This installment of The David Pakman Show newsletter is free for everyone. I send these emails daily. If you would also like to receive it, join the newsletter today.
Note: This is totally separate from website Membership and does not affect your website Membership in any way.
Military Leader TRIGGERS Republicans with Epic Rant
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin testified before Congress yesterday and both had exchanges with beleaguered Congressman Matt Gaetz over critical race theory supposedly having a role in the military. Gaetz pressed Secretary Austin on how the Department of Defense should think about critical race theory and claimed that it is bothering military units that are majority-minority in particular. General Milley wanted to jump in, but Gaetz didn’t want to hear his response and tried to lock it down on Secretary Austin. Austin told Gaetz, “we don’t teach critical race theory so I think that is a spurious conversation. And so, we are focused on extremist behaviors and not ideology, not people’s thoughts, not people’s political orientation.” Gaetz went on to say that he found it problematic that Austin had someone who believed in critical race theory giving him advice on military personnel. The Defense Secretary argued back that he trusts the opinions of is advisers and sneered at the suggestion that “people are telling me what I want to hear.”
Later on, General Milley was given an opportunity to respond to Matt Gaetz’s assertions about CRT in the military. The Joint Chiefs of Staff pointed out that the US Military Academy is a university and that it’s important for servicemembers to understand “white rage” and find out the motives for the January 6th insurrection, as an example. Milley said to Gaetz, "I've read Mao Zedong. I've read Karl Marx. I've read Lenin. That doesn't make me a communist. So what is wrong with understanding — having some situational understanding about the country for which we are here to defend?" Milley continued his smackdown of the Florida Congressman by saying, “I personally find it offensive that we are accusing the United States military, our general officers, our commissioned, non-commissioned officers of being quote “woke” or something else.” Critical race theory is the new talking point for the right and they think it’s beneficial for them to fearmonger about it. Exchanges like these will likely continue until the right wing moves onto the next buzzword in the culture war.
WOW: Ivanka & Jared ABANDON Trump Over Election Conspiracies
Donald Trump’s persistent and baseless claims of voter fraud overturning the 2020 election results is driving away his daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner. According to 12 former White House officials and members of the Trump inner circle, Ivanka has had to walk a tight-rope between supporting her father and distancing herself from his lies about the election being stolen. Trump is reportedly also questioning whether Jared Kushner should continue to have a role as one of his aides and whether Kushner has negatively affected his presidential legacy. One member of Trump’s south Florida resort and a close family friend said about Jared and Ivanka, "they weren't around for the usual spring and summer events at Mar-a-Lago.” The couple likely calculate that Donald Trump is completely toxic at this point and being too close to him will hurt their future endeavors. Kushner has his eyes set on business deals and Ivanka wants to have options open to run for political office herself at some point. They both likely miss being accepted in elite social circles and want to be accepted back into them. All of this is leading to an erosion of trust between Trump and “Javanka” and it should come as no surprise because the former president’s obsession with losing the election takes priority over everything else.
From yesterday’s show:
DISGUSTING: Republicans BLOCK Voting Rights Bill
Republicans have blocked debating and discussing the “For the People” voting rights bill which has been a top legislative priority for Democrats ever since winning back power this year. Joe Biden claimed that he would be able to negotiate with Republicans and convince them to become more reasonable. (That wasn’t true.) Senator Joe Machin said we don’t need to get rid of the filibuster because compromise is still possible in Washington. (That wasn’t true either.) As if we didn’t know it already, Republicans’ obstruction on this goes to show that their not going to work with the left on even the most commonsense reforms. The legislation would include basic reforms like expanding early voting and allowing for same-day voter registration. It would also include a voter identification requirement in an attempt to bring over Republicans and centrist Democratic Senator Joe Manchin. But at the end of the day, Republicans don’t want to expand democracy and political participation in the country and they certainly don’t want to give Joe Biden and the Democrats a legislative victory.
--More on the show:
--Dr. Alok Kanojia, a practicing psychiatrist, faculty member at Harvard Medical School, and co-founder of Healthy Gamer, joins David to discuss the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, agoraphobia, anxiety, the psychological benefit of masks, and much more
--The CDC finds a link between COVID vaccination and rare heart inflammation called myocarditis and pericarditis, mostly in young people, although the risk is extremely low and still being investigated
--Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signs a bill into law that will require schools to teach students that communism is "evil" as well as about "real patriots"
--Notable discussions from the David Pakman Show subreddit, including about the American flag, and Donald Trump's supposed "reinstatement"
--After complaining for months that neither Joe Biden nor Kamala Harris had gone to the US-Mexico border, Republicans are newly focused on Kamala Harris' upcoming trip being to the "wrong part" of the border
--An absolutely terrible Critical Race Theory protest in Ashburn, Virginia goes embarrassingly wrong
--Left-leaning gun-owning voicemail caller realizes that Democrats aren't actually coming for her guns
--On the Bonus Show: SCOTUS restricts police powers, scientists identify 29 relevant planets, Canada passes law criminalizing gay conversion therapy, much more...
--Become a Supporter: http://www.davidpakman.com/membership