7/15/24: Trump shot in the head, survives by an inch, country in chaos

This episode discusses the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally, examining the immediate aftermath, political implications, and societal reactions.

1. Trump survived an assassination attempt that could have ended fatally, highlighting significant security lapses.
2. The shooter, identified as a young Republican, sparks debates on political violence and its roots in current political rhetoric.
3. The incident catalyzes a flood of conspiracy theories and misinformation, complicating the public's understanding of the event.
4. Political figures and media responses to the shooting reveal deep-seated partisan divisions, potentially influencing voter behavior.
5. The event is expected to have significant political repercussions, influencing upcoming election strategies and public sentiment.

1. The Shooting Incident

David Pakman describes the immediate events of the shooting, detailing how Trump was shot and the swift action by security forces. The chaos and confusion at the rally are vividly portrayed, along with the initial reactions from the crowd and Trump himself.

• David Pakman: "Trump was shot at a campaign rally, surviving by mere inches."

2. Shooter's Profile and Motive

Exploration of the shooter's background, political affiliations, and possible motives, discussing the complex profile that challenges many preconceived notions about political violence.

• David Pakman: "The shooter, a registered Republican, was influenced by extreme right-wing rhetoric."

3. Political and Public Reaction

This chapter examines the varied reactions from political leaders, media, and the public, showcasing the polarized landscape of American politics.

• David Pakman: "Responses to the shooting reflect deep political divides and have ignited a blame game."

4. Implications for Trump’s Campaign

Analysis of how the assassination attempt might affect Trump's campaign strategy and public perception, considering his survival might boost his image as resilient.

• David Pakman: "The shooting could potentially bolster Trump's campaign, painting him as a martyr."

1. Stay Informed: Always seek out credible sources to understand political events critically.
2. Engage in Non-violent Advocacy: Promote and engage in non-violent forms of political activism.
3. Critical Consumption of Media: Analyze media critically, recognizing bias and potential misinformation.
4. Participate in Dialogues: Engage in constructive dialogue with people of differing political views to bridge understanding.
5. Exercise Voting Rights: Ensure to participate in elections, understanding the impact of political actions on societal norms.

-- On the Show:

-- 20-year-old Republican Thomas Matthew Crooks shoots Donald Trump in the head at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and Trump survives the assassination attempt with a grazed ear

-- Republicans immediately blame the usual suspects for the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, including Joe Biden, DEI, wokeness, and more

-- After 8 years of spreading violent rhetoric and inciting violence, Republicans pretend to be shocked and surprised at someone trying to kill Donald Trump

-- Many quickly declare that the 2024 election is over on the basis of Donald Trump being shot, assuming this means Trump will easily defeat President Joe Biden in November, but is this accurate?

-- Conspiracy theories surrounding Donald Trump's assassination attempt spread like wildfire

-- President Joe Biden goes no-holds-barred on Donald Trump at a recent rally speech, declaring that "Trump r*aped her" in reference to Trump's sexual assault civil suit from E. Jean Carroll

-- The US Secret Service is widely criticized for what some call their failure to prevent the shooting of Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania

-- Alex Jones said a few months ago that killing Donald Trump is the "best case scenario" for getting his agenda implemented

-- Voicemail caller says that after Trump was shot, he is now definitely supporting Trump

-- On the Bonus Show: The aftermath of the Trump shooting, exploring what happens now with this week's Republican National Convention, and updates about David's book

People

Donald Trump, Thomas Matthew Crooks, Joe Biden, Alex Jones, Nick Fuentes, Jonathan Chait, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Ron Johnson, Mike Collins

Companies

None

Books

None

Guest Name(s):

None

Content Warnings:

Discussions of violence, political assassination

Speaker A
Welcome to the show. The former president of the United States, Donald Trump, suffered an assassination attempt during a political rally campaigning for his 2024 presidential run in Butler, Pennsylvania. These are the sorts of events that fortunately happened very infrequently in the United States, although more frequently historically, than in many other countries. And we will talk about that, so much happening at once. But one of the real differences here from prior assassination attempts is that we are in an environment of social media. And so instantly, when this happened, the video was everywhere.

Former President Trump. Okay. Reportedly a bullet grazing his ear.

We will take a look at the video here. As this took place, confusion briefly, and then relatively quickly, everyone realizing this is not part of the planned event. Take a look. Take a listen. If these are not images or audio that you have yet seen or heard.

Speaker B
Speaker one that's a little bit old, that chart that charts a couple of months old. And if you want to really see something, to say it, take a look at what happened.

Speaker A
If you're only listening at this point in time. After Donald Trump reached up to his ear, which was bleeding, he was sort of brought down behind his lectern by security, believed to be all secret Service agents.

There is sort of audio that you hear about, we're down. We're moving. Eventually, they moved Trump offstage, and by this point, the shooter had already been killed by a sniper.

Speaker B
Turn off to the spare.

Speaker A
Move to the spare.

Speaker C
Hold when you're ready.

Speaker A
On you.

Speaker D
Ready?

Speaker A
Move up. Move. Go up.

Hawkeye's here.

Speaker E
Get ready.

Speaker A
Are we good?

Shooters down. Are we good to move?

You hear there the declaration that the shooter is down and that they are ready to move. And then you will see as trump gets up, pumping his fists, asking to put his shoes on.

Speaker F
We're clear.

Speaker B
We're clear.

Speaker A
Sir.

Speaker B
Come on, let me get my shoes. Let me get my shoes.

Speaker A
Got you, sir.

Speaker E
I got you, sir.

Speaker B
Let me get my shoes, sir.

Speaker A
Hold that in your head. Bloody, sir, we gotta go to the first.

Speaker E
Move to the.

Speaker D
Okay, watch yourself.

Speaker C
Watch out.

Speaker G
Wait, wait, wait, wait.

Speaker A
Wow. And Trump pumping his fists there and sending the crowd into a tizzy.

It is impossible in five minutes to break down the facts, the political environment, the cultural implications, what went wrong as far as security goes, the story about the shooter, it's simply impossible. And so we're going to take it a step at a time, which I think is the only way that we can do it. Thomas Matthew Crooks is the name of the shooter.

We don't normally name shooters in general in the United States, shooting sort of environment, on this show, particularly in mass shootings, this is a different situation and the shooter's history, including name confusion about other people sharing the same name as part of it. So I don't see any other way to avoid doing that. 20 year old Thomas Matthew Crooks, a registered Republican, wearing a demolition ranch shirt, that's a YouTube channel that does firearm stuff, described by former classmates, including Max Smith, as definitely a conservative, is indeed the shooter. He was killed on site, laying down on a rooftop some distance from the stage at which Trump was speaking. How did he get access to that rooftop? Why did it take so long to neutralize the threat? Questions that are being asked that we will get to questions that are also leading to significant conspiracy theories. I want to address one other aspect, and I want to make clear that my goal here is to tell you what we know. And if there are specific claims that are being made where the information is still incomplete, I will tell you that as well. There is a claim circulating that despite being a registered Republican and being described crooks as a conservative, there's a claim floating around that in 2021, he made a $15 donation to a progressive cause through act blue. Now, that may be true or it may not be true. If it's true, the weird thing would be ActBlue reportedly doesn't accept donations from those under 18, and he would have been under 18 at the time.

On the other hand, it has been widely reported that there is a Thomas Crooks, not Thomas M. Crooks, just Thomas Crooks, an older mandeh also from Pennsylvania, and that that's the individual that made the $15 donation. Quite frankly, I don't think it makes too much of a difference one way or the other, but this is something that is currently under dispute.

It is a situation here where we really need to consider the environment in which this is happening. Now. As President Biden said when he addressed the nation, we don't yet know the specific motive for why this individual did what he did. There are reports from classmates that he was bullied for a long time. Trump's a bully. Did he not like Trump because of that? At the same time, if you look at the last week of conspiracy content, you will see people like Alex Jones and Nick Fuentes and others going after Trump for not openly supporting Project 2025 or because of what was allegedly revealed in the Epstein papers about Trump.

That's not something that even other right wingers would like. Could that have been part of the motivation? I'm not asserting any of these motivations as motivations. What I'm saying is we really don't know the specific motivation here. It's also relevant in my mind that the shooter was twelve when Trump was elected in 2016. In a sense, the political world of MAGA and Trumpism shaped this entire guy's worldview in the sense that he did not exist as an aware, independent thinking person, even semi rationally. Right? I mean, twelve outside of MAGA being a force in politics in the United States.

And that is something that we are going to consider as well in terms of the violent rhetoric we have seen almost exclusively from the american right wing. Now, I think I need to say this, even though I know my audience already knows it. Trump must be defeated by voting.

I can't believe I even have to clarify this.

And I don't know that anyone cares whether I denounce anything. I completely denounce this. And all acts of political violence of the sort doesn't matter what the motive was. None of it matters. Trump is a terrible candidate and was terrible for the country as president, and he must be defeated by voting. If you defeat Trump with bullets, excuse me, it's not really a defeat. The reality is that when you have an authoritarian that you're trying to stop assassinating them, or particular, if you try and fail to assassinate them, it actually enables them to be even more authoritarian and think about what they will now say is justified on the basis of this assassination attempt. Jonathan Chait wrote about this yesterday in New York magazine. Trump already has spent years stoking the flames of violence, and this only allows him to do it even more. It's completely okay and coherent to say, I am terrified, saddened, and appalled by this attempt on Donald Trump's life as an individual. He survived by an inch, as far as we know. Now, if that bullet were an inch closer to Trump's brain, he would have been likely instantly killed. That's the most likely scenario. You could survive a gunshot wound to the head. Sometimes it happens, but there is a good chance that by one inch, Trump was golfing the next day rather than dead.

And it's completely okay to say that is tragic and terrible. I'm glad it failed to. But to still be ready to defeat Trump by voting in November. Now, there is a perspective that this absolutely helps Trump. We will talk about that a little bit later in the show as we break down everything that happened. I hope you'll be with me for the hour. Let's now discuss who the MAGA, right, is blaming for Trump getting shot.

I'm guessing many of you are not going to be surprised that when I say to you, hey, Trump got shot in the head. It grazed his ear by a Republican, reportedly right leaning 20 year old.

Who do you think Republicans will blame?

Most of you probably wouldn't be shocked to hear that it's a combination of conspiracy theories, blaming Democrats, blaming wokeness, blaming Dei, when really they need to be looking at the political movement that has justified using violence to achieve political means, and that is them. Okay? I denounce the shooting as I do all violence, and to blame Biden or Dei makes no sense. Here's congressman.

Oh, before we even get to the video, Congressman Mike Collins tweeting, Joe Biden sent the orders, a disgusting, irresponsible tweet from a sitting member of the House of Representatives. Repugnant and reactionary Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeting, someone just tried to assassinate President Trump. The Democrats and the media are to blame for every drop of blood spilled today. For years and years, they've demonized him and his supporters. Today, someone finally tried to take out the leader of our America first and the greatest president of all time. Watch the video. President Trump said, fight so we will. She is blaming Democrats and the media for a Republican shooting Trump in the midst of years of Republicans justifying violence. And she is saying, we now are going to fight, suggesting there will be more violence. Senator Ron Johnson, a Republican on CNN, reacting to Donald Trump's shooting by calling out identity politics and critical race theory.

Speaker H
Something about how we all love our country. And I think it's generally true, most Americans do love their country. One thing that I have found upsetting, if I can editorialize for 1 second, is the degree to which so many Americans claim to love their country but hate their fellow Americans. And I'm not talking about Republicans or Democrats. I'm just, I see it everywhere. Everywhere. And I'm wondering if that's something that concerns you, too.

Speaker D
It does.

Speaker A
That's what I said.

Speaker D
The greatest threat to our nation right now is we're horribly divided. But again, in general, we share the same goals. So why are we so divided? Well, there are political figures, there are political groups. I would argue that's what identity politics is about. That's what critical race theory is about. So there are people who are purposely trying to divide us for political advantage. Resist it, don't let them get away with it, and again, start talking to each other.

Speaker A
Identity politics and critical race theory are to blame. Republican Congressman Tim Burchett went on Fox News and he said, the problem is Dei, because Dei led to someone I guess he's talking about the director of secret service, who's a woman, saying that she was only hired because of Dei, and that's what's to blame.

Speaker D
Same thing. How the hell did he get on top of that roof? If you look at the pictures, he didn't go through the top of the roof. There had to be a ladder or something. Somebody really dropped the ball. You've got a Dei basically person, a DEI initiative person who heads up our secret service.

You know, she was working at Pepsi before this. I know she was a former secret service agent. But still, this is what happens when you don't put the best players in. It's a yemenite.

Speaker A
So there is the suggestion that a DeI hire of a woman to run secret Service is what is to blame here. And then we have some other examples. JD Vance quote on Twitter today is not just some isolated incident. The central premise of the Biden campaign is that Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to President Trump's attempted assassination. Of course, the reality is that President Trump is a candidate who should be stopped at the cost of voting him out. That has been the message from the left. It's really wild that a 20 year old white male registered republican gun enthusiast shoots at Trump and Republicans blame women, dei critical race theory and identity politics. Now, here's the reality. Trump and his followers, more importantly, including his endorsed politicians and cabinet officials, they've all been using and spreading violent rhetoric for a very long time. The lead author of Project 2025 on Steve Bannon's podcast said, it's on the left to make the revolution bloodless. The left might make it so we have to get them bloody.

Trump with years of calls to violence, legitimizing the use of violence, orchestrating January 6, and then saying, those criminal, violent criminals, they're actually hostages, they're actually patriots. Republicans don't really need any of the conspiracy theories that are spreading about this shooting for us to actually say, hey, look. Look at the rhetoric. They blamed antifa when it was January 6 and Trump rioters that were doing it. Trump suggested once that the Second Amendment people deal with Hillary Clinton, they're against gun safety laws that maybe would have done something to prevent this guy from having what he had. We don't know that, but it's a possibility.

There is alarming rhetoric about political retribution being acceptable. And Trump talking for a year now about, I don't think the American people are going to stand for XYZ alluding to violence there. If you regularly suggest that there is validity to violence for political influence, then all of a sudden there are going to be people willing to do violence, and that has not been coming from the left. So of course, as is always the case with these situations, we have to blame the person who did the thing.

But then when Republicans come out and say Dei and Biden are the reason this happened, what about the eight years of violent rhetoric from their side? And if you ignore it, you do so because you want to bury your head in the sand and not talk about what's going on. Now, after the break, after the break, we're going to look at some of the more specific examples of these calls to violence and we will talk about the political implications. This is it. It's always a sensitive moment after any tragic event. And also we're in the middle of the Biden cognitive situation, RNC, DNC, presidential election, many thoughts from different people about what this does to the campaign.

I'll give you mine after this very short break.

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Sign up at join pacman.com and you can use the coupon code SaveDemocracy 24 for a discount. You know, Republicans are suddenly confused about why someone might get violent and decide to take things into their own hands and shoot at former President Trump. As we now know. Of course, the assassination attempt failed to take out Trump, but it did lead to the tragic death of another individual in the audience, injuring an additional individual. And it's important when we think about these things to feel comfortable saying, I denounce and am against the shooting against Trump and any shooting and using violence to solve political problems or to prevent politicians from coming to power. I'm against all of it. And also, we can't ignore the extraordinarily violent rhetoric that has become casual. It almost doesn't even raise eyebrows for many people anymore because it is constant. Just as a reminder from the last few, I guess we would say few years, here are just a bunch of the little jokes from Trump about becoming violent and roughing people up at rallies and the entire thing I like to.

Speaker B
Punch him in the face, I'll tell you. I don't know if I'll do the fighting myself or if other people will. The third group, I'll be a little more violent. If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them. Would you seriously, okay, just knock the hell. I promise you I will pay for the legal fees. I promise. I love the old days. You know what they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this? They'd be carried out on a stretcher, folks.

Speaker A
Okay? And then now visually reminding us this little video that Trump said that the second amendment people maybe could do something about Hillary Clinton, it is critical. It is critical because now they're all going crazy. They're all, hey, you know what? I'm genuinely glad that Trump's okay, although someone else died, okay? I'm genuinely glad Trump's okay, because this is not the way to win politically. But the Charlie Kirks and the Tucker Carlsons and it's hundreds of them that are now all over social media saying, this is what the Democrats have sown with their violent rhetoric. What violent rhetoric? What violent rhetoric? And for every anecdotal thing you can find by searching Twitter archives for some isolated thing from someone on the left, the right has not only carried out the rhetoric of constant alluding to violence, but they've also carried out a whole bunch of violence, including the January 6 riots, of course, near the top of that list. And so many of these other events, the pipe bomber, we could go on and on and on with the list. So it is a sort of complicated and delicate time because how do you respond, given that this now is, it appears to be intra right wing violence, Republicans and MAGA and Trump talking about violence as a legitimate political tool and then a registered pro gun Republican going out and doing violence against Trump, we don't yet know the motive, specifically as of the time of this shooting, it's republican on republican violence.

And they just want to talk about, oh, this is Biden's fault or whatever. So it's a delicate time because particularly if you're in a position of power as a democratic elected official right now, as is Joe Biden, you don't want to be perceived as being number one in any way appearing to endorse what took place, which, of course, no Democrats have done.

And also, you need to strike the right tone because there is a campaign going on, but we are coming together as Americans against violence. And so the tone is sort of difficult to strike. I think Biden did a pretty good job of it, making three public statements, one on the day that this happened, and then two more statements yesterday, Sunday, one from the Oval Office, one I think from the Roosevelt rumor, some other part of the White House. He is making it clear this is not the way we do politics. He is doing everything he can to get Donald Trump as much protection as is possible. This is not the way to win elections. He has suspended campaign ads and the entire thing. There is a practical question here as to what does happen to the campaign, and there are wide ranging opinions about how this impacts the campaign. And that's what I want to talk about next. Many are declaring it's over or it's Jova, meaning it's over for Joe.

After the failed assassination attempt of Donald Trump, many of those claiming that this assassination attempt helps Trump are focusing in on Trump as the victim, on Trump as the martyr, on the image of Trump holding his fist in the air with his ear bleeding and being escorted out by Secret Service from the shooting and then going and playing golf the next day. And he's so strong and powerful and all of these different things. First of all, as far as the imagery goes, Trump just got lucky, okay?

He just got lucky. If the bullet were one inch over, Trump's dead and that's it. No toughness would have changed that. And that's an important aspect of this to consider.

That being said, it seems that at first glance, it would be obvious that this helps Donald Trump. There are a bunch of people saying, don't talk about that, David. You'll make it a reality if you say it. I'm going to tell you again, this is not a show that is affiliated with the DNC or anything like that, where I calculate what I say for PR benefit, I just talk about what's going on. And one of the things that's going on, and I saw it during my live stream about this on Saturday, and I've been getting emails about it. One contingent says, this absolutely helps Donald Trump.

It makes it seem as though they are, they hate him so much that they're coming after him. They want blood. And we need to now counteract that by saying, you know what? You're not going to get him and we're going to make him president. Now, the truth is, for most people who understand that Trump was a disaster of a president, this doesn't change anything. Did, did. Even for a second, it crossed my mind. Oh, they tried to kill Trump. They, a Republican, tried to kill Trump. Now I'm going to vote for Trump. Of course, nothing. Of course not. And I've heard exclusively from people in my audience who say it doesn't affect my vote. But I do think generically, this is probably good for Trump. I think if you want to make that case as strongly as possible, you would say that there are sort of people on the periphery, you know, right leaning folks who didn't really like Trump, who were thinking, maybe I'll vote Trump, maybe I stay home. There's probably a group of those people who say, you know what, even though Trump's not my favorite, I'm a Republican, Trump's a Republican, I'm going to show up now because I see that as fighting back against this attempt on Trump's life. Ok, that that's a possibility.

There's another side to this, though, and the other side is this, again, reinforces chaos, follows Trump indictments, civilly liable rapisthe convictions. Is he going to prison? Is he not going to prison? What's it just, it's chaos all around him. And comparatively, it's very calm with Joe Biden. And you can argue that a Republican trying to kill the republican nominee is another example of just the utter chaos that surrounds Donald Trump.

Now, there's another counter counterpoint, which is, David, as you talked about, a pro gun Republican tries to kill the republican president. That doesn't give Trump a leg up. It makes people realize the republican party is completely broken, it's nonfunctional.

And therefore, this actually dissuades me from voting for Trump.

I'm extremely concerned about what happens next. I don't know what happens next, but where I would leave it is you don't have to vote Trump just because he got shot, but you can still denounce the shooting and political violence while recognizing just because that happened, it doesn't mean Trump's a better option than Biden.

We will track the polling.

The lead for Trump had grown to 3.3 after the debate. It's now down to 2.7. So 18% of Trump's lead nationally has evaporated over the last few days. We don't have any polling since the failed assassination attempt. We're going to follow it. I want to address briefly the explosion in conspiracy theories about the assassination attempt attempt on Trump's life.

I was genuinely concerned and a little surprised by the abundance of conspiracy theories during my livestream on Saturday. As we were learning the details of what had happened, individuals saying, this was obviously staged by Trump, others saying, this was obviously staged by Biden. Where I start are a couple different places.

Are there questions about lapses in security and how this happened? Sure, we're still learning about that. We'll talk about it a little bit later on the show.

Is there a motive case to be made that Trump could have the motive to stage something or Biden could have the motive to stage or be behind something like this. As I've said before, you can find motive, at least ostensibly, almost anywhere. But we don't go with motive alone. Absent any real evidence right now, I don't see any evidence that this was a staged or planned event in any way. Let's talk about the staged by Trump to help himself. The argument for it was staged by Trump includes some combination of.

Trump didn't even really seem scared.

It grazed his ear. We don't even really know if that was a bullet. When Trump's hand first came away from his ear, it wasn't bloody, so he got blood from somewhere. It was fake blood. Secret Service didn't immediately rush him off the stage, which they would normally do.

Um, Trump was scared that if Biden got replaced, whoever replaces Biden's going to crush Trump. So that's why he staged it. It's sort of stuff like this. A lot of it is conjecture, and conjecture alone. Other elements of it can be debunked. The reason Secret Service didn't immediately get Trump off the stage, but rather hid him behind the lectern. It's pretty simple from what I've seen, it's that the shooter was still active and they wanted to neutralize the shooter before. Before moving Trump. So agents surrounded Trump. Once you hear them say the shooter is down, then they move. Trump kind of disarms that one. Trump didn't really have blood when his hand came away from his ear. If you look at high resolution zoomed in pictures that have now been released, it certainly looks to me like Trump does have blood on his hand when it comes away from his ear. So a lot of these are details that if you throw them all out. There you go, wow, look at ten different details. Individually, a bunch of them just turned out not to be true, but they then go back to just motive. Trump staged it to make himself look like the hero. The photo op with the raised fist or whatever. Okay, we have no evidence of that. The other side says, you know, this would really be something. Biden would orchestrate the heat on Biden. For the cognitive concerns from the debate performance. The heat was getting too hot. Biden needed something to take attention away from that. So it is Biden who staged this.

Of course, that raises the question of, did Biden stage it to deliberately graze Trump's ear and give him a great photo op? Because that doesn't sound good for Biden. Was was it staged by Biden? And it was meant to kill Trump, but the shooter failed. Why would they pick that shooter? Obviously it falls apart completely and the motive story really goes both ways. You can find motive if you want to, to make either case. There is no evidence of either right now. The evidence is another radicalized gun nut and some real questions about possible security failures, which we will talk about a little later. If it changes, I'll tell you, but the speculation, including by some relatively prominent people, seems very, very irresponsible. Let's take a quick break and be right back.

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Go to pia vpn.com David the link is in the podcast notes just days after avoiding being killed by about an inch during a failed assassination attempt, Donald Trump gets some good political news that Florida judge Eileen Cannon, who was selected by Trump and seen as friendly to Trump and on and on, has dismissed the Trump classified documents case. Judge Eileen Cannon handed down her decision just hours ago.

This is a major win, a major win for the former president. The Florida judge overseeing Trump's classified documents trial has dismissed the entire case against Trump on the grounds that the appointment of and funding for special counsel Jack Smith was illegal. District Judge Eileen Cannon, nominated by Trump to the bench, said in her 93 page decision Smith's appointment was unlawful and unconditional. The clerk is directed to close the case, this coming on day one of the Republican National Convention, of course, at which Trump will be formally received as the nominee, and following an assassination attempt on Trump over the weekend, White House spokesman didn't really have anything to say. Trump's lawyers argued in court papers that the appointments clause of the Constitution doesn't permit the attorney general to appoint, without the Senate confirming a private citizen and like minded political ally to wield the prosecutorial power of the US.

As such, Jack Smith lacks the authority to prosecute this action. It seems as though the judge agreed to the special counsel's team on it for its own defense said that the attorney general does have statutes, statutory authority to appoint what are called inferior officers, and that previous court decisions have affirmed that the arguments by Trump's legal team were previously raised unsuccessfully with other special counsels. They tried this exact same argument against Robert Mueller, who ran the Russia investigation in 2016.

From here, Smith can appeal this to the 11th Circuit Federal appeals court. That court will certainly hear the case. We don't know it will be expedited. This is yet another dagger in the possibilities of Trump trials going to trial before the election, never mind getting results before the election, or whatever the case may be, the judge throwing it out.

What does all of this shape up to mean as far as the politic, the political impact, the politics of this decision?

I don't know that it's significant.

We already saw that the 34 guilty verdicts don't seem to really have moved the polling very much, although some argue it moved the polling. It's just not reflected in the polling. But there's voter preferences. They are less strongly behind Donald Trump, or these are arguments that are outside of the data. So it's very hard to make an argument one way or the other for that. But certainly the totality of the last three weeks, you have to believe overall pushes Trump closer to winning in November. Unless, unless you take a structural approach in which you look at it and you say incumbents in general still get reelected, the economy's good. You know, this is the sort of Alan Lichtman keys to the presidency argument. I'm going to be very upfront with everybody. I have absolutely no idea.

We already had an unprecedented situation.

It was already unprecedented given the charges and guilty verdicts against Trump, a rematch of a previous election with the nominee being a guy who previously was president. It's all, that scenario was already an n of one.

Now with the failed assassination attempt, the aftermath of the Biden debate, all of it, and then now this.

It's extraordinarily difficult to make a sober prediction as to what the likely impact of all of this is going to be. It's hard to imagine how all of this is bad for Trump.

But those arguing it's obviously good for Trump may be going beyond what the facts can tell us at this point in time. So a victory, legally, certainly for Trump, it will be appealed. We will see where it goes. I want to ask you a question now in the audience.

Did Tucker Carlson prove me wrong on the Trump assassination? Let me explain what I mean.

Back around Labor Day 2023, I did a video called Tucker Carlson says Trump will soon be assassinated. Tucker made the prediction that Trump would be assassinated to prevent him from being president again. Here is what Tucker said at the time. What do you think the future holds?

Is it.

Speaker C
I don't know.

Speaker A
I mean, are they going to let Trump be president?

Speaker C
Of course. I mean, look, if, you know, they protested him. They called him names. He won anyway. They impeached him twice on ridiculous pretenses. They fabricated a lot about what happened on January 6 in order to impeach him again. It didn't work. He came back. Then they indicted him. It didn't work. He became more popular. Then they indicted him three more times. And every single time, his popularity rose. So if you begin with criticism, then you go to protest, then you go to impeachment. Now you go to indictment, and none of them work. What's next? I mean, you know, graph it out, man.

We're speeding toward assassination, obviously, and no one will say that, but I don't know how you can reach that conclusion. You know what I mean? Like, they have decided permanent Washington, both parties have decided that there's something about Trump that's so threatening to them, they just can't have him. I mean, they're putting him on trial in March of next year in the j six case, which basically consists of trying to send him to prison for the rest of his life for complaining about the last election. That's literally what it is.

Again, if this were happening in Moldova, the State Department would issue an all hands on deck order to let the world know this is not a legitimate government, and yet our government is doing it. It's like it, it's, it's really, it's hard to overstate how bad this is. And I'm not, I don't, I don't know where it's going, but there's a collision that's clearly imminent. And by the way, the president is senile in a way that's impossible to deny.

Speaker A
So, listen, the problem here with Tucker's little story where he says, you know, they tried to impeach and then they indicted, and then they're going to try to kill the guy.

The individual who tried to kill Trump was a pro gun Republican and not in any way related to the whole machine that they claim tried to impeach and then indict and then steal the election, or whatever the case may be. So at the time, I said, Tucker knows Trump is not likely to be assassinated, given the protection around him. The odds of Trump being assassinated are very low now due to what appear to be some pretty grave security failures at the Butler, Pennsylvania rally, by an inch. Trump was not assassinated. I also said at the time, maybe someone will try to kill Trump. From Tucker's audience, hearing him say it through the means we call stochastic terrorism. And Tucker might realize Trump could be more useful as a martyr to the cause, which happens to be what Alex Jones said just a few months ago. And we will talk about that a little later as well. So I got a few emails saying, David, you were wrong when you laughed off what Tucker Carlson said a year plus ago. You need to apart not, not quite a year ago. You need to apologize. Well, by an inch. I turned out to be right. They did try. They failed by about an inch. But in all honesty, what? Was I wrong? Do I need to apologize? If so, for what?

Let me know what you think. We will discuss the security failure aspect. We will discuss what comes next and we will discuss those who believe actually that Trump as martyr would be better for their movement.

A group of people that are increasingly displeased with Trump. That'll be after the short break. Make sure you're subscribed on YouTube@YouTube.com. slash. The David Pakman show Health is never one size fits all, which is why I'm so glad to tell you about our sponsor, Wild Health, which takes a proactive and preventative approach to healthcare called precision medicine. They use your genetics, biometrics and lifestyle data to help you figure out what is your specific body need for nutrition, exercise, sleep, supplements and more, with the goal being just function at your best now and in the long run. And if you're struggling with stress or your cortisol level, which is the primary stress hormone, maybe that's elevated. 50% of all wild health patients have seen cortisol levels improve.

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That's wildhealth.com pacman. The link is in the podcast notes.

One of our sponsors today is Zipix nicotine toothpicks. Zipix brings you a convenient alternative to smoking and vaping, and the vape clouds the ashtrays, the thing in your lip that people can see. I've seen that around. This is an easier and less messy way to curb the cravings, and you can use Zipix just about anywhere. Zipix is available in six flavors with two or three milligrams strength. The nicotine and the flavor are long lasting, and Zipix has helped countless people kick the bad habits. And they are bad habits. Zipix toothpicks are FDA registered. Their customer service is second to none. It is one of the most cost effective alternatives. Also, check out their b twelve and caffeine toothpicks. See for yourself why so many people have switched to Zipix toothpicks. You can only get Zipix online. Go to zipixtoothpix.com today. Save 10% with the code Pacman ten at checkout. Just remember, you must be 21 or older to order. That's zip. Pixtoothpix.com. use promo code Pacman ten at checkout for 10% off. That's Pacman ten. The info is in the podcast notes the United States Secret Service is taking a ton of heat for what happened in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday, where 20 year old Thomas Brooks Crooks was able to climb onto a neighboring rooftop, sort of shielded by some tree branches, and get off. A number of shots in the direction of former President Trump, grazing Trump's ear, but killing one other person in the crowd and injuring an additional person. Now, as is often the case, you'll remember when Covid started.

All of a sudden, everybody's an immunologist, everybody's a virologist, er, physician. You know, it's, it was crazy, the number of armchair experts that we saw. We are seeing something very similar when it comes to the Trump assassination attempt. People talking about angles and secret service protocol, law enforcement, smoking gun videos, grassy knolls and all of it. It's really too early at this point to explain exactly what happened and what went wrong. Wrong. And there are some who argue nothing necessarily went wrong. A lot of this is protocol. There's open carry in Pennsylvania. So simply having a rifle doesn't necessarily mean everybody has their view. There's a few different things now that have come forward.

One big question is how was the would be assassin of Trump did assassinate someone else? How is the would be assassin of Trump able to crawl onto a rooftop vantage point, armed with a rifle and led off a number of shots towards the podium and lectern, where Trump was in an area that was supposedly, supposedly cleared? There's kind of a viral interview on BBC with an individual pictured here, if you're watching today, where this guy said, we saw the dude with the rifle climbing up and we started trying to signal to local law enforcement. One guy went up and the report is one police officer went up, the shooter turned and pointed the rifle at him, and then the officer went back down. And as we know what ultimately ensued, the shooter was able to get a number of shots off and ultimately was neutralized, killed by snipers on another rooftop closer to where Trump was on stage. So that's one aspect to this that we don't have an answer to at this point in time. Why were agents not deployed on every nearby rooftop in other words, shouldn't the rooftop that was used to by the shooter, shouldn't that have been manned by snipers or agents? Anyway? Now, one of the things that's already starting to happen is that Secret Service is shifting the blame to local police. And so this is another aspect of this was the mistake to rely on local police. Some individuals zooming in on the snipers that were on the rooftop near Trump that ultimately took out the shooter, saying, that seems to be local police.

That doesn't seem to be Secret Service. I don't know that that's been proven. So a couple of different things here.

The list of alleged mistakes is long.

Rooftop not secured, no snipers on that roof. Local police not reacting to people pointing, there's a guy there with a gun on the roof. The police officer reportedly going up and then retreating. Uh, questions as to there it is being asserted. And again, when it's so early, we have to be careful about what we say. It is being asserted that the snipers that ultimately did take out the shooter saw him far earlier than they engaged him and were not being given permission. Is that true? It will all come out in some sense. In some sense, when you're talking about protecting a president or former president, and this is the absolute highest level of security that anyone is capable of.

By definition, the fact that this happened represents a failure. So that is, that. That is not an untrue statement to make. On the other hand, a lot of the specific claims and statements that are being made are being made absent an investigation that that really should be done. And part of all of this is inextricably wrapped up with the conspiracy theorizing. The fact that we don't yet have answers to all these questions is creating more conspiracy theories. The interview with the BBC, the guy on BBC, this gentleman, immediately when he said, you know, we were yelling to law enforcement, saying, look, look, and law enforcement didn't do anything. That initial claim made a lot of people say, see, it was staged. Law enforcement knew about it, so they stood down, when, in fact, what it seems like happened is one officer went up, had a gun pointed at him from someone on a roof, and immediately went down because they believed, rightly or wrongly, that there was nothing that they could do at that immediate point. We just don't know yet. We just don't know yet. But I would resist the urge to theorize conspiratively beyond what the evidence tells us. I want to show you some video here from the Alex Jones show.

And this really goes, when we, when we look at some of the conspiracy, theorizing about motive with regard to the attempted assassination on Trump. When we go to who benefits from a successful or failed assassination against the former president? A five months ago, Alex Jones and Infowars guest Ivan Raikland talked about how assassinating Trump would be beneficial because it would open the door to sort of retaliate the retaliatory assassinations of a deep state list that includes Biden. In other words, Ivan Raikland here, and Alex Jones seriously said the way we might be able to kill Biden would be by Trump getting killed first. This is five months ago. Take a listen to this. And then just, just remember, this is all in the context of who do we believe benefits? Who does benefit? Okay, take a look.

Speaker F
This is a message directly to every single person on the deep state target list. My assessment, Ivan Raikland's assessment that if you assassinate any political presidential candidate, whether it's RFK, whether it's Trump, guess what? America will do the following.

Immediately. They will respond in kind and they know who you are because we've created the list.

Speaker G
So if you, and that's a major Rubicon, they should know that immediately you're.

Speaker F
Going to see immediate response. And there are only a few buildings in Washington, DC that they will probably do that.

Speaker G
Well, I hope that's not the case, but these people are crazy.

Speaker F
And having said that, if they do that, option two behind Trump is going to be so much better for us and so much worse.

Speaker G
I was about to say, if they.

Speaker A
Think about that and now they really get into it, their belief is Trump's okay, but he's not great. And Alex Jones has been increasingly displeased with Trump. Now they get into, if we get Trump out of the way, it may actually be better for our movement, whatever that movement is.

Speaker G
Kill him. That's best case scenario. From a sick level. From a sick level, meeting him, oh, please, kill him, which I don't, I mean, but it's so good after that.

Speaker F
It'S going to be the best cleansing and the fastest cleansing that we've ever seen in my lifetime.

I assess with almost certainty, with the highest level of confidence that if they assassinate Trump, it is so game over for them and it's going to be so fast.

Speaker A
So this is another, we're starting to put pieces together.

When we learned that it was a Republican who shot Trump, well, it must somehow be the fault of the left, despite the fact that it's been the right pushing violent rhetoric for eight years or longer.

But is there any plausible explanation for why a Republican might want to go after Trump? Well, it's the same stuff that we've been hearing from Alex Jones, from Nick Fuentes when out, when Trump goes, I don't know anything about project 2025, and they get furious. They go, what we want Trump to put in project 2025, he's not going to.

Here is an example that has nothing to do with the left. This is rhetoric from the right. Republican shooter, republican presidential candidate, has nothing to do with anybody on the left. That plausibly explains what their view is. Now here's one other clip from this wacked show.

They play the so called deep state target list. And you'll see if you're watching the list of the people they really like to target includes Biden, Hakeem Jeffries, Mike Pence and others. And remember, the whole idea here is if they kill Trump, it becomes open season on the people we really want to kill.

Speaker F
And I got that. Remember that deep state target list that I introduced you to last time I was on the show? I got a quick video that goes into a little bit more detail if you want to play that.

Speaker G
Do they have that?

Speaker F
Yeah, they do.

Speaker G
Guys, you have his video?

Speaker F
It's two minutes and 31 seconds.

Speaker G
Well, let's roll it.

Speaker D
Here it is.

Speaker G
Mainly for video. They're long rangers.

Speaker F
I'll talk it through then for the radio.

Speaker G
Yeah, you got, you got the receipts.

Speaker A
All right, so it's Biden, Comey, John Brennan.

Speaker F
Now, basically what we're looking at here is a list of video with the snapshots of the Twitter accounts of the.

Speaker A
The bill and Hillary Clinton of our.

Speaker F
Deep state target list, where we're gonna go after every single digital piece of evidence.

Speaker A
It's a crazy list. It's hard to even keep up with it. Senator Lindsey Graham is on the list.

Speaker F
Residue that they left on the.

Yep. To showcase their seditious conspiracy. There's the treason category. There's the sedition category. Again, those that unmasked Flynn, the 39 of them that have Twitter accounts, the 51 that provided cover for the Biden criminal syndicate laptop there.

Speaker A
Okay, so let's, you don't need to see this entire thing. It's, you know, they've got John Bolton that everybody's on this list of the people they really want to kill.

What's the point here? The point is, absent any real evidence that this was an event inspired by the rhetoric of the left, which has not been violent or in any way related to that, is it even plausible that there would be a reason that a Republican would want to eliminate Trump. Is it plausible? We're not saying the reason is this worldview that we got from Alex Jones and his buddy here.

The, the answer is yes. There is, there is a large contingent of the right that believes Trump is not enough. What they really want, that Trump is actually an impediment to getting what they really want in power, that in a sense, Trump is like a patsy, where you might be able to use him for some things, but not for others, and that there's some real better way of going about this.

That is a view which, on conspiracy sites and places that are upset that Trump claimed not to know what project 2025 is, they've drawn a line to why it would be good for them as right wingers to eliminate Donald Trump.

That's the important message we anxiously await, if we can figure it out, knowing the real motive of the man who tried to assassinate Donald Trump. We have a voicemail number, and that number is 2192. David P. Here is a caller, one who is a sort of off and on again, off again, off again, on again regular caller, who says, you know what? The fact that they tried to kill Trump, this actually makes me now really want to vote for the guy, which makes very little sense, but I'll play it for you.

Speaker E
Well, congratulations, my friend. Congratulations.

After yesterday's debacle and problem and horrible events against Trump, I spent the last 5 hours with Trump supporters at an intersection next to my house.

Speaker A
Why?

Speaker E
I got some free flags, stickers.

Heck, I even got some free food.

And you know what?

I'm going to start going to all of these get togethers where they start, you know, doing all the flag movements and all that stuff in the intersections.

And I might start going to rallies if it's next to my house, I'm not going to travel because I can afford it.

And yeah, yesterday's events have finally converted me to a maga.

Speaker A
Okay, tell me why.

Speaker E
So now I'm a maggot. I'm a maggot, my friend. I'm a maggot. I'm a Trumpist. I've become a Trumpist.

I have finally been moved to the right. I wonder how far right I'll become.

Speaker A
I don't understand why a Republican trying to kill Trump makes this guy more of a Republican. I just. It's. I'm not understanding. But maybe he'll explain.

Speaker E
Maybe I'll start becoming, I don't know, some weird fascist or something. I mean, all these words have really lost any value, any meaning, because they use them so freely. And so loosely. But yeah, I spent close to 5 hours.

And it was fun, bro. It was really fun.

And Biden has 0% chance of me voting for him.

And no matter how you try to.

Speaker A
Spend it, the funny thing is, I'm not trying to, I'm trying to figure out why this guy says a Republican trying to kill Trump has made me not want to vote for Biden. And now I'm definitely going to go more right wing. I wish he could explain it.

Speaker E
This was a plot against Trump because they couldn't silence him.

They couldn't destroy him financially enough. So this was the last option. The last option.

So, yeah, congratulations.

Your argument and the argument of the left have moved me further to the right.

Speaker A
I don't know what the argument of the left is when it comes to a republican shooting Trump. I just don't get it. So listen, that's an example of someone who has no idea what's going on.

They are morally confused. They are ethically confused. They don't know anything. They're just like, I don't know, I'm a maggot now.

But the problem is, even if it makes no sense what he's saying, and it makes no sense what he's saying, there may be other people who react in exactly the same way.

And how we counteract that, what we do about that, I don't really know. So on the bonus show today, what happens with the RNC? The Republican National Convention starts today. What happens with political campaigning, which has, in a sense, been suspended the RNC this week? So Trump's not campaigning. Biden said he was suspending campaign campaigning for the time being as well. Campaign ads and so on and so forth. What happens after the Trump shooting? What becomes the new normal in this environment? We will discuss all of that and more on today's bonus show. Also, I'll give you an update of what's going on with my book forthcoming, which has been unbeknownst to me. Now I know about it, but unbeknownst to me, released on Amazon and elsewhere. For pre order all of those things and more on today's bonus show, sign up at join pacman.com. you can use the coupon code savedemocracy 24 for a discount. And remember that the free Project 2025 white paper is available@davidpakman.com.

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