at this point.
It shouldn't be a secret that, again, we have no access to their military facilities.
So I tend to look at things in that view, and I... If I see a pattern of activity, I'm very reluctant to think they're somehow going to stop that pattern of activity for whatever reason.
So again, North Korea, same thing.
The problem with all of this, North Korea, Iran, Syrian chemical weapons, the problem with all of that, I realize I'm kind of jumping around.
I'm just...
Huawei's over here, but...
Is the verification issue.
It's always the weak link in any type of agreement related to containing a weapons program is verification.
And we know that.
It's something we should know anyway.
We seem to keep forgetting it.
So unless we can lock that down with the North Koreans, then a deal with them or a deal with the Iranians or a deal with the Syrians over their chemical weapons efforts, it's not worth anything.
So that's where the focus has to be.
And for whatever reason, the previous administration was keen to get this deal done, and they were willing to set aside this issue of all the military sites, set aside the issue of ballistic missiles.
And by the way, the deal that the president has just scuttled...
Did nothing to impact or affect or tamp down or moderate their behavior.
They've got more influence in the Middle East than they've had ever before.
They're engaged in more activity related to, you know, the countries in the Middle East against our interests than they have been in decades.
So that all by itself should tell us, well, I'm not saying that they're using all the money we gave them to support actions against our interests by Hezbollah or by the Revolutionary Guard or others, but they are.
And so, again, I don't have a lot of angst over the idea that we step away from the deal for a period of time.
Maybe we can come up with something better.
And we should.
We should always keep diplomacy open.
Always have a channel of communications.
That's important.
Keep doing that.
But be pragmatic and realistic about what you got.
Right now, we don't have that much.
And don't buy Huawei phones.
unidentified
They make a great phone.
mike baker
But that came up in the CIA confirmationary.
joe rogan
Oh, really?
mike baker
Yeah.
They literally said, I forget which senator it was, asked Gina Haspel about Huawei and ZTE. And I don't know where they were going with it, but then it devolved into just trying to get us all those Senate confirmation questions due.
It just The senator's saying, well, I just want a yes or no answer.
Like, wait a minute, why don't you want some detail?
So they say, yes or no, would you buy Huawei?
And Gina Haspel was like, well, no, I wouldn't buy a Huawei phone.
Okay.
unidentified
I'm staying.
mike baker
There's your answer.
But I'm sure it left a lot of people wondering and scratching their heads thinking, what are they talking about Chinese phones for?
joe rogan
That's a weird thing to ask someone, yes or no.
It seems like it was a pretty complex situation.
mike baker
Yeah, are we going to take care of North Korea, yes or no?
joe rogan
What does that mean?
mike baker
Well, you know what, it becomes a bit of a sideshow, and it's a format as well.
Any confirmation hearing is, you know, five minutes for each senator, and you can't, you know, they spend three minutes making a statement, you know, that they can then, you know, send back in sound clips to their constituents.
Maybe they get a question in, and it kind of goes from there.
So it's...
You don't really learn much, which is fine.
They learn a lot in the closed-door sessions, and we rely on the senators to make decisions when it's classified information on behalf of the people they represent.
So that's how it's supposed to work.
Eh, what do I know?
I always like to finish my sentences with, what do I know?
And my wife always says, why do you do that?
You're leaving the impression that you don't know anything.
It's good.
joe rogan
It gets you off the hook a little bit.
mike baker
Let me get out of here.
What do I know?
joe rogan
See ya!
mike baker
It is what it is.
joe rogan
Think about what I said.
unidentified
What the fuck do I know?
mike baker
It's like running up the flagpole.
See who salutes.
unidentified
What are you most concerned with?
joe rogan
If you look at all the international stuff that's going on.
mike baker
Yeah, that's a really good question.
joe rogan
Is there one thing that you don't think people are looking at?
unidentified
Well, I give people a lot of credit.
mike baker
I think people are a lot more engaged than sometimes I think the media gives them credit for.
I mean, listen to conversations I have when people want to talk about something other than Joe Rogan, I get the impression that they're paying attention to what's happening out there.
unidentified
You know, Iran, is it a big deal?
mike baker
Well, it is a big deal, but it's a regional issue, and I think there is a way we're going to get some success here.
I think it actually is going to work out to our benefit.
I'm not buying the doomsayers who say it's all heading to a conflict.
So I am not looking at that one.
Nothing really stands out.
I guess if you said what's the biggest concern from a security perspective to the country, it would be the same thing it's been last year and the year before and for a number of years, which is the frailty of our infrastructure and its susceptibility to either cyber attack or physical attack.
And that's...
joe rogan
It's like the power grid, the internet.
mike baker
Yeah, all of that.
Banking system, water.
joe rogan
Russian submarines camped out over the internet lines in the ocean.
mike baker
I know.
Which sounds like a Cold War movie, right?
But it happens.
I mean, the Russians never thought there was a peace dividend from the end of the Cold War.
They never thought the Cold War ended.
We all act surprised that Putin was engaged in meddling in the 2016 election.
Of course he was.
They've been doing that forever.
joe rogan
And we have to them as well, right?
mike baker
Oh, I don't know about that.
joe rogan
Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.
mike baker
Maybe from a defensive point of view.
joe rogan
Sure, we're just looking out for our own interests.
mike baker
Here's what I would say about that is, and again, everybody speaks from their own experience.
People have their own perspective.
My perspective is based on what I've seen in a lot of places around this planet.
We better hope we do it, and we better hope we do it well, because it's a very aggressive world out there.
And so when people kind of roll their eyes and go, oh, well...
We do it as well.
So we're kind of like dismissing the whole activity.
I guess my point is, yeah, I get what you're saying.
I'm not saying it from a self-righteous point that the Chinese are very good at acquiring intellectual property, or I'm not saying it from a self-righteous point that the Russians have been meddling in our elections.
I'm just saying that's the way it is.
You better hope we do it very, very well.
joe rogan
That's my argument for people that are super progressive and really liberal when it comes to these conversations.
I always say, alright, if the world is the way it's described, if China really is constantly meddling, if Russia is really actively trying to sabotage our elections, if Iran is really doing what they're – what should we do?
You don't think that we should be involved in meddling?
You don't think you should be involved in manipulating or monitoring or making sure that our interests are safe or that we're not going to get attacked?
The idea that we're never going to get attacked again or no one's going to get attacked, that doesn't even...
When you look at human history, that is completely preposterous.
The idea that all attacks and all war is going to somehow or another stop because you eat vegan, that's fucking crazy!
I mean, that's a crazy way to look at the world, and that leaves you incredibly vulnerable to attack.
mike baker
No, it does.
It does.
But you're right.
I hadn't thought about it.
But that is this notion that if we just – we have to speak to our better angels.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Oh, Jesus.
mike baker
Well, that's great because nobody else is going to.
joe rogan
Right.
mike baker
Every other nation acts in its own best interest.
And we're the ones who seem to always apologize for it.
But we better hope that we do because it is a chaotic, messy, aggressive place out there.
And you may want it to be different, but it's not.
And it's kind of like that questioning today in the CIA-designate confirmation hearing, how do you feel about it?
Well, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter how you feel about it.
What are the laws on the books?
Follow those laws.
Protect the American interests and national security.
And if you don't feel good about it, then leave and go do something else.
But this idea that somehow we're all going to – could you imagine a combat gate out there and half of them decide, well, I don't really feel good about this particular action.
Maybe we should stay back.
That's not how the world works.
So I don't know.
Hey, it would be great if we all could – Be bad at people.
joe rogan
But isn't it, again, we're talking, and this is coming from a person that hasn't experienced combat, but we're talking about a bunch of people that really don't understand and really haven't seen the things that you've seen or seen the things that the military's seen, and they're talking about the world in this sort of idealized, rose-colored glasses view of things that's not accurate.
And so their version of what America should do is based on...
It's based on ignorance and this idea that we don't need intelligence, we don't need a military, we don't need a presence in all these other countries.
I just don't buy that.
I don't think that makes sense when you look at all the different conflicts that are going on in the world.
mike baker
Yeah, I agree.
I think that there is an element out there that says, if we just take Iran as an example, you know, I've spoken with people who honestly seem to believe that In part because the previous administration – I mean, now former Secretary Kerry is out there publicly and President Obama is out there publicly.
They're all saying, well, but the Iranians have been complying.
So it's – they're implying that it's our fault.
It's our fault for backing out of this.
It's our fault that somehow that the Iranians have been cheating on the missile sanctions.
Look, the UN even agreed in – At the end of 2014, just in October of that year, the Iranians had been busting agreements related to their ballistic missiles and their development.
And we signed that agreement a few months later, three months later.
It happens.
No matter what you may want to think, it's a messy place out there.
I would love it to be different.
I would love everybody to get along and, hey, it would be great.
Think what we could do if we didn't have a defense budget.
It would be wonderful.
Yeah, it would be wonderful.
joe rogan
Flowers everywhere.
mike baker
Oh, my God, and unicorns.
Maybe not unicorns.
I guess physically that just wouldn't work.
unidentified
Those aren't real.
joe rogan
You can make one now.
With all the money that you don't spend on war.
mike baker
That's right.
I could probably have one pop out of my watch if I knew how to work it.
I'm impressed.
I know the passcode.
I was about to actually do the passcode and say it out loud sometimes.
You ever find yourself doing that, like when you're typing a number?
I was about to do that here while I was putting in my passcode.
Anyway.
joe rogan
Well, people are always going to have an idealized version of the world, especially when they don't experience it themselves.
But I think that, for the most part, when people think of intelligence communities, if they think about the CIA or the FBI, generally, for whatever reason, in America, you get a negative response.
People don't think about it in terms of something that's necessary and beneficial and really a cornerstone of the protection of the people in this country.
They don't think of it that way.
mike baker
Right.
No, I think that's been a tradition.
You could go back to World War II, the end of World War II. OSS, which was the founding organization that then became later on the CIA, amazing people involved in OSS. And basically, what they did during the war was incredible.
So anyway, but they do this.
And while Bill Donovan was the head of OSS, So imagine all these dedicated people dropping in behind enemy lines, both in the European and Japanese theater, and engaged in all this activity for the years that it took to win that war.
And we got out of the war.
We finished.
And I'm assuming most people listening know how that ended.
And Truman literally just kind of writes a little note to Bill Donovan.
I've seen the note.
And it says, you know, Bill, hey, great job.
Thanks so much.
Wrapping it up.
All the best.
Good luck in the future.
And they shut down OSS, right?
They don't need it anymore.
They didn't need the intel service because we won the war and things are gonna be looking pretty good.
Well, about a year later, you know, they got the band back together because what was happening, the Soviets were running, you know, all over the place and it was the Cold War and the Soviets had no intention of being benign and living in a community of nations.
And so suddenly they got the band back and said, okay, so that's when the CIA was created in 1947. At the end of the Cold War, not that long ago, although it seems like ancient history now, there were a lot of serious people in Washington, D.C. when the wall fell who basically said, let's wrap up the agency.
We don't need the CIA anymore.
So there's this pattern of – and that's good.
People want to think the best, and that's a good thing.
I mean Americans tend to be – Whether it's ideological or naive or just optimistic, whatever it is, that's a good thing, right?
But it butts up against the reality of how the world actually works.
joe rogan
Well, because in America, things are pretty good.
I mean, they're about as good as it gets in the world when you wander around America for as large a nation as this is.
Things are pretty goddamn good for the most part.
And I think that's part of the problem, is that these people, they're not traveling to these war zones.
They're not experiencing...
I've talked to so many people that have been overseas and been to these places of conflict, and they come out with a dark view of what is possible if you're in the wrong place on the planet.
mike baker
Yeah, what people can do to each other is a...
Yeah, it can get messy.
But I think...
There would be value if somehow we could enact some program where everybody had to spend a couple of years in service of some sort, military service or overseas service.
I know we had the Peace Corps and all of that, but high school kids say, well, I went to Bermuda and I built a house for a week, so I got my international experience.
joe rogan
Well, that's better than nothing.
mike baker
It's better than nothing, but I think something that would mean people would have a little more skin in the game, but you're right.
You go to some of these places, fourth and fifth world countries, and And you do realize, and people roll their eyes, but, damn it, this is the best country in the world.
And I say that repeatedly, and I believe it firmly.
We make mistakes.
There's no doubt about it, but we tend to course correct.
We try.
Sometimes it takes a little bit longer.
No matter what administration is there, we try to do the right thing.
And so when people talk about us just stepping off and not worrying about our place in the world, You know, someone's going to try to take that position on the ladder, and it's not going to be as benign as we tend to be.
Not always.
Again, again, I realize we make mistakes.
Fine, okay, fine.
I'm not going to self-flagellate over it, but, you know, still, we do a pretty damn good job.
joe rogan
We tried to be the moral authority of the world, or the moral compass, at least.
I mean, that's the thought process behind it for the most part.
unidentified
Right.
mike baker
That's the thought process, yeah.
And, you know, sometimes, again, it's a human endeavor, so it's not going to work all the time.
joe rogan
Don't you think the people are more open to this idea that it's necessary now because of the Russian situation and because of understanding the amount of power that Putin wields and the way he has just really ultimate control over that part of the world?
I mean, he really does.
I mean, you could...
Drone on all you want about democratic elections, but we all know that's horseshit.
I mean, he fucking kills anybody over there that's a legitimate threat, kills anybody over there that's a journalist.
mike baker
Not just over there.
I mean, look, they tried to bag Sergei Skrippel and his daughter Yulia.
She was collateral damage.
joe rogan
They put some shit on a doorknob that they touched with their hands and that did them in and put them in the hospital.
And who knows if they're even going to recover from that.
mike baker
I mean, think about it.
She's out of the hospital now.
She's doing good.
He's doing a little bit better.
But I mean, think about what that entails as an operation, right?
Not that they haven't.
They've been doing this since they killed, what's his name, Trotsky in Mexico, right?
I mean, this is what they do.
But, you know, Markov, Litvinenko, Alexander Litvinenko, they killed him with polonium.
And that was just a handful of years ago.
So they go after Sergey.
He's living in a small – relatively small, quiet British town, Salisbury.
And so that requires them to surveil Sergey.
They got to get – because you always have to do that.
You got to do some operation like this.
You got to know what you're getting into.
You got to figure out how you're going to do it.
So there's a lot of – you got to front load all that work, right?
And so they're doing all the surveillance.
They're figuring out what their operational game plan is going to be.
This is in the UK. And their whole point of the exercise is to teach other people, don't betray us.
And so they put this on the doorknob.
They didn't care who else touched that.
It wasn't like they could guarantee that Postman and a variety of visitors weren't going to come through the door.
So they really don't care.
Yeah, he is definitely...
He's an old-school KGB. Very easy cat to understand.
And we've always kind of acted like...
We don't get it, or somehow he's going to change his stripes.
He's never going to change his stripes.
And he's going to always act in what he believes to be the best interest of what he would like to believe is still the former Soviet Union.
joe rogan
Yeah, and Garry Kasparov was talking about him, and he's a vocal critic of Putin, and he was saying that if you look into all the different companies that they've confiscated and acquired, this is what they do.
If they have a political enemy, They essentially just take over their company and charge them with some sort of a crime and throw them in jail.
They do this to billionaires.
Right.
mike baker
Oh, Hortokovsky.
I mean, he spent years in jail.
And his mistake was he started getting political aspirations.
So the deal has always been with Putin as far as the oligarch is concerned.
You keep your nose in business, right?
You focus on your business.
There's going to be a cut going towards the government.
And you're good.
Because it furthers my agenda.
You're building up these businesses and we're making some money on the side.
But as soon as any of them start to veer off that path and maybe get some political aspiration, then it's done.
And that's when he turns on them.
And he's been very effective at doing it.
joe rogan
Yeah, I mean, terrifyingly so.
And does it open publicly?
mike baker
Yeah, yeah.
Because, again, we look at it from a different perspective.
We look at it and go like, how can people with a straight face stand by while he gets a fourth term and he's just like president for life?
Well, look over at China.
Xi has spent the past few years locking that down, building up the security apparatus, kind of stepping on this idea that somehow there's a rule of law.
He's now built back up this Cult of personality that we haven't really seen since, you know, Deng Xiaoping or certainly Mao and he's there for good.
And so that gives them a strategic advantage, right?
Because they can look at problems in the long haul whereas here we're looking at it in an election cycle.
So when we've got a major issue to deal with with China, Xi's not looking at it and thinking, okay, well, I've got to sort this out in the next short period of time.
He's looking at it and thinking, Trump's got maybe two years left.
Maybe.
Maybe he gets reelected, maybe he doesn't.
I have no idea.
But that's how he's processing this.
joe rogan
And there's going to be a transitionary time in between the two candidates or the two presidents where things get real sloppy and they might be able to slip in something.
mike baker
Right.
And you talk about it.
The Chinese really do play the long game.
They really play the long game.
They'll put an asset here in the country to go to school, right?
And their only job is to get excellent grades.
And then they'll go to grad school and they'll get excellent grades.
And then they'll go get a job somewhere.
And it doesn't really matter necessarily where they get a job, but they'll get a job and then they'll get another job.
And eventually they are working at a Raytheon or they're working at Corning or they're working at some company that's got some relevance.
From their perspective in terms of what they do.
And that's a 25-30 year commitment.
And they do that all the time.
And you know we tend to look at things in the shorter time frame.
I mean even from an intel service.
Our officers will get out there and they'll think okay we got to make some recruitments you know and I got maybe Two years here on the ground.
It's that sort of deployment or that sort of tour.
And it's not that 30-year commitment because if I'm the officer, I'm getting promoted based on how many recruitments I get.
I'm not getting necessarily promoted based on how well I handle assets that have already been promoted.
joe rogan
And that was the plot of that young American, the Americans show, right?
The show about Russian spies that pretended to be just normal American citizens, moved in, did the whole thing, talked with a normal accent.
unidentified
Mm-hmm.
mike baker
That's right.
That came out of that New Jersey incident with Anna Chapman.
And those individuals were just basically there to exist, right?
Their whole point of being was just to see whether they bump into somebody of interest.
And they weren't going to be responsible for then developing that potential target.
That would be somebody else's responsibility.
And that person who had the responsibility to develop that target, it wouldn't be their responsibility to maybe task them or make some sort of light pitch.
That would be somebody else's responsibility.
So there's people up that food chain that take on more and more responsibility if they happen to find a target of interest.
And that's just the resources devoted to one part of the country.
joe rogan
So it's a cautious, well-thought-out, long-term plan.
Yeah.
mike baker
Yeah.
I mean, sometimes the Russians are just like a shotgun approach, right?
They'll pitch everybody and see what happens, right?
They're not quite as patient and as long-term as the Chinese are.
joe rogan
And they've caught Chinese spies doing this as well, right?
mike baker
Oh, sure.
Yeah, we just bagged one who was working on behalf of the Chinese government against interests of the agency.
joe rogan
How long ago was this?
mike baker
It's just passed.
I mean, it's become public over the past week in particular, but it's been bubbling away for a while.
joe rogan
What's this dude's name?
mike baker
Yeah, I'm going to leave it at that.
Only because I'm not sure if I've seen it in print.
But Chinese-American and obviously part of the attraction for bringing that person into the agency was their Chinese language.
Well, part of the attraction from the Chinese Intel perspective is… The Chinese ethnic background.
First generation, second generation, third generation doesn't matter.
They tend to play off that very well.
So anyway, this individual worked for the agency for a period of time and then left and then set up shop overseas and then his actions became suspect.
And so that's when we ended up getting them.
But that happens.
And when you catch somebody who's been engaged in that, first thought is, you know, thank God we caught them.
And the second is, how does someone do that?
Now, I say that, again, not to be self-righteous, because we're always out there looking for targets to recruit, to turn on their country.
If we could find ourselves an Iranian scientist, it's not like we would be coy and say, well, we don't want to put them under that stress of recruiting them.
Of course we do for national security interests.
But I mean just from a psychological perspective, you think about that.
joe rogan
Well, our idea is that we're doing that stuff for good and that they're doing that stuff for bad, which is very convenient that we think that way.
mike baker
Right.
Right.
But I guess you're absolutely right.
And, you know, I understand the people out there who say, well, that's, you know, you can't make that equivalence.
I don't know.
But I never had any problem.
I never had any problem determining the good people from the bad people.
You know, and that's like, today, one of the senators in the confirmation here, I'm sorry to keep going back to the CIA director-designated confirmation hearings up on the Hill, but One of the senators, it almost sounded like he was trying to make some moral equivalency between terrorists and agency officers who were doing what they were allowed to do underneath the laws of that time and the DOJ, Department of Justice regulations and legal readings.
And his point was, well, if you waterboarded somebody, well, then what happens if one of your people got picked up by terrorists and they were waterboarded?
Would you think that that was justified?
And I'm thinking, okay, wait, wait, wait.
It's a very odd construct for a question.
And, you know, I mean, frankly, if ISIS or Al-Qaeda or Boko Haram picked up one of our people and all they did was waterboard them, you know, that would be a happy day, right?
Because they don't operate under any laws, which is what Gina Haspel said.
She handled the question very well.
And kind of shut it down.
But this idea that sometimes you'll bump into that where people, I don't know what it is.
They're apologists.
They want to act as if we're the bad guys.
And anyway, what am I going to do?
joe rogan
No, that's exactly what it is, right?
mike baker
I was about to say, what do I know?
Damn it!
joe rogan
He pulled away from it.
But that is exactly what it is.
It's like there's apologists.
And they're also trying to frame a narrative instead of trying to understand the situation objectively.
Instead of really asking someone who was there, asking a bunch of people who were there, getting a sense of what was the climate, what was going on, what actually happened.
Instead, they're trying to frame it.
Wouldn't it be justified if someone got ahold of one of our troops and did that to them?
Wouldn't that be justified?
They're scoring brownie points.
mike baker
Yeah.
No, I think that's true.
I think there's so little – and it's obviously much worse right now with the current administration, President Trump.
It just seems like nobody – I mean, it's like World War I, right?
Everybody's in their trenches throwing hand grenades at each other.
Nobody's in the middle ground.
Nobody's even trying to get up and go into the middle ground.
And so nobody's having those conversations, like you said, where they even make a lame attempt to try to understand what the other perspective might be.
Yeah.
It's exhausting in the sense that not everything that this administration, again, you know, the caveat being, I didn't vote for Trump.
Hey, I didn't vote for Clinton.
You know, we got 320 million people in this country.
You think we could have come up with two other candidates?
But who did you vote for?
You know what?
This sounds really lame, but I just sat it out.
I couldn't get myself to go vote.
I mean, I was going to vote for Ronald Reagan's ashes or something, but I figured I'd be the only person.
So I didn't vote.
I couldn't figure out how we got to that point.
And the one person who should really be pissed off was Bernie Sanders.
I mean, the only collusion we've really proven up to this point is Isn't DNC colluding to keep Bernie down?
joe rogan
And people sweep that under the rug so quick.
It's so adorable.
It's adorable how people just make it like that's not a big deal.
The deleting of 30,000 emails, not a big deal.
The collusion with the DNC to rig the primaries, not a big deal.
mike baker
Yeah, and Bernie, God bless him, he played the good soldier and, you know, fell on a sword and hasn't really...
Well, he hasn't made much of an issue of it.
joe rogan
I think it's because he has aspirations to move forward and he knows they owe him one now.
And he knows that Hillary Clinton is essentially done.
mike baker
That's interesting.
joe rogan
If they try to bring her back in 2020, people will go fucking crazy.
Like, are you nuts?
mike baker
Could you imagine?
She might actually be thinking that way.
joe rogan
I'm sure she is.
They probably got her on a vitamin IV drip right now and giving her hormone replacement therapy and getting her to do yoga.
mike baker
I just don't see her being resurrected, but maybe...
joe rogan
They'll try.
mike baker
Maybe so.
I do think Joe Biden is coming in.
joe rogan
You think so?
mike baker
Yeah, I think he's viewing this...
I think he's very upset with himself, not upset with others, but I think he probably thinks at this stage of the game...
Times were different.
It was tough regarding his family, but I think he probably regrets not going in the last time.
And I think we're going to see him throw his hat in the ring because he's going to look around and he's going to think, what am I up against?
I'm up against Harris and Booker and, you know, who else?
But, I mean, I think...
joe rogan
He's got some baggage, though, that people forget about.
When I was in Boston, we used to have Joe Biden night at Stitch's Comedy Club, where we would plagiarize each other's jokes.
Because Joe Biden, people don't remember this, but in the 1980s, he got busted plagiarizing Kennedy speeches.
People forgot about that.
He ran for president in 88. Yeah.
mike baker
And that's a good point.
You know, everybody loves the guy that's sitting on the bench, right?
joe rogan
Yeah.
mike baker
So there were a lot of Democrats, I think, after the fact, that would think, oh, my God, if Joe had just run.
But he's run a couple of times.
It hasn't worked out.
joe rogan
Yeah.
And Trump would have chewed him up.
mike baker
Yeah.
Yeah, it would have been true.
So, you know, anyway, the politics of it all are fascinating.
joe rogan
Did you see the crazy shit when Trump was saying he'd beat him up?
It's like crazy Joe Biden said that he could beat me up and he would go down fast and hard.
mike baker
That's right.
I think they should have just gone with that.
I think they should have done some sort of celebrity match there.
joe rogan
That's what I was saying.
I was saying, like, let me be the commentator.
mike baker
Can you see what that...
I mean, the president...
joe rogan
To the death.
It would definitely be to the death.
Both of them would die.
mike baker
Yeah.
Oh, no.
No, they'd get in the cage and it would be all over.
I'm thinking five minutes at the most.
joe rogan
Hair pulling.
Maybe, yeah.
They'd pull whatever little hair they have left.
mike baker
The old school wrestling trunks.
joe rogan
Yeah.
mike baker
Sure.
joe rogan
Singlets.
mike baker
The boots.
I would...
Oh, we gotta get this going.
joe rogan
But it was just so ridiculous to see Trump tweeting that he would beat up Joe Biden if they ever fought.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Like, who the fuck have you ever fought ever?
Have you ever even thrown a punch?
mike baker
This is the world we live in.
I mean, you think about all the...
You think about the things we should be talking about on a daily basis, right?
joe rogan
Right.
mike baker
And yet because of the self-inflicted wounds that they constantly have coming out of that White House, because of his tweeting for the most part, people aren't focusing on – look, we should all be able to agree.
Democrats and Republicans should be able to agree that if you can get your way to peace on the Korean Peninsula, that's pretty damn good.
Yes.
They just released the three North Korean prisoners – well, American citizen prisoners who were held in North Korea.
So Secretary Pompeo is flying back right now from Pyongyang, and he's bringing those three back.
That's a good thing.
joe rogan
That's a very good thing.
unidentified
But we can't – But it's the way they got there that freaks people out.
joe rogan
Him saying his nuclear button's bigger than the other guys and – It's like, but I gotta tell you, I was really happy watching the video of Kim Jong-un shaking hands with the president of South Korea and the meeting and the DMZ. I was happy.
That to me was like, wow!
Like, that made me think, they're both smiling.
I know Kim Jong-un's a fucking murderer and he killed his own uncle and his nephews and all these different people that he thought might go against him, but seeing him Shake hands with the President of South Korea made me think like, wow, they might settle this.
mike baker
They could.
I mean, look, that's the very first time His granddad, Kim Il-sung, and then his dad, Kim Jong-il, neither of them ever stepped foot on the southern side of that DMZ, on the southern side of Peace Village.
Never happened.
So that in itself, you're absolutely right, that's a major development.
Now, maybe nothing comes of it, right?
It's a low percentage shot.
You have to agree.
There's so many moving parts.
So maybe nothing comes of it.
And I think the administration is making that case, saying, look, we have to be realistic.
But this is a good thing that it's moving in that direction.
joe rogan
It's something.
mike baker
Right, it's something.
joe rogan
And in fact, this guy's a young guy who actually likes Dennis Rodman.
I mean, Jesus Christ.
mike baker
Well, in his playing days, I liked Dennis Rodman a lot.
He likes him now.
Yeah, I didn't anticipate he would develop into the character that he is now.
joe rogan
Right, but he also seems to be like some sort of a spokesman for America talking to Korea.
It's weird.
mike baker
Do you remember Robin as a player, man?
joe rogan
Yeah, he was a bad motherfucker.
mike baker
That guy was fantastic.
joe rogan
A hustler.
mike baker
Ah, defense, he was outside.
Rebounding, that guy could, man, that guy could rebound.
joe rogan
And if you talk to people that know him, that were partying with him, that guy would be up all night drinking and partying and then show up and play fucking phenomenal the next day on zero sleep.
mike baker
Here comes another title.
Oh, good.
joe rogan
Yeah, Billy Corgan was friends with Rodman, and Billy Corgan from the Smashing Pumpkins on the podcast was talking about how they were mad at him because Rodman was taking Billy Corgan partying and then showing up the next day with zero sleep and playing, and they were blaming Billy Corgan.
He's like, motherfucker, I went to sleep.
He's like, that guy was still out.
He's still up.
mike baker
That's fantastic.
Pumpkins are coming out to Boise.
Oh, excellent.
Everybody big's coming out to Boise.
I like Boise.
joe rogan
Listen, man, the way you talk about it, I'm thinking about getting a fucking house out there.
mike baker
Wall Street Journal just had, now, you know, some of my friends said, you gotta stop talking about Boise.
joe rogan
They'll move there.
mike baker
The Wall Street Journal just had an article.
It's the fastest growing state in the nation.
joe rogan
For wolves.
mike baker
I know.
For wolves, too.
unidentified
Yeah.
mike baker
Yeah, we got so many people coming in, we're bringing the wolves in, too, to sort of sort that out.
It's a balancing thing.
joe rogan
Yeah, don't hike too far, you fuck.
mike baker
Yeah, but you could go 10 minutes outside of...
I mean, we're right downtown, basically, but you go right 10 minutes out.
joe rogan
The Frank Church wilderness, right?
mike baker
Yeah, up in the foothills, and you don't see anybody for the next day.
unidentified
It's supposed to be insane.
mike baker
It's fantastic.
Fishing's great.
We got more river mileage than any other state except for Alaska.
joe rogan
Yeah, the fishing's supposed to be incredible.
Fly fishing for trout and...
mike baker
If you like fly fishing, if you like trout, it's the place to be.
I mean, other states, Montana, some other spots will say, no, it's us.
joe rogan
It's them, too, is what it really is.
It shouldn't be who's number one.
It's like, they're both fucking awesome.
mike baker
To be fair, we've got the best trout, but still.
joe rogan
Better than Montana?
mike baker
I think so.
We'll have a trout off.
joe rogan
Well, I have friends that live up there in...
What is that fucking...
Where First Light is, where the hell are they?
They're in some small town, some ski resort area, a real high-end ski place up there.
mike baker
Up in Montana?
joe rogan
No, no, no, in Idaho.
mike baker
Oh, Sun Valley.
Oh, Ketchum.
Yeah, the town is Ketchum.
The resort is Sun Valley.
joe rogan
Right.
They rave about it.
They say it's fucking incredible.
mike baker
We were just up there.
We've got a place up in another ski area, and it sits on a lake.
Unlike Sun Valley, Ketchum doesn't have a big summertime attraction like a massive lake.
Our place sits on Payette Lake, and it's got a great little ski place nearby.
But there are a lot of areas like that.
But Ketchum is a great town, great little community.
You know, the skiing at Sun Valley is really good.
It's not like Aspen or, you know.
Exactly.
But it's not Deer Valley, Park City, where there are massive places.
joe rogan
Those places are just filled with rich people, too.
They're overrun with high-end stores.
Look, I love Sun Valley.
I think it's gorgeous.
I mean, not Sun Valley, Deer Valley in Utah.
It's fucking gorgeous up there.
But, man, it's just all wealthy skiing places.
mike baker
It's crazy.
joe rogan
It's weird.
mike baker
When I want to spend $2,000 for a pair of ski boots, that's where I go.
But if you want a normal burger and a beer, Ketchum or McCall up there in Idaho, it's really good.
You're going to love it.
You're going to get a great reception up in Boise.
joe rogan
I can't wait.
I purposely decided to go there just to check it out.
I decided to book a gig up there just to see what it's like.
mike baker
Just take a couple of days and spend a little time up there.
Maybe do some fishing.
We'll go fishing.
I'll take you out fishing.
unidentified
We'll go fishing.
joe rogan
Well, I have a friend up there that I actually just know from internet, but he...
mike baker
You got an internet friend?
joe rogan
Well, I know people who actually know him in real life, but I've only talked to him online.
But he's got a pet coyote.
He actually took a coyote as a cub.
And we've talked about him on the podcast many times.
I'm going to meet his pet coyote.
mike baker
Nice.
joe rogan
And he recently got a pet badger.
He found a fucking baby badger, this dude.
Yeah.
mike baker
Man, that's what you want.
Yeah, Honey Badger.
They don't give a shit about anything.
joe rogan
Well, when they're real little, apparently you could raise a bat.
His Instagram is Seth Simpson.
You want me to tell you what it is?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Pull up the video, Jamie, because it's pretty fucking hilarious.
Ryan Callahan, my friend, just tweeted me, or just texted me.
He's my friend in Ketchum.
mike baker
Nice.
joe rogan
But this dude...
mike baker
So he's got a coyote and a badger.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Seth Simpson 208. Somebody send me a clip.
So they're shooting squirrels.
And then, look, he's got his little...
This is a new pet coyote that he has.
This is a new one.
And this little coyote puppy is chewing on this squirrel.
But...
I'm sorry, not squirrels.
They're shooting pigeons, right?
Not squirrels.
Go down and see the badger.
See the badger up there in the right hand corner?
mike baker
Look at this.
joe rogan
This is a badger baby.
So it says someone was shooting ground squirrels.
They saw a badger carrying what they thought was a squirrel.
They shot it and it was actually carrying a baby.
So they took this baby badger, and now they're raising it.
And he's raising this baby badger, and he says that you can, given the option of fight or flight, they'll often fight, but if they're bottle-fed, handled constantly, and extremely well-socialized, they can be kept in captivity easily and make fun pets.
How crazy is that?
Guy's got a pet badger.
mike baker
Good God.
joe rogan
Don't piss that thing off.
mike baker
No.
This has nothing to do with a badger, although we're still talking about small animals.
Somebody sent me a clip of an incident where a police officer was driving down the road, and he stopped traffic on both sides because a groundhog was trying to come across the street.
And so he was trying to...
It was about a quarter of the way across this two-lane road, and he was trying to back it off the street.
Okay, that was a nice humanitarian thing, right?
He's trying to help this animal get off so it doesn't get hit by cars.
And this – he keeps trying.
He keeps trying.
It's not working.
The groundhog won't leave.
And eventually the groundhog – I guess something snapped in his mind and he decided, fuck this.
I'm going to go after this police officer, right?
I guess he got tired.
So he kind of waddles after the police officer.
This is it.
Yeah, this is it.
Now watch what happens.
This is insane.
joe rogan
So the cop is standing- Oh, he didn't shoot it.
mike baker
He did!
joe rogan
He got on his knees and shot the fucking groundhog?
I like how they blur it out.
mike baker
Yeah, the identity of the groundhog.
joe rogan
So it's moving around still?
mike baker
Now it's still moving.
joe rogan
Does he shoot it again?
mike baker
Yes, but watch.
Here comes that form again.
joe rogan
Well, that seems inappropriate.
mike baker
A groundhog who police said was blocking traffic was fatally shot Sunday, according to the New York Daily News.
joe rogan
Where was this?
Maryland?
Oh boy.
He realized that it was not responding as expected for an animal that was not being cornered or trapped.
Believing the groundhog to be either sick or injured, he shot it.
mike baker
And I love this response.
I'm sure the officer did the best thing in this situation.
It's not for me to judge.
joe rogan
Yeah, if you can't kick a groundhog's ass, you shouldn't be a cop.
That's what I have to say.
That groundhog's coming after you sidestep, bitch.
mike baker
And also, you can't take it down with one shot?
What the hell's wrong with that?
joe rogan
How slow was it moving, too?
mike baker
It was like, you know, I do not think that they're not the fastest animals.
joe rogan
No.
mike baker
Yeah, so it was not in a full sprint towards this officer.
I'm just saying, who knows?
None of us can put ourselves in that officer's shoes.
Let's just put it that way.
joe rogan
Maybe he's got an irrational fear of mammals.
mike baker
None of us have been in combat against a small animal.
joe rogan
Woodland creature.
mike baker
Yeah.
joe rogan
I mean, a fucking groundhog?
mike baker
I know.
What are you going to do?
joe rogan
It seems like you just get out of the way.
You don't have to shoot a groundhog.
mike baker
Yeah, just get back in your cruiser and assume people are going to drive around it.
joe rogan
Yeah.
mike baker
I mean, anyway, I thought that was interesting and someone thought it was interesting enough to send along.
joe rogan
That's crazy you did that.
I think sometimes you give people a gun and they're just looking to shoot something.
After a while, they're like, I'm shooting something.
Oh, this groundhog is fucking with society.
mike baker
It's like that old Farsight cartoon with the vulture sitting up there saying, damn it, I'm just going to kill something.
joe rogan
Yeah, well, you know that.
Right.
You know that expression, if you only have a hammer, everything seems like a nail.
mike baker
Exactly, yeah.
joe rogan
I mean, if you gave that cop a can of bear spray.
mike baker
Well, that's a good point.
Less than deadly force, right?
unidentified
Yeah.
mike baker
He could have tased it.
joe rogan
Probably.
Maybe it would have killed it too.
mike baker
Would have killed it.
Would have made for a more interesting video.
joe rogan
Just give him a tennis racket and slap it in the ass.
Get a move on little fella.
mike baker
Just pull the tennis racket off your utility belt.
joe rogan
Stop traffic.
That sounds like a dumb ground squirrel too.
He's about to get it fucked up by a dumb ground squirrel.
mike baker
Yeah.
joe rogan
Maybe it was suicide by a cop.
Maybe it was one of those deals.
mike baker
You think he had issues?
joe rogan
Ground squirrel had enough.
Like crazy person that rushes the cop because he wants to die.
mike baker
We get that in Idaho.
You get that deer that just like, I just want to end it all.
They do.
They just like come out of nowhere and you know they've been sitting in the bushes waiting for you to drive by.
joe rogan
They get super confused during September, October, November, during the rut in particular.
Like when they get horny.
There's a video, a hilarious video of this deer that's so fucked up from the rut that this guy walks up to it and taps it on the head with an arrow.
mike baker
I've seen that.
What's going on?
joe rogan
Every deer hunter in the country was like, where the fuck was this deer when I was hunting?
Because most of the time, if deer even catches wind that you're 200 yards away, they fucking bound out of there like the hills are on fire.
mike baker
How did you do out in Hawaii?
joe rogan
Got two.
I got two axis deer.
mike baker
That looked great.
joe rogan
Yeah, there it is.
benjamin jaffe
So this deer is just emaciated from rutting.
joe rogan
Paralyzed and confused with his own hormones, and this guy walks up to it and just taps it.
This is crazy!
Like, this thing is just so baffled.
Hey, buddy.
mike baker
Hello!
Hello!
joe rogan
I mean, that is crazy.
unidentified
Is the deer high?
mike baker
Looks like it's on drugs or something.
Oh, he's definitely done, yeah.
joe rogan
When they get rutted up, like, I've never seen anything like this before, but sometimes they just blow a fuse.
Look at this, he's tapping the antlers.
Hey, fella.
mike baker
It's just too much to process for that deer.
joe rogan
Yeah, look at it.
mike baker
I guess I could leave, but...
joe rogan
I don't know what to do.
But it doesn't seem like it understands life anymore.
mike baker
Probably thought if he just stands really still, he won't be spotted.
joe rogan
I don't think it's that.
mike baker
And now he takes off.
joe rogan
What in the fuck, man?
That's just hormones.
That's men.
mike baker
That's what happens when dudes get boners.
joe rogan
Yeah, that's how guys get their kidneys stolen from Russian, you know, those gals that take your kidney, you wake up in a bathtub full of ice.
mike baker
And your wallet's gone.
joe rogan
You've heard that before?
mike baker
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Organs missing.
joe rogan
Is that real?
mike baker
Yeah.
It used to happen out in Southeast Asia.
There were occasionally reports of that.
unidentified
Really?
mike baker
Yeah.
I was out there for quite a while, and occasionally you'd hear...
Some reports, some dude getting screwed up, and next thing you know, he wakes up and he's missing a kidney.
joe rogan
Really?
That really did happen.
mike baker
It did happen.
Think about what that means.
Not only does the dude get knocked out, but then you've got to get the doctor in, right?
Because the girls probably aren't doing it themselves.
joe rogan
Doctors are sitting there with rubber gloves on waiting.
mike baker
It sounds like a bad movie.
Well, it could be a good movie, actually.
It could be a very good movie.
So it does happen, and all the more reason to always know where your pants are.
joe rogan
That's a good move.
mike baker
Yeah, I don't know.
joe rogan
You should definitely know where your pants are.
mike baker
You should know where your pants are.
joe rogan
Know what you're drinking.
mike baker
Kids, I'm just telling you, kids.
I used to tell my daughter.
My daughter's flown off.
You know how I keep bashing China and their intellectual property acquisitions?
My daughter's now in China.
joe rogan
Oh, no.
mike baker
Working in Beijing.
joe rogan
She's working for the government?
mike baker
No, no, no.
She's working.
Thank you.
And she's a great kid, but she always says, you know, Dad, could you just not maybe bash them as often as you do if I'm flying back over there to work?
joe rogan
Yeah, do they ask her questions?
mike baker
No, no, no.
He does what?
I don't think they give a crap about me.
joe rogan
What does your father do?
unidentified
Hmm.
mike baker
Although I will say, I was giving a speech one time about national security issues, and I got off on the subject of the intellectual property theft.
It's perpetrated by a lot of different countries.
And this was a large conference.
And so I'm talking about the Chinese and their tendency to do this.
And I look down there, I see a guy that I know who's with one of the companies that brought me in for this speech, and he's got this funny look on his face, like, oh my god, I can't believe you're talking about this.
And he kind of, like, motions over there, and they're in, like, the third row of this area.
It's this contingent of Chinese business folks sitting there, and they just look, and I've just been spending 10 minutes just railing and talking about, you know, how awful they can be sometimes in this whole, although good.
I praise them because they're good at it.
And they...
They were just horrified about this whole thing.
What am I going to do?
I can't walk that back.
joe rogan
Look, it is what it is.
If you don't want me to talk about it, don't do it.
Don't do it.
mike baker
So that's another issue.
I'm just ticking off all the issues that we've solved here so far.
joe rogan
We're going to fix the world here, Mike Baker.
mike baker
But the North Korean release of those prisoners, that's a good thing.
joe rogan
It is a good thing.
mike baker
And I think both Trump and Pence, I think, are going out to Andrews Air Force Base to meet them as they come in.
joe rogan
Wow.
mike baker
And, you know, but it will be interesting to see.
Look, I think it was an easy give for Kim Jong-un to do, right?
joe rogan
What were they over there in prison for?
mike baker
Well, one of them was a businessman, and he was serving 10 years hard labor.
Imagine hard labor camp in North Korea, supposedly for espionage.
He's a business guy.
And they don't care.
I mean, they've done this numerous times in the past.
It really doesn't matter if you show up and you're in business.
The other two were also interesting.
They were academics.
They were at the Pyongyang University.
University for Science and Technology.
Both of them were teaching there, which is oddly enough where I got my degree.
And my undergrad degree, Pyongyang University.
I went there for the sports.
And I worked during the year as the Pyongyang missiles.
Like a guy dressed as a missile.
joe rogan
You can't stop with this.
mike baker
I was a mascot.
I can't stop.
You're just going to keep going.
Honest to God, I can't remember where I was going with this story.
And so I was just like rambling until I get my head straight.
I'm like that deer in that video.
So those two were, again, same thing, supposedly engaged in espionage.
And so they got chucked in.
So we'll see.
I mean, you know, whether we're able to get anything from this, who knows?
But that's a good sign.
The fact that he met with, as you pointed out, President Moon from South Korea, a very good sign.
The Chinese have, they sent their foreign minister over to Pyongyang a couple weeks ago.
First time the foreign minister's been over there in maybe 11 years, 12 years.
So they understand the importance of this.
And I think everybody's The dynamic has shifted because I think we've kicked the can down the road for so long that they're basically at the point where their programs are close to being fully developed.
And I think that the Chinese understand that that means that all those other options perhaps of kicking the can down the road, Aren't on the decision tree anymore.
And so, you know, they don't want chaos on the peninsula.
They don't want military conflict.
Nobody does.
And so I think the Chinese for basically the first time have been aggressively assisting with the sanctions that were put in place.
And that had a very quick response on Kim Jong Un.
He's not suicidal.
He just wants to survive in position of leadership.
So he's looking at it thinking, okay, the calculus has changed.
So I got to do something different.
And again, being pragmatic, maybe it doesn't work, but at least we're trying.
And I think that's a good thing.
joe rogan
No, unquestionably, it's a good thing.
And also the video of that North Korean soldier fleeing and getting shot at as he escapes North Korea.
I mean, that had to get to North Korea, too.
And they realize, like, Jesus Christ, there's a second guy.
And how many months that was fleeing like that and got away.
And they're finding parasites in their body and everything.
Extreme malnourishment.
And this is a soldier.
So you've got to think everybody over there is probably in dire straits.
mike baker
Right.
And they've talked about this in terms of just a simple – not simple, but the idea that the population in terms of its physical stature compared to the South Koreans is – they're shorter.
And that's a malnutrition issue.
I think also I think they've realized that there's only so much they can do going forward to lock the place down.
And technology at some point, even though it's North Korea and there's not a lot there, There's enough, and I think there's a sense that they – how long can they control the population the way they have?
So again, he's not – Kim is not suicidal.
He wants to maintain power.
When you think about every country acts in its own best interest or every leader acts in their own best interest, that's his thought process.
And how do I do that?
Well, okay.
Maybe – so I think that it could happen.
We could get something really good out of this.
We'll see.
You know, but the Iranians are watching it and North Koreans are watching what we did with Iran.
I disagree with that whole notion that North Koreans are going to look at it and go, ah, that means we can't trust them.
Look, if President Obama was so enamored with that deal that he made with the Iranians, well then take it to the Senate, right?
Make it a treaty.
You made it an agreement, an executive order basically.
And so they're not looking – I don't think the North Koreans are looking at this and going – Trump is going back on his word.
I think they're looking at it and going, Trump's – OK, he means it.
He's not going to put up with a bad deal.
And this wasn't that good a deal.
So I think that's the way that they would process it.
And we'll see.
But, you know, who knows where the Iranians are going to go with what they're doing.
And people right now listening are probably thinking, okay, I'm tired of listening about the Iranians.
joe rogan
Well, that seems to be something you're really concerned about.
mike baker
Well, I think only because, you know, if it's not handled properly and there's a lot of moving parts, meaning our allies, meaning the wild card of what Rouhani and the regime is going to do.
But look, make no mistake, there's no – this idea that somehow this was a moderate Iranian regime.
All you got to do is look at what they're engaged in doing in the Lebanon, in Yemen, in a proxy war with the Saudis and others, in Iraq and Syria, in the work that they're doing.
And all the soldiers, U.S. soldiers that they killed in Iraq, you know, through the provision of weapons, the training that they gave to the Iraqis that were fighting against us.
Yeah, look at all of that.
At what point did somebody make some decision that the Iranians were somehow moderate?
Because they're not.
That regime isn't.
The people themselves – we keep hoping one day – I mean you go all the way back to the fall of the Shah and people hoping that the people will rise up and overthrow the clerics.
joe rogan
Do you think it's the same attitude that causes people to be apologists, like the same attitude that's causing people to ask – Yeah, I think so.
mike baker
I think it's an element of that.
I think it's...
It's a desire to, again, sort of think well.
That part of it I don't really understand, again, because you would think that you would base that on people's performance, and all you've got to do is look at past performance of the clerics and the regime they're in Iran that runs things.
And I don't know how you come away from it thinking, well, they're being actually pretty moderate.
They're being pretty conciliatory.
And that's what we got.
The previous administration, they just stretched themselves thin trying to sell this deal.
I mean they did everything they could to try to race to it, make sure it was going to happen.
They set things aside.
And, you know, we've caught the Iranians in the past cheating.
And this business with Netanyahu, and he came out with this information that they pulled out of this warehouse where it was being stored.
Yes, that was, you know, historical, covered the period of 1999 to 2003. And what was that again?
How did that work?
Mossad had an operation that they engaged in.
There was a warehouse in Tehran where the Iranian regime, rather than destroy all their research and all the work they were doing on nuclear weapons up until that time, during that time, they stored it.
And so they put it in a warehouse facility.
Mossad and some other liaison service found out the location, and then they mounted an operation, which is very labor-intensive.
You've got to do a lot of surveillance.
You've got to recruit assets who can provide you with key information about this.
And then eventually they hoiked out a bunch of these documents, 50,000 pages of documents and almost 200 CDs.
That information covers 1999 to 2003 and one of the things that it shows definitively is that one of the things the Iranians were doing were they were designing and looking to build a minimum of five nuclear warheads, right, for their ballistic missiles that they're also developing and building.
Which puts a nail on that whole idea that it was nothing but a peaceful program.
But people looking at it, they're apologists, and they're saying, ah, it's old history, it's old news.
It doesn't tell us anything new.
Well, it tells us and confirms to us what we've been saying all along, which is that, you know, they were lying about it.
And they were lying about the extent of their centrifuge operations, the extent of the stored materials that they had.
I just don't know how you make that leap to then say, okay, now they're fine.
Now we can believe them.
Why?
Because why?
I don't get that part.
So I'm not willing to see it until they want to give us 100% access to all their sites.
They want to say, come on in and look at Parchin.
Come on and look at the military facilities where we used for weapons development in the past.
unidentified
Great.
mike baker
Now you got something and now I'll back off and say, okay, maybe that's a good deal actually.
Give us access to all those sites and let us go in and look around.
The IAEA, which is the international organization for inspection of these nuclear sites, they spent 12 years trying to figure out what the hell was going on at Parchin, which is a military site near Tehran, and never, never were able to get the access they needed, never were able to solve the question.
And they went on and on with that investigation.
Well, guess what?
As a result of the drive by the administration to get a deal signed, Part of the conditions from the Iranian regime was that they stop this investigation, just draw a line under it.
They had no answers.
They just said, well, no, we're not going to sign a deal unless you stop that investigation.
So we did.
We stopped the investigation.
And like I said, they also said, well, you can't visit our sites, our military sites.
Oh, okay, fine.
We won't.
By the way, this doesn't affect our ballistic missile technology development or weapons program.
Okay, fine.
joe rogan
Who made these decisions?
mike baker
Well, this was two years, as former Secretary Kerry would like to say, you know, it was two years of diplomatic work and hard negotiations.
Hard negotiations, come on.
So, you know, we worked reportedly in concert with the Brits and the French and the Germans and the Russians and the Chinese, although it was mostly, you know, from our side.
And...
It is what it is.
So are they complying with what they've got in the terms of the agreement?
Yeah, fine.
But like I said, I just think – and it kind of goes to that point about the truth is always kind of in the middle, right?
I mean the truth is somewhere there.
It's not like – it's not me throwing grenades at the progressives of the left or the democrats saying, you know, it's a terrible deal.
It sucks.
It's like, no, look, a deal could be good.
And I'm glad that we've been able to inspect those sites that have been available.
That's a good thing.
But don't couch it as something that's not.
And, you know, if the Brits and the French and the Germans are now willing to say it's an inadequate deal, but we still want to stay in, you know, that should tell people something.
And, you know, but anyway, that's not where we're at.
We're at everybody stands around screaming at the sky because they're upset about one side or the other.
And, you know, crap doesn't get done.
joe rogan
How much time do you spend thinking about this?
Because you're in civilian life now.
mike baker
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know what?
joe rogan
Are you ever really in civilian life?
mike baker
Oh, you're in civilian life.
Yeah.
No, we are.
Of course we are.
Yeah.
And thank God for that, because it's a young person's game.
But I probably spend more time.
I don't have a lot of friends.
Yeah.
So I invited you to go fishing.
Come on, Joe.
Be my friend.
Go fishing with me.
joe rogan
I'll go fishing with you.
mike baker
We'll just sit around and say, like, it was good fishing, but all he wanted to do was talk about Iran.
Fucking boring.
So, yeah, you know, I'd probably spend a little more time.
But I will tell you what's fun is that some of it does rub off, right?
Like my three little guys, you know, or even my daughter.
She loves international affairs.
She loves international relations and what's going on in the world.
She travels a lot.
I think that's good, right?
So maybe some of that rubbed off, you know, sitting around the dinner table and talking about these things or me banging on about it.
And I thought every now and then I think I'm being boring, but maybe they picked up on something.
And sometimes my kids will say something, you know, like Scooter, the oldest one.
He's only 10 years old.
The governor came in or a governor candidate came in because we're coming up on an election cycle.
A governor candidate came in and a good guy.
We know him, you know, a nice guy.
And he came in to talk to Ben's class, right?
Fifth grade class.
And, you know, Ben raised his hand during the question period and said, so what would you do differently because Idaho was ranked 43rd in education.
And I know he said this because this guy then called me later and he says, your kid asked this question.
First of all, I was like, hey, come on.
joe rogan
Do you want more homework?
mike baker
Lighten up, yeah.
Give us more homework.
But the point being is my wife, the world's greatest person, is in politics and focused in strategy and campaign problems and all sorts of things.
So she talks about it as well.
So maybe the kids absorb something like that.
And maybe if you talk about these things at home, this is not rocket science, right?
But maybe you talk about these things at home, maybe the kids do pick up on some of it.
Or they start to imagine that there's something else other than just, you know, what happens on the schoolyard.
You know, I don't know.
So I guess there's an upside to it.
I don't know where I'm going with that.
People are going like, oh my god!
joe rogan
There's certainly an upside to talking about things.
Yeah.
And the more kids know now, the better it is.
mike baker
Well, we don't teach civics, right?
We don't teach civics in school.
The workings of government, how the government is supposed to work.
joe rogan
Yeah, most people get out of high school and they barely understand what's the difference between the Congress and the Senate.
mike baker
Right.
And so then you get what we get, which is people reading crap on Twitter and thinking that it's always true, or that's how they form their opinion, or it's all this or it's all that.
The world is not that.
The world exists somewhere in the middle ground.
But I don't think we're failing our kids by a desire to make life easier for them, maybe.
I don't know.
joe rogan
I think there's definitely some truth to that.
I mean, I think...
There's a shocking lack of adversity that a lot of people have to go through in this life.
And if you go through too much soft living, you start to develop these lazy habits and this distorted perception of reality and a lack of understanding of what really hard work is and how difficult it is to get by in this life if you don't live in this cushy place that we live in.
mike baker
Did you work, when you were a kid, did you work summer jobs?
joe rogan
Yeah.
A lot of construction jobs, mostly.
mike baker
Yeah.
I mean, same thing.
You know, I have blacktop parking lots.
There's a job, right?
joe rogan
That's a job for your lungs.
mike baker
Blacktop parking lots.
Yeah, yeah.
It's a good...
But you know what?
You made some money.
You felt good about it.
At the end of the day, you were exhausted.
But, you know, I tell my kids, I mean, they're going to have to start...
You know, the oldest one's going to be 11 soon.
It's time for him to do something.
Get a paper route.
You know, mow lawns.
So he's...
joe rogan
You're going to make a mow lawns at 11?
mike baker
Sure, yeah.
joe rogan
Damn.
mike baker
Yeah, he could have mowed lawns this year.
But...
joe rogan
That seems early.
mike baker
That's not early to push a lawnmower.
joe rogan
I didn't have a lawnmower job when I was 11. That seems early.
mike baker
No, I don't think so.
You tell them where not to put their feet in their hands and they're good.
unidentified
Let the little fella have a life.
joe rogan
Get him involved in sports.
mike baker
They all play a lot of lacrosse.
They play a lot of basketball.
joe rogan
Do they shovel snow yet?
mike baker
Yeah, they shovel snow.
They get out there.
The 10-year-old and the 8-year-old shovel snow during the winter.
joe rogan
The 6-year-old's like...
mike baker
Yeah, Muggsy's not doing a lot.
unidentified
I gotta figure out a way out of this shit.
mike baker
He's gonna be management.
I think that's what he's gonna do.
He's gonna be management somehow.
But, yeah, you know, the work ethic, I think you're absolutely right.
I mean, every...
Every generation, right?
Like, my parents wanted it to be easier for me and my brothers, right?
And their parents, I'm sure, wanted it to be easier for them, right?
And so you do that, but eventually you get to diminishing returns, right?
Because it becomes so easy.
And, you know, the kids forget what it is like to actually have to work for something.
joe rogan
And to compete.
mike baker
And to compete.
And, you know, it's like I saw some story, not that I troll the social media, but there was a story that popped up that...
Some community, they had a cheer squad tryout, and one of the girls didn't make it on cheer squad.
I don't even know what cheer squad is.
I guess it's cheerleaders.
And the mom was upset, and so she went and complained.
And so the school decision was that everybody who tried out gets to be on the squad.
Yeah, you can imagine what that looks like.
joe rogan
Well, you've got to teach kids the opposite.
That if you didn't do good enough, you need to figure out what you did wrong and go back and improve and work on it.
And then if you do get in next year, you'll get an amazing feeling of accomplishment rather than an amazing feeling of entitlement that you belong in everything you try out for.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Well, that's going to be a big, fat wake-up call when you go out to compete in the workforce.
mike baker
Right.
You try to get a job.
Oh, my God.
Nobody's going to cut you any slack, theoretically.
Yeah.
But, no, that's right.
The idea that, you know, you've got to – I mean, it's like my two older boys are – you know, people are going, oh, Mike's now talking about his kids all the time.
My two older boys have gotten to the point now where the sports thing, they play, and if they don't play well, they sit.
Because earlier than that, everybody plays.
It's equal playing time.
That's what you typically get.
And that's a good thing that little kids are learning how to play the game and where to stand and all the rest of it.
So, but then they get to a certain point, it becomes merit-based, or it should, anyway, which is how it works in Idaho, basically, at least with the teams that we're associated with, is that if you don't play that well, then maybe you don't make the team, and if you make the team and you're not playing as well as the other kids and you're sitting on the bench, and so, you know, my kids, you know, when it first started happening, you know, they were just, they were complaining, you know, like, ah, you know, screw it, I'm not getting any playing time, and I'm thinking, well, okay, what's the next part of that thought process that you need to work your way through?
If you're not getting enough playing time, it's because you're not, what, playing as well as you should be compared to the other kids.
Therefore, what do you need to do?
So you have to walk them through this process.
And that's okay because kids don't know this stuff inherently, maybe.
joe rogan
Right.
mike baker
And so you teach them that – but you don't teach them that, well, you're right.
Why don't you try a different sport?
Or, you know, you're right.
We should talk to the coach about your practice.
joe rogan
Or worse.
They're making it too difficult for the children, and they're not having a good time, and it should be about companionship, and it shouldn't be about competition.
Well, you're setting your kid up for failure, because it can be about both.
It can be about companionship, but also about competition.
Right.
Look...
The world is competition.
It's filled with it.
If you're not competing, if you just decide you don't want to have anything to do with competition, that's your choice.
But if you engage in something that does require competition, you want special access.
mike baker
Right, right, right.
If you don't have that nature, if you don't have that competitive side of you, okay, fine.
But then don't go through the rest of life thinking, well, just because life is a competition, which may upset you when you find that out, that you don't get special dispensation just because you're not a competitive person.
So I agree with it.
joe rogan
Participation trophies and all the nonsense that's going on today.
mike baker
Well, I was walking one of my boys, the oldest one off the lacrosse field not too long ago, and he said, how did I do?
And I said, well, you could have done better.
You could have played harder.
He just wasn't into it, right?
He was tired or whatever.
So he kind of looked at me, and I didn't realize I was walking and there were some parents around me as we were walking across the field.
And so he kind of looks at me, and I knew what he was thinking, which is, Dad, that's not right.
And so I looked at her and I said, do you want me to be honest with you?
Do you want me to just, you know, stand here and blow smoke up your ass?
I found out afterwards that a couple of parents were upset about the fact that I would say that, but he knew exactly what I meant.
And he said, no, you should be honest.
joe rogan
The parents were upset at you for being honest.
mike baker
Yeah, exactly.
And to be fair, Muggsy, the youngest one, got called in for...
He got called in for using the word douchebag one time, but a funnier one was when he and two of his buddies, who shall not be named, were out in the playground not too long ago.
And they were sitting down and they were playing some game, right?
And it was recess and all the kids, all the different grades are out there running around.
And everybody knows my little kid, you know, Muggsy.
He's like the mayor of the town.
He's just a jolly happy guy.
He's going to be the guy that takes 10 years to get out of college, right?
And so he and his two little buddies are sitting there and they're playing some game where they got to count with their fingers.
So at one point, Jack has the number one and he puts up a finger, right?
And one of the other kids starts laughing because he's got an older brother who told him what it means.
So he tells him what it means.
So they start shouting this out, this word.
They start shouting.
Well, a couple of the older kids walk by and they hear these three kids, six years old, yelling this word and laughing uproariously because they think it's the funniest fucking thing they've ever heard.
And so they get called into the principal.
Well, what happens next?
I have to find out about this, right?
So now they notify the parents.
And admittedly, the principal's laughing when they're telling the story.
But now I have to have a conversation with Muggsy when I come home.
So I come home and I said, Muggsy, anything happened today?
And he goes, no, nothing happened.
And he walked right by me.
And I said, wait, wait, wait, come back here.
I said, did you get called into the principal?
So he goes, oh, yeah.
unidentified
He said, we were playing on the playground.
mike baker
And I went like this.
And do you know what this means?
unidentified
And I look at him and I said, no, I don't need to know.
mike baker
And I look out of the corner of my eye, I see his two older brothers, like, around the corner, just waiting, because they know he's going to get his ass kicked, right, for this.
And they're just like, they can't wait.
And so I said, no, I don't need to know what it is, just don't do it again.
Whatever you do, don't do it again.
And he goes, no, no, no, no.
You've got to know what this means.
And he's really intent on it.
And so I said, and these two other boys screw his son, they're like, oh, he's going to get so drunk.
And I said, all right, what does it mean?
And I had no idea what he was going to say, but what he did say was, Motherfucker!
And that's what they were yelling on the playground.
unidentified
All three of them at the top of their lungs yelling, motherfucker!
joe rogan
And they're six.
At six years old.
That's adorable.
mike baker
And I started laughing and the two mother boys walked away disgusted that I was laughing.
And that's the end of my story.
They're great kids.
joe rogan
So how do you take that genie and put it back in the bottle?
mike baker
You don't.
You just say, don't use it.
joe rogan
Once the six-year-old starts screaming, motherfucker.
Yeah.
mike baker
There's not much you can do.
joe rogan
Jubilantly throwing their finger up in the air.
mike baker
It's hard to do.
I mean, I find myself having to constantly catch myself.
I'll say, you know, things like, you know, you quit jackassing around.
And then I'll think, okay, I probably shouldn't say that, you know, but that's fine.
I can't get, you know, my dad was the greatest guy I've ever known in my life, and he swore, and it didn't scar me.
joe rogan
I don't have a problem with it.
It's part of what I do for a living.
We were skiing with my youngest daughter, who was three, and we're packing up the stuff, and she forgot to pack her helmet.
Her helmet wasn't packed in a thing.
She looks down at her luggage, she looks down at the helmet, and she goes, Shit!
This is something adorable.
She was three at the time, about a three-year-old saying, shit.
mike baker
Well, see if she could get together with Muggsy, then she could have said, shit, and you could have said, what happened?
And she could have said, I forgot my motherfucking helmet.
Then she's got it completely sentenced.
unidentified
Oh, God.
joe rogan
I mean, there's something really cute about kids swearing.
mike baker
Yeah.
joe rogan
It's just adorable.
mike baker
We try to tell them, you know, don't, don't, yeah.
We try to teach them the basics.
Don't swear if you can help it.
joe rogan
But that's part of the problem, is that they're going to, it seems so attractive, you know, to do, because they're not supposed to do it, and when no one's around, like, you know what I heard?
I found a new word that starts with a C. Yeah.
mike baker
Oh, you know they're doing it.
You know they, yeah.
joe rogan
What's that one?
I don't know.
unidentified
Cunt.
Yeah.
Ooh!
mike baker
We learned everything we learned from older brothers, right?
Or from friends who had older brothers.
But it was a slower process, right?
In part because we didn't have the internet and all that crap.
And so I think it took a little bit longer to learn.
joe rogan
I don't think I really rolled out douchebag until I was probably 12, maybe 13. Well, we were talking yesterday about access to the internet where kids see so much more and hear so much more today.
Especially like violent images and their access to terrible things.
There's just so much that if you leave a kid alone with a computer or a phone that's online...
They're just going to find out everything about the world way before their little brains are ready.
mike baker
No, you can't do it.
You've got to lock it down, right?
I mean, it's a good thing.
They've got to learn the technology, unlike what I apparently did.
I'm going to leave my watch here for you, since I don't know how to use it.
joe rogan
What year are you going to let them get online?
mike baker
Well, they can do school research if they need to.
They can, like, the middle one loves basketball.
He loves basketball.
So he can look up, you know, Steph Curry videos, things like that, as long as they've got supervision.
They have to have supervision.
You have to know what they're doing.
But you're right, because if you let them have free reign, it's a freak zone out there.
And they'll find it just by accident.
And you're right.
I think their minds can't...
You can't ask kids to process all the crap that's out there on the internet at that early age.
It's not fair.
It's not right.
And you can't tell me that there's not some correlation between access to all that imaging and violent images and everything else and some of the problems that we have in the world today when we ask, how does that kid, how does he go so far off the rails that he steals a gun or takes a gun out of the house and shoots up a place?
How does that happen?
I don't know.
I mean, again, I'm not a psychiatrist, so people don't listen to me and take that as medical advice.
joe rogan
I know what you're saying.
I mean, there's a reality of the world that we live in.
And these images, I mean...
You're not going to change the world that we live in by limiting the access these kids have to these things, but it is strange how much access we have to disturbing images, violence, violent videos.
Your brain knows that that's out there and that there's just so many more examples of it to watch.
mike baker
If you were 12 years old or whatever in the old days, Yeah.
And maybe you found out where your dad stored the Playboys.
joe rogan
Yeah.
That was it.
unidentified
Yeah.
mike baker
In this case, a cardboard box in the back hall closet.
Then that was, you know, that was it.
But that was what you, how, I mean, that's how you learned, right?
joe rogan
Yeah, I never saw, I mean, I saw a few altercations in my neighborhood when I was growing up.
But like a real violent encounter, I never saw anything.
mike baker
No, no.
Shoot-em-up games now that we've got.
So we use that Xbox that I talked about.
It's all sports games.
The whole Gears of War and Call of Duty and all the rest of it.
unidentified
You don't allow that?
mike baker
No, you can't do that.
But then again, you know, your kid will go out to his friend's house.
joe rogan
Yep.
mike baker
And the next thing you know, they're like, this is awesome!
joe rogan
His head exploded!
mike baker
Exactly.
Yeah.
And I don't know.
So, you know, what do you do?
You're right, you can't protect him, but you've got to do your best.
joe rogan
Well, the world's changing, but it's changing faster than we realize.
That we're aware of in regard to the impact that it has on kids.
I just think it's changing for the people that are adults, like, wow, the world's changing.
Yeah, it's changing for that four-year-old that's growing up in that world right now, and they're going to have, the moment they get online, it's going to go from, I'm just a little kid, live my little kid, that's my mommy, that's my daddy, to woof!
The big world, all in one big smash.
I don't think an adult's brain is designed to handle most of this shit that we have access to online.
Forget about a growing mind.
What influence that has on society is really yet to be determined.
mike baker
What are they doing to that donkey and why?
unidentified
How much do they get paid for that?
mike baker
I didn't know that was a career you could engage in.
Like I said, I've got a daughter.
There's an interesting age difference, right?
So what is that?
That's about 12, 13 years age difference, right?
And so I feel like there's a social thing there where you can study this as a case study.
What my daughter went through growing up and accessed information.
Which was uniquely different than now, even though she started, there was really no internet or anything, but then it exploded by the time she was essentially a tween, I guess.
joe rogan
Or the difference between you and I, who grew up with nothing.
mike baker
Right.
joe rogan
No internet, and then it became the internet when we're fully formed and as an adult.
And then you got a chance to see it, and even then screwed it up and made mistakes and got online and got viruses on your computer and saw some stuff you really didn't want to see.
mike baker
Had that dial tone.
unidentified
Yeah.
mike baker
Remember, you dial in when you would get there.
And then the picture would kind of come in in little blips.
unidentified
Oh, yeah.
joe rogan
And you'd realize when you didn't really want to see it anymore.
unidentified
Like, uh-oh.
mike baker
When did you first get a cell phone?
joe rogan
I got one real early.
I got a cell phone in the 80s.
mike baker
Wow.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Well, I was a comedian.
In, like, 89, I think, I had a cell phone.
I had a cell phone in my car.
It was, like, permanently bolted down to my car.
mike baker
Yeah, yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah, I got it.
So I could get...
The thing about it was I could get gigs with it.
mike baker
So people get a hold of you.
joe rogan
Yeah, like Bill Blumenwright, who's the owner of the Wilbur Theatre in Boston, who was owner of the Comedy Connection back then, always jokes around about it.
He was like, you got a lot of work because you were the only comedian with a cell phone.
So he can call me up and say, hey, this guy just got a flat tire on his way to New Hampshire.
Can you do the gig?
I'm like, fuck yeah, I'm in.
mike baker
I'm there.
I'm already in my car because that's where my phone is.
How much did you have to pay for that phone?
joe rogan
I don't remember.
I couldn't afford it.
mike baker
It couldn't have been cheap.
joe rogan
No, I couldn't afford it.
I remember not being able to pay for it after a while.
Yeah, I was a dummy.
I always spent more money than I had.
I mean, it's...
Yeah, I've never been good with finances.
I've never been frugal.
But it was one of those things where I realized I could get it, so I got it.
mike baker
But you remember those times you'd have to drive around?
Before that, before you had that phone in your car.
You'd have to drive around looking for a public pay phone.
joe rogan
Oh, yeah, and you got to get quarters.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
Or you had to have a calling card.
Remember those things?
mike baker
Yeah.
joe rogan
You'd have a card.
I would get fake cards, too.
You could buy them off people.
They were like counterfeit cards, and they were good for a couple days, and they'd go under...
And you could buy other ones.
And then there was other things you could do.
You could take a sound device and put it up to the phone.
And you could get a call with that.
Like you would put up this thing to the voice box area and it would make noises like...
And it would somehow or another trick...
mike baker
Open up the line.
I remember that.
We used to, before the...
Before the cell phone technology hit, and this is the early days of being with the agency, when you were overseas, if you were in an urban setting, you spent half your time looking for operating payphones, right?
In some third or fourth world country, you're trying to find a payphone that actually works because you've got to make some sort of call related to whatever operation you're engaged in.
And, you know, the kids today in the agency don't understand that, you know, because they've all got great technology and mobile communications.
But, yeah, in the old days, it didn't work that way.
joe rogan
Most people don't even know what a phone booth is.
mike baker
No, yeah, exactly.
joe rogan
They say, like, about fights.
That's like a common expression.
These two could have fought in a phone booth.
They could have fought in a...
I can't even say it.
Could have fought in a phone booth.
But today you say, fought in a phone booth, and people go, why not just say they could have fought on a fucking, you know, something else that doesn't exist anymore.
A wine barrel.
mike baker
Well, London.
You go to London now, and there's those iconic red phone booths.
None of them have a phone in it.
None of them work.
joe rogan
What are they now?
They just keep them there?
mike baker
They just kept them up, yeah.
I think they kept them up.
You could probably find one occasionally that's got a phone in it, but it wasn't that long ago, I remember, they actually had functioning phones in those things.
unidentified
Oh, yeah.
joe rogan
I mean, you would go outside any 7-Eleven or whatever, and there would be a bank of payphones.
mike baker
I actually stopped and took a picture.
I was out.
I forget where the hell I was.
I was out of nowhere.
Pulled into a gas station.
I was pulling out after, oddly enough, getting gas.
And I looked over to the side and there was a payphone against the wall.
And the receiver was just dangling on the ground.
But I literally stopped, got out and took a picture of it.
So I could show my kids.
You know, we used to make calls on these things.
This is how it worked.
joe rogan
I remember when there was no answering machines.
You remember that?
mike baker
Yeah, yeah.
And the first answering machine, whoever your buddy was that got the answering machine first, you thought, man, that's the deal.
You're so posh.
joe rogan
And I remember we got an answering machine where you could call it, and then when the dial tone went on, you would punch in a code, and you could listen to your messages, and you weren't even home!
mike baker
You could retrieve those messages.
joe rogan
It was crazy.
unidentified
We couldn't believe it.
mike baker
You could have called from your car to your answering machine.
There's a funny...
What do I know?
But you should never start a story out by saying there's a funny story.
There's a story that when Lyndon Johnson was president...
Not president, I take that back.
He was in the Senate.
And there was another guy, Dirksen, who was a famous senator.
And so Johnson was...
One day he was driving.
Dirksen gets this call.
I think I got that guy right.
Gets a call from Johnson.
And they're talking, and Johnson says, I've got to talk to you about this thing.
He says, hold on a second.
He says, we're just pulling up outside the building.
I've got to get out.
I'll call you when I get to my office.
Dirksen says, where are you calling me now?
He goes, I've got a phone in my car.
And so...
Dirksen hangs up and immediately says, I got to get one of those.
So as the story goes, pulled some strings there in the Senate, got somebody to put a phone in his car.
And so then he calls Johnson and he says, Lyndon, I'm just calling you from my car.
And Johnson says, that's great.
Hold on a second.
I got a call coming in on the other line.
Hangs up on him.
So, hey, hey, whether it's true or not, it's an apocryphal story.
joe rogan
They had phones in their car back then?
mike baker
Yeah, well, you know, if you're a senator.
joe rogan
What year did they invent car phones?
mike baker
Probably the year you got one.
No, I have no idea when they invented car phones, but, you know.
unidentified
Jamie?
mike baker
We should look into that.
1946. 1946. What?
Yeah.
unidentified
What?
mike baker
Yeah.
joe rogan
Wait a minute.
1946. Imagine what kind of pimp you had to be in 1969 to pull up in like a 69 Corvette with a fucking phone in your car.
mike baker
Or a Lincoln Town car.
joe rogan
Whoa, this is what it looked like?
A car phone is a mobile phone device specifically designed to be fitted in an automobile.
That's what we used to call them back then.
Car phones, remember?
Service originated with the Bell system and was first used in St. Louis June 17th, 1946!
mike baker
Wow.
joe rogan
Before the fucking end of the war, right?
unidentified
Was it?
mike baker
No, no, no.
That was after the end of the war.
joe rogan
When did the war end?
mike baker
45. Okay.
joe rogan
So a year after the World War II. That's incredible.
They had a phone in their car.
mike baker
And more importantly, why St. Louis?
What the hell was going on in St. Louis?
That's the site of the first car phone.
joe rogan
Wow.
It was a radio enthusiast who had the foresight to invent the annoying habit of talking in the phone while in the car.
So it basically worked on a radio, and it would somehow or another connect to a regular phone line?
Is that what it worked?
Jesus Christ.
mike baker
Yeah, this is way beyond my Apple Watch now.
joe rogan
So presidents had this.
Look, Johnson had it when he was in the Senate.
mike baker
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And that would have been, you know, what's that?
That would have been like 15 years after this happened, or 14 years after they invented it in St. Louis.
But yeah, I remember when they, you know, the mobile phone then was that big case, you know, that we carry around, and you have to get out of your car, set it out on your car, and then they started getting there.
joe rogan
Yeah, a big fucking thing you throw over your shoulder, a big handle.
mike baker
I got a big box at home full of all the old phones that I've had over the years.
And it's like if I could ever get myself organized, I would turn it into some sort of wall art installation.
Because it's cell phones through the years.
At least covering the past three decades.
joe rogan
It's certainly interesting.
What do you got there, Jamie?
unidentified
This is the first thing he had developed in 1920. What is that?
jamie vernon
It's like a mobile wireless transmission device.
joe rogan
So he could send in and receive messages.
In the 1920s?
unidentified
Phone-like.
In 1920s.
joe rogan
Jesus.
mike baker
That guy behind him is the boss, you can tell.
He's listening.
He's the guy in charge, man.
joe rogan
Wow.
Yeah, I think that would be a great idea to show kids today.
Oh yeah.
That old brick phone from Wall Street.
mike baker
Fantastic.
joe rogan
Remember the, what is it called, the StarTek?
StarTek?
mike baker
I saw somebody still using one of those the other day.
Yeah, the little flip phone.
unidentified
Hipster.
mike baker
The little flip phone with the antenna would come out.
Yeah.
To be fair, he did.
He had a dork knob and a beard.
joe rogan
StarTek.
That was a sweet phone.
I had one of those.
I was like, oh, baby.
mike baker
It was like Star Trek, right?
You were like Captain Kirk with that thing.
You'd flip it open and you'd talk on it.
joe rogan
Remember you can get an extra fat battery for it?
Yeah.
mike baker
Although that didn't set so well in your suit coat.
joe rogan
No, it's terrible, those fat batteries.
But if you didn't have a fat battery, you could make a call for four minutes.
Battery technology was terrible back then.
That Huawei phone, by the way, has an excellent battery.
mike baker
It's got a great battery.
joe rogan
4,000 milliamp battery.
unidentified
It's giant.
mike baker
You know what that battery's doing?
It's sucking all the information out of your system as you got it, yeah.
joe rogan
But the sweet, sweet signal that you get for so long while it does that.
mike baker
It is true.
It is true.
Go out there, kids.
Get yourself a Huawei phone.
joe rogan
Amazing cameras.
They have a 40 megapixel camera in one.
mike baker
They make all sorts of white goods, too, you know, like washers and dryers and refrigerators.
Oh, Huawei does that?
They're putting all that stuff in our homes.
joe rogan
Spying on you.
mike baker
Yes, it is.
You think so?
I wouldn't engage in any shenanigans in my kitchen.
Not what my fridge is watching.
But I don't have a Huawei fridge.
I don't know what I have.
unidentified
Who does?
mike baker
I have no idea what I have.
I have no idea what I've got.
We're about ready to start.
And this is actually what the viewers, or the listeners, have been waiting for, is to hear about my kitchen renovation.
joe rogan
What are you going to do?
mike baker
Oh, we're going to renovate the kitchen.
joe rogan
Put a pizza oven in?
mike baker
Going to go crazy?
We're going to put a big wine cooler.
I know that.
unidentified
Are you?
mike baker
That was the only thing I was actually concerned about with this kitchen renovation.
joe rogan
Mike Baker boozing it up.
mike baker
Yeah, well, you know, every now and then.
Mostly martinis, but a nice glass of wine is nice.
joe rogan
I do like a glass of wine.
unidentified
Yeah.
mike baker
So we do this thing, and I don't know...
They came over the other day, and my wife, who's definitely...
I out-punted my coverage.
She is a lot smarter than I am, and much more organized and efficient.
But she wasn't there.
So the guys with the plans, whatever they call them, the planners, they came over to show me the drawings.
As if I cared.
joe rogan
Right.
mike baker
Or as if I could actually read these drawings, right?
The blueprints for what they're going to do to the kitchen.
So I dutifully kind of paged through them and nodded and said things like, oh, look at that.
I made a little notation on one.
I actually really did.
I just said, oh, look at it.
And so the guy says, what do you think?
And I said, yeah, let's go for it.
Let's do it.
So I approved it just by...
I have no idea what I've engaged in at this point.
But it's going to take about three months, and we're going to have ourselves one hell of a kitchen.
So it won't be done by the time you show up.
joe rogan
So then you'll be eaten off of one of those fucking...
We did that for a while.
We had our kitchen get renovated and we had a hot plate.
We were cooking off of a hot plate for a while.
mike baker
Yeah, right back in college.
joe rogan
It lasted a while, but it let us appreciate the kitchen.
mike baker
Did you have kids at the time?
unidentified
Yeah.
mike baker
Okay, yeah.
joe rogan
It was kind of funny.
We were laughing about it.
We thought it was funny.
We ate out a lot.
mike baker
With our three, we're probably just going to go up.
We've got this little place, little cabin up in that great town of McCall.
We'll just go up there and hang out for the summer.
joe rogan
Oh, you've got a cabin up there, too.
Oh, that's nice.
mike baker
Yeah, so we'll just stay up there and let them spend their days fishing and swimming.
joe rogan
That's every man's dream, to have a cabin somewhere.
mike baker
Just get away.
joe rogan
Every man who works too hard, just give me a cabin somewhere where I could just go...
mike baker
You're just getting in the car.
You're pointing the car towards the cabin.
You could be sitting in traffic for two hours.
joe rogan
But I'm going to the cabin.
Especially a cabin by the lake.
mike baker
That's a dream.
It's a beautiful lake.
joe rogan
I have some friends who have a house on Coeur d'Alene.
Oh, yeah.
They took a picture, and they're in a boat, and you could see the ground like 80 foot deep with a photograph.
You could see the bottom of the lake.
mike baker
It's crazy.
joe rogan
I'm like, how is that possible?
That water's clearer than...
That's like Fiji water.
mike baker
Yeah.
joe rogan
You got a whole lake full of Fiji water.
mike baker
You should go up there.
Well, that's what we do.
Get in Idaho.
We got a lot of money to burn up there.
joe rogan
It's fucking crazy, though.
I mean, it was so beautiful.
mike baker
That Coeur d'Alene area, it's northern part of the country, Kootenai County, and it's great people up there.
joe rogan
Look at that place.
mike baker
Tiger Woods has a place up there.
joe rogan
I bet he does.
He bangs chicks up there like crazy.
Ships him in.
mike baker
Not anymore.
He's focused on golf now.
joe rogan
Oh, is he?
mike baker
I think so.
I think he's giving up everything except golf.
I think that's why he's winning.
joe rogan
That's how you have to do it, Tiger.
Remember back when you were young and ugly?
Well, now you're rich and ugly.
mike baker
It's too easy.
You weren't wealthy.
You weren't doing as much of that.
joe rogan
Those pictures are amazing.
That might be one of the most beautiful spots in the country.
mike baker
Yeah, and it's just a great spot.
It takes about...
Well, it's a hell of a drive to get up there from Boise.
But you can fly to Spokane, Washington.
Great town.
And it's only about a 30-minute drive from Spokane.
joe rogan
Is it really?
mike baker
Yeah.
joe rogan
Oh, wow.
mike baker
Are you going up to Spokane to do a show or not?
joe rogan
No.
mike baker
You should.
joe rogan
That's the move, huh?
mike baker
Yeah.
Where else are you going?
Is this a one and done?
joe rogan
Well, I just did a Netflix special.
That I filmed, but it's not going to come out until September.
And so now I'm just going to do a bunch of gigs and get ready to put together another hour.
mike baker
How long does that take?
joe rogan
It takes a while.
I might have to do some illegal substances.
Don't tell anybody.
I need some ideas.
mike baker
No, I won't say...
Hold on a second.
I won't say anything to anybody, including the director-designate.
joe rogan
I'm trying to tell all these folks to make mushrooms legal.
It's not hurting anybody, and it's giving a lot of folks some real good ideas.
mike baker
Oh, hey, before I forget, and I probably should have told you this offline, but Newt Gingrich thinks it would be excellent to sit down and talk to you.
joe rogan
Get the fuck out of here!
mike baker
It's the truth.
joe rogan
Newt Gingrich?
mike baker
Newt Gingrich.
Really?
And I'll tell you how I know this.
joe rogan
How do you know this?
mike baker
I know the person who runs his...
Admin and operations, his media stuff, and the things that he does.
And he does a lot.
And she's a great person, and she told me.
That's what he'd like to do.
joe rogan
So she brought it up?
Yeah, she brought it up to me.
That's when I know I fucked up and I got too big.
It's time to quit, Jamie.
We've got to move to Coeur d'Alene.
Go pike fishing.
They got some awesome pike fishing out there.
mike baker
They do.
joe rogan
Yeah, they do.
mike baker
Yeah, and good hunting up there, too, by the way.
So that's a great part of the country.
Look at that.
joe rogan
That house is on a...
That's a precarious situation.
mike baker
Yeah, I gotta assume that's a septic tank situation as well.
They're not hooked up to city water.
joe rogan
What a fucking weird spot to put a house.
You greedy bitch.
unidentified
Can you find Payette Lake?
mike baker
McCall?
I mean, since today's travelogue, we're taking you to Idaho today.
How do you say it?
joe rogan
Payette Lake?
P-A-Y-E-T-T-E. So that's where you got a cabin?
unidentified
Yeah, look at that.
mike baker
I know, right?
joe rogan
How many people out there?
mike baker
Not many.
It's much smaller than Ketchum.
joe rogan
Give me a number.
mike baker
30?
joe rogan
17. How many of them are white nationalists?
mike baker
All right.
joe rogan
There's a lot of that out there, too, isn't there?
mike baker
You're thinking of one of the other states.
You're not thinking of Idaho.
joe rogan
Oh, no.
Idaho has some white nationalists.
mike baker
That's what they say.
I've never met one.
joe rogan
Well, they wouldn't tell you.
mike baker
I know.
They keep that from me, as well.
joe rogan
This guy knows too many people.
mike baker
I know.
joe rogan
That's really that lake?
unidentified
Yeah.
mike baker
Holy shit.
I'm telling you.
Holy shit.
Fantastic.
joe rogan
That makes me, right now, I'm getting anxiety.
I want to push a boat out there and start fishing.
I can see the water.
Look how flat it is.
I can see the trout breaking the surface.
mike baker
And during the summer, you just go out there, and in the high season, when you're not fishing, you just float around, do a little water skiing if you want to, but mostly just kind of hang out.
joe rogan
That looks fucking amazing.
Amazing.
mike baker
And 10 minutes from there is the ski area and the ski resort.
It's a great little ski place.
joe rogan
You know what, man?
I think I'm done with skiing.
Every time I ski, this is what I'm doing.
Don't get hurt.
Don't get hurt.
Didn't get hurt.
mike baker
Right.
Yeah.
I know the feeling.
joe rogan
Another one of my friends just blew out her ACL. I know three friends that blew out their ACL in a year.
mike baker
All skiing?
joe rogan
All skiing.
Three in a year.
mike baker
You got to adjust, right?
It's like everything else.
But you're right.
Once you have that thought, and I know exactly what you're thinking.
I'm doing the same thing.
I'm heading down the slope thinking, I cannot afford to hurt myself.
I got too much work to do.
unidentified
Don't get hurt.
joe rogan
Didn't get hurt.
mike baker
I was snowboarding one time, and I just completely lost it.
Cracked some ribs.
Couldn't catch my breath when I was laying on my back, right?
And it was towards the end of the day.
That's when it happens, right?
You're exhausted, but you think, I'm going to do one more run.
Because it sounds like a good idea.
And so anyway, I'm laying down there, and there was nobody else out.
I mean, it was getting twilight, and I'm looking up at the sky.
Is this how I'm going to die?
I hear this noise behind me, and these two guys, it couldn't have been, both of them are probably like 19, maybe.
They come...
Screeching to a stop.
And I'm looking up and I'm trying to catch my breath and I can't really move.
And so all I can see is when their faces come into the frame above my head.
And they both look down at me and they go, oh, dude.
And then they take off, right?
joe rogan
They take off.
They just left you there?
mike baker
They left me there.
I guess because I didn't say, oh, I'm in a real pain.
I didn't say anything because I was trying to catch my breath.
And they just take off and I'm thinking, that sucks.
joe rogan
You have a small window to say help.
mike baker
Yeah.
joe rogan
And then your pride...
In your ego.
mike baker
Right, right.
joe rogan
You're like, I don't want to tell these little fucks that I'm hurt.
mike baker
Yeah, no, exactly.
joe rogan
Little punks.
mike baker
I dropped into a tree well a couple seasons ago, and we were out...
joe rogan
A tree well?
mike baker
A tree well, and I was in the backcountry.
What's that mean?
Well, you know how you have a tree, lots of snow falling, you know, you got powder, and so what'll happen sometimes is you get the appearance of solid snow, but around the tree, the base of the tree, you'll get these little caves, almost.
There's nothing around the bottom of the tree, so...
The tendency is for the snow, if you get too close to the tree well, you'll collapse into it.
And then you're at the bottom of this hole, right?
joe rogan
Oh, no.
mike baker
And you're trying to get out.
And usually it happens when there's beautiful snow and it's all powder and you can't get out.
So anyway, my wife and I were on the backside of this mountain.
And so there's nobody around.
She got out ahead of me.
I fell into this thing, and that's the time when I thought to myself, after about 35 minutes of trying to haul my ass out of there, I thought, I could actually die here, but the snow was falling lightly, you know, and there was still a little bit of sun coming through, and it was a beautiful thing.
And I literally thought, I had to lay down for a minute to catch my breath and think, I've got to give this another try.
I thought, meh.
His worst place is to die.
joe rogan
I really thought that.
unidentified
Yeah, I thought that.
mike baker
I thought, you know, what if you got to go here?
Because I'm thinking at some point my heart's going to explode because I was working like a son of a bitch to get out of this.
joe rogan
How were you trying to do it?
mike baker
How were you trying to get out?
Well, at first you think, okay, I'll get my skis back on and get out of here.
Or maybe I won't get my skis on.
I'll try to just step out of here and get out.
But it's like being in a...
It's like being in quicksand, I guess, is a good analogy, yeah.
You can't get a grip on anything.
You can't get a hold of anything.
And you're trying to pull yourself back up, and even if you do get a little ways out, you're on powder, right?
And it was a beautiful powder day, right?
Blue skies.
joe rogan
How deep is this powder?
mike baker
Well, you sink into it up to your thighs and beyond.
And so when you're doing that, think about it.
You're trying to get – because at a certain point, you've got to get your skis back on, right?
unidentified
Right.
mike baker
And then you're about done by the time you get out of a tree well.
And now you're trying to get your skis back on.
And you're in powder and you're trying to do that.
It turned into a real goat rope.
But I guess my point being is it was a beautiful day and I thought – not that I was going to lay down and die.
But I thought if you had to, if you happen to go – It's not a bad place to go.
joe rogan
That's a great attitude, but it's also, I think, indicative of how much shit you see in your life.
At least I'm here.
mike baker
I was worried about the wolves.
The wolves could come by and gnaw up my bones.
They would do that, too.
They would.
Like that guy's coyote.
Holy smokes.
joe rogan
There was a horrible story about in Africa where a toddler got stolen by a leopard.
I put it on my Twitter.
mike baker
Jeez.
joe rogan
I put that stuff on my Twitter all the time.
People go, why do you put this up?
Why do you post this?
Because I want people to know.
You got a delusional sense of wildlife, you fucks.
You dummies out there taking selfies with bears.
mike baker
Well, I was in Connecticut just a couple days ago.
And I was talking to some folks there that I know, because we used to live out there a while back before we moved to Idaho.
They were telling me a story that they've got this alert out.
This bobcat is on the loose in Connecticut, right?
Now, it's a pretty rural state.
People don't realize that.
joe rogan
Yeah, it is.
mike baker
But it's a rural state.
But anyway, this lady was walking her two little dogs, right?
I don't know what kind of dogs it were, but out of nowhere, this bobcat just swooped in, grabbed one of them, took off, right?
And she's chasing...
The cat trying to save her dog.
Well, that dog is done, right?
joe rogan
Yeah.
mike baker
And so she's trying to chase...
So she gets...
Anyway, so they had sightings of this thing, but now everybody's freaking out because it's a danger to their shih tzu or whatever.
joe rogan
They found a mountain lion in Connecticut a few years back, and I think he got killed on the highway.
I think, and they found out- What was he driving?
mike baker
One of the things they found out- Oh, that's the sort of humor you get here.
joe rogan
Mountlined was that it had traveled from, I want to say North Dakota.
It made its way all the way across the country.
mike baker
That's fantastic.
joe rogan
Yeah, they can roam, man.
mike baker
Yeah.
It's like, we used to have coyotes come across our front yard in Connecticut.
joe rogan
Oh, yeah.
mike baker
I mean, they're so adaptable.
joe rogan
They're in New York City now.
mike baker
Really?
joe rogan
Yep.
mike baker
That is not where I would go as a coyote.
joe rogan
What is this?
unidentified
A lynx in someone's kitchen.
joe rogan
Oh, that's not good.
That ain't good.
Wow, look at the noise it's making.
mike baker
Like, if you...
unidentified
Whoa!
mike baker
Don't know how it got there yet.
joe rogan
Oh, Jesus Christ.
mike baker
So creepy.
I tell you what...
joe rogan
The noises this thing is making!
mike baker
I think that's the person taking the video, don't you?
unidentified
No!
mike baker
I guess so.
joe rogan
I would punt that thing into another dimension.
mike baker
Yeah.
joe rogan
No fucking question.
mike baker
I would get the omelet pan out.
joe rogan
Yeah, if this is going down, it's going down right now, and I'm going to choose.
Yeah.
mike baker
That thing was crazy.
joe rogan
You know they made that noise.
mike baker
I could have sworn that was the lady taking the video.
joe rogan
Let me hear that again.
Give me some volume.
unidentified
I think that is the lady.
joe rogan
No!
unidentified
That's the cat.
joe rogan
That's the noisy.
That's the cat.
unidentified
Yeah, you're right.
joe rogan
Fuck you, cat.
mike baker
There's something wrong with that cat.
That cat's got an issue.
It's got a problem.
joe rogan
It's on meds.
mike baker
Yeah.
That's opioids right there.
There's something going on.
Holy smokes.
Well, thank you for bringing that up.
But you're right.
The notion about what wildlife is like.
Yeah.
And it's that difference, right?
It's that difference.
If you live in New York City, you've got this perspective about it.
And it's all...
joe rogan
That's why I'm happy that coyotes have made their way into New York City.
They're going to start snatching dogs and people are going to go, hey, they're not our friends.
They're not like Wile E. Coyote.
mike baker
We need to understand why they're upset.
joe rogan
We've encroached on their land.
Nope.
Nope, this is what they do.
mike baker
What was the best hunting trip you ever took?
I'm curious.
joe rogan
My favorite to hunt is elk.
mike baker
Elk, okay.
joe rogan
Yeah, because first of all, because you get one elk and you get hundreds of pounds of meat.
I love that.
It's delicious.
The only thing that's as delicious is this axis deer.
Axis deer is pretty damn delicious.
The thing about axis deer, too, is...
It's one of the most ethical trips because you have to kill them because they don't have any natural predators at all.
And there's 20,000 of them on Lanai alone.
They have them on Molokai.
They have them on Maui.
And there's no predators.
So they literally have a responsibility to kill them.
Otherwise, they're going to face starvation and disease and overpopulation, decimation of plant life.
I mean, they just eat everything in sight.
mike baker
Do you have to get a separate license for each island?
Or how does that work?
joe rogan
I do not know.
I think you get a Hawaii state license, but the way it works in Lanai, you could shoot 12 of them.
mike baker
12?
joe rogan
12. That's how many they have, which is crazy for deer.
Yeah.
I mean, the most you ever hear is like two bucks in some states, and they really have a lot of deers.
mike baker
What do you end up with once you dress it?
joe rogan
I would say each one, you're getting around 50 plus pounds of meat.
They're about 200 pounds on the hoof.
mike baker
Okay.
joe rogan
Yeah.
mike baker
They look more delicate than that.
joe rogan
No, it's a fairly big animal.
They're heavy.
They're fast as fuck, too, man.
Yeah, when they run, you're like, whoa!
I mean, they run like an African animal.
mike baker
Run like a deer.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's much faster than a regular deer.
Because it's like that white tail that took off in that video, they're way quicker than that.
mike baker
Well, that guy was not exactly the Usain Bolt of the deer.
I wouldn't use him as the bar to set this by.
joe rogan
Yeah, he was like a light bulb that you have to slap a couple of times to get it to go on.
mike baker
Oh, I had a follow-up question to the deer.
Damn it.
This is what happens when you get older.
joe rogan
I know.
Sad.
mike baker
Holy smokes.
I think you should start getting up in the middle of the night to go pee.
joe rogan
But you're out in this island.
This is this gorgeous island on the Pacific Ocean with just beautiful views.
I mean, it's just unbelievable, stunning.
And it's filled with these deer.
I mean, they are everywhere on that island.
mike baker
That's the best thing about it.
When it comes down to the hunting, the fishing, it's just being out there, right?
unidentified
Yeah.
mike baker
And sometimes you have to remember, you have to stop and I mean, like, you want to fly fishing sometimes.
You get caught up and all of a sudden you have to stop and you step back and you kind of look around and you think, oh, yeah, this makes sense.
joe rogan
I don't do enough fishing.
I fucking love fishing.
I've done fishing a few times recently with my kids, but it's ocean fishing where you're out there trolling, you know, you're in a boat and you're pulling the line.
It's not as fun.
Casting, like, on a lake is the best, like a topwater bait or something like that.
mike baker
Yeah, yeah, that's great for kids.
Kids love that.
joe rogan
Oh, man.
mike baker
And I've started taking...
I've been lucky enough to be part of an Alaskan fishing trip that happens every year.
joe rogan
What do you guys go for?
mike baker
Halibut, salmon.
joe rogan
That's the best.
mike baker
And I've actually got a picture of a couple of the halibut that my boy, because now he's old enough, I can bring him with me.
And...
And so we go every year.
There's a group of guys.
There's maybe 20 guys.
And he hauls up this halibut.
This was his first time going, right?
He's up in Alaska, this beautiful place.
And you could just tell it just snapped him, right?
He was just like, oh my god, the expanse of it all.
It's just the size of this place.
And then you get out on the water and he starts hauling up this thing.
And it's this massive halibut.
And he's just like...
He couldn't even put two words together.
And then you have to tell him, it's got to go back in the water because it's not big enough, right?
Really?
Halibut's got to be either below or above a certain size.
The middle range is maximum for breeding.
joe rogan
Yeah, if they get them too big, they have to let them go, right?
mike baker
If you get them big enough, while I'm talking, I'll bring this photo up.
I don't know why.
Oh, my phone's dead.
Never mind.
Ha!
Really?
Technology fails me again.
But yeah, the prime space in between, I forget what the cutoff is.
I think they have to be over 80-something inches.
I'm sure somebody can dial in and tell me.
80 inches?
Yeah.
And if it's not over that, it's a little bit over that, then you've got to toss it back in because they're still in prime fucking time and they produce more babies.
joe rogan
Yeah, I've heard that.
The really big ones.
A buddy of mine got a huge one and they cut the line on him.
mike baker
Yeah.
joe rogan
They were saying, it's too big, we've got to let it go.
And he was like, what in the fuck?
mike baker
Yeah.
No, if it's big enough, then they can...
But you look at them and you think, that's got to be big enough.
joe rogan
It can't be 80 inches.
unidentified
Yeah, it is.
mike baker
If this damn thing was working, I'd show you this photo of Scooter with his halibut.
joe rogan
Well, plug it in and charge it back up.
mike baker
Yeah, plug it in and charge it back up.
Jesus.
I know.
It's like, I didn't know whether you had electricity here.
joe rogan
I need to...
We do.
That's how the lights are on.
mike baker
Yeah.
Oh yeah, that's right.
joe rogan
I don't know how things work in Idaho.
mike baker
Yeah, it's a little different there.
joe rogan
But if 80...
Look at the size of that fucking thing.
300 pounds.
That's a beautiful one.
mike baker
Yeah, there you go.
Just pretend my...
Yeah.
Yeah, one of those kids is my kid.
That's pretty much it.
joe rogan
Wow.
mike baker
Yeah, they're enormous.
joe rogan
But if they're bigger than that, they probably have to let them go.
I mean, if you get a fish like that, you're eating that thing for a year.
mike baker
See, what happens is, no, but if you catch one that, say, is about, I don't know, eight inches smaller than that, then you've got to toss it back in.
unidentified
Why?
mike baker
So the point being is, you'll look at something, you'll think, wow, this is definitely big enough to catch.
Then you've got to measure it.
And if it's not over that 80-some-odd threshold, you've got to chuck it back in.
But when you talk about a fish that's that big, you think, there's no way I've got to toss this back in.
But you do.
It's state law.
joe rogan
That's crazy.
What is 80 inches?
Is that six foot what?
Six and a half feet.
Six and a half feet.
It's crazy.
That's a big fucking fish, man!
mike baker
And you just haul this.
And you can imagine what it's like winding.
You're 400 feet down maybe.
Because you're down towards the bottom and you're just kind of banging the bait down there on the bottom.
joe rogan
And you're bringing up a door to a castle.
mike baker
It's like, yeah, look at this.
Wow.
joe rogan
And, I mean, halibut are delicious, too.
mike baker
Oh, it's really good.
And so we end up with, kind of like what you're talking about, when you're thinking about, well, what do you end up with?
Well, I end up with an entire freezer, just from this one trip, an entire freezer full of salmon and halibut.
It's pretty tasty.
joe rogan
And you get to do it in Alaska, which is one of my favorite places to go to.
Just crazy that we stole that from the Russians for like 15 bucks.
How much did we get it for?
Cheaper than Manhattan, I think.
mike baker
Yeah, I think it was.
But yeah, Alaska and Yellowstone, two places I tell people all the time, you got to go.
You got to go to both.
unidentified
$7 million.
joe rogan
That's it?
mike baker
That was in 1867. Okay, and current dollars, that would be like $8 million.
joe rogan
$7.2 million, but Manhattan was like 15 bucks, right?
Mm-hmm.
How much did they give the Native Americans?
And then people are getting crazy right now.
They stole it!
They stole it from the Native Americans.
Okay, okay, okay.
mike baker
But apparently we paid the Russians pretty well.
But we stole it from the Indians.
$24.
Yeah, but you have to remember, it was undeveloped at the time.
joe rogan
Unlike Alaska.
Alaska is still undeveloped.
Imagine how angry the Russians must be.
They sold that to us for $7 million.
It is so big.
I mean, at least Manhattan is fairly small.
mike baker
Well, think about the Louisiana Purchase, right?
I mean, think about Jefferson getting that from Napoleon.
I mean, what that was like.
And it is crazy when you think how this nation was cobbled together.
And the foresight that took.
And sort of just the balls of saying, yeah, we're going to take that.
Thank you.
joe rogan
Fifteen million.
Approximately four cents an acre.
mike baker
It seems like a fair price.
joe rogan
Holy shit!
It was a purchase treaty by the Senate on October 20th of 1803, doubled the size of the United States, and opened up the continent to its westward expansion.
Holy shit!
mike baker
First thing they did was encourage people to move out there.
You've got to populate that place, right?
That was the whole plan.
joe rogan
Well, one of the things that we saw when we were in Montana for the first time on the Missouri was you saw these homesteads where people tried to make it out there.
And they realized you can't grow anything out there because, you know, that mud is just...
mike baker
Yeah.
joe rogan
It's not...
You can't till it.
You're not going to grow anything in it.
Whatever's growing there is what grows there.
And you're not going to grow anything extra.
You can't have a farm there.
And people tried forever because they just thought, let me just find some ground, and all you have to do is live there for a certain amount of time, then it would be yours.
But there's these really old, broken-down houses from, you know, the 1800s, 1700s, whenever people were out there, and you could still go there and touch the wood.
It's really weird.
mike baker
You can still see, yeah, there's homesteads like that in Idaho.
Yeah.
It is crazy when you think about people making their way across, right?
We talked about how people are getting softer, right?
unidentified
Oh, yeah.
mike baker
Well, that's why when people, you know, you see photos of people from those days, they look hard, right?
joe rogan
Yeah, thin, too.
mike baker
Tough life, right?
joe rogan
Skinny faces.
mike baker
Yeah, and just, you know, they don't often look happy, but it's, you know, they were living a hard life, and they're making their way across the country, and sometimes you imagine they're just thinking, uh...
Fuck it.
This is as far as I can go.
And they just put up stakes there, right?
They said, fine.
We'll just build here.
And maybe it was good land.
Maybe it wasn't.
But can you imagine when you get to that point where you're suddenly staring at the Rockies and you think, really?
I got to cross this in those days?
I mean, the expansion, the westward movement of people.
There was a series called...
It's misogynistic, but it was called The Men Who Built America, right?
Or The Men Who...
The Frontiersmen or something like that.
joe rogan
That is misogynistic.
mike baker
Yeah, it is, right?
joe rogan
Fucking sexist.
mike baker
I know, exactly.
joe rogan
The women didn't build anything, you assholes.
mike baker
No, I mean, you know, they did some cooking and, yeah, mending.
joe rogan
Made some babies.
mike baker
Mending.
But no, that series was really good.
The first one was The Men Who Built America, and then they did another series about The Frontiersmen.
And that is the one I'm thinking of.
I think there's like, I don't know, five or six episodes to it.
I think it's on Netflix.
I don't know.
But it talks about, I mean, it covers the whole thing, but it covers Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone, all the characters that you remember hearing about, but it goes into real historical detail about it, and it's fascinating when you look at how this place was cobbled together.
joe rogan
And quickly.
mike baker
And quickly, yeah.
joe rogan
If you think about just a couple hundred years' time in relation to the rest of the world, a couple hundred years, things didn't change that much at all.
mike baker
No, exactly.
It's a remarkable story, but yeah, it's also, you get an appreciation for kind of how we might have treated the Native Americans.
joe rogan
Yeah, for sure.
mike baker
Yeah, yeah.
joe rogan
My seven-year-old came home the other day with a pale look on her face, and I go, what's going on?
She's like, I learned about the Donner Party today.
mike baker
Oh, geez.
joe rogan
Fucking seven.
They're teaching kids about the Donner Party.
She's like, where did they die?
I'm like, the mountains.
They tried to make it across during the winter and they didn't make it.
And she's like, they ate each other?
Like, they ate each other.
Like, they were teaching my fucking seven-year-old that people eat people.
jamie vernon
We were playing Oregon Trail back then, which is, I mean, it's a video game.
unidentified
That's the video game violence.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's a different thing.
But, you know, it's just something about learning that that could happen, I mean, and did just a couple hundred years ago.
It's not that long ago.
mike baker
Well, you look at Lewis and Clark, right?
Look at what they did and what they were wandering out into, which they had no idea what they were doing.
joe rogan
They didn't know what the fuck was out there in terms of predators, in terms of natives.
They didn't know what was going on.
mike baker
I had a call one time from a production company.
I didn't know whether I wanted to take part in a series.
It was on the Donner Party.
They were going to recreate that whole expedition, right?
Right down to the last thing.
Everything was supposed to be historically accurate.
I listened to what they were doing, and I thought to myself, Nah, thank you very much.
I couldn't get myself excited about it, I guess.
I thought it would be interesting, but probably only interesting for the first couple of days, and then you're thinking, why am I here?
Why am I here, right?
Yeah, I mean, for the sake of a show.
But I think they pulled it together.
I'd have to look and see.
joe rogan
They probably faked a bunch of shit anyway.
mike baker
Oh, yeah.
joe rogan
What's they do with those shows?
Things don't go well, like, hmm, time to fake it.
mike baker
Yeah, yeah, because the crew's always right there, right?
It's like Bear Grylls.
It's like, will I survive?
Well, you might, and hopefully your cameraman does too.
joe rogan
Yeah, Bear Grylls, it was a direct response to Survivorman refusing to fake things.
Because he did it on the same network.
unidentified
Oh.
joe rogan
Les Stroud is a friend of mine.
He was telling me what happened.
They were trying to get him to fake things.
And he was like, no, I'm going to go by myself with just cameras.
mike baker
Yeah.
joe rogan
And I'm going to film myself actually surviving.
And if you watch Les...
He'll do a show where he's out there for five, six days.
By the end of those five days, his cheeks are sunken in.
He looks like shit.
He's barely sleeping.
He's just eating anything he can find.
Sometimes he's not eating for days.
mike baker
Bear Grylls looks great.
Yeah, Bear Grylls, he's all good.
joe rogan
He's sleeping in the Marriott.
unidentified
Yeah, exactly what I was going to say.
mike baker
Drinking bottled water.
Now I'm off to the days in.
joe rogan
On camera, he's drinking his own piss and trying to survive off of roots.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
As soon as the camera's like, God, give me that Twinkie.
mike baker
I don't remember where he came out of.
I can't remember where he was in the British military.
I'm trying to remember.
I don't think he was with SBS or SAS or anything like that.
joe rogan
I thought it was.
I thought it was SAS. I thought that's what they said.
mike baker
Maybe it was.
Maybe, but...
Anyway, yeah, but yeah, if you're doing it for real and you think about the amount of calories you burn and what you need to replace, you know, and then you realize that's what it was all about.
People spent every damn waking hour collecting food and water to keep themselves going.
joe rogan
Yeah.
mike baker
That was it until, you know, whenever.
joe rogan
Well, you realize that when you go on hunting trips, like if you had to just hunt for survival, a hunting trip, you could easily go five, six days and not even see an animal.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
If you're in the wrong spot, you got to try to find them.
I mean, there's many days where you go and you don't see anything.
Like, what if you're hungry that day?
Well, tough shit.
Right.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Tough shit.
mike baker
Yeah.
joe rogan
And those people did that with muskets and bows and arrows and tried to make it across the country without any idea what the fuck was in front of them.
mike baker
I mean, Lewis and Clark burned, or Powell going down to Colorado.
The amount of food they needed to consume as an expedition was astounding.
And the time that you had to spend hunting and ensuring that you could keep everybody fed.
And Lewis and Clark, they ran out of food at a certain point.
They were eating their leftover candles, basically.
Were they really?
Yeah, made out of, what, beef tallow.
So, yeah, they were down to, that was it.
joe rogan
Candles?
mike baker
Yeah, that's all they had.
joe rogan
I don't know how hungry you have to be to eat a candle.
mike baker
Candle, yeah.
Who gets the wick?
It's chewy.
Delicious.
joe rogan
It's anything to fill your stomach, I'm sure.
mike baker
Yeah, but anyway.
So that's, you know, but the interesting thing is if you live in a place like, if you live out west, you're surrounded by this all the time.
You think about it, right?
For some reason, I have no idea why.
Again, I've lived all over hell and back.
I'm never moving.
I'm never moving again.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's obviously a gorgeous place where you live.
I get it.
And fuck Connecticut.
You went from Connecticut to there.
mike baker
I did, yeah.
joe rogan
You went from one of the places that I would never live to one of the places that I would definitely live.
mike baker
One of the world's...
One of the country's worst managed states, you know.
It's just incredible.
That New Jersey, obviously, you know, they just...
Underfunded pensions or unfunded pensions.
joe rogan
And a shitload of Lyme disease, too.
mike baker
Oh, yeah.
Have you ever had Lyme disease?
joe rogan
No.
mike baker
I've had it.
It's not good.
joe rogan
Have you got it?
mike baker
Yeah.
joe rogan
Some people get it and they keep it.
mike baker
Yeah, they hold on to it.
unidentified
It's chronic.
joe rogan
Yeah.
mike baker
It's like dysentery or malaria.
It just kind of sits with you.
Yeah.
I... I came down with this.
It was like flu-like conditions.
People are fascinated.
I hope Mike tells us about his Lyme disease story.
And you just feel like absolute shit.
It feels like a bad flu.
And so I would go and I talked to a couple of doctors there in Connecticut.
And they were like, I think it's the flu.
They didn't diagnose it.
So then we go out.
We're out in Idaho.
We hadn't moved out there yet, but we went skiing and we were in Ketchum.
And I go into a clinic because I said, it's just not feeling any better.
This thing is just lingering.
So I go into a clinic there and I talk to the guy.
And it's a young doctor not too long out of medical school.
And he says, where?
Where do you live?
I said, Connecticut.
And he goes, you got Lyme disease.
I'm in Idaho, and he diagnosed Lyme disease.
Turns out he went to his medical school in Yale, in Connecticut.
And he figured it out, and so yeah, that's pretty much what it was.
joe rogan
You had to go to Idaho to get a good doctor, that's what you're saying.
mike baker
That's what I'm saying.
Yeah, we're 43rd in education, but we are tops in healthcare.
So there you go.
Yeah, but it's going to be a bad tick season out west, too, because we didn't get really a big freeze in parts of it, not all over.
joe rogan
They're creepy little animals.
The fact that they carry such debilitating diseases, have you ever heard about the lone star tick?
The lone star tick that turds people, there's a certain derivative of one of those diseases that comes with this lone star tick that...
It attacks something called the alpha gal, which is short for something else, but it essentially makes you allergic to red meat.
mike baker
No.
joe rogan
Yes.
Yeah, there's a tick that if it bites you, if it can give you a disease, it will make you allergic to red meat.
And it's spreading all throughout Texas.
Texas has a great bunch of cases of it.
There it is.
Ticks give me the size of a poppy seed.
Can you spot all five ticks in this photo?
mike baker
There they are.
They're all grouped right there in the center.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Oh, fuck.
What kind of nonsense is that?
That's the CDC? They just tweeted this out the other day.
mike baker
Why did they do that?
joe rogan
Learn how to prevent tick bites.
mike baker
People got grossed out.
Yeah, like, don't eat a muffin.
joe rogan
Yeah, I wonder why.
mike baker
Yeah, if you avoid muffins, you won't get ticks.
joe rogan
Why are you putting ticks on the muffins, you asshole?
You did it on purpose for a picture?
You're ruining food?
mike baker
Yeah.
joe rogan
They scared the shit out of me, those little creepy bugs.
mike baker
Yeah, we've got a big old English golden retriever, so during this time of year, we're always pulling ticks off him.
He'll come inside and sit down, next thing you know, one's crawling off him.
Yeah, it's not good.
joe rogan
So you got lime in Connecticut, right?
mike baker
Yeah.
joe rogan
A lot of people in the East Coast are getting it.
Yeah.
Super common.
mike baker
Connecticut's covered in ticks.
I mean, I had no idea when we moved there, but we had a nice little property, and we had a big pond out there, and a little stream running through.
It was very picturesque, but it was also just covered in ticks.
joe rogan
What can they do about that?
Nothing, right?
mike baker
You know, they'll go through and spray, but then you got to probably get the kids out.
unidentified
Yeah, right?
joe rogan
What the fuck is this prey killing besides the ticks?
mike baker
Exactly.
So we don't do anything like that out there.
And it's not so bad out west, but they still have it.
And they don't have the same types.
They certainly don't have this red meat tick.
I've never heard that before.
joe rogan
That's a new one.
mike baker
That's a creep show right there.
joe rogan
I think they discovered it within the last five years.
mike baker
Yeah, that wouldn't be good.
I mean, I've given up a lot of red meat, but now I'm not going to give up red meat entirely.
joe rogan
Don't give up red meat, Mike.
mike baker
Well, no, you know what I mean?
I eat less than I used to.
joe rogan
Eat it all.
mike baker
Nah, eat it all.
joe rogan
Don't listen to those fucking monsters.
mike baker
Yeah.
I try to cut back to some degree.
Why?
You know, just for, you know, you get a little bit older, and I'm trying to watch.
I got a family history of heart disease, massive problem with heart disease.
My parents went both that way.
One of my brothers has a defibrillator, and others got a stimulator.
I've had several stents, the others on heart medication.
So it's a family thing.
So you try to do what you can, but I'm not giving it up.
I'm not giving up my martini.
Are you kidding me?
joe rogan
I really don't believe that red meat has any effect on that.
I think it's processed carbohydrates and sugar.
I think that's what it's all about.
And this comes from conversations with real scientists and nutritionists and people who understand the actual studies and data.
There is an issue combining carbohydrates and simple refined carbohydrates with red meat.
Saturated fats by themselves, not an issue.
Saturated fats with high levels of carbohydrates, definitely an issue.
mike baker
Why?
I just say interaction?
joe rogan
Yeah, well, the interaction between the two of them, the way Dr. Rhonda Patrick talked about it, I could get a hold of her and try to get her to do it again and explain it to me.
But it's the interaction between saturated fats and carbohydrates.
It's not saturated fats on themselves, on their own.
Saturated fat like red meat and organ meat in particular, extremely healthy for you.
Very good for you.
But people are so used to consuming sugar and simple carbohydrates and processed foods for fuel that your body just gets accustomed to it.
When you add saturated fat to processed carbohydrates and sugar, that's when you get issues.
That's why a lot of these studies that show that Red meat increases heart disease.
If people eat red meat over four or five times a week, have higher instances of heart disease.
But they're not asking what are they eating with the red meat.
Are they eating it in a burger?
Are they eating it with fries and shakes?
Because that's different than eating a grass-fed steak.
With avocado and maybe a salad.
That's not bad for you.
At all.
Look, if red meat really gave people heart disease and cancer and all these things that people say, there'd be no people.
Because people have been eating red meat from the beginning of time, and literally 97% of the population eats meat.
mike baker
But people process this stuff differently.
joe rogan
Exactly.
Nitrites, processing, all the different...
Preservatives that people put on in red meat and processed foods, that's what's fucking people up.
That and refined sugars and carbohydrates.
mike baker
Do you pay attention to cholesterol issues?
joe rogan
Not dietary cholesterol, but neither does the American Heart Association.
Even Weight Watchers now says that dietary cholesterol It has no impact on your actual blood cholesterol.
Weight Watchers lets you eat as many eggs as you want.
Eggs have a zero-point system in Weight Watchers now.
Eggs are zero points.
You can eat as many eggs as you want.
mike baker
I've been doing that egg white thing?
joe rogan
Everybody their whole life.
Egg whites are not good, but the good part is the yolk.
You want the egg and the yolk together.
mike baker
But the protein's in the white, right?
joe rogan
No, there's protein in the yolk too.
They both have protein.
This is nonsense, but the cholesterol is in the yolk.
But it's not bad for you.
Cholesterol is the building block for hormones.
We get lied to from the beginning of time when it comes to...
Well, first of all, there's a lack of understanding, and then there's also these studies that come out that are fucking funded by the sugar industry.
You know about that?
Where the sugar industry paid scientists to take the blame off of sugar and put it onto saturated fat?
There was a whole New York Times article about it.
The sugar industry bribed scientists to lie about the dangers of sugar.
mike baker
What's the difference between, I don't even know what you would call refined sugar, and beet sugar?
Is there a...
joe rogan
Different sugars have a different effect.
They have a lower glycemic index, and it really usually is dependent upon whether or not they're connected to fiber.
Sugar in the form of fruit is not bad for you.
If you eat an apple, it's connected to fiber.
You're eating the whole fruit.
That's what it's supposed to be.
That's how it's supposed to be consumed.
The real issue comes when you take that sugar out of that fruit, You know, whether it's high fructose corn syrup or whatever the fuck else you're getting sugar from, and then consume that sugar.
Because then it's sugar free of all the natural things that contain it.
Fiber.
And the actual, you know, the tissue, you know, the actual fruit itself, the tissue of the fruit.
mike baker
We try to keep processed foods out of the house for the most part, right?
So we try to keep the kids eating healthy and all that.
Things we're supposed to do.
But it is interesting in the sense that, you know, from an economic standpoint, right?
Eating healthy, there's a, you know, you're advantaged if you're, you know, middle class or upper class, right?
If you're, if you don't have the financial wherewithal, I think that's, I don't know, maybe I'm just blowing smoke around, but I think that there is something to be said for that.
I mean, because if you're going and you're thinking, I'm going to eat organic, I'm going to eat all this.
joe rogan
It's fucking expensive.
mike baker
It's expensive, yeah.
And so you think, okay, well, so you've got a group of people that are disadvantaged in the nutrition side of things because they end up defaulting to the processed foods or the fast foods.
But I'm happy to hear about the red meat.
Now, you know, I'm going to walk out of here.
I'm going to say, I can eat a steak whenever I want, and then I'm going to get bit by this tick.
I'm like, I want a steak.
joe rogan
Well, salmon is fantastic for you.
That's 100% true.
And the essential fatty acids in salmon, omega fatty acids, salmon is just one of the best things you can eat.
Wild salmon.
mike baker
Oh, my God.
joe rogan
Phenomenal for you.
mike baker
We've got to freeze it before you haul in some king salmon.
joe rogan
Beautiful.
unidentified
It's fantastic.
joe rogan
It's beautiful.
mike baker
It's so good.
And yeah, that's the best meal.
It's that and some basic vegetables.
Exactly.
And boom, and you're done.
And luckily, we're lucky.
Our kids like fish.
They really like fish.
A lot of their friends, they'll come over for dinner.
I don't want fish.
joe rogan
Oh, those little fucks.
mike baker
Yeah, I'm not going to have that.
And they want a burger.
Okay, fine.
But yeah, we eat a ton of fish because you catch a lot of fish.
joe rogan
Sure.
mike baker
So yeah, it's really good.
joe rogan
Kids get really addicted to bread.
They get really addicted to...
We eat hamburgers and sandwiches and things with carbs.
It's about carbs with kids.
And you know, you need a certain amount of carbs for sure, but we eat way too much in general.
And that is most likely what's responsible for heart disease.
Most likely what's responsible for the overweight epidemic in America, it's carbs.
mike baker
Yeah, I can believe that.
I do think that people react differently.
For sure.
We could have two people.
We've got the same diet.
I'm going to process it one way and I'm going to end up with very high cholesterol.
joe rogan
That's a fact.
mike baker
It's going to be a problem.
Yeah, so anyway.
Bottom line is you get to a certain point and you start thinking, I'm going to pay a little more attention.
So that's where I am in life.
I'm paying a little more attention to what I'm eating.
I'm paying a little more attention to my regimen as far as what I do for exercise.
joe rogan
I'm going to send you some podcasts to listen to.
mike baker
Yeah, that would be good.
joe rogan
Give you a real understanding of the actual science behind...
Food versus the misconceptions and versus the misinformation because there's so much of it out there and then there's so much you know we've talked about this before this is probably a good thing to talk about this now and I need to know what's true and what's not true remember we talked about how the guy who started the Atkins diet died and he was 258 pounds and all that well apparently when he fell and hit his head He had serious problems in the hospital and gained somewhere
around 50 pounds while he was in the hospital.
Even more than 50 pounds.
I believe he was 195 pounds, they're saying, when he was checked into the hospital.
And his heart disease had nothing to do with his diet.
It was a viral illness that caused his heart to fail.
And this was all related to organ failure.
He had massive organ failure and massive water retention because his body was falling apart while he was in the hospital.
mike baker
Most people think he died how?
joe rogan
Well, most people think he died falling and hitting his head, which is true, but the vegan propaganda was that he actually died of a heart attack and that he was 258 pounds when he died, so his diet didn't work.
But they're saying that, no, when he was checked into the hospital after he hit his head, he was only 195 pounds.
So all this weight gain that they're attributing to his diet, they're being disingenuous and untruthful.
mike baker
The first thing you do when you check into a hospital is you gotta check yourself out as quickly as possible.
joe rogan
Well, this guy, I mean, when he checked into the hospital, he was fucked.
Apparently, I mean, he fell and cracked his head open on the ice.
And, you know, it wasn't a good scene.
And he was an older gentleman when it happened.
I believe he was in his 70s.
But he died.
He had massive organ failure.
So somebody sent me something yesterday about it so that whatever his heart disease was, it was not from hardening of the arteries, from cholesterol, from eating all that food.
It's so hard to understand what's right and what's wrong, too, because people get so ideological about it, especially vegans.
And even some meat-eaters get ideological about it.
People aren't looking at the real relationship between food and health.
mike baker
I've got a few people in my family who are...
I'm vegan.
And yeah, it's a little religion, right?
I mean, they're wonderful people.
They're great people.
But when it comes to this, it's a little bit of a religious thing for them.
joe rogan
It's definitely ideological.
mike baker
Yeah.
joe rogan
And they want to think there's only one way, and that's to be plant-based.
It cures all diseases.
It fixes it.
Well, I know.
I've had people that have gone vegan, and they got sick.
And they had bad blood work, and Sam Harris is one of them.
He tried it for a little while.
He tried it for quite a while, and he did it the right way, and he just got ill from it.
mike baker
Yeah, you know, I'm a big fan of moderation.
You know, just moderation and everything, right?
I mean, that seems to be a reasonable attitude, I think, in terms of when it comes to your diet, right?
I try not to overthink anything in life, and we just...
We're in that point in society where maybe because things are easy, and we have made it easy because of technology and everything else, that we're able to just analyze everything to a fucking fairly well, right?
So I'm just thinking maybe it's not that complicated, you know?
Just...
You know, you work out, you burn more than you take in, you know, you try to eat healthy, you stick to the basics, you know, grains and fruits and vegetables and meat and fish.
joe rogan
Even grains are fucking terrible for you, man.
mike baker
Really?
See, I didn't know that.
I always said grains.
Somebody told me grains.
joe rogan
Most grains are not good for you.
Most grains are bullshit.
It's just carbohydrates.
mike baker
All right, nuts and seeds.
How about nuts and seeds?
joe rogan
Vegetables.
Nuts are great.
All right.
Seeds are great.
Vegetables.
unidentified
Almonds.
joe rogan
Yeah, almonds are fantastic.
mike baker
See, I eat a ton of almonds.
unidentified
Good.
mike baker
Yeah, look at that.
unidentified
It's good stuff.
mike baker
I know.
joe rogan
High in calories, too.
mike baker
Yeah, there you go.
joe rogan
They are.
Good calories, healthy fats.
mike baker
We used to, there were times when, if we were traveling or whatever, and you were sitting in some safe house somewhere, And just waiting for something to happen or just happened to be holed up for whatever reason.
And there was like nothing in there.
I mean, I remember times when I would eat oatmeal.
That was all I would eat because that's all that was available.
And you'd eat oatmeal for like three weeks in a row just because you were waiting to get on the road and move.
You didn't have access to other foods.
You're thinking, wow, that's a lot of oatmeal.
Or something, right?
And so I developed, when I was younger, I developed sort of this attitude of, it's just fuel.
Just, you know, keep moving forward.
So you've got to eat something.
And so for a long time, I didn't really put much stock in, oh, it tastes great, or it's, you know, it's really good.
It was just more, you know, got to consume something to keep moving.
And, you know, so it's only, it hasn't been, it's been recent when I've really kind of got focused on it.
You know, what do you have to do to When you've got little kids, you know what it's like.
You want to stick around, right?
joe rogan
I'm going to send you some podcasts.
Do you cook?
mike baker
I do.
Oddly enough, I like to cook.
Oddly enough?
Well, you know, most people assume if I can't operate my watch, then I can't turn a stove on.
But I can do that.
And I find it actually a lot of fun.
unidentified
It is.
mike baker
And it's stress relieving.
joe rogan
It's very satisfying.
It's very satisfying too when you sit down to a meal that you prepared yourself.
Especially if you grow your own vegetables and pull them out of the garden.
mike baker
Which we do.
My wife has a great little vegetable garden.
And so we do that.
We have a few fruit trees.
And so that's nice.
Yeah, it's good.
It's good.
But the whole process is nice.
And I'm one of those people.
I think there's two types of people.
You're cooking.
You've got a big mess all around you.
Or you're cooking.
You clean up as you're cooking, right?
unidentified
Yeah.
mike baker
Which one are you?
I like things to be the way they're supposed to be.
I like to clean up while I'm doing things, right?
Oh, okay.
Yeah, so I'm that.
The rest, yeah.
And my kids are actually the two older boys.
They're taking part in it now.
They like to grill.
What's grilling?
Is grilling bad for you or good for you?
joe rogan
No, grilling's good.
mike baker
Okay, all right.
I was afraid you were going to tell me you shouldn't grill meat.
joe rogan
I like grilling.
mike baker
Okay, all right.
Okay, good.
That's because that's what we do, basically.
joe rogan
Nothing wrong with that.
mike baker
We've got a big 100,000 BTUs outside, and we just fire that up.
But yeah, there's nothing more to say.
When you pull a fish out, whether it's the ocean or the river, and that's what you're eating that night.
joe rogan
Phenomenal.
mike baker
It's the best.
joe rogan
It is, especially if you could do it that day.
A campfire, like if you get it right by the, bring a skillet and cook a trout right there on the beach.
mike baker
Trout for breakfast.
joe rogan
It's amazing.
mike baker
And a couple of eggs.
unidentified
Oh, yeah.
joe rogan
You're making me hungry, Mike.
mike baker
Yeah, I know.
But there's something about it.
People always say, really?
You got fish in the morning?
That sounds odd.
But you're up there early.
The sun's coming up.
You catch a couple of fish.
joe rogan
People are weird with what you eat in the morning.
mike baker
Yeah.
joe rogan
Like, what, you should always have cereal in the morning?
What does that mean?
mike baker
Well, it's just food.
joe rogan
It's food.
You should have food whenever you want the food.
If you want to have a steak in the morning, there's nothing wrong with that.
mike baker
I remember when I was a kid.
That was back in the days when, you know, box cereals, you know, that's what you ate, right?
And the sugar pops.
They didn't even make it.
They didn't hide it, right?
It was like...
joe rogan
Sugar was in the name.
Sugar pops.
Super sugar crisp.
mike baker
Remember that?
Yeah, it's Sugar Smacks.
Yeah, there's a ton of them.
Yeah, it's fantastic.
And as a kid, you could go through an entire box in one morning before you went out and played baseball.
Listen to me.
joe rogan
You were cracked up on sugar, just running around up there with your eyes burning out and your pupils dilated.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Mike Baker, it's always a pleasure talking to you, my friend.
mike baker
Hey, man, listen, thank you very much.
joe rogan
Three hours just flew by.
mike baker
Believe that?
Good God.
joe rogan
That's why your phone's dead.
mike baker
I'll see you out in Boise, man.
joe rogan
Sounds good, brother.
mike baker
Thank you.
joe rogan
Thank you.
unidentified
Thanks.
joe rogan
What happened?
unidentified
We're still live!
Don't say anything quick!
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