The David Pakman Show - Trump doesn’t destroy Iran, but he destroyed wallets

Episode Date: April 8, 2026

-- On the Show -- Gas prices have jumped 61% percent since mid-January under Donald Trump, directly affecting Americans at the pump -- More Americans are openly calling for Donald Trump to be removed from office due to concerns about his mental fitness -- JD Vance experiences an awkward and highly visible interaction with Donald Trump during a public rally -- A loyal Trump supporter openly rejects targeting civilian infrastructure, signaling growing cracks in the president’s base -- Megyn Kelly declares she would continue supporting Donald Trump even if he dropped a nuclear bomb -- Promised payments of $7,000 from DOGE and tariffs never materialized, showing how Trump's promises failed to deliver -- Independent media faces targeted attacks from Donald Trump Jr. and Karoline Leavitt for reporting accurate information -- On the Bonus Show: David provides an update on his trip to Argentina, and much more... 🛌 Helix Sleep mattresses: Get 27% OFF sitewide at https://helixsleep.com/pakman 🥄 Magic Spoon: Use code PAKMAN for $5 off at https://magicspoon.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) Start (01:09) Trump’s energy promises meet reality (10:18) Growing calls for Trump’s removal over behavior (18:44) JD Vance faces awkward moment with Trump (29:05) Loyal voters question Trump’s decisions (36:36) Megyn Kelly expresses unwavering support for Trump (43:43) Trump’s promised payments fail to appear (52:32) Don Jr. and Karoline challenge outside reporting Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In communities across Canada, hourly Amazon employees can grow their skills and their paycheck by enrolling in free skills training programs for in-demand fields. Learn more at aboutamazon.ca. Gas prices up 61% since mid-January. That is not theory. That is real as Donald Trump chickens out, kind of fortunately, on completely destroying Iran. But these prices. are a real problem for the administration. In the meantime, talk of removing Trump from office

using the 25th Amendment has hit governors. It has hit senators, members of the House, organizations. But it's not going to happen because they simply don't have the votes. I will explain why. And also, Trump supporters using the term war crime about what Donald Trump threatened to do in Iran. J.D. Vance, publicly embarrassed. Remember those 7,000. dollar checks, you didn't get one. Well, nobody did. And no one was ever going to get them. We're going to go through that sorted history. I am in Argentina. Don Jr. and Caroline Levitt are coming after me. All of that and more on today's show. Well, Donald Trump did it again. He tacoed. It was Tuesday and he chickened out and he didn't bomb Iran into genocidal oblivion or

whatever. And that's important that matters. We're going to be talking about the implications. We're going to be talking about the likely insider trading and those who benefited as a result of this because they knew in advance that something was cooking. But we're sort of used to that. What we're not used to in the United States is gas prices going up 61% in two and a half months.

And when things like that do happen, they're usually not because of something that that's something the president did. In this case, they are. This is a very concrete and tangible thing for the average American. I'm in Argentina. Every cab driver here talks to me about gas prices being higher here because of Donald Trump's war in Iran. By the way, very high humidity here, wreaking havoc on my hair. And I can only apologize for that. I'm doing the absolute best I can. But I want to talk about this story that's getting increasingly uncomfortable because one of the central promises of this administration when it was a campaign was that prices would come down and they would come down quickly and people would see it and people would feel it. What was true was that people would feel changes

in gas prices, energy prices and broader economic price level. That was true. What was not part of the promise was that we would feel it because they were up. We were told we're going to feel it because it's down. But the reality is the opposite right now. Prices are up sharply. Yes, today, oil prices are down thanks to Donald Trump's two-week stay on bombing Iran into the stone ages or whatever he said. But the big picture is that everything is up and it came up quickly and it cannot be written off as a minor or temporary fluctuation or temporary blip. Here's a report from C, CNN about pricing. That's right, Wolf.

Oil prices. The price of oil per barrel is now well over $116. You can see that on your screen right there. That is a 100% increase from just a month ago. If you look at this line chart that hopefully we can put on screen, you can just see how the price of oil has taken off in the last month. You can see it right there on the right hand side. That is trickling down directly to consumers.

first via gas prices. As you mentioned, another two cent increase overnight, 412 is the national average. That's well over a dollar up from just a month ago. But also, diesel prices have increased at a faster rate than gas prices. Diesel is $5.65 a gallon. That is just about 20 cents shy of the record that was set in 2022. So because of those higher diesel prices, now, companies, shipping companies, are having to make a decision about adding fuel surcharges. Amazon adding a fuel surcharge temporarily of 3.5% to any third-party sellers that are using their shipping service. You also have the U.S. Postal Service for the first time, adding an 8% temporary fuel surcharge for packages. And then you have the airlines who are grappling with

higher jet fuel prices, doubling, again, in the last. last month, jet fuel accounts for about 20 to 30% of what airlines have to pay. And instead of passing that down directly to consumers via ticket prices, you have Delta United JetBlue increasing their baggage fees by about $10. And then you have United, for example, saying that they're going to have to cut the number of flights by 5% over the next six months. So we know that businesses are really trying to absorb as much as they can, Wolf, with these higher energy costs and not pass it down to consumers.

But ultimately, guys, they are just burdened by these higher prices and have to figure out where to pass that buck somewhere trying to do it delicately. But you can see there that airlines in particular are doing it in more creative ways where hopefully the U.S. consumer doesn't feel it as much, Wolf. As you can see here, we had this massive, massive oil price spike, which has now backed off because of Donald Trump's latest taco. We also have gas prices, as I told you, up 61% since mid-January. So the question now becomes a political question. The economic question is what happens in people's homes. And we know that it's not good. It's not going well. It's a problem for the average American.

We've seen how it plays out when people's budgets get blown up by rising prices. But what happens when this is taking place not during a Democratic president that Republicans don't like and they can say, well, of course, Democrats, communists, whatever, this is happening during a Republican president. When prices went up before Trump, it was treated as a failure of leadership, something voters were told to take personally to respond to when you go and you vote. the way Americans will do in just under seven months now. And you can imagine, if you can imagine, there wasn't any nuance or hesitation or patience with the leader.

It was just prices are up. Leadership failed. It's time to punish them. So is the same standard going to apply now? Are Republicans going to look at 61% increase in gas prices and say it's unacceptable and it's the fault of the president? It's a broken promise. We must respond to it by voting these Republicans out.

Or is the explanation going to suddenly change? Is it going to be, well, global markets and geopolitical tensions and we had to do the Iran thing and some of these factors are outside of Trump's control and we've got to be patient? If that's the argument this time, then it raises a bigger issue, which I know you understand. Was it ever really about gas prices in the sense of policy and leadership? or were gas prices and other prices just use as a politically convenient weapon depending on who was in power? And this is going to be a test for Republicans. I'm going to have some clips from Republican voters later for you. It's not a test for the critics. It's not even really a test

for the media, although it kind of is and we'll see how Fox News is handling it, which is also interesting. But it's a test for the voters who were told this will be different if the promise was lower prices and the reality is blown up much higher prices. There are two options here. Either the promise failed or the standard changed or was never really a standard. So I am looking with increasingly great interest at the forthcoming election in November because we already know that the country failed a couple of national IQ tests as there are tens of millions of Americans who voted for Trump three times. I'm down here. in Argentina. I'm talking to people who do not understand what is wrong with these Americans

who three times voted for Trump. And I tell them, listen, the United States is a big country. Just because something is taking place tens of millions of times doesn't mean the majority of this country supports Trump, that country, as I speak now from Argentina. In fact, most of the country doesn't, as Trump's approval is in the low 30s. Well, now it's time to see if people are going to put their money where their mouths are because it quite literally is about the pocketbook. It's the checkbook. It's the debit card. What will happen in November?

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sitewide. The link is in the description. Something has changed drastically over the last few days. More and more people are saying out loud, Trump is non-compos mentis. He can't. not do this job. He is out of control. He has to be removed. Now, in our space, we've known that something is very wrong with Trump for years. But we are now hearing from governors. We are now hearing from members of the House and Senate. We're hearing from organizations that don't even normally take positions on this sort of thing. And they are arguing that it is time to remove Donald Trump from office not because his ideology isn't compatible, not because we disagree with a policy idea, but because his ability to function in the role appears to be zero. As you, I'm sure, remember,

before Trump chickened out last night, Trump posted that an entire civilization would die last night and then talked about regime change. And it was an outrageous lunatic message. I'll remind you where Trump posted, quote, a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don't want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have complete and total regime change, where different, smarter, less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen. Who knows? We will find out tonight. One of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the world, 47 years of extortion, corruption, and death will finally end. God bless the great people of Iran. So that was the president of the United States discussing war,

regime change, global consequences in a scattered, completely disconnected tone. And when you read that message closely, there was no direction, there was no defined objective. no sense of control over what's being described. It was the kind of communication that sets off alarms, not of, I may be politically incompatible with this guy, but it's this is apparently someone, is it a brain injury, is it dementia, is it a personality disorder? What is it? Because he's dealing with military power, international alliances, adversaries, and allies are watching.

And they're wondering, what is happening in the United States? And that sort of message and broader behavior, right? I mean, it's like it's that message and the last decade leading up to this, quite frankly. It projects instability. It projects confusion. It projects weakness. And at the same time, the messaging coming from the White House has been unpredictable and difficult to interpret. And there's a gap between the responsibility that comes with being president of the United

States and the way that Donald Trump is carrying it out that is getting notice. people to say he must be removed and he must be removed now. Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker called on Trump to be removed via the 25th Amendment, which of course needs to be invoked by the cabinet, understand that this is, it would require the most sycophantic sycophants to say this is too much. And J.B. Pritzker said Trump's deranged threats are now over the line he's got to go. Groups like the NAACP have joined others in saying 25th Amendment is probably appropriate here. Here is Congressman Ro Khanna, a Democrat who represents Silicon Valley in California, making the case take a look.

If the United States Congress has any life left in it, every member of Congress and Senator must be calling for Trump's removal today based on the 25th Amendment. He's threatening the entire destruction of a civilization. He is calling Iranians animals. He is showing a total disregard for the humanity of people in Iran, in Gaza, in Cuba. This is a moral crime. It is a war crime. We need to be demanding that Congress convened today.

And we need to be invoking the 25th Amendment. This is significant. This shows how serious these concerns have become. Now, in a way, we all have known this for a long time. Viewers of independent media, which has not been silent, has not been shy in terms of talking about what's going on with Donald Trump's brain and composure and ability, we all are sort of like, yeah, of course, JB, of course NAACP, of course Roe, of course it's time to remove him. But what is different here, and we covered it last week a little bit, the focus is increasingly

on whether the president can even process information. It would be one thing to be saying, hey, you know what? Trump's foreign policy, it's hawkish, and he promised to be the peace president, and there seems to be a conflict there. And ideologically, I disagree with Trump about XYZ. That's sort of normal. And there are many elected officials where I would say, hey, I disagree. Rand Paul.

Rand Paul is not demented. Rand Paul doesn't appear to have had a brain injury. Rand Paul doesn't appear to be crumbling in terms of even basic mental competence. Now, I disagree with Rand Paul about a lot of stuff and some things he gets right. Hey, we should follow the Constitution. I'm with you. This is not that. This is a series of questions about he seems unable to process information.

His language and speaking abilities appear to be increasingly limited. He has no attention span. He seemingly has no interest in even really doing the job. When those are the questions that are coming up and you see it with governors, senators, members of the House, other institutions. This is a deeper level of concern than political disagreement. I wish we could get back to a point where it was sort of like, hey, here's John McCain. I disagree with him politically on a lot of stuff. Okay. Well, that's normal. That's healthy, arguably, in a democracy. We are now talking about the 25th Amendment, a mechanism for situations

where the president is unable to carry out the duties required by the position. More people are asking whether we have passed that threshold, I believe we have, and more people in positions of power are saying we have surpassed that threshold. The conversation is growing because the consequences of getting it wrong last night almost were the destruction of a country and its people. And this is the sort of thing that becomes irreversible on a global scale. So I don't believe now, One other note on this. Some of you wrote to me and said, why is the conversation all of a sudden the 25th Amendment rather than impeachment? Both are incredibly unlikely. When we talk about impeachment, you need a simple majority in the House, which Democrats don't have, to trigger articles of impeachment. Those articles of impeachment lead to a trial carried out by the House of Representatives, senators vote. You need a supermajority to convict in the Senate for the removal of a president. not going to happen. Forget about Democrats not having a super majority. Democrats don't even have a majority in the Senate. So then you go, all right, well, that's difficult. What about the 25th Amendment?

The 25th Amendment would require Trump's cabinet to say, yes, he is non-compostmentous. He cannot carry out the duties. He cannot discharge his duty as sick as that is, for lack of a better term. And we have to remove them. You think, you know, Mark Wayne Mullen, Trump's newest lap dog is going to vote for that? Of course not. You think whoever, take your pick. And so both of these are uphill battles. I don't think there's any chance that it happens. But the fact that governors and others are saying it does mean a lot. Is there anyone in my audience who thinks Trump is fit to serve as president right now? I want to hear from you because the more one looks at this fairly and honestly becomes very difficult to believe that that is the case. Send me an email info at david pacman.com.

And remember, by the way, help us get to 4 million YouTube subscribers. Make sure you've hit that subscribe button. It's becoming increasingly clear that Donald Trump really despises J.D. Vance. Now, we already suspected a lot of this because Donald Trump is being increasingly cagey when people ask him about 2028, even though J.D. Vance for a while was kind of the heir apparent to the maga throne. Trump is increasingly saying, well, we're going to be. we've got a lot of interesting people. We've got Marco Rubio. It's very interesting. But as we continue to go forward, it is very clear that not only does J.D. Vance completely lack charisma and likability from the standpoint of the general public, it seems Trump doesn't really like him much as well.

And of course, remember that it was Don Jr. and Eric Trump reportedly who convinced Trump to go with J.D. Vance rather than Doug Bergam. Now, I don't know how Bergam would have affected that ticket, But okay, that's not really the issue here. J.D. Vance went to Hungary. And while in Hungary, he attempted to get Donald Trump on the phone during a speech in the midst of praising right-wing authoritarian Victor Orban, JD goes, let's see if I can get a special guest on the phone here. And unfortunately for JD, it does not exactly happen.

Take a look at this. So before I started. my remarks, I actually had a special guest that asks that I give him a phone call. And we'll see, let's hope he actually answers. But this is going to be very embarrassing. All right. I'm sorry. The person you were trying to reach has a voicemail box that has not been set up yet.

Okay. Try one more time. I get a good signal here. It's ringing. It's progress. Hello, Mr. President. How are you? Eventually, he does get Trump on the phone.

And Trump sounds pretty annoyed. And as I've said before, Trump sees J.D. Vance as an annoyance. Trump sees J.D. Vance as a lightweight to use Trump's own term and listen to how just sort of distracted and disoriented Donald Trump seems. He could not care less about what J.D. Vance wants to talk to him about. Hello, Mr. President. How are you? Hi. And, Jannie, could you give me a second?

Mr. President, you are on with about 5,000 Hungarian patriots, and I think they love you even more than they love Victor Orban. Well, because I love Hungary and I love that Victor. I'll tell you, he's a fantastic man. We've had a tremendous relationship, and he does a job. Remember this. He didn't allow people to storm your country and invade your country like other people have and ruin their countries, frankly.

He's kept your country good. He's kept Hungarian people in your country. And he's done a fantastic job. And let me tell you, I like him a lot. But if I didn't think he did a good job, I wouldn't be making a call like this. But boy, that sounds like a big crowd. And that sounds like my kind of people. This is, you know, the person, if I don't really feel bad for anybody here.

They've all gone into this willingly. But the level of humiliation that Ushah Vance, the second lady of the United States, must be suffering right now. Historically a Democrat, she's had to play this whole thing of, well, I support J.D., whatever JD's doing, I support. Cool. She, on top of everything, has traded seemingly her beliefs and her dignity for a very public. kind of shaming by Trump of J.D. Vance. Trump seems like he could not care less about what is good for

J.D. Vance or even really positioning him for 2028, but who the people that Trump continues to be enamored by are authoritarian people like Victor Orban. And Trump during this annoyed speaker phone phone call with J.D. during this rally talked about how big a fan he is of Victor Orban. Take a look at this. speech to get this kind of a response. I guess, how did J.D. do? Did he give a good speech, everybody? It's very early, sir. Well, I just want to tell you, I'm a big fan of Victor.

I'm with them all the way. The United States is with them all the way. And it's a real honor to talk to you. You're really incredible people with great enthusiasm and brilliance, because you're brilliant people. And I really love it. You have a man that kept your country strong, and he kept your country good,

and you don't have problems with all of the problems that so many other countries have because they let their countries be invaded. And you don't have that problem because of Victor Orban. That's the only reason you don't have that problem. There was a lot of pressure on him to do it. And those other countries made big mistakes. So I wish you a lot of luck and I love you all. Thank you, Mr. President.

Talk about, you know, the global order. Think about as we stand here in 2026 and we just kind of ask ourselves, is the future of humanity going to be better served by authoritarianism, getting away from democracy, getting away from the value and importance of institutions and just going towards dictatorship? Is that how humans will best flourish and be organized? Or should we be going to democracy where people can self-determine? And people can determine also for themselves, what sort and type of leader is best for them. I believe that we are not going to be best served as humans organizing 8 billion people on this planet in authoritarian ways. I believe they are on the losing side. And I was reminded of Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, who once spoke about his father. And this is not like an Arnold was estranged from his father thing.

But he has acknowledged that Arnold's father was on the side of Nazism. during World War II. And Arnold made the point that long term, they are always seen as the losers. They may practically lose up front. But then also later they are seen as, man, those were really losers. Now, I know that you can find white supremacists now who go, no, Hitler's plan was cool or whatever, whacked out people. But the point is that over time, these people lose. And humanity, generally speaking, bends towards democracy. We have this sort of unholy romance of sorts between people like Trump and Putin and Orban. And of course, Trump doesn't realize that they're all just using him. But Trump with a straight face continues to talk about how these are the

sorts of leaders that we should revere and our democratic allies are not. Every single time I see a moment like this, it is just vile and disgusting. Now, as far as J.D. Vance, he tries to create these interesting moments where he appears to have a personality and speaks like a sort of normal person. It backfires every single time. And I think Trump knows it. If you look at what's been happening more broadly, I think it is clear to Trump that J.D. is just kind of a loser. J.D. can't carry this movement. J.D. can't be the heir apparent to MAGA. And the pattern that is emerging is Marco Rubio keeps getting more out of boys from Trump and better positioning and more sort of public presence. And Rubio, for all of his faults and politically, I don't agree with the guy, he is a more traditional, polished political presence.

And I think that he is more impressive to Trump. And also there seems to be a desire, at least from some in the Republican Party, to go back to that sort of thing. So we know Trump is asking himself, who is going to be the heir apparent here? And I think Trump is going to look elsewhere. He is not going to look to JD. Do you believe Trump will anoint J.D or try to anoint J.D. Do you think it will be Marco Rubio? Do you think it will be somebody else?

Leave me a comment or send me an email. Info at David Pakman.com. It is not easy to find a sweet, satisfying snack that you won't feel guilty about eating. And that is why I love our sponsor, Magic Spoon. Magic Spoon treats are crispy, airy snack bars packed with 12. grams of protein and seven grams of fiber, zero grams of added sugar, easy to throw in your bag. I take Magic Spoon treats with me to the studio for a quick snack. They taste nothing like a boring protein bar, more like cereal bars, delicious, and they come in

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The hardcore magas are starting to turn on MAGA. They're talking about war crimes. And I believe that Trump is increasingly going to be left with nests. nothing from this contingent of his supporters. I'm going to play a couple of clips for you that are not getting nearly the attention that they deserve. Here is a Trump supporter, a veteran, who gets asked a pretty simple question about Trump's genocidal threats against Iran. Would targeting civilian infrastructure be appropriate for an American commander in chief? And the Trump supporter gives an immediate no, it would not.

starts talking about war crimes. These are MAGA people. These are Trump voters. This is a Georgia, no, we'll look at the Georgia voter next. This is a Trump supporter who is willing to say this. Take a look. Seems like the president seems to be indicating that we'll be hitting civilian infrastructure. What do you make of that? Do you think that's becoming of a commander in chief? No, I don't. No, I don't. And I'm a supporter. That's over and above, it shouldn't be by anybody to say the truth, much less the president. I'm totally against it. It's not an, it's not a, it's a war crime.

I mean, how do you win a war by destroying the country? This is a change. Now, I'm not pretending that this is all of Trump's base. I'm not pretending that all of Trump's support is evaporating overnight, but there is a growing contingent who partially because they fell for Trump's completely bogus anti-war rhetoric. is now saying, no, no, no, no, no, this can't be. Here is a Georgia voter talking about war crimes, saying you can't do it. We don't do that as the United States of America. Let's take a look. It's giving war crime. You can't do that. We don't just annihilate people because we can and,

you know, make a grab for the money and the oil. And that's what we've done in Venezuela. And that's what we're doing in Iran. I think this is significant. And it's significant because it's not the usual suspects. It's not, you know, when we think about narrative and stories that really sort of, you can sink your teeth into and really say something is happening here. If it were another left winger or a Democrat or someone who already opposes Trump, of course they don't like what Trump is doing in Iran. These are people who supported him or and maybe still to a degree do. And they're kind of drawn a line here.

And what you're starting to see are the early stages of something that has happened before historically when leaders go too far. At first, the base stays unified. It's been a decade. And while there have been people who abandoned ship, the base has mostly been unified. The rhetoric then escalates. The actions, the proposed actions in this case, case which Trump chickened out about. They cross a line that even the loyal supporters can no longer justify.

And then the cracks start to form. And usually sort of like cracks in an iceberg, when they start, they only get bigger. They might slow down for a little while, but they only get bigger. They don't reverse. If you're a supporter and suddenly you are being asked to defend something that you know is wrong, it violates the basic rules of war. It doesn't even really make strategic sense at the end of the day. you're put in a pretty difficult position. You can certainly go along with it anyway, and some are doing that, or you start to kind of take a step back. And when you see others taking that step back even quietly, you see the coalition weakening. And this is how these leaders end up isolated. It's a gradual process. I know that there are lots of people in my audience who have been anxiously and passionately waiting. And I understand it. I understand the desire for the thing that just ends Trump.

I've been very honest. I think almost certainly Trump stays in power until the scheduled end of his term unless he dies or negotiates a resignation with a pardon. That's like a less likely but second possibility. I don't think we're going to see impeachment. I don't think we're going to see 25th Amendment. I mentioned this earlier. I explained kind of the mathematics of why. But making Trump an ostracized, lamest of lame ducks for the last two years of his presidency is still a worthwhile idea. And I hope that we're going to vote to make that happen in November. And so we also have to be realistic that it's not going to be an all at once thing. It's going to be gradual. And so one supporter at a time who says, I've been with him, but not on this thing. I've been with him, but not on that thing.

I love what he's doing on men and women's sports, but gas is up 61 percent. And that's just too much. And so if that continues to happen, Trump will end up in a very different position than the one he would like to be in. Now, I spoke with Gavin Newscom. He's a nasty. Okay. I spoke with the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, a couple weeks ago. And I asked him, do you even believe Trump is going to be in a position to choose his replacement at the end of his term? And Gavin Newsom said, paraphrasing, that's interesting, but maybe not. Trump is weakened. We have to set realistic goals. Getting Republicans to join the impeachment of Donald Trump, I don't believe it's a realistic goal.

Great to push them. Great to say to them. By the way, he's done 12 impeachable things. Why won't you support it? Fine. But I don't think that's going to be it. If we set realistic goals, the realistic goals are getting Trump to be so deeply disliked, even by Republicans, that he is in no position to choose another MAGA as his replacement for

2028 and putting him in such a useless corner, a corner with nothing with no tools. Just he can stand there and look at the wall. Maybe there will be ketchup on the wall and he can smear it around, but not actually giving him any power to do anything. For the last two years of his presidency, I think that that is worthwhile. There are limits even for his strongest supporters. The limits are being crossed. He's got fewer defenders than he has ever had, fewer excuses as most of the problem.

that he is now dealing with economically are of his own creation. And this is how you end up with nothing at the end of your term that you can use as a bargaining chip. Now, one other thing, there's another aspect to this that I do believe is important. I mentioned this resignation for a pardon scenario. Trump negotiates a resignation. J.D. Vance becomes president. Vance immediately pardons Trump. Vance will be less likely to go along with that, although Vance would probably go along with almost anything to be president for a couple years. Vance is less likely to go along with that if there is pressure on him not to grant Trump a pardon because Trump has become so unpopular and his behavior and decisions have been so beyond the pale. And we can play a role in that.

We can play a role in that by continuing to talk about what Trump is doing and what he's been up to and by embarrassing Republicans so brutally in November that there is just not even the crumbs left for manufacturing consent around Donald Trump's behavior. That's a reasonable goal. Megan Kelly, oh boy, let's talk about something that is going to give you some insight into where parts of the right wing media ecosystem are right now. Megan Kelly went on record and essentially said Trump could do almost anything, even dropping a nuclear weapon or even a nuclear weapon, if you're more prone to that pronunciation,

And she would still vote for Republicans over Democrats. Here is Megan Kelly. What independence, what strength, what a unique thinker. Oh, boy, take a listen to this. Honestly, Trump could drop a nuke. And I'd still vote Republican over those people because they want to have a new voter. In some ways, I really am. But honestly, what they want to do is nuke our own country.

You know, it's like the open border, what they're doing to children, all that stuff is still. They would do it all if put back in power. And I think most Republicans know that. All right. So obviously, that is not independence. It is not critical thinking. It is political submission. Now, Megan Kelly also criticized Trump. We're going to look at that tomorrow. But this declaration is its doormat loyalty, what I call laying down like a doormat and letting Trump walk all over you. And the easiest way to see it for me is to flip the scenario. I'm on the left. That's no secret. I am a commentator, an analyst. I am not a journalist. I am not a reporter who pretends and pretend is an important thing to mention who pretends to have no opinion,

or at least who hides my opinion. But I can imagine situations where I would vote for a Republican over a Democrat. There aren't a ton in modern American politics, but they do exist. I'll give you one example. I mean, if I think about, think about Adam Kinsinger, former Republican Congressman Adam Kinsinger. If I had to choose for president, Adam Kinsinger, or let me be careful here, or Marianne Williamson, I'm voting for Adam Kinsinger. Why? At a basic level, I want competence, I want coherence. I want a functional person that could even conceivable. do the job. And if a candidate doesn't have that, yes, positions on each issue matter, but I also go beyond that in evaluating candidates. And I would like to think that that is the sort of

independent thinking that we could expect from supposedly independent media figures. And so I would weigh options and consider tradeoffs and not lock myself into there is nothing that could be done to get me to vote. once you go into this no matter what stuff, you're not thinking anymore. You've turned politics and political positions into identity. And that's what we are seeing right here. It's not about policy. It's not about outcomes. It's loyalty. Unconditional loyalty. And if that's the standard, how do you even really disqualify a candidate? You don't. You can't. And so, you know, And the Kinzinger thing I'm acknowledging is a little bit of a cop out because Adam Kinzinger said to me when he was on the show, if he got back into politics, he would actually be a Democrat at this point. Like his views are basically anathema to the Republican Party. That's that's sort of a different story. But these are the sorts of decisions that actually require a little more thought, a little more introspection. Trump could nuke a country and I would still vote for Republicans over Democrats. What are you really bringing to the table?

at that point in time. And I would argue in fact that that's dangerous because if you have a system where voters impose no limits on their leaders, the leaders have no incentive to respect any limits themselves. If Trump knows, I have a base where I could, as he likes to say, shoot someone on Fifth Avenue or he could nuke someone or whatever, and they're still going to support me. What is the incentive for Trump to try to build consensus or work and behave in a way that actually comports with the law, the constitution, the expectations and desires of the people that voted for them. It's very ugly when you look historically over the last 150 years around the world, when the leaders stop being in any way accountable to the voters for their decisions, where they have their vote no matter

what, you know, some will see this and go, well, Trump can now have total conviction and he's operating from a place of strength because people won't get in his, no, no, no, no. The fact that people won't hold him accountable and that there will be no consequences is an abandonment of judgment. And it puts Trump in a position where he doesn't even have to sort of pretend to follow what the law is or what norms are. And so Megan Kelly, you know, this entire I'm independent thing, it's actually a sort of broken reality with regard to how the system is supposed to work. And she claims that now that she's off Fox News, she can critique Fox News. And occasionally she has. She has even said, you know, over on Fox News, it's a lot of propaganda about this issue or

that issue. I think she said something like that about the Epstein files. Cool criticism, Megan. But you're saying that even nukes wouldn't get you to change your mind and say, hey, maybe a Democrat is better. Now, it's not theoretically relevant to who is in power right now. There were many voters who said, I don't love Trump's protectionist tariff ideas. I don't think Trump's plan when it comes to health care makes sense.

But Kamala Harris? Oh, no, she'll start four wars. Wait, so you've fallen for Trump's I'm the peace president thing? Well, it might be an exaggeration. But Kamala will start four wars. That's where we are right now. So I hope that people don't think this way. I know that it's not the rarest thing to just go, I vote down party lines.

But I hope that most people actually consider, even if you know your preferences towards Democrats, that's my position, right? I mostly vote for Democrats, even though I'm not registered as a Democrat. It has to be about choosing the best option. And if it's defending your side at any cost, we're in trouble. It's a problem. going in a very dark direction. This episode is brought to you by Tellus Online Security.

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Hey, did you get your $7,000 yet from Donald Trump? Did you get your $5,000 a Doge dividend and your $2,000 tariff dividend? Do you remember this? They want you to forget about it. They've promised you $7,000 since Donald Trump came to power this second time. We were told you'd be getting five grand because of all of the efficiencies that Doge has found and you're going to get two grand because of all of the money we've made from tariffs. No, we do have a war in Iran that's costing an insane amount of money, but your seven grand is

missing. Now, I did a segment last week about how the consequences to lying or being wrong politically in this modern era are essentially zero because double standards are almost expected and nobody's held accountable. But remember that it was everywhere on social media. It was in speeches. It was in interviews. It was, uh, checks will be going out soon.

We may be approving them soon. It could be imminent. They'll have Trump's signature on them. And depending on who you asked, Elon Musk or whoever, they would go, yes, that's absolutely something we're considering. Oh, that's right. I know that that is something that was mentioned. And I told you within minutes of these claims being made, you are not going to get.

at a single solitary dollar. Now, they have a way of claiming that you already got it. Now, you're probably looking at your bank balance and your wallet and going, what did I get? Gas is up 61%. What are you talking about? Let me get back to that. Let me get back to that because it's the same thing they did with the wall that Mexico was going to pay for. There were a lot of people that bought into it. There were a lot of people that said, listen, it sounds simple. It sounds direct. money is going to show up. It's going to be great. There won't be any bureaucratic delays. It's going to be perfect. There was never a plan behind any of it. There was no signed order. There was no policy. They didn't have a funding mechanism. It turns out that firing a bunch of federal government

employees doesn't create a disbursable fund from which you can cut people $5,000 checks. Who could have believed that. And of course, there was never any timeline soon, very quickly, et cetera. Now, we did the math on it at the time. The very basic math, it's basically addition or a more complicated form of addition that we call multiplication. The revenue being discussed was nowhere near enough to fund five or $7,000 checks for millions and millions of Americans. Now, it wasn't going to be for all 350 million Americans. People above a certain income would be excluded. I don't. don't think it included kids, but we're talking about tens of millions of checks for $5,000 and or $2,000, $7,000 total.

But it didn't matter. We would try to slow it down and go, listen, the math is crazy. It doesn't make any sense. And they just said, we're going to do it. But the point was never delivering on it. The point was let's keep people engaged and hopeful so that they go, well, I might not agree with the things Trump is doing, but I'm going to get my $5 or $7,000, $2,000, $2,000 or $7,000. And it was this plausible pot of gold or coal at the end of the rainbow that people thought I might get at some point.

Now look at where things stand today as we approach mid April of 2026. No $2,000 tariff check. No $5,000 doge dividend. Doge is shut down. Elon is gone. The tariffs have been a complete financial disaster. And we're spending increasingly more money carrying out this war in Iran, which the winner of the FIFA Peace Prize did. That's kind of surprising, not what you would imagine.

The conversation is done. The conversation has shifted away completely. And I hope and I suggest that at every opportunity, when journalists interview J.D. Van Sir Donald Trump, when journalists interview members of the Republican Party in the House or Senate, ask them every single time and present them with quotes from things Trump said about these checks and say, what happened to it? Where does it stand today? Do you have a date? Will it ever happen, sir or ma'am? But the conversation, I don't know that I would say to their benefit because it's its own fiasco. The conversation is about international conflict and military escalations, the strait of Hormuz,

whether this war with Iran is winding down or whether this potential two-week pause is really just a pause and we're going back to it. And suddenly we realize, wait a second, we're funding new military action. There's no confusion. There never is. There's no delay. There's no congressional approval. There's no hesitation. We've got the money.

But $2,000 from how rich the tariffs made, we made us. We still can't get $2,000 bucks out to people. So this is an important contrast. Priorities are very different depending on whether the outcome helps everyday people. or whether it serves Donald Trump's political or strategic goals. Even though the war is unpopular, Trump came to believe it served his strategic goals. When it was about putting money in people's hands, we're working on it. It's uncertain.

It'll be about five grand. It'll be about two grand. It's complicated. It's postponed. We're worried about it. Trump decided to go to war. We're spending the money two minutes later. It's an immediate and decisive system.

Now, the truth is, if there was the same level of. commitment to decisively and immediately helping the average person, there's a myriad, uh, there are myriad ways in which Trump could make it happen overnight. But the only things that happen immediately are things like bombing Iran. Now, the uncomfortable reality as always is a lot of people believe this and fell for it. They fell for the original promise. They weren't naive, but it was repeated and they wanted to believe it. They wanted to believe it because a lot of people could use seven grand right now. So this is the cycle. You make a bold claim. There's no follow through. You pivot to the next issue before the previous one is examined. And when people realize nothing is coming, attention has moved on

to something else. Well, we're at war now. The strategy can just be used again. So there was never a $7,000 stream of money coming to you. There was never two grand. There was never five grand. And I want to say to the Trump people, acknowledge that it was never going to happen. Don't write to me with these, you know, David, Trump did have every intention of doing that. But then, come on, guys, that's crap. Just acknowledge it was never going to happen and it was meant to string you along to the next deception. And the people that believed it are not rewarded with checks and they are not rewarded with relief, but their loyalty is still expected.

Even though the two grand didn't happen, the five grand didn't happen, he's still expecting you to vote for him in November. Now let me now say one other thing. When I had actually, I remember speaking to a Trump supporter about this. When Trump promised a wall with Mexico that Mexico would pay for and it didn't happen. Trump built 200 miles in his first term and the United States paid for it. Trump supporter called in and said to me, well, it kind of did happen because through tariff, and through USMCA, Mexico has paid for it. Guys, if you believe that, I got a bridge to sell you.

That is just absurd. And similarly, they're doing the same thing right now. You hear from Scott Besant or whoever else on TV. Kevin, what's I'm blanking on his name? Kevin Hassett. You hear them on TV and they go, listen, Donald Trump as a result of a result of a policies has put $2,700 back in the pockets of Americans. Now, it's conceivable that there is some accounting mechanism through which you could make that

case, but what Trump has taken out of people's pockets through higher prices on everything, energy, gas, oil, far exceeds that. And so if you believe that Trump kind of has given you a tariff dividend, you've given the country a tariff dividend by paying more for everything, even though Trump promised the prices would go down. This is not where I wanted to be today. This is not where I expected to be today. But Donald Trump Jr. and Caroline Levitt are coming after me. They're coming after independent media.

They want this show to be done and over with. Now let me tell you what went on. For three days, Donald Trump was missing from public view. No events, no appearances, and it led to speculation online that he might be in the hospital. Now, I said something very simple. I said, if Trump were in the hospital, they would probably try to cover it up. We would have to figure it out some other way. But there is no real evidence right now that Trump is in the hospital.

That's the entire offense that I did. And it turned into Donald Trump Jr. going after me with Caroline Levitt boosting it. Here is my tweet on screen in a compilation of tweets that Donald Trump Jr. posted with the tagline, sick people. And I said, quote, it's true. There are rumors that Trump was secretly rushed to Walter Reed Hospital earlier. It's true. If this happened, the Trump White House would almost certainly cover it up until they could no longer. However, there appears to be no basis for the rumors that Trump is currently in the hospital. That is all that I said. And Donald Trump Jr. tweeted about it as me being a sick person. And Caroline Levitt signal boosted other tweets highlighting my exact

same post. Now, think about that for a second. I didn't push a conspiracy. I didn't exaggerate. I did the opposite. I said, let's slow down. Let's deal in fact. These are liars. And remember that when Trump went to the hospital for COVID during his first term, there was a cover up. We were told he's going because he's the president. But he was going because his doctor said, you're getting so sick so quickly. You may need to be brought to the hospital in a stretcher if you wait. So let's go now for propaganda purposes. They later lied about whether Donald Trump received oxygen therapy when he was in the hospital. They're lying about for two months. They talked to us about an MRI that never happened. It was a CAT scan and they didn't tell us why. And so I acknowledge.

that, but I said right now there's no reason to think he's in the hospital. This is a bigger story than about Trump's health. This is a story about independent media at its core. Shows like mine exist outside of their control. We don't take marching orders. We're not repeating their talking points. We're looking at what's happening and explaining it in plain language. We are really inconvenient to them. So what do they do? They try to frame independent voices as dishonest. They try to turn their their followers against us. Last time Don tweeted about me, my dad got emails saying you should have aborted your son. Now, once the idea takes hold that independent media is a problem and we need to go after them, the next step becomes easier, which is they go after us.

Now, let's be very honest about where this goes. If this trajectory continues, they are going to try to take one of us down. It could be through platform pressure. Maybe it's through coordinated reporting campaigns. Monetization for our YouTube channel was turned off yesterday, believed to be a glitch, only affected a relatively small number of channels. We were one of them. Monetization was off yesterday.

Now, maybe it's through advertiser pressure. They go to my advertisers and they say, do not advertise with this guy. Maybe it's flooding the zone with attacks until something sticks. Maybe it's stochastic terrorism. someone should do something about this guy. But the direction is independent media will get chipped away at one target at a time if this is the way they do it. Now, that's why this moment I believe really matters. If you're watching this, the most important thing you can do is just make sure you're connected with the shows you care about. I'm not asking anyone for money. Follow us on every

platform. It's free to subscribe on YouTube. We're trying to get to 4 million subscribers. The bigger we are, the bigger problem they'll have taking us down. You have an audio podcast. Follow it, subscribe to it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, whichever. Even if you watch on YouTube, just do that. It tells the platform, hey, give visibility to this show. Substack, it's free. Wherever you get content, just make sure that you're there with us.

Now the reality is if one channel gets hit, the others matter even most. That's how this works now. Now I'm going to keep doing exactly what I've been doing, looking at the facts, calling out the nonsense, explaining what's happening here. But the environment we're in is an increasingly weak and unpopular Trump and they are lashing out. And what makes this more concerning is that the line between criticism and targeting is blurred right now. When someone like Donald Trump Jr. posts about me, sick people, that is not a policy criticism. It is a powerful political figure pointing an audience and saying, this is the target right now.

We know that goes beyond disagreement with these people. Harassment, sure. Bad faith reporting, sure. Attempts to get content taken down. Yes. And so we know the type of reaction they are trying to trigger. And the broader danger is that if independent voices start pulling back because the cost goes up, that is a self-censoring left-wing media environment.

And what you do is you seed, CEDE, seed, power, and control. to the very worst people, the people who say you shouldn't have a voice. That is, I write about this in my book, The Echo Machine, and I write about it in my forthcoming book, pay attention. This is how media ecosystems get reshaped, not through one dramatic shutdown, but through steady pressure that makes honest, fact-based commentary harder and harder to sustain. So my ask is not a big one. Make sure you're following us on our platforms.

Make sure you've hit the subscribe button on YouTube. sure you're on my substack. If you can afford a membership, by all means, I'm flattered and I welcome it at join packman.com. But that's not what we're asking for right now. Free. Just say, hey, I support this. That's really important. On the bonus show today, a bunch of stories from my visit now to Buenos Aires, Argentina. I don't know if the mic picked that up. The sweet sirens that I grew up with in the city. All of that and more on today's bonus show.