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- [00:00]
David Pakman
Donald Trump's economy is falling apart. Inflation just hit its highest level in three years. Gas prices are surging, wages are falling. And the White House is openly admitting that Trump's just not in a rush to get these things under control and to help Americans. This does not sound like a winning midterm strategy. Meanwhile, what the White House is doing is praising authoritarian leaders like in Belarus and China, talking about making Venezuela the 51st state and stumbling through bizarre speeches wondering which Trump fell asleep. Another, during which Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Defiantly demanded more sperm, if you can believe it. What a day. And in addition to that, a majority of Americans are now not sure that the assassination attempts in Butler and and Washington D.C. against Donald Trump are real. A majority believe it's possible that they were staged. Finally, we have AOC calling out the dangerous alliance between some on the left and outrageous right wing extremists. She's right. But they're going after her. All of that and more. Today. We have break breaking news. Just minutes ago we learned that inflation under the affordability President Donald J. Trump has spiked again. Now up to 3.8% inflation year over year, reaching the highest point in three years. I will remind you, although I know most of my audience remembers this, Donald Trump ran on and promised that prompt prices would go down and that they would go down quickly when he takes office. He told us Biden was bad and would be worse for inflation. And then when Biden dropped out and Kamala Harris came in, he said that crazy Kamala would be bad for inflation, but he would be good. So good energy prices would be down, everything would be cheaper. Well done steaks with ketchup would be really inexpensive. And now we see the highest level of inflation dating back to May of 2023, three years ago. Now, if you dig deeper into these numbers, they're even uglier. Remember that specifically on energy, Trump said it would be down 50% and it would be down very quickly to levels we haven't seen in a long time. And instead, energy Prices were up 3.8%. Listen to this. Just last month, not last year, in the last month energy is up 3.8% and is one of the biggest drivers of inflation now, up 17.9% over the last year. Think about that. The promise from Mango Mussolini was, was down 50% and what we got was energy up 18%. That is not what we were promised. That is of course directly affecting gas prices which as you can see here are still high, sky high, a few pennies off of their three year highs. Of $4.56, just slightly off of that, but still very, very high. Now, I know that maybe some people in the audience will say, hold on a second, inflation's not really up. Yes, energy is up, but it's because of Iran and we're winning bigly in Iran and prevented them from getting a nuclear weapon. And. But other than energy, inflation is actually down. And the answer is, you would be very wrong about that. From first of all, the 18% energy price increase over the last year, only about four to four and a half percent of that is since Trump launched the war with Iran. So even if you take out the increase to energy since the war started, energy is still up double digits over the last year. So that claim falls apart very quickly. Second, everything is up. Groceries are up, housing is up. Trump said he was going to fix housing. Clothing is up. Airline fares obviously are up. If energy prices are up, you're going to see airlines charge more. Of course, furniture is up. And in the meantime, and this is genuinely terrible, wages are down. You can say a lot of bad things about the Biden presidency. You can say he didn't do enough of this and he did too much of that and he was sleepy and he was slowing down. And. But inflation came down under Joe Biden. And wage growth during the Biden presidency exceeded inflation, meaning that in inflation adjusted terms, in real terms, as we call them, people were making more money under Joe Biden and under Donald Trump, not only is inflation spiking, but wages are also down. Real average hourly wages, meaning inflation adjusted, are down half of a percent in the last month. And over the last year, real inflation adjusted wages are also down about the same amount. So there are really three different stories here. Number one is the political story. There were a bunch of promises that were made and Donald Trump has failed on those promises. He would end wars. He's actually started wars. He would get prices down. Prices are actually up. The United States would be respected around the world. The United States is laughed at around the world. Okay, so there's the political story. Promises failed. That didn't happen. How are people going to vote based on that in just a few months? Second issue, there's the practical state of the economy. When we look at what's going on and we see prices up, we see, as I told you last week, an important leading indicator of trouble. Delinquent vehicle loan payments are at the highest in a decade and maybe the highest ever. There's, I'm finding conflicting information. But regardless, vehicle loan delinquencies are, if not at their highest point ever close to it. That's a really bad sign for this economy. And we should be worried. Putting the politics aside for a second, putting aside the horse races of who wins and all this different stuff, we should really be thinking about what does this suggest will be the direction of the economy. 80% of Americans believe the economy will be worse in a year than it is today. That's a disaster. And then we get to number three, which is what is going to be the voting impact of all of this in November in real terms. We know that while men and women's sports, as Trump describes it, can get applause lines at rallies, for example, it doesn't really seem to be a big motivating, a big voting issue in terms of motivating people to go out and vote. The economy does. And especially in a midterm, it's less about, oh, if people are angry about the economy, they might vote for a Democrat as their senator instead of a Republican. That's less the issue. But in a midterm, it is about, this isn't good enough for me to want to go out and reward anybody with my vote, so I'll stay home. And turnout is lower in midterm elections. These are particularly meaningful and significant, potentially impactful midterm elections. We could see a veritable disaster for Republicans there as well. So we've got the promises, we've got the economy, and, and we have extremely important, consequential midterms where if you still believe this idea from the 90s of it's the economy, stupid. It's not gun safety or trans sports stuff or even foreign policy that's going to get people to vote one way or the other or to vote at all. It's the economy. People are looking around, even three time, three time Trump voters are looking around and saying, am I better off as my, has my purchasing power gone up or has it gone down? Am I making more money or less? Am I paying more or less for energy? Am I paying more or less for gasoline? What's my, my monthly budget and how is that relating to our household income? It is impossible at the macro scale to argue that things are better. And I believe that this will be a disaster for Republicans in November if we get out there and vote. Donald Trump is in no rush to help Americans with the growing economic crisis that we are facing. He is willing to admit it. In fact, he has said numerous times now he would have gone into Iran even if the stock market would have dropped way more and even if gas Prices would have gone up higher. He has said it a number of times. And White House spokesperson Anna Kelly is taking the exact same approach. She said, you know, on gas prices, Trump's not in a rush. He's just, he's not going to hurry on this day.
- [09:27]
White House Spokesperson / Trump Supporter
President Trump said again from the Oval Office today he insists that this will drop like a rock once this all comes to an end. What is President Trump and what is the White House saying today about these high energy prices? Well, look, the President has been incredibly clear eyed with the American people since prior to the start of, of Operation Epic Fury about what could happen if Iran tried to subvert the free flow of energy in the Strait of Hormuz. And he's right. Once this long term and short term volatility presented by Iran is removed, then those oil prices, those gas prices are going to drop dramatically. But look, I know there's a lot of confusion, it seems on the Iranian side and in the legacy media about the state of play right now with Iran. Let me be very clear. Iran has been incredibly decimated. Military, their navy is at the bottom of the ocean, their ballistic missiles are destroyed, their production facilities are demolished. Now they are being totally crippled economically by the weight of Operation Economic Fury. So the President is not in a rush. He's has all the cars at his disposal because he knows that Iran is getting weaker and weaker by the day while the United States is getting stronger and stronger.
- [10:32]
David Pakman
The President is in no rush. Good thing, huh? I mean, thank goodness Trump's not worried about it. Of course it doesn't affect Donald Trump. He's a billionaire and everything that he. Most of his day to day expenses are paid for. By you. By me, through taxes. But Trump's not worried about it. I'm glad they're not getting stressed out about it. You know, if they were worried about getting gas prices down for the average American, they might actually lose some sleep. Isn't it nice that they're not? That should be turned into a campaign ad immediately, immediately, just instantly. Trump yesterday even said that the loss of the Strait of Hormuz is genius because now companies are buying their oil from Texas. He even calls it amazing, folks, gas prices are up 66% since mid January. And Trump goes, it's so cool that the Strait of Hormuz is closed and now Texas is selling oil.
- [11:23]
Donald Trump
Let me tell you, as soon as this is over with Iran, as soon as it's over, you're going to see gasoline and oil drop like a rock. Going to be dropping down like a Rock. I mean, already look, just on the basis of, you know, things have happened. When it first came, about 20% of the oil came out of Hormuz. That's a lot. But, you know, with time, it's like they go into Texas, they go into Louisiana, they go into Alaska. A lot of Alaska. Alaska is, you know, sort of. It seems like very far away from the. From Asia, but it's actually a relatively short trip.
- [12:07]
David Pakman
Like, you know, it might look like Alaska and Asia are far away on a flat map. But the thing is, I've been told the Earth is a sphere, and therefore, things that look far away if you travel east can actually be close if you travel west, because it's a round circle. See how good I am at these cognitive tests? That's a circle three dimension, sphere, comparison to other locations.
- [12:37]
Donald Trump
They have to go to to get oil, and they go into Alaska. In fact, our big problem is we're building bigger docks, docking, you know, to fill up. But we have. We've become very big on the filling station.
- [12:51]
David Pakman
Anyway, he's not worried. He thinks everything that's happening is cool. We don't even need the Strait of Hormuz. Now. Some people are buying oil from Texas. And by the way, oil prices are through the roof and gas prices are through the roof. It's all theoretical. It's like a video game for Trump. It's so cool. Close this. But now people are paying 66% more for gasoline, and Trump doesn't care. And Anna Kelly, his spokesperson, goes, trump's not in a rush to fix this thing. Just as a little small detour. We'll call it an excursion, an actual excursion, not an incursion, which is what Trump actually means when he says excursion. John Roberts on Fox News goes, you know, I talked to Trump this morning, and he really wants to make Venezuela the 51st state. Really meeting Americans where they are in terms of economic concerns isn't.
- [13:43]
Donald Trump
I was talking to the President this morning. It was just before the Oval Office Office event. He kind of surprised me a little bit because he said, john, I just
- [13:49]
Senator Cory Booker
want to tell you I'm very serious
- [13:51]
Donald Trump
about this, so you can talk about this. I'm serious about beginning a process to make Venezuela the 51st state. Now, there's a rich history in this nation of taking territories and absorbing them into the United States. You know, Puerto Rico is one that
- [14:07]
Senator Cory Booker
people talk about, but this would be the first time, and to my knowledge, that a sovereign country was ever invited
- [14:14]
Donald Trump
to join the United States of America.
- [14:16]
Senator Cory Booker
How would that work?
- [14:18]
White House Spokesperson / Trump Supporter
Yeah, well, John, I won't get ahead of what the President was comfortable sharing with you as far as those plans go. But look, this is a president who is famous for never accepting the status.
- [14:27]
David Pakman
This is a president who doesn't give an F about the struggles of the average person. As you can see, he's really focused on important stuff. The president is not in a rush, which should be devastating politically, given rising prices. But the president is not in a rush to work on energy prices, and he's really focused on making Venezuela our 51st state. Just hold him to his promises. Ignore me. Right? But you don't have to listen to people on the left. Just evaluate Trump for his promises. Did he provide immediate affordability relief, or has he provided the opposite? And now the message is, you got to wait. He said, the oil crisis is an amazing thing. Like, it's a great thing. It's strategically useful for gas to be so expensive, I guess, to Donald Trump. So there is this incredible split screen. On one side of the screen, you've got Americans worried about bills paying more for gas, paying more for electricity, more for oil if they have oil heating, more for groceries, more for all of it. And on the other side, you've got Trump in his purple tie sitting at the Oval Office going, it's amazing what we're doing. I'm in no rush to get gas prices down. But it's turned out to be so cool that the Strait of Hormuz has been closed. Republicans have tied presidents to gas prices for decades, even when it wasn't appropriate. Trump is taking actions that raise gas prices. We must. We have a duty to tie Trump to those gas prices. And, and these clips just reinforce that he doesn't give a damn. His priorities are completely warped. This is perfect, perfect campaign material. Why is it that Trump loves dictators and despises democratic allies? If it's the uk, I don't know about that. If it's Spain, Spain's gotten very nasty. If it's France, those sissy French with their coffees and croissants, and he doesn't like them, but all of a sudden it's China. And Xi Jinping is a great gentleman. It's Lukashenko in Belarus who's been in power since 1994, and he's fantastic. Here's just a couple of clips. Trump loves dictators, and I'm going to tell you why this is so dangerous.
- [16:51]
Donald Trump
He's a great gentleman. I find him to be an amazing, an amazing man. And when I say that, the press always says, oh, that's terrible that he called it. You know, he runs 1.4 billion people with a pretty iron fist. He's. He loves his country, I can tell you that. President Xi, I love.
- [17:10]
David Pakman
Trump is impressed. Trump is impressed that authoritarians run their countries with an iron fist. Trump likes that. Trump's instincts are dictatorial. They are authoritarian. They are not democratic. Here's Trump talking about Belarus. Listen to this.
- [17:28]
Donald Trump
Various Belarus. You know, you read about that we had. And the leader has been fantastic, but somebody has to ask him. Biden never asked. We asked, and we were getting hundreds of people out of confinement and prisons that shouldn't be there.
- [17:45]
David Pakman
And Lukashenko has been fantastic. Trump says he's been an authoritarian leader since 1994. What the theme points to here is the opposite of what the United States was based on. It's hard to think of something more un American than skepticism of democracies and love and adulation and worship of dictators. Iron fist. Trump says it as praise, not criticism. He loves leaders who lead based on control and dominance, not on democratic values. And he talks about, essentially, he's talking about authoritarianism with admiration and fascination. He loves it. The Belarus comment. Lukashenko has ruled as a dictator for 32 years. That's the model Trump is impressed by. And he frames democratic criticism of his dictator friends as an overreaction from the media. Oh, when he talks about Xi goes, oh, they'll, they'll be upset that I'm praising him. Well, it's the opposite of how this country was built. There are dictatorships around the world, but that's not the framework of the United States. The United States was built as a democracy. And the pattern is Xi is great. Putin's great, Kim Jong Un is great, Orban is great, Lukashenko. But France, Germany, Ireland, the uk, Canada, they're a problem. I don't know about them. We've got to see them. Increasingly, skeptically. He doesn't sound like a democratic president. He sounds like someone impressed by unchecked power who wants more of his own unchecked power. This is why we are so worried about the authoritarian drift of this country. It should terrify all of us. And for those who go, well, listen, he'll be gone soon. But the question is, what comes next? And does this become the status quo of the Republican Party in seeking authoritarianism? If you value coverage of the fight against democracy that these people are waging, make sure you're subscribed to the YouTube channel. I do need your help to get to 4 million YouTube subscribers to keep pushing out A pro Democracy message. 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AI/pacman and use the code PACMAN. The link is in the description. The David Pakman show is very different than legacy media and corporate media. We primarily exist at the pleasure of our audience. If the audience says no more, there's really no more show because our primary funding source is the audience and there are two mechanisms that make that possible. Number one, memberships on my website. Join pacman.com you can get the daily bonus show and a bunch of extra great perks. Number two becoming a Substack premium subscriber, which you can find out about@david pakman.com/substack. These two means of funding this program keep us independent of media conglomerates, where there might be three to six layers of editors telling me what I can and can't talk about, how I should talk about issues. We have none of that, thanks to you. So I invite you to sign up@join packman.com or david pakman.com slab, substack or both, as we believe, several hundred folks currently subscribe both on the website and to Substack. Thank you. Thank you to all of you. Donald Trump's assassination attempts have just been blown wide open. A majority of Americans. Listen to this. A majority of Americans right now are not sure that the attempts on Trump's life were real. This includes both people on the left and people on the right. It includes both Republicans and Democrats. There is a new national poll out which finds 30% of Americans straight up think at least one of the two attempts was staged. And even more people say they aren't sure, which leaves a minority of Americans believing that both of these assassin assassination attempts were real in the sense that they are as they were described. And so we have this conspiracy culture that, interestingly, Donald Trump and MAGA helped to build, which has now been turned on Trump himself. This is an example of the monster you built turning against you. And there are Republicans that are panicking because Republicans believe that they need the public to accept the official story if indeed Republicans are going to do well in November, and if Republicans are going to have a shot in 2028. They hate this conversation. Now, the left is also wrapped up in this, and we're going to talk about that. But you now find many Republicans in this incredible position of now having pushed a bunch of conspiracies over the last 10 years of Donald Trump's political life, having to convince their own followers that federal investigators and law enforcement and intelligence agencies and official reports are telling the truth. Because they spent years saying, you can't trust our intelligence agencies. You can't necessarily trust law enforcement. You definitely can't trust institutions. And so they are finding it to be a tough sell, telling people after years and years of saying the FBI lies to us and the media lies and the government lies, now they are saying, no, it is to be believed what these institutions are saying. And what happened is that they built this conspiratorial monster. And so the monster now sees conspiracy theories everywhere, including with Donald Trump's assassination attempts. Now, I want to be careful in the next part of this analysis, I understand why people have questions. I can find specific issues where I have questions. Trump is the kind of person who would absolutely exploit or manipulate an event politically if he thought that it benefited him. I don't think Trump would have any moral qualms staging assassination attempts morally and ethically. He pushed election conspiracy theories, fake elector schemes, edited AI videos, false crime narratives, birther conspiracies with Barack Obama claims that every investigation into him is fabricated and he's never done anything wrong. So when people go, well, would Trump exaggerate politically, weaponize an event? Obviously he would. Obviously there are details that fuel skepticism. For example, ears that seem to heal a little too quickly. People saw the butler images and then saw Trump shortly thereafter and his ear looks completely healed. That became part of the discussion. Now, at the same time, there is another reality that for me is maybe the most important thing. These people are deeply incompetent. Deeply incompetent. And that's what makes the whole conversation very interesting. I don't think Trump would have any moral hesitation about exploiting a situation politically. But coordinating an elaborate fake assassination attempt across Secret Service, local pd, federal investigators, witnesses, rally goers, doctors, journalists, everyone. It's very complicated, especially with a political movement that constantly leaks information. How have there been no leaks about the plot to stage the butler or White House correspondents dinner shootings? I struggle to believe that. Now, would Trump take an event and weaponize it? For example, White House correspondents dinner shooting, Trump and everybody is immediately on message about this proves we need the ballroom, even though the ballroom would solve nothing. Yes, that I believe that he would do. These, at the end of the day are people who texted war plans to journalists and leave classified documents lying around and confuse everything on live television. I don't think they are competent enough to stage this thing. So I think that the bigger story is the conspiracy hydra. This three headed monster that they've created has now turned inward. That is the big story here because suddenly Republicans want Americans to believe the official story, to trust investigators and federal agencies after they spent a decade saying they cannot be trusted. I don't think this disappears anytime soon. The Internet and these algorithms reward highly emotionally salient, suspicious conspiracy theories. Algorithms want outrage. You get social status online for saying you can see through this, to see the truth. That generates a lot of clicks and that consumes so much oxygen that I don't think this is going away anytime soon. Every major story becomes a puzzle. You've got amateur detectives with COVID It was amateur epidemiologists and pulmonologists. Now with the hantavirus, I had someone writing to me going, you know, the meaning of Honda in other languages tells us that this is all fake. This is really. It's like a societal sickness of sorts of and at a certain point a country reaches a place where millions of people stop agreeing on whether an observable event really happened as it appears, and they start coming up with all this other stuff. And that is happening right now in the United States. I know there are people in my audience who are skeptical about either the Butler or Washington D.C. attempts because of specific facts. I don't think there are too many in my audience who straight up think these are all staged events. But at the national level right now, a majority of the country isn't ready to say both of these attempts were as they were reported. And that is incredible. I want to hear from you. What do you believe? Write to me info at David Pakman Dotcom. I I can't believe I am saying the following words to you, but they are true. A desperate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Said, We need more sperm in this country while Donald Trump dozed, slept, looked completely out of it. Folks, what is happening in this country? Here is Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The Deranged Secretary of Health and Human Services, saying men do not have the sperm they used to. We need more sperm and we need it now. While Donald Trump struggles to stay awake.
- [31:16]
Donald Trump
Crisis and that is part of this program. We're looking at the impact of metabolic challenges which directly affect fertility, of obesity, which affects fertility, of endocrine disruptors, of pesticides, of this toxic soup that are our young women are walking around today to try and figure it out. The fertility crisis for Women began in 2007.
- [31:43]
David Pakman
For men in 1970, Trump barely conscious right now. Just for people who aren't sure men
- [31:49]
Donald Trump
had twice the sperm count as our teenagers do today. This is an existential crisis for our country.
- [31:56]
David Pakman
Gas is up, energy's up, we're in a war and they're worried about sperm. We need more sperm desperately, says RFK Jr. And by the way, Donald Trump slept through much of this event. Four or five different points in time. Trump was out. I won't even play all of them because how interesting is it to watch someone sleep at five different from five different camera angles? But here is Trump just out of it. He looks like he is entering REM
- [32:26]
Senator Cory Booker
during the earliest years of their children's lives. Second, we are cutting unnecessary red tape. Red tape that forced providers to close limited access to care and made it harder for working families to find the support they needed. We're moving away from what is.
- [32:41]
David Pakman
He is doing a wakey, wakey to the extent that he can. I will remind you this as. As are many of the things that happen with Donald Trump. This is something he attacked Joe Biden for and said he would never, ever, ever do.
- [32:54]
Donald Trump
He has one ability I don't have. Yeah, he sleeps. He can sleep. This guy goes on a beach and he lays down on one of those, you know, six ounce. They weigh six ounces and he can't lift it. They're meant for. They're meant for children. Yeah. Young people and old people to lift. Yeah. They. Aluminum, you know, hollow aluminum. Yeah. They weigh very little. And he can't lift. And somebody convinced him he looks good in a bathing suit. And when you're 82, typically bathing suits are going to make you look great. You're not going to be enhanced. Yeah. All right. It's just one of those things. I can't be sure about that. But typically, you know, that's what he's packing.
- [33:37]
David Pakman
He could.
- [33:37]
Donald Trump
I don't know what the hell he's packing, but I don't want to know. I don't know. But. But he has an ability to fall asleep while on camera. He can lie down on one of those things and minutes, he's stone cold out. How did she got cameras? Because he's the president. So they have cameras on him. Yeah, yeah. And then they show him sleeping on the beach here. You'll never see me sleeping in front of camera.
- [34:02]
White House Spokesperson / Trump Supporter
How do we.
- [34:02]
David Pakman
And yet Donald Trump is now falling asleep on camera multiple times a week. Okay, Trump's out. Shortly after falling asleep again in front of the cameras, Trump woke up to declare, you know what? McDonald's is awesome. Fast food may be really great stuff.
- [34:21]
Donald Trump
Look at the people up here. They're all, like, brilliant. I. I'm one of the young ones. You know, I'm a similar age to all of you. Very similar. I feel the same as them. I actually feel, you know, I don't know what this is. I feel the same as I did 50 years ago. It's crazy. Someday there'll be a day when that won't happen. I'll let. I'll let Bobby and Oz know. You know, it's not quite the same, but I feel literally the same. I don't know why I'm not. It's not because I eat the best foods. Maybe, though, they are the best foods. Who knows what the best foods are? Maybe, Maybe junk food is good and the other food is no good. I know people that eat the best food. They go to a restaurant, they have celery and I don't want. And I'll have steak and everything else. And I say, how you doing? Well, it's over for me at a young age. And all they do is watch it. I know many, many.
- [35:17]
David Pakman
Why are people laughing and nodding to this? This is a. This is an insane message for the president to be giving then. An incredible insight into the reality of loyalty politics. This is mob stuff. This is sort of like, you're going to stay being one of our friends and we'll stay being one of your friends. Right? Donald Trump straight up saying to Senator Katie Britt, you know, if she stops being loyal to me, things could get very, very ugly. This is overt mob stuff.
- [35:46]
Donald Trump
Supporting the journey of American moms at every stage is so important to the success of our nation. I now like to ask Senator Katie Britt. She's the one that got me into this. I have to tell you, I hope she always remains loyal to me so I can continue to support her. I would hate to go against her. That will never happen. Katie, right?
- [36:07]
White House Spokesperson / Trump Supporter
That's right, sir.
- [36:07]
Donald Trump
But to say just a few words, she's really a fantastic woman. She's a great senator. And I got lucky. I was supporting somebody else, and then I realized that somebody else wasn't very good.
- [36:19]
Senator Cory Booker
Good.
- [36:19]
Donald Trump
And I said, who's that young woman I met that was so impressive? They say her name is Katie Britt. I said, let me talk to her. I talked to her. I endorsed her. She won a landslide. And you've been winning in landslides ever since.
- [36:33]
David Pakman
I don't know what landslides Trump is talking about because Katie Britt was elected in 2022 and she hasn't had another election. So it's just totally fabricated. I don't know what landslides he's talking about, but she says, that's right, sir. I will never go against you, sir. May I have another? And then finally, Trump admitting what we all suspect, the supposed cease fire in Iran. It's the weakest cease fire anyone has ever heard of.
- [36:59]
Donald Trump
What?
- [37:00]
David Pakman
For the time being, the cease fire remains in place.
- [37:03]
Donald Trump
It's unbelievably weak, I would say. I would call it the weakest right now. After reading a piece of garbage, they said, I didn't even finish reading it. I said, I'm going to waste my time reading it. I would say it's one of the weakest right now. It's on life support. They understand. These are all medical people. Dr. Oz, life support is not a good thing. Do you agree? Bad prognostic? I would say the cease fire is on massive life support.
- [37:32]
David Pakman
We know sir, we know the entire Trump has declared the war over seven times. We know the cease fire is on life support. The man who sleeps anywhere, not Joe Biden Donald Trump Shopping for a mattress is one of those things where most people have no idea where to start. Which is why I recommend Helix Sleep, our sponsor. Helix makes the process simple because instead of guessing, you just take a sleep quiz. You'll get matched with the best mattress for for you. It takes a lot of the uncertainty out of buying something you're going to spend every night on. You'll be glad to have one tailored to your unique needs. I'm mostly a stomach sleeper. I like medium firmness and I tend to run hot rather than cold at night. Helix had exactly the mattress for that. I've had my Helix mattress for years now. It is the one I keep recommending because it feels supportive, comfortable even after all these years. Helix also ships free in the United states. You get 120 night sleep trial and a limited lifetime warranty so you can buy with complete confidence. Go to helix sleep.com/pacman to get 27% off site wide exclusive for my audience the link is in the description. Most scammers rely on information that's already public your name, address, phone number, family connections. A lot of that is online and available to be scraped and abused. Our sponsor, Incogni, reduces the risk by removing you from the Internet wherever that personal data appears. It works across many types of websites, not just one category, so scammers have fewer ways to piece things together. About you Incogni automatically submits removal requests to hundreds of sites on your behalf, but the standout feature is custom removals, where you find your information on any website, even one not in their database. You paste the link and Incogni's team will get to work to remove it. I can tell you I've personally been getting way fewer scam and spam calls and messages ever since I started using Incogni. You can accomplish a lot quickly with Incogni, protect yourself before your data is used against you, and get 60% off when you go to incogni.com/pacman and use the code Pacman. The link is in the description it's great to have Senator Cory Booker back on the program representing the state of New Jersey as a Democratic Senator. Senator Always good to have you on.
- [40:10]
Senator Cory Booker
Thank you so much. And I appreciate the Jersey love in particular.
- [40:14]
David Pakman
Well, you know, I, I think this is a perfectly timed conversation because I have been very interested in speaking with my audience about the left right divide within the party. And you've said a lot over the last six to 12 months about Democratic purity tests, the divide that exists to some degree within the party. You and I have spoken about some of the messaging and tactical issues of 2024, and you've kind of been critical in some way and have indicated there are some mistakes here that can be corrected. Two years later. I don't see that Democrats are getting better at uniting. And in fact, I'm worried that Democrats are maybe actually struggling more than ever to unite. I'm curious from your perspective, including as someone who, you know, I saw some of your recent podcast appearances, there are definitely other hosts on the left that don't agree with your approach to how to integrate or not different wings of the left. How do you see the fracturing or unity on the left right now?
- [41:17]
Senator Cory Booker
So, first of all, I think we need to have a lot more comfort with disagreement. So we were joking. I'm New Jersey senator in my congressional delegation, my federal delegation, I've got everybody from a new great Senate House member and a Lilia Mejia, and I've got Josh Gottheimer in the visitors. In our party, people will dramatize their disagreements on issues. We have a wide delegation, but we are united and we deliver for New Jersey. In the last six years that I've been a senator, I'm up for reelection, we have brought more federal dollars back to New Jersey, helped to deal with everything from our flooding problems and our infrastructure problems to supporting public education and healthcare. And so we are a party that needs to be even a bigger tent party when it comes to reaching independence, which is the fastest growing group. Not Democrats, not Republicans, but people who identify as independents. And I think it's really healthy that we have competitive primaries all throughout our country. So I actually think we're in a really healthy place and a really good place. And I'm looking forward to not just this cycle, but really 2028 when we have a deeper conversation about what the vision not just for our party is, but what the vision for our country is.
- [42:32]
David Pakman
Do you think that some of these move slices within the left have been effective at moving elected officials like you? Like, I'll give you one example. There used to be, I think, more criticism of you for, like, ties to Wall street or the tech industry or like Silicon Valley. Donors. And I think you've been clear that you've distanced yourself from some of those big dollar donors. You don't take money from single issue ideological PACs or corporate PACs. Is that a change that to some degree that that further left wing could say, hey, maybe we had a role to play in Senator Booker making some of these changes?
- [43:11]
Senator Cory Booker
Well, I got into politics as a guy who was fighting to transform an inner city where my, my census tract that I live in is below the poverty line. Yeah, I have a map in my office of the Central Ward in Newark, New Jersey, because my mentor told me, never forget the people that got you into politics and why you got in. And so, so much of my work before I even got to the Senate was about standing with working people, standing with low income people, standing with the kind of folks that most of America looks down on or doesn't look at at all. And what I found when I got to the Senate is that this federal area we live in is an area where symbols often become more important than substance. The issues that I picked up when I got here were about going after the banking industry for screwing low income people, killing them with, with charges on their banks, bank accounts and more. If you look at my record, it was clear who I came here to fight for, but I actually saw that symbols were important. So not last year, not three years ago, not five years ago, but 10 years ago. I was the, I think, fourth senator, I think one of the first people in all of Congress to say I won't take corporate PAC money. Not because those corporate PACs were influencing me, but because the symbol to me was just wrong and I want to get corporate PAC money out of it. So for more than a decade I have said this is wrong for the Democratic Party, it's wrong for our politics. And it's only gotten worse since Citizens United. Now issue area PACs have come up and I hear about them all the time and people questioning leaders about who do you stand with? You take X money from this organization. So I said enough of that. In fact, because of the problem of corruption and money in politics, which I see affecting things down here, I then said, I will not take any issue area PACs money either. This is a decision I've made. But I am telling you right now, I'm going to continue to be one of the loudest voices in the Democratic Party to cut all of this money out altogether. But the first thing you've got to do is be the change you want to see in your party. The Democratic Party should come out in a loud, unified voice. And I think whoever our standard bearer Is in the 2028 election, they should say one of their purposes is to end the corruption of money in politics that's affecting all three branches of government. Because, as I'm sure you've talked about and your listeners know, is that the Supreme Court right now is getting showered with billionaire money, gifts and an RV and more. That is corrupting. I know you've outlined Donald Trump's epic levels of corruption, but I am working in a body right now where people do take as much corporate money as they can get. They do take issue area PAC money that they should no longer take. And even worse than that, I see, number one, senators trading stocks with insider information, and I see that independent expenditures in our country, which is often dark corporate money, is really affecting our politics. So the value here is what I'm fighting for, for our party, because I think it's going to protect the soul, not just Democrats, but the soul of the country as a whole, and restore what has been eroded terribly in the last decade or so, which is overall trust in the people that we elect. Because most Americans, I don't care what your party is, thinks, people go down here and go into a corrupt swamp where their interests and their decisions, like Ms. Virginia Jones, my first mentor, believing that those are the people we're not fighting for, and instead we're fighting for corporations.
- [46:51]
David Pakman
There's a critique that I hear from some that on too many issues, the bulk of the Democratic Party and the bulk of the Republican Party are sort of too close to really feel like there are salient and important differences, not on paper, but at least enough to motivate someone to want to go out and vote. Are there any issues where you do think that the positions have gotten too muddled and you would like to see the Democratic Party take a stronger stand and say, hey, we're actually going to, going to move away from the sort of center position on this particular issue. Are there any such issues like that?
- [47:26]
Senator Cory Booker
Well, can I. Can I just.
- [47:30]
David Pakman
And if you disagree with the critique, that's fine.
- [47:32]
Senator Cory Booker
That's what I'm saying. So I remember early days in the Senate where I didn't know what bathrooms were in this place. I'm sitting next to Claire McCaskill, my former senator. She's from a red state and was surviving in a red state. And she was criticized often for being too centrist. And Harry Reid, the then leader, was putting on the board. We were having this fight over something called tax extenders but really who gets tax breaks? And he put on the board the things that Republicans were demanding and our list of demands. I literally looked at Claire and I said, I don't even understand this gobbledygook language on the Republican side. And she was like, well, this one thing that they're fighting for allows more companies to push money overseas and avoid taxes. This that they're paying for gives this specific industry a better tax break. And on our side was the earned income tax credit, was the child tax credit. We were a united caucus fighting for tax breaks for working people. And they were doing things that me, I didn't even understand but had to be broken down for how they are the party for the rich and the wealthy. So I'm sorry, in this place, as much as we are fighting amongst ourselves as a party, I could go from one end of our ideological spectrum in the Senate all the way to Elizabeth Warren. And we on 90 plus percent of things get up every single day and fight for lower costs, fight for working people, fight to expand health care, fight so that people who work jobs that most people take for granted actually get living wages. And so some of the most radical things that I'm trying to do, I always call from the radical center. They're the same things I was fighting for when I was mayor of the city of Newark at that time, low income city are the things that I think are still at the center of the amer of the Democratic Party. How do we help more families with kids? How do we help people get access to healthy, affordable food? How do we help people get healthcare? How do we help people have quality public schools and more? So this existential fight within the Democratic Party to me sometimes undermines the truth is that most of the people that serve in the Democratic Party every single day fight. And it forgets one other thing. The 43 Senate Democrats and the 200 plus House Democrats is a minority of the Democratic Party. Most Democratic Party are those local mayors that don't even get a paycheck, that are fighting against Republican forces that are hurting their towns. They're county leaders that barely get a paycheck, who get up every single day. They're the person that are a city council person, a coach in the little league and a parent of their kids. Our party is pretty extraordinary. And so what I'm going to fight for is one, massive reforms that end the erosion of trust. And number two, for us to get back to elevating the ideals of our party in real policies that can unify us going into a 26 and 28 election.
- [50:35]
David Pakman
I think, to, to that point, about the 43 Senate Democrats really being quite on the same page, as you point out, about 99% of issues. I think the critique from someone further to your left and maybe to my left as well, would be the problem is that those 43 senators are not representative of where the voters are in the sense of just to pick a couple of things, you know, the tax debate is mostly about should the top rate be 37 or 39% or something like that. And so maybe the critique would be, it's, it's that those 43 don't represent us. Yes, they're aligned with each other, but we feel unrepresented.
- [51:14]
Senator Cory Booker
Well, you're saying that to a guy who just unveiled a tax plan that would radically upend our taxes.
- [51:20]
David Pakman
Yes.
- [51:21]
Senator Cory Booker
You probably know that I have basically said there is way too much tax avoidance at the top, carried interest corporate tax breaks that allow 88 of our top companies to pay zero in taxes, that these things are offensive and morally bankrupt, and said we should take away all that tax avoidance and give the average American to give the standard deduction for an American family to be $75,000. This is how radical that is. It would mean that most Americans who all of us pay federal taxes from our FICA taxes to our to taxes when we buy federal taxes when we buy a beer or buy gasoline. But most Americans would not pay income tax and the lowest wage earners because my bill also has a massive expansion of the child tax credit and the Earned Income tax credit. It would cut child poverty in half and give a massive elevation to adults who live in poverty, the people that I got into politics to fight for. So I don't understand what you're saying. Like, we've gotten endorsements for that bill from all across our political spectrum, from union leaders all the way to people that I partner with in the civil rights community. So I think that there are radical ideals that I think are radically moderate because most of America agrees with them. In fact, I talk about my tax program to independents and even some Republicans. They're saying it's about time somebody's standing up and fighting for working people. FDR was able to do something that we need to do now. My grandparents were Republicans, as most blacks were in the 1920s and the 1930s. But what did FDR do? He expanded the Democratic tent with a vision that was unifying not just for Democrats, but for all Americans. He said, it's time for an American renewal. It's time for A new deal, because the old deal isn't working. And I'm gonna make us the party of rural farmers and urban factory workers. I'm gonna make us the party of labor and civil rights and women's rights, and I'm gonna make us the party of the middle class. Not only did we win that election, but we held majorities in the House of representatives until the 1980s with tip o'. Neill. And so that's what I'm looking for is how do we become a durable dominant party again. And it is not by doing picking one side over another side. It's having a unifying vision that pulls our party together and reaches into the middle and brings those people in as well. Because everybody trusts that we are the party for America. That's what I'm looking to do. And a lot of these intramural debates are important, but the main thing is, is that we come out of the 28th cycle with the White House, the House of Representatives, and frankly the United States Senate. And if we do that, it's going to necessitate us having, like the New Jersey delegation, a wide area of views that then have to bring together an actual leadership agenda that delivers substantively for the people in my home neighborhood and the people in Claire McCaskill state to turn that state back to being blue.
- [54:33]
David Pakman
You talked about reaching into the middle. This is the last thing I want to ask about, and I'll let you go. I want to ask about reaching further to the left. It's become very popular to ask elected officials, would you go on Hasan Piker's stream now? I want to kind of just make clear Hassan and I don't really get along. He recently alleged that I have an APAC handler. Something that he said without evidence which actually really affected my show. I think the only reason he said that is I'm Jewish. I've never had an APAC handler taken a dollar from AIPAC or anything like that. But I recognize that he has a huge audience that is further to the left of where you are and where I am. Reaching to the middle, I understand. Is there value in trying to reach that young, further to the left anti capitalist audience that he, he has built. For better or worse, a leader should
- [55:26]
Senator Cory Booker
reach out to everyone. I sit down with people in New Jersey from all across the political and ideological spectrum, especially looking to sit down with people that I don't agree with. They've made a better senator, they've made me a better leader, they've made me a better public servant. So I appreciate the way you approach this question because I remember getting ticked off when I was running for president and we, we actually banded together and all said enough of these like raise your hand if you believe da da da da da. Which was just lightning bolt questions with no nuance and no discussion. I am seeing the crisis we're in because again, in the Central Ward of Newark, New Jersey, there is so much frustration with politics as usual. We need a revolution like we had in the time of the New Deal, a revolution like we had in the time of LBJ in the 1960s. Every time we have a generational movement and this is a time where enough of the, of the baby boomer generation that has given us so much. But I don't think we should have. This should be the last baby boomer head of the Senate, the last baby boomer president. A new generation is rising in America that needs to have a powerful, revolutionary set of ideals to redeem the American dream. That's what I'm fighting for it. It behooves me to listen to people that I disagree with because they've made, can make me better, can make my arguments sharper, or as I've seen in my 25 years in politics, actually help me evolve as a leader to have better ideas.
- [56:59]
David Pakman
So on the specifics of getting in front of that Hassan audience valuable, not so much.
- [57:06]
Senator Cory Booker
I think if you are saying, and I've said this to my team, remember I went in and took a job this year to help my caucus who the average age is. I think it used to be 70 something in the Senate as a whole to say we're doing a terrible job communicating to young people. In fact, I think that one of the reasons why Donald Trump won is because he was getting on Discord and twitch and mixed martial arts, podcasts and platforms talking to young men. And we weren't even, our presidential team was not even on those platforms at all. They had a complete echo chamber with just their views. I got my team to get more on TikTok when other people did not realize that younger voters, that's how they get most of their news. And I've watched my caucus because I can measure this all more than 7x if you get out of Twitter 4x with Twitter, the amount of engagement they have. I've seen how their engagement with younger voters has increased. I've seen them go on. You and I both know and the creator economy. There are thousands of people that talk to young voters and I've seen my colleagues get on more and more of those shows. So Absolutely. Yes. We have especially had a communications problem that for the 43 of us, I'm trying to push my team to go more and more to talk to younger voters who we need not just to hear our message, but we need to be inspiring them to get on the field and begin to lead the Democratic Party in the United States of America from cynicism to activism so that we can have a better nation.
- [58:38]
David Pakman
So maybe on the Hassan stream, I'm
- [58:40]
Senator Cory Booker
hearing now again, one of the best things I can say to you for your mental health when somebody like Hassan comes after you on something that's absolutely ridiculous, that, that's, that that's whiffs of anti Semitism to me. I just want you to remember this and all your folks, it's, for me, it's a great mental health piece of advice. You do not have to attend every argument you're invited to. You don't, you don't. And so I have so many demands on my time, as do you. Yes. Find audiences that you want to reach out to, but you don't have to talk to everybody. You made no obligation to do that. Just be careful, pick and choose wisely about how you put your energy, your time, your heart out there in your fight to make this nation better for all of its people.
- [59:37]
David Pakman
All right. I think that is pretty clear. Senator Cory Booker, always good to talk to you. I appreciate your time. Thank you so much.
- [59:46]
Senator Cory Booker
More than you know. I appreciate you. Thanks. Thanks for having me on.
- [59:50]
David Pakman
The David Pakman show is an audience supported program and the best, most direct way to support, 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@join pacman.com Donald Trump gave a drunk uncle crazy wedding speech at the White House. Stroking out was the description a lot of people use to describe it. Glitching repeatedly in bizarre fashion. And this is, I'm going to, this is just Trump ranting like a madman. No, there's no possible context or setup that could make this at all reasonable. This is not someone who has his faculties with him. This is someone in deep decline. This is someone who is unwell in an acute way and the last thing he should be doing is being president of the United States. I, I don't think this guy should be even walking dogs. And I don't say that because walking dogs is an easy job. I just mean this. There's nothing this guy can do it's unbelievable.
- [61:01]
Donald Trump
It's unbelievable. But I had nothing to do. I blame Doug. They gave it out. I didn't even give it out. So the other people we have. And we have some of the greatest people on Earth here tonight. Homeland Security. The Homeland Security team has been unbelievable, I have to tell you. And I came up with an idea that I thought was brilliant. I think all my ideas are brilliant, actually. But this one, I knew I was brilliant. Then I got a call from Tom Holman. He wasn't with Tom. Is he here? I love Tom. Holman said, I'm the greatest president in history. I said, tom, you can't do better than that.
- [61:36]
David Pakman
So as of this point, we are 36 seconds in, and there is absolutely no way to decipher what this is really about, because it's taken tangents off of tangents off of tangents ad infinitum.
- [61:46]
Donald Trump
Thank you, Tom. So I get a call from Tom Holman. He didn't like it, but everyone else liked it. I wanted to change the name of ice, which is a tough name, you know, to Nice, so that when the fake news reports, I said, it was a nice day with Nice. We spent a beautiful day with Nice. I said, you will screw them up so badly, they won't know what to do.
- [62:11]
David Pakman
All right, The President of the United States, and then he has the audacity. Remember, we can sort of suss out Donald Trump's true insecurities. And one of those insecurities is Gavin Newscomb, the Governor of California. Trump has been obsessed with Gavin Newsom, acknowledging, hey, I've struggled with dyslexia. I struggle to read speeches. I struggle to read. And Trump just making fun of him. He can't get away. And this is because Trump is so insecure. And he's insecure because he knows that Newsom is more articulate and more likable and actually six foot three. And everything Trump is most, most insecure about goes directly to who Gavin Newsom is. And so out of nowhere, Trump says stuff like this.
- [63:02]
Donald Trump
He gets that president of. How about. How about Gavin Newsom, though? He went out and he said, he's a stupid person. He got bad test marks, he got bad this, he got bad that. He can't read a speech, in other words. Well, I'm not reading too much of a speech either. We know, but said he can't read a speech. He's not a smart person. He said, I'm dumb, just like all the people in this room. And now he was accused, accused of being a racist I mean, that was the stupidest. This guy, what he said is so bad. It was the worst interview I've ever seen by a professional politician.
- [63:37]
David Pakman
Hard to imagine a worse one than the infamous Axios Jonathan Swan interview that Trump did, or the Chris Wallace Fox News interview that Trump did or every other interview that Donald Trump did. Then we get to substance as the crazy uncle is making the drunk wedding speech. Trump weighs in on the Secret Service and he says, these guys are great. But he noticed that they got J.D. vance out quickly at the White House Correspondents Dinner, but seems unable to realize there are a lot of reasons why maybe they couldn't get Trump out quite so fast. His brain is melting in real time, but he's whining. They lift advance, but they didn't lift him into the air.
- [64:21]
Donald Trump
Sean, thank you very much. And I thought you did a great job two weeks ago. You know why? Because I'm here. Okay? We consider being here a success. And I'll tell you what, your people are all over the place. You know, I get a little. They, no matter how, no matter how well you do, they're going to find fault, but I, I will be the one to find fault if I think there was fault. They had great professional people and they came out and within seconds, I saw them take JD by the shoulders and lift him up like he was a little boy. I said, how come they didn't lift me up so fast? They lifted. JD Got ripped out of the chair. That was a. That was a view of the week. But they did the job, J.D. right? I think so.
- [65:10]
David Pakman
There you go. We're alive. So the Secret Service did their job. Forget every other concern about security at that event, including the ones I witnessed firsthand. They did a great job. Then it gets really interesting. I've spoken with you and I've spoken actually with Gov. Gav. Governor Gavin Newsom about Trump's uncertainty, his lack of confidence with regard to should he be leaning towards JD Vance to be the heir apparent to Maga in 2028, or should he be pushing Marco Rubio and Trump has no idea and he's still not taking a position. Listen to how he does it.
- [65:44]
Donald Trump
Got a lot of, a lot of beauties out there, J.D. i envy you and other people. I don't know. Who's it going to be? Is it going to be J.D. is it going to be somebody else? I don't know. Who. Does anybody have? Okay, let's go. You ready? Who likes J.D. vance? Who likes Marco Rubio? All right, sounds like a good ticket.
- [66:12]
David Pakman
An interesting way to gauge is a perfect.
- [66:17]
Donald Trump
That was a perfect ticket, by the way. I do believe that's a dream team, but these are minor details. That does not mean you have my endorsement under any circumstance.
- [66:27]
David Pakman
We know Donald Trump is very hesitant, and the primary reason is he doesn't want to end up on the wrong side. He doesn't want to be seen as the loser who picks the loser. Now, an incredible moment. I don't know that I would call it a vulnerability, but maybe a frankness. Donald Trump acknowledges that his current acting Attorney general, Todd Blanch, who replaced Pam Bondi, kept him out of jail when he worked for him as a private lawyer.
- [66:56]
Donald Trump
Again, Mark, when you love standing up, we have a man who's doing a great job. I'll tell you. I. I knew it because he kept me out of jail for years.
- [67:07]
David Pakman
For years.
- [67:08]
Donald Trump
Acting Attorney General. Carte blanche. He kept me out of jail. They would indict me left and right, the crooked Democrats. You know, it's amazing. They impeach me, they indict me, and then when I get in office, if I say something like, well, maybe that should be looked into. Weaponization. I go through court cases, I win them, but because they were fake indictments. But when I even mentioned, like I said the other day, that some of that stuff should be looked into, they said, Weaponization. He's a terrible human being.
- [67:42]
David Pakman
All right, so he's like a broken record. And then finally, Trump, still confused about the concept of the ocean versus the sea. This is not an individual who is of sound mind.
- [67:55]
Donald Trump
That right, Paul? With respect to drugs coming in by sea, meaning drugs coming in by water, by the ocean, by the sea. A lot of people don't know what I mean by sea. They think I'm talking about vision. I'm not. I'm talking about sea. Like the sea. These gains.
- [68:09]
David Pakman
We know. It seems it's Trump who's confused as to the meaning of words, raising major red flags and once again restarting a cycle of questions. Is this man fit to be king? I'm sorry? To be president. And the answer is, of course he's not fit for anything. Is AOC the only one who's not falling for it? At this point in time, there is a movement that is now saying AOC is too corporate, AOC is too centrist. AOC has sold out because Alexandria Ocasio Cortez acknowledges and understands increasingly how politics works and how humanity works. And she's not falling for this BS about, oh, Marjorie Taylor Greene is someone we could work with. Now Tucker Carlson is someone we could work with now because they've criticized Trump and they hate Israel. Now here is AOC very astutely pointing out that just because you might find some area of agreement with someone like a Marjorie Taylor Greene, she's a bigot, she's an anti Semite, these are not the people we should be working with. And AOC is right. And unfortunately there are some on the left who have fallen for it. We will get to that in a moment.
- [69:43]
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC)
You know, and I don't, I care about results. I care about results. Now there are certain places where, certain areas where I don't think that, that we should ignore some folks record on some of these issues. Right. It's about where we, we trust intent that where we trust where those outcomes are going. I personally do not trust someone like Marjorie Taylor Greene, a proven bigot and anti Semite on the issues of what is good for Gazans and Israelis.
- [70:23]
David Pakman
Right.
- [70:24]
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC)
I don't, I don't think that it benefits our movement in that instance to align the left with white nationalists. I don't think it serves us. And so I think it's about looking at the context, the place, the results, the outcomes, intentions and where we think that train would go. But as far as what someone says about me, I could care less. And you know, I think it's really about what our outcomes are. And to be honest, there are some areas where things will not get done if they're of part bipartisan because they are anti establishment. The there is bipartisan consensus on keeping and protecting stock trading in Congress. And so it's going to require a massive bipartisan consensus of people willing to come together across those differences to get it done.
- [71:19]
David Pakman
I think AOC is completely right and it pains my heart that right underneath a Twitter video of this Cenk Uygur from the Young Turks is responding. And I've known Cenk almost 20 years. I've always gotten along with Cenk. He's always been nice to me. I just saw him in D.C. a couple of weeks ago. I just think he's wrong about this. And he posted about AOC saying this quote, this is just terrible. She sounds just like the establishment. She's attacking an opponent of Israel as an anti Semite. This is exactly what Israeli supporters want. Split the antiwar movement and the critics of Israel's genocide. Deeply counterproductive and selfish. But AOC is right here and Cenk is wrong. And this is where the purity tests go crazy, when even AOC now is not left enough. And she's too establishment and she's too centrist. Marjorie Taylor Greene has a long history of anti Semitic remarks. Put aside the space laser thing, you know, Marjorie Taylor Greene has explained that by saying someone else managed my Facebook and posted it under my name. And she didn't take it down. And it only became an issue once she realized it was a problem for her. Put that aside, she would Marjorie Taylor Greene has theorized that the Rothschild family was involved in starting California wildfires. She has invoked conspiratorial control by the Rothschild banking family over world events, which is a centuries old anti Semitic stereotype. She has said any rational Jewish person would be against mask mandates because it's the same thing as Nazi policies. She showed up at Nick Fuentes his conference, a renowned white supremacist and Holocaust denier, and later said, oh, I didn't really know anything about it. She's compared Holocaust comparisons, made Holocaust comparisons to COVID policies. So Marjorie Taylor Greene is just nuts. This is not someone we should be aligning with. And there was an interesting post from the subreddit of Destiny, also known as Stephen Kenneth Destiny, Bennell Borrelli Barali the second, or just Destiny as we know him, which said mainstream libs need to start attacking Sloppy lists more. And this individual on the Destiny subreddit mentions me and says this recent Marjorie Taylor Greene discourse is ridiculous. And the fact that sitting congresspeople like Ro Khanna and Ilhan Omar are backing her despite attacking Harris for working with Liz Cheney is ridiculous. One of the reasons Sloppy is winning in the Democratic Party is that Democrats and liberals haven't been fighting back. Mainstream libs like Pakman, Brian Tyler, Cohen, Muckler, Beasley should be ripping into these people. Democratic politicians should do the same. Harris should make a tweet herself attacking Khanna and Omar for their blatant hypocrisy. Listen, I have been attacking them and I have said, Tucker, Marjorie Taylor Greene, these are not our allies. They are not our allies. They still haven't acknowledged that they created this problem. You know, Tucker and Marjorie Taylor Greene are very happy now to go. Here's a problem with Trump and there's a problem with Trump, but they don't go. And I am part of the problem. Now Tucker did say he regrets his role getting Trump elected, but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm saying they are part of the problem that even created this movement that set up tens of millions of Americans to fall for Donald Trump. And they did it over a period of time. Marjorie postdates it in some way, but she still participated in it. But Tucker, to a greater degree. What? Here's the question I would have to those who go, no, these might be our friends. What relevant policy ideas have changed in the minds of people like Tucker and Marjorie Taylor Greene thanks to these realizations and awakenings that they've had? I can't think of a single relevant one. They are not our friends. We have a phenomenal bonus show for you today. There is a building argument that it's time for Democrats to pack the Supreme Court at the next opportunity, we'll talk about it. Donald Trump's uphill climb on gas taxes is getting complicated, and a Southern California mayor has been charged with acting as an agent for China. All of those stories on today's bonus show, sign up@join pacman.com.