On Wednesday, April 17, 2019, Dave Rubin — a “classical liberal” and host of the Rubin Report — came to UN-O courtesy of Turning Point USA. He was the first major speaker for the newly-created chapter of TPUSA, and he drew a crowd of at least 100, who filled to capacity one lecture hall in Mammel Hall near Aksarben Village.
Rubin as been a pioneer of the “long-format conversation” podcast for a number of years now, so it was exciting to see him in person and engage in a face-to-face talk with students on campus. He talked for about an hour about his show and politics, and then he had an hour of Q&A from the audience. As with Ben Shapiro, those who “disagree” went to the front of the line. One who student asked what Rubin saw as the greatest “hope” and “set back” to the Republican Party, as well as his opinion on abortion — which was pro-choice with a good deal of hesitation. One audience member seemed unsatisfied with Rubin’s hesitation on the abortion issue, shouting “when does the baby get a choice.” I also had the chance to ask a question — Rubin had said the best “libertarian” movie was Ghostbusters, so I had the opportunity to “disagree” and recommend one of my favorite films to him, Brazil, instead.
The crowd was largely friendly, and most attendees stayed to meet and greet Rubin afterward (including me, of course), as well as get a group photo. Special kudos to Matt Anderson for pulling off his first major event for the TPUSA Omaha chapter.
