The David Pakman Show - 2/12/24: MAGA explodes after Swifties win Super Bowl, Putin casually humiliates Tucker

Episode Date: February 12, 2024

-- On the Show: -- President Joe Biden brutally mocks the MAGA and right wing conspiracy theorists obsessed with Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce after the Kansas City Chiefs win the Super Bowl -- A terrified Donald Trump explodes, demanding loyalty from Taylor Swift and saying she should be thanking him -- Russian President Vladimir Putin casually humiliates former Fox News propagandist Tucker Carlson -- Republican voter says he would vote for a dead Joe Biden over Donald Trump in an NBC focus group -- Failed former President Donald Trump shockingly admits during a rally in Conway, South Carolina that he would encourage Russia to invade American allies -- Donald Trump mocks Nikki Haley's husband for not being on the campaign trail, which in reality is because he is deployed in the military -- Nikki Haley hands out Donald Trump's supposedly difficult dementia test at a recent campaign rally --The "Biden crime" conspiracy yet again implodes live on Fox News -- Alina Habba, Donald Trump's desperate former lawyer, goes full "Biden dementia" during a recent interview -- The Eggman leaves a voicemail saying he does not "accept" the results of the Super Bowl in which the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers 🧦 Strideline: Use code DAVID for 15% off at https://strideline.com 👩‍❤️‍👨 Try the Paired App FREE for 7 days and get 25% OFF at https://paired.com/pakman 🛌 Use code HELIXPARTNER20 for 20% off + free bedroom set at https://helixsleep.com/pakman ☕ Trade Coffee: Code PAKMAN10 saves you $10 at https://drinktrade.com/pakman 🛡️ Incogni lets you control your personal data! Get 60% off their annual plan: http://incogni.com/pakman -- On the Bonus Show: Biden calls on snack companies to stop shrinkflation, Ted Cruz airport security bill moving forward, historian who predicted almost every election reveals likely 2024 winner, much more... -- Become a Supporter: http://www.davidpakman.com/membership -- Subscribe on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/thedavidpakmanshow -- Subscribe to Pakman Live: https://www.youtube.com/pakmanlive -- Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/davidpakmanshow -- Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/davidpakmanshow -- Leave us a message at The David Pakman Show Voicemail Line (219)-2DAVIDP

Speaker 1 A year ago, I would not have predicted that this year's Super Bowl would become one of the cultural flashpoints of the MAGA right and of republicanism and of what the right has become obsessed with the conspiracy theories. Every aspect of society seemingly touched by this year's Super Bowl. Now, I have to tell you, in particular, when the New England Patriots aren't in the Super Bowl, I don't really care that much about it. Oh, the commercials.

It's one of the greatest corporate fleeces that has taken place is convincing people who don't like the football that they should watch anyway because of the commercials. I mean, it's the it's the height of corporatism and commercial gobbledygook. And I just really don't care that much about it. Now, that being said, I watched some of the game yesterday. Eventually, when it went into overtime, I decided to go to bed realizing, wait a second, I don't care about either of these teams. I'd rather go read and get some sleep. But what I woke up to this morning, learning, of course, that the Kansas City Chiefs won and that a pop star and voter registrant, a Taylor Swift, embraced Travis Kelsey at midfield.

And the way that the right wing has reacted has really been stunning. And I have to tell you, I think Joe Biden has handled this in exactly the right way, sort of goading the conspiracy theorists by putting out a tweet after the Kansas City chiefs one that said, quote, Just like we drew it up, the images of dark Brandon, which is, of course, Joe Biden with the red laser eyes and demonic red and the entire thing. So what is this all about and what is Joe Biden talking about? So there has been a growing movement on the right. That believes that football and the Super Bowl are stage managed, almost like WWE wrestling, that there is a script that the script this year was for Taylor Swift to start a romantic

relationship with a player, for them to with the coordination with referees, make it to the Super Bowl win. And for that to be the launch platform for Taylor Swift to endorse Joe Biden and see him ride to victory on the wings of Taylor Swift's endorsement in states that would otherwise be very close. Now, I sort of thought they were kidding with this entire thing. But looking at Twitter last night as the game was going on, just look at some of the replies to the tweet, the excretion that I put out last night. A lot of these people are very serious. This is all very, very real for them. And we are now unable to accept any reality other than the one that is, which is a lot of these people are genuinely nuts. I know it's not nice to say they're disconnected

from reality. The right wing conspiracy media ecosystem has it's not necessarily making people insane, but it's taken vulnerable people. It has stirred it all up with conspiracy theories and hostility towards others. And it has reversed everything. And here's what I mean by that. Football used to be the calling card of the right wing, the militaristic flyovers with jet fighters and the analogies to war and military between what happens off the field and also what happens around it. Color guards and flags and the national anthem and the corporatism, the Super Bowl and football were for so long the epitome of those right wing values.

And now because Colin Kaepernick kneeled and because Travis Kelsey got a vaccine, I guess, and because Taylor Swift last time endorsed Biden, now football's bad. Football's woke. Oh, they've got helmets to try to prevent as much brain injury. These are sissies. Everything has been reversed. And it's yet another reminder that they don't really care about the substance. They care about ideology and what's convenient. And for a while it was no, no, no. These left wing sissies, they don't want the military represented at football games. They don't want the flyovers. Oh, wow. They're burning jet fuel. Wow. Cry liberal. And now it's totally reversed. Now, I don't even watch football anymore. Football's gone woke, say

the right wingers. I don't need to hear anymore. Football's gone woke, say the right wingers. I don't need to hear the latest thing about how many boosters Travis Kelsey got. So remember, it's all nonsense all the way down, no matter how many times they tell us their values and their principles and whatever. And by the way, must be really tough when your choices if you're watching the Super Bowl are. Do I root for woke Taylor Swift and Mr. Pfizer, Travis Kelsey, or do I root for woke dystopian San Francisco? I don't know what

to do. Maybe I'll just watch the sound of freedom again while I drink Bud Light. Oh, nope. Can't drink Bud Light anymore either while I drink. I don't know what's the anti woke beer at this point in time. These are not productive participants in the socio political discourse. That's the big takeaway. And as I've said before, couldn't care less whether Kansas City or San Francisco comes away with it to the extent that Taylor Swift is activating a group of people who don't vote in great numbers, 18 to 25, those young voters.

I think it's absolutely fantastic. Donald Trump also had a reaction to Taylor Swift mania and Super Bowl woke dumb and the entire thing. He of course makes it all about himself and says, how on earth could Taylor Swift in the future endorse Joe Biden? I don't think she will because she's been able to make a bunch of money thanks to me. Trump essentially pulling the you'd be nothing without me. What are you doing endorsing Joe Biden?

This this is as wacky as anything else we've seen with this. Donald Trump posting to Truth Social Central, quote, I signed and was responsible for the Music Modernization Act for Taylor Swift and all other musical artists. Joe Biden didn't do anything for Taylor and never will. There's no way she could endorse crooked Joe Biden, the worst and most corrupt president in the history of our capital C country, and be disloyal to the man who made her so much money. Besides that, I like her boyfriend, Travis, even though he may be a liberal and probably can't stand me.

OK, so this is beyond narcissism. This is mind bending or mind effing craziness. But there is something really worth noticing here for Trump. It's all transactional. And this is an important layer for revisiting what we saw over the last however many years and thinking about the campaign that the guy is running right now, because he says in this troth, he says, how could she vote for Biden who did nothing for her when I signed something that allowed her to make money? Well, maybe she has some principles. This is a reminder that for Trump, it's listen, they want me to be against abortion. So I'll say I'm against abortion. I'll be what they want me to speak at the right to life rally or march for life that you want me to

spout off that I like the Bible. Just tell me what I need to do and I'll do it. And then they'll vote for me. And that's all there is to it. Trump can't conceive of a world in which, by the way, I don't know a damn thing about the Music Modernization Act. I don't really care about that because it's not relevant. Maybe it's true that Trump signed off on this bill that allowed Taylor to make some money. Trump can't conceive of a world in which Taylor Swift is a financially independent artist who has FU money, might just vote for whoever's politics she prefers. She might just endorse whichever candidate she believes is better for all of America, not just for her personally. It doesn't compute with Trump. And this truth is a reminder of that. One other thing that I think is worth mentioning,

they're all terrified of Taylor Swift. Tennessee Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn, we covered this a week or two ago. Taylor Swift campaigned against Blackburn. OK, by modern Republican standards, Blackburn should be saying absolutely horrible things about Taylor Swift. But when she was asked about her, she said, oh, well, she's very popular and has a large following and, you know, just barely any criticism in there because they're afraid they understand the math. We've done the math in Florida. And while it's a bit of a stretch to say that Taylor Swift's voter registration efforts and a potential endorsement of Joe Biden alone could flip Florida for Biden.

It's not completely out of the realm of possibility when you look at the vote margin, three hundred and eighty thousand or so, which I believe it was in 2020 between Trump and Biden. They are afraid of her. And so even Donald Trump here, Trump seems to be afraid and thus attacking her, which is one approach. Marsha Blackburn seems to be afraid and thus attacking her, which is one approach. Marsha Blackburn seems to be afraid and thus treating her with kid loves more respectfully than they normally would. But they are terrified of her because they know the influence that she has. Bottom line, this is probably a good thing for Joe Biden and probably a bad thing for them. So let's now move on. No more Super Bowl talk

today, except I think we are going to talk about one element of that of the Super Bowl on the bonus show. When producer Pat joins me, we will take a very quick break. We'll be back with the Putin Tucker Carlson interview and so much more on this Monday show. Great to have you here. I often struggle to find a good pair of socks that fits right and is comfortable. Our sponsor, Strideline, have developed the most comfortable socks on Earth. They have it trademarked. And it's true.

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If you don't think this show would should exist, by all means, don't get a membership. You can sign up at join Pacman dot com. You can use the coupon code. Save democracy. Twenty four. We have now had time to go through the multi hour interview by former Fox News propagandist Tucker Carlson of Russian authoritarian President Vladimir Putin. And to see the way that Vladimir Putin casually humiliates and ridicules and treats like a dog, like the gum on the bottom of his shoe. What is at least a guy that used to be one of the most popular media figures in the United States? I don't know if Tucker still is, but at one point he was. And for Putin, it's just look at this guy I have to talk to. And the way that Putin shows

his complete and total disregard for Tucker Carlson is he gives him a one hour history lesson. Putin knows everything about Tucker Carlson. It was clear he was briefed extensively about Tucker. New Tucker tried to work for the CIA, makes fun of him for that. We'll get to that. But Putin deliberately knowing that Tucker wants to ask questions and get answers, spending an hour slowly, excruciatingly, boringly trying to, I guess, address the history of the region and Tucker with a frozen expression on his face of what the hell have I gotten myself into?

So we're going to pick it. We'll just look at a little bit of each of these sections. You're going to hear the voiceover Putin speaking in Russian and you'll hear voiceover in English. This is about a half hour into Putin's history lesson and Tucker tries to interrupt and Putin just makes fun of him and says, no, no, no, no, no, no. You want to interrupt and make this an entertaining show. I thought this was going to be a serious show. Tucker laughs because he's completely emasculated by Putin. Characterization of what you said. I understand that my long speech is probably fall outside of the genre of the interview.

That is why I asked you at the beginning, are we going to have a serious talk or a show? You said a serious talk. So bear with me, please. We're coming to the point where the Soviet Ukraine was established. So he Putin says, listen, you told me this was going to be serious. And I'm now getting to the point in my history lesson where Ukraine was established, which puts a number of barriers between where they are and answering the question, why did you invade Ukraine?

Eight minutes later, he still Putin has not answered a single question from Tucker. And he then gets to the presidency of George H.W. Bush. After was invited by Bush Junior's father, Bush Senior, to visit his place on the ocean. After was invited. It's amazing to see Putin do this to Tucker because Tucker Tucker's not used to interviewing the leaders of countries where there isn't a free press, maybe in some loose, ostensible way there is. But journalists get killed in Russia when they say the wrong thing. And it's like with when Castro wanted to speak for eight hours and everybody sat there peeing

and pooping their pants as they listen because he says he's going to speak for eight hours and you'd better listen. If Putin wants to do a two hour history lesson and not answer a single question, Tucker is going to sit there and he's going to take it. Forty two minutes into Putin's history lesson. They've reached the year of 2008. It says that Ukraine is a neutral state. And in 2008, suddenly the doors or gates to NATO were open. So so so we're slowly moving

forward after 45 minutes or so. They were at they were close to 20 years ago and then 46 minutes into the history lesson. Tucker gets made fun of by Putin for having wanted to join the CIA, which Putin says. And I understand it's sort of a serious organization, of course, with the backing of CIA, of course, the organization you wanted to join back in the day, as I understand. At this point, the expression on Tucker's faces. Oh, boy. How much research has Putin been doing into my personal background?

We should thank God they didn't let you in. Although it is a serious organization. I understand. This is like nothing we have ever seen. I can't think of any anything that I've ever seen like this. And the best part is after Tucker acted like the interview went swimmingly and he got information from Putin and that it was just incredible and he held up paperwork that Putin gave him. Skip forward a few more minutes, 49 minutes into the history lesson. Tucker tries again

to interrupt and move forward to get. we're still on the first question, which is why we're an hour in almost. And the question was, why did you invade Ukraine? We're still not there. Tucker tries to interrupt. And Putin is like, I'm only up to 2014. Tucker, you've got to give me more time. That was eight years before the current conflict started.

So what was the trigger for you? What was the moment where you decided you had to do this? Initially, it was the coup in Ukraine that provoked the conflict. By the way, back then, the representatives of three European countries, Germany, Poland. So he wants to go back. He goes back. He's like, well, listen, you know, I countries, Germany, Poland. So he wants to go back. He goes back. He's like, well, listen, you know, I mean, OK, but let's go back to what Poland was doing back in 2014. Putin just mocking Tucker openly. I can only imagine that after this, Putin got together with his friends, if he has any,

and just laughed about what he did. Here is another moment where I guess Tucker tries to interrupt and Putin says, I'm getting to it. I'm getting to it sort of saying, don't interrupt me again. I'm coming to a very important point of today's agenda. Thank you. After all, the collapse of the Soviet Union. Oh, man.

We eventually after learning essentially nothing throughout this entire interview, we eventually get to the end as an afterthought. And I'll give credit where credit is due. Tucker says to Putin, how about letting out of prison the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich? Let him come back to the United States. He's not a spy. Just be a decent man.

And OK, he asked for that. And I think that to the extent that there's anything to respect here, maybe it's that Wall Street Journal reporter. He's 32 and he's been in prison for almost a year. This is a huge story in the United States. And I just want to ask you directly without getting into the details of it or your version of what happened, if as a sign of your decency, you would be willing to release him to us and we'll bring him back to the United States. We have done so many gestures of goodwill out of decency that I think we have run out of them. We have never seen anyone reciprocate to us in a similar manner.

Yeah. So, you know, appealing to the common decency of a guy who has no decency and sometimes his critics accidentally stab themselves in the back with a knife four times and then fall out of a window. I don't know that this is the guy you appeal to on a sense of human decency. But listen, Tucker tried it overall. The interview truly a humiliation, and it really served a couple of different purposes for Putin. Number one, getting Tucker to go out there and do the pilgrimage. This makes Putin look strong, but that's OK. Right. I mean, other Western journalists have also asked Putin for interviews. Then Putin completely controls the interview and Tucker just sits there like a puppy listening to what's being said. And could every other person who requested an interview

have managed it differently with Putin? I don't know. I think Christiana Manpour would have handled that differently. I don't know that she lets Putin do an hour history lesson while barely getting a word in edgewise. And and so that's also a win for Putin in that he makes Tucker look so weak and silly. Um, and then even in the aftermath, Tucker Carlson saying, wow, it was just fascinating. And this, that's like, dude, he, he railroaded you. He completely sandbagged you and walked all over you. So a number of different, uh, media analysts looking at this and saying, this did not go so well, this did not go particularly well. It was fascinating. It was fascinating, but didn't go particularly well. This did not go particularly well. It was fascinating. It was fascinating, but

didn't go particularly well. Let me know what you think. I am curious. What do people in the audience think was this when we say was this worth doing? We kind of have to add for whom. Right. Was it worth doing for Tucker? Was it worth having this to see what it's like to interview Putin in this way? Was it worth doing for Putin himself? What does it do in terms of the conflict in Ukraine with Russia's invasion? A lot of unanswered questions, but really just almost like Putin walking a dog in in how he managed this entire thing. A Republican in a focus group done by NBC News said that he would vote for a dead Joe Biden over Donald Trump. And one of the questions we are

seeking to answer as we approach the 2024 election is how many Republicans are there like this? We know that there are people on the left. We know that there are Democrats. We know that there are independent liberals. We know that there are left leaning independents and others who are not going to vote for Donald Trump. And thus it makes the math difficult for Trump, because if you start with 2020 and you say, OK, Trump needs more support than in 2020, where does he get it? It either depends on him finding new voters or Biden having people stay home. It's not good math for Trump if you just kind of start with that. But we are increasingly hearing from Republicans who say, I'm not voting for the guy. Here's a Pennsylvania Republican voter

who says his commitment to democracy is so great that he would vote for a dead Joe Biden over Donald Trump. Is there any chance you would stay at home on Election Day? No, I love American democracy too much that Biden and Trump, if it's a Biden and Trump race, then I would vote for Biden even if he was dead. No chance I'd say I'm a Republican. Is there any chance one of the really interesting things about this as the dementia storyline continues is I've said before, let's grant for a second that they're both in decline. Look at the four years under Trump.

And look at the years so far, three plus now under Joe Biden. I don't even care if they both have dementia. Somehow a demented Biden has been the most progressive president on paper, at least going back to FDR, if not ever. And I don't say this lightly. I say this looking at major economic policy that has passed Chips and Science Act, Inflation Reduction Act, infrastructure bill. I say this looking at some of the requests that have been made and accomplishments made with regard to let's de-schedule cannabis from being schedule one. That's crazy. Paying off and forgiving more student loan debt than for any than by any other president in American history, getting us out of Afghanistan,

getting big pharma to the table to negotiate on the biggest 10 drugs for Medicare recipients. I could just spend an hour giving you the list. And so the funny thing about this is these these right wingers like to go, what do you talk Trump cognitive decline, Biden cognitive decline? All right. Well, a demented guy has had a completely functional White House for more than three years now and has accomplished, I would argue, as much as or more than any president in my lifetime. I'm still going to vote for that. And a lot of these Republican voters sort of seem to be coming around to that very same idea. They if more Republicans thought like this, where they said, hey, you know what? I don't have to agree with them on every policy,

but he clearly cares about the country in a real way. It's not about Biden the way that Trump's presidency was about Trump. He clearly cares about national security. He cares about the economy. He cares about preserving democracy. That's very different than Trump. And so maybe I don't agree with Biden on abortion. Some of these Republicans could say, but if I actually care about preserving those pillars of American democracy, how can I even consider voting for Donald Trump? And by the way, this gets to another question, which we'll address. How can anyone be undecided at this point? I simply do not understand how can unless you don't know anything. Well, maybe that's the answer. Only if you don't know anything, could you be undecided at this point in time? And maybe that's the answer. Let's take a

quick break. We'll be back after this. Thank you so much, David. perfect Speaker 1 Speaker 2 Speaker 3 Speaker 4 Speaker 5 Speaker 6 Speaker 7 Speaker 8 Speaker 9 Speaker 10 Speaker 11

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Speaker 22 Speaker 23 Speaker 24 Speaker 25 Speaker 26 Speaker 27 Speaker 28 Speaker 31 Speaker 32 I'm very particular about my coffee and our sponsor, Trade Coffee, 20 percent off and two free pillows. The info is in the podcast notes. I'm very particular about my coffee and our sponsor, Trade Coffee, helps you do more in 2024. If you're like me, coffee might be part of your routine, maybe a factor in your productivity.

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The info is in the podcast notes in a borderline traitorous rally in Conway, South Carolina, ahead of the Republican primary there. The failed former President Donald Trump shockingly made the statement to a cheering crowd of sycophants that he would encourage Russia to invade our allies if they need to be taught a lesson. If they're not paying what Trump thinks they should be paying with regard to NATO or the U.N. or whatever it is he's talking about. This is repugnant and dangerous.

And I have a really specific question for you after we watch this together. They asked me that question. One of the presidents of a big country stood up, said, Well, sir, if we don't pay and we're attacked by Russia, will you protect us? I said, You didn't pay your delinquent. He said, Yes, let's say that happened. No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You got to pay. You got to pay your bills. I wouldn't. Not only would I not protect you, I would encourage them, Russia, to do whatever the hell they want, because you got to pay your bills. You know, one of the things I'm actually I'm

reading a really interesting book and you'll bear with me here. OK, I don't want to go all Putin on everybody, but bear with me. I'm reading an interesting book about the case for and against space exploration. And one of the things that the book makes clear is there's some real gaps in international space law and that one of the difficult realities about international law is that it can be extraordinarily difficult to enforce in the sense that if a country says we'll be party to this or we won't be party to this or we'll be party to it, but then they break the rules.

Who really has the authority to enforce it? Well, an international criminal court, maybe it's not totally clear. It's not black and white. And anyway, the point here is, how would you enforce if a country imagine that there's an agreement that you can't make sovereign any land on other planets? And then the U.S. goes up to Mars and says, hey, this is our city. We consider this like part of the United States. But you're violating the rules. OK, so what are you going to do? And there's a real question as to in which situations and in what ways can you actually hold those parties accountable? Trump's entire thing here about, well, I've determined that such and such country should

pay more and thus we aren't going to come to their defense if a, B or C were to happen. It's a real minefield in two senses. It's a minefield in the sense that Trump of course has no authority to demand more money from other countries into an international agreement in this way. But number two, what would the penalties be if there was such a situation where the United States should come to the defense of a NATO ally and Trump or whoever is president says we're not going to?

This is not me saying here's the answer. This is me saying this is really complicated and and potentially problematic stuff. When you have presidents like Trump willing to say things like, no, I not only would I not come to their defense, I'd encourage Russia to do whatever the hell they want. Now, forget everything else. Forget the failures of the Trump presidency. Forget the lies. Forget the being civilly liable for rape. Forget the 91 felony counts. Forget drawing with a Sharpie on a hurricane map. Forget the bungled covid response. Like forget everything. Doesn't this statement alone disqualify Trump from being

president of the United States? Wouldn't this alone say, oh, this guy should not be president? And the answer is it only is disqualifying based on what voters are willing to do or not willing to do. I don't think we should elect a guy who says, let Russia do whatever they want, because some of them aren't paying. That's my opinion. There are probably tens of millions of people in this country who have no problem electing a guy like that. And that's where the problem actually comes from. If you want to look at maybe an even more vile statement by the failed former president, it was this statement made also during his rally over the weekend in Conway, South Carolina, mocking the absence of Nikki Haley's husband from the campaign

trail. The reason Nikki Haley's husband hasn't been alongside her on the campaign trail is because he's deployed as a member of our volunteer military. Trump got out of the military thanks to a letter about his bone spurs. And the reason that I and so many others didn't have to ever join the military is because we have enough people like Nikki Haley's husband willing to join the military. Here is Trump, arguably a draft dodger, mocking the absence of Nikki's husband. Lifetime, she said, I will never run against him. Then she comes over to see me at Mar-a-Lago. Sir, I will never run against you. She brought her husband. Where's her husband? Oh, he's away. He's away. What happened to her

husband? What happened to her husband? Where is he? He's gone. He knew he knew, but no. You don't have to be thrilled with much of what our military does to realize that this is absolutely and completely sick. Now, I it shouldn't be ignored. Where's Melania? Right. I mean, if there's a sign of trouble in those thinking of voting for Nikki Haley because her husband's not on the campaign trail, wouldn't you likewise have to say, should I be voting for

Trump, whose wife is also completely missing from the campaign trail, reportedly because she wants nothing to do with it, reportedly because they don't even live together, reportedly because the only thing holding them together is a financial agreement that she stick around at least through the election, according to some reports. So this shouldn't surprise us because this is the guy who said those who serve in the armed forces are suckers and are losers. And it's a really stunning thing where I it's hard for me to think for hard for me to think of an American military engagement recently that I'm thrilled about really hard. I'm not a send the military around sort of guy.

I thought the Iraq war was completely misguided. Disaster should have gotten out of Afghanistan way earlier than we did. All of that stuff. But when you see disgusting behavior like this, you know you've hit the absolute bottom of the barrel. Margaret Brennan interviewed Nikki Haley and asked her about these comments that Trump made. Here's what she had to say. I want to ask you about another comment that Donald Trump that was personal about your husband,

Major Michael Haley, who is currently deployed with the South Carolina National Guard. Trump said this about you. Where's her husband? Oh, he's away. He's away. What happened to her husband? What happened to her husband? Where is he? He's gone. I know you said this is disqualifying, but during his first presidential campaign, Donald Trump mocked former POW John McCain and a gold star family. He was still elected. You agreed to work for him. Why do you think that's disqualifying now? Great question. Well, I agreed to serve our country and I'm proud that I got to serve our country.

There's there's nothing no more higher honor than to serve the people of this country. But what I can tell you is, look, it's just it's insulting to military members. It's insulting to military families. And the part that bothers me is he continues to do this. This isn't personal about me and Michael. This is about what it says to every member who sacrifices for us. This is about what it says to every military family who sacrifices alongside of them. We can't have someone who sits there and mocks our men and women who are trying to protect America. It's a pattern. It's a pattern of chaos. It's a pattern of irresponsibility.

It's a pattern of just saying things that are that are not helpful in strengthening America. And this is a chance America is going to get to decide. We know what Donald Trump is. You could watch that whole rally yesterday and it'll tell you all kinds of things. But the thing is, do you want it again? We know what Joe Biden is. You can see the press conference. You can look at the special investigation that says he's diminished. But do you want it again?

I mean, the one thing we need to understand is for Republicans with Donald Trump, he lost in twenty eighteen. He lost in twenty twenty. He lost in twenty twenty two. All right. So all true. And that's what she had to say in that context. And then also this issue came up during a recent rally of Nikki Haley's.

Speaker 4 Donald Trump had a rally today and in that rally he mocked my husband's military service. And I'll say this. Donald, if you have something to say, don't say it behind my back. Get on a debate stage and say it to my face. If you mock the service of a combat veteran, you don't deserve a driver's license, let alone being president of the United States. And we'll talk about what's funny is. She still supported Trump in 2016 when Trump mocked John McCain. So she's a hypocrite.

She's an opportunist as well. But it doesn't make what Trump did any less disgusting. If you zoom out, it really is just a reminder of the difference between the Trump and Biden families. Trump getting a letter about his bone spurs to avoid serving. None of kids, none of his kids have served. And why? Because they don't see the benefit for themselves in serving. And that's fine. They don't have to. That's why we have that. That's why we have a volunteer military. Joe Biden, on the other hand, has not denigrated veterans. And Joe Biden has had children tragically died who did serve in the military because it was what they felt was a way

to help the country, which is a very different way of thinking about the choices that you make. The dementia stuff continues to come up. Nikki Haley alluded there to being diminished. I want to talk about that a little bit next. Nikki Haley is now going full bore on the Trump dementia story. Now, she will also mention Biden. She'll say Biden's diminished. Biden's memory is diminished, but she is going full speed ahead. Most recently handing out the dementia brain injury test that Trump talks about acing at her latest rally. This is fascinating. Newsweek reports Nikki Haley mocks Donald Trump. Joe Biden with competency test at rally. Now, remember, the test is a test that Trump brags about having passed. There is one image which we will put up, which is the test itself. And as you can see here, you have to connect letters and numbers in order. You have

to draw a clock. You have to name a snake, an elephant and a zebra. Just kidding. I know that that's not a zebra. Obviously, that's an ostrich. Just kidding. I'm kidding. OK, you have to remember five words. You have to count backwards. We've looked at this test a whole bunch of times at this point, also handing out the

instructions. And it says, can you pass a mental competency test? Can Joe Biden, can Donald Trump? And it lists the different elements of this test. Now I'm going to give you both sides of this thing. Number one, I love this. I love that Nikki Haley is doing this. I think it's a great thing insofar as this is something that has been true about

Trump for years. But all of these people have been ignoring it for a really long time. And I don't know why. Maybe they were just looking the other way when it wasn't convenient or maybe they didn't believe it then. And now they do. Or maybe they don't believe it now. And it's just something that they're saying. But we have seen the Trump cognitive decline story enter corporate media over the last month, and we've seen it enter the Republican primary. Thanks to Nikki Haley. Very, very mildly.

Ron DeSantis would talk about it as well. But so that's a good thing. Secondly, I have said and met head on criticisms of Joe Biden when it comes to memory and cognitive decline and whatever. And I said, listen, Trump, as a cognitively declining guy, had a disastrous and disgusting presidency that was the global humiliation of that I can remember. Biden, on the other hand, if he is likewise suffering from cognitive decline and dementia, has happened to pull off a fantastic presidential term with an extraordinary economy and some of the greatest

progressive achievements that we've seen from any president in my lifetime, for sure, if not much longer. So all else being equal, if we're saying both of these guys are cognitively declining, if I believe Nikki, both of these guys are in trouble, I vote Biden. In other words, it would only reinforce, hey, all right, cognitive decline on both. I'm not a Nikki Haley fan. I mean, she's not crazy, but I'm not a fan of her politics. It only reinforces that Biden is the right person to vote for. So I think it's going to be very interesting to see as we transition. Once Nikki Haley is out, every indication she'll lose. And soon once she's out and it's Trump versus Biden, if the narrative becomes both of these guys are struggling cognitively, both of these guys have memory issues. To me, it takes it off

the table as an issue and makes it that much more clear that Joe Biden should have a blowout victory in November. I'm not saying it will happen, but it levels the playing field in a way that to me seems great for Biden. Cognitive decline on both sides. No felony charges against Biden. No civilly liable rape findings against Biden. A strong economy for Biden, not bungling all of the things Trump bungled. That's in the for Biden category. So that's my sense of this right now. Maybe it's useful to Nikki in the primary. Maybe it's not. But if we level the playing field on cognitive decline, to me, that means Biden reelection.

Let me know what I'm misunderstanding in a comment, ideally a polite one, and we'll pick it right back up after this short break. Data brokers are constantly collecting huge amounts of information about what you do online, your address, phone number, email, financial info, even your political affiliation. And they sell that information to other companies. The FBI will sometimes even buy data in bulk to get information about Americans without a warrant. Your ex girlfriend, your boss,

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I use it myself. Go to incogni dot com slash Pacman and you'll get 60 percent off with the code Pacman. That's I n c o g n i dot com slash Pacman. Use code Pacman for 60 percent off. The link is in the podcast notes. Failed former President Donald Trump gave a very strange sort of press conference outside of at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida. It included him admitting that January 6th was an insurrection.

I thought it wasn't all along and CNN ultimately cutting away. This is really bonkers stuff. Let's go to the first clip. And here Trump says it was an insurrection January 6th caused by Nancy Pelosi. Oh, now, of course, we're left to wonder in this instance, does he mean mean Nancy Pelosi. Oh, now, of course, we're left to wonder in this instance, does he mean mean Nancy Pelosi or does he mean Nikki Haley? Because he got them mixed up in the past. One never knows. And I watched. And the one thing I'll say is they kept saying about what I said right after. I think it was an insurrection caused by Nancy Pelosi, I believe, as with

a plane flying overhead, which, by the way, I guess that's a constant annoyance at Mar-a-Lago, something about the flight path and there's constant planes overhead. I think it was an insurrection caused by Nancy Pelosi. He wants to have his cake and he wants to eat it, too. It wasn't an insurrection. It was my followers being peaceful, so I can't get in trouble. There was no insurrection, but it was an insurrection inspired by Nancy Pelosi. So I also can't get in trouble. That's the common theme to all of it, no matter what it was or wasn't or could have been. Trump is certainly not to blame for anything. Trump's lawyers, by the way, continuing to argue that there was no insurrection in court for the benefit of

Trump in other ways. And Trump now publicly saying, well, it was an insurrection, but it wasn't one inspired by him. Trump talking about polling. He says he's polling in the 90s or even higher. What does that mean? I think we can do very well here. All polls indicate we're in the 90s, maybe more than the 90s. They might be polling. They might be polling in the hundreds, quite frankly. What does that even mean? Do people think Trump really doesn't understand that percent goes to 100 in this case because it is the sum of those who plan to vote? We were polling 200 percent. What what are you talking about, sir?

Well, yes, everybody here, plus the populations of other countries, got us over 100 percent. What on earth is he talking about? And then lastly, here's CNN cutting away from Trump's speech after the Supreme Court appeared favorable to Trump's case. And this is worth watching as well. We have tremendous support from the people of our country. They hate what's happening at the border. They hate what's happening. Just generally, we're not a respected country anymore. We're left that all over the world. They're laughing at us and they hate what's happening. Another plane, of course, we're just a real problem there. They hate seeing it. They love our country. They wanted to come back and we're going to

do that. If you think about it, had the results of the election been different, That would be nice. You wouldn't have the Ukrainian situation with Russia. You wouldn't have had, you would not have had an attack on Israel, which was so horrible. You would not have had inflation. You wouldn't have China talking about Taiwan. You wouldn't have any of the problems that we have today. And you certainly had a broke Iran, and now you have a very rich Iran. Iran was broke when I left. They had no money to give to. That's a lie, by the way. Hamas had no money to give to.

Okay, I think we've gotten all the legal analysis we're going to get out of President Trump. You know, it's odd there because this was actually an opportunity for him to come out and say. It's not because he wants to talk about himself. He doesn't want to talk about the Supreme Court and say, oh, the Supreme Court did a nice job today. He just wants to talk about what's on his mind. George Conway laughing and coughing at what Donald Trump is saying there.

So where where will that Supreme Court decision ultimately go? We don't yet know. Where will the airplanes continue to go right over Mar-a-Lago and Donald Trump there? I guess now it was an insurrection, but it wasn't one that he had anything to do with. The Biden crime conspiracy of the Biden crime family has imploded yet again on Fox News. I love you could inject this stuff right into my veins. Maria Bartiromo screaming. I don't know.

It's like just adjust the volume of the microphone. You don't have to yell, but she's yelling the whole show interviewing James Comer. And once again, James Comer lacking the certainty we might all seek if you're going to go forward and say the president committed crimes and should be impeached. Not exactly inspiring confidence. I love this every time. And God bless her. She's asking for proof.

They just don't have it. We know there was a major cover up of COVID and we know that they've been stealing intellectual property for decades. Are any of these things reasons that Joe Biden allowed and he got paid for them? Speaker 4 It certainly looks that it could be that way, Maria. Look, that's insane. What you you really have to understand what Maria Bartiromo is proposing there. Is it possible that covid was allowed by Biden in exchange for money? Biden's not even president at the time. He's not vice president and he's not yet president. China goes, hey, you know what? Here's how we're going to get covid released.

Let's go to Biden, who's nothing right now. He's a former VP, not president yet. Let's go to buy him and give him Biden and give him money so that we can get covid out. What? And of course, James Comer says it looks like it could be that way. Maria for them. It certainly looks that it could be that way. Maria, look, you throw in the him canceling the China initiative, which you and I have

talked about on your show before. And what we see is a president that has a China first America last policy. And that doesn't make any sense. So. All right. And then Fox News puts up, you know, some sort of a conspiracy flow chart of the China money trail for Joe Biden. But I have to hand it to you. Maria Bartiromo keeps doing this. And every time the answer is always, well, it looks like it's possible that it could potentially be something approximating a version of some fraction of what you're saying, Maria. And so we got impeached right away.

Here is another moment from this interview. And they just want to impeach everybody. Special counsel's report. Well, it was pretty surprising that the special counsel would state the obvious in writing that Joe Biden's mental capacity is diminished. I think we see that play out on a daily basis. What I'm concerned about is the fact that hidden within that document is evidence that some of the classified documents he mishandled were from Ukraine and China. And as you know, Maria, and as special counsel, her should know, this is an exclusive super

blockbuster stuff. We've been leading a major influence peddling investigation of the president where we've proven that at the very least, his son and brother had been influenced peddling with those two countries. We want to know exactly what those documents were. And I want to remind everybody, influence peddling is unseemly and not something I want as part of a civilized society. But just saying influence was peddled is absolutely not against the law that that's even that which is an allegation made about Hunter Hunter Biden and Joe Biden's brother, whose name I forget, was it James

Biden? Even if that's true and they've not proven that that doesn't even necessarily mean there was any crime. And it certainly doesn't link to Joe Biden in any definitive way. I want to know if her actually interviewed Jim Biden and Hunter Biden, because, look, this family, as you know very well, has been involved in influence peddling for decades. This is shady. This is counter to everything we stand for in America.

And it's a threat to our national security. So. All right. So the answer is he has no evidence of that. A lot of conjecture. But every single time they ask for evidence, they have nothing to put forward and they go circular. They go, well, we need the inquiry to find the evidence.

Well, what about having evidence to support an inquiry? No, that's crazy. Desperate, apparently fired former Trump lawyer Alina Haba is now going full Biden dementia. She appeared on Fox News. She is now referred to as former President Trump's legal spokeswoman. It's fascinating. After she actually served as his lawyer and presided over an 83 million dollar verdict against Trump. Now she's not even Trump's former lawyer. They've demoted her to Trump's former legal spokeswoman.

And all of a sudden, after losing 83 million for her client, all she wants to talk about is Joe Biden's dementia. I don't think they're capable of it. I think they have severe Trump derangement syndrome. But, you know, it's very obvious what's happening here. But I do want to thank special counsel her for making it very clear to the American public that this man can't even remember when his son was passed. And more importantly, Sean, did you see what he said today in the press conference? He doubled down on it and said, I didn't think I needed to answer that question. Well, that's another problem that we haven't spoken about. You're sitting in an investigation.

You have an obligation to answer truthfully and honestly. Today was just mind boggling. They absolutely should drop the charges. We shouldn't even have to go as far as to defend it. The other funny thing is. They seem for lawyers, they seem really confused about how evidence against someone else for something has no bearing on the guilt, innocence or evidence against your client or any other person.

In other words, imagine I'm being investigated or even indicted for something. I can't come forward and say, hey, there's a guy in Washington who was indicted or wasn't indicted or there's evidence that he did X, Y. It has nothing to do with my case. What matters are the facts of my case, the law of the jurisdiction in which I'm being prosecuted. And that's it. And it's embarrassment after embarrassment for Alina Haba. We'll see what she gets up to next. It's not clear what's next on her career journey. Let's put it that way. We have a voicemail number that you can call anytime you want. That number is two one nine two. David P. Here is the egg man calling in. He is rejecting the results of the Super Bowl.

What is this sort of thing remind you of? This is funny. Dave, I don't believe the Kansas City Chiefs won. It was really the forty niners. I don't accept the final score. Not only do I demand a recount, but I know there's a conspiracy going on here. Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey did not win this game. The forty niners won this game and some crazy stuff is going on here.

Dave, I want you to get to the bottom of this. Shalom. Yeah, this is what the the the election deniers sound like. I mean, it's I get what Eggman is doing. It's what the election deniers sound like. And I don't know if they'll ever realize it, but we can keep reminding them on the bonus show today. There is a serious Super Bowl related story I want to talk about. It has to do with shrink flation.

I have a lot to say about this, including very important personal anecdotes. We will discuss that. I also want to tell you, by the way, about a fake clip that almost made it onto today's show. By the skin of our teeth. We did not publish a fake clip today. I'm going to tell you about it on the bonus show. We will talk about Ted Cruz's pet airport security bill. It's a pet bill is what I mean. It's it's something for him personally. We will tell you where it is. And the historian who has correctly predicted almost every election since 1984 has revealed who is on track to win in 2024. It may shock you. It may not. All of those stories and more on two days bonus show. Sign up at join Pacman dot com. Get instant access. And you can, of course, use the coupon code Save Democracy 24. Don't miss today's bonus

show, folks. It actually might be worth listening to today, which is a shock. Big shock.