Primary Topic
This episode focuses on the major political development of President Joe Biden announcing his decision not to seek reelection, sparking a scramble within the Democratic Party and causing a tumultuous response from Donald Trump.
Episode Summary
Main Takeaways
- President Biden will not seek reelection, endorsing Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee.
- The announcement has led to significant political and public reactions, including a boost in support and fundraising for Harris.
- Trump's response to Biden's decision has been erratic, marked by conspiracy theories and attacks.
- The Democratic Party faces a crucial period of reorganization and rallying around a new candidate.
- The episode underscores the intense polarization and strategic maneuvering occurring in American politics.
Episode Chapters
1: Biden's Announcement
President Joe Biden announces his decision not to seek reelection, endorsing Kamala Harris and setting off a major political shift. This chapter explores the immediate impacts of his announcement and the strategic reasons behind his decision. David Pakman: "This is not Trump first, this is not Biden first, and it makes it now a referendum on Trump."
2: Democratic Reaction and Strategy
The Democratic Party's reaction to Biden's decision, including support for Harris and the strategic reorientation needed to support a new nominee. David Pakman: "Democrats, it's time to come together and beat Trump. Let's do this."
3: Trump's Meltdown
Trump's tumultuous reaction to Biden's announcement, characterized by public outbursts and strategic missteps. David Pakman: "Trump is terrified about having to run against Kamala Harris, and he should be."
Actionable Advice
- Stay Informed: Keep up-to-date with political developments to make informed decisions during election seasons.
- Engage Politically: Participate in the democratic process through voting, volunteering, and advocacy.
- Critical Thinking: Evaluate news and political statements critically, especially during heated political times.
- Support Democratic Processes: Engage in supportive actions that uphold democratic values and processes.
- Community Engagement: Discuss political changes and their implications within your community to foster a well-informed electorate.
About This Episode
-- On the Show:
-- President Joe Biden announces that he is pulling out of the 2024 Presidential race and will not run for re-election, opening the door for VP Kamala Harris or another Democrat to take his place and unleashing chaos into the presidential election
-- Donald Trump has a complete and total meltdown over President Joe Biden stepping aside in the 2024 race
-- Political donations pour in for Kamala Harris in the hours after President Biden announces he will not seek re-election in 2024
-- Republicans will now demand and try to force President Joe Biden to resign altogether after his announcement that he will not run for re-election
-- With Joe Biden stepping aside, Donald Trump is now the oldest presidential nominee in American history, leading some to ask whether he is too old
-- Fox News propagandist Sean Hannity tries to attack Kamala Harris, but doesn't really have anything to attack her over
-- Donald Trump holds a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan that goes horribly wrong
-- Republican Senator Ron Johnson suggests to Fox host Maria Bartiromo that there was a "second shooter" in Donald Trump's assassination attempt
-- Eric Trump wildly claims without evidence that Democrats were behind the assassination attempt of his father in which a Republican shot a Republican
-- Voicemail caller is stunned by how quickly voters and the media narrative has moved on from Joe Biden after his announcement about not running in 2024
-- On the Bonus Show: Exploring Kamala Harris' potential vice-presidential picks, White House pushes rent cap for housing, Hunter Biden drops lawsuit against Fox News, much more...
People
Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Donald Trump
Companies
None
Books
None
Guest Name(s):
None
Content Warnings:
None
Transcript
David Pakman
Welcome, everybody. You know, we almost didn't do a show today. There were just, I was looking at the news and didn't see anything to talk about. So we got together and we said, do we really need a show today? And I figured, I'll do one, but there's really not that much to talk about. So it'll be very boring. No, of course, in the last 24 hours, we had some of the most notable, a historic moment, really, in the last decades, at least, of american political history. President Joe Biden has announced he will not seek reelection and will not accept the nomination for president of the Democratic Party. This came after weeks, but really months, but most acutely weeks of speculation and positioning and jockeying and so many different things, including significant kind of balkanization of the Democratic Party, at least online and at least as far as I was hearing from people, but announced on x, some call it an excretion, some call it a tweet where Joe Biden said yesterday, my fellow Democrats, I have decided not to accept the nomination and to focus all my energies on my duties as president for the remainder of my term. My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my VPN. And it's the best, it's been the best decision I've made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats, it's time to come together and beat Trump. Let's do this. The White House and Biden also putting out a more formal letter where he says, my fellow Americans, over the past three and a half years, we have made great progress as a nation.
That's true. Today, America has the strongest economy in the world. We've made historic investments in rebuilding our nation, lowering prescription drug costs for seniors, expanding affordable health care to a record number of Americans. He goes on to tout accomplishments and says, I know none of this would have been done without you, the american people. Together, we overcame a once in a century pandemic and the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. We've protected and preserved democracy and revitalized and strengthened our alliances around the world. It has been a great honor, he says. And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term. I will speak to the nation later this week in more detail about my decision. He expresses gratitude, etcetera. Trump and Republicans wasted their entire convention attacking a guy who was no longer their opponent. Now, this will not be easy, but it could work. Just because Biden endorses Harris doesn't mean she has to be the nominee. I would be fine with an open process. You know, I was getting texts yesterday from other hosts and pundits and different people. Everybody's saying, David, are you, do you want an open convention or do you want Harris? Well, I would love an open convention. And I believe Kamala Harris will win the nomination. Money pouring into her.
Pouring into her after the endorsement by Joe Biden. And we will talk about that later. We have a statement from Kamala Harris as well, where she thanks President Biden for his extraordinary leadership, says it's been a profound honor to serve as his vp and is grateful to his entire family, talks about how they first met. She says, I am honored to have the president's endorsement, and my intention is to earn and win this nomination. Earn and win this nomination, saying there are 107 days left until election day. Together we will fight and together we will win.
Note that the talk for months from people about Biden has to get out. The people that are now patting themselves on the back. I don't think that did a damn thing. What it ultimately took is the american people just seeing what's going on. The american people, not some fear mongering pundits. The american people on June 27 watched the debate and said, this isn't so good. We're concerned. And then the american people saw the Biden press conference and the George Stephanopoulos interview, and donors lost confidence and stopped donating. That's what it was.
Now, I will tell you, I see the decision here by President Biden as quite brave. He is actually choosing what's best for the country over himself. He's reportedly not happy and who would be? But he has made a decision that seemed to be the only decision remaining. And I know that there were people who were yelling at me all weekend, even up until yesterday, minutes before this decision was made, saying, David, you disgust me. He's not going anywhere. We must be riding with Biden. And you're part of the problem for even mentioning. I came to you at the beginning and I said, if at any point I come to believe that the pressure has gotten to the point where it is likely President Biden will step aside, I will tell you, I got to that point last Thursday, and I told you, and I said, this might be coming Sunday or Monday, and it did. And so many people were just attacking me as if I was the problem. I believe that Joe Biden made a very difficult decision, but he chose what he believes ultimately is better for the country. He brought us the best Covid recovery among developed western nations. He brought us a sustained level of low unemployment, the likes of which we've not seen for decades. He did dozens of important things that I've enumerated before, and this really epitomizes America first.
This is not Trump first, this is not Biden first, and it makes it now a referendum on Trump. My colleague John actually texted me about this. He said, I think what's interesting about this is the election had become a referendum on Biden, on Biden's cognitive state, on Biden's achievements. And the fact that Trump's deranged and has a terrible record himself as president is no longer the question. This now puts it back to being a referendum on Trump and to some degree, a referendum on do democrats put someone forward that can win? Now you are going to see over the next several weeks the opportunities for the racial gaffes and the misogynist gaffes against Kamala Harris by Trump and others.
I believe that we are already seeing examples of that. The age gap as the Republican Party is now putting forward the oldest presidential nominee in american history. I say that tongue in cheek. Of course, Biden would have been the oldest nominee if he accepted the nomination. He didn't. So indeed, Trump will now be the oldest nominee in american history.
In two to three weeks. I believe it will be a completely revitalized ecosystem. It will almost be like Joe Biden never ran. Republicans are terrified. Trump is terrified. He's having a meltdown. Let's talk about that next.
The right, or better said, the correct reaction from Trump and MAGA to the news that Joe Biden is stepping aside and that a new, obviously younger candidate, be it Kamala Harris or someone else, is coming forward, should terrify Trump. And it is terrifying. Trump. Trump having a complete and total childish poop in the sandbox so nobody else can use it. Tantrum on truth social. He's terrified about having to run against Kamala Harris, and he should be, because she will wipe the floor with him in debates if Trump agrees to any, which he's already setting up not to because he's terrified. NEWT Gingrich, Mike Johnson, others, they are complaining this violates democracy. They are going to try to put forward legal mechanisms to keep Joe Biden's replacement off of the ballot. They are terrified, and so is Trump. Let's pick it up. Yesterday afternoon, with Trump on truth, social and the meltdown just continuing overnight. Here's Trump quote, my debate with crooked Joe Biden, the worst president in the history of the US, was slated to be broadcast on fake news ABC, the home of George Sloppa Doppelis sometime in September. Now that Joe has not surprisingly quit the race, I think the debate with whomever the radical left democrats choose should be held on Fox News rather than very biased. ABC Trump is setting up not to debate Kamala Harris if that's the nominee, because she will crush him. Trump continuing so we are forced to spend time and money on fighting crooked Joe Biden. And he polls badly after having a terrible debate and he quits the race.
Now we have to start all over again. Shouldn't the republican party be reimbursed for fraud in that everybody around Joe, including his doctors and the fake news media, knew he was not capable of running for or being president? Just asking. Trump now wants money because Biden is not going to be the nominee. Can you imagine? Trump continuing? It's not over. Tomorrow, crooked Joe Biden's going to wake up and forget that he dropped out of the race today.
Trump continuing with, quote, Biden never had Covid he is a threat to democracy. And then picking up on the Biden should resign angle which we will delve into in more detail shortly. Trump saying, quote, who's running our capital C country right now? It's not crooked Joe. He has no idea where he is. If he can't run for office, he can't run our country.
Then this morning, Trump continuing and just absolutely furious about every element of this, quote, the Democrats pick a candidate, crooked Joe Biden. He loses the debate badly, then panics and makes mistake after mistake, is told he can't win and decide they will pick another candidate, probably Harris. They stole the race from Biden after he won it in the primaries. A first. These people are the real threat to democracy. Remember that in the aftermath of the assassination against, attempt against President Trump, Trump and others were saying, calling me a threat to democracy incites violence. Now they are calling President Biden a threat to democracy by their standard. We must interpret this as them inciting violence. And then finally this morning, Donald Trump, he's probably posted more since then. But at some point I've got to get to recording the show. I can't just keep reading his troths. A Trump saying, quote, it's a new day and Joe Biden doesn't remember quitting the race yesterday. He is demanding his campaign schedule and arranging talks with Presidents Xi of China and Putin of Russia concerning the possible start of world War three. Biden is sharp, decisive, energetic, angry, and ready to go. So this guy is terrified and he is furious.
They spent all of last week and tons of money talking about all the reasons why Joe Biden would be bad if he were the nominee and ultimately became president. And Joe Biden will not be the nominee and will not be the next president. They now need to find attacks on whoever will be the democratic nominee. We don't know who that is. Although many signs are pointing to Kamala Harris. I'll tell you what those signs are. They have spent the last twelve to 16 hours trying to attack her. And here's what they got. They've got on her. She wants to ban plastic straws, and she laughs in a way that they don't like.
That's what they have so far on Kamala Harris. So I don't know what the outcome here is going to be. What I do know, what I do know is that this got to a point where the risk of sticking with Biden was as significant as the risk of changing horses midstream. And so there's going to be a change. And then as far as polling goes, without even being the nominees, Harris and many others are polling almost as well as Biden. The optimistic interpretation of that is that when one of these individuals finally is made the nominee, and the american people say, wow, a lot more energy, a lot more cognitive ability. And the alternative is the oldest presidential candidate in history.
That could give whoever is the nominee a five, eight, or even ten point boost, which would rocket them ahead of failed former President Trump. Whoever Democrats nominate, I'm sure, will not be a civilly liable rapist, will not be having cognitive issues daily as is Trump, and will not be a convicted felon. And that in 2024 already counts as a significant advantage. So let's take a very quick break. We will talk about the donations. We will talk about the effort to get whoever replaces Biden off the ballot. We're going to talk about all of it on one of the most consequential 24 hours, but also two week periods in the history of american politics. I'm glad you're here. Make sure you're subscribed to the YouTube channel@YouTube.com. slash the David Pakman show.
Money is pouring in for Kamala Harris, the biggest fundraising day of the campaign for Democrats, the day that President Joe Biden announced he would be stepping aside and not seeking nor accepting the 2024 democratic presidential nomination. You have to see these numbers and the reason we care about this, of course, is donations as a proxy to enthusiasm. In the last two weeks, we saw fundraising dry up for Joe Biden, and this was a great factor and ultimately determination, the determination that he made that it was time to step aside. We now have a completely different situation.
Newsweek reports democrats have biggest fundraising day hours after Kamala Harris launch.
Extraordinary, extraordinary numbers. Check this out. ActBlue putting up on twitter the announcement that, quote, small dollar donors raised over $27.5 million on act blue in the first 5 hours of Vice President Kamala Harris's presidential campaign. Grassroots supporters are energized and excited to support her as the democratic nominee. At 09:00 p.m. we got an update. Grassroots supporters have raised $46.7 million through ACt Blue following Vice President Kamala Harris's campaign launch. This has been the biggest fundraising day of the 2024 cycle.
Small dollar donors are fired up and ready to take on this election. Now, you all know I think our entire system of campaign finance is completely broken. It shouldn't be done like this. We should have public public financing of elections with a defined campaign duration, rather than starting earlier and earlier and raising more and more, more money. You all know I feel that way. If you've been watching this show, listening to the show for any period of time, but in such unprecedented circumstances, it's not unprecedented that a president says, I'm not seeking the nomination. We've had that happen before. It's not unprecedented that a president runs against a former president or that a candidate runs against a former president. Individually, most of these things have precedent. But this particular combination of events, a former president who was defeated, incited an insurrection, civilly liable rapist, convicted felonite, assassination attempt that he survives running against potentially the vice president of the guy that he lost to. I mean, this exact scenario, we have never seen. And so we must look for some kind of signal in all of the noise.
A lot of the noise is when you turn on cable news and you hear declarative statements about the obvious outcome that we are to expect from people who are just guessing. At the end of the day, something much more valuable as a proxy to enthusiasm, especially before we have any polling, is fundraising. And the fundraising numbers for Kamala Harris are absolutely stunning. Now, she's not even the nominee yet. And I am absolutely supportive of an open process at the convention. I have no problem with that based on the endorsement from Biden and the Clintons. And I don't, I'm trying to remember if the Obamas also based on the early endorsements that Kamala Harris is getting and her status as the current vice president.
If I had to guess, and again, I, I just have a little show. I have no power here. If I had to guess.
It seems as though support is uniting behind Kamala Harris already. But whoever is the nominee, I can only imagine that the fundraising excitement that serves as a proxy to enthusiasm will only grow, will only grow once we have an actual nominee. Stunning, stunning numbers. Republicans are now going to demand that President Biden resign. It's not enough for them that he said, I'm stepping aside. In fact, they're terrified about the fact that he's stepping aside because if the nominee were to be Kamala Harris or Gavin Newsom or Josh Shapiro or Gretchen Whitmer or Pete Boot Edge. Edge, or honestly, whoever is being considered right now, they would all mop the floor. Mop the floor with Donald Trump in a debate, which is probably why Donald Trump is going to have to not debate under those circumstances and is already set it setting that up. So because this is not enough for Republicans, they now are going to demand that President Biden resign. The argument they will make is, if he's not fit to run for reelection, he's not fit to be president. Of course, all Joe Biden said is, I'm not running for reelection. That's it. I think it's in the best interest of the country that I not run. They would still be in the position of having to prove that he can't be president right now. And based on the outcomes that we've seen during the presidency, I think it's going to be very difficult to prove that. So here is them taking up this line. Here is Donald Trump and JD Vance themselves in a new interview.
It's not clear in this interview whether Donald Trump is babysitting JD Vance or JD Vance is babysitting Donald Trump. But regardless, here they are pushing the idea that Biden's got to be removed now because he simply can't do it. You'd investigate the people that hid Joe Biden's condition?
Speaker B
Well, I think somebody has to look at it. Look, you had people that lied to the american public. And I'll tell you what, you ought to take a look at his doctors.
David Pakman
I'll tell you why his doctors keep.
Speaker B
Giving him this wonderful report. I'm not a doctor, but I saw him the other day, was unable to get up the children's stairs going into Air Force one.
David Pakman
Is it a coup against Joe Biden?
Speaker B
Sort of, yeah, I think it is.
David Pakman
I mean, look, there's a constitutional process, the 25th amendment. If Joe Biden can't run for president, he can't serve as president, and if they want to take him down. And of course, Joe Biden has never said, I can't run. I'm not going to run. It's not in my best interest. And of course, by the way, even if your opinion is that Biden can't run, the point here is you're not going to get a president out simply because they said they're not running for president because he's mentally incapable of serving. Invoke the 25th amendment. You don't get to sort of do this in the most politically beneficial way for democrats, if it's an actual problem, they should take care of it the appropriate way. They kind of do get to do it.
I mean, it's so funny. Oh, that's such a crazy. They, they kind of do get to do it in the most politically advantageous way. By the way, I don't think that this is it. It probably would have been more advantageous to do this previously, although the counterpoint is there is so much attention now riding on this, there's so much attention being paid and so much riding on this that maybe this is a politically advantageous time, but they are going to push this, that Biden must be forced to resign. Here's Fox News anchor Bret Baier mentioning the calls for resignation because there was a lot of questions that they didn't.
Speaker B
Have answers to until President Biden pulled out of the race. You know, we talked about it earlier, but, you know, pulling out of the race is one thing, but he's staying on as president and there will be all kinds of questions about that. And Republicans are already raising those issues. JD Vance, Speaker Johnson, others have talked about that. And I bet you'll hear louder voices in coming days.
David Pakman
So different kind of drip, drip, drip.
Speaker C
In the days ahead, we saw 37 Democrats calling for President Biden to step aside.
David Pakman
And now more and more Republicans may line up to say if he's not.
Speaker C
Fit to be the nominee, perhaps he's.
David Pakman
Not fit to serve.
Speaker D
Right.
David Pakman
They are absolutely going to be doing that. There is no question about it. And a number of other Republicans jumping on this bandwagon here is Trump's doormat, JD Vance saying, if Joe Biden ends his reelection campaign, how can he justify remaining president? Not running for reelection would be a clear admission that President Trump was right all along about Biden not being mentally fit enough to serve as commander in chief. There is no middle ground. Magamike Johnson tweeting out, quote, at this unprecedented juncture in american history, we must be clear about what just happened. The Democrat party forced the democratic nominee off the ballot 100 days before the election. Having invalidated the votes of more than 14 million Americans who selected Biden to be the Democrat nominee for president. The self proclaimed party of democracy has proven the opposite. The party's prospects are no better now with Vice President Kamala Harris, who co owns the disastrous policy failures of the Biden administration. As second in command and a completely inept border czar, Harris has been a gleeful accomplice not only in the destruction of american sovereignty, blah, blah, blah, blah, eventually getting to if Joe Biden is not fit to run for president, he is not fit to serve as president. He must resign the office immediately. November 5 cannot arrive soon enough.
They are terrified. They are terrified because this is all bad. If you simply switch from someone polling 44% against Trump, about whom all the media coverage for two weeks, three weeks has been, this guy's unfit to someone who is 20 years younger, at least roughly, and or at least than Trump, who would wipe the floor with him in a debate and is already polling 40 or 41 against them. That's a red alert emergency for Donald Trump. So they are terrified they will try to force President Biden to resign. I do not believe that they will accomplish it. And there is a very interesting new framing of Trump as a candidate that is already getting picked up, which I want to talk about next.
Is this the right time for Republicans to run?
The oldest nominee for president in american history?
I'm talking about Donald Trump. Can Trump even make it four years given his age and obesity and health situation?
Well, this is something that we are now going to be discussing. I say this to some degree, tongue in cheek. Okay. I tweeted last night, is the oldest presidential nominee in american history, Donald Trump, really what this country needs right now?
Hundreds. Just read through the responses on my twitter. Hundreds and hundreds of responses from people saying, you can't possibly be serious. David, you cuck, you're a loser for suggesting that. You got to be kidding. It's obvious satire. It's obvious satire. But, but Kamala Harris or whoever is the nominee for the Democrats will be running against the oldest nominee for president in american history. And why wouldn't you play it up? Why on earth would you not play that up? It's starting to get attention. Here is CNN's Caitlin Collins interviewing right winger, generic right winger, NPC right winger Scott Jennings. And she mentioned Trump is now, the oldest nominee that we've ever seen in us presidential histories, that is absolutely the case. You can say whatever you want about it, but he is the oldest presidential nominee ever. Here is Bakari Sellers on CNN, floating the same sort of idea, because we.
Bakari Sellers
Have work to do. And so I'm gonna be on the phone tonight, calling delegates, getting them, whipping them up, trying to get them on board for Kamala Harris. I don't think that's gonna be a difficult task in anything else the vice president needs to do. I'll be there, because right now, Kamala Harris has a work cut out for. She's running against the oldest nominee for president of the United States in american history. And so when you have this type of change election, when you have this type of generational divide that you have, it's a question of whether or not you want to go back backwards with Donald Trump or forward with Kamala Harris.
David Pakman
I love that. Is this really a safe time to take a chance with the oldest presidential nominee in american history? And I know that many of you understand and kind of join me in the satirical perspective on this, but if it works and it's true, why would you not go for that? Why would you not go for that? Listen, Joe Biden did the patriotic thing. Joe Biden did the put America first thing and said it's in the best interests of the country not to have someone who would be, what, 85, 86 at the end of the next presidential term. Joe Biden had the intelligence, wherewithal, and humility to do it. And you want us to take a chance on the oldest presidential nominee in american history? I don't think so. So, listen, let's. I don't know where this is going to go. Let's draw a line in the sandheen and say, where are we right now in general election polling? As of today, Trump versus Harris. This is only one of the possibilities, but it's looking like one of the more likely ones. Right now, it's Trump plus 1.7. So overnight, by going from Biden to potentially Harris, Trump's lead has been cut in half. Trump's lead went from 3.3 over Biden to 1.7 over Kamala Harris. This is no guarantee of anything, but it's where we are right now, and we will follow it very, very closely.
The right wing media machine, including Fox News and MAGA, spent yesterday afternoon into the evening trying to figure out how can we start attacking Kamala Harris. They are assuming, maybe rightly, maybe wrongly, that Kamala Harris will be the democratic presidential nominee replacing Joe Biden. And so they've got to start going after her as hard as they possibly can. Except they have nothing. They have nothing. Trump at his own rally making fun of her laugh, saying that it's a cackle. Sean Hannity last night using the exact same approach, making fun of how she laughs. This is their takedown of Kamala Harris.
Speaker B
Here's just one reason that voters seem to detest Kamala Harris. You decide.
Okay, so you are special, you know.
Speaker D
And is that a socialist or progressive perspective?
David Pakman
No.
I thought we were supposed to conserve things.
I couldn't reconcile it.
Speaker B
Now I can.
Yes, your giggling vice president report.
David Pakman
Here's, yeah, there you go. So she laughs. And I guess to people who have both no sense of humor and hate their lives, a vice president who laughs is a very, very bad thing. By the way, hard to say that the way you laugh is a real problem while supporting Tucker Carlson.
Right. So if we're going to open the door to how people laugh, it seems like a dangerous door to open. But this is all they have. Former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, the author of the term Alternative Facts, she went on Fox News and said that Kamala Harris doesn't speak well and doesn't work hard. And therefore, I guess people should vote for the civilly liable rapist, convicted felon. She had disastrous staff turnover as vice president. I check it on the daily, her public schedule, gentlemen, rarely has anything on it or one or two things on it. She does not speak well. She does not work hard.
Speaker B
All right, so, Kellyanne, let me ask.
David Pakman
You, and she should not be the standard bearer for the party. All right. So really it's, I just kind of want to laugh because it's like this is, this is your critique. You guys are running. Trump, who golfs more than any president in history, didn't start his days till 11:00 a.m. and your argument is Kamala Harris isn't working hard enough. And then back to Hannity. Hannity saying, oh, Harris is really bad. She wants to ban plastic straws.
Speaker B
She wants to ban plastic straws. I love my plastic straw. I hate those paper straws.
David Pakman
Yep. So really grasping at straws there is Sean Hannity. They've got nothing. That's what we're seeing here. And then Stephen Miller, a former Trump speech writer, propagandist, adviser, he was so triggered by the possibility of Kamala Harris coming in to wipe the floor with Trump during debates that he just started screaming on Laura Ingraham's they held a primary.
Speaker D
People they had ballots, they filled out circles, they went to the voting booths, they spent money on advertisements. And as President Trump said, the Republican Party spent tens of millions of dollars running against Joe Biden. Now, they just woke up one morning and said, nevermind, we're canceling the entire primary, we're getting rid of our candidate, and we're pretending the election has never even happened, and we're going to let donors handpick a new nominee.
David Pakman
Now, that's actually funny. The idea that this is, this process is the problem. This is really the problematic process where there was a primary and now Biden decided, oh, I'm not actually going to run. And now democrats have to figure out how they want to select the nominee. You can argue, you can make the argument that depending on the way this is done, it arguably disenfranchises those who voted in the primary. I think that's a perfectly reasonable argument to entertain.
But the idea that people should vote for Trump because of that reason, rather than evaluating the two candidates that we end up with, that's what they're counting on. That's what they're counting on, because they are terrified that whoever replaces President Biden on the ticket is going to bring energy that will make Trump look like what he is in comparison, the oldest presidential candidate in american history. One of the great injustices of the last month is that while thousands of corporate media segments have been devoted to assessing Joe Biden's fitness to be president of the United States for another four years, a real story, mind you, an absolutely real story.
Very little attention has been paid by the same corporate media for years. While we were seeing Donald Trump's very obvious decline, or even to Donald Trump's completely mangled and garbled RNC speech last Thursday, which lasted a record setting 93 minutes, Trump had another complete and total collapse of his ability to speak and to change the firing synapses in his brain into coherent american English. People say often that Trump's riffs and rants are taken out of context. Well, let me prove you wrong. Here is Trump's full riff from Saturday's rally, where he starts by talking about how brilliant authoritarian chinese leader President Xi is going into all sorts of other things. This is tough to watch. And the reason we're doing this is they, the maggots, love to say it's been taken out of context. The MAGA Potamians go, oh, you only showed a little bit of it. Well, make heads or tails out of this mangled and scrambled attempt at speed.
Speaker B
Can you imagine these killers these killers, these are sharp. You know, the press gets angry. They said, is President Xi of China?
Is he a smart man? I said, no, he's a brilliant man. He controls 1.4 billion people with an iron fist.
He makes guys like Biden look like babies. They don't even know whether they're coming or going. Yes, he's. The next day, headlines. Trump calls him brilliant. How dare. No, no. Okay, let's say he's not a smart man. Okay? Whatever makes you happy. No matter what you do. No matter what you do. I say he's a brilliant man. They went crazy because I called him brilliant. So I'm just gonna have to say, he's okay. He's okay.
Now, he's very smart. But, and you know what else? He's a fierce person. Do you understand that? Some of the people here know that what this means?
David Pakman
Now, remember, if I stopped it even here, there would be people. Oh, he was getting to the point. He's building to the point. This all makes sense. All right, well, let's keep going a little bit. I won't subject you to the entire thing. Don't worry.
Speaker B
Especially some of the women, right? They know better than the men about fierce.
I know the women. They know better than the men. They're more fierce than the men.
Oh, her. Her.
But no, he's a fierce individual. He's a yemenite fierce man. Can you imagine when he meets this guy?
He thinks Trump is playing a joke on him. He actually thinks there's some kind of. That I'm playing a joke. He doesn't believe what happened. He doesn't believe the last election.
David Pakman
By the way, the woman in the green shirt over Trump's right shoulder seems to be the one person on the stage who's kind of like, wow, this is really going haywire.
Speaker B
He doesn't believe. He thinks I'm playing a joke on him. But can you imagine President Xi, Putin, all of them, they're all smart, tough, they love their country, or they want to do well with.
David Pakman
All right, so listen, this goes on and on. It's nuts. It's nuts. And corporate media does not talk about the completely mangled and scrambled nature of it. Now, there were also really other concerning things that took place during this rally. Trump bragging about how Elon Musk is going to be giving him $45 million a month, and therefore, he has to make life good for Elon.
Speaker B
We have to make life good for our smart people. You know, we have some smart people. We have to make life good for our smart people. And he's as smart as you get.
But Elon endorsed me the other day, and I read, I didn't even know this. He didn't even tell me about it, but he gives me $45 million a month.
David Pakman
Yeah.
Speaker B
And so are other. We have to make.
David Pakman
So listen, he's telling you what he's going to do. He's going to make life good for people like Elon Musk, who happens to already be the richest person in the world. Basically, the campaign in its entirety. Basically, the campaign in its entirety. The rally filled with praise of authoritarians, attacks on the mediaev, fear mongering about migrants, more weird praise of Hannibal Lecter. There was a shark versus electrocution portion of the rally, which now is part of every Trump rally.
Speaker B
I don't think there's anything wrong with this, do you? Because it's an analogy. I say, and if there's a shark about ten yards away, right where they are, right where all the congressmen are, right over there, look at us. Well, they're sharks.
They're sharks.
If there's, if there's a shark about ten yards away, do I get electrocuted or do I go with the shark? I said, because I will take electrocution all day long.
David Pakman
All right, so none of this makes any sense. And barely a peep out of corporate media, by the way, Trump continuing to praise authoritarians and how great it is for them to protect us.
Speaker B
They're all smart, tough, they love their country, or they want to do well with their country, whatever it is, all ideology, but we have to have somebody that can protect us. And Orban was right. We have to have somebody that can protect us.
David Pakman
Or ban an extraordinary, extraordinary right wing authoritarian. This should be absolutely terrifying to anyone who wants free and open western democratic societies. The topic of Project 2025 did come up. Trump again claiming, I don't know a thing about it, even though it's been so widely debunked. He knows everything about it.
Speaker B
Like some on the right, severe right, came up with this project 25, and I don't even know, I mean, some of them, I know who they are, but they're very, very conservative, just like you have. They're sort of the opposite of the radical left. Okay? You have the radical left and you have the radical right, and they come up with this. I don't know what the hell it is. It's Project 25. He's involved in project. And then they read some of the things, and they are extreme. I mean, they're seriously extreme. But I don't know anything about it.
David Pakman
I don't knows nothing about it. And some of the stuff is extreme, although certainly no denial that he'll try to implement every one of those things. And remember, Trump doesn't have to know every provision in Project 2025 to be inextricably linked to it. In, in particular now through his VP, JD Vance. Then we got to the go after Kamala Harris moment of the rally. This was before President Biden announced he's not running for reelection. But Trump still going after Kamala Harris because of how she laughs. This is all they have, my friend.
Speaker B
Speaker one, from the moment we take back the White House from crooked Joe Biden and Kamala, I call her laughing Kamala, you ever watch her laugh? She's crazy.
You know, you can tell a lot by a laugh. No, she's crazy. She's nuts.
She's not as crazy as Nancy Pelosi crazy.
David Pakman
And then, of course, Trump, whose ear seems to be healing very quickly from being shot, doesn't need the huge bandage anymore. Trump trying to bring up the supporters of his who were shot a week ago at the failed assassination attempt. And he has to read them off of a teleprompter very carefully, very, very carefully to avoid mangling their names as well.
Speaker B
We continue to pray for the recovery of the two citizens who were wounded in that evil attack, David Dutch and James Copenhaver, two really incredible people. We remain in contact and send our deepest respect to the families. Cory, as you know, Cory comparator was a brave firefighter who died funeral yesterday, shielding his wife and daughters from bullets. He shielded them from the bullets of this, this horrendous person.
Corey was a hero and we will carry his memory.
David Pakman
You can tell he really means it and is speaking so, so passionately about what took place on that horrible day in Butler, Pennsylvania.
This needs coverage, and it's not getting coverage because the focus has been on President Biden. Now, what's the hope? The hope is now that Biden has said, I'm stepping aside now that Kamala Harris or someone younger will make Trump the oldest presidential nominee in american history. We can hope, let's hope that there will be a responsible focus on the completely disoriented, mangled nature of these rally speeches because otherwise there's really nothing. What other shoe could drop other than taking away the thousands of stories about Biden along these lines that would still explain why corporate media won't trust touch Trump's behavior? Let's hope it changes. We'll take a very quick break, make sure. You've gotten the project 2025 white paper explaining Trump may claim not to know what project 2025 is. I wrote a twelve page white paper about it that you can download for free at david pakman.com slash project 2025. All right, before we kind of like lose track of them and they disappear and dissipate into the ether, I did want to talk about a couple of other things today not directly related to Joe Biden dropping out, sort of ancillary stories. There is a, I don't know if it's growing, but it's definitely there. There's a contingent of the Republican Party that's pushing Trump shooting conspiracy theories. Now, I'm not talking about random youtubers or twitch streams or TikTok videos where they are, you know, zooming in on a series of pixels and telling you that it's this, that, or the other thing and you kind of can't tell.
I'm talking about actual republicans. Here is one example. Here's Senator Ron Johnson yesterday appearing on Fox News's propaganda program hosted by Maria Bartiromo, where he brings up the idea of a second shooter conspiracy, which you might remember insanesville. In the world of rationality and reality.
The idea of was there one shooter or were there two shooters? Lasted about 5 seconds. And very clearly we figured out there was one shooter.
Here's Ron Johnson saying he saw some videos on the Internet that were pretty damn compelling.
Speaker C
Speaker one, was it one rifle? Was it more than one? I've seen some pretty interesting video on the Internet by experts. That certainly calls into question what the FBI is telling us about a single shooter. Again, we're only just beginning this, but it is so important that people who saw things that have information, they preserve it. They memorialize what they are, what they saw, because memories change over time. They can be influenced. So again, it's good news. On a bipartisan basis, Chairman Blumenthal and I are dedicated to taking transcribed interviews with law enforcement and public, just members of the general public that were at that rally.
No matter how insignificant your piece of information might be, it might lend to provide the full story of what happened, because the american public needs to understand what happened here.
David Pakman
Speaker one yeah. And of course, he's completely right about if you did see something, you should be interviewed. There should be a record of it, no question there. But opening by saying, I saw some pretty compelling expert videos online about two shooters. And then Maria Bartiromo tries to clarify this. Of course, those videos have been spread relatively irresponsibly in terms of the claims that are attached to them. Nothing wrong with putting out the video, obviously, but, but the claims that are being made strongly and definitively are claims that have been debunked at this point in time. But Maria Bartiromo asks about so are you questioning whether or not there was a second shooter? Is that what you're questioning? Or if the shooter had a different gun?
Speaker C
You know, I saw you, extremely convincing video online. I know it's all over the place. You know, there were three distinct shots early on.
David Pakman
The video is not convincing, but I encourage you to go look at it.
Speaker C
Followed by another five in more staccato, more rapidly fired, and then the final one, which we believe took the shooter out. How do you explain that? I don't know. I'm not an expert. But the individual putting that video out says it clearly shows that there are at least three different weapons fired that day. Again, I don't know, but we can't trust the FBI and the Secret Service to do a, an honest and open, transparent investigation. That's just a very sad fact. So we've got, we've got to rely on other sources independent to really find out what the truth of the matter was on Saturday, July 13.
David Pakman
Now I will tell you, if you're wondering, with everything going on, you know, Trump survived it and then the RNC, and they, all they do is talk about Biden and then Biden drops out, and then now they've got to run against somebody else. And whoever else they run against is going to be a much better debater than Joe Biden. They're in trouble. Record fundraising in 7 hours for Kamala Harris. In all of this, why would second shooter conspiracies be relevant? Let me pause and let you think of an answer. No, I won't actually pause, since you could pause the podcast. Presumably the reason is they don't want this to simply be left as a Republican went and tried to shoot the republican nominee.
And that's kind of the whole story because that doesn't really let you blame the left. Now they're blaming the left anyway. Don't, don't be confused. They're still trying to blame the left. And I'll give you an example of that in a moment from one of Donald Trump's children. But they could much more readily at least lie that this was caused by left wingers, if, if they can introduce confusion or plausibility about an additional shooter, an additional gun, a conspiracy, maybe even involving Joe Biden or the FBI or Secret Service or whatever. So that's their reason for doing this. We don't have any convincing video that suggests anything about second shooters. And all of the so called experts have been debunked. And some of those experts aren't even really experts. I saw there was a republican congressman, I think Corey Mills, going around rather than being introduced in some clips or presented in some clips about his interview as a republican congressman, he was introduced as like a weapons expert or something like that. Now, he may know about weapons, but you have to see this through the prism of he is a partisan political actor that doesn't want it to be as simple as a Republican did it. That's not good for them. Eric Trump suggests that Democrats might be behind trying to kill Donald Trump in that assassination attempt. Despite the reality that we have no evidence for that, despite the reality that what we do know is that a republican 20 year old shot Trump with a gun, that Democrats would love to be not available.
They are desperate to try to find a way to blame Democrats. And Eric Trump appeared on Maria Bartiromo's show and just says, we said the Democrats would stop at nothing. And we were right before I said.
Speaker D
That the Democrats would stop at absolutely nothing. They've tried to impeach him. They've tried to take him down. They've tried to break up our family. They've tried to bankrupt us. They've, they've sent every subpoena at us. And I've said on this show before, I wouldn't be surprised if they tried something even worse, alluding to exactly what happened just over a week ago from, from today. And I was right.
David Pakman
Yeah, except that Democrats didn't try anything. A Republican shot his dad.
A Republican shot his dad has nothing to do with Democrats.
Speaker D
Speaker one and they better get more security on him. They better get more security and they better figure out what, what the hell the breakdown was. But to allow somebody on a roof 130 yards away with an AR 15, which is a chip shot, everybody who's even remotely competent in anything having to do with the shooting sports understands that this is a chip shot. It's unacceptable and it can never happen again. And I just, it's such an infuriating time. I almost lost my father that day, you know, with my kids on my lap, watching. This cannot happen in the United States of America. It cannot happen. Maria, just to be clear, you did.
David Pakman
Ask for more security around your father, correct?
Speaker D
I have said several times that there should be more security around him because the people on the other side, and.
David Pakman
There are people in the other side, it was a Republican who shot him.
Speaker D
This country who would be willing to do the unthinkable. And I was proven right. And I'm not a tinfoil hat wearing guy. In fact, I'm probably a little bit more centrist than a lot of people would otherwise understand. But I've seen the way that they've attacked him. I've seen the way that they've tried to get him, and they would stop at absolutely nothing. And I want to see my father protected. And I think, you know, the entire democratic world wants to see, you know, their elected officials protected.
David Pakman
This is just so wild. You know, they, they, they. Democrats, the left. A Republican shot his dad. And it's an absolutely terrible and disgusting thing. Shouldn't have had that firearm, shouldn't have had access to it. Shouldn't have been on that roof. A lot of should as shoulds and shouldn't haves.
But this obsession, this determination with blaming Democrats, it's pathetic. They're going to keep it going. In the absence of anything else to use against Kamala Harris or whoever is the nominee, they will probably say Harris is from the mold that led to the shooting. What are you talking about? It was a Republican who shot your dad. But this is, they've got a hammer. They've got a hammer. That's the one tool they have. So they have to make everything seem like a nail. Here's a very interesting voicemail that came in. Of course, you can leave a voicemail at 2192 David P. That's the phone number, 2192 David P. Here's a hot caller who says, people seem to be moving on from Joe Biden very quickly, which is exactly what I predicted at the top of the show.
Speaker F
Hey, David. I'm just surprised at how everyone forgot about Joe Biden so quickly. It feels like everyone is jumping on this I hate Kamala train.
And everyone says, oh, Kamala is way worse. Kamala did this. Kamala did that. And then when you say, oh, why is she worse? Why is she bad? What did she do? They can't say anything. So the narrative always changes to demonizing any sort of democratic nominee. And it's crazy how fast that happened.
David Pakman
Speaker one. Yeah, there are a lot of good points here. Now, I think it's very important to be cautious that there are some on the left who insisted that Biden had to be replaced. Who, if it's Kamala Harris, will say no, but not with Kamala. I'm just as against Kamala as I was against Joe Biden. I'm still staying home. I'm still voting third party. I'm still maybe some of them voting Trump. So be a little cautious of the folks who said Biden's got to go because he's too old. All right, what about Kamala? She's 59. No, still not voting for her. Why? Well, it's not democratic or she went after pot users when she was ag in California, which feels like ancient history at this point in time or whatever. So we need to let the process play out. I don't know who the nominee is going to be so far.
There are a lot of strong endorsements of Kamala Harris at the top of the show. I wondered whether the Obamas had yet endorsed Kamala Harris. I checked during a break. They have not, as of this point, endorsed her. So it's not like every big name endorser has said we are behind Kamala Harris. But you have to remember there's going to be two things that happen on the left. Some of the people who said Biden has to be replaced, he's the worst. They will say, oh, no, but not with Kamala. I'm still just as opposed to this. I got two emails from those folks this morning. In fact, on the right, they will shift to Kamala is also a disaster. Kamala participated in the COVID up about Biden or Kamala is part of the same failed policies, which, of course, they can't name. And the economy is doing great or whatever. So there's going to be a lot of heat on Kamala Harris if indeed it seems as though she's going to ultimately be the nominee. One of the things we will talk about on the bonus show today is who are the front runners to be Kamala Harris's vice presidential picks? Presumptive or not, she is already vetting vps, according to reporting. So we'll talk about that. In the midst of all of this, the White House is pushing a very interesting cap on rents, which I know Biden's not running and all these things, but it's still a very interesting piece of legislation to talk about. And then number three, Hunter Biden has dropped his lawsuit against Fox News over their mock trial miniseries. Is it related to his father's decision not to seek reelection?
We will discuss all of that and more on today's bonus show. Sign up@joinpackman.com.