5/19/25: Biden has cancer, Trump threatens Bruce Springsteen

Summary

Podcast Summary: The David Pakman Show – May 19, 2025 Episode Title: Biden Has Cancer, Trump Threatens Bruce Springsteen
Host: David Pakman
Release Date: May 19, 2025

---

1. Joe Biden’s Prostate Cancer Diagnosis

[00:07] David Pakman opens the episode by addressing the recent news of former President Joe Biden's diagnosis with an aggressive form of prostate cancer, specifically a Gleason 9 grade group form 5, which has metastasized to his bones. Pakman discusses the severity of the diagnosis and the subsequent conspiracy theories propagated by the MAGA faction.

Key Points:

• Diagnosis Details: Biden's prostate cancer is hormone-sensitive, offering hope for manageability through treatment.
• MAGA’s Reaction: The MAGA base quickly speculates that Biden has been secretly battling cancer for years, alleging a cover-up during the 2024 election. Pakman cites Donald Trump Jr.’s claim:

  "What I want to know is how did Dr. Jill Biden miss stage 5 metastatic cancer? Or is this yet another cover-up?" [04:20]

Expert Insight: Pakman references a urologist friend to debunk the conspiracy theories, explaining that routine PSA screening isn't common for men over 75, making a sudden severe diagnosis plausible. He emphasizes that:

"Gleason 9 prostate cancer is less common. It's very aggressive. And by virtue of being very aggressive, it can go from relatively undetectable to metastasized in months, not years." [05:15]

Conclusion: Pakman concludes that there is no evidence supporting the MAGA narrative of a long-term cover-up and urges focusing on the potential treatment options available to Biden and his family.

---

2. Biden’s Alleged Cognitive Decline

The episode shifts focus to claims surrounding Joe Biden's cognitive abilities, sparked by the release of a four and a half-minute audio snippet from a six-hour interview with Special Counsel Robert Her.

Key Points:

• MAGA’s Claim: The right-wing media suggests the audio proves Biden is suffering from dementia, pointing to moments where he seems confused about dates and events. For example, Biden incorrectly references the inauguration year:

  "Is 2015." [10:12]

Pakman’s Analysis: He argues that the audio sample is too brief and selected to support their narrative:

"Biden being cautious in a legal interview is the end of democracy based on the worst four minutes out of six hours that you can pull." [07:30]

Pakman suggests that the repetitive "I don't recall" statements are standard legal strategy rather than evidence of cognitive decline. He cautions against drawing conclusions from a limited and curated audio segment.

Conclusion: He remains skeptical of the dementia narrative, attributing it to political strategy rather than medical reality, while acknowledging Biden's prior decline observed since the June 27 debate performance.

---

3. President Donald Trump’s Middle East Trip and Mental Health Concerns

Pakman discusses President Trump’s recent diplomatic trip to the Middle East, where his public appearances raised questions about his mental acuity.

Key Points:

• Rambled Speech in Qatar: Trump delivered a 25-minute speech that deviated from foreign policy topics, including incoherent remarks about drones and fictional scenarios. Examples include:

  "When you look at what's happening with Russia and Ukraine, the drone is killing tremendous numbers of people... Sean Duffy runs the department..." [19:34]

• Abu Dhabi Incident: Another instance where Trump’s comments on groceries and tariffs appeared disjointed and irrelevant to the setting:

  "Groceries are down, costs are down... eggs are down to a number that is amazing." [21:29]

Pakman’s Analysis: He highlights the stark difference in media and public reaction to Trump’s behavior compared to hypothetical similar actions by previous presidents. Pakman states:

"If Barack Obama or Joe Biden or any other president had stood on the world stage and at every single public appearance, rambled like this for nearly an hour, it would be national news." [22:16]

Conclusion: Pakman expresses concern over Trump’s apparent cognitive struggles and the potential risks this poses given his access to critical national and global decisions. He underscores the lack of serious media coverage on these issues as a perilous trend.

---

4. Vice President Mike Pence’s Criticism of Trump

A segment focuses on former Vice President Mike Pence publicly criticizing Trump’s policies, particularly tariffs and constitutional issues.

Key Points:

• Tariffs Critique: Pence acknowledges that Trump’s tariffs acted as a significant tax on Americans:

  "The initial reciprocal tariffs that he unveiled would be the largest peacetime tax hike on the American people in the history of this country." [34:34]

• Emoluments Clause: Pence brings up constitutional concerns regarding Trump's acceptance of a private jet from Qatar:

  "The Constitution prohibits public officials from accepting a present, in the words of the Constitution, a present from a foreign state." [38:55]

Pakman’s Analysis: He critiques Pence’s late and minimal opposition, labeling it as “GOP cowardice” and not as an act of genuine courage:

"This is a perfect example of GOP cowardice. Admit Trump was wrong years later, and only when it is safe now." [35:00]

Conclusion: While acknowledging Pence’s correct statements, Pakman paints his actions as insufficient and belated, reflecting the broader Republican Party’s downfall into tribalism and lack of principled opposition.

---

5. Trump’s Threats to Bruce Springsteen and Walmart

The episode delves into Trump’s recent hostile remarks towards musician Bruce Springsteen and retail giant Walmart, highlighting escalated authoritarian rhetoric.

Key Points:

• Threats to Springsteen: Trump criticized Springsteen for his political views, threatening retaliation:

  "I see that highly overrated... you'd better be careful when you come back into this country." [44:31]

• Attack on Walmart: Trump demanded Walmart absorb tariff costs instead of passing them to consumers:

  "Walmart should stop trying to blame tariffs as the reason for raising prices..." [57:35]

Pakman’s Analysis: He compares Trump’s threats to those of authoritarian leaders, stressing the danger of a president using government power for personal vendettas:

"This is Trump threatening to punish American citizens for criticizing the president while physically overseas. That is authoritarianism." [44:31]

Pakman emphasizes the unprecedented nature of these threats and the lack of media coverage, raising alarms about potential abuse of presidential authority.

Conclusion: Pakman warns of the slippery slope towards authoritarianism, highlighting Trump’s rhetoric as a blueprint for undermining democratic norms and intimidating dissenters.

---

6. The Broader Implications for American Democracy

In wrapping up the episode, Pakman reflects on the current state of American politics, marked by extreme partisanship and the erosion of democratic principles.

Key Points:

• Erosion of Democratic Norms: The rise of conspiracy theories, authoritarian rhetoric, and the polarization between political factions signal a dangerous trend.
• Impact on Governance: The unchecked power of influential figures like Trump poses significant risks to national stability and the rule of law.

Pakman’s Final Thoughts:

"We have reached [authoritarianism]. Trump following up later in the weekend with a demand for an investigation... We've reached it." [59:21]

He calls for vigilance and collective action to uphold democratic values and resist the descent into authoritarianism.

---

Conclusion

In this episode, David Pakman provides a comprehensive analysis of recent developments involving Joe Biden’s health, President Trump’s controversial behavior and rhetoric, and the troubling criticisms from within the Republican Party. By dissecting conspiracy theories, cognitive decline narratives, and authoritarian threats, Pakman underscores the critical state of American democracy and the urgent need for its preservation.

---

Notable Quotes:

• Donald Trump Jr. on Biden’s Cancer:

  "What I want to know is how did Dr. Jill Biden miss stage 5 metastatic cancer? Or is this yet another cover-up?" [04:20]

• David Pakman on Caution in Interviews:

  "Biden being cautious in a legal interview is the end of democracy based on the worst four minutes out of six hours that you can pull." [07:30]

• Mike Pence on Tariffs:

  "The initial reciprocal tariffs that he unveiled would be the largest peacetime tax hike on the American people in the history of this country." [34:34]

• Donald Trump Threatening Springsteen:

  "That's just standard fare... You'd better be careful when you come back into this country." [44:31]

---

Disclaimer: This summary excludes advertisements, intros, outros, and non-content segments to focus solely on the substantive discussions presented in the episode.

Transcript

[David Pakman]

Welcome to the show. The news broke yesterday that former President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that has already metastasized to his bones. It is what's called a Gleason 9 grade group form 5 that is very serious as far as prostate cancer goes. And immediately, this has generated some very extreme conspiracy theories from the maga. Right, let's discuss the diagnosis, let's discuss the allegations and really just figure out what do we have evidence for at this point in time. So, according to the statement put out by the former president's office, Joe Biden's prostate cancer has already spread to his bones. It is believed to be hormone sensitive, meaning that there is the hope that with treatment, it can be managed. And right on cue, the MAGA conspiracy machine has kicked into overdrive. Now, before we get to that. Donald Trump putting out a statement that was mildly normal. Okay? Trump putting out a statement on troth central that says, quote, melania and I are saddened to hear about Joe Biden's recent medical diagnosis. We extend our warmest and best wishes to Jill and the family, and we wish Joe a fast and successful recovery. Did Trump write it? Nobody knows, but at least it was published and it's sort of normal. But, but, but they are already flooding social media with the claim that this all proves that Joe Biden's been secretly sick for a long time, that Democrats knew about this prostate cancer for a while, that it was covered up even during the 2024 election. An example from Donald Trump Jr. One of the most vile and disgusting MAGA characters there is, who said, what I want to know is how did Dr. Jill Biden miss stage 5 metastatic cancer? Or is this yet another cover up? So let's discuss what's being alleged. The allegation here is that all of this was part of a plot to pass the presidency to Kamala Harris and then throw the election on on purpose. That it was known that Biden was sick, but it was covered up. Here's the thing. None of this is backed by evidence. I spoke to a urologist friend yesterday. What we know is that men over 75 are typically not routinely screened for PSA. You're the blood test that would be normal under 4 for prostate cancer screening unless you have symptoms or a family history. The reason being that the PSA result alone in those over 75 can be not particularly useful and sort of send you down a garden path of testing that may not really be in the best interests of the patient. So the allegation Is there's no way that everything was completely normal a year ago and suddenly he's got metastasized prostate cancer. Well, first of all, it's not even clear that Biden was getting his PSA checked because he's over 75 now. Do you check the PSA of a 75, 80 year old because he's president, even though it wouldn't normally be indicated? Maybe, but we don't have information about that at the moment. Biden's in his 80s, no known family history of prostate cancer. Gleason9 prostate cancer is less common. It's very aggressive. And by virtue of being very aggressive, it can go from relatively undetectable to metastasized in months, not years. So that all is possible, and that's what makes it so dangerous. Now, if you're asking a different question, if you're saying, is it possible, is it possible that he had a high PSA a while ago and had already been tested and the White House knew and maybe Biden had already started treatment while he was in office and it was all covered up? It's possible. We have no evidence of that at this point in time. There's also no evidence that the diagnosis was hidden. There's no, there's no evidence of any of that. And so the allegation that MAGA is jumping to, which is there's no way prostate cancer gets this bad, this quickly. Therefore he clearly has had had prostate cancer at least since he was president. If not for years, and it was covered up, there is simply not a shred of evidence to support that. Now, if evidence were to come forward, that would be a different story. But where I found my mind going is what happened to this country, Especially if you're younger, you might not remember that there was a time where political parties had disagreements over policy, but they wouldn't sink to this level of low. We now have a party that has no policy, the Republican Party, and things have gone so haywire that we have this tribalistic idiocy and mudslinging on this disgusting level. And it seems as though the election of Barack Obama was an inflection point where the right started swimming in overtly gutter politics, and it's really escalated every single year since. So that's what we know about Joe Biden's prostate cancer. We wish him the best. His family is evaluating treatment options. There are options. And now the question is to see to what degree these options will work for him. A decision that he and his family will of course, make in the midst of The Joe Biden cancer diagnosis. The Biden dementia narrative has just gotten its biggest boost yet. Audio from Joe Biden's classified documents interview has been published and the MAGA crowd is absolutely losing it. This is Joe Biden's interview with Special Counsel Robert Her. This is what a lot of people have been waiting for. Expecting this to show that Biden didn't even know what year it was. He didn't know anything. And predictably, based on four and a half minutes of audio, the right wing outrage machine is having a complete and total meltdown. They are saying these clips show Biden can't recall any details. He can't recall any dates. And now the headlines are flying around proof of dementia unfit to serve. Biden was disabled. MAGA influencers are sort of acting like they've uncovered, you know, the Zapruder film of cognitive decline. Now, I'm going to be very upfront with you, as I always am. I've already said for a long time that Joe Biden shouldn't have run for reelection. I said it all along politically. And then on the decline issue, I came to that conclusion after his June 27 debate performance, which was a disaster. Biden had obviously declined. Now this audio. What this audio sounds like to me, frankly, is someone being extremely cautious in a legal interview, maybe even to the point of being dishonest. Now we'll talk about whether dishonesty or cognitive decline are worse. But before we even dove into this audio, understand that Biden sat with Robert her for six hours of interviews with what has been selectively released are about four and a half minutes. So at the top level, understand that you're getting a carefully curated four and a half minutes out of six hours. Now let me lay it all out. We're going to listen to some of the audio and then you tell me whether you agree with my assessment or you disagree. But first let's listen to. During this time we were living in Chambers Road and there were documents related to Penn Biden center or the Biden or the cancer shot or your book. Where did you keep papers that related to those things that you were actively working?

[Joe Biden]

Well, I don't know. This is what, 20, 17, 18, that area?

[Robert Her]

Yes, sir.

[Joe Biden]

Remember, in this time frame my son is either been deployed or is dying. And, and so if it was. And by the way, there were still a lot of people at the time when I got out of the Senate that were encouraging me to run in this period, except the President. I'm not a mean thing to say. I mean he just Thought that she had a better shot of winning the presidency than I did. And so I had until I hadn't. At this point, even though I'm at Penn, I hadn't walked away from the idea that I might run for office again. If I ran again, I'd be running for president. And so what was happening, though, when Beau died? May 30, 2015, he died. I think it's 2015.

[Robert Her]

I'm not sure the month, sir, but.

[David Pakman]

I think that was.

[Joe Biden]

Yeah, that's right, Mr. President. And what's happened in the meantime is that as and Trump gets elected in November of 2017, 2016. All right, so.

[David Pakman]

That'S when you left office. January.

[Joe Biden]

Okay.

[David Pakman]

So that's like a, that's like a smoking gun moment. They're talking about where Biden seems confused about actually the election was 2017 rather than 2016. Biden clearly referring to a document and saying, why does this refer to. Refer to 2017? And of course, that's referring to the inauguration of Trump. Okay, so is this video evidence of the guy with the best memory? No, it's not. This is a guy being questioned by a special prosecutor in an investigation about classified documents. What lawyers typically tell people in this situation is don't speculate, don't elaborate, don't recall anything. You don't have to. And if you're unsure, you say, I don't remember. Now, we all know that in a trial setting, especially under oath, repeatedly saying, I don't remember, I don't recall, it can become a huge liability if the opposing attorney knows what they're doing. Just relying on I don't remember when you do can be a real problem because that can be weaponized by a skilled prosecutor. And the evasiveness will paint you as dishonest or incompetent or sometimes both. They box you in, they find contradictions. They bring out documents, timelines, other witnesses to expose your selective memory. If you suddenly remember something later they that you said you didn't remember, then it looks like you're lying. If you stick to I don't recall, it starts to sound implausible. So we know that in front of a jury, this stuff can backfire. In a closed door interview where cautious vagueness is sort of the norm, I don't particularly find the I don't recall stuff to be evidence of cognitive decline. Maybe it is, but I don't in this context look at it and say, I can tell that that's cognitive decline rather than legal strategy. He was there to avoid being indicted and Ultimately, that worked. Now, if you want to argue, David, if he's just relying on, I don't recall, for legal reasons, dishonestly, I think that's worse than cognitive decline. Maybe you're right. But that's not the issue that MAGA is making out of this. So I think it's important to say a few things. Of the six hours they've cobbled together, four and a half minutes that are the absolute worst four and a half minutes. And the outrage feels a little selective, right? I mean, Donald Trump's out there mixing up names, calling fictional terrorists very nice guys saying Hitler gave a speech at the Eiffel Tower. It's all, it's all nuts. So the outrage is selective. But Biden being cautious in a legal interview is the end of democracy based on the worst four minutes out of six hours that you can pull? I don't know. I don't know. I mean, listen, he obviously declined. I said after the debate, I don't think that he's going to be able to stay in this thing. I still think Biden shouldn't have run to begin with all of that. This audio for me, it's just not the bombshell that they have determined that it is not even close. If anything, it's just more proof that in modern politics how something looks matters way more than what it actually means. And MAGA is betting everything on that illusion because they can't win on reality. Now in the midst of this, we now have the, we have the Joe Biden prostate cancer diagnosis that has sucked up a bunch of the energy around this. But the four and a half minutes, it's not awesome. I don't listen to it and go this is the most with it person in the world. But as the smoking gun that they've been saying for years now that it is falls a little flat for me. My wrong. I want to hear from you info@david pakman.com. let me know what you think. You know, no matter how fast time seems to be flying by, it is never too late to make some progress. If you're saving for a big purchase like a home or a car and you need to build credit, Kickoff can help. They are the number one credit building app in the app store. Plans start at just five bucks a month. No credit check, no hidden fees, no interest. If your credit is under 600, you could jump 28 points in your first month. Kickoff is a smart legal credit hack with no catch, no credit check, no hidden fees and no interest you just make on time payments. Credit bureaus. See the good behavior and and your credit grows. Start building credit immediately for only a dollar your first month and with autopay you never have to worry about missing a payment so you can build credit in your sleep. Sign up in minutes from your phone. No credit check cancel any time. Kickoff is the number one credit building app out there with over 10000 positive reviews in the app stores. 98% of are 5 stars. Building credit can happen faster than you expect with Kickoff. Don't wait and get your first month for just a dollar at get kickoff.com/pacman that's kickoff without the C get 80% off at get K I K offf.com/pacman the link is in the podcast Notes Offer applies to new customers first month only subject to approval Offer subject to change terms and conditions may apply. Point stat based on Equifax Vantage Score 3.0 changes for kickoff users starting under 600 who made their first on time payment between January 2021 and March 2024. Payment and credit activity outside Kickoff can have an impact on your credit. Individual results may vary when it was time for a new mattress, I didn't want to gamble on something generic. I had heard about Helix. I liked that they customize the mattress based on how you sleep. I'm mostly a stomach sleeper, so I took the quiz and ended up with a model that felt felt tailored to me. I've had it for years. What I notice is I don't wake up with back stiffness. I don't wake up with shoulder pain. I don't toss and turn looking for a comfortable position. It's just better than my old mattress. It's more supportive but it's still comfortable. Another thing I like about Helix is that there's no one size fits all approach. It's really tailored to you in terms of firmness as well. It's made a difference for me and I'm thrilled to be partnering with them. And right now Helix is running a huge sale 27% off site wide plus a free bedding bundle. That's a sheet set and a mattress protector with any luxe or elite mattress order. Go to helix sleep.com/pacman to check it out. The link is in the description. The David Pakman show is of course an audience supported program. Our primary funding source is the membership program. You can read about and instantly get all of the great member benefits@join pacman.com Every day we do an extra show called the Bonus Show.

[Donald Trump]

Oh, the Bonus show where you want to make money. Everybody else that makes money to fund themselves is bad.

[David Pakman]

Making a little money on the bonus show. As Alex Jones says, they're very agitated by that. We also provide commercial free audio or video streams of the show, whichever is your preference. Read about it and sign up@join pacman.com if we don't build it together, it won't get built as far as progressive independent media is concerned. Really appreciate everybody who's been signing up lately. All right. In the background, or maybe the foreground of the Joe Biden dementia video stuff, Donald Trump's latest public appearances in the Middle east are raising serious mental health questions again. Again, it's like Groundhog's Day. Trump was on this diplomatic trip to the Middle East. He went off script for almost 25 minutes, delivering this rambling and confused and at times completely nonsensical speech that had nothing to do with foreign policy and it really had everything to do with whether he's still mentally capable of doing the job. In Qatar, Trump was supposed to lead a diplomatic roundtable and instead he went on a 25 minute rant that left people wondering, does Trump even know what he's talking about? Does he even know where he is? A few of the moments. At one point, Trump started talking about drones circling you with fire and trees falling over and hiding behind them. Then he launched into this long winded detour about Sean Duffy, who Trump said, wrongly said, runs the department of this or that and says Duffy was a tree climber. I mean, just incoherent stuff.

[Donald Trump]

When you look at what's happening with Russia and Ukraine, the drone is killing tremendous numbers of people. You hide behind a tree and the drone comes down and it circles you with, with fire. You don't have a chance. The tree comes down also, by the way, it's so intense. I mean, you see these trees being knocked down like, like they're being sawed down by a top of the line timberman like, like, you know who. Sean Duffy. Do you know that? Sean Duffy, the head of the Transportation department who's working right now in the airports and getting a system because Biden didn't do a thing.

[David Pakman]

Totally lost. These are, these are non sequiturs. This is complete freeform thinking. It's just completely, it's nowhere. And there was more of this continuing to sort of raise the alarm a little bit more each time. What is this guy talking about?

[Donald Trump]

Going to be given that out pretty soon. But, but what people don't know about Sean, because I mentioned lumberjacks that John, you probably didn't know this. That. I'm not talking about this, Sean. This Sean note. Not. This is not. This is a different John. Sean Duffy, the head of transportation, he's a great John, that I have to tell you. But Sean Duffy was the world champion for five years, climbing trees and down, up and down. World champion. So that's what you call a serious lumberjack. And he's doing a fantastic job too. Really respected guy and terrific guy. And I mentioned the champion because when somebody's a champion, he's the world champion for a long time. He came down. When you come down those trees, coming down at the, at a rapid, he said, that started getting you back, you.

[David Pakman]

Will often break your back anyway, so I'll stop this one just because it just goes on and on and on. At another moment during the trip, this in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, this weird groceries thing. And again, people look around and they go, what is he talking about?

[Donald Trump]

Jobs? Because to me, the most important jobs. I want jobs. And we have. Costs are way down. Groceries. They have a term, grocery. It's an old term, but it means basically what you're buying. Food. It's a pretty accurate term, but it's an old fashioned sound. But groceries are down, costs are down, eggs are down. They were. First week they were hitting me with. Eggs were up 200%. And now they're down to a number that is amazing. Down 97, 98% from where they were. And everybody, they said, you won't have eggs for Easter. Well, we had. Everybody had eggs for Easter at a very reasonable price. At the White House, we had our little Easter egg roll and we had hundreds of thousands of eggs purchased.

[David Pakman]

All right, you know, if, if Barack Obama or Joe Biden or any other president had stood on the world stage and at every single public appearance, rambled like this for nearly an hour, hour, it would be national news. We would be seeing headlines about cognitive decline. Medical experts would be on TV discussing strokes, dementia, the 25th Amendment. But with Trump, people shrug or they actually say what many Maga Potamians have been saying and Magadonians actually have been saying about this trip, which is such strength, such gravitas, just an incredible thing. This is the oldest president in American history. And after years of hearing him speak, we've seen the decline. You look two years ago, you look four years ago, you look six. The thoughts are more jumbled, the stories go nowhere, the speeches are increasingly difficult to follow. And so this is not even about embarrassment or humiliation on the world stage, although it is about that. This is about risk. The president has access to nuclear weapons. The president makes decisions that impact global stability. If he can't stay focused or remember who's running what or why he's even in the room, that is not a quirky personality trait. It's not an endearing element of his personality. It's a problem. It's just not normal. And when a president shows up in a foreign country and rambles for 25 minutes about burning trees and cable wiring and fantasy lumberjack tournaments, people have a right to say, is this guy fit to serve? And the biggest ball drop on this is the fact that most of the media, corporate media, legacy media, they are not treating it like it is a story. And that's probably the most despicable and terrifying part of all of it. When torture guy says what you're doing is unconstitutional, you've really gone too far. Who am I talking about? Well, John Yu is the conservative lawyer who you might recall during the Bush administration defended waterboarding. John U. Now says Donald Trump suspending habeas corpus would be grounds for impeachment.

[Donald Trump]

Habelet.

[David Pakman]

His exact words are that it would be stronger grounds than either of Donald Trump's first two impeachments. And John U. Is the guy who spent years arguing that the president should have broad war powers. And even he is saying that Trump's new plan would blow through the Constitution like it's not even there. So what's going on? Well, we've been covering it. Trump's deputy, Stephen Miller, said the White House is actively considering the suspension of habeas corpus to deal with what they call an immigration emergency. That means you have to call these things what they are. That means jailing people indefinitely without a trial, without charges, without due process. You just lock them up and you sort it out later. Maybe if you get around to it. Stephen Miller tried to argue that it would be justified because we have an invasion of undocumented immigrants that justifies Trump having emergency powers. The problem is that legal scholars on both sides say that's absolute nonsense. The Constitution only allows suspending habeas corpus during a real rebellion, during an actual invasion. Not a political talking point, not chaos at the border, not whatever Fox News says is scary this week. And again, John Yoo is the Bush era lawyer who helped justify torture. And he says there is zero chance that suspending habeas corpus in this situation would hold up in court. He even warned that if Trump tries it, military officers might refuse to follow the order. I hope that they would. Now, here's the part that's even more disturbing. Congress does not seem to care. Only Rand Paul so far has said anything meaningful about it. Most Republicans just kind of shrugged. Lisa Murkowski says she's got to look into it. Josh Hawley blamed judges. Rick Scott ran away from the question altogether. And that tells you just about everything you need to know about it. The only thing that will ever convince the Republicans to turn on Trump is if they think keeping him hurts their own seats. That is it. Principles don't matter. The Constitution doesn't matter. Democracy doesn't matter. Self preservation is all that matters. And until they start treating Trump like a political liability and not just behind closed doors, but in public, this is not going to change. This is what we've been saying for months now. And, you know, maybe they will change eventually. Independents, we've already said, are starting to say this is too much, this is too much. We've heard from all sorts of different people, but people write to me, they go, my mom is complaining that it's what's going on, it's time for impeachment. And this, this just can't continue. When you start losing independents and even some Republican voters, that is when things really could start to shift. We aren't there yet, okay, but the John you thing is definitely a sign. We're watching the lines of democracy get tested again and again and sort of hoping that someone in power remembers the oath they swore. And that involves protecting and defending and upholding the Constitution. If torture guy becomes the most reasonable Republican in the room, we are in deep, deep trouble. And as I've said before, when John you goes, oh, this would never hold up in court. And okay, and so what if a court says something and the Trump administration ignores it and there's no mechanism or political will to enforce it? What does it mean that a court would never go for it? And so on this issue, John, you is completely correct. The problem is we've seen the courts won't go for this. Answered with we don't care. Turn the plane around. We don't care. You can't deport these folks. We don't care. And so far with zero consequence. So the follow up that I wish, John, you would deal with is fine. Imagine a court says it and then Trump says we don't care what happens next. And so far I've not heard any answer to it. Did you know that countless commercial databases and people search sites are storing your personal information? Anyone from an employer to a former partner can use these platforms to get details about your online presence, your home address, phone number, email, license plate, family members, financial information, even political views. Europe has laws that offer some protection, but in the US the data is widely accessible. Even the FBI will buy this information from companies to spy on people without a search warrant. Our sponsor, Incogni provides a solution. It takes just seconds to sign up and Incogni will send removal requests to all of the major data brokers, legally compelling them to get rid of your data. Incogni keeps you informed throughout the process. You'll get real time updates who has complied, which ones are still pending. They'll handle follow ups, they'll handle appeals on your behalf, and this will save you hundreds of hours. Very few people have the time or resources to do this on their own. This service can also reduce the number of spam calls and emails you get, since many solicitors and scammers get your information from these very same sources. Go to incogni.com/pacman and use the code PACMAN for 60% off. That's incogni.com/pacMan for a huge 60% discount. The link is in the podcast Notes did you know that 80% of New Year's resolutions fail by February? Lumen is something you can do for your health that's easy to stick to Our sponsor, Lumen is the world's first handheld metabolic coach with a single breath first thing in the morning. Lumen measures your metabolism. It tells you are you burning fat or are you burning carbs? And it'll give you tailored guidance for nutrition workouts, sleep and stress management. No more cookie cutter, one size fits all nutrition plans. Lumen lets you know what is happening in your body in real time and will build a personalized health plan based on that data. Lumen gives you daily macro recommendations based on what's happening with your metabolism so you can really fuel your body with what's best right before a workout. Breathe into Lumen and it'll tell you if you're burning carbs or fat. Lumen will tell you if you need to carb up before a workout for an energy boost or if you're good to go, get 15% off your lumen by going to Lumen. Me slash Pacman that's L u me n.me/pacman for 15% off. The link is in the podcast notes Former Vice President Mike Pence is absolutely trashing Trump in the latest viral attack and we're going to look at it, but I do feel like I need to do a certain little bit of a disclaimer here. Mike Pence is not the hero here. Mike Pence is not brave, he's not principled. He's not suddenly been redeemed for all of his horrible and disgusting actions during Donald Trump's first term. But every once in a while, Pence does say something so blatantly obvious that it puts Trump's madness in sharp relief. And that's why we are going to look at this string of clips that's going viral. Pence is doing what almost no one in the Republican Party is willing to do, say basic, verifiable, non controversial truths about Trump, truths that make Trump look like a lunatic. Let me give you the first example here and then we'll talk about it.

[Robert Her]

Chris. And I've never been a fan of American presidents criticizing America on foreign soil. And to have the President in Saudi Arabia questioning America's global war on terror and describing it as nation building and intervention, as I thought, was a disservice to generations of Americans who wore the uniform, who took the fight to our enemy, you know, in Afghanistan and in Iraq, and particularly giving that speech in Saudi Arabia where 15 of the 19, 9, 11 hijackers hailed from, and, and not including Osama bin Laden. I, I thought was, was unfortunate.

[David Pakman]

You know, the ick factor with Pence is absolutely unmissable. I mean, truly just disgusting. And at the same time, he's not wrong about a lot of this stuff. And the topic of tariffs came up, which I found very interesting. Now, Mike Pence is against the blanket tariffs of Trump. Great, he's right about that. But Pence stood aside when Trump's first term tariffs did the exact same thing. And Pence sort of suggests, well, I was against them then, but I wasn't the President, so I just kind of stood aside. But I told Trump privately about it.

[Brett Baier]

We ask you about the tariffs from the first term. They added some $80 billion in higher prices for Americans, increased prices on things like tires and washing machines. Why didn't you say there are tax during the first administration?

[Robert Her]

Well, I, I probably did in the hallways. But the President gets to make the decision.

[Brett Baier]

Told President Trump that directly?

[Robert Her]

Well, sure.

[David Pakman]

How did he respond?

[Robert Her]

Look, when you're Vice President of the United States, my view was always this. I'd, I'd favor the President with the full range of my opinion, opinion in private. And then when he made the decision, my job was to support his decision absent some higher calling or higher obligation that one has. And I fully supported his approach on terrorists. But I was never confused about who.

[David Pakman]

Pays tariffs this is, this is pathetic. It's sort of a pathetic honesty. Pence is saying. I knew Trump was lying to the American people about tariffs during the first term. He knew that Americans were paying the price. Pence did. And his big act of bravery was whispering concerns to Trump in the hallway. And this is a perfect example of GOP cowardice. Admit Trump was wrong years later, and only when it is safe now. Are my expectations of Mike, Mike Pence too high. Is it unreasonable to think that a vice president disagreeing with the president can't possibly do anything or say anything publicly? Maybe. But this new retrospective concern about Trump's policies, I'm finding it pretty pathetic if I'm completely honest with you. Pence kept talking about the tariffs and he acknowledges. Yeah, listen, Trump's tariff plan is the biggest peacetime tax hike on the American people in the history of this country. This happens to be.

[Brett Baier]

President Trump says foreign countries pay for the tariffs. He says they're going to make the country rich. And yet you have said you've called them the Trump tariff tax.

[Donald Trump]

Why?

[Robert Her]

Well, well, first off, the initial reciprocal tariffs that he unveiled would be the largest peacetime tax hike on the American people in the history of this country.

[David Pakman]

Oh, boy.

[Robert Her]

As I said, I'm glad he's paused that. And as we're seated here, I understand the President is going to make an offer to 150 countries. But look, he and I talked many times about trade here in Indiana. We're one of the leading exporting states in the country. What we make here, what we grow and raise here, we sell around the world. I've always believed that trade means jobs, but I came to respect President Trump's willingness to use the threat of tariffs to negotiate. As we did with the new trade deal with Canada and Mexico, renegotiated South Korea. We were well down the road of a trade agreement with Japan, with the UK with the EU during our time. But there's no question in this administration that he is surrounded, it appears to me, with people that, that nurture his more protectionist instincts. And, and as the president has said to me many times, he has a sense that, that, that other countries pay tariffs.

[David Pakman]

He has a sense, I like that.

[Robert Her]

When the reality is when Americans buy goods overseas, the company that imports those goods in this country pays the tariff and more often than not passes that along and higher prices to consumers.

[David Pakman]

All right, so listen, Mike Pence is right. This is how tariffs work. The tariff war punishes Americans more than it punishes anybody else. Tariffs are taxes on imported Goods, consumers pay the tariffs through higher prices since the tariffs are imposed by the federal government run by Trump and they are effectively taxes. Trump is imposing new taxes on the American people. That's all true. Ok. When Trump did it on a smaller scale during his first term, Pence says he would whisper to Trump in the hallway about it. I get it, ok? The chain of command, but it's not exactly a profile. Encouraged now I do. I'm struggling to see this as a profile in courage. The topic of the plane gift from Qatar came up and all of a sudden, despite Trump's actions during his first term, getting all sorts of gifts that clearly violate the emoluments clause during the first term, during which Pence said nothing. Now Mike Pence has discovered the emoluments clause to the Constitution gift to the United States.

[Robert Her]

They ought to, they ought to take that $400 million and plow it into infrastructure on our military base.

[Brett Baier]

So you're saying President Trump should turn down this plane?

[Robert Her]

I think he should. I think. Look, others have observed there are, there are profound issues. The potential for intelligence gathering, the, the need that, to ensure the President of the United States is safe and secure as he travels around the world. And of course also there, there are very real constitutional issues. The Constitution prohibits public officials from accepting a present, in the words of the Constitution, a present from a foreign state. Now that they may have some basis through chain of titles, through avoiding that. But I think it's just a bad idea and my hope is President will think better of it.

[David Pakman]

You know, so listen, I mean, Mike Pence has discovered the emoluments clause to the Constitution and it took a private jet from Qatar for him to say the quiet part out loud. Now, again, Pence is correct. But Trump has been violating the emoluments clause to the Constitution since day one of his first term. Foreign governments booking rooms at Trump's hotels so that they can cozy up to his administration. And Pence said nothing. But now he remembers what the Constitution says. What, what? A gift from Mike Pence. And then finally, finally again, Pence is right about this stuff, but it's just like a little too little, a little too late. Pence rightly points out that Trump used to find the Qatari leadership to be anti human rights and disturbing in all of their beliefs and actions. And all of a sudden, now that they're giving him a plane, he's not so concerned. But Mike Pence remembers going to accept.

[Brett Baier]

A 400 million dollar luxury jet from Qatar to use as a temporary air force One. He said he'll eventually donate that to his personal presidential library. Do you think President Trump should accept a military aircraft from Qatar?

[Robert Her]

Well, I, I think first we got to remember who Qatar is. We've got a military base there. I have members of our immediate family that have deployed to the region. But Cutter has a long history of playing both sides. They support Hamas, they supported Al Qaeda. Qatar has actually financed pro Hamas protests on American campuses across the United States. And so the very idea that, that we would accept an Air Force One from Qatar, I think is inconsistent with our security, with our intelligence needs. And my hope is the President reconsiders it.

[David Pakman]

Mike Pence is not the good guy, okay? He enabled Trump every step of the way. He defended Trump's Muslim majority country travel ban, helped stack the Supreme Court, turned a blind eye to nearly every single abuse of power. But now that it's over and Pence's political career seems to be totally cooked, he's willing to say some basic, minimal, entry level truths. Two sides to this, not a profile encouraged. I don't suddenly have a great respect for Mike Pence, but it is also true that this alone, these statements alone, the fact that Pence is willing to say, hey, you know, we used to believe this stuff and we used to say it, it does make Trump's behavior look unhinged, even accounting for the fact that it's the Republican Party. So let's not celebrate Pence. Let's pay attention to what it means when even Pence says, says this stuff. And it's a reminder of just how far this Republican Party has fallen. Trump is now threatening Bruce Springsteen in a crazy tirade. Trump, I guess, has taken a break from not governing to threaten Bruce Springsteen in a completely unhinged, truth social post. Trump unloads on Springsteen for criticizing him while abroad, saying, quote, I see that highly overrated. Bruce Springsteen goes to a foreign country to speak badly about the President of the United States. Never liked him. Never liked his music or his radical left politics. And importantly, he's not a talented guy, just a pushy, obnoxious jerk who fervently supported crooked Joe Biden, a mentally incompetent fool and our worst ever president who came close to destroying our country. If I wasn't elected, it would have been gone by now. Sleepy Joe didn't have a clue as to what he was doing. But Springsteen is dumb as a rock and couldn't see what was going on. Or could he? Which is even worse. Here comes the threat. This dried out prune of a Rocker, his skin is all atrophied, ought to keep his mouth shut until he gets back into the country. That's just standard fare. Then we'll all see how it goes for him. This is Trump threatening to punish American citizens for criticizing the president while physically overseas. That's where we are right now. This is what dictators say before they pull someone's visa. And remember that Trump supports free speech.

[Donald Trump]

He.

[David Pakman]

He told us many, many times. So what we now have is a sitting president personally attacking a private citizen's appearance. His skin is all atrophied. His speech and his patriotism for expressing political views while abroad and then hinting at consequences when they try to reenter the United States. Then we'll see how it goes for him. And of course, we know that people have been detained and harassed when reentering the United States. Springsteen, by the way, has been openly political his whole career. He campaigned against Reagan in the 80s. He played Biden's inauguration. He's written albums about working class struggle, political disillusionment. None of this stuff is new. What's new is that we now have in Trump a sitting president using government power to imply retribution for speech, to, by the way, completely protected speech. Extrajudicially, Trump is implying that a private citizen for the supposed crime, which is not a crime, of course, of criticizing the president while overseas could face some form of state retaliation when he reenters the country. There is no law that says you can't criticize the president abroad. There's no statute that makes political speech illegal if it crosses borders. And so what Donald Trump is hinting at is a punishment outside the bounds of the law. Using government power not to enforce rules, but for personal vengeance. Trump doesn't like what Springsteen said about him. And so authorities and the power of federal law enforcement will be sent at Springsteen. This is how authoritarian systems function. It's not through formal laws that everyone understands. It's through this vague, menacing threat where arbitrary actions will be used. Let's see how it goes for him. And when the president starts suggesting that reentering your own country is contingent upon not criticizing him when you're outside of the country, that is authoritarianism. We have reached it. Trump following up later in the weekend with a demand for an investigation. Trump engaging caps lock and spitting out on troth, quote, how much did Kamala Harris pay Bruce Springsteen for his poor performance during her campaign for president? Why did he accept that money if he is such a fan of hers? Isn't that a major and illegal campaign contribution? What about Beyonce and how much went to Oprah and Bono? I'm going to call for a major investigation into this matter. Not just an investigation, a major one. Candidates aren't allowed to pay for endorsements, which is what Kamala did under the guise of paying for entertainment. In addition, this was a very expensive and desperate effort to artificially build up her sparse crowds. It's not legal for these unpatriotic entertainers. This was just a corrupt and unlawful way to to capitalize on a broken system. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Bonkers authoritarianism. The mask is fully off. You'd better be careful when you come back into this country. You don't want to know what might happen. We're going to do an investigation, its crimes. It's illegal. We've reached it. And so for everybody saying, oh, he might not really go that far, he's going that far, the question is, is he going to get away with it? I am fearful that the answer is yes, he is. If you're running a business and feeling stuck juggling the logistics, the multiple apps, programs, endless spreadsheets, manual data entry, all of this stuff, switch to Odoo, the powerful all in one management platform that'll give you everything you need right at your fingertips. With our sponsor, Odoo, you can say goodbye to the disconnected software, the tedious manual data entry, streamline lead scoring and inventory management. It might be accounting and manufacturing or point of sale. Odoo is completely customizable. You pick the apps you need, you tailor them to the way you like it, experience how Odoos flexibility can give you back time, reduce errors and boost the bottom line. If you're ready to transform and simplify the way you run your business, you can get a 14 day free trial, no credit card needed, and your first app is free forever. Go to odoo.com/pacman now that's od o o.com/pacman. The link is in the podcast notes. If you're like me, you may have found yourself standing in front of a massive wall of wine at the grocery store, clueless and unsure what to pick. Thankfully, I found a better way and that's Naked Wines. Our sponsor. Naked Wines just connects you directly with the best independent winemakers in the world. Brings award winning wines right to your doorstep. I recently cracked open a bottle from Naked Wines and it was great. No distractions, no screens, just a great glass of wine and unwinding at home. My girlfriend prefers the red wine, I prefer the white wine. Naked Wines makes it easy to split a box between the two and the prices are unbeatable because they remove those retail middlemen and it lets the winemaker offer high quality wines at up to 60% off typical prices. Everybody wins. The independent wineries thrive and you get great wine without breaking the bank. No membership fee, no commitment. You can pause or cancel at any time. Easy, stress free wine shopping. Now is your chance to try naked wines yourself. Head on over to naked wines.com/pacman click Enter voucher and use my code Pacman. For both the code and the password. You'll get 6 bottles of delicious wine for just 39.99 including shipping. That is $100 off your first 6 bottles. That's naked wines.com/pacman Click enter voucher and enter Pacman for both the code and Password to get 6 bottles for 39. 99. The info is in the podcast notes. Donald Trump's very swollen and sweaty physical appearance has raised eyebrows in what was meant to be be a complete and total softball interview with Fox News Brett Baier. We're going to look at it. There are moments when Trump seems utterly lost and completely unable to put together a single coherent sentence. He was asked by Brett Baier about the infamous and ongoing investigation into the assassination attempt of Donald Trump. He seems just gone, gone. He is barely able to, to, to put together a single straightforward, non meandering coherent sentence. Take a listen on mobile.

[Mike Pence]

You're the president.

[Donald Trump]

Can you. No, no, I know, I know, I know. I'm relying on my people to tell me what it is. You know, we have deep seated craziness in this country and I'm relying on my people. And so far they, and they're good.

[David Pakman]

He seems to be remembering what he was told to say and he's just completely unable to remember. So he's stringing together random words.

[Donald Trump]

But so far they, and in this case it's Secret Service. They tell me it's fine, but it's a little hard to believe, to be honest with you. Okay. It's a little bit hard. Hard to believe as I get that throbbing feeling. Yeah, yeah, I get a little throbbing feeling.

[Mike Pence]

If you find out, we'd love to know.

[Donald Trump]

We'll ask us. It's a little bit, it's a little bit strange. We have incredible people in there now.

[David Pakman]

So with total respect, Brett Baier would love to know the outcome of the investigation into the assassination attempt against Donald Trump. Barely a single completed thought or sentence there. At another moment during this interview, Trump pulls out another rhetorical or linguistic tool that he loves, which is referring to nuclear weapons, or as some like to say, nuclear. I don't say that, but some do. Hold on, do I have it here?

[Robert Her]

Nuclear proliferation.

[David Pakman]

Right. Trump refers to nuclear weapons as the N word. And again, just seems utterly lost.

[Donald Trump]

Every. Everyone was stronger, stronger. So to a point where the next ones are going to be, you know what the N word. You know the N word is, right?

[Mike Pence]

Nuclear.

[Donald Trump]

Yeah.

[David Pakman]

Thank you.

[Mike Pence]

Thank you for the clarification.

[Donald Trump]

You want to clean that up? No, it's. It's the N word. That's a very nasty word, right. In a lot nasty ways. The N word used in a nuclear sense, that's the worst thing that can happen. And, and I think they were very close. The hatred was great. And I said, we're going to talk about trade, we're going to do a lot of trade. Don't forget, Iran wants to make a deal with us badly for a lot of reasons.

[David Pakman]

But what, what are we to make of this? What sort of statements are these? This, this is. It just doesn't. It's a conversation. It's surreal in a way, because we see two humans, right? We see two members of Homo sapiens. We see so much that we're accustomed to their mouths open and close, we hear audio. They are words we recognize, nuclear word, perfect, etc. But it doesn't mean anything. And we are left to figure out, was that an actual conversation? The topic turned to oil. I guess Trump is trying here to talk about oil techniques. And again, just, just meandering, endless billionaires.

[Donald Trump]

I think they want to make a deal. You know, you say to yourself, they have massive oil, by the way. They have oil that lasts for 300 years. They have a lot of oil. People don't realize they're one of the biggest in the world. World. And it's very good oil, meaning it's, it's pure, perfect stuff. They don't have to, you know, spend a fortune on, on gases and energy in order to melt the rock and everything.

[David Pakman]

One thing Trump hates is spending any money on gases.

[Donald Trump]

And they have pure, unadulterated good oil. And you say, why does somebody that has that kind of oil, other than being politically correct, but when you have unlimited amounts of oil and gas, why are you putting up, you know, why do you need civil nuclear? I just don't see it.

[Mike Pence]

But, I mean, are you going to call for it all?

[Donald Trump]

I think nuclear is fine. I think nuclear is fine for civil. If you have a country with no oil, but if you're sitting on One of the largest piles of oil in the world. Why are you talking about putting up nuclear?

[David Pakman]

Trump's for nuclear, but he's against it. If you have oil, if the oil is good and not the kind that you need gases for, I guess. President of the United States, Bret Baier acting like this is all a normal conversation. Trump then weighing in on trips and money and Ukraine. I'm going to just be very upfront here. I couldn't tell you what point he's trying to make here.

[Mike Pence]

I haven't seen you get personal on Truth Social. You said, vladimir, stop. He hasn't stopped. And you had once said that maybe you need to look at other things like sanctions or banking.

[Donald Trump]

Okay, so.

[Mike Pence]

Because maybe they need to be pressured in a different way.

[Donald Trump]

And do you. If you think, I don't want to see 5,000, you know, outside of the money, which is a big deal, but the money is the money. The money we can make up. I can make up the money on one trip like this. Okay?

[David Pakman]

I mean, I guess Trump sees these as sort of like sales trips where he gets money.

[Donald Trump]

Think of it. This trip, I made 12 times the money that we're talking about. I made.

[David Pakman]

Trump made money on the trip.

[Donald Trump]

That money.

[David Pakman]

How many cars did you see in a few days?

[Donald Trump]

I've always been good at the money.

[Mike Pence]

It's about pressuring Putin, right?

[Donald Trump]

I mean, I know, but I've always been good with money. I make money I made in four days. I made 12 times what we spent in Ukraine. So the money is the money. What?

[David Pakman]

I'm going to get a great Q3 bonus.

[Donald Trump]

What bothered me, I hated to see the way was, you know, excuse me, pissed away.

[David Pakman]

All right, so I guess Trump says the money is no big deal for Ukraine. I don't like how it's being spent, but I can make it back really easily on a Middle east sales trip or something like that. Trump then just Bret Baier throwing a bouquet at Trump and says, how do you do it with such a grueling schedule? And Trump's answer is genetics. Genetics stops.

[Donald Trump]

It's a pretty grueling schedule. A lot of people said, how the hell do you do it, by the way?

[Mike Pence]

How the hell do you do it?

[Donald Trump]

I don't know. I think it's genetics. It's good genetics. I. A father was very strong, and I had a mother who was very strong. They lived to ripe old ages, and they were great people.

[David Pakman]

There you go. Genetics allows Trump to do what he does, which is a terrifying concept. And then finally, the luxury 747 from Qatar. Why is it okay for Trump to accept it? He finally explains it here, and he suggested this.

[Donald Trump]

And, and I said, you know what, that's very nice. That's very nice. I appreciate it. What would be the price? He said, there is no price. I said, hmm, that's nice. Now, this plane's not for me. This goes to the United States Air Force for whoever is president.

[David Pakman]

It then goes to Trump's presidential library foundation.

[Donald Trump]

And at some point, it'll be like Ronald Reagan. It'll be decommissioned. You know, it's 11 years old, so.

[Mike Pence]

It stays until it's decommissioned.

[Donald Trump]

Yeah, it'll be decommissioned because they won't want. Plus they'll have the other two planes by that time, and there'll be brand new planes, etc. But I just want to say it was a radical left story that a lot of people, including you.

[Mike Pence]

I asked the Prime Minister, but you know, civically. And he said, you know, he didn't understand the reaction back home. And, you know, he made that clear.

[David Pakman]

There you go. Oh, what a crazy world we now live in. And there is a. You know, we have to remember that inside of our little bubble, we see this and we say, he can't think. He can barely put together a sentence. None of this makes any sense. He's justifying authoritarianism, he's justifying bribes, he's justifying everything. He doesn't understand anything. But there is a non insignificant part of this country that sees this interview and goes, that's what I voted for. Go get him. Donald Trump also posted a series of truth social rants so extreme and paranoid and so openly authoritarian that you have to ask, how much worse is this going to get? I want to start with the idea that the auto pen has become such a tool of conspiracy theorists. An auto pen is a device that presidents use to sign documents of different kinds. Trump is now claiming that the auto pen is part of a massive criminal cover up that somehow rigged the 2020 election. Here's what Trump posted. And this, this is really weaponized stuff. Quote, whoever had control of the auto pen is looking to be a bigger and bigger scandal by the moment. It is a major part of the real crime that the presidential election of 2020 was rigged and stolen. Millions and millions of people knew that. But the radical left Democrats waged a campaign of inoculation and innocence like none that had ever been waged before. This is why the unselect committee of political thugs who were given a full and complete pardon by the person who wielded the now illegally used auto pen, deleted and destroyed all evidence and information from their corrupt and vicious witch hunt against me and many other people whose lives were were completely shattered and destroyed by this historically criminal event. Remember, all that happened is Trump lost. Trump is calling it people's lives were shattered by a criminal event. You lost an election. And then Trump continues. Remember, it all began with dirty cop James Comey, Obama, a hapless and cognitive, cognitively impaired sleepy Joe Biden, and my now very famous accusation that they spied on my campaign. Whoever had control of the auto pen is just the beginning. The biggest crime of all is that the 2020 presidential election was rigged. I Maga, won the election by millions of votes and everybody knows it. God bless America, for the fight has just begun. Begun. This is a man screaming into the void and commanding loyalty from tens of millions of people, and he still can't move on from an election he just plainly lost over four years ago. And then he gets into Walmart and the tariffs. Last week I reported to you Walmart is predicting higher prices thanks to the tariffs. Trump is now threatening Walmart, demanding that they eat the tariffs instead of raising prices because they're his own tariffs. Trump saying, quote, walmart should stop trying to blame tariffs as the reason for raising prices throughout the chain. Walmart made billions of dollars last year, far more than expected between Walmart and China. They should, as is said, eat the tariffs and not charge valued customers anything. I'll be watching and so will your customers. Threats earlier to Bruce Springsteen, now threats to Walmart. Trump continuing on the bullying of the Fed around interest rates, saying, quote, the consensus of almost everybody is that the Fed should cut rates sooner rather than later. Too late. Powell, a man legendary for being too late, will probably blow it again. But who knows if. Here's what ties all these posts together. Rage, paranoia and a thirst for revenge. Palpable. He's still obsessing over 2020. He's threatening private companies. He's laying the groundwork to punish judges and officials, even citizens like Bruce Springsteen who don't fall in line. Extraordinarily dangerous. And this is the sort of rhetoric that leads people to commit violence. We saw it on January 6. We saw it again when a man tried to breach an FBI field office. We're going to see more of it if this continues. This is not just Trump venting. This is Trump signaling what he wants to do with power. And he's daring people to try to stop him. Nobody around him has the slightest clue how to reel him in. Now on the bonus show. Today we are going to talk about a lot of things going on. 2000 Starbucks baristas are striking over a new dress code. What's up with the dress code? I will tell you. The DOJ is looking to make it easier to indict members of Congress. We know what they want to do. They're not hiding it at all. And finally, we will talk about the Mexican ship that crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge, leaving some casualties, injuries and disbelief among many. What on earth happened? All of those stories and more on today's bonus show.

[Donald Trump]

I love Tesla.

[David Pakman]

Forget about Tesla. The bonus show. You can sign up@join pacman.com you can use the coupon code. It will end soon to save about 50%. And please, please, please remember to get on my Substack newsletter. You can email infodavidpakman.com and say, David, put me on that newsletter. Or sign yourself up by going to davidpakman.substack.com.