Was Mao Zedong Great?
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
What's up? What's up, everybody? Welcome to a brand new episode of Part of the Problem. I am Dave Smith. He is Robbie the Fire Bernstein. I am home. He is still on the road. We just had a fantastic weekend in Nashville together. That sounds more romantic than I meant it to say, than I meant it to be. But anyway, we had some great shows out there. How you doing, Rob?
I'm doing well, still on the road between gigs, staying at this nice placemaker, which I'm enjoying. And then I got Chickamauga on Wednesday, Atlanta on Thursday, Friday in Sandpoint, private show in Spokane, and then Saturday outside of Seattle. And then I fly home so I can do red-eye flights, so I can do Monday's episode, and then home for three days, and then you and I are already out in Florida.
That's right. We'll be out in Florida on July 30th and 31st. We're out at the improv out there. It's the Dania Beach Improv, I believe. It's out there. Yeah, ComicDaveSmith.com for those tickets. Oh, and then what's the other one? I have the... I'm speaking at the Young Americans for Liberty, Yale Con in Cincinnati on next week. It's a weekday. I'm speaking on July 28th, I think. They're having the... The convention runs a few days, but that was, I think, the only day I could do because we got to be out at these gigs in Florida. But so the 28th, I will be there. I'm giving a talk. I believe it's the... I'm giving the last talk of the night on the 28th. And I... I haven't figured out my topic yet, but I'm thinking about it.
Sometimes they give me a topic. This year they didn't give me one, and no one's told me what to talk about. So I'm thinking maybe Thomas Massey, maybe Tucker Carlson. Who knows? Maybe democratic socialism. I don't know. I'm going to think about it for a little bit. Anyway, yes, porchstore.com, comicdavesmith.com. Okay, so we were just before, literally before the show started, I was just saying something, and then you said to me, just start the show with that. And we were just talking about how it's been, I don't know, just like it's been a challenge covering this war. And a big part of it is because it is, it's so ridiculous. It's so circular. I don't mean like, I mean, it's circular in terms of the pattern.
Like we keep going in the same thing, the same run around. And Trump is so ridiculous. So cartoonishly unserious that it's almost hard to even cover the latest thing he said this morning, no matter how crazy it is. But then you're also kind of, on the other hand, left in this position where how do we not start every show by at least talking about this when, hey, we're in a position like we are now, Rob, where like. there's been major escalations over the last few days desalination plans power plants and bridges have started being taken out now not at like levels that are taking down all of civilization but we're in this very weird moment of seeing like very dangerous precarious moment of seeing like how bad this can get and yet what can you say
when you've already, essentially, from our perspective, I'm not being a dick, when you've won the argument 100,000 times over already? What are we even talking about? Everything we were arguing about, and I mean this literally, over the last year, Rob, everything that we've been arguing about has already been abandoned by the hawks like they're not even arguing on any of those things anymore we're already on to some whole new thing and so anyway it does just i gotta say at least in my time of running a show where we talk about these things this has been a particularly challenging one
Well, the issue is it's too consequential to ignore. I mean, this is literally the biggest risk on our plate and the biggest abandonment of a political campaign or the base that you were supposed to represent that you and I have ever seen. And he changes what he's saying and looking to do every single day because he's being an asshole and he makes us look like an asshole. because it's very hard to predict what he's doing and untangle his lies because he abandons them within 24 hours.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:06–10:08
2
Why do Dave and Robbie call the Iran war 'circular' and hard to cover?
10:08–13:54
3
What concrete escalations in the Iran conflict are driving fear of catastrophe?
13:54–39:00
4
Why do Dave and Robbie argue Iran is winning despite U.S. attacks?
39:00–1:08:27