PBD - Patrick Bet-David - "Billionaires Shouldn’t Exist" - Ben & Jerry’s Founder SLAMS The Rich, Capitalism & Corporate Greed

March 12, 2025 - PBD - Patrick Bet-David

01:45:39

"Billionaires Shouldn’t Exist" - Ben & Jerry’s Founder SLAMS The Rich, Capitalism & Corporate Greed

Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s, joins Patrick Bet-David to discuss his journey from ice cream mogul to activist. Once a staunch Bernie Sanders supporter, Cohen now backs Elon Musk’s DOGE, challenging big government waste. In this fiery exchange, capitalism vs. socialism takes center stage as Cohen rethinks his stance on government spending. ------ 👕 GET THE LATEST VT MERCH: https://bit.ly/3BZbD6l 📰 VTNEWS.AI: ⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/3OExClZ 🎙️ FOLLOW THE PODCAST ON SPOTIFY: ⁠⁠https://bit.ly/4g57zR2 🎙️ FOLLOW THE PODCAST ON ITUNES: ⁠⁠https://bit.ly/4g1bXAh 🎙️ FOLLOW THE PODCAST ON ALL PLATFORMS: https://bit.ly/4eXQl6A 📱 CONNECT ON MINNECT: ⁠⁠https://bit.ly/4ikyEkC 👔 BET-DAVID CONSULTING: ⁠⁠https://bit.ly/3ZjWhB7 🎓 VALUETAINMENT UNIVERSITY: ⁠⁠https://bit.ly/3BfA5Qw 📺 JOIN THE CHANNEL: ⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/4g5C6Or 💬 TEXT US: Text “PODCAST” to 310-340-1132 to get the latest updates in real-time! SUBSCRIBE TO: @VALUETAINMENT @ValuetainmentComedy @theunusualsuspectspodcast @bizdocpodcast ABOUT US: Patrick Bet-David is the founder and CEO of Valuetainment Media. He is the author of the #1 Wall Street Journal Bestseller “Your Next Five Moves” (Simon & Schuster) and a father of 2 boys and 2 girls. He currently resides in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

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	Ben and Jerry's ice cream.
	I got my pint of Ben and Jerry's.
	Ben and Jerry's ice cream.
	Ben and Jerry, Ben and Jerry.
	Ben and Jerry's.
	Ben and Jerry's.
	One of the best business stories we've had in America, guys.
	How do you, who has made his money as a capitalist, support a socialist?
	These poor people are getting screwed.
	We shouldn't be in a country where you work 40 hours a week full-time and you can't afford to have a decent life.
	That should be illegal.
	Do you really want to go there?
	It's not going to be good if you really want to go there.
	Hey, speaking of ice cream, do you got a spoon?
	Good shit, isn't it?
	I've never had dirt.
	Yeah, pass it over.
	This is ridiculous.
	After this ice cream, I'm a socialist.
	If voting for Bernie was an option, he would have won.
	I don't need that much money.
	I can tell you that.
	I'm part of it, but I'm against it.
	Ben, what a capitalist you are, though.
	You know, you're a good consumer.
	We would classify you as a heavy user, and we appreciate people like you.
	I don't think we could be the number one ones.
	But please tell me you're joking right now that you didn't know you're number one.
	You build the number one ice cream company in America.
	I think that there's a form of capitalism that works well.
	can you one minute say the government wastes money and next minute say let's pay more money because we think they can do a better job with it they're so confused right now They're about to have a drink right now.
	That's a that's a confuser.
	You just confuse the shit out of me.
	Adam, what's your point?
	The future looks bright.
	My handshake is better than anything I ever saw.
	It's right here.
	You are a one-of-a-spirit.
	I don't think I've ever said this before.
	Okay, so, gang, every once in a while I do podcasts where I have no clue where we're going to go.
	I'm just being very upfront with it.
	I have no idea what we're doing today.
	What I do know is, I don't know if you recognize this brand, Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream.
	If you've ever had Ben and Jerry's ice cream, the founder, Ben, is here today, Ben Cohen to kind of tell you an idea about where he's at while we're talking right now.
	They're from Vermont.
	I've been to Ben and Jerry's because the insurance company that we're one of the guys that writes the most insurance policies with them National Life Group is down the street from you.
	So I know them.
	So I've been to Vermont quite a few times.
	So we go to the headquarters.
	We have a good time.
	We're going to try Ben and Jerry's.
	I brought a lot of other ice cream that he hasn't seen it yet.
	I brought Haagen Daz.
	The reason why this is important is because I used to work at Haagen Daz back in 94, 95.
	So there's a certain affinity that was the number one banana split maker in the entire Glendale Galleria mall.
	I was the best.
	I had a reputation.
	Do you know how to split it?
	I know how to split it.
	I know how to put the strawberry, the ice cream, the chocolate, the nuts on top of it with the Nutella.
	I was the best.
	You know, people have lost the art of making a good banana split.
	We ought to call you in and you can train our.
	We may make a comeback.
	I'm telling you, I was very good at that part.
	But let me tell you what's kind of interesting about this conversation.
	Tony tells me Ben Cohen from Ben and Jerry's reached out, says he wants to be on the podcast.
	I said, really?
	I said, is he not a socialist Bernie Sanders guy?
	He said, I think he is.
	I said, why do I think that they're, you know, Vermont, Bernie Sanders?
	Yeah.
	And I'm looking at him.
	I'm like, okay, why does he want to come talk to us?
	I'm curious.
	Well, he's got some things he wants to talk about.
	Great.
	To kind of start it off so the audience knows your background, what you guys did.
	One of the best business stories we've had in America, guys.
	Let me tell you why.
	You guys started in 77.
	You were a potter and Jerry was a, he got rejected from medical school.
	The two of you guys decided to start a bagel shop, but the bagel machine was too high.
	You enrolled in a $5 ice cream making course instead.
	You guys took that a year later, created Ben and Jerry's with $12,000, and you turned that into a machine.
	You sold it in, I don't know what year it was for $326 million, like 25 years ago or something.
	That's right.
	And then today, Ben and Jerry's, just so you guys know how much ice cream they, the founders started in ice cream.
	They do a billion dollars of sales a year right now.
	So the question then becomes: how do you, who has made as money as a capitalist, support a socialist?
	How does that work out?
	I'm really curious.
	You know, I think there's social democracies.
	I mean, I don't think socialism is opposed to capitalism.
	I think there's a way of doing capitalism that kind of cares about people, that has a better safety net, that is not so rapacious.
	I mean, what we have in the U.S. is unfettered capitalism.
	And what ends up happening when you have that is a tremendous spread between rich and poor.
	You know, when Jerry and I started Ben and Jerry's, the spread between CEO pay and line-level workers pay was 40 to 1.
	And we thought that's outrageous.
	So we had a lower one.
	We came up with the five to one ratio.
	That's interesting, by the way.
	And that's changed over time.
	So it's no longer five to one at Ben and Jerry's.
	But today, the salary ratio between CEOs and line-level employees is 400 to 1.
	And what?
	We're in a situation where, I don't know, what is it?
	0.1% of the wealthiest people in the country own 90% of the wealth.
	Which you're part of it.
	You're part of the 0.1%.
	I'm part of it, but I'm against it.
	What do you mean you're part of it, but you're against it?
	Well, I am one of the, you know, I'm a wealthy person, but I'm against the system that creates such a spread between rich and poor.
	Why, though?
	Because poor people are getting screwed.
	But why, though?
	Because why am I against it?
	No, so okay.
	So please help me understand this.
	So at first you start Ben and Jerry's, and I saw that where you guys were doing five to one ratio, meaning if the lowest level employee full-time was making 30 grand a year, the CEO couldn't make $150 a year.
	That was at the time.
	What do you think the ratio is right now at Ben and Jerry's?
	I really have no idea.
	Would you say it's 1 in 40?
	It might be.
	But you work there.
	So you know what the CEOs make.
	You know what kind of money is making.
	You probably have the context in there.
	Let's just say the CEO of a company.
	Like if I go right now, Rob, can you find out who is the CEO of Ben and Jerry's?
	I don't even know it.
	Ben and Jerry's CEO, salary.
	I don't know what it is.
	I've never Googled it.
	Let's just see.
	I'm interested.
	I've never Googled it either.
	Okay, so Ben and Jerry's salary CEO back in 2000.
	We're talking.
	That was at the time that the company got sold.
	But at the time, the salary was 504.
	25 years ago, it was 504.
	Okay.
	So, which became 17 to 1.
	All right.
	So I want you to follow this.
	So what you just said is I'm just responding to what you said.
	So Ben and Jerry's got started.
	Originally, you guys wanted to be very noble and, hey, we're not going to pay anybody at the highest level five times more than the lowest level employee.
	Lowest level makes 30, highest level makes 150.
	Okay, cool.
	Nice guys, noble guys.
	By 2000, you build a business that's doing 300 and that's doing 200 million a year.
	You guys are selling it for 326.
	Then the CEO pay was 17 times the lowest amount the employee was making.
	So that disparity went from 5 to 1 to 17 to 1.
	Let's say today, who is today's CEO of Ben and Jerry's?
	Dave Stever.
	Is it Dave?
	Dave Stever.
	What is Dave Stever's salary at Dave Stever Salary, Ben and Jerry?
	If I go to it, I wish I could see it.
	I wish it was public.
	It's not showing it.
	But let's just say he's making a couple million a year.
	You guys are a million dollars.
	I don't think he is.
	Does he get stocks?
	Does he get shares?
	Does he get bonus?
	Does he get L-tipped?
	I don't think so.
	I would think that, you know.
	But if it was 500,000 25 years ago, then it's not going to be less than 25 years ago.
	I believe.
	I believe it probably is, but I don't know.
	I don't have to say that.
	I know, but let's just say it's a million bucks.
	Let's say conservatively it's a million bucks.
	And let's say the ratio now, instead of 17 to 1, is 30 to 1.
	So you guys started off 5 to 1.
	It went 17 to 1.
	Let's say it's 30, 40 to 1 now.
	And then at the time, you're saying 40 to 1 was what it was in the corporate world.
	Now it's 400 to 1.
	You guys have 10x.
	They have 10x.
	So what's wrong with that?
	What's wrong with if you're creating value?
	Ben, you guys have something that's very difficult.
	Do you know how many people in America build a business from scratch that go from zero to a billion dollars in sales?
	Do you know how?
	Oh, Ben, what you've done is called doing the impossible.
	And I think the market should recognize you for it, your level of creativity.
	So that's the part.
	Do you think like when you guys originally started and you're building a business and you and your partner, you guys are two nice guys, Potter and a guy that was rejected from medical school, you built something with a $5 course that you take on making ice cream.
	And at first, maybe you guys coming from a place of socialistic ideologies.
	And then now you're kind of like, well, maybe capitalism's kind of cool and there's nothing wrong with capitalism.
	Have you gone through that evolution yet or not yet?
	I think that there's a form of capitalism that works well.
	You know, we've always been a capitalistic country.
	My understanding is that when Reagan took office, the marginal tax rate on the highest level was like 80%.
	Which nobody paid for, just so you know that.
	They had it, but no one ever paid it.
	No, really, no one ever paid it.
	It was what they talked about, but everybody adjusted in ways so nobody, even like people would do certain jobs, so they never paid the highest marginal tax rate.
	Well, whatever.
	But I mean, that's the idea.
	That's what kind of makes sense to me.
	Because to have it at 80%?
	Well, you know, what is it now?
	What's the top marginal bracket?
	If you live in California, you're paying nearly 60%, but let's just say 43%.
	Right.
	You think that's too little?
	I think that the system that has created such disparity between rich and poor, and that's part of it.
	So no, I don't think that works.
	I think a lot of people in this country are being left behind.
	I think 50% of the country is getting screwed economically.
	Why, though?
	Because of laws and regulations that favor wealth.
	Such as what?
	You're a rich man.
	But what is there?
	There's lower taxes on capital gains, right?
	But those who don't work pay less taxes.
	Let me ask you a question.
	When you sold, you paid capital gains.
	Sure.
	No, you did.
	When you sell a company, you didn't pay ordinary income.
	You pay capital gains taxes.
	So you guys sell for 326.
	Let's just say at the time you won 80%.
	I don't know what percent.
	I didn't.
	Okay, but let's just say whatever it is.
	You still are a nine-figure guy.
	You made real money.
	Each of you.
	You made nine figures like $100 million plus.
	No, I'm eight figures.
	Okay.
	But guess what you are?
	You're still very rich compared to the average person.
	But here's a question for you.
	I don't need that much money.
	I can tell you that.
	Give it away.
	I give a lot of it away.
	Give all of it away.
	Just keep a half a million of it.
	Eventually.
	Well, why don't you do it while you're alive?
	I'm working on it.
	But why don't you do it sooner?
	I don't know.
	I haven't seen it.
	You shouldn't do it.
	You've earned it and you worked your ass off.
	Well, there's a lot of people that are working their ass off.
	The whole bottom 50% of the country is working their asses off and getting paid shit.
	What's the difference between them and you?
	What's the difference between them and me?
	You know, there's some luck involved.
	There was a good idea at the right time.
	What's the longest vacation you took in the first 10 years of building Ben and Jerry's?
	Not much.
	Oh, really?
	Why not?
	Other people who have jobs can take longer vacations.
	Why didn't you take it?
	I guess I chose to build the business.
	And therefore, you made the money that you made.
	Most people don't want to work as hard as you did.
	What you did was very difficult, Ben.
	You got to give yourself credit for it.
	So to me, you know, I understand the concept of, you know, well, the rich people are this and the rich is getting richer, the poor is getting poorer and questioning that.
	But the reason why you make a lot more money than some of the people that you're saying are left behind, you solved a bigger problem.
	You kept trying to find creative ways of coming out with different, you know, flavors of the ice cream.
	You guys kept trying to be creative and you worked your ass off.
	And the market finally said, did these guys really build a business from zero to doing 200 million a year?
	Yes.
	Holy shit, let's buy it from them.
	And then now after they bought it from you 25 years ago, it was doing 200 million.
	Now it's doing a billionaire.
	You know what that says?
	You guys built such a good business that somebody, after they bought it, they made five times the amount of money.
	That's a real business.
	That's not easy to do.
	What percentage of Americans do you think are willing to work that hard as hard as you?
	Not that many.
	I come across loads of people that are working really, really hard for really low wages.
	You know, so I, yeah, I had an idea and yeah, maybe I'm good at making ice cream flavors, coming up with ice cream flavors.
	Somebody else is a really good roofer and they work really hard.
	Roofing.
	Why shouldn't they get paid?
	You want a roofer to get paid $300 million, $326 million?
	I'm not saying that much.
	All I'm saying is that what is the minimum wage in the country?
	Let's say $15 million.
	Give or take a look.
	No, the minimum wage.
	$720.
	Let's say it's $7.20.
	$7.20.
	That should be illegal.
	That's a poverty wage.
	We shouldn't be in a country whereby you work 40 hours a week full time and you can't afford to have a decent life.
	I agree with you, but let me ask you a question.
	Let me ask you a question.
	For the people that get paid $7.25, for those who do, the few that do, why do you think they do?
	Well, I don't know how many there are, but I think there's a lot.
	But why do you think they only get paid $7?
	They don't have to say yes to it.
	It's the only job they can find.
	Why can't they find any other jobs?
	Think about that.
	Actually, answer that question, right?
	Why can't they find other?
	Why can't they find another job?
	Rob, what's the least amount you ever got paid?
	To calculate, it'd be annually $22,000 a year.
	So $22,000 a year divided by, do it divide for four, and how many hours a week were you working, Robin?
	50.
	Okay, do 50 times 50 is 2,500.
	Do 22,000 divided by 2,500.
	$7, $8, $8.8.
	Yep.
	So do you make $8.8 right now?
	No.
	Did you ever think you're going to make the kind of money you're making right now?
	Not when I was making $22,000 a year.
	Right?
	So, but when you came here, and all of a sudden you're like, well, we can really build something special here, right?
	Correct.
	But why do we pay you that?
	Why do we pay, whatever the number you know, why do we pay you what we pay you?
	Experience, hard work, what I can do in the future.
	A combination of all three of things.
	Great.
	But have you earned it?
	Yes, still earning it though.
	I know you are.
	And you're working your ass up.
	But if somebody right now paid you $7.25, would you take it?
	No.
	Why, though?
	Because I've gotten to a place where my hard work deserved to be rewarded.
	That's right.
	And guess what?
	If right now this doesn't work out, do you have options?
	Yes.
	But you like being here.
	Love it.
	Of course.
	So that's the part.
	So for me, I have to realize I got to take care of the guy.
	And then for him, guess what he's got to realize?
	He's got to bring value.
	And that's the part when I hear that message sometimes.
	I'm like, okay, I get it, $7.25.
	They don't have to say yes to it.
	You know, I think about my life.
	I'm white.
	I grew up in a family where my father was a college graduate.
	He went to school at night.
	He was able to buy a house based on a government program that provided money to buy a house for white people, but by federal regulation, it was not available to black people.
	They would not loan.
	This was about redlining.
	The government would not loan into areas that were mostly black.
	And even if a black person wanted to buy a house in a white area, they said, oh, no, you can't do that because then it'll be black.
	That's illegal, immoral, unfair.
	And, you know, so the.
	What year was that?
	What year?
	Well, I was born in 51.
	So let's say.
	It was around there.
	That's when they did it.
	You're talking about like 50s is before, like, this is pre-MLK era.
	Yes.
	Okay.
	And it's a different America today, though.
	Well, it's no.
	Well, the America today has a lot to do with the America of the 1950s and before.
	So my parents were able to buy that house, and that's what helped them build wealth.
	That's where they got their equity.
	That's what allowed them to send me to a decent college.
	That's what allowed them to be in that neighborhood that had good public schools.
	And there's a lot of other people, say black people, that housing program was not available to.
	They were not able to build that equity.
	They were not able to build that generational wealth.
	They were not able to go to decent public schools.
	And so they didn't get that education.
	And that's part of what leads to the current situation where, you know, if you look at the disparity in wealth between black people and white people, I mean, it's kind of huge.
	And, you know, I mean, the whole country was, you know, it goes back generations.
	You're comparing today to the 50s?
	This is a very different America.
	I mean, I understand.
	So the part that I truly want to sympathize with you and empathize with you and understand is the life you've lived.
	I've not lived your life.
	So I can't sit there and put myself in your shoes and say, well, you know what?
	I understand why you have the certain feelings that you have.
	We all have our own set of stories.
	I got it.
	But let's face it, you didn't have enough money where your parents could finance it because you guys had to take a $5 ice cream course to learn how to do this.
	So it's not like your parents gave you $200,000 to start a business with.
	Now bring it to me.
	So now how about me?
	I wasn't born here, right?
	My parents got a divorce.
	My dad was a cashier at a 99 cent store.
	I go in the military and I get out.
	I had a one-point AGPA in high school.
	I'm planning on staying in the military for 20 years.
	Should I be felt sorry for because my parents got a divorce and I was a welfare kid and I had a one-point AGPA and I went over there?
	No, I don't, my dad never felt sorry for me.
	Nobody's talking about feeling sorry for you.
	But wait a minute.
	You're saying generational wealth.
	You know how much money my parents gave to me?
	99 cents.
	But you know what they gave me?
	I was born in America.
	I lived here at 12 years old.
	I came to America.
	It's the greatest gift.
	The greatest gift anybody can give you is being born in America.
	So you know what I did with that?
	I went to work and I made some money.
	And I'm not white and I'm Middle Eastern and I'm from Iran.
	And people have called me a lot of weird names while I was in the military.
	They call me terrorists.
	They call me this.
	They call me that because I was in the military because I have a Middle Eastern look they had never seen when I was in Alabama.
	Do I really want you to feel sorry for me?
	I think the part about looking at it from that standpoint, your argument is the generational wealth argument.
	Your parents gave you generational wealth that maybe others didn't get it.
	I'm not saying that they gave me money.
	I mean, you know, they were able to pay for college for me.
	Do you think even without college, you would have eventually built Ben and Jerry's?
	What did you learn from college that helped you build Ben and Jerry's?
	I'm curious.
	Not much.
	Thank you.
	So let's just say they don't pay you for college.
	Would you have eventually stirred Bill Ben and Jerry's?
	What I'm getting to is the whole way that I, the whole environment in which I was brought up, being able to go to really good public schools.
	And, you know, I go to low-income areas in places around our country, and the schools are shit.
	Why do you think, though?
	Why do you think?
	Why do you think?
	Do you really want to go there?
	It's not going to be good if you really want to go there.
	You know, I assume it's about money and funding.
	Do you know out of the top 25 crime cities in America, how many of them are ran by a Democratic mayor?
	21 of them.
	Sometimes it's 17, sometimes it's 21.
	Why do you think?
	So what are you saying?
	That they're high crime because they're run by a Democratic?
	Of course it is.
	Do you know since D.C. 19?
	That is the logical facility.
	Do you know?
	No, no, no.
	But do you know DC 15?
	I want to talk about the logical fallacy.
	I want to debate.
	Please break down my argument.
	The logical fallacy of post hoc ergo prop to hockey right after it, therefore because of it.
	Okay, because something happens after something happened doesn't mean that it caused it.
	Ben, can you pull up what are the top five cities in America in crime?
	Pull up the what are the top five cities in America in crime, in crime.
	Let's just, can you zoom in a little bit?
	So, because my eyes, yeah.
	All right, Memphis, Tennessee, St. Louis, Detroit, Michigan, Baltimore, Maryland, Little Rock, Arkansas.
	Can you do me a favor?
	Keep that page, and can you ask the same question?
	Who are the mayors of each city?
	I don't know this because we're just I don't know the answer.
	I may five of them may be Republican and I may look like a fool right now.
	So do me a favor, Rob.
	Take each one of them, copy-paste Paul Young in Memphis, Tennessee, and just put mayor next to it.
	Yeah, is that him?
	Can you go and see where he's at politically?
	Democratic Party top right.
	Okay, let's go to the next one.
	Let's go to the next one.
	To Shara Jones, mayor, let's do the same thing.
	And again, I don't know.
	She's probably a Republican.
	Nope, she's a Democrat.
	Okay, let's go to the next one.
	Go to the next one.
	I want to know what your point is.
	Let's assume they're all Democratic.
	I mean, we know that most of the people called horrible policies.
	What's this one?
	Is this one a Republican?
	Unaffiliated.
	Unaffiliated.
	Can you go click on the guy's profile?
	Let's go a little bit deeper.
	If you can go on his Wikipedia, zoom in.
	So Detroit, Michigan.
	Dr. Trent, go a little bit lower, Rob.
	Can you, okay, there it is.
	Political party, Democrat.
	He just changed last year after Trump.
	But I want to know what your point is.
	Let's go to the next one.
	I'll make my point.
	Let's go to Brandon Scott, Baltimore.
	Baltimore, Maryland.
	Another Democrat.
	Let's go to the fifth one.
	What an interesting exercise this was.
	I wasn't even expecting to do this.
	Boom.
	545.
	545.
	So why do you think that is, though?
	By the way, D.C., when you think about the biggest income disparity in America, you know what city is the biggest income disparity with the most people making over $200,000 and the most people making less than $20,000?
	It's D.C. Can you look up when is the first time DC had a mayor?
	When is the first time D.C. had a mayor?
	Let's look at this.
	I'm happy to look at it, but I'm concerned that you're making the logical fallacy.
	But let's look at this.
	When's the first time D.C. first ever elected mayor of D.C., Rob?
	Can you type in first ever elected mayor of D.C.?
	First ever elected mayor of D.C.
	I think it's like 70s.
	73.
	Walter Washington.
	Okay, can you go on ChatGPT and ask, since 1973, how many Republican mayors has D.C. had zero.
	Zero.
	So here's my question for you.
	If all these people, look at that, Walter Washington, Democrat, Marion Berry, Democrat, Sharon Kelly, Democrat, Marion Berry again, Democrat, Anthony Williams, Democrat.
	Adrian Fenty, Democrat.
	Vincent Gray, Democrat.
	Muriel Bowser, Democrat.
	If they've had this city as a Democratic voter since 1975 and they are so noble and they have such great policies and they're black, how come they haven't been able to fix it?
	Why?
	I don't know.
	You don't know?
	No, I don't.
	You don't think maybe it's bad policies?
	You don't think it's that maybe we have to try something else?
	Well, like what?
	So let me ask you, why do you think Trump got elected?
	Why do you think Trump won?
	I think he won because the bottom 50% of the population is getting screwed by both parties.
	Both parties?
	Both parties.
	Really?
	Yes.
	I do.
	Because of the way that our economy is structured, which means that virtually all the money goes to the top and virtually none of the money goes to the people on the bottom.
	Why, though?
	Because of the laws, because of the laws and the regulations.
	So why do you think so many blacks, why do you think so many Hispanics voted for Trump like we've never seen before?
	So why do you think the poor, low, middle-income support for Trump skyrocketed where Kamala Harris, who is, according to her, African-American, Jamaican, Indian, we don't know what she is, or Biden, why is it that even with her, she lost seven battleground states and she lost the majority?
	Why do you think that is?
	Why do you think black people and Hispanics trusted a white guy, Trump, Republican, more than they trusted an African-American lady to solve their problem?
	I think people were really unhappy with the status quo, and I think they voted for not the status quo.
	I actually believe that if voting for Bernie was an option, he would have won.
	Against Trump?
	Yeah, because they're both against the status quo.
	They're both against, well, I mean, they both say they're against corporations controlling the country.
	I mean, I personally believe that it's in words only in terms of Trump, but I think in terms of Bernie, I think he genuinely would want, you know, would work on reducing corporate influence.
	I mean, you know, I mean, the whole, the whole, I mean, when we talk about capitalism, I mean, you know, capitalism ends up having a small number of people accumulate a huge amount of wealth.
	And then you have the Supreme Court saying that, well, money's the same as free speech, and therefore we can't regulate spending in elections.
	And what we have in our country is a system of legalized bribery.
	And it used to be that the corporations and the rich and the wealthy were influencing legislation and they were influencing who gets elected.
	And now they are who's getting elected.
	And, you know, I would rather see a representation of what the country actually is.
	I mean, the country is not just 100,000, really 100,000?
	No, I don't know.
	10,000 really, really wealthy people.
	The country represents a very broad swath.
	And a representative democracy, that's what there ought to be running the country.
	But, you know, we have elections that are financed by millionaires, billionaires, and we end up with a government that favors that class of people.
	Does that include Bernie?
	Does that include was Bernie funded by rich people?
	No.
	No, he wasn't.
	Do you remember that exchange when Hexet asked him a question?
	I don't know who it was, Rob, when he says, I don't know who it was.
	Somebody asked him and said, I'm sorry, your campaign, 45% of your campaign was from Big Pharma.
	I don't know if you remember that one.
	Do you remember that one when he was?
	No, I don't remember.
	45% of whose campaign was from big Bernie Sanders.
	No, it's absolutely 100% 1,000% incorrect.
	Well, I mean, he got very upset about it because.
	But even with him, even with him, here's a socialist that's worth $10 million.
	He's a pretty rich guy.
	He used to say millionaires and billionaires.
	Now he no longer says millionaires and billionaires.
	Why did he drop millionaires?
	What?
	Banned.
	Because he wrote a book and he got a million dollars or whatever.
	You can.
	But, you know, I mean, I was helping on Bernie's campaign.
	And I think he got screwed, by the way.
	Just so you know, Hillary Clinton.
	He does me.
	Absolutely.
	And I like Bernie.
	I do too.
	I just don't think he's good for the economy.
	I really like Bernie.
	I think he's a good guy.
	I just don't think he's good for the economy.
	I think he would be good for an economy that works for all Americans instead of just the upper crust like you and me.
	I think in 2000, when you were selling your company, you wouldn't have voted for Bernie.
	Absolutely, I would have voted for Bernie.
	I totally would have voted for Bernie.
	I voted for Bernie when he was mayor when he first ran for mayor of Burlington.
	If capital gains went to 80% and you sold your company, you're okay with that?
	Yes, I am okay with that because I do not believe that we should have a country where, what, 0.1% of the population owns 90% of the world.
	You're part of it.
	You're part of the 0.1% and you don't want to give up your wealth.
	You're still keeping it.
	Here's your friend Bernie.
	Rob, can you play this clip?
	Watch this clip.
	You're going to make America healthier than other countries in the world right now.
	Will you guarantee do what every other major country does?
	That's a simple question.
	And by the way, Bernie, you know, the problem of corruption is not just in the federal agency.
	It's in Congress, too.
	Almost all the members of this panel are accepting, including yourself, are accepting millions of dollars from the pharmaceutical industry.
	Oh, no.
	And protecting their interests.
	Oh, I thought that that would come.
	No, I ran for president like you.
	I got millions and millions of contributions.
	They did not come from the executives, not one nickel of PAC money from the pharmaceuticals.
	They came from workers.
	In 2020, you were the single largest because I have seen pharmaceuticals from workers all over this country.
	Workers, not a nickel from corporate.
	Bernie was the single largest pharmaceutical dollars from workers in 1.5 million.
	Yeah, out of 200 million.
	All right.
	But.
	Bernie didn't like that.
	You have not answered.
	Last question.
	So again, the hypocrisy in politics is a little bit frustrating because I understand Bernie says, well, we got to do the millionaires and billionaire class.
	The moment he becomes a millionaire, he drops a millionaire.
	He just wants to bash the billionaires now.
	I don't want to take any money.
	One and a half million comes.
	The eventual challenge is the hypocrisy that shows up.
	And I think that's the part that Americans are tired of it.
	They're just sick of the games that politicians play.
	And they're eventually saying they're done with it.
	You know, when I was working with Bernie, you know, he was saying billionaires should not exist.
	And, you know, that struck me as kind of weird.
	I mean, I said, why shouldn't billionaires exist?
	Why shouldn't we have billionaires?
	And then I realized that nobody needs that kind of money.
	And how can you accumulate that kind of kind of wealth when you've got so many other people that are barely getting by?
	Why shouldn't we have a system?
	You know, it is kind of peculiarly American.
	I don't believe that that kind of spread exists in a lot of other countries and a lot of European countries.
	Yeah, because we actually believe in free enterprise and free market, and we allow you to build it as big as you want.
	And here's the crazy thing, Ben.
	Very crazy thing.
	I mean, there's free enterprise in any of the Scandinavian countries.
	Not at the levels that we have, not at the levels that we have.
	We recognize guys like you who, even if you're a socialist, we recognize guys like you who took an ice cream company.
	Hey, speaking of ice cream, do you got a spoon?
	You got one too?
	I'm good with it.
	I got you a spoon.
	Well, I don't see the spoon.
	Humberto probably took the spoon.
	So I have an ice cream in the back end.
	So I got mine over here.
	Humberto, did you leave the spoon or what happened?
	Okay, which one do you think I should try?
	Tell me which one I should try.
	We got the chocolate fudge.
	We got dirt cake.
	What's this one here?
	Wow, interesting.
	Strawberry cheesecake?
	Well, you know, chocolate fudge brownie is interesting because.
	By the way, is it true that you can't taste flavors?
	You just taste the mushiness.
	It's not serious.
	Texture ice.
	Is that serious?
	I'm a very texture-forward person.
	You can't taste any of it.
	Well, you know, I mean, I can kind of taste it, but not the way you can.
	Not the way normal people can.
	Let's see.
	Yeah, it was pretty good.
	Is it?
	You're not taking the chocolate fudge brownie.
	Which one yummy?
	Y'all want to try it?
	I'll try this.
	No, I'll try this.
	I mean, the nice thing about the chocolate fudge brownie is that the brownies are made by the Grayston Bakery in Yonkers, New York, a low-income area.
	And the bakery is owned by a religious organization whose purpose is good shit, isn't it?
	Oh, my God.
	Oh, my God.
	So the purpose of the bakery is to provide jobs and job training for people who...
	You know what?
	After this ice cream, I'm a socialist.
	That's what I'm doing.
	I'm shut out of it.
	There you go.
	This ice cream converted me.
	All right.
	All right.
	I was watching Manchurian Canada last night, Rob, with the kids.
	And, you know, is that the one about MK Ultra or whatever?
	Listen, they put something in this ice cream that causes you to consider Bernie Sanders as a candidate.
	It's working on me.
	Watch, second.
	By this one, I may even look at this.
	Honestly, don't.
	AOC.
	Oh, my God.
	Holy moly.
	By the way, all jokes aside, this is absolutely delicious.
	Well, you know, it's at exactly the right temperature.
	It's perfectly tempered.
	Oh, my God.
	This is ridiculous.
	Now, let me ask you: what do you think about Haagen-Shaz?
	It's really good ice cream.
	Not the best, but it's really good.
	It's in there.
	Who are these guys?
	But I've never seen this one.
	I don't know about Telemook.
	Telemook.
	Okay, somebody brought Telemook.
	Hey, do you know that chocolate chip cookie dough was invented by Ben and Jerry's?
	Seriously?
	Yeah.
	Seriously.
	Yeah, yeah.
	I mean.
	Ben, what a capitalist you are, though.
	What a great.
	You know, there's a social form of capitalism.
	There's a form of capitalism.
	And you did it.
	How many jobs did you guys create?
	How many jobs did you create?
	Who knows?
	But honestly, how many employees you got right now?
	Ben and Jerry's.
	How many total employees?
	I don't.
	You know, it's a division of Unilever.
	I mean, how many employees does Ben and Jerry's have?
	It's like the best social program is the job you create.
	Let me eat this one.
	So this one is what?
	Mr. Cheesecake?
	I'm not going to lie.
	This is ridiculous.
	Oh, my 1,700 employees.
	That's great job.
	That's jobs.
	You changed people's lives, Ben.
	Amazing.
	And by the way, you know what's crazy?
	Do you know who recognized you guys in 1986?
	Which Republican president recognized you?
	Which one would recognize me?
	I was there, man.
	Ronald Reagan.
	Rose Garden Ceremony.
	That's crazy.
	We were the U.S. small business people.
	Is that it?
	Is that the big one?
	Yeah, that's exactly it.
	Tell me about the experience.
	How cool was it?
	An Italian waiter's jacket that I had to buy really quick the morning before.
	And, you know, it was a Rose Garden ceremony.
	What?
	The current guy, he's talking about paving the Rose Garden.
	But anyhow, it was a Rose Garden ceremony.
	We show up there.
	You know, Reagan and Bush are standing there.
	And Reagan says the only words that he's ever said to me, which is, which one is Jerry?
	That was it.
	Which one is Jerry?
	Now, why did he say which one is Jerry?
	Ask him.
	I have no idea.
	How cool was that experience for you guys?
	Did you think that was ever going to happen?
	It was amazing.
	Were you, did you vote for him that year?
	Did you ever vote for him?
	Have you ever voted for him?
	No, I did not know.
	As a matter of fact, we were thinking that whoever was supposed to vet who gets the award made a mistake in terms of giving.
	That's right.
	That's exactly what it was.
	I remember it.
	Yeah.
	What are you guys telling each other?
	What are you guys telling each other at this time when you're leaving?
	Are you saying like, I cannot believe I shook a Republican's hand?
	Are you saying like, what are you saying to each other?
	You know, actually, after that ceremony, you know, there was, you know, some kind of dinner and a talk.
	And, you know, so I'm up there giving a talk.
	And I'm talking about, you know, my obsession, which is how much money the country spends on the Pentagon and preparing to kill huge numbers of people.
	And Alphonse D'Amato gets up after I spoke and talked about what an ingrate I was.
	Who went up?
	Who?
	Alphonse D'Amato was a Republican senator, I think.
	Yeah, put him up there.
	I think he got Alphonse D'Amato.
	I think, do you have the bit about him being corrupt?
	No, I don't know.
	For sure.
	Career columnist, boom, keep going lower.
	Personal life.
	No, it doesn't say anything about maybe there is.
	What did he do?
	What was the corruption?
	He moved him.
	I don't remember what his corruption was.
	So he had some corruption behind it?
	Yes.
	Was he working?
	You're saying he worked for Ben and Jerry's?
	No, no, no, no.
	He was a senator.
	He was a U.S. senator.
	I forgot we're doing a podcast.
	Now, you just can't stop eating this ice cream.
	I'm not even going to lie to you.
	So would you consider yourself somebody competitive?
	Competitive?
	Are you competitive?
	I'm not very competitive.
	Not at all?
	Not very.
	I mean, if you want to see who can eat a pint fastest, I'll do that with you.
	I don't get ice cream headaches.
	You don't?
	No.
	Is that genetics, DNA, or just like overexhaustion?
	Maybe people who can't smell don't get ice cream.
	I don't know.
	Got it.
	So what did you want to talk about?
	You had something you wanted to do?
	What are you opening up there?
	You know what I'm opening this?
	See, you are competitive.
	By the way, I was about to open up Haagen-Daz to go take me back to back, and he got upset.
	So would you actually have a Hagen-Daz ice cream or no?
	You wouldn't do it.
	No.
	You won't do it.
	No.
	I'd watch you.
	What's your thoughts like with these other ice cream companies?
	What do you think about them?
	I think Haagen Dust makes a very high quality ice cream.
	I think Ben and Jerry's makes a very high quality ice cream.
	You guys are number one, though.
	Of course.
	Rob, can you pull up the statistic?
	I think the audience has to know how competitive and how much of a capitalist he is.
	He's just acting like he's a socialist.
	Rob, can you pull up, go to, say, the number one ice cream company in America?
	People have to realize this, guys.
	You think?
	No, I've looked at that.
	I don't think we could be the number one ice cream.
	I think you actually are.
	Statista, according to Statista, you are.
	Private label is one, but you're number one.
	Ben and Jerry's.
	Yeah, you're number one.
	Look at that.
	You didn't know this?
	Seriously, you didn't know this.
	I mean, I know that.
	Dude, you guys are number one.
	It's unbelievable.
	But please tell me you're joking right now that you didn't know you're number one.
	You know, people might have said that, but I didn't really believe it.
	You built the number one ice cream company in America.
	Well, that was in 2022.
	Maybe we're no longer.
	You're still, according to Statista, you still are.
	That's crazy, though.
	That's great.
	That's beautiful.
	You think you guys got lucky or you think you work your ass off?
	Both.
	Okay.
	There's nothing wrong with that.
	I've heard the harder you work, the luckier you get.
	You ever heard that quote before?
	I haven't heard that, but I think it makes a lot of sense.
	So I think there's a lot of people that are working really, really hard and they're not getting lucky.
	Well, they got to find a way to create their own luck by adding additional values and principles and skill sets that they can pick up.
	And I think that nowadays, by the way, Ben, maybe not your time.
	Maybe not your time.
	Okay.
	But during our time, there's this thing called YouTube where you can literally learn anything.
	Back in the days, you have to take a course.
	Rob, can you go type in online how to make an ice cream?
	Can you go type in on YouTube?
	Let's see what video comes up.
	Man, I love talking to capitalists that, you know, love bringing value and competing and being number one and building a billion-dollar business.
	Look at that.
	Homemade ice cream without a machine in just five minutes.
	28 million views.
	Did that exist when you were coming up?
	The person was stoned.
	But the question is, was that around when you came around?
	No.
	No.
	You have to learn how to do it.
	Nowadays, all of this is available.
	And by the way, you know how much it costs to watch that video on YouTube?
	You think just by watching YouTube videos, you could make stuff as good as what we're eating now?
	No, no, I didn't say so.
	I didn't say as good as you.
	I didn't say as good as you.
	So tell me, what's the story with this one?
	Do I break it or what do I do?
	You got one of those topped ones that.
	What do you want me to do with it?
	Yeah, you're going to have to break it.
	All right, let's try to break it.
	You know, a lot of times people eat it with a metal spoon.
	It's easier to break.
	I got to tell you, this is my favorite one.
	You can dig underneath it.
	No, what I'm saying is, even though it's my third one I'm having, this is number one so far.
	Dirt cake.
	You know, you're a good consumer.
	We would classify you as a heavy user, and we appreciate people like you.
	No, this is the best one.
	It's not even close.
	What is that?
	Dirt?
	Dirt cake.
	It's not even close.
	You know, I've never had dirt.
	Yeah, pass it over.
	This is ridiculous.
	What's this one?
	Cherry Garcia.
	Let's see what Cherry Garcia is.
	Guys, we're sharing ice cream.
	Okay, just so everybody knows.
	For me, I don't mind it because I was in the military.
	So we will eat anybody.
	Yeah, you're right.
	This is pretty good.
	This is okay.
	You want me to rank them?
	Yeah.
	I'll rank them.
	Number one is dirt cake.
	Number two is strawberry cheesecake.
	Number three is this guy.
	What's this one?
	Chocolate?
	What does it say?
	Chocolate fudge brownie.
	You know what?
	I think that one is even non-dairy.
	I can't believe it.
	Cherry Garcia.
	That chocolate fudge brownie doesn't have any dairy.
	Don't have it?
	You didn't know it when you ate it, did you?
	No, it was delicious.
	But let me tell you, that's the one.
	So, you want this back?
	No, listen, I probably shouldn't be eating ice cream right now.
	We just brought the stuff out here to see if we can get you to eat Haagen Daz because, you know, Haagen Dazza CMO called us and they gave us a million-dollar sponsorship saying, if you can get Ben to eat Haagen Daz, we'll give you a million dollars because they're going to say even Ben eats Haagen Daz.
	Rob, what do you think about?
	By the way, that would be a great ad.
	I think that would be a very good ad.
	Would be a great ad.
	Can you think about that?
	No, but yeah, so, oh my God.
	Out of all the things you guys did, by the way, who was the marketing brand?
	Was it you?
	Are you the marketing guy?
	You're the marketing guy, right?
	I'm the marketing guy.
	So when I think about stories that you guys did, so you did flavors for Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Snoop Dogg.
	You did one for President Bush called I Doe, I Doe, because of the same-sex marriage stuff, which I thought was funny.
	Did you come up with that or did those were all after my time?
	Oh, okay.
	Got it.
	There's a Bill Clinton one called Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough.
	Was that your time or no?
	Chocolate chip cookie dough.
	I didn't realize there was an association with Bill Clinton.
	Well, Monica Winsky was white, though.
	No, it's like chocolate chip cookie dough was kind of like the last flavor during my reign.
	Oh, I thought it was.
	Well, also New York Superfudge chunk.
	Wait a minute.
	No, there was fish food.
	That was the very last flavor under my direction.
	By the way, you guys also did one by Colin Caperna called it Change the World.
	Yeah.
	That's change the world.
	And then you did one with not the Defunda Police.
	It was called Rustic Remixed in 2020 for Criminal Justice, for Black Lives Matter.
	So I got a question for you.
	When are you doing a Trump ice cream?
	No plans on the books that I've seen.
	Why not?
	You can do an orange sherbert.
	You can do right, Rob.
	I mean, you gave that idea.
	Well, there are opportunities, perhaps to Lamuck or Bluebell or Haagen Das.
	But let me ask you, if Ben and Jerry's were to do a Trump ice cream, would the customers be upset?
	Who knows what the customers would be, but I wouldn't see that.
	Well, actually, my understanding is that Ben and Jerry's is nonpartisan.
	Stop it.
	How many Republican ice creams have you guys made?
	You guys are made of for all the left president.
	You make one for a Republican president.
	Do one for Trump.
	You should do one for Trump.
	You ought to come up with Trump Insurance.
	Trump Insurance.
	You're so funny.
	You're so funny.
	No, I think he's doing fine business-wise.
	No, I don't run the insurance company.
	I'm still the CEO, but it's not what I used to do.
	By the way, this ice cream, I'm glad we went through this here.
	What's this one here?
	Oh, Talenti.
	That's another one.
	Is that good?
	Are you respect it?
	Or is it like a.
	You know, I haven't really eaten it much.
	What's Talenti?
	It's another ice cream.
	The way you reacted, you didn't react like that to Hagen Daws.
	So you gave a little bit more love to Talenti.
	What was that all about?
	Like, it was like you saw an ex of yours or a girl that, you know, back in the day, it's like, oh my God, it's Mary.
	It is another brand that is owned by my parent.
	Oh, really?
	Unilever?
	It's owned by Unilever.
	Oh, so, but is that kind of, is that like a, I mean, they almost don't want you to have it.
	You know, I guess maybe I reacted that way because, you know, it's a brand that's owned by my parents, so I'm vaguely related to it.
	Dude, if I open it up and it pops.
	Brandon, can you open this up?
	Apparently, you're not supposed to eat it.
	Somebody come open to somebody.
	I actually want to try it.
	Rob, can you grab this to someone in the back?
	Give it to Tony.
	Tony's the brand.
	It's nice to have staff, man.
	Well, you have 1700 of them.
	Yeah, right.
	Let's see if he's going to get it.
	He's 28 years old.
	Will he get it?
	Still doesn't add it up.
	Who's going to do it?
	Jesus.
	That's amazing.
	Bring Tony in.
	Tony will do it.
	Tony's good with the girls and he's going to find a way to use his hands.
	Tony's.
	Where's Tony at?
	Seriously.
	You know, you know, like I told you, I have no idea what direction this podcast is going to go.
	You've got to.
	You lift weights.
	You've got a video of this.
	We got to send it to Tony.
	Give it to Tony.
	To Lenty manufacturer.
	You did get it.
	After a lot of trying.
	To the guys who provided the packaging machine.
	Tell him.
	Like, do you almost not want me to get in there?
	It's like, and now you've got a delamination of your safety.
	Like, I need a handful of password, right?
	This is too much for me.
	Here, Miya.
	Shove that.
	That's what I'm going to do.
	All right, let's see what we got.
	So, what is this supposed to be?
	Is this like a gelato?
	I don't really know.
	Looks really good.
	Nowadays, more than ever, the brand you wear reflects and represents who you are.
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	Let me see.
	Tastes like medicine.
	What the hell is this?
	This is salted caramel truffle.
	This is a bad look.
	They're going to have to edit this video because no, it doesn't work for me.
	No, this is fifth place.
	Well, maybe the cherry is fifth place because I'm not a.
	Oh, because you're into the dirt.
	Yeah, the dirt was delish.
	So, all right.
	Here.
	Yeah, this is for me.
	Thank you.
	So going back to it, building a business.
	How many people have you fired in your career?
	A lot.
	Why do you fire people, these poor guys?
	Why do you do such a thing?
	Well, in the early days, they were, you know, we were all we had was a homemade ice cream shop.
	And most of the people that we hired were scoopers.
	And Some scoopers were like really personable people who would have a lot of conversations with the customers, but that would kind of slow down the line.
	And, you know, we couldn't, you know, we couldn't satisfy our customers.
	We couldn't serve enough people.
	So we had to fire, you know, people who engaged in too much conversation with the customer.
	I mean, you want to be friendly with your customer, but you don't want to take it too far.
	Did you ever have lazy employees?
	Lazy employees.
	We had employees that worked at one speed and it was slow.
	They were really nice people.
	They were really good people.
	Why'd you fire them, though, man?
	That's cold.
	It's like capitalists fire people.
	Socialists don't fire people.
	Ben, give me a break.
	Like, look, if you were a former employee that Ben fired you and broke your heart, call me.
	Let's have some Hagen Daz ice cream together, right?
	You know, you know, I would fire some of these.
	By the way, just so you know, don't feel bad.
	I've fired a lot of people as well.
	And trust me, it's never fun to do, but sometimes you got to do it.
	Right.
	It's a horrible thing to do.
	You know, I mean, sometimes when, you know, Jerry and I knew that, you know, somebody needed to get fired.
	We would, I would be the guy who did the firing.
	Seriously?
	Yeah.
	We would say, the monster is hungry.
	The monster must eat.
	And it was, you know, meant that that was a person that needed to be fired.
	You guys literally would go in front of the face of the guy you were firing.
	You would say the monster was hungry.
	We were referring to me.
	I'm the firer.
	But sometimes, sometimes, you know, it was college students and it would be a woman.
	You fired women?
	And she would start crying.
	And I would say, you know, you're a college student.
	This is just, you know, scooping ice cream.
	This is a bullshit little job that you're doing to get through college.
	This is not a big thing.
	This is not.
	Yeah, people, you know, I've been fired from a few jobs and I actually kind of like it.
	Where'd you get fired from?
	It's very freeing.
	Where'd you get fired from?
	I got fired from Ann's coffee park diner.
	Who fired you?
	We got to go find this person.
	Ann's husband.
	Ann's husband.
	Yeah.
	Shame on him.
	Yeah.
	I was a short order cooking in the back there.
	And, you know, you got your steam table and, you know, somebody orders, you know, a hot roast beef sandwich.
	So you open up the refrigerator.
	You get, you know, the pre-sliced slabs of roast beef out of the refrigerator.
	You, you dunk it in this lukewarm water to warm it up.
	And, you know, you have your white bread on the platter and you kind of put it on it and put the gravy on top of it.
	And, you know, we were also doing prep work.
	And after the lunch rush, there wasn't as much money coming into the cash register.
	And Ann would turn off half the lights in the kitchen because she wanted to keep her expenses in line with the income.
	And I was trying to explain to her that, you know, we're working with sharp knives back here.
	We'd like to be able to see what we're doing.
	And this went back and forth.
	And she would shut off the lights and I'd turn it back on.
	And eventually I was just going to be able to get to the house.
	How old were you when you got fired?
	I was fired.
	Were you in her 20s?
	Like, were you.
	Yeah.
	I got fired once for Bob's big boy.
	Oh, Bob's big boy.
	Yeah, Bob's big boy in Burbank or Glendale off of Glen Oaks.
	You know why I got fired?
	They had a walk-in freezer, and I used to hide in the walk-in freezer and eat coleslaw.
	And I got caught one too many times, and the guy's like, look, man, I said the coleslaw is so good.
	They were the best coleslaw.
	And finally, they're like, today's your last day.
	So I got fired from Bob's big boy eating coleslaw.
	Can't make that story up.
	That's, you know, the people that worked there, they would remember me when that happened because they wouldn't even make me a waiter.
	They said, you talk too much.
	I was a busboy.
	I was the busboy the entire time.
	And I got along with the chefs, and the chefs would make me shrimp and shrimp when you're poor.
	It's rich man's food.
	You know, when you eat shrimp when you're broke, making $475 an hour.
	My first job was $3.75 or $425.
	I don't know what Elaine paid me from Hawkins, but it was either $375 or $4.25.
	You know, I got a chance to, Bill Clinton came to Glendale Galleria and I got a chance to shake his hand at 14 years old.
	Met him later on, but as a 14-year-old, met Clinton, shook his hand.
	So how do you feel about what's going on right now with Doge, what Elon is doing, Pentagon budget?
	How do you feel about all that stuff?
	You know, when Trump got elected and when Doge came into being, we were concerned that Doge might overlook the hugest source of waste in the federal budget, which happens to be in the Pentagon budget.
	You know, these other little slivers are pretty much small potatoes.
	I mean, you know, there was this big hubbub about USAID, but compared to the Pentagon, you know, I think USAID is about 5% of the Pentagon budget.
	The Pentagon represents about half of the federal discretionary budget.
	So we wanted to make sure that Elon didn't ignore that.
	And so we started the Doge versus Blob.org campaign, which is kind of on X.
	And it is to encourage.
	Is this it?
	There it is.
	It's the Doge.
	Yeah.
	And you did this.
	This is you guys.
	This is us guys.
	Really?
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	This is me and Ed Erickson.
	And yeah, if you, if you, so, so it's Doge, you know who Doge is.
	And there's the Blob, which is another name for the whole military-industrial complex, the Pentagon and the war profiteers.
	And as you can see, the Blob has invaded the Capitol.
	And if you scroll down, you can win Dogecoins for coming up with these memes that refer to the various kinds of waste that are in the Pentagon budget.
	So there's the facts that slay.
	So here's the content.
	And the idea for the contest is to come up with a meme that talks about some of these ridiculous wasteful items.
	$5,700 for a soap dispenser.
	You can snag at Amazon for $7.
	Air Force spent 10 grand for a toilet seat to cover low cells for 28 bucks.
	Pentagon paid $4,300 for a single half-inch metal screw.
	The value is $1.38.
	Yeah.
	Now that's the small potatoes.
	You know, you get into nuclear weapons.
	And, you know, we had, you know, we exploded one nuclear bomb on Hiroshima.
	It killed 100,000 people instantly.
	And then another 100,000 eventually died from radiation poisoning and sickness.
	Huge number of people with burns all over their body, amputations, blindness, deafness.
	That was one nuclear bomb.
	And today, the arsenal in the U.S. is huge.
	As a matter of fact, I have a little demonstration.
	Please.
	Can I do this?
	I'm going to show you the size of our nuclear arsenal.
	What is that you got there?
	BB?
	These are BBs.
	Right.
	going to toss them in this bucket so here's one bb that represents let me just move this over here so i can uh
	Here's one BB that represents the bomb that blew up over Hiroshima, and now here's 15 BB that would be enough to blow up every major city in say, Russia.
	And what I want to do now is show the amount of our total nuclear arsenal.
	So that's
	the equivalent of 50,000 Hiroshima bombs.
	That is the current explosive capacity of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.
	Not only that, the country is now preparing to spend another $2 trillion on a whole new generation of nuclear weapons.
	Now that is sick.
	It's immoral.
	It's crazy.
	It's irrational.
	And it is a huge waste of money and lives.
	It's unbelievable.
	And it is just an indicator.
	It's a window into the general Pentagon war profiteer mentality that more is better.
	If one nuclear bomb is good, Gobs more must be better.
	And what really slays me about it is the incredible waste of resources and the effect that it has on our spirits, our soul as a nation, that we're spending 50% of our discretionary budget on preparing to kill Gobsa people.
	I mean, you know, the Vatican came out with this statement that the arms race, even if the weapons are never used, kills the poor by causing them to starve.
	Our Pentagon budget is $900 billion a year.
	You know, I, one of the reasons I got into this is because I, you know, I mean, you talk about a billion.
	Nobody has any conception of how much a billion is.
	And Ben and Jerry's got up to a level of around 300 million before it got sold.
	And I started to understand that, well, a billion is three times the business we were doing.
	And that amount of money is just unbelievable.
	And that's just one billion.
	You know how many years you'd have to live before you lived a billion seconds?
	Plug that into your machine and try.
	It's about 30.
	So that's how much a billion is, 30 years of seconds.
	And we take that much, and we take 900 billion, and we use that preparing to kill people like you and me, fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, sons, daughters, in other countries who just had the bad luck of being born on some other side of some imaginary line.
	I mean, I think the U.S. is the richest country in the history of the world.
	I think we need to start to measure our strength in terms of how many people we can care for, how much we can improve the quality of life for people as opposed to killing people.
	So, okay.
	That was a very interesting visual to see what we did versus what it is now.
	Absolutely insane.
	How much more do we have?
	But if we would ask the question, I mean, this has been going on over a long time.
	Why do you think we've been doing it?
	Why do you think we are increasing our nuclear capabilities the way that we are?
	What's the purpose of it?
	Profit.
	You think it's purely the military-industrial complex?
	I think a lot of it is driven by that.
	I think another part is driven by politicians who are deathly afraid of being called weak on defense.
	And, you know, a lot of this stuff is kind of complex.
	You know, it's international relations.
	You know, how do we know how many aircraft carriers we actually need, et cetera, et cetera.
	So what ends up happening is that military strength becomes measured in terms of the size of the Pentagon budget.
	And politicians try to outdo each other from both parties.
	This is like the one bipartisan area of agreement over the years.
	You know, the Democrat says, I'm going to spend X amount on the Pentagon.
	Well, the Republican says, well, I'll spend a little more.
	And then the Democrat says, well, I'll spend a little more.
	And therefore, they're the strongest on defense.
	You know, before this, I was doing a little prep work.
	I Saw this quote by Eisenhower, Republican President Eisenhower, what was it, four-star general, five-star general, who said that a country can bankrupt itself in the vain effort to achieve absolute security.
	You can't achieve absolute security, but continuing to spend our money.
	I mean, when you think about how much it's the size of the deficit, so much of that is driven by Pentagon expenditures, war expenditures.
	I mean, you know, what one of the, I mean, the major thing that kind of brought me here is Trump's statement that he wants to denuclearize.
	He wants to work with the leaders of Russia and I think now Iran and China to reduce nuclear weapons and that he wants to reduce our Pentagon budget very significantly.
	I mean, he said 50%.
	I mean, that makes so much sense.
	I mean, all these countries, they want to help the people who live in their countries.
	And when you're spending so much of your money on just preparing to kill other people and the weapons are so fucking expensive, you should excuse me, it just saps everything you've got.
	It saps your wealth.
	We're on the same page here.
	So you're not saying anything that we are fully on the same page.
	The fact that we are overspending the level of Pentagon accountability.
	Rob, if you can play one of the clips of the guy saying $90,000 for washers just to validate his point, go for it.
	This, Mr. Secretary, is a bag of bushings.
	This bag of bushings stamped out by machinists, don't need a high school diploma.
	It's not anything high-tech about this.
	All of this bag is compliant with the FAA specifications.
	How much do you think the Air Force pays for this bag of bushings?
	I don't know, Congressman.
	$90,000.
	This is a $90,000 bag of bushings that you need for any jet turbine engine just to operate.
	So the exorbitant cost due to DOD only buying commercial parts from the OEMs, which is essentially sole source, is literally driving us out of business.
	I mean, the interest on our debt alone is now exceeding for the first time in American history the entire defense budget.
	We can't afford it anymore.
	Exactly right.
	And, you know, the example that he gave of those washers is really excellent because we all know what a washer costs.
	But then when you get into things like the F-35 program, a fighter bomber jet that is hugely flawed, you know, it's a little more complex to understand it, but it's the same pricing.
	It's the same overly inflated prices.
	You know, that fighter program, that weapon system costs $1.5 trillion.
	And it doesn't work.
	I mean, it's in the shop over 50% of the time.
	But what you have going on, the corruption in the Pentagon, is that the generals that are supervising these contracts with the weapons manufacturers, when they retire, they go to work for the weapons manufacturer.
	And, you know, they're incentivized to look the other way at all this price gouging.
	Okay.
	So then what this tells me is you're agreeing what the president is trying to do, Trump, to save from wasted expenditure.
	You like what Musk is doing.
	You like what he's doing to go to the table with Putin and Russia and, hey, find ways to lower everybody's commitment with nuclear weapons.
	That's what you're talking about.
	So you're liking what President Trump is doing.
	In terms of the Pentagon budget and in terms of nuclear weapons and in terms of the idea of solving our problems in ways other than killing huge numbers of people.
	I mean, Trump has said, I want to be clear that there's a shitload of things that I disagree with Trump on, but there are some things that I do agree with him on.
	And he has said that if he were president, there never would have been a war in Ukraine.
	Do you agree with him?
	I do.
	I think that the war in Ukraine was absurd.
	I think the U.S. provoked it by expanding NATO.
	And I think Russia was essentially saying, you know, the U.S. has a sphere of influence.
	It happens to be the entire world.
	Russia wants a little sphere of influence.
	Don't put weapons aimed at us in this neighboring country.
	What do you disagree with him?
	What do you disagree with the president?
	You know, there's a very long list.
	Did you vote for him?
	No.
	You voted for Kamala?
	Yeah.
	Did you vote for Biden?
	I think so.
	Okay.
	So you voted for Biden.
	You think Trump would have stopped the war if he was president, but then yet you still voted for Kamala.
	What prompted you want to vote for Kamala over Trump, even though you know he could stop the war?
	You know, in general, I think a big part of what I believe is that I think there's a real lack of compassion.
	I think there's a lack of honesty.
	can you be specific um you can't just say that and not give me specific You've got to be pretty specific.
	What do you mean by lack of compassion and dishonesty?
	Because Kamala Harris always tells the truth, and we know Joe does, always.
	They never lie.
	But what do you think with Trump?
	You know, I just think there's a long list of things that he's lied about that I don't have off the tip of my tongue.
	Could you?
	And I think, you know, I'm I believe strongly in racial justice, and I don't think that Trump does.
	Racial justice?
	Yeah.
	He was the first guy that did the prison reform that even Van Jones went and stood behind him crying saying, I cannot believe this just happened.
	He did that.
	What?
	This was the first subject.
	You don't remember that?
	Do you remember that or no?
	Yeah, I do.
	Yeah, I mean, if there's anybody that's about, you know, the racial injustice side, it's Trump.
	It's not, you know.
	This is a guy that's done a very good job in that.
	But I want to know specific from your side.
	What is it?
	Because you're not a, you know, when you're as successful as you are, you can't wing answers.
	You cannot wing answers.
	Now, let me tell you why you can't wing answers.
	Because how many, like if I was to check right now, Rob, can you go to ChatGPT?
	How many businesses, how many businesses in America went from zero to a billion dollars in revenue?
	Okay.
	So if we go, how many businesses go from zero to a billion dollars in revenue?
	The exact number, fast-growing.
	I want to know how many total companies is what I want to know.
	Can you see that?
	How many total companies have gone from zero to a billion dollars in revenue?
	Okay.
	It's got to be a big number.
	I don't know if they have the number or not.
	It's got to be a lot of them.
	Okay.
	You build the number one ice cream company in America.
	Yeah, you can say luck.
	You're very creative.
	Just right now, you did that.
	Your mind is a creative mind to come up with certain things.
	You can't just say lies and certain things and not be specific.
	I guess maybe the question is better to ask you the following way.
	Who inspired you politically when you were younger?
	Like who was your hero when you were a kid?
	Martin Luther King.
	Martin Luther King?
	He was your hero?
	Yeah.
	Why was he your hero?
	Because he was fighting for justice and, you know, fighting for people who had been oppressed and screwed.
	And he was a really inspirational leader.
	He was an inspirational leader to you?
	Okay.
	Who else?
	Was there a book that you read?
	Was there something that influenced your politics?
	Did you read Communist Manifesto?
	No.
	You've never read Communist Manifesto?
	I've read the book.
	How is it?
	You've never read it?
	No.
	Ben.
	What can I say?
	Okay.
	All right.
	Well, listen, you're miserable.
	What would you read?
	I was probably reading a social media.
	I think if you read Communist Manifesto, you may go to communism.
	I mean, you're one step away from socialism.
	But was there anything that I want to know why you're so I mean socialism is a is a word that gets used to refer to a lot of different things.
	Yeah.
	And, you know, so I think the old or official definition of socialism is that the state owns all the means of production.
	I mean, I don't favor that.
	I favor 80% taxes.
	Marginal tax rate.
	Yeah.
	So you think, let's process that.
	I'm actually curious to know what you'll say here.
	So when somebody like you says 80% taxes, you know what you're really saying?
	You think the U.S. government can do better with our money than we can do with our money?
	That's what you're saying?
	You think Congress and Senate can do better with our taxpayer money than we can?
	Well, you know, if you had a marginal tax rate of 80% on the millionaires and above, you wouldn't have so many people with so much money that were influencing our elections and our legislation in order to make it better for their own selves.
	So, yeah, I think that it would certainly decrease the spread between rich and poor.
	And I think, you know, I mean, you think about education, you think about child care, you think about health care.
	These are things that, you know, especially things like Medicare for all, it needs to be, some things need to be done by the government.
	Okay.
	So let me get this straight.
	And so just 10 minutes ago, you are speaking to the audience who is loving watching you, and you showed how much the government wastes money.
	Then 10 minutes later, you say you trust our money going to the government that they'll do a better job than staying in our pocket.
	Do you know the average person watching this, they're so confused right now.
	They're about to have a drink right now.
	That's a confuser.
	You just confuse the shit out of them.
	They're sitting there saying, so let me understand you, man.
	I really want to understand you.
	I like you.
	I eat your ice cream.
	You seem like a really nice, and you sincerely seem like a nice guy.
	And I'm really enjoying this.
	How can you one minute say the government wastes money and next minute say, let's pay more money because we think they can do a better job with it?
	Because I think both things are true.
	Well, I mean, you know, I mean, I think about my own business.
	You know, as Ben and Jerry's was getting larger and larger, I was saying we're wasting all this money.
	You know, this thing is wrong.
	That thing is wrong.
	It's leaking over here.
	It's, you know, there's something that's not working right over there.
	I couldn't believe how much money was being wasted.
	Okay.
	And then I came to understand that, yeah, there's some waste in most anything that human beings do.
	But there's one tricky thing here.
	Why do you think you were overly protective of the money that was being wasted?
	Why?
	Because I needed to make a profit.
	Because it's your money.
	Well, it's.
	It's your money.
	That's why.
	Because you busted your ass to make that money to create jobs.
	So now imagine these guys are spending $90,000 on a bag of washers that at lows I can buy for $329.
	Okay.
	You want me to trust them to raise taxes?
	Hell to the no.
	When I see Doge and I see the money stuff that comes back, you know what I tell myself?
	How soon are you guys lowering taxes?
	Because you guys have no clue what you're doing with our money.
	That's what it makes me think about.
	Why would I give you more money that you have shown over and over again that you like to waste it?
	Because so you give them more money.
	You don't think there's going to be more military contractors?
	You don't think there's going to be more big pharma coming in wanting contracts for people to get unhealthy so they can sell $100 billion of vaccines so Pfizer's revenue goes up $100 billion?
	You think COVID helped that Pfizer?
	You think COVID was a very good event for Pfizer stock?
	What do you think?
	You think COVID, you know, Rob, isn't it true that even Pfizer CEO didn't even take the vaccine?
	But hey, the rest of us had to.
	You think that was a profitable event for them?
	You think they want another COVID?
	You think they want another pandemic?
	Of course.
	Why?
	Because the money goes, you know, there was one of the guys from the big pharmaceutical companies that never took the vaccine.
	I just don't know which one it was.
	You don't think that funnels back through?
	No, I think the American people, the reason why they love Doge is because they're done with wasted expenditure and they don't trust the government.
	It's the lowest, Ben, it's ever been.
	You've been around since you said you were born in 1951.
	I think you said 51, right?
	Did you say 51?
	A lot of wasted money from 51 till today.
	Look at the year you were born.
	Look at the trust.
	It was 80% is where we hit.
	Look where it's at right now.
	Okay?
	Lowest it's ever been.
	What happened?
	They don't trust it.
	They don't trust the media.
	They don't trust the government because they're full of shit.
	They keep wasting our money.
	And you want to sit here?
	You know what I'd love to see you do?
	Go run on the campaign of raising taxes to 80% marginal.
	See what happens today.
	Let's have Bernie Sanders go campaign and see what happens today.
	Who's going to be against raising taxes to 80% marginal on incomes over several million dollars?
	A lot of people.
	It's my money.
	Why should I give it to you?
	How many?
	By the way, the people that are creating commerce who want to mind their own business like you used to when you ran your business and you try to create savings, those people are going to mind.
	It's easy for you to say it right now.
	You're in your 70s and you've already made your money to say, hey, let's do it to the guys now.
	I didn't get it.
	Now let me do it to the other guys.
	That's not fair.
	You know, pick a number.
	Pick a number that's a reasonable number.
	You have to earn the right to raise taxes.
	The government has to earn the moral authority to be able to say, let's raise taxes.
	How do you earn the moral authority?
	By showing what you do with the money.
	Seven years, Pentagon hasn't been able to show our audits.
	They failed an audit seven years in a row.
	You want us to trust the U.S. government?
	There are some functions that government needs to perform.
	I don't disagree, but not as much money as you want us to give to you.
	Well, I mean, half the discretionary budget is going to the Pentagon.
	Let's cut that.
	You know, I'm not suggesting we totally eliminate all white fans.
	I think the president is wanting to cut.
	This is why he wants so many Democrats.
	Can you imagine?
	Were you a John F. Kennedy fan when you were younger?
	Yeah.
	You know, his nephew went to the other side.
	You know, his nephew who loved his dad and loved his uncle, became an addict for 14 years because he lost his dad.
	And we almost lost Bobby.
	He eventually got so sick of what the left did and he went to the other side.
	So did Tulsi.
	So did Trump.
	Trump used to be a Democrat.
	So did Musk.
	Musk used to be a Democrat.
	So did Rogan.
	York used to be a Democrat.
	He may still be.
	I mean, this is the most devastating season ever for Democrats, ever.
	Every state turned more Republican.
	89 counties turned more Republican.
	Seven battleground states.
	Majority went to him.
	The last time that happened was 20-some years ago.
	This is one of those moments where Americans sat there and watched.
	The Democrats had control during COVID and they tried to abuse Americans.
	And they said, leave us the f ⁇ alone.
	Leave us alone.
	I don't want you to force me to do anything.
	And for you, Ben, a successful man like you that built an incredible business that the rest of us get to smile.
	You make people smile.
	Every time somebody has your product, they are smiling.
	They're happy.
	You know what is the most happiest moment of my week when I get to take my daughter to this ice cream shop in Fort Lauderdale and she eats her ice cream and her reaction, I melt.
	You produced a product that put a smile on millions of people's faces.
	That's what you produce.
	Because you worked your ass off and you took advantage of the opportunities that they gave you.
	You saved every penny so you can pay your people better to create a better company.
	You're a hero.
	You're a hero.
	And the other side likes you because you give them money.
	But if you didn't and you were a Republican, you would be despised by the other side.
	You'd be considered a rich, greedy man.
	And all you ever did is start a company with your best friend and turn it into what you turned it into.
	And that's not cool.
	It's not cool.
	It's not cool that just because somebody has a dream and they go work hard and I'm supposed to go out there and feel guilty about it.
	I'm sick of it.
	I'm sick of them making success feel guilty and hey, you make too much money.
	You're a billionaire.
	You're a bad person.
	You're this, you're that.
	Let's recognize our heroes.
	Let's start, like, stop like undermining anybody and everybody that they win.
	We just tarnish, Oh, he's a horrible man.
	Tarnish, tarnish.
	Stop it.
	I'm not about tarnishing people.
	I'm not saying you, but it's a lot of people on the left.
	And it's enough.
	It's enough.
	It's too much.
	And people, honestly, though, people are tired of it.
	That's what happened in 2024 on November 5th.
	You know, I think a lot of what happened is that people were voting for something different.
	You know, I mean, a lot of times you look at presidential elections and it's choosing between the least worst.
	And, you know, Trump, I don't regard him really as a Republican.
	I don't either.
	I don't regard him as a Democrat.
	He, you know, I think he's kind of more of an independent.
	I agree.
	And I think that's what people want.
	They want someone who's not the status quo, not the norm.
	And the only choice they had was Trump.
	I agree.
	I agree.
	And by the way, you know what's the other thing that they were sick of?
	Sick and tired of?
	Did you watch the State of the Union?
	No.
	Okay.
	So there was multiple moments that were embarrassing.
	One moment where the ladies on the left are wearing all these pink outfits.
	And President Trump says, we want to keep boys out of women's sports.
	None of them stood up or clapped for it.
	Do you agree that transgender should be competing against men, against women?
	Do you sincerely, you think Martin Luther King, your hero, would agree with that?
	You think Martin Luther King would have said, yeah, you're a man.
	You were born a man.
	Yeah, so you want to go compete with women?
	Yeah.
	Yeah, no problem with that.
	You think Martin Luther King, who said, one day we're black boys and white, no, again, you think that man would be okay with puberty blockers?
	Seriously?
	You think your hero would be okay with puberty?
	I don't think so.
	You know, I have a painting in my house.
	You know who's in my painting?
	John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, two of my heroes.
	Every time I've ever had an office, I've always had a picture of Martin Luther King there.
	He's a hero to so many of us.
	I just don't think he would have been with that.
	And then you want to teach my kids LGBTQ?
	If a person wants to be gay, go at it.
	I don't have any problem with it.
	But we don't need to sit there and indoctrinate.
	Leave it alone.
	That's the painting.
	Martin Luther King all the way to the right.
	Have Tupac in the painting, have John F. Kennedy, have Einstein, have Lincoln, have Milton Friedman, the Shaw Senna, and a couple hidden messages in there.
	You know what's sitting on the table?
	They're debating a book.
	It's Communist Manifesto, and Atlas shrugged.
	Representation from both sides of the economy.
	Sit down and debate that.
	That's the painting in my club room, in my house.
	15-foot painting.
	But to me, I'd love to see someone who for you to build a business the way you did, you have to know how to reason and use logic.
	If you don't, you will fail.
	You'll be bankrupt.
	Yeah.
	You know, I like that painting.
	I do too.
	You know, what strikes me is Einstein.
	When you talk about logic, I mean, he said that it is not possible to simultaneously prevent and prepare for war.
	I think that is really, really true.
	I mean, the quote goes on to say that the very energy and resources that are necessary for the prevention of war are actually greater than preparing for war.
	So if you're going to prevent it, you need to use those resources to prevent it.
	And what?
	How did you do this?
	What?
	You got telepathy?
	No, it's Rob.
	That's why Rob doesn't make $7.25 an hour.
	I can't.
	I can't give him only $7.25.
	From my mind to your screen, man.
	I love it.
	Last thing before we wrap up.
	What do you think about Hamas and Israel, the war?
	And do you have any opinions on that?
	I think it is a genocide.
	I think it's awful, horrible.
	To a guy who's getting killed, I don't think it matters whether it's in a gas chamber or because it was a bomb dropped on his head.
	I don't just hugely opposed to taking weapons and slaughtering people.
	It's absurd.
	I mean, I'm also hugely opposed to what happened on October 7th with people coming in and slaughtering people in Israel.
	But I totally don't believe that it justifies slaughtering an entire population.
	It's about to get very ugly after what the president put out there.
	I don't know if you saw this or not.
	Did you see this?
	Shalom Hamas means hello and goodbye.
	You can choose, release all the hostages now or later, not later, and immediately return all of the dead bodies of the people you murdered, or it's over for you.
	Only sick and twisted people keep bodies, and you are sick and twisted.
	I'm sending Israel everything it needs to finish the job.
	Not a single Hamas member will be safe if you don't do as I say.
	I have just met with your former hostages whose lives you have destroyed.
	This is your last warning for the leadership.
	Now is the time to leave Gaza while you still have a chance.
	Also, to the people of Gaza, a beautiful future awaits you, but not if you hold hostages.
	If you do, you are dead.
	Make a smart decision.
	Release the hostages now, or there will be hell to pay later.
	How do you feel about that?
	I believe the hostages should be released.
	I do not believe that we should be slaughtering people.
	So what if they don't release the hostages?
	So Ben, maybe you have a better strategy.
	How do you get them to release the hostages?
	Share it with us.
	I don't know.
	Honestly, so what should he do?
	What should he do?
	Should he send a case of ice cream, guys, release them?
	Here's Ben and Jerry's.
	Maybe he sends the dark chocolate, the dirt to dirt.
	What is it called?
	Dirt cake, my favorite.
	They may not like that because it's dirt cake.
	But what do they, you know, I don't have a solution.
	Could it be because as a leader, you have a position that sometimes you have to make a tough decision that the average person will not understand and there's burden that comes with being a president?
	Well, I definitely agree that there are times when you need to make tough decisions as a leader.
	You have kids?
	I do.
	I do as well.
	If one of those hostages, God forbid, were our kids, how soon would you want him to make a move so they return to you so you can hug them again?
	I'm not looking to.
	I wouldn't say return my kid or I'll slaughter thousands of people.
	So you would sacrifice your daughter or your son if they stay there?
	I wouldn't sacrifice my daughter.
	Every day they're there.
	Their days are numbered.
	Each day they're there, your imagination.
	You're a great marketer.
	In your imagination as a father, you're imagining what they're doing to your daughter.
	You're okay with that?
	I'm not okay with it.
	You know, I don't know what the solution to the problem is.
	That's why it's tough.
	Yeah, it's tough.
	It's tough.
	And so no matter what he does, he's going to have hate.
	But he's got to make a decision.
	This is why being a leader is not for everybody, especially being a president.
	It's a lot of burden that comes with it, especially president like him that's actually making decisions that a lot of people are giving him a hard time with.
	And he's got a big support, big people that are sitting there saying, let's go.
	Ben, I can tell you one thing.
	I had no idea where we were going to go.
	Honestly, I had a blast with you.
	I so appreciate you for reaching out.
	I hope we stay in contact.
	And I have friends in Vermont that I go to and I stay at this house.
	My good friend, I'll give a shout out to them, Mehran Asadi, who's the CEO of National Life Group.
	And incredible man.
	I don't know if you've met him before or not.
	He's been to your place before.
	Phenomenal father.
	He's a great CEO.
	And I've been to Vermont just to visit him.
	Mehran Asadi.
	He has a Persian accent.
	He doesn't like it when I say that.
	But he's a very, very, very dear friend of mine.
	So, anyways.
	Well, let me know when you're in town.
	I will.
	I didn't get to show you all of my toys.
	Oh, what is it?
	What do you got?
	Yeah, tell me what do you got?
	One of my toys.
	This is a limited edition, Ben and Jerry's Ramp Walker.
	There's no batteries.
	There's nothing to wind up.
	It waddles.
	Let me see if we can set it up for you here.
	I'm moving on.
	Oh, go for it.
	Do it.
	Go on, guys.
	Oh, wow.
	Isn't that cool?
	That is super cool.
	They don't go off.
	They always get out of here.
	They know.
	they've got a look at these and it's low-tech it's not like i've got a sensor or anything this is crazy so it's not battery generated no no no this is uh wow you know when these first came out 20 years ago 25 years ago that's cool people weren't that crazy about it but now that everything is all high tech and everything they like this yeah it's retro can i have it Can you have it?
	Baby, this is your.
	It's got your name on it.
	Not only that, I'm giving you one that's totally unopened.
	Oh, you're amazing.
	You know, eBay, you know, when your business goes down to the tube, you sell that on eBay.
	You know, we'll get rid of the capital gains tax.
	Listen.
	You're amazing.
	You're amazing.
	All right, here's my other toy.
	What, your pens don't do this?
	Dude, that is pretty sick.
	I mean, you know, you go around selling insurance with this thing.
	But this one here talks about global military spending.
	You know, here's how much the U.S. spends.
	Here's how much China spends.
	Here's how much Russia spends.
	No, what do you think?
	They got a close-up lens on that fucking thing.
	And here's how much.
	Do you see it or no?
	Here, let me show you.
	Do you see it, Rob?
	It's pretty sick.
	That is cool.
	I love this.
	All right.
	Don't say I never gave you enough.
	No, no, I have.
	You're going to leave and I'm going to say great things about you, but I'm going to say when you leave, I'm very glad that President Trump finally has your support.
	It's great to see that, you know, all it took was a podcast.
	Sir, truly an honor to meet you.
	Truly an honor to meet you.
	I appreciate you for coming out.
	Really enjoyed it, gang.
	I hope you enjoyed it as well.
	Just so you know, if you're going to go buy ice cream, this is my favorite flavor out of all of them.
	God bless everybody.
	Take care.
	Bye-bye.
	Bye-bye.
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