💬 The Sunday return to normalcy

Why are Democrats having such a hard time being normal?

Welcome back to The Rubin Recap. I am not Dave Rubin — but I am a 50-year-old white guy who has been friends with Dave for decades. Not sure if that’s the next best thing or not, but I appreciate Dave taking a chance and letting me take over this space for the month of August.

As Dave mentioned on Friday, I’m Andrew Tavani — and I’ve been a huge fan of Dave ever since I met him back in 1999. One of the things I think Dave is the best at is leading people to view things in a sound and logical way. You should’ve seen how Dave convinced me to stop shooting so many three-pointers and just settle for the mid-range jumper back in like 2002 on the courts in NYC. It saved my game. And I think he’s trying to do the same for America, and some of the Democrats who haven’t gone off a cliff yet.

Whether you’re a Democrat or Republican, you can’t deny that Democrats, once upon a time, held normal positions. You might’ve disagreed with some of them. But at least they were normal.

Not these days. Why?

Apart from one man in American government, John Fetterman, who’s actually spoken out about the party being hijacked by socialists and communists, everyone is silent. The man went to the Senate wearing a hoodie and now he’s the last sane Democrat in the building. Fetterman’s like the designated driver at the world’s worst keg party — where the keg is filled with Marxism.

Could another Democrat help Fetterman out and be a designated driver once in a while? Dave issued a challenge this week to someone who’s flirting with running for president in 2028, and someone who tries to present himself as a moderate.

I don’t know if Pete Buttigieg gets these emails — if not, maybe one of you can forward it to him — but it’s just like the mid-range jumper, Pete. Say something. Do something to save your game.

Dave showed numerous examples on the show this week — of ‘hope and change’ Barack Obama talking about border security. He even went back to the ‘90s and showed clips of Bill and Hillary Clinton talking about illegal immigration and deportations, and supporting the death penalty 🤯 .

Contrast all of that with the Democrats who are trying to portray themselves as moderates in 2026. It was Dave’s favorite segment on Monday’s show — and probably my favorite one of the whole week. Watch it here. Our normalcy depends on at least a few of these Democrats finding their way back to some of these sane views.

Scott Singer on the pivotal 2026 midterm elections

One of the things I love about Dave’s sit-down interviews is that he’s always interviewing normal people, which fits perfectly with the ethos of this Sunday newsletter. If you didn’t catch Dave’s interview with former Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer, you should watch it. It’s a little shorter than his usual sit-down interviews, but Scott, who’s running for U.S. Congress in Florida’s 25th congressional district, touches on some of the same things I mentioned above, how the Democrat party “has lost its way.” He also talks about what issues are top of mind for voters in Florida’s 25th, and then widens out and addresses what the midterms mean on a national level. Scott is eminently normal, and you’ll want to hear his views on the coming midterm elections — as well has his take on Cosmo Kramer (🤣) once serving as the short-lived president of Del Boca Vista, which Dave asks him about right at the top ⬇️