5/22/24: They're coming for birth control next, another Trump lawyer arrested

David Pakman
Hey, everybody. Welcome. One of the things I try to do on the program is to keep you up to speed as to the things that our elected officials are doing. And with the Biden administration. It's quite a lengthy list of things that have been done over the last three plus years, and we have something else to add that is not only a really great thing on its merits, not only are the facts of it very good and important going to help a lot of veterans, but it's also a contrast to what the alternative candidate has been doing, which is going from courtroom to rally to courtroom to Mar a Lago, complaining and saying he's the most unfairly treated person in the world. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden is getting things done. Over 100 million claims, I'm sorry, 100 mill over, over one mil. Listen, compared to 100 million now, it doesn't sound so good, but 1 million veterans claims related to toxic, toxic exposure in part of their duties for the military have been granted under a Biden era law. This is a really big deal, and it's also a near and dear issue to President Joe Biden. President Biden has said he believes that his late son Beau Biden's brain cancer, which ultimately took his life, may have been linked to these toxic exposures to burn pits during his military service. So this is another great thing that took place. The Associated Press reports that President Biden, in raw numbers, has now announced more than 1 million claims have been granted to veterans since Biden signed the PACT act in August of 2022.

That is about 888,000 veterans and survivors in 50 states who have already started to receive disability benefits under this law, close to $6 billion in benefits to veterans and survivors. So that's where we get over 1 million. It's 880,000 veterans. But in some cases, the veterans have passed away, and in those cases, the benefits go to the survivors. And this is a really, really a great thing. It includes the exposure of veterans to burn pits. This is one of the most significant expansions of benefits and services to toxic exposed veterans in over 30 years. And it's expected that this is going to impact more than 5 million veterans overall and allow them to get services and benefits and to get them in a more timely manner. This also extends the period for post 911 combat veterans to enroll in VA healthcare from five years post being discharged to ten years. That's another great thing. It's another way we're going to be able to take care of and provide benefits and services to veterans. And it also includes a one year open enrollment period. For veterans who missed that window, if you're eleven years out, even though they've expanded it from five to ten years, if you're eleven years out, you've already missed that window. It opens a one year window during which you can apply and enroll anyway. So there are 23 specific conditions involved here. This includes a variety of cancers, a variety of respiratory illnesses. You no longer need to prove that the illness is service connected to receive benefits that can be medically tough to do.

And the point here is, even though we may understand that in all likelihood, some of these conditions are service related by the definitions, it can be hard to demonstrate it.

The law says you no longer need to do that. So here is President Joe Biden talking about this, and then I want to say a little more about it.

Joe Biden
Since then, we've launched the biggest outreach campaign in VA history to make sure veterans in every, every state, territory, and area know what the law does.

First, it expands eligibility for VA healthcare. Today, toxic exposed veterans who serve during any conflict, not just the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, can enroll. Over 145,000 veterans are now getting care as a result of that one change.

The law also provides regular toxic exposure screenings to catch problems early when they can be dealt with. It expands access to disability benefits, including monthly payments for folks who have fallen sick.

We've made those benefits effective immediately. No, wait. Immediately. The law is.

Look, the bottom line is people not being sure we'd get it done without a lot of complication. The law invests in new facilities, new research, more healthcare workers at VA hospitals.

David Pakman
All right, so you get the point here. Now, if you really support the troops, which Republicans claim to do, what about fulfilling our commitment to the troops? And this is yet another way. I mean, this. This is long overdue. First of all, there is a promise made to veterans who choose to join a volunteer army. Now, I am not a war hawk who loves sending the military all over the world to do all sorts of different things. That. That's my view, is we should be extraordinarily judicious with saying, hey, we're going to send you into harm's way. We're going to expand our military footprint. I I'm against that in so many cases. I'm against many of the missions we have sent our troops on, uh, the duration that we stayed in Afghanistan, the entire, uh, Iraq war. But that's not what this is about. This is about we have a volunteer military. That makes it so that I didn't have to go and be conscripted, which I would not have wanted to do. I wanted to do what I did not go and join the military.

And part of this is if you do choose to join and you, many of them risk their lives. Not everybody is in combat situations, obviously, but many of them risk their lives. They in many cases postpone the eventual career that they will have as many members of the military or not career military until they retire.

And then it's Republicans who say, hey, we support the troops. We're actually the ones who support the troops. There's no evidence of that whatsoever. And what we have seen since, I've been closely following politics, which I would say is basically a year or two before the Iraq war, is when I started closely following american politics. The right has claimed a monopoly on patriotism, which includes supporting the troops. But really what they've meant by that, usually until Trumpism where now it means something different, but up until Trump is. And what Republicans meant by support the troops is when we send our military off on some mission, you blindly support the mission. You don't question the mission. And we saw a lot of this during the Iraq war. To me, what it means to support the troops is we hold in such high esteem the commitment and sacrifice that they're making, that we make damn sure that when we put troops in harm's way, that it actually makes sense. That's not the way Republicans have operated. And then when they come back, we take care of them and we work to prevent them from getting service related illnesses and conditions. There have been so many failures on those fronts. So the systemic neglect that veterans have faced for decades, we're not going to deal with it overnight. This is one of those issues that Joe Biden genuinely seems to care about, and he's doing something about it. And that's a really great thing. It is a really dangerous thing to be a lawyer for the failed former President Donald Trump.

I think you're going to like this. Donald Trump's former lawyer Christina Bob has been arrested and she is not pleased. First and foremost, the mugshot she tried to go with, the defiant and principled serious look that Trump also attempted to adopt in his mug shot. We have the mug shot up on the screen. I don't think it really worked for Christina Bob, but think of how absurd and ironic it is in the worst sense of the word, that the lawyer leading the voter integrity project for the Republican Party in Arizona has been indicted in Arizona for election interference and her alleged involvement in this fake electors scheme. So she was indicted. We talked about that two weeks ago. She has now surrendered. She has been arrested and mugshotted. It really didn't go very well for her. Here is video of Alina Bob. It got testy after lawyer Alina lawyer Christina Bob, not Alina Haba Christina Bob surrendered. She got wrapped up in a bit of a tangle with a local news reporter from Fox Ten Phoenix and she ends up taking a swipe at his camera. Not exactly respect for the free press, not exactly law and order, not exactly any of the things that these people claim to subscribe to. Check this out. And there's a visual component. I think you'll hear a noise when she slaps the camera. I don't know that it will be totally obvious what's going on, but she is knocking the camera and it's pretty wild stuff.

Christina Bobb
Back off.

David Pakman
Just like you. I'm in a public place. You're in a public place.

Rudy Giuliani
Assaulting my client, talking about assault.

David Pakman
Oh, boy.

Couldn't happen to a nicer person. You don't want to be touching. Don't touch me. Back up. If you want a shot, you can have. I'm letting everybody take a shot.

Caller
Back up.

David Pakman
Get out of my face.

All right, so theatrics aside, imagine for a second for everybody downplaying this from the republican party. Half of right wing media isn't even talking about the fact that the woman supposedly in charge of election integrity has been indicted and arrested for her role in trying to defraud an election for everybody. Downplaying it. Half of the right wing media won't talk about it. Half are downplaying it. Imagine for a second what the environment on media would be like right now if the person running election integrity for the Democratic Party was arrested for election fraud. Think for 1 second the 24/7 breathless, apoplectic coverage that we'd be seeing on Fox News and hearing on right wing radio and all over the place. It would be endless. But when it is a Republican, they go, ah, it's all political, it's all bias. There's nothing there. This is, in a sense, quite literally the notion of election integrity on trial.

And to any sane and normal person, which I believe most people in my audience are, when you see the republican claims of, we are working towards elections that have integrity, they didn't in 2020, but we are trying to do it. And then all of a sudden, the people claiming to have election integrity on their side get arrested for election fraud and manipulation.

It should put into question every single one of these supposed election integrity efforts. The fact that they want more poll watchers, which of course, are just attempts to intimidate voters. All of their manipulation of where can you vote early and where can't you? And trying to strategically make it more limited for those who are statistically more likely to vote for Democrats than Republicans. The polling monitors, the culling and purging of voter rolls, all of these things. We, if we weren't already endlessly skeptical of those initiatives, we should really be skeptical now. And there is a very stark contrast between the supposed role of Christina Bob as a guardian of election integrity and her own legal troubles, which go directly to her interference and fraudulent involvement in elections. There's a direct conflict there, and it exemplifies the hypocrisy within Trump's inner, inner circle. More generally. Those that they tell us are going to be working to uphold the law are often the ones accused of breaking it. Those who shout loudly about we are for law and order. And it is Democrats who don't care about law and order and due process and doing the right thing. They are the ones that ultimately are getting accused of breaking the law and not wanting due process and wanting to circumvent it. So the Christina Bob case, the Giuliani indictment, we'll talk about the others. This is an unraveling of the coordinated effort to undermine the democratic process in the country. These people deserve to never have any kind of power again.

They might get power back in November depending on what we do. So that's Christina Bob. Let's not now talk about the Rudy Giuliani component. It is not just Trump's former lawyer Christina Bob, who has been arrested and indicted for her role in the Arizona fake elector scheme. It is also Rudy Giuliani. Just off of his 80th birthday, at which party he was served the indictment, Rudy Giuliani joined his arraignment via Zoom. Now, there were some reports that Rudy urinated during the arraignment, and there's dozens of articles, but the source audio of the urination is suspiciously gone. And so I don't know if it turns out he wasn't urinating or I don't know. But regardless, urination aside, this was still a completely farcical arraignment during which Rudy Giuliani tried to rant about politics and the judge ended up cutting him off. So the Associated Press reports, ex New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani pleads not guilty to felony charges in the Arizona election interference case. Here is audio from this, and you will see that they muted Rudy's mic. And if you're wondering about the importance of being able to mute Mike's during the upcoming presidential debates. I guess this is sort of a reminder of that. Here is Rudy being muted because he tries to go on an endless political rant and the judge says, that is enough from you, sir. Speaker two.

Judge
I've been indicted in Georgia. I've appeared on every occasion.

David Pakman
By the way, I love how he says Georgia. He was indicted in Georgia. That's a classic.

Judge
I've been indicted in Georgia. I've appeared on every occasion.

I've been sued in. I've been sued about 20 to 25 times by a very, very similar movement to this one, which is the let's see what we can do to destroy Donald Trump movement.

David Pakman
Okay, give me some.

Judge
I do consider this indictment a complete embarrassment to the american legal system, but I've shown no tendency not to comply. I show up for every court appearance, and there must have been about 20.

David Pakman
To 30 of them.

Judge
There is no history of my being a flight which is the basis for sale. I think it'd be outrageous if you set a bomb in this, in this completely political case that comes very, very late.

David Pakman
I don't want to mute you, but I need to move on. Give me just a moment. I understand what your position is. All right, so, Rudy, ultimately. Muted. Muted there. You know, it really does seem that there are risks to being a lawyer for Donald Trump, either in a political context, criminal context, television spokesperson context, there is a cost of loyalty to Donald Trump. Rudy's unwavering loyalty to Trump really has led to some pretty severe personal and legal consequences for the guy. And the broader implications here, of course, for Trump allies in general, are that they are required, in a sense, to pledge this blind loyalty and allegiance to Donald Trump.

They go along with obviously false claims about the election. They go along with obviously false claims about so many things because they are loyal to Trump.

And then they have a fall from grace. Trump all but abandons them. They end up on Zoom, being muted by a judge after getting indicted. Now, that's the broad story with being Trump's lawyer. As I've said before, Rudy Giuliani's specific story is arguably even more tragic. Not that I'm going around saying, oh, my goodness, I feel so bad for Rudy, but there, it's a very dramatic fall. It's a very dramatic change of turn of events, going from America's mayor to standing trial for felony charges and Rudy Giuliani's involvement with the Trump campaign and the eventual Trump presidency and subsequently the Trump legal team to try to overturn the results. It all really symbolizes the broader legal troubles that are plaguing Donald Trump's allies. And Giuliani's plea here, um, you could argue, is a step towards a reckoning for those who tried to subvert the 2020 election results. Now, I don't know what ultimately will happen with the individual defendants here, Christina, Bob, or Rudy or the electors themselves, but accountability is important. We actually do believe in the rule of law here. We believe in due process. I believe in safeguarding democracy. I think Joe Biden does. Joe Biden believes the candidate who wins gets to be president. Sort of radical notion when half the country at one point seemingly didn't believe that, so couldn't happen to nicer people. Christina, Bob, Rudy, Giuliani, hopefully the wheels of justice will now start slowly grinding forward. Monday is Memorial Day.

This is one of my, one of my last reminders. We're doing a one day membership special on Monday, Memorial Day. We're trying to fight back against the algorithmic limitations that are plaguing our content on TikTok, on Instagram, on Facebook, on so many platforms. So on Monday, we're going to send out an email to everybody on our newsletter telling you how to take advantage of this one day membership special, hoping to make it the most successful single day membership drive in David Pakman show history or just for the year. Either way would be good. Go to david Pakman.com comma. Get on my newsletter. You'll get an email Monday morning, the weather is starting to warm up, which I love. But the downside of the warmer weather, as many of the guys know, is the sweating and the sticking that comes with traditional underwear. It's not pleasant, but our sponsor, sheath, designs ergonomic underwear. They've solved the problem. Instead of letting everything mash together and chafe, sheath underwear has separate compartments in the front, keeping everything separate. You stay dry and comfortable all day. Once you finally feel the air being able to flow in between everything and the unique comfort that it provides, you'll know why everybody loves sheath. So many people were skeptical about sheath at the beginning, myself included, only to find it is something you never knew you needed. They have a ton of different colors and styles, something for everyone, for the ladies in the audience. Or if you're shopping for a wife or girlfriend, check out the line of women's underwear, which also provides superior comfort once and for all.

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we told you when Roe v. Wade went that contraception was next, and some of you wrote in and said, David, you're fear mongering. David, it's a slippery slope fallacy. No, it's never going to happen. Oh, wait a second. Trump now says he's looking at restricting birth control. And by the way, this isn't me patting myself on the back. It was obvious that this was the direction it was going. It's really important not to fall for a slippery slope fallacy when it is a fallacy. But we know that they don't plan to stop at Roe v. Wade. Here is Donald Trump being interviewed yesterday. Do you support any restrictions on a person's right to contraception? The right answer, the clear answer would be, of course not. Abortion is one thing, but contraception is something else altogether. Instead, when Trump is asked, do you support any restrictions on contraception? He says it is indeed something he is looking at. Speaker one so related to this is the whole issue of contraceptives.

Do you support any restrictions on a person's right to contraception?

Donald Trump
Well, we're looking at that, and I'm going to have a policy on that very shortly. And I think it's something that you'll find interesting, and it's another issue that's very interesting. But you will, you will find it, I think, very smart. I think it's a smart decision, but we'll be releasing it very soon.

David Pakman
So this might be like Trump's health care plan that was going to be out two weeks from August of 2020, which still hasn't come out. He may never release a proposal about contraception, but anything other than no, no, no contraception, of course, of course that's going to remain available.

There is a real slippery slope here. And Trump's admission confirms that the overturning of Roe v. Wade was just the beginning of this attack on reproductive rights. And there is the danger here of setting a precedent where everything is on the table. It's all on the table. And we could be looking at rolling back, we've been saying decades. We could be getting close to, we would, we would say we're rolling back almost 100 years of progress on women's health, autonomy and, and contraceptive access. And this is part of the bigger war on women's health. And this stance aligns with the most extreme elements of the republican party. We're talking health consequences. We're talking societal consequences. And if ever there were any doubt as to the critical importance of vigilantly protecting reproductive rights at every level of government, federal, state, local, whatever it is, this, it is this. And the people who said that's they're never going to do that, well, here is Trump saying, maybe they will do it. He's certainly not ruling it out. Trump then, by the way, right, I mean, it's like, obviously he also refuses to rule out signing a national abortion ban. So if Congress passes a 15 week bill, you'd veto it? You'd veto it.

Donald Trump
I don't think there'd be any reason for it.

David Pakman
So I've come, speaker one. I don't think there'd be any reason for it, rather than, oh, I would never sign a national abortion ban. And then just as a bonus from this bonkers interview, Trump is sort of like confronted about some of his nonsense 2020 election theories. And Trump just says, ah, the courts threw everything out. The courts did the wrong thing.

Donald Trump
Let's, you see what happened. 2000 mules. Take a look at 2000 mules. You see what happened. They dropped ballots into boxes. The box, the ballots. Many of them weren't even signed. We had cases, many cases where you had more ballots than you had voters.

David Pakman
Wrong.

Donald Trump
It's a very primitive system. It's a very, very third world system. And not in all states, but in many of the swing states, which are very important for this.

Very terrible things go on.

David Pakman
But the courts didn't agree with any of the claims.

Donald Trump
Say it again.

David Pakman
I'm sorry. The courts in Pennsylvania did not seem to agree, by the way, there's a crazy delay where we're hearing it twice through a speaker in Trump's room. It's wild with any of the claims of anything going wrong in the 2020 election.

Donald Trump
Courage to do what they had to do. The courts were very disappointing. They didn't have the courage.

David Pakman
Speaker one. Yeah. So Trump says every single court decision that was made contradicting his wild claims about 2020, the courts just lacked courage. And they were, they were disappointing. So the big takeaway here, everybody who has said Roe v. Wade is not the end of the line was absolutely correct. They're going to push for more. It's dangerous and we can deny it to them. Vote them out of control of the House.

Keep them away from controlling the Senate. And let's really make sure Trump doesn't get four more years. All right? Trump's behavior outside the courtroom of his first of four criminal trials continues to degrade and debase. Here is Trump struggling to find the right words and saying that the judge is complicated. Trump doesn't mean to say complicated. He means to say conflicted. This is arguably another one of the phonemic paraphrasias that doctors John Gartner and Harry Siegel told us about. But here is Trump with a pumpkin colored tie on one of the final days of the trial.

Donald Trump
We have a judge that's extremely, let's say complicated, but let's also say conflicted. He's complicated, complicated and conflicted.

And it's a first page situation. Nobody's ever seen anything quite like it.

David Pakman
All right, so there is Trump relying on those catchphrases. No one's ever seen anything like it. He often uses those as a linguistic crutch when he loses his own train of thought and doesn't know what he's saying. Also, the word complicated came out of his mouth. He clearly didn't mean to say that. Trump also with a word salad about how they are going to be resting and he never gets to rest. Now he's referring to the defense resting, but he says he never gets rest. Of course, he slept through the trial. He quite literally rested during most of the trial by sleeping in the courtroom.

Donald Trump
Speaker one, here I am. I will be doing something in the morning and then probably coming back in the afternoon, and we'll be resting pretty quickly. Resting, meeting, resting, in case I won't be ready. I don't rest. I like to rest sometimes, but I don't get to rest.

David Pakman
There you go. And Trump's lawyer, Todd Blanche, not super entertained by this routine, but I, when you, when you sleep every day in court, to say you never get a chance to rest sounds weird. Trump also bemoaning that he would like to say things to you, but he can't say them because he's gagged. Now. He says, I would love at some point to get an opportunity to say things about this trial, which, of course, he could have done if he simply testified the way he claimed he was going to, but he didn't.

Donald Trump
And you see what's happened there with the voter. Remember, I'm gagged. I'm not allowed to say what I'd like to really say.

David Pakman
He's gagged, guys. Why can't you understand that?

Donald Trump
Because you'd be very impressed. But I'm gagged. So why would I take the chance if we do want to defend our constitution? So at some point, maybe I will take the chance.

David Pakman
Yeah. And the chance to do all of the right things and tell the story would have been just to get up there and testify the way you said you were going to do. Trump was asked, why did you decide not to testify? And he just ignores the question and walks away. This is really the one main question about all of this. You can rebut the lies being told about you supposedly by testifying. You can get out of being gagged by testifying. But no, he doesn't testify and he doesn't tell us why.

Donald Trump
We have an incompetent president and we have to win.

And as I've said, November 5, the most important day in the history of our country. Thank you very much, everybody.

David Pakman
So why did society, speaker one and no answer to the one question that really is the one that deserves to be answered? Why didn't you testify? And of course, we know the answer. It would be a disaster. He would perjure himself. They have no coherent alternative explanation for what took place. Final clip from this tirade. Trump says that it's cold. It's just, it's too cold in the courtroom.

Donald Trump
Every single scholar says there's been no crime. He's done nothing wrong. And I'm fighting for 300 million people. I mean, I have no choice. It's not that I like doing this, sitting in an ice box all day for seven, eight, 9 hours, and it's a very cold room, I will tell you that. But I'm doing this because our country needs it. Our constitution's under threat.

David Pakman
Yeah. And the, the temperature in that courtroom really a major, major part of the problem. If you are trying to be seen as the candidate with vigor, energy, and effervescence, complaining that it's chilly in court and sleeping every day during the trial is not exactly the way that you necessarily communicate that, as it seems to me. So this trial is finally winding down. I believe the schedule is for closing arguments.

They may be pushing them to next week. I guess the judge didn't want deliberations to start right before a three day weekend with Memorial Day.

So the judge, I think, is pushing it all off until next week, or at least the deliberations won't start until next week. So this will start coming to a close, but then we will get to, to the next criminal trial. We're really up against it. This is going to be going on for some time. Let's take a very quick break and then we are going to address the following question.

Should Joe Biden be courting anti Trump Republicans for November? And if the answer is yes, how should he be doing it? We'll deal with that after this short break.

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Get 60% off with code Pacman. The info is in the podcast. Notes. A couple of weeks ago, I published an editorial in our weekend newsletter that generated a lot of controversy and quite a bit of anger. Even it was called Joe Biden should call Chris Christie. Courting young voters and the far left may be a lost cause. Now, I want to clarify my position and respond to some of the criticisms I received. But first, let me give you an overview of what I actually said and the point I was making. In the article last month, Chris Christie revealed Biden has not reached out to him since Christie dropped out of the republican primary. And I thought this was sort of surprising because Christie is the avatar of the anti Trump Republican. His entire candidacy was predicated on attacking Trump.

Christina Bobb
The person I am talking about, who is obsessed with the mirror, who never admits a mistake, who never admits a fault, and who always finds someone else and something else to blame for whatever goes wrong, but finds every reason to take credit for anything that goes right, is Donald Trump.

David Pakman
He was the only republican wannabe that was directly willing to just attack Trump head on. You had sycophants like Vivek Ramaswamy and Tim Scott and Ron DeSantis who always went out of their way to defend and praise Trump, even when they were supposed to be running against him. But Christie consistently called them out and laid out a vision for a true post Trump republican party and was crystal clear about the threat to democracy that Trump represented.

Christina Bobb
We've had these three acting as if the race is between the four of us.

The fifth guy who doesn't have the guts to show up and stand here, he's the one who, as you just put it, is way ahead in the polls. And yet I've got these three guys who are all seemingly to compete with Voldemort. He or shall not be named. They don't want to talk about it.

The fact is that when you go and you say the truth about somebody who is a dictator, a bully, who has taken shots at everybody, whether they've given him great service or not, over time, who dares to disagree with him, then I understand why the these three are timid to say anything about it. Maybe it's because they have future aspirations. Maybe those future aspirations are now, or maybe they're four years from now. But the fact of the matter is, the truth needs to be told.

David Pakman
And it isn't just Chris Christie. Jonathan Martin wrote for Politico that, quote, I reached out to every republican lawmaker who has refused to commit to Trump in the general election. Senator Susan Collins, Mitt Romney, Todd Young, Bill Cassidy, and Lisa Murkowski all said the same. They've not heard from Biden. If this is true, this is a problem. Chris Christie and Nikki Haley represent a piece of the electorate that could be critically important for Joe Biden and for defeating Trump in 2024, which is disaffected anti Trump Republicans. Joe Biden shouldn't count on young people and the far left to vote for him. I think most young voters who do vote ultimately will support Biden. But if what people are writing to me is true, that these voters are so furious, and according to Pew Research from April of 24, only 28% of voters 18 to 29 approve of Joe Biden's performance as presidency. 69% disapprove, 39% strongly disapprove. If that's all true, if you are all right about that, then Joe Biden should be figuring out how to grow the number of people who are going to vote for him. A recent CNN poll found that 81% of voters, 18 to 34, disapprove of the way Joe Biden is handling the war between Israel and Hamas. This sentiment has been reflected in the high turnout of that uncommitted campaign, which does represent a protest vote against Biden's support for Israel. Even though the issue of Israel, Gaza, and foreign policy broadly ranks very low on the list of voting priorities, even for young voters, this is still something I wouldn't ignore.

But when an election will likely come down to just a few hundred thousand votes in a handful of swing states, electorally, no issue or sign of potential trouble should be ignored. Also, in some polls, it doesn't rank quite as low, like there's a recent Harvard youth poll where it's listed as a priority among 37% of democratic voters. As I've said before, when it comes down to few votes, any issue could make a difference. Now, speaking of swing states, the numbers don't look awesome for Biden, especially considering he's the incumbent. There's a New York Times Sienna poll which finds Trump is leading in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. In Michigan, Biden's leading by only one. At this point, Biden is not going to fully appease the anti war left without alienating people who already support him. So from a strategic perspective, Biden should operate under the assumption that he has lost some of that support. Now, I think in practice he almost certainly has only lost a slice of it, but still, Biden should focus efforts on making up for that deficit, excite the centrist liberals, attract new support from anti Trump Republicans. Now, here's where I got into some trouble with some people. I want to be super clear.

This doesn't mean Joe Biden should become a conservative, nor that he is a right winger.

What this means is Biden understands coalitions and he understands the electoral college, and he wants a plan to win and deny Trump four more years, which would be disastrous. We've already seen this attitude kind of take root among some of the democratic party's most prominent strategists and advisers. Hillary Clinton, who was named a key figure in Biden's 2024 campaign strategy, said undecided voters who are upset with Biden's handling of Gaza should, quote, get over yourself. It's Biden versus Trump. We know that it is. It is.

What do you say to voters who are upset that those are the two choices?

Get over yourself. Those are the two choices. Yeah, I love that. And she recently dismissed the campus protesters as being people who, quote, don't know very much at all about the history of the Middle East. I have had many conversations, as you have had with a lot of young people over the last many months now, and you're right, they don't know very much at all about the history of the Middle east, or, frankly, about history. James Carville, who's a longtime democratic consultant, was less ambiguous. You, you don't feel like the election's important to me? They're not addressing the issues that I care about. Get off your mother ass and go vote, because you should vote like your entire future and the entire future of this United States depends on it, because, quite frankly, it does. Speaker one, I don't think that these are necessarily the right tones, but the point here that they seem to be making is they recognize some of that electorate may be lost. The majority of Bernie supporters did vote Biden in 2020, but those who didn't vote Biden in 2020 likely fall under this umbrella of the uncommitted voter. And then you've got your moderate Republicans who also have an uncommitted vote of their own, which is Nikki Haley. Nikki Haley dropped out of the primary in March, and yet a significant portion of Republicans are still showing up to vote for her. In Pennsylvania, Haley won almost 17% of the vote. In Indiana, Haley won almost 22% of the vote. In Maryland, she got about 20% of the vote.

Nebraska, 18, West Virginia, nine. Trump still overwhelmingly dominates. And there's no question that Trump is the de facto leader of the republican party and will almost certainly be the nominee. But the fact that such a large chunk of the republican electorate would even bother to go out and vote for Nikki Haley when her campaign was inactive for months still shows that there is a moderate republican electorate that wants an alternative to Trump. The obvious alternative electorally, should be Joe Biden. We did a poll, David Pakman show poll, not scientific, informal, which showed that Biden is more likely to win over anti Trump Republicans than he is to win over the anti israeli Gaza war Democrats.

But Joe Biden is less likely to be that alternative as long as he is campaigning with people like Bernie and AOC who are seen as radical socialists by Republicans. Wrongly, by the way, wrongly seen that way. So again, to be crystal clear, my argument is not that Biden is actually more politically aligned with Chris Christie and Mitt Romney than he is with Bernie and AOC. Biden is clearly more aligned politically with Bernie and AOC. But the idea here is Biden probably has almost all he's going to get in terms of votes from the AOC Bernie alliances, whereas there are votes to be gained, especially in swing states, from getting some of these anti Trump Republican endorsements on policy.

Biden's presidency has been the most progressive in decades. Understanding election math doesn't change that reality. Biden needs to make anti Trump Nikki Haley voters and supporters of Republicans like Chris Christie and Mitt Romney comfortable enough to vote for him. And a great way to do it would be getting people like Christian Romney to vote for Biden and to publicly say they are voting for Biden. Now, in addition to Christie and Haley, Joe Biden should also reach out to other moderate Republicans, Paul Ryan, Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, Arnold Schwarzenegger, maybe. And see, is there anything he can do to win their public endorsement. If any of these Republicans are willing to attend a rally with Biden, it may help with that swing state moderate vote even more. Now, we know that voters who have reservations about voting for Trump and who are concerned with protecting american democracy are gettable, and we've seen that because we've interviewed some of them. There are many voters like Kyle and Nathan, who I spoke to, who recognize Trump is an existential threat to democracy.

Running as a safeguard against fascism may not be enough for Biden to comfortably win a second term, although in a sane world it should be. And therefore, Biden should pick up the phone and provide. I mean, is it a safe space of sorts for Republicans like Chris Christie, Nikki Haley and others and their followers to be able to say, hey, you know what? I am ready to put country over party, and I am ready to deny Donald Trump this presidency. And then if and when Biden wins, we go back to policy disagreements and they those Republicans work on getting a more sane nominee for 2028. This makes sense to do. It doesn't jeopardize Biden's credentials as having one of the most progressive presidential terms, certainly in 100 years. I think Biden should do it. Let me know what you think in the comments.

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This is just racism. Okay?

Sometimes it's true. Claims of racism may be exaggerated. Sometimes we may be reading things in Trump says you have to look at where the judge comes from to understand why he's so hostile to Donald Trump.

And the judge comes from the country of Columbia. Here is Donald Trump after court yesterday going fully racist, loathsome.

Donald Trump
I'm so surprised.

And so does mercy on him losing. The judge hates Donald Trump. Just take a look, take a look at him, take a look at where.

David Pakman
He comes from take a look at him and take a look at where he comes from. This is open racism and xenophobia. It will barely be reported because people are used to it or they don't want to talk about it, if they are defenders of Trump. And it is true that the judge is from Bogota, as it is said in English, or Bogota, as we say in the native Spanish. In reality, he's an american. He came here at age six, much like I came here at age five. And in reality, I believe the judge moved to New York City. So when Trump says, look at where he came from, he can't possibly mean where he grew up, because it's the same place Trump grew up. So he, of course, means look at where the judge came from. Now, Trump has done this before. You'll remember the other case where there was a mexican american judge, and Trump talked about that as a problem. So this is just overt and total xenophobia. Whatever you believe about Trump's personal feelings about hispanic people. Oh, but, David Trump employs hispanic people at Mar a Lago, so obviously he's not xenophobic.

Being willing to employ people of a certain background in subservient roles to you in your business doesn't really say anything one way or the other about your underlying beliefs. It's sort of like Trump's views on, on jews. But David Trump's, you know, Ivanka converted to Judaism, and Jared Kushner, his son in law, is jewish, and Trump's grandkids are jewish. Okay, that's fine. Doesn't mean he has to have any kind of personality, personal issue with them, but he can still coalesce or create a welcoming environment for or foment, from a political standpoint, anti semitism. And in many ways, Trump has absolutely done that. So just despicable stuff. It's kind of par for the course at this point, so I'd be surprised if it gets too, too much coverage. Trump insisting that President Joe Biden has no way of winning fair and square, and says that Biden is a fascist. Which seems like projection to me, given that it's not clear Trump can win fair and square. He couldn't win fair and square in 2020. At least it remains to be seen what happens in November. And it is Trump who has the fascistic illusions and aspirations.

Donald Trump
They're trying to hurt the opponent because they can't win it fair and square.

It's lawfare. There are a lot of terms for it. It's a third world country way of campaigning.

Such a disgrace. So sad to see what's happened to our country. Our country's going to hell if they Biden.

But look at the person. Why don't you look at the person that argued their case, almost the entire case, look at the person. Where did he come from?

Unbelievable. He came from Biden.

And I don't know if it's Biden because I don't think Biden has any idea what the hell's happening. But it's from the fascists that circle in the Oval Office. They circle the resolute test. A beautiful resolute test. Speaker one.

David Pakman
The closest we have gotten to fascism, the closest we have gotten to fascism in recent years have been the things Trump wanted to do, and most of which he was not actually able to do. Trump then focusing his ire on jews, which is a popular thing that Trump is doing now as well. Speaking of which, right as we were just discussing, Trump again, insisting that any jewish person who votes Biden is mentally ill and should have their heads examined. Then he says, thanks very much, and then walks away.

Donald Trump
And jewish people that go for Biden and the Democrats, they should have their head examined. Thank you very much.

David Pakman
So, as you know, if you've been watching this show, Donald Trump has insistently been making the case that any jewish person who votes Biden should have a, some kind of psych eval or mental health evaluation.

Big, big projection, because that's what we want Trump to have. Of course, he has also suggested that an old jewish man named George Soros has actually controlled and orchestrated and contrived the prosecution of Donald Trump in four different venues for very different crimes. And so one way or another, it seems to always get back to these underlying beliefs of Trump. And in this particular case, it is that jewish folks really are doing things doesn't like they're voting for Democrats. They are orchestrating supposed, supposedly orchestrating prosecutions against Trump. Lot of focus on jewish Americans. And then finally, Trump makes the claim after weeks of saying it's Fort Knox outside the courthouse and no one is allowed even close.

Of course, the point of arguing that was Trump wants you to believe if it weren't for security restrictions outside the courthouse, there would be tens of, tens of thousands of his supporters supporting him.

There, of course, is no real Fort Knox outside the courthouse. But Trump now shifting from its Fort Knox outside the courthouse, and nobody can get close to people. They're being mugged and killed right outside the courthouse from his office.

Donald Trump
People are being mugged and killed and outside.

Never saw anything like it in my life. Nobody had.

David Pakman
I would love proof that there are people being mugged and killed outside the courthouse. So I don't know about you.

I'm ready for this trial to be over.

And maybe, just maybe, there will be a more effective, limited gag order on Trump in future criminal trials. Although, quite frankly, I don't know that he really cares. Hey, here's an idea. What if I moderated a digital presidential debate?

Never going to happen, David. Well, no, you're, you're probably right. But here's something interesting. There was a discussion yesterday on the PBD podcast hosted by Patrick Bett. David. I was on this show some time ago. When was it? I guess it was about a year ago. And here is Patrick bet David suggesting, what about a digital debate where maybe Anna Kasparian would, would moderate, or even, like, if it really came down to it, if we really got to the bottom of the barrel, maybe even someone like a David Pakman could be involved.

I like this. Let's take a listen to this.

Rudy Giuliani
And CNN would. So what I would recommend, because I.

David Pakman
Know that they, all these major legacy.

Rudy Giuliani
Outlets listen to Peabody podcasts. I would recommend that the ABC hosts have a Republican and a Democrat and keep it fair. That's what America wants to see.

David Pakman
Fair.

Rudy Giuliani
Let me tell you what would be even better. If they did do that, please.

If they brought somebody from the digital side to ask questions. What if they did the first digital panel? And by the way, what if they did it this way? What if it's a Ana Kasperian? Okay, nice. What if it's a Candace Owens? Mmm. What if it's a. I don't know. Pick another person.

I don't know. Or musk or a Tucker or any. What if it's. What if it's names like that from the digital side? And by the way, you know who else I would put on that? From the left side, I bring a. Bring a, bring a Pacman who's all a jank.

No, no, it's got to be funny.

He is angry. I think he's also running for president, I think. But take a panel of those guys and put him together. PBD, first digital debate with an audience can allow that to happen. Now, for that to take place, you know who has to call the shot on that?

The president.

So can I give you credit?

David Pakman
So I think the one thing PBD maybe is wrong about, and I love how it's like, listen, get Anna Kasparian, get Candace Owens if.

If you have to. Maybe someone like a Pacman. The one thing I think PBD is wrong about, and we're joking. I'm glad that he's thinking of me.

The, the one thing I think he's wrong about is I don't know that if Biden goes, yeah, let's have a digital panel from, from the online space.

I don't know that Trump goes for it. You know, I don't know. It's just not clear, especially with that group crew. Right. I mean, from what I understand, Trump and Candace Owens are a little bit on the outs. And so why would Trump say, we'll get a right winger who I don't really love, and then left wingers like Anna or David? I just, I just don't think it'll happen. I agree. It would bring a different dynamic. It might be engaging in a different way. It would certainly be a break from the traditional media establishment. It could bring crucial issues to the forefront. And honestly, as flattered as I am by being considered for something like this, I actually think that it's less about the moderators but more about the format to a great degree. As I've said before, the format of these debates lends itself to superficial sound bites and absolutely no policy depth. I believe policy depth would benefit Joe Biden if there were 20 minutes on one topic with an open format without talking over each other, if they could do it right. Hypothetically, Trump can only do 30 or 60 seconds on most topics. Biden actually has some deep knowledge about so many of these issues. Now, whether he can get it out in a way that's engaging is a different, different question. But to me, I'll participate in any debate, obviously, if I'm considered. But we need a format that will allow for deeper dives into policy specifics. This would allow candidates, if they are able to articulate positions comprehensively, give viewers a clearer understanding of their platforms and what they would actually do policy wise.

And Trump couldn't struggle through that format the way he can't with a typical format. And it'll really separate the wheat from the chaff. I hope that's not become a verboten phrase at this point. Someone told me that you can't. Well, I don't even want to get into that anyway. I hope that wheat from the chaff is still allowed.

In your typical debate format, it's, you trade a couple of barbs, and then the moderators say, we have too much to get to. We've got to move on to the next thing. The other aspect to this is, I believe there should be real time fact checking within the debate and hold candidates accountable. Now, oftentimes, nobody wants that because of fear that they will be fact checked in a way that is disadvantageous to them.

Recently, there's been a lot of, you know, Sean Hannity types and others on the right who say there should be nothing allowed on the screen other than the candidates names because the concern is the fact checking starts. It's a slippery slope to bias. I think that there should be real time fact checking. Trump definitely doesn't want it. I think it could be done in a way that we all say, hey, no, this is, this is fair. This is a fair way of doing it. So format change, real time fact checking. I think that's big. Different moderators, sure. But it's the format that is really holding us back. We have a voicemail number. That number is 2192. David P. Here's a caller who says it's not a drug test that we need before the debates. It's something else. Take a listen to this.

Caller
Hi.

I'm, I'm worried that Trump might, but we'll most likely have some sort of a bug in his ear for electronic communication from outside of the debate venue whereby it would be somebody else telling him what to say and he can just hear it in tiny little, you know, bug in his ear that I'm hoping that they will screen for such things.

David Pakman
Yeah, listen, I, you know, Trump says we need a drug test before the debates. And the reason Trump wants a drug test as he's pushing this narrative, that the only way Joe Biden can stay awake during such a debate and speak coherently is if he is drugged up with drugs that they never name.

The counterpoint here from the caller is what we need to do is screen for electronic devices to see whether the candidates are getting help through some kind of earpiece. And I actually would be fine with that. I think, listen, if they want to submit to a drug test, it seems sort of silly. I don't know that I really care about the drug test. But if they were to agree, no electronic in ear listening devices for assistance into being screened for that, I would maybe concede on the drug test. I do think it's an interesting suggestion. Of course, we have no evidence whatsoever that Trump nor Biden have used such earpieces. But check it, that's fine. I have no problem with it. We have a great bonus show for you today. We are going to talk about target, the retailer lowering prices on about 5000 basic goods, hoping to provide relief from inflation, which although inflation is down, it's still positive. And if inflation is more than zero, prices are still going up. We're also going to look at Jasmine Crockett looking to trademark the phrase bleach blonde, bad built, butch body. And I will also talk about some of the negative feedback I got about my coverage of that story and so much more on today's bonus show. Two options. Option number one, sign up today, you go to join pacman.com. comma, you get the bonus show.

Christina Bobb
Oh, the bonus show where you want to make money.

David Pakman
Everybody else that makes money to fund themselves as bad. Option two, you get on my newsletter today. And then Monday, Memorial Day, you get an email telling you how to sign up at a discount. And then you go ahead and get the bonus show.

5/22/24: They're coming for birth control next, another Trump lawyer arrested

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1: Biden's Veteran Policies

2: Trump's Legal Troubles

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