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Joe Rogan · 2024-06-27 · 3h 11m

Joe Rogan Experience #1936 - Krystal Ball & Saagar Enjeti

Rogan, Krystal Ball, and Saagar Enjeti dissect media corruption, the Ukraine war, crypto fraud, the masculinity crisis, the Fed, and political grift.

Joe Rogan Experience #1936 - Krystal Ball & Saagar Enjeti
The guest

Krystal Ball & Saagar Enjeti — Co-hosts of the independent political show Breaking Points; Krystal comes from the left, Saagar from the right, modeling cross-ideological debate.

The gist

Joe Rogan talks with Breaking Points co-hosts Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti about why independent media is displacing legacy outlets and how advertiser pressure and cable's bundle model shape what gets covered. They argue the Ukraine war lacks honest debate, warning about escalation toward nuclear conflict and the lack of any audit on the roughly $100 billion in aid. The conversation ranges across crypto and financial fraud (SBF, Adani, LuLaRoe), the crisis facing young men and grifters in the manosphere, and the Federal Reserve's opaque power. They close on hunting, wildlife, lost ancient civilizations, China's semiconductor dominance, congressional stock trading, and a post-pandemic cultural reset in how people relate to work.

Big reveals

  • Saagar: ~$100B US aid to Ukraine doubles what the rest of the world gave and exceeds all US military aid to South Vietnam from 1956 to 1975.
  • Joe: roughly 25% of their YouTube videos were demonetized, but the demonetization magically stopped once they signed the Spotify deal.
  • Krystal: Biden had a line endorsing a congressional stock-trading ban in his State of the Union that was pulled at the very last minute.
  • Krystal: Boris Johnson was reportedly dispatched to Kyiv early in the war to tell Zelensky the US did not want him to negotiate a deal.
  • Saagar: the Pentagon failed its congressionally mandated audit for the fifth time, only able to give a clean bill on 39% (~$7 trillion) of assets.
  • Saagar: a Chinese subsidiary stole a British semiconductor company's IP outright in what's called the 'Heist of the Century.'
  • Saagar: a Hindenburg report alleged Adani used shell companies to manipulate his stock, wiping ~$100B in value in about ten days.

Things worth remembering

  • Per Peter Zeihan, the first year of every Russian conflict is a disaster before the 'Russian Colossus' grinds out a win with sheer mass.
  • The word 'buck' for a dollar comes from a buckskin being worth a dollar; pioneers preferred black bear meat to venison for its fat.
  • Gigantopithecus, an enormous roughly 8-foot bipedal ape, lived alongside humans at least 100,000 years ago in Asia.
  • Homo floresiensis ('Hobbit man') lived on Flores; locals describe a similar small ape-like creature called the orang pendek.
  • El Jefe is the only known jaguar in the US, identified by his unique spots on trail cameras, traveling up from Mexico.
  • Nilgai evolved around tigers and are so tough they can sprint a full football field after a perfectly placed arrow through the vitals.
  • Core samples show massive impacts ~12,800 years ago, with ~30% of Earth showing iridium, nanodiamonds, and burn-carbon evidence.
  • TSMC in Taiwan makes 92% of the world's most advanced chips, and a single human hair in the fab can shut the whole thing down.
  • An NBER study suggests part of the 'labor shortage' is men cutting back hours, not people staying home on unemployment benefits.
  • Apple's stock fell the year it released the iPod but rose when it did large stock buybacks, illustrating financial engineering over innovation.

Recommended in this episode

Books, products and media the guest or host genuinely endorsed here — with the buy link.

Affiliate link — we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

RecommendedBook

Of Boys and Men

Richard Reeves (inferred)

“with the author Richard Reeves who's actually fantastic he wrote a great book on this” — Saagar Enjeti 00:47:44
Find it on Amazon
RecommendedBook

Means of Ascent

Robert Caro (inferred)

“one of my favorite books means of ascent which is about how LBJ straight up stole the 1948 senate election here in Texas” — Saagar Enjeti 01:13:54
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RecommendedBook

The Billionaire Raj

James Crabtree (inferred)

“It's a good book if anyone's interested called the billionaire Raj which is specifically about the rise of these new Indian oligarchs” — Saagar Enjeti 02:16:00
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RecommendedBook

Obama's Wars

Bob Woodward

“great book Bob Woodward Obama's Wars about the very first year of the Obama presidency he promised to run on the good War” — Saagar Enjeti 02:50:18
Find it on Amazon
RecommendedBook

After Steve

Tripp Mickle (inferred)

“There's a great book uh I forget exactly the name I think it's Apple life after Steve so after Steve Jobs died” — Saagar Enjeti 02:10:19
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RecommendedMedia

Icarus

Bryan Fogel (inferred)

“the greatest documentary about it is Icarus and it's not about tour to France but it's about bicycle racing and and doping” — Joe Rogan 00:55:42
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RecommendedMedia

The Dissident

Bryan Fogel (inferred)

“the same guy that did the dissident the M shogi documentary which is another amazing documentary” — Joe Rogan 00:56:14
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RecommendedMedia

The Last of Us

HBO (inferred)

“I've been watching Last of Us and was fantastic the last episode just broke me” — Saagar Enjeti 01:35:16
Find it on Amazon
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Tesla

Tesla

“I felt the same way whenever I got into a Tesla I'm like I'm not in a car I'm in a computer that drives” — Joe Rogan 02:11:21
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RecommendedProduct

Carbon (Carbon Diet Coach)

Layne Norton

“Dr Lane Norton who I use as app carbon like you know you realize after a couple weeks into a cut you're like oh this sucks” — Saagar Enjeti 01:00:57
Find it on Amazon