Calls for Violence Grow, Major Ukraine Questions Raised
The David Pakman Show - March 18, 2022
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Trump & Friends Calling for Violence, Media Doesn't Care
Over the last week, there were multiple calls to violence coming from major conservative figures, and sadly given the state of right-wing politics today, they didn’t get a whole lot of attention from the media. The primary example of this came from Donald Trump, who said at his recent rally in Florence, South Carolina that “the fate of any nation ultimately depends upon the willingness of its citizens to lay down — and they must do this — lay down their very lives to defend their country. If we allow the Marxists and socialists and communists to teach our children to hate America there will be no one left to defend our flag or to protect our great country or its freedom.” The right has made complete boogeymen (and women) out of teachers and have this imaginary idea that the education system is indoctrinating kids into being socialists and communists. Trump, in this speech, is saying that people have to resist their efforts even if it means putting their own lives at stake. The consequences of this rhetoric can be incredibly dangerous.
Republican Senator Asks Trans Girl About Her Genitals
Elaine Gannon, a State Senator from Missouri, spoke at a hearing recently to a 14-year-old transgender girl named Avery Jackson, and couldn’t help but make herself look prying and ignorant. Gannon said to Jackson, “you’re in the ladies room and you realize somebody else is in there that has a male’s body instead of a female’s body, it just causes some issues there.” Avery responded that this doesn’t create issues and that people are just there to use the bathroom and then get on with their day. But Gannon continued, “are you going to do the procedure?” Now of course, this is none of the senator’s business and it’s especially inappropriate to be asking in such a public setting. When faced with pushback, Gannon responded, “I was seriously just curious.” It’s stunning to think that after years of discussing these issues surrounding trans people, that many right-wingers still don’t know how to act appropriately about it and use some empathy and common sense.
From yesterday’s show:
Biden Sending Drones to Ukraine
Earlier this week, President Biden announced that an additional $800 million will be sent to Ukraine to help the country fend off the Russian invasion. This came hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke to members of the US House and Senate and requested a number of things from the American government including the enforcement of a no-fly zone. While the US is not willing to go that far, it will continue to help Ukrainians in a number of other ways. The $800 million package will include 800 Stinger anti-aircraft systems, 100 tactical unmanned aerial systems, 100 grenade launchers, 5,000 rifles, 1,000 pistols, 400 machine guns, 400 shotguns, and much more. While the US remains not directly at war with Russia, it’s clear that this is developing into a proxy war with all the help Americans are giving to Ukraine while the world is sanctioning Russia and destroying its economy.
From yesterday’s show:
The Real Reason Putin Didn't Invade Ukraine During Trump
It has become a popular talking point for American right-wingers to say that Vladimir Putin didn’t invade Ukraine while Donald Trump was president because Putin was scared of Trump but he doesn’t fear Joe Biden. One of Trump’s former foreign policy advisors, John Bolton, is speaking up about this and is bolstering what many of us already suspected to be true. Bolton said, “Putin saw Trump doing a lot of his work for him” and specifically that “[Putin] saw the president's hostility of NATO.” The Russian president was able to advance his country’s interests without risk by letting Trump serve his interests and move to weaken NATO. An argument can be made that it’s because Biden is being “tough” on Russia that Putin feels the pressure to act on his own to further the interests of his country. Ultimately, this is all speculation and it can’t be known why Putin didn’t invade Ukraine under Trump’s presidency. But even if he did, Trump would likely just have downplayed the whole thing and perhaps even taken Putin’s side as he did in Helsinki.
More on the show:
--Caller asks what the most likely outcome of the Russian invasion of Ukraine is
--Caller wonders if performers and actors make successful politicians
--Caller questions how Russia's invasion of Ukraine will affect NATO and the European Union
--Caller wonders why only some conflicts get international attention
--Caller discusses Occam's Razor
--Caller wonders how the Russian invasion of Ukraine will impact apologists of Vladimir Putin
--Caller discusses his experience living in Ukraine
--Caller wants to know how to deal with Trump-supporting family members
--David responds to some of the latest viewer emails and social media messages
--On the Bonus Show: David and Pat discuss the plan for next week's programs
--Become a Supporter: http://www.davidpakman.com/membership