The fascist takeover begins, Hegseth & Vance falter badly
The David Pakman Show - February 17, 2025
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Trump’s fascist takeover is happening in real time
Less than a month into his second term, Donald Trump is aggressively dismantling federal agencies, consolidating power, and accelerating an authoritarian takeover of the U.S. government. Billionaires, including Elon Musk, have aligned with Trump, enabling his agenda, while his administration escalates hardline policies domestically and internationally. The erosion of democratic norms is no longer a distant threat but an immediate crisis.
Egg prices NEW RECORD, Trump BLAMES BIDEN
Egg prices have reached a record high, with futures markets showing a 26% increase in less than a month. Despite previously promising to lower prices on day one, Trump now blames both Biden and bird flu for the surge, though he has no plan to address the outbreak. His response highlights a double standard, as Republicans held Biden accountable for all economic issues but now dismiss presidential responsibility under Trump.
From over the weekend:
MAGA's plan to destroy "woke culture" will backfire
MAGA's aggressive war on wokeness may rally its base but risks alienating younger, more diverse voters who broadly support progressive values. While some progressive excesses exist, the right’s blanket opposition to diversity and inclusion is a losing long-term strategy. As America diversifies, MAGA's focus on wokeness may accelerate its own decline.
From over the weekend:
IT BEGINS: Trump DOJ "files charges" again Trump prosecutor
Pam Bondi, Trump's attorney general, has filed lawsuits against New York and Illinois, targeting their policies allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses. Legal experts argue that immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility, making these lawsuits more about political messaging than policy. Even if unsuccessful, such lawsuits can still create legal and financial burdens for their targets.
More on the show:
-- Elon Musk will be babysitting Donald Trump during a forthcoming prime time interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News
-- Vice President JD Vance's speech to the Munich Security Conference sounded like it could have been written by Russian President Vladimir Putin
-- Exploring the lack of mass rallies in opposition to the authoritarian takeover of Donald Trump
-- Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's global debut went horribly wrong
-- Elon Musk is doing in reality what the right has accused George Soros of doing for years
-- On the Bonus Show: Democrats turn on Eric Adams, army base name changed back to Fort Bragg, DOGE is targeting the penny, and much more...
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Suggestion: instead of referring to our country as "America", name it "United States ". America is a long land mass and we are only part of it. Nit-picky, I know, but all the rest of the people are Americans also.
It feels to me that the people who would go to mass demonstrations did that already. They did it for BLM, they went to rallies for Harris, they discovered that all the facts, all the reasons with hard evidence did not persuade people. There are a lot of haters, and there are a lot of people who just could not imagine a world where they could tolerate a Black woman president. They would rather rationalize supporting a president they found to be intolerable after his first four years. They could not see the major progress Biden made. They would rather support a convicted Felon who supported, orchestrated, enabled and drove an insurrection, a sexual abuser, a con-man who repeatedly (proven in court) commits fraud, a compulsive liar who loves dictators and talks like one... We have seen that Republican Politicians (with very few exceptions) support Trump, enabling his every whim either out of fear / cowardice or out of greed, and will not change until they find something worse to fear, like their voters turning on them, holding them accountable.
Trump is an idiot, and has surrounded himself with greedy idiots willing to do Whatever Trump says, who will flatter Trump endlessly. And they will destroy anything and everything that Democrats ever supported. Problem Trump has is he has lost any sense of proportion and is destroying popular programs, hurting people, and not helping those who elected him in any way (except of course for the haters). Already some are distancing themselves from their choices due to the entirely predicted consequences they did not want to admit when they voted. Things will get worse. Things will have to get worse before they can get better.
Most people are not good at understanding how government works, and why it is set up that way. They refuse to do actual research and so just listen to the person giving them the easiest to understand promises, the simple statements like "Greatest Ever" and "Low prices" without any confusing explanation of how that would be done.
We need to SHOW people the consequences, with pictures and videos of people suffering and pointing out who did this and why. A lot of voters who voted for Trump are good people, who just were not very bright. They were likely a bit Misogynistic and a bit Racist (not as bad as the haters) and rationalized their choice, but if SHOWN the consequences would have no trouble turning on Trump. These good people have empathy, but need to be shown people suffering. The haters will have to suffer under Trump's greed and incompetence far longer before they will sacrifice their hate for their own self interest.
Trump succeeded with a simple message he pounded in day after day. To reach those same voters you need to keep the message simple, emotional and do not pull punches. Yes, it is notable when even a Conservative Republican turns on Trump, but we have proven they only do that when THEY experience the pain, when their personal line gets crossed in a way that impacts them. So just pound the message and do not worry about the latest crisis Trump creates, just pound the same message daily using the latest bits of news to amplify it, give examples, SHOWING it.