Joe Rogan Experience #1940 — Matt Taibbi Transcript

Transcript

0:00 The Joe Rogan Experience. A lot. to try to get one little piece of reality, right? Has anything been surprising to you? They have a really intense structure that they've worked out over a period of years and these private transmissions, but ones that are easily duplicated. You could send them to shocked by an email from a staffer for Adam Schiff, the congressperson, the California congressman.

3:54 Another moment that was shocking to me, there was an email from an FBI agent named Elvis Chan in San Francisco to Twitter. You know? Because I don't think anybody ever anticipated that something like this would happen, Yeah. kind of the private stomping ground Yeah. And I believe it too. I just don't have $44 billion. Even if I did, I'd be like, I mean it's going to be interesting.

7:27 foreigners who get in our way for whatever reason. It is amazing. And the narrative is spread through progressive people. Well, they'll just say it now. It's like they've reached the memo, the memos got to them. And then they just, The Taliban just bought blue check marks. The CCP's on Twitter. And if those tweets that people attack him with are good, if people are saying good things,

9:46 You want people to be talking against what he's saying. You want Twitter, the real Twitter now, which will actually We want people to see it. of stochastic terrorism. I don't know if you ever heard that term. Stochastic terrorism is this idea that you can incite people to violence by saying things that aren't specifically inciting, but are It's so extraordinary. And the fact that they can come

12:51 I mean, we heard at the World Economic Forum, right? That's his bosses. but he's not even good at that. because he's basically a prostitute and you know, they hired him to go over there and do that and he's like, what can we do? You know, like, that's not offensive to him. Like, a European basically saying, oh, yeah, you're going to have this too soon.

14:57 just too scary and sketchy so when you're trying to keep that job and He doesn't belong there. How is that going to be adjudicated? Yeah. And he's like, this has got to be satire, right? And people are so ridiculous in real life that a really subtle parody is very hard to discern. incitement to imminent lawless action, right? So you have to be basically saying, you know.

17:38 Like if you start getting into what's satire, what isn't, what's incitement, what isn't, When the, you know, indefinite detention, when they were talking about just being able to detain people, and Obama was like, don't worry, well, I would never do that. And then you can get a really fucking insane, like, Stephen King character. that this wacky country can fall into.

19:38 They can stop that. And they don't, right? that's a liberal issue. That's a progressive issue. Like, the progressives want generic They focus on, oh, it's Donald Trump, so therefore we want it. like how much how much influence did they have how much rabble rousing influence did they have of attorney general memos that essentially refashion what the FBI does.

23:37 They're not investigating crimes. And then the two guys are doing hard time. They're morons who get talked into this. No, I don't actually. And they were singing a song like, we're proud boys proud of my boy and they're like we're gonna put together a group We're going to go after them. And obviously it ended terribly. There's a famous clip that's on YouTube.

27:35 like that always ends badly right right right but he just was having fun and kept pushing it kicked him out of a meeting. He went to a meeting You're going to get assholes to join it. It's wild. instead of 50. And so these guys Wow. Yeah. If you want to buy a flag and burn it, okay. That would make for a lot of unphotogenic protests, but that would be funny.

30:57 You know, the problem is that something needs to step up in its place. the machine? what's the wiring going on with journalism. There's people like you and Barry Weiss and Glenn Greenwald and the inconvenient to the narrative that you feel like it's your obligation to push yeah uh because they're socially the same people that they're reporting on. that. Like, they saw their role as, yeah, you know, we're patriotic, you know, like, we love

35:27 you know, Rachel Maddow or, you know, Don Lamont or whoever it is. And, you know, There's no way Don Lemon is a journalist. Right there's no way brian stelter is a journalist And what those people are is paid spokesmen for the narrative that just happened to be Right. it's another thing that loses you faith with audiences, right? They sounded wrong to me. And I kind of wrote a sarcastic column about how this is ridiculous.

38:55 They never trust you. you're just and it becomes permanent record right right good luck with that yeah no i i i don't know Because it is what it's like. It's a dirty business. that the way you compared Rachel Maddow to Bill O'Reilly, you're like, it's the same person. You know, Chris Hedges is somebody who comes to mind, right? individuality like that that's the key to the whole thing is that it's not people who are making these big

43:45 making decisions. And people don't like it. People don't like it. They don't see where it's going. really wants to help all that. And then along the way you get indoctrinated into the system And next thing you know, you're a fucking politician. And I actually admired her at the time. If you don't, you end up just somebody who tends to be on the outside and is portrayed as a nut.

46:30 But you're absolutely right. I just never understood that. Because I think young people looking at the two options, like one, you can kind of be a hero, That's journalism right now. because of social media and because of the fact that any kid can just start a YouTube page and just start talking about things. or Cy Hirsch or Hunter Thompson or whoever it was.

50:00 And that's an attractive, idealistic thing for a young person. I mean, as you know, as you very well know, right? They have an enormous building in Atlanta, giant CNN sign on the front of it, and they get terrible ratings. be one of the most compelling things. Everybody traditionally would come home and watch the Bizarre. I don't know. I don't know. But what's clear is that they don't

54:00 This is the that. Right. again and people believe it. I mean, the amount of damage that they did to their own reputation, saying things like that, it's because most people would look at that and go, What's Bounty Gate? you know, we can't back that up. sort of mass hysteria experiment, right? And I mean, this is one of the things, was from early 2018 when Devin Nunes,

58:06 This idea that release the memo was basically a Russian operation and that Nunes was benefiting from it. haven't looked into it past what they've seen on television probably still believe there's some That's such a big story. about a mistake of that magnitude. And the fact there's no repercussions and the people were promoted that promoted that And that's why he lost the show?

1:01:43 thinking that because he was a former Navy SEAL, he was going to be pro-war. So, you know, the business has a history of doing stuff like this, but at least in the WMD episode, they had the decency to admit now, Right. then it just keeps coming forward and you can't stop it you know when you were I think he has a hard time concentrating on the nuances of all these different things and balancing out.

1:04:54 I'm sure. Those were politicians. That's what was fucked. Yeah. I mean, again, I feel bad because, you you know I'm living in a home probably that was you do, who spent their whole lives in the journalism business and not, revolutionary idea at the time you know but but you know he yawn and and this is when he told me I ignored him, but, you know, and things would happen.

1:09:38 And so, you know, people respected him as a leader on that front. It was sad to me to have that conversation with them. Yeah, and also you can also get used to not answering difficult questions, YouTube. And so she sits down with us and we're talking and she's, you know, asking me about, And yeah, they got a strike against their channel for that. And you just said it was hate speech.

1:12:32 that's hate speech, that's not hate speech. But her saying, because it was hate speech. at a steakhouse he goes what do you mean he supports terrorism it just does it just does Says who? She was probably eating too, right? This was in the early days. And, you know, they were having this conversation about what happens when religious ideology starts to change the environment of these European cities.

1:15:16 exactly you know like that's if my wife wasn't squeezing my knee she was like squeezing my knee And the company just sent them notices, you are coordinated in authentic activity and your page is down. Because they wanted to imply that the problem was that Facebook was out of control and needed to be policed more, right? I don't know. Well, how does the World Economic Forum actually wield influence?

1:18:45 And then the other thing was that Klaus Schwab and George Soros decided to op out this year. released a bunch of stuff this week showing that they lie about things that they've said I do have a problem with people trying to say what is good and is not good for the world when I know that if you say it is good, it's going to benefit enormous groups economically

1:20:21 This idea that if one life equals one life, you're way better off buying You can't grow things that way normally. But most of the stuff that you buy is using industrialized fertilizer. Right. It says, Post falsely claimed Bill Gates withdrew from Davos Forum. I thought I saw a video of him talking. I'm looking for, did Klaus Schwab leave Davos? opt out,

1:24:04 I don't know. It's confusing. How do they... You know, they bring people along. firm like McKinsey. You do a little time, you know, working for, you know, this or that politician This idea that leaders from all over these countries are getting together Like people didn't know about the World Economic Forum six, seven years ago. Like, could you be any more obvious that you're fucking insane?

1:27:33 That's why it's there. amazing yeah the fact that he chose to leave his house dressed like that like Is that the same thing? Oh, a fucking goat with a cross on its head. Look at that one. Yeah. Yes. Thing like a conference for people to get together that are fucking aluminum siding salesmen and like they find out Jesus, he founded that in 71? are. Views its own

1:30:41 resort in the Eastern Alps of Switzerland. Like threatened this guy for asking him questions about speaking truth to power. I'm doing what your bosses are supposed to be doing. I work for Rebel News. Yes. We're reporters. We do what CNBC is supposed to be doing and he seemed a Seriously, take your bike out of my car. I'm here to do what you should be doing.

1:33:00 So he goes inside. You haven't asked me anything, so I'd like you to take the camera off me. I heard him say, I'm going to paraphrase it because I don't have the exact thing, The guy that he was talking to? of the entire event very similar to that And if you look this up, you'll find stories about it that were out there. Like, in other words, we don't cover each other in here, right?

1:37:15 so microsoft won't censor it but google will there was more there's a couple stories about If you use DuckDuckGo, you just get what's out there. It's terrifying. You're carrying water for the pharmaceutical companies, And you're just hiding it? I mean, you take something like the Digital Forensic Research Lab for the Atlantic Council. and what is not somehow.

1:40:55 Or it's missing context. That's the whole point of it. shit it's like snopes is not like some like rock solid independent You know what I mean? But they don't want to do it that way. that's what's going to come up first. So instead of, if you search for, let's just say, come along and they'd pay for your advertising and do this and do that and then slowly but surely

1:44:54 So as long as the big newspapers don't cover it, they don't have a site that allows them to put it into Wikipedia, that allows the algorithm to put it in. But you have to make a conscious decision The Washington Post actually humorously described me as a conservative journalist. Like once when you broke a big story, you got like plaudits from your peers.

1:47:29 today. It has not, I used to deliver the New York times just because it was the New York times. Newton. I'd pick up my globes at a different place. the globes, and then I'd have a route that was York Times. And I read the New York Times. So I was like, you know, I'm going to deliver the That's what it is. and uninformative or substack or whatever it is they get access to independent people that are talking about real information.

1:50:49 You're seeing it take place with all these cable news networks. right? I saw, You're going to be singing about all the different variants. Put on your mask when you're inside Love Shack. Love Shack. What is that? It's just pure madness. We played it twice or three times now. Right. How little of a life do you have to have He was the guy who organized the Harper's letter, the pro-free speech declaration.

1:55:39 And he got his check taken away. Did he definitely have it at one point in time? It just, it's very kumbaya. I mean, it changed media. Like, it ended up being one of the reasons that Matt Iglesias left Vox, which he co-founded, because he signed the letter and there was somebody on staff who felt threatened by that. They're not worried about losing their account, which they were before.

1:58:40 So you wouldn't say anything. on you, for instance, that that actually has an impact anymore. Now it's not. Once that happens, you lose your fear of it pretty quickly. That's great. If they all came at you in targeted fashion like they did, you're fucked. of those sources. and so obviously researchable. you're capable of being full of shit. about me and my past with the exile, and I knew I was in serious trouble.

2:03:28 They have less power than the independents, which is nuts. but you're talking about things based on your actual interpretation of what's going on in your it wasn't a real fight. being pinned so many times that would be an interesting one whatever happened to alan They were trying not so much to talk about the politics, but to highlight the kind of weeniness of that character, right?

2:06:12 Like sort of cackling. Yeah, it's the honest version of that. Right. I think that's a question that's worth exploring. right right you're funded by these left-wing super PACs and left-wing special interest groups a bifurcated media where everybody's in arm camps, like they don't talk to one another Yeah. dangle the narratives in front of the people that make them attractive. And then you realize like,

2:10:10 Right. Will you be unemployable? be a way i can buy things online yeah that's. When you're saying what misinformation on what, on what platform, And, but yeah, but the idea that this company, you know, that's going to, you know, be a negative that will appear somewhere. Like, that stuff is all scary. Like, it's a serious problem, I think. So if your grandma posts some crazy shit about Trump really winning the election, you know,

2:13:45 me thing about they froze their fucking bank accounts yeah yeah and all these people did was when Bernie was drawing some blood against Hillary by talking about her, Right. you can't return from it. and these entertainment corporations will be good for is creating things that are exorbitantly expensive, and travels and sees their cultures They're very restrictive.

2:17:38 You can make a really great 4k video with your phone easily. Yeah, and you don't need a big institutional backer anymore. all over the place it's fun it is it is fun and i'm i'm actually having fun with the job for the Yeah. They want to make a big deal about – because there was an army of people after the first Twitter files who all said the same thing.

2:20:50 You know? Oh, absolutely. Like he posted that meme of the pregnant man next to the photo of Bill Gates and his pot belly. It's like, you know, I couldn't stand his politics, but if you denied that he was funny, you were lying. His timing is excellent. It's not saying he's a great statesman or a great president or even a good representation of what America is supposed to stand for.

2:23:33 Right, right. And there was no way it was not going to land. You know? everything they could to stop that from happening and it didn't work yeah yeah It's amazing how well this country is running while Biden is literally not there. He talked about running again. It's not easily provable. But clearly, yeah. And at least in Mar-a-Lago, they were in a safe.

2:27:56 Didn't he? They're making it like this huge sticking point. And his own aides turned him in. and she can't do it anymore. and they get a hold of her and go, We're going to write some stuff for you Was he there? to stay, then some shit has to go down. So at least the appearance of it. They don't – these candidates – it's somebody's idea of who would be a popular candidate.

2:31:54 He's like a shitty soap opera actor trying to go through these lines and you're like, I don't resonate with anything you're saying. I think polls are – they can be useful over periods of time, right? and there was no challengers. He looked the part. They've tried to push some of these Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. the nomination at least. And then someone like Donna Brazile writes a book and comes out with it,

2:37:50 You know, they have lots and lots of ways to put the thumb on the scale. yeah i think so i don't think trump can get a lot of people that are on the fence. Yeah, I think so. Whereas I don't think Trump can. He always comes back. And, you know, veteran. He's got a lot of things going for him that and what he did with Florida actually turned out to have worked. You know, right. Right. Yeah. I mean, I don't I think it's going to be difficult for the I mean, it's it's so unpredictable to the on the Democratic side right now.

2:40:23 That's a big one. people and get people to the dance. you know, And then, you know, when that interview, when Zuckerberg said it out loud, to seek out that testimony you have to read a review of that testimony if the you could just And then you get into this long history of manipulation. Like, what else are they locking down on? You know, which is crazy because he bought it for $44 million and it's worth almost nothing.

2:43:56 that it does have the infrastructure to do something like that and it could become a hub of is like linking an RSS feed to Apple Podcasts, but Apple doesn't profit off of it. They just they thought of podcasts as being just a joke, The podcast is the one thing that you can't control. Thanks for everything you do. This is Brian Selter. Excellent.