← The David Pakman Show
The David Pakman Show
9/5/25: Anti-Trump protests coming back as Trump unites world against us
01:08:52
-- On the Show: -- Donald Trump alienates allies and adversaries alike as countries unite against an unpredictable and hostile America -- New jobs data shows slowing private sector growth and rising layoffs as Trump struggles to hide a weakening...
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- [00:00]
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- [01:03]
David Pakman
We're going to get to the disastrous jobs report in a moment. Donald Trump exploding in a deranged rant as the economy is cracking around him and this is the behavior of someone who knows it's not going well. The question for the average American is are these meltdowns, are these temper tantrums going to start affecting people in a real and substantive way? The answer seems to be yes. Trump reacting to the terrible, terrible jobs report by taking to truth social ranting about Epstein and other things including attacking Jerry Nadler. Trump posting quote this is all this morning. This is all whacked out. Jerry Nadler, one of the most disgusting congressmen in USA history, is at long last calling it quits. He's finally leaving Congress. I've been beating this bum for 40 years. First as a New York City developer where he opposed me for no reason at every corner but could never stop me from getting the job done. And then as your president where this psychopathic nut job together with crazy Nancy Pelosi impeached me twice and lost, wasting millions of dollars in time and taxpayer money. It will be a great day for the USA when Nadler, a pathetic lightweight, is out of office and leaves are beautiful and now very safe. Washington D.C. make America great Again President Donald J. Trump the economy is cracking and Trump is exercising personal vendettas, smears and ad hominems it's what we've come to expect. It's sad, but it's what we've come to expect. Then Trump, when the jobs get difficult and people start looking for jobs that don't exist, as we covered earlier this week, talk about Jeffrey Epstein. Trump saying, quote, the confused and badly failing Democrat Party did nothing about Jeffrey Epstein while he was alive except befriend him, socialize with him, travel to his island and take his money. They knew everything there was to know about Epstein. But now, years after his death, they out of nowhere are seeming to show such love and heartfelt concern for his victims. Does anybody really believe that? Where were they during his very public trials? And and for all of those years before his death? The answer is nowhere to be found. The now dying after the DOJ gave thousands of pages of documents in full compliance with a very comprehensive and exacting subpoena from Congress. Epstein case was only brought back to life by the radical left Democrats because they are doing so poorly. Blah, blah, blah. I won't even read the whole thing. But the point here is there's a really simple answer. Why? And by the way, it's not just the left. Why are people suddenly talking about the Epstein files? Because Donald Trump, who said he would be the most transparent president and initially said he would release the files, isn't doing it. And more than half of Republicans believe that Trump is covering it up. It's not because of random factors of propaganda and it's because of Trump's behavior. He said he would release this stuff, then he sort of backed off, and now it's clear that he doesn't want this stuff out. That's why people are talking about it. And then again, as the economy continues to crack, Trump taking his anger out on Jerome Powell. Jerome, too late. Powell should have lowered rates long ago. As usual, he's too late. And just as a reminder, Trump claims the economy is great, but when the economy is great, you're not desperate for federal funds rate reductions. But Trump is. So which is it? Is the economy great or do you want Jerome Powell to do that, which is typically done only when the economy is a disaster? Trump wants a three or four point federal funds rate deduction. I guess we don't know. The economy is simultaneously great, but it needs Jerome Powell's help. Trump is terrified because of this jobs report. And what do authoritarians do when the economy is not so good? They get famous people to praise them. And you've got to see what Trump did next. A completely defeated, disoriented and Orange. Donald Trump brought tech CEOs to the White House and had them suck up to Donald Trump. Gates, Zuckerberg, Tim Apple, as he is known to some Sam Altman. Authoritarians love this shit. They love it. Let's start with Bill Gates sucking up to Trump.
- [05:51]
Donald Trump
The amazing job you've done. Bill, would you like to say a few words?
- [05:59]
Bill Gates
Well, I'm in the second phase of my career giving a away all the wonderful money that Satya's good work has helped multiply a lot. But I think the thing that ties my first career that I still spend some time on because AI is so phenomenal, and my second career is innovation, innovating in health in areas like vaccines or gene editing. And the President and I are talking about taking American innovation to the next level to cure and even eradicate some of these diseases. He mentioned polio, which is one that we're close. We don't need new science on that one. For some, like HIV and sickle cell, we do need new science, but the US has the seeds that in the same way that warp speed took those seeds and put them together, I think something fantastic can be done. You know, I for our foundation is that we want a doctor for everyone in Africa through AI. We want farmers to have incredible advice and, you know, kids to have a chance to learn.
- [07:13]
David Pakman
So the work Trump is bored by.
- [07:16]
Bill Gates
The way being done by the people at this table is, is changing the world. It's, you know, coming fast. So it's great. You know, we all get together and talk about how the US can lead in this key area and apply it even to the poorest outside the US as well as to our great citizens. So thank you for incredible leadership, including getting this group together.
- [07:39]
David Pakman
Thank you for your incredible leadership, Mr. President. And what is so ironic about this, other than the fact that this is what authoritarians do. And I'll come back to the historical context. Wasn't Bill Gates this evil globalist, determined to microchip people with vaccines? And now all of a sudden, we, like Bill Gates and the Magaz are going, look at how great Trump's doing. Even Bill Gates is praising his leadership. Well, this is how authoritarians work. We then go to Mark Zuckerberg. Mark Zuckerberg, just so impressed, so impressed with Donald Trump.
- [08:16]
Mark Zuckerberg
Well, thanks for hosting us. And this is quite a group to get together. And, you know, I think, you know, all of the companies here are building, just making huge investments in the country in order to build out data centers and infrastructure to power the next wave of innovation. So it's you know, we don't often get together as the CEOs of the different companies, but it's good to see everyone.
- [08:40]
Donald Trump
How much are you seeing spending, would you say, over the next few years?
- [08:43]
Mark Zuckerberg
Oh, gosh. I mean, I think it's probably going to be something like, I don't know, at least $600 billion through 28 in the U.S. yeah. No, it's significant.
- [08:58]
David Pakman
Isn't this great? Everybody's so friendly. Trump so great for getting us together. Tim Apple took a turn. Of course, it's Tim Cook, but Trump wants incorrectly naming him Tim Apple. Of course, Apple's the name of the company. He's the CEO of.
- [09:12]
Donald Trump
Tim Cook, you've done an incredible job with Apple. Little company called apple.
- [09:18]
Tim Cook
Thank you, Mr. President.
- [09:19]
Donald Trump
Very, very few people have been able to do what you've done. Congratulations.
- [09:23]
Tim Cook
Please, sir, that means a lot to me. I want to thank you for including me this evening. It's incredible to be among everyone here, particularly you and the first Lady. I've always enjoyed having dinner and interacting. I want to thank you for setting the tone such that we could make a major investment.
- [09:45]
David Pakman
Can you imagine Trump setting the right tone on anything United States and have.
- [09:51]
Tim Cook
Some key manufacturing, advanced manufacturing here? I think that says a lot about your focus and your, your leadership and your focus on innovation. I also want to thank you for helping American companies around the world. This is a very key, key thing. And I really enjoy working with your administration on those topics as well, because I think they're so important to the country. I want to thank the first lady for focusing on education. There's nothing more important than education. It is the great equalizer and always will be. And so thank you so much for including me.
- [10:36]
David Pakman
Just thank you, thank you, thank you. And remember, Ruth Ben Ghiat told us one of the things that authoritarians demand is not only loyalty, but thanks. And J.D. vance has talked about this. Remember J.D. vance confronting it was Zelensky, right? Have you said thank you to the president for all of the things that you've done? Disgusting, disgusting stuff. Here's Sam Altman from OpenAI also getting on his knees for Trump.
- [11:04]
Donald Trump
Sam, you're a big leader of a very new industry at a very young age. You're a young guy. Do you want to tell us about your, what you're doing? You told me things before that are absolutely unbelievable, believable. So what are you doing?
- [11:18]
Sam Altman
First of all, to echo the comments of Tim and others, thank you so much for getting us all together and thank you for being such A pro business, pro innovation president. It's a very refreshing change. We're very excited to see what you're doing to make all of our companies and our entire country so successful. The investment that's happening here, the ability to.
- [11:36]
David Pakman
Trump is doing so many things to make the country so successful. Listen to that.
- [11:40]
Sam Altman
Get the power in the industry back in the United States, I think set us up for, you know, a long period of great success leading the world. And I don't think that would be happening now without your leadership.
- [11:51]
David Pakman
What we saw at the White House, Trump surrounding himself with these tech CEOs eager to flatter him. This is right out of the authoritarian playbook. Strongmen love these stage managed moments where celebrities or business leaders or cultural figures or other powerful elected officials, they gather around and they praise. And it's not about policy, it's not about progress. I mean, the things they're praising Trump for are laughable. Setting the right tone, making the country so successful and the business environment. The message is clear. If you are a major player in the economy, in this case it's the tech economy, you show up, you smile, you nod, you treat the leader as indispensable. He's the center of gravity. He's the, the most important thing. And the more public your deference to the dear leader, the better, because it signals to other people who are watching. The richest people have bent the knee, the most influential people have bent the knee. And this is the problem, by the way, with revering these tech CEOs in the first place, which makes them desirable as puppets. And this type of spectacle works on many levels. It projects dominance, it flatters the ego. It intimidates those who, who are critical of Trump because it's like, wow, if this is what the people get when they praise, what if I don't praise? What if I don't buy into the cult of personality? It is submission dressed up as a partnership. It's what Trump is cultivating. And in the midst of it, Trump doesn't actually know what's going on. I want to talk about that next. A visibly confused Donald Trump needed his wife Melania to tell him. What was that question? What, what are they saying? This is what we were told Biden needed from Jill Biden. And everything they said about Biden is applying to Trump. Take a Look at this.
- [13:45]
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Mr. President, I have two questions for you. First, after your phone call with Ukrainian President Zelensky today, do you plan to speak with Russia's President Putin in the near future?
- [13:55]
Donald Trump
What is what if you will Stick with President. I will be here.
- [13:59]
David Pakman
That's Melania explaining and whispering the question to Trump.
- [14:04]
Donald Trump
We're having a very good dialog. I settled seven wars.
- [14:09]
David Pakman
Now listen to what just happened there. This those 20 seconds. Trump needs the question explained to him. He barely answers it and then yells out, I settled seven wars, sir. Did you want mustard on your pastrami on rye? Well, listen, no one knows sandwiches better than me. I like chicken. This is the equivalent of where we are right now. Not only does Trump need the question explained to him, but then he ends up off topic altogether.
- [14:46]
Donald Trump
The one that I thought would be maybe one of the easiest, you know, that feeling, you think one thing is going to be easier turns out to be a little bit tougher. But the one that I thought would be an easier one because of my relationship with President Putin and with Ukraine and everything else. I thought it would be the Russia Ukraine disaster, where this week 7014 people were killed. Soldiers in most cases, soldiers a few.
- [15:11]
David Pakman
So listen, all that stuff about Joe Biden can't do it without Jill's help. To a degree, it was true, but it seems to be true about Donald Trump as well, who increasingly can't hear or doesn't understand the questions that are being asked. It's all coming full circle. Will Fox cover it? Probably not. One of the strangest things in geopolitics can be how a common threat can turn bitter rivals into allies overnight. Sometimes you hear it as politics makes strange bedfellows. Sometimes you hear it as, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. But you see it in war. You see it in diplomacy. And right now, the threat from Donald Trump and the humiliation that Donald Trump has rained down upon the United States is causing this. Think Ronald Reagan for a moment, not a dove, Reagan understood this dynamic. In a 1987 UN speech, Reagan said, I occasionally think how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish. And if we were facing an alien threat from the outside world. He was not revealing an alien invasion. He was making the point that a bigger, more dangerous enemy can make smaller disputes irrelevant. I don't totally agree with Reagan, and in fact, we've spoken with psychologists, sociologists, those who study, who participate in the search for extraterrestrial life. If indeed we found out about aliens, I think initially it would have that effect. But people often get back to their petty disputes and disagreements. But that's not really the topic here. The idea is, in the United States in 2025, Trump is sort of playing the role of the alien threat and coalescing others against us Allies, rivals, enemies of each other are finding common ground not because they agree on everything, but because they agree that Trump's America is. Is unpredictable and it's hostile and it's dangerous. And there's a number of examples of this. You look at Europe, Naito allies questioning, is the US Reliable? Will the US Actually do what the treaty says they're supposed to do and come to the shared defense of Naito members. Some are building parallel defense and trade frameworks because Trump's whims might mean that tomorrow we're no longer friends. That's the way Trump thinks about it. You look at the Middle east countries as far apart politically as Saudi Arabia and Iran, aligning on the idea that the US That American policy under Trump is destabilizing the region, they'd better be prepared on their own. Seems reasonable, actually. You then look at Asia. You've got China and India who regularly clashes, cooperating in ways we would not have imagined before to reduce American leverage. Trump's tariffs are on. They're off, they're on you, they're on me, they're on some of our stuff, they're on all of us. Let's just make deals amongst ourselves. And this is way bigger than government. Global public opinion of the United States is cratering. America first is being heard as everybody else last. Other countries don't want that. And so other countries are doing business differently, they're making alliances differently, they're planning for the future differently. You then look at the America Israel partnership as it exists under Trump. It is radioactive. I mean, completely radioactive. Netanyahu, who is an extreme right winger, bloodthirsty extreme right winger, who I've opposed for. I don't even remember how long he's been in power at this point, but I've opposed him the entire time. You want an American president who's going to at least try to say, maybe don't go that far. Biden did it a little bit. Not with great success, but a little bit. Trump ushers in Netanyahu's worst, most bloodthirsty instincts and goes, sure, even though Netanyahu himself is an obstacle against peace. So that perception globally is also hurting the United States. And so the more that Donald Trump lashes out, threatens Naito, insults allies, sanctions countries for perceived slights, tells Netanyahu, do whatever the hell you want in Gaza, the more that he's going to accelerate the trend of the world uniting against the United States. And you have more and more nations that used to distrust each other going, you know, whatever our differences are or used to be. Let's work those out a little bit later. We've got a bigger problem right now, and that problem is Donald Trump. So this is not making America respect it again. It's making us the common enemy. Where China goes, the U.S. is a problem, and Putin goes, the U.S. is a problem, and India goes, and Turkey goes, the US Is a problem. Well, we've got this problem in common. Let's work together here. And if history teaches us anything, it's that when the world decides that you're the problem, you eventually find yourself isolated and you don't get to dictate the terms of your comeback. What we can hope for is that Trump's, let's see, three years and four months that he has to go don't do so much damage that it becomes unrecoverable. Let's talk about the labor, labor market. The Trump labor market is starting to crack. And the latest data leaves very little room for spinning. Fresh numbers from ADP show August private sector job growth all the way down to just 54000 new jobs. Expectation was 65,000 already, not a good number. Last month was double that. Weekly jobless claims are up, hitting their highest level since June. That's two bad signs in one day. These are not just the ADP numbers. The Institute for Supply Management's latest survey finds that the services sector, that's the bulk of our economy, expanded a little bit, but hiring shrank for the third month in a row. In other words, the sector made a little more money but employed fewer people. In other words, businesses are still selling and producing, but they're not adding workers. And that's not what a healthy labor market looks like. The trend has been building. July job openings came in weaker than expected. I told you yesterday that there are now fewer available jobs than the number of people looking for jobs. And then remember, of course, that May jobs numbers and June jobs numbers were revised downward, and Trump was triggered so badly by that that he went and fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics a few weeks ago because the data didn't make him look good. He didn't like it. He didn't want those numbers. So we now find ourselves in a very strange situation where the jobs market is softening. Wall street is betting on rate cuts this month, September. And we are unclear, as in the middle of this, we are unclear as to whether in the middle of all of this, Donald Trump is in a position to do anything to turn around the tariff fiasco and try to turn around the Entire economy. Trump did not say one way or the other who else he might fire if he doesn't get the rate cut that he wants. Although Jerome Powell has made clear they can't fire me. I'm independent here. And overall, the amount of pressure that Donald Trump is putting on the Fed to lower rates is wacky. Now, I think it bears repeating once more. Trump, on the one hand is saying the economy is better than ever, but on the other hand, he's demanding massive rate cuts that you would normally only see in really bad economies. Trump's like, the economy is great, but the Fed should act as if it's not and slash rates 3 or 4 points. The reality is you cannot bully the labor market into looking better. Companies have to hire people. That's the only way. You can't fire your way into job growth. You can't hide weak numbers by attacking the people who just calculate the numbers. And under Trump, we are seeing slowing job growth, layoffs creeping up, and the people in charge of. In charge of the data being fired because they are not Trump loyalists insofar as they aren't willing to cook the books to make Trump look good. So these are not just cracks, these are widening canyons. And if the numbers keep going in the same direction, in six months, the situation will be very bad. Oh, David, you sound like you're wishing for that. I am not. Listen, I am not a guy who times the market. I don't short stocks, I don't bet on the market declining. I dollar cost average into index funds and just keep buying. I want. I personally, you could say, David, I don't know exactly what your political. Forget about it. I'll tell you what my financial motivations are. I am long the market always. I am never betting on a decline. And so I don't want this to go in that direction, and I hope that it doesn't. You want to see what it looks like to be in a hardcore culture and admit it. Here is Lee Zeldin, the head of the epa. He was asked on Fox News, are you for green energy personally? And he goes, I'm for whatever Trump is for. Spoken like a true cult member. Listen to this. I mean, is the Trump administration for any green initiatives?
- [24:34]
Instacart Advertiser
Will there be any room for any.
- [24:36]
David Pakman
Federal funding under this second Trump term?
- [24:40]
Lee Zeldin
Well, first off, Congress, we're going to, we're going to fulfill all of our statutory obligations under the law. And when Congress passes a law, the Trump EPA is going to be following that law, just like we have a zero tolerance policy for Any waste and abuse, we fulfill all of our statutory obligations.
- [24:58]
David Pakman
Are you President Trump personally does?
- [25:02]
Lee Zeldin
Well, I am for whatever President Trump is advocating for. And President Trump has been very outspoken about his concern with the economics of offshore wind. And he wants to ramp up more baseload power. America needs so much more baseload power than will be delivered with that attitude that wind is the substitute and it's the answer for all. It's.
- [25:27]
David Pakman
So listen, there's really two parts to this. First, is Lee Zeldin just being, you know, this kind of bottom feeding cultist? Whatever Trump is for, that's what I'm for. Well, it seems like you've opened your mind so much that your brain escaped out of your skull. Lee, Whatever Trump is for, I'm for. Now, I think that there is a serious discussion to be had about the economics of particular sources of energy. But if you're going to have that conversation, you have to account for subsidies and you have to account for actually allowing some of these technologies to mature. They love to say on a per unit basis, wind, offshore, the economics are no good. Well, you've got to contextualize that. In an environment where we have subsidized fossil fuels, literally the burning of stuff from the ground to release carcinogens into the atmosphere, we have subsidized that. And we have had a party, the Republican Party, that insists this is really bad stuff, let's do what we can to get rid of it. Let's get rid of subsidies, let's get rid of credits. If you honestly want to have this conversation and in an agnostic way, just say, I want to know the full story. Give me the unit economics of these forms of energy. Give me the negative externalities. You know, oil has pollution risks and natural gas and, okay, some of the materials needed to make solar panels and to make wind farms, they have a carbon cost, they have a shipping cost, they have a national security consideration because of the countries they come from, lay it all out on the table. But let's be honest. And then the most important question to ask is if it weren't for opposition from people like Lee and Trump, if we really gave it 8 to 10 years of accelerating our investments in these technologies so that they become more efficient and we can source the raw materials more domestically and reduce the carbon footprint, if we really did for eight or ten years what we've spent decades doing with fossil fuels, what would the unit economics look like then? And of course, that's not a picture that they want to paint because all of a Sudden, it makes fossil fuels look a lot worse. Now, I'm the first to say you can't convert to anything overnight. They love to say, you know, if everybody, if everybody got an electric vehicle today, we wouldn't have enough electricity and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, right? But we don't have the capacity to do. We don't have enough electric vehicles for everybody to get an electric vehicle today. What we're talking about is continue building better and better electric vehicles, which will bring the cost down, which over time will allow more people to afford them. As we do that, we build out solar and wind to raise the amount of electricity that comes from renewable sources. We make the solar panels more efficient, we make the delivery more efficient. Battery technology gets better. And then when you look eight or ten years down the line, you've shifted from fossil fuels to EV to electricity to some degree. It's good for the environment, it's good for American business. It's a straw man. It's a red herring when they go, what you want, Everybody with an EV tomorrow, the grid would collapse. There aren't enough EVs for that to happen. So there's a serious conversation here that adults should have. Lee Zeldin doesn't seem to be one of those adults. The best he can do is I'm for whatever Trump is for. Pathetic stuff. 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The ACLU, teachers unions, Public Citizen, SEIU, MoveOn, dozens of organizations gearing up to hopefully be even louder and bigger and more defiantly rebuking of Donald Trump's authoritarian power grabs. Now, why October 18th? Organizers say it's a response to Trump's latest escalations. Number one, threatening to send militarized forces to to American cities. Number two, detaining immigrants in sprawling prison camps. Number three, musing that maybe we would like a dictator. And that is not subtle rhetoric. It's the sort of rhetoric that we would instantly condemn if it came from any other country. But in this case, it's coming from the President of the United States. Now here's the thing about Donald Trump. Trump loves to talk big. He says he's alpha. He wants to be liked desperately. He needs the constant praise and the cheers and the rallies and movements of people who describe him as a hero. But when movements of people are against him, it cuts through his ego. It is humiliating for Donald Trump. It gnaws at the one thing he can't stand, which is the idea that, that millions of people might not like the guy. Now, at the first no Kings protests, Trump was rattled. And now he is staring down the prospect of even larger crowds right as his approval ratings are sliding and his agenda is stalling. And he hates nothing more than the optics of dissent that he can't control. And he can't control the protests, that is for sure. The organizers are not pulling punches. In their words, Trump is disappearing migrants, sending troops into our cities, threatening to interfere in elections, rigging maps, and trying to help his billionaire buddies while the average family struggles. All true. So the goal is for October 18th to be bigger. More cities, more people, more disruption. Because as the protesters argue, America has no kings. And I want to hear from you. Are you going to protest on October 18th? Email me info@david pakman.com Tell me where you will be protesting or Leave a comment. Substack.david pakman.com where will you be protesting? What I hope for is that, yes, Trump can threaten, Trump can intimidate, Trump can try to silence the opposition, but if millions of people show up again, he will be forced to watch in real time as the country rejects his strongman fantasy and, by the way, his need to be loved as well. Now, I think it's important to mention one other thing, as we are now about six weeks out from these protests. We know that authoritarians love to suppress protests. They love it. One of the things that is real right now is that Trump has shown a willingness to deploy military to city streets that no recent president has shown. And so while I support the protests, I also want people to be safe. And we have to contend with the reality. This doesn't mean don't go. This means be prepared. We have to contend with the reality that by the time of these protests, the streets may be even further militarized than they are today. And so we have time to talk about that. But we do need a plan for that, and we will discuss it as we get closer. The Trump administration, along with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The Secretary of Health and Human Services, they say they want to make America healthy again. They have been caught burying a blockbuster report about alcohol and cancer risk. Now, if you've been paying attention to the science on alcohol lately, the message really has changed. You know, there used to be this whole glass of wine a day is good for you. People live longer. It was never really super strong. And a lot of those studies were industry backed. A lot of Them had confounding factors, like moderate drinkers tended to be wealthier, healthier, and better insured. And when you started to strip away some of those social determinants of health, it wasn't really clear that drinking wine was good for you. Maybe it doesn't do damage, but good for you was sort of like a question mark. Okay? The real story, increasingly, is that there's no amount of alcohol that's good for you. The data keep piling up. Even a drink every day can raise your risk for several cancers. Now, a drink a day is seven drinks a week. A lot of people talk about two to three drinks a week. That's significantly lower. But a drink a day, meaning seven drinks a week, can increase your risk of breast, liver, mouth, throat, and other types of cancers. If you do two drinks a day, it's even higher. If you're drinking beyond that, you know, now you're talking 21 plus drinks a week. That's a lot of alcohol. But the point is, this is exactly what a new federally commissioned report, the Alcohol Intake and Health Study, concluded. This was subsidized by the federal government. They did the study, they used American data, and they showed that even at low levels of drinking, risks start to go up. Fine. What did the Trump administration do with the science? They've buried it. RFK Jr. Has buried it. They haven't delayed it. They're not reworking it. It's gone. You are not going to see it integrated into government recommendations, dietary guidelines, etc. Meanwhile, we recently covered on the bonus show that fewer young people than ever are drinking. Then the percentage of young people that drink alcohol is the lowest. It's been, I believe, since this has been tracked in the United States, some wrongly believe, well, if you give people legal weed, they'll do the pot instead of the alcohol. Statistics do not show that the proportion of people consuming cannabis has gone up. So there does seem to be a sort of cultural tide here that is shifting. But the administration is working to steer the message in a different direction. Now, instead, and this is the really nefarious part, Make America Healthy Again is pushing the kind of health policies that might sound interesting, but they don't do anything. So, example, they've been grandstanding about the removal of certain food dyes. They're going to ban food ties. Now, first of all, they aren't even really bans. All they've done is say, we're recommending to food manufacturers. And some food manufacturers have said, okay, so it's not even actually a ban, but Most importantly, most food that should make up, I don't want to use the terms healthy and unhealthy, but most food that should make up the majority of your calories is unprocessed and therefore doesn't have dyes in it one way or the other. And so if you remove dyes from M&MS. Or you remove dyes from, you know, the barbecue flavoring on your potato chips, those are still foods that should make up under 10% of your daily calories. So is it a victory that RFK has really strongly asked them to remove food dyes? Not really. You then hear these statements about, you know, toxins, cherry picked science on vaccines and alternative treatments, and now the silence on the alcohol study. The total picture of Maha Make America Healthy again is not really looking like it's going to make America that healthy. They're going to promote unproven supplements, downplay vaccines, rail against nebulous chemicals. But when the hard science shows, hey, any amount of alcohol, it's probably not good for you. There might be some low amount, two to three drinks per week where if you are otherwise healthy, you're not really going to see a deleterious effect. But even one drink per day is not good. And then all of a sudden you see that that is missing. They've locked it away. And in the meantime, people are going to keep saying, oh, look, they are, they're doing food dye removal and all of this great stuff. They're bamboozling us. Really, truly bamboozling us. For years, people have been waiting for the scandal, you know, the indictment, the health crisis that would finally bring Trump down. Imprisoning him, the end of Trump has been predicted many times. It's kind of become a ritual in a way. But the reality we have to contend with is that other than something happening to Trump's health that pulls him out of the presidency, he will almost certainly remain the president until the end of his term. It's three years and four months or something like that. His party isn't going to remove him no matter what he does. His base, some people are angry about the Epstein stuff, but overall, I don't think his base is going to abandon him. I don't think there's any institutional checker balance that's going to protect the country as he tries to hollow it out. If Trump is breathing, he's going to be in the Oval Office or upstairs in the residency, in the residence. So the question is not really about survival right now. It's more about legacy. And that's where A lot of the cracks are showing, and Trump seems to know it. You know, Trump had this strange thing about, I want to get into heaven. I'm not doing so good, I'm at the bottom of the totem pole, and this sort of stuff. And you get the sense that trump, now, at 79, with health question marks, to put it lightly, he built his Persona on the illusion of dominance. Even the fact that Trump is talking about these things, I don't know if I'm going to get into heaven. This is a sense to me that historically the walls are closing in. He's going to. If he's alive, he'll last as president. He's not going to be removed, but that he's thinking more about legacy. And so when the dust settles, what's going to be left? Is it going to be the rallies or the headlines, or is it going to be, this guy was an authoritarian nightmare. He came in and sent troops to cities, he praised dictators, he dismantled democratic norms, the human cost, right? Gutting health care, allowing Netanyahu to do whatever the hell he wants, rolling back vaccines, this sort of thing. Legacy, the culture of corruption, enriching himself, making, you know, he made 1.6 billion during his first term. Now, there are reports that the family, in total, has made multiple billions off of various scams and grifts, shielding cronies and turning government into. Into the family business. And then the personal legacy, the bruised hands and the diagnoses and the bizarre absences that are starting to become more of a story. Trump projects strength, but his enemies smell the betrayal. Allies whisper that this guy's legacy is not good. His body is betraying him as well. And Trump, I believe, is starting to fear that he is not necessarily going to get the posthumous treatment that I think he really wants. One of the things that's been speculated about why funerals are not so good for Trump, especially presidential funerals, is. And celebrity funerals. He starts to think about his legacy, and he wants to be remembered as a titan and a statesman and a champion of industry. But he might be remembered more than anything as sort of a cautionary tale about how fragile American democracy can be when you allow celebrity greed and grievance to collide and you put it in the Oval Office. And so for me, you know, this question of, will Trump survive? Trump may live to the end of his term, or he. He will not. But I think that's the only way he leaves the Oval Office early. What does survival mean when you are leaving in disgrace? I think that's the story that is troubling Trump more than anything right now. And even though Trump will, you know, probably outlast his term, although maybe not there are those speculating he'll be dead in a year, Trump's legacy seems increasingly sealed unless he does a complete and total 180. And so the question I leave you with is, is there anything at this point Trump could do truly to change his legacy in the three years and four months that are left? Let me know what you think. Info at David Pakman Dotcom A pending Supreme Court case could strip our fourth Amendment rights and allow immigration agents come into our homes for any reason. No probable cause needed. All while Republicans try to twist things so that you think this is all great for America. This should be the biggest story in the US right now, but it's almost impossible to keep up with the millions of moves that Trump is making every single day. That's why Ground News exists. Ground News is an app and website that exposes the blind spots and spin before it takes control of our opinions. Ground News is the smarter, more reliable way to stay informed when MAGA is banking on us getting distracted. I'm partnering up with Ground News to give you 40% off the same vantage plan that I use, so you'll pay only five bucks a month for all of their premium features. Just go to Ground News, slash Pacman or use the code Pacman in the app. When you sign up, the link is in the description or scan the QR code. One of the things that I absolutely love about the reaction to Gavin Newsom's trolling of Donald Trump is that they have to pretend that Gavin is trying to copy Trump rather than acknowledging that Gavin Newsom is mocking Donald Trump. The real reason that Trump hates Gavin Newsom's trolling is that Gavin is exposing how stupid Donald Trump's methods of communication are are. Now Fox News knows. I know. They know that Newsom is mocking Trump. He's not copying Trump. And the distinction I don't think is really that difficult to understand. Copying Trump would be. Trump's methods of communication are so effective and respectable and influential that I'm going to adopt them seriously to try to convince people of the things that I believe that would be adopting Trump's methods. What Gavin Newsom is doing is showing how idiotic full grown adults look when they tweet in all capital letters, randomly put words in scare quotes, make half of every post about yourself. He's mocking Donald Trump. He's trolling Trump. Now the question is, does Fox's audience realize that this is satire from Newsom? Or is Fox News trying to convince their audience that Newsom is imitating Donald Trump using his cadence and sentence structure and all of it. Here is a clip from Fox News where they say that the social media team of Gavin Newsom is out of control. And they are perpetuating again the idea that Newsom is copying, not mocking. But California Governor Gavin Newsom, understandably, is.
- [47:02]
Bill Gates
Panning the move, writing a murder rate.
- [47:04]
David Pakman
190% higher than California's space command must.
- [47:08]
Bill Gates
Be here in California, the greatest state.
- [47:10]
David Pakman
In America, with me, the young and beautiful Governor Gavin Newsom. His social media team is out of control. His social media team is out of control. When Trump speaks, it only makes sense to people in the MAGA bubble, and not because they actually understand it, but because they've been conditioned to assume anything Donald Trump says makes sense. When you take Trump's words or his style or his cadence and then you read it out loud in another context, it comes across as completely and totally unhinged. This is like putting a spotlight on absurdity and his base has normalized it, but you put the spotlight on it and all of a sudden people take another look and they go, it looks a little different. It does seem completely crazy. And we've seen this over and over again. Every time someone does a dramatic reading of a Trump truth social rant or replays a Trump speech without the music and the cult energy, the natural and normal reaction would be, he really said that? That sounds absolutely nuts. And that is why Gavin Newsom's trolling is cutting so deep here. It's forcing people to hear how ridiculous Trump sounds. And so this is why Fox and others that are seeking to diminish the effect of this spin it as Gavin Newsom is copying Trump. He's jealous of Trump. If they admitted the truth, this is effective political satire. Trump is being mocked. Trump is the butt of the joke. They are implicitly acknowledging that Donald Trump is very mockable. And you never do that with the leader of the cult. That would be sacrilege. That would be heresy. Trump can't stand being laughed at either. He can't handle being criticized unless it's in an environment where it creates conflict, where he can shoot back at him. But Newsom is just trolling Trump by adopting his communication style, and Trump's ego can't digest it. Fox News doesn't know how to handle it. And it's a reminder that Trump is regularly speaking gibberish while on national television. Now, I am the first to say, not the first to say. I am glad to acknowledge that there is sort of an expiration date on this tactic from Gavin Newsom. Like, I don't think you can credibly do this for years. I assume that Gavin Newsom doesn't intend to. At a certain point, the joke's going to get old. But it is a joke. It's not adopting the communication style. It is a joke. And that's what pisses off Trump so much. And this is why a lot of the people around him haven't even weighed in on it. Leaving it to Fox to sort of just pretend that, yeah, this is just Newsom copying Donald Trump. We're not falling for it. My question for you is, do you believe Trump's followers are falling for it? The resignation demands are exploding and they are plaguing the current administration. Over 1,000 current and former employees of the Department of Health and Human Services have signed a letter demanding that the Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr resign, saying that he is actively endangering the health of the country. And if you've been paying attention, that checks out. What these thousand employees, current and former, are saying is that the leadership of RFK has created total, unfettered chaos inside the cdc. We spoke last week about how the newly appointed CDC director, Susan Minarez was fired because she wouldn't sign off on new vaccine restrictions. Good for her. The restrictions were ridiculous. That then led to four top CDC officials immediately resigning. And then Kennedy filled the vacuum with anti vaccine ideologues whose only qualifications seem to be a history of spreading conspiracy theories on YouTube. And so this is vintage Trump. Trump ran in 2016 promising, the thing I'm going to do is hire the best people I know how to hire people. And it became one of the biggest betrayals of Trump's presidency. But now it's the betrayal of both of Trump's presidencies. And the pattern goes like this. Trump picks somebody who is unqualified but loyal. At least initially they are loyal. They cause chaos because they're incompetent. They either get fired or resign in disgrace. And then Trump turns around and says they're a disaster. And there are many examples of this. You think of John Bolton, James Mattis, Rex Tillerson, Bill Barr, Mike Pence, Trump's own vice president. I don't know that there is any soured president VP relationship as extreme as that between Trump and Mike Pence. Except now this is more than just foreign policy, which would be important. This is more than just education policy, which would be important. This is people's health. That's what's on the line right now. And even Bernie Sanders has joined the call for RFK Jr. To resign. Senator Bill Cassidy, who's a Republican doctor, by the way, said that the CDC's vaccine meetings should be postponed indefinitely because it's become a political sham. And don't forget that RFK Jr is has profited from vaccine skepticism through that nonprofit that he ran. And in other ways. A commenter argues that they are killing people for profit at the CDC and hhs. I think you got to prove that. But RFK is past monetization of vaccine skepticism, to put it lightly, is certainly raising questions about that. So Trump promises the best people we get, not the best people. Where does this end? Is RFK Jr going to resign? I don't think so. Is Donald Trump going to fire RFK Jr. I don't think so. Is the Trump administration going to change course on the issue of vaccines? I highly doubt it. This is the course. This is the plan that they outlined. They're going to come in, undermine public health, seed distrust, destroy federal institutions, and then act shocked when people are dying and go, look, the CDC isn't functioning very well. Well, it's not functioning well because of what you did to it. This is a playbook as old as Republicans themselves. We don't like the postal Service. Let's damage it and then go, look, this thing sucks. It's not working. Let's privatize it. It, we don't like Social Security, let's do everything we can to hurt Social Security and then say, look, it's not working so well, let's destroy it, let's get rid of it. Now, I saw a Reddit comment about this which said if the feds dismantle HHS and CDC blue, states should build their own. I love that idea, but there is a legal problem with that. I don't want to, you know, the last thing I would want to do is come in here and go, guys, I figured out the solution. This is what we do. In a lot of these areas, federal law reigns supreme. And so there are questions as to how much states can do. Obviously, states have health agencies, they can put out directives. There are a whole number of different things that can be done. But on the idea of supplanting or superseding the federal CDC with some kind of state based agency, that seems legally complicated. And so that's why this is so utterly terrifying. Let me know what you are seeing in your state. Are you experiencing issues with vaccine access. Are you seeing changes in the attitudes of health providers? I've had some conversations with our pediatrician that suggested significant concern as a result of what's happening federally. Let me know info@david pakman.com leave a comment@substack.david pakman.com a lot of people think identity theft is something that only happens when someone hacks into your account. But the truth is that it usually starts with your personal information being posted online by data brokers where anybody can find it. Our sponsor, Incogni, is a service that helps protect your privacy by forcing the data brokers to delete your information. This includes your name, address, phone number, even sensitive things like property records or your political affiliation. And now, with their custom removals feature included in the unlimited plan, you're not limited to just the list of 250 plus brokers they work with. By default, if you find any site exposing any of your private information, even one they've never seen before, you can send a link and Incogni's team will work to get that removed. This is serious protection for you and your family against identity theft, against fraud, doxing, harassment, and Incogni's data removal process is the only one independently verified by Deloitte. Get 60% off an annual plan when you visit incogni.com/pacman and use the code PACMAN. The link is in the description all right, let's get into Friday feedback for the week. On Fridays we look at emails, comments, tweets, TikTok replies, substack comments, Reddit posts, anything we think of to check. We start with an interesting post from Puzzled Shop on the subreddit about David calling Americans stupid. Puzzled Shop says in his Tulsi segment on today's show, David made a comment saying millions of people in this country are too stupid to know the difference between Tulsi's Russian talking points and the truth. This is so good. I think people love Trump because he says it like it is. He puts down liberals, people of color, women, queer people, and he won twice. America hates to think, but America likes to hate someone. I think that more people in the media space and politicians should be using this language. It's good to pick and choose battles, but generalizing groups of Americans is too stupid will make the independents and the Manosphere Bros and the suburban TikTok moms not want to be part of the two stupid group. So listen, here's my thought on this. One of the unfortunate things about hosting a show like this is that I have to style my Hair like this. No, I'm getting. One of the, One of the unfortunate things about hosting a show like this is that there is nothing I can do that some people won't criticize. You know, when I've casually mentioned I'm not a cat guy, you would think who the. Who gives a damn about if I like cats? But I get dozens of emails from cat people saying that knowing that turns them off from the show because they've assessed that if you don't like cats, there are other personality traits that make you someone not to be trusted. There's nothing I can say that some people won't be angry about. When I don't say, we got a, we got millions of stupid people we're dealing with here. There are people who write in and go, David, you just got to be more forceful with the language. Low information voter doesn't cut it. You've got to just call things what they are. And then when I do say, listen, at a certain point, if you've got 40 million morons voting, what can you do? People write in, they go, that's going to turn off people. You're not going to bring people in. But then the counterpoint is there's a lot of people who, if their movement starts being ridiculed as they're stupid, they might go, damn, I don't want to be in that group. I think all I can really do. And in a sense the chorus situation from last week has kind of reinforced this. I can't please everybody. There are people that are going to be furious with me, some for things I've actually said and done and some for things I haven't said nor done but that they believe. Like for example, the DNC directs your show wrong. So I can really only call it like it is. And if it turns some voters off, listen, there's much bigger shows than mine. I think it's a little bit self centered and arrogant to think that whether I say there are stupid people in this country will win or lose elections, I am going to make an effort to call things what they are without sugarcoating it, okay? You may like it, you may dislike it. Maza Dempy on YouTube said Pacman, you talk too much like, and they use the wrong too. So they're suggesting I talk to someone named much. But I think what they mean is that I talk more than they would like me to talk. Listen, this is my show, okay? There's a lot of things I can change about the show, but it's an hour a day show. It's me talking for an hour a day. If you don't like that, you got to find a different show, bro. I don't know what to tell you, all right? Ross on YouTube says, no offense, but don't you and your followers get better bored of following Trump news each and every day? I'm not a Trump supporter at all, really. The really is a little weird. I'm not a Trump supporter at all, really, but I'm burned out just from the recommendations I get from your channel through the week. I'm just saying doesn't seem like a very healthy existence. Trump is going to do Trump stuff whether you like it or not. Three more years, guys. Then it's over. Go outside and touch grass. Well, listen, I'm fatigued by a multi decade plague of idiocy and creeping authoritarianism in this country. I'm. I'm fatigued by it. Whether I'm tired of the fact that right now it's coming from Trump as opposed to other people. I don't really think in those terms. I'm thinking in the terms of what do I need to communicate to my audience? What do we need to know about so that we can try to stop it? As far as go outside and touch grass, I'm with you. I mean, listen to my own detriment, I have said many times I believe others should have a media consumption diet like mine and my show and shows like mine are at the tip of the pyramid. It's a small part. I hope people are living in their communities, getting off of screens, reading history, reading economics, existing in the real world and then you know what, shows like this and others like it hopefully can provide a community of sorts where you and like minded people can commiserate. But it is not where I suggest people spend the bulk of their time. I know a handful of people who are, I guess what now is called terminally online with news and politics. They're not pleasant to be around. They're real. And they don't seem to have good mental health environments created for themselves either. So as many of you know, when I'm done filming the Friday show, I do not pay attention to the news or political happenings until I start working on the Monday show. It's a scheduled break. I agree, go outside and touch grass. But this idea of getting tired, you know, we're trying to stop some pretty horrible stuff from happening here. I don't get tired of that, that's for sure. X O Saul Tai A reference to Battlestar Galactica, I believe says, I worry that MAGA will not accept the Dear Leader's death was by natural causes. This is something I've been very worried about, even well before the last election. But with Trump's health issues becoming more and more publicly visible and blatantly obvious, I've been thinking about this more and more lately. After years of the MAGA cult constantly repeating the claims of how healthy, strong, virulent and alpha the Dear Leader is, will they ever accept that his death was by natural causes and not just go right to the claim that it is some sort of deep state or Democrat conspiracy? Even given how obvious it is that he has health issues, swelling ankles, bruised hands, cognitive decline, age, weight, diet, even Trump himself showing signs he's worried he's going to die soon. I don't think MAGA will or possibly can accept that Trump will die of natural causes. This is a, this is a nice, nice post. It is true that in cults, when the leader dies, is incapacitated or is diminished in whatever way is relevant, there are people who deny that, who refuse to accept it, or, you know, some start to believe in reincarnation. He's not really dead, you know, whatever. But I think that when Trump dies, when Trump slips the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God, when, when that day comes, I do believe that there is a part of MAGA that will go, it's over, we're out. And whether they go back to not voting or following politics at all, you know, I don't know. There will be cultists who will refuse to accept Trump died, or will believe it's a conspiracy or whatever, but I think some are waiting for the okay to move on. Ghost of Tuvix writes I was very skeptical of Gavin Newsom, but I'm starting to see why David likes him, given the entirety of David's recent interviews with some big names in politics. Gavin really has come out on top there. Despite any disagreements I have I might have with him and his views. He has shown himself capable of throwing some real punches and I hope California votes for his redistrict redistricting plan. I actually quite like Elizabeth Warren, but seeing her baby talk down to David and Jesse in that interview a couple of months back was like a slap in the face. That one left a very bad taste in the mouth. Similarly, with others that have done a lot of talking but not much walking, it left me with little hope for the future outside of the Republican Party potentially collapsing in on itself. Who knows what tomorrow will bring, or if Gavin can attain more support nationally But I can now certainly see why David put his name up there as a potential frontrunner. Listen, as you know, I am endorsing no one. It's endorsing for what? It's 20, 25. I'm just pointing out who's fighting right now. And strongly worded letters I don't consider to be fighting. Meeting voters where they are, I don't consider that fighting. We need to fight without going over moral lines that we just simply shouldn't. I think we need to be fighting with every tool we have. I would get rid of partizan redistricting today if I could. I can't. Therefore, we got to give them a taste of their own medicine if we can. I would like the discourse to go back to where it was at some point. More civil, more educated. I can't make that happen overnight. And so mocking Trump for his pathetic childish communication style. It's a tool. So that's where I'm at on this. There's no perfect politician, no one I'm going to agree with on every issue. We do need people who will fight, and that's important. All right. Massimo kissed says meanwhile, he, meaning Trump, is bragging about how much of your dollars he spent on decor while y' all can't afford groceries. Yeah, you know, one of the things that is particularly, I don't know what the word is, off putting and disgusting and depraved about Trump bragging about how he's got gold trim in the Oval Office now and all of this stuff is that we supposedly didn't have money for anything. We supposedly were so far in debt that any penny we could save should be saved. That's the only moral way to do it. And meanwhile, Trump's redecorating with gold. The Oval Office, that's your money. Now the ballroom, I don't remember whether the ballroom is Trump's paying forward or what the hell is going on with that, but where are all the people angry about, you know, we need to be fiscally conservative. Nobody's got money. And Trump spending money on gold leaf. Give me a break, guys. B D Madi says California vegetables should be shipped to Democratic states like New York. Let the red states grow their own vegetables. Listen, I'm not for starving anybody, but I do believe that there should be a really clear understanding as these magazines think that a red state country could be viable, that we remind them we do not have a viable food supply. If you're only depending on red states, the innovation is disproportionately in the blue states. The federal funds that red states receive are disproportionately subsidized by the blue blue states. The patents that lead to technologies that benefit all 50 states are overwhelmingly developed in blue states. The education is better, the standard of living is better, the health care is better, the schools are better. And so for me, it's not about let's starve the red states. It's let's explain to them that the reason they can live in this dilapidated bubble is because of the blue states that are subsidizing everything and bringing up the rear. I don't know that they necessarily care or that they'll acknowledge it, but I think that's better than starving people. Okay, from YouTube. Trump's major accomplishment is making George W. Bush look like a genius. You know, every time I talk about this, five, ten people write in, they go neo lib David saying Bush was a good president. You can recognize that Trump is in a different league than Bush while not praising Bush. And it is, you know, another example is Romney. I didn't vote for Romney in 2012. I think Obama was better than what Romney would have been. But the idea of Romney as an authoritarian nightmare, the way Trump has become, that was not a concern with Mitt Romney. Would he have done what I wanted on gay rights? No, of course not. Not a guy I agree with. Same as George W. Bush. But I do think sometimes context is useful in thinking about the world around us. Info@david pakman.com get your emails and get my substack newsletter at substack.david pakman.com. we'll see you on the bonus show and then back next week.
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Dan Harris
Hey, this is Dan Harris, host of the 10% Happier podcast. I'm here to tell you about a new series we're running this September on 10% happier. The goal is to help you do your life better. The series is called Reset. It's all about hitting the reset button in many of the most crucial areas of your life. Each week we'll tackle a topic like how to reset your nervous system, how to reset your relationships, how to reset your career. We're going to bring on top notch scientists and world class meditation teachers to give you deep insights and actionable advice. It's all delivered with our trademark blend of skepticism, humor, credibility and practicality. 10% happier is self help for smart people. Come join the party.