Big Tech CEOs Kiss the Ring at Donald Trump’s Inauguration | Pivot

Kara Swisher 0:00 No, I wait for the day where you're gonna say something to me that I'm gonna have to break up with you.

Narrator 0:07 (instrumental music)

Kara Swisher 0:12 Hi, everyone. This is Pivot from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network. I'm Kara Swisher, and it's inauguration weekend. I'm so excited I'm leaving town.

Scott Galloway 0:21 Folks, I just... I just wanna warn you, the inauguration, um, a ton of pornography, a lot of drinking, Peroni, Xanax, '80s music, aerial firefighters, just hang with me. I'm... Someone asked me, they're like, they were worried about me because I got so triggered at the election, and they said, "Are you all right after the inauguration?" I'm like, "Well, am I all right?"

Kara Swisher 0:48 Yeah. (laughs)

Scott Galloway 0:48 I feel like Ving Rhames after he was ass raped in Pulp Fiction.

Kara Swisher 0:52 (laughs)

Scott Galloway 0:52 I'm pretty fucking far from all right.

Kara Swisher 0:54 Uh-huh.

Scott Galloway 0:54 And I just... The-

Kara Swisher 0:56 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 0:56 ... Democrats in an attempt to be somewhat civil-

Kara Swisher 0:59 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 0:59 ... and, you know, uh, like they're back at their Princeton Review-

Kara Swisher 1:03 No. We're not gonna be civil.

Scott Galloway 1:04 I'm- I'm done.

Kara Swisher 1:04 We're not being civil.

Scott Galloway 1:05 I'm not, I'm not gonna be elegant or graceful about this. (laughs) I refuse to nor- I refuse to normalize this shit.

Kara Swisher 1:11 Yes, I agree with you, Scott. I'm on board. Someone told me, you know, you have to get along. I'm like, "Do I?" I don't do that in my regular life. I'm not... I feel like I'm gonna just stick to my consistent state of being irritating.

Scott Galloway 1:23 No, I'm g- I- I'm gonna be more partisan, more pornographic. So for those of you who don't know, and this is the part of the program where we pat ourselves on the back, Kara and I's, uh, relationship or deal ends with Vox soon, and we're hoping to renew. We love Vox. But we're out there talking to people, and literally every media company in the world wants Kara Swisher and is putting... willing to put up with Scott Galloway as sort of the tariff, if you will-

Kara Swisher 1:48 (laughs) Tariff. Oh, I like that.

Scott Galloway 1:50 ... for getting Kara Swisher onboard. And as a means of weeding out, I'm gonna just become so fucking pornographic-

Kara Swisher 1:56 Uh-huh. Okay.

Scott Galloway 1:56 ... and vulgar, and we're gonna see who really wants you, Kara.

Kara Swisher 1:59 Really wants who. (laughs) It's true.

Scott Galloway 2:00 Who really, really wants you.

Kara Swisher 2:02 You know, I- I do not mind the pornography. I- you know where I'm going by the way away for the weekend? Miami. Your favorite place.

Scott Galloway 2:08 Oh, uh, I- I can tell you where to go.

Kara Swisher 2:10 Okay. No.

Scott Galloway 2:10 Stay at the Faena. Go have-

Kara Swisher 2:11 We're staying at the Loews.

Scott Galloway 2:12 ... dinner at Spero Italia.

Kara Swisher 2:13 Okay, I'll-

Scott Galloway 2:14 You're staying at the Loews?

Kara Swisher 2:15 Well, just tell people. I'm not gonna explain.

Scott Galloway 2:16 Oh, Jesus Christ.

Kara Swisher 2:16 I'm not staying at the... I have children with me. I- I have children. I have the children. Faena is not a children hotel.

Scott Galloway 2:23 If you have the children to go... Uh, uh, uh, Loews is a guy looking to meet a pro at the bar who's on, who's with the National Cotton Growers Association.

Kara Swisher 2:32 (laughs) That's who I'm aiming for.

Scott Galloway 2:32 That literally... If, if you wanted to find the one hotel that feels-

Kara Swisher 2:35 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 2:36 ... like you're at the Days Inn in Detroit-

Kara Swisher 2:38 (laughs) Yeah, true. All right.

Scott Galloway 2:38 ... or a corporate hotel-

Kara Swisher 2:39 All right. Okay.

Scott Galloway 2:39 ... you found it in South Beach. Stay-

Kara Swisher 2:41 Stay where? Where should I stay?

Scott Galloway 2:41 If you're looking for kids-

Kara Swisher 2:42 Yeah. All right. All right. Okay.

Scott Galloway 2:43 I'm serious about this. I need, I need to do an intervention.

Kara Swisher 2:46 I shall change it.

Scott Galloway 2:46 Stay at the Addition.

Kara Swisher 2:47 I've stayed at the Addition.

Scott Galloway 2:47 That's a little bit more family friendly.

Kara Swisher 2:49 Yeah, I like the Addition. Yeah.

Scott Galloway 2:50 You know they have that bean bag throwing thing?

Kara Swisher 2:52 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 2:52 And the ad- there's enough kids there that the adults can't get too angry.

Kara Swisher 2:55 Oh, 'cause that-

Scott Galloway 2:55 The fine is a little too adult.

Kara Swisher 2:56 They're too adult. That's... I agree. I- I got-

Scott Galloway 2:59 To the Addition.

Kara Swisher 2:59 Okay, all right. I will do that. In any case, I'm excited to go there, 'cause the weather's gonna be beautiful. Um, and down here in New Yor- in Washington it's gonna be like in the teens or lower.

Scott Galloway 3:10 Yeah, there's a polar vortex coming in or something.

Kara Swisher 3:11 Polar po- polar vortex, and it's called Donald Trump. Um, yeah, so they're gonna show up here. There's all these parties. You know what, you know what? They're, they're having a party. Uber and X are having a party along, uh, with some other people. But, uh, that... And I wrote Dara Khosrowshahi like, "Are you, are you in a competition to be the least deplorable?" Uh, he laughed. He's like, "You should come." I'm like, "I would rather poke my eye out with a dry stick."

Scott Galloway 3:33 I got, I got invited-

Kara Swisher 3:35 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 3:35 ... to a party, an AI party at the inauguration-

Kara Swisher 3:38 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 3:38 ... where they said that, uh, Musk and Sax will be there, and I thought some intern fucked up the guest list.

Kara Swisher 3:45 (laughs)

Scott Galloway 3:45 How did I get on this thing?

Kara Swisher 3:46 I know. How did you? They kind of like you. They're just gonna try to draw you away from me. That's what they try to do.

Scott Galloway 3:51 Well, they... You know what they see?

Kara Swisher 3:52 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 3:52 They see, they see I'm like, I'm like a Jehovian. And they knock on the door, and I'm a Jehovah's, uh, Witness, and they like to see like, "He seemed like a really unhappy and vulnerable."

Kara Swisher 4:02 Yes.

Scott Galloway 4:02 "I think we should stop by tomorrow."

Kara Swisher 4:03 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 4:03 "I think all these guys think there's a chance."

Kara Swisher 4:05 They're gonna turn you.

Scott Galloway 4:06 "They think that I haven't taken the red pill yet, but they think it's in my medicine cabinet."

Kara Swisher 4:10 They think it is. They do. I do. I do a little bit.

Scott Galloway 4:11 Yeah.

Kara Swisher 4:11 I honestly do. (laughs) I'm waiting for the day. (laughs)

Scott Galloway 4:14 You're a little worried you're gonna lose it.

Kara Swisher 4:14 No, I wait for the day where you're gonna say something to me that I'm gonna have to break up with you. I- I really don't want that to happen. But then you come back and you say a thing, I'm gonna be pornographic. I'm not gonna be... I'm gonna be partisan, and then I love you again. Um, anyway, um,

Kara Swisher 4:28 so anyway, we're- we're both not gonna be here for the inauguration, but good... You know what's my favorite part? So they have the... A lot of the ex-presidents are coming, but Michelle Obama is like, "Peace the fuck out." She like r- she's not coming, and she's not explaining why. That's my two favorite parts.

Scott Galloway 4:43 Good for her.

Kara Swisher 4:44 She's not... I love that she's not explaining why. She's like, "I'm not coming. That's all." That's it.

Scott Galloway 4:48 'Cause it sounds like the shittiest-

Kara Swisher 4:49 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 4:50 ... party that you don't wanna ha- that you don't wanna go to.

Kara Swisher 4:53 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 4:53 I don't know. The, the-

Kara Swisher 4:54 None of the presidents are going to the lunch. Clinton, Obama, and Bush are not going to the afterward lunch that they're supposed to go to. They all peaced out of that. They're going to the show, but then, uh, but then, uh, they're, uh, they're not, they're not going to the lunch.

Scott Galloway 5:09 I think there is a... I'm gonna try and bring this back to a life lesson.

Kara Swisher 5:12 Okay.

Scott Galloway 5:12 One of my mentors is this guy named Barry Rosenstein from Jana Partners. Said one of the really nice things about having economic security, he said, "Life is three buckets professionally," or just three buckets. There's things you wanna do-

Kara Swisher 5:24 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 5:24 ... right? You wanna hang out with your kids. You wanna go to see Cole Palmer play for Chelsea.

Kara Swisher 5:29 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 5:29 Whatever it is.

Kara Swisher 5:29 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 5:30 There's things you wanna do. There's things you have to do.

Kara Swisher 5:32 Right.

Scott Galloway 5:32 Right? If Bankoff, the CEO of Vox, is in town and says, "I really wanna meet with you guys," we kind of have to do that, right?

Kara Swisher 5:37 Not really, but yes.

Scott Galloway 5:37 I mean, that's more want and have to.

Kara Swisher 5:39 Sure. He's not like that though.

Scott Galloway 5:40 You get what I'm saying.

Kara Swisher 5:40 But okay, yeah. Go ahead.

Scott Galloway 5:42 Yeah, but if... Okay, what... I don't know. I don't know if, if... There's just things you're... Your mother-in-law is not doing well and you need to go visit her. You have to do that, right? Um, anyways... And then there's things you should do, and building your career is about things you should do. You should go to this event 'cause who knows, you might get a client.... you should go to the bat mitzvah of your coworker's-

Kara Swisher 6:06 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 6:06 ... daughter," or whatever it might be. He said, "The thing about economic security is you can eliminate-"

Kara Swisher 6:12 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 6:12 "... should." He said-

Kara Swisher 6:13 I agree.

Scott Galloway 6:13 ... "Now I just do things I have to do or I wanna do."

Kara Swisher 6:16 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 6:16 And it was really kind of an unlock for me.

Kara Swisher 6:18 Oh, yeah.

Scott Galloway 6:18 And the thing that's so disappointing about these guys and what is obviously a kleptocracy, where one of... I just don't think any of these people-

Kara Swisher 6:25 No.

Scott Galloway 6:25 ... want to go. None of them have to. They're all worth $100 billion.

Kara Swisher 6:29 I'm gonna update you on that, but go ahead, keep going.

Scott Galloway 6:32 They've, they've, they've forgotten what is the point of supposedly being economically secure in a democratic society that supposedly has-

Kara Swisher 6:40 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 6:40 ... some rule of law where, uh, the DOJ won't be weaponized against you, or the FDC, and that is, none of these people wanna be there.

Kara Swisher 6:48 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 6:48 I just don't... I don't think any of them wanna sit out in 15-degree heat-

Kara Swisher 6:52 Cold.

Scott Galloway 6:52 ... and watch... Yeah, and watch, and watch basically all of them, you know, slowly bend the knee-

Kara Swisher 6:59 Right. Th- And he's also sitting next to each other.

Scott Galloway 7:01 ... uh, to the autocrat.

Kara Swisher 7:01 Look, this... Remember when I wrote that piece calling them sheeple in 2016 where I, where they all went up to Trump Tower?

Scott Galloway 7:07 I don't. That must be the one article I, I haven't read that you wrote.

Kara Swisher 7:08 And anyway, I wrote a piece. It was radical, because they were all going to Trump Tower, and they did this sheeple dance. And they're doing it even worse this time. So Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos, and let me say, they don't like each other. Uh, they'll pretend to, but I don't care what they tell you, they do not, are, have to sit next to each other on display. I don't know if... Which is what Trump is doing. He's putting them like, like they're china dolls on his, on his shelf. Tim Cook is going, TikTok CEO Shou Chew is going, uh, Sundar Pichai is going. Interestingly, Satya Nadella is not going, though he did meet with them and then Elon had to do a drop-in. Um, he is not going, which, which to me is interesting. I think Sam Altman is going. Um, Mark Zuckerberg is co-hosting, uh, a, a reception with billionaire Republican donors on Monday evening, including Miriam Adelson. Um, so I- I just... This is... They're, they're, like, being moved around like, like dolls or something like that. It's really... I, I, I find it... I, I don't know why you would be that rich and be pushed around like that. I just... I, I'm rich enough not-

Scott Galloway 8:10 That's, that's-

Kara Swisher 8:10 I mean, I have enough money where I'm like, "Fuck you."

Scott Galloway 8:13 That's entirely right.

Kara Swisher 8:13 Right? What in the...

Scott Galloway 8:14 That's entirely right. And to... From a shareholder's perspective, these guys can't break out of the cycle of shareholder-

Kara Swisher 8:20 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 8:20 ... value, and to a certain extent, the reason they're CEOs or they're sponsor- they're supposed to be fiduciaries for shareholder value and the greatest... I gotta admit it, the greatest return on investment for a $3 trillion company right now or OpenAI is to give the inaugural committee a million dollars-

Kara Swisher 8:34 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 8:34 ... and say he's handsome and show up at his event-

Kara Swisher 8:36 Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Galloway 8:36 ... and be polite. You're showing up at your boss's daughter's wedding-

Kara Swisher 8:40 Right. Yeah.

Scott Galloway 8:41 ... and putting money in an envelope. I like the way you described it, like a mob wedding. And I hate to say it, from a shareholder standpoint, it's the smart thing to do. And this is the problem with a kleptocracy or an autocracy-

Kara Swisher 8:51 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 8:52 ... and that is the incentives through the campaign where if I shitpost Democrats and Vice President Harris-

Kara Swisher 8:58 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 8:58 ... I know that if she wins, she's not gonna come after me.

Kara Swisher 9:01 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 9:01 I don't know that with this guy.

Kara Swisher 9:03 Mm-mm.

Scott Galloway 9:03 So, it creates incentive, opinion, um, rhetoric, uh, false compliments that are, you know, essentially kind of feel very much kind of Russia-like.

Kara Swisher 9:15 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 9:15 "Oh, I love Mr. Putin. He's so handsome and he's so great."

Kara Swisher 9:18 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 9:18 And I just find the whole thing-

Kara Swisher 9:19 I, I have talked to several of them off the record who are going, and they really don't wanna go, let me just say. I mean, I th- I suspect Zuckerberg, M- Musk, and Bezos do. Okay, that... They're gonna be the, the three that are gonna sit together, like, in the thing. And I suspect Tim will kind of be along the edges, putting his eyes down quite a bit. Same thing with Sundar and Sam. That would be my guess. And the rest of them... It's interesting. Not... I haven't heard a ton of, like, um, like, Bob Iger. Bob Iger is busy dealing with the fires and because he's got a lot of employees who are homeless right now-

Scott Galloway 9:50 Mm-hmm.

Kara Swisher 9:50 ... because they have most of their operations in that area.

Scott Galloway 9:53 Mm-hmm.

Kara Swisher 9:54 But I haven't heard a lot of high-profile other CEOs. I don't know if Jamie Dimon's going or... Because he was, you know-

Scott Galloway 10:00 Oh, Kara, they're the only CEOs.

Kara Swisher 10:02 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 10:02 The people are... The only people who matter are going.

Kara Swisher 10:04 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 10:04 I mean, these people control the media.

Kara Swisher 10:06 Right.

Scott Galloway 10:07 They have companies... Oh, you know what's interesting? I didn't know. Is Jensen Huang going from Nvidia?

Kara Swisher 10:10 I don't know. I, I'll find out. I'll find out.

Scott Galloway 10:13 I'd be... I would be really interested to know if he's going.

Kara Swisher 10:15 You know, uh, knowing him, I don't think he'd care compared... I mean, he's more in the Satya and-

Scott Galloway 10:19 He's probably worried he's going to be deported-

Kara Swisher 10:20 (laughs)

Scott Galloway 10:20 ... because he didn't... wasn't born here, right?

Kara Swisher 10:21 Yeah, I don't... I, I think he was born in Taiwan. I'm not sure. In any case, yeah, Taiwan.

Scott Galloway 10:26 I think he was born in Taiwan. He went to... I believe he went to Oregon State and then to Stanford.

Kara Swisher 10:30 Well, let me... Let's see. Sundar was born in India.

Scott Galloway 10:33 Sit him next to Bannon.

Kara Swisher 10:34 Um, they sit next to Bannon.

Scott Galloway 10:35 Sit him next to Bannon.

Kara Swisher 10:36 Is he gonna be there? Because he's been going... I mean, I... What I would do if I were Trump, just to... Musk and Bannon.

Scott Galloway 10:41 Musk and Bannon. (laughs)

Kara Swisher 10:41 I'd make them sit next to each other.

Scott Galloway 10:42 Ugh. Celebrity deathmatch.

Kara Swisher 10:42 And I'd make them kiss. Like, like, you know, like you're on... like you're on one-

Scott Galloway 10:46 Like the Prince of Dorne in the mountain?

Kara Swisher 10:47 Yes, right. You must kiss now. You must, you must dance together one, one jig. I would... See, that's what I... Nobody knows how to be rich and evil a- as much as, as I w- would be.

Scott Galloway 10:59 This is what literally waiting for the inauguration, speaking of-

Kara Swisher 11:02 What would you make them do? Okay, I'd make them kiss.

Scott Galloway 11:03 Speak- speaking of being rich and evil-

Kara Swisher 11:05 Yeah, yeah.

Scott Galloway 11:05 ... waiting for the inauguration right now-

Kara Swisher 11:07 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 11:07 ... it feels like James Bond in Goldfinger waiting for the laser to cut your dick off, you know, coming up the thing. By the way, that was a joke from... I think that was Jimmy Kimmel. Was that Jimmy Kimmel? No, Stephen Colbert.

Kara Swisher 11:18 Meanwhile, at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue,

Kara Swisher 11:20 President Joe Biden delivered a stark warning in his farewell speech on Wednesday about the dangers of tech titans with unchecked power. Uh, shall we listen?

Narrator 11:29 Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power, and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead. We see the consequences all across America, and we've seen it before.

Kara Swisher 11:50 So, Biden mentioned the tech-industrial complex. You're welcome, Biden. I say that all the time. Taking a page from Dwight Eisenhower's military-industrial complex. He also said, quote, "The truth is smothered by lies told for power and for profit." I... You know, they, of course, made fun of him that he's whining. I kind of liked it. I liked that Joe's going down fighting. I liked it. I liked the whole thing. What, what did you think?

Scott Galloway 12:11 This was Eisenhower warning-

Kara Swisher 12:13 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 12:13 ... warning about the military-industrial complex. And it was a very prescient speech.

Kara Swisher 12:17 This was a general, keep that in mind.

Scott Galloway 12:18 Yeah, this is a guy who, you know, (laughs) was not afraid of, of war, was a big supporter of the military, and he saw the emergence of, uh, uh, uh, the conflation of private interests and national interests to create a permanent military industrial complex. And there's no doubt about it, Biden's speechwriters looked at this-

Kara Swisher 12:36 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 12:36 ... speech, and I loved-

Kara Swisher 12:37 I did too.

Scott Galloway 12:38 ... this speech. I think this is... An unfortunately-

Kara Swisher 12:41 Hm.

Scott Galloway 12:41 ... no one gives a shit because, uh, Musk is gonna show up at a fire station and dominate the media or-

Kara Swisher 12:47 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 12:47 ... they're gonna talk about Vivek Ramaswamy taking the-

Kara Swisher 12:49 Hm.

Scott Galloway 12:49 ... JD Vance Senate seat. I mean, they, I gotta give it to him. Between, between X and, uh, social media, they have basically just squeezed out... I mean, is, is, is Biden still president?

Kara Swisher 13:03 Right. Right, right.

Scott Galloway 13:04 You wouldn't know. This was an important-

Kara Swisher 13:05 I agree.

Scott Galloway 13:05 ... speech. It's ac- uh, I, I, in some ways I think it's his most-

Kara Swisher 13:09 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 13:09 ... prescient speech. It's a warning and about the aggregation and the concentration of power-

Kara Swisher 13:14 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 13:14 ... around an industry, um, and no one gives a shit. (laughs)

Kara Swisher 13:17 But you know what? I was thinking about this the other day, the same thing with the re- no, they do give a shit. Here's why. I was thinking about the Jack Smith thing getting released, the, the, um, the files, and some of this other stuff, and everyone's like, "Well, it's over." I'm like, "You know what? Historically it's not." This, we have to think long term. Eventually this will have importance. I don't know what happened when Eisenhower gave this speech. We don't, we weren't there, and obviously we don't know. But I feel like, uh, uh, it's important for history to have this on the record. It's important for this report not to be suppressed. It's important for Biden to say those things, and I do, you have to sort of get a his- a bigger, more historical thing in how it's gonna go down.

Scott Galloway 13:55 Mm-hmm.

Kara Swisher 13:56 And so I, I thought it was very, uh, it was well done, it was well written, and it was, it was-

Scott Galloway 14:01 What do, what do you think Biden's legacy will be in 10, 20, 50 years?

Kara Swisher 14:02 Well, I think it'll be tarnished by the fact that he, he ran again when he said he wasn't going to.

Scott Galloway 14:08 Yeah.

Kara Swisher 14:08 Um, I think-

Scott Galloway 14:08 Yeah.

Kara Swisher 14:08 ... that's hard. In 10 years, I think, you know, he's leaving behind a really strong economy. He's done a lot of great things.

Scott Galloway 14:14 Yeah.

Kara Swisher 14:14 I think probably good. I think eventually good, except depends on what Trump does, right? If Trump creates, you know, a ter- a, you know, a, a, a dystopian future, it'll be bad. If he doesn't, um, uh, maybe better, I guess. I think in the long run better if, if everything, if we move along from Trumpism, um, just depends. I don't know. But history- getting it down for history is critically important, even if it doesn't matter. That's my feeling. I mean, remember that, um, at long last have you no shame? At the time I, I think that was smothered out, and now it is when it was during the, the Army-Mccarthy hearings, to Joe McCarthy.

Scott Galloway 14:51 Mm-hmm.

Kara Swisher 14:52 I- that wasn't when he went down, by the way. It was much later.

Scott Galloway 14:55 Hm.

Kara Swisher 14:55 And so, um, I just feel like it's, to say it is important. Um, often people are, say that sometimes when I say things they're like, "Why are you doing it?" And I said, "I'm not doing it for today." Like, I'm not... Yo- ha- it must be said, I think, and I think Biden, uh, deserves much credit. Um, speaking of things that

Kara Swisher 15:12 I talk too much about, over 400 employees at the Washington Post sent a letter to Jeff Bezos.

Scott Galloway 15:16 Oh God.

Kara Swisher 15:16 This is interesting. 400 employees.

Scott Galloway 15:19 Help me.

Kara Swisher 15:19 The letter expresses concern about the future of the paper including, quote, "recent leadership decisions that have led readers to question the integrity of the institution." Makes a point to note that the concerns are unrelated to Bezos' decision and endorsements of presidential candidates. Um, I- just, I'm just pointing it out. You don't have to say anything. I think 400 employees doing that is interesting. I didn't make them.

Scott Galloway 15:38 So maybe they could, if they really get serious, maybe they could do a lunch walkout.

Kara Swisher 15:43 (laughs) Let people make-

Scott Galloway 15:44 Look folks, uh, somebody...

Kara Swisher 15:46 Okay. All right.

Scott Galloway 15:47 A- all right. I've, I haven't run big companies, I've run medium-sized companies. Uh, don't send me fucking letters, just quit. Just, just, just go to work for the New York Times. Uh, d- uh, all the, all the peacocking and posturing and complaining and whining. Uh, you know, what I said to my ex-wife, "Yeah, I understand, let's get-"

Kara Swisher 16:04 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 16:04 "... divorced." Uh, I mean, uh, l- uh, that was harsh.

Kara Swisher 16:08 Yeah. Yeah, alright.

Scott Galloway 16:08 Lovely woman, lovely woman. Anyways, I'm kinda, I'm kinda done with, uh, employees, uh, bitching and moaning, and it's a free labor market, you're very, the people, the, the reporters at the Post are some of the most talented-

Kara Swisher 16:21 Hm, I'm gonna push back.

Scott Galloway 16:21 ... journalists in the world. Okay. J- uh, Jeff Bezos isn't gonna, you wanna talk about things he should do and he won't? You really think this is gonna move the needle?

Kara Swisher 16:31 I get it. I get it.

Scott Galloway 16:31 You really think? I'm sorry, go ahead.

Kara Swisher 16:32 Can- I'm gonna interject here because I, when I worked there-

Scott Galloway 16:35 Yeah.

Kara Swisher 16:35 ... bitching and moaning during, uh, w- uh, uh, wa- a very early MeToo thing made a difference. Initially they ignored the reporters and they pushed it and pushed it internally and it worked. It does, it can work at certain pl- at certain times. Maybe-

Scott Galloway 16:49 I think that's the mother of all false analogies.

Kara Swisher 16:50 No, boy, it can, it can work to speak up.

Scott Galloway 16:53 Because sexual harassment and suppressing the rights of women and, and-

Kara Swisher 16:58 Alright, alright.

Scott Galloway 16:58 ... uh, uh, that's just a whole-

Kara Swisher 16:59 Alright, I was trying to think of an-

Scott Galloway 16:59 ... new-

Kara Swisher 17:00 ... cartoon.

Scott Galloway 17:00 That's, that's a warning that, uh, cartoons?

Kara Swisher 17:04 Yeah. One time-

Scott Galloway 17:05 (laughs)

Kara Swisher 17:05 ... the Post cut cartoons. They took out cartoons and it so angered the, (laughs) the readers that they put pictures around the post. That worked, they put it back. I'm just saying, it's okay to speak up. What?

Scott Galloway 17:16 Oh, you didn't, we didn't talk-

Kara Swisher 17:17 What? What?

Scott Galloway 17:17 Let's bring this back to me. You wanna-

Kara Swisher 17:18 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 17:18 ... buy newspapers, did you see what I bought?

Kara Swisher 17:20 What, what'd you buy?

Scott Galloway 17:21 I bought a, I bought a football team in-

Kara Swisher 17:23 What?

Scott Galloway 17:23 ... Columbia.

Kara Swisher 17:24 Are you part of that group? Tell- explain.

Scott Galloway 17:27 No.

Kara Swisher 17:27 For the people. Are you Ryan Reynolds-

Scott Galloway 17:29 Uh, uh-

Kara Swisher 17:29 ... adjacent?

Scott Galloway 17:30 (laughs) Yeah, not even.

Kara Swisher 17:32 (laughs) .

Scott Galloway 17:32 Not even. Uh, I'm like at the very bottom of the article and they say, "Also jo- also joining the investor group is podcaster and author..." Yeah, I'm, I'm, my midlife meat crisis, Kara.

Kara Swisher 17:43 So explain the team.

Scott Galloway 17:44 I am part of a group-

Kara Swisher 17:44 I don't have any interest, but go ahead.

Scott Galloway 17:46 It's the second-largest team in Bogotá, La Equidad, and-

Kara Swisher 17:49 Uh-huh. Second-largest. (laughs)

Scott Galloway 17:50 It's oops. It's the second-largest team in Bogotá. Bogotá, I gotta say that correctly.

Kara Swisher 17:56 Bogotá. (laughs)

Scott Galloway 17:56 And-

Kara Swisher 17:57 Bogota.

Scott Galloway 17:57 And it's really s- this really smart kid who scans the world for teams and investments approached me and said, "We're putting together an investor group." And I really like this kid named Rob Mc- McElhaney, he's Ryan's partner in Wrexham, and he does this fantastic show called It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. And the two of them, a friend of mine from Apollo, Eva Longoria-... we've, anyways, we bought this team. So it's-

Kara Swisher 18:20 Wait, do they know who you are?

Scott Galloway 18:21 ... I, you-

Kara Swisher 18:21 Do you get to hang with them? Do we get any perks for this situation?

Scott Galloway 18:25 (laughs) Well, I, it's cost me a lot of money. I hope so.

Kara Swisher 18:28 No, but do they know who you are?

Scott Galloway 18:29 Uh-

Kara Swisher 18:29 Or are you just, oh, get s-

Scott Galloway 18:31 Who is they?

Kara Swisher 18:32 ... the, the, the caree- like the people you just spoke of? Ryan, Ava, yeah.

Scott Galloway 18:35 Oh, the investor group.

Kara Swisher 18:36 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 18:36 No, R- Rob does. I think Rob got me-

Kara Swisher 18:37 Okay.

Scott Galloway 18:38 ... into the deal. And also, the, the guys who do the deal. I, the honest answer is I don't know-

Kara Swisher 18:42 Why did you get in the deal may I ask?

Scott Galloway 18:43 ... how I got in this investor group.

Kara Swisher 18:45 What, what, why? Like, of all the people in the world-

Scott Galloway 18:47 Because I fear death and refuse to acknowledge-

Kara Swisher 18:49 Yeah, but how did they get to you?

Scott Galloway 18:50 ... I'm going to die.

Kara Swisher 18:50 It's like, wha- how did they, you scan the world and you go-

Scott Galloway 18:54 'Cause of you.

Kara Swisher 18:54 ... "Ah, Prof Galloway." No, they don't know who I am.

Scott Galloway 18:56 'Cause they're curious what, well, no, no, I, I don't know, y- I don't know if you listen to this or other podcasts-

Kara Swisher 19:01 You talk about it. Yeah, you talk about it.

Scott Galloway 19:01 ... but I'm super into, I'm super into-

Kara Swisher 19:03 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 19:03 ... football. And I wanted to buy the Glasgow Rangers-

Kara Swisher 19:06 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 19:06 ... but I, I couldn't figure that out.

Kara Swisher 19:08 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 19:09 And so this, I'm excited to spend my time in Columbia.

Kara Swisher 19:11 So, are we going there? Are we flying the jet?

Scott Galloway 19:13 Oh, we're going there a lot.

Kara Swisher 19:14 Are we, are you serious?

Scott Galloway 19:15 Are you kidding?

Kara Swisher 19:15 Can I come with you? Well, that's kinda glamorous. Congratulations.

Scott Galloway 19:18 Team owner. From now on, I want you to call me team owner.

Kara Swisher 19:20 Okay, all right. I will.

Scott Galloway 19:21 I'm gonna get a, a fourth, fifth wife.

Kara Swisher 19:23 Okay, yeah.

Scott Galloway 19:23 Start making ridiculously, uh, uh, like, stupid, bigoted, racist statements and have the league freak out.

Kara Swisher 19:30 Oh, all right. Okay, I love that.

Scott Galloway 19:32 Yeah, I can't wait. But yeah.

Kara Swisher 19:32 You're the like, the, the other guy, the, the other guy, uh, in the investment group. I like that at the bottom of the press release. I like that. Congratulate-

Scott Galloway 19:39 It's hilarious, if you read, if you do-

Kara Swisher 19:40 (laughs) Excuse me. No, I didn't read any of them.

Scott Galloway 19:41 ... read the articles, I'm literally the last sentence. They said, "Also joining-

Kara Swisher 19:44 And you're like, crap.

Scott Galloway 19:45 ... the investor group-"

Kara Swisher 19:45 You're like crawling, you're at the hang- at the bottom rung hanging on.

Scott Galloway 19:47 No, I'm Sofia-

Kara Swisher 19:47 And Ryan Reynolds' ass is way up there along with Evit Elengaria's.

Scott Galloway 19:51 I'm Sofia Coppola at the Academy Awards. I'm like, "I'm here, I'm here."

Kara Swisher 19:54 She makes movies. She's made some really excellent movies. Anyway, she's very t- I'm-

Scott Galloway 19:57 Yeah, uh-huh.

Kara Swisher 19:57 Congratulations, Scott. I think that's great, I think that's great. Um, I'm not gonna be buying a team, uh, in any case. Anyway, we've got a lot to get to today, including last-minute plans to save TikTok, big deal, and the heated confirmation hearings for Trump's cabinet nominees. Okay, so then let's get to our first big story.

Kara Swisher 20:14 (instrumental music plays) As we tape Thursday morning, we're still waiting for the Supreme Court to decide on the TikTok ban. TikTok Supreme Court! I mean, it's January 19th is when it runs out, which is Sunday, but a lot of TikTok news is happening since our last episode. First up as usual, I was right. Chinese officials have reportedly internally discussed an option of selling TikTok to Elon Musk, though TikTok has called the reports pure fiction, as if they'd know. Uh, of course they would like Elon to have it, it, it, he's, he's a Jason, he's got a lot of business interests there. Um, so, uh, so there's that. Um, TikTok also has a lot of advocates in its corner. President-elect Donald Trump is considering an executive order to save TikTok from the office, uh, TikTok once he's in office. Although, someone likened it to a press release with better, um, with better stationary because it doesn't have the force of law. Um, uh, 'cause five years from now if Trump's not there, a Democratic president or someone else could hold Apple-

Scott Galloway 21:06 Yeah, you could sue them.

Kara Swisher 21:06 ... and Google liable.

Scott Galloway 21:08 Yeah.

Kara Swisher 21:08 Just so you know.

Scott Galloway 21:09 Yeah, yeah.

Kara Swisher 21:09 So, I think they're gonna follow the law and not Donald Trump, even if he doesn't want to enforce it.

Scott Galloway 21:13 I think you're right, I think you got that right. Yeah.

Kara Swisher 21:13 Senators Ed Markey, Ron Wyden, and Cory Booker along with Rep- Representative Ro Khanna, our friend Ro Khanna, have announced legislation to extend the TikTok ban deadline. It already has a 90-day thing that the president can put in place if there's, if there's efforts underway, but there are not efforts underway. So, and President Biden's administration is considering, who would push this thing, is considering ways to keep TikTok available in the US if the ban goes into effect. TikTok has said it might close down Sunday, um, there's a number of things that could happen. But I suspect if the Supreme Court says it's legal, Apple will, Apple and Google will shut it down, um, or they'll shut themselves down. Um, talk a little about the back, uh, uh, tracking and what, I- I don't know what this about, the delay is interesting to me. Maybe there's a little bit of, or maybe they all wanna write their own this, 'cause this is such a big and, and it is a big and important decision. Um, t- tell me what you think here because I, uh, the, the, the delay is interesting. And I only think they all wanna write, that's would be my guess, and they need some time to do that.

Scott Galloway 22:13 Yeah, I think it has geopolitical overlay and that is China and the US are the two biggest economies. I wouldn't call us enemies, but we're adversaries. And I think it's just, um, s- dumb from a game theory standpoint. I mean, essentially what's happening here is the Biden administration kinda got tough, uh, proposed-

Kara Swisher 22:33 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 22:33 ... this legislation, it passed, it's law. It is law of the land-

Kara Swisher 22:36 Law of the land.

Scott Galloway 22:36 ... as you pointed out.

Kara Swisher 22:36 Law of the land.

Scott Galloway 22:38 And all this bullshit with Democratic senators trying to scramble to write new laws to extend the ban hoping that, well, China will back down. Well, guess what? We're blinking, they're not. And so to not actually ban this thing regardless of the fallout I believe weakens our ability and gives Xi's, and gives Xi the ability to think, "You know what? When, when shit gets real, we're n- we don't blink-

Kara Swisher 23:02 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 23:02 "... they do."

Kara Swisher 23:03 Agreed, agreed.

Scott Galloway 23:03 We're blinking right now. And I think that has geopolitical ramifications across any negotiation, whether it's China or trade, and that is they've said, they've essentially said, "We're calling your bluff."

Kara Swisher 23:15 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 23:15 And we've said, "Oh, okay. Maybe we can figure out a way to extend the b- extend the deadline so maybe you'll blink."

Kara Swisher 23:22 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 23:22 They're not going to.

Kara Swisher 23:24 Right.

Scott Galloway 23:24 Or it doesn't appear they're going to. The other observation I would make is that, uh, and I really hope this doesn't happen-

Kara Swisher 23:30 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 23:30 ... around Elon, is whenever Elon says something incredibly stupid or cruel or just downright bigoted-

Kara Swisher 23:38 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 23:38 ... people, people do the kinda Trump thing, "Oh, you know, he doesn't mean it. He's, it's late-

Kara Swisher 23:42 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 23:42 ... at night-

Kara Swisher 23:43 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 23:43 ... he says these things. You're right, it's just he has kind of a, uh, one of the things we love about him is he has no filter, he has-

Kara Swisher 23:50 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 23:50 ... a lack of control." Well, guess what? Where he has a filter like, uh, uh, you know, uh, uh, a woman on, on, on Tinder who's attractive-

Kara Swisher 24:00 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 24:00 ... who's like gonna p- you know, swipe right on one out of 7,000 men-

Kara Swisher 24:04 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 24:04 ... notice how he never says anything negative about China.

Kara Swisher 24:07 Of course not, of course not. He has business interests.

Scott Galloway 24:08 He's got real self-control and maturity when it comes to China.

Kara Swisher 24:12 Mm-hmm. He does. In fact, he goes overboard-

Scott Galloway 24:13 Never said a-

Kara Swisher 24:13 ... to praise them.

Scott Galloway 24:14 Oh, and, and by the way-... Brazil, who said, "Go fuck yourself," all of a sudden, he's really polite and doesn't say... and he's restrained around Brazil.

Kara Swisher 24:24 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 24:24 So this is the problem with, again, with a democracy and free speech that's not enforced for everybody-

Kara Swisher 24:30 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 24:31 ... and people aren't protected universally, is the incentives become shitposts to people who don't have the balls, or are still holding onto the fidelity of free speech and democracy, because there's no downside.

Kara Swisher 24:42 Yeah, it'll be interesting to see what happens. I, I, I do think the Supreme Court will probably weigh in on national security issues. It seems like, uh, the... all the other courts have done so. It is the law. Uh, a Trump executive order will do nothing, just so you're aware. It's just empty things. And he can say, "I'm not enforcing it." Pam Bondi, in her hearing, which we'll talk about in a minute, uh, said, said, uh, didn't confirm or deny whether she'd do it. Doesn't matter what they think. If you're what Tim... Uh, what matters is what Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai think's gonna happen to them in five years if they don't follow. 'Cause they can be liable for $60 billion in fines, right, if they don't follow it, even if Trump, uh... later, and stuff like that. They are liable. They have to follow the law, which is right now, that. Now, Congress can change it. They can shift things. They can make new legislation. They can override the ban completely. But then, you're right, we look like fucking wimps. We look like wimps to China. And once again... And of course Trump wants to do the deal, "I'm gonna do the deal." I can see, apparently he's spending an enormous amount of his time 'cause it's so visually interesting to him. He's like, "I'm gonna show the art..." He keeps saying, "art of the deal." Like, stop it. Like, there's no deal here. You were the one... Let me just say, you know the OG person who started this? Donald Trump, Donald... with his executive order against TikTok. I, I agreed with him at the time, by the way. And so, uh, uh, he started this mess, and now he's gonna come... It's like the arsonist is gonna come put out the fire. He started this thing. Now he's trying to stop it. Everyone wants credit for the deal. There's all these very self-interested people around the basket, like Jeff Yass, Elon Musk, Larry Ellison, who, whatever cockamamie idea they have of whatever billionaire can take over. And so I, I, I think they're gonna... uh, uh, there's, there's nothing they can do. There's, there's nothing they can do unless they overturn the actual law, which they can do. That's what they absolutely can do. Um, interestingly, while TikTok users who are worried about the app will be banned, are flocked to other Chinese social media app. They didn't rush off to Meta or anything else, called Red Note, which is apparent-... I haven't gotten it. It's apparently very fun. The app has grabbed the number one spot on Apple's most popular free apps chart with a reported over 700,000 new users joining in two days. Um, they can do this all day and night. You remember that from, uh, from, uh, The Avengers? "I can do this all day and night." The Chinese can do this all day and night with us. And now people are flocking to all these Chinese apps. Well, are we gonna ban all those? Right? I mean, it just go... we, we should have had a larger, a larger bill because, um, uh, uh, and I... we should have had a larger bill. That's what happened here. We had a shitty bill that was all ridiculously political and, and performative, and now we've got this. And have you tried Red Note, Scott? Have you... what do you think about it?

Scott Galloway 27:25 Oh, Kara, I can barely, like, I, I, I had to have my assistant download Blue Sky. I am so sick-

Kara Swisher 27:30 Oh, I know. Boy.

Scott Galloway 27:31 ... of building an audience-

Kara Swisher 27:33 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 27:33 ... and then finding out that the people that own this one are bad.

Kara Swisher 27:35 Yeah, yeah. Yep.

Scott Galloway 27:36 And trying to get on another one. I'm just kinda... I mean, there's Tugboat. There's just so many... I'm just, at some point, I'm just gonna go back to Post-its and maybe put it in-

Kara Swisher 27:46 (laughs)

Scott Galloway 27:46 ... the elevator, and maybe it, maybe my, my neighbors will find it funny. I'm just gonna start posting memes.

Kara Swisher 27:52 (laughs)

Scott Galloway 27:52 I lived in Washington, I lived in faculty housing-

Kara Swisher 27:54 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 27:54 ... until 2017.

Kara Swisher 27:56 Uh-huh.

Scott Galloway 27:56 And there was a woman there who's, you know, has... NYU is a gentle place-

Kara Swisher 28:01 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 28:01 ... and we don't kick people out of faculty housing.

Kara Swisher 28:03 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 28:03 So it's literally a senior's home.

Kara Swisher 28:05 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 28:05 I was hands down the youngest person by about 70 years.

Kara Swisher 28:09 (laughs)

Scott Galloway 28:09 And there was a woman there whose husband, who was, like, some big wheel in, you know, the Greek classics-

Kara Swisher 28:15 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 28:15 ... in nine-... the '60s, has been living there. And she'd be outside, and I liked her 'cause she'd play with her dog and this tennis ball. And she used to... she put up a little cork bulletin board, and she'd put up, like, funny comics.

Kara Swisher 28:27 Mm-hmm. (laughs)

Scott Galloway 28:27 That's where I'm headed. I think that's the last sa- safe platform for me is I'm gonna-

Kara Swisher 28:30 Wait, I'm gonna get you a cork bulletin board. I was trying-

Scott Galloway 28:32 I'm gonna find a cork board and I'm gonna post my shit there.

Kara Swisher 28:35 Little text, little tags.

Scott Galloway 28:35 Of aerial firefighters.

Kara Swisher 28:37 Joke text.

Scott Galloway 28:37 Anybody on Monday, anybody on Monday that needs a break from this-

Kara Swisher 28:42 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 28:42 ... I'm not gonna advocate joining me in my Peroni-

Kara Swisher 28:45 No.

Scott Galloway 28:45 ... and Xanax methodology, the panics method.

Kara Swisher 28:48 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 28:48 I am gonna be nonstop posting '80s music and footage of aerial firefighters.

Kara Swisher 28:52 I see that.

Scott Galloway 28:53 That is it.

Kara Swisher 28:53 That is your thing.

Scott Galloway 28:54 That is it.

Kara Swisher 28:55 That is your pornography-

Scott Galloway 28:55 Uh, nothing-

Kara Swisher 28:56 ... now at this point.

Scott Galloway 28:57 Nothing about this... No, pornography-

Kara Swisher 28:59 Did y-

Scott Galloway 28:59 ... I'm gonna do on my own.

Kara Swisher 29:00 Okay.

Scott Galloway 29:00 I don't even take erect out-

Kara Swisher 29:01 You got the story I wrote you about how popular they've become, how it's been like online pornography, watching these things, just by sending, yeah, I sent you that story.

Scott Galloway 29:08 Oh, really? I don't read most of those. You should send shit up that I don't read most of the-

Kara Swisher 29:10 I do. You should read it. I sent it directly to you. It's all about the er-... and also men-... there's several men-... there's many women-

Scott Galloway 29:16 Oh no, the funniest thing you sent me-

Kara Swisher 29:19 ... in that group just so you know.

Scott Galloway 29:19 (laughs) The funniest thing you sent me, you did send me something where I laughed out lied was... uh, aloud, was a picture (laughs) , a picture of Pete Hegseth-

Kara Swisher 29:25 Yeah. (laughs)

Scott Galloway 29:25 ... and it said, "DUI hire."

Kara Swisher 29:26 Yeah, D- (laughs) Yeah, that was funny.

Scott Galloway 29:27 I thought that was really funny.

Kara Swisher 29:27 That was an AI thing.

Scott Galloway 29:28 That was funny, yeah.

Kara Swisher 29:29 Yeah, yeah, we'll get to that then. All right, we'll see where, what's gonna happen to the ban. Supreme Court, get going, TikTok, TikTok. Um, when we come back, we'll talk about the contentious confirmation hearings for Trump's pa-... cabinet, including, uh, DUI hire, Pete Hegseth, um, and take a listener mail question about recovery responsibility with the LA

Kara Swisher 29:47 fires. A number of President-elect Trump's cabinet nominees are on Capitol Hill this week for their confirmation hearings. It's, you know, the perfor-... I'm speaking performative. Secretary of State nominee Marco Rubio got a welcome reception from senators on both sides of the aisle.

Scott Galloway 30:01 Marco Rub-... Senator Rubio-

Kara Swisher 30:02 Low bar, Marco.

Scott Galloway 30:02 ... has never seen more qualified.

Kara Swisher 30:04 I know. Low bar.

Scott Galloway 30:04 He's never seen-

Kara Swisher 30:06 Low bar.

Scott Galloway 30:06 He's like the statesman of the 20th century-

Kara Swisher 30:09 Yeah, yeah, little Marco.

Scott Galloway 30:09 ... right now. He's-

Kara Swisher 30:09 Little Marco. Is, is... low bar Marco. Um, and, and may I call you Marco? While Attorney General Nominee Pam Bondi faced pointed questions about election denial and prosecuting Trump's enemies, she was, she was pretty slippery, I thought, and, and when asked, uh, by Senator Blumenthal about whether she would enforce the TikTok ban, Bondi avoided another direct answer. What a good lawyer she is. Let's listen.

Scott Galloway 30:32 Will you commit to enforce that law on your first day?... when you are conf- if you are confirmed.

Kara Swisher 30:36 Senator, as I discussed with you during our meeting, that is pending litigation within the Department of Justice.

Scott Galloway 30:43 Well, it's pending litigation, but will you enforce that law?

Kara Swisher 30:45 I can't discuss pending litigation. But I, I will, I will talk to all the career offic- uh, uh-

Scott Galloway 30:51 So, again, um, um-

Kara Swisher 30:51 ... prosecutors who are handling the case. Absolutely, Senator. Give her the job (laughs) . I don't know what else to say.

Scott Galloway 30:58 Yeah, I mean, I, I follow this.

Kara Swisher 31:00 (speaks gibberish) Blegh, bleh.

Scott Galloway 31:01 Yeah. "It's pending litigation."

Kara Swisher 31:02 Pending litigation.

Scott Galloway 31:02 I just, I'm, um, are you gonna pick your kids up from school after school today? I, it's, that's speculative, Senator.

Kara Swisher 31:09 (mumbles) I don't know and I don't know ..........................

Scott Galloway 31:09 I don't, that's a hypothetical. I don't-

Kara Swisher 31:11 (mums) Yeah, yeah.

Scott Galloway 31:12 I don't know, I-

Kara Swisher 31:14 She's not gonna enforce it, but it doesn't matter. They'll enforce it themselves. Um, what did you think of her at that hearing? Just curious. Yeah, Pam.

Scott Galloway 31:21 Pam?

Kara Swisher 31:21 Let's call her Pam, Marco Pam. Let's just call ... let's diminutize all of them.

Scott Galloway 31:26 Uh, well, look, I, uh, okay. One, as a citizen and, uh, when these people evaluate people for what are incredibly important jobs-

Kara Swisher 31:34 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 31:35 ... I would find it refreshing if some of them actually answered questions, even if it upset people.

Kara Swisher 31:40 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 31:40 Um, but in terms of her skill set, I thought she demonstrated real skill.

Kara Swisher 31:44 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 31:44 She, she, she demonstrated outstanding political skills. She came across as indignant and refused to answer any questions.

Kara Swisher 31:50 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 31:51 And that's the environment we're in, so she was-

Kara Swisher 31:54 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 31:54 I thought she was quite skilled. I, I don't ... Which makes her qui- which makes her, quite frankly, probably even more scary.

Kara Swisher 31:59 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 31:59 I, I think Hegseth-

Kara Swisher 32:01 W- we're getting to that.

Scott Galloway 32:01 ... is gonna last-

Kara Swisher 32:02 But l- let me read, l- let me read, yeah.

Scott Galloway 32:03 ... lasts anyway. Go ahead.

Kara Swisher 32:03 So the real fireworks happen at the hearing for defense secretary nominee.

Scott Galloway 32:06 Yeah.

Kara Swisher 32:07 The very unqualified Fox News host, he's, he's qualified to be a Fox News host, Pete Hegseth, whose confirmation is looking likely at this point. Hegseth had heated exchanges with Democrats over allegations of sexual misconduct and his comments about women in combat and whether he's qualified for the job. And when asked by, uh, Senator Elissa Slotkin about whether he would carry out an illegal order from the president, Hegseth danced around, and badly. Let's listen.

Pam Bondi 32:31 Do you believe there is such a thing as an illegal order that Joe Biden or any other president, Donald Trump, could give? Is there anything that a commander-in-chief could ask you to do with the uniform military that would be in violation of the U.S. Constitution?

Pete Hegseth 32:45 Senator, anybody of any party-

Pam Bondi 32:47 Right.

Pete Hegseth 32:48 ... could give an order that is against the Constitution or against the law.

Pam Bondi 32:51 Right. Okay, so, and are you, so, are you saying that you would stand in the breach and push back if you were given an illegal order?

Pete Hegseth 32:58 I start by saying I reject the premise that President Trump-

Pam Bondi 33:00 I understand-

Pete Hegseth 33:01 ... will be giving-

Pam Bondi 33:01 ... you've done your genuflecting to him.

Pete Hegseth 33:02 ... any illegal orders-

Pam Bondi 33:03 But-

Pete Hegseth 33:03 ... at all.

Kara Swisher 33:04 All right. Well, again, you know. Um, and they also came out swinging during the hearings, focusing a lot on Hegseth's personal shortcomings. I did not feel this was an effective strategy, me and, me and the Cuban didn't think it. I thought-

Scott Galloway 33:17 100%.

Kara Swisher 33:17 ... they should ... Like, nobody cares that he's a drunk and a, and a cheater and possibly a sexual, uh, uh, predator, uh, I mean, uh, allegedly. I think he seems pretty yucky to me. Um, creepy at the, at the very least. Um, creepy and drinks too much. Uh, we know that. I don't think anybody cares. Obviously, Donald Trump doesn't care. These senators, these Republican senators, don't care. What they needed to do was show what an incompetent person is, and, and, and, uh, Senator Duckworth-

Scott Galloway 33:46 Mm-hmm.

Kara Swisher 33:46 ... tried to by, by, uh, trying to get him to name countries.

Scott Galloway 33:50 Yeah. What are the nations of ASEAN?

Kara Swisher 33:50 Yeah, right, exactly. Um, that's, they should've been in rat-a-tat with, "What about this in Ukraine? What about here? What about Hooties, H- Houthis? What about Syria? What would be your next move in th- Syria? What would be ..." like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, to show he is just as dumb as a box of hammers. And that would've been a much more effective thing to do. Centering in on his, with his ... Honestly, I don't care that his wife was there. I mean, he's obviously a pig. But, um, and he may have changed. I have no idea. I, I don't get the impression. I've heard there's been reports he continues to drink heavily. Um, uh, I, I don't, I don't think that matters at this point, even though I agree, it's pretty heinous. But I, I thought they, they bollixed this badly. What do you think?

Scott Galloway 34:34 I think you're exactly right. You kinda stole my thunder. First off, Kirsten Gillibrand's, uh, Senator Gillibrand's questioning of him totally triggered me and I was trying to figure it out. And I'm like, this just summarized, her tone and his face summarized the last year of my first marriage.

Kara Swisher 34:49 Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 34:50 It just ... (laughs) that was a joke.

Kara Swisher 34:53 Okay. (laughs)

Scott Galloway 34:53 Thought it'd be funnier.

Kara Swisher 34:54 I feel bad.

Scott Galloway 34:55 Um, but y- you're exactly right. The questions ... Folks, Trump has demonstrated that we have moved, and that is ... And Democrats kinda started this off. I, you know, a lot of d- a lot of former presidents have not acquitted themselves well.

Kara Swisher 35:12 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 35:12 But basically, President Trump has demonstrated that at least 49% of the populace, and probably more like 70, are like, regarding drinking, personal behavior, what I'll call more generally we refer to as character-

Kara Swisher 35:25 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 35:26 ... you know, honey badger just don't care.

Kara Swisher 35:29 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 35:29 And i- it doesn't ... You come across as indignant. You come across as a cultural priss. It, it doesn't work. What they should've been asking is, "What do you think is the likelihood or the capabilities of an amphibious assault on China and what are we doing to prevent that? What new technologies or combat techniques have you learned from the wars in Gaza and in Ukraine?" And I think it would've demonstrated, I would, I believe, that quite frankly, he just doesn't have a command of the ... He doesn't have the domain expertise-

Kara Swisher 36:02 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 36:02 ... to make really good decisions around this stuff. I believe, I don't ... You know, h- he knows a lot about combat, but these, the defense secretary is supposed to be able to make very high-level decisions strategically-

Kara Swisher 36:14 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 36:14 ... that position us to be the greatest, continue to be the greatest fighting force in history. And then coordinate resources across all sorts of agencies-

Kara Swisher 36:22 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 36:22 ... and five different branches of the Armed Services. I mean, and no, they didn't go there.

Kara Swisher 36:27 He went a little bit-

Scott Galloway 36:28 Instead, the Democrats-

Kara Swisher 36:29 ... around his bad management of his tiny little sayings, which I think they should've, too. But current things, current things-

Scott Galloway 36:35 Well, even that is an adjustment.

Kara Swisher 36:36 That's right.

Scott Galloway 36:37 Senator Duckworth was the only one that kinda did her, in my opinion-

Kara Swisher 36:40 Right.

Scott Galloway 36:40 ...that kinda did her job.

Kara Swisher 36:41 She's in the-

Scott Galloway 36:42 And that is-

Kara Swisher 36:42 ...she's been in the army obviously. She lost her leg.

Scott Galloway 36:44 Uh, he can be, he can be a low character person and still, I hate to say this, be probably a competent Secretary of Defense. What you can't be is a high character person who doesn't know what the fuck you're doing and how to organize-

Kara Swisher 36:56 (laughs)

Scott Galloway 36:56 ...three million, (laughs) three million men and women-

Kara Swisher 36:58 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 36:58 ...in uniform with multiple alliances, multiple technology. I, I mean, you have to understand somewhat the incredibly complex supply chain of trying to figure out a way to, uh, uh, to arm and supply nuclear-

Kara Swisher 37:13 Right.

Scott Galloway 37:13 ...submarines roaming the earth that aren't even, that aren't even coming above water-

Kara Swisher 37:18 Right.

Scott Galloway 37:18 ...for 18 months at a time.

Kara Swisher 37:19 He doesn't, he's just-

Scott Galloway 37:20 This shit is, this-

Kara Swisher 37:21 Showing him as, as incompetent-

Scott Galloway 37:21 ...this shit is complicated.

Kara Swisher 37:23 Showing, like, I was always like, "Show, don't tell." They kept saying he was incompetent. Show him as incompetent. Show that he can't answer a question. The funniest one though was, you show this, like, what are the countries in this group and what are the countries in this? And then you ask him, "Okay, what are the three brands of vodka?" You could make a joke. You could bring that drunkenness in by, 'cause he knows the three-

Scott Galloway 37:43 (laughs)

Kara Swisher 37:43 ...that was, George Conway did that thing.

Scott Galloway 37:45 That's pretty disrespectful, but okay.

Kara Swisher 37:45 I know it is, but I'm just saying, you, just, well, if they're gonna do the performative thing, you might as well do that, but, yeah. (laughs)

Scott Galloway 37:51 General Jim Beam and Sergeant Jack Daniels.

Kara Swisher 37:53 Right. This is the George Conway thing. First, ask him the hard question, and then ask him one that he knows the answer to. Um, but i- it was, i- i- it's really, uh, it was just, you, let me just say, it was interesting. When I said this, and Mark did the same thing, um, I got like, like, oh, people do care. I'm like, they, I care, you care, nobody else cares. Or they don't care enough to, to knock him off for this. And by the way, if you don't think we've had really creepy drunk S- Secretaries of Defense in our history, I don't know what you're smoking, 'cause we have. We've had a lot of creepy people in high positions of power in this country for years and years and years. I'm sure we've had rapists, I'm sure we've had drunks, I'm sure we've had all kinds of malfeasance, but what matters is competency in this moment because publicly, it doesn't, it doesn't, he, that you didn't, they didn't put a glove on this guy, I thought. I don't know.

Scott Galloway 38:47 Bu- bu- but just to be clear, he's never been convicted-

Kara Swisher 38:49 Right, exactly.

Scott Galloway 38:50 ...of anything. I, I don't, i- i- it, that, he's clear-

Kara Swisher 38:53 He paid her off, that's-

Scott Galloway 38:55 I don't-

Kara Swisher 38:55 ...fun.

Scott Galloway 38:55 I don't, uh, uh, yeah, he, which in some cases, people do pragmatically.

Kara Swisher 39:00 That's true.

Scott Galloway 39:00 I, I feel like I have to be-

Kara Swisher 39:02 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 39:02 ...Mika with me on Morning Joe right now.

Kara Swisher 39:04 Right, right.

Scott Galloway 39:04 But the, uh, I'm all about, uh, I, I don't think Nixon was a good man, but I actually think he was pretty fucking brilliant geopolitically. The, I, I want somebody, I'd like Dave Clark, the former Head of Operations from Amazon-

Kara Swisher 39:18 Oh, yeah. He'd be good.

Scott Galloway 39:18 ...to be Secretary of Defense, 'cause the bottom line (laughs) is, that when you run defense, you are essentially, uh, uh, the world's most important-

Kara Swisher 39:25 Logistics.

Scott Galloway 39:25 ...operations persons.

Kara Swisher 39:26 Yeah, logistics. Right.

Scott Galloway 39:27 And there's no, there was no, uh, there was no questions around s- th- the dumb important-

Kara Swisher 39:32 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 39:32 ...shit stuff like supply-

Kara Swisher 39:34 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 39:34 ...chain, weapons developments-

Kara Swisher 39:35 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 39:35 ...new tactics in war, like tunnels and drones are the new weapons, uh, in every war, whether it's tanks or jet engines or radar. There's new technologies that change the landscape, and if you're not on top of those technologies, you stand to lose to a smaller-

Kara Swisher 39:51 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 39:51 ...army, as evidenced by what's-

Kara Swisher 39:52 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 39:52 ...going on Russia and Ukraine.

Kara Swisher 39:53 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 39:53 And there was no thoughtful discussion around whether this guy has any command of that whatsoever. Instead, they wanted to know if he, if he was drunk at some-

Kara Swisher 40:00 Yeah, strip club.

Scott Galloway 40:01 ...at some gathering.

Kara Swisher 40:01 Right, yeah, the strip club thing.

Scott Galloway 40:02 I mean, c- uh, anyway, I, I, I thought the Democrats came across as like, oh-

Kara Swisher 40:06 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 40:07 ...okay, maybe, maybe you just bang your intern quietly or your PhD student-

Kara Swisher 40:11 (laughs)

Scott Galloway 40:11 ...but just ask the fucking questions about-

Kara Swisher 40:13 Yep, exactly.

Scott Galloway 40:14 ...being Secretary of Defense.

Kara Swisher 40:14 I think, I, I don't know if it would've worked necessarily, but it would've put it on the record, right? It would've put it, it was, y- and someone was arguing with me, and I said, "Do you know that Katie Couric interview with Sarah Palin was deadly because she was polite?" She's like, "What do you read? What about this?" She wasn't rude. She just, she just de- showed that Sarah Palin was unqualified and ignorant, and she didn't do it rudely. She didn't, she did it, that was-

Scott Galloway 40:39 You mean when she couldn't name-

Kara Swisher 40:40 Yeah, remember?

Scott Galloway 40:41 ...one newspaper?

Kara Swisher 40:41 That was a surgical and res-

Scott Galloway 40:42 "What do you read?" "Well, I read them all."

Kara Swisher 40:43 Yeah, which one?

Scott Galloway 40:44 "Well, which one?" (laughs)

Kara Swisher 40:45 Well, name just one. Go watch that interview, and that's how they should... They should've had Katie Couric in there teaching them how to ask questions. And she did it very gracefully, uh, but i- at the end of the interview, she was, Sarah Palin was finished, as far as I was concerned, and, and we understood. Everyone, the penny went click. Um, the other thing that I thought, I, I will say one thing. Joni E- Ernst, I get that they're putting pressure on you, and they're gonna primary you if you didn't do this, but you have a g- your values were around women in the military and sexual assault. She is a sexual assault victim. I, I'm, uh, uh, y- uh, at some point, you gotta stand up for what you are, and you didn't, and, um, and you, you, you've taken a dive, and I understand why you did, but boy, I'm sorry. You should've stood up for women, and you didn't, so, and women like yourself.

Scott Galloway 41:33 But the, I've been thinking about-

Kara Swisher 41:34 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 41:35 ...Senator Ernst, and I thought, God, it's, given her background, and I thought, is it unfair to hold some of them to a different standard because they were a victim of something?

Kara Swisher 41:43 Not just that-

Scott Galloway 41:43 And-

Kara Swisher 41:43 ...she was in the military too.

Scott Galloway 41:46 Well, th- the one I love though, my favorite, is Senator Susan Collins-

Kara Swisher 41:50 Oh.

Scott Galloway 41:50 ...is gonna take the weekend because she's concerned.

Kara Swisher 41:53 (laughs) Oh, sh-

Scott Galloway 41:54 You wanna talk about, uh, a new position in the narcissist crypt?

Kara Swisher 42:00 Right. She's-

Scott Galloway 42:00 Uh, it, it, it is def- there is a place for Senator Collins-

Kara Swisher 42:04 I know. Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 42:04 ...because Senator Collins, I will, I, I, maybe Kalsi-

Kara Swisher 42:09 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 42:09 Oh my God, I'm gonna bet on this. If anyone can find a betting site-

Kara Swisher 42:13 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 42:13 ...around how Senator Collins is gonna vote-

Kara Swisher 42:15 Oh, she'll vote for her, for-

Scott Galloway 42:16 She's like, "Look at me, I'm concerned."

Kara Swisher 42:19 Ugh.

Scott Galloway 42:19 "I'm a moderate. I'm thoughtful."

Kara Swisher 42:21 You're right.

Scott Galloway 42:21 "I need to take the weekend-"

Kara Swisher 42:23 Uh, just-

Scott Galloway 42:23 "...to review his testimony." I have never been this confident-

Kara Swisher 42:28 She never fails to disappoint.

Scott Galloway 42:28 ...ever since Floyd May- Mayweather-

Kara Swisher 42:30 (laughs)

Scott Galloway 42:30 ...fought Conor McGregor that, that, oh, yeah, Senator Collins is really-

Kara Swisher 42:35 (laughs)

Scott Galloway 42:35 ...struggling with this decision. Just she's like-

Kara Swisher 42:38 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 42:38 ..."Look at me. I'm a thoughtful-"

Kara Swisher 42:40 Go back to Maine.

Scott Galloway 42:41 "...moderate. Nobody owns me."

Kara Swisher 42:43 Go back to Maine.

Scott Galloway 42:43 That vote-... no one pen- s- p, p. Pete Agseth and President Trump are not worried-

Kara Swisher 42:51 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 42:51 ... about Senator Collins-

Kara Swisher 42:53 Collins.

Scott Galloway 42:53 ... falling in line with the Republican Party-

Kara Swisher 42:55 Um.

Scott Galloway 42:55 ... but she's like, "Please look at me."

Kara Swisher 42:57 Uh-huh.

Scott Galloway 42:57 "Look at me. I'm gonna think about it, I'm not sure."

Kara Swisher 43:00 The one I like is Murkowski. I think Murkowski has got a set, but not the rest of them. Anyway-

Scott Galloway 43:04 Because-

Kara Swisher 43:04 ... because she won-

Scott Galloway 43:05 ... and, and it goes to the learning.

Kara Swisher 43:05 ... and it, she, they went after her and she won, so she's like, "Fuck you."

Scott Galloway 43:08 Yeah, but the, one of the keys to having moderates who actually vote their-

Kara Swisher 43:12 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 43:12 ... conscious and aren't, aren't live in fear is that, uh, it's, I think it's final five voting in Alaska-

Kara Swisher 43:19 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 43:19 ... where moderates actually get elected.

Kara Swisher 43:21 Right.

Scott Galloway 43:21 Anyways, I, I'm all Andrew Yang.

Kara Swisher 43:22 Well, they do have the prospect, and this time it's slightly different, but I don't really care. I'd still would, I'd still be fuck you, is, uh, m- m- deploying Musk's money. He keeps threatening, uh, Trump keeps threatening the dep- deploying of Musk money, just so you know.

Scott Galloway 43:35 I'm going to a new member's club tonight, Chez Margaux, and I'm not sure I'm gonna drink, Kara.

Kara Swisher 43:39 (laughs) .

Scott Galloway 43:39 I'm not, I'm not sure I'm gonna get fucked up and, and become more charming and like myself-

Kara Swisher 43:45 (laughs) .

Scott Galloway 43:45 ... and like the world more. I need to think about it, Kara.

Kara Swisher 43:47 Yeah, yeah. Okay. (laughs) .

Scott Galloway 43:48 I need to, I need to think about-

Kara Swisher 43:50 Remember, you are a team owner now.

Scott Galloway 43:52 ... the ills of alcohol.

Kara Swisher 43:52 Behave like one. Um, that is-

Scott Galloway 43:55 That is behaving like one.

Kara Swisher 43:56 ... that's right, that's right.

Scott Galloway 43:56 Are you kidding?

Kara Swisher 43:56 All right, Scott. You're Ryan Reynolds-

Scott Galloway 43:59 I just need to show up as a young, young hot woman.

Kara Swisher 43:59 ... adjacent now, finally. Um, can you get him to come on the show?

Scott Galloway 44:02 People say I look like his dad.

Kara Swisher 44:03 No. Yeah, come- come on the show.

Scott Galloway 44:05 Uh, Ryan Reynolds?

Kara Swisher 44:06 Now that you're friends or whatever.

Scott Galloway 44:08 Uh, yeah, I guess. I guess.

Kara Swisher 44:08 All right. Okay. Good for- let's see.

Scott Galloway 44:10 I just want a discount on Mint Momom.

Kara Swisher 44:12 Yes, Mint Momom. Okay, Scott, let's- they're one of our sponsors many years ago, or maybe recently.

Kara Swisher 44:17 Okay, Scott, let's pivot to a listener question.

Nancy (caller from Santa Rosa, CA) 44:27 Hey, Scott and Kara. This is Nancy in Santa Rosa, California. Uh, my question is, uh, economic and tied to the fires in Southern California. Uh, having lived through several wildfires and been evacuated, I have to say it's breaking my heart to see what's going on in, in Los Angeles. But my question for you two is, where are the banks? It seems to me we're talking about government assistance. We're talking about rebuilding assistance. We're talking about, uh, assistance, uh, what the insurance companies are going to be able to do. But it seems to me that most of those homes and most of those businesses were in buildings that were basically owned by the banks and the occupants were paying it off. Um, so where are the banks? That's my question. Where are the banks? Once again, in another disaster, where are the banks? Thanks, you guys. You've made me so much smarter than I deserve to be. Bye.

Kara Swisher 45:27 Well, thank you, uh, Nancy from Santa Rosa. Um, I- I- I'll very briefly say, we're, they will be here because they will suffer losses or they will collect all this property because a lot of people probably aren't gonna keep... You have to keep paying your mortgage even if your house doesn't exist, from what I understand, uh, 'cause you have the commitment to the banks. Many people will default or work out other terms with these banks or the banks will get the properties or the land, I guess, and be able to develop it or sell it or, or whatever. I mean, I think it's, that's what's gonna happen here, and I think probably some of them will suffer. Uh, some of the banks will and some won't. Um, you know, the more disturbing conversation going on is all these idiot Republicans saying that they're not gonna pay. They're gonna add, you know, add conditions onto, onto payments around, uh, disaster relief. It's re- just a ridiculous way... Our country has always br- went to the aid in disaster relief, and so that to me is heinous. But in this case, I think the banks will either own the properties or, you know, give building loans to build these things back at probably pretty good rates. I know Newsom's working towards keeping insurance companies off the backs of people and getting, probably, government will probably play a big role here. Scott?

Scott Galloway 46:36 Uh, I think they're gonna be fine because I, I think it's federal legislation. I know that in Florida, to get a mortgage, you have to show proof of insurance. So, I would imagine the majority of those homes that burn down are gonna get an insurance check such that they can continue to pay their mortgage. The banks cover their ass as they're supposed to, and if you're in a high fire area, uh, or a dangerous area, or I think even if you just get any mortgage, you have, as a condition of getting a mortgage, you have to show homeowner's insurance, so I don't think they have much exposure. The more interesting conversation in my view, and I'm a bit of a Darwinian here, we have a tendency to always wanna socialize the losses, and the reality is when you build a tinderbox or decide to buy a tinderbox in a beautiful, spectacular desert with high pressure and low pressure systems, I'll, I'll go to me. I live on the water in Florida. Uh, there's real climate change risk or weather risk, and my view is, I should either pay for the insurance, uh, at a market rate or move or the value of my house-

Kara Swisher 47:42 (laughs) .

Scott Galloway 47:42 ... should go down. And I, and so instead, we go to this understandable sympathy for these people and taxpayers, including people who can never afford to live in the Palisades, end up bailing folks out. I, I, I just hate to say it. I think, uh, I think you, if you're gonna live in a dangerous area because of the upside to you personally from con- consumption standpoint, I don't think taxpayers should be bailing these people out. And until people feel the full weight of whether it's climate change or the cost of living in high-risk areas, we're not gonna do anything about it.

Kara Swisher 48:18 It's a fair point. It's a fair point. I think there's initial disaster relief. You can bring in food and-

Scott Galloway 48:21 Yeah, 100%.

Kara Swisher 48:22 ... you know, uh, cover costs that people pay back and things like that. But I, I tend to agree with you. I think you, you know, I know I live in an earthquake zone in San Francisco, so I went out of my way to put in, uh, steel girders and, uh, put them down into the bedrock. I did so much stuff around fire, uh, uh, in terms of, of, of, of not having as much wood. I thought about passive arch- it's called passive architecture, which is, uh, thicker walls, more concrete, et cetera. Uh, I didn't do all of it 'cause it was an old house. I wasn't able. It was an old wooden house, um, but I definitely did everything possible. It cost me a lot of money to do so. I have enormous insurance, you know, on that because of earthquake insurance. Um, and it's all at the cost to me. Now, I would expect some-... some federal help around food or temporary things or, uh, relief. But I wouldn't-

Scott Galloway 49:13 Oh, yeah.

Kara Swisher 49:13 ... I wouldn't demand it after a certain amount of time. Safety-

Scott Galloway 49:16 But, but-

Kara Swisher 49:16 ... would be one of them. Like keep my house safe.

Scott Galloway 49:19 But why should-

Kara Swisher 49:19 Keep, like, looters and things like that.

Scott Galloway 49:22 Why should taxpayers-

Kara Swisher 49:23 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 49:23 ... federal taxpayers, at the gas pump, paying whatever it is, uh, tax on their current income as-

Kara Swisher 49:30 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 49:30 ... a waiter or as a chiropractor, why should they be subsidizing my right to live on the, on the water in Florida?

Kara Swisher 49:38 Well, that, that, that's a bigger question. Why should people pay for schools? Because if I don't have kids, why should I pay for, uh, corn subsidies?

Scott Galloway 49:45 Because there's a social good-

Kara Swisher 49:47 R- right.

Scott Galloway 49:47 ... to having an educated populous. Is there a social good to making sure Scott can stare at the ocean waiting for the ass cancer?

Kara Swisher 49:53 (laughs)

Scott Galloway 49:53 It's not my... It's not your right to live-

Kara Swisher 49:57 (laughs)

Scott Galloway 49:57 ... in a spectacular desert that collides with the sea, with these beautiful mountains that create these funnels of hot air.

Kara Swisher 50:06 Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Scott Galloway 50:06 If you wanna live there, in my opinion, you should bear the cost-

Kara Swisher 50:09 Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Galloway 50:09 ... including the risks.

Kara Swisher 50:10 Well, Nancy, uh, uh, the banks will be fine.

Scott Galloway 50:12 Don't worry. Jamie Dimon's fine.

Kara Swisher 50:14 If there's a mortgage, uh, of any kind, the banks own the property. Uh, that tends to be the situation. Or they'll figure something out. They always sort of work it all out and, and will overcharge people as, uh, as healthcare companies have gotten so good at doing. Um, anyway, if you've got a question of your own that you'd like answered, send it our way. Go to nymag.com/pivot to submit a question for the show or call 855-51-PIVOT.

Kara Swisher 50:36 Okay, Scott. Let's hear a prediction, and make it good.

Scott Galloway 50:40 (laughs) Well, I think that inflation and the 10-year bond are gonna be the adults in the room-

Kara Swisher 50:47 Oh. Explain.

Scott Galloway 50:47 ... in the next few months. Uh, well, if you think about 13,000 homes-

Kara Swisher 50:52 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 50:52 ... have been destroyed, and the idea that... I mean, Trump's two big policies are, I mean, a few things. Uh, the, the implicit kind of expectation that he'll either keep taxes low or lower them. Two, that he'll be very... He'll take a tougher stand on, on illegal immigrants. And three, that he's gonna impose tariffs. This is the perfect storm for inflation and where you're gonna see examples of it that hit the news are when people start to rebuild in the Palisades and the hiring pool is vastly diminished and the cost of a washing machine or a garage door is up 40% or 60%.

Kara Swisher 51:32 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 51:32 And then that month-

Kara Swisher 51:33 And all the building stuff, all the building stuff.

Scott Galloway 51:35 And that month, you see a bump up in CPI, and the 10-year goes fucking crazy.

Kara Swisher 51:41 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 51:41 It's like his entire... The person I am most excited about in the Trump-

Kara Swisher 51:46 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 51:46 ... cabinet who is the most qualified is the 10-year bond.

Kara Swisher 51:50 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 51:51 'Cause if it starts to spike and goes and says the expectation of inflation is coming back because of this guy's inflationary policies around tariffs, um, deporting immigrants... And I wanna be clear. If you've committed a crime and you're an illegal immigrant, that's your second crime. I am down with those people being s-

Kara Swisher 52:09 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 52:09 ... being, being deported.

Kara Swisher 52:10 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 52:11 But the reality is if you go to a construction site, it is an undocumented workers' Lollapalooza.

Kara Swisher 52:16 It is indeed.

Scott Galloway 52:17 And by the way, some of these people, speaking for a friend-

Kara Swisher 52:20 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 52:20 ... are remarkably fucking (laughs) talented.

Kara Swisher 52:22 Right.

Scott Galloway 52:23 And hardworking.

Kara Swisher 52:23 And especially in California, by the way. Especially

Narrator 52:25 ... (cross talk)

Scott Galloway 52:25 ... and will get on a roof, work 12 hours such that they can make, you know, 300, 400 bucks that day and then send 200 home, you know, to wherever it is-

Kara Swisher 52:36 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 52:36 ... to, to El Sal-

Kara Swisher 52:37 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 52:37 ... or wherever they're from. But the fact that all of a sudden these people are gonna be scared to show up to a work site or that they might be w- worried about... Or they just might not come here. It's been this-

Kara Swisher 52:46 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 52:46 Uh, uh, on a positive note, this, this workforce has been one of the most flexible, economically advantageous workforces in history. And then you're gonna start this bullshit around taxing all these products. A- and by the way, these folks the next day will implement reciprocal tariffs. You wanna talk about the choke point in AI? Uh, uh, you know, I used to think, "Oh, it's... Nuclear stocks are gonna go up." Nuclear stocks, my analyst Miss Saverio reminded me that nuclear can't really be online to... They, they can't handle a third of the incremental demand by, like, 2050 'cause there's latency in building (laughs) a nuclear power plant. She said it's gonna be all about l- liquid natural gas. We get a lot of n- LNG from Canada. What happens when Canada gets sick of being pissed on?

Kara Swisher 53:31 Food prices. Food prices.

Scott Galloway 53:32 Uh, uh, you're gonna see they, they... Do you know how many products-

Kara Swisher 53:35 Chicken m- Chicken m- chicken making-

Scott Galloway 53:38 There's car... There are cars that are eventually sold or quote-unquote manufactured in the US that go back and forth to Mexico different components and different parts-

Kara Swisher 53:46 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 53:46 ... like, a half a dozen or a dozen times. So they-

Kara Swisher 53:49 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 53:49 ... immediately reciprocate with like-minded tariffs. And what's gonna-

Kara Swisher 53:52 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 53:52 ... bring it to light is some of the costs around trying to rebuild. And then the adult in the room on the cabinet is gonna be the 10-year. And if inflation starts to spike, all of his grandiose plans around tariffs-

Kara Swisher 54:04 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 54:05 ... uh, i- i- it's gonna come undone. So anyways, my prediction-

Kara Swisher 54:09 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 54:09 ... is that the rebuild effort as we begin to cost it out are gonna shine a light on the inflationary pressures of kind of-

Kara Swisher 54:16 Right.

Scott Galloway 54:16 ... Trump's signature policies.

Kara Swisher 54:17 You know, I, I know it sounds crazy but-

Scott Galloway 54:19 God, that was boring.

Kara Swisher 54:19 ... Matt and, Matt and-

Scott Galloway 54:20 Jesus, I'm bored.

Kara Swisher 54:21 No, it wasn't. It was interesting. No, it is interesting. I, I... You know, Matt and I are renovating our house in DC, and we were thrilled it's almost done. Like, I remem-

Scott Galloway 54:28 (laughs)

Kara Swisher 54:28 We were like, we missed, uh, like, all the cost of wood, all the cost of labor, all the costs of all the things that were from all... Uh, you know, we bought locally. We b- we did a lot of local stuff, windows fixed and stuff like that. But I went to this guy who was doing our window restoration, we restored old windows, and it was... I don't know who the workers were, but they were these wonderful skilled workers all over the place. And I, I don't...I, I, w- they were not. They were all, um, from, from other countries, every single person in there. He was training them. Um, and they were wonderful w- craftspeople. But I don't know where they were from. I don't know anything about it. But at the same time, I was thinking, "Oh my God, if this was the Trump administration, this would cost us double to do the renovation." Or it would be the inflation pressures or the ability to even have workers would've been, like, spiked. And, uh, I, I agree with Scott. It's gonna be f- people are gonna start to feel it really hard. Food prices, um, furniture, couches, everything. Everything you own is, um, is, uh, is, is, is subject to this problem. Um, we are so intertwined. Um, one of the great stories actually I would push people to look at was, um, how the, the pla- how Atlantic did one on how many plastics there are in everything we do, and so one of the reasons these things burn so quickly was because, um, so much of our goods from couches to everything, we have so much plastic in our houses. Um, it goes up and is quite toxic.

Scott Galloway 55:53 I hear we have plastic in our testicles.

Kara Swisher 55:54 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 55:54 Did you read that article?

Kara Swisher 55:55 I, not my testicles. I have, mine are clean.

Scott Galloway 55:58 Uh.

Kara Swisher 55:58 My testicles are clean.

Scott Galloway 55:58 Well, based on that-

Kara Swisher 56:00 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 56:00 ... down vest-

Kara Swisher 56:00 I know.

Scott Galloway 56:00 ... you're wearing, I'm now convinced-

Kara Swisher 56:02 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 56:02 ... you have testicles. Where did you get that thing?

Kara Swisher 56:04 (laughs)

Scott Galloway 56:04 Stop it.

Kara Swisher 56:05 Uh, David Zaslav, uh, gave it to me.

Scott Galloway 56:07 Oh, of course, he did.

Kara Swisher 56:07 It's wonderful. Yeah, he wears it.

Scott Galloway 56:09 Of course, he did.

Kara Swisher 56:09 Uh, he wears it. I said, "Can, where can I get one of your lesbian vests?"

Scott Galloway 56:13 And he made you one?

Kara Swisher 56:13 He wears a lot of layers. Yeah, the guy got it. I, I had interviewed, uh, one of, Mark Thompson at one of their events, and it, this was part of the schwag.

Scott Galloway 56:20 No, that fits.

Kara Swisher 56:21 I love it. It's very comfortable.

Scott Galloway 56:22 That's very Kara Swisher.

Kara Swisher 56:23 It is, it is. I love it. It's one of my favorite things. All right, before we go, it's high quality. It's very soft, because it, because it's from David Zaslav.

Kara Swisher 56:30 Um, before we go, a quick look at what's going on elsewhere in the Kara and Scott universe. This week on Prop 2 Markets, Scott spoke with our favorite Canadian who now will be under tariffs, Andrew Ross Sorkin, editor-at-large of Deal Book, uh, at The New York Times and co-anchor of CNBC's Squawk Box. Uh, disclosure, he's not actually Canadian. We just call him that. Um, let's listen to a clip of you and Andy Ross.

Pete Hegseth 56:54 If China is prepared to sell to Elon Musk and only to Elon Musk, what does that say about the leverage and influence (laughs) that China must think that they have over Elon Musk by dint of his factories and Tesla business in the nation state that is China? And then it probably raises a whole secondary order of questions, which is, if China feels this way, how should we as Americans feel that people are calling him the co-president of the United States?

Kara Swisher 57:24 Well, to say nothing of Russia, Andy Ross, and, uh, his influence is various influencers. How would, how did that go with you and him?

Scott Galloway 57:32 I l- like, I love Andrew Ross Sorkin. I think the most trusted journalist in the world right now is Anderson Cooper.

Kara Swisher 57:37 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 57:37 And I think second is probably, I think the most trusted business journalist in the world is, is-

Kara Swisher 57:42 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 57:42 ... is Andrew. And my co-host, uh, Ed Elson, this 25-year-old kid who's been working with us, who is to me what I am to you-

Kara Swisher 57:51 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 57:51 ... and that is I discovered his ass.

Kara Swisher 57:54 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 57:54 And he said to him, he stopped the podcast, no joke, and he said, "You're my professional role model."

Kara Swisher 57:59 Oh. Okay.

Scott Galloway 57:59 To which I responded, "Well, I hope he pays your bonus, bitch."

Kara Swisher 58:02 (laughs)

Scott Galloway 58:02 But anyways.

Kara Swisher 58:02 I was, like, not good. Ed, don't you understand the fine art of kissing up? He has better hair. Let's be clear.

Scott Galloway 58:09 I think he's, uh, he's arguably the most likable man in media. I've never heard anyone say anything bad about Andrew Ross Sorkin.

Kara Swisher 58:15 I h- think he's underpaid, actually. I've told him that, because he just-

Scott Galloway 58:18 Oh.

Kara Swisher 58:18 ... he, he wants to work at The New York Times.

Scott Galloway 58:21 He makes bank.

Kara Swisher 58:21 I know, but he could make bankier. He could make bankier, because he could go off on his own. I don't think enough-

Scott Galloway 58:25 I don't know.

Kara Swisher 58:25 I think he deserves more. That's my-

Scott Galloway 58:27 Maybe you should buy The New York Times.

Kara Swisher 58:29 Oh, stop it. Listen up. Next week, you'll, uh, we'll be in your feeds a day late because of the holidays. See you on Wednesday to talk about the inauguration. We're gonna tape on Tuesday after it's all over. We're gonna have plenty to talk about, all the pictures of the, the, you know, the three amigos or the three idiotties, um, who will be sitting o- on the, at the parade. And listen, it is no degrees and the richest people in the world have to sit there on really uncomfortable chairs until Donald Trump gets up. What a great world this is. Thanks for watching Pivot on YouTube.

Scott Galloway 58:59 Oh, YouTube. I've heard of that. It's kinda-

Kara Swisher 59:01 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 59:01 It's kind of the new thing, right?

Kara Swisher 59:02 I think apparently.

Kara Swisher 59:12 (instrumental music)