The David Pakman Show - Fear, failure, and decline in America

Episode Date: July 29, 2026

-- On the Show: -- Donald Trump fails to fulfill his core campaign promise as even conservative outlets report grocery costs hitting fifty-year highs -- Alex Jones turns on Donald Trump by demanding... his removal from office over the expanding military conflict in Iran -- Donald Trump gives a rambling television interview where he falsely claims credit for stopping global wars and threatens Iran's infrastructure -- Donald Trump appears exhausted at Lindsey Graham's funeral while contradicting narratives about Graham's legacy -- Policy advisor Stephen Miller uses radical existential messaging by claiming human survival depends on upcoming election outcomes -- Iranian state media releases dangerous propaganda target video explicitly threatening the lives of Melania Trump and Barron Trump -- Donald Trump reportedly is showing growing anxiety regarding his own mortality following the sudden death of Lindsey Graham -- Governor Andy Beshear demands physical proof of cognitive ability from Mitch McConnell or his immediate resignation -- On the Bonus Show: The DEA admits targeting suspected drug boats wasn't effective, Kash Patel loses another defamation lawsuit, Tuberville attacks Fauci over “lies he gave to Trump,” and much more... 🐶 Sundays for Dogs: Get 50% OFF with code PAKMAN at https://sundaysfordogs.com/pakman 🛡️ Incogni lets you control your personal data! Get 60% off their annual plan: http://incogni.com/pakman 🧠 Try Brain.fm totally free for a month at https://brain.fm/pakman -- Become a Member: https://davidpakman.com/membership -- Subscribe to our (FREE) Substack newsletter: https://davidpakman.substack.com -- Get David's Book: https://bit.ly/m/attention -- 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) Start (01:29) Food prices hit highest level in 50 years (08:37) Alex Jones supports Trump's impeachment (20:51) Trump threatens Iranian infrastructure (32:43) Trump appears asleep at Graham's funeral (40:40) Miller says survival depends on the midterms (48:16) Iran threatens to kill Melania and Barron (55:40) Trump is worried about his own mortality (1:02:26) Kentucky Gov demands video from McConnell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Now streaming on Disney Plus, the Hulu original series Furious follows FBI agent Alice Black, played by Emmy Rossum, on the hunt for a mysterious and calculating serial killer. Both walk their own paths toward justice, and as their lives start to intertwine, the line between right and wrong begins to blur. New episodes week over week. Watch the Hulu original series Furious, now streaming only on Hulu on Disney Plus. Today we have a show about a political movement that is increasingly driven by fear, failure, and decline. Donald Trump's promise to make life affordable has collapsed as food prices are at their most expensive in 50 years. There's a former top MAGA ally who is now saying it's time to impeach Donald Trump. And even the hosts of Fox and Friends seem stunned by the president's incoherent answers.
Starting point is 00:00:58 Trump then couldn't stay awake during Lindsey Graham's funeral and new reporting suggests that he is privately obsessed with his own death. And speaking of death, Iran has now put out a video indicating that they have a plan to assassinate Melania Trump and Baron Trump. It's a very dark situation. And then speaking of darkness, Stephen Miller, one of Donald Trump's top policy people, is using Mussolini-style rhetoric straight up, just classic authoritarian rhetoric. designed to make political violence feel like they're just defending themselves, even though they're suggesting violence. And at the same time, more demands for real, believable proof of life from Mitch McConnell. What can Kentucky governor, Bashir do and what can't he do?
Starting point is 00:01:50 All of that and more today. How are your grocery prices doing lately? I've been talking to a lot of voters recently, including some right wing voters. And they're all talking to me about I go to the grocery store. I spend $110 and it feels like I get nothing. Now, remember that Donald Trump promised to bring grocery prices down right away. He made endless promises of just the your corn will be so afraid of me that when I win, it'll automatically go down in price and related promises.
Starting point is 00:02:29 And what we actually have if we look at prices is Americans. confronting the largest grocery price spike in half a century with the right wing New York Post warning that there is no relief in sight. Even the New York Post is reporting it. And this is part of a bigger story I've been covering, which is that Fox News and the New York post, both publications, media outlets owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, are preparing for a situation in which even Republican vote. voters are no longer aligned with the mago wing of the Republican Party. Food prices are up 33%
Starting point is 00:03:10 over the last seven years. Not all of that includes time that Donald Trump is president. Ground beef reached almost seven bucks a pound in June. That's 79% higher than in 2019. Food prices projected to rise another 3.1% this year, another 3.1% next year. Now, I always say, hold elected officials accountable to their promises. Trump said grocery prices would come down while also saying the entire concept of grocery affordability is a scam, but he said the prices would come down. And instead, they're going to go up. Now, the reporting is not from MS now or MSNBC or CNN or some left-wing group trying to change or damage Trump politically. It's the New York Post, a reliably pro-Trump newspaper admitting that grocery prices have effectively reset at a permanently higher level and are going to
Starting point is 00:04:04 keep going up. Now, I, you all, I don't know how other shows out there are doing it. I try to just be very transparent with you on these economic numbers. Trump didn't cause the entire 33% increase over the last seven years. Some of it was during the pandemic. Some of it was during the Biden administration. COVID disrupted supply chains. Russia's invas invas. of Ukraine affected grain markets and cattle herds are smaller. That does relate to the Trump administration, but then you've got labor and transportation costs that have gone up. But Trump ran on saying, I will fix it and I will fix it quickly. We're going to get the prices down, groceries, cars, energy, everything. And he repeated it and promised that on day one, these prices were going
Starting point is 00:04:51 to start to come down. And he attacked Kamala Harris for not immediately, owning food costs and telling voters that she would get them down. She was being a little more realistic about what presidents can and can't do. And then once the election ended, suddenly Trump discovers that this was a promise he made over and over again, but it's kind of difficult to actually make good on it. And he even said weeks into his second term, it's hard to bring things down once they've gone up. It's very hard, which is true.
Starting point is 00:05:22 And it's interesting how that works. the election, Trump is the only person that can fix it. Everything will come down. Drill baby drill, eggs, bacon, ground beef. They're going to be giving themselves away. And after the election, oh, prices are complicated. The economy is a difficult thing because there's so many factors that affect it, which is true. I would just rather get that up front.
Starting point is 00:05:43 And to this end, I spoke about this on the Gavin Newscombe podcast last week. I believe Barack Obama did a better job in 2012 of saying we've made progress. but we have more work to do. And that's why you should vote for me, both because I've made progress, but because I recognize that we have to do more. The Biden-Harris approach and the Trump approach of it's all great. It's all fantastic. Not exactly the same way. They didn't do it the same way, but the idea of telling people things are good is not convincing to a lot of voters. And I think that that's an example of something Barack Obama did right. Trump now has also made the problem much worse with tariffs, of course, which increase the cost of importing food and packaging, fertilizer,
Starting point is 00:06:29 machinery, all of these different inputs. And the post even acknowledges that tariff pressure and higher transportation and energy cost mean that it's extremely unlikely that these grocery prices are going to come down. So Americans are fundamentally changing how they shop. They're switching to store brands. They are visiting multiple retailers to compare prices, depending on how far apart the retailers are and what gas costs. I don't know whether you really saved by doing that. It sort of depends on the situation and cutting a lot of items except when they are on sale. And you even have
Starting point is 00:07:04 reporting that higher income families are paying much closer attention to grocery costs. So this is exactly why the political consequences in this upcoming midterm could be absolutely massive. because there was a wave of anger over inflation, which Trump said, I am your populist who will fight back against this. And it's Biden's fault that eggs cost more. And grocery receipts are more painful to look at. And there was no nuance in it. And he said, once I turn this around, you're going to give me credit for it.
Starting point is 00:07:39 And it was a failure. So if he would have gotten credit, he's got to get the blame as well. The grocery bill is one of the cleanest measures of whether people believe the economy is working or not for them. And it is something that is going to have repercussions in November. Trump made it a litmus test of his presidency. By that very same test, he is failing. Now, a better approach would be we have a situation here where prices rarely reverse unless we have a significant economic downturn. We don't really see deflation in the United States unless we have a downturn. So what makes more sense to do is to slow down the rate of inflation and get wage growth up so that over time your purchasing power goes up.
Starting point is 00:08:30 Now, it is much more difficult to explain. It's easier to say I'll get prices down. It's also very difficult. But I'll get prices down as much clearer than prices rarely come down. So instead of a deflationary spiral, we'll slow down the price growth and then get up wage growth. It's a tougher sell politically. And it's also very unlike Trump because I don't think he really understands marginally more complex thinking. So it's in a sense a problem of his own making and also a problem in terms of the sort of communication that the average MAGA has come to expect
Starting point is 00:09:00 from Trump. But he made the promises. Let's hold him to the promises and vote that way in November. The movement to impeach Donald Trump over the Iran war has gone completely nuclear. for lack of a better term. Remember Alex Jones, the conspiracy theorist whose show, Alex Jones show has ended almost as many times as we've won the Iran war. And yet somehow he keeps producing content. He's still out there. Alex Jones was one of the strongest, loudest supporters of Donald Trump for years. And he now says it's Trump, it's time for Trump to go. 25th Amendment, impeachment, whatever it takes to remove Donald Trump. The same Alex Jones, by the way, who, who enthusiastically supported Trump and promoted his movement to millions of people and helped
Starting point is 00:09:48 create the kind of conspiratorial universe in which MAGA did so well. He now says it is time to stop Trump. It's a matter of national emergency. Take a look at this. The big issue is how to stop Trump. And we have to have Congress go for the war powers. They've three times tried to vote war powers. They're supposed to authorize a war.
Starting point is 00:10:12 This is a war. the draft ready. If this isn't a war, nothing's a war. I mean, this is absolutely out of control. And so I'm calling for it right now. 25th Amendment, impeachment, whatever needs to happen to get this front and center to get control of our country. It's impeachable alone that the president's supporting the NDAA. I agree with Tucker Carlson that all of the people that voted for this to merges with a foreign military. It actually says it in Section 219, clear as day. I need to be in Nuremberg-style trials. I mean, this is, And if you think it's crazy now, imagine what's coming with this.
Starting point is 00:10:46 They want us in a total war so they can censor and take our freedoms and nationalize everything and push us aside with AI, total liability, immunity and protection. This is a disaster. We are facing tyranny, but the public's awakening. We've got to come together and transcend left and right. And we have to say no to an expanded war that will definitely destroy the economy, kill a bunch of our troops. They're preparing a massive ground invasion. It's all confirmed.
Starting point is 00:11:13 is going down right now. Rex, what do you think we should do to spotlight this? I'll tell listeners, we're live right now and share our life feed. We're going to cut all this up, you know, breaking. Alex Jones calls for impeach for the president Trump for attempt to implement the national draft and launch total ground invasion of Iran. Americans left and right must come together now and demand Congress invoke the war powers and end this war now. The Senate must vote down the NDAA that's already passed the House. We have our action plan, Rex Jones. What do you say? So Alex Jones is just furious over the Iran war. And he says the administration is preparing to reinstate the draft and launch this massive
Starting point is 00:11:55 ground invasion. I don't think they're about to reinstate the draft. I do think the ground invasion is possible because Trump even said sometimes you've got to go in with ground troops. We will see. Now, to be very clear, Alex Jones talks about this is all confirmed. It's not all confirmed. And we it's not that Alex.
Starting point is 00:12:13 present Alex Jones not as an example of reliable information, but as an example of someone who used to be a big supporter of Trump's, who's joining this growing group of hard right figures, you know, Tucker Carlson, Candice Owens, Nick Fuentes, these types of people. They believe that Trump has betrayed a bunch of his promises that were at the center of America first. They are, if nothing else, hardcore nativists. And Alex Jones is kind of going further than a lot of the others have been willing to go. He says Trump's behavior is impeachable. He says the 25th Amendment should be invoked. He says Congress needs to reassert war powers. And then, you know, because it's Alex Jones, he calls for Nuremberg-style trials of administration officials and says Trump wants a total war
Starting point is 00:13:07 so the government can censure Americans and nationalize everything and replace the population. with AI and gay frogs and all this type of stuff. It gets wacky, but like with one rant, Alex Jones goes from a defensible constitutional argument that Trump should be removed, which I agree with completely into this like AI takeover conspiracy stuff. But the defensible part, I think is very important. Is Congress supposed to authorize a war? Yes, they are. Trump can't transform an unauthorized military campaign into the, this open-ended regional war just because he feels like it. And Congress should invoke the war powers resolution. They should force an actual vote. That's all true. And Alex Jones is correct.
Starting point is 00:13:53 If American forces are sustained and are engaged in a sustained combat against Iran, Congress can't keep pretending that this is a limited operation and incursion and excursion, whatever Trump is calling it these days, you need authorization, you need oversight. This is just basic stuff. And this kind of political rupture is very much front and center. And go back to Trump's promises. He said he was the one person who wouldn't go into the endless wars in the Middle East, pointless wars. Tulsi, who the last liberal who found that actually, yes, Trump is right about that. He's the one guy who can who can keep us out of these wars. And his supporters depicted him as the only, you know, Hillary was going to get us into all these wars. Biden was going to
Starting point is 00:14:39 get into wars. Harris was going to get into all these wars. And the only person equipped to keep us out of another Middle East disaster is Trump. And so they attack Democrats and they said, you know, these neocon Republicans, they're also warmongers. We need Trump. Trump now has a war that he owns. The coalition that helped to elect him has completely fractured. Tucker is attacking the administration. Candice Owens has turned against Trump. Even Steve Bannon, who still supports Trump overall and says, we're going to figure out a way for him to get a third term. Crazy stuff. Even Steve Bannon has criticized the war. And now Alex Jones says it's time for impeachment, 25th Amendment, and criminal trials. These people have participated in promoting countless lies for Trump. They created
Starting point is 00:15:24 the Trump movement. We are not rehabilitating them because they finally stumbled upon one of Trump's disasters that they're willing to criticize. But we should welcome every vote, every voice, every little ounce of pressure that might prevent a ground invasion and maybe we'll help to get this thing wrapped up. Alex Jones spent years building this monster and he lost control of the monster. And that applies to Fox News, New York Post, a lot of these outlets. He's horrified Joneses that the monster is now doing some of the stuff that he doesn't like. So there's zero redemption for Alex Jones. Just a terrible, disgusting person who somehow after his show ended 50 times, he keeps finding a way to to be in front of a camera.
Starting point is 00:16:05 But this is an unmistakable sign that the whole America first coalition has blown itself apart. And now the question is what electoral consequences is it going to have? This is now up to us. What is, I've been talking to a lot of different creators lately. What will be most motivating for people to go out and vote these Republicans out or, listen, it's a midterm. If some people who would vote for Republicans decide to stay. home, that's almost as good.
Starting point is 00:16:36 It's still a vote that they're losing. Foreign policy is not very motivating. You check the polling. It's so low on the list of what gets people to vote, especially in a midterm. Economic stuff that's salient to like, I'm looking at the cash in my wallet and there's very little, little of it. And I leave the grocery store and I've spent a bunch of money, but I don't have any stuff. That is extremely motivating.
Starting point is 00:17:02 And so all of this stuff together. needs to be hammered on. Trump's incompetence and that he deserves removal, probably somewhere in between the economic stuff and the foreign policy stuff, but we have to figure out what is going to get people motivated to vote out Republicans or to just stay home while we go and vote them out. Have you ever actually looked at what's in your dog's food? A lot of kibble is made with extreme high heat, then patched. back together with a bunch of synthetic ingredients that I struggle to pronounce.
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Starting point is 00:18:42 does not start with some movie version of how hacking takes place. It's boring details that are easy to find. Your full name, current and former addresses, phone number, date of birth, employment history. If you put a bunch of that stuff together, people can then start to figure out, do I know your security answers to security questions. Can I open accounts in your name? This is why our sponsor Incogni exists. Incogni works to remove your personal info from the internet, places like people search sites, online directories, commercial databases. Incogni starts by removing your info from hundreds of the most well-known ones and will follow up until it's done. And if you Google yourself and find your info anywhere outside of this database of hundreds of these sites,
Starting point is 00:19:32 You can submit a link to Incogni and they will do what's called a custom removal. All of these processes are independently verified by Deloitte and you can get 60% off an annual plan at incogni.com slash Pacman with the code Pacman. The link is in the description. For those of you who haven't heard the Trump administration in an act of anti-First Amendment behavior, how could they, has put me on a list of media offenders and liberal lunatics, their phraseology, not mine. Myself and my friend Brian Tyler Cohen are on this list.
Starting point is 00:20:14 This is having repercussions. We believe that they are pressuring some of the digital platforms to suppress my content. And so I have a very little favor to ask of you today. Just make sure you're following me on the key platforms. If you're not subscribed on YouTube, please subscribe. If you're not on my free substack, substack. Substack. Davidpack.com, make sure you're on it. If you use either Spotify or Apple Podcasts, make sure you're subscribed to the podcast on those.
Starting point is 00:20:47 You don't have to do anything different. You don't have to listen to anything. You don't have to watch anything. It's just getting those numbers up. The stronger we are, the more difficult it is for these platforms to justify. suppressing the content. And of course, if you can consider getting a membership at join packman.com. We do an extra show every day for our members. And you can sign up using the coupon code, sad Trump, all one word, sad Trump at join packman.com. Fox and Friends is supposed to be one of the
Starting point is 00:21:23 friendliest shows to Donald Trump. And despite being a completely friendly lay down and walk all over me like a doormat show. Donald Trump called in and still still managed to leave the hosts looking completely confused, uncomfortable, and at some points, they even looked stunned by the things that Donald Trump was saying. The interview contained everything. It contained imaginary wars that Donald Trump claims to have stopped, one of his favorites, threats to destroy civilian infrastructure for no real military reason, a war crime, incoherent answers about Iran. And the same false explanation about tariffs that he has repeated for years. Let's go through it.
Starting point is 00:22:05 Trump saying he stopped eight wars and this is another wrinkle he's added. He says that his blanket tariffs, which of course have been economically devastating to the average American, he says that the tariffs ended five wars. Take a look at this. No, no, the tariffs have, I mean, it's a shame that I have to go a harder way for the tariffs because the Supreme Court in a very close decision, you know, ruled against me. Now, I have other ways of doing the same thing, but it's a more cumbersome, you know, the way of doing it. But the tariffs have made this country a fortune. It made the country rich. And I stopped eight
Starting point is 00:22:45 wars, I would say five of them because of tariffs. The threat of tariffs stopped India and Pakistan from going into a nuclear war. The threat of tariffs stopped numerous other countries. from going to work. These tariffs, it's the greatest thing and only the really smart people or the people that are nonpolitical and that get it. Talk about the Democrats know how good it's been. This is so preposterous. I sort of struggle to believe Trump even believes it.
Starting point is 00:23:15 He declares that he stopped eight wars. He gives no evidence. And then he says that thanks to his tariffs, five wars have been prevented, which so, he says, sort of counts like ending a war in Donald Trump's bizarre mind. We it sounds like we got world peace except nobody noticed other than Donald Trump. Now India and Pakistan did have a dangerous military confrontation. That's true. And Trump has repeatedly said that his threat to end trade ended that conflict. India completely rejects that and there's no evidence that that's actually true. what Trump, you have to hand it to him. He's sort of skilled at taking any complicated international
Starting point is 00:24:02 development or event, removing every other government, every other diplomat, every other factor and placing the entire center of the story on Trump showed up and he saved everybody. He was the only one who could do it and he did do it and everybody, have you said thank you to Trump for doing that? The topic of the Iran nuclear deal came up and Donald Trump said the Obama deal was horrible, it was a dumbass deal, and had I not come in and ended that deal, Israel would not exist. A claim I struggled to believe, but let's listen to him make it anyway. With the B2, and I stopped it also when I ended, when I terminated that horrible deal made by Obama, they caught the Iran nuclear deal. It was the worst dumbest deal. It was a road
Starting point is 00:24:46 to a nuclear weapon. And if they had a nuclear weapon, you wouldn't have Israel around. Frankly, if I weren't president of the United States, Israel today would not exist. So the claim is Israel with one of the most powerful militaries in the world would not exist were Donald Trump not president. Now, there are Republican types who love to make this argument. Before Barack Obama became president, there were Republicans saying it is very dangerous to Israel for a Democrat to win. And of course, Israel was fine for the eight years of Obama's presidency.
Starting point is 00:25:23 And then as Donald Trump was campaigning for reelection in 2020, which he ultimately lost to Joe Biden, you heard the same type of stuff. And somehow Israel managed to survive the four years that Joe Biden was president. And by the way, notice the contradiction because Trump brags about terminating the Iran nuclear deal. Iran then expands its nuclear program. The region descends into a catastrophic war. And Trump goes, I saved everybody. You created this damn crisis.
Starting point is 00:25:56 And the best that Trump could even possibly do at this point is to get back into a deal with Iran that is like the Obama deal except weaker. So Brian Kilmead asks Trump essentially the simplest imaginable follow up question, which is Iran said you're not even talking to them. You say you're close to a deal again, excuse me. You say you're close to a deal again. Iran's like, we're not even talking. Can you tell us who you're talking to?
Starting point is 00:26:23 And Trump's like, no, not really. War in Iran. I know you're gonna be talking about that today with Benjamin, the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and you're gonna be, we hear that you're talking right now with leaders on Iran, but Iran has come out publicly and say we're not talking to the US. Well, they just came out and said we are talking
Starting point is 00:26:43 a little while ago because- So could you tell me, talking to, Mr. President? For some reason, for some reason, we can be in the midst of a beautiful discussion, and they'll come out and say, we're not talking, or we didn't discuss nuclear. Well, that's all we discussed, because they'll never have a nuclear weapon. They understand that. And we have had some very good talks, and very interesting with Lindsay.
Starting point is 00:27:06 He was very much a hawk, as you would say, on Iran. And over the last few weeks, I would say that he became like, if you could make a deal, It's better making a deal in this case than just destroying the rest of the country. We've destroyed most of it, frankly. But he was somebody that said it's a good time to make a deal, nice time to make a deal. What is a good deal look like? Now, I wouldn't say necessarily he feels that way about Ukraine. Ukraine, he's very militant about.
Starting point is 00:27:36 I mean, Lindsay liked war, to be honest with you, okay? And I said, you're a nice guy. How come you like war so much? It was a guy that liked war. I jokingly. This should be very easy. You know, Trump says talks are occurring. He's asked who's involved.
Starting point is 00:27:50 And Trump just repeats that it's all going very well. It's very good. That is not an answer. Now, Donald Trump doesn't need to reveal a single classified detail. He doesn't, he could just say we have American intermediaries speaking with Iranian representatives. Negotiations are happening through Oman. They're happening through some third party.
Starting point is 00:28:07 I can't identify the participants because the conversations are very sad. sensitive, but sort of like here are the generic types of players. He can't even process the follow up question. And Trump doesn't want follow up questions. Understand that. And even the Fox hosts aren't sure, where do I go? Because Trump is giving them nothing. And it's obvious that he's just making it up. Then Trump waxes poetic about committing war crimes. I could take out every single one of their bridges in an hour. I could get rid of all of their power plants in a day. It's almost like, you know, sometimes these serial killers get sexual gratification from the kill. Trump seems to get titillated, almost aroused from the idea of, you know what I could do with
Starting point is 00:28:54 the power I have. If they don't make a deal, then I go back and I finish the job. But that's going to take them forever to rebuild already. It'll take them many years to ever to rebuild. And I go back and finish up the job as some people would like with the bridges, with the very easy. take out most of their bridges in less than an hour. Less than an hour. But, you know, it takes them 10 years to build a bridge. Bridges take the longest and power plants are second. I can knock out the power plants. Within one day, all of their power plants would be gone. And I let them know that,
Starting point is 00:29:29 you know, with negotiations, they said, look, people want me to do that. I think I get almost the same thing out of it as doing it. But the problem is they'll never be able to, you know, I think about 91 million people without power. without bridges with that to live. And it's a very, very delicate balance. So I think we have a very strong position right now. They know I'm going to do that if they don't make a deal. The bridges are going to be gone.
Starting point is 00:29:53 Literally in less than a, I would say in two hours, most of the bridges, the major bridges will all be gone. And the power plants in one day. And, you know, if I can avoid doing that, I'd like to do that. The hardest thing to build is a power plant. The longest thing to build is a bridge. It takes a long time to rebuild and build bridges. And that's what I used to do for a living construction.
Starting point is 00:30:19 It takes years to build these things. And you know, then knock them out in one hour and it takes many years. It's, you know, it really decimates a country. So those are the two big things. And then there's always the desalinization plants. And who am I hurting them? I'm hurting the people. He talks about destroying bridges and power plants like it's beating the final
Starting point is 00:30:41 boss in a video game. We've talked very seriously about how attacks on infrastructure aren't automatically war crimes. If the infrastructure has a legitimate military function, you can go after it and it's not a war crime. But Trump is fantasizing. It's a wet dream of indiscriminate attacks on civilian infrastructure, destroying power plants that can shut down hospitals and water systems or refrigeration causing food supply to spoil. He has zero recognition that millions of people depend upon this infrastructure. And he's just casually like, you should see what I could do in an hour. You should see what I could do. The topic of tariffs came up. Aren't you worried that the tariffs could hurt the economy? And Trump trots out what is either the biggest lie or the biggest
Starting point is 00:31:35 misunderstanding about how tariffs work. With the economy, that's going to be your focus. I was your focus yesterday in the midterms in Michigan. Are you worried that the tariffs that you put forward over the last couple of days will hurt the economy as they adjust in bringing manufacturing home? No, because it's bringing hundreds of billions of dollars. I was at General Motors yesterday. They have the best year.
Starting point is 00:32:00 They have the most trucks, the most cars. The tariffs have saved General Motors. What I've done to the auto business, what I've done to the chip business, we have chip. Who does Trump believe is paying the tariffs? Tariffs are collected by American importers, those from American importers. If you import something from China and there's a tariff, you still just pay China for the stuff. And then you pay the American treasury the tariff. The taxpayer then pays about 80% of that tariff back to the importer.
Starting point is 00:32:37 That's how it works. And this is the simplest fact about how tariffs work. And it has been years of this crap. Now I still don't know. Does Trump genuinely not understand how tariffs work or does he understand it, but he assumes his followers are too stupid to get it? So he keeps lying and going, we're getting so rich off of all these countries paying the tariffs.
Starting point is 00:33:00 collecting the money from Americans. And it's part of why everything is so expensive. But then Trump went to Lindsay Graham's funeral. Oh boy. Donald Trump's suffering what many are describing an episode of full-blown dementia at Lindsay Graham's funeral, soaking wet asleep and apparently emanating an absolutely rancid smell. Donald Trump struggling to stay awake, nodding endlessly at the funeral of his great friend, Lindsey Graham. This wonderful staff, I know he would be so proud because the past two weeks have been crazy busy, but you've made it happen.
Starting point is 00:33:50 And that's so, Senator Lindsey Graham. Trump is fighting for his life against his eyelids. And at one point he, remember, sleepy Joe, Trump will never fall asleep in public. Falls asleep in public two or three times a week. He joltz awake and then immediately starts nodding off again. And then for some reason, he is just soaking wet. And look at this. The guy behind Trump over Trump's right shoulder, he reacts.
Starting point is 00:34:23 like there is the most foul-smelling thing in the world. Trump is drenched and asleep, and the guy behind him, I don't know what he smelled, but he's reacting like Trump is dropping sulfur bombs all over the place. This is the president of the United States. Look at this damn video. There's a lot of times it's easy. It's easier to bow out. It's easier just to go a different way, the path of least resistance.
Starting point is 00:34:53 But he stayed the course. So the sweating and the dozing, it's not proof of any particular medical condition, but there's a broader picture here of Trump's visible decline and the White House demanding endless scrutiny of everyone else's health, not Trump's, not Mitch McConnell's, but everybody else's health deserves scrutiny. While there are so many concerning questions about Donald Trump, those. shouldn't even be asked. Trump then after waking up pulls out some tic-tacks, shows them to J.D. Vance, tries to throw one in his mouth, but it bounces off, falls onto the floor.
Starting point is 00:35:36 Take a look at this. All right. So once we get beyond all of this stuff, a really funny moment, both Donald Trump and Fox News host Sean Hannity. I guess the word is eulogized, like technically. It wasn't much of a eulogy, but they eulogized the late Senator Lindsey Graham. Check out this contrast. Hannity says Lindsay was wrongly characterized as a warmonger, but he was against war. And then Trump during his eulogy says, Lindsay Graham loved every single war. And only his real friends understand that. Take a look at this.
Starting point is 00:36:54 Known this man. Lindsay, he was often unfairly characterized as a warmonger. I've heard that false criticism a lot. It's not true. The truth was the opposite. Extremely hawkish, I will tell you, he never saw a war that he didn't like. Only his true friends would understand that, but he wanted it for the good of our country. Oh, man.
Starting point is 00:37:20 Trump kind of accidentally tells the truth and destroys Sean Hannity's revisionist history. I think on this one Trump actually is right. Lindsay Graham loved the idea of wars and loved wars. And Hannity, knowing that that is sort of not great for Lindsay's posthumous reputation, tries to do away with that notion. But Trump is actually right here. Lindsay Graham did spend years demanding military escalation around the world. Maybe there was some war he didn't like the idea of. But for the most part, he loved the idea of war.
Starting point is 00:37:50 And if Hannity tries to pretend otherwise at his funeral, it's not fooling anybody. And speaking of Hannity, really weird stuff from him, he talks about where. Lindsay is now. And he depicts this heavenly version of Mar-a-Lago with a beautiful bedroom and an arch and all of this stuff because he loves Trump so much. And in death, he would want to replicate Trump as well. Look at how unhinged this sounds. Lindsay, Mr. President, I'll argue in my mind probably has a heavenly version of Mar-a-Lago. It may even be a little bigger. He may have a little more gold in the Oval Office in his mansion in heaven. And I wouldn't be surprised if he added one big beautiful ballroom in an arch somewhere on the property
Starting point is 00:38:44 because he would want to obviously duplicate his dearest friend in life. You, Mr. President. Look at how completely Trump has consumed the right where Sean Hannity can't even describe heaven. without turning it into some version of Mara Lago and saying Lindsey Graham's eternal purpose is to spend out the remainder of infinity or whatever, eternity, in a replica of Mara Lago in heaven. I mean, it's like Trump's tacky construction projects and gaudy pension for Goldleaf is now part of the eternity in which Lindsay Graham is going to spend his life. insane, completely insane. And Trump couldn't stop sweating, sleeping, and based on the reaction
Starting point is 00:39:40 of the people around him, stinking throughout the entire thing. But Sleepy Joe was the problem. Give me a break. A lot of people put on music while they work, assuming it helps them concentrate. But in practice, familiar songs, lyrics, or constantly changing tracks often will take attention away from what you're working on rather than supporting attention. And that's where Brain FM comes in. Our sponsor, Brain FM, is a music app designed to support focus, relaxation, or sleep, with music created by human musicians working alongside neuroscientists. Instead of generic playlists, Brain FM offers task-specific modes like deep work, creative, and motivation, depending on what you're
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Starting point is 00:40:54 and stay engaged with their work. You can try Brain FM totally free, for 30 days by going to brain.fm slash Pacman. 30 days is a long free trial. Go check it out. The link is in the description. You know, there are people out there who say that Stephen Miller is aroused by brutal authoritarianism. That's so crass. I would never say stuff like that on this show. But there, there are people out there who are willing to say it. But in listening to and watching this latest clip of Stephen Miller talk about the survival of humanity itself depending on Republicans winning these midterm elections.
Starting point is 00:41:36 I couldn't help but think maybe there is something to it about this guy getting off on authoritarianism. I'm going to play a clip for you. This is the rhetoric of an authoritarian movement preparing its followers to believe that anything up to and including violence is justified because if you lose the election, this could mean that your family gets destroyed, your children are destroyed or taken from you or radicalized, and that even civilization itself might not survive if Democrats take control of the House. A little hyperbolic. It's a little hyperbolic. But here is Stephen Miller explaining it. That's my point. Yes, exactly. They are communists. They call themselves the Democrat socialists.
Starting point is 00:42:17 They believe in total state control of capital. So this is a philosophy. This is an ideology. it starts with coercion, and it ends always in violent, repressive bloodshed. So it's not just a question of, we disagree with them, we have a different point of view. The very survival of freedom, liberty, humanity, your family, your children, your future depends on ensuring that we do not allow communism to take hold in America. And that's why President Trump has courageously and necessarily framed this upcoming election around keeping communists out of power. Because if they gain power, then you, the American people, will lose everything.
Starting point is 00:43:01 I know I've said. Stephen Miller is not saying we have much better tax policy, which will be economically stimulative and therefore we should be supported. He's not arguing on the issue of health care policy, Democrats are wrong or we've really got him on immigration. What Stephen Miller is saying is that your family, your kids, your liberty, the survival of humanity depends on stopping communism from taking hold. And what is the alleged communism? It's Democrats, mostly center left Democrats winning an election. Our friend Ruth Ben Guiat,
Starting point is 00:43:41 who's an historian and a scholar of authoritarianism. She immediately recognized what Stephen Miller was doing and she put out a tweet where she said, quote, sounds like Mussolini. Survivalist rhetoric is designed to elicit and sustain violence by getting people to believe they are existentially threatened. Great replacement theory is another version of survivalist thinking. And this is the exact mechanism that is at play here. If losing an election means people with policies you don't love would get to have power and then you would have to organize and try to win the next one, that is not going to cut it.
Starting point is 00:44:22 in this world of everything is the end of the world. But if you losing an election means that your children and humanity itself might not survive, you can justify almost anything as self-defense. And it includes, hey, we've got to reject the result of this election. We might have to commit violence in order to beat back the rigging that they are claiming is going to take place. Now, the communism accusation is really absurd, really absurd. Are there communists? Yes. Do some of them angrily email me and say, David, you should be a communist yet that that exists.
Starting point is 00:45:03 Democrats and the Democratic Party are not communists. They're not going to abolish private property if they take control of the House of Representatives. They're not going to establish a dictatorship of the proletariat. None of those things are happening. And the word communism is being used by these magas to just portray ordinary political opponents as Soviet-style authoritarian communists as alien as illegitimate. And they're not. You can be for or against communism and separate out whether your average Democrat in 2026 is a communist or has communistic ideas. Now, then there's this whole great replacement theory or rhetoric. And I've
Starting point is 00:45:46 I've talked about this before, but it's been a while. Great replacement theory is the idea that people are being erased on the basis of identity. And so when Tucker Carlson did his famous, now famous or infamous rant from a couple years ago, actually it was several years ago when he was on Fox News where he said, immigrants make the country dirtier and poorer. And there's this invasion of immigrants that are pushing aside just your average, I guess, white person and taking jobs and all of this stuff. That's great replacement theory. And you can use a lot of different language and still refer fundamentally to great replacement theory. And if you
Starting point is 00:46:28 imply that that's what's going to take place if Democrats win, therefore any means necessary to prevent Democrats from winning becomes a question of surviving. And so that is what Stephen Miller is doing. Now, Stephen Miller is not literally Mussolini or anything like that. He's using a recognizable authoritarian strategy and language. Every election is the last election. If we don't win this one, it is over. Every single opponent is the worst, most evil existential enemy and only the leader's movement can save you. And democratic movements tend to say, here's why our policies are better. Authoritarian movements say, if you lose, there may not be a future. And what Stephen Miller is choosing is that second message. There is a lot. Listen, if anybody would be justified in using the
Starting point is 00:47:23 apocalyptic messaging, it really is the left about the MAGA movement because if Trump were allowed to do whatever he wants, he has said he would prefer to be a dictator rather than to deal with democracy. He said he would prefer to just be able to stay in power indefinitely rather than be term limited. He has said he would love to have no adversarial media or critical reporting. You can go, he would love to militarize the streets of American cities and he has actually done it to some degree. If you just go through the list, Democrats are presenting ideas which you may not like, but they are not even remotely authoritarian. Trump is presenting ideas where if he could get away with it or believe that he could get away with it would put the country down an authoritarian path.
Starting point is 00:48:09 And as I've said before, left wing and right wing authoritarianism end up kind of looking the same when executed to their full conclusion. So we would be far more justified in using this apocalyptic rhetoric about Republicans. We're still not doing it. And we are offering policy while they are offering fear and villains and scapegoating and this sort of stuff. So consider that. Think about it and think about whether these fears are born out of reality or born out
Starting point is 00:48:39 of an attempt to manipulate the electorate. Maybe an electorate that is not smart enough or informed enough to tell. the difference. This is crazy. Iranian state media has released a video indicating that they have an interest in killing Baron Trump and Melania Trump. And the Trump family is now on alert. And I am going to argue that even if it is extraordinarily unrealistic that they could get to Melania and Barron, that this still has the very real possibility of ruining their lives. And of course, it is wildly triggering Donald Trump. Iranian state media put out of video, It's a propaganda video.
Starting point is 00:49:17 And it is a very detailed fantasy about murdering Melania Trump followed by a threat against Baron Trump. The video is called Where to Kill Melania. It was published by the Tasneem news agency. That's an outlet affiliated with Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC. And it's not like anonymous making a troll video. This, you know, from the basement of their grandmothers, whatever. This is a formally listed group linked to the IRGC.
Starting point is 00:49:50 It's one of the most powerful arms of the Iranian regime. And the video uses maps. It uses AI imagery. It uses publicly available information to depict Melania Trump's movements through New York City. It points to locations she's known to visit. It talks about her protective arrangements. And it encourages freedom fighters to target her.
Starting point is 00:50:10 And then it ends with five words. Trump wait for us. Think about that. Trump, Baron Trump is an adult. He is involved in Trump's crypto stuff. He was involved in Trump's pre-election strategy of appearing on all of these bro podcasts. He's 20 years old. Now, he is not a military commander. He doesn't determine American foreign policy. He did not order strikes on Iran. And he is just the son of Donald Trump. As far as far, as Iran is concerned. Melania Trump is being targeted because there's a psychologically devastating aspect to going after a president or a leader's spouse. This is a known thing meant to generate fear and terror. And that's really the point of this. The feeling that we could get your family
Starting point is 00:51:03 regardless of whether they have anything to do with the decisions you're making to attack us with straight of Hormuz with power plants or civilian infrastructure. Now, the secret Service has said we're aware of it. We're investigating. Anything that is perceived as a threat against one of our protectees, we are going to be taking very seriously. But for security reasons, the Secret Service doesn't want to talk about the specifics of that investigation. Now, just like as a top-level gut check, is Iran likely to succeed in assassinating Melania or Baron Trump? I think the answer is no. Both are protected by the Secret Service. Like they say, credible threats are going to get a major law enforcement response. But can they ruin Baron and
Starting point is 00:51:49 Melania's lives by making them afraid and making them choose to restrict their movements from here on out? A hundred percent. Imagine being barren and knowing that a media organization aligned with a very hostile foreign government that's angry with your dad is saying, wait for us, Baron. Or imagine being Melania and wondering, uh, an unfamiliar face that you see or car moving strangely in traffic or whatever is that someone who is coming after me it just makes your day to day life very difficult and even if no attack comes that fear can follow them everywhere now of course i don't uh i i don't advocate for this sort of stuff i don't want anybody killed i it's just not i know that there are people in my audience
Starting point is 00:52:40 who are like, good, go after this person. This is just not my nature. But I do think that the way that regimes, like the Iranian regime, can inflict this profound psychological harm without ever getting physically close to anybody is notable. And when a media organization aligned with a foreign government starts circulating information about, listen, this is how the first lady could be attacked, inviting others to take action. We talk about stochastic terrorism where if someone with a large audience focuses their ire or anger on someone long enough, statistically, given a period of time in a large enough audience, somebody in your audience might actually try to attack them. And we've seen this happen many times before over the last decade, decade and a half. Here, it's actually
Starting point is 00:53:28 telling people, consider going after this person. Now, it may just be primarily propaganda. It still can inspire these unstable people and it can encourage extremists and kind of force the secret service to treat every single detail as a potential threat. And the trend here is increasingly explicit threats. Now, let's be very frank. Donald Trump has made similar sorts of threats. And Donald Trump killed the father of the current leader of the Iranian regime. That's how he got into this position of power. So while on the one hand, this entire like, I'll go after your family stuff does not reflect my politics or sensibilities, we have to acknowledge that in a different way, not with propaganda videos, but with Trump going, listen, we can find whoever. It was like a
Starting point is 00:54:20 video game. We just, we got them. We dropped this bomb. We're going to kill the entire family. It's a version of the same thing. Arguably the difference is that the family of the family of the Iranian regime, I guess are, you know, legitimate military targets in the context of a war, whereas Melania Trump really isn't. Now, Donald Trump has responded by saying if they did that or if they even try to go after Melania or baron, they would be completely decimated and destroyed. And for each one, there would be a thousand missiles sent at Iran for each attempt that they make on people associated or affiliated with Donald Trump. This is the escalation. And this is, Iran knows as much as I despise that regime and I'm against authoritarian, theocratic regimes,
Starting point is 00:55:07 Iran knows that Trump is very trigly and they are now getting a rise out of Trump with the assassination propaganda about his family. And an increasingly erratic Trump is a Trump more likely to make mistakes. And so they're not stupid. They're not stupid. I don't respect their way of government, but these are not stupid people. Hey, if you're hearing this, that means you're listening to our podcast on one of the many podcast networks that we stream to.
Starting point is 00:55:38 And first, I just want to say, thank you for being a listener of this show. It really means a lot that you're tuning in here. I would love to ask you for a quick favor. We are so close to reaching four million subscribers on YouTube. YouTube is where we post everything you get through the audio podcast and a lot more stuff. It would mean a lot to me if you took a quick second to pop over to YouTube, search up the David Packman show and hit subscribe. Every bit helps.
Starting point is 00:56:07 I would love to have you as a subscribe. We already looked at Donald Trump's bizarre eulogy of Lindsey Graham at the funeral yesterday. And there's another sort of parallel story to this, which is there's widespread reporting that Donald Trump is privately spiraling about his own death right now. And that the death of Lindsey Graham, who was younger than Trump, almost. a decade younger, is making Trump kind of confront the possibility that he could die sooner than later. And according to the Washington Post, Lindsey Graham's death at 71 years of age has really rattled Trump, who's a little older than 80. Lindsey recently traveled to Ukraine, showed no obvious
Starting point is 00:56:51 signs of serious illness, and then suddenly died from an aortic dissection, which is like a tear in the main artery of the body of the heart. And right after this happened, leading up to Lindsay's funeral yesterday, Donald Trump has started asking people around him, could it have been the travel schedule of Lindsay Graham that contributed thinking, damn, maybe I need to pare down my travel? He also has reportedly been privately investigating Lindsey Graham's family history, hoping to say to himself, oh, here's like a genetic explanation for what happened and I can like feel better, safer about my my own health. And you can really see the psychological process that's at work here.
Starting point is 00:57:37 Trump wants to find a special reason that Lindsay died, which would separate Lindsay Graham from Donald Trump so that Trump would be able to conclude. Same thing couldn't possibly happen to me. It was either there was a genetic predisposition. Lindsay Graham traveled too much. He had a unique vulnerability of some kind. And anything other than the obvious reality of, listen, an older man can be alive, active, and functional and then be gone.
Starting point is 00:58:12 Like this happens. Lindsay Graham's case is not totally unique in that sense. And reporting is that Donald Trump has been completely shaken while talking about Lindsey Graham. He's a tough one to lose. he was great. I just can't believe it. Now, there's another aspect to this, which is that Donald Trump knows that Iran would love to kill him if they were able to do it. He's talked about that a lot. Donald Trump has talked about his own mortality in the context of whether he's going to heaven or
Starting point is 00:58:42 hell increasingly. And by the way, he's mostly saying he thinks it would probably be hell or at least potentially. And he has also talked about the assassination attempts against him and has kind of said, listen, I got lucky, but you don't get lucky indefinitely. It may not happening. It may not, it may not always happen that way. You know, I, I don't think that grief and considering your own mortality when a friend dies are completely normal reactions. And what's interesting about the report is that Trump has spent his public life constructing this image of invincibility. And that seems to have been penetrated. That seems to be breaking right now. The endless bragging about how strong he is and his stamina. He doesn't need much sleep. He's got perfect health. He has treated aging as like a
Starting point is 00:59:28 weakness. If you're weak, you age, but I'm not weak, therefore I don't. And he talks about his cognitive tests as proof that he's a genius. And despite, by the way, having many signs of being impaired, he talks about his physical exams as demonstrating that his biological age is much younger than his actual chronological age of 80 years. But at the same time, we have this extraordinarily public situation where his evidence, the evidence that Trump is aging is really tough to ignore. The dark bruises on the hands covered by bandages, covered by makeup, the swollen ankles, almost swollen to the size of tree trunks in some cases because of his supposed chronic venous insufficiency. And he looks exhausted. He's falling asleep in public two to three times a week, even during
Starting point is 01:00:14 relatively high adrenaline situations like a UFC fight happening right in front of a men are beating the crap out of each other and Trump's asleep and has to be roused by his friend Dana White. Trump is an old president. He's a particularly old president. And so I kind of understand what is going on with him. The way it's manifesting is not okay. It's manifesting with Trump thinking of legacy and wanting to accumulate territory. Can we get Venezuela? Can we get Greenland? What could we take Cuba?
Starting point is 01:00:50 He wants to put his name on stuff that he has no legal business putting his name on, whether it's the Kennedy Center or various government buildings. He wants to be put on Mount Rushmore. He wants an arch. He wants statues. Basically, he wants the United States remodeled around his aesthetic of gold on everything and his name so that when he's gone. It won't just be a matter of some executive orders to undo what he did.
Starting point is 01:01:15 It will be he is physically manifesting in the in the structural space of the country. There was an interesting comment from political commentator David Rothkoff who said Trump is hearing the footsteps of the grim reaper, which sounds very dramatic. But you do get the sense that Trump is sort of running and seeing what can I throw my name on as I run away from the grim reaper. And when Trump recently said, I hope to make it, but I doubt I will, to be honest, it's an assessment that there may be more to these fears and concerns from Trump. You know, the heaven talk and the monuments and the health bragging and all of it. Trump knows he's 80. He can see the bruises. He can see the swelling and he knows he's exhausted.
Starting point is 01:02:08 My concern, there's lots of people who are 80. There's lots of people considering their own mortality. That's not really unique. My concern is when authoritarian's come to confront their mortality, they often behave very erratically and become more authoritarian and do even more outrageous things. And we see that with Trump. Trump seems unable right now to talk himself out of the reality that he could be the next one after Lindsay. It could be any day. It doesn't have to be a dramatic assassination from Iran,
Starting point is 01:02:39 although he says he's afraid of that. What we need are systems that will prevent this guy from just wrecking everything on the way out. And speaking of considering your own mortality, the Mitch McConnell situation certainly isn't helping. And we should talk about that here a little bit as well. Kentucky governor Andy Bashir has issued a demand that Mitch McConnell staff has spent six weeks trying to avoid. Show a video. that Mitch McConnell can actually speak, show that he can think, show that he is not in some kind of semi-comatose or partially vegetative state. Now, is it conspiratorial or not to say, even if we acknowledge that the pictures of Mitch McConnell released from his rehab, two pictures now are real.
Starting point is 01:03:25 We don't know if they're real. There are even Republicans who say these pictures either aren't real or they're old. But let's say these are real pictures. Can it be the case that Mitch McConnell, was sort of propped up and he is barely aware of what's going on around him. I don't know the answer to that. I'm not saying that that is the case. I'm not saying it is a sort of weekend at Bernie's situation where he is barely cognizant of what's going on around him. But his eyes are open and they propped him up and they took a still image.
Starting point is 01:03:53 A still image is substantively very different than, hey, Mitch McConnell here. I'm feeling a lot better. I'm looking forward to getting back to work for my constituents. A video where he actually speaks would be very, very different. Now, are some of the people who are insisting it's all fake going to just say, oh, the video is AI? Maybe. But we can analyze whether the video is AI. We sort of have the technology, at least with some degree of certainty, to determine that.
Starting point is 01:04:21 And so Kentucky governor, Andy Bashir, is now saying the time has come for that to happen. Show that you can speak. He has now been hospitalized 40-something days. He's missed every Senate vote since the 11th of July. He was reportedly found unconscious following a fall in Washington on June 14th. He was hospitalized. I guess he developed mild pneumonia. This is what they're saying while he was in the hospital.
Starting point is 01:04:41 And he has been moved into rehab at the hospital. And doctors recently said he is not cleared to go back to work in the Senate. Now what's missing from that is that the 911 call indicates that there was a cardiac event. And what they are not saying when they say he fell is you can fall for a. a lot of reasons. You can slip and fall. You can fall because he had a stroke. You can fall because you had a heart attack. You can fall because you had a vaso vagal episode and you passed out, as famously happened to me on that incredible flight from Italy back to the United States, almost a decade ago. This is not about that, though. They haven't said the reason for the fall. And if the 911 call is
Starting point is 01:05:24 accurate that the fall was precipitated by a cardiac event, that's a very different situation. We have also, as we see the staged photographs of Mitch McConnell sitting with his wife, Elaine Chow, we've gotten every reaction to this under the sun. We read the statement of how he, the statement was written in Mitch's voice. I'm meeting with staff and discussing legislation and looking forward to returning. Anybody could write that. And what we don't have is an independently verifiable live moving video of Mitch McConnell speaking. Can he speak? Governor Bashir has had enough.
Starting point is 01:06:02 He said in his letter, I'm addressing this letter to Senator McConnell under the assumption that he is capable of reading and responding verbally and not incapacitated by means of consciousness or cognition. That is an extraordinary opening to a letter written to a sitting U.S. senator. And Bashir says, I'm writing to you personally, but I cannot establish whether you currently have the cognitive capacity even to read. And he says, if Mitch McConnell can't respond, his statement. staff has to be honest with Kentucky. Now, Bashir acknowledges McConnell has the right to some medical
Starting point is 01:06:34 privacy. And I acknowledge that as well. Of course he does. Nobody is demanding the full medical records or the details of every test and treatment that he's receiving. But an elected senator in one of 100 seats can't disappear indefinitely while unelected staff members assure everybody he's working behind the scenes and he's still with it. Bashir writes, even the attending physician's written statement doesn't discuss your actual condition. Can you speak? Can you reason? Can you carry out the duties of senator? And Bashir ends with a very simple demand, which I agree with completely, directly, verbally address Kentucky. Provide proof that you are of capacity to serve here. And he says that Senate Majority Leader John Thune should demand the same transparency. Now, there's a couple other
Starting point is 01:07:19 interesting elements to this. It is actually better for Democrats politically for Mitch McConnell to be gone all the way up until the next Senate is sworn in and his replacement, because remember, he's not running for reelection. His replacement is sworn in. The longer Mitch McConnell can't vote and the longer that he remains a senator who isn't voting, the better it is for Democrats. Now, Republicans were still able to pass some dog crap bills this week, even without him. But I'd rather have Republicans with one fewer vote than one more vote.
Starting point is 01:07:49 Why not? At the same time, there are a lot of people demanding that Andy Bashir could do more. And there is sort of a growing idea that even though the law has been, well, my chair is collapsing. Look at how low I am in the shot now. There is a, I got to raise this thing. Jeez. There is a growing anger with Bashir saying, if this were reversed, do you think a Republican governor wouldn't have tried to appoint someone to replace a Democratic senator after 40-something days?
Starting point is 01:08:16 There's a movement that Andy Bashir should just appoint a Democrat and see what happens. They'd probably lose in the courts. But why not? Go ahead and try it. I do think it's important to remember that Andy Bashir is limited by the laws to what he can do. Before August 4th, he can't call a special election. After August 4th, he must call a special election. And by the change that Republicans made, he is not allowed to appoint anybody.
Starting point is 01:08:43 But there is a legal argument that he should try and just see what happens. So I believe the best immediate outcome for Democrats is McConnell remains in office, but he doesn't vote again. And that cuts them short of a vote. On the other hand, people do deserve the truth. And whatever the plan is as far as his resignation or not, it would be great to know, have these pictures been staged? Is he incapacitated? Now, the people I've spoken to off the record who are involved with Kentucky politics have said, we don't really know any more than the public does, but we suspect that his condition is far more. He's alive, but his condition is far more serious than has been acknowledged. Now, the request is almost comically modest that is being made.
Starting point is 01:09:32 Just put Mitch in front of a camera. Ask him a couple questions. Allow Kentuckians to see, can this guy even speak right now? The picture proves, if you believe that the pictures are real and current, that he sat upright for a second. That's all the picture. proves a statement issued by staff proves staff can write a statement. It doesn't really prove anything about Mitch McConnell. Neither proves he has the capacity to serve in the U.S. Senate. I would love to know whether he has that capacity. And I think politics aside, we deserve to know. That August, 3rd, August 4th deadline is coming very soon. It'll be next week and we'll see what happens if and when we get to that point. We have a phenomenal bonus show for you today. Rand Paul has released Anthony Fauci's
Starting point is 01:10:17 diary from the pandemic era. And Fauci is testifying before Congress at this moment as I as I am recording this show. Senator Lindsey Grant or is he or maybe it hasn't started. Lindsay Graham was followed by a documentary crew at the end of his life. And there were some interesting discoveries that they made before the sudden death of Lindsay Graham. That and much more will be on today's bonus show. If you have not yet preordered my forthcoming book, pay attention. Please. do. We have a limited number of signed copies remaining. You can find out about it at David Pakman.com slash attention. And if you pre-order the book in any format, audiobook if you prefer, Kindle if you prefer, I'm not in my studio right now, but I have the first ever printed
Starting point is 01:11:04 copy of this book on my shelf in the studio. Someone is going to get that copy. All you need to do to be considered in that raffle is email a screenshot of your pre-order. to info at david packman.com

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