The David Pakman Show - 4/17/24: Book bans explode, Trump sleeping in court again

Episode Date: April 17, 2024

-- On the Show: -- Book bans explode with 4,000 so far in the 2023-2024 school year -- Republicans deliver their failed, dead-on-arrival impeachment articles for Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas to the US Senate -- President Joe Biden brutally attacks failed former President Donald Trump in a campaign speech -- Failed former President Donald Trump falls asleep again in court, and is threatened by jail by the judge -- Donald Trump lashes out at a juror during jury selection and is warned by the judge -- A confused Donald Trump admits to the basic facts of the criminal case against him during a disoriented statement outside the courtroom -- Alina Habba, Donald Trump's on-again-off-again lawyer, denies that Trump was sleeping in court, and compares Trump to Nelson Mandela -- Support for Donald Trump is crashing in numerous polls now with his first of four criminal trials underway -- Truth Social stock is collapsing, now down more than 65% from its peak -- Voicemail caller is furiously canceling DirecTV because David is a "socialist" and a "moron" -- On the Bonus Show: MAGA Mike Johnson's leadership under threat, "Rust" movie armorer sentenced to 18 months in prison, Robert F. Kennedy Jr says Trump asked him to be his VP running mate, much more... ⚠️ Try Ground News and get 40% OFF the Vantage plan at https://ground.news/pakman 👍 Use code PAKMAN for 10% off the Füm Journey Pack at https://tryfum.com/PAKMAN 🍷 Naked Wines: Use code PAKMAN to get 6 bottles for $29.99 at https://nakedwines.com/pakman 🌳 MyHeritage: Try it free for 14 days at https://davidpakman.com/myheritage -- Become a Supporter: http://www.davidpakman.com/membership -- Subscribe on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/thedavidpakmanshow -- Subscribe to Pakman Live: https://www.youtube.com/pakmanlive -- Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/davidpakmanshow -- Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/davidpakmanshow -- Leave us a message at The David Pakman Show Voicemail Line (219)-2DAVIDP

Speaker 1 Speaker 2 Speaker 3 Speaker 1 Speaker 4 Speaker 5 Speaker 6 Speaker 7 Speaker 8 Speaker 10 Speaker 11 Speaker 12 Speaker 13 Speaker 14 Speaker 15 Speaker 16 Speaker 17 Speaker 18 Speaker 21 Speaker 22 Speaker 23 Speaker 24 Speaker 25 Speaker 26

Speaker 27 Speaker 28 Speaker 31 Speaker 32 Speaker 31 Speaker 32 Speaker 33 Speaker 34 Speaker 34 Speaker 35 Speaker 36 Speaker 37 Speaker 38 Speaker 39 Speaker 41 Speaker 42 Speaker 42 Speaker 43 Speaker 42 Speaker 43 Speaker 44 Speaker 45 Speaker 41 Speaker 42 Speaker 45 Speaker 41 Speaker 42 Speaker 42

Speaker 43 Speaker 44 Speaker 43 Speaker 42 Speaker 45 Speaker 46 Speaker 47 Speaker 47 Speaker 48 Speaker 51 Speaker 52 Speaker 51 Speaker 52 Speaker 53 Speaker 54 Speaker 53 Speaker 54 Speaker 56 Speaker 56 Speaker 57 Speaker 57 Speaker 58 Speaker 58 Speaker 59 Speaker 51 Speaker 52 Speaker 53 Speaker 53 Speaker 54 and non-intervention from the modern right wing and Republican Party, which has advocated very loudly for a long time for more freedom of speech and less intervention of any kind unless absolutely necessary, except as we increasingly see in so many areas, including the areas of education and when it comes to book bans and the sort of highlight, the top level statistic that we start with today is that in the 2023, 2024 school year, that's the school year we're currently still in. The number of book bans has exploded to a record 4000 and climbing this school year so far. And we're going to look at

all of the data and then talk about why this is so disastrous. Let's take a look. This is from Penn America, which is a that their slogan is the freedom to write. And they are advocates for educational freedom, actual freedom of speech, et cetera. Key takeaways. Bans are speeding up more than 4000 in the first half of this school year and more than all of last school year in total. It is a nationwide campaign. There have been banning activities in 42 states. This is happening in blue and red districts. But when you see where this is focused, you will very quickly see the right wing bent to this. Those who want to ban books are attempting to use obscenity law and hyperbolic rhetoric about

porn in schools to justify banning books, often for sexual violence or LGBTQ plus topics. Trans identity is very popular and disproportionate targeting of books by women and books by non binary authors is taking place. They also are focusing on themes of race and racism by advancing rhetoric, disparaging critical race theory, woke ideology and efforts to ensure library collections are diverse and inclusive. So four thousand three hundred and forty nine book bands in the fall of twenty twenty three. If we look around the country, well, first of all, you will see the numbers going up dramatically, as you can see on a per semester basis. Very, very, very high. And if you look around the country, you will see that the largest numbers are in Florida and

Texas, which makes sense because Florida and Texas have passed specific bills seeking to do exactly that. You then see close behind Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, rather, and then Utah, Missouri and Tennessee, and then subsequently other other numbers. Some states we have no data for altogether. There's lots of examples of the types of books that are banned. Number one, any kind of sexual violence is being banned under the premise that it is pornographic in nature. We have number two, a continued hostility towards LGBTQ plus books. And then we have number three,

transgender narratives which are being targeted. So it's all the normal stuff. We also continue to see a backlash against so-called critical race theory. And we see vocal individuals or small groups disempowering parents and students. So let me review once again with you the core of this. I don't think the right response to this from the left should be any material whatsoever is appropriate for six year olds. And of course, no one is saying that. And much of this movement is premised against the idea. It's premised on the idea that what the right needs to fight against is woke left wing educators who want to put the most lurid, violent and sexually provocative materials in the curriculum of first graders. And of course, that's not the case.

And what's really important to remember is that many times the subject of controversy is a book available in a high school library and it is presented as if it is part of the curriculum for first graders. There is a lack of distinction here where these materials are just mentioned as part of some larger glob, so to speak, with no discrimination made between a book that may simply be available in the school library. high school senior wants it versus the idea that first, second and third grade teachers are including some of these materials in the required curricula for six, seven and eight year olds. So my view on this remains what it has been for several years, which is number one, we are saying on we they on the right are saying they don't want government intervening except when

totally necessary. And yet what you were doing when you do these kinds of book bans is you're taking educators out of it. And you were saying, I don't know, random parents know just as much about what's appropriate and where and in what context, as do the professional educators, mostly with master's degrees and doing exactly this sort of work. There is an overemphasis of particular types of content. Like I said, right now, it's very trendy to focus on books by trans authors, non binary characters, etc. You ignore the actual impact that this has on academic freedom, because if you really

want freedom of speech, no matter what it is you believe is the right material for what age student, when these individuals and groups and and parents come in over the top and say, this is what is appropriate, you're impacting academic freedom more broadly. Now, they don't care because they believe academic freedom means liberal indoctrination. But if you're actually going to stand for this non-intervention, let the professionals do what they do best sort of perspective, then you have to allow them to make those decisions. And again, as I said, curriculum versus library standards, elementary school, middle school,

high school, there should really be different standards in a different evaluation here. What are books that are part of a curriculum in an elementary school has a different answer than what books should simply be available in a high school library, different books, different ages. And so this debate is touching on a bunch of different issues. It does touch on educational philosophy. And there is no doubt that if you want to pull your kids out of public school, put them into whatever sort, you know, oftentimes it's Christian homeschooling. That is a big thing. Those, the decisions about curriculum that are made there, go ahead and make them however you want. And parents can, can feel free to do that. The imposition on professional educators in a public school setting, the rights of students

to access diverse materials for them to be available. And then students and parents and teachers and whoever can consult on what is right for whom. But taking away the freedom of these materials being available is not in line with the free speech position that many of these right wingers claim to take. And then, of course, when you have a decision making framework, I don't deny and I don't really know anyone on the left who denies that parents should have input. But to have these angry, raging parents showing up, screaming at PTA meetings or school board meetings or whatever it is,

and saying they know better than the professionals who do this for a living, they don't respect that expertise. They don't expect of respect the distinct roles that exist in librarians and teachers and superintendents and principals, et cetera. So this is another example of they claim to be about free speech and diversity of ideas, but they want to take away a whole bunch of that based on their personal predilections when it comes to libraries and curricula. And they don't actually stand by the principles they claim to stand by. So we are seeing it rise every time this comes up.

I get a couple of emails. You'll see it in the YouTube comments. Right wingers saying there aren't really any book bans in Florida or Texas because the books are still allowed to be sold in in bookstores. And that, of course, completely circumvents the reality that we're talking about banning books in an educational context, in a public school context, which is where most students are getting their education. So more of the same, more of what we've come to expect. What will turn this around? Not the election of Donald Trump. I can assure you. A very faux somber group of Republican members

of the house delivered the impeachment articles against secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas yesterday. I do want to remind you this impeachment is D O a it is dead on arrival. Not only is it absurd to say that despite undocumented immigration under every presidential administration in the modern political era, you know, go back to the 1700s, maybe undocumented immigration meant something different than that. But certainly under Trump, under Obama, under Bush, under Clinton, under H.W. Bush and going back beyond that, we have always seen undocumented immigration to the United States.

All of a sudden, Republicans have decided that the fact that there has been some undocumented immigration under Biden and Mayorkas means that Mayorkas must be impeached. It's absurd. Also, Democrats do have a majority in the Senate, and that is yet another reason why this impeachment is dead on arrival. But here is video of House Republicans making the very somber walk over to the Senate to deliver articles of impeachment against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, desperate for relevance up against the wall for having accomplished nothing. Here they are. By the way, Marjorie Trader Green is in the group. She's these are the impeachment managers.

They will be managing the impeachment of Mayorkas. Dear God. And by the way, I get that this is not you know, this this has a very visual element. We'll get audio in a moment. If you're just listening today, just imagine that the absolute worst that America has to offer on the taxpayer dollar are just walking around delivering articles of impeachment that have no basis in fact and are destined to go nowhere. Imagine that in your mind's eye. Mr. President, the managers on the part of the House of Representatives are present and ready to present the articles of impeachment, which have been preferred by the House of Representatives against Alejandro Nicolas Mayorkas, secretary of the Department

of Homeland Security. There you go. So imagine what they could accomplish if they actually put their time and energy into doing their jobs rather than empty, vapid, pointless political theater. Do something for your country if you are as patriotic as you claim to be and claim to have a monopoly on patriotism. These are absolutely pathetic people. This is going nowhere and you should be furious. Your taxpayer money is wasted on this. It's wasted on it in the House. It's going to be wasted on it in

the Senate in a in an impeachment trial that will go absolutely nowhere, not only because Mayorkas is not deserving of being impeached, but because Democrats have a majority in the Senate and Democrats have already said we don't think there's any reason to impeach this guy. By the way, I don't even think that they'll get every Republican vote to convict in the Senate. There are some mildly or moderately sane Republicans remaining who are just going to say this doesn't make any sense whatsoever. So there are your taxpayer dollars and attempt to distract from the four criminal trials in which their Republican nominee is involved in.

And of course, more big picture, an attempt to distract from the fact that Biden has accomplished much while they have attempted to interfere with all of it. They have nothing to show for themselves and have nothing to justify their reelection in November. They're in trouble. They know it. Let's hope it backfires. Today's sponsor, Ground News, is an app and website that quickly shows you how news is being covered across the political spectrum, adding context and making it easy to understand the polarizing events like the election season that we're in. If you're watching this on YouTube, Donald Trump and Joe Biden secured their party's nominations for a historic presidential

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these things, it really is surprising that we've only had a couple dozen tech issues, which just goes to show it was worth waiting for. The member experience on the new website also significantly improved. So I encourage you to sign up. Go to join Pacman dot com. You can take advantage of the new. I still believe very good low rates or you can use the coupon code save democracy 24 to save about 40 or 50 percent, which makes it an even better deal. Join Pacman dot com is the place to do it. President Joe Biden traveled to Scranton, Pennsylvania yesterday, a place of much lore in the Biden. Biden likes talking about Scranton, I guess I would say. I don't know what word I'm necessarily looking for there.

And President Joe Biden now really starting the 2024 campaign in earnest. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to tell you, hey, this was the most exciting speech I've ever seen. The energy was just unbelievable. But President Joe Biden continuing to soberly and calmly and carefully pick apart the competing vision that his opponent, Donald Trump, has for the United States of America. And certainly part of what makes Trump sort of disconnected from the plight of the average person is that Donald Trump, it's not just that Trump is wealthy, it's that Trump inherited his wealth and was really born

into a way of living that puts him very much at odds with the experience of the average American. You know, people like Donald Trump learned very different lessons. He learned the best way to get rich is inherited. Not a bad way. He learned that paying taxes was something people who work for a living did, not him. He learned that telling people you're fired was something to laugh about. I guess that's how you look at the world when you're in Park Avenue of Mar-a-Lago. But if you grew up in a place like Scranton, nobody handed you anything. Speaker 1 You know, these are carefully crafted political speeches, but there's a lot of truth there. There Trump said he's smart for figuring out how not to pay taxes. He has a history of not paying contractors, working people.

He has a history of grifting. He has a history of selling to his followers anything that he can put his name on. Then it fails. Whether it's Trump stakes or Trump water or whatever the case may be. And so these are at the end of the day, political speeches meant to win an election in November. But they really ring true. And as I've said before, Biden's a multimillionaire. Bernie is at least a millionaire, if not a multimillionaire, including his real estate holdings. But number one, their background had them far more connected for much of their lives to the circumstances

of the average American. But that doesn't even matter. You could be very wealthy your entire life but have figured out the problems facing the average American financially and economically. Trump has not figured that out. Here is more from Biden referring to this wild fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago that Trump held. There are only two presidents on record in all of American history that left office with fewer jobs than when they entered office. Herbert Hoover and yes, Donald Herbert Hoover, Trump. Look, Trump's running together the same trickle-down, failed trickle-down policies. Nothing's changed. Just a few months ago, at a closed-door event in Mar-a-Lago, he told his millionaire and billionaire donors the following. It's a quote,

you're rich as hell and we're going to give you a tax cuts, end of quote. Then they all laughed about it, not because they didn't think it would happen because they knew it will happen if he's elected. How does that make me feel? How does it make you feel? How does it make the people I grew up with feel? Now you don't have to advocate for higher taxes to recognize that the priority of lowering

them for the richest of the rich is both morally inconsistent with what the country should be doing right now and also bad economics. You can argue. And by the way, I mean, I I'm on the left and I'm a social Democrat on the left. I just was interviewed on the iced coffee hour in Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago. And I said, it's not a big thing for me to go around raising taxes, but we certainly shouldn't be lowering them on the very rich loopholes do need to be eliminated. And we do need to rethink some of our spending priorities.

You don't have to go around because a lot of the reactions to Biden's speech yesterday were Biden just wants to raise taxes and raise them on everybody. First of all, no, he doesn't. He's made that clear. And secondly, there's a difference between saying let's not go out of our way to lower taxes for Trump and his ultra rich cronies versus saying we may be taxed enough, particularly at most of the income range. One last comment from Joe Biden yesterday in Scranton, where he did make reference to Donald

Trump and the idea of injecting bleach to prevent or treat covid. That was quite a day several years ago when the pandemic hit. Trump failed the most basic duty any president of the American people, a duty to care and a duty to respond. Remember when he told us, don't worry, this will all be over by Easter. That was Easter of 2020. Remember, remember when he told us literally inject bleach. Bless me, father. Look, think about it. Think about it. Because he failed to care, not only did people die, but millions of Americans lost their jobs, their homes, their livelihoods. On Trump's watch, on Trump's watch of the four years he was president, we lost nearly three

million jobs were lost. All right. So certainly the jobs record is very, very clear. COVID did play a role in that. A reasonably good speech by President Joe Biden. I'm curious what the campaign strategy is going to be with Trump, not in his basement, but in a courtroom. It's not totally clear how much campaign activity Trump's going to be able to do.

My guess is he will be doing rallies on weekends around his criminal trials. We'll see what Biden has in store, but a certainly sensible and accurate critique of what it is Trump brings to the table ideologically from a personal finance standpoint. And it is not what this country needs. Donald Trump falling asleep again in court. So far, his criminal trial has gone on for two days. We are in day three right now. Trump falling asleep during 100% of the first two days. Media reports Trump fell asleep again at day two of hush money trial. Several reporters shared on the air that Trump fell asleep in court. CNN contributor CNN

contributor Norm Eisen tweeted Trump is asleep again at 11 a.m. This was corroborated by others. MSNBC's Yasmin Vasuian passed along contributor Lisa Rubin's observation that Trump is having his eyes closed and leaning to the left. Let's take a listen to that report from MSNBC. More note, I want to say it's more of Trump's demeanor inside the courtroom so far today. His eyes are closed. He is leaning to the left a little bit quiet. His arms crossed as well. That's what we're getting from inside the court. Lisa Rubin given us some of those notes. Yes. So Trump, very, very sleepy. And despite running against Sleepy Joe, it seems to be Trump that is really the sleepiest of everybody. Also,

very interestingly, Trump was warned you will be jailed if you don't show up to court every day. Trump making a number of requests and you could even call them demands. He wants to mistrial in order. I should be. He doesn't want a mistrial. He wants to skip trial tomorrow in order to go to the Supreme Court to sit in the audience during arguments about presidential immunity. He wants to miss skip trial next month in order to go to his son Barron's high school graduation, despite the claim from Michael Cohen that Trump has never gone to any of his kids high school graduation. So it seems like that may be a ruse. And the judge is warning Trump, you will be jailed.

Here is a media report. Judge Juan Merchan issuing Trump a stern warning. Show up or be arrested. According to MSNBC, vice president of editorial and booking Merchan told Trump, if you do not show up, there will be an arrest. And that would be certainly an extraordinary moment in American history to see a former president under criminal indictment during trial arrested for skipping trial. So Trump's demeanor, certainly bizarre.

In a moment, we are going to talk about Donald Trump actually lashing out, kind of reacting to a potential juror. The latest news is that as of this moment that I'm recording this, by the time you hear this, it may be different. As of this moment, seven of the jurors have been selected. A number of jurors have been no goad and dismissed. We're going to actually hear from one of those jurors very soon. But we are moving forward on this trial and it is believed that there will be opening arguments on Monday. I also want to go back on what I just said. It I think they were going to have Wednesdays off. So maybe actually today is not day three of the trial and day three

will be tomorrow. I will follow up on that and let you know. Let's now talk about what's going on with the jurors yesterday during the second day of jury selection in Donald Trump's first of four criminal trials. Trump reportedly lashed out visibly and audibly reacting to a potential juror and was told by the judge, you got to stop that right now. Take a look at this quote. I will not have any jurors intimidated. Trump admonished by judge on day two of criminal case. Judge Juan Merchan slammed Trump for his audible remarks and gestures towards a potential juror. It's like a baby in the courtroom, a nearly 80 year old baby in the courtroom. Take a look at this from the independent.

The Manhattan judge presiding over Trump's hush money trial slammed the former president for audibly commenting about a juror and gesticulating towards her quote. I won't tolerate it. I will not have any jurors intimidated in this courtroom, said an incensed New York justice, Juan Merchan. I want to make that crystal clear. The former president's legal team, after questioning a first round of potential jurors, asked to speak with one potential juror who appeared to post a video on social media showing New Yorkers celebrating Trump's defense lawyer, Todd Blanche, said it appeared to post a video on social media showing New Yorkers celebrating Trump's defense lawyer, Todd Blanche, said it appeared to be anti-Trump. She said, meaning the juror,

she said, regardless of her political views or allegations about them, she affirmed she would remain a fair and impartial juror if brought onto the case. After she left the room, the judge lambasted the former president sitting behind his attorneys as a criminal defendant for his audible comments and for gesticulating towards the juror. I don't want a juror on this panel who lies to us, who misleads us as to his or her views about Mr. Trump, adding he believed the juror was credible. He denied Trump's attempts to strike her from the pool. So you have a situation here where Trump and his lawyers, particularly in the court of public opinion, have been arguing Trump can't possibly get a fair trial in Manhattan because Manhattan is very left

leaning. Now, I hate to break it to Trump and to others. This is an argument that's been tried, attempted many times when it comes to jury selection. If you look at a very red state like Utah or you look at a very blue state like New York or like Massachusetts, you still have tons of people that are of the opposite or non traditional. What we might say for that state political view. In Utah, you still have many, many, many Democratic voters, more than enough to assemble a jury of six or 12 people. In Massachusetts, I think something like 35 or 40 percent of the state still voted for Donald Trump.

And really what you want is not people that are biased one way or the other, but individuals who are going to come to trial with an open mind make a decision based only on the evidence and not bringing personal biases into it. So the idea that because one state or city or borough has 60, 70 or 80 percent individuals on one political side that you can't get six or 12 individuals to be impartial and appropriate jurors is laughable. The reason that this case is being tried in New York and in Manhattan is because that's where the alleged crimes took place. Now, later on in the show, we're going to hear from Alina Haba, who is insisting that there's a political motivation behind the trial being in Manhattan.

Of course, it just so happens that that's where the crimes took place. That's where they were investigated and that's where they are being tried. This is a very common thing. Good for the judge for making it clear to Trump that he can't behave in this way. Trump behaving like the petulant child that he is. The question becomes, is Trump going to continue this behavior? And if he does, if he does, is the judge really going to have the whatever? Call it what you want. The audacity, the strength, the presence of mind, the determination to hold Trump accountable in the way that any other criminal defendant would be held

accountable. That's what remains to be seen. Did you know that Americans pay twice as much for their wine as the rest of the world? The reason is because of laws that date back to prohibition that ensure the right of wholesalers to make a big margin. It's actually insane, which is why I love our sponsor, Naked Wines so much. Naked Wines is a subscription service that seamlessly connects you to the finest independent winemakers on the planet.

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precisely to your taste. So go to Naked Wines dot com slash Pacman. Click enter voucher in the top right and enter Pacman for both the code and the password to get six bottles for just twenty nine There's a reason why many criminal defense attorneys suggest, implore, for twenty nine ninety nine with shipping included. The info is in the podcast notes. There's a reason why many criminal defense attorneys suggest implore, sometimes even demand of their clients. If I'm going to represent you, do not speak to the media. Do not say a word. That's not the way it works when you're representing Donald Trump as a criminal defendant. And Donald Trump yesterday, when he arrived in court for day two of his first of four criminal trials, he seemed to essentially confirm the facts of the case against him. He's not conceding that it is a crime.

That would be, of course, for the the the process of the trial to determine. But here is Trump saying, I was paying a lawyer. I marked it down as a legal expense or an accountant did. And that's what it was. We called it a legal expense. And of course, yes, we understand that that's what you did. And in reality, it was a campaign expense and it was a form of election interference. That's what being alleged. You usually don't want to speak to the media during a criminal trial and admit to the facts of the case that are being argued in court. Right. should have been thrown out a long time ago. If you look at Jonathan Turley, Andy McCarthy, all great legal scholars,

there's not one that we've been able to find that said this should be a trial. I called a, I was paying a lawyer and marked it down as a legal expense, some accountant, I didn't know, marked it down as a legal expense. That's exactly what it was. And you've been indicted over that?

I should be right now in Pennsylvania, in Florida, in many other states. North Carolina, Georgia, campaigning. This is all coming from the Biden White House because the guy can't put two sentences together. He can't campaign. They're using this in order to try and win an election. And it's not working that way. It's working the opposite way. So check it out.

Legal expenses, legal expenses. We know, Mr. Trump, we know you marked it down as a legal expense. We know you were working with a lawyer. We know that you gave the money to Michael Cohen to get Stormy Daniels to shut up and not potentially ruin your campaign. The one little problem, it's just a minor detail. It is very much not a legal expense to shut up the adult film actress that you had an affair with so that she doesn't ruin your political campaign.

It is not a legal expense. That's the problem. And so Trump essentially stipulating 90 percent of the facts of the case here. And this is why lawyers don't want you talking to the media. Here is CNN's Dana Bash, by the way, fact checking the claim that Joe Biden is behind all of this. Trump mentioned that in the video I just played for you, Joe. Joe Biden both can't put two words together and has orchestrated the multi jurisdictional prosecution for all sorts of different alleged crimes of Trump. It's really quite a demented guy to be able to pull that off. Dana Batch says there's no evidence of that. I should be right now in Pennsylvania, in Florida, in many other states, North Carolina, Georgia, campaigning.

This is all coming from the Biden White House because the guy can't put two sentences together. He can't campaign. He's using this in order to try and win an election. And it's not working that way. It's working the opposite way. Speaker 1 Before we get to our panel, I want to note that Trump's claim about Biden orchestrating the trial is baseless. The case was brought by a New York district attorney. There's no evidence that Joe Biden was involved at all. Speaker 1

All right. So I don't know that it really bears repeating again, but she is, of course, completely correct. And then lastly, as always, Trump is the perpetual victim. Every system has been weaponized against him. It's so unfair. Everyone else is behaving terribly. He's behaving perfectly. And it's just such a sad thing that he is so weak and under the under the thumb of everybody else. Speaker 5 Every legal pundit, every legal scholar said this trial is a disgrace. We have a Trump hating judge. We have a judge who should be on this case. He's totally conflicted.

But this is a trial that should never happen. It should have been thrown out a long time ago. All right. So this from that earlier segment where Trump insists that this is just the mere fact that he has to answer to these charges is part of the wrongdoing. He is being assailed. They are hitting him with justice like a weapon targeted against an undeserving. All right. Maybe there's just evidence that you did all of these different things. So this is going to get very interesting very quickly. The latest report is that opening arguments are going to start Monday. There is

speculation that Melania may potentially be a witness in this trial. It's going to get very real, very quickly. Trump wildly triggered just by the process of jury selection. Just wait until the trial in chief gets going. And of course, no day of legal analysis is complete without hearing from Trump's failed former lawyer, Alina Haba, who went on Fox News. Let's talk about that next. Multiple reports now that Trump has been sleeping in court both of the first two days of his first of four criminal trials. Trump's failed former lawyer, Alina Haba, was interviewed by Fox News as Martha McCallum yesterday, and she denies she denies that Trump was sleeping in court. Have a second. But, you know, there's two reports both days of

him falling asleep in court. Any reaction to that? Is he tired? Has he just been running around a lot or any thoughts on that? If anything, he's probably brutally bored. I mean, it's it's it's painful. They make him sit there through jury selection. The first day was procedural. But now, you know, I've heard that report. It's unlikely I know him.

I sat through trial after trial with him. That never happens. So President Trump is is incredibly focused. Yeah. Now, who do you believe? The close to 10 reporters who saw Trump sleeping both days and were in the courtroom or his own former lawyer turned media spokesperson who makes money by working with Trump, who was not actually in the courtroom on this particular day. You tell me who you believe.

Now then we get to the really interesting parts of this interview. As interesting as it is to hear Alina Haba say, of course, Trump wasn't sleeping. We get to the part where she doesn't seem to understand why the trial is in New York. Alina Haba in this portion of the interview suggests that there is only politics for why this trial is happening in New York rather than it's the place where the alleged crimes took place. Sure. Thank you. I think that we're seeing a painful, unfortunately, selection because we're in the state of New York, which is definitely by design. There is no question that Brad bringing this in New York, look at the Fulton County D.A.

and so on and so forth. Washington, D.C., these venues are selected exactly for this reason, Martha, so that they have a blue state with a blue pool. There's only. There you go. So I don't know if she paid someone to show up and take the bar exam for her or if she knows that she's spewing nonsense for political reasons and that what she's saying isn't actually true. The reason that this trial is in New York is that's where the alleged crimes took place. The reason that the Washington, D.C. trial is in D.C. is that that's where the alleged election interference took place.

The reason that the Georgia case is in Georgia and in Fulton County, it's because that's the state where it took place. It was investigated in the capital, which is where the primary investigators and prosecutors work. And thus, that is where Donald Trump has been charged. There's no conspiracy here other than every single one. Well, what? Why not try Trump in Montana or Utah where he could get a much better jury? Because none of the alleged crimes took place there. It's very simple. What about the question of Trump in prison?

Alina Haba was asked during this very same interview by Martha McCallum, is Trump worried about being thrown in jail for violating all of the admonishments placed by the judge? Alina Haba says if he does go to jail, it'll make him even more like Nelson Mandela. Oh, boy. How disconnected from reality do you have to be to think there's anything in common that Trump shares with with Nelson Mandela? Speaker 1 These jury members are chosen, which is obviously something that's a bit of a concern. But I want to go back to my question before I let you go. Do you think that this threat of 30 days in jail will change the social media actions of the former president in any way? Or will he keep doing this?

I don't think so. I think that he is respectful, but there has to be boundaries and we should appeal it. It's currently on appeal. So there's also a due process element to this. We have items on appeal in this case that have not yet been heard. Is he concerned about the possibility of being sent to jail as a ramification of these? He's not. He would love it. Concerned about being sent to jail. I don't. I think like anybody,

he's concerned about going to jail. But if they put him in jail for his First Amendment right, he will be like Nelson Mandela. I mean, that would be just absurd. And frankly, they'll win the election. I just have a second. But, you know, there's two reports both days of him falling asleep. Speaker 2 All right. Now they now that they go to the falling asleep stuff, you know, it would be a little bit different. For Trump to be thrown in jail for attacking the daughter of a judge who has nothing to do with the trial, then Nelson Mandela. And the funny part about it is the people who see Trump as a pseudo deity. I don't know that they're necessarily that big on Nelson Mandela. In other words,

I don't think people on the left will see Trump as a Mandela like figure if he is thrown in jail for violating gag orders or skipping trial or whatever the case it is. And I don't think the people on the right see Mandela as a figure to be admired. So I don't know that they're going to liken Trump to Nelson Mandela either. It's all very weird, but I don't see Trump as a Mandela like figure. I wonder how much Alina even knows about Nelson Mandela. So there is the commentary. This is not exactly, you know, sometimes there are trials where you look at the cable news establishment and you really have legal commentators that are an analyst that are prestigious and knowledgeable.

Fox News and Newsmax are not exactly hearing from the best when it comes to legal opinion. But I'm sure we will continue to hear from Alina Haba. Let's take a break. I want to talk about the broader circumstances in the presidential campaign that is indeed still taking place, as well as some other things. So we'll take a quick break. Make sure you're subscribed on YouTube, YouTube dot com slash David Pakman show. I have been tracking my genealogy for years and the service I've always used to put my family tree together is MyHeritage, which is why I asked them to be a sponsor. MyHeritage is the number one family history

service because of how easy they make it to discover your origins and relatives with over 19 billion records. You don't need to know anything about genealogy. Just let MyHeritage do the work. For example, if you're watching this on YouTube, you can see their instant discoveries feature here lets me add an entire branch of 28 people connected to my great great grandfather, to my family tree, all with their info and photos. I found all kinds of amazing, unexpected things. We found this incredible photo here of an immigration record from the US Canada border crossing for

a relative born in 1895. I had no idea about this. It is super interesting. I'm showing some more of my discoveries here. It just connects you to your roots, where you come from. It's also given me a lot of quality time with my family showing them these discoveries. You can try my heritage totally free for 14 days. Go to David Pakman dot com slash my heritage. During that two week free trial, there are a ton of amazing things you can find out about your family and where you come from. Go to David Pakman dot com slash my heritage. The link is in the podcast notes. It's happening slowly, but it's continuing. We are seeing changing dynamics in the 2024 presidential election. It is not cause for any of us to say we're going to stay home. I'm putting that right up front now. But it is certainly

interesting to see how the dynamics and the texture of this campaign are changing. And in particular, we are seeing the approval rating for Donald Trump absolutely collapse. Now, the start of his first criminal trial underway. It is not yet necessarily having an impact on the how will you vote polling question, but it is still an interesting element of this to look at. So let's discuss Newsweek reports. Donald Trump's polling numbers are dropping, writing Trump is losing support as Biden is gaining it with seven months to go until the election. Biden has extended his lead over Trump from one point in March to four points in April in the Reuters Ipsos poll. The dip in support

for Trump continues the trend throughout the year. In January, Trump was plus five. Then it was plus one and then minus one and then minus four. Trump has also fallen in surveys conducted by The New York Times. Sienna Biden was found to have almost completely erased Trump's lead in an April 13th poll after being down five in March, riding a wave of momentum in April that was virtually tied. So that is a change of five points. Now, I don't think it's necessary to point to an overwhelmingly rosy picture. This is still going to be close and Donald Trump may still win. And if we zoom out a little bit and instead of just picking two polls and looking at how they've changed over time, if we look at the broader landscape, you see that it

is much, much tighter than what just those two polls would suggest. So if you look at the YouGov economist poll, it's tied. And that's with Kennedy polling only three percent. Now, the good news here is that we really don't want to see Robert F. Kennedy or Cornel West or Jill Stein polling in the mid single digits or even higher. There were polls two months ago where Kennedy was polling 12, 14, 16. That has the serious potential to really disrupt and help Donald Trump get elected, which, by the way, seems to be the goal of at least some of the staffers of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. So Kennedy, West and Stein together, only four percent in the YouGov poll. That one is tied. The Echelon Insights poll has Biden plus one in a three way race and Biden plus three in a head to

head in that poll. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. still has 11%. Then there is the New York Times Siena poll that I just mentioned, which still has Trump leading by one. And then as you look, there are a bunch of polls in which Trump is leading by a little bit. There is an outlier active vote poll that has Trump plus six. That is not a highly rated pollster. And then you do see a bunch of polling that has Biden ahead. The Ipsos Reuters poll has Biden ahead. Morning Consult has Biden ahead in among registered voters. A different sample has it as Trump plus one. So the point here is it is looking better for Joe Biden than it was two months ago. But this is no party where we say this is going

to be a blowout victory. If we zoom out structurally, presidents tend to get reelected. Presidents are even more likely to get reelected when the economy is pretty solid. Trump's criminal trials certainly don't seem to be helping him. They may not be hurting, but they don't seem to be helping. And of course, pulling him off of the campaign trail may have some kind of deleterious effect. So I plan to vote and I don't think it matters which state you vote in. We should all plan to vote the there is an asymmetric level of risk here in the sense that voting, not voting. It's just one vote.

Does one vote really matter? Remember that if everybody who thought to themselves this election is unlikely to come down to just me, maybe I'll stay home. If everybody who thought that did stay home, it actually is a number of voters that could make a difference and flip the results. So let's all plan to vote. We like seeing Trump's approval declining. We like seeing Biden climbing in the polls, but it is still particularly if you believe Rachel Biddeoff are on this with regard to it's too early to even really know what the full electorate wants. We need to wait. She says to Labor Day, which is

feeling very late to me, but she's the expert. I'm not. If you believe that we still may see changes over the next five months that could completely upend this election. I'll be voting. I hope you will, too. The continued collapse of Trump's truth social stock, the Trump media and technology group continues, and it is now down 65 percent from the peak. The new plan is that Trump and his cronies plan to start diluting the stock to high heaven. Take a look at these numbers. This is wild, wild stuff. Trump's truth social stake shrinks by three billion dollars after the stock tanks shares are down about 60 percent from the recent peak after the first three weeks of trading. Here's the chart. And as you can see from that peak, the stock has declined 65 percent, losing roughly two thirds of its value.

I still I'm going to be very honest with the audience. I can speculate. I still don't know what the game is here. The initial idea was that this entire going public thing was a way to funnel money to Trump at a time where he desperately needs money to cover legal fees. The problem with that hypothesis is that Trump's shares, if it is to be believed, and I believe it is, are currently locked up for a six month period. But would there be other ways for Trump to extract money from this in order to cover his legal fees and pay for all the things that that he has to pay for? Could he get loans against his stock?

Maybe except he may already have done that. He may already be highly leveraged. Is this a way to launder money from Trump cronies into Trump and Trump's organization. We just don't have the answer here. We know Trump loves a good money grab. We know if you go to Trump and you say, hey, here's an idea for how to bring in a bunch of money, sell some Bibles with Lee Greenwood or let's go public with the Trump Media and Technology Group. What we do know is that Truth Social does not have the economics to support the market cap that it did. Truth social lost money. Its revenue was only a few million bucks and reportedly lost close to

somewhere between 45 and 50 million dollars over the recent reporting period. Truth social doesn't have any particularly compelling intellectual property that would make it valuable. It doesn't have a particularly large user base that would make it valuable despite not having revenue. It's not on the cusp of any big breakthroughs technologically or from any other perspective. So there is really no serious justification for the Trump media and technology group to ever have had the market cap that it had. The market cap now reported by Google Finance as down to three point five billion after being significantly higher than that. And as you can see here, a major, major, major decline. Truth Social did

announce they are getting into streaming, which I can only assume is going to be yet another failure of the style that we have been seeing so far. Could this be Donald Trump's next bankruptcy? Maybe there always seems to be some bankruptcy around the corner for Trump. We have a voicemail number. That number is 2192 David P. You can call that number absolutely anytime you want. Many people call in the middle of the night to give me their thoughts. Here is a viewer. I don't know that they're really a committed viewer to this show. Here is a person who says they stumbled across the show on directcTV and are now canceling DirecTV because I am a socialist and I am a moron.

Let's take a listen to this. Speaker 5 Hi, I'm just I just went past your show on DirecTV. I'm canceling it. Yeah, because you're morons. I'm sorry. I'm not a hateful person. No. But I got to cancel DirecTV because I'm paying for this stupid shit. Right.

I'm very sorry. Like I say, I'm not, but you're idiots. You're socialists. You're morons. You're misguided. And I got to get rid of this stuff because I'm paying for it. Right. So if you go away and crawl back in your hole, that'd be great.

There you go. So what I can tell you is I may be a moron. I'm reserving judgment on that. I may be a moron. I am absolutely not a socialist. Anyone who watches this program knows that. But the funny thing is, presumably this guy has stuff he watches on DirecTV.

DirecTV and we have nothing to do with DirecTV. We're on a channel on DirecTV called Free Speech TV. I don't even think DirecTV funds Free Speech TV. Free Speech TV does fundraisers for funding. And I don't know that there is any connection whatsoever between DirecTV and Free Speech TV does fundraisers for funding. And I don't know that there is any connection whatsoever between direct TV and free speech TV financially. And so I don't think this guy's hurting anyone but himself. And I guess direct TV, which maybe he wants to do, but a little bit misguided, a little bit misguided. And by all means, go and do absolutely whatever you want, sir.

But you are certainly not hurting me by canceling DirecTV. And you may be you may be hurting yourself. A couple of interesting guests that are going to be coming up that I do want to mention. This is there's some really, really good stuff coming up on the show. We are going to have the great Joseph Stiglitz on the program. This is a very much requested guest for years. We haven't been able to get him. He is going to be on the program. Let me see if I can figure out exactly when it is coming up at some point. He is a very well known left wing economist. He's in his eighties. Very much looking forward to speaking with him. Brian

Kaplan is going to be back on the program. He has a new book about housing. I have laid out my housing proposal. Please don't tune out, everybody. It's not as boring as it sounds. I've laid out my housing proposal, which includes about 10 different points, including 30 percent of it is we've got to build way more housing. Brian Kaplan has a new book about housing. I will present my plan to him.

He will evaluate it. We will see what he thinks needs to be done on housing. I will present my plan to him. He will evaluate it. We will see what he thinks needs to be done on housing. I think it's going to be great. Next, we are going to have Johan Hari back on the program. He has been on the program before. He has a new book about the rise of the weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Ozempic and however else you want to pronounce it and the other one. So we'll be speaking to Johan Hari about his new book about the weight loss drugs and fellow Argentinian Federico Finkelstein is going to be back on the program. He has a new book about the growth of global fascism. It is an extraordinary book. He will be back on the program. And I think that that's going to be great as well. So really, really great guests coming up. We just had Congressman Richie Torres on all things to

look forward to. We have a tremendous bonus show for you today. Yet again, I spoke to Richie Torres about this yesterday. He said, I don't know what Republicans are going to do about the speaker of the House. MAGA Mike Johnson's speakership does appear to be in danger. And we are going to talk about that on today's bonus show. The armorer on the movie Rust, which is where Alec Baldwin accidentally shot and killed someone. The armorer has been sentenced to 18 months in prison. Is this right? Is it fair? We will discuss. And Robert F. Kennedy Jr. offhandedly mentioned that Trump's team came to him and said, would you be Trump's running mate, his vice presidential running mate? Reportedly, this is being denied.

But RFK Jr. says, no, they came to me. They said, would you be his VP? Very interesting, in particular with regard to the dynamics of how we should be interpreting and analyzing Robert F. Kennedy's candidacy. So all of those stories and more will be on today's bonus show. Please sign up at join Pacman dot com. The bonus show where you want to make money. Everybody else that makes money to fund themselves is bad. Yes. Please sign up at join Pacman dot com. Get instant access to the bonus show. Alex

Jones hates that we have a bonus show and that we have members and all of this stuff. And we are doing what we can to grow our support to one percent of our audience. Join Pacman dot com. I'll see you on the bonus show and I'll be back tomorrow with a new program.