The David Pakman Show - 3/7/24: RNC to Pay Trump's Legal Bills, What's Next for Nikki Haley Supporters

Episode Date: March 7, 2024

-- On the Show: -- Brittany Page fills in for David! Subscribe to Brittany's YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@brittanyepage -- Mitch McConnell endorses Donald Trump, after everything he's done and said, including about Mitch's wife -- What will Nikki Haley voters choose to do now that she suspended her campaign? -- The Republican National Committee's plan to pay Trump's mounting legal bills -- Peter Doocy challenges WH Press Secretary on Whether Biden will Debate Trump -- Mike Johnson announces cuts to FBI/DOJ, GOP now defunding the police -- North Carolina's GOP Nominee for Governor is totally unhinged -- Florida Republican tries to convince everyone slavery had positive aspects -- Alabama Republicans Panic, Try to Correct Course on Controversial IVF Ruling -- Texas Woman Who Fled State for Abortion on SOTU attendance, newfound political activism -- Man receives 200+ COVID vaccines in case study sure to set off conspiracy theorists -- On the Bonus Show: Controversy surrounding Adam Schiff's California Senate victory, Indiana bill expands child working hours, Republican goes full "back in my day!" and much more... 🖼️ Aura Frames: Use code PAKMAN for $20 off at https://auraframes.com 💻 Stay protected! Try our sponsor Aura FREE for 2 weeks at https://aura.com/pakman 🔊 Babbel: Get 50% OFF a lifetime subscription at https://babbel.com/pakman 🥄 Use code PAKMAN for $5 off Magic Spoon at https://magicspoon.com/pakman 🖥️ UPLIFT Desk: Get 5% OFF with code PAKMAN5 at https://upliftdesk.com/pakman -- Become a Supporter: http://www.davidpakman.com/membership -- Subscribe on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/thedavidpakmanshow -- Subscribe to Pakman Live: https://www.youtube.com/pakmanlive -- Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/davidpakmanshow -- Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/davidpakmanshow -- Leave us a message at The David Pakman Show Voicemail Line (219)-2DAVIDP

Welcome to the David Pakman show. My name is Brittany page from the page perspective right here on YouTube. And I'm filling in for David while he's off. I'm very happy to have the opportunity to be here with you all. It's been a huge week. We had super Tuesday, Nikki Haley dropping out and surprisingly not endorsing Donald Trump as I called. So I guess I'm wrong about that. Not the best way to start the show. The official Biden versus Trump rematch reality is here. And today we're going to start with the

Republicans who are falling in line behind their boy. It doesn't matter if they've criticized him in the past or admitted that he is a danger, no. He's gonna be the guy and they are falling in line. Let's start with Mitch McConnell. He made headlines this week when he announced that he would step down as the Senate Republican leader in November, but he's making headlines again

because he actually endorsed Donald Trump for president. And before we get to the endorsement, I want to go back. Let's go back in time. Let's visit past Mitch McConnell and see what he had to say about Donald Trump in 2021. January 6th was a disgrace. American citizens attacked their own government. They used terrorism to try to stop a specific piece of domestic business they did not like. Fellow Americans beat and bloodied our own police. They stormed the Senate floor. They tried to hunt down the Speaker of the House. They built a gallows and chanted about murdering the Vice President. They did this because they'd been fed wild falsehoods by the most powerful man on earth.

Because he was angry, he lost an election. There's no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day. No question about it. Okay, so let's review the highlights there. January 6th was a disgrace. The American citizens were attacked. They used terrorism. They beat and bloodied the police. They stormed the Senate floor. They hunted down the Speaker of the House. They chanted about murdering the Vice President. And they did this because, Mitch McConnell says,

they were fed wild falsehoods by the most powerful man on earth. There is no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events on January 6th. How strange. How strange to remember a time when we all understood the same version of reality. But fast forward to today, and Mitch McConnell is endorsing Donald Trump. I learned today, though, that Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump aren't even on speaking terms. Did you know this? Reading from reporting from AP, quote, the two men have not spoken since 2020 when McConnell declared Democrat Joe Biden the winner of that year's presidential election. But more recently, their teams had reopened talks about an endorsement. So Donald Trump is so unhinged that he hasn't talked to Mitch McConnell for years for the

crime of acknowledging the reality of who won the 2020 election. And yet McConnell is like, yes, this is the man with the reason and the judgment to lead. And I love that Mitch tries to get out in front of criticism with this endorsement. And you'll see what I mean in this last line that I read. Reading from NPR, quote, it is abundantly clear that former President Trump has earned the requisite support of Republican voters to be our nominee for president of the United States, McConnell said in a statement. It should come as no surprise that as nominee, he will have my support.

Mm-hmm. It should come as no surprise. Well, on the one hand, you're right, because we've kind of come to expect a complete lack of adherence to values, principles, and ethics. Right, Mitch? On the other hand, if we were living in a world that actually made sense,

it would make sense that Mitch, a person who took to the Senate floor to explicitly blame Donald Trump for leading the insurrection on the Capitol, that he would actually end up not endorsing Donald Trump for president. But we know the grip that Donald Trump has on the Republican Party. And Mitch McConnell made that much clear when he was asked to reconcile what he has said previously about Donald Trump with his current endorsement. How do you reconcile your Trump endorsement with the fact that you called him practically and morally responsible for January 6th and the fact that he insulted you and your wife

repeatedly? On February the 25th, 2021, shortly after the attack on the Capitol, I was asked a similar question. And I said I would support the nominee for president even if it were the former president. Mr. McConnell, in April of last year you indicated, didn't really directly answer the question as to whether or not you were comfortable with Mr. Trump if he was in the middle of criminal trials and

indictments and he was the nominee. I presume that means you're comfortable with it. I don't have anything to add to what I just said. I said in February of 2021, shortly after the attack on the Capitol, that I would support President Trump if he were the nominee of our party, and he obviously is going to be the nominee of our party. It doesn't matter how many indictments, how many court appearances, how many criminal counts, how many times he attacks his fellow Republicans for having ugly wives, or in Mitch McConnell's case, the racist attacks from Donald Trump against his wife, Elaine Chao. He continues to enjoy the support of the Republican Party, both its leaders and its loyal adherents. And there are no signs that that is changing anytime soon. Donald Trump's big win and Nikki Haley's subsequent suspending of her campaign has left us with a big question. What will Nikki

Haley supporters and voters do in November? What is their plan? Will they go for Joe Biden because they cannot stomach Donald Trump agreeing with the totally justified criticism that Nikki Haley continuously threw his way during the campaign? Or will they fall in line and back Donald Trump? Well, this Washington Post article piqued my interest. The title, where will Nikki Haley's supporters go now that she dropped out? We talked to nearly 40 Haley voters in four Super Tuesday states about how they would vote in a Biden Trump rematch. And there are several interesting folks in here, but I want to focus on 80-year-old Mickey Stout from Richmond, who voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020, and she said this, quote, I think Trump is so irrational and really very frightening. I think that if he allowed this

January 6th thing to take place, he could try to take over the next time if he doesn't win this one. I just think he's dishonest and I don't want that. But I think Biden is too. I definitely won't vote for Biden. I will have to vote for Trump. Well, it started off strong, right? And then we knew the bad things were coming. It's like replaying the Mitch McConnell thing that we just went over, but this time with your average Republican voter in Richmond, it's all there. January 6th, it's Trump's fault. He's frightening, irrational. He could try to take over again if he doesn't win, but I definitely won't vote for Biden. I will have to vote for Trump. Why? Based on what? What is worse than frightening, irrational, and responsible for trying to overthrow the government

to unlawfully stay in power? I have questions, Mickey. According to the Washington Post, quote, recent polling from Quinnipiac University found that about half of Republicans and Republican-leaning voters who supported Haley would vote for Trump, while 37% would vote for Biden. 12% said they would abstain, vote for someone else, or hadn't yet decided what to do. Now, Donald Trump isn't wasting any time trying to court these Haley voters. He was asked after Haley made her announcement to suspend her campaign, how he plans to unify the party to bring the voters in. You've talked about trying to unify the party. How do you bring these Nikki Haley voters,

some of whom voted for you in 2020, but say they don't want to now. How do you bring them back into the tent? They're going to all vote for me again. They're going to all vote for me again, everybody're going to all vote for me again, everybody. And I'm not sure we need too many. Oh, okay. Solid plan.

So they're all going to vote for me again. I'm not sure we even need too many. Classic. The sad reality is that he seems to at least be somewhat right. He's not that concerned with actually courting Haley voters or trying to convince them to vote for him because he knows many of them will simply fall in line like Mitch McConnell and Mickey. What was her name? Mickey, I think. So I'd love to know what you think on this. Let me know what you think about Nikki Haley supporters in the comments below.

Are they going to fall in line? Are they going to support Trump or are they going to go for Biden? So when it comes to how much money Donald Trump has, there are basically two versions to the story. When he's on Fox News, he claims he has a ton of money. There's no issues. When he's in court, he's strapped for cash. His lawyers argue that he would need to start selling his assets in order to come up with the cash needed to cover the settlements that he owes. And he needs a lot of cash. In just the three civil judgments and cases in New York, he has been ordered to pay around $550 million in damages.

His legal fees are only going to increase as he faces 90 plus criminal accounts going forward. And according to recent reporting from NBC News, Donald Trump's affiliated committees spent about $27 million on lawyers' bills and related legal fees in the last six months of 2023, new federal election filing show, bringing the total for a year that included four separate indictments to almost $50 million. But Donald Trump may have found a new revenue source for paying his legal bills,

the Republican National Committee. RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel on the way out. Laura Trump on her way in campaigning for co-chair. The leadership election for that is March 8th, by the way. But Trump wants to keep it in the family. So they have their hand near the wallet at all times. And it looks like a growing number of members of the RNC are ready. They're ready to jump in and pay Trump's legal bills. Reading from reporting from CNBC, quote, a growing number of Republican National Committee members

believe its campaign arm should help pay mounting legal bills for former President Donald Trump, a move that could strain the party's ability to financially support other candidates in the 2024 election. RNC committeeman Solomon Yu, who is from Oregon, told CNBC he believes, quote, more than a majority of members are in favor of helping offset the bills from Trump's lawyers in four pending criminal cases and at least three other civil cases. Quote, I support the RNC paying President Trump's legal bills, you said. That support by you and others led to the defeat Tuesday of a proposed resolution by RNC committee member Henry Barber that would have barred the group from paying those bills

once Trump becomes the presumptive GOP presidential nominee who is a billionaire. Huh? Is he? Can he use all that cash to, I don't know, pay his legal fees? Or maybe it's just easier or more profitable for him personally to bilk everyone else out of their money. I guess that's his method. And there's this, reading again from CNBC. When Barber first proposed his resolution in February, Trump's senior campaign advisor, Chris LaCivita, who Trump has endorsed to become the next RNC chief operating officer,

told reporters the committee would not be used to pay Trump's legal bills. And the RNC historically has raised money to support candidates up and down the ballot not to pay for a candidate's legal bills. But that history and LaCivita's promise might not matter given the level of support for the idea by a growing group of the RNC's voting members. New rules for Trump, as expected. Listen, I guess there is one positive aspect of this. If they use the funds for Trump's legal fees, that means potentially that they will struggle to financially support other Republican candidates in the 2024 election, especially with

their already cash strapped status. But this article is filled with RNC members who are thrilled. Yes, we should pay his legal fees. So I guess they're all in. And when Laura Trump takes over, it's done. My name is Brittany Page. You can check me out on YouTube at The Page Perspective. I would love to see you there. Love to see you subscribe.

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Welcome back to the David Pakman show. My name is Brittany page host of the page perspective here on YouTube. And I'm guest hosting for David while he is off. I am wearing a turtleneck today to show solidarity with David because apparently some people got quite upset about his fashion choices the other day. I really wanted to express my displeasure in what I was met with when I opened up this YouTube video, and it was your turtleneck. I clicked off the video. I didn't watch it, by the way. I mean, you got the view for it. Congratulations, but I will not be returning. Okay. Wow. Um, I'm sorry. That is genuinely hilarious. I don't know if that person was joking, but I do love that they have so few problems in their life that this ended up being

a significant problem for them. So turtleneck solidarity. Okay, we're starting here with Nepo baby Peter Doocy, Fox News' White House correspondent, son of Steve Doocy, who hosts Fox & Friends, you know, the Fox News morning show with Brian Kilmeade and Ainsley Earhart. I do want to say that it is because we protect the rights of the minority and their place. Listen, we have separation of church and state in this country. I'm so tired of protecting the minority. Yes, that Ainsley Earhart. That's a go-to drop on my podcast. I doubt it. It's such an old clip. So happy we found it and have kept it all of these years. Remarkable, right? It's actually kind of a similar vibe to the turtleneck collar, actually.

So Peter Doocy loves to mix it up with White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, and today was no different. But this time he brought some debate me bro energy on behalf of Donald Trump. Peter Doocy's main question here, does President Joe Biden plan to debate Donald Trump? Watch this. So just for clarity, it's possible that there will be no Joe Biden, Donald Trump debates. Is that what you're excited about? Is that what you want to see? Because you keep asking me, you've asked me about three, four or five different times

in different ways. And I have said- How would President Biden do in a debate? I'm not asking a question about a specific debate. I'm just asking how would he do in a debate? Can I just say something? You literally saw just last year, back in January of 2023, at the last State of the Union,

take on Republicans during giving a major speech. He took them on as they were heckling him. He took them on and said he was going to fight for programs, essentially said he was fighting for programs that the American people needed. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. He stood there and fought for the American people. So Peter Doocy is very concerned about whether or not President Joe Biden is going to debate Donald Trump. But was Fox News concerned about Donald Trump not showing up to any of the debates? None of the Republican primary debates. Donald Trump didn't show up to any of them. And now he's bringing this strong debate me bro energy, wondering if Joe Biden is going to take

on Donald Trump. Donald Trump didn't show up. He didn't go to the debates. Now, I don't know if you watched those debates and I'm talking about the most recent Republican primary debates, but they were unwatchable. It was an absolute nightmare. I couldn't sit through them and I consume an unhealthy amount of political content to do what I do online. People were talking over each other. No one respected the time limits. No one moved the needle on any issue. The moderators were incapable of retaining control over the production or keeping people

on track or on topic. I was left with this feeling of what is the point of this? What is the point of watching this? What is the point of watching this? What is the point of doing it? Now, that isn't to say that debates can't have value. They can when they're done well, when they are highly controlled and the people that are involved not only agree to the rules, but they actually follow the rules they agreed to.

I don't have high hopes for a debate involving Donald Trump. And apparently he doesn't either because he didn't show up for any of them. He's a petulant child who rambles incoherently with buzzword after buzzword and no meaningful policy positions. It's just childish attacks. There would need to be extreme rules, things like cutting the mic after someone's time is up or if they're showing that they refuse to follow the rules. In lieu of extreme rules and strong adherence to those rules and the debate structure, including from all parties involved, as well as the moderators, I just don't see any way that a debate would work or how one could possibly be beneficial in any way. Would I love to see more from President Biden on the campaign? Absolutely.

Do I want him to be forceful in his rebuke of Donald Trump? Absolutely. I'm just not convinced that a debate is the way. I don't know. Am I wrong? Feel free to tell me in the comments or you can follow me here on YouTube or threads or Instagram at Brittany E. Page.

Tell me I'm right or wrong. You often hear from the Republican Party that they are the party of law enforcement, law and order, the party that backs the blue. They attack Democrats as the opposite, accuse them of seeking to defund the police and point to oftentimes inaccurate examples in cities where they claim this defunding of the police has taken place to indicate the non-existent defunding resulted in non-existent increases in crime. And if you doubt this happens, please briefly turn on Jesse Waters. And the odds are pretty good that he's saying this exact same thing on Fox News right this very moment. So it may surprise you that Republican Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, announced when discussing the $460 billion spending bill to fund half the

federal government through September, he announced cuts to certain agencies that he says have turned against the American people. We have advanced, and we also advanced, as you've seen the summary, cuts to some of the agencies that we believe are really overreaching and have been turned in some ways against the American people. We're going to cut 3% from DOJ, 7% from the ATF, 6% from the FBI, and 10% from the EPA. And that's just a start. We have a lot more priorities and things that we need to advance. But the reality is, as we all recognize, is that we have to grow the House majority, take back the Senate for the Republican Party,

and win the White House. And I'm here to tell you the reason we're optimistic is we believe those things are going to happen in November. We can't wait. They can't get here soon enough. Interesting. Cuts to the DOJ, the ATF, and the FBI. Sounds like defunding the police. Because they have turned against the American people, he says. And what I think he means is that these agencies are attempting to hold Donald Trump accountable, and the Republicans want to signal to their base that they are doing something about it. Remember, this isn't the result of something like what came out of New York last month, where we learned, according to reporting from Gothamist, that, quote, the city paid out $114.5 million in police misconduct lawsuits last year,

nearly double what it paid in 2020, according to an analysis by the Legal Aid Society. Such lawsuits have cost taxpayers more than half a billion dollars since 2018, the analysis showed. Payouts for police misconduct cases have steadily increased in recent years, though the number of settlements has gone down according to legal aid's analysis. Just 10 NYPD officers accounted for $68 million in misconduct payouts from 2013 to 2023. Mike Johnson isn't worried about something like this, no. Actual harm in policing? No. He doesn't want to talk about that. The Republican Party wants to weaponize the language of defunding the police when Democrats want to step in and hold the police accountable in situations like this, where one hundred and fourteen point five million dollars is being paid out in police misconduct in just one year in just one city. Think of how that money could be better used to facilitate community health and well-being or better wages or training or something that doesn't involve keeping abusive cops on the payroll. But again, the Republican Party is only worried about so-called overreach,

using Mike Johnson's words, when one of their own, Donald Trump, is at risk of being held accountable. And then they need to reel it in. So will this be the end of the constant fear over rampant crime? If we can afford to cut funding to the DOJ, the ATF, the FBI, it seems like we're doing okay with crime then, right? So once again, thanks for joining me. My name is Brittany Page. And if you want to stop me from going on a crime spree, please go subscribe to my YouTube channel. See the link in the description below or just search my name. And several thousand dollars were stolen. We never got it back. But now I have a lot more peace of mind because we use aura. Our sponsor aura is the all in one tool to protect your online and financial accounts. Aura alerts you any time your personal info is found on the dark web or in data breaches

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It only takes a few seconds to use the free trial to see if your username and passwords have been leaked online. That's A-U-R-A dot com slash Pacman. The link is in the podcast notes. Did you know that even if you exercise once a day and then basically sit the rest of the day, you can still suffer the consequences of a sedentary lifestyle because physical inactivity throughout the workday can cause a whole host of different health issues. And that's one of the many reasons I use a standing desk at desk that can go up or down. It gets my creative energy flowing. I can walk around. I get circulation. I really don't want to go back to a regular desk. And the standing desks I've been using for years are from a company called Uplift Desk,

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and use the code Pacman five to get five percent off. That name is Brittany Page. From the Page perspective, right here on YouTube, I am guest hosting for David Pakman while he is out doing exciting things that we're all eager to hear about upon his return. If you've enjoyed my guest hosting run so far, feel free to subscribe to my YouTube channel and join me over there. So I was originally trying to get away from Super Tuesday stuff when I was planning which stories to cover for today's show. But North Carolina's Republican nominee for governor is really something. And it seemed like every time I refreshed my feed, there was some new video or reporting on the unhinged things that he has said and done.

It's alarming that this person is running for governor, but especially that he won his primary. And even worse, he's the current lieutenant governor. His name, Mark Robinson. There are a litany of problems here. It seems like he believes every conspiracy theory. He endorses every terrible idea imaginable. But before I read a list, I think we should all hear from Mark Robinson in his own words. So let's watch this video from Huffington Post where Mark Robinson discusses the period of time that he would like to return to. That's why I'm a conservative. And number three, I'm a Republican. I'm a Republican. Oh, number four, I'm a Republican because Republicans are the party of freedom and equality. This narrative about Republicans being racist and cannot stand Mexican people and black people and women is ridiculous.

This idiotic guy was on stage with Candace Owens a few days ago and asked her, what America are we going back to to make America great again? The one where women couldn't vote or black people were swinging from trees. I would say to him if I was standing in front of him, I absolutely want to go back to the America where women couldn't vote. Do you know why? Because in those days we had people who fought for real social change and they were called Republicans. And they are

the reason why women can vote today. Those days that he talked about when black folks were swinging from trees. Guess who it was out there fighting to bring that to an end, to bring Jim Crow to an end. It was Republicans. So that's the America we want to bring

back. We want to bring back the America where Republicans and principles and true ideas of freedom rule. That's the America we want to bring back. That's why I'm a Republican. Several things there, many things there. I will get to the Republicans or the party of freedom and equality in a second, because we all heard him say, quote, I absolutely want to go back to the America where women couldn't vote. Why are we just now seeing this video footage? Where was the opposition research on this guy? How is this person the current lieutenant governor of North Carolina? According to reporting from Huffington Post, at the time of those remarks that you just heard

in March, 2020, quote, this room full of women was quiet as he spoke, though a faint, that's right, could be heard when Robinson later said Republicans ended Jim Crow laws. Parenthetically, in fact, lawmakers in both parties in Congress and President Lyndon Johnson ended Jim Crow laws by passing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. And this is always a strange line of argument from Republicans anyway.

Let's say that Republicans ended Jim Crow laws. Let's just go with Mark Robinson's line of argument for a second. Let's just go with Mark Robinson's line of argument for a second. Let's just go with what he's saying. What is it that Republicans are doing now? Are they denying the realities of history? Yes. They're trying to tell us that slavery had its redeemable qualities, that enslaved folks learned skills. They're censoring history from school curriculums, from school libraries. They're denying realities of inequality. They're actively supporting and endorsing a candidate for president who has, I don't know, a lifelong history of racism under his belt. I mean, come on. Mark Robinson claims Republicans are the party of equality and freedom.

And yet each new day brings fresh headlines about their attempts to restrict equality and freedom. Whether we're talking about abortion bans or court rulings that say frozen embryos are children halting IVF services in the state of Alabama. Or ongoing attacks on LGBTQ plus folks. In fact, on that topic, on the topic of LGBTQ plus folks, let's hear what Mark Robinson has to say about extending them the freedom that he says the Republican Party cherishes. Transgenderism, homosexuality, any of that filth. And yes, I called it filth.

And if you don't like it that I called it filth. And if you don't like it, then I called it filth. Come see me and I'll explain it to you. Sounds like freedom, right? No, it's horrifying. Also, I can't with this whole Republicans are the party of equality and freedom still. Like I keep going back to that in my mind because who is it that is out there waving Confederate flags? Who are the Nazis voting for? Who does Nick Fuentes have dinner with? Who does David Duke endorse? Donald Trump. The Nazis covering their faces on the streets of Florida? They aren't voting for Democrats. This is absolute nonsense. I mean, we see evidence of what the Republican Party is every day.

But I already said this guy endorses nearly every conspiracy theory that exists. So for that, let's turn to Vox. Quote, Robinson, North Carolina's current lieutenant governor, we've got to keep reinforcing that point, has hurled hateful remarks at everyone from Michelle Obama to the survivors of the Parkland school shooting. He's called the LGBTQ community filth. He threatened to use his AR-15 against the government if it, quote, gets too big for its britches. And he wants to outlaw all abortions, as well as return to a time when women couldn't vote. He's also ridiculed the Me Too movement, women generally, and climate

change. It seems Robinson is willing to entertain all matter of conspiracy theories too. He's a Holocaust denier, has a history of anti-Semitic remarks. He's suggested the 1969 moon landing might have been fake, that 9-11 was an inside job, that the music industry is run by Satan, and that billionaire Democratic donor George Soros orchestrated the Boko Haram kidnappings of schoolgirls in 2014. Oof. It's like we have another Marjorie Taylor Greene on our hands. And I know I said he won his party's nomination for governor, but I don't think I mentioned just how much he dominated over his opponents. At the time of this recording, he has almost 65% of the Republican primary vote. And I saved this next clip for last because it's really important that we get a full

picture of who Mark Robinson is, especially when it comes to his particular brand of Christian nationalism. And I came across this clip from Right Wing Watch. Right Wing Watch is such an important organization, always doing super important work. So shout out to Right Wing Watch for this. Here is Mark Robinson in 2021. Tell our enemies on the other side of the aisle that would drag this nation down into a socialist hellhole that you will only do it as you run past me laying on the ground choking on my own blood. Because I will not give up this nation to you. It is not yours. You did not build it. You did not defend it. And you will not own it. We will. The Christian patriots of this nation will own this nation and rule this nation and help freedom survive for future generations. Did you hear that? The Christian patriots of this nation will own this nation and will rule this nation. And I think he made that pretty clear when he talked about his views of LGBTQ plus

people, about women. This is the goal with Christian nationalists. They want to fundamentally reshape this country to make it a country where the groups that they don't like are oppressed. He is a dangerous man, and I hope everyone who lives in North Carolina is paying attention. So we were recently gifted another example of a Republican politician who wants to restrict what is taught in the classroom while demonstrating exactly why it is that we so desperately need to teach the things they want to ban in the classroom. Do you want to guess the state before I go into this? Do you want to guess the state?

Sure, it could be any state, but I think we all know it's Florida. The bill in question is known as CSHB 1291. And reading from reporting from the Rolling Stone here, quote, the bill would ban teacher preparation programs and similar courses that teach, quote, identity politics or are based on theories that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States, end quote. Or stated plainly, the bill seeks to ban teacher preparation programs and courses that teach reality. The bill passed the Republican-controlled House and will now head to the Florida State Senate.

During a heated debate before it passed, though, the Florida Republican state representative, Alex Andrade, decided to take Rhonda Santus's approach to teaching slavery, arguing that we really just don't talk enough about how it wasn't actually that bad for enslaved people. There is only one way to teach about slavery in Florida, and that is that it was evil. But if we can't have an honest discussion and say that some slaves were paid for their work and were able to actually get a portion of payment that slave owners received for their labor, then we're afraid of teaching accurate history.

If you were not aware that some slaves received payment, not payment that was good, not payment that was valid, not payment that was moral. But if we can't even have that discussion in this room, what hope do we have to teach and actually agree on facts?

Like, what hope do we have? Guys, what hope do we have if people can't say out loud that some slaves were paid? There's no hope unless people can say some slaves aren't paid. Truly, do these people hear themselves? Since most of you don't even know who I am, I'm sure you're unaware that I was actually raised by Nazis. And I don't mean like I have a racist Uncle Gary. I mean like my parents moved me from Southern California to Idaho to be closer to Aryan Nations when it existed when I was a kid.

And I actually attended events, cross-lightings. I have childhood pictures of me at Aryan Nations doing the salute with Richard Butler, if you know who he is, the whole thing. So what Alex Andrade is arguing here is straight out of my childhood indoctrination. And it's sickening because these ideas are only growing in popularity in the Republican Party. And these are desperate attempts to teach a false version of history that keeps people ignorant of the realities in this country. I think so it makes it easier for them to become uninformed adults who then have no interest in building a more equitable system that works for everyone. I think that's the goal. That's how I think we should make sense of these Republican-led

attacks on education. And we should fight them every chance that we get. There were not benefits to slavery. To white people, sure. Slavery was not positive. It only created widespread harm and inequality. That's the reality. And reading from reporting from the Rolling Stone, quote, Florida Republicans are hell bent on teaching our children that slavery wasn't bad. Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Freed said in a statement provided to Rolling Stone, she added that Representative Andrade's comments today are just the latest example of the GOP's obsession with whitewashing history, citing the Florida Board of Education requiring schools to teach that some black people benefited from slavery because they learned certain skills as slaves. Quote, slavery was a horrific evil, Freed's statement continued. This shouldn't be a bold statement, and Florida's teachers should be able to teach

them in the classroom. Florida Republicans' continued attempt to teach our children otherwise is immoral and outrageous, and every Republican elected in Florida should be put on record answering for Andrade's comments. Any answer that tries to justify or whitewash the evils of slavery should be considered disqualifying for office. Absolutely. And then there's this. Reading again from the Rolling Stone. Quote, Andrade told Rolling Stone in an email that he made the comments because of, quote, one line in a 200-plus page document that was being distorted by Democrats on the floor. He provided a link to a page from the National Humanities Center

that describes rare cases of slaves who were able to self-purchase their freedom. Dear Lord with this guy. This should prompt some serious self-reflection about what exactly is underlying this impulse to desperately cling on to attempts to put a positive spin on slavery rather than just acknowledging the reality of the horrors. And I say it should prompt

some serious self-reflection, but I won't hold my breath. My name is Brittany Page, and I'd love to have you join me over on my YouTube channel where I talk a lot about public policy, but also issues like this, education and racism. You can also follow me on social media at Brittany E. Page. Many in the audience know my first language is Spanish. I learned English later when I moved to the United States. And these days I do a fair amount of traveling and I always make an effort to learn some of the new language before I get to the country. I've tried a bunch of methods for this. I keep coming back to the app Babbel because

with Babbel, you really can start speaking a new language in just three weeks instead of paying hundreds of dollars for classes or fooling yourself with language apps that are basically just simple games. Babbel is designed by real people for real conversations. All of Babbel's tools are approachable. They are rooted in real life situations. They're delivered with conversation based teaching. You might have seen on my Instagram. I was recently in France. Babbel got me ready last minute. I got to France. I was ready to order food, ask for directions, talk to people at stores and hotels without having to use my phone to translate.

There are studies from Yale, Michigan State University and others that continue to prove that Babel is better. One study found that using Babel for 15 hours is like a semester of that language at college. With over 10 million subscriptions sold, Babel is real language learning for real conversations. of the at Babbel dot com slash Pacman. You get access for life for half off. Get 50 percent off at Babbel dot com slash Pacman spelled B.A.B.B.E.L. dot com slash Pacman. Rules and restrictions may apply. The link is in the podcast notes. Welcome back to The David Pakman Show. My name is Brittany Page from the page perspective right here on YouTube. I'm filling in for David today while he does some very exciting things that we're all eager to hear about upon his return.

I'm about to wrap up my guest hosting work here, and I'd love for you to join me over on my YouTube channel if you have enjoyed our very brief time together here. Last month, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos created through IVF, in vitro fertilization, are legally children. I will never stop marveling at that sentence every time it comes out of my mouth, but it's true. That happened. As a result of that ruling, many of the IVF clinics in the state of Alabama paused services. This ruling proved to be unpopular with the public. This illustrated clearly in a recent Axios slash Ipsos poll found that 66% of Americans oppose frozen embryo personhood, and that includes 49% of Republicans. So Republicans panicked and tried to backtrack,

saying that they're very supportive of IVF. But you should be suspicious of these claims, or at the very least, you should want to further interrogate these claims and ask what it is that they actually support. Because chances are it isn't IVF as it is practiced now to maximize the likelihood of a successful pregnancy. Now, some Republicans are being honest, saying, yes, this was absolutely the right decision. And we'll get to that in a minute. But first, for the recent news, we turn to The New York Times. Quote, Alabama lawmakers on Wednesday passed legislation to shield in vitro fertilization providers from civil and criminal liability, capping off their scramble to allow fertility treatment after a state Supreme Court ruling found that frozen embryos

should be considered children. Governor Kay Ivey, a Republican, swiftly signed the bill into law. Two major clinics said they were moving to restart treatments, possibly in the coming days, while another clinic said it was not assured about the scope of protections and would wait for legal clarification. Lawmakers and legal experts acknowledge that the law did not address existential questions raised by the court about the definition of personhood, leaving open the prospect of legal challenges in the future. And this gets to the heart of the issue. Reproductive rights activists warned us that in the aftermath of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the threat to reproductive freedom would move beyond things like abortion to IVF because of the personhood movement. Now the personhood movement seeks to define life as beginning the moment of fertilization or conception. That is when a sperm meets an egg.

And with IVF, the combining of the sperm and the egg happens in a lab. And sorry to go all like very brief biology lesson on everyone right now, but it's crucial that we're on the same page. So an embryo is created after an egg is fertilized in the lab. Typically, more than one embryo is created and they are graded to determine which ones are best quality for inserting into the uterus to maximize the likelihood of a successful pregnancy. Embryos that are not used can be returned to ICE or discarded or donated. And this is where the personhood movement complicates IVF because

if those multiple embryos created to maximize a successful pregnancy are children, then you can't simply donate or discard those unused embryos as is typical in IVF, not if they're children. And it complicates whether you can even create more than one embryo at a time. So this would radically change IVF. And this is why IVF clinics in Alabama hit the pause button after the ruling. And this is the goal of the personhood movement. And it's what a significant portion of the Republican Party wants, even as they claim to support IVF. And this was evident when 124 House Republicans came together to co-sponsor the Life at Conception Act. That's right. Just last year in January, did you hear about this? HR 431 Life at Conception Act, quote, this bill declares that the right to life guaranteed by the Constitution

is vested in each human being at all stages of life, including the moment of fertilization, cloning, or other moment at which an individual comes into being. It's sitting at 124 co-sponsors with House Republicans continuing to sign on, including as recently as February 9th of this year. And you'll see some familiar names from people who are now defending IVF, trying to reassure the public that they aren't actually radical. Speaker Mike Johnson, Congresswoman Michelle Steele from California. These Republicans are struggling to reconcile and explain how it is that they are so supportive of IVF while simultaneously supporting the Life at Conception Act. But like I said at the top, there's some Republicans who are being honest about their intentions. Enter Emma Waters, a research associate for the Richard and Helen

DeVos Center for Life, Religion, and Family at the Heritage Foundation. If you haven't heard of her, you can find her name on page 31 of the Project 2025 Mandate for Leadership book, where she is listed as part of the 2025 Presidential Transition Project. How reassuring. She appeared on C-SPAN to give her take on the Alabama Supreme Court ruling. The opponents of this decision say that that equates embryos with children, that they are the same thing, which of course course, by their interpretation means that anything done to an embryo is the same as harming a child. Do you agree with that interpretation? Yeah, so I think that this is on the right track. So the case says that life begins at conception.

On both sides, the fertility clinic and the parents agreed on this medical and biological text will also say life begins at conception when that unique embryo is formed so with the pro-life movement and certainly those who hold a consistent view of human life from the moment of conception be it an embryo an unborn child in the womb or a child that is born we hold that that is human life regardless of its stage, we hold that that is human life, regardless of its stage of development, and that that embryo deserves the same protection as everyone else's children. The Alabama Supreme Court is on the right track, she says. Now, what I appreciate about Emma in this clip is that she's being honest about where the Republican Party is headed with their goals. They want widespread

restrictions on reproductive freedom. What stands out, though, is when she said that embryos deserve the same protection as everyone else's children. Because I'm sitting here trying to reconcile the Republican Party's effort to protect frozen embryos while 14 Republican-led states rejected federal funds for summer EBT food stamps to feed hungry children or the Republican governors who have rejected postpartum Medicaid expansion to ensure life-saving health care for mothers and, or, I don't know, the red states that are disproportionately represented when you look at the states with the highest infant mortality rates,

or same with the maternal mortality rates. The list of policies that could help life, that could improve life, that could help babies, children, and mothers, that could show that they value life, they want to cut the funding, restrict the access, get rid of the program, and then they want to pretend that they're guided by strong pro-life principles. So next time a Republican says they support IVF, ask what it is that that actually means. Do you remember Kate Cox? She dominated the headlines in December last year when the state of Texas where she lived prevented her from obtaining an abortion, even as her life was in danger and

her future ability to have children was at risk. The state required her to carry a fetus that she deeply wanted, but that had a fatal abnormality. She sued the state. And even in the face of repeated emergency room visits and evidence that her life was in danger, Texas said no. She had to leave the state to obtain her life-saving medical care in the form of an abortion. Now, Kate Cox is back in the news because she will be the guest of First Lady Dr. Jill Biden at Thursday's State of the Union Address. And I want to read briefly from the Texas Tribune on this decision to invite Kate Cox to the State of the Union Address. Quote, her story is incredibly powerful, devastating, said White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre in a press briefing Wednesday.

And it speaks to the moment that we are in now when we talk about women having the right to make these deeply personal decisions about their health care that was taken away by the Supreme Court. Cox is the first pregnant adult to sue for the right to terminate her pregnancy since Roe v. Wade was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973. I so admire Kate Cox. It took a lot of courage for her to share her story, to sue the state of Texas, and she continues to demonstrate great courage and strength and her vulnerability in sharing her story with the media, even now. This time she sat down with Dana Bash from CNN with her husband Justin by her side and discussed the ways that the abortion ban in Texas amplified their

pain, made their situation more difficult, and how it informed their thinking about the upcoming election. When we got the devastating diagnosis, I asked my doctor, what do women do when they receive a diagnosis like this? And she told me some women choose to continue the pregnancy and some choose not to. And I asked her if that was an option in Texas, if I chose not to do the pregnancy, and she told me it's not. So you filed a lawsuit and the court granted the restraining order on the law saying that you could legally obtain an abortion and that you would not be at risk for driving your wife, that the doctor would not be at risk. But then the next day, the Texas Supreme Court temporarily blocked the decision. What were those days like? Well, when we got the ruling from the judge, we were excited and hopeful.

We thought, wow, you know, maybe everybody will see the, you know, common sense that comes with this issue like we do, that this is medical care. It was a very upsetting dynamic and range of feelings with that, going from hopeful to feeling like, okay, this isn't going to be as easy as we thought, you know. It was really crushing. Pregnancies are complicated, and it's difficult sometimes to build your family, so it's really terrifying when that's left up to politicians and judges. You did make the decision to travel outside of Texas. You went to New Mexico to have an abortion.

Tough decision. Yeah. Well, we were on a strict timeline and we couldn't wait any longer. So the decision had to be made. It's the hardest thing we've ever been through in our lives. And the laws today added a lot more pain to what was already the most painful time in our lives. That's why I want to share our story, and that's why I hope it'll be different one day. Abortion has always been a very political issue, even more so since Roe was overturned. Were you a particularly political couple, or were you a political person before this? Not at all. I was not a political person.

We both have voted in the past, but we've never been very enthusiastic about the process. And you are now? We certainly are now. I'm guessing you're going to vote for Joe Biden. The number one thing we're both voting for is protection of abortion rights because women and families deserve medical care. This, I don't want to see others continue to be hurt. How many, how many women have to tell their most heartbreaking journey publicly? How many have to speak out before something changes? The number one thing they're voting for is protection for abortion rights. And I love that

line about how many women have to tell their stories before something changes, because we see this all the time. Women having to share their traumas, open up the details of their lives in order to push for change, whether it's Me Too or abortion. Kate Cox is taking the stand to help prevent this pain and suffering in the future. But this pain is happening across the country right now. Women are being forced to carry babies they do not want or cannot care for. Not everyone can afford to simply leave the state to obtain care. Some people don't have savings. They can't take time off work. They don't have reliable transportation or childcare. There are multiple

barriers to obtaining this care in states with abortion bans. And this is why it's so important to, if you can, support abortion funds or organizations like the National Abortion Federation, who runs the National Abortion Hotline, where people can call and get evidence-based information about how to obtain an abortion, even in states where it's banned. And this hotline also assists with funding for the procedure or travel to obtain the procedure. This issue is not going away,

and people still need help. Democrats will surely need to keep this issue of abortion front and center, especially as Donald Trump makes his nebulous statements about the abortion bans that he's thinking about. Things can always get worse, and we need to remember that. COVID-19 vaccine conspiracy theorists aren't going to like this one. Did you hear about the man who got over 200 COVID vaccines? I love all these headlines, by the way. I'm seeing this, like this one from CBS News. A man got 217 COVID-19 vaccinations. Here's what happened. It seems ominous. Now, if you're a conspiracy theorist, you probably think

that he died suddenly, right? He was as healthy as can be one moment, dropped dead the next. You know, they love to claim that as a common side effect of the COVID vaccines. Maybe they think he turned into a zombie. I don't know, but he's actually totally fine. This case was featured in a paper published in the Lancet Infectious Disease Medical Journal. And it's super technical and so far above my pay grade that we aren't even going to deal with that. And we're just going to go straight to the summary of the findings. And for that, we turn to CBS News. Quote, the researchers say the man appeared to suffer no significant side effects despite the extreme number of doses. In summary, our case report shows that SARS-CoV-2

hypervaccination did not lead to adverse events and increased the quantity of spike-specific antibodies and T-cells without having a strong positive or negative effect on the intrinsic quality of adaptive immune responses, the study reads. While we found no signs of SARS-CoV-2 breakthrough infections in the man to date, it cannot be clarified whether this is causally related to the hyper vaccination regimen. Importantly, we do not endorse hyper vaccination as a strategy to enhance adaptive immunity, they note. So good news. You don't need 200 plus vaccinations, but if you find a way to get that many, you'll be totally fine, but you don't need that many. You really don't. Please don't do that. Well, that's a wrap on my time with you today. I

have so enjoyed my third round of guest hosting for David Pakman. I want to give a special shout out to David and his fantastic team who makes the process go so smoothly. I'm sure you are all looking forward to David's return, as am I. You can find me here on YouTube where I host The Page Perspective, and I'd love it if you would subscribe over there. You can also find me on social media at Brittany E. Page. Take care, and I will hopefully see you next time.