The David Pakman Show - 2/17/25: The fascist takeover begins, Hegseth & Vance falter badly

Episode Date: February 17, 2025

-- On the Show: -- Donald Trump's fascist takeover is happening in real time, and many are completely missing it -- Elon Musk will be babysitting Donald Trump during a forthcoming prime time interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News -- Vice President JD Vance's speech to the Munich Security Conference sounded like it could have been written by Russian President Vladimir Putin -- Exploring the lack of mass rallies in opposition to the authoritarian takeover of Donald Trump -- Egg prices hit another new record under Donald Trump, who now blames Joe Biden and the bird flu -- Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's global debut went horribly wrong -- Elon Musk is doing in reality what the right has accused George Soros of doing for years -- On the Bonus Show: Democrats turn on Eric Adams, army base name changed back to Fort Bragg, DOGE is targeting the penny, and much more... ⚠️ Ground News: Get 50% OFF their unlimited access Vantage plan at https://ground.news/pakman ☕ Cambio Roasters: Get 20% off with code PAKMAN at https://cambioroasters.com 😬 Remi mouth guards: Get up to 50% OFF with code PAKMAN at https://shopremi.com/pakman 📈 Manifold: Get free Sweepcash when you sign up at https://manifold.markets/pakman ✉️ StartMail: Get 50% OFF a year subscription at https://startmail.com/pakman 🛡️ Incogni lets you control your personal data! Get 60% off their annual plan: http://incogni.com/pakman -- Become a Member: https://davidpakman.com/membership -- Become a Patron: https://www.patreon.com/davidpakmanshow -- Get David's Books: https://davidpakman.com/echo -- TDPS Subreddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/thedavidpakmanshow -- David on Bluesky: https://davidpakman.com/bluesky -- David on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/davidpakmanshow

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Speaker 1 Speaker 11 Speaker 2 Speaker 2 Speaker 2 Speaker 3 through the federal government, gutting agencies with reckless abandon. And I have to be frank and admit to you that the Democratic Party has been caught flat footed, seems woefully unprepared for what is nothing short of a self coup in which the state is being turned against itself by Donald Trump. Now later today, maybe tomorrow, depending on how things go, we will focus in on the democratic impotence when it comes to what to do here. But first, we have to lay out what's going on. And what's going on is that Donald Trump and his allies, armed with the full force of executive power and turbocharged by digital propaganda are fast tracking the

transformation of American democracy into a full fledged authoritarian takeover. Some are using the words dictatorship. I'm hesitating, too, because there's a very particular meaning to that. And I think that Trump is at least initially going to fail to achieve that, but certainly an authoritarian fascistic takeover. And while Democrats are fumbling, Republicans are standing by complicit in the unraveling of the republic that they say we must keep. It is a criminal power grab disguised as governance. It is a crime spree, shutting down entire agencies illegally,

mass firing career civil servants, freezing congressionally approved federal funds, trying to erase constitutionally protected freedoms through executive orders. None of this is legal. Much of it is also unconstitutional, but Trump and his inner circle don't care. And as we've seen before, during the first term, in the aftermath of the first term, after the riots, if there's no one empowered and ready with either the testicular or an or ovarian fortitude to put a stop to it, what does it really matter? No one will stop it. They are openly defying court orders with vice president JD Vance saying in a tweet, judges have no right to interfere

with the legitimate executive authority, essentially saying the law is subservient to whatever Trump is president wants to do. In other words, in other words, Trump world now claims that the judiciary has no power over the executive branch. The constitutional crisis is no longer a hypothetical. It is here. And yet you look at what's taking place, the Senate and the House Republicans fully in lockstep, cheering it on occasional. Oh, I'm a little bit unsure about this, but doing nothing and impotent to stop it. Trump's cabinet better described as a sort of rogues gallery of extremists and rich people is stacked with the most unhinged loyalists.

You can imagine RFK jr. Anti-vax conspiracy theorist, the secretary of health and human services already working to decimate CDC and so much more. That's just one example. And meanwhile, Donald Trump is directing his regime to wipe out DEI programs while ramping up mass deportations based on fabricated claims of immigrant crime. My dad was telling me over the weekend how this guy, Russ Vought, he's the guy overseeing this coordinated assault on government institutions. He's been explicit about the strategy. He wants the civil servants and the federal employees to be traumatized into submission. This is an overt tactic of hardcore authoritarianism and wannabe dictators.

And it is working because government workers are either being purged outright or just left paralyzed, wondering when the next assault on their rights and, of course, their livelihoods is going to land. Now, we do see some characteristics from authoritarian regimes of the last 100 to 120 years. No authoritarian regime successfully consolidates power without the help of much of the ultra wealthy. And we're seeing that we are seeing the oligarchs of America, many of whom, of course, postured as defenders of democracy during Donald Trump's first term.

They've completely folded with breathtaking speed. Look, forget about Elon Musk, right? Elon Musk is inside the Oval Office. But Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, they might not be outright cheerleaders of Trump, but they are certainly not standing in his way. They want to be on his good side. And then, of course, there is Elon Musk, Trump's self-appointed tech and efficiency czar, who has moved from online troll on X to the Oval Office, where he is now a fixture and he is helping to craft these sweeping policies under the guise of making things more efficient and reducing waste. And Elon Musk's power and influence is so unchecked that when he gave this Nazi style salute at a public event, it was excused as a gesture of passion. When he brought one of his now 13 children with who knows how many different women into the Oval Office.

And the kid picked eight and rubbed boogers onto the resolute desk, a hunched over and dejected Trump could do nothing other than look around. And so Elon Musk's realignment of American power is already playing out globally. And we saw him stand on a stage in Munich lecturing European governments on why they should embrace far right movements like Germany's AFD. And at the same time, Trump's foreign policy pivot is complete. Remember, he's anti-war and he's for democracy and Ukraine has been abandoned. The administration is preparing to negotiate peace only with the aggressor, Vladimir Putin and Russia, by surrendering to every demand. Trump's saying, I don't think Ukraine should be a NATO.

I don't think Ukraine's going to get all of their land back. It's just here, Vlad, take everything you want. And of course, the chaos doesn't stop there. Trump reigniting trade wars with Mexico and Canada, looking at territorial aggression in Greenland and Panama. And if this sounds insane to you, it's because it is. But that doesn't mean that it's not going to happen because Donald Trump has also found a convenient way to deflect accusations of ideological extremism, positioning himself as a staunch ally of Israel. Now, we've talked about MAGA support for Israel before.

Trump's, quote, support for Israel is not rooted in a genuine concern for the safety of Jewish people or sovereignty of Jewish people or Israel. Trump's interest in this stems from the age old anti-Semitic conspiracy that the Jews control global power structures. His administration has these close ties to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, similar to Trump, Netanyahu is waging war on his country's judicial system, and it is quite an unholy alliance. And we've seen Netanyahu weakened

by war and by scandal, welcoming Donald Trump's unconditional backing, even as it fuels left wing criticisms that conflate the Netanyahu government with the Jewish people as a whole, which I've tried to disaggregate many times before. And the result is that Donald Trump has given the far right a ready made scapegoat if his policies fail. Now, meanwhile, Trump's inner circle is teeming with January 6th insurrectionists and people that he is personally pardoned who stand at the ready to serve as his personal enforcement squads should he need them. And so the message is clear. The Trump movement 2.0 is ready to turn to violence if necessary.

And of course they will blame anyone who says, wait a second, this is going too far. They will blame those people for the violence. And I have to acknowledge that Trump's tactics are disturbingly effective because they exploit divisions on both sides. I mean, look at the Jewish example is an interesting one with the BB stuff and Israel among Jewish communities. We have seen two extremes emerge. Number one, those who embrace this hardline, ultra nationalist version of Zionism, supporting policies that echo the very persecution that they historically suffered. And then number two, you've got those who in an effort to distance themselves from the Israeli government, adopt anti-Israel stances so extreme that

they end up as useful idiots for anti-Semitism. Both of these play into Trump's hands. And the former enables his authoritarianism under the guise of Jewish self-preservation. The latter unwittingly aids Trump's efforts to divide and conquer, and it gives him the ammunition to claim he is the and it gives him the ammunition to claim he is the only true defender of the Jewish people. That dynamic is why his administration can propose these ethnic cleansing style policies for Gaza of get everybody out and send them somewhere else.

And Netanyahu will still sign on. And it's why Trump can openly undermine democracy while still being embraced by right wing Israeli politicians. And it's why if and when the administration implodes, Jewish communities will find themselves as usual caught in a crossfire of blame. So this is way bigger than Trump. This is about a Republican party that has fully embraced fascism, even if they do so by saying we're not going to get in Trump's way. Well, de facto, you are embracing it. And it's about billionaire after billionaire in Trump's cabinet, in Trump's house at Mar-a-Lago, in Trump's orbit, billionaire after billionaire that has chosen

profit over democracy. And it's also and this is a critical part about whether Democrats will finally recognize the scale of the threat and fight back with the urgency that it demands. Because make no mistake, this is not a warning anymore. The attack on democracy is not over the horizon in some distant place. It's here. Democrats are not managing it well. We will talk about that. Where are the mass rallies that we would hope to see against authoritarianism? We will talk about that as well. So I'm not starting on the most optimistic, optimistic

note. I acknowledge, but I think that this is as realistic a note as I could possibly present to you. Update real quick. I'm getting a lot of emails with some confused folks. The only place to get signed copies of my forthcoming book, The Echo Machine, is David Pakman dot com slash booksmith. I heard from some people who said I didn't. The email bounced back. It's not an email. web address, davidpacman.com slash book Smith, more than 300 of you. I am going

to have what carpool tunnel. I don't know over 300, a hundred of you already ordering signed copies of the book. I'll keep signing them. As long as people keep ordering them, davidpacman.com slash booksmith. We'll take a very quick break and be right back. Thank you. stay engaged with ground news who is fixing what is breaking right in front of us. The trust and transparency in the media ground news is giving my audience 50% off the same vantage plan that I use go to ground.news slash Pacman. The link is in the podcast notes. Did you know that Americans use over 20 billion K cups every year? The little plastic cups that go in Keurig machines.

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Plastic K cups are porous. They let oxygen seep in and degrade coffee. By the time you brew it, the coffee is stale. Aluminum on the other hand is completely impervious to oxygen. It locks in freshness until you brew and you can really for joining us. The David Pakman Show is primarily an audience supported program. I know that sometimes people hear that and they go, yeah, yeah, yeah. That as a practical matter could not possibly be more important than it is right now. As the Trump administration is targeting adversarial media, as budget cuts are leading to shows completely shutting down.

We are completely independent of all that to the extent that we are directly supported by folks in the audience. That means anybody who listens to the podcast or watches clips here or there, you can support the work we do directly by going to join pacman.com. There is not some vague way in which that connects to what we do. Staff salaries, equipment, connectivity, legal and accounting work, everything that it takes to keep the show running is funded directly by folks who say, Hey, I'll sign up for seven bucks a month, or I'll sign up for 70 bucks for the year, or I'll use the

coupon code. Not again to say I will save 50%, but I'm still in for three 50 a month. That's who's funding this program. And given the increasingly authoritarian slide of this administration so quickly, uh, I can't think of on the one hand, a better way to be funded and also a way that is most subject to the whims of what this administration may or may not choose to pursue and who they may or may not choose to antagonize. So I appreciate everybody who's been signing up and I invite you to consider it. Join Pacman dot com. Fox News has been promoting a forthcoming interview that appears to be a truly an exercise in humiliation and to a degree, political cuckoldry. I know.

I know. It's strange to hear. It's strange to say. But Sean Hannity, propagandist from Fox News, is promoting this interview with Elon Musk and Donald Trump, which will air tomorrow evening. What you know, if you're trying to argue that you are truly in charge doing the interview alongside Elon Musk, the guy that appears to actually be in charge does not project strength.

It doesn't project credibility. Here's a little preview from this interview. And what you will see is that it is all being framed up as all of these people are trying to ruin this alliance between the two of you. Let's not let it happen. Take a listen to this. Where you have to be keenly aware that the media and the punditry class, not that, you know, I think you've proven they have no power anymore because

they threw everything they had at you and they didn't win. And that was, you know, the New York Times, Washington Post, three networks, every late night comedy show, two cable channels, they just threw everything, law fair, weaponization. Sure. And now I see- By the way, Trump's orange color is really something else. They want you two to start, they want a divorce. They want you two to start hating each other and they try, President Elon Musk, for example.

You do know that they're doing that to you. Oh, I see it all the time. They tried it, then they stopped. That wasn't, they have many different things of hatred. Actually, Elon called me. He said, you know, they're trying to drive us apart. I said, absolutely. No, they said, we have breaking news.

Donald Trump has ceded control of the presidency to Elon Musk. President Musk will be attending a cabinet meeting tonight at 8 o'clock. Donald Trump has ceded control of the presidency to Elon Musk. President Musk will be attending a cabinet meeting at eight o'clock. And I say, you know, the cabinet meeting thing is presented as a joke. But he gave an Oval Office press conference where Trump looked like the beta slunched over in his desk at his desk. So he jokes about the cabinet meeting. But we're basically 90%

of the way there. It's just so obvious. They're so bad at it. I used to think they were good at it. They're actually bad at it because if they were good at it, I'd never be president because I think nobody in history has ever gotten more bad publicity than me. I could do the greatest things. I get 98% bad publicity. I could do outside of you. A few of your very good friends. Right. It's like the craziest thing. But you know what I have learned, Ilan, the people are smart. They get it. Yeah, they do. They get it. Yeah. People do seem to be getting it. People seem to be understanding that this is a dramatically diminished Donald Trump, who is indeed ceding power and ceding notoriety as the decision maker to Elon Musk.

Trump is enamored with people wealthier than he is and people more ruthless than he is. And that's why if you say to Trump right now, who really are your heroes in 2025 based on his actions, it's Elon Musk and Vladimir Putin. And that is absolutely terrifying. And of course, the optics, you know, you see these two guys sitting next to each other. We said before the optics of a co-led Department of Government Efficiency is that it's not very efficient, given that you've got two rather than one people leading it. And of course, we were right and there was no room for Vivek Ramaswamy there.

And he quietly exited, pretending it was all Kumbaya and hunky dory when we know that it wasn't. And similarly, if you're saying to yourself, I want to show that I'm really in charge, you agree to be interviewed side by side, Elon Musk as the president of the United States, when if you were really the one in power and in control, you wouldn't have to even seed a chair in this interview to Elon Musk. So it is wild, wild stuff. It still seems more likely than not that this whole thing implodes at some point when the egos start to conflict. And we've even started to hear rumblings of that.

But at least for now, Trump's letting Elon stick around. We're going to follow it. That interview, I am actually you know, I I can't say I typically look forward to an interview that Sean Hannity has done. I actually am looking forward to this one tomorrow night. We'll review it on the Wednesday show. J.D. Vance's speech at the Munich Security Conference was so deferential to Vladimir Putin that it's leading some to ask, was it written by Kremlin propagandists? We're going to look at a couple of different clips. And as we go into this, the most critical aspect of this to understand

is that you can forget about everything Russia related from 2016 to 2020. Right. Put aside the Mueller probe. Put aside. Just forget about all of it. If we start clean on January 20th, 2025, and we see what this administration has said, postured and signaled with regard to Russia, Ukraine, you don't even need 2016 to 2020 to make the case that this is an administration that is bowing down to Vladimir Putin's authoritarianism. We already talked about how Trump and others over the last week have sort of all come together to suggest Russia may get to keep some of the territory that it stole. Russia has already lost a lot in this war. Well, they're the aggressors. Russia is going to get what it wants in terms of Ukraine not being a NATO member.

It's all what Putin wants. And here's J.D. Vance at the Munich Security Conference talking about how if your democracy is so weak that Russia spending a little money on social media influencing makes a difference, then maybe the problem is not with Russia, but with your democracy, which is another classic way to just implicitly defend Vladimir Putin. We're at the point, of course, that the situation has gotten so bad that this December, Romania straight up canceled the results of a presidential election based on the flimsy suspicions of an intelligence agency and enormous pressure from its continental neighbors. Now, as I understand it, the argument was that Russian disinformation had infected the Romanian elections. But I'd ask my

European friends to have some perspective. You can believe it's wrong for Russia to buy social media advertisements to influence your elections. We certainly do. You can condemn it on the world stage even. But if your democracy can be destroyed with a few hundred thousand dollars of digital advertising from a foreign country, then it wasn't very strong to begin with. And as you can see, three people in the crowd really found that to be prescient and insightful. Oh, boy. Oh, boy. They are just fully bowing down to Putin. Here is more from

Vance pulling a classic Trump line, which is don't come to me about our adversary, Russia. The real threat here is from within, which once again is the sitting vice president of the United States. He's standing in this video, but you know what I'm saying? The vice president of the United States saying I'm more worried about liberals in New York City than I am about our geopolitical authoritarian adversaries. That is terrifying. Listen to this guy. The threat that I worry the most about vis-a-vis Europe is not Russia. It's not China. It's not any other external actor. And what I worry about is the threat from within the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values, values shared with the United States of America. Now, I was struck that a former European commissioner went on television recently and sounded delighted

that the Romanian government had just annulled an entire election. He warned that if things don't go to plan, the very same thing could happen in Germany too. Now, these cavalier statements are shocking to American ears. For years we've been told that everything we fund and support is in the name of our shared democratic values. Everything from our Ukraine policy to digital censorship is billed as a defense of democracy. But when we see European courts canceling elections and senior officials threatening to cancel others, we ought to ask whether we're holding ourselves to an appropriately high standard.

And I say ourselves because I fundamentally believe that we are on the same team. We must do more than talk about democratic values. We must live them. And of course, he says, on the one hand, we must talk about and live democratic values. But on the other hand, we are saying that Putin and his invading force are going to keep some of the land. They will get what they want in keeping Ukraine out of NATO. They get everything they want from an authoritarian perspective. But we must support democracy and the democracy must be able to withstand anything Russia does, no matter how authoritarian or even against international law.

This is the sort of rhetoric that you typically hear from Moscow. And I know that it's sort of like, wait a second, we're doing this all over again. J.D. Vance and MAGA think that when he gives a speech like that or he calls out our allies, that he's being really tough. He's actually just being really stupid. You know what? Good negotiators. We've interviewed Chris Voss on the show. We've talked a lot about negotiation on the world stage. Good negotiators will tell you that you have to put your ego aside and that what matters is getting to the best result. How can you get the counterparts to your negotiation to the ideal result for you. Maga seems to think that when Trump and Vance attack our Democratic allies, go after liberal democracies and insult people and threaten and all of this different stuff, they're being tough and they're being alpha. And that's actually how you succeed, because they will see that the United States isn't

afraid of. You don't get the best result when people just think you're an uninformed asshole and that you're unhinged. Now, it is, of course, true that in some circumstances, in some negotiations, if people are afraid of you because they think you're crazy or you might do something nuts, sometimes that can work to your advantage. This is not one of those situations. You know, when it comes to foreign policy, is it possible that as the leader of a smaller nation, you know, you think about the Kim Jong Un's in North Korea, an economically

smaller country that to a degree, his acting crazy and seeming unhinged and like he's on a hair trigger to launch who the hell knows what kind of weapon. Can that work in some nominal way to his advantage where there would be an incentive from from other countries to say, listen, let's send him the food aid. Let's send him a bunch of stuff that, quite frankly, doesn't cost us very much if it'll get him to postpone some of this belligerent action. Sure. Right. Like at the kids table, there is a degree to which seeming crazy and unhinged might get you some short term benefit. But the idea that the United States on the global stage is going to benefit in terms of concessions, in terms of agreements, in terms of what's best for this country, from our allies and other countries thinking that Trump and Vance are unhinged

pricks. We have seen no evidence that that is actually what is going to lead to the best outcome for the American people. So J.D. Vance's speech, I mean, listen, it wasn't literally written by Putin, but it might as well have been. And it seems very clear that this is the direction that things are going. And that's terrifying. Millions of Americans grind or clench teeth at night and most don't even know it.

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are the mass rallies coast to coast opposing Trump's authoritarian takeover? Now one of the things that we've talked about before is that we have a system that is fundamentally designed to prevent people from mass rallying. Keep that in mind as we talk about this, because it's a critical aspect of what's going on. I keep hearing from some people we need to wait and see. Maybe none of this authoritarian outreach that we're seeing from the current administration or really authoritarian overreach is going to stick. But I have to tell you, my friends, that that sort of magical thinking doesn't work. I want to talk about it specifically with you. We've got a president who basically says he won't abide

by court decisions that he doesn't like. It's a clear red flag for Democratic backsliding. And I know there's the case to be made that he's overreaching, but that maybe he's weaker than he looks and he won't really do a bunch of this stuff. And there are some people arguing we should tune him out until he implodes. But if now is not the time for mass action, when is now? David Ost points out in this article an example from Poland where the Law and Justice Party pulled similar stunts. Right wing leaders passed laws with lightning speed and co-opted the courts and consolidated power. And the only thing that started to turn the tide, you can probably guess where I'm going,

are massive demonstrations, peaceful demonstrations with people in the streets. And when polls saw how many of their fellow citizens were outraged, it gave them hope and momentum, getting them to resist and oppose and eventually led to real electoral victories for the opposition. Now, in the United States, we're facing an administration whose motto might as well be anything we don't like. We just ignore laws we don't like. We ignore procedures we don't like. We ignore allies we don't like. We ignore. And that's frightening because it's not just a question of if they'll ignore the courts. It's how many times before any meaningful, meaningful pushback happens. Can they get away with ignoring the law?

Some constitutional scholars have warned the president here can potentially move faster to undermine checks and balances than a European prime minister can. So I would argue that giant peaceful rallies matter. They are not simply performative the way that I don't know, signing an online petition arguably would be they would send a signal to elected officials and judges and the media that are covering this stuff and our fellow citizens that there is a massive coalition out there that's not going to stand for the authoritarian tactics. Now, Common Dreams has long highlighted how these mass mobilizations can shift the conversation and spark real change.

That's why I believe it's important we do the sooner rather than later. Right. April or May at the latest. There is also a strategic element here with these mass rallies that I think is important to talk about. If we wait too long, it could be too late. If we don't do it soon, we end up potentially seeming like it's performative because if you were really worried, you would have already done it. And that's why, to a degree, I think that the clock is ticking. Now, in my forthcoming book, The Echo Machine, I devote a chapter to talking about forms

of activism that really work. And this includes strategic nonpayment of debts. This includes it's a long list of things that go beyond consuming political content and signing petitions and voting. One of the cornerstone tactics of that chapter that I talk about are peaceful mass rallies. If people don't see a critical mass of their fellow citizens taking to the streets, they start to think maybe I'm the only one who feels this way. Maybe I'm powerless. And that is exactly the wrong attitude. Once we see each other out there peacefully, it reinvigorates the entire movement. We saw it happen in Poland. And historically,

we've seen it happen in other places as well. The rise of solidarity in the 1980s was fueled by people who said it looks bleak, but let's do something anyway. And before you knew it, millions of people realized they weren't isolated or alone. And when authoritarian leaders discover people aren't just going to roll over to what I'm doing, you can shift the trajectory of the entire country. So the big question here is who is going to organize this? OST raises the issue. I've raised the issue. I know many of you are thinking it. I got emails over the weekend. David, where are the mass rallies against authoritarianism? We have networks, we have activists, we have organizations that can

mobilize hundreds of thousands, if not millions. The missing pieces are the resolve to do it. And also. The Democratic Party that is really struggling right now, to put it lightly, to actually coherently get together. Now, I know some have said, hey, we don't control anything. They've got the White House, the Senate, and they've got the House. OK, well, that sounds like a loser's attitude. I have to be frank tomorrow on the show. We will talk about what is going on with Democrats. We really can't afford to sit on the sidelines. We can't succumb to learned helplessness. And if you've got frustrations, if you've got energy, if you're tired of reading the depressing headlines about democracy on the ropes, it's time to stand up. So I believe that we are getting to

the point where peaceful mass rallies in cities across the country are the obvious next step. And if part of what's motivating you is where are those lower prices? I was promised. I want to talk about that next a little bit. This is not a repeat of last week or of the week before. Egg prices have hit a new all time record. If you go back and look at the entire history of the United States, you will never find higher egg prices than we have today. Now, I'm going to tell you, I don't like doing this story every week and telling you we hit another new record. I don't I don't like it. I wish it were different. But once again, we have an all time high seven seventy four U.S. dollars for a dozen of a dozen eggs. That is the futures market. The numbers are.

613 a dozen when Donald Trump became president. Now 774. That's an increase of 26 percent in less than a month. Now I know there's a little bit of confusion. People say, David, that that's way more than an actual dozen costs. We've been using the futures markets because those are updated much more regularly. It is also the case that you can look at just average price, dozen grade a large eggs. And as you can see, that has also skyrocketed to an all time high. But we've been using the futures markets because those are

updated more regularly. Now, Donald Trump, of course, promised to lower egg prices on day one. He has finally been asked about egg prices. And you know what he says now? It's Biden's fault. And it's because of bird flu. Listen to this. Prices have reached an all time high. What's your message to the egg prices? They've reached an all time high. Before I ever got Which is what? Egg prices have reached an all-time high. Well, there's a clue. Before I ever got here, it was at an all-time... Remember, I've been here for three weeks. And when you

saw the inflation numbers, I've been here for three weeks. I have had nothing to do with inflation. This was caused by Biden. I had four years of virtually no inflation. So I'm just taking over. But I'll tell you what. This country... I'll tell you what. All right.

Suddenly Trump acknowledges bird flu. Now the honest thing when Trump was running for president, this wouldn't have won him the votes, right? The honest thing when Trump was running for president would have been to say, we have a problem and that problem is bird flu and the situation with eggs is going to be tough. So what I'm going to do is put together a comprehensive plan to deal with bird flu. Uh, but he didn't do that because Trump doesn't like dealing with pandemics. Trump doesn't like dealing with health stuff. We learned this during his first term with regard to covid. That would have been the honest thing.

Of course, now Trump takes over his promises. Prices will go down on day one. Prices went up on day one and on day two and on day three. Now through today, 27, I think, is today. And so now Trump goes, listen, this is mostly Biden's fault and also bird flu. Well, what are you going to do about bird flu? Because he's doing nothing about it. And of course, what's the principle that isn't really a principle? The principle for these Republicans is the president is responsible for everything that happens while they are president.

That was the rule when Biden was president. Doesn't matter what takes place anywhere in the world. Someone's starving in Africa. Biden's the president. That was the rule when Biden was president. Doesn't matter what takes place anywhere in the world. Someone's starving in Africa. Biden's the president. It's his fault. But now all of a sudden it's you can't hold the president accountable for stuff. Listen, bird flu and Biden. It's the rule for thee, but not for me. Also, during this really weird moment, Trump went to the Daytona 500 and his limousine circled the track and it was wacky. I guess the Daytona 500 had a rain delay. So Trump left. And of course, Trump doesn't care about the Daytona 500. It was just a stunt. So Trump's like, yeah, I guess maybe we'll like watch it on TV or something. I don't know. It was fantastic. The crowd was amazing.

People love that sport and they're wonderful people that run it. And that little rain delay, but we'll go home and watch it, I guess. Some of you will and others will try and create peace throughout the world. Do you have any questions? Yeah. Another taxpayer funded attendance at a sporting event that accomplishes nothing, nothing, nothing whatsoever. But importantly, egg prices sky high. And now it's because of bird flu. Well, sir, what about doing something about bird flu? Maybe that's the next step.

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spam calls and emails you get since many solicitors and scammers get your information from these very Let's talk about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's absolutely brutal debut tour of Europe, his very first overseas trip as a member of Donald Trump's cabinet and why it is really becoming a case study in how not to handle international diplomacy. Now I know a lot of you aren't going to be surprised about this because many of you have been worried, you know, maybe appointing a TV personality from Fox News to run the Pentagon is not a good idea. Maybe it would backfire. And if that was what you were thinking, you're completely correct. So first is the big headline. Picking your cabinet by watching Fox News is a bad idea. It's a disaster waiting to happen. And Hegseth had barely taken the oath of oath of office before jetting off to Europe. And it really showed right out of the gate.

He told NATO and Ukraine that returning to Ukraine's pre 2014 borders was unrealistic, which was effectively signaling to Vladimir Putin that the US might be fine with Russia keeping what it has already taken. This by the way, is also what has been suggested by Donald Trump to a degree. It's also what's been suggested by J.D. Vance to a degree. It seems to be the position of the Trump administration that Putin is going to get to keep some of what he has stolen. Now, within hours of Hegseth making that statement, both European leaders and Ukraine's president, Vladimir Zelensky, went into sort of a high alert mode demanding to know how is Hegseth giving away so much bargaining power? What authority is he doing that with?

And Trump, of course, initially backed Hegseth's stance. Then he watched Hegseth spend the next couple of days actually flailing around and backpedaling and saying, you know, I'm not really in charge of any of this stuff, but I'm just kind of being realistic. Ultimately, it's up to the president. That was the first mess. And it started within hours of this guy landing in Europe. Republican Senator Roger Wicker was furious and said this is a rookie mistake and said he's parroting the talking points of Tucker Carlson. He's parroting the Tucker, the talking points of someone who sees this as Ukraine having some culpability in what took place and not really getting a ringing endorsement from his own party even. And it's reminding us that on these foreign policy issues, there is a gap between the rhetoric of people like Hegseth

and the reality of international diplomacy, rhetoric of people like Hegseth and the reality of international diplomacy, which we knew because Hegseth has no business in international diplomacy. OK, here's another pathetic moment from Pete Hegseth's European adventure. And he just sounds so dumb, as President Trump has said, but it's not enough. Nor is 3 percent, nor is 4 percent. More like 5 percent. Real investment, real urgency. We can talk all we want about values.

Values are important. Right. But you can't shoot values. Uh-oh. You can't shoot flags. And you can't shoot values. You can't shoot flags and you can't shoot strong speeches. Right. There is no replacement for hard power. As much as we may not want to like the world we live in, in some cases, there's nothing like hard power, hard power. Now you might be wondering, David, who the hell is this guy?

How could he be secretary of defense? And it would be a good question. Pete Hegseth is a 44 year old former National Guard infantryman who was catapulted from the Fox News studio into one of the most important jobs in the federal government, arguably one of the most important jobs in the world when it comes to foreign policy. No deep foreign policy experience, no complex negotiation experience under his belt, just on camera experience, which maybe helped him get the job. We did because Trump saw him on Fox News and said, that's the guy I want.

But it is not helping him do the job. Now, in Brussels and in Warsaw, Hegseth hammered home themes that suggest he's more worried about immigrants at the southern U.S. border than Republican aggression in Eastern Europe. This coincides with what J.D. Vance said at the Munich Security Conference, which is I'm more worried about the enemy within the United States than I am about Russia. This is if nothing else, they do seem to be on message. And Hegseth even started the trip by renaming an army base to effectively skirt a federal law banning Confederate names, which I guess the priority is putting Confederate names back on stuff. And if that weren't enough, there's this unproven speculation swirling that Hegseth might have been drinking

alcohol during some of his appearances. I'm not saying it's true. These are rumors. He's known to have a drinking problem. He promised he wouldn't drink if he became secretary of defense. And there has been speculation that like, is he drink, you know, it's either apple juice or it's brown liquor. And is the secretary of defense really drinking apple juice? It's just all weird. I'm not saying he's drinking alcohol. It's just not the sort of story you want floating around when it's known you have a drinking problem. You've got a brown liquid. You're saying crazy things, not exactly a reassuring image. But then we get back to the foreign policy. The back and forth about Ukraine's border is especially concerning because it sends mixed signals to allies as well as to Vladimir Putin, because one day Hegseth is saying Ukraine

is not going to get back its lost territory. The next day he's pivoting to really it's up to Trump and everybody else to decide. I'm just being realistic. And meanwhile, Vice President J.D. Vance is openly suggesting U.S. troops could still be deployed if Russia does not negotiate in good faith, which is a direct contradiction to what Hegseth has said, that American forces are simply not going to get involved. It's all happening against the backdrop of Trump's push to slash DEI across the military and across the Department of Defense and its schools.

Students in Stuttgart, Germany, even walked out in protest when Hegseth showed up. Think about that for a second. Middle schoolers felt compelled to protest the new defense secretary. That's where we are. So if you were hoping for a serious and coherent foreign policy strategy from Trump, Hegseth's debut should probably disabuse you of those expectations pretty quickly. His performance has been chaotic messaging, rookie mistakes, and a total lack of clarity about what is America's role in Eastern Europe. And the bottom line is we're learning in real time why it's a bad idea

to pick your defense secretary from your Fox News lineup. This is embarrassing for the administration. It's potentially dangerous for the entire NATO alliance. It's a global security issue we are talking about here. And it's soundbites, half-baked policy declarations that then are pulled back. And if there were any doubts about Hegseth's qualifications, the 72-hour Europe fiasco should confirm we have really good reason to doubt this guy's qualifications. There's a truly excellent article in the Jewish daily forward pointing out astutely that what the right has accused George Soros of doing for years now is in practice what Elon Musk is really doing for Donald Trump. The colossal irony playing out before our very eyes is that conspiracy theorists on the far right

have been shouting from the rooftops about Jewish philanthropist George Soros. He's this shadowy figure controlling all politics and the media, manipulating the entire planet with a secret stash of money that it's not really a secret stash. We all know he's very wealthy, but they painted George Soros as some kind of real life bond villain. And it's an insidious accusation steeped in old anti-Semitic tropes. But the surreal part is that all of the paranoid charges that they've been leveling at George Soros for what, 10, 15, 20 years. They fit Elon Musk. They fit Elon Musk at a fundamental level. And yet the people who have been demonizing Soros for years are completely ignoring Musk and his doing the exact same stuff that they claim George Soros is doing. So let's break it down.

Massive government influence. Soros has been accused without evidence, I might add, of manipulating foreign services and pulling strings behind the scenes. Meanwhile, Elon Musk is now presiding over actual federal level decisions with the new Department of Government Efficiency. Last I checked, Soros did not have access to Social Security payment systems, did not have access to federal contractor payment systems, did not have the keys to the castle. Musk does, but they're quiet about it.

One guy funds philanthropic organizations that promote democratic institutions. The other guy is hobnobbing with authoritarian leaders and shaping American policy in real time. And yet only one of them is singled out by the right. And it's not Elon Musk. It's George Soros. Secondly, media manipulation. If you listen to certain commentators, you would think that George Soros spends his days,

you know, twirling a mustache and whispering scripts into journalists ears. But consider that Soros is philanthropy primarily supports independent journalism in countries with shaky democratic structures, not in the United States. Meanwhile, Musk owns Twitter, has booted journalists from it who criticized him, has adjusted algorithms to boost some extremist content and partisan Republican content. And yet it is Musk who is called the hero of free speech, not George Soros. Number three, global meddling. Soros is supposedly orchestrating uprisings from the shadows. But if we look at actual meddling, Musk is the one having cozy chats with the authoritarian

regimes. He's openly praising or receiving praise from the likes of Victor or Bonner, Vladimir Putin. He's influencing active war zones with Starlink satellite decisions. Where will it be available? Where won't it? And to whom? It's all out in the open. But does the far right care? No, it's only a problem if you suspect someone of doing it from the liberal side or in the way that Soros is accused of doing it, the double standard is breathtaking. The right's been ranting that if you've got a billionaire shaping global policy, that's bad and it's a threat.

But it seems to only be the case when it's a progressive Jewish billionaire. When it's Elon Musk, all of a sudden we're not worried. So in reality, Musk's control of these essential technologies, his direct line to autocratic leaders, his ability to shape American policy is infinitely more invasive than the philanthropic ventures of George Soros. But Musk is hailed as this visionary tech god that we know him not to be. And Soros remains public enemy number one. Now we have recent extremes. Musk openly backing right wing parties overseas saying, oh, we should, we should really be supporting the AFD in Germany. He's telling Germany move on from the Nazi guilt.

This is the same thing the neo-Nazis have been saying for decades. So the hypocrisy is off the charts. And if Soros even whispered a single supportive word about a left-leaning party abroad, they would say, oh, it's a globalist puppet master. But Musk can wave this far right banner wherever he wants and there's no pushback. So the bottom line here is, as you might suspect, the real scandal is not some billionaire influencing politics and media. That's old news at this point. It's that the far right has never been against concentrating power. They oppose it if the billionaire in question supports left wing causes, supports pro-democracy causes. And Elon Musk checks all of the right wing boxes. So they're fine. They're not worried.

It's yet another principle that doesn't really matter when it's inconvenient. That's the irony. The heavy handed anti-Semitic smears flung at George Soros perfectly describe Elon Musk's activities right now. But the folks who were supposedly so worried about billionaires controlling stuff, they're missing. They don't care when it's Elon Musk. It's just blatant hypocrisy. It's fueled by bigotry against Soros because he's Jewish. And now we have Elon Musk shaping American policy in a way that, quite frankly, makes George Soros's influence look modest in comparison. And Trump claims for now that he is thrilled. All right. On the bonus show today, we are going to talk about New York City Mayor Eric Adams embrace of

Trump and how this is uniting Democrats against him. Rumors are now flying. Eric Adams may switch to the Republican Party. Secondly, we will dig a little more into the renaming of Fort Liberty to Fort Bragg honoring a World War Two soldier. And we will talk about Elon Musk's latest cost cutting target, the penny. We've talked about this so many times and everything old is new again. And now all of a sudden, Elon Musk thinks, wait, the penny costs more than a penny to make. Let's get rid of it. And then everything's solved and everything's awesome. All of those stories and more will be on today's bonus show. I also want to remind you once again, we are now just five weeks from the release of my first ever nonfiction book, The Echo Machine. We have surpassed 6000 preorders.

I have been notified all requests for signed copies must go to David Pakman dot com slash booksmith Brookline booksmith, which is near my publisher up in Boston, is going to be handling all signed copies. I'm going to go up there in a couple of weeks, sign hundreds of books. You can get signed copies at David Pakman dot com slash Booksmith. Of course, you can get the Kindle version, the audio book, all of it at David Pakman dot com slash book. And also, I am excited to tell you that later this week, although it might not make it onto the show until next week, we will have Senator Adam Schiff on the program. We will have members of Congress, Ro Khanna and Tom Suozzi next week. A lot of really good stuff coming up.

We will see you on the bonus show. Sign up at joinpacman.com to get instant access.