It’s a FULL BLOWN CULT of morons

[0:00] There are two interviews with Trump supporters that I want to look at. They tell us so much [0:04] about how people process information or how they don't and particularly how difficult it can be [0:13] to hold the president accountable when you've decided everything he does is right. [0:17] So this first clip comes from CNN. CNN was interviewing people at yesterday's Trump rally, [0:23] and the reporter asks a very reasonable and straightforward question about the economy. [0:28] Inflation is up to three point seven percent. Gas prices are up. Who's responsible? Very simple [0:34] question. Listen to the answer here. Inflation. We just got a report. It's three point seven percent. [0:40] Price of gas is up. Who do you think is to blame for that? Well, I know who's not to blame for that. [0:48] Definitely got to be those Democrats. I'm not going to lie. Democrats and the rhinos, [0:53] not backing Trump. Definitely not President Trump. He's doing what he can try to clean up the mess [1:00] they made. How do we know that it wouldn't be more if someone else was in office? Because it was lower [1:07] when Trump took over. Why? How can you blame it on someone not knowing what the other result would be? [1:14] All right. So who is to blame for three point seven percent inflation and high gas prices? [1:20] It's not Trump's tariffs, which raise prices. It's not Trump's war in Iran, which raises prices. [1:27] It's the fault of Democrats and rhinos. And Trump is simply doing what he can to clean up the mess [1:34] everybody else made. Now, there's a couple different things going on here. First of all, [1:38] inflation can't automatically be blamed on whoever is president. We've talked before about global factors, [1:45] supply chains, energy markets, Fed Reserve policy, all sorts of considerations. I have never proposed [1:51] that inflation existing proves Trump is responsible. But this is the whole point. If you want to be taken [2:00] seriously in making an argument about who's responsible for inflation, you have to look at [2:06] policies, timing and evidence. When Biden left office, inflation was lower. Trump did tariffs that [2:12] economists said would raise prices. Trump started a war that economists said would raise prices and [2:17] then prices went up. And this supporter is seemingly incapable of accommodating to reality. If the [2:27] economy is doing well, Trump deserves the credit. If it's doing poorly, we either lie and say it's doing [2:32] well or we blame Democrats. If Republicans control the government and something goes wrong, we blame rhinos. [2:39] If Trump has been president long enough that blaming Biden becomes a little tough, you go, well, [2:43] he's still cleaning up the mess, even if things are going in the wrong direction. It's an explanation [2:48] that you can never disprove because the conclusion is determined before the evidence. Trump's not to [2:53] blame. Now compare this to the second interview. Reporter approaches a man at the Trump rally, [2:59] asks a simple question. Why are you here? And the guy, the guy mentions Biden. Listen to this. [3:06] So what what brings you out here to support Trump today? Because I don't like Biden or the Democrats. [3:11] Speaker 1 I don't like Biden and the Democrats Democrats. That's a newer name that Trump has [3:17] stuck really well. That's nicer than what I normally call him. I usually call him dumb ass crap. [3:22] Speaker 1 Really clever guy. I don't like Biden. You're at a rally before a midterm in which neither [3:34] Biden nor Trump are on the ballot because you don't like Biden. Now, maybe if we sat down with this guy over [3:43] a beer, he would have a more elaborate explanation that simply didn't make it into this clip. I don't [3:50] know. We don't know. But what a remarkable answer to give at a Trump rally in October of 2026. Joe [3:56] Biden has been out of office for almost two years. Donald Trump is the president. Trump's the person [4:04] signing executive orders and making appointments of staffers negotiating with foreign leaders, [4:10] directing the executive branch. And when this guy is asked two years into Trump's term, why are you at [4:15] a Trump rally? Because I don't like Joe Biden. It's like the calendar stopped in 2024. These two [4:23] interviews fit together very nicely. In the first interview, Trump is insulated from responsibility [4:31] because everything bad is blamed on Democrats or Republicans who failed to be completely loyal. [4:36] In the second interview, support for Trump is expressed as opposition to a different guy [4:42] who isn't even in office anymore. Biden's been out of office two years. He's dealing with [4:46] metastasized prostate cancer. This guy is at a Trump rally because I don't like Biden. Nothing tells us [4:54] anything about what Trump is accomplishing right now. What policies do you support? What results did [5:00] you expect from Trump? Did you get it? What success? What's failure? And you can find people across [5:06] the political spectrum that can better explain why they oppose or support things than these people we've [5:11] heard from. But the problem here is this is what happens when loyalty becomes disconnected from any [5:17] measurable result. If you believe Trump deserves credit for every success but none of the blame for [5:23] failures, that is a standard that is delusional. And if your explanation for supporting the current [5:30] president is you dislike the previous one, you're not really telling us how you evaluate a president. [5:36] You're saying I have an allegiance. That's it. That's why I keep coming back to let's apply [5:40] consistent standards. If inflation was a legitimate concern under Biden, it's a legitimate concern under [5:47] Trump. If three point seven percent inflation is too high under Biden, it's too high under Trump. [5:51] If it was Biden's fault when he was president, then it's got to be Trump's fault when he's president. [5:56] And if we decide here's how we scrutinize gas prices, we do it the same way no matter who's [6:02] president. There's a few things presidents can do to raise gas prices. Did Biden do any of them? No. [6:08] Has Trump done some of them? Yes. And if a politician makes a promise to fix something, [6:12] at some point we should say, did they fix it? Did they do it? Not do the supporters like them or do [6:17] they hate Biden or whatever? These are two short interviews. They don't establish what every Trump [6:23] supporter believes. But this is a problem in American political discourse where the explanations are [6:28] designed from the ground up to make it impossible to ever find fair criticisms of Donald Trump. And [6:35] the simplest test is this. Ask yourself, what evidence would cause you to change your mind about [6:41] a politician you support? If the answer is there is nothing that could change my mind, you are no [6:48] longer evaluating performance. You're just defending identity and allegiance. That's very different from [6:54] holding elected officials accountable. Part of what we will try to do over the next two years [6:58] is hold elected officials accountable. I would love to have your support on Tuesday as we do a one day [7:04] membership drive. Get on my newsletter, Substack David Pakman dot com or get on my texting list. [7:11] Those are the two ways we will be notifying folks of this massive girthy discount on Tuesday. Text six, [7:18] four, six, five, three, one, four, three, three, three. I have a phenomenal bonus show for you today. [7:25] Truth Social is collapsing. A lot of people fell for a fake story about Russian bots. We'll talk about [7:31] all of it on today's bonus show. Appreciate you watching. Stick around for this next video. And [7:37] don't forget to hit subscribe so you actually see our uploads. You can also catch the full podcast on [7:43] Spotify and Apple Podcasts. [7:53] Speaker 1 [7:55] Speaker 1