Everything is great other than all of this stuff

Summary

The David Pakman Show — Episode Summary

Episode Title: Everything is great other than all of this stuff
Host: David Pakman
Date: May 1, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, David Pakman dissects how America’s headline-grabbing distractions are obscuring serious economic woes, including surging gas prices, questionable government spending (notably, Trump’s $400M ballroom), and the steady erosion of US global alliances, particularly with Canada. With his trademark mix of sharp analysis and sardonic wit, Pakman exposes political spin—from Republicans downplaying gas prices to Trump’s recurring UFO tease—while calling out the disconnect between leadership priorities and everyday realities.

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Key Topics & Insights

1. Soaring Gas Prices & Political Spin

Timestamps: [00:48]–[10:05]

• Gas Prices at a Multi-Year High:
  • Gas hit $4.34/gal, the highest since the post-COVID driving boom, with oil peaking at $126/barrel.
  • The Strait of Hormuz—the passageway for 20% of world oil—remains effectively closed due to conflict with Iran, spiking costs across the economy.
• Political Gaslighting:
  • GOP reps, including Steve Scalise, grossly misrepresent price histories for political gain.
    • “People were paying six [dollars] and now we're paying three.” — Steve Scalise ([04:49])
  • Pakman busts these claims with live chart analysis:
    • “If we look at a two-year chart...there's not even a 6 on the screen. Two years ago, gas prices were about 3.65.” ([05:54])
• Media’s Misdirection:
  • Mainstream coverage fixates on the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and Trump's proposed ballroom, “totally ignoring the highest gas prices in years.” ([08:54])
• Connection to Trump’s Policy:
  • Pakman makes clear: This gas crisis could have been avoided.
    • “Trump should...sometimes it might make sense to go to war, sometimes it might not. In this particular case, the United States population, by and large, doesn't think the Iran engagement made sense and is not pleased with the direction of the economy. You now get to vote on that basis in November.” ([10:05])

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2. Trump’s UFO Files – Distraction Tactics

Timestamps: [10:04]–[15:21]

• Trump Teases UFO Revelations:
  • Recurring vague promises that “massive dumps” of UFO files will be released soon.
    • “I've directed Pete Hegseth to start releasing massive dumps of files...many very interesting documents.” — Trump ([11:10])
• Pattern of Hype Without Substance:
  • Pakman notes the familiar cycle: wild teases, unnamed credible sources, then…nothing.
    • “You get vague claims, the things I’ve seen, the things I’ve been told. Very interesting. You then find out that there are dubious claims from unnamed sources...Number one, nothing happens, or number two, what is released is pretty mundane.” ([13:11])
• Purposeful Distraction:
  • These UFO stories are a spectacle, deployed “because the substance sucks for Trump”—distracting from economic decline and surging gas prices.
    • “You need a spectacle to compete with substance. Right now, the substance sucks for Trump: gas prices up, economic growth expected to decline, job creation down, inflation up.” ([14:58])

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3. Taxpayer-Funded $400M Ballroom

Timestamps: [18:53]–[27:09]

• Origins Shift From Donors to Taxpayers:
  • Initially touted as privately funded, Trump’s proposed White House ballroom now has GOP senators (led by Lindsey Graham) promoting $400 million in taxpayer funding.
    • “We're going to have so much money left over. Now, I want to remind you this was initially going to be a $150M ballroom paid for by donors. Then...$400M ballroom...not going to be paid for by donors.” ([20:39])
• Excuse: White House Security:
  • Justifications ramped up post-Correspondents’ Dinner shooting, despite:
    • The event not actually being held at the White House
    • The ballroom’s planned capacity being too small for the event
• Public Backlash:
  • Lawmakers like Sarah McBride push back:
    • “My constituents can't afford grocery bills or utility bills. And he now wants to spend taxpayer money on a ballroom...on reckless wars...His priorities are clearly in the wrong spot.” — Sarah McBride ([26:23])
• Pakman’s Critique:
  • Timing is “frankly disgusting and immoral”: Americans are squeezed by inflation while lawmakers vie to fund prestige projects.
    • “It seems to me that this is not something the American people are going to be falling for...Meanwhile, we should actually delve more deeply into what’s going on with costs.” ([23:36])

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4. Eroding Alliances: Canada Reconsiders the US

Timestamps: [31:44]–[39:06]

• Canada Sounds the Alarm:
  • PM Mark Carney declares that close US ties “have become our weaknesses.”
    • “Foundations of the international order...that order is crumbling, and many of them are former strengths built on our close ties to the United States have become our weaknesses.” — Mark Carney ([32:34])
• Diminished Trust and Trade:
  • Canada diversifies partners, boosts non-US trade, citing US unpredictability under Trump.
• Pakman’s Analysis:
  • A strong alliance—vital to both nations—is at risk due to erratic US policy.
    • “America first was going to make the US stronger—it’s making us weaker...Allies trust us less, they rely on us less.” ([36:53])
  • Long-term global isolation “is embarrassing” and has slow, lasting consequences even after leadership changes.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Gas Prices:
  • “It doesn't match reality. The Strait of Hormuz is effectively closed. One of the most critical shipping routes in the world...that's going to drive prices higher across the economy.” ([03:54])
• On Media Distraction:
  • “If you turn on TV and they're talking about the ballroom, but you go to pump gas and it's $4.34 a gallon, you remember that it’s $4.34 a gallon. But the important thing is to connect it to an optional policy that Donald Trump said, ‘I think I’m going to try to do this.’” ([09:44])
• On the Ballroom Funding Shift:
  • “Donors will pay for it...after the shooting: taxpayers must immediately pay for it with no argument at all. They should line up and salute and say, ‘Sir, we will buy you a ballroom for $400 million.’” ([25:55])
• On Eroding Alliances:
  • “America first was going to make the US stronger—it's making us weaker. And we were going to be more independent and more respected. Instead, we are less independent and we are less respected.” ([36:53])

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Additional Segments

Friday Feedback & Audience Interaction ([39:20]–[48:59])

• Listener questions on topics like AOC's 2028 prospects, political experience, audience exhaustion at political chaos, and the hidden ownership of media by private equity.
• Pakman maintains his signature mix of humor, candor, and engagement with his community.

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Conclusion

David Pakman’s Takeaway:
From pocketbook pain at the gas pump to the erosion of international alliances, Pakman contends that political spectacle and misdirection—from gas price gaslighting to Trump’s “coming UFO files”—are being exploited to cover up failed policies and priorities that don’t reflect the needs of the public. The stark disconnect between government focus (lavish ballrooms, war talk) and everyday American realities is the episode’s recurring theme, with an urgent call to hold leadership accountable in November.

Memorable Closing:
“Gas prices, energy prices, grocery prices, and they want you to pay for a ballroom. Give me a break.” ([29:23])

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For more: Full episode and bonus content at joinpakman.com

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Transcript

[Bloomberg Announcer]

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[David Pakman]

There is a story that is getting almost no attention and it is hitting your wallet directly which is that gas prices are climbing again, oil is at a wartime high and it is all because of what's happening in the Middle east right now. Even though the focus for a lot of legacy in corporate media has been the ballroom and the White House correspondents dinner shooting.

We are going to break down what

is happening with gas prices, what is

happening with energy, why and then the

why it could get worse, which is just as important. Also, Donald Trump is back to teasing the UFO files saying something big is coming. He's seen some stuff, he's talked to some pilots. But if you've heard this before, you might have a sense of what is coming and why. We are hearing this right now. And then there is a push now officially for you to pay for Donald Trump's ballroom.

But what about the donors?

I thought it was a gift. While people are struggling to pay for groceries, people are struggling to pay for gas and they want you to pay for the ballroom. Plus a top U.S. ally, Canada, is now saying it's time to rethink our relationship with the United States.

Not good.

All of it and more.

Today,

Gas prices have been blown sky high.

Again.

This is not an old story. It is happening again. They are at their highest point in years today. Trump doesn't want you to know about

it, Republicans don't want you to know about it. And I'm going to show you everything

that they are doing so that you don't remember. Wait a second, he told me it'd be down 50% and it's up almost 60%. So let's start with the record high for gas prices. As you can see here, after a brief detente when Trump said oh I fixed everything, the strait of Vermouth is

open after just a brief dip from

the previous highs of $4.16 a gallon. Gas prices are now up, up, up and away. $4.34 a gallon.

And as you go back, this is an 18 month chart.

You look at a two year chart

and we are way higher. You look at a three year chart and we are way higher. You have to go back to a

four year chart which was at the peak of the post Covid summer driving demand boom, to see gas prices that were higher than they are today. Oil prices are up to a, I guess we're calling it a wartime high of $126 a barrel at one point recently. And this is all happening at the same time that Trump is saying the war is over, we've fixed everything. It's calm, it's stable.

And by the way, I want to build a ballroom.

And you should be paying attention to other stuff. It doesn't match reality. The Strait of Hormuz is effectively closed. One of the most critical shipping routes in the world, 20%, 1/5 of oil volume globally goes through that.

And that's going to drive prices higher across the economy.

As gas and transportation prices go up, everything is going to get more expensive. And meanwhile, Trump is considering new military action, additional strikes, potential operations to try

to take control of the strait itself.

And all of it should mean more of a price increase, no price decrease. Now Republicans are desperate to try to lie and take attention away from this. Here is Republican Congressman Steve Scalise and he goes, listen, people were paying six and now we're paying three. Actually, people were not paying six and we are not now paying three.

And you know what?

MAGA CNBC host Joe Kernan actually does. Call him out on it.

[Political Commentator 1]

Prediction markets aren't friendly to the GOP's chances for, for holding the House. I mean, even the Senate is somewhat questionable. I don't know if you put any stock in that, but there were some developments this week. No, it seems like negative developments in Virginia, I think for Democrats, positive developments for Republicans in Texas, something happening in Florida. Now what is your, do you think there's any way that your party holds on in November to the House?

[Political Commentator 2]

Absolutely. And look, it's a path that is focused on turnout, number one and delivery. What we've delivered to finally start turning this mess around that we inherited a year and a half ago. People will remember. You go back two years ago, we were paying almost $6 a gallon for gasoline.

[David Pakman]

Okay, let's, let's just pause it real quick. You all know that's not true because I just showed you. If we look at A two year

chart which we're doing right now.

There's not even a 6 on the screen. Two years ago, gas prices were about 365.

They came down as Joe Biden prepared to leave office.

They were basically flat that entire time.

And during most of Donald Trump's first year, there was a little dip and

then a nearly 60% increase recently because of Donald Trump's war in Iran. Okay, so Steve Scalise is lying.

[Political Commentator 2]

Now it's in the threes, obviously we've,

[David Pakman]

and now it's in the fours.

[Political Commentator 2]

Seen a jump with the Iran conflict

[Political Commentator 1]

when we're paying six,

[Political Commentator 2]

two, two and a half years ago.

[Political Commentator 1]

But if you look at, I wasn't

[Political Commentator 2]

look at where we are now. We're, we're over 30% below where we were just two years ago. Today we are 30% below where we were two years.

[David Pakman]

You all know that's a lie. I mean the charts right here, we're

not 30% below anything over the last two years.

We're actually more like 35% above where we were.

They don't care.

They will just lie to you years ago.

[Political Commentator 2]

It's still going to go lower when Iran gets resolved in the Strait of Hormuz gets open. But at the same time, did anybody want a nuclear armed Iran? I think if you ask most normal people, they would say, all right, you

[David Pakman]

get the point, he's just going to lie. Meanwhile, Maria Bartiromo goes full Baghdad.

Bob. The economy is doing very well despite

the war in Iran and the spike in oil prices. Well, other than that, how Was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?

[Bloomberg Announcer]

Absolutely. And the economy is doing very well despite the war in Iran and this spike in oil prices, which the President has talked about repeatedly being a temporary

[David Pakman]

issue other than those disasters.

It's all going well. Now, just a reminder, Donald Trump saying the following. Listen to the promises he made.

[Donald Trump]

I will unleash energy independence and we will bring the price of gasoline down immediately. So we're going to get your gas prices down and we will. Ready, Drill, baby, drill. Going to get your energy way down. You're going to spend a lot less money for your, for your gasoline. You have that special stuff. We will unleash American energy and bring prices way down fast.

[David Pakman]

Way down and very fast. So let me shift into the media analysis part of this because we've established the promise was gas prices down.

And what we've got, what we've gotten,

gotten our gas prices up. Look at what's dominating media coverage at the same time. White House correspondents, dinner shooting the shooting connected to it. Ongoing discussion of the event, the venue, the personalities involved. Hours and hours of coverage focused on the ballroom, which Republicans have opportunistically said we really need to build now, the visit from King Charles and no coverage of the fact that Trump declared the gas price problem over almost three weeks ago. And gas prices are at a three

and a half year high.

And this is how the story gets lost, because they've decided on legacy and corporate media. It's not really going to be a store anymore now because many of us in the independent space have been now

covering it for three full days.

You're starting to see the gas price story trickle in. And that example with Steve Scalise is an example where Scalise felt the need to address gas prices by lying, but he felt the need to address it. People feel the price increase, the connection

to the ongoing conflict and the policy

decisions has to be brought up. This was optional. And so the what happens if we allow the story to fall by the wayside is that people forget about the fact that it is a political issue.

People don't forget that they're paying more for gas. When you go to the gas pump. If you turn on TV and they're talking about the ballroom, but you go

to pump gas and it's 434A gallon,

you remember that it's 434A gallon.

But the important thing is to connect it to an optional policy that Donald Trump said, I think I'm going to try to do this. And those are the drivers for these gas price increases. Instability looks exactly like this.

And what we need to make sure

is, is simply that there are consequences for political decisions. Trump should Sometimes it might make sense to go to war, sometimes it might not. In this particular case, the United States population, by and large doesn't think the Iran engagement made sense and is not pleased with the direction of the economy. You now get to vote on that basis in November. Are we finally getting the UFO files? Donald Trump says we are going to have them very soon. He's seen things you wouldn't believe. Pilots have told him unbelievable things about UFOs. And he is ready to release the files and finally give us the evidence we've been waiting for.

About what?

Donald Trump and little green men in Area 51. What exactly do you think we're going to get? Let me set it up for you. Donald Trump started teasing this weeks ago with statements like the following.

[Donald Trump]

As you remember, I recently directed the Secretary of War, how good is Pete Hegseth doing By the way, To begin releasing government funds, files relating to UFOs and unexplained aerial phenomena phenomena. And I figured this was a good crowd because I know you people, you're really into that. I don't know if I am, but so I'm pleased to report today I thought I'd save it for this crowd because you're a little bit out there, you know, a little bit that this process is well underway. And we found many very interesting documents. Documents, I must say. And the first releases will begin very, very soon. So you can.

[David Pakman]

Trump's going to make a massive, massive release. And if you think you're getting information

about alien life, well, I have one

more clip to show you. Donald Trump was asked yesterday, the day

before in the Oval Office, any updates

on those massive dumps of UFO files? Here's what Trump said.

Mr. President, I have two questions for you. First, on the topic of space, do you have an update on UFO files and what might be when we're going to be seeing.

[Donald Trump]

Well, I think we're going to be releasing as much as we can in the near future for some reason, and I guess it's just a reason. It's been in the minds of people for a long time that is such they want to find out about the UFOs and anything having to do with UFO or related material. And we're going to be releasing a lot of things from that we have. And I think some of it's going to be very interesting to people. I've. I mean.

[David Pakman]

All right, so listen, if you think that this is a bombshell, there's a

little problem with that.

We've heard versions of this before. This is not the first time that UFO disclosure has been teased. It's not even the first time Trump has teased UFO disclosure. And every time it's the same pattern. You get vague claims, the things I've

seen, the things I've been told. Very interesting. You then find out that there are

dubious claims from unnamed sources who are then referred to as very credible people. Something big is coming and one of two things happens.

Number one, nothing happens, or number two,

what is released is pretty mundane. Now, could the documents be coming?

I guess.

The Pentagon has already acknowledged unexplained aerial phenomena. But something that you don't have an answer for is not necessarily alien life,

which is, of course, like the big

bombshell that is being TV teased here. Implicitly. We've had hearings, there have been reports, but the context makes it a lot less bombshell. I guess I would Say, and to me, the most important takeaway is listen, if we get documents, we'll look at the documents, we'll see what they say. Until we see them, I can't evaluate documents I haven't seen.

But I want to remind you that

this entire conversation is not happening in a vacuum. Supreme Court has weakened voting rights protections. Economic policies like tariffs have completely blown up. Foreign policy decisions like Iran have spiked gas prices almost 60% to a price higher than they've been in three and a half years. Those are actions with consequences that are affecting people. And then sitting on top of that, you've got Trump again going. I've seen things you wouldn't believe. But pilots I've spoken to have given me reports.

I've directed Pete Hegseth to start releasing

massive dumps of files. And, and so the pattern is one we're very used to if we follow modern American politics. You need a spectacle to compete with substance. Right now, the substance sucks for Trump. Its gas prices up, its economic growth expected to decline, according to Jerome Powell. It's job creation down, its inflation up rather than down. Energy prices up rather than down.

And in the meantime, they want you to pay for a $400 million ballroom, which we'll get to in a moment.

And so that's the substance. It's very bad substance. And so you add a little spectacle, UFO files.

I've seen things you wouldn't believe. No one's seen it before.

And in the background, the policy changes that really hurt the average American continue

with very little attention. In fact, up until today, like the

last 12 hours, the gas price story is finally getting more attention.

But prior to the last 12 hours, we heard far more about UFO files

that may not even exist and may not be released. We've heard far more about UFO files in the previous four days than about three and a half year record high gas prices. So you have to ask, why all of a sudden is Trump speaking this? He actually spoke three times.

I showed you two. He spoke three times about UFO files

in the last 10 to 14 days.

Why are we hearing about that?

And where is the attention being sucked away from? And you very quickly understand that there are terrible economic circumstances that are being smothered with this kind of stuff.

Question for you. Leave me a comment.

Leave me a. Send me an email info david pakman.com. do you expect even a single bombshell revelation with regard to UFOs in the next two months?

Let me know.

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Are you having trouble affording gas? What about we all get together and buy Donald Trump a $400 million ballroom? Now you might be saying, wait a second, David, I thought the ballroom was going to be paid for. But Trump's friends who are giving him money out of the goodness of their hearts, with no expectation whatsoever of any future favors. Well, they Are very quietly and then not so quietly and very quickly moving towards, moving towards having the ballroom paid for by me and by you and by all of us. Do I have my. I did everything right and they indicted me.

[Donald Trump]

Saudi Arabia and Russia will repeat.

[David Pakman]

And no, I don't. Senators led by Lindsey Graham have introduced a bill to fund a massive new ballroom at the White House. The same one Trump's been planning to build for months. It'll cost around $400 million, but as opposed to the first version of it, this one would be paid by taxpayer money. Here is Trump just as a reminder, saying the, the ballroom will be fully financed by private donors. And in fact, he's got so much money that there will be money left over.

[Donald Trump]

You know, you can always fit a few more people in and pardon the fact that you're a little tight at your table. That's okay. That's better than lots of room for everybody because nobody shows up. Right. But you've been, you've been so generous in your contributions. Very substantial money, fully financed. It's fully taken care of now. And in fact, we'll have money left over and we'll use that for something. We'll use that.

[David Pakman]

We're going to have so much money left over. Now, I want to remind you this was initially going to be $150,000,000 ballroom paid for by donors. Then it became a $200,000,000 ballroom paid for by donors. Then it was a 250,000,000 and 303,25. They are now offhandedly saying it's a $400,000,000 ballroom and it's not going to be paid for by donors. And if it indeed is built, now we know why this shift has happened. After the shooting at the White House Correspondent's Dinner on Saturday, a whole bunch of Republicans got on message and started saying we must build the ballroom. It is imperative that we build the ballroom. We need it. Why do we need it? Apparently so that you could do the White House Correspondent's Dinner there, except you couldn't. The White House Correspondent's dinner is like 2500 people. The ballroom, if built, would only accommodate a thousand people. But we must protect the President indoors for major events and gather gatherings.

And now it is going to be

who that pays for it. Not Trump's rich friends, but you and me. Now, I want you to consider what's taking place at the exact same time. Gas prices are at a record high, record like three year record today. Groceries are expensive. People are feeling squeezed. Lawmakers say let's spend hundreds of Millions on a ballroom. And you know, there are even some Republicans, not, not nearly all, but some Republicans that are a little uneasy about it and they say could look a little bit tone deaf to voters. There are questions as to why taxpayers would even need to do this if Trump's donors have already agreed. Have they sent the money? Have they sent their bank transfers? I guess we don't know. There are some senators saying if it does get built, it shouldn't come from public money. It should be built, some of them say, but not with public money. Others are saying this will be a complete backfire politically. They don't really have a problem ideologically, but they're, it's going to backfire. It's not going to be a good idea. And that's before we even get into the details of the project. It is not a room. It is a large, complex security infrastructure. And if they're admitting it's going to be $400 million, we wouldn't be surprised if it ended up costing even more. Now, meanwhile, what's Congress up to? Well, they're fighting over basic government operations. What amount of debt should we be taking on? What are our spending priorities? The Department of Homeland Security is still in a shutdown. We're about to start up again with TSA agents not getting paid. But somehow the momentum is behind. Taxpayers paying for a ballroom that is frankly disgusting and immoral. And the proposal that at one point was little project paid for by donors is now, why do we need this thing and you are going to be paying for it? Now, I, I doubt that this proposal from Lindsey is going to pass, certainly not as proposed. I don't know that it would pass the House anyway. The fact that they feel comfortable proposing this when we are in the current economic circumstances we find ourselves in is the part that's like the major red flag. Don't they recognize that this is a disastrous idea at this point in time? With gas prices as high as they are, job creation, low, unemployment, ticking up energy prices, we were told they'd be down 50% and in fact they're up and they go, you know what I think the American people would like to see us do right now? Let's propose paying for what was going to be the donor funded Trump ballroom. If I'm missing something, and in fact there is willingness from the American people, interest from the American people, and paying for this thing, I, I will eat my hat. But it seems to me that this is not something the American people are going to be falling for. And meanwhile we should Actually delve more deeply into what's going on with costs. So let's do that right now. Reminder, the ballroom Trump wants was supposed to be funded by his donor friends. That was the pitch. I have friends with money, rich backers, corporate donors, whatever. You can be concerned about access, you can be concerned about influence, but at least the taxpayers aren't paying for it. As we spoke about moments ago, fast forward White House correspondents dinner shooting and suddenly everything changes. And Lindsey Graham proposes that taxpayers, me, you pay for the ballroom. The argument they are leaning on is we need the ballroom for security. And there are some Republicans in Congress who are saying, yes, let's do it. So let's revisit the shift. Donors will pay for it after the shooting. Taxpayers must immediately pay for it with no argument at all. They should line up and salute and say, sir, we will buy you a ballroom for $400 million. Now, at the same time, you've got some members of Congress who seem attached to reality, like Sarah McBride saying, my constituents can't even afford groceries and we're talking about $400 million in tax money for a ballroom. Here is our friend Pablo Reports from Midas Touch speaking to Sarah McBride. So Donald Trump has been saying for

[Donald Trump]

months that private donors are going to pay for this ballroom project.

[David Pakman]

Now apparently taxpayers are going to be on the hook for it. What's up with that?

[Sarah McBride]

My constituents can't afford grocery bills or utility bills. And he now wants to spend taxpayer money on a ballroom, on reckless wars, on a masked immigration regime. I mean, it's. His priorities are clearly in the wrong spot. And they shouldn't use a potential tragedy to try to secure funding from taxpayers for this president to have Great Gatsby parties in the White House.

[David Pakman]

Now, let me remind you about a couple of things because I got some emails from very nasty Trump supporters going, david, you're an effing this and a mother. Wow. And all of this different stuff.

The donors are paying for it.

Well, no, they're not. First of all, if the donors had already sent their money, Trump would have it and they wouldn't need to now start saying, we need taxpayers to fund this thing. But I do think it's important before we kind of continue on, to take a brief detour into the reminder that even if the ballroom construction itself were funded by donors, the ongoing maintenance and the additional staffing that would be required for it would be paid by taxpayers. That's like, that's a no matter what thing. So no matter what, this is going to cost taxpayers money. Now, let's move into the incredible contrast. There are people whose electric bills are up massively, their grocery bills are up, their gas prices are up, and the priority of Washington is a bill for taxpayers to pay for a ballroom, a massive 90,000 square foot complex with underground facilities. And the justification is it would have prevented what happened at the Correspondent's Dinner, even though that is not an event that is even held at the White House. Even though ultimately security still stopped the attacker. And despite the fact that the proposed ballroom wouldn't even have the seating capacity of the White House Correspondent's Dinner, the DOJ and Republicans are saying a shooting is why we need to clear all legal obstacles out of the way so that we can build this ballroom. And the part that really jumps out is a tragedy happens, a potential tragedy, more so than anything, it seems. No one, no one was hurt. There was a Secret Service agent that I guess his phone in his pocket blocked the bullet. I mean, it's crazy. Fortunately, everybody is OK and all, and that's. We. We immediately need to dump $400 million of our own money into building this thing. And it almost immediately becomes an overnight talking point coordinated by Republicans. What about the debt? Remember when every extra dollar we found was supposedly going to go to paying down the national debt, which Trump promised would happen by the end of his first term, which didn't happen? What about rushing things through before anybody has had a chance to settle down? Every time there is a shooting and we say we might want to look at gun safety regulations, they go, no, the impact of the shooting is too strong in our minds, it's too soon to get political and to make any decisions. Well, within five minutes of the shooting on Saturday, they were saying, we need the ballroom now. Fund the ballroom with taxpayer money. So we see priorities that are completely out of sync with what people are dealing with. And my hope is, and I'm going to do everything I can to make it happen, and you have just as much power as me through voting, make it happen. These people need to be voted out. These people need to be voted out in November. We now have just six plus months, barely six months before we get the opportunity to send them packing and to say, no, you're not going to take this and try to get 400 million in taxpayer money for Trump's ballroom. You are not going to make promises about affordability that you don't keep and then insist that we should vote you back in. So I hope that you will be joining me in November voting to end this insanity. Gas prices Energy prices, grocery prices, and they want you to pay for a ballroom. Give me a break.

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One of our top allies is abandoning us even more than they already have over the last six months because they see Trump's insanity and they are saying, this doesn't make any sense. Sadly, this. This is a. This is truly sad. It's Canada. We have another one of these situations that maybe it sounds like diplomatic language if you don't pay very close attention, but when you listen to what's being said, it's a pretty big deal. One of America's top allies, Canada, is now saying it's time to move away from the United States. Mark Carney, the Prime Minister, said something that should really get our attention. This should horrify us. He said that what used to be strengths, close ties to the United States, have now become weaknesses. Take a look.

[Mark Carney]

Foundations of the international order, the order which Canada helped to build and from which we have long benefited. That order is crumbling, and many of them are former strengths built on. Our close ties to the United States have become our weaknesses. The US has changed. That's their right. And we are responding. That is our imperative. We are responding with speed and ambition, focusing on what we can control, which is to build our strengths at home and diversify our partnerships abroad. Oh, abroad. We've secured more than 20 economic and security partnerships across four continents in less than a year. We're re engaging with global giants like India, China, and Brazil. And we're deepening our partnerships with our closest allies, including the European Union, the Nordic countries and Australia. As a result, we're attracting the strongest investment in the G7 and we're on track to double our non US exports within a decade.

[David Pakman]

Oh, now if you just glance at the tone because Mark Carney is very polite and I don't want to stereot stereotype Canadians as polite, although they've always been very polite to me. And I will be back in Canada within just a couple of weeks and they're going to be polite again. They always are. This is pretty serious. It turns out that having an untrustworthy president as a partner tells you we've got to diversify. And when he says we've doubled non US imports, that means we are increasingly getting more and more stuff from someone else. This relationship with Canada has been a foundation of Western alliances for decades and Mark Carney now says it's kind of a liability. This is, the US has changed now. This is of course their right to change their forward going economic decisions. And he is also correct that the partnerships with the United States when Trump is president aren't super reliable. They're not super consistent. They're not. They're like an on again, off again girlfriend where you never know, is she interested today or isn't she? Is she going to be nice today or is she going to be mean? I don't know, maybe it's not a good analogy. But the point is that the United States has changed. And so he says, well, let's do more with the European Union, let's do more with the Nordic countries, let's do more with Australia. Steadier negotiating partners, steady, steadier trade partners. And so this is a major recalibration of these sorts of alliances. And it's not a complicated reason. I've said it before as it applies to Iran and with other parts of the world. If you are a foreign government and you want to plan long term policy, long term trade, long term intelligence sharing, you need predictable partners. You need to know if we get into an agreement, it's going to hold. It's not going to be 10% tariff today and 50% tomorrow and then we're done next week and then we're back on in three months. That doesn't make sense. You can't plan that way. Commitments have to mean something. Otherwise the policy swings wildly every few months or years. And under Trump, there is zero predictability. The U.S. from their perspective, is not a stable anchor. It is more like a wet noodle flapping in the wind. And so countries don't just go, well, we don't like that. They adapt. China has adapted. When Trump put the tariffs on China, when we were liberated, liberated as liberators, and our soybean exports to China went to zero, China said, all right, well, we still want soybeans. Let's figure out someone else to get them from Brazil and other countries. And they did. And so now Trump is begging them to restart 1 or 2% of the total soybean exports. They are bragging. The Trump administration is, hey, we got soybean exports from zero to something. Yeah, but that something is 98% lower than it was before. You screwed everything up. And so Canada and others are hedging, they're building alternative alliances, they're reducing their dependence on the United States. I don't like that. This is bad. You know, if, if you want to go. Well, David, why do you care? I don't think you really care ideologically. Well, I care ideologically. But even if you want to. Look, if I want to analyze this through the self centered, greedy lens that Trump always uses, most of my viewers and supporters and members are American. And if something happens that is bad for the average American, for the average American business, that'll leave my audience with less money to support me with. So even if you just want to say, from a greed perspective, why would this matter? It matters for that reason. And that's why small businesses would also be horrified by any kind of change to the global order that hurts the average American business. America first was going to make the US Stronger, it's making us weaker. And we were going to be more independent and more respected. Instead, we are less independent and we are less respected. Allies trust us less, they rely on us less. They start building systems where we aren't included. So we may be more isolated, but we are not more independent. And it is embarrassing. There is a long term cost. It's not a comment or a speech that changes this. It's over a period of time. And the most tragic thing is at some point Trump's going to go and hopefully the next president is less whacked out. Even if it's a Republican, whether it's a Republican or a Democrat, hopefully they're less wacky. But it's going to take years to solve these things if we start right when Trump leaves. And so, you know, an executive order is easier to undo. These changes in the perceived reliability of the United States that relegate us to low status, you know, we, we are not exactly status maxing here, if you understand what I'm saying. We are increasingly low status in the global order and it is because we are not reliable. I wish it weren't this way, but I understand why other countries see us that way. Under Donald Trump. The David Pakman show is an audience supported program and the best, most direct way to support support the show is

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pacman.com Excitement, fear and passion is increasing among many of you for what is likely to be a very interesting 2028 primary. We're going to start with that in today's Friday Feedback. Remember that you can always write to me info@david pakman.com but we will also feature on Friday's comments and reactions from any of our platforms. We'll start with our subreddit where Devourer of Redditors wrote There is no reason for AOC not to run in 2028. Going through some of the often repeated ideas. No, she should run for Schumer seat instead. To which Devourer says, well, she can do both. Both. You can run for a Congressional seat and in a primary at the same time. If she wins the primary, great. Being president is better than being a Senator. That to me seems like a terrible idea that I don't agree with the other two I do. Next. No, she doesn't have enough experience. A the US just two time elected a guy who had no experience holding political office at all. That's Trump. And b people want someone with outsider credit. Yeah, I mean listen for me, whether you have experience or not, that's not a reason not to run. That might be a reason people don't vote for you. But I am not like a it's not your time sort of person. Run if you want to run. Let voters decide. And then finally she should wait until 2032 or 2036. She shouldn't waste her shot now. To which Devourer says Tell me you don't know anything about politics without telling me you don't know anything about politics. Like the last three Democratic nominee nominees. Nominees haven't all had fail runs for the nomination before eventually securing it. Running for the nomination multiple times before finally getting it is practically a rite of passage. Yet to me the only thing here is I don't think voters like it when you are running for two seats at once. I just don't think voters like it. I think you should be run for one thing. That's a personal preference. She doesn't have experience. It's not her time. Let voters decide that. I say get everybody in and let voters decide. After a robust and extensive primary, Grandma Wish from Instagram said, I want to support your content, David, but dude, I've completely exhausted my outrage. I recognize toddler behavior with an underlying callous superiority that gives me chills given the power this man has for chaos. Listen, this is both completely understandable and also we need to resist hyper normalization where we become so accustomed to insane things that we don't react to them anymore. Both can be true. It's reasonable to be outraged out, but we want to make sure our barometer for what is acceptable and normal doesn't get destroyed by so many years of this stuff from YouTube. Awesome. HPT says no one has more subscribers than David. He's got a big beautiful community that no one can match. Well, listen, we are. I don't think that that's true. I appreciate the sentiment. We are pushing towards 4 million YouTube subscribers. When I started this show after a year on YouTube, a year I had a thousand subscribers. We are now often adding 2,000 subscribers in a single day. So I'm asking you for help. We can't do it alone. We're trying to get to 4 million. Hit that subscribe button. That is so appreciated. Based on my commentary last week or the week before about private equity buying YouTube channels, Bill wrote in on Facebook's and said, how can we determine if a channel is owned by a private equity firm? Well, unfortunately you can't always determine that. And this is one of the things I pointed out in the video, which is if you have advertisers, you say, hey, this is an advertiser, this is our sponsor today, it's marked as an ad, etc. But a lot of these channels that have been purchased by private equity, it's not something you have to disclose. It's like a behind the scenes change in ownership structure and there may not be a way to determine that. I wish I had a better answer, a more satisfying answer, but I don't. Single Extension wrote on Reddit David's perspective versus younger guys at Midas Touch and writes, I like all of them. But it's interesting when David recalls somebody like John McCain, Luke Beasley and Adam Mockler have no idea how different things were. Not even saying it was better but wow, were things night and day different. As somebody who's 40, I love seeing younger people see things with fresh eyes who I actually learn a lot from. In contrast to somebody familiar with the post 911 world of politics. Yeah, listen, I think I can't tell whether this viewer is saying it's better when comment commentators have less historical knowledge. I think the argument he's making is that it's sort of like eyes untainted by how it used to be. I think there's value in all of the above. I think that there's value in hearing from folks who have been around and following politics a lot longer than I have. And I think there's value in hearing from folks who have not and don't have any personal recollection of some of these pre Trump political eras. I think it's all valuable and brings brings important and varied views to the table. So I think it's all worthy of our support. Curious Olive says about my view on Tipping In Dave's rant on tipping, he talked about tipping at massage parlors. I really appreciate the double entendre here where hookers should be able to keep their tips and also how tipping euphemistically at massage parlors is highly encouraged in other places like Europe. I have to admit, I have no clue what this person is talking about. When I was talking about tipping at massage parlors, I wasn't talking about whatever this person thinks I was talking about. It was not like an indirect message about he uses the word hookers or maybe he means prostitutes or sex workers. I don't know. Any apparent reference to that was completely coincidental, not on purpose, not what I meant. So please don't, don't include me in whatever you think I was talking about. Darth Shredder wrote on YouTube the Trump administration replaced D E I with DUI. Pete Kegsbreath, Jeanine Pirro, Crash Patel are all DUI hires. This is very funny. And you know, sometimes in the audience there are people who are very sensitive to anything I say. I'm not making light of alcohol use disorder. I was told last time I used the word alcoholism. That's an inappropriate word. Don't use that word. It's called alcohol use disorder or alcohol abuse disorder, depending on, I guess, your perspective. But. But this, this is genuinely funny. And there is a weird thing where there are a lot of circumstances completely unique to the Trump presidency. If you look at past administrations, there were anecdotal sort of isolated concerns about drinking for like one person in an administration. But the Trump administration is really loaded, for lack of a better term, with a lot of people who do seem to have issues with the amount of alcohol they used to or potentially now consume and that is, I mean, listen, it's sort of interesting because Trump doesn't drink alcohol at all, as he tells it, because his brother died from alcohol use disorder. And then, and yet he is surrounded by, you know, rfk, who has a documented history of, of drug use issues and a number of people who seemingly have alcohol use issues. So it is kind of an interesting thing. David Cohen wrote about people clapping when Trump signed the bill or executive order. They clapped the same way parents clap because their toddler used the potty. You know, as someone who recently potty trained a toddler and boy, oh boy, was it fun. This is very accurate when Trump signed and said, look at, that's a great signature. Joe Biden couldn't do this. And people, it was the exact sort of clapping and cheering that I have come to be really familiar with from the potty training process of a, of a toddler. It's all very, very strange. Listen, we are now publishing thick, meaty articles and analyzes to our substack multiple times per week.

[Donald Trump]

Week.

[David Pakman]

We're putting this stuff out for free. Okay. Subscribe free to my substack David pakman.com/substack. I know there are people in the audience who say I like to read more than I like to listen. Cool. We're doing that at David pakman.com/substack. And remember that we have a phenomenal bonus show coming up right after this. The bonus show has won endless awards, awards we've created. It's the equivalent of the FIFA peace prize, but we're just winning, winning, winning awards. And you can get instant access to the bonus show by signing up@join packman.com we'll see you then.

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