The David Pakman Show - Trump loses the economy as Republicans scramble to save Texas

Episode Date: October 1, 2026

On the Show: -- A Republican super PAC named Texas PAC spends over $7 million per day to support Ken Paxton against Democrat James Talarico -- A new AP-NORC poll shows that 82% of Americans disapprove of Trump's handling of cost of living and 65% blame him for high prices -- Democrats direct funding toward Scott Colom as he challenges Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi -- Donald Trump claims 97 car plants are under construction and only a Hispanic could survive falling off his new ballroom construction site -- Donald Trump makes false claims about winning California and misrepresenting current national gasoline prices -- Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene publicly declares that the MAGA movement is dead and accuses Trump of betraying his supporters -- Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announces a new Office of Religious Affairs reporting directly to his position -- Pennsylvania reports nearly one thousand measles cases and five deaths as national infection counts reach their highest levels since 1991 -- On the Bonus Show: Tennessee's lethal injection drugs fail in botched execution, Trump will visit red states ahead of the midterms, Trump's AI chatbot turns on him, and much more... 📜 Trust & Will: Save 20% on your estate planning at https://trustandwill.com/pakman 🩳 Quince: Get free shipping & 365-day returns at https://quince.com/pakman 💡 Outskill: Grab your free seat to the 2-Day AI Mastermind at https://link.outskill.com/PAKMANDEC1 ⚠️ Ground News: Get 40% OFF their unlimited access Vantage plan at https://ground.news/pakman 🔬 Freedom From Religion Foundation: Text DAVID to 511511 or go to https://ffrf.us/david 💻 Try Aura free for 14 days at https://aura.com/pakman 🛡️ Incogni lets you control your personal data! Get 60% off their annual plan: http://incogni.com/pakman -- Become a Member: https://davidpakman.com/membership -- Subscribe to our (FREE) Substack newsletter: https://davidpakman.substack.com -- Get David's Book: https://bit.ly/m/attention -- Send David a text: [phone] -- 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 (01:15) Republicans spend millions in Texas (09:00) Voters overwhelmingly reject Trump's economic record (21:02) Democrats target long-shot Senate race in Mississippi (27:48) Trump delivers bizarre Hispanic Heritage speech (39:12) Trump lies about winning California and gas prices (46:59) Marjorie Taylor Greene claims MAGA movement dead (55:59) Pete Hegseth announces religious affairs office (1:05:59) Republicans spend millions saving Texas Senate seat Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, Republicans are spending more than $7 million a day trying to save a Senate seat in Texas with maybe one of the worst candidates we've ever seen Ken Paxton. And if that sounds unbelievable, wait until you see what's happening in Mississippi. M-I-S-S-I-P-P-I, remember that, where Democrats are suddenly looking very seriously at a race in a state that Trump won by 23. Meanwhile, a devastating new poll has dumped on the economy and on cost of living. And we'll look at Marjorie Taylor Green declaring MAGA is dead. But is it wishful thinking from someone who's been excommunicated from MAGA? And Secretary of Defense Pete Heggseth delivers what I think is one of the strangest speeches I've ever seen from any secretary.

And Trump once again struggling on camera to keep his eyes open. And my new book, pay attention is a New York Times bestseller. Thanks to you. I have only you to thank. Let's do the show today. Republicans are now spending more than $7 million per day trying to save Texas and save Ken Paxton. And part of the problem is Ken Paxton is one of the worst candidates we've ever seen. And James Talariko is phenomenal. So 7 million bucks a day. There's a Republican super PAC called Texas PAC, which has spent about $131 million over 17 days supporting Ken Paxton. That's like $7.7 million a day. And I do think it's important

to put this into perspective. This is Texas. Texas has not elected a Democratic U.S. senator since 1988, that senator served for some number of years, but the election was in the late 80s. It hasn't elected a Democrat to any statewide office since 1994. And it is supposed to be safe Republican territory. And instead, what we're seeing is Republicans with these massive dumps, nasty stuff, presidential campaign level money being dumped into Texas like a fire hose. trying to keep it. And there are a couple of really important reasons. Number one, their candidate is really terrible. This guy, Ken Paxton, running against the Democrat James Tala Rico, is essentially

incompetent and disgusting, no matter how you are evaluating him. Now, the polling, of course, is important to look at because while on the one hand, all of the polls do have Talarico ahead, On the other hand, I do think that some caution is appropriate, and I will explain that. Now, it is the case, as I pointed out yesterday, that every recent poll, even Rasmussen, which often leans, which leads right, have Talariko ahead. And on average, James Talariko is leading by 2.7. But I do think that there is an important disclaimer here. If you look at a lot of these polls, a significant slice of the electorate is not represented.

So for example, if you look at the Rasmussen reports poll, which has Tala Rico 46 and Ken Paxton 45, if you add those together, let me see here. Okay. 6 plus 5 is 11. That's 1 carry the 1. Fortis, that's 91. 9% of the electorate is not represented there. And listen, this is not a kill the messenger thing, I hope.

Much like when I told you all in September of 20, 2024, Kamala's losing all the swing states. And some people said, David, how dare you? I'm just telling you what it is. In Texas Senate races, it is notorious that when you don't include, in other words, you don't force a choice from everybody. And that other 9% goes, I'm not sure, or I might not vote or whatever. They tend to break for the Republican. So is Texas winnable? Of course it is. That's why Republicans are spending $7.7 million. a day. Do these polls prove that Tala Rico is going to win? I would argue no. I mean, even if you look at the best poll for Tala Rico here, which is the Marist poll, which has them up six, that is

still only 50 to 44, meaning 6% of the electorate is not included there. Okay, so the disclaimer is, we should not assume we've got this. I am not telling you Tala RICO is going to win. What I am telling you is that Republicans clearly believe they've got to spend a lot of money. to make sure Paxton doesn't lose. And it's important to remember how we got here. Republican leaders mostly wanted the incumbent Republican Senator John Cornyn. And as whacked out as Cornyn is, he's a lot less crazy than Ken Paxton. Trump ultimately backed Ken Paxton. Paxton defeated Cornyn in the Republican primary runoff. CNN reported that Republican leaders were urging Trump, don't do it. Sir, please, no, because they thought

Paxton would do worse than Cornyn. And it seems that that is the case. And now they're paying the bill and it's 7.7 million a day. Now, there are Republican-aligned groups that plan to spend about 166 million in pro-Paxton advertising from September through election day. And they are spending on track with that. On the other hand, democratically aligned groups only plan to spend about 32 million. So there are more than five Republican dollars being spent for every Democratic dollar. And there's an estimate that Republican groups at the end of the day, if you include the primary and the general, Republican groups will end up spending $300 million on the Texas race. That is more than the competitive districts in competitive races in Michigan and Maine combined are spending. Now, I think

the big take, what you might be saying, well, they're spending money, but they might win. So what's the big deal. The opportunity cost is the big deal. Every single dollar that Republicans have to spend to save Texas is a dollar they can't spend in Maine to save Susan Collins or in Ohio or Iowa, Kansas, you know, any other places where the map has expanded potentially for Democrats. When Republicans are spending money in Texas, those are dollars they can't spend in what are expected competitive races. Now, the Senate leadership fund says the Texas spending is dedicated money. We're not having to reduce any spending elsewhere. And Republicans also have more money available than Democrats. So I think that that's important context. But money is finite at the end of the day.

And Texas was never supposed to be where Republicans needed nine figures. It's a nine figure rescue operation to keep the patient alive there. Now, there is one other incredible. incredible piece of this. And that's the fundraising. Tala Rico's campaign has raised about $32 million. This is through June. I believe we're about to get Q3 data. July, August. Yeah. So we only really have data through June. They had raised about $32 million. At that same point, Paxton had only raised $9 million. So the Republican outside spending is necessary because Paxton is at such a fundraising disadvantage because he's a terrible candidate and he's unlikable and he's unlikable. And he's disgusting in every single way. Now, this is the bigger story that we've been following.

We are going to talk a little bit later about whether Mississippi could be competitive. And we're watching Republicans defend races that normally don't need defending. And Trump is now inserting himself into the Texas campaign. He's appearing with Paxton. They're doing a 30-plus-day midterm campaign push. None of this tells us who will win. It's historically Republican territory. I would expect the undecideds and the I might not votes and the I'd rather someone else or the I don't like Paxton, but I'm a Republican people. I expect them to break for Paxton at the end of the day. But this is the point.

If Republicans were cruising towards an easy win in Texas, they wouldn't be spending nine figures. Trump wouldn't need to be there for 32 days or any of that stuff. They wouldn't be preparing to spend more than what Democratic groups are spending. So there is a big story here. The story is not Texas is blue. The story is with about a month until the midterms, Republicans are spending insane amounts of money to keep red states red. And that is very bad, very, very bad news for them. Donald Trump may have just lost the economy.

We have 30 plus days left until the midterms. And Republicans are facing the this is, I'm not being hyperbolic. These are catastrophic numbers for Republicans on the issue which. supposedly they dominate on. Supposedly, the public knows, believes, feels, intuits that Republicans are better stewards of the economy. Now, it's totally false. It's a fraud. If you look at the data, job creation, GDP growth, stock market, return, inflation, all the numbers are better, on average, under Democratic presidents. And yet, Republicans have long had their reputation for being better stewards of the economy. But it's not happening anymore. We have a brand,

new AP N-O-R-C poll. Trump's overall approval is 31%. That's a nasty number, just a disgusting number. But put aside the overall approval number for a moment. Look at the economy. These are disastrous numbers. On the economy, we now are in a situation where only 26% of Americans approve of Trump's handling of the economy. That is a new low. We get to cost of living. Only 17%. Now, this is not just Democrats. Only 17% of the country approves of Trump's handling of cost of living. 82% disapprove. And then you see these other issues here.

Trump's underwater on Iran, on AI, trade negotiations, climate change, immigration. Border security is the only issue where he sort of breaks even with roughly 50% approval. And even there, it's not so good. Now, remember what scrumps ran on in 2024. He ran on getting prices down, getting groceries down, getting gas down, getting inflation down. And he told Americans, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris destroyed the economy. I'm going to come in and fix it. It's going to be so much better.

But we have seven of 10 Americans who say, oh, Trump's handling of the cost of living has been worse than they expected. That includes half a Republicans. The Republican numbers are stunning. Six in 10 Republicans now disapprove of Trump's handling of cost of living. So, and by the way, these numbers are getting worse every month. That's up from about 50% in April. Now, it's 60% of Republicans who go, this guy's not doing anything on cost of living.

So we are not in a situation where it's like, oh, big surprise, Democrats don't like Trump. Trump is losing the people in his own coalition. And I would argue that is way more important. Now, we then get to the question of blame. 65% of Americans say that Trump's own policies are more responsible for the high costs than anything Trump can't control. That's really important because it's possible theoretically that Republicans survive by saying the economy isn't good, but there's nothing Trump could have done. It's Biden's fault, which they try, or it's, you know, whatever else. But that's not what voters believe right now. Voters are connecting the economy to Trump and to tariffs, the optional Iran war, high energy prices. And so the comparison with Biden is now fascinating. If we go back to October of 2022, inflation was hurting Biden politically. But people to some degree understood that it is not Biden policy that's responsible for that. That inflation spike under Biden was a global spike. And it was related.

to starting to come out of the COVID pandemic combined with demand spiking, limited supply when it comes to energy. But even then, only 44% said it's Biden's policies that led to high prices. 55% said it's stuff outside of his control. For Trump today, 65% blame Trump's policies. That's roughly half more than we're blaming Biden. And it almost gets comical because Trump has now sort of started to acknowledge there's a problem, but he is saying the problem isn't with the economy. The problem is with how voters are perceiving the economy. And he's sort of like angry that voters don't realize how good the economy is. And he says it's a communication issue. One of the things we learned from the Biden-Harris administration, and the MAGAs were right

to point this out, when Biden and Harris insisted, the economy's great, don't worry about it. It's all phenomenal. Voters didn't believe it because voters didn't feel it. And we realized you can't convince people the economy is great if their personal finance economy isn't great. That is happening doubly or triply right now. And they are insisting it's just a communication issue. 82% disapproval on cost of living is not a communication issue. It's you go to the grocery store, you pay 110 bucks and you go, I got eggs and I, you know, whatever, I got a few things and how did I spend $110 for this stuff? They go to the gas station. And they go, wait a second, wait, our gas price is up or down?

Trump said they'd be down. I see what I'm paying. They are up. And they know what their mortgage payments would be if they were to buy a house with these really high interest rates. So you've got half of Americans now saying, we're really worried about being able to afford gas. And you've got about half of Americans saying, we're really worried about being able

to afford food. And we're 30-something days before an election where Republicans are being forced to defend states like Texas and arguably Mississippi, which we will get to. So this is a major political nightmare for Republicans. Trump, yes, Trump made promises that he couldn't keep. But they were not obscure promises about policy issues that voters have forgotten about, complicated or nuanced stuff. He was like, everything's going to be cheaper. Every week, he's like, it's going to get cheaper. You're going to get more stuff for your money. And wages will go up. And it'll be easier to fill up your car and pay your bills. None of that stuff has gone on. Trump is now the president. Republicans

control Congress. Americans are going, what results did I get? Are we going in the right direction or the wrong direction? And for the most part, Americans don't like what they're seeing. Trump says, we haven't explained how awesome the economy is. Nope, 82% go, you're not handling it well. Trump seems to be losing the economy. Republicans are losing the economy. And it couldn't happen to nicer people, right? Wrong. Estate planning is one of those things that's easy to put off. Don't do it. I did my estate planning. It's really important to have a plan in place for the people that you care about. We have a sponsor trust and will. They do really affordable attorney designed estate plans. You can start creating one in as little as 30 minutes. Platform super easy to use.

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has been to events, my entire team, the team at my publisher, my team at the David Packman. show, everybody in my management team, publicity. It's been an insane effort. We not only got on the New York Times bestseller list yesterday. We beat Bill O'Reilly, which is wacky. We beat we beat Lindy Lee, who I know. It's like who on who on earth would buy her book, but some people bought it. But we, we beat Lindy Lee. And it is just an incredible thing to be on the list and to have done it and to see how everybody came together and we did it. You know, it's it's basically me on the show, trying to make this book a success. And we did it. So I hope to see people Saturday in Springfield, Massachusetts at Springfield Symphony Hall. I'll be there with Jessica

Tarlov. We will talk about our books. I'm kind of moderating. It's really her event. I'm just kind of joining the party. I will be moderating a talk with Jessica Tarlob. We will take Q&A. We will both sign books. They will have, I think, at least a few hundred copies of each book there. Hope to see you there 6 p.m. October 3rd in Springfield. And let's continue because there is too much going on. We need to talk about Mississippi. And I want to be careful and measured and demure and cutesy. I am not here to tell you, oh, Democrats are about to win the Senate race in Mississippi. It would be dishonest for me to pretend to be confident about that. But what I am telling you is Democrats are in a position to talk about seriously trying to win in Mississippi.

And again, whatever happens, the fact that we're having this conversation tells you something about the political environment has changed going into these midterms. Now, we have Democrat Scott Collum who's running against Republican Senator Cindy Hyde Smith. Hyde Smith is the incumbent there. You might suspect it's probably been a while. It's been nasty. It's been a while since Democrats have won a Mississippi Senate race. And in fact, Democrats have not won a Mississippi Senate race since 1982, which is by my calculations, 88 years ago. Donald Trump won Mississippi by 23 points in 2024.

Six years ago, you might remember, Dems got a little bit excited. They got a tingle down the leg about Mike Espy challenging Hyde Smith. And he lost by 10. So this is not like a hidden swing state. It's not the next in a concentric circle of expanding swing states. Mississippi is deeply Republican. It's like dark blood red, just maroon. But suddenly, you've got Democrats around the country going, wait a second.

What's happening in Mississippi? You've got Chuck Schumer reportedly taking an interest and saying, let's point major donors towards column in Mississippi. You've got Senator Cory Booker going down to Mississippi to campaign with him tomorrow. You've got Raphael Warnock. By the way, I was just on a flight with Raphael Warnock. And he is expected to go down there later this month and probably come back to the show to talk to us as well. Why is this happening?

It's happening because Democrats are asking a question which would have sounded absurd six months ago. What if the environment is so bad, so bad, so nasty for Republicans that Mississippi could at least be in play and Republicans could be forced to devote some money to defending Mississippi. Now, Colum's argument is fascinating. He argues in his campaign, the blue wave doesn't have to be that humongous for Democrats to have a shot. And his theory is that Democrats have created a sort of self-fulfilling profits. Democrats don't invest in Mississippi because they say Mississippi isn't winnable.

But then they lose because they didn't invest and everybody goes, well, we lost. It wouldn't have made any sense to invest in Mississippi. He's having a different approach and there's at least some evidence that Mississippi could be closer than people assume. Number one, Republican Governor Tate Reeves only won by about three points in 2023. And that was a reelection campaign. That was an incumbent. That's pretty narrow. So that's a sign that looks good.

On the other hand, if Column is going to win, Democrats would need massive black turnout, and they would also need to capture about a quarter of Mississippi's white vote. That is tough. Mississippi's white population is very Republican. Now, then we get to the question of money. I'm not going to lie to you. Colum's fundraising is a disaster. Column has only raised about $2.3 million total.

And SB raised more than $12 million in 2020 and lost. Okay. So that's not good. But, but is it possible that with some additional national fundraising, it could kind of change the balance. Hyde Smith is very much outspending column right now. So the way I would kind of handicap it is if we zoom in, Mississippi is a long shot for sure. If you zoom out, the map is really the story.

The Cook political report says this is a blue national environment and Democrats could net between one and five Senate seats. They need four for control. Cook sees seven Senate seats as toss-ups right now. Reuters says that there is some Democratic strength showing up in places that are usually assumed to just be lost causes. Kansas, for example, Kentucky, South Carolina, Ohio, Alaska, Florida. That is forcing Republicans to spend money defending places that they weren't expecting to spend money. And that is really the significance of Mississippi.

In a neutral political environment, nobody would be talking about Mississippi. Chuck Schumer wouldn't suggest to donors look at Mississippi. Corey Booker and Raphael Warnock wouldn't be going to Mississippi because it would just be seen as impossible. The reason that anyone is even showing up to help column in Mississippi is the map has expanded and safe reds have become lean reds. Lean reds have become toss-ups, et cetera. And so the phenomenon we are seeing around the country, historic lows for Trump in approval,

more significantly more enthusiasm for Democrats than Republicans to get out and vote. And voters are angry about prices. Voters are angry about the Iran war. Zero guarantee of a Democratic wave in the Senate. Major financial advantages for Republicans. The map favors Republicans. A favorable environment nationally won't necessarily translate into what Democrats need in the Senate. Because unlike the House where every seat is up for re-election every two years, in the Senate,

they are six-year terms, meaning each cycle, only about a third of the seats are up for reelection. But the metric I'm looking at is when the political environment gets bad, the map changes and you start seeing what would be totally safe seats for the Republicans as competitive and you go let's spend some money and all of a sudden the fact that you're spending money makes Republicans say oh maybe we need to spend some money here as well so the Mississippi story is really important not because I think it's I wouldn't start measuring the the curtains in Cindy Hyde Smith Senate office just yet but it's basically a month from election day and And people are talking about could Mississippi be in play? It's an incredible situation.

Let's make sure that we force them to spend money as much as possible. Defending seats, they really shouldn't have to spend money to defend. Donald Trump loves Hispanics, right? I love Mexican food. I love Mexican people. But somehow he said some really strange things at a Hispanic Heritage Month event at the White House. And he said something so bizarre that even the crowd there to support him seemed dazed and confused about what he said. Trump was talking about his new White House ballroom, half of which we're paying for,

by the way, despite all the promises. And then he said, if you fall over the edge, only a Hispanic could survive that. What the hell? So it's going up. So there's a tunnel going to what will be, I think, the greatest ballroom ever built. It's also a tremendous military complex with a drone port on top. It's quite the place. And you literally will be the first group ever to enter the premises.

So be very careful. Don't fall over the edge because it's a long way down. And only a Hispanic could survive that fall. So I'm not overly worried. I'm not overly worried. What is he what does that even mean? Only a Hispanic could survive falling off the edge of a construction site. Now, the crowd cheered.

I don't think they knew what he was talking about. I don't think they knew what what he was cheering for. I'm Hispanic. I don't understand it. Trump followed it by saying, I'm not really worried about people falling. This is the president of the United States. States folks. This is a Hispanic Heritage Month event. And the Washington Post confirms that the context was, you know, the construction area doesn't have fencing. But if any, but only Hispanics

could survive falling down. Now, it was totally bonkers and cuckoo for cocoa puffs as that was. That was only the beginning because then Donald Trump started describing the manufacturing boom, supposedly taking place under his presidency. And he made a claim that I had to go in fact check. Take a listen. We have now, I think under construction, probably 97 car plants. We had none for 48 years. We have 97 car plants, factories under construction. Now, I want you to dig deep for a second.

Take a deep breath and think to yourself, is that a plausible number? Could there really be 97 vehicle factories? under construction in the United States right now? Well, the first question is how many are there total? And there's 55. There are currently 55 light vehicle assembly plants in the great United States. So is it likely that 97 are being built and that they are being built because of something Trump did?

He wants you to believe that while you're sitting at home, going about your life, going to work, doing whatever you do, that the United States is quietly building. nearly twice as many new car assembly plants as we currently have total. Where are they? This is the Trump method. Don't say three. Don't say five. You say 97.

Make the number so big that people assume there must be something behind it. There must be. It's not true. Now, at another point, Donald Trump, in his effort to convince people, the economy is just awesome, he talked about individual wealth. And he even seemed confused about what he was referring to. But we have the lowest poverty level in the history of our country, the best number on poverty, which is the lowest level in the history of our country.

We have the highest level of individual wealth, meaning a person's wealth individually for the entire country, the highest level that we've ever had. And as I said, we have the most jobs that we've ever had by. Yep. So individual wealth, meaning wealth individually, as a wealth standpoint from individuals to groups, thank you for clearing that up. What is he talking about? And what is at the core of this, we know.

It's panic that people are not believing the administration that the economy is great. Now, Trump then pivoted to his own wealth. And one of the things he loves to talk about is how he donates his salary. What a trooper. He's working for free at the end of the day, right? Well, I don't know. Let's think about that. I don't get credit for anything, but, and I don't really want credit.

You know, I'm the only one, I'm the only president. They say they think George Washington may be, but I'm the only president that donated his salary. I don't get, they pay me 550,000 a year. And in my first term, I donated it. And I don't think I ever got a story about it. Now, I can you one thing, if I said I donated it and I didn't, I'd be killed. But in my second term, I donated to. And you know what? I donated to here to fixing the White House. I donated the salary into- I donated to my own project. Now, just about all of that is a lie.

First of all, Trump's salary is not 550,000. Trump's salary is 400,000. Now, there are expense allowances for travel and this sort of thing. Trump says he's the only president who's donated his salary. He is not the only president who's donated a salary. Herbert Hoover did. John F. Kennedy donated his presidential salary. Franklin Roosevelt gave away his presidential pay. So that's not true. But here's the really interesting issue. And I know there's there's some of you listening right now going, David, these are not really the issues with what Trump's saying. Of course, you're right. The real issue is Trump wants you to focus on how he's donating a few hundred thousand dollars. But by being president, he is making billions by what he is doing on crypto by what he is setting up his kids to do, world financial and all of this stuff.

And we have reported 1.4 billion in income for the Trump family just from crypto venture. So it's sort of like, give me credit for donating a penny while I snatch $100 bills out of the air that probably should have gone to other people. That's really the distraction. So, you know, $400,000 salary, $500,000 salary, it's not about that. It is about using the presidency to cynically and through nepotism and cronyism make billions of dollars. 400 grand. Give me a break.

And then finally, it is a, it's a Hispanic Heritage Month event. Trump is friends with the guy who owns Goia Foods. years ago, I stopped buying any goya stuff because of this guy. And I, you know, I mixed about it because there's also a lot of good employees and people that work for goya. But in any case, everybody do what you want to do. Here is Trump recommending goya. We got a lot of them back. We're working harder and above. So Bob owns goya, which is food, nice food. Goya makes nice food. In fact, I recommend. I recommend it every time I want something from a can. I say, go good. But he was like one of my

earliest people. And he took a lot of heat, a lot of stupid heat. And it was terrible. He suffered. And he never took. He didn't say, I'm sorry. I'd like to apologize. He didn't even think about it. He even got more and more. He's such a good guy. He's so devoted to me, no matter how many employees and people around him said this Trump guy is one sick mother. Okay. Um, it's It's supposed to be Hispanic Heritage Month. It's supposed to have, it is Hispanic Heritage Month. It's supposed to be a Hispanic Heritage Month celebration at the White House. And Trump tells attendees, only a Hispanic could survive falling off my ballroom construction

site. 97 car factories are under construction. That's not true. Individual wealth means wealth individually. Cool. Gets his own salary wrong while falsely claiming he's the only president to donate it and ignoring that he's absconding with millions as he donates 400 grand. And then he goes, go his food, nice food, and you should buy it.

The weirdest thing about this presidency is that this is all pretty routine. Like this didn't even really make headlines. And if even one of these things happened with any previous president, it would be an entire news cycle. With Trump, it all happens during a 45 minute speech. And it doesn't even make it make waves. We've become desensitized. And we've got to fix that.

Sometimes the most important part of a political story is not what gets reported, but what gets placed in the center of the frame. And that is why our sponsor ground news is so valuable. Take a look at Trump's Medicaid work requirement rule. The underlying story is that a lot of adults on Medicaid will have to do 80 hours a month of work, school, or volunteering to keep their coverage. When our sponsor ground news lines up the sources, the framing really changes. On the left, the focus is human consequences.

What happens if you're sick and you lose coverage? On the right, it's how much will it cost to implement these requirements? What about states saying that's going to be really expensive? And what's revealing is only around 10% of the coverage is coming from right-leaning sources. They're mostly ignoring the story. Ground news will flag gaps like this through its blind spot feed. So you can see when a major story is getting very little attention from one side of the

media landscape, go to ground.news slash Pacman. For 40% off, the same vantage plan I use, the link is in the description. When government starts taking sides on religion, everybody loses. That is not a theoretical question. Right now, Trump's new so-called religious liberty commission is attacking church-state separation. They want more religion in public institutions. They want more religious influence in public policy. They want pressure to push a constitutional line that exists for a reason. We have to fight back, not because we're against religion, but because we understand that there is separation of church and state. Religious freedom should exist and it should have nothing to do with government promoting religion. Government must be neutral. Our sponsor, the Freedom from Religion

Foundation, works to keep state and church separate. So you've got free thinkers, atheists, agnostics, non-religious Americans who don't get erased from the American story. Power in a democracy should come from people, not religion. Please visit ffrf.us slash David or text my name, David, to 511, 511 to learn more or to join. That's ffrf.us slash David or text David to 511, 511. Text fees may apply. The link is in the description. Calls for immediate removal of Donald Trump under the 25th Amendment exploded after a bizarre

press conference. Not only was Donald Trump falling asleep multiple times. Of course, that's just normal at this point. Normal, of course, at this point in time. But he seemed unable to speak coherently. Now, I'm going to be honest, this first clip, it is kind of funny, but it's also terrifying. Trump tells reporters about this absolutely insane incident on a fly Dubai flight that was headed to Israel where a co-pilot allegedly stabbed the other pilot. The plane went into a steep dive.

The attacker was subdued. Like it was completely nuts and the plane eventually landed. The basic story is real. Trump's explanation of what Bibi Netanyahu told him, the way Trump tells this, I don't know if this is a comedy skit or a guy who's lost touch with reality or boat. So, an Israeli plumber saw what was happening and strong. You know, when you live pipe all day, you're strong. And he saw what was going on. He heard the screaming.

He was toward the front where you had security in the back. You know, you had security and you had another flight crew, but they didn't have time. The plane was going sharply down at an unbelievable angle, so sharp that the rudder ripped off the back of the plane. The plane wasn't designed to go at a speed anywhere near. of that. And so it was well beyond its limits. He's such a good storyteller. And he ripped with his G-forces as they were. He ripped this guy out of the seat, threw him back. The crowd got him, the passengers got him, grabbed him. And having never flown a plane, he took the stick,

lifted it up, and leveled out the plane before it crashed. Now, this is the story that I heard. I don't know of it's true. But that's we know he doesn't know whether it's true. That's not that's not a shock. The story that I got from BB and from a couple of probably earlier. I don't know if you've heard that story yet. I think it's an amazing. So a plumber never flew a plane, strong guy, lift him up, throw him back. The crowd was was, I mean, they knew they were going to die shortly because the jeep forces, but they were able to hold him as he was going crazy. The fundamentals of this story actually are true. It's a crazy story.

But why can't Trump just tell a story kind of normally? It's very weird. Now for the second consecutive day, cameras did catch Donald Trump sleeping again. Here he is as people are ranting and raving and he just cannot stay away. And allies. So Mr. President, thank you again. And everybody here, we're going to get this done. We're going to get this done.

This is really exciting for my state, my constituents, and the United States. An ally. Now remember the standard that Trump himself established for presidential vigor. If Biden looks tired, he's unfit for office. And if Biden gets a word wrong, he's demented. And if Biden walks slowly, it's an emergency. And Trump is regularly struggling to walk, struggling to speak, and falling asleep again and again, and we're supposed to believe there's nothing worth discussing.

Now, when Trump's awake, it's not much better. Here is Trump awake. He roused himself, saying, if the votes had been counted honestly in 2024, I would have won California. She got tremendous thousands and thousands of votes out of nowhere. And she beat out Spencer Pratt for the run of. No, it's very crooked. California is a very crooked election system. And if we had an honest election, Republicans would win.

I would have won. I would have won if California, I got millions of votes. But I would have won. California, if that were an honest system, I would have won. Go ahead. Now, this makes zero sense. Trump lost California by more than three million votes in 2024. This is not like, oh, I needed 11,000

votes or something like that. Trump lost by more than 20 points. There, I would even argue if you look at the registration numbers of Democrats and Republicans in California, the number of Democrats that would have to vote for Trump in order for this to even be plausible would be in the millions, although Trump would argue, oh, I bet the registrations are fraudulent as well. Now, Donald Trump pulling out all the stops, stops on affordability. And he's just, it's just vomiting. It's a verbal. ink blot and he goes, my gasoline is cheaper than Briden. If I'm having a nuclear weapon, our gasoline prices are lower than Biden and he didn't stop from nuclear evidence.

When the war, there you go. Our gasoline prices are lower than Biden's really going full accordion hands. And it's all a lie. Gasoline right now is, you know, around 450 a gallon or something like that. And as Biden, what was leading office, it was around 310. So it's clearly significantly higher right now. much, much, much higher. It's not a question of ideology. It's not your opinion about when life begins or consciousness or the oranges of the universe. It's just the number. It's just gas prices.

And 450 a gallon is more than 310 a gallon. That's it. Now, finally, this is maybe the most interesting part of all of this. Trump explains why. I'm sorry, no, before we get to that, Trump fell asleep again. To do everything they could to unleash Alaska's energy. President Trump by far, And I've said this before, it's been the greatest president in the history of our state. 1959 we became a state. No president, in my opinion, and the opinion of many other labs. Trump can't even stay awake as people are glazing him. I mean, it's just crazy.

Okay. And then finally, Trump says, this is the greatest economy ever. But Americans don't realize that. Reminds me of the Biden approach and it did not work. And we have the best economy anywhere in the world. There's no economy like this economy. The only thing we don't have is good public relations. We don't seem to be able to get the word across that we have more people working than ever before.

We have the best job numbers than ever before. Wrong. And we don't get the word across. And that's because the press doesn't want us to get the word across. That's right. The economy is better than ever. It's just an issue of communicating it. And it's the press is holding us back.

They won't acknowledge the truth about this economy. Why might people not be convinced that this economy is the best ever? Hmm. Maybe it's because they go to the grocery store and pay rent or have a mortgage and get gasoline and realize that things aren't going particularly well. So put the whole picture together. Two consecutive days of Trump struggling to stay awake, making completely unsupported claims like gas is cheaper now than under Biden and that he wanted to be.

California, if it were honest, but he didn't. And an insistence that this is the greatest economy anywhere in the world across space and time, but people just aren't realizing it. Now, does this prove the 25th Amendment should be used? Probably. Yeah, I mean, listen, maybe not, but probably. But does this absolutely confirm that this is not a guy who has the capacity or the propensity to be president of the United States? I would argue, yes, it is. very clearly. Marjorie Taylor Green has declared Maga dead. It's dead. Except why might she be saying this right now? Now, before anybody starts celebrating the political rehabilitation of Marjorie Taylor Green, we should remember who we're talking about. I'm going to play the clip. We might

agree with some of the things she says. We might not. We'll see. But Marjorie Taylor Green is not a profile in courage. Marjorie Taylor Green did not stand up to MAGA from the beginning. She was one of MAGA's biggest stars and she promoted the conspiracy theories. She filed articles of impeachment against Joe Biden almost immediately when he became president. She was one of Trump's most aggressive defenders. And now she goes, oh, the movement I helped to build is a cult. Well, color me skeptical about thinking that this is in any way a political ally, which unfortunately some people supposedly on the left have fallen for.

But we'll get to that in a moment. So the way I see things right now is the MAGA movement and the reason why many of us supported it was because we were, I was never one of those hardcore Republicans. As a matter of fact, I ran for Congress in 2020, mad at Republicans and wanting to change the party. I always felt like no matter who I voted for, I got George Bush in another foreign war. And here we are again. Was Donald Trump, who I had listened to over and over again, campaigned with him all over the country,

and had basically believed his words of no more foreign wars, putting America first, which was very important to me as just an average American that grew up in a small business, a family construction business, and raised three children. And so what does the future look like for MAGA right now? I think Trump has lied so much to us and betrayed us so incredibly beyond any of my comprehension. I think MAGA is dead. Woo! Okay. There are two stories here. One, the MAGA Civil War.

And two, what is Marjorie doing with her political future? She's in a weird position. Trump effectively kicked her out of MAGA, publicly withdrew his. endorsement, branded her Marjorie Trader Green, Marjorie, Marjorie Taylor Brown, because Green turns to Brown when it rots and all this sort of stuff. And he was going to do what he could to make her lose a primary in Georgia. So Marjorie Taylor Green left Congress. And then she left the Republican Party. And she's had these meetings with, you know, her boyfriend, the guy from the news channel, right side broadcasting, and Tucker Carlson and Thomas Massey. And she goes,

I am now politically homeless, and that is a really difficult place to be. And it is difficult in the sense that MAGA doesn't want her, but traditional Republicans, they don't want her. It's not like they thought, oh, if only she denounced Trump, we would love to have Marjorie Taylor Green alongside Mitt Romney or somebody, you know, mildly normal. So normal, quote, normal Republicans to the extent that they exist don't want her either. And I hope that people on the left aren't falling for it, although some are. So Marjorie Taylor Green needs a lane.

And I think we have to consider that when we evaluate this transformation. Now, maybe Marjorie Taylor Green in her 50s has had this political awakening. They keep happening older and older. And she believes everything she's saying. Some of her disagreements with Trump, you know, I think like on Iran, she is consistent. She has consistently taken those sorts of positions for years. So I believe that. But she is in a desperate position.

Marjorie needs a political identity because Trump expelled her. from the movement around which she built her career. And the new identity seems to be I escaped the cult. I was inside MAGA deep, deep in the cult. And I escaped. And now I can tell you what's really happening. And she says, oh, a lot of these Republicans privately, they can't stand Trump, but they're afraid that he'll make a truth social post against them. And that's why they stand by him. And that that is really what's going on here. But I think people on the on the left need to be very, very careful. And I hate to see that there are people I thought were on the left who are falling for the idea that Marjorie Taylor Green is some kind of principled fighter or whatever. Marjorie Taylor Green criticizing Trump does nothing for me.

She's criticizing Trump because they've had a falling out. It's an interpersonal thing. Now, there are some Democrats who have expressed sympathy for what happened to her relationship with Trump or all right. I mean, listen, like, it's reasonable to agree with her when she's right. if she criticizes Trump over Iran evaluated, and she might be right. If she says Republicans are afraid of Trump, all right, maybe she knows about that because she was in the party. But she is not experienced a broader political transformation. She is explicitly saying to people, by the way, don't do that. She goes, just because I'm 100% against what Trump is doing doesn't mean I'm aligned

with Democrats. She said, I'm not aligned with Democrats. And I believe her. She hasn't repudiated her worldview. She's not a progressive. She had an interpersonal false. out with Trump and she needs to figure out what is next. Now, that doesn't mean we ignore everything she says. Some of what she says is interesting. Some of what she says is fascinating. She helped build the movement and now she's kind of giving us some insights into what it's like.

Her conclusion is MAGA is dead. I don't know about that. And the movement has really become a cult. And Marjorie Taylor Green is trying to figure out what is her future. And she benefits from people believing that MAGA is dead. I think that we should be extraordinarily skeptical of Marjorie Taylor Green. And when we see these pictures of Marjorie and Tucker and Thomas Massey getting together, these are not our friends. And just because they've had falling outs with fallings out,

falling outs, just because they've fallen out with Trump does not mean that they are with us on even a single substantive issue on which there is really debate. And we should be very careful about aligning with them. You can be careful with your identity and still have it exposed by a company you've never heard of. And that's what makes this breach so unsettling. 153 million American and Canadian driver's license scans were leaked to the dark web, mostly belonging to Americans. The scans came from IDscan.net.

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pond scum looks like. Do those two metaphors make sense together? I don't know. I'm talking about the Secretary of Defense Pete Heggsett, who wants you to believe that he is the smartest, that he is the most in shape, and gosh darn it, people like him, a Secretary of Defense ever.

And of course, none of that is true. He, I genuinely don't know how we became a country where this is the Secretary of Defense, and this is how he speaks to members of the military. Now, listen to this. I'm not even going to introduce or preview what you're about to hear. It's worth saying again so that the fake news understands it. We are no longer the woke department or the weak department.

Simple translation of that. No fatties, no trannies, no beardos, no weirdos, no wimps, no radicals. Just warriors. Just tough, ready, committed troops. This is the Secretary of Defense. He's talking like a 14-year-old edge lord posting from his bedroom while watching Twitch streams. And Pete Hegseth is responsible for overseeing the most powerful military on planet Earth. And he's standing there doing a routine about fatties and trannies and beardos and weirdos.

sounds like a weird radical Dr. Seuss or something. We are not a serious country when we are led by someone like this and understand something important. When I criticize this, I am not criticizing the troops. I'm not saying American soldiers are crazy. The problem isn't the soldiers. Now, we have a problem of radicalism in the military, but that's a problem that needs to be dealt with. But the problem is not people who volunteer so that someone like me doesn't have to. The problem is people like Pete Hegseth turning the military into this weird backdrop for his bizarre ideological performance.

And then Hegseth starts fantasizing about where he wants to be sent to fight. Look at him standing there. By the way, what is wrong with Hegseth suits? They look extremely uncomfortable the way he stands. Maybe I don't know. I'm getting off topic. Listen to this. Send me.

Send me to fight the red coats. Send me to fight the condoes. Send me to fight the communists. Said me to fight the Islamists. Send me. You see, the Ivy League faculty lounges, they'll never understand you. And that's okay because they could never, ever do what you do. The media will mischaracterize you.

And that's okay. Because deep down, they know you're the reason they live free. We really, this whole thing of how the media will mischaracterize the troops. I think that the perception of the troops is, with the exception of these little radical enclaves in the military that need to be rooted out, the troops aren't really the issue. The problem is the people making the decisions as to where and how to deploy troops and how to use the military. But of course, Pete Hexeth isn't being sent anywhere. He's the Secretary of Defense. He's the guy who sends other people's kids to fight. And that's why the rhetoric is so important.

important. Later in the same speech, he announces something very consequential. He says, they are establishing at the Department of Defense the Office of Religious Affairs, and it will be a very senior office. Today, at my direction, I'm establishing the Office of Religious Affairs. Starting today and for Secretaries of War after me, the Office of Religious Affairs will report straight to the top. No staff filters, no bureaucratic dilution, a direct line to the Secretary. This is not going to be a paper pushing shop. It's going to have real tea. They'll protect budgets, demand infrastructure, and strengthen religious support.

The experts, our chaplains, will finally have an advocate at the highest levels. Policy and resources will serve the mission, not smother the mission. As Psalm 3312 extols us, blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. Right. Today, my direction. This is very screwed up stuff. There, I'm going by the law here, okay. There's nothing inherently wrong with there being a path to religious accommodation in the

military. That's just the law. Like military chaplains have existed for centuries. Service members should be allowed to practice their religion. The Pentagon says this office will protect the executive. exercise of religion and it would never favor one faith over another, except that he's only quoting Christians texts in his explanation of what they're doing. But that really isn't the context here. Pete Hegseth is announcing that this will report directly to him. He's quoting the

Bible and he's declaring, blessed is the nation in which God is the Lord. We should be scrutinizing that. The First Amendment doesn't only protect Christians from government interference. It prohibits the government from establishing a religion. And when you combine the world's most powerful military with this increasingly kind of explicit religious rhetoric, it's very dangerous. And then they're always talking about war. They're talking about enemies, killings, no trannies, no fatties, no beardos, no weirdos. I do not want an American military that is in any way animated by Christian nationalism or by Islamic nationalism or by Jewish nationalism. The military belongs to the United States, including people of every religion and people of no religion.

And the people controlling our capacity to produce death on a mass scale should really get the distinction. And then we get this. We need bolts of lightning, high-end kill chains. This guy is bloodthirsty. In analogy is a thunderstorm. We need bolts of lightning high, our existing high-end kill chains capable of striking unexpectedly and decisively. We also need steady wind and rain. Mass drones and other autonomous, atritable systems that flip the cost exchange and impose

unrelenting pressure on an adversary on the battlefield. Now, there are people who hear this stuff and they are just disgusted in general at the idea of like the military doing violent stuff. I do think we need to analyze this in context. The military is the military and having strategy, combining expensive high-end weapons with cheaper drones and autonomy. Like, the military has to think about warfare. That's what they do. And, you know, that maybe that's the problem you have with it. And like, okay. But listen to the entirety of the speech. No faties, no trannies. Send me to fight the Islamists. Blessed is the

nation whose God is the Lord. Bolts of lightning, killed chains. It's coming from one guy in one speech about the future of the most powerful military on this planet, and then we get to maybe the strangest part of the entire thing. How are we bringing all of this together? And this is just the nasty partisan aspect of it. Well, we have a new project. And listen who is going to be leading it. Under the leadership of the department's chief technology officer, Emil Michael, Project

Meridian will be co-led by three of our nation's best minds. Okay. Elon Musk, Palmer Lucky, and Newt Gingrich, all of whom are up in the audience with us today. Please stand if you would. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. So Elon Musk, okay, Newt Gingrich, I write about it in my first book. He was Speaker of the House in 1994, one of the most radical.

You could argue Newt Gingrich becoming Speaker in 94 led to Trump, along with some other things. And Palmer Lucky is a tech entrepreneur who is the brother of Matt Gates's wife, Ginger Lucky. I mean, these are the three minds that will be determining the future of American warfare, and they call it Project Meridian. This is just outrageous in every way. And we now have a situation where Musk and Lucky and Gingrich are going to help study what technologies and capabilities the military should pursue. The potential conflicts of interests are insane. Palmer, Lucky, already works at a company that's a defense contractor, Anderil. Elon Musk's SpaceX does a bunch of business with the Pentagon.

Newt Gingrich is just kind of like, what are you even talking about? He's there, too. So we've got Pete Heggseth overseeing, as I told you yesterday, a 20% reduction in generals and admirals meant to get any dissent out of the way. He's creating an Office of Religious Affairs that reports directly to him. He's creating new autonomous warfare command. He's talking about chains and bolts of lightning and beardos and weirdos and fatties and trannies. And we're putting Elon Musk, Palmer, Lucky, and Newt Gingrich in charge of the project. And he's packaging it in the language, kind of of like internet trolling at the end of the day. Should soldiers be strong?

Sure. Yeah. But should the people controlling the most powerful military behave like serious people or like a joke? ultimately the people screaming, send me, send me. They're not the people who get sent. Pete Hagseth isn't getting sent. It's other people. And that's why we have to take this so seriously. It's terrifying. Remember when we were talking about measles outbreaks with a couple hundred cases? And remember when the response from the anti-vaccine crowd was basically, okay, but where are all the deaths? Nobody's dying from this. That is no longer the conversation.

Pennsylvania is now approaching a thousand measles cases. 943 confirmed, 176 hospitalized, and measles associated death number five. An unvaccinated resident of Lancaster County with confirmed measles has died. People are dying. And we have to remember how we got here. It wasn't that measles suddenly got smarter and figured out how to defeat modern medicine and get around the vaccine. We had defeated measles. The U.S. declared measles eliminated 26 years ago.

And now we're about to lose that status. We solved the problem. And these anti-vax people decided to unsolve it because Trump spent years flirting with vaccine conspiracies. And then he elevates arguably the most famous vaccine skeptic in America, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Secretary of Health and Human Services, and then they keep moving with goalposts more and more and more. When we saw cases, they said it's not that dangerous. Nobody's in the hospital. And then a bunch of people got hospitalized and they went, well, but nobody's dying.

And then people died. And then they go, well, they probably had other health problems. Then more people died. And then they go, vaccination is a choice. There is never a number that matters. The important number to remember is this one. Of Pennsylvania's nearly 1,000 measles cases. How many of the nearly 1,000 that got measles were fully vaccinated?

It's 40. No, it's not. It's four. Four of the nearly 1,000 measles cases in Pennsylvania were people who were fully vaccinated, less than 1%. The measles mumps and rubella vaccine is 97% effective after two doses. And we've talked about this before. They use the fact that few people have been dying of measles to argue.

that it's not that dangerous. But the reason few people have been dying of measles is because of the vaccine. It's like looking around and going, you know, I'm not seeing a lot of people thrown through windshields in car accidents anymore. We definitely don't need seatbelts without realizing that it's the successive seatbelts that is preventing people from being launched through the windshield. And then eventually, if you hammer on that enough, people go, I'm not going to put my seatbelt on. I'm not going to go and get the vaccine. And then you go, oh, that's why we had it. That's why we had it. The national numbers are insane. As of about a week ago, the CDC confirmed about 3,600 measles cases this year. Highest number in 35 years since 1991.

What's going on with vaccines? MMR vaccination among kindergartners has dropped from 95% six years ago to 92% last year. Now, you might say 95 to 92. That's not a big change. That can't be responsible for this. It is because measles is so contagious that even a modest decline in vaccination leaves a lot of people exposed. And in fact, there are nearly 300,000 kindergartners who are now susceptible to measles. It is so contagious that that really matters. So this whole like my child, my choice thing, it is not untrue, but it's a completely incomplete way to think about disease. Measles doesn't respect the boundaries of your choices. And your unvaccinated kid can expose a baby who's just not old enough to be fully vaccinated

yet. It can expose the child can expose somebody who's undergoing chemo or who can't get a vaccine for a legitimate medical reason. And so it's not only about you. Now, the part that should really infuriate people is that RFK Jr. eventually came around and said, you know, people should get the. the MMR vaccine, but he spent decades building distrust. And now he, now because he's secretary of HHS and it's a massive problem for him, he wants to flip and switch flip a switch and go,

turn off the antivacs, go and get the vaccine. A university of Pennsylvania survey released this week found only about a third of Americans even think he recommends the vaccine. So think about that. He spends all this time talking against vaccines. He realizes it's a problem. So he goes, goes, you should get it. Two-thirds of the country doesn't believe he thinks you should get it. Now, put aside that he's not a doctor anyway. This is not a problem that appeared out of nowhere. Trump has the same problem. Trump legitimized this movement. For a while, Trump wanted credit for helping to develop the COVID vaccine. The degree to which he did is a question mark. But it was developed under while he was president, we can say. But then he repeats vaccine conspiracies.

And he goes, we got to separate them and they're injecting people with a gallon of stuff. And then he puts RFK in charge of public health. And now they've discovered something important about these conspiracy movements. Once you turn on a movement by seeding a conspiracy theory, it's a lot harder to turn it off. And it's the monster they helped create. They can't control it. And meanwhile, these are not debates on Reddit. People are dying from measles right now. They're in the hospital. Families are dealing with consequences. And there are people that are dead down. In the act. abstract this stuff about your beliefs and RFK, it becomes really concrete when someone is in the hospital. We eliminated this 26 years ago.

We're about to lose that status. The vaccine still works. It's out there. It's available. Measles can be defeated. We know what to do. The vaccine works. But people are going, eh, let's move backwards.

I don't know about the vaccine. I don't know if I need that. There is no medical mystery here. We know exactly what needs to happen. We will follow up on the story about Tennessee planning to execute the first woman in ever or a long time by lethal injection. It failed. They tried to do it and it failed. She ended up in the hospital.

We will talk about Trump's new red state tour, which Republicans aren't particularly thrilled about. And Trump's own AI chatbot has turned on its master. Oh boy. All of that and more on today's bonus show. sign up at join packman.com to get instant access to speed of that.