The host of The Rubin Report could have written a book detailing all the current assaults on the American way of life.
That would get plenty of attention, no doubt, especially given Dave Rubin’s celebrated status on the Right.
Instead, Rubin delivered an unofficial owner’s manual to being an American citizen in the Age of Woke.
“Don’t Burn This Country,” the clever sequel to 2020’s “Don’t Burn This Book,” offers practical tips to surviving in a topsy-turvy culture. It’s also a handbook for restoring freedoms we could see slip away before too long.
Rubin spoke to Right on Hollywood this week about his new tome, how the woke mob conquered America and why Jon Stewart disappoints his inner stand-up comic.
The self-described “classical liberal” doesn’t cling to labels, but he says the modern conservative movement represents a broad swath of the electorate.
They may disagree on hot-button issues, but their alarm at the woke revolution unites them. That, he notes in both the book and his Right on Hollywood chat, is a golden opportunity. Center-left souls and rock-ribbed Republicans must unite, and quickly, before the woke revolution conquers even more cultural turf.
“Never mind our differences on issue to issue … we have to save America first,“ Rubin said.
The woke mindset, Rubin added, is the “most anti-human political movement that has existed in our lifetimes. That’s what we’re up against.”
RELATED: Is This the Reason Jon Stewart Went Woke?
“Don’t Burn This Country” offers a pithy, but powerful, pop culture throwback to illustrate his points. Remember the 1979 classic “Alien,” where the ship’s medical officer turned out to be an android working for the company behind the mission? Actor Ian Holm’s character admired the creature slaughtering crew members one by one. It was relentless, a pure life force that wouldn’t stop until it ravaged the ship.
The woke, Rubin writes in the book, offer a similarly aggressive approach. There’s a lesson to be gleaned from the comparison.
“You have to give the devil its due,” Rubin said. “They’ve done a lot, and it’s been a lot of bad. Until you acknowledge that, you can’t fight it properly.”
He also explained how they moved so far, so fast.
“They got in using liberalism against itself … screaming liberal slogans, but louder,” he said. The sober liberals saw this new, aggressive approach as sexier, more effective, at least at first.
“If you put tolerance above all else, you’ll start tolerating intolerance,” he said. “That’s what happened to the modern liberal party.”
RELATED: Richard Dreyfuss: Woke Will Kill America
Rubin applauded liberals like Glenn Greenwald who have stuck to their core principles as the Left moved into the woke camp, although in Greenwald’s case the Rubin Report host has a bone to pick.
“This is a guy who basically called me a racist all the time five years ago, and now he repeats all the things I’m saying,” Rubin said.
Rubin isn’t just a celebrated author and talk show host. He’s been working the stand-up circuit for years, which gives him a special insight into comedy’s woke problem.
Fellow comedians like Ricky Gervais, Bill Maher, Dave Chappelle and Joe Rogan “all sound like conservatives these days …they’re defending liberal principles,” he said.
Others, like Marc Maron and Stephen Colbert, either embrace Cancel Culture or deny it’s a problem for their community.
Which brings Rubin to Jon Stewart, who the author dubs the “most disappointing” of modern woke comics. Stewart’s new Apple TV+ show, “The Problem with Jon Stewart,” fully embraced identity politics in recent weeks.
“Jon Stewart knows he’s a middle aged , super rich white guy… He’s basically in a hostage situation with his own audience,” Rubin said. “His day is done. That’s fine. You were relevant for a while. It is what it is.”
Rubin applauds Maher’s recent attacks on the woke mindset but isn’t sold on how dedicated he is to eradicating the problem.
“Bill Maher is a little more sensible, but until he’s willing to vote the right way or stop calling all the Republicans racists then he’s not quite there, either,” he said.
Listen to the full interview here, and please pick up Rubin’s “Don’t Burn This Country.“
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