← The David Pakman Show
The David Pakman Show
4/4/25: Trump kicks out Elon, influencers turn on MAGA
00:55:23
-- On the Show: -- In the midst of absolute economic chaos, Donald Trump's approval rating hits yet another new low -- Within hours of a brutal loss in Wisconsin in which $25 million of Elon Musk's money failed to bring a win, Donald Trump starts...
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- [00:08]
David Pakman
All right. Donald Trump's approval rating has plummeted to 43%, the lowest number since he returned to office. And I think if we give it a week, it's going to be even lower. Because right now, many of Trump's supporters still believe that he is bringing back manufacturing to the United States with these disastrous blanket tariffs, that this is short term pain for long term gain. But it's not what is happening. And what is happening is that the manufacturing we have, what's left of it, is going to get strangled by Donald Trump's own tariffs. As the source materials needed for domestic manufacturing get more expensive, the end products being manufactured will get more expensive, meaning it will be more money out of the pockets of individual Americans. When people start losing their jobs and new jobs don't show up to replace them, this entire fantasy is going to collapse. Now, according to the latest Reuters Ipsos poll, only 37% approve of Donald Trump's handling of the economy. We're going to dig into Trump's economic approval more a little bit later. But the point here is, is that Trump and the economy were supposed to be the best match. His strong suit supposedly was the economy. It's the whole businessman president thing. And meanwhile, more than half the country says that these new tariffs on cars and car parts will personally hurt them. The public is catching on slowly, but it's happening now. Later, we'll talk about the economic approval. I do want to be clear about one thing. None of this means that people will suddenly vote against Maga in 2026. Many are not going to vote at all. And I think it's important to remember that the first exit from the MAGA train is not voting for Democrats. It's going to not voting at all. Some will blame Democrats and say, I'm still voting maga because everything that's happening is the fault of Democrats. Some, some will blame immigrants, some will blame George Soros. You know, anybody but the guy that they voted for. And there will be MAGA people who double down and they will say, no, this is all great and it will eventually work and be good. And that's where we have to sort of zoom out and say, we shouldn't be shocked at how low Trump's approval is. We should be shocked at at how high Trump's approval is. Imagine that 43% of Americans watch their houses burned down and they say, I think the arsonist is doing a pretty good job and eventually I'm going to end up with a really nice house. We wouldn't call that common sense. We wouldn't call it loyalty even, we'd call it a cult. And even with the inflation fears, the tanking market markets, these international embarrassment, the military recklessness, Pete Hegseth running DoD and Signal Gate, Trump still has 43% support. So we should be shocked by how high that number is, not how low. Now, for those saying, why does he still have 43% support? No matter what happens, there's a hard floor. That floor may be 35, 38%. It was 38 during his first term. Trump's approval will probably never get below 38. Those people aren't leaving. They're not reachable. There's nothing we can say to them to reconsider. And so this is the real kind of warning here. It's not just that Donald Trump is failing, it's that he can keep failing. And probably close to 4 out of 10Americans will still say, I approve of the job that this guy is doing. Because we're living in a country where political loyalty has detached from results. Now, we will continue following this in a sort of more systematic way. Systemic probably is the right term. Once Elon and Doge are gone, once the full impact of the tariffs is known, these are still question marks. But for now, another day, another record low approval. That's still terrifyingly high. Well, well, well. It looks like the bromance between Donald Trump and Elon Musk is coming to an end. After months of running what can only be described as a half baked austerity costume party inside the federal government, Elon Musk is reportedly finally on his way out of the Trump administration. Now we have more information about this. We had already said, oh, it looks like Elon's leaving. We had already said Trump's alluding to Doge is going to end, but it's more now. Donald Trump told his cabinet that Elon Musk will be leaving his position in the administration in the coming months. Something we knew, but now seems directly related to Donald Trump being sort of sick of Elon Musk. Precipitated by losing that state Supreme Court race in Wisconsin on Tuesday into which Elon Musk had poured 25 million of his own dollars, the guy who basically bought Donald Trump's 2024 campaign is being shown the door after Trump's Supreme Court pick in Wisconsin, the Musk founded Trump endorsed Brad Schimmel, went down in flames by nearly 10 points. Now, officially, they are spinning this as Elon Musk's term is ending. He was brought in on a special, very special, temporary basis. And that limits his service to 130 days a year. He started in January. He's going to hit that term limit in May. It's routine. There's nothing to see here. Except we all know that that is not what Elon Musk was saying three weeks ago. On March 10th on Fox Business, he was asked, do you plan to stick around for another year? And he said, yeah, I think I do. So something changed between March 10th and today. And it's not that he suddenly remembered he has companies to run. He's had five or so of them to run for a while now. That didn't stop him from trying to gut the federal workforce or, you know, undermine programs that probably just need a little bit of help rather than to be completely destroyed. No, it didn't get in the way of all of that. Trump's response is, I would keep him as long as I could keep him. Which is classic Trump distance himself from the decision while pretending he's sad to see Elon go. But we know from internal reports that Trump's getting pretty annoyed by the entire thing. Now, interestingly, Tesla stock jumped on the news that Musk might be leaving government, get back to run his businesses. So we can translate this kind of the following way. Investors are thrilled that Elon might go back to doing almost anything other than working in government, where his presence has been a disaster. Now, of course, Trump world is trying to save face. Trump claims for himself the skill of hiring the absolute best people who get the best results. And Press Secretary Caroline Levitt is saying that the reports of Musk's exit are garbage before ultimately confirming that, yes, he is going to be leaving, but he's going to be leaving with his work completed. So the bottom line is the following. Trump wanted to stack his administration with billionaires and with chaos agents, and he did, and it's not really going very well. And Musk kind of came in as the crown jewel of Trump's new term, the eccentric genius. He's going to slash and burn the deep State and disrupt and all of this stuff. And it's been loss after loss after loss, culminating now in this embarrassing defeat in Wisconsin, where despite 25 million of Elon's dollars, Brad Schimmel still lost by 8 and some change. So Trump may say that he loves Musk, but he also loves blaming people when things go wrong. And things have been going very, very wrong. Is it a breakup? Is it a mutual parting of ways? Is Elon being quietly booted after his pet candidate got demolished at the ballot box? We may never know because Trump will never say it directly. But the vibe has shifted and we now have the combination of this Republican civil war that's growing as four Republican senators and some in the House are saying these tariffs are a disaster. Elon's leaving and Trump is increasingly looking inward and saying, I'm just going to do what I'm going to do. Now, his greatest defender right now seems to be J.D. vance.
- [08:58]
J.D. Vance
You know the guy we've endorsed, J.P. right, J.D. mandel.
- [09:03]
David Pakman
Let's talk about that next. Remember doublespeak, the Orwellian idea from the book 1984, that the government can tell you black is white, up is down, and if you don't agree, you're the problem. Well, welcome to 2025 where a former Republican senator, now Vice President J.D. vance, went on Fox News to claim that Trump's tariffs are fighting inflation. But then he admits, yes, they will raise prices, but they are also fighting, fighting inflation. Let's look at the clip from Fox and Friends yesterday morning.
- [09:39]
Elon Musk
I also know people that come from.
- [09:41]
David Pakman
Our background, they're living paycheck to paycheck and they want to do the patriotic duty of taking it to these other countries. But it's going to hit them a little bit. They feel what can you tell the American people that they just can't afford an extra $3 here and there about the government making up the difference from that? Will costs go up at some point? Will this just be temporary? Are we talking three months or six months?
- [10:05]
Elon Musk
Well, we certainly hear and I appreciate, you know, how I grew up. I know I grew up in a family that often did live paycheck to paycheck.
- [10:12]
David Pakman
By the way, even this origin story from JD Vance is completely exaggerated. It's been debunked. Now, we, every layer of these people is a lie. But I don't, I don't want to derail because we're focused on the tariffs.
- [10:26]
Elon Musk
Here and we know a lot of Americans are worried. So we are fighting very hard to bring prices down. We're going to have the biggest deregulation in the history of this country. We're doing a lot of things and already have done a lot of things to lower the cost of energy. You heard the president mention this yesterday. Eggs when we came in were at a 10 year high and all of a sudden they've dropped 60% just in the two months of the Trump administration. What I'd ask folks to appreciate here is that we are not going to fix things overnight. Joe Biden left us. This is not an exaggeration Lawrence, with the largest peacetime debt and deficit in the history of the United States of America with sky high interest rates. You don't fix that stuff overnight. We know people are struggling. We're fighting as quickly as we can to fix what was left to us, but it's not going to happen immediately. But we really do believe that if we pursue the right deregulation, we pursue those energy cost reducing policies. Yes. People are going to see it in their pocketbook. They're also going to benefit from the fact that foreign countries can't take advantage of us anymore. That means their jobs are going to be more secure.
- [11:28]
David Pakman
So there's one little mention of what, getting inflation down and then it's. It's going to take a while. This isn't going to happen right away. Over the long term, people are going to see. So the translation here is prices are actually going to go up. But just trust us, this is part of the plan to eventually make prices go down, theoretically possible. Does any economist expect that to happen? No. We are officially now in. War is peaceful territory. It's 1984 with a red tie, or I guess in this case JD Is wearing a blue tie. Tariffs are taxes. They make things more expensive. That's not an opinion. That's how math works. Now, you might say it's worth it, it's justified. There is a long term goal, but tariffs are a type of tax. Trump's tariff plan is a national sales tax. When you just say tariff, everything coming in, it's a national sales tax disguised as patriotism. And JD Vance is here to tell you when your grocery bill goes up or whatever, it's the invisible hand of freedom at work. And over the long term, you're going to do great. And they probably also are calculating that if they say this enough and confidently enough and over and over and over again, a lot of people are going to start to believe it because that's how modern authoritarianism works. It's not about censorship, it's about flooding the zone with contradiction until people stop trying to make any sense of it at all and just kind of stop paying attention. This is the Republican strategy. Deliberate confusion. Say the tariffs will lower prices even as prices go up. And say, no, that's part of the plan. They will eventually lower prices. Say we're going to punish China, even when you're really punishing American consumers. Say it's temporary, even though they haven't explained what will end this. Keep talking until no one remembers what reality was to begin with. Now in 1984, George Orwell warned us about this exact tactic. And now it's happening on live television, wrapped in an American flag with a MAGA hat and served with a side of Buy American, even though that doesn't really account for everything getting more expensive. If they can convince people that raising prices is actually lowering them, they can get away with anything. Here's a bonus clip. Here is JD Vance claiming 40% of people who call social securities hotlines are committing fraud. The source is. Trust me, bro.
- [14:02]
Elon Musk
So all that report I saw was total fake news. Ellen came in and we said, we need you to make government more efficient. We need you to shrink the incredible, vast bureaucracy that thwarts the will of the American people, but also costs way too much money. And we said that's going to take about six months. And that's what Elon signed up for. But of course, he's going to continue to be an advisor. And by the way, the work of Doge is not even close to done. The work of Elon is not even close to done. You look at all of the fraudulent grants that they found. You look at people who are 150 years old who are fraudulently collecting Social Security payments. You see our Social Security system. 40% of the people who are calling in are actually committing fraud. That means the 60% who neither Social Security checks are waiting in line. Doge has got a lot of work to do. And, yeah, that work's going to continue after Elon leaves. But fundamentally, Elon is going to remain a friend and an advisor of both me and the President. And he's done a lot of good things.
- [15:02]
David Pakman
That was 59 seconds. I think there's 14 or 15 lies in there. And, of course, providing zero justification for the claim that 40% of those calling Social Security's hotline numbers are committing fraud. Remember, also, fraud is a crime. Can we expect the indictments and the prosecutions to start soon? This is a dystopian nightmare. I really hope for everyone else's sake that not that many people are falling for this crap. I worry that they are, but I hope that they are not. Remember to get on our newsletter. It is the only platform on which we own our data. I will have no means to get in touch with you if we are shut down on any of our other platforms. And so this is why we're working to build our newsletter. You can find it@david pakman.substack.com or you can just email info@david pakman.com and say, hey, David, put me on the newsletter. If YouTube shuts us down. The 3 million subscribers. We have no way of contacting anybody. So you can reply directly to the newsletter. I get those messages. It's the most direct way to remain in touch with us. Appreciate everybody who's been signing up. It's free. I'm selling you nothing other than a good time. We'll take a quick break and be back with more guys in my audience. I know you're tired of the chafing with traditional underwear. Our sponsor Sheath makes the most comfortable boxer briefs I've ever worn. If you're sick of the boxers that are too loose or the briefs that are too tight, Sheath is for you. Sheath underwear is designed with two special pouches in the front. Keeps everything separate in its own compartment with extra confidence that you will feel throughout the day. Keeping things separate and comfortable. No more sticking and chafing. I was skeptical about the dual pouch, I admit it. But it is game changing. Everything stays where it is supposed to be extra useful when working out at the gym. And even if you don't want to use the pouches, you don't have to. It is still the most comfortable pair of underwear I have ever owned. It will blow your mind how soft and stretchy these are. Made with moisture wicking technology to keep you dry. If you were ready to take underwear comfort to a new place, a place you didn't even know it could go, head over to sheath underwear.com/pacman and get 20% off with the code PACMAN. That's sh e a th underwear.com/pacman use code PACMAN for 20% off. The link is in the podcast notes. The David Pakman show is of course an audience supported program. We really couldn't do this show without the support of just people who listen to the podcast, people who watch on YouTube or Snapchat or TikTok or wherever. And so I invite you to get the full experience. This of course includes the bonus show which is despised by Alex Jones.
- [18:04]
Dave Portnoy
Oh, the bonus show where you want to make money. Everybody else that makes money to fund themselves is bad.
- [18:09]
David Pakman
Join pacman.com is the place to sign up. I also want to thank everybody, everybody who made my book the Echo Machine an instant bestseller. We hit the New York Times bestseller list without the support of corporate media, without the support of the big three book publishers. We did it and I'm humbled. I have only folks in the audience to thank thank. And you can get the book obviously anywhere that books are available. And finally, remember that the best way to remain in touch directly with me, no matter what happens on any of the platforms, is to get on my newsletter. The newsletter data is the only data we own. TikTok shuts us down. You'll never hear from me again. Those million followers. YouTube shuts us down. The 3 million subscribers we have no way of contacting. So if you want to remain in touch directly, you can also reply to the newsletter. Those go directly to me. Make sure that you get on my Substack newsletter. You can find it@david pakman.com or you can go to David pakman.substack.com All right, here's what's happening. And you know, this isn't really a cause for celebration, but it's very much worth paying attention to. Joe Rogan, a guy who platformed Trump, endorsed Trump, voted for Trump and spent a while saying horrible things about Joe Biden, is now suddenly realizing that deporting innocent people to a violent El Salvador megaprison is, quote, horrific. We talked about that a couple of days ago. In addition to this, you've got Dave Portnoy, the pizza guy from Barstool Sports, another Trump supporter who has now gone off on Trump and his administration over signal Gate. We're going to review these two clips, but the big picture is that there are some major pro Trump influencers. They're not turning on Trump, but they're expect expressing skepticism that this is the right approach for how to run an administration. So let's start with the Rogan video. If you watched or listened to the show two days ago, we talked about this already. Here is Rogan with the guys from Trigger Nometry saying the deport state deportation stuff is a disaster.
- [20:33]
Dave Portnoy
But the thing is like, you got to get scared that people who are not criminals are getting like lassoed up and deported and sent to like El Salvador prisons. I read some story. It was a Glenn Greenwald.
- [20:49]
David Pakman
Yeah, yeah. The gay barber guy. Yeah, yeah. It's, it's scary, man.
- [20:52]
Elon Musk
Is that true?
- [20:53]
David Pakman
Is that story accurate with a bunch of these trend our agua guys, allegedly they got one guy who, at least one guy who wasn't a criminal, who was just a gay barber who I think according to the story came here legally. When you do things quickly and you do things aggressively, that's how you get done. But that's also when mistakes get made. And I think a human being being plucked out of nowhere and ending up in a country he's never been in, in a maximum security prison with gang members seems like a bad thing to happen to me.
- [21:25]
Dave Portnoy
It's Horrific.
- [21:26]
Elon Musk
It's horrific.
- [21:27]
David Pakman
I don't think that should be controversial.
- [21:29]
Dave Portnoy
No, that's not controversial at all. Again, that's bad for the cause. Like, the cause is, let's get the gang members out. Everybody agrees.
- [21:34]
Elon Musk
But what's not, innocent gay hairdressers get.
- [21:37]
Dave Portnoy
Lumped up with the gangs and then, like, how long before that guy can get out? Is there any plan in place to alert the authorities that they've made a.
- [21:44]
Elon Musk
Horrible mistake and correct it?
- [21:46]
David Pakman
Well, if you think about it from a government perspective, and this is where I think it gets quite sinister, is once you've done that, the incentive structure is never going to be to admit that and deal with it. The incentive structure is to say nothing, to cover it up, to pretend it didn't happen. Right. As hard. So someone. So we talked about this two days ago, as I explained to you. On the one hand, credit to Rogan for, for pointing this out. On the other hand, Rogan voted for Trump. He was generically in favor of the immigration crackdown to the extent that it was going to be, quote, criminals. But now that it's leading to people who have not been convicted of anything, including the gay barber being locked up in a foreign prison with actual gang members in a country they have no connection to, suddenly he's concerned. So, on the one hand, good for Rogan, on the other hand, he helped build this. This is what he voted for. And finally, the problem also is that even whether they got the right people or the wrong people, regardless of whether the stories are sympathetic, a gay barber, a dad with a sick kid or whatever, you are entitled to due process if you are physically in the United States. But, ok, it's something we now go to Dave Portnoy. If you missed this one. Trump's team accidentally included Atlantic journalist Editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg in a private group chat about what was then as yet to happen, military strike on the Houthis in Yemen. It revealed not only information that's supposed to be classified, it revealed internal chaos. It revealed incompetence. And Mike Portnoy's take is this is Mike Portnoy. Dave Portnoy's take is that this is a disaster and that it is Trump's people who caused it. Again, Trump supporter, let's listen to what he has to say in this new administration.
- [23:35]
Dave Portnoy
You want to take accountability, Trump. You may love Michael Waltz, you love Pete Hesketh, you may love these guys. Somebody has to go down to me is Michael Waltz. He's the one who added him to this conversation. But you can't have the top of the top security people in the United States with the most system, the sensitive information in the world. Adding random editors of a magazine that hates Trump's guts to a group chat, talking about an attack before it happens on a terrorist group. You can't poo poo it. You can't downplay it. You have to sit up there and be like, holy, this is a up of epic proportions. There will be accounts own ability. I will get to the bottom of this. And frankly, I think I, I don't like calling for people's heads. Michael Waltz, it seems like you're the guy who added him to the group chat. You have to lose your job. You should step down. You cannot be adding random people to a group chat with this sensitive, classified information to be, ah, no, poo poo. It's on him. He should have left the group chat instantly. This guy should have the state in. It's on Jeffrey Goldberg for not immediately being like, hey, I should be here. No, no, it's on you for adding them. And this has to be something that, and this is why I hate politics. You have to stand up here and be like, what a fuck up. I will demand answers, accountability in the heads. I don't care.
- [25:05]
David Pakman
Now, of course, what he's suggesting needs to be done is something Trump has never in his life done. No matter what happens, if you're right.
- [25:13]
Dave Portnoy
Left, this, this is a. There's nothing being made up here. Jeffrey Goldberg is telling the truth. It's obvious these texts are real. It's obvious they're classified. It's obvious we gave away the strike information two hours before it happened. We are lucky it didn't cause the death of American military members. Somebody has to go down for this. This, this is a mistake. This isn't a barstool mistake where you let an idiot hang around like Mitzi. This is a mistake that can't happen twice. It cannot happen.
- [25:45]
David Pakman
All right, so he goes on like this a few more seconds. This is important. This is important because Portnoy isn't some anti Trump liberal, okay? He played a role in normalizing Trump to millions of voters, especially young men, during the last election. He helped sort of build the vibe that Trump was just a funny outsider. The left is too uptight. And even he is now saying this is a, this is a mess. But here is what this isn't. This is not redemption, ok? Rogan and Portnoy don't get to now act like innocent bystanders. And I think this is the critical Thing to understand. On the one hand, they boosted Trump and mocked Democrats and shaped that ecosystem that helped get us here. Neither of these guys, if you care about actual policy, democratic norms, or basic human rights, was on the correct side in November of 2024. On the other hand, it's not lost on me that when even the people inside the machine are calling out the disaster of their own creation, something is going on. And importantly, if this is what the they're saying out loud, imagine what they're saying in private. I don't mean Dave Portnoy and Rogan. I think specifically they are saying out loud what they are believing in public. But think about all of the other right wingers who are remaining silent publicly but are thinking similar or worse things privately. So the takeaway here is that there's an opportunity. Democrats often screw up opportunities, but there is an opportunity here to say to a lot of people, we're with you. We're with you. Will Democrats have something else to offer? Is the question. Lauren Boebert confused Roger Stone with Oliver Stone. Yes. You really can't make this stuff up. Okay, so there was a House hearing on the JFK assassination files, or JIF as some people know him. Congresswoman Lauren Boebert took the mic, delivered what I can only describe as peak absurdity. She looked at Oliver Stone dead in the eye. This is the guy who made the JFK movie and accused him of writing a book that blames lbj, Lyndon Johnson, the former president, for the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The only problem is that wasn't Oliver Stone. That was. That was Roger Stone, the longtime Trump ally who was convicted. And it's two completely different people. Now, you're going to see a couple of things. First of all, you're going to see Oliver Stone look very confused. And he goes, no, I didn't do that. His fellow witness, Jefferson Morley, who, by the way, has been on this show before talking about the JFK files, he steps in and says, I think you're confusing this man, Oliver Stone, with Roger Stone. I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it.
- [28:50]
Dave Portnoy
Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you to our witnesses for being here today. Hopefully we can stay on topic for the rest of this hearing. We seem to be wrapping up pretty close here. Mr. Stone, you wrote a book accusing LBJ of being involved in the killing of President Kennedy. Did these, did these most recent releases confirm or negate your initial charge.
- [29:21]
David Pakman
Being.
- [29:21]
Dave Portnoy
Involved in the assassination of President Kennedy?
- [29:26]
J.D. Vance
No. No, I didn't. In the film, if you look closely.
- [29:29]
David Pakman
There'S no such statements.
- [29:32]
J.D. Vance
No, no, I didn't. If you look closely at the film, there's no.
- [29:36]
David Pakman
It.
- [29:36]
J.D. Vance
It accuses the President Johnson.
- [29:39]
Dave Portnoy
Okay.
- [29:39]
J.D. Vance
Of part. Being part of a complicit in a cover up of the case, but not in the assassination itself, which I don't.
- [29:46]
David Pakman
Know what, what do you think that he was complicit with?
- [29:48]
Dave Portnoy
Yes, sir, I'll get to you.
- [29:49]
J.D. Vance
The COVID up. Well, how about for starters, appointing Alan Dulles the head of the CIA was fired by Kennedy to the commission itself, to the Warren Commission. And he goes to almost every meeting. And he's in. Pretty much in charge of the war. Warren Commission from the beginning. Allen Dulles. That's part of the evidence that points to President Johnson's either incompetence or involvement.
- [30:12]
David Pakman
Mr. Morley, I think you had something.
- [30:14]
Dave Portnoy
To add on that.
- [30:15]
David Pakman
I think you're confusing Mr. Oliver Stone with Mr. Roger Stone. Sorry, it's Roger Stone who implicated LBJ in the assassinations of the President. It's not my friend. Is that all the woodstoppers were there.
- [30:28]
Dave Portnoy
I may have misinterpreted that, and I apologize for that.
- [30:36]
David Pakman
Oh, it's the final nail in the coffin of the education system, isn't it? Roger Stone, of course, is the Trump ally who wrote the man who Killed Kennedy, the Case against lbj. And in that book, Roger Stone claims that Lyndon Johnson orchestrated the murder of John F. Kennedy. Oliver Stone directed the movie jfk, which is a fictionalization which alludes to a government cover up. It doesn't blame lbj. It's yet another reminder that there are people shaping national policy. This is one of 435 members of the House of Representatives. They don't know what they're talking about. They confuse authors with directors. They read Facebook memes and think that they're classified documents in terms of their trustworthiness or allegiance to the truth. And then they go on to vote about war powers or about surveillance on you or how much executive authority the White House should have. Of course, it's cartoonishly embarrassing and humiliating and Boebert's a clown, but this is dangerous, dangerous stuff. Really, really bad. And of course, she just steamrolls and goes, oh, I. I guess I was mistaken. And the audience realizing something is very, very wrong here. 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. They. 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 if you are looking for signs that the Trump 2.0 presidency is in serious trouble, here is one. Donald Trump's approval rating, specifically on the economy, has just hit an all time low and I don' low for Trump. This is the lowest it's ever been even compared to his first term. The economy was supposed to be his thing, the one issue that his supporters trusted him on and that he was going to do better than everybody else and support on that issue. Trust on that issue is now evaporating. The numbers are that according to the latest Gallup poll, only 41% of Americans approve of how Trump is handling the economy, 59% disapprove, and we are only a couple of months in. That's an 18 point net negative on the signature issue. This is the issue on which he was going to have the most trust because he has the most expertise and the best ideas and the best policies. And it's a disaster. And it gets even worse because his overall approval rating is down to just 43%. He's in the red in approval with every major pollster. So let's break this down into a couple of, I think, important component parts. First of all, this is not just a bad week, this is part of a trend. In February, Gallup had Trump at 42% approval on the economy. In January, consumer confidence was slipping and now the numbers are in freefall. The cause isn't a mystery. It's called generalized chaos. Because of the trade war Slapping tariffs here and there and then they get canceled and then is Liberation Day and then this is canceled and that's back in. Are you putting a tariff on every country? Yeah, maybe. Are you putting the same tariff on every country? Yeah, maybe. I don't really know. And so all of this is generating chaos, for example, at car dealerships where dealers are saying, what's going to happen to the cost of cars? Do we buy more inventory? Are we going to end up screwing ourselves with too much inventory? The markets are rattled and Trump supporters are starting to feel it. You don't need a PhD in economics to realize that if imports get taxed, which is what a tariff is, that's a tax on you. Trump has been predicting pain, saying it'll be worth it, it'll only be short term pain. But this matters way more than just for polling, because Republicans are getting nervous about 2026. I did this story last week how magazines are starting to plan their exit strategy. That video got 1.5 million views in its first 24 hours because it's resonating with left and right people saying, is this a good horse? To which I should be hooking my wagon. Hooking, attaching my wagon. Remember that more than 50% of voters in 2024 voted for someone other than Donald Trump. He got 49 point something percent of the vote and now he's bleeding support in key swing districts. And this is the kind of polling that can really have a domino effect, where if the polling continues to decline, more of the Republicans we spoke about last week will see it as sort of a door opening to start distancing themselves. And Trump's legislative agenda, or what little there is of it, is going to grind to a halt. And that's the big one. Voter turnout can collapse if we step back for a second. There was never a coherent economic strategy. It was vibes and slogans, the best economy ever, I built it once, I'll build it again, etc. But the second question is, are voters realizing that what Trump promised, and to a degree what he did, isn't going to help them, that the tariffs are causing chaos and economic pain and bluster just doesn't pay the bills? So this could be a turning point. I know that we always talk about this turning point, that turning point, inflection, it's now over. I'm not saying any of those things. What I am saying is that we have a combination of things here. We know that Republicans are starting to calculate. At some point, Trump's lame duckness is going to be irreparable. What do we do about that? And when can we safely jump off of this train while at the same time voters are saying we don't approve, particularly on the key issue, the key issue that he ran on. Where does that all point? It certainly points to lies about what he's doing and accomplishing. We know that. But does it also point to a disastrous 2026? Now, I also try to be cautious about when do we go into election mode. I'm not going into 2026 mode right now. But we only have eight months left this year. Nine months left. Eight. Nine. Yeah, we have nine months left this year and then it's already going to be 2026. By the fall, we will be fully in the 2026 election cycle. So it is a ways off. I'm not starting to do election 26 now, but it's not as far off as it might seem. Donald Trump forgot basic English words while his former personal lawyer and now U.S. attorney for the district, including New Jersey, Elena Haba, looked on in horror. You're going to hear in this clip that Donald Trump is unable to come up with the word criminal. And he comes up with an interesting little phrase. People of crime, people of crime, people of. Listen to this.
- [39:12]
J.D. Vance
And we hope this court system that's become so active all of a sudden in trying to protect some very, very bad people of crime, they have to stop. They have to let us do the job. We were elected to do the job. They shouldn't be interfering in that very sad thing that's gone. Nobody can even believe it.
- [39:33]
David Pakman
No idea what's going on. The more. And by the way, we have not digitally altered this image in order to make Trump appear more orange. And by the way, we. I've received allegations recently we've been orang Trump. We have not been doing that. And in fact, the fact that people are accusing us of making him artificially orange is. Is pretty wild given. Given that we don't do that. So you know, when, when I hear Trump unable to remember the word criminal and calls them people of crime. We had a pundit class that was obsessed with presidential acuity when it was Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee in 2024. They are silent now, silent on Trump, the oldest president in history who continues to have mental lapse after mental lapse. I'm not saying he doesn't remember his name. I'm only looking at what we know, which is that if presidential acuity was the most important topic, it should be a topic for them right now, in this same very odd appearance, Donald Trump claiming that foreign countries are coming to him and apologizing there. Sir, we are just so sorry.
- [40:47]
J.D. Vance
I think most countries will are agreeing with me. They actually, many of them have actually apologized. They said, look, we have taken advantage. And I don't blame them as much as I blame the people that stood in this case. I can say the men, because so far they've been all men, haven't they? But the men that sat right there and behind the Resolute desk, Mostly the Resolute desk. You know, I don't know if, you know, you have a choice of seven desks. The Resolute is the one I like, but some chose other ones. But they sat right behind a desk right in this location, and they let our country be hurt very badly.
- [41:25]
David Pakman
Yes, totally incoherent. But in Trump's world, people are coming up to him all the time and apologizing, and it makes him feel like a really big boy. Finally, Donald Trump was asked, why did you pardon Trevor Milton? Now, Trevor Milton is the founder of Nikola, convicted by a New York jury in 2022 for misleading investors about his. About the Electric Vehicle makers technology. He was pardoned last Friday by Trump. Milton said he spoke to Trump over the phone and that he has been pardoned. Trump asked, why'd you pardon the guy? Trump doesn't know reason.
- [42:04]
Elon Musk
What was your reason for pardoning Trevor Milton?
- [42:08]
J.D. Vance
Highly recommended by many people that was taken advantage of. He did a business deal like in Utah, as I have it, and I think he was exonerated. And then they brought him into New York. We had a rough, rough road and road. I mean, he, he was exonerated. It was a big celebration. Again, I don't know him, but I was. They say it was very unfair. And they say the thing that he did wrong was he was one of the first people that supported a gentleman named Donald Trump for president. He supported Trump. He liked Trump. I didn't know him, but he liked him. It was in Utah. And they went after him. They went after his family, they went after his businesses, and he was, I believe, exonerated. And then they went after him again, and they brought him this time into Manhattan, and he had nothing to do with Manhattan, and they got him. And I said, that's unfair.
- [43:08]
David Pakman
There are many people like, he's just ranting, all right. Milton was convicted of fraud for making false claims about just about every aspect of his business to investors. And by the way, he and his wife donated, donated $1.8 million to a Trump reelection campaign fund less than a month before the November election. That's what this is really about. It's more quid pro quo and more nonsense. Don't forget that the best way to support the David Pakman show is by becoming a member, which gives you access to the daily Bonus show, the regular show with no commercials. You also get access to our entire archive of every episode dating back a really long time, and plenty of other awesome membership perks. Go to join pacman.com join pacman.com all right, let's get into Friday feedback for the week. Friday we look at emails, comments, feedback of all kinds. You can always email info@david pakman.com if you have something to say, but sometimes It'll be a YouTube reply or a Facebook comment or whatever. All forms of feedback are accepted, although we try to limit the trolling as much as we can. I do often start with a couple of negative comments just to show you I'm not scared of them. Not scared at all. Bobby says David Beckman is a socialism prick. Now you might be saying, david, why are you even giving this guy the time of day? Here's the reason. I just want to the socialism stuff really gets me. There are people furious at me because they wrongly believe that I am a socialist. I'm not. And there are people who are furious with me because they understand that I'm not a socialist, but they want me to be, and they think I should be. I'm so sorry, everybody. I As I laid out on Monday, I support a regulated form of capitalism called social democracy. It's not socialism and it is not unrestricted capitalism. Also from Rick, just as a very brief detour from getting back to substance, Rick wrote in you really suck and you're ugly. Of course it's the wrong your. So he's he's saying something about my ugly and ugly that I possess rather than you are ugly. Why do these people never get that right? Is it as simple as it's an educational matter? I don't know. All right, now let's get into some more substance. Whoremaster Falco wrote what a username on the subreddit. Why does David keep saying Trump is causing the downfall of democracy? I've been a longtime listener of David, and I'm particularly fond of his logical perspectives on political issues. But he's repeating a line recently that doesn't quite make sense to me. He says that Trump is a sign that democracy is failing, but Trump was literally elected by the overwhelming majority of Americans. How can someone who Was democratically elected be the downfall of democracy? Please do not use Hitler as an example. I hate Trump, but Trump isn't Hitler. Well, you know what? I will not use Hitler. A couple of things here. First of all, you need to be a little more careful with your use of literally Trump. Let's, let's look at the word. Trump was literally elected by the overwhelming majority of Americans. First of all, there's 340 million Americans. A majority would be 170 million Americans plus one. Trump didn't get anywhere near 170 million votes. So was Trump voted in by the majority of Americans? No. Of course those under 18 can't vote. So if you eliminate them, it's not 340 million Americans. It's some smaller number. But was Trump voted in by Even more than 50% of the eligible voters? No. And then you go to people who actually voted. What percentage of the vote did Trump get? Under 50%. Trump wasn't even voted in by a majority of those who voted. So when you pull out the word literally, we're going to look at that and you are very wrong. Now here has been my view. Trump won democratically. How could he be the downfall of democracy? Well, you can win democratically and then subvert democracy by imposing authoritarianism. I think that this entire conversation actually misses the point, which is what matters is how individuals govern and what they support. It is a very common thing. Without going to Hitler that want to be authoritarians win democratically, often using bogus populist rhetoric, and then subvert democracy with authoritarianism. Now, to what degree will Trump do that? We'll have to see. When you look at these no due process deportations, when you look at people being snatched up on the street, when you look at Trump deferring to strongmen, dictators, and increasingly putting distance with democratic allies, all of these are subversions of democracy. Will it culminate in Trump, you know, getting a third term like he's now talking about? Remains to be seen, but I'm doing everything I can to be careful with my language. I would suggest people who write in criticizing do the exact same thing. Okay. From TikTok, where we now have surpassed 1 million followers, Ben Dover says seeing how quickly Magas turn on their own over the slightest opposition to Trump. Coni Barrett Massie now Laura Ingraham is probably the craziest thing I've witnessed in politics. Well, here's the thing, Ben, as I've spoken about many times, one of the things that the right gets correct is that when they're trying to win an election. If you're a historical Democratic voter and you go, there's this one little thing I don't love about what Biden did. They welcome you with open arms. Now, as soon as they win, it explodes. Okay? But at least for the purposes of winning elections, they welcome everybody. The left often says, you disagree with me on one thing, you're out. Whereas the right goes, you only agree with us on one thing, and you're skeptical of your side's leadership, you're welcome, you're in. Okay, but then here's the other aspect of it. Once they start governing, it always goes haywire. And then the purity tests do start. So it's not surprising Ben, and I know this person's name is not really Ben. It's not surprising, Ben, if you've been paying attention. Overthinking. Millennial says nothing new here. My question is, how long until the American people start protesting and safeguarding their once great country? Sad days around the world. Well, you know what? Tomorrow. Tomorrow there are nationwide protests. The hands off protests. I've been talking about it. It's an opportunity to get out there and protest, safeguard the framework and foundations of this country. We'll see over the weekend the amount of support that they get, and we will talk about it on Monday. But this, this is a big topic in my book, which is activism that works. Voting great. We should all vote. Signing petitions doesn't do much. Okay, what forms of activism. Activism really do make a difference? Mass rallies in urban centers historically is one of them. So we will see how it all goes. Jonathan Wood says about the audiobook for my book. Thank you for narrating yourself. I like having a physical copy, but I listen a lot while working and always get the audio first. Yeah, you know, if I'm totally honest, narrating the book was probably the hardest part because it is exhausting is just exhausting. But I am glad I did it. You know, we all were on the same page. If I have a podcast where people are used to hearing my voice and then some third person narrates the book, it wouldn't really make any sense. So. So I did narrate it. That. That is indeed what we did. Noel Some says the following about the book. I can't wait for anybody to give me or interpret this book for me. I don't even think liberals can read or at least ability to comprehend. It's funny to talk about other people not being able to read when this person can barely write. No one will really buy this book. Unless the pages are toilet paper grade in texture, liberals can wipe their asses with it and then feed themselves with it. You know, one of the things that is triggering a lot of people is they're just furious that the book is doing so well. You know, when we first were at 3,000 preorders, then 3,500, I started getting people writing in going, oh, David, you bought 3,500 copies of your own book. And I explained, not only did I not do that, that would be like $70,000, but more importantly, if you buy your own book in bulk, none of those copies count towards any of the best seller lists. It's one of the great ways to torpedo your own book. So, you know, maybe, maybe look at, maybe read a couple books yourself. Sir, you seem to be struggling as far as reading and writing goes. All right, Skip Laney wrote in and says it's hilarious watching PAC pud, Pacman, fabrication factory propaganda center dare try and compare Trump's disorientation to Joe Biden, the dementia patient, oatmeal brained mess that couldn't finish complete sentences, remember what to say, where to go, and had the administration staff Obama auto sign and run the country. Quite frankly, I was shocked by how stupid the Democrat Party was choosing Biden over several far, far more qualified candidates. But on the bright side, it was fun seeing Biden as the first president in history to mimic a Roomba vacuum after every attempt at giving a speech. Well, you know what? We're not comparing Trump's disorientation to Joe Biden. We dealt with Biden from the beginning. I did not think that Biden should run for reelection. There was a point at which he was running where I calculated he had the best shot. After the debate, he no longer did. And I told my audience that. The one thing you can count on, Skip, is that I am always going to tell my audience how I see it. And if how I see it changes, I will tell you. Count on that. You can set your, your, your watch to that. Now, meanwhile, I think it would be useful or at least consistent if the people who believed that Biden was the poster child of lack of mental acuity would weigh in at least a little bit on the constant cognitive glitches and failures of Donald Trump. Just cover both, okay? And then I would find you much more consistent and believable. All right, info@david pakman.com if you have anything you want to say, let me know. If you are going to be participating in the hands off protests this weekend, let me know if you've bought the book. The Echo Machine Available everywhere books are sold. Audiobook E Book hardcover. Barnes and Noble originally said they were getting two copies per store. They apparently have gotten three copies per store. Whether there are any left at your local Barnes and Noble, I just don't know. But we will have updated numbers next week. Remember to review the book. Amazon Barnes and Noble at Goodreads. And I look very much forward to seeing you on the bonus show and also right back here next week. Have a good weekend.