This article is about the American political commentator and Youtube personality. For the author, see David Rubin (author). For other uses, see David Rubin.
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 and former colleague 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.[2] Rubin then described himself as a classical liberal,[3] but has since stated that he has become a conservative,[4] later embracing libertarianism.[citation needed] Rubin has become a staunch critic of progressivism, the political left, and the Democratic Party. In 2022, Rubin registered as a Republican in Florida.[5]
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.[8]
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.[14] In May 2009, Rubin co-created and co-hosted the podcast The Six Pack.[15][16] From October 2011 to December 2012, The Six Pack was on Sirius XM Radio as a live talk show.[17]
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.[18] He moved from New York City to Los Angeles, California.[19]
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.[20] He left Ora TV in 2016, opting to run The Rubin Report independently.[21]The Rubin Report had an affiliation with the libertarian Institute for Humane Studies, a Koch family foundations–funded organization which sponsored a few of his episodes in the past.[22][23][24]
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.[35]
Until late 2018, Rubin's show received much of its funding through Patreon,[41] a crowdfunding site on which Rubin said he received over $10,000 per month before deletion.[42] 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.[43][44][45][41] By May 2019, The Rubin Report YouTube channel had 200 million views.[46] In 2019, The Rubin Report became available on BlazeTV, a conservative subscription video service run by Glenn Beck.[47]
Rubin used to be a progressive. However, he began to distance himself from progressivism after several incidents. One of these was a disagreement with his The Young Turks colleague Cenk Uygur. In his book Don't Burn This Book, Rubin recalled how he became frustrated with Uygur when "Uygur described [David] Webb—who’s black but questions the narrative that America is a white-supremacist nation—as an 'Uncle Tom of the conservative movement,' adding he’d betrayed his African American roots in order to succeed in 'white society'.”[48]
Rubin also stated that he was alarmed by an interview with neuroscientist and author Sam Harris on Bill Maher's Real Time with Bill Maher. Harris was booked for an interview with Maher, and was not supposed to converse with other guests. Ben Affleck was also on the show, and after Harris "made the reasonable distinction between criticizing people and ideas, including religious beliefs",[49] a disagreement ensued between Harris, Maher, and Affleck. Rubin recounted that, "Before anyone had time to draw breath, an agitated Affleck jumped in. But instead of contributing to the conversation like a grown-up, he [Affleck] basically shouted Harris and Maher down and called them racists[.]"[49]
Additionally, Rubin also disliked the left's response to the Charlie Hebdo shooting for what he saw as rationalization for the attack by criticizing the magazine for publishing images depicting Muhammad while failing to defend their right to free speech.[50]
Rubin initially described himself as a classical liberal due to holding more conservative and libertarian views than most modern liberals.[51][52][3][53][54] 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 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).[55]
In a 2017 interview with Reason, Rubin stated that he originally characterized himself as on the progressive left but stopped calling himself a progressive in response to the so-called "Oppression Olympics" in which "victimhood is the highest virtue" and what he regarded as the left's rejection of freedom of speech.[56] Rubin has since 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."[4] While Rubin has expressed support for several liberal views such as same-sex marriage, criminal justice reform, and marijuana legalization, he has characterized progressivism as a mental disorder.[57][21]
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 he was uncertain about how Trump would govern the United States.[59] In July 2017, Rubin criticized Trump's use of executive orders when asked about Trump policies with which he disagreed.[60] 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 did not 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.[61][62][63]
Rubin is opposed to identity politics. In a 2019 interview with Sky News, he stated, "Whether 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."[65] 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."[66]
His Twitter account was suspended after he retweeted a tweet in which Jordan Petersonmisgendered actor Elliot Page.[70] Rubin was defended by conservatives Douglas Murray and John Cardillo who criticized the suspension.[71] On one occasion on his show Rubin said "If I found out a teacher talked to my 6-year-old about gender or sexuality, I might kill that person”.[72][73]
Law enforcement
In 2022, Rubin criticized Democratic politicians for supporting the defund the police movement and accused them of "demonizing" law enforcement. Rubin supported an effort to fire Los Angeles district attorney George Gascón.[74] Rubin supports criminal justice reform and reforming drug sentencing.[75] Rubin opposes the death penalty.[75][76]
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.[77] 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 (who he thinks are "true antisemites") have an anti-Israel and anti-Jewish view.[10]
Rubin stated in an interview with Alan Mendoza on J-TV, "First 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 "there'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."[78]
In 2021, Rubin described a growing ideological split among the early intellectual dark web, saying of Bari Weiss, Sam Harris, and Bret Weinstein that:
They've made what to me seems to be a very obvious fatal mistake, that you can use any of the tools of Liberalism — of open inquiry, freedom of speech, respect for your fellow human beings, individual rights — that you can use any of these things to rationalise with the monster that is coming to burn your house down. And that's why we've seen in effect the liberals have no defence over this, which is why all the liberal institutions are crumbling.[80]
A 2018 report from Data & Society described Rubin as part of a network on YouTube that amplified far-right politics.[52][57][82] 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.[83] 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."[82][83] In response to the report, Rubin tweeted, "wanna explain to me how gay married, pro choice, pro-pot, against death penalty, for reforming prisons/drug sentencing, is part of reactionary right?" and "(As you and rest of mainstream slide into irrelevancy you did get the 'underestimated forces' part right, though.)".[57]
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 that "there's nothing funny coming out on the left now".[21]
Sam Harris, a former friend and guest on Rubin's show, has criticized Rubin for not devoting enough of his show to criticizing Trumpism.[21][84] Harris claimed that Rubin had been "captured" by his audience.[84]
In 2019, Jacobin published an article describing Rubin as "intellectually lazy" and "an empty signifier through which repetitive talking points get a politically correct makeover for millennial conservatives."[85] Since 2022, he has also been the subject of criticism from his own audience, largely in response to his announcement that he and his husband were having two children via surrogacy. His largely right-wing audience has vocally expressed opposition to both same-sex marriage and same-sex parenting.[86]
Affiliation with Russian disinformation campaign
In September 2024, two Russian state media employees were charged with secretly funding almost $10 million to a Tennessee company for the production of political videos to benefit Russia by influencing the United States. The company's description matches that of Tenet Media, which had employed Rubin and other right-wing influencers.[87] Rubin matches the indictment's description of "Commentator-1", who it alleges agreed to produce "four weekly videos that he would host and would be livestreamed by Tenet Media in exchange for $400,000 per month and a $100,000 signing bonus".[88][89] In his response to the indictment on Twitter, Rubin stated that he was unaware of the company's connections to Russian funding and declared himself a victim of the alleged scheme.[90] “The company never disclosed to the influencers – or to their millions of followers – its ties to [Russian state media company] RT and the Russian government,” US attorney general Merrick Garland said.[91]
Personal life
Rubin publicly came out as gay in 2006, which he has referred to as his "defining moment".[92][93] In December 2014, he became engaged to producer David Janet.[94] The couple married on August 27, 2015.[95] On March 16, 2022, Rubin and Janet announced that they are expecting two babies by surrogates.[96] The first, a son named Justin Jordan, was born in August. Their second son was born in October.
He once described himself as an agnostic[97] or an atheist,[98] but he said that he was no longer an atheist in December 2019.[99]
In 2021, Rubin announced his intention to relocate from Los Angeles to Florida and moved to the greater Miami area.[100][101]
Bibliography
Don't Burn This Book: Thinking for Yourself in an Age of Unreason (2020). McClelland & Stewart. ISBN978-0-77107349-6.
Don't Burn This Country: Surviving and Thriving in Our Woke Dystopia (2022). Sentinel. ISBN978-0-59333214-6.
^ abHolt, Kristoffer (2019). Right-Wing Alternative Media. Routledge.
^Lewis, Rebecca (2018). Alternative Influence: Broadcasting the Reactionary Right on YouTube(PDF) (Report). Data & Society Research Institute. p. 16. In 2016, he established a partnership with Learn Liberty, an initiative housed in the Institute for Humane Studies (IHS) at George Mason University. The IHS is heavily funded by the billionaire Koch family and is chaired by Charles Koch; its specific aim is to 'cultivate and subsidize a farm team of the next generation's libertarian scholars.'
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