Bubble Pop with Rachel Gilmore - Everything is political -- yeah, even hockey (feat. David Doel)

00:00:00.000 Hello, I'm Rachel Gilmore, your least favorite person's least favorite journalist. Welcome to

00:00:11.120 Bubble Pop. This is the weekly live show where we talk about some of the biggest headlines and

00:00:15.960 juiciest news tidbits so you don't have to doom scroll. And while we're live, if you want to

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00:00:29.800 something you want to ask. If you want to support the show otherwise, you can subscribe on Patreon,

00:00:34.320 Substack, and YouTube, as well as anywhere that you like to listen. All right, let's get into it.

00:00:41.320 Stop making things so political. That's what a lot of people online had to say after Team USA

00:00:47.940 eked out a victory over Team Canada last weekend in the Olympic men's gold medal game. When those

00:00:54.360 guys not only partied with that loser FBI director, Kash Patel, in their change room, but also 0.94

00:00:59.420 giggled like bumbling cavemen as trump joked about having to invite the women's hockey team to

00:01:04.840 as if those women didn't also win gold at the olympics here let me pull up a clip for you

00:01:10.820 thank you mr president

00:01:12.860 what would really be cool and we'll do the white house the next day we'll just have some fun we 0.92

00:01:20.040 have medals for you guys and we have to i must tell you we're gonna have to bring the woman's

00:01:25.060 Anyway, that conversation has lit up the internet with the predictable voices telling people that

00:01:43.380 it's not that deep, while people with more than three brain cells are saying actually it very

00:01:49.060 much is. One of those people I noticed being especially outspoken in a very satisfying way

00:01:55.920 is David Dole. You probably know him best as the host of the Rational National on YouTube,

00:02:01.840 where he's amassed more than 750,000 subscribers. Crazy. He's known for his incisive political

00:02:09.400 commentary, which he's able to package to viewers in videos that both entertain and inform people

00:02:14.480 about the world around them. Sounds like some hockey players could maybe tune in.

00:02:20.040 So I had to invite him on the show today, not only to talk about Team USA and the nonsense that

00:02:25.660 anything exists outside of politics, but also to discuss the role of people like him,

00:02:30.740 YouTubers, streamers, in shaping the media ecosystem in the modern day.

00:02:34.760 I am really excited for today's conversation. It's long overdue. David, welcome to Bubble Pop.

00:02:41.440 Hey, Rachel. How's it going?

00:02:43.400 I'm so good. How are you?

00:02:45.200 I am fantastic. I'm a little well-rested, and I'm ready to discuss this hot topic of the week, which is kind of blown up.

00:02:55.360 You managed to sleep through all the rage.

00:02:57.900 Yeah, yeah, I was raging last night about this. I didn't really expect to, I had a podcast last night, and I raged a little bit.

00:03:03.900 But just, you know, as somebody, I love hockey. I feel like players could do so much better.

00:03:10.360 they have a platform when you have a voice and a platform in it especially in an apolitical space

00:03:15.760 your ability to impact culture and politics is more than you realize and when they squander it 0.82

00:03:22.120 like this not just squander it but give their glory to a pedophile adjudicated rapist and a

00:03:30.280 man that has been threatening canada sovereignty over the past year like do they think this is

00:03:35.100 going to look it doesn't look good at them now let alone you know for their their legacies 10

00:03:38.860 20 years from now it's just disappointing yeah totally you know i wanted to ask you i mean like

00:03:44.540 i could tell from your tweets and you're not exactly subtle about it that you are a leafs fan

00:03:49.460 as a uh struggling uh you know kind of aged out of watching because of the actions of eugene

00:03:56.400 melnick sends fan i forgive you for your leafs fandom but i i wanted to ask you i mean like how

00:04:02.120 are you feeling about austin matthews the captain and the leafs these days like do you still consider

00:04:07.580 yourself a leafs fan and is this making you like reconsider your feelings about hockey oh i'll

00:04:13.060 always be a leafs fan i mean leafs exist beyond austin matthews he's not you know he's not the

00:04:17.900 leafs in my mind but it's it is very disappointing to have somebody who should know better be the

00:04:26.680 like this is the guy that's going to be the leading point scorer for the leafs for generations

00:04:31.520 to come and now his legacy is ever attached to that meeting with donald trump now you know i

00:04:38.080 think there are there are there's variations to this there's gradients to this he didn't go to

00:04:42.980 the state of the union which is is that is a purely political that's pure political propaganda

00:04:47.040 like regardless of the president is the whole point of it is propaganda so he didn't go to 0.78

00:04:51.320 that he wasn't on fox news like the kachuks were so that there's you know there's layers to this 0.81

00:04:55.040 but this is also a guy who's not he's not a nepo baby the same way that the kachuks are like the 0.94

00:04:59.880 Kachucks, in case anyone watching doesn't know, their dad is Keith Kachuck. He was in the NHL. 0.98

00:05:03.500 Their Hughes brothers, their mom was an American hockey player. These people, based on the culture

00:05:11.160 that they grew up in, based on how wealthy they've always been, you don't excuse it,

00:05:15.180 but you expect it from certain people. With Austin Matthews, we're talking about somebody

00:05:18.820 who's half Mexican, has lived in Canada for the past 10 years or so, has an MLK quote tattooed

00:05:24.620 his body about standing up in times of discomfort there's the one right there like how do you be

00:05:31.180 this person and not realize what you are doing and like it really goes back to that quote for

00:05:38.620 him is probably just about working out like you know uh when when the weights feel a little too

00:05:42.740 heavy you got to push through like that no that's about standing up in times of discomfort and you

00:05:46.860 know while looking into this i was reminded back during uh i think this is back in 2017

00:05:52.880 when Kaepernick was taking the knee.

00:05:56.440 Auston Matthews, I want to be clear,

00:05:57.520 didn't criticize Kaepernick,

00:05:58.660 but also said he would never do that

00:05:59.920 because he thinks it's disrespecting of the troops.

00:06:02.520 And again, does he not realize

00:06:04.100 the tattoo on his body

00:06:05.040 is what Kaepernick was living up to?

00:06:06.820 Well, you were just completely disregarding

00:06:09.440 the whole point of that quote.

00:06:11.560 It's just, I just want better for these people.

00:06:15.360 I want them to understand

00:06:16.540 that you have the power

00:06:18.740 to be able to change minds

00:06:21.140 and impact people in a way that others can't.

00:06:24.880 Like, you know, we are in very political spaces.

00:06:26.720 We talk politics when people look for our videos.

00:06:29.100 It's because they're looking for that stuff.

00:06:30.600 When you are in a space like sports

00:06:32.140 and you have the admiration and respect of people

00:06:35.680 that of all political walks of life,

00:06:37.760 you have the ability to educate yourself

00:06:39.460 and educate others with your education.

00:06:41.560 And they simply are not able to do that.

00:06:45.360 And for me, it's not even just about them.

00:06:47.400 Because again, the standard I think for hockey players

00:06:49.360 is so incredibly low.

00:06:50.320 but those around them like agents family managers their teams didn't warn them that hey this man

00:06:57.740 is using you for himself like the same day that they met him is when the npr investigation came

00:07:04.760 out showing that there is even more evidence in the epstein file showing that uh trump likely

00:07:10.140 sexually assaulted a child the same day they were meeting him that came out like there's that

00:07:15.640 that conversation didn't happen hey maybe this is not a good idea and that's even apart from

00:07:20.380 the joke about the women's team them laughing them not realizing hey the best way to be in

00:07:24.700 solidarity with the women's team is to also not go to the white house if they're going to turn

00:07:27.460 it down then we're also going to turn it down like that would be the way to truly apologize

00:07:30.740 and show that you care and there's already there's already a standard for not going to the white

00:07:34.800 house like going back to 2017 with the philadelphia eagles then the golden state warriors then the

00:07:39.020 u.s women's uh soccer team the the world cup winning team they didn't go like there's this

00:07:43.760 there's already a precedent for this so it wouldn't be out of the question to say hey

00:07:47.440 thanks for the offer but we're not going and this is the time when trump is the least popular he has

00:07:54.040 ever been you have the ice raids in minnesota you have the epstein files you have the threats

00:07:59.480 against canada hockey is a largely canadian sport like you don't understand like this is like out of

00:08:05.660 any moment in time to not go to the white house and shake this man's hand this was the time to

00:08:10.080 not do that. And now this legacy is forever stained. Like this gold medal will always be

00:08:15.200 attached to meeting Trump. Yeah, exactly. You know, and I think that there is a sort of

00:08:22.200 undercurrent here, which is just like, how stupid are these guys? And that's kind of, I think, 1.00

00:08:28.500 guiding us like through this. And it's, it's difficult because like stupidity and ignorance 1.00

00:08:33.800 can be co-opted, which is why it's so important to like take an interest in the things happening 0.98

00:08:37.800 around you i i wanted to ask you like as such a you know strong leafs fan um how did you feel

00:08:44.760 when you were like watching the the sequence of events like there was the win and then cash patel

00:08:50.760 and then the phone call and it just kind of like you it's like we were all sitting there watching

00:08:55.480 this moment be consumed by the trump machine like how did you feel in those moments yeah it at first

00:09:01.620 for me i mean i'll be honest there was a lot of like i was trying it was like a lot of like self

00:09:05.980 preservation in the sense that i i didn't see matthew austin matthews in those in the initial

00:09:11.660 video with cash patel i'm like okay good maybe he's maybe he's not there maybe he's the one

00:09:15.400 filming and sending this to pro publica because the videos are being leaked like who's in that

00:09:18.940 room leaking videos to pro publica but someone was um so my initial feeling was okay maybe it's

00:09:26.680 just these jackasses it isn't the whole team and and then he's meeting the president like all right 0.93

00:09:31.020 that i can't deny anymore like this is just beyond ridiculous but it's it's just very 0.98

00:09:37.460 disappointing and you know for the actual game itself you know you can go and people can go

00:09:42.800 look this up i i tweeted out during the game that even if canada loses this to me this game meant

00:09:47.920 less than last year's game the four nations face-off tournament even though let's obviously

00:09:51.600 the olympics mean more than the four nations tournament but in terms of what the cultural

00:09:55.480 moment meant a year ago when trump's uh comments about canada were really at its height really at

00:10:00.620 at its peak and and you know the country felt it that was a time when i really felt canada's

00:10:06.900 victory mattered like it we needed a cultural victory back then like we needed something

00:10:11.100 and that win i think was so important for that moment i'm like i i can go back and remember like

00:10:16.440 my heart pounding during that game yeah hoping canada was going to win that this time it was

00:10:21.280 like canada has won gold a bunch of times like i i watched the jays collapse in the game seven

00:10:28.180 in in the world series like i have felt much worse yeah i felt worse losses than this like

00:10:35.740 whatever they lost okay it was going to happen at some point three three on three overtime again

00:10:40.300 weird way to decide an olympic game but whatever it happened uh canada did outplay the u.s like

00:10:45.480 this isn't cope that's factually correct canada outplayed the u.s but the u.s won that is an

00:10:50.240 excuse the u.s won the u.s won the game so you know it i i felt whatever but then seeing cash 0.88

00:10:56.860 patel like to look to lower yourself to standard of this massive fucking can i swear it's massive 0.99

00:11:05.100 fucking loser especially to lower yourself to him yeah the fbi director the the chief uh pedophile 1.00

00:11:14.100 protector like are again i i feel like a lot of the players in that room didn't really understand 1.00

00:11:21.400 who this man was yeah but this gets to why being the captain of that team is so important austin

00:11:29.000 matthew should have had the awareness to to know beforehand hey if we're gonna win this we should

00:11:33.640 be the only people in that room this team this is us we did this no one else deserves to be in here

00:11:38.920 but apparently bill garan the gm of team usa he's the one that invited cash patel into the room

00:11:44.280 and this guy is like mega asshat like there's a clip of him a year ago on fox news inviting trump

00:11:48.680 to uh the the four nations face off um uh game so bill garan invites this guy like bill garan is 0.88

00:11:56.040 is patient zero in this whole thing like it all started with him if that invite didn't go out

00:12:00.200 then the phone call wouldn't have happened in that room maybe they still would have gone to

00:12:03.560 that white house who knows or they likely would have went after you know the season because it's

00:12:07.640 kind of a weird time to go to the white house in in the middle of you know the nhl season still

00:12:11.880 yeah so there's a lot that may have not happened if that invite didn't initially go out yeah i love

00:12:17.800 I love that you characterize them as patient zero.

00:12:19.640 It's like a zombie apocalypse or something.

00:12:23.860 So I feel like we kind of covered most of the stuff I wanted to talk about this.

00:12:28.020 And maybe I'm like treading over territory that you sort of already covered in one of your answers.

00:12:31.820 But I do really want to like hone in on this idea that we've heard from so many like commentators.

00:12:37.840 We heard it from obviously like the players themselves that, you know, people should focus on sports, not politics.

00:12:46.380 everything's so political um like i i think i got the sense already of how you feel about that

00:12:53.260 argument but i wanted to like explicitly ask you like what do you make of that argument do you

00:12:57.580 think that sports are inherently political and can politics ever be removed from you know societal

00:13:04.680 markers like huge international sports games politics are you know i can't say oh it depends

00:13:13.320 depends on on the situation right but for these these this team usa like for them to a lot of

00:13:18.360 them obviously be inspired by the miracle on ice by team usa beating the ussr in you know 1980

00:13:22.780 like that was political that's why that's why that inspires so many american players

00:13:28.500 back when that happened because that was a political victory you like for you to say oh

00:13:33.580 it's also political you invited the fbi director into the room then you had a call with donald

00:13:41.100 trump in the time when he is the least popular president he has ever been what are you talking

00:13:46.140 about everything's political you're the ones that did this so yes it's political there i find

00:13:51.780 this idea that oh athletes shouldn't be political it's fine if an athlete doesn't want to have

00:13:57.980 doesn't want to engage in that conversation again i think they should be using their platform for

00:14:02.100 good but if they don't want to engage in greater conversations around politics that's their choice

00:14:06.960 but the reality is politics is happening in and around sports and it's your decision either to

00:14:12.600 engage with it or not and if you engage with it be ready for the blowback if you side with the

00:14:16.540 pedophile i mean it's not like it shouldn't be complicated yeah like why are people confused as

00:14:23.100 why why is there outrage out there like you put up that that tweet from um tsn overdrive that i

00:14:27.880 replied to like they were uh i think it was a jeff o'neill saying uh people are acting like

00:14:34.560 or a lot of a lot of fake outrage of people acting like they really care about this like fake

00:14:39.860 outrage like as i write in the tweet fake out people are outraged because you this team met

00:14:47.520 with an adjudicated rapist and pedophile who's been threatening the sovereignty of the of canada

00:14:52.100 for the past year like this isn't fake outrage people are seeing players they admire they watch 0.97

00:14:56.860 every single uh or every other night watching these players and a lot of them of course people's 0.90

00:15:02.560 kids like love these players admire them seeing these guys go and visit with this disgusting man

00:15:08.180 when other teams have already turned it down you had an ability there to do the right thing and you 1.00

00:15:14.540 and you decided to be the useful idiots and allow trump to use your glory for himself 0.98

00:15:19.400 yeah and that's why it's always attached to that yeah i feel like it kind of speaks to this um 0.99

00:15:25.120 you know the the weirdness of the political age that we're into and i don't mean that to downplay

00:15:31.260 the disgusting things that the US government has done historically, because I think that in many

00:15:37.080 ways, they were just a lot better at hiding a lot of the stuff that they were doing. But, you know,

00:15:41.620 but I do think that it's kind of this time where, you know, going to the White House isn't a sign

00:15:48.140 that you just prefer, you know, lower taxes. It's a sign of something way more. And I just think

00:15:54.980 that there is at least an argument that when the U.S. administration was trying slightly to hide 0.96

00:16:03.360 the egregiousness of its actions, a dumbass hockey player could reasonably go to the White House or

00:16:12.800 whatever and have it be sort of this more patriotic act that is removed not entirely from politics

00:16:21.220 because patriotism is inherently political but isn't viewed as like co-signing a particular

00:16:26.020 administration and a particular set of politics but like this administration is this new level

00:16:33.940 it's like the the things that they've been found to have done the things that they have done in

00:16:39.220 communities with ice like it's just i i don't understand it like it's not traditional debates

00:16:44.980 between conservatism and liberalism and like social democracy it's like this is you know

00:16:51.940 right and wrong and i just i i don't think it's like the things that we're seeing are the things

00:16:57.380 from like kids storybooks of good and evil of like marvel movies good and evil and i just don't 1.00

00:17:04.260 understand like even the stupidity argument like how can you be that stupid and maybe 0.99

00:17:09.940 i'm just underestimating the kachucks but like you know and like i would even argue there's a 1.00

00:17:15.860 there's a difference from even 2017 trump to now like i'm not saying you should have gone back then

00:17:21.780 and again the eagles back then did decline the invite like there he was still racist back then

00:17:26.340 but yeah it's gotten progressively worse and more overt and more obvious in the in the ensuing years

00:17:32.340 like it's there is no excuse anymore like you can't feign ignorance like it's we

00:17:39.940 there's no way those players weren't already aware especially the again the ones that are

00:17:45.640 captains of canadian teams austin matthews brady kachuk that they weren't aware of trump's comments

00:17:51.500 about canada how that has hurt canadians like there's no way you could can't be aware of that

00:17:55.860 as anybody in society yeah so to be aware of that and make a conscious decision to still

00:18:03.340 go and shake that man's hand and smile and laugh at his jokes like that yeah people are going to

00:18:09.300 feel a certain way about that and it's going to be a while till people get over it and i don't

00:18:13.500 think though in terms of their these players legacies they're always going to be attached

00:18:17.520 to that even if fans move on and they will move on at some point it's not going to animate them

00:18:21.960 forever but it's it's something that it's impossible to forget because this is a moment in

00:18:26.400 time that we are going to remember for the rest of these players careers my dog agrees clearly

00:18:32.540 you know and and i think that um sorry i hope you guys can hear me okay with my dog going in

00:18:43.220 the background these are the the perks of live you know um but um obviously like as as we were

00:18:49.820 just talking about like a lot of this is rooted in the trump factor and his disgusting form of

00:18:56.640 politics but i think that the trump phenomenon and like i'm sure that this is something that

00:19:01.820 you've talked about as well like it goes beyond trump like it's this there's this broader rise

00:19:06.660 of this far-right politics that's taking a grip around the world like we're both canadian um which

00:19:12.920 is i feel like a rare thing in conversations between streamers these days so i don't know

00:19:17.580 it's nice to have you but uh you know uh one thing that really blew my mind this week was

00:19:24.980 you know, our sort of Trumpian politician, Polly Ev, he came out this week and he like straight up

00:19:33.440 lied about a guy who got a, got charged or sorry, got a fine for like this guy. So he got a fine

00:19:46.860 for hate speech in BC, but this guy was a BC school board trustee. And for five years, he

00:19:51.900 publicly denigrated lgbtq people and teachers and associated them with the worst forms of child

00:19:58.540 abuse the bc human rights tribunal said this guy's non-stop attacks created a discriminatory

00:20:03.980 work environment for lgbtq teachers in the district but polyev came out and his criticism

00:20:11.740 was not of this guy you know creating this horrible workplace for five years they literally

00:20:17.580 use the word poisoned in the decision. No, what he did was he condemned the fine as Orwellian and

00:20:26.140 insane. And he said that the $750,000 fine for his five years of hell was only because he said

00:20:36.560 there are two genders. Like, obviously, it was way worse than that. So I guess I wanted to kind

00:20:43.880 to pivot a little bit here to asking you about like what it says about our country and the

00:20:48.920 vulnerability of our politics that we have prominent political leaders who are so willing

00:20:54.500 to downplay hate speech particularly in the context of the trans community yeah like the

00:20:59.760 idea that that it was comments over saying too generally there would be thousands and thousands

00:21:05.020 of maybe tens of thousands of fines handed out if that was the case if that if that was the reason

00:21:09.440 why he was fined. A lot of people have said that shit. This clearly was a lot more, but he's not 1.00

00:21:16.420 going to say that in his tweet because that would defeat his whole argument and it wouldn't allow

00:21:20.460 him to fearmonger the way he is. It's just, I've honestly kind of been, I shouldn't say surprised,

00:21:27.300 but like, Pierre Pauly was so unpopular. And his reaction to that is to become more unpopular,

00:21:36.140 like is to become more like like trump like it wasn't even not to change the topic but like

00:21:42.060 also this week he also put out a a tweet about health care blaming asylum seekers as one of the

00:21:48.520 main reasons why these these fraudulent asylum claims one of the main reasons why you can't get

00:21:53.200 health care it's an average of a couple dozen people a year that are these fraudulent claimants

00:21:59.140 you're telling me 24 people a year are why you can't get a family doctor out of 41 million

00:22:04.460 canadians like they they have nothing to actually work with so it's this doubling down on these

00:22:10.060 this xenophobia this racism this transphobia as a way to i i guess for him to solidify his base

00:22:16.480 because he doesn't want an election he would get destroyed right now so he's just really he's trying

00:22:21.260 to solidify his own base and ensure that he is holding power within his own party until you know

00:22:26.400 whatever election comes in in a few years but like it's just it's it's wild to me that this is where

00:22:31.340 he goes. Because I don't, up to this point, it hasn't helped him. But he's going to continue

00:22:36.040 doing it, I guess, because he's this person. I guess because he just is a hateful transphobe. 0.99

00:22:40.620 And he thinks it's perfectly fine to demonize some of the most marginalized people in society 0.83

00:22:43.960 as a way to kind of score political points for your own base. It's honestly, it's just disgusting. 0.91

00:22:48.260 Like, it's hard to know how to react to it, because you're not getting through to someone

00:22:51.200 like this. Yeah, no, it's like, either option is disturbing, because he's either a genuine

00:22:57.580 transphobe because that is a lot of who is echoing this exact rhetoric right now that is downplaying 0.99

00:23:03.820 this decision in the exact way that Pierre Polyev did or he doesn't give a shit but is willing to 0.99

00:23:10.980 do disturbing transphobic things to maintain some kind of a grip on power or get a few political 0.98

00:23:18.400 points and in either scenario it's horrifying and like in my mind like how the hell is someone who's

00:23:25.420 supposed to be a leader uh gonna move like that i don't know it's just like it makes me feel really

00:23:30.360 cynical about about politics that people like that can get to such a prominent position and

00:23:35.600 you know i think part of yeah no go ahead i think part of the issue almost for him is that

00:23:41.120 you have mark carney who is center right yeah so it's like where does polyev go because he's not

00:23:48.320 like polyev is as someone who covered a lot of political or a lot of american politics over the

00:23:52.440 past 10 years. It's like the Mitch McConnell during the Obama years, where it's not about

00:23:57.600 any sort of principles or any sort of ideas. It's about opposing the other side. Like Mitch

00:24:03.280 McConnell, the entire tenure of Obama was just about opposing everything Obama did, even though

00:24:07.480 Obama wanted conservative health care, a right-wing health care plan, Mitt Romney's health care plan,

00:24:13.340 a for-profit health care plan. They still opposed it. It didn't matter what it was. So when you're

00:24:18.220 in that position as Pierre Polyev and you're opposing conservative ideas that, that Mark

00:24:22.600 Carney is putting forward, who, by the way, uh, last I checked deep, like record-breaking

00:24:27.280 deportations under Mark Carney, like you're telling me this is, this is a center right at

00:24:32.840 best politician. So Pierre Polyev has to move, or I guess he doesn't have to move. He's where he's

00:24:38.100 always been, but he's a far right politician. And that's what he's, he's simply sitting and

00:24:42.600 solidifying his base. He's doing more of it in his rhetoric. Like he's always been, I think,

00:24:46.420 more conservative than some of his colleagues, like even dating back to when there was the

00:24:50.920 apology for residential schools, right? He like made disgusting comments that day. So this goes

00:24:56.100 way back. But I do think that he's like, I've got a willingness to say things publicly that

00:25:00.760 five, 10 years ago, he might not have said. So you're definitely right about that.

00:25:06.480 You know, I do feel like also a lot of the reaction that I saw on the political right to

00:25:12.160 Pierre Polyev, or sorry, not to Pierre Polyev, but to this decision, the $750,000 fine decision,

00:25:18.800 is it's rooted, and this is, forgive me, some kind of like dropping a thesis and pulling a

00:25:24.220 mapper's gene from a bit fruity here. But, you know, it's this idea that it's rooted in the

00:25:31.960 same themes as what Team USA was saying. It's this idea that like words and gestures, or in the case

00:25:39.040 of this, you know, guy who got the $750,000 fine, like repeated hate speech exists in a back in a

00:25:46.680 vacuum, like you can say and do whatever you want, as long as you aren't like taking explicit clear

00:25:54.520 political action. And, you know, and you should be able to do that. Like, it's this idea that

00:26:00.360 you can, these things can exist in a vacuum. I wonder if you agree with the thesis and like,

00:26:06.980 what the reason is for this disconnect where like like why do these people think that words

00:26:13.820 and actions don't matter and don't impact our politics or is it just that it benefits them

00:26:18.120 and so i think i think it's that i think it's that they can't acknowledge that it has an impact so

00:26:23.220 they have to live in this vacuum to make their arguments because if you actually apply their

00:26:28.380 arguments to the real world or or you you take it to their logical conclusion with these sorts

00:26:33.540 comments over five years poisoning the workplace just you know hurting people destroying lives

00:26:37.380 like you you have to you have to as a conservative ignore that to be able to make your argument

00:26:43.800 otherwise your argument falls apart like it the reality is we live in a society how we yeah how

00:26:51.220 we carry ourselves impacts people and if you allow someone one individual to poison a workplace like

00:26:57.340 that over years. What does that do? What benefit to society is that? How does that improve the

00:27:05.580 lives? How does that bring us forward in any way? In fact, he is taking away other people's rights

00:27:10.580 by being this sort of individual in this workplace. He is hurting others with his

00:27:15.460 so-called free speech. So when you impact others in that way by what you think of as free speech,

00:27:23.040 and you have to be able to stand back and realize the the poisonous people here aren't the people

00:27:30.520 given the fines it's the person that's carrying himself in a way that has impacted lives in this

00:27:34.980 way over the over countless years like it's they really have to exist exist in that vacuum for them

00:27:40.460 to be able to make their argument otherwise their arguments fall apart yeah totally and i i think

00:27:45.600 that one thing that stood out to me as well um is that this sort of lie like the idea that all

00:27:52.740 this guy said was that there are two genders like that's super harmful to the trans community

00:27:58.420 but i don't think i saw any mainstream media fact check it and just a few days after he did that

00:28:04.880 after you know as you mentioned paliev had so like paliev did that tweet he also had that really

00:28:09.720 gross push on um immigration on the asylum seekers blaming them for health care issues which is

00:28:15.940 absurd for all the reasons you just explained um you know and a few days after that they are

00:28:21.560 breathlessly the mainstream media is breathlessly covering a major speech that polyev gave um and

00:28:29.720 you know saying like a prominent pollster saying this was a tonal reset and you know he's he's

00:28:36.680 being calmer more reflective while they're not giving any prominence to other things that he's

00:28:43.720 saying and doing and like fact checking them and like being very clear about the impact of that

00:28:49.320 kind of speech i i guess like do you feel that mainstream media i guess is failing to meet the

00:28:56.760 moment when it comes i mean absolutely yeah like yeah like again as someone who's covered american

00:29:02.280 politics a lot like it reminds me a lot of how cnn treats trump you know oh he's sounding he's

00:29:07.480 sounding more uh more stable this time he's he's sounding like a real leader now what's that like

00:29:12.760 a van jones quote where he's like today he became the president like how many guys because he what

00:29:18.040 could read a couple paragraphs like calmly and all of a sudden you're you're you're fooled like

00:29:23.240 this it's this desire for normalcy above the objective reality that we are living in and what

00:29:29.080 this man actually represents and what he and and what the kind of person that he he carries himself

00:29:33.800 as the kind of party he is running like they are so dire for some kind of normal that they are just

00:29:40.360 grabbing at straws oh look a speech where he's he's a little bit calm calmer than usual that

00:29:44.760 That they will just, whatever, whatever he said before, who cares?

00:29:47.320 Like, this speech is great. 0.97

00:29:48.520 Like, it's just complete ignorance.

00:29:50.820 Now, if there was an actual change, if there was an actual mea culpa, it came out, you know what?

00:29:55.800 I've been wrong.

00:29:57.500 I've been transphobic.

00:29:59.120 I've been demonizing these people.

00:30:00.780 I've been xenophobic.

00:30:02.300 I've realized the actual issue is we need to, you know, put more funding into health care.

00:30:05.980 We need to educate people about the reality around trans rights.

00:30:09.820 Then, okay, then we can move on.

00:30:11.820 And then that's a real change.

00:30:13.440 Then we are moving on.

00:30:14.760 But speaking in a calmer tone and trying to shy away from the reality of what your party actually

00:30:20.720 is, isn't a shift. It's just a way to try and fool people into the same message, into the same

00:30:29.140 party that you still are. Yeah. No, I was, it actually, I felt so validated hearing you say

00:30:36.880 that it's this like, you know, this desire for normalcy, because this is something I have been

00:30:41.540 like screaming about I feel like and you and I both worked in mainstream news right like we

00:30:46.800 we both have that background like there is this normalcy bias it's like this idea that the the

00:30:54.000 world can't be heading in a direction that is you know more dangerous more harmful that you know the

00:31:02.160 uh long arm of justice or the long arm of history always bends towards justice which I'm like maybe

00:31:08.140 that's true. But like in those moments where there's dips, the media just like only sees the

00:31:12.700 long arm. Like, I don't know. I just I wonder how alienating that is to people who are trying to

00:31:18.980 consume news, but then kind of feel like they're being almost gaslit. I mean, you can't see what

00:31:24.720 Trump is doing. The fact that like American citizens have been gunned down in the street

00:31:29.340 by ICE agents and, you know, feel like things are normal. But it's like media just can't

00:31:36.160 accept that and that's to their own detriment in my opinion i mean what do you think yeah like i

00:31:42.320 on one level i understand the desire to not want to acknowledge that we live in often frightening

00:31:49.200 times like i get i need my escape you know i got the video games behind me like you know i

00:31:53.520 i have my escape after i'm consuming this garbage all day oh i've got dungeon crawler carl on my

00:31:58.960 shelf there like you know i got my i got my therapy so like we have our escapes we try to you know

00:32:05.120 get away from this and bring ourselves back down. But when it is your job to tell people

00:32:10.680 objective reality, there has to be a connection to how you report, because there has to be a

00:32:16.900 through line. Your through line should be basic human rights. And if you don't judge the news

00:32:23.180 based on those basic human rights, then essentially you're just saying, well, this party says

00:32:27.460 this and this party says this. I don't know what the reality is. Being neutral is not being

00:32:32.120 objective. Being objective is looking at the objective facts, looking at what each party is

00:32:36.720 saying, and also including the fact that, hey, maybe these people are lying, or maybe they're

00:32:42.380 trying to twist what the reality is, and maybe they're more concerned about people who are

00:32:48.600 wealthy and white than everybody else. And understand there should be a focus on human

00:32:56.020 rights and the constant fight for people to be able to afford to live. If you don't have that

00:33:02.040 within your reporting, and I think mainstream reporting should have that. Again, neutrality to

00:33:06.000 me is so detrimental because it doesn't look at what the reality of what politics actually is and

00:33:11.720 how it affects our lives. You have to be able to judge it based on that. Because if you don't have

00:33:15.920 that, then what's the point of the news? You're just a stenographer. You're just telling us what

00:33:19.820 each party is saying, what each person is saying, as opposed to giving us what the baseline is,

00:33:24.060 what we should be concerned about. Yeah. I mean, even beyond that, I think

00:33:27.820 one issue with that pursuit of neutrality or of objectivity that doesn't exist means that

00:33:39.320 what you're actually in practice pursuing is the perception of neutrality, the perception

00:33:44.780 of objectivity. And when you're pursuing a perception, you're vulnerable to the loudest

00:33:49.860 voices in the room telling you that you failed to meet it. So that's, to me, like one of the

00:33:55.200 biggest failings of mainstream media in this modern age. I mean, I don't know what major

00:34:02.520 differences you've noticed in being able to do sort of political commentary on your own. And I

00:34:08.560 would argue that what you do is a form of journalism. I know you call yourself a political

00:34:11.780 commentator. To me, a journalist is someone who like, you know, picks up the phone, calls people,

00:34:16.240 has sources yeah okay you know i do think there are differences there and i would never claim to

00:34:21.540 be a journalist because i'm not educated in being a journal like i don't do that but i do think

00:34:26.300 there's still a value in yeah you're informing people both journalists and commentators do

00:34:30.260 and just being able to communicate because you know news and and journalism can be tough to consume

00:34:38.060 and i i because i feel like i'm just a dumb guy like honestly i don't feel like i'm i don't feel

00:34:44.560 like i'm just i'm smarter than anybody else i feel like i'm just your average guy you're definitely 0.69

00:34:47.800 smarter than brady kachuk okay give yourself that at least well when the bar's all the way down here

00:34:51.840 but there's like i feel like because of that because i come from a somebody who look i've

00:35:01.400 discussed this before my first vote ever my first vote ever was for the conservative party because

00:35:06.800 my thinking was hey we've had liberals for a long time let's try something different that was

00:35:11.320 literally the extent of my thinking i didn't know any i wasn't educated in public i didn't know

00:35:16.280 anything until really like mid late 20s so it's you there has to be an awareness here that a lot

00:35:23.680 of people just don't consume the stuff because it's it's not it doesn't either both doesn't

00:35:30.040 impact them in many cases but also they simply just find it uh depressing or they're just not

00:35:37.060 into it. So our ability to try and communicate issues in a way that is easier for more people

00:35:43.160 to consume, that's what I try to do, I think is incredibly beneficial to informing more people.

00:35:50.560 And when you have a more informed electorate, you get better outcomes. And that's all I'm trying to

00:35:55.760 do. 100%. And you're definitely succeeding in that. I mean, and what's interesting is there's

00:36:01.680 definitely proof in the pudding with respect to the idea that the people want to consume information

00:36:07.540 in the way that people like you are providing it um and you know also in the way that some people

00:36:13.740 who are kind of like our warios are providing it too um you know like there was some research that

00:36:20.480 came out obviously and uh like fairly recently it was november 2025 that um more and more people

00:36:27.320 are actually getting the majority like during the federal election specifically i think

00:36:31.580 half of political content posted, like that people were consuming and stuff was from news

00:36:39.980 influencers was from political influencers. And I feel like there's a lesson in that for

00:36:46.900 mainstream media. But there's some lessons that arguably they can't learn. Like, I do think that

00:36:52.980 some of that appetite comes from people wanting to be told what they want to hear. Like, I think

00:36:59.080 that that's what draws people to certain voices is they they kind of just want their biases

00:37:03.440 confirmed like i know that i've dealt with some blowback when i criticize mark carney for example

00:37:07.900 because people might see a video where i criticize polyev and then they you know get really upset

00:37:12.960 that i'm not just like a blind cheerleader um so i'm sure that there's an element of that that's

00:37:17.820 just like people wanting to be told you're very smart and you're right about everything and

00:37:21.620 everything you already thought is true but like what do you think is the lessons here yeah well

00:37:25.660 I was going to say, like during the hockey stuff, I got some comments on Twitter being like, but you never criticized Trudeau.

00:37:31.120 And I'm like, here's 20 videos where I criticized Trudeau over the past 10 years.

00:37:34.000 Like, what are you talking?

00:37:34.960 Like, some people just assume because the content that they consume, the right wing content they consume is all just one view and doesn't look at issues objectively in a principled manner where their basis is human rights.

00:37:45.740 Then they assume everyone else is like that.

00:37:47.500 No, I'm not attached to any one party.

00:37:49.520 I've I've literally voted for every single major party.

00:37:52.540 Like I voted conservative.

00:37:53.520 I voted NDP.

00:37:54.180 I voted liberal.

00:37:54.920 I voted green.

00:37:55.660 when i was a green candidate so like the i voted for every single party at some point so i come

00:38:01.760 from the perspective of you know just i what i think we should be fighting for in terms of basic

00:38:07.040 human rights and and looking at that through an objective lens and also understanding how politics

00:38:11.740 works and you know based on the writing you're in maybe voting for the green doesn't make sense if

00:38:15.280 you're in a conservative or liberal writing like that kind of thing but um sorry what was your

00:38:19.760 question no no no and that was all super interesting too actually it's funny a friend

00:38:24.940 of the show paris marx if you're familiar with his work also had involvement with the green party so

00:38:29.200 it's like it's funny that you both have that background but um we're just collecting the

00:38:33.780 greens here you know um but no the the question was about sort of lessons that uh traditional

00:38:40.220 media can sort of learn from these influencers like what really any of us like what should we

00:38:45.480 learn from this shift in consumer information habits like um and you know what are the lessons

00:38:52.700 that are good and like are there some wrong lessons to take from it i don't know like where

00:38:57.020 do you where do you see media heading i guess so i mean for me i think it's important to also

00:39:01.900 acknowledge that that journalists in terms of both both you know written journalists but also um

00:39:08.700 you know cbc news global the people that do actual like reports and are on the ground talking to

00:39:14.300 people those need to remain funded are incredibly like i could not do my job as a commentator if

00:39:21.900 that other stuff didn't exist i i if you watch any of my videos anyone in the audience like i am

00:39:26.860 always referencing actual reporting reporters actual journalists giving them credit always

00:39:30.780 linking to their stories below the video in in the description box because i want people to

00:39:35.740 understand i'm not just pulling out of thin air like there there are there's a basis for what i

00:39:39.580 am discussing and and where i'm getting my information from so you understand that and i

00:39:43.100 think that helps to inform people that um so they understand where what my sources are and and where

00:39:49.020 i'm how i'm drawing my conclusions but in terms of what media can can learn i think being more human

00:39:56.460 like i this idea of the um the robot you know host like i i get it because again you you

00:40:07.340 you were you are sort of sort of supposed to be a robot in a way that you just want people to

00:40:11.980 get this information but uh like it's it's tough because like you're not going to succeed in it

00:40:20.780 yeah yeah because you you still i still want that to exist i still want the six o'clock news to

00:40:26.980 exist i still want those people to exist but i totally understand why people have been turned

00:40:31.880 off by that kind of robotic um performing of the news and have have moved more to people like

00:40:39.340 you know you hassan me like people that are people and show personalities and and discuss

00:40:45.940 news in a different way i think there's a place for all of it i don't think that we should i don't

00:40:49.420 think that like i don't want every single newscaster to become you know hassan like i

00:40:53.380 don't think that that would be terrifying that doesn't need to happen it's a bunch of giant 0.86

00:40:59.880 turkish men like but the the the lesson i guess should be that base reporting in human rights 0.99

00:41:08.520 base it in what is a basic understanding that or a basic need that we should all be striving

00:41:14.140 towards and that is basic human rights for all regardless of who you are regardless of how you

00:41:18.860 identify that should be the you know the north star and move from there yeah yeah it's so

00:41:25.400 interesting too because i think it's really difficult to interrogate where the news should

00:41:30.360 head like i've been sort of experimenting with it having a foot in both worlds like i do some

00:41:35.860 commentary but i also do some original reporting where i'm like calling those sources and like

00:41:40.820 doing investigations and stuff and it's it's really hard to carve out that space and kind of

00:41:48.360 maintain legitimacy i guess um because like we're so used to building trust off the basis of

00:41:55.740 neutrality and objectivity and but i but i do think that there's something to be said for the

00:42:00.440 fact that showing that humanity and that personality um builds even more trust when

00:42:05.720 you actually get down to brass tacks like i i we have this idea that you have to be that robot but

00:42:11.620 it's physically impossible like we're not robots and i actually think it's a little insulting to

00:42:17.680 the viewer's intelligence to like act like you can like you're yeah like you're you're acting like 0.52

00:42:24.160 you think they're stupid enough to believe that and and that's like initially like you're starting

00:42:29.440 from a place of disrespect and like i still have lots of friends who are journalists who are like 0.98

00:42:33.580 very good at their jobs but i do wonder like if there's room for you know not get calling them

00:42:39.080 into uh the principal's office for every cheeky tweet or like letting them crack some more jokes

00:42:44.740 on air you know things like that just a little more humanity and i think that's why so much of

00:42:49.980 this resonates i don't know what do you think well i also do like i do think that there are

00:42:54.740 certain people that do really great report like uh tina yazdani of city news uh and colin de

00:43:01.280 mello they both cover um they've been covering doug ford a lot doing doing it very well i almost

00:43:07.020 think that because they they don't really inject their personalities into the reporting it can

00:43:12.100 maybe almost land even a little better because no one can say oh you're just being biased you're

00:43:17.400 just a lib shell whatever like no these these are legitimate reports based on the level of

00:43:24.300 corruption and insanity that is going on with the Doug Ford government, that it hits better

00:43:30.200 because these are people you can trust. These are just typical reporters, but they understand

00:43:36.260 the goal here, which is human rights, looking at corruption, understanding what we should be

00:43:44.640 striving for, and reporting based on those principles. And I think they do a great job

00:43:49.420 doing that and i also think like what you do is very unique because you are a journalist but you

00:43:54.860 also as you mentioned you also are you're a commentator so you have to like it's i actually

00:43:59.760 almost don't envy your position because it's very it's very uh it's a hard space to move and like i

00:44:05.240 was watching your video on on the ndp um race and you you didn't say who you would support and i

00:44:11.940 thought that's interesting like i i totally respect that i totally get that and it's just

00:44:15.740 it's an interesting space to be in that position where you are commentating, but you also are not

00:44:19.800 going to be completely clear on where you side. So you can kind of, I can kind of, you can guess

00:44:26.500 a little bit, but that's the thing is like, so, I mean, I guess where I've landed and I don't know

00:44:31.800 if it's the right answer. It's just like, I'm, my life is just a big experiment now, I guess,

00:44:36.220 is where like, I, I try to be transparent enough that people get a sense of my politics that sort

00:44:42.420 of underpin the choices I make editorially right like what who am I interviewing who what perspectives

00:44:49.820 am I more likely to platform where will my bias come through and impact you know my journalism

00:44:54.820 so that you can maybe go and fill those holes elsewhere right like like find those gaps in my

00:45:00.380 work and because I'm honest about where my biases are but I'm not gonna ever like cheerlead one

00:45:07.440 particular person or necessarily be like super super pro a um like a partisan policy per se or

00:45:15.940 anything like that like i'm so what i've tried to do is be transparent enough that people can

00:45:20.920 understand um what is fueling the human choices i make without uh crossing that line into

00:45:28.120 partisanship or you know cheering for one person and obviously like my perspective informs certain

00:45:35.680 political leanings as well but like i i try not to i just don't want to be prescriptive to my

00:45:40.720 audience you know what i mean so that's sort of how i try to navigate it but i i don't know if i

00:45:45.480 get it right it's so hard it's always learning i think you're doing a great job yeah oh thank you

00:45:50.320 that's super nice i mean you are too obviously but you know and then and then freaking hassan

00:45:55.660 piker rocks up to canada and just blows everyone out of the water he's like the rock star even gets

00:46:01.260 a campaign from sija the center for israel and jewish affairs trying to stop his hate from

00:46:07.020 crossing into canada i mean i feel like that's the reaction he got both the anger and the like

00:46:14.620 rock star style support shows that there's definitely um the world of streaming and

00:46:19.980 commentary and media is certainly shifting and in a major way so um yeah i'm just glad that we

00:46:26.940 can have these conversations i remember hassan back with so i'm like a long time like or i used

00:46:32.700 to be a young turks viewer the young turks like yeah american political commentary and so hassan

00:46:39.020 is is jank's nephew jank the main host and i remember hassan like 10 years ago when he was

00:46:44.300 first appearing on that show he was terrible like he was just like like rap bro energy like the

00:46:51.020 worst takes like just dumbo and he's somebody who has still like he's a great example of how

00:46:58.860 how much you can improve as an adult so brady kachuk can learn from him it's like yes exactly

00:47:06.620 maybe it's possible uh brady kachuk in 10 years will be like the next hassan we don't know

00:47:13.180 but like it's he's hassan now is i have so much respect for him he is

00:47:16.380 you know incredible like does such a fantastic like he he deserves all the attention that he

00:47:22.220 gets the good attention that he gets because i think he's such a fantastic communicator and he's

00:47:26.320 been able to really spread a message that i think has clearly impacted a lot of people not just in

00:47:30.680 his country but clearly internationally and he has he's the best in this space i think for a reason

00:47:35.240 yeah all right well david i think that's everything i wanted to ask you but i want to give a few

00:47:41.080 minutes here for audience questions so uh just a reminder to you guys that i will be prioritizing

00:47:46.440 super chat questions but if you have some like if you want to just drop them in the chat too

00:47:50.880 we can definitely take some of those we don't i think have any super chat questions right now so

00:47:55.460 definitely a shift from uh leftist mafia david but um but i'll give you guys a minute to drop

00:48:00.560 those in if you have any um and in the meantime i think most people watching probably already know

00:48:06.400 this but just in case there's like two of them that hadn't heard of you before this um where can

00:48:11.740 they keep up with your work yeah just uh if they go to the rational national.com that gets you to

00:48:17.740 the youtube page and uh yeah just follow me there there's also you know there's a merch page stuff

00:48:23.860 if you want to you know buy a shirt or something to help support me but um yeah uh or in the

00:48:28.800 rational national the rational national.com slash join is the the patreon page as well but yeah just

00:48:33.960 i don't know if you haven't watched my stuff just go watch i cover both canadian and american

00:48:38.060 politics this this week i did like a polio video i also did a couple videos on the u.s hockey team

00:48:43.800 and some other stuff so i cover um usually politics but i'll get into cultural stuff if

00:48:48.400 something big is happening and i think it's impacting you know on any on a political level

00:48:53.760 as well but um yeah just go subscribe see if uh see if you like my stuff yeah and you definitely

00:48:59.140 will especially if you like my stuff you'll love david so um pd lemony has a funny one here uh

00:49:05.680 what does connor story need to do on snl tomorrow night in order to restore hockey's reputation back

00:49:10.580 to peak heated rivalry levels it's a lot of pressure on connor's poor little shoulders or

00:49:15.840 massive shoulders i guess he's ripped but that's a great point to bring like the i should have

00:49:21.280 brought that up in our conversation about hockey yeah i know the the idea that like heated rivalry

00:49:25.320 really helped to for a moment there spread the game like oh hockey's hockey's really cool come

00:49:31.680 come watch hockey it's open to everybody and uh then the u.s hockey team thing happens and it's

00:49:37.140 like oh no this is hockey culture actually so you know i hope we strive for a place where we can get

00:49:42.300 back to a more open nhl and i mean i would say one of the things sorry this is kind of separate from

00:49:48.880 the question but one of the things that would really help the nhl right now is the next team

00:49:52.420 that wins the cup don't go to the white house just turn it down we've seen an NFL team do it

00:49:56.600 an NBA team do it you don't have to go and especially in this time it's the worst possible

00:50:00.380 time like that would restore so much faith back into the NHL if one team decided to finally do

00:50:06.120 that though I don't expect it but uh that would help a lot in terms of um what kind of story

00:50:10.580 Connor story needs to do I I still need to watch the show so I know I haven't watched it yet it's

00:50:16.740 So good. Not to be like, I feel like that's such, honestly, like, it made me cry. Like,

00:50:22.380 it's, I don't know. It's so much better than you think. The first episode really is just like,

00:50:27.340 I kind of judged people on the first episode because like a lot of white women were loving

00:50:31.220 it. And I was like, just watch gay porn. Like, this is basically gay porn. Like, are you just, 1.00

00:50:35.840 is this like a 50 shades situation where you've just never allowed yourself to read smut? And so

00:50:40.560 like the first one you see, you're like, oh my God. But then I watched more of the show and I

00:50:45.160 realize it's actually so impactful. And like, I think, especially for like the LGBTQ community,

00:50:49.660 it's like a huge example of representation. So I don't know, maybe Matthews and Kachuk need to

00:50:55.040 kiss and Connor's story could facilitate that. Maybe that'll help. I don't know. But it's yeah,

00:51:00.860 weird times. Thank you so much for that super chat. Mike Maxwell wants to know if we're going

00:51:08.960 to cover the Alberta budget. I personally don't have any plans to right now. I tend to focus

00:51:14.220 federally like sometimes I'll dip my toes into provincial stuff if it's like especially egregious

00:51:18.840 but um which Daniel Smith does tend to do but I don't know David if you have any plans no I don't

00:51:24.600 I tend to stay if I cover anything provincial it's going to be Ontario because I just I live

00:51:28.700 in Ontario um I don't I really don't follow Alberta as much as I probably should there's

00:51:32.780 just the fact that I cover Canadian Canadian federally and Ontario for me that's like more

00:51:37.300 than enough to to fill my brain I don't have space for Alberta unfortunately yeah that's very fair

00:51:43.400 um okay sorry i'm just scrolling through the questions now because we've gone through the

00:51:49.360 super chats but um just trying to see if i missed any i definitely missed a few um here the order

00:51:56.060 of battle says is boycotting sports the answer for cultural change i i would say no like i think

00:52:01.620 just expecting better um and arguably boycotts are a tool for enforcing that expectation but

00:52:07.980 i don't think that you're realistically going to see enough of a mass mobilization of a boycott

00:52:12.220 of something as like beloved as sports um to make that kind of a difference and i don't know i just

00:52:17.800 think that the backlash itself like you can go to the game and boo kachuk you know like maybe things

00:52:23.980 like that like that he's actually in the room he'll hear your boo so like just put that pressure

00:52:28.720 on people to learn because if hassan piker can do it brady kachuk can do it i agree in terms of

00:52:36.460 boycotting i don't i don't you're not gonna mobilize enough people to have an impact and

00:52:41.740 could argue hockey already is boycotted in the u.s like people barely watch it so it's not really

00:52:45.660 that's why i may not have much of a dent i can't imagine a world like where people don't watch

00:52:50.220 hockey i don't know it's like in canada i remember i had this i lived in this condo a while ago where

00:52:56.060 it was one of those ones where you're you just see all your neighbor's windows and stuff and when a

00:52:59.980 hockey game was on you'd see like just the screens were changing at the exact same moment because

00:53:04.700 everyone was watching the game so it's just surreal to me to think of a place where that's

00:53:08.940 not the case but uh yeah okay cool i think uh i caught most of the questions i might have missed

00:53:15.180 a few but uh we're we're basically out of time here anyway so uh um david i don't know if you

00:53:21.020 i don't know if you can see the chat or if you scoped any that you were particularly interested

00:53:25.660 in but i think people are just chatty today so people are chatting i'm not seeing any questions

00:53:30.220 that i yeah no no no okay cool all right well thank you so much david for coming on i'd have

00:53:36.620 to have you oh someone's asking if we'd ever collab with charlie angus i've had charlie angus

00:53:40.220 on the show before so um you know i like charlie he seems like a nice guy yeah yeah he is a really

00:53:45.740 nice guy a fun fact is when i was in the press gallery and like living in ottawa um i used to

00:53:50.460 see him all the time at like pubs in his little hat like reading a book and stuff he's just like

00:53:54.940 a very sweet guy who i think really cares about the issues so um yeah good dude um okay oh and

00:54:03.900 jacqueline leach thank you so much for the super chat says it would be really great if you two

00:54:07.420 could get together every two weeks or once a month oh my god i mean i'll definitely come back

00:54:12.700 i feel like i'd be getting the better end of that deal because like david's like super uh established

00:54:18.140 in this world but i definitely i mean i i don't i don't do many appearances generally but you know

00:54:22.460 your show is great i was happy to come on thank you so much it's just that you know i have a kid

00:54:26.540 i have like it's just like i'm usually usually scrambled but i was definitely happy to come on

00:54:31.180 today for sure i really appreciate it well on that note let me allow you to get back to your

00:54:36.540 kid and back to your life thank you so much for your time today thank you for having me on it was

00:54:40.380 awesome this hour flew by so i had a it did i had a blast so thank you so much and uh as you guys

00:54:46.540 know you can keep up with david uh look up the rational national buy some merch and uh yeah he's

00:54:51.980 He's got some great videos, so go check them out.

00:54:53.460 David, thank you again.

00:54:54.880 Thank you.

00:55:01.440 Thank you for listening to this week's episode of Bubble Pop.

00:55:04.860 I'm Rachel Gilmore, your least favorite person's least favorite journalist.

00:55:07.840 If you enjoyed this episode, consider subscribing on YouTube, Patreon, Substack, or wherever you like to listen.

00:55:14.260 You can also find me on TikTok, Instagram, Twitch, and Blue Sky.

00:55:17.900 i'd like to give a special thank you to hans vivian wenzel for making the incredibly groovy

00:55:22.380 music for bubble pop you can find more of his stuff on spotify under the artist's name hans

00:55:27.360 that's a lowercase h with an exclamation mark thank you again for spending this time with me

00:55:32.440 this is my dream job i know i say that every week but that's because it's true every week and

00:55:37.580 i couldn't do it for one second without your support so thank you and i'll see you next time

00:55:47.900 Thank you.

Bubble Pop with Rachel Gilmore - February 27, 2026

Everything is political -- yeah, even hockey (feat. David Doel)

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