💬 The clue Trump gave 40 YEARS AGO about how he'd handle Iran that everyone with TDS missed

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We’re a few days into a two-week ceasefire, everyone. America is inundated with TDS, coming from all directions. We got a sponsor this week that can help you with your proteinmaxxing. Had a little Tequila Thursday happy hour (more on that below). In some ways, it doesn’t get any better. I’m feeling good, so let’s dive right in.

Donald Trump has been remarkably consistent for decades. We play old clips on show all the time of him talking about policy positions that he formed as far back as the early ‘80s, and that he’s actually enacted as president. I can’t think of another president — certainly not a modern president — for whom that’s also true. He’s also remarkably transparent about he he operates and negotiates.

And the people who are capable of paying attention to what Donald Trump has said and what he has done were able to avoid the hysteria that so many on the left and right were basically drunk on this week.

I want to highlight a quote from Trump’s 1987 book The Art of the Deal that explains how he approaches high-stakes negotiations. All anyone had to do was keep this in mind as Trump ramped up his rhetoric over the last week and they would’ve looked sane and smart, and saved themselves a ton of anxiety. The videos are out there, the book is out there — and still somehow people go absolutely haywire about Trump. Here’s the quote ⬇️

“Sometimes it pays to be a little wild.” Yes. Vintage Donald Trump.

That’s what the Easter Sunday post on Truth Social with the F-bomb and the “Praise be to to Allah” remark was all about. Same goes for the threat that “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again” on Monday as his deadline neared.

Look at the results: The ceasefire is in effect, the fighting between Iran and the U.S. has paused and JD Vance will be leading a delegation that includes Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff for direct negotiations with the Iranians in Pakistan, starting Saturday. Depending on when you read this, the first round of talks may have already occurred.

I’d say the outcome is trending toward a favorable one for the U.S. But how many people on the right and the left this week told you World War III was upon us? And then how many of those same people mocked Trump for not following through on his threats after he agreed to the ceasefire?

This is one of the telltale symptoms of Trump Derangement Syndrome, which I promise you will be studied by teams of scientists someday. For those with TDS, Trump is anything they want him to be at any time. In the morning he’s a genocidal lunatic, by the evening he’s a coward. Whatever advances their bogus narrative about Trump.

You’ve got Tucker and Candace and Megyn Kelly, who Trump eviscerated in a post on Truth Social. All of them are chasing clicks and ratings. The difference between them and Trump is that Trump just does what he thinks is right. That’s called integrity, which is crucial in crisis situations.

And let me tell you what else is crucial in crisis situations — a little thing called preparation, which is why you should check out My Patriot Supply. They are the top purveyor of emergency meals. Also, their prepared foods are protein-packed, so even if you’re not prepping for an emergency, the meals are particularly useful. More on the re-emergence of JD Vance, how to think about modern leftism and last week’s poll results below.

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I want to discuss JD Vance for a minute here, because between the Maduro raid in Venezuela and now the war with Iran, all of the focus has been on Marco Rubio. I’m not saying Rubio doesn’t deserve the acclaim — he’s been dominating our power ranking polls. Vance has sort of slipped into the background.

But this week, he’s resurfaced as not only the great communicator we know he is, but also just a good team player for the Trump administration. JD has a slightly different take on foreign policy, but he was out there this week explaining the president's position, which is what his job is. He's not sandbagging Trump. He's not undercutting him.

If you haven’t seen him talking to reporters about the areas of disagreement between the U.S. and Iran on some of the terms of the ceasefire deal, take a few minutes to watch it. It’s a masterclass by JD. And that’s why Trump trusts him to lead the negotiations with Iran. Vance left Friday for Pakistan, saying, the U.S. is “willing to extend the open hand” but at the same time warned Tehran not to “try to play us.” We’re in good hands with JD, folks.

Two other things I want to point out before we get to the poll and other stuff. The president of Argentina, Javier Milei, said something that I think really frames how to view the extreme leftists of today.

“At one point I thought being on the left was a mental problem,” Milei said during a TV interview. “But what I discovered is that being on the left is a disease of the soul. The left is built on envy, hatred, resentment, unequal treatment before the law.”

You see us point out examples on The Rubin Report all the time of everything he described, but I thought he really succinctly summed up the modern left. “Disease of the soul.” 💯

Lastly, how about those astronauts with their moon flyby? Humans can still do cool things when we want to. They sent back some amazing photos from the far side of the moon. Trump called them to congratulate the record distance they traveled from Earth. Two years from now, NASA is planning to land astronauts on the moon again, after more than 50 years. Much more ambitious than the DEI training NASA spent the four years of the Biden administration focused on!

Kash could be on the chopping block, according to Rubin Recap readers

After Trump dismissed Pam Bondi as AG last week, I wanted to see who you all thought might be next. My informal survey says it could be FBI Director Kash Patel. Keep an eye out, Kash 👀 Tulsi was second in the poll and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick tied with Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer in what turned out to be a tight race.

Reader dannyrenolds had an interesting take on Kash, who I actually like a lot.

So, with JD re-emerging this week, curious to see how the power rankings are shaking out, particularly since there are a couple of new names to choose from. Have at it below ⬇️

• If you missed our Tequila Thursday livestream, well, you missed out on some good times. There was Seinfeld trivia, there was a classic video game, shots were thrown back (Well, one shot, at least.) The good news is you can click here to catch Tequila Thursday in its entirety. And if you need to get some tequila, more good news — just click here to order some Copal, the official tequila of free speech.

• It was just the doc and me on this week’s episode of Actual Friends, which went live on Friday. It was such a busy week on The Rubin Report, we didn’t even deep-dive on Jennifer Siebel Newsom, evil lizard man’s wife, making some bizarre and revealing comments about how they parent their sons. She also had some choice remarks about her views on the criminals incarcerated in California’s infamous San Quentin prison. Dr. Drew and I got to all of that and more. Make sure you subscribe to Actual Friends on YouTube if you haven’t already, and enable notifications so you don’t miss new episodes and highlights.

• I had to make an uncomfortable confession during Thursday’s Community Q&A. A wonderful viewer named Elizabeth has crocheted little Dave Rubins and sent them to me — that’s the screen shot at the top of the email. One of the Little Daves she sent had a bottle of Copal in his hands. Unfortunately, that little crocheted bottle went missing. We think Clyde (my dog) either ate it or buried it somewhere. But as we learned during Tequila Thursday, Elizabeth was already at work on a new one. What a great human being Elizabeth is!

•Don’t forget to head over to the Rubin Report merch store to peruse our “Make America Florida” collection, which we rolled out last week. The reaction to the new merch has been great. Don’t miss your chance to get it before it’s all gone.

• You did it! You’ve reached the end of the newsletter. Before you go, make sure to check out our sponsor today, My Patriot Supply. Thousands of years ago, our ancestors were probably proteinmaxxing on woolly mammoth instead of eating all the ultraprocessed foods people eat today. If you want high-density protein foods, particularly those that are made to last and for emergencies, My Patriot Supply has you covered. Readers of The Rubin Recap get a free mega protein kit when you order 3-Month Emergency Food Supply today, so get on it. And remember — look out for a new edition of The Return to Normalcy on Sunday.

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Until Sunday … — Dave