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- [00:00]
David Pakman
Guys, thanks for helping me carry my Christmas tree. Zoe, this thing weighs a ton.
- [00:04]
Donald Trump
Drew Ski, live with your legs, man.
- [00:06]
David Pakman
Santa. Santa, did you get my letter? He's talking to you britches. I'm not. Of course he did. Right, Santa, you know my elf Drew Ski here.
- [00:14]
Donald Trump
He handles the nice list.
- [00:15]
David Pakman
And elf.
- [00:16]
Dr. Jonathan Reiner
I'm six' three. What everyone wants is iPhone 17 and.
- [00:19]
David Pakman
At T Mobile you can get it on them. That center stage front camera is amazing.
- [00:22]
Dr. Jonathan Reiner
For group selfies, right, Mrs. Claus?
- [00:25]
David Pakman
I'm Mrs. Claus Claus much younger sister. And AT T Mobile, there's no trade in needed when you switch, so you can keep your old phone or give.
- [00:32]
Donald Trump
It as a gift.
- [00:33]
David Pakman
And the best part? You can make the switch to T Mobile from your phone in just 15 minutes. Nice.
- [00:37]
Dr. Jonathan Reiner
My side of the tree is slipping.
- [00:38]
David Pakman
Kimber. The holidays are better. AT T Mobile switch in just 15 minutes and get iPhone 17 on us with no trade in needed. And now T Mobile is available in US cellular stores with 34 monthly bill credits for well qualified customers plus tax and $35 vice connection charge credit sentinel balance due if you pay off earlier. Cancel financing agreement. 256 gigs $830 eligible Ford in a new line, $100 plus a month plan with auto pay fees required. Check out 15 minutes or less per line. Visit t mobile.com for everyone who solves crime from their couch, knows more about forensics than their own job, and has trust issues with small town sheriffs. Amazon Music's millions of podcast episodes are calling. Just download the Amazon Music app and.
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Dr. Jonathan Reiner
Start listening to your favorite true crime podcasts ad free included with prime holiday.
- [01:21]
David Pakman
Shopping lists are long and finding the best deals while still giving thoughtful gifts can be challenging. That's where Amazon comes in. Amazon was just named the lowest priced online retailer in the US for the ninth consecutive year by Profitero, a third party analytics and research firm. After analyzing thousands of products, they found Amazon's prices are 14% lower on average and up to 5% lower than the nearest competitor in key gift categories like electronics and toys. When you're shopping for everyone from your spouse to your second cousin's new baby, those savings really add up. The best part is you don't sacrifice selection for better prices. Amazon offers everything from major brands to unique finds from small businesses, all delivered right to your door. If you're trying to be smart about your holiday budget, and who isn't, visit Amazon.com. Today. The presidency is somehow getting even darker, but also dumber at the same time. We are going to start with Donald Trump's 1778 cash payout to troops. It's wrapped in patriotism and grievance and costume playing like the Founding fathers. But Trump is meanwhile ramping up this oil driven war talk about Venezuela. And there is a reason that people are getting a little nervous about the timing. Then Trump actually does something on cannabis. It's not legalization and it's not really reform, but it is a move that Republicans swore would never happen. And now it blows a hole straight into their own talking points. And then we also have Susie Wiles, the current chief of staff, starting to push Trump into sabotage as it was her idea for Trump's deranged Wednesday night speech this week. We will also hear from a doctor about the medical state of play. And then a Fox News host of all people calls out Howard Lutnick for this ridiculous math of reducing the price of something 600%. We'll also have your emails and comments and so much more. What a day. There's a term used in the military that a lot of civilians never hear. And it is called surf and turf. Now, it sometimes is about dinner, surf and turf, of course, the combination of steak and shrimp or steak and lobster, for example. And sometimes surf and turf does refer to dinner in the military. But there's another way in which the phrase surf and turf is used and it is when leadership starts whining and dining the troops. And the idea here is that it could be with food, but it could be with something else. It could be perks or it could be ceremonial appreciation, appreciation. Or it could be smiles and handshakes or whatever the case may be. And the unspoken meaning can be darker. Now, I know I'm being a little cryptic here, but let me lay it all out for you. Here is a little bit of context. Donald Trump recently this week talking about getting Venezuela's oil and maybe needing the troops to do that. Ok. So I'm setting the stage here for you. Bear with me.
- [04:50]
Donald Trump
What was that? Getting land oil rights. Whatever we had, they took it away because we had a president that maybe wasn't watching. But they're not going to do that. We want it back. They took our oil rights with a lot of oil there, as you know. They threw our companies out and we want it back.
- [05:08]
David Pakman
All right. So Trump increasingly aggressive and bloodthirsty with regard to the possibility here of going into Venezuela in a more serious and comprehensive manner. Now, what might you do before you start sending troops into harm's way? Well, you might butter them up. You might try to find a way to make them feel more valued or remind them that you care about them. And then after that, you put them on planes and send them to wherever is politically advantageous for you. So the combination of Trump talking about going in to get Venezuela's oil and earlier this week announcing this dividend, $1,776 for troops, it's wrapped in revolutionary imagery and patriotism and all of it, it might have seemed like just another stunt. But could the two things be connected? This is Trump earlier this week, because.
- [06:09]
Donald Trump
Of tariffs, along with the just passed one big, beautiful bill. Tonight, I am also proud to announce that. That more than 1,450 thousand. Think of this. 1,450,000 military service members will receive a special we call Warrior Dividend before Christmas. A Warrior dividend.
- [06:33]
David Pakman
In honor of the Warrior Warrior Dividend.
- [06:38]
Donald Trump
Nation's founding in 1776, we are sending every soldier $1,776.
- [06:47]
David Pakman
All right, so we've got two things going on. Trump increasingly belligerent about going into Venezuela and getting their oil, and Trump sending soldiers $1776. So the more unsettling question now is, is this a form of surf and turf? Because of the timing. At the same time that Trump is starting to put together a cash payout for framed as this patriotic reward, he's opening this. This new line of bloodthirsty rhetoric against Venezuela. It's not happening vaguely. It's not happening indirectly. It is explicit. Trump said it's about the oil. Venezuela is a threat, and he's starting to use that same regime change language that we've heard before. The combination of these two things matters. Authoritarian leaders don't usually sell us a war. They don't really have to. They sell. Sell it as an inevitability or as justice or as destiny or sometimes as compensation. You get the check, you get the praise, you get the flag, you get deployed. Now, a very brief interruption here, and this is. We're tangential now, but I think this is relevant. Trump said that the tariff money is going to pay for the $1776 for the troops. But administration officials have now confirmed to Defense One that actually the 2.5 billion, 1.45 million times 1776, it's going to come from congressionally allocated reconciliation funds intended to subsidize housing allowances for service members. So it is just reallocating money already allocated for service members. That's disgusting. That's absolutely disgusting. And just as a reminder, Trump said it would come from tariffs.
- [08:27]
Donald Trump
We've had a military that, in my opinion, by other presidents was not treated well. They're incredible. They're our finest people. They're protecting us. And because of tariffs, we're taking in billions and billions of dollars more than we ever have before. With no inflation, by the way. With no inflation. You saw the inflation numbers. It just came out today. What great timing. Practically no inflation, and yet we're taking in hundreds of billions of dollars. And this is small potatoes by comparison, but it's a way of taking care of our warriors, our soldiers.
- [09:03]
David Pakman
There you go. So Trump, certainly not even a suggestion. He's saying, we've got so much tariff money, we can do use a little bit of it to take care of the troops. But the money is coming from an allocation already made to the troops. That's the tangential story, just more Trump lies. But now we get back to the main line here. Right now, there's no official announcement of war with Venezuela. There's no signed order. There's no formal declaration. That's all. So this is a form of informed speculation. Trump has always treated the military like a prop when it's good for him and a tool when he wants leverage. He loves the imagery, he loves the loyalty, he loves the idea of strength. What he doesn't love and doesn't exhibit is restraint. And when Trump starts talking about oil to justify a military intervention, that is Trump acknowledging what many of us have suspected for a while, that he's not really the anti war president. So now what we have is this combination of money for the troops when Trump is ginning something up and the work is being done by that number. 1776. $1776. It's a symbolic bribe dressed up with the numbers associated with the founding of this nation, and it's meant to trigger pride and loyalty. But is Trump buttering up the troops before he sends them into war? This doesn't mean that it is guaranteed, of course. It doesn't mean orders have been written. But when the butter comes out, it's worth asking what's on the grill that we might want to butter? And so that is my question to you. Is the dividend to the troops setting up and preparing to start a war? And how could the winner of the FIFA Peace Prize ever consider doing that? All right, Donald Trump finally did something on marijuana, also known as cannabis, also known as pot, also known as grass, also known as dope. Also. Sorry, whoa, whoa. I went into a little. A little talking point coma there. Now, before you start hyperventilating, Trump did not legalize recreational cannabis. At the federal level, ok, he didn't wake up progressive all of a sudden. He didn't suddenly decide that rather than being president, he wants to go to Grateful Dead shows. What Trump did is sign an executive order moving cannabis out of the most restrictive federal drug category. He is rescheduling cannabis. This is a big deal. Here's what Trump said.
- [11:35]
Donald Trump
At the same time, the facts compel the federal government to recognize that marijuana can be legitimate in terms of medical applications when carefully administered. In some cases, this may include the use as a substitute for addictive and potentially lethal opioid painkillers. They cause tremendous problems. This can do it in a much lesser way, can make people feel much better that are living through tremendous pain and problems. Forty states and multiple US Territories have already recognized the use of medical marijuana. This reclassification order will make it far easier to conduct marijuana related medical research, allowing us to study benefits, potential dangers and future treatments. It's going to.
- [12:24]
David Pakman
All right, so you get the idea. Trump signs an order reclassifying cannabis from Schedule 1 to Schedule 3 under Federal Drug law. This is about medical. We have been saying that this is not the solution, but it is a necessary and important step. Schedule 1 means the government says this is a drug with no medical value and high risk for abuse. That's where cannabis has been for decades, alongside heroin. That doesn't really make sense. Schedule 3 is for drugs with recognized medical uses, and that includes, by the way, ketamine, certain prescription pain medications and others. So under Trump, the federal government is acknowledging cannabis has legitimate medical uses. It should not be in the same category as heroin. That's good news. We agree with that. Now, what else is there behind this? Well, first of all, what will this allow? Number one, medical research researchers have said cannabis was strangled by federal law. Now it'll be easier to go in and actually do some of the research that many have been saying should be done. Number two, this will reduce some federal tax and banking penalties which have been really damaging to legal cannabis businesses for a long time. So in states where cannabis is legal, but businesses are treated like criminals by the IRS and banks, this will alleviate that. And the number three, this order also allows a pilot program which will reimburse Medicare patients for CBD products. That's another acknowledgment of a cannabis derived product that is going sort of mainstream. All of that is good. Now, what does this not do? Well, it obviously doesn't legalize marijuana federally. That is a totally different situation. Recreational use under federal law is still illegal. Law enforcement Rules don't change. People are still getting arrested. This all still has to go through the DEA's formal rulemaking process. Now, if you're thinking, wait a second, I thought Trump was the law and order guy, you're right. And that raises the question, why did he do this? Because for a long time in the right wing, law and order and decriminalization, rescheduling of cannabis, all of this stuff, those were considered at odds. If you're for law and order, keep everything illegal. So a couple of things I believe are going on. Number one, there is a political reality in the United States. A majority of Americans support legalization in some form, certainly decriminalization. And this is not a fringe issue anymore. That's number one. Secondly, there's the economic component. This is a massive industry, the cannabis industry. And the federal government has been tripping over itself trying to pretend it doesn't exist. And you can only deny reality for so long. So there's the economic reality aspect of it. That all being said, it's 2025, and I think that this alone falls very short of what we should be doing. So what I think this is really about, it's not criminal justice reform, it's not legalization. It is a real tangible shift. But I want to bring up something else potentially related to the notion of anti war Trump and our earlier discussion about sending troops to Venezuela, potentially. This change and this, this still has to be figured out. There's the devil is in the details. This change would potentially allow anyone with a medical prescription for cannabis to join or remain in the military, or if you're a vet, to be called back to service. If you are using cannabis for pain management with a prescription. It could also mean that people with past drug charges related to cannabis could be eligible for military recruitment. So I'm not saying Trump is rescheduling cannabis as part of his plan to invade Venezuela, but we are seeing a bunch of things happen which would allow Trump to build a bigger invading force and to butter them up. The 1700 $76, the rescheduling of cannabis. So we should be paying very close attention to this. I, quite frankly, have never really believed that Trump cared in particular about cannabis. You know, Trump is. He's talked about how, because his late brother was an alcoholic, that Trump never touched anything, no drugs, no alcohol, no anything. I think Trump kind of sees all of it more or less the same way. And I think that this is mostly reflective of a political sea change. But in the back of my mind, I'm wondering, is Trump trying to widen the potential pool of people who could be deployed to Venezuela by taking medical use off of the table as something that would prevent you from being deployed? Thinking out loud here. I want to hear your thoughts. Send me an email to info@david pakman.com Many of you know that I grew up speaking Spanish, but I took French in middle school and high school. I'm a little rusty on it, and when I was getting ready for my last trip to France, one of the things I was most worried about was am I going to be able to communicate in everyday situations? Ordering food in French, asking for directions, greeting people. I didn't want to be the person flipping through my phone trying to translate everything. And what really helped me was Babble. Instead of like vocabulary lists that go on forever in a vacuum, our sponsor Babble teaches you language through real conversation. So the French babble taught me was super useful on the trip. And the best part is that Babble fits into quick 10 to 15 minute lessons so I could fit it into my business schedule very easily. Thanks to the interactive dialog exercises in the Babel app and the spaced repetition that made the phrases stick, I was just more comfortable. I have to admit my girlfriend was actually impressed with my French when we were in France. I could order at restaurants, buy train tickets, figure out is there a baby changing station in the bathroom and also just chat with locals made it way more enriching. Here's a special limited time deal just for my audience. Get up to 60% off your Babel subscription at babel.com/pacman. The link is in the description. The David Pakman show remains an audience funded program. We have a number of funding sources that keep this show operating. The primary one is direct memberships. We do an extra show and every single day for our members. It's called the Bonus Show. Alex Jones hates that we do. Oh the bonus show where you want to make money.
- [19:05]
Donald Trump
Everybody else that makes money to fund themselves is bad.
- [19:07]
David Pakman
That is not AI. That is not a voice actor. That is really Alex Jones.
- [19:11]
Donald Trump
That is a frickin predator right there.
- [19:13]
David Pakman
He called me a predator and he says the bonus show is terrible. Anyway, I would love it if you got yourself a membership@join pacman.com our newest members as of this moment are Mark Jeffries and Jeep P. Jeep and Mark, thank you so much for your support. You can read all about it and sign up@join pacman.com Remember that disastrous national speech that Donald Trump gave the other night? The one where I said that whatever he was trying to do. He failed. Unless the goal was to convince the country that he's clueless, in which case he gets an A plus plus baby plus. At the time, I asked a really simple question, and sometimes with Trump, simple questions actually go. The question may be simple, but finding the answer may be complicated. I said, who thought this was a good idea? Who signed off on this idea? And now we may finally have the answer. According to reporting from the Daily Beast, Donald Trump admitted off camera that this speech was not his idea. He told reporters that it was the idea of Susie Wiles, his chief of staff, who made him do it. Now, understand the context here. This entire fiasco starts to make sense when you realize right before the speech, Vanity Fair drops this brutal profile of Susie Wiles. Just brutal, brutal, brutal. She says Trump's got an alcoholic personality. She talked about judging people, about Trump judging people by their genes, and contradicted Trump's favorite Epstein conspiracy talking points and portrayed J.D. vance as a conspiracy theorist. Said J.D. vance is an avowed ketamine user, odd duck who sleeps in a bag at work, and all of this stuff. Maga World was furious. Although officially, everybody in the administration defended Susie Wiles. Ok, all of a sudden, Trump is doing a national address. Cable news goes into breaking news Mode. Networks cut away from. I don't even know what's on the air these days. Probably not Survivor, right? Or is it Survivor? Who the hell knows? And people start speculating. Is Trump announcing a war? Is it Venezuela? Is it some massive announcement? And Instead, we get 18, 19, 20 minutes of Trump talking at double speed, popping his peas outrageously into the microphone. He seems hopped up. He's lying about gas prices, he's lying about inflation, he's lying about math. He sounds like a guy whose brain is really suffering. Doctors were alarmed. We'll get to that later. Trump's allies were confused. What was the point of this speech? And after the cameras stop rolling, Trump asks his staff, how did I do? They say, oh, you did great. And then Trump says the quiet part out loud, which is, susie told me to give an address to the nation. So what it seems like is going on here is that Susie Wiles knew she was stepping on a political landmine with the Vanity Fair piece. And the idea was, let's distract. Let's put Trump up there. Let's generate attention about something different. Trump goes up there. I guess it's a form of damage control, even if Trump doesn't realize it and it backfires because it was supposed to refocus the national conversation on what Trump wanted it to be, on how great he's doing and he's fixing everything. But what it actually does is remind voters, wow, Trump looks exhausted and is exhausting. He seems unstable. He doesn't seem to be operating from strength. He looks quite disheveled. So in that sense, it's mission accomplished. The speech was such a disaster. It did take a lot of attention away from the Vanity Fair piece. As I said on, on Thursday's show, reviewing the speech, it wasn't the Gettysburg Address, it wasn't mlk, it wasn't fdr. It wasn't even a coherent rally speech. It was really an unforced error of pretty brutal proportions. And the part that is most interesting is that Republicans should be terrified about this because it energized. No one knew. The instant feedback to Trump's Wednesday night speech is not that it coalesced or united or inspired anybody in a way that would be useful to Trump and Republicans going into the midterms, which are now just 10 and a half months away. It didn't reassure swing voters that Trump can do this. It didn't project competence. It didn't do any of it. It made Trump look erratic, weak and disconnected from reality. So now we have to wonder, did Susie Wiles do it in order to simply save herself from attention about the Vanity Fair piece, or is Susie trying to sabotage Trump and that's part of a different theory that is developed, which is that what Susie Wiles is doing really through the Vanity Fair piece and maybe by, by sending Trump out there for this ridiculous speech is showing the Republican Party you can move on from Trump now, you can go in a different direction. The speech didn't help the Republican Party and it's fascinating that it was Susie Wiles idea. What do you make of it? Let me know in the comments. All right, listen. Trump fell asleep again and jerked at his own meeting in public. Trump jerking in public. I'm going to play the video for you. Don't worry, it's totally pg. Donald Trump falling asleep again during the signing of the order rescheduling cannabis. And then Trump jerking awake. 2028, a third term. This guy can't even stay awake. Listen to this. And whether cannabis might help her.
- [24:53]
Dr. Jonathan Reiner
And I said no, because that's what.
- [24:55]
David Pakman
I learned in medical school.
- [24:56]
Dr. Jonathan Reiner
School.
- [24:56]
David Pakman
She reached into her briefcase, took out.
- [24:58]
Donald Trump
A 3 inch tall stack of articles.
- [25:01]
Dr. Jonathan Reiner
Put them down on my desk and said, really, Doctor, you should read these.
- [25:06]
David Pakman
You might learn something.
- [25:07]
Dr. Jonathan Reiner
And I did read those articles, every.
- [25:09]
David Pakman
Single one, and found a Bunch more. And I did learn something. Trump is asleep the entire time, and in a second he's going to start jerking. That there actually is some medical benefit to cannabis that I had not anticipated, never heard about in medical school. Second, I learned that there was a lot we don't know. And third, I learned it's really, really, really difficult to do. And from jerking himself awake, you know, it's so funny. One of Trump's big attack lines on Joe Biden was, you know, this guy, Sleepy Joe, he can fall asleep anywhere. He goes to the beach, there's reporters, there's people around, he just falls asleep. It's incredible. I would love to be able to do that. Well, you can, sir, and you're doing it every single week. So Trump sleeping and jerking. Now, with that out of the way, the authoritarianism comes out, and it comes out very powerfully. Trump was asked, would you seek authorization for land attacks on cartels in Venezuela? And Trump goes, I don't have to. I don't have to be seeking any authorization from Congress for any land attacks on cartels in Venezuela.
- [26:11]
Donald Trump
For anyone.
- [26:12]
David Pakman
For any land attacks on drug cartels. Venezuela.
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Donald Trump
I wouldn't mind telling them, but, you know, it's not a big deal. I don't have to tell them it's been proven, but it wouldn't. I wouldn't mind at all. I just hope they wouldn't leak it. You know, you have people lick it. They are politicians and they leak like a sieve, but I'd have no problem doing that.
- [26:34]
David Pakman
When you believe yourself to be the king, when you believe that the law is a mere inconvenience and you do what you want, this is how you talk. I don't have to do that. I mean, maybe I will just to be. Just to be friendly, but that's not something that I am. I have to do if I don't want to do it. And so if we zoom out, I mean, listen, I'm not predicting anything in particular, but you now have Trump saying, we're going to get the oil from Venezuela. You have Trump sending troops, seventeen hundred seventy six dollars. It's a ruse because it's coming out of funds already allocated for the troops. But you know, what, What, What's a little reality when you've got narrative from Donald Trump? You've got Trump rescheduling cannabis, which might allow. Might allow troops or even vets using cannabis for pain management specifically to be deployed. Theoretically. This is, this is all theoretical. And then Trump, when asked, well, would you seek authorization to do that. And Trump goes, I don't have to, I don't, it's been proven that I don't actually have to do that. All of this together is pointing in a very pro war direction from the anti war president. Now the other thing, I don't know if you heard about this, but the board members of the Kennedy center voted to rename it the Trump Kennedy Center. Now, there are two things here. There's the political side and the legal side. My understanding of the legal side is that you actually can't, the board can't rename the Kennedy center to the Trump Kennedy Center. I believe that I've been accurately counseled that that is not really a thing. But much like Trump going it's the Gulf of America now instead of the Gulf of Mexico, politically, it's something that certainly he could start referring to it that way. Now here's what's really funny. Trump selected the board members on the Kennedy Center, a whole bunch of them, and then he acts surprised that they voted to do this. It's like, dude, this was the plan all along.
- [28:40]
Donald Trump
Daniel. Carolyn, that was an easy one.
- [28:43]
David Pakman
She, she just posted on your press secretary that the board members of the Kennedy center voted unanimously to rename it the Trump Kennedy Center. What is your reaction to that?
- [28:53]
Donald Trump
Well, I was honored by this. The board is a very distinguished board, most distinguished people in the country. And I was surprised by it. I was honored by it. You know, we've, we're saving the building. We saved the building. The building was in such bad shape, both physically, financially and every other way. And now it's very solid, very strong. We have something going on television, I guess, on the 23rd December. I think it's going to get very big ratings. And the Kennedy center is really, really back strongly, is a very bad shape, very, very bad shape physically. And we were also to get, get Congress to put up a lot of money and other people to put up a lot of money. We had a lot of donors come in for record setting numbers. So we, we saved the Kennedy Center. And I was really, this was brought up by one of the very distinguished board members and they voted on it. And there's a lot of board members.
- [29:46]
David Pakman
Yeah.
- [29:46]
Donald Trump
And they voted unanimously. So I was very honored by. Thank you.
- [29:50]
David Pakman
Trump was really, really honored that the people that in complete political motivation he selected decided that they are going to rename on yet another thing for Donald Trump, really unhinged. And there is a rapidly growing list of things that the next president is going to have to undo. By the way, I don't even want to cover this as a full story, but I'm aware of the fact that Donald Trump has now added plaques that read like truth Social posts below the portraits of various presidents at the White House. And there's one, you know, below Obama's picture that talks about the unaffordable CARE act that Barack Hussein Obama passed. This is just, it's stuff that the next president, hopefully, if it's not J.D. vance, is going to have to go in and just get cleaned up. All right, I absolutely love this. Remember the absurd math that this administration has tried to normalize. We're going to cut prices by 600%. And normal people go, wait a second. How that by 6, you can only cut a price 100%. Here's one example from Trump's primetime speech on Wednesday. But he said this stuff dozens of times. But this is just a reminder of the math.
- [30:59]
Donald Trump
I negotiated directly with the drug companies and foreign nations which were taking advantage of our country for many decades to slash prices on drugs and pharmaceuticals by as much as 400, 500 and even 600%.
- [31:16]
David Pakman
Okay, so the concept is you can reduce prices 4, 5, 600%. Well, somebody finally called out a top Trump administration staffer about this, and it was on Fox News. It was John Roberts calling out Trump goon Howard Lutnick about this. Lutnick's explanation is nonsense. He's reduced to a sputtering mess. Take a look at this. Credit where credit is due. Nice job here by John Roberts because.
- [31:47]
Donald Trump
Some of them were just mathematically impossible. Listen to what he said about bringing down the price of prescription drugs. Listen here. I negotiated directly with the drug companies and foreign nations which were taken advantage of our country for many decades to slash prices on drugs and pharmaceuticals by as much as 400, 500 and even 6, 100%. Well, if you cut something by 100%, the cost goes down to zero. If you cut it by 4 or 5 or 600%, the drug companies are actually paying you to take their product. So it raises the question, how much of last night's speech was hyperbole and how much was fact. Now, what he's saying is he bring it if. If a drug.
- [32:26]
David Pakman
Okay, prepare yourselves, okay, for Lutnick's explanation. On the, on the arithmetic.
- [32:30]
Donald Trump
$100 and you bring the drug down to $13. Right. If you're looking at it from $13, it's. It's not seven times not as down. Well, but it's 700% higher price before it's down 700% now, right? So a $13 would have to go.
- [32:48]
David Pakman
Up 700% to get back to the old one.
- [32:50]
Donald Trump
So it all depends on when you look at it. You could say it's down 87%, or you could say it's. It would have to go up 700% to be the same one. So it just depends on what you look at it. But basically, what he's saying, and we all know what he's saying, is this.
- [33:04]
Dr. Jonathan Reiner
This is.
- [33:04]
David Pakman
This is absolute gold. We are hammering the price of drugs down. I love this stuff. I need this injected into my veins like a cleaning. Hey, Howard. The math kind of doesn't really make sense. Yeah, but, like, what if I confuse you with randomly and arbitrarily chosen numbers? And if you take the tangent of the second derivative and run it through a regression analysis, boom, Trump just saved us 11 billion percent. See, that's maths. Now, the explanation that Lutnick gives is completely invalid. Mathematically, a percentage decrease can't exceed 100%. If you take 100% off of something, it's zero. So a 600% cut is impossible in standard arithmetic. Now, let's think through the actual math, OK? If the starting price is $100, and then you drop it to $13, that is an 87% reduction. It's not 600% of the increase. Nobody talks that way. There's no math class in which that's how you talk about these things. It was 100, and it went to 13. So it was higher before, but now it's down 87%. Now, what he wants to say is, well, if it went from 13 to 100, that went up 700%. So now it's coming down 700%. This is seventh grade math, okay? You take any number, you add 100%, and then you take away 100%, and it goes to zero. Doesn't matter what the number is. You start with 75, you add 100%, it goes to 150. You subtract 100%, it goes to zero. That's it. Okay? And the classic example is if you have 50, if you add 100%, you go to 100. To get back down from 100 to 50, you subtract 50%. It is seventh grade math. Anything, anything to justify Trump's nonsense. Trump makes up words, they go with it. Trump tweets out, Cobb, Fefi, they go, oh, a lot of us know exactly what he was communicating with that you do. What was it? Trump makes up math, they go with it. Lutnick is not Stupid. He's a suck up. There's a reason that they have nicknamed him Nut Lick instead of Lutnick. Okay, apologize for the disgusting imagery. This guy is a suck up of epic proportions. 700% off. Give me a break. And you know what? Whoever is calling it out, in this case, it's John Roberts. Good for him. When it was time for a new mattress, I didn't want to gamble on something generic. I had heard about Helix. I liked that they customize the mattress based on how you sleep. I'm mostly a stomach sleeper, so I took the quiz and ended up with a model that felt tailored to me. I've had it for years. What I notice is I don't wake up with back stiffness. I don't wake up with shoulder pain. I don't toss and turn looking for a comfortable position. It's just better than my old mattress. It's more supportive, but it's still comfortable. Another thing I like about Helix is that there's no one size fits all approach. It's really tailored to you in terms of firmness as well. It's made a difference for me and I'm thrilled to be partnering with them. Go to helix sleep.com/pacman and you'll get 20% off site wide. The link is in the description. A medical doctor now confirms the Wednesday night diatribe delivered by Donald Trump on national television was medically concerning. You know, there's a lot of different sorts of concerns that one could come away with from watching Trump's speech on Wednesday night. Politically, he was completely unhinged. He seemed agitated. He was popping peas and screaming into the microphone, speaking incredibly quickly, lying, making claims that can't possibly be defended by the facts. But Dr. Jonathan Reiner, this is Jake Tapper on your screen, by the way. That's who interviewed him. Dr. Jonathan Reiner explained on CNN in detail why, from a medical perspective, he found Trump's speech to be so alarming. Now, I know that some of you are glad that Jake Tapper is finally covering this stuff after writing a book about Biden's health incompetence. Others who say, you know, Jake's a little late to the game here. This stuff with Trump has been concerning for years, close to a decade. And he's only now starting to cover it, partially because a lot of people when they interview Jake, as I did, say, what about like this list of 15 concerning Trump behaviors? Regardless, Jake's covering it. This has gone completely mainstream and it's now on CNN. Here is Dr. Jonathan Reiner explaining why Trump's speech on Wednesday was so medically alarming. Dr. Jonathan Reiner, who served as the late Vice President Dick Cheney's cardiologist for years, was among the many observers alarmed by what he saw from President Trump last night. His behavior, he posted on, quote, I'm seriously concerned about the health of the president, and adding, no one should be.
- [38:08]
Dr. Jonathan Reiner
Happy to see the president like this.
- [38:10]
David Pakman
He looks unwell. And Dr. Reiner joins us now. He's a professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University and a CNN medical analyst. Dr. Reiner, what specifically was it about President Trump that you found so concerning watching him last night, especially in the context? It's quite a list, to be frank, of, you know, he gives outrageous speeches and has been for years.
- [38:31]
Dr. Jonathan Reiner
Well, it wasn't the content, I think I thought the content was just standard, standard fare that we'd become accustomed to, but it was the way it was delivered. It was delivered in with a manic cadence, almost a frantic cadence. It was as if you felt like you were listening to a podcast on 2X. And that kind of manic delivery was very, very disturbing, very pressure, very pressurized speech. And as the address went on, his cadence of his remarks became quicker. And we've never seen the president, you know, like that. He seemed almost frantic. And it was, it was disturbing to watch. It was disturbing because he's the commander in chief. He's not just the head of the government. He's the commander in chief of the greatest armed forces this world has ever seen. And it's, it was disturbing to see him with, in such a. Almost uncontrolled.
- [39:30]
David Pakman
Now, the one part I take issue with is that this was actually not the only time we've seen Trump like this. We've been talking about it for years and have even interviewed doctors about what we call Upper Trump and Downer Trump. Now, different people in my audience I know ascribe upper versus Downer Trump to different things. There are some of you who say, well, Upper Trump is on stimulants and Downer Trump is on downers, or it has to do with the time of day, or it has to do with whether he's sundowning or it has to do with this. That. The other thing I have no idea. But what I do know is that we have explored and analyzed Upper Trump, the sort of agitated, stimulated Trump, for lack of a better term, and the press Downer Trump who sometimes shows up and goes, no, you know these people, they'll steal another election if you give them a chance. No, no. You know that we are, we've been seeing that for a while. So I love Dr. Reiner's analysis. I do take issue with the idea that this is in any way new cadence.
- [40:28]
Dr. Jonathan Reiner
So you call his cadence manic and uncontrolled.
- [40:32]
David Pakman
And then earlier today, and this is not the first time this has happened, the President appeared to be struggling to keep his eyes open during a public.
- [40:41]
Dr. Jonathan Reiner
White House event in the Oval Office earlier today. We're showing the video right now.
- [40:47]
David Pakman
I don't know if that worries you. What's your take on that? What is that?
- [40:53]
Dr. Jonathan Reiner
So he's this, he's done this several times now in the last few weeks. He's fallen asleep in a crowded Oval Office and he's also fallen asleep at cabinet meetings with people talking directly to him. And that's what's called increased daytime somnolence. And there are a lot of things that, there are a lot of things that, that can do that. Sometimes people with sleep apnea, people who wake up many times notice by the.
- [41:17]
David Pakman
Way, we have talked about every single thing that the doctor is suggesting here. Jake Tapper with his concerned face, coming around to it after years. But at least he's coming around to it, I have to say in the.
- [41:27]
Dr. Jonathan Reiner
Night and don't get restorative sleep. Have that, that's treated typically with cpap with CPAP mask. We've never been told the president has, has sleep apnea. So but it's jarring to see the, the President go from basically asleep in the Oval Office to, you know, really this rapid fire pace, you know, during basically a 30 minute speech that he gave in 18 minutes. It was, and again, what I said last night is no one should be happy to see that. Certainly his supporters shouldn't have been happy to see him. So sort of loud and almost out of control. And his detractors should not be happy to see him. The President United States should be well, but there have been a lot of health issues. He has the chronic bruise, he had swollen ankles, he's had these mysterious scans. We mentioned the daytime somnolence and then last night's speech. So I think all of this raises realistic concerns about the health of the President. And it would be great if the White House was a little bit more forthcoming about, about that. You know, I can't be the only person who had concerns after watching him last night.
- [42:41]
David Pakman
Oh no, you by no means is Dr. Reiner the only person who had concerns after watching Trump. That's night. So that night there's a couple different angles to this, and they do sort of conflict, but sometimes you just have conflicts that you have to live with. And not everything is perfectly neat and tidy. On the one hand, there has been a massive malpractice from the legacy in corporate media on the issue of Donald Trump's health. And much like the White House is always weeks behind in getting dragged along into issuing some statement about what's going on with Trump, as dishonest and incomplete as those statements are, you know, Trump seen with hand bruising for who knows how long, and then they come out and go, it's from shaking hands. Well, by the time they said it's from shaking hands, he also had bruises on his left hand with which I've never seen him shake hands. So the White House had to sort of be dragged along, but corporate media has had to be dragged along as well, quite frankly. And on the one hand, the malpractice shouldn't be forgotten, as there were, you know, breathless 24, 48 hour panicked segments relating to Joe Biden's state, which was a relevant story, by the way. Relevant, not irrelevant, was a relevant story. I have acknowledged all along. The fact that they are covering it now, I do think is a good thing. And we know that it is getting to Trump because he's posting to Truth Social about it. He's saying it may be a crime of some kind to even talk about his health. So good for, for, for Jake Tapper for finally coming around to this. And my expectation is, given that Trump's decline is happening so precipitously, that it's going to continue. How close are we to a beautiful, perfect economy? Some of you have fallen for the idea that we are just a couple of weeks away from it. But I would remind you that Trump said the economy would be great as soon as he took office, and then he says it is great, but the best is yet to come and it's going to be good. But then you've got people like having Kevin Hassett and Howard Lutnick who go, well, I think a lot of the groundwork is being laid this year for next year to be really good. One of the funniest things is that now that it is almost 2026, now that we have not even two weeks left of the year, you have people like Howard Lutnick starting to talk not about the first quarter of 2026, but the second quarter now. And they are moving the goalposts and moving the goalposts until the goalposts are out in the parking lot of the Stadium rather than on the field. Here is Lutnick on Fox News. No longer talking about the immediate start of 2026 when things are going to be great. It is Q2, no longer Q1. Q2 is going to be really, really good.
- [45:22]
Donald Trump
Look for the second quarter of 2026 to be amazing as all this money.
- [45:28]
Dr. Jonathan Reiner
Comes back into the economy from this.
- [45:30]
Donald Trump
Big, beautiful bill which really takes care of Americans. Finally, the president has the power to take care of Americans.
- [45:37]
David Pakman
Someone actually in the White House cares.
- [45:39]
Donald Trump
About the real people.
- [45:40]
David Pakman
Mr. Secretary. Yeah, I don't think it's Trump, but I do think there is, there's got to be someone in the White House who cares about the American people. Remember that this is what they said about 2025 when Donald Trump was elected in November of 24. All of the clingers and the hangers on started saying 2025 is going to just be unbelievable. Jobs and inflation and all this different stuff. It is going to be like nothing you have seen before. And then as that didn't materialize and the tariffs dragged, the economy and the job market weakened and we started seeing all of these indicators that not everything is right in paradise. They started saying it's going to be towards the end of the year, by the fourth quarter, by the holiday season, you're going to see all of the proof that everything is going great. And then they started to shift to we need Trump's policies to work their way through the economy. And so it's not going to be right away. It's going to be right after New Year. And then, of course, now they are starting to talk about 2026, his second quarter, as when you're really going to see things be great. In the, in the meantime, we have this other issue of when is it Trump's economy and when is it still Biden's economy? Now, we've already figured out the answer for them. The answer is if there's anything good going on, it's Trump's economy. And it's thanks to Trump. If there's anything bad going on, it's Biden's economy. We're, we're still trying to get out of that. And it's Biden's fault. Reporter asks Kevin Hassett about it, and here's what he has to say. So would it be fair to say that come 2026, it's Trump's economy?
- [47:12]
Dr. Jonathan Reiner
Well, it's a Trump economy.
- [47:13]
David Pakman
Now. Our policies are changing people's lives, but.
- [47:16]
Dr. Jonathan Reiner
When are we going to be able to point to numbers and say that we fixed the problem.
- [47:20]
Donald Trump
We, we filled the hole that Biden dug.
- [47:22]
Dr. Jonathan Reiner
You know, that will depend on what things.
- [47:24]
David Pakman
So what? Yeah, it's going to depend on one thing, which is if we have something good to point to, it will be Trump's economy. And if we don't, it will be Trump's economy. But it will be the fault of Joe Biden that this one particular thing isn't going so well. Now, I, I always make an effort when it comes to the economic stuff, the economic stuff is much less of an opinion than like, listen, you might have a lot of different personal reasons to think that abortion should or shouldn't be legal or that same sex couples should or shouldn't be allowed to get married. I have opinions about that and I will defend them in a number of different empirical ways. But there is an element of opinion of it that is different than economic numbers. I always try to be upfront about economic numbers. Listen, gas prices are basically flat. Presidents have very little to do with gas prices. They can raise, they can drive gas prices up with certain sort of conflicts with oil producing nations. They can declare a gas tax holiday which will, you know, for a weekend or whatever, bring prices down temporarily. They can release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which will have a medium term impact of about 15 cents a gallon. Presidents can't do that much on gas prices. And gas prices have basically been flat. Now that's the, that's the mathematical analysis we can layer onto that. Did the guy in power promise something and is he doing it or not? And the answer is yes. Trump promised that gas prices were going to come way down. They haven't. And so then we can make that part of the political analysis. But gas prices have basically been flat. Inflation. Inflation has been basically flat since June of 2023. Most of that time Biden was president. The last, what is it now? Almost 11 months to the day, Trump has been president. Cool. OK, how much of it has to do with Trump versus global economic conditions and business cycles? It's a mixed bag and we've explained that. But if the inflation rate is OK now, it was OK under Biden and if the inflation rate was not OK under Biden, it can't possibly be OK now because it's the same rate from June of 2023 on. So I try to be really upfront with you all about this. What the Trump economic team is putting out there is just pond scum. It's of no value whatsoever. It will not help you ascertain any truth about the economy and importantly, it directly is conflicting with what a lot of Americans are seeing day to day. When they look at their bills, when they look at the affordability of housing or even of other aspects of their lives, they're not falling for it. And it didn't work for Biden and ultimately Kamala Harris to say everything's awesome and it doesn't seem to be working for Donald Trump. We've got your emails, comments and more coming up after this short break. Remember that the David Pakman Show Gear store is up and running. Go to store.david pakman.com I got a lot of requests for David Pakman Show Turtlenecks. We're looking into it, we're looking into it. But the T shirts and hoodies are available now. If you are scrambling for a meaningful last minute holiday gift and running out of real ideas, Aura Frames can save you. Our sponsor, Aura makes high quality digital photo frames that showcase your favorite pictures and videos in a way that looks like a real print. I've given these to so many different people. I gave one to my dad preloaded with family photos. He still walks by it and comments on pictures he hasn't seen in years. It's a gift that lands and Aura makes it really easy. You can preload the pictures before it even ships. You can add a personal message and then you can keep adding photos and videos all year long. It's free, it's unlimited, the setup takes just a few minutes and every frame arrives in a premium gift box. There is still plenty of time to get an Aura Frame shipped before Christmas and you'll get $35 off their bestselling Carver Mat Frames. When you go to aura frames.com and use the code pattern Pakman at checkout, the link is in the description. All right, it's everybody's favorite moment of the week Friday Feedback we'll go through the email, the comments, the replies, all of it. You can always email info at David Pakman Dotcom. We start on Facebook where Maureen Tolan says Fox's Chiron says seasons Greetings. I thought that was one of the wars Trump won. He said he made it so you could say Merry Christmas. Yes, even Fox News seemingly bowing to the woke pressure from you know, it's funny, most places I go now say have a good holiday, happy holidays. And I go, thank you. You too. Occasionally I still get a Merry Christmas and even though I don't celebrate, it's not like a huge deal. And I've said before and this recently actually came up with some friends who were talking about like, what do you do when someone says Merry Christmas? And the answer is, I move on with my day. I usually very friendly, not passive aggressive. I go, oh, thank you, Happy Hanukkah. And then they realize that I'm telling them I celebrate Hanukkah. And they go, oh, happy Hanukkah. And then everybody moves on and everything's completely fine. This is one of those things where the big deal is in the argument that this is very controversial. And I think some of it started where there were certain companies that said, hey, we're, we're customer facing to be more inclusive. We'll just say Happy Holidays. And of course, it's a company doing it. And they go, oh, First Amendment. It's like, well, it has nothing to do with First Amendment. It's sort of like there are places that want you to pick up the phone by saying, hey, you know, like when I worked at Circuit City, they would say, you should say Circuit City, the department, and then your name. Right. So it would be like Circuit City computers, David here or something like that. And if I wanted to just go computers. It's not a question of the First Amendment. It's like we have policy here in terms of how we communicate. And I think it's similar when a company says, hey, when you say to people between, between Thanksgiving and January 1st, please just say Happy Holidays or whatever. Not a First Amendment issue. As usual. The controversy is one of its own creation. But I know, I thought Trump brought back Merry Christmas and we still see people not, not using it. Over on the subreddit, Coherent Scatter brings up Sean Duffy's latest dinner, latest idea for airports, which is put, put chin up and pull up bars there. And says, on yesterday's show, David showed a video of RFK doing chin ups at the airport. The Transportation Secretary then said he wanted to put chin up bars at the airport. Hold on. You want people to do physical exercise at the airport, but they should dress nicely and not wear yoga pants to fly? I guess it would make sense for RFK because he wears jeans to work out. Yeah. No, there is this funny conflict between one of the big ideas that Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has is people need to dress nicely when they go to airports. No. No sweatpants, no yoga pants. No. No slippers, dress appropriately and also work out at the airport. None of these things make sense. Obviously this viewer is pointing out one of the many dumb realities of the ideas that they are putting forward, but it doesn't really make a difference to them in the sense of double standards. No longer matter. Conflict and confusion no longer matters. It's like our initiative is dress nicely at the airport and work out at the airport. Cool, man. Have a good one. Move on to the next thing. All right, back to Facebook. Soro Merlin says, in my small Canadian city, we need permits and detailed plans for almost everything. Installing a new pool, replacing grass, and more. It's surprising to me that the White House can move forward with demolition without going through the same level of checks and approvals. Well, this has been brought up before in terms of Donald Trump's ridiculous construction project at the White House, which is this is not only should there have been more permitting, more planning, more evaluation of the project, it should have been looked at by the Historical Commission on. On older buildings and all these different things. The answer to why it didn't happen, I don't have any definite answer. I have the speculation that when it's Trump, he just tells people, start doing it now, and if you want to keep your job, you do it. And this is not a good way to run construction projects. And this is why Donald Trump's track record in construction is not particularly good. Amy Stratford on Facebook says, I have a friend who tore out his old kitchen before he had a plan and the money for a new one. He's been without a kitchen for six months now. Never a good plan to do it backwards. Yeah, I don't know if Amy is being serious or poking fun at Trump, but you really want the entire plan up front. We recently had a sink replaced because I'm like Trump. I'm fascinated by sinks, showers, and toilets. Now, we had a sink replaced because it was just not a good sink. Imagine if we had just come in and said, ok, listen, I want to replace the sink. Remove the sink right now. Oh, well, what are you replacing it with? We're going to figure that out. I've got proposals. Well, unless you want to be without a sink, you may want to do. Do that. That full plan right up front. Okay? Sad Sam, a doe selvi a dazzle says Soy Boy Pakman for president with my last name misspelled. Well, you know what, Sam? This is one that I can deal with very succinctly and simply. I don't have to do a big argument. We don't have to go back and forth. Under the current law, I cannot be president because I am a naturalized American citizen. And so you don't have to worry, Sam, okay? It's just not going to happen. Nicholas Konki wrote on Instagram, david, you're an absolute joke. You should retire. You know what, Nick? I'm going to think about that. That's not a bad idea. I'm going to devote some thought to thinking about retirement. And then meanwhile, on Snapchat, this is just, it's a little potpourri to remind you that we can't miss it on any platform. Jay on Snapchat says, I don't think I've ever listened to anyone who has Trump derangement syndrome as bad as this beta male. I want to take this opportunity to remind you our content is doing really well on, on Snapchat and we are reaching a disproportionately younger audience that I think is so important to reach. And we are trying to expand on every platform where the people are. Snapchat is one of them. So I guess the sign that we're doing it is the hate starts to pour in even on those platforms. All right, dirt and stones said on Spotify with regard to the idea of Trump running for a third term, if someone thinks Trump will be lucid in three years, they need to talk to gerontologists, cardiologists and others. His decline is rapid and irreversible. Now Bannon is irrelevant and beating his own drum. Yeah, this is, this is related, I believe, number one, to Steve Bannon recently saying, we have a plan which we will reveal at the appropriate time. We have a plan for how Trump can get a third term. And also maybe to my coverage on Monday about how, forget about the constitutional limitations, forget about the legal limitations, forget about the electoral limitations. Trump doesn't have the energy or the stamina to serve a third term. I don't think it's something we need to worry about. Jonas Brix Nielsen asks, isn't bailing out farmers with money from tariffs, as they claim, just proof that they are running a massive Ponzi scheme? You know, it's, I get the. It is a con job. It's not. Ponzi suggests that you are using new money to pay old people you owe money to in perpetuity, but there's really no underlying asset of value. I don't think I know the point you're trying to make. I don't know that it's exactly the accurate term for, for using the tariff money to pay the farmers, but you are, in a sense, is it screwing Peter to pay Paul? Is that kind of a Ponzi scheme? In other words, you're putting this import tax on American companies. That import stuff, they pass the cost along to consumers. It screws the farmers. You then need the money from the tariffs to pay for the damage you did to the farmers. Maybe it is a Ponzi scheme. Now I'm trying. Maybe it is an accurate an accurate term. I don't know. Let me know what you think. Info@david pakman.com I hope everybody is gearing up for a great end of the year. I know we are and we are going to have a lot to say about what is forthcoming in 2026. We have a phenomenal bonus show coming up for you. You can sign up@join pacman.com and make sure you are getting my newsletter through substack. Remember if they come for us on any of our platforms, the only platform where we own our data is on Substack and so I will only be able to get in touch with you there. Get on my newsletter substack.david pakman.com Everyone deserves to be connected. That's why T Mobile and US Cellular are joining forces. Switch to T Mobile and save up to 20% versus Verizon by getting built in benefits they leave out. Check the math@t mobile.com switch and now T mobile is in US cellular stores. Savings versus Comparable Verizon plans plus the cost of optional benefits plan features in Texas and fees vary. Savings with three plus lines include third line free via min monthly bill credits credit stop if you cancel any lines. Qualifying credit required. Marketing is hard, but I'll tell you a little secret. It doesn't have to be. Let me point something out. You're listening to a podcast right now and it's great. You love the host. You seek it out and download it. You listen to it while driving, working out, cooking, even going to the bathroom. Podcasts are a pretty close companion. And this is a podcast ad. Did I get your attention? You can reach great listeners like yourself with podcast advertising from Libsyn Ads. 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