💬 Why counterterrorism official REALLY resigned and the 80-20 issue that can't get approved by the Senate

Have you noticed what’s been going on over the last six months? All sorts of people have glommed on to Charlie Kirk to help bolster whatever political or policy argument they are trying to make. It happened again this week with Joe Kent, the guy who abruptly quit his job as counterterrorism director and then ran straight into the open arms of Tucker Carlson for an interview.

I’ve really tried to do the opposite of that since Charlie’s assassination back in September. But many people use private text messages or conversations they say they had with Charlie to support whatever narrative of the moment that they’re pushing is.

Joe Kent took it to the extreme this week, going on Tucker Carlson and saying the very last thing Charlie ever said to him on this earth was, “Joe, stop us from getting into a war with Iran. Very loudly.” That really tells you all you need to know about Joe Kent, who I want to point out has sacrificed for this country, and whose wife died for this country. And I don’t take that lightly at all.

But the man was a known leaker of classified info, and had been under investigation by the FBI for months prior to his abrupt resignation. So when he went on to say Iran posed “no imminent threat” to the U.S., it’s very likely he isn’t able to speak with authority on the latest intel because the latest intel hadn’t been shared with him. We know from Steve Witkoff, the U.S. envoy leading the nuclear negotiations, that Iran’s own negotiators admitted they were enriching uranium and said they were close to being able to build a nuclear weapon.

So, then it comes down to how you interpret the meaning of “imminent threat.” And I think Marco Rubio — more on him below — as he so often does, communicated perfectly why the U.S. is taking action against Iran. “There absolutely was an imminent threat,” Rubio told reporters this week. You really need to see him explain it, so check out the clip of him here. This all comes down to a matter of trust. Who do you trust? Joe Kent? Or Marco Rubio and Donald Trump? I think that question answers itself.

The last point I’ll make about it if you’re at all on the fence about what to think of Joe Kent’s claims — take a good look at who’s been amplifying his interview with Tucker Carlson on X.

The SAVE Act, people. It’s being debated after the Senate approved advancing it to a floor debate with a 51-48 vote this week. The bill needs 60 votes in the Senate in order to advance to Trump’s desk to be signed.

Of course, the most extreme Democrats continued their wild claims about the SAVE Act this week. Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota came up with a new one. She’s afraid that Elon Musk’s computers are going to come for you. 😂 Chuck Schumer, Temu Obama and other Democrats also got in on the action this week.

And then, as if right on cue, a new poll came out Thursday night showing that voter ID is an 80-20 issue among American voters. A literal 80-20 issue. You can’t make this stuff up.

Look, we expect this nonsense from the Democrats at this point. But why doesn’t this bill have stronger support among Republicans in the Senate? Some, like Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, are saying, "Oh no, proof of citizenship might disenfranchise someone!" Meanwhile, 80% of the country is saying, “Yes. disenfranchise the non-citizens! That's literally the point!"

And why don’t even some moderate Dems in the Senate (looking at you, Fetterman) support the bill? The poll showed 65% of Democrats support voter ID. BTW, if you haven’t done so yet, get yourself over to the Read section of my website, where we’re covering the SAVE Act saga and other stories I think you should be following.

Lastly, we had St. Patrick’s Day this week. President Trump celebrated. Many of you probably enjoyed a glass of Guinness. But there were some weird ways of celebrating I noticed some people had.

Moron Zamboni, the New York City mayor, was asked about St. Patrick’s Day, and he instantly made his answer about — you guessed it — “the genocide of Palestinians.” Never mind that there’s been no genocide of Palestinians — or that it was St. Patrick’s Day, a day to celebrate Irish heritage. He could have just celebrated the people who made a huge contribution to building and maintaining New York City over the decades. Nope.

Since he didn’t, I’ll let this NYPD officer explain Irish people’s contribution to the city.

And did you see this guy in Scotland? (Yes, they celebrate St. Patrick’s Day there, too. Bigly.) He’s basically the leader of the far left party there, and he had a weird way of marking the holiday. He stood up and complained that Ireland was too white. Again, you can’t make this stuff up — watch it here. It’s unbelievable.

Here’s a crazy idea that I’ve been saying for years now: Maybe white people aren’t terrible? I really like white people.

Rubin Recap readers now favor Rubio for 2028 — by a wide margin

Well, there you have it, folks. We’re a long way from the the 2028 cycle, but Rubio 2028 has a ton of support from readers of The Rubin Recap. When I asked you guys the same exact question back in November, JD cruised in the poll with 64%. This time, Marco won with 69%. A tremendous swing in just a couple of months, which means it could just as easily swing back toward JD. I’ll keep my eye on it and poll you guys again as we near the midterms. I thought reader wesak cut right to the chase and echoed something I’ve been saying about the Republican side. We’ve got a deep bench, headed by two very strong options.

This week, I want to know how you’re feeling about the Iran war. We’re a full three weeks in. I know you all are thoughtful people and not the reactionary type, so I’m genuinely curious to see where you stand on it at this point. Have at it ⬇️

• I made it to Budapest this week for my appearance at CPAC Hungary. Before I left, we did a Community Q&A and a viewer named Morrow asked, “What are you looking to most in Hungary?” Sounds like a simple enough question, but there’s almost too much to like about Hungary — from the people to the politics to the food. I went with the food and said I was looking forward to getting some goulash, which I’ve had only once even though I’ve been there several times. And I’m happy to report that, as of this writing, I’ve had goulash twice already since landing here.

• Made an appearance on BBC Newsnight to discuss Americans’ reaction to the war with Iran. They called me a “MAGA podcaster.” 🤣 Nevertheless, check out a clip here.

• Great to see Copal is still a fixture on the set of Bill Maher’s Club Random podcast. I spotted it in a clip we featured on the show this week, and Bill texted me a couple days ago to tell me he loves it. We can send some of the official tequila of free speech directly to you, but don’t text me. All you need to do is place an order here and tell us how many bottles to send. If you buy three, we’ll send them for free — like we did for Bill.

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Until Sunday … — Dave