The David Pakman Show - 2/5/25: Trump wants Gaza for US, Elon's takeover continues

Episode Date: February 5, 2025

-- On the Show: -- Keith Edwards, host of "The Keith Edwards Show," fills in for David. Subscribe to his YouTube channel at youtube.com/@keithedwards -- Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and suggests the US take control of Gaza -- Trump likely wants the United States to take over Gaza so he and his billionaire buddies can profit from it -- Trump Chief of Staff Susie Wiles was visibly stunned by idiotic comments made by Trump during his press conference with Benjamin Netanyahu -- Trump supporters have been betrayed by their leader, as Trump is proving himself to be pro-war and pro-interventionalist -- Tulsi Gabbard gets one step closer to being confirmed by the US Senate and becoming Director of National Intelligence -- Elon Musk, the richest person on the planet, now firmly has control of the US government -- The Democratic Party is failing to effectively resist Donald Trump -- On the Bonus Show: Democratic chair's first piece of content, Jasmine Crockett's controversial statements, and much more... 📖 Buy “The Snooze Who Refused to Choose” at https://wobblewand.com 🖥️ UPLIFT Desk: Get up to 5 free accessories & special discount at https://upliftdesk.com/pakman ⚠️ Ground News: Get 50% OFF their unlimited access Vantage plan at https://ground.news/pakman ✉️ StartMail: Get 50% OFF a year subscription at https://startmail.com/pakman 🍷 Naked Wines: Use code PAKMAN to get 6 bottles for $39.99 at https://nakedwines.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: http://www.davidpakman.com/bluesky -- David on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/davidpakmanshow  

Hello. Welcome to the David Pakman Show. I'm, as you can tell, not David Pakman. I'm very gratefully filling in. My name is Keith Edwards. I host the Keith Edwards Show here on YouTube, and it has been quite a day. We have a lot of news to get through. Donald Trump is wanting to take over Gaza, he announced last night, which is very far away from Donald the Dove, we were told, over the whole election cycle. Also, Elon Musk is taking control of the government, and we have a lot to go through about that. And also the Democrats are responding to that, but I think there's a lot to be desired in how they're handling this really volatile takeover of our system. So let's just get right into it, shall we? Okay, here is a stunning moment with Trump and Netanyahu at their meeting in the White House. I've got a lot to talk about it. Let's just see this real fast.

President Trump, I welcome Prime Minister Netanyahu. We have heard Joe Biden and Donald Trump take credit for the hostage and ceasefire deal. Who do you think deserves more credit? I think President Trump added great force and powerful leadership to this effort. I appreciate it. He sent a very good emissary. He's helped it along. And, you know, I'll just tell you, I'm happy that they're here. And I'm sure the president is happy that they're here. And I would think that's about enough. President Trump. I wanted to clock Donald Trump during this whole interaction. He's barely there. Netanyahu, we have heard Joe Biden and Donald Trump take credit for the hostage and ceasefire deal.

Who do you think deserves more credit? I think President Trump. And also that Netanyahu knew what the real answer is, which is Joe Biden is the one who arranged this whole thing. He's been working on it for 11 months and then Donald Trump got elected. And I personally believe Netanyahu was waiting for that moment in order to stop the war because he as much as he could wanted to influence our election. And he knew this is a hot topic issue for many of the people here in America. And so he was doing what he could to bring Donald Trump into office. And let us not forget that Netanyahu and Trump met at Mar-a-Lago earlier this year when Donald Trump was a candidate

for president. They had a private meeting. Who knows what they were talking about? Very likely, they could have been discussing, hey, why don't you just keep this war going? It's really helping me in the polls. And it's one of the most polarizing issues on the left. Here is another moment from that same meeting where Donald Trump says he wants to take over the Gaza Strip. The only reason the Palestinians want to go back to Gaza is they have no alternative.

It's right now a demolition site. This is just a demolition site. Virtually every building is down. They're living under fallen concrete. That's very dangerous and very precarious. They instead can occupy all of a beautiful area with homes and safety and they can live out their lives in peace and harmony instead of having to go back and do it again. The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it too. We'll own it and be responsible for

dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings, level it out, create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area, do a real job, do something different. The only reason. So just some highlights. Gaza's waterfront property is going to be very valuable from Israel's perspective. I would do my best to move the people out and then clean it up. And of course, Jared Kushner's, who is Donald Trump's son-in-law, has said that he feels like Gaza is a really valuable piece of property. I'll show you that clip later.

But I kind of had a sense that this is what was going to happen if Donald Trump got elected. But I don't think anyone would have guessed that the U.S. would try to take ownership over the Gaza Strip. And I don't know what Donald Trump thought he ran on and why he won. It wasn't for U.S. expansionism. Donald Trump wants to go into Greenland. He wants Canada to be the 51st state. He wants to take control of the Panama Canal. He didn't run on any of this stuff. He didn't run on let's own Gaza, let's own Canada. He ran on lowering the egg prices. He ran on immigration. And that's largely why he won. And I'm pretty sure if the folks knew that Donald Trump wanted to start waging war in the Middle East, which is what this really means. There is

absolutely no way that this can happen in a peaceful way. This is another, there should be another forever war. We just got out of one and we'll be getting into another one. And on top of that, it's not even why he was elected. Donald Trump was elected to make things better here, not to make the world more chaotic. And whatever happened to America first, because this is going to make America last. Everything he's doing so far between this and the tariffs and what seemingly is going to be provocations in war if he continues this road is going to make America weaker, make our allies look elsewhere, and also cause us to be in a lot more danger. And this Trump White House is doing whatever it wants, whatever it wants. It's attacking, like I said, it's attacking Canada, it's attacking

Mexico, some of the longest and deepest allies. And Donald Trump kind of gave the game away yesterday when he made this announcement, this stunning announcement. I don't think we should ever forget how stunning this is, that he wants to take over Gaza. But listen to the reason why he wants to take over it. And I've got some backup from Jared Kushner after the fact that really kind of punctuates that he's meaning what he says here. Let's go. Caitlin, go ahead. Thank you so much, President Trump. Can you follow up on what you were saying there?

Say it, go ahead. Just to follow up on what you were saying about the Gazans leaving Gaza and going to other countries. One, where exactly are you suggesting that they should go? And two, are you saying they should return after it's rebuilt? And if not, who do you envision living there? I envision the world people living there, the world's people. I think you'll make that into an international, unbelievable place.

I think the potential in the Gaza Strip is unbelievable. And I think the entire world, representatives from all over the world will be there and they'll and they'll live there. Palestinians also. Palestinians will live there. Many people will live there. But they've tried the other and they've tried it for decades and decades and decades. It's not going to work. It didn't work. It will never work. And you have to learn from history. History is, you know, just can't let it keep repeating itself. We have an opportunity to do something that could be phenomenal. And I don't want to be cute. I don't

want to be a wise guy. But the Riviera of the Middle East, this could be something that could be so bad. This could be so magnificent. But more importantly than that is the people that have been absolutely destroyed that live there now can live in peace in a much better situation because they're living in hell and those people will now be able to live in peace. We'll make sure. Okay. So did you catch that? He called it the Riviera of the Middle East. The reason why Donald Trump wants U.S. ownership is so Donald Trump can own buildings in Gaza. And I'm not being hyperbolic because here is Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, just kind of saying the exact same thing, saying Gaza has a beautiful waterfront. And Gaza's waterfront property, it could be very valuable to if people would focus on kind of building up, you know, livelihoods. You think about all the money that's gone into this tunnel

network and all the munitions, if that would have gone into education or innovation, what could have been done? And so I think that it's a little bit of an unfortunate situation there. But I think from Israel's perspective, I would do my best to move the people out and then clean it up. But I don't think that Israel has stated that they don't want the people to move back there afterward. I think that. Where are the people supposed to go? Those are the palace. That is the Palestinians home.

More than two million Palestinians would have to leave. And we are talking, like, I guess it is funny that he says the Riviera of the Middle East. I suppose that's a funny quip he's made. And one thing about Trump is he can say things in a very memorable way. But let us not forget that what he's talking about is ethnic cleansing, the removal of an ethnicity from their homeland. It is not only illegal, it's also unprecedented. And where would they go? Jordan, Egypt, they've all said they don't want it.

So where would they go? There's no plan for that. Donald Trump can't do this, frankly. And if he's going to try and do it, then it is up to us to try to stop him. And I feel so badly for Palestinians or Palestinian Americans who are having to deal with this news because there's a heartlessness to all of this. The fact that he's making a joke about it, to me, it's senseless. And one thing I do want to say is if you are a Democrat or if you're a progressive and you voted for Kamala Harris and you're aware that there was the Kamala Harris uncommitted movement and people who voted third party because this was a really important issue for them and they just couldn't vote for what they thought was someone supporting a genocide. I just have to say that it is not in our best interest. Politics is a game of expansion. And we cannot do this pointing of the fingers at people like,

I told you so, this was going to happen. Ha ha ha. Look now, aren't you? You're so stupid. Like, it doesn't help us win the next election. Okay. I have sympathy for people who felt like they just couldn't vote or that they couldn't vote for Kamala because of this. I don't necessarily understand it, but I sympathize with people. And my hope is that we can reach our hand out and extend it to people who felt like they didn't have a voice in this party

because we need to expand our coalition. And we are not going to expand our coalition by saying, see, we told you they were going to turn into beachfront property. Ha ha ha. That's not how we're going to win. And I just want to show this clip of a Palestinian American responding to this news because I think she can speak better about this than I ever could. So here she is. I mean, clearly there is now, it's an official foreign policy of the United States, the illegal occupation of a sovereign land, ethnic cleansing, which constitute both, on both counts, crimes against humanity.

I mean, maybe Donald Trump doesn't remember, but July this year, the International Court of Justice actually talked about Gaza and issued an order. And in the order says that Gaza is still occupied, that that occupation is illegal, that Israel needs to end the occupation, both of the West Bank and in Gaza. By the way, the other piece he said, he will decide on the West Bank next week, which means we don't know next week if he will allow Israel to an exit or not. I mean, I, in 30 years I've been covering foreign policy, I never seen a coherent, incoherent, lunatic proposal, a proposition as such. He just put a target on every serviceman back tonight because the region is on fire already and he's setting the whole region further on fire this feels i love how she said that um it's a coherent incoherent policy

because he said what he meant it was written down and one thing i just want to touch on before we move on to the next thing the next piece is that there are still hostages in Gaza. So what's going to happen to them now that he's made this announcement? An announcement that was essentially a war. He's essentially declared the U.S. troops are going to be going into Gaza. So what happens to the hostages? And this is extremely incoherent. Though it looks like they have a plan, it doesn't look like it was thought out at all. And so I just think in order to eventually move past this or help people, we have to figure out a way to expand our Democratic Party,

to include people that feel like they're not being heard or that their plight is not understood. During this stunning meeting when Netanyahu was just kind of slurping up Trump and Trump was just looking around like a bumbling fool. What you didn't see was Susie Wiles was in the background over here. Her eyes were bugged out of her head. Like she was like, what the hell have I gotten myself into? And Susie is going to go down the same path as many other Trump officials who thought being close to Donald meant they could control him. But you can't control Donald Trump. Donald Trump only listens to one staff, four, throughout his administration. Do you think Susie Wiles is going to last?

How long do you think she's going to last is probably the better question. think we should have some sort of countdown because I don't think Susie Wiles, who's actually, from what I've read, a relatively normal person, is going to make it that far in this administration. Donald Trump lost so much. Sorry, I laugh to stop myself from crying. But Donald Trump lost so much staff that there's a literal Wikipedia page on it. List of Trump administration dismissals and resignations. This doesn't exist for Joe Biden, for the record. Look at this. There's so much.

So many people left because they all know that what Donald Trump did with this announcement with Gaza is just what he does, what he does. And John Kelly, who is Donald Trump's former chief of staff, had these lovely words to say about the former and now current president. Let's listen. What do you think? Do you think he's a fascist? Well, I'm looking at the definition of fascism. It's a far-right, authoritarian,

ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized hypocrisy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy. So certainly, in my experience, those are the kinds of things that he thinks will work better in terms of running America. You know, again, back to this issue. All right.

So basically, I mean, that's a really long winded way of saying, yes, Donald Trump is a fascist. That is his former chief of staff. I just can't wait to hear what Susie Wiles says about Donald Trump when she is inevitably fired or she quits, because there is a list of people who have worked with him who now have a lot of words to say about Donald Trump. As we saw, John Kelly called him a fascist. He said he certainly prefers the dictator approach. Mark Milley, who was his joint GIFA staff for four years, says that he's a fascist to the core, was doing great and irreparable harm to the country.

Mark Esper, who is his secretary of defense, we've fallen far from Mark Esper, has said Trump has the inclinations towards fascism. I think it's something we should be worried about. I'm thinking about that and how he wants to take over Gaza. They were all right. This is James Mattis, another secretary of defense, an actual, you know, person qualified for the job, saying he makes a mockery of our Constitution. John Bolton, his national security advisor, said that Donald Trump is unfit to be president. Rex Tillerson, his secretary of state, these are people who are in his cabinet, said that Donald Trump is pretty undisciplined. It doesn't like to read and doesn't read briefing reports. Omarosa, who is a reality TV star and also White House aide, because of course, said that Donald Trump is a con man. Mike Pence, his vice president, said that anyone who puts themselves

over the Constitution should never be president of the United States. Well, he is, and he did. Susie Wiles, let's just look at this. She, I mean, if a picture is worth a thousand words, this one's worth a million. My God. She was, she is just like, what have I gotten myself into? The Daily Beast reported on this moment saying, Susie Wiles shoots daggers at Trump during unhinged Gaza press conference.

They got another photo here. God damn it. Here's what they had to say. As Trump rambled on and on about Gaza being hell on earth and described a half-baked idea for some other very rich country to build a beautiful town for the people of Gaza in an unspecified place, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles edged closer, and she was standing directly behind Trump. She pursed her lips and opened her eyes wide, looking a bit stunned as the president

went on to blame his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, for the October 7th, 2023 attack in Israel. Now, of course, this is very funny, but Zuzi Wiles is in the thick of it. And she is going to learn very quickly, you can't control Donald Trump. And this is one of the things that makes me the most nervous about this moment we find ourselves in. Because as you saw with that list of Trump administration officials who left, they left because they're actually competent. And that's the one thing Donald Trump can't have around him, is competence. Because Donald Trump wants to do what Donald Trump wants to do. And if that means invading Gaza, if that means trying to annex Canada, if that means taking over

the Panama Canal or trying to own Greenland. He doesn't want anyone to get in his way. And that list of Trump administration officials, this is a list, it's like a cemetery of people who thought that Donald Trump was an actual executive, someone you could work with, someone who actually wanted to make the country better. Someone who actually was serving the people. These are people who actually wanted to serve America, more or less. But that's not what Donald Trump wants to do. And Donald Trump is surrounding himself with Pete Hexef, Tulsi Gabbard, RFK Jr.

I mean, he wanted to get Matt Gaetz in there. These are people who want to go after and support Donald Trump's worse impulses. So there's going to be no check on this administration. We've seen that with what's been happening within our government for the past two weeks. So this picture to me, though, we'll never know why Susie Wiles looked distraught. I think it's because she's relatively competent. And I think she's realizing that that's going to be a detriment to her in this Trump White House. The snooze who refused to choose. This is a whimsical story that takes you into snooze town where the snooze would much rather nap than make decisions.

But when the town's troubles grow and young voices plead for help, the snooze faces a choice he can no longer ignore. It really is a heartwarming tale that introduces kids to the importance of voting, the power of small voices and the courage to take action in their communities. Every month, Winchester Wobble Wand releases a new book. So there's always a new adventure to enjoy. Each book includes a design contest where readers can showcase creativity and win $500 for their hand-drawn illustrations. You can get the snooze who refused to choose and explore other

Winchester wobble wand books on Amazon or by visiting wobble wand.com. The link is in the description. If you work at a desk like I do, I often find myself sort of discouraged because I'm sitting for a long time, or at least I used to until I found uplift desk. Uplift desk is at the forefront of ergonomic solutions, promoting better posture and health through adjustable standing desks. And I've been using uplift standing desks for years, long before they became a sponsor. One of my favorite things about uplift desk is the endless configuration of accessories. I've got cable management, uh, power outlets, monitor arms to my right. If you want a bottle

opener or a hammock, they make that available to uplift desk gives way more options for building your perfect workspace. And they make it easy with the desk configurator tool on their website Thank you so much, David. free accessories, free same day shipping, free returns, an industry leading 15 year warranty that covers the whole desk and an extra discount off of your entire order. That's U.P.L.I.F.T. desk dot com slash Pacman. The link is in the podcast notes. But MAGA feels like Donald Trump is actually pulling the rug out from under them because Donald Trump ran on America first. And as they are learning, Donald Trump is a con man and he ran on Donald Trump first and he will say anything to get elected. That's how he was once a Democrat and he's now a Republican. He was pro-choice and now he's against choice, but he wasn't against choice, but then he still voted against choice in Florida,

but he was still for, it's all a mess, but it doesn't matter. That is a thing with fascists and authoritarians. They don't believe in anything but power, and MAGA is finding out quickly. Here are some reactions to Donald Trump's annexation of Gaza, his proposed annexation of Gaza. I'm a conservative Republican and a Trump supporter. However, I do not agree with Donald Trump's call to take over Israel and condemn Israel's efforts to genocide and ethically cleanse Gaza. I stand with Palestinian people. Yes, we exist. That is a unicorn, ladies and gentlemen.

This is someone, this is one in a million, stands with the Palestinian people and a conservative Republican and Trump supporter. They do exist, apparently. Scott Greer, who is a right wing influencer, said flat out, this is a terrible idea. And if you go down through these comments, there's a lot of people saying, I hope you're right. You know, from your lips to God's ears, hopefully this is one of those extremely long term stretch goals that suddenly gets forgotten about. You know, maybe this is so that Americans will get killed by Hamas or the American public opinion turns against Palestinians. So there's a lot of conspiracy theories about it as well. And Alan Cole says, I'm only I'll only make one confident prediction about this.

Some pro-Trump writers will find reasoning to explain all this and why it will benefit us. But then Trump will instead go in a completely different direction that has nothing to do with the pro-Trump writers thesis. Yes, that is always what happens with Donald Trump. People think they understand what he's doing and they try to speak for him.

And then Donald Trump says flat out why he's doing it. What I don't understand is that we know why he's doing it. He's doing it because he wants to build buildings in Gaza. It's as simple as that. There's nothing really more to it. Donald Trump sees an opportunity to make money, like with the meme coin, like with the many different things he's sold. So shoes, I don't think I can swear on the David Pakman show, so I was going to say effing shoes. But the shoes that he sold, watches, this isn't about anything else other than Donald Trump trying to make a quick buck. He doesn't care who he has to get through to do it. If it means shipping away two million people

from their homeland, he's happy to do it because ultimately, this is what Donald Trump is looking for. This is what it's all about. This is what it's all about, putting up a building amidst all the wreckage. And it's so disgusting that so many people died just so Donald Trump could make some buildings. That's what it's really about. But MAGA is mad for other reasons, and we still can drink it in. I mean, I knew he'd do something like this, but come on, man. You were doing good things.

Why do you have to ruin it? I mean, what good things has he done, honestly? But they are not happy. Here is a meme. I love this meme. The award says fell for it again. Oh man. Okay. Uh, LMAO. Why was this guy ever called an isolationist? And I was going to say, these are not like, these are far right people I'm quoting here. How does this benefit America at all, says Rep. Lucas Schubert. Chicken Waffen says Trump is going to deport more people from Gaza than from the United States, LOL.

He's saying that because he's upset, not because of Gaza getting deported. He wants more people deported here. Is this Trump's George W. Bush moment? That is not a good thing. What kind of dirt do the Israelis have on Trump? Curiously, the Epstein files were not declassified, a famous Mossad entrapment operation of which Trump has multiple pictures of Epstein and Maxwell.

Elon does too. So they're so upset. This is what happens with the right. When something doesn't go their way, then they feel like there must be some sort of conspiracy theory around it. And so the fact that conspiracy theories are bubbling up is another sign that this is really not something that MAGA is happy with. Another guy saying that there are wins this past couple of weeks, but this is a terrible idea.

Rand Paul. Senator Rand Paul says the pursuit for peace should be that of Israelis and Palestinians. I thought we voted for America first. We have no business contemplating yet another occupation to doom our treasure and spill our soldiers' blood. I thought we voted for America first. No, Rand Paul, what you voted for was a con man. Here's the thing about con men, is everyone thinks they're in on the con. They want to feel like they're in on the con. But what Rand Paul is realizing, what Laura Loomer has realized, is that if you're not in on the con, then you're actually the one being conned. You're the mark. And all of these people that I'm quoting are maybe not realizing that they're the mark.

They still think they're in on it. But they're the marks. The only people Donald Trump cares about is himself and the billionaires who helped get him into power. That's it. Everyone else is the mark. He says what you want to hear in order to make you feel better. It's the same thing he's doing with TikTok. If it makes you feel good and Donald Trump said it, then congratulations. He's trying to con you. Don't fall for it. Lindsey Graham fell for it, too. Here's Lindsey Graham saying, sorry, I'm going to make this smaller for you. Graham, on taking over Gaza, I think that would be an interesting proposal.

We'll see what our Arab friends say about that. I think most South Carolinians would probably not be excited about sending Americans to take over Gaza. So that is probably the most you're ever going to get from Lindsey Graham pushing back on Trump. But we also have Senator Fetterman, who out of everyone here, seemed to be the happiest about it. So outside of the Senate chamber in the Capitol, Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who is known as one of the most staunchly pro-Israel Democrats in the Senate, called President Trump's remarks provocative, but said that he would support a potential American occupation of the Gaza Strip, adding that Palestinians for years have refused or have been unwilling to deliver a government that provided security and economic development

for themselves. So we are truly living in bizarro land where a Democratic senator is happy about this and MAGA in the far right is not. You know what MAGA is not upset about is the confirmation of Tulsi Gabbard, which I truly cannot believe is on the precipice of happening because Tulsi Gabbard is an Assad apologist and truly someone who has no business leading our intelligence. But here is that news. The Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday approved Tulsi Gabbard's nomination to become the next director of national intelligence, setting the stage for a floor vote for one president of President Trump's most contentious cabinet choices. The vote was nine to eight and along party lines. It's just such a big deal that we lost the Senate. Imagine if we had kept the Senate somehow. Just imagine. Imagine.

While some Republicans harbor doubts about Ms. Gabbard, she won over the party members on the committee who were wavering, including Senator Susan Collins in Maine, who had voted against Pete Hegseth to serve as defense secretary, and Senator Todd Young of Indiana had also asked tough questions in the confirmations hearing, but announced his support for Ms. Gabbard in a social media post. And here is one insight as to what happened with Mr. Young. He said, I said to President Trump, how important is this to you, Mr. President? He said, it's important. But he said, you know what, Todd, we're going to work together on all kinds of things to make America great again. And I told him I need reassurances and those were delivered. That is a cute story. Here's what really happened. Elon Musk is waging war against Republicans. Anyone who stands in the way of Donald Trump and his insane agenda and his insane cabinet is being faced with a potential primary.

The following week, the billionaire has responded to a report that he might fund challengers to GOP House members who don't support Trump's nominees. Quote, how else there is no other way Musk wrote on X, which he rebranded after purchasing Twitter and moving to boost conservatives' voices, including his own. Musk has said he hopes to keep America PAC funded and operating. Beyond that, he has used X's megaphone to suggest that he is at least open to challenging less exuberant Trump supporters in Congress. Quote, this is not a joke. The funding is already being put together. Donors are calling like crazy. Primaries are going to be launched, Kirk said on his podcast. Singling out Senators Joni Ernst of Iowa, Jim Risch of Idaho,

Mike Rounds of South Dakota, and Tom Tillis of North Carolina as potential targets. All four Republican senators' seats are up in 2026. And you know what's so interesting about those names is that Joni Ernst and Tom Tillers were two senators who were very vocal against the nominations of some of these cabinet members, but then absolutely turned around. And this is one of the reasons why, because Donald Trump and Elon Musk are threatening to primary anyone who actually has a voice and stands up for a reason because none of these people have any business being confirmed. They are lackeys. They are there to do Trump's bidding. We're all less safe with them in office. And to quote this GOP former

communications director, instead of using his influence to twist GOP arms, when you have majorities in both houses, he could start going after Democrats who vote against Trump's agenda in states where the election was a referendum for Trump. Otherwise, if you pressure Republicans with a primary, you could end up with a Republican who can't win and then a Democrat in that seat. Well, we could hope that's what's happening, but I have doubts on that. Tulsi Gabbard's nomination is looking like it's going to happen. But here is Senator Susan Collins, who won't get primaried, I guess, for now.

I mean, you have to toe the line for so long. So who knows how long this will last? But here she is announcing that she's going to be voting for Tulsi Gabbard. After extensive consideration, conversations with her in my office, attending the hearing, questioning her there and listening to her in the closed session, I decided to vote that I will vote for her. I believe she's committed to strengthening our national security. Can we just now completely move past the idea that Susan Collins is a moderate? Because if not for Susan Collins, we might still have Roe v. Wade.

If not for Susan Collins, we could potentially have stopped these nominations. So Susan Collins is not a moderate. Susan Collins is MAGA in moderate clothing. That's as much as I can say about that. And I do hope that Maine wakes up because we have to do everything we can to get folks like this out of office. She is not helping anyone other than President Donald Trump. And I have crazy insight as to how this change happened.

Yes, they are all worried about being primaried and the richest man in the world using his truly endless treasure chest of money to go after them. But there's also the fact that Tom Cotton with, you're not going to believe this, Tom Cotton with Senator Kyrsten Sinema, who used to be a Democrat and is now an independent and thank God is no longer in the Senate, helped. Senate Intel Chair Tom Cotton found a surprise ally in former Senator Kyrsten Sinema to help resuscitate Tulsi Gabbard's nomination. The former Democratic Senator approached Cotton and was deployed to help sway Senators Todd Young and Susan Collins into yes votes. So thank you, Kyrsten Sinema, for doing the bidding of MAGA again, but there is at least one maybe silver lining around this is that

she still has to pass the Senate vote. And my hope is that the folks who need to vote for this will not confirm her. As we saw, Mitch McConnell actually found that he has, I don't know, like he has his own brain. On that last vote with Pete Hexeth, he shockingly didn't vote for him. I do wonder if that was choreographed, like if they all knew that Mitch McConnell was going to do that, or if it was a surprise. But here are your marching orders, is that we do have some folks in the Republican Senate who could potentially stop this nomination from happening. GOP Senator John Curtis of Utah, Mitch McConnell, and Lisa Murkowski could all be no's. So if you can and are willing, please give them a call and pressure them. Because pressure does work.

Phone calls are better than tweets. Most senators, I don't think Mitch McConnell's checking his notifications. Perhaps Lisa Murkowski is, but I still found that to be doubtful. So if you want to do something about this, what you can do is call your senators and let them know that you are against these nominations. And it could be that we could stop one or two through a couple of Republicans saying no. It sounds insane, because one thing we've learned from Trump 2.0 is that Republicans are completely terrified and unwilling to go against Trump. And Trump is really acting like a king and less than like a president. But they still have to answer to the people.

And the fact that Matt Gaetz didn't make it through, didn't even get to a confirmation hearing, shows to me that public pressure still can work. So if you are feeling up to it, give them a call. Because it could be that these calls are what protect us from insane people like Tulsi Gabbard, RFK Jr. from getting through these these votes. Once again, we're seeing big tech blur the lines between private industry and public government. Zuckerberg, Bezos, even Sam Altman at Open AI are donating millions to Trump's inaugural fund because they say he'll lead our country into the age of AI, despite these same tech CEOs warning about how

dangerous AI can be. Algorithms control what we see every day to serve corporate and political interests, which is why I've trusted ground news for years to help me find the truth. Ground news doesn't tell you what to think. They show you each news outlets, biases, credibility, financial incentives. So, you know, who's benefiting from the way each news outlet spins each story. You can even filter out certain sources you don't want and stay informed without getting buried in the noise. Stay engaged with ground news who is fixing what is breaking right in front of us. Trust and transparency in the media. Ground news is giving my audience 50 percent off the same

vantage plan that I use. Go to ground dot news slash Pacman. The link is in the podcast notes. you check out start mail. Unlike free email services, our sponsor start mail never scans or tracks your emails. It also blocks tracking pixels, which companies and hackers use to capture your IP address. And when you delete an email and start mail, it is gone forever, keeping your information private. Start mail allows you to create unlimited email aliases, protecting your identity and reducing spam. This lets you use different email addresses for different purposes like newsletters or shopping Plus start mail lets you encrypt every email even if the recipient doesn't use encryption Switching is easy. You can migrate all your existing emails and contacts with just a few clicks Start mail also offers a business plan with unlimited domains, advanced

phishing protection and shared aliases for seamless team collaboration. Go to startmail.com slash Pacman to get 50 percent off your first year. That's about two dollars a month for a personal plan or about three dollars a month for a business plan. Plus, get 25 percent off additional accounts for team members. That's S.T.A.R.T. Mail dot com slash Pacman for 50 percent off. The link is in the podcast notes. But you know who's not upset is Elon Musk, the billionaire oligarch who has literally taken control of our treasury. And I'm not being hyperbolic here. He has gone in, as reported here, he went in with four 20-year-olds and changed the code in the treasury database. The payment system that the treasury department uses, they went in there and changed

the code. Now, we don't know what they changed. But imagine this scenario, if you can with me. Imagine if Elon Musk went into the government, the Capitol, with, let's say, four 20-year-olds. And he had guns. And they said, hey, either you change these laws, or we're blowing this place up. Now, we would say to ourselves, that is a form of insurrection, right? I mean, I think very quickly we'd say, oh, this is a problem that someone is going into the Capitol and trying to take power for themselves. Now, we live in not just a physical space now. We also live very much so in the digital world. And so much of what happens isn't just in the physical world, it is digital. And so what Elon Musk did is very similar. And Timothy Snyder had a great write-up on that here, where he said that a couple dozen young men go from government office to government office

dressed in civilian clothes and armed only with zip drive. Using technical jargon and vague references to orders from on high, they gain access to the computer systems of the federal government. Having done so, they proceed to grant their supreme leader access to information and power to start and stop all government payments. The difference between what I said and what was just said here is that this is actually happening. The coup is in fact happening. And if we do not recognize it for what it is, it could succeed. Let me say that again. There is a coup happening in our government. There is a coup happening taking place right now. We have to be very, very smart about that and pay attention to it because the mainstream media is not going to

talk about it in this very explicit way. And that is exactly what is taking place. And in gaining the ability to stop payments by the Department of Treasury, Musk would also make democracy meaningless. We vote for representatives in Congress who pass laws that determine how our tax money is spent. If Musk has the power to halt this process at the level of payment, he can make laws meaningless, which means in turn that Congress is meaningless and our votes are meaningless, meaningless, as is our citizenship. Jessica Tarloff from Fox News actually had a great thought about this and the kind of hypocrisy about what's happening versus if Democrats were to be doing the same thing. Let's listen to what she had to say.

Is that the best they've got? It's certainly part of the conversation that I think Democrats should be having. And I would love to be here the day that it was announced that George Soros had been given access to the Treasury payments and he was going to be running a bureaucracy. We'll call it Jew Doge to make it George Soros applicable. And he was going to decide how many thousands of people we fire. He had a bunch of 19 year olds that he really liked. Maybe they interned for him. Maybe they're just a Palantir kid. And he was going to bring them in and he was going to change the way we run our government. He was going to move fast and break things like they do out in the Bay Area. But instead, your Social Security payments would be on the table. Your job would be on the table. Your Medicaid would be on the table. And you say Democrats are the only ones melting down. Is Senator Wicker a Democrat? And I missed it. Or Jerry Moran or even marco rubio when he used to have a moral compass 2017 foreign aid is in charity it's critical to our national security if you're so concerned about making

sure that we stay in front of china which would love to eat our lunch any way that they can this kind of aid matters that's what you just said, the program that he's talking about in 2017 is different than what is going on today. It absolutely is. And anyway, the principle of what he's saying, the fundamental issue here is that we have three co-equal branches of government and the executive doesn't care about Congress anymore. Congress appropriated this money. They say it was an EO. Originally it was, but in 1998, it was enshrined by Congress as a law. You need to go through the proper hurdles. And there are plenty of Democrats who said,

let me in the Doge caucus. They want to have conversations about things to cut. Maybe there are lima bean dancers in malaria and wherever that need to be eliminated. But you have, and just one more thing, they've blocked access to secure communications for hundreds of USAID employees who are currently in war zones. How can that be okay with you? Okay.

First of all. I mean, of course, they would freak out if George Soros were in our federal government, in our payment system. Of course, the right would make noise about that. As well, they should, because that is unconstitutional. It is illegal. But I think the thing the right would be doing that we're not doing very well as Democrats is that we would be loud and organized. And I'm just not seeing that organization yet. And to her point, we do need to remember that we are a system of checks and balances. But what's so scary about this moment is that if it is successful, that is no longer the case. We will have one person who is deeply entrenched in the code of how our government works. If you control the money,

you control the power. I used to be afraid that Donald Trump would, you know, figure out a way to own the military and have the military bend to his will. I have to say, I've got to applaud them for the creativity of going into the treasury and saying, oh, let's just control. Let's make sure that we can control and see who is and isn't getting paid. Because if we can control who's getting paid, then we can control the outcomes. So I have to give them points for creativity around that. But this is deeply, deeply troubling. And do not keep your eyes off of it. Because this is, as Timothy Snyder said, and as many others have said online and on cable news and other great thinkers have said this, this is a coup happening in real time. This is a coup happening in real time.

Someone has gone into our government. They have sought to control and take power and so far have been successful. And I have to say, the Democrats response has been really lacking and wanting because Senator Chuck Schumer is not the person right now, I think, to lead us in this moment. Ever walk into a store and have absolutely no idea what wine to get? It happens to me right now, I think, to lead us in this moment. the Speaker 1 Speaker 2 Speaker 3 Speaker 4 Speaker 5 Speaker 6 Speaker 7

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That's naked wines dot com slash Pacman code Pacman for six bottles of wine for $39.99. The link is in the podcast notes. And as our government is experiencing a hostile takeover, it really is shocking to see how ill-equipped our Democratic leadership is in this moment, because they are trying to hold on to what are long-past traditions of governance that just don't exist anymore. Chuck Schumer's answer for Elon Musk getting into the Treasury's code is to make a bill to protect Americans across the country. Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer are standing together on a bill to fight back against meddling in the Treasury Department's payment systems. And then he says, strangely,

stop the steal. I think he thinks he's being cute when he says that. But can we not say that? Also, could it be stop the coup? Here is Chuck Schumer making that announcement. So today, Leader Jeffries and I are joining together to push legislation to prevent unlawful meddling in the Treasury Department's payment systems and protect Americans across the country. Our bill aims to do a few simple things. One, to deny access to special government employees, employees that don't have to disclose their conflicts of interest or any other ethic agreements to to deny access to anyone with conflicts of interest or lack of appropriate clearance and three include personal tax information into

existing privacy protections we call our legislation stop the steal haha so funny I guess my question is isn't what Elon Musk is doing already illegal so what is the point of this isn't it I don't know

and Chuck Schumer over the weekend went on a tweet storm saying the stupidest stuff about tariffs. You're worried about grocery prices. Don's raising prices with his tariffs. You're worried about tomato prices. Who's worried about tomato prices? Wait till Trump's Mexico tariffs raise your tomato prices.

You're worried about it. You get the idea. What are we doing? What are we doing? This is not how we message in the age of Trump. We have to figure out how to get attention. That is the only currency that matters right now, that trump coin but other than trump coin we actually need to learn how to get attention because that is the only currency that matters going viral saying something that will get you on cable news saying something that cable news will cover saying something that's going to make the right freak out so they have to respond to it that is not what is happening here and for for his part, Senator Chris Murphy is at least

trying something new. He went on Instagram Live. Let's watch a bit of this. I kind of cringe, but he tried. Long day today, full of a lot of bullshit, a lot of threats to democracy. And I figured I'd come on and talk to you a little bit about what happened behind the scenes in the United States Senate today, try to help parse out for you what matters and what doesn't matter, and try to connect some of the dots. Because obviously, a lot is happening right now between the attempted billionaire takeover of our government, the shuttering of government agencies, and then tonight the cherry on top Donald Trump's announcement that we are apparently about to occupy Gaza. It's important for us to, you know, be in a

conversation about what matters and what doesn't and what you can do to fight back. I haven't done this format in a long time. I used to do more of this years ago, but it feels like part of my job right now is to be in as many different discussions with all of you as is possible. I feel like in this moment, people, want to plug in. I think there was a lot of folks. All right. So you get the idea. Not terrible. I think it's good that he's doing that. AOC, interestingly, went live two nights ago and got like two million views on her Instagram live.

So people are hungry for information. I'm glad the senator is doing this. I do think that practice makes perfect. And hopefully he'll do more of this because this is that is a medium that requires requires excitement and you have to be energetic and kind of always going. So let's see more about the. But the next day, Christopher Murphy went on. I think this is really more of the message that we should be talking about here. Then I have some thoughts.

People understand that we are the minority party. We don't run the White House. We are the minority in the House and in the Senate. But we need to act like a real opposition party in the middle of a constitutional and democracy crisis. That means we should not be moving forward nominees or legislation in the United States Senate. Democrats should not be giving votes to nominees or to legislation in the United States Senate until Republicans get serious about this crisis. Democrats should not help Republicans

raise the debt ceiling in order to pass their massive tax cut for billionaires and millionaires. Democrats should be leading public gatherings all weekend, all across the country, to bring Americans out to show Republicans that they will pay a price. And then Democrats need to speak in really stark terms about what is going on here. Yes, we are obsessed with subtleties, but I don't think it's a mystery as to what is happening here. I think this is a billionaire power grab. I think Elon Musk... Yes, that is what we need to do all the time.

Succinct, he's saying the problem, he's naming the problem, he's also saying what we can do about it. Because I am sick of these people in Congress acting like spectators to the fall of our democracy. I'm sick of it. They're like, wow, this is really bad. Someone should do something about this. We literally elected you to do something about it. So I'm glad that Senator Chris Murphy seems to understand that this isn't just about pointing out there's a problem. I'm happy to do that.

I'm happy to do that and take on the reins of the person who can identify problems. I am not a legislator. I cannot go into Congress and make a law. I can't instruct. I just am limited in my power. Christopher Murphy and everyone else in Congress can actually do something about this. And yes, we are the minority party. And that sucks. I hate that for us. But there's still power in the minority. Mitch McConnell made it his personal mission to make sure Obama was a one-term president. He failed, but he also made sure that Obama's presidency was as painful as possible. We have to do that for Donald Trump.

We have to. And I'm going to end on a good note because there was a protest yesterday and i i'm let's just this made me feel good we will see you in the courts whoa all right that is that that is a hot mic sorry in congress in the streets elon musk is a Nazi nepo baby. Elon Musk is a Nazi nepo baby. Say it again. Elon Musk is a Nazi nepo baby. Oh, man. All right. And then here's one more. This one made the right go insane. And this is what we need more of. We need actions. We need leadership. We need opportunities for people to come together. I streamed this yesterday on my personal channel. 15,000 people watching it simultaneously. Watching people protest. People want to get involved. They want action. And let them know, especially the Republicans, that we will not take this.

We will fight back. Fight back. Fight back. And as I close out, because I know we've been out here for a long time, and God damn it, shut down the Senate. Does that make you feel good? That makes me feel good. So I feel like Democrats are starting to kind of starting to click. I mean, we've only had two weeks plus the nine years Donald Trump has been running for president or has been president, but it's only been two weeks

in Trump 2.0. And it does make me feel like okay maybe maybe democrats are gonna figure this thing out maybe