EVERY SPOKEN WORD
115 min read · 22,535 words- 0:00 – 7:15
Intro
- KSKara Swisher
We love Canada so much, and we (laughs) really might need to come here actually. Uh, it's feeling very Handmaid's Tale down there.
- NANarrator
(instrumental music)
- KSKara Swisher
Hi, everyone. Live from the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Toronto, this is Pivot from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network. I'm Kara Swisher.
- SGScott Galloway
And I'm Scott Galloway. And where, where are we, Kara?
- KSKara Swisher
We're here.
- SGScott Galloway
Toronto! (laughs)
- NANarrator
(cheering)
- KSKara Swisher
As I s- I said, this is the first stop on our seven cities in seven days tour, which should challenge our relationship quite a bit. We're spending all our time together. Um, before we start, we wanna tha- say a big thank you to our sponsors, Odoo and Upwork. Um, we're taping this show-
- SGScott Galloway
Or as I like to say, ka-ching.
- KSKara Swisher
(laughs) Okay. We're taping this show for audio and YouTube distribution, so look pretty. You will be able to hear it or watch it next week. And let's begin. Let's begin.
- SGScott Galloway
Okay.
- KSKara Swisher
We've got a lot to talk about tonight, Scott, from tariffs, to tourism, to local politics and beyond. We're gonna... we're, we're, we're making these in each city, whether we go to, uh, Boston... we're making them local. We're localizing them. That's what we're doing. So we're gonna talk a lot about Canada and things like that. We learned up on y'all.
- SGScott Galloway
Mm-hmm.
- KSKara Swisher
Um, but first, uh, how was your flight here?
- SGScott Galloway
My flight here?
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
I feel like you're setting me up. My flight here was fine, was great. It was a great-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, not mine.
- SGScott Galloway
Not yours?
- KSKara Swisher
Not mine, no.
- SGScott Galloway
See this is-
- KSKara Swisher
(laughs)
- SGScott Galloway
When she asks a question, it's not really 'cause she wants to know me. She wants me to say, "Kara, how was your flight?"
- KSKara Swisher
It's-
- SGScott Galloway
By the way, just a quick fun fact, there are more raccoons in Toronto than kids under the age of 10.
- KSKara Swisher
Okay, good to know.
- SGScott Galloway
True story. True story. 5% of Torontonians are vegan. I don't know if that's especially high or low, but-
- KSKara Swisher
Is it Tr- Torontonians or Torontosers?
- SGScott Galloway
Well, it's Toronto, but it's Torontonians, no?
- KSKara Swisher
Tonians, oh.
- 7:15 – 12:05
Flight Cancellations Mount
- SGScott Galloway
yours?
- KSKara Swisher
(laughs)
- SGScott Galloway
(laughs) Woo!
- KSKara Swisher
I'm gonna be on his plane tomorrow, um, i- to Boston. Uh, h- here's the problem is that th- is, this is a c- I was thinking that if I miss this flight, given I have to fly commercial, a- as opposed to you, for example, um, like, we have all these people working for us. We have this whole tour going, and it just eats into economic vitality. We've sold out, we've sold out everywhere, it's all the people, you come here, you go to dinner, everything that leads to it. And then this, this idiot who was on, like, I forget what stupid reality show he was on, Sean Duffy, is running our transportation department.
- SGScott Galloway
He's our Secretary of Transportation.
- KSKara Swisher
Okay, fine. Whatever. The idiot. The incompetent moron. Um, and, and then he just, they're using it as a political pun, which is grotesque, and then from the safety point of view, two planes almost collided in LA today.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah.
- KSKara Swisher
There's going to be a- a collision in, in mid-air or something terrible is gonna happen, and airlines are among the most safe thing to do, in general, compared to almost any other transportation, which is...
- SGScott Galloway
There was a real visionary innovation around the FAA, and that is, I mean if you think about from, from Kitty Hawk to a man landing on the moon, I think it was 70 or 80 years.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
I mean, just the innovation there has been incredible. But what was really visionary about the airline or the air transportation industry is they said, "It feels very unnatural." I don't know how many of you are like this, but out of the blue, I started getting on planes and I think, "Why am I sweating and feel like I'm gonna die?" And I realized that I had anxiety. It was the first time I noticed I was getting old and suffering from depression and anxiety, (laughs) was on a plane when I started freaking out. And when I did some research on it, it is not natural. Our in- our species is not used to skirting along the surface of the atmosphere at 500 miles an hour, so every, you know, 300,000 years of instinct says to you, "Get the fuck to the ground. This is not a good idea." And so it is a very anxious process. It's much more anxious than going at point one the speed of sound on the ground in a four-wheeled vehicle. Y- you just get anxious on a plane. And the vision of the FAA and different air, um, uh, regulatory bodies around the world as it related to transportation, air transportation, and said, "Whereas we're making auto safety one sigma, we're gonna make planes four sigma." I love aviation, I invest in aviation companies, and they're generally speaking really shitty businesses, because the, the cost and time to get FAA certification is so intense because they decided early on, "We are gonna make this the safest form of travel."
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. It's very... Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
Because you un- you naturally just feel so unsafe in this thing. If you started meeting... If you knew as many people who had been hurt on an airliner as you knew people who had been hurt in an auto accident, you'd never get on an Air Canada flight. You'd be like, "No, I think I'll just take the Greyhound," or what I used to call The Dog.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
You'll take a bus. But it was visionary because now most of us, while anxious, get on a plane because we see those stats that the most dangerous part of your, your airline travel is the ride to the airport. So it was somewhat visionary-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. It is. Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
... to create standards like this.
- KSKara Swisher
And of course, we're, we're blowing it, as always. We're blowing it with this stupid thing because people become, there's lots of statistics showing people are now cutting flights, we're going into Thanksgiving and Christmas. The economic toll will be gigantic on this whole thing. And so, um...
- SGScott Galloway
Well it's almo- I like, it's almost as if we were so fucking stupid, we'd impose tariffs.
- KSKara Swisher
Right. Exact- we'll get to that. We'll get to that in a minute. But one of the other things in the United States is these SNAP food benefits. Um, last week we talked about it, which we correctly predicted that Elon Musk would get his trillion dollar pay package, which he's not gonna get-
- SGScott Galloway
No.
- KSKara Swisher
... until he meets all kinds of criteria. Um, but it had the j- it wasn't related, but it had the juxtaposition with these SNAP food benefits, the Supreme Court is letting the Trump administration continue to hold back full benefits. That's actually a very smart move by Judge Jackson who's a liberal justice, because it goes down to the circuit court who will probably quickly, uh, force him to do so, and not the Supreme. She wanted them to make the decision because it's a more liberal, um, court than the Supreme Court. So actually it was a smart chess move on her part. Um, s- so she, Judge, uh, uh, Jackson currently is in charge of the emergency decision, she sent the appeal back to the First Circuit Court of Appeals, can handle the matter quicker, it'll probably decide against President Trump and his, uh, people who want to stop children from eating food. Um, and, and, y- you know, one, one of the things that's happening is you have these juxtapositions of very wealthy people, largely tech people, and children, and people who are
- 12:05 – 21:45
Supreme Court SNAP Ruling
- KSKara Swisher
desperate for food, and of course there's all this, uh, misinformation online about, um-... the use of SNAP, that you can buy all co- manner of things but you can't-
- SGScott Galloway
You can get hair extensions and nails and...
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, hair, whatever. Uh, it's quite racist in general. Um, but, again, another, uh, another bad black eye on the United States. We're gonna get to tariffs in a minute, but...
- SGScott Galloway
It, it really does reveal the ugly side of the United States. My dad used to say that America's a terrible place to be stupid. And I think that was a harsh, unfair way of saying America's a terrible place to be unfortunate. And capitalism, at its core, does believe in winners and losers, that we create an incentive system where people who work hard, are talented, and also, quite frankly, really lucky, can have an extraordinary life, and quite frankly, the people who aren't as lucky or as talented don't have as nice a life. That is a basic trade-off that we, we opt for in a capitalist society. But when the net gets so low that people just massively hit, just hit the ground, it reveals something ugly about a culture, especially when it's been... Recognize the kind of prosperity that America has registered.
- KSKara Swisher
And a huge prosperity. This is astonishing that we're allowing kids to be starving in the United States.
- SGScott Galloway
Well, where I was headed with this was that a budget and fiscal priorities on behalf of, of voters reveals a nation's character. And this is America's character right now. And that is, somewhere about 22% of America's population is under the age of 18, but 40% of SNAP recipients are kids. So we have decided to over-index, in the wealthiest nation in the world, the number of kids who, uh, go hungry. That is a really poor reflection on our values.
- KSKara Swisher
It is.
- SGScott Galloway
Because effectively what's happened in the United States is people my generation, really Kara's generation 'cause she's much older than me-
- KSKara Swisher
(laughs)
- SGScott Galloway
... but essentially-
- KSKara Swisher
I am not much older than him.
- SGScott Galloway
Essentially, old people have figured out a way in the US to vote themselves more money.
- KSKara Swisher
(laughs)
- SGScott Galloway
The D in democracy is working too well, and that is old people vote, so as a result, we are now spending more... You know those masked ICE-like weird secret police force? We're now spending more money on ICE in the United States than we're spending on, um, children. So your, your budget reflects your values.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
And I think this is bringing to light some very ugly things about America, that we have decided we're no longer capitalism believing in winners and losers, we're about The Hunger Games, where if you win, it's a life you couldn't have never imagined, but for everybody else, you die a pretty slow, ugly death.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, it's a really, it's, it's, uh, we'll see how it goes. I don't think it's a particularly good look for... Go ahead, you can... Um, I, I think it will have implications. I think between the ICE raids and the cruelty of them and SNAP benefits and the juxtaposition between Trump tweeting 17 photos of the Lincoln bathroom, which has a lot of marble now, and the Oval Office, which I don't even understand what's happening in that Oval Office, so much gold, um, uh, is happening there, and then the, this ridiculous ballroom, all of it together is, is I, I think an indictment on the Trump administration. And it looks like... I'm, I'm like waiting for three spirits to visit him on Christmas this year. That's my feeling. You know? (laughs) That's what's happened to Marjorie Taylor Greene, in case you're interested.
- SGScott Galloway
So...
- KSKara Swisher
We don't know what to think of that. I think it's a scam. We all think it's a scam. We know it, but we're here for it. We're fine, as long as she's the bet- She is the... We were talking about, there was this poll recently of who was the leading, uh, who was the Democrat, and it came up no one. You know, it was 17% no one, but I feel like it's Marjorie Taylor Greene-
- SGScott Galloway
Marjorie, yeah.
- KSKara Swisher
... is the leader of Democratic Party at this point, don't you think?
- SGScott Galloway
Well, they're, they did some analysis where they tried to figure out, so Trump's, Trump's popularity has really taken a dive, and they tried to suss out, what? Yeah. (cheering) Yay.
- KSKara Swisher
Suss it out. Well...
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, they, they figured out he's a mendacious fuck. Um, the... And they think, they think, a bunch of... There's some academic research now saying that the one thing that they think has had the greatest, uh, impact on his popularity has been the visual image of them tearing down the East Wing.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
And we are a highly visual species, so it's not... These, these visual metaphors are incredibly important.
- KSKara Swisher
Well, the ICE people, there's a lot of visuals now.
- SGScott Galloway
But they say that image of a crane tearing down the East Wing-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
... has somehow, uh, connoted or, or inspired a visceral reaction-
- 21:45 – 35:21
U.S.-Canada Trade War
- KSKara Swisher
also down for that. So talk about what's going on here, because that, of course, incensed Trump. Um, and, uh, we're sorry about the World Series, by the way. Not really. No. Uh. I'm from California, too bad. Sorry. Um, but-
- SGScott Galloway
I- I grew up in LA and I was rooting for, wait for it, the Blue Jays.
- KSKara Swisher
Weren't you raised in California? You are such a suck-up to Canada.
- SGScott Galloway
True. I- I Tweeted about it.
- KSKara Swisher
Uh, that's 'cause you were conceived here.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah.
- KSKara Swisher
Um, so, talk a little bit about the tariffs, because it's a really difficult situation, this, and of course he continues to say, you- you do not want to be the 51st state, I assume. Thank you. Um, but he keeps talking about it. Um, it's demented, obviously.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, it's a waste of time.
- KSKara Swisher
Um, but talk a little bit about where the tariffs are, because-
- SGScott Galloway
By the way, we'd like it, we're progressives. We- we- we'd win every Democratic House, w- we-
- KSKara Swisher
Yes.
- SGScott Galloway
Can you imagine what would happen if Canada became the first 51st state? We'd be so fucking liberal it'd be out of control.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, it's true.
- SGScott Galloway
It would... Anyways, so just a little bit of context. We have the- the- the strongest alliance in the world. Churchill said the- the only thing worse than fighting with your allies, or fighting, uh, with your allies, is fighting without your allies. And I think America right now is taking for granted a lot of things. We're taking for granted the FAA, we're taking for granted Veterans Affairs. We- we're taking, uh, uh, granted competence in- in the administration and across all of our, uh, great public sector employees. But we're also, quite franking- frankly, taking for granted our friends. Canada has the largest undefended border in the world, with the US. That says something. It would cost us somewhere between 20 and $50 billion a year if either side decided to militarize their border. But we don't, because we trust and we like each other. Canada, uh, in World War I, and I looked this up, 'cause someone pinned this on- on me and I thought, "Well I should try and figure out what this means." Canada went to World War I a colony, came back a nation. Actually, went to World War II, or entered World War II before we did. They were in Afghanistan with us. So, this has been this unbelievably prosperous relationship where, in the words of Animal House, "Quite frankly, you fucked up. You trusted us." And that is about somewhere between 60 and 70% of exports.... from Canada going to the U.S. It's about 17% of ours. That's a bit misleading, because of the exports that come into the U.S. from Canada, they're generally low margin products. They're oil, petroleum, lumber, and they're in companies that trade at a P multiple of about 20. Whereas the products that we import or export into Canada are more like automobiles, electronics, iPhones, pharmaceuticals, that have double or triple the operating margins and usually are revenues in a company that trade at about a multiple of 20 to 30. So, ev- for every dollar of exports that we push into Canada, we recognize about three times the shareholder value. So trade, if you will, between the U.S. and Canada is asymmetric. And that is for every dollar we push into you, that you buy, versus every dollar you push into us, we get triple the amount of shareholder value. So if anyone's getting, has been taken advantage of over the last 20 or 30 years, it's been Canadians. We benefit more from this trade than you do. But we've decided-
- KSKara Swisher
(clapping)
- SGScott Galloway
... we've decided, and this is what is just so sclerotic and stupid, economically stupid about what we're doing, we've decided because we're... It's like going through an angry divorce, and one partner's much wealthier than the other, and has said, "Well, I'm gonna ov- I'm gonna damage myself more, but because I have so much more money, it's gonna hurt you more." So it's not only irrational, the bottom line is it's just, for lack of a better term, it's just unkind. And what you're seeing is, uh, Carney... By the way, I don't know if you know this, I have another podcast called Prof G.
- KSKara Swisher
No, I haven't heard of it.
- SGScott Galloway
My most, my most viewed podcast with this, was this guy who reached out to me at his office and said, "We wanna come on your podcast." And it was Mark Carney. And I had no idea who the guy was. This was-
- KSKara Swisher
What? What do you mean you had no idea who the guy was?
- SGScott Galloway
I didn't. I'd never heard of the guy.
- KSKara Swisher
He's the Prime Minister of Canada.
- SGScott Galloway
No, no, no. This was during the election.
- KSKara Swisher
Oh.
- SGScott Galloway
That's why I called.
- KSKara Swisher
Okay.
- SGScott Galloway
Um, and he came on and by it's like 70 minutes later, I'm like, "Hold me."
- KSKara Swisher
(laughs)
- SGScott Galloway
That guy (laughs) ... I'm like, "Dad? Dad?" Seriously, that's the dad I want.
- KSKara Swisher
You didn't... Wait, wait, you didn't have those feelings for Justin Trudeau?
- SGScott Galloway
Justin's more like I'd like to roll and pick up chicks with Justin.
- 35:21 – 43:21
Mamdani the Role Model
- KSKara Swisher
we had one local election that transfixed the whole country, the New York City mayoral election. Toronto's Mayor Olivia Chow is a progressive who campaigned on affordability issues when she ran in 2023, like a certain newly elected mayor. Uh, her advice to him in a recent interview, she was talking, um, about the issue that defines affordabilities is housing, not so much free buses. I just wanna ask you a question. You've got a thing from, uh, how do we pronounce it? Mamdani. Um, one of the things-
- SGScott Galloway
I have no thing for him. You have a thing for him so you can pander to your-
- KSKara Swisher
No, what I think-
- SGScott Galloway
... Lokistan liberals.
- KSKara Swisher
No. No. Here's what I think.
- SGScott Galloway
Oh, here we go.
- KSKara Swisher
I wanna ask you this question.
- SGScott Galloway
Okay.
- KSKara Swisher
You taught ... You're on this incredible book tour, and Scott's book is number one on Amazon right now, Note Something, Man.
- SGScott Galloway
Thank you.
- KSKara Swisher
I'm gonna throw y- throw you a bone there 'cause it's, it's worthwhile to be that way. But here is a man who is the description of the men you're talking about, right? Who is respectful, who's community oriented, who has gone around the city and met people, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. I'm just curious-
- SGScott Galloway
A rich kid living in a rent-controlled apartment?
- KSKara Swisher
No, it's not ren- no, li- uh, listen.
- SGScott Galloway
Uh ...
- KSKara Swisher
Cuomo, Cuomo was in a st- a rent-stabilized apartment too before.... I, I find it interesting, but thes- these are the kind of people you want to... men to be like or look up to. Or not, you don't think so?
- SGScott Galloway
Oh, I, I, honestly, I hadn't, I hadn't run the macho test on Mamdani. I think he's a, I think he's a super impressive young man. I think he's an incredible candidate. I think the Democrats can learn a lot from him. I thought he ran a great campaign. He's bold, he takes risks, he's smart. Um, and, and I wanna be clear, we talk about this a lot, I think once someone is elected, you have an obligation as a citizen to rally behind them and, and, and hope for their success and support them and let them prove you wrong. Voting, it's not a su-, we're not... When you go to a voting booth, we're not in a suicide pact. Well, you know, one of the things I keep seeing about, I, I've been thinking a lot about, quote/unquote, the, the "mating crisis" 'cause I wrote this book on young men, and one of the thing, another, yet another reason why young people aren't hooking up is because women are becoming slightly more progressive and men are becoming much more conservative. And women don't wanna... The moment a, a, a dude starts talking about his conservative values, she's like, "Okay, I'm out." And I literally try to think, can you nae- can you think of anyone when you were dating when you were single-
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
Well, maybe you did. I had-
- KSKara Swisher
I've never been single.
- SGScott Galloway
You've never been single?
- KSKara Swisher
No.
- SGScott Galloway
I've been single most of my life.
- KSKara Swisher
(laughs)
- SGScott Galloway
Anyways-
- KSKara Swisher
I literally... A month, I was single for a month.
- SGScott Galloway
Single for a month?
- KSKara Swisher
Well, you know, I'm beachfront property in Malibu, but, uh...
- SGScott Galloway
(laughs)
- KSKara Swisher
Among lesbians, at least. Go ahead.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, I'm the part of the beach that washed away-
- 43:21 – 49:47
Tourism Downturn
- SGScott Galloway
sclerotically, idiotically prop up the manufacturing sector with quote-unquote tariffs is taking down faster an industry which is higher margin-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
... and employs more people, called the tourist sector. When you come to Disneyland we get much more money, much more margin, support much more jobs than if we tariff your shit such that our lumber's more competitive. This again, if you were loo- it's as if the Trump Administration said to ChatGPT, "How can I elegantly reduce the prosperity of Americans inch by inch and make it almost irreversible for four or five decades?"
- KSKara Swisher
Actually, it, it's not that elegant. It's not elegant at all. Um, but what could bring, uh, Canadians back to us?
- SGScott Galloway
What could bring Canadians back?
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. What could we do?
- SGScott Galloway
Ugh, fuck. A new president.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
I mean...
- NANarrator
(cheering)
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. So, so, let, let me get a prediction from you because, uh, uh, you know, one of the-
- SGScott Galloway
The World Cup?
- KSKara Swisher
The World Cup.
- SGScott Galloway
Is Canada on your team?
- KSKara Swisher
The World's Cup. The World... Are you coming for the World Cup?
- SGScott Galloway
Canada's an okay team.
- KSKara Swisher
No, they're not coming for the World Cup. Are you coming for the World Cup?
- SGScott Galloway
I'm coming to-
- NANarrator
From Canada!
- SGScott Galloway
I'm coming to Vancouver. There's two cities, two cities or three cities in Canada.
- NANarrator
Toronto!
- SGScott Galloway
Toronto, Vancouver, and then...
- KSKara Swisher
Montreal. There's lots of cities in-
- SGScott Galloway
I used to come every year in June to Canada for tourist reasons. Anyone wanna guess? F1 Montreal. Oh my God. Oh my God. Hello, European food and hot women. Did I just say that?
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. So, what could w- what could we do? Say Trump leaves.
- SGScott Galloway
Right.
- KSKara Swisher
His tiny minion doesn't win.
- SGScott Galloway
Right.
- KSKara Swisher
JD Vance. Um, the most un-charming person in politics that exists. Um...
- NANarrator
(laughs)
- 49:47 – 1:00:30
Q&A
- NANarrator
that voice? Who's gonna take it to the next level? And that's my question to you, is-
- KSKara Swisher
We don't know right now. Uh, you know, we don't know. We don't know who the Democrat- there's a lot of Democratic Party officials. There's other people maybe you've not heard of yet. There's leaders. My whole take on the... whether you like, uh, Mamdani or not, is, we contain multitudes, is how the Democratic Party should be. Not that we have to agree on socialism or, or Abby Spanberger in Virginia is much more conservative, or if you're Jared Polis in, in Colorado. The Democratic Party has to say, "Uh, here's the three things we care about, affordability, dignity, and democracy," or something like that. And I think it's really gonna be interesting to see who emerges. But there's some great candidates. It's just a qu- a question of the fever, of- Trump is a fever that the United States has all the time, whether from the Salem witch trials to the Mc- you know, to the McCarthy era, to the Civil War. We have fevers that are really ugly and grotesque, and we're gonna come out of... I feel like we're gonna come out of this, and this-
- NANarrator
I agree.
- KSKara Swisher
... this sad, decrepit, cruel man will be gone, but we'll see. He's got a lot of ad- he's got a lot of people who love him, you know? Absolutely. Any quick things?
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, but to, to build on Kara's point, America has been in very dark places before, and is actually, it's tested our democracy, and the democracy has been damaged. And like a muscle that's damaged, it's grown back stronger. At one point, slave owners controlled our demo- quote unquote "democracy." Right after the Great Depression, there was veteran-
- KSKara Swisher
Henry fuckin' Ford. Fuck that guy.
- NANarrator
(laughs)
- KSKara Swisher
I mean, he's dead, but he should be deader.
- NANarrator
(laughs)
- NANarrator
(laughs)
- SGScott Galloway
Veterans were marching on the Capitol, and this guy named, this young general named Douglas MacArthur opened fire on them. We were essentially putting... We were interning people because of their Japanese background in camps. We have been through very dark times, and each time, we have come back, learned from it, and come back stronger. So, that's not an excuse to be complacent, but we're... our democracy is being tested. I think a lot of Americans are recognizing that a lot of our blessings we've taken for granted. So, I'm, I'm hopeful that our democracy, like a muscle, is being tested and it's gonna grow back stronger. We've been through worse before.
- KSKara Swisher
(laughs) Yeah. I also believe in young people. Um, again, New York mayoral, you can have all the feelings you want about it. Young people voted, and they said what they wanted, and they said, "We don't want an ass-grabbing-"
- NANarrator
(applause) Yeah.
- KSKara Swisher
"... terrible, Trump-loving Democrat." So, we'll see.
- NANarrator
Yes, thank you.
- KSKara Swisher
I believe in young people. That's who I believe in.
- NANarrator
Hello, Scott and Kara. My name is Daniel. I'm here with my wife. Um, it's our first anniversary tomorrow, and we both love you.
- KSKara Swisher
Congratulations.
- NANarrator
Thank you. Uh, we both love you. And, uh, wanted to ask, both of us have worked in advertising. I had an agency that I, uh, exited last year, and I'm still working, you know, as a strategist and consultant. Um, she works in advertising. And the question is, and I also teach in post-secondary. So, my question for you mostly, Scott, is, uh, are we screwed to work, uh, continue to work in these industries? Should we pivot now? Uh, y- yeah.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, that's a good question.
- NANarrator
What are your thoughts on that?
- SGScott Galloway
It's, it's situational, because I'd say if you're over the age of 40 and you have senior level sponsorship and you're doing well and you own relationships, which is always the key in a services industry, I would say ride it out and keep going. It's, uh, if you're younger and thinking, "Okay, I have some options in other industries," I think you wanna get out of the ad-supported ecosystem. I think it's gonna be a difficult industry. It's better to be good in a growing industry than great in an industry that's flat or declining. Uh, within your industry, if you decide to stay in it, I would say try and get as close to the relationships with the clients as possible. And also, try to get good at buying media and creating content for a small screen. The return on investment of your human and your financial capital will be inversely correlated to the screen you're creating content for. If you're in the business of big screens, movies, that's a shitty business that's only gonna get worse. If you're in the business of a medium-sized screen TV, that's a huge business that's gone flat. But if you're in the business of design and creative, for this, it's champagne and cocaine, my brother.
- NANarrator
(applause)
- KSKara Swisher
All right, last question, really quick. Make it a good one.
- NANarrator
Um, hi. I'm Kelly. Um, I'm here with the bummer question. Um-
- KSKara Swisher
Oh, okay. That's nice.
- NANarrator
So, AI has been the fuel on the fire that is disinformation.
- KSKara Swisher
Yes.
- NANarrator
How do we curb that? Or is the horse too far out of the barn, as my mom would say?
- KSKara Swisher
It, it's not AI. It was here before. By the way, propaganda has been around since the beginning of time. Let's be clear. Um, it's just been amplified and weaponized in a way. And social media has certainly done its job. So, it's not a new thing. Um, I think the question is, now that we have AI here, and it's not as protected legally, at least in the United States, as social media is, um, it's time for our regulators to get very clear about guardrails, uh, beginning with young people, in terms of the usage and safety. Um, let me tell you, my whole book was about how they do not give a fuck how safe you are. They are... People who have never felt unsafe a day in their lives don't care about safety. They don't care about your safety. And so, we have to engage as citizens to get our legislators to get a fuckin' backbone and start to really legislate guard-... reasonable guard rails. I'm not talking about innovation-killing guard rails. But the fact of the matter is, as Scott's pointed out, the AI boom right now is allowing Trump to, it's kept the stock market up, which is allowing Trump to do all manner of heinous things. Like, that's an after-effect. But we have to absolutely get control of the technology industry and pass... We don't have any laws in our country cont- regulating them. We have to start understanding how easy it's gonna be to destroy all our democracies, not just the US 'cause we're so vulnerable, but everywhere, without understanding there should be reasonable and important legislation around transparency, privacy, usage, safety, all kinds of things. And it's not that hard. We do it with every other industry, and it should be done here. I, this is all I talk about now. And I, I wanna start with young kids 'cause everybody agrees on that. Like, everybody agrees on the safety of children, and so that would be my, my beginning. Scott, why don't you end it.
Episode duration: 1:00:30
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