Real-Time Conspiracy Fact Checks + Halloween Trump Horror
The David Pakman Show - November 1, 2021
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Trump Halloween Interview is the Real House of Horror
Donald Trump did an interview with Jeanine Pirro of Fox News and made a highly dubious claim that the former judge unsurprisingly allowed him to get away with. The two were discussing the upcoming Virginia gubernatorial election between Democrat Terry McAuliffe and Republican Glenn Youngkin. It was in this context that Trump made the argument that he has a near perfect endorsement record. “If I endorse somebody they win. If I endorse somebody they win. I think I’m 148 and 2,” said the former president. He went on to explain that he has endorsed Youngkin, in essence making the prediction that a Republican will soon be returning to the governor’s mansion in Virginia. Trump’s record is actually not so spectacular on endorsements. In the 2018 midterms, the then-POTUS endorsed 75 candidates and only 55% of them won. Furthermore, most of the people he endorsed were incumbents, suggesting it’s really not so impressive of a record. If Youngkin pulls off the victory this week, surely Trump will step in to take the credit and claim it was because of his endorsement. But if Youngkin loses, Trump will argue it’s because the Republican candidate didn’t embrace him strongly enough.
Bill Maher vs Sean Spicer: Real Time Conspiracy Fact-Checking is a Problem
Former Trump White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer went on Bill Maher’s show “Real Time” on Friday and the pair debated the modern Republican Party and right-wing allegations of voter fraud in the 2020 election. Spicer’s tactic was to mention specific allegations of wrongdoing by state legislators and election officials in states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin with the presumption that Maher wouldn’t know about the particulars so viewers could come away thinking that the Real Time host wasn’t able to address all of the aspects that Spicer brought up. Maher did his best to zoom out and say that there are irregularities in every election and that dozens of Trump’s lawsuits were tossed out in court including by right-wing judges. Unable to address every part of Spicer’s gish-gallop, Maher said he was “like that kid in school who has to answer about the book report so reads one page very carefully that nobody else read . . . and then we don’t know what you’re talking about.” Maher is absolutely right on his assessment of what Spicer was doing, but the sad reality is that conspiratorially-minded people could come away from this exchange thinking that Sean was the one right about what took place in the election and that there are still questions left to be answered about it.
From over the weekend:
Mike Pillow's New Deadline is the Tuesday Before Thanksgiving
The MyPillow guy, Mike Lindell, has a new date for Donald Trump’s reinstatement after falling flat on his “Trump returning to power by August” prediction. Lindell went on Steve Bannon’s show “The War Room” on Real America’s Voice and declared that the former president will be back in the White House by the Tuesday or Wednesday before Thanksgiving. The pillow tycoon promised “a marathon of information” will come out on Frank Speech right before the holiday and that the Supreme Court will have no choice but to reinstate Trump. Ever since the 2020 election was called for Joe Biden, Trump fanatics have been coming up with dates in the not-too-distant future for when the tide would turn and “voter fraud” would be exposed. First it was December 14th when the electors voted and then it was January 6th when Congress counted the electors’ votes (we know how that turned out). Some kept the conspiracy theories going until January 20th, thinking Trump would be inaugurated for a second term instead of Biden. Then the pleas got especially desperate and the reinstatement date got pushed to March, and then May, then August, and now it’s November. These predictions are sadly likely to keep going until at least the 2022 midterms when they finally give up the idea and move onto campaigning for Trump in the next presidential race.
From over the weekend:
UH-OH: Marjorie Taylor Greene Hit With Illegal Spending Complaints
There are now two different ethics complaints against Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene over her campaign spending. Both of these disputes relate to an ad the congresswoman put out expressing her opposition to the trillion dollar infrastructure bill currently working its way though Congress. One of the complaints filed alleges that Greene’s Leadership PAC, Save America Stop Socialism, made an in-kind contribution to her own campaign without reporting it to the FEC. There is also a complaint with the House Office of Congressional Ethics which says that Greene used her PAC to conduct official House activities. While it’s excellent that these complaints are being filed, we simultaneously suspect that there’s never really going to be punishment for Greene’s actions. Months ago, Greene was under scrutiny for making two homestead exemptions on her taxes, which is not legal in Georgia. At least so far, there have been no consequences against her for doing this. Until some ramifications come the congresswoman’s way, she’ll likely continue to skirt the laws while at the same time saying it’s Democrats and progressives who are the real lawbreakers in this country.
More on the show:
--An unhinged anti-vaccine rant at the Chandler USD Governing Board Study Session & Regular Business Meeting provides an example of the overlap between COVID and anti-vaccine conspiracies with antisemitic conspiracies
--Donald Trump panics and pulls out all the stop in order to prevent his daily schedule in the days leading up to the Trump riots from being provided to the January 6 committee
--Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz talks about blowing up the metal detectors at the House of Representatives, and also says Democrats plan to steal votes, one-for-one, as needed, to win future elections
--Melania Trump rolls her eyes and looks disgusted with Donald Trump, but the real story is Trump's usage of the racist "tomahawk chop" during an Atlanta Braves game
--Senator Bernie Sanders is still pushing to get lower drug prices into the spending and infrastructure bill being discussed
--Joe Biden's White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki tests positive for COVID
--Voicemail caller says it's time for progressives to kill the spending and infrastructure bill
--On the Bonus Show: Facebook changes its name to Meta, the strawberry Pop-Tart lawsuit, Southwest Airlines pilot uses Anti-Biden chant, and much more...
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