The David Pakman Show - They can't keep their lies straight

Episode Date: April 16, 2026

-- On the Show -- Pat Ford, producer of the David Pakman Show, fills in for David -- In an interview with Maria Bartiromo, Donald Trump gives a series of inconsistent answers on war with Iran, midterms, and energy policy -- Karoline Leavitt claims gas prices are falling, promotes misleading figures, and deflects criticism during a press conference -- JD Vance faces a weak event turnout at a TPUSA event while Erika Kirk cancels her appearance citing serious threats and backlash -- Dr. Mehmet Oz says on Donald Trump Jr.'s podcast that the President suggested diet soda could kill cancer cells -- Donald Trump supporters continue to react negatively to an AI-generated image he posted depicting himself as Jesus -- New data shows consumer sentiment hits a record low under Donald Trump as inflation rises and economic confidence drops -- Donald Trump records sharply negative approval on tax policy as voters react to higher costs and all-around frustration with him -- On the Bonus Show: Democrats files impeachment articles against Pete Hegseth, Virginia joins the popular vote interstate compact, Meta faces blowback over facial recognition glasses, and much more... 💳 PDS Debt: Get your free assessment & find the best option for you at https://pdsdebt.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 🔊 Blinkist: Read a nonfiction book in just 15 minutes! Try it FREE at https://blinkist.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) Trump discusses Iran war in Bartiromo interview (14:52) Karoline Leavitt spins gas prices to say they are falling (25:07) JD Vance speaks at Turning Point USA event (37:08) Dr Oz says Trump thought diet soda kills cancer cells (45:11) Trump supporters express anger with him over Jesus image (51:03) Consumer sentiment reaches record low (55:27) Poll shows declining approval for Trump tax policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everyone, welcome to the David Pacman Show. I'm Pat Ford, producer for the David Pacman Show. Filling in today for David, he is coming back from Argentina from his trip and probably figured that it would be really difficult to film a show while on the plane. He would be certainly disturbing the people around him at the very least. So I'm here filling in for David today. We have an excellent show coming up. We're going to be talking about Trump's interview on Maria Bartaromo's show yesterday. We're going to be covering J.D. Vance showing up for a team. USA events that apparently no one wanted to go to. Also, Caroline Levitt did a press briefing yesterday.

We have Dr. Oz saying that Trump believes that diet soda kills cancer cells. So much coming up on the show today. I'm so happy that you're here with me. Let's start by talking about this interview that Trump did on Maria Barteromo's show yesterday. So Trump went on Maria Barteromo's Fox business show. And he actually does that quite a lot. He's really a regular on her program. He goes on there all the time. But this one was different, we were led to believe, because before the interview aired, after it was filmed, but before it aired, Maria Bartaromo put out this teaser suggesting that the war in Iran was coming to an end. She says in the teaser that Trump talked about the war in the past tense, and she asked him during the interview, is it over? To which apparently

Trump responds, it's over. Here is Maria Barteromo saying that this is exactly what took place during the interview that she did with Trump the other day. I just left the president. It was It's a great interview. He said a lot about the economy, about the Iran war, about NATO. One thing that I'll leave you with, I said to him, Mr. President, you keep talking about the war like was, was, was, was. I said, is it over? He said, it's over. Join the whole interview tomorrow. Morning's with Maria, Fox Business, 6 to 9 a.m. Eastern. I'll see you then. Well, that sounds good to me. I obviously never wanted the war to start in the first place, but the next best thing is for it to end right now, right? So we'll see what Trump says exactly.

in this interview, but Maria Barbaromo's making it seem like Trump ended the war that this is all wrapping up. Let's see what Trump actually said in the interview. Well, you keep saying was, is this war over? I think it's close to over. Yeah. I mean, I view it as very close to over. You know what? Oh boy. If I pulled up stakes right now, it would take them 20 years to rebuild that country. So here's Maria Barbaromo in the teaser saying that Trump says the war is over. I just left the president today was agreeing about the war like was, was. You keep talking about the war like was, was, was.

I said, is it over? He said, it's over. And then here is what Trump actually said. You keep saying was. Is this war over? I think it's close to over. I mean, I view it as very close to over. So it's over versus it's close to over.

It's over. Those are very different things. Was Maria Barteromo misremembering? Was she out? out right lying. What the hell went on here? Because what she said in that teaser did not in any way match what Trump actually said in the interview. Later in the interview, we have Trump talking about how he had to do this journey over in Iran. And it's interesting he uses the word journey because lately he's been using the word excursion a lot, which he means to say incursion, but he's been saying excursion as if it's like a trip he's been doing. So I think he's trying to backtrack, but he can't just start using the right word.

He can't just start saying incursion because that would be admitting that he was saying the wrong word all along. So what does he do? He switches to calling it a journey. He had to do a journey over in Iran because I guess the idea is a journey could be interpreted as both an excursion, a trip or an incursion, like a military operation. So here is Trump saying that everything was humming along so well, but he had to go on this little journey, this little detour in Iran. I mean, we have a great economy. Remember, if I didn't want to make that little journey to Iran, that was a little bit. a journey. I said, we're going to have to do this for the good of the world.

So you still expect growth in the economy this year? I do. I mean, I do. Look, we had a couple of months where I'm, you know, I had to go to a war. I had to go and fight either a military operation. Some people would call it a war. Some people call it a military operation. And of course, it's Trump that sometimes calls it a war and sometimes calls it a military operation when he is trying to avoid accountability from the courts and from Congress. It's just a military operation, of course. It's not a war. But when he's trying to sell it to the American people and get the American public on his side to fight this war, all of a sudden it is a war. It was easy because we have the greatest military in the world.

But I had to divert because if I didn't do that, right now you would have Iran with a nuclear weapon. And if they had a nuclear weapon, you would be calling everybody over there, sir. So is Trump saying that Iran would have taken over the U.S. by now? They may have bombed us by now and taken us. over, so we would be calling all their leadership sir? Or is he saying that just the fact that they would have a nuclear weapon alone would mean that we would have to be deferential to them and call them all sir, which is interesting because North Korea, for example, has a nuclear weapon, but we're not calling them all sir. It's all very strange, but Trump can't keep his lies straight. Next, we have him

confused as to what to call the straight of Hormuz. Should he call it the straight of Hormuz? Should he call it the Strait of Hormuz? Should he call it the Strait of Trump? What exactly should he name this thing? go at the street of Hormuz or the Hormuz Strait. I said, which is better? They said, either is okay. But you can call it either one. The only thing you can't call it is the Trump Strait. They don't like that idea. By the way, speaking of that, I did a thing that people like very much, except for Mexico. I took the Gulf of Mexico. All right. Then he starts talking about the Gulf of Mexico, and now he changed it to the Gulf of America. But yes, the Strait of Hormuz, folks. You can also call it the Hormuz Strait, if you want. Absolutely fascinating.

stuff. Then Trump claims that he was misquoted recently by the media because he says he didn't claim that oil prices could be higher around the midterms. The only problem with this is that Trump did in fact say what he now says he didn't say. And not only that, he said it to Maria Bardo, who he is speaking to in this very interview. So here is first Trump saying during this interview that he never said that he expects oil and gas prices to be higher around the midterms. Overall, the impact on the economy, do you expect a hit to growth? Do you expect a spike in inflation? Well, look, there's a hit because, you know, we go through it for whatever it is, six weeks.

There's going to be a hit, but it's going to recover, I think, fully. Somehow they misquoted me. I think oil will be down to the levels it was. You know, they said, I expect oil to be high at the midterms. I don't expect that. So where may have that come from, this idea that Trump thinks that oil is going to be higher during the midterms. Well, it came from Trump. It came from Trump during an interview with Maria Bartaromo just a few days ago on her Sunday morning futures show. Trump can't seem to remember.

This is where he said it. And Maria Braderomo obviously doesn't bother to correct him on this. But here is Trump just a few days ago saying that he is the one who expects gas and oil prices to be higher around the midterm. So do you believe the price of oil and gas will be lower before the midterm elections? I hope so. I mean, I think so. It could be. It could be or the same or maybe a little bit higher. it should be around the same. I think this won't be that much longer. So of course, it was Trump himself who said that he expects oil prices could be higher around the midterms. I feel as though that was probably a rare moment of honesty for him. That does make sense to me that oil prices would be higher because, of course, we're likely to continue this conflict into the fall, as we've seen

from the pattern of history, these conflicts tend to last a while. I don't believe the administration when they say it's just going to be a few weeks. But also, is it clear that we could just wrap this thing up and wash our hands and go back to $3 gasoline. I'm not sure because we're not so sure about the straight of Hormuz and what sort of negotiations and agreements would be made if, in fact, we do come to some sort of resolution when it comes to this war. So Trump was actually seen in a rare moment of honesty a few days ago when he said to Maria Bartaromo that gas and oil prices could be higher. But here he is trying to backtrack and claim as though he never said it and he doesn't know where it came from. He was misquoted. But Trump wasn't done talking about the midterms, he also is trying to get ahead of the fact that Republicans are likely not going to do well in the midterms. We know that if you look at the pattern of history, presidents tend to not do well in the midterms. And so Trump is using that is an excuse to not do so great. He's in fact saying, I'm actually doing so well as president that that means that I'm going to take an even bigger hit in the midterms. Here's Trump saying it.

Let me just ask you about the midterms. Do you expect the Republicans to lose seats in the house? And what does that mean for your agenda? Well, I just left with Mike Johnson and some great people, some great congressmen and women in the Oval Office. I think we're going to do good. Now, with that being said, when somebody gets elected president, that party always loses the midterms. I don't know why. I don't know why. Nobody could explain it.

I ask people that are deep into the psychological world. I said, why is it that a voter votes for the opposite party? Even when you have a good president, I think I had the greatest year, the greatest opening year, I've read the greatest, look, I ended eight. Are we to believe that Trump reads anything? Trump doesn't read stuff. Eight wars. A ninth is coming. But I added eight wars.

Of course, Trump trying to take credit for ending the Iran war, which he started. If it does come to an end, one way or another, he's going to say that that's the ninth war that he ended. Whereas nobody's ever ended one war. Who's ended one? Nobody. I end the date. Is Trump now saying that no one has ever ended a war? He's the only person that's ever ended a war.

Are you serious? I mean, take a look at Barack Obama, ended the war in Iraq, take a look at Joe Biden who ended the war in Afghanistan. I'm just going back to the most recent presidents here. I'm not even going back to all of human history, but Trump acting as though he's the only one who's ever ended a war when in fact he's the one that's starting them.

The biggest tax cuts ever, we have the biggest regulation cuts ever, the greatest economy ever, pretty much including the fact that I took a detour into a rent. So Trump continues to rant here. But the bottom line is he's acting as though it's this huge mystery why presidents tend to not do well in the midterms. And he's asked all of the experts in the psychological field and they can't seem to explain it to him. It's pretty basic stuff, right? I mean, the president gets elected with all these big campaign promises, but then they actually get into office.

And it turns out it's really difficult to implement a lot of those campaign promises, either because they don't want to or because Congress is in their way or the courts are in their way. That's what happens. And so that people get frustrated that the president they just elected isn't going through with their campaign promises and their popularity begins to tank. And that reflects more broadly on the party. That's why it happens. It's not this crazy phenomenon that no one can begin to explain. And no Trump interview would be complete without him ran. He says that the problem with the British economy is that they have too many windmills and if they just took those down, things would be moving right along.

Did you see that Britain suffered the biggest growth forecast downgrade in the G7? Yeah, well. So their economy is impacted. It's the UK. I would say this, they got to stop with the windmills and they got to open up the North Sea. They have the North Sea in- So Trump thinks that the solution for Britain, the way to fix their economy, is to stop with the windmills. Just take those windmills down and all of a sudden the economy will be booming.

That is Donald Trump. Oh my, what an interview he did on Maria Barteromo's show yesterday. I think we're all a little bit dumber for taking a look at it. But if you want to get smarter, be sure to stick around for the rest of the show because I'll be here hosting the rest of the day as David is traveling back to the U.S. I'm Pat Ford filling in for David Packman. If you want to see more of me, be sure to become a member over at Join Packman. Because I'm on the bonus show every day.

I speak with David about news and politics. We talk about the stories we didn't have time to get to on the regular show. So if you want more of me, be sure to become a member and stick around because we have a whole lot more of the David Packman show coming up. Debt has a way of getting out of control even when people are trying to manage it responsibly. High interest rates, constant fees, compounding balances. This can all turn credit cards, personal loans and medical bills. into something much more difficult to escape.

And the longer it drags on, the more expensive it becomes. That's why I want to tell you about our sponsor, PDS debt. PDS debt helps people with unsecured debt by creating a personalized plan based on their real financial situation. There's not a minimum credit score required. They just focus on reducing what you owe, paying it off faster, and stopping the waste of money on interest and fees. They are A plus rated by the better business.

Bureau, they have thousands of five-star reviews and have already helped hundreds of thousands of people get out of debt. Every month you wait costs money. The best time to start was yesterday. The second best time is right now. So don't wait another month. Take back control in 30 seconds. Get your free personalized assessment at PDSdebt.com slash Pacman.

The link is in the description. Identity theft and targeted scams often start long before the breach when. bits of your personal life addresses, emails, relatives, your work history are scattered around the internet on these data broker sites and that information is sold or reused. Our sponsor Incogni will get that stuff removed for you. Not from just a single type of website. They will work to take down your personal information wherever it shows up online, shrinking the pool of info that bad actors rely on.

Incogni automatically handles removals from hundreds of known sites, but their unlimited plan goes even further with custom removals where if you find your info anywhere, paste the link to Incogni and they will get to work removing that for you. This matters because a single overlooked listing can be enough for a scammer to impersonate you or even open accounts in your name. Incogny's data removal process is independently verified by Deloitte, which adds a layer of trust. you can get 60% off when you go to incogny.com slash Pacman and use the code Pacman. The link is in the description. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the David Pacman show. I'm producer Pat Ford filling in for David today as David is traveling back from Argentina.

He'll be back with us in studio tomorrow. Caroline Levitt gave a press briefing yesterday alongside Scott Besant and she couldn't help but lie because if she actually had to defend this administration by telling the truth, she wouldn't be able to do it. She wouldn't have anything to say and she would be out of a job. So with that big cross necklace around her neck, she says that Trump actually did an excellent job in bringing down gas prices here during his second term. The only problem with that is that, as we've seen over the last couple of months with Trump's war in Iran, gas prices have spiked. They're now over $4 a gallon. But here is Caroline Levitt saying that because of America's energy dominance in the first year of

Trump's second term, he was able to steadily bring down gas prices. You can't make this stuff up, folks. You expect gas prices to decrease. And thank goodness, we have a president in an administration that believes in American energy dominance in bringing down prices at the pump. Look at how gas prices decreased over the past year since this president was in office. It's a stark contrast to the previous administration and Democrats in this city who believe in hampering our domestic energy industry, who believe in importing our most precious resources, who believe in implementing policies that created the worst inflation crisis in history. Who does Caroline Levitt think she's fooling here by saying that, well, America is now energy dominant, energy independent, and last year, gas prices were coming down quite a lot. People don't care. People are now worried about how gas prices are in the here and now because Trump started this war in Iran.

The straight of poor moves is effectively closed, and people are seeing the four plus dollar gasoline. when they go to the gas station, when they fill up their tanks, they know that it's a lot more expensive. So Caroline Levitt using these excuses about how things used to be okay when it comes to gas prices, that's not going to be good enough. And it wasn't Caroline Levitt getting in on the fund. It was also Treasury Secretary Scott Besant, who insists that because of the administration's no tax on tips policy, he's just the most popular guy when he goes out to eat. When he goes to restaurants and bars, all the service workers want to shake his hand and thank him because of

of the no tax on tip policy. Here is Scott Besson saying he's such a popular guy. Well, a couple of things there is I can tell you, I think Kelly's very popular, but I think with service workers, I may be the most popular cabinet secretary in DC because when I show up a dormant, the not so much bartenders, but waiters, waitresses,

they all say, thank you for no tax on tips. Again, I was in a diner up in Westchester County. And this is, this is a, This is a home run in terms of what's happening with these folks. Of course, we've talked before about how because of the tax code is structured. A lot of Americans aren't actually benefiting from this no tax on tips policy because they weren't paying taxes on the money in the first place. That's something we've been talking about for quite a while now.

Also, we go back to Caroline Levitt, who was asked about Dr. Oz's statements that Trump believes that diet soda kills cancer cells. This is something we're going to cover later in this show. We'll dedicate some time to showing you what exactly Dr. Oz had to say about it. But here's Caroline Levitt responding to this idea that Trump had. Diet soda was the solution all along. Can you imagine people have been trying to find the cure for cancer for so many years? And all along, it was right under our noses.

Trump was the one who found it out. It was diet soda. This is apparently something that the president believes. And therefore, it was something that the press secretary, Caroline Levitt had to respond to. Annie. Thank you, Caroline. I have a question for you and also for the Treasury Secretary.

First of all, there was an interview that Dr. Mehmet Oz did recently where he described the president's views on his own diet. He said that he argued that diet soda is good for him because it kills grass. And if you pour it off to the grass, the grass is killed and it therefore must kill cancer cells. I'm wondering if you can, was this sort of an accurate description of how This is just like the bleach thing, right? Trump knows that bleach can kill coronavirus, so he thinks that, okay, if it works on a surface, it'll work inside the human body, right? Well, no, because you're just poisoning yourself if you decided to drink bleach.

This is how Trump's brain operates, apparently. Look, as we all know in this room, I think you know, the president has a very good sense of humor. It's one of his most underreported characteristics, I would say. I have heard him tell this joke before. I think the Wall Street Journal should get a better sense of humor. humor. Another one for you. I'm not exactly sure how it's a joke. Like what's the punchline? Is it just that we're supposed to listen to it and think it's totally absurd and think to ourselves? What the hell is this guy thinking? Is that the joke? Of course, the administration can always fall back

on the president joking when they're really in a corner, when they really can't explain their way out of a situation as to why Trump would say something so stupid they could just say, oh, well, he was joking because that's like the easiest excuse you can come up with. I think Trump actually believed this or actually believed it was a possibility. And again, we'll get some more of this later on in the show. Then Caroline Levitt is asked about Eric Swalwell, who decided to resign from Congress this week. He also dropped out of the governor's race in California. And there's this layer of irony to what Caroline Levitt says in the statement,

because she's calling for accountability when it comes to Eric Swalwell. But she doesn't call for that same accountability when it comes to Trump and Republicans and other people who have been tied up in the Epstein scale that the administration has been trying to sweep under the rug. So one set of rules for Eric Swalwell and Democrats who are accused of wrongdoing, but a different set of rules for Trump and Republicans who are also accused of wrongdoing. Yeah, look, I think the accusations and allegations against former Representative Swalwell are despicable and disgusting. I think it's also quite plausible, as you point out, Jack, that there were many other Democrats in this town, on Capitol Hill who knew about his perhaps illegal behavior, certainly his disgusting and

inappropriate behavior, and why were they silent for so long? I think those are questions that must be raised of these sitting representatives, including Mr. Gallego, and I hope that the journalists in this room will do their jobs, and the journalists on Capitol Hill were do their jobs to ask Democrats in power how they knew about such despicable behavior from one of their elected representatives for so long, but never said or did anything about it. So that's what we hope to see as far as the White House and the president is concerned. So of course, Caroline Leavitt is right in the sense that if any of these Democrats are doing despicable things, they need to be held accountable for them. Also, if people are aware that these sorts of things are going on, they should speak up,

especially if they're members of Congress because they're supposed to represent the people. And if they know that there are crimes going on, if they know that there are misdeeds happening, especially committed by a member of Congress, well, they have the duty to speak up about that. They should say something about that. That's absolutely right. But Caroline Levitt is the one saying it, and Caroline Levitt has been defending Trump and the administration more broadly over the Epstein files for months and months now. That's essentially been her full-time job lately, is to defend Trump from the Epstein scandal to act as if there's nothing to see here, acts as if the administration has been super transparent, even though we know that they haven't been, they didn't want the files to be released.

They redacted heavily the information that they did release. So here is Caroline Levitt acting as though, so transparent over at the White House and they just want transparency when it comes to this Eric Swalwell matter, but they're not doing the exact same thing when it comes to the Epstein scandal. In fact, they're trying to sweep it under the rug. And finally, Caroline Levitt talks about the arc to Trump, which is Trump's latest architectural goal. He wants to build this triumphal arc in Washington, D.C. to commemorate America's 250th anniversary. It's yet another passion project. It's yet another vanity project. It's just like the ballroom. It's just like Trump's slapping his name on the Kennedy Center.

He wants to leave a legacy, and so that's why he wants to build this arc. And you better believe he and his allies are going to call it the arc to Trump. They say that this project is supposed to be getting underway this year. Will it actually? We don't know, but here is Caroline Levitt announcing it. I've just one final announcement. As you know this year, we celebrate America's 250th birthday in honor of this historic occasion. President Trump and the Department of Interior will submit plans for the United States Triumphal Ark.

which will be an architectural masterpiece to celebrate our history right here in Washington, D.C. This is a rendering of the arc for you. Thank you, Peter. It's quite beautiful, as you can see, and this monumental arc will beam at 250 feet tall, in honor of 250 years, and stand on ground that is currently empty green space in Memorial Circle on Columbia Island, a man-main island in the Potomac River, managed by the National Park Service. So of course we don't have money for child care. We don't have money for health care. We don't have money for a living wage. That's what the administration tells us. But we do certainly have money for wars in foreign countries. And we also have money for these vanity projects like the arc the Trump. So we'll see if this project ever gets underway. I'm skeptical it'll happen, especially with the embarrassment unfolding that is the Trump ballroom. But who knows, maybe he'll turn this thing into a construction site in no time. And maybe leave it for years and years. Maybe some future president will have to deal with it. And we'll see if

they ever get around to constructing the arc to Trump. But that is Caroline Levitt's abysmal press briefing yesterday. You know, I got to say, I don't think J.D. Vance is cut out for this. I don't think he's going any higher than vice president. You take a look at the betting markets. You take a look at the polling. And I know he's a strong contender for 2028, but I just don't think he has the charisma. I don't think he's cut out for this, especially in a personality driven Republican primary contest. I just don't see J.D. Vance as the one coming out on top. And case in point, he did this event the other day at T.P. USA, Charlie Kirk's organization. And it was not good for J.D. Vance. It did not go well because people didn't want to show up to this. They didn't want to go see the

vice president speak in an auditorium. And we'll take a look at the crowd in just a second. But it's not surprising at all that people didn't want to go to the J.D. Vance event because people are upset with the Trump administration more broadly. They're upset with. with Trump's economy. They're upset with Trump's war in Iran. They're upset over Trump's handling of the Epstein files. Trump is deeply unpopular right now. So people are not going to want to associate with the Trump administration right now. That's why they're not going to show up to take a look at a speech delivered by his vice president. But I think it goes further than that. I think it's that J.D. Vance is just so boring. He has no personality, no charisma. And so why would

people want to take time out of their day to go in person and listen to him speak. I just don't see it happening. Here's a look at the crowd that day. And as you can see, a really poor showing. It doesn't bother me when he speaks on issues today. Frankly, even when I disagree with how he's applying the general principle. So you can hear J.D. Vance speaking there. It's not before the events took place.

It's not later on. That was as the event was happening. And it's just an arena full of. empty seats. Now, there's also this interesting detail having to do with this because the person that was supposed to be hosting the event with J.D. Vance was Erica Kirk, the widow of the late Charlie Kirk. But she had to back out because of threats. There were threats coming her way, which of course is unfortunate. We don't want to hear that that's taking place. It's very sad and all. But how is it that the vice president of the United States was able to go to this event when, of course, he has Secret Service and there's, There's always concerns about his security. But Erica Kirk was not able to go to the same event in the same arena. How is the security good enough for the vice president to show up to it? But it's not good enough for Erica Kirk to show up to it.

Very strange. Let's take a look at them explaining this. So for those of you wondering why I don't have really flowing long blonde hair right now. So I'm going to address it right at the front. Mr. Vice President, I'm on stage here instead of our friend. Erica Kirk. That's right. Because unfortunately, she has received some very serious threats in her direction,

which is terrible. It's a terrible reflection on the state of reality and the state of the country. But it underscores a larger point that she has received a lot of attacks from surprising places, perhaps. Tell us what you think about that. and some of the people that have made, you know, part-time jobs out of attacking Erica, and this is the net result. Sure. Well, first of all, I love Erica, and I know that she did get some threats.

And, you know, about two hours ago, as you know, Andrew, I was a little worried that we were going to have to cancel the event because Erica was not going to come, and she was very worried about it. And I talked to the Secret Service, and obviously these guys do a very good job. And I said, you know what, let's let Erica do what she needs to do for herself and her family. I'm sure Andrew will fill in. And let's go and make this an amazing event with the Georgia Bulldogs in Athens, Georgia. So that's pretty strange, right, that the security would be good enough for the vice president of the United States, but not good enough for Erica Kirk.

I understand she's probably traumatized and deeply affected by the murder of her husband that took place a few months ago in broad daylight, right? So I'm sure maybe that had to do with the decision to a degree. but the fact that they were able to secure the perimeter for the VP, but it wasn't good enough for Erica Kirk. It just seems a little strange, right? It seems as though there may be something else going on here. And then we get into the substance of the events, and J.D. Vance talks about the war in Iran.

Of course, a lot of young Trump voters, especially are upset with Trump over the war in Iran because Trump promised during the campaign that he was going to end wars, he wasn't going to start any new wars. And in fact, it was Kamala who was going to start all these wars including a war with Iran. Of course, that's not what happens. Trump is doing the exact opposite of what he campaigned on.

So Trump voters, and especially a lot of young Trump voters, are upset with Trump over this. And J.D. Vance says, look at other things that we're doing. That's his response. And I think he's saying this, one, because he knows he's not going to be able to defend Trump's record when it comes to the war, especially to these people who are anti-war. They're just not going to be convinced by it. But also, he's trying to distinguish himself from the other Republicans. he could be going up against in the primary.

Like if he goes up against Marco Rubio, for example, who is known as more of a hawk, who has been more instrumental in this war, he can set himself aside from those people by saying, I actually wasn't with Trump on this one. I've always expressed the fact that this wouldn't be a good look for us, that we would lose young voters over this. And so here is J.D. Vance trying to do a couple of things,

defend the administration while at the same time distinguish himself from some of the other Republicans. Like, for example, I recognize, that a lot of young voters don't love the policy that we have in the Middle East. Okay, I understand that. I also know that we've secured the border. We've lowered housing prices now for eight months in a row, and there's going to be more to come beyond that.

We've made America energy dominant, which is lowered electricity costs and things like that. We've made it so that we have the lowest murder rate in 127 years. I'm not saying you have to agree with me on every issue. I'm not saying you have to agree with me on every issue. What I'm saying is don't get disengaged because you disagree with the administration on one topic. Get more involved. Make your voice heard even more.

So Jady Vance's solution, his response to the young Trump voters who are upset with Trump over the war is to basically just say, don't pay attention to it. Tune it out. Ignore it. Even though it's going to be really difficult to do when the war in Iran is the top story in the world right now. The Strait of Hormuz is closed. There's all these economic effects from the war. people are dying. The America's reputation around the world is suffering, but J.D. Vance just says to those

people, don't even pay attention to it. Pay attention to some other things. And of course, the things that he lists aren't that great for the Trump administration either. They're not great examples. Like, he talks about how the murder rate is the lowest in a long time, even though murder rates and crime rates have been precipitously declining for decades, and it has nothing to do with anything Trump has done. He's also talking about how people should focus on how America's energy independent, even though we're seeing that that's not worth all that much when gas prices are at over $4 a gallon and people are upset over Trump's energy policy. And then he talks about immigration, but we know that the public has soured on Trump's immigration policy, especially with the ice raids and the unlawful killings and actions they've been taking since he's retaken office.

So, J.D. Vance is not able to just explain away this war by saying, don't even look at it. That's not going to be sufficient. and then he decides to defend Trump on the Epstein scandal. He must realize that Trump is doing a terrible job defending himself when it comes to his Epstein connections. And J.D. Vance comments on how Trump has called the Epstein scandal a hoax. He tries to clear up the confusion having to do with that. Right. I don't want powerful people being involved in this disgusting behavior. But I have to defend the president on this because when he said that it was a hoax,

what he was talking about was this democratic idea that he's connected to Epstein. If you look at those emails, it's like, you know, they were in the same, you know, everybody in Palm Beach knew everybody, okay? Like the president has said he knew Jeffrey Epstein and he was a scumbag. But what you see in those emails is that Jeffrey Epstein hated Donald Trump. And Donald Trump hated Jeffrey Epstein. In fact, so of course we know that Trump and Epstein had a falling out. We know that their friendship ultimately ended.

But what the American public is interested in is what happened before that falling out while they were friends. Did Trump go to the islands? Did he do illegal things during the time he was friends with Jeffrey Epstein? And also, J.D. Vance is doing his best at damage control because Trump keeps calling the Epstein scandal a Democrat hoax. And so Americans hear that and they think that Trump is trying to claim that Jeffrey Epstein never did anything wrong. That the things that he's accused of doing are overblown or false. So that's why it doesn't sound so great when Trump says that the Epstein scandal is a Democrat hoax. J.D. Vance realizes this. He knows his boss isn't articulate enough to say what he's trying to say.

And so he tries to fill in the gaps by saying, oh, well, it's a Democrat hoax that Trump and Epstein were friends. Because he knows Trump isn't going to be able to put those words together himself, I guess. And so here is J.D. Vance. But J.D. Vance just isn't really all that good at this. I got to say he doesn't have the X factor that you need to have in order to become president. And I think that's exemplified by the fact that not a lot of people wanted to show up at this TPUSA events to listen to him speak. But hopefully you're interested in what I have to say here on the David Packman show. I'm Pat Ford, guest hosting today as David is traveling back from Argentina. We have plenty more of the show coming up after the 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 trying to do. What makes Brain FM different is the science behind it, because it's the only music app funded by the National Science Foundation, based on their unique audio technology, designed to influence brain activity associated with focus. Brain FM also has published peer-reviewed research showing their technology supports attentional performance.

They even have an optional ADHD mode for people who benefit from additional stimulation, but the app really is built for anybody looking to reduce distractions 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. We all know the feeling where there's a nonfiction book that people keep telling you, you've got to read this. Could be any book. Maybe you've been hearing about it for years. You want to read it. You can't find the time. This is why I find blinkist. to be such a valuable resource, our sponsor Blinkist is an app that distills the key insights from nonfiction books into short summaries you can read or listen to in about 15 minutes.

Instead of committing hours to a full book, Blinkist gives you the essential ideas quickly and early. They have more than 9,000 titles covering everything from politics, economics, and psychology to science, personal development, and more. Listen while commuting, walking, doing chores. You'll still get those important primary takeaways from the entire book. Blinkist was actually one of our first major sponsors years ago when the show was way smaller. They've been supporting us for a long time.

And I encourage you to support them. It is a great service. You can try Blinkist completely free for a whole week and get 30% off a subscription at Blinkist.com slash Pacman. Hey everybody, welcome back to the David Packman Show. I'm producer Pat Ford filling in for David today while he's away. Dr. Oz, the former TV doctor turned head of Medicare and Medicaid because we live in a country that doesn't make sense. He appeared on Don Jr's podcast and said something that I'd have to imagine put him in some hot water. I can't see Trump and the administration being all that happy with what Dr. Oz said on Don Jr.'s podcast because he was speaking about the president's dietary.

habits. We already know about them. They're not so great. He likes to eat a lot of fast food. But Dr. Oz revealed this interesting detail that explains a little as to what's going on in Trump's psyche. He says that Trump told him that he drinks so much Diet Coke because he believes it kills cancer cells. You have to see it to believe it. Here is Dr. Oz explaining to John Jr. that this is exactly what Don Jr.'s dad told him one time that he's drinking a lot of diet soda. He has all those Diet Cokes and has the button on the resolute desk to get a new Diet Coke at any given time because he believes that the Diet soda is killing cancer cells. He'll pepper, Bobby and I usually go to the meetings together. So he'll first start off with, you know,

candy bars, that little candy jar he'll call it. He'll hit the red button. Yeah. And then comes the Diet soda pops, which is your dad argues that Diet soda is good for him because it kills grass. It's poured on grass. So therefore, it must kill cancer cells inside the body. So he'll try Please, I'm not going to argue this right now. You know, we were on Air Force One the other day, and I walk in there because he wants to talk about something, and he's got an orange soft drink on his desk. Fanta. He drinks Fanta.

I didn't want to say the brand name on the podcast. He's got Fanta on the desk, and I say, are you kidding me? So he starts to like sheepishy grin. He goes, you know, this stuff's good for me. He kills catch yourselves. And then he tells me it's fresh squeezed. So how bad could it be for you? Okay, okay.

But then maybe he's onto something, because I will say this, I know a lot of guys pushing 80. So they're all laughing here. They're all having a good old time. But the issue, of course, here is that this is not the village idiot who's saying it. This isn't the town fool who's making this statement. This is the president of the United States who believes that drinking soda can kill cancer cells. And we're led to believe that he's serious when it comes to this.

It wouldn't be all that surprising if he was serious because he said similar things before. He believes apparently that you shouldn't work out because your body only has a finite amount of energy, like a battery that can't be recharged. And so if you work out a bunch, you're not going to have any energy left over to do other things or you're going to die early. That's Trump's belief when it comes to energy being like a battery. He also thinks that we can nuke hurricanes and he wanted to kill coronavirus in the body by maybe injecting bleach or some sort of disinfectant. So he has all of these wacky medical and scientific claims. It wouldn't be surprising at all if he also believed that soda, diet soda, kills cancer.

cells. Now, he could also be joking, I guess. He could also be trying to provide an excuse to continue drinking soda because he knows it's unhealthy. But if he says, well, I believe it to be curing cancer, then he can get away in his mind with continuing to drink it. But I think it's cause for concern. And I wouldn't be surprised if he actually believes this. I showed you this earlier, but here is Caroline Levitt, the White House press secretary, responding to Dr. Oz's statements about what Trump apparently believes having to do with soda and cancer. Annie. Thank you, Caroline. I have a question for you and also for the treasurer secretary. First of all, there was an interview that Dr. Mehmet Oz did recently where he described the president's views on his own diet. He said that he argued that diet soda is good for him because it kills grass. And if you pour it off to the grass, the grass is killed and it therefore must kill cancer cells. I'm wondering if you can, was this sort of an accurate description of how the president's use? Look, as we all know in this room, I think you know the president has a very good sense of humor.

It's one of his most underreported characteristics, I would say. I have heard him tell this joke before. I think the Wall Street Journal should get a better sense of humor. And then another one for you. So Caroline Levitt laughing it off, pretending it's just a joke. And in fact, it's a joke that Trump tells from time to time, even though it's not really a joke in the sense that we normally think of jokes, which have like structures and punch lines. This is apparently just Trump saying something stupid and we're all supposed to lie. laugh at it, which I guess counts as a joke now in Trump world. If we go back to the Dr. Oz, Don

Jr. interview, we have Dr. Oz glazing the president talking about how he's just so incredibly healthy, and it's this medical mystery because he eats crappy food. He's always having fast food. He loves his soda and everything. But his testosterone is just off the charts, apparently, according to Dr. Oz, and he brought in his blood work and everything looks so great. Here is Dr. Oz saying that the president is just this magnificent. specimen that we should all be studying and idolizing. So, but so, but your dad had that medical record that looked like he had dictated it. And so, so he comes on the show and God bless him, he brings the actual, a legitimate note

from a doctor with all of his lab reports. And I say, can I show these to people? He's, yeah, you can have it. Take it. So I read the note on the air. And he was in perfect health. I mean, testosterone, quite frankly, was through the roof, not taking any supplements. And so as I look, as I went through this, it's uncommon to see.

that healthy a list of healthy of labs of anybody even if they're drinking this you know or eating unpopular you know non-healthy foods i'll say but uh that's genetic but some of it your dad argues is because when he's on the campaign trail he doesn't want to get sick so he eats junk food but it's food made in large reputable chains because they have quality control meals and there are times he doesn't eat like that he doesn't always okay so dr oz is mixing up some things here first of all he's glazing Trump, he says that he's in perfect health. This is part of the course. If you work in the Trump administration, you have to say that he's this amazing human being. And because Dr. Oz is in the medical field, he has to say that Trump's health is wonderful. So that all makes sense. But Dr. Oz

is explaining the president's poor diet by saying that he doesn't want to get sick. So that's why he has fast food all the time. But of course, coming down with like E. coli or like some sort of food-borne illness, some sort of like salmonella or food poisoning, what have you, was very different from having just like a normal routine of eating whole foods and having a well-balanced diet. So Dr. Oz is conflating a few different things here and making it seem as though what Trump is doing is okay. When of course we know that it's not okay. We know that he eats a crappy diet. And to remind us more about Trump's diet and how bad it is,

here is the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who's an ally with the president, but he couldn't stand to talk well about Trump's diet in this clip. about how poorly Trump eats on a regular basis. Who has the most unhinged eating habits? The president. Oh, you know, the interesting thing about the president is that he eats really bad food, which is McDonald's, and then, you know, candy and Diet Coke.

But he eats it, drinks a Diet Coke all times. He is a constitution of a deity. I don't know how he's alive. but he is but. So that, of course, was the super popular Katie Miller podcast, which I'm sure you're going to check out after you check out this show, because that I hear is just booming. Everyone wants to hear from Stephen Miller's wife.

Yeah, so RFK, not holding back saying that Trump has a terrible diet. We know Trump has a terrible diet. When it comes to this story in particular, though, what do you think it is? Is Trump just really this dumb and delusional? Does he actually think that the soda he's drinking is curing cancer, killing cancer cells, or is he just trying to build in an excuse for why he's drinking so much soda by trying to argue, it's actually healthy, it's actually warding off cancer, and so that's why he's

saying this. What do you think about it? Donald Trump just can't seem to get over this scandal having to do with his posting of an image making him look like Jesus on his truth social platform. He posted this image a few days ago, and right away, people were upset with it. The Christian Trump supporters wanted him to take it down because they believed it to be sacrilegious. He's depicting himself as Jesus, which you're not supposed to do in the Christian religion. So there's so many things that these Trump supporters are willing to give Trump a pass on, to look the other way, to actually applaud even when Trump does some of these horrible, evil acts.

They are okay with his lies and his contradictions. But this was a little bit too far for them. They didn't want to see their president depict himself as Jesus because they believe that that's a sin, something that they can't just explain away and something that crosses a line. So we know that Trump was facing a whole bunch of backlash from right-wing politicians who wanted him to take the post down. He eventually did take the post down, by the way. He was also facing some backlash from media figures. But now we're going to take a look at some Trump supporters, people who have voted for Trump before.

What do they think about his decision to post this image of him resembling Jesus Christ? Well, they're not happy about it. Let's take a look at the first Trump supporter. That's a disgrace. I'm very upset about that. I mean, how egotistical can you possibly be? I'm ashamed that he would actually do that. A man I voted for and trusts.

To me, that all sounds honest. It sounds like the guy actually did trust him, actually did vote for Trump, but he also seems genuinely upset. Now, will this anger carry over into the midterms in the next elections? Probably not. My sense is that he'll come up with some rationalization as to why he needs to continue voting Republican and continue supporting Trump, but it's good to see it. Here's a montage of other Trump supporters acting in a similar way, clearly not happy with the fact that he insulted their religion.

It offended me because nobody is Jesus, but we're all human beings. We all made mistakes. I think we should be more forgiving. He said himself, I posted the photo on video. I didn't hear that. I did, and I was there. And I'll show you too, actually. Assuming he said he posted it, how do you, does that, does that,

frustration you is also Christian is a believer. It's inappropriate. He shouldn't be posting that, but at least he took it down and he knew it was wrong. He saw himself as a doctor and he deleted it to prevent confusion. Right. I heard that too and I'm going to use the abbreviations, BS on that one. So, you know, I would prefer to have him just say, you know, that was inappropriate of me. I shouldn't have done it and I'll try not to do that in the future. So I think that's a better response. But he's Trump and he does things the way that he does. Yeah, of course Donald Trump never takes accountability. He never apologizes.

He believes that makes him look weak. And so yes, he took the post down, but he's not going to apologize for it. So I don't think that woman should wait on pins and needles for him to come out to apologize over what he said. But it does seem as though these Trump supporters are upset with Trump over this and I'll take it. They seem to back him on just about everything. But when it comes to this, they're actually drawing a line in the sand. Doesn't matter, though. I think that this will probably be one of those things that blows over. People won't be all that attentive to this in just a week or two.

They'll move on to something else since all these Trump supporters who are criticizing him now will forget. They'll focus on other things. They'll make excuses for him. They'll say that big picture he's doing a good job, even though he has to comment down on social media. We've seen these Trump supporters do that for years and years now. It seems like they're a little upset with him right now over the Jesus image, but they'll forget about it. they'll move on. And it's funny because the woman I just played for you in that clip, she was also asked about Trump's Iran policy. And she didn't have the same idea about him

speaking BS when it comes to Iran like she did having to do with his excuse about how he believes he was just a doctor in that image. She clearly thought that that was BS. But when it comes to his Iran excuses and Iran policy, she thinks that that's a okay. Here's a look at the same woman talking about Iran. I think that an America that pays five or six dollars a gallon per gas for gallons of gas is much better than an America that doesn't exist and maybe gets gas for free. So I think that clip right there shows you everything you need to know about these Trump supporters. They're willing to criticize him over this Jesus post, but they're going to move on from it. They're going to forget about it. They're actually in support of the things that he's doing in Iran, for example, which to me makes it seem

as though these people have totally backwards moral frameworks, like they're more bent out of shape over Trump posting an image of himself looking like Jesus than they are about the thousands of people that we've killed in this war effort than the 175 schoolgirls, for example, that we killed in the opening salvo in this war. How come these people are more upset with Trump over this Jesus image than any of these other seemingly anti-Christian things that he's engaged in? But you have to remember that these are people who operate with a different moral framework, I guess, and they've been brainwashed for years and years into the cult of Trumpism. So it's a pretty difficult thing to undo.

But things like this, Trump posting a meme of himself looking like Jesus, maybe it'll get some of them thinking, who knows. We'll be back with much more of the David Packman Show right after this break. The David Packman Show is an audience-supported program and the best most direct way to support the show. is by becoming a member at join packman.com. You'll get the daily bonus show, the daily commercial free show, and plenty of other great membership perks.

Get the full experience by signing up at join packman.com. Welcome back to the David Packman show. I'm producer Pat Ford filling in for David today. He'll be back tomorrow. American consumers have delivered their verdict. They feel that this economy under Trump is the worst in 74 years. This is according to a University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index, which measures the pulse of the American public's financial confidence. And the results are an historic indictment of the current administration.

If you take a look at the index, it plummeted to a staggering 47.6 this month, April 2026, officially bottoming out below the previous record low of 50 back in 2022, which, if you remember, the country was still dealing with the pandemic recovery. and there was also the start of the Russia-Ukraine war. And this is measurably tied to Trump's decision to attack Iran because last month, Trump was at 53.3. This index was at 53.3, several points higher. Now it's dropped 10.7%. The current score of 47.6 is the lowest ever recorded in the 74-year history of the University of Michigan survey, placing this economy in a more desperate light than even the 2008 financial crisis, you can believe that. Importantly, this doesn't mean that the economy is inherently worse than it was in

2008 or 2020, for example, or during any other time, any other crisis we've experienced over the last 74 years. But it does mean that consumers feel the most dejected, that they feel the least confident this time than in any other time that they've been doing the survey, going back to 1952. And why are people upset with Donald Trump right now? Well, we see it all around us. We see it when we take a look at gas prices, which are at 4.5. dollars and 11 cents and we compare them to where they were just a few weeks ago under three dollars and we say why the hell is trump doing this or people are taking a look at cpi data which shows that inflation is at 3.3% when it was at 2.4% the month before this war started consumer prices have also risen 1% nearly in march alone so people are not happy with the trump economy and yes it's true that you can compare the trump economy now to the biden economy in the sense that there are some similarities. right? There were high gas prices under Biden in 2022. That was an effect of the Russia-Ukraine war. Also, there was high inflation under much of the Biden years because Americans had just gone through the pandemic and were starting to get out of that. But there were these lingering effects that caused all this inflation. So you can compare certainly these two different economies. But what's

not the same is that Biden didn't do anything actively to create the situation that he found himself in. COVID, the Russia-Ukraine war, those were circumstances. is outside of his control, whereas Trump is actively doing all these things. He's the one that decided to go to war in Iran. He's the one that decided to impose all these tariffs on a whim, although luckily a lot of the tariffs were struck down by the Supreme Court. Trump did this to himself is the bottom line, and he's supposed to be the businessman who can fix everything.

He was going to fix the cost of living crisis in America, but instead what we're seeing is war and tariffs and things that people really, are upset with and that's reflected by the numbers. Another thing I wanted to say about this is that there are flaws when it comes to consumer sentiment. People are influenced by their own personal situation. Like maybe they think that the economy is in a good position if they just got a raise, but in a bad position if they just got fired, people are also swayed by the headlines and what they expect to happen in the future, which isn't always accurate. So it's not a perfect metric. There are flaws to the consumer sentiment metric like there are flaws when you take a look at any

indicator for the economy. But I think it is important to point out, especially because this has to do with how the public is feeling. And we're only seven or so months away from the 2026 midterms. And people are going to be voting with their wallets. They're going to be voting based on how the economy is doing. And if Americans are saying that the economy is worse at this point than it has been at any point over the last 74 years, that's not going to be good for Trump. And that's not going to be good for Republicans. So you better believe that this economic sentiment is going to show up in the midterm elections. And if things are looking like how they're looking right now, it means that Democrats are going to come back into power in Congress with a massive blue wave. Donald Trump's approval rating

when it comes to tax policy is completely collapsing. And this is really indicative of how horribly the administration is doing overall because tax policy is typically a Republican stronghold. When you think about the average Joe and Jane and what they like about the Republican Party, there probably aren't that many things that they can come up with, but taxes are usually one of the things that people will say, right? That Republicans typically want to cut people's taxes, and that's something that the average American wants to hear, right? Because they want to keep more of their own money. Now, of course, the situation is a lot more complicated than that because the tax cuts Republicans actually enact tend to just help the ultra rich and powerful, and it only gives crumbs to the people who actually need the tax break.

Not to mention, we do need tax revenue to fund things in a functioning society. But putting all of that stuff aside, when it comes to the messaging, for years and years, Americans have bought the Republican messaging when it comes to taxes. Maybe they like Democrats when it comes to other issues, right, like how Democrats are anti-war and pro-same-sex marriage, pro-civil rights. But when it comes to taxes, people tend to side with the Republicans. Well, one would think that Trump being a Republican would benefit from this long-held opinion, especially because he passed tax policy himself, both in his first term and in his second term. It's actually one of the few things legislatively that he's done as president. But it turns out that new polling suggests that Trump is even unpopular when it comes to tax policy.

His current net approval rating on the subjects plummeted to minus 28 points, according to a Fox News poll. And he has got this underwater by 58 points among independence when it comes to his tax agenda. So this is way below where he was in his first term. In 2018, he was actually above water by two points on his tax policy. Here he is now 28 points underwater. Here's CNN's Harry Enten delivering us the news. telling us about the poll in a way that only he can over at CNN. All kinds of administration officials fanning out, touting the big, beautiful bill as is called today.

How is it working? Ain't working too good because Trump is paying the piper when it comes to taxes and the American public. Look at this trend. I mean, again, what massive trends were seeing from term one to term two? Trump's not approverating at this point on taxes. And term number one in 2018, remember there was that tax cut that was just passed just before tax day back. in 2018. Look at this. He was above water at plus two points. But down he goes, down he goes. Look at this. He's at minus 28 points as net approval rating on taxes, down 30 points from term

number one. If there are benefits that the American people are liking when it comes to the one big beautiful bill act, they are not, in fact, giving the two thumbs up to Donald Trump when it comes to that. I'm reading the fine print there. Oh yes. The fine print there. I leave fine print and John's able to find it. Among independents, he is 58. points underwater with independence when it comes to taxes. My goodness gracious. I'm going to circle that. That is stunning. Again, he says he cut your taxes and people are 58 points opposed to it independence. Yeah. So this is all in focus right now because yesterday was tax day and also surrogates for Trump have been touring the country touting the so-called successes of the big,

beautiful bill. But the American public just isn't buying it. They know that they're paying $900 more in taxes on average because of the hidden costs of Trump's federal. tariffs, so maybe there's some relief here and there in the new tax bill for them when it comes to taxes, but it's not making up for what they're paying in tariffs. They also see that the wealthiest 1% are receiving a collective $117 billion tax cut this year alone, and they're not happy with that, especially with the skyrocketing national debt and the loss of essential services that Trump and his allies say we just can't afford anymore. And the American public is also becoming wise to the no tax on tips catch, which roughly two-thirds, of tipped workers won't even benefit from. So people are not happy with Trump's tax policy, but I got to say, I don't think he gets to 28 points underwater on tax policy from just taxes alone.

That is to say, I think that people are upset with Trump broadly. And so when they're asked about any one of his particular policies, they're going to act negatively. I think that these tax numbers are a lightning rod for much larger generalized anger towards Trump and the administration's overall performance. So voters are using this tax question as a way to voice their displeasure, but the truth is that they're not just displeased over Trump's tax policy. They're upset with Trump's handling of the war. They're upset with his handling of the economy, the Epstein files, and so much more. So you say anything with Trump's name in it in the question, and they're going to react negatively to it. That's exactly how toxic and unpopular this guy is right now.

Well, that's going to do it for today's episode of the David Packman Show. I really hope you all enjoyed it. I really hope that you thought I did at least an okay job guest hosting for today. But if I didn't do so well, that's okay because David's going to be back here tomorrow. And if you did like what I had to say, we'll be sure to become a member over at join packman.com because I'm on the bonus show every single day speaking to David about all sorts of news stories, political stories, the types of things we didn't have time to get to on the main show. So I'm going to go over to the bonus show now to host that.

If you want to see it, make sure to become a member. And to everyone else, we'll see you next time. David, we'll be back tomorrow.