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- [00:00]
David Pakman
The White House in full panic mode after another batch of Epstein emails drops, including Epstein saying he could take down Trump. Michael Wolf says Trump is totally lost. Staff reportedly aren't even reading the emails because they're worried about being implicated. The West Wing is melting down. And Trump's response? Initially silence, then anger at anyone who brings up the Epstein files. And then Trump goes, actually, they should be released. That's right. After snapping at reporters for bringing it up and posting all night on Truth Social, Trump now is pretending he wants the files released after trying to suppress them for a long time. What does it mean? And is it just a desperate PR move? Former Vice President Kamala Harris will join us on the program to talk about the failed campaign for the presidency in 2024. We've also got a wild auto pen story about a White House using the auto pen to sign pardons. Now, I know you must be thinking that's Joe Biden, but it is actually Trump caught doing that exact same thing. And we are witnessing the biggest intra maga battle or crack we have ever seen. Trump and Marjorie Taylor Greene now at war as Donald Trump says he has no idea why he was given an mri. Was it of your brain, sir? He doesn't know. And his new neurological warning sign caught on camera. Plus, we continue to donate the first payment of every new membership on my web site and on my substack to Feeding America, the charity that helps fund food banks. So if you're not yet a member or if you are, you can gift a membership first monthly payment or first yearly payment at join pacman.com or substack. David pakman.com donated to Feeding America. We've raised about $15,000 so far. I love it. What a show today. We need to talk about what's happening in the Trump White House right now because this is one of the few times you can actually see see Trump panic in real time and change what he's saying. And it is all because of the Epstein emails, this new batch, a whole bunch of them that Trump hoped would never see the light of day, according to someone who knows him better than almost anybody outside of his family. His own biographer, Michael Wolf, says Trump is in a complete and total panic and lost. And quite frankly, seeing Trump in initially go quiet, then go loudly angry and most recently say, actually we should release the Epstein files. That cycle over just a few days tells you a lot of what we need to know. So just a reminder of the sorts of things that dropped in the last week. Epstein writing that he could take Down Trump. Epstein writing that he once gave his ex girlfriend to Trump. Epstein writing that Trump once spent hours with one of the victims at Epstein's house. And on and on and on. And notably, a lot of the Magaz are still sort of like, ah, these might be doctored. I don't know, like these, that these are necessarily a huge deal. And I believe this plays into Trump's reversal, which is why he is now saying, actually, we should release the files. We, we're going to get back to that. The White House in meltdown mode. The whole package of scandal and terror is happening. Michael Wolf on the Trump Head podcast explained that this is unlike anything Trump has faced so far. There's not really a plan, there's not really a strategy. Trump is cornered and the White House doesn't even know what to do because Trump's perspective is changing every few hours. A lot of the people, according to Michael Wolf in the White House, don't even want to review the emails because they're worried being the person who reads them might implicate me and I don't want attention on me. A lot of the White House staffers now, the part that they are really struggling to deal with is that there may be an inevitability here that these files are going to come out or some version of these files are going to come out. And if that is the case, do you want to be on the side of saying, don't release them until the very end, or do you at least want to pretend to be on the side of transparency? And that is what Trump is calculating right now. The problem for Trump and for the White House is there's really no script for this. Like, you know, when it's immigration, it's, oh, Democrats want no border. They want it totally open. Anybody can come in. Free health care and voting rights for undocumented immigrants. It's Biden's fault. It's Obama's fault. What the playbook is there on immigration? The playbook here is being written in real time. You know another example, Inflation, Biden, inflation. I came in. The tariffs are so good and they fixed everything. And it's nonsense. But there's a scapegoat. And the Epstein emails are Epstein's own words. So in order to contradict it, you have to argue it was planned in advance to get Trump or Epstein was lying or whatever. And so this is why Trump really has no plan. Now, here's the big picture. People always think presidents fall because of huge events like wars, recessions, national scandals of different Kinds. But the collapse can start with something small. Not that the Epstein. The totality of the Epstein situation is huge. The number of victims, I mean, it's terrible. But with regard to Trump, it can start with a leak, a little lie, a document no one wants to touch, and then the power structure starts to sort of rot from within and then it collapses in on itself. And this is if we. I've talked about Plato's warning. That's PLA T. Oh, not Plato. Like the stuff, you know, Plato's warning, the philosopher about leaders chosen for the wrong reasons. And Trump was chosen for the wrong reasons. This is what happens when you pick leaders based on rage and scapegoating rather than competence and ethics. And Trump built a political world where loyalty is everything. But this is the kind of scandal where most people, not all, most people don't want to stay loyal for. And if the emails are bad enough, and they seem to be, the entire project may go down with Trump. So we're going to cover this sequentially. But Trump is cornered. The White House staff is terrified. Trump's political adversaries obviously smell blood. And his friends are suddenly remembering what their lawyers, names and phone numbers are and are getting on the phone very quick. So I don't know where this goes, but Trump's silence, rage and then saying, of course, release the files. I think it says a lot more than any proactive speech Trump could ever give would say. So Trump is teaching terrified. And we are going to look into how his reaction has shifted over the weekend. Donald Trump late last night was asked about the Epstein files and he was absolutely furious. Yes, he looks bizarre. Yes, he looks disheveled. Yes, he looks swollen and orange. But this time we are more interested with what Trump says. And Trump calls questions about Epstein fake news. And he rages at a reporter audaciously asking a question about the obvious major scandal story they would like.
- [08:13]
Donald Trump
They would like to talk.
- [08:14]
Reporter
Mr. President, President Matthew says he's concerned that the Epstein probe you are calling for could be a smoke screen to launch the release and more files. Is that the case?
- [08:25]
Donald Trump
Well, I don't want to talk about it because fake news like you, you're a terrible reporter. And fake news like you, they just keep bringing that up to deflect from the tremendous success of the Trump administration. So a guy like Massey, his poll numbers are showing is a 6% approval rating right now, and we call him Rand Paul Jr. Because he never, he never votes for the Republican Party. So they're using Jeffrey Epstein as a deflection from the tremendous success that we're having as a party.
- [08:56]
David Pakman
That's all it is. People are so jealous, including Republicans. They're so jealous of Trump's success that they've. What? Right. That's the thing. So are you saying the Epstein emails are fabricated or doctored? What. What exactly is the argument? He also says he doesn't want to talk about it, but he's been posting endlessly to Truth Social about it. Funny tweet, by the way, from Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon about this where she said, quote, the tremendous success of making groceries unaffordable and kicking millions off their health insurance and snap benefits. Release the Epstein files. Another reporter asked Trump about the Epstein files and Trump just goes, oh, you're the worst. Let me finish him.
- [09:46]
Donald Trump
Will you? Let me finish my. You are the worst. You're with Bloomberg, right? You are the worst. I don't know why they even have you.
- [09:54]
David Pakman
Trump is lashing out. Trump, within hours of this disastrous press gaggle, came out and said, release the files. It's a reminder of how terribly this is going for him. Now we're going to get back to that. I do want to just mention Trump was asked about a couple of other things when he was getting on a plane to come back to D.C. last night. He was asked about Tucker Carlson because Tucker Carlson recently platformed and sort of soft handled white nationalist Nick Fuentes. And Trump goes, no, I. Tucker's good. Tucker. Tucker's been good over the years.
- [10:32]
Donald Trump
Tucker Carlson recently had a friendly interview with anti Semite Nick Fuentes. Tucker Carlson, what role do you think Tucker Car Carlson should play in the Republican Party, the conservative movement? Well, I found him to be good. Even he said good things about me over the years.
- [10:47]
David Pakman
Now, remember this? We have. I'm so sorry to interrupt. I'm so sorry to interrupt, but remember that privately Tucker Carlson has said he despises Trump and can't wait until Trump is gone and no one has to talk to him again. But then he sort of did a mayor culpa and he's like, no, no, no, Trump is great. That's all that really matters to Trump.
- [11:08]
Donald Trump
Sees. I think he's good. We've had some good interviews. I did an interview with him. We had 300 million hits.
- [11:14]
David Pakman
You know that that's a lie.
- [11:19]
Donald Trump
Look, I can't tell him. Will you let me finish my statement? You are the worst. You're with Bloomberg, right? You are the worst. I don't know why they even have you. We've had some great interviews with Tucker Carlson but you can't tell him who to interview. I mean, if he wants to interview Nick Fuentes, I don't know much about him, but if he wants to do it, get the word out, let him. You know, people have to decide. Ultimately, people have to decide.
- [11:47]
David Pakman
It's funny how Trump goes. I don't really know anything about him. But of course, Trump did have dinner with Nick Fuentes as well as Kanye. And Trump was asked about that as yourself.
- [11:57]
Donald Trump
I did it with Dick Fuentes at Mar A Lago a few years ago. What role should he play in the conservative movement? Well, I didn't know he was coming. And he was with, as, you know, somebody, Kanye. And Kanye asked if he could have dinner and he brought Nick. I didn't know Nick at the time. And he did. He came along with a few other people. He brought a few people with him. Meeting people, talking to people, like, for somebody like Tucker, that's what they do. You know, people are controversial. Some are, some aren't. I'm not controversial controversial. So I like it that way.
- [12:30]
David Pakman
Yeah. Anyway, you know, I don't really disagree with Trump that people like Tucker Carlson talk to people. You know, on this show, I've interviewed all sorts of different repulsive and disgusting people, but it's made clear that I find their views vehemently disgusting. And I think that's the problem a lot of. A lot of people are having with the Tucker Carlson interview, which is he seemed almost like impressed by Nick Fuentes, his disgusting views, rather than repulsed by them. And. And so Trump is right. Interviewers interview people. People make their own decisions. But it is an interview, specifically Tucker and Nick Fuentes, which made it seem like Tucker was quite impressed by Nick Fuentes rather than disgusted. So Trump furious about being asked questions about Jeffrey Epstein in this context, and then just hours later, Trump goes, release the files. So after everything we've already talked about that Donald Trump has tried to do to suppress the Epstein files, suddenly last night he puts out a truth social post saying, release the file central. Now, I'm not falling for it. I'm going to explain in a moment what I mean. Let's look at what Donald Trump wrote, quote, as I said on Friday night aboard Air Force One to the fake news media, House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files because we have nothing to hide. And it's time to move on from this Democrat hoax perpetrated by radical left lunatics in order to deflect from the great success of the Republican Party, including our recent victory on the Democrat shutdown. The Department of Justice has already turned over tens of thousands of pages to the public on Epstein. Are looking at various Democrat operatives, Bill Clinton, Reid Hoffman, Larry Summers and their relationship to Epstein. And the House Oversight Committee can have whatever they are legally entitled to. I don't care. All I do care about is that Republicans get back on point, which is the economy affordability where we are winning big. Our victory on reducing inflation from the highest level in history to practically nothing. Bringing down prices for the American people, delivering historic tax cuts, gaining trillions of dollars of investment into America, a record. The rebuilding of our military. These are all lies by the way. Securing our border, deporting criminal illegal aliens, ending men and women's sports, stop stopping transgender for everyone and so much more. Nobody cared about Jeffrey Epstein when he was alive. And if the Democrats had anything, they would have released it before our landslide election victory. Some members of the Republican Party are being used and we can't let that happen. Let's start talking about the Republican Party's record setting achievements and not fall into the Epstein trap, which is actually a curse on the Democrats, not us. Make America great again. So listen, I am not falling for this. I am not falling for this. I'm going to explain what I mean. Now I should mention interspersed with this call for the files to be released. I'm scrolling Trump's truth social right now. Trump was up all night posting the content doesn't even matter posting. But this is from 1:00am this is from 12:30. Just up all night posting endlessly. So it was. He had a wild one. Now let me explain what I mean by I'm not falling for it. I don't mean that I'm alleging a grand conspiracy to doctor the files so that Trump knows, hey, if they release the files, we've already gotten to them. It's going to be a limited version. It's not going to implicate me. That's possible by the way, but I am not going to that because I don't have evidence of that. However, I believe Trump has talked to his inner circle and, and they've realized you can't keep opposing the release. It's not, it's not tenable from a PR perspective. In other words, this has gotten so bad for Trump that he has to at least appear to want transparency. Now you might say, wait a second, David, if he favors the release of the files and they implicate him, he's screwing himself. Right? Let's think that through. First of all, he has lost control of this. The files are coming out. What I mean is we've already gotten hundreds, if not thousands of them over the last week. There might be no stopping the momentum. But consider that what was released just last week already implicates Donald Trump. And so what? Some of his followers are mad, but some of them are saying it's fake. Others are saying, what? You're going to believe the claims of Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted predator. We can't trust anything Epstein said. So there's already a bunch of these maggots who are like, whatever, we can't believe anything that's in the files. So a bunch of his followers are writing them off. His hardcore haters are already convinced he's guilty, so they're not going to change their view one way or another. So the calculation Trump may have made here is I probably can't stop the release. Whatever comes out, I'm going to deny. I'm going to say it's fake. I'm going to say it's doctored. His playbook is the same at this point, no matter whether he says I want the files out or I don't. So why not at least appear to be on the side of transparency? Now, there is another scenario. Trump might have already met with whoever Pam Bondi, the Attorney general, Cash Patel, the director of the FBI, and Trump might already know what's going to be released isn't going to implicate you beyond a doubt. Like, yes, Epstein will say X, Y, Z. But an email came out last week where Epstein said Trump spent hours with a victim at my house. And a whole bunch of MAGA is like, we don't believe it. We just don't believe it. Now, there is another scenario, which is Trump may already have spoken to Pam Bondi and Cash Patel, and there may already be an agreement that after Trump goes release the files, and maybe even Republicans vote, Pam Bondi and Cash Patel will say, we have ongoing investigations. Right now we're investigating Larry Summers and Reid Hoffman and Bill Clinton, whatever. We can't release the files. Sure. The President has demanded transparency, and as soon as the investigation is over, we will release it and the investigation will go through the end of Donald Trump's term. Trump may already have knowledge that that's what's going to happen. So the point is, this is a PR stunt. Trump's actual view on the Epstein files is what it has been for a long time. He doesn't want them out, but he can no longer say that because the PR pressure has become too great. And I don't think, quite frankly, that Trump is wrong about his expectation that a lot of his followers are going to go. We can't. We don't believe what Epstein said. We don't care what's in the files. Trump's innocent and that is the calculation that he is making. Let me know what you think. Leave a comment make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel if you aren't yet subscribed and we'll be back with much more right after this. Having the right Estate planning done A Will, maybe a Trust is super important. I recently took care of it myself. It's not the most fun thing to do, but it is very important. And our sponsor Trust and Will makes it really easy and you can get 10% off at trust and will.com/pacman It's a straightforward process. They walk you through it. All of the documents are state specific. They are legally valid. They are customized to your needs, your care, wishes or nomination, guardians, final arrangements, power of attorney. You're just making sure your family and loved ones avoid a lengthy and expensive proceeding or that the state ends up deciding what happens to your assets. 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Every box has introduced us to bottles we never would have picked up on our own. Makes any regular weeknight dinner feel a little more special. And it's an easy way to enjoy great wine without overthinking it too much. Whether you're a wine expert or you're like me and you know virtually nothing at all about wine, head to naked wines.com/pacman use the code Pacman as the code and Password to get 6 bottles for only 3999 Shipping included the link is in the description. The David Pakman show is primarily funded by our audience through the membership program. This month through Thanksgiving, every first membership payment, whether it's a monthly or a yearly membership, will be donated to the charity Feeding America. I would love for you to sign up@join pacman.com if you have a membership. You can also contribute by getting a Substack Premium subscription at substack.david pakman.com or you can get a gift membership on our website. Check that this is a gift box. We have about 30, 800 people waiting for free memberships, people who want a membership but can't afford one. If you gift a membership, we will give the membership away to someone on the list and that first payment, monthly or yearly, will be donated to Feeding America. I'll have an update on the total donation count very, very soon. We have an auto pen scandal. It's not the one you think. After years of Trump screaming that Biden's not really signing anything and saying Biden's pardons are invalid because he used an auto pen, we now have the Trump White House rushing and panicking to explain why seven different pardons from Trump all had identical signatures. As in copy paste identical. As in auto pen identical. Now, within hours of people pointing this out online, the Justice Department replaced the files. The new pardon files suddenly have different signatures, each one a little bit differently. The White House explanation? There was a technical error. There was a staffing issue because of the government shutdown. Give me a break, guys. Here's the basic problem. Presidents can use the auto pen. It's not really a big deal. It's legal. Biden did it. Obama did it, Bush did it. But Trump spent years saying the auto pen is proof that Biden is unfit. He built a propaganda stunt around it. Biden doesn't know what he's signing. He hung a picture of Biden's auto pen in the West Wing like it's a mugshot. Republicans ran hearings about it. They said it's one of the greatest scandals in American history. They said Biden's auto pen means none of his actions are valid. His executive orders, his pardons, none of it. And then we find ourselves where we are today. Trump signs seven pardons in early November, and every signature is identical down to the pixel. Now, handwriting experts looked at it and said, basically impossible for a real human signature. The White House is saying there's no story. But while they're saying that, the files are getting replaced. Now, why is this such a scandal? It's not. And it is. It's not in that this is legal. It is a scandal in that the entire Biden auto pen circus is blowing up in their faces because Trump is doing the exact same thing. Now, what actually happened, either Trump used the auto pen or someone signed for Trump, or they're lying about technical errors, or the one that Trump said is the truth about Biden, Trump is physically unable to sign seven documents in a row. Remember, this is right after a wave of questions about Trump's health. So as usual, this is a scandal of their own making. The people who still won't tell us, why did Trump get an mri? Trump was asked. Now he doesn't even know. They want you to believe he's signing every pardon, which Biden couldn't. But then all of a sudden, Trump signatures all match like they were printed off of my laser printer. And the funniest part about, about all of this, and it's sort of sad but funny, Republicans are already scrambling to carve out exceptions. Here they go, oh, no, no. Trump's potential use of the auto pen is legitimate, but Biden's was criminal. It was unconstitutional. And the Oversight Committee rewrote, wrote originally that Biden's use of the auto pen might have voided all of his executive actions unless they could trace written approval to the President himself. But then now when Democrats go, well, we need to trace written approval back to Trump for these pardons, they, they go, no, no, no, no, no. That, that, we don't need to figure that out. So the reason this matters, it the auto pen itself isn't the scandal. It's the hypocrisy and the COVID up and the panic. When they accuse Biden of illegally using the auto pen. The Biden White House goes, this is completely legal. It's done all the time. They don't go out replacing PDFs of the signatures. They just go, this is completely fine. When Trump is caught doing the same thing, they immediately go and start replacing the files. And so the White House has been caught doing the thing that they said was proof of Joe Biden's diminished faculties and of Joe Biden's incapacity to be the President of the United States. And of course, we're going to hear about Trump's MRI in a moment. We're going to hear about Trump's totally asymmetrical clapping where one hand is still and the other one moves. It's bizarre. With the growing list of physical symptoms that Trump is experiencing, we are led to go, hey, Trump's standard is if a president is using the auto pen. There might be something going on with his health. If Trump were fine and sharp and healthy, why couldn't he sign just seven pardons himself? The presidency is slipping and every time they scramble to fix one lie, they seem to expose two more. Donald Trump is raving mad and is disowning Republicans and he is quickly fracturing relationships with some of his previously most loyal followers to some degree. I'm talking about Marjorie Taylor Greene Donald Trump posting to Truth Social Quote I am withdrawing my support and endorsement of Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of the great state of Georgia over the past few weeks, despite my creating record achievements for our country, including a total and complete victory on the shutdown, closed borders, low taxes, no men and women's sports are transgender for everyone, ending di, stopping Biden's record setting inflation, biggest regulation cuts in history, stopping eight wars, rebuilding our military, being respected and by every country in the world as opposed to being the laughingstock that we were just 12 months ago, having trillions of dollars, record setting, invested in the USA and having created the hottest country anywhere in the world from being a dead country just 12 months ago and so much more. All I see wacky Marjorie do is complain, complain, complain. It seemed to all begin when I sent her a poll stating that she should not run for senator or governor. She was at 12% and didn't have a chance. Unless of course she had my endorsement, which she wasn't about to get. She has told so many people that she is upset that I don't return her phone calls anymore. But with 219 congressmen and women, 53 US senators, 24 cabinet members, are almost 200 countries and an otherwise normal life to lead. I can't take a ranting lunatics call every day. I understand that we wonderful conservative people are thinking about Primary Marjorie in her district of Georgia, that they too are fed up with her and her antics and if the right person runs they will have my complete and unyielding support. She has gone far left, even doing the View with their low IQ Republican hating anchors. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Make America Great again. This is a 180 for Trump, one of Trump's most loyal supporters for a long time, radical and repugnant Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has turned on Trump and Trump has immediately turned on her. Now there are some who are, I would argue, falling for the idea that Marjorie Taylor Greene is revising her political views. She is an ally to the left. She has revisited some of these radical views. I Don't think so. Now, one of the clips that has gone viral over the weekend is Marjorie Taylor Greene speaking to Dana Bash on CNN and saying, I'm sorry, I participated in the toxic politics. I'm going to tell you right now, I don't buy this for a second, but I'm going to play it for you. And you can decide when you posted on X that President Trump is, with his comments fueling a, quote, hotbed of threats against you. Obviously, X any threats to your safety are completely unacceptable. But we have seen these kinds of attacks or criticism from the president at other people. It's not new. And with respect, I haven't heard you speak out about it until it was directed at you.
- [30:52]
Reporter
Dana. I think that's fair criticism. And I would like to say humbly, I'm sorry for taking part in the toxic politics. It's, it's very bad for our country. And I've, it's been something I've thought about a lot, especially since Charlie Kirk was assassinated, is that we, I'm only responsible for myself and my own words and actions. And I am going, I am committed and I've been working on this a lot lately to put down the knives and possibly politics. I really just want to see people be kind to one another. And we need to figure out a new path forward that is focused on the American people. Because as Americans, no matter what side of the aisle we're on, we have far more in common than we have differences. And we need to be able to respect each other with our disagreements.
- [31:47]
David Pakman
Listen. Very nice statement from Marjorie. I don't believe for a second that this is a political change for Marjorie Taylor Greene. She, I believe she's getting death threats. We know that when Trump turns on someone, they get death threats. That I believe. But I believe Marjorie Taylor Greene is primarily worried here about voters in her district losing health care and taking it out on her. I believe because she has said she's worried that her kids have health care is getting more expensive. She's angry that Trump was desperate for her not to run for Senate against Jon Ossoff in Georgia because she would have gotten crushed. She's angry that she's no longer in Trump's inner circle. That's what I believe this is. I don't see this as a redemptive arc of any kind. We love this. Not because Marjorie Taylor Greene is joining us. We love that the base is collapsing and crashing, and that is it. Now, let me say a couple of other things. There is an opportunity for MAGA voters to unite with the left on an anti corruption agenda potentially. And so what I mean by that is, even if we disagree about abortion, even if we disagree about immigration, whatever, there is an opportunity to say to some of these Republicans and Magaz, listen, these people are corrupt to the bone. It's more nepotism than we've ever seen. It's more cronyism than we've ever seen. It's more self enrichment. Trump's regulating crypto while making billions from crypto. This is a cash grab. I think that there is an opportunity there. And to the extent that Marjorie Taylor Greene, because of her personal grievance with Trump, might be willing to join us in that effort, fine. But let's not believe that this is a redemptive political awakening. Now, if we look at Marjorie Taylor Greene's race next year, because remember, all 435 members of the House are up for reelection every two years, her race is really important and consequential. Why? Trump rescinded his endorsement of her. Now, he may put it back next year, but for now he's rescinded it. And he said he was, he would support a good primary challenge against her if she can win anyway without Trump's endorsement. And in fact, with an anti endorsement from Trump while attacking him, that is a signal that we are getting to the end of maga. Think about what happened with Liz Cheney. Trump turned on her. She lost her primary. If Trump turns on Marjorie Taylor Greene and she can still survive a primary, then that tells us Trump's influence is diminishing drastically. Trump also, by the way, asked about Marjorie Taylor Greene's life being in danger. Here's what he said about her life.
- [34:36]
Reporter
Could be a danger because of the rhetoric.
- [34:39]
Donald Trump
Her life is in danger. Who's that?
- [34:42]
Reporter
Marjorie Taylor Greene.
- [34:43]
Donald Trump
She says Marjorie Trader Green. I don't think her life is in danger. I don't think, Frankly, I don't think anybody cares about her.
- [34:52]
David Pakman
Okay, there you go. No, that is, that is when Trump is sick of you. He just goes, no one cares about you. That's all it is. Trump also, by the way, going after Thomas Massie. No, I don't have that clip. Fine. Okay. Trump also went after Thomas Massie. And in any case, he. Oh, no, it's a post. Okay, I do have it. Trump going after Thomas Massey Massie on Truth Social where he said, quote, did Thomas Massie, sometimes referred to as Rand Paul Jr because of the fact that he always votes against the Republican Party, get married already. Boy, that was quick. Understand that Thomas Massie's previous wife died and Trump's going, oh, you got married quick. Disgusting. Trump continuing. No wonder the polls have him at less than an 8% chance of winning the election anyway. Have a great life, Thomas. And question mark. His wife will soon find out that she stuck with a loser. This is an unwell guy. But the fractures in this party say so much about what's going on at the White House. And it is terror for the staffers that are trying to figure out how not to get dragged down with all of it. All right, he sang the quiet part out loud. And this time he admitted to the whole thing on camera. Donald Trump was asked by reporters, how should Republicans end the shutdown? And of course, at this point, it has ended and we now know how it ended, but this slipped by a lot of people. A normal president might say, well, compromise and whatever. Trump's answer is, let's end the filibuster so I can rewrite election laws and do whatever the hell I want. This is the blueprint. Trump lays it out. Here, take a look. Modifications that are being made to air travel, the other disruptions with the government shutdown. Do you think it's time for Republicans in Congress to change their negotiating position at all?
- [36:44]
Donald Trump
In what way?
- [36:46]
David Pakman
To start making concessions to Democrats?
- [36:48]
Donald Trump
Well, I think it's time for them to end the filibuster and just put everybody back to work. Vote in voter id, vote in no mail in voting except for military, far away military and people that are very sick. No, I'd like to see one day voting. I'd like to see not 65 days of voting from all over the place. No, I'd like to clean up the elections. The border. We've done a great job. We have a great, strong border now. I'd like to see new rules on immigration that could be fair and good. You know, you never get rules that they're never going to get. There's so many things we could put in, including tax cuts that we could get.
- [37:29]
David Pakman
So listen, Trump is laying out the blueprint. There's end early voting, end mail in voting, restrict voting to one day centralize power in Washington to override state law. It's not speculation. This is their goal. And then he says the quiet part out loud. According to the transcript, Trump followed up with. If we do what I'm saying, Democrats will most likely never obtain power. That's everything. The point of these laws is not election integrity. It's to obstruct Democratic voters, especially young voters, working class voters, black and brown voters, People who rely on expanded voting access. And so what the agenda means is okay, and the filibuster so that you can pass voting restrictions with just 51 votes. Ban or restrict mail in voting, except for the military. Get rid of early voting, which tens of millions of people use. Force all of the voting into a single weekday, which will disproportionately suppress the vote of people who work for a living and can't take half a day off to go vote. Override state authority on elections, which Republicans claim to care about, and combine it with aggressive gerrymandering in every red controlled state to lock in those House majorities. This is Trump admitting he's going to take an authoritarian approach. If you can't win a fair election, change the electorate. So this is about 2026, Trump. Trump understands something Republicans have been panicking about. 2026 is not his electorate. In midterms in the United States, voters almost always punish the sitting president. Trump is not a normal president. When he's not on the ballot, Republican turnout collapses. Democratic turnout can still be up. We saw it in 2018. We've been see, we just saw it two weeks ago in the off year elections. And Republican operatives told outlets in the last week that a 2026 election without Trump's name on the ballot is potentially a disaster. That's why Trump wants these laws right now. He knows 26 could flip the House. He knows gerrymandering alone isn't enough. He knows a midterm under his presidency historically has been bad. And he knows I won't be able to claim fraud if I lose the House. So now he's trying to pre rig it on the front end. You don't have to go conspiratorial. He told us the things that he's going to do, he's pursuing, he's pressuring, really. He's pursuing a pressure campaign in states like Texas and North Carolina, Missouri and Ohio to redraw maps. Republicans are trying to squeeze out nine to 12 additional House seats through redistricting. They've done Texas already. Trump wants federal voting restrictions layered on top of those new maps. And he says, I prefer a system where the right Americans vote, vote. So this is going to be a real stress test. Trump is saying to the country, let's rewrite the rules before the midterms get fewer people voting. Instead of saying let's come up with a winning message, which would make a lot more sense. The question now is, do Democrats treat this as normal partizan bluster from Trump or do they say he's admitting how he's going to do it. He's pre rigging the election and we've got to do something about it. I think it's the latter. He's not hiding it. He's laying out the plan and 2026 is either going to work with the system he's trying to put in or it's going to collapse around him, with even people that he has anti endorsed like Marjorie Taylor Greene winning and Trump's influence diminishing dramatically. Many of you know that I grew up speaking Spanish, but I took French in middle school and high school. I'm a little rusty on it, and when I was getting ready for my last trip to France, one of the things I was most worried about was am I going to be able to communicate in everyday situations. Ordering food in French, asking for directions, greeting people. I didn't want to be the person flipping through my phone trying to translate everything. And what really helped me was Babble. Instead of like vocabulary lists that go on forever in a vacuum, our sponsor Babble teaches you language through real conversations. So the French Babble taught me was super useful on the trip. And the best part is that Babble fits into quick 10 to 15 minute lessons, so I could fit it into my busy schedule very easily. Thanks to the interactive dialog exercises in the Babel app and the spaced repetition that made the phrases stick, I was just more comfortable. I have to admit my girlfriend was actually impressed with my French. When we were in France. I could order at restaurants, buy train tickets, figure out is there a baby changing station in the bathroom and also just chat with locals. Made it way more enriching. You can get up to 55% off at babel.com/pacman. The link is in the description. If you regularly deal with PDFs, you've probably asked yourself why are the big name tools so complicated and expensive? Why do I need a monthly subscription? Our sponsor UPF gives you every PDF and AI feature you need faster, easier and for a fraction of the price of the big name software. No subscription needed. With updated PDF you can edit text, images and layouts directly in your PDF. No learning curve. You can highlight comment. You can annotate reports or proposals, convert to Word, PowerPoint, Excel or images in seconds. The formatting stays perfect. If you need to scan something up built in OCR turns it into editable text instantly. You can merge, split, organize or compress. It is all built in and updated PDFs AI assistant will take it further, enabling you to summarize Long reports translate entire PDFs while keeping the formatting compare versions side by side, turn a dense document into clear mind maps or one lifetime license covers up to four devices Windows, Mac, iOS and Android. And this Black Friday it is 50% off when you go to David pakman.com/updf the link is in the description. I interviewed former Vice President Kamala Harris over the weekend at one of her book events. This was extraordinarily hectic but we got it done. They said, David, you could have five minutes with her at the end of her meet and greet line. And I said I will take it now on the bonus show. I will explain to you producer Pat was was with me. I will explain to you how the interview was almost canceled 30 seconds before it happened after two hours of waiting. These things are super hectic. Of course I wish we had had more time with her. I wish we would have been able to go more in depth. But it was still great to speak to the former vice president also met. It must have been a dozen or maybe two dozen different viewers of the show at the event. So really great to be out and meeting people. Here is my brief conversation with former VP Kamala Harris on the 2024 campaign and so much more. Hi, David Pakman, Nice to see you again.
- [44:51]
Kamala Harris
How have you been?
- [44:52]
David Pakman
I've been, you know, busy, busy, busy. Yeah, it's always good to be the last thing before the show starts. Well, we'll see. I read the book, I've read a number of books about the election and one of the things I wanted to ask you about were I just want to go straight to the sources. There was this perception at about the two week mark that something changed. Looking in from the outside into the election, into the campaign, into the 107 days, a little less of the these guys are weird stuff. It felt like there was something different. If you ask people who were not front and center, they'll give you 100 different answers about what it was. Was there a change in the approach at a certain point in there where this is weird stuff got away from and there was a different approach or is that an incorrect perception from the outside?
- [45:42]
Kamala Harris
Well, we had many messages. Right. So you're talking about when Tim would talk about. Yeah, the message from the beginning was about the people and what we need to do to make life more doable, which included in particular what we need to do around affordability. And that was a through theme for the campaign. And it was also about the contrast, obviously. So some of the first speeches that I Gave without the benefit of any, any polling or any real infrastructure were about also the contrast around just, you know, I know his type talking about Donald Trump. What I was saying about we just like we're not going back, right? Reminding people of what that first administration was like as a, you know, a precursor to what we knew was going to happen this time. So there were many points that we made during that period of time of the first two weeks, but it was always about the people. It was always about, when we fight, we win.
- [46:42]
David Pakman
After the campaign and in the book, one of the parts I found really interesting was you talked about there was not necessarily as much of a connection on immigration, crime and to a certain degree, economics in the sense that some voters felt as though their concerns weren't necessarily heard on those issues. In the book, I was interested in how you, you wrote about it. What I'm curious is during the campaign, did you feel like on those issues you were connecting with voters or was that more of an. After the campaign reflection, you mentioned a few.
- [47:14]
Kamala Harris
Let's go to them one by one.
- [47:16]
David Pakman
Immigration, crime, and some of the feeling as to how the state of the economy was.
- [47:21]
Kamala Harris
Well, for one, again, back to the economy. The campaign was about what we needed to do to deal with price gouging, right. Knowing the price of groceries was too high. My work as attorney General in California was work that included taking on price gouging, knowing how consumers can get just taken, you know, advantage of and can't afford what they need in terms of their basic needs. It was about taking on what we need to do around affordable housing. So both corporate landlords and dealing with the fact that they've been buying up all this property and we need to go after them because they're jacking up prices in a way people can't afford rent. First time home buyers getting them $25,000 down payment assistance so that they could actually afford to put their foot in the door to buy a home. Those are some of the examples of my focus, which was about dealing with the everyday needs of people as they were expressing them to me throughout. I actually talked and I've talked about it in the book tour. I think that, you know, had I to do it over, I think we should have really thought about first doing the family care piece that would have included affordable child care, paid family leave, what we could have done in terms of just bringing down costs. And that's why my campaign platform really was about those issues as a way to address the needs of the people on immigration. You know, look There is no question that we need to reform our immigration system. I was consistent about that. Through the campaign. We have not done enough to fix what we need to fix around immigration and then crime. Again, I'm a former prosecutor. I'm the only one on that stage, almost every stage I've been on that has personally prosecuted everything from homicide to fraud. So there is no question that I am aware of, and we all should be aware of the vulnerability that communities feel on the issue of crime and take it seriously as a priority always, no matter what the crime rates are. The fact is that people should not feel unsafe.
- [49:18]
David Pakman
Last thing I'll ask you before these gentlemen escort me out. Very friendly. Do you think the 107 days, if you had done anything different, was enough time to have won that race? Or is your view now in retrospect, whether it was the Rogan interview that didn't happen, or changing which states you spent a little more or less time and was 107 days just not feasible in terms of what you had to do?
- [49:42]
Kamala Harris
It wasn't enough time.
- [49:45]
David Pakman
Plain and simple.
- [49:46]
Kamala Harris
It wasn't enough time. Yeah, it wasn't enough time. I can't predict that the outcome would have been different, but I know 107 days was not enough time.
- [49:56]
David Pakman
Thanks so much for your time.
- [49:57]
Kamala Harris
You're welcome.
- [49:57]
David Pakman
Appreciate it.
- [49:58]
Kamala Harris
Thank you.
- [49:58]
David Pakman
Thank you.
- [49:59]
Kamala Harris
Question.
- [50:01]
David Pakman
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- [53:19]
Reporter
You needed to get an mri? I understand that the results were good.
- [53:22]
David Pakman
But what was it for?
- [53:24]
Donald Trump
Because it's part of my physical. Getting an MRI is very sad. Why you think I shouldn't have and other people. I had an mri. Here's what the story is. I had an mri. The doctor said it was the best result he has ever seen.
- [53:39]
David Pakman
As a doctor, no one has seen a better MRI result. You guys believing this crap?
- [53:46]
Donald Trump
That's it. But I had an MRI as part of my standard yearly or every. I think they do it every two years, but I have the physical every year and the result was outstanding. I have no idea what they analyze.
- [54:03]
David Pakman
The question was, was it your brain? And he goes, I have no idea.
- [54:07]
Donald Trump
But whatever they analyze. They analyzed it well, and they said that I had as good a result as they've ever seen. Now, the other thing I took is I took, as you know, a advanced, very advanced test on mental acuity.
- [54:24]
David Pakman
Okay. That's also a lie. Trump didn't take an advanced test. He took the Montreal Cognitive Assessment. It's a brain injury and dementia screening test. Okay, Think about what Trump is saying. They put him in an MRI machine, and he didn't go, why are we doing this? What are we looking at? Now? If you've had an mri, as I have, you know that depending on what they're looking at, your head might be in the. In the tunnel, very uncomfortable, or your foot might be in the tunnel and your head is out, and it's a much more comfortable experience. I've had a couple of MRIs. Think about it. I don't know what they looked at. I remember every single one. I was a kid for one of them. How do you not know? As some of you know, I've had five or six fainting episodes over my life. When I was a kid, the pediatrician after one said, let's do a brain mri. Let's rule out a seizure type thing. Let's do it. I was like, 11. I remember it about a decade ago, I was having a click, click, click, click in my right knee. We got MRIs of both knees. Turns out I have something called Ready for this one? You're. You're ready for this discoid meniscus in my right knee. It's sort of like you're. You're meniscus, instead of being shaped like a C, is kind of like, flattened out. Okay. That's why my knee was clicking. That's why I got the mri. He doesn't know why he got it or what body part it was. So I don't know what would be worse. Is. Is it worse if Trump doesn't know? Is it worse if Trump forgot? Is it worse if he does know and he's simply not telling us? But every single one of these conversations only raises even more questions. Now, I don't even have a guess. I'm going to go even further. I wouldn't even be surprised at this point if it wasn't an mri. I. If Trump really doesn't know what's going on, it might have been a CAT scan. X rays are different, so I doubt it would have been that. But does Trump have any idea what is going on? And you know he's lying, at least about part of it, because the Doctor said, sir, we've never, as professional doctors, we have never looked at an MRI and seen anything so perfect. So I just want you to really imagine for a moment if Barack Obama had been this cagey about an mri. Obama, that guy. Or forget about Obama. Imagine if Biden. Imagine for a moment if Joe Biden had his second physical in a year. We weren't really told why. We get a report that leads like, reads like a propaganda document. It doesn't mention an mri. But then a couple months later, Biden goes, yeah, I had an mri. Oh, what for? I don't know. And then his press secretary is asked, what was the deal with that? And she goes, it was awesome. It was an incredible mri. A month goes by, the press secretary is asked again, any more information on the mri? And she goes, no, President Biden had an MRI and it was awesome. And then Biden's asked about it again and he goes, whatever they looked at, I have no idea, but it was unbelievable. They would be calling for Biden's immediate resignation or removal beyond the 25th Amendment. And when you look at right wing media, they go, why are they so obsessed with the mri? Why? What's going on here? Well, this is the most opaque presidency on Trump's presidential health that I can remember ever covering. And I covered the Biden administration. So I'll leave it to you again. What do you think the MRI was of? And do you think Trump doesn't remember, was never told, or is refusing to tell us? Let me know what you think. There is a very disturbing new neurological symptom that individuals are seeing Donald Trump exhibit and are concerned. And I'm going to be very upfront with you. This is a symptom that if circumstances were different, we wouldn't even be batting an eyelash at. But the circumstances are what they are. And I'm going to explain that in a moment. Here is Donald Trump clapping asymmetrically. Okay, now listen. Some people clap weirdly, some people drink water weirdly, some people stand weirdly, some people walk weirdly. Trump does all of these things. Doesn't necessarily mean anything. But check out Trump clapping here where his left hand barely moves and his right hand is swinging wildly. Just, just keep an open mind and take a look, Okay? I practiced this. It's very unnatural. Okay? It's extraordinarily unnatural. Now, by itself, we wouldn't worry about this. Trump clapping with one hand, Britain, who cares? If you're thinking, why does this matter? Here's the issue. There's already a question with Trump neurologically. And we had that incident where one side of his face was drooping. We've seen a number of other asymmetries in Trump. And in neurology, asymmetry is something you pay attention to. It's what doctors look at when they are checking. Is one side of the body weaker? Is there a coordination issue that is asymmetrical? You look at it in early Parkinsonian signs. You look at it in neuropathy. You look at it in the context of those small strokes that some have speculated about Donald Trump, which we do not have any proof of. So a healthy adult doesn't suddenly start clapping like their body forgot the. The process or the instructions for clapping. Then we zoom out. We still don't know why Trump got an mri. He was asked, why'd you get it? Because I don't know. Was it of your brain? I don't know. Trump's ankles are swollen. Both hands are bruised. Yet we're told it's from shaking hands. But Trump only shakes hands with his right hand. Trump drags his foot when he walks. His gait is bizarre. He sometimes is slurring the weird water drinking where he seems to struggle to manipulate even basic elements. This is all a broader environment where there is a total lack of transparency and a growing list of what we might loosely call symptoms. Now, I am not a conspiracy theorist. This might be. Trump just claps really weirdly. And again, try it yourself. Try the natural thing when you clap is both hands sort of move roughly the same amount. Try doing what Trump was doing. It's. It's strange. It's extraordinarily unnatural, unless the signals you're sending are to do a normal clap. And it's just not being. It's not getting to the relevant body parts. The context where they won't answer any questions about what's going on with this guy, only makes us say, what is the explanation here? And then you say, well, what do his medical reports say? And the medical reports omit an MRI that we now know he received. The medical reports read like a propaganda document. The medical reports talk about golf. None of what's going on is normal. So I leave it to you. Is this nothing, or is this something we'll follow up if people are interested in hearing more? All right, I have to play something absolutely awesome for you. Our friend Jonathan Karl on this weekend's ABC this Week interviewed Kevin Hassett. Okay? The NEC director. And Kevin Hassett thought he was going to be able to get away with the tired talking points, like Thanksgiving is cheaper. This year, the President is winning. But Jonathan Karl was prepared. I don't know that Hassett was ready for this. Let's take a look at the first clip.
- [62:24]
Jonathan Karl
The President claims that Thanksgiving costs are down 25%. I mean, does he know that's not true?
- [62:30]
Kevin Hassett
Well, if you look at Walmart and the few places that put out their prices Thanksgiving.
- [62:35]
Jonathan Karl
Wait, wait a minute. I got to stop. Because the Walmart comparison's like, not. I mean, Walmart had a Thanksgiving package last year. They've got a Thanksgiving package this year. The one this year contains much less than what the one last year took. So that's why the price is less. Look, we got a chart here. Last year it was 21 total products. This year it's 15. Total number of items in those projects was products was 29%. Now 2029, now it's 22. There's more generic brand stuff. So, I mean, Thanksgiving, if you're going to the store to buy groceries for Thanksgiving, it's going to be more expensive.
- [63:11]
Kevin Hassett
I really don't understand where you're going in the sense that Joe Biden gave us. Joe Biden gave us 20%.
- [63:16]
Jonathan Karl
He's not President Donald Trump's president.
- [63:18]
Kevin Hassett
No. And you want us to fix the hole that Joe Biden.
- [63:21]
Jonathan Karl
No, I'm just saying why does the President tell.
- [63:24]
Kevin Hassett
The prices went up so much under Joe Biden and inflation is way down. Inflation is about halfway what it was in December. This is something that's being fixed fast. And real incomes are up after dropping about 3,000 under Joe Biden. And so, sure, you could fight it.
- [63:37]
David Pakman
So a couple of things here, okay? First of all, inflation is down from Biden. It's really not. I mean, just go back and look at inflation under Biden. Inflation was globally high because of COVID at the start of Biden's presidency. That's true. And it came down faster under Biden than it did in other wealthy Western countries. Since June of 2023 through now, inflation has been bouncing between 2.5 and 3%. Most of that period, June 23 to now, most of that time Biden was president. Now it's Trump and inflation continues to be between 2 and a half and 3%. But the wall, the Wal Mart Thanksgiving thing is so tired. What they've done, and we're going to put this up on the screen, is Walmart. I don't know if they did this to help Trump or just to promote their Thanksgiving deal. Last year they had 21 items in the Thanksgiving meal deal, 55% of which were name brand. What they've done this year, if they've reduced the Thanksgiving meal deal by taking six items out, it's 15 instead of 21. And only 40% of the products are name brand. Now, I'm not saying Walmart's store brand is good or bad. I'm just saying it's cheaper. And so they've added generic brand stuff and then they've also reduced the number of items. Of course it's cheaper. Of course it's cheaper. Trump, by the way, tried the same thing last night.
- [65:04]
Donald Trump
Again, I go to Walmart and other companies and in every case it's about 25% that immediately meal, a Thanksgiving meal and surroundings are 25% lower than it was under the Biden administration. That's a big fact. And that comes from Wal Mart and others that do that.
- [65:24]
David Pakman
All right, anyway, so it's already been completely debunked. Grocery prices are up now. Jonathan Karl was prepared. And when Jonathan Karl pressed Kevin Hassett on the cost of specific things, bananas, coffee, beef, etc. Here is how Hassett did dealt with it, which basically said it's going to go down.
- [65:42]
Jonathan Karl
Oh, but, but let me ask you the question I asked again. So the tariffs have been removed from these items that we all, many of us buy every, you know, the grocery store. How soon do we expect the prices on those goods now to go down?
- [65:56]
David Pakman
Right.
- [65:56]
Kevin Hassett
Well, the prices for those goods weren't necessarily going up just because of tariffs.
- [66:01]
David Pakman
And so they didn't go up because of the tariffs, but they're going to come down by taking the tariffs away. That's genius.
- [66:07]
Kevin Hassett
So they prices will go down? Well, the prices will go down, of.
- [66:09]
Jonathan Karl
Course, but because the tariffs have been taken off, right?
- [66:12]
Kevin Hassett
Well, because the supply of the goods into the US Is going to increase.
- [66:17]
David Pakman
Think about how impossible this is. Think about how ridiculous. The prices didn't go up because of the tariffs, but they're going to go down because we are removing the tariffs. Oh, so the tariffs are the issue. No, they're not. It's an issue of supply.
- [66:33]
Jonathan Karl
But I mean, to state the obvious, I mean, tariffs do raise prices on Americans, despite what the President has said.
- [66:39]
Kevin Hassett
Over and over again, it depends on. So if you look at it, how much has inflation gone up because of tariffs? Everybody was saying we're going to have stagflation because of the tariffs, but in fact, year over year, inflation is down. The latest inflation report shows that it's two and a half percent. And that's very close to the Fed's Target. And that happened with tariffs coming. The reason that happens is that for most products, if you think about the stuff we get from China, China sells the products into the US Almost as much as they can to create jobs in China, you know, and that.
- [67:11]
David Pakman
Anyway, so he's going, oh, the supply is going to go up. Well, why is it going to go up? Because you're getting rid of the tariffs. The tariffs being taken away are the solution, but somehow the tariffs being put in place weren't the problem. These people are impossible. I actually don't know the point of having Kevin Hassett on the show. Finally, Jonathan Karl puts up a chart of all the things that cost more. And Hassett goes, but what about eggs? Eggs are down.
- [67:34]
Jonathan Karl
Gasoline. Yeah, but, but let's take a look at some of the goods that we buy, you know, regularly, our, our household. Let's take a look at this. Coffee, as you mentioned, up 15%. Uncooked ground beef, up 14%. Bananas, up 8%. Fresh cakes and cupcakes, up 6%. Lettuce, up almost 6%. Lunch meat, salad dressings, tomatoes, all up, you know, well, more than that, two and a half percent. I mean, Americans are clearly feeling that prices are continuing to go up. And in many, with many of the goods that they buy regularly, they are going up. Well, and again, I mean, a significant number.
- [68:12]
Kevin Hassett
Let's look at it. First of all, when we came in, the very first thing that all of you folks were talking to us about was egg prices and egg prices are down year over year. You could have put that in your chart.
- [68:24]
David Pakman
And of course, eggs, egg prices are down modestly from where they were. That's true. The as I said all along, for most families, how many eggs are you really going through? If each egg costs 7 or 10 cents more, how much of a difference does that make in your budget? They made eggs the issue. And so we looked at the price of eggs, but then you've got to look at everything else as well. And so when prices are up, overall, they go, what about this one area where prices are down? These are genuinely dishonest people. I guess you got to give Hassett credit. Like he kind of pulls it off sort of. But Jonathan Karl wasn't falling for it. On the bonus show today, the behind the scenes of the Kamala Harris interview that we did over the weekend, and much more. Get the bonus show by signing up@join pacman.com.