🔵 The Trump-Epstein drama, a billionaire's flip-flop on Trump and more ...

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WHEN THE NEWS CYCLE DRIVES YOU TO DRINK

Welcome back to The Rubin Recap. Another week has come and gone, and before we get to the week that was, a reminder to subscribe. I know you’re subscribed to the newsletter, but subscribe over on YouTube and Rumble as well if you haven’t done so already. We’re trying to hit some milestones before I go off the grid for August, which is fast approaching.

Sometimes things are put into writing that you regret. As you can see here, I misspelled the word ‘subscribe’ on the show this week. And did you see what happened to my teleprompter the other day? It can be enough to drive you to drink, which I did a little of on Tuesday’s show. Oh, wait — was there another story this week about something regrettable that was put into writing? The Wall Street Journal says there was, so I guess we have to talk about the “bombshell” story that’s got everybody freaking out. If you want a real bombshell, though, there was a Democrat on The Rubin Report this week. But first, a few words on the other so-called bombshell ...

GRAB ‘EM BY THE POLLS

The anticipation was running high this week. People were all but frothing at the mouth about the Epstein files. Late Thursday evening, we got a ridiculous story from The Wall Street Journal — Trump sent Epstein a crass birthday card 22 years ago. There it is. That’s the big bombshell we were told was coming? Trump immediately blasted the story as “false, malicious and defamatory,” said the supposed birthday letter was “a fake” and threatened to sue the paper for publishing the story. He then directed Pam Bondi “to produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval” relating to Epstein.

OK, so some more files on Epstein will be released. Frankly, as I said on the show and on Twitter this week, I thought that’s where all of this was headed anyway — we may now just be cutting to the chase a little faster, now that the Wall Street Journal story ignited a “ridiculous amount of publicity,” as Trump put it. And as I’ve continued to say, we’ll see what comes out and assess it on the merits as it does. The Trump administration is limited in what it can release in the first place, and needs court approval to release the more sensitive materials. There’s no point in engaging in the hysteria that some on the Woke Right are continuing to do.

But let’s talk about the politics surrounding this “bombshell” of a story. Allow me to remind you that Donald Trump has defied gravity for the last 10 years, if not longer. The man survived the relentless lawfare of the last few years. He survived a would-be assassin’s bullet. Two weeks before the 2016 election, he survived the Access Hollywood tape. The so-called '“bawdy” birthday card pales in comparison.

Is this just the mainstream media’s latest attempt to take down Trump? Maybe. If the Wall Street Journal didn’t publish that story, another outlet would have. The hit pieces have never hurt Trump in the way that people have expected or in the way they might finish off other politicians. In many cases, these sorts of “bombshell” stories about Trump end up strengthening him politically because a huge portion of the public is smart enough to see that they amount to attacks on Trump. And in some cases, like the Steele Dossier and others, they’ve been fabricated attacks. Will this one strengthen Trump politically? It’s possible. And it’s also possible that another shoe will drop. What’s indisputable is that Trump has been remarkably resilient.

The last thing to consider about this story is the timing. Trump’s been on fire this summer. The crisis at the southern border has been solved. Gas prices are the lowest they’ve been in years. Egg prices are coming down. Stock markets are at all-time highs. Real investments are being made in parts of the country that need investment. Trump’s actions to neutralize Iran’s nuclear program are the latest in a series of creative moves to reshape the Middle East. He’s been leading on eliminating DEI and forcing elite universities to clean up their act. The list goes on. You better believe that one objective of this story is to distract from all of that. There’s much more that will develop over the weekend, and we’ll touch on this in more depth on the show next week. In the meantime, keep grabbing ‘em by the polls, Donald.

And as long as we’re talking about grabbing things, now’s a great time to grab some shares of an emerging company that’s going to disrupt the smartphone industry ...

RILEY GAINS ON GAVIN NEWSOM, SIMONE BILES, LIA THOMAS, AND TITLE IX

In lieu of the usual Friday roundtable extravaganza, we found one guest who is as good as two -- the 12-time NCAA All-American swimmer Riley Gaines, who is also the host of the Gains for Girls podcast. She had quite the little joke about being two guests in one.

We jumped into something I spent a lot of time analyzing on the show this week, and that is evil lizard man Gavin Newsom's interview on Shawn Ryan's podcast. For a guy with aspirations of a 2028 White House run, this interview should've been considered a disaster, but I doubt Newsom has enough self-awareness to recognize it for what it was.

Newsom dodged questions, obfuscated and squirmed and moved weirdly throughout the interview with Ryan and on all sorts of topics like Anthony Fauci and his pandemic policies, Biden's autopen pardons, Trump and NATO, and much more. At one point, Newsom acknowledged that Joe Rogan is not of fan of his, but insisted that he's a big fan of Rogan's. The whole interview was dripping with inauthenticity. 

One of the thorny topics Newsom dodged questions about during that appearance was his official stance on allowing children to change their genders using surgery and puberty blockers. Newsom seemed to try to suggest he might be moderating his views on the topic because he has a 9-year-old child, but really never answered Ryan's question. Instead, Newsom conflated trans issues with gay marriage.

Riley also reacted to the University of Pennsylvania's decision to reverse its policy on allowing transgender athletes to compete in women's sports, and discussed how Pam Bondi and Linda McMahon are suing the state of California to force the state to comply with Title IX, and the cultural shift that's been taking place in America since the 2024 election outcome. And she discussed her highly publicized feud a few weeks ago with Olympic champion gymnast Simon Biles, taking a look at the tweets the two exchanged that drew tens of millions of views on social media. The feud ended with Biles apologizing to Riley in a long-winded tweet. Riley explained why she thought the apology was "totally half-hearted." Watch the full interview below

CLOWN SPOUTS OPEN RACISM ON CNN

People always ask me: "Dave, why do you focus so much on what people on CNN or The View are saying?" Well, in this clip, we were operating with high efficiency as we put a spotlight on what a co-host of The View said during an appearance on CNN. And it was a moment of peak racism. The reason I focus so much on what the clowns on these shows say has less to do with the clowns themselves and is more about the TV executives at ABC and CNN who think it's important for Americans to hear the opinions of these clowns. It never ceases to amaze me that some of these perspectives, like the one below, are considered valuable.

In this clip, one of the foremost clowns of The View, Ana Navarro spouted open racism on CNN -- and got no pushback from anyone other than Brad Palumbo -- whom the racist remark was directed at. Instead, Abby Phillip, the CNN host lectured Palumbo that Navarro didn't saying anything racist and that he should just accept her remarks because he's the worst thing of all, a white man. And looking ahead at CNN's programming for next week, be sure to tune in when Navarro returns to talk about why slogans like “from the river to the sea" and "globalize the intifada" are fun things to go around shouting on college campuses.

VANCE ENDS RUBIO’S WINNING STREAK IN ‘TOP 10 TRUMP PEEPS’ POLL — GET YOUR VOTE IN FOR NEXT WEEK

Marco Rubio had been dominating The Rubin Report’s “Top 10 Trump Peeps” with three straight wins. But this week, Vice President JD Vance took the top spot, and it wasn’t close. Vance outpaced Tom Homan by more than 10 votes, and it’s fitting that Vance rose to the top this week. He cast the tie-breaking vote in the Senate that passed the $9 billion recissions bill that will codify DOGE cuts, significantly reduce funding to NPR and PBS and claw back foreign spending. Big win for Trump, and the veep played a pivotal role. So, who ya got going into next week? There’s no doubt it was a tumultuous week for Pam Bondi, who, by the way, paid a visit to Alcatraz on Thursday. And how about Bobby Kennedy? This week he convinced 90% of American ice cream producers to stop using artificial dyes in ice cream going forward. Choices, choices, choices. Get your vote in below.

WATCH BILLIONAIRE'S FLIP-FLOP ON TRUMP

As I mentioned above, Trump has been on a roll in the early stages of his second term. He continues to put points up on the board. But it's one thing to hear me say it -- I backed him in the general election -- and quite another thing to hear a formerly anti-Trump billionaire say it.

Watch this video of Home Depot co-founder Ken Langone explain why he's completely flip-flopped on Trump and thinks Trump has "a good shot at going down in history as one of our best presidents ever." One of the CNBC hosts was astonished by his admission, pointing out that he was opposed to voting for Trump before the election. Amazing stuff. Watch: 

TWEET OF THE WEEK

WHAT TO KNOW

• The countdown is on. I’m two weeks away from my annual off-the-grid August! That means no Dave for a whole month. Or does it? Even though I’ll be off the grid, I’ll still be in your inbox every Monday-Friday throughout the month of August. That’s right — five newsletters a week. More details coming soon on how I’ll be off the grid but still in your inbox each day.

• The great Jillian Michaels was in the studio this week for a sit-down interview that debuts on Saturday, if you want to see it as soon as it goes live. Much of the conversation was spent talking about various health issues, which are near and dear to Jillian — things like the dangers of extreme anti-aging therapies such as stem cells and peptides, how processed food and endless information may be aging our brains faster now than in past generations, and a number of other intriguing topics that she brings an extraordinary understanding and clarity to. Check it out here.

• During this week’s Community Q&A, Kam asked if I could share any good recipes for Copal. Many of you who ordered have already received your bottle. Now, I like to drink my Copal on the rocks, or just one big rock if possible. But if you want to mix Copal with something, I shared two simple recipes — one for a tequila Mojito (which it’s possible I invented) and another that will require a slice of watermelon. Kam missed the live stream we did this week in which I told the story about how Copal came to be, where the name of the tequila came from and everything else about this wild new venture.

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

• A new episode of Actual Friends dropped at 3 p.m. on Friday and this week, Russell Brand took the week off, so it was Sage Steele and I discussing Shane Gillis’ epic monologue on The ESPYS as well as a bunch of other topics that we had time to go deep on — subscribe here and tap that notification bell so you don’t miss any episodes.

• Don’t forget about Mode Mobile, this week’s sponsor. If you’re looking to invest in something that has tremendous upside and do so early, now is the time to invest in Mode.

• Was this email forwarded to you? Get on the list and sign up here.

Until next week … — Dave