B (3:13)

All right. In some of the least surprising news in a while. Hope you had a good weekend. By the way, it turns out the suspect in the 2021 attempted pipe bombing on the eve of the Jan.6 riots appears to be a Trump supporter who was disappointed by the results of the 2020 election and believed Donald Trump's lie that he was the rightful and true winner of the 2020 election, not Joe Biden. Now, I know, I know that the magazines and the Maga Donians and the MAGA Potamians, all of them and Trump himself are not taking this news well. As a reminder, the suspect is 30 year old Brian Cole. He would have been about 25 years old at the time of the attempted pipe bombing. If you've forgotten the details because it's been so long, it has taken so long to find the alleged perpetrator. He is accused of leaving one explosive device outside of the Republican National Committee and one explosive device outside of the Democratic National Committee. Now, thankfully, the devices did not explode. We don't yet know the motive for the attempted bombing, but we have a lot of information about the suspect. Now, two law enforcement sources said on Friday that the suspect is believed to be a supporter of President Donald Trump. Even Jeanine Pirro, the former judge, former Fox News Host, now the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, that Jeanine Pirro, big Trump supporter. Even she says that the suspect was, quote, Disappointed in the 2020 election results, the election won by Joe Biden, which did not allow Donald Trump to remain as president of the United States. She also added that it isn't clear if he is a supporter one way or the other. But there is a whole bunch of other reporter reporting saying that the suspect is is indeed a Trump supporter. There is, of course, innocence until guilt has been proven. This is the United States of America. But I will tell you what law enforcement says they have on the guy. Number one, cell phone records showing him in the relevant areas at the relevant time. Number two, his car was nearby, as evidenced by License plate readers. Number three. There are records of the alleged pipe bomber, the alleged attempted pipe bomber, buying components that ultimately found their way into the pipe bombs and were found at the sites. If you look at the surveillance video, Cole is wearing very noticeable particular shoes. And he has reportedly admitted to investigators that he got rid of those shoes after the incident. It's alleged that he is saying, yes, those were my shoes. I got rid of them in order to distance myself from the evidence. Now, even without the pipe bombs having exploded, thankfully, the potential sentence here is 20 years in prison. Now, there's a couple important takeaways, and he's going to get his day in court. The investigation continues. We will ultimately hopefully know more about the motive. But there for me are two really important takeaways here. Number one, violence. And these sorts of conspiracy theories, like election conspiracy theories are not disconnected. And one of the reactions that we often get is like, okay, listen, flat earth is not a very serious conspiracy theory. No one's going to be hurt or killed because some people believe that the earth is flat. To which when we have interviewed conspiracy theory experts in the past, they say, yeah, no, I mean, like in a direct sense, it's not like a conspiracy theory about Jews which might directly lead you to commit violence against Jews. It's not that flat earth isn't that. But there are these sort of Venn diagrams where some of these beliefs overlap with other beliefs. And if you believe that the earth is flat, what else do you believe? And do those other believe beliefs connect to violence? That's an example. In this particular case, we sometimes hear, listen, you can believe that Trump won the 2020 election and not want to go and commit violence or do anything about it to anybody else. And of course, in most cases that would be true. But the point here is, here is a suspect. If we're thinking stochastically. If enough people become convinced that the election really was stolen by Joe Biden and that Donald Trump should be president starting In January of 2021, some of those people will go and take certain actions. And while we are still waiting on the motive, we know more and more about the political beliefs of this, of the alleged pipe bomber. We see that the election conspiracies can indeed connect. And the fact that the guy allegedly turned his belief about the 2020 election is into part of an environment that got him into pipe bomb making. Targeting both major parties is just a reminder that denying reality and subscribing to conspiracy theories can morph into real world violence. That's takeaway number One. And then number two, when, when we consider unchecked conspiracy driven rage and the effects that, that it can have, yes, it can lead to angry tweets and turning X into a cesspool of bottom feeding right wing conspiracy theories. Sure. But it can also point in the direction of attempted mass violence. And so this should really be a cautionary tale about radicalization and the dehumanization of political opponents. Which even though this will get us to something we'll talk about later in the show, even though she's now kind of doing her mea culpa apology to her, I don't totally buy it from Marjorie Taylor Greene. And she participated in some of that same sort of radicalizing content and becoming a purveyor of the sorts of ideas that may have led the alleged pipe bomber to go from I have a belief that Biden is not the rightful winner of the election to I'm going to put together pipe bombs and leave them at the RNC and the dnc. So that's the latest. Trump doesn't like it. The magazine insisting the guy was a Democrat, but the evidence simply does not point in that direction. Have you ever noticed how when unusual things happen with a president, sometimes the press will treat it like a big red alert. It's a week of stories. We need hearings, we need investigations. And sometimes when something unusual happens with a president, it basically gets ignored. We right now are in that situation. We have a sitting President Donald Trump, sporting clearly bandaged, bruised, swollen right hand, bruises on both hands. We've seen it repeatedly at public events. First he was covering it with makeup, now he's covering the right hand with bandages. We are learning about MRIs during supposedly routine exams that weren't disclosed, only mentioned because Trump accidentally admitted to it. And then months of not telling us why they did it and when they finally do it doesn't make any sense. And yet, despite all of that legacy mainstream and corporate media coverage is treating this Trump health situation kind of like a background drama. It might incidentally be mentioned, but meanwhile, just think back to how they treated Joe Biden's physical and mental health fitness when he was in office. It was front page primetime stuff not only in right wing media, but increasingly in non overtly partizan media as well. And you think back to Biden's presidency and the short lived reelection campaign of 2024. And many outlets argued we are simply doing our job by flagging concerns about President Biden's age, about Biden's stamina, about his sharpness. But there was no.

B (11:31)

Immediate reason to believe that we were not getting Biden's health records, for example. Now, of course, Biden was declining the disastrous debate performance. It became undeniable. And ultimately analysts, insiders, it all, it just became clear that he was not the right guy to continue. But the point is that all along, relative to the facts and what was visible, the coverage was nonstop. Now contrast that to what's happening right now with Donald Trump. Trump is showing unmistakable bizarre signs. A battered, swollen, bandaged hand. The MRI stuff, the confusion, the distraction, falling asleep 5, 6 times in public last week. And we will, you know, occasionally get a story that repeats what the White House said. Oh, frequent handshaking and aspirin and chronic venous insufficiency. And there is no real corporate and legacy media call for full disclosure. We aren't getting serious discussions of what's going on with his hands. They had no choice but to sort of COVID the MRI stuff because it kept coming up at press briefings, but it sort of lack of curiosity. So this is really not about partizanship. This is a question about journalism and the media. What gets covered, what doesn't get covered. And it does reflect editorial decisions, story selection, framing. These are things that define public awareness and what people are thinking of. And when the same sorts of red flags appeared under Biden, people talking about misstatements or gate issues or you know, a sleep schedule or stamina, you had legacy in corporate media doing wall to wall coverage about it. And it was framed as can you do the job? We are seeing worse red flags under Trump and the sort of auto response becomes that that is not really worthy of discussion. I'll mention a story which I think I also mentioned in the past, which is that when I was set to appear On CNN about six weeks ago, the segment ultimately got canceled like 15 minutes before it was set to start because there was some industrial accident somewhere that they decided to cover instead. But I was asked to give a list of like, what is my audience worried about when it comes to Trump that I want to talk about. And I said, well, they're worried that he hasn't reduced prices the way he said he would. They're worried that even though he said he was the peace president, he's not really being peaceful and they're worried about his cognitive decline. And I was told by cnn, oh, you know, you're not really a doctor, I don't know that you should bring that up. And I said, well, you didn't ask me for a medical diagnosis. You asked me what is my audience writing to me about and my audience is writing to me about their concerns about, not Biden, Trump's cognitive decline. And ultimately the segment got canceled. My plan was to talk about it anyway. But this gets me to the next issue. Is there an explanation, at least to a degree that relates to fear of lawsuits from Donald Trump? Because Donald Trump hasn't just mocked or dismissed critical outlets, he has sued them. After all, in 2025 alone, Trump has filed these massive defamation lawsuits against major news institutions of 50, however many billion against the New York Times and he's threatening lawsuits over the BBC. He's gotten some small settlements. And so I also wonder, is there an additional reason why we are not really hearing about Trump's health and the very strange situation with his hands on legacy and corporate media? Because they want to chill media coverage of it for fear of getting sued. Now when you are talking about the President of the United States and if you care about democracy, not about partisanship, we can't have this silence about Trump's health. We should be demanding honest reporting rather than spin. We should be asking for full disclosure, actual medical records rather than a note summarizing the alleged MRI report. We need independent verification and we need real experts commenting, not like Fox News doctor Mark Siegel, who says it's a travesty that Trump's health is even being discussed when the leader's physical condition is visibly deteriorating publicly. It shouldn't be sidebar that legacy and corporate media try to relegate to, you know, the comment section. It is a matter of public interest. It deserves more than a shrug from the media. And if they continue to treat what's going on with Trump as trivial, we should all be asking what other major stories are legacy in corporate media not covering right now?

B (16:21)

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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 Pacman at checkout, the link is in the description the David Pakman show continues to primarily be an audience supported program. I would humbly be flattered by your support. We do an extra show every day for our members. You can sign up@join pacman.com we also have Substack Premium subscriptions which give you access to Q&As with me as well as subscriber only written content. You can find out more about that@substack.david pakman.com and I want to say a huge thank you to our newest members Jordan Worcester and Sam Hoekstra who signed up today at Join Pacman Dotcom. Very much appreciate both of them. A new report finds that Donald Trump may have indeed committed the exact type of mortgage fraud that he has accused others of committing. Let me explain this to you. I think you're going to like this one. I think before being horrified by the double standard nature of it. So you might remember that Donald Trump has publicly accused several people of committing mortgage fraud. Now, what does mortgage fraud mean? Well, when you apply for a mortgage, one of the questions that you're asked is, is this going to be your primary residence? Are you going to live in this house? I've done this many times on mortgage applications. It is the place you want to live in, it is the place you want to move to. And you get the best rate on a mortgage, the best terms, the best deal. Usually if you are going to live in the home, if you're buying the place to rent it out, if you're buying it as a second home, a vacation home that you'll use two months out of the year, you're not going to get as good of a rate. The best rate is on a primary residence standard mortgage. Now, Donald Trump over the last year has accused Lisa Cook, a governor at the Federal Reserve, and also our friend Adam schiff, now a U.S. senator, of exactly that kind of mortgage fraud. Trump said Lisa Cook listed more than one property as a primary residence on a mortgage, and she got a good deal on her mortgages because she lied and said she has multiple primary residences. Trump said Adam Schiff did the same thing in order to get a better mortgage rate. Now, I'm going to get back to that in a moment because the truth of it is a little more complicated. What we have today that's new is that ProPublica is reporting that they've been looking into Trump's mortgage history. And back in 1993, Trump signed a mortgage for a house in Florida, saying, this is going to be my primary residence. And he got a nice beautiful mortgage, the best possible terms. Seven weeks later, seven weeks later, Trump signed another mortgage for a different Florida property and said, yep, this one is going to be my primary residence. And he got the best possible terms. Now, let's not go any further yet. Let's just evaluate what we have. So far, Trump has done the same thing that he says Lisa Cook did and that he says Adam Schiff should be prosecuted for. But the devil is really in the details. And the truth is that what Trump appears to have done does seem to be mortgage fraud. While it doesn't seem, or at least we don't have the evidence to say that what Cook and Schiff did is mortgage fraud. Let me explain why it doesn't appear that Donald Trump ever lived in either house, nor intended to. These were always just investment properties for Donald Trump that he rented out. Let me go deeper. All we know with Cook and Schiff is that they signed mortgages as primary residences and then moved into those homes, and then later they got mortgages on other homes, said, this is going to be my primary residence and moved in to those homes. That's ok. That's not mortgage fraud. As long as you're not lying. At the time that you get the first mortgage, you are allowed to say, I'm going to live here. This is going to be my primary residence. You move there and then you go, ok, I live here now. Now I'm looking at a different property and I'm going to move and that's going to be my primary residence. As long as both were true at the time and you lived there, it is not mortgage fraud. You sign, I intend to occupy. I intend to live here. Now, some mortgages have stipulations about how long you actually have to live. There could be six months, could be a year. Some don't have that. It's not set in stone. But the key is if you're telling the truth about your intent and you ultimately move in, you have not committed mortgage fraud. If later you say, this is going to be my new primary residence, Trump never lived in those houses. And with only seven weeks between signing one mortgage and saying, this is going to be my primary residence, seven weeks go by, he signs another one and says, this is going to be my primary residence. It seems very clear not only did he never live in those houses, he never intended to live in those houses. Trump appears to have committed the exact type of mortgage fraud that he says is Democrats should be prosecuted for. Now, if Cook and Schiff committed mortgage fraud, which it doesn't appear that they did as of right now, then Trump committed it far more brazenly and multiple times as he never intended to live in those properties, and he never did live in those properties. He rented them out. The guy in the glass house is throwing stones again. And as we have unfortunately become way too accustomed to, every accusation is a confession. Now, this was longer ago. Oh, it's so long ago. Statute of limitation, we're not talking about that. We're talking once again about Donald Trump holding other people to standards to which he doesn't even hold himself. Because with these people, it's always the case that if I do it, it's ok, but if others do it, especially if Democrats do it, then it is a major, major problem. So that's the latest. It seems Trump has committed the exact type of mortgage fraud he's accusing others of having committed. All right, this is going to be a tough one. You've all, by now, I'm sure, seen or heard of, especially since I've been talking about it. The pictures of Donald Trump with the large bandages, the back of his right hand. And this instantly started a firestorm of speculation. Some in the White House said these are bruises from handshakes and aspirin. And of course, we didn't really ever believe that Trump only shakes hands with his right hand. Why is his left hand bruised? We saw Trump try to cover it with makeup. We now see Trump covering the makeup with bandages. So now it's getting very ominous because there are many commentators and even some elected officials who are suggesting that the bandages are to cover up bruising on Trump's hand from IV infusions, possibly, possibly from an Alzheimer's treatment drug like Leqembi. This is a hypothesis that is gaining traction because Leqembi, which is a newly approved treatment for early stage Alzheimer's, can require infusion through an IV and regular MRIs. And adding to the recent.

B (26:21)

Speculation about this are Trump's signs of fatigue and slurred or incomplete statements, moments of visible confusion during public events that some are saying this looks like a decline. And meanwhile, the disclosures from the White House are always extraordinarily limited. They never sound complete, and they are always way later than they should happen. So it's important to stress we do not have hard evidence right now that Trump is being treated for Alzheimer's or for any form of dementia. Everybody talking about this should report on it and not do TMZ style stuff suggesting that there's evidence Trump is on Alzheimer's treatment medication. The theory is conjecture, not backed by medical records. What we know is that Trump's hand bruising has been attributed to things it can't possibly be from. And in addition to that, it's the lack of transparency, you know, the vague disclosures, the delayed disclosures, the cryptic medical details, the denials with no documentation that are fueling the speculation about Donald Trump. Now, a lot of Trump's recent behavior does raise questions about what is going on. There are people talking about small strokes. There are others talking about early early stages of Alzheimer's, getting facts mixed up, losing his train of thought, stumbling over words, all of this stuff. Language declining dramatically, including his vocabulary. These are things that are earlier signs of dementia or Alzheimer's. And people have noticed moments where Trump is tired and confused or doesn't seem to know what's happening around him. And these are all things that can be the result of early stage Alzheimer's. It also could be the side effect of a medication that we don't know that Donald Trump is on. It could be because Donald Trump's four to five hours of sleep per night were never enough. But now he's getting two to three hours of sleep a night because he's up all night posting to Truth Social. And these are signs of exhaustion in an elderly individual. The point here is the speculation is fueled by the lack of transparency. We know based on Trump's age and family history that something in the sort of umbrella area of dementia or Alzheimer's is at least hereditarily plausible. And we continue to not get full medical reports about Donald Trump. So then you get the hand bandage pictures. We still have no explanation about it and all of a sudden people are talking about Lakembe. So what we certainly have are a number of unanswered questions and we have a lack of transparency. This is only going to keep the speculation going. The speculation is not going to die down for as long as the lack of transparency remains. And so the latest that is now going viral is Lakembi. I have really good work from CNN to show you. I'm often very critical of CNN or other corporate media networks, but I've got to tell you, John Berman interviewed Republican Senator Tom Cotton about the bombing of these alleged drug boats off the coast of south and Central America. Tom Cotton, I don't think expected to be confronted like this. And John Berman was really prepared. I'm just going to play it and then I'll sort of jump in and give you my thoughts as we go. This, this is really good stuff. Ask you this specific question. Would it be legal for police in Arkansas to kill suspected drug dealers on a boat in overturned lake?

D (30:07)

Well, John, let me go back to the premise of your question. The Washington Post reported that Pete Hegseth had given an unlawful order of no quarter or notice.

B (30:15)

So first thing is Cotton actually wants to focus only on reporting and not on the facts of what happened.

D (30:23)

No one left alive or killed them all. Pete Hegseth denied that last week and it didn't deny that there was a second strike. Mitch Bradley and Dan Cain both flatly denied that yesterday as well, which some of the Democrats who watched that video and got those briefings confirmed. So that was what the Washington Post reported. That is a total and complete lie. I just respectfully disagree with my Democratic friends here.

B (30:47)

I think notice that he's, he doesn't want to touch the question because if he acknowledges no, we would never be able to do this with suspected drug dealers in the United States. It starts to raise questions of what are the legal bases for engagement off the coast of Venezuela. Cotton knows it's a problem, so he doesn't want to acknowledge it.

D (31:06)

The problem they have is not with the second strike, it's with the first Strike and every other strike on these boats. They think the entire operation is not well founded. I just disagree with them. I think the analogy I would draw is not Arkansas police officers dealing with American citizens. If those boats were loaded with bombs or missiles.

B (31:25)

But they weren't, right? I mean this is what they want to act like. An alleged narco trafficking boat, which by the way, they have not proven. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't, but they have not proven it. They want to act like an alleged narco trafficking boat thousands of miles away is the same as a boat bearing down on the coast of California, loaded to the gills with bombs and piloted by terrorists. But that's not the situation headed for the United States.

D (31:55)

I don't think anyone would dispute that. We had every right and indeed a duty to intercept the them. But those drugs detonate and we would.

B (32:03)

As they approach the coast of the United States like a bomb all across.

D (32:07)

Arkansas and all across America, killing hundreds of Arkansas and hundreds of thousands of Americans. Our government has a duty to protect our communities from those drugs. Exactly what we're trying to do.

B (32:18)

Can I just take this? And notice that he took 90 seconds not to answer the question and we. First answer my question. Would it be legal for police in Arkansas to kill suspected drug dealers in an overturned boat in a lake in Arkansas? Just answer that and then I will address your question on the other thing.

D (32:31)

John, John, John, the premise, the premise of your question is not well founded. Criminals in Arkansas are not foreign nationals who are affiliates of a foreign debt, foreign terrorist designated.

B (32:43)

The answer is no, it would not be like saying, like, hang on. The answer is no, it would not.

D (32:48)

Be legal to kill them.

B (32:49)

Let me ask a follow up question. If they are terrorists, when did Congress pass the authorized use of force to attack them?

D (32:59)

John, the reason why your question is not well founded is like saying would Barack Obama be okay droning an American citizen when he was present like he did.

B (33:07)

That is a red herring. Ok? They love to point out anytime someone brings up was there an authorization of military for the use of military force passed? Here they go. Well, Obama did stuff with an old stale aumf. Yeah. And we had a problem with it at the time. I mean it's, it's really, it's not actually a salient way to approach this because we all said during the Obama drone campaign this is on very shaky legal ground. Using an old authorization of military force. That does not seem to apply here. They don't have any justification. If they had a problem with that, they should have a problem with this. But they don't. They just like to mention Obama drones.

D (33:52)

Obama drones to Anwar Al Awlaki over in the Middle East. These are totally different categories.

B (33:59)

That's why, that's why, that's why, that's why I asked. When Congress passed the authorized use of military force, there was an authorized use of military force against terrorists. I'm not saying what he was legal or not, but that's what they base it on. In this case, one was the authorized use of military force to attract to attack suspected drug dealers off the coast of Venezuela.

D (34:20)

John, the president has inherent authority as the commander in chief under the constitution to protect America using our armed forces.

B (34:29)

Yeah. The problem with that is that if indeed there were a bomb laden boat.

B (34:36)

50 miles from the coast of New York or L. A, then that would apply. But if you have alleged narco traffickers off the coast of Venezuela, it does not apply. You can't say that that is self defense. Now I want to mention one other thing and that's a good job actually by John Berman. One other thing about this entire issue. They don't want to even touch the fact that, that as long as there is demand for these drugs in the United States and a market for these drugs, even if this was a narco trafficking boat, even if Trump had the legal authority to bomb them, even if Trump had the legal authority to bomb the survivors, which he doesn't. Right. Even if you grant them all of that, do you really think this is how we're going to stop the drug problem in the United States when you're doing nothing about demand for the drugs? If we learned anything from the drug era of, you know, the 60s and 70s in the United States, it's that disrupting the supply can temporarily affect availability. It'll drive prices up, but unless you deal with the demand, you're not actually going to deal with the problem. The drugs will find their way here one way or the other. They never want to talk about that. That's not even part of the discussion. Nice job there. By John Berman. Tom Cotton continues to be pathetic. There is something about winter that makes warm bread and pastries at home feel nicer than ever. And that is what you get with Wild Grain. No effort or cooking. Our sponsor, Wild Grain, is the first baked from frozen subscription box for real artisanal breads, pastries and handmade pastas. All ready in 25 minutes or less. No prep, no cleanup. Everything's made with clean ingredients and a slow fermentation process that adds d depth of flavor. I recently tried the cranberry pecan rolls. Some say pecan, I say pecan. They came out with a soft center, crisp edge and the house just smelled great. I also love their Parmesan herb biscuits. Definitely check those out. You can also customize your box. They've got gluten free, they've got plant based. You can send it as a gift or send a gift card for the holidays. If you're looking for the perfect way to elevate cozy nights at home during the holidays, give Wild Grain a try. Get $30 off your first box plus free croissants for life at wild grain.com/pacman the link is in the description if you are shopping for a new mattress, I would recommend you start by looking at Helix Sleep, the mattress I've been sleeping on for years. The only one that I recommend is because they custom tailor it to your needs. I took their sleep quiz. It took a minute or two. I said oh, you know I like to sleep on my stomach. I tend to feel hotter in the middle of the night rather than colder. I like medium firm and Helix just nailed it. Matched me with the perfect mattress. Most people don't even know where to start when you're looking for a mattress. And Helix just makes it easy. There is really no substitute for the mattress that's right for you. Your body will thank you. Delivery was fast, setup was easy. You do get 100 nights to try it out. They'll even take away your old mattress. 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. Well, you're not going to believe this one. Or maybe you are. Donald Trump admits to the entire thing. I don't even know that he realizes what he just admitted to. And Melania seems perplexed by what Trump is talking about. Donald Trump went to the Kennedy Center Honors, which he has completely taken over. He wants to manage the entire thing and make sure we are not awarding woke people with prizes. And anyway, so he answered some questions. Right before the event he was asked about the impending purchase of Warner Brothers by Netflix. Trump asked should it be allowed to happen? And Trump certainly suggests that there is funny business going on, which we all suspected. Take a listen to this. Should they be allowed to buy Warner Brothers Should?

C (39:04)

Well, that's the question. They have a very big market share and when they have Warner Brothers, you know that chair goes up a lot. So I don't know. That's going to be for some economists to tell. And also. And I'll be involved in that decision, too. They have a very big market share.

B (39:18)

Did he make any guarantees to you about the merger if they do merge?

C (39:22)

No, no, no. He came up. He was in the Oval Office last week. I have a lot of respect for him. He's a great. He's a great person. But he's done one of the greatest jobs in the history of movies and other things. He's. And he's got a lot of interesting things happening, aside from what.

B (39:39)

So the big thing here is Trump says he will be involved in the decision. Why on earth would Trump personally be involved in such a decision that should be based on meeting regulatory, financial and legal requirements and evaluating its place within the world of antitrust law? Why would Trump be personally involved in that? He's acknowledging that he's playing politics with every single one of these big merger decisions. Now, Elizabeth Warren was right on the money in her reaction. Elizabeth Warren put out a tweet where she said, quote, donald Trump said he'll be involved in deciding if Netflix can buy Warner Brothers. Is that an open invite for CEOs to curry favor with Trump in exchange for merger approvals? It should be an independent decision by the Department of Justice based on law and facts. Well, this is the Trump administration. I saw a video clip from yesterday of Trump saying, you know, with this White House ballroom, all these companies came to me and they said, sir, Carrier said, we want to donate the air conditioning. And then, you know, some company donated the steel for the construction and all of this stuff. This is all a way of currying favor with Donald Trump. It is all a way of getting involved in a way that Trump is going to remember. He's going to take names who was on my side and who wasn't on my side. Trump also, by the way, when speaking to the press before the Kennedy center event, he said, why isn't Ukraine just accepting this deal while ignoring that this is a deal that is very good for Russia and very bad for Ukraine. Ukraine, listen to this. What's your next step in Russia? Ukraine talks after last week's negotiations.

C (41:32)

So we've been speaking to President Putin and we've been speaking to Ukrainian leaders, including Zelensky, President Zelensky. And I have to say that I'm a little bit disappointed that President Zelensky hasn't yet read the proposal. That was as of a few hours ago. His people love it, but he hasn't. Russia's fine with it. Russia's, you Know, Russia, Russia, I guess, would rather have the whole country when you think of it. But Russia is, I believe, fine with it. But I'm not sure that Zelinsky is fine with it. His people love it, but he hasn't read it. So someday you'll explain that one to me, Jeff.

B (42:13)

Yeah. You know, anybody who was following Russia, Ukraine would have predicted that the end of this story was going to be exactly as we are finding it to be right now. All along, when Trump was arguing, oh, the day I get elected In November of 24, the war will end because they'll know they got to end. It didn't happen. The day I'm sworn in, In January of 25, the war will end because Putin and Zelensky will know that's didn't happen. The new goal was within 100 days, it's going to be ended, and it didn't happen. And we all suspected that the way to end it quickly and maybe the way that the only way that Trump would be able to end it is by convincing Ukraine to take a crappy deal that's great for Russia. And so the possibilities were Trump walks away from the entire thing and the war continues. Or. Or Trump attempts to force Ukraine into taking a crappy deal that's great for Russia. And now Trump is going, why isn't Ukraine taking the deal? Ukraine loves the deal. It's a great deal for Ukraine, except it's not. It's a deal that even Scott Besant didn't deny was written by Russia. It's a deal that lets Russia keep territory that it has taken. When Trump was asked, well, what does Russia have to give up? Trump goes, well, they wouldn't be allowed to take any more land. Any more land. More doing a lot of heavy lifting there. So, listen, we expected it. We expected not only that Trump would be unable to resolve this issue in one day or in 100 days or in however long it's been, but we also expected that the only way Trump would even be involved in trying to resolve it would would require Ukraine to take a crap deal. And that's exactly where we are. So this was Trump outside the room for the Kennedy Center Honors. Let's now look at Trump's speech at the State Department hosting this Kennedy center dinner. It is not often that a single person can stun an entire room into silence while glitching, lying, and generally being the sort of antisocial, deluded, dishonest person that nobody wants to deal with. But you know what? Trump was able to do it. Trump spoke Yesterday at the State Department at this Kennedy Center Honors Dinner, first and foremost, extremely glitchy behavior. Listen to this nuclear glitch.

C (44:53)

And Gary says, you don't understand. Just. And he dropped my balls. Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping. Everybody's guy.

C (45:03)

Every bulwit.

B (45:03)

This. Ooh, it reminds me of this classic. Remember this?

C (45:07)

Saudi Arabia and Russia will repeat.

B (45:12)

Yeah. Okay, so, glitches aside, the substance of Trump's speech at the Kennedy Center Honors Dinner, not the way Obama would have done it, not the way Clinton would have done it, not the way Biden would have done it, not even the way George W. Bush would have done it. And I am not romanticizing the presidency of George W. Bush. Trump ranking the Supreme Court and the Senate like they are his fantasy football team. Get a load of this.

C (45:40)

Of your families here. And we appreciate that. And they appreciate you. I can tell you a very special thanks. Thanks as well to our terrific Kennedy Center Board of Trustees, along with Executive Director Rick Grinnell. The Board of Trustees has been amazing. It's got to be the hottest board or.

B (45:59)

I don't know.

C (46:00)

The Supreme Court is pretty hot. I would say the Supreme Court, the US Senate, the NFL Owners Committee, I think that's pretty good, too. But I think the board of the Kennedy center is setting out. To me, we have.

B (46:14)

So, yeah, the. The Supreme Court is really neat right now. It's just the, The. By the way, the idea that the Supreme Court is hot based on whether they're making legal determinations that are favorable and pleasing to the great orange leader. Just the entire context and framing here is really one of the dictatorship and authoritarianism. Trump then going into his construction stuff where he says everything, everything comes down to what kind of tile do they use in constructing the $300 million corrupt, cronyistic, bribe, alicious White House ballroom.

C (47:05)

So we went through four years of that stuff. Nobody does it better. And this year, it's just so good that they actually said the White House looks phenomenal. When you add up all of the other things that we've done today. You know, I tell people, for the first four years, I was the hunted. So I didn't have a lot of time to fix up the floors, to redo the Lincoln bathroom, Took a little heat. It was the worst job was done in many years ago, actually, the Truman administration with very cheap green tile.

B (47:38)

Yeah. You know, they had. Wait, sir, are you the president? Yes. Yes, I'm the President. The tile was really cheap and green, and I don't even know that they leveled the floor correctly. And they use this drain that's just. And nothing was covered in gold.

C (47:51)

That was in Lincoln. Now we have it done in beautiful, beautiful Paradisia marble. It's all book match and so beautiful. But it people said, oh, why is he wasting time? That's not wasting time. That's saving our heritage. You know, many, many things like that. It's saving the heritage of this country.

B (48:08)

Right.

C (48:08)

And so.

B (48:10)

Right. Our heritage was endangered by non bookmatched cheap tile. But lest anyone be concerned, spoken like a true real estate grifter. Donald Trump is rejoicing in the heritage of this country by making sure that we have the right marble tile. And over his dead body, you had better believe that they are going to book match the marble tile. What a pathetic farce we have become. Trump sort of admitting he's kind of more into doing real estate stuff than being President of the United States. You can really hear it in his voice.

C (48:50)

Good is what we already have. So sort of, I don't know, I like to tell you those little construction because we talk politics all the time and I like politics. Who I said somebody to somebody the other day. Am I a better politician or construction real estate person?

B (49:05)

Maybe neither.

C (49:06)

And they didn't know how to answer that question. I'm not sure how to answer it, if you want to know, but I actually get great relaxation out of fixing the White House, fixing the Kennedy center.

B (49:18)

And yeah, remember that the architect quit, as I reported last week. It's a pretty tough question. Trump is so appallingly bad at both real estate and being president that it's tough to figure out which is. Which is better. Trump, unable to resist attacking Joe Biden, saying Biden could never play golf, even like a 90 year old Biden couldn't do it as well.

C (49:40)

Spent their lives making the most of their incredible God given talents.

E (49:45)

If talent.

C (49:46)

If talent. The great Gary Player, he has shots, he's 90 years old. All still plays good. Shot a 70 with me the other day. 90, who played pretty far back too. He's incredible. You think Biden could do that?

B (50:03)

There you go. Biden clearly living rent free in Donald Trump's head and apparently living by himself up in Donald Trump's head where there doesn't seem to be anything else. And then finally with one of these sir, I'm sobbing stories, Trump says the women in the White House constantly come up to him crying.

C (50:23)

We've had virtually no crime. We had terrorism two weeks ago. We can have a horrible terrorism.

B (50:31)

Horrible.

C (50:32)

It sounds like we were doing so well that the terrorists felt they didn't want to see us do very well. But we have right now the safest capital. We have a safer capital capital as anywhere in the world. And we have one of the most unsafe capitals in the world.

C (50:51)

And I walk through the White House and I see especially young women say, sir, thank you very much. And I know immediately what they're saying. They're not thanking me for the eight wars that we've stopped. They're not thanking me for even the tax cuts or any of the other things we've done. They're thanking me because they can actually walk to the White House. They feel safe now in the city.

B (51:09)

The women came up to me and they said, I'm crying, but just not for the reason that Donald Trump believes they were crying. Whatever is wrong with Trump, and I think malignant narcissism is a high candidate. I recently read a very interesting book, by the way, about narcissism. Trump does seem to fit malignant narcissists to a T. Whatever is wrong with Trump seems to be getting much, much worse. And even the people in the room reportedly stunned by what this guy was dumping on them. 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 mash 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, 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. All right. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Congresswoman, Republican, former maga, former Trump friend, but no more, is resigning from Congress as we learned she would be doing it January 5th. This is the day before the five year anniversary of the Trump riots and it is two days after she will qualify for a congressional pension. What a perfect day for her to choose to resign on. She got her big 60 Minutes interview, she's doing her mea culpa tour, and I got to tell you, I. I acknowledge and believe that she has soured on Trump, but I don't believe her in terms of the reasons why. And I don't think that we should be seeing Marjorie Taylor Greene as this great truth teller. Now, I know I got a bunch of emails from people in the audience saying, david, you're being a little tough on Marjorie Taylor Greene. She does seem to have changed her views, and she is still doing all the same toxic stuff you'll see in this interview. But interestingly, she admits that behind the scenes, Republicans are all clowning Trump. I have thoughts on this.

E (53:50)

Take a look behind the scenes. Do they talk differently?

A (53:55)

Yes.

E (53:56)

How?

A (53:57)

Oh, it would shock people.

E (53:59)

Well, let's shock people.

B (54:01)

Okay.

A (54:02)

I watched many of my colleagues go from making fun of him, making fun of how he talks, making fun of me constantly for supporting him, to when he won the primary in 2024. They all started.

A (54:18)

Excuse my language, Leslie kissing his ass, and decided to put on a MAGA hat for the first time.

B (54:23)

Now I believe her. I don't think there's any doubt that behind the scenes, a lot of the Republicans think Trump is a doofus. We've heard that from Democrats in the House and Senate. We've also talked to some Republicans who say that that's what's going on. I believe that she's telling the truth. What is important is that this should make us dislike them even more because it proves that they are allowing. They have allowed Trump to do what he has done over the last decade, not because they agreed with it, many of them, but because they said, I'd better get in line. I don't want Trump to target me, etc. So I understand it, but I can't say that I respect it. It's very interesting. It's certainly going to rattle Trump because one of Trump's greatest desires at the end of the day, and is to be liked. But it does nothing to change the fact that they mostly let him do whatever the hell he wants to do. Marjorie Taylor Greene mentions during this interview that she shared with Trump the death threat she received as a result of his attacking her, and that Trump's response was not kind.

E (55:27)

You decided not to stay and fight. You decided to give in after President Trump.

A (55:34)

Trump called me a traitor. I got a pipe bomb threat on my house, and then I got several direct death threats on my son.

E (55:43)

On your son?

A (55:44)

On my son.

E (55:45)

You say the president put your life in danger. You blame him. You say he. He fueled a hotbed of threats against me and that you Blame him for the threats against your son.

A (55:57)

The subject line for the direct death threats on my. My son was his words. Marjorie Trader Green. Those are death threats directly fueled by President Trump.

D (56:08)

I.

A (56:08)

And I told him, I told J.D. vance, I told them all, sent those directly to them.

E (56:14)

And response.

A (56:15)

JD Vance replied back to me, we'll look into it. I got response back from President Trump that I will keep private, but it wasn't very nice.

E (56:24)

Give us a hint of what the president. President said.

A (56:27)

It was extremely unkind.

C (56:30)

Her life is in danger. Who's that?

A (56:33)

Marjorie Taylor Greene.

C (56:35)

She says, Marjorie Trader Greene. I don't think her life is in danger. I don't think. Frankly, I don't think anybody cares about her.

B (56:43)

Four more years. Yeah, listen, I believe her. Trump has a way of generating death threats against people that's absolutely true. It's sad, but it's predictable. And it's something Marjorie Taylor Greene participated in for a long time as a supporter of that movement. Now, Leslie Stahl asks her about that. She goes, you participated in the toxic culture. And what does Marjorie Taylor Greene say? She says to Leslie Stahl, you also have participated in the toxic culture by doing journalism. If you believed that Marjorie Taylor Greene has changed, this clip should disabuse you of that notion.

A (57:24)

It's the most toxic political culture, and it's not helping the American.

E (57:30)

But you contributed to that. You, you, you were out there pounding, insulting people, Leslie, You've contributed to it.

A (57:38)

As well, with your own. Yes, your accusatory. Just like you did just then.

E (57:42)

I know you. You're accusing me.

B (57:44)

You know, it's crazy because Leslie stalled, just points out, as a matter of conversation. Right. You did some of what you are now criticizing. That. That is not participating in toxicity. She's doing journalism. And Marjorie Taylor Greene looks at her and goes, you just did the same by asking me a question that is accusatory, Marjorie. That's. That's journalism.

E (58:10)

But I'm smiling.

A (58:11)

You're accusing me.

E (58:12)

I am accusing you, but we don't.

A (58:14)

Have to accuse one another.

E (58:15)

I want you to respond to what you have done in terms of insulting people, yelling at people, and then saying.

A (58:23)

I'd like for you to respond for that.

B (58:25)

I don't. I know you are, but what am I.

A (58:27)

You can respond to that.

E (58:28)

I don't insult people.

A (58:29)

You do in the way you question. And you are. You're accusing me right now.

B (58:34)

It would See what she did there. Journalism, if the question is pointed, is insulting and accusatory. She wants people to feel sorry for her. It's the same old Marjorie Taylor Greene. The topic came up of policy. Ok, and Marjorie says Trump's now siding with the very establishment he claimed to oppose.

E (58:57)

Are you saying that the president now is siding with those establishment, powerful people and against maga?

A (59:07)

He passed a crypto bill that helped out all the crypto donors. He has served Israel's interest, even attacking Iran. He has served big pharma. He didn't take away the COVID vaccines that we want to see taken away. So those are the areas that are still getting everything they want while the people, we're still out here saying we want to see action on, on areas for the American people.

B (59:34)

All right, so she says Trump is no longer the populace he claimed to be. Questions as to whether her resignation has some greater political ambition in the background. She says it doesn't.

E (59:45)

People want to know, is this a true conversion, a true change of heart, or is it kind of a shrewd political calculation? A lot of people think you're doing it and that you, in a year or so are going to run for some other office.

A (60:02)

I have zero plans, zero desire to run for president. I would hate the Senate. I'm not running for governor. But Leslie, it doesn't matter how many times I say it. I'll have face to face conversations with people and I'll flat out tell them to their face face. And they won't believe me. And they're like, oh, yeah, sure, they'll wink at me and I'm like, okay. Just like, I don't know how to make it more clear.

E (60:25)

You mean you just jumped off the cliff and you don't know where you're going to swim to?

A (60:31)

Surprise, surprise. I'm not your politician with a whole itinerary of plans.

B (60:35)

Or there you go. She says no plans whatsoever to run. And finally, is she still maga? Here's how she answers that.

E (60:43)

Are you maga?

A (60:45)

I am America first.

E (60:47)

And that's not the same as maga.

A (60:49)

MAGA is President Trump's phrase. That's his political policies. I call myself America First.

E (60:59)

But you're not saying you're maga.

A (61:02)

I'm America First.

B (61:04)

All right, so listen, I'm not impressed with this. I find it interesting. I think the left needs to figure out how to take advantage of it. Is there some way Marjorie Taylor Greene can be useful? But I'm not impressed with her. Things started hitting her and so she's scrambling. But this is not a profile in courage. I think probably 80% of my audience agrees with my view. 20% says I'm being too hard on her. Listen, to the extent that there is some mea culpa here, maybe she can be useful, but this is not our ally that is going to allow us to ride to victory. Now save it. I don't buy it. Donald Trump just said something absolutely wild and did something absolutely wild by his standards. Trump went on Truth Social and launched into a long rant about his decision to pardon Democratic Congressman Henry Cuellar. And in the process, Trump admits his pardons are quid pro quos. The other person is supposed to do their part. Now, we've suspected this for a long time. It's not a big shock to us. Everyone knows Trump treats pardons like political bribes, favors in exchange for loyalty. But now he just says it out loud like it's normal. It's not subtle. It's not a dog whistle that only some people hear. This is Trump confessing to corruption at insane levels. Let's put the truth up. Trump says, quote, can you imagine the Democrats under the crooked Joe Biden administration who always use extreme force and jail time to destroy their political opponent? Wanted to put Congressman Henry Cuellar and his wife Imelda in prison for 15 years, which I predicted these radical left lunatics would do, and they never stopped wanting to fulfill this evil quest. So Trump goes on and on, and then he talks about his decision and he says his daughters wrote him a beautiful letter. After reading it, I decided in the interest of justice and based on the daughter's loving request that I would give Henry and Imelda a full and complete pardon. I never spoke to the congressman, his wife or his daughters, but felt very good about fighting it, about fighting for a family that was tormented by very sick and deranged people. They were treated so badly. I signed the papers and said to people in the Oval Office that I just did a very good, perhaps life saving thing. God was very happy with me that day. Then it happened. Only a short time after signing the pardon, Congressman Henry Cuellar announced he will be running for Congress again in the great state of Texas as a Democrat, continuing to work with the same radical left scum that just weeks before wanted him and his wife to spend the rest of their lives in prison and probably still do. Such a lack of loyalty, something that Texas voters and Henry's daughters will not like. Oh, well, next time, no more Mr. Nice Guy. So there it is. Trump spells it out. I pardon you. You'd better get loyal to me. And if you don't, no more Mr. Nice Guy. It is the definition of A quid pro quo. I do something for you, you do something for me. It is a form of bribery or extortion. It's an abuse of presidential power, and Trump is bragging about it. It's an admission of something we suspected, which is his pardons are political transactions. It is leverage to force people to serve him. It's not justice, it's not mercy. It's how a mob boss thinks. What favor can I do? And then someone will owe me. And remember that this is the guy who promised and then did pardon the Jan6rioters. Trump doesn't believe in the law. Trump believes in loyalty. And he makes the most corrupt confession. Now, Henry Cuellar doesn't seem that he's going to do it. He was asked by Maria Bartiromo, are you going to change parties? Have you considered switching parties?

C (64:56)

Look, I'm a Democrat, probably one of.

B (64:59)

The most, if not the most bipartisan Democrat.

C (65:02)

And as I told some of my Republican friends on the House floor, I.

B (65:06)

Vote better than some of the Republicans.

C (65:09)

In the Republican caucus, and they agree with me. I just feel that, you know, I follow the words of President LBJ when he said many years ago, I'm an American, I'm a Texan, and I'm a Democrat, in that order. And I think anybody that puts party before their country is doing a disservice to their country.

E (65:29)

Okay?

B (65:30)

But President Trump is out with a new truth social today on your, on your decision to run again as a Democrat. And the president isn't saying, oh, well, next time, no more Mr. Nice Guy.

E (65:44)

He's talking about the fact that you.

B (65:46)

Are going to continue to work with the same radical left Democrats. What do you want to say about the president's truth social this morning?

C (65:55)

Well, again, let me, let me just say this. I was at church this morning with my wife. I prayed for the President.

B (66:04)

All right, so that's probably enough of that.

D (66:06)

It.

B (66:06)

He's not going to do it, and Trump is furious. And Trump's pardons are indeed quid pro quos. We suspected it, and now we know it. We have a phenomenal bonus show for you today about the Supreme Court hearing a case about presidential power. We will Talk about the 2026 World cup draw and Trump's pathetic little prize that he got. And we will hear about the Supreme Court hearing a birthright citizenship challenge. Where could that end up? All of those stories and more on today's bonus show. Sign up@join pacman.com I hope to see you there. Marketing is hard, but I'll tell you a little secret. It doesn't have to be. Let me point something out. You're listening to a podcast right now, and it's great. You love the host. You seek it out and download it. You listen to it while driving, working out, cooking, even going to the bathroom. Podcasts are a pretty close companion. And this is a podcast ad. Did I get your attention? You can reach great listeners like yourself with podcast advertising from Libsyn Ads. Choose from hundreds of top podcasts offering host endorsements, or run a pre produced ad like this one across thousands of shows. To reach your target audience in their favorite podcasts with Libsyn ads, go to Libsynads.com that's L I B S Y N ads.com today.