Feb. 18, 2016 - Rubin Report - Dave Rubin
05:12
| 
| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
| As I sit here in the middle of February, we're about eight months away from Election Day 2016. | ||
| Doesn't that sound completely insane? | ||
| I mean, think about it. | ||
| We've been talking about this election for at least a year, and we're still over half a year away from it. | ||
| That is completely bonkers. | ||
| So much of the election process is just insider nonsense and day-to-day PR, so it's hard to focus on what issues are actually important. | ||
| Not only does the 24-hour cable news cycle thrive on election drama and distractions, but the entire process of electing our politicians seems to be built on getting we the people to actually never talk about the big issues in an honest way. | ||
| We have debates with catered questions and no actual debating, we have town halls which are just forums for talking points, and social media campaigns to spread candidates' messages without ever explaining how their ideas will actually solve anything. | ||
| You know, there's a strange collusion between the media and politicians to keep us all in the dark about what's really going on here. | ||
| What I actually want to hear candidates talking about are big ideas, not political talking points. | ||
| To explain their economic philosophy and how it came to be, to say how they came up with a moral argument for or against abortion, and to let us know why America's role in the world should be larger or smaller. | ||
| Unfortunately, big ideas don't fit into 30-second soundbites, leaving us with a media that wants views and clicks instead of substantive debate, and a political class who, of course, are all the happier to provide meaningless slogans that sound good in a headline but don't mean anything at all. | ||
| That brings me to the two people really shaking up the system at this point, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. | ||
| Bernie says he wants a political revolution, while Trump says he wants to make America great again. | ||
| I doubt there'll ever be another candidate like Bernie, a world-weary, lifelong politician who wants to fundamentally change how things operate from the inside. | ||
| Whether you agree or disagree with him, it's a powerful message. | ||
| Then, of course, there's Trump, a billionaire who's using years of boardroom and TV experience to give his supporters whatever they want, even if they don't know exactly what that is. | ||
| What these two men have in common, though, is more interesting. | ||
| They both openly mock the powerful and corrupting influence of money in politics, while only existing as legitimate contenders because of its very existence. | ||
| It shouldn't be lost on us that it's actually the very strength of our democratic system that allows two people who want to totally upend it to be surging in the polls. | ||
| And as warped as our system is, it's the two guys who are the most plain spoken who are being heard the loudest. | ||
| Although the countdown to election 2016 frustrates me, as a political junkie, I can't pretend that I don't enjoy The Clown Show. | ||
| It's a soap opera with characters you just can't make up. | ||
| We've got the ex-president's wife, the socialist Jew, the billionaire, and the neurosurgeon. | ||
| It basically sounds like a spin-off of Gilligan's Island. | ||
| Unfortunately, while Gilligan and his friends were eventually rescued from their island, the only ones who can rescue us from this shipwreck are ourselves, the citizens. | ||
| To help me navigate these choppy waters this week is my guest Ben Shapiro, the editor-at-large of Breitbart.com. | ||
| Many of you have asked us to have a sit-down to dig into some of his conservative ideas. | ||
| Can a liberal and a conservative coexist? | ||
| Well, if Thurston Howell III and Ginger could do it, I have a feeling that Ben and I will be able to as well. | ||
| Every election year, politicians remind us that their election is the most important of a generation. | ||
| Usually that's just more hyperbole nonsense, but this time it could actually be true. | ||
| Regardless of who wins, whether it's one of these two, Hillary, or Jeb, or the skipper, our system is fundamentally shaking right now, as evidenced by both the Sanders and Trump surges. | ||
| Can we address real issues in the months to come, or will we keep talking about sideshow nonsense? | ||
| Can we get a fairer election system, or will big donors always run the show? | ||
| Can we elect officials who will compromise to make the country stronger, or will partisan points always win the day? | ||
| These are just a few of the huge issues we have to discuss, and that's not even touching on immigration, healthcare, and terrorism. | ||
| A lot of people mock the idea of American exceptionalism, especially on the left, but I actually do believe in it. | ||
| There has never been a country in the history of the globe that has taken more people from across the world and helped them make a better life for themselves, their children, and their children's children. | ||
| Even now, with all of our problems, people still want to come to America for a better life. | ||
| We have massive issues, but underneath it all there's a bedrock based in democratic principles which still makes our position in the world truly unique. | ||
| It doesn't mean America can or should tell the world what to do, but it does mean we have a responsibility to be fairer, freer and more functional whenever we can. | ||
| All these reasons are why I've made this show about ideas and not minutia. | ||
| There is an endless cycle of noise designed to keep us distracted and divided. | ||
| Our politicians will only be better if we demand they be better. | ||
| We'll only demand our politicians be better if we are better ourselves. | ||
| As you guys know, I love to say that two things can be true at the same time. | ||
| Maybe we can have a political revolution while at the same time making America great again. | ||
| This change doesn't start with Trump and Sanders, though. |
Export Selection