EVERY SPOKEN WORD
125 min read · 24,740 words- 0:00 – 3:07
Intro
- SGScott Galloway
This was all a giant ruse. The day before, it was 85% tariffs on Canada. The day before that, it was revoking the citizenship of a talk show host because he doesn't like her. And tomorrow, Kara, it's gonna be something else.
- KSKara Swisher
(instrumental music) Hi, everyone. This is Pivot from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network. I'm Kara Swisher and I just had a root canal so... (laughs)
- SGScott Galloway
Let's be honest, that's a distraction from the Epstein files-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. (laughs)
- SGScott Galloway
... and I'm not falling for it, Kara.
- KSKara Swisher
There's ca-
- SGScott Galloway
I'm not, I'm not falling for it.
- KSKara Swisher
There's cane sugar in D- in Coke. Um-
- SGScott Galloway
I'm not falling for it.
- KSKara Swisher
It's true. Uh, God, I have the worst teeth, Scott. Do you have good teeth? I have terrible teeth. My dentist told me this.
- SGScott Galloway
Oh, my God, I have... I didn't go to the dentist til I was nine.
- KSKara Swisher
No?
- SGScott Galloway
At which point-
- KSKara Swisher
(laughs)
- SGScott Galloway
... I had eight cavities and then I fainted in the, um, in the waiting room.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
So, no, I don't have good... I don't... We ha- uh, the Galloways are not blessed with good teeth.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. Okay. Listen to me. Listen to me. Scott, even though we're inc- I'm incredibly unattractive right now, I'm possibly drooling, I don't even know if I am, do you know who's eyeing us from across the room?
- SGScott Galloway
Who's that?
- KSKara Swisher
Michael Barbaro.
- SGScott Galloway
Oh! We love Michael.
- KSKara Swisher
I know.
- SGScott Galloway
Huh.
- KSKara Swisher
Here's what he said to us when asked which podcaster/creator he would like most to collaborate with. Let's listen to the dulcet tones of Michael Barbaro. (instrumental music)
- NANarrator
The king and queen of Pivot, Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway. I just think those two have an extraordinary chemistry and a tremendous amount of wisdom. And so I wanna work with them.
- KSKara Swisher
What does that mean he wants to work with us? Work what?
- SGScott Galloway
Oh, my God. First, so first off, I don't listen to a lot of podcasts. I listen to The Daily.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
I absolutely adore it. It's like listening to chamomile tea explain the Fed rate hike.
- KSKara Swisher
Oh, yeah.
- 3:07 – 10:59
Trump Says He’s Not Firing Fed Chair
- KSKara Swisher
look, President Trump and Jerome has tried to... This, speaking of a distraction, this is something that's been ongoing. He's been, uh, he said it's highly unlikely he'll fire Fed chair Jerome Powell. Let's just be clear, he's not allowed to. So, it is highly unlikely unless he comes up with some scheme. Despite reports that he was considering it, even showing a draft termination letter to a group of House Republicans to get their buy-in, I guess. After those reports rattled markets on Wednesday, I mean, the DOW dropped like a, like a, uh, just, like, a lot. Like, a lot. And Trump said in an Oval Office presser, "We're not planning on doing anything," at which point the markets bounced back. Trump also said he was surprised that Powell was appointed, apparently forgetting he was the one who did that back in 2017 and quite effusively. And actually there's video of him praising him with Powell standing behind him.
- NANarrator
He's strong, he's committed, he's smart. And if he is confirmed by the Senate, Jay will put his considerable talents and experience to work leading our nation's independent central bank.
- KSKara Swisher
Literally, all these pre-... It's so interesting. Uh, he just, he's the one who appointed him, he's pretending he didn't. He was like, "I don't know who appointed him," and there he was. Trump has been slamming Powell for months for not cutting interest rates, calling him major loser and a stubborn mule. He's now targeting the Fed's $2.5 billion renovation project suggesting there might be fraud at play which could be grounds for Powe- Powell's ouster. It's ridiculous. The, everybody, the bankers are being public about it and, um, uh, The Wall Street Journal is being very explicit. And Powell himself has been pretty vocal about Fed independence which means serving out his full term which is up next year. It's not that long. Let's listen to what he said to the Economic Club of Chicago back in April.
- NANarrator
Our independence is a matter of law. Um, Congress says i- in our statute we're not removable except for cause, we serve very long terms, seemingly endless terms.
- NANarrator
(laughs)
- NANarrator
Um, so it's, uh, we're protec- protected in the law. So, you know, Congress could change that law but there's, I don't think there's any danger of that. Uh, Fed independence has pretty broad support, uh, across both political parties and in, and in, um, both sides of the Hill, so I think that's not a problem.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. Jamie Dimon, Goldman Sachs CEO, uh, David Solomon, other, the bank CEOs were touting Fed independence. Uh, even Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessen confirmed to Bloomberg that the formal process of finding Powell a successor has begun, but he didn't say that Powell should come out. He didn't name any candidates, but reports suggest that Kevin Hassett, director of National Economic Council is a top contender. Kevin Warsh, former Fed governor is also in the mix as is Bessen himself. So, what, what, uh, what is happening here and then h- which of these do you think he will name?
- SGScott Galloway
No, I, I think I know exactly what's going on here.
- KSKara Swisher
Okay.
- SGScott Galloway
It's-
- KSKara Swisher
Tell me.
- SGScott Galloway
Well, it's as if we're at the Nuremberg Trials and-
- KSKara Swisher
Mm.
- SGScott Galloway
... one of the people on trial starts playing the kazoo hoping that we'll all forget why we're there.... uh, it's a magician sawing his assistant in half and then yells out, "Benghazi," hoping that people will look away. This is what is going on at the White House right now. It's his comms team and, uh, uh, Claude or ChatGPT saying, "What can I do every day? What can I announce every day that will capture the media's attention such that they look away from the Epstein files?" Look at how he, look at how he... Uh, this has nothing to do-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, he's been at this for a while. Like, Scott, he has. He's been at Powell's-
- SGScott Galloway
Hold on.
- KSKara Swisher
... before Epstein, but go ahead.
- SGScott Galloway
He waves a letter-
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
... talking about the firing, waves a letter-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, sure.
- SGScott Galloway
... thinking that, that everyone from Vox Media, podcasters, to the New York Times to CNBC will go, "Ah, Chairman Powell, he's threatening to fire him." And then the next day, he goes, "Oh, no, I was just kidding." This was all a giant ruse. The day before, it was 85% tariffs on Canada. The day before that, it was revoking the citizenship of a talk show host because he doesn't like her. And tomorrow, Kara, it's gonna be something else.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
He is in a room-
- KSKara Swisher
Coca-Cola, didn't turn out to be true.
- SGScott Galloway
Oh, yeah. It, he is i-
- KSKara Swisher
Cane. That's the only one I liked. Okay.
- SGScott Galloway
He is in a room... Oh, yeah, that's right, we have a new trade agreement to, uh, uh, change the sugar cane or the sugar in Coca-Cola-
- KSKara Swisher
Cane sugar, make it Mexican Coke, make it Mexican Coke.
- SGScott Galloway
Every day, his comms team-
- 10:59 – 16:21
Trump’s Effect on the Economy
- SGScott Galloway
... sticking the landing.
- KSKara Swisher
Speaking of, but that said, the impact of Trump's policies over the last few months is starting to show up in the economy. New data out this week is inflation ticking up in June. Prices also rose in categories affected by tariffs like toys, furniture and appliances. The job market is starting to show some cracks where there are indicators that consumers are reining in spending. Still, the economy is holding up better than expected. Economists now see less risk of a recession they did three months ago, as you noted, according to a Wall Street Journal survey. Um, i- is there another e- shoe to drop? Uh, banks are riding the volatility. Goldman Sachs just posted the best ever quarter for stock trading, and several other banks beat earnings expectations. And, uh, at the same time, Trump is threatening new sanctions on Russia. Uh, you know, another economic probably, maybe not so much for our economy, if there's no peace deal with Ukraine in the next 50 days, he says he'll launch a secondary tariff, slapping 100% on countries that continue doing business with Russia. That would mean countries like India, China, Turkey face heavier tariff, heavy tariffs for buying Russian oil, a move that could trigger a global spike in energy prices. I doubt, I am not sure Putin cares, but talk about these, uh, circumstances. Whe- where are we with the economy from your perspective?
- SGScott Galloway
The real question on everyone's mind right now, or the most important question we should be asking ourselves is that, at this moment, Kara, is Michael Barbaro touching himself?
- KSKara Swisher
(laughs)
- NANarrator
(laughs)
- SGScott Galloway
He's back. He's back. Da, da.
- KSKara Swisher
The answer is yes.
- SGScott Galloway
Da, da. Um-
- KSKara Swisher
The answer is always yes, but go ahead.
- SGScott Galloway
Well, look, the economic data that came out, uh, I, I looked at it and I thought, "Okay, this is the ultimate anger pillow for the far left and the far right." There's some indication that certain items, especially the ones subject to tariff, had a greater increase in inflation, but at the same time, catastrophists like me are disappointed because the reality is, uh, inflation at, I think, at 2.7 or 2.8 just isn't that big a deal. And the economy has been more resilient than people who are kind of in the back of their minds looking for some schadenfreude of the economy collapsing and blaming it on Trump. So-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. It needs to collapse-
- SGScott Galloway
... the headline-
- KSKara Swisher
... next summer-
- SGScott Galloway
... I just knew the headline-
- KSKara Swisher
... everybody. But go ahead.
- SGScott Galloway
The headline, and I haven't seen the headline, the headlines from Fox will be, "Economy Resilient." The headline from CNN will be, "Inflation Rising." (laughs) This is, there's something in here for everyone. There's a little bit of data showing that the tariff-sensitive goods, services went down. They're not subject to tariffs. Some of the th- i- uh, some of the industries subject to tariffs have shown, have shown a little bit of a spike in price. But the reality is, uh, we're not gonna probably see the effects of this or not into the fall 'cause it takes a while for it to snake through, snake through the economy. The Russia thing, w- when I immediately knew that the war was not going to end was when I saw Kyron yesterday saying that Trump has demanded that Putin end the war in 50 days.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
That is just so fucking stupid.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
Uh, you really think... The Russian people have endured over a million deaths and/or casualties, and you think that he's gonna scare when the president (laughs) says it needs to end within 50 days? The, the, the interesting thing though, I mean, Russia's economy does... You wanna talk about an economy that appears to be cracking, the ruble shot up-
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
... it's now back to being worth less than a cent-
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
... and it did recover a little bit. But this, uh, this war is really-
- KSKara Swisher
Hurting that economy.
- SGScott Galloway
... I mean, I believe they lost, uh, what did they lose?
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
17 or 18,000 people in Afghanistan.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
They backed out. They've lost a million-
- 16:21 – 30:40
Epstein Chaos Continues
- KSKara Swisher
continues since we last spoke, obviously. We taped on Monday, appeared on Tuesday. Since we last spoke, House Speaker Mike Johnson has broken with Trump and is calling for the administration to release the Epstein files. That said, he voted against, um, contin- doing, doing a debate about whether to release them or not, which is interesting. But Republican Representative Thomas Massie, who's a real thorn in To- in, in Trump's ass, of Kentucky is attempting to force a vote on the House directing the DOJ to release the files. The measure has been co-sponsored by at least five other Republicans. Interestingly, almost three minutes of footage was wiped from the video released by the DOJ of Epstein's cell door, according to the forensic experts working with Wired. Maureen Comey, the Federal Manhattan Federal Prosecutor who worked on the Epstein case has been fired. Yes, she is the daughter of James Comey. She also worked on the Diddy case. Meanwhile, President Trump has called the story Democratic bullshit and pretty boring stuff, labeling those who are invested in as weaklings and stupid. The Democrat stuck isn't, isn't working very well that, you know, because one incredible thing is the, is Bill O'Reilly was going on about how this was the Biden administration doing all this, and the anchor was like, "This was all under the Trump administration." It was, he, he died under the Trump administration. He was prosecuted under the Trump administration. And all of a sudden, Reilly went, "Oh," like, speaking of old man. He got it completely wrong. Uh, anyway, it's not a Democratic thing. This is, uh, this is all done under Bill Barr and, uh, everyone else. So, any change in opinion on whether Republicans will be pushing him? Because as I predicted, Laura Ingraham, many others sort of tamped it down. It looks like Dan Bongino is not going anywhere. I said they were all gonna, gonna bow down. That said, I don't know if they'll bow down for too long. Um, so any... And obviously, Elon is not bowing down at all. He is tweeting up a storm about this, and he made a very good point that-... essentially deny everything, uh, make other allegations, and try to make it go away, and he said it's not gonna work this time, um, and he's pushing on it really hard and probably changing the algorithms of X to, to, to push a lot of this stuff, 'cause it's good for X. I hate to say it, but, uh, he's certainly not backing down and neither are many others. Uh, any thoughts? Alex Jones is, is not at all, but ... and I'm not sure he matters as much.
- SGScott Galloway
This is a rare ... He's an incredible communicator kind of going ... I mean, what Trump has done is there's always ... I, I think the learning is that when everyone is zigging, there's always a huge opportunity to zag, that when everybody is, is following one strategy or one investment thesis, then it creates enormous alpha and upside to go the other way. And Trump ... Anthony Scaramucci pointed this out, and I thought it was so remarkably insightful, that basically every politician in the world says something along the following: "I'm socially liberal and fiscally conservative." Uh, I mean, what? Does 80% of America say that? If you wanna describe their politics and they don't wanna assign themselves to a party, they go, "Socially liberal, fiscally conservative."
- KSKara Swisher
Actually, that's not true, but go ahead. It's the opposite. Most ... In the middle, they're, they- it's- it- they're more socially conservative and fis- ... They want more Medicaid and stuff.
- SGScott Galloway
Well, that's, that's where I was headed-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
... was that Trump decided, no, the opportunity is to be fiscally liberal.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
Uh, w- i- i- it ... Keynesian, socialist, w- uh, irresponsible, uh, fiscal policy. W- w- shower money on everyone, increase the size of government, run up deficits. This is like if the Democrats all of a sudden said, "Oh, we are in charge, and we can just continue printing money," and then all of a sudden, the Democrats are now the adults in the room, going, "Oh, my God. This has gotten out of control." He's also ... He zags around communication. Um, uh, American politics got so politically correct and starched, and there were so many lies and telling people what they wanted to hear and couching everything in, in, uh, you know, passive-aggressive behavior, and he just came out and said, "Oh, she's fat."
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
Or, "He's an idiot."
- KSKara Swisher
Yep.
- SGScott Galloway
Or ... A- a- and America, quite frankly, just loved it.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
They absolutely loved it.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
Where he has really ... Uh, this is such a rare misstep for him, 'cause if he had just taken the approach of, say, his taxes, he was never going to release his taxes.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
But he lied.
- KSKara Swisher
That's a good comparison, yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
He lied and said, "Oh, w- uh, of course I'm going to release them." And then, and then wink-wink, behind the scenes, "Don't ever fucking release my taxes." If he had done that here, eventually this would have gone away. But he became so defensive.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
And obviously guilty-
- KSKara Swisher
And looked guilty.
- SGScott Galloway
I, I s-
- KSKara Swisher
And looks guilty.
- SGScott Galloway
It looks like when I walk in and my dog h- my dog, Leia, my Great Dane, has gotten into the trash, I know it.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
She's, she's sulking around like, "Uh-oh." Won't make eye contact, m- putting her hindquarters, uh-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, that look. Yeah, the dog look. Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
He, he looks like this times ten. He has fanned-
- 30:40 – 36:13
Grok Goes to Washington
- KSKara Swisher
start using Elon Musk's favorite chatbot, Grok, which is interesting, 'cause Elon's really attacking Trump. X- uh, AI announced this week that-It secured a $200 million contract with DoD to develop and implement AI tools for the agency. Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI were awarded similar contracts. Uh, AX AI is also rolling out Grok for government, a suite of products that can be customized for specific uses across science and healthcare and other sectors. Uh, and I suppose it can go into Hitler mode if it needs to. And that's not all, the latest Grok update includes companions for super Grok subscribers, an anime girl and a panda. They're already doing all sorts of problematic things. I'm not going into it. What happens, we'll see when it gets into the government, I don't think they're capable of making a commercial product or product for government, but so far they haven't been able to. Your thoughts? Any quick thoughts?
- SGScott Galloway
Well, i- initially, in order to try and quell concerns about AI and stave off any possible regulation, literally all of them, whether it was LLaMA or Anthropic or O- or ChatGPT, all had language, um, that e- essentially said it f- that they would never use their models for military warfare or nuclear industries. They have all, all recently changed that language or gotten rid of it because there's money here, and big money. So, the, all of this... I mean, all of 'em were like, "This is dangerous. We realize it's dangerous. We will never use it for military applications." And they're like, "Oh, there's a, there's a check here."
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
"Get rid of that line."
- KSKara Swisher
I'm gonna do the Michael Berger, "Mm."
- SGScott Galloway
"Mm."
- KSKara Swisher
"Mm."
- SGScott Galloway
"Mm."
- KSKara Swisher
"Mm."
- SGScott Galloway
So, what you're saying is-
- KSKara Swisher
What you're saying is, Scott-
- SGScott Galloway
Anyways.
- KSKara Swisher
... that they're greedy fucks.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah. So, what you're saying is even though he claims to be a heterosexual, if you have a dreamy salt-and-pepper beard, he'd go there. He'd go there. Anyways.
- KSKara Swisher
(laughs)
- SGScott Galloway
(laughs) Poor Michael Berger. The last thing anyone's gonna do now is compliment us.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, I know that.
- SGScott Galloway
Literally the last thing. Anyway.
- KSKara Swisher
Let me just say, he is exquisite.
- SGScott Galloway
No good deed goes unpunished, Michael.
- KSKara Swisher
Exquisite, Michael. We think you're exquisite.
- SGScott Galloway
But also, I personally, I really, uh, endorse and am in favor, in, in favor of this intersection, which for some reason we have avoided, between our nation's most innovative companies and our military-industrial complex. I think other nations are trying to figure out... I mean, one of the learnings we're gonna take away, I think, from the war we were talking about, uh, the war in Ukraine, is the following, uh, that just stating you're going to increase your military budget by 100, 120 billion, that's again, drunk uncle practicing his karate in front of everybody thinking it's impressive.
- KSKara Swisher
Karate?
- SGScott Galloway
Karate. The lesson you can take away from the war in Ukr- Ukraine can come down to one word, asymmetric. And that is, there have been $300 drones that have been taking out $3 million TU-144 tanks or whatever they're called.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
We should be massively investing in asymmetric warfare. Things like drones, things, uh, AI, predictive technologies because the reality is that the kinetic, the kinetic era is over. And that is, thinking if you have more tanks, you're automatically gonna win the war. That used to be true. Wars used to be a function of brute force. It's no longer the case. And I think companies like Anduril, uh, uh, Palantir, which I have been critical of, the reality is, uh, at the end of the day, we should have our brightest working hand in glove and stop all the fucking bitch, stupid, like, walkouts at these companies saying, "We're not gonna work with the defense industry." Well, folks-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, they can do that. They can leave. They can leave. Let people do what they want.
- SGScott Galloway
Oh, come on. We're going to walk out over lunch. That'll show 'em.
- KSKara Swisher
Well, no. No. They have to leave.
- SGScott Galloway
That'll show 'em.
- 36:13 – 47:28
Cuomo’s Back in the NYC Mayoral Race
- KSKara Swisher
an independent in the NYC mayoral race, uh, race after being defeated very handily by Zoron Mamdani in the Democratic primary. I mean, he beat him like a rug. Cuomo posted a campaign video on X, which has under 6,000 likes. It's so... It's really sad. The reply from Mamdani with a link to donate to his campaign has over 181,000 likes. It was well done. The former governor, uh, plans to ask all candidates other than Mamdani to pledge to drop out of the race in mid-September if they aren't in the lead, including himself, I guess. And current Mayor, uh, uh, Eric Adams, who will also run as an independent, said Cuomo asked him to drop out of the race, which he called the highest level of arrogance. I, I would agree with Eric Adams. I don't agree with him on anything. Meanwhile, Mamdani has been making the rounds, meeting with business leaders and visiting DC to, uh, meet with Democratic leaders. Um, he had a pretty cool reception from a lot of them, um, because he, uh, he just did. He's tried a little bit to assuage their worries. Um, a lot of people are looking at, um-... Bill de Blasio's policies and Mamdani's, and Bill de Blasio is left of Mamdani, which is interesting f- according to a lot of stuff I've read. Um, but Cuomo, uh, is, is so non-vibrant. He looks like an old man. I- he looks weird. He has... The people are making memes out of his cam- h- him walking around with his face and stuff like that, which were very funny. Um, and he's getting... I- I, this is, he... I know he s- shook up his whole campaign, but I don't see him making any ground here. Any thoughts?
- SGScott Galloway
Well, it reminds me of when, in 2016, people said that only Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump could make each other viable. Uh, I feel as if Governor Cuomo, who I like more than most people... I think it's easy to be critical of him. I get it. Uh, but I- I actually think he's a, a decent man, would be a decent ele- uh... I think he'd be a good placeholder. I think he'd be competent. Um, I would have voted probably for Cuomo. I... Some of Mamdani... Listen, I've said this. I'm not a New York resident. I also think that people totally freaking out about his international policy is... Uh, he, he needs to make sure the subways run on time. I think some of his policies are, uh, absolutely asinine. But having said that, I, like you... I think I got swept up in this fever of young people taking charge and pushing back on the establishment, and he's, uh, a- a viable... I, I think it's gonna be a rough summer for Mamdani. He has, he has done something very smart in the last week, and that is he is pivoting towards the center. He has agreed not to use or applaud the term globalized infitada, which is deeply offensive to-
- KSKara Swisher
Infita- uh, you said infitada.
- SGScott Galloway
Intifada?
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. Thank you.
- SGScott Galloway
On- only, only Cuomo and Eric Adams could make a guy who wrote a rap song, uh, uh, praising the funders of Hamas a viable candidate. And also, what this really is a lesson in, and this kind of... And I'm sort of here for it, is young people pushing back, and also, he put on a masterclass in how to run a campaign for a new age. It is going to be a rough summer for him 'cause I, I think, I think these guys with their money, and also I think New Yorkers are really gonna start digging into some of these policies and basically, you know... People are gonna s- get smart when they start f- pushing back on him. They're gonna start saying, "Okay, these quote unquote 'state-sponsored' grocery stores are nothing but state-sponsored bread lines."
- KSKara Swisher
All right, but there's only gonna be like three of them-
- SGScott Galloway
He, he's going to have a rough summer.
- KSKara Swisher
... Scott. Th- that's like over... Maybe so. They could take advantage. There's only gonna be like three or four of them, so-
- SGScott Galloway
Sure. It's politics.
- KSKara Swisher
It's fine to, like, try to get better f- If he, if he, if he pivoted and said, "You know, what I really wanna do is get better food into these neighborhoods, and let's figure out an interesting-"
- SGScott Galloway
Right.
- KSKara Swisher
"... and good way to do it." He could do that. He could-
- SGScott Galloway
He-
- KSKara Swisher
... pivot that in a second.
- SGScott Galloway
He c- and he should.
- KSKara Swisher
He will.
- SGScott Galloway
And he should.
- KSKara Swisher
And he will.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah.
- KSKara Swisher
Second thing, a lot of the other stuff with... He just has to be more explicit what he means by rent freezes. So, I think he has an opportunity actually to clarify himself in a really good way and in a very powerful way. So-
- SGScott Galloway
Well, if he's smart, he'll pivot to the middle, and he's sorta doing that.
- KSKara Swisher
E- it's not just the middle. It's clarify himse-... "Okay, here's what I wanna do. Let's work together."
- SGScott Galloway
You mean back away from ridiculously fucking stupid positions.
- KSKara Swisher
No, but he was thinking, but he wasn't specific. And when you start to actually hear the specifics, they're not quite as nutty as you think they are, as you think they are, which you, uh, which I did. I spent a lot-
- SGScott Galloway
Oh, he's backpedaling. The rent freezes, rent freezes don't work.
- KSKara Swisher
No, but it, it... there's a rent freeze on a certain number of things. Anyway, nonetheless, he, he has an opportunity to define himself, and he's got to do that. That's the key thing is he's gotta define them, not let them do it, 'cause they'll do it in this ham-handed way that makes him look like an idiot. Secondly-
- SGScott Galloway
Y- you... Well, le- let's go here-
- KSKara Swisher
Uh, let me finish. Okay.
- SGScott Galloway
You think he's, you think... I'm just go- gonna-
- 47:28 – 54:20
House Advances Crypto Bills
- KSKara Swisher
on, and a defense measure after setting a record for the longest vote in the history of the chamber. GOP holdouts agreed after being promised a future vote to ban the Federal Reserve, uh, from issuing, uh, digital currencies. The GENIUS Act, which would regulate stable coins, is on track to hit Trump's desk this week and could mark Congress's first ever major crypto, uh, legislation. Uh, we'll see. Bitcoin is currently trading at $118,000 after hitting a high of $120,000 at the start of the week. Uh, very quickly, on crypto, and also, I just wanna note, uh, they're also voting, uh, to cut the funding for NPR and PBS, which is heinous on their part. Uh, they managed to get that through, uh, so far th- in this rescissions package. Uh, thoughts on either of those things?
- SGScott Galloway
Well, look, uh, uh, PBS, NPR, I grew up with them. I think they do enormous service, uh, and they, there's just certain people who won't get straight down the middle news anymore with these f- funding cuts. Um, I am a little bit, I have a little bit of a Republican twinge on this, and that is, their public funding has become such a political football that I wonder if at some point they're better off without the public funding and just leaning on listeners, such as myself, who get, register enormous value to support it. It just feels like it's been such a political football for so long.
- KSKara Swisher
That means people in rural areas will never have any news that is not tinged.
- SGScott Galloway
I, I, I think, look, uh, uh, that, that, that's a fair point, and I, I touched on that at the beginning of my comments. I would love to see an NPR and a PBS be really well-funded by, by private individuals such that the Republicans could stop using it as a punching bag at every hearing.
- KSKara Swisher
That, over years. Yes, that's correct. Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
So, I, I'm, uh, so let me commit. I'm gonna give, uh, based on what you said, I'm going to give some money to NPR and PBS and public radio, 'cause I think they do an amazing job. And they, they do the best-
- KSKara Swisher
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is what you wanna give to. But go ahead.
- SGScott Galloway
Cor- Corporation for c-, uh, CPB?
- KSKara Swisher
CPB. Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
But here's, what, what was interesting is a survey came out, and they asked people, "What media..."... entities are the most trusted for trying to be moderate, and what was interesting is the two that came up as the most trustworthy in the middle were f- formerly, companies formerly known as having a conservative and/or progressive bent, and the two were The Wall Street Journal and, uh, a- and I think it was PBS. Um, was it PBS or NPR? I think it was PBS. But what's interesting is that quality journalism does break through even if you have a political bent or a reputation for a political bent, because The Wall Street Journal was always known as, as conservative. But they said they, they limited their conservative viewpoint to the opinion section.
- KSKara Swisher
They did. They do.
- SGScott Galloway
And, and-
- KSKara Swisher
I work there. I, you know, I worked there.
- SGScott Galloway
I know you did.
- KSKara Swisher
I loved working there.
- SGScott Galloway
And also-
- KSKara Swisher
They've got those amazing journalists.
- SGScott Galloway
... it's a testament, quite frankly, you gotta give it to Rupert Murdoch.
- KSKara Swisher
I agree. He left it alone.
- SGScott Galloway
He, he has done an amazing job stewarding that publication.
- KSKara Swisher
Yes. No question.
- SGScott Galloway
And then in our business, I've, I've said for a long time, I think we should, every time we do a podcast, send a royalty check to Joe Rogan who blew the medium open.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
NPR's podcasts, they're the original gangsters saying that audio quality, it matters. Production quality, they do such a good job. When you listen to their stuff, it is so tight and so well-produced. I'm a, I'm a fan. I'm gonna ... the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, I think it's, uh, uh, I think one of the things that you have to note is that they have, th- what drives me crazy is this idea that Elmo is woke, or they're just saying, "Be nice." They're not like, they're, they do, they go on and on, these right-wingers, the o- and remember, you know, Tinky Winky was gay or whatever, um, and that 'cause he had a purse. Um, the thing that drives me crazy is the same thing with Superman. Like, they're like, "Superman's woke," and then, of course, it's the most successful movie, uh, of this summer. Secondly, if you go back to old Superman things and you read it out loud, they would call that woke. It's like everyone, Superman says, this is from the '40s, "Be nice to everyone regardless of their religion or their race." This has been a Superman thing forever. It's just these people using the, these iconic things like Elmo and Superman and per- as a, as a cudgel is re- is really, it's so lame. They're so lame. Be nice is a real, is not a woke thing. It's a nice thing to teach kids, and I love everything that NPR and PBS does, and please watch Ken Burns' American Revolution coming up, and then se- and we'll send you a tote bag if you give me $25. Anyway, um-
- SGScott Galloway
Uh, uh, Elmo, I'm sorry, Elmo, folks, Elmo is conservative.
- KSKara Swisher
Uh-
- SGScott Galloway
If you list- actually listen to Elmo-
- KSKara Swisher
(laughs)
- SGScott Galloway
... he talks like a dictator or a LinkedIn influencer on mushrooms.
- 54:20 – 1:00:23
Predictions
- KSKara Swisher
say, uh, I had been, uh, approached by so many people about your incredibly touching tribute to your dad, and I just-
- SGScott Galloway
Oh, thanks.
- KSKara Swisher
... wanna say, uh, uh, again, it was really wonderful, and I think our listeners really, I, I've been hugged more this week than ever before. S- people, without, without asking, people are like, "I need to hug you." I was like, "Okay," um, o- on your behalf. Uh, so, uh, I just think you really, uh, one of the strengths that you have is you show your emotions, and it's really important to a lot of not just men but women seeing you do that, I have to say. And so, it, it's been unusual this week to get so many responses. So, there you have it.
- SGScott Galloway
Thanks for saying that.
- KSKara Swisher
I predict you're gonna get even more woke.
- SGScott Galloway
(laughs) I love what you, you describe me as a San Francisco lesbian.
- KSKara Swisher
You are.
- SGScott Galloway
By the way, I am in San Francisco.
- KSKara Swisher
You have become more. What, are you?
- SGScott Galloway
I'm in San Francisco, yeah.
- KSKara Swisher
What are you doing there? I'm coming there next week.
- SGScott Galloway
I'm, I'm, uh, uh, visiting my sister. I'm gonna have lunch with her today, and I'm also doing-
- KSKara Swisher
Oh, say hi to your sister. She's a-
- SGScott Galloway
I will.
- KSKara Swisher
She's, she's fantastic.
- SGScott Galloway
And, uh, yeah, so I'm, I was, as you know, I'm in Colorado, so I took the opportunity to come out and, uh, uh-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
... just, uh, uh, have lunch with my sister.
- KSKara Swisher
Ah, lovely. Anyway, uh, let's hear your prediction then, besides the fact that you, me, and Michael will be in a cuddle puddle soon.
- SGScott Galloway
(laughs) Hello.
- KSKara Swisher
Hello.
- SGScott Galloway
Hello. Smack her ass, Michael.
- KSKara Swisher
You won't be, and you're-
- SGScott Galloway
Michael, um-
- KSKara Swisher
(laughs)
- SGScott Galloway
(laughs) Smack her ass like she keeps prote- she keeps correcting me, um-
- KSKara Swisher
(laughs)
- SGScott Galloway
(laughs) Poor Michael, uh-
- KSKara Swisher
Oh, God, Michael, we're so sorry.
- SGScott Galloway
What's his relation... Is he married? What's his deal?
Episode duration: 1:00:23
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