YouSaid · the spoken record

Dave Smith

lines on the record: 218
first: 2025-04-09
most recent: 2025-04-09
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“It's also like, I think something that. Think something that's a little bit foreign no pun intended to America is, you know, like we've fought in a lot of wars over the last, say, 25 years, you know, 50 years, whatever. But all of them, including, in a way, the world wars even in the 20th century. But it's been since 1812 that we fought one on our shores. And none of the other ones, I mean, I guess Pearl Harbor, but even Pearl Harbor, that was a one-off, and it was only kind, you know, it was America technically, but it wasn't mainland America, you know. And so we're fighting wars like... Halfway across the world is a very different thing for two neighboring countries to fight.”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, it's also terrible. There's something really awful. You know, look, when innocent people dying in war at any time is terrible, but there is something profoundly awful, and I'm old enough now that I've seen this a few times happen, or I've lived through it a few times, I've read about it happening earlier, but it's like once you've kind of already decided the war's over and people still die, you know what I mean? There's something almost like sadder about that because it's always like, come on, you already know, you know, like when there'd be like a big, you know, there'd be like a bombing campaign in Afghanistan, like when we all already knew We were a few months away from ending the war. You're like, you got to kill more people like on the way out. We already know we're leaving. We already know that because there's something, at least in the beginning, they could kind of hide behind this justification or they could be like, listen, we're going to overthrow the Taliban and we're going to install our new government. They're going to be a democracy. It's going really good. We have to do this in order to do this bigger project. But then by the end, you're like, we're not even pretending anymore that we're doing anything more positive.”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I really have no idea what the timeline is going to look like. I'm hoping sooner rather than later. I think Donald Trump would love nothing more than to have some type of like big spectacle of ending this war, some type of big press conference or some type of, you know what I mean. And so I'm sure like if I, my guess would be that's where Trump's mind is, is how to do this in the best way that sells him the best. And, you know. But I think that Already we're in a position where Donald Trump has put a lot of political capital chips into the middle of the table that I can end this war. And he's going to look very, very bad if he can't. So he's very highly incentivized to get this thing done as quick as possible. And so hopefully that can happen soon. It would be great if it could happen in the next month.”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Russia, that now we're going to expand NATO because of that. And he literally said in 1998, he goes, the people advocating that we expand NATO are going to continue advocating it and advocating it and advocating it. And then there will be a Russian reaction. And then they'll say, see, that's why we were right to expand NATO. But they'll get this completely wrong.”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Most reckless policy of all was their NATO policy, and that they drove up to this conflict with Russia with nothing but off-ramp after off-ramp after off-ramp, and consciously decided that we're not going to take any of those. We're going to drive it all the way up to this point. And Thomas Friedman for the New York Times interviewed George Kennan in 1998. And George Kennan was like the Cold Warrior. He's credited as founding the containment strategy in the Cold War. And he was talking about the first round of NATO expansion, which he and many other foreign policy graybeards opposed. And he was talking, and he was like, this is the worst thing we could possibly do after the fall of the Soviet Union, to now say that we had this alliance in NATO that was an anti-Russian military alliance. And now that the Soviet Union isn't there anymore, and it's Boris Yeltsin's...”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I completely agree with that. Vladimir Putin is Vladimir Putin launched a war where, again, I don't know exactly what the numbers are. I've read a whole bunch of estimates, some that contradict each other, but the consensus seems to be it's at least in the hundreds of thousands, possibly well north of a million, if you're talking about the casualties on both sides. And Vladimir Putin launched a war that led to that. And he's responsible for that. That being said, you can also point out that really what we're talking about here is the George H.W. Bush administration, the Clintons, Bush again, Obama, and then Trump, and the people who were in charge of the foreign policy in those administrations, the same ones who gave us Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Yemen, they were also in charge of our European foreign policy, and they had the most reckless.”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I'm just saying to Vladimir Putin in his own words what his issue always was the military hardware that comes along with NATO membership. It's not just that you get into NATO, but then you get all that military hardware there and he made a huge deal about the dual-use rocket launchers in Poland, which George W. Bush put there after 9-11. So I think all of those things are factors. I think Ukraine, the Crimea being their only year-long warm water port. I think there's like several elements to it, but I do think a huge part of it is that also the country's been invaded through Ukraine multiple times. And so there's just, yeah, he, I think, very reasonably... Within the grading on a curve of how reasonable governments are, he saw that as a security threat.”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I don't think outside of the neoconservatives, listen, whether you're talking about the neoconservatives or going way before the other group that has ever had control of U.S. foreign policy, going back to the Cold Warriors, the Truman administration, the Eisenhower administration. I think you could take this back to Thomas Jefferson. If this happened in 1801, there is simply no way.”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That is not okay. You don't get to murder someone because they spit in your face. Also, if you were talking about why did he murder that guy, be like, oh, because he walked up and spit in his face. That's why it happened. And that is essentially my contention about this war. And I think it's just crystal clear that that's why it happened. Listen, it may be right or it may be wrong, but if China or Russia ever like backed a street puts to overthrow the democratically elected government in Mexico and then install a pro-Chinese or a pro-Russian government and then started pumping arms into that conflict and then kept floating out the idea that they were going to bring them into their military alliance. DC would simply not allow that. You cannot do that any more than the Soviet Union could put nukes in Cuba. Like, sorry.”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Oh, I agree. I'll say one standard, like one standard for everybody. The standard that I laid out before is the same one I said. Did you absolutely have to do that? You know, once you start killing people by the hundreds of thousands, it's like, was there any other option? Are you telling me like you absolutely had to do this? And I don't think that's right. You know, my friend Scott Horton, who I was talking to you about, just totally brilliant guy. Even in his book, there's a whole chapter of all the other options of what Vladimir Putin could do. So you're absolutely right. And there's a weird thing where like people say, like if you say that the West provoked this conflict, that is a very different thing than saying that this conflict was justified. And in the same way that if you were at a bar and someone goes and spits in another guy's face and then he pulls out a gun and murders him right there, like he's not justified in doing.”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I don't mean to be cruel about this because it sucks that there's little countries that are next to big countries that kind of get bullied around about them, but there also is a bit of an entitlement to demanding a security guarantee. Like what exactly do you mean? From America, what that will go to war if you're invaded? Why do we owe that to anybody? Like, that's crazy. I'm sorry. You could just sign up to say that we'll go to war if anybody invades anybody. I mean, I hope nobody invades anybody, but I don't want us to get dragged into that. That's a recipe for always being at war, you know? And I don't think that's right for our country. So essentially, I think Trump and Putin want peace. And if that's the case, I think we'll ultimately get to an end of this war.”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think he wants to end the war. Zelensky, from everything he said publicly, seems like he still feels like, I mean, I'm just taking him at his word here, that it's like, well, no, look, like we could end the war, but we got to end the war. It seems like he's moved from his position being like, no, we have to reclaim all of our territory to now his position is kind of like, all right, maybe we don't reclaim all of it, but we got to be given some type of security guarantee in the future. I think the problem with that is just, again, like.”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“To NATO, this could lead to a civil war, and even worse, and in that situation, Russia would have to decide whether or not to intervene. A decision Russia does not want to have to make. So essentially, it's like, I think it's pretty clear from all sides that Putin didn't want it to come to this. And look, I mean, even after the coup in 2014, he took Crimea, but he didn't invade the country. He may have sent special forces in, but I mean, not the full scale 2022 invasion. And even for the Civil War going all that, you know, he did, it seemed like he, I'm not defending the decision, I'm just saying it seemed like he reluctantly debated. You know, what was it in 2014 or 15 when they had the plebiscites in Crimea and in the Donbass region? And they voted to independent. He didn't take them then. I mean, he could have used that as a pretense for like, hey, they voted to be with us and he didn't.”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Or not, and then he was bragging. He was like, and look what he got more NATO expansion, Finland and this and that. So look at that. Didn't even seem to notice like, wait a minute, you're admitting that you could have just promised not to bring Ukraine into NATO and saved hundreds of thousands of lives. Seems like it would have been a much better deal. It's going to be a much better deal than what Ukraine will ultimately end up getting. So I do think, I think also the Joe Biden's CIA director, who was a CIA director's whole four years, William Burns, when he was ambassador to Russia, he wrote the Net means Net. And in the memo, and again, this was dumped by Julian Assange. This wasn't for the public. This was just him writing to Condoleezza Rice to tell the Secretary of State his assessment. And he said that his exact words were a decision Russia does not want to have to make. And this was the decision about whether to invade Ukraine or not. And he was like, they say, if you keep pushing for Ukrainian entry,”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think for sure Trump wants peace. I also think Putin wants to wrap the conflict up. And I think that Putin has, Putin has been willing to deal for the entire lead up to the war and pretty much throughout the war. And there's been a lot of solid reporting on this. And I mean, the sources on it are pretty impeccable. The head of NATO, Straltenberg, I always mess up his name, but he literally said that in late 2021 that Vladimir Putin actually sent a draft agreement to NATO and that his condition for not invading. He's like, I will not invade, but you have to put it in writing. Like he sent a draft treaty to them. You have to put in writing that Ukraine will not join NATO. And then Straltenberg bragged about how he said no because we won't let Vladimir Putin dictate to us whether we can expand NATO.”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“They don't even know what Luhansk is. And if they met someone from there, they would probably just assume they were Russian. You know what I mean? Like, and they might be, but whatever. I think the first step to a payout to piece is that you have to want to get a path to peace. So I think Trump's doing a good job in that.”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The point is you don't want to get into the business of giving out security guarantees. I mean, this is a real, this is why George Washington was against entangling alliances. Like you give out war guarantees to too many places. You might have to fight a lot more wars than you otherwise would have fought. And also, like, there's simply, we're in this weird position where America postures like they're so tough, but really when it comes down to it, we're not going to war in Ukraine. There's no political will here. Like, I'm sorry, try to convince the American people we should send our boys. Like, I understand you're from the region, but for you, or you have roots from there, but like to the average American, the idea of going to war over whether Luhansk is ruled by Kiev or Moscow is just...”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I think what Trump is pursuing is infinitely preferable to what Biden was doing. You know, what puts Donald Trump, and I don't think everything he's done has been perfect. And I really did not like that mineral deal that he was floating out for a while there. And I think maybe that might be the best thing that came out of that Oval Office thing is that maybe that, you know, Donald Trump is going to be very tough to do business like this. And it's like, yeah, we shouldn't be doing this business deal anyway. And by the way, I don't think we should do it on a few. Number one, principally, I think it is kind of like bullying Ukraine out of resources. And from what I understand, they don't even have that many fine minerals, but whatever. But it's also like, well, look, if he was selling it to Zelensky is that's kind of a security guarantee, you know, because like, hey, if we're in business, then if Putin messes with you, he's messing with us. But from my perspective, like that's the whole.”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Based on the evidence that they weren't attacking ships during the ceasefire, seems like there could be a diplomatic solution here. And so there's just like a lot. And the problem is when you don't You make everybody monsters and they're not human beings, well, you can't do diplomacy with monsters. You can't make monsters, but you can with humans. And like, you know, I'm sure there are, you know, like to our earlier discussion, like maybe there are times where you shouldn't negotiate or you can't negotiate with humans. But it's better if you can. And we could use a lot more of that thinking.”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Trump sent in a few tomahawk missiles over there is going to stop them from doing this. Okay, but then they didn't do anything, and this is according to all reporting on it, they didn't do anything during the ceasefire. It was only once the ceasefire broke down that they went back to attacking ships again that were coming through. So you just see this thing where you're like, it's not saying right or wrong or who's good or bad. It's like, look, sometimes there's a diplomatic solution and there's not a military solution. And like in this case, you're like, it just shows you, okay, if there was a ceasefire here, these guys will chill out. What do you want to do? Again, do you want to go to total war with it? Because like, okay, we could overthrow the Houthis. If the US invades Yemen, like that's kind of what it would take. It's like, does anyone here really have the appetite for another catastrophic war in the Middle East against the poorest country in the Middle East? You know, or we could pursue this diplomatic route, which seemed at least, I mean, I'm just saying.”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It hadn't done that, and it's just like, oh, it's like the way you're supposed to think about war is almost like these people have been possessed by pure evil. They are monsters, and there's no talking to them. There's no dealing with them. It's just simply this. But look, a good example, just this recent conflict with the Houthis, where you have the Houthis in Yemen, which Saudi Arabia invaded in 2015 with the full backing of the United States of America. The Houthis maintained power for eight years through that. They maintained power until the Saudis finally gave up. And it was literally like the Saudis were just killing hundreds of thousands of people and then the Houthis would like get like a drone off at one of their oil refineries or something like that. Eventually they were just doing enough damage that it was like, ah, shit. All right. This isn't worth it anymore. And so they end it. And so anyway, you have this thing. You're like, okay, so if they went through a total war for eight years, what do you think?”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, no, I think that's exactly right. And I think this was kind of what Darryl was saying. I think that the part of the awful thing of always using World War II as the next example for the next war is that it's almost like you're never, this is, you know, they hate us for our freedom or Vladimir Putin's just mad and he wants to reconstitute the Soviet Union. It's like they always insist that we can never treat our enemies as people and be like, this is a real person with real grievances. And even they might be a fanatic also. Like, I'm not saying they're not, but it's just like that there are these human qualities to it. And it's always like, you know, whatever, even when they were going before they did the Obama and Hillary Clinton did the regime change war in Libya, it was like all this propaganda. He's buying up Viagra to rape all the women and he's going to go genocide. This guy who had been in power for decades, you know what I mean?”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Feels like he has to try to get his perspective into that internet conversation area. And so I think a lot of different people, you know, obviously it was Donald Trump's, in a way, it's kind of shocking. And I guess kind of Bobby Kennedy, when he was running for president, Vivek Ramaswamy, when he was running for president, they kind of were doing some of it even before Donald Trump was. But it is kind of crazy in a way that it took this long for politicians to figure out that it's like, oh, well, I guess we got to go where the audience is. That's the point of doing shows. Right? I mean, like, would you rather do a show, you know, like with a million people or with 10 million people? It's like, well, okay, you guys do CNN all the time. Why wouldn't you do Joe Rogan's podcast? It's just a bigger audience. And those people get to vote too.”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You know, Israel has a lot of control in a lot of different areas, but they have been losing the internet battle very, very badly. And it's a major problem for Israel. I mean, I don't know. I still think in a very strange way, everybody seems to be underestimating how grave the implications of all of this are. But the view of Israel from the world is never going to be the same, what it was before. And the generational divide on it is so stark. Like everybody, you know, 40 and under who very quickly, you know, the time goes by quickly. Pretty soon that's, you know, the 40 and overcrowd gets aged out pretty quickly. And this is just, it's never going to be the perception of Israel that my parents generation had ever again because of this war. And, you know, I'm sure to some degree at least Netanyahu is like.”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“He is completely blacked out in American media. And to the point that even RT has been blocked out, they never play any of his speeches. They never allow you to hear like, look, this is what this guy's perspective is. It's very interesting in the same way that they kind of all flipped out when Osama bin Laden's letter to America went viral on TikTok. And then all the talks of banning TikTok increased and stuff. So for him, say like when he did the Tucker interview or if he doesn't interview with you, well, that's a way for him to do an end around and allow his perspective to be heard, which I personally think is like obviously a good thing. Like if you're going to go to war and we're kind of at a war with Russia right now, you should know what the other guy's perspective is, not that you should take it as gospel, but and then from Netanyahu's perspective.”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Which is so weird that we still all call them podcasts because that's just not the right name for them at all. And none of us have had an iPod in quite a long time. And like, I don't know. It's just such the first thing person came up with it. It's a cast on an iPod. It's a podcast. And we all still use that term, even though, but whatever these shows on the internet have the audience. And so that's a big factor, just that it's like, oh, this is where you can go to the audience. And then I would say, and I don't know exactly, like, I have no idea. I should say the motivations inside any individual's heads, but I would say, like, in the case of Vladimir Putin.”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, it's also like there's, I mean, obviously, one of the major dynamics, which is just like one of the most interesting kind of themes in the world, I think right now, but it's particularly true in America, is that like the corporate media is just shrinking and shrinking and shrinking. And this, whatever this is.”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I wish I had been aware that it was all this quick, but look a lot of this stuff with so much of this too. It's just laziness and people searching for confirmation bias and people searching for a simpler story because that's easier. So if they believe that Epstein was Massad and there's a clip of you where you're like, I don't know about that, then they go, see, he's Massade too. And now that fits perfectly into my little story. I don't know the truth is that it's quite possible that people just aren't convinced. However, given enough time, Tim Dillon is always right about everything. So you got to eventually you'll have to admit that he got it right.”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“There's something, and I know I've experienced this too, right? Like, there's such a difference in perspective because if somebody, like if somebody just found me and they just found out who I am. They go, this guy's brand new and he's doing like all these shows, but you're like, yeah, well, I don't know, dude, not from my perspective, I'm not brand new. Like, dude, I've been doing, I've been doing stand-up comedy for 19 years, and I've been podcasting for like 15 years. And you're like, and then when it like starts taking off, everybody's like, oh, this guy just came out of nowhere. And you're like, I mean, all right. I wish.”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, it's like, yeah, but if you talk in that tone, then it means you're not being emotional and you're only being logical and rational, which is like I actually don't think is appropriate when you're talking about a child rapist ring. But whatever, that's my take on it. But it's like, okay, so where are these institutions I'm supposed to trust, man? You're telling me there's a pedophile ring that is at least in some degree associated with national security. Like what? And how could you possibly have this story? Like if you did care about trust in institutions, then you should be even louder than me talking about like you gotta tell the truth on this story. Otherwise, we'll never have trust in these institutions.”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And I do think there's something, and it's very interesting because, you know, like we talked briefly, was that on air before we were talking about Sam Harris kind of like criticized me a little bit for not having the credentials to talk about some of this stuff, which I even. It's like one of the things that guys like Sam Harris will talk about a lot is that look we need trust in institutions. And this is his big thing. He goes, you know, these people like Joe Rogan and Dave Smith are just tearing down the institutions. And while I recognize that's an issue, I also think we need trust in these institutions.”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The cameras go out and the correctional officers don't fill out the log and he's found dead. I mean, it's the like, it's just, but when you look at it in totality, there's just like no getting around the huge indictment it is of this entire everything. Even the fact that the Trump administration, when Pam Bondi goes, we're going to release all of this information, we've only redacted what needs to be redacted for national security. Like, why does anything need to be redacted for national security? Like, I'm sorry, you're telling me there's a pedophile ring and we can't tell you everything about it for national security. Why would that be related to national security? I mean, there's just, it's like...”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Where are the tapes? Why is everyone talking about the flight logs and the files? Where are the tapes? This guy was clearly taping people to blackmail them. Where are theirs? I don't know what the legal process of this is, but like, because I think technically it's child porn. So like, yeah, okay, you can't just distribute it out and let everybody watch it. But isn't there a way that somebody has to sit down and watch it and see who is implicated in this and see I just don't, and there seems to be, there's even I think there's a lot of LARPing with this administration going on right now on this topic but does anybody really expect that we're actually going to get to the bottom of this? Because I don't and that in itself just tells you what a sham this whole goddamn system is. One of the things that's so amazing about the Jeffrey Epstein story, right? I mean, you have all of that and then of course the end of it, which is just like, wait a minute, wait, what? Hold on. He's in like the most secure like prison. And then he gets.”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That day and take this story to every single independent outlet that would maybe publish it. I'm sorry. It's like the thing, it's so damning to the entire apparatus that we did not see at the very least see mass resignations over this. Forget even like at the very least expect that it would have been prosecuted and shut down. And then, you know, still to this day, you know, even it's like, I think Tucker Carlson just said this recently, but like And I guess it's a little bit of a weird area when you're filming people raping children but”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“When he first got arrested and then he was given a slap on the wrist and then the prosecutor says, well, I was told by the intelligence community that he's intelligent and to go easy on him. It's like, oh, okay, okay. And you didn't resign and discuss that day? You know what I mean? Like, I don't think that's too much to ask for. You know, there was the ABC reporter who said that she had the whole story. She was on the hot mic saying she had the whole story. And then the network told her to squash it. It's like, and you stayed working there. Like, that's, I'm sorry. Like, I'm not asking for, I'm not saying we're all imperfect and none of us are heroes, but like, you're in a news network and you uncovered a child raping ring that implicated the most powerful people in our society. And your news network told you we will not run this story because of our relationship with the royal family. And you did not resign in disgust.”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You're gonna tell me that there was a pedophile ring in our country that involved, I mean, listen, dude, if you had said this shit before it came out, this would have been the wildest conspiracy theory, but a pedophile ring that involves the most powerful people in the United States of America and in the world to some degree, touching the royal family, the Clintons, like all these people, and that this was known and covered up and then allowed to continue. I mean, like, There's a blackmail operation that relies on raping American children. And if this is, you know, whether it's CIA or Massad doesn't make one less, it's equally horrible. But then there's like these elements where like, you're like, okay, so.”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The way his career trajectory tracks is like completely unexplainable outside of being connected to intelligence. Like it's not just like the one or two people saying that he's intelligence. It's like, dude, the idea that you're just like, you have no experience and you're a teacher at Dalton, which is like this incredibly elite New York City private school. And then all of a sudden you're at Bear Stearns and like within two years, you've made partner and you may, you're worth hundreds of millions of dollars and nobody knows where you made your money from this just doesn't happen. And then you're just inserted into this world with all of the most highest level political leaders and cultural figures and stuff. But the thing that's amazing about the Jeffrey Epstein story is that it's like the level of evil and the level of corruption that it exposes, no matter what the answer is. Like no matter what the answer is, you're going to.”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think it's quite possible that he was working with elements of both. I mean, as I think is often the case, I also think that's something that people get a little bit wrong. Like when they think like, okay, this guy was CIA or this guy was Massad. And then there's also, I think there's the possibility that there are rogue elements within those organizations. Like this is not necessarily coming from the director or what, you know, I don't know, but you look at the guy.”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I don't know if I'd say, I didn't say he was definitely Massad. I don't know. I mean, I made one kind of jokey post, as is the case with almost any intelligence operation. Look, I don't want to poo poo anybody's hopes here because I guess the JFK files just got released and supposedly the rest of the Epstein files are coming out. And there's a lot of major yearning right now to get to the end of the movie where we find out everything that happened, you know, and I think it's great that people have that desire and I hope more and more does come out. I think the truth is that with any intelligence operations, we're probably never going to know all of the details of exactly what happened.”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“If we could live, if we could be in much better shape and much healthier and extend life by a few decades, I think that would be great. But I agree with you. I think there's supposed to be an exploration date on it. I think we're supposed to, there's something about scarcity being a necessary component in a lot of different fields. You know what I mean? Where it's like life itself having a finite amount of time on it I think makes it more precious.”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I just get smoked, and this guy just totally beats me up. It's like, I don't know. I don't know. How are you? How is anyone going to look at me again after that? You'd be like, oh, you acted like you had such a good point. And then this guy just totally destroyed your point. But that then kind of motivates me to be like, okay, I got a really be on point. I got to really make sure I've done my homework. I got to make sure my argument's really tight. I got to think about this thing from all ends. And then on the other level, it's like, If someone can do that to me, then kind of that's the way the movie is supposed to end. You know, like if you is some hole in my argument that I'm just not thinking of and then someone else can point it out to me and I got no response to it, then I kind of deserve to be humiliated publicly for that. So, all right. I don't know. It's kind of exciting in a way.”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And I wouldn't say this for you, but I think this is true for me. I think I'm obligated to do at least several debates a year. And I think that if I'm going to go on shows like your show and Rogan's show and Tucker's show and Candace or whoever else, Patrick Bett David and Tim Poole, and I go on these big shows for long form things and I'm sitting there and I'm being like, okay, it's like this. And I think it's like this. Then if I'm going to do that, I kind of have an obligation to like test myself against someone being like, no, it's not like that. And then, you know, like showing that I think I can stand up to these kind of challenges. So I feel like I'm kind of obligated. But then I do like there is a feeling to it where you're like, hey, man, like this is not, my career is not a joke. Like I got little kids. This is how I support them, you know. And like, I am kind of taking my career in my hands every time I go do one of these debates.”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I know, I'll say that I think that's one of the things that I love about doing debates. And there is something about that where I do kind of feel this, like I'm a little bit of like an adrenaline junkie. I mean, not like really, you know, I don't like skydive or do stuff like that, but like doing standup is kind of like, you know, there's always something about that that's like you're risking a lot by doing it. You're like, you feel alive, you know, like not like the way you do when you first start, but there is something about that. And there's something about, well, first of all, I just kind of, I feel there's kind of two things like number one, I feel like I'm obligated.”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I've got you here for three hours. I'm going to grill the shit. It's like, probably not the best way to do it. There's probably to like have a conversation to talk to the guy. Probably try to get some important questions in, but also give him a chance to breathe and be a person. I just, from my perspective, but again, it's a very personal thing. For me, I just do think that I like I'm going. I hope you do it because I'd love to see that podcast.”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“There's a calculation there. I'm not saying it's not so self evident that there is a correct and incorrect answer. And I do think that we've probably all had things like certain type of ventures in life where you're like, all right, no, I don't want to do that. But then you have to have a moment and be like, well, why is it you don't want it? Oh, is it just because there's going to be a lot of work? Is it just because you're scared of it? Is it just because this? And those typically are not good reasons to not do something. Like, you know what I mean? And then now there might be there is a reasonable, I think, point that you made in there where it's like it is a different game to interview a world leader. That is a very different thing. Like talking to some comedian about his thoughts on all this stuff is a very different thing than talking to a world leader and especially one who's conducting a brutal war as you're talking to them. You know, like that's a, and I don't know exactly what the way to navigate that is. I agree with you. It's not just to be like hostile and be like,”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“More. Like it is, it's not just the time factor. That's a big one. It's a huge, huge one. But it's like there's something about like, if me and you are just like, if we were having this conversation right now, but in back of us was like a cable news, you know, background of red and blue and sparks and a ticker at the bottom of the show. And then you just start interviewing someone. It's just a different thing. Whereas this, you just kind of like fall into conversation mode. And I'd be interested to see him fall into that. Putin too. Like I just think it's great.”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Like me and you have already made the decision that we're in the arena and we're going to deal with that price. And so I just, from my perspective, I'm like, yeah, but how could you turn down getting three hours with Netanyahu? Like that would just be so interesting. And I'm not even saying, you know, like I hate the guy, but I'm not saying you should interview him like you hate the guy or I'm not saying you even have to like grill it, but just if you get three hours with somebody, something interesting is going to be revealed there. There'll be a benefit to that. It'll be interesting to just see him talk that way. There's also something about, as we kind of saw with Trump doing the podcasts and even with J.D. Vance doing some of the podcasts, there is something really interesting about this format. The long form podcast, where it just gets people to let down their guard and reveal themselves a little bit.”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And it's a very weird psychological dynamic. I mean, it's just not, it's almost something like that we were not evolved to deal with and is very artificial. And it's very, you know, like if there's a group of thousands of people who hate your guts and are furious at you, we're almost like hardwired to be like, well, I'm going to be killed now. Like that's the next thing that happens. You're not supposed to get to know what just someone in Arkansas thinks about you right now, you know. But so that's a very personal decision to make, but I kind of feel like...”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Always just kind of like I look at it like this I got a great family and a great career and I really love what I do I make really good money at what I do and I go I do shows all the time I get crowds of people who love what I do I get a lot of people who listen to my podcast who love what I do and it's like so if I get all that and then the price that comes along with it is there's some people who talk shit online it's like that's a very that's a very good price to pay for all of this like it's just and I just like it I just kind of made a decision at a certain point that it's like I'm just gonna accept that that's the price of business here that's what it costs and then okay fine and then sometimes I try to have fun with it or mock them or whatever or go back but to me now again I could never tell you what to do because this is a it's a very personal price that you have to pay”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's dangerous kind of poison to let in your mind because then you're like, it's like, hey, I can't be thinking about you when I'm doing what I want to do. Like I can't be thinking about what your reaction to this is going to be. The way I always thought about it was like when I'd get like, you know, hate online, which I'm, you know, always get.”
2025-04-09 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #464 – Dave Smith: Israel, Ukraine, Epstein, Mossad, Conspiracies & Antisemitism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source