Pence turns on Trump as simpler explanation surfaces
The David Pakman Show - February 21, 2025
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The simple explanation: Trump is dumb and quickly declining
Finish writer Mikko Marttinen argues that Donald Trump was never very intelligent and is now in cognitive decline. He cites Trump's confusion over asylum seekers and his poor decision-making as evidence. Marttinen also dismisses the idea that Trump's wealth proves his intelligence. Ultimately, he attributes Trump's incoherence to his declining mental capacity and lack of intellectual curiosity.
Trump signs TERRIFYING order to expand Presidential power
Donald Trump’s recent executive order places independent federal agencies under White House control, eliminating regulatory neutrality. It grants Trump and the Attorney General sole authority over legal interpretations, erasing key checks on power. This move enables political manipulation of markets, elections, and policies, with critics warning it undermines democracy, pushing the U.S. toward authoritarian rule.
From yesterday’s show:
Trump DOMINATED by Musk as interview becomes total disaster
Elon Musk dominated part two of Sean Hannity’s Fox News interview, sidelining Trump while Hannity deferred to Musk as the real power. Trump appeared low-energy and struggled to get a word in, reinforcing speculation that he won’t tolerate Musk’s influence for long. Musk dismissed concerns over conflicts of interest, but his reassurances fell far short of inspiring confidence.
From yesterday’s show:
Trump stops pretending, goes FULL PUTIN in deranged rant
Trump claimed that Volodymyr Zelensky and Joe Biden, not Vladimir Putin, are responsible for the Russia-Ukraine war. He exaggerated U.S. financial aid to Ukraine and falsely suggested that half of it is missing. He also criticized Ukraine for postponing elections, ignoring that martial law prohibits them.
More on the show:
-- Amy Klobuchar, Democratic US Senator from Minnesota, joins David to discuss the early days of the Trump administration
-- Donald Trump's approval in February of the first year of his term is worse than any other President, other than his own during his first term
-- Former Vice President Mike Pence publicly turns on Donald Trump, attacking him over his claim that Ukraine started the war with Russia
-- What happens when red states, disproportionately the takers of federal funds, run out of money?
-- Piers Morgan links antidepressant SSRI medications to mass shootings in his latest tirade
-- This week's Friday Feedback
-- On the Bonus Show: A third of Project 2025 has been implemented, and much more...
-- Become a Member: https://davidpakman.com/membership
Mikko Marttinen and you, David, are right when you say Trump is not intelligent and deteriorates from dumb to dumber. According to all the people who know him, the man did not read a single book in his life. Trump is our modern-day Chauncey Gardiner (from Jerzy Kosinski's "Being There"). It is therefore pointless to analyze his word salad looking for deeper meaning. There is none.
Trump is a criminal, and we need to defeat him. What kind of criminal he is makes a difference in how to do that. For a white colar criminal, we exaine bank records for a con artist, we warn vulnerable populations. It is important to understand the characteristics of the criminal if you want to defeat them. Trump is a sociopath (malignant narcisist). They are capable of all kinds of crimes, but they do have particular characteistics, and it helps to understand them if we are to protect ourselves. They do not have to be book learned particularly because there is only one kind of knowledgte they are interested in--how to defeat legal systems. And at this they are geniuses. We do not help to defeat them by denying what they are good at. They are not like us. They do not consider ethics or empathy. It doesn't exist in their calculations. It is hard for normal people to understand because we are wired to act in accordance with empathy and ethics. Understanding the sociopathic mind is like trying to imagine the world without the color red or something. But, we must learn how they think or we cannot protect ourselves. For example, sociopaths have an incredible ability to see moral weakness in people and, based on that, corrupt them. So, when people say our solution is to put Trump in jail, they are dreaming. A sociopath will have the guards and Secret Service running errands and interference for them. Special techniques are necessary--like special training on how to not be influenced by a sociopath, and the rotating of personell who come in conact with them so no one is with them too long. You notice Trump effectively corrupted the Secret Service during his first term. I am not saying that sociopaths are invincible. If that were true, so many of them would not be in jail. And yes, they can be incredibly smart in some ways and incredibly dumb in others. Trump has no interest in becoming a scholar., but, according to his ex-wife, he kept Hitler's "My New Order" at his bedside for reading.. And attempting to understand them does not mean having sympathy for them. My exposure to sociopaths came from the ten years i spent as a teacher in a maximum security, 1300 bed, male prison. At one point, I felt myself influenced by one and went to a therapist. I quote what the therapist told me: When I feel myself tempted to violate my own ethics, I know I am in the presence of a sociopath." I recommend getting an authoritiative book and reading up. Knowledge is power, and we are going to need as much as we can get to get ourselves our of this mess.