The David Pakman Show - 10/20/23: The televised trial of Donald Trump, the 2024 spoiler possibility

Episode Date: October 20, 2023

-- On the Show: -- Former Trump attorney Sidney Powell pleads guilty to six misdemeanor counts of conspiracy to commit election interference in Georgia -- Antisemitic right-winger Elijah Schaffer attempts to use David's content to generate even more antisemitism -- Failed former President Donald Trump's criminal trial -- one or more of them -- might be televised live globally -- Caller compares Donald Trump to Ron DeSantis -- Caller has difficulty dealing with their Trump-supporting family -- Caller suspects Tommy Tuberville is holding up military promotions as part of Project 2025 -- Caller feels conflicted over supporting a local candidate -- Caller wonders if Cenk Uygur or Cornel West will have an effect on the 2024 election outcome -- Caller discusses right-wing book bans -- The Friday Feedback segment -- On the Bonus Show: Republicans' latest Speaker plan fails, Southwest to board by window, middle, then aisle seats, and much more... 🔊 Babbel: Get 55% off your subscription at https://babbel.com/pakman 🩳 SHEATH Underwear: Code PAKMAN for 20% OFF at https://sheathunderwear.com/pakman 🪒 Henson Shaving: Use code PAKMAN for FREE blades at https://hensonshaving.com/pakman 😁 Zippix Toothpicks: Code PAKMAN10 saves you 10% at https://zippixtoothpicks.com 🖥️ UPLIFT Desk: Get 5% OFF with code PAKMAN at https://upliftdesk.com/pakman 💪 Athletic Greens is offering FREE year-supply of Vitamin D at https://athleticgreens.com/pakman -- Become a Supporter: http://www.davidpakman.com/membership -- Subscribe on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/thedavidpakmanshow -- Subscribe to Pakman Live: https://www.youtube.com/pakmanlive -- Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/davidpakmanshow -- Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/davidpakmanshow -- Leave us a message at The David Pakman Show Voicemail Line (219)-2DAVIDP

All right. I have a whole bunch of news to run through with you at the top of the show today. First and foremost, remember that bonkers lawyer, Sidney Powell, who was going around filing all sorts of bogus legal challenges to the 2020 election on the behalf of Donald Trump. She has pleaded guilty in the Georgia election interference case. This is getting to be the end of the line for Sidney Powell. NBC News reporting Sidney Powell pleads guilty in Georgia election interference case. She was one of 19 defendants charged by Fannie Willis in the indictment that also charged

Trump himself. Powell entered her guilty plea in Fulton County Superior Court. Powell, who acted as one of Trump's lawyers after the 2020 election, lost to Biden, was charged with racketeering. Couldn't happen to a nicer lady. Conspiracy to commit election fraud, conspiracy to commit computer theft, trespass and invasion of privacy and conspiracy to defraud the state. This is an absolutely delightful and sad, likely end to Sidney Powell's career. And it is what's the takeaway here? Why is why is this news? Well, it's news because Trump is charged in this same indictment.

And we are already seeing that there are other defendants who have decided that their best interests are not going to trial and trying to win on the facts, but instead taking a plea. That is what Sidney Powell has done. It doesn't bode particularly well for Donald Trump, although he will get his chance to fight this however he wants to fight it. Number two, it's a reminder. Trump doesn't care about any of these people. Just couldn't give two S's about any of these people. They were useful to him at one point in the immediate aftermath of the 2020 election loss to Biden. He allowed Sidney Powell to go to the White House, meet with him, push all the stuff that she was pushing. She went too far. She's been humiliated professionally,

socially, everything. And Trump doesn't say a word about her anymore. He vaguely still insists, obviously, that he did nothing wrong and that he really did win Georgia. But he just drops people when they're no longer useful to him. And lastly, it is a reminder of how damaging to one's career and general place in the world affiliating oneself with Donald Trump can truly be. Many of the voters have recognized it. I don't know that Rudy and Sidney Powell and these sorts of folks recognize it, but it is really risky stuff to affiliate yourself with Donald Trump because he will drop you like that when you are no longer useful to him. Let's talk about an anti-Semite right winger using my content to direct more anti-Semitism against me. There's a guy named Elijah Schaefer. I couldn't possibly give you all of his extreme right wing credentials here, but Google the guy and you will quickly learn

about him. He posted one of my clips saying, you know, the evangelical support for Israel is actually pretty horrible stuff. And he and I'll play the clip for you in a moment. He says, wow, Trump says nobody supports Israel more than evangelical Christians. Popular progressive Jew responds by saying many Jews don't want their support and think it's disingenuous. Why do so many Christians support a people that generally hates them and doesn't want their support? Here's the video of mine that Schaefer post. Nobody loves Israel more than the evangelical Christians. I will tell you that. Now, one thing I can tell you right

as a progressive Jew is that the love that evangelicals have for Israel is not particularly welcome by most progressive Jews. The love that evangelicals have for Israel is usually through some half-baked prophecy about how by supporting Israel, it will bring upon the return of Jesus and all sorts. I think there's a rapture and I believe the Jews get killed in most of the versions of it. I say no, thank you. I say no, thank you to the evangelical Christians on this one. All right. So Schaefer, who already is hugely anti-Semitic, says, why would the evangelicals even support the idea of Jews or Israel if we Jews are saying we don't want their support? So first of all, I speak only for myself.

I mean, everybody there. I'm sure you can find some Jewish folks who say we love the support from evangelicals, but I would actually say the following. It's not that I don't want the help of evangelicals. It's that they're not actually helpful. They're only, quote, supportive of Judaism or usually it's not even Judaism that they're supportive of. They're supportive of some narrow version of what the Israeli state means for their

own gain. They're not actually being supportive in any real way. They're supporting Israel because they believe it's what they're supposed to do to bring about the second coming of Jesus or the third. I don't know which which coming we're up to at this point. Who know who the hell knows? So it's not that I don't want help. It's that they're not actually helpful. And that's that. And of course, it's being turned into more anti-Semitism. If the Jews don't want your help, you shouldn't actually try to help them. They're not actually helping. That's the takeaway. We have yet more news that another one of Donald Trump's criminal trials may be televised. The ratings are going to be off the

charts. My friends, the New Republic reports Trump's D.C. trial could soon be televised for your viewing pleasure. We already knew that Trump's Georgia trial would likely be televised if it goes to trial, if there's not a plea agreement or charges are dropped or whatever. Many things can happen between now and then. But we did not know that the D.C. trial could soon be televised. The New Republic reports Donald Trump may be the star of a new TV special soon, his upcoming D.C. trial. NBC Universal News Group filed a 43 page motion on Wednesday, hoping to televise USAV Trump, the first criminal trial of a U.S. president. The American public has an extraordinary interest in seeing and hearing this trial of former

President Trump. If ever a trial were to be televised, wrote the legal team for NBC. This one should be for the benefit of American democracy. The request has been filed to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, NBC asking to broadcast audio and video either with a delay or live using the court's own equipment. There is an uphill battle, but it is potentially a motion that will be granted. This truly could be the trial of the century. And I don't mean just like the 21st century of the last hundred years, I think I would say. And the great outcome of this would be that all of Trump's trials are televised or at least some of them more than one. One of the funniest things about this is when you see

articles saying one of Trump's biggest trials could be televised. We don't know which one they mean because there's so many. Like, is it the CDC federal insurrection trial or is it the state trial in Georgia or is it the federal documents case or is it the civil case in New York regarding the fraud? Which one is going to be the one for the payoffs to the porn star? Which trial is it? This could finally get Trump the ratings that he's been claiming to have for so long. Trump talking about I have the biggest ratings, I have the most ratings. Trump's criminal trial and Trump sitting there at the defense table actually could finally get Trump those ratings he's so desperate for. You know, many people are saying my trial, it's bigger than O.J..

The jury had tears in their eyes the entire time they were screaming, sir, they made us find you guilty. Killery would never get these numbers at trial, not even close that I can assure you. If you think Trump's been losing his mind every single day that he attends his civil trial in New York, unable to control himself, diarrhea of the mouth. If you think that's been bad, just wait until Trump's criminal trials start, which put him at risk of what is effectively for a guy of his age and health, what would effectively be life in prison. It is going to be an incredible thing to behold. We don't gloat in the displeasure that Trump will experience, but we identify when it is warranted based on the things he is accused

of. And that is very much the case based on the detailed indictments that we have seen. All right. We have such a great program for you today. We'll take a quick break and then it continues. You hate the sticking and the rubbing that comes with traditional underwear. I'm sure most gentlemen in my audience know what I'm talking about. Our sponsor, Sheath Underwear, solves the problem. They have a patented ergonomic underwear design, separate compartments in the front. Everything stays dry, cool and comfortable. With Sheath, you do away with the chafing and the sweating. Everything can air out and breathe and be fresh. Large variety of designs, something for everyone. The air

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Kindle. It's crazy how easy these things are to get David Pakman dot com slash book. And remember, review the book. If you got a copy, it really helps us. All right. Let's go to the phones. They're not really phones anymore. We used to have an actual phone system. Now we do this via discord. You can find the discord at David Pakman dot com slash discord. Just a reminder to everybody who wants to get on. You have to have your name and your location or your location and your name. I see people with nicknames or people with different things you won't get on just as a warning. And we're starting today with Brendan from New York. Brendan, welcome to The David Pakman Show. What's on your mind today? Hi, David. I'll get right to my question, please. I've

heard you say previously on the show that you would prefer Donald Trump win the Republican nomination because Ron DeSantis, you think, would be like more effective or get more done as a Republican president, do bad things. There's two different questions. There's who do I think would be easier for Biden to defeat? And then there's the question, who do I think would be more dangerous if they were to become president? So they're related, but they're two separate questions. But regardless, you could you can go on with your question. All right. Fair. With the recent, you know, international issues going on, do you think it's fair that Ron DeSantis, while maybe bad from a policy standpoint, I mean, not having

foreign policy decided over the toilet in the middle of the night is such a such a benefit over where Donald Trump currently sits. Right. Isn't it better for him to win the Republican nomination if only for that reason? Well, there's see, the thing is, winning the Republican nomination is an intermediate question. If DeSantis is more likely to lose to Biden, then I would want him to win the Republican nomination. If DeSantis is if the winner of the Republican primary is ultimately going to be president, I actually think that even though DeSantis might not make foreign policy decisions over a toilet in the middle of the night, as you say, which I love as a phrase, I actually think DeSantis is just as clueless and equally dangerous as Trump on foreign policy.

It's just a slightly different sort of style. I don't want either of those guys making foreign policy decisions. And to be honest, it's I'm increasingly opting out of this like, well, who would be better or worse on foreign policy, Trump or DeSantis? We need to defeat whichever one of them is the nominee. And so it's increasingly kind of like a moot question. Fair enough. Thanks for taking it. All right.

Brendan from New York. Great to hear from you today. Let's go next to Luke from DFW, Texas. Luke, welcome to the program. What's on your mind today? Speaker 3 Hey, David, I've been a longtime listener of your show. Thank you. And I'm an active member of the LGBTQ community.

I just got into my first relationship and this is for just I hate to interrupt Luke, but I have one question. What do you mean you're an active member? In other words, you're it sounds like you identify as LGBT, but does active mean you're in in relationships? Is that how it's defined? I guess active for me, like is active in the community. I do. I had two boyfriends. I'm in a polyamorous relationship with two other guys. How does that work?

It's pretty much like a straight. It's pretty much like a monogamous relationship. Only I give my attention to two people instead of just one. And like with any roles of engagement for a relationship, you would have things that are acceptable and that aren't acceptable. And you just are up front with communication. So it's like two monogamous relationships that exist almost like in parallel universes, you might say. More together as a as a trio, We're all dedicated to each other. It just so this is actually this is not to two concurrent relationships. It's a three person relationship. Yeah. Polyamorous. Wow.

All right. Fair enough. All right. Well, now, with that context, please proceed, Governor. OK, so for anybody in that community, I have family back in Louisiana that I just moved away from, and I'm very close to that family. But as all of us who are in that community are aware, especially living in South, we have members of our family that are all Trump supporters. And my question would be for you in 24 is, would you cut ties with family members are all Trump supporters. And my question would be for you in 24 is if or would you cut ties with family members who are Trump supporters despite them claiming to support you being a member of that community, regardless of if he wins or not? I've struggled with this question for a long time, and it's something I honestly don't know the answer to. Well, there is no one answer.

I mean, listen, I don't have any family. Most of my family is not in the United States, and so they don't even follow American politics in the way that I do. So the family I have, none of them are none of them are Trump supporters. My girlfriend does have some family that are Trump supporters, but I don't see her talk to them. There's nobody to cut off because I just don't see them. They live in a different part of the country. So it's kind of irrelevant.

The answer to your question really is just a question of, okay, you have these family members. They don't live near you right now. It sounds like they're Trump supporters. What is there? And they say that they support you living your life and being who you are. Great. It's really just a matter of do you value the relationship with them more than the fact that their political views you don't like is a negative, is a drag down on the

relationship? You know, if you assign some number to it and not to become utilitarian, but if you say on a scale of one to 10, you feel like you get a seven from being in touch with these people and a minus four from the fact that they're Trump supporters. Well, you've got a positive value there. Not to go all Sam Bankman freed on everybody, but and so maybe you say, well, I'm going to stay in touch with it. It's got to be an individual decision, you know? Yeah, I knew it wasn't really much of a blanket term, but I really was curious what your input on that was, because for context, these are my parents and one of my sisters who are rabidly Catholic, which irony in that there because the evangelicals, hey, Catholics already. Speaker 1 Now, do you take them at their word and

and believe when they say we still support you and you as an LGBT person, et cetera? Or do you think that that's not true necessarily? Speaker 4 I would say for one of them, I don't really believe her, but she's she's a small town or she's my small town sister who's not really – she already has a stick of her butt anyways. My mom and dad's actions, I don't really hear their words too much about it, but when push has come to shove, especially when I recently moved to the Dallas-Fort Worth area,

they have been there to support me, and they're constantly showing love know, showing love for me in my life without having to really speak any words. So that's really where my biggest hang up is. Speaker 1 I mean, listen, this is only your decision. I can't help you make the decision. But what I would say is this is not the type of show where what was that guy, Stefan Molineux, who used to tell people to, like, abandon

their their birth family or whatever. This is not a show where I go cut off your parents, you know. So ultimately, these are personal decisions and you've got to decide what what is it that you value. Speaker 4 I agree, and. And I was just going to say to you, like, I really wanted to hear what your input on that was, just because you're more in touch with the political side than any other people who just kind of see it in passing. So fair enough.

I appreciate you giving your input on that. Speaker 1 All right, Luke, thank you so much for the call and good luck with everything. Speaker 2 Thank you. Yeah. Speaker 1 All right. There goes Luke in DFW. Let's go next to Yahia in Virginia. I hope I'm pronouncing that correctly. If not, Yahia, please feel free to correct me. Yahia from Virginia. Welcome

to the program. What's on your mind today? Oh, no. Yahia, you've self've self muted. If you unmute yourself, I'll be able to hear you. And last chance for a here who has muted themselves, and as a result, no one can hear. Yeah, yeah. Well, that's too bad. There goes. Yeah, yeah. Let's go next to Patrick from northern Idaho. Patrick from northern Idaho.

Welcome to The David Pakman Show. Speaker 4 Mr. Backman, how are you today? I'm doing well. Thank you. Speaker 5 Excellent. You know, this is my first live discord call, and it's great to be here on the mighty, powerful David Pakman show. Speaker 1 great to have

you what did you do as a as a youth growing up as far as uh youth programs i'm a i'm a big advocate for the boy scouts and i'm noticing on the boy scouts directory that approximately 40 percent of all males that have been elected to office identify as Boy Scouts. Mm hmm. OK, yeah, I'm I'm Jewish, so I didn't do Boy Scouts. Now that's one of those half jokes, right? Am I joking or am I not joking?

Let's not even explore it, but we don't even know that. I'm sorry, I thought that might happen. I went to Cub Scouts at a Mormon church. I went to Cub Scouts at a Mormon church. I went to Boy Scouts at a Presbyterian church. Right. I'm Catholic. There you go. You know, so youth programs. What did I what on earth did I do? Let's see. I mean, it was mostly athletics. You know, I played basketball during basketball season, soccer during soccer season. I did I went to Hebrew school one year, didn't love it. So I was able to convince my parents not to make me keep going.

I wasn't like a big you know, I did summer camps and stuff like that. I wasn't like a program sort of guy. And very early I started doing work of different kinds. Like when I was 12, the local council on aging needed people to go and teach elderly folks how to use computers. And so I started making five bucks an hour as I was 11 or 12. You know, my mom would drop me off and then I would teach someone how to move a mouse or whatever. And then, you know, so I did that. And then very quickly I got into working by the time I was 14. I hear that. You know, it's just I'm kind of wondering, do you see from a maybe a younger perspective that those groups that the leadership

programs, the large groups other than just say sports are are kind of dampering off in the in the Gen Z and and some of these social. Awareness, you know, just isn't really kind of what it used to be. It seems that that anecdotally is happening. I mean, I don't know. I have friends who have kids up to around age 13, 14, and they mostly aren't doing the sorts of programs you're talking about. I mean, here's the thing, though. This is so so many of these programs are either implicitly or explicitly religious. And especially in New York City, the level of religiosity and the

tendency to put kids in those programs is far lower. Like I think another in Kentucky, it's probably different would be my guess. So my view is very skewed because of that. Speaker 5 Indeed. And I can see that up here in North Idaho, where, you know, I'm in the town where the. Fronting Patriots showed up a couple of years ago with 30 guys in a U-Haul truck. Right. And, you know, we still have the stigma from the 1990s of the guys that used to hang out up here.

And, you know, we have a very diverse community now, yet, you know, we're kind of still have that stigma, yet the churches are playing such a huge role and and pushing secularism into the youth oh you know programming it could be called grooming it could be called one way or another oh boy i see the uh you know my kids are in their late 20s and I'm now an empty nester. So, you know, seeing the transition from kind of the gen after Gen X, the millennials into the Gen Z programs like the kids are really really involved in what they are involved in yeah i think you know i can see where the social awareness has maybe grown to such a a snap trigger point that the patience isn't really there to wait for deciphered information, to wait for true information and the reaction and the the trigger that's being pushed by, you know, let's just say Donald Trump, obviously, to be constantly triggered and constantly on edge and constantly

emotional. All right, Patrick, you've really said it all. I've got a bunch of people waiting, so I'm going to move on, but we'll keep investigating. I would ask, how do we solve that? But I know that's not an answer. So, yeah, that's a tough one. That's a tough one to answer. We'll keep thinking about it. Patrick from North Idaho. Thank you so much for the call. We're going to go next to Janelle from San Antonio, Texas. Janelle, welcome back to the program. What's going on? Hi, David. Well, one thing I was going to let you know is that I'm soon going to be Janelle from Maryland. Is that right? Yeah. We finally sold our house. Congratulations. Anyway,

my did you did you have to stage it in some way or was it just perfect as is? Oh, I had to stage it. You did have to. OK, fair. Fair enough. Yeah. So my question today is I wanted to know your opinion on the theory that Tommy Tuberville is refusing to promote military officers. Yes. He's maybe using that as a guise, but as part of Project 2025 and how they want to replace workers with. Quote unquote, patriots. So let me explain this, because this is you're not the first person to bring this up to me. Tom Hartman has talked about

this and I've seen this mentioned elsewhere. Here's the idea. Some so Tommy Tuberville says that for abortion related reasons, he's holding up military promotions. Tom Hartman and others have suggested maybe what's happening here is as part of Project 2025 goal of taking over control of so many of our wins, they can come in and fill the Pentagon with authoritarians and promote hardcore right wing authoritarians into these positions. It's merely speculation, Janelle. It's a scary proposition. I hope that that's not what's going on, but I certainly can't sit here and tell you I can guarantee you it's not what's going on. Oh, this whole thing has got me worried. I mean, that's nightmare situation. Absolutely. And yeah, listen, and the best thing we can do, we can't control what Tommy Tuberville thinks or why he's doing this. we can control if we vote in November

of twenty twenty four. And so let's focus on that and make it so that that scenario, that nightmare scenario never happens. I think that's where we should focus on our energy to know. Amen. All right. Thank you so much for the call. Always great to talk to you.

You too, Dave. Thanks. All right. There goes Janelle from San Antonio, soon to be Maryland. Let's take a very quick break. If you're holding on to talk to vaping and the vape clouds, the ashtrays, the thing in your lip that people can see. I've seen that around. This is an easier and less messy way to curb the cravings. And you can use Zypex just about

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sitting at an uplift desk at this very moment, and I've been using uplift desks for many years. We wanted them to be a sponsor and we finally were able to make it happen. Standing while I work helps me get the creative juices flowing. I feel more productive. I'm focused. I'm more alert. And it's also healthier. I'm just moving around more. My circulation is better, which is just good for your health. I use the uplift standing desks because they don't wobble. Totally stable. Even with all of my show equipment on them, the build quality is just tremendous. And you can completely customize the desk by choosing from The David Pakman Show David Pakman dot com. All right. Let's hear from some more people via discord.

You can find our discord at David Pakman dot com slash discord, which is super predictable. I guess that's where you would expect to find it. Let's start in this second tranche of callers with Daniel from San Francisco. Daniel, what's going on? What's on your mind today? Hi, David. Hi. I have a local politics question in San Francisco. Um, there is a politician by the name of Dean Preston who I supported, uh, a supervisor in 2016 and a couple of times after that, he's a Democratic socialist. Speaker 1 So just for context, Daniel, just so you can tailor your question, I've never heard of this person and know nothing about them. So that's just just so you know. Speaker 3 Sure.

So he is a very left wing guy guy, calls himself a democratic socialist, and largely support him. He put out a statement after the terrorist attack in Israel saying nothing about Hamas, later had to put out a clarifying statement after he got a lot of flack, saying, hey, I condemn Hamas. I'm sorry about my dog. No problem. And then he refused to condemn the Democratic Socialists of America statement, which was very inflammatory. Right. Now, I'm struggling with whether to support him in the next election in 2024, given that I do support him and him in his local initiatives. But this blind spot that he has was very concerning.

Listen, I can't give you the answer to that, because what it depends on is what what matters to you and the proportions under which each of those things matter? I found what you're talking about here. Dean Preston condemns Hamas attack after earlier comments drew backlash where he didn't mention Hamas. He then put out a statement saying I am. He says he's Jewish and his father and grandparents were Holocaust survivors. His great grandmother was killed in a concentration camp.

He's heartbroken by the violence and every civilian, et cetera, et cetera. Listen, it's up to you, right? I mean, it's you've got to evaluate what's going on in San Francisco, what this Preston guy represents, how you prioritize. Maybe he's got great policy on potholes and you think that that is more important than not liking his initial statement. These are really personal decisions. You know, so my only advice would be to be confident that whatever is the right decision for you on supporting this guy or not may not be what someone else decides to do and that that's OK because it's you need to figure out what matters to you.

Speaker 1 Or what do you think about his tight knit relationship with the DSA and his kind of refusal to denounce what they said? Is that Speaker 2 I don't know anything about his relationship with the DSA. And so I wouldn't be able to weigh in on that because I'm not a socialist. I don't support DSA in any way. And I know very little about the relationship between local officials and DSA and how their chapters are organized. I just know very little about it because I'm not I'm not looking to sign up with any socialist groups, you know? No, I've just I've just I've reached

out to him and I said, hey, Dean, I've supported you three times now. I'm really concerned about this statement that the DSA put out. I appreciate your clarifying the statement for whatever that's worth. Right. But he's so tied into that group and they're almost sort of an army for him around here. And it was concerning that he refused to denounce what they said. Yep. But I hear you're going to you can. The great thing is, if you don't like what he says or if he doesn't say anything or whatever, you can say, well, I'm not going to vote for this guy or I'm still going to vote for him because I think he's doing good things locally, you know? OK, well, great talking to you, Daniel, from San Francisco. Great to hear from you. Very much appreciate the call. Let's go next to Santo from Louisiana, who's also a website member at

David Pakman dot com. Santo, thank you so much for your support on the website. I appreciate that. Speaker 5 Oh, thank you, David. Congratulations on your new book. The new book, by the way, it's exploding. Remember, folks, review the book. We know like 400 people already bought it, but it only has like six reviews as of right now. So remember to come back and review, you know, Santa. Oh, yeah, I mean, I haven't read them personally, but I mean, that's probably get I mean, I'll probably get them at some point, honestly. Thank you. Because those books, those kinds of books do interest me. And I have little nephews.

But anyway. Yeah. So today, I would like to hear your opinion on Cornel West running as independent and Cenk Uygur throwing his name in the ring for president. You've talked about RFK Jr. Yep. But what about these two potential spoiler candidates for Joe Biden? So Cenk Uygur is running.

Cenk Uygur is not eligible to be president. I know Cenk is insisting that there could be a court case that if it made it to the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court might find that he's actually eligible, citing a court case that I don't think has anything to do with who can be president. So Jenk was born Jenk like me and like Arnold Schwarzenegger. We aren't eligible to be president based on the current law. So the jank thing, I don't have to. I made a segment about it. I don't have too much else to say. The Cornel West candidacy, quite frankly, I just find kind of dumb. He was first running under the People's Party,

which doesn't even have ballot access. Then he was went to the Green Party. He's actually polling zero in some recent polls. So while I agree that a significant percentage of Cornell's support would would come from Biden, I think that he's polling so low. And is he even still running the campaign? I haven't seen him. He was interviewed on Fox a couple of times right after he announced. But I haven't even seen him anywhere. Maybe he's still running.

Maybe he's not. I think he's getting such little attention, raising such little money that he's not going to have an impact. I think the real impact here is RFK, who when you include him on a three way ballot with Trump and Biden, he helps Biden by somewhere around three to four points. So I'm hopeful that RFK actually will end up hurting Trump and helping Biden. So you think maybe RFK might be able to, like, balance out any opposition that we would potentially get from Cornel West?

Yeah. I mean, again, Cornel West, Cornel West seems to be polling zero in some polls. RFK in a new poll. Yeah. Well, zero as a percentage, you know, it might not seem as as like it's that much, but whenever you incorporate the you know, the I'm sorry, I forget the word for it. The the rep, you know, the representatives, the House of Representatives. No, but Cornel West.

No, but that's not it's not if Cornel West is just there wouldn't be any impact on the House of Representatives from Cornel West getting some votes. That's not the way it works. Speaker 5 Oh, yes. OK, yeah. He'd have to win a whole state. Right. You're right.

Speaker 1 You're talking, I think, about the Electoral College. Speaker 5 Correct. Speaker 1 Yeah. And you're not going to win anything. Speaker 5 He wouldn't win anything with that. You're right. You're talking, I think, about the Electoral College. Correct. Yeah. And you're not going to win anything. He wouldn't win anything with that. No, no, no, no, no. Yes. All right. Well, so thank you so much for the call. I don't think that Genk will have an impact. I don't think Cornel West will have an impact. And I think RFK could and it would be good for Joe Biden. So, you know, that's exciting stuff. Let's go to Basil from Niagara Falls. That's is that's your is that a real name, Basil, like the herb basil? Oh, boy. Basil, please, I'm trying to bring you on to the show.

And last chance for Basil from Niagara Falls. Speaker 5 Hello, Basil. Speaker 6 Hi. Is this your real name, Basil? My actual name is Basil. Speaker 1 Oh, it's Basil. I see. Yes.

Well, I apologize. What is that? A Swiss or something? Speaker 5 My parents actually got it from Fawlty Towers. I don't know if you're familiar with it no it was a john crease from monty python oh my goodness okay interesting yeah well what's going on um uh just a couple of things um i take my son to a um it's like a reading hour every Thursday. Okay. And the librarian there in the kids section had a banned books section for kids. And I found that very interesting.

Uh, and I was talking to her about it and she told me, are you familiar with the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear? Of course. I, uh, I have the Spanish version, which I read to my, uh, to my daughter. She particularly loves the page with the teacher. Yeah. So she told me that it was in the banned books. I said, how could that possibly be in the banned book section? Yeah. And I guess there was a a district that banned it because they got the author confused with another person of the same name that was like a Marxist. And I just thought

it was so interesting that even just making mistake of an author's name could lead to the book being made a second. I have to see if I can if I can understand this. So Brown Bear, Brown Bear was is written by Bill Martin and it was published in 1967. So there's there's another Bill Martin who is a Marxist, you're saying. That's Bill Martin. Oh, let's see here. Oh, yeah. She was talking about Bill Martin, philosopher, DePaul University, and is an expert on Marxist theory. Now, this doesn't say he is a Marxist. It says he's an expert on Marxist theory. But that is absolutely fascinating. That is that is wow. What a sick situation we have in this country. Speaker 1

And I just found that so interesting because, you know, sometimes you can at least understand where someone's coming from. Yeah. And this is just a complete misunderstanding and still led to it being banned in some areas. So I thought that was interesting. Absolutely. I also got your book for my son, which, to be honest, I have not read yet. But I'm going to try to get at that library because it's also not there. Yeah. And, you know, what people have told me, I've been talking to people about getting the books and donating them to libraries. But then some people wrote to me and you may know more about this than I do. Basil. People said if you donate books to libraries, they usually give them away. If you want the book to be stocked at the library,

you just submit a materials request. I guess it's completely free, like it's available across the entire country. If you just ask the library, if you do a materials request and tell them to get the children's books, the critical thinking book and the scientific method books I wrote, I guess they just buy them and make them available in the library, which is unbelievable. Everybody could be doing this. I will try to take that path. Love it. Love it. One one more thing, if possible. Sure. So I had recently listened to that Lex Friedman podcast with Jared Kushner. Yep. And I guess I would say I had my I was what's the right word?

I bought into it. Let's just say that. In other words, you thought Kushner sounded knowledgeable and articulate and effective. Speaker 5 Yes. And it just gave me some sympathy for some mega supporters because I listened to your I think it was maybe your Monday show and you brought it up and I was glad to hear it because I just wanted someone else's take. Yeah. And how you described, you know, within like a minute, he just keeps it's all lies. Yes. And but, you know, I consider myself, you know, decently informed, but I don't have any expertise in, you know, the the conflicts in Israel or Palestine. But he was still able to convince me, even though I know he's in the Trump uh uh group and I'm thinking oh well you know what I

I just I normally would just assume that everyone in MAGA is doing the wrong thing but then he's like you know he's making me feel like maybe he was really trying to make some progress down there and then just to find out he's lying, it just makes it very hard to, uh, when you don't have a background and a topic, how you can sort things out. And to me, I'm just kind of trusting you because I, I enjoy your opinion. And, uh, but again, it's kind of like, I'm also just going on trust from you as well. And I could be wrong. I could be I could be lying. Right. Or I could be wrong or whatever. Yeah. This relates, Basil, to this thing I've said where people talk about debates. We're going to have an hour debate, a two hour debate, a three hour debate. Did the perception of who won most debates, generalist debates for the public

consumption is usually who seems more confident and is more articulate, which is also not a great way to figure things out. And this is just a problem. I don't have a solution. I'm glad you're recognizing the problem and explaining it, but I don't you're you're 100 percent correct. Yeah, and I appreciate that. And I also like Lex as an interviewer, but sometimes in this type of case is showing the weakness of his interviewing skills that. Right. There's just there's no way to push back. And, you know, I've it is a very difficult thing to do when someone tells so many lies so quickly. And if you have to assume Lex doesn't know all of it either. Correct. Or

any interviewer. I'm just picking him because of this particular one. Yeah, there's no evidence. There's no evidence Lex was letting Jared get away with all those lies. Right. So it's like, you know, you have someone in good faith, potentially interviewing someone. And it's just able to pull the wool over your eyes, even if you feel like you're informed. So I just want to say, you know, I can sympathize with how someone who who has made the decision to trust Donald Trump or his his supporters that. Right. You could easily buy into it if you're not careful. Yep.

Well said. Well said, Basil. Great to hear from you. OK, thanks for calling on me. All right. There goes Basil from Niagara Falls. And that'll do it for today. We'll take a quick break and I will take more calls again very, very soon. No matter your genetics or lifestyle choices as humans, we all share some basic

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G is in green. The number one dot com slash Pacman to get five free travel packs of AG one and a free year supply of vitamin D. The link is in the podcast notes. All right, let's get into feedback for the week Fridays at the end of the Friday show. I'll look back at some of the comments I got posts on Reddit or YouTube comments, emails, all sorts of different things, certainly because of the escalated and politically tense environment in which we find ourselves today, not only because of the American election, but also because of the forthcoming criminal trials of Donald Trump, the situation with Hamas and Israel and on and on.

The comments this week are particularly weaponized, I might say. And so we'll just dove right into it and we will start with some critiques, although that's not maybe the right word for them. I'm about sick of this communist. Wrong spelling, communist propaganda show. I'm not a communist. I'm just not a communist. I really don't know whether these folks are just using the word communist as a slur or whether they genuinely watch the show and think I'm a communist. Now the latter is almost more interesting because it really shows I'm giving a lot of credit here. This is this is charity.

Okay. Assuming that Steven is actually weighing in based on something he heard me say. It is very interesting that a respect for human rights, a valuing of plurality and respecting of different perspectives, that these are just basic things which are now considered communist by part of the political milieu of the American right wing. But this is certainly not a communist or communist show. And many folks this week writing in, here's another guy who wrote in over the weekend. You're now it's the wrong you're, of course. He means you are. But he doesn't include that. It's almost a requirement. You're a socialist Democrats, communists.

You don't hate Trump. You hate your country. Well, I do hate what the country has become. I hate that the country has become a laughingstock because of what MAGA Trump ism has done to the country. That's true. But it's not that I hate the country. That's true. But it's not that I hate the country. It's I'm humiliated by the people that got us to this point. And my socialist Democrats, communists. It's bad

out there, folks. It's very, very bad. Now, then we go from ad hominem insults to conspiracy theories. Here's Rick Smith, who, responding to my latest commentary about the forthcoming criminal trials of Donald Trump, responded simply he was never indicted. And of course, indicted is misspelled. So this is another interesting one. If I interpret this literally since indicted spelled like this isn't a thing, it's true. Trump was never indicted with a G.H., but I can assure you he really was indicted with a C.T. by the criminal system. He's going to face criminal trials or will settle them between now and then. This is genuinely happening. And to those who believe that, I don't know, Trump is still in

control of the military or JFK or JFK Jr. are still alive. And I don't know to the people that really believe these impossibilities. What would it take to change your mind? Because it's kind of getting to the point where I think the answer is nothing. There is nothing that would change the minds of these folks. OK, last one of these also using the incorrect your your idiot. Biden is a 100 percent traitor. So wrong.

Your first word should be capitalized. Idiot starts with I. So it should be an idiot. And then there should be a period after Biden. So I guess that's one, two, three, four. And and I, of course, should be capitalized five grammatical or spelling errors in like a seven word sentence. It really says a lot. It says a lot about our educational system. But remember, these folks vote. They get to vote anyway, and some of them vote. And that's scary. But it means every single for every one of us that votes, we cancel out one of those votes. And that's cautious optimism, I guess I would call it. I don't know.

Mark wrote in and Mark says Biden is old. He served a long time. He should be able to retire. The problem with Biden is nobody's excited to go out and vote for Biden. We need people to care enough to go out and vote. You know, I don't know that I agree with this. A lot of the polling that we are seeing that is being called disastrous by many Democrats where, oh, two thirds of Dems want someone other than Biden to run fair. I'm in one of those two thirds.

I would love a different nominee than Biden, but you'd better damn well know that come Election Day, if it's Biden versus Trump or Biden versus the sanctions or, you know, any of these authoritarian right wing lunatics. I'm going to be very excited to go out and vote for Joe Biden to prevent any of those lunatics from becoming president. Oh, but you're voting against them rather than for Joe Biden. No, I'm voting for Joe Biden. And whatever reasons I have for doing that don't really matter. I will be excited to go out there and vote for Joe Biden if it's Biden versus Trump. And similarly, you look at a lot of these polls with with dubious results for for Biden.

You know, it's tied right now. Well, it may be tied. But if indeed Donald Trump is the nominee, there are going to be gobs and gobs of center left Democrats, progressives and others who are going to be activated and are going to go out there and do what they can to make sure that Donald Trump or DeSanctimonious or whoever don't get four years in the White House. So Biden is old. OK, he should be able to retire. Sure. But I believe people are going to be highly motivated, highly motivated to vote for Joe Biden. Now, along the lines of polling. A couple of posts about that faithlessness East posted to the subreddit people stop tripping over Biden polls, stop tripping Bill Maher, Cenk Uygur, anyone else panicking about Biden's poll numbers? The polls don't factor. The 2024 election is anything but a typical election year.

Look at the special elections in very red Kansas and Ohio. Far more accurate than any poll where abortion rights overwhelmingly won. These aren't people who answered a phone call from a poll worker. They voted. Women livid over Roe v. Wade overturned overwhelmingly came out in force and voted pro choice. Does anyone think women will be any less livid come November 2024? If men know anything about women, they don't forget. OK, I don't know. I don't know what that's about. I'm not worried about voters sitting at home in the next election. January six, the MAGA GOP acting like nothing happened, plus their inane buffoonery has changed everything for most voters.

The next election isn't about Joe Biden, the economy or the cost of gas. It's about the survival of a free America. People will show up and vote a very similar point to the one I was making and what I tend to agree with. Also along the lines of polling, Reddit user Rye Halts Whiskey says Obama's approval rating in September of 2011 was 41 percent. It didn't stop him from winning and goes on to say Obama's job approval rating averaged 41 percent in September, tied with August for the lowest monthly approval average of his administration.

He started his term with 66 percent and drifted downwards from that point up a little after the killing of Osama bin Laden. It is too early to predict reelection chances based on approval ratings. Writing 13 months from now, Americans will vote on whether to give. OK, I think he's talking about I think there's like confusion now about Biden or something. I don't even know what this. Oh, no, this is a copy. This is from the article or something like that. OK. Needless to say, the point is a good one, which is anybody who is looking just at polling today, the middle to end of October 2023 and saying X or Y is a foregone conclusion in this thing. I don't see it. I think we've got a lot of runway here that's going to affect so many elements of this race.

Now, I want to go to something that's going to be controversial for many in my audience. I know it will. This is from Reddit. Hypno space outlaw asked the question, has Joe Biden been the best president of the last 50 years? I'm going to be honest. I've been thinking about this more and more. I believe it's completely plausible that Joe Biden has been the best president of my lifetime. And if I decide to take the plunge on this, I will make the case. But what this user says is, listen, Nixon was a psychopathic war criminal. Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon and was totally forgettable.

Jimmy Carter was ineffective, although he had some good environmental policies and moral positions. Reagan deregulated everything he could attack. The EPA gave tax cuts for the rich and bloated the national debt and fed China's rise. Bush was a so so president who failed to realize the peace dividend, looked away from Tiananmen Square to appease business interests, had a liberal politics and shared many of the flaws of his son. Clinton did deregulation, offshoring and selling out to China. Bush Jr. was a war criminal who did more tax cuts for the rich. Obama bailed out the bankers on Wall Street, gave good speeches, but didn't do that much.

They do Obamacare, which was a big deal. And Trump, I don't even need to explain why he was the worst. And what this user then goes on to say is, listen, Biden is standing up to Russia, China and Hamas. He's arming allies to try to deal with them. He's supporting striking union workers like the U.A.W., fighting Republicans more than Obama or Clinton did. He's not FDR, but he's better than anyone I've mentioned. Sure, America should demand more. Sure, he gives sleepy speeches, but he still seems better than anyone I've mentioned. Unfortunately. I am increasingly of the mindset. That you can certainly make the case that Joe Biden is the best president of my lifetime. Inflation Reduction Act, more student loan debt forgiveness than any other

president pushing for the rescheduling of cannabis to no longer be Schedule one chips act vaccine rollout, getting out of Afghanistan. I could go on and it's not all been done perfectly. There are more things I wish could be done. But especially when you think about Clinton and the great economy, Clinton had the benefit of an explosive dotcom boom that had almost nothing to do with him. And that's one of his greatest so-called accomplishments, which was situational to a great degree. I like Clinton. Don't get me wrong.

But in thinking through this list. I think it's certainly possible that Biden is the best president of my lifetime. What do you think? I am 140 years old, so there's been a lot of presidents to go through. But let me know what you think and make sure to write in. Leave a comment info at David Pakman dot com. You can always email. We have a tremendous bonus show today and so much more coming your way next week.