The David Pakman Show - 12/16/24: We need opposition, not resistance, as Elon Musk takes over Trump

Episode Date: December 16, 2024

-- On the Show: -- A new Trump "resistance" isn't going to cut it this time, and what is truly needed is an enduring opposition -- ABC News settles defamation lawsuit for $15 million with Donald Trump, a disastrous move that Trump will tout as a huge victory over the "fake news media" -- Donald Trump admits that bringing grocery prices down, an important pillar of his campaign, is unlikely to happen -- Reversing his campaign rhetoric, Donald Trump admits that he does know about Project 2025 and that some of it is "very good" -- The MAGA agenda likely to be ushered in during Donald Trump's second term is likely to destroy the Republican Party from within -- Governor Larry Hogan posts a warning to Twitter about "drones" that he saw over his house, which are actually merely stars in the sky -- Elon Musk is slowly taking control of Donald Trump's incoming government -- Peter Thiel gives what is possibly the worst answer of any interview ever during a conversation with Piers Morgan -- On the Bonus Show: Senator John Fetterman joins Truth Social and calls for a Trump pardon, Trump selects his own Truth Social CEO Devin Nunes to lead intelligence advisory board, overdose deaths in the US fell 17% in 1 year, much more... 🌱 Ounce of Hope: Get 20% off with code PAKMAN at https://ounceofhope.com 🛍️ BuildYourStore: Free AI store builder (w/ 3mo Shopify plan for $1) at https://buildyourstore.ai/pakman 🛡️ Incogni lets you control your personal data! Get 60% off their annual plan: http://incogni.com/pakman 🖼️ Aura Frames: Use code PAKMAN for $35 OFF & free shipping at https://auraframes.com/pakman 🛌 Helix Sleep: Get 25% OFF and 2 free pillows at https://helixsleep.com/pakman 🔊 Babbel language learning: Get up to 60% OFF at https://babbel.com/pakman -- Become a Member: https://davidpakman.com/membership -- Become a Patron: https://www.patreon.com/davidpakmanshow -- TDPS Subreddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/thedavidpakmanshow -- Pakman Discord: https://davidpakman.com/discord -- David on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/davidpakmanshow -- Leave a Voicemail: (219)-2DAVIDP

Welcome to the show, everybody. I spent a bunch of time this weekend thinking about the concept of resistance and whether that concept is really enough for the next four years. After Donald Trump kind of squeaked through the 2016 election, we saw the resistance kind of emerge and it was the bumper stickers. I resist and the, the whole thing. And basically it was thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, millions of Americans getting off the sidelines, pushing back against an agenda that felt extreme and chaotic and dangerous. And the

thinking sort of was for Trump's first term, if we can hold Trump's worst impulses at bay for four years, we'll restore some kind of normalcy. Let's endure this bizarre and dangerous chapter. Then the country will come to its senses. And it sort of did happen in the sense that Donald Trump was defeated in 2020 by Joe Biden. Now Mark Elias, who's been a guest on this show, has a great piece called, uh, um, uh, building the opposition where he writes that some people today are starting to say the resistance was a failure and therefore it's inappropriate for the second Trump term. And they call it these naive protests. They say it's sign waving that didn't really do anything during Trump's first four years. And whether or

not a resistance is the right thing for the next four years, I completely disagree that the resistance to Trump's first term didn't work. It prevented the Affordable Care Act from being gutted. It helped build the legal and civic infrastructure that took Trump to court and won some important battles. It energized the wave of fresh candidates who transformed the 2018 midterms. And at the end of the day, that resistance led to Trump being deposed after just one term, Joe Biden coming in, reestablishing alliances and sort of some sense of normalcy. All of that happened. And so for sure, that resistance has accomplishments to its name. Meanwhile, during that time, Republicans weren't just sitting around complaining. They were building as they often do. We've talked about it. They created these new ideological

organizations, media ecosystems. They nurtured the next generation of right wing influencers, people like Charlie Kirk, turning point USA, the people at the daily wire and others. So they were taking electoral hits. They got 2016, but they didn't do well in 2018. Obviously, 2020 was a disaster, but they never stopped during all of that. They never stopped mapping out what is the next thing? What might a Trump second term look like? Project 2025 was quietly in the works while Biden was president. And now they won. And thanks to project 2025, the next four years are going to be far more radical and much more retrograde than they otherwise would have been because they didn't stop while Biden was president. So notice what

MAGA did. They didn't just resist Biden in the way that we, to some degree successfully, resisted Donald Trump. They set their sights way higher. They built the movement to govern, not effectively, but to govern. They fueled the resentment and the retribution. They didn't do some of the let's include everyone sort of things that sometimes we think to do on the left, which are well intentioned, but often don't actually work to generate the energy that you need. They planned an entire era of right-wing rule, which they are now going to get. So now we look ahead. We have the model of the resistance to Trump's first term. We have the model of what the right did during Biden's term. And now we can't just sit around

hoping Trump and Trumpism collapse on their own because they are starting to make changes and set up an administration that is going to endure beyond Trump by virtue of the changes they want to make to the judiciary and to, uh, the, the, the way that career bureaucrats are handled by the federal government and all of these different things. So without a doubt, even though I believe the resistance does have successes to its name from Trump's first term, we need something more durable and we need something more forward looking. Now in many democratic countries they have a term for this called the opposition.

The opposition is not a one-off protest. It's not just four years of defense the way we, to a degree, successfully ran during Donald Trump's first term. An opposition, a robust opposition, is a permanent, fully equipped infrastructure that will challenge the ruling party's narrative and will prepare and offer a serious alternative. Now, in some places, the opposition forms sort of a shadow government. In other places, the opposition is about drafting policies and maintaining pressure until the tide turns. We don't really have a perfect model for the U.S. right now in terms of what opposition looks like, but we have a sense of what it needs to be. And Mark Elias lays it out, and I encourage you to read his article in a few, five points really. First, you've got to win

elections. So that means professional campaigns with strong candidates. We need to stop with the kind of self-imposed limitations to really protect democracy. We have to start playing to win. There is not enough playing to win on the left and you've got to win elections. That's number one. Number two, you do need a big tent. Now, big tent. I know this will scare some in my audience. Big tent doesn't mean you become Republican light. Think back to movements like the new deal. Okay. They had core ideas, but they didn't weed everyone out who disagreed on a few policy details. The movement has to welcome debate and it has to welcome disagreement and we've got to do away with the purity test. So we have to grow the tent. Number three, must invest in institutions

that will support the opposition. The right is so good at this. They spent decades building think tanks, advocacy groups, training centers. Now they've got the heritage foundation responsible for to a great degree for project 2025, which will become the infrastructure of Trump's term. So we need these robust pro-democracy institutions and they need to last more than one election cycle. Now I know many of you will say, Oh, what about move on? Who talks about move on anymore? So now it's a different organization. The point is some of these really need to endure. Number four, total overhaul of the communication strategy. Okay. We saw how this failed. This is not Kamala loss because she didn't do Rogan. This is not that this is, there's a totally missing communication left-wing ecosystem. I'm working with some people now to try

to build it. I'm heading down to DC actually this week to talk to more people about it. So that has to be done. And then lastly, the right does everything they can with regard to the courts to try to get what they want. We need to do the same. The legal system did stop some of Trump's worst moves, but we are too shy about using courts, the judiciary lawsuits, et cetera. They do it all the time. There are plenty of judges appointed by Democrats and state courts that lean to the left. We need to take advantage of that in the way that Republicans do. So this is just the starting point. This is not the final blueprint.

Check out Mark Elias's article. The future of democracy really depends on building a lasting opposition that is ready to take power. The resistance to Trump in the first term successfully resisted a bunch of stuff, but it wasn't ready to take power in the way that we've seen this MAGA movement. They're horrible people, right? Kash Patel and Pete Hegseth and all, but they were ready immediately with people that were going to carry out this vision. I'm committed to it. I'm committed to it and I'm going to be here. I hope that you will as well. Trump and allies are now claiming a massive win because ABC news has agreed to fork over $15 million to settle a defamation lawsuit that was brought by, of all people, Donald Trump.

This is the same Donald Trump who's made a career suing media outlets and almost never winning. Suddenly he got what is being couched as a win. Now, I want to explain why this is not really the substantive win that Trump claims it to be. But I believe this was a huge mistake by ABC from an optics perspective. So Axios reports ABC to pay $16 million to Trump Foundation and lawyer over, quote, rape libel claim. Now, I believe what it is is the award is $15 million plus some legal fees. So it's roughly $16 million. So what exactly happened here? Let me

explain this back in, uh, back in March, George Stephanopoulos on ABC news mentioned that Trump was found liable for rape in the Eugene Carroll case. Legally speaking, that was not precise. The jury, as you know, as I've explained, the jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation, not for rape due to the very narrow legal definition in New York. Now we have received commentary that the, the, the substance of the sexual assault was a rape, but that is not strictly speaking what the jury found and Trump sued ABC news and ABC news has agreed to settle for 15 million bucks in all likelihood. This is a case that ABC would have been able to win, but they opted to give Trump 15 million

rather than to fight the case in order for Trump to really succeed at trial. He would have to prove that ABC knowingly aired a falsehood with malice or reckless disregard for the truth. That would be very difficult to do. That's a huge legal hurdle. And every legal analysis I've heard says ABC would have ultimately ultimately prevailed here. So then we get to the question, if ABC's case was so strong, why on earth would they settle this thing? And the answer has everything to do with convenience rather than legal merit, because by settling what ABC is able to do is avoid a very long drawn out legal fight, which could end up costing them the same amount of money. It would potentially lead to George Stephanopoulos being put under oath months of negative headlines. And so there is no question here that ABC had a very strong legal case, but the signal that is sent is Trump one.

That's the signal. It's a golden gift to Donald Trump. And for a guy who's basically built his image on battling the so-called fake news, when he says they're all fake and he sues them and they settle and give them money, he goes to his supporters and he goes, look, the big bad mainstream media admitted that they lied about me. Forget about the nuance. Forget about the substance. Forget about the fact that he was found liable for sexual assault.

Very serious finding. Trump's base doesn't care about legal technicalities. They'll see it as Trump fought fake news and he won. And the irony now is that by settling, ABC feeds into this narrative without really needing to because they had very solid ground. The whole episode here showcases that what ABC prefers is damage control rather than winning the legal battle. Now, why do I say that ABC likely would have prevailed if this had gone to trial?

The burden of proof for Trump is absolutely huge, especially as a major public figure. Stephanopoulos' remark was technically off. He was found liable of sexual assault, not rape. It wasn't off absurdly. And so it would be very difficult to prove that Stephanopoulos acted with malice by using the word rape rather than sexual assault. The entire framing of the reporting by Stephanopoulos, his conclusions, his analysis, his interpretation, it would all be exactly the same if it were sexual assault rather than rape. And so that alone makes it a really, really difficult legal hurdle for Donald Trump to, to, uh, win in a trial. In addition, Trump has to prove damages

and it would be very difficult to argue that Trump was materially damaged because Stephanopoulos used the word rape rather than sexual assault in the sense that if the report had been Trump was found liable for sexual assault, whatever damage that would have done would be very similar to Stephanopoulos using the word rape. And so that would be another legal hurdle. So in the end, this is all about optics. It's not about legal standing, but there's no question that this is going to be chalked up, um, uh, generically as a major win for Donald Trump. And it reinforces his case that the media all lie about him. And this time they're going to have to pay and it's $15 million. So I don't like to see ABC do this. I understand why ABC's lawyers would look at it and they would go, listen,

we can fight this for years while the guy is sitting president, or maybe it even gets delayed until later. George Stephanopoulos will have to be under oath. This is going to drag on. We'll probably pay 15 million legal fees anyway. And even if we prevail, it will end up being a footnote. Let's just give the guy 15 million bucks and make an on air apology. It's pathetic.

It's low energy. It's all of those things. I get why they do it, but it just hands a victory rhetorically to Donald Trump. Let me know what you think. Info at David Pakman dot com. Thank you, David. They carefully craft all products in-house. You can trust the safety and quality of what arrives at your door. Much different from these big box stores where you don't know where the plants are being grown or how the product is being processed. And you can get it quick with two day FedEx shipping.

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The right is really good at building these movements, these right wing ecosystems. We've got to do the same, whether it's this show or some other. Consider that the ecosystem will only be as strong as the support that we're able to build. At the end of the day, you can sign up using the coupon code. Not again, if you want at join pacman.com. One of the big talking points that we attribute to Kamala Harris losing in November and Donald Trump winning is Trump's pushing during the campaign that he was going to bring down grocery prices, milk, eggs, basics. And it was supposed to be kind of a signature way to show that he is on the side of regular Americans. He's on the side of the people that have been feeling the pinch when they go and do their grocery shopping at the supermarket.

And it was very clear if you vote for Trump, your groceries are going to get cheaper. It was simple. It was direct. He promised it in a lot of different places right before the election. Here's what Donald Trump posted to truth central about it among many times, but one at one point Trump posting an all capital letters, quote, prices are too high. The consumer is angry at this incompetent administration. Kamala has no idea how to bring prices down. She is afraid to even discuss it with the fake news media,

even worse than her VP candidate. She doesn't even have a clue, but I do. And it will happen fast. Trump also saying, again, I could give you dozens of these clips. Here's one from Erie, Pennsylvania, where Trump talked about how cheap everything was going to get, including groceries. We will end inflation and make America affordable again. We're going to get the prices down. We have to get them down. It's too much groceries, cars, how everything we're going to get the prices down. We have to get them down. It's too much groceries, cars, everything. We're going to get the prices down. But prices will come down. You just watch. They'll come down and they'll come down fast, not only with insurance, with everything. Tomorrow I will end inflation. We will cut your taxes, end inflation, slash your prices. I will end inflation and inflation slash your prices to rapidly. All right. I think you get the point. Very clear promises. Eggs will come down. Milk

will come down. Inflation is good. Things are going to get cheaper in the absolute, which of course would be deflation, which isn't even desirable. And we'll talk about that later. Well, it turns out that Donald Trump is already bailing on this promise. Now as president elect now realizing, wait a second, all of my policies are just going to bring prices up. All of a sudden, Donald Trump is acknowledging, I don't really know that that is going to happen. No guarantee, no confidence, a tacit admission that it's not going to happen. Trump interviewed in written form. Trump didn't do any of the writing. Trump interviewed in written form by time magazine. And he was asked, quote, if the prices of groceries don't come down, will your presidency be a failure? And Donald Trump

answered, I don't think so. Look, they got them up. I'd like to bring them down. It's hard to bring things down once they're up. You know, it's very hard, but I think that they will. I think that energy is going to bring them down. That's not true. I think a better supply chain is going to bring them down. You know, the supply chain is still broken. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. During the campaign, Trump was slamming Democrats and Kamala Harris for supposedly not understanding Americans just want to buy groceries at lower prices. They don't want to choose between heating their home and fresh vegetables as Trump sometimes calls them. And he made it sound like lowering prices was a

piece of cake. He's just going to do it. And when people would ask him how he would go, you just do it. You just lower the prices. And now all of a sudden he's being more realistic and he is completely abandoning the promise that he made. And it wasn't just an idle fringe promise. One of the core reasons that those voters that made a difference in those key swing states went to Trump was the belief as ridiculous as it might've been that when Trump becomes president, prices on groceries are going to go down in absolute terms. Now there are two parts to this analysis and they are both critically important. One is that Trump's policy proposals will actually make groceries among other things, more expensive. Second is the understanding that deflation would

likely be bad for the economy if it took place. So let's talk about one at a time. Trump is talking about tariffs on China. Yes, but he's also talking about tariffs on Canada and Mexico. These are two of the biggest sources of what's on our shelves. Vegetables, fruit, meat, a bunch of it is coming across our borders. Economists are warning what Trump is threatening to do, what Trump is promising to do is going to make grocery prices even higher. It's not going to be lower. It's just cause and effect.

If you make it more expensive for suppliers to import produce or grain, who do you think is going to pay for that? It's going to be higher prices at the supermarket. So number one, if you actually look at Trump's proposals, aside from whether it's difficult or easy to bring down grocery prices, Trump's ideas will bring prices up in general. But let's get to the second part of this. Bringing prices down in absolute terms probably wouldn't be good for the economy. As I've explained before, deflation leads people to delay purchases in general. Now, I know you're going to say, well, hold on with food. It's different because you need food to eat. That's right. And we'll get to that in a moment. As a general concept, if consumers start to see prices going down on things, they would say,

I'm going to delay this purchase because it'll be cheaper in the future. When you delay purchases, those businesses now have reduced revenue. They have to either reduce wages or lay people off, which leads to fewer people who can afford to go and spend their wages elsewhere. So that's what's called the deflationary spiral. Now it is absolutely the case that that applies mostly to, uh, goods that are not, uh, required goods. Like for example, food, when it comes to something like food, because you need food, people will do what they can to find less expensive alternatives, which often just means lower quality food. And they will pull spending away from other areas. So they might have no choice but to spend more on groceries as grocery prices go up. But then they are going to be pulling, pulling money from elsewhere.

So not only does Trump seem to misunderstand what the goal should be, Trump isn't acknowledging that his policy proposals will actually bring prices up. But what is he acknowledging? He's acknowledging that his promise that prices will come down and they'll come down quickly on groceries when he becomes president. It's probably not going to happen. What will his supporters say? They'll probably blame Democrats would be my guess. All right, let's continue talking about this time magazine interview that Donald Trump gave where he basically admitted his campaign was just lies. It was just lies. You'll also recall that during the campaign, Donald Trump wanted nothing to do with project 2025. He tried to keep his distance on it on truth central. He once referred to project 2025

as ridiculous and abysmal. He disavowed the project. He says, I don't know what it is. I don't know who's behind it. It's not my thing. And he was trying to draw these lines, at least publicly to make it appear as though he's not going to be pinned down by the policy ideas of project 2025. He's not part of that. It just has nothing to do with him. Of course, now that he is president elect, everything has reversed. Now we've seen the time magazine interview and Donald Trump was asked about project 2025 and he has completely softened his tone. Take a look at this. Trump was asked quote during the campaign, you disavowed project 2025, but so far at least five people you've appointed to top positions in your cabinet have ties to it.

Doesn't that undermine what you told Americans on the campaign trail? Here is Trump quote. No, look, I don't, I don't disagree with everything in project 2025, but I disagree with some things. I specifically didn't want to read it because it wasn't under my auspices. And I wanted to be able to say that, you know, the only way I can say I have nothing to do with it is if you don't read it, Trump doesn't read. So that's really why he didn't read it. Trump continuing. I don't want, I didn't want to read it. I read enough about it. They have some things that are very conservative and very good. They have other things that I don't like. I won't go into individual items, but I had nothing to do with project 2025. Now, if we had a few people that were involved, they had hundreds of them. This is a big document from what I understand.

Trump is maintaining the performance of distance. I didn't read it. I want it to be able to say I didn't read it. The whole, if I didn't look at the document, I can't possibly be blamed for hiring a bunch of people that worked on the document. It's a totally nonsensical defense, but it is Trump one on one. Remember that Project 2025 is this blueprint rolled out by the Heritage Foundation affiliated with right wing groups.

It's about a 900 page document and it wants the Republican party currently led by Trump, but they would have accepted anybody. If it was Nikki Haley, they would have pushed the same stuff. They want the Republican party to reshape government, assert executive power along extraordinarily authoritarian lines. And Trump spent his campaign just arguing, I don't know anything about it. Here he is, for example. And you know, the other side's going around trying to make me sound extreme,

like I'm an extremist. I'm not. I'm a person with great common sense. I'm not an extremist at all. Like some on the right, severe right, came up with this Project 25. And I don't even know. I mean, some of them, I know who they are. But they're very, very conservative.

Just like you have, they're sort of the opposite of the radical left, okay? You have the radical left and you have the radical right. And they come up with this, I don't know what the hell it is. It's Project 25. He's involved in project. And then they read some of the things and they are extreme. I mean, they're seriously extreme. But I don't know anything about it. I don't want to know anything about it. But what they do is misinformation and disinformation.

It turns out that Trump's incoming administration will be riddled with project 2025 authors. I'll tell you about some of them later in the show or tomorrow and slowly but surely Trump is softening on project 2025 now later on or maybe tomorrow we're going to look at other aspects of this time magazine interview where Donald Trump has completely reversed what he said during the campaign. I know you're not shocked. I'm not shocked. Why?

Well, we have the first term as evidence. We have Trump's first campaign during which he promised everybody, you know, the equivalent of free ponies, everything under the sun. And then none of it happened. Most of it because it's impossible. Some of it because Trump never really intended to do it. And we are seeing the exact same thing right now. And Trump is reversing.

And if the first term is any indication, even the people who voted for the guy are not going to hold him accountable. We will see. But he's abandoning all of the ideas. Data brokers are continually collecting extensive details about your online behavior, address, phone number, email, financial information, even political views. This sensitive information about you can easily be found on public data search sites by anybody could be an ex, could be an employer.

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If any of your information remains online, Incogni will follow up and ensure that it's taken down. Thank you, David. The David Pakman Show David Pakman dot com. Sometimes the people we are closest to are the toughest to shop for. Luckily, there's a gift everyone on your list will love. It is the aura digital picture frame. I gave one to my mom, preloaded it with pictures of the baby and some of me. Right. I mean, please, you hook it up and it's already got pictures on it. You can select pictures from your phone and upload them remotely to any picture frame named number one by wire cutter or a frames, make it

really easy to share an unlimited number of photos and videos from your phone to the frame. When you give it as a gift, you can personalize it, preload it with a message and photos using the aura app. I don't live near my parents. So the fact that I could preload these pictures onto the frame just makes it a really great long distance gift as well. Aura frames is a gift so special. They'll use it every day. Save on the podcast. I believe it's clear that if he gets his way, Donald Trump's incoming MAGA agenda

is going to destroy the Republican party from within. Let's address a growing problem in the Republican party. We all know big party Republicans just came off a November win. Big one secured the white house, secured the house, secured the Senate. And you might be thinking, David, hold on a second. How can the MAGA agenda be doomed if it just got a political win everywhere? Now, here's the thing. That short term victory does not change the underlying structural problems that the Republican Party has been facing and continues to face. And in fact, it might

accelerate them. I'll explain how 2024 is wins for Republicans are the culmination of tapping into a particular slice of the electorate, the angry, motivated, hungry for a strong man wing of the electorate. They weren't buying what Kamala Harris was selling. We've got to acknowledge that they did not see the economy as strong or at least not strong enough to say, let's give Biden Harris another four years by electing Kamala Harris president. They, they just didn't see it. So that led to Republicans winning everything. But winning one election in this way for these reasons does nothing to solve the Republican Party's long term demographic and ideological challenges because the demographic shifts continue to happen.

The intense culture war battles aren't landing well with moderate suburban voters. They won because a slightly higher portion of democratic voters and Hispanic voters, et cetera, said, you know, this time I'm voting Trump. Democrats had a weak candidate. The economy was not good enough to win over voters. Although I believe the indicators suggested it was pretty damn good. Doesn't matter. It wasn't good enough to convince people. That doesn't mean that the MAGA worldview, including strongman authoritarian politics and increased autocracy, kleptocracy and oligarchy, it doesn't mean that those ideas have any enduring appeal beyond the core. Now, as the 2025 agenda starts to roll out, we're not just talking about mainstream conservative policies like tax cuts and

deregulation. That's what we've come to expect from Republicans for a long time. Trump will probably do a little bit of that, but that's not really what, what makes up the vision. The MAGA vision for the future is fundamentally more authoritarian, less grounded in traditional and conservative values, more about nepotism, cronyism, kleptocracy, and oligarchy. The forthcoming loyalty tests in federal agencies, the cultural purges against officials deemed unpatriotic or disloyal, the policy shifts that aren't about small government, the way Republicans used to be, and just more about consolidating power. This might look like it makes the party stronger, but it is going to fracture the party internally. Remember that the Republican party

is still for now made up of these few different factions. You've got like the old school chamber of commerce Republicans. We might call them the pro-business factions. You've got like the old school chamber of commerce Republicans. We might call them the pro business Republicans. You've got the national security hawks of foreign policy, uh, religious conservatives. And now we've got these mega people. There is some overlap there. The 2024 victory could have temporarily masked some of these divisions. thanks to people who rejected Kamala and voted Trump or stayed home. But as the party moves forward with this authoritarian agenda, it is going to alienate a lot of these factions who were already sort of uneasy but really didn't want to vote for Kamala Harris.

The traditional conservatives who value rule of law and America's international standing as a respected country, they're going to get very uncomfortable when they see this turn towards punishing institutions and allies for not being loyal enough. The big business crowd is going to get nervous about the trade wars and the protectionist policies because they know it's not going to be good for their businesses. Giving Elon Musk goodies, which we'll talk about later and nobody else is not exactly going to be liked by the pro business crowd. And then even the religious conservatives may start to say, I don't know about this

when the cultural battles aren't really about family values and they're just about payback at the end of the day. So you're going to have these cracks that widen. The more Trump gets to do what he's threatening to do, the more these cracks are going to widen and two things are going to happen. Number one, the Republican party risks losing some of the more moderate policy driven people. I'm not saying in 2028, they'll come out and vote AOC, Gavin Newsom, Pete Buttigieg, whoever. I'm not saying that, but indeed they might've said, well, in 2024, I'll take a chance on Trump because I don't really like the alternatives. The momentary conditions are not pushing me to vote for Harris, but these are not likely

longterm mega voters and they are likely to defect next time or more likely just stay home. Number two, the party itself will become less coherent instead of a coalition that can adapt to new political realities. It will become a party defined by a rigid ideology, increasingly intolerant of dissent. This has been one of their strengths. While we do have a bunch of these purity tests on the left, the Republican Party to a degree has succeeded recently by just allowing in whoever the hell wants to come in, even if

they don't like them, right? Hey, gay conservatives, we're not thrilled, but they're here as long as they're not voting for Democrats. So that's going to happen. And then to make matters worse, the dramatic policies that MAGA is promising, right? That the total gutting of federal agencies, for example, in order to ensure loyalty and purity, rolling back decades of social progress, that stuff is not likely to age well. And the reason I say that is that historically these moves breed public backlash and public backlash hurts

whoever is in power. Now the immediate aftermath feels like a big win. The party is clearly emboldened to go all in. They think they have a mandate, even though Trump didn't even get 50% of the vote, but the midterm elections that follow 2026 local elections in suburbs that are increasingly diverse. This is going to one 80 quickly. I believe as voters start to see the consequences of what Trump has been offering and it's going to go a different direction. The 2024 triumph in a sense sets Trump up for a 2025 agenda that instead of stabilizing the Republican party into something that can endure longterm, we'll just put it on a collision course with itself. When you try to

maintain power through harsh and unpopular authoritarian measures, it becomes difficult to appeal to a broad enough electorate to sustain further wins. So they won this election cycle. It wasn't because of fraud. They just won. We have to acknowledge that. But then you have to go and say, what happens when you go beyond one election cycle? Can you remain a viable big tent political entity for years to come? If your governance is mostly authoritarianism and cronyism. Yes, the Republican party has claimed a major victory, but they're pushing an agenda with purity tests, punishment of dissent and remaking the country into an authoritarian mold that I don't think the majority of the voters actually want. It will fracture the party from within and it will make it really difficult

to compete nationally. The question is, will we be engaged in active enough that we can take what we're calling the 2025 agenda, right? Trump's first year plus up until the midterms. Can we take the 2025 agenda and ensure that it leaves in its wake destruction, the likes of which the Republican party can't crawl out of for a long time, or do they do okay in 26 and maybe get JD Vance in the white house in 2028, it is truly an inflection point. It could be the collapse of the party, but only if we're there to ensure that it is.

All right. This is so stupid. I can't believe we have elected officials this dumb. I don't know if you've been following this, but there are more and more people talking about unidentified aerial phenomena, unidentified aerial vehicles, unidentified flying objects, unknown, you know, what, whatever the you, whatever they continue to change, what it is stuff in the sky that may not be of human origin. They're increasingly obsessed with this. And governor Larry Hogan posted about drones in the sky. They were stars. It was a Ryan's belt and the Orion nebula. How can you be a governor if you're this dumb? So here's his tweet from Larry Hogan.

It's very long. I won't read all of it. He said last night, beginning at around 945 PM, I personally witnessed and videoed what appeared to be dozens of large drones in the sky above my residence in Davidsonville, Maryland, 25 miles from our nation's Capitol. I observed this for 45 minutes. Like many who have observed these drones, I do not know if this increasing activity over our skies is a threat to public safety or national security, But the public is growing increasingly concerned, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So here's the video. It's mostly black video. But what you will see as the video continues is you do see some dots in the sky and you see the camera kind of move around and I'll kind of fast forward it. And what you eventually realize as he zooms

out, you see those three aligned stars known to us all over the world there. Hold on. See if we can get them. There they are. It's kind of hard to see, but you see these, those three aligned stars and you say, wait a second, this is Orion's belt. This is arguably the most recognizable constellation of stars in the sky. I knew about this at age seven. You see them in the Northern hemisphere. You see them in the Southern hemisphere, different times of year from the equator. They're visible almost year round because of their location. This is Orion's belt and the Orion nebula. And the governor is posting agit trash, fear mongering videos saying the drones, are they dangerous? People are concerned. This is humiliating. You show this to your average third grader and they go, that's Orion's belt.

Those are three stars. And this is becoming that they're, they're obsessed with this thing. There's another guy named Josh Welkos who posted himself a video and he said, drones are being reported over the U S capital. I have a video of this one as well. And what you will notice if you are a frequent traveler to DC is that this is of course a lineup of planes on final approach to Reagan airport. This is DCA, the airport that, you know, there's a few airports in the DC area. You've got Baltimore, you've got Dulles and you've got Reagan. Reagan is essentially almost downtown DC. You fly very close to the Capitol when landing. I've done it dozens of times. And these are not drones. These are just airplanes lined up on final approach. And yes,

they do go by the Capitol. Now, I know that I'm going to get emails from the UFO, UAP, UAV people saying, David, the fact that Larry Hogan shot a video of stars and said it was drones and the fact that Josh Walco shot a video of airplanes and said that it was drones and they were wrong doesn't mean that we have an explanation for every single one of the recent videos. And of course, that's true. And that's the difficulty with the people who like to, you know, set a bunch of small fires. It's that it's very difficult to put out every small fire, but at least as far as some of the major declarations, the video of drones in DC, they are planes landing the video of drones above Maryland. Those are stars really far away, Larry, really, really far away. As far as those are concerned,

they are nothing. They are nothing. And Larry Hogan makes us all feel really dumb. Now, do I believe that everything should be hush hush or covered up or that we shouldn't investigate things that appear irregular? Of course not. Investigate all of it. But as is always the case, the stuff that people are sending me, there's a good explanation for all of it. So here's my challenge to you. Info at David Pakman dot com. Send me one of these recent ones that does not have a simple explanation. I want to see it. And I'm not saying this rhetorically. I'm not saying this sarcastically. I just want to see it. Send me an example of one and I want to examine it for myself and see if I can make heads or tails out of it, please.

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We talked about it in some detail last week. And then over the weekend, we are presented with such a perfect example of this. As many of you know, Elon Musk, arguably the richest man in the world. Maybe Putin has more money. It's not clear. It doesn't really matter. Elon's very, very rich. Elon Musk has made an investment and that investment is that he has dumped hundreds

of millions of dollars into helping Donald Trump become president. He hangs out with Trump. He's Trump's friend to the extent that Donald Trump is able to have friends and now Elon Musk is ready to cash in because documents show that Donald Trump's team wants to ditch a car crash reporting rule that Tesla hates. And if this is successfully done, Tesla gets a big gift from the Trump administration. Reuters has an exclusive report. Trump team wants to scrap car crash reporting rule that Tesla opposes. This is a rule that makes companies report crashes involving advanced driving systems.

Now because Tesla was very early to release some of these systems, the autopilot and full self driving as a result, this rule makes it so that Tesla has to turn in more data than anybody else. This makes Tesla look like the main offender. Now, as many of you know, I used to have Tesla stock. I no longer do. I have a Tesla lease for like six more weeks. And then finally I will be getting rid of it. I've tried to be as transparent as possible. It is absolutely the case that these systems, in my opinion, are not ready for prime time. I've used them myself, but they're just not. It is absolutely the case that these systems, in my opinion, are not ready for prime time. I've used them myself, but they're just not.

It is also the case that if you're the one reporting most of the data, it makes you look bad. That's absolutely true. What Elon Musk wants to do is stop all of it. And with Donald Trump in power, it looks like he just might be able to do that. As Associated Press reports, documents related to Trump's transition finds that the incoming Trump administration wants to drop the car crash reporting requirement. It just so happens that Elon Musk is against this requirement. It just so happens that this is a requirement that Tesla is against. So think about

what that means. It's not about making roads safer. If you cancel this requirement, it's not safer to drive around. It is about favors for a guy who threw gobs of money at Donald Trump's presidential campaign. Is it a cacistocracy where the worst run the show? Is it a kleptocracy where those in power steal for themselves? It's probably both without the car crash reports. Regulators lose a way to watch what Tesla is up to or any manufacturer that is employing and enabling these advanced driving systems. It shouldn't just apply to Tesla. It should apply to everybody. And it does. That means more secrecy rather than more transparency. And this is apparently how it works now. In a way, it's worked like this for a while, but it's now overt. It used to be a little more hidden. Donors help elect the president

and then they get what they want. It's not subtle. It's not about the public good. It's about Musk scratches Trump's back and then Trump scratches Elon Musk's back. And this is one of the kind of side benefits of spending 250 million bucks to buy the Trump presidency. What we have, if we zoom out is a situation where the president elect is heavily influenced by whatever Elon Musk wants. And you know, it's fun. It's, it's, it's almost cliche. And I say this kind of tongue in cheek. If you said to most Trump voters in a vacuum, Hey, do you like the idea of an African-American who at one point worked illegally in the United States being the biggest donor to Trump and controlling what Trump does behind the scenes? Most people would probably say no. Now, I know many of you are saying, what do you mean African-American?

Elon Musk, South African. I know it's sort of like tongue in cheek and most people don't think of a white guy when they think of African-American. But the point here is in the abstract, what is going on? You would think all of these magas would say some immigrant from Africa is going to come here and tell Trump what to do. No way in hell. Well, they cheer the guy now when he goes up on stage and jumps around like a lunatic. They cheer him and they seem to love it. And this is how it works. Elon Musk now has Trump's ear. Peter Thiel, who we will look at in a moment. Peter Thiel has JD Vance's ear and it's the Musk Teal presidency.

Those were not campaign contributions merely to be nice or merely because Elon thought Trump would be better for America. They were investments, investments in a guy who is then going to help Donald Trump out. Now, as I've said before, I am embarrassed to still drive a Tesla for just a few more weeks. I sold all my stock. I want nothing to do with the cars. I was recently texting with someone from Tesla who said, David, we would love to get you into another Tesla. What would it take? And I said, how quickly can you get Elon Musk to not be involved? And I never heard back from them. So I want nothing to do with the cars. I want nothing

to do with Elon Musk or the company or all of it. And if we zoom out, what we are really seeing here is the self-destruction of a nation. They will arm all of the angry lunatics. They will cut food regulations. They will cut environmental regulations. They will demolish education. The rich will still be able to pay for the really great private schools, but they will demolish public education. They will hurt unions and organized labor. RFK and Trump are going to have a conversation about ending childhood vaccination. I'll talk to you about that tomorrow. They will eliminate social safety nets if they can. They'll legislate forced birth. And meanwhile, if you've got 250 million burning a hole in your pocket to help Trump get elected, you will get whatever the hell you want.

All right. So that's Elon Musk. Let's now talk about Peter Thiel. Peter Thiel is, you know, Peter Thiel is sort of a figure like Jordan Peterson in one sense. If I were to come to you and say anarcho libertarian Peter Thiel or anarcho capitalist Peter Thiel. People would write in the Thiel fanboys and they would go, David, you're not smart enough to understand what he believes. You're misstating it. You're getting it all wrong. Peter Thiel, who really seems to see JD Vance as someone he can mold in his own image, turns out to have been followed by the health care shooter, Luigi Mangione. Now, whatever you think about what Mangione did, whatever you think about Peter Thiel, whatever you think about what it means to follow someone, I follow people on platforms who I don't

agree with, whatever. It appears as though Mangione really liked Peter Thiel. And so when Peter Thiel appeared, um, with Piers Morgan very recently, Piers Morgan asked him, what do you make of the fact that Luigi Mangione, um, uh, followed you and that there are people celebrating him. This is maybe the worst answer to any question that I've ever seen. This is excruciating. And to those who think this shooter is a hero because he did it because he said this health care executive was presiding over a health care system which kills thousands of Americans by denying them cover, what would you say to them? Oh, boy.

It's I don't know what to say. I still think you should try to make an argument. And I think there may be things wrong with our health care system, but you have to make an argument and you have to try to find a way to convince people and change it by that. And this is not going to work. I don't know. I mean, there are all sorts of things one could say about it. But I don't I don't think and I again, I think, you know, I think the the motives feel I don't I don't I don't want to go into all the particulars here, but I don't

think I don't think there's anything heroic about him. There you go. So one minute and 26 seconds to say I don't think what Mangione did is heroic. Then Pete, I'm kind of like I was in a rabbit hole over the weekend looking at weird Peter Teal videos. There's another moment during this very same interview with peers Morgan where peers just asks him, do you believe in God? Because Peter Teal has had this whole thing where he's like, I'm a Christian Christianity. And so peers asks a logical question of someone who says, I'm a Christian, Christianity. And so Pierce asks a logical question of someone who says I'm a Christian,

which is, do you believe in God? We did not get a very good answer. I think the atheists are not even able to work on the science anymore. So I assume you believe in God, do you? I would describe myself as a Christian, yes. I always think God is—I believe in Christ. I think God is—we don't know that much about God. The Christian view is you can only have knowledge of God through Christ. And, you know, if you're strictly monotheistic

in Judaism, Islam, you end up, you have a certain picture of God, but it's very, very fuzzy. And God is not, is in a deep sense, not knowable. So I'm Trinitarian Christian. Oh, boy. And that's how I would anchor my knowledge on God. Do you pray? It's not belief about God that matters. It's what we need is knowledge about God. Right.

But do you pray in that case or not? Not as much as I should. Right. I think that that means no. I'm deeply, deeply awkward. You know, as I've said before, my view on these guys like Teal and Musk, for the most part, I find their moral compasses completely miscalibrated. But I'm not so naive or egotistical that I won't acknowledge that some of

the things these guys have done are remarkable. I mean, listen, Elon Musk has moved forward electric vehicle technology more rapidly, the orders of magnitude more quickly than it would have were it simply left to the legacy manufacturers were left to the legacy manufacturers, you would not have, you know, give me Ford, Lexus, Hyundai, BMW, everybody with all of these electric vehicles with high twos, low three, mid 300 mile ranges right now. What Elon Musk did by saying, Hey, here's Tesla. It's electric only. We've got 330 mile range right now. Come compete with this. He accelerated that dramatically. And that's a good thing. And also his views on population collapse and politics seem completely whacked out. Peter Thiel has some interesting ideas about artificial intelligence, technology and other things. But there's something bizarre about him and his moral compass seems to be just circling like crazy. It seems to be what happens

if you take out a compass at the North Pole and it starts just spinning like crazy. I don't get seeing these individuals as anything more than they have some good ideas and they have some wacky ideas and like that's kind of it. But the fan boys, the Elon fan boys, the Peter Thiel fan boys that just kind of idolize these guys, I don't get it. And maybe what it takes us back to is we do need better models of masculinity on the left. Um, and if we had them, I think that they would prevent some young men from falling into I'm a Peter Thiel fanboy, which is a sad and tragic thing. All right. We have a fantastic week of shows for you.

I have some really interesting stuff happening in D.C. this week, which I will report back to you on. We have a great bonus show today. I hope that you have access to the bonus show. You can get access by signing up at join Pacman dot com. And I hope you will. You can use the coupon code not again to get a sizable discount. And finally, please do remember to preorder my forthcoming book, The Echo Machine at David Pacman dot com slash echo pushing now. This is unbelievable. When I wrote this book, I did not think that we would be talking about these numbers. We are now approaching

five thousand preorders with still a couple of months to go before the book launches. Free stuff still available for everybody who preorders, including a free signed book plate, go to davidpacman.com slash book, get the book, and then you can submit your pre-order screenshot to davidpacman.com slash free book stuff. All one word, free book stuff. I will see you on the bonus show. I'll be back here tomorrow.