The David Pakman Show - 10/28/25: Food stamp crush imminent as bombshell report explains what went wrong

Episode Date: October 28, 2025

-- On the Show: -- Trump’s administration refuses to use $6 billion in contingency funds to keep SNAP running, leaving 42 million Americans without food aid starting November 1 -- Analysts theorize Trump could run for a third term as president using the Supreme Court’s limits on state eligibility enforcement -- Missouri farmer Joe Maxwell criticizes Trump for tariffs, trade wars, and foreign beef deals that have hurt American farmers financially -- Trump rambles incoherently about magnets and aircraft carriers during a speech to U.S. troops, showing visible cognitive confusion as they stand silent -- Trump reveals he got an MRI not mentioned in official records, fueling questions about hidden health issues and White House transparency -- Trump demands mail-in and early voting be banned, reflecting panic over potential Democratic investigations if they win control of Congress -- A new center-left report urges Democrats to drop progressive rhetoric on culture and move to the center after losing ground with working-class voters -- Trump posts a rant blaming Biden officials for actions taken in 2020, mistakenly describing events that occurred during his own presidency -- On the Bonus Show: Trump DOJ officials will watch over the California election, weight loss drugs are bringing down the nation's obesity rate, Elon Musk launches an AI-generated alternative to Wikipedia called Grokipedia, and much more... 🩳 SHEATH Underwear: Code PAKMAN for 20% OFF at https://sheathunderwear.com/pakman 🥑 MASA tortilla chips: Get 25% off with code PAKMAN at https://masachips.com/pakman -- Become a Member: https://davidpakman.com/membership -- Subscribe to our (FREE) Substack newsletter: https://davidpakman.substack.com -- Get David's Books: https://davidpakman.com/echo -- TDPS Subreddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/thedavidpakmanshow -- David on Bluesky: https://davidpakman.com/bluesky -- David on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/davidpakmanshow (00:00) Start (01:56) SNAP food aid halted for millions (08:57) Theory of Trump running third term (18:05) Farmer criticizes tariffs and trade deals (24:12) Trump speech shows cognitive confusion (32:34) Undisclosed MRI raises health questions (39:49) Trump calls to ban mail-in voting (46:40) Report urges Democrats to shift center (54:43) Trump falsely blames Biden administration  

A new Democratic report says that the party's messaging is broken. Now, moderates are blaming progressives. Progressives are blaming moderates. The numbers are no good and we're going to talk about it. We'll also talk about the disaster that is imminently going to hit 42 million Americans. November 1st, food stamp benefits stop not because the money is gone, but because the Trump administration will choose not to use the $6 billion sitting in reserve to fund for. food stamps while the government is closed.

One in eight Americans, including vets and seniors, are about to go hungry. We are also going to go to look at a real theory about how Donald Trump could try to run for a third term. This is based on a Supreme Court ruling according to some. I'm going to break down. Is it legally possible? What will it take to stop it? We've also got farmers turning on Trump over tariffs and trade wars and his new plan to buy

Argentinian beef. It will devastate them. And Trump also had a cognitive glitch, a bad one in front of U.S. troops confusion about magnets and submarines and grocery prices. All of it met with silence as the White House continues to be opaque about Trump's recent MRI. As a reminder, our free ask today, rate the show five stars on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. It costs nothing. There's a concerted effort to downvote our podcast.

to hurt us, help us fight back. It costs nothing. Rate us five stars on Spotify and Apple podcasts. We will also talk about the new war on early voting. Republicans are panicked about 2026 and they want to end early voting altogether. All of that and more today. 42 million Americans. When Trump is president, there are a lot of different groups of people you don't want to be. And apparently the latest one is anybody receiving food stamp benefits. And some are suggesting this will really hurt Republicans in 2026. Let me explain. The USDA just posted a message on its website. Bottom line, the well has run dry. No food stamp benefits will be issued November 1st.

That is 42 million Americans. It's one in eight people who rely on SNAP, also known as food stamps to feed their families. And starting November 1st, benefits are simply going to stop. This was optional. The USDA has $6 billion in contingency funds. This is emergency money designed for a situation where maybe government is closed and you are not going to be able to make those payouts, well, you've got the $6 billion in reserve. Legal experts say it's not optional that the administration is required to use that money.

Georgetown law professor David Super says the claim that they can't use the contingency funds is without any foundation or merit. Not only can they use the money, they must use the money, but they say they are not going to do it. Now the kicker is this. During Trump's first shutdown back during his first term, his administration said, you know what we're going to do. Let's send out the food stamp benefits early to prevent this from happening.

While government is still open, we'll get food stamps benefits out in advance and then we won't end up in this situation. They knew how to avoid it. The proof is they avoided it during Donald Trump's first shutdown in his first term. So why aren't they doing it now? That's the question. Now, the USDA under Trump is blaming Democrats. They're saying, oh, Senate Democrats are keeping the government shut in order to get health care

for illegal aliens and gender mutilation. These are their words. Of course, none of this is true. And the incredible, I don't know whether it's an irony, this is a sad thing. Republicans love to frame food stamps as something that people who are undeserving of are sucking at the teat of government and living large. The average benefits are a couple hundred bucks a month in food stamps. That's all that it is.

And there is a contingent of Republicans that says this is a luxury that people are being given and they don't really deserve it or whatever. We're talking about 42 million people, Americans, many of them voters, who are now going to have a budget shortfall because of these benefits not going out. $42 million, I don't think care about blame games. I believe they care about food. And the nightmare scenario that can develop for Donald Trump is that the federal government pays $8 billion monthly in food stamps benefits to 250,000 food retailers, understand that.

There's a reason why food stamps are one of the most economically stimulative forms of government spending of kind of quick reminder when we talk about an economic multiplier what we mean is if you spend here what is the overall stimulative effect on the economy one of the things we know is if you give very rich people a tax cut it's not very stimulative to the economy why because they mostly save that money the very wealthy aren't spending their full income and so if you raise what they are going to end up netting by a little bit, they're not going to spend that money. It's just going to sit in a bank account. And while that does have some economic stimulus in that the money can be loaned out to others, it is relatively small. On the other hand, you look at food stamps, food stamps on the total other

side of the economic stimulus spectrum. Food stamps are one of the most stimulative ways governments can spend. Why? If you're receiving food stamps, you are almost certainly going to redeem all of those food stamps at local grocery stores. Why? Because you need the money. When you put all of that money into a grocery store, now it does demand side stimulus in your community. The money the grocery store gets is used to buy more food and products that they sell, which stimulates other businesses. It's used to pay their employees. The more demand there is for grocery store food, the more employees they need to service that demand, the economic stimulus is huge. So Trump's nightmare here is that not only is he going to imperil his political, uh, um, uh, uh, friendship, I guess we would

say his political chances with the 42 million that are receiving the food stamps benefits. There are a whole bunch of businesses that depend on the food stamp money as well. And importantly, you are taking that $8 billion a month out of local economies. It's $8 billion that the local grocery stores now don't get. What are they going to do if you take $8 million from them? So Trump did this before and lost. He did it during his first term. His approval tanked.

Republicans were blamed. Trump caved, reopened government with nothing because the political pain got too intense. But even then Trump seemed to understand we don't want to mess with food stamps, which is why he prefunded them before that previous shutdown. This time, he's not doing it. You look at states like Pennsylvania. You look at states like Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, millions of food stamps, food stamp recipients across those states.

And when people can't feed their family, they remember who was president when I went hungry? They remember the administration sitting on six billion that they could disperse, but are saying they aren't going to. So this is something that can define a presidency. This one is worse because it's about food, which is a basic human need and the administration has the funds, but they're not going to use them. So if indeed, benefits don't go out November 1st, what happens? Food banks will be overrun. Every local news station is going to be doing stories about families that can't afford groceries. Republicans in these competitive districts

are going to start to sweat. And I believe the political landscape is going to shift very, very, very quickly. So we are waiting to see, is there anything that will change between now and then that will get these food stamp benefits out? But if not, this could really be a political nightmare for Donald Trump and especially for Republicans because Trump doesn't have to run again, but other Republicans do. I want to show you something. This is an idea from our subreddit about how Donald Trump could run for a third term.

Now, this is not cutesy stuff like Trump running as vice president and then the VP resigns. This is just hardcore authoritarianism. Basically, is anyone going to stop me? That's the underlying premise here. I'll tell you the idea. Then we will discuss whether it's possible. Mark W on the subreddit says how Trump runs again and writes, it's really not a huge stretch how Trump will plan to run again based on his own Supreme Court ruling regarding his insurrection

case. There's no crazy run around with him being VP or run for speaker. He just does it and dares them to stop it. Step one, they'll say states lack constitutional authority to enforce the second 22nd amendment to keep Trump off the ballot. Therefore, they can't use the 22nd amendment to keep candidates off of state ballots, meaning Trump will appear on all 50 ballots. When loser draw, Trump will claim victory. House of Representatives will certify it. And in review, the Supreme Court will say the 22nd Amendment's enforcement is Congress's responsibility.

So the idea here from Mark is each state individually can say, listen, there are federal laws about who's eligible to be president. We're just a state. We don't enforce that. We don't enforce the 22nd amendment. Trump can appear on our ballot. It'll be up to someone else. Maybe it's the Supreme Court. Maybe it's Congress to figure out what happens if Trump wins our state and ultimately wins 270 electoral votes. That's the idea. Now, let me give you the counterpoints because they are important. If you like these types of analyses, make sure to like this video, subscribe to the YouTube channel and consider sharing the video. The idea is states can't enforce the 22nd amendment.

This is based on Trump v. Anderson. Now Trump v. Anderson is the legal case where the Supreme Court said states are not allowed to determine eligibility for federal office, including the presidency under Section 3 of the 14th amendment. And you might think, well, if states aren't allowed to determine eligibility, then states can't say to Trump in 2028, you're not allowed to be on the ballot. If that's the case, then this idea at least potentially has some merit. But there is a problem with that. And the problem is that that decision was based on section

three's text referring to Congress may by vote of two thirds remove such disability. In other words, It talks about congressional enforcement. The 22nd amendment is different. The 22nd amendment doesn't have an enforcement clause requiring congressional action. It just says you can't run unless you meet these conditions. Based on that, the 22nd amendment and states wouldn't be about states determining eligibility. Remember, Trump v. Anderson was about because Trump led the insurrection, has he been disqualified, from being a valid candidate, and a court said, states can't make that determination.

That is not what it would be this time. Having served two terms, it is not up to states to determine eligibility. It is simple. You're just not allowed to run. That's it. And the Anderson case distinguishes between disqualification, which might require congressional involvement and just not meeting basic eligibility requirements, which states routinely enforce. That's the critical part.

States routinely enforce basic eligibility for federal office. If states do enforce those eligibility requirements, this theory is dead in the water. Any state that tried to put Trump on the ballot for a third term would immediately be hit with a lawsuit, with clear standing, every opposing candidate would have standing, voters would have standing, state officials would have standing to bring a lawsuit, and the precedent would be states have enforced constitutional eligibility requirements for federal offices throughout history. It's not controversial. States do it all the time. So there are some saying this would be a legal loophole. It's not a legal loophole. It's just a scenario which would require the

complete collapse of constitutional enforcement mechanisms. The 22nd Amendment is different than evaluating. Did Trump give up eligibility because he led an insurrection? The 22nd Amendment is self-executing regularly enforced by states. So if anybody tries to run for a third presidential term, you would face immediate legal challenges. However, however, and this is sort of like always the thing when it comes to Donald Trump, where we ultimately end up is do the laws matter if no one will enforce them? And I know many of you are sort of cringing at that. That's where we find ourselves. It's sort of like, oh, we, here's another hatch act violation by a Trump official. Cool.

They're never enforced. The hatch act is never enforced. There's never consequences. No one does a thing about it. So the theory is interesting. By precedent and by the law, it wouldn't work. States aren't saying, well, I don't know. We have to debate whether he's served two terms.

He's not eligible. That's it. There's no legal controversy, but we've seen with this administration, many instances where something is against the law, it's unconstitutional, apparently unconstitutional. There's a direct court order. And this administration just ignores it. And if nobody really has the teeth to enforce, then what does it really mean that something isn't allowed is against the law is unconstitutional?

So my assessment on the merits is as interesting as Mark's hypothesis is, it's completely impossible. My analysis based on we're essentially in November of 2025 and there's a growing track record of Trump getting away with whatever he tries to do. That's where it makes me say, damn, could he get away with it? I don't know. Let me know what you think. Leave a comment.

Send me an email info at David Pakman. com. Could this work for a Trump third term? Many of us know all too well about the sticking, rubbing, and chafing that you can get with traditional underwear. Our sponsor, Sheath underwear, have created unique boxer briefs with multiple ergonomic compartments in the front, which prevents skin on skin. And that means everything stays separate, comfortable, dry, and cool. You will have a boost of confidence when you're out and about.

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media overlords. Also make sure you're signed up to my free substack newsletter at substack. .d david packman.com. All right. We continue to hear from farmers about how crushing and utterly devastating Donald Trump's policy is. Farmers are sick of Trump's crap. Most of them voted for Trump, not all, but most. And we have a very interesting video of a guy named Joe Maxwell, president of the farm action fund, a Missouri farmer. This is from the breaking points show where he explains why everything Trump is doing with regard to farm policy is wrong.

And it includes the tariffs. It includes sending money to Argentina. It includes all of it. This is a concise explanation. Well, the president's got it just all wrong. First, you know, we created tariffs. Farmers are taking it on the chin with higher cost, just like everybody listening to this. So number one, the tariffs themselves.

Then he starts a trade war with China and soybean farmers. Number two is the trade war leading soybean sales to go to zero. Farmers are taking on the chin. China was the largest purchaser of U.S. soybeans. And literally overnight, they stopped buying soybeans, leaving bins full and farmers going bankrupt. And now, because he likes the president of Argentina, or at least that was the basis that he gave, he's going to not only he gave them $40 billion. As a matter of fact, the first $20 billion went out.

And the first thing Argentina did was lower attacks and sell soybeans to China. And now he turns around and says, I want to buy their beef. So it's really, you know, many of the ranchers, we have folks on our staff and in our network farmers that raise cattle. And, you know, it's a betrayal. They had expected the prices have been going up. They're finally making some money after about a decade of losses. Our cattle herd is the smallest it's been since the 50s. And they're finally now have a chance to recover and put more heifers in to be breeding stock.

for cows and the president says oh beef's too high at the grocery store so i'm going to import more beef he's just got it wrong it won't work there's no guarantee the big packers four companies control 80% of all the beef in this country so you go to the grocery store it's an illusion that there's that much choice in that case four companies control the beef in this country and there's nothing the president's doing that they weigh the buyers they'll get cheaper meat and nothing guarantees the consumer will see a like lower price. So matter of fact, they've been making record profits during this time of high beef prices.

You know, they could stand the lower some of that, continue to pay the farmer of what they need, the rancher, and provide the consumer with a fair market price in the grocery store. So listen, he's giving us the list, right? And I just want you to analyze each of these elements

based on Trump's claim that he would be about America first. Make America great again. Number one, tariffs. What do the tariffs do? Well, the tariffs immediately increase costs to the farmers of both equipment and in some cases, source materials. And then they have to pass those costs on. That makes what they are selling less attractive.

That's not America first. Trump says, well, we're collecting all of this tariff money. Yes, you're collecting the tariff money from American companies, not America first. Number two, trade war with China with regard to the effect on soybeans. Soybeans sales to China have gone to zero for American farmers. China's fine. China has made a deal with a number of other countries hilariously, including Argentina. So China's got their soybean supply. The country's selling China the soybeans. They're pretty happy. But it is the American soybean farmers that lose. That's not America first. And then number three,

Trump says, well, we're going to start bringing in Argentinian beef. Is that good for American ranchers? It is not. So we should really judge Trump by the promises he made. You all know, I'm from Argentina. Argentina has been in an economic calamity for at least 35 years. And every president has been unable to resolve that or even remotely improve it. But if we are to judge Trump, right, we should judge the Argentinian leadership for the promises

they make and whether they keep them. But if we are to judge Trump for his claim that he is America first and it's all about the United States of America, well, none of these things are good for the United States of America. They're not good for American business. They're not good for American farmers. They're not good for American consumers. China's fine.

China's charted a new path. And they're going to be able to weather this with relatively little impact. It's in the United States that the problems are being caused. We've been focused on farmers because the farmers have been willing to speak out. It is not the only industry that is being economically crushed by Donald Trump. But it is one that is being significantly crushed. And importantly, the other reason we talk of this, there's really three reasons we're talking about farmers. Number one, more and more farmers are going on the record to tell us what is happening and why it's happening. Number two, farmers relate to food. This is something we can all

identify with and relate to. And number three, um, this happened in the first term. And so it's another one of these. You fool me once. Oh, I wish, do I have it? Do I have the Bush fool me once? Oh, every time I look forward. I can't find it. Wait a second. Wait a second. China. Oh, no. That's Trump saying China. Okay. I don't have it. Anyway, that thing Bush said, you fool me once. You fool me twice. You can't get fooled again. Anyway. This happened in the first term. So that's another reason why it's highly relevant. We expected it to happen and he's doing the exact same thing.

The elderly president Donald Trump was visibly confused in yet another moment of disorientation, this time about magnets and water. The oldest president ever to be sworn in stumbled over his words really struggled to put together a coherent sentence. In fact, Trump launching a brutal attack. the English language. This was during a speech in Asia just hours ago at the USS George Washington Yokosuka Naval Base and Trump looking disoriented talking about water and magnets as the troops stand silently terrifying. I think I'm going to change it by the way. They have magnets not every

tractor has hydraulic every every excavator every excavating machine if any kind has hydraulic, but somebody decided to use magnets for your other, but maybe they're good. Which is better? Maybe they could wish is better. Hydraulic? Or magnets? What the hell is wrong with this bit? Can I ask you the top ranking gentleman right here?

Seriously, I'm putting out an order. I'm going to sign an executive order. When we build aircraft carriers, it's steam for the catapult. and its hydropos. Steam for the catapush. For the elevators, we'll never have a problem, okay? Do you agree? He agrees.

Everybody agrees with these people in Washington. All right. We're going to do that. I'm serious about it. This is not a guy who is well. He is not coherent. It is not making sense. And meanwhile, later in the show, we'll talk about the very obvious desire

from the White House not to explain explain why this guy just got an MRI. Trump's brain is jumping from topic to topic with the attention span of a house fly as the troops just stand silently stunned by the direction that this is taking. In golf to what is now known as the Gulf of America, is it nice? They say it now routinely. I heard the news today. The Gulf of America, weather is wonderful.

They don't say it with a smile. It's called the Gulf of America. How did that happen, right? And it took me, you know, for many years, I said, why is it called the Gulf of Mexico when we seem to have the show? Well, we do. We have 92% of the shoreline. So I said, you know, when we make it back, not if, when, too big to rig, we made it too

big to rig. I said, get out and vote. I know many of you are confused. It's confusing. None of this makes sense. He's jumping from topic to talk. topic. Two big to rig.

Make it that way. I said, I'm going to change it. And one of the first things I did is I changed it. Nobody could even fight it. They tried. We got sued all over the place. We won every suit. And it's now officially the Gulf of America.

Isn't that nice? But our sailors have written honor, greatness. And yes, people are yawning. This guy here in the lower left was yawning. Triumph into the pages of history. What you're doing is incredible. And it's an incredible time for our country on gun, and flight decks and torpedo rooms and cockpits, the men and women of the Navy have poured

out their blood and sweat and tears to defend. This is not normal. This is not how a normal person communicates, never mind what we would expect from the president of the United States. In another truly demented moment, Trump started ranting about what boats and ships and missiles do and submarine. What about submarine? And you've been watching what our missiles do to boats and.

ships and submarines. How about the submarine? They said, no, there was just fishing. The radical left Democrats said, well, it was a submarine, but they were just fishing. Submarines don't go fishing, do they? You know more about submarines than I do. You have a beauty park outside, actually. This is a submarine. And you know what it was designed for? Transporting drugs and it got hit. Biden at his worst was not this bad. Biden was a terrible communicator. Biden was clearly, slowed down. Biden would sometimes lose his train of thought and then regain it. But this is just endless ranting about nothing. Maybe the most insulting moment of the speech was when Trump said to the troops, I'd love to have your job. And of course, it's insulting because Trump lied repeatedly

and fake the medical condition to avoid having their job when he was up for being drafted as a youngster during Vietnam. Thank you very much. A big hello. This is a special group of Patriots, champions, winners. You are winners. Oh, I'd love to have your job. I'd love to have your job. What, what a disgusting thing to say when you lied your way out of it. And then Trump wrapping up with a couple of lies. First, that grocery prices are way down. This is not true. very important after years of crippling inflation back home we had the worst inflation in the history of our country energy costs are down you know energy costs are way down gasoline prices remember electricity's up 10 percent is are way down grocery prices are way down we have a little

problem with beef we're going to get that down very quickly but the prices are way down mortgage rates are down despite having an incompetent head of the fed i call him too late he's always too late He's too late in lowering interest rates. I call him Jerome too late Powell. But despite having a totally grossly incompetent guy, we have, we just, we, we blow through it because we're doing so well. And very important after years of this is, this is, it's going nowhere. And the troops realize that this is going nowhere.

And finally, Trump has the audacity to disgustingly push the big lie that he won in 2020. This is an inappropriate thing to be saying in any. environment, but especially in front of the troops, come on, man. Here, guys, campaigning. You know, we won the second election by a lot. So we had to just prove it by winning the third by too big to rig, I called it. It was too big to rig. Then it was an amazing, it was an amazing victory.

And thank goodness we won because we were in big trouble. We were in big, big trouble. But the new recruit. This is not the way to go and speak to troops. speak to troops, but most importantly and most relevantly for us, his brain's not working right. And after the break, we are going to dive into what is very clearly becoming an attempt to cover up the reason for the MRI that Trump received, what they were looking for, why it was done,

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com slash Pacman and use the code Pacman for 25% off your first order. The link is in the description. Another Donald Trump health bomb is now exploding as the cover up of Trump's recently revealed MRI has begun. The White House clearly has no idea how to cover this up. And Trump's White House seems to be panicking to deal with what do we say next. Let's talk about what's going on. There are some real questions that deserve answers, not because it's Trump, but because it's the president of the United States. The White House is stonewalling. Trump went to Walter Reed Medical Center earlier this month.

It was supposedly yet another routine medical examination. We fast forward to this week. Donald Trump on Air Force One casually mentions, I did get an MRI. It was a great MRI. It was perfect. Doctors have never seen such an awesome MRI before. Classic Trump. Everything's perfect.

Here's what he had to say. The readout Walter Reed mentioned advanced medical imaging. Did you get an MRI? Can you tell us what there was? I did. I got an MRI. It was perfect. I mean, I gave you, I gave you the full results. We had an MRI and in the machine, you know, the whole thing. And it was perfect, yeah. Did you say one in particular? You could ask the doctors. In fact, we have doctors traveling with us. But I think they gave you a very conclusive. Nobody has ever given you reports. like I gave you. And if I didn't think it was going to be good, either I would let you know negatively. I wouldn't run. I'd do some. Trump claiming that this is the most transparent anybody's ever been about health. Now, here's what's going on. And here's why this is becoming increasingly

concerning. White House Dr. Sean Barabarella, Barbabella, put out a summary of Trump's visit to Walter Reed. The summary didn't mention any MRI. Now, it did say Trump underwent advanced imaging. Whether we consider MRI at this point advanced, I don't know, but is definitely a relatively vague term, could have meant the CT scan, could have meant other things, but it didn't say that it was an MRI. And the most important aspect about the report is not only did it not say Trump got an MRI, it didn't say why imaging was done and what the results showed, what were they looking for? And so the cover up starts. Compare this to Donald Trump's medical exam back in April. That was a comprehensive report. There were three full pages of

results. There were lab tests. There was a list of medications, vital statistics, physical exam. It still was a propaganda document in that it said everything is awesome. But at least it had some tangible information, which, if true, give us some sense of what's going on with Donald Trump. And notably, it included cognitive testing. Trump took the Montreal cognitive assessment. he said, I got a 30 out of 30. They put it in the report. Now, Trump again brought up cognitive tests this week. He confused the dementia screening test with an IQ test and said AOC and Jasmine Crockett have low IQ, whereas I did awesome on my test, even though the test is only meant to determine are you suffering from a relatively serious brain injury, Alzheimer's or dementia? And what is

interesting is that in this recent case, Trump still said he did awesome, but he was less specific about the details. Now, CNN spoke to a prominent cardiologist, Dr. Jonathan Reiner, and Reiner said, you know, MRIs are never part of a routine evaluation, whether you're the president or a regular person. In the normal medical setting, you do an MRI because of a symptom or a lab that shows a reason to delve into something more deeply. Could be neurological, could be back pain, could be a cardiac issue, could be a blood test that says, well, we should really look at this organ, for example, and then you get an MRI. Now, the exception to this, as I mentioned yesterday, is that it's becoming more popular and available to people willing to pay to do a full body

MRI, sort of a preemptive MRI. We talked about it yesterday. We have no reason to believe that that's what was done here because it's not what we have been told. In fact, if that was what it was, oh, we do a full body MRI of Trump because he's Trump, the way a lot of people do. You know, if you're a patient of Dr. Peter Atia, he and you might go, let's get it, let's just get a full body MRI. We haven't been told that. So we should be told the American people should be told. Why did Trump get an MRI? What was evaluated on the MRI? What were the results? It's not unreasonable. We're talking about the health of a 79 year old president. He's elderly, oldest president ever sworn in, with ongoing speculation about bruised hands,

swollen ankles, it's all visible. He's not doing well. And we aren't getting even the most basic information. Now, secrecy around the health of presidents isn't new. Woodrow Wilson strokes. JFK didn't disclose his back problems. FDR was able to occult that he was in a wheelchair for much of his presidency. I don't know if it was all, but much of the presidency that he was in a wheelchair was,

was hidden. Even under Biden, we now know that there was an inner circle limiting access to Biden. So at least it wouldn't be obvious that he was slowing down. So Trump's not unique in that the White House seems to be limiting access to his medical information, but it is unique in the degree to which they are doing it. He is in a situation where it is reasonable for the public to know why the MRI was ordered what symptoms he had, what did it show? Did Trump take a cognitive test in October? If not, why not, given that he took one in April? If he did take the cognitive test, why is he being cognitively

tested so often? We have no answers to any of those questions from the White House. No clarity on the MRI, not addressing the cognitive testing question, and leaving us to do what we have no choice but to do, which is speculate about the health of arguably the most powerful person in the world, one of them for sure. Now, Trump wants to be given credit for transparency. He says nobody's given you reports like I've given you. Technically true, no one has ever, to my knowledge, no president has released propagandistic documents to the degree that what the White House puts out is propagandistic. But a five paragraph vague summary is not transparency. Offhandedly mentioning an MRI that wasn't even in the report and then not explaining why you got it is not

transparency. And so when it comes to Trump's health and his mental acuity, my suggestion is trust your eyes and ears and common sense because it's really there in the open. The swollen eyes, the swollen ankles, the bruised hands, the confusion, the disorientation, the being unable to string together sentences coherently. And meanwhile, we've got a document that says, everything's awesome, no need to worry. The administration doesn't know how to deal with the MRI issue. They don't know how to deal with whatever is going on with Trump's health. And to a degree, it's up to us to keep the pressure on it. You can tell that Republicans are terrified about 2026 from this one Donald Trump post to truth social. And frankly, it makes sense when you understand what's coming.

has announced on truth social, he wants mail-in voting and early voting banned for the 2026 midterm elections. I know. I know. Let's put it up on the screen. Trump says, quote, what's worse, the NBA players cheating at cards and probably much else, or the Democrats cheating on elections. The 2020 presidential election being rigged and stolen is a far bigger scandal.

Look at what happened to our country when a crooked moron. became our president. We now know everything. I hope the DOJ pursues this with as much gusto as befitting the biggest scandal in American history. If not, it will happen again, including the upcoming midterms. No mail-in or early voting. Yes to voter ID. Watch how totally dishonest the California prop vote is. Millions of ballots being, quote, shipped. Get smart Republicans. before it is too late. Now, you might say, wait, who does he want to do the banning of the early voting? Is he saying Congress should ban early voting or states should do it or the DOJ should try to do it or through some case that we could get to the Supreme Court? We got to get the

Supreme Court to try to ban early in mail-in voting. We don't know. The post is vague. It's rambling. It's incoherent. But the demand is what matters. Trump is demanding that mail- in an early voting not happened for 2026 because he's panicking. It is clear that this is not the language of someone who feels confident. This is the language of someone who is really, really worried. Why is Trump melting down about early voting right now? Because Trump is worried that Democrats are going to win the House in 2026 and put Trump's presidency to bed. Trump is now obsessed with legacy. What can he do that would be irreversible? The White House construction project. A lot of it is, it's much harder to overturn the building of a new structure than it is

an executive order. And if Democrats take the House, they get subpoena power. They get investigative authority. They get access to files. Trump doesn't want released like the Epstein files. But they also control the purse strings. And Trump's presidency is essentially over if Democrats take control of the House. the Epstein files. We still want the files. Trump flew on Epstein's plane. Trump parties with Epstein. Trump called Epstein a terrific guy who likes beautiful women, women on the younger side. There are photos, witness testimonies, flight logs. Trump knows it. Trump knows if Democrats win the House, those files are going to become public. Trump panic behavior is easy to spot.

When something bad could happen, Trump creates a distraction, says something outrageous, focuses attention elsewhere, then says, by the way, we should get rid of early voting and and mail-in voting. And it's the same pattern we've seen for years. The Russia investigations heating up say something crazy. Impeachment testimony is damning. Tweet something insane. And the formula is scared Trump is loud Trump. But there is another layer here. Trump's approval rating is in the toilet. The economy is increasingly shaky. Trump's tariffs are crushing his own voters, especially farmers. Republicans in swing districts are saying, I'm not totally in on everything Trump is doing. I mean, look at, look at even Marjorie Taylor Green, not in a swing district,

but a long time supporter of Trump. Now all of a sudden, very shaky on MAGA. And the thing about early voting is on average, it benefits Democrats most years. Studies show this consistently. Higher turnout, easier access, more working class people able to vote. It's good for Democrats. Trump knows if early voting continues, Republicans are going to get killed in the midterms, or at least potentially. And so that's why Trump says, get smart Republicans before it's too late. Reeking of desperation. Trump's telling his own party, panic now or you will lose.

And he's not wrong, by the way. Republicans will lose seats if the current trends continue. The question is, will they lose control of the house? By the way, it's also an admission by Trump that his policies aren't popular because Trump could simply go, my policies are so popular that I'm going to win no matter how people are allowed to vote because everybody loves what I'm doing. If you're trying to restrict voting, you're admitting the more people that vote, the worse it is for you.

Now, Trump would go, no, no, no, it's only about illegal votes. But we know that there are almost no illegal votes. So it does seem to me that Trump is planning to do something. even if it's some kind of emergency, is it a border emergency, is it a crime emergency to restrict voting however possible. And the really terrifying part is Trump is focused on cities. We know geographically Republicans live more in rural areas. Democrats live more in urban areas. Trump has already been saying the situation in cities is so bad, I got to send in the National Guard, etc. Do you think Trump will allow normal voting in major cities if he is determined wrongly that things are so bad,

the National Guard needs to be in those cities. I don't think so. And so I believe that the most likely scenario, not a guarantee, but the most likely scenario is that Donald Trump says, as we approach November of 2026, I've got troops in 12 major cities because Democrats don't know how to run them. We definitely need to restrict voting hours and polling places because it's too chaotic as evidenced by my troops being there. Of course, the authoritarian trick is you are the one causing the craziness. It'll be crazy in cities because Trump will have sent in the National Guard. That's that's the most likely scenario in my mind. I want to hear from you. Leave a comment, send me an email info at david packman.com. The David Packman show is an audience-supported

And the best, most direct way to support the show is by becoming a member at join packman.com. You'll get the daily bonus show, the daily commercial free show, and plenty of other great membership perks. Get the full experience by signing up at join packman.com. A bombshell new report is dropped that is going to make some Democrats very uncomfortable. It's coming from inside the party. I want to explain it and talk about it. definitely get your thoughts because I think that even within my audience, this will be controversial. So there's a new study from a center left group called Welcome, 70 page report called deciding

to win. And it finds that 70% of voters find Democrats to be out of touch. And the report claims to explain why. They talked to hundreds of thousands of voters over six months and full disclosure, This is a center left group. Okay. This is a center left group. And what they have determined is that for Democrats to win, they need to abandon some of the unpopular things they've been recently talking about and move to the center. Now, now, again, this is a center left group.

They want Democrats to move to the center. We're going to get back to that. Okay. But first we need to talk about what's in the study. The argument from the report is Democrats have been moving to the left. on cultural issues for over a decade. This includes support for reparations being studied, going from 1% to 57% among lawmakers, support for assault weapons bans going from 41% to 88%. Letting federal prisoners vote went from 4% support to 41% support. Wiping out any state abortion

limits went from 2 3rd support to 98% support. And the share of Americans, that now believes Democrats are too liberal went from 47 to 55 percent. Not that significant of a change. Now, meanwhile, the perception that Republicans are too conservative went down from 47 to 44 percent. And so what the study says is that both on policy and also on language, the Democrats have, excuse me, have a problem. The language about specific racial groups in Democratic party platforms from 2012 to 2024 went up over 800%. The phrase environmental justice went up over 300

percent. Mensions of LGBTQ rights went up a thousand percent. And meanwhile, mentions of men are down 63 percent in democratic platforms. Mensions of fathers are down significantly. Mensions of responsibility are down significantly. Now, the argument that, you know, the argument that this group makes and remember that this is I'm not giving my opinion yet I'm just the messenger okay what the report says is that this was a strategy meant to win over non-white voters and it has failed to do so that you look at Democrats Democrats have been losing ground overall with a whole bunch of groups and in fact Democrats have lost more support from non-white voters than from white voters in other words the argument is Democrats have done

all this stuff to appeal to non-white voters and it hasn't even worked. Okay. What does the report recommend? The report says go back to Obama era positioning on immigration and on crime, two issues, which Kamala Harris arguably did not connect well with voters on in 2024. Do away with as much focus on the cultural stuff, focus on the economy, nominate candidates willing to vote with Republicans, when it makes sense to on immigration or on crime. And the report does say, Bernie and AOC are doing something right. They are focusing on economic opportunity. They want Democrats to get away from some of the language on race, abortion, and LGBTQ issues

and really focus on economic justice. Bernie told Tim Dillon, we should have a secure border. Trump did better protecting the border. That's a major shift. And Bernie and AOC kind of seemed to get it. Now, what's the problem? I know you're all sitting, David, wait, but hold on, hold on. Progressives aren't buying this at all.

And this is where it gets really interesting. We have opposite diagnoses. The progressive wing of the Democratic Party agrees that Democrats are out of touch because they've actually moved in the wrong direction. direction that they've moved and are focusing too much on the middle, that they're too focused on moderate voters, that they're too focused on defending corporate interests. And someone like a progressive strategist, Waleed Shahid, is saying Democrats are out of touch, but we've tried the moderate stuff and it hasn't worked.

Anat Shanker Osorio says Democrats need to move to the left, not to the middle. So you've got opposite diagnoses here, or I guess to put it a different way. We have one diagnosis, which is Democratic elected officials and candidates appear out of touch, but the center left says you got to move to the center, whereas the progressive wing says, you've tried moving to the center, and that's the problem. Both sides agree 70% of voters think Democrats are out of touch, but they have completely different solutions. Now, to me, the answer, this is going to be shocking to all of you. I don't think there is one answer. We'll get to what what should happen at the presidential level. But it's important to look at, you know, you look at the

success of Mamdani in New York City. And some would say momdani success in New York City proves that Democrats should just run socialists all around the country. What works in New York City is not going to work everywhere else. And so for me, the bottom line is there is a choice for Democrats here. Do you keep the current strategy or do you pick a new one? On that pick a new one seems like the obvious answer. On the, do you move to the center and alienate progressives or do you move to the left and alienate the center-left base of the Democratic Party? I think it's a false choice. I think you need to run the candidates that makes sense in the districts and in the states where those candidates would be appropriate. But the key for the general election is going to be, I think

the exit polling shows it progressive, but showing that progressive, but showing that progressive, do care about crime and do care about immigration. Harris, in a sense, got both sides of it wrong. She presented as a real moderate, but at the same time turned off a lot of moderates by seeming to dismiss concerns about the border and about crime. It was the worst of both worlds. Now, despite all of that, she's still almost one. What seems to me to be more logical is to focus on how the sense.

approach hasn't won elections for Democrats at key times. And so actually being on the left makes sense, but showing that being on the left doesn't turn you into this fringe of, I don't want to be pejorative, but I think we understand each other if I say the Democratic Party shouldn't be seen as being overly focused on some of these edge cultural issues that are popular online. Let me kind of put it that way. And so what we need to do is show that being progressive and bold does address crime. It does address immigration, but it addresses it in a way that both respects people's dignity

and take seriously the economic concerns of the average person. That's where I would be. Let me know what you think in the comments. Do you think it's as simple as move left or right? Or do you think that it actually needs to be about a progressiveism? that shows it cares about these issues that the center left cares about. Donald Trump posted an unhinged screed to truth social that is remarkably terrifying, not for what it says, but for what it doesn't say.

And it again reminds us, Trump is crumbling. Trump is feeble. See if you can tell what the problem is other than a lunatic president still being in the Oval Office. Here is what Trump posted. Quote, Justin, documents show conclusively. that Christopher Ray, deranged Jack Smith, Merrick Garland, Lisa Monaco, and other crooked low lives from the failed Biden administration signed off on Operation Arctic Frost.

They spied on senators and congressmen and women and even taped their calls. They cheated and rigged the 2020 presidential election. These radical left lunatics should be prosecuted for their illegal and highly unethical behavior. Do you see what the problem is? The administration of Joe Biden did all of this stuff in 2020, when Joe Biden wasn't the president and when Donald Trump was the president, there is not a single thing Biden ever did or said while president that comes close to rivaling the deranged and demented nature of this from Trump.

And yet right wing media and even corporate media is basically silent on it. The media refuses to do actual, actual journalism because they are terrified that Trump is going to revoke their White House press badge and ban them from riding on Air Force One. Since Trump was president, when all of these things allegedly happened, it must be the case, I guess, that it is Trump who did these things? Was it Trump who spied on senators and members of the House? And by the way, the FBI director that Trump is talking about in this post. In this post, Christopher Ray was appointed by Donald Trump.

Trump chose him to run the FBI. He doesn't know what year it is. He doesn't know what years he was president. He doesn't know what's going on. This, if Biden had said it, if Obama had said it, if Biden or Obama had accused other presidents of doing things that happened while they were president, it would have been immediate calls for removal under the 25th Amendment. It would have been calls for impeachment.

It would have been nightly specials from Sean Hannity with a panel of neurologists and doctors from various specialties. But it's Trump and they don't say a word about it. Trump was president. And he says the Biden administration, which didn't exist at the time, did all of this stuff. How about putting aside the desperate desire for access corporate media and actually, covering this for what it is, which is a Trump whose brain is increasingly non-functional. Now, on the bonus show today, we are going to talk about the systemic effect of weight loss

drugs like Ozempic. What is happening at the population level, thanks to the availability of Ozempic. We are going to talk about California dispatching observers to watch the DOJ's election monitors. Who watches the watchers in California? They are actually going to have someone do that. And we will also talk about Elon Musk's approach to Wikipedia, where he wants to launch Grockipedia, what we need to know. Could this genuinely impact the output of that platform? All of those stories and more on today's bonus show, sign up at join packman.com.

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