Americans are leaving and credibility has collapsed
The David Pakman Show - February 26, 2026
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There are signs that more Americans are leaving the United States than at any point in recent history. While the administration celebrates falling immigration and rising deportations, it ignores the outflow. People leaving point to gun violence, healthcare costs, political instability, housing prices, and student debt. Beyond politics, losing working age residents affects the tax base, innovation, and long term demographic stability.
The Surgeon General nominee Casey Means raised serious concerns during her confirmation hearing. She is not a practicing physician, does not have an active medical license, and never completed residency. Senators presented evidence that she promoted health products without clearly disclosing paid partnerships. Her answers were often evasive and she also declined to unequivocally recommend measles vaccination during outbreaks.
A Reuters Ipsos poll found that 61 percent of Americans believe Trump has become more erratic with age, and only 45 percent think he is mentally sharp enough to serve. That includes a significant share of Republicans. The mental fitness issue that was once used against Biden is now attached to Trump.
Congressman Glenn Grothman responded to questions about the Epstein files by blaming liberal elites and different sexual morals. That reduces a bipartisan scandal about power and accountability to a culture war sound bite meant to excuse Republicans while implicating Democrats.
Texas primary turnout data show Democrats currently casting more ballots than Republicans in a midterm cycle for the first time in decades. That does not guarantee a Senate victory, but it reflects real energy and demographic shifts.
JD Vance was confronted on Fox News with multiple polls showing Trump underwater on the economy. Instead of highlighting measurable gains, he blamed Biden. Over a year into Trump’s second term, that defense suggests political vulnerability.
The administration announced it would withhold about 259 million dollars in Medicaid funds from Minnesota over alleged fraud. Congress appropriated that money. However, under federal law, the executive branch does not have the authority to simply pause funding without a formal enforcement process.
Finally, after Representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib heckled him, Trump suggested they should be sent back from where they came. Omar is a naturalized citizen and Tlaib was born in Detroit. You can dislike heckling. That is not the issue. But in a democracy, dissent is not grounds for deportation.
On today’s bonus show:
How Democrats countered Trump's State of the Union address, trans drivers in Kansas must surrender their drivers licenses, a MrBeast editor gets implicated in a Kalshi insider trading scheme, and much more...
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There are 1.5 million expats in Mexico and more every day.
There are a lot of X patriots. They’re leaving for a lot of reasons. Medical tourism continues to grow because our healthcare system is horrid, expensive and dangerous. Healthcare is bankrupting people. Thanks a lot Obama! I think we’re the only country on earth that is forced to buy healthcare from criminal criminal criminal criminal criminal criminal criminal criminal criminal Corporate insurance companies.
American life expectancy has been declining for a long time since 2014. Maternal mortality has tripled since 1985.
There was a time when doctors actually worked for their patients. If you ask one of these arrogant bastards who they work for today they will name the hospital that they work for.
There was a time when America was second to none and just about everything. Now America really sucks I mean it sucks it sucks more than Dracula with a Hoover vacuum cleaner.
At one time America was a country of laws. Laws no longer apply to the filthy Rich, you know the kind of people you’d like to beat with a baseball bat for their arrogance and their depravity.
The American dream is a goddamn nightmare. People can’t afford a house they can’t afford healthcare and the people at the top are getting wealthier and wealthier and wealthier and wealthier and that money should be taken from them because they’re scumbags and they didn’t get it legally. The government is totally complicit in this theft and the anarchy they are creating.
There’s a huge crisis of trust in America and that could be the biggest reason for why people are just getting the fuck out and saying fuck you America. Our children deserve better than this stinking shit hole of criminal corporatism and unfathomable depravity.