David Pakman
👤 PersonPodcast Appearances
This weekend, 7 million Americans marched in over 2,700 cities under one banner.
And the education system in red states is hemorrhaging talent.
Once again, we've been warning them, they ignored it, and now the problems are here.
Democratic norms.
We said when Trump refused to accept the 2020 election, when January 6th happened, when he discussed using justice against his political opponents, by that I mean the Department of Justice, we said this erodes democracy.
And there were some people who said, oh, you guys are always screaming about something.
You're overreacting.
And now we have a president talking openly about prosecuting enemies.
actually doing it with certain people, John Bolton and others, treating the rule of law as optional and using the Department of Justice under Pam Bondi to be his personal bully to get pack at people he thinks have wronged him.
We warned them and they ignored it.
And then we get to political violence.
When rhetoric becomes about enemies within,
and retribution, the way it's been increasingly under Trump for a decade, it creates a dangerous situation in the real world.
And now political violence is a major issue.
Threats against election workers are a new thing we've seen over the last couple of cycles.
Every election feels existential rather than a policy debate because the stakes have gotten so high.
And overwhelmingly, the political violence comes from the right.
We warned them and they ignored it.
Now, here is the worst, maybe the worst part of all of this.
It wasn't fringe.
They're still ignoring it.
There are some MAGAs questioning.
We've talked about it.
You're welcome to change your mind and come join us.
Now the first no Kings had 5 million people.
But big picture, they are still ignoring it.
Every failure becomes someone else's fault.
The tariffs cause rising costs.
They blame Biden.
It's Biden's fault, it's somebody else's fault.
Climate disasters.
Oh, they're either acts of God or nothing we need to worry about because it's cyclical and something, something I heard on a Manosphere podcast.
The healthcare crisis.
Let's blame Obamacare while dismantling it and causing the very problems we claim to be fixing.
This is what happens when denial runs a country.
Truth becomes negotiable.
Facts become a matter of opinion and power really becomes the only goal.
This one had 7 million people.
So we were not crying wolf.
We were describing the playbook as it unfolded.
A lot of that playbook is literally out of project 2025 and they've done about half of it already.
So we are beyond the warning phase.
We are beyond the prediction phase.
It's your grocery bill.
The movement is building.
It's here.
It's your insurance premium.
It's your kids' underfunded school.
It's your skepticism that the next election is actually going to be carried out freely and fairly.
So this is not really, and I told you so.
This is, we knew these things would happen, and a lot of people either didn't believe it or didn't care, and that's what we need to revisit here.
We are all paying the price for it.
Is it going to make a difference to MAGA or are they going to keep doing everything they can to just cash grab everything they can while they still have the power?
It wasn't violent.
There was even a sign spotted in the crowd with my name on it, also mentioning a lot of our fellow creators, Midas Touch and Harry Sisson, Luke Beasley and others.
I lean towards the latter.
Let me know what you think.
Caroline Leavitt has reached a new low of disgustingness.
And in a normal country, everyone would denounce this.
During an interview on Fox News, Donald Trump's press secretary, Caroline Leavitt, said the Democrat Party's main constituency is made up of Hamas terrorists, illegal aliens, and violent criminals.
Let's take a look.
So let's go through this.
This is gross, obviously.
Let's go through this sort of in order from micro to macro.
In a normal country, saying something like that would end your career, and it should.
In the United States, it gets you booked again next week.
The Fox producers really liked the fiery nature of what she said.
Let's have her back on next week.
America's tolerance for open bigotry when it comes from the right wing is really something to behold.
And this is a party that once claimed to be the party of family values and now they are cheering dehumanizing propaganda.
So it's not fringe.
They've mainstreamed it in their movement.
It's coming from Donald Trump's official spokesperson.
Now it's a calculated attempt.
to define Democrats, not as fellow citizens, but as enemies.
Those of you who understand the process of othering know exactly what the point is here.
And we know that this and the hundreds and thousands of other signs were effective because MAGA went crazy.
If Trump cracks down on dissent, it's more justified in the minds
of others if these are barely humans and definitely our enemies.
And for a Fox News gives people like Caroline Leavitt a platform to inject this into mainstream right wing discourse, knowing that it moves the Overton window of how it's okay to talk about our political adversaries towards the direction of hate.
The party whose leader tried to overthrow the government is now calling Democrats terrorists.
The people who chanted lock her up and storm the Capitol are saying there's violent criminals out there somewhere in the Democratic Party.
It's projection on steroids.
And this now gets us more broadly to how authoritarians use this type of language strategically, whether they realize it or not.
labeling entire groups of Americans as terrorists and criminals.
Of course it's ugly and of course it's untrue, but it is conditioning the public to see political opponents as enemies of the state.
If the Democrats aren't
crazy to slam the protest beforehand saying, no one's going to go.
people like us, they're made up of terrorists, illegal aliens, and violent criminals.
We don't really need to worry about whether they're allowed to vote because at the end of the day, they shouldn't be allowed to vote if they are that which Caroline Levitt says they are.
We don't need to worry about whether they are treated humanely in that situation.
It was massive, peaceful and impossible to ignore, which is exactly why Maga tried to discredit it before it happened.
We don't need to worry about whether they are afforded due process because they're barely human.
This is a classic authoritarian idea from some of the ugliest, ugliest spots of 20th century authoritarianism.
Uh, the Nazis labeled political opponents, especially communists and social Democrats and labor union people.
They labeled them terrorists and traders.
after the Reichstag fire of 1933.
Franco portrayed Republicans, different doesn't mean like an American, we're not talking about Lindsey Graham here, the Republicans of the Franco era in Spain, they were labeled, the Republicans as well as socialists and anyone on the left was labeled violent and a godless enemy of Spain.
These are going to be destructive.
And then with that, you can justify doing horrible things to them.
They're going to leave everything destroyed.
Stalin's regime,
branded anyone critical of the government as the enemy of the people, which should sound very familiar to you equating descent with terrorism, which is what they're trying to do right now with the no Kings protest.
So we have seen this playbook many times and unfortunately it is an ugly, ugly playbook that we need to be prepared for and we need to know how to rebut.
It'll be the hardcore extreme left.
Once again, serious questions are coming up about Donald Trump's health in a moment that I don't ever recall happening before.
Donald Trump slurring badly during an oval office propaganda event opted to sit down
And none of that happened.
Now, Trump sitting in the Oval Office during an event isn't that notable.
Sometimes he sits.
To be frank, Trump slurring badly while speaking, also not unusual.
Sadly, it's common.
Trump often slurring his way through public speaking.
But Donald Trump slurring
The protests were perfectly peaceful.
looking swollen and unwell, right eye almost completely swollen shut, and saying, I think I will sit down looking exhausted, sounding exhausted.
This is a new level.
Let's take a look.
The reaction from Trump and others after the fact confirms that they are running scared.
This is not high energy, okay?
This is sleepy.
This is not vigor.
It is very noticeable weakness.
And this is not the first time that Donald Trump has looked barely able to stand.
Just one example, thinking back to the 2024 campaign, we covered this at the time.
Donald Trump hunched over the lectern at a rally in Wisconsin, also slurring.
Now you might say, David, what would they be scared of?
So listen, Trump is almost 80.
Trump's the oldest person ever to be sworn in as president.
It is not really newsworthy that an obese 79 year old gets tired and has to sit down.
That's really not that notable other than the fact that they pretend it's not happening.
The story is the hypocrisy.
and the degree to which every allegation ends up being a confession.
Sleepy Joe, Joe Biden is tired.
Trump is visibly exhausted and regularly falls asleep in public events.
They control everything.
Joe Biden speaks and doesn't make any sense.
That was true.
Biden was a terrible communicator.
But Donald Trump regularly drops word salad so impenetrable that we don't know what he's talking about.
Trump is in power.
The accusations end up being confessions.
And so that's double standard number one.
And then you get to double standard number two, which is the media coverage of it.
He has no more races to run.
I said Biden should not run for reelection.
After the June 27th debate, I said, this is now so bad that he's going to have to get out.
I acknowledged even in 2020, Biden's debate performance was a mere shadow of 2012 against Paul Ryan.
But now that Trump looks as bad or I would argue worse than Biden,
right wing media is silent.
Like pulling teeth.
Jake Tapper last week finally addressed a little bit of Trump symptoms in the context of his recent medical exam.
Well, they are scared of losing all ability to do anything if they lose the House in 2026.
But the same right wing media outlets that were breathlessly doing Hillary Clinton Parkinson's in 2016 Biden's dementia in 2020 through 2024, they are silent about Donald Trump.
And it leads you to ask,
Do they even really care about the health of the president, whoever is president, or do they only care about attacking Democrats and defending Republicans?
I think I know the answer.
Let me know what you think in a comment.
Make sure you've liked the video.
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It's always a good time
Trump understands that at this point, it is all about legacy.
to sit down with my family, show them what I found.
For example, the other day I found a scan of an immigration document from when my mother's uncle's aunt arrived at Ellis Island or this document from the US Canada border for my relative who was born in 1895.
This is remarkable stuff.
and David Pakman dot com slash my heritage.
How will he be remembered?
The link is in the description.
Is Donald Trump's America becoming a failed state?
And if you get nothing done during the last two years of your presidency, it hits your legacy, which is something that terrifies him.
I don't say this lightly.
I know that the question is provocative, but we need to talk about what's happening in this country right now.
When you step back and look at the data and you look at what's going on in communities across the country, it is starting to look less and less like what a wealthy developed nation looks like and more like what international observers call a failed state.
So let's start with what we can actually see.
You walk around through American cities
And you see these tent cities, these encampments like refugee camps stretching for blocks.
People who are economic refugees in their own country go to the Rust Belt, abandoned factories, entire towns where the major employer left and
Now you've got dollar generals and opioid addiction.
I was recently in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
It was grim.
In Flint, Michigan, Newark, Jackson, Mississippi, you've got tap water that is of questionable safety for human consumption.
Water mains from the 1800s are still in use and bridges are held together seemingly more by hope than structure.
The American Society of Civil Engineers gave our infrastructure a C-minus.
Not a college essay, right?
This is whether the bridge you drive over is going to collapse.
They're also scared, by the way,
And Trump's response, remember infrastructure week, which became just a running joke.
So now it's 2025.
Nothing's really changed except more things are falling apart.
You've got Americans rationing insulin.
I mentioned GoFundMe is for cancer treatments, people dying because they can't afford an ambulance ride in some cases.
So they take an Uber to the hospital and Trump's healthcare plan.
After all this, it's still two weeks away.
It's still really just a concept of a plan.
that if the protests grow and the next one is 8 million people and the next one is 10 million people, that the protests will have the power to shut down the economic and sociocultural centers of this country systems off of which they are making their money.
And meanwhile, life expectancy in the United States is declining.
We're going backwards.
Other developed nations don't have declining life expectancy.
It's us and countries in active civil wars.
Those are our colleagues in that area.
Teachers who can't afford rent, schools that can't find teachers at all in rural America.
We're banning books like it's 1984, sometimes including the book 1984.
And the solution from Trump and his allies is let's get rid of the Department of Education entirely.
You know what?
Other countries don't have functional education systems, failed States, but here is really
what I think defines a failed state.
The social fabric is ripping apart.
We can no longer agree on basic reality.
We can't agree on whether an election happened the way it happened or whether vaccines work, whether January 6th was a tourist visit or an insurrection.
And we've got malicious stockpiling weapons because they think the collapse is coming.
And maybe they're right.
Because we've got billionaires launching themselves into space for fun while children in Appalachia don't even have clean drinking water.
So the wealth gap rivals the Gilded Age, not a functioning society, an oligarchy with a democratic veneer.
Now, meanwhile, Republicans are focused on whether drag Queens read books, uh, to kids or whether M and M's are sufficiently arousing to Tucker Carlson.
He's not finding them attractive lately.
Democrats sometimes are busy.
So finding, uh, so, so busy finding common ground.
that they won't even really call out what's happening.
And a lot of people just don't want to say it.
Nobody wants to be the one to point out.
We may be going in the direction of a failed state, probably to a degree because they're worried that whoever pointed out it's going to be an, if you smelt it, dealt it situation.
If you're the one who points it out, you'll get blamed.
Now, I don't enjoy being the bearer of bad news.
I would love to tell you everything's fine.
America's great.
We're number one.
I know most people in my audience know that that's not the case.
We are not number one in things that are good anymore.
We're number one in incarceration, yes.
We're number one in healthcare costs.
We're number one in military spending.
But our own citizens are disproportionately suffering.
Infrastructure is crumbling.
Schools are failing.
Healthcare is a disaster.
And the social fabric is completely torn.
The people in charge are either unable or unwilling to fix any of it.
So this is not about being pessimistic.
Seven million people turning out for no kings is awesome, and it's something to be optimistic about.
This is not Trump derangement syndrome.
This is actually bigger than Trump.
Trump's a symptom of this, but not the cause of it.
It should also not be understated that the damage to Donald Trump's ego here is massive because at his core, Donald Trump wants to be liked.
We are looking around and describing what we see.
And the question is, are we going to do anything about it, or are we going to keep pretending everything's fine until it collapses, or are we going to pretend there is nothing that we can do about it?
If we pretend there is nothing we can do about it, then we almost certainly aren't going to fix it.
No kings and seven million people is a great start, but we have to be asking the question, are we going in the direction of a failed state?
There is a very dangerous maga lady that almost no one knows about and almost nobody is talking about.
I want to make an effort to shine a light in areas where there is darkness and there should be light.
And one of those areas is a very innocuous and innocent seeming woman who is extremely dangerous in our country right now.
People like Stephen Miller, J.D.
Vance, Caroline Levitt, Trump himself, they get a lot of media attention and they deserve it.
But there are also people under the radar who are doing and trying to do horrible things.
One of those people is Catherine Boyle.
Boyle is a general partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.
She launched something called the American Dynamism Fund with $600 million.
Sounds good, right?
I mean, dynamism, being dynamic, that's good.
Who could be against that?
Well, look beneath the hood.
at what that is.
They are looking at companies doing defense, energy, education, manufacturing.
All right, well, that's not definitely bad, right?
I mean, the devil is in the details.
And it turns out that Catherine Boyle is sort of a 21st century Phyllis Schlafly, the deceased social conservative stalwart who, by the way, was once on this show.
Do they like me?
You can check out my interview with Phyllis Schlafly when she was still alive.
Did they give me good marks?
Boyle is a good friend of Vice President J.D.
Vance.
And she has essentially become what the New York Times calls a conduit to the Trump administration for Silicon Valley and the tech world.
Trump allies said no one would show up and it would be chaos.
Much of the horrible connection that we're seeing between Trump and Silicon Valley is thanks to Catherine Boyle.
That concept of patriotic investing, which we're hearing so much about, which by the way, is basically a form of government interference in the free market, which they told us they were against.
He wants to be seen as attractive and athletic.
That patriotic investing concept comes from Boyle herself in a speech to the conservative American enterprise Institute last year, she said, we are living in an age of mimetic power and mimetic war.
and we will be it.
She put out on X a really nasty excretion after the death of Charlie Kirk, where she said, quote, we're entering an era of the martyr.
Martyrs for Christ, martyrs for country, martyrs for the truth.
Little children slaughtered while praying in mass, a young father assassinated while debating on a college campus.
That ship has sailed.
I keep coming back to what Chesterton said about courage.
Courage is almost a contradiction in terms.
Okay.
It means a strong desire to live, taking the form of a willingness to die.
Those are the stakes.
Now these monsters think they're quieting the good, but they're doing the opposite.
He wants to be seen as physically strong.
They're creating warriors and they will reap
the world whirlwind, dark dystopian.
And this is someone who has more and more power right now.
She's endorsed Trump's military strikes on drug cartels saying, destroy them all.
And the connections here run really deep.
Remember Barry Weiss who launched the free press now purchased by paramount.
She's been made the CBS news chief.
Okay.
That ship has also sailed and powerful and liked.
You know who's on the board of the free press?
Catherine Boyle.
Boyle is this new kind of influence peddler for the right wing, pushing some of the most reactionary and dangerous stuff out there.
These folks want to be under the radar.
You know, it's critical to understand Trump wants attention.
He loves the spotlight.
There are smarter people, more competent people involved in MAGA who are not in the spotlight.
They want to be under the radar.
Boyle is one of them.
And when you dig deeper, who does Boyle credit for helping her career?
It happens to be Peter Thiel, the Silicon Valley billionaire, friend of JD Vance's, who if Vance becomes the heir to the MAGA throne,
Well, the power is in question as global allies are more and more skeptical of Donald Trump.
will have a huge influence.
We've got to keep an eye on this, this movement and Boyle herself.
And I'll be telling you about others who are equally dangerous.
You've probably heard me mention AG1 before.
It's part of my morning routine, just gives my nutrition a daily boost.
The team behind AG1 has now created a nighttime option.
It's called AGZ.
It's just a drink designed to help you unwind before bed and get better rest on the nights that you need it.
AGZ is not habit forming.
It's a blend of herbs, adaptogens and minerals.
No melatonin.
Each serving provides two hundred and fifty milligrams of highly bioavailable magnesium.
That's over half of your daily value, along with other carefully selected ingredients.
The idea here is support relaxation, improve sleep quality.
And as far as people liking him, that is the hit to Trump's ego from these protests.
Very simple concept, just like AG one.
helps you.
Donald Trump exploded in an authoritarian dictatorial mess on air force one.
Here's the theme, which we're going to look at.
What I say goes screw what anyone else wants.
Forget what anybody else says.
Forget about the law.
Forget about norms.
What I say goes because I'm a big boy and I'm in charge now and it sounds so pathetically, uh, childish.
and counter to everything that this country is built on.
7 million people dislike Trump so much that they went out of their way to protest him all at the same time.
But unless someone stops him, he's going to get away with it.
Listen to this.
Donald Trump was asked about terminating the Hudson river tunnel project in New York city.
Is the funding terminated?
Trump goes, it's up to me.
Take a look.
And instead it was organized, united, and growing.
Sounds like he thinks that he is a king.
and that everything is up to him.
And it's really a reminder that the No Kings protests were really on the nose.
Seven million people protested to try to make the point that it is not all up to him, but he insists that it is.
Another example.
Trump asked, did you tell president Zelensky he needs to give the Donbass region to Russia?
And Trump sort of denies it, but then says, actually, I do think Russia should be allowed to keep everything that it has already taken.
And by the way, in other countries as well.
What?
Trump gets to decide he's in charge of everything as far as he's concerned.
So the question really becomes what comes next.
Is the goal three months from now to do another one of these and get 10 or maybe that important 3.5% of the population, which would be about 12 million people in the United States, to come out?
There is Trump.
What he wants is Russia keeps what Russia has taken.
Another handout to Vladimir Putin and another area in which Trump believes he gets to decide what Ukraine ultimately gives up to Russia.
By the way, in a conflict that he said he was going to solve within 24 hours of becoming president-elect, within 24 hours of being sworn in, within 90 days of being sworn in,
And all of that has come and gone.
But his new idea is just let Russia have a whole bunch of the stuff that they've taken.
Trump brings up the issue of beef and Argentina, my birth country.
Now of course it is a complete and total lie that beef is the only thing that's up.
We know that electricity is up, groceries are up, a lot of consumer products are up.
There's a whole bunch of things that are more expensive now than they were when Donald Trump took power.
But Trump wants it his way and we, we continue with this Argentina beef thing.
Trump is asked, you know, you've got farmers that are suffering already.
And they're worried you've now made a deal with Argentina that's going to be better for their farmers than American farmers.
Listen to what Donald Trump had to say.
Maybe it is.
You can't do too many of these too closely because then people get fatigued, they get desensitized.
young lady, how patronizing.
Now listen, I'm from Argentina.
Okay.
I hate what has happened to Argentina over the last 40 years.
It's been corrupt leader after corrupt leader, some on the left, some on the right.
It's been a complete and total disaster.
It is terrible.
But also I have to acknowledge Trump is the president of the United States.
What about American farmers?
on the, on the one hand, I don't believe for a second that giving Argentina 20 billion or 40 billion, there's now conflicting reports as to exactly how much it's going to be.
I don't believe giving Argentina 20 billion or 40 billion is going to solve the problems of Argentina.
I want those problems solved.
I care deeply about them.
I don't think that's going to solve the problem.
I also don't think how we had me lay as president is going to be the guy in power.
They really do have to be major events.
Much like I've said, I don't think we get sustainable Israeli Palestinian peace when Netanyahu is the prime minister.
I don't think we resolve Argentina's economic problems when me lay is the president.
Okay.
But put that aside for a second.
Trump's been a disaster for American farmers.
I don't know what comes next, but I'm going to be on a call.
Farmers during Trump's first term had to be bailed out because Trump's policy was such a disaster for farmers and we're headed in exactly the same direction the second term.
And we've heard now from dozens of farmers who say it's not that it's a bad crop year
It's that the market access and the tariffs and the way that this president is doing things is a disaster for us, but it's Trump's way or the highway.
Trump was also asked about no Kings and Trump said a whole bunch of different things.
It's a post-No Kings call for organizers, activists, and independent media this week.
with the organizers of No Kings to figure out what exactly comes next.
It was not a small group.
It was a record setting 7 million people, 2 million more than last time who disliked Trump so much that they said, I'm going to go out on a Saturday and protest this guy.
The size alone was enough to rattle the right.
There is no evidence that George Soros paid for anything.
It has nothing to do with Antifa.
This is a guy who is terrified.
He is terrified that people who don't like him are activating, coalescing and organizing.
Finally, Trump, again, clueless about what's going on, asked, what do you think about Israel's recent strikes?
Trump goes, huh?
Where?
Let me get back to you on that.
It's all under consideration and it's all under review, Trump says.
And then as soon as I have information about that, certainly I will tell you.
He has no idea what's going on.
I love the concept of things being under review at the White House.
It sounds like a real process where people are experts, they're meeting, they're looking at data.
Under review in this White House means Stephen Miller is taking a break from eating paint chips and wondering if Elon Musk is stealing his wife from him to come up for air
and make some harebrained declaration about what just happened under review is pathetic.
So listen, Biden never had this stuff for all of Joe Biden's faults.
It didn't happen that he would be asked about something and go, I have no idea about that.
Going to have to talk to my staff.
We'll put out a statement later.
At least Biden was getting briefed regularly and knew what was going on.
But Trump's just concerned with me, me, me.
And he's realizing people don't like him.
Now I want to say once again, this is a message I sent to Trump supporters over the weekend and I think it's worth sending again.
Donald Trump
did an interview with Maria Bartiromo.
This was supposed to be a softball interview, but as Donald Trump slowly realizes people don't like him, he starts to get increasingly desperate and increasingly unhinged, including claiming that everybody wants his federal goons in San Francisco.
Something that is not true.
Take a look.
So few people like Trump.
that he has to make people up.
And he's making up Californians who are desperate for him to send his troops.
And the other one is he's made up now a bunch of times these beautiful black women in Chicago who are just thrilled that Trump's sending his federal goons there.
There are, we know there are many Trump supporters that are questioning continuing to support this regime and for some of them this weekend they looked around and they saw in their communities in blue States, but also in red States in the traditional liberal cities,
We still don't know if they exist, but it doesn't stop Trump from telling the story.
They're MAGA all over the place.
But the Trump has now told that story six, seven, 10 times.
It's not clear if those women exist.
If they do exist, it's not clear that they are actually from Chicago.
If they are from Chicago, it doesn't even really matter because most Chicago wins, including the mayor.
And by the way, also Illinois governor JB Pritzker, none of them want Trump's goons there.
Trump now says he secured $20 trillion in investments in America.
Three days earlier, it was $18 trillion.
Trump, over the weekend, found $2 trillion.
What really broke Trump was the message, we don't like you.
Now, the entire US GDP
is 30 trillion.
The idea that Trump has found five or seven or 18 or $20 trillion is laughable.
And of course, as I've told you before, what Donald Trump came back from the middle East with was theoretical commitments over a decade for the right projects from middle East countries.
So I don't remember the exact numbers, but like UAE said, we'd be in for 600 billion
over 10 years.
If you have projects that are suitable for us, that's not, I just brought home trillions of dollars.
He keeps telling it.
Another thing that he keeps happening to Trump is he seems to forget what year it is.
He seems to forget when he was president.
And he says that he was briefed by James Comey in 2015.
Take a look at this.
but also in other cities that aren't usually or as commonly associated as being the left-wing cities.
Remember when Biden got a date wrong and right wing media went crazy for a week.
Trump says he got a briefing from James Comey in 2015.
He wasn't even the Republican nominee at the time.
He was elected in 2016, sworn in in 2017, maybe he started getting some briefings at the end of 2016, but he has no idea when it is once again.
Finally, Donald Trump, geographically disoriented, says you could walk from Qatar to Iran.
They saw people who dislike Trump organize together and get out there in a positive, peaceful, nonviolent way, friendly to each other, helping each other, giving each other water.
There's a little problem with this.
Qatar and Iran are separated by a large body of water.
Check the map.
Don't take my word for it.
I guess what Trump means is you could walk from one to the other
by walking through a number of other countries or crossing a large body of water, maybe on the, you would take a boat, but you would be able to walk around on the boat while it goes from Qatar to Iran.
Trump could not find these countries on a map.
This is an increasingly desperate, feeble Trump.
And I wanna say it again, if you are starting to question, you're welcome here.
We encourage people to revise their beliefs, change their mind and say, I was wrong.
You're welcome here anytime.
Now we've got a phenomenal bonus show for you today.
Donald Trump has commuted the sentence
a former Congressman George Santos.
We will also talk about Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson upping the ante and calling for a general strike, a technique and tool I have been talking about for a very long time.
All of those stories and more on today's bonus show.
Get instant access by signing up at join pacman.com.
We'll see you on the bonus show.
I'll be back with a brand new show tomorrow.
And so I know that there are some MAGAs, because some of them have posted to Twitter about it, and some of them have written to me, who are questioning.
They are getting into the questioning phase as to this cult that they are a part of.
We should not shame them.
We should welcome them.
If you encounter any of these folks, if you see them on Twitter, if you see them on other social media or in the real world, we should praise people who are able to say, hey, I'm reconsidering.
His ego runs on adoration, and this was a national, in-person rejection.
I'm trying to think for myself and evaluate the facts to make a decision.
Always be welcoming of them.
We know from cult psychology, shaming people who are thinking of leaving the cult
often pushes them right back into it where it's comfortable and seemingly safe, although it's often not actually safe.
It feels like it's safe and it pushes them back in.
So we gotta make sure when people start questioning, we say, come on over.
We understand you made a mistake.
We're here for you.
Okay, one other thing.
The other sign that Donald Trump really didn't like these protests is that he started posting shit memes all over truth social.
How did he respond?
What am I talking about?
I must be kidding, right?
Wrong.
And we've got to talk about this next.
If I told you that Donald Trump bombed a friend of mine with feces, poop excrement, you would think I was crazy.
By posting unhinged AI videos of himself bombing my friend Harry Sisson with feces, I'm not kidding, and crowning himself the king.
You would tell me, no, David, this simply cannot be.
But that is exactly what Donald Trump posted after the no Kings protests.
Trump and Maga are running so scared, so terrified that Trump resorted among other things.
to posting AI videos of planes bombing my friend Harry Sisson with feces.
Harry was of course out at one of the rallies.
I did not find a single mention of this on any of the Sunday shows.
The president of the United States posted a video bombing left-wing creators with feces and it was not mentioned on any of the major
Sunday political shows.
Is there any other head of state that would post a video of himself dumping shit on his country and the media would sort of shrug?
I don't think so.
This is not the only outrageous video that Donald Trump posted in his swollen orange state after these ego busting 7 million people went out and protested him in the streets.
Here is another one he posted in which he is being crowned the king, so seemingly a direct
response to no Kings protests.
Here's a video of me triggered being crowned the King with a literal crown.
And then he went into his authoritarian wet dream of presidencies forever.
It's the whole Trump 2028 Trump 2032 authority authoritarian stuff that we've seen before.
It was a meltdown.
Take a look.
You know what this is really about?
We are going to break it all down, including the scale and the impact of the protests, what happens next.
Trump's rattled.
MAGA is rattled.
They're terrified because you showed up on Saturday.
It was a pro democracy movement.
It was not, you know, one of the concerns that, that some on the left had was, is this going to be hijacked by any particular sliver on the left?
at the exclusion of the broader left?
And the answer is it really wasn't.
It was welcoming whatever people's pet issues were.
There were people there whose their, their big thing is climate.
There were people there whose big thing is reproductive rights.
There were people there whose big thing is Gaza.
The banner is no Kings and it has shaken Trump and Maga to their core.
Fox News calling Democrats terrorists, and also the quiet rise of MAGA power broker Catherine Boyle, I believe one of the most dangerous MAGAs you've probably never heard of.
They were all there united against Trump and Trump hates this and he is rattled.
And there's one other thing I think that's important to mention here.
when any leader, but particularly an authoritarian leader, starts posting fantasies of dictatorial rule.
And not only does corporate media kind of look away and shrug, but his own party is just like, I don't know, this seems fine.
They are now complicit.
And so we need to do two things at once.
if you're in the cult and you're thinking of leaving, you're welcome here.
We encourage critical thinking.
We encourage revising your beliefs.
Come on in.
I would love to see you once you're ready to leave the cult.
And at the same time, the Republican party itself is now complicit.
They've been complicit for a long time, but now it's completely undeniable.
The institutional decay
is visible in that his own party refuses to be a check on his power.
Were you out at the protests?
I want to hear from you.
Info at David Pakman.com.
Send me an email, send pictures of you at the rallies.
We're going to take a break and continue right after this.
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that the United States is sliding into failed state territory.
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This moment is really not about left versus right.
Alright listen, they were warned about almost everything and they ignored it.
For years we have been saying, if you keep electing people who treat government like a reality show, this is where it leads and we are now here.
Now, I'm not just talking about Donald Trump's fecal dump AI videos that he posted in a tizzy after 7 million people came out to protest him on the second No Kings, but that is certainly part of it.
But we warned them about climate change.
Scientists said, deregulate, drill, ignore renewables.
This is about pushing back before power becomes permanent authoritarian power.
You're going to see catastrophic consequences.
Trump said it's a hoax.
He pulled out of the Paris Agreement, rolled back protections, and now we're seeing
Heat waves, intense hurricanes, wildfires burning for months.
Insurance companies are pulling out of Florida, some out of California, because the math just doesn't work when you rebuild the same areas over and over again.
They were warned and they ignored it.
We warned them about the economy as well.
You can't just go around giving permanent tax cuts to the wealthy, imposing massive tariffs, deporting huge portions of the workforce without consequences.
The economists knew it.
They said, oh, this is going to disrupt supply chains.
This is going to drive up costs.
Trump said, no, the tariffs are paid by China.
And it's going to go so well, we're going to win.
Well, the prices are going up.
Farms can't find workers.
Construction projects are stalled.
The wealth gap is wider than the Gilded Age.
They were warned and they ignored it.
Now we warned them about healthcare.
When Trump tried to repeal the affordable care act without a replacement back in 2017, we found that this was going to lead to 20 to 30 million people losing care.
The people sent a message, this country does not belong to kings, and that's where we will start.
When stead, uh, red States rejected the Medicaid expansion, we said people are going to suffer.
They said you're fear mongering and now we've got rural hospitals closing at record rates
medical debt as a leading reason for cause of bankruptcy, and potentially even more people losing health insurance.
And remember, it ends up with people going to the ER for primary care.
We all still end up paying for it.
People are rationing insulin, doing GoFundMes for cancer treatments in one of the richest countries in the world.
Can you think of a bigger moral failing in addition to kids going to bed hungry?
Well, listen, we didn't get 12 million.
Absolutely unacceptable.
Can you think of a bigger failing than a country as rich as the United States having GoFundMe campaigns for people's cancer treatment?
We warned them and they ignored it.
We warned them about education.
You can't demonize teachers, defund public schools, ban books, inject culture war politics into classrooms and expect it to go well.
We didn't see the 3.5% of the US population protest on Saturday at the second no Kings protests, but 7 million people did show up at more than 2700 protests across the country.
And we've got teacher shortages plaguing states where educators can't even afford rent.
Students are falling behind.
Schools in Florida want to teach that slavery had some beneficial aspects.
Hey, everybody, David here.
What you're about to hear is an episode of the bonus show.
And I think that that's sort of like one of the most interesting practical things here, which is it's really common that these conversations, it's sort of like the horse is out of the barn.
They're going to lay off workers.
And then we kind of slow down and we say, wait a second, why would you be allowed to do things when government is closed that you're not allowed to do when government is open?
It's not like the rule of law goes away.
It's not martial law or a police state.
just because government is nominally closed.
And then you realize, wait a second, if anything, you probably can do fewer things when government is closed by virtue of the fact that government is closed.
This judge happens to agree it's going to be appealed.
We'll see where it goes.
But at least this decision seems to be, based on everything we were told by legal experts, the right decision.
If you'd like to get access to all of the bonus shows, simply sign up at join Pacman dot com.
Completely just unbelievably stressful.
The incompetence is is stunning.
And now the question is, is this all going to are we going to see the law abided by?
That's really the question.
The other thing, by the way, that's happening in the meantime is I guess they're kind of having recruiting problems in ICE.
Here is that bonus show episode.
Who can imagine why?
And there are reports that white nationalist and extremist memes and images are being used as part of the recruitment effort.
And like the funny thing about that is we might say that's so stupid, they're so dumb.
But if that works to convince people to apply to ICE, it actually is terrifying in what it would signify.
Welcome to the bonus show.
No.
And if you zoom out and you kind of take this to its logical conclusion, imagine a department recruited by teasing them with white nationalist memes to go and round up workers at a Home Depot and deport them.
As we know, Republicans and Trump have had this plan of firing, laying off and firing on a permanent basis federal government workers during the shutdown.
I mean, it's it's just like a dark, disgusting state of existence.
Yeah, I would hope so.
And we are going to see ultimately what happens with the layoffs.
I know people personally affected by this who, as I mentioned last time, are either some were not working and not getting paid.
One was not getting paid, but told that he has to work anyway until a supervisor stepped in and said, do not log in, do not do any work.
I mean, it's just it's it's crazy.
And I see the level of stress that that it causes for people, understandably so.
That's exactly right.
All right.
Capitol Police have been called to investigate a swastika in a Republican congressional office.
Now, I encourage people to find the image of this.
This is related to Congressman Dave Taylor.
There is a flag which is sort of it looks like it's on like almost like a cubicle divider type thing where you can pin things up.
And it's an American flag, except in the middle, the yellow of the yellow, the red bars of the American flag are shaped into a swastika.
We knew when we set up front.
Now, one of the things if I look closely, I don't think this matters, Pat, necessarily for the story.
But I just want to, like, give my my opinion.
To me, this looks like something that was modified by hand in the sense that it looks like something white has been placed over red stripes to interrupt it, almost like a little piece of white paper.
There really isn't any additional power that Donald Trump has to do that during a shutdown.
And then.
So some of the white area has been filled in with red.
And the reason I say that is the thickness.
If we look at this swastika that was created, if you look at some of the red lines, they are thinner.
So it looks like this was something that was modified by an individual, not an item that was purchased as is.
I don't really think it matters, Pat, at the end of the day.
We do a bonus show every day for our members and for a limited time.
And there is an investigation taking place here.
But you see what I'm saying about the flag?
But that doesn't mean that he won't try.
And we now have a federal judge who has said I can't do it against the law and has effectively halted the layoffs of forty one hundred federal workers.
So that is kind of what Taylor is saying.
He said in a statement, he's aware of the image.
It's violent, deeply inappropriate.
The content doesn't reflect the values or standards of his office, and he condemns it.
He says he has directed an investigation and he says until the investigation is done, there won't be any further comment.
So, I mean, listen, he says it's foul play or vandalism.
I'll be honest, I believe that he didn't deliberately put up a swastika flag in his office like like I do think that it would be aside from whether he believes it, which I take him at his word that he doesn't believe that the swastika is a positive symbol that he does condemn it.
It would be a really stupid thing to do because you would think inevitably it's going to become a problem.
So I actually do think it's likely that this was some kind of prank or something.
But I am fine reserving judgment until we get some kind of conclusion here.
Just as a note of trivia, the district that is represented by Taylor, which is the second congressional district in Ohio, has not had a Democratic representative since the term that ended in 1983.
Now, of course, MAGA is doing the expected, saying this is a liberal San Francisco judge
This is a deep, deep red part of the country.
But I mentioned that only as a curiosity.
I am not implying
that, of course, whoever represents such a district would approve of a swastika.
We really don't have evidence of that.
Right.
I mean, that's that's crazy.
The individual.
I mean, listen, it might be an explanation, but I still think you've got to fire the person who did it if that's the explanation.
And she's a woman, if you can believe it, Pat.
All right.
The United States has revoked visas for six foreigners over comments made about Charlie Kirk's death.
The State Department said that these revocations are because the US has no obligation to host foreigners who wish death on Americans.
It's said that the home countries of the people with the revoked visas are South Africa, Mexico, Brazil, Germany, Paraguay and my birth country of Argentina.
But what we really care about is the substance and the law.
Oh, no.
Apparently, an Argentinian accused Charlie Kirk of spreading racist, xenophobic and misogynistic rhetoric.
which, by the way, is not really saying that he deserved to die.
You're just characterizing the rhetoric that he spread, which is a little bit dangerous to say that that's going to be worthy of a visa revocation.
So here's my view on this.
OK.
As a personal opinion.
Now, the judge is an appointee of former President Bill Clinton.
I don't believe that these are good reasons for a country to revoke visas.
In fact, to me, they scream of weakness.
How strong are you if people just saying this makes the government go and take action?
To me, it only shows that they are weak rather than strong, even though they want to portray strength by doing this at the same time.
I recognize that when you're here on a visa, you are here in a sense at the pleasure of the government.
And while I am against this in principle, I recognize that I don't think there's really a legal issue here.
I think the government is well within its rights to say we don't like what this this this person said and we are revoking the visa.
She says that she sees evidence suggesting the administration has taken advantage of a lapse in government spending and functioning.
Like, I don't think there's a legal issue here.
We will release one of the week's bonus shows on Saturdays exclusively for our audio podcast listeners.
Listen, they are not really for free speech.
They are extreme snowflakes.
And these are pathetic reasons to revoke visas.
And I think they have every right to do it, unfortunately.
And I don't even know about unfortunately.
to assume that all bets are off and the laws don't apply to them, but that politically motivated layoffs are illegal no matter whether the government is functioning or not.
I mean, unfortunately, in a casual sense, I'm not saying even the law should be different.
Like any country has the right to do this.
And sometimes they do.
And I don't know that that really should be changed.
I just think we shouldn't vote for people that are going to apply it in such a snowflake triggered way.
All right.
Let us know your thoughts.
Should it be against the law to revoke visas in this situation?
I think it's a it's a difficult legal case to make because countries want discretion when it comes to foreign nationals to say, hey, you're not welcome here anymore.
I just think it's pathetic to to apply it in this way.
Let me know what you think.
Let me know if you are going to the no kings protests on Saturday.
We've been hearing from a bunch of people who are and I'll be back tomorrow with a new bonus show and a new show.
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I think she's essentially playing a character here.
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But regardless, she tries to defend the indefensible when Sonny Hostin and others on The View confront her.
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Joe Rogan's turn against Donald Trump's deportation fiasco is getting more severe and more pronounced.
Here's a little bit of how that went.
And I'm of two minds about it.
On the one hand, I think it's great.
I think it's great for Rogan to say this is not good.
Rogan speaks to a very important piece of the electorate.
which is, among others, young men who voted Republican in twenty twenty four in greater percentage than in any recent election.
So if Joe Rogan is ready to go and say this is not good, that's a great thing and we should welcome it.
On the other hand,
I struggle with the fact that Trump said he was going to do what Rogan now has a problem with.
And he turned a blind eye to that and endorsed Donald Trump on the evening of the election, on the eve of the election.
And what Trump is doing with the deportation is exactly what he promised to do.
I don't know why you would be surprised unless you were not paying attention or didn't want to acknowledge it.
In any case, here's Rogan's latest commentary about the deportation.
You know who has this exact idea as their policy prescription?
It's Democrats.
There are many criticisms to make of Democrats.
I make many of them on this show all the time.
It just so happens that what Rogan wants is what Democrats want to do.
for people who are not criminals.
We are not talking about individuals who have committed a violent crime here in the United States.
We're talking about people who, on the one hand, maybe were brought here as minors.
That's one category.
On the other hand, have been here for years or decades working, have committed no crime, but are undocumented.
Let's find a path
to permanent legal status.
That is what Democrats want.
And by the way, Rogan goes, we, of course, are allowed to have a border and enforce it.
That's what Democrats say.
That's what I've been saying.
We I have not heard anybody
in the mainstream.
I know that there are some people on the fringes who go, oh, even the concept of borders is not allowed and it's disgusting and country.
That's the fringe.
OK, the overwhelming majority
of the left, from the left all the way to the center left, says countries get to have borders, countries get to enforce immigration, countries get to deport people.
But what we're talking about here is what makes sense.
And mass deportations of people who are just here working don't make any sense.
They're inhumane.
It's heartless.
Rogan is outlining the Democratic Party's position on this issue.
But he endorsed Donald Trump and he endorsed Donald Trump, despite Trump saying this was the plan and this is always what they were going to do.
was eminently reasonable, eminently reasonable.
This is my view on the issue.
But the problem is that Trump is doing exactly what he said he was going to do.
He was asked, what about women and children?
And Trump goes, well, you know, it's complicated because we'll get negative coverage if we do the women and children.
But, you know, we're going to do it and they're doing it.
What about the people here working?
No, they're going to go.
And so the problem I have is not that Rogan is now just is saying this revising your opinions based on fact is would that should all be celebrated.
But the only way to not have realized that this was the plan is if you either weren't listening to Trump or you didn't believe him, you said, even though he's saying it, I don't think he's really going to do it.
Rogan, we've talked about others, Theo Vaughn, Andrew Schultz.
Many of them are going with the this isn't what I voted for thing, except it is except it is.
So I think what we need to do is find some kind of balance where on the one hand, we don't shun people who are coming around to what's correct.
Right.
Good for Rogan.
Not only is he acknowledging this is bad, he's acknowledging it publicly.
Great.
The on the other hand is this really shouldn't be coming as a surprise.
And what do we do about that?
And Rogan does represent a lot of MAGA voters in this sense, which is I don't know.
I was told the tariffs were going to solve everything.
And then now they're going, I voted for this guy, but the tariffs are crushing us.
Prices are up.
My job is unstable.
My business is shrinking.
And so we it's interesting to see that Rogan is sort of experiencing that same buyer's remorse to a degree.
But it would have been nice to recognize from the beginning that this was exactly what is coming.
Donald Trump has melted down over the picture that Time magazine selected for its cover.
Time magazine put out an issue called His Triumph, and it is about Donald Trump's involvement in this deal involving Israel and Gaza.
Now, there is deep analysis here to be done about the degree to which Donald Trump is getting credit from Time magazine and praise from Time magazine.
for his involvement in that deal.
The reality is that this is basically the same deal that could have been done under Biden.
But Trump and Republicans worked to prevent it because they didn't want Biden getting the credit.
They wanted Trump getting the credit.
There are real questions as to whether this is durable.
And there's a there's a deep policy analysis.
And I don't even know that this is an issue or an article that Time should have put out.
But what Donald Trump is really triggered by is the picture that was selected.
It is true that in this picture, Donald Trump's hair looks barely there.
It is true that in this picture, Donald Trump's neck looks not dissimilar from female genitalia.
That is true.
And that is what is triggering Donald Trump.
Donald Trump took the truth social and said, quote, Time magazine wrote a relatively good story about me.
But the picture may be the worst of all time.
They disappeared my hair and then had something floating on top of my head that looked like a floating crown, but an extremely small one.
really weird.
I never liked taking pictures from underneath angles, but this is a super bad picture and deserves to be called out.
What are they doing and why?
Now, you could make the case that the angle make makes Trump look big, power, big, big, not in the obesity sense, just just, you know, in charge, powerful at the helm, in command.
Or something like that.
I don't know.
You could make the argument that the seemingly sky background behind him makes him look almost godly.
But Trump doesn't like it.
And what I've been saying all along, as far as the deal goes, is Trump does deserve some credit for the fact that the deal was done under his watch.
I mean, it was the buck stops with the president.
Trump also deserves blame for working in 2024 to block the deal because he thought it would help Biden.
in his then reelection campaign against Donald Trump.
Later, Kamala Harris.
Trump wanted it for himself.
That's despicable.
Is it good for the people who suffered from the continuation of the war because Donald Trump worked to prevent the deal from being done in 2024?
As far as the picture goes, it's just a reminder of the level of
Self-obsession, egomania and vanity at the end of the day that Donald Trump experiences.
Is it a good picture?
I don't know.
Is there any picture of Trump?
That's a good picture.
But it's a reminder that Trump goes.
The story was like kind of OK.
But the real problem is the picture that they picked.
This is emblematic and representative of everything and how Donald Trump governs.
Trump wants to be liked.
He wants to be seen as strong.
He wants to be seen as attractive.
The details of the deal.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
People will figure it out.
Steve Witkoff or Jared Kushner or whoever, they're going to figure it out.
But the picture, that's what I really care about.
And by the way, what is going on with Donald Trump's neck?
I haven't gotten a straight answer.
Donald Trump has already packed his second term cabinet with loyalists.
He's threatened deportation as political punishment.
He's expanded executive authority in ways we have not seen in modern history.
These are real changes that are happening right now.
And what's even more alarming is that a lot of the media is either glossing over the worst of it or they're reframing it.
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Maga and Trump and this administration are absolutely terrified that you might protest tomorrow at what are expected to be massive, just absolutely huge protests.
It's the second no kings protests.
And they are so terrified.
and so scared.
The last thing that they want to see is that people are coalescing and uniting against this administration.
The last thing they want to see is that that they are now starting the who's paying these people?
Is it Antifa?
Is it some shadowy funding source?
And one of the people who's doing this is Donald Trump's transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, who never heard came across or heard of a conspiracy theory he didn't like.
He comes in and he says to Maria Bartiromo, we need to figure out who's funding these protesters.
And there's actually something extremely deep here.
Not that his analysis is deep.
It's not.
It's shallow and ridiculous.
But there is a deeper topic here about one of the fundamental differences between the left and the right today.
Yeah.
You know, the other thing this is a talking point.
See if you can pick up on what it is.
But we'll talk about it in a moment.
We'll get back to this in a second.
Now, you might be saying, what the F is this guy talking about?
He's not making any sense.
This is a talking point they use, which is we were lied that the vaccine prevents the spread of covid.
He's jumping from one thing to another.
You're right.
Duffy's not very good at this.
I don't present this as a great example of political rhetoric.
I want to focus in on this idea that the protesters are paid and we need to figure out who's funding it.
And it might be Antifa.
It's really the Trump economy in miniature.
Do you understand how idiotic and imbecilic the economics of paying protesters in such a situation would be?
I mean, really, just like think about it.
If we go back and let's be accurate.
How many protesters total at no King's Day on the first one?
I don't remember what the number was.
Four to six million protesters nationwide.
If you think about we judge each protester was only paid 20 bucks.
Right.
That would mean 80 to 120 million dollars just to get protesters out there.
The clinical study data from that first vaccine did show that it prevented the spread of covid.
People took days off of work, traveled, stood in heat.
This was at the first Snow King's protest.
Obviously, it'll be cooler tomorrow.
All for.
20 bucks, they probably wouldn't do that for 20 bucks.
So were they paid 100 bucks?
Well, now we're talking about insanely more money.
The economics of it don't make sense.
The economics of these massive protests at scale with protesters that have been paid don't make any sense.
No one's funding it.
People genuinely are that disgusted with the administration.
Now, this gets to.
sort of the critical difference between how the right and left approach this issue.
The reason that MAGA and Trump and Sean Duffy can't imagine that these are just genuinely outraged people who went out to protest on No Kings Day one and are going to be going out tomorrow on No Kings Day, too.
Their movements aren't really as organic as that as they believe them to be.
Now, I'm not saying the MAGA protesters are paid or whatever, but the point is that the movement in total is a stage propped up movement by the people who really benefit from Trump ism, the billionaires and the corporations who encourage and entice the people that are down in the rank and file.
And that seemed to be borne out in the data based on the variant that was circulating then in the first vaccine.
to activate for their movement, even though their movement is terrible for them.
We're going to hear in a moment how a lot of these right wingers go.
I voted for Trump, but this is terrible for me.
Prices are up.
I can't afford this.
I can't afford that.
The point here is the idea to them that normal people might just organize out of principle rather than cult loyalty or because it's good for rich people is so foreign to them that they go.
The protesters must be paid.
But of course, they're not.
You look at these crowds, you don't see hedge fund managers or big money political donors.
You see mostly working people and students and parents.
Sure, there are some celebrities that have joined the protests because they believe in the message, not because they have a financial benefit to it.
But this is the sort of conflict where normal people organize out of principle
And they go, that's so foreign to us, they must be getting paid.
Now, there's another aspect to this that I think is important.
Authoritarians always say that the protests are fake.
Putin says it.
Erdogan.
Over time, as the variants continued to change and the vaccines lagged for arguably not necessarily further and further behind, but lagged behind, the vaccine was affected, effective at preventing serious illness and death, but not transmission.
I could go on.
It's the same playbook.
If it looks like anybody is expressing public displeasure with the with the with the leader,
They must be getting paid or in some way it must be subterfuge.
It's George Soros or the CIA or FBI have goaded them to go or whatever, because if they admit that there's real dissent, it means people are fed up and fed up with them.
And authoritarians never want to do that.
The media story here, Fox News, where this appeared also is relevant.
Fox has trained its viewers to see every protest as a psyop.
If it looks like people are angry at Trump, it must be fake.
If it looks like there was a protest against Trump, it must have been staged because if Fox News admits that it's real.
They have to admit we are continuing to support a really unpopular presidency.
So I hope to see you out there tomorrow.
I know many of you are.
If you haven't told me yet, if you're going out to the protest tomorrow, info at David Pakman dot com.
Let me know where you're going and where you will be.
Trump voters are slowly realizing Trump is absolutely terrible for them.
I want to look at four tweets that were featured.
Take a look.
Let's just check these out and then discuss.
Cindy Kay says, I'm one of the biggest conservatives and Trump fan there is.
But prices are out of control.
My husband and I used to be what we thought was upper middle class.
And now with insurance premiums, groceries and property taxes, we're struggling.
Not Trump's fault.
It started under Biden.
We need help.
Cindy, while she's still very hesitant to blame Trump and while she's still very hesitant to say Trump promised X and we're not getting X, she is acknowledging it's a disaster out there for her.
J. Matthew says, I'm a Trump voter and I just don't care about Nobel Prize or the cover of Time magazine.
Fix our economy, lower gas and food prices.
You are a two time president.
It's enough.
Peace deals are great, but fix home before you help your neighbors.
Common sense.
He's right.
He's right.
And Donald Trump parading around the world saying, I solve this conflict and I solve that conflict.
Solving conflicts is great.
A bunch of them Trump is simply lying about, like the one between Albania and Abur by John, which was really Armenia and Azerbaijan.
But to say that that was misinformation at the time, circumstances ultimately change.
It's all crazy.
Great to do foreign policy.
Great to solve conflicts.
But what about the people that voted for Trump here?
And they can't afford an unexpected four hundred dollar expense.
They can't afford groceries.
Their job is imperiled.
All right.
Here's another one.
The same groceries are still way expensive.
Why is no one talking about it?
Bread is five dollars.
I guess they mean flour is seven dollars.
What the hell?
Electricity is way up.
Not kidding.
I love Trump, but do something.
Give the rich access and poor get conned.
I don't think Dems would help it ever.
So this person is sort of like, I'm not saying vote for Democrats.
Democrats wouldn't solve this, even though Democrats at least have actually presented some plausible paths to deal with pricing.
But in any case,
They are not in power.
And we've had all of our criticisms of Democrats, but at least there's a framework for what we would do.
this is I really don't know whether I buy this from Cheryl Hines.
But another person acknowledging this is really not good.
And then finally, Patty says, I'm Republican since birth.
Urgent.
President Trump focuses on gas, groceries and electricity.
We are hurting.
These things are not cheaper.
His voters need help.
Understand a couple important aspects to this.
Number one, they are accurately pointing out all of these problems, but still they are declaring their loyalty to Donald Trump.
It's a cult of sorts.
Number two, a lot of this is going in the Marjorie Taylor Greene direction.
On Tuesday, we talked about how Marjorie Taylor Greene is now saying, hey, Republicans aren't dealing with prices.
And the reason I mention that is some some of, you know, you know, we're sort of connected to Mike Papantonio and Ring of Fire.
Republicans aren't dealing with people who are going to lose health care or can't afford their premiums.
This is a little bit of that wing that is rising up.
Now, if what you're wondering is, are these people going to vote for Democrats in 2026?
The answer is decidedly hell no.
They're even saying in their tweets, in these nasty tweets that they're putting out, they're saying still with Trump, still a Republican, lifelong Republican, love Republicans.
But this is a problem.
The task for us in the media ecosystem, but more importantly, the task for Democrats, if they want to start winning elections, is you have to connect what these people are experiencing to who they vote for.
And one of the things I've talked about before is when I meet people that go, ah, politics don't care about it.
I'll usually say, oh, OK, gotcha.
Yeah, politics, pedantic, boring.
OK, what do you care about?
And I'll go, well, I care about the fact that college has gotten so expensive.
And when my 10 year old is 18, I don't know how I'm going to be able to afford sending him to college.
And sometimes I and other progressive media people would go out to meetings in Vegas
Well, that's a political issue.
It's up to Democrats to explain to people whatever you care about.
local government, climate, cost of living.
It's all connected to the people that are representing us.
And so similarly, Democrats need to go to these people and say, hey, you've identified the problem.
That's half the battle.
You've identified Trump's not solving the problem, but you're not ready to vote for Democrats at this point.
Let's talk about that, because we do have a plan now in order for that to work.
They actually have to have a plan.
Do they?
Well, they have ideas.
Is it a plan that is going to appear credible and implementable?
Well, that's something Democrats are going to have to figure out.
We have another one of these.
Unless time travel is possible.
You're a liar situation.
Eric Trump went on Fox News, not known as the smart one, not known as the smart one.
He goes on Fox News and he says or alleges that special prosecutor Jack Smith
planted the Manila folders in Trump's house that the FBI raid subsequently found.
There's a little problem with that hypothesis, and I'll explain it to you in a moment.
that Mike Papantonio would organize.
You know, there's a little problem with that.
They were legal conferences and Sam Seder regularly broadcast from there.
The problem and it's it's like the problem is small.
It's almost as small as Trump's hands.
Jack Smith was hired months after the search warrant was served at Mar-a-Lago.
Eric Trump goes, oh, we figured out Jack Smith planted the evidence they had against my dad.
The only problem is the search warrant at Mar-a-Lago was in August of 2022.
The Manila folders were found in August of 2022.
And Jack Smith was not appointed special prosecutor until November.
It was three and a half months later.
So either Eric is lying.
or he's confused again or he has knowledge of a time travel device with which Jack Smith, I guess, was teleporting back to three months before he even got the job to plant folders at Mar-a-Lago.
And anyway, so at the time, Mike Papantonio and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The twist maybe we did see coming.
You know, every time that these guys open their mouths, they remind us they don't even have the basic timelines of events straight in their heads.
They don't even know the sequence of their own scandals.
They mash together buzzwords, raid, witch hunt, Jack Smith, Deep State, Manila folders, and they hope that their audience will go, yep, conspiracy.
And sadly, a lot of their audience does go for that.
were relatively close.
I think it's important to clarify.
I think the vast majority.
of those in this country who are engaging with the political system.
I don't know if they were like working together on projects.
I don't think they're stupid.
I don't think they're stupid.
I think they end up with incentives that encourage them to say, I'm going to go with it, even though it doesn't really make sense.
And you could argue that that's just as bad or worse.
And I would be right there with you.
But this is what happens when you live in a media bubble where you were just fed this stuff and you go, me not thinking critically about this is important for my political identity.
And then if you're Eric Trump, you're used to living in a media bubble where nobody ever challenges you.
Cases are exactly what it was.
You can invent events that are not possible, couldn't have happened.
And the host, Mark Levin, just nods along like all of this makes sense.
So Bobby Kennedy would be there often once he came to dinner with us.
They lie as easily as they breathe and they mostly get away with it.
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and the David Pakman Show David Pakman dot com.
I love it when a box of bottles of wine from Naked Wines shows up at my house.
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It was unusual.
The link is in the description.
And sometimes Cheryl would be there.
All right, let's get into Friday feedback.
You can always email the show info at David Pakman dot com.
We also will feature comments and responses from any of our social media platforms, TikTok, Spotify, Facebook.
Who knows?
We get right into it today with Ellen.
who says as a Canadian, it seems amazing that a country can have a complete government shutdown in Canada and some other countries.
And my understanding of her politics were that they were completely antithetical to everything Trump and and to everything about the modern views of Bobby Kennedy Jr.
If a budget cannot be passed, a nonconfidence situation develops and the government is deemed to have failed.
It is then necessary to call an election because of the potential ramifications of this action.
The political parties are more inclined to arrive at a compromise.
That's right.
You know, if there were more repercussions
to our lawmakers for a government shutdown, I can assure you you would never have a government shutdown again.
And we've spoken about this in the context that the government shutdown becomes a political football of who is going to get blamed.
Now, one view and I don't think it's a crazy view, depending on who's in control, is that when the president's party controls the House and Senate,
The president is ultimately who is to blame.
Joe Rogan, one of Trump's biggest defenders, is turning on him.
If the president is a Republican, as is Trump, and the House is controlled by Republicans and the Senate is controlled by Republicans and the president goes to them and says, it'll be bad for me, it'll be bad for us if there's a shutdown.
There will be no shutdown.
And so even Trump's prior claims that the buck stops with the president, probably accurate.
The issue is that that is not always the way it goes.
And even right now, Republicans are arguing, oh, this shutdown is a it's a Democrat shutdown.
Because there is political maneuvering from which they can benefit when it comes to who ultimately gets the blame.
You don't see the same incentives that you would see in the Canadian system for these elected officials to go government shutdown.
No way.
That's bad for us.
If they all lost their salaries, it might make a difference.
I don't even really know that I buy that she believes this crap.
You do have to remember, most senators are pretty wealthy.
There's a lot of members of the House who who have, you know, who don't have a lot of money.
And maintaining their salaries might have more of an impact on members of the House.
But for the most part, senators could afford to be without pay for probably months, if not longer.
So I don't even know that that would really be an incentive.
But if their power were threatened in a permanent and durable base way.
from a government shutdown, you would very quickly see no more government shutdowns.
Maybe she has completely changed her mind.
That's for sure.
Speaking of the recent incident in which Kristi Noem, the secretary of Homeland Security, was blocked from using the bathroom at a local municipal building.
Blackbird singing in the night, wrote on YouTube.
Christie is getting a taste of what homeless people and trans people deal with on a daily basis.
Almost the exact point that I've been making.
We have a situation in this country where too many people are denied just basic things, food in one of the richest countries in the world and in history.
And by the way, I'm not saying it's better or worse.
shelter, access to bathrooms.
And so I didn't take pleasure in Kristi Noem being denied access to a bathroom.
I wish her reaction had been instead of attack this leftist or that leftist or the Democrats or whatever, which has nothing to do with it.
It's arguably worse if she just changed her mind.
I wish instead she had had one of these realizations.
Hey, you know, all the criminalization of homelessness that we're doing, which in part includes denying homeless people access to clean facilities, clean sanitation and bathrooms.
Maybe that's not so good.
Maybe we should really make sure everybody has just the basics to achieve some minimum level of dignity.
That is not the modern Republican Party.
They don't care about that.
We could go, hey, you were convinced by some bad ideas.
The rare praise in the email today, Tim Carr writes, Love the show.
I've learned a lot, but more importantly, I'm learning how to analyze and think better.
Thank you, David.
Tim, thank you so much.
You know, we get a lot of negativity in the email and in messages.
And it is great every once in a while, every once in a while to see something positive.
That's sad if she hasn't changed her mind, but is doing this for the sake of not creating a problem for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
If I am making I don't want to tell you what to think.
I will tell you what I think and how I came to believe that.
And ultimately, it is up to you to hopefully learn how to think for yourself.
Similarly, Meg Lamora wrote in.
You're the first and only political show I've ever watched.
I listen every day.
You have really given me so much knowledge about politics.
Thank you for keeping me informed.
So listen to this.
This is what distinguishes me.
And what distinguishes, I believe, the left from the from the hardcore MAGA right in a lot of key ways.
I love what Meg is saying.
I'm flattered and humbled that Meg is saying I'm the first political show that she has ever watched.
I don't claim to be the ultimate source of truth.
I don't believe I should be anyone's sole source of political opinion.
I love Meg that you love the show and I encourage you seek other opinions.
Check fact, check what I say against what others say and decide for yourself, because I don't claim to be the ultimate source of truth.
Trump says only I can fix it or whatever phrase that he uses.
That that's arguably worse if she's going out there and saying things that she doesn't believe.
I say I'm going to do the best I can to defend my views and you should fact check me and hold me accountable.
Hector wrote in and said, David, sir, your audience is smart enough to see and understand the propaganda.
How do we convince the idiots who don't listen to your show?
Well, you know, a lot of the people that don't listen to the show, they're not idiots.
Just a lot of people don't consume overtly political content.
This is one of the conversations I have so often with others in our space.
Brian Tyler Cohen and the guys from Midas Touch and Aaron Parness and, you know, all the people that are sort of in our cohort right now, Carlos Espina, who I'm going to be seeing very soon.
The crowd in the studio audience did not seem to be buying the stuff she was saying.
We.
have a sort of glass ceiling, which is there is some limit to the number of people that consume political content.
A lot of people just don't.
A lot of people who listen to podcasts don't listen to political podcasts.
They just listen to, you know, crime or lifestyle or whatever.
One of the things that we have to do is we have to start getting into nonpolitical spaces.
One of my goals for 26 leading up to the midterm elections is to appear on more nonpolitical shows.
Will I appear with Call Her Daddy?
I am sure that they are not going to invite me, but I would.
The point is, we need to be in more nonpolitical spaces.
Um, uh, what other podcasts, the Theo Vaughn and others, the left needs to do the same because no matter what we do on our political shows, much of the country doesn't listen to political shows.
So we've got to expand.
JD Duke weighs in on the references from the Trump administration to the amorphous Antifa.
And JD Duke says the fact that Antifa isn't an actual organization.
But an idea gives Bondi a blank canvas to round up anyone without evidence.
Yeah, I think this is such an important and astute message.
We listen to Trump and Bondi and whoever else say this was funded by Antifa.
We're declaring Antifa a terrorist organization.
We're going to get into that and why it matters.
We're going to go after the leadership of Antifa and we go.
There really is no organization there.
They're against fascism.
It's extremely loosely and I would argue poorly organized.
It's nonsense.
We laugh.
But the danger is exactly what J.D.
Duke is pointing out, which is if you can say, hey, Antifa is a terrorist organization.
We believe this protest was organized under the umbrella of Antifa.
You can just start rounding people up.
Now, whether that will hold up in court, well, we don't know.
But at least in terms of making people's lives and protesters lives a living hell and suppressing dissent, it is potentially a very dangerous tool on the topic of farm bailouts and how farmers are again getting crushed.
A user whose name is a bunch of numbers and letters says farmers voted for this.
He did this the last time.
Twenty eight million in a bailout.
Now they are complaining.
Sorry, not bailout.
When will people learn that Trump is a con man who lies as soon as his mouth opens?
I think what this person is saying is there shouldn't be a bailout for the farmers.
You know, I am I don't want anyone to suffer.
It's just not in my nature to wish suffering on people.
But one of the things we hear from a lot on the right is you can't protect people from everything.
We can't have a nanny state government that's here to protect everybody from everything.
There's a case to be made that the farmers voted for Trump, not all of them, but most Republican farmers in the Midwest voted for Trump in 2016 and he screwed them and he ended up having to bail them out.
And then he ran in 2024 on doing more of the same things that screwed the farmers like tariffs.
And then a lot of those farmers voted for him again.
And so should we really be bailing out those farmers?
I think there's a good case to be made that the answer is no.
Now, at the same time, not every farmer voted for Trump.
And this is sort of like when we say we've got to punish, you know, we've got to punish Texas because they voted Trump.
Yeah, but like 40 percent of Texas.
What percentage was it?
Actually, 2024 Texas presidential results.
Wow, I was I understated 42 percent of Texas voted for Harris.
Do we really want to punish even people who didn't vote for this crap?
And so I understand the sentiment.
And it's funny because it's Republicans themselves who have said we can't the government can't protect everybody from everything.
But I don't I don't ever want to see people suffer.
What do you think?
Let me know.
Anthony Ward says about the forthcoming UFC fight at the White House.
The UFC fight is corruption, in my opinion, for the reason that this is Trump paying back Dana White for promoting him.
All those videos of Trump walking out into a UFC event with Dana helped him win the presidency.
I would bet everything that I have that they spoke about an event at the White House way back then.
Trump used the White House for negotiating.
I hope America and the world boycotts the event.
Make it a flop as it should be.
Yeah, I mean, listen, everything with Trump is transactional.
I would be completely not surprised if this whole Dana White friendship had from its infancy the idea that if he helps Trump get elected in 24, Trump will give him a goodie.
And the goodie is this White House UFC fight on which Dana White stands to make.
I don't even I quite frankly don't even know what amount of money it would be.
But it's obviously millions.
Is it tens of millions?
Is it hundreds of millions?
I don't know.
But I believe that it is clear that like with everything with Trump, it's quid pro quo, it's favors and it is a form of corruption.
And listen, we just saw a video on Tuesday of Trump speaking to the Indonesian president in Egypt and the Indonesian president was apparently talking to Trump about some project.
This area is not so safe.
We want to find a different area.
Can I talk to Eric?
Can I talk to Don Jr.
?
That's everything for Trump and for Trump.
The presidency is a mere vessel towards his personal enrichment and that of his family.
Send me your emails.
Info at David Pakman dot com.
Make sure you are getting my daily podcast for free.
It's on Spotify.
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It's everywhere.
We will see you on today's bonus show and I'll be back here on Monday.
All that, plus Donald Trump's meltdown over a bald Time magazine cover.
You can tell this is not a good idea.
She is just not good at this.
And the audience isn't buying it.
The View went after Robert F. Kennedy Junior's wife right to her face.
And Mago World's got a new conspiracy theory about the protests.
It's not for charity.
They're terrified.
But most anyway, you know, I I don't know whether to feel bad at her or bad for her to be angry, because on the one hand, you can tell she's been given the bullet points.
She's been told, remind them.
Most secretaries have not been doctors.
This is what you're going to be asked about.
All of that and more today.
She's struggling to remember the talking point.
You can see the gears grinding and she's struggling because she doesn't really have any business doing this is the thing I would probably respect her more if she took the approach that she took during covid.
Like, for example, when RFK was talking about how bad the vaccines are and she was requiring everyone who came to their holiday party to be vaccinated.
for her to say, my husband has a job and if you've ever met him, you know that he is stubborn and difficult to convince of anything.
And I do not speak for his job.
I do speak for what happens in our house.
And I can assure you that what's happening in our house is different or what, you know, something along these lines.
I actually think the mistake is even trying to defend it because at the end of the day, it's indefensible.
Does she really believe this stuff?
Is she doing it
for for the sake of her home life.
I don't know.
But I don't really respect what she's trying to do.
It's not for policy.
Donald Trump is hosting a one million dollar per person fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago, one million dollars per person.
For a candlelight dinner organized by his super PAC MAGA Inc.
This is not a campaign fundraiser.
He can't run again legally.
The money is going to be funneled into next year's midterm elections.
And the translation here is this is not about policy.
This is about power.
Trump is building a war chest to try to reshape Congress with loyalists who will do what he says.
Cheryl Hines is an actress maybe most known for playing Larry David's wife in the show Curb Your Enthusiasm.
And what better place to do that?
Mar-a-Lago, the gilded palace now surrounded by tighter than ever security.
And we we even have interestingly, we have laws being passed in Florida.
Everybody's in Trump's pocket.
House Bill 1447 makes trespassing on law enforcement secured sites like Mar-a-Lago a felony.
OK, it's the site of this incredibly gaudy, gilded event.
Here's the poster.
You are invited to a candlelight dinner featuring Donald Trump today.
One million dollars per person.
Not a joke.
So we've got the man of the people charging a million dollars for dinner.
We've got the guy who says he's going to fight for you.
actually fighting for the establishment rather than against it by saying the people who can donate a million bucks get to come here and influence how this is all going to go.
And you've got a so-called populist raising money not for struggling Americans, but for billionaires trying to buy the next Congress while his supporters are skipping meals to pay rent
She is married to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of Health and Human Services under Donald Trump.
and getting scammed for the watches they ordered but are never going to get.
I'll get to that in a second.
This is really the essence of Trumpism in 2025.
It's performative populism for the cameras while governing for the elite behind the closed doors of a million dollar per person fundraiser.
And by the way, it seems that the food that you get for the million dollars is not great.
Some people have taken pictures of the the mass prepared food
at Mar-a-Lago.
So when we hear Donald Trump talk about drain the swamp, remember who's sitting at the million dollar per person tables, lobbyists, mega donors, billionaires, the corporate class, the managerial class.
that Trump and Vivek Ramaswamy and the whole lot of them spoke out against.
And meanwhile, you've got working class voters cheering him on.
She appeared on The View.
They're not at the dinner.
They're waiting for their watches to be sent to them by Trump, and they're not going to get them.
Let's talk about that next.
Some of Donald Trump's most loyal supporters are now furious.
It did not go particularly well.
You might be saying, of course they are.
They're furious about a new thing.
OK, which is they bought.
what they thought were collectible Trump watches, watches that sold for anywhere between four hundred ninety nine dollars and three thousand dollars.
And customers are now saying a lot of these watches never arrived.
It's the buy himself a new Congress.
Refund requests were ignored.
There is no customer service.
You look on Trustpilot.
As of the moment when I looked, 57 percent of reviews are one star reviews.
Now, I'm going to tell you, I do not respect what Cheryl Hines has done since her husband became
And the complaints are all the same.
Long delays, fake tracking updates, emails that go nowhere.
One guy wrote, oh, my daughter's bought me a watch for my 80th birthday.
Five months later, I haven't gotten it.
Others said it took me weeks to realize I had been scammed.
People overseas, buyers from Sweden, Norway, Switzerland said we didn't get the watch.
By the way, if you're if you're in Sweden and you're buying a Trump watch, I want to talk to you.
Something must be really wrong.
Now, the ads say the watches are Swiss made.
The company traces back to a Wyoming shopping center.
Now, it's possible the watches are Swiss made.
I don't know.
But this is the latest line in a long series of Trump gifts that are scams or that fail or that are no good.
Trump Stakes, Trump University, Trump Vodka, Trump NFC's.
And it's the same formula.
Hype up the product overcharge under deliver and then disappear.
Now, here's the trick that Trump always uses.
It's not technically run by Trump.
It's one of these licensing deals.
Trump's the salesman.
Trump's the pitch man.
He's the guy asking for money.
And for a bunch of Trump followers, that's enough.
That's cool.
The Trump's talking about it.
I'm going to buy it even if I can't afford it.
And oftentimes the product is not really the physical thing.
the political flashpoint that he has become.
It's the pitch.
It's the fact that Donald Trump is promising it.
It might be a golden tower, a fake university or whatever.
And the signature move with all of these schemes is Trump licenses his name.
He doesn't run the business.
And that's how when it falls apart, he keeps his hands clean.
He'll lend his name to steaks, vodka, condos or overpriced watches.
And then when there's a production problem, a customer service problem, a refund problem, a shipping problem.
He just goes, oh, I'm not really running this thing.
And so he can sometimes collect the check up front, take credit if it goes well, deny responsibility when it collapses and think about the last 24 hours.
I've had a little bit of sort of overlap in some social circles with RFK and Cheryl Hines from years ago, which I'll talk about in a moment.
On the one hand, we learned Trump's doing a million dollar per person fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago.
On the other hand, he's scamming people with five hundred dollar watches and his supporters just keep buying it.
Will they ever realize the grift and the grift includes the watches, but it also includes the presidency itself.
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What you are about to hear is a recent substack live conversation I had with Eliza Orleans, a career public defender who has been covering ISIS new social media surveillance efforts as well as unlawful surveillance as a whole.
It's often said that using federal agencies to do domestic law enforcement violates the Posse Comitatus Act.
Now talk a little bit about the tools and techniques that are used but also a lot of people in the audience might be thinking well I was born in the United States and like that's it I'm not I have nothing to do with ISIS goals priorities whatever what about those people and why is this still a concern for them which I assume is the vast majority of the audience.
What I'm curious about is like one of the things we've learned in this administration is just because you can point to something being against the law, there's sort of a question as to like, OK, well, how do you enforce that?
If someone wanted to bring a case that what Trump is doing by sending these federal troops in is flatly against the law because of posse comitatus, what is the venue for pursuing such a claim?
Who has standing to pursue such a claim?
Like, what would it look like to actually explore that?
Now, to go back to that legal question, who could bring a complaint about violation of posse comitatus?
Okay, that's fair.
Yeah, and I think that that's what sometimes, you know, when we say, but that's against the law.
You do get into these questions of, okay, and then so then now what?
What is the kind of the next step in that?
Going briefly back to
the protests, the surveillance, and so on and so forth.
Anything else that is important for people who plan to participate to do?
Obviously, we've talked about consider leaving your phone at home, remain peaceful, don't allow yourself to be baited.
There may be an agent provocateur, etc.
Anything else that's important to keep in mind for people who plan to be out there?
Hmm.
You know, I was talking to some people recently about the protests and these in general, who, the Saturday protests and protests in general, and they sort of had like, the group had mixed opinions about the idea of bringing kids.
And, you know, on the one hand, there's this thing of, hey, the future will impact kids.
Kids are part of my family.
I want them to understand what we're doing.
I want them to be involved.
And then on the other hand,
Am I exposing kids to unnecessary whatever, not just in terms of like, you know, some of these interactions that we're talking about with law enforcement or danger or whatever?
Do you have an opinion about that?
Is it really just subject to personal preference and parents?
Yeah, I saw a lot of kids at the last one and given the dark nature of what's going on, it is interesting that the vibe was certainly very, very positive.
We have been speaking with Eliza Orland's 15-year public defender.
Really appreciate your insights following the surveillance stuff and we definitely want to catch up again.
All right.
Thanks.
Likewise, Eliza.
We'll talk to you soon.
With the No Kings protests happening this weekend, we wanted this out in your feed today.
In this discussion, we cover what's actually being monitored, why it affects citizens and noncitizens alike.
So give us the list of the databases, platforms, data sets, etc.
that are in play for ICE here.
The David Pakman Show David Pakman dot com.
Is it mostly after the fact looking at records of where you've been or does this delve into real time surveillance as well?
We are live with Eliza Orleans, who is a career public defender for 15 years and has been covering the surveillance methods and mechanisms and tools that ICE has been using.
So I want to get to
what can be done with this data.
But I first kind of want to get your take as an attorney on whether this is legal in the sense of, is it a form of warrantless surveillance?
So needless to say, it's happening.
I guess the next thing will be some people are probably, and I even saw in the comments, why would I want to hide that I'm going to a protest?
It's legal to go to the protest.
I'm not committing a crime.
I'm not doing anything wrong.
Absolutely.
What are the ways that this can be weaponized?
You know, Eliza, I'm really glad.
What is it people should be fearful of?
Glad sounds weird because it's such a horrible thing, but I'm glad to be able to talk to you about this in the sense that.
Now, there's a couple of ways that that could go, and I know we're thinking ahead a couple of steps here.
Sometimes the annoyance, and it's more than annoyance, but sometimes just the threat of is the punishment in and of itself, especially in cases where you're not really committing a crime.
I think a lot of people have no idea that this is even going on.
And so that could be one path.
The other path, of course, is...
Over criminalization, either with the interpretation of existing law to apply it to activities that previously were thought of as legal or the creation of new law.
You know, Trump talks about I want there to be jail time for burning a flag.
So maybe first just sort of lay it out.
And we go, well, that's not the law right now.
But what if the law were changed to make that a crime?
Which of those two paths, the just burying you in having to get a lawyer and blah, blah, blah, even if ultimately you're not really going to be charged or certainly not convicted or the second path of actually criminalizing some of this behavior, which seems more likely?
When we talk about ICE surveillance, what's going on generally?
One of the things about the protests this weekend that seems maybe a little different than the first Snow King's protests is that I think the administration suspects turnout is going to be huge.
And we have this 3.5% idea, you know, that when 3.5% of a population mobilizes and activates, in the U.S.
it would be about 12 million people, that historically that has been associated with change, with driving and pushing change.
We didn't get 12 million at the first ones, but and I don't know that that we're going to get to 12 this Saturday.
But certainly the potential for a larger turnout is there.
And so Trump has been saying, I hear it's going to be very small.
Sean Hannity said last night on his show, just for your own safety.
probably stay away from this and stay home.
Scott Besson has said this is going to be like a far left hardcore thing.
I don't think people should be associated with it.
That's at the top level what like the politicos are saying at the protests, taking into account all of the things that have been going on and that you've seen in your career.
What
should people who plan to attend sort of be cognizant of and maybe think about doing other than leave the phone at home, which you mentioned already?
One of the things that I just don't know how common it's been in history, but that we saw in Chicago, is that the federal presence of law enforcement
was antagonizing not necessarily on purpose, but like, for example, with the tear gas, they ended up antagonizing not only protesters, but local PD as well.
And I'm not suggesting that local PD was, quote, on the side of the protesters or anything like that.
But there was this tension where when a mayor says, we don't want you here.
And when a governor says, we don't want you here and you end up, I guess we could say, accidentally sort of smoking out local PD.
That's a tension that I don't really remember in the United States, certainly for as long as I've been doing this.
Is is that unique to what's going on right now in some of these scenarios?
The second no Kings protests are Saturday and the Trump administration is pretending not to care, but they're clearly panicking because these could be the biggest since Donald Trump came back to office.
They have their day coming up, but nobody is really going to be there.
And then when the bill comes due.
Like I said, an AOC knows it.
When the bill comes due, they'll go, oh, Democrat mismanagement caused this.
So Bernie's warning about it.
AOC is warning, warning about it.
This is health care as political blackmail.
And at the end of the day, it is cynical.
It is cruel, but it's classic magonomics pretend to help working people quietly load the gun pointed at their own wallets.
And if the left can communicate that clearly, that this is really about your money, your coverage, your family and your health.
the Republicans lose the argument.
Nobody is really going to be there.
The question is, are Democrats able, equipped and prepared to communicate about it appropriately?
Democrats often don't communicate well, as we spoke about yesterday with Jake Auchincloss.
And of course, what Trump means is I hope nobody goes.
Let's hope the answer is yes.
But AOC and Bernie certainly communicating clearly here.
Let me know what you think.
Send me an email info at David Pakman dot com.
The question is, will voters fall for the Republican scam on who really wants to protect your health care?
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A pending Supreme Court case could strip our Fourth Amendment rights and allow immigration agents to come into our homes for any reason.
No probable cause needed.
All while Republicans try to twist things so that you think this is all great for America.
This should be the biggest story in the US right now, but it's almost impossible to keep up with the millions of moves that Trump is making every single day.
That's why ground news exists.
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This is pretty funny.
Donald Trump finally appeared to address the issue of his brain and of IQ points, but he was trying to do it in a way to attack a Democrat.
In this case, the Democrat is Chuck Schumer.
Trump started talking about Schumer's IQ and said, I believe Schumer's losing IQ in real time.
If it happened with me, Trump says, you'd know about it very quickly.
to which I would say we have noticed, sir, we are aware of it.
Very quickly.
Well, we have we have and we now have Governor Gavin Newsom, Senator Ruben Gallego, Governor J.B.
Pritzker, a whole bunch of other people.
I heard Heather Cox Richardson the other day saying something is going on with Trump's brain.
And so it's less about IQ.
But this is yet another one of those moments more about cognition.
It's another one of those moments
where Donald Trump sort of ends up giving up the game on his biggest insecurities for all of the talk about how it's usually black women, he says, are low IQ.
He goes, Jasmine Crockett's low IQ, AOC, who's not black but Hispanic.
She it's she's low IQ.
But sometimes it's just Democrats.
Chuck Schumer is losing IQ points.
This, as usual, goes to one of Donald Trump's own
insecurities.
Trump's dad had dementia.
And there is a degree to which these things are.
It's not totally well understood, but they can run in families.
And I don't know if hereditary is the right word, but where it makes sense, Trump would be worried about his big brain based on family history.
And the answer to Trump saying, I think if this happened to me, people would let me know.
People have been trying to let Donald Trump know.
Now, Trump later started talking about him being hard, like he he went on and on about how he's not soft.
It was really, really weird to done in particular.
Yeah, he's terminated doing all sorts of termination for an administration that claims not to be worried about the No Kings protests.
No softness from Trump whatsoever, figuratively, metaphorically, nor literally.
And people around the country hearing that and going, what the hell is Donald Trump talking about now?
It then got authoritarian, as it often does when you put Trump together with his team of sycophants and dilettantes.
And Trump was asked after striking Venezuelan boats.
Trump was asked, are you considering striking land on Venezuela?
And Trump goes, well, I don't know that I want to say sounds like a yes.
They are spending a lot of time and their media friends are spending a lot of time saying, oh, nobody's really going to go to this thing.
our population.
Speaker 1 Trump with a sort of demented utilitarianism.
I do find myself it's sort of like who cares about the law anymore these days, not the administration.
But I do feel inclined just to mention that Donald Trump has absolutely no act of Congress to support any of this action against Venezuela.
Treasury Secretary Scott Besant had a meltdown about it.
It's unlawful.
It's obviously disgraceful.
And a reporter asked a pretty good question, which is why not just have the Coast Guard stop the boats?
Like, why are we bombing boats off the coast of Venezuela?
The Coast Guard is legally allowed to stop the boats and there's no question of legality there.
Now, the truth is that we could see record turnout here.
And Trump goes, well, it's just not that effective.
We're going to talk about the three and a half percent concept in a moment.
You know, I don't know why you wouldn't give the Nobel Peace Prize to the guy going, well, we're bombing the boats instead of stopping them because it's easier and the missiles are faster than the boats.
Give this man a Nobel Peace Prize.
Why wouldn't they?
In another one of these strange moments of is he having a stroke?
Donald Trump talked about a trade deal with India.
I'm sorry, with Iran and Pakistan.
and talked about tariffs to prevent war, I guess it's very much unintelligible.
And they are recruiting their media allies to try to convince people to stay home.
We'll make it a good deal and then- Anybody understanding this?
Here is Sean Hannity after interviewing the Prince of Darkness, Stephen Miller.
I guess what Trump is saying is that tariffs prevented a nuclear war.
Your mileage may vary with that as a technique.
Finally, in a horrible moment, Trump turns to Newt Gingrich and says, Newt, you agree I won Georgia in 2020, right?
No matter what the election results say.
Good.
Because otherwise I would have you fired and everybody has a good time.
But this is the this is the loyalty test that we've been talking about.
So here he's talking to Brian Glenn, Marjorie Taylor Greene's boyfriend, but now he turns to Newt.
Here's Hannity doing his part to help the regime, saying, stay away from these rallies.
So I'm not that happy about that, dude.
This is a it's sort of joking.
But this is cronyism.
These are the loyalty tests.
Newt, you believe I won Georgia in 2020, right?
You do.
Well, then your wife gets gets an ambassadorship.
It's not a good idea.
This is how Trump operates.
He's doing it in in plain daylight.
And he's getting away with it because nothing and no one seems to have the teeth to stop him.
It's just just stay home.
All right.
The bribes are just pouring in to Donald Trump and he is bragging about it.
Yesterday, speaking in the East Room of the White House and talking about how people were desperate to give him twenty five million bucks, just pouring money upon him.
Why do I feel like this clip might be evidence in a future criminal trial?
It'll be much better at home.
Oh, wait, no, that would be only if we had a functional justice system.
I mean, I have so many friends and so many really would 25 million be OK with you.
And I would love that.
I would love that.
Donald Trump also pointing out, I guess yesterday was the sort of like just admit everything.
Don't cover it up anymore.
Trump admitting that there are people.
who, for whatever reason, even though they didn't support him in 2024, suddenly they're on his side.
And of course, this is the way authoritarians work.
You'd better come over to my side or it'll get really ugly for you if you're Mark Zuckerberg, for example, or Trump's political adversaries or whoever.
And he's saying it all in broad daylight.
Victory changes minds when people are terrified about your dictatorial ambitions.
Oh, yeah.
Monopolies are good if they're your friends, obviously.
Trump then adopting the persona of dementia, J. Trump, a character that we have come to know very, very well, talking about the Lincoln bedroom.
And meanwhile, Bernie Sanders and AOC did a town hall where they are tearing into the health care scam.
There you go.
Very, very important stuff.
And then also Trump talking about the gold leaf that they have covered the Oval Office and all lit up and gorgeous and perfect.
Yep.
The White House had no gold paint on it while Biden was president.
And by the way, that's true.
I was in I was in the Oval Office when Biden was president.
It didn't look tacky.
It just looked nice.
And now it is covered in gold paint.
And finally, Donald Trump continuing his obsession with legacy and his delusions of grandeur, holding up the I guess we're calling this the arc de Trump.
I guess it's a model of something they are going to build for Trump.
I don't know.
And it reminds me, quite frankly, it reminds me of when Hitler would sort of preside over little models of what Berlin or Munich would look like.
This is, you know, people in the room are laughing.
This is this is humiliating to see.
And it's a reminder that Trump doesn't really want to be president.
He wants to be real estate guy.
At the end of the day, he wants to build and do development and the stuff he was able to do thanks to his daddy's money.
But he doesn't want to be president.
And you can tell because he's barely doing it.
Make sure that you are subscribed on the YouTube channel, YouTube dot com slash the David Pakman show.
Adelita Grijalva will join me next.
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It is great to welcome to the program today representative elect for Arizona's seventh congressional district, Adelita Grijalva.
I can't think of a better day to talk to you than today, although any day would be fine.
But today, today is a good day to talk to you.
because the delay of your being sworn in in the House of Representatives is sort of taking on a life of its own with conversations and questions as to why are you not being sworn in?
Is it about the Epstein files?
And there's all of these different questions that I want to unpack with you.
So let's maybe start at the top.
Have you spoken to House leadership, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson?
What reason have you been given as to why you are not being sworn in?
Definitely don't go.
Don't make the protests big.
Don't do any of that.
on that comment is to go through it in layers.
You have no reason to believe anybody is questioning the legitimacy of your election victory, right?
Like they're they're not going that far.
That's what we're hearing from the same network, Fox News, that spent years glorifying the patriots who stormed the Capitol.
The big question everybody has is whether this is an attempt to delay of signing of the discharge petition with regard to the Epstein files.
Now they say stay home.
Now, of course, the speculation is if given the opportunity, you would take every vote and every opportunity to release those files.
Is it your intention when you are ultimately sworn in to work for the release of the Epstein files?
Keep it calm.
In other words, are they right that you would vote in that way?
Keep it low key.
They're scared.
Now, Hannity is is sort of giving away the game when he goes, if you want to understand what the no kings number two protests will be like on Saturday, think back to 2020.
Yeah.
And so he started Trump started to backtrack even before winning.
We're on that infamous Fox News interview.
They said MLK files.
Absolutely.
JFK files.
Absolutely.
Epstein files.
And Trump said, yes, well, you know, that one's a little different.
That told me everything I needed to know about.
Ultimately, he doesn't really want these files out.
Now, the thing I, to be honest, don't really understand, even Marjorie Taylor Greene recently said.
eventually you're going to get sworn in and you're going to be number 218 if you want to be.
What is the point of delaying what might be, I don't know, a few more weeks or maybe a little longer?
Like what what do you believe is the point since inevitably this is going to happen?
But you don't need to do that.
Ah, so in other words, maybe they can.
You would be 218, but they could cross someone else off the list and prevent it that they you think they have a plan here to actually prevent the 218 from becoming a reality.
If Hannity were honest, Hannity would say, hey, you can think back to a few months ago, the first no kings protests, which were completely peaceful.
Speaker 1 What my audience increasingly is expecting, and I'm curious your thoughts, is that, yes, at some point, something that will be called the Epstein files will come out.
But that between now and that point,
a lot of damage will be done to expectations about transparency and believability.
And so that whenever whatever they call the Epstein files come out, they will either be so highly redacted or incomplete as to be effectively useless.
Or if the, quote, real files do come out, Republicans will be ready to say we don't even really trust that these are legitimate documents.
Do you think that either of those scenarios is likely or possible?
on CNN.
If we want an assessment
about how we expect no kings number two to go, we would say, well, how did no kings number one go?
Does this disillusion you in a sense?
Like, you know, I know a lot of people who are running right now.
Our friend Dan Coe announced today that he's running for the seat that Seth Moulton is vacating in Massachusetts.
And I'm just kind of in this mindset of.
I would be so disillusioned about my ability to be an effective representative for my constituents, not because I don't want to be, not because they don't deserve it, but because of the dysfunction that is taking place.
I mean, you haven't even been sworn in yet.
If I were you, I'd be would be extraordinarily discouraged.
And it was completely peaceful.
And they hate that they rioted on January 6th and on no kings day one.
We're going to break down all of it, including the delusion spreading through Trump's cabinet.
We were completely peaceful.
I stopped by a bunch of these different events.
There was a police presence.
The police didn't need to get involved.
Right.
Now, can you find some anecdotal incident from some chapter protest?
Bottom line, do you think when the shutdown ends, you'll be sworn in right away?
I mean, is that going to kind of be the end of this?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Probably right.
All right.
Well, listen, we're watching it very closely and anxiously awaiting your swearing in and these subsequent votes.
We've been speaking with Republican representative elect for Arizona's seventh congressional district at Alita Grijalva.
Thank you so much for your time.
I know it's been busy and we're going to follow all of it.
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They know that massive peaceful protests destroy their narrative and they show the country that we aren't as defeated as Trump wants us to be.
Eighty five year old Nancy Pelosi, Democratic congresswoman, obliterated a right wing reporter who tried to ambush her with a January six conspiracy theory.
The question was, are you worried that you'll end up in trouble because you refused to deploy the National Guard on January six?
And Pelosi turns around and says, shut up.
I didn't do that.
It's up to the president, not the Speaker of the House.
Republicans and MAGA are furious.
Oh, she's treating the reporter so poorly.
I will discuss that in a moment.
Here is how the conversation went.
This grin on the face of the reporter, people who are watching the video see the reporter turned around and is now she's got this shit eating grin grin on her face.
It tells you just about everything that this is about.
Now, let's take it piece by piece without hesitating or appeasing.
Nancy Pelosi cut through a bad faith, tired argument in five seconds flat, which is it's not up to the speaker.
It's up to the president.
That's the factual part of it.
Now, of course, the right is furious because Nancy Pelosi was mean.
She was nasty.
They are scared for good reason, because when we look at history, remember the three and a half percent concept, it is believed that it takes about three and a half percent of a population actively, peacefully protesting, refusing to go along with what the regime is doing.
She was unhinged because an 85 year old woman ambushed by this Smurf reporter wasn't willing to indulge the false premise of the question.
And now they're saying it's bullying.
Now, these are the same people who worship Trump for calling reporters disgusting and horrible and enemy of the people.
They don't care about civility.
They care about control.
And so people should be treated exactly as they deserve.
If you are a reporter that asks Trump a follow up question based in fact, and Trump says you're nasty and tries to get your press credentials stripped, we have a problem with that.
If on the other hand, you are someone that just yells a conspiracy question at Nancy Pelosi on the street, she doesn't try to get you fired.
She doesn't try to strip you of your credentials or livelihood.
But she says, shut up.
The premise of your question is false.
all of a sudden now they're concerned.
You can't debate people that are just lying to your face and you shouldn't humor people that are pushing propaganda in this way to try to get clicks and get a reaction.
And, you know, if you can make any criticism here of Nancy Pelosi, it's that she took the bait in a sense.
Part of what the reporter wanted, and you can tell that from that grin, is she wanted to trigger Nancy Pelosi and she succeeded in that way.
But then they go and they say, oh, my goodness, she got so triggered.
You got to shut him down quickly.
And of course, it is a lie.
Nancy Pelosi refusing the National Guard, refusing to deploy the National Guard on January 6th, 2021,
It was one of the most debunked myths of the entire January 6th narrative.
It was Antifa debunked.
The FBI set it up, debunked.
It was Nancy Pelosi who didn't deploy the National Guard completely and totally debunked.
It is not under the purview of the Speaker of the House.
She had no authority to send troops.
She had no authority to reject troops.
That was Donald Trump's job.
But MAGA doesn't like that.
And so what Maga does is they keep repeating the lie and it gets some of their audience to believe it.
They're angry, they're confused.
And the most telling part of this clip is this last frame, the smug, self-satisfied little smirk after being publicly humiliated.
It is theater and it's the face of someone who knows she's lying
But I got a reaction from Nancy Pelosi.
They want to be respected, but they're spreading misinformation.
They want to be treated like journalists, but they're just propagandists at the end of the day.
And so Nancy Pelosi, should she have blown up or not?
Let me know in the comment.
Was Nancy Pelosi right or should she have maintained her composure?
to affect change three and a half percent in the United States based on our population.
But she did treat this individual exactly how she deserves to be treated, which is you're a clown wasting our time about four years debunked conspiracy theories.
Cringe edgelord J.D.
Vance couldn't help himself and kind of self cucked during a bizarre interview with Real America's Voice.
I'm going to explain.
Yesterday we went over these leaked text messages or telegram messages from local Republican leaders where they said things such as I love Hitler.
And we will start with the desperate attempt to downplay what is coming this weekend.
Among others, J.D.
Vance was asked about it and he just kind of goes, not a real issue.
That's about 12 million people, 12 million people showing up, marching, speaking out.
No violence, no chaos, just visible and clear.
All right.
So there's like 10 issues here.
Now, when when J.D.
Vance says, should we ruin someone's life over something they said as a little kid?
Well, let's get to the little kid thing in a second.
We're not necessarily talking about ruining lives.
But the question is, should local Republican chapters and local Republican offices be led by people saying, I love Hitler in a group chat?
It's not about ruining your life.
It should they be leading the Republican Party.
But J.D.
Vance is painting this like it was teenagers saying stupid stuff online.
That is not what happened.
These were not middle schoolers or high schoolers.
These were state and local Republican leaders from young Republicans.
They are directly connected to the Republican Party's national infrastructure.
We didn't quite get to those numbers and no kings.
In fact, if J.D.
Vance ends up being the future of MAGA and runs in twenty twenty eight.
It is likely that some of the people in this telegram saying stuff like I love Hitler would be working for J.D.
Vance, the types of people J.D.
Vance wants you to believe that it's an 11 year old video gamer who said the N-word while playing World of Warcraft.
These are local Republican leaders and they're the types of people that might run J.D.
Number one.
Vance's New Hampshire operation in a 2028 campaign.
They are chairs and vice chairs of young Republican chapters in Texas, Florida and New York.
But the numbers were big and it got a ton of coverage.
They are campaign staffers.
They are consultants.
They are aides to sitting Republican lawmakers.
In other words, it's the next generation of Republican leadership.
Some of them are in their mid 30s.
Joe Maligno, who's one of the people in the group chat, is 35 years old.
Peter Junta is 31 years old.
Trump does this, too.
Trump often will talk about his children and he'll go, you know, they're going after Don Junior.
They know that if the turnout is a little bit bigger this time than it was last time, we are going to start getting for them dangerously close to that three and a half percent.
He's a he's a good kid.
He's a good kid.
Don Junior is like forty six years old or something like that.
Hold on.
Let me be precise.
I always forget.
Forty seven years old.
And Trump goes whenever they go out.
These are kids.
These are good kids.
J.D.
Vance didn't limit his inane and dilapidated commentary just to the Isle of Hitler chat.
He also talked about political violence and he's continuing to insist most political violence comes from the left.
I know you all know this.
It does not.
It never became mainstream to celebrate Charlie Kirk's death.
No serious left commentator celebrated his death.
There were some people who made like random civilians who made social media posts, some of whom lost their jobs.
So Trump is insisting the protests are going to be small.
It was never mainstream to celebrate Charlie Kirk's death.
What is he talking about?
But the real issue I have is that he's going back to this trope of most political violence in the US is from the left.
If you look at any major data set, so you look at the FBI data, you go, oh, I don't like that.
Well, look at the Department of Homeland Security.
Oh, I don't like that.
Well, look at the ADL.
I don't like the ADL.
Look at CSIS.
They all show the same thing.
Right wing extremists are doing most American political violence in the United States.
Sean Hannity is saying to people, stay away, because if even a fraction of this country actually shows up, it won't just be a protest.
The ADL has it at over 75 percent of extremist murders came from the right, only 4 percent from the left.
None of these are justified, but they're overwhelmingly from the right.
CSIS says two thirds of terrorist plots or attacks since 1994 were right wing.
That's like 67 percent.
Only 13 percent were left wing.
We got to do away with the left wing's one left wing ones, too.
But they're a much smaller portion.
You look at FBI or DHS data, both of them identify white supremacist and far right domestic terrorism as the most persistent and lethal threat to the country.
They are lying about reality because reality makes them look really bad.
And so the truth is, think think about
The truth and the story J.D.
Vance is telling you, the truth is most political violence is right wing in the United States and the people involved in the telegram chat are state and local Republican leaders and aides and staffers.
J.D.
Vance is telling you these were kids in a chat room whose lives shouldn't be ruined and that most political violence is coming from the left.
How do we come together and solve any problem in this country?
If we have one side that is giving you a version of reality that has no connection whatsoever to the facts, I would argue we can't.
It could actually be a turning point.
I don't know how we would do it on the bonus show today.
We will talk about visas getting revoked for foreigners, by the way, over comments they made about Charlie Kirk's death.
We're also going to speak to Adelita Grijalva, who won her election.
We will talk about the U.S.
Capitol Police investigating a flag with a swastika in a Republican representative's office.
And that is what really terrifies these people.
And a judge has stopped Donald Trump's planned layoffs of federal workers during the shutdown, saying they are against the law.
When has something being against the law ever stopped Donald Trump from doing it anyway?
Well, we've got to consider that.
But we will discuss all of those stories and more when producer Pat joins me on the bonus show.
Sign up at join Pacman dot com and make sure you're also getting my free daily newsletter via Substack Substack dot David Pakman dot com.
It is not only Stephen Miller saying stay away, agreeing with Sean Hannity.
See you on the bonus show.
New show tomorrow.
It is not only Hannity himself staying saying stay away.
It is not only Donald Trump saying these are going to be small.
Even people who have no business talking about this stuff, like Trump's Treasury secretary, are talking about the protests.
I want to talk about that next.
Scott Besant is Trump's Treasury secretary.
You may recall I famously sat next to him at dinner at Haleo in Washington, D.C., not long ago, not at the same table.
He was adjacent to me at the next table over.
He looked miserable, didn't say a word to the people he was dining with the entire time, ate his chicken fingers and then I didn't have chicken fingers, but ate his food and then quietly left.
But Maga Mike Johnson refuses to swear her in.
He truly seems miserable.
And he now is jumping in with what some are calling a psychotic episode live on stage
over a protest over the forthcoming No Kings Day.
Number two, he is taking a different approach than Trump's approach and Hannity's approach.
Trump's approach was it's going to be really small, small.
Hannity's approach was for safety.
Stay away.
Besant's approach is these are going to be far left, hardcore, unhinged protests.
I will ask her, does she ultimately plan to vote to release the Epstein files once she is sworn in?
They're terrified.
They're terrified and they are completely detached from reality.
They want to tell you things about about no kings as if we couldn't just think back to a few months ago when we had a no kings day.
They want to act like this is going to be it could be anything.
It could be completely whacked, anarchy, violence.
The No Kings Day already happened and it was massive and it was entirely peaceful.
So either Scott Besson doesn't know that or he's pretending that he doesn't know that, which raises the question, is he knowingly lying?
And lastly, J.D.
Is he psychotic?
What is the deal with Besson?
And honestly, the bigger question is, what is the Treasury secretary doing talking about protests?
His job is the economy.
Vance is covering for the I Love Hitler leak, saying these are just kids at the end of the day.
His job.
He is not supposed to be focused on whatever delusions Donald Trump's staff dreams up to scare viewers.
In this case of CNBC, sometimes it's Fox News.
It's like if Janet Yellen had gotten up at a press conference and warned about Burning Man, for example, I think a lot of us would be saying, why is Janet Yellen talking about this?
And what does it even mean to say no kings equals no paychecks?
Is he suggesting that the people going don't have jobs?
Because they mostly do.
It's it's a weekend.
Most people have weekends off.
Not everybody.
Not a lot of service workers, of course.
But the whole point is we're going to reject authoritarianism.
That's the whole idea.
It's not about being far left.
It's not about being hardcore.
But these are people so deep in the cult.
that they hear no kings and they think, oh, my God, they're coming for capitalism.
Now, there's no question that there are people who will be protesting this weekend who are not so big on capitalism.
All of that and more today.
And that's fine.
That's not really what the protests are about.
What they are really afraid of here is the truth.
And the truth is,
for millions of people to peacefully mobilize and say, we don't want kings, we don't want authoritarianism, we want democracy.
And if people stand up again, they won't be able to gaslight the country into silence.
They are scared of that.
And that is at the at the foundation of what terrifies them so much.
All right.
Now, the other side of this
is that there are new, objectively terrifying things happening that have developed since no kings number one.
The No Kings protests are back this weekend and the Trump administration is both trying to project strength.
And one of those is that in the midst of this government shutdown, which is ongoing, my D.C.
trip is canceled.
For those that were wondering, there was going to be this creator summit in D.C.
We've been talking about it on the award winning bonus show, and that's been canceled because of the shutdown.
Oh, well, that's not really a big deal.
But the big deal is that there are millions of people who may no longer be able to afford health care as a result of what's happening with the health care subsidies.
Let's talk about the latest from Bernie and AOC on that.
Yesterday, CNN did a town hall with Bernie Sanders, Senator and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Congresswoman.
The topic of health care came up.
And what I love about this is that Bernie and AOC are talking not in esoteric, theoretical, hypothetical terms.
They are talking in practical, tangible language.
Number one, about what happens when people can no longer afford health care.
And number two, what that might mean for Republicans.
And Bernie pointed out that under Donald Trump, health care premiums are skyrocketing.
November 1st, which we're getting close to, is the start of open enrollment where people are going to be notified.
People myself as well.
Right.
I as a person with my own business, I buy a plan on the of the exchange.
But they are really terrified that these are going to be huge.
And last year I gave you a report.
I think my plan went from somewhere in the 600s a month or maybe 580 or something like that up to 747 a month.
This year I am paying 747 a month.
Same plan.
Plan didn't get any better.
seven forty seven a month.
I am waiting November 1st to be told how much is my plan going to go up.
And there are millions of Americans who will not be able to afford their plan once they are notified how much more expensive it's going to get.
Authoritarians don't like public displays of displeasure with what they are doing, and they will go to the ends of the earth to try to either prevent those protests from being public or from happening altogether if they can.
Here's Bernie explaining this.
All right.
So Bernie says Republicans are going to have no chance, no chance to get away with this and that they're going to have to address it.
That I mean, hopefully that is true to a degree.
But I think that Bernie might underestimate the willingness of Republicans to take a bet that they can just blame Democrats.
And they're trying to blame Democrats saying this is the Democrats shut down and blah, blah, blah.
Let's hear from Congresswoman AOC briefly here.
before getting get get getting back to the discussion.
AOC talking about how a one year extension on those health care subsidies would simply be laughable.
Donald Trump is panicking about it.
He said yesterday in the Oval Office with a very confused looking Kash Patel standing over his right shoulder.
Now there are some in the usual places on the Internet saying AOC has sold out.
Did you hear how she said Hakeem?
Jeffrey said no.
And we're going to be united behind Hakeem Jeffries.
She is sold out to Democratic leadership.
We'll put that aside for a second and just analyze it for what she's saying.
It is a trap.
Trump and his allies want voters to think that their health care is safe until the day after the midterms and then subsidies will vanish and premiums will explode.
They're running the same scam that they pulled with the tax cuts, which is you give temporary crumbs to everyday Americans and you do massive dumps of giveaways for billionaires.
Today, Democrats are staring down what could be a total wipeout in 2026.
Substack dot David Pakman dot com.
Check it out.
All right.
We have a situation
where Donald Trump held a meeting with the president of my birth country of Argentina.
Democrats could lose 19 seats.
It was so unhinged and so deranged.
Yes, Trump shot out another tonsil stone.
This is not primarily a show about dentistry and oral health, but
Why not?
Right.
When life gives you lemons, you do something with them.
Now, you might say to yourself, wait a second.
Let's take a look at some of the things that were said.
And of course, Donald Trump, furious, furious that George Stephanopoulos had the audacity to follow up when J.D.
Vance refused to answer questions.
Trump attacking George Stephanopoulos.
Remember, they don't want real journalism.
They want fluff journalism.
Trump's a disaster.
MAGA is horrible.
He he wants friendly questions.
He said it right there.
That's his standard for what is appropriate.
And the reason why that's what Trump's media standard is, is because he wants to tell lies like this one without anybody ever questioning it.
How could this be?
How could Democrats lose, especially when the out of power party usually gains seats after the opposition wins the White House?
And of course, groceries are not down.
In fact, groceries, a category where prices have continued to increase even faster than the overall inflation rate.
The reason Trump is so antagonistic of the media is because he only wants easy questions.
He wants fluff.
He wants to be able to say grocery prices are down and for everybody to go.
Yes, sir.
They sure are.
Trump refusing, in fact, to take questions from ABC over that interview.
Yeah.
There you go.
And instead he calls on Marjorie Taylor Greene's boyfriend, Brian Glenn, who says, Yes, sir, I am ready with a complete and total fluff question.
Now, note the authoritarian fiasco here.
What ABC News did is ask a question.
Did Tom Homan accept the $50,000?
And if so, has he given it back?
J.D.
Vance didn't want to answer the question.
So he said he didn't take a bribe.
Well, that wasn't the question.
Whether it's a bribe is a legal question.
The question is, did he accept the 50 grand?
And J.D.
Vance spent two and a half minutes not answering the question.
Ultimately, after asking it four or five times, George Stephanopoulos ended the interview and they called that bad.
They don't like that because they want fluff.
Now, Trump also played up the mobster style stuff during which he threatened to take World Cup games and maybe even Olympics events away from Boston, away from Los Angeles, away from whoever doesn't bend the knee and pray at the very smelly altar of Trump.
Trump won in twenty four.
So Democrats should do well in twenty twenty six.
We do know a little something about World Cups in Argentina.
Well, the answer the answers, I should say.
That's true.
I like that.
You know, Boston, as far as cities go, is extraordinarily safe.
are numerous.
Now, I'll give you the technical reasons.
First, depending on the outcome of a Supreme Court case, Louisiana v Calais, a specific type of partisan redistricting, also known as gerrymandering, may or may not be allowed to stand.
Yeah.
You know, Trump will never do this.
Trump is friends with the owner of the New England Patriots, Robert Kraft.
These World Cup games are set to be played at Foxborough at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.
Foxborough is nearly an hour outside of Boston.
It has nothing to do with Mayor Michelle Wu.
It has nothing to do with Boston PD.
And there is no way that Donald Trump is going to screw his friend Robert Kraft by moving the games.
But he's got to pretend that he is going to.
Now, during the Boston talk, this is sort of like this is a side issue.
This is not the main thing.
But Donald Trump did appear to fire out another tonsil stone while speaking.
And you see it go there.
It is really wacky and nasty stuff.
And while this is not, as I mentioned, primarily a show about oral health.
Why not?
Donald Trump does seem, as we add to the various ways in which Donald Trump is struggling, one of those is he regularly appears to fire out tonsil stones during public speaking.
OK, Trump continues to struggle to understand or hear questions needing multiple clarifications on this one from J.D.
Vance.
All right.
And then Trump really struggling to hear and needing to.
This is the one where J.D.
interprets for.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Last week, you said that NATO should consider expelling Spain.
But you said that NATO should consider expelling Spain.
Would you support that?
They do consider expelling Spain.
Oh, I'm very unhappy with Spain.
There you go.
So Trump increasingly struggling either to hear or to understand questions.
It's never or both.
It's never totally clear.
But making a fool out of himself, but not to be outdone by himself.
Donald Trump then went to a ceremony for Charlie Kirk.
And that is when it really got bad yesterday.
Charlie Kirk was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
I'm not even going to weigh in on whether that's appropriate.
If it is allowed to stand, that's very bad for Democrats.
Trump gives that out like candy.
He gave it to Rush Limbaugh and a whole bunch of other people.
What I want to focus in on.
is how everything ultimately is about Donald Trump, even in an event meant to honor the memory.
And what Trump sees is the legacy of someone that was supposedly his friend to the extent that Donald Trump has friends.
He just can't make it about the other person.
And so based on that forthcoming Supreme Court decision, there's a bunch of states which may or may not be allowed to draw districts in particularly politically gerrymandered ways that will impact 2026.
Here is Trump opening the memorial event
by saying that people love the new Rose Garden as he redesigned it.
We'll also talk about Trump's federal goons tear gassing not only protesters, but also local PD in Chicago.
What a psycho.
He just didn't.
God, we're going to get to the God stuff.
I'm so sorry, guys, but God didn't want bad weather.
for the day of the ceremony for Kirk.
But wouldn't we be asking where was God on the day of the shooting?
I'm so sorry to ask such an indelicate question, but we're going to get back to that.
But this is this is the real Trump.
OK, I'm going to show you what the real Trump is.
Here is Trump at an event for someone killed by a gun, saying that Trump was able to turn at a good time when someone shot at him.
It was an incredible thing Trump was able to do.
Charlie Kirk, I guess, wasn't able to do that.
Can you think of a sicker and more insensitive thing to say?
This is so disgusting, even for Trump.
Now, think back.
You can tell Trump is really deeply connected to the killing of Charlie Kirk.
The day after the killing, Trump was asked, how was he doing?
He goes, oh, pretty good.
Did you see that the construction has started for my new ballroom?
Trump opens this event by talking about how he redesigned the Rose Garden.
And then he goes, I was able to turn to avoid getting shot.
which in the context of Kirk getting shot to death is just disgusting.
Now, Trump later got distracted in the middle of his speech by sirens and he talked about politically correct sirens.
Anybody know what that means?
Number two.
Speaker 1 Not a politically correct siren, that's for sure.
You know, the other day I actually ate a politically correct Bartlett pear.
Delicious, not mealy at all.
Just the absolute perfect, perfect texture.
Will the authoritarian repression of this administration scare people off from voting in 2026 if they are afraid rationally or irrationally about potential repercussions in their personal lives if they vote against MAGA?
You can tell Trump is really
emotionally connected to Charlie Kirk and his death because he took a moment during the ceremony to rant about his Electoral College victory.
What a beautiful tribute to the deceased, certainly.
And then finally, kind of a weird dementia type moment where just nothing he says makes any sense, which is usually where these speeches end up.
Does anybody know what the hell this guy is talking about?
Not exactly a heartfelt and moving tribute to his deceased friend.
That's for sure.
If God saved Donald Trump.
Why not Charlie Kirk?
This might seem like an indelicate question, but it is exactly what Eric Trump insinuated when interviewed by Benny Johnson.
After Donald Trump made a disgusting joke during a ceremony for Charlie Kirk at the White House, Eric Trump went to talk to Benny Johnson and made it even worse.
You know that phrase God works in mysterious ways.
That is a phrase that I see as a cop out.
Now I'm going to explain.
When Trump was presenting Charlie Kirk with a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom, Donald Trump sort of joked that they tried to kill him, too, but he turned his head and survived.
There are people who are scared given what's going on in media, given what went on with a bunch of people losing their jobs based on social media comments related to the killing of Charlie Kirk.
This is, of course, in very poor taste, but I don't want to dwell on it here because Eric Trump, not known as the smart one, went on Benny Johnson's show and said he believes essentially that God saved Donald Trump from the shooter in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Check it out.
The God wants Trump in heaven.
and has saved Trump from the shooter.
Listen to this.
So listen, all of this stuff about God wants Trump for heaven, God save Trump from the shooter, all of it.
This all raises a very obvious question.
If you believe in this kind of thing.
If God could save anyone.
and chose to save Trump from that bullet, why didn't he save Charlie Kerr now implicitly to logical and critical thinkers?
It would suggest, well, God thought Trump was worth saving, but not Charlie Kirk.
That's a really ugly and difficult thing to come to believe and to think if God is all powerful and all knowing and gets involved in moving bullets around and determines the trajectory and path of any bullet.
He chose to save Trump, but not Charlie Kirk.
Will people feel confident?
Now, if you present that to people like Eric Trump who are religious or pretend to be, I still don't buy that the Trump family is religious.
They were never religious.
All of a sudden, religion was something they took on as part of their political persona because they were trying to win as Republicans.
But put that aside.
If you ask Eric or another believer about it.
They will often go, no, no, no, no.
You can't say that, David.
God works in mysterious ways.
God may be using Trump one way and is using Charlie Kirk a different way.
God has a plan.
that they can go and vote their conscience without repercussions and without blowback.
The plan includes Trump alive, but Charlie Kirk dead.
Oh, OK.
But what about like the fact that the killing of Charlie Kirk has devastated his loved ones, his wife, his children?
God has a plan.
You can't question it.
It's mysterious.
Got it.
OK.
And if God's plan was to save Trump.
Why not just make the gun jam up rather than leaving it to chance of Trump turning his head?
Or why not prevent the shooter from even being born?
Or why not?
You know, with Trump, God allowed the bullet to miss Trump, but to kill a completely innocent guy, Corey Comparatore, who is standing behind Donald Trump.
Why?
And it's like, yeah, OK, that's all true.
God works in mysterious ways.
You can't question it.
You can't ask about it.
Now, I'm going to be honest.
To me, this is all nonsense.
But there are religious people who have a much more sensible take on this.
And I've heard it.
Not all of the religious people do that.
No, God allowed everything up to the lead up of Trump being shot, but then prevented the bullet from killing him, but allowed Charlie Kirk to be killed.
God works in mysterious ways.
Now, there are religious people who are quite sensible on this and they go, listen, David,
But there is a much bigger story than this in a sane world which we don't have.
I believe in God.
I believe in a higher power.
But God simply is not involved in the minutia like this, not in the day to day.
It's just God is not involved in it.
And that's why you can't apply that agency in this way.
That at least solves for this problem.
But I would love to hear from some of the folks who insist, no, no, no.
God is involved in the minutia.
God did prevent the bullet from killing Trump, but allowed it to kill a random innocent guy behind him.
And of course, by definition, God allowed Charlie Kirk to be killed as well.
Here's my explanation for why I want to hear from some of those folks.
Genuinely, I do.
We're going to take a quick break and be right back.
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MAGA would get zero votes in 2026.
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Donald Trump has already packed his second term cabinet with loyalists.
He's threatened deportation as political punishment.
He's expanded executive authority in ways we have not seen in modern history.
The United States is humiliated globally.
These are real changes that are happening right now.
And what's even more alarming is that a lot of the media is either glossing over the worst of it or they're reframing it.
So it all sounds a little more palatable.
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It is great to have back on the show today, Congressman Jake Auchincloss representing Massachusetts fourth congressional district.
It's great to have you back on there.
There's so much to talk about.
I want to first maybe take your temperature on the shutdown.
and then go into some some related issues.
You if I understand your position correctly, you've said Democrats shouldn't just cave and reopen the government and that the some of the structural reforms, the health care subsidies, some of these other things are important.
How do you balance that with the fact that the shutdown also has negative impacts on people?
And how do you decide where you land ultimately?
We were told prices will come down, but they're up.
We were promised massive growth, but we don't have it.
Trump's lying about prices again.
We've got this disastrous deportation campaign.
We're denying people due process.
Do you think shutdowns are ever appropriate to use as leverage or would you rather see shutdowns done away with altogether?
I mean, not every government in some places, if you if the government gets to the point where it's going to shut down, there's an automatic call for elections, for example.
By we, I mean the Trump administration on health care.
And there are very real repercussions for the lawmakers that allow that to happen.
I mean, what what's your sense if we zoom out, understanding that you never want a shutdown?
Supposedly, we were going to get people health care, Trump said.
But millions are at risk of losing care.
So in a world that made sense,
MAGA would all lose in 2026, but it's going to be close.
That makes a lot of sense.
And my instinct is that my audience is going to respond quite, quite favorably to that sort of ancillary or tangential to the shutdown is the issue surrounding the election of your forthcoming colleague, Adelita Grijalva.
They might even be able to keep control of the House.
Now, we're going to be talking to her tomorrow on the show.
I'm curious, is there anything you can tell us that's happening behind the scenes with your colleagues?
And you don't have to name anybody, but just generally where there is an acknowledgment that a lot of the attempt to delay her swearing in is related to her expected vote on the Epstein files, which would be to release rather than to cover up.
Now, how is this possible?
Is that really a salient matter to your Republican colleagues?
As far as you know, is that at play here and why they're playing these games?
It's easy.
The low effort.
explanation is dumb MAGA voters.
And some awkward theological questions come up when Eric Trump says God saved Trump from the shooter's bullet.
Now, are there dumb voters?
Of course we we've gone out and talked to a lot of them.
Ultimately, Grijalva is going to be sworn in.
Ultimately, they're going to get the vote.
What is the play then in order to try to delay if eventually it's going to come out?
There are a lot of really dumb, uninformed people there.
They vote based on beliefs that don't comport with reality, don't comport with the facts.
I want to zoom out a little and this is the last sort of general area I want to talk about.
If we just look historically, Republicans having taken the White House in 2024, the 26 midterms should be pretty good for your party.
The country twice failed a national IQ test voting to elect Donald Trump twice.
At the same time, we have, number one, some polling concerns as to the status of the Democratic Party right now.
Number two, the Supreme Court is going to be hearing this case that could impact potentially as many as 19 currently blue seats, which could turn red depending on how that shakes out.
Governor Newsom, who we recently had on and we'll be talking to again, has prop 50 going in California to try to mitigate some of this.
The point here is a midterm that really should be pretty good for your party may not be so.
And one of the things I keep hearing from my audience is, you know, David, I know that Republicans are offering me a proverbial rotten meal.
But then I hear from Democrats and even if they've got a nice meal, they're certainly not explaining why it's better in ways that are emotionally salient.
And we saw this in the exit polls of 24, which was a lot of voters weren't really convinced that what was better for the average middle class voter was Kamala Harris rather than Donald Trump.
And by the way, almost in 2020 as well.
Are you and your colleagues behind the scenes sort of acknowledging, hey, our messaging is not necessarily getting through?
We have a problem here.
What do we do?
Like, I think my voters want to hear about like if the platform is that much better, why is something in the communication not functioning well?
But if you stop the analysis at voters are dumb, while it is often true, it is not nearly enough.
And saying voters are dumb isn't going to help you win in the same way that just insisting the economy is fine when a lot of people said it doesn't feel fine to me.
So in your mind, the communication maybe could use some improvement, but it's also a core of ideas that really will make people's lives better.
That you are you saying that those ideas have been missing or that they haven't been conceived in a way that's salient to people?
That doesn't win.
Just saying these voters are dumb is not going to be enough to win.
All right, Congressman Jake Auchincloss, I hope that more of your colleagues are thinking along these same lines.
And I know that some are and we've and we've spoken to many of them.
Always appreciate your time.
And we'll talk to you again.
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Donald Trump did something really weird.
He publicly sided with Hamas, or at least he's saying he prefers Hamas over rival Gaza gangs.
Let me explain what's going on here, because it's very interesting in the wake of the Israeli Gaza.
deal, I hesitate to call it a peace deal since really none of the underlying conflict is resolved.
But in the wake of that deal, something started to happen that often happens, which is that Hamas has started to reassert control in the Gaza Strip.
Now, this is not about whether Benjamin Netanyahu is good.
He's not.
This is not about whether Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory are legal.
They are illegal by international law.
What I'm talking about here is about something that often happens.
Think back to when Biden executed Donald Trump's plan to leave Afghanistan.
The Taliban came in and started to reassert control.
And Trump attacked Biden for that, even though it would have happened if Trump had carried out the plan.
It happens often.
We have something analogous to that happening in Gaza right now, which is that there is reporting that Hamas has been killing Palestinian opponents in Gaza City's main square.
These are like public executions that are taking place.
These are fights between Hamas and local militias who do not like Hamas.
Got it.
So Trump is asked about this.
And what does he say?
He goes, well, you know, some of those militias, he calls them gangs.
Some of them are bad people.
And I'm OK with this.
They said, OK, I don't think what Trump's offering is good for me.
is one of the safest cities in the country.
It was one of the...
So understand that Donald Trump is supporting Hamas here.
After all of this, Trump is saying, I like Hamas more than those militias.
Good for them.
Glad to see them doing that.
But the context of this entire deal, this entire conflict for years has been Hamas is bad and needs to be removed.
Period.
Hamas being in control, reasserting control.
would indicate a failure in resolving the problems that Trump identified in that region.
Trump's whole play has been or has become.
Now, if a group does something useful for me, I'll praise them, even if what that is is killing people in public.
But I don't at all believe that Democrats are necessarily better.
Now, normally, when a group like Hamas is reestablishing control.
The international goal is demilitarization.
Endorsing what they're doing, which is what Trump is doing here, is pretty crazy.
You don't tend to see that.
And the standard post-conflict policy usually calls for either.
You know, sometimes you see independent security forces under international supervision.
human rights monitors, aid that is sometimes tied to disarmament.
The point is prevent exactly what we are now seeing, which is one faction executing rivals in the town square while claiming, hey, we're here to restore order.
When Trump publicly sides with Hamas.
Now, we might say, well, that's wrong, but that gets to the problem of Democrats in communicating.
Trump is signaling that authoritarian control is better than a Democratic transition.
And it is the same mistake that the United States made when it empowered the Taliban to stabilize Afghanistan, which is a short term win.
with a long term disaster.
Now, the irony here, if there is any and this is actually tragic to even say irony, it seems sort of like we're minimizing.
But there's a sick irony that Trump's own rhetoric
undercuts his strong on terror branding.
American law designates Hamas as a terrorist organization.
Now, you could say, well, is that is that right?
Is that fair?
I know there are some in my audience who go, no, Hamas is not a terrorist organization or they're no more terroristic than the idea for.
Put that aside for a second.
The internal logic of it is the U.S.
has designated Hamas a terrorist organization and no sitting president has ever described violence by that group in positive terms.
So as bad as Republicans are right now, you also have to be looking at the people that can't clearly make the case that they're better.
So when he goes, well, I do like Hamas more than the militias, he is contradicting decades of bipartisan foreign policy and telegraphing that actually ideology doesn't matter to him.
Who's winning at the moment?
And is that useful to him?
And so not that Trump could.
Trump's credibility on this conflict couldn't be lower, just like Netanyahu's credibility on the conflict couldn't be lower.
But Trump saying, I like what Hamas is doing with public killings with no due process is not something I had on my bingo card.
During a speech where Donald Trump was supposed to be awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Charlie Kirk, he went on a rant about Los Angeles wildfires.
The reality, of course, as he continues to blame Gavin Newsom.
is that the Pacific Northwest is not connected to California's water system.
There aren't valves to open up.
Gavin Newsom hasn't blocked water or any of it.
And that's the Democratic Party.
Now, the unfortunate reality
is that Trump continues to insist that Gavin Newsom is doing something here that is preventing water from getting down.
Imagine if someone comes to you and says, do you want this rotten hamburger?
I'm actually going to play the clip for you of what Donald Trump had to say about this.
And you might notice that this sounds a little bit familiar at this point.
All right.
So Trump is repeating again the water, the water from the Pacific Northwest.
This is completely made up.
And Gavin Newsom, again, he's clearly had enough.
He is dropping another Trump dementia bomb where Gavin Newsom posted asking a chat bot
We might say you've got to be an idiot to take the rotten hamburger.
Is not having a sense of reality a symptom of dementia?
And the answer from the chat bot is yes.
But didn't save Charlie Kirk.
Losing a sense of reality, such as perceiving things that aren't real or believing things that aren't true, can indeed be a symptom of dementia.
Trump is so triggered by Gavin Newsom
that he then went out and said, oh, he's got to get his act together.
Well, if what's alternative to that is a nice, beautiful, ripe banana or a beautiful meatball Parmesan, it would be easy to convince anybody.
But, you know, anyway, once again, this is all completely made up.
So here's the theme that's going on right now.
Governors and members of the Senate are regularly saying the president is suffering from dementia.
Governor Gavin Newsom has now said it multiple times.
Governor J.B.
Pritzker has said it multiple times.
Senator Ruben Gallego said it last week.
This is the bigger story.
Trump's public appearances are getting stranger every week.
He repeats himself.
He invents geography that doesn't comport with maps.
He stumbles through half finished sentences.
Those who have been tracking his speech patterns say there's a continued deterioration.
His language skills are declining.
His motor skills are declining.
His vocabulary is declining.
And at times he can't complete a thought.
And now he's obsessed with rambling about imaginary water pipes or invisible valves that have nothing to do with Gavin Newsom.
And Newsom is turning it into political strategy by going, this guy has dementia.
I believe that Republicans are noticing this.
It's impossible not to.
But the cult is so strong that for now they are mostly staying silent.
Don't go with a rotten burger.
My question to you, what will it take for Republicans to finally start talking about this?
Let me know what you think.
You often hear it said that young Republicans are a new kind of Republican.
They're not racist.
They're not xenophobic.
Look what I have.
They're not anti-Semitic.
They're not focused on social issues.
They're not focused on culture wars.
They care about their job prospects and what education costs and economics.
I've got this meatball Parmesan.
That half baked hypothesis was just blown up by what I'm calling the I love Hitler leaks exposing young Republican leaders.
This is from a private telegram chat.
where people running state chapters of the young Republicans are joking about gas chambers, rape, slavery, Hitler calling black people monkeys, referring to Jews as liars, joking about murdering political opponents.
But if you see people choosing the rotten burger, a sensible person would say, wait a second, wait a second.
And one of them, Peter Ginta, is the chair of the New York state.
Young Republicans wrote, I love Hitler in the chat.
We have a bunch of the different images here.
You're giving nationals too much credit and expecting the Jew to be honest.
That sounds kind of weird.
Everyone that votes no is going to the gas chamber.
Great.
I love Hitler.
I'd go to the zoo if I wanted to watch monkeys play ball.
They love the watermelon people.
Everyone that endorsed but then votes for us is going to the gas chamber.
This girl is fully our deed.
OK, these are not anonymous trolls.
These are not faceless people in some sub Reddit using a username that's letters and numbers randomly put together.
If I am struggling to talk people out of a rotten burger, I've got to look at what I'm offering.
These are state chairs, vice chairs, legislative staffers and reportedly at least one Trump administration official.
Now, some of them have apologized.
Some of them are saying, oh, my comments were taken out of context.
But we have 3000 pages of chat logs and 250 different slurs that were used.
These are the people positioning themselves to be the next generation of Republican leaders.
And the party's response has mostly been damage control.
Elise Stefanik, who previously praised this Junta guy's leadership, is now saying, oh, people need to resign.
Now, others are saying these chats might have been doctored.
There's no evidence of that.
This is where you get when you built a movement on cruelty and grievance and you give it to the younger generation.
And while this was breaking, the rest of the Republican Party wasn't exactly doing cleanup duty.
Trump was threatening to violently disarm Hamas while also praising Hamas for public executions.
JD Vance was attacking George Stephanopoulos for asking him legitimate questions and re asking them when he was unwilling to answer them.
Why isn't everybody saying we like what you have?
Trump was sending 20 billion dollars in taxpayer money to bail out Argentina.
So the point here is the broader picture is a party that's rotting from the inside out.
And then you look at the next generation that's up and coming and you go, wow, these people somehow seem to be even worse.
So when you hear Republicans talk about the future of the party, they don't have new ideas.
They don't have better leadership.
It's repackaged hate, racism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia on Telegram.
Now, it's up to them.
Right.
We can say, oh, there have to be consequences.
This is their people.
These are their people that they are the ones who need to figure out what to do.
Do we have a great sandwich and we don't know how to sell it?
Now, you're going to hear from the oh, but what about free speech?
They're just speaking.
This is all about consequences to speech.
This is not a First Amendment issue.
I lost my job for my conservative beliefs.
That's what they're going to go to.
If a conservative value is I love Hitler,
then there might be consequences to that.
But this is not an issue of the First Amendment.
This is an issue of consequences to the things that you say.
And this is who Republicans have coming up in their leadership.
Well, maybe or maybe our sandwich is rotten, too.
Terrifying, disgusting stuff.
We will talk, by the way, on the bonus show today about the Argentina bailout.
We will talk about what's going on with gun crime cases, which are mostly being ignored in lieu of the immigration crackdown.
And we'll get into more detail about the Voting Rights Act case before the Supreme Court.
Gavin Newsom is also reigniting the Trump has dementia campaign and the explosive.
All of those stories are on today's bonus.
Oh, the bonus show where you want to make money.
Everybody else that makes money to fund themselves is bad.
If Alex Jones hates anything, it's the bonus show.
We will see you then.
You can sign up at join Pacman dot com.
I'll also be back tomorrow.
And that's why people are struggling to pick between the rotten burger and our rotten sandwich.
The consequences of this.
could get very ugly, I believe.
And I I was thinking back midterm by midterm.
I believe that this is the most consequential midterm that we are coming up against here in decades, by far the most consequential that I have covered, because Democrats should win based on historical precedent.
Republicans should lose even not considering the disaster of MAGA.
If we have a situation where having won with Republicans, having won in 2024, Democrats are sort of up for winning based on historical precedent.
Plus, Trump is destroying the country.
If Democrats were still to lose, we've got to take a look and say, what the hell is going on here?
So I'm extraordinarily concerned.
I know that many of you are as well.
I love Hitler leaks from young Republicans.
What do you believe Democrats need to do in order to convince voters that they do actually have something that's better if you believe that they do?
And maybe some in our audience don't.
I want to hear from you.
Info at David Pakman dot com.
There is helicopter footage out of Chicago that shows Trump's federal goons using tear gas on protesters.
But they're also hitting local police officers with it before they peel out of the neighborhood in their vehicles like a paramilitary drive by.
We've got video here that we will look at as I sort of explain what's going on.
Plus, we will talk to Congressman Jake Ockencloss and much more if you'll allow it all on today's show.
Now, all of this started when Border Patrol agents, not local police, Border Patrol agents chased an SUV through a residential street in the southeast side of Chicago.
Part of it depends on a forthcoming Supreme Court decision about voting rights.
They rammed the car using what's called the pit maneuver.
This is a move that a lot of police departments it's considered so dangerous that many police departments ban it.
People have died from the pit maneuver.
If you watched police chases 20 years ago, it was relatively common, much less so now.
The crash sent the suspects flying out of the car.
They were caught.
But what happened next really is where things started to fall apart.
Residents started to gather after federal agents reportedly chased and crashed into an SUV in the neighborhood.
Neighbors came outside.
Parents, kids, seniors.
They watched agents with assault rifles surround the area.
And then you see the smoke grenades.
You see the pepper balls.
You see the tear gas.
Chicago police say a bunch of their own officers were disabled by the gas.
They were there trying to calm things down.
Think about that.
Trump's federal agents tear gas Chicago cops.
The mayor of Chicago doesn't want the federal agents there.
The governor of Illinois, J.B.
Pritzker, doesn't want the federal agents there.
You look at the individual witness stories, a teenage girl hit in the head with a canister
A 15 year old boy, not that it matters, but happens to be an American citizen, detained, handcuffed, held for five hours without even being allowed to call mommy.
His lawyers say he was kept in a garage by masked agents.
A 15 year old.
Now, this is not an isolated incident.
The Chicago Tribune Tribune reports that this was the third time in just weeks that federal agents have deployed tear gas in Chicago neighborhoods.
This includes near a school, according to NBC Chicago.
This entire operation may have been illegal, violating a federal court order from just last week, which bans officers from using tear gas or chemical weapons, except if it's a life and death situation.
All right.
I don't think you can look at that and honestly say that it's a life and death situation.
And to recap here, federal agents under Trump chasing immigrants through city streets, crashing into a car, tear gassing a neighborhood, injuring kids and cops and violating a federal court order in the process.
Democrats are facing a possible loss of 19 currently held Democratic seats in 2026.
This is what authoritarian drift looks like.
They talk about law and order.
We will let's get the lawless Biden administration out and we will finally restore law and order.
And then not only do you deny people due process and all of these other things that we've been covering for the last nine months, you then send federal agents into cities to restore calm, except that's not what they're doing.
They're escalating the conflict.
Authoritarian propaganda.
has as a hallmark, as a typical characteristic that you create chaos, you blame the chaos you created on your enemies and you justify the chaos you created to do even more cracking down.
So Trump's DHS shows up.
They provoke residents, they gas the crowd and cops, and then they go, look at how chaotic this is.
We need to do even more.
We need more troops here.
We have more justification to keep doing it.
Now, if this sounds familiar, it's because it's a classic from Republicans.
That would make it pretty difficult to take back the House.
We don't like Social Security.
Let's screw up Social Security and then go, look, this is terrible.
We've got to privatize it.
We've got to get rid of it.
They don't like the post office.
So they go, hey, let's screw up the post office, put in place a postmaster general who doesn't like the post office, make it function poorly.
And then we go, look.
FedEx and UPS would do a much better job.
Let's get rid of USPS and let's privatize it.
Or with Obamacare, they don't like Obamacare.
They go, OK, we can't get rid of Obamacare.
And taking back the House is the most immediate, important and robust bulwark against the MAGA and Trump agenda.
Let's defund Obamacare.
Let's get rid of the individual mandate, which makes it mathematically insolvent.
And then we can go, look, it's not working so well.
We've got to get rid of it.
Well, it's not working so well because of what you did.
This is a classic of authoritarian propaganda.
It is bringing violence and chaos to our streets.
And even governors seem unable to keep these folks out.
So where will we be three months from now?
Will this be over or will we have San Francisco and Baltimore and all of the other cities that Trump's been threatening to go to overrun with federal agents, masked federal agents, often not identifying themselves, running rampant and terrorizing communities?
I don't know where we're going to be, but we've got to make sure everybody sees what's going on.
So please make sure to share this video if you're watching on YouTube.
Leave a comment.
I want to hear your thoughts.
We'll take a quick break
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Well, in the midst of the good news about hostages being released in Israel and Gaza, Donald Trump's latest trip abroad went exactly how you would expect a complete and total humiliation.
But even George W. Bush
It was.
And what's interesting about that is that Trump again seems completely unaware of his own presidency between what happened between Obama and Biden.
Well, Trump was president for four years and whatever failed accomplishments he's pointing to Obama and Biden for, he should also apply to himself.
did not attempt to become one and he didn't flatter dictators around the world.
Now, I do think it's important.
I know most of you get this.
This deal.
does not resolve the Israeli Palestinian conflict.
I know you all know that.
But just to sort of like get it on the record, we still don't have resolution with regard to a durable Palestinian state.
I continue to say that under Netanyahu, we are not going to seriously get long term peace because it is not in his interests.
We do not have the blockade resolved.
We don't have the status of Jerusalem result.
We don't.
Nothing has been resolved, hopefully.
I mean, we
Hopefully these immediate hostilities are really coming to an end.
But there is a long way to go here.
And Donald Trump, of course, conveniently ignoring history there.
We will have much more about this and Trump's trip on today's podcast.
Bush was terrible.
If you're just watching a YouTube clip right now, obviously, like the video and hit subscribe.
But remember that you can get my full audio podcast on Spotify, Apple podcasts or wherever you prefer to get your podcasts.
Don't go in there, David.
Have you ever
Are you saying Bush was good?
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Well, the hits just didn't stop this weekend.
Donald Trump giving an incoherent speech as sweat poured down his face at the signing of the Israeli Gaza deal.
Other world leaders visibly horrified.
And of course, one of the themes that persists around Trump.
Praise of dictators.
Earlier, we talked about Donald Trump sucking up to Al-Sisi from Egypt and then Donald Trump on Hungary's or as he calls it, Hungary.
What's on his mind?
He praised dictators.
Hungary's Orban talking about how great and fantastic he is.
You will notice that both Italian and British leaders, Maloney and Starmer, Starmer look
uncomfortable as Donald Trump praises yet another authoritarian, another authoritarian.
And Starmer looks like he is in pain.
He looks like he's realizing the Clams Casino might have been a day overdone.
This this is just ugly, ugly stuff.
They have no crime here.
And we'll be at one point, as you can see here, Starmer even leaning away from Trump.
I mean, doing anything he can to add centimeters of distance between the two of them.
And the big theme here was that the prime minister of Italy, Giorgio Maloney,
maybe looked more uncomfortable than anyone I've seen.
Worse even than when Chris Christie was forced to stand behind Donald Trump after endorsing him in 2016.
She looks like she would take the first jet plane out of the planet off the planet if she could.
He sweated and babbled through speeches.
By the way, Canada has a prime minister.
Of course, Carney is the prime minister, not the president.
And the look on Maloney's face really says it all.
I mean, she she looks like she caught a whiff of Trump's diaper and does not like what she
what she smells.
And then there was another moment during which the leader of Pakistan, Sharif, was fluffing Trump about next year's Nobel Peace Prize.
And once again, Maloney is just like, what is going on here?
It would be too on the nose to even be a Saturday Night Live skit.
What is going on here?
And then, of course, Trump's two prisms of importance are loyalty and physical attractiveness.
And he starts talking about Maloney's looks and she doesn't exactly look thrilled.
And Keir Starmer looks extraordinarily uncomfortable here very much.
She has the one of those moments where she is saying, how did this become my life?
And then finally, her facial expressions basically say it all as Donald Trump wraps up this disastrous speech.
And this is the exact moment where her soul left her body and went somewhere where Donald Trump isn't one of the most embarrassing and delusional speeches I have maybe ever seen Donald Trump give.
and seeing the real time reactions from his cohorts and contemporaries in other countries really makes you think, might we have been better off with Kamala Harris?
Marco Rubio made a nearly terminal mistake in Donald in front of Donald Trump.
During this meeting in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, for the signing of the Israel Gaza deal, Marco Rubio made a critical mistake, which is in praising Trump.
He wasn't quite effusive enough.
And it got Donald Trump to say, wait a second, that's it, Marco.
And Marco quickly does a good boy.
Some people think that brutal authoritarianism, it's not so nice, but I think it's absolutely great.
And he goes, no, no, no.
I'm going to say even more about you.
Only 50 years, Marco, is that what you're going with?
Think carefully.
Think carefully.
And Marco quickly goes, well, maybe this is one of the most important days in 100 years.
You know, it's all a joke.
It's all fun and games, except it's kind of not with Donald Trump.
It's a perfect snapshot of the Trump dynamic.
He managed to insult entire countries and their leaders.
No matter how much you flatter the guy, it is never enough.
And so Marco Rubio scrambles to recover.
No, no, no.
I meant 100 like a dog begging for approval.
And people laugh.
But that's the laughter of fear.
It's the laughter of, you know, everyone knows you can't under praise Trump without consequences.
And it's like a hostage video moment.
Politicians around Trump have learned.
And Trump continuing to wax poetic about brutal authoritarianism.
How do we overcompensate for his ego?
50 years?
No.
100 years.
A thousand years.
The Republican Party has devolved into a praise cult.
Accuracy doesn't matter.
Humility isn't seen positively.
Reality doesn't matter.
Devotion to Trump is the only thing that matters.
And every single Republican who survived politically under Trump has had to master the ritual.
You either go crazy with the praise or you risk perishing politically.
Only 50.
It shows that despite all of Trump's bravado, there is this insecurity that is pushing in along the edges.
He needs the validation, even in completely trivial ways related to offhanded comments.
He can't even let a compliment stand.
if it is not a grandiose enough compliment.
Marco Rubio identified it.
You can't.
Rubio is not stupid.
He knows what the stakes are here.
And if you're not seen as effusively praising Trump enough, you could be in jeopardy.
And Rubio does his best to clean it up.
Donald Trump has now admitted very clearly what we have suspected for a long time.
He likes his press secretary, Caroline Leavitt, primarily for the two reasons that are most important to Donald Trump.
unending loyalty to the degree of a cult follower.
And that is Caroline Leavitt.
She is unendingly loyal to Trump like a devoted cultist.
And number two, Trump finds her physically attractive.
These are the most valuable traits to Donald Trump.
That is what makes people valuable.
And Trump, when asked about possibly replacing Leavitt, once again starts talking about her machine gun lips.
Oh, my goodness.
This is not the first time that Donald Trump has talked about those lips, that face when it comes to Caroline Levin, just in the speech in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.
Part of 90 percent of what he said he liked about the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Maloney, was that she's beautiful, a beautiful young woman.
According to Donald Trump, he is making it very clear he is very attracted to Caroline Leavitt, and that is worth its weight in gold when it comes to job security under Donald Trump.
Now, a couple of other wacky moments during this impromptu press conversation.
This was on the plane home from the Middle East.
Donald Trump asked if he has a message for J.B.
Pritzker.
This was his message.
Pritzker.
And then finally, Trump doubling down.
He's just so impressed with how little crime Egypt has, which, as we know, authoritarian regimes often have very little crime.
But that doesn't mean that they are great places to live.
By the way, I hate to already interrupt.
This is another one of Trump's things.
Just a week and a half ago, the French president was walking all over New York City.
In fact, there's video.
A street was blocked.
And so Macron got out of his vehicle and just walked to wherever their meeting was, obviously with his with his security.
But it was fine.
It was completely fine and safe and not a problem.
And part of the story that's being told, you have to understand is that in talking about how great and safe it is in authoritarian countries, Trump is subsequently justifying authoritarianism here in the United States in order to make D.C.
He is such a he's such an authoritarian down to his bones that he loves the whole thing where the political leader
Chicago, Portland.
I don't even remember the full list of New York, the full list of cities at this point, Baltimore.
In order to make those cities safe, he's got to be an authoritarian, just like in Egypt and North Korea.
There's no crime in North Korea.
Oh, cool.
Well, why doesn't anybody want to go there?
This is an old trope and a terrifying trope.
But Trump is not letting up on it.
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also is the general.
Vice President J.D.
Vance got himself kicked off of George Stephanopoulos show.
He was repeatedly asked, did Tom Homan take the fifty thousand dollars and J.D.
Vance delivering really a clinic in disinformation and how not to answer a question?
He's doing all the things that we've studied before.
This is this is like an an academically instructive example.
He tries to answer a question that isn't the one that was asked.
He likes it in North Korea with Kim Jong Un.
He plays semantics games.
He attacks the interviewer.
He attacks the entire institution and he attacks the media more broadly.
And one of J.D.
's weaknesses that I think you'll see here is that he tries to act a little too slick when he does this stuff and he comes off as too patronizing.
Take a look at this.
This is this is a just I don't know that there's a better example.
He's very impressed with this sort of blending of civil and military leadership that you see in dictatorships.
Now, remember, the question was, did he take the money or give it back?
Answer.
He didn't take a bribe.
Now we are talking about a distinction that is about whether the money counts as a bribe.
This is a different question than the one that George asked.
Now he's doing a pivot.
So first is answer a different question than the one asked, then pivot to something different.
You know, interestingly, Venezuela kind of has the same thing.
Notice that again, he's answering a question that wasn't asked.
Has he accepted money for services?
The question is, did he accept the fifty thousand at issue here on camera, on recording that the FBI was investigating?
But Venezuela, Trump doesn't like it's just who he likes at the end of the day.
Now he's starting to attack George.
This is now part four of this.
If you don't know what he did, how do you know it wasn't a crime?
And of course, it's been two and a half minutes.
But importantly, the reason it's going on this long is J.D.
Vance won't answer the question.
This is a classic shift the blame.
Not I won't answer a simple question five times.
You won't stop asking me about it.
And of course, George is not insinuating anything.
He's just trying to figure out, do you acknowledge that he took the money?
No, I said that I don't have next will be and gone just kick some off the show.
Every single interviewer should treat these guys like this.
If there's a criticism here of Stephanopoulos is that he actually should have jumped in more quickly and said, ah, not the question I asked, Mr. Vice President, let me ask the question again and see if you want to take another shot at it.
The governors should be more like the brutal dictator that runs Egypt.
And one of the things about J.D.
Vance, these are not novel techniques and like media trainers will tell you.
Reframe the question to one that's more favorable to you.
Did he take the money?
He didn't take a bribe.
OK, classic example.
Pivot elsewhere.
This is really about people upset that Tom Homan is doing great work, kicking people out of the country or whatever.
Go back at the person asking you the question.
He's doing all the things that you're trained to do, although some media trainers would say don't attack the person asking the question.
It sort of depends on the environment.
But the problem for J.D.
is that he comes off too condescending.
He comes off patronizing.
He comes off too slick with his whole I don't even know what you're talking about.
I'm sure he's been paid money for work that he's done over his career.
No, no, no.
That's not what we're talking about.
Good for George Stephanopoulos.
Now, understand who Donald Trump is talking about here.
He could have done even better.
And this is how you've got to deal with these people.
Something is off.
with Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.
She's making a little bit of sense.
And when Marjorie Taylor Greene is making a little bit of sense, it's one of two things.
She's either glitching
or the the universe itself must be collapsing in on itself.
She's suddenly making sense about some issues.
He's talking about Abdel Fattah Said Hussein Khalil El-Sisi.
She's talking about inflation and wages and the Epstein files and discharge petitions.
This is all stuff that she normally butchers.
Is Marjorie Taylor bring green breaking with MAGA or does she just care about these specific issues?
Is she angling for reelection and thinks this is the way to do it?
Here's Marjorie Taylor Greene on CNN talking about the Epstein files.
And she says, listen, Adelita Grijalva has been elected.
She's eventually going to be sworn in.
They're eventually going to have the votes on the Epstein files.
I just know him as Fatah, but others know him as Abdel Fattah Said Hussein Khalil El-Sisi.
Listen, she is being sensible here.
And what this suggests to me is that a lot of the right wing nonsense we hear is performative.
This is a brutal dictator.
Now, we've had this conversation on the show before.
Would it be worse if they were really as dumb as they appear to be?
Or would it be worse if they were only pretending because they thought that that was the best way to curry political favor and support?
At least with Marjorie Taylor Greene, I am starting to suspect that much of her public facing persona is performative.
She is actually describing the procedural situation accurately.
in a country with sham elections.
That is rare for her.
And it's weird to hear her sound like a legislator.
She is frustrated because the leadership that she once supported doesn't have a plan and they are slowly losing control.
She's not really rebelling against Donald Trump, at least not yet.
But she's clearly annoyed to a degree with how ungovernable MAGA has become.
Now, there was another interesting segment.
She was on Tim Dillon's podcast.
I believe Tim Dillon's a comedian primarily.
And he asked her, what about Trump's administration and just doing things to improve the average person's life?
He disappears his opposition.
And Marjorie Taylor Greene, with some inaccuracies, gives a pretty good assessment of where we are.
Take a listen to this.
He tortures his opposition for spreading, quote, false news for insulting the state and the regime that Donald Trump is proudly and gleefully praising.
Marjorie Taylor Greene is mostly right about everything she said there.
Now, inflation isn't really stabilizing.
Inflation's actually slowly been ticking up in the nine months since Donald Trump became president.
But she's mostly right now where I would go back at her is to say, you know, Marjorie,
You don't really have a functional plan for bringing prices down the way you said that Trump was going to back when you were supporting him during his campaign.
You don't really have a solution to a lot of the problems that you're identifying.
It's the Democratic Party that is at least proposing some solutions.
They may not be perfect.
They may not be politically viable.
We are learning when Republicans control everything.
But at least the Biden administration came in, identified real problems.
had proposals, some of which they were able to succeed with and get through and some of which they were not.
Still, though, still, this is a different Marjorie Taylor Greene.
This is a very different environment in which we find ourselves, where she is making a lot more sense.
Now, there's a cynical sort of interpretation of this, which is she hasn't really had any change of heart.
for its low crime gained power through a coup and subsequent Rabah massacre of a thousand or more unarmed protesters over a decade ago, the Muqabarat disappears and tortures people
She just plays the same loyalty games as Trump.
And as it seems that Donald Trump, to a degree, has stepped away from being associated with the Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert types, she is just shifting her loyalties, even though she has always held these beliefs.
I would almost argue that that's worse.
If you find someone who's just wrong about stuff, right, like if you find a Republican who just I don't know, he or she thinks tax cuts for the rich are good for the economy.
OK, they're they're they're wrong about that.
Maybe we could lead them to the evidence and they might change their mind because they get information that they don't currently have.
OK, we can at least deal with that in a way, maybe not successfully most of the time, but we know what to do if you find someone who knows what the truth is.
but is committed to publicly doing whatever is going to get them the most attention or get them cozied up with whoever's in power.
You can't really talk them out of that in the same way.
They're not lacking information.
They're just lacking.
an honest presentation of who they are and what they should be doing.
So listen, I don't know how far this Marjorie Taylor Greene thing is going to go publicly facing.
She's done a 180 privately.
I don't know what's going on, but it is interesting.
And my view has continued, has been and continues to be.
She's not a progressive.
She's not a friend of the left.
But where our interests overlap, which might be pointing out that this administration has been terrible for the average American, we should be able to go and say,
Even Marjorie Taylor Greene understands and acknowledges this.
I'm sure we disagree with her about abortion.
I'm sure we disagree with her about education and a whole bunch of other stuff.
But even she can't deny what is so obviously in front of our faces.
X. That's what I think the left should do with it.
Let me know what you think.
Info at David Pakman dot com.
A pending Supreme Court case could strip our Fourth Amendment rights and allow immigration agents to come into our homes for any reason.
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All while Republicans try to twist things so that you think this is all great for America.
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All right.
We've got a major Donald Trump health update after he spent about three hours at Walter Reed Medical Center a few days ago.
Not coming as a surprise to you, I am sure the White House says that Donald Trump is in excellent and exceptional health.
Donald Trump received the flu shot and the covid shot, which, by the way, is interesting in and of itself, given that the guy he hired as secretary of Health and Human Services thinks that the covid shot should be pulled off the market altogether.
Trump seems to love RFK.
Then he went, got himself that covid shot.
This was Donald Trump's third publicized medical checkup in about a year.
And Trump just loves it.
He went in April.
He went in July.
Those also were excellent and awesome.
And you might remember that after the July evaluation, they, quote, came clean on Donald Trump's chronic venous insufficiency.
Now, what's funny to me.
is a major health update about the president's health status from the White House would be really valuable to us if it didn't feel like it was all completely made up and useless information designed to deceive everybody as to Donald Trump's actual physical state.
And here he is romanticizing when they first met.
Like, for example, one of the things that came out of this Donald Trump
physical or examination is his cardiac age is 14 years younger than his chronological age.
In other words, Trump is 79, but he has the cardiac health of a 65 year old.
Wow.
Oh, well, he sounds so healthy.
Right.
The only problems are he's obese.
His hands are turning black.
His fluid buildup in the lower legs is getting worse and worse.
He has extreme difficulty climbing stairs, eats a terrible diet and doesn't exercise.
But lo and behold, his health is exceptional.
Wow.
What a what an incredible day.
And don't believe your eyes.
Don't believe what you see.
Don't believe what he sounds like.
Don't believe what he looks like.
Simply acknowledge he's 14 years younger than his chronological age from the standpoint of cardiac health.
CNN did a piece about him.
I have to admit, there's actually a at least they're mentioning some of the apparent health problems that he's having.
Hey, finally, Jake Tapper, after I asked him on my show, why aren't you talking about his hands and ankles?
Now he's finally talking about it.
I struggle to believe those numbers, by the way.
All right.
I got to say, they're at least hitting a lot of the highlights.
And this is something that corporate media has not really done now.
They're not you know, they ask this question, what do we know about Donald Trump's health?
You've if you're going to be doing responsible reporting on that, you really should include the fact that there's a long history from this White House of both lying about Donald Trump's health, releasing propaganda style documents and also only ever admitting anything
Once it's impossible to deny, you know, we know that Donald Trump and his administration fabricated a completely farcical situation around Trump going to Walter Reed when he had covid.
So we're going to look at Donald Trump's hot mic disaster with the Indonesian president.
They said, well, because it's the president, this is the most important patient in the country.
It's an abundance of caution.
We we later learned after the fact that Donald Trump was being advised, you are deteriorating.
You may not be able to get to the hospital under your own power.
It would be better if the American people see you walking to the helicopter.
rather than seeing you brought out in a stretcher, which we may or may not be able to cover from the media.
So Trump said, OK, for the propaganda reasons, I don't want to be seen in that weakened state.
I'm going to go now to the hospital.
They've been lying about all of it.
So we're taking baby steps in the right direction.
At least CNN is talking about this.
At least CNN is talking about the numerous signs and symptoms.
They're not talking about his eyes going in opposite directions.
The other day, the swollen face, the eyes regularly almost swollen, shot the confusion, the disorientation.
They're not doing that.
And they're also not talking about Donald Trump's long track record of withholding health information.
I will mention one other little thing.
I was supposed to be on CNN last week and it was one of these things where they canceled the segment moments like five minutes before because they had some breaking news story of no importance whatsoever to cover.
We were going to be on talking about what is my audience?
thinking about with regard to Trump.
And I said to them, my audience is thinking about the fact that their prices haven't come down.
They're worried about losing their health care.
And they increasingly are concerned Trump has dementia.
And the booking producers at CNN tried to get me off of the dementia thing.
And they said, you know, that's not proven.
And I said, no, no, you asked me, what is my audience talking about?
And I'm telling you.
And they go, yeah, well, in the end, it wasn't relevant because the segment got canceled.
But they immediately seized on that.
probably out of concern for lawsuits, to be quite frank.
And we're trying to dissuade me from talking about that.
So little anecdote there.
Trump's latest medical report.
Do you believe it?
I'm struggling.
Vivek Ramaswamy is running for governor of Ohio and Vivek is not a Christian.
And he was confronted by a bunch of they they seem like Charlie Kirk disciples who attacked him because he is not a Christian.
This is a phenomenal example of when you lose control of the monster that you helped to create.
International diplomacy under Donald Trump has been reduced to high school rivalries.
Take a look at this.
Who likes whom and who am I impressed by?
But the theme Trump loves authoritarians and Trump really believes that it would all be better if he just got to say what is this is global shame.
Anyway, now the guy's forgetting.
Anyway, the the point here is that Vivek in his support of Trump in 2024 participated in unleashing the zealots
And they are now following the rules that Vivek helped Donald Trump to write.
You know, these turning point type activists who get indoctrinated end up seeing Christianity as the only legitimate identity for leaders.
And Vivek Ramaswamy, despite not being a Christian, as he pointed out there, he encouraged this ecosystem because he would do the rhetoric about faith and woke ism and American values.
And it was part of a movement.
that doesn't really want inclusion.
They want ideological purity and purity ultimately eats its own.
When we see when I see the purity testing on the left, I mention it.
And when I see it on the right and there's a lot of it, we talk about it.
Once you frame politics as a war of us versus them.
you don't get to decide who is us anymore.
And so the same people who cry about religious freedom go, wait a second, you're Hindu.
You're not a legitimate candidate for the governor of Ohio.
Every reactionary movement eventually devours its softer founders.
You know, you look at McCarthyism,
You look at the Tea Party.
You even look at MAGA itself.
Look at who was part of the initial coalition of MAGA and Trump ism in 2016.
And look at where we are today.
Those people are now ostracized and devalued.
And when the right builds these echo chambers that are so insulated, their own allies end up becoming heretics the second they deviate at all.
Putin, Kim Jong Un or Bon, it's a long list and you can add LCC to that list.
And Vivek Ramaswamy being Hindu.
even though shouldn't make a difference in the world, it deviates from the implicit requirements that they have established through their purity testing.
So, you know, we've talked about when Donald Trump ends up seeing the monster he helped create on anti-vax.
And we talk about how Fox News ends up seeing the monster they helped create on distrusting the media.
We'll look at his praise for Egypt's brutal regime.
And then they start to distrust Fox News when Fox News goes, I don't know, here's someone who says they're really there's nothing to see in the Epstein files or whatever.
It's the monster they helped create turning against them.
And now Vivek is up against it.
We'll be right back.
I'll see you then.
And of course, I'll be back tomorrow.
Donald Trump was caught on a hot mic speaking with the Indonesian president, Subianto, and it is difficult to hear exactly what they're talking about.
But what is really clear is that Subianto is talking to Trump about some kind of project and he says, can I meet Eric?
And Trump goes, yeah, I can set that up.
We're going to look at all of it, including his call for Benjamin Netanyahu to be pardoned
And Subianto says or Don Jr.. Now, I have an opinion as to what they're talking about here.
It's completely criminal, mind you.
But this is extraordinary, extraordinary hot Mike video.
Let's listen carefully.
OK, here we go.
And just what I believe is happening right here.
Is what they accused Hunter Biden of without any evidence.
So right now, Subianto is telling Trump it's in a region that's not very safe.
All right.
So now Subianto says, can I can I meet Eric?
And Trump says, yeah, I can put you in touch.
He's a good kid.
By the way, Eric's almost 50.
Marco Rubio humiliated himself and Marjorie Taylor Greene is suddenly making a little bit of sense.
Oh, wait, is that true?
How old is Eric Trump?
I want to be precise.
And now Subianto says or Don Jr.. I believe it's obvious what's going on here now.
We are left to speculate because they are acting like this is nothing.
OK, even though I believe what's going on here is what they accused Hunter Biden of doing without evidence.
I believe it's really clear what is happening here and they're not going to tell us.
It seems obvious that Subianto is talking to Trump.
We're going to look at that as well.
about some kind of business venture.
Subianto is letting Trump know the location under discussion is not a very safe area.
He wants to help them, meaning Trump's organization, Trump's business, Trump's for profit enterprise.
He wants to help them identify a better location for whatever project this is.
Interestingly, Vivek Ramaswamy is quickly finding out what happens when the far right purity tests are applied to him.
And he would like to be put in touch about it with Eric or with Don Junior.
This is Donald Trump in an official capacity as president of the United States talking about private for profit business for the enrichment of himself and his family.
That is what is taking place here.
Donald Trump is trading on the reputation of the American presidency to do private business deals with other countries.
Now, you might say, well, it sounds like the Indonesian president is corrupt, too.
Sure.
I just have nothing to do with voting or with elections or with politics in Indonesia.
That's for the Indonesians to figure out what they want to do with.
But this is what they said Hunter was doing.
And Trump is doing it.
Trump is doing it.
Now, if you think this is bad at another point, Trump points to an official from the United Arab Emirates during a photo op photo op and says lots of cash, lots of cash.
He's bragging that the people who bribed him with an airplane have a lot of money.
Oh, boy, do they.
Egypt has to go.
And JD Vance was kicked off of a show by George Stephanopoulos after endlessly refusing to answer simple questions.
A lot of cash, unlimited cash, bragging that the people who bribe him have a lot of money, even though there's still people in the United States who can't afford food.
And then Donald Trump also doing a lot of the jerking motions.
Trump likes to play these jerking games when he does handshakes.
It's sort of like a.
It's sort of like a like a power play.
Who's going to dominate whom?
And the French president comes over and Trump shakes hands and he immediately starts with with the jerking stuff.
And then he does the really he pulls him in and then does this weird thing where he switches into a different sort of handshake with like, I don't know what you would call that handshake.
And then there's just a lot of games being played with with the jerking.
And this is how Trump tries to.
assert dominance.
And I mean, listen, Trump is clearly a lot bigger than the French President Macron.
He clearly outweighs him by a lot.
And Trump believes that that allows him to just throw people around.
So global humiliation, bragging about the cash that the people who bribed him have doing deals.
I'll set you up with Eric, who's a good kid.
I'll set you up with Don Jr.
And this is really
why Donald Trump wanted to be president of the United States.
He doesn't really like the governing.
In fact, he hates it to a great degree.
He prefers to sit in the residence at the White House and watch TV.
But then we got then we got.
to where it really, really got ugly as Donald Trump delivered a speech in Jerusalem.
All of that and more.
Let's discuss that next.
Donald Trump was invited after the provisional signing of this Israeli Gaza deal to deliver a speech at the Knesset.
So great to have you here.
This is the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem.
And Donald Trump during this speech, it was it was meant to be a very friendly dog and pony show, right?
Trump getting his victory lap.
Of course, the truth is there are still serious questions as to the longevity of this deal.
But that being said, it is an accomplishment.
We you know, we have to be precise and we have to be clear.
Any president under whom you get hostages released and a provisional reduction or stop to hostilities, you do have to say Trump's administration was involved in the negotiations.
He is the president.
The buck stops with him.
That is a checkmark in Trump's side.
Now, of course, Trump also worked to prevent such a deal during 2024.
because he believed that it would be better for him politically for that conflict to be ongoing as he runs for president and for he to be president when it is resolved, even though obviously people, civilians are hurt by hostilities continuing.
Trump didn't care.
He said, let's do what we can to prevent a deal during 24 so that then I can come in and get a deal in 2025.
Fine.
That that's true.
And also,
We shouldn't say that this is nothing that this is, you know, as we see the videos of the hostages arriving back, the ones that are alive, which unfortunately is not that many.
We start today with not much of a shock.
And you see all of these different videos, both in Israel and Gaza.
This is an accomplishment.
But Trump has to go further and he goes to Israel and he lobbies for Benjamin Netanyahu, a terrifying
right wing ideologue to be pardoned for all of the corruption he is alleged to have committed.
Donald Trump praising yet another dictator.
truly bizarre and completely inappropriate for an American president to publicly pressure another country's leader to pardon their own prime minister.
Remember, Israel has a president and a prime minister.
He loves dictators.
Imagine the outrage if Barack Obama had gone abroad.
Yeah.
And suggested a pardon.
This comment really reveals Donald Trump's worldview, which is that corruption isn't really a problem.
If you're loyal, if you're my friend, as Nikki Haley once said about Donald Trump, if you're Trump's friend,
He's impressed at how dictators just do what they want.
Corruption is OK as long as you're loyal.
And this is another put aside the praise of overt dictators.
This is another appeal directly to Trump's authoritarian instincts.
Laws shouldn't apply to my friends.
They should only apply to my enemies.
And Trump doesn't respect democratic institutions.
He doesn't respect the rule of law.
Even in other countries, he'll just show up and go, how about a pardon for my friend here?
Donald Trump also saying that it was what what is taking place now in Israel is something that should have happened under Obama or Biden.
And they couldn't do it.
Trump conveniently ignoring the four years between Obama and Biden during which he was president.
And, you know, George W. Bush once said this would be a lot easier if I were a dictator.
Hey, everybody, David here.
What you're about to hear is an episode of the bonus show.
Without a doubt.
So anyway, let us know.
Do you like the idea of a U.S.
UFC fight on the White House lawn?
Send me an email.
If the audience on the bonus show really loves it, I will mention it on a follow up.
We'll see everybody tomorrow.
New show, new bonus.
Was her house burnt down for political reasons?
Investigators right now have are saying they have no evidence that that's the case.
Is it possible that this is just a coincidence?
It is.
I mean, again, we do not have evidence right now that she was targeted for political reasons and that this arson was from people adjacent to Trump angry with her blocking these files.
But at the same time, we are not immune to pattern recognition.
And the timing is very much suspicious.
If you'd like to get access to all of the bonus shows, simply sign up at join Pacman dot com.
Speaker 1 Not to mention at that point, is the story going to have the same impact when it is distanced in time from from the moment that it happened?
But I think that this concept of when you suspect that you're going to get an answer you don't like.
you can choose not to ask questions.
And that is sort of, I think, the idea that some are putting forward, which is, well, investigators are saying there's no evidence that this was politically motivated and in response to the doxing documents that appear and all of this stuff.
But at the same time, how hard are they looking?
Here is that bonus show episode.
And might someone have suggested to them not to investigate something?
Sometimes you find that out due to emails or communications that are released, but sometimes you just don't.
Right.
The absence of an investigation
is much harder to definitively sort of describe qualitatively than an investigation that takes place and is a poor investigation.
And so honestly, I'm not that optimistic we'll ever really know the truth, although I hope that we do.
Welcome to the bonus show.
Without a doubt, even if this was political violence, it would never get the attention of the Charlie Kirk assassination.
This is a really weird story, and I'll tell you upfront that we don't really know the full scope of it right now.
That's for sure.
So we'll I mean, we'll see if there's ever a final and formal determination on that.
We don't have one at this point in time.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is suggesting something that we've kind of talked about before that really gets to sort of like the insecurities of the MAGA space with regard to masculinity.
She told her supporters during a live stream, she does these live streams and I don't I never have watched one live, but I've seen clips from them and she seems to speak pretty frankly and honestly in them.
She suggested that supporters straight up laugh at people like Stephen Miller, that rather than, you know, being angry and
breaking down at a core level his authoritarian policy ideas and so on and so forth.
She suggested you just got to clown this guy.
He's tiny.
He's like four feet, 10 inches tall, which isn't true.
But she says he's like four feet, 10 inches tall.
He's angry about the fact that he's four feet, 10 inches tall.
He's taking his anger about being short out on other people.
Police are investigating a fire that burned down the house of Diane Goodstein.
He represents this insecure masculine masculinity.
And we should just laugh at it.
And she argued, and I believe convincingly, this is a quote that one of the most powerful cultural things you can do to a political movement predicated on the puffery of insecure masculine masculinity is to make fun of them by make them even more insecure, take advantage of their insecurities.
I think that there is a lot to this, Pat, and we've even talked about it in the context of our discussion about the whole alpha beta male thing.
And we've pointed out and in fact, we did a piece about the alpha males that aren't really alpha males.
We included Stephen Miller in that piece.
We also included Trump and others.
I do think there is something to this.
These are not really political arguments.
These are really psychological arguments about identifying people's insecurities and making fun of them, which is sort of what bullies do.
Now, who is Diane Goodstein?
And in the abstract, I wouldn't support it.
But in this specific case, they are bullying other people all the time, both about mutable and immutable characteristics.
She's a judge.
And I don't think it's the end of the world to say we're going to fight fire with fire a little bit here.
She's a South Carolina circuit court judge, and she reportedly had been receiving death threats for weeks related to her work.
We're not lying.
We're not committing crimes, but we are going to make fun of them about something that they are really insecure about.
Right.
We do a bonus show every day for our members and for a limited time.
Why was she receiving death threats?
Yeah, I mean, here's the thing about here's the thing.
My problem isn't with height specifically, because once you open the door to ridiculing someone's masculinity,
Almost any characteristic might also apply to people you don't want to make fun of.
Well, because of her opposition to the Trump administration.
Right.
I mean, so so like let me put it a different way.
What are the characteristics other than height about Miller that we could make fun of that relate to masculinity that wouldn't in some way present the same qualms you have with the one about height?
Like what else is there?
Is it that he's not he doesn't have big muscles?
Is it that he's bald?
I mean, all this stuff could apply to anybody, right?
The way I would do it is I would go, listen, in my world.
She was part of the temporary blocking of the state's Election Commission from releasing voter files to the DOJ.
I don't value people based on physical appearance.
I don't value people based on strength.
I don't value people based on height.
There is a political movement, MAGA, which makes fun of disabled people.
It makes fun of obese people.
It makes fun of bald people.
It makes fun of all these different things.
If they are really serious about this, why haven't they kicked Stephen Miller out yet?
Because he is bald and he is scrawny and he is short.
And, you know, so like I think there's a way to make it like these are not our values.
But if we hold them to their values, these people are pathetic and MAGA should go.
We reject it.
Right.
I think that's the language in some way.
I don't I think I don't think it's that convincing.
Yeah, I mean, exactly.
I think I think that if you're going to do this, I think it has to be done in a certain way.
The DOJ, Trump's DOJ, wanted those files.
And if they if they say, well, not everybody's required to meet all the required those requirements to be in the club, then we go, oh, you guys just kind of sound kind of stupid.
You know, that that doesn't really make a lot of sense to me.
You think it's smart of AOC to be encouraging this aside from whether it's a good idea?
All right.
We are getting closer to the supposed UFC fight on the White House lawn that the Trump administration is orchestrating.
And she participated in blocking the release of those files.
It was initially going to be in twenty twenty six.
Then it was going to be July.
I guess now it's going to be.
Oh, not again.
On Donald Trump's birthday, the day that Trump turns 80, you might remember for his last birthday, he threw a military parade where there were squeaky tanks.
The next birthday is going to be a UFC fight.
I have to tell you, I think this is so unbecoming of the of the White House.
And I know that there are people who love this shit and they go, UFC is awesome.
It's great to to, you know, make the White House more accessible to the people.
Therefore, she is now in opposition in some loose general sense to the Trump administration.
And this is really cool.
And what I think that this is idiotic.
Trump and Dana White, the president of UFC, I know are friends.
The White House is going to need, you know, after the event, it's going to destroy all the grass.
UFC said they'd spend like seven hundred thousand dollars to replace all the White House grass.
It's going to do a bunch of damage.
I just fundamentally I'm not big Pat on like the sacredness of stuff.
I really it's not about that.
This just strikes me as unbecoming of the office of the presidency.
which is how I see Trump as well.
I just to me is is just it's not the way this was all designed to go.
No, no, I don't think there should be a basketball game on the White House lawn.
I don't think I mean, it just there are certain things where it's like I'm sort of figuring it out as I as I talk it through with you.
Here's what I think my problem is.
Under MAGA and under Trump ism, we have seen institutions sort of diminished and belittled.
The Trump administration wants that stuff.
And, you know, even the idea that you put Benny Johnson in the White House press room like everything is being devalued in every way.
And I think a sporting event at the White House is part of that devaluing.
And she said, no, I don't believe that it is justified to do that.
And it's not about, oh, the White House is sacred, but it's about, you know, when you look at the distrust and expertize and the diminishment of institutions and the idea that anything can just like not really be as valuable or important as we thought.
I think throwing a UFC fight on the White House lawn just kind of points in the same direction.
And there have been a number of different doxing attempts.
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You know, it's so funny.
Judge Goodstein was part of the list of judges that the sort of MAGA adjacent space was trying to dox.
Of course, it's also corrupt and cronyistic.
It's so funny because like almost everything Trump does is the Trump shoes and the Trump
NFT and the crypto.
And it's so funny where it's like we're we're so used to that that like, of course, Pat is correct.
Dana White is his friend.
And this is going to be a big he's basically handing I don't know how much they'll make off of this, but presumably millions of dollars to Dana White.
And it's corrupt and cronyistic and nepotistic.
But like like almost everything Trump does, it has that characteristic.
It's crazy that we've gotten so used to that, where if it were Biden giving some friend who owns, you know, imagine, oh, I have a friend who owns like a car racing league and we're going to have a car race on the White House lawn.
Everybody would go.
This is it's corruption.
And of course it is.
Now, the timing of it, Pat, obviously leads us to say, was this arson?
The administration's obsession with Antifa is continuing.
They've got no evidence.
They've got nothing but it's bait.
They've planted the seed.
They know who it's for.
The next step is that Trump will legitimize the lie.
Trump will hear a lie that feels good.
These weren't really my supporters.
It was Antifa dressed up.
It either shifts the blame away from MAGA or it flatters him or it stokes outrage.
So Trump will repeat it.
And so in this case, Trump is we've had a lot of examples of it, but this is sort of an example of step two.
Trump is asked about it.
Should it be?
We now have proof, sir, that Antifa infiltrated dressed as Trump supporters.
Should this be examined by the new J6 committee?
And Trump goes, I've heard of that.
I've heard of that.
We're going to act on that.
Now, of course, Trump saying we've heard that is the signal.
When Trump says we've heard that he is giving permission to his followers, go and spread it.
Go ahead and spread it.
So then you get to step three Newsmax gateway pundit influencers on X. They all start with Trump has confirmed Antifa infiltration.
Now, of course, all Trump did is say, oh, yeah, yeah, we've heard about that.
So you've got the seed was planted.
Trump goes, we've heard about that.
He's now watering the seed.
And then you get the media outlets or the Twitter accounts or whoever continuing to spread it by going.
Trump verified it.
Trump said it.
Well, what Trump said is he had heard something.
This is the this is the point.
We then get to step four.
Step four allows Trump and the people around him to go.
This is being widely reported now.
And Fox News finally has no choice but to address the fact that, yes, tariffs are crushing the economy and pushing prices up.
You've got all these people on X Newsmax is talking about Antifa infiltrating January 6th Gateway Pundit, Fox News, whoever.
But all Trump is really doing is laundering his own propaganda.
Right.
It starts as gossip.
Trump goes, I heard of it.
Then they go.
Trump confirmed it.
And then now Trump goes, it's being widely reported.
And then you can get other Republicans.
Now, other Republicans have enough cover to say everybody's talking about it.
Newsmax is talking about Antifa at the riots.
Fox News is talking about Antifa at the riots.
Everybody knows about it at this point.
It all started with nothing.
And then it just gets amplified to high heaven.
It's on TikTok.
It's on talk radio.
It's everywhere.
People who never saw and have no idea what the original sources, they see the echo, they see the repetition and they repeat it.
And before long, Antifa did January 6th is no longer a fringe conspiracy.
It becomes an established talking point.
It's the self-sustaining propaganda ecosystem
where the origin of the lie doesn't matter because Trump said he heard about it.
People reported that Trump acknowledged it.
MAGA now goes, it's been widely reported, but it all started
with just a claim in some of the recesses of the Internet.
That's how it happens.
And then they end up being both the source and the evidence, even though in reality they are neither.
You turn fiction into consensus.
This is the architecture of how these things happen.
It happened with they're eating the cats.
They're eating the dogs.
I think I even have that here.
No, that's not it.
Where is my eating the dogs?
Speaker 3 America, grande, ultra best.
Speaker 1 Oh, that's not it.
OK, I don't have it anyway.
The whole eating the cats, eating the dogs thing is similar.
And J.D.
Vance even said, hey, you know, we're going to create these media narratives if we want people to pay attention to something.
This is how it goes from nothing to completely mainstream.
And you got to hand it to them.
They're pretty good at pulling it off.
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Kristi Noem is the secretary of Homeland Security, and she is now praying with federal agents before deploying them to, quote, secure the streets of America's cities.
I'm going to play this video for you.
If you're wondering, yes, that is Corey Lewandowski sitting to Kristi Noem's right at the end of the table, a disgusting presence.
But maybe the presence of this prayer is not only vile, not because prayer is wrong, but because this is officially a government agency.
And I thought we had separation of church and state in this country.
Listen to Kristi.
So on the one hand is like, yeah, this is really boring.
Wow.
Government sanctioned prayer.
By the way, it is not lost on me.
It is the Trump administration.
After all, the presence of the fast food, burgers and fries as they all pray is really something else.
So let's be honest about what this actually all means.
On the other hand.
Kristi Noem is not praying for peace here.
She is praying with federal agents who are about to go out and start snatching people out of neighborhoods, families, workers, kids, everybody's in the crossfire.
Donald Trump struggles to stay awake everywhere.
And that is what she is referring to about securing the streets.
And she's praying for the safety of the officers.
And if you're thinking, isn't this all kind of unconstitutional?
Yeah, I mean, when a government official acting in her official capacity as the secretary of Homeland Security leads a prayer before a federal operation, you run right into the First Amendment Establishment Clause.
That's the new thing.
And while it was Sleepy Joe, this and Sleepy Joe, that trumps the guy who's falling asleep almost weekly at events.
That's the part of the Constitution that says the government can't promote or endorse one religion over another and can't promote or endorse religion over non religion.
Now, if you go to the Supreme Court record, you see that the Supreme Court has allowed some ceremonial prayers, certain city council or legislature prayers.
That is not what this is.
This is not a public moment of unity.
This is the state blessing and act of enforcement where the government is wrapping a cross around a gun.
They're sitting around with their guns.
They're about to go out and do what they've been doing in these neighborhoods.
And they say, let's wrap a cross around the guns.
Even if you ignore the prayer part, which you shouldn't, we also should think about the legality of the deployment because there's legal questions there.
There's legal questions everywhere with what they're doing.
DHS and ICE have really narrow authority to operate in local communities.
They can protect federal property.
That's not controversial.
We know that.
Now, at one point, this was really gross stuff.
roaming the streets like a militarized police force.
The law doesn't allow that.
And I know it's so quaint, right?
I'm the moron saying, oh, what about the law?
The law, even when these so-called operations happen,
They are running into Fourth Amendment and due process problems because people's rights are constantly violated.
So you've got an agency by its mere presence on the streets pushing its legal authority, led by someone who thinks the appropriate way to start the legally dubious deployment is with a legally dubious prayer.
Pam Bondi says, like, we've gone after drug cartels.
This is not reflection.
This is not accountability.
This is religious theater meant to make cruelty feel righteous.
They are doing really cruel things out on the street.
But we just prayed we must be doing the right thing.
Right.
And it's the same thing we have seen over and over.
Politicians who invoke God before dropping bombs, they thank Jesus and then cut food assistance or whatever.
It's moral cover.
It's not moral clarity.
And if she really believes in prayer, she should be praying for forgiveness.
We're going to go after Antifa and destroy the structure of the organization.
That's what Kristi Noem should be praying for, for the fear that she's creating.
the families that are being shattered, the trust she's destroying between immigrant communities and their own government.
Thoughts and prayers don't mean much when they come right before you kick someone's door down or throw them into an unmarked van.
The real point here is that none of this is about religion or allegiance to Jesus.
This is about power.
And it's about weaponizing faith, sanctifying state violence and just intimidating anybody who dares to object.
And by the way, if you're sitting at this table and you're not religious.
Do you think this is an environment where you can go, oh, we're not supposed to be doing this?
I object to this.
This is actually illegal.
No.
And this is how they enforce compliance.
It's terrifying.
It's disgusting.
It appears to be against the law.
But that's the name of the game these days.
The only problem is Antifa is barely an organization and there's really no structure, but they need a target.
Farmers are done.
The very people who helped put Donald Trump back in office, you know, the ones that he would use as props at his whole I love the farmers photo ops.
They're turning on him every single week.
We hear from more farmers who are saying this economic program is a fiasco.
These are not coastal liberals who decided to throw on some farmers overalls.
These are lifelong Republican farmers, many of whom voted for Donald Trump twice.
And now they're saying it.
He is destroying us.
Here's an Illinois soybean farmer who says China should be buying our soybeans.
They're not.
This is a real problem.
Why isn't China buying the beans?
Well, because Donald Trump's blanket tariffs have forced China not to do what Trump said they would do.
Come crawling back.
Please, sir, give me a trade deal.
Could I have another?
No, China is just getting their soybeans elsewhere.
That's that's what they're doing at the end of the day.
Here is another soybean soybean farmer who says we need a level playing field.
So the new one is we're going to go after Antifa.
The tariffs are making it an uneven playing field.
And now you've got the Chinese going to Brazil for soybeans.
Not exactly the winning that Donald Trump promised us.
understand that the tariffs were sold to us to the extent I don't think any of us bought it, but they were attempted to be sold to us as these are going to make us more competitive.
This will make American companies, manufacturers, farmers, food growers, everybody will be more competitive thanks to the tariffs.
But shouldn't we be listening to the people being affected by it?
The soybean farmer is telling us
The tariffs make us not competitive.
They give us a 20 percent price disadvantage.
These are not bleeding heart liberals that are saying this stuff.
Here's one more.
This is Illinois farmer Grant Senesac, who says the harvest is awesome.
Meanwhile, Fox News suddenly feels the need to argue Trump definitely doesn't have dementia
We've got more.
We've got soybeans coming out of our whatever.
But the tariffs mean we're not going to be able to cover what it costs.
Let me explain what's happening here in like the clearest possible terms.
Farmers are not mad because they had a bad season.
They're mad because they played by the rules.
Trump changed the rules and now they're getting screwed.
He tore up the trade deals.
He tanked export markets.
And now he's talking about bailouts to farmers that are barely going to cover the actual losses.
And the truth is China and other soybean importers have moved on.
They're moving on.
They're doing something else.
When Trump made American soybeans more expensive.
Beijing didn't wait it out.
Beijing didn't come crawling to Trump saying, give us a deal.
They said, let's go to Brazil.
Let's go to Argentina.
Let's go to even smaller producers like Paraguay.
And once those trade routes and relationships are built, they don't disappear.
It's conceivable that even if the tariffs now went away, China would go.
We got a good thing going with Brazil.
We're doing fine.
We're not going to rip up the Argentina deal because you guys now are having buyer's remorse on the tariffs and are going backwards.
China is getting its soybeans.
Global supply chains are adjusting.
The world keeps turning.
But our farmers are the ones that get screwed.
So the battle of tariffs was framed by Trump as a battle to make America win again.
And it just handed our export markets to competitors who were like, we're thrilled to step in.
Of course, Brazil will make a deal with China.
Of course, Argentina will.
Brazil, by the way, now dominates global soybean exports.
Farmers are profiting from the demand that used to come here to the United States.
So China is going to be fine.
Global buyers will be fine.
Brazil will be thrilled.
But it's American farmers paying the price for Donald Trump's tariffs.
And it is not going to change potentially even if Trump backs off of the tariffs.
He's created a real problem here.
We've got a lot more coverage of these furious farmers on the YouTube channel.
Make sure if you're watching this clip on YouTube that you're subscribed.
And if you're listening, come on over to our YouTube channel.
We have extensive coverage of this YouTube dot com slash the David Pakman show.
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Something appears to be increasingly wrong with President Donald Trump, and this time it is not the usual incoherence.
Over the last couple of weeks, the behavior has really gone from erratic to genuinely alarming.
It's mostly irrelevant.
And I love that people are finally noticing this.
Now start with the videos.
We covered Donald Trump reposting this fake AI generated clip of himself sitting in the Oval Office announcing soon every American is going to have a med bed.
These med beds are this kind of right wing conspiracy theory about a secret healing machine supposedly hidden by the elites that it's almost like a tanning bed you lay down in and it'll analyze you and cure things.
to the national politics of the United States.
even regrow limbs.
Anyway, the fake Trump video said every American will soon receive their own med bed card.
The real Trump shared it almost as if it was something that he had said.
You don't hear the left talk about Antifa.
And when asked about it, the White House press secretary said, oh, Trump likes sharing memes and he had every right to share it and he had every right to then later delete it.
No one's talking about Trump's rights to post to social media.
We know he has those rights.
What we're saying is the crap he's posting is really alarming.
We then saw the infamous sombrero video.
This was another AI generated video.
It's all just nonsense.
mocking Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer.
Hakeem Jeffries is the first black house minority leader, and it showed him in a sombrero with, I guess you would call it a waxed mustache.
And here's Pam Bondi acting like this is a cartel which has a leadership structure and central funding and sort of like a central core of command and control.
And when he was called out for xenophobia, racism, Trump doubled down by posting another video
involving a sombrero, I guess, playing a guitar standing behind Hakeem Jeffries.
This is not normal behavior for anybody.
Like if if your uncle was doing this, you would say, hey, what's with the stuff you're posting?
This is the president of the United States.
And it's not even normal behavior for Trump.
Like even for what we've become used to from Trump, this is unusual behavior.
Now, then Donald Trump had a recent speech when he went on a bizarre rant about presidents falling down the stairs, saying, you know, Obama would bop down the stairs and I'm careful.
But if you fall, it becomes part of your legacy.
And then he started talking about how he might use dangerous cities
like Chicago and San Francisco as training grounds for the military.
So not only saying completely whacked out things, but also jumping from one insane thing to the next.
That's when retired General Barry McCaffrey went on TV.
and said that that speech was one of the most and I'm quoting here, bizarre, unsettling events that General McCaffrey had ever seen.
And his exact words were the president sounded incoherent, exhausted, rabidly partisan, meandering and couldn't hold a thought together.
Even some members of Congress are starting to now acknowledge this Pennsylvania Congresswoman Madeline Dean.
We had the video.
She confronted House Speaker Maga Mike Johnson, saying the president is unwell.
And Johnson's response was that there's a lot of Democrats that are also unwell or unhinged, I guess, which is not the most normal thing to say when someone suggests that the president might be mentally unfit.
Antifa is like mostly a philosophy.
You then look at the reporters.
Reporters have noticed Trump is slurring his speech.
Reporters, of course, have noticed the bruised hands that are covered with like a completely clashing color makeup.
And the White House goes, oh, that's from shaking hands.
Every everything's fine.
Everything's totally fine.
Nothing to look at here.
They said, oh, it's chronic venous insufficiency.
It's fine.
It's no big deal.
That wouldn't explain the confusion.
It wouldn't explain the slurred speech.
And then Trump gave an entire CNN interview to Jake Tapper over text message, which is also not exactly normal.
And every once in a while you will see these cells where it's like some people get together around a particular event and they're there under the generic anti-fascist umbrella.
He just texted with Jake Tapper and they're calling it an interview.
When asked how CNN verified it was really even Trump writing that stuff, CNN was unable to verify it.
Jake Tapper is just assuming it was really Trump.
But of course, this happened during yet another one of Donald Trump's unexplained multi-day absences.
So at this point, even the coverage is becoming part of the story.
The Guardian, The Independent, Politico, Reuters, The Hill, they've all now run stories sort of starting to ask what's going on with Trump's health.
what's going on with his mental state, what's going on with his strange behavior.
And I believe that that in and of itself is a signal here.
You've got legacy and corporate media outlets that are suddenly kind of publishing versions of the same story.
You don't really see that unless something is happening.
And I've been calling them out for years for being irresponsible in not covering the Trump health story.
The sheer volume of stories about it now is not a coincidence.
You put it all together.
The slurred speech, the bruises, the rambling, the fake videos he doesn't seem to even recognize are fake.
He doesn't seem to remember.
He never gave a speech in the Oval Office talking about med beds.
And suddenly you've got corporate media paying attention.
This is a very disturbing picture of a president whose mind and body appears to be failing in real time.
Now, I just want to do, you know, the thought experiment.
If this were Joe Biden, Fox News would have a countdown clock either to Biden's death or the 25th Amendment being invoked or whatever.
What are you even really targeting here?
It's Trump.
Right wing media won't touch it.
And legacy and corporate media is not going to take it as seriously because they don't want to be seen as biased by the right.
Trump's aides continue to pretend that nothing is wrong.
Why are they suddenly worried about that?
But they need something to target, especially in the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk assassination.
The base says he's trolling the libs with all of this stuff, but everybody can now see it.
Something is very wrong.
Loyalty is the only reason that there are still people pretending that everything is fine.
It's a form of denial.
And meanwhile, the legal hits keep coming.
Let's talk about that.
Governor J.B.
Pritzker of Illinois
is dropping a legal hammer on what is arguably the illegal militarization of American cities over the objections of the mayors and the governors of those cities.
The mayor of Chicago and the governor of Illinois do not want troops in Illinois.
Here is Pritzker talking about the heinous militarization that we are seeing and the plan to try to shame them out of their state.
At another point, Donald Trump, he just can't help himself.
A former Trump opponent, I guess, says, I used to have Trump derangement syndrome.
And then they play videos.
I think that this is a really interesting strategy.
What Governor Pritzker seems to really get is that Trump wants footage that they can use on social media and commercials.
They want to use the footage to instill fear.
They want to use the footage to have, you know, people like Kristi Noem dressed up with a bulletproof vest going on raids and participating in this stuff.
The optics.
Who do we know from history really is focused on these sorts of optics?
Well, it's the authoritarian leaders and dictators of the 20th century.
It's yet another way in which Donald Trump is really like them.
And I really like I really like that.
JB Pritzker understands that a lot of this is about the optics.
And so he has a plan or so he says to try to beat this back or prevent it.
Now I don't.
Take a listen to this.
And I got more attractive when I quit being against Trump.
Well, Trump is having a medical evaluation today.
And Trump goes, oh, yeah, you're very attractive now.
This is a guy who is actually fighting.
Now, you don't have to agree with everything J.B.
Pritzker does.
You don't have to agree with every policy policy position.
You don't have to agree with everything that he says to recognize that he is locked and loaded here.
Apologize for the firearms term.
He is locked and loaded here.
and ready to fight.
Now, there is a little bit of bad news here.
The bad news is that the request that was made earlier this week to block the deployment of those Texas National Guard to Chicago alongside Illinois National Guard.
For now, for now, a judge has declined to immediately block them.
Now, this is a lawsuit or I'm sorry, this is a ruling that has many people confused.
The judge did not rule that it's fine for Trump to send Texas National Guard to Illinois over the objections of Illinois.
That is not what the judge ruled.
What the judge has done so far is said, I am not going to immediately issue an injunction blocking that.
You can still proceed with this matter.
You can still file file your lawsuit.
That's all going to happen.
But the judge said, I'm not willing to just issue an immediate injunction as this is resolved.
That is a legal loss.
But the fact that the lawsuit is going forward is still going to hopefully be a problem for the Trump administration.
So are there people out there willing to fight?
Yeah, there are.
Are these fights that we are necessarily going to win?
Well, you never know that.
You never know that.
But as I've said before.
At minimum, we need to make it difficult for them.
Governor J.B.
Pritzker seems more than ready to make that happen.
I think that's a great thing.
Gavin Newsom seems to be on the same page.
Wes Moore seems to be on the same page.
Governor Shapiro on the same page.
Other governors I'm less able to speak to.
I know I got a couple of emails from people saying, hey, you know what?
What's going on with Gretchen Whitmer?
Is she getting a little too friendly with Trump?
We're going to analyze that and look at that.
But there are at least a bunch of governors here who are willing to say not in my city, not in my state.
And then we will have to see what the legal resolution is there.
Is there anyone that is really fighting this stuff that I haven't mentioned?
Let me know by emailing me info at David Pakman dot com.
I want to know about it.
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I'm a little rusty on it.
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I have to admit, my girlfriend was actually impressed with my French when we were in France.
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All right, let's get into Friday feedback for the week.
You can always email me info at David Pakman dot com.
We'll feature Reddit posts, Spotify comments, sub stack replies.
You never know what might show up here.
Here's a great question from I am anonymous.
And I'm a non anonymous.
I am anonymous from Reddit.
Would the Epstein files even be credible at this point?
I don't get how we can even be confident that anything released would be true.
What's stopping them from simply releasing forged or changed papers with whatever names they want on there or not on there?
Yeah, I my my take on this, it's similar, but it's not quite as conspiratorial.
Here's what I think is most likely to happen.
I think eventually something that will be called the Epstein files is going to be released.
And the people who want to cover up the full and robust contents of those files will say, here it is.
You got it.
And it really won't be the full files.
I will be far more confident that we are getting the real files and the full files if they are leaked.
But even the leak could be fake, right?
Like if you're if you're thinking ahead a little bit more and you're like, OK, we really need to cover up the full files.
If we just come to the table and say, you know what, you guys are right, we're going to release them now and we hold back a bunch of stuff.
People are going to go, no, you're not releasing the full files.
What if we orchestrate a leak?
So even in that case, I do think, although for different reasons than this person is saying it, I do think that we need to approach anything that's released that is called the Epstein files with some amount of skepticism, some amount of skepticism.
Very attractive, says Donald.
All right.
So much feedback.
continuing to pour in about my interview with Rahm Emanuel and you all mostly did not like him like at all at all.
I don't know that there's been a guest as disliked as Rahm Emanuel recently.
Mark W posted on the subreddit.
But suddenly he's awake.
Yeesh, Rahm Emanuel came off as combative and deeply unlikable to me in this interview.
He spent the whole time acting aggrieved as if he's not being listened to.
Suddenly, Donald Trump has come back to life.
When I felt like David gave him more space to blather than any other guest, he typically have less of this, please.
Yeah.
You know, one of the things that let me let me back up.
I don't delude myself into thinking that my audience is a perfect representation of what's out there on the left.
Like, I'll give you an example.
I think my audience oversample socialists relative to the proportion out there in the world, like as an example.
Pam Bondi likes it.
So if you looked at my the comments to my videos and you were like, wow, there's a lot of actual socialism here.
Kristi Noem likes it.
I don't think that that amount of socialism as a proportion is what's out there in the real world, like just as an example.
But I do think that the reaction to people.
Very attractive, says Donald Trump.
Is often pretty mirroring of what's out there in the general population, and if you compare my audience's reaction to Rahm Emanuel and my audience's reaction to Congressman Maxwell Frost, who we had on on Monday.
You all really like Maxwell Frost overall.
The ones I heard from, of course, and really didn't like Rahm Emanuel.
Wow.
Now, the caveat to this is, as I think of myself, I've never written to a show after listening to an episode.
What an incredible, really good use of White House time and taxpayer money.
I've never left a YouTube comment that I can remember.
And my point is the people that comment and write in are a self-selected sample.
And so in that sense, they may not really represent what's out there in the real world.
But from the people I heard from, you all did not like Rahm Emanuel and you did like Maxwell Frost.
All right.
Burnt Toaster asks, Are the midterms really the key?
David keeps saying if Dems win the House in 26 in the 26 midterms, Trump's agenda is dead because the House controls the purse strings.
However, David and others have also said multiple times that this administration defies court orders and ignores the laws and all norms.
What's to say that even if the Dems do take back the House, why would the Trump administration suddenly follow the laws and norms?
They've not cared about any of that before.
Finally, Donald Trump insisting confusedly that he understands what was on the bullets
And I don't see that changing if they lose the House.
If anything, they'll accelerate their plans.
Well, so here's a couple of thoughts on this one.
Everything is the key.
What do we have in front of us right now?
A couple of special elections and Proposition 50 in California, which, by the way, according to the polling, is plus 20 in the polling.
It looks like it's absolutely crushing right now.
That's the key, because it's what we have in front of us.
We will then transition into the midterms.
At that point, the midterms will be the key because we can't take the White House back in November of twenty six.
We can take the House back.
We can take the Senate back.
Hopefully at least the House happens and it's looking dicey.
And so that will be the key then.
Whatever is before us that we can work on, that's what is key at any particular time.
At some point, the 2032 election will be key, but it's not key right now because we can't do much about it at this point in time on this issue of doesn't the Trump administration just ignore everything anyway?
There's a difference between a court order about a plane needing to turn around as compared to if Democrats take the House, they're just not going to fund Trump's insanity.
There's nothing to ignore in that sense.
And so quite literally, the bills won't pass.
The projects won't get funded.
And so it is key.
It is very, very much key.
All right.
Dave CC wrote in about my interview with Nathan Taylor from the Election Truth Alliance, whose perspective is that it's conceivable that Kamala Harris is actually the rightful winner of the 2024 election.
that were left behind the shell casings from the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
Here's what Dave said.
Nathan Taylor election rigging conspiracy.
I think it's bullshit.
Dave writes.
Sorry, but I don't buy it.
All of the time before the election polls were showing Trump slightly ahead, Harris slightly ahead or tied in swing states, but all within margin of error.
If Harris was ahead by 10 or so in the swing state polls, I might start to think something dodgy was going on.
Even David was saying things don't look good in the run up to the election.
That's true.
Polls also were showing Latino young men and black support shifting to Trump in a big way as the election drew closer.
Polls were breaking in Trump's direction even more as independents undecided started moving his way.
Trump sounds very confused here.
Hillary had higher margins in the polls before the election, but still lost.
When polls are that tight, Republicans usually win nothing out of the ordinary.
I think the reasons for Harris's loss were the combination of the inflation spike, short campaign, sexism and racism.
Occam's razor.
I do think that Republican voter suppression is a thing, though, and that has been getting worse over the years.
Yeah, listen, my assessment at this moment in time from the Election Truth Alliance is
is that their allegations of irregularities may well exist in the data, but there is zero that they have presented or that I've been able to find in researching their claims that suggests that there was a theft or rigging of the election.
The election ultimately reflected the polls.
Hillary Clinton was polling better in swing states than Kamala Harris, and she lost in 2016.
Joe Biden was polling better in 2020 in the swing states, and he won.
Kamala Harris polled worse than both Biden, who won and Harris, who and Hillary, who lost
And the results reflected that.
And so I am not convinced that what I can't you know, I'm not a math guy in that sense.
I can't deny the statistical realities that Nathan Taylor identified.
What I can tell you is that no serious evidence of rigging has been presented.
That's where I'm at right now.
All right, let's go to Spotify.
Lucas and said, I loved the segment on Democratic messaging.
To be honest with you, I'm afraid of burning bridges and the possibility of Dems becoming offended by this kind of calling out, especially with the midterms coming so soon.
The politicians that are really going to make a difference and fight back against the conservative movement are not going to be swayed.
If as a progressive community we can hold these public servants accountable, then maybe there will be hope.
But these days I'm more cynical.
Yeah, you know, it's interesting.
I did that segment last week saying a bunch of the Democrats I've interviewed, they are failing.
This is no good.
I got overwhelmingly positive feedback.
from staffers to Democratic elected officials.
I haven't heard from any Democratic elected officials on that.
We had Maxwell Frost on the show on Monday.
He didn't mention it, not that I expect that he would know exactly what I said, but it's incredible how much that segment I did calling out what's happening in the Democratic Party resonated not only with my audience, obviously, but even with Democratic staffers.
So that's very interesting.
Stephen from Spotify on that same segment says your segment about Democrats messaging, where it falls short and the rare moments when they connect is one of the most important segments I've heard in a long time.
Stephen says, keep beating that drum.
Well, I plan to.
And, you know, it's funny, I'm sort of tentatively scheduled to go to some events in D.C.
over the next couple of months.
I'm kind of like, are they going to invite me?
I kind of doubt it.
I actually do think that the people in charge of these events agree with me for the most part.
This was maybe
All right.
Eric Anderson on YouTube said, I'll only become a member.
Oh, here we go.
I'll only become a member if you make a video on Whitmer's kidnapping plot showing that it was an FBI entrapment plot by our corrupt government and not a right wing political attack.
Truth matters.
And when you lie about it, show your true colors.
Well, listen, Eric,
I don't believe that the kidnapping plot against Gretchen Whitmer, governor of Michigan, was FBI entrapment.
the dumbest waste of taxpayer money for bringing people to the White House.
So I wouldn't do a segment about something I don't believe.
That's one of the one of the rules I have for myself on this show is I only do segments where I say things I believe.
And I know that many people on the Internet have alleged that it was an FBI entrapment plot, but no such evidence has been presented to me.
And thus, I would not insult my audience in that way.
And then finally, on the issue of membership, James says about joining.
That's OK.
I'll save my money instead of paying for constant, irrational, unreasonable rants about Trump and Republicans.
Well, sir, you do you.
And I assume the people paid their own way.
I will say thank you to Rosemary Scott and Bert Weil, my newest two members.
They have said we're not going to be like James.
We are going to sign up.
And I really appreciate that.
All right.
Info at David Pakman dot com.
Questions, comments, concerns.
Get them in.
But what I mean is the cost of the event and everything you do at the White House costs money.
We've got a great bonus show for you today.
You can sign up at join Pakman dot com and get instant access to the bonus.
I've been to some stuff at the White House.
There's no shortage of money spent.
The idea that this was worth spending my taxpayer money and your taxpayer money on terrifying stuff.
But if there's anything to look up to
It's that while the individuals selected to participate in this insanity at the White House did not speak truth to power.
Fox News is now talking about Trump inflation.
And that's very, very interesting.
I saw this great little clip from Fact Post News.
about Fox News talking about none other than Trump inflation.
And of course, your emails, comments and messages on today's Friday feedback.
Now, they aren't calling it Trump inflation.
They are simply saying prices are up on this.
Prices are up on that.
But you now have the undeniable reality.
Even Fox News can't avoid the reality that prices are up and we all know who's president right now.
And they can insist the prices are up because of Biden and only temporarily because of the terrorists.
But over the long run, the prices are going to come down.
People are not believing it, believing it.
People are not falling for it.
And Fox News seemingly cornered now acknowledging, yeah, prices are way up on a whole bunch of stuff.
I think this is a good show.
We'll actually plan to record and keep a record of this one.
Oh, oh boy.
What a report, huh?
I agree.
All right.
Now it's getting very stupid.
Oh, my God.
You've got to go and drive to get a coffee.
All right.
Now we're getting into idiocy.
What's the real story here?
Fox News knows that prices are up.
This is Fox Business, Fox News.
These two channels, part of News Corporation, they know prices are up.
Donald Trump hosted at the White House this group of conspiracy theorists and provocateurs and agitators.
And so for a period of time, certainly February, March into April, until the Trump tariffs kicked in, there was this sort of plausible deniability where they could snow their audience and go, this is because of Joe Biden.
It can't be because of Trump's tariffs, because they haven't kicked in yet, even though there were certain sort of anticipatory price increases that took place before the tariffs were formally enabled.
It's gone too long now.
It's almost 2026.
Trump's been in power for a while.
And so now they're in the next step, which is we can't deny that the price increases took place.
We can't deny that the tariffs are part of the price increases.
But notice what was missing from that report.
They're talking about the tariffs like they are this thing.
These tariffs happened not because of any particular person, not because of any particular political movement.
It's just the tariffs.
The next step will be, OK, Trump did it.
Now, I don't know if they will get to that next week.
I don't know if they will get to that next year or if they will wait as long as they possibly can.
But the next logical step is, yes, prices are up.
Yes, it's because the tariffs.
It's because of the tariffs that Donald Trump put in place.
So Fox News increasingly cornered.
And during the absolutely riveting, riveting testimony of Andy, no, Donald Trump is fighting for his life to stay awake.
And not only are they cornered on inflation, they're also increasingly cornered on Trump dementia.
Fox News host Jesse Watters is panicking.
and is now coming out and going, no, no, no, Donald Trump doesn't have dementia.
I would argue the fact that this story has now made it onto Fox News is a major, major story.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump barely able to keep his eyes open again.
Let's listen to what Jesse Watters had to say.
He doesn't believe me.
He really doesn't have dementia.
I want to address a couple aspects of this.
Three years ago, the story of Trump's cognition was essentially nowhere on legacy and corporate media.
Over the last year, I've come to you and I've said, sirs and ma'ams, we have growing coverage of what's going on with Donald Trump's health, both cognitive and physical.
And slowly it has gone up and gone up and gone up.
But the sort of firewall was it didn't get into right wing media where they started feeling the need to deny it.
We have now breached that firewall as well.
And you now have Jesse Watters going, guys, Trump doesn't have dementia.
Trust me, he really doesn't.
He really doesn't.
This is a major, major deal.
Now, Jesse Watters also said something funny, which is you can't be a dictator and also have dementia.
What's interesting to me about that is they say that Trump's not a dictator anyway, so it kind of doesn't matter.
But the argument is dictators, by their sheer nature of what they're doing, obviously don't have dementia.
The funny thing is there are cases of claims of dementia and dictators.
Now, I've got to tell you.
If you look at Pinochet in Chile.
his later years, there was reporting and testimony that he was mentally unfit and that he was experiencing severe cognitive decline.
Now, it was debated.
Is it really dementia?
Is it age related decline?
Is it just a mental unfitness?
But it's sort of that same kind of thing.
This is a little bit boring of a speech from Andy.
Philippe Petain,
from the Vichy regime in France.
There are accounts from the 40s, the 1940s, that he had serious dementia.
There were widespread claims of that.
Now, whether it started while in power or after is sort of debated.
What's tough about this, obviously, is that dementia is a modern medical diagnosis requiring evaluation.
And by definition, dictators are able to suppress knowledge of what's going on with their health.
No, but Trump is so bored by everything.
Remind you of anybody.
So Jesse Waters now doing the cleanup.
No, no dementia here.
But the questions are growing and it is a real problem for this administration.
I want to do something that I hope is useful.
We're going to look at the architecture of propaganda.
How does a lie that is fabricated out of thin air?
How does that become a media story which is then believed and accepted by so many on the political right?
And here he is just doing everything he can to stay awake, struggling to do so.
Well, I'm going to give you an example.
Here is Donald Trump saying answering a question.
Rather, Trump was asked about supposed proof that Antifa infiltrated January 6th.
This is a conspiracy theory that dates back all the way back to January 6th, 2021.
The argument is, even though it looked like Trump supporters were doing the riots.
It was really Antifa pretending to be Trump supporters.
Trump is asked about it here.
And of course, Trump doesn't care about anybody other than himself.
Right.
So let me let me explain to you how these lies are born.
And this is really important to understand the architecture of propaganda.
This is the process you see unfold every single day in mega media.
So step one is you need to seed the lie before it grows into a robust plant with flowers and tomatoes on it or whatever.
You need to first plant the seed.
A story about what Andy knows says happened to him is not going to be enough to keep Trump roused.
And so step one is usually like a Trump ally.
Maybe it's a congressman, maybe it's a pundit, someone in the media, maybe it's someone on the Internet.
They'll float the claim.
They'll go, oh, Antifa infiltrated January six dressed as Trump supporters.
Trump supporters would never do this.
It must be Antifa dressed up in a MAGA hat.
Today, a hostage deal has reportedly been reached between Israel and Hamas.
And Pritzker's message on Trump has actually been getting increasingly aggressive.
You might remember now that Pritzker is one of a couple governors, along with Gavin Newsom, who is openly saying Trump has dementia.
Trump has dementia.
And that is it.
And saying that also he is unhinged.
And he said to Jacob Saburoff, come and get me, restating that message.
Now, we have reported agreement on the initial terms.
So come and get me.
And J.B.
Pritzker putting his hands out, almost in a position to be handcuffed.
Listen, we're seeing more and more people ready for the fight and we need that.
The outlined terms include the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for a number of Palestinian prisoners.
So these back and forths, you know, Hakeem Jeffries and Mike Lawler that we looked at earlier.
Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly versus Maga Mike Johnson.
This spat between J.B.
Pritzker and Donald Trump.
We're seeing Governor Shapiro up for the fight.
We're seeing Governor Newsom up for the fight.
It's a growing list.
We need that.
It is necessary, but it isn't sufficient.
Government remains shut down.
And that is where I think we need to be focusing rather than debating.
Is this stuff merely performative?
Let's acknowledge that there is a significant performative element to it, but that at the same time, performance can inspire, motivate and pull people into the movement.
So would I rather us control the House and Senate and be making tangible and tractable progress on health care, inflation, wages, employment and foreign policy?
Of course I would.
And education and climate.
And of course, of course.
We don't have that power at this point in time, but we need to build to when we do.
And I'm glad to see that there are people here for the fight.
It's not everything.
It's not putting food on anybody's table, but it's a start.
And so I hope I'm not setting the bar too low.
I want to hear from you.
Are we at least taking some positivity?
from it.
Some say freeing Palestinian prisoners encourages future hostage taking.
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MAGA Mike Johnson had a really bad day.
He decided in the middle of the government shutdown, the confrontations from senators and members of the House and just everything going wrong as he tries to suppress the Epstein files, MAGA Mike Johnson decided to go on C-SPAN
And it was not good.
Who thought that this was going to go well in this political environment?
A Republican military wife caller, a Republican military wife called in and dresses him down and says she is disappointed.
It's believed that there will be a lot of
How is he allowing all of these horrible things to happen?
And he is completely passive.
It's almost like he doesn't give a damn because he is serving an audience of one.
And that one man is very orange and very swollen.
It is not the Republican military wife caller.
Take a listen to this.
Unfortunately, the remains of deceased hostages making up a portion of those released, only 20 hostages are believed to still be alive.
The Trump administration worked on this combined with Arab mediators.
Do you think the caller gives a damn about Barksdale Air Force Base?
She's saying she doesn't have the ability unless we end this thing to pay for the basic necessities of her family.
Oh, I know.
I know this very well.
We've got Barksdale, Barksdale.
There's no answer.
It just there's just no answer.
He has no answer for it.
He just this is the type of crap that he says.
Who in this guy's office thought this appearance was going to be a good idea?
Mike Johnson was asked by another caller, what's your plan to fix Obamacare?
Great question, Mike Johnson says.
Trump says he will travel to the region over the weekend and the very opportunist
Now, remember, this is like, you know, they just lie so easily.
I can't correct every lie because this is just nonsense.
But what I think is important to remember here is that Obamacare, the the program, the premiums
within these health connector type programs went up more slowly than those outside of it.
Obamacare didn't solve the problem that premiums go up every year.
It didn't solve it.
But those plans within Obamacare marketplaces have seen premiums go up a little more slowly than those outside of it.
Is it like, oh, my God, we solved it?
No, it's not.
But it was at least something.
And remember that they have nothing.
They have they have no alternative whatsoever.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he has invited Donald Trump to address Israeli parliament.
Anyway, that's another lie.
The provisions they added to reform Medicaid only make it harder for people to get benefits.
They put in place a whole bunch of restrictions.
I mean, this this is really disgusting stuff.
And for a guy who calls himself a Christian, the facility with which he just lies to constituents, to voters, to journalists is disgusting.
It's quite frankly, disgusting.
Finally, caller asks Maga Mike Johnson, have you ever not voted with Trump on any issue at any point in time?
Now, understand that we sort of have two parallel tracks here.
And MAGA Mike Johnson is just falling apart.
What are the facts of the situation on the ground and how will that affect
There you go.
I vote with Trump.
Whatever he says goes.
That's it.
I mean, it's a I'm not going to give you 15 minutes of this guy because it's an insult to everybody.
It's we we're hearing enough to know that this guy is despicable.
That's what we're hearing enough to know.
And I, you know, I'm all for treating staff well.
But whoever thought this was a good idea deserves a talking to from Maga Mike Johnson because it went so terribly for him, which I love.
Right.
I should be thanking whoever set this up for Maga Mike.
He should be furious with them.
So Donald Trump accidentally posted a private message to his own attorney general publicly, not just any message, but a message directing Pam Bondi, the attorney general, to prosecute his political enemies.
Israeli Palestinian relations.
I want to remind you about this.
There was this message that was posted to Truth Social, which started with Pam and a colon.
And then there's the propaganda value to Donald Trump and the Benjamin Netanyahu.
We have now figured out due to extensive reporting that that was supposed to be a private message to Pam Bondi instructing her to prosecute people.
And Trump, in his infinite wisdom, accidentally sent it out publicly.
The message said, quote, Pam, I have reviewed over 30 statements and posts saying that essentially same old story as last time.
All talk, no action.
Nothing is being done.
What about Comey?
Adam Shifty shift.
Leticia, they're all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done.
Then we almost put in a Democrat supported U.S.
attorney in Virginia with a really bad Republican past, a woke rhino who was never going to do his job.
Now, we'll get to that.
That's why two of the worst Dems senators pushed him so hard.
He even lied to the media and said he quit and that we had no case.
A lot of uncertainty remains.
Now I fired him.
And there is a great case.
And many lawyers and legal pundits say so.
Lindsay Halligan is a really good lawyer and likes you a lot.
We can't delay any longer.
It's killing our reputation and credibility.
They impeached me twice and indicted me five times over nothing.
Is either side genuine and authentic in their agreement?
Justice must be served now.
President Donald J. Trump.
This was not.
Trump publicly venting.
This was meant to be a private message to Pam Bondi, where he was pressuring her to launch criminal cases against political opponents and prosecute them in normal times.
That would end a presidency.
Forget the two times Trump was impeached during his first term.
Forget the seven different reasons Trump could and should be impeached based on actions during this second term.
Just this at times in American history would have ended his presidency.
Now, according to The Wall Street Journal, Trump had no idea.
It's not, you know, like it's not like Trump was on his phone thinking he's sending a DM.
And he accidentally publishes it and immediately knows that Trump was reportedly surprised to know that that message was public.
Are they really going to go through with it?
Pam Bondi was reportedly furious and started scrambling and calling the White House going.
That was supposed to be a private message.
You got to take that shit down.
But Trump's next post proves he went into cleanup mode where he said publicly, Pam Bondi is doing a great job as attorney general.
Lots of questions are still unclear.
Now, five days later, after Trump said to Pam Bondi, go after Comey, Comey was indicted.
Trump made public what everybody suspected.
He is directing the attorney general's office to carry out his political persecutions.
Not a slip up.
a window into how Trump operates.
When is Israel supposed to permanently stop military operations in Gaza?
He's dictating prosecutions by text message and he is saying that it is justice.
Now, is there a crime here?
Absolutely.
Could be a crime.
Intent is relevant in figuring this out.
But there are a whole bunch of different legal lines that are crossed here.
This could be excuse me, abuse of power and obstruction of justice.
He's using presidential authority to influence or control prosecutions for personal or political reasons that violates the independence of the DOJ.
This could be conspiracy against rights from 18 USC subsection 241.
Bad after bad after bad.
If Trump's intent was to punish a political opponent for their political activity or their speech, that could be a conspiracy to deprive them of constitutional rights.
This could be deprivation of rights under color of law.
That's subsection 241.
of 18 USC directing prosecution without cause.
That is yet another potential crime.
And then this also could be witness intimidation or retaliation.
Since Comey and Adam Schiff, who he mentions there, were involved in prior investigations of Trump, you could argue that Trump is going after them in a retaliatory way.
We have some answers once the deal is signed, which is supposed to happen in the next six to 24 hours.
That is also against the law.
On the same day that Trump exposed
his own authoritarian impulses.
We learned about this yesterday.
We also saw Marco Rubio feeding Trump a piece of paper that said, we need you to put out the following on Truth Social.
So even there we see
that Donald Trump is being given social media talking points like an intern, maybe to try to take control back of the fact that the things that Donald Trump is posting are causing a major, major problem for them.
Now, is Trump going to be prosecuted for directing these prosecutions?
Probably not.
You know, Pam Bondi could just go, no, I felt no pressure from that message.
I didn't feel any pressure.
And then it goes to intent.
And all of a sudden it's like prosecuting perjury.
very difficult to do.
Does Congress have the will or desire to investigate this?
I just don't think so.
But it's almost every other day now that I'm telling you, hey, Donald Trump did another thing which appears to have been a crime.
Dementia J. Trump
thinks habeas corpus is a person rather than a legal concept.
Donald Trump was asked yesterday by a reporter, are you still thinking about suspending habeas corpus?
There will be a 24 hour deadline that will start at that point.
And Trump goes, who?
And it is very obvious Trump has no idea what habeas corpus is.
He thinks he's being asked about suspending a person.
for Israeli forces to make a partial withdrawal from some Gazan positions.
Who are you asking me about?
Just a little person called Ms.
habeas corpus.
I'd rather leave that to Christie.
Now, the ironic thing, the funny thing about leaving that to Christie is that Christie, no, has no idea what habeas corpus is.
Remember this viral moment in May when Senator Maggie Hassan asked her, what is habeas corpus?
And she goes, it means that Trump can deport people.
A potentially temporary ceasefire would start within 24 hours of the Israeli cabinet meeting and presumably approving this.
So bad idea to go from Trump to Kristi Noem on habeas corpus because she has no idea what it is either.
Now, if you're saying, wow, Trump seemed completely confused and disoriented by that question, isn't someone going to evaluate him medically?
The answer is yes.
And later in the show, I will bring you the news of Donald Trump's big medical evaluation that will be taking place tomorrow.
Who was habeas corpus?
Was that the kid who bullied me on the playground?
Uh, embarrassing, pathetic, humiliating.
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Hakeem Jeffries is showing signs of life and snapped at a Republican congressman in a moment we need about 100 of.
After those 24 hours, Hamas will then have 72 hours to release the hostages.
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It is great to welcome to the program today, Senator Tammy Baldwin, Democratic senator from Wisconsin.
Senator, we are still as of this moment in the middle of this shutdown.
I was sort of pleased to see that some of your Democratic colleagues have started to just confront Republicans in the floors of the Capitol, which is interesting to see.
You know, I want to get your take on two things.
One, do you have a sense of how long this may go?
But then maybe equally importantly, we know that shutdowns are hurtful to large swaths of people in different parts of the country for different reasons.
What do you expect will be the political fallout of this?
And I know we're going to talk about the the personal fallout as well, but the blame is highly relevant when it comes to these shutdowns politically.
What are you seeing in terms of who is being blamed for what's happening?
Now, there are a number of obstacles to this becoming a durable ceasefire.
On the one hand, polling does show that Americans agree with what you're saying.
I mean, factually speaking, Americans are far more likely right now to say that this this shutdown is the fault of Republicans.
On the other hand, there's a question as why as to why the president doesn't seem to have a significant sense of urgency to end this.
And the speculation is
for as long as this goes on, it sort of postpones or delays what may be inevitable with regard to a vote and subsequent release about the Epstein files.
And I mean, obstacles other than the last 70 years, which make us say, is any ceasefire really durable?
Can you tell us anything about the conversations with your colleagues as to whether you or they suspect that that is part of the lack of urgency that we're seeing from the president as a cause?
But I mean, sort of at the micro level.
Even if this initial hostage prisoner swap does take place, is Hamas really going to disarm, which is part of the deal?
And Senator, that makes sense.
But on the Epstein question, do you think that that's a factor here?
Is Israel really going to stop all operations in Gaza, which is part of the deal?
There's another calculation I want to ask you about, which is that on the one hand, you've rejected the clean continuing resolution.
In other words, one that does not include these provisions related to very important things, including the Obamacare subsidies, makes perfect sense to me on the one hand.
On the other hand, there are concerns that Democrats risk ending up on the wrong end of the blame by prolonging the shutdown or at least the perception of the shutdown being prolonged by insisting on the policy writers rather than just saying, well, let's just vote.
Will Israel really carry out a full withdrawal?
Let's just vote on the shutdown.
Let's vote on the continuing resolution.
Talk about why you presumably you believe that you're doing the right thing, otherwise you wouldn't be doing it.
Talk about that balance between the riders and reopening government and the importance of this.
Pardon my skepticism, but if you come to me and you tell me nothing other than Trump and Netanyahu are involved, I immediately wonder, will it really happen?
And J.B.
Speaker 1 Yeah, where I struggle on the on, you know, it's sort of like if you have $100 and requests for $200 from the people around you,
Choices have to be made.
There's 100 bucks to go around.
Right.
And if we apply that, there are people being hurt by the government being closed.
Opening it would provide them some relief.
But also there are people being hurt by these subsidies being on the chopping block and the price increases that we're talking about.
How do you evaluate and determine how do you who do we help first and who do we help more?
It seems quite complicated politically.
What's in it for them?
Is the reporting even accurate?
Are they even genuine and authentic in their desire to participate?
Pritzker, the governor of Illinois, is saying to Trump, come and get me after Trump said that Pritzker should be imprisoned.
Because they are two individuals that I just don't trust.
Well, Senator, you've identified one of the difficulties with the populist rhetoric, which is we often hear diagnoses that make sense, as you're pointing out.
But when it comes to the solutions, all of a sudden we say, wait a second, that that's that's not really the right solution here.
Senator Tammy Baldwin from Wisconsin, I know you've got a busy day.
And I think history tells us that that they should not be trusted.
I appreciate you taking a few minutes to talk to us today.
Donald Trump has already packed his second term cabinet with loyalists.
He's threatened deportation as political punishment.
He's expanded executive authority in ways we have not seen in modern history.
These are real changes that are happening right now.
And what's even more alarming is that a lot of the media is either glossing over the worst of it or they're reframing it.
So it all sounds a little more palatable.
And that is why I use ground news.
This is a news comparison tool.
doesn't just feed you headlines.
It shows you here's how different outlets left right center are covering the same story.
And this is one of the few tools I know of that can really help you detect the political spin, the bias catch stories that your usual sources might downplay or not cover at all.
Now, there is reporting that additional negotiation is going to be necessary sometime between the hostage prisoner exchange and any potential long term ceasefire.
on everything from immigration policy to economic shifts.
We'll be right back.
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Donald Trump was caught bragging about taking away freedom of speech yesterday, but it didn't happen in some private meeting.
It didn't get leaked by someone who heard Trump say it.
The guy said it in a room full of people with cameras and microphones.
It would not come as a huge shock if that negotiation didn't go well.
This has to do with the issue of flag burning, a constitutionally protected activity that is a form of speech that the Supreme Court has said is protected.
Trump bragging
We're going to imprison people for burning the flag.
We took freedom of speech away, a flag burning mob.
But listen, on the one hand, when Trump and Netanyahu are involved, I'm skeptical by nature.
So listen.
Something irritating or something agitating is still protected by the First Amendment.
It's still protected by freedom of speech as a concept.
If the idea is if something is irritating or agitating to a crowd, we ban it and imprison people, then we I guess we should be banning racial slurs.
Right.
When people go out there and start yelling the N-word, you can be damn sure it irritates and it agitates.
But we haven't made that punishable by a year in prison.
If people go out and start using homophobic slurs in public, that'll irritate the crowd.
That'll agitate the crowd.
By definition, the First Amendment and freedom of speech must include speech.
We might not like speech.
We don't like ourselves.
Now, there can be consequences to that speech in society.
But we have regularly seen flag burning reaffirmed as a protected act.
On the other hand, I don't care who's involved.
I don't burn flags.
It's not my thing.
I don't go around going, I'm so offended by it, but it's just not something I do.
And I've never really felt that when people do it, it achieves anything.
But that's just my opinion.
They are completely within their rights to do it.
And Trump, it actually got even worse.
Trump hosted a sort of who's who of conspiracy theorists and dilettantes of different flavors.
Andy, no, was there.
Jack Bazaviak, you can see here on the left of the screen, it's a woman who had a suspicious black eye that suddenly appeared when it was convenient to mention.
I hope that this actually does get us closer to ending this conflict, either at the micro or at the macro level.
But anyway, that's another story.
Maybe it was a real black eye.
I don't know.
Anyway, so here's a guy going, I saw someone burning a flag and Trump kind of goes, you know who he is?
Pam, can we go after that?
It is a protected form of speech.
Years now.
So thank you guys so much for taking this seriously.
I got a I got a text from the president of the United States, so I appreciate that.
So you now know everything that's been released as of this moment.
Did this guy does this guy have the flag on the floor?
Isn't that a violation of the flag code to have the flag on the floor if that's where he has it?
I mean, I can't see under the table, but he's pulling it out from underneath the table.
This is disgusting.
And this is another example of how the people who scream the loudest about
about whatever.
It's obviously a confession.
And those who scream the loudest about freedom of speech seem very willing to just limit it.
And then finally, really weird moment.
Trump talking about beautiful black women, beautiful black women.
The next six to 24 hours and subsequently 72 are going to be critical in figuring out what is ultimately going to happen here.
Beautiful black women with MAGA hats.
What a story.
A disgusting, oppressive to speech meeting
where the worst of the worst from the right are invited and celebrated as heroes for telling lies and wanting to suppress speech.
This is where we find ourselves today.
And it is truly depressing.
Breaking news, Donald Trump is going to be undergoing a medical evaluation at Walter Reed Hospital.
Now, some of the details are really important here, and the context in which this is happening is absolutely critical.
The White House is saying that this is Donald Trump's routine yearly checkup.
Sources are saying this is not a routine visit.
This is all happening when we have these growing questions about Trump's health, about transparency around his health, his ability to serve his fitness for office.
Hey, some Democratic senators and members of the House are finally showing some signs of life.
And this is sparking new concerns inside of Washington, D.C.
Now, the official line from Trump's press secretary, Caroline Leavitt.
is it's just an annual exam.
There's no big deal here.
But you might recall that Donald Donald Trump had a full physical in April.
That was just six months ago.
That report already was a suspicion inducing.
because of how vague it was and how glowingly propagandistic the report from Trump's doctor was.
And so now behind the scenes, Trump aides are reportedly pushing for a more comprehensive look because of all the health concerns that are obvious with Donald Trump.
The chronic venous insufficiency diagnosis, which seems worse than they're acknowledging, swelling in the ankles.
Recent footage of Trump, as we talked about early last week, has Trump's eyes pointing in notably different directions.
Often his right eye and sometimes both are almost completely swollen shut.
He's disoriented regularly, not recognizing people.
Trump's balance has been called into question that video when he was going to meet Putin
where he seemed unable to just track a straight line.
His gate Gait is increasingly a source of questions.
And we now have multiple governors and even a senator who have publicly been saying this guy's got dementia.
I've got video here, very interesting video of senators Mark Kelly and our friend Ruben Gallego
We heard it from Gavin Newsom.
We heard it from J.B.
Pritzker.
We've heard it from Ruben Gallego.
And the White House, of course, denies all of this.
But still, the calls for a full neurological evaluation
are growing, not the Montreal cognitive assessment.
Trump identified a giraffe.
What a big boy.
The calls for a serious and full neuropsych eval are growing quickly.
Now, this is not the first time that Donald Trump's health reports have felt like PR.
You know, if you go back to Trump's covid hospitalization, we were not getting the full story.
We were told Trump's going to Walter Reed with covid out of an abundance of caution.
The truth is he was going to Walter Reed because he was advised by doctors.
You're getting worse so quickly.
If you don't go now, we might have to bring you there on a stretcher.
It'd be better from a public relations perspective if you were able to go there under your own power.
After he was in the hospital for several days, reporters asked, is he on oxygen?
Was he on oxygen?
And doctors said, we're looking forward.
He's not on oxygen now without really dealing with the substantive question.
Did he need oxygen at any point in time?
The physicals talk about Trump's golfing and all of this other crap.
It's all propaganda.
And even right now, we are still getting reports about Trump's health that make it sound like he's some kind of athlete in his prime when he's obese.
It's a terrible diet and doesn't exercise.
So we have Trump now at 79, close to 80, the oldest person ever to take office as president of the United States.
confronting MAGA Mike Johnson.
He's fatigued.
He's confused.
Every single little thing with Joe Biden was the subject of 24 hours of Fox News coverage.
And they are silent.
about Donald Trump.
So there's already talk in Washington about trying to get greater transparency, proper medical releases, independent panels, cognitive testing.
It's not happening, though.
They are confronting him about why aren't you just getting at Alita Grijalva sworn in so that she can participate in the House of Representatives?
We've had a decade of vague updates, evasive briefings and propaganda documents about Donald Trump's health.
So Trump is heading to Walter Reed tomorrow.
The stakes are extraordinarily high.
For me, the question isn't just what will doctors find?
It's if doctors find something, will we ever learn about that publicly and maybe even more insidiously?
Remember Trump's whole thing?
If we don't test, we won't have covid cases.
I wouldn't even put it past the entire apparatus at the White House to say it's not about covering up the results.
Let's not even test a whole bunch of stuff.
Let's do the Montreal cognitive assessment rather than a proper neuropsych eval or even not do that.
Why would we suspect that that's what's going on?
Because that's what's been going on for a decade.
Speaking of cognitive concerns, Donald Trump spewed a word vomit so vile
Plus, a Republican military wife goes off on MAGA Mike Johnson on live TV.
in yesterday's interview with Fox News that it is causing a new round of can this guy speak?
Can this guy think here is another one of these impenetrable it's not even a word salad anymore.
Now it's a word vomit of Trump talking about tariffs to achieve peace.
What is he talking about here?
And are you not doing it because it's part of your effort to hide the Epstein files?
This is nuts, guys.
This is just completely and totally nuts.
What is he talking about?
Lawsuits?
tariffs and peace tariffs can create peace.
If anything, the tariffs are creating problems.
They're creating conflict.
They're antagonistic to our historic allies.
Trump continuing to be confused about the most basic economic functions.
He says we're taking in trillions with the tariffs.
Good for them
But we're saving millions of lives with the tariffs.
MAGA Mike Johnson goes, no, that has nothing to do with it.
These are the rantings of a madman.
Millions of lives are being saved with tariffs.
This is exactly how every single Democrat should be confronting these people until Mr. Hava is sworn in.
What are you talking about here?
Now, if I am like as if I go completely hypothetical and go, could tariffs save any lives?
I mean, listen, if tariffs move production of something onshore, that reduces some of the carbon footprint of the transportation.
So there's a little bit less pollution and maybe there's a life saved because of that.
But like, I've got to dig pretty deep into speculative nonsense to figure that out.
This guy's not making any sense.
And then finally, Donald Trump during this completely harebrained interview was supposed to be a softball interview, but he sounds terrible.
Trump again waxing poetic about how now you can eat at restaurants in D.C.
Now, the truth is that restaurant prices continue to be up in D.C.
Takeout prices continue to be up in D.C.
And in fact, when Donald Trump militarized the streets of D.C., restaurant reservations went down and understandably so.
Do you really want to be sitting outside a restaurant or even inside when what you see outside is a militarized pseudo war zone, thanks to the delusions of dictatorial grandeur
of Donald J. Trump.
People don't want it.
But Trump insists that everything he touches turns to gold.
Really, everything he touches turns to coal.
But if you're worried about how he sounded in that interview, rest assured he's going to Walter Reed tomorrow for a full medical evaluation.
How full is it going to be?
Well, I don't know.
Are we ever going to hear if there's anything concerning that comes out of it?
I don't know either.
On the bonus show today, we are going to talk about the Palisades fire arrest that took place.
A believed perpetrator, Katie Porter's viral interview has gone viral for all of the wrong reasons.
And we will talk about why gold is having its best year since 1979.
The gold bugs are thrilled.
They're going, I told you so.
We'll talk about it on the bonus show.
Sign up at join Pacman dot com.
I'll see you then.
You don't want to be able to discharge how much it's totally absurd.
You guys are experts.
It's absurd, says Mike Johnson.
This is an excuse.
A Trump private message was posted.
She doesn't sign on.
We have every reason in the world to believe.
that Maga Mike Johnson is functioning as Donald Trump's goon, as Trump's henchman to prevent or delay the release of the Epstein files.
Now, you might say something that producer Pat sort of alluded to yesterday on the bonus show, which is it does seem that eventually she's going to get sworn in and she's going to vote to release the Epstein files.
Publicly on Truth Social, it is bad.
So this will only work temporarily, temporarily.
And you're probably right.
That's right.
Everybody who has been emailing me about that is right.
What you have to understand is that this is now not about let's prevent the release altogether.
This is shifting into let's muddle the release so much that whatever is in it is going to be questioned for accuracy and credibility.
And on the on Friday, feedback tomorrow on The Friday Show.
we're going to delve into at this point is whatever ultimately gets released and labeled the Epstein files even going to be believed.
This will potentially pave the way for a ceasefire.
Or are you going to have people presumably on the left saying, I can't imagine this is really the full file.
And Trump seems to think habeas corpus is a person rather than a legal concept.
And then people on the right saying of anything that is derogatory in the files.
I can't imagine that this is real.
This is doctored.
This is fake or whatever.
So we're going to deal with that when it happens.
But in the interim, this, I believe, is the energy we need from Democrats.
In this case, Gallego and Kelly walking across the hall, walking across the rotunda to the other side of the Capitol.
confronting MAGA Mike Johnson and saying, what the hell is going on here?
And by the way, this was not the only confrontation that took place yesterday.
Let's talk about that next.
You know, when it comes to Hakeem Jeffries, the minority leader in the House.
I have not said the most positive things about him lately.
Trump also bragging about ending freedom of speech.
I think that the energy is low.
I'm sick of the strongly worded letters.
I don't know that he really has the spirit and positioning for what we need right now in the American left.
But yesterday he got into a brutal exchange with Republican Congressman Lawler
And we're going to listen to this.
This is about the Medicaid cuts.
This is about the shutdown.
And I got to tell you, this is the most interested I've been in Jeffries in years.
And we've learned he's headed to Walter Reed for a not so routine medical evaluation.
This all of a sudden he's alive.
So I'll show you a few seconds of the confrontation starting from this angle.
But then we actually have a different video where the audio is much better.
So here is Jeffries coming out, I believe, of the press briefing that he did.
And then Lawler is there and they get into it.
So that you see the confrontation kind of develop.
We have a better angle here.
Let's listen to what the subject matter actually was.
This did not go well for Lawler and good for Hakeem Jeffries for not backing down.
We've got a one-year extension.
Why don't we sign on right now?
Let me ask you a question.
All of that and more today.
Go ahead.
Why are you here right now is really the best question in all of this.
Coming just days after the two year anniversary of the Israel Hamas war, we have news that a deal has supposedly been reached still to be ratified, I guess we would say, and signed in Egypt maybe over the next 24 hours.
It is also getting increasingly ugly on Capitol Hill.
Anyway, there's another 90 seconds of this, but I think you get the picture.
Are we?
So I'm of two minds of this.
OK, now I'll just kind of be transparent and honest with you, which is all I ever am on the one hand.
We have seen such a lack of energy coming from Democratic leadership.
That includes in the Senate.
That includes in the House.
We've got strongly worded letters up the wazoo, but those aren't really good for much.
And I love that Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly went over and confronted Mac and Mike Johnson about swearing in at Alita Grijalva.
I like that when Mike Lawler shows up, clearly meant to sort of sandbag Hakeem Jeffries.
Jeffries doesn't back down and he exposes him for the sort of Trump controlled tool that he is.
We need this energy.
I like it.
On the other hand, if your question is how many people can now afford food thanks to this argument?
Well, there's no additional people that thanks to this argument can now afford food.
That's absolutely true.
And so where I find myself is we are all so desperately seeking signs of life and energy from the Democratic Party and we're starting to get them.
And that's good.
But it can't stop there.
And so the question is,
Given that by itself, this sort of energy and these confrontations and this spirit, this esprit de corps.
Well, how does Trump say esprit de corps?
Well, however, he says that this spirit by itself doesn't help anybody economically.
But is there the possibility that with this newfound energy, more people will see what's going on?
More people will get involved.
More people will get involved in the political process.
More people will vote and we'll get the right people in.
I'm optimistic, guys.
This is a hostage prisoner swap deal.
It's like all we have right now.
OK, so at least this is better than what we had as of 48 hours ago.
I hope we see more of it, but it can't stop at only this.
Governor J.B.
Pritzker is daring Donald Trump to come and arrest him.
You might remember that yesterday I covered Donald Trump's Truth Social post where he said, quote, Chicago mayor should be in jail for failing to protect ICE officers.
The idea being
Governor Pritzker also.
Well, Pritzker was asked about this and his message to Donald Trump is it's pretty clear, I must say.
This may lead to a permanent ceasefire.
All right.
So Pritzker's message is very clear.
Donald Trump's week from hell just got worse.
I was winning.
And the conspiracy theories about Dominion voting machines didn't even come up.
Always the move is turn the tables if you can and attack the person asking the question.
A journalist asks a question Maga doesn't like.
How dare you?
We saw Caroline Leavitt do it yesterday.
A senator asks a question you don't like in this case, Senator Welch.
How?
Don't call me a liar.
Well, we think you're a liar.
We don't even need to call you a liar.
Dick Durbin brought up the Epstein files.
This got really good and said, we have now learned that you were told to flag when Trump is mentioned in the Epstein files for the White House.
Who told you to do that?
Just the race is over.
She goes, I'm not going to talk about that.
The voters have spoken.
I wish Mindy the best.
And that's really the shock here.
She's gotten what's good if you're thinking she sounds discombobulated.
As shocking as it is to see Democrats take a city.
She had attack notes prepared for each Democratic senator, but she lacks the articulate ability
to recite this stuff.
And so she just sounds discombobulated.
that they haven't had for a really long time.
Eventually you will answer.
Pam Bondi, says Dick Durbin.
Then we get to Senator Blumenthal.
And again, Pam Bondi with the outrage, she's just outraged.
The real shock is a Republican simply accepted defeat and said someone else gets to now hold this office.
Anyone would have the audacity to challenge her integrity or honesty, which, of course, anyone who's ever paid attention to Pam Bondi would say the first thing we need to do is examine her integrity and her honesty that took place.
Don't you ever.
So so you see the game, right, guys?
She became prepared with notes to attack each senator.
But of course, she is not there to ask questions.
She is there to answer questions.
She was then asked by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse direct questions about what the FBI has about Trump with half naked young women.
I lost plain and simple.
Are there pictures of Trump with half naked young women?
And there was almost like a palpable nostalgia where, you know, I still remember John McCain's concession speech in 2008.
We might call them underage girls.
Again, she refuses to answer.
She attacks Senator Whitehouse.
Has she seen those pictures of Trump with underage women, underage girls or not?
So she doesn't answer this one either.
And I'm hearing that the answer is yes.
I mean, if you're asked, have you seen pictures of Trump with half naked females in connection with Jeffrey Epstein and you attack the person asking the question?
It certainly sounds to me like a yes.
Now, it then got really unhinged when Senator Adam Schiff took a turn.
This is just wild, wild stuff.
It was a fine speech where he said, we've had a race.
The voters have chosen my opponent, Barack Obama.
This is, of course, the fires in California have nothing to do with this hearing.
Hold on.
Do I have my Obama?
about the prosecution to be totally frank.
I don't even think it should be allowed for witnesses to do this sort of thing.
You know, if you're in a court of law and an attorney is asking a witness questions and the witness starts to insist on asking the attorney questions, the judge would step in and say, you're here to provide testimony.
They chose Barack Obama.
You're here to answer questions, not ask questions.
And I believe that what Pam Bondi was allowed to do is not even appropriate.
I think it's completely not what these hearings are for.
And I want the country to do well and therefore I want the president to do well.
And I would like to see that enforced.
The most important takeaway here, we see Pam Bondi and to us, she looks moronic, unethical and dishonest.
She's clearly avoiding answering questions that she knows the answers to, just like a truly triggered imbecile.
But Maga sees this as strength.
Maga sees that she comes prepared with attack lines for each Democratic senator.
They go, she's so strong.
She is attempting to perform for an audience of one.
And that is Donald Trump.
And she did it to her credit.
We all see this for what it is, but it doesn't matter if MAGA sees this as strength.
And I believe that they do.
And there were sort of it.
Donald Trump announced yesterday that he will be committing more crimes if he can get away with it.
He did this on live television during a press conference with the not really a press conference, sort of like a press conversation in the Oval Office with the Canadian minister, Prime Minister Mark Carney.
A reporter asked a question.
Nostalgia is the best way I can say it.
Is the White House in favor of furloughed federal workers getting back pay once the government shutdown ends or not?
Are you going to pay the people that are now not getting paid?
And Trump says it depends who and makes it clear that what he wants to do is give back pay to the Trump loyalist federal workers and maybe not to the ones that are not so loyal.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Pam Bondi loses it when questioned by senators.
A respectful, measured concession rooted in something that used to be called dignity.
This this is against the law.
That is a threat.
That is another attempt to punish people who didn't vote for him.
And it is against the law.
The Trump is openly saying there are more crimes I've identified that I would like to commit.
Paying only federal workers deemed loyal to the president would violate the First and Fifth Amendments by punishing.
It's the government punishing political beliefs and denying equal treatment.
It would violate the Civil Service Reform Act and the Hatch Act would say you which say you can't discriminate on a political basis in federal employment.
And I think it's respectable to say, hey, we would be better off if that's still the way that that it was today.
We've got laws on the books about this stuff, and it would likely violate criminal law against use of public funds and abuse of power.
We if if Donald Trump is allowed to get away with what he just said, not only is it criminal, not only does it violate the Constitution, not only does it violate the Civil Service Reform Act and the Hatch Act, it would bring back this corrupt spoils system, which we abolished in the eighteen hundreds.
It was clearly unconstitutional.
It would now be clearly prosecutable.
And Trump is not doing this in the dark recesses.
of some bunker.
He's saying this stuff in the Oval Office.
He is proudly and defiantly declaring with Mark Carney sitting there next to him, looking at him like what the hell is going on here, that there are criminal things he would like to do.
Now, Pruse said he was proud to serve for as long as he did.
And I hate to say it.
I'm afraid he'll get away with it because he's gotten away with so much.
And we are going to have to watch that very closely.
I have a number of friends currently furloughed, not getting paid.
Not a single one of them is a Trump supporting tool.
And I this is now on our radar.
He would like to commit some more crimes, more crimes, please.
Let's see if he's able to get away with it.
He said low turnout was part of why he lost.
Mark Carney, by the way, the Canadian prime minister was visibly, visibly stunned
during his conversation in the Oval Office with Donald Trump and the press.
Donald Trump just answering question after question after question in a disgusting, a disgusting reminder that money doesn't buy class.
If Trump embodies anything.
The primary value or idea that Trump embodies is that some people, no matter how much money they obtain, you can't buy class.
He congratulated his opponent and now he's moving on.
Trump asked, are you concerned about the delays at airports?
And he starts talking about a black woman's IQ, one of his favorite topics.
If you are up against the difficult question, figure out if there is a black woman you can say is stupid.
And that's exactly what Trump did.
Now, you are not going to get yourself a paid contributor gig on Fox News with that attitude.
You know, this is not a show where I just go racism.
Everything is racism.
And in fact, I really try to be careful.
There's a lot of times that some might say this is racism and it's not.
You know, in today's Republican Party of 2025, if you just say I lost, that's it.
It's something else.
It's it's it's a political situation or it's a personal situation, but not based on race or whatever.
Why is it that Trump is asked a question about airports and suddenly he's attacking two nonwhite women, two nonwhite Democrats, and saying that one of them has a low IQ?
What?
Why?
Why is that?
Is there any other explanation at this point in time?
Donald Trump then asked, why isn't there a deal with Canada?
You know, everybody's throwing bouquets at each other.
You're saying how great Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister, is.
Everybody's getting along.
We love Canada.
We love the US.
Everything's great.
So why no deal right now?
Interesting question.
The voters selected somebody else.
You're not going to be seen as fighting the fight.
And everybody's laughing.
But what's the joke?
It's completely incoherent.
And remember that it's all fun and games in the Oval Office.
But we were told that everybody was just going to be desperate, desperate to make a deal with Donald Trump.
And we've got essentially no deals.
Trump then saying soon the people of Canada will love us, but they already do also.
that MAGA wants you to fight because the modern Republican Party has turned denial into really a requirement and a personality trait in some sense.
You know, the truth is that nearly two thirds of Canadians and this is sad.
This is not something to brag about.
It's terrible.
Nearly two thirds of Canadians have an unfavorable opinion of the United States.
Thirty nine percent of that total 64 have a very unfavorable opinion of the United States.
It's not going well with Canada, that's for sure.
Trump sort of weirdly weaves in this whole the United States and Canada joining and Canada becoming a U.S.
state.
And Carney is quick to say that's not at all what I'm talking about.
Trump cannot let go that maybe Canadians just don't want to be part of the United States.
Maybe maybe they just don't want to do that.
The topic of cars came up highly relevant to the tariff situation.
And as usual, Trump making a fool out of himself.
You would have a better shot at getting an answer from a kitchen whisk than you do from Donald Trump.
And so the idea that you can just lose because more people wanted your opponent to win and more people voted for your opponent, it's not compatible
Yeah.
You know, the only problem with this
is that the Chevy Silverado and the Chevy Equinox are made in Canada.
The Honda Civic and the Honda CRV are made in Canada.
Chrysler Pacifica and the Grand Caravan and the Dodge Charger and the Ford Mustang GTD and a whole bunch of other cars.
They're made in Canada.
And originally during Trump's first term, part of that replacement deal to NAFTA, the USMCA, part of it was let's do joint building of cars, US, Canada, Mexico, and not punish Americans for that.
Now Trump's going, we are going to punish those with tariffs.
And also nobody wants these cars anyway, but actually they do.
And actually, manufacturers organize themselves in accordance with Donald Trump stated trade policy goals of his first term under USMCA, which said, no, we're going to work with some of the parts will be from these three countries.
The assembly will be in these three countries.
And that's cool.
That's encouraged.
Now it's not.
He's punishing the very people that did what he wanted them to do.
And this is the theme with Trump.
You do what he wants you to do, but then the winds change and now he punishes you and you are always the problem.
A pending Supreme Court case could strip our Fourth Amendment rights and allow immigration agents to come into our homes for any reason.
with the Republican brand of the 2020s because they've built not only a media ecosystem around the premise that they never lose.
No probable cause needed.
All while Republicans try to twist things so that you think this is all great for America.
This should be the biggest story in the US right now, but it's almost impossible to keep up with the millions of moves that Trump is making every single day.
That's why ground news exists.
Ground News is an app and website that exposes the blind spots and spin before it takes control of our opinions.
Farmers are turning on the administration and Republican mayors or get this conceding elections without claiming voter fraud.
Ground News is the smarter, more reliable way to stay informed when MAGA is banking on us getting distracted.
The David Pakman Show David Pakman dot com.
All right.
This should be the biggest news story in the country.
This was not a gaffe.
This was not a glitch.
Stephen Miller, one of Trump's closest aides, calmly declared on national television, CNN, that Donald Trump has plenary authority.
And he realized what he had said.
He went silent and froze.
They went to a break.
And when they came back, he gave the answer again with no mention of plenary authority.
Now, most people
don't necessarily know what this means.
They also have someone at the top of their party in Donald Trump who never I mean, Trump still hasn't acknowledged losing the popular vote in 2016 to Hillary.
What this means is unlimited, unchecked power.
This is the kind of power a king would have.
This is the kind of power a dictator dictator would have, not a president in a democracy.
Let's check out the clip and then we will talk about it.
We're having a technical issue, but there was no technical issue.
That was not a freeze because of a bad connection.
He was still blinking.
We could hear him.
Everybody could hear everybody.
The more likely scenario is either Stephen Miller realized by himself
or there was someone off camera or somewhere near there going, no, no, no, no, no.
You just said the quiet part out loud.
This was not a loud, unhinged rant from Stephen Miller.
He did those during this interview.
We'll get to those later.
This was
something that he didn't stumble across that phrase plenary authority.
as they call her, Hillary Clinton, even though he won that race electorally, he still believes that he actually won the popular vote, even though he didn't.
This is something he believes and he means.
And the problem is that that phrase, maybe it's supposed to be rolled out later.
Maybe it's for when Trump decides to push some new boundary or wants to deploy regular armed forces against citizens even beyond the limited capacity in which he's done it so far or against a court order.
And CNN appears to have helped to bury it.
Instead of challenging Miller on this wildly unconstitutional claim, they cut to a break, claimed a technical issue, came back with a do over.
Miller didn't mention plenary authority and the host didn't mention, hey, before you said plenary authority, plenary authority.
I don't know if CNN is protecting Stephen Miller outright.
I don't know if it was a moment of the host forgot.
I don't know.
But Stephen Miller really gave the game away because it exposes what this administration really believes.
Trump's power should be absolute.
We suspected that's what they believed.
We know that that's what Donald Trump wants.
And the legacy in corporate media has sort of quietly helped to cover it all up.
You don't end up with a full fledged authoritarian state with tanks in the streets on day one.
Starts with stuff like this.
An aide says, oh, the president has plenary power and everybody just kind of shrugs and CNN gives him a redo when he doesn't mention it.
So, you know, someone like Proust concedes no screaming fraud.
And that's it.
This is the language that authoritarian leaders have used to justify total control in 1933.
Hitler pushed through the so-called Enabling Act, which said, oh, he needs full power to restore order.
And what that meant was that any decision decree or law flows directly from him, unchecked by courts, unchecked by the parliament.
It's not just rare.
And that idea is that one person, usually one man,
overrides every other institution.
And the parallels are really scary.
I mean, there's we don't talk about Hitler often on this program, but what we are talking about is using existing mechanisms like emergency powers and national security laws to dismantle democracy from the inside out.
It's almost rebellious in the Republican Party.
And that's what makes Stephen Miller's statement so dangerous.
When plenary authority
comes out of the mouth of someone that works for the president, it is a test balloon.
This is an insight into what they're thinking about.
And it's the same playbook that we've talked about.
You normalize the language of dictatorship.
You get the media to kind of shrug or maybe we don't really know what that means.
And by the time people realize what's happening, you've hollowed out the rule of law from the inside out.
Please make sure that people see this.
Meanwhile, O'Neill ran on, you know, boring things that quaint stuff like I'm going to listen to the voters.
The shriveled and diminished Trump adviser Stephen Miller said a lot of things yesterday.
He said some of them to CNN.
He said some of them to the press pool cameras outside of the White House.
He was asked about how he called a judge's ruling a legal insurrection when it comes to the deployment of troops.
And Stephen Miller goes, that's factually accurate.
Think about that.
I'm going to make housing affordable.
Think about that.
January 6th, 2021.
Definitely not an insurrection, according to Stephen Miller.
Judges making decisions that Trump likes.
Definitely not an insurrection.
judges making decisions that Trump doesn't like.
That's an insurrection.
It's an insurrection against the law.
This is the classic modern authoritarian Republican idea.
You say inflammatory and wacky things
I want to build community trust in public safety, including police.
When you're confronted with them, you act shocked that anyone would accuse you of anything that is not totally on the up and up.
What?
No, it's of course it's an insurrection by the judges.
What do you mean me?
I didn't say the wrong thing.
The judge's decisions were simply wrong.
This got even worse.
Back to the CNN interview.
when he started arguing, Stephen Miller did, that black people in Chicago love ice on the streets and deployed military.
They just love all of it.
And she won.
It turns out, unfortunately, unfortunately, that documented and undocumented documented immigrants aren't really stealing houses, jobs and resources.
So on the one hand, you've got at the national level Trump calling to, by the way, jail governors and mayors.
Certainly on some basic supply and demand level, more people looking for housing has an upward effect on prices.
It's modest, but it's it's it's it's real.
But with regard to jobs and resources, we know that the presence of documented and undocumented immigrants is extraordinarily economically stimulative.
No matter what the color of your skin is, whether you're white, brown, black or any color you if you are presented with the the the real data on this would recognize
The presence of immigrants documented and undocumented.
This is not a defense of undocumented immigration, mind you.
Of course, countries have a right to enforce immigration law.
But let's not lie.
The presence of both documented and undocumented immigrants is demand side stimulus.
It creates more economic output.
generates more demand is good for local businesses, is good for local economies, is good for the American economy.
We'll talk about that.
And you can say they should all be doing it legally, not illegally.
Fine.
Countries have every right to enforce immigration law.
But the idea that by sending these masked goons and militarized troops through the streets to round people up, some of them who are documented, some are undocumented, even American citizens getting wrapped up in the entire thing and entangled, you're going to improve the economy, not borne out by the facts.
You've got ICE agents ripping through protests in Chicago.
Finally, the dehumanization of talking about putting down, putting down.
Listen to this.
you see that a Republican in Alaska is able to model what it means to be an adult.
It's unconstitutional.
It must be put down.
It must be put down.
The dehumanizing language is not a bug.
They see it as a feature.
MAGA hears it.
See, here's here's where we lose.
We think if we just show them this language, they would be disgusted with it and they would go, oh, we can't support that.
But that's where we are wrong.
You show them this language.
They go, that's great.
It sounds strong.
It sounds robust.
It sounds like we're finally taking control of our country.
It's a feature and not a bug that makes it much harder to fight against.
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Illinois Governor J.B.
Pritzker says he believes Trump's dementia is why he is deploying troops all over the country.
It's that they've lost their party that can't simply say we lost.
Donald Trump now says that Governor J.B.
Pritzker should be thrown in prison along with Chicago Mayor Brendan Johnson.
We are getting you know, we talk about a race to the bottom.
We are getting it very, very quickly from this administration.
Donald Trump put out a post on Truth Social which says, quote, Chicago mayor should be in jail for failing to protect ICE officers.
Governor Pritzker also.
His aides are melting down on live TV.
Now, I know that we have been so desensitized by how this administration has operated that a post from a president suggesting that elected officials be thrown in prison without due process and without having done anything wrong.
is not that shocking anymore.
I understand the hyper normalization and the desensitization that we have all experienced and that hopefully we are fighting against.
But this is a red alert moment.
That's all that happened here.
We have the president of the United States openly calling for the jailing of elected officials because they won't do what he wants.
It's not because they committed crimes.
When the bar is so low, basic decency kind of starts to feel revolutionary.
It's not because they participated in a corrupt or unethical act.
It is for political disobedience.
And if you look back at the 20th century dictators, this is how it starts.
It begins.
with rhetoric that blurs the line between political disagreement and criminal behavior.
Mussolini would call his opponents enemies of the state.
Franco labeled mayors and union leaders subversive.
Hitler accused local officials of sabotage when they would refuse his orders.
And the goal was always the same.
You want to turn your political opponents into criminals so that then you can treat their desire for democracy as lawlessness.
You make yourself the source of order and you throw all of them in prison so they can't get in your way.
That is the direction that Donald Trump is going here.
This isn't policy.
Throw a governor in prison isn't policy.
It is a groundwork for anti-democratic repression.
The cracks are showing everywhere.
The irony, of course, is that the mayors and governors that Trump is attacking are the ones following the law.
ICE is a federal agency.
Local officials don't protect ICE.
That's not even what they're supposed to be doing.
They cooperate under federal rules using their discretion.
And it's weird.
Now, I don't know if Trump knows that or doesn't know it.
You know, for Trump, law and order means law for his enemies.
and order for himself, or maybe it's law and order for his friends and total denial of due process for his enemies.
But this mayoral race in Fairbanks might be it's weird to say it.
I don't know.
I'm sort of saying it inarticulately, but this is not what a confident leader posts.
This is the post of someone who's completely unraveling and only reinforcing JB Pritzker's claim.
That dementia is at play in motivating Trump's behavior.
Just look at this week alone.
He's demanded military tribunals for journalists, the death penalty for drug dealers and now prison for mayors and governors.
This is like an authoritarian greatest hits.
And as disastrous as the ranting is, this all pushes the Overton window.
The more we get accustomed to a president demanding some of his political opponents be jailed when he says something that stops just short of that next week, it sounds comparatively less outrageous and we're more likely to look the other way.
And so I know I've said it before.
This might be one of the healthiest things that American democracy has seen all year.
These populist sounding sort of authoritarians often will start with, hey,
We've got the people versus the corrupt elites.
Now, usually they are the corrupt elites, but they'll still say, I'm on the side of the people.
We're together against the corrupt elites.
Then they redefine the elite as anybody who disagrees with them politically.
And Trump's doing that right now.
He's recasting mayors, governors, local police departments that don't want to go out of their way to do immigration work or whatever, which they shouldn't be doing.
They are all enemies and we've got to deal with them.
So this is an unhinged post, but it's part of a pattern we've seen many times before.
You delegitimize your opponents.
You rewrite justice to mean loyalty.
And then you say, well, we've got to punish dissent here.
We've got to throw these people in prison.
It is the playbook of every dictator who ever told himself he's saving the country.
Right before they destroy it, this is the sort of stuff they would say.
We're working on getting Governor Pritzker on the show.
And of course, I would love to ask him about this.
He lost and he's moving on.
I'm guessing because he's not a dumb guy and neither is the mayor.
I'm guessing that they are coming up with contingency planning for what happens if Trump does try to pursue us in this way.
Hey, this is very interesting.
The Manosphere podcasters who spent years flirting with MAGA, Rogan, Theo Vaughn, Aiden Ross, Andrew Schultz, they are suddenly trying to pretend they were never really that into Donald Trump.
Not everybody's reacting this way.
There's a really interesting new piece in Rolling Stone.
And what the piece argues is that the guys who helped Trump's campaign in twenty twenty four in terms of bringing it to young men and saying, vote, vote for this guy.
They are now kind of tripping over themselves to distance themselves from what Donald Trump is actually doing.
Let's get into it.
We'll get to that a little bit later.
We're nine, almost nine months into this term.
And they're realizing that the guy who promised to do all of that authoritarian stuff
meant it and he's doing the authoritarian stuff.
So you've got people like Aiden Ross who gave Trump a cyber truck and a Rolex during that love fest interview that they did.
Trump dementia has now gone mainstream.
Now he says he really, really wishes he'd never gotten into politics.
You've got Theo Vaughn.
who offered Trump one of the softest interviews he's ever had.
He blew up after the Department of Homeland Security included him in a deportation video.
And he said, I didn't sign up for this stuff.
I've got immigrant family.
That is not at all what I meant.
And I don't like that my content was used by Trump in this way.
Rogan has been calling the immigration raids insane.
Andrew Schultz said that he voted for none of this.
But this is what happens when you treat politics like another viral guest spot.
My friend, the comedian Angelo Kalina.
Yet another governor and a senator now are pointedly saying Trump is doing things because he is suffering from dementia.
said when talking about Hispanic voters, he does comedy in Spanish to mostly Hispanic audiences.
He said, why are we?
I'm paraphrasing.
Why are we shocked that the guy who said he hates us actually hates us and is now doing all of this stuff to us?
Who could have seen that coming?
Trump told you what he was going to do.
The only surprise here is that people who built their brands on telling it like it is didn't believe Trump.
You know, Rogan's all about.
I tell it like it is.
Theo Vaughn's about I tell it like it is, et cetera.
But Trump told it like it is and he's doing the stuff.
And now they go, oh, we didn't guess that he was just telling it like it is.
This is the same pad.
Oh, by the way, I want to mention one other show.
I don't know how many of you watch or listen to the all in podcast.
I don't really.
But I follow it enough to sort of see what happens.
And I have friends who listen to it.
It is basically morphed into a Trump propaganda outlet with like the veneer of being a show about venture capital and capital deployment.
And for a while, the all in audience kind of went with it.
But if you look at the subreddit now for the all in podcast, it is brutal.
The audience has completely turned against them, sort of like Dave Rubin's audience turned against him.
If you look at the Rogan subreddit, there's a lot of that as well.
And the all in hosts are just being crushed.
for parroting right wing talking points, selling out to power.
When even your fan base that made you what you are to begin with, as far as podcast success, when they start roasting you as a shill, you start looking for an off ramp and quickly
And it is now spreading beyond the manosphere.
Look at what happened to Nicky Jam.
He went on stage with Trump.
Trump misgendered him and said, Nicky's super hot.
Bring her up here.
First, Illinois Governor J.B.
Turns out it was a guy with a teardrop tattoo under his eye.
And Nicky Jam went up there thinking, oh, this is cool.
You know, I'm with Trump.
It's all great.
Nicky Jam got so destroyed on social media
that he ended up saying, I'm done with politics.
I'm not going to say any more political stuff.
Pritzker.
He gave an interview to The Chicago Tribune.
And even apolitical influencers are learning that the Trump orbit can burn you if you get a little bit too close.
This was never I don't think when these podcasters got involved on the Trump train.
I don't know that it was that ideological.
I think it was the idea that we're going to be edgy.
We're going to be unfiltered.
We're going to be rebellious in that a lot of what they perceived as their cohorts were antagonistic to Trump.
And we're going to we're going to hear him out and maybe even say we like the guy.
But the thing is, Trump now is the establishment.
He is saying it very clearly.
Like when you support Trump, you're really just supporting the establishment.
He's the system.
And so they are now backpedaling.
And I don't think they're doing it out of principle.
I think they're doing it out of self-preservation.
They sense this is my speculation.
The manosphere bros sense that the next phase of the online right is not about worshiping Trump.
He clearly is in the
It's going to be about tearing down those who look weak, hypocritical or corporate.
And nothing screams weakness more than backing the strong man right up until he starts losing the crowd.
I don't care anymore.
And so the Manosphere's tough guy posture, I think, was always vibes over values.
They talk about discipline and all of that stuff.
But once it's inconvenient, they abandon it.
And so Trump doesn't need them anymore.
Trump got what he wanted.
He got reelected.
He doesn't need him anymore.
I'm going to say what I really think phase.
The audiences are kind of mutating and moving around and starting to eat creators alive.
So the podcast bros are starting to step away from Trump, not because they grew a conscience.
I think they see what's coming and they don't want to drown in this wave that is on its way.
Let me know what you think.
Leave a comment.
or email me about the manosphere info at David Pakman dot com.
All right.
MAGA Mike Johnson is warning that furloughed government employees may never get back pay.
He said, quote, This is a man who's suffering dementia.
We're going to talk about it on the bonus show.
We'll talk about the White House using saying it will use tariff revenue to fund food aid for mothers and young children.
And the Treasury is defending the lawfulness
of a one dollar Trump coin, even though in principle you're not allowed to mint coins or bills with living people on them.
So what's their justification?
We will discuss it on the bonus show.
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This is a man who has something stuck in his head.
He can't get it out of his head.
He doesn't read.
He doesn't know anything that's up to date.
It's just something in the recesses of his brain that is effectuating to have him call out these cities.
And then unfortunately, he has the power of the military, the power of the federal government to do his bidding.
And that's what he is doing.
What J.B.
Pritzker is arguing here is that like some who suffer from dementia, Trump has become irrationally and singularly fixated on cities and deploying troops there and that it is dementia that explains why Trump is just sending troops everywhere, no matter what courts say, no matter what judges say, even when states object and mayors, governors or both say we don't want it.
Now, according to the Tribune, troops from Texas are already assembling at a base in Illinois, 300 Illinois National Guard members ordered to serve at least 60 days.
Well, I have some sort of nice news to start with for a change.
And we have to take a step back and recognize the unusual circumstances in which we now find ourselves.
Dementia is now being regularly blamed for the erratic and lawless behavior of a president.
It's not normal.
It's not a conspiracy theory somewhere in the corners of the Internet.
It has gone completely mainstream.
Now, remember when J.B.
Pritzker said the following just last week.
A Republican was brutally kicked to the curb by a Democrat in one of their Alaska strongholds.
So Pritzker has been clear he believes dementia is to blame here.
Of course, California Governor Gavin Newsom recently dropped a dementia bomb on Donald Trump, publicly saying this guy's in cognitive decline and tweeting out that people with dementia will often repeat the same false things over and over and over again.
And now even our friend Senator Ruben Gallego from Arizona is saying exactly the same thing.
Governors are blaming dementia for his troop deployments.
And that's good news already.
Yeah.
So you've now got that's from our friends over at Midas Touch, by the way.
You've got multiple governors, not French commentators, not anonymous insiders, not commenters whose username is a random word and eight numbers on Reddit.
But the big shock is that the loser, David Prues, did not claim voter fraud.
You've got governors and a senator attributing Donald Trump's military and legal overreach to dementia.
And this is unfortunately eerily familiar.
When Ronald Reagan was president, I was like only fifty five years old at that point.
When Ronald Reagan was president, people started to notice that he was slipping.
There were misbriefings.
There was confusion.
There were strange lapses in memory.
And later we learned, oh, yeah, he was suffering from Alzheimer's at the time.
And now historians are left to argue about or debate.
How early did that start with Reagan?
How long had it been going on and how long was it being covered up?
Now, the difference is back then it was a different media environment.
We didn't have social media.
We didn't have I don't know that we had any 24 hour cable news networks.
And so a lot of it could be kept hidden.
He did not blame Antifa or Antifa.
I mean, think back even further to when FDR was in a wheelchair.
And even that was successfully hidden for a long time with Trump.
It's all public.
It's all happening in the public eye.
We see the slurred words, we see the inability to recognize people, the looping stories,
Trump's eyes pointing in different directions the other the other day, and sometimes his eyes are completely swollen, shut his strange stance where he sort of hinges forward at the waist and swings, which is sometimes a sign of frontotemporal dementia.
Reagan's decline was pretty successfully covered up, at least as far as the public facing side of it.
He didn't file a lawsuit.
Trump's decline is being live streamed.
And what's terrifying is that the people around Trump must
know that something is wrong.
They, instead of stopping him, are enabling him.
Now, the only thing we can say about the people around Trump is this.
Now, now we're hypothesizing.
Now we're left to conjecture and speculation.
He just conceded the race.
My favorite places to be, of course.
No, we're left to conjecture and speculation because of the lack of transparency over the last month and a half.
really a month.
Actually, we have had two very long unexplained absences from the public eye for Donald Trump.
Can you imagine?
Periods of days.
In one case, I think it was four days.
In one case, it was closer to six.
Something Trump rarely did during his first term.
Never, I would even say.
unexplained absences during which his only communication is either via text message or social media post.
So this takes us to Fairbanks, Alaska, where Democrat Mindy O'Neill defeated the incumbent Republican Mayor David Prues.
And because of the lack of transparency, because of what we do see in public, we are left to speculate that the one thing the staff around him are doing when they see that he is having an episode of sorts.
is just keeping him out of the public eye.
When governors start invoking dementia to explain federal troop deployments, we can no longer pretend that this is a partisan spin on a niche story.
It's a national security issue.
It has gone completely mainstream.
And I have to say it.
Good for Senator Gallego.
Good for Governor Newsom and good for Pritzker.
for being willing to even say this publicly, because there are a lot of people that are crushing them for saying this, mostly Republicans.
And I believe that we are only starting to get the tip of the story, the tip of the iceberg, the first lines of the story, the tip of the story.
I don't know.
We're going to have more and broader coverage of this on our audio podcast.
It's on Spotify.
It's on Apple podcasts.
It's completely free.
It's an hour or more a day.
I would love for you to subscribe to that podcast.
And this flips a conservative seat that Republicans have held.
We're going to take a quick break and be back right after this.
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He just conceded.
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Acting more like a criminal defendant than the attorney general, Pam Bondi delivered one of the most sickening and divisive performances that I have ever seen from an attorney general at a Senate hearing on Capitol Hill yesterday.
We're going to go through a whole bunch of this.
First and foremost, Bondi asked directly.
Is there audio recording, video recording of Trump's deportations are Tom Homan taking fifty thousand dollars as a bribe?
And she goes, oh, you've got to talk to Kash Patel about that.
Air travel in the United States is turning into an absolute disaster.
They will never acknowledge the reality in these cities, which is that things are mostly fine.
It just closed.
It wasn't because of weather, but it was because there were not enough staff and a pilot radioed in for clearance and got the response.
And like any big city, there are problems to be dealt with.
And they are not resolved by militarizing the streets and sending in armed vehicles and riot patrols and this sort of thing.
Hilariously, Caroline Leavitt sounded indignant.
She said, I read in Politico people are acting like Trump wants to take over cities with the military.
Yeah, that's exactly what he wants to do.
That's what he's been saying.
The point of all of this is
Oh, Caroline.
because it makes them even more chaotic.
The tower is closed due to staffing.
Yeah, well, the reason that Politico is writing that if they are, I didn't I didn't look at the political playbook.
The reason that they're writing that is because Trump has been openly saying that he's been openly saying we're going to do this in a whole bunch of cities.
That's why they believe that.
Now, the question of Ghislaine Maxwell did also come up.
So let let that sink in for a moment.
Will Trump rule out granting her clemency?
Caroline Leavitt is just not weighing in.
She won't even say whether such a request has been made.
important major U.S.
There you go.
And Trump claims he isn't either.
As you saw earlier, when he was asked about Julian Maxwell, he goes, why?
Who?
Oh, I haven't heard that name in a very long time.
We now know that the pardon is indeed under consideration.
Caroline Leavitt jumping into the fuzzy math of Donald Trump.
You know how Trump likes to say we're going to reduce the price of something.
Three hundred percent.
A thousand percent.
airport.
Fifteen hundred percent.
Caroline Leavitt is uncritically repeating the same failed arithmetic.
By the way, I saw a comment from my friend Jojo from jurors, also known as Joanne Carducci,
Great alternative, by the way, to flying into LAX.
She said this sort of math is how they came up with.
There are 20 million undocumented immigrants in this country.
It's the same sort of math that has you saying things like a thousand percent off.
And it's just closed without air traffic control.
It would be interesting if the math checked out.
And unfortunately, the math simply doesn't work.
They should go back to what is the is this?
I guess it's like seventh grade math or something like that.
And then finally, when all else fails.
Bring up our old friend Antifa.
That always works.
And sorry, there's overlap here with the few seconds we heard earlier.
Flights were still taking off.
Pilots just had to coordinate amongst themselves like it's some small, you know, little town strip or something like that in rural Nebraska.
Antifa, that's really at the crux of what's going on here.
We're not going to forget about the Epstein files, Caroline.
Whenever I hear them start talking to starting to talk about Antifa, I'm reminded of the Epstein files.
That's where my mind goes.
And yet they're going to go after ninety five year old George Soros.
Give me a break.
These people are sick.
And I hope Caroline Leavitt lives to regret it at some point.
I don't know that she will.
She'll probably just get an even bigger cross necklace.
Look the other way, but go watch tennis somewhere.
But I hope that she lives to regret her participation in these atrocities.
World leaders once again burst out laughing at Donald Trump.
I'm not saying it figuratively.
I am saying it literally.
at Newark and in Denver, it really wasn't much better.
One of the things that Donald Trump hates the most is being laughed at.
It's one of his biggest insecurities, in addition to, of course, his insecurity about his physical appearance, his insecurity about his weight, his insecurity about his hair, his insecurity about his skin, his insecurity about his lack of athleticism, his insecurity about lack of real friends, his insecurity about the size of his.
hands.
Other than those things, one of the things that Donald Trump really hates is being laughed at.
The FAA was forced to issue ground delays.
And world leaders are again openly laughing at Donald Trump this time because it happened so often this time.
It's because Donald Trump claimed to have solved the conflict between Albania and Abur by John.
Now, you might be saying Abur by John,
Right.
Trump meant Azerbaijan.
And I guess he was also thinking of Armenia, not Albania.
It none of it makes any sense.
But this is a reference to this video of Trump claiming to have solved a problem that didn't exist to think that we settled Abra by John.
Every traveler's favorite, the ground delay basically telling planes don't take off until someone on the other end can handle you.
We settled Abra by John and Albania.
So then what happened?
Well, at the European summit in Denmark, Albanian Prime Minister Eddie Rama joked with the French president and with the president of Azerbaijan.
I guess we now have solved a problem that doesn't exist.
And they have a grand old laugh at Donald Trump.
World leaders laughing.
on camera about the pathetic absurdity of Trump.
You didn't congratulate us on the peace deal that we made that Donald Trump took credit for.
And they laugh because there, of course, is no such peace deal.
They have never been at war.
Now, this is like another one of these stupid, both stupid Trump.
Yes.
OK.
It is not just a slip of the tongue.
We're going to look at how this chaos is breaking the system that keeps planes in the air.
Trump has been confusing Albania and Armenia
for a while.
This isn't the first time that Trump has been laughed at in this way.
You might remember the NATO summit back during Donald Trump's first term, the United Nations General Assembly.
The pattern is Trump speaks in the room, laughs sometimes in his presence, sometimes not.
When Trump embarrasses himself on the world stage, defenders pivot to the same talking point.
And the cause, again, is that air traffic controllers are working without pay.
We don't care what sissy Europeans think about us.
That's what the big, strong MAGA boys like to say.
That argument completely misses the point.
This is not about seeking Europe's approval.
We don't need the French president going.
Trump's so great.
He's so dreamy.
This is about credibility that affects you and it affects me.
When world leaders are literally laughing at the United States president, when Trump is the laughingstock of global leaders, we don't look strong.
We don't look independent.
We look stupid.
Diplomacy runs on trust and respect.
And if the world looks at us and sees an American president who can't distinguish Albania from Armenia, Armenia and says Abur by John.
How does that make anyone say, oh, we need the U.S.
Some are calling out sick.
involved in these negotiations?
We need the United States's voice on this issue or that issue.
Now, of course, Trump promised the opposite.
Others are exhausted.
Trump argued we were not respected under Biden.
But finally, when he kicks Biden out and comes in and does his big, strong boy, that we're going to be respected again.
Some are saying we're working 10 hour shifts here six days a week and I can't blame them.
But it's not happening.
Trump has become a running joke.
He's the he's the punch line.
to global leadership jokes and the other heads of state are laughing at him.
So saying, oh, I don't care, you know, go wear your berets and get your baguettes and we don't care what you sissy say.
Well, we're being humiliated globally and it's not good.
America's influence
depends on being taken seriously.
If no one takes you seriously, you don't have influence.
That has to do with adversaries.
Right.
We need to be respected by our adversaries, but we also need to be respected by our allies.
And Trump can't even get through a conversation without mixing up countries.
And the laughter from Europe is not just about Trump.
It's about what Trump has turned the United States into.
I'm embarrassed and humiliated by it.
Who am I to say, no, they need to be there anyway.
If you think that this is an important storyline, the humiliation and lack of respect for the country around the world, make sure you've liked this video on YouTube.
Make sure you've hit that subscribe button.
We're going to take a quick break and talk to Mike Nellis next.
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It's great today to be speaking with Mike Nellis.
We're going to talk strategy.
We're going to talk substack and Democrats and a lot of other things.
It's good to finally connect with you, Mike.
I appreciate that.
I'm a big fan of your sub stack.
So we're, we're mutual fans just on different, different platforms.
Um, listen, I think one of the things I would love to first get your thoughts on as someone who was a strategist at one point for Kamala Harris is to get an insider's take.
Either you could say I'm speculating or you could say, I know either way is totally fine.
Right.
But the, what I think a lot of us experienced from the outside was that the first couple of weeks of the Harris campaign in 24,
were pretty damn good.
I mean, there was the two week period where the speeches felt very dynamic.
There was a sort of grassroots feel, even if that was just perception.
And of course, Sean Duffy, Trump's transportation secretary, is not taking responsibility.
It still felt sort of like uprising type campaign.
They were doing the these guys are weird thing that seemed to be working to a great degree.
And after two weeks, something changed.
Nothing was officially announced.
There was no like the campaign will now do something totally different.
And I think the speeches started to get kind of like the same speech every day.
They got away from these guys are weird stuff.
The media choices started to feel a little risk averse.
Jake Tapper has written about this.
Jonathan Allen wrote about it in his book from an outside perspective.
What happens in a campaign when there is such a change?
Is it someone close to the candidate comes in and goes,
A lot of this stuff is wrong.
You've got to change it.
What is it that is taking place when we see these changes?
They're just blaming Democrats.
That's that's the strategy.
Just just blame Democrats while the entire aviation system that he oversees is crumbling in real time.
Now, then we go to something that's arguably even worse.
Now, in retrospect, they were the wrong calls, do we agree?
Or are you still of the mindset that they might seem wrong to people like us, but they actually were the right calls at scale?
The essential air service program.
Then Donald Trump's press secretary, Caroline Leavitt, melts down on camera and world leaders are laughing at this administration once again.
I don't know how many people are even familiar with this, but it's a great, important thing.
It sort of keeps small towns and rural communities connected by air that runs out of money this week.
It's Alex Cooper.
I didn't think that went well at all.
That's interesting.
I want to hear from you about what you think went well on that, because when I saw it, I'm not like a big Alex Cooper fan, so I can't tell you exactly how it compared to every episode that she's done.
But I knew enough to know it was like a different studio, and we later learned like, yeah, that wasn't even like a regular studio.
It was built just for that.
It felt a little bit unnatural.
I didn't really come away thinking... I thought the Howard Stern interview...
was significantly better than the Caller Daddy interview.
I thought the Caller... I don't want to say the Caller Daddy interview hurt more than it helped, but I didn't come away going, that was a real win.
But you thought that one was good.
The idea is subsidized flights that don't really make commercial sense to keep these rural and disconnected communities connected.
So if you're in rural Montana.
One more question on this.
And I want to talk a little more broadly.
There are sort of like I guess we would call them reports, although there are stories told in some of these big election related books.
And I haven't yet read Harris's book.
I'm going to.
But I'm sort of thinking of Jake Tapper's book and Jonathan Allen's book where they describe election night conversations where.
if you're in parts of Alaska, you might lose flight service permanently.
Harris's serious confidence about the direction of the election slowly is eroded by staffers coming in and sort of giving her little bits of information about Pennsylvania starting to not look so good, et cetera.
I asked Sarah Matthews about this with regard to her work in the Trump White House and how Trump was sort of like isolated from the information we all had, for lack of a better term.
But what I want to hear from you is like in the lead up to the election, I was honest with my audience.
If I look at the seven key swing state polls, they all look worse than they looked for Biden in 2020.
And they mostly look worse than they looked for Hillary in 2016, where she already had lost that election.
And it's not like a freak occurrence because the FAA has been warning for years.
I was not at all surprised by the results and the information seemed publicly available.
Do you buy that the candidate might have come to believe a narrative where it looked really good up until 10 p.m.
on election night?
How does that happen?
Or explain it to me.
I want to understand how that happened.
Shutdowns make systems unsafe.
They delay modernization.
They slow hiring.
They push controllers past their limits.
Now, you might remember in 2019, the 35 day shutdown ended only
When we think about being an advisor and strategist to campaigns more generally,
Are there ever conversations where, you know, you're sort of I don't know if interviewed is the right term, but like you have a conversation with someone who's either running for reelection or thinking about challenging an incumbent or whatever.
And you just kind of go, listen, you really just can't win here.
There's not really an opportunity here for you.
Do you ever have conversations like that?
What are they like?
Or if someone is determined to run, it's just sort of like, all right, I'm here.
when 10 controllers called out sick, grounding flights and forcing Donald Trump to cave.
He learned nothing because we're seeing the exact same thing and it's the exact same playbook.
Have there been conversations where your counsel sort of is, I doubt you can win, but the dynamics of the race are such that there might be a benefit to running and losing anyway?
Use the chaos as leverage, except this time the chaos is happening 30,000 feet above our heads.
I don't like it.
I'm considering driving to D.C.
Since you mentioned Colin Allred, I'm sort of debating in my head whether to do this, but I'm doing it on my show tomorrow, so I just am going to do it.
I have serious concerns that after everything that's happened, and it pains me to admit this because I want a lot of these folks to win so we can defeat some of the terrible Republicans that are out there.
I'm worried that the Democratic Party is sort of pointed towards a disaster over the next couple of years.
And there are three particular conversations I had on my show recently that worry me, all with people that I like.
in a couple of weeks for an event, something I have never done.
One was with the Colorado governor, Jared Polis.
The other was with Colin Allred.
And most recently with Rahm Emanuel.
And I did these interviews and I like these three guys.
And I came away very similarly worried as many in my audience, where a lot of people are just kind of like, David, they're not even remotely answering your questions and they're doing the same talking point stuff.
That is what has made a lot of these Democrats seem very disconnected, where for all of Trump's faults and all of Trump's dishonesty.
I hate just long trips on the highway, but I'm thinking of doing it if this uncertainty and degraded system remains.
at least he just kind of seems genuine.
And when he's asked a question, he's sort of in his way answers it.
What he says is totally nuts, right?
I mean, there's no, there's no question about it.
And like with Polis, I had this thing where I asked him about private equity, owning so many apartments in Colorado and whether that's like a good thing.
And he gave an answer that did not satisfy anybody in my audience.
And with all red, I asked him,
In this environment, what's going to make some Republicans at least vote for a Democrat in Texas?
And he gave like a seven minute history lesson dating back to 2016 that my audience like glazed over about.
And it was just like I came away kind of like, are we doing the same thing over again?
So I kind of want to hear from you.
Like, what is what would you diagnose as the issue with Democratic communication right now?
Now, meanwhile, in Sacramento, we've got a helicopter crash, three critically injured
air travel is just stretched to the breaking point.
Now, Gavin Newsom is coming in and saying Trump's FAA is kind of asleep at the wheel.
I didn't see the video.
What was the gist of their message?
And what about the podcast bros that helped elect him?
And Newsom happens to be right about this.
When you hand the country to a guy who thinks being president is a reality show and
Yeah, I want to do you mentioning your TV hits reminded me that I want to do a little bit of inside baseball here.
I want to hear a little bit about your prep for these TV hits.
And I've been up front with my audience about the fact that I'm like, there's not that good at it in a way.
Some of them go fine, but like, I just don't think it's naturally something that plays to my abilities and where I get hung up is.
I'll know who I'm up against.
and the Oval Office is more a soundstage or a video set than a place where important decisions are made, you end up with people who can't get home and pilots who aren't getting paid and control towers going dark.
I'll know what the topic is.
I'll know what points I want to make.
I've got some rebuttals in mind.
But then they'll do what I call the Charlie Kirk move, which is they'll take as soon as you hear a certain word, you go, ah, I'm steering in this direction.
So the way Charlie Kirk would do it would be like if anything related to abortion came up,
He would go, when does life begin?
And now he's got a decision tree that he's taken control of.
He can funnel the conversation.
If anybody mentions anything about Israel or Gaza, Charlie Kirk always would go, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
Does Israel have a right to exist?
And now he's in control of the conversation.
And so sometimes I'll give you an example of what will happen.
It'll be about undocumented immigration and deportations or whatever.
And the guest will go, hold on a second, hold on.
And we all agree that deporting people who are here illegally is good.
And they've kind of taken control of the story in a way where I go, well, you know, what is the way to prep for these sorts of conversations so that I can be more effective like you?
Trump says we're making America great again.
We'll be lucky if planes are still taking off.
If we have two more weeks of this, let me know if this is affecting your travel plans.
I know we have a lot of pilots in our audience, but also people who travel regularly.
OK, I've said I don't believe Kamala Harris should run in 2028.
And when I met her in 2024, before we knew that she would be the nominee, I was hugely impressed with her and found her formidable, incredibly intelligent.
Knowledge knowledgeable off the cuff about everything from AI to immigration.
Like my issue is not with that.
I supported her.
I think I think she's she's brilliant.
I think strategically it doesn't make sense.
That's my view as of today.
Have you been public about your take on this?
Are you thinking of or are you modifying your travel as a result of this?
And this is just like I could do an hour with 20 different areas that are being impacted.
They're suddenly pretending they were never really that into Donald Trump.
Do you, or let me put it a different way.
Sometimes you hear the idea that someone could win the primary without being the most electable in a national election.
So you hear this about a lot of different people.
You hear, oh, you know, Bernie lost in 2016,
We could talk about government contractors doing really important work.
but he would have done better than Hillary against Trump.
There's this idea that the person that comes from the primary might actually not be the best suited in the general election.
Do you think that that's possible?
Or by definition, do you believe that whoever wins a primary, if it's a fair primary...
You could say, well, they're just contractors.
Well, yes, because the government has decided to contract out a lot of important stuff just because they're only contractors doesn't mean it's not degrading government services.
It's all just our opinions at the end of the day.
We're all just guessing.
I've been speaking with Mike Nellis.
Make sure to check out his sub stack.
If you're one of Mike's viewers, make sure to check out my sub stack.
Really good to talk to you.
I'm so glad that we did this long overdue and we should definitely do it again.
All right.
Take care, Mike.
Talk to you soon.
Every time you Google your name, you will probably find dozens of sites that expose your personal information.
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Well, Donald Trump admitted what many of us have suspected for a while, which is that the government shutdown, at least in part, is part of the determination that Republicans want to get rid of Obamacare by choking off funding for it.
This is part of Project 2025.
This is what we suspected.
This is what some Republicans have been admitting.
And so here is the video.
And there is that there is some deep analysis to be done here.
That is a no.
Ladies and gentlemen, they are not open to extending Obamacare subsidies.
Now, let's zoom out just a little bit.
Some of us are old enough to remember that after Obamacare was first passed in 2010, Republicans made I don't know the exact number.
It doesn't really matter.
It's it's more than 60, more than 60 times.
Republicans did these symbolic votes to try to repeal Obamacare, but we knew it wouldn't go anywhere because even though they controlled the House, they didn't control the Senate and Obama would have vetoed it anyway.
It was a waste of your time.
It was a waste of my time.
It was like flushing taxpayer money down the toilet.
But eventually, when Donald Trump became president, they
were in power and they came up with an idea, which is that without going through the legislative process, we can hurt Obamacare.
They hurt me.
They can hurt Obamacare by eliminating the individual mandate.
The individual mandate said everyone's got to have some health insurance.
And the reason for that is the way that insurance works is you want a really, really big risk pool.
If you only have the people most likely to use health care in the system, then the math of it is not going to work and it's going to make it really expensive.
So they figured out, hey, we can hurt stuff by not funding it.
When it comes to the Postal Service, when it comes to Social Security programs, they don't like departments they don't like.
They figured out sometimes we can't get rid of it, but we can just starve it of money.
It makes it suck.
And then we go look at how much this thing sucks.
Let's get rid of it.
And so part of the desire for this shutdown is they don't want to relent.
That's where we are.
on funding the Obamacare subsidies as part of a package to keep government open.
Now, you might say, well, OK, they get rid of the subsidies.
And the economic panic is starting to hit Trump's econ team.
All these people that depend on the subsidies to afford their coverage can no longer afford their coverage.
They have no health insurance.
We're back in the situation where they go to the ER to get primary care.
It's expensive.
They don't pay.
We all pay anyway.
What's Trump going to do to fix that?
Well, the answer is Donald Trump's plan has been just two weeks away.
Trump finally admits what the shutdown is really about.
It's been it's two weeks away and it's been two weeks away since August of 2020 when Donald Trump said to the then Fox News host Chris Wallace.
In two weeks, we will not only announce but sign into law a new health care plan.
And it didn't happen.
I want to talk about that a little bit.
We're still waiting for it.
So Trump's admitting it.
Part of this entire shutdown thing is to kill those subsidies and people will lose health insurance.
Kevin Hassett, the NEC director, was on CNBC.
Donald Trump is arguing Portland is burning to the ground.
It's not true.
You know what?
I've started to wonder, is it possible that Donald Trump is being shown videos of Portland unrest from 2020 right now and Trump just thinks that it's going on now?
Like, is it is it possible that Trump is kind of being kept out of the loop about what's really going on in Portland?
Because I don't know how you could come up with that perspective.
If you're actually seeing what's going on in in Portland right now and we've got, you know, small protests, nothing's burning down.
Trump's justification for sending troops in is just increasingly based on lies.
And then finally, on the Portland ruling, this is so funny.
Trump refers to a judge he picked as he even though it's a woman.
But that is the least insane thing that Donald Trump says here.
And he is trying to avoid admitting the obvious, which is that Donald Trump's disastrous economic decisions are causing problems for farmers.
He picked the judge.
And by he, of course, he means she Portland is burning to the ground.
He ought to be ashamed of of himself.
And it's a woman that Donald Trump selected.
Nothing matters anymore.
The facts just don't matter anymore.
And one of the really interesting things is that you might think, OK, well, you know, Trump is one way when he's being asked questions by reporters, but he's different when he's being coddled by a friendly anchor.
The problem is, even when coddled by a friendly anchor, these emails or these interviews are still completely abortive.
Let's look an example at an example of one.
It is harder to find a bigger Trump brown noser than Greg Kelly on Newsmax.
He just loves Trump, loves Trump, tries to give him the easiest possible interviews.
And Trump still manages to make a fool out of himself.
Now, here you all know I am loving, loving.
They're causing problems for trade.
the triggering around the bad bunny stuff.
I love that they want to argue that the bad bunny is not American.
He is.
He's Puerto Rican.
Puerto Rico is part of the United States.
I love that.
They hate that bad bunny spoke Spanish on Saturday and Saturday Night Live on Saturday.
I love it.
I absolutely love it.
And here is Trump saying he's never really heard of bad bunny.
But this is terrible and it shouldn't be happening and it shouldn't be allowed.
He's trying to find language that will allow them to acknowledge there are problems, but to blame someone else.
They've been boycotting the NFL for how many years has it been?
Let me see here.
What year did Colin Kaepernick take a knee?
2016, they've been boycotting the NFL for a decade.
First, it was Colin Kaepernick.
Then it was other people kneeling during the national anthem.
Then it was was it that the NFL was like doing something for Black History Month?
I don't even remember.
We'll also hear from political strategist Mike Nellis about how do Democratic campaigns end up going wrong so often?
Then it was that Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey or woke or something like that.
And then now it's bad rabbit that they don't like.
Guy does not seem like a unifying entertainer.
Equally is infuriated by Bad Bunny and by the kickoff rule was kicked and the ball is floating in the air and everyone standing there watching it.
Never, never acknowledge that Trump may be part of the problem.
Oh, yeah.
Greg Kelly is really into that.
I really hope...
that Bad Bunny does end up performing.
And I say that you might be saying, why wouldn't he?
There are rumors being floated that the blowback is such that the NFL is going to, you know, find some way out of having Bad Bunny perform.
But if you read between the lines or listen to exactly what he is saying.
I think that probably won't happen.
I cannot go ahead and boycott the NFL.
We just
I just don't care.
You've been boycotting it supposedly for 10 years for 10 different reasons.
Just go ahead and do it.
And I love that a Puerto Rican singer is what is now triggering them and sending them off the culture war cliff.
Donald Trump telling again the lie that he saved Los Angeles because Gavin Newsom had no water.
This is not true.
There was a protest of like in a two to two by three block area in Los Angeles said if they didn't do this, we wouldn't.
you realize that the problems Hassett is acknowledging.
And of course, this entire water thing has been widely debunked.
It's not true.
Los Angeles doesn't get its water from the Pacific Northwest the way Donald Trump claims.
None of it is true.
But this is remember, this is a softball, easy interview.
And Trump still can't control himself.
Trump was asked, are you going to invoke the Insurrection Act formally because of what's happening in Portland?
are actually Trump's fault.
Trump goes, it's what's happening there is the insurrection.
What?
The Insurrection Act.
He won't say it, but you can read between the lines.
And then finally capping off this unhinged interview with a word salad so impenetrable that even the people that are like decoding the Dead Sea Scrolls are unable to penetrate.
What the hell is Trump talking about?
And by the way, the one thing I do hear Trump say here is some some footage from Portland.
I think what he's describing is months old.
I believe that the incident Trump is referring to is months old, and this reinforces my belief that Donald Trump is simply being shown old videos and claiming that they are taking place right now.
A softball interview, no hard questions from a friendly anchor who is a suck up to Trump
And it's still terrifying.
Something is very wrong here.
Now, on the bonus show today, we are going to talk about the burning down of the house of a South Carolina judge who criticized the Trump administration.
Next thing you know, the house is gone.
AOC is telling her supporters to laugh at Stephen Miller's insecure masculinity.
She's getting at something that these people are really self-conscious about.
I think it's very interesting.
And then finally, UFC fights at the White House.
What?
Yes, we will discuss.
And it is absolutely embarrassing.
So Joe Kernan, as MAGA and Trumpy as he is, does say the reason China is no longer buying American soybeans is because of the tariffs.
And we've got soybeans just sitting around.
And meanwhile, China's getting its soybeans from other countries.
This is because of Trump's tariffs.
It's optional.
It's self-imposed.
Let's see how Hassett deals with it.
Now, let me pause it already.
This is we've we've dealt with this before.
Flights delayed for hours, control towers going dark, airports shutting down, all thanks to the government shutdown of Donald Trump and the Republicans.
It is worse than you think.
Hassett is saying we are going to solve a problem Trump caused with the money that we are collecting due to the tariffs that it.
So so you're basically just saying we're going to what's that thing?
We're going to rob Peter to pay Paul or what?
What's that thing that they say?
I'm not not a frequent user of that phrase.
Let's dove right in.
You have created a problem with the tariffs.
And then you're going to now try to sort of bail out the farmers by taking the tariff money, which supposedly was going to go to economic growth.
We were going to be so rich and wealthy.
And you're just going to say, now I've got to give it to the farmers because of the problem that my very tariffs created.
That doesn't sound very good to help the farmers.
It's completely unacceptable to the president.
Well, then why did he do this?
It's like an arsonist sets a house on fire and goes, this is so terrible.
I don't like this.
I we've I've really got to do something about this.
Well, you could have opted not to set the house on fire, right?
Wouldn't that have made more sense at some point?
It's a work in progress.
You know, sometimes it's really good to narrow the focus and say, give me some really specific answers here.
We were told China was going to come crawling.
They were going to be begging, please, sir, let's make a deal.
Let's we've got to do it now.
Well, air travel is suddenly a disgusting mess under Donald Trump.
It has been, what, six months now and we have no deal with China.
And China, which wants and needs soybeans for its economy, is saying, let's let the American soybeans rot in the silo, covered with a tarp, as Kevin Hassett said.
And we're going to just go and get our soybeans somewhere else.
Cool.
So what is going on?
What's going on with India?
Conversations are ongoing.
Hassett was then asked by Kernan, what about the efficiency of government?
We're in a shutdown and you guys were going to make government more efficient.
And Kevin Hassett's answer is is borderline unintelligible.
And if you're wondering why, you don't really have to look very far.
Now, of course, that is a lie.
It's all around us.
Everything in there is a lie.
Of course, I don't know how you can argue that this is a Democratic led government shutdown when Republicans control everything.
But there is no special authority for the executive during a government shutdown.
What's going on?
In fact, legal experts have argued there is diminished authority because so many levers of government
We see the airports shutting down.
aren't functioning during a government shutdown.
This reinforces something we started talking about last week, which I think is important.
There are I don't want to call, you know, sane and insane or sort of loaded, sometimes pejoratively used terms.
There are.
There are individuals in Trump's administration on the economic side.
We're seeing the flights delayed for hours, unmanned air traffic control towers.
who recognize things are going in the wrong direction.
It seems clear that privately they know Trump is the catalyst for those things going in the wrong direction.
Publicly, they are still defending Donald Trump.
But step one is acknowledging that there is a problem.
They are acknowledging there is a problem with farmers right now.
They are acknowledging there is a problem with trade.
There's a problem with India and China, which we were told were going to come begging, just crawling across the floor.
to make a deal and they haven't done it.
They're acknowledging that we know from leaked text messages that we looked at last week that privately they're even communicating about that.
It has not gone public, but you can tell from the fact that they're no longer denying the problem.
They're just shifting the blame.
They understand that this can only go so far.
And the bigger problem for them is that at every public opportunity, Donald Trump is only making it worse for them.
And there is one orange man that we can thank for most of this.
For example, in his latest press conference.
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When White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt is asked a question that implies anything but the glowing positivity about the Trump administration that she desires, she lashes out and sometimes she lashes out at the media.
You know his name.
The Trump government shutdown, which is now stretching into week two, has really broken the system that keeps planes in the air.
Sometimes she lashes out at Democrats.
Sometimes she lashes out at protesters or whoever is convenient to lash out at in any particular moment.
Well, CNN's Caitlin Collins asked Caroline Leavitt.
about the conflict between what Donald Trump says is happening in cities like Portland and what the mayors and governors say is happening and what the protesters say and what the media shows.
Trump and Levitt and the administration want you to believe that it is complete and total anarchy and destructive chaos on the streets of Portland, Oregon, Chicago, Illinois, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Baltimore.
You know the list.
But then we see videos and we see reporting and we hear from the mayors and it's sort of like, yeah, you know that there are problems in cities.
Cities have crime.
Sometimes chaos breaks out in like this little area, but it doesn't really justify sending in the military.
Caroline Leavitt doesn't likes it like it.
And she goes, you're probably hearing from biased Democrats about that.
Wow.
Yesterday, the control tower at Burbank Airport in California just closed, not at 2 a.m.
Remember that to the extent that that stuff is happening, as we covered in depth yesterday, it's happening as a result of Donald Trump's actions.
This is the propaganda equivalent of if the president does it, it's not illegal by definition.
If it sounds like it contradicts Trump, it must not be true.
It must have come from partisan Democrat officials, as she says, or whoever.
You know, sometimes Republicans end up being right.
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Does Donald Trump even know what year it is after being missing for days and showing up nearly an hour late, keeping Navy service members waiting for him?
We know the playbook.
Donald Trump showed up and said he wrote to Osama bin Laden a year ago
Wait a second.
A year ago.
No.
A year before 9-11.
And they are finally getting the very chaos they claim they were trying to fix.
And he deserves some credit for it.
What?
This was a speech to the Navy in Norfolk, Virginia, Norfolk, Virginia, Virginia.
Geez.
Here are and some of this stuff is difficult to watch.
You said it to Hegseth.
I'm going to be very upfront with you about that.
Trump wants credit.
Now, I know that Donald Trump isn't literally saying he should get credit for 9-11 happening.
This isn't a trigger warning.
He wants credit for warning us about Osama bin Laden.
But he is completely disoriented.
Once again, this is a feeble, addled man.
By the way, Trump's also saying things that are nonsense.
The CIA began pretty aggressively tracking Osama bin Laden back in the mid 90s.
There was a unit set up in 96 focused on Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden.
It's just like this is really horrible, sickening stuff.
They've been aware of him since the late 1980s.
It's all wacky.
It's all completely crazy.
And by the way, the reason Donald Trump says whatever the book is called
is because there was a book published under Trump's name around 2000, and it has like the most minor passing reference to Osama bin Laden.
The reason Trump can't remember the name of the book is because a ghostwriter wrote it for him.
Donald Trump not only can barely read, he certainly can't write either.
Donald Trump then started talking to Navy service members in one of the most politicized
Here is Trump's ice slamming an unarmed American citizen to the ground.
speeches to a branch of the armed forces that we have seen in a long time.
Trump started talking about a lawsuit and he lied about the outcome of the lawsuit lies in the Gulf of America.
Those are all lies.
The AP is not almost not allowed to cover Donald Trump.
I know that in his authoritarian wet dream, that's the way that it would be.
But the judge actually ruled in favor of the Associated Press and said the Associated Press has First Amendment protections if the government opens its doors to some journalists
This one took place near the corner of West 37th and South Kedzie in the Brighton Park neighborhood of Chicago.
then it can't shut doors to journalists based on their opinions and that the Constitution requires that.
Now, Trump then went fully political with the Navy, saying we have a little gnat that's gnat and we've got to get it off our shoulder.
That gnat is called the Democrats.
Millions, millions.
They can't do it.
This is a disgusting speech.
And another I hate how many boxes we're checking out of the authoritarian playbook.
Another thing authoritarians love to do because they recognize that being able to get away with it often depends on is the military on your side or isn't the military on your side?
Authoritarians love to propagandize to the military.
And part of it is also about inducing fear.
It's not just propagandizing to the military to try to get them on your side genuinely.
But it's also about making them wonder if I'm not on Trump's side, if I don't go out and do his bidding, whatever it might be, what consequences might I suffer?
It's a way that authoritarians get the military in line because they know they need the military.
After this completely pathetic and humiliating speech was over, Donald Trump capped it off with a little bit of the double jerk dance as YMCA played.
And when they're right, I will be the first to admit it.
What a world we live in.
You know, I go back and forth between when the history books teach about this.
I hope that they represent this era for the humiliation and embarrassment that it was.
And then I go to
I hope that there isn't a lot in the history books about Trump because it's been so bad, but it's important to learn about things that were bad if it was if it is important to learn the true story of slavery.
And it is if it's important to learn the true story of the civil rights movement.
And of course it is.
Then it probably is important for future generations to learn about the atrocities of this administration.
And then the next question sort of becomes.
Where does the military ultimately land?
That's a question that we are ultimately going to get back to.
But first, we've got to hear what is happening with regard to the shutdown and job losses.
And as you can imagine, it's not good.
A demented and visibly confused Donald Trump spoke to the press on the way to or on the way back from his speech to the Navy in Norfolk, Virginia.
And Donald Trump sort of let the cat out of the bag.
which is the entire point of this government shutdown in which we now find ourselves is to blame Democrats.
And even though Donald Trump has said he is going to take the opportunity of the shutdown to actually fire a bunch of people, lay people off, permanently end a lot of federal government positions, Trump is going with it's the Democrats.
The Democrats are causing so many job losses.
Listen to this.
Thank you very much.
Thanks to the Democrats.
And by the way, you see my walk presidential walk of shame over here.
It's a sidewalk.
Trump is pointing to a sidewalk.
When Trump was asked days after the murder of Charlie Kirk, how are you holding up with this?
I mean, he was a friend of yours.
Trump goes, oh, pretty good.
And have you seen my new ballroom construction that they're doing or the Rose Garden or whatever the hell construction project it was?
This is a guy who does not care.
People are losing their jobs.
It's because Trump said we're going to fire people while the shutdown is going on.
And he blames Democrats, but he doesn't even really care that much about it.
He just switches to talking about a sidewalk.
Trump was then asked about an attack that took place in the Caribbean.
Does Donald Trump have any details?
The answer is, of course not.
He is going to have to get back to you on that one.
Oh, boy.
A.K.A.
I don't know a damn thing about it.
If Biden had ever been asked about something and said, I don't know anything about it, I haven't been briefed about that.
It would have been three days of coverage on right wing media.
Trump is regularly asked about things.
What about the drone incursion?
So body slamming, et cetera, et cetera.
What about what happened in Denmark?
What about the service members killed in Lithuania?
What about the attack in the Caribbean?
We're going to get back to you on that.
My this is you're you're telling me about it for the first time right now.
We're going to have to get back to you about it.
This is considered acceptable.
And this, I believe, relates directly to Donald Trump being missing for days.
Again, we're going to come back to that.
a little bit later in the show.
But one of the things that I can assure you is that this is a very different standard than Joe Biden used to be held to.
Megapatamians and Megadonians will defend this one by saying, well, the guy did swear.
If Joe Biden even stumbled on an answer, it was a red alert.
And you can say a lot of things about Joe Biden.
And I said a lot of them, including he never should have run again.
But there were no instances where Biden was asked about something and said, I have no idea.
This is the first I'm hearing about it.
Someone else is going to have to get back to you.
Never happened.
Happens every week with Trump.
And I guess it's excused.
He gets an excused absence for this one from MAGA.
Caroline Levitt is in an increasingly untenable position.
She is regularly hit with brutal fact checks and she cannot do anything about it.
Her own legacy as secretary, as a press secretary, is beleaguered, to say the least.
But sometimes these MAGA Republicans are right, not for the reason they claim to be.
Oh, my goodness.
But at the same time, she's defending the indefensible.
Levitt almost got it here when it comes to undocumented migrants receiving emergency room care.
She almost stumbled across the truth, but not quite.
Listen to this.
I love this.
Swearing.
Can you imagine from the free speech?
Absolutist.
This guy swore.
And also once he got body slammed, he didn't go limp.
Listen carefully because she almost gets it.
She almost gets it when an illegal alien, she says, goes to the emergency room.
Who's paying for it?
The American taxpayer.
And she's almost stumbling across a really important aspect of this.
So he was resisting.
When anyone without insurance goes to the E.R.
Americans pay for it.
Doesn't matter if they're documented or undocumented.
Therefore, he deserves all of it.
That's why we've been saying for decades, give everybody health care because using the emergency room as your primary care is really expensive for everybody.
Now, you might say, well, but David, that's only because the E.R.
legally has to treat people.
Just allow yours to send people away if they're undocumented or don't have coverage or whatever.
Think about that for a second.
If hospitals could refuse care based on ability to pay or immigration status, first of all, it lets people die in waiting rooms like it allows letting people die in waiting rooms.
Absolute chaos on the streets of Chicago.
You're at the hospital.
This is the place where they can do stuff to save your life.
But we're going to check immigration status, ability to pay and just let some people die in the waiting room.
That's something as a rich country we're going to be OK with.
What kind of sick moral code allows that someone having a heart attack, a pregnant woman in labor, a kid with appendicitis, if they can't prove insurance or citizenship, let them die in the waiting room.
That is a death lottery.
That's not a health care system.
The reason that E.R.
's are required to treat and stabilize people is because before 1986, hospitals actually did dump patients.
Thanks to Trump's goons.
They would send poor people or uninsured people in taxis to specific public hospitals or get get rid of the mid crisis.
And so Congress stepped in and said, this is the United States of America.
If you show up, we must stabilize you immediately and deal with the paperwork later.
We have another video.
This you know, there's very few moral lines in our system that still hold.
That one still holds.
And it's a good one as far as immigration status.
Think about that.
An ER nurse needs to now investigate the immigration status of people.
of immigration agents run off and a man was actually saved from one of these kidnapping abductions.
They're bleeding out.
When did you come here?
Are you from the United States or not?
Do you have a passport?
Oh, you're having a heart attack.
Where's your certificate of naturalization?
It's absurd.
Hospitals are not immigration enforcement.
They're there to help people stay alive.
If we start deciding who deserves care based on paperwork, we are not a civilized country.
And unfortunately, when these Republicans talk about this libertarian utopia they claim could exist.
They are indeed talking about a far less civilized status quo.
One more of these clips with Caroline Leavitt.
She was asked about the layoffs under the shutdown.
Her answer is is not great.
This was on the area of 63rd and Costner Avenue in Chicago.
It's a joke.
The president likes to have a little fun.
It's a joke that's not very funny.
And when Caroline says we don't nobody takes pleasure at taking jobs away from people.
Yes, you do.
Look at all of the roundups that are happening at Home Depot's and
Daycares that I mean, you do seem to take joy in taking jobs away from people.
That's exactly what they've been doing.
And they've been bragging about it.
They've been bragging about these roundups.
So Caroline Leavitt is increasingly in an untenable position.
I don't say this because I feel bad for her.
She's chosen to do this.
We're going to just play a little bit of this.
She has chosen, despite the increasingly large cross necklaces that she wears hanging from her neck.
And you can see that, boy, did she have a big one on yesterday, the day of this briefing.
Despite all of that.
She is choosing to continue to lie in this way.
Now, we are going to have broader analysis of this on our full podcast.
If you're watching a YouTube clip, understand that this YouTube clip is part of our daily one hour longer than one hour podcast.
They spend minutes trying to take this guy.
You can get the full podcast for free on any podcast app.
Spotify and Apple podcasts are two of the big ones.
Get the full podcast.
We'll take a very quick break.
fall is here.
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It is great to welcome to the show for the first time, Congressman Maxwell Frost, representing the 10th District in Florida, the first Gen Z member of Congress and a number of other accolades we were chatting about.
This is not the way this country is supposed to function.
We both play drums and many other extracurriculars.
It's really good to have you.
You know, a lot of people in my audience have been wanting to hear from you.
So I appreciate you being here.
So, I mean, listen, I guess to start somewhere, we are in the middle of a government shutdown that the MAGA wing of the Republican Party and really the Republican Party in general is trying to blame on Democrats.
Let me explain.
We have a couple of important things happening in twenty twenty five from the standpoint of voting, including this California redistricting initiative from Governor Newsom and some off year elections.
This is not the way law enforcement is supposed to function.
We're kind of pointing towards twenty twenty six where.
I believe it's a potentially major inflection point.
I think the reason my audience wanted to hear from you to a degree was both generationally and ideologically.
You represent change in a lot of different ways.
And many in my audience, we've heard from everybody.
We've heard from senators, congresspeople, governors.
My audience is a little bit sort of like, do we have the right people in charge in the Democratic Party to push us forward here?
So hearing from you.
What's your sense right now of the Democratic Party's leadership messaging and vision going into 26?
All right.
So now they've got a guy.
Some of their masks are slipping literally and figuratively.
The MAGA right has been claiming that it is absolute chaos and anarchy in the streets of the United States of America.
All right.
And so as we will scrub through here and you will see they continue trying to take this guy.
Yeah.
And for me right now, especially it being 2025, this is not about it's obviously not about pretending everything's fine and working super well in the party, but it's also not about just like criticizing everybody and burning the whole thing down.
Like, I'm not an accelerationist.
I believe in fixing things where opportunities present themselves.
On the issue of the messaging, I want to dove into that a little bit with you.
You know, there's a I've said a lot of positive things about the former Vice President Harris.
When I met her, she was formidable, extraordinarily knowledgeable in everything from A.I.
to trade like I was impressed with her.
And also, I wasn't super impressed with the campaign.
And if I think about like the economic ideas, I remember this thing that kept coming up about a tax deduction or credit towards
expenses for starting a new business.
More individuals join.
OK, I'm like explaining it in an even inarticulate way.
I can't really sum up what the economic vision was.
They continue.
And I think that was reflected in the voting.
As Bernie Sanders said, the average person who's not steeped in this stuff every day
didn't have a visceral feeling that it was definitely better for the average working person to have a President Harris than a President Trump.
They continue.
I think if I'm hearing you correctly, that you're saying part of it was the messaging, but part of it was maybe also the ideas or lack thereof.
They continue.
It starts to attract the attention of bystanders.
And as you can see, this continues and continues and continues.
And ultimately, what you will see here as they have the guy sort of pinned is that ultimately they run off.
One of the things that I think is interesting in that context of you being a Gen Z member of the House is you.
Maybe you are.
I'm assuming you are.
You're you're probably more connected to the political stories that prevail, maybe in you and independent media, social media, et cetera.
And one of the things I found really interesting about
not so much the 2016 election primary, but certainly the 2020 primary is that if you looked at Twitter and read it, you had one perception of where the Democratic Party and the average voter was.
If you went to Michigan outside of union factories, you got and spoke to Democrats.
You had a very different impression of where the so-called average Democrat was.
I'm curious your thoughts now as we stand.
towards the end of 2025, there's this debate over the real Democratic Party is way to the left of the average Democratic elected official or actually it's the wokeness and the socialism.
That's the problem.
And it needs to move more in the other direction.
It's a very old question.
But you're sort of in an interesting position to answer it in that you're between
the official and what's happening in the social media.
What's your honest, deep sense of where the bulk of the party is and what it wants right now?
All right.
So ultimately they let this guy go.
The crowd presumably just getting too big.
Last thing I'll ask you about, and I know you've got to run in that environment where you see this convergence, are Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries the best people to lead the party in that context of convergence?
Agents starting to think this could get out of control.
Let's get out of here without this guy.
Now, I'm the first to acknowledge to you
that a lot of these individuals are doing what in the context of law, order and due process would be considered resisting arrest.
Well, you know, we spoke to Senator Murphy last week and he's doing really good work.
So I guess if I I don't want to put words in your mouth, but interpreting and reading between the lines of what you're saying, you are less negative about the leadership now than you were in March.
And you're taking a let's see what happens approach.
Is that fair?
But the issue is that many of them are being denied due process at the get go.
All right.
We've been speaking with Congressman Maxwell Frost, who represents the 10th District in Florida.
Really appreciate your time and hopefully we'll get reopened soon and back to work.
Thank you.
Donald Trump has already packed his second term cabinet with loyalists.
He's threatened deportation as political punishment.
He's expanded executive authority in ways we have not seen in modern history.
So you all know that I am not someone that is a scofflaw by nature.
These are real changes that are happening right now.
And what's even more alarming is that a lot of the media is either glossing over the worst of it or they're reframing it.
So it all sounds a little more palatable.
And that is why I use ground news.
This is a news comparison tool.
doesn't just feed you headlines.
It shows you here's how different outlets left right center are covering the same story.
And this is one of the few tools I know of that can really help you detect the political spin, the bias catch stories that your usual sources might downplay or not cover at all.
The David Pakman Show David Pakman dot com.
I don't go around saying break the law, do this, that and the other thing.
And they are finally kind of correct.
Donald Trump had another one of these unexplained episodes where with no communication as to the why he goes missing for days, even at key times for the United States.
We should work within the legal system.
Now, the last time that this happened was days and days on end.
It's happening again.
The last time that Donald Trump was seen before yesterday's Navy speech disaster
was Tuesday, September 30th for that military generals speech with Pete Hegseth, which went really poorly.
As you might recall, during that speech, Donald Trump's eyes at certain points were pointing in opposite directions.
He slurred his way through the entire speech.
You all know that.
And I realized that after that speech, Trump briefly spoke with reporters and then he was not seen again Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday until he showed up.
But what we have here is a system that is fundamentally outside of that already.
almost an hour late for a speech to Navy service members in Virginia.
What is going on here?
This is not normal.
And because of the lack of transparency from this administration, we are once again left to speculate.
Why is a guy so starved for attention who is usually desperate to be in the middle of any political controversy?
Why is he gone for days again?
By the way, when he showed back up to the speech with the Navy, he was not exactly firing on all cylinders.
The other really odd thing that took place during Donald Trump's absence is that J.D.
Vance was unusually active and visible.
You might recall that J.D.
Vance did an interview on Fox News during which he told a lot of different lies.
And then at roughly the same time,
He, J.D.
Vance, jumped into Caroline Levitt's White House press briefing, which sometimes presidents or vice presidents do.
We have a system that is denying people due process.
But imagine for a moment if during an unexplained Biden absence, which, by the way, he didn't really have.
But during an unexplained Biden absence, imagine if Kamala Harris showed up to press briefings.
It would have been sharks swarming like a feeding frenzy when the chum hits the water.
Where is Biden?
What's the White House hiding?
have been apoplectic media coverage.
And Donald Trump is again for the second time in two months missing for days.
We have a system that is sending masked agents in some cases in unmarked vehicles without presenting any kind of identification.
And right wing media has no curiosity.
They say nothing.
Even at that speech, Donald Trump showed up almost an hour late.
He sounded terrible.
He looked terrible.
Listen to this and listen to like what what does he even say in the middle of this clip?
Well, one year ago,
This guy isn't doing well.
He was not active during a critical week with the government shutdown.
If you look this weekend and we're going to look at some of the videos, it was absolute chaos.
He likes to play president in the Oval Office and sometimes multiple times a day.
He'll do he'll talk to reporters in the Oval Office and then he'll hand people some tchotchkes in some kind of meaningless ceremony, and then he'll bring in RFK to talk about how
Autism, as he calls it, is caused by Tylenol or whatever.
And all of a sudden he's quiet.
And so we are left to ask the same questions we asked last time.
Is he in hiding because of some kind of medical issue that he's having?
Is this even law enforcement in some of these cases?
Are his handlers saying stay off camera for this point of time in time?
And then after four days of no appearances, he's an hour late and delivers a terrible speech.
This guy is not fit to be president.
And the questions have never been applied equally or fairly to Trump, as from other presidents.
Now, a couple of you wrote to me over the weekend and you said I'm paraphrasing, but you said something along the lines of is Jake Tapper ready to now do a book on what's going on with Trump because he breathlessly did the Biden book?
And so we really do have to say, on the one hand, I am a supporter of due process and cooperation.
And where is he on the Trump?
So here's my view on that.
Has there been an irresponsible lack of coverage about Donald Trump's physical and mental health?
Of course.
Of course.
Do I have problems with some of the sort of context of Jake Tapper's book about Joe Biden?
Yes.
And when Jake Tapper was on the show, I asked him about it.
Did I also find that most of the substance of Jake Jake Tapper's book seems accurate and corroborated elsewhere?
Yeah, most of it.
So I think we have to be really careful.
It can both be true.
Both things can be true.
that the contents of Jake Tapper's book are basically accurate and corroborated, but that the decision to write that book, but to basically pay no mind to Donald Trump's obvious physical and cognitive decline represents a choice and a partial perspective on this issue.
Both can be true.
I can't say that as I read Jake Tapper's book and I looked at it very closely, I can't say that there's much in there where it's like this is completely unbelievable, either because it's completely uncorroborated or it seems out of character.
I believe most law enforcement are doing it for the right reason.
Now, most of the stuff in Jake Tapper's book, I believe, is probably right.
Some of the window dressing and the sort of language and framing maybe is meant for dramatic purpose.
Sure.
But I think for the most part, the book is not an inaccurate book.
But the timing and the choice of writing that book while devoting almost no coverage to Donald Trump's physical and cognitive decline, I have a real problem with that.
So where was Trump during this four day period that he resurfaced from late and slurring and swollen?
I have absolutely no idea.
We have a wild situation.
Kristi Noem, the secretary of Homeland Security, had a bathroom urgency.
But we have a situation here that is very different.
She found herself urgently needing a bathroom and she was turned away by a facility that wanted no part.
She showed up with her bodyguards and staffers and they said no toilet for you.
Now, I'm going to play the video for you.
And when you have an authoritarian president that is deputizing goons to go and from unmarked vehicles without presenting credentials and covering their faces with masks, snatch people up.
This has sort of been made fun of in a lot of different ways.
But there's actually a real serious story here that I want to address.
But check out the video.
Listen to this.
Now, I just want to mention one thing, right, because this is an opportunity we're going to get to the bathroom access in a moment.
Many of you have written to me and said, David, can you address what's going on physically with Kristi?
No, she seems completely gaunt.
She has a really strange gate.
Gait, the gate of someone who is undernourished and underweight.
She clearly has an eating disorder.
Listen, that's all probably true.
It's just not really salient to our conversation.
So I mentioned I'm getting the emails about what's up with Kristi Noem.
I'm not an expert in eating disorders.
It seems outside of the scope of my analysis, but I'm aware of how weird all of this looks.
So now Christie's in the parking lot looking for a toilet.
So why wouldn't they let you in?
What's been going on here?
What's been going on here, secretary?
Of course, you are going to get chaos.
I mean, is it law enforcement?
I mean, this is a real problem is not letting Kristi Noem go in and power flush their toilet.
Is that an is are they obstructing the law?
Now, the issue is.
I'm the secretary of Homeland Security.
Fine.
They're not letting me use the bathroom.
There are so many people without access to bathrooms in our cities, and we have an environment in which our leaders, overwhelmingly Republican leaders,
The chaos is part of what authoritarians want to then say, well, it's getting really crazy.
They just don't give a shit.
You know, we we we try to talk to them about just basics.
And on the one hand, it's there are people who don't have enough food.
There are people who have no access to health care.
We go, hey, you know, the situation for the homeless is pretty dire.
We've got people with no homes.
We have Republican mayors and governors trying to criminalize homelessness and criminalize people who are just out on the street.
And part of that story is they don't even have access to bathrooms, never mind clean bathrooms.
Right.
It does.
We're not talking here about the bathroom at the Four Seasons.
We're just talking about any sanitation facilities.
And they just don't care and they don't care about how desperate these situations become.
I don't you know, denying access to bathrooms is something that's a really ugly thing when it is done.
It's done in situations of interrogation.
There's all these things denying access to clean bathrooms and bathrooms at all has a long sordid history.
We've got to now send in the military, which, by the way, is what Trump is doing.
I'm not even sort of like, ha ha, they're not letting Kristi Noem use the bathroom.
I just wish that some of these people would apply if it's so bad to let someone as privileged as Kristi Noem, who goes around with a full phalanx of security, if it's really mean and bad to not let her use the bathroom.
What about people who have no resources and have nothing and are pushed around by the criminalization of homelessness?
They also don't have access to bathrooms.
And we'll get to that.
How do you think they feel?
So I wish that that these sorts of things, you know, there's the cartoonish headline there.
They left her to poop on the sidewalk.
OK, fine.
Yeah.
Kristi, you know, they they have the resource to drive around with a portable bathroom in a van if that's what they wanted to do.
Here's another video.
But we have so many people in this country who have nothing and access to bathrooms is yet another one of the things they lack and just a total lack of empathy from people in positions of power.
Jake Sheridan from the Chicago Tribune posted this video.
So Kristi Noem really needed to go in to use the bathroom.
They didn't let her.
I have to tell you, I'm going to admit something to you.
I am taking such pleasure in what is going on with Bad Bunny, or as he is known in some circles, Bob Bonnie.
I absolutely love that this is triggering MAGA.
Now, let me give you the background.
Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny, by the way, Puerto Rico is part of the United States.
Puerto Rico, as Donald Trump likes to say, it's part of the United States.
Remember when Trump said he was going to speak to the president of Puerto Rico?
That's him.
He's the president of Puerto Rico in the sense that Puerto Rico is part of the United States.
He says an ice truck was run off thanks to about two dozen people surrounding it after it was parked outside of a daycare and subsequently a plant store.
There are magas losing their minds because Bad Bunny not only hosted Saturday Night Live over the weekend, but he is also slated to be the halftime show performer at the Super Bowl this year.
And there are angry magas who say this is not representative of America, even though Bad Bunny is American.
He's from Puerto Rico.
There are those who say we don't need music in Spanish at the Super Bowl and Bad Bunny over the weekend hosting a Saturday Night Live.
delivered part of his monologue in Spanish.
And it was so triggering.
I'm going to play it for you.
I'll translate the Spanish parts, which I don't believe were translated.
And then we'll I'll show you some of the reactions.
He says people who love his music, especially all of the Latino and Latina people around the world and in the United States, including the people who have worked to open doors.
It was lawlessness on the streets of many American cities.
I just love this.
I just love it.
And immediately this just triggered so many of these magas.
This guy, Carl Higbee, a right winger who never said anything worth more than pond scum, tweeted, I will not be watching the Super Bowl at all.
in response to Bad Bunny's Spanish monologue piece.
You know, Carla, this is not an airport.
You don't have to announce your departure.
Just see yourself out.
Here's Adrienne Curry, who said, Learn English if you want to appeal to Americans during the biggest American pastime.
This is tone deaf
A F. These people are going to eat themselves over Bad Bunny performing at the Super Bowl.
I might actually watch the Super Bowl this year.
That's how much I am loving this.
These people claim to be the ultimate alphas and they are such pathetic snowflakes now on the bonus show today.
We are going to talk about this controversial Saudi music festival and the response that many comedians have received from participating.
We'll also talk about the move to strip Congress of pay during government shutdowns.
We're going to talk about the Supreme Court returning to face another Trump test of presidential powers.
All of those stories and more on today's bonus show.
Sign up at join Pacman dot com.
I would love to see you there.
So off goes the unmarked ice truck.
And then finally and we could do this all day.
I'm just giving you a sampling.
This one's from Los Angeles.
Four male officers tackle a woman outside an ice facility and they start even ripping her clothes off.
But it wasn't because of immigrants.
All right.
And then off comes her sweatshirt and it goes on and it gets worse and more difficult to watch from there.
So of critical importance here, the fact that the chaos is being caused by Trump's goons does not mean that we don't have to worry about further escalation.
It wasn't because of migrants just working to feed their families.
In fact, that's exactly why we have to worry about it.
It is a classic authoritarian technique.
generate chaos to justify more militarization and more crackdowns.
That's the playbook.
Look at how crazy things have gotten.
We've got to clamp down more.
Let's do curfews.
Let's do paperwork checks on everybody.
I'm not saying they're going to do that, but that's what we've seen in authoritarian regimes.
You create chaos and then you say we're going to get out there to restore order.
You're going to restore order from the chaos that you caused.
We saw it in 1930s Germany.
Street violence between brown shirts and communists then became the justification for the Nazi police state in Chile.
It wasn't because of on Trifa.
Pinochet used social unrest as a pretext for his coup.
In the US, Nixon's law and order rhetoric turned the antiwar protesters into political theater to try to win elections.
So this is what we call manufactured chaos.
You could also say it's engineered disorder and it's meant to get some people to go.
We need more policing.
We need we need the police to be stronger because look at how chaotic it is.
We need bigger budgets for the crackdowns.
It wasn't Black Lives Matter.
We need fewer rights for people.
take rights and ask questions later.
And the worst part is that it is working.
You've got right wing media saying, look at this lawlessness under Trump without mentioning it's his lawlessness.
It's his own agents creating the violence.
So now local police end up kind of caught between defending their cities and being ordered to assist federal agents in carrying out these raids and treating neighborhoods like occupied zones.
It was not Marxists.
And this is how authoritarianism grows.
It's not a coup.
It's not a declaration.
It's the normalization of violence, the normalization of fear.
It wasn't socialists or communists or whatever.
And unfortunately, history tells us what comes next, because when regimes use fear to justify repression, people end up saying, I'm going to trade some of my liberty for safety.
We need it.
and they end up usually getting neither.
This is what law and order looks like under Donald Trump.
Chaos created from the top to crush dissent from the bottom.
And the criminality didn't stop
with this.
And that's what I want to delve into next.
Over the weekend, Donald Trump again pushed the limits of presidential power.
He deployed troops into cities whose governors explicitly said no, whose mayors explicitly said no.
It was a result of Donald Trump's goons, Trump's ice, Trump's deportation forces.
While the Department of Homeland Security sent an official recruitment tweet mixing religion and politics also against the law.
And so Donald Trump and his administration broke multiple laws.
They got called, called out by courts.
They got called out by governors.
They violated the Constitution itself, but they don't care.
Start in Portland, a Trump appointed federal judge, Trump appointed federal judge.
issued an emergency order saying you cannot federalize the Oregon National Guard.
Can't do it.
There's constitutional limits.
You simply can't use military forces for civilian law enforcement.
That order will hold until October 18th.
But Trump didn't back off.
Trump authorized 300 California National Guard troops instead to cross state lines into Oregon, which Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, said is a breathtaking abuse of power.
He's right.
And in Chicago, Trump sent 300 Illinois Guard troops over the objections of Governor J.B.
Pritzker.
Officials say that the White House gave the state an ultimatum.
You either mobilize these troops or we're going to override you and weaponize the National Guard for political purposes.
Welcome, everybody.
Now, all of this violates the Posse Comitatus Act.
that bars federal military from enforcing domestic law.
It's illegal.
Courts have already ruled Trump's deployments like the one in Los Angeles broke that law, but they do not care.
Trump's actions are what have finally gotten us to the very chaos and lawlessness on the streets.
And while all of this was happening,
Department of Homeland Security's official X account put out a nasty excretion that said, quote, Love God, save America with a link to join dot ice dot gov, the recruiting page for ice.
That is a federal agency using religious language and a recruitment link
for the official government channel.
And that raises red flags under the Establishment Clause, under the Hatch Act, which bans political messaging from government accounts.
And it is a weekend of lawlessness for the Trump administration.
It is not law and order, which they promised.
It was lawlessness dressed up as authority.
And he tried to deploy soldiers into communities that didn't ask for them.
He tried flipping states against their will.
He used a federal account to fuse religion and state power.
All of this is illegal.
Courts are trying to push back.
Governors are preparing lawsuits.
But can anyone stop this?
Does any institution have the not the authority they have the authority, but do they have the
Does it have the teeth to actually deal with what is going on?
Hope you had a good weekend.
that they originally said were the reason for doing any of this stuff in the first place.
Authoritarian theater at its worst.
And the question is, will anyone actually be able to enforce the law?
Will there be any consequences for this insanity?
I fear the answer is no.
And in the midst of this, we're going to get to it later in the show.
Trump, again, missing for days with no explanation.
Caroline Leavitt panicking when confronted with the lawlessness of what's going on.
Kristi Noem, by the way, the head of the Department of Homeland Security, left to poop on the sidewalk, denied entry to bathrooms, leaving her scrambling for a toilet.
And then Bad Bunny has become a cultural flashpoint, triggering these magas to high heaven.
They don't even realize Puerto Ricans are American.
So this was one of the wackiest weekends that I can remember in a very long time.
We're going to have all of it for you.
Make sure that you're getting my daily dispatches on Substack.
I'm going to give you some examples.
You can find them at Substack dot David Pakman dot com.
Great to have you.
I wish it were under better circumstances.
We'll be right back.
The David Pakman Show David Pakman dot com.
There are important historical precedents.
To sit down with my family, show them what I found, for example, the other day I found a scan of an immigration document from when my mother's uncle's aunt arrived at Ellis Island or this document from the US Canada border for my relative who was born in 1895.
There is context that is relevant to this idea of generating chaos to sub to justify subsequent crackdowns.
This is remarkable stuff.
The David Pakman Show David Pakman dot com slash my heritage.
The link is in the description.
Thank you.
You will have a boost of confidence when you're out and about.
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We don't have that information one way or the other.
But what is very clear is that the false notion that the Epstein files would only incriminate Democrats and Trump's going to expose them all.
That was the story two years ago.
That is, at this point, not even remotely believable.
A hundred percent.
Now I'm going to go out there and say the following, and you tell me whether you agree, Pat.
It could be the case that if the full files were released, it would be more incriminating to Democrats than to Republicans.
It's possible that if the full files were released, it could be more incriminating to Republicans rather than Democrats.
I don't know which is the case and I don't care.
I think we just want the files.
That's it.
And you know what?
If it's worse for Democrats, it's worse for Democrats if that's honestly what the content of the files is.
But at this point, I just think we need the files out.
The other thing is that there is a back and forth as to what Trump like at this point, everyone knows Trump's name is obviously in the files, but there are people debating to what degree is Trump's name in the files or what is he accused of doing?
Welcome to the bonus show.
I am still of the mindset that until I have reason to believe that Trump is in there as a perpetrator of potential sexual crimes or acts or whatever the case may be.
He did genuinely just know a lot of people around that point in time.
Elon Musk, Peter Thiel and Steve Bannon are in the Epstein files.
Like, I think it does make sense for the left to be careful and not assume that what's in there about Trump is something we can't yet prove.
He doesn't normally.
And I think that, listen, if it were, you know, John Thune in the Epstein files.
I think Trump wouldn't give a shit.
He wouldn't go out of his way out of his way to protect John Thune.
But now that we know that, you know, Elon, his relationship is on again, off again, I guess, at the Ryder Cup or wherever they were hanging out recently.
We're actually where was it that they were hanging out?
No, at Charlie Kirk's, Charlie Kirk's funeral.
Yeah.
But now that Bannon's name is in there and some others, it's starting to be plausible that just because it would look bad, it's not because Trump goes, I'm so loyal to my friends, I'm so devoted just because I think it would be bad for Trump.
I actually do think that some of these names are the sorts of people he might want to protect.
We have new documents that have been released.
All right.
Let me know your thoughts.
We are going to continue talking about this, certainly, because I don't think we're getting the files tomorrow and therefore it's still going to be a story.
You know, once again, Pat, even what's been released doesn't say that they are perpetrators of sexual crimes.
Another media lawsuit of sorts.
Trump sued YouTube over suspending his account over January 6th, and YouTube has agreed to pay Trump twenty four million dollars.
Now, that is a lot of money.
And also.
It's not a lot of money for YouTube.
And I disagree with every single one of these decisions.
I want these companies fighting.
And also I get because litigation can be uncertain and expensive.
But in addition to that, and this is such a horrible authoritarian thing to admit that they also need to worry about if we fight it and win.
Are we going to lose way more than 24 million if Donald Trump then targets us politically?
I'm not defending it.
I'm simply saying I understand it.
If you're paramount and you go, damn, you know, 60 minutes is one thing.
But what if Trump blocks a merger?
I think it's despicable.
I would love all of them to fight it.
But I'm also not immune to the math of it.
And the 16 million for Paramount or 24 million for YouTube as a known cost.
versus potentially who the hell knows how much hundreds of millions or even billions you could end up losing if you somehow got sanctioned.
I hate all of it.
YouTube's paying them 24 million, arguing that when his account was suspended, it was incorrect that he was censored.
But it is very interesting because the assumption from many on the right has been that it's really Democrats being protected and that Trump wants to blow the whistle and expose everybody.
One of the things I think is important to mention, while there is uncertainty with any litigation, I've had lawyers tell me that before.
That's a line I've gotten from lawyers.
Listen, David, whatever I tell you, there is uncertainty to litigation.
In this case, free speech experts have said none of these lawsuits raise credible claims.
First Amendment protections typically apply to government officials, not private companies censoring speech.
Trump was not censored by a government.
Trump was censored if you believe he was censored by private companies.
And yet every single one of these companies has moved to conclude the litigation as quickly as possible.
These are although all litigation has uncertainty.
Legal experts are essentially unanimous that these have been bogus lawsuits.
Here is that bonus show episode.
It's also funny because Elon Musk had that famous tweet Trump's in the Epstein files implying that Trump was in the Epstein files as having committed wrongdoing.
The library will be a really expensive building and it'll just be crayons and construction paper inside.
Unfortunately, that's not going to cost a lot, but the building will be very expensive.
All right.
Let's talk a little bit about the Super Bowl.
Bad Bunny will be doing the halftime show in this.
I call it this year's Super Bowl.
It's technically 2026, but it's like this season season.
Yeah.
This season's Super Bowl.
A lot of right wingers are furious.
Now, Bad Bunny is Puerto Rican.
His music is I don't know that I can say only in Spanish, but it's mostly in Spanish.
Certainly, I can't.
I'm trying to think if any Bad Bunny songs are in English.
I don't know.
That's not I don't think so.
I listen to a lot of Latin music.
I'm from Argentina.
I admit it.
Listen, a couple of different things going on here.
There is this talking point that ICE is going to start raiding his concerts.
because they're filled with undocumented migrants and all of this different stuff.
But the right is completely flipping out, saying that nobody really likes this guy.
This isn't because of his music, but it's because he's a demonic Marxist or because whatever.
There's political reasons.
There are suggestions now to boycott the entire thing.
I have to admit, I kind of like this.
I like Bad Bunny on a personal level.
And I kind of like seeing them triggered when they're big American alpha male big boy space.
The football game is going to be invaded by Bad Bunny.
The Super Bowl halftime shows have been increasingly controversial insofar as the right often flips out.
And now it turns out that it's a bunch of Republicans in the Epstein files, at least to some degree.
But I like this.
I hope that they don't change their minds on having him perform.
And also that Elon Musk himself is in the files.
I actually didn't even watch last year's Super Bowl and I didn't see Kendrick Lamar's performance.
And by the way, these really are not musical performances.
They're performances.
Do they still require everything to be prerecorded?
Yeah.
There's a reference about Elon coming to the island on December 6th.
So, yeah, that's typical.
That that being the case, I missed Kendrick Lamar's performance.
Prior to that was Usher.
I thought Usher was OK.
Prior to that was Rihanna.
I thought she was it was a pretty good performance.
There was the Dr. Dre Snoop Dogg Eminem one in twenty twenty two, which I thought was quite good.
That one that one I quite enjoyed.
It was really a blast from the past for me.
The weekend, I thought, was pretty good.
I'm going in reverse order.
Shakira, Jennifer Lopez, even though I am not like a bit I'm not a fan of Jennifer Lopez and Shakira is just sort of like whatever.
And the question as to whether it's happening now, I'm the first to say, Pat, the documents don't even prove Elon went.
I'm not actively a fan, but but she's fine.
I thought that when I actually really remember, Pat, I guess it was a particularly notable performance and there was a lot of discussion of it.
And then we're going to like, you know, Maroon 5, Justin Timberlake, Lady Gaga, Coldplay, Katy Perry.
Now we're back into the mid 20, 2010s.
None of these really were super controversial in the way that the last few, I guess, have been.
Imagine him coming out and just as a medley three times doing his proud to be, you know, does he have other songs?
I mean, I don't know that he has that one on repeat.
And then he just like sells his Bible while there.
All the documents show is that there was a point at which that was the plan.
I couldn't imagine what he would possibly do.
Top Lee Greenwood songs.
I'm looking this up right now.
So he.
Yeah, I don't recognize any of these ring on her finger.
I owe you Dixie Road going, going gone.
Have you heard of any of these?
The Super Bowl could introduce us to Lee Greenwood's hit One Day at a Time, a gospel song from 2003.
I would really, really love to hear that.
That sounds great.
Yeah.
Got to hear that one.
All right.
So let me know what you think.
I love this idea.
Will you be watching this year, Pat, or does it kind of depend who's in it?
But we don't know that Elon Musk even went to Jeffrey Epstein's island.
All right.
Well, there it is.
You've heard it from producer Pat.
He says, bring it on.
We'll see if they cancel Bad Bunny.
We'll see if Ice raids his shows.
And I also love how Bad Bunny is considered foreign, even though he's Puerto Rican.
Like, how many damn times are we going to do this stupid thing?
It's part of the United States.
Never mind that it doesn't allege that Elon Musk committed any crimes or sexual assaults or whatever the case may be.
Let me know what you think.
New show, new bonus show tomorrow.
And from what I heard from a lot of you, some thought the format of surrounded is fine.
Some thought it was problematic.
There were different opinions.
Bottom line, I've made a decision.
I came to a conclusion.
I don't think the conversations that Charlie Kirk was having and I don't think the conversations that I would have if I did this event
would really foster understanding, advance a productive cause or bring people together in any way.
In fact, I mean, when you look at some of the techniques that Charlie Kirk used to in a sense, it would actually do the opposite, like Charlie Kirk.
This is an aside.
But Charlie Kirk would do this thing where whatever topic comes up, he would like funnel it, funnel the conversation into a bucket.
that he controls.
So like if anyone says anything related to abortion, he immediately goes, hold on a second.
When does life begin?
And then now he is just leading you down a predetermined conversation.
Or if someone brought up anything related to Israel or Gaza, he would say, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
Does Israel have a right to exist?
And then just from there, he's guiding.
It's a technique.
It doesn't really get get us anywhere.
But moving on and back to Jubilee and Surrounded.
I spoke to people who have appeared unsurrounded and, you know, you film for hours and hours, three, four hours.
gets cut down.
What ends up being published just highlights extremism.
It highlights people who are, in a sense, quite unhinged.
A lot of the good conversations end up excluded.
And the other thing, quite frankly, that made me not feel good about it is that in reviewing some recent episodes, some of the participants are pretty obviously mentally ill.
I love it.
This is a form of resistance that makes a lot of sense and has the potential to have a huge impact.
Like, you know, not only is the debate stuff, bro, maybe not the best format for what I'm trying to build.
Is it even ethical when some of the people selected are very clearly not of sound mind?
Now, I'm not even going to mention which episodes this is particularly clear in, but it is many.
There are people selected who forget about being extremist, which is like, fine, you know, you talk to extremists depending on the format.
There's some people that really it's almost like predatory to include them in some of this stuff.
So I've made the decision not to participate and I am foregoing significant publicity by doing this.
You know, I've spoken to people who said, yeah, it was wacky.
by appearing on there, it really blew up my platform.
It blew up my YouTube channel.
And and, you know, we've had some negative publicity lately.
There are a lot of other governors that are going in the same direction and they are saying we're just not going to listen to the federal government.
As many of you know, it's not like I couldn't use the boost.
But overall, at the end of the day, it just doesn't feel right.
And if I think ahead to the next five years, the direction I want to go, the second book I'm working on,
I just don't know that I am getting us in the direction of the world I envision by doing this.
And some of you might go, David, it's so stupid.
Take the publicity, get the 50000 YouTube subscribers that you would get from doing it or whatever other people have gotten.
But it just doesn't seem like I am kind of putting my money where my mouth is if I do that.
I want to hear from you.
Tell me your thoughts.
You know, I believe the way for shows like ours to really grow and to grow the ecosystem is not necessarily to do the debate bro stuff in this format.
It's people who just like what we're doing.
supporting directly liking videos, subscribing and building an ecosystem that actually is where we would like to see the political discourse go.
And at the end of the day, when I look at the final product of surrounded
It is not discourse that I believe takes us in the direction that we should be going in.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has said California is going to keep their emission standards.
So I want to hear from you.
Leave a comment.
Send me an email info at David Pakman dot com.
Did I screw this one up or is it a decision that is in line with what we want to see from political discussion and discourse in the future?
Let me know your thoughts.
.
.
.
.
They're going to keep their climate rules.
until you've shared your own.
So it's like a safe, genuine space for honest dialogue and discovery.
It doesn't matter if Trump rips up the federal protections.
Recently, one paired prompt asked, what's something you admire most about your partner?
Answering this simple question created a conversation with my girlfriend and highlighted things that we sometimes overlook the paired app.
is the David Pakman Show David Pakman dot com.
California doesn't care.
They're going to keep doing their thing.
All right.
I need to talk to you about something that has been on my mind.
And I know I recently did a segment about my concern that the Democratic Party is heading towards some brutal losses.
But after the last two weeks, I'm even more worried and I'm going to have to name some names here.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul has said no matter what the federal government does, we're going to keep doing our gun safety laws.
I realize that by doing this, I'm probably burning some bridges.
I'm realizing we're going to get fewer offers for elected officials to appear on this show.
And I'm a big boy.
I can handle that.
Maybe I won't get invited to stuff.
I don't know.
But what's happening is so existentially serious for Democrats and for the left more broadly that I don't think I can stay silent.
Now, here's the problem.
Ninety five percent, 98 percent of Democrats are either unable or unwilling to communicate in an emotionally salient, meaningful way with voters on shows.
Now, I am not saying this from the outside.
I am seeing this in my conversations with these elected officials.
I have them on the show all the time.
I know that when you watch MSNBC, sometimes Democrats are asked questions and they go into like a talking point coma and you're like, did they just answer the question?
I don't even know what they're talking about.
But it's not just happening on MSNBC and CNN.
It's happening when I try to talk to them as well.
Now, everybody I'm going to mention and I have to mention some people.
They're all nice people.
I think they want the best for their constituents.
We're going to protect access to abortion.
This is not personal.
But when I see how the right is communicating and how these Democrats are communicating, I see us barreling towards disaster and I want to fix it.
OK.
What I'll this is there's there's risk to doing this, but I think it has to be done.
When I interviewed Colorado Governor Jared Polis, things were fine until I brought up to him that nearly a quarter of Colorado apartments are owned by private equity.
It doesn't matter what Donald Trump says or does.
And like, is that really good?
And he kind of got defensive and he defended private equities ownership of apartments.
And when I pressed a little bit further, the tone shifted.
And you could tell he wasn't happy, happy with me by the end of the interview.
And just that light pushback completely changed the dynamic of the interview.
That's not good.
I then interviewed Colin Allred recently running for Senate in Texas.
You go to Illinois.
I think he's a fine candidate on paper.
I like the guy.
I've liked him for a long time, supported his previous runs when he was running in the Senate.
But previously, when I asked Colin.
Why would Republicans in Texas vote for a Democrat in 2025?
What is it that you're offering?
He gave me this long answer going back to 2017.
Now, listen, I understand history matters, but I pointed out you're not really answering the question and we hit an impasse.
Governor J.B.
And if you look at the comments on that interview, this isn't even my opinion.
Look at the comments on YouTube for that interview.
Your reaction was exactly what I was thinking, which is he's not answering the question.
Pritzker is preparing to shield immigrants from Donald Trump's deportation push and has already done so to some degree.
He is really talking around the issue and he never really gets to the to the point of saying, why are Texas Republicans going to vote for you or any Democrat this time around, given what's going on?
We didn't get an answer.
It was a very straightforward question.
We didn't get an answer.
More recently, I interviewed Rahm Emanuel, who is considering a 2028 run, and I asked him what I thought were really straightforward questions about Democratic messaging connection with voters.
What is it that the left needs to offer in terms of like, what are we doing economically right with Kamala?
It was so muddled.
She's got this tax deduction for new business expenses.
Give me the clear economic thing.
And he responded by speaking six minutes uninterrupted about education.
Now, education is a huge issue, of course.
But when I explained that wasn't my question, my question was about economics.
And he sort of interrupted and said, David, you know, maybe you don't care about education, but I do.
And I don't think it was good.
And again, if you look at the comments, you guys hated it.
Here's this is just like one example.
Dan wrote to me and said, David, what the fuck is Rahm Emanuel's deal?
He got defensive and hostile in your interview and acted as though you'd insulted him or slandered his honor.
So this is now becoming a pattern which is blue state governors saying we don't care, Donny boy, on health care, on climate, on civil rights.
All you did was ask a pointed question about strategy.
Then you politely interrupted his lunatic word salad after what felt like 20 minutes to gently push for specifics.
All he wanted to do then was change the subject and pontificate about totally unrelated topics.
When you agreed with him on those unrelated things while trying to refocus him on the original question, he got visibly angry.
veins were popping out of the effort's head.
Dude needs a shot of Haldol and some smelling salts to calm his ass down.
I've never seen a guy so full of himself.
We don't need another thin skinned, hot headed psycho in the White House.
Two terms of Trump have been more than enough by 2028.
Great show.
Take care.
I wouldn't characterize that interview with all the F bombs, but that sentiment was the overwhelming reaction to my interview of Rahm Emanuel.
Now, I am doing everything I can to tell these officials when I don't think that they are communicating well and I've done it behind closed doors and I've done it on interviews.
And if there is not a clear platform, clear policy ideas, an emotional connection to voters, Democrats are going to keep running into the same wall.
Now, let me address Zoran Mamdani.
with someone like Zoran Mamdani, who let's be clear, he's a socialist and I'm not right.
Like I have fundamental differences with Zoran Mamdani.
He is emerging as one of the few Democrats who actually excites people and just answers the questions that he's asked.
You might agree with his policies or you might not.
You might like what he's suggesting or not.
I want to talk about it with you.
We're going to go our own way.
You might be a capitalist and he's a socialist.
But when he asks a question, he answers the question and he's speaking in a way that connects.
Let me give you an example.
I don't think his free bus plan.
is remotely realistic to fund it.
He would need state taxes to go up.
The governor is not going to raise state taxes or you've got to try to raise city tax taxes.
Trump may be president.
I don't even know if that's possible by statute, but that would fail.
And also making the bus free in other places, we've seen just put downward pressure on the quality.
He doesn't control the states.
The buses come less frequently.
I think what a lot of people in New York City want is the buses to run more frequently.
And that might actually take more money rather than less.
But it doesn't matter.
Right.
This is like we're in the details.
He has excited voters.
And the more fringe policy Trump tries to push, the more we're going to say, get the hell out of here.
He answers questions, even if when he says how he's going to pay for the bus plan.
I don't believe it.
He's got an answer.
And he doesn't talk about some random thing from 10 years ago.
And almost no one is doing that.
So people are excited to hear that.
And that should really tell us something.
And this is what terrifies me by even doing this segment rather than it's serving as a wake up call to anybody.
And at the end of the day, like, who am I?
Right.
They've got high price consultants.
They've got all this stuff.
But what do I have?
I have you.
I have you giving me instant feedback to what the communication is from these elected officials.
And you're all telling me
Mamdani is answering questions and he's exciting voters.
The people that you're interviewing with some exceptions.
Now, then we get to the legal question.
Right.
I mean, listen, there are people on this show who answer questions when we had.
You know what?
I'm not even going to name people, but you all know that there are people I've had on this show.
I'll name a few.
When I had Gavin Newsom on, he answered questions and he spoke in a way that connected with people.
When I had Governor Josh Shapiro on, he answered my questions and spoke in a way that connected with people.
We care about the rule of law here on the left.
Jimmy Gomez, the congressman, you all loved him.
And he actually was answering my questions substantively and connecting with people, not redirecting for seven minutes about something else.
So there are some Democrats at the national level doing the right things, but they are the exception.
And so there's two things that could happen.
And you'll know because they might stop appearing on this show.
Right.
If you see no more Democratic elected on this show, you'll know why.
What about federal supremacy?
It's because this served as a F that guy rather than, damn, maybe he has a point.
On the other hand, if you see them continuing to show up and maybe they're communicating more effectively and making you think, oh, there's actually I can understand why I would vote for this person over a Republican nut job in twenty six or twenty eight, then maybe we'll be going in the right direction.
Doesn't federal law reign supreme?
But if nothing changes, we're staring down disaster in twenty, twenty six and twenty, twenty eight.
I'm going to do everything I can to prevent that.
But I'm just one person.
We all need to get involved.
I want to hear from you.
Leave a comment if this resonates with you.
Please like the video and share it like the video and share it.
So important.
Let's talk about who pays for Trump's insanity.
Trump loves to brag about how he's tough on trade.
The truth is you're the one paying for his so-called toughness.
Trump's back in the White House, but there are governors across the country that are starting to act like he's really not.
And the answer is only sometimes.
Every time you go to the store, every time you pay your bills, you are footing the bill for Donald Trump's economic insanity.
Start with tariffs.
He promised China would would pay.
That was a lie.
Tariffs are a tax on imports.
The cost gets passed to you.
You pay for Trump's tariffs.
As of this year, Trump has slapped massive tariffs on everyday items.
You know, the percent at this point, it's hard to even keep track.
30 percent on furniture, 25 percent on heavy trucks, kitchen cabinets, foreign made movies.
What does the law say?
He's talking about 100 percent tax tariff on.
That just means higher prices on everything, higher prices on homes, repairs, things like just going to the movies.
We've got the farmer bailouts that are pending.
Trump loves to say tariffs bring in money.
What's he doing with the money?
Well, we have the supremacy clause, right?
He's needing to give it to the farmers because they're getting hurt by the tariffs.
So in essence, you pay twice.
You pay with higher prices in the store, but then your tax dollars from the tariffs are funneled into bailouts designed to shore up Trump's political base.
You are paying.
The trade war with Canada and Mexico is another punch.
Trump slapped tariffs on almost everything coming in from our closest neighbors, food, energy, raw materials.
Article six, clause two, which is that the federal law is the supreme law of the land.
So what happened?
They hit back.
Prices go up both ways.
Groceries cost more.
Utilities cost more.
Everything made with imported parts costs more.
Does it make your life better?
No.
His disasters and you pay.
The other aspect of this that I think is worth mentioning is that Trump is using the tariffs like a shadow tax this year.
We are expected to collect about one hundred and seventy billion dollars from these tariffs.
But it's not coming from China.
It's not coming from Mexico.
It's coming from you because you now pay higher prices, inflation.
You're paying for the tariffs.
And that raises the tax burden, even though Trump said he would lower the tax burden on the middle class.
And you have ripple effects trickle down in the sense of cut taxes for the rich and everyone benefits doesn't exist, doesn't work.
The trickle down to housing and construction costs going up because building materials are getting more expensive.
Furniture, therefore, gets more expensive.
Fixtures get more expensive.
That is trickling down.
That then trickles down to higher rent prices.
It makes homes less affordable and it leaves local governments who often lack the money to do it to try to scramble and cover up the gaps.
If there is a conflict, federal law prevails.
They then say, hey, you know what?
We've got to raise property taxes because of the tariffs.
How could that be?
Well, as I told you, tariffs, building materials, home costs.
All of a sudden, you have to find yourself raising property taxes to cover the expenses of the municipality.
Companies decide we're going to wait on hiring.
We will delay giving people raises.
We'll pass the higher costs on to workers and families.
The economy becomes more fragile.
And when things break, it's average people that get hurt first.
The people that have got a million in the bank, they're fine.
The people that can't meet an unexpected four hundred dollar expense without borrowing, they're not fine.
But the reality is that that is only in certain areas.
So don't be fooled when Trump says tariffs make America strong.
They make life more expensive.
Don't believe him when he says the bailouts are free.
You're paying for the bailouts.
Don't fall for the tough guy routine.
Trump's economic policies are hurting you.
He said other countries would pay your pain and you're going to keep paying every single day of the week, month, year, whatever, until this insanity finally stops.
What will it take to get it to stop?
I don't know.
Donald Trump's presidency is effectively over, according to a pollster.
New poll has landed.
Some of these things don't really relate to areas of law where the federal government has that undisputed authority.
It's devastating for Trump.
Lake Research Partners, working with Free Speech for People, looked at voters in swing congressional districts.
These are the critical districts likely to determine who takes the House in 2026.
And there is one number that should terrify Donald Trump.
It's forty nine.
No, it's not the average IQ of his cabinet.
Forty nine percent of swing district voters support impeaching Donald Trump and 45 percent say they support it strongly.
This is not a fringe survey.
This is the exact voters that will decide who controls Congress.
And they seem done with Trump.
Think about how extraordinary that is.
A majority, 56 percent, say they disapprove of the job Trump is doing as president.
This isn't overall.
This is in the critical swing districts that will decide who controls the House.
Now, pollers are looking at this and they're saying this is remarkable.
might even be unprecedented, that you've got about half of swing district voters saying the president should be impeached.
And we're only eight months in.
Nixon didn't hit these numbers until the end of his second term.
So I'll give you examples.
Clinton never had numbers like this in battlegrounds.
Trump is bleeding support in the exact places that he needs it.
Now, when you look at history, one of the things we've talked about before
is that presidential approval ratings rarely go up.
Civil rights.
Why governing is hard.
Scandals pile up.
And the way presidential approval often works is the term starts and you go, I approve.
He's new.
I approve.
He does the thing that you don't like.
Now you switch to I no longer approve.
And even if he comes up with stuff you do like later,
Very rarely do people go from disapproving of a president to approving.
When we have the Civil Rights Act.
Exceptions are like what Bush dealt with on 9-11.
A lot of people who did not like Bush said, I now approve because he sort of behaved after 9-11 in a way that I liked.
But short of a 9-11.
presidential approval tends to go down.
Now, the list of impeachable offenses is staggering.
We've talked about it before.
We there are some who say there are twenty five different issues on which Trump could be impeached right now.
But using the military to occupy American cities would be there gutting the Justice Department and the FBI, turning them into tools of revenge.
states cannot go.
pressuring media outlets to fire hosts or change programing, demanding that Letitia James, James Comey and Adam Schiff be prosecuted.
You know what?
And by the way, James Comey is now being prosecuted, attacking the First Amendment.
The list is very long.
the question here is, do Americans see it?
And the answer seems to be that they do.
The polling seems to prove that they see it.
This is not a survey of progressive activists.
We are going to make it legal to say no black people allowed in my shoe store.
This is a survey of regular swing state voters.
And they are saying we've had enough.
They want Trump impeached.
They want Trump gone.
Unlikely to happen for as long as the Republicans control the Senate.
But the question is, will we see
Republicans removed from power in twenty twenty six.
Now, I saw in my subreddit some people going, is that really all it's cracked up to be?
Is that really, you know, do do is that really going to do that much?
Well, it's what we can do right now.
This November, we've got Prop 50 in California for redistricting and a couple of special elections.
That's twenty twenty five twenty twenty six.
It's take back the House.
OK, we do everything we can when we can do it.
It's not everything.
But it is crucially important to take back the House.
So Trump's presidency could be effectively over right now.
The numbers are pointing that way.
You can't do it.
What's left is formally remove Republicans from power, from the House.
And hey, you know what?
Maybe actually do the impeachment wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.
The law is very, very clear on that.
A pending Supreme Court case could strip our Fourth Amendment rights and allow immigration agents to come into our homes for any reason.
No probable cause needed.
All while Republicans try to twist things so that you think this is all great for America.
This should be the biggest story in the US right now, but it's almost impossible to keep up with the millions of moves that Trump is making every single day.
It's unconstitutional.
That's why ground news exists.
Ground News is an app and website that exposes the blind spots and spin before it takes control of our opinions.
Ground News is the smarter, more reliable way to stay informed when MAGA is banking on us getting distracted.
There's Supreme Court precedent, certain environmental regulations in terms of doing less regulation than what the federal government says.
I'm partnering up with Ground News to give you 40 percent off the same vantage plan that I use.
So you'll pay only five bucks a month for all of their premium features.
Just go to ground dot news slash Pacman or use the code Pacman in the app when you sign up.
The link is in the description or scan the QR code.
All right.
It is time for Friday feedback where I hear from you.
You can always email info at David Pakman dot com.
We'll sometimes speech feature comments from different platforms.
Could be YouTube, Spotify, Substack, whatever.
We start today with a YouTube comment from M and me who said, I don't recall those 24 children who died from flooding in Texas getting as much coverage as Charlie Kirk's death.
I know it's not a competition, but how do those kids death got casted away?
Whereas Charlie Kirk's death got so much attention.
I mean, WTF?
Yeah, listen, we spoke about this the day after Charlie Kirk's killing.
which was not just in general, other people are killed.
Yesterday, the day of Charlie Kirk's death, there was a shooting at a school in Colorado and it got a fraction of the attention.
And this is you know, some of this is inevitable, right?
I mean, there's I don't think that there's any way
So if the EPA issues an air quality standard,
anyway for Charlie Kirk's killing and the killing of a 14 year old in Florida to get the same amount of media attention.
I'm not saying it's right.
I'm just saying the way our corporate media is structured, that's just not going to happen.
But what I do think is of critical importance
is that when we hear of a big story like this, the opportunity for me to remind everybody of how widespread this sort of violence is, is to say, you know, think about everything surrounding Charlie Kirk's death.
The latest example comes from Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.
Think about all the people that were there who are now traumatized.
that says we are going to limit emissions of a certain substance to seven parts per million.
Think about all the friends and family who have lost a loved one.
Think about what this says about the country.
Think about all of that.
And then multiply it by the fact that on the same day Charlie Kirk was killed, I don't have the numbers in front of me, but there were something like 30 other shootings in the United States, I believe, mass shootings where you've got at least multiple, multiple injuries and multiply that out and just think of the unconscionable amount of devastation
that political violence rains upon us, guns rain upon us, this culture of firearms, all of it.
And so I think I don't I don't know that the expectation that it'll all get the same amount of media coverage is reasonable.
It just won't.
And also, if if all media outlets did was cover shootings, it's all they would do like it to cover every shooting.
It would be 24 seven.
That's how sick the situation is.
But using it as an analogy for
We have this times, however many every day, and we're not really doing anything about it.
I think that's maybe the opportunity.
Matthew Atencio wrote on Facebook, I don't think we're as divided as people think.
It's just the narrative of news outlets that are owned by people who want us to think we are divided.
What I see in the news and what I see in real life don't match.
There is an aspect of truth here.
And the aspect of truth is that if you just take all issues, including ones that are not controversial, you can nominally say that the country isn't as divided as media makes it makes it think.
So I'll give you an example of what I mean.
If you watch political media, you see coverage of who should be president.
States can't go out.
Should we arm Ukraine?
What should be done in Gaza?
Should abortion be legal?
We're only going to do six parts per million or we're only going to do five parts per million.
How should we deal with poverty?
OK, those are inherently politically divisive issues.
But if you zoom out, there is a whole bunch of stuff that the country mostly agrees on.
Now, you could say, well, yeah, David, everybody agrees on that stuff.
Murder should be illegal when it comes to, you know, sort of like going out there and
sticky an armed robbery where you kill someone or there should be government authorities should handle police, fire the roads.
Right.
Like the point, I'm struggling to do this articulately.
But the point is, yes, we are not divided on huge swaths of issues relating to everyday life.
However, states can have stricter climate and emissions guidelines if the federal law is no more than seven parts per million.
Pilots who fly planes should be properly trained and monitored and subject to competency retesting whatever.
However, that stuff doesn't get media coverage because everybody agrees on it.
So I believe the takeaway is is twofold.
Yes.
As as people, we are not nearly as divided.
as the corporate media makes it seem.
And also some of these divisions that we do notice from watching the news are highly relevant and salient to our everyday lives.
And so they aren't any less important to figure out from the subreddit.
Friendly drummer said, I think Tyler Robinson is the shooter.
I don't think it could be anyone else.
I've seen plenty of people say no 22 year old texts like that.
This text is fake.
I can assure you some kids are weird, terminally online kids especially.
And it seems as simple as this.
Tyler used a gun.
It matches with the gun of his grandfather.
The grandfather recognized the gun on TV, knew it was missing.
And that was when Tyler confessed to his dad because Tyler knew his family knew the gun was missing.
I mean, the FBI can't just fake all of that.
I understand not trusting the FBI, but we can't just deny something just because it's inconvenient.
The truth is the truth.
Yeah, listen, I mean, you know, even the video we looked at last week of, oh, Charlie Kirk got shot from the back like it seemed obvious that that was not the case looking at the video.
I think that there are a lot of sociocultural and psychological reasons why people start kind of, I would even say, fixating or obsessing over some of these alternatives, conspiracy theories, we might call them.
And I just did it backwards.
But I believe all the evidence points to Tyler having just done it.
He's, of course, alleged to have done it at this point in time.
And sometimes it's nice to see someone just go, listen, guys, I think it just is what it is.
Deborah Moore wrote on Spotify.
And I'm sorry, states can't say we're going to allow more than seven parts per million, but they can say we are going to be even stricter than federal law.
America is in decline.
That great the great experiment is done.
Average person just doesn't give a shit.
Ignorance, laziness, entitlement, greed are too widespread and has a strong hold on the majority.
I really wish I was able to relocate to another country.
More people than ever who I know personally.
are relocating to other countries.
I don't mean they're thinking about it.
I don't mean they Googled it.
I don't mean they said to their spouse, maybe someday we would consider this.
I know more people than ever personally who are leaving or have already left the United States.
And it's a number of countries that they have gone to Canada, Spain, Denmark, UK, Uruguay,
Trying to think of others as to whether the great experiment of America is done, you know,
I always hesitate to make these broad declarations.
You know, you sometimes hear from people America so powerful it will never fall.
And others say every empire has fallen.
And my view is kind of like, listen, things are different in twenty twenty five than they used to be.
I don't know that any of these rules of thumb are necessarily predictive in terms of what's going to happen.
But what I can tell you is the following.
I completely screwed up that up in my head.
I hope I hope that we can survive three and a half more years of this insanity.
But if we were to get another version of Trump in twenty twenty eight, I would start to worry about the survival of this country.
Nerpy scunfo on Spotify says, of course, Democrats aren't trusted.
Fox and right wing media smear the Dems 24 seven.
Republicans lie constantly in place, blame on everyone but themselves.
But I hope you understand the point I'm making on immigration.
Kamala had a fantastic economic plan she made available online and talked about every debate and interview.
The media held her to an impossible standard.
Josh Shapiro makes it very clear he is not going to take orders from Washington when it comes to issues of health care, like, for example, Donald Trump's secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Junior.
Trump had nothing, no plan, just tariff.
And people fell for his nonsense and fear.
We will not fix this until Republican voters wake up.
I don't agree with this.
I think that a lot of the facts here are true, but that the overall conclusion is wrong.
Saying Democrats are merely bystanders and Democrats will never be trusted until Fox News says it's OK to trust Democrats.
Federal immigration law overrides state laws.
Wrong.
I think that that's flatly wrong.
Democrats do have challenges that they face based on the right wing media ecosystem.
There's no doubt about it.
Democrats do have challenges because a lot of Republican voters are clueless.
Sure, I will acknowledge that.
But at some point, you've also got to look inward.
And if you said to me, well, David, what is Kamala's great economic plan?
I'm not really sure.
And I studied this stuff.
I can tell you a couple of elements of it.
I can tell you about some of the credits and subsidies for certain types of spending, child tax credit, et cetera.
But big picture, what was Kamala Harris's tax plan specifically?
So if the federal government says in order to come into the country legally, here's what you have to do.
I know rich pay their fair share.
I get it.
But what really was the tax plan, the the tax brackets?
And this this is not just about Kamala.
This applies to a lot of candidates.
And sometimes they just tell me, David, I wouldn't be specific about that stuff because I'm sort of short circuiting my own ability to later negotiate if I say too much now.
All right.
Well, listen, I think that there is a lot to point to in this country as a result of education's a mess.
This leads to, you know, these people who can't think critically.
They fall for Republican ideas.
I'm with you.
But you've also got to consider Democrats in all of this.
Absolving Democrats of blame doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
Corey Clark says on Substack, Hi, David, I actually thought I was a paid subscriber, but I was not.
But I am now.
Your podcasts are definitely one of my favorites.
You're obviously very knowledgeable in many diverse ways.
And I like that.
I'm 64 and have never felt so uneasy and scared about what our country is turning into.
You can't have a state that says, well, we're going to have different laws for what's required to come into the United States.
You know, I appreciate this message, Corey.
We are building or trying to build more than just a podcast here.
We're really trying to build a movement and the movement includes other shows and it includes you as well.
So it's not just the progressive media ecosystem.
It's the progressive media ecosystem plus our audience.
Corey says he's 64.
I recently got a message from an 87 year old grandmother who is a member.
I recently got a message from a 13 year old whose parents got him a membership.
13, 87 and everything in between.
We might have some members older than 87 as well.
I don't know.
This is a movement that I believe should welcome people regardless of any background, age, personally, you know, identity characteristics of any kind.
But we've got to all build it together.
And Corey, thank you for helping to do that.
Now, this is separate from whether cities or states must work with federal immigration authorities.
I really do appreciate it.
Jeff Stram says on YouTube, thanks for another fine report, David.
I appreciate your videos for many reasons, especially the fact that you create five minute videos to relate five minutes of information.
Too many news channels are giving us five minutes of content in a 20 minute video.
You know, it's funny about this.
One of the reasons that I am not as I'm not really like a streamer, you know, these streamers who do three, four, eight, 12 hour streams.
I don't want to keep you here as long as possible and turn five minutes of substance into 20 minutes.
I want to give you as much useful stuff in five minutes as I can.
And if I could put eight minutes of stuff into five, that my goal is people are busy.
There's a lot of stuff out there.
I'm respectful of your time.
That's a different issue relates to sanctuary cities and states.
We are going to keep the show as jam packed as possible as we can.
Adri Adrienne Adrienne.
Adriana, OK, on YouTube says, I enjoy your podcast, David, but don't think that the current administration will not come for any progressive platform.
He'll come for you.
Ben, my cellist, Brian Tyler Cohen, Mark Elias, Adam Makler, Glenn Kirshner and more.
Just don't capitulate.
Stand firm.
Your voice and views are necessary.
But that's a different question that we're talking about here.
I really appreciate that.
We are planning to be here.
We are planning to stand firm.
I know Ben, Brian, Mark, Adam and Glenn are planning on the exact same thing.
I want to say thank you to everybody who took advantage of our membership drive special on Tuesday that we did the biggest discount we've offered on membership in years.
If you missed that and want to take advantage of it, just email info at David Pakman dot com and say, David, please give me that coupon code.
But there are other areas.
I missed the special and I will gladly do it.
We've got a great bonus show for you today.
Yes.
I hope you have a great weekend and I'll be back with you next week.
where state law does supersede federal authority, police powers, for example, states regulate property law, states regulate traffic law, local businesses.
Unless there is a specific federal law that steps in.
States have superseding authority in a lot of those areas.
As I already mentioned, states can always go beyond federal requirements.
If the feds say no more than 10 parts per million of this polluting gas, states could say we're going to be stricter.
If the federal government says the minimum wage must be seven twenty five an hour, states are allowed to say, actually, in our state, it's going to be nine dollars an hour.
It's going to be 10, 15, 20 dollars an hour.
They can't go below, but they can go go above.
And so the key distinctions here are that if there is a direct conflict on something which federal law controls, federal law wins in a sense.
But big picture, federal law sets floors and not ceilings.
And if the Constitution doesn't give federal government power over an area,
It really does remain up to the states.
We're seeing this in a lot of places.
You know, Josh Shapiro in the video we watched was talking about when it comes to health stuff in Pennsylvania.
We've heard from other governors like Maura Healey in Massachusetts, for example.
They don't care what the federal government is doing as far as vaccination.
Vaccines will remain available and the vaccine schedule will remain in place in Massachusetts with regard to public schools.
I love this.
We have to look for opportunities to oppose and to resist wherever they present themselves.
Now, you might be asking yourself, what about the federal supremacy clause?
And there are a bunch of different governors that are making it clear they are going to resist.
Eric Trump suffered a they stroke on live television.
What do I mean by a they stroke?
You got to see this.
How many times does Eric Trump refer to they here in this interview?
And importantly, keep track.
I'm going to do it here on a piece of paper.
I have keep track of how many different entities they is used to refer to.
He does this all the time.
Take a listen.
You made it.
And so does America.
How do you feel?
Isn't it the law?
that the federal government decides and supersedes state law?
OK, OK.
I have to stop because this I'm making notes here.
OK.
He is using the ubiquitous they.
even to describe stuff that Republicans did.
OK, think about all of the different things he talks about here.
They tried to kill him.
Well, one of the they was the son of Republicans who tried to kill him in Butler.
OK, they oh, like a Republican.
Got it.
OK, cool.
They tried to gag him.
Different judges, in accordance with the law, passed gag orders in their courtrooms.
They they they they it sounds like one entity.
These are completely disconnected entities.
They tried to impeach him.
Well, the members of the House of Representatives did vote to impeach Donald Trump.
And the answer is sometimes, but only on some issues.
The members of the Senate voted to acquit they as if it's all one party.
They did the dossier.
Now we're talking about intelligence agencies.
They accused him of Russia collusion.
Now we're talking about different investigative agencies under different power.
They they they he's referred to a dozen different entities here, none of which are coordinated in any way that they've been able to demonstrate.
And he keeps going.
He's in he's having a stroke of they off of Instagram.
Oh, they took them off of Instagram and Twitter.
Yes.
So now we're talking about moderation on platforms.
So we're going to delve into that because that is really at the core of this.
They, they, they.
He is using one term here, they, because he wants you to believe that they who served a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago and they who took him off the ballot in Colorado are the same.
But first, let's listen to what Governor Josh Shapiro had to say about this making a lot of sense, folks.
It's a conspiracy.
Everybody's working together against his dad.
The biggest victims in the world, if you listen to him.
Yeah, he is showing up here to tell us the inside story in his book Under Siege.
This is a family that wants you to believe there are no stronger people.
There are no smarter people.
There are more no more robust people.
And yet, despite being ultra wealthy and hyper privileged, they are the victims.
They want you to believe that they are the victims, not the migrants being treated like crap.
Not the people being deported, not the people having health care taken away, not the people that now can't afford groceries because they've gotten even more expensive since Donald Trump became president.
This is the face of victimhood, according to Eric Trump.
The governors are increasingly ignoring Donald Trump.
Didn't they attack the left for constantly going on about grievances?
And yet here they are saying that they are actually the ultimate victims.
These are truly pathetic people.
And I know that Eric Trump was never the smart one.
Like, I understand that, you know, who the hell is Eric Trump?
But he wrote a book about this.
Now, hilariously, I meant to pull this up.
Let me see if I can find it under siege.
Eric Trump.
My family's fight to save our nation.
The book comes out in a few days.
It is.
When you look at the book from what's been released so far, it is taking anecdotes and minor incidents and claiming that these are just examples of how the Trump family are the targets of everybody.
At some point, I would love it if someone said, hey, if you guys are really the alpha males you claim to be,
Why is it that everything is just such a threat to you and such an attack and something you need to go and write a book about?
I don't know that anybody's really going to be asking those questions.
So it's a they stroke.
They did it.
They tried to kill him.
They tried to indict me.
They tried to subpoena.
We need something new.
And I know that people keep talking about further further trumps.
Excuse me.
Eric or Don Junior or Ivanka potentially becoming president.
What a horror if that were to happen.
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All right.
I have canceled my forthcoming appearance on Jubilee's Surrounded.
Some of you knew I was going to do it and I feel like I owe you the truth about why.
Now, the concept was going to be one progressive millennial me versus 20 right wing Gen Zers.
And I have decided not to do it.
Now, after Charlie Kirk was killed, I really thought hard about whether this is something that I still want to do.
Now, there were sort of two sets of concerns.
Initially, there was certainly a thought about security.
Right.
I mean, surrounded is essentially what Charlie Kirk used to do, except it was a controlled environment.
It was, you know, indoors and it's me versus 20 people, not a huge crowd.
And the people are preselected by the casting directors and that sort of thing.
So there was initially like a might this give somebody an idea?
Would it be safe?
Am I tempting fate by doing the same thing Charlie Kirk used to do?
The truth is that the security stuff I was satisfied was pretty well dealt with.
Jubilee was very nice and everyone I've dealt with at Jubilee has been nice this entire time.
They were going to essentially quadruple the security presence and they were talking about some additional protocols.
And at the end of the day, I believe that the security issue is not really the concern in the immediate location of the event.
But then I kind of started thinking bigger picture and I heard from a lot of you and I heard from a lot of people whose opinions I respect.
I started having a sort of like, you know, reckoning about the type of content that I want to put out, the situations I want to put myself in.
And I started devoting some thought to like, is this entire kind of debate format a good idea?
It is kind of a rage bait, prioritized extremism sort of thing.
I'm not sure that it's the best thing in the world.
And I had said it before.
Right.
I actually did a whole video about this.
It was a segment called is the meme efficacious of debate killing us?
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This is just about authoritarian punishment.
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My new hero is Congresswoman Madeleine Dean.
I absolutely love this video.
Madeleine Dean confronted MAGA Mike Johnson and said Trump is unwell.
He is unhinged.
And MAGA Mike Johnson seems to acknowledge it.
He seems to admit it.
And he goes, well, there's unhinged people on your side, too.
He is not denying that Trump is unwell.
that nearly eight billion dollars in green energy projects are gone.
Look at this video.
Listen to this audio.
Inject this right into my veins like bleach.
Don't inject bleach.
Don't inject bleach.
What are you doing?
A lot of folks on your side are, too.
I just left the speaker's side.
This is this is my new hero, folks.
You know, they know it.
They all know it.
MAGA Mike Johnson knows it.
They've known it for a long time behind closed doors.
They joke about it.
They trade stories.
We've heard from Democratic members of the House and Senate who have been on this show and they go behind the scenes.
Republicans, most of them get what's going on.
Yes, there are true believers.
And in a sense, MAGA Mike Johnson is a true believer when it comes to, I think, some of the policy.
Every state that voted for Kamala Harris has been hit.
But even MAGA Mike Johnson seems to acknowledge.
This guy is unwell.
We now have governors saying straight up Trump has dementia.
He needs to be removed.
We'll get to that later.
But in public, they figure out how to manage it.
They lie.
They go around it.
They pretend not to see it.
They dodge.
They deflect.
They talk about something else.
Well, your side has people who are unhinged to your side, has people that are unwell.
Also, this is why I think hope.
Listen, I don't know.
History should hold these people accountable for these atrocities.
The country failed an IQ test.
The country.
When you vote for Trump once, what's that thing George W. Bush said?
Hold on.
Do I even have it here?
And at the same time, Donald Trump has frozen 18 billion dollars in funding for New York subway and the tunnel connecting New York and New Jersey money, which, by the way, I believe is very much needed.
Oh, no.
Can it wait?
Where is it?
Oh, hold on, Bush.
Oh, no, I can't find it.
Damn it.
All right.
OK, we're going to move on.
Fool me once.
Shame on you.
Fool me twice.
You can't get fooled again.
OK, to quote George W. Bush's extremely articulate and incorrect recollection of that aphorism, the country failed an IQ test and it was a pretty simple IQ test.
They voted for Trump in 2016.
And then after seeing the resumption of respect and sanity under Biden, they went and voted for Donald Trump again.
Now, yes, Harris was a bad candidate and Biden never should have run for reelection.
I'm with you on all of that stuff.
But when the country fails such a simple IQ test, you've got to look at the voters.
But you also have to look at the teachers.
And in this case, the proverbial teachers are some of these Republicans who behind closed doors have known that Trump is unhinged.
He's unfit.
He's unwell.
Anybody listening to an interview with Trump from 10 years ago and five and today knows that something is very wrong with the guy.
And so they also need to be held accountable for this nightmare.
And that's why when I talk about 2026 and some of you will write in or you'll comment.
But David, you know, Trump's not on the ballot.
You're not really voting for or against Trump in 2026.
I disagree.
Every single Republican in the House and Senate who stood aside or even publicly supported Donald Trump and that has gotten into this mess to begin with.
There are some content creators whose bread and butter has been predicting civil war for five, six, seven, eight, 10 years.
They are responsible and we should hold them responsible because you've got an unwell, unhinged president surrounded by people too cowardly or too self-serving, putting their own political careers above country.
You've got too many of those people supporting Donald Trump.
as part of the problem that we have.
And so they do deserve to lose in November of 2026 and in special elections to the extent that any of them have it.
So nice job by Madeline Dean.
Let's I'm just going to play it once more now with the full context of what this is.
I just love this.
I don't know how many of you have been on the New York subway or in that tunnel lately.
What are you doing on your side or two?
I don't control.
Do any of us believe this?
MAGA loves doing this.
Any time Trump does something completely unhinged and outrageous, they always say they didn't see it.
Oh, you know, I'm too busy.
I'm too busy.
Does anyone in my audience believe?
that Donald Trump's crazy general speech wasn't watched by Maga, Mike Johnson, or at least that he knows what Trump said.
I don't believe it.
Let me know if you do.
The economy is hemorrhaging jobs.
We are seeing fewer jobs as the months go by.
Weak job growth is kind of bad enough.
But this is another story altogether because jobs are being lost.
I have.
And these projects were already approved by Congress, raising questions as to whether any of this is legal.
The new ADP private payrolls report shows a stunning loss of thirty two thousand jobs in September.
This is the worst monthly decline in over two years.
It wasn't supposed to happen.
Economists said we were going to gain fifty one thousand jobs.
Instead, what Donald Trump's economy has produced is the opposite.
To make it worse, August's report was quietly revised down.
It was originally reported as plus fifty four thousand jobs.
It has been flipped.
It is a loss of three thousand.
So three thousand jobs lost in August.
Thirty two thousand in September.
Over the last two months, the U.S.
economy has seen a reduction of thirty five thousand jobs.
You compare August one to October one.
Thirty five thousand fewer people are working October one than were on August 1st.
Here is the report from CNBC indicating this is not good.
But legality is just a quaint artifact of times gone by in the Trump era.
Trump is blocking them because they are a blue state.
Yes.
So a couple of different things here.
And there is a lot of important stuff.
And by the way, remember that if if you like these sorts of economic analyses, make sure you've liked the video.
Make sure you're subscribed on YouTube and please do share it.
One of the things that was a goal of firing the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics was that Donald Trump thought he could suppress jobs numbers.
So here is a tweet or it's it's I guess now because it's X, we call them excretions.
And so now when ADP puts out their report and presumably tomorrow, the Bureau of Labor Statistics does not.
They can come and say, oh, you know what?
You can't trust the ADP report.
You could only trust the BLS report if we had it.
We couldn't trust the most recent ones because it was a bad person running it.
But Trump fired her.
But now you could trust it, but you can't because she's not there.
It's completely like just crazy.
What we can turn around and say is, hold on a second.
There's a theme which is the ADP report and the BLS report.
Even though they might not agree on exactly the number of jobs gained, gained or lost, they track each other pretty damn closely.
In most cases, most mostly they track at least the direction.
And so Donald Trump's attempt to suppress the bad jobs numbers by firing the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics simply doesn't work.
Now, there's another layer to this, which I think is critical if we dove deeper into these job losses and say, where are they happening?
What industries are they happening in?
Here's an excretion that Russ Vogt put out, quote.
Nineteen thousand jobs were lost in leisure and hospitality.
We're talking restaurants, bars, hotels.
There's two reasons this is really important.
Number one.
Restaurants and bars are really good trackers of consumer demand.
One of the things or a couple of the things that the average American does doesn't mean everybody, but the average American does is if you've got some disposable income, if you're in a situation where you say, hey, I'm feeling OK enough to do something other than just sit at home, you go to a restaurant, you go to a bar
Nearly eight billion dollars in green new scam funding to fuel the left's climate agenda is being canceled.
And the fact that demand is down in those venues such that they are laying people off is a bad sign.
Hotels is relevant because we've known for months now tourism is down in the United States, international tourism in particular.
Foreign visitors are increasingly choosing not to come to the United States because of Donald Trump and his policies.
It is now corroborated.
MAGA can go.
That's not true.
No, that's not true.
Well, it's corroborated not only by travel data, but it's corroborated now by hotel data.
Hotels are saying we have less demand.
We're going to lay a bunch of people off.
OK, otherwise, professional business and other services are down twenty nine thousand constructions, down 5000.
Trump said this would be the big construction boom.
It is not.
And small businesses with fewer than 50 workers, they are down 40000.
Now, where did we if that's all down much more than 32000?
The reason is, if you look at education and health services, those are up 33000.
Health care is always hiring and schools have reopened.
So the point here is Trump can say tourism is booming.
Trump can say the economy is booming.
Best economy ever.
The GDP is phenomenal and all of this stuff.
The job losses are mounting.
Job growth isn't just slow.
It's negative.
We are losing jobs.
Wages are barely creeping up for the people that do have jobs and businesses are pulling back hiring.
More info to come from the Department of Energy.
Even the Fed is watching closely and markets are betting based on this.
We're going to get another interest rate cut because things aren't going well at all.
So we were at best economy ever, supposedly.
The projects are in the following states.
now losing jobs in the private sector.
Those are the facts.
You can try to spin it however you want.
But now we've got a shutdown combined with a labor market reversal, downward revisions.
This is an economy that is teetering.
And for all of the things Trump is doing to make the United States a more hostile place, foreign visitors are saying no thanks.
What do these have in common?
And more Americans than ever are leaving.
We were told we would win.
I'm not seeing much of a win here.
The David Pakman
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Multiple governors are now straight up saying Trump has dementia.
It is time for him to go.
You might remember that recently California Governor Gavin Newsom dropped a dementia bomb on Donald Trump.
publicly saying this guy's in cognitive decline in response to Donald Trump saying again, California rejected water from the Pacific Northwest.
Gavin Newsom posted a tweet answering the question.
Do people with dementia repeat the same falsehoods and crazy conspiracies over and over again?
Newsom making it clear he says Trump has dementia and we now can add to the list.
Illinois Governor J.B.
Pritzker.
I like this guy calling for Donald Trump's immediate removal under the 25th Amendment.
Remember that the 25th Amendment allows for removing a president when they are clearly incapacitated and unfit to serve.
What do those states have in common?
Donald Trump is clearly unfit to serve.
This first clip is from NBC News.
Now, at the same time, the administration is putting the 18 billion on hold, as I mentioned, for the New York infrastructure projects.
And going even further, I have to tell you, I love this shit.
Here is J.B.
Pritzker straight up saying, I believe Donald Trump has dementia.
I am genuinely thrilled that people in positions of power are finally just saying it as it is.
Of course, Trump should be removed.
Of course, he's unfit, unhinged and unwell.
Does he have a dementia diagnosis or would he have properly evaluated?
I don't know, but it certainly seems that the number of people in positions of power who believe that to be the case is growing.
Now, the case for impeachment is stronger than ever.
Senator Chris Murphy told us that on Monday, stronger now than ever against Donald Trump, even though Donald Trump was impeached twice during his first term.
These were not like little obscure grants.
The case for Donald Trump's removal under the 25th Amendment, I would argue, is as strong as it has ever been.
And Pritzker is saying what a lot of people are thinking.
This guy is mentally unable to do the job.
He's physically unable to do the job.
And of course, he's morally unable to do the job that that we've known for a long time.
He can't even lead his own party.
Republicans control all three branches of government.
These are major projects congressionally approved by the House of Representatives, which at the end of the day holds the purse strings.
And the country still shut down.
The government still shut down.
We are globally humiliated.
We're increasingly excluded from important conversations around the world.
We're now losing jobs.
And every single time Donald Trump speaks or posts online, it just gets clearer that something is deeply wrong.
Good for Gavin Newsom for saying this.
Good for J.B.
Pritzker for saying this.
And if the if a relative of yours
spoke the way Trump spoke to the generals and the admirals at that speech earlier this week.
You wouldn't shrug it off.
You would say something's wrong with grandpa.
We need to get him evaluated.
And again, if you want to go down this dementia path, which JB Pritzker seems comfortable going down to important signs are being stuck in the past, regularly rehashing and repeating stories from the past.
and getting into these verbal loops where there's no connection whatsoever to reality.
Trump checks both boxes.
He does it all the time.
He can't stay on track.
He just cycles back to weird stories from the past that may or may not have ever happened.
People rely on this stuff.
And what's striking striking is that
If you look at interviews with Trump from two years ago, five years ago, 10 years ago, 15 years ago, as much as he used to ramble and he always had this inflated ego and the self-centeredness and all of it, he was dramatically more coherent than he is right now.
And Donald Trump gleefully adding in a Truth Social post, quote, Republicans must use this opportunity of Democrat forced closure to clear out dead wood waste and fraud.
You could follow what he was saying.
Now his speech is instantly spiral.
Words slur together.
The other day, his eyes were pointing in two different directions.
As we talked about, he'll sometimes rant for hours with no direction or purpose.
It's getting worse every single month.
And it's, of course, an indication of the failure of a national IQ test that Donald Trump was even reelected.
But we're beyond that, right?
Like we've got we got to move on from that.
They reelected him.
What can we do?
But good for Gavin Newsom.
Good for J.B.
Pritzker.
They're saying what's obvious.
And I know there's the pearl clutching and the crocodile tears.
Oh, is it appropriate?
Is it appropriate for J.B.
Pritzker to speak this way?
We need to be speaking this way.
We need to be speaking clearly and obviously when Newsom pointed out.
Trump's D.O.D.
Now they call it the D.O.W., the Department of War.
When Trump's D.O.D.
gets obsessed about no fat people, Trump's obese.
We're not making fun of obesity.
We're pointing out the absurd hypocrisy and how the rules from Trump's perspective apply to everybody else but not him.
and how for the cult followers, they excuse Trump from having to adhere to the very rules they want to hold apply to others.
Good for Newsome and good for Pritzker.
Josh Shapiro has been doing some of this as well.
However, I do want to raise the question of whether it is a colloquial civil war for the president to say we're going to start cutting from blue states.
I think that this is exactly what we need.
If you disagree with me, let me know.
We're going to have more on this on our sub stack.
Substack dot David Pakman dot com.
If you think J.B.
Pritzker shouldn't be speaking this way, I want to hear from you.
And if you make a good case for it, I will stand corrected.
Is Google blocking searches about Donald Trump and dementia?
Oh, this is going to be an interesting one.
Here's what's going on.
Google searches now have this AI mode, which I'm going to show you.
If you search for does Donald Trump exhibit signs of dementia, you just get links to articles.
Some are new, some are old.
That's all.
You don't get what's called an AI summary.
Now, on the other hand, if you do a Google search.
does Joe Biden exhibit signs of dementia?
You get this thing at the top.
Billions of dollars can be saved.
This is called the AI overview.
And it talks about how there's much speculation about Biden and dementia and on and on and on.
Now, there's something else that you can do, which is you can switch
to what is called AI mode.
If you switch to AI mode on Google search and ask, does Joe Biden exhibit signs of dementia?
Make America great again.
It gives you a whole write up about it and different elements.
What what do medical experts say and what do others say?
If, however, you ask the AI mode once again, does Donald Trump exhibit signs of dementia?
It does its searches.
Now, I do think it's you know, it's I feel like that elderly person reminiscing about an irrelevant time in the past when I mentioned this stuff.
But once again, it does not give you a write up.
It just says, hey, here's some Web results related to this.
No AI summaries, no summaries of any kind.
When you ask Google,
Is Trump exhibiting signs of dementia?
But you get a huge write up about the controversy and debate over Biden's cognitive state.
If you ask about Joe Biden now, the truth is there has been a lot of coverage of both Trump and Biden's mental acuity there to the two oldest presidents in American history.
Of course, people are going to Google both of those things.
Now, I overviews
aren't objectively good.
This Google overview powered by Gemini.
It can spit out good information or bad information.
It might give you a summary that's misleading or accurate or whatever.
But why is it that it gives you a summary when you ask about Biden, but it gives you nothing when you ask about Donald Trump?
What it looks like to me is that Google doesn't want to be dealing with Donald Trump blowing up their air air or coming after the company.
if they were to display such a summary.
Now, remember that just this week, Google agreed to pay Donald Trump over twenty four million dollars for what was basically a bogus lawsuit over a YouTube ban over January 6th.
And when The Verge went to Google and said, why are AI summaries showing up for Biden and not showing up for Donald Trump?
They got the most generic answer you can imagine.
What Google said was AI overviews
Don't show a response for every query.
That's the answer.
Now, I think that this is very clearly an instance of self censorship.
I am not.
First of all, I have no reason to believe, nor am I asserting that the Trump administration went to Google and said no way I summaries about Trump dementia.
But like the concept of is this even legal?
I don't think that happened.
But it's important that that's not usually how authoritarianism works.
The whole point of authoritarianism is make an example out of some people.
And then they will self censor.
And by the way, Google was made an example out of because Trump sued them and they gave him twenty four million dollars.
So this is more than likely.
If I had to guess, this is Google self censoring and saying we don't want our A.I.
to be tested.
We don't want our A.I.
to be attacked as anti Trump or woke or whatever.
We're just going to suppress AI summaries about these sorts of questions.
Oh, David, you're so quaint.
Now, just out of curiosity, one of the things I want to look at is, is Donald Trump a convicted felon?
Wow, there's no summary there either.
I just searched as Trump, a convicted felon, and it doesn't it doesn't do an summary.
That's so old school legality.
So it may be that actually a ton of stuff about Trump is merely being suppressed, suppressed.
Isn't this the sort of thing?
that actual conservatives used to say is bad, where they would go, you know, the thing about the government is they don't have to censor everybody because people will will start to self censor.
What is legality matter?
Isn't this what they said Biden was going to do, even though Biden didn't actually ever do it?
This is terrifying, terrifying stuff.
If there is a differential diagnosis on this, if you have some answer for me as to why Biden gets the AI summaries about dementia, but Trump doesn't, I want to hear it.
Oh, you know, when they talk about fraud, fraud's a crime.
But it certainly seems like there is foul play of some kind here.
Donald Trump has already packed his second term cabinet with loyalists.
He's threatened deportation as political punishment.
He's expanded executive authority in ways we have not seen in modern history.
These are real changes that are happening right now.
And what's even more alarming is that a lot of the media is either glossing over the worst of it or they're reframing it.
So it all sounds a little more palatable.
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Donald Trump's White House press secretary, Caroline Leavitt, does not like being corrected.
Why has nobody been charged?
She does not like being fact checked.
She does not like being told that the administration is doing anything that anybody might see as inappropriate, unethical or immoral.
And a lot of that happened in her latest press briefing.
You've got to see this.
Caroline Leavitt was asked a very good question.
All of the fraud that Doge found fraud is a crime.
This is what we call it's like we're checking the most basic boxes of journalism here.
How did the White House believe it would be appropriate for Jared Kushner to work on anything involving Qatar, the United Arab Emirates or Saudi Arabia, given that those countries have dumped massive amounts of money into his investment firm?
How does Caroline Levitt response?
She calls the question despicable.
This is how authoritarians operate.
But has anybody been charged?
No.
Oh, so maybe it's not really fraud, is it?
Donald Trump then adding, quote, I have a meeting today with Russ Vogt, he of Project 2025 fame,
If you believe that I've got a bridge to sell you, this is kind of the same line that they ran with Trump, which was, listen, Trump's donating his presidential salary.
So by definition, he wouldn't be doing anything that benefits him because he's just not taking a salary as president.
And of course, then we found out that Donald Trump made one point six billion dollars from all of the things going on around him.
And the four hundred thousand dollar a year presidential salary was really an irrelevant drop in the bucket.
And similarly, whether or not Jerry, you know, there have been fact checks attempted.
Is Jared Kushner really donating his time?
Maybe.
I mean, I'll believe that he's not getting directly paid for his involvement.
But the point is, is someone who is so in bed with a lot of the Middle East administrations and even calling them administrations, the Middle East theocracies, the Middle Middle East regimes is someone who is so in the pocket in the sense of doing business with and receiving billions of dollars to his investment firm.
Now Trump is playing up Project 2025 as a credential.
That's really the core of the focus and the hostility to journalism that Caroline Leavitt responds with is just terrifying.
These people hate the free press.
These people hate journalists just being able to ask questions.
Now, Caroline Levitt was then asked about the A.I.
deep fake that Donald Trump posted.
This is the one where he appears to be promoting med beds.
These cure all almost like hyperbaric type chambers.
Caroline Levitt was asked about it.
Her response is pathetic.
You've got to hear this one.
He used to not know what it was to determine which of the many Democrat agencies, most of which are a political scam, he recommends to be cut and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent.
He noticed that there isn't an answer here.
How is it an answer to what was the president trying to achieve by posting that?
And then, of course, he deleted it.
And she goes, oh, it's refreshing to hear directly from the president.
And by the way, he has every right to post it and he has every right to take it down.
Nobody's questioning his rights.
This is a classic from propagandists.
You answer a question that wasn't asked.
Hey, was it a good idea to start yelling racial slurs in public at black and Asian people?
Or was that a bad idea?
Listen, we have free speech in this country and he had every right to yell those words.
We're not asking about the rights.
We know that there was a right.
The question is, was it a good idea?
And it's the same thing here.
What was Trump trying to communicate with that?
He has every right to post it and he has every right to delete stuff.
It's his social media after all.
Yeah, we know.
But that's not answering the question.
But this is how Caroline Levitt operates.
Now, then she was asked, there are actually some good questions here.
Caroline Levitt was asked about what I call MAGA communism.
I can't believe the radical left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity.
You might call it state capitalism.
There's a bunch of different ways to say it, but it's about the Trump administration having the government take ownership stakes of private companies.
Caroline Levitt was asked about it, and as usual, she does not provide a substantive answer.
They are not stupid people.
So maybe this is their way of wanting to quietly and quickly make America great again.
Did you see what she did there?
She says, why wouldn't the president find ways for the government to make more money now?
And I hit my microphone and I apologize.
I'm getting wound up.
I'm getting wound up because this is so stupid.
Of course, there's the question.
of was that actually what she was asked?
And the answer is no.
But the concept of the government making more money, I thought, was antithetical to the worldview of Donald Trump.
What do I mean by that?
President Donald J. Trump.
When they talk about let's cut taxes on the rich, when they talk about let's shrink government,
What they say they want is a smaller government.
They don't want as much money flowing through the government.
They used to claim fiscal conservatives, right wingers, Republicans.
They used to say, we want the government taking in less money, putting out less money, fewer programs, less administration, reduce the size of bureaucracy.
They used to argue it's better when the government is doing less.
OK, grunt added for emphasis.
And now Caroline Levin Leavitt is indignantly saying.
We're trying to make more money for the government.
The the right used to be against that.
They used to say, we don't want the government taking in more money if the point is for the government to take in more money.
We have decades of studies as to what the tax rates should be to generate the largest possible revenue for the government.
They're against that.
They've always been against that.
But now when we say, does it really make sense to do this mega communism, state capitalism where the government is buying pieces of companies and and in some cases sort of strong, strong army arming them into those deals?
That was that was me adding that.
She goes, Listen, Trump's doing great.
He's making more money for the government.
I thought the government making more money was bad.
But of course, things are only bad when someone else does it.
If Trump does it, it's a very good thing.
Now, here's the problem.
There was the issue of the shutdown and the Affordable Care Act tax credits brought up.
Dasha Burns rightly brings up the reality that premiums are going to go up for people and a lot of people relying on health care in states that Trump won are going to lose their coverage.
And there's a few problems here.
How does Caroline Levitt deal with it?
First of all, the government being shut down confers no additional powers to Donald Trump, certainly not powers to cut programs that have already been approved by Congress.
They do not want to substantively deal with any of the serious issues that they are causing.
They just don't want to deal with it.
And they will either lie, answer questions you didn't actually ask or just stop holding briefings the way Caroline Leavitt did for three weeks in September.
The latest statement from Pope Leo was brought up, which is if you are against abortion,
but have no problem with the way that migrants are being treated inhumanely.
How is that really pro-life?
And Caroline Leavitt handles it by saying no one is being treated inhumanely.
Has she seen the videos?
I thought lying was a sin in the religion.
Caroline Leavitt claims to subscribe to.
That's issue number two.
It is not up to Trump or any president.
We're going to start hurting the states whose politics
Doesn't matter who they are.
Doesn't matter whether they're a Democrat or a Republican.
So now she goes into the lurid anecdotes.
But the question is a good one.
How on earth can a supposed honest Jesus believe believing person
lie with such conviction.
No inhumane treatment of migrants.
I mean, forget about the fact that I don't even know if we've found all of the alligator Alcatraz detainees.
There were reports that some are missing.
We have no clue where they even are.
What's humane about that?
Forget about that for a second.
Congress decides how money gets spent.
While they were at Alligator Alcatraz, there were reports of just people getting swarmed by clouds of mosquitoes, no protection, no proper sanitation, food that was riddled with.
I don't even want to say what stuff, because I think people sometimes eat when they're listening to the show.
That's just one location.
How on earth can you argue that there is no inhumane treatment of migrants going on?
You could only argue that if you don't give a damn about migrants.
The president doesn't have the power to cancel it because he wants political revenge.
Finally, finally.
The plan that Trump has to fire people while there are furloughs due to the government being closed.
Caroline Leavitt was asked about it.
She says it wouldn't be happening if the Democrats hadn't shut down the government.
It's illegal.
It breaks the idea of equal protection under the law.
Yeah, they're kind of not.
But the proper follow up here is why?
Why?
Why is it that because the government shut down, it follows that Trump now fires people and just starts gutting agencies like what?
Even put aside for a second that legal experts say that the president has no additional authority to do that when the government is shut down.
If anything, the president has less authority to do that when the government is shut down.
Why does nobody say?
But how do the two go together, Caroline?
Taxpayers in California and New York have paid into the system like everybody else.
What sense does it make when there's a government shutdown to start firing people?
That is not that these are two completely unrelated things.
That question was not asked.
And if you thought this was bad, you should see what happened when J.D.
Vance got up there.
A vice president, J.D.
Vance, joined Caroline Levitt, the White House press secretary, during the latest press briefing.
His participation was not particularly good.
One of the things J.D.
Vance said was Donald Trump's horrible A.I.
video post, wherein Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader.
is pictured in a deep fake wearing a Mexican style sombrero and a waxed mustache with Chuck Schumer saying things that he didn't actually say.
They we are being cut off only because we voted the wrong way.
Van said, it's funny.
The president's joking.
He's having a good time.
Why are you all so stiff?
Isn't that so funny?
While we're negotiating in good faith with Democrats, why not have a little fun?
Except the White House was not negotiating in good faith with Democrats.
If you are a mega Potamian.
They wanted government to be shut down.
They want to take a chance on Democrats getting the blame.
Trump loves that government is shut down because it prevents the Epstein files from being released.
Adelita Grijalva, despite winning her election, has not been sworn in as of the moment that I'm recording this.
So they are not
in good faith, doing some jokes, but then trying to solve the problem.
They're neither trying to solve the problem and putting out, you know, sort of like xenophobic tropes and this sort of thing.
Now, Vance was asked again about the sombrero thing.
Now look at the bigger picture.
He says some people said it was racist.
If you wanted to bring back Christian nationalism, this is exactly what you would be doing.
And they're not doing it.
And, you know, the funny thing about we've been delving much deeper into this A.I.
and deep fake issue on the bonus show.
And I also have been researching the issue extensively because my forthcoming book is going to the last part of my forthcoming book is going to deal with that to a degree.
The idea that we can evaluate whether posting a deep fake is OK based on how obvious any particular person thinks it is that it's a deep fake is a terrible barometer.
It's a terrible barometer.
And by the way, even though to some of us, the video Trump posted of the med beds was obviously a deep fake.
A lot of people didn't think it was.
That ideology, Christian nationalism, says only one group of Americans is real.
And so this idea that it's it when it's obvious it's a deep fake, you don't have to worry.
That is a terrible way to determine what's acceptable and what isn't in particular, because I mean, listen, the IQ tests this country has been given have not been passed with flying colors.
Any country that elects Trump twice.
we can't assume is going to correctly identify deep fakes and video.
So Vance, as usual, dilapidated, depraved and disgusting.
at the top lever level are not aligned with my own.
Now, on the bonus show today, we are going to talk about what's happening with Trump, big pharma and drug prices.
We will delve more deeply into recent comments from Pope Leo about abortion and the death penalty and the treatment of migrants.
And finally,
Everybody else is the enemy.
John Fetterman, the senator, has a higher approval rating in Pennsylvania.
I'm sorry, I should say the way Trump says it, Pennsylvania, higher approval rating with Pennsylvania Republicans than Pennsylvania Democrats.
Anybody surprised?
All of those stories and more on today's bonus show.
Remember, we are doing more than building a show here.
And so when you go and you strip money from blue states, Trump is saying exactly that it is not merely political theater.
We are trying to build a pro-democracy movement.
We'll be right back.
These states make up a huge part of America's economy.
In fact, we know that America depends on the blue states.
Red State America could not survive as a country only thanks to the grace of God of the blue states.
Can this country survive?
And when you look at where do the patents come from?
It's blue states.
Where are the most prestigious institutions of higher learning?
It's the blue states.
Where do we disproportionately see the GDP generated?
Now, before I even tell you what's going on, I know that some of you, because you're so smart and you're so intuitive and you're so astute, most of you anyway, not the ones I hear from in my email daily, but I know that that you're all out there and make up the vast majority of my audience.
It's the blue states.
I don't have to go on.
OK, I think you all mostly understand that.
And so when you deliberately hurt the blue states, not only are you, of course, hurting the blue states.
But you're also really hurting the entire country because it is so dependent on blue states.
It'll kill jobs.
It'll delay transit projects.
It's going to waste billions of dollars.
So what can the left do?
First of all, and I oh, David, don't get into this pedantic technocratic stuff.
It's this is what what can the left do right now, given that we're completely out of power?
Sue state attorneys general and cities can file lawsuits immediately to block these cuts.
Courts could issue emergency orders and stop the administration while these cases play out.
That's number one.
Number two, you can try to use Congress even if you're not in power.
Democrats and any Republicans who care about democracy need hearings and subpoenas.
Congress still has subpoena power and bring officials in and force them to explain why they are breaking the law.
Show the public that this is political revenge, not budgeting, and then we have to hope that
that voters this November and next November will understand and recognize who's to blame here and will hold people accountable.
And then thirdly, fight in the states.
Come on.
Governors and mayors should go to the public with the damage explained because Trump cut this.
Here's who's getting laid off in your community.
Here are the commuters stranded in your community, the small businesses that are left hanging and keep the pressure on and show voters what the human cost is here.
And then finally, and this is tough for Democrats, you got to win the messaging war.
Do not let Donald Trump call this some form of triage.
We're just triaging.
No, call it what it is.
This is retaliation.
It is revenge.
It's certainly un-American and it appears to be illegal.
And repeat the principle.
You can't punish half the country because of how they voted.
And in fact, it's more than half the country.
And this is where if if actions had proper consequences.
When Trump go, well, let's just look up as an example, 2024 Massachusetts election results.
When Trump cuts off Massachusetts because it's a blue state, 37 percent of Massachusetts voted for Trump.
So even though the idea is Massachusetts blue hurt Massachusetts, me big and strong,
Thirty seven percent of the people you're hurting voted for you.
And so the left needs to fight really hard to make that a point.
Now, if this goes further right now, it's transit and climate projects.
That's what they're saying right now.
But tomorrow it's schools.
The next day, it's health care, it's disaster relief and equal protection under the law is going to be flushed down the toilet.
You would all say, wait a second, when you hurt a, quote, blue state,
Not America first.
This is Trump first.
And unless we stop it, winners and losers will be decided based on loyalty to Donald Trump.
You want to know why Donald Trump loves the shutdown and is walking around with that smug smile while the government has stopped?
Well, if he sounds so casual about millions of Americans facing real consequences, paychecks are stopping, services are grinding to a halt and chaos spreads.
It is one word that explains it.
That word is Epstein, Epstein.
It's the E word.
You've got to be careful with the E word.
It is because the government shutdown is not a problem for Donald Trump.
It is a solution for as long as the government is shut down.
the release of the Epstein files won't happen.
They are delaying even swearing in Adelita Grijalva in Arizona.
And more than anything else, delaying or preventing the release of the Epstein files is what Donald Trump really cares about.
because you're a Republican in most blue states, didn't 35, 40, 45, even 48 percent of the population still vote for the Republican?
It's not speculation.
This lines up perfectly
with what is happening in Congress right now.
Adelita Grijalva won her race in Arizona.
She's supposed to be sworn in.
It is believed that she would be the final and deciding vote on moving forward with an up and down vote on releasing the Epstein files.
Democrats were chanting, swear her in, swear her in on the House floor.
But MAGA Mike Johnson refuses to do it.
Why?
It's because of a little thing called numbers.
You know, my uncle, John Trump, went to Wharton.
And that means I understand numbers.
And 218 is the vote number that Adelita Grijalva would represent to force the release of the Epstein files.
She said openly she would vote to do it.
Welcome, everybody.
It's the first thing she wants to do.
And Donald Trump doesn't want that.
And MAGA Mike Johnson is helping him out.
Now, you might say, but David, presidents ultimately bear the blame for shutdowns.
Even Trump said that.
And of course, you would be right.
Remember when Donald Trump said this about shutdowns under Obama?
And of course, Donald Trump previously making that exact same point.
Ultimately, during a shutdown, the buck stops with the president.
Aren't you hurting your own voters?
And the answer is, of course you are.
Trump knows it.
He said it many times.
Shutdowns are on the president.
So why is he still OK with it?
Because it's really convenient for Donald Trump.
But Donald Trump doesn't care about that.
He drags the country into a government shutdown, stops the release of the Epstein files.
And we know why he's afraid.
We know why he's afraid.
Two thirds of Americans already believe Trump knew about Epstein's crimes against underage girls.
Here's what's going on.
Almost half say he knew a lot.
You all know I'm not big on constantly fear mongering about civil wars.
Only nine percent of Americans are buying the claim that Trump knew nothing.
I had no idea.
And Trump did originally say during his campaign he was going to release the files.
Trump is cutting off federal money, not across the board, not fairly, but to states that voted against him in the presidential election.
He's back in office and he's doing everything he can to bury them.
So ask yourself, why would Trump be so nonchalant about a government shutdown when he has previously said the buck stops with the president and the president who gets blamed?
Why would he risk the chaos?
Why would he risk the blame?
because the shutdown isn't a crisis for Trump.
It's protection.
It's cover.
He's willing to pay whatever price there is to keep the files locked away.
I, I don't know what ultimately is going to happen with these files.
We had kind of a longer conversation about it on yesterday's award winning bonus show.
Yesterday's bonus show was so good we actually recorded it rather than immediately deleting it, which is what we normally do when it goes haywire.
I believe that the most likely outcome is eventually something that will be called the files will come out, but it will probably not be complete.
I wish I had a different prediction right now, but if I had to put money on it, which I'm not, I'm not a betting man, by the way.
I don't know how many people knew that.
My bet is eventually something called the Epstein files is, quote, released.
It won't be the full thing, but they'll say we did it.
It's over.
Let's move on.
Let me know what you think will ultimately happen.
Leave a comment or send me an email info at David Pakman dot com.
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