Dave Rubin and Adam Carolla analyze Bill Maher's critique of California Democrats, highlighting how high taxes failed to prevent wildfires while social agendas overshadowed practical solutions like forest clearing. They condemn the removal of dams for the Delta smelt and attack DEI mandates in fire departments, arguing competence trumps identity. The hosts contrast President Biden's climate rhetoric with Donald Trump's executive order to unleash American energy, framing the latter as a necessary correction to progressive policies they label the "soft bigotry of low expectations." [Automatically generated summary]
You are in Los Angeles, in your studio, I see, but as I understand it, you are still living with Dr. Drew, which sounds like a reality show to me, but you're actually because you're out of your house, right?
I mean, I don't really care because I worked on construction sites my whole life.
So like breathing stuff in, you get kind of used to a toxic work environment when you work construction because there's guys welding and grinding and there's plumes of smoke.
I worked in cabinet shops.
It was like dust everywhere and junk in the air.
But the folks who live in Malibu do not like the toxic environment.
I'm all right with it.
But now it's like, well, everything is burned down.
Everything had asbestos in it or lead in it or heavy metals in it.
All the furniture with all the foam and all the junk, all the plastic, it all burned to the ground.
And now it's some sort of toxic bouillabaisse, and who wants to return to that?
And what happens when the wind starts blowing, and you're blowing this toxic dust cloud around, so we have to wait till it rains?
There's a lot of speculation, not a lot of answers.
All right, let me throw to an ad real quick, and then we'll get into it.
This time of year, many of us start thinking about healthy goals, losing weight, exercising more, or eating better.
But let's be honest, a goal without a plan is a plan to fail.
That's why Prolon's five-day program is such a game-changer.
It gives you all the tools to turn your resolutions into results with a science-backed plan that's simple to follow.
Here's how it works.
Prolon's Fasting Mimicking Diet is a revolutionary plant-based nutrition program that nourishes your body while making your cells believe they're fasting.
Research and developed for decades at USC's The program's easy.
It all starts with their five-day kit, snacks, soups, and beverages designed to keep your body in a fasting state without any guesswork or planning, which is a relief after the chaos of the holidays.
Here's what's even more impressive.
Studies show that three consecutive cycles of Prolon can reduce your biological age by an average of 2.5 years, and your wastes are...
And right now, just in time for the new year, Prolon is offering Rubin Report listeners 15% off their five-day nutrition program for your post-holiday glow-up.
Just go to prolonlife.com to claim your discount.
That's P-R-O-L-O-N-L-I-F-E.com for 15% off.
Start your year feeling rejuvenated with Prolon.
Alright, so Adam, I want to start with this clip from Bill Maher because you went on a rant on your show last week basically saying to people, hey, you guys voted for it.
You kind of deserved it.
Well, here is Bill Maher who did vote for Gavin Newsom and I believe did vote for Karen Bass and he went on quite a tirade on Real Time which came back for the season debut this week.
unidentified
Able to do much about the weather, but we do need a better plan for putting out a burning city than waiting for rain.
LA's Mayor Karen Bass, the Nero of American politics, was fiddling in Ghana while the city burned and later placed the blame on eight months of negligible rain and winds that have not been seen in LA in at least 14 years.
unidentified
Yeah, that's not that long a time.
Maybe look in the history books to see how our ancestors handled it back in 2 and 11. I've heard people say, do you want to pay more taxes to fund this?
No.
I want you to use the exorbitant taxes you already collect to prioritize it.
The thing of, cause they do, it's a democratic thing all the time.
They do this sort of underfunded, they lack resources.
They lack resources.
Okay.
We just spent $24 billion on homelessness and it's worse.
So is that a resource issue?
And what school systems spend the most per student on their kids with horrible results?
You know what I mean?
Like they go, the lack of resources.
I don't know.
If a private school can get much better results for half the cost, then is it resources?
You know, is parents...
Staying at home, you know, at night and making sure their kids do their homework.
How much does that cost?
Getting the kid up in the morning, preparing them, giving them breakfast and sending them to school and making sure they're on time and being involved.
Is that, how much does that cost?
So it's a, it's a long democratic lie essentially about resources all the time.
Yeah.
Bill Maher.
I don't know.
Maybe Bill Maher makes 25 million bucks a year.
I don't know.
He makes a fair bit off the show.
He does a lot of touring.
He makes good money.
So if Bill Maher is at, and by the way, he's at the top of the bracket.
So he's paying, you know, $3 million, 3.5 million a year, just alone.
And extra state taxes and nothing's coming out the other end.
And that's the way it always works.
There's no amount of money.
We have a bullet train that's $60 billion over budget.
We don't have anything.
I don't even really equate money to results in a straight line at all.
Who spends more money than we spend?
Who taxes higher?
We have a thing.
In California, which is, well, we have super high taxes for gasoline, but then that tax money goes to the roads, except for we have the worst roads.
Adam, are you telling me that just throwing money at things and endlessly funding the boondoggle that never does anything, are you saying that's short-sighted, that that's not going to work?
I have been saying into a microphone for almost 30 years because my background is as a contractor.
I've said a million times, live in your rent control apartment in Santa Monica and walk to the Whole Foods in your vegan slippers.
You have no beef with the government.
Start a business, buy a house, try to pull a permit.
You will then think like me.
When you have to go down and deal with the city and go down a plan check and pull a permit and get the ability to add on a second bedroom or small business or whatever you're doing, start interfacing with the government, then tell me how you vote.
I've said that a million years.
Bill Maher had to deal with the government.
About three years ago, he wanted to get solar in his house.
Maybe it was more, maybe it's three or four years ago, but Bill Maher had to go deal with the government and pull a permit and get solar in his house.
And two years into trying to get a solar shack permitted and signed off on, he started to turn on the government.
You're hearing.
Bill Maher 2.0, this is Bill Maher who tried to pull a permit.
Now all of a sudden he's talking about regulation, if you notice.
He's talking about government being too big.
He's talking about too much red tape.
You never heard these words out of Bill Maher's mouth from zero to age 62 and a half.
Now he never shuts up about it because he had to go pull a permit.
Yeah, they're going to get red-pilled real quick while they try to rebuild their houses, and they're told, no, you literally can't do anything for two years while we just have stacks of paper on the desk.
Take a look at this video, though, because this was 21 days before the fire.
Here are LA firefighters at a public hearing warning about what could happen if they cut budgets.
So this is a slightly reverse version of what we were just talking about, but I think people will see.
unidentified
If we cut one position, if we close one station, if we close one resource, the residents of Los Angeles are going to pay the ultimate sacrifice and someone will die.
Just last month, fire personnel packed an L.A. Fire Commission meeting, begging the city to rethink the budget.
These cuts came at exactly the wrong time, with calls for services at an all-time high and our firefighters at their breaking point.
We are straining our department's resources beyond the brink, and we cannot continue on this path.
Okay, so what they're talking about there was about a $17.5 million budget cut for the fire department.
So we're both agreeing that just throwing money at things is not the answer.
But also making sure that these people have the proper training, have the proper equipment, that there are literally enough of them, that would be that competent governance that I guess Bill is looking for.
Yeah, we, you know, the analogy that I have and had, which is a Katrina Norland's kind of example, which is...
New Orleans is below sea level, so they need seawalls to protect them from the elements, essentially.
And the seawalls were not maintained properly or fell into disrepair, something with the Army Corps of Engineers, and then Katrina hit, and then disaster.
So, you cannot control the weather.
And you can't control the wind and you can't control Katrina and you can't do any of this, but you can mitigate it.
You can build seawalls.
And if you have effective seawalls, then you can mitigate the danger.
And so, you know, clearing the forest floor and trimming the trees and filling the aqueducts and having more.
Firemen and having more firehouses and so on and so forth is the mitigation that we're talking about.
That's what Bill Maher is talking about.
What are you doing?
You know this is a problem.
And I think it speaks to a newer breed of politician.
It's sort of like, I mean, let's break it down, Dave.
You have Trump and then you have Kamala Harris, right?
Half the country likes Trump and half the country likes Kamala Harris.
Now, Karen Bass likes Kamala Harris and Gavin Newsom like Kamala Harris.
Who's Kamala Harris?
Kamala Harris is someone who just speaks in sort of vague circles about feeling good and dignity and having a seat at the table and nobody's illegal and everyone is welcome.
And these vagitudes, there's not...
And Trump speaks in terms of boots on the ground.
You know, we're going to take this.
We're going to tariff that.
We're going to lower this.
We're going to raise that.
You know, just nuts and bolts.
The nuts and bolts people and the vagatude people, they don't really see eye to eye on anything.
But when the fire comes or the storm comes or the Chinese come, you want the nuts and bolts sitting.
You do not want the Vegitude City.
That's what we have.
We have Karen Bass.
She's in Ghana doing a celebratory dance during the fires.
She doesn't know what to do.
And by the way, do you hear any answers from the Vegitude people?
I want to throw to your friend, your good buddy, Gavin Newsom, because this video is making the rounds at the end of 24. So just a couple of weeks ago, he did his life.
California best moment.
And one of them has to do with a little bit of something that might have had something to do with why the reservoirs weren't filled and that they removed some dams and yeah, we saved some fish.
Take a look.
unidentified
It's Governor Gavin Newsom and I'm here with the top moments that defined California in 2024. Let's get started.
As I speak, the fish are now swimming freely for the first time in over 100 years.
It shows you how resilient Mother Nature is, how resilient salmon are.
And we were able to transfer some of the land that was underwater for decades and decades to tribes that have been there since time in memory.
I mean, obviously these people have been captured.
I mean, it's a really interesting, at least time, for historians to examine, which is a small, very small group of lunatics has captured one party and forced old, decrepit,
Guys like Joe Biden to get out there and speak endlessly about the trans community or Delta Smelt, who, again, I don't know what percentage of the country cares about Dylan Mulvaney.
He goes and visits Biden.
Biden doesn't even know who he or she is.
He's got to be confused.
He doesn't care.
Nobody cares.
I don't know why.
This very small group, you know, the Coastal Commission is like nine retarded people who hate their dads and live nowhere near the coast because they don't make any money.
Who decided that like a really, you know, they do this all the time.
They go like, well, you know, the left goes, oh, the Klan, the Klan, the Klan.
We're not governed by the Klan.
The Klan is super small, and I don't know anyone in the Klan, and neither does anyone I know who is conservative.
But that's the accusation.
But you guys are really governed by your version of the Klan, which is asswipe environmentalists.
I mean, the one that was clinically insane was the black woman who was giving her speech about wanting to have people that look like you save you, which is insane.
And when it comes to fire, I would say, you know, maybe you could make some argument for African-American cops.
On the beat in a predominantly black community, I don't like that we have to make that argument, but okay, you could make that argument.
And maybe you could make that argument for some school teachers in a black community or something, but not firemen, not at all.
It's of no consequence what they are when they show up to your house at night and smoke so thick you can't see your hand in front of your face, what they are.
Yeah, and that video you're referring to where the woman says, you know, she basically says, look, and if you're a guy and I can't lift you up because you're bigger than me, well, you got yourself into that problem.
It is psychotic, but the thing that's a little more psychotic about it, and be super fast, is they filmed it, they edited it, they put music under it, and somebody released it.
That's the psychotic part.
The part where nobody raised their hand and went, uh, hello?
If you've hit that age where your body hurts all the time, listen up.
Before you reach for another painkiller, let me tell you about a little-known turmeric hack.
For pain and inflammation, that could change everything.
You've probably heard that turmeric is great for fighting inflammation and joint pain.
But here's the catch.
Not all turmeric is created equal.
A leading pain doctor from Connecticut discovered a special turmeric extract that's 200 times more powerful than regular turmeric.
And when he shared this turmeric hack with his patients, the results were nothing short of amazing.
This extract doesn't just mask the pain, it attacks the pain at its source, switching it off like a light bulb.
Dr. Josh, the mind behind this breakthrough, has spent over 20 years helping hundreds of thousands of Americans break free from constant aches and stiffness.
And his turmeric hack has been the secret to their success.
Say goodbye to expensive surgeries, painful injections, and over-the-counter meds that don't really work, and say hello to living pain-free.
I've tried it myself, and the difference has been incredible.
But here's the thing.
You can't just use any old turmeric if you want to learn more about Dr. Josh, his turmeric hack, and how you can incorporate it into your daily routine.
Go to goldenrevive.com slash Rubin.
The link is also below this video in the description.
Just click it to start your journey to a pain-free, healthier life.
I want to do two more quick clips on this, and then we'll get to all the political stuff of the week, because it was, I don't know if you heard, but Donald Trump is president again.
But Bill Burr, comedian Bill Burr, was on with your buddy, Jimmy Kimmel, and they were kind of mocking the people who were upset about really much of what we've discussed so far.
Adam, I know as a comic, you don't want to go off on comics, and I know you do feel a little more warmly about Jimmy Kimmel than I do.
But the general notion there of just making fun of the people that actually are addressing the issues, it's kind of exactly why people hate Hollywood, I think.
Remember the police commission officer, whatever, chief in New Orleans a few weeks before the fire?
And she's up there and she's going, now's not the time for blame.
I can't point fingers.
We have to.
Of course, now's not the time for blame.
It's like...
Your football coach, you just get blown out of the Super Bowl by 42 points.
You can't go up to the podium for the presser and say, now's not the time for blame.
Now is the time.
It's exactly the time for blame.
So, yes, let's start blaming people.
And the way you, okay, if you never blame anyone and if everyone did a great job, then it's bound to happen again.
Just like if the football coach got blown out by 42 points and the Super Bowl did everything right and everyone did a great job, well, then there's no reason to tweak anything or fix anything or trade anybody.
Yes, they're a bunch of dead people and a bunch of houses burned to the ground.
To that exact point, I want to throw to my friend Douglas Murray.
He was on Rita Panahi's show on Sky News, and he really drills down the point that enough is enough, and hopefully more people in Cali are going to realize it.
unidentified
If you even now look at the website that she has, her bio, it's all about the fact that she's a diverse woman, that she's a proud member of the LGBTQIA plus community, and that her priority is diversity.
I mean, I hope very much that LA voters and others take note of this.
unidentified
In the end, these people who talked the diversity talk didn't know what they were doing in the real world.
Actually, it's not about somebody who looks like you coming to your house.
It's about somebody coming to your house.
It's about somebody saving your house from burning down.
I spoke to residents of LA earlier this week whose home and all their belongings had been burnt to nothing and had their whole neighborhood.
And they said to me, not one fire truck showed up.
Not one, Rita.
Now, if I was a resident there...
And I'd heard this guff for years about how important it is that a diverse woman of color should come and how empowering it is that a lesbian is head of a...
I've been saying for a million years about California.
I would talk to Dr. Drew about it a lot.
You know, I'd go, when is enough going to be enough?
Like, when are we going to take, when are we going to change?
Because remember, we just had a runoff and an attempt to get Newsome out.
And we also just had a mayoral thing with Karen Bass.
So between Karen Bass and Newsome, this is recent stuff.
And they both won.
And by the way, the only one further left than Newsom could be Karen Bass.
Karen Bass gave a speech to the Democratic National Committee about two years ago that they took down or they hid or something.
But she basically blamed homelessness on income inequality, which means you're basically a communist and you're an idiot at this point.
And there's no...
Chance in hell of you solving the homeless problem if it's because of income inequality.
If that's what you believe, then you're an idiot and we'll never solve this problem.
So she's horrible.
He's horrible.
And they both got a big thumbs up from the American voter basically two years ago.
So I said, when is this going to change?
And the answer is, well, when we bottom out.
And then I would say all the time, why do we have to bottom out?
I don't get it.
If your son...
I would use the analogy that if you came into your son's room and you found Coke spoons and syringes around and prescription drugs, would you have to wait until he flatlined before you got him help, or would you intervene at this point and go, I think we need to seek some help?
And before we get to Trump and the good stuff, because it really was an incredible week, there's an elderly man that you're not going to see much more of lately.
And he gave a speech that he, I would say, fairly poorly read off the teleprompter saying goodbye to all of us.
And of course, they don't have a plan at the micro level.
And Drew was making this point on the show a couple of weeks ago.
I mean, at the micro level, it's like, well, if you do believe in climate change and you live in Cali, you've had the governor for years and years and years.
You have the mayor.
of Los Angeles for years and years and years.
You have a supermajority in the house forever in Cali.
What did you guys do?
So putting aside whether China or India are doing anything for it, it's like you guys did nothing yourself.
Enough of the bad stuff.
Let's get to the good stuff, the golden age.
But first, let's talk about wrinkle filler.
We've been told our whole lives that wrinkle creams were the easiest way to look younger.
Now, one doctor says that's nothing but old news.
According to Dr. John Lake, the world-renowned Beverly Hills beauty expert, most wrinkle fixes on the market are nothing but glorified moisturizers.
They hardly make a dent on your appearance and some can even be harmful to your skin, he said.
Recently, Dr. Lake has focused his attention away from mainstream cosmetic practices.
Why?
So he can pursue a revolutionary anti-aging breakthrough.
One that some experts say could empty the wallets of the cosmetic industry.
It's almost like Photoshop for your face.
You may even be mad after seeing how easy it is to visibly erase your wrinkles from view, Lake told reporters.
His personal clients have dubbed his new do-it-yourself technique the age-rewinder method because it can take years or even decades off your appearance in under two minutes.
In light of this amazing breakthrough, Dr. Lake has released a step-by-step video to the public, free and uninterrupted, where he outlines exactly how to use this simple solution.
You can find out more about this yourself right now.
Go to bhmd1.com slash Ruben or click the link in the description box below.
That's bhmd1.com slash Ruben.
Again, go watch the video at bhmd1.com slash Ruben right now or just click the link in the description box below.
All right, so the Golden Age is here and it is being ushered in by a golden man who is now promising to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion from all forms of government.
Like, we just needed to get to this moment to reverse enough of this stuff, and then just what he's good at.
Particularly, I think, is signaling to people, like, we're not going to do it anymore, and then everyone else will figure out ways in their own life and their own business to replicate that.
Since we're talking about climate change and everything else, one of the other things that, of course, the Democrats have tried to do is push this ridiculous Green New Deal, which had far more to do with rejiggering our economy than doing anything as it pertains to clean air or water.
Donald Trump just signed an executive order that will unleash American energy.
So we're opening up N1. The reason I wanted to show that clip, Adam, was because he's even asking more questions as he's signing these things.
Like, he's directionally right when it comes to, hey, let's be energy independent and we still do need fossil fuels and we can look more to nuclear and all those things.
But he's still, as he's doing it, the point is there's a wherewithal there.
And what a contrast, man, to where we were last week.
Supported and defended Biden for as long as they did.
And you know the thing that's really insidious about Biden is I think his supporters, if you gave him a beer, would go, look, all right, the guy's no genius, and I don't even really know what his policies are, and he probably doesn't know what his policies are, and yes, maybe some of his policies did hurt us at the border with...
You know, energy creation, things like that.
Fine.
The economy, fine.
But he's a fair and decent man who loves this country.
And it's like, no, he's not.
He's a criminal.
Who's the head of a criminal enterprise who has involved most everyone in his family in his criminal behavior.
That's why he had to pardon them all.
Like he is everything the left hates about politicians for the last 70 years.
All this sort of.
My mom, lefty, you know, this corrupt Washington guy.
I mean, even just this whole week when Biden pardoned his brother and some of the other family members, and then you probably saw it, but there was this great compilation video going around from four years ago with all of these MSNBC and the usual suspects on CNN basically saying, Trump's going to pardon his children and how criminal it is.
Trump didn't pardon his children and Biden actually did and now they're all taking the completely reverse step.
One more clip for you that I think ties this all nicely together.
We are also...
Everyone calm down, guys.
We're withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accords.
unidentified
But I'm immediately withdrawing from the unfair one-sided Paris Climate Accord rip-all.
The United States will not sabotage your own industries while China pollutes with impunity.
Adam, I'm a simple man, you know, so maybe you can help me with this.
We were in the Paris Accords, then Trump got us out of the Paris Accords, then we went back in the Paris Accords, and now we're going to get out of the Paris Accords.