Eric Trump (6:15)

Thank your lucky stars every day. You're not David Pakman.

David Pakman (6:18)

That's right. You wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of these emails. It's much the opposite. Ok, I am not alone in being consumed, concerned about what we're seeing in the economy. But I made it very clear. I'm always rooting for the country. I'm always rooting for those who live here. I'm rooting in favor of the economy. I made this clear when Trump was inaugurated. I said, I hope he succeeds in the sense of helping the country. I'm skeptical, but I hope he does. And many people wrote to me and they said, David, why? Why would you hope for that? I hope for that because I don't want to see suffering. I don't want to see unnecessary economic problems. But I am concerned. And you know what? I'm not alone. We have now seen the sharpest decline in American consumer confidence during this month that we have seen in four years. In four years, we have never seen a larger single month decline in consumer confidence than we saw right now under Trump. The Conference Board's Consumer conference consumer confidence index fell to 98 from 105. 98 from 105. The expectation was there would be a modest drop to 102. Consumer confidence has dropped to 98. This brings the index to its lowest level of consumer confidence since 2022. The sub index declines also are reflecting concern. The index that reflects market and business conditions went down to 136 from 139. The expectations index, which measures the short term outlook for income and economic conditions went from 82 to 72. These are relative indicators, right? What we care, what we care about is the proportional drop. And we are also seeing rising inflation expectations. So the 12 month inflation, inflation expectation is up from 5.2 to 6%. Now you might say, I thought inflation was 3%. Yes, this is an expectations index. Where do consumers expect inflation to be a year from now and consumers expect it to be at 6%. They see eggs out of control, they see groceries out of control. And people are very worried about the Trump policy, Trump tariff policy. And there are serious reasons to consider that this is going to negatively affect the economy. So this raises concerns about a consumer slowdown, an economic slowdown of reduction in economic growth, the inability of people to afford things. We already have a situation where almost half the country can't meet an unexpected four hundred dollar expense without going into debt, meaning putting it on a credit card or borrowing or taking out a loan. This can become a self fulfilling prophecy. And so one of the things we're going to be following extremely closely, we started it earlier this week as we are one month into the Trump presidency. Where does unemployment go? Where does inflation go? Where does what do GDP numbers start looking like once we get them for the Q, Q4 of 24 and Q1 of 25? How closely does the concern that consumers clearly have right now manifest in the economic data? It remains unclear the direction of this economy. And one of the things that I've said before, and I will say again, is that the economy was pretty good before COVID under Trump. I don't say that it's because of Trump. But when you stay out of here's the reality, ok? The American economy does not work for a lot of people. We have poverty, we have hunger, we have lack of access to health care. There is no question that it is not a perfect economy. But one of the things that is true is that when you sort of stay out of the economy's way, meaning you don't underregulate and you don't overregulate, you don't dump in politically motivated tariffs, you don't make empty belligerent threats just to see what happens. When you kind of stay out of the way and don't do anything too nuts. The economy is dynamic and diverse enough that it tends to do pretty well tracking global business cycles. When you get in the way, whether it's Covid getting in the way, whether it's a failed Covid response, getting in the way, whether it's unnecessary tariffs, whatever the case may be, that's when the economy doesn't do well. So it's conceivable that Donald Trump could have a pretty okay economy not by virtue of what he does, but by virtue of what he doesn't do. If he stops the tariff talk, if he doesn't look to put in deficit raising tax cuts for the rich in corporations, if he just kind of behaves like a normal person and says let's let the the American economy do what it can do. It would likely be okay, or at least as okay as any other western developed countries economy. What he is threatening to do has very much the possibility of sending creating an inflection point and sending the economy into a tailspin. So for those writing in going David, you seem so eager to see the economy collapse. No, no, no, no. I am not eager at all. I'm concerned and I'm concerned especially because of folks that don't have the sort of the safety net of what some of the blue states provide. And this is it's Trump voters in red states, but it's also non Trump voters in red states who are going to suffer all the same. So that's the data we have now. Consumer confidence at its lowest point in four years. Biggest drop in four years. We will see what the next month brings.

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David Pakman (12:43)

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Sponsor Representative (12:44)

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David Pakman (13:44)

People in the audience know that I have never had a cat. And so many of my friends have said, you've got to meet my cat. My cat's awesome. And they're always right and I end up loving the cat. And that's why I love that. One of our sponsors today is Smalls, who make cat food with human grade ingredients. Smalls uses protein packed recipes with no preservatives or artificial flavors, using ingredients that you'd find in your own fridge. That's why cats.com named Smalls the best overall cat food and Smalls works with the Humane Society. They've donated over a million dollars worth of food to help cats and they even give you a chance to donate at checkout for vaccines, spaying and neutering. I have a friend who recently switched to Smalls for his cat. I can tell you firsthand his cat's food smells way better now and it's because of the human grade ingredients that Smalls uses. No more weird odor filling the house. After switching to smalls, 88% of cat owners reported overall health improvements and the team at Smalls is so confident your cat will love the product that they will refund you if your cat won't eat eat the food. Head to smalls.com and use promo code PACMAN at checkout for 50% off your first order plus free shipping. The link is in the Description the David Pakman show, of course, is a viewer and listener supported program. The most direct way of supporting what we do. Yes. Subscribing on YouTube, yes. Leaving a review on itunes and Spotify for the podcast. Sure, leaving a comment here or there. But the most direct way to support us most impactfully is to get a membership@join pacman.com the memberships are affordable, even cheaper if you do the year all up front and you can use the coupon code not again. Not again. All one word and you have to say it with that tone when you type it in. Type that in and you will get a huge discount. And it is. You get 100% of the benefits at half the price. The bonus show commercial, free audio and video feeds of the show and all of it. That's Join Pacman Dotcom A couple of programing notes. My book related interviews are starting. I'll give you a sense over the next. I'll pull up my calendar here and tell you what what I'm going to be up to. I will be interviewed for who, what, why? They're writing a great piece about my book. I am going to be on with. Hold on, where am I here? I'm going to be on with Ryan Holiday. I'm going to be on the Mark Thompson Show. I will be on with the Dolomores. I will be on with Brian Tyler Cohen and Brian Tyler and Tyler Cohen and Brian Cohen. They're all going to be interviewing. It'll be like a huge panel. Politics girl is going to be having me on. I will be with Midas Touch. I will be on the gist. I will be on with Leonard Lopate on the great WBAI for a long form interview. I am going to be down in Texas with Ryan Holiday. Looks like I'll be on with Matt Dillahunty down in Texas as well. So in any case, we're ramping up a lot of these interviews. We'll be bringing you clips and all of it. And remember that you can preorder my book at David pakman.com/book and if you want a signed copy, specifically a signed copy, they are available only and exclusively at Brookline Booksmith. David pakman.com/booksmith Every book ordered there by March 7th will be signed and delivered to you. I'm going to be going up there soon and so far it's about 510 copies that I will be signing. I think I can do them in 45 minutes that I've done the math. I think if I can do, you know, something like 15 books a minute. Anyway, it's going to be, it's going to be a big signing day and we'll get some video of that. All right. So David pakman.com/booksmith we have another stunning near miss airplane crash, this one at Chicago Midway Airport. I have the video here. Southwest Airlines jet aborted landing at Chicago Midway as a private plane you will see here come in and cross the center Runway, unauthorized to do so. We've heard the air traffic control audio. This jet that you see crossing the Runway as the Southwest airplane aborts the landing was told to cross the left Runway but to hold short of the center Runway. The private jet did not do that. It crossed the center Runway. And we have yet another one of these incidents. Now, there are two things that are at the same time true. On the one hand, this is not an isolated event. It's part of another disturbing trend of these near miss incidents that we are seeing. At the same time, I've been inundated with messages from pilots and aviation experts and concerned citizens saying, you know, David, these near miss incidents have nothing to do with Donald Trump. We have the air traffic control audio. The air traffic controllers told the private jet do not cross the center Runway and the private jet cross the center Runway. It has absolutely nothing to do with Donald Trump. And I would generally agree. And I've gotten emails from pilots that say aviation safety is complex, but it is not tied to recent policy changes. And I would agree that it is very complex the reason that the conversation about Trump and Doge keeps coming up when we see these incidents is that the. The FAA and the ntsb, which investigates these. These incidents are stretched very thin. Investigating these incidents in the middle of this backdrop of staffing cuts and threats to lay people off in mass form from Trump and from Musk can't possibly be helping the situation. And it's a reminder, we certainly, even if you don't blame Trump for, you know, this jet crossing the Runway, which I don't. If what we are seeing are these incidents and the backdrop is cutting faa, cutting ntsb, cutting atc, and giving Elon a contract for Starlink satellites, that is a problem. The Trump administration, under this guise of eliminating fraud, waste and abuse, has laid off about 400 employees at the Federal Aviation Administration. That includes people directly supporting safety inspectors directly involved in airport operations. These aren't paper pushers, okay? These are the people who maintain the infrastructure that keep the skies safe. And so when Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says anything related to critical safety is not affected, I don't believe it. Because we know the folks that have been laid off. When you cut support staff to the critical safety people, you overburden everybody who's. Who's there, and you increase the risk of errors and oversights. It's like removing the pit crew from a race car team and saying, we have not taken any equipment away from the driver. The driver still has all of the technical stuff and has as many practice hours as that. Okay, but you've removed the pit crew, and so that's a problem. Now, who's leading the charge? It's Musk. It's the guy who's running the Department of Government Efficiency. And while Musk Space X has vested interest in airspace operations, just got a contract. We talked about it at the top of the show. He's influencing policy that could compromise aviation safety. And it's a conflict of interest that should be obvious to anybody. So the cuts are part of a broader agenda to shrink government at the expense of safety in many different areas. So to people who see this, and they say they, this particular jet crossing the Runway has nothing to do with Trump. I'm with you. But it's essential to see the bigger picture. And the staffing cuts under the current administration weaken the foundation of aviation safety infrastructure. And when you systematically dismantle the support systems that keep the skies safe, these incidents become more likely. It shouldn't be a political pawn to keep the skies safe. And when you see an incident like this and you say, okay, if Anything. We just need more safety individuals or more training or more resources or whatever the case may be. You might say, well, we're fine where we are, or we need more cutting and cutting haphazardly. The way that Trump and Musk have been doing is the wrong direction. So you don't have to blame Trump for this incident to realize that the direction he's going is very much the wrong one. It seems very clear that we are starting to see the escalation of the civil war between the Republican Party and Trump and maga. You might call it the Republican meltdown. If you thought that the Republican Party couldn't get any more dysfunctional, think again. Because the last few weeks have been absolute chaos. And instead of fixing their problems, Republicans are setting everything on fire. And the Trump MAGA versus Republican civil war is growing. Let's break down the different elements of it. First of all, House Republicans Medicaid cuts are blowing up the budget fight. We will talk on the bonus show about what the House passed yesterday. House Speaker Mike Johnson tried to wrangle the party behind Trump's economic plan. It includes $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, 2 trillion in spending cuts, and 880 billion that comes out of Medicare. It passed. But even some of Trump's most loyal cronies, like Jeff Van Drew are panicking. And he's right to panic because if you gut health care for millions of working Americans, it is arguably political suicide. And Republicans end up trapped. Do they please Trump or they try, do they try to avoid getting wiped out in 2026? And it doesn't seem like both are possible. That's the first major point of conflict and contention. Number two, House versus Senate, the budget war. Senate Republicans are basically throwing House Republicans under the bus. Lindsey Graham and others say let's do a much smaller package. Let's focus on security and defense rather than doing what the House Republicans are trying to do. Trump, he's flip flopping as usual. Sometimes he backs House hardliners, sometimes he cozies up to Senate Republicans. It's what can I say to get the people in the room with me right now to like me? And the result could be a legislative train wreck that might derail the entire agenda before it starts. Number three, at the state level, we are starting to see cracks. The Michigan Republican Party saw a Trump loyalist get crushed. In that state Republican leadership race to lead Michigan Republicans Jim Runstad defeated Michonne Maddock. That's the same Michelle Maddox who's been indicted for her role in the 2020 fake elector scheme. And this is not just Michigan drama. What we are seeing among Republicans trying to figure out who's going to lead us in Michigan is a warning sign that there are Republicans getting sick of the election conspiracies and MAGA chaos. It took a few years, right, but some of them are getting sick of it. The point is that if more parties start pulling back at the state level, the political machine of Trump could be weakened very quickly. Number four, MAGA communism. Now, it sounds crazy. I wish I were making this up, but there's an actual movement trying to merge Trump style nationalism with socialist rhetoric. They call it MAGA communism. This guy, Jackson Hinkle is leading the charge and the idea is to take left wing economic language, strip it of solidarity with workers and twist it into this nationalist authoritarian mess. And there are some hardcore MAGA fans that are looking at this and saying that's the wrong direction. It's fringe for now, but the fact that it exists really shows how fractured and desperate the right wing movement has become. And then number five, we look at the Colorado Republican Party in total meltdown mode. State party chair Dave Williams in Colorado decided to go all in on the anti LGBT rhetoric. And there's been significant backlash. Party officials resigning not necessarily because they stand in solidarity with LGBTQ people, but because they recognize that in Colorado it's losing strategy. Donors are pulling money, moderates are walking away. This is the problem with making the culture war your entire brand. Eventually you alienate everybody except the most extreme voters. And the Republican Party is now fighting on all fronts. You've got fiscal conservatives versus MAGA populists. You've got traditional conservatives versus extremist factions. You've got interventionist on foreign policy wings up against the new Trump we're against wars thing while actually enabling brutal authoritarianism. And looking the other way. You've got state party leaders versus Trump's kind of looming shadow and the cracks are widening into these full on fractures. My interest in this is that because the Democratic Party does not seem to have figured out what the hell to do to take back some semblance of control here. I don't think I can rely on the Democratic Party right now to try to fix this thing. So I'm really putting a lot of eggs in Republicans destroy themselves basket. And let me say a little bit more about that. I did hear from many of you after my interviews with Senator Cory Booker, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Senator Amy Klobuchar, Senator Adam Schiff, and many of you said, David, they don't seem to have a clue how to fix this thing. Smart people, nice people, heads screwed on straight. But I don't know that they have any idea how to actually take back the narrative and I'm concerned about the same thing. So we're going to work on fixing the left, but we also should encourage the right to eat itself. And MAGA versus Trump versus the Republican Party right now is exploding and I say we allow it to happen. Let me know what you think and remember that we are pushing towards 3 million YouTube subscribers. Let me see where we are right now. Last week when we started the push to 3 million, we were 155,000 subscribers short. We are now 102,000 subscribers short. We have in five days done away with a third third of the gap to get to those 3 million subscribers. Let's do it. YouTube.com/the David Pakman show we'll take a quick break and the show will continue. If you're still using a free email service, your emails are often being scanned and tracked even after you delete them. Companies use the data to know everything about you and show you ads, even your most personal communications. That's why I recommend you check out Start Mail. Unlike free email services, our sponsor Start Mail never scans or tracks your emails. It also blocks tracking pixels which companies and hackers use to capture your IP address. And when you delete an email in Start Mail, it is gone forever, keeping your information private. Start Mail allows you to create unlimited email aliases, protecting your identity and reducing spam. This lets you use different email addresses for different purposes like newsletters or shopping. Plus, Start Mail lets you encrypt every email, even if the recipient doesn't use encryption. Switching is easy. You can migrate all your existing emails and contacts with just a few clicks. Start Mail also offers a business plan with unlimited domains, advanced phishing protection, and shared aliases. For seamless team collaboration, go to start mail.com/pacman to get 50% off your first year. That's about $2 a month for a personal plan or about $3 a month for a business plan. Plus get 25% off additional accounts for team members. That's T a r t mail.com/pacman for 50% off. The link is in the podcast notes well, the White House has given an explanation for the very bizarre and concerning bruise on Donald Trump's hand. The White House says that it's the result of shaking hands with people. This might be the most ridiculous White House explanation since alternative facts kind of became part of the lexicon. The White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt wants us to believe that Trump's bizarre, huge bruise, which they used makeup to try to cover up, is from shaking hands with people. Now, a couple different things. First of all, have you ever developed large, visible bruises from shaking hands unless there is some underlying condition or potentially some medication, none of which we've been told Trump is taking? It doesn't make any sense. Now, there are conditions and medications that can make you bruise easily. We've not been told that Trump is taking, taking any of those medications, nor has any of those conditions. And in addition to that, think for a moment. Bruising easily from medication or a condition which we've not been told Trump has. Fine, maybe. Maybe they're just lying. But the bruise from shaking hands would not cover the entire upper part of Trump's palm if that were the case. It doesn't make any sense. The statement put out by the White House says Trump is, quote, constantly working and shaking hands all day, every day. So we're supposed to believe that the same guy who was famously so germaphobic that he didn't even like shaking hands and called it barbaric and a curse is now gleefully shaking hands so much and so often that he has a very strange looking, huge bruise? So let's talk about what we're actually seeing here. The bruise is deep, the bruise is prominent, even with what appears to be pretty obvious makeup applied to conceal the bruise. Think about that for a moment. If you need to cover up bruises with makeup, we are not talking about a casual handshake injury. We're talking about something that's happening regularly enough that they've put in place a cosmetic protocol. Now, remember when Queen Elizabeth the Second had similar bruising on her hand just two days before she passed away? Medical experts pointed to that and said IV sites or places used for regular blood draws can start to look like that. We've not been told that there would be any reason for Trump to regularly be receiving IV medication or be regularly getting blood draws such that this would be going on. Now, IV bruising is the most logical explanation. It's a pretty distinctive pattern. It's the same spot where medical professionals place IVs. It's been recurring. We've seen this. I think it was in over the summer at one point, maybe during the fall. So every medical professional looking at these images is thinking the same thing, but we're supposed to believe it's from handshaking and notice how they immediately start pivoting their explanation to Trump is such a man of the people. And he's so committed in this unwavering way to just be out there shaking hands. It's the classic deflection. Being a man of the people has nothing to do with unexplained bruising. It's like asking why your car won't start and being told the mechanic is patriotic or something like that. So here's what's revealing. We know this is not the first time we've seen this side over the summer, saw it in the fall, recurring bruises in the same spot for six months. It doesn't sound typical from handshaking to me. And of course we go back to transparency, supposedly the most transparent this and that of any administration. Trump again said he would consider releasing his full medical report. He said it in a December Meet the Press interview. He didn't do it. And we are increasingly suspecting he's being treated for something or for whatever reason. He is regularly getting blood draws from that spot on his hand. Nothing has been disclosed that would explain that. And the absurdity is palpable because if the White House can't give a straight answer about something as visible and concerning as unexplained bruising, what else aren't they telling us? So yes, it's about the bruise, but it's also about transparency. It's about the bizarre relationship the administration has with basic truth. And you know, we have to just try to get the answers from people who claim to be transparent but very obviously are not. So I'll leave it to you. What do you think is the explanation for the bruising and is the most obvious explanation IV site for some condition or regular blood draws that we haven't been told why would be necessary? Is the next step we have to get to in figuring out what this is? Is it the IV or is it something else? Let me know what you think. Info@david pakman.com are the alpha male, the strong, independent, self assured leader who never backs down, doesn't whine, certainly doesn't cry when things don't go his way. At least that's what Trump supporters claim to value. But let's be real. When you actually look at Donald Trump and his loyal base, what you see is the opposite of self proclaimed alpha energy. What you see is a masterclass in beta male behavior. And today we're going to break it down. Now I want to start with Trump himself. Donald Trump, the self proclaimed tough guy, spent his entire presidency trying to project an image of strength. But what do we honestly see when we look at the guy? We see A guy who throws tantrums on Twitter. I sorry X and truth central. Whenever anybody criticizes him, we see an obese, unathletic guy who lacks physical strength. We see a man who refused to accept the results of the 2020 election, not because he had evidence, but because his fragile snowflake ego couldn't handle losing. And instead of manning up the way MAGA likes to say and conceding like every other damn president in modern history, he threw a years long tantrum, filed dozens of frivolous lawsuits and incited. Incited a violent insurrection. Is that an Alpha move? No, that's the behavior of a spoiled little kid who didn't get his way. And then we move from Trump to the Republican Party, also self proclaimed Alphas. Remember that at one point the Republican Party claimed to stand for family values and fiscal responsibility and strong foreign policy against authoritarians and dictators. I've almost forgotten about it, because the moment Trump came along, they threw those principles out the window. Because they're terrified of him. They're terrified of his base, they're terrified of his Twitter rants. And as recently we have heard, they are terrified of Elon Musk bankrolling primary challengers against them if they step out of line. Is that Alpha behavior? So instead of standing up to Trump, they capitulate to his every whim. And nothing says strong leadership like cowering in the corner in fear of a guy who can't even spell correctly in his social media posts. After all, we then go to foreign policy. There was a time when the Republican Party prided itself on standing up to dictators and defending democracy. Did they do it in ways I agreed with? No. But it's what they prided themselves on. And now Trump and his supporters are practically begging Ukraine to surrender to Vladimir Putin. They've turned America first into America alone. They've abandoned our allies, and they love these authoritarian regimes. Why? Because Trump admires strong men like Putin. Trump knows that they are the Alpha image Trump aspires to. And his followers are too busy simping for their dear leader to notice the irony of it. Nothing says Alpha like cheering a dictator while wearing a Don't Tread on Me shirt and a MAGA hat. Right? And then finally, there's the victim mentality, the constant victimhood. Trump supporters love to talk about how a snowflakes on the left can't handle opposing viewpoints. But have you ever seen a group more obsessed with playing victim? They're terrified of change. They're terrified of minorities. They're terrified of anything that challenges their worldview and meanwhile they go cancel culture everywhere while they try to ban books that trigger them. They whine about wokeism while clutching pearls over a rainbow flag. And they claim to be patriots while undermining democracy. Folks, this is not alpha behavior. This is snowflake insecurity masquerading as strength. And finally, we can't forget the ultimate beta move. Blindly following a leader who doesn't care about you. Trump spent his entire life screwing over workers and dodging taxes and exploiting anyone he could for personal gain. And yet his supporters treat him like he's some kind of messiah. Why? Because they've tied their identities to him. They've staked their fragile egos in his success, and when he loses, they can't handle it. Instead of accepting reality, they retreat into conspiracy theories and alternate realities. It's not strength, it's delusion. At the end of the day, Trump and his supporters are the opposite of the Alphas that they claim to be. They're insecure, they're reactive. They are desperate for validation from their orange leader. They try to project strength, but they crumble at the slightest criticism. And meanwhile, politically, they say they value freedom, but they cheer for authoritarianism. They talk a big game about winning, but they can never handle losing. So the next time you hear a Trump supporter talking about alpha males, just remember when Trump won in November, we on the left said, hey, you know what? He won. We don't like it, we don't agree with it. It's, it's not who we would have chosen. But he won. That's the alpha behavior. That's not what you are seeing from them. The betas are the ones who need a reality TV star to tell them what to think and they're all over on the other side. Let me know what you think. Many of us have struggled with sleep at one point or another. A sleep aid many turn to is melatonin because it's a non pharmaceutical remedy. Clean, clinically proven to work without the side effects you might get with antihistamines or prescription meds. My favorite way to take melatonin is with the Dream Hot Cocoa powder from our sponsor Beam. It works when you mix dream powder into hot water or milk for a delicious mug of cocoa. Half an hour later, blissfully sleeping, no sugar added. It's naturally sweetened and it comes in delicious flavors. My favorite is cinnamon cocoa, but vanilla chai is great too. You can get better sleep with melatonin, proven to help you fall asleep and stay asleep longer. Feeling rested makes the next day. So much better. Keep Dream Powder nearby to soothe you to sleep when you need it. Get 40% off for a limited time when you go to shop beam.com/pacman and use the code PACMAN. That's shop b a m.com/pacman use code PACMAN for 40% off. The link is in the podcast notes. Here's the question I want to explore with you. Would Donald Trump be willing to either stage or allow a terrorist attack against the United States if he thought it would help him politically? This is based off of an email I received that suggested this was something that he would do. So let me get one thing clear. Trump is a man of extreme impulses. He's all about image. He's all about perception. He's all about how he is seen by others. He needs to be seen as a hero, the man who can solve all problems. And that's where the idea of staging something as dramatic as a terrorist attack could come into play. Now, before people get triggered and go, David, how dare you Step back for a moment and think about the man that we're dealing with. Trump has a history of bending the truth to fit his narrative. We've seen him embrace any crisis that boosts his image. Or we've seen him downplay a real crisis when it doesn't serve his agenda, whether it's taking a Sharpie to a hurricane map or whether it's rewriting who is the aggressor in a global conflict. We've seen him praise authoritarian figures looking for ways to impose control. And at the core of Donald Trump's temperament is an undeniable fact. He loves to be the man in charge during moments of national peril. Think back to his obsession with I'm now a wartime president during COVID Why? Because it's a power move. Would he go so far as to stage a terrorist attack? Well, here's the thing. Trump is a man driven by ego. He desperately wants to be seen as strong and resolute and the one who can lead us through any storm. He would love to have a 911 style moment when he could show up, get on TV and declare that he's the only one who can protect us. But there is a twist here, and there's a major problem. I don't believe Trump's nearly competent enough to pull it off, and neither are the people that are working for him. And there are multiple reasons why Trump, even if he wanted to, would not be able to get away with something like that without everybody figuring out what happened now, this is separate from whether Trump's morality or ethics would make him plausibly willing to do it. But first, let's just talk about the facts. Trump's incredibly impulsive. As I mentioned, to stage a terrorist attack would require a level of coordination and secrecy that Trump doesn't have and his people aren't competent enough to maintain. Remember when he tried to get that coffee cup fifi tweet to stay secret for a few hours? I mean, there's just not a chance. You think he could orchestrate a full scale national conspiracy and keep it quiet? I hesitate to believe it. His impulsive nature would make any such plan a walking time bomb of leaks and accidental exposure. Secondly, there's the logistics. Trump couldn't even handle the basics of White House pandemic response without making a mess of it. Think of the botched military operations, his love of chaos over strategy. He would be setting himself up for catastrophic failure. But imagine for a moment that Trump pulled it off. If Trump orchestrated an attack, it would quickly unravel. Even an intelligence community led by Tulsi with its sophisticated surveillance and interagency coordination. I think that we would find out about it. And don't forget the public reaction. Do you think his approval rating would rise after a staged attack? People wouldn't see him as a hero. They'd see him as an architect of mass destruction, because frankly, that's what he would be. Not to mention the consequences of something like this. For the people involved. The fallout would be immediate. And I believe that even many of his loyal followers would not go for it. So morally and ethically, Trump would love to have a 911 moment. He would see it as, this is how I will cement my legacy, as this is the ultimate strongman. But there is a difference between being in wanting something and being able to actually pull it off. So from a moral standpoint, is Trump the type of person that would stage a terrorist attack? I don't know. Is he the type of guy who would look the other way in preventing one with the idea that then it would be an environment in which he can rise to be a global or national hero? Maybe. I don't think that he would. If. Here's the thing with Trump, he's able to convince himself that there is a greater good in anything he does. And when you look at. Why would he take the Sharpie and change the hurricane map? Well, it was politically inconvenient. And Trump, I'm sure, would say to himself, we are going to be better off if people see me as being omniscient and right about everything. And therefore I am justified in changing this hurricane map with a Sharpie, even if it terrifies people in Alabama who have no reason to be scared that the hurricane is really coming their way. Trump has never been shy about leveraging crisis for personal gain. The reality is I don't think he has the competence and I don't think he and the people around him can maintain the secrecy that would be needed to execute something like that. So in the end, it's not really about whether Trump could put pull off such a stunt. It's about whether he could get away with it. I don't think he could. He tries to be a master of manipulation, but I think he would not be able to do it and therefore he wouldn't try. Let me know what you think. Let me know what you think. I want to hear from you. Do you ever feel like everything with the modern Republican Party is a cheap cash grab? Well, here we go again. This time it's US Citizenship for sale for the low, low price, one time only, of $5 million. Yes. Donald Trump has announced his gold card plan, which according to him is going to replace the existing EB5 visa program. Let's listen to Trump explain it. Get a load of this.

Donald Trump (48:40)

We're going to be doing something else. It's going to be very, very good. We're going to be selling a gold card. You have a green card. This is a gold card. We're going to be putting a price on that card of about $5 million. And that's going to give you green card privileges.

David Pakman (48:57)

This is not a dream or a nightmare. This is happening.

Donald Trump (49:01)

Plus, it's going to be a route to citizenship. And wealthy people will be coming into our country by buying this car. They'll be wealthy and they'll be successful and they'll be spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes and employing a lot of people. And we think it's going to be extremely successful. Never been done before or anything like this, but it's something that we're going to be putting out over the next. Would you say two weeks? Eric, do you want to say a couple of words about it?

Eric Trump (49:27)

Sure.

Donald Trump (49:28)

Wait a minute.

David Pakman (49:30)

Do you have to invest a certain.

Donald Trump (49:31)

Amount of money in this country in order to qualify for that gold card? Yeah, Exactly.

Eric Trump (49:36)

So the EB5 program was really, you lend some money, but it was all, it was full of nonsense, make believe and fraud. And it was a way to get a green card that was low priced. So the President said rather than having this sort of ridiculous EB5 program, we're going to end the EB5 program. We're going to replace it with the trump gold card, which is really a green card. Gold. So they'll be able to pay $5 million to the.

David Pakman (50:05)

It's a green card. Gold. By the way, check out the expression on Robert F. Kennedy Jr. S face. As depraved and disoriented as RFK is, I think he realizes this is just disgusting.

Eric Trump (50:19)

US government have to go through vetting. Of course we're going to make sure they're wonderful world class global citizens. They can come to America, the President can give them a green card and they can invest in America and we can use that money to reduce our deficit. Why do we give out lotteries of green cards? Why do we give out AB5 for green cards?

David Pakman (50:40)

Let's just cut right to the chase and give it to people who can give us 5 million bucks.

Eric Trump (50:44)

President United States understands that the right answer is why don't we eliminate the deficit of the United States of America instead?

David Pakman (50:52)

Which you're not going to do with $5 million green cards. I hate to tell you how the gold card.

Donald Trump (50:58)

The gold card, well, millions. But the gold card will bring in with it people that create jobs, very high level people. I think companies will pay to get people in. For instance, you today graduate from the Wharton School of Finance or Harvard or Stanford or any college and nobody knows if you can even go to work for a company. So Apple and all these, you know, companies that want to get people to be working for them will be able to buy a card. And for the people that are number one in their class at top schools, you know, I see that as one of the things. But generally speaking, it will be people with money and people that credit create jobs.

David Pakman (51:44)

And perfect, right.

Donald Trump (51:45)

They won't have to pay any tax on income outside of the United States, which they're not paying right now. They're not citizens, but they'll have to pay. If they create jobs in the United States, they'll pay full taxes like everybody else. So you're getting big taxpayers, big job producers and will be.

David Pakman (52:02)

Of course no one who can afford this actually needs it able to sell.

Donald Trump (52:07)

Maybe a million of these cards, maybe more than that. And if you add up the numbers, they're pretty good. As an example, a million cards would be worth $5 trillion. Five trillion.

Eric Trump (52:18)

Wow.

Donald Trump (52:19)

And if you sell 10 million of.

David Pakman (52:21)

The cards, that's which you are not.

Donald Trump (52:23)

Going to a total of $50 trillion. Well, we have 35 trillion in debt. That'd be nice.

David Pakman (52:29)

Now here's the thing. The EB5 visa already allowed wealthy people from other countries to invest in the US in exchange for a green card. Apparently that wasn't grifty enough. And so now the program is really a pay to win system. If you cough up enough cash, you get a direct path to citizenship. This is not about merit. This is not about economic benefit. This is not even the usual Republican talking point about earning your place in America. This is about cutting a check. And Trump, of course, being Trump, is not even pretending otherwise. When he was asked, would Russian oligarchs be eligible for this? He said, I know some nice Russian oligarchs. And it's like, I bet you do, boy. Oligarch be eligible for a gold card.

Donald Trump (53:16)

Yeah, possibly. Hey, I know some Russian oligarchs that are very nice people.

David Pakman (53:20)

We know it's possible.

Donald Trump (53:25)

They'Re not quite as wealthy as they used to be. They're not as wealthy as they used to be. I think they could afford, I think they could afford $5 million. No. A lot of people are going to want to be eligible. A lot of people are going to want to be in this country. And they'll be able to work and provide jobs and build companies and pay taxes, all of those things. It's an incredible, it's an incredible thing. I mean, this is the group that is the first to hear it. Nobody's heard about it, nobody ever thought about it, but we've been thinking about it very, very strongly over the.

David Pakman (53:58)

Yeah. So anyway, super strong. It might even come with a Mar a Lago membership. So let's break it down. According to Trump and his Commerce secretary, the old EB5 program had nonsense, make believe and fraud. Now anytime they mention fraud, it's always like, have you proven that there is fraud? Fraud is a crime. The solution is make the fraud simpler. Instead of pretending the investment needs to create jobs, it's give me 5 million bucks and we'll call it a day. We'll vet you, give us the 5 million, we call it a day. And it's the perfect encapsulation of Trumpism, which is rules don't matter, ethics don't matter, national security doesn't matter. What matters is who's got the cash. And think about the hypocrisy. Republicans have spent years screaming about illegals and demonizing desperate families trying to come here for a better life. But if you're a billionaire Russian oligarch, no problem. Just buy your way in. No waiting, no merit tests, no questions asked. Now, to be fair, selling citizenship is not technically new because the US has the program where you can get residency for investment. Residency and citizenship are two different things. There are other countries where you can buy residency or you can ultimately have a path to citizenship as well. Trump's version is as blatant as it gets. It's not really about investment or job creation. It's just a transaction. You pay Trump's America first shop and boom, you're on the fast track to a passport. And honestly, why stop at citizenship? We will give a Senate seat for 10 billion if someone wants it. Or maybe throw in a presidential pardon as a bonus. Oh, we already do that because we know Trump's entire career has been access to cash. How can I access cash? And of course, the real kicker is that Trump is still pretending to be the populist hero who will save and come to the rescue of the forgotten working class. And meanwhile, he's out here saying, you want in? Just be rich. It's not an immigration policy. It's a clearance sale, and the product is the United States of America. One last thought on this. Trump bragged at the beginning of this ridiculous video. These rich people are going to come in and they're going to spend and they're going to buy a bunch of stuff. It's going to cause inflation. If Trump really sold 10 million of these citizenship gold cards, do you what. What do you think the effect on prices will be if you add 10 million wealthy adults to the country, competing for real estate and bidding up prices, competing for vehicles and competing for whatever, that's going to drive prices up. That's. It's a classic way to increase the cost of stuff. It's. It's almost beyond belief, but it's not. It's what Trump is doing. We have a tremendous bonus show for you today. We are going to talk about the budget battle and Republicans passing the first, first test for Trump's tax agenda. We will talk about continued chaos at MSNBC as Rachel Maddow staff is going to be laid off and the Texas measles outbreak has surged to 124. This was optional. We have a measles vaccine. It's very good. It works very well. All of those stories and more on today's bonus show get instant access by signing up@join pacman.com Also, remember, you can get signed copies of my forthcoming book, the Echo Machine, exclusively through Brookline booksmith at David pakman.com/booksmith not signed copies, Kindle version, audiobook version, read by me, all available everywhere that books are available. Barnes and Noble, Amazon, your local bookstore, etc. Book I will see you on the bonus show and we'll be back here with a new show tomorrow.