The David Pakman Show - 9/29/25: Right wing violence hits church, White House scrambles

Episode Date: September 29, 2025

-- On the Show: -- Rahm Emmanuel, former US ambassador to Japan, former Chicago Mayor, and former Obama White House Chief of Staff, joins us to discuss the future of the Democratic Party and specula...tion about a 2028 presidential campaign -- Thomas Sanford, a Trump-supporting Marine veteran, attacks a Mormon church in Michigan killing four and wounding eight before dying in a gunfight with police -- Donald Trump issues a neutral statement on the Michigan church shooting focusing on stopping violence without mentioning political affiliations -- Trump exaggerates left-wing political violence in 2025 despite data showing right-wing violence remains far more prevalent -- Karoline Leavitt defends Trump on the Michigan church shooting while trying to downplay partisan implications on national TV -- Fox News reporters avoid highlighting the Michigan shooter’s pro-Trump and pro-Kirk social media presence to prevent backlash -- Former White House lawyer Ty Cobb publicly calls reelecting Trump America’s biggest mistake and criticizes his interference in the Comey case -- Trump announces bailouts for farmers harmed by his tariffs, highlighting the economic consequences of his trade policies -- Trump posts AI-generated video promising every American a “medbed” for miraculous healing fueling dangerous QAnon conspiracy theories -- On the Bonus Show: Eric Adams drops out of NYC mayor's race, Missouri governor signs new election map, friends are teaming up to buy homes, and much more... 😺 Smalls cat food: Use code PAKMAN for 60% off & free shipping at https://smalls.com ⚠️ Ground News: Get 40% OFF their unlimited access Vantage plan at https://ground.news/pakman 🛡️ Incogni lets you control your personal data! Get 60% off their annual plan: http://incogni.com/pakman 🥐 Wildgrain: Use code PAKMAN for $30 off & free croissants FOR LIFE at https://wildgrain.com/pakman -- Become a Member: https://davidpakman.com/membership -- Subscribe to our (FREE) Substack newsletter: https://davidpakman.substack.com -- Get David's Books: https://davidpakman.com/echo -- TDPS Subreddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/thedavidpakmanshow -- David on Bluesky: https://davidpakman.com/bluesky -- David on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/davidpakmanshow (00:00) Michigan church shooting by Trump-supporting Marine (07:34) Trump issues neutral statement on violence (13:18) Trump exaggerates left-wing political violence (20:51) Karoline Leavitt defends Trump on shooting (28:24) Fox News downplays shooter’s pro-Trump posts (31:21) Ty Cobb criticizes Trump publicly (37:36) Rahm Emanuel interview (1:04:07) Trump announces farmer bailouts (1:09:22) Trump posts AI “medbed” video    

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome, everybody. Hope you had a good weekend. A terrible weekend in Michigan for some. A Trump supporting Marine veteran opened fire in a Mormon church in Michigan. And there's the human tragedy of this. There's the reality that Maga World is losing control of their left-wing violence narrative that they've been pushing since the killing of Charlie Kirk. I'm going to talk about both aspects of this.
Starting point is 00:00:32 We're going to talk about media coverage. There's so this. This is in the midst of a horrible, tragic event of another damn shooting in the United States. There are a lot of stories, a story about violence, a story about media coverage. So we're going to get into it here. As I mentioned, this shooting did take place at a Mormon church. least four were killed as of this moment, at least eight were wounded as of this moment. The perpetrator is known to be 40-year-old male, Thomas Sanford.
Starting point is 00:01:07 I guess I should say white male, and this is one of these things where it's not that we say that for any particular reason of stigma or prejudice, but because these shootings are often analyzed through the lens of identity, I guess it's sort of correct for me. to say 40-year-old white male Thomas Sanford, Marine veteran, rammed into the church's front door with his pickup truck before he started shooting and later set the building on fire. He was ultimately killed in a gunfight with two police officers within 10 minutes of the start of this tragic event. Now, we don't yet know the motive for this specific shooting. We are learning a lot about the shooter's right-wing beliefs. There was a Trump Pence poster hanging on his fence just
Starting point is 00:01:59 above a red stop sign. We're going to get back to the stop sign in a moment. Some say, oh, the stop sign meant he wants to stop Trump, aka he is anti-Trump. Every bit of information we have at this point contradicts that and indicates this was a very clearly, ardently pro-Trump individual. Social media posts are filled with MAGA and typical right. right-wing content. This includes pro-turning point USA and pro-Charlie-Kirk content, stuff about stay away from the vaccine, stuff about Trump being a great golfer, I guess, is what it seems to be in the bottom right there. The shooter had been seen wearing a Trump 2020 campaign shirt in camouflage designed with the make liberals cry again line. That's from a picture posted
Starting point is 00:02:52 social media in 2019. We also know about two petitions signed by the shooter, one for the petition to repeal the pandemic powers of Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer and another one to outlaw abortion in Michigan. Now, we are going to hear all of the usual things that we hear when the shooter is right wing. This was not a gun issue. This is. This is a gun issue. This is. was not a political issue. This was a lone nut job crazy guy. We are going to hear because he attacked a church. This is anti-Christian motivation. Interesting by the way that depending on whether it's convenient or not evangelicals and Protestants and other Christians will or won't acknowledge that Mormons are Christian. This is a whole other thing where, you know,
Starting point is 00:03:52 And Mormons are followers of Jesus as a non-Christian, they're certainly Christian in the general sense. But much like with the Amish, when convenient versus not convenient, you will hear these are Christians versus these are not. Okay, we will get back to that as well. They are going to, I mean, listen, we'll probably hear, forget about the fact that he was wearing a Trump shirt, forget about the fact that he had a Trump sign, forget about the fact that his social media was riddled with pro-Trump stuff, his wife's ex-bosses, sisters, cousins hairdresser
Starting point is 00:04:28 once said trans people are human too. So therefore, this is left-wing violence, right? We're not there yet, but I would not be surprised if we get to that. They're going to pull out their proverbial sharpies and make this what they need it to be and make this what they want it to be. Now, there's another issue here that I think is important to talk about. We're going to get their, Trump is already reacting to this. Caroline Leavitt is trying to do a cleanup on aisle 5. We are seeing reports about political violence misrepresented. Okay. There's another issue here that I think is important to mention aside from the fact that the shooter was obviously a pro-Trump MAGA guy. Former military becoming shooters. This is another, you know, we can categorize these in a lot of
Starting point is 00:05:14 different ways. Are the political motivations left wing or right wing? Okay. Well, there's primarily right wing. That's what the overarching data tells us aside for many. You know, Charlie Kirk was killed. This guy went to a church. Let's zoom out. Overwhelmingly, political violence in the United States is right wing. Fine. What about gender? Well, we can look at that too. We can say overwhelmingly are these shooters male or are they female? They're mostly male. Fine. Age. They are disproportionately under 30. This guy happened to be 40. race they are disproportionately white okay the other important aspect to this that is not getting a lot of attention is former military and becoming shooters the violence project which is this the
Starting point is 00:06:04 they use a database of mass shootings dating back to 1966 they estimate that 26% of mass shooters had military experience now I think I should I should have looked up percentage of population with military service to put to contextualize that so six percent of the adult population are veterans 26 percent of mass shooters are veterans so that's an aspect to this that I think needs to be considered and if you look at other sources you see similar numbers sort of in the 25 to 30 percent range of mass shooters are individuals with background in the military. So that's another aspect to this that I think needs to be considered. The big stories are at the top, of course, more death, more violence, more tragedy, more carnage. Disgusting. Next,
Starting point is 00:07:03 we continue to deal with the widespread availability of guns. Next, the political background of these shooters continues to lean significantly to the right. No one incident changes that, the Charlie Kurt killing this incident, the dozens and dozens of incidents that had that have happened since some politically motivated, some not. But we are going to have to deal with each of these aspects. And the first thing we're going to look at is how did Donald Trump react to this news? Donald Trump was essentially silenced in his narrative about left-wing violence by this pro-Trump, pro-Maga, anti-abortion, anti-vax, anti-COVID lockdowns, to the extent that lockdowns took place, shooting up a Mormon church in Michigan. Now, even though Donald Trump was
Starting point is 00:07:57 unable to make the case that this is a left winger, because he was a Trump supporter at the end of the day, Donald Trump still includes in his truth social post a sort of little breadcrumb, which he would be glad if it directed some people in the direction of this was a left-wing shooter. Let me read for you the truth social post that Donald Trump made. Quote, I have been briefed on the horrendous shooting that took place at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc, Michigan. The FBI was immediately on scene and will be leading the federal investigation and providing full support to state and local officials. The suspect is dead, but there is still a lot to learn.
Starting point is 00:08:43 This appears to be yet another tart. This is a key line. This appears to be yet another targeted attack on Christians in the United States. The Trump administration will keep the public posted as we always do. In the meantime, pray for the victims and their families. This epidemic of violence in our country must end immediately. Notice that there is no overt partisan. Now, there is some implied partisanship. Let's just compartmentalize that for a moment because it's critical importance. If we want to think critically about how they react, how do we react? We say whatever the political motivation, whatever the impetus or catalyst for a shooting,
Starting point is 00:09:27 we are against it. We can sort out the motive. We can later make an assessment about is the predominant political violence in the United States from the left or from the right. When Charlie Kirk was killed, on the assumption it was probably someone who disagreed with Charlie Kirk, whatever their motivations, they are condemnable. We denounce it instantly within minutes of the shooting. I had a video up denouncing it. But the right functions a little bit differently. After Charlie Kirk was killed, Donald Trump was out there, liberal scum this and left wing perpetrators that and on trefa and all of this different stuff. But this time
Starting point is 00:10:05 It's we are going to keep everybody posted. We must pray for the victims and their families. The violence must stop. No partisanship. We've just got to stop the violence. But, but Donald Trump does include this is a targeted attack on Christians in the United States of America. There's a few interesting layers to that.
Starting point is 00:10:27 Number one, the entire Christian persecution complex in the United States with the right wing is pathetic stuff, pathetic stuff. And in fact, if you look instances where individuals are targeted based on religion, you know what the most prevalent one is. It's Judaism. When you look at religiously oriented violence where people are targeted based on their religion in the United States, overwhelmingly, it is Jews that are being targeted. Now, sometimes they don't get Jews, right?
Starting point is 00:11:02 And so this is one of the sick things. You think back to Glenn Miller, that guy I interviewed who went up and tried to kill Jews in I believe it was Kansas. And he this is so weird to use these phrases. He accidentally killed Christians. He was targeting Jews. Okay. But there's another aspect to this, which is they are trying to make you believe anyone
Starting point is 00:11:24 who attacks a church must be a left winger. And so although Trump knows he can't go out there and go liberal. scum like he did last time. You can't do it because the evidence isn't there. This was a Trump supporter. Trump signed Trump shirt, Trump posts, all of it. He goes, oh, the Christian persecution. One other thing I want to mention. Since when are Mormons considered Christian for the average Protestant? And this is another story. You know, I've mentioned before when I spent some time in rural. Some people say rural. I don't really like that. When I went to rural Indiana and I hung out with some evangelical Christians. There's a lot of Amish in this part of Indiana. You know, you, you pass
Starting point is 00:12:06 neighborhoods that you can see notably there's no power lines. They don't have electricity. You pass the buggies on the roads and, you know, you, you, you see the Amish shops where you can buy jams, jellies, and marmalades of different kinds. And so I asked one of these evangelical Christians playing stupid, right? I'm just a dumb Jew asking questions, right? Hey, are Amish or Christian, right? And they go, ah, well, not this was the evangelicals. Not really, no, we really kind of see them as a cult. The analogy to Mormons is depending on whether it's convenient, if you go to your average Protestant, if you go to your average evangelical, they might say Mormons are Christian in the sense that at the end of the day, they follow Jesus, right? But you will, when it's not
Starting point is 00:12:55 convenient, they will go, no, we kind of see them, you know, the Joseph Smith stuff. It's really their own thing. Here, because they want to play up the Christian persecution complex. Of course, this was targeted at Christians, even though many Christians do not consider Mormons to be Christian in a serious manner. So Trump can't do the liberal scum thing because he knows they're not, but he's still doing what he can. All right. Let's now zoom out and talk about political violence. When your followers don't have any idea what's going on, it is easy to lie to them. Donald Trump is panicking because no matter how many times he says it. We have the data. We have the receipts. Most political violence in the United States for decades has been right wing. I don't care what the political
Starting point is 00:13:44 orientation or catalyst is for violence. I'm against it. If you commit an act of violence, you are wrong. I want you persecuted, prosecuted, prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and punished in accordance with what due process would indicate. But we have to acknowledge where the lion's share of the violence is coming from. The new one that they are going with is in 2025, there has been more left-wing political violence than ever. Now, this is painfully stupid if you examine the facts, which we're going to do, but Donald Trump is probably assuming that his followers aren't smart enough to fact check, aren't
Starting point is 00:14:24 astute enough to know the difference. And I hate to admit it, but Donald Trump may be right. Axios is actually helping Donald Trump to pull this off. Let's explore. Axios put out an article called study, left wing terrorism climbs to 30 year high. And at the top of the article, there's a chart, which has left and right wing domestic terrorism by year. The yellow bars are left wing.
Starting point is 00:14:49 The gray bars are right wing. Okay. An arrow points to 2025. And there's a larger yellow bar than a gray bar. meaning more left-wing terror, domestic terror, political violence in 2025 than right-wing. Now, let's be serious here. I want to be serious for a moment. Let's actually think through this like adults, okay? Superficially, you can visually see there were larger yellow bars for left-wing terror for sure in 2020 and 2022 than in 2025. So we already should be saying, wait a second,
Starting point is 00:15:25 record left wing terror there was more in 2020 there was more in 2022 still a minority still mostly right wing but it's true that only part way through the year we have some more uh left wing terror this year than in some years but the second question is where is the data from well the data's from c s is that's a good source we often cite the c s is data on domestic terror if you go to the underlying report from CSIS, you find a different chart. And you see that under left wing terror attack and plots as a percentage of all attacks and plots, you do see a spike. But this measures something completely different. What this is measuring is the percentage of attacks this year that are from the left. And by the way, the data only goes through July 4th's. Fourth, that was three
Starting point is 00:16:20 months ago, we had this terrible right wing attack over the weekend at the Mormon church in Michigan. Now, why do we care about seven months in 2025 when the real story of this study is that like every other study, it confirms if we put up the original chart again, most domestic terror in the United States is right wing. In every single year, the right wing domestic terror blows out of the water, the left wing domestic terror. Now, there's another problem with this editorialization of the report that MAGA is doing, which is that CSIS is careful to note left wing violence, even when it happens on average, is less lethal. It's less organized. It's smaller in scale. And it kills fewer people. It's less deadly. Sadly, is the average MAGA going to see the
Starting point is 00:17:18 headline from Axios and do this sort of analysis, I think not. But it does tell us a lot about how desperate they are that they uncritically push this article when the underlying report says the opposite. If you appreciate this type of analysis, please make sure to like this video on YouTube. Make sure to share this video on YouTube and make sure that you're subscribed to the YouTube channel, YouTube.com slash the David Packman show. I don't have a cat myself, but many friends and family do. And lately they have all been talking about smalls. So when smalls came on as a sponsor, I wanted to learn more.
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Starting point is 00:18:40 A pending Supreme Court case could strip our Fourth Amendment rights and allow immigration agents to come into our homes for any reason, no probable cause needed, all while Republicans try to twist things so that you think this is all great for America. This should be the biggest story in the U.S. right now, but it's almost impossible to keep up with the millions of moves that Trump is making every single day. That's why Ground News exists. Ground News is an app and website that exposes the blind spots and spin before it takes control of our opinions.
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Starting point is 00:19:57 The goal here is more new members on a single day than we've ever had before. I need your help building. This is not just about numbers. This is about building a media ecosystem that is better than what corporate media is getting us. And obviously more important than what the right wing ecosystem is providing. It will be three years, three months and three weeks left of Trump's presidency tomorrow. That'll be the theme of our one day membership drive. And I hope that you will participate in it.
Starting point is 00:20:29 All you need to do to be notified tomorrow how to sign up at this huge membership discount price is get on my free newsletter, substack. david packman.com. It costs nothing. And tomorrow, you'll be notified of how to take advantage of this great membership special. And if you can't wait, if you want to get today's bonus show, it's easy. Just sign up now at join packman.com. Caroline Leavitt is Donald Trump's White House press secretary. She is willing to lie to no end. She is willing to say anything she needs to say in order to defend Maggieman. and defend Trump and defend the right wing. And this morning, Caroline Levitt appeared on Fox News and she was asked about the Michigan
Starting point is 00:21:09 shooting, the Michigan shooting in which a Trump t-shirt wearing, Trump lawn sign having anti-vax, anti-abortion Trump supporter shot up a Mormon church. All political violence is unacceptable. Of course, it just so happens. This was a right winger. And Caroline Levitt is going with the, it was an attack on Christians line that Donald Trump floated on his truth social. Important to remember that they only consider Mormon's Christian when convenient. This is absolutely one of those times.
Starting point is 00:21:48 The FBI director tell you about the shooter. What do we know? What we know at this point in time is that he was a member of this Michigan community, that he is a veteran of our United States armed force. forces he served in the United States Marine Corps in Iraq. His family is cooperating with the FBI. And so they are currently trying to dig in and get to the bottom of why he committed. There's just this heinous act of violence. It's unfathomable.
Starting point is 00:22:17 And as the president rightfully put in his true social yesterday, this appears to be yet another targeted attack on Christians and the Trump administration. Notice how she says, we have no idea of the motive at this time. But it seems like the motive was to attack Christians. When she says this appears to be a targeted attack on Christians, she is speaking to motive. But at the same time, she says, let's not assume anything about motive. What she means is don't assume anything about motive if it points to being a right winger, but assume that the motive was targeting Christians if that points to it being a left winger.
Starting point is 00:22:52 It's fully committed to not only investigating these crimes, but prosecuting them to the fullest extent of the law, but also working very hard to prevent them to see if there's red flags, the FBI is going to treat those as public safety emergencies and investigate them to try to prevent such violence from taking place in our country. So she's checking all of the boxes. She's talking about the individual without mentioning any of the right wing credentials, any of the right wing social media history, the Trump lawn sign, the Trump t-shirt, the anti-vax, the anti-Gretchen Whitmer.
Starting point is 00:23:28 She doesn't mention any. So box number one has been checked by Caroline Levitt. What a good job she's doing, right? Number two, while saying we need to wait for motive, if you're going to assume anything that's not good for Trump on motive. She says it seems pretty clear that this was an individual targeting Christians. I believe the shooter was also a Christian, not a Mormon, but a Christian. And so if this is a religious violence, it's Christian on Christian violence in that sense.
Starting point is 00:23:58 And then also, also the bigger picture of never acknowledging the gun aspect to this, they will ultimately end up with whatever this guy's political beliefs, whatever this guy's religious beliefs, this is simply a lone nut job. That is all that this is. They then get on to the issue of the government shutdown. Now, the other day I heard two older ladies talking about this at a coffee shop. And I was disturbed by what they said. I'm going to tell you in a moment. Here is Caroline Leavitt starting to sort of say, hey, it's Democrats that are going to shut down the government. Take a listen to this. Because the overwhelming majority of the American public wants to keep the government open. I mean, it's not even close. Democrats and Republicans, independence across the country want the government funded because they want our military and our troops to be paid. They want TSA agents and Border Patrol to be paid.
Starting point is 00:24:57 They want food assistance programs for women and children and impoverished communities to continue going out the door. All of that will come to an end if Democrats vote against this clean CR that Republicans are proposing. And might I just add, Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries are on the record multiple times in their past political lives stating that they too believe a government shutdown is bad. In fact, I quote, Chuck Schumer just last year in 2024, said a shutdown would mean, chaos and pain and needless heartache for the American people. Well, we hope that Chuck Schumer and the Democrats won't cause chaos and pain and heartache. We want our country to continue to be funded. We want our government to be open so we can continue doing the business of the American people.
Starting point is 00:25:43 Now, this, of course, would be yet an exhaustingly yet another Republican shutdown. When you control the White House, when you control the Senate, when you control the House, How are you blaming Democrats for the shutdown? It doesn't make any sense. Now, what's interesting is that the shutdowns are more about who gets blamed. And this has been the case for a long time. We've covered these chronic government shutdowns in the United States for a very long time. The other day, I was at a coffee shop and I'm sitting there quietly typing, typing, typing,
Starting point is 00:26:17 doing my work. And there's two ladies probably in their, you know, upper 60s, early 70s talking. And I hear that they're talking about politics. I hear that they're talking about news. They both go, I'm not a Republican. No, neither am I. But, but, but, but, but, but, right? It's sort of that conversation.
Starting point is 00:26:34 And then one of the women goes, and now Democrats are going to shut down the government. Now, it occurred to me to go over and say, excuse me, ladies, how are you? I just happened to overhear that you were saying Democrats might be shutting down the government. I'm just curious, given that Donald Trump is in the White House and Republicans control the Senate and Republicans control the House, I'm just thinking out loud. here. I'm curious, how did you come to the conclusion that Democrats are going to be the ones shutting down the government? I didn't do that. And when I mentioned this to producer Pat on the bonus show, he said, yeah, I would not have gotten myself involved in that conversation. And that was my
Starting point is 00:27:08 instinct. I just looked right back down and went back to typing with my pause on the, on, on my laptop. But it reminded me that reality, that perception is reality, rather. And that a lot of this entire shutdown game is who gets the blame at the end of the. the day and they are working really hard to make it so that it is Democrats who are blamed. Finally, finally, Caroline Leavitt going back to the shooting and saying there's just so much that we don't know about the shooting, but the FBI is so awesome, just like they got Charlie Kirk's shooter, which of course, the guy turned himself in. And they are trying to understand more about this, how premeditated it was, how much planning
Starting point is 00:27:51 went into it, whether he left a note, all of those questions have yet to be answered, but certainly will be answered by the FBI. I think the American people in your audience can be assured. Look at the great work that the FBI did in light of, or in the hours and days following the assassination attempt, or assassination, I'm sorry, on Charlie Kirk's life. Right. In the days and hours, within minutes, Cash Patel tweeting out, we've got the suspect in which, by the way, wasn't true. And ultimately, the suspect turned himself in. If that doesn't give you confidence, then I don't know what will. Fox News entered a panic to try to hide the Mormon church shooter's love for Donald Trump. This is another example
Starting point is 00:28:35 of how the absence of information is its own form of bias. We call it bias by omission. Here is a report from Fox News. They're telling us a lot of stuff about the shooter, but do they say this was a pro Trump guy? They do not. Do they say this was a pro Charlie Kirk guy? They do not. Do they speculate wildly they did with the Charlie Kirk shooter? They do not. Listen to what's missing here. The shooter identified as 40-year-old Thomas Jacob Sanford from Michigan. He was killed in a shootout with officers just minutes later. Officials say there's no connection between him and the church. The FBI is now leading this investigation. They're going to go through his phone records and try to find a motive now. What we do know about this shooter, he was a Marine and served
Starting point is 00:29:25 from 2004 to 2008 with deployment to Iraq. His military job specialty was organizational automotive mechanic and vehicle recovery operator. And it's worth noting that just a month ago, we were standing in front of another church, the Enunciation Church, in Minneapolis, reporting on another church shooting. In that case, two young children died. And guys, here we are, yet again, another church shooting. Wow, what an interesting report. the guy was a mechanic he knows how to think they they should just got on about that this is an
Starting point is 00:30:00 individual extremely familiar with carburetors as well as tires and he knew how to fix transmissions the shooter also had an intimate knowledge of spark plugs the shooter was very well versed on adjuvants to gasoline and when they should or shouldn't be used for cleaning a gas tank but Missing from this, first of all, missing is the wild speculation that we saw with Charlie Kirk's shooter, right? The shooter was trans. Wait, no, no, no, no, no, no. The bullets were transgender. Wait, no, no, no, no, no. The roommate or love interest of the shooter was trans or maybe thinking about transitioning. None of that, but also missing is the history of pro Trump social media posts. the images wearing pro-Trump paraphernalia, the Trump pen sign on his lawn, right?
Starting point is 00:30:58 So this is how you cover it up. You go, we just, I mean, he was a mechanic and he was deployed and he believed that Matt paint was a great innovation in the automotive industry, but none of the actual information that we have. A perfect example, a perfect example of the biased job that corporate media is able to. to do. Donald Trump finds himself scrambling for friendly voices as his own former White House lawyer, Ty Cobb. Yeah, this is this is the guy. Um, is just pounding Trump relentlessly. Ty Cobb was once Donald Trump's White House counsel. Ty Cobb is really his name. And this is really
Starting point is 00:31:42 his facial hair, both of which are remarkable. And he went on CBS's face the nation and just completely torches Donald Trump. Well, I think if you go to 30,000 feet, what you see is a lot of moving parts, but simple themes. The simple themes are rewriting history. Trump wants to rewrite history so that, you know, the next generation may not know that he incited a violent insurrection, refused to peacefully transfer the power of the presidency after losing an election, stole classified documents, and showed him to, you know, friends. and guests at Mar-a-Lago, and that he was a criminal.
Starting point is 00:32:26 I mean, he's a convicted felon. All anybody involved in those events that offended him, they're in real danger. So you have the rewriting history stuff, you know, the U.S. attorney that he appointed his personal lawyer, Lindsay Halligan, you know, her role previously in the administration was, you know, trying to eliminate the theory that, you know, America, you know, had slaves at the Smithsonian. She was there to, you know, whitewash the, the Smithsonian and paint America as something that it isn't. I mean, American needs to learn from the mistakes and lessons that we've had. And one of the biggest mistakes that America ever had was
Starting point is 00:33:11 reelecting President Trump. That's right. And well, of course, tag hobby is completely correct. But this is not what you usually hear from Trump lawyers. He says, flat out the major mistake of reelecting Trump. Okay. This is not about, oh, Iraq was a big mistake. Vietnam, subprime mortgages, citizens united killing the fairness doctrine. The biggest mistake was Trump got four more years. And this is the guy who defended Donald Trump. Think about how far someone has to fall for their own lawyer to go on TV. Lawyers who usually don't, this is the opposite of what lawyers do. He goes on TV and he says the country would have been so
Starting point is 00:33:47 much better off if the guy I worked for wasn't in power again. It's not partisan sniping. This is someone who knows how Trump operates and he says this is the mistake of a lifetime. Now, what's set off Ty Cobb this time? It's Trump's obsession with indicting James Comey. Trump has now orchestrated the indictment of James Comey as a political enemy. And Ty Cobb says this is extraordinarily concerning. And it is extraordinarily disturbing in terms of how the United States is supposed to operate. And so the kicker kind of here is that Thai Cobb does believe the Comey case is going to implode before trial because Trump meddled so obviously in it and so publicly. And we've read this from other legal analysts as well, which is no judge could possibly
Starting point is 00:34:36 allow this case to go forward given that James Comey can't possibly get a fair trial. Now, Ty Cob doesn't sugarcoat it. He says it's unconstitutional. He says it's authoritarian. He says the prosecution is dead in the water. I hope he's right about that last thing. But importantly, if Rachel Maddow said it, we might go, okay, well, it's Rachel Maddow.
Starting point is 00:34:54 This is not an MSNBC guest. This is Trump's former lawyer spelling it out for the country. And so now Trump is scrambling. His own legal team from years past is saying the big mistake. The mistake was indicting James Comey. The big mistake was reelecting Donald Trump. You've got legal scholars on the left and right. of the political spectrum saying this is a bogus indictment of James Comey. And even Fox News analysts are
Starting point is 00:35:20 saying there's really nothing here. But Trump is pushing and he's pushing and he's pushing. And in trying to rewrite history, that's what this is all about. Trump somewhere in that head of his believes that if he can get James Comey convicted, it will rewrite all the history of the Trump Russia collusion, 2016, all of it. But what he's ultimately, doing is reminding every American every day why reelecting him was a big mistake. Good for Ty Cobb for being willing to say it. I don't know that everybody's listening to Ty Cobb right now. I'm sure the MAGA people have written them off. But this is another of the dozens of reasons why putting this guy back in office was such a terrible idea. We're going to have more on this on our hour
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Starting point is 00:37:34 The link is in the description. It is great to welcome to the program today. Rahm Emanuel, former U.S. ambassador to Japan, former Chicago mayor, former Obama White House Chief of Staff, a whole number of credentials and many extremely relevant to our conversation today. I really appreciate your time here. Thank you. Appreciate being with you.
Starting point is 00:37:56 You know, the reason I think the timing of this is perfect, this may not sound perfect to you, but my audience right now, I believe, is as skeptical of and adversarial to the democratic establishment as I ever remember it being. And it comes not out of like an interpersonal hostility, but it comes from a desire to say, hey, here is a direction that makes sense. Here's a direction that will help us win. We need to win in order to achieve power and make policy. Great. Now, you are out there. You tested a message in Iowa. It's an interesting message I want to hear about. There are reports you're thinking about 2028. But at the same time, when we think about, you know, the Democratic establishment, certainly if you're not in the middle
Starting point is 00:38:47 of it, you're on the periphery of it. And so I kind of want to hear a little bit from you about what's your view of what you think the Democratic Party needs right now? Because there are some in my audience who thinks it needs to be a totally. new direction. Oh, so let's try to unpack all 20 of those questions. Exactly. Yes, please. In a very Talmudic way, okay. One is, this is my tape. So let's dial all the way back and then work our way forward. Yep. At least in 2024, start there. When for the bulk of the country, not just Democrats, but for the bulk of the country, they are hanging on by their fingernails. their backs against the wall, their children can't afford a mortgage or they can't afford a
Starting point is 00:39:33 mortgage. There's no health care or retirement security. You're using your 401k to backstop your paycheck, not to save for your retirement. You're one illness away from not only bankruptcy or Chapter 11, but it used to be that, you know, you got a second opinion was a doctor. Today, it's an insurance executive selling you you can't get that medication or that surgery or that, whatever the doctor's prescribed. They say, no, that's where they start. They don't say, let's see how we can do this. They start with no. So all of that is where the American people are. And one caveat, side note, it's interesting to me that, you know, people in the top 10% income are now 50% of the consumer spend, the rest of the country's, the equivalence
Starting point is 00:40:16 of a recession and happen. And we're off on a set of secondary cultural issues that are not only not primary to the voters, but they look like they're primary to us. So that's, to me, the dynamic. And that's why I believe getting back to the fundamentals that the American dream you used to strive for today, it's a struggle to attain. People are kids are, I can tell you this. I mean, kids are making three times with their parents made when they started, but they could buy a home. Today, they're living in the basement. And they made more than their parents do.
Starting point is 00:40:51 And I just gave this one fact that I saw over the weekend that was just shocking to me. But not shocking, but it was stark. In 1950, 50% of the folks under 30 were either married and had it at home. Today is 12%. It's too hard economically to either get married, buy a home, or do both. Now, go all the way back. And this is on both parties, but also Democrats. I think there are four critical moments that set the stage in the last 25 years.
Starting point is 00:41:23 And I think it's relevant to where we are, so it's not just one election. We decide, as a country, based on a set of lies, to take a war to Iraq, lost thousands of young Americans in the promise of their lives, and spent a trillion dollars, and the only one that won that war between the United States and Iraq was China. Five years later, the banks and insurance companies get bailed out. and the American public lose their homes. But that was a bailout you supported, right? No, well, we'll come back to that.
Starting point is 00:42:01 It's a fair question. I want to come back. Let me just get through the four peaks, okay? China, 2012, they decide that America is not a strategic competitor or a strategic adversary. And we leave, you know, Battle Creek to battle Beijing all by themselves. And then fourth and finally, we say a COVID, everything gets disrupted. We tell the American people follow the science. It's pretty clear, like by way of example, schools can be open, and we refuse to do it.
Starting point is 00:42:33 And the parents get really familiar with what's happening or not happening in their kids' education. Two parts to your first question, to that last question. One, when the country was on the cliff of a massive depression, did I support TARP? Yes, the bailout. That's why I also, when I was Chief Staff to President Obama, advocated for Old Testament justice and that we should do financial and insurance reform first before health care
Starting point is 00:43:00 because I thought the country needed that Old Testament justice to see not only fixing the banks, fixing the financial system so people don't get robbed of the American dream. I did one to stop the Depression. The other one I thought was the right type of reform. The president made a decision which I think is what you make in judgment, which is the battle between, if you don't start health care today, you lose the time, not a wrong decision, legislatively.
Starting point is 00:43:26 I was making an argument about the American people. They wanted to see somebody in the top echelon, especially banks, et cetera, get held to count. In fact, I tell you, I wrote a memo to the president. I said, look, if you do health care reform, the one thing I know from the Clinton years, the health care industry has to sit on this side of the table with you. If you do financial reform and banking reform, Old Testament, justice, the banking executives and the insurance executives are sitting on the other side of the table. And the American people need to see you fighting for them against somebody that got
Starting point is 00:43:58 bailed out while they lost their home. So that is what I did. I don't make any events. One was we're a door, everybody realized we're a doorstep away like Nancy Pelosi from a mat, not a recession, a depression. And it was going to be a depression. And then I advocated six months later for a massive reform that I thought should be primary in that effort. So that's kind of those are, I think, four pills and leave the Democrats, especially towards the end and Washington, where the public has no trust and confidence in the establishment because in those four kind of peaks, and there may be a fifth, there may be four, three, but those are to me, my analysis of what's wrong.
Starting point is 00:44:48 and why the American dream has to be front and center to restoring the connection of the Democratic Party with the public, but also to stabilizing our country. I don't think it's an accent, David, and now I'll close on this, is that the moment the American dream totally over the arc of 30 years becomes unaffordable and inaccessible, exactly when our democracy becomes unstable, people have lost confidence. So that's my short five minute at the house. Well, I mean, to that point, I mean, I think that this might be useful because we can kind of really get into what the disconnect is because you've said you've made criticisms of the
Starting point is 00:45:26 Democratic Party. You've said that that there's toxic elements to it, that the average working class person doesn't see the party and say, this is obviously better for me. We know that in some circumstances like 2020 saying the people in power are so bad you should vote for us works. It worked for Biden in the sense that it did get him elected. Trump's mishandling of COVID was certainly a part of that. Okay.
Starting point is 00:45:50 So you can sometimes run on that negative partisanship. But I think one of the problems in 2024 and the exit polls kind of bore, uh, bear this out is when people said, okay, I'm not doing awesome under Trump, but when I listen to Kamala Harris talk about a deduction or was it a tax credit for expenses when I start a new business. It didn't get through that like, listen, when I hear Bernie talk for all of Bernie's faults, when I hear Bernie talk, it seems that priority one is actually speaking to the plight of the average person. What I wonder is, is whoever ultimately runs in 2028, maybe you will, maybe you won't.
Starting point is 00:46:32 We've had Governor Newsom on Governor Shapiro, Governor Whitmer, there's a lot of people in this pretty deep bench right now that may run. It seems that the first visceral reaction from voters who are skeptical. of Trump. I'm not talking about the MAGA people, but people who go, Trump's not great, but what am I voting for? There has to be some clear articulation of, ah, here are the four things economically that are clearly for the working class that whoever is offering. I don't, I couldn't tell you as someone who interviews Democrats every week. I couldn't really tell you what those things are. Like, do those need to be made clear? Yeah. The short answer is yes, but let me dial, take
Starting point is 00:47:09 one example, one thing. And then another thing. Yeah. So, one, think about this. We just got a report card last week on our schools. We're at a 30-year low in reading and math scores. Yes. And nobody in the position of power and responsibility, president, governors, association, I've said a word. You know everybody's position on Cracker Barrow. You know people's position on windmills.
Starting point is 00:47:40 No, but you laugh. But think about it. Yeah. I know what, look, whatever, I got raised in politics, not just at my home, but as a father of three. And if you think at the kitchen table it's only paying bills that people aren't talking about their kids' schools, they're not talking about their social media, they're not talking about their friends, you haven't been to a kitchen table. You think about it, but you've never been there. Now, we as a party focus on one child's pronoun and the other 30 kids can't tell you what a pronoun is.
Starting point is 00:48:10 We tell you that Abraham, like San Francisco, we're going to take Abraham Lincoln's name. off of school and we don't tell you the fact that the kids don't know why abraham the school's named after abraham and what he did as a president we have focused on whether you can wash your hands at that bathroom or take a shower at this locker room or change your clothes but we haven't talked about access to those places bathrooms and locker rooms but what about classroom excellence and we're silent and now all of a sudden people and more and more are going either to private schools or quote home schools i hate that term because of every child's homeschooled. And the Democratic Party, which has historically had a 15-point advantage
Starting point is 00:48:51 on education, is M-I-A. Now, I ran for mayor to fix a public school system, so I could put myself through this. I inherited a system that William Bennett, Secretary of Education, called the single worst in America. I walked out, Sean Reardon from Stanford, called it the single best. in the whole whole report on reading mass scores graduation one example we took graduation from 56% to 83% now i personally think and i've laid out in detail i did it yesterday the other day in i'm writing a piece i've done it in different pieces and watch both i think i owe the voters what i would do get your elementary education k through eight or pre k through eight back to the fundamentals the mississippi miracle is a roadmap they have done extraordinary things
Starting point is 00:49:41 on reading. Alabama's done extraordinary things on growths and math. They're bucking the trend. Get back to the fundamentals, time on those subjects, teacher training on those subjects, get away from all the woke stuff that came out and phonetic science, etc. Now, high school needs to be fundamentally reformed. If K through 80s get back to fundamentals, high school hasn't changed in 100 years and the economy has. Three things very quickly. One, you get They'd be average in high school, make community college free. That's what we did in Chicago, first city to do it. Took on the educational bureaucracy to do it.
Starting point is 00:50:19 Number two, we had got to 49 plus percent that got college credit in high school. So they proved to themselves they could do it. They saved money when they went to college, but they actually, in a school system like Chicago, since they were the first in their family to do college credit, they gave themselves confidence so they knew they could handle the next step. And third, probably most significantly, the first city and only city in those states ever replicated. And we hired a lot of college career counselors to do this. To get your high school diploma, we made it a requirement that you had to produce a letter of acceptance from a college, a community college, a branch of the armed forces or vocational.
Starting point is 00:50:59 Every child, not just David's and Rahm's children. I don't know if you have children. I do. I have three. Two are in the armed forces. and one isn't, but does national security work. Every child, not just the Emanuel children, will have a plan the day they're done walking
Starting point is 00:51:17 and getting their diploma. We fundamentally reformed the high school years. To me, that's a piece of this. That is more than a piece. It is you're not going to compete against China. You are not going to compete against Japan, Korea, pick a country of yours. If only a third of the children know how to read,
Starting point is 00:51:37 didn't do back. It's just not going to happen. Yeah, I think that's true. Let me, hold on. Let me just finish one thought. You can't be a party that espouses equity as a core value and be complicit or complacent with academic failure. And then lastly, but I started this when we were on the other question. The core crux, and this is a 30-year evaporation, it's going to take us a long time. to God is making the American dream affordable and accessible.
Starting point is 00:52:12 That to me is the North Star. That's the point of the spear. That is what it is. The other pieces fill in and back fill that quarter. You know, I agree with just about everything you just said on this issue. There's no way. There is no way a father of a child or children did not, cannot agree. Certainly.
Starting point is 00:52:32 Certainly. But I think, and this is where I think I want to hear from my audience. As you, as they hear, you talk about this. Does that sound to them like what they want to hear from the Democratic Party right now? Or I mean, you know, to the earlier question you started with, which was the woke stuff. And I think the reason that the economic stuff has such primacy and reigns so supreme is that if there is this well, I don't like the woke stuff and then pronouns and here's what I'm getting from Trump.
Starting point is 00:53:06 If there's an economic message where people go, hold on a second, here are the four things that I am understanding are going to be done if this individual or if this party takes control of the house, for example, or if a governor takes control of the state, it's going to be on housing. We're going to get costs down by building way more supply. And here's how I'm going to do it. On health care, but just to finish my thought here, I'm, I'm wondering if a really solid economic policy that makes people go, it's so obvious that this is what's good for the average person, that the woke stuff takes a back seat.
Starting point is 00:53:41 Isn't that a better strategy maybe? Well, let me say one thing. What's the best strategy is to be honest. Forget the, forget your tactical analysis. I love you. It's your show, so I should just shut up and say, thanks for having me. No. You know what?
Starting point is 00:53:58 I wanted to be an early childhood educator at a different point in my life. To me, this is core. And I fundamentally believe that if we're not doing what we need to do for our kids, this is not worth going through all the brain damage. No, I'm with you. So wait, wait, wait, half time. Here's my attitude. You don't like it? That's fine by me.
Starting point is 00:54:20 I'm going to tell you what I really believe. And if you don't want to, I'm not, my heart's not going to be broken. Okay. Here's, nobody's going to erase my Wikipedia page. I don't really care. Right. I think in education, if you're president in the United States, given we have one president eliminating the Department of Education, but spoke up on crack or barrel, but didn't say reading a mass scores or something. So if you're not, you don't want a president to do this, here's my breaking news.
Starting point is 00:54:44 Don't offer me, because it is really important to me. So I'm not interested in. So if you don't think an education of a child, what's going on in schools, and you don't think the crisis that was the nation's report card is a wake up call, I'm not your guy. And that's okay by me. No, yeah. And I don't know. And I don't know if you're saying this rhetorically or if you're saying it about me because that's not my view.
Starting point is 00:55:06 Certainly. No, no. I'm saying, it's your show. I mean, actually better than that. I'm being asked you. But my generically, my point is you said, look, it's got to be economic. My view is this is like a misnomer and this gets my, you know, parents don't just sit at at a kitchen table paying bills.
Starting point is 00:55:24 Right. I knew how many times and it's not just the kitchen table, it's when you're up at bed and you're at night before you're going to turn the light off. You are talking about, I would guarantee you almost 70% of that conversation is your children. You are talking about the schools, the new principal, they cut the arts education, or there's no after school programs, you know, the traffic to get to them. You're talking about their friends. You're talking about what they're doing on social media or not to do, you know, how come you can't get them to focus? That is the bulk of what goes on at our homes. And again, I say this. I haven't made a decision, but if education is
Starting point is 00:56:05 secondary to you, I want you to know it's primary to me, and maybe I'm not the right guy for you. That's okay. I'm not going to, my feelings aren't going to be hurt. Now, I happen to think it's head and tails of the same coin about the American dream. You're not, and now, again, not every child is going to go to college. That's why I made community college, branch of the armed forces, or vocational school as equal in value as a college education. Some people want to just argue for free college. Now, I did free community college if you got a B average first city ever doing. I happen to believe since we also had the largest junior ROTC program in the country and I sponsored more students. But the armed forces is a great, not only sense of public service,
Starting point is 00:56:54 but also a great education. And it's proven to be a great melting pot, one of the last ones left in the United States. I also believe that if you want to become a plumber or electrician or a carpenter, which is why we expanded in Chicago, every one of the building training facilities, that too is an education.
Starting point is 00:57:12 But what I do know, our responsibility, as those of us that believe in serve in public life, does not end when you get a diploma in high school. It makes sure that you have a plan that's executable the day after, not just my children. My children would be fun. They come from two-parent home, loving, caring,
Starting point is 00:57:33 and have been able to provide for them the most important step, as my father used to say, which is your child's education. That's not true across the board. And therefore, we've got to do the investments that are necessary so every child can, in a period of time where you earn what you learn, has a chance to do that.
Starting point is 00:57:48 And we're going to give them the resources and the foundations and the structure to do that. So they aren't literally left as our great secretary of state used to say, I don't want him to graduate from the university of the sidewalk. I want him to graduate from somewhere else where they have what they need to navigate the future and succeed at it. Last thing I want to ask you, and I know you've got to run here. You really don't want to get down the book at the educational argue.
Starting point is 00:58:14 I just something I care deeply about. No, I agree with you on the education. I'm thinking of winning in 2028. And I think that's right. And you think it's cool. That's totally a respectable position. And here's the other thing, David. You may say, oh, forget the world.
Starting point is 00:58:28 Yeah, I agree with you not only Democrats, the publics want to forget it. Yeah. I want to forget it. But don't think that it's not a sticky issue from a branding political perspective. Agreed. Completely. Okay. Okay.
Starting point is 00:58:40 Here's my final question to and you can take it could, it might be a very short answer. It might not. If we think about 2028, yeah, there's different spots sort of being eeked out on the political spectrum. For example, I believe if government. I believe if Governor Newsom and Governor Shapiro run, they are basically targeting the same segment of the Democratic electorate. Just my opinion.
Starting point is 00:59:00 I could be right. I could be wrong. If AOC runs, she occupies a different spot. Buttigieg, I believe up against Newsom or Shapiro can't win because he lacks support from certain groups while competing for roughly the same. So we're kind of getting a sense of the spectrum of candidates that there might be. As you look at the Democratic Party right now, where do you see the self on this spectrum? Are you closer to AOC?
Starting point is 00:59:27 Are you more of a governor Newsome? I don't think Kamala Harris should run, for example, from a strategic perspective, although I think she's very competent. Are you more aligned with her? Where do you place yourself in the party right now? I mean, you're asking that. So one, here's how I think, as I just kind of answered, it's consistent, which is I think there's a big appetite, thirst for candor, authenticity, and strength.
Starting point is 00:59:54 And if you look at my whole career in public life, there's good things and bad things, and people will disagree. Nobody ever walks away, and you're never going to walk away from this meeting and saying, well, I don't know where he stood on education. It wasn't clear. I told you. And I'm going to tell you what I think. You're going to lift the foot up.
Starting point is 01:00:11 You're going to check the oil, pull the spark plugs. second in every all part of my career whether it was taking the first city and any entity to sue the pharmaceutical industry over opias in 2014 before any attorney general did it by three years the one that president clinton turned to and said take on the nRA for the assault weapon ban the brady bill make it the law of the line i got the call and i took the ball i was one that responsible for negotiate and take on the insurance company and create the children's health insurance program so 10 million children had no health care got one that made this argument lost it we should take on the banks and the insurance company we got the dod frank legislation but i wanted to make it primary in my own time here is mayor not just pharmaceutical industry took on the tobacco industry and gave it 90,000 children free eye and dental care that they never had before because we raised taxes on tobacco companies
Starting point is 01:01:09 and plowed it into our children's health care i think you're picking up the theme As a son of a pediatrician, I know you thought something else, but as a son of a pediatrician, I believe in the health and well-being of our children, and that's primarily. But everything I've done over my life is taking on powerful interests that have held a choke hold on the system, broke it, and made progress. Now, if you're looking for perfection, I ain't your man. No, no, there is no perfection, but I think a lot of people are going to say, David, I don't think he answers your question.
Starting point is 01:01:40 Well, I'm giving you, I think if let me do this. since we're on the eve of Junkie Pore. Maybe it's the question. No, I'm joking. It's like what I would say. I should atone for the question. Here's the thing. Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, you can go through the history.
Starting point is 01:01:59 I actually do think beyond ideological, which is what you're asking where you sit on the spectrum. There's also a stylistic point and that is as valuable for a guy who ran from Pope Arkansas or believe in hope that wasn't a policy but was something. So I'm going to give you honesty. I'm going to give you authenticity and I'm going to give you strength taking on powerful. You're going to either like it and I'm very comfortable if you don't. Well, it's sort of sounds like Rahm Emanuel maybe is running in 2028.
Starting point is 01:02:29 I think the conversation is an interesting one. I think it's going to be arguably the most interesting primary, certainly of my adult life. Whether you run or not, I will say. Let me say that. Yeah, let me say this for a party that thought they had no choice last time, you're going I have one flavors this time. There will be. There will be.
Starting point is 01:02:47 Rahm Emanuel. Really good to talk to you. I appreciate your time today. Thank you, Matt. Fall is here. The nights are getting cooler. It's cozier. Hot baked goods feel like a great treat.
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Starting point is 01:04:09 going to have to bail out farmers because of the very tariffs that he put in place. Now last week, Donald Trump openly admitted what we've all known for a very long time. His trade war is crushing American farmers. Corn and soybean prices are down. Costs for fertilizer and equipment are up. Markets like China, which used to buy 60% of South Dakota soybeans are now shut off. And so in comes John Thune, senator from South Dakota, and he goes, we are looking at solutions. And if you read between the lines, we all know the solution will be Trump giving taxpayer money
Starting point is 01:04:53 to farmers to try to fix the problem he created with the tariffs. Who could have predicted it? Who could have predicted it? Why should American taxpayers bail out farmers who are hurting because of the president's tariff policies? Well, look, I think that the farmers, I represent a lot of them, and they want nothing more than open markets. There are markets.
Starting point is 01:05:17 And nothing says open markets like tariffs and then bailouts to fix the problem the tariffs cost. Right now that aren't open to some of our commodities as a consequence of that there. We've got a big harvest coming in here in South Dakota corn and soybeans and no place to go with it. Now I'm so sorry to interrupt again. When he says we've got markets that are not. not open to us. Why aren't they open? They're not open because of the blanket tariffs that Trump
Starting point is 01:05:44 put in place, the guy he supports. So what the president has said is I'm going to support and I'm going to help our farmers. And so we are we are looking at. I'm a member of the Senate Ag committee have been for some time. And we're looking at potential solutions to make sure that we can help support farmers until some of those markets come back. I think part of it is that the president's trying to achieve with his trade policy, reciprocity with countries that have been taking advantage of us for a long time. And I think most of us support that. I think a lot of our farmers support that. They are anxious. They want to see markets opened up. And so when I speak to the president and his team about this, I always reiterate the importance of keeping agriculture front
Starting point is 01:06:21 and center when you're negotiating trade deals. But at the end of the day, our farmers are probably going to need some financial assistance this year. And a lot of the revenue coming in off the tariffs is what they would use to provide that. There you go. There you go. So what he's essentially trying to argue here. Understand the insanity of this. Trump's tariffs, which are attacks on Americans, have hurt farmers so badly that now we are going to have to use some of the tariff money paid ultimately by working class people whose cost of stuff has gone up. We're going to have to bail people out with that very tariff money. And by the way, this was completely predictable since it happened during the first term with farmers as well.
Starting point is 01:07:07 Use tariff revenue to bail farmers out because the tariffs are hurting them. In other words, you break it and then you have the taxpayers who are paying the tariffs try to fix it. And Democrats, of course, are pointing to the obvious in this case, which is the simple solution is drop the tariffs. That would mean, of course, admitting that the entire strategy was a failure. So instead, Donald Trump is saying we're going to have temporary pain. It's going to be a little difficult for a while, but over the long term, it's going to be
Starting point is 01:07:33 great. Farmers are going. We're just sitting on our product here. We're sitting on our harvest. And so maybe on a rally stage, it sounds good. It'll be a little difficult, but we're going to win, win, win. But farmers are paying higher prices for the things they need as inputs. Tariffs are passed on to consumers. And then now all of a sudden, you have Republicans admitting the tariffs are having consequences. He's still saying it's good. He's still saying he supports Trump, but he's saying temporarily, the tariffs are a problem here. Now, are they going to be able to spin this as a plan to rebuild the middle class? Because it seems really difficult to make that case. And I don't even know that there's really any strategy here. I don't think that this was, okay, we're going to put
Starting point is 01:08:14 the tariffs in place. The farmers will get crushed. We'll give the tariff money to the farmers. I don't think that they thought about that because if they had, they would have gone, wait a second, this is circular. Why are we doing this to begin with? I believe that this is damage control from the inevitable and to us predictable damage that this tariff policy is doing. And every Trump policy kind of circles back to the same point, which is Trump says, here are the people I'm going to champion. These are the most important people. And then all of a sudden he goes, I've got to figure out how to take from somebody else to
Starting point is 01:08:47 help these people because they're actually getting completely and totally crushed. So I expect that most Republican senators in the house, it'll be different. It already has been different. I expect most Republican senators are going to continue arguing that this policy is great big picture. And the funniest and most pathetic thing about it is they say they're all about the free market. Tariffs are not free market. Bailouts are not free market.
Starting point is 01:09:15 None of it is free market. But they claim that at some point, we're going to get to that free market thanks to what they're doing. It's pathetic. Donald Trump's condition, whatever it is, seems to be getting. worse. And this latest installment is beyond belief. Donald Trump posted a fake AI generated video of himself promising every American access to a magical healing pod known as a med bed, MED, BED, like medical bed. This is popular in Q&N circles. And the idea here is that this is, it's really out of
Starting point is 01:09:49 sci-fi. Maybe at some point this will exist. It doesn't. The idea is you get put in this med bed. It's almost like a hyperbaric chamber and it just fixes you up. It can even regrow limbs in some version of this. The clip was made to look like a Fox News segment hosted by Lara Trump. It showed Trump saying every American will soon have their own med bed card. He says these will be in new hospitals. The best doctors will be running them. This was totally fake and phony.
Starting point is 01:10:18 It was on Trump's truth social feed for about 12 hours. Look at this. Breaking now, President Donald J. Trump has announced a historic new health care system, the launch of America's first medbed hospitals and a national medbed card for every citizen. Every American will soon receive their own medbed card. With it, you'll have guaranteed access to our new hospitals, led by the top doctors in the nation, equipped with the most advanced. Sounds pretty good, huh?
Starting point is 01:10:48 Technology in the world. These facilities are safe, modern, and designed to restore. for every citizen to full health and strength. This is the beginning of a new era in American health care. In this first phase, only a limited number of med bed cards will be released. Registration details will be announced very soon. Very soon. It's going to be limited.
Starting point is 01:11:10 Limited and maybe there's money. I don't know. Who knows? So, okay, what is a med bed? If you've never fallen down the Q and on rabbit hole, these are futuristic pods that can cure any disease, reverse aging, and even regrow a lost limb. Believers in these say that the government has reverse engineered alien technology after retrieving UFOs.
Starting point is 01:11:35 They conspired to keep that secret from the public, but they've developed these med beds. And depending on, you know, like with a lot of these things, there's different flavors of the conspiracy theory. In some of these, the elites already have the med beds. And that's how they are being kept young. and vital. Some versions say assassinated people or long dead people like John F. Kennedy are alive because they're hooked up to these. Others say Trump has the power to release these at any time. And of course, if this sounds like science fiction, it's because it is. Companies have been
Starting point is 01:12:09 trying to cash in on this. There are med bed generators that some have sold for as much as $11,000. The idea is that it emits the same sort of all encompassing healing power of a medbed in some kind of simple way. And they're really being sold to desperate people. Now, I don't think I have to tell you that they don't work. Families have filed complaints. They say, my loved one died waiting for the delivery of the device or waiting for the device to deliver the cure that was promised. And what makes Trump's post so disturbing is that this is AI generated crap. Trump reposted it, it stayed up for 12 hours, which makes me wonder, is this something Trump
Starting point is 01:12:53 knew was not real? And then he put it up there to help someone, I don't even know who, and then it was taken down. He deleted the clip ultimately. It went out to 10 million followers. It validated everything the QAnon people believe. And I don't think the video is the creepiest part necessarily. It's like the content is really the creepy thing.
Starting point is 01:13:15 And what's funny is AI Trump speaks in coherent sentences. That immediately made me suspicious. Is this really Donald Trump? By the way, the AI voice isn't perfect anyway. But there's a bigger story here. And I'm researching this for my forthcoming book, which I'll have more to say about at some point, the way in which AI getting better. This one was not so good.
Starting point is 01:13:38 Like it doesn't sound like Trump. It just doesn't sound like Trump. But the fact that this already looked so real. we are going to be dealing with fabricated presidential statements. They are going to go mainstream. It's going to take 10 to 12 hours, as it did in this case for some of them to be pulled down. And of course, this was part of a broader posting spree for Trump where he posted, you know,
Starting point is 01:14:01 AI drawings of himself firing Jerome Powell and rants about Hollywood actors. And of course, any other president doing this would immediately spark a debate about fitness for office. But it's Trump. It's another weekend meltdown, middle of the night meltdown, and he's pushing med beds. This is just pathetic, terrifying, and completely disgusting. We've got a phenomenal bonus show for you today. Eric Adams is out of the New York City mayoral.
Starting point is 01:14:32 Is it just that he realized he can't win or is it part of some coordinated effort to attack Zoran Mamdani? The Missouri governor has signed a new Republican favoring match. Oh boy and why are friends teaming up to buy homes very interesting stories all of them on today's bonus show sign up at join packman.com. I'll see you then. I'll be back tomorrow too.

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