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- [00:01]
A
Ever notice how ads always pop up at the worst moments when the killer's identity is about to be revealed during that perfect meditation flow. On Amazon Music, we believe in keeping you in the moment. That's why we've got millions of ad free podcast episodes so you can stay completely immersed in every story, every reveal, every breath. Download the Amazon music app and start listening to your favorite podcasts. Ad free included with Prime. Guys, thanks for helping me carry my Christmas tree.
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B
Zoe. This thing weighs a ton.
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C
Drewski, lift with your legs, man.
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B
Santa. Santa, did you get my letter? He's talking to you, Bridges. I'm not.
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A
Of course he did.
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B
Right Santa, you know my elf Drewski here. He handles the nice list. And elf, I'm six' three. What everyone wants is iPhone 17 and at T Mobile you can get it on them. That center stage front camera is amazing for group selfies. Right Mrs. Claus?
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A
I'm Mrs. Claus much younger sister. And AT T Mobile there's no trade in needed when you switch. So you can keep your old phone.
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C
Or give it as a gift.
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A
And the best part, you can make the switch to T Mobile from your phone in just 15 minutes.
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D
Nice.
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B
My side of the tree is slipping, Jim. Bur the holidays are better. AT T Mobile switch in just 15 minutes and get iPhone 17 on us with no trade in needed. And now T Mobile is available in US cellular stores with 24 monthly bill credits for well qualified customers plus tax and $35 vice connection charge credits and imbalance due if you pay off earlier. Cancel financing agreement to 256 gigs. $830 eligible for in a new line, $100 plus a month plan with auto papers, taxes, fees required to come 15 minutes or less per line to t mobile.com we've unfortunately gotten pretty used to the new health care plan being two weeks away. That's been the case since July of 2020. We also now are being acclimated to the idea that some kind of golden age of the American economy is just 1/4 away. And we are going to look at new predictions, I guess from Kevin Hassett of 4% growth and AI saving the world and everything being really awesome. But you're just going to have to wait a couple more months. Now in reality, layoffs are smashing new records, over 1.1 million jobs cut this year. We're going to talk about that. And then a stunning moment on Fox News where Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino basically admits he spent years pushing conspiracy theories that even he didn't believe because it was profitable. I'm going to show you the clip. I'm going to give you my approach to this issue, which you probably won't be shocked to hear is a little different than Dan Bongino's. And also, Trump can't stay awake. He fell asleep again, not only during a Cabinet meeting, but during the signing of a peace agreement. And it is raising serious questions about his health, questions that, by the way, he is furious about. Plus, a bunch of the White House has been demolished for this huge vanity ballroom, and the project now has no architect. Trump is looking for an architect because the one who was going to do it quit because the idea didn't make any sense. All of that and much more on today's program.
- [03:18]
Okay, remember that phrase, you fool me once, shame on me, you fool me twice, you can't get fooled again. That's the great philosopher George W. Bush, who put it that way, a little different than maybe some of us remember it. This is starting to become a theme with members of this administration. This beautiful new shiny health care plan has been two weeks away since July of 2020, and yet we can never seem to get it. And, and we now have a new version of this, which is that, yes, there are signs of a little bit of cracking in the economy right now, but it's all about to get really good. When Trump was first sworn in and we had negative GDP growth in the second quarter, we were told, or first quarter, we were told, well, it's going to be a great second half of the year now that we have record layoffs in 2025, and the second half of the year is not looking so good. And by the way, it's almost over. We have people like Kevin Hassett and others saying, oh, it's going to be so good in 2026. And they are, I guess you could say, they're writing checks that I don't think they're going to have the funds to cover. They're writing checks that they can't cash. So here is Maria Bartiromo this morning interviewing Trump's tool, Kevin Hassett, who says even if we have 3% GDP growth in the first couple of quarters next year, that would be disappointing. We need to be thinking bigger. And my suggestion is bookmark this clip and then let's see whether he ends up being correct.
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E
So first and second quarter, what 3%? What are you expecting in terms of growth?
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D
Three I would be disappointed. Three I would be disappointed with. Three. It could easily be a percent higher.
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E
And of course, that's what end without.
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D
Inflation without inflation because it's all supply side stuff, right? Think of all the factories, the groundbreaking. So all that stuff increases supply, puts downward pressure on prices, productivity booms, by the way, Maria, sorry, speaking up, the snowblower guys.
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B
So as the snowblower gets going there, think about what he is saying. The we're going to, we're seeing downward pressure on prices. We're not, we are seeing productivity booms. You know, that's a more complicated one because as many of you know, there are broader economic trends that have nothing to do with whose product president, with whether it's a Democrat or a Republican in the White House. Things like increased productivity due to technology, tech technology due to technological advancements. These are trends that are bigger than any president. But Hassett is again dangling the carrot just like Trump has been doing with the health care plan that just around the corner there is this incredible economy that's going to work for everybody and it's going to be phenomenal. And yet we still have hunger in the United States. We still have 40% of the population who if they were to have an unexpected four hundred dollar expense, an appliance that breaks a tire that blows out or whatever, they would have to borrow in order to cover that four hundred dollar expense. How stable and how robust is the undergirding of your economy? If four out of 10 people, meaning two out of five. Right. We're reducing fractions here. If two out of five people to spend $400 on an unexpected emergency would have to put it on a credit card and start paying interest on it, or go to a friend or family member or coworker and say could I borrow the $400? That's not a very robust undergirding of the economy. And yet we are just around the corner from incredible prosperity for all. More from Kevin Hassett. And this is, this is again a window into the level of delusion. Delusion or you know, maybe it's worse than delusion. Maybe it's actually malice cassette saying AI soon is going to fix everything. So like if you're an employee and you want to figure out how do I make more money, you can ask chat.
- [07:21]
How can I make my boss happier? Oh boy. Oh my goodness.
- [07:26]
E
Great point to make because of this shutdown. But I think in the middle of all of this politicking around the shutdown, there's a new concern emerging about jobs. And it's really not about policy necessarily or about an economy that is slowing because we know we're going to see a big impact from the big beautiful bill next year. But Kevin, it's really about AI and the fact that artificial intelligence is going to create efficiencies that will mean a loss of jobs. And, and look, I get that we're going to see new jobs. I know that all technology changes require new training and new jobs. But what is the White House's message on AI efficiencies? What is the plan to come up with the proper training for people to thrive in this new world?
- [08:14]
B
Brace yourselves for the brilliant insights into AI from Kevin has.
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D
Right. Well the best part about what we're seeing in the evidence and there's an institute, my friend Erik Brynjolson at Stanford, former colleague over there, has been studying these things like pretty much there's a new paper every month that there's a lot of good news in the air space. And I would say that the best news is the way to think about what AI and its agents can do is that they can act as if they're like the best coach you ever had for whatever job you have. And so while you're trying to figure out how do I make my boss happy, how do I do what it takes to make the firm successful, it's like you've got a coach right there with you, you every step of the way.
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B
You know.
- [08:57]
I am, I don't know if I'm on the same wavelength as most of my audience or not with the AI stuff. But like with most technological advancements, I kind of subscribe to the Neil Postman view, which is that trying to prevent the technology from coming, coming to light and becoming widely available is a, is a loser's game. You're not really going to be able to do that. And what we need to do is understand the pros and cons, the opportunities and risks of AI and then we need to do whatever we can to harness the pros and limit the cons, to limit the downside risk. And I think that there are phenomenal things with these lambs and, and chat bots, etc. But the idea that the panacea of the economy is going to be that people who would have to borrow to afford a four hundred dollar expense and are busy trying to figure out how am I going to make rent, how am I going to get my kids to school now that my car needs a repair, which I can't afford, and meanwhile wages are stagnant. The idea that we're going to solve that by going to chat GPT and saying how can I make my boss happy so that they'll give me a raise. It's pathetic. And if this is the best that they have, and it seems to be, you know, that we are really in for it economically. And so 4% GDP growth in Q1 of 2026 and solving everything by asking Chat GPT how to do better at work. Folks, it seems delusional. And I want to now contextualize this by giving you some of the new layoff data which is not so good. Layoffs have once again hit a record high. This is not a repeat of the story from last month or two months ago. It's genuinely that bad that just about every month we're doing some version of this story, we have another record for job cuts. We are now beyond 1.1 million layoffs in the United States this year. This report is from the consulting firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas. An unusual name, I admit, but they specialize in layoff data. And in November total layoffs were about 71,000. This is fewer than in October, but it does push the total number of layoffs for 2025 to 1.17 million. That's almost 1.2 million layoffs this year. This is 54% higher than if we look at the same 11 month period last year. So January to November 2024 compared to January to November 2025. 54% more layoffs this year during that 11 month period year. And this is the highest level of layoffs going all the way back to 2020. Now we are still waiting for November unemployment rate info that's going to be coming out on December 16th. But if we look there at the prediction markets, like for example on Kalshee, where the question is what do you people are betting on? What do you expect the number to be? 73% right now expect the unemployment rate to be higher than 4.4% and then 40% believe it will be higher than 4.5% and that would be the highest unemployment rate in four years. So we have the jobs numbers. They're not good. We have the betting market expectations from Kalshee about where will the unemployment rate be. That could put it at the highest point in four years as well. Now if you go back to 2020, we had a good explanation that was an external uncontrollable factor for why the numbers were no good in 2020. And it's the COVID pandemic this time that's not the case. And this is a major problem for the Trump administration, which wants to claim and does claim daily that this is the best economy anybody has heard of anywhere. Now, what are the reasons that companies are laying people off? Some of the reasons have to do with White House policy and some do not. For example, one reason is AI innovation. And it's funny because in the earlier segment we heard Kevin Hassett say AI is going to be the solution to our economic woes. Because you can go and ask, chat, how can I make my boss happier so that they'll give me more money? Well, AI innovation is actually one of the main reasons that is allowing companies to lay people off and to seek technological solutions rather than labor force solutions, for lack of a better term, that doesn't have to do with Donald Trump. Now on the other hand, another reason for the record setting layoffs in 2025 is tariffs. That is, it's crazy to say it. It's Trump's signature economic policy. It's outrageous that that's what it is. It's hilariously sad that that's what it is. But Trump's signature economic policy is just putting blanket tariffs on everybody. Another reason for layoffs is restructuring. Now restructuring is a funny one because it's sometimes code for we know things are bad in our company but we don't really want to make anybody feel too bad. So we say we are restructuring and finding efficiencies and synergies. And by the way, this comes with a hiring freeze as well. But so under the umbrella of restructuring is another explanation for the record setting layoffs. Now this is only one piece of the disastrous economic news this week because we also learned earlier, I covered, I covered earlier this week that Instead of gaining 40000 jobs in November, that was the expectation. The economy lost 32,000 jobs. That means that the real jobs number fell more than 70,000 jobs short of expectations. Now let's apply this analysis to Donald Trump's economic policy. Trump's tariffs. We were told we're going to save American manufacturing jobs. Now instead they haven't. We have hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs open. People don't want them. We have the lowest level of manufacturing employment in the United States in something like five years. But what the tariffs have done is raise costs for American companies that rely on imports. If you import stuff for whatever your business is, you now have higher costs. You might have to fire workers to compensate for that. You might have to raise prices to compensate for that. The tariffs were a gimmick that has hurt the very workers that this administration says we are going to protect and we are going to champion. Like a phenix rising over the Horizon and the Trump plan for jobs is actually destroying jobs. Now that's okay, cool criticism David, but like what should actually be done? Well, it's very simple. If you look at this is not wacky, you know, extreme left stuff. This is not communism, it's not socialism. If we just do like basic left economics, that wing of thought thinking of supply side and regulation and an environment in which people can be as productive as possible. We need a workers bill of rights. You know, the mass layoff crisis that we are seeing right now proves that, Proves we knew it. Most Americans have zero job security. Unless you are already wealthy enough that it doesn't matter whether you make any more money, that's a very small portion of the population or you have some kind of a guaranteed contract which is increasingly rare. Most employees are now at will employees. We would really benefit from stronger labor protections, stronger union protections, better severance laws. You know, some people are focused on reduced work week. Let's do four 30 hour work weeks or four days a week. That, that's more of a, that's more of a sociocultural question in a way. But we need a workers bill of rights that actually is going to protect people. And then also it should be considered, should we be taxing job cutters if a corporation announces record layoffs and the CEO is getting a bonus, should there be a windfall profits tax, should there be a penalty on stock buybacks or whatever? We need to disincentivize destroying jobs as a business strategy. And every single bit of economic data we get points in the very, very wrong direction. We finally have an arrest in the D.C. pipe bomber case. It took years. The, this goes all the way back to 2021. These were the pipe bombs placed near the Capitol just before the Trump riots of January. 6. They've arrested a suspect. That's good news. It is 30 year old Brian Cole Jr. Who I guess would have been 25 or 26 at the time of the incident. Now that is great news, but I want to show you a statement that Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino made about the arrest on the Sean Hannity Fox News show just hours ago. Now understand that for years Bongino and others made a lot of money spreading all sorts of unsubstantiated conspiracy theories about the pipe bombing, including suggesting that it was particular individuals who I won't name, suggesting that it's an inside job and all sorts of other unproven stuff. Hannity actually asks Bongino about this and Bongino essentially says, I was paid for Provocative opinions back then. That's why I said the things I said about the pipe bomber. Now I'm the Deputy Director of the FBI now it's different. My interpretation, this is me editorializing. I used to make things up for money, but now I have a different sort of job. All right, let's listen to Bongino.
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F
You know, I don't know if you remember this. This is before you became the Deputy FBI director. You, you put a post on X right after this happened and you said there's a massive cover up because the person that planted those pipe bombs, they don't want you to know who it is because it's either a connected anti Trump insider or an inside job. You said that, you know, long before you even thought of as Deputy FBI Director.
- [19:04]
Yeah, that's why I said to you this investigation's just begun. We are pretty comfortable. We have our guy. I think again, legal process starts to surface and information, facts start to come out. The public's going to be very comfortable with the investigation that was conducted under Director Patel and his leadership. He's been great on this. But I don't want to, you know, listen, I was paid in the past, Sean, for my opinions. That's clear. And one day I'll be back in that space. But that's not what I'm paid for now. I'm paid to be your deputy director. And we base investigations on facts. And, you know, it was interesting, I was looking out in the crowd today at the press.
- [19:41]
B
I guess he's saying his show wasn't based on facts, which we knew.
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F
And I saw a couple of media figures who you and I both know, who promoted the other scandal, the collusion hoax. And I thought to myself, you know, the difference between us and them is, you know, we evolve as information and new inputs come out. We can produce different outputs because that's what we believe in. We believe in facts and investigations guided by facts. There were people out there in that crowd, I'm so, I'm sure, still believe in this collusion, fairytale, hoax. So we'll see. We're going to be guided by the facts as this thing goes.
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B
Yeah. Now the facts matter. Now that he's Deputy FBI director, the facts are really important. So this is a major difference between some content creators and others. There's no other way to say it. I will never do this crap. Okay. I hope that you consider this trait when you think about what shows to watch and what podcasts to listen to, because you are wasting your time and wasting your life. Listening to people who aren't even telling you what they really believe. You know, if I believe something that's factually wrong and then I get information to that end, I will come to you right away and I will attempt to correct it. But I am never going to tell you that I share that. I, that I have an opinion that is not one I really have for clicks or to generate interest. It would be easy and profitable and maybe even fun to take positions that I don't believe for attention the way Dan Bongino is admitting that he does. And I believe many of these right wingers and some left wingers do. I'll give you an example. There are people getting a ton of mileage from there will be no 2028 election. Trump will never leave. Trump's running for a third term. Trump will be president until 2040. And there are people who play that up. I don't know if they believe it. I don't. But I could pretend to write, I could turn this show into rage, bait, drama farming about Trump's never going to leave. And I assure you, those clips would do well. It would get a lot of attention. It would get me interviewed places. David, tell us how. Why do you believe Trump will never leave? I don't do that. I always tell you what I genuinely think, and I don't think Trump's going to serve a third term. I don't think he's going to try to, even if, you know, there are people around him who think that it's a good idea. Now, as far as Bongino and the pipe bomber, we've got to be crystal clear about what Bongino is admitting here. He was selling doubt, chaos and conspiracies for profit. Now, he needs to deal. In fact, he wasn't giving opinions on policy. He was spreading baseless, unsubstantiated theories about an act of arguably domestic terrorism right before the January six riots. And now that the reality is here, we've got an arrest, he's deputy FBI director, which he has no business being. He tries to wave it away by saying, I used to be paid for my opinions. That's not exculpatory, that's damning. And it's not even. I don't operate in journalism, right? I do analysis and commentary. Bongino was not a journalist. He was doing analysis and commentary. But that's not even commentary. It's intellectual dishonesty to manufacture outrage. Gin up your base and he gives up the game. Folks who do that should be punished. They really don't deserve an audience and and it is corrosive to this country. And he's admitting not only that it's what he was doing, but that someday he's going to go back to it when this half baked, hair brained deputy FBI directorship finally comes to a merciful end. All right, so we all know Alexa listens to us, recommends products based on our conversations. Metta retargets us based on our browsing and engagement history. Have you wondered why what Chat GPT and Claude are up to with your conversations? We feed so much of our information to these AI chat bots. Thoughts, dreams, sensitive questions, business ideas. They take the information, tie it to your identity and they can sell that to third parties and governments. ChatGPT has the former director of the NSA on their board right now. That doesn't feel awesome. It took us a long time to truly understand what social media companies were doing with our data. We don't have to make the same mistake with AI. And that's why I've started using Venice AI, a generative AI platform that is private and permissionless. They don't spy on you, Venice. I won't censor the AI. They have a safe mode which you can turn off for both text and image generation. Messages are encrypted. Your conversation history is only stored on your browser. I love the Pro plan because I get upgraded features like uploading files, unlimited text prompts. Check it out if you want to use AI without censorship or fear of handing over your most intimate thoughts to a corporation or the government, go to Venice AI, slash PACMAN and use code PACMAN to get 20% off their Pro plan. The link is in the description 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. 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. I'm partnering up with Ground News to give you 40% 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. Drowsy Donnie is at it again. And health concerns are again scaling up as Donald Trump fell asleep for what, the fifth or sixth time in public this week. This time it was during the signing of a peace agreement between Rwanda and the drc. This happened just days after Trump fell asleep three or four times during a televised cabinet meeting. Trump again dozing off during the ceremony, sitting right there inside the US Institute for Peacebuilding minutes after he was bragging about the deal. And while the presidents of Rwanda and the DRC were speaking, Trump visibly closing his eyes, head drooping, completely checked out. So I'm going to show you the footage here. This is not a brief blink. This is a guy whose body is forcing him to shut down. And by the way, this was not like hours during which Trump had to be here. This was an important high stakes 15 minute event. And you have to ask what is wrong with Trump? Take a look at this if you're only listening. Today, Trump is falling asleep. As we are listening to speakers.
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On the road ahead.
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F
There is no doubt about it.
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Rwanda, I know.
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Will not be found wanting.
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B
All right, and then we have a more zoomed in view lest there be any doubt about Trump just struggling, swollen eyes almost completely shut as a, as a baseline, and then falling asleep.
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F
In resolving the underlying issues.
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President Trump introduced a new and effective dynamism.
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B
And as you see Trump's head starting to go down and he catches it.
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F
That created the space for breakthroughs.
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His approach is even handed.
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B
Oh, boy.
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F
Never.
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B
So listen, this is not about shaming an elderly man. This is about hypocrisy when it comes to what we heard about Biden for four years. And it is also about public safety and basic executive competence because there's a documented pattern here. We know the New York Times finally reported about Trump's physical and mental decline. We know Trump needed an MRI and extra tests at his last doctor's visit with very unclear reasons why. And when you then see him falling asleep in public, he has no standing to argue about the state of his health or anybody else's. And the evidence is just staring us in the face now. I think the first thing is we just have to be honest about the seriousness of this issue. We aren't doctors, but we can look at date. Well, some. I mean, I know that there are a lot of doctors in the audience. I'm not a doctor, but I can look at the data and the evidence a 79 year old repeatedly falling asleep in the middle of the day during short, high profile meetings, a cabinet meeting, an international peace signing. It's not just being tired. True, narcolepsy is rare in older adults. I'm not even suggesting that Trump is narcoleptic. But this kind of excessive daytime sleepiness can be a flashing red alert about an underlying medical problem that demands professional attention. Could it be severe sleep apnea, which robs the brain of oxygen and can affect, it affects millions of people? Could it be connected to a medication that Trump is taking, which we haven't been told about? Could it be a neurodegenerative issue or a chronic condition, a thyroid problem? Or I could give you a list of 20 or 30 things we don't know because the administration is very vague and propagandistic about Donald Trump's health. And that refusal to be transparent, despite saying they are the most transparent people in the world, is now making it a question of public responsibility as well. Is Trump's brain getting the rest it needs to be President of the United States? Is Trump's brain even getting the oxygen it needs to be the President of the United States? Now, second, even if we assume that this is not a medical mystery, the exhaustion is a direct result of the toxic, self inflicted chaos of this administration. Remember that for decades Trump has bragged he only needs, you know, four to five hours of sleep a night. He's got superhuman strength and stamina and all of that. He mocks opponents as sleepy, forgetting, you know, what doctors actually say you should be getting as far as sleep goes. But the bravado of Trump on sleep is colliding with reality right now. And we know this based on the timing of his Truth Social blitzes. Trump is often up late into the night posting hundreds of unhinged rants to Truth Social and then up at 5:30 in the morning posting more. We know he's not even getting those five hours of sleep, which he claims are all he needs. He's not even getting his minimum requirement. Now the most probable reason for the relentless, just completely chaotic all night posting is that Trump is under massive political and legal stress, most of it self inflicted, because of how he's running the country. He knows his president, his presidency is under threat from, from within and from without. And he is desperate to control a narrative that is spinning away from him when it comes to war crimes, when it comes to all these different things. And so I think that there are things, three, four different layers here, but the guy cannot stay awake and Just imagine if this were Biden. Now, Trump is aware of the growing focus from legacy and corporate media on his health and he doesn't like it. Trump's melting down again. And this time it's not about the economy, it's not about protesters, it's not about Jeffrey Epstein. It is about his brain, his cognitive and physical health. Trump branded Joe Biden Sleepy Joe and now is furious that everybody's calling him Sleepy Drowsy Donnie because he fell asleep three or four times at his Cabinet meeting this week. He then nodded off during a signing of a peace agreement between Rwanda and the drc. We looked at video of that in the last segment and the coverage of Trump's health is piling up and he is reportedly furious. The New York Times has talked about it, the Washington Post, cnn, AFP ran a piece called Sleepy Dawn. The Daily Beast said, this is the sequel nobody wanted to see. There are articles about Trump's physical health and argues about Trump's cognitive health. Now, one of the realities is that this is sort of like too late in the game. And what I mean by that is for years, legacy in corporate media kind of bent over backwards to really not talk about Trump's health, where anything with Biden, if he looked off stage the wrong way, would become days of coverage and there would be, I mean, entire books were written about, about it, breathless coverage, etc. And for the most part, legacy and corporate media has not dealt with that issue with Donald Trump. And finally, now, finally, finally it is starting. And sources inside the White House say that Trump is furious about this. When Trump sees coverage about, is he slowing down? When Trump sees coverage about his brain, When Trump sees coverage about his mri, Trump is reportedly furious. And it's triggering him even more than coverage about Trump's friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, which really says a lot. Now, we have seen this before. Trump loves to dish it out, mock other people for decline. Sleepy Joe, when the spotlight gets turned on him because he's a guy in a glass house throwing stones, the spotlight angers him and he doesn't like it at all. And the public watches every move from someone who is in this top job. And the truth is that it is a high pressure job and Trump doesn't seem to be able to handle it. He's forgetful, he's sleeping during meetings. He's got the hand bruising that's covered in makeup and the makeup is now covered in band aids. Cameras don't lie. People are noticing. And although the White House insists he's in perfect health, for the age. Of course for the age. This is starting to become impossible to hide. Now, there would be.
- [34:56]
Simple ways to shut all of this down, actually make full results public. Not a self written summary, not a spin job from his personal doctor. Let's figure out some way. I mean, listen, I would love to see Trump get a stress test, a cardiac stress test in public. I would love for Trump to be given a serious cognitive test, not just the 30 question brain injury screening thing. Do it in public and show us how great and sharp you are and then we could put this entire thing to bed. And of course they don't do it because everybody knows that the truth is what we are all seeing. The act is slipping and they don't want proof that the decline is real. So they spent years mocking Biden for this, going after Biden for this, and now the question is about Trump. Is he capable of doing the job? And there's a deeper irony here as well. Trump is obsessed with projecting dominance, strength. He's sharp, he's in control. He built a movement on this idea. He's the only one tough enough to run the country. But now the strongman looks fragile and the brand is collapsing. Authoritarians really struggle with vulnerability. They don't age gracefully. They get angry that people are noticing that they are not projecting the strength they wish that they were projecting. And so Trump picked his weapon, right? Choose your weapon. Trump chose cognitive fitness and he wielded it like a political weapon. And now the weapon has been turned on him. He introduced the weapon to the fight and the weapon has been turned on him. He has no clue how to stop the bleeding. He's furious. What that tells me is we are on to something and hopefully legacy and corporate media are going to continue covering it. A lot of people think identity theft is something that only happens when someone hacks into your account. But the truth is that it usually starts with your personal information being posted online by data brokers where anybody can find it. Our sponsor, Incogni, is a service that helps protect your privacy by forcing the data brokers to delete your information. This includes your name, address, phone number, even sensitive things like property records or your political affiliation. And now, with their custom removals feature included in the unlimited plan, you're not limited to just the list of 250 plus brokers they work with. By default, if you find any site exposing any of your private information, even one they've never seen before, you can send a link and Incogni's team will work to get that removed. This is serious protection for you and your family and against identity theft, against fraud, doxing harassment and Incogni's data removal process is the only one independently verified by Deloitte. Get 60% off an annual plan when you visit incogni.com/pacman and use the code Pacman. The link is in the description if you are scrambling for a meaningful last minute holiday gift and running out of real ideas, Aura Frames can save you. Our sponsor, Aura, makes high quality digital photo frames that showcase your favorite pictures and videos in a way that looks like a real print. I've given these to so many different people. I gave one to my dad preloaded with family photos. He still walks by it and comments on pictures he hasn't seen in years. It's a gift that lands and Aura makes it really easy. You can preload the pictures before it even ships. You can add a personal message and and then you can keep adding photos and videos all year long. It's free, it's unlimited, the setup takes just a few minutes and every frame arrives in a premium gift box. There is still plenty of time to get an Aura frame shipped before Christmas and you'll get $35 off their bestselling Carver Mat frames. When you go to aura frames.com and use the code pattern Pacman at checkout, the link is in the description.
- [39:05]
The hugely embarrassing demolition and construction project that the White House is now at an even more humiliating standstill. You've got to hear what is going on. Trump demolished part of the White House and we're now learning that there was not any realistic plan for what was going to be rebuilt. Now you might say, of course we know it was going to be built. It was going to be a 300, and something million dollar ballroom. Yes, generically we know that. But it turns out that the way Trump wanted it done is apparently architecturally implausible and the entire thing is now at a standstill and Trump's looking for a new architect. It is a, it is a humiliation of global proportions. So they start the demolition. We see it, the cranes are there. I was in D.C. recently and saw it with my own eyes there, moving material out day and night. It was 10pm I was at dinner next to the White House and saw cranes functioning. I mean, it's completely and totally nuts. So the destruction starts and then the organizational incompetence that Donald Trump is known for comes to light. The critics of the project said, you know, 90,000 square foot ballroom. Will this even, even fit? Is it appropriate? Does it make any Sense, from a construction perspective, from a design perspective, does it make any sense to have such a ballroom at all? And now all of a sudden, the dust has kind of started to settle on the demolition. And the architect that Trump picked, James McCrary the second, said to Trump, this is not really going to work. And the central conflict is that McCrary warned, you know, it's too big. This is going to violate a core architectural principle, which is the extension really shouldn't overshadow the main building. Like you. If the White House is 55,000 square feet and you're going to build a 90,000 square foot ballroom, it just doesn't really make sense. The ballroom needs to be smaller. Trump wants a structure so huge. Again, I don't know if there's sort of like a psychological phallic aspect to this, where because of Trump's diminished, diminished size in a number of areas, he feels the need to build big things, or we're getting more into, like, the psychological elements of compensation here. Put that aside. But the point is, the architect said, this doesn't really make sense. So what happened? It's totally inevitable. McCrary is out, and he now leaves a partially demolished site. The White House is scrambling to replace him. They are looking at DC Architecture firm Shalom Baron Baroness to take over. And the message here is very clear. You start demolishing, what's that thing that they say, measure twice, cut once? You start demolishing, before you even have a feasible plan for what's going to be built, you put the project at a standstill. You're firing people and replacing people. And as always, the cost goes up 100 million, 200 million, 2,5300. Over $300 million, and we can't even get off the drawing board so far. Now, you might say, David, symbolically this is disastrous, but I don't really care that much about it. I'm going to argue that this is actually encapsulating and emblematic of the chaotic nature of everything that Donald Trump does. Right. So take a look here. Tears down a historic landmark on impulse, ignores expert advice, and then says, oh, you won't do the stupid thing I want you to do. You're fired and I'm going to find somebody else. Right now. This is the theme. Trump has always used his time working in real estate and business as the reason why he should be president. Right. He says, I manage big projects, I negotiated deals, I ran large companies, I'm a builder, I'm an investor, I'm a businessman, because I'm good at those things. I. I would be a good president. The skills will transfer. The first question, which we asked when Mitt Romney was running, is, do we have evidence that business people make good presidents? And the answer is, no, we don't. But then the second layer is, is Donald Trump actually a good builder? Is Donald Trump actually a good business person? Or is it just that he was given a whole bunch of money by his dad? And by the way, if he had just thrown all that money into the S&P 500 index fund, would he end up with more money today than if he had done anything? And the answer is yes, Trump has done worse financially because he did anything. And so then you dig into his building history and you see that he has a long history of projects that go over budget. There are fights, there are problems. It's exactly what's happening in the White House ballroom project, and it's exactly what's happening in this country. So if anything, Trump's past business dealings and the lawsuits and the bankruptcies and the chaos, and it's actually evidence that Trump is particularly ill suited to be the President of the United States. The pattern is he'll profit from his name where he can, but when you actually need to do construction and execution, it all falls apart. Anybody surprised? I am certainly not. We just had the lighting of the 30 Rock Christmas tree in New York City, and I guess, not to be outdone, you know, whatever, they have a DC Christmas tree as well. Donald Trump struggled through this event just hours ago, seemingly unable to do anything even as simple as just speak. A few minutes at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony. Trump, of course, in the Christmas spirit, pretending to be religious. And it really just doesn't land on this important day.
- [44:53]
C
Tonight, this beautiful evergreen tree glows bright on the dark and cold winter night and reminds us of the words of Gospel of John. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. Beautiful words. With the birth of Jesus, human history turned from night to day. His word and his example call us to love one another, to serve one another, and to honor the sacred truth that every child especially made.
- [45:24]
B
You can really see that Donald Trump is just so spiritually connected to the Gospel of John, as he says, as he says there. And Trump truly cannot do anything without injecting his toxic brand of politics. I'll give you an example. Remember, tree lighting ceremony. That's all this was supposed to be.
- [45:47]
C
Since have heeded that call and the faith and service of Christians have been essential parts of America's strength. From the very, very beginning. Incredible. We love the Christians, we love all religions. And by the way, religion is coming back to the usa. You see that very strongly. So this Christmas season, let me say thank you to everyone who serves the needy and lifts up the communities inspired by faith. Thank you to the police, law enforcement officers, first responders, ICE and border patrol agents who risk their lives every day to defend the innocent, protect the good, and keep the evil in danger at bay. And thank you to the men and women of the United States military, including the brave.
- [46:34]
B
All right, so he can't do anything without injecting the toxicity of his politics. And even, even economically. Remember, tree lighting ceremony. Just count down from five and have Melania push the button. But he can't do it. He just can't do it to our country.
- [46:51]
C
Nobody, not one. Our economy is thriving, inflation has stopped. Our nation is strong and America is back. Bigger and better, Stronger. Better than ever before. Think of it. And we're making peace all over the world. We're settling wars at levels that nobody's ever seen before. Eight of them. We're looking for one more. That's Russia, Ukraine, if that's possible. And I think we'll get there eventually.
- [47:17]
B
Last year you go, and I know many people in the audience saying to themselves, inflation is gone. What are you talking about? Have you seen my grocery bill? Have you seen what's going on with my rent? Have you seen anything? And then maybe more toxically than anything else, Trump talking about a rigged election. It's a tree lighting ceremony. Honest question for Magas in the audience. Do you like it when Trump talks about a rigged election when he's just supposed to be lighting a Christmas tree?
- [47:49]
C
And remember, we have not only the 250 years, but we have, this is a big one. We have the World cup and we have the Olympics coming up, all within this four year period.
- [48:01]
See, if they didn't rig the election, I would have been sitting. Can you imagine? I wouldn't have any of them and I probably wouldn't have been invited. I would have been very upset.
- [48:09]
B
There you go. Finally, they eventually did get to the lighting of the tree. And Trump appears to need to read the countdown from 5 to 0 off of a piece of paper. He might have skipped four if it weren't for the piece of paper.
- [48:25]
C
Light the beautiful Christmas tree. Are you ready?
- [48:30]
So the first lady is going to do the honors and we're going to do a countdown. We'll go from five to zero.
- [48:37]
B
Okay, wait, hold on a second. Wait.
- [48:40]
C
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
- [48:41]
B
Hold on we're starting at what number are we? Okay, hold on. I guess we'll figure it out.
- [48:47]
C
5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
- [48:58]
Honey.
- [49:04]
B
All right, and then Trump and Melania touching hands briefly there. I'm sure it was unpleasant for her, but they have successfully managed to count from five to zero and light the tree again. Quite honest question for magazine do you like hearing Trump talk about there's no inflation, the election was rigged, we're bringing religion back to America after those filthy social now do you like him injecting that into a tree lighting ceremony? It seems pathetically embarrassing to me. Let me know the truth is that most underwear wasn't designed with comfort in mind. Sheath underwear actually was, and the difference will immediately hit you as you put them on for the first time. Instead of letting everything mashed together like traditional underwear, Sheath is designed with dual front pouches that separate and support you throughout the day. It's breathable, soft, built to keep you dry. No more sticking, no awkward adjustments, no discomfort. It sounds too good to be true, but once you try Sheath, you're going to understand it is difficult to go back. I've heard from so many people they were skeptical and then they were sold after their first pair. I was one of those people. It is not just for men. Sheath has an excellent women's line too, all with the same focus on comfort and quality. Perfect for the holidays. If you're looking for a gift, go to sheath underwear.com/pacman and get 20% off with code Pacman. The link is in the description. When it was time for a new mattress, I didn't want to gamble on something generic. I had heard about Helix. I liked that they customize the mattress based on sleep. I'm mostly a stomach sleeper, so I took the quiz and ended up with a model that felt tailored to me. I've had it for years. What I notice is I don't wake up with back stiffness. I don't wake up with shoulder pain. I don't toss and turn looking for a comfortable position. It's just better than my old mattress. It's more supportive, but it's still comfortable. Another thing I like about Helix is that there's no one size fits all approach. It's really tailored to you in terms of firmness as well. It's made a difference for me and I'm thrilled to be partnering with them right now. Helix has a special offer only for my audience. Get 27% off everything on their site when you go to helix sleep.com/pacman the link is in the description. All right, Friday feedback. Your emails, YouTube comments, Spotify replies daily. TikTok comments, all of it on Friday. Let's go through some of them, starting with one that is really special. Justin said on Instagram. Oh my God, David Pakman show Pac Douche Pash Douche Pack Douche. Lol. You're in heaven with all those cackling hens in there, aren't you? Lol. You're mostly a women yourself, so you fit right in. What a bunch of losers all sitting there complaining like it makes a difference. This is a reference, I guess, to my CNN appearance because I guess it's very offensive to Justin. There were women allowed to speak. Yes, it's. It seems highly, highly triggering to some of the people who don't like me that some shows do let women speak. Pash, douche. That, that is, that is really something. Hard to comment on something so dumb. But thanks for taking the time to email me, I guess. Let's go now to YouTube comments. This is Indy Mofro who says, David, thank you for the daily podcast. It is my nightly dose of sanity to end my day in a world that is nuttier than a squirrel turd. Yeah, you know what's very interesting is that over the years I've been doing this. Depending on what's going on socially, culturally, technologically, different platforms grow faster versus slower. So like there was a point in time where YouTube was by far our fastest growing platform and then there was a period in time where it was TikTok that was the fastest growing platform. I think this was earlier in TikTok's.
- [53:39]
Tenure in, earlier in Tik Tok's existence. And it was a time when there were many new entrants starting to do news and politics on TikTok. And so like that was growing more quickly. Right now, the audio podcast, which is so funny because it's one of the original mediums that predates us being on Snapchat and Facebook and Instagram and TikTok and even YouTube. The YouTube, the audio podcast is having a sort of renaissance where it is now one of our fastest growing platforms. Growing rapidly on Spotify, growing rapidly on Apple podcasts. And what I think it is to a degree is that people's media consumption habits are changing a little bit. And there are a lot of folks who are taking the advice of a lot of people that have been talking about this, myself included, people like Cal Newport and others who say rather than just being in the feed and letting algorithms direct your viewing and listening, curate proactively and thoughtfully and audio podcast is arguably one of the best platforms for that. I know for myself, I love going to the gym and having my few podcasts I listen to and saying I am going to listen to an hour episode of something rather than scrolling short videos or whatever. The point is all the platforms are available for whatever fits best for you. But interesting that the audio podcast is growing remarkably quickly. All right, Sally Herbert wrote in and said, david, that is most definitely not a British accent. The interviewer is Australian. How could you get that so wrong? Yes, listen, I got a bunch of angry emails saying, david, I can't believe you said that people with British accents or British people are unsophisticated. I never said any, any of that. I, I did mistakenly last week refer to an Australian interviewer as British. I made a mistake and I'm sorry about that. But there was no pejorative aspect about it. We love all the accents. Everybody's great. It just so happened I got it wrong. The Australian interviewer was Australian interviewing Caroline Levitt. Ok, after my interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris, a number of emails and messages came in. There was a sub Reddit post of great interest from Big Daddy Zeus who says, Kamala, no humility nor accountability. I love how Kamala still takes zero accountability for how terrible of a campaign she ran. I really hope she stays away from the 2028 presidential picture. No self awareness, no reflection, no lessons learned whatsoever. Just there wasn't enough time. What a loser. She should just continue to grift her book and enjoy her millions. She's the last kind of person the left needs right now. Overwhelming response to my short interview with Kamala Harris and a lot of people had versions of this reaction, which is the book and the interview did not exactly have the introspection that many of you expected to see. And I believe that it is true that Joe Biden did not set up Kamala Harris to have a winning campaign. I believe it is true that 107 days really isn't enough time to run for president and win. But I also have said I don't think Kamala Harris should run in 2028. I don't think Kamala Harris is the direction that the Democratic Party should go in. And I've given my numerous reasons for that. And my sense from looking at comments, emails, etc. Is that most of the audience agrees with me right now. Bill Lebers said, here is the Trump administration's twisted logic. The Supreme Court ruled that Trump can't break the law when acting as president, therefore there are no illegal orders and the military must follow all of them. Yeah, this entire thing.
- [57:55]
I don't even know how to sum up the problem, but one of the top lines is the checks and balances that the framers and founders of this country put in place.
- [58:08]
Clearly never accounted for the possibility that someone like a Trump would get elected. And you could say that's the mistake of the framers and founders. You could say actually it wasn't their mistake. It's the way that culture and the discourse has degraded so much over the last 50 years that we ended up with an American population willing and determined to vote for someone like Donald Trump. There's a lot of different blame to go around, but on this issue of the illegal orders, there is an extraordinarily Nixon like sense of if the president does it, it's not illegal and therefore the whole conversation about illegal orders is moot and it's terrifyingly dangerous. Hero Firefighter wrote on Reddit I believe Gavin Newsom and J.B. pritzker are the best candidates for the 2028 presidential election. I think they're both great governors. They both take a stand against Trump, have legalized LGBT rights, trans health care and abortion in their respective states, and have consistently shown their constituents they care about them. For example, it's thanks to Newsom that California is the world's fourth largest economy. Hence I believe one of them should be the Democratic candidate in 28. We need presidents who used to be governors and have shown themselves to be able to manage only one state before running the country. So a couple of things here. I believe that California would have gone from being the sixth to the fourth largest economy in the world, even under people other than Gavin Newsom. I think Gavin Newsom has been a good steward for California overall, despite having not solved every problem as any country or State with 40 million people would have would have problems. But I think California's ascendancy is bigger than Gavin Newsom and that it would have achieved fourth largest economy status assuming you didn't have a governor that was actively destructive. I think that I don't know how much credit I give to Newsom for that. However. However, I've said before, governors are administrators in a way that members of the House and members of the Senate are not. And in a sense governors who are competent are well suited to be President of the United States. The way that I think about how I want a president operating, which is less about making broad, bombastic partizan statements and more about the nuts and bolts of programs and getting things done. So I think I know my audience is very mixed about individual people. I'll only address Newsom and Pritzker right now because those are the ones mentioned. I would have no concerns about competence with a President Gavin Newsom, nor with a President J.B. pritzker. That. That's, that's the way I would say it. Here we go. 199 says, Is there a shred of economic truth to lowering taxes on the rich creates jobs? The only thing that creates jobs from my understanding is demand. I've worked for numerous corporations and I've never seen the CEO save money in taxes. And that results in an influx of jobs. And our companies are higher pay. Yeah, listen, here's something you really have to understand. There is a backwards logic to this. For many of these right wingers, the right wingers go, listen, you lower taxes people end up with more money. The company and the CEO end up with more money. So then they invest and they hire people and they build a new factory. This makes no sense. And I've explained it before, and I want to do it once more, and I hope I'm doing this clearly.
- [61:46]
If the tax rate is 10%, you can take all your profit and you can take it out of the business and you pay 10%. On the other hand, imagine that when you take profits, you pay 40%. What would incentivize you to avoid a tax more, a 10% tax or a 40% tax? Most people would work harder to avoid a 40% tax than a 10% tax. And you know how you avoid a tax? If you're in business, you invest the money in growing the business. What do I mean by that? Take, for example, what do I have here? Take. Take this lens that I have right here. Okay.
- [62:33]
This is like, I think it's a $500 lens. If my tax rate is 10%, if I buy this lens, I avoid a 10% tax because investing in your business is tax deductible. This lens is a business expense. Right? If I pay 500 bucks, I now no longer pay tax on that $500. Would I work harder to avoid paying a 10% tax or a 40% tax? 40. Meaning I am actually incentivized to go and invest in my business. And if taxes are higher. Now, of course, this only works to a degree. If you get 100% tax, we're talking about a different thing. But the bottom line is this whole low taxes, incentivize investing in your business thing. No, number one, you. You would be more motivated to avoid a higher tax. And number two, well, the other thing is you avoid taxes by investing. And of course demand is what drives hiring. Why would I hire more employees if there's no demand for what my employees are making or the service that they are providing? And demand obviously has to do with how much money does the broader economy have for people to spend on my product or service. So it is completely backwards. John Zukowski wrote on Spotify I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm slightly disappointed that Marjorie Taylor Greene resigned. I still don't buy the whole she's now seen the error in her ways with her rhetoric. But even if this is all a ploy to run for higher office, I'd much rather have this version of Marjorie Taylor Greene in Congress than the nut likely to replace her. Plus I think she could still easily win a primary which would make Trump meltdown and be glorious to behold. Yeah, I agree with John. What I was looking forward to seeing in 2026 how strong is Trump's anti endorsement? Can Trump saying don't vote for Marjorie Taylor Greene really make her lose? Or has Trump lost that power? So I am also disappointed that Marjorie Taylor Greene resigned. I would have rather seen her stay in over on Substack Franklin says, I enjoy your 3 minute soundbites and the neutral, even tone of your reporting. I've been searching for factual reporting but you've taken it to the next level. Also listen to your YouTube channel. Good stuff that deserves to be supported. Franklin, thank you so much. I can't tell you how in awe I am and how flattered I am by all of the support that has come in recently. The growth of independent media, not just this show but the entire ecosystem. And it's people like Franklin just liking stuff, sharing stuff, subscribing on YouTube, whatever. That's what we are building with. Those are the building blocks. And especially going into a primary as critical as 2026, we've got to do it. So thank you to everybody. We've got a phenomenal bonus show for you today. We will talk about the Texas electoral map ruling. We'll talk about what's going on with Cash Patel. We'll talk about what's going on with the Institute of Peace and much more. Sign up and get the bonus show at joinpakman. Com.