5/16/25: Soft civil wars and big pharma bribes
The David Pakman Show
David Pakman
4.6 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 16 May 2025
⏱️ 57 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
-- On the Show:
— Trump talks about suspending habeas corpus, a mayor is arrested for protesting, and much of the country shrugs. We explain how normalization is the point—and how authoritarianism doesn’t need shock, just your resignation.
— From judges being stalked to school boards under threat, we unpack what modern civil war actually looks like—and how the U.S. may already be in one.
— Trump’s team is openly considering prosecuting Democrats.
— Trump’s orange spray tan gets more protection from Republicans than the Constitution. A student asks why he’s orange—and a GOP rep panics.
— We ask the uncomfortable question: what if Trump doesn’t even need to finish his term? We explain how Trump was always the vehicle, not the destination—and why J.D. Vance is the backup plan.
— RFK Jr. casually admits Trump took $100 million from Big Pharma—and Trump nods. Then the pharma stocks go up. But sure, he “can’t be bought.”
— MAGA civil war explodes as Trump names a new Surgeon General who’s too moderate for the fringe. Anti-vaxxers turn on Trump. RFK Jr. branded controlled opposition.
— Rand Paul goes rogue, saying Trump shouldn’t accept Qatar’s $400 million plane, and admitting tariffs hurt Americans. Somewhere, Jesse Watters faints.
— Friday Feedback returns: We respond to questions about the MAGA economy, Trump’s spiral, the illusion of civil discourse, and the future of this show.
-- On the Bonus Show: Right-wing reactions to Trump getting gifted a $400 million plane from Qatar, and much more...
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I want to talk to you today about normalization, hyper normalization, getting used to all of this. |
| 0:14.8 | You know, there is a point in every kind of slow motion collapse where people adapt. People stop reacting. Outrage at what's |
| 0:24.1 | going on around us starts to wear off and the shock fades. And things that were once unthinkable |
| 0:30.1 | kind of become normal. And then we get back on TikTok or we go bowling or we do whatever it is that we |
| 0:37.4 | do. |
| 0:38.9 | Presidential frontrunner says he wants to root out the vermin and it doesn't affect his campaign |
| 0:45.1 | and he becomes president. |
| 0:46.8 | A top aide to the president says, we are looking at suspending habeas corpus and doing |
| 0:52.5 | away with due process. A sitting mayor is arrested |
| 0:56.1 | for protesting at a nice facility. Trump gets a free private jet. And everybody just kind of goes, |
| 1:02.8 | oh, that's crazy. And then you keep scrolling and you shrug. And that's the way it is. And it's really |
| 1:10.3 | important every once in a while to be reminded |
| 1:12.4 | that this is not supposed to feel normal. But that's the strategy. Where are you down until you |
| 1:20.2 | stop blinking? And this is what I've referred to and others have referred to before as hyper |
| 1:25.5 | normalization. This is when the body and the mind enter a state |
| 1:31.1 | where the system around us is so obviously broken and so absurd and dysfunctional that people |
| 1:39.1 | know it, but you keep going anyway because nothing makes sense and everything sort of keeps functioning |
| 1:46.7 | and an absurd new baseline is established. |
| 1:50.8 | I struggle with this. |
| 1:52.2 | I maybe even more than you because I'm steeped in this stuff every day. |
| 1:58.2 | I read it. |
| 1:59.3 | I report about it. |
... |
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