Speaker 1: Welcome to the David Pakman show. I am Farren Cousins sitting in for David Pakman today.
And you know what? We've got a lot to talk about, so let's just hop right into it.
First and foremost, let's talk about the midterms, because we do have a very important day coming up
very soon, and that is Labor Day. And typically in election years, once you hit that Labor Day mark,
everybody switches into general election mode. So if you're already tired of midterm news,
then I am very sorry because there is going to be a lot coming out once we hit Labor Day in just
a couple of weeks here. But right now and this honestly is super astonishing. I love to see it,
though, Democrats are looking pretty good, right? Generic ballot polling actually has them
up against Republicans in House races. The Senate now looks like it's firmly going to be in
Democratic control. To the point where we may not even have to worry about people like Joe Manchin
or Kirsten Cinema for the next two years, things are looking pretty darn good. You've got the post
Roe bump, you've got the Inflation Reduction Act. Gas prices are coming down. Inflation coming down
a little still really bad. Unemployment numbers look good on paper. But there is one thing
Republicans have going for them right now, and that, of course, is Donald Trump's post FBI raid.
Pull bounce. Now, I use the term raid not because I'm, you know, agreeing it was a raid, but because
that's a lot easier than saying the FBI's execution of the search warrant at Mar a Lago.
So please understand when I use the word raid, what I mean is the lawful execution of the search
warrant down at Mar a Lago. But his poll numbers have gotten a bounce from that. And, of course,
Ron DeSantis, his poll numbers have actually gone down since the FBI went down to Mar a Lago.
And if that Republican anger holds. Republicans may do better in this year's midterm elections,
or at least that's the prevailing theory. Right. We have seen Republicans postulate this. Cassidy
Hutchinson, of course, who was one of the star witnesses of the January six committee over the
summer, came out the day after and said, Well, you just handed the midterms to the Republicans. I
don't agree. KC There's a big difference. What's happening with the Democrats right now
is that you have anger over Roe versus Wade getting overturned. You have anger at January 6th.
You have the lingering threat of authoritarianism coming from all of these Republican controlled
states, taking away rights of certain groups of individuals state by state. All of that
has angered Democratic voters, but more importantly, it has energized them. Compare that
to what's on the other side. Oh, we're so mad at the FBI right now. Cool. You're going to be mad in
a week. You're going to be mad in two weeks. And by the way, the funniest part about that
is a lot of that anger already had subsided and not saying all of it did, because you still have,
you know, the people out there threatening the lives of FBI agents, threatening the lives
of Merrick Garland and other members of the DOJ, the magistrate judge Reinhart.
But. The anger had already started to subside by the time we learned that Donald Trump likely had
classified nuclear documents down there at Mar a Lago. Majority of independents support the raid.
Majority of Democrats obviously do. Republicans only about half. Right, and I think 50%.
Are opposed to the raid. So even if the Republicans, by virtue of Trump got a bounce in
the polls, which Trump did, I don't know that that anger carries. Right. You've got the front page,
the cover story really of Newsweek right now talking about this post-trade bounce.
Is this enough to push Republicans over the edge? No. No, it isn't. Not even close,
because the more that comes out about it, the worse it looks for Donald Trump.
Now, I will give Trump credit, which is not something I ever do, but I will give him credit
last week for kind of backing the DOJ into a corner by calling for the release of the
affidavit. You know, let us see all the evidence you have, including the name of the leaker.
So that we can clear all this up with the public.
Well, whoever was advising him to do that clearly understood that the DOJ can't do that.
You know, not only would they put lives unnecessarily at risk, because we've all seen
the threats coming from Trump supporters, but it also could impede the actual investigation itself.
If we release this, you'd get the names of individuals cooperating. You might get
the names of other targets. You might get more information that could lead to the destruction of
evidence. And we cannot do that. In fact, the DOJ actually came out within the last couple of days
and admitted part of the reason we don't want to release this is actually to protect
you, Donald Trump. But the reason I say that that kind of backed the DOJ into a
corner is because Trump called for the release. He knew they couldn't do it.
So once they say, No, we can't. He goes, Aha, I gotcha. I knew all this was phony, otherwise
you'd release it. And his supporters, including, you know, plenty of people in right wing media,
also jumped on that messaging, saying, obviously it's fake.
And the reason they're jumping on that messaging is because they want to get that bounce back.
They want to make sure that those positive poll developments that they have seen
since the search on Mar a Lago, they want to make sure that they hold on to the midterms.
So they want to keep talking about it because they think it's going to help Republicans in November.
But in reality, what it's going to do is it's further going to energize Democrats and it's going
to turn independents away from the Republican Party. So they're stuck between a rock and a hard
place, right? They want to talk about it because they think it helps with the Republican base.
But at the same time, the more they talk about it, the more it's going to turn off independents.
Neither party in this country can win elections, maybe win some primaries, obviously,
but you can't win a general election. If you do not attract those
middle of the road, moderate, independent voters, you simply cannot. The numbers are not there.
So the more Republicans talk about it, the worst their poll numbers ultimately are going to get.
They may have gotten that little bitty bounce right now, but it's not a type of anger that is
sustainable. Certainly not in a year when Trump isn't even on the ballot. You know,
if this was 2024 and this happened and Trump was running, that would help all Republicans. But
he's not on the ballot this year. So I don't know what the Republican strategy here is,
but I do know with pretty much certainty that it definitely is not working for them.