The David Pakman Show - When the consequences are impossible to escape

Episode Date: August 18, 2026

-- On the Show: -- Donald Trump reaches the end of his self-imposed 60-day deadline to end the Iran war while military operations and blockades continue -- House Speaker Mike Johnson struggles to provide a clear campaign pitch to voters while prices continue to rise under Donald Trump -- Past video clips surface of now-White House executive assistant Natalie Harp showing extreme devotion to Donald Trump -- Donald Trump avoids answering a direct reporter question regarding his assistant Natalie Harp by rambling about White House renovations -- Donald Trump berates a CNN reporter in the Oval Office and declares that opponents of his ballroom project are disloyal to the nation -- Photographs capture Donald Trump holding a presidential briefing card containing guest names, photos, and basic instructions -- Donald Trump submits a mail-in ballot for the Florida Republican primary despite frequently labeling the process as inherently corrupt -- Donald Trump accuses the BBC of legal harassment after the network seeks subpoenas for his adult children in an ongoing defamation lawsuit -- On the Bonus Show: Some Republicans admit they're worse off under Trump, McConnell is getting more paid time off than new mothers, a preview of today's primaries in Alaska and Florida, and much more... 🔬 Freedom From Religion Foundation: Text DAVID to 511511 or go to https://ffrf.us/david 🛌 Helix Sleep mattresses: Get up to 27% OFF at https://helixsleep.com/pakman 🥄 Magic Spoon: Use code PAKMAN for $5 off at https://magicspoon.com/pakman ⚠️ Ground News: Get 40% OFF their unlimited access Vantage plan at https://ground.news/pakman -- Become a Member: https://davidpakman.com/membership -- Subscribe to our (FREE) Substack newsletter: https://davidpakman.substack.com -- Get David's Book: https://bit.ly/m/attention -- TDPS Subreddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/thedavidpakmanshow -- David on Bluesky: https://davidpakman.com/bluesky -- David on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/davidpakmanshow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Volvo is leaving the chaos of rush hour outside. Start by settling into your saddle-stitched Napa leather seats. Notice the open space around you, uncluttered, elegant, intentional, warm ambient light, and natural wood details to ground you. This is Volvo's Scandinavian sanctuary for every journey. Learn more at VolvoCars.caps.cault optional features mentioned. Today, the supposedly quick Iran war has become an endless disaster. And Maga Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House, seems to realize voters are going to be punishing

the entire Republican Party for it in November. We are going to look at the intense devotion of Natalie Harp as an aid to Trump who treats his words like scripture. Yet everything Trump does is actually hurting Republicans. And Donald Trump's incredible inability to answer simple questions about her says so much. also attacking yet another female reporter, demanding personal loyalty from Americans and getting caught using the exact same kind of cheat sheet that Republicans claimed proved Joe Biden had dementia. And then mail in voting, which this president has said is inherently fraudulent, is used once

again by this very president, and he is losing it as lawsuits are reaching his own family. We are going to look at failure, sure. We're going to look at hypocrisy. We're going to look at sycophancy, but also panic on the behalf of Republicans. Just about every single one of these problems. Self-inflicted, an unforced error. And they are all closing in as we approach the midterms, which by the way, I hope every single one of you is voting.

It is now week six of Donald Trump's two to three week war with Iran. That is not a typo. Go back and count the weeks. this war starting on February 28th, pull up a calendar and start counting. And you will see that we have completed 25 weeks and we are now in week number 26. Now, you might be wondering about another timeline, which is that Donald Trump gave himself and gave Iran and gave negotiators 60 days to end the war with Iran and negotiate this new nuclear agreement, which was going to be so strong and powerful. And yet all of that has come and gone.

60 days are over. I remember, I'm old enough to remember the beginning of this 60 day period during which we said, yikes, if there is no deal at the end of that, it will be the second half of August. It will be getting very close to the midterm elections. We will be close to mail-in ballots going out. And it would be a real problem for Republicans if the war continues and if gas prices are high and all of that. And that's exactly where we are right now.

We have a war that isn't over. We have a straight of Bermuth that is not open. We have detailed nuclear negotiations that still have not even actually started. And the United States and Iran are probably further apart right now than when Donald Trump signed the supposed peace agreement in June. Remember how this started. We had a beautiful letter signed at the beginning of June saying it's basically done. We basically have a deal.

But we're going to give ourselves 60 days to negotiate it. And then after two days in Switzerland, not even 42 hours. or something like that. Vice President J.D. Vance just flew back to the United States. And at that point, many of us realized this is not looking good. We go all the way back to February 28th when the war started. A month later, Trump said, it's basically done. We just need two to three more weeks.

And he said that the United States is going to finish the job and leave as heroes. And then the two to three week war became 20 to 22 weeks and then 24 and then 25 and we have no clear exit and we are roughly at the six month mark. Now, that MOU, that memorandum of understanding that Donald Trump signed under much fan fan fanfare and pomp and even some circumstance, not a lot, mostly pomp, but some circumstance. It was signed at Versailles and it was supposed to stop military operations and put in place the 60 day period just to finalize a permanent agreement. The straight of Hormuz will be open. That carries about a fifth of the world's traded oil and gas.

None of this stuff has happened. It is just a, it's a growing list of promises that have been broken. A week after the beautiful letter was signed, Iran fired on ships using a route near Oman and the United States responded and struck Iran and Iran retaliated again against countries hosting American forces and Trump put the blockade back on and both sides said it's the other side that is not acting in good faith here. officials say there really have been no negotiations since June. Now, Donald Trump every few days claims the talks are progressing and we're speaking to people and it's all really good. But now we have

a firm date. The deadline on the 60 days has come and gone. As we all know, we have no permanent peace agreement. The straight is not fully open and free and clear. And we don't even forget about a nuclear deal. We don't even have substantive negotiations. negotiations going on. So what has been accomplished here is now something that every single voter needs to be asking themselves. Trump campaigned as the president who would end wars and certainly not start any new ones. And he went after the Biden administration. He went after the Obama administration for endless foreign conflicts. But then he started another one. And I guess he thought Iran was just going to surrender quickly. they didn't. And every available option at this point is pretty terrible. If Donald Trump accepts Iran's

demands, that would let Tehran claim control over one of the most important waterways, the Strait of Hormuz, and it would allow them to charge shipping fees, and it would allow them to demand American reparation. So that would look as though Trump started a war to leave with Iran having greater leverage than before. That seems like you lost the war. Now, Trump could just escalate. He could throw another one of these. We're in danger. We must scale up. And I would have loved to have ended this war, but I've got to do more bombing. Well, that would cost more American lives. It would consume more American missiles. It would further destabilize the global economy. It would drive gas prices even higher right before the midterms when affordability is

clearly going to be one of the biggest elements of referenda for this election. Now, it's Iran isn't stupid. They're a terrible authoritarian theocratic regime, which I fundamentally am opposed to as a progressive anti-authoritarian. But Iran is not stupid. Iran understands the predicament Trump is in. Trump is a leader who seems to believe that I guess economic and political pressure will eventually force Iran to retreat.

But Iran realizes it's Trump who's going to have. have to retreat. Trump believes sanctions and the blockade is going to force or we are going to force Iran to surrender first. But that doesn't seem to be happening. And so both sides are waiting for the other to blink. Ordinary people are paying the price. But increasingly, it seems as though it is Trump who just doesn't have the cards. We see shipping through Hormuz at a fraction of where it was before the war. We see oil and gas up. Troops remain deployed. the conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln appear to be abysmal, and you've got the Iranian-backed huthies attacking tankers in the Red Sea. So the clock has expired. We don't need to wonder anymore.

What will happen by the end of the 60-day period? Trump's two to three weeks have become 26, and the 60-day negotiation period is over. The deadline came and went yesterday, and it is becoming an endless war. Now, let me speak to some of the younger people in our audience. You may be too young to remember how it worked with Iraq, but there is now a similarity. Now, the circumstances of the war, the location, there's many differences. But the point is, at the beginning of this thing, we were told two to three weeks and then we're out. At the beginning of the Iraq war, we were told by people like Donald Rund, Donald Rumsfeld, then the Secretary of Defense, we are going to be greeted as liberators. They are going to throw parades for us

and just cover us in rose petals as our troops walk down the street. And then in fact, George W. Bush declared victory in the sense that he went on an aircraft carrier with a big mission accomplished banner on the aircraft carrier and said major combat operations are now over. And then it went on for years and thousands of troops died. And what we are seeing here is that no matter how many times Donald Trump declares that it is over, it is slowly extending. And you don't get into, people who weren't around for the for the Iraq war of 2003. I was 75 years old at that point. So I remember it. There were people who weren't around then who imagine that when an endless war starts, it's obvious that it's going to be endless. But that's often not the case.

Or at least not to some people. We suspect that it was going to be longer than two to three weeks. And so two to three weeks becomes four to five. We just need a little more. Now we're negotiating. Give us 60 days to negotiate. And next thing you know, it's been half a year. year went by like that. So I'm not saying this is going to go years like Iraq or decades like Afghanistan, but this is how these very extended conflicts just keep extending a little bit more and a little bit more and a little bit more and a little bit more. And now the problem for Republicans is they need to get themselves reelected. What do they have to run on? Let's talk about that next. I'm going to show you the look on the Speaker of the House Mike Johnson's face when he was asked to

to give Republican voters a reason to vote for Republicans as they look around and they say, wait a second, Donald Trump promised to make things more affordable and things have become less affordable. And Donald Trump promised that he was not going to do any new wars and were in a new war. And the new war is part of why things are not affordable. And his answer was the equivalent of looking at job listings on LinkedIn. He was asked about why should anybody vote for Republicans given what's going on and look It is the face.

It is the face of a man who realizes Trump screwed us. How do we justify asking people to vote for us right now? Dear God. Voters here in the district. There's a lot of military members, veterans. When we see what's going on in Iran, what would your pitch be to voters here about, you know, that continuing and gas prices going up right now? Why should that continue?

Yeah, the Iran conflict has been the cause, of course, the gas prices going up. It's, it's drug on. I am grateful and I think all Americans of good sense are grateful that we have the greatest fighting force in the world, in the history of the world. Our men and women in uniform are the brave people who preserve freedom and stand on that line every single day. We're grateful for that. What a pathetic clown, but I got to tell you, he's in a tough situation. Congressional Republicans have an unwinnable sales pitch. It's like going on that show,

whale tank or shark tank, it's called, and arguing for people to invest in your idea. And you know, you got nothing. What I just have nothing to work with here. And it's a very simple question. What's your pitch to voters? Why should people vote for you? And Mike Johnson admits that the Iran conflict is causing gas prices to go up. He pauses. He's searching for some kind of exit. And he declares, listen, we should be grateful that we've got the best military in the world. What does that have to do with the question? Americans can support. the military oppose the war and realize that this president screwed them. They can go, listen, I respect the service of military members, but they shouldn't be in this open-ended conflict in Iran.

And I can appreciate that we have a military, but I can be furious that this use of the military is a disaster. And now it costs me a lot more to fill up my gas tank. And Johnson was asked, give us the pitch. What are you going to say to voters? And he can't provide one because Republicans don't have a pitch that they can give to voters. The promises have all gone screwy. Trump said, I'm going to end the war, but we've got a conflict that's dragging on for months. He promised cheap energy, but energy has gone up. He promised affordability. Groceries are up. Housing is up. It's all up. And every time Americans go to the gas station or the grocery store, they realize someone must be responsible for this and nobody's really falling for the idea that it's

Joe Biden's fault. Now, you look at the polling and it is brutal. Reuters Ipsos poll says Trump's approval is 33%, one of the lowest of his presidency. One in five Americans believes the Iran war was worth it. And 80% believe this is going to go on for a long time. Even when you ask Republicans, only about half of Trump's party believes that this entire thing is worth what it is costing. That is what Mike Johnson is trying to sell in the midterms. And they all deserve it. Like, I don't feel bad for these people. It just you allied yourself with a guy because you calculated that this was beneficial to you.

And maybe it was. Maybe it got you elected or reelected to align with Trump. But now you find yourself in a situation where you barely hold the house. It's a very narrow margin. You can't afford anything resembling a normal backlash against the party of Trump. And it is shaping up to be a disaster. When you look at generic ballot polling, Democrats are leading Republicans by roughly seven points. That's generic ballot.

And if you look at individual surveys, Democrats have even bigger advantages. It's wild, wild stuff. So the House is in danger. It's probably going to fall to Democrats. The Senate is tougher for Democrats, but it's sort of like 50-50, you know, maybe slightly in favor of Republicans, but it's basically a top. So Trump has turned what should have been a competitive midterm. You expect the Republicans to lose some seats because that's what tends to happen after a Republican

wins the White House. They tend that party tends to lose a little bit in the midterms, but it could have been much more competitive than what it is. And if the economy was what Trump promised, Republicans would be doing way better. But you've got voters paying record prices for so much stuff. And now Republicans are having a major problem. Mike Johnson can't distance himself from Trump for a couple different reasons. Number one, he is the Speaker of the House and it is a House that is basically in line with Trump. You can count on one hand

the number of Republicans in the House that are really willing to defy Trump in a serious way. So Mike Johnson can't go, listen, I've been opposed to what this president has been doing for years. I've been voting against it. No, you haven't. He also can't distance from Trump because Trump demands total loyalty. And if he distances from Trump, Trump is going to go on the attack and he's going to go get this loser out. These are rhinos, Republicans in name only, blah, blah, blah. And he also can't really defend Trump's record because it just sounds ridiculous. Oh, we have, this president has done so much on making life more affordable for Americans. What? What are you talking about? So we goes, well, Americans like having a strong military. And I got to tell you that thanks to

the fact that we have a volunteer army, I was never conscripted. I appreciate that. I like that. But what that tells me is not we should just send troops into harm's way for no real reason. It's we should respect the fact that they have volunteered and take really seriously the responsibility not to use the troops in ridiculous ways. And Trump recently has insisted, oh, they haven't even really been deployed long enough. So let's do away with the notion that you have to agree with every mission the president sets for the troops to support the troops. You can admire the volunteer service of service members without saying they should be sent into this place and that place and that place. Mike Johnson knows it. And you can see when he realizes, oh, boy,

I'm kind of screwed here. Trump created the war. Americans are paying for it. And now congressional Republicans are going to have to answer for it. Now, let me again just, this is really important to include every time we talk about this. If you are sitting around going, well, I don't like Trump, But I don't have a problem with Maga Mike Johnson. So I'm going to vote to reelect him. Maga Mike Johnson is a rubber stamper of everything Trump has done. 92 to 99% of the votes of Republicans in the House and the Senate are in support of Trump's agenda. So there is no, I disagree with Trump, but as a Republican, I have no issue with that. You're rubber stamping Trump by voting for elected officials that have gone along with everything

or almost everything that Donald Trump has done. Remember that when you go and vote in November if you're thinking of voting to reelect your Republican member of the House or Senate. There are other options. And we are going to be talking to many of those Democratic alternatives over the next several weeks. 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, 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 my 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. Shopping for a mattress is one of those things that most people put off. Once you finally

decide we're going to do it, you just start guessing, which is why our sponsor Helix sleep is such a great way to go. I've been sleeping on a Helix mattress for years at this point. You go. You go, to the Helix website, you take a short little sleep, sleep quiz, answer a few questions about your body, how do you sleep? What kind of feel do you like? What are you looking for? And they will match you with a model that is built around your preferences. And that's it. It just simplifies mattress shopping. The thing I most like about my Helix mattress is that the whole process was very straightforward. I just answered a few questions. They matched me with a mattress that is what I wanted. And I've had it for years. It's in perfect condition. I'm.

far from needing to replace it. Go to Helixsleep.com slash Pacman for 27% off sitewide, a discount they are only offering to my audience. The link is in the description. The David Packman show depends on the support of our audience. The White House is now coming after me. We are under attack from all sides. And the only way this show survives is if we continue to have to have the support of the audience. Consider getting yourself a membership at join packman.com. We do an extra show every day for our members. And as an important reminder, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones hates this damn bonus show. Remember this rant? Oh, the bonus show where you want to make money, everybody else that makes money to fund themselves

as bad. Well, we are trying to fund ourselves, Alex. That's true. And every single time someone signs up at join packman.com failed conspiracy theorist. Alex Jones sheds a tear. And on that note, I want to say thank you to Barbara Baker and Robert Greiner, who are our two newest members at join packman.com. Why not join them? I very much appreciate it. It's important sometimes to remind ourselves that the woman closest to Donald Trump now, 35-year-old Natalie Harp, is an absolute lunatic extremist. It can be very easy when you just see someone standing around Trump devoted to Trump, laying down like a doormat for Trump to walk all over her and say, this is the most loyal person in the world.

It's important to remind ourselves that as devoted as she is to Donald Trump, she is also a radical extremist. Here is a supercut from our friend, Decoding Fox News of clips from when Natalie Harp worked at OAN. And she would end her show with Bible quotes or something. times quotes from Donald Trump. Reminder, this is Donald Trump's closest confidant now and potentially a love interest as is increasingly being speculated. We can't talk about winning back the House and Senate in 2022 and the White House in 2024

if we don't act on the fact that we actually did win the White House. Uh-oh. And the Senate in 2020. We shouldn't be afraid to say that because it's true. We the people know America, as we know it, could be ending in the next two or four years, which is exactly what President Trump is warning of. They think if they can get President Trump,

they can get the 75 million people to shut up and stand down. As President Trump said at CPAC yesterday, each of us, if we haven't already, have a decision to make, not in 2022 at the ballot box, but right here and right now, to choose a side. And by the way, sidelines don't count. It just shows how desperate the Democrats were to find the votes to make up for President Trump's insurmountable lead.

And they can be summed up in two words. Trump won. President Trump says nothing's easy, but who wants nothing? Certainly not us. For above all else, we want to save America. President Trump is right. We don't have the luxury to sit back and wait. This is not an off year or in-between year.

This is the year we decide the future of our country. Could Trump supporters be labeled enemies of the state? Because they are still afraid, not just of president. Trump, but we the people. Thank God for four years, we had one who still inspires us to this day. By the way, if you're kind of going, not only is she crazy, she's also really boring, I'm with you. As do the words he spoke at West Point over one year ago, which perhaps are even more timely now than they were then. In what history will remember as one of the greatest speeches President Trump ever made. President Trump once said, what separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new twist of fate.

As President Trump often says, he should have just gone to the beach, and we would be so much better off than we are right now. But as President Trump says, nothing's easy, but who wants nothing? And right now we're realizing we're going to end up with nothing if we don't fight back. That was one year ago today. When thanks to President Trump's peace through strength, President Trump never got enough credit for being a president that never started any new wars. We would have seen peace even with Iran because we would have made a deal with them. President Trump was on track to do that. It was beautiful to see, and it's so beautiful to see President.

Trump's living legacy going on because this is a legacy. All right. You get the point. This is completely and utterly insane. That is Natalie Harp. That is the person who now works inside Donald Trump's White House is his closest confidant is reportedly regularly writing him extremely personal letters calling him her guardian and protector in life saying you're all that matters to me.

These letters raised eyebrows within the secret service during the campaign. In other words, Trump's closest confidant right now and potentially, his new love interest is someone that the Secret Service was straight up worried about being so close to Donald Trump. And other people in Trump's circle have also said we're kind of worried about the level of access and influence that she has. So that brings us to this week. Senator John Asoff of Georgia referenced her while criticizing Donald Trump golfing and trading stocks and enjoying luxury while the country is facing a number of serious crises. And all of a sudden Republicans are transformed into these big feminists. How dare how dare they criticize a working woman

That is not, that is, that is, that is mean because she's a woman. Laura Ingram is now attacking Assov over his remarks about Donald Trump and Natalie Hart. And now you have Georgia Senator John Asif trying to show that he's tough at a rally yesterday, launching a bizarre personal attack on President Trump and Natalie Harp, his longtime social media staffer. It's very oddball. The thing was just weird. Everything about him is choreographed.

right down to the lighting effects and his impossibly earnest expression. But when you don't have a record of accomplishment and he does not, it's all about vibes, isn't it? It's all about appearances. Yeah, how dare, how dare John Ossoff criticize a woman? Look at these champions of working women. You've got Susan B. Anthony, you've got Gloria Steinem, and now you've got Laura Ingram and Scott Jennings, who are and Newt Gingrich I saw on Twitter, coming out and saying, how dare they criticize a working woman? Really the last bastions of defending women. And of course, they are completely insincere about this. They're acting as though

John Ossoff is attacking Natalie Harp for having a job. How dare she work? She should be in the kitchen, which is, of course, not the point. The point here is that she is having a disproportionate level of access to Donald Trump is clearly influencing Trump in all areas of the presidency. And by the way, by the standards of the right, it is potentially an inappropriate relationship based on their standards, although those are merely allegations at this point in time. The point is none of these people care about defending working women. They care about defending Donald Trump. It's performative feminism.

And they will use any tool, right? a tool they say is a disgusting tool, they'll go, actually, this tool might be useful right now. So I'm going to do some performative feminism to try to attack those who are criticizing Donald Trump. The problem isn't that Natalie Harp is a woman. The problem isn't her age. The problem isn't her appearance. It's that we are concerned that the president is surrounding himself with people whose primary function is to worship him. And Harp substituted Trump quotations for Bible verses. That's how she's sees the words of Trump like scripture. And her letters to Trump were so intense that secret service was worried and she's controlling the information that reaches Trump. She's been described as an

enabler, instantly enabling Trump's impulses. Now, of course, Ossoff later explained in that now viral speech that Donald Trump's AIDS function like security blankets. They tell him what he wants to hear. They say, that tweet was so good. And they make him feel good. about himself and reassure him, you're the best president. You really are. And this is very dangerous because presidents need advisors who are willing to say to them, listen, you're just, you're just wrong about this. And Trump surrounds himself with basically human applause signs. And, you know, on the romantic thing, I don't know if Trump is in love with Natalie Harp. I don't know if Natalie Harp is in love with Trump. I don't know if they have a physical relationship at this point in time,

But we know Trump is in love with being worshipped and Natalie Harp is willing to provide Trump an unlimited amount of worship. So let's skip the sudden Republican feminism. They are ignoring the reported concerns of Secret Service and other staffers. Because if they acknowledge those concerns about Natalie Harp, it would admit that the guy who is running the country has built himself this court of propagandists and fanatical devotees and it seems pretty damn clear that Natalie Harp is the most devoted of them all. Now, when Donald Trump was asked about her, ring, he completely short-circuited.

Let's talk about that next. Donald Trump having a disgusting vowel movement on live TV, just spitting out vowels and consonants of no meaning whatsoever when asked about his very intimate relationship. with his assistant Natalie Hart. This was the forbidden question. And Trump was asked a really simple question, quite frankly, about how unusually close he is to Natalie Harp. And what followed was a nasty vowel movement.

Trump spending minutes throwing random vowels and consonants into the air, occasionally arranging them into unrelated words about ballrooms and military bunkers. drone ports and beautiful bulletproof windows and of course Chinese state dinners, but he never answered the question about Natalie Harp. So let's take a look. A reporter asks Trump about what Senator John Assoff said. Osaf said Trump would rather travel with Natalie Harp and build a ballroom rather than do his job as president. And Trump does not address the substance of what was said about him and Natalie Harp. This is an insane answer if something weird isn't happening with Natalie Hart. Look at this.

John Osset said you'd rather travel with your aid, Natalie Harp, and build the ballroom than do your job as president. What is your response? John Oza. You mean Peewee Herman? Peewee Herman, look alike? No, I would much rather do other things. It's a, we're building a great facility here. We're fixing a White House that hasn't been taken care of. You can look at this.

This room was a disgraceful situation in the Oval Office, and it was let go. the whole building, the White House, was let go. The exteriors were falling apart. The columns were falling apart. The whole place was a mess. In addition, they've been trying to get a ballroom for the last 150 years. And when I said I was going to build a ballroom in the military, yes, if they could see a meeting.

Remember, the question was about Natalie Hart. And they say, sir, we have an opportunity to go down deep into the ground and build a military facility to go to the White House and to go with all of Washington, D.C., which would be so valuable. And then they came up with the drone port on top, which would be a major drone port to protect the White House and all of D.C. And all of those things added up and it became much more than just a ballroom. And I said to myself, well, what an opportunity. I mean, if I was just going to build the ballroom, I could have had it built very quickly because I do these. I build very well.

Sir, the question was about Natalie Harp. Very quickly. We went five stories down into the ground. We did a lot of tremendous things for the military things that they could never get. They said, this is an opportunity. that we have because you're building the ballroom, that if you would be willing to spend more time, we would love to be able. We've been trying to do this at the White House for many, many years, and they've been trying to have a ballroom at the. This is not a stitched together answer. This, like from different pieces. This Trump is still answering a question about Natalie Harp. And he's not addressed to anything about Natalie Harp yet. At the White House for many, many years. Now, what happened is

we used to use tents. And the tents are usually made of either plastic, a plastic material, or canvas. And they wouldn't stop a 22 caliber. They wouldn't stop anything in terms of safety. Be very dangerous. Sir, are you sleeping with your assistant? Well, listen, we've got a drone port, and it's just like the materials it's made of. It's crazy.

And they haven't used a tent for years. They haven't had any big, like we have President Xi coming on September 24th or so. I think it's September 24th. And we'd love to have 2,000 people coming to dinner and celebrating a nice evening, et cetera, et cetera. But we only have a room that's going to hold 89 people. And 89 people is not appropriate. So maybe more importantly, it's totally secure with bulletproof windows, bulletproof sides. It's drone proof.

It's missile. Every at the top of the line. And we need it. And especially with what's happened, unfortunately, to the world, you could say. There is something almost impressive about how aggressively Trump refuses to answer that question. And of course, he does a little bit of insults. Oh, he's a pee-wee Herman lookalike. And then he says, I'd rather do other things and sounds dangerously close to confirming the central accusation. And from there, his brain just starts going out the emergency exit, ballroom, drone port,

White House columns, and the Oval Office is a disgrace. And people have been trying to build the ballroom and the military. And we've got to excavate. evade and it is a if if nothing weird is going on with Natalie Harp, why is he talking about all of this stuff? He could have just gone, listen. Natalie Harp is an assistant of mine and Secret Service ultimately makes the, you could come up with something, something and nobody's asking about the stuff he's talking about. And every single sentence generates two to three new claims, each less connected to the original

question than the one before it. Natalie Harp is a member of my staff and Senator Ossoff. insinuation is false. That's it. Take six seconds. Next question, you move on. Instead, it's two and a half minutes during which he never says her name. He never describes that they have a merely professional relationship. He doesn't reject the underlying suggestion. He just runs into like a verbal bunker underneath his imaginary drone-proof ballroom. Now, of course, we do not have established evidence that Donald Trump and Natalie Harper romantically involved that this point, people saying that this is his new girlfriend are being provocative.

And I like to be provocative, but it is not something we at this point can confirm. But there is something unusual about this relationship. She is writing devotional letters to Trump and he's her guardian and protector and Trump believes she's the only one who won't leave him to go make money when it's all said and done. And he's finally asked about it and he spends two and a half minutes talking about everything else. Now, could there be a perfectly ordinary explanation for why Trump won't address it? I don't know. My belief is that there, if there were some simple explanation Trump could give, this was the opportunity

to do it. And he gave us deteriorating columns and underground military facilities and she and a dinner with 2,000 people. Everything we got from Trump about the story other than an actual answer to the question of what is going on. Now, I know that my. audience is split. Some in my audience are more focused on the, if he's dating Natalie Harp, isn't this another way in which Trump represents the opposite of what the evangelical and religious right would believe of him or want him to be doing? And of course, you're right. But there are others who have been writing in and saying, David, I don't really care whether Trump is sleeping with his assistant. I care about policy. And the reason I'm concerned about

Natalie Harp is that she seems to be having a significantly radicalizing influence on Trump, talking up his worst instincts, rather than trying to settle them down. I think both are reasons to be discussing this situation. Both are valid questions. And of course, there is the hypocrisy of Trump's personal life. But there's also that he's putting exacerbating radicalizing forces around himself rather than those that moderate him. It's okay to be concerned about both. It's okay to be concerned about either, but there is something very worrying about what is going on with Natalie Hart. That's for sure.

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story and make it feel like two different events took place, not because any of the facts have changed, but because the emphasis of the stories is different. This is why I use ground news, because ground news pulls together reporting from across the political spectrum, and you can compare the headlines side by side and see how different outlets are framing the exact same issue. You can look at the bias distribution. You can look at factuality ratings. You can see who owns the outlets behind the reporting, which makes it easier to separate the substance from the spin. For example, Trump's EPA recently decided to remove limits on those forever chemicals in drinking water.

Ground news shows how outlets like PBS and Raw Story are getting it right and right-wing outlets put this anti-Biden spin on it or they just stay very vague to avoid implicating Donald Trump. Ground news also has a blind spot feed. This is for stories that are underreported by one side. And you can also get a personalized feed based on your interests. Go to ground. News slash Pacman or scan my QR code to get 40% off the ground news vantage plan. The link is in the description. Donald Trump attacking another female reporter. It just keeps happening. Be quiet. Be quiet.

Trump delivering one of the really most revealing Oval Office performances of this second term. Within minutes, attacking a female reporter because she asked questions, she did her job, tried to recruit a 10-year-old child into joining the attack on the reporter and said, if you are against my ballroom, you are disloyal to this country. This is what happens when an increasingly unstable president encounters anything other than total praise. In the last segment, we talked about how he is just obsessed with the endless praise that he requires from people like Natalie Harp. This is what happens when he doesn't get it. And here he is going

after CNN reporter Kristen Holmes. Quiet. You're very disrespectful in front of this young man. Obama, he didn't like anybody, but I get along with him very well. Now, what I'm doing is making things safer. Just the opposite. He's a quiet, quiet. Quiet, quiet. You're very disrespectful in front of this young man. Okay. Don't you find her disrespectful? He understands. quiet who are you with fake news you're a fake news you're a loud you're a loud boisterous person you're fake news be quiet be quiet you're a fake reporter and you report fake news go ahead mr president is there enough food on the USS Lincoln you know I I find

the most disturbing part when Trump turns to a 10-year-old kid and goes, don't you think she's being disrespectful? He's trying to enlist a child in humiliating a journalist because she asked him a question he did not like and think about not only how bizarre that is, but we have a constitution that only mentions one profession that is specifically identified as being protected. And it is the press. It is journalist. It is members of the media. And Donald Trump tries to pull in a 10-year-old into attacking the press from the Oval Office. And it's an event, I guess, honoring two young people. And you're demonstrating presidential leadership by asking one of them who's 10 years old

to help bully a woman who is doing a constitutionally protected job. Trump says, you're disrespectful. And she's fake news. She can't even finish asking the question. Now, the White House later escalated the attack. They invoked the reporter's own children, claiming her kids are someday going to be embarrassed by her all because she did her job and asked a question. Now, CNN did put out a response.

They said, quote, Kristen Holmes is one of the most respected and accomplished journalist covering the White House. This afternoon, she did her job and asked the president of the United States a tough, relevant, newsworthy question on behalf of the American people. Public officials are free to challenge reporting. They disagree with. But personal attacks on journalists for asking questions are beneath the office and inconsistent with the principles of a free press. We stand firmly behind Kristen and reject these attacks in the strongest possible. terms. Now, then the conversation moved on to the ballroom. And Trump says, if you are against my ballroom, a ballroom, by the way, that we now know will be paid for partially with taxpayer

money and will be maintained by taxpayer money. You are disloyal. If you don't like Trump's ballroom, you are disloyal to the country. How this come from? Go ahead. Especially her. The people who are opposing the ballroom and challenging it. Have they offered any sort of sort of solution or sort of compromise? Or do they just say there's a little there? So the people that are opposing the ballroom are people that, in my opinion, are very disloyal

to our country, very, very disloyal to our country. And I think we're doing very well. We're way ahead of schedule. These are all lies, by the way. Your budget, it's going to be the most beautiful ballroom of its kind. You know, when I was in China, we went to the great hall of China. It was a big, beautiful building. Ah.

Trump was impressed by an authoritarian. And he said, get me one of those, mommy. Have anything like that. And we have to have that. It's very important. But we also are getting tremendous military protection, drone protection. The building is drone proof. It's missile proof as much as something can be missile proof.

It's totally bulletproof. Any bullet, nothing can go through the windows. We have, you know, all nasty bullets will be sent back. Top of the line stuff. it's very safe. And, you know, the one thing, it's not for me. Because I'm going to be here very short period of time when it's finished. If it finishes right on time, on budget, on time, I'll be there for four, five, six months.

This is for future presidents. This isn't for me. This is for future presence. And it's a gift. We're making a gift to our country, spending hundreds of millions of dollars to build a ballroom. And it's a gift from great. Great patriots of the- Why is everybody so upset over what at the end of the day is just a gift? But this is how Trump's mind works.

I'm giving everybody a gift. And you must be loyal to me. And if you criticize the project, you're attacking the country because that's just the way it is. Disgusting. Disgusting. I guess most Americans are disloyal because most Americans aren't in favor of the ballroom. Is there enough food on the USS Lincoln? Donald Trump asked about recent reports that conditions on the USS Lincoln are a business.

small. Trump goes, oh yeah, it was CNN, fake report. There's plenty of food. And you report fake news. Go ahead. Mr. President, is there enough food on the USS Lincoln? Yeah, it is. That was a CNN fake report.

The Lincoln has been out there for a period of time, good period of time. It's been out there for a period of time, interesting. But over the years, we've had them out there much longer. I was at a group meeting and an admiral came up to see me over the time. the weekend. He said, sir. And it was at a big group and he happened to be an admiral retired. He said, I've been on ships.

They're out there much longer than that, sir. And I know people on the Lincoln, they say it's beautifully maintained and beautifully taken care of. And other people went out and they found out to be true. It was fake news reporting from CNN. You know, the question is pretty simple. Is there enough food on the USS Abraham Lincoln? And Trump goes, yeah, it's a fake report.

It's a beautifully maintained ship. beautifully maintained doesn't tell us that the sailors really have enough food. And the reports are specific and they're extensive. The reports don't come exclusively from CNN. Military publications and sailors families have said they are telling us we don't have enough food. The toilets are broken. We have limited supplies. We're exhausted. We have mental health problems. This is a really long deployment. The acting Navy secretary reportedly met with more than 200 concerned family members. And Trump's response is, someone told me it's all great. CNN is fake news. Now, Now, finally, the question, a couple more of these, Trump on flock cameras.

And much like with data centers, Trump is kind of like a, well, there's good things about him. We're going to get back to the data center thing, but here's Trump on the flock cameras that are essentially reading license plates and mass and then allowing the surveillance of people and a whole bunch of other stuff. Are you a question, Mr. President? There's a lot of debate right now about these license plate scanners that are going up across the country, they're called flock cameras. People are worried that the police might misuse them.

Have you heard of them? Yeah. What's your saying? Well, it's being studied right now. You know, you have pros and cons, right? It's being studied right now. We'll have an answer sort of as to our views on it over the next couple of weeks. It's just going to be a couple weeks and Trump will have an answer. Translation, he has no idea whatsoever and he doesn't know what he's supposed to be saying about flock cameras. And finally, Donald Trump says, that Kim Jong-un has responded to his request for a conversation. There is no evidence of this. It seems like one of Trump's blurted out lies to try to make himself look powerful.

Why hasn't, why hasn't Kim Jong-un responded to your request to have a conversation? How do you know he has a respond? Has he? Um, yeah, yes. Did you speak? What? The white has presented no evidence that Kim Jong-un has responded to Trump's request to have a conversation with him, Trump simply cannot hold back.

He hates a free and independent press. On one side, you've got Natalie Harp, who just says yes to everything and is an adjulating fan. That's what he wants. On the other side, you have reporters asking policy questions and he doesn't like it. And then he got caught with a cheat sheet. Remember when Joe Biden was president and he had a cheat sheet telling him who he's meeting with? was proof that he had very serious dementia. Joe Biden was cognitively incapacitated. He was a

nursing home patient because he had a card on which he had information about who he's meeting with. Well, Donald Trump was photographed using a cheat sheet, the exact same type of cheat sheet that Joe Biden was using when they said it's proof that he's got dementia. And strangely, Donald Trump's card has not triggered the same diagnosis from Republicans. Now, Donald Trump met with 16-year-old Ryder Williams who rescued 10-year-old Nathaniel Rye from drowning. It's an incredible story. And we now have a picture of Donald Trump holding one of these staff prepared cards. You can see in the picture that there are you can see in the picture of the card that the card has photos of the two guests. It has scheduling instructions. It tells Trump

what to do and what to say. Can Donald Trump not even remember who two people are? This is exactly the type of thing that Republicans used to say Biden had dementia. The pictures would be circled in red. Biden needs pictures to know who he's with. Fox News would be running it continuously and right-wing influencers would be saying, did Biden know where he was? Did Biden know who he was with? Some disgrace TV doctor would diagnose advanced dementia from 3,000 miles away. And the honest analysis is pretty much not dramatic. Presidents meet a lot of people. And their staff will prepare briefing material so they know who's there.

When Biden was in the White House, they did it. When Trump is in the White House, they do it. This is just sort of like protocol. A card with names and pictures does not prove cognitive decline. But if it did prove it about Joe Biden, according to these people, it must also prove it about Donald Trump, right? Now, this gets to a bigger story, which is that during Biden's presidency, the right treated every glimpse of a note card as a medical emergency.

If Biden carried reporters names and background info into a news conference, it was called the staged play by Candice Owens or Stephen Miller or whoever. And it was a sad, ridiculous news conference, according to Donald Trump. And when Biden had a card with instructions saying you are going to be sitting down, you'll give comments, you'll leave. Sean Hannity would go, holy sheet. It's a sheet with instructions. And he's a geriatric nursing home patient according to Benny Johnson. Trump's got the same thing. He's got pictures. He's got bios. He has specific scheduling instructions. Who does what? And now all of a sudden, everybody's,

Oh, well, you know, Trump presidents are busy. They meet so many people. Trump's so active. Republicans do not care about hypocrisy. They do not care about being two-faced. I actually think they get off on it. They love that they employ double standards. They say one thing about Biden if they think it will be beneficial to them.

And then they just laugh when we go, yeah, but Trump's doing the exact same thing. At some time in the past, you'd think they would have been embarrassed to have the hypocrisy exposed. It's just the way they operate right now. These are the very same people who attacked Obama for golfing when he was president. And now when Trump golfs, they go, oh, well, but Trump's doing so much. He's doing business on the golf course and all of this stuff. Is it wrong for presidents to golf or is it great for presidents to golf? Well, the answer is it depends whether the president is a Democrat or a Republican.

And when gas prices went up a little bit under Biden, they said it's Biden's fault. And when gas prices are up under Trump, they don't say a damn thing. When the Joe Biden didn't really fall asleep in public, they said Biden can't stay awake. He's sleepy. He's got dementia. When Trump does fall asleep in public two to three times a week, they go, oh, that's nothing. When Biden used the teleprompter, it was evidence that he couldn't think. When Trump uses a teleprompter at every damn speech, it's no big deal.

Now, there are legitimate reasons to examine Donald Trump's fitness and 60% of voters don't think he has the mental sharpness to be president. He's asleep all the time. He forgets people. I don't believe the cheat sheet for any president proves that they have dementia. Presidents use briefing materials. What this proves is these Republicans don't believe their own stupid standards because when When Biden held a card, it was a national emergency.

And when Trump holds one, he's a very busy guy. Now I talk about this in my forthcoming book, pay attention. I hope you've preordered it. The Trump White House wants to shut the book down. We're doing everything we can to make it a success. If you are interested in informational silos, echo chambers and filter bubbles and why these people don't even know what's going on, it's a lot to do with the digital platforms. and especially in advance of an election where the left has to figure out how to take advantage

of these platforms and win. The book does explain all of it. And I would love for you to pre-order it at David Pakman.com slash attention. Just a few days left to get the signed books. I can't keep signing them every day. Folks, please. A few days left to get the signed books, David Pakman.com slash attention. The David Pakman show is an audience-supported program and the best, most direct way to support the show is by becoming a member at join packman.com. You'll get the daily bonus show, the daily commercial free show, and plenty of other great membership perks.

Get the full experience by signing up at join packman.com. Trump says voting by mail is inherently corrupt and he just voted by mail. That's really the story. And of course, there's more to it in the sense that this really affects our elections. It affects other people. There's other people in the world other than Trump. We looked at Palm Beach County records and they showed Trump requested a ballot to vote by mail in late July.

He returned it on August 13th. This is for Florida's Republican primary. This is at least the third time Trump has voted by mail since registering in Florida. That includes a special election earlier this year. Now, why should any of us care? Why should any of us be surprised? Well, we should care because time and time and time again, Trump has publicly said voting by mail is inherently corrupt.

It's fraud. It should be stopped. He has condemned it, but he does it. So you've got this activity. It's supposedly disgraceful. It might even be criminal when other people do it, but Trump does it. And there's always an exception. There's always an excuse.

There's some very elaborate explanation for why Trump is different. The rules shouldn't apply to him. Now, for right wingers, it's a very simple explanation. The rules matter for them. The rules don't matter for us. It's that simple. Trump has spent years saying to his supporters, oh, we got to do something about voting by mail. It's very dangerous.

It's untrustworthy. It subjects our elections to fraud. And he lies, of course, about having won the 2020 election, but part of that story that he tells is about mailed ballots, which he demonizes and attacks. Now, in July, Trump went full on it where he said it is inherently corrupt. The concept of filling out a ballot and sending it through the mail, it's inherently corrupt. And his administration is now going to the Supreme Court and saying, please, let us restrict mail in voting even more.

And they want it in place now. They wanted in place before the midterms. But then it's Trump's turn to vote and the supposedly corrupt method is perfectly fine. And the White House says, well, Trump qualifies for an exception. He lives in Palm Beach, but he's mostly at the White House in DC. And so this entire thing is a fake news story. It's a non-story that Trump has spent years waging a war against mail and voting and now habitually votes by mail because Trump is okay with the exception. If you are traveling, come on. You think if you're going to be at Disney on the day of the election, Trump's okay with that. But no, Trump supports exceptions for travel, for military service, for illness and for disability.

But of course, we know that when people who are going to vote for Democrats say, well, I have a travel justification. I have a military illness or disability justification. They will go, oh, these people are lying about these justifications. Now, legally Trump has done nothing wrong. And most of the people voting by mail and most of the people voting have also never done anything wrong. Florida allows every registered voter to get a mail-in ballot.

That's it. There is no evidence that Trump's ballot was fraudulent or improper based on Florida law. But that's exactly the point. Mail-in voting is not inherently fraudulent, no matter who's using it. If it's other people, if it's Democrats, if it's Republicans, if it's Trump, voting by mail is not inherently fraudulent. Millions of Americans use it. And Trump is taking advantage of a system that is totally legal, totally secure, and convenient while

he tries to make that system much harder for other people to use. And frankly, if you are going to spend years rallying against mail in voting and you're going to call it inherently corrupt and use it to undermine public confidence and all that. Have some conviction, right? Like, get off your ass and go vote in person. I wouldn't be convinced that mail in voting is fraudulent if Trump got off of whatever is in his pants, by the way. We don't even know what it is. If Trump got up and went to vote in person, that wouldn't convince me that mail and voting is fraudulent, but it would at least show me that Trump is committed to no mail in voting. But that's too much to ask. I saw a MAGA defender argue.

Listen, Trump is so busy. He's special. It took me, I got a head injury. I collapsed under the absurdity of that explanation. You have people all over the country who genuinely are busy working and schlepping their kids and getting groceries. Trump doesn't have to do any of this. Oh, but he's the president.

He's reportedly only even scheduled for five hours a day on weekdays. And a bunch of that time isn't even. really work, but he's too busy, but you've got, you know, people working 50 hours a week, parents juggling multiple jobs, caregivers, people without reliable transportation, all sorts of Americans, millions, maybe tens of millions who they have to find the time. Trump's too busy, though. So he gets a special convenient exception. Give me a break.

So the scandal isn't Trump voted by mail. The whole scandal is voting by mail is legal and normal and it's fine. Trump knows that, uses it, but then tells tens of millions of Americans that that's a fraudulent system if he suspects the results won't benefit him or his party or didn't benefit him or his party. It is terminal hypocrisy. Terminal hypocrisy. And this is why in my first book, The Echo Machine, which I'm holding here, this is a very

special copy. I argue in this book, don't waste your time with these black hole. debates about the philosophy of these right-wingers positions. I think it's very interesting to have conversations about our first principles, our founding philosophy. How have we come to believe what we believe? That's perfectly fine as a matter of individual choice at the Thanksgiving table or whatever, sitting in an airport shuttle, wherever.

But as a matter of figuring out with people from the other political. side what the best policies should be, it is not worth engaging in these philosophical debates because they will argue, argue, argue, argue, this is the most important thing. And then as soon as it's inconvenient, they abandon it completely. We are for not regulating businesses and freedom. And oh, but we want to force Twitter to publish our COVID disinformation. Now we're fine with having the government tell Twitter, it must publish my anti-vax screeds.

Give me a break. So my advice, focus on policy and do it with people who are actually willing to have the conversations in a serious way. Debating the philosophy of how people came to be. They're going to just abandon it as soon as it's inconvenient. Simply do not waste your time. Oh boy. Donald Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the BBC is really backfiring. And it's backfiring because of something the BBC has done, which I really respect. The B. BBC is not settling with Trump. The BBC is defending itself and they are saying we want testimony. We want documents.

It's called discovery and they want it from Trump's family and Trump is melting down. Suddenly the very legal process that Donald Trump initiated, he now says his harassment. The BBC is trying to subpoena Donald Trump Jr. The BBC is trying to subpoena Ivanka and Jared Kushner all to defend itself against Trump's claim of defamation. Now, remember, this is Trump's choice. If Trump had not decided to do this stupid, frivolous lawsuit against the BBC, BBC wouldn't be doing any of this stuff. But what BBC is now saying is, listen, we are being accused of defamation. And these three people, Don Jr. Ivanka and Jared Kushner, we believe they possess relevant information. They were in

the Oval Office when Trump was preparing his January 6th speech. And their testimony, therefore would establish what Trump was thinking on that day, how he was conducting himself, what his intentions were about that speech. And that is relevant to the claim that BBC defamed Trump. Now, Trump's legal team said, this is all just to harass us. It's to harass our family. It's to harass our supporters by abusing the deposition process. But this is just called discovery.

sued them. He said you owe me $10 billion, but a cartoonish amount of money, 10 billion, by the way. And he says, I was really harmed. When the BBC talked about me on January 6th, I was harmed, you filed the lawsuit. You're making massive claims. So your story has to be scrutinized. It has to be challenged. And as a result, the party you were suing gets to do. It's just the law. They can seek evidence. They can request documents. They can question. witnesses. Trump doesn't get to throw a $10 billion grenade, legal grenade, and then go, the explosion is disturbing my family, my kids. Now, there is important nuance here. We covered this when it first happened. The BBC has said, we acknowledge that on this show panorama,

we spliced together different pieces of Trump's speech on January 6th. And that may have created the mistake and impression that they were a continuous statement from Trump, which directly called for violence. And they said it was an error in judgment. We've apologized. That was a legitimate error. Trump is allowed to challenge that. That's completely legitimate thing for Trump to challenge.

However, admitting that you made an editorial mistake doesn't entitle you to, rather, having made an editorial mistake doesn't entitle the other party to $10 billion in damages. You have to prove all the elements of the claim. You have to establish that the damages are worthy of $10 billion. And the BBC is entitled to investigate all of those elements as well. So when Trump says, my statements were fundamentally misrepresented and they damaged me, you have to now prove that. And Ivanka, Don Jr., Jared, they have been difficult to serve subpoenas because they're

protected by secret service. And so the BBC is now saying, we, you can't be immune from service. of process just because you have bodyguards. So we need to do service by either email or certified mail. Now, a court is going to decide about that. This is all because Trump said, hey, I'm going to sue. And lawsuits are a tool that Trump uses along with threats and investigations to make things really expensive for his critics and for media organizations that don't just fall in line and become the next newsmax or OAN. Trump's preferred version of the legal system is I make an accusation, the target panics, and then they spend a bunch of money

on lawyers and then write me a check. That's what Trump wants. And unfortunately, a lot of American media outlets have done that. They've effectively surrendered. We have a defendant here in the BBC that is saying we are not going to surrender. We are going to push to have Trump prove his allegations and we're not going to use any special process. It's simply discovery.

And now Trump all of a sudden is a victim and his family is being persecuted and the the depositions are harassment and the process is an abuse of power. Trump always wants the offensive power of the legal system, but he is not allowed to be scrutinized. He wants to demand documents without having to produce any. And he wants to question other people without others being able to question him. And he wants to drag other people's families into stuff without his family being dragged into stuff. And there's a really simple solution that's available here to Donald Trump. Just withdraw the lawsuit.

That's it. This goes away. If Trump truly believes that defending against his claim is an unacceptable invasion of his family's privacy, he can say, all right, I'm not seeking $10 billion from the BBC anymore. What he can't do is start a lawsuit, demand an insane payout, and then say the other side isn't even able to examine witnesses or get full discovery. You open the door yourself. It's going to reach Ivanka.

It's going to reach Don Jr. and Jared Kushner and now he is furious. Now, in the background of all of this is the completely reasonable desire from Democrats, including Congresswoman Yasim and Ansari, that Baron Trump be questioned. This is separate from the BBC lawsuit. Barron Trump is an adult now and he was involved in Donald Trump's media tour surrounding his 2024 election. He was involved in Trump's crypto grift. He's involved and he's an adult. And just you wait and see how triggered Trump is going to be if and when this thing finally hits barren. It is going to be like nothing we have seen before. Now, on the bonus show today, Trump meet gear super stores that sell the hats and all that

stuff, they're closing because nobody's buying that crap. And Marjorie Taylor Green says, I don't see anyone wearing MAGA hats anymore. Mitch McConnell is hounded to face cameras, but he is refusing. And we will talk about tonight's primaries in Alaska. Florida and many other places. All of that and more on today's bonus show. Don't miss the bonus show. Sign up at join packman.com.