The David Pakman Show - 12525 Presidency Coming Apart As Economy Becomes A Nightmare

Episode Date: January 11, 2026

-- On the Show: -- Kevin Hassett predicts unrealistic economic growth and praises AI as a workplace coach while Maria Bartiromo tees up claims of booming expansion -- Layoffs rise to their highest level since 2020 as Trump administration policies collide with AI disruption and tariff-driven cost increases -- Dan Bongino admits on Fox News that he previously pushed baseless pipe bomb conspiracies while the FBI arrests Brian Cole Jr in the 2021 case -- Donald Trump appears to fall asleep during official events as questions mount about his physical condition and lack of sleep amid nightly posting frenzies -- Trump reacts angrily to widespread reporting on his mental lapses and public dozing as he refuses to release full medical records that could settle the issue -- Trump's demolition of the East Wing stalls after he fires his own architect over a ballooning ballroom plan that leaves the project over budget and directionless -- Donald Trump fumbles the National Christmas Tree lighting ceremony with multiple missteps and visible confusion as staff rush to compensate for his mistakes -- The Friday Feedback segment -- On the Bonus Show: The Supreme Court revives Texas's new redistricting map, Kash Patel refused to get off a plane until he got an FBI raid jacket, the US Institute of Peace gets renamed for Trump, and much more... 🤖 Sponsored by Venice: Use code PAKMAN for 20% off a Pro Account at https://venice.ai/pakman ⚠️ Ground News: Get 40% OFF their unlimited access Vantage plan at https://ground.news/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 Carver Mat frames at https://auraframes.com/pakman 🩳 SHEATH Underwear: Code PAKMAN for 20% OFF at https://sheathunderwear.com/pakman 🛌 Helix Sleep mattresses: Get 27% OFF sitewide at https://helixsleep.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 (01:43) Hassett predicts AI-driven growth (09:02) Layoffs hit highest since 2020 (15:39) Bongino admits past conspiracies (24:36) Trump appears to fall asleep (30:44) Trump reacts to dozing coverage (37:29) East Wing demolition stalls (42:43) Trump fumbles Christmas tree lighting (50:06) Friday Feedback segment  

We've unfortunately gotten pretty used to the new healthcare plan being two weeks away. That's been the case since July of 2020. We also now are being acclimated to the idea that some kind of golden age of the American economy is just one quarter away. And we are going to look at new predictions, I guess, from Kevin Hassett of 4% growth and AI saving the world and everything being really awesome. but you're just going to have to wait a couple more months. Now, in reality layoffs are smashing new records over 1.1 million jobs cut this year.

We're going to talk about that. And then a stunning moment on Fox News where deputy FBI director Dan Bongino basically admits he spent years pushing conspiracy theories that even he didn't believe because it was profitable. I'm going to show you the clip. I'm going to give you my approach to this issue, which you. probably won't be shocked to hear is a little different than Dan Bonginos. And also, Trump can't stay awake. He fell asleep again, not only during a cabinet meeting, but during the signing of a peace agreement. And it is raising serious questions about his health questions that, by the way, he is furious about. Plus, a bunch of the White House has been demolished for this huge vanity ballroom.

And the project now has no architect. Trump is looking for an architect, because, you know, because the one who was going to do it quit because the idea didn't make any sense. All of that and much more on today's program. Okay, remember that phrase, you fool me once, shame on me, you fool me twice, you can't get fooled again. That's the great philosopher George W. Bush, who put it that way, a little different than maybe some of us remember it. This is starting to become a theme with members of this administration.

This beautiful new shiny healthcare plan has been two weeks away since July of 2020 and yet we can never seem to get it. And we now have a new version of this, which is that, yes, there are signs of a little bit of cracking in the economy right now. But it's all about to get really good. When Trump was first sworn in and we had negative GDP growth in the second quarter, we were told, first quarter, we were told, well, Well, it's going to be a great second half of the year. Now that we have record layoffs in 2025 and the second half of the year is not looking so good. And by the way, it's almost over. We have people like Kevin Hassett and others saying, oh, it's going to be so good in 2026.

And they are, I guess you could say they're writing checks that I don't think they're going to have the funds to cover. They're writing checks that they can't cash. So here is Maria Bartaromo this morning interviewing Trump's a tool. Kevin Hassett, who says, even if we have 3% GDP growth in the first couple quarters next year, that would be disappointing. We need to be thinking bigger. And my suggestion is bookmark this clip.

And then let's see whether he ends up being correct. So first and second quarter, what? 3%. What are you expecting in terms of growth? 3 would be disappointed 3. I would be disappointed with 3. Wow. It could easily be a percent higher.

And of course that's what- And without inflation, without inflation, because it's all supply side stuff. Right, think of all the factories, the groundbreaking, so all that stuff increases apply, puts downward pressure on prices. Productivity booms, by the way, Maria, sorry, speaking up the snowblower guys are going back So as the snowblower gets going there, think about what he is saying. The, we're going to, we're seeing downward pressure on prices. We're not.

We are seeing productivity booms. You know, that's a more complicated one because as many of you know, there are broader economic trends that have nothing to do with who's president with whether it's a Democrat or a Republican in the White House, things like increased productivity due to technology, due to technological advancements. These are trends that are bigger than any president, but HACIT is again dangling the carrot, just like Trump has been doing with the health care plan, that just around the corner, there is this incredible economy that's going to work for everybody and it's going to be phenomenal.

And yet we still have hunger in the United States. We still have 40% of the population who, if they were to have an unexpected 400, expense, an appliance that breaks, a tire that blows out or whatever, they would have to borrow in order to cover that $400 expense. How stable and how robust is the undergirding of your economy? If four out of 10 people, meaning two out of five, right, we're reducing fractions here, if two out of five people to spend $400 on an unexpected emergency, would have to put it on a credit card and start paying interest on it or go to a friend or family

member or coworker and say, could I borrow the $400? That's not a very robust undergirding of the economy. And yet we are just around the corner from incredible prosperity for all. More from Kevin Hassett. And this is, this is again, a window into the level of delusion. Delusion or, you know, maybe it's worse than delusion. it's actually malice. Cassett saying AI soon is going to fix everything.

So like if you're an employee and you want to figure out how do I make more money, you can ask chat GPT, how can I make my boss happier? Oh boy. Oh my goodness. Great point to make because of this shutdown. But I think in the middle of all of this politicking around the shutdown, there's a new concern emerging about jobs. And it's really not about policy necessarily or about an economy that is slowing because we know we're going to see a big impact from the big beautiful bill next year.

But Kevin, it's really about AI and the fact that artificial intelligence is going to create efficiencies that will mean a loss of jobs. And look, I get that we're going to see new jobs. I know that all technology changes require new training and new jobs. But what is the White House's message on AI efficiencies? What is the plan to come up with the proper training for people to thrive in this new world? Brace yourselves for the brilliant insights into AI from Kevin Hassel. Right. Well, the best part about what we're seeing in the evidence,

and there's an institute, my friend Eric Brunelson at Stanford, former colleague over there, has been studying these things like pretty much there's new paper every month, that there's a lot of good news. in the AI space. And I would say that the best news is the way to think about what AI and his agents can do is that they can act as if they're like the best coach you ever had for whatever job you have. And so while you're trying to figure out how do I make my boss happy, how do I do what it takes to make the firm successful? It's like you've got a coach right there with you every step of the way.

You know, I am, I don't know if I'm on the same wavelength as most of my audience or not with the AI stuff. But like with most technological advancements, I kind of subscribe to the Neil Postman view, which is that trying to prevent the technology from coming to light and becoming widely available is a loser's game. You're not really going to be able to do that. And what we need to do is understand the pros and cons, the opportunities and risks of AI. And then we need to do whatever we can to harness the pros and limit the cons, to limit

the downside risk. And I think that there are phenomenal things with these LLMs and and chat bots, et cetera. But the idea that the panacea of the economy is going to be that people who would have to borrow to afford a $400 expense and are busy trying to figure out, how am I going to make rent? How am I going to get my kids to school now that my car needs a repair, which I can't afford and meanwhile wages are stagnant. The idea that we're going to solve that by going to chat GPT and saying, how can I make my boss happy so that they'll give me a raise? It's pathetic. And if this is the best that they have and it seems to be, you know that we are really in for it economically. And so 4% GDP growth in Q1 of 2026 and solving everything by asking chat GPT how to

do better at work. Folks, it seems delusional. And I want to now contextualize this by giving you some of the new layoff data, which is not so good. Layoffs have once again hit a record high. This is not a repeat of the story from last month or two months ago. It's genuinely that bad that just about every month we're doing some version of this story. We have another record for job cuts. We are now beyond 1.1 million layoffs in the United States this year. This report is from the consulting firm Challenger Gray and Christmas, an unusual name, I admit,

but they specialize in layoff data. And in November, total layoffs were about 71,000. This is fewer than in October, but it does push the total number of layoffs for 2025 to 1.17 million. That's almost 1.2 million layoffs this year. This is 54% higher than if we look at the same 11th month period last year. So January to November 2024 compared to January to November 2025, 54% more layoffs this year during that 11 month period than last year. And this is the highest level of layoffs going all the way back to 2020.

Now, we are still waiting for November unemployment rate info. That's going to be coming out on December 16th. But if we look there at the prediction markets, like for example, on Calci, where the question is what do you people are betting on what do you expect the number to be. 73% right now expect the unemployment rate to be higher than 4.4%. And then 40% believe it will be higher than 4.5%. And that would be the highest unemployment rate in four years. So we have the jobs numbers. They're not good. We have the betting market expectations from Kalshi about where will the unemployment rate be. that could put it at the highest point in four years as well.

Now, if you go back to 2020, we had a good explanation that was an external uncontrollable factor for why the numbers were no good in 2020. And it's the COVID pandemic. This time, that's not the case. And this is a major problem for the Trump administration, which wants to claim and does claim daily that this is the best economy anybody has heard of anywhere. Now, what are the reasons that companies are laying people off? Some of the reasons have to do with White House policy and some do not.

For example, one reason is AI innovation. And it's funny because in the earlier segment, we heard Kevin Hassett say, AI is going to be the solution to our economic woes because you can go and ask chat GPT. How can I make my boss happier so that they'll give me more money? Well, AI innovation is actually one of the main reasons that is allowing companies to lay people off and to seek technological solutions. rather than a labor force solutions for lack of a better term. That doesn't have to do with Donald Trump. Now, on the other hand, another reason for the record setting layoffs in 2025 is tariffs. That is, it's crazy to say it. It's Trump's signature economic policy. It's outrageous that that's what it is. It's hilariously sad that that's what it is. But Trump's signature economic policy is

just putting blanket tariffs on everybody. Another reason for layoffs is restructuring. Now, restructuring is a funny one because it's sometimes code for we know things are bad in our company, but we don't really want to make anybody feel too bad. So we say we are restructuring and finding efficiencies and synergies. And by the way, this comes with a hiring freeze as well. But so under the umbrella of restructuring is another explanation for the record setting layoffs. Now, this is only one piece of the disastrous economic news this week because we also learned

earlier, I covered earlier this week, that instead of gaining 40,000 jobs in November, that was the expectation. The economy lost 32,000 jobs. That means that the real jobs number fell more than 70,000 jobs short of expectations. Now, let's apply this analysis to Donald Trump's economic policy. Trump's tariffs, we were told, were going to save American manufacturing jobs. Now, instead, they haven't. We have hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs.

Open people don't want them. We have the lowest level of manufacturing employment in the United States in something like five years. But what the tariffs have done is raise costs for American companies that rely on imports. If you import stuff for whatever your businesses, you now have higher costs. You might have to fire workers to compensate for that. You might have to raise prices to compensate for that. The tariffs were a gimmick that has hurt the very workers that this is.

administration says we are going to protect and we are going to champion like a Phoenix rising over the horizon. And the Trump plan for jobs is actually destroying jobs. Now, that's okay, cool criticism, David, but like what should actually be done? Well, it's very simple. If you look at this is not wacky, you know, extreme left stuff. This is not communism. It's not socialism. If we just do like basic left economics, that wing of thought, thinking of supply side and regulation and an environment in which people can be as productive as possible, we need a workers bill of rights. The mass layoff crisis that we are seeing right now proves that proves we knew it. Most Americans have zero job security.

Unless you are already wealthy enough that it doesn't matter whether you make any more money. a very small portion of the population, or you have some kind of a guaranteed contract, which is increasingly rare. Most employees are now at-will employees. We would really benefit from stronger labor protections, stronger union protections, better severance laws. You know, some people are focused on reduced work week. Let's do for 30-hour work weeks or four days a week.

That's more of a, that's more of a sociocultural question in a way. But we need a workers bill of rights that actually is going to protect people. And then also it should be considered should we be taxing job cutters. If a corporation announces record layoffs and the CEO is getting a bonus, should there be a windfall profits tax? Should there be a penalty on stock buybacks or whatever? We need to disincentivize destroying jobs as a business strategy. And every single bit of economic data we get points in the very, very wrong direction.

We finally have an arrest in the DC pipe bomber case. It took years. This goes all the way back to 2021. These were the pipe bombs placed near the Capitol just before the Trump riots of January 6th. They've arrested a suspect. That's good news. It is 30 year old Brian Cole Jr., who I guess would have been 25 or 26 at the time of the incident.

Now, that is great news, but I want to show you a statement that deputy FBI director Dan Bongino made about the arrest on the Sean Hannity Fox News show just hours ago. Now, understand that for years, Bonjino and others made a lot of money spreading all sorts of unsubstantiated conspiracy theories about the pipe bombing, including suggesting that it was particular individuals, who I won't name, suggesting that it's an inside job. and all sorts of other unproven stuff. Hannity actually asks Bongino about this and Bonjino essentially says I was paid for provocative opinions back then. That's why I said the things I said about the pipe bomber. Now I'm the deputy director of the FBI. Now it's different.

My interpretation, this is me editorializing. I used to make things up for money, but now I have a different sort of job. All right. Let's listen to Bonjino. I don't know if you remember this. This is before you became the deputy FBI director. You put a post on X right after this happened. And you said there's a massive cover up because the person that planted those pipe bombs,

they don't want you to know who it is because it's either a connected anti-Trump insider or an inside job. You said that, you know, long before you even thought of as deputy FBI director. Yeah, that's why I said to you this investigation has just begun. We are pretty comfortable. We have our guy. I think is, again, legal process starts to service and information. Facts start to come out. The public's going to be very comfortable with the investigation that was conducted under Director Patel and his leadership. He's been great on this. But I don't want to, you know, listen, I was paid in the past, Sean, for my opinions. That's clear. And one day I'll be back in that space. But that's not what I'm paid for now. I'm paid to be your deputy director. And we base investigations on. facts. And, you know, it was interesting. I was looking out on the crowd today at the press. I guess he's saying his show wasn't based on facts, which we knew. And I saw a couple of media figures who you and I both know, who promoted the other scandal, the collusion hoax. And I thought to myself, you know, the difference between us and them is, you know, we evolve.

As information and new inputs come out, we can produce different outputs because that's what we believe in. We believe in facts and investigations guided by facts. There were people out there in that crowd. I'm sure still believe in this collusion fairy tale hoax. So we'll see. We're going to be guided by the facts as this thing goes. Yeah. Now the facts matter. Now that he's deputy FBI director, the facts are really important. So this is a major difference between some content creators and others. There's no other way to say it. I will never do this crap. Okay. I hope that you consider this trait when you think about what shows to watch and what podcast. to listen to because you are wasting your time and wasting your life listening to people

who aren't even telling you what they really believe. You know, if I believe something that's factually wrong and then I get information to that end, I will come to you right away and I will attempt to correct it. But I am never going to tell you that I share, that I, that I have an opinion that is not one I really have for clicks or to generate interest. It would be easy and profitable and maybe even fun to take positions that I don't believe for attention the way Dan Bongino is admitting that he does. And I believe many of these right wangers and some left wingers do. I'll give you an example.

There are people getting a ton of mileage from there will be no 2028 election. Trump will never leave. Trump's turning for a third term. Trump will be president until 2040. And there are people who play that up. I don't know if they believe it. I don't, but I could pretend to, right? I could turn this show into rage bait drama farming about Trump's never going to leave.

And I assure you those clips would do well. It would get a lot of attention. It would get me interviewed places. David, tell us why do you believe Trump or not will never leave? I don't do that. I always tell you what I genuinely think. And I don't think Trump's going to serve a third term. I don't think he's going to try to, even if, you know, there are people around him who think that it's a good idea.

Now, as far as Bongino and the pipe bomber, we've got to be crystal clear about what Bongino is admitting here. He was selling doubt, chaos, and conspiracies for profit. Now he needs to deal, in fact. He wasn't giving opinions on policy. He was spreading baseless unsubstantiated theories about an act of arguably domestic terrorism. right before the January 6th riots. And now that the reality is here, we've got an arrest. He's deputy FBI director, which he has no business being.

He tries to wave it away by saying, I used to be paid for my opinions. That's not exculpatory. That's damning. And it's not even I don't operate in journalism, right? I do analysis and commentary. Bonjino was not a journalist. He was doing analysis and commentary. But that's not even commentary.

It's intellectual dishonesty to man. manufacture outrage, gin up your base, and he gives up the game. Folks who do that should be punished. They really don't deserve an audience and it is corrosive to this country. And he's admitting not only that it's what he was doing, but that someday he's going to go back to it when this half-baked, hairbrained deputy FBI directorship finally comes to a merciful end. All right.

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The link is in the description or scan the QR code. Drowsy Donnie is added again and health concerns are again scaling up as Donald Trump fell asleep for what the fifth or sixth time in public this week. This time it was during the signing of a peace agreement between Rwanda and the DRC. This happened just days after Trump fell asleep three or four times during a televised cabinet meeting. Trump again dozing off during the ceremony sitting right there inside the US Institute for peace building minutes after he was bragging about the deal.

And while the presidents of Rwanda and the DRC were speaking, Trump visible. closing his eyes, head drooping completely checked out. So I'm going to show you the footage here. This is not a brief blink. This is a guy whose body is forcing him to shut down. And by the way, this was not like hours during which Trump had to be here. This was an important high stakes 15 minute event. And you have to ask what is wrong with Trump.

Take a look at this. If you're only listening today, Trump is falling asleep. as we are listening to speakers. On the road ahead, there is no doubt about it. Rwanda. I know we'll not be found wanting. All right. And then we have a more zoomed in view.

Let's there be any doubt about Trump just struggling, swollen, eyes almost completely shut as a as a baseline. baseline and then falling asleep. It's in resolving the underlying issues. President Trump introduced a new and effective dynamics. And as you see Trump's head starting to go down and he catches it. That created the space for breakthroughs. His approach is even handed. Oh, boy.

Never. So listen, this is not about shaming an elderly man. This is about hypocrisy when it comes to what we heard about Biden for four years. And it is also about public safety and basic executive competence because there's a documented pattern here. We know the New York Times finally reported about Trump's physical and mental decline. We know Trump needed an MRI and extra tests at his last doctor's visit with very unclear reasons why. And when you then see him falling asleep in public, he has no standing to argue about the state

of his health or anybody else's. And the evidence is just staring us in the face. Now, I think the first thing is we just have to be honest about the seriousness of this issue. We aren't doctors, but we can look at date. Well, some of them, I mean, I know that there are a lot of doctors in the audience. I'm not a doctor, but I can look at the data and the evidence. A 79-year-old repeatedly falling asleep in the middle of the day during short, high-profile meetings, a cabinet meeting, an international peace signing.

It's not just being tired. True narcolepsy is rare in older adults. I'm not even suggesting that Trump is narcoleptic, but this kind of excessive daytime sleepiness can be a flashing red alert about an underlying medical problem that demands professional attention. Could it be severe sleep apnea, which robs the brain of oxygen and can affect it affects millions of people? Could it be connected to a medication that Trump is taking, which we haven't been told about? Could it be a neurodegenerative issue or a chronic condition, a thyroid problem? I could give you a list of 20 or 30 things. We don't know because the administration

is very vague and propagandistic about Donald Trump's health. And that refusal to be transparent, despite saying they're the most transparent people in the world, is now making it a question of public responsibility as well. Is Trump's brain getting the rest it needs to be president of the United States? Is Trump's brain even getting the oxygen it needs to be the president of the United States? Now, second, even if we assume that this is not a medical mystery, the exhaustion is, is a direct result of the toxic self-inflicted chaos of this administration.

Remember that for decades, Trump has bragged. He only needs, you know, four to five hours of sleep and night. He's got superhuman strength and stamina and all of that. He mocks opponents as sleepy for getting, you know, what doctors actually say you should be getting as far as sleep goes. But the bravado of Trump on sleep is colliding with reality right now. And we know this based on the timing of his truth social blitzes. Trump is often up late into the night posting hundreds of unhinged rants to truth social

and then up at 5.30 in the morning posting more. We know he's not even getting those five hours of sleep, which he claims are all he needs. He's not even getting his minimum requirement. Now, the most probable reason for the relentless, just completely chaotic all night posting is that Trump is under massive political and legal stress, most of itself inflicted because of how he's running the country. He knows his president is on presidency is under threat from from within and from without. And he is desperate to control a narrative that is spinning away from him when it comes to war crimes, when it comes to all these different things. And so I think that there

are three, four different layers here. But the guy cannot stay awake and just imagine if this were Biden. Now, Trump is aware of the growing focus from legacy and corporate media on his health. and he doesn't like it. Trump's melting down again. And this time it's not about the economy. It's not about protesters. It's not about Jeffrey Epstein. It is about his brain, his cognitive and physical health.

Trump branded Joe Biden's sleepy Joe. And now is furious that everybody's calling him sleepy, drowsy, donnie, because he fell asleep three or four times at his cabinet meeting this week. He then nodded off during a signing of a. of a peace agreement between Rwanda and the DRC. We looked at video of that in the last segment. And the coverage of Trump's health is piling up and he is reportedly furious. The New York Times has talked about it.

The Washington Post, CNN. AFP ran a piece called Sleepy Dawn. The Daily Beast said, this is the sequel nobody wanted to see. There are articles about Trump's physical health and argues about Trump's cognitive health. Now, one of the realities is that this is sort of like too late in the game. And what, what I mean by that is for years, legacy in corporate media kind of bent over backwards to really not talk about Trump's health where anything with Biden, if he looked offstage the wrong way, would become days of coverage and there would be, I mean, entire books were written

about it, breathless coverage, et cetera. And for the most part, legacy in corporate media has not dealt with that issue with Donald Trump. And finally now, finally, finally, Finally, it is starting and sources inside the White House say that Trump is furious about this. When Trump sees coverage about is he slowing down. When Trump sees coverage about his brain, when Trump sees coverage about his MRI, Trump is reportedly furious and it's triggering him even more than coverage about Trump's friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, which really says a lot. Now, we have seen this before. Trump loves to dish it out, mock other people for decline, Sleepy Joe. When the spotlight gets turned on him because he's a guy in a glass house throwing stones,

the spotlight angers him and he doesn't like it at all. And the public watches every move from someone who is in this top job. And the truth is that it is a high pressure job. And Trump doesn't seem to be able to handle it. He's forgetful. He's sleeping during meetings. He's got the hand bruising that's covered in makeup and the makeup is now covered in band-aids, cameras don't lie, people are noticing. And although the White House insists he's in perfect

health for the age, of course, for the age, this is starting to become impossible to hide. Now, there would be simple ways to shut all of this down. Actually make full results public, not a self-written summary, not a spin job from his personal doctor. Let's figure out. some way. I mean, listen, I would love to see Trump get a stress test, a cardiac stress test in public. I would love for Trump to be given a serious cognitive test, not just the 30 question brain injury screening thing. Do it in public and show us how great and sharp you are. And then we could put this entire thing to bed. And of course, they don't do it because everybody knows that the truth is what we are all seeing. The act is slipping and they don't want proof that the decline is real. So they spent years

mocking Biden for this, going after Biden for this. And now the question is about Trump. Is he capable of doing the job? And there's a deeper irony here as well. Trump is obsessed with projecting dominance. Strength. He's sharp. He's in control. He built a movement on this idea. He's the only one tough enough to run the country. But now the strong man looks fragile and the brand is collapsing. Authoritarians really struggle with vulnerability. They don't age graceful. They get angry that people are noticing that they are not projecting the strength they wish that they were projecting. And so Trump picked his weapon, right? Choose your weapon.

Trump chose cognitive fitness. And he wielded it like a political weapon. And now the weapon has been turned on him. He introduced the weapon to the fight and the weapon has been turned on him. He has no clue how to stop the bleeding. He's furious. What that tells me is we are on to something and hopefully legacy and corporate media are going to continue covering. A lot of people think identity theft is something that only happens when someone hacks into your account,

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When you go to auraframes.com and use the code Pacman at checkout, the link is in the description. The hugely embarrassing demolition and construction project that the White House is now at an even more humiliating standstill. You've got to hear what is going on. Trump demolished part of the White House and we're now learning that there was not any realistic plan for what was going to be rebuilt. Now you might say, of course, we know what was going to be built. It was going to be a $300 and something million dollar ballroom.

Yes, generically, we know that. But it turns out that the way Trump wanted it done. is apparently architecturally implausible and the entire thing is now at a stand still and Trump's looking for a new architect. It is a it is a humiliation of global proportions. So they start the demolition. We see it. The cranes are there.

I was in DC recently and saw it with my own eyes. They're moving material out day and night. It was 10 p.m. I was at dinner next to the White House and saw cranes functioning. I mean, it's completely and totally nuts. So the destruction starts and then the organizational incompetence that Donald Trump is known for comes to light. The critics of the project said, you know, 90,000 square foot ballroom will this even even fit? Is it appropriate? Does it make any sense from a construction perspective, from a design perspective?

Does it make any sense to have such a ballroom at all? And now all of a sudden, the dust has kind of started to settle on the demolition. And the architect that Trump picked James McCrary the second said to Trump, this is not really going to work. And the central conflict is that McCrary warned, you know, it's too big. This is going to violate a core architectural principle, which is the extension really shouldn't overshadow the main building. Like you, if the White House is 55,000 square feet and you're going to build a 90,000 square foot ballroom, it just doesn't really make sense. The ballroom needs to be smaller. Trump wants a structure so huge. Again, I don't know if there's sort of like a psychological

phallic aspect to this where because of Trump's diminished, diminished size in a number of areas, he feels the need to build big things or we're getting more into like the, the psychological elements of compensation here. aside but the point is the architect said this doesn't really make sense so what happened it's totally inevitable mccrary is out and he now leaves a partially demolished site the white house is scrambling to replace him they are looking at um uh dc architecture firm shalom baran baron baroness to take over and the message here is very clear you start demolishing you what's that thing that they say measure twice cut once.

You start demolishing before you even have a feasible plan for what's going to be built. You put the project at a standstill. You're firing people and replacing people. And as always, the cost goes up. $100 million, $200,000, $250, $300, over $300 million dollars. And we can't even get off the drawing board so far. Now, you might say, David, symbolically, this is disastrous. But I don't really care that much about it.

I'm going to argue that this is actually encapsulating and emblematic of the chaotic nature of everything that Donald Trump does, right? So take a look here. Tears down a historic landmark on impulse, ignores expert advice, and then says, oh, you won't do the stupid thing I want you to do. You're fired and I'm going to find somebody else right now. This is the theme. Trump has always used his time working in real estate and business as the reason why he should

be president, right? He says, I manage big projects. I negotiated deals. I ran large companies. I'm a builder. I'm an investor. I'm a businessman. Because I'm good at those things, I would be a good president.

The skills will transfer. The first question, which we asked when Mitt Romney was running is, do we have evidence that business people make good presidents? And the answer is no, we don't. But then the second layer is, is Donald Trump actually a good builder? Is Donald Trump actually a good business person? Or is it just that he was given a whole bunch of money by his dad and by the. And by the way, if he had just thrown all that money into the S&P 500 index fund, would he end

up with more money today than if he had done anything? And the answer is yes, Trump has done worse financially because he did anything. And so then you dig into his building history and you see that he has a long history of projects that go over budget. There are fights. There are problems. It's exactly what's happening in the White House ballroom project. And it's exactly what's happening in this country.

So if anything, Trump's past business dealings and the lawsuits and the bankruptcies. and the chaos, it's actually evidence that Trump is particularly ill-suited to be the president of the United States. The pattern is he'll profit from his name where he can, but when you actually need to do construction and execution, it all falls apart. Anybody surprised? I am certainly not. We just had the lighting of the 30 rock Christmas tree in New York City.

And I guess not to be outdone, you know, whatever. They have a DC Christmas tree as well. Donald Trump struggled through this event just hours ago, seemingly unable to do anything even as simple as just speak a few minutes at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony. Trump, of course, in the Christmas spirit, pretending to be religious. And it really just doesn't land. On this important day, tonight this beautiful evergreen tree glows bright on the dark and cold. winter night and reminds us of the words of gospel of john in him was life and that life was the

light of all mankind beautiful words with the birth of jesus human history turned from night today his word and his example call us to love one another to serve one another and to honor the sacred truth that every child is especially made you can really see that donald trump is just so spiritually connected to the gospel of John, as he says, as he says there. And Trump truly cannot do anything without injecting his toxic brand of politics. I'll give you an example. Remember, tree lighting ceremony. That's all this was supposed to be. have heated that call and the faith and service of Christians have been essential parts of America's strength on the very, very beginning.

Incredible. We love the Christians. We love all religions. And by the way, religion is coming back to the USA. You see that very strongly. So this Christmas season, let me say thank you to everyone who serves the needy and lifts up the communities inspired by faith. Thank you to the political. Police, law enforcement officers, first responders, ICE and border patrol agents who risk

their lives every day to defend the innocent, protect the good and keep the evil in danger at bay. And thank you to the men and women of the United States military, including the brave years. All right. So he can't do anything without injecting the toxicity of his politics. And even, even economically, remember, tree lighting ceremony, just count down from five and have Melania push the button.

But he can't do it. He just can't do it. Into our country. Nobody. Not one. Our economy is thriving. Inflation is stopped. Our nation is strong.

And America is back bigger and better, stronger, better than ever before. Think of it. And we're making peace all over the world. We're settling wars at levels that nobody's ever seen before. Eight of them. We're looking for one more. That's Russia, Ukraine, if that's possible. And I think we'll get there eventually.

There you go. And I know many people in the audience saying to themselves, inflation is gone. What are you talking about? Have you seen my grocery bill? Have you seen what's going on with my rent? Have you seen anything? And then maybe more toxicly than anything else. Trump talking about a rigged election.

It's a tree lighting ceremony. Honest question for magas in the audience. Do you like it? Trump talks about a rigged election when he's just supposed to be lighting a Christmas tree. And remember, we have not only the 250 years, but this is a big one, we have the World Cup, and we have the Olympics coming up all within this four-year period. See, if they didn't rig the election, I would have been sitting. Can you imagine I wouldn't have any of them?

And I probably wouldn't have been invited. I would have been very up. There you go. Finally, they eventually did get to the lighting of the tree. Trump appears to need to read the countdown from five to zero off of a piece of paper. He might have skipped four if it weren't for the piece of paper. Light the beautiful Christmas tree. Are you ready?

So the first lady is going to do the honors and we're going to do a countdown. We'll go from five to zero, okay. Wait, hold on a second. Wait, whoa, whoa, hold on. We're starting at what number are we? Okay, hold on. I guess we'll figure it out. Five, four, three, two, one. All right. And then Trump and Melania, uh, touching hands briefly there. I'm sure it was unpleasant for her, but they have successfully managed to count from five to zero and light the tree. Again, quite honest question for

Magas. Do you like hearing Trump talk about there's no inflation? The election was rigged. We're bringing religion back to America after those filthy social. Now, do you like him injecting that into a tree lighting ceremony? It seems pathetically embarrassing to me. Let me know. The truth is that most underwear wasn't designed with comfort in mind. Sheath underwear actually was. And the difference will immediately hit you as you put them on for the first time. Instead of letting everything mash together like traditional underwear, sheath is designed with dual front pouches that separate and support you throughout the day. It's breathable, soft, built to keep you dry. No more sticking.

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Pach-Dooch, L-O-L. You're in heaven with all those cackling hens in there, aren't you? L-O-L. You're mostly a women yourself. So you fit right. in. What a bunch of losers all sitting there complaining like it makes a difference. This is a reference, I guess, to my CNN appearance because I guess it's very offensive to Justin. There were women allowed to speak. Yes, it seems highly, highly triggering to some of the people who don't like me that some shows do let women speak. Um, Pashtoosh. That is that is really something hard to comment on something so dumb, but thanks for taking the time to email me, I guess. Let's go now to YouTube comments.

This is Indy Mofro who says, David, thank you for the daily podcast. It is my nightly dose of sanity to end my day in a world that is nuttier than a squirrel turd. Yeah, you know, what's very interesting is that over the years I've been doing this, depending on what's going on. socially, culturally, technologically, different platforms grow faster versus slower. So like there was a point in time where YouTube was by far our fastest growing platform. And then there was a period in time where it was TikTok that was the fastest growing platform. I think this was earlier in TikTok's 10 year. Earlier in TikTok's existence and it was a time when there were many new entrants starting

to do news and politics on TikTok and so like that was growing more quickly. Right now, the audio podcast, which is so funny because it's one of the original mediums that predates us being on Snapchat and Facebook and Instagram and TikTok and even YouTube. The audio podcast is having a sort of renaissance where it is now one of our fastest growing platforms growing rapidly on Spotify, growing rapidly on Apple podcasts. And what I think it is to a degree is that people's media consumption habits are changing a little bit. And there are a lot of folks who are taking the advice of a lot of people that have been talking about this, myself included people like Cal Newport and others who say rather than just being in the feed and letting algorithms direct your viewing and

listening, curate proactively and thoughtfully. And audio podcast is arguably one of the best platforms for that. I know for myself, I love going to the gym and having my few podcasts I listen to and saying, I am going to listen to an hour episode of something rather than scrolling short videos or whatever. The point is, all the platforms are available for whatever fits best for you, but interesting that the audio podcast is growing remarkably quickly. All right, Sally Herbert wrote in and said, David, that is most definitely not a British accent. The interviewer is. is Australian. How could you get that so wrong? Yes, listen. I got a bunch of angry emails saying, David, I can't believe you said that people with British accents or British people

are unsophisticated. I never said any of that. I did mistakenly last week refer to an Australian interviewer as British. I made a mistake and I'm sorry about that. But there was no pejorative aspect about it. We love all the accents. Everybody's great. It just so happened. I got it wrong. The Australian interviewer was Australian interviewing Caroline Levin. Okay. After my interview with former vice president Kamala Harris, a number of emails and messages came in. There was a subreddit post of great interest from Big Daddy Zeus who says Kamala, no humility nor accountability. I love how Kamala still takes zero accountability for how terrible of a campaign she ran. I really hope she stays away from the 2028 presidential picture.

No self-awareness, no reflection, no lessons learned whatsoever. Just there wasn't enough time. What a loser. She should just continue to grift her book and enjoy her millions. She's the last kind of person the left needs right now. overwhelming response to my short interview with Kamala Harris and a lot of people had versions of this reaction, which is the book and the interview did not exactly have the introspection that many of you expected to see. And I believe that it is true that Joe Biden did not

set up Kamala Harris to have a winning campaign. I believe. believe it is true that 107 days really isn't enough time to run for president and win. But I also have said, I don't think Kamala Harris should run in 2028. I don't think Kamala Harris is the direction that the Democratic Party should go in. And I've given my numerous reasons for that. And I, my sense from looking at comments, emails, et cetera, is that most of the audience agrees with me right now. Bill levers said, here is the Trump administration's twist logic. The Supreme Court ruled that Trump can't break the law when acting as president. Therefore, there are no illegal orders and the military must follow all of them. Yeah, um, it, this entire thing,

I don't even know how to sum up the problem, but one of the top lines is the checks and balances that the framers and founders of this country put in place clearly. never accounted for the possibility that someone like a Trump would get elected. And you could say that's the mistake of the framers and founders. You could say, actually, it wasn't their mistake. It's the way that culture and the discourse has degraded so much over the last 50 years that we ended up with an American population willing and determined to vote for someone like Donald Trump.

There's a lot of different blame to go around. But on this issue of the illegal orders, there is an extraordinarily Nixon-like sense of if the president does it, it's not illegal. And therefore, the whole conversation about illegal orders is moot. And it's terrifyingly dangerous. Hero firefighter wrote on Reddit, I believe Gavin Newsom and J.B. Pritzker are the best candidates for the 2028 presidential election. I think they're both great governors. They both take a stand against Trump, have legalized LGBT rights, trans health care, and abortion in their respective states and have consistently shown their constituents they care

about them. For example, it's thanks to Newsom that California is the world's fourth largest economy. Hence, I believe one of them should be the Democratic candidate in 28. We need presidents who used to be governors and have shown themselves to be able to manage only one state before running the country. So a couple things here. I believe that California would have gone first. being the sixth to the fourth largest economy in the world, even under people other than Gavin

Usome. I think Gavin Newsom has been a good steward for California overall, despite having not solved every problem, as any country or state with 40 million people would have would have problems. But I think California's ascendancy is bigger than Gavin Newsom and that it would have achieved fourth largest economy status. Assuming you didn't have a governor that was actively destructive, I think that I don't know how much credit I give to Newsom for that. However, However, I've said before, governors are administrators in a way that members of the House and members of the Senate are not. And in a sense, governors who are competent are well suited to be president of the United States the way that I think about how I want a president operating, which is less about making broad,

bombastic partisan statements and more about the nuts and bolts of programs and getting things done. So I think I know my audience is very mixed about individual people. I'll only address Newsom and Pritzker right now because those are the ones mentioned. I would have no concerns about competence with a president Gavin Newsom nor with a president J.B. Pritzker. That's that's the way I would say it. Here we go. 199 says, is there a shred of economic truth to lowering taxes on the risk?

creates jobs. The only thing that creates jobs from my understanding is demand. I've worked for numerous corporations and I've never seen the CEO save money and taxes. And that results in an influx of jobs and our companies are higher pay. Yeah, listen, here's something you have, you really have to understand. There is a backwards logic to this for many of these right wingers. The right wingers go, listen, you lower taxes. People end up with more money. The company and the CEO end up with more money. So then they invest and they hire people and they build a new factory. This makes no sense.

And I've explained it before and I want to do it once more. And I hope I'm doing this clearly. If the tax rate is 10%, you can take all your profit and you can take it out of the business and you pay 10%. On the other hand, imagine that when you take profits. You pay 40%. What would incentivize you to avoid a tax more? A 10% tax or a 40% tax? Most people would work harder to avoid a 40% tax than a 10% tax.

And you know how you avoid a tax if you're in business? You invest the money in growing the business. What do I mean by that? Take, for example, what do I have here? Take, take this lens that I have right here. Okay. The this is like I think it's a $500 lens. If my tax rate is 10%.

If I buy this lens, I avoid a 10% tax because investing in your business is tax deductible. This lens is a business expense, right? If I pay 500 bucks, I now no longer pay tax on that $500. Would I work harder to avoid paying a 10% tax or a 40% tax 40? Meaning, I am actually incentivized to go and invest in my business if taxes are higher. Now, of course, this only works to a degree. If you get 100% tax, we're talking about a different thing. But the bottom line is this whole low taxes incentivize investing in your business thing.

No, number one, you would be more motivated to avoid a higher tax. And number two, well, the other thing is you avoid taxes. by investing and of course demand is what drives hiring why would i hire more employees if there's no demand for what my employees are making or the service that they are providing and demand obviously has to do with how much money does the broader economy have for people to spend on my product or service so it is completely backwards john zikowski wrote on spotify i can't believe i'm saying this But I'm slightly disappointed that Marjorie Taylor Green resigned. I still don't buy the whole she's now seen the error in her ways with her rhetoric.

But even if this is all a ploy to run for higher office, I'd much rather have this version of Marjorie Taylor Green in Congress than the nut likely to replace her. Plus, I think she could still easily win a primary, which would make Trump meltdown and be glorious to behold. Yeah, I agree with John. What I was looking forward to seeing, in 2026, how strong is Trump's anti-endorsement? Can Trump saying, don't vote for Marjorie Taylor Green really make her lose or has Trump lost that power? So I am also disappointed that a Marjorie Taylor Green resigned. I would have rather seen her stay in. Over on substack, Franklin says, I enjoy your three-minute soundbites and the neutral even tone of your reporting. I've

searching for factual reporting, but you've taken it to the next level. Also listen to your YouTube channel, good stuff that deserves to be supported. Franklin, thank you so much. I can't tell you how in awe I am and how flattered I am by all of the support that has come in recently, the growth of independent media, not just this show, but the entire ecosystem. And it's people like Franklin, just liking stuff, sharing stuff, subscribing on YouTube, whatever. That's what we are building with, those are the building blocks and especially going into a primary as critical as 2026. We've got to do it. So thank you to everybody.

We've got a phenomenal bonus show for you today. We will talk about the Texas electoral map ruling. We'll talk about what's going on with Cash Patel. We'll talk about what's going on with the Institute of Peace and much more. Sign up and get the bonus show at join packman.com.