🔵 The Rubin Recap, Issue 1 | May 16, 2025

WELCOME BACK TO THE NEW NEWSLETTER

Welcome to the inaugural edition of the new Rubin Report newsletter, called The Rubin Recap! It’s revamped, redesigned, rethought. It’s a newsletter, so there will be discussion of things in the news — and more. Here’s what to expect:

INTRODUCING ACTUAL FRIENDS

Not only do I have a new newsletter, I also launched a new video podcast last week. What can I say -- I'm taking the whole idea of spring being a time of rebirth very seriously this year. The new podcast is called Actual Friends, and I co-host it along with Jillian Michaels, Sage Steele and Russell Brand. And all of us are -- drumroll, please -- actual friends. See what we did there?

The idea is to give all of you a look at each of us away from the studio and to do it in a way that lets us explore other topics in life besides politics, to give a more insider, personal look at who we all are. Of course, we will touch on some political and cultural issues, but the show has a different look and feel than what we all do on our main shows. The first episode launched last week -- and I recorded it from my parents' little beach house on Florida's Gulf Coast. Episode two is out today, so make sure to subscribe here and check it out. Great weekend viewing/listening.

MONDAY: DON'T TAKE THE PLANE, DONNIE

I know I end up defending President Trump a lot of the time, but I do disagree with him on some things. I disagreed with Trump on the possibility that he might accept a new Air Force One, valued at $400 million, as a gift from Qatar. My advice: Don't take the plane, Donnie. I know you were in Qatar and working on partnerships that will benefit the U.S., and that's great. And I understand there are delicate politics surrounding the offer of such a generous gift from another country. But I worry that accepting a gift from a country that has harbored Hamas terrorists, among other shady things, is not a great look.

And, by the way, I disagreed with Trump a couple weeks ago when I played a clip of him saying that any foreign student who graduates from a U.S. college should earn “an automatic green card.” I'm not with you on that one, either, Donnie. Enough foreign students have gone through he indoctrination system here. 

I also think he could fine-tune his approach to solving the conflict in the Middle East. On that issue, I recommend the indisputable wisdom of one of my favorite TV sitcoms: The Golden Girls. Send the Palestinians to Greenland — problem solved, people.

TUESDAY: YOUTH MOVEMENT

If you want to know why the Democrat party is in such a tailspin, just look at what's going on with David Hogg. You know Hogg -- he's basically the American version of Greta Thunberg, and he was recently named the vice chair of the DNC. This week, he faced an effort to oust him from that position over some comments he made in the coveted one-on-one interview on Real Time with Bill Maher. Hogg's big idea to win back young voters, particularly young male voters, is to help them not have to worry about their two jobs so they can go out and get laid more often.

Wait, first it's surprising to hear this sort of talk coming from Hogg because he's been a walking trigger warning for the last five years. Sure, that remark got a laugh in the moment, but as Charlie Kirk pointed out, Hogg's idea is empty and understimates the young and male voters on college campuses today. White male voters on college campuses in 2025 have been told for most of their young lives that they are bad because of their gender and skin color, that they are misogynistic for using the wrong pronouns. But these are precisely the people who just might rise up to save the country -- and there's David Hogg, and really the Democrat party as a whole, just dismissing them. As for Hogg, it appears he's developing this invaluable wisdom in the hallowed halls of Harvard where I hear he got an A this semester in the class 'How to lose presidential elections and negatively influence people.'

WEDNESDAY: BREAKING DOWN DECREPIT BIDEN'S INTERVIEW ON THE VIEW

Back when Joe Biden left office in January, I predicted he would be trotted out for a total of two interviews. Well, this month the former president emerged for an interview with the BBC and then he appeared on The View alongside his wife Jill Biden, who tried to swat away questions about her husband's mental capacity by insisting that "he'd get up ... and put in a full day" when he was president. High standard, I know.

Watching that clip, you can feel what Jill and even the co-hosts are thinking -- that when Biden gets confused, they'll need to jump in and cover for him, the same way they covered for him during all four years of his presidency. This is why so many people have tuned out of the mainstream media.

When Biden spoke for a moment, it was like watching Grandpa Simpson try to explain TikTok. Biden started by rambling about cognitive decline rumors, an insurrection, the pandemic and then he just … trailed off. Jill, who there's a special place reserved in hell for, swooped in like she’s Secret Service for his brain. Will he be allowed to do any more interviews after this disaster? Curious to see if my prediction holds up. Watch:

THURSDAY: DEBATE WITH TARA PALMERI ON FREE SPEECH IN HEART OF BIDEN TERRITORY

Earlier this month, I ventured into the heart of Biden country to be a keynote speaker at the Media and Democracy Summit held at the University of Delaware's Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration. I didn't know what to expect — were they going to kidnap me, try to assassinate me?

It turned out to be a very cordial affair, and part of the event was a discussion between myself and Tara Palmeri, a longtime mainstream media reporter who recently launched an independent podcast, on free speech and the rise of independent media.

Overall, the conversation was pleasant enough, although there were a couple of tense moments near the end of the debate when I sparred with Palmeri about the motives of some of the worst people working in the mainstream media, including CNN's Dana Bash and Rachel Maddow of MSNBC-13.  

One highlight was when I called out Rachel Maddow, as I've done many times on the Rubin Report, for her horrendous coverage of the COVID vaccine and one of the memorable monologues she gave in which she declared that if you got the vaccine you would not get or transmit COVID. Maddow was either a liar or had no idea what she was saying -- or was paid to say that. I can't speak to exactly what her motivations were, but she's paid $20 million a year, so it's worth questioning whether she’s doing actual journalism or being paid to push a narrative. Why is it that people like you, reader, and me didn't fall for the vaccine propaganda? I thought it was important to publicly criticize Maddow and hold her accountable — since none of her mainstream media colleagues are willing to do so. Here's a clip of that moment:

And check out the full discussion, which was our full show on Thursday this week, here.

FRIDAY: ASSASSINATION FASCINATION

On Friday's show, I hosted a roundtable with CNN contributor Shermichael Singleton, who made his Rubin Report debut, and conservative influencer and sports broadcaster Emily Austin. The top issue we discussed was a stunning post on Instagram made by former FBI Director James Comey in which he seemed to call for the assassination of President Trump. Yes, the same President Trump who's already survived two assassination attempts. Comey posted a photo of shells in the sand on the beach arranged to spell out "86 47." After an instantaneous backlash, the ex-FBI director deleted the post, saying, "I posted earlier a picture of some shells I saw today on a beach walk, which I assumed were a political message. I didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence. It never occurred to me but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down."

Comey is now under investigation and Shermichael and Emily weighed in on that topic and why Democrats seem to have a casual fascination with assassination. And we hit on a host of other issues including the dishonesty surrounding the promotion of Jake Tapper's new book about the coverup of Joe Biden's mental decline, Trump's tour of the Middle East and his call to reset relations with several Arab nations, RFK Jr's push to make Americans healthier, and the irony of white liberals who tell minorities what to be offended by. It was

Watch the full roundtable episode here.

TWEET OF THE WEEK

WHAT TO KNOW

• Don’t forget to check out Dave’s new show Actual Friends. New episodes come out Fridays at 3 p.m. eastern time — subscribe on YouTube, and follow on X.

• The great Roseanne Barr hosted Dave on her podcast this week and the episode just dropped on Friday. Check it out here.

• Catch Dave on the latest episode of This Week in Startups, a podcast hosted by Jason Calacanis. Dave tells the story of how he founded Locals and you can see it right here.

• Dave’s tequila is coming out soon. Stay tuned for more details.

• Get all your Rubin Report merch at our online store here.

• Have a question for Dave that you want featured in a Community Q&A? Get in touch here.

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Until next week … — Dave