David Pakman

He's driving the bus.

Everybody else is sitting there listening to music or doing whatever.

And what we're seeing is that in these small moments, we have the erosion.

It's a repetitive pattern of the people closest to Trump realizing I got to stop being a disciple here if I want to save myself.

He's not going to be around forever.

And this is behavior that starts to happen when the realization hits that the truth is not something Trump's going to be happy with.

But just going with it is not something that's going to be good for my career.

You've got to find something in the middle.

This gets us to who is really in charge right now, which I want to take a look at in a moment.

But importantly, remember that as we head into 26, especially if Democrats win the House, the Senate is in play.

You know, it's roughly 50 50.

But especially if Democrats win the House, you are going to see a Trump that goes completely off the rails.

Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.

And he is going to put a lot of people in positions of having to either do what Trump wants or not do it.

And that's the next layer.

It's one thing when Trump expresses an idea and they hedge and they go, you know what?

I think the president was getting at is really this other thing.

OK, fine.

We can see what you're doing, but fine.

That's not about action.