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- [00:01]
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- [00:26]
David Pakman
You've probably noticed something really weird over the last few days, which is that Donald Trump continues to declare victory in Iran and then reality keeps getting in the way and all of a sudden it doesn't seem like we've won. He says the war is over and then there are more strikes and the negotiations are basically done and then there are more strikes and then they announce new negotiations. And also he says that his giant patriotic state fair was this huge success, but then we got video and there's almost nobody there. He says, oh, Republicans are very confident heading into the midterms, but you've got Republican leaders talking about, oh, I think this election might be stolen, even though not a single vote has been cast yet. So that's kind of the theme of today's show, which is there's what we're being told by the federal government and there's what our eyes and ears tell us, and then there's a significant gap between them. So we'll look at the messaging on Iran, we'll look at Republicans preparing excuses for a potentially disastrous election. We'll look at the state fair and a stunning report about nearly $9 billion in conflicts of interest connected to the Trump administration, Trump's family. Also, Caroline Levitt resurfaced and face planted PA badly on Fox News at Trump's state fair. What a show. So I was thinking over the weekend what this 250th anniversary for the United States means to me as someone who was born in another country, came here as a kid, grew up here, have succeeded in business and media to some degree here. I'm raising kids in the United States States. And I kind of sat back and looked at these images coming from the federal government over the weekend and quite frankly, I was getting very depressed. I don't really know any other way to say it because so much of what is happening right now in this country under the guise of making America great again is really undoing a lot of the things that made the the United States great. Just to pick some examples that there was news that Donald Trump was golfing once again Big surprise. And then these images of Donald Trump at his golf club went viral because Trump just looks so bad. And of course he looks bad. That's not really what. What made me sad, although I'm sure it's sad for Trump to look like that. But obviously you see these images and you say, wow, that is a president in decline. That is someone really so incapable of governing for the benefit of the average American, despite his promises. But that's not even really the sad part. The sad part is the role of the federal government has become the opposite of what it could be and what I believe it used to be. The federal government really could be a huge part of making America great. And instead of that as its role, it's become a tragic global laughingstock. The issue is not Trump's decline, per say. It's Trump's decline combined with an inability and an unwillingness and really a lack of interest in making the country what it could be. You know, we had these promises of reduced cost of living. You could be improving housing, as Trump said he would be doing, or getting the price of groceries down, getting people jobs, lifting up wages. Like there are things the federal government could be doing to make the country better. And look at what the federal government has become under Donald Trump. We've got optional wars that raise the cost of living for everyone, alienate our allies, and leave 75% as the median of global people who say, we cannot trust the United States under Trump anymore. That's an optional disaster. We've got optional blanket tariffs that raise the cost of living for everyone and also further alienate our allies. And then our tax money is being spent by the federal government, meaning by Trump's administration, on things like the reflecting pool fiasco. Taxpayer money, mind you, with no bid contracts, spending money on a 250th anniversary state fair. That is empty and pathetic. And we're going to dive into the state fair a little bit more later in the show, but just as a preview. Have you seen this? Peter Doocy on Fox News claims, oh, people are still coming out to the fair, but we see the video. This thing is empty. There's almost no people here.
- [05:33]
Co-host or Guest 1
You ever in your wildest dreams think you may be doing your Sunday show from a state fair on the National Mall. How great is this?
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Co-host or Guest 2
It's really.
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Reporter or Correspondent
It's really something. And the weather, not the best today, but people are still coming out.
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Co-host or Guest 1
People are still coming. Listen, we need rain, so we'll take it. The farmers need the rain, so we're going to be okay.
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Political Commentator or Analyst
With it.
- [05:52]
Reporter or Correspondent
We do need rain first you ever.
- [05:54]
David Pakman
Yeah, it's just pathetic. And that's really what hit me over the weekend. I'm not finding the situation depressing because, you know, Trump is getting older. Every president gets older and notably so while they are president. I'm depressed because it feels like the federal government has stopped even pretending to try to solve any of our biggest problems. And I, as I reflected, I thought what made the United States great or exceptional, whatever word you want to use, it wasn't that our president played golf or that we had military parades or giant birthday celebrations for politicians. It was not endless social media posts. What made the country great was people all over the world believed that the United States was a place, place where things would get better as we go forward. Next year would be better than this year and next decade would be better than this decade. We were building things. We have manufacturing employment at a record low level right now. We were investing in science. We've got Robert F. Kennedy Jr. And the Department of Health and Human Services going anti vax, anti science into all sorts of nonsense. We created world class universities that everybody wanted to come to from all over the world. Instead, you look around, the right is just attacking universities. We were a country where entrepreneurs started companies that changed the world. We were a country that had companies that were world changing. And now those companies are seen as woke. Oh, those companies have gone woke. Those aren't good anymore. Immigrants came to the United States because they thought, hey, I think my kids would have opportunities we never had. We're banning immigrants, kicking them out, doing raids and on and on and on. We were a country where the government, when it was at its best, would create the conditions for all of that stuff to happen. And just imagine for a second if every day the conversation in Washington D.C. was hey, we, we've got to lower housing costs now in the next month we need to do, we would be able to do that. Instead, the federal government is focused on how long is the slit in the pool that someone supposedly made with a box cutter, even though we have no surveillance video proving that that's what they did. If we focused instead of on the slit in Trump's rubber, on how do we make childcare affordable, how do we make health care affordable, how can we build infrastructure, meaning trains and airports, to pick a couple of things that will get us to the next generation that look more like the airports and trains that we're seeing in Europe and in Asia and elsewhere now. Can we lead on clean energy and biotech and make Our schools the envy of the world again? No, that's not what we're doing it. Or can, can we make it easier to build a business, buy a home, raise a family? That's the sort of stuff that would make America actually great. And instead it's golf trips, reflecting pools, empty state fairs, using the Department of Justice for political revenge and whatever the next outrage is. Oh, is it, what, what, what did Obama say? Or are we going after Jamie Raskin today? None of that is let's make the country great. It's just stagnation. And so we're about to celebrate 250 years. It's depressing that Trump happens to be the guy who will be president at that milestone. But I think there's a simple question that we could and should be asking, which is are we actually building a country our children would be proud to inherit, or are we pushing the country to something that when our children inherit it, they are going to have to go back to the drawing board to figure out how to fix it? Right now, I think that's the measure that matters. Right now. We are falling way short of what this country is capable of and we need to turn it around. Starting with this isn't going to solve everything, but starting with the midterm elections that are forthcoming. Speaking of the midterm elections, I want you to notice something. The language being used by the top Republicans right now, including speaker of the House MAGA Mike Johnson, is not the language of confidence. It is not the language of we've got such a great record. All we need to do is tell voters what we've done and we will win. That is not the language. We are already hearing about elections being stolen. And if that sounds familiar, it should because we are six years into Biden stole 2020 from us. We're still months from the midterms, months from the first early votes, not a single general election ballot has been cast yet. We're still waiting on some primaries and we already have Republican leadership laying the groundwork to question the legitimacy of the outcome if things don't go their way. If we win, it was fair. And if we lost, it was rigged. So take a look at this video of MAGA Mike Johnson and then I want to give you some of my thoughts.
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Political Commentator or Analyst
But central, you know, we talk about preserving the Republic. You got to have free and fair elections in order to do that. And we can't allow big blue states and crooked, you know, Democrat governors to try to steal elections away from us. And this is a very important measure A common sense one again, that the American people believe in and encourage and support.
- [11:37]
David Pakman
It's just common sense, Maria. That's just common sense. Now why are they already going to this stuff? Because they're looking at the numbers the way we're looking at the numbers and they are saying, oh dear God, Trump is screwing us. You look at Trump's approval, It's record low, 30% approval in a recent right leaning poll. You look at issue after issue, 27% approval on the economy. And so they start with, how does polling look for us? And it looks really bad. Number two, they go, okay, how have special and off year elections gone for us after November of 2024, meaning the 2025 off year elections and some of the ones in 2026. Historically, the President's party almost always has a difficult environment in the first midterm election or the midterm election of their term. And as they look at the special elections, that has been very rough. So now it's like all our polling is no good and we've been getting crushed in all of the special and off year elections. So what do you do if you're worried? Well, one option is you change course. You go, listen, we need a different message. We need policy. We need to deliver on some of our promises so that then we can just go to the American people and say, hey, here, here's what we've delivered on Vote for us because we did what we promised. They're not doing that. So the other alternative is you start telling your supporters ahead of time, if we lose, it couldn't possibly be because voters rejected the agenda or because voters are displeased with what we've delivered or not delivered. If we lose, it must be because somebody cheated before the election even happens. Start introducing the idea that the process is corrupt. And, and that way if you lose, you've already given your supporters an explanation that doesn't require admitting that people turned against us because we didn't do any of the stuff we promised we were going to do. And the kind of irony of this is that if Republicans were really convinced they were going to win in a landslide, like if they were actually of the belief that it's looking so good for us, why would you spend so much time talking about elections being stolen? And if you're certain you're going to win, you would have a message that is about winning, not we might lose, but they would have cheated if that happens. That's the real remarkable thing about maga. Mike Johnson's comments. It's defensive. You're preparing an excuse before the game has started. And that is because I believe Republicans understand something they don't want to say publicly. The political environment is really difficult for them right now. Trump promised lower prices. We have high prices. It's just the math of it. Inflation has been greater than zero, and if it's greater than zero, prices are going up, and they promised they would go down. Now, it also is the case that inflation has gone up to the highest level in more than three years. But they promised it would be lower prices. Inflation has to be negative to get you lower prices. And it's been positive. Trump promised very quick resolutions to international conflicts. The Ukraine, Russia, war would be solved within the day, within a day of this, that or the other thing. And of course, it's still going on. And he said he wasn't going to go to war, start new wars. He did. And so Republicans realize, although they're not willing to simply say it, we made all of these promises. None of them have materialized. Now, whether you agree with that assessment or not, Republicans have to run on what is available to them. And so that is why Mike Johnson is saying we got to be careful about Blue City voter fraud. It doesn't prove anything about the election, but it tells us leadership knows they are about to get crushed. When you again start talking about stolen elections before there is even an election, it means you're at least contemplating the possibility that you're going to get crushed. Now, I think that if Republicans keep sounding like this months before voters go to the polls, it suggests that they are potentially willing to go even further to try to save the election. Now, by save, I mean cheat. And we know that they're trying to do it. How do we know? Because they're telling us they want the Save America act, which would make it harder to vote and put in place more restrictions. They want voter id. And while the ID itself may be free, you can only get it if you go during normal business hours with underlying documents that are not free to try to get your voter id. They are closing early, closing early polling places, trying to reduce mail in ballots. It's the full list. We've been covering this list for years. Again, if you believe the will of the people going out and voting will deliver you a victory, and this is not what you do. And in the middle of it, the cronyism, the nepotism, all of that is only getting worse. And, boy, do I have a story for you on this one. This weekend. I was reading a New York Times article And I had to stop and say, wait a second, are we talking about million or billion here? Let me explain what's going on. If this reporting is accurate, we might be looking at one of the most staggeringly corrupt conflict of interest stories of the entire Trump presidency. And Qatar gave him a $400 million plane. OK, to, to, to get to the point where I say this might be the worst conflict of interest story is really something other. The New York Times has an absolutely remarkable investigation about a mining deal in Kazakhstan. And the basic story is the Trump administration has made securing critical minerals a huge priority. Now that's a legitimate national security issue. The United States wants to reduce our dependence on China for minerals used in a lot of different areas. Advanced manufacturing, semiconductors, weapons. To some degree, I think that that's a totally legitimate thing to want. During the COVID phase, we learned this is now tangential is a different supply issue, not the one we're talking about here, but during COVID we learned, hey, a lot of our medications, antibiotics, etc. Are manufactured in China. They may be of acceptable quality, but there may be national security reasons to say, actually we should be bringing a lot of this manufacturing domestically on shoring it. Totally legitimate policy debate. But then comes the part that is very Trumpian. According to the reporting, while the Trump administration was negotiating mining deals and considering these large amounts of federal financing to get these deals going, companies tied to Donald Trump's sons and companies tied to Trump's Commerce Secretary, Howard Nutlik sons were all, all at the same time positioned to profit from those projects. And then I saw the numbers. $9 billion, 14 companies with ties either to Trump's family or to Nutlik's family actively working on government backed mineral projects. Those companies have either already received federal assistance or are looking for federal assistance to the tune of more than $8.9 billion in federal funding. Some of it has already been approved by the very Trump administration and some of it is under consideration. Billions of your and my taxpayer dollars flowing through projects connected to the families of the officials making the decisions. This is the sort of stuff we criticize when we see it in other countries. And before the MAGA crowd, you know, starts screaming, oh, David, it's fake news. We'll be very careful about the claim. The article does not say that these dollars have been illegally awarded. It doesn't say the underlying projects are illegitimate. Critical minerals are of strategic importance. It's a real issue. It's a much simpler issue. Why is Trump's family and why is the Commerce Secretary's family financially entangled in these projects at all. That's the problem I have with it. It's not how government is supposed to work. If your family can financially benefit from decisions that you're making while you run the federal government, it's a conflict of interest. It's not, it's not an ad hominem. It's, it's just a conflict. Even if every decision ultimately turns out to have been defensible on the merits, the appearance alone is hugely problematic. And think about how Republicans would react if this story involved a Democratic president, for example, Obama, for example, Barack Obama. Or imagine if it were Hunter Biden, who had a financial stake in a company seeking billions in federal funding while Joe Biden was negotiating deals to benefit those companies. Oh, by the way, that's what they claimed was going on with the Bidens. Of course, there was no evidence of it. But if it were, Fox News would suspend normal programing. It would be a 247 Fox News alert with a countdown timer. There would be hearings every single week and demands for special counsels upon special counsels. And instead, with Trump, we're kind of expected to shrug and go, hey, listen, we critical minerals, we need these. There's nothing to see here. When you start throwing around numbers like $9 billion, these are not like, oh, you know, I'm a federal employee, I can't accept any gifts over $25, but someone gave me a $50 Panera gift card or something like that. This is like a big story about the machinery of the federal government being used in ways that create extraordinarily lucky opportunities for the families of the people running it. I mean, it's such great luck that exactly what the federal government has decided we need happens to align with the financial interests of Donald Trump's family and his commerce secretary's family. Now, this is why we have ethics rules and the transaction itself. It doesn't have to be the case that every transaction is necessarily corrupt. But we as the public who are funding all of this stuff with our tax money shouldn't have to wonder, is this being done because it's in the national interest, or is this being done because someone's investment portfolio who's connected to Trump would benefit from it? That's the point of the ethics rules. They're not just to stop outright corruption. They're there to prevent situations where it could look like public policy is being steered towards their family's financial interests. Maybe every single one of these projects is worthwhile. Maybe it's not. It's Kind of besides the point. Americans shouldn't wonder whether these decisions are being made because they're good for the country or they're good for the investors connected to Trump, including his family. Now imagine being a competitor in these spaces. How do you fairly compete for a government project when one of the parties is connected to the President's family? Even that appearance can distort markets. And again, scale. It's not a $25 gift card to Dunkin Dronuts. It's not thousands of dollars, it's not millions of dollars. It's 9 billion billion in federal funding to companies tied to Trump and Nutlik. This is a massive scandal and it's just another day in Trump world. Meanwhile, we're in a war. Prices are up. The reflecting pool, the state's fair, no one's going to the Iran cease fire has collapsed again and it's 9 billion. A story that should be a scandal. And it's getting barely any legacy in corporate media coverage. On busy days, I am not looking for a complicated food solution. I want something fresh, filling, fast, good enough that it doesn't feel like a compromise. And that's why our sponsor Forkful has been a lifesaver. Forkful delivers fully prepared chef cooked meals to your door, never frozen, ready in under three minutes. Every meal is made with simple ingredients, locally sourced vegetables, high quality proteins, sauces made from scratch, no weird fillers or preservatives. They can accommodate any diet you're on. Plant based, keto, high protein, many, many options. I tried the Barbacoa bowl with white rice and black beans, tender beef peppers, sour cream sauce, delicious tender. The kind of lunch I'd be excited to have again. Go to David pakman.com/forkful and use the code PACMAN for 50% off your first box plus 10% off your next three orders. The link is in the description. If you've been paying attention to recent events, you've seen how the line between church and state is is blurring. How religion can be brought into public life in ways that raise real constitutional questions. That doesn't just affect one issue. It shapes policy. It shapes rights and how power operates broadly. Our sponsor, the Freedom from Religion foundation, works to protect separation of church and state because it protects you and it protects me. As we approach the 250th anniversary of the United States, the question isn't just what we celebrate, it's what do we defend? Visit ffrf.us/david or text my name David to 511511 to learn more or to join because protecting that separation protects our rights. The info is in the description text. Fees may apply. Remember that at the end of the day this is an audience supported program. The show will exist only as long as and if people want it to. And the best way to directly support my work is to subscribe as a member at either join pacman.com or substack.david pakman dotcom. Both are quick and easy. I will also remind you my forthcoming book Pay Attention is eligible for Preorder at David pakman.com/attention. Signed copies are available and also you can get the book in audiobook, Kindle, etc. All of it at David pakman dotcom slash attention. If you've been trying to follow what's happening with Iran over the last few days, it may be confusing and I understand why nobody is telling the same story about what's going on. This is supposedly the most ended war in history. Trump ended this thing like 40 times already. We're in the middle of negotiations to get a deal and it seems to be imploding once again. So here is the sequence and we'll just try to piece it together as we go. Of course, last week, the week before, who knows? At this point, Donald Trump says, we have a ceasefire. The war is over. We we just have to negotiate at this point in time. Fine. And then over the weekend after J.D. vance left Switzerland's negotiations after fewer than 48 hours, it didn't go particularly well. The United States carries out new strikes against Iranian targets and Trump says, oh, Iran violated the cease fire. He posted quote, united States aircraft just struck Iranian missiles and drone storage locations and coastal radar sites for violating the cease fire agreement. Again, it is very possible that they will never learn. There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable and will be forced to militarily complete that job that we started very success that we very successfully started. If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist. So Donald Trump, in the middle of a cease fire, in the middle of a negotiation to end the most ended war in history again goes by the way, we also might destroy Iran. Cease fire, maybe deal, I'm not sure. JD Is negotiating and we might destroy the country and the country of Iran will be no more. Okay, so that doesn't sound so good. And then Senator Roger Marshall gets asked a very straightforward question is if we are still bombing at this point in time, how can the administration say that the war is over? And instead of answering the question directly, Roger Marshall goes, well the major war is over. This is just a mop up operation. We now have categories of war. It is not major war anymore. Oh, thank God.
- [29:15]
Co-host or Guest 2
Let's start with the war in Iran. The war now there has passed. 120 days. Secretary Rubio testified that the war is over. Yet overnight the US launched new strikes inside Iran. If the US is still bombing Iran 120 days into this conflict, how can the Trump administration credibly say the war is over?
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Political Analyst or Guest
Well, Ryan, look, I'm just going to stay focused on what my goals have been all along. No nukes for Iran. No forever wars. Bring the cost of gas and grocery down. The major war is over. And think of this as a, almost just a mop up operation. We have to press them. If they strike us, we have to strike them back by 10. We're making great progress. To your point about Secretary Rubio, he just made a great landmark case over in Lebanon and Israel getting those folks together. Look, let's, let's not, let's root for the Trump team for once rather than try to tear him down. So I think we're doing what we need to do, making great progress here and again working toward those goals. No nukes for Iran. No forever wars. And let's keep bringing that.
- [30:15]
David Pakman
No nukes for Iran. No nukes for Iran. So the war is basically over. But it's a mop up operation with just a little bit of bombing. A little bit of bombing is all we need. Then things get even weirder. Axios reported the United States and Iran are expected to meet in Doha very soon to continue operations negotiations rather. And Trump goes on truth social media and he posts in all capital letters, Iran has requested a meeting. It will take place tomorrow in Doha. Sounds definitive. Except then Iranian officials come out and say, actually not so fast. Iran's senior negotiator says no meetings have really been scheduled this week and we are talking about scheduling a meeting. So review. The war is going to last three weeks and it lasts 16. It ends 40 times during that 16 weeks. But then it really ends because we're going to get a deal. Except the deal is only a letter and we're going to have 60 days to get the deal. But after 42 hours, JD Vance goes, I don't think we're going to get a deal. And the Iranian negotiators walked out. But we've still got a cease fire and we're negotiating, except that there's bombing and we'll destroy Iran if we need to. But the war is over. And also negotiations are happening today. Except Iran goes, we don't know anything about that. Nothing's been scheduled. But we have a cease fire, except everybody's bombing and it was violated really badly, but everybody's doing really well. So at some point you have to just go, what is the administration's real position here? If you're trying to explain this to someone who's been paying half attention, it's impossible. If you've been paying attention, you know that they're just lying. And it's clarification, another qualification, another explanation, and then a contradiction. And what I think is becoming Donald Trump's real problem is less about whether you support the Iran policy or oppose it. Like you might think we needed to do something about Iran, or it was a bad idea to go in. I happen to think it was a bad idea to go in. The problem for Trump is much simpler. People need to understand what is actually happening. If the message keeps changing and if each official describes the situation differently, if the other side is publicly contradicting your announcements, people don't even know what to believe. And there's this old saying in politics, you fool me once. No, no, not that one. There's this other old saying, if you're explaining, you're losing. And the administration is at the point where they're not even really explaining there, they're explaining their prior explanations during an international conflict, and they're not being clear and they're not being confident, they're just being confused. That is really the story here. And nobody inside of the administration seems capable of describing the situation the same way twice now. What is really happening in Iran? What are we expecting to see? I have no idea, other than to acknowledge that political concerns usually end up trumping everything else. And for all the talk about Trump had to do this national security, blah, blah, blah. Once it gets to the point where people are going to start casting ballots, early voting and absentee ballots, etc. I cannot imagine that Donald Trump is going to want to keep this going. And that goes in fact to the leverage that Iran has over Donald Trump. As I said before, we have the 60 day negotiation period that would run roughly, by the way I say it, like it's a real thing. I don't even know that either side still gives a damn about that original 60 day timeline. We're like eight scandals and contradictions removed from that. But at least in theory, we had a 60 day period that ran roughly from June 19 to August 19. Iran knows that August 19 gets dangerously close to when people start submitting absentee and early, early voting ballots for the midterms. And Trump is unlikely, unlikely to want to restart the war in earnest so close to people voting. However, the counterpoint is it may not be restarting because it doesn't really seem that the, the war is ending at all. So where will we be in three months? Your guess is as good as mine. And this gets to. I don't think Trump really has what it takes to even manage this. That's what I want to talk about next. Donald Trump has created a really bizarre political problem for himself, and the problem relates to what's happening in Iran, but the problem is not in any way Iran. It's a bigger problem for Trump, and the problem for Trump is he keeps announcing everything is over and complete, and, and then it turns out that it isn't. And I'm not even talking about only Iran here. Think about, we'll start with Iran. Think about how many times we've heard, the war is over, we won victory. Iran has agreed they will never have a nuclear weapon, they're going to give up their uranium dust. The negotiations are done. And he keeps talking as though every issue has been completely resolved. And then a couple days later, well, there's another meeting, there's another negotiation, there's another threat, there's another strike, which is just what we saw over this weekend, as we already talked about about. That is really the story of the administration rather than what is taking place in Iran. It's declaring victory on issues before there is any victory to declare. And we have a long history of this in American politics. One of the biggest ways to create problems for yourself instantly in American politics is you declare that the mission has been accomplished. And when the mission hasn't really been accomplished, and once you tell everyone, hey, we've crossed the finish line, everything that happens is judged against that claim. And so when you declare victory, the setbacks become more noticeable. I'll give you a different example. July of 2020, Trump says, we have a new health care plan. It's going to be signed into law within two weeks. We've still not even seen the plan, never mind, of course it hasn't been signed into law. And so now every time we talk again about Trump and health care, we, we are reminded of, and we are judging that against the claim that, listen, you said this was solved in July of 2020, even though it wasn't. And so with Iran, every time there's another negotiation, we go back to, you told us this thing was over 40 times already, and that's where Trump is right now. Now, I think there's also one other problem Trump may not even realize that he's creating. If you are still negotiating with another country, why would you go out and say we've already won everything? Because if you look at basic negotiating texts and negotiation is a bigly studied academic talk to topic. If you tell your supporters Iran has folded and they agreed to everything and it's complete victory, what happens when you still need Iran to agree to something? You've given them more leverage, you've backed yourself into a corner and every time you need something now Iran goes, he already declared victory to Americans. We have leverage because he needs to stick to we won. And every single unresolved issue becomes very awkward politically because you already said it was all taken care of. Now Trump has a different perspective. Trump has short term thinking. He goes, I benefit from announcing a victory. The stock market goes up every time I do. But the problem with that is you're giving away later benefit. You're giving away negotiation, negotiating leverage, and you end up weakening your own position. There would have been nothing wrong with Trump saying, these negotiations are difficult, they're ongoing, we're making progress. I hope that we get there. That is the way that someone more skilled in diplomacy would talk. But Donald Trump thinks that it's better to just declare victory. Now, there is a perspective from some in maga, and I believe Trump believes this as well, that if they think you're unpredictable, it benefits you. You take leverage back by being unpredictable, by being the guy who they might be negotiating with. But Trump might bomb us. But the problem is that being seen as crazy does not make you respected. It only makes people know we're dealing with a crazy person. Let's manage that. So diplomacy usually is messy and conflicts don't tend to end with a dramatic announcement and then everybody goes home and moves on to something else. You've got follow up talks and disagreements and implementation issues. That's totally normal. What's not normal is announcing everything is done 40 times before it ever is and creating a problem where you just give away leverage. Trump says that he is a great person to be president because he's such a great businessman and he understands negotiation. When we study Trump's business record, it's not so good. But when we study Trump's negotiation skills, they kind of seem even worse if I'm totally honest. And then it's tomorrow and you've got another set of contradictions. And you've got another set of contradictions and credibility becomes the big problem when people don't believe you, the next time you say it, you are going to have a problem that is bigger than anything a truth social post can solve. So, so I don't know where this is going. I want economic stability. I don't like looking at my retirement account and seeing that it's cratering because of the things that Donald Trump is doing. Like that's a self, it's just me thinking about myself. And also it's terrible for the country. So what is the end game? Well, Trump should first of all shut up and let negotiators negotiate something very difficult for Donald Trump to do. Most scams do not feel random. Scammers may know your name, your city, a relative, where you work and suddenly the message you get sounds a lot more believable. And a lot of that information is found online and it's just sitting there waiting for bad actors to use it against you. This is why our sponsor Incogni works to remove all of that information from hundreds of websites and databases that have it so that scammers have nothing to work with. Incogni automatically sends removal requests to hundreds of sites that have your personal info. They will follow up again and again until it's gone. My favorite feature is custom removals with the unlimited plan. You find your info anywhere, strange directory, obscure website, not on their master list of databases. You submit it a link in a screenshot and. And they will work to get it removed for you. Scammers and spammers can't bother you if they can't find you. And I am getting no spam calls anymore. And I've always been using Incogni. I would recommend it to anybody. Go to incogni.com/pacman. Use the code PACMAN for 60% off the annual plan. The link is in the description. Over the weekend, quite literally tens of people went to Donald Trump's completely ridiculous and absurd state fair in Washington D.C. this, this, it's just so embarrassing. It's one embarrassment after another and they're desperate to hide this pathetic failure. Here is a Fox News, by the way was doing wall to wall coverage of this ridiculous event and they. I'll just play the clip for you. They are talking about how great it's going to be and the crowds and guys, nobody has been going to this stupid thing.
- [42:31]
Fox News Reporter (Peter Doocy)
We're going to get the Army Golden Knights, that's the parachute group. So they're going to be parachuting and doing a whole show coming down here on the National Mall. I think today is going to be a spectacular day. The crowds yesterday were pretty solid. The weekend crowds have been good. And I think we're lined up for another really fun morning out here on the national mall celebrating America's 250th, celebrating all of the beautiful places this country has to offer. That's one of the things I love about this country, and I love all the people. And I've been meeting people from all across the country. It's been a really good time so far.
- [43:01]
David Pakman
There were more people working for Fox News at the fair than actual fair attendees. And of course, there were periods of time when the weather wasn't great, but there were periods of time where it was fine and nobody was going to this stupid thing. As I played earlier, Peter Doocy from Fox News said people are still sort of working their way out. So it's going to take a little bit of time until the crowd peaks.
- [43:28]
Co-host or Guest 1
You ever in your wildest dreams think you may be doing your Sunday show from a state fair on the National Mall? How great is this?
- [43:35]
Co-host or Guest 2
It's really.
- [43:36]
Reporter or Correspondent
It's really something. And the weather, not the best today, but people are still coming out.
- [43:41]
Co-host or Guest 1
People are still coming. Listen, we need rain, so we'll take it. The farmers need the rain, so we're going to be okay with it.
- [43:47]
Reporter or Correspondent
We do need rain first.
- [43:49]
Co-host or Guest 1
You ever in your wildest dreams think
- [43:51]
David Pakman
you made people completely and totally desperate. Desperate to make this seem like it is an actual successful event. And the reason for the desperation is that just about everything has been going wrong for this administration. So, so they go, let's do a state fair. We've got other video of people able to get baptized at the state fair. In case you were thinking, oh, I don't know, maybe an impromptu baptism. Here is a baptismal. Is that the right term? A baptismal pool at the state fair. Really, really humiliating and embarrassing stuff. Is the baptism thing even legal? I mean, it is like a government event. I don't know. It's not clear. And as obvious, the whole idea is don't believe your eyes. You might see an empty affair. You might not hear any attendees talking, But Fox News is here to tell us. The pictures don't really tell you the full story. No, you need Fox hosts to tell you the truth of what is going on.
- [45:21]
Fox News Reporter (Peter Doocy)
And sometimes the pictures really don't tell the full of the full story because if you look behind us, you see, okay, there are a couple hundred people back there. But the truth is, when you make your way over here and you're in this lot. You're in a wash of people. I don't.
- [45:34]
David Pakman
And it's a wash of people. Awash. Now, eventually, the fair was briefly shut down due to weather. They're pretending it's the only reason nobody showed up all weekend. However, it is completely untrue. This should have been a really easy win. A free patriotic event celebrating America's 250th anniversary. It could have attracted big crowds. Maybe it should have. But it didn't. And I think that the story is gaslighting. Instead of admitting turnout was disappointing, every one of these Trump officials and FOX people keep saying, it is not what your eyes tell you. And this is the pattern we've seen for a long time. Inauguration crowd size. Here's what it looks like to anybody with eyes, and it turns out that they tell you, no, you can't believe your eyes. You've got to believe me, Covid. It's not what everybody can see in their communities. It's what Trump says it is. Election claims. It's not what every media outlet reported that Joe Biden just straight up won in 2020. It's that Trump really won. But Biden, through complicated mechanisms, stole the entire thing. So the message from this administration is a classic of authoritarian messaging. Trust what we tell you, not your own eyes. And if there's a conflict, if your eyes are telling you one thing, and I apologize, I hit my mic because I'm getting so agitated by this. If your eyes are telling you one thing and we are telling you something else, just believe us, that's it. And if it happened under a Democratic president that Obama or Biden did a state fair and no one showed up, Fox would be running empty crowd shots 24, 7 in the corner alongside all of their programming. They would be calling it a humiliating failure. Trump has made crowd size the metric of personal success. That's why this matters so much to him. That's why there's so much effort to insist that this, which was hugely successful and it was a pathetic and humiliating failure. Now, I would even go further and make a different argument that the crowd size itself is not really the measure of the event's success. Part of why nobody wanted anything to do with this event is that straight up, if you're not a Trump supporter, you are not even interested in considering going. Now, I know that they found, like, two non Trump supporters there, but this is, clearly, to the average person, not an event about celebrating the United States and celebrating the best of what the United States can be. It is an event conceived by and used by Trump for self aggrandizement, ego boosting and propaganda value. And that's a big part of why people didn't go under other presidents when there were. Listen, Trump has politicized everything, even the reflecting pool. Normally, the reflecting pool repairs would be part of the bureaucratic and administrative general jobs of an administration. The president wouldn't be personally involved. The president wouldn't make it a, an individual propaganda node to use. It would be like, hey, listen, we're cleaning up this park and we're repainting the reflecting pool there and we're doing this. It wouldn't become such a story under Trump. It's all about him. It's an adjudication or an evaluation of Trump's prowess and manliness and all of this different stuff. This is why people are revolted by it. This, this is why nobody went to this idiotic state fair and even Caroline Levitt couldn't clean it up. I think you're going to like this. Caroline Levitt resurfaced from her maternity leave. And not a day too soon, or, or not a day too late, I guess, depending on your perspective of it. And I hope that Caroline regrets coming out of maternity leave specifically to go to Donald Trump's state fair. Here she is just hours ago this morning saying Americans really need to vote for this president. Wait a second. To vote for him when he's term limited. And for Republicans, here is a new look. Caroline Levitt. She's back. And whoopsies, she imploded once again.
- [49:48]
Caroline Levitt
These are radical Marxist ideas that have never worked in the history of the world. And I think it's a choice coming up between communism and common sense. That's how the president views it. And that's why Americans need to vote for this president and the Republican Party and the common sense ideals that make this the greatest nation in the history of the world.
- [50:08]
Political Analyst or Guest
Do you think this helps the president?
- [50:09]
David Pakman
The Republican Party, during the midterms, that
- [50:11]
Political Analyst or Guest
they have decided in this democratic socialist civil war that this is the new Democratic Party?
- [50:18]
Caroline Levitt
It certainly is. And you see Democrat elected officials right here on Capitol Hill, Hakeem Jeffries, Chuck Schumer, are afraid to stand up and speak out against these radical communists who are taking over their party. It's quite scary.
- [50:31]
David Pakman
But I, you know, there is a real. I don't know that I would call it a battle, but there is a real discussion within the Democratic Party as to what the future of the party is. There are people who say the future is the same thing, that it's been in the recent past. It's Schumer and Jefferies and people with their political views. There are others who say, no, the future is democratic socialism. And it is people like Graham Platner and some of the folks that won the New York City congressional primaries last week. And there is a movement that says it's not a big deal that Platner had a Nazi tattoo because he didn't know what it was. And it's not a big deal that one of the people who won in New York City went on October 8 to what became a pro Hamas rally. And there are others who go, no, that does matter. And listen, these are conversations for Democrats to have and people who vote for Democrats to have, that's totally fine. The interest of Caroline Levitt in that is only to attack the left no matter what. Because do any of us believe that if the Democratic Party were happy simply saying, this is the Schumer Jeffries party, do we think that then Caroline Levitt would be going, no, it's a completely reasonable Democratic Party. They decided they want Schumer and Jeffries, and that's cool? Of course not. Their interest in all of this is cynical and it is meant simply to boost themselves. And then she goes, and we got to go out and vote for the people who support Donald Trump or whatever. Of course, Americans are not voting for Trump in November, but they are voting for a lot of different Republicans. And I have been very clear about this. If you are one of these anti Trump Republicans, and I know I have some of them in the audience, if you're an anti Trump Republican and you're thinking to yourself, well, I don't like Trump, but I don't have a problem with my elected official. I'm going to vote for them. Go and check their voting record. And you will find, unless you are in one of a handful of congressional districts, you will almost certainly find, if you look at the voting of your elected officials in the House and Senate, that they vote the way Donald Trump wants them to vote almost all the time. And so don't fall for this whole thing of, well, I'm not voting for Trump, but I'm fine with my representative. Your representative is enabling Donald Trump. Your representative is rubber stamping Donald Trump. Okay, so let's go back to Caroline Levitt. And she goes, no, no, no. Special envoy Witkoff and Jared Kushner. They are great people. They are awesome. They are going to Doha to negotiate all of this stuff. And by the way, even though we're holding up the cease fire Violence will be met with violence. That's a really, that's really weird cease fire language. What was happening with Iran.
- [53:27]
Political Analyst or Guest
And we know that over the weekend,
- [53:28]
David Pakman
fire exchange, bombing, our bases in Bahrain and Kuwait.
- [53:32]
Political Analyst or Guest
We have responded because they tried to and they want attacked two merchant ships over the weekend. Now, can you give us the latest?
- [53:40]
Caroline Levitt
Sure. Well, I just spoke with the President about it. Iran has requested a meeting this week. So special envoy Witkoff and Jared Kushner
- [53:47]
David Pakman
will be very special envoy. I mean, he's truly special.
- [53:50]
Caroline Levitt
Flying to Doha for high level meetings this week. As we continue to discuss the memorandum of, memorandum of understanding, on the sidelines of those high level talks will be the technical talks. So as far as we're concerned, we're holding up our end of the cease fire. Violence will be met with violence. As you mentioned, Brian, there were attacks on commercial vessels that the United States of America, directed by the President, responded to.
- [54:10]
David Pakman
And that quite a contradiction. We are holding up our end of the cease fire. And also violence will be met with violence. That is a very conditional cease fire. Now, I'm not suggesting that what we need to be doing is looking away and going, we will never defend ourselves. Of course, that's not what I'm saying. But when you've already failed to end this thing 40 times, and every time it looks like negotiations are starting, Donald Trump goes, but we'll also destroy the country if we need to. Why are we pouring gasoline on the fire? And of course, it's really weird that Jared Kushner keeps playing this central diplomatic role when he supposedly is not really involved in the government. So how is foreign policy being structured? Well, people not even in the government seem to be highly involved in foreign policy. One more clip. Fox News found Caroline Levitt at the failed State fair.
- [55:01]
Reporter or Correspondent
As we were walking around the National Mall fairgrounds this weekend with a camera crew, we ran into a very special guest. This was not set up. And this is somebody that we have not seen in a while. So we're walking here. They've got all 50 states represented. We found somebody from New Hampshire.
- [55:20]
David Pakman
Hi, guys.
- [55:21]
Reporter or Correspondent
Caroline Levitt is back at work.
- [55:23]
Political Commentator or Analyst
I am?
- [55:24]
Co-host or Guest 1
I am.
- [55:25]
Caroline Levitt
Welcome to the Great American State Fair. What a beautiful day on the National Mall.
- [55:29]
Reporter or Correspondent
First question, how are you? How's the baby?
- [55:32]
Caroline Levitt
Amazing. She's great. She's at home right now sleeping. I have my toddler son here, as you can see.
- [55:38]
David Pakman
Anyway, isn't she just a delight? So Caroline Levitt is back. She is imploding immediately. And if you were enjoying the respite from weaponized propaganda from the mouth of Caroline Levitt, her machine gun lips as Trump loves to say. She's going to be back and it's going to get very, very ugly. The David Pakman show is an audience supported program and the best, most direct way to support the show is by becoming a member at Join Pacman Dotcom. 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 stroking out on Truth Social once again ranting about Obama. I know, I know you were. You're probably like, wait, who?
- [56:33]
Political Commentator or Analyst
Obama?
- [56:34]
David Pakman
We know about Obama, but who is Obuma? Well, we will get to it. This is very, very indicative of a totally unstable person. The first post I'm not even going to subject you to the torture of all of it. It's a wall of text, but it starts quote I just returned from a tour of various statues, monuments, fountains, and most importantly, an old and rundown golf course located throughout Washington D.C. our nation's capital. Almost all of the statues, monuments and fountains have been completely renovated and restored and are in after suffering years of graffiti. By the way, graffiti is capitalized abuse and vandalism. There's random caps all over this thing. Perfect shape. They are truly beautiful, even nicer than the day they were built. The reflecting pool is now in full use after suffering great damage from criminal radical left vandals, people that truly hate our country. Remember, there's no evidence of that. They cut the lower surface of a very expensive and strong waterproof padding in the color of American flag blue. Ok, this goes on and on. And Trump talks about them cutting a slit in his rubber at the bottom of the pool and Lafayette park and 1820 and the Secretary of the Interior and golf courses and architects and monuments and this is an endless, endless post. This is a sick, sick person ranting about everything from grass to crime to everything in between. If you were genuinely winning, if you were genuinely expecting that the people have been convinced that you have their best interests in mind and plan to reward the Republican Party when with two more years or six more years, depending on whether you're voting for a member of the House or a member of the Senate, you don't behave like this. If you know you have the will of the people on your side, you simply focus on the facts of what you've delivered. Hey, I lowered prices. Hey, housing is now more affordable. Wage growth is exceeding inflation. We've built this or built that that, but they don't have that. They don't have that. And so this is what Trump is relegated to. Trump then switching to the World Cup. And of course the World cup, the most popular global sporting event ever, has nothing to do with Trump. That people like World cup. But Trump has to make it about himself. He puts quote, the FIFA numbers are far greater than any World cup in history. That is a great tribute to the United States of America. Thank you to all. President Donald Trump. Why? Why is that a trip? There's more people on earth than ever before and soccer is the most popular global sport. Why is it thanks to Trump, thanks to the US by which Trump means thanks to Trump that a lot of people are watching the World Cup. In fact, because of Donald Trump's sort of playing coy with we'll provide security or we won't. We'll see. Maybe not blue cities. We have seen some of the hotel bookings in and around cities hosting games be lower than what was expected. Okay, then Trump goes. Communism is the greatest threat to our country since World War I, World War II, Pearl harbor or 9, 11. Now I am not a communist. You don't have to be a communist, nor an anti communist to recognize that communism is not a threat to the United States right now. Now I'm guessing that what Trump is alluding to is that there have been some self decried described Democratic socialists that recently won primaries or Mamdani who is now the mayor of New York City. But of course communism and socialism are different things. You can disagree with socialism, this, this is going to be mind blowing. Okay, you can disagree with socialism without calling it communism, mind blown. But apparently Trump cannot handle that. And then Trump talking about the fair, the failed and pathetic state fair quote. Do you think people appreciate what a fantastic job we did in building and operating the Great American State Fair at the National Mall packed with happy people and everybody loving it. Ask yourself this simple question. Do you think that Obama or sleepy Joe Biden Obama could have done it? The answer is no. And you know what? I agree. I believe that if Obama or Obama or sleepy Joe Biden did something like this Great American State Fair fair, it would have felt inclusive enough and non overtly partizan enough that people would have actually showed up even if they hadn't voted for Joe Biden or Obama or Obama or Obama. But because Donald Trump turned it into a parade of Maga Trumpism at the end of the day, almost nobody showed up. If you're winning, this is not how you behave. And this is why I am sort of re reinvigorated in my belief that if and when Donald Trump Republican Party loses and loses badly in November, Trump is essentially going to tuck his tail between his legs, go back to the Oval Office, or probably spend most of his time in Mar A Lago and do nothing for the rest of his presidency. That sounds good to me. That's what I want Trump doing. The less Trump does, the better off the country and the world are. So let's send him packing, guys. He clearly can't do it. He clearly is not fit. It's yet another brain event. And what I am now left to wonder is whether Donald Trump will ever apologize to Republicans for forcing them to buy into this whole the election was stolen, there's fraud, blah, blah, blah, stuff that he has been pushing. My guess is he won't apologize because he never does. But let's talk about it a little bit. There's something about the voter fraud debate that isn't really getting any discussion. And it should. And it's this. How many people have had their reputations destroyed and just become jokes over claims that were never proven and never real about voter fraud? Watch this exchange where a reporter asked Senator Roger Marshall a really straightforward question, which is, listen, we have no evidence that fraudulent votes have changed the outcome of an election. We just, you can say voter fraud as much as you want. There's no evidence that it has done anything. Are you trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist? And Marshall's answer is kind of interesting for how silly it is. He goes, listen, we require pilots to get a license before they fly a plane. The concept is you don't wait until they crash a plane to make pilots get a pilot's license. So we don't wait for voter fraud before we do something about it. Now, maybe that sounds reasonable, except there's one huge problem. See if you can spot it. This is pathetic.
- [64:11]
Political Analyst or Guest
Look, I think that there is a huge concern on the part of Americans right now that our elections are not trustworthy. I don't think that that fraud will ever end our democracy. But I'm worried about is those that have this belief, this fear that fraud is indeed possible and then it could go unpunished. So that's why we need to build an election process with integrity.
- [64:32]
Co-host or Guest 2
But let's talk about the root of that feeling that Americans have at least a certain sect of Americans as it relates to the integrity of elections. You've said if you could pass one bill the rest of your career, it would be the Save America Act. Every issue we care about starts with secure elections. Federal law already prohibits non citizens from voting. There's no evidence that fraudulent votes have changed any election outcomes. Are you trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist?
- [64:59]
David Pakman
Yes.
- [65:01]
Political Analyst or Guest
Look, we make pilots before they start flying a plane. We get to make them get a license to do that. We don't wait till they crash a plane until we make them go through a process. The issue right now is again, is that, that Americans don't feel that the elections are true, trustworthy, no one wants.
- [65:18]
David Pakman
And why do they feel that way? Because Trump and people like Roger Marshall spent six years lying to them about it. Now, flying an air. This is the dumbest analogy. Flying an airplane. We know if someone who is not equipped to fly a plane is flying a plane, it is very dangerous. It's inherently dangerous. The question the reporter asked isn't, is election security important? Is having licensed public pilots important? Yes. Is election security important? Yes, it's important. The question is, do we have evidence of widespread voter fraud that has changed election outcomes? Those are very different questions. Nobody is saying elections shouldn't be secure. Democrats aren't arguing people who are voting fraudulently should be allowed to do so. Republicans aren't arguing against secure elections either. By the way, the disagreement is, is there evidence of the fraud that Republicans have been claiming exists for years? Six years now? We're about to give you the evidence of what really happened in 2020, and they still don't have it. We had election workers accused of crimes. We had volunteers threatened. This is 2020. Local election officials with lives turned upside down. Some got death threats, some quit their jobs. People were publicly branded as participating in conspiracies to steal an election. And what happened when it went to court? Court after court after court rejected claims of fraud. Some of those judges were Trump appointed. Republican election election officials said these results are certifiable in the sense that they seem to reflect the will of the voter. Trump's own Justice Department said, we have not found evidence of fraud on any scale that would have changed the outcome in a single state. And we are now almost six years in and Donald Trump continues to say, we are going to blow your socks off when we show you this proof, proof that they still don't have. And people like Roger Marshall and others keep talking about massive election fraud as if it is an accepted fact. And then when you push them and you go, well, why haven't we gotten any of the proof? They go, well, Americans feel that our election systems are at risk. They feel that because you've been lying to them for six years about it. So there's like a basic fairness question, I would call it. If you are going to accuse people of helping to steal an election, and if you're going to go out there and spend six years convincing millions of Americans that everybody's in on it, the election workers, the volunteers, the local officials, Biden, Hillary, Obama, Harris, everybody's in on it. And then years go by with zero evidence. Don't those people deserve an apology? And doesn't Trump owe all of the Republicans who fell in line for loyalty reasons, who went along with it? Doesn't Trump owe them an apology? Think about it. Imagine someone publicly accuses you of participating in a scheme to undermine American democracy, a very serious allegation, and then strangers start sending you threats, and then your family has to deal with it. Wouldn't you expect at some point that the people who made those allegations would acknowledge, I messed up, I'm sorry for having screwed everything up, and instead they just want to move on. New election, new claims of the same stuff, new warnings about the same things, and they never revisit that. Their old allegations were never substantiated and people had their names dragged through the mud. They just have to live with it. So this is like a. Forget whether you're a Republican or a Democrat or an independent. This should bother everybody. Accusations as serious as trying to undermine one of the basic processes of democracy should not be allowed to float in this way unless they're backed up by evidence. And if politicians are going to keep saying, well, listen, we're protecting democracy against this threat, one way to protect democracy is stop accusing innocent people of crimes they didn't commit. The question isn't, should elections be secure? Of course they should. The question is, do we have reason to think that they have not been? Do we have reason to believe even a single state went to the wrong person because of such fraud? And the answer is, we don't. So rather than Trump continuing to go, it's going to be just a couple weeks and we're going to have the evidence out. What about we got it wrong? I'm sorry, Biden won the same way that I can say I'd rather Trump have lost in 2024, but the evidence is that Trump won in 2024. So he gets to be president and he gets to screw up the country, which he's doing. That's reality. See, I don't like that it's reality, but I have no problem sticking to the truth. And similarly, after six years of this crap and getting people like Roger Marshall and who knows who else to go. Yes, Trump is right. Who? These judicial nominees who are asked who won the 2020 election and they go, Joe Biden was sworn in as the president. Right. But did he win? Oh, that's a political question. No, it's just the simple thing. Did he win? You have any reason to think he didn't? Any evidence that he didn't? These people all are owed an apology from Trump. But we are all owed an apology by these people. Six years. Will they still be saying this after 10 years? After 20 years? I do believe the number of Republicans insisting on this crap will decline when Trump is gone from office. Let me know what you think. Bill Maher received the Mark Twain Award at the Kennedy Center. We will talk about it on the bonus show. The Daily Wire is seeking new investors and wants to IPO even though the news is that they are failing. And an Alaska judge has put the other Dan Sullivan. Remember this story? There was a guy named Dan Sullivan who wants to run against Senator Dan Sullivan in Alaska. The judge is putting Dan Sullivan number two back on the ballot. Chaos in Alask. Stories and more on today's bonus show. Sign up, get instant Access@join pacman.com.