Trump checks out as Republicans panic and MAGA goes insane

**David Pakman** (0:00)
Today, Republicans are being asked to explain what exactly are they offering voters? Why would someone vote for them in November? And the conversation has deteriorated into, this is not a joke, whether God has a penis, renaming Lake Ontario, and yelling at protesters about George Soros. That's where they are right now. We've also got Republicans increasingly trying to get away from their own party's midterm convention. It's a terrible idea.
And Trump has trapped them between a MAGA base they can't afford to alienate and swing voters that they desperately need. We then get to Trump himself, who glitched his way through an absolutely bizarre event, repeatedly fell asleep again and woke up to say, oh, a friend of mine really needs a Gulf Stream jet and he couldn't get it. Lara Trump gave an almost perfect demonstration of how a political cult of personality works and Ron DeSantis totally lost it as the 2028 maneuvering is already starting. And the funniest part is Ted Cruz thinks it finally might be his moment to become the president of the United States. It won't be. I'll explain why we have all of it and more today.
Well I'm surprised and quite frankly, a little bit disgusted to be reporting to you today that even though it's 2026 and we haven't even had the midterms, the 2028 primaries appear to be getting going, especially on the Republican side. Ron DeSantis, DeSanctimonious, the governor of Florida, seems to be trying something new as he is trying to figure out what is my political future. What happens now that I've sort of been alienated from Trump, but I kind of crawled back. But at the same time, many Republican voters don't like him. And the something new that DeSantis is trying is losing his mind because a woman heckled him and yelling about George Soros. Take a look at this.

**Ron DeSantis** (2:03)
Four million more residents than New York State does. And New York State. Hey, Soros isn't paying you enough because you're not very good at this. You should try again. He needs to pay some better talent instead of having people like you show up.
This ain't my first rodeo, lady. I've seen it all and you ain't very good at it.

**David Pakman** (2:35)
What is he doing? Like, look, look at the anger. This is the governor of Florida. He's been in politics forever. He's run for president of the United States and a lady yells at him. And suddenly he's screaming uncontrollably about George Soros. This isn't my first rodeo, blah, blah, blah. Now DeSantis personality, it's unusual and it's certainly a topic of interest in American politics. But I think there's a much bigger story here because all of these guys are starting to think about what does happen when Trump is gone. That's really what this is about. And the twenty twenty eight Republican primary maneuvering is starting now.
Ted Cruz, by the way, thinks it might finally be his moment. There is a Wall Street Journal report that will link to in the description to this YouTube video, which says that Ted Cruz has already been to Iowa three times this year. He's doing the podcast circuit. He's promoting his book. But most importantly, Ted Cruz has started to quietly kind of ask people, might you be interested in working on my twenty twenty eight campaign? So it seems as though Ted Cruz has already decided privately he is running. Now I am not big on predictions. I don't know who the Republican nominee is going to be. I don't know who the Democratic nominee is going to be. I think there's a lot of unpredictability. One prediction I'm comfortable making. And if I were a betting man, I should just bet on it right now. But I'm not. Ted Cruz is not going to be the next president of the United States. I don't know who their nominee will be. And I don't know who the Democrats nominee will be. But Ted Cruz is not going to be president. And what's funny is that apparently even JD Vance's people are kind of looking at this and going, Ted Cruz thinks he might be able to do it.
The Wall Street Journal report indicates that the allies of Vance are just kind of scoffing at the idea that Cruz would even be a serious threat. And meanwhile, JD Vance is leading early Republican polling. He and Marco Rubio are kind of the Trump favorites for twenty eight. Ted Cruz is already starting to ramp up by taking some shots at JD Cruz criticized Vance over the Iran agreement that has fallen apart. He said it's a terrible deal when Cruz was asked how important is Trump's endorsement going to be in twenty twenty eight? Cruz said, well, you know, it carries weight, but voters are going to make their own decision. And that is really interesting because it's not even November of twenty six. Oh, my God. I lost the light again. This has been an issue in the remote studio this week. These lights are just refuse. Something about me is repelling these lights.