The David Pakman Show - 5/1/24: Biden to reschedule cannabis, Trump wants to monitor women's pregnancies

Episode Date: May 1, 2024

-- On the Show: -- Kyle Sweetser, a former Trump supporter from Alabama, joins David to discuss what changed his mind into ultimately supporting Joe Biden in 2024 -- The Biden administration will have cannabis rescheduled from Schedule I to Schedule III, a major victory for advocates of ending the drug war -- Donald Trump suggests he's okay with the monitoring of women's pregnancies and the potential prosecution of women who obtain abortions -- Failed former President Donald Trump is held in contempt of court and threatened with jail -- A feeble and diminished Trump shuffles away from microphones on his way into criminal court -- Donald Trump's ability to speak coherently evaporates during a would-be softball interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity -- Donald Trump's lawyers are using a number of techniques to try to keep him awake during his criminal trial, but none are working -- Alina Habba, Donald Trump's on-again-off-again lawyer, admits that Trump could indeed be heading directly into a conviction -- Trump-supporting voicemail caller claims that David has no actual viewers, rather only "chatbots" -- On the Bonus Show: FBI data shows considerable drop in crime, 8 newspapers sue OpenAI & Microsoft for copyright infringement, immigration named top problem for third straight month, much more... 🧦 Strideline: Use code PAKMAN for 20% off at https://strideline.com 🖼️ Aura Frames: Use code PAKMAN for $30 OFF & free shipping at https://auraframes.com/pakman ✉️ StartMail: Get 50% OFF a year subscription at https://startmail.com/pakman 👍 Use code PAKMAN for 10% off the Füm Journey Pack at https://tryfum.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

We start today with some major news from the war on drugs or trying to end it. Quite frankly, we've been waiting for this for a while. We thought it might happen. It's now moving forward. NBC News reports the Biden administration plans to reclassify marijuana known to some as cannabis, easing restrictions nationwide. Cannabis is currently classified alongside heroin and LSD. The administration is expected to reschedule it in a category that includes steroids and Tylenol with codeine. We will talk about why this is such a major deal. This is there are a couple of caveats here which we will discuss. But the bigger story here is that I just continue to be pleasantly surprised that Joe Biden is doing things in areas that, quite frankly, during the campaign, I didn't think he cared much about when Joe Biden kind of

paid lip service to student loan debt forgiveness during the campaign. I didn't feel as though this was something he genuinely cared about. And yet Joe Biden has done more student loan debt forgiveness than any president in history. And he's trying to do more and he's only not able to do more to the extent that the Supreme Court stops him. I don't know whether he personally cares about it. It doesn't really matter. It's sort of like, listen, I think Trump personally is pro choice, but now he's saying he's up for punishing the women again.

Doesn't matter what you personally believe. What matters is how you govern. And we'll get to Trump and abortion in a moment. Similarly, I never really got the impression that Joe Biden was particularly concerned with cannabis and the war on drugs. But here we are. NBC News writes The Biden administration will take a historic step, an historic step toward easing federal restrictions on cannabis

with plans to announce an interim rule soon reclassifying the drug for the first time since the Controlled Substances Act was enacted more than 50 years ago. The reason that this is a big deal is it relates to legal and regulatory issues, medical issues, criminal justice, prisons and in incarceration, so many different things. The DEA, back to the article, is expected to approve an opinion by the Department of Health and Human Services that marijuana should be reclassified from the strictest schedule one to the less stringent schedule three. This would be the first time that the U.S. government officially

acknowledges the potential medical benefits and start studying them in earnest. A lot of this is about the fact that schedule one means the most dangerous drugs with the greatest addictive potential and no medical value. You can say a lot of things about cannabis, but we know that there is at least some medical value and it is not one of the most addictive, addictive drugs up there with heroin, for example. This will take some months. There is still likely to be personal criminality at the federal level from having large amounts. This is just a rescheduling. It is it does not change that criminal justice framework quite yet. But there's a bunch of different reasons why this is important. Number one, legal and regulatory

flexibility when a drug is scheduled. One, not only is it considered to have no accepted medical uses and a high potential for abuse, it also limits the ability to research it. When you reschedule a drug to schedule three, researchers will have readier access to cannabis. The legal framework for conducting studies on medical benefits and safety will be opened up. Banking and business operations, businesses that deal with cannabis as schedule three will be more easily able to access banking services and business insurance. That's another element of this that we've talked about that makes it really difficult in states where this is legal recreationally or medicinally tax implications.

Cannabis businesses would potentially have fewer tax restrictions because right now there's something called IRS Rule 280 E and it says that businesses dealing with schedule one substances can't deduct ordinary business expenses. It's not about giving a tax handout to cannabis related businesses. It's clearly it shouldn't be schedule one and be restricted in that way. And then rescheduling could and it should open the door to reducing the severity of legal penalties associated with possession. There still will be some, but it should look more

like the schedule three substances rather than schedule one. And also there's the public perception aspect of this. When you recognize, hey, there's some medical utility here by rescheduling, you can shift public perception, which will have the follow on effect more more than likely of leading to further acceptance and further legislative reform, decriminalization, legalization at the state level. So this is a big deal. It will take some months. It may not get the attention it deserves.

But another aspect of this with which we can be pleasantly surprised. Donald Trump now says that if states want to put in place laws to monitor the pregnancies of women, that that's something that he would be OK with them doing. If states want to prosecute women who get abortions, well, his new let the states do whatever the hell they want policy would allow for that. Donald Trump did an interview with Time magazine. Now, I will warn you, it is a written interview in order to assimilate the information contained therein. One would need to read the interview. And it is extraordinarily disturbing. It's worth reading this entire thing. But some of the lowlights or some people might call them highlights. I think that they are lowlights

include the following moments. Trump was asked, do you think states should monitor women's pregnancies so they can know if they've gotten an abortion after the ban? And Trump says, I think they might do that. Again, you'll have to speak to the individual states. Trump is saying if that's something states want to do, it's certainly within the purview and framework that he is comfortable with. Now, let's not go overboard. Trump is not saying I want states monitoring women's pregnancies. But the fact that he isn't immediately saying that is an insane authoritarian intrusion on medical privacy and medical freedom tells us that he is willing to

allow states to do whatever the hell they want. It's the as long as you vote for me, have at it Haas mentality, really dystopianly dangerous and authoritarian. Trump was then asked prosecuting women for getting abortions after the ban. Are you comfortable with it? And Trump says the states are going to say rather than say, I'm OK with states having different limits on abortion, but we're not prosecuting women. Absolutely not. Trump says the states are going to say again, saying if that's what states want to do, then that's what states are going to do rather than the sensible and obvious position. No, we're not going to prosecute women. Now, you might recall that Trump at one point

early in his 2016 campaign did say there has to be some kind of punishment for the women. He eventually backtracked on that because he was told, no, no, no, no, no. We are anti-abortion, but we don't say prosecute the women. But remember this moment from the 2016 campaign, famous moment now with Chris Matthews. Do you believe in punishment for abortion? Yes or no? The answer is that there has to be some form of punishment for the woman. Yeah, it has to be some form for the women. Yeah, there has to be some form. There has to be some form. Trump asked in the time interview, do you think women should be able to get the abortion pill Mifepristone?

And Trump says, well, I have an opinion on that, but I'm not going to explain. I'm not going to say it yet. So at least for now, Trump not even saying, of course, women should be able to get that medication. And then lastly, on the issue of political violence, Trump was asked, Mr. President, in our last conversation, you said you weren't worried about political violence in connection with the November election. You said, I think we're going to win and there won't be violence. What if you don't win, sir? And Trump says, I think we're going to win. And if we don't win,

you know, it depends. It always depends on the fairness of an election. So Trump here is saying as far as violence, if he doesn't win and it's unfair as he perceives it, then maybe there will be violence and maybe it would be the right thing as far as Donald Trump is concerned. So listen, to go back to the abortion aspect of this, it's critical to understand that none of this is about Donald Trump's sincerely or passionately held beliefs about abortion. Realistically, Trump is still pro choice. He's been pro choices entire life. I believe Trump is still pro choice.

What this is about is Trump's willingness to do anything politically that he thinks the people most likely to vote for him are likely to want. It doesn't make him any less dangerous that privately he's pretty obviously pro choice. Arguably it's more dangerous because Trump knows what is right, but it's irrelevant. It is supplanted. What is right in Trump's mind is supplanted by his desire for power and his willingness to say, do whatever you want as long as you vote for me. It is dangerous, dangerous stuff. And we have no

choice but to do everything we can to prevent him from getting another four years. And listen, in our interview last week or the week before with that former Trump supporter, a gay Trump supporter who's married to his husband and said, listen, personally, I believe Trump is in favor of gay marriage, gay rights. I don't think Trump is homophobic. It doesn't change the fact that Trump's coalition is made up of some of the most vile, xenophobic, anti-Semitic and homophobic elements. What Trump personally believes is less relevant.

And we said it earlier with regard to Joe Biden. I don't really know if Joe Biden personally cares much about student loan debt forgiveness. I just don't know. I don't know if Joe Biden personally cares much about cannabis decriminalization, legalization. But with regard to the way Joe Biden is running his administration, more student loan debt forgiveness than any president in history, rescheduling cannabis out of Schedule one to Schedule three. Does it matter what he personally believes if he's doing the right things? The inverse is true with Trump. Does it matter if Trump personally has no issue with LGBT Americans or people in general?

They don't have to be Americans. If Trump is pro choice, does it matter if those are Trump's personal beliefs, if he is advancing an agenda that is very much the opposite? And that's where we find ourselves today. So we have to vote based on what they will do publicly, not based on what they might personally believe, because what matters, you women who want to have the option to decide with their doctors and loved ones about what's best for them medically. They don't care whether Trump personally is OK with abortion. If he is pushing this political package, it's bad for those women regardless. Let's take a very

quick break. We will hear from a sponsor or two unless you're listening, of course, to the members only commercial free podcast feed, and then we'll come back with much more. I often struggle to find a good pair of socks that fits right and is comfortable. Our sponsor, Strideline, have developed the most comfortable socks on Earth. They have it trademarked. And it's true. They really are that comfortable. I love my Strideline socks. Strideline has spent years developing extraordinarily comfortable, functional socks that you just have to try to understand. Every stride line sock gives you zoned cushioning, direct compression with a contour fit and hydrophobic moisture wicking to prevent the rubbing and the smells. Stride line is also

officially a partner of the NFL, MLB, NCAA and Major League Soccer. So Stride Line is where you can go to keep your feet warm on game day. I picked up these awesome New England Patriots socks, even though the Patriots are OK. Anyway, I also love Stride Line because they offer socks made from recycled plastic bottles that come out of the ocean so you can make your feet and the earth more comfortable. And Stride Line supports what we do at The David Pakman Show. Another great reason to support them. Go enhance your comfort with a 20 percent discount only for The David Pakman Show. No other show is getting this discount. Use code Pacman for 20 percent off at Stride Line dot com. That's S.T.R.I.D.E. Line dot com. Get 20 percent off with code Pacman. The info is in the podcast notes.

Sweaters, candles, the dreaded bathrobe. Unfortunately, Mother's Day gifts can be a little predictable and boring, which is why an aura frame is the perfect gift to mix things up this year. Name the best digital photo frame by Wirecutter. Aura frames are guaranteed to bring joy to moms of all ages. I don't live super close to my parents, so giving them an aura frame with pictures of the baby was a perfect gift. Both I and they can add pictures to the frame using the aura app. No USB, just infinite cloud photo storage where it all happens seamlessly over Wi-Fi. Super easy. Not only will she be grateful, it's not another sweater. She'll also love that an aura frame gets she means to see more of you. Right now,ura has a great deal for Mother's Day. Go to Aura frames dot com slash Pacman and use the code Pacman for thirty dollars off plus free shipping

on their best selling frame. The link is in the description. Terms and conditions apply. The David Pakman show does depend on your support. You can get the full membership experience, the full David Pakman show experience by signing up at join Pacman dot com. It's quick. It's easy. Thank you so much, David. as well as commercial free audio and video streams of the show, which you can get access to hours earlier than the show is made public. A lot of really great things attached to membership. And you can sign up at join Pacman dot com. Donald Trump has been held in contempt of court and threatened with jail. But will the judge have the testicular fortitude to jail Trump if he violates the gag order again? Associated Press reports hush money trial judge raises threat of jail as he finds Trump violated gag order, finds him nine thousand dollars. Donald Trump was held in contempt of

court Tuesday and fined nine grand for repeatedly violating a gag order that barred him from making public statements about witnesses, jurors and others connected to his New York hush money case. If he does it again, the judge warned he could be jailed. Prosecutors said Trump violated the gag order 10 times. The judge said it was only nine. Trump stared down at the table in front of him as the judge read the ruling, frowning slightly, frowning slightly. It is being described as a stinging rebuke. But does this thing actually have teeth now with 30 minutes to go before the 2 15 p.m.

deadline? Donald Trump removed some of the truth central or truth social posts. Truth central. Right. That the judge found violated the gag order. And the question now becomes, is it really plausible that Trump is going to end up in jail? We reported to you last week that the Secret Service has started sort of making preparations

and answering the question, how exactly would we protect Trump if indeed he was sent to a couple of nights in the local jail? The answer wasn't completely clear. I hope that the next time Trump thumbs his nose at these restrictions, jail is the next step. You can almost be guaranteed that Trump is going to violate the gag order again. If I'm totally honest, I doubt Trump is going to violate the gag order again. If I'm totally honest, I doubt Trump is going to end up in jail. And we ask about the two tier justice system. Trump claims there's a

two tier justice system. Democrats are treated one way. Republicans are treated another way. Certainly doesn't seem to be evidence of that. But it does appear that Donald Trump is getting special treatment, special treatment, to say the least, which includes being allowed to endlessly, endlessly violate the gag orders here, there and everywhere. And it's small fines and the threat of jail. But somehow jail is always one or two steps away. So my argument is and continues to be absolutely. We have a two tiered justice system in the United States. It's one where the rich, the elites, the powerful get special treatment and everybody else doesn't. And what's going on with Trump only reinforces that. Now, let's hear what Trump had to say yesterday going into and coming out of court. A visibly feeble Trump shuffled away from the microphones, visibly disoriented and able to put together

barely a coherent sentence. Trump basically is going through the same routine every day that there is trial. He rolls up to the microphones. He complains with some kind of half-baked rant that the entire trial is very unfair, that his friends say it shouldn't even have been brought. And if it weren't for the trial, he'd be out campaigning. He also regularly now is complaining that the courtroom is too cold. So let's take a look at a couple of these moments. He also ultimately kind of lumbered away from the microphones, looking dejected and confused

and certainly feeble and haggard appropriate descriptors here. So let's take a look at the first clip. Trump showing up at trial just after 9 a.m. and saying this is also unfair. I shouldn't even be here. Thank you very much. So we begin again. This is a case that should never have been brought. Every single major legal scholar, Jonathan Turley, Greg Jarrett, Andy McCarthy, Dershowitz. All of my friends are telling me this is so unfair, sir. Every single scholar, Mark Levin, the great Mark Levin, had a whole show on it last night, said that this is a

disgraceful case. It's a disgrace to the New York state and city court system. By the way, every single one of these criminal trials, Trump's going to say the same thing. This case is so disgraceful. All my friends say it shouldn't even have been brought. Really, it's a perversion of the justice system. And all of the cases are, frankly, all of them are. You probably saw last night that Jack Smith got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. It was released late last night. And it's a big story. The documents cases, the hoax right created by them for election interference purposes.

And so that one looks like it's going to send. There is, of course, no evidence of any of that. And then not only the reality that it's just Trump's friends who are saying this is unfair, becoming a recurrent refrain during these little speeches. Trump also increasingly displeased with the temperature in the courtroom. So I'm going to go into this trial. I'm going to sit in a freezing cold icebox for eight hours, nine hours or so. Yep. It's just so cold. I would love to actually see Trump bring in a blanket. I think that that would be a really, really great thing. But I don't know if that would be that would be necessarily allowed. Trump continuing

to say this is all so bad for country, that this is going on. The judge determined that the case is an abdo case, as Jonathan Turley said, as all of them said, every single one of them, Dershowitz, McCarthy, everyone, Rick Jarrett, Mark Levin, they all said this case should be ended immediately. This case is over. It should be ended immediately. This case is over. It should be ended immediately. And many of them are not fans of mine, but they want to do the right thing for the country. Right.

So I appreciate you being here. Thank you very much. And I'm going to go into the icebox now and sit for about eight hours or nine hours. I'd much rather be in Georgia. Now understand when he says he'd much rather be in Georgia. Now, understand when he says he'd much rather be in Georgia. This is Trump's continued claim that if it weren't for this trial, he would be everywhere campaigning campaign event after campaign event. He wants us to believe that that's what he would be doing. Remember that the trial is off on Wednesdays and last Wednesday, Trump went golfing Saturday and Sunday. Trump has off. He didn't do any

campaign events Saturday and Sunday. Reports said that he golfed again. Now, in his defense today, Wednesday, the trial is off and Trump does have two rallies scheduled. Whether he will get to those rallies or whether they will be canceled is a different question. Let's see if I have anything else here. Oh, Trump is now it's all hyperbole and superlatives. People are telling Trump this is the longest trial ever and no one ever had to sit in a court for this long. You have a judge who's totally conflicted, totally, absolutely conflicted that he's rushing this case through.

I'll tell you what, some people, somebody just told me they never sat for such a long period of time in a courthouse before. It's ridiculous. I'm supposed to be in Georgia. I'm supposed to be in Georgia. I'm supposed to be in New Hampshire. I'm supposed to be in Ohio and lots of other places. Yeah. Imagine that there's never been a trial this long, apparently, in the history of American justice. This is the longest the longest days, even though they have Wednesdays off and the longest trial, even though it's expected to run like a few weeks.

And by the way, remember how Trump spent two weeks arguing? The judge won't let me go to Barron's graduation. And the truth was the judge simply hadn't ruled on that. The judge has now ruled that Trump can go to Barron's graduation. The only downside for Trump is now he can't keep saying the judge won't let me go. And also, he's now going to have to go to Barron's graduation, which I can't imagine Trump is that interested in going to. All right. And then ultimately, Trump shuffling away from the microphone as the question, are you going to

pardon the Proud Boys, is yelled at him. So there we have the pretrial remarks on. Speaker 3 Yeah, I love how they're called remarks as if it's anything, anything other than the rantings of a madman. So there is Trump entering court on day whatever of this thing. It's an icebox. It's cold. The days are long. It's boring. The trial never should have been brought.

Maybe they could get Trump a Game Boy or something to surreptitiously use during the trial. And if you thought this was incoherent, just wait till you see what happened after the trial when Trump joined Sean Hannity for a softball interview. When Trump appears on Fox News to be interviewed by Sean Hannity, it's supposed to be very friendly. It's supposed to be a softball interview in which Trump at least comes off as mildly or remotely coherent. It did not work that way yesterday. This was Trump's interview with his friend, Sean Hannity, to the extent that Trump has has friends. I'm going to play a clip for you here. As Dr. John Gartner warned us, as Dr. Harry Siegel warned us, Trump's getting worse and he's

getting worse quickly. I'm hearing in this clip that Trump is using words. But are these even sentences? Is Trump OK? We'd be thinking this could happen. You look at the anti-Semitism, the hatred of Israel by so many people. You go back 10 years. I mean, Israel was protected by Congress. And now Congress is just doing numbers that are unbelievable with, I think, a very, very

small group of people within Congress. And it's got to stop. Congress is doing numbers that are unbelievable with a small number of people in Congress. What the hell is Trump talking about? Usually I know what he means, even if the syntax of his speeches makes no sense. I don't know what I know on earth he's talking about there. Trump then saying we must let Israel complete its war on terror. What? Why aren't political figures understanding that there is good and evil here and radical Islamic terrorism is the evil part of this? Well, I'm watching Jewish politicians abandon Israel and I've seen it and you've seen it.

Where is Schumer? Why isn't Schumer speaking up? He was always out there in front because he's looking at votes, I guess. And I guess he's looking at maybe more votes than represent Israel. But that has nothing to do with it. You have to you have to stop this war on terrorists. Israel's war on terrorists. October 7th was beyond violent. It was things done to people that nobody had ever seen before, to babies. And a lot of people, people that are out there protesting, they deny October 7th ever happened. October 7th did happen. And it was horrible and violent and disgraceful.

And it's got to be stopped. You can't have a thing like that. And when you have people out there protesting and they're denying that October 7th ever took place, they're either brainwashed in a certain way. I really believe they are brainwashed because you look at some of the comments. They say none of this stuff happened. And, you know, we want Israel back. The fact is, you have to get Israel back where it belongs, because what's happening in Israel right now is this is crazy, by the way. If you're not understanding this, this is just a deranged rant.

Really not sustainable either. We have to let Israel complete their war on terror. It's a horrible thing. But they have. Listen, Trump is the last person we should be going to for any opinion about this. If you're concerned about Biden's handling of the situation in Israel and Gaza, which, by the way, it's not Biden's to handle. But if you're concerned about that, Trump would just say, destroy the entire thing, kill everyone, period. And then he'll go and congratulate Netanyahu.

And by the way, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s view is not particularly different than Trump's. So the best option here, the best option by far, if we're concerned about circumstances for Palestinians, is Joe Biden by a long shot. Now, Trump pathetically cries crocodile tears and and concern trolls about a landmark, I guess, in a Columbia university that's been damaged. Where was this attitude on January 6th? I would ask you because it would have been a lot easier if they were intense rather than a building, a tremendous damage done to, you know, when you look at that building, that's

a landmark and it's really been damaged badly by these people. Yeah. Where exactly was that outrage about damage to buildings on January 6th as thousands of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol? Certainly a landmark, certainly and certainly an important building in American history. And Trump said nothing like this, nothing like this whatsoever. And then lastly, a Trump again reminding us it was he who moved the embassy to Jerusalem wanting an attaboy.

The one thing is, is I feel bad for Israel because at a time where you think that America there, there are number one ally. They were with us after nine 1101. We lost two thousand nine hundred,977 Americans that day. They lost the equivalent of 40,000 Americans in a single day. And you would think that you put politics aside and you support their victory in the war on terror. And that would mean Prime Minister Netanyahu's victory in the war on terror. And you're saying you support that and hope that they do it quickly. Well, I'm the one that designated in a sense by moving the embassy back to Jerusalem. Jerusalem becomes the capital.

That was, you know, a lot of presidents said they were going to do that. They didn't do it. Yeah. And of course, moving the embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv did nothing for anyone of substance. It only inflamed tech tensions. It was a deliberately provocative move. It made no sense. And Trump continues to say, me, me, me, I did this and I did that was supposed to be a softball interview was supposed to make Trump look good. Very much the opposite. As Trump continues to struggle to take words and put them into an order that is coherent in any sense of the imagination. So let's take a very quick break.

We have a lot of very interesting stuff coming up on the program and we'll get to it in a moment. Think of your most personal emails. If you're using a free email provider, you should know that they're scanning every email you send and receive, even after you delete it. They're usually using the data to build a picture of your life, to show you ads, which many find creepy. Our sponsors start mail never scans or tracks your emails. Privacy is what comes first. And unlike other email services, when you delete an email and start mail, it is gone forever. It also protects your data by blocking tracking pixels in emails, which companies and hackers can use to track you. You can create unlimited email aliases to protect your identity and cut down on spam. You can encrypt every email you send, even if the recipient isn't and the David Pakman Show David Pakman dot com. 50 percent off your first year. That's only about two bucks a month. That's S.T.A.R.T.

mail dot com slash Pacman for 50 percent off. The link is in the podcast notes. We are continuing our conversations with former Donald Trump supporters from different parts of the country. And today we'll be speaking with Kyle Sweetser, who is a former Trump supporter from Alabama. Kyle, great to talk to you. I mean, listen, just generally, what attracted you to Trump to begin with? You donated previously. You voted for him twice. What appealed to you about him? Well, I voted Republican my whole life, you know, since I could vote, basically. So that's one thing, you know, and I'm from Alabama. So you're kind of drawn into that anyways, but him talking about getting rid of regulations,

like the two to one thing he was talking about that resonated with me, you know, where I work in construction and just some of the things that you have to deal with are extreme. Oddly enough, a lot of those things that the federal government doesn't have a lot to do with. But like I said, you know, it just kind of he resonated with me. They're resonated with the economy, focus on small business, at least in his rhetoric and the tough talk, you know, and the the change of pace that he presented. The regulation thing is interesting.

And you kind of got to where I was going, which was you said you realized a lot of that stuff doesn't really have to do with the federal government. Just just to illustrate this, what's an example of a construction regulation in Alabama that you don't like? So I don't like really. It's actually fine now, you know. Oh, it's so actually it's OK. It's OK now. Yeah. And so I had a different the problem is I had a different opinion when I was younger. I see. I had the opinion that a lot of people have that this stuff just gets in the way, you know, that it's pointless, etc. But as I've gotten older, I've seen the need for the regulations, at least that we have. And we really don't have too stringent regulations. The stuff that was kind of off-putting to me wasn't something that I was directly never worked with.

Like, for instance, I think under Obama, they were trying to make it to where you couldn't dig a pond or something on your property. Just little weird things there uh and then there was another thing where they were trying to push where you couldn't if you had property on like a river or something you couldn't build a new pier so those kind of things just because i was aware of because i was in construction didn't work in those things yeah you know to me i felt like we shouldn't go any further with the regulations that we have but like i, a lot of people complain. They moan about them. They moan about the inspectors. You know, but now as I've gotten older, when I see the inspectors miss things sometimes,

and I, you know, I just, I know that we need those regulations. So, but like I said, it was more about like the like the just the weird things with a pond on your property, whether or not you could dig a pond in the federal government. Thinking back on that and then, like I said, the pure thing I live on the Gulf Coast. So that's kind of important for people here. All right. That's fair. Yeah, I've got friends in in Pensacola and I know a lot of them live on the water and

these these are issues of concern. And I guess part of it is interesting of is are these even are these state regulations or are these things that the federal government deals with? But OK, so that that was part of the original appeal. What made you say this is as far as I go, 2020 is as far as I go and I'm not voting Trump in 2024. Speaker 4 OK, well, I think I was a little, it was easier for me to transition away from Trump because I was affected by his steel tariffs. So, you know, I got to see things go up after 2018 with steel. And Trump promised to build or open six new steel mills, didn't do it to offset those tariff costs. So not only did he put those tariffs in place, which wasn't ever something I really thought about in the past, but like I said, I got to kind of feel it before everyone else. So from 2018 to 2020, we had a lot of products more than double in price to us and um oddly enough people really didn't complain uh after covid we got all that money

dumped into our economy people still didn't complain prices were still going up once the money that was handed out you know kind of dried out oh uh you you kind of started to see people talk about inflation. And I saw it happen years before it was really acknowledged the way that it was acknowledged, at least down here. And so I didn't really say much until, you know, you have people say, oh, this is higher. And then you tell them, hey, this is it's because of Biden. It's higher. No, this went up.

This particular product went up under Trump. But it's just weird that they turn that political switch, the rhetoric on and people just, you know, change their tune so fast. So anyways, that's how it started. So the terrorists, let's talk about that a little bit. I mean, so so what what we heard from Trump was the tariffs will punish China. Of course, anyone who understands how tariffs works or tariffs work realizes the American company buying the steel pays the tariff. And then what ends up happening is it increases the costs to those

doing construction in the US and then those costs are passed down. The goal is, well, it'll make domestic steel comparatively more affordable, but that ignores that the supply chains don't adjust overnight to these tariffs. It takes time. And as you're pointing out, Kyle, during this interim period, it just meant everything was more expensive for the construction companies. I think I'm on. Am I understanding that correctly? Speaker 5 Yeah. Yeah, that that's for the most part correct.

Like I said, we we adapted. We went up with price increases, but we were actually the cheapest and I believe we still are on most, most products. So that gave us the room that we needed, uh, to kind of take a little bit of a beating or not, not really take a beating, but cover the cost. But we, we take a beating all the time. It seems, uh, like I said, with our prices, but we were able to adapt better than some other people. And, uh, you know, there were actually a couple of companies after 2018 that the way they manage their companies with metal builders. And it was one garage door. I'm not going to mention them, but or name specifically.

But, you know, they I'm assuming they rely on the next job to pay on a previous job. And those tariffs, they quote things out and start getting things in. The price goes up and it just got, you know, a couple of people down here. So I got to see that happen. And that had me to where I was holding my nose when I voted for Trump again. And I'll say this, too. I admit 100 percent that I was wrong. I was 100 percent wrong about Trump. I was 100 percent wrong. And I think the biggest problem with trying to get people away from Trump is that they have to acknowledge that they were wrong and people do not like doing that. Well, one of the really interesting things about that is, as I've said before.

Not that every Trump supporter was in a cult when they were supporting Trump, but there's a very interesting analogy towards getting people out of cults or extreme religious sects, which is you can't just beat them over the head with facts. You have to make them feel comfortable saying I'm having some doubts or I was wrong. You can't immediately go and judge them and insult them for the mistake that they made. You need it to be an environment where they're going to be comfortable reflecting on their views. And it seems that that's exactly the point that you're making. Yeah. When it comes to 2024, you could if I understand correctly, you're voting Biden. Is that right? That's correct. OK, you could vote third party.

You could stay home. It's Alabama. Trump's going to win unless something very strange happens and a meteor happens to only affect the Republicans in Alabama. Right. I mean, this is the system we have. Why are you choosing to do that and vote Biden rather than say, I don't like Trump, I'm just going to stay home? It's Alabama. What's driving your choice?

Well, you got to start somewhere. And I think it's a matter of. Principal or whatever for me. It just feels very important to me basically to practice what I preach. line where I can maybe help them understand that that the feelings I feel that I know they feel, you know, it's OK to say, hey, this I was wrong. I was wrong about Trump, you know. So it's important taking this interview as well. Speaker 1 When it comes to like your social views, I'm guessing you're still a conservative guy, right? Like it's it's not like every view has changed because of Trump. Am I right? Like, I don't know what your view on abortion is.

For example, I'll say I'm pretty center when it comes to social things, but when it comes to the national debt, you know, I'm to the right solidly, which, you know, now that I'm learning these things, I kind of open my eyes and looking at these past presidents, I'm looking at their history, and it would be nice if they actually, you know, handled the debt. So that's one thing you know fiscally conservative uh conservative on foreign policy uh that was actually the straw that broke the camel's back in 2022 when i started i actually didn't have a twitter i didn't really engage politically at all um on the internet and so i got twitter when elon musk got oddly enough uh and uh i um i started to kind of see what I heard about, about the misinformation, disinformation, and, you know, with the Ukraine war stuff, and you go to check on it, and it was

just ridiculous things. But the sad part about it is that, you know, these ridiculous things are shared. And before they're fact checked, before they're gone, before there's a note on it, you already have in some cases, a million people that have seen it and a large portion of those people, uh, they're going to form an opinion and that's it, uh, you know, based on that disinformation or misinformation. Uh, so, you know, that was that was one of the things that really brought me around. When you tell other people in Alabama who still plan to vote for Donald Trump, that you've had this change of heart, how do they react? So usually pretty, pretty good. So most people react pretty good.

I try to keep things as professional as possible. I have friends that that bug the heck out of. It's only because I love them. But I just send them this endless stuff like, hey, look at this. Look at this. I know I'm sure it gets on their nerves. But sometimes I get some pushback there. And that's only from people that I'm not really able to, to win over in conversation.

But most of the people I talk to, they either agree with me, which they might go around and vote for Trump. You know, they might just agree with me to agree with me. Yeah. But most people are pretty receptive to it. Now, I've had and I don't want to reveal too much, but, you know, I work all over the place and I've had been on job sites. And since Trump, I've had people say crazy anti-Semitic stuff that I've never heard that. I've heard other things, but i've never heard that i've heard other things but i've never heard that in alabama you know and so you have the increase of that and then those other things

that they say uh just kind of under their breath or whatever um and you know it's kind of scary what what trump has has done to people i've had COVID, you know, pulled up to a job, and I had a guy reach through the window and try to pull one of our guys' mask off of his face, because the guy was just being polite, and he started, like, screaming and acting crazy. I mean, I've seen, that's one of the many, many things that I've seen since Trump. But that was another thing that turned me off from Trump. I started to see what Trump did to people and Trump just makes people angry and I started to learn more about populism and really what he's doing. So in other words, the view saw people kind of like feeling emboldened and freed to say

certain things by the environment that was being generated by Trump, including just saying anti-Semitic stuff. He made it OK for for bad people to be bad, you know, and there not be any repercussions. I was in the store one time, never saw this before, and a guy. Some lady took too long to walk up to the cash register to turn it on, and he started throwing, he's an older guy, he started probably in his 60s or 70s, started throwing groceries at the person. I had to, you know, step in and say some things, and he didn't back down from me at all, but, you know, they finally stopped. But, yeah, I just saw so many things happen after that.

And you're right in emboldened people to act a certain way, you know, and. It just needs to stop. It needs to it needs to end because it's escalating. So, Kyle, what's your goal in the sense of let's imagine that Biden wins reelection in November, he gets his four more years and then, of course, someone that Biden wins reelection in November. He gets his four more years. And then, of course, someone else then wins in twenty twenty eight and we move on. Would you would your ideal scenario be that we we dodge the Trump bullet one more time? And then what's your ideal? Is it some McCain style Republican comes to power in twenty eight? Like if it were up to you, what would you like to see happen? Yes.

So I'd like to see us return to a two party system that's not as volatile. It sets a better example for people. You know, it's just not as vile as Maggie is. So I would like to see a Republican Party that focuses actually on maybe reforming some social programs. I know that's not popular. I know that's why they don't always do it. I'm pretty sure that's the only way to fix national debt. You know, people just don't like hearing that. So fiscally responsible, strong on foreign policy or Reagan-style foreign policy, support our allies. Don't give

these countries that wishes harm or wish U.S.-led order harm, don't give them the notion that we might just quit because then that gets rid of our, you know, deterrence. So that's another thing. I don't want them to do what Ron DeSantis did, where he launched this Trump-style, I feel like, campaign against Disney. I don't like that. You know. I don't like that. You know, I don't like that at all. I think Disney should be able to do what they want and, and it will do what they've been doing. And I think, you know,

a lot of people for one that's detrimental to the Republican party, Disney's ingrained in people's childhoods, you know, they were born here whether they're a Republican or Democrat. And so that's not going to turn out well for one. But I just think it's I think it's wrong. The culture war thing. I don't like it at all. I just wish it would stop. Well, listen, Kyle, I'm sure you and I would be on different sides on a lot of those issues. And it would be a great thing for the country if those were the disagreements rather than should the guy who won become president, which is sort of where where

we've been at for several years. So I really appreciate you sharing your story. We've been speaking with Kyle Sweetser, who's a former Trump supporter from Alabama, and really appreciate your time today. Thank you. I Appreciate you. Have a good one. Breaking a deeply ingrained habit is one of the toughest things to do. Our sponsor, Fume, can make it easier. Not everything in a bad habit is wrong. So instead of a drastic, uncomfortable change, remove the bad from the habit. And that's, quite frankly, what fume helps you do.

Fume is an innovative, award winning device that delivers flavored air. That's it. There's no vapor. There's no nicotine, no electronics. It's just delicious flavored air delivered by the cylindrical fume device that fits in the palm of your hand. It comes in tasty, refillable flavors like raspberry The David Pakman Show David Pakman dot com. that. And it's just a useful thing to break bad habits. And it provides that perfectly satisfying hand to mouth mechanic that many people love. Don't judge fume until you've tried it. They have helped countless people make positive changes and you could be next. Head over to try fume dot com and use code Pacman to save 10 percent when you get the journey pack, which comes with the device and several flavors to try. That's try FUM dot com slash Pacman. Use the code Pacman for 10 percent off the journey pack. The info is in the podcast notes. Donald Trump's lawyers continue to struggle to

keep him awake when he is sitting in criminal court, despite referring to Joe Biden as Sleepy Joe. Trump is really the one that seems to be sleepy as he has reportedly fallen asleep every single day in his criminal trial. Here is a fascinating video where Lisa Rubin yesterday on MSNBC explained all of the different tactics that Trump's lawyers are using to try to keep him awake. And it's not working. Folks, if you're going to call your opponent sleepy and you're falling asleep every day in public and your lawyers can't even keep you awake, there is a problem here. OK, take a listen to this really

quickly, if I can, Lisa, your observations on Donald Trump today. Sleeping, sleeping, they have tried a number of different devices yeah sleeping for a lot of it um i would say they've tried a number of different devices to keep trump awake partially in response or what appears to be in response to collective press corps observations so for example when there are sidebars an attorney doesn't leave his side anymore because leaving him alone means leaving him to potentially sleep. He has a stack of papers with him at all times now to go through. But neither of those things seem to have protected Trump from his own exhaustion today. More than, you know, more than

not. When I looked up to see how Trump was receiving the testimony, Trump was not receiving it at all because his eyes were closed really quick. They've it's like a it's like a kid. They've given him a toy. They've given him stacks of papers for Trump to go through and look at now eight or nine hours is a long time. But this hasn't really been a problem for other criminal defendants, that they are asleep every single day throughout their criminal trials. And if we believe Dr. John Gartner and Dr. Harry Siegel, that in general, whatever's going on with Trump is going to continue getting worse. If we believe that, then I can only imagine that in the next criminal trial and the one

after that and the one after that, assuming they all happen. I can only imagine this is going to be more and more of a problem. One other note on this. Trump admits that the courtroom is cold and the judge has said we have an antiquated HVAC or heating and cooling system. The options are too hot or too cold. Too hot, I've determined, isn't good. So we're going to do too cold. It's usually harder to fall asleep when it's cold rather than when it's hot. In other words,

in those warm settings, it's more common that people kind of doze off. It's more comfortable in a sense, although at night it is better for sleep hygiene to sleep in a colder room, but with a comforter, right, with big, thick blankets. But we're not talking about that. This is a different thing in these inadvertent daytime moments. Usually cooler keeps people awake. And this is why Dave Letterman was always known for keeping his the theater, the Ed Sullivan Theater, where he used to record his show on the cooler side, also because the lights heat up over time. But they kept it cool in there partially because Letterman felt it kept people more awake. It's it's quite remarkable that even despite the cool temperatures, Trump is still able to fall asleep every single day. So this is really something Sleepy Joe as a nickname is dead.

Eric Trump recently went on TV and said that his father's stamina is unparalleled and unbelievable. Seems hard to believe, especially based on what we're seeing here. But we should never hear the term Sleepy Joe again. Alina Haba, Donald Trump's failed former lawyer, on again, off again, legal spokesperson. I don't know what she is at this point. Fox News still labeled her a Trump attorney. Alina Haba appeared on Fox News yesterday to say that, you know what? Trump may indeed be heading for a conviction. Trump may indeed be heading for guilty here rather than not guilty.

It indeed may be the case, but it would not be because Trump did anything wrong. It would not be because Trump committed a crime. It would be because of a so-called Democratic jury, a blue jury of Democrats committed, committed to saying that Donald Trump is guilty. This is you need to suspend a lot of disbelief here in order to buy this one. Take a listen. The issue I have is not whether Donald Trump and President Trump did anything wrong. He did not. The facts are on our side. The issue we have is when we have politicized judges and and blue juries come in and they're supposed to

be impartial. But you have a judge tweaking, reprimanding, putting down counsel on the other side, being harder on one side than the other. That affects the jury. And that's not fair. It's not right now. If President Trump was given a fair jury, a fair trial like anybody else in this country would be because his name is Trump. He doesn't. That's where my concern is. Not the facts. The facts are on our side. This is how they resist being called anti law and order because they pay lip service to due process and law and order and the rule of law and respect for interview until it's

not convenient. And the way that Alina Haba is trying to circumvent this is by saying, no, no, no, no, no. We do respect due process. We do respect law and order. We would respect a fair jury coming to a fair verdict, which for her is not guilty. But otherwise, we can't respect this. This is bias. This is nonsense.

And this is how they resist the obvious realization that they're only for law and order when it's convenient to them. And when it's not, they aren't. And we've seen this since January 6th. Of course, it applies to the January 6th rioters, which they now are calling hostages as well. Martha McCallum bringing up more about the gag order and the charges and Alina Haba just making no sense whatsoever. Go on and on and on. I mean, everything you're laying out is the is all of the perfect sort of puzzle pieces that would fit together for an appeal.

But this is the first part of the process. So, I mean, it's possible that this jury could convict him. They hear all day long about Stormy Daniels and payments and Karen McDougal and all of these things, which all of the people that we talk to say is not a crime. It isn't a crime, but this is what they're getting. That's right. They're getting filled with. I love that.

Martha McCallum says, listen, all the people we're talking to say this isn't a crime. All of Trump's friends, the people Trump names every day. Fox hosts say that this is not a crime. All of the sycophants and suck ups that we interview here are saying that there is absolutely no crime here whatsoever, which, by the way, happens to feed the narrative that this is an unfair, politically motivated prosecution. Maybe that Joe Biden's involved, maybe that Joe Biden is directing this in some way. So, OK, listen, the people that Trump pays and his friends and the network that supports Trump over Joe Biden, they are convinced there's no crime here.

Let's see what the 12 jurors say and then we can go from there. We have a voicemail number. That number is two one nine two. David P. We continue to try to beat back the claims that I don't really have an audience and that everybody in the audience is mere bots or chat bots, which, by the way, I don't even really understand how that could be. Here is a MAGA caller. This is a weaponized MAGA caller, I will tell you, who is convinced that I don't have any real audience. It's all fake people, I guess. And maybe someone who's more technically savvy could explain to me how this would work. Take a listen. Hey, Dave, I think all of your listeners are actually chat bots.

They are chat bots because I was typing some stuff in and make some comments on your your YouTube site. And nobody responds. Why is that? Because no one's responding to my MAGA tirades on your YouTube channel. It must be because all the people are fake or maybe you've been shadow banned because you post so much nonsense. I mean, there's a few on there that respond and everything like that because. I see all the conservatives responding, but most of yours are just chat bots that respond. I think that's how you're getting monetized. So anyway, Trump 2024, we're ready for it because, man, this world is so screwed up and we all know who's doing it.

And I hope Hillary Clinton has to move to another country. She takes Obama and Soros and everybody else, all the liberal left wing idiots with her. But there you go. This guy still it's 2024. We're halfway through 2024. This guy's still's twenty twenty four. We're halfway through twenty twenty four. This guy's still talking about Hillary Clinton. Listen, if I would love you know, they always stop short of giving me the information I

want. Trump is going to solve everything and we know who's really screwed everything up. I want to know. Tell me who has really screwed everything up. Give me the names. This is like when Vivek Ramaswamy talks about, you know, the deep state or whatever. Who's the deep state? Doesn't want to give me names. Eventually mentioned Susan Rice. Give me a break, dude. Same with this guy. Tell me who is it that has really screwed everything up? How did they do it and which Trump policies would fix it all? I want to know. I really do.

And certainly new. Listen, not only do the chat bots type out YouTube comments, apparently they sign up for memberships on my website. The chat bots are calling my show as well. The chat bots are emailing. It's all very weird, very suspicious. We're going to investigate it. We have such a great bonus show for you today. You can't even believe it. Oh, the bonus show where you want to make money. Right. Everybody else that makes money to fund themselves is bad. FBI data continue to show that the United States of America is experiencing a considerable drop in crime. The right wingers who don't want to accept it, they don't want to acknowledge it. They say the FBI data can't be trusted because the FBI is now bad. But we have corroborated data as well.

Eight newspapers are suing OpenAI and Microsoft for alleged copyright infringement. How does this work when it comes to AI? Very interesting lawsuit. Is it the first of its kind? I think it is. We will discuss it. And immigration has been named the top problem in the country by Americans for the third straight month. What is this portend when it comes to the November election? Is this a success by the MAGA right in convincing people that immigration is the number one problem facing the country, despite so many other things going on. Well, we will discuss that and so much more on today's bonus show. I invite you to sign up at join Pakman dot com. Many free ways to support us as well. Make sure you're subscribed on YouTube at YouTube dot com slash the David

Pakman show. Grab my latest of three children's books. Think like a voter. If you generally agree with me in terms of what I espouse on this program, that voting is our civic duty and that it is the starting point for substantively engaging with our democracy. And you want to pass that on to kids. This is not a political book. It's just I mean, unless saying voting is good is now considered politically biased. This is a book about why we vote, how we vote and why it's so important. You can get it at David Pakman dot com slash book. I will see you on the bonus show. Thank you.