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Trump Oozes Jealousy in Humiliating Fox Interview
Yesterday, Donald Trump appeared on Sean Hannity's Fox News program to deliver "analysis" of Joe Biden’s meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin which took place yesterday in Geneva, Switzerland. Right-wing media has been hysterical over the past 24 hours, claiming that Biden was immensely weak with Putin and gave up everything in negotiations. This is ironic coming from the same people who defended Trump when he took Putin’s side over US intelligence agencies over election meddling in Helsinki a few years back. Now, Trump is desperately trying to hold onto relevance and this Sean Hannity interview was a perfect opportunity for him to criticize the person who defeated him. Trump said that if he was still president, he would be a lot “tougher” on Putin that Biden was. He insisted that “I think we had a great shot at having an unbelievable relationship with Russia, it could have been fantastic, it could have been really beneficial to both countries.”
Moving on from discussing the summit, Trump and Hannity talked about the US dealing with the late stages of the coronavirus pandemic. At this point, Trump is full-on pushing anti-vax talking points. He tried to take credit for developing the vaccines, while at the same time arguing that it would be “unnecessary” for young kids to get it before returning to school. The former president said, “the vaccine on very young people is something that you got to really stop. You have to get back to running your country . . . but to have every school child, where it’s 99.99%, they’re just not affected or affected badly, having to receive a vaccine, I think is something that you should start thinking about.” Appearing to have learned nothing over the past year, Trump went on to insist in the interview that the Spanish flu pandemic started in 1917 and that hydroxychloroquine was the solution all along to COVID-19. Finally, Trump claimed that he, and not Biden, is the reason why America is getting back to normal now. It’s hard to imagine anyone thinking Trump handled the pandemic better than Biden, but those people exist and many of them were tuned into this interview last night.
Putin BRUTALLY Confronted, Still Doesn't Answer Anything
Yesterday, Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin met for a 3-hour meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. While the meeting was private, both men held press conferences afterwards to update the press as to what was discussed and the Putin press conference in particular was fascinating to watch. The Russian president continually slipped around answering any questions and he basically ended up saying nothing of substance, even when confronted with direct questions about serious offenses. Putin was asked if he would stop cyberattacks against other nations and if he would work to crack down on ransomware attacks. He was asked about the treatment of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, who has been imprisoned for months and was the victim of a poison attack that allegedly came from the Kremlin. One reporter told Putin, “the list of your political opponents who are dead, imprisoned, or jailed is long, what are you so afraid of?"
After every one of these questions, Putin would ramble and obfuscate and try to turn the attack around on the United States and other countries. In one instance, he compared Russia jailing political opponents to the FBI arresting rioters who stormed the Capitol on January 6th. Shamefully, Fox News and other right-wing outlets have been circulating Putin’s responses as a sign of strength because they believe they share a common enemy in Joe Biden and the Democrats. Once again, Putin has demonstrated himself to be an expert in information and misinformation warfare, and the American right wing is all too happy to take the bait.
From yesterday’s show:
Dems Propose Full Drug Decriminalization in New Bill
Democrats in the House of Representatives have unveiled a bill that would end criminal penalties for drug possession. The legislation is known as the Drug Policy Reform Act and it would decriminalize all drugs, including marijuana, heroin, and cocaine. Additionally, criminal records for those caught having those substances on them would be expunged. The bill is sponsored by Congresswomen Cori Bush of Missouri and Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey. Progressives argue that prohibition of these substances has failed and that decriminalization and regulation is the way to go. Representative Bush said in a statement this week that, "this punitive approach creates more pain, increases substance use, and leaves millions of people to live in shame and isolation with limited support and healing." There’s a long way to go before a bill like this could become law, but it’s good to see some Democrats taking on the crucial early steps.
--More on the show:
--Congressman Ro Khanna (D-CA), representing California's 17th district located in Silicon Valley, joins David to discuss the Innovation and Competition Act, drug decriminalization, and much more
--Clearing up major confusion about the revelations from the ProPublica billionaire tax leaks story
--Notable discussions from the David Pakman Show subreddit, including about the Holocaust, rerouted airline flights, and progressive military veterans
--Fox news propagandist Tucker Carlson wildly claims that the FBI was actually behind the Donald Trump riots
--Voicemail caller jokingly criticizes Joe Biden for having apologizes to CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins after raising his voice to her
--On the Bonus Show: Congress approves bill to make Juneteenth a federal holiday, baker fined for refusing to bake transgender transition cake, the Florida cruise line gamble, much more...
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