On the record · Updated October 1, 2026
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17 things Dave Smith said, verbatim, from July 10, 2026 to September 23, 2026, each linked to where it ran. Grouped by the story each one belongs to.
More on the record
In their own words
“one of you had your head wrapped around what was going on here. One of you are fucking out to lunch and delusional. You thought this regime was a month away from collapsing.”
on disagreement over predictions that Iran's regime was near collapse
In their own words
“But once again, we're just kind of back in the exact same pattern in the exact same trap”
on US policy toward Iran repeating past cycles of conflict
In their own words
“once again, we're just kind of back in the exact same pattern in the exact same trap”
on repeating past patterns after the US strikes on Iran
In their own words
“But one of the things that's almost kind of taken the air out of the room is that everyone just kind of knows this argument is over.”
on a broad consensus emerging against a US regime change war in Iran
Dave Smith Is there consensus against an Iran regime change war? ›
In their own words
“if this is the final phase, then what does that mean? Other than we're about to essentially admit that we lost the whole thing”
on whether a declared final phase of Iran sanctions amounts to admitting defeat
In their own words
“how many times can I say over and over again that this is going to destroy Trump's presidency and when you launch this war you tie your entire presidency to it and it's already unpopular and he's unpopular and it's going to get less popular and less popular as they fail and fail”
on the Iran war damaging Trump's popularity as president
In their own words
“But my God, at the end of this, all you can say is that everybody who's a skeptic of this has been completely proven right”
on skeptics of the Iran war being vindicated as it escalates
In their own words
“am I seriously here to bring you the news that yesterday Donald Trump threatened mass acts of terror against the Iranian people? And then Rob, you wouldn't believe it. He tacoed. And now he's promising that they're negotiations.”
on Trump threatening Iran then reversing course toward negotiations
In their own words
“everything that we've been arguing about has already been abandoned by the Hawks. Like, they're not even arguing on any of those things anymore”
on hawks abandoning previous arguments about the Iran conflict
In their own words
“"nobody escaped it unscathed completely. There's almost nobody you know whose life wasn't at least somewhat affected by COVID in some way."”
In their own words
“We're kind of watching getting up going the last few weeks going into these midterm elections, it is like a slow motion car crash.”
on Republicans' outlook heading into the midterm elections
In their own words
“I think that there's something incredibly dishonest about the democratic socialist movement and and that it's kind of an outgrowth of this very dishonest kind of liberal and leftist tactic that they've really employed uh over the last 20 years”
In their own words
“And a lot of reasonable people got some reasonable concerns about socialism. Why on earth are you branding yourself after the most failed thing that humans have ever invented, you know?”
on democratic socialist primary candidates using the socialist label
As printed
“My vote will likely go to who is the most electable in the fall.”
on a Wisconsin voter weighing electability in a left-leaning primary race
PBS News Hour - Politics Democratic socialist Francesca Hong tests how far left voters will go in battleground Wisconsin ›
As printed
“The platform, much of that resonates well,”
on a voter's reaction to Francesca Hong's campaign platform in Wisconsin
PBS News Hour - Politics Democratic socialist Francesca Hong tests how far left voters will go in battleground Wisconsin ›
As printed
“Having a leader whose word means absolutely nothing. There are costs associated with that.”
on diplomatic costs of a president's unreliable commitments
Dave Smith Dave Smith | M.O.U. is Over & Dinesh is Wrong | Part Of The Problem 1418 ›
In their own words
“This is like the biggest political assassination in America in me and your lifetimes. It is a thing that let's just say huge swats of the American people are not buying the official story on”
on doubts about the official account of Charlie Kirk's case
People, on the record
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