The David Pakman Show - Trump's kissing photo scandal takes a WEIRD turn

Episode Date: September 19, 2026

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Do you wish you could just hit skip on the worst parts of your life? You know the same way you can skip an ad? I get it. I'm Siaia and I live in Ice Cove. I've made some questionable decisions that didn't end up the way I planned. And today I'm still figuring it out. Somehow things usually get worse before they get better. Apparently, that's how I roll.

So bundle up and come along for the bumpy ride. Stream a new episode of North of North Tuesdays on CBC Gem. Welcome, everybody. We have pulled together the most important stories and viral moments from the show this week. If you want to keep this thing growing and get access to ad free main episodes and daily bonus content, check out join packman.com. Here is Trump asked, have you ever used AI? Trump goes, yeah, I use AI.

And when he's asked, oh, well, how do you use it? Trump goes, you can use AI for a lot of stuff. no idea. It is obvious Trump has no clue. We take it a lot of their cars, car tariffs, this week, again, there's been so much concern about AI. Have you heard directly from any of these AI tech leaders? And you seem to downplay some of the concerns that we're right, but it's, you know, it's going to be more good than bad, but by a lot. And I've said it from any of them. Whoever wins AI and we're leading by a lot. Whoever wins, AI wins.

Have you ever used it yourself or have you been? How do you use AI? But I would say, you know, for the most, you can use AI for a lot of things. What do you use it? Speaking of it. I don't want to tell you. You can ease AI for a lot of things. Sir, do you understand the rules of basketball?

Absolutely. Yeah, no, absolutely. Oh, interesting. And like, what do you think is the rule that should maybe most be changed? Oh, I don't want to tell you that. No, no, no, no. There's so many rules in basketball. There is a picture going absolutely viral that shows.

that shows Donald Trump kissing his aide Natalie Harp on a golf course and getting a little handsy with her. The picture of what appears to be Donald Trump, I don't want to say fondling, but certainly getting handsy with and making out with his assistant Natalie Harp. The picture that started circulating was very blurry. And it purported to show a golf course and embrace a kiss between someone who seems to be Trump and a blonde woman that seems to be Natalie Hart. Now, then things get even stranger because after the blurry picture came out, a much clearer version of essentially the same image

started circulating online. And that version has a pretty spectacular problem, which is look at the woman's gloved hand. It kind of seems like she's got six fingers. Now, there were some tests done of the sharper picture and there was strong evidence that that picture was AI. generated. There was one report from Hive that that sharper image is 99.9% likely to be AI generated. Open AI's verification system detected a watermark associated with their own image tools. So then we can go, oh, so it is AI, right? Well, not really because it could be the case that the sharpened image is coming up as AI generated or modified because AI was used to up. scale and sharpen the image, but that the underlying blurry image may indeed be real.

Mitch McConnell is ready to come back to work and go to the Senate, except it's not quite so simple. He looks like a disaster after being missing from the Senate for months. He suffered a fall. He was briefly unconscious. He then had a bout of pneumonia while recovering, went to rehab, all of it. Here is how they did it. This is not a story about aging. This is not a story about one old guy. It's not a story about wheelchairs, mobility, scooters, or disability. There are many people in their 80s who are sharp and engaged and productive and fully capable of doing really demanding work. The issue here, I believe, is what happens when political institutions become so desperate for one senator's

vote that nothing else matters. Republicans have controlled the House and the Senate all of Congress for two years. And after nearly those two years, J.D. Vance is going, give us another chance. Give us another couple of years. We're fixing. Give us another chance or give us another couple of years to continue to work on the amazing things that we've been doing for the past two years. And the second argument that is the pitch. Now, to be fair to J.D. Vance, he also said, listen, we've made some changes like on tips and on overtime and we've deported a bunch of people and you know and then he argues voters shouldn't put Democrats back in power because Republicans are fixing all of the problems Democrats created. But there's an obvious question voters can ask

any incumbent making that argument, which is what have you actually delivered? If you're worried about gas prices, I have news for you. Trump says it's a small price to pay. Okay. Look at the audience when he says this. The audience is sick of this. You're going to tell me, that higher prices on everything are worth it? Who were you to tell me you're a multi-billionaire? You made two billion off crypto in the last couple years. I have to say you have a little higher, you have a higher game. It's a very inexpensive price to pay for what we've done. Remember that it's a little more. It's even if it was frankly, even it was a lot more, but that's going to come tumbling down. That's going to be like a rocket ship.

There you go. Cool man. Trump decided for you if you were worried about getting, gas prices. If you're concerned about affordability, Trump has decided this is all worth it. It's a small price to pay. Don't worry about it. They should make a campaign out of that. Democrats should. Trump going this. You could make a compilation of Trump going, ah, these people complaining about gas prices. Newsome was asked, would you run if Kamala runs? And he said, no, I wouldn't. Take a look at this. Yeah, it's a lot of Democrats. 31 flavors. And you're not even the only California. No, right. Yeah. You got Rocana. Yeah. Kamala. Yeah, I don't know if she runs, but we'll see.

I know she's called around. Yeah, but I wouldn't run as she ran. If she runs, you will not. Of course not. Why would I? I wouldn't do that to her. I wouldn't do it to me. Why would I wouldn't do that to you?

I wouldn't waste everyone's time. Who needs that? What do you mean? That doesn't even make sense to them. I just, I wouldn't. No, I wouldn't. But first of all, electorally, it's a gift from God for everybody else. They'd enjoy the hell out of it, mutual assured destruction.

sure destruction. It services no greater good. I mean, you do whatever you want. I don't care. But like, but like counterargument would be like, you know, she had a shot. Yeah. And you've never run and she's run twice. Yeah. I mean, that would be the approach to the campaign, certainly. That would be the case you'd make. Pretty good one, actually. You know, that's objectively true.

I just, but I know what that means. I know her base of supporters. I know her friends. The Zen diagram on that is just pure crossover. It's not I wouldn't do that to, I wouldn't do that. Now, his explanation is really interesting. He said, we have a political base that overlaps. And our political bases overlap so much that if we both go in, it's mutually assured destruction. So what Gavin Newsom is basically saying is, why would we do it to each other?

What I find interesting about this is that this is not merely Gavin Newsom asking himself, would I like to be president? He's sort of calculating the board. Who runs, who state stays out? Do donors overlap? Do voters overlap? Whose political relationships overlap? And who her, who damages somebody else simply by entering?

Donald Trump admitted that he is drunk on power in a disgusting, swollen orange rant. He seemed to briefly lose his ability to use language. Some are calling it a dementia rant. It certainly stunned the audience. And as usual, it is authority. It is confusion. It is cognitive decline. It is all of these things. Trump waxes poetic about the authoritarianism he could wield if he wanted to. I could have banned fishing if I wanted. Just all together. Take a listen to this. I could have banned fishing. I'll tell you what. The power of this office is crazy. I could have banned fishing and driven Johnny right the hell out of business. Okay.

I think I'm going to do that just maybe just a quick order just for a day or two until he calls me and he says, please, please, you're putting me out of business, sir. Anyway, but since I took off. This is an authoritarian classic. You might go banning fishing. What? No, no, no. Here's the here's the authoritarian classic. Saying you deserve praise for things you could have done. Do you know all the power that I have? Do you realize the things I could do? But I'm. I'm. choosing not to. Authoritarians love that. So Rogan was not an observer of the 2024 election from the sidelines. He interviewed Trump for three hours and then he endorsed him. And now look at

some of the things that he is saying. It's a very different tune that he's singing. But I also recognize when government is taking over our lives. And what we were sold with the Trump administration would be that would end. And, you know, there'd be a drain the swamp. Obviously, it's not been ideal. It has not been ideal. All right. So we're starting. We're starting.

And Joe Rogan is scrutinizing whether the promises that he supported have been fulfilled. And they haven't been. But I keep coming back to like, what did you expect? Trump wasn't an unknown political figure in 2024. He was president for four years. And then we saw him melt down and commit crimes and do all sorts of other wacky things during the four years that he was out of office while Joe Biden was president. And he spent years telling us what he was.

going to do when he would come back to office. And he promised mass deportations. And he did it. He promised sweeping tariffs. He promised major changes throughout federal government and expanding presidential authority and firing bureaucrats and all of this stuff. And he did that. And he promised retribution against political opponents. And he did that. And he has asked, sir, why are you suggesting that Democrats had something to do with the assassination attempt against you in Butler, Pennsylvania? You don't have any evidence of that? Can you? give us any information and Trump goes, I can't give you any more information. But it's all very strange and he attacks a whole bunch of people.

Mr. President, on the assassination of Tim in Butler, in Butler, Pennsylvania. Can you provide us with more information of the evidence that you learn? No, I can't. The but the but very strange situation. It was handled by the Biden administration and a very bad, very bad head of the FBI at the time, as you know. Christopher Ray was a terrible, he's a dirty cop in my opinion. But you'll have to check with the law enforcement. Check with somebody else.

I can't tell you anything. But Ray was a horrible FBI director. Who appointed Christopher Ray, by the way? Oh, Donald Trump did. How weird and how strange. Dear God, none of this, none of this is making any sense whatsoever. Now, J.D. Van, Vang, during the speech also complained, hey, I have a lot of this. I haven't gotten a raise since I became vice president.

In a year and a half, he has worked his tail off resulting in his promotion to lead and a 50% raise in just a year and a half, Braden, that's not too bad. I have not gotten a 50% raise in the last year and a half. So I'm not doing as well as Braden has. Now whatever point Vance wanted to make with this joke, complaining about your compensation creates this really awkward contrast when voters are thinking about, oh man, I haven't gotten a raise, my grocery bills are up, housing isn't getting any cheaper, my insurance renewals were expensive, my household budget doesn't make it to the end of the month. And JD is going, I haven't gotten a

raise. Well, you make $253,000 a year and you have millions of dollars in benefits if you consider not only his housing, security detail, motorcade transportation, private jet. This is a guy whose total compensation for lack of a better term is worth millions of dollars a year. He has a staff of who knows how many. Every personal need is taken care of. I haven't gotten a raise from my $253,000 salary. Come on, guys. Give me a break.

Trump cannot stay awake at a 9-11 memorial. And maybe the most incredible part is everything happening in the country while Trump is asleep. This is sad. This is a disgrace. Major Ronald D. Milam, United States Army. Gerard P. Moran Jr. Commander. Melania's next to him awake. Everybody else is awake. And there's Trump, 80 years old with seven

perfect cognitive tests to his name, unable to keep his eyes open. This is not a Democrat. This is not an ever-Trump Republican. This is a Republican endorsed by Trump who also endorsed Trump. Take a look at this. Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far. In July, 50% of the 50,000 people that were detained had no criminal record. Be careful what your advisors are telling you about immigration policy. The same Hispanics who help you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today. That is a Republican.

That's a Republican member of Congress weeks before a midterm election saying to Trump publicly, my voters, my constituents, your voters feel that you've betrayed them. Thanks for spending part of the weekend catching up on the week's best highlights. If you like having this independent news in your feed, take a moment. Join the member community at join packman.com.