The David Pakman Show - 1/7/25: Kamala certifies Trump's win, Biden slaps Trump with old law

Episode Date: January 7, 2025

-- On the Show: -- Kamala Harris oversees and completes the certification of Donald Trump and JD Vance's 2024 presidential election win -- Donald Trump melts down after Kamala Harris oversees the certification of his electoral win -- Bruce Fischer, the husband of incoming Republican Senator Deb Fischer, refuses to shake Vice President Kamala Harris' hand -- President Joe Biden uses a 72-year-old law to prevent Donald Trump from destroying the environment as much as he otherwise would plan to -- Donald Trump is starting to privately complain about Elon Musk being clingy and around too much -- Elements of MAGA is continuing to turn on Elon Musk with Steve Bannon being the most recent example -- Fears of a Donald Trump health event in 2025 start to gain momentum -- The first US human H5N1 bird flu death has been reported in Louisiana -- Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg continue to go MAGA with Dana White joining the Board of Directors of Meta -- On the Bonus Show: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announces his resignation, the real number of teens receiving gender-affirming care is tiny, judge finds Rudy Giuliani in contempt of court, much more... 🧠 Try Brain.fm totally free for a month at https://brain.fm/pakman ⚠️ Ground News: Get 50% OFF their unlimited access Vantage plan at https://ground.news/pakman  🛏️ Eight Sleep: Get $350 OFF the Pod 4 Ultra at https://eightsleep.com/pakman 💪 AG1 is offering you a FREE $76 GIFT when you sign up at https://athleticgreens.com/pakman  🛡️ Incogni lets you control your personal data! Get 60% off their annual plan: http://incogni.com/pakman 💪 Alpha Progression: Get 20% OFF your 1st month or year at https://alphaprogression.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. Yesterday was January 6th, 2025, the four year anniversary of the Trump inspired insurrection riots, which fortunately failed to keep Donald Trump in power despite having lost the 2020 election. A very different January 6th yesterday as vice president Kamala Harris confirming her own defeat to Donald Trump in the electoral college with little fanfare, with no riotous insurrection, with no insurrection, riot for a, put it in whichever order you want to see it. And it is yet again, another reminder that while in so many ways, the two parties are indistinguishable, prioritizing their own self-preservation to tied into donors and all of the things we criticize on this program all the time.

But in some critical foundational ways, there is a big difference between the Democratic and Republican parties. Kamala Harris, the vice president, putting out a video in advance of the official acceptance and confirmation of the 2024 results where she said the following. And of course it's very difficult if you know the history of the last four years and the continued claims from Donald Trump even now in 2025 that he actually won the popular vote in 2016 against Hillary Clinton, that he actually won the election in 2020 against President Joe Biden. In that context, the words of Vice President Harris can't help but remind us of how different

things were four years ago. Peaceful transfer of power is one of the most fundamental principles of American democracy. As much as any other principle, it is what distinguishes our system of government from monarchy or tyranny. Today at the United States Capitol, I will perform my constitutional duty as Vice President of the United States to certify the results of the 2024 election. This duty is a sacred obligation, one I will uphold, guided by love of country, loyalty to our most cherished principles and to make sure that in America, our government always remains of the people, by the people, and for the people. So listen, it's still teleprompter Kamala Harris. It's still you. A lot of the problems with her campaign

evident in what is, you know, this kind of cobbled together with the cuts scripted video. I don't deny that. But compared to what Trump wanted Pence to do in 2020, it is stunning that it is even notable that this is what the vice president is doing in certifying her own loss and saying the most important thing are the democratic principles on which we were founded. Now later on the floor of the Senate, uh, on the floor of the house, indeed, Kamala Harris confirming her defeat to Trump standing there and taking it with a humility that these Republicans could never have.

MAGA Mike Johnson smirking, sarcastic clapping and the whole thing. But really, the ones that should be ashamed are not those who lost. Although, of course, it is shameful that the country voted for Trump over Harris. And she has some blame in that, without a doubt, as we talked about over the last couple of months. Those who should be ashamed are the ones who now are reminded of how they behaved four years ago today. The state of the vote for the president of the United States as delivered to the president

of the Senate is as follows. The whole number of the electors appointed to vote for President of the United States is 538. Within that whole number, the majority is 270. The votes for President of the United States are as follows. Donald J. Trump of the state of Florida has received 312 votes. Kamala D. Harris of the state of California has received 226 votes. And, you know, for all the partisan clapping, the Republicans standing and clapping for Trump's

votes and the Democrats standing and clapping for Kamala Harris's votes. Trump never had the dignity nor the decorum nor the testicular fortitude to do what it took to just say, hey, you know what? I lost. I lost. And Kamala Harris, you know, not the testicular fortitude, the ovarian fortitude to stand there and say, I lost. And that's it. Even if these people are to a great degree, degree clueless, they chose him over me. And that must be respected. The whole number of electors appointed to vote for Vice President of the United States is 538. Within that whole number, a majority is 270. The votes for Vice President of the United States are as follows.

J.D. Vance of the state of Ohio has received 312 votes. Tim Walls of the state of Minnesota has received 226 votes. This announcement of the state of the vote by the President of the Senate shall be deemed a sufficient declaration of the persons elected President and Vice President of the United States, each for a term beginning on the 20th day of January 2025, and shall be entered together with the list of the votes on the journals of the House and the Senate. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

All right. So I think you get it. And then it wraps up. Um, this is, uh, this, this is the way that it was designed to work. And afterwards, vice president Kamala Harris restating that she did what is required of her. Again, alluding back to what Trump wanted Pence to do four years ago today. Obviously a very important day. And it was about what should be the norm and what the American people should be able to take for granted, which is that one of the most important pillars of our democracy is that there will be a peaceful transfer of power. And today, I did what I have done my entire career, which is take seriously the oath that I have taken many times to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, which included today performing my constitutional duties to ensure that the people of America, the voters of America,

will have their votes counted, that those votes matter, and that they will determine then the outcome of an election. I do believe very strongly that America's democracy is only as strong as our willingness to fight for it. So I think you get it. None of this should be notable. None of this should be remarkable. None of this would even normally be newsworthy, but it is in the context of the scourge of what Trumpism was and caused and did in the year 2020.

Now, it, of course, should be remembered, I guess I would say, that Kamala Harris, according to Republicans, according to MAGA, really, could have done what Trump wanted Pence to do. And if you accept Maga's belief about presidential immunity, there would be nothing by their own belief, by their own standard. If Kamala Harris and Joe Biden wanted to simply say, we're not going to recognize those results from last November, we're not going to leave office. We're going to stay.

We believe that we won by their own perspective from 2020 and beyond. She would be able to do it and there would be no repercussions whatsoever. Now, of course, if she tried what they wanted Pence to do, they would come up with some new explanation or some caveat or some detail that makes it different this time than it was in 2020. But remember that they always have solutions looking for problems. And in 2020, their solution was Trump stays in power. The problem they created was the claim that Biden didn't really win and Kamala Harris not getting involved in any of it. Now, despite all of this, despite the fact that Harris could have done so many other

things according to their own beliefs, but she didn't. She just did what the Constitution requires of her. Despite all of that, Donald Trump still managed to take issue with Joe Biden yesterday. Let's discuss that briefly. Donald Trump yesterday as Kamala Harris, uh, stuck to her constitutionally directed tasks and accepted the results of the 2024 election, declaring Donald Trump and J.D. Vance the winners and officially president and vice president elect. Despite all of that, Donald Trump just couldn't take it. He couldn't take it. And he had to lash out.

Trump taking to truth central central and first in all caps declaring Congress certifies our great election victory today. A big moment in history. MAGA. All right. And then immediately, quote, Biden is doing everything possible to make the transition as difficult as possible from lawfare such as has never been seen before to costly and ridiculous executive orders on the green new scam and other money wasting hoaxes. Fear not.

These orders will all be terminated shortly and we will become a nation of common sense and strength. MAGA. Now, of course, Biden is doing no such things. I will talk to you after the break about a law from 72 years ago that Joe Biden used to slap Trump around when it comes to domestic drilling. That's a great thing. Doesn't seem Trump's going to easily be able to reverse that. But even with Kamala Harris and Biden doing everything that they are required to do without

complaint, without hesitation, without alluding to or looking for, uh, injunctive relief from courts or extraneous schemes like sending fake electors, they're doing none of it. They are just doing what every other president but Trump has done and Trump still finds a reason to complain and Trump still finds threats to make. It's going to be a very long four years. You want to see what a triggered, fragile beta male looks like. Whoever you're thinking, I'm going to put a picture up of. It's not.

I am going to show you pathetic, childish. It's not even it's not even beta. It's gamma behavior. It's way down. It's Zeta. The husband of incoming Republican Senator Deb Fischer couldn't even get himself to look vice president Harris in the face when she was swearing in his wife, Deb Fischer to be a Senator. This is Bruce Fisher. And he is, you know, we talk about, uh, what, what is it? Troglodytic. And they use these terms oftentimes

in extraordinarily pejorative ways. Well, I'll tell you what, there is nothing that hearkens back to me to eras in this country where we saw overt discrimination on the basis of sex, on the basis of race. Now, maybe it's just that Bruce Fisher really doesn't like Democrats. Maybe that's what it is. But he completely disrespects the office of the vice president. You're going to see here in this video that first, as Bruce Fisher comes around the corner, he doesn't even look Kamala Harris in the eye and she notices and she says, I don't bite.

And he just looks straight down at the floor. And then afterwards, Kamala Harris extends her hand as just adults would normally do. And this 70, 80 something year old guy behaving like a child and will not shake her hand. You want to talk about triggered snowflakes. You want to talk about childish behavior, beta energy, all of this stuff. It's this guy. This is the emblem. This is the microcosm of it. Take a look at this. Hi. Look at him. He won't even look at her. Do you solemnly swear to support and defend the Constitution of the United States? I do. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. Thank United States. Congratulations. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you for your work. Thank you. Congratulations to you. Thank you. And then Kamala Harris extending her hand and he simply refuses to shake. Do I need to say anything else? Do is there any commentary that could possibly shed more light onto this behavior than the naked, brazen, disgusting behavior of this man, Bruce Fisher,

a representation of what we are up against for the next four years. And it's going to be very, very ugly. I'm glad you're here. Uh, and we will take a very quick break and continue right after this in a move that feels deliberately aimed at Donald Trump. President Joe Biden has slapped Trump in the face with a 1953 law to block offshore drilling across 625 million acres. This is a decision that will protect areas along the east and west coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and Alaska's North Bering Sea. And with Trump, of course, set to return to office in under two weeks now, this is not accidental timing. This is a direct challenge by President Biden to Donald Trump. Biden's not just protecting coastlines here. He's making it legally and politically painful for Donald Trump to roll back environmental protections. I'm going

to explain why. President Biden said that this decision about safeguarding the environment for future generations is critical. He said drilling off these coasts could cause irreversible damage. And of course it's true, but there is a subtext here that is clear, which is that Biden knows what Trump plans to do and Biden knows that this move is going to really frustrate Donald Trump's plans to do more oil and gas, which has been central to Trump's agenda agenda. And by invoking this, which is the outer continental shelf lands act, Biden is essentially daring Trump to try to undo it. Now, Joe Biden is right. We don't even need this drilling. And this is the critical part of it. The United States has been moving towards and has the technology to move even further towards

renewable energy. We're talking about solar, wind, other clean technologies. They can replace fossil fuels. This is not a problem of capability. The right loves to say we don't have enough sun. We don't have enough wind. What happens at night? What happens when it's not windy? We have answers to all of these questions. Part of the answer is just one single word. It's called batteries, but there is more to it. Mostly it's a question of political will. And when Biden does this, it's a reminder that what's possible is very different from what Republicans tell us when we have the political will to do it. Now, Donald Trump's incoming press secretary, Caroline Leavitt says that this is

a decision that is a disgraceful act of political revenge. Trump said that it's ridiculous and said he's going to reverse it. But a key detail is that the way Joe Biden did this is designed to resist political challenge. It may it's not guaranteed to work, but the idea here is that the law Biden used to protect these 625 million acres doesn't include an easy way to reverse it. Trump would actually need Congress to go and rewrite it, which is a long process. It's an uncertain process. Even with Republicans controlling the house and Senate, it is still not going to be something you can do easily.

And it once again puts Donald Trump in a very difficult position because Trump can and he will complain about Joe Biden's decision a lot. But undoing it is still going to take time and effort no matter how much he complains. And that's, of course, the point. Joe Biden is making this decision as a sort of parting shot. It's a final reminder that the fossil fuel agenda of Donald Trump is just out of step with the realities of climate change and Biden knows the U S can't afford to ignore the risks of oil spills, the rising sea levels, the continued pollution. And by locking down these 625 million acres, he's drawing a line in the sand. Now, Trump has a way to go beyond that line.

Trump can certainly mess that line up, but it's going to take some work. And it's about more than just protecting the environment. It's about highlighting the contrast between the two administrations, Biden protecting hundreds of millions of acres, Trump gleefully saying he's going to undo all of it. And it is not a subtle move. Now for Trump, this is more than just an environmental policy to reverse. This is something that Trump is now going to have to deal with more directly by saying, I so do not care about the climate change implications. I so am opposed to the green energy revolution, which by the way, I guess Elon Musk and Trump would not be on the same page with regard to this is a decision that highlights that

these are two people who are really far apart. So it's a calculated slap in the face to Trump. It is designed specifically to frustrate Trump's fossil fuel agenda. Of course there are right wingers saying it's just politics. It's just Biden doing something to anger Trump. Well, it's Biden doing the right thing. The fact that it angers Trump should be a reminder of how broken Trump's view on the environment is. And Joe Biden is simply doing the right thing. Is this going to be part of Biden's legacy that he'll be remembered for 50 or a hundred years from now? No, probably not.

But if it does a little bit to frustrate Trump's broken fossil fuel agenda, I'm all for it. Ladies and gentlemen, it is happening. Donald Trump is reportedly getting really sick of Elon Musk, who he is privately describing as being clingy, according to reporting from the New York Times. Apparently, even turbo billionaires can overstay their welcome even when they are staying in the two thousand dollar a night. What's it called? The Banyan suite at Mar-a-Lago. It's unclear who's actually paying for that. Donald Trump and Elon Musk, the bromance nobody asked for. And unsurprisingly is already showing cracks. There's the H1B visa stuff. There's so many other aspects of, do we consider cutting social security or

Medicare or don't we now publicly Trump is backing Musk's, uh, uh, presence and sort of basking in the company of a far richer billionaire than Trump is. And he's touting him as the first buddy and we know that Elon poured 250, 260 million into Trump's campaign. But the reports coming from behind the scenes are that Trump is increasingly not thrilled that Elon Musk is just a constant presence at Mar-a-Lago. He has been renting a, I guess it's a cottage, uh, very close to where Trump lives and it's the kind of arrangement where Musk is just like around all the time. He's crashing personnel meetings. He's chiming in on phone calls with foreign leaders. He reportedly is appearing awkwardly alongside Trump at dinners with like

Jeff Bezos. But the kicker is that according to insiders, Donald Trump is complaining that Elon Musk is around a lot. Now, let's kind of just cut right to the chase. Trump thrives on attention. When Trump starts finding you too clingy, you're clearly overdoing it and it's a sign that you're taking attention away from Trump. Musk's behavior is not just excessive, it's also strategic because Elon Musk has inserted himself into Trump's orbit. It's impossible to ignore it. You go to the Mar-a-Lago kitchen for a late night snack and Elon that is there getting his son, you know, I don't know what he's feeding his son. If you want to have a sort of high stakes policy conversation with a foreign leader,

as much as you're going to mangle it yourself, if you are Donald Trump, Elon Musk is right there. And the interesting thing is that for all his influence, for all his cashflow, even Elon Musk, the richest or maybe second richest guy in the world, even musk isn't immune to Trump's one man ego show and the taunts of president musk that have been circulating among the left seem to be getting to Donald Trump and we expected it to implode. I didn't know that it would implode before the inauguration and indeed it may not.

I mean this may just be like, okay, Elon backs off a little bit and he's allowed to stay in Trump's orbit, but this has all of the makings of a slow motion implosion because Trump wants people around him who stroke his ego and who don't take attention away. Marjorie Taylor green for a little while was such a person. Then she started getting negative attention. Christie gnome for a while was such a person, but then we found out that she shot a dog and made stuff up about Kim Jong Un and all of a sudden she was getting too much attention. Musk is very aggressive in his style, even for Trump standards. And it seems to be wearing Trump a little bit thin.

Others in Trump's inner circle also kind of grumbling about the influence of Elon Musk. Others in Trump's inner circle, not understanding how the hell does this work when Trump transitions to Washington DC Mar-a-Lago allows for the drop-ins and the casual strolls over to Trump, but in the oval office, historically, it's a little harder to just kind of walk on in. And the final kind of thought about this is that Trump's loyalty and, and loyalty that he expects and loyalty that he gives is as transactional as it gets. Musk got the cash from Musk. Trump got the cash from Musk and that gave Musk time and proximity to Trump. The shine will wear off. If Musk oversteps and oversteps again, Trump is not going to hesitate

to pivot and the Mar-a-Lago bromance may quickly fall apart. Now, the lesson we care about is remember, they said they were against unelected bureaucrats having power. And the first thing Trump did when he became president elect is say with no election, I'm going to give the vague Rama Swami and Elon Musk power. They are now the unelected bureaucrats that Trump says that he is against. Even billionaires can overstay their welcomes. But in this particular case, we don't want the unelected bureaucrats having power, right? It's destined to implode. The question is just how quickly do you believe it will completely implode before the inauguration or after? Let me know info at

David Pakman dot com. The next MAGA to seemingly turn on Elon Musk appears to be Steve Bannon. Now, I think there's something not special, but there's a particular thing going on with Bannon that I think is relevant to discuss, which we're going to do in a moment. Here is Steve Bannon on his program yesterday interviewing Joe Allen, and they are now taking issue with Elon Musk's latest declaration that X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, will suppress excretions formerly known as tweets that contain negativity. They want to, they want it to be a more positive platform. Of course, positivity and negativity are very much in the eye of the beholder.

And this is just another form of limiting free speech. And it turns out, as we know that many of those who say they are all about free speech, they are really about free speech that they like. And that is certainly the case with Elon Musk, who is suppressing all sorts of speech he doesn't like on X, but artificially boosting his own excretions and those of Tucker Carlson and others on the platform. Well, uh, Steve Bannon's not super thrilled with it. He brings on this guy to report on it. Let's take a look at this. But at the very base of this, I think that this isn't really about free speech at all. I'm going to tell you what

I think this is truly. This has been ongoing for almost a year that I've watched. You remember when he first bought Twitter in 2022, Elon Musk talked about himself being a free speech absolutist, meaning that anything goes, right? It would be the return to the old Twitter. None of that happened. And over the last, we'll say, seven, eight months, you've seen a really dramatic influence or bias or manipulation of who is and who isn't boosted on the platform. Correct. And of course, that benefited the Trump campaign. But nevertheless, what he did was put his thumb firmly on the scale and pushed the discourse in the direction he wanted. In the aftermath of the H-1B visa arguments, he, and during, he began pulling people's blue checks.

He began suppressing people, shadow banning them in very obvious ways. Yep. And now he's just announced that the platform will de-boost negativity is what he calls it. Meaning that anyone that's hurling insults much like he did calling people retarded, much like he did telling that poor Mormon Elon Musk fanboy that he should go F himself in the face. So yeah, I think it's not only hypocritical, but it just shows how much of a shapeshifter this guy is. Anything that is convenient at the moment is the new zeitgeist of the Twitter platform

or the X platform. And it's also important to note, Steve, that even as he's talking about de-boosting negative content and promoting what he says will be informational or entertainment content, he's also rolling out the X payment system. So aside from the payouts people get from a high impression count, you're also going to see, I would imagine, something much, much closer to the Chinese credit score in that people who are deemed to be undesirables or antisocial are liable to have their actual money, their actual wallets meddled with. This is the danger of the guy. This is the CCP. This is a social credit score. This is what he's going to.

He's got a glass jaw. He can't take criticism because of the, I don't know, the autism or worries on the spectrum. He's clearly not. He's got the maturity of an 11-year-old. You can tell that. Autistic childish Musk is bad, says Bannon he um it's it's it's obvious he can't take criticism he's probably he one of his weaknesses is that he he needs to be loved

right he needs the masses to love him he you can tell just like trump by the way who who bannon loves how he's on the stage he needs that. For instance, I don't give a damn, right? Hey, as long as the objective, that's why 12 O'Clock High is my movie. It's the objective. So listen, yes, it is another instance of a prominent Magapatamian turning on Musk. It is more MAGA civil war. It is all of those things. But I think for Bannon, it's also personal to a degree. Bannon was not nearly as important to Trump's victory as was Elon Musk. Trump does not currently give Bannon as important a seat at the table as he gives Elon Musk. And so sure, on some level, Bannon is for free speech nominally or whatever, except when he's not right.

Just like all these other guys. But what this really seems to be about is that Bannon is not that useful or interesting to Trump anymore. The giga billionaire with the global platform and the 250 million that he dumped into Trump's campaign is way more interesting to Donald Trump. And of course it is because Donald Trump is impressed by authoritarians and he's impressed by rich people, typically rich men. So I think that there's an envy, a jealousy here for Steve Bannon as well. And that is one of the many reasons that the Musk MAGA civil war is likely to grow and to be further fomented here. Now I want to talk about something else that is also growing into 2025 regarding Donald Trump.

The fears and concerns about a major Trump health event in 2025 are growing from many circles. Now, I want to be super clear and careful and use humility and tact here and make it clear that this is not a Hillary Parkinson's conspiracy. This is not arguing that Trump has and is covering up any particular disease. This is just the growing concern from all aspects of culture in the political spectrum that based on Donald Trump's age and based on Donald Trump's health, that one of the larger concerns in 2025 that's sort of coming into focus as Trump is now just days away from being sworn in is the fact that he may have a health event this year. Let's listen to those who are making the case. We're going to start with our friend Tim Miller here from the Bulwark podcast. My dark horse prediction

for 2025 is that Donald Trump has a health event. I think that this is inevitable based on the actuarial tables to happen during his presidency. You know, Donald Trump's machismo and his strength is such an important part of his political brand. This was always, I think, a vulnerability of his in this campaign. Because we live in the darkest timeline, we did not end up in a situation where his fragility as an elderly man came to the fore in a way that I wish it had. In fact, the opposite was the case because of that fucking awful idiot kid that tried to kill him. But there was a counter timeline in

the multiverse where Trump did what Hillary did in 2016 and had a fall. But I think that that is going to come at some point in the next four years. I think it'll probably come in 2025. So there you go. So there is Tim Miller, a Trump health event, maybe the big alteration to the trajectory of a second term. And here is Kara Swisher over on the Pivot podcast with a similar sort of, she's alluding to the same thing using slightly different language. I think Donald Trump's age might become an issue in the next two years. I think the presidency is an incredibly difficult thing. I do think it might be calmer, and it's largely not because he's become wiser, because he's not. He's not wise in any way. He's not a good person. He's a

serial sexual harasser at the very least, and other things. I think he's a terrible person. I think his age is going to calm him down. I don't know how else to put it, either through natural, what happens when you get older and the difficulties of this. So you may see a calmer Donald Trump. I just you may see it. And it's not because he's a good person or he's turning the tide or anything else. He also is probably looking at his legacy now. And he's a lame duck president. No matter how you slice it, he's a lame duck president. And again, people around him are aware of it. I've heard it from so many people in his party.

We only need him for a couple more years. They've said it. And then we'll make him into an icon. We'll do some statues. All good. And so I think it's going to maybe a little surprising and it's not again, not because he's a good person. So couple things here.

First of all, Tim Miller talked about the actuarial tables. I actually think Tim Miller is confusing life expectancy at birth versus actuarial tables based on an individual who's already 78 years old without knowing anything else about Trump. A 78 year old male is expected to live somewhere between seven and nine additional years. That's different than life expectancy at birth. If you looked at what was life expectancy at birth in 1946, when Trump was born, you would get a different number. And I think Trump would already be beyond life expectancy at birth in 1946.

But there are different actuarial tables. and if you input Trump's information just based on when he was born and that he's male United States, you would expect him to live seven to nine more years, which, which exceeds the forthcoming four year term. Uh, a more accurate analysis would account for Donald Trump's diet. I believe Trump is on, I don't remember if it's blood pressure, cholesterol medication or both. That would be a factor. Certainly Trump's obesity would be a factor. OK, the point here is from an actuarial standpoint, it's completely plausible that Trump outlives this presidential term. What Tim Miller and Kara Swisher are talking about are more the sorts of things that started

to be notable about Biden towards the end of this term. And it does seem plausible, particularly given Donald Trump's very obvious speech deteriorations over the last four to four, certainly eight and 10 and 12 years, that that's something as far as those, uh, lines happens now beyond that, I think it's important that we're not being conspiratorial here. We're just saying the guy has declined and he's not super healthy and he's almost 80 years old. Is it completely out of left field to say his health becomes a factor. It is not. And it is just going to have to be something that, um, uh, plays out. However, the facts on the ground point to it.

But interesting that both Tim Miller and Kara Swisher folks from very different parts of the sort of media spectrum are thinking about this in the exact same way. Let me know what you think. Info at David Pakman dot com. And remember to sign up to be subscribed to the YouTube channel. It costs nothing. And we are pushing towards three million YouTube subscribers. YouTube dot com slash the David Pakman show. We have been talking about H5N1 bird flu, I think longer than just about any other sort of like independent political show. And we have now to add to what is happening with bird

flu, which includes the first human H5N1 death. We have the inauguration of Donald Trump and these are seemingly unrelated stories, but as I did a few weeks ago, a story that I did not think would be of interest to a huge slice of my audience. I was wrong. It was, we may be heading towards Trump having the opportunity, opportunity to botch two, three, or even four pandemics. Let's talk about what's going on with bird flu. The Louisiana Department of Public Health, as you can see here, confirms that a patient

hospitalized with the first U.S. case of H5N1, avian influenza, bird flu, has died. What we know is that the patient was over 65 years old with underlying conditions and contracted H5N1 after exposure to a backyard flock and wild birds. Now that is a source of reassurance for many people that is both reasonable with some caveats. And I'll talk about that in a moment. Now, an investigation was done and it found no additional cases in people nor evidence of person to person transmission. And that is sort of at the heart of what is going to determine the direction that this goes. Um, this remains the only human H5N1 case. Uh, Louisiana's department of public health is extending condolences saying we're not going

to provide more information as to the exact age or other things. So where do we stand currently on H5N1? Highly pathogenic viral infection, primarily affecting birds. This is especially poultry and wild birds. It will occasionally infect humans and other animals through direct contact with the birds or their droppings or contaminated surfaces right now. And this is, this is the critical detail about this human to human transmission is very, very rare, and we will get to that in a moment. The typical symptoms in humans are flu-like symptoms, fever, cough, sore throat, muscle aches. Sometimes you get severe respiratory illness, as is the case with many types of flu. Sometimes it is death.

The public health risk is considered low right now because that human to human transmission is not something that seems to be happening. If you work with birds, if you work with livestock, you are of course more vulnerable. The recommendations are don't touch sick or dead animals. Don't touch their droppings. Keep pets away from dead animals, from sick animals. We then get to some of the recommendations that are a little less clear. Cooking poultry and eggs thoroughly. Yeah, we had an expert on Dr. Rick Bright who said, yeah, do that. Although it's not totally clear that like a runny yolk is going to transmit this. There's a question.

You certainly can do it. There's no downside to doing it. Avoid raw dairy products from infected animals. That does seem very much like a good idea. If you are exposed, you monitor your symptoms. Um, if you have a respiratory symptoms, some people get conjunctivitis, you monitor it for 10 days after exposure, get in touch with a healthcare provider, et cetera. If you see sick animals, report them to the USDA. Now here is the sort of critical detail that is going to determine the direction that this goes.

If human to human transmission starts or expands, it's considered rare. That doesn't mean zero, but it's considered very rare. If human to human transmission expands, then this could go nuclear and get very, very bad. The reason I say that is that the known mortality rate of H fiveN1 in humans is very high. The case fatality rate that's based on known cases is 50 to 60 percent of those who get a known case die. Now, I want to this is sort of like bringing us back to covid. The case fatality rate is different than the infection fatality rate. You may have 10 infections, only three are symptomatic and one of them dies.

The infection fatality rate would be 10% in that scenario I just gave you. The case fatality rate would be 33%. So there's a couple important factors here. The infection fatality rate may well be much lower than 50 to 60%. However, even if it's only 10% of that, a death rate, a real death rate of five to 6% is still significantly higher than COVID. And that should point you to the disaster that this could be. There's a second part though, and again, a lot of this is what we believe the way these typically behave.

General information. If the hue, if the, this H five N one mutates to become more suited to human to human transmission, it may also become less deadly. So we, it would be wrong. We want to be worried about and prepared for, wow, it could remain just as deadly and become easily transmissible between humans. That is a possibility, but the additional possibility, which some say is more likely, And again, I'm not trying to paint an optimistic or pessimistic picture. I'm trying to be as realistic. It is, it is more likely, according to some experts that the mutations that would make it more transmissible from human to

human are also likely to make it less deadly. But again, even if you chop it in half, it could be 25%. Even if you chop it in four, it could be 25%. Even if you chop it in four, it could be 12 and a half percent. These are still very, very high numbers. That's what we know right now. We're going to follow it. And of course, condolences to the family of the victim. Facebook is really going full MAGA at this point in time. This is not a joke. This is not a parody. Mark Zuckerberg has announced that Dana White, the UFC guy is going to be joining the board of meta, which is the parent company of Facebook. Now, later on this week, or maybe, maybe Friday, maybe tomorrow, maybe Friday, I'm also going to talk to you about Facebook's new decision that they are not going to be doing fact-checking checking is not going to be a platform wide thing anymore. I wonder who that

helps just days before Trump's inauguration. Hmm. Here's the statement from Mark Zuckerberg. I'm excited to kick off the year with some news we've been working on for a while. Dana White, John Elkin, and Charlie Songhurst are joining Meta's board of directors. We have massive opportunities ahead in AI wearables and the future of social media, and our board will help us achieve this mission. And he gives us background on Dana. He says, Dana is the president and CEO of UFC. He has built it into one of the most valuable, fastest growing and most popular sports enterprises in the world. I've admired him as an entrepreneur and his ability to build such a

beloved brand. Okay. Then he gives info about the other people. Let me tell you about what this is. This is really about Mark Zuckerberg over the last few years has gotten really into mixed martial arts and he goes to the fights and he thinks it's all very cool and it's sort of helped him reinvent his image and now he's having his hero, his buddy, Dana White joined the board. That that's really what this is. Uh, Dana White seems like, um, I guess he's a nice guy. We know he's like a massive Trump supporter. He's friends with Trump to the extent that Trump has friends. Fine. He does seem to be a skilled entrepreneur

when it comes to the field of ultimate fighting. He's built that brand hugely. There's no denying that how that makes him well suited to be on the board of Meta is a real question mark to me. And it doesn't seem that he is well suited to it. And it seems that as we continue to see this Trumpian slide of Facebook, remember it was last October, it was we are not going to promote political content anymore. Uh, all of a sudden the David Pakman show views on Facebook down 90%, nine zero, not a joke folks. Then it's, we are now going to have Dana White join the board. It is also, we are no longer going to do fact checking. We are in an uncertain environment with regard to social media in the sense that we

don't know if three weeks from now, tick tock will be allowed in the United States. We just don't know. We don't know the degree to which other platforms will follow the X if occasion of Twitter, um, and becoming de facto echo chambers for one political side. There's a lot of questions as to what the social media news environment is going to look like in a year. But there is every indication, every indication that the direction Facebook is going is more the direction of X, more the direction of MAGA, and more the direction of not being a platform that is neutral and certainly not being a platform that is just going to objectively, objectively support empiricism and fact. And as far as Dana White and Zuck go, it seems like it's a bromance type thing.

And Zuck just really wants to be involved with UFC however he can. And Dana White being on the board seems to be the way to do it. Talk about co mingling for lack of a better term. We'll follow up with the Facebook stuff, um, tomorrow or Friday as far as the fact checking. And I'm going to do a much deeper dive on that. We are going to discuss on today's bonus show, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau saying he will be resigning not only as party leader, but also as prime minister. What are the implications? What are the implications in the United States with the incoming Trump administration that could actually have significant impact?

Number two, we have a new study with the data. How often in the United States do teens get gender affirming care? The gender affirming care that right wingers love to say is of epidemic proportions and is everywhere and is without parental consent and all of these different things. Turns out it's extraordinarily rare. We have the numbers and we're going to discuss them. And then finally, a judge has found Rudy Giuliani in contempt of court in his defamation case.

And it looks like things continue to be flushed and flushed and flushed down the toilet for Rudy Giuliani. All of those stories and more on today's bonus show, you can sign up and get instant access to the bonus show at join pacman.com. Now let me give you another update. We are in the final stretch of the pre sale campaign for my forthcoming book, the echo machine. I am thrilled, humbled, flattered, ashamed, embarrassed, fill in the blanks. I am incredibly grateful that the book is now the number one book on Amazon under the democracy category. Number one, new release. It's not even out yet. And the number one new release in the fascism category on Amazon. Unbelievable. Thank you for helping to do that. We'll see where we land when the book is finally out on March 25th. I also want to remind you, you don't have

to get the book on Amazon. You can get it on Barnes and Noble. You can get it on bookshop.org. You can call any local bookstore and say, I would like to order the echo machine by David Pakman at your store. Can you get it? And they will say, sir or ma'am, yes we can. The other thing that's really great about ordering it at local bookstores is that if a local bookstore gets two, three, four orders for this book, it is likely that they will say, let's order four more and stock it because it seems our readers are interested in it. So you can sort of like double your impact

when you call your local bookstore. We're right around 5,000 pre-orders. I'll have the exact numbers very soon. I will see you on today's bonus show, and I will see you right back here tomorrow.