Skip to content
PivotPivot

Anthony Scaramucci Blasts Trump’s Current Chaos | Pivot

Kara kicks off a Scott-free August with guest co-host Anthony Scaramucci — lawyer, podcaster, founder of SkyBridge Capital, and yes, former White House Communications Director for Trump (briefly). Kara and The Mooch break down Trump’s decision to fire the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the latest tariff moves, and some nuclear saber-rattling with Russia. Plus, MAGA builds up its war chest, Trump tussles with Charlamagne tha God over Epstein, and the Smithsonian sets the record straight on Trump's impeachment. Timecodes: 00:00 Intro 4:08 Texas Dems Flee State 8:25 Trump Fires BLS Commissioner 13:34 Trump’s New Tariff Play 19:29 Trump’s Nuclear Threat to Russia 24:32 MAGA Inc.’s War Chest 29:50 The Epstein Saga Continues 38:02 The CPB Winds Down Operations 38:48 Trump vs. Smithsonian 48:14 Wins and Fails Producers: Lara Naaman Zoë Marcus Taylor Griffin Kevin Oliver Audio Engineer: Ernie Indradat Vox Media's Executive Producer of Podcasts: Nishat Kurwa Subscribe to Pivot on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pivot/id1073226719 Subscribe to Pivot on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4MU3RFGELZxPT9XHVwTNPR Follow us on Instagram and Threads at: https://www.instagram.com/pivotpodcastofficial Follow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@PIVOTPODCAST Send us your questions by calling us at 855-51-PIVOT, or at https://podcasts.voxmedia.com/show/pivot

Anthony ScaramucciguestKara Swisherhost
Aug 5, 20251h 4mWatch on YouTube ↗

EVERY SPOKEN WORD

  1. 0:00 – 4:08

    Intro

    1. AS

      Let me give a newsflash to every Pivot listener, okay?

    2. KS

      Right. Okay. Newsflash.

    3. AS

      Anybody close to Trump hates his guts.

    4. KS

      (instrumental music) Hi, everyone. This is Pivot from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network. I'm Kara Swisher, and guess what kicks off today?

    5. NA

      (instrumental music) Scot-Free August. (air horn)

    6. KS

      (laughs) That's right, it's the first week of Scot-Free August, when the dog's away and the jungle cat gets to experiment with a bunch of different co-hosts. And today, I'm with the one and only Anthony Scaramucci, Mooch, uh, The Mooch, a lawyer, podcaster, founder, and managing partner at SkyBridge Capital. And you remember, uh, that he did a quick 11-day stint in the White House during President Trump's first term, but that's in the past actually. I, I, I don't think about that as much. Anthony, welcome.

    7. AS

      All right. Well, I'm very, I'm very flattered. I app- appreciate that. You, you're never invited into my apartment or my kitchen, Kara.

    8. KS

      (laughs)

    9. AS

      You'll have to stay in the living room when you come over.

    10. KS

      No.

    11. AS

      I just wanna make sure you know that.

    12. KS

      No, no. No, I'm gonna look through all your things in your medicine-

    13. AS

      By the way, that was incredible. That was A+ trolling, Kara Swisher.

    14. KS

      He, he was-

    15. AS

      A+ trolling.

    16. KS

      I was in s- he's referring to a video of me in Scott's apartment looking through his things, which I do constantly.

    17. AS

      Yeah. Love, loved it.

    18. KS

      And if I came to your apartment, I'd be right up in your medicine chest.

    19. AS

      Yes.

    20. KS

      Just so you know.

    21. AS

      And you would, you would learn that I have a lot of skin products.

    22. KS

      Uh-huh.

    23. AS

      Okay? Lots of moisturizer.

    24. KS

      Do you have, like, shrimp semen? What do you have? What is in those?

    25. AS

      No, I'm not... No, I haven't gone into that yet. I, I probably should talk to some of the, uh, actresses about that. But no, I just, I do just general stuff, retinol, Retin-A, things like that.

    26. KS

      All right, well-

    27. AS

      Renova.

    28. KS

      ... what would be the craziest thing I would find in your closet?

    29. AS

      Uh, man, there's too many cra- I mean, the craziest thing that you would find in my c- closet is the-

    30. KS

      Yeah.

  2. 4:08 – 8:25

    Texas Dems Flee State

    1. KS

      first, Democratic members of the Texas House of Representatives have fled the state in an attempt to stop Republicans from adopting a redraw on congressional map. Republican State Legislature has been pushing for a map that flips five Democratic congressional districts in favor of Republicans. Governor Greg Abbott called the Democratic, uh, the departure of the Democrats an abandonment of for- or forfeiture of an elected state office, saying he would take steps to remove the missing Democrats if they don't return. Uh, and then, of course, uh, a lot of, uh, gov- uh, Democratic governors are, including Gavin Newsom, are threatening to do the same in their states. Thoughts on this strategy?

    2. AS

      They're a terrible, terr- terrible strategy. They should get together and declare a detente, statewide detente. Uh, uh, people like you and me, it's very important for us, uh, to explain to the American people what they're doing, okay?

    3. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    4. AS

      Gerrymandering, everybody, is when the politician picks the voter. In a liberal democracy, the voter is supposed to pick the politician. And so these guys have totally corrupted the system. Uh, the Republicans did this, uh, better than the Democrats early on.

    5. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    6. AS

      There was something called Operation Red Map, Kara, you probably remember that.

    7. KS

      Mm-hmm. Yup.

    8. AS

      They went into the state local legislators. The Koch family was big, big donors to this.

    9. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    10. AS

      And they influenced the local elections to get the local elections to redistrict the congressional districts. Trump is looking at the map and he's thinking to himself, "I'm gonna lose the House. Uh, I'm not a popular president." He's below 40%. Uh, "I'm gonna lose the House." He calls up Governor Abbott and says, "I need five Republican congressional seats." Uh, and this will cause an escalation of complete nonsense. You and I both know that the American leaders were once public servants.We're now in the age of public self-servants. They're serving themselves and they're, and they're doing terrible things to the American people, and this is an example of that.

    11. KS

      So what happens here? What is the game? If, if, if they do this and they get these Democratic legislators back, they can't take them out of office. Or maybe they can in Texas. They probably can.

    12. AS

      No, but they'll re- they'll, they'll, they'll get them back to force the vote and cause the redistricting, which is legal and is allowable, to cause the redistricting of the, of the districts, which will allow more Republicans on a percentage basis into those districts, and then the Democrats will probably lose those House seats. And so, Newsom is saying, "Okay, I can do that. There's some Republican districts here in California. Let me get the chainsaw out and let me redistrict." And so, uh, I mean, this is something people should know. That is what's been going on for about 150 years. Uh, very, very bad. We, we, we, we would need a constitutional amendment, frankly, to end gerrymandering. Maybe AI could pick the districts, make the districts flat, make the districts even. It would cut the extremists in the society, but it would also end the in- redundancy of incumbency.

    13. KS

      Right. So if-

    14. AS

      Okay? And so that's what going on.

    15. KS

      ... if, if Abbott does this-

    16. AS

      Yeah.

    17. KS

      ... should Newsom do the same thing, just to even it up?

    18. AS

      Well, he will do it. No, no.

    19. KS

      Yeah.

    20. AS

      So if Ab- Abbott does it-

    21. KS

      Or Illinois or New York.

    22. AS

      ... he will definitely do it, and then you'll have an escalation, and then you'll have a, you'll have an escalating war.

    23. KS

      Legal lawsuits everywhere.

    24. AS

      You're asking me if he should. In a normative world, they should deescalate. They should cut the nonsense. They're not serving the American people. But, you know, there's something that someday we're all gonna have to write about. Uh, maybe you and I won't be here. I don't know. But 50 years from now, someone will write, "What the hell? How did this orange spray tanned maniac get ahold of one of these parties like this, where everybody is crippled with moral weakness, moral depravity, and just literally allowing him to do whatever the hell he wants?" Uh, and he d- and he laughs at these. By the way, I know the guy. So when they're kissing his ass, Kara-

    25. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    26. AS

      ... he's laughing at them.

    27. KS

      Right. Right.

    28. AS

      He's picking up the phone. He's calling his friend, Kara Swisher, saying, (laughs) "Can you believe"-

    29. KS

      Yeah. Yeah, he's calling Kara Swisher.

    30. AS

      "... Governor Abbott is actually willing to do this for me?"

  3. 8:25 – 13:34

    Trump Fires BLS Commissioner

    1. KS

      all the time, by the way. Trump called the jobs numbers phony and rigged, his favorite two words, uh, and offered no evidence except my opinion. His economic advisor, Kevin Hassett, who's quite a minion, defended the move in an interview with Kristen Welker on Meet the Press. Let's listen.

    2. AS

      Is the president prepared to fire anyone who reports data that he disagrees with?

    3. NA

      No, absolutely not. The president wants his own people there so that when we see the numbers, uh, they're more transparent and more reliable. And if there are big changes and big revisions, uh, we expect more big revisions for the jobs data in September, for example, that we wanna know why. We want people to explain it to us.

    4. KS

      Yeah, they need to be explained to. We've seen this firing routine from Trump many times, as you well know. Um, but is he taking it to a whole new level here? Your thoughts on this 'cause this ... You, you, you and your Wall Street pals must be freaked out by this one.

    5. AS

      Yeah, well, I mean, you know, listen-

    6. KS

      Or maybe not.

    7. AS

      ... I, I don't think, I don't think anybody on Wall Street's freaked out anymore. I mean, that was a freak out moment in 2018. In, in this moment now, you're gonna expect anything from Donald Trump. You may remember this. It's sort of obscure now, but Jack Welch, the very high profile CEO of GE, questioned the job reports numbers under the Obama administration once. And so, this is a political tactic. Uh, I find those statistics, like the CBO, to be very nonpartisan. The numbers are the numbers. Uh, I will say that they can be antiquated though, Kara. You know, like, you know the, the cliche statistics are lies. There are damn lies, and then there are statistics. We can make statistics look any way that we want. And so, I, I don't think it's the right thing to do to, to do that. He would be better advised to say, "Okay, how are we getting this data now? And can this data be sourced better and sourced in real time, given all the great technology we have in the country, to make the data a little bit less laggy and a little bit more accurate, uh, in real time?" And so, he's not gonna do that. Uh, but here's the irony, and I push this back to you for a second.

    8. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    9. AS

      Uh, this data supports a rate cut.

    10. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    11. AS

      And so, he's railing on Jerome Powell. I, what I don't understand is why didn't he take the data and say, "This is purely veracious data. It's absolutely accurate, and this more emphasizes that the Federal Reserve chair, uh, and the board there is on the wrong side of where rates are." And so-

    12. KS

      So, why didn't he?

    13. AS

      You know, it's, it's an interesting question because I think his knee-jerk reaction was, "Oh, shit. The economy's doing way worse than it did under Joe Biden."

    14. KS

      Right.

    15. AS

      "And of course, I can't let my minions, 'cause these people will believe anything I say, can shoot people on Fifth Avenue, deny I'm on the Epstein list. I could do all these different things. And so, let me keep the narrative going that there's another conspiracy afoot and that they're lying about the statistics because it's an, uh, Obama/Biden legacy appointee and their group in there doing the statistics." But he would have been better served to actually say, "Hey, this is accurate. Where is Jerome Powell? Why is he not cutting rates?" 'Cause Trump-

    16. KS

      Right.

    17. AS

      ... clearly wants a rate cut for various different reasons. So-

    18. KS

      Right.

    19. AS

      So that, that, that's the irony there. I'm surprised he didn't go in that direction.

    20. KS

      Who could he appoint here that would satis- Will Wall Street freak out about this or not at all?

    21. AS

      I don't, I don't think so. I think, I think Wall Street has said to themselves ... And this is the weird thing about Wall Street. Wall Street says that if this guy's gone in three and a half years ... Uh, but I submit back to Wall Street, do you know anybody that builds a $200 million ballroom onto their house and then moves out in three and a half years? I'm just pointing that out to people. The guy's making expansive renovations to the White House. Doesn't smell like a guy that wants to leave anytime soon. So I think we're gonna be up for a potential fight there. But I think Wall Street looks at this and says, "Okay, this guy's leaving in three and a half years. There'll be a clean-up on aisle seven. He's breaking all the pickle jars at the local supermarket. There'll be a clean-up. There'll either be a Democrat that comes in or a non-personality cult member," 'cause I do believe this is a personality cult, and it will die off with Trump. Someone else will come in and be a little bit more normal, won't be able to get, get away with the nonsense-

    22. KS

      Get away with it. Yeah, that's more the point.

    23. AS

      ... that Trump is getting away with. And so, Wall Street's like, "Okay, we can live with this for three and a half years. Tariffs are ridiculous." Guys like Jamie Dimon are saying, "So far, so good," but you know they're mumbling in the back room saying, "What a disaster." Uh, uh, you know, Jason Furman actually had a great piece in the New York Times over the weekend describing that the tariffs are not gonna put a- cause a great-... recession or a potential depression, but they are slowing down the economy and they are slowing down capital allocation decisions in the economy, and it's frankly starting to show up in the data. So, uh, you know, this is the... Again, the MAGA narrative is, "Ho- ho-ho, still got a strong economy despite our tariffs," but the real narrative should be, "No, the tariffs haven't fully kicked in yet."

    24. KS

      Right. So speaking of that, he's continuing his mission to up- upend global trade. He launched a new round of tariffs, targeting over 60 US trading partners and set- take effect August 7th. They keep moving thes- these dates. These tariffs range from about 10% to 40%. Canada

  4. 13:34 – 19:29

    Trump’s New Tariff Play

    1. KS

      is at 35%, India is at 25%, which Trump says he's going to increase because India is buying oil from Russia. And somewhat inexplicably, Switzerland is at 39%. He's already signaling more tariffs to come, including pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, and critical minerals. The markets initially fell on the tariff news as well as in the jobs report. They seem to have rebounded as Monday morning. Um, w- as you say, they're just, they're just sort of a wait and see kind of thing or, or are they... Is Wall Street actually concerned, even if e- they're trashing behind the scenes?

    2. AS

      Well, I- I- I think Wall Street thinks that all of this stuff ends up at about 10%, possibly 15. Uh, terrible but tolerable. I think that's how Wall Street looks at it. I don't think that 39% number that you're referencing in Switzerland is going to stick. I think that's a remnant number from April 2nd. You remember when he came down?

    3. KS

      Yeah. That crazy

    4. NA

      chart (laughs)

    5. AS

      You know, he's like orange Moses coming down from Mount Evil with the tablet, you know? He's like walking in, you know, no one knows what the hell he's talking about. I think that's one of those things-

    6. KS

      (laughs)

    7. AS

      ... that's like left over.

    8. KS

      Uh-huh.

    9. AS

      Uh, the 39%. And I think that's gonna get reversed. I know the, uh, the Swiss government is frantic about getting that reversed. They're working on it right now, and I think that will. I think these things settle out-

    10. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    11. AS

      ... 10 to 15.

    12. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    13. AS

      Uh, the person that's handled Trump better than anybody in my opinion-

    14. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    15. AS

      ... is Mark Carney. Uh, Mark Carney has held the ground there. Uh, there's no way that the American economy can have a 35%, uh, reciprocal tariff with Canada. It's not, not, not sustainable. You'll, you'll knock, you'll knock everybody out of business, you know. The... You have lobstermen that are buying... They're, they're catching lobster in US waters but they're sending it across the border to have it processed in Canadian processing plants and then sent back. So you'll, you'll knock the price up 70% in terms of the way the tariffs work. You'll put everybody out of business. You'll hurt the restaurant industry, uh, y-

    16. KS

      Which most businesses have been absorbing until now, right?

    17. AS

      Yeah. I mean, look at, look at the-

    18. KS

      That's... They've been sort of-

    19. AS

      ... look at the GM print. GM lost-

    20. KS

      Yeah.

    21. AS

      ... a billion dollars by absorbing the cost. But you know who isn't absorbing it, Kara?

    22. KS

      Mm-mm.

    23. AS

      Is, uh, Las Vegas.

    24. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    25. AS

      Las Vegas is not absorbing it 'cause they've lost the Canadian tourists.

    26. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    27. AS

      They've lost the UK tourists.

    28. KS

      Workers.

    29. AS

      Uh, they've lost the guys coming in from Australia that used to gamble and go crazy in Las Vegas. Uh, you have no tax on tips but you have a 50% reduction in revenue for the people that are receiving the tips. So, so Trump's nonsense, his rhetoric has really hurt tourism. I mean, there's an estimate of about 80 to-

    30. KS

      Mm-hmm.

  5. 19:29 – 24:32

    Trump’s Nuclear Threat to Russia

    1. KS

      Medvedev warned in one post that each new ultimatum Trump issues over the Ukraine is a threat and a step towards war. And the Kremlin has responded to Trump's moves, saying, "We believe everyone should be very careful about new leader rhetoric." I would agree with that. Trump is also threatening sanctions unless Russia ends the war by August 8th, which is ne- the end of this week. Uh, but Putin has dismissed pressure for a ceasefire. Talk about what he's doing here from your perspective.

    2. AS

      Well, I mean, it's saber-rattling. I don't think, I don't think it's, it's much ado about nothing. I think it's, uh, a good news story. It shows his base that he has some muscularity. The Iranian hits showed some muscularity. His base likes that.

    3. KS

      Why he is threatening them when he's spent his almost both administrations sucking up to them is really interesting to me. Why now? Why here? Why-

    4. AS

      Well, he doesn't-

    5. KS

      ... why now?

    6. AS

      ... have a choice. Well, well, okay, well, I can answer that.

    7. KS

      Okay.

    8. AS

      So, so what's happening to Trump is that the, the lame duck clock is ticking. Uh, he's 18 months away from being a full-on lame duck. And there's a little bit of flex by some of the conservative Republicans that are for Democratic freedoms. And there's also some institutional memory in the Congress, particularly the Senate, related to the security guarantees that President Clinton signed in 1994 when the Ukraine government-

    9. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    10. AS

      ... gave up their nukes in exchange for these security guarantees. So-

    11. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    12. AS

      ... there are a group of institutionalists in McConnells, DeThuns, that have gone to Trump and said, "Hey, you- you're- you're not being tough enough. You've gotta, you've gotta help these guys more. We can't have a defeated Ukraine government at this point."

    13. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    14. AS

      And so Trump is under the gun. He's afraid of Putin. I think we have to state that publicly. Uh, I always tell people, "If the window's open, Kara-"

    15. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    16. AS

      ... "and you hear clippety-clop, it's, it's a horse."

    17. KS

      (laughs)

    18. AS

      "It's not a zebra." You gotta look at the obvious. They've got something on him-

    19. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    20. AS

      ... that scares the living shit out of him-

    21. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    22. AS

      ... and he won't move against Putin. And you have to say to yourself, "Well, Putin's got a declining country." His, uh, GDP now is, uh, 14%-

    23. KS

      Yep.

    24. AS

      ... smaller than Italy.

    25. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    26. AS

      Uh, he's got a failed defense department or war department. Just look at what's going on there.

    27. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    28. AS

      Uh, and so how could a very rich man, which Trump is, who runs the largest military and arguably one of the most powerful nations in the history of the world be kowtowing to Vladimir Putin? And the answer is, they got something on him-

    29. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    30. AS

      ... and they got something on him that scares the living daylights out of him.

  6. 24:32 – 29:50

    MAGA Inc.’s War Chest

    1. KS

      capitalist Marc Andreessen, who's always, uh, creepily around the basket, and TikTok investor Jeffrey Yass. Contributions also came in from crypto executives and energy, which makes sense to me, an energy company, and a mother seeking a pardon for her son, who got one. A spokes- uh, spokeswoman for MAGA Inc. rejected claims that the donations were exchanged for access, saying Trump, quote, "Cannot be bought and the works, and works toward the best interest of the country." Uh, it feels pay-to-play to me. New York Times had a pretty devastating piece about that. Um, but does the money go towards helping Republicans in the midterms, or is Trump really considering that, uh, third term, which you referenced just a second ago?

    2. AS

      Well, I think you have to take Trump seriously about him wanting a third term. And I think you have to take Steve Bannon seriously about him running for a third term. Now up against that, he'll be 82 years old. It looks like he does have some vascular issues. I mean, they've reported that, so let's say that that's probably true. And they're... He's got an unsteady gait, and he is, he's getting older. Uh, but I, I don't think a guy like him leaves power easily. I just don't think that. And so I hope that, and I hope that, uh, my buddies who are institutionalists in Washington, uh, say that that's the last stand for them, uh, that they will fight that tooth and nail. Those are Republicans saying that, who I'm still a donor to several of these Republican senators. But I don't, I don't know. I... You have to take him literally and seriously when he's thinking about these things. Uh, I don't think that money goes to lots of people in the midterms. Trump is for Trump. He's not for other people. He doesn't give a shit. And so I think this is something very smart that he's done though, and I think people should understand this. He's not a traditional politician. A traditional politician, an Obama, a George W. Bush stops raising money in their second term-

    3. KS

      Right.

    4. AS

      ... for their own PACs.

    5. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    6. AS

      He didn't do that, and I think he's now setting a precedent for future politicians to not do that because that will give him... Let's say he was a normal politician, he'd go, "Oh, I got leverage now in the system long after I'm lame ducked, and I can s- pick and choose who I'm gonna give this money to in different Congressional races." I don't think Trump's gonna do that. Trump will figure out a way to use that money.

    7. KS

      Yeah.

    8. AS

      And this is what Trump is doing with the corruption, you know. Uh, I think the f- the pardons are going up now. They're probably $100 million now for a pardon. I think you... They started at the three to $5 million level.

    9. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    10. AS

      And, uh, Trump should just put out a, a retail price list, you know.

    11. KS

      (laughs)

    12. AS

      Say, "Look, uh, here's, here's the list of all the shit that you can get from me," you know?

    13. KS

      Right, right.

    14. AS

      "You wanna come have dinner with me, you're a crypto guy? Five million."

    15. KS

      Uh-huh.

    16. AS

      "You want a pardon now? It's gotta be 100 million 'cause, um..."

    17. KS

      You didn't go to that dinner, did you? Did you go to that dinner?

    18. AS

      Uh, no. I haven't, I haven't seen or been around Trump... You wanna know the last time I talked to Trump?

    19. KS

      Wh- When?

    20. AS

      That was, uh, it was April. It was Easter Sunday, uh, April of 2019. He called me. I thought he was calling me to wish me a happy Easter, but he wasn't. He was calling me to lay into me 'cause I had written an article that said that... It was an open letter to the president. "The press is not the enemy of the people. Stop saying that. The press is there to protect the people, but it's also the fount of our financial innovation." You and I have talked about this. Being able to speak freely in a society, you teach second grade children that they can speak freely. They go on to become Kara Swisher or they create a Facebook or they create an iPhone. Uh, other countries that don't do that, they have to steal our technology. Uh, Trump got really pissed at me. Laid into me, and he, and he told me that I was a deep stater and some other shit that he said. And that was the last time we spoke.

    21. KS

      Oh, wow.

    22. AS

      So no, I haven't been around Trump in s- i- since-

    23. KS

      What did he say? Okay. (laughs)

    24. AS

      Yeah.

    25. KS

      "Happy Easter." (laughs)

    26. AS

      Yeah, "Happy Easter."

    27. KS

      What do you say when someone says that? Okay.

    28. AS

      I said, "I disagree, and I think you're being wr- I think you're wrong. I think history's gonna judge what I'm saying-"

    29. KS

      Right.

    30. AS

      "... to be more right than you."

  7. 29:50 – 38:02

    The Epstein Saga Continues

    1. KS

      Truth Social saying, "The radio host knows nothing." Ghislaine Maxwell has been moved to a minimum security prison camp in Texas, against... Sexual offenders aren't allowed there, but she has been allowed. And Republicans are still split on which side to take as polling shows almost 80% of Trump voters in favor of releasing the files. I h- I have not talked to you about this. Um, thoughts on what's happening and how long it lasts? 'Cause e- everyone felt it was a distraction. I never did because it's at the core of QAnon. It's at the core of the deep state stuff. And he himself h- has fed these toxic creatures, uh, for far too long for them to just give up.

    2. AS

      Well, I, I think he's gonna survive this too.

    3. KS

      Yeah.

    4. AS

      I mean, maybe I'm on the other side of this trade than you. I think he survives this.

    5. KS

      Oh, I think he survives it. I just think it's damaging.

    6. AS

      Yeah.

    7. KS

      That's what-

    8. AS

      Well, I think, I think it's damaging. Maybe Charlamagne's right, it sets up a '26 divergence.

    9. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    10. AS

      Meaning I th- there could be conservative Republicans that say, "I'm MAGA lite."

    11. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    12. AS

      Or "I'm a little less MAGA." Mm-hmm. "I'm MAGA without pedophilia."

    13. KS

      You see Marjorie Taylor Greene doing it constantly.

    14. AS

      Yeah. Yeah, maybe "I'm MAGA without pedophilia."

    15. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    16. AS

      I don't... That could be a good bumper sticker.

    17. KS

      (laughs)

    18. AS

      I don't... You know, "I'm, I'm, uh, you know, I- I- I'm, I'm 18 plus."

    19. KS

      (laughs) Mm-hmm.

    20. AS

      "I'm not 14 and below-"

    21. KS

      Yeah.

    22. AS

      "... these disgusting sons of bitches."

    23. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    24. AS

      But, but Trump is... You know, he's... Where there's smoke, there's fire, okay?

    25. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    26. AS

      You can't see him with Epstein. The letter-... has got Trump so crazed because the letter plus the doodling on the letter is implying something that Trump does not want out there in the marketplace, which is why he's put a $10 billion speed bump together against Rupert Murdoch and his, and the News Corp. But, you know, and R- Rupert doesn't give a shit. You know, Rupert hates Trump, like everybody else, and his attitude is, "I'm 94, have at it. Let me drop a few more bombs on you." We have the bombs. Okay? So now, again, you have to tell me if there's something unthinkably nefarious, and I'm not gonna say what it is, but you know what it is and your viewers and listeners know what it is, if that comes out and it's in- incontrovertible, it's not AI generated, it's not any of that, it's incontrovertible evidence of something unthinkably nefarious, is that enough to remove Trump? I think you think it is.

    27. NA

      Mm-hmm.

    28. AS

      I just think that he never get, you know, "Oh, the McCain thing is gonna ruin him." Doesn't ruin him. "Oh, we're gonna grab him by the you know what in the, in the bus with Billy Bush." No, that doesn't r- ... Nothing hurts Trump.

    29. NA

      Mm-hmm.

    30. AS

      It n- it could damage him.

  8. 38:02 – 38:48

    The CPB Winds Down Operations

    1. KS

      The move will severely impact local operations of PBS and NPR. Both NPR and PBS say they're committed to maintaining service after the closure. The CPB told employees most positions will be eliminated on September 30th. Um, th- this is a loss of, uh, local news in rural communities. Uh, this is a closing not of the big NPR stations, or not of, uh, PBS stations, but the small ones, um, which provide all kinds of news and other things like that in places that don't have them. Um, and I'm gonna link it with, uh, w- institutions worried about losing funding. The Smithsonian will restore information about President Trump's impeachments after removing a placard on the topic in July. This was reported by him Washington Post. The museum says the placard was removed after a review of legacy content, which was demanded by the Trump Administration and was meant to be a temporary addition

  9. 38:48 – 48:14

    Trump vs. Smithsonian

    1. KS

      to a 25-year exp- exhibition. The exhibition in question notes that only three, uh, presidents have seriously faced removal, Andrew Johnson, uh, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton. That's not true. A person familiar with the plans told him Washington Post the content review took place following this pressure from the White House to remove an art museum director. Um, so museums altering history, uh, closing down, uh, long institutions, which is something Republicans have wanted for a while, but it will actually affect, uh, the small, the small, uh, local news in rural communities more than anybody else. Um, th- this is more than a distraction 'cause it actually, things happen, things actually happen.

    2. AS

      I mean, I mean, this is, this is Trump. He's the, you know, look, there, there were certain rules in Washington. Uh, the sacred cow of the left was the public broadcasters. Uh, Ronald Reagan railed on it, but he never did anything. Remember, Ronald Reagan railed on Roe v. Wade, but never did anything. And Trump ex- has come into town and he's basically now saying, "Hey, those sacred rules where we rail on... You're on the left and you rail on something on the right and we... and you don't do anything and vice versa, we're ending that." And again, I just think it makes for a coarser society. Uh, if you're asking me practically will the society survive the end of that? It will. Uh, does it suck for those rural areas? It does. But it will survive it. Okay? And could something else creep up or could there be a publicly funded or non-publicly funded, a charitably funded replacement? It's all very possible. Uh, but I think it, it, it to me it's more about the rules, Kara. It's more about okay, we're gonna smash people. We don't want any civility to our government. We don't want anybody having lunch in the cloak room or the cafeteria. They can barely wor- apparently they can barely work out with each other in the gym now. They're in separate areas of the gym. And i- it's just bad for America. That's uh, that's, that, that's not how we got here.

    3. KS

      Right.

    4. AS

      The idea was-

    5. KS

      Right.

    6. AS

      ... that we were gonna have some consensus, we're gonna have some compromise, and we're gonna have some civility with each other. And Trump doesn't like that because remember, uh, there's nobody that Trump hates more than himself.

    7. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    8. AS

      Nobody.

    9. KS

      Hmm.

    10. AS

      Uh-

    11. KS

      Okay.

    12. AS

      ... which is why he's always got three things of a self-hater. Humiliation rituals for people that you're insecure around. That's every world leader. He tries to bring 'em into the White House and ensnare them in some type of humiliation ritual.

    13. KS

      Public humiliation.

    14. AS

      Or, or, yeah, or he'll bring 'em to Scotland even though he's the head of state, Keir Starmer, he's showing up at a guest in his own country to be humiliated, uh, where Trump is railing on the London Mayor. And so what, what self-haters do is they, they create and foment hatred. They excoriate and try to humiliate through humiliation rituals. And then the third thing they do is they wanna leave a stain and legacy of that. They want people to be turned on each other because it makes them feel better. They get satisfaction out of seeing people turn on each other. Right? Trump gets off on the idea that we're going after each other. He likes it.

    15. KS

      Right. Right.

    16. AS

      And so those are things. And he's, he's, uh, I mean he's, he's, uh, he's, uh, you know, a lot of weird things about the guy. He's like a weirdo, but like, the self-hatred thing, do not-

    17. KS

      So, but he-

    18. AS

      ... underestimate the self-hatred.

    19. KS

      I, I don't, but the, the, this stuff-

    20. AS

      It could be the side effects of all the orange shit-

    21. KS

      No.

    22. AS

      ... that's going into his blood stream.

    23. KS

      (laughs)

    24. AS

      You know what I mean?

    25. KS

      Um, but you, you, e- everyone talks about these are distractions. You've said it several times. These are actual things that happen now. Like, we're changing-

    26. AS

      Yeah.

    27. KS

      ... things in museums.

    28. AS

      Yeah.

    29. KS

      We're closing down this. A- a- and so I was, I was at a, m- um, at a, at a book fair this weekend and Jeff Goldberg who has w- had, had some good licks in on Trump, uh, wi- at the Atlantic was saying, you know, that he does all these distractions. And I almost got on and said, "Well, here's six things that actually happened because of the distractions." They aren't, they're not minor. They're, the, the, we use that term a lot. Like, but they're actually distractions with results. Right? Like, this is something that the right has been tr- trying to close down PBS for years, or the c- corporation for... This, it's years, decades.

    30. AS

      Oh. Oh, oh, okay. But I, I, let me just take the l- line. Think about what I'm saying though. Uh, we're gonna close down PBS 'cause it's going to make people sore and it's a sacred cow that the Republicans always talked about but never did anything about. So now we're gonna drop a bomb here to widen the divide between us.

  10. 48:14 – 1:04:09

    Wins and Fails

    1. AS

      I will fully disclose that I'm an investor.

    2. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    3. AS

      But I think Elon Musk is winning, uh, and I think ... so much so ... And I think Donald Trump is so afraid of Elon Musk-

    4. KS

      He must be.

    5. AS

      ... that he, that he tweeted-

    6. KS

      He started the Epstein thing. He started it.

    7. AS

      The Epstein thing, and he tweeted out, "Oh, I love Elon. I'm not coming after his businesses."

    8. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    9. AS

      You know, blah, blah. Okay, so I think Elon Musk is winning, so that's a big win.

    10. KS

      He got ... He ... Just so people know, Tesla just granted shares to Elon worth, uh, $29 billion describing as a good faith award-

    11. AS

      Yeah, so that's another big, that's another big win. Less than the $55 billion-

    12. KS

      That's correct. (laughs) I was like-

    13. AS

      Yeah.

    14. KS

      ... it's a li- it's a half. It's a half.

    15. AS

      Yeah, but, but, you know, that's also a win. But I think Elon's winning. Whether people like that or not, I think that's a definitive, objective win. I-

    16. KS

      So you invested in xAI. You think that's a winner? Uh, or, I think he's-

    17. AS

      I do.

    18. KS

      He's a real, he's a real behind. He's really quite behind in the race, compared to Google or ChatGPT, right?

    19. AS

      You think he's behind? I don't know. I'm, uh, I, I, I put $300 a month into Super Grok.

    20. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    21. AS

      I think the thing is phenomenal.

    22. KS

      Okay, all right.

    23. AS

      Uh, and I think it's distinctive.

    24. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    25. AS

      But again, that's me. I'm not an AI expert. I'm just-

    26. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    27. AS

      I use it for different things. I, I'm, I'm a, I'm a Cloud-

    28. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    29. AS

      ... Claude, I guess it's called, subscriber.

    30. KS

      Claude. Yeah, and Troken.

Episode duration: 1:04:09

Install uListen for AI-powered chat & search across the full episode — Get Full Transcript

Transcript of episode U944dHbCzz8

Get more out of YouTube videos.

High quality summaries for YouTube videos. Accurate transcripts to search & find moments. Powered by ChatGPT & Claude AI.

Add to Chrome