Dave Rubin
David Joshua Rubin (born June 26, 1976) is an American conservative political commentator. He is the creator and host of "The Rubin Report", a political talk show on YouTube and on the network BlazeTV. Launched in 2013, his show was originally part of TYT Network, until he left in 2015, in part due to widening ideological differences. Previously, Rubin hosted LGBT-themed talk shows, including "The Ben and Dave Show" from 2007 to 2008 and "The Six Pack" from 2009 to 2012, both of which he co-hosted with Ben Harvey. Rubin originally considered himself to be a  progressive while part of "The Young Turks". However, Rubin has written that his views began to change after witnessing progressive commentator Cenk Uygur's criticisms of Fox News commentator David Webb, Ben Affleck's confrontation with Bill Maher and Sam Harris over their views on Islam, and the political left's response to the Charlie Hebdo shooting. Since then, Rubin has described himself as a classical liberal and later as a conservative. Rubin has become a staunch critic of progressivism, the political left, and the Democratic Party. Early life. Rubin was born on June 26, 1976 in Brooklyn, New York . He grew up in a "fairly secular Jewish household on Long Island". He spent his adolescence in Syosset, New York, and then he resided on the Upper West Side of Manhattan for thirteen years. He attended Binghamton University, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in political science. In 1997, he also spent a semester at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheba, Israel. Career. Comedy. In 1998, Rubin started his career in comedy doing stand-up and attending open-mics in New York City. In 1999, he became an intern at "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart . In 2000, Rubin continued his career at the New York City–based Comedy Cellar. Later that year he joined with other Comedy Cellar comedians to create a public-access television series, a news program parody called The Anti-Show" which was secretly filmed at NBC Studios in 30 Rockefeller Plaza. In 2002, he co-founded several New York City–based comedy clubs, including Joe Franklin's Comedy Club and The Comedy Company in Times Square, where he continued to do stand-up until 2007. He was the host of two podcasts, "Hot Gay Comics" and "The Ben and Dave Show , which were turned into a television series on the here! television network. In May 2009, Rubin co-created and co-hosted the podcast The Six Pack." From October 2011 to December 2012, "The Six Pack" was on Sirius XM Radio as a live talk show. Political commentary. While a part of Sirius XM, Rubin created his own account on YouTube called "Rubin Report" in early September 2012. In January 2013, Rubin joined "The Young Turks", where he hosted the show "The Rubin Report." He moved from New York City to Los Angeles, California. On March 1, 2015, "The Young Turks  YouTube channel announced that Rubin would be moving to the media company RYOT". Shortly after, Larry King's Ora TV picked up the show which debuted on September 9, 2015. He left Ora TV in 2016, opting to run "The Rubin Report" independently. "The Rubin Report" has an affiliation with the libertarian Institute for Humane Studies, a Koch family foundations–funded organization which sponsors an episode of his show per month. Until late 2018, Rubin received much of his funding through Patreon, a crowdfunding site on which Rubin said he received over $10,000 per month prior to deletion. Rubin  and Jordan Peterson announced their intent to leave the platform following Sargon of Akkad's ban, which they described as an assault on free speech. In a video shortly thereafter, the two announced their interest in developing an independent, free speech oriented crowdfunding site. Peterson started Thinkspot, and Rubin co-created locals.com. By May 2019, "The Rubin Report" YouTube channel had 200 million views. In 2019, "The Rubin Report" became available on BlazeTV, a conservative subscription video service run by Glenn Beck. Rubin frequently appears as a speaker at events hosted by Turning Point USA, a conservative student organization. Rubin  has been a podcast guest on "The Joe Rogan Experience", "Coffee with Scott Adams", and "The Ben Shapiro Show". In 2017, he starred in a video by the conservative media company PragerU titled "Why I Left the Left". Rubin's book "Don't Burn This Book: Thinking for Yourself in an Age of Unreason" was published in April 2020 by Sentinel. It made "The New York Times" Best Seller list, but was critically panned. In December 2021, Rubin sold his Los Angeles house and announced that he was moving to Miami, Florida. In his announcement, he criticized California Governor Gavin  Newsom as an "unbearable tyrant who dared to extend his emergency powers and then immediately take a $200,000 vacation." He also cited "high crime", "high taxes", "vaccine passports and mask conformity" as reasons for his decisions to move from California. Political views. Donald Trump. Ahead of the 2016 United States Presidential election, Rubin declined to endorse Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump and instead voted for Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson. In an interview with Glenn Beck, he retrospectively stated that he chose not to vote for Trump as was uncertain about how Trump would govern the United States. In  July 2017, Rubin criticized Trump's use of executive orders when asked about Trump policies with which he disagreed. In October 2020, Rubin said he had "been a lifelong Democrat", but would be voting for a Republican president for the first time and endorsed Donald Trump for a second term in the 2020 United States Presidential Election. Rubin subsequently elaborated that while he didn't agree with everything Trump had done, he had changed his mind on the president and would vote for Trump on the basis of his opposition to the "woke left" and critical race theory in American  institutions. In December 2021, Rubin wrote an article for "Newsweek" where he argues that classical liberals and libertarians should vote for the Republican Party. In this article, he states that one of the reasons he voted for Trump in 2020 is that Rand Paul became one of Trump's biggest allies in the Senate, and Paul is someone who "who didn't want to get into those wars, who wanted to reduce taxes, wanted to kick power back to the states" (all ideas Rubin agrees with). Identity politics. Rubin is opposed to identity politics. In a 2019 interview with Sky  News, he stated, "...[W]hether you're gay or straight or black or white or female or trans, those things are actually completely irrelevant other than your thoughts; your thoughts and actions are what matters." He has also stated that "the left is obsessed with the color of your skin", and that there is presently "no significant racism in the United States." Israel. Rubin is a supporter of Israel. While still part of the progressive "Young Turks" network, Rubin believed that the network "whitewashed crucial details" about the conduct of Hamas during the 2014 Gaza War. In an interview with "The  Jerusalem Post," Rubin stated, "The future of the [Democratic Party] seems to be this radical socialist base that believes for one group to succeed, another has to fail." He went on to state that this is why progressive Democrats like Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Linda Sarsour (whom he thinks are "true antisemites") have an anti-Israel and anti-Jewish view. Rubin stated in an interview with Alan Mendoza on J-TV, "…[F]irst off, this idea […] that anti-Zionism somehow is not antisemitism is crazy." Rubin went on to say that there are many Christian and Muslim-majority countries, and  that "…[T]here's one tiny Jewish country again with […] seven million people or so, twenty percent of whom […] are Arab and have […] the exact same rights as the Israelis. Not to say there aren't some problems in Israel. Of course, there are. But […] it is by far the most tolerant society in the entire Middle East." Political ideology. Rubin has described himself as a classical liberal due to holding more conservative and libertarian views than most modern liberals. In a 2017 interview with "Reason," Rubin stated that he originally characterized himself as on the progressive left and voted for  Barack Obama in the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections, but stopped calling himself a progressive in response to Oppression Olympics in which "victimhood is the highest virtue" and what he regarded as the left's rejection of freedom of speech. He has also described himself as a conservative, stating in 2021: "For me to tell you that I'm not a conservative at this point doesn't really make sense." Liberal views. Rubin cites his support for same-sex marriage, criminal justice reform, marijuana legalization, a social safety net, and public schooling as exemplifying his liberal views; albeit conditionally, he  also favors the individual's right to an abortion. He has characterized progressivism as a "mental disorder". He has described himself as part of the "intellectual dark web". Criticism. Critics have accused Rubin of providing a platform for individuals considered political extremists, such as self-described New Right figure Paul Joseph Watson, Great Replacement conspiracy theorist Lauren Southern, white nationalist Stefan Molyneux, and far-right activist Tommy Robinson. A 2018 report from "Data & Society" described Rubin as part of a network on YouTube that amplified far-right politics. The report cited as an example an interview that Rubin conducted with  Stefan Molyneux in which Rubin asked Molyneux to elaborate on his views that races have different average IQ test results and that these differences are genetic. The report held that Rubin did not challenge Molyneux in any substantial way, concluding, "By letting him speak without providing a legitimate and robust counterargument, Rubin provides a free platform for white supremacist ideology on his channel." According to Anthony Fisher, a journalist at "The Daily Beast", Rubin has implied or stated that Paul Joseph Watson, Stefan Molyneux and Mike Cernovich are part of "a new political center" and, in a 2016 livestream, said  the alt-right as a shitposting, fun, call out the bullshit, mock-the-power thing is amazing, adding "there's nothing funny coming out on the left now... [.]" In 2022 Rubin announced that he and his husband were having children through a surrogate mother. The announcement drew criticism from both his audience and fellow conservative media figures. Personal life. Rubin publicly came out as gay in 2006, which he has referred to as his "defining moment". In December 2014, he became engaged to producer David Janet. The couple married on August 27, 2015. He once described himself as an agnostic  or an atheist, but he said that he was no longer an atheist in December 2019. On March 16, 2022, Rubin and Janet announced that they are expecting twins. In 2021, Rubin announced his intention to relocate from Los Angeles to Florida.