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July 18, 2025 - Rubin Report - Dave Rubin

42:59

This Is Why Gavin Newsom Regrets Letting Shawn Ryan Interview Him with Co-Host Riley Gaines

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	Four-time WNBA all-star Britney Hicks is here.
	Give it up for Brittany, everybody.
	I'm joking around.
	That's my friend's wife.
	I knew none of you knew WNBA players.
	That's crazy.
	You clap for that.
	Ah.
	All right, people of the internet.
	It is Friday, July 18th.
	I'm Dave Rubin.
	This is the Rubin Report.
	And normally we do a Friday roundtable extravaganza, but I said, could we find a guest who's so relevant, who's so sharp, who's so witty, who has so much information in her brain that she would compromise two guests in one human?
	And they said, yes, can we get Riley Gaines?
	And here we have her, Riley Gaines, 12-time NCAA All-American Swimmer and host of the Gaines for Girls podcast.
	How are you, Riley?
	Man, two guests.
	Does that mean I am they them?
	Am I a plural person now?
	I knew I was handing you some sort of pronoun or non-binary joke there.
	There was something.
	You worked with it perfectly.
	We're mostly going to talk today about the differences with boys and girls.
	Are you okay with that?
	This is sort of like softball stuff for you, but we're going to do, I just said to you, right before we started the show, we're going to do this one more time with you, all the transgender stuff and the gender stuff and all that.
	And then next time I have you on, let's just do something else altogether.
	But it just kind of never ends, right?
	That's the truth.
	Look, I graduated kindergarten, so I'm good to talk about the differences.
	No, I'm not a biologist.
	According to Andy Brown Jackson, that's what you have to be to understand these said differences.
	Right.
	You're overqualified to be a Supreme Court justice, actually.
	No, that's the truth.
	Yeah.
	Crazy world.
	I can't believe, honestly, that we're still talking about this.
	I truthfully imagine that when Donald Trump won in November, of course, of last year, I really believe that the Democrats would slowly start to like recant from their voting records, from any of their previous positions that they had taken on some of this, this radical, insane gender stuff, especially as it pertains to sports, especially as it pertains to the chemical and surgical mutilation and castration of children.
	But that is not at all what they have done.
	Dave, they have double, tripled, quadrupled down on this.
	And for the life of me, I cannot understand it.
	I don't believe, truthfully, like, like, I can't allow myself to believe that they actually believe that men can become women and vice versa.
	I really don't think that.
	So it's, I guess the question is, like, is this the hill, the political hill that they are willing to die on?
	So far, they've proven that to be true, which is, again, utterly insane.
	Riley, they're progressing.
	Nobody says what they're progressing towards.
	It might be a chasm.
	It might be a bottomless pit, but it's progress in their mind.
	So let's just dive in.
	This one, yes, we're starting with the evil lizard man.
	I showed this clip earlier in the week of Gavin Newsome on Sean Ryan's podcast.
	And Sean Ryan, who's getting really hit hard for even having him on and kind of going along with him a little bit.
	I leave that for anyone to decide what they think of that.
	But here is Gavin being asked what his feelings are about, what do you want to call it at this point?
	Sex changes, gender reassignment, whatever the phrase you want to use now, as it pertains to children.
	And Gavin seems to be maybe slightly waking up because suddenly he has a nine-year-old kid.
	What about for your values?
	I mean, is eight years old too young?
	Yeah, I mean, look, now that I have a nine-year-old, just became nine.
	Come on, man.
	I get it.
	So those are legit.
	You know, it's interesting.
	Just the issue of age, I haven't, it's interesting.
	As someone that's been so focused on equality broadly, LGBT rights, particularly gay marriage, the trans issue for me is also novel.
	It's over the last few years.
	I'm trying to understand as much as anyone else.
	Whole pronoun thing, trying to understand all of that.
	You know, that was like the hell, all that stuff.
	I get it.
	All right, Riley, the inauthenticity, the body motions, the lizard trying to burst out of the human skin, all of that stuff aside, the fact that he suddenly maybe is walking it back a tiny bit because his son is nine.
	I assume it's his son.
	Maybe it's his daughter.
	I'm actually not even sure.
	But he has a nine-year-old.
	Do you think he has any regret about all of the five-year-olds that he enabled to be chemically castrated and all the other things that you mentioned before?
	No, not at all, actually.
	First of all, notice he doesn't actually answer the question.
	Sean Bryan asks very directly, you know, outside of your role as governor, personally, with a child, is this something you can get behind?
	And he doesn't answer.
	He says, he puts it in his own personal experience.
	Look, I have a nine-year-old, but never answers it, continues to sit on the fence, which is what he does best, whether it is the issue, obviously this issue, men and women's sports, COVID, doesn't matter.
	But remember, actually, speaking of the issue of men and women's sports, when Charlie Kirk went on his podcast not long ago, a few weeks ago, he says the issue of boys and girls sports, again, that's been happening in his state to the nth degree.
	He says this is not just unfair.
	He says it's a deeply unfair issue.
	Okay, he said that.
	A few weeks later, during all of the LA riots, he snuck in a lawsuit that he issued to the DOJ, to the Trump administration.
	And in this lawsuit, he included a provision that was suing the DOJ for them trying to prevent the state of California for allow, or I guess for not allowing boys in girls' sports.
	All of that to say, I mean, we should look at this as what it is.
	Clearly, I don't think this is a shock to literally anyone, especially the people who live in California, who have had to live through his destructive, harmful policies.
	Clearly, he is angling at a 2028 presidential run.
	He's like your typical slimy car salesman.
	He's very charming.
	His demeanor, his looks, the way he approaches these conversations, he's very charming.
	And maybe again, to people outside of California, that might work.
	But I have enough hope and optimism to believe that the American people are waking up.
	Props to Sean Ryan.
	As you said, take it as you will, him having him on, him maybe not pushing back as hard as he could have.
	I think it's fantastic the way that he set up this interview because he's allowing Gavin Newsom really to shoot himself in the foot because we know what he's been doing in his state.
	Even not living there, you get to watch on the news what's happening in his states, whether it is the LA fires, whether it's the riots, whether it's the unwillingness to cooperate with ICE, whatever it is, his state is falling apart.
	He can say what he wants, but you living in Florida, me living in Tennessee, I have to talk to people every single day who are fleeing California.
	Even still, I think this mass exodus happened, really started during COVID.
	Even still to this day, living just a little bit north of Nashville, I mean, the housing market is insane.
	And it's because people are coming from California.
	They're calling themselves political refugees and they're moving to these states that are known to be bastions of freedom, desperately trying to escape Gavin Newsom.
	And again, his radical, insane, destructive policies that he's put in place.
	So I don't believe him for a second when he says this.
	Again, you have to remember, this is the same guy who signed into law a bill that would make it permissible, I believe, by law, again, for a 24-year-old to have sex with a 14-year-old kid.
	So I don't believe this for a second.
	Yeah.
	What do you make of how he conflates the trans issue with marriage equality?
	They're not related at all.
	To say that actually they're in total contrast with one another.
	Completely.
	Yeah, exactly.
	Exactly.
	I believe it's harmful to the gay community.
	I can't even tell you truthfully how many lesbians I have talked to who have been a part of dating apps or lesbian-only groups, whatever it is, who have now, again, because of these policies, these discriminatory statutes that have been put into state law in their state constitution, they have to allow these men into their spaces.
	I've talked to so many lesbians who are like, look, I'm not transphobic, just not interested in dating someone who has an appendage that I have no care in.
	So I think this is actually really harmful to the gay community to equate these two things.
	They're not the same at all.
	Gender identity and sexual orientation are totally separate things entirely.
	Yeah.
	For the record, I did go to a lesbian bar once, New York City.
	This is around 2002.
	It was called the Cubby Hole.
	And suffice to say, it was very clear that those ladies did not want me there.
	So just putting that out there.
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	You slightly referenced this, but here is Attorney General Pam Bondi and Linda McMahon talking about how the DOJ is filing suit to actually enforce Title IX in California, which is what he's trying to upend.
	Over the past several weeks, the Department of Education has notified the Department of Education in California, as well as the California Interscholastic Federation, that they were in violation of Title IX.
	They were allowing men to compete in women's sports.
	Now, this is after years of their being in violation of Title IX.
	We informed them that if they did not change, that we were going to refer these cases to the Department of Justice, and we have done exactly that.
	Thank you, Secretary McMahon, for all of your hard work.
	And today, the Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against California, Department of Education, and the governing body for women's sports in California.
	We've made it very clear, only women in women's sports under Title IX.
	An example in California, a boy who was in track and field.
	He would have lost every race.
	Yet in women's sports, he won over three dozen medals.
	Those medals should be returned to the women, as well as no boys will be allowed in women's locker rooms.
	No longer.
	We have sued Maine.
	We're in litigation with Minnesota.
	We've sent multiple letters.
	And if you do not comply, you're next.
	So just to be clear, Title IX was instituted originally so that women would have their own institutions.
	They would have their own leagues.
	They would be separate, because I think you would agree, it would be very hard for you as an incredible female swimmer to compete just with men.
	So they gave women an opportunity to do that.
	That's great.
	So I know you're happy with everything that they're saying there.
	Are you seeing any traction with more and more parents that are finally willing to stand up against this stuff and defend great women like those two right there for doing the right thing?
	Or are they still cowed wherever you go?
	110%.
	Well, actually, kind of both.
	The cultural shift that we have seen since, I mean, 2021, 2022, I'll speak to my own personal experience.
	When I kind of, I guess, took that initial leap of faith in 2022, I compare the overall feeling, concern of risk and threats of the general public, or at least of my teammates, of people that I knew, of coaches, of athletic directors, of officials, of parents at the time, to where we are now just three years later.
	And it's like we're living in a totally different world.
	So there really has been a huge cultural revolution to where I believe it's much more, I mean, it's more widely accepted to say the controversial thing that men cannot become women and vice versa.
	Again, amazing to me that that at one point, at any point in American history or history at all in general, had an entire nation or again, more broadly, globally, had so many people just in a chokehold, like so scared to say that.
	And understandably so.
	Like the risk and the threats, they were real.
	Like you could lose your job if you said that out loud.
	Now, again, three years later, I don't think the consequences are as severe as they once were, partially because President Trump is now back in the Oval Office and there's a level of security and cover that comes with that.
	I can't even imagine the state of this nation under a Kamala Harris presidency.
	So praise God, Donald Trump won.
	So we have seen a cultural revolution.
	That being said, you, of course, still have people who are fearful of cancel culture.
	But again, hear me when I say cancel culture is losing its grip.
	Don't just take it from me.
	Look at companies.
	I mean, actually, you know what?
	We can look at to kind of make this comparison.
	Simone Biles.
	I mean, you know what?
	Hold on, Simone, because we'll get to her.
	I want to do a whole thing with you because you guys had a very public spat, which I want to get into.
	I'm sure you want to rehash that.
	We're going to get into some of that.
	But to further your point, let me read this to you from the New York Times.
	And this one's definitely personal to you.
	This is from a few days ago.
	Transgender athletes at the University of Pennsylvania will no longer be able to compete for the school's women's teams following a new agreement between the university and the U.S. Department of Education.
	The university will also strip transgender competitors of historical credit for past accomplishments in the form of program awards or records.
	Under the agreement, Penn agreed to restore to female athletes all individual Penn Division I swimming records, titles, or similar recognitions, which were misappropriated by male athletes allowed to compete in female categories.
	Today's resolution agreement with UPenn is yet another example of Trump's effect in action.
	Thanks to the leadership of President Trump, Penn has agreed to both apologize for its past Title IX violations and to ensure that women's sports are protected at the university for future generations of female athletes, said U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon in a statement.
	Today is a great victory for women and girls, not only at the University of Pennsylvania, but all across the nation.
	Penn has been one of the epicenters of the debate over transgender athletes due to its handling of transgender swimmer Leah Thomas, who swam for the Quakers from 2017 to 2022.
	So obviously, you know what, before I even comment, let's throw to the image of you.
	I mean, this to me, do you have a poster of this?
	I know it's got to bring back a lot of weird stuff, but in some way, this is the thing that kind of put you on the map.
	I mean, is there a shellaced version of this somewhere in your house?
	Or are you just like, do you puke every time you see that?
	It is so wild looking back at that photo, again, three years ago at this point and comparing, you know, where I was in terms of my like, number one, my knowledge of the issue.
	Obviously, I recognized it to be unfair.
	I recognized it to be, to be wrong and harmful to women.
	I had no idea the severity of this issue.
	I had no idea the trajectory of this issue.
	I had no idea this would be really the sleeper issue, I believe, of the election.
	Not just the election, not just the presidential election.
	I mean, across the board, so many, whether it was congressional, whether it was Senate seats, I believe it was this issue that really helped Bernie Marino, Dave McCormick.
	I mean, you can go down the list of people.
	This was a big deal to you.
	I had no idea in that moment how to talk about this, the messaging, even the pronoun stuff.
	I remember being just, all I knew was that it was wrong.
	I knew it was unfair.
	And I compare that to now and to, I guess, understand my personal progression.
	But again, to see how this issue has affected our culture.
	And I believe is a big part of why Donald Trump is back in the Oval Office now because of how absurd the other side is.
	It's just crazy to look at that.
	And again, like he doesn't make a very pretty woman.
	Six foot four.
	Like he has the septum piercing.
	Like it's just pretty sore sight to see.
	I believe I asked you this once, but my director Connor had had a theory that Leah Thomas was using the penis as a propeller.
	Can you comment on that?
	Yeah, it's like a rudder, right?
	It's like a extra like fin hydrodynamic in the water, which is funny.
	The thing about this, again, like you, we laugh at this because it's literally like a Battle 1B headline or an SNL skit when SNL was actually funny, but that SNL skit turned into like a documentary for real life for what myself,
	my teammates, girls around the country, even still because of people like Gavin Newsom, continue to have to face totally and utterly insane, but almost, I mean, it's kind of objectively funny if there weren't real consequences to it.
	And you know what?
	They made you a well-deserved, I would say, media star.
	And in all of my years doing this, the guests that I have enjoyed the most are the ones who did not intend to step into the fight and then something happened to them the way this happened to you.
	And I've had others, you know, teachers who got canceled or scientists who got canceled or Brett Weinstein at Evergreen, people who were not in the fight that then something happens to them and they get in the fight.
	So I hope you walk with that.
	Like that's like an award that you should be walking with all the time.
	I think you do walk with it.
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	But now let's get to what you referenced a moment ago.
	So a few weeks ago, you got into a bit of a spat with Simone, not Bowles, Simone Biles.
	Who's Simone Bowles?
	I was making that up.
	All right, Simone Biles.
	And let me just read some of the back and forth here.
	So she had, so originally the Minnesota High School Softball League had tweeted out a picture that everyone's looking at right there.
	And they said, meet Champlin Park, the class quadruple A softball state champion for 2025.
	And you wrote comments off LOL to be expected when your star player is a boy, which is a fact.
	Then Simone Biles said, You're true to you, you're truly sick.
	All of this campaigning because you lost a race.
	Straight up sore loser.
	You should be uplifting the trans community and perhaps finding a way to make sports inclusive or creating a new avenue where trans feel safe in sports.
	Maybe a transgender category in all sports, but instead you bully them.
	One thing for sure is no one in sports is safe with you around three exclamation points.
	She then continued, bully someone your own size, which would ironically be a male, which is probably the greatest self-own in the history of the world.
	You then wrote, this is actually so disappointing.
	It's not my job or the job of any woman to figure out how to include men in our spaces.
	You can uplift men stealing championships in women's sports with your platform.
	Men don't belong in women's sports.
	And I can say that with my full chest.
	To which she then, after getting owned in the comments with your thoughtful response, put this up.
	And clearly this was crafted with a bit of a PR team behind her.
	I wanted to follow up from my last tweets.
	I've always believed competitive equity and inclusivity are both essential in sport.
	The current system doesn't adequately balance these important principles, which often leads to frustration and heated exchanges.
	And it didn't help for me to get personal with Riley, which I apologize for.
	These are sensitive, complicated issues that I truly don't have the answers or solutions to, but I believe it starts with empathy and respect.
	I was not advocating for policies that compromise fairness in women's sports.
	My objection is to singling out children for public scrutiny in ways that feels personal and harmful.
	Individual athletes, especially kids, should never be the focus of criticism of a flawed system they have no control over.
	I believe sports organizations have a responsibility to come up with rules supporting inclusion while maintaining fair competition.
	We all want a future for sport that is fair, inclusive, and respectful, XO, XO Simone.
	So that was it.
	And in essence, that was her kind of waving the white flag to you.
	I can already read your face.
	I sense you think that was a bit disingenuous, perhaps, or not really her speaking?
	Totally half-hearted.
	It was amazing to me.
	Like, like, again, take that apology, read the tone of it, and go back to just 48 hours prior to that, the tone of her original two tweets.
	Like, like, not even remotely in the same realm of understanding of the topic at hand or whatever it was.
	Couple things here.
	To discuss her first few points, actually, I'll take you back to where I was.
	Like, I was, again, this is like Friday night.
	I'm home, which I'm never home.
	I'm traveling all over the place all the time.
	I was home, about to turn my phone off for the weekend so I could spend time with my husband, my dogs, all this stuff.
	And I get this notification on X that Simone Biles had tagged me, mentioned me in a comment, which I was like, oh my gosh, like I love Simone Biles.
	Oh, God, this is the worst.
	You're heroes.
	Yeah, that's the worst.
	I just watched her in the past three Olympics.
	Like, she's had an illustrious career.
	She's done so much for women's sports.
	I click on this and you can just imagine my face immediately like drops.
	I was so heartbroken, not because of the personal comments.
	Like I could care less.
	I like truthfully care less about her saying I look like a man because I'm five foot five.
	Like maybe seems like a giant to someone who's four foot eight, but I'm relatively standard size for a woman, 130 pounds.
	Like, like that was just silly to me.
	Okay.
	So like that doesn't bother me at all.
	That's a hell of a filter you have on right now if you look like a man.
	Let me just put it that way.
	Yeah, right.
	Like, so that didn't bother me at all.
	I was more so heartbroken to understand that this is a woman with such an incredible platform.
	And again, has done so much for her sport and women's sports in general.
	To see her sell out every woman who is to come behind her, basically pulling up the ladder behind her, that's what broke my heart.
	And again, back to the like the body shaming, if you will, you would imagine if anyone, I mean, I will say like I'm relatively muscular.
	I would imagine that if anyone would understand what that's like, it would be Simone Biles.
	Again, a woman who has like participated in multiple body shaming, anti-body shaming campaigns, has, of course, been under severe scrutiny in her career throughout for because of her muscular stature.
	Like if anyone would know what it's like to be a muscular woman, you would think it would be Simone Biles.
	But I was reading this.
	But also to just go after a female athlete who's successful for a good body.
	I mean, that's the body that makes you successful at the sport.
	And it was crazy because I was reading this at the time, which I had not released to the world.
	I was six months pregnant reading this comment.
	And so I'm thinking to myself, I can't believe that she's saying a woman who is six months pregnant and at this point had done a pretty dang good job of concealing it.
	I was hardly showing.
	I can't believe that she would say I like a man, which in the next week following, I was able to reveal to the world that I'm carrying a baby girl, which is just the most exciting news ever.
	But then fast forward to her apology, a couple things in there.
	She says something to the effect of like, I wasn't advocating for men and women's sports.
	I don't believe that that's fair or right, all while using the buzzwords of inclusivity and competitive equity.
	Again, really trying to sit on the fence here.
	But what she has now realized, I imagine, because what I have seen in her comments section before she has turned them off, she, when you stand in the middle of the road, like she is doing, you get hit with traffic from both sides.
	And that's, that's really sad.
	Like, I'll be honest, like, I hate to see that.
	I really do.
	I hate to see someone like Simone Biles receiving the backlash that she did following this, just because you don't want to see anyone having to deal with this.
	It's not easy.
	You know that.
	I know that.
	I wouldn't wish that really on my worst enemy.
	But nonetheless, I think it shows you again this cultural revolution.
	You have a celebrity, a public figure, an elite athlete issuing a groveling public apology for her stance on the Trent issue.
	You wouldn't have seen that five years ago.
	I don't think you would have even seen that two years ago.
	So it shows you, it's a sign of the times where we are as a nation.
	And that should be, you hate to say it, but that should be encouraging.
	Putting aside the hypocrisy or the irony or that kind of stuff, what would you say to the people who are on board her idea of this third league that should exist, which I think ultimately would be four leagues because you would need leagues that would be for trans people each way.
	To me, if you just do it by biology, then you have what we always had and it would be just fine.
	And if you had a guy that looked like a girl, but he was still a guy, he would just compete with the guys and deal with that he might be made fun of or whatever.
	We all had shit when we were in high school.
	But what do you make of this other thing that they're now trying to push, which is that there should be a third league?
	But as I said, in essence, would be a fourth league.
	Here's what I want you to consider.
	I initially thought this was a great idea.
	I thought, yeah, sure, create a third league.
	It's a way to, I guess, ensure inclusivity, as if that even really matters in sports, which actually I will say sports are inclusive by nature.
	Anyone can and everyone should play sports.
	Like sports are very inclusive by nature.
	Competition, on the other hand, is exclusive.
	As I mean, by the definition of the word, like you have a winner.
	Of course, it's going to be, but sports inherently are inclusive.
	So I thought, sure, you know, you can prioritize safety and fairness while having inclusion, whatever.
	It's a compromise that sounded good.
	And then I thought about it.
	You're right.
	First of all, it's antithetical to what sports is, what they are, what they are created to do when you have a category based on identity.
	Think about it.
	You don't have any category based on identity in sports.
	We don't have a category based on religion.
	We don't have a category based on sexual orientation.
	We don't have a category based on the color of your skin.
	And guess what?
	We shouldn't.
	Those are terrible, terrible things and they have nothing to do with how you play sport.
	So are you saying black people and white people should play baseball together?
	I know.
	I know, right?
	Chick's wild.
	Crazy.
	But it's wild that this is there.
	They all while, again, claiming to be progressive, as you said, what they're really advocating for is segregation, which is crazy to me.
	But and to your point, okay, you would have to have two really separate categories, men who identify as women and women who identify as men.
	And then would you have to even further break it down between men who began puberty blockers before puberty and yet who began puberty blockers after puberty, finding enough people to play, finding enough people to watch, finding the facilities, the resources.
	And I will say, we've seen this in effect now.
	Actually, it was FINA, which is the international governing body of swimming.
	They created a third category at like the international level.
	So like high, high-level meets for people who were gender non-conforming to compete in.
	And you know what happened is Will Thomas went to sue World Aquatics for creating a third category because he said, if I can't trample on women in the process, I don't even want to play sports.
	I don't want to swim.
	So this isn't even a compromise that the other side seemingly is willing to make.
	So all that to say, the idea of a third category is silly and it simply wouldn't work.
	So the solution is what has been in front of us the past, I mean, half a century at this point, a little over half a century, men compete with women or no, not that.
	God.
	Well, God.
	I know.
	Well, we got a blooper reel out of this show at least, you know?
	Yeah, right.
	There's the thumbnail.
	You see what they've done to you?
	I know.
	I've been brainwashed.
	No, men compete with men.
	Women compete with women.
	That's the solution.
	Fair enough.
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	All right, let's jump to one other thing.
	And then as I said at the top of the show, I promise you, next time we're going to talk about all sorts of other stuff.
	But I think, you know, I'm a basketball guy and I'm really fascinated by what's been going on with the WNBA.
	I don't even watch the NBA anymore because it became so political, but I love basketball, the sport.
	And first I want to start with a picture of Angel Reese.
	She is now the cover girl for NBA 2K26.
	That's the PS Xbox game.
	It's the WNBA edition.
	I actually didn't even know that there was a WNBA edition, but that's just fine, obviously.
	And they put her on the cover.
	I want to show you one play from Angel Reese this week.
	I've watched a lot of basketball in my life.
	I have never seen an inbound pass like this.
	I'm not a girl, so maybe you can explain to me what happened here.
	From the ones who are doing it better than nothing.
	Williams now with four points in the second quarter.
	Uh-oh.
	Miscommunication between Atkins and Reese, and Carlton makes a pay.
	I don't think that was miscommunication.
	I play basketball with a bunch of 60-year-old guys with busted hips.
	Half of them can't see.
	I'm not sure they all have working arms.
	And I've never seen.
	I bring this up because we're going to get to Caitlin Clark in a minute, but they've really tried to make Angel Reese the face of the league.
	You put her on the cover of 2K, which for all the NBA players that get on there, that's a huge career moment for them.
	It opens up all sorts of other endorsements.
	And here's a woman who I actually think does seem kind of racist and has made some racist remarks, who's going after Caitlin Clark, and who also doesn't really seem to care that much about the league or something like that.
	Is that a fair estimation?
	Look, it's not even that Angel Reese has made racist remarks.
	She has created, at this point, two racial hoaxes entirely saying that fans were making monkey noises or whatever it is.
	And it was proven by the league, by the WNBA to be a totally false allegation.
	Like she's done this twice.
	So It's not only the racial remarks, it's the insistence to create some sort of racial disparagement that is actually not there at all.
	If a racial disparagement did exist in the WNBA, then Angel Reese would not be on the cover of this game.
	Okay, so like that's a total facade that is, I guess, exists in Angel Reese's mind.
	Whether it was this inbound pass, whether it's Angel Reese rebounding her own layup, it's pretty, like, honestly, it's impressive.
	And I will say, like, granted, like, I was pretty good at virtually every sport growing up.
	I come from a family of athletes.
	My dad was in the NFL.
	My mom was Division I softball player, like Super Bowl champions in my family, like, like pretty athletic.
	Was never that great at basketball.
	I have no problem admitting that.
	But it's, I will say, watching this, it is pretty impressive to see, to count on if it even fits on two hands, how many times Angel Reese can rebound her own land.
	We'll have thrown in a little of that on B-roll for you.
	But now I want to connect this to the other thing that I think really is the story, which is that the WNBA has their Michael Jordan.
	Caitlin Clark, it's not just that she's an amazing basketball player.
	They've had amazing basketball players before.
	Yes, she's kind of heads and shoulders above some of their best.
	I remember watching in 95 when the league started, there was a woman, I don't know if you remember her, her name was Cynthia Cooper.
	If you've never seen this lady play on the Houston Comets, she was unbelievable.
	She looked like she was in another league than many of these ladies.
	However, Kaitlyn Clark, they have their Michael Jordan.
	She's selling out stadiums.
	You see what happens when she shows up, how many people show up versus when she's injured or not in town, what the ratings are when she doesn't play, et cetera, et cetera.
	And they are kicking the crap out of her.
	Here's just one example of it.
	Watch when Kaitlyn Clark is trying to create some space.
	It looked like she just got hit in the eye there.
	Ooh, ooh, and Marina Mabry.
	I missed that one, Edona.
	Riley, she gets hit in the face, the secondary bump, the other one gets in there to hit her.
	Look, Michael Jordan was hit a lot.
	Basketball used to be much more physical than it is these days.
	But they are going to hurt her.
	That is my prediction.
	They are going to really, really hurt her.
	And this incredible experiment that could have turned this league into what it started to become a few months ago, I think is going to be over just like that.
	Yeah.
	Well, whether it's, I mean, I can think of a thousand examples off the top of my head of Caitlin Clark being in these compromised positions because of the league, because of the rhetoric that they've allowed.
	And I don't use that lightly because, again, you hate when the other side uses this word rhetoric, right?
	Like, you know, violent rhetoric as if words can be violent, but they've allowed Caitlin Clark to now be in this position.
	I can think of one instance where Dejanae Carrington, you know, it like punctured Caitlin Clark in the eyes.
	I can think of tons of examples of this, but one person I want to highlight who has had Caitlin Clark's back over the past few weeks is Sophie Cunningham.
	Yes.
	Oh my gosh.
	I'm like the biggest Sophie Cunningham fan now.
	And I'm not trying to boast, but she commented on my TikTok yesterday.
	So I feel like we're besties now.
	She's incredible.
	She has now said what the league wouldn't, what none of Caitlin Clark's other teammates would at this point.
	She's like, look, I've had enough watching this.
	Caitlin is going to get hurt.
	I'm going to defend her.
	There's a fantastic play where someone comes up, shoves Caitlin, and Sophie comes in and she just fantastic.
	That's the kind of assertiveness that I believe has been missing to ultimately protect Caitlin Clark, as you said, which is the WNBA's like golden goose.
	Like this is the golden goose.
	This is your ticket.
	But they have become so incredibly insufferable.
	Like it really is.
	That's why people tune in, as you alluded to, to the games that Caitlin Clark is playing, even when she's been injured.
	And you hate to see her even just this week face another injury, leave tearfully.
	When she's not there, people aren't tuned in.
	It's because the WNBA as a league is absolutely insufferable.
	How much of that do you think?
	Okay, so it seems to me there's a jealousy element there.
	It seems to me there's some racial element there.
	We kind of hit that.
	How much of that do you think is also a sexuality issue in that she is straight, as far as I know, and there happen to be a lot of lesbians in the league.
	And that now is creating some weird tension.
	Yeah, I don't know.
	This is interesting.
	You have people like Sonny Haustin who said that Caitlin Clark has pretty privilege, white privilege, straight privilege, and she said tall privilege, which like, I would imagine virtually everyone in the WNBA has tall privilege.
	Like, what?
	What does that mean?
	I don't know if that's as much what we're seeing here, potentially.
	I think Sophie Cunningham is another one of her teammates that is straight.
	And maybe they know something that we don't know.
	Maybe that's part of the defense that Sophie Cunningham has come to for Clark.
	But I think it's more so, again, I would say more so because of her talent, because the WNBA and players in the league can't recognize a good thing for everyone.
	Like Caitlin Clark's success and her talent isn't just good for Clark.
	It's good for the entire league.
	They can't recognize that when they see it.
	And I think it's racial tensions, which you hate to see again in the year 2025.
	The progress that we have seen.
	I mean, you think back to the 1960s, even beyond that, to see the progress that we have seen.
	We live in the most diverse country at any point in world history.
	And to have people still claim to be oppressed, people like Wobi Goldberg, who says it's harder to be a black woman in America or a black person in America than it is to be a woman in Iran.
	Are you kidding me?
	Like, have you no idea?
	These are women who can't get an education.
	These are women who can't go to the doctor.
	They can't go to the gym.
	Women in Afghanistan can't even have a window in their kitchen because, God forbid, a man look into their kitchen and see a woman.
	Like, have you no, you have no idea what you're talking about, Whoopee Goldberg.
	So all of that, no racial tensions.
	Yeah, Whoopee's got to stop smoking her dreadlocks.
	I think that's the main problem over there.
	Let me ask you one other thing on this, which is a little uncomfortable to talk about in some sense.
	But as a female athlete, do you think there's some element of when you watch girls like on a basketball court when they crush each other or when it's when it gets very physical, there's something about watching guys do it where you expect a certain level of physicality, where when you see women do it, there's just a different feeling attached to it.
	Right or wrong, there's just a different feeling.
	So if we saw that exact same play and it was all guys, you might just kind of be like, ah, whatever, it is what it is.
	But when you see girls do it, it just comes off different.
	I'm not even making a judgment call.
	I'm just curious if you think there's any legitimacy to that.
	No, I mean, I'll just speak personally here of how I feel, even watching, you know, UFC watching men fight versus watching a woman fight.
	There's something visceral about watching a woman get picked in the face.
	And men too.
	Like, it's pretty barbaric, but it's different.
	Like the feelings, at least that I have innately, inherently, as someone who believes in the biblical roles of men and women as men are supposed to be protectors and providers and women are supposed to be the nurturers.
	Like, like, I believe there's value in that.
	I think it's a really beautiful thing.
	That's not to say that women can't succeed in their sport and in their career and beyond, but I think there's value.
	It's a really beautiful thing to see the way that men and women compliment each other in that way.
	It's pretty visceral, speaking personally, to watch a woman get punched in the face.
	Like, it's not something I find enjoyment in doing.
	It's not something I would, a position I would want to put myself in.
	You know, maybe some women, they're totally cool with that, but I don't, you know, I don't see much enjoyment in watching women get elbowed in the face and whether it's basketball, get punched in the face and any sort of boxing ring.
	Like, I don't find enjoyment in that.
	Riley, on that note, I'm making a note here.
	Next time you come on, we will not talk about genitals.
	What you got this weekend?
	Look, I'm, what's this weekend?
	I am, oh, you know what I'm doing this weekend?
	I'm actually swimming Alcatraz.
	So pretty crazy.
	Wait, not alligator Alcatraz.
	That's a whole other situation.
	You're doing Alcatraz Alcatraz?
	Like great white Alcatraz.
	Whoa.
	Getting dropped off at the prison.
	Again, bear in mind, I'm 30, 31 weeks pregnant.
	Getting dropped off at the prison, swimming back to shore.
	So how far is that?
	It's a little low.
	I think it's about two miles-ish.
	I did it last year.
	Escaped.
	I survived.
	But this is just a fantastic way that I have found to honor Navy SEALs and veterans.
	So get a group of those who have been either severely wounded, some are still active duty.
	And it's just a way to honor them.
	So it's just a little thing that I have found myself doing.
	Super cold.
	That's the worst part.
	This poor little girl growing inside of me is going to be like.
	I don't know how to jinx you, but how do you feel about a water birth?
	Oh, look, you know, I appreciate the women who can like do the home birth stuff and like don't want the epidural.
	That is not me.
	If I don't have to feel it, I don't want to feel it.
	Like that's, that's my mind.
	I'm just saying, you'd be setting this kid up for a hell of a hero's journey with a birth in the water of Alcatraz.
	Like, that's a pretty good, you know, origin story.
	Yeah, exactly.
	Exactly.
	Riley, you're the best.
	I appreciate it.
	You're welcome back anytime.
	And I promise no genitals next time.
	That is my commitment to you.
	I'll hold you to it.
	Thank you, Dave.

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