A cornered animal can be dangerous

Summary

The David Pakman Show — Episode Summary

Episode Title: A cornered animal can be dangerous
Date: June 23, 2026
Host: David Pakman
Guest: Adam James (aka "Epistemic Crisis")

Episode Overview

This episode centers on Donald Trump's destabilization of Vice President J.D. Vance’s Iran negotiations, signs of Trump’s declining physical and cognitive health, and the broader instability within the Republican Party as exemplified by Tucker Carlson’s public distancing from MAGA. The show combines political analysis, satirical commentary, and an expert interview covering everything from policy dysfunction to the president’s health controversies.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Trump Undermines J.D. Vance’s Negotiations with Iran

[00:00–09:47]

• Pakman introduces the debacle: Trump delegates tense Iran negotiations to Vice President J.D. Vance, only to undercut him with public threats of military action.

  • Quote:
    "Trump sent Vance to negotiate with Iran and then undermined those negotiations by threatening to bomb Iran. Was it incompetence? Is Trump setting J.D. up to fail?" — David Pakman [00:01]

• Trump’s 'joke' about taking credit or blaming Vance:

  • Adam James asks Trump:
    "If it works out, I'm going to take the credit. If it doesn't work out, I'm blaming J.D." — Donald Trump [03:30]
  • Pakman clarifies: Trump's "jokes" often reflect actual behavior; he never admits mistakes.
  • Trump’s social media posts threatening Iran mid-negotiation cause the Iranian delegation to walk out.

• Analysis of Trump’s motives and patterns:

  • Trump sets up subordinates, especially potential successors like Vance, for failure so he alone appears indispensable.
  • Pakman theorizes this is rooted in Trump’s desire to remain the central, untouchable figure in MAGA and Republican circles, even at the cost of party stability.

2. Trump's Unhinged Answers and Scapegoating

[09:47–16:23]

• Reflecting pool fiasco:

  • Trump responds nonsensically to a straightforward question about damage to the reflecting pool, blames mythic "vandals" and a "300 foot slit," despite 24-hour surveillance and his prior boasts about the liner's durability.
    • "It's got to be between 12 and 5. That's basically Trump's schedule right now." — David Pakman [10:10]
    • "There was a big slit. Dear God. Trump unleashing the slit from hell." — David Pakman [10:10]
  • Trump tries to pin blame on Obama, alleging previous mismanagement and sabotage.
  • Algae in the pool becomes a conspiracy; Trump floats the idea of saboteurs putting fertilizer in the water.

• Satirical tone:

  • Pakman lampoons Trump’s claims and promotes his own parody "reflecting pool" summer apparel.
  • Notable for Pakman's repeated mocking references to the “slit,” algae conspiracies, and the shifting of blame.

3. Plummeting Approval Ratings and 2026 Election Implications

[16:23–28:49]

• Recent polling:

  • Trump’s approval down to 30% (American Research Group), with economic approval even lower at 26%.
    • "A flaccid, pathetic, shriveled, shrunken number." — David Pakman [16:30]
  • Pakman observes: Historically, presidential approval falls over time; presidents rarely regain lost support.
  • Republican midterms in jeopardy: low presidential approval historically results in significant losses for the incumbent party.

• Economic performance myths:

  • Pakman debunks the myth of superior GOP economic stewardship, citing typical Democratic outperformance in job growth, stock market, etc.

4. Signs and Scandals: Trump's Declining Health and White House Transparency

[28:49–41:49]

• Worsening physical health:

  • Evidence of Trump struggling at public events (e.g., helped up a step by Modi at G7, difficulty with Medal of Honor ceremony, unsteady walking seen in multiple recent videos).
    • "He tried to take the step up himself. Couldn't quite do it, almost fell backward." — David Pakman [28:52]
  • Compounding evidence: limited public activity window (12–5 pm), a 7.5-hour workday gap labeled "executive time."
  • Comparison: Had Biden’s schedule or mobility been similarly limited, right-wing media would have been in uproar.

• Lack of White House transparency:

  • Noting 22 medical specialists part of Trump's last "physical," still no substantive disclosure.

5. Interview with Adam James (Epistemic Crisis): Medical Analysis and Predictions

[41:47–54:47]

• Reflecting on failed and accurate predictions:

  • Adam James discusses his (missed) prediction of Trump’s near-term demise, attributes Trump's longevity to excellent, immediate health care and likely post-stroke management.
  • "He's got seven or eight hours of nothing happening. They throttle his schedule so that a person who's actually very sick can handle it." — Adam James [42:19]
  • Points out clinical evidence of strokes (right-side weakness, disoriented handshakes).

• Breakdown of public incidents:

  • Analyzes strange handshake with Macron as indicative of stroke-related impairment.
  • Asserts that Trump's “dementia post” on Father’s Day (ambiguous photo and message) reflects confusion and regression.
  • Multiple seated events and strategic use of props to conceal mobility and swelling issues.
  • "The patient is physically stronger than Donald Trump." — Adam James [52:45]
  • James: White House is prioritizing energy conservation; Trump frequently naps, “sundowning” observed.

• Response to White House intimidation of health-media critics:

  • Adam James and Pakman both call out the administration for “fascist intimidation tactics” and lack of transparency.
    • "If I can just be allowed to swear. Yes, okay. These pieces of shit in the White House..." — Adam James [47:14]
  • James humorously requests to be added to the official “media offender” list.

6. Tucker Carlson Disavows Republican Party

[54:49–59:40]

• Pakman analyzes Tucker Carlson's distancing tactic:
  • Carlson claims to be leaving the Republican Party, which he describes as having betrayed America (without acknowledging his own involvement in creating the MAGA movement).
  • Pakman likens this to Frankenstein’s monster: Carlson decries what he himself largely built.
    • Quoting Tucker: "I would not support the Republican Party...How could I or any American voter support a political party that's not loyal to the United States, that puts the interests of a foreign country above those of its own citizens?" [57:16]
  • Pakman: Carlson's move is more about branding himself as perpetually "the outsider" for business reasons, rather than sincere ideological distance. He predicts Carlson will soon pick a new favorite within the GOP.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• "If it works out, I'm going to take the credit. If it doesn't work out, I'm blaming J.D." — Donald Trump [03:30]
• "Trump unleashing the slit from hell." — David Pakman [10:10]
• "You couldn't, if you had a knife... If you had a knife, you can't even cut it. So strong, so powerful, powerful rubber." — Donald Trump [11:32]
• "Obama, he spent two years and over $100 million when trying to fix it. You know what happened? It never even opened." — Donald Trump [12:55]
• "A flaccid, pathetic, shriveled, shrunken number." — David Pakman on Trump’s approval rating [16:30]
• "He tried to take the step up himself. Couldn't quite do it, almost fell backward." — David Pakman on Trump’s G7 stumble [28:52]
• "These pieces of shit in the White House that think they can intimidate members of the media..." — Adam James [47:14]
• "The patient is physically stronger than Donald Trump." — Adam James [52:45]
• "How could I or any American voter support a political party that's not loyal to the United States, that puts the interests of a foreign country above those of its own citizens?" — Tucker Carlson [57:16]

Memorable Moments

• Pakman's biting mockery of Trump’s reflecting pool saga (algae conspiracies, vandal “slit,” Obama blame).
• Introduction of “Make Algae Great Again” parody merch [13:30].
• Adam James’s candid medical expertise, especially on disability concealment in public figures.
• Admission and analysis of failed mortality prediction — rare humility and analytical correction in political media [42:19].
• Pakman highlighting media coverage hypocrisy on presidential health and schedules [38:10–40:30].
• Insightful deconstruction of media narratives using the example of Tucker Carlson’s post-MAGA rebranding.

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Important Segment Timestamps

• [00:00–09:47] — Trump sabotages Vance’s Iran mission; analysis of Trump-Vance dynamic
• [09:47–16:23] — Reflecting pool “slit”, vandalism, conspiracy: Trump’s floundering explanations
• [16:23–28:49] — Trump’s plunging approval/poll numbers, economic reality vs. GOP narrative, midterm stakes
• [28:49–41:49] — Physical and cognitive decline, White House transparency, scheduled “executive time” gaps
• [41:47–54:47] — Adam James (Epistemic Crisis) interview: medical analysis of Trump’s health, White House “intimidation” tactics, Trump’s public incidents and concealment strategies
• [54:49–59:40] — Tucker Carlson’s repudiation of the GOP, Pakman’s critique of right-wing media’s radicalization and reputation management

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Final Thoughts

This episode is a pointed, detailed examination of the Trump administration’s instability—on issues both political (Iran negotiations, party succession, electoral stakes) and personal (health, public appearances, information control). David Pakman combines fact-based commentary, satire, and expert discussion, yielding an episode rich in context and critique for listeners seeking to understand not just the latest headlines, but the deeper dynamics of American politics in the Trump era.

Transcript

[David Pakman]

Vice President J.D. vance's presidential chances may have just been devastated by Donald Trump. Trump sent Vance to negotiate with Iran and then undermined those negotiations by threatening to bomb Iran. Was it incompetence? Is Trump setting J.D. up to fail? We will talk about it. Trump also completely unraveling when asked a very simple question about the now infamous reflecting pool. And suddenly he's talking about a big slit, a knife wielding vandal of whom we have no surveillance video. And Barack Obama is somehow responsible. And even algae sabotage, you've got to see it for yourself. We also see a new poll which has Trump in serious political trouble. Only 30% approval in the United States. His number on the economy, which is supposed to be even stronger, is worse than 30%. We will talk about what those numbers could mean for Republicans in November. And also new videos raising concerns about the President's mobility and the White House schedule, which put a seven and a half hour break for Trump right in the middle of the day. And then Tucker Carlson trying to distance himself, I guess I would say, from the MAGA movement that he helped build, saying he's out of the Republican Party. And a Trump official abruptly forgets how gas prices work when it's no longer convenient. What a program today. Well, Donald Trump has completely Sabotaged Vice President J.D. vance's vice presidency. And he might even be in the process of completely destroying any chance that JD has of becoming the 2028 Republican nominee, never mind the next president. I find it delightful. I'm taking pleasure in it, if I'm totally frank with you. It's remarkable stuff. Now, let me kind of remind you what went down and where we are today. Trump, as presidents often do, delegated negotiations around this Iran deal to J.D. vance. We knew that these negotiations were up against pretty tall odds because Donald Trump has claimed the war is definitely over or ending about 40 times at this point. And it was always kind of hard to believe that this was going to be quick and easy as far as negotiations go. And it would wrap up the war and everybody would cheer and strum Kumbaya on a guitar. So needless to say, Trump sends JD to Switzerland, they sign a letter which triggers this 60 day period of negotiation to get the deal done. And of course, we all know there's no way that J.D. vance is going to be there 60 days. Either this is going to work or it doesn't work. Now, let me remind you, Donald Trump joked about, we know it's not really a joke, but it was presented as a joke that if the negotiations don't go well, no big deal. Trump's going to blame JD but if the negotiations do go well, Trump will take credit. And it was all, again, presented kind of as a joke, but it wasn't. Here's the video of that from a few days ago.

[Adam James (Epistemic Crisis)]

Is there some element to this where you send the vice president, if it works out, great, you look like a genius for sending him. And if it doesn't work out, it's the vice president.

[Donald Trump]

I like that idea. Sure. What did you way? If it works out, I'm going to take the credit. If it doesn't work out, I'm blaming J.D. you better be careful, J.D. he's going to turn his plane around and get the hell out of here. Yeah.

[David Pakman]

Like now, of course, we know that this is not really a joke. We've observed Trump for 11 years now as a political presence, and we know that this is exactly the way he operates. Trump has never straight up said, hey, you know what, I messed up, I miscalculated, I got this one wrong. He has never once apologized. So it's not a joke. JD Flies to Switzerland. He's not even there two days, and the negotiations implode. Because while JD Vance was trying to negotiate as best he can, which. Which isn't that great, Trump starts posting threats and he goes untruth, social. And this is while the negotiations are taking place in Switzerland and says, quote, iran must immediately stop their highly paid proxies in Lebanon from causing trouble. If they don't, will hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder. So Trump issues that threat and then what happens? The Iranian delegation walks out on J.D. vance's negotiations. They lodged a formal complaint with the mediators and threatened back, saying, hold on a second, our military is also going to be ready. So all of a sudden, it's seeming like war all over again. So think about the big picture of how it goes. J.D. sitting across from negotiators, and he's there in person communicating, we're serious. We want progress, we want to make a deal. We really want to get this thing over with. And meanwhile, Donald Trump is posting the message, we might bomb you again. And very soon, by the way. So this is becoming a pattern. There's a tough assignment. It's maybe not likely to succeed, especially because Trump is so incompetent. Trump hands it to somebody else. If it succeeds, Trump does try to take the credit. And if it fails, whoever Trump has delegated to, often his vice president, J.D. vance, gets blamed. This is the kind of incredible position that Vance now finds himself in because he's not really negotiating with. With Iran. He's negotiate, or he was, although he flew home. He's negotiating with Iran and with Donald Trump at the same time. And based on the last few days, it, it might actually be tougher to negotiate with Trump than it is to negotiate with Iran. Now, there is a bigger political question in all of this, and we, we did get into this in some detail on yesterday's show. What if Trump wants JD to fail? Question one, and question two. What if Trump actually benefits in some way from the failure of J.D. vance? And what I mean by that is Trump can't run again in 2028. Vance has been seen as the most likely MAGA successor to Trump, but that really only works if Vance can develop his own reputation for competence and leadership. And that seems like it's going to be very difficult for JD to do. Successful negotiations with Iran could help JD as an achievement to build a resume to justify being the nominee. But instead, Vance is actually being put in a position where he has all of the risk. But if he succeeds, Trump claims the reward. Trump will say, my strength and my ability to know that this entire war made sense, blah, blah, blah, is what got us to this point. And otherwise, JD Vance just takes the link and becomes the face of the failure. Now, how is this potentially good for Trump? That's what I want to explain. Trump is a president who has spent his whole political career demanding loyalty, but he's always suspicious of anybody who becomes too popular or too powerful. And so it's not hard to imagine why Trump might prefer a weakened successor rather than a strong one. You might say, well, hold on. Trump's a Republican. He wants the Republican Party to succeed after him. He doesn't want it to immediately fail because that would look bad for Trump. But you're thinking about it the wrong way. Trump wants to be seen as the only guy who could truly succeed. We might think, if we're part of a political party, let me hand it off in a way that allows my successor to win. Trump would want to continue proving the point that. That he and only he can fix it or do it or whatever. And Trump would love it to be in a situation where, all right, listen, they won't let me run a third time. I guess I won't. I'll leave. And then the Republican Party collapses, and then Trump is reinforced in the idea that he was special, he was the only one who could do it. It would actually feed Trump's ego to see failure in the Republican Party, after he's gone the midterms, he cares about 20, 28, I'm not so sure. And so he sets up J.D. vance to fail. And it seems J.D. is failing, and maybe that's exactly what he wants. We're going to follow it very, very closely. Donald Trump short circuited over a basic question. He's now talking, talking about a slit, a huge slit. What the hell is wrong with this guy? And of course his brain is failing. Once again, there was a. I hesitate to call these press conferences. They're not press conferences, but it's sort of like Trump sitting in the Oval Office. It's got to be between 12 and 5. That's basically Trump's schedule right now. And sometimes it's even more limited than that. And he is asked questions. And one of the questions Trump was asked is, listen, the whole reflecting pool stuff isn't going very well. We've got algae, the liner is peeling off. Are the contractors to blame? And of course, Trump goes, no, no, no, there was vandalism. There was a big slit. Dear God. Trump unleashing the slit from hell. Are the contractors who did the initial work with the reflecting pool, are they

[Donald Trump]

blamed for the current condition or is it vandalism? Vandals, you know, we have 100 and we have a, I think 290, 300 foot slit right through it. Probably a box cutter or a knife of some kind, or we had people lifting up the basic. Some of the, it's, it's not a lot of damage, but it's. We'll probably have to let the water out.

[David Pakman]

And now Trump. This becomes a classic Trump dementia rant where he's just barely making sense.

[Donald Trump]

We fix it. They went in there with, with a knife. I was just told by the, by the people over at Parks, they have. Five people are arrested and five people are under investigation right now. And it's a sad thing. In addition to that, they, you know, we put brand new beautiful grass all around. They put these massive letters on the grass. You probably know about that, right? And they said 8647. They probably got that from the dirty cop. Comey, you know he's a dirty cop, don't you? Dirty cop. He's a crooked guy. They destroyed the grass. So that's a big thing.

[David Pakman]

But it's a really, really big thing. Now. There is one problem with this entire theory of the biggest slit anyone's ever seen. The whole thing is under camera surveillance 24 hours a day. And just as a reminder, Donald Trump specifically addressed the possibility that someone could take a knife to the reflecting pool. And he last month said, this thing is so strong, a box cutter, a knife that's not going to be able to do anything. And now Trump is claiming that surreptitiously, despite 24 hour surveillance, someone put a 300 foot slit with a knife in the thing.

[Donald Trump]

This will last for at least 50 years and you'll never have a leak. It's very strong. You couldn't if you had a knife. I don't want to give anybody ideas. If you had a knife, you can't even cut it. So strong, so powerful, powerful rubber. It is beautiful sealed.

[David Pakman]

Trump doesn't want to get a slit in his rubber that could really cause problems for him.

[Donald Trump]

I looked at just one of the little pieces that they did to finish. It's like a piece of glass. Beautiful color, beautiful everything. You could never get any, anything like that. No.

[David Pakman]

No slits, no holes, no nothing. Meanwhile, could we maybe blame Joe Biden? Not this particular time. So. I know, I know, I know. Who does Trump try to blame? Barack Hussein Obama. You know the guy Obama, I'm not kidding. He says the press isn't addressing the fact that under Obama things were destroyed and it was really bad.

[Donald Trump]

Part of what's curious about this situation is we stood here with you in April when you first revealed the plans. I said, what in April? You showed us pictures of what you were going to do.

[Interviewer or Secondary Guest]

Yeah.

[Donald Trump]

When you said you had a guy who was going to do it in a week for about $1 million. Well, it's been two months. Sixteen and a half million. Okay, ready? Barack Hussein Obama. Have you ever heard of him?

[Interviewer or Secondary Guest]

Yeah.

[David Pakman]

It's the answer to everything, isn't it?

[Donald Trump]

Obama, he spent two years and over $100 million when trying to fix it. You know what happened to it never even opened. He took the water from the river. You know about that, right. It turned out to be putrid and it destroyed the whole thing. Spent over a putrid.

[David Pakman]

This guy is out of his mind.

[Donald Trump]

He really is million. Him and Biden together spent $147 million. You know what happened? Never opened. You don't mention that. Right. I spent, we spent about 10 many of the. Much of the money. We are park workers. They're there whether they do this or not. As you know, they work in the park and they're very good workers. They did a great job. So they were going to spend three to $400 million. You know that. And it was going to take four years. I spent. I spent about six, seven weeks. And I spent probably in terms of outside, probably $10 million. Around 10 million, they say 16. But a lot of those workers that work for the same thing. So they're going to spend 400 million anyway.

[David Pakman]

I think you get the point. It would be great to blame his immediate predecessor, Joe Biden, but if you can't, not a problem. We've got another guy we can blame in his name, Barack Hussein Obama. Ever heard of him? Now, I do want to announce, by the way, I have an announcement to make. Trump's making announcements all the time. I get to make an announcement every once in a while. I am announcing my new summer wardrobe collection, my reflecting pool collection, which we're putting up on the screen. We have shirts that say American flag blue. But as you can see, the color of the shirt is green like algae. But it says, hey, this is American flag blue. And then we also have the MAGA style hat in algae green and it says make algae great again, which I love. I love these things. I ordered my hat yesterday. I hope to wear it on the show soon. Now, a couple other just kind of dystopian Kafka esque moments from this conversation, I guess, of sorts that Donald Trump had with members of the press. Secretary Wright, Energy Secretary, who we're going to hear from later on the issue of gas prices. Secretary Wright tries to tell some kind of story about Albert Einstein. And as he kind of fumbles the story, Trump just goes, nobody cares. And you know what? What Trump means is I don't care. And we know he doesn't.

[Donald Trump]

Chris, right, please. Yes.

[David Pakman]

Thank you, Mr. President.

[Donald Trump]

So 100, 120, 141 years ago, Albert Einstein. 121 years ago, Albert Einstein published a paper nobody cares. Good point. And usually they won't catch.

[David Pakman]

You got good point. Nobody gives a damn. And Trump certainly doesn't give a damn about your story. And then finally, there always must be shadowy actors, a conspiracy, sabotage. To quote William Shatner, they did something to create the algae. We've got to look at Antrifa. Take a listen.

[Donald Trump]

Somebody said fertilizer in the water. If you put fertilizer in the water, you get algae. But somebody said they might have put fertilizer. They did something to create the algae, but that doesn't matter because that's been purified.

[David Pakman]

It can't just have been a screw up by Trump. It can't have been a miscalculation that you were fixing a problem that doesn't really exist. And now you look really stupid. It had to have been. If it's Biden, that's great. If it's Barack Obama, even better. If it's a vandal, which the 24 hour surveillance cameras simply weren't able to find on video, that's great. If it created a slit with a box cutter, and if somebody did something to encourage the growth of algae, that is far, far better than any of the real explanations. Is anybody falling for this crap? I don't think so. Donald Trump is in serious danger of achieving a devastating milestone for any administration and for any president. We have a new poll from a firm known to be slightly right leaning which has Donald Trump's overall approval at 30%. A flaccid, pathetic, shriveled, shrunken number. This is from American Research Group. They have a new poll out Trump's approval at 30%, disapproval at 66%. This 30% number is stunningly low. And I also want to mention one other thing about the data. This poll, you can see, has Trump's first term approval and disapproval and second term. So the dark blue line is first term, the light blue line is the second term, the current term. And you'll notice that Donald Trump's approval today is 10 points lower than at the exact same time in his first term. Now, even by the low standards that Trump set during his first term, he is drastically outdoing himself from the standpoint of negative right now. Now, let's look at another aspect of the poll which is maybe even more interesting. It's not getting headlines, but it's maybe more interesting. The economy is supposedly the issue where Republicans are just so good. If you want a good economy, you go with Republicans, the facts be damned. And what I mean by that is job growth is usually greater under Democratic presidents. Stock market performance is usually stronger under Democratic presidents. Unemployment is typically lower. Inflation is typically lower. GDP is typically higher. But don't let the facts get in the way of a good story. Republicans are supposedly so good for the economy. And not only that, Trump ran on I will fix the economy. Biden will make it bad. Kamala will make it bad. Gas too expensive. I'll bring it down. Groceries high, I'll bring them down. All that crap, right? Right now, 26% of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing on the economy. 70% disapprove. Now, the real shock is that if this country were sane, it would be far lower than 26. Like 26% approval on the economy is very high. Given that Donald Trump has failed on every promise. Gas, energy, groceries, inflation, they're all up. Wage growth is down, job creation is down. Wages are actually negative several months in a row. And one of the things that's important to kind of conceptualize is that approval for presidents generally just goes down over time. In general, it doesn't go down, up, down, up. And the reason that this happens is when you come into office, you haven't done anything wrong yet. You haven't done anything people disapprove of. It's day one, you're just starting your job. You have some level of approval over time as presidents do things that different people don't like, oh, he did something on foreign policy I don't like. Now I disapprove. He did something on the economy, the tariffs I don't like. Now I disapprove. Usually people don't shift back into I approve. It's when you lose them, you lose them. And so the fact that Trump is already all the way down to 30, it is likely that if Trump makes it to the end of his term, we will see lower approval rating than any president has ever had before. Now, the relevance to the midterms is, is that voters do tend to blame the president and the president's party when they're in power, for prices, for wages, for the financial stress that they may be experiencing. A lot of factors are outside of presidential control, but many are within presidential control. And the ones that are Trump is screwing up. If people don't feel better off, approval usually falls. And midterms are a referendum on the sitting president. If the Trump, if they, if the Trump, if Trump is, is on the ballot, it's a direct referendum. Midterms are an indirect referendum. If you're unhappy with Trump, you can't vote against him directly. So what people tend to do is vote against Republicans in the House and Senate instead. The real danger for Republicans is they get tied to Trump's approval numbers. If voters believe Trump's failing on the economy, on inflation, foreign policy, whatever issue, core issues, it is much tougher for Republican candidates to run as if they're independent of Trump. And so you've got this low presidential approval. People won't be enthusiastic. Opposition can be more enthusiastic to get out and vote or donate, volunteer, make phone, bank, whatever. And historically, presidents with weak approval see massive midterm losses. In general, the president's party loses somewhat in the midterms, but when their approval is this low, it can be really, really bad. And that's the nightmare scenario, really, for Republicans, which is, okay, Trump's unpopular, but if swing voters decide we need to check on Trump. We can't leave the Republican Party in charge of the House and the Senate. That can push people to vote Democratic or even just to stay home and go, I'm not going to go out and vote for Republicans. And so when people say, well, Trump's approval, he's not on the ballot, he can't run again. This is how it can make a difference and it could make Trump the lamest of lame duck presidents for the last two years of his presidency. I say we make it happen. If debt feels like it's draining your attention each month, multiple due dates, rising interest, balances that barely move, you are not alone. 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Get your free personalized assessment at PDS debt.com/pacman the link is in the description One thing that drives me nuts about political media is how two outlets can cover the same story and make it feel like two different events took place not because any of the facts have changed, but because the emphasis of the stories is different. This is why I use Ground News because Ground News pulls together reporting from across the political spectrum and you can compare the headlines side by side and see how different outlets are are framing the exact same issue. You can look at the bias distribution. You can look at factuality ratings. You can see who owns the outlets behind the reporting, which makes it easier to separate the substance from the spin. For example, Trump's EPA recently decided to remove limits on those forever chemicals in drinking water. Ground News shows how outlets like PBS and Ross Story are getting it right and right wing outlets put this anti Biden spin on it. Or they just stay very vague to avoid implicating Donald Trump. Ground News also has a blind spot feed. This is for stories that are underreported by one side and you can also get a personalized feed Based on your interests, go to Ground News, slash Pacman, or scan my QR code to get 40% off the ground News Vantage plan. The link is in the description. The David Pakman show, of course, continues to be primarily made possible by our audience. If you sign up for a membership on my website or get a Substack premium subscription, you are directly funding this program. This is very different than a lot of other corporate media programs that have massive media conglomerates on top of them, multi million dollar advertisers, seven layers of editors and producers. We don't have any of that stuff. And one of the great things about that is that if people don't like the show anymore, the show will go away. The fact that it continues is a testament that someone out there likes it. And you can directly support the work that we do and get a bunch of great perks by signing up at join pacman.com or@substack. David pakman.com all right. Donald Trump increasingly needs help walking. It's just what it is. And corporate media will not talk about it. Talking about Trump's health, as some of you know, got me put on a White House list of media offenders. They do not want people talking about this stuff. But it is hard to think of something more important than the physical and mental health of arguably the most powerful person in the world, certainly the most powerful person in the country. He can start wars, and he does start wars. Now, I don't know how else to say it, but Donald Trump's physical decline is accelerating, and it now includes trouble walking. Now, let me walk you through. No pun intended, just the last few days. First of all, we'll get to the walking stuff. At a Medal of Honor ceremony for Major Nicholas Dockery, Trump visibly struggled to clasp the metal around Dockery's neck. Took about a full minute trying to do it, and then, strangely, he tied it. Okay, so we're building up the story here is Donald Trump. As you can see, he has the medal. He pats Dockery on the back, reaches around him, and then starts to try to clasp that metal as many a president have done before. You think Sleepy Joe can do this? Well, actually, he did. He did it many times and he didn't struggle. Now, you could say, well, listen, fine motor skills in his hands sort of diminish with age. Maybe he's got some arthritis. There's that hand bruising, you know, whatever causes it. We still don't even really know. Maybe he has affected sensation in his fingers, peripheral neuropathy as it is. Called whatever, maybe this isn't a big deal. And Trump ultimately bailing out and tying the damn thing very, very tight around Dockery's neck and then almost kissing Dockery in an incredible display of love and affection. But, like, whatever, fine. That's just that. So then we get to the trouble walking. Last week, as, as you may remember, Donald Trump had a humiliating participation in the G7. And Trump visibly needed the help of Indian Prime Minister Modi to get up onto the stage. Here is video of that. And you will see that Donald Trump, just to go up a step, reaches out and is helped up by Prime Minister Mo Modi.

[Adam James (Epistemic Crisis)]

Whoops.

[David Pakman]

So, as you see, Donald Trump tried to take the step up himself. Couldn't quite do it, almost fell backwards. And then, whoa, gets help from Prime Minister Modi. Also interesting, by the way, people who have spent more time in private with Trump, like Modi, Modi knew to put his hand out to help Trump. That's a very interesting detail. I don't want to belabor it, but a very interesting detail that Modi kind of knew, like, hey, this guy probably needs my help. Also at the G7. Kind of a weird moment. Unclear here if Donald Trump is being helped by Brigitte Macron or attempting to help Brigitte Macron, the wife of the French president. But as you can see, Trump realizes, I've got to go down. He reaches out. Now they're holding hands. It's not really clear, like, is Trump being somehow chivalrous or what, but the whole vibe of it is, let's together help Donald Trump get down from this step. Just kind of a strange moment. And again, the picture is building. Now here's the big revelation, which is not really a revelation or it's a revelation about how this is not a revelation. This is not new. Remember the viral video of Donald Trump struggling to walk down the ramp at West Point? This is during Donald Trump's first term. And we had this situation where Trump was very gingerly walking down a ramp. Trump claimed, oh, it was so rainy. And it was like, just really slick. But as you can see, it's clearly sunny. You can see blue sky in the background. And Donald Trump very gingerly walking down the ramp and looks like he was afraid of falling. Listen, elderly folks sometimes are afraid of falling. It's not like the biggest news in the world. But this is not being dealt with in any serious manner by legacy in corporate media or being addressed in a serious manner by the administration either. So now we have the full picture of it. Donald Trump recently attempting to walk over to reporters. And you see, especially when it is sped up, that he is going side to side. He seems unable to walk in a straight line. We've covered this before, we've talked about it, and this really happens a ton. I've got another video of Donald Trump walking to meet Putin and he's walking side to side. It's only like a five foot wide red carpet. And Trump just noticeably cannot stick to the middle. Donald Trump, when walking next to his wife Melania, Trump also bumping into her. This was after they got off of Marine One, the helicopter. And you see Trump's trying to walk straight and boom, he just walks right into Melania. It doesn't seem to be on purpose. Is it a balance issue? Is it a neurological issue? We don't know. And then, of course, finally, Donald Trump falling up the stairs, going up to Air Force One, whoops. Falling up. Which, by the way, when that happened to, I think it happened to Biden once they said he can no longer be President of the United States. So, listen, what's the big picture here? The big picture is, first, there's a lack of transparency about Trump's health. We've been covering. Second, there are now some clear narratives and story arcs. Trump's ability to walk and balance and stand is diminishing. And people around him seem to recognize it as they put out a hand to give him a little bit of help as they brace and stand behind him just in case something were to happen. People don't tend to do that if the perception is that you're fine, they tend to just leave you alone. And so I would love a little bit of transparency from the White House about this. And I think at the end of the day, it's just an issue of honesty. We, as the American people, we deserve to know about the physical and the cognitive state of the President of the United States. It's a modest and very humble request. We deserve to know, and this is, of course, now leading from the physical into the cognitive. And I don't have great news there for you either. Donald Trump appears to be experiencing some kind of acute episode right now. Now, as always with you, I want to be careful. I'll tell you what I know and what I can see. But I'll also admit I don't know exactly what's causing it. I don't know whether it is primarily cognitive or physical, maybe it's both. But whatever is happening, it is now starting to affect Donald Trump's daily schedule. Now, I'll remind you, we previously learned that after all of the Biden's only working 10 to 4 stuff that was taking place during the last administration, we've learned and observed that Donald Trump's public events are increasingly constrained in an even smaller window of time, noon to 5. Wherever Trump is, there are exceptions. When the, when Trump went to the G7 last week, he could barely keep it together. He looked gaunt and visibly just like, could barely even move. He felt, fell asleep multiple times. So when he goes outside of the 12 to 5 schedule, things aren't so good. And what we now have is the official schedule from yesterday. Whatever is going on with Donald Trump, it must be pretty bad because it required him to have a seven and a half hour break and in the middle of the workday yesterday. Here's the White House schedule from yesterday. And what you see is that there is a seven and a half hour period where Trump is gone. What they do is they call it executive time. This is like not really work. Even though they go, Trump works the hardest during executive time. He was out of the view of the public and of reporters. It's a seven and a half hour break right in the middle of the day. Think about how unusual that is. The President of the United States. This is not someone recovering from surgery. This is not someone with a publicly disclosed medical condition that would require them to have a seven and a half hour break during the workday. And not from any old job, from being President of the United States. This is supposedly the healthiest president ever in the middle of a normal workweek. And we have a seven and a half hour break, a period during which nothing can be scheduled, nothing can be done, nothing can be put on the calendar. And this is just a few weeks after Trump's 13th annual physical. I'm sorry, third annual physical in 13 months. And it is increasingly, I mean, listen, we learned that 22 medical specialists participated in that third annual physical in 13 months. Not a couple, not just Trump's primary care doctor, not five. 22 specialists. That is an extraordinary number of medical professionals involved in evaluating one person. And despite all of that, despite the team of doctors, the specialists, the glowing public statements that Trump is healthier now than Obama was when he was 47 and he took office. Despite all of that, we see undeniable signs that something isn't right. And now it's a seven and a half hour break in the middle of the day. Put aside the confusion, the verbal struggles, the disorientation, put, put aside all of that, the reduced schedule and limitations about his availability. We're seeing a work day that apparently required a seven and a half hour break right in the middle. What required that? That's the obvious question. If they want us to believe that this is a guy operating at full capacity, then you don't put a seven and a half hour break in his schedule unless you just have to. And this is I think the part that often gets overlooked, the hypocrisy. If President Biden had a seven and a half hour hole in the middle of a workday, right wing media would be talking about it for months. Fox News would have like a countdown to death clock. There would be panel discussions, there would be speculation that never stopped. Demands for medical records, demands for transparency. Every minute of Biden in public would be analyzed like the supporter film and it would be a national story. With Trump, they don't even talk about it. Oh, it was sleepy Joe who could only work ten to four. Trump has a break from nine and from eight until 3:30. Seven and a half hour break. Oh, don't ask questions about that. Don't wonder why the president with the cleanest bill of health needs this much downtime in the middle of the day, in the middle of negotiations with Iran and you know, the ballroom, the reflecting pool, stuff he's supposedly engaged in. Now, I don't claim to know exactly what's going on. I don't know that anybody outside Trump's inner circle knows what's going on. But that's the point. They insist it's all great and present no evidence suggesting that it is actually great. That's a gap that's getting bigger and bigger. We're going from not the healthiest guy to he's healthy to 7 and a half hour break, disorientation and confusion and help walking with healthier than Obama was at age 47. Whatever is happening, cognitive, physical combination, we need to know because he is not projecting stamina and he is not projecting a total command of the job of the presidency. This is the schedule that looks like you are managing a problem and hiding the reality rather than being transparent about it. Tell me what you think is going on and remember that they do not want us talking about it. They put me on a damn WhiteHouse.gov list because I talk to you about this. Think of that. There isn't one mattress that's perfect for everybody. Some people want firmer, somewhat softer. Some are side sleepers, back sleepers. A mattress that's good for one person might not be the right one for somebody else. That is the idea behind our sponsor, Helix sleep instead of one generic mattress. Hoping it works for everyone. Helix sends you a mattress that is based on your specific sleeping needs and preferences. I've been sleeping on a Helix mattress for years now. 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Our sponsor Incogni helps protect you and your family by automatically sending removal requests to hundreds of these databases and they are legally required to comply and get rid of your information. Incogni will follow up until it's done. Incogni's custom removals is my favorite feature. If I find information on a random directory or an obscure business database or some new people search site, I just paste the link into Incogni. Their privacy experts work to get it removed. Removing your information from these online databases is critical to protect yourself and your loved ones. Get 60% off when you go to incogni.com/pacman use the code Pacman. The link is in the description Today we welcome back to the program Adam James, a licensed female physical therapist of 14 years working in home health care. Also a content creator known as Epistemic Crisis. Great to have you back on today. Always good to chat.

[Adam James (Epistemic Crisis)]

Thanks for having me.

[David Pakman]

Listen, we have to start with the failed prediction. I mean it's last time you were on the program you said you believe Trump has two to four months to live. That was January. That would put us at March or maybe. And of course Trump is alive right now. Talk to us. That was a very controversial prediction. Many in the audience were shocked by it to some degree. And what, what, what do you think happened? Why were you wrong in that prediction?

[Adam James (Epistemic Crisis)]

Right. So I place the time frame roughly was based on life expectancy with frontotemporal dementia which is approximately 10 to 12 years. Trump has shown symptoms of FTD going back over a decade. And it's wild how the Jeffrey Epstein himself actually mentioned he was suspicious that Trump had dementia because of some of his behavior years ago from email communication. But even public behavior would suggest that you could put his emergence of symptoms that far back. So that would land roughly where, you know, my prediction was. He, he's outlived that prediction. And I think I could chalk it up to he receives the best health care available to a human being. For example, I, he, I'm pretty sure he has a history of stroke because of the weakness on the right side of his face and in his right arm and leg at times. In the case of stroke, if you can catch a stroke early enough, you can stop it from progressing to something way more serious. They use a clot busting drug known as TPA if they're within a certain window of time. So, of course, anytime he would display any symptoms of stroke, he's going to get that intervention as soon as possible. The White House is basically a hospital step down unit, so he can receive whatever he needs as soon as he possibly could need it. So that's, that's what I chalk it up to. But I think that based on his daily schedule that they post, like the roll call schedule that we all see, he's got seven or eight hours of nothing happening. They throttle his schedule so that a person who's actually very sick can handle it. So I still think he's very sick. My prediction did not come to pass, but I all of the health conditions that I've suspected he has, I still stand by that and I also stand by how the process to invoke the 25th Amendment has technically already begun, with Congressman Jamie Raskin introducing legislation to create the other body as outlined in one of the sections of the 25th Amendment. It hasn't progressed any further than introduction, of course, because Republicans are the spawn of Satan. But that's where we're at.

[David Pakman]

You believe that Donald Trump has had a stroke. And one of the recent pieces of evidence, as you describe it, that you've pointed to is this very strange handshake that he had with the French president at the G7, where it's hard to describe, but he looks sort of, and we'll put it up on the screen, he looks sort of disoriented. And it's kind of like a vertical handshake where Trump's hand, rather than being pointed horizontally, is pointed up and down. What, what about that is notable to you.

[Adam James (Epistemic Crisis)]

So normally he loves to do this power move where he shakes the hand of a dignitary or a person that he's, you know, set to meet with, and he holds their hand really tightly and he refuses to let go.

[David Pakman]

Yes, he plays the sort of tug of war games.

[Adam James (Epistemic Crisis)]

That's right. But it's an intimidation tactic that is characteristic, you know, characteristic of a malignant narcissist. But normally when we see him do this, his elbow is at his side and his right, his left shoulder is facing the camera. So he's able to accomplish what he does with no help from his right shoulder. So now when he's placed on Macron's right, he has to reach across his body, which involves the rotator cuff, the deltoids. We're getting a lot of shoulder flexion, horizontal adduction, adduction. And we also have to manipulate the hand. And we're talking about a limb that's been affected by a stroke.

[David Pakman]

It's a more complex movement.

[Adam James (Epistemic Crisis)]

In other words, way more complex. He has to cross the midline to get over there, which requires appropriate, what we call scapulohumeral rhythm in the shoulder to achieve a forceful horizontal adduction. Cross the midline and grasp an object or someone else's hand. So the position his body was in, the position Macron was in, it completely revealed how weak his right shoulder actually is from time to time.

[David Pakman]

You had a very interesting video commenting on your favorite left handed Argentinian Jewish podcaster, me being put on the media offender list by the White House. What was interesting about it is you seem to have come to the conclusion that. That the health coverage getting me on the list is indicative, as besides the Epstein files, it's the issue that they are really sort of concerned about image management with. Can you talk about that a little bit?

[Adam James (Epistemic Crisis)]

Yeah, 100%. First of all, the idea that these, if I can just be allowed to swear. Yes, okay, These pieces of shit in the White House that think they can intimidate members of the media by putting up some section of their website to enact fascist intimidation tactics. I want to say all of them. That's how I feel about that. And honestly, why the hell am I not on the list, you cowards.

[David Pakman]

You're asking to be on the list, right?

[Adam James (Epistemic Crisis)]

Say again?

[David Pakman]

You're asking to be put on the list.

[Adam James (Epistemic Crisis)]

Hell yeah, put my ass on the list. Goddamn. Let's, as Homelander famously said, let's light this candle, right? Do this. Anyways, I was 11 out of 10 pissed off when I found out that the section of the website existed, and then, of course, that you were on it. I'm like, okay, now they. I mean, honestly, just on principle, they should put you on it otherwise, because you're a pain in their ass.

[David Pakman]

Sure.

[Adam James (Epistemic Crisis)]

But, of course, that's how we know we're on the right track. The way the. If you just. If you just look at the. The sheer volume of, you know, conversation or statement making they do on a particular subject, it tells you what they're most scared about.

[Interviewer or Secondary Guest]

Sure.

[Adam James (Epistemic Crisis)]

And this is what pathological, you know, lying fascist regimes attempt to do. There's. There is no war in Boston. Say Stephen Chung tweets, oh, this president has so much energy. I've never seen. I'm like, well, that's bullshit. We automatically. They got to fire that guy. He's so fucking stupid. Like, why would you tweet that? He's got more energy than anybody else in the administration. That automatically means the man can't wake the fuck up in the middle of the day. Like, we already know this. Like, every. Every accusation is a confession. As we've always seen through both Trump

[David Pakman]

turns, we discussed this strange Father's Day post that Donald Trump made where he posted a picture of a woman seemingly at Camp David during the Clinton presidency is what we've been able to most likely determine. And he said, great daughter, my honor. Now, there's a lot of speculation as to whether Donald Trump believes that that's one of his daughters. I mean, she's blonde, I guess we can say. Or whether Donald Trump was referencing that. The pictured woman, potentially Katsimatidis. I forget her first name. That she has a great daughter, or that it's a picture he saw at Camp David. Do you have some sense of whether that's a meaningful post that we can glean anything from?

[Adam James (Epistemic Crisis)]

No, I think it's a. I think it's a result of dementia. It's just another dementia symptom. He's at Camp David, and he's reminiscing about a time where he felt so much more powerful. And I think at this point, again, the frontotypical dementia lets the mask of the malignant narcissist slip. And so he will reach for. Because of his subconscious fear, his flight response, he'll reach for something that is comforting, like decorating the White House look like Caesar's Palace.

[Donald Trump]

Right.

[Adam James (Epistemic Crisis)]

He's, you know, reminiscing about a time where, you know, he's hobnobbing with people that adore him, and he's so powerful and he's outrunning every criminal act he's ever performed, and you know it. That's what I really think it was. Honestly, MAGA has been silent about that post. They don't know what to make of it. I saw Gunther Elman, like, retweeted or reposted, and he was like, yeah, happy fobs or some. I'm like, they don't know what to think about this. They don't know what to think about this because they're sure as hell not going to say he's got dementia. But I don't think there's anything meaningful except for he has a deep fondness for this woman and her daughter, and that is creepy. If you know anything about Donald Trump.

[David Pakman]

Trump's been doing more and more events seated, and there is reporting, not, of course, from the White House. The White House would deny it, but there's reporting that Donald Trump is struggling to stand now for long periods of time and that this is why he's often pictured videoed sitting in the Oval Office. This has the secondary effect of making it easier to fall asleep, of course, which he has done multiple times in the Oval Office. What do you make of that combination of things that we're observing?

[Adam James (Epistemic Crisis)]

Oh, they're trying to conserve his energy. What little energy. Again, the talking point is this patient has more energy. He's up all night on, you know, international flights or some bullshit. Like, yeah, he's sundowning, he has dementia. But they're. They're trying to conserve what little energy he has because his energy level is progressively getting lower and lower. And we saw when he had an international flight, you can't hide anything at G7 because it's not his venue right now. You're forced to have him walk places on camera, and they're having him. So we never see footage of him walking into the Oval for a press gag or some sort of executive order signing. By the time we see footage, the first bit of footage we see, he's already seated behind the desk. And they also can hide the amount of swelling in his feet and ankles when he's behind the desk. And they're also using that small replica of Air Force One next to his desk. It's at a slightly lower level. They're using that to his lateral to also shield him from any, you know, any camera angle from the side.

[David Pakman]

You think that's deliberate? In other words, you think that that's

[Adam James (Epistemic Crisis)]

a calculation 100% deliberate. He's. He's reaching for people's hands to get up and down one step.

[David Pakman]

Yes.

[Adam James (Epistemic Crisis)]

Like for me, I see these. I just left an 87 year old patient who fell and broke a hip. And I can tell you right now that that patient is physically stronger than Donald Trump.

[Donald Trump]

Huh?

[Adam James (Epistemic Crisis)]

And you know, I see it all. Trump is the type of patient I see day in and day out.

[David Pakman]

You, you correctly predicted. Not all of your predictions have been wrong. I want to be clear. I told, we went to one that was wrong. But you did predict that Trump would fall asleep at the UFC event, which is interesting because on the one hand it was very late and so it's sort of like, hey, you know, I guess it's more likely at 1am than 1pm but on the other hand, it's a very exciting thing. Right. And it's like an adrenaline, especially people fighting, there's sort of like a visceral adrenaline response. He managed to sleep through it, which is quite interesting.

[Adam James (Epistemic Crisis)]

Absolutely. Well, that's because his brain is disconnecting from stimulus. Auditory, tactile, visual stimulus is not making its way to his reticular activation symptom. And telling his brain, whoa, that's crazy. In the clips where he fell asleep sitting right next to Dana White, his best friend, he follows us. He's asleep. The fight intensifies. The crowd is roaring. We're talking about 5,000 people were there plenty enough to make enough noise. And he does not rouse back awake until Dana White turns and comments on the action in the fight. The, the lights, I mean, those lights are blinding. And none of that stimulus made it to him except for Dana White's voice. And that's, that's indicative of a brain that's shrinking inside of his skull.

[David Pakman]

We are continuing to follow the content that Adam James creates under the name epistemic Crisis. He's a licensed physical therapist of 14 years. He works in home health care. Adam, always great to talk to you.

[Adam James (Epistemic Crisis)]

Thanks. Thanks for having me, buddy.

[David Pakman]

The David Pakman show is an audience supported program and the best, most direct way to support the show is by becoming a member@join pacman.com you'll get the daily bonus show, the daily commercial free show, and plenty of other great membership perks. Get the full experience by signing up at Join Pacman Dotcom. Tucker Carlson just appeared on a show called Can't Be Censored. I was on this show recently. Two very nice Canadian journalists flew in and interviewed me. And my interview went a little bit differently than Tucker's. And one of the big differences is that I was completely honest with the interviewers about everything. They asked me. And Tucker, I believe, is being extraordinarily dishonest. Let me explain to you what Tucker is up to. Tucker is trying to execute the whole I'm becoming the outsider after spending years as the insider thing. But the problem is that Tucker wants to pretend he was only coincidentally adjacent to Trumpism and the MAGA movement and what the Republican Party has become. But what Tucker is being dishonest about with the interviewers is that he was actually one of the chief architects of turning the Republican Party into what it is today. Tucker acts shocked and appalled at what the Republican Party has become. And I'm going to play the clip. And he goes, I would not vote for Republicans. But it's tough to be shocked and appalled by what the Republican Party has become when you spent years creating the very narratives and incentives that drove it there. Tucker's whole immigrants make the country dirtier and poorer thing helped to build what MAGA and the Republican Party is today. And I could give you the long list of things that Tucker has done in this way. And even just being a Fox News host for as long as he was and manufacturing consent for the sort of president that Trump ultimately became is part of Tucker, helping to build the monster that they now, I guess, have lost control of. Now, notice the wording from Tucker in this clip. He doesn't say Republicans have become disloyal recently. He's describing a party that he has supported, that he has defended, that he promoted for years. And the question for Tucker is, well, when did this transformation happen? Take a listen to this. I think it's very revealing.

[Interviewer or Secondary Guest]

I would not support the Republican Party. There's no chance I would support the Republican Party not to support the Democratic Party. I don't know what I'm going to do. But at this point, you know, how could you support. How could I or any American voter support a political party that's not loyal to the United States, that puts the interests of a foreign country above those of its own citizens? Like, that's. That's, you know, it's not possible to vote for people like that. And I'm not going to. And I think I voted Republican my entire life. I worked at Fox News, CNN, MSNBC. I've been a consistent defender for 35 years of the Republican Party. I mean, very consistent defender. But there's no defending this because it's immoral. And it's exactly the opposite of what a political party in a democracy is charged with doing, which is representing its own voters, its own citizens, its own nation. And they're not doing that. So, no, yeah, oh, I'm out. And if I'm out, then I think

[David Pakman]

a lot of other people are out. There is a big Dr. Frankenstein and the monster kind of dynamic going on here because Tucker spent years teaching audiences, you should distrust institutions, you should distrust expertise, you should distrust establishment Republicans and embrace populist strongman politics like those of Donald Trump. And now what has happened is that some of those same forces have become so powerful that Tucker kind of occasionally finds himself outside the very consensus that he helped to create. I think the timing is also really interesting. It's much easier to criticize the Republican Party when Trump is already facing record low approval, internal divisions, massive public dissatisfaction, going back on just about every campaign promise. What I mean is it's similar to what I said last week about, you know, Megyn Kelly and whoever else coming out softly against Trump. Being a dissident is a lot easier and less risky when the movement is already showing signs of weakness. And Tucker's brand has always depended on positioning himself as the person willing to tell the uncomfortable truths. Everybody else is pro Trump, and now he's anti establishment. And if suddenly everybody is anti Trump, he would find some different contrarian angle. And what he wants is to just keep going with this business model of the outsider.

[Adam James (Epistemic Crisis)]

That.

[David Pakman]

That's the core thing. And he's sort of elaborated and expanded this as he left Fox News and now does his own thing. And that helps to, you know, he. He's just look, he's filming in. In his log cabin looking studio in Maine and all of this different stuff. He's the outsider. He doesn't have the fancy studio. But the truth is that when the rubber meets the road, we all know Tucker will almost certainly support Republicans in forthcoming elections. Whether it's 26 or 28, he will stick to this. No, no, no, no. I've found the right type of Republican this time. We found I'm still, like, sick of this party. But here are the right Republicans to support or whatever. It could be 26, could be 28. Now, the most likely explanation is not that Tucker suddenly is genuinely anti Republican. I think he's trying to position himself above the Republican Party, which would be a much more sort of powerful, powerful role for him. And instead of being like another right wing commentator, he becomes the guy who decides which Republicans are acceptable and which are not. I think that's what he really wants here. And I think that actually this is why the 2028 angle really matters. Some are saying, well, Tucker might run for office himself. He has said that he won't, but maybe he will. He can become a kingmaker. If Trumpism fractures, Tucker might see an opportunity to define what comes next. And there's a credibility problem here also, because if Trucker Tucker truly believes that the Republican Party is disloyal to the United States, supporting Republican candidates in 28 or even in 26 would be a contradiction. So let's remember that history suggests that when election time comes on, ideological objections usually take a backseat to partizan loyalty. And I think that the broader story is bigger than Tucker versus the Republicans. It's that some of the biggest figures of the right wing media are realizing we've created audiences that demand escalation. And when you radicalize your own audience so much that you struggle to control them, it starts to backfire. Now this is a big issue that I address in my forthcoming book, Pay Attention. I announced yesterday the preorder campaign is on. You can get your signed copies at David pakman.com/audition if you're interested in how audiences are developed, how they radicalize and turn against those who built them. This is a really important book, I believe, to check out. So David pakman.com/audition audiobook, e book, all of it is available there and I encourage you to check it out. On the bonus show today, a phenomenal discussion as to how the people fired over Charlie Kirk posts are getting payouts for First Amendment retaliation that they have suffered. The Senate has also passed a bill to lower housing costs and to restrict Wall street from buying homes, which is very interesting. And a judge has blocked the use of a federal database to check citizenship, arguing it might wrongly purge voters. Republicans don't like it. It's a nasty judge, I'm sure. All of that and more on today's bonus show. Get it@join pacman.com.