← The David Pakman Show
The David Pakman Show
7/7/25: Trump’s hands all over Texas flood catastrophe, Elon goes scorched earth
01:00:17
-- On the Show: -- Trump-era cuts to the National Weather Service may have contributed to deadly Texas floods that killed over 80 people, including 21 children -- GOP Rep. Jason Smith misuses the word “exponential” to hype a minor GDP...
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- [00:00]
David Pakman
All right.
- [00:07]
Unknown Political Commentator
I have to start with a very clear and definitive statement. Today. No one is cheering what is happening in Texas with the floods. One of the things that the MAGA right is now latching onto because they know they're out of arguments. They. They know that the cuts to the National Weather Service and all of these different cuts that the Trump administration has put in place, they know that on some level it has made the death toll from the flooding worse, but they cannot admit that. And so instead they are accusing the left of cheering as the death toll tragically goes up. And I can't imagine a more disgusting way to deflect blame for the guy they voted for doing what he said he would do, and it having the obvious predictable impact that it would have. So let's sort of back up a little. I know I'm shot out of a cannon here. As of this moment, the tragedy is believed to have taken more than 100 lives in Texas. Catastrophic flooding. As of yesterday morning, 69 were confirmed dead, 11 girls and a counselor from Camp mystic missing. We now are 24 plus hours on from that. And I'm going to be very frank with you. It's not clear that state officials are at all coordinated or forthcoming about the death toll. Time is going to tell. I am stopping short of saying they're straight up lying. I'm sort of leaving some benefit of the doubt and saying it's a chaotic scene in Texas. It may just be that various officials are not coordinated properly on the death toll and eventually we're going to get the real number. But it is believed to now be over 100. I am concerned that many of these deaths were preventable. I'm horrified that that the Trump administration appears to have had a hand in aggravating the circumstances in Texas. The staffing shortages at the National Weather Service's San Angelo and San Antonio offices doubled under the Trump administration. In other words, the number of people they are missing to be at full staffing has doubled since Trump became president. The warning coordination meteorologist in San Antonio left after taking an early retirement package that was offered by the Trump administration. This is part of what DOGE did to reduce the federal workforce. We've seen the National Weather Service lose nearly 600 employees, down from about 4,000 to 3,400. That's huge. There have been hiring freezes, travel restrictions that make it tougher to replace staff or even just do the coordination that's necessary with the local officials.
- [03:06]
David Pakman
And.
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Unknown Political Commentator
And the forecasting offices started cutting overnight operations. They reduced balloon launches to collect Weather data which allow more accurate warnings and weather reports and of course, emergency planning, not a strong suit for any Trump administration. We saw that during the first one. Employees just being left with less time and fewer resources for emergency planning. And so we now are seeing the effect of that. Now there are some reporters that are bringing this up and I'm glad to see that they are. Here is a reporter asking Governor Greg Abbott about the vacancies at the Kerr county related to Kerr County Weather Service. And could that have impacted what happened here? You know, Greg Abbott doesn't really want to hear it.
- [03:59]
David Pakman
You talked what you just said kind.
- [04:01]
Unknown Political Commentator
Of about expertise and about just know.
- [04:04]
David Pakman
And that extends also to the National Weather Service folks who are in those.
- [04:07]
Unknown Political Commentator
Offices and have years and years of experience.
- [04:10]
David Pakman
There are currently six vacancies in the.
- [04:12]
Unknown Political Commentator
Local National Weather Service office that cover Kerr County. How what is your perspective on how.
- [04:18]
David Pakman
That could have impacted the warnings that you all were able to get and how accurate the information you all were able to get? So I know nothing about the staffing.
- [04:27]
Unknown Political Commentator
What I do know is, hasn't, doesn't have a clue, folks, what they put out.
- [04:31]
David Pakman
And it's my understanding that what they put out was kind of the, that the state was operating off of and that is that there were alerts or warnings about heavy rain potential for flash flooding in certain areas. A problem with that is that to most people in the area, flash flooding would mean one thing, not what it turned out to be because they deal with flash floods all the time.
- [04:58]
Unknown Political Commentator
Just so Greg Abbott's argument is completely unpredictable. They get these flash flood warnings all the time. They're sort of desensitized. Has nothing to do with the staffing whatsoever. As the death toll continued to rise over the weekend, the Kerrville city manager refused to answer questions as to the same topic. Question.
- [05:22]
David Pakman
Yeah, One of the questions that still hasn't been answered three days into this is despite TV EM's warning on July 2 and July 3 that something like this could have happened, that the threat existed, why that information didn't get down to camps and why they weren't evacuating. Can you answer that now? That is a great question. But again, we want to make sure that we continue to focus.
- [05:42]
Unknown Political Commentator
We still have 11 missing children that we want to get reunited with our.
- [05:45]
David Pakman
Families until we can get. Until we can get reunited with our fam. With the families.
- [05:49]
Unknown Political Commentator
We are not, we are not going to stop.
- [05:51]
David Pakman
We are not going to stop until we do so. Thank you.
- [05:54]
Unknown Political Commentator
Follow up question sir, Was any emergency alert given out on the 4th that.
- [05:59]
David Pakman
Morning of did anyone. Families who deserve better than that.
- [06:03]
Unknown Political Commentator
And off he goes. You know the theme here is what? The theme is that big, tough, strong, burly, independent rely on nobody. Texas seems completely unable to to handle storms, to handle floods, to handle school shootings, to handle immigration, to handle power outages. That's the theme here. Now MAGA Mike Johnson, Congressman and Speaker of the House, he said he knows what we need in times like these. And it requires you to get down on your knees and pray. That's the idea from MAGA Mike. And federal resources have just poured into that area. Is there anything more that can be done congressionally, legislatively to help these folks.
- [06:55]
David Pakman
In a moment like this? We feel just as helpless as everyone else does. I've talked to my colleagues there in Texas, Chip Roy and August Pfluger, whose families, you know, that's chips district. August's daughters were at the camp. We also had Betty Carter of Georgia, had grandchildren there. It touches so many families. And all we know to do at this moment is pray. Every available resource has been deployed. The President of course, is dialed in and watching this develop moment by moment as we are. And we will handle supplemental funding requests as they come in. But right now they're still trying to do rescue and recovery. And our hearts go out to all.
- [07:28]
Unknown Political Commentator
Of us, our hearts go out. We must pray and everybody's doing everything right if they have an R next to their name. And then finally, the orange man himself, Donald Trump. It's terrible. He says it's terrible but we don't know how many died. What? Some young people. Hmm. Trump as confused as ever.
- [07:54]
David Pakman
Oh, that's terrible. The floods, it's shocking. They don't know the answer yet as to how many people, but it looks like some young people have died. Oh yeah, we'll take care of them. We're working with the governor.
- [08:10]
Unknown Political Commentator
We're now working with the Governor to help them with an event that was no doubt worse due to me coming in with my ex buddy Elon Musk and just slashing, slashing, slashing, offering people early retirement and getting people the hell out. Now none of this comes as a shock. Here's a report from May 27. Officials scrambling to fill National Weather Service roles. This did not creep up on us unexpectedly. Days out from what's forecast to be an above normal hurricane season, scientists across the country are sounding the alarm over critical staffing shortages. Inside the national oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials are screwed. Scrambling to fill more than 150 Critical National Weather Service roles. Left vacant after sweeping cuts from the Trump administration. Overall, the Service has lost 600 of its 4,000 employees since January. Five former NWS directors calling it their worst nightmare in an open letter earlier this month predicting understaffing could lead to needless loss of life. And that is exactly what happened. So listen, many charities and groups are saying that they are helping. I can't possibly vet every single one. So I think a reasonable thing, a central clearinghouse of sorts. If you need help or you are looking to help, 800 Red Cross, that's 800-733-2767. They can direct you if you need help or if you are looking to help. I think that that's as reasonable a place to start as ever. You know, I don't think they have any idea what the word exponential means. Sometimes our political discussions are about principles or ethics or morals or political philosophy. Sometimes it's just people really confused about simple math. When we are talking about the growth that we are or are not to expect from the big, beautiful bill that was passed by the House Senate and signed into law last week by President Donald Trump, one of the words I keep hearing is, we're going to have exponential growth. And yet here is Congressman Jason Smith. I don't think they have any damn idea what the word exponential even means. You need to do more. The tax provisions that we put into.
- [10:42]
David Pakman
This, this piece of legislation will create exponential growth. The Congressional Budget Office, Jason, scored growth at 1.8%. Growth over the last 50 years on.
- [10:56]
Unknown Political Commentator
Average has been 2.7 to 2.8. I guarantee you, Jason, you're hearing it today.
- [11:01]
David Pakman
I guarantee you that our growth rate.
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Unknown Political Commentator
Will be above 3%.
- [11:05]
David Pakman
And if our growth rate is above 3%, this bill will actually cut the deficit by $600 billion.
- [11:14]
Unknown Political Commentator
Okay, you know the funniest thing about these predictions, right? GDP growth last year was 2.8%. Jason Smith is promising us, promising this bill is going to get us above 3%. So exponential GDP growth, according to Jason Smith, is going from 2.8% to 3%. Exponential growth happens when a quantity increases by a fixed percentage or proportion over time interval. So the idea here is compounding each period's growth builds on the previous period. So let me give you a really simple example. You invest 1,000 bucks and you're getting a 5% annual return compounded yearly. So the first year, that 5% growth on the thousand dollars is 50 bucks. You've now got $1,050. But the second year, the 5% growth is now on the 1050 so the second year, instead of making $50, you're now making 5,250. And then the third year, that 5% is 5763 and so on. Right. Instead of growth by $50 a year, it grows faster and faster. That's exponential growth. Now, what Jason Smith is talking about here is that our GDP growth rate will be growing exponentially. Now, could 3% instead of 2.8% be part of exponential growth? If it's applied consistently over time, yes it could. But comparing two similar percentages, 3% and 2.8% by itself is not exponential growth. If something grows at 3% every year, that's one thing. If something grows at 2.8% every year, that's another thing. And the growth of the principal could indeed be exponential. But the difference between 3% and 2.8%, that's just a linear difference. It's a 0.2 percentage point difference. That gap is not exponential unless the gap itself keeps growing. Right? So if one year you go from 2.8 to 3% growth, and then the next year you go from 3 to 3.3, and then you go to 3.63 and then 3.99, that would be GDP growth increasing by 10%, that would be exponential. It's not possible, okay? In a country that is already developed and at the size and maturity of the American economy, it's just not really possible. These are just dumb people. And so sometimes we get into a philosophical debate, what is the responsibility of the individual versus the government? We get into a philosophical debate, when does life begin as relevant to abortion law? This is just. I don't think they know what they're talking about. I don't think they know what exponential even means. And Jason Smith is really proving that here. They don't know what is going on. Let's take a very quick break. We'll be back right after this. Most people trying to lose weight focus on diet and exercise, which makes perfect sense. Sometimes habits and behaviors can also play an outsized role. And our sponsor, Hypnosio is a self hypnotherapy app designed to help with things like emotional eating, cravings, portion control. 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I've got a couple lined up and one thing that I've learned is that being able to speak even a little bit of the local language can make a huge difference both for your experience and how you interact with locals. And that is why I use Babbel. Babbel is the language learning app that gets you talking quickly. It has 10 minute lessons crafted by over 200 language experts. They're really built around real world conversations, the things you would actually say when traveling. Ordering food, asking for directions, chatting with locals. No gimmicks, no fluff, just practical language skills. And the best part is that you can start speaking in just a few weeks. I've used Babel to help me get ready for trips abroad. It does a great job. I just arrive with a little confidence that I can navigate a new place with some basics without having to pull my phone out every five seconds. Babel also has advanced speech recognition which helps to fine tune your accent as you go. It's like having a tutor in your pocket. And Babel is giving my audience 60% off subscriptions at babel.com/pacman. The link is in the podcast notes. That's B a b b el.com/pacman. Rules and restrictions may apply. The David Pakman show is an audience supported program. We are building something here. This is a pro democracy movement. This is a movement that is made to recognize that some of the basics that the founding fathers and everyone who understands separation of church and state and how modern societies are best meant to function is building in order to try to preserve that. Unfortunately, right now there are voices and movements that say we don't really care about democracy. We don't really care about the rule of law. We don't really care about law and order or due process or any of those things. We are part of a movement that does care. And so whether it's this show or another show. I would love for you to support the work that we do. The two best ways get a membership at join pacman.com or get a substack premium membership@substack.david pakman.com Even better, do both if you can. Free memberships are available on both. Do not email me. I am going to tell you now what to do. If you would like a free website membership, submit your email address@David pakman.com/free membership. Every time I say this, about a dozen people email in. Those emails just get deleted. Okay, if you want a free website membership, you've got to go to David pakman.com/free membership. And then on the substack side, Substack gives away free memberships to people randomly on the free list. So get on our free newsletter list@substack.david pakman.com it's happening and it is triggering Donald Trump. It always ends like this. You put two massive egos together circling each other, and very often one will end up snapping. Elon Musk and Donald Trump were never built to coexist. For a while it kind of worked because Trump loved being flattered by Elon Musk and He loved getting $250 million from Elon. And Elon liked being in the Cabinet meetings and he liked being at Mar a Lago and he liked being on Air Force One. But billionaires don't often stay sidekicks for long when they are this egomaniacal. And Elon Musk is now going full scorched earth. Over the weekend, he dropped the news that he is launching a new political party. Not a think tank, not a pac, but a political party. It is called the America Party. And the timing couldn't be more of a shot across the bow at Trump, at MAGA and at Republicans. A day after Trump signs this tax and spend bill that Musk said is insane and it'll bankrupt the country. Elon takes to X and he puts out a nasty excretion where he says, quote, by a factor of two to one, you want a new political party and you shall have it. When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste and graft, we live in a one party system, not a democracy. Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom. Trump called the bill big and beautiful. Elon called it insane. And now he's starting his own political party. Now Musk says he's going to be spending real amounts of his own money to go after lawmakers who backed the tax Bill, that means Republicans, that means Trump's Republicans. So Elon is really aiming at Trump's base here. He's aiming at Republican districts, he's aiming at the Republican grip on Congress. Now, the Internet is treating this sort of like a meme, but this is really far beyond online drama. This is, to a degree, real world world power that is trying to rip the Republican Party in half. Now here's the interesting thing about it. To a degree, this could work. Not because people like Elon, especially on the left, people don't like Elon. The left wing support of Elon, that ship sailed a while ago. Progressives bailed when he started tweeting like a Reddit model on a ketamine bender. But MAGA voters, some of them still see Ellen as a sort of renegade, a disruptor, a guy who knows how to get things done. And if even 5% of the Republican Party peels off and follows Ellen into this half baked revolution, that's potentially enough to blow a hole in Donald Trump's coalition. Now the catch, and here's a big one, is that Elon is kind of flaky. You know, Trump and Elon, to a degree, both start stuff and abandon it constantly. And when it comes to Elon Musk, you know, he launches ideas like they're fireworks. Most of them fizzle out in midair. He's offloaded the government stuff, he's fighting with his own investors. Three years is a long time for a guy who treats attention like oxygen. So Elon's talking big, but I don't know if he's really going to follow through. Is he going to go out there and recruit candidates and fund their campaigns? Is he going to put boots on the ground in swing districts or in swing states? Will he back someone for president in 2028? Because that's another aspect of this. If Elon starts the America Party, but he doesn't actually back someone for president in 2028, if he only, you know, throws a little money at congressional races but stays out of the presidential race, this is likely not going to be game changing. And I know a lot of you know how this stuff works. If he doesn't turn heads, he'll move on to something else. He'll go back to the mars stuff or some AI human pig hybrid that nobody asked for, who the hell knows what. But you've got a lot of Republicans watching this with sort of tight jaws. They're hoping Ellen forgets about it. They're hoping that Elon moves on. But if Elon is serious about this, it could be a real problem for Republicans. Otherwise, it'll just be part of the sideshow, another temporary freakout, a momentary fracture that eventually heals. But even if Elon's New America Party flames out, he could be planting relevant seeds here. And the most important sign that this has real potential is that Donald Trump is furious about it. That tells you everything you need to know. Donald Trump took to Truth Social and also attacked Elon Musk during a brief press briefing, a press conference, because Elon Musk is starting a new party. Elon is going scorched earth, so Trump is going scorched earth. Here's what Trump posted to Truth Social, quote, I am saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely off the rails, essentially becoming a train wreck over the past five weeks. He even wants to start a third political party. Despite the fact that they have never succeeded in the United States, the system seems not designed for them. The one thing third parties are good for is the creation of complete and total disruption and chaos. And we have enough of that with the radical left Democrats who have lost their confidence and their minds. Republicans, on the other hand, are a smooth running machine that just passed the biggest bill of its kind in the history of our country. It is a great bill, but unfortunately for Elon, it eliminates the ridiculous electric vehicle mandate which would have forced everyone to buy an electric car in a short period of time. I have been strongly opposed to that from the very beginning. People are now allowed to buy whatever they want. Gasoline powered hybrids which are doing very well, or new technologies as they come about. No more EV mandate. I have campaigned on this for two years and quite honestly, when Elon gave me his total and unquestioned endorsement, I asked him whether or not he knew that I was going to terminate the EV mandate. It was in every speech I made and in every conversation I had. He said he had no problems with that. I was very surprised. Additionally, Elon asked that one of his close friends run NASA. And while I thought his friend was very good, I was surprised to learn that he was a blue blooded Democrat who had never contributed to a Republican before. Elon probably was. Also. I also thought it inappropriate that a very close friend of Elon who was in the space business run NASA when NASA's such a big part of Elon's corporate life. My number one charge is to protect the American public. All right, so then Trump was asked in New Jersey before getting on a plane, after getting off, who the hell knows? Trump says it's all ridiculous. What Elon Musk is doing starting a third party.
- [26:22]
David Pakman
I think it's ridiculous to start a third party. We have a tremendous success with the Republican Party. The Democrats have lost their way, but it's always been a two party system. And I think starting a third party just adds to confusion. It really seems to have been developed for two parties. Third parties have never worked. So he can have fun with it, but I think it's ridiculous.
- [26:44]
Unknown Political Commentator
You know, the truth is that the United States was really founded in a multi party environment. That is what we had at the beginning. Trump's claim that the founders wanted a fixed two party structure, very much not so. And while I don't support what Elon Musk is doing from the standpoint of what he wants the party to be, of course I support something that creates a crack in the Republican Party. But I also have to stick to the truth. And the truth is that the current duopoly that we have was very much not what the founding fathers intended. Trump is triggered. He knows it could be very bad for his legacy. We'll see how it shakes out in the midterms. Donald Trump delivered a disastrous Fourth of July speech and even Melania Trump noticed that. Donald Trump was completely confused and disoriented here, making stuff up. You watch Melania, you realize she realizes it very clearly. Here is Trump talking about Social Security, saying something is in the bill that is simply not in the bill. Listen to this. Watch Melania.
- [28:00]
David Pakman
Our country is going to be a rocket ship economically and we've delivered no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and no tax on Social Security for our great seniors. And that's why when you hear things like that, this is the most pop. It's the biggest bill of its kind ever done by far.
- [28:23]
Unknown Political Commentator
That is not in the bill. No tax on Social Security is not in the bill. And I think even people in the crowd knew it because he had people in the crowd who are sort of like related to, to what's going on. Although you had random people in the crowd as well. Trump disoriented and confused. Is he lying? Hard to tell with Donald Trump. Trump went on a bizarre word salad. It's like a chop chop. It's been chopped up beyond recognition into mushroom. Talking about wind and getting it very, very wrong.
- [28:59]
David Pakman
You know, China is right now building 68 coal generating plants and we're putting up wind. Wind. It doesn't work. I will tell you. Aside from ruining our fields and our valleys and killing all the birds and having very being very weak and very expensive, all made In China, you know, I noticed something that with all of the windmills that China sends us, where we waste our money because it's the most expensive energy. I see that. You know, they make about 95% of them, the wind turbines. I have never seen a wind farm in China. Why is that? Somebody check that out. Tom Emmer, would you please check that out?
- [29:39]
Unknown Political Commentator
You know the reality. This is just the facts. This is. This is not, oh, China's good, China's bad. China is the global leader in wind energy. China has the largest capacity of wind power worldwide. They have it onshore and they have it offshore. Trump is disoriented and Trump is confused. And maybe if he knew that China was the leader in wind, he all of a sudden would want to do it because he seems enamored by what any authoritarian strongman does. And then Trump brazenly lying about the popularity of the bill. This is one of the least popular bills that has been signed into law. Really makes you wonder, why aren't our elected officials doing what the voters want.
- [30:29]
David Pakman
Them to do and just say what it is? Because it's the most popular bill ever signed in the history of our country. Whether you're military or anybody else, this is the most single most popular bill ever signed.
- [30:44]
Unknown Political Commentator
I am actually unsure of any major bill that was less popular than this. As I always tell you, unlike the cult leaders and the authoritarians and the right wing media, I'm not telling you to believe it because I said it. Go verify it. Look at the polling on this big, beautiful bill. Trump making it all up about wind energy, about no taxes on Social Security, about the popularity of the bill. Melania knows it. Oh, no. He's ranting again. He's ranting again. And she can do nothing, nothing to stop Trump. We'll have more about this specific issue and this bill on today's bonus show. Sign up@join pacman.com I don't want you to miss it, you know, for weeks now, discussions have focused on Trump's big, beautiful bill and its potential Medicaid cuts. However, a far more dangerous overlooked provision in the bill exists at Ground News slash pacman. You'll discover what MAGA lawmakers quietly included a provision that could block federal judges from enforcing court orders unless a bond is posted. And if this passes, it could render Trump above the law. This is a critical detail. It's largely unknown. And it really exemplifies this flood the zone strategy of the Trump administration. Now, this is why Ground News is essential. It really is the best way to Uncover buried information by showing you not just the story, but its origins across the political spectrum. You can see bias. Ratings, credibility scores, coverage timelines and their browser extension also will flag potential bias. When you're on a news site, sort of guiding you to more reliable sources for fact checking, Ground News gives you a smarter and more reliable way to stay informed. I'm partnering with them to give you 40% off their unlimited Vantage plan, which makes it just $5 a month. Visit Ground News Slash Pacman Scan the QR code or use the code Pacman in the app to start. The link is in the description. You know, I'll often talk to my friends about what do we really think is private on our computers and on our phones. And many people believe that their emails are genuinely private. And it turns out that a lot of the email services are looking at your emails and can look at your emails even after you have deleted them. Which is why I recommend our sponsor Start Mail, a trusted name in secure email for more than a decade. Start Mail is based in the Netherlands. Netherlands is known for very strong data protection laws. Your emails won't be scanned, your emails won't be tracked. Start Mail will block those invasive tracking pixels so you won't be monitored by companies and by hackers. And when you delete an email and Start Mail, it is gone for good. Your data stays private. They are all in on this. With a ton of features including aliases to keep you anonymous, strong encryption with your emails, it is super easy to move to Start Mail. It's a few clicks. Migrate your emails, migrate your contacts. You really can't go wrong. Try Start Mail for yourself completely free for seven days at start mail.com/pacman, which will also give you 50% off your first year. That's star t mail.com/pacman for a seven day free trial and 50% off your first year. The link is in the podcast notes Trump never expected this and he now has a total catastrophe on his hands. This is the kind of story that Donald Trump thought that he was done with. The kind that lands on his desk mid scandal, mid rally, mid you know, narcissistic monologue and throws everything off course because right now measles is back. It is not a few cases back. It is not background noise back. We are talking record breaking, deadly outbreak break. And the political blame is heading right for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. When he can take a break from gargling with methylene blue and bathing in beef tallow. His Secretary of Health and Human Services is now dealing with more than 1200 confirmed cases of measles this year, more than in any year since the disease was declared eliminated 25 years ago. It's only July and these are the worst single year numbers in 25 years. Kids are dying, adults to Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and just about everybody is unvaccinated. Where did this all start? It started in Texas. One in four kindergartners there didn't get their measles shot this year. And that is ground zero. And RFK helped to build it. I have a friend who works in a pediatric er. Not, not even going to say where, because this stuff is still fortunately, sort of, although not really sort of rare enough that I don't, I don't want them to be identified. My friend who works in the ER said there are measles cases coming in and parents are lying about whether their kid is vaccinated. And eventually they have conversations where they say, you know, we are thinking this is measles, but are you sure that your child is vaccinated? And they go, oh, you meant the measles vaccine. No, almost exclusively unvaccinated. And they are bringing it back, back. Now we have RFK at the helm of the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services spent decades spreading anti vaccine junk science linking vaccination specifically to measles MMR vaccine to autism. A completely disproven link connected to a disbarred. Now unlicensed disbarred is not the right word. A doctor who's had his license revoked, Andrew Wakefield. And this is where we find ourselves, right? Congratulations. We have a deadly outbreak. We've got kids in icu, we've got international warnings issued. Mexico has said to travelers, avoid the U.S. there's a health risk of measles there. Wrap your head around that. And the kicker is that RFK tried to flip the script a few months ago. Years of paranoia and pseudoscience and he suddenly sort of like endorsed vaccines in April, but not really, you know, it was half hearted. And then more recently, he goes further and they fire the federal panel of vaccine experts that have advised presidents, no warning, no replacement plan, just gone. Public health leaders are stunned. The American Medical association says this is dangerous. Well, they were right. And if you remove expertise, replace it with ego confusion and conspiracies and you shake it together. What comes out is a rising death count from a preventable disease, collapsing herd immunity and a measles outbreak that has now hit 38 states. I don't think Trump's inner circle saw this coming. They thought, let's appoint RFK Jr. We'll keep the fringe sort of happy. The anti vax crowd gets a bone. They can, you know, let them play bureaucrat, then we move on. But now we've got a crisis and the political reality is that Trump owns it too. There's no Foushee to blame this time around. It's Robert F. Kennedy Jr. And the political reality is there's no deep state to scapegoat here. He installed rfk, he elevated the anti Vax movement to the White House. And now as we're getting ready to go into another election cycle next year, he's got a national outbreak tied directly to his brand. More than a public health issue, this is now a political liability. And you've got independents, you've got suburban parents, you've got grandparents, you've got conservatives, even to a degree, they want their kids safe. They don't want to be spinning medical roulette every time you step into a kindergarten or a emergency room because a conspiracy theorist got a job in the Cabinet. So Trump's boxed in. If he fires rfk, he's going to admit implicitly that this was a terrible idea. He'll piss off the anti vax. Right, which could be a problem. If you keep rfk, you're going to keep getting hammered for every measles death that hits the news. So it's lose, lose, it came out of nowhere or it didn't. Well, not really. This was really a result of what Trump did. So this is now a full on catastrophe. Trump has walked into it. It's Trump's fault, it's rfk, his fault for I still don't want anybody to die. I don't want kids in icu. So hopefully someone figures out a way to talk sense into these parents that are not vaccinating and are sometimes lying about it. A feeble Trump had a terrifying meltdown and is really digging his own grave here. Donald Trump's tariff time bomb is ticking, ticking, ticking. We are two days away here and the blast radius if this bomb goes off on Wednesday, although now it's like, when are the tariffs going into place? He's going to decide Wednesday, but they might not go into place until August. If they do, it's going to blow up your wallet, could blow up your job. It could even blow up Elon Musk's bruised ego. Ok, here is Donald Trump with another, more, more of these overnight posts. Quote, I am pleased to announce that the United States tariff letters and or deals with various countries from around the world will be delivered starting 12pm Eastern today, Monday, July 7th. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Donald J. Trump, President of the United States of America. You know, nothing says leadership like a late night, Sunday night press release to the entire planet. We are sending tariff letters now. Remember that we were told 90 deals in 90 days. We are at 88 days and we have I guess, one deal. It's a very bad deal with Vietnam. If the Vietnam deal is any indication of what is forthcoming, it's not going to be good. Donald Trump then adding an additional threat on troth central saying, quote, any country aligning themselves with the anti American policies of BRICS will be charged an additional 10% tariff. There will be no exceptions to this policy. Thank you for your attention to this matter. So let me give you the timeline. April 2, Trump pauses steep tariffs for 90 days. The pause ends July 9. That's the day after tomorrow. Countries without side deals face getting levied with tariffs anywhere from 10% up to 70%. Right now we have the Vietnam deal, which is a disaster. We have the UK that is, they've not done a deal. It's sort of like a patch together workaround. And then you've got the EU begging for like a last minute mini deal. And then India, Brazil and South Africa now are branded as anti American and they're still in limbo. Who knows what Trump's going to do to them next. Now as of this moment, we have a stock market situation that is not so good on this news. The Dow is down just what's 300 points between friends, right? I mean, who cares really? And then we have a number of different problems. One problem is that these tariffs, if they go into play, are expected to cost the average family about $2,300 a year. I believe is the latest update. Although everything is sort of like it depends, it's not really clear. We could have a supply chain boomerang where American manufacturers that import parts from these critical countries are going to see prices spike. They might have to do layoffs. The electoral math is a problem. It's another gut punch to the rust belt. It's another gut punch to the farm belt. It isolates the United States. When you threaten allies and then say, not only am I threatening you for what you do with us, I'm going to potentially threaten you for what you do with the BRICs. There's a legal limbo because a lot of these tariffs would go beyond the WTO ceilings. What happens? Lawsuits, I don't know. It's complete and total chaos. And then, just as, like a quick history reminder, tariffs deepened the Great Depression. If you go back to Smoot Hawley in the early 20th century, and you also don't need to go back that far, you just go back to 2018. Was it 18 or 17? You go back to Trump's first term and you realize, oh, Trump's prior tariffs created net job losses in farming, net job losses in manufacturing, and then they also precipitated billions in subsidies. We've seen this movie before. It always seems to end the exact same way. Will we know in 48 hours? Honestly, I'm not really sure. Donald Trump dropped an anti Semitic slur during a recent speech referring to certain bankers as Shylocks, straight out of the anti Semitism playbook. Then he played dumb. Listen to this.
- [44:58]
David Pakman
But if you love them, or if you love somebody, that you're leaving it to think of that. No death tax, no estate tax, no going to the banks and borrowings from, in some cases, a fine banker and in some cases, Shylocks and bad people.
- [45:13]
Unknown Political Commentator
The term Shylock, if you're not familiar with it, widely considered anti Semitic when used to describe bankers in a negative way, comes from Shakespeare's play the Merchant of Venice, where Shylock is a Jewish lender and is portrayed as extraordinarily negative. And the character has long been used to promote anti Semitic stereotypes. It kind of has become a shorthand for Jewish greed in European literature and anti Semitic propaganda. Now, Donald Trump was confronted about this by a reporter after using the phrase or the term. And he goes, oh, I don't know anything about that. No, I've never heard that. I wanted to ask you about one.
- [45:59]
David Pakman
Of the words you used during your speech. Shylocks.
- [46:02]
Unknown Political Commentator
That's widely viewed as an anti Semitic phrase. You intend for that word to be used?
- [46:08]
David Pakman
No, I've never heard it that way. To me, Shylock is somebody that, say, a money lender at high rates, look.
- [46:15]
Unknown Political Commentator
At everybody behind him smirking.
- [46:16]
David Pakman
Never heard of that. Where you view it differently than me? I've never heard that, sir.
- [46:25]
Unknown Political Commentator
You use the N word. Did you know that that's offensive to black people and to anyone who is disgusted by racism? No. You know, for me, the term was always different. It was just sort of the loving way that slave owners would refer to slaves on the plantation. It's interesting that you see it that way, but I just never really saw it that way. Now, what's the most generous possible view of this that we can give to Trump will be as charitable as possible. The charitable view is Trump's been palling around with anti Semitic business people his entire life and he simply never was curious enough. What does it mean when they say shylock, he was never curious enough to actually look it up? That's the most charitable interpretation. Why do we give Trump any level of charity at this point in time? I don't know, but I think that that's the best I can come up with. What do you think? Info@david pakman.com Let me know many of us know it can be tough to stay on top of nutrition every single day, especially when things get busy and hectic. That is why I've made AG1 part of my morning routine. AG1 has now launched their Next gen formula. Still just a scoop a day, but it's been upgraded with more vitamins and minerals, a stronger probiotic blend, and this is the biggest thing clinically backed by four human clinical trials. Most supplements don't go through anything like that. In one clinical trial, AG1 Next Gen increased healthy gut bacteria by 10 times. It's also clinically shown to help fill common nutrient gaps. Even if you eat pretty well already. I mix AG1 with water before my world famous cappuccino in the morning. Quick. Tastes good, just helps me feel like I'm covering my nutritional bases. And now clinically backed with an advanced formula, it's the perfect time to try AG1. If you haven't head to drink ag1.com/pacman to subscribe, you'll get a free bottle of AG D3K2, a welcome kit and five travel packs with your first order. The link is in the description. An addled Donald Trump's brain clearly misfiring again and again and again. If Biden answered a single question like this, it would have been a week on Fox News. But it's only Trump, right? So who cares? Very simple question. July 9th, the day after tomorrow is the 90 day deadline for 90 deals in 90 days. So the expectation would be. Well, on July 9th the tariffs go into place if the 90 deals aren't made. Trump is asked about that because now they're saying, well, they won't. They would go into place in August, but then. So what is the deadline really mean? I don't know. And Trump's just confused.
- [49:34]
David Pakman
President do the tariff rates change at all on July 9th or do they change on August 1st? What are you talking about?
- [49:41]
Unknown Political Commentator
Terror? What? What are you talking about? You know, like your main thing that you're doing economically.
- [49:47]
David Pakman
Do they change on July 9th or August 1st? They're going to be tariffs. Tariffs are going to be the tariffs. I think we have most countries done by by July 9th. Yeah. Either a letter or a deal. But. But they go into effect on August 1. Tariffs go into effect August 1.
- [50:06]
Unknown Political Commentator
There is Howard Lutnick having to save him. Trump has no idea what's going on. It's a very interesting question. The deadline is July 9th. For what? Well, I guess not really for the tariffs going into place. But Wasn't it a 90 day pause on the tariffs? Yes, it was a 90 day pause after which there's a 21 day moratorium. What? They don't have any idea what they're doing. They just have no idea what they are doing. And Trump has no clue what's going on. Reporter says, hey, we're having a problem in Texas with these floods. There's vacancies at the National Weather Service. Are you investigating this? Trump's like night, it's Biden's fault. But also I wouldn't really blame Biden either. Are you investigating whether some of the cuts to the federal government left key vacancies at the National Weather Service or the emergency. Look at Lutnick shaking his head like a lap dog.
- [51:02]
David Pakman
They did not. They did. I'll tell you. You look at that. That what a situation that all is. And that was really the Biden setup. That was not our setup. But I wouldn't blame Biden for it either. I would just say this is 100 year catastrophe.
- [51:20]
Unknown Political Commentator
Listen, he's saying it's Biden's setup, but he wouldn't blame Biden. Very generous of him. Of course, this has nothing to do with Biden. Biden was attempting to fully staff the National Weather Service. They had a few vacancies. Trump came in and just decimated it. Decimated. Metaphorically, not literally, that it could be confusing. Significant further cuts under Donald Trump. Trump then asked more specifically, the meteorologists you and Elon fired, should they be hired back? Trump's like, nah, wouldn't make a difference.
- [51:55]
David Pakman
In light of the floods. Do you think that the federal government.
- [51:58]
Unknown Political Commentator
Needs to hire back any of the.
- [51:59]
David Pakman
Meteorologists who are fired in the last few months? I would know that. I really wouldn't. I would think not. This was the thing that happened in seconds. Nobody expected it. Nobody saw it. Very talented people are there and they didn't see it. It's I guess they said once in 100 years they've never seen anything like this. So I wouldn't, I mean, people are trying to blame the school. They're trying to Blame the camp they're trying to blame. It's just a horrible thing. But, no, I wouldn't say that.
- [52:29]
Unknown Political Commentator
Nope. He definitely does not want to hire back any meteorologist. And then finally, Trump asked about a ship that was hit in the Red Sea. Trump's answer, essentially. Huh. Huh. Have you been briefed on the ship that was hit in the Red Sea? Do you know if the Houthis attacked that ship today?
- [52:50]
David Pakman
We'll give you a report sometime tonight or tomorrow.
- [52:54]
Unknown Political Commentator
Translation, I haven't yet spoken to Sean Hannity about what it is that I'm supposed to say about that. Every one of these press conferences, more disastrous than the last, more confusion than the last. You know, I'm. I'm watching this Netflix series, Zero Day with Bobby D. Robert De Niro, who Trump hates now, and Jesse Plemons and some other actors. And it's very interesting because they seem to be weaving together elements of Biden and Trump. Robert De Niro plays a former president in it who's brought back to deal with a little problem that they have, and they kind of weave together elements of. Of. Of Trump and Biden. There's like a cognitive test scene, which I'm not giving anything away by just mentioning that there's a cognitive test scene where you see, actually, it's not even meant to be this. You see in the scene that a real cognitive test would be far more comprehensive than the one that Donald Trump claims to have aced, which is really, at the end of the day, sort of like a pretty severe brain injury kind of screening thing. This guy is not with it. And I genuine. I would say do it for. Do it for everybody. I would have said do it for Biden, of course. I would like to see Trump actually subjected to a real screening here. Comprehensive. And then a commitment that the results won't be run by the administration before being released. That would be my preference. You tell me what you want. Have you seen what's going on with Joe Rogan? In some sense, I respect that Rogan is publicly acknowledging what Trump is doing is insane. It's insane when it comes to war. It's insane when it comes to immigration and deportation. I appreciate and respect that Rogan is doing it, but there's one little piece that's missing from this. Take a listen to what he recently had to say.
- [55:05]
David Pakman
We were told there would be no. Well, there's two things that are insane. One is the targeting of migrant workers. Not cartel members, not gang members, not drug dealers, just construction workers showing up in construction sites, raiding Them gardeners? Yeah, like really? Or su. Or Palestinian students on college campuses or, or not. Like, there's a tur. Did you see this video of this Turkish students at Tufts University that wrote an essay and then there's video of like ice agents. Like, is that a woman? Yeah, yeah, yeah. What was her essay about? It was just critical of Israel, right? Yeah. I mean, and that's enough to get you kicked out of the country. There's a, there's a long history of, of, of anti colonial activism in U. S. Colleges. You know, the. Led to, to, you know, South Africa changing and all of that. And I think this is a continuation of that same.
- [56:06]
Unknown Political Commentator
So like I said, it's great that Rogan is acknowledging the insanity of this. He. The problems are numerous. However, problem number one, he endorsed the guy who said he would do this. It was not a shock if you were paying attention. Trump was asked many times, but what about like, you know, if, if you find just like a mom or something like that, or you know, just workers or. And Trump made it clear there could be some ugly stories. We could see some stuff that's difficult, but we're doing all of it. Tom Homan was clear that this is what they were going to do. Kristi Noem was clear that this is what they were going to do. And so the part that I have a problem with is that Rogan's pretending that this comes as a surprise that it wasn't obvious they're doing the stuff they said they were going to do. Secondly, Rogan is not acknowledging his role in this. This is not the. Rogan's the kingmaker. If Kamala had done Rogan's show, she would have won stuff. But Rogan is one piece of the ecosystem that includes, you know, the milk boys and everybody where they all created an environment of this guy. So cool. Harris is lame, this is the guy to vote for, there's really no choice, etc. And that endorsement is not insignificant. I don't think the Rogan endorsement put Trump over the edge, but it was part of the movement that did. And so I would respect Rogan way more if he said, hey, you know what, I went back and looked. They were telling us that this is the plan. They were telling us all along that this is what they were going to do. And I either didn't understand it or ignored it or told myself that he didn't really mean it and he meant it and I was wrong to endorse it. If we had a Harris presidency, what happened with Iran would not have happened. By the way, if Hillary Clinton had won in 2016, we never would have gotten out of the Iran nuclear deal which precipitated everything that happened. Ok, I don't expect him to go that far, but he could. If Kamala Harris had won, we wouldn't be seeing raids at Home Depot and and everything that Rogan is bemoaning. So I would love it if Rogan got to that point. But at least he's acknowledging that this is all completely and totally nuts. Now on the bonus show today we are going to talk about a lot of interesting things. The DOJ and FBI have announced that there is no Jeffrey Epstein client list and that he did die by suicide. He was not killed. Why are many Magas not accepting this? We'll talk about that. Number two, Donald Trump has signed an executive order calling for tourists from other countries to pay more money to go into national parks. Does this make sense? And finally, Candace Owens is now claiming, acknowledging, we might say that Donald Trump personally told her, stop talking about Emmanuel Macron's wife being a man. Don't talk about that anymore. Interesting. Interesting. Especially if true. Why is she now admitting it? Why is she acknowledging it? We're going to talk about all of those stories on today's bonus show. Couple of quick things. Number one, how do you get the bonus show? Easy. You sign up@join packman.com 2. Do you want a free membership? Easy. Sign up at David pakman.com/free membership as people gift memberships. We will hand them out. And finally, the only way I'll be able to get a hold of you if the clampdown comes is if you're on my newsletter because I don't own the data anywhere else. Please get on my newsletter@substack.davidpakman.com it is completely free. I will see you there. I'll see you on the bonus show. I'll see you back here tomorrow. Marketing is hard, but I'll tell you a little secret. It doesn't have to be. Let me point something out. You're listening to a podcast right now and it's great. You love the host. You seek it out and download it. You listen to it while driving, working out, cooking, even going to the bathroom. Podcasts are a pretty close companion. And this is a podcast ad. Did I get your attention? You can reach great listeners like yourself with podcast advertising from Libsyn Ads. Choose from hundreds of top podcasts offering host endorsements or run a pre produced ad like this one across thousands of shows to reach your target audience in their favorite podcasts with Libsyn ads, go to Libsynads.com that's L I B S Y N ads.com today.