Trump demands loyalty as MAGA starts eating itself

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

There is so much NFL on ESPN right now.

Monday Night Football, plus pregame and postgame. NFL Live, NFL Primetime. Everything you need to stay on top of every game, every week.

SPEAKER_2 (0:14)

Unbelievable.

SPEAKER_1 (0:16)

And now, NFL Network is on the ESPN app. More football, more coverage, more ways to watch. Football's on, all season long on ESPN and streaming on the ESPN app.

David Pakman (0:30)

Today, Donald Trump gets thousands of people to raise their right hands and repeat a pledge of allegiance, declaring their allegiance to him as the greatest president in American history. A reporter starts asking very reasonable questions about Donald Trump's promised five thousand dollar checks, and it gets very ugly as Trump lashes out. And Laura Ingraham asks really an even simpler question about those five thousand dollar checks, and Trump's answer involves a completely fictional twenty one trillion dollar tariff revenue scheme. Meanwhile, the trade war with Canada escalates, something we really never see between close allies. Outright import bans are now being discussed. And something fascinating is happening at Fox News. One of Trump's own top advisors is now telling MAGA viewers Fox has betrayed you. And as the fight over Maria Bartiromo's departure explodes into the open, we may see quite a realignment in right wing media after we get past these midterms. Plus, I think I finally figured out something important about what Trump understands about politics, that a lot of other politicians don't. Plus, your messages, good, bad and ugly, at the end of the show in today's Friday Feedback. Let's record this one, why not?

Trump made the entire audience on the second night of his midterm convention. Put up their right hands and swear a loyalty oath. Pledge allegiance not to the Constitution, not to the flag, not to doing what is best for the average fellow American.

But pledge allegiance to Donald Trump. We have reached the point. Where the cult is wide open in the public sphere. And Trump stood in front of an arena, not a full arena, I have to admit, and asked thousands of people to put up their right hands and repeat after me. Don't believe me? Take a look at this dystopian, authoritarian, rancid nightmare that has become the Republican Party of twenty twenty six.

Donald Trump (2:50)

Oh, please raise your right hand. I pledge. To the greatest president in the history of the United States.

That loves us so much he can't even breathe. That I will go out with my family, my friends. I'll do it anyway. I don't care if I'm registered or not.

Donald Trump (3:22)

I'm going to try and cheat like hell like they do.

Donald Trump (3:26)

They've never, there's never been bigger cheaters.

Donald Trump (3:28)

I don't care.

Donald Trump (3:30)

I am going to go out and I'm going to get my friends, my family, and we are going to vote on November 3rd, or we are going to vote before that.

David Pakman (3:46)

If you care about what this country was founded on, if you care about the Constitution, if you care about democracy, you have to see this as the disgusting debasement of what the founding fathers worked to create.

And we have to prevent these people from remaining in power. We do. Thousands of people raising the right hands and repeating back Donald Trump's declaration that he's the greatest and you will cheat to win.

And notice how personal he makes it. He could simply say, and I would still find it a little weird because the whole raise your right hand and repeat after me thing is cringy. It's authoritarian. But he could simply say, let's raise our right hands and promise that we are going to vote. But the crowd has to repeat a statement praising Trump and saying, we will cheat to win if we have to. This is a convention that they have built around the idea that Republicans themselves should pretend that Trump himself is on the ballot in November. And that, I guess, now includes Trump leading the audience in a repeat after me, call and repeat pledge about himself. Now Donald Trump, in the midst of this big loyalty oath, says, I've delivered on every single one of my promises during this second term and more people clap, more people clap at this lie.

Donald Trump (5:12)

And in 19 months, I've delivered on every single promise I made.

Donald Trump (5:17)

And I think I delivered on far more.

David Pakman (5:20)

It is not the 2012 Obama. We've made a lot of progress, but we have more to do. It's not I've delivered on some of the things I promised. It's I've done all of it. What about no new wars in the Middle East? What about five to six percent GDP growth that will buoy this economy like a rocket ship? What about gas down 50 percent? What about energy down 50 percent? What about being respected around the world? What about inflation down so much that prices will actually decline rather than go up more slowly?