EVERY SPOKEN WORD
125 min read · 25,476 words- 0:00 – 1:38
Intro
- SGScott Galloway
When they go to meet with the president, the only thing they repeat over in their heads over and over is, "Don't forget to swallow."
- KSKara Swisher
Right. But they get what they want. Hi, everyone. This is Pivot from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network. I'm Kara Swisher. And Scott was late for my birthday.
- SGScott Galloway
Uh, so, uh, look, this is a big one, 73. But I-
- KSKara Swisher
It's not 73. (laughs)
- SGScott Galloway
Um-
- KSKara Swisher
That's you, my friend.
- SGScott Galloway
Uh, I'm much younger than you.
- KSKara Swisher
N- Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
I'm much younger than you.
- KSKara Swisher
By like two months, yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
I'm much younger than you.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-mm. Mm-mm.
- SGScott Galloway
Uh-huh. And plus-
- KSKara Swisher
(laughs)
- SGScott Galloway
... plus for men, 60 is the new 40. And for women, 30 is the new 80.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
Um, (laughs)
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm. Okay.
- SGScott Galloway
Why does that make me happy? Let's talk ... Happy birthday, Kara. I mean, you literally are the longest-serving tech journalist. I remember-
- KSKara Swisher
Mm.
- SGScott Galloway
... the first interview you did about technology was talking to the guy who invented fire.
- KSKara Swisher
(laughs) Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
Um, (laughs) that's good.
- KSKara Swisher
That was a good technology.
- SGScott Galloway
That's good.
- KSKara Swisher
That was a hell of a good technology.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah.
- KSKara Swisher
Any ... We've got a lot to get to today.
- SGScott Galloway
Or when you inv- (laughs) when you interviewed that company, the hottest startup, uh, that it had started this thing called electricity.
- KSKara Swisher
Right.
- 1:38 – 6:18
Disney/OpenAI Deal
- KSKara Swisher
Disney just announced a $1 billion equity investment in OpenAI and will allow users to make videos with its characters on Sora. Characters available through the deal will include Mickey Mouse and Cinderella as well as Frozen, and the agreements do not include any talent, likeness, or voices, meaning the people, like the John Cenas, whoever, the diff- pe- people that are in their movies. Uh, Scott, I don't want to know what you want to make Mickey Mouse do, but what, what do you think of this? This is interesting. And I actually texted Iger. I go, "Look at you, Mr. Tech." And, um, uh, but it- it was interesting, sort of, especially since OpenAI really needs a win right now, which we'll go into in a minute. But any thoughts on this?
- SGScott Galloway
I think it's smart of both of them, um, that I probably would've ... Well, Di- Disney gets to do what it wants, but I probably would've gone with Google, but ... and Gemini. But, um, I- I think it's smart. Uh, Disney needs some AI tech pixie dust over a company that is ... I mean, literally, Iger is the guy that decided to volunteer to go back to Vietnam, and he's g- he's getting, you know, he's getting-
- KSKara Swisher
Fragged, as they say.
- SGScott Galloway
... shot, shot up everywhere.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. His ass fragged is the expression you're looking for.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah. Uh, instead he could just be sitting on a beach somewhere heckling from the cheap seats about the new CEO facing all this bullshit.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
But anyways, he's back. But to do, to announce, this is a great press release for Disney.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
The IP and the characters are really interesting. It'll be interesting to see what they do.
- KSKara Swisher
It's good for
- NANarrator
... fame.
- SGScott Galloway
I don't know if it amounts to anything.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. I think all these people will be doing these deals, right?
- SGScott Galloway
Sure.
- KSKara Swisher
Like, there's not a media company ... I- I- I thought Joanna Stern was funny. She goes, "Look at this hype. Isn't it neat? Wouldn't you think my bubble's complete?" Which was cute. (laughs) There's so many good jokes in there.
- SGScott Galloway
What's weird is they- they did sort of their, what I'll call their tired characters. I mean, Mickey Mouse and Cinderella, I- I sort of get ... Uh, well, maybe it's 'cause I'm just ... I- I've aged out of that shit, but-
- KSKara Swisher
No. They're old ones. My kids know Mickey Mouse.
- SGScott Galloway
They just don't-
- KSKara Swisher
And they do like Cinderella. Clara likes Cinderella. But the- the- the main characters are the new ones, like the Frozen characters-
- SGScott Galloway
Right.
- KSKara Swisher
... or, um, Moana.
- SGScott Galloway
Moana. Is that a Disney character?
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. Moana's one. They're- they're coming out with live versions of ... I think there's a new Frozen coming out in 2026, and I- I think the live version of Moana's coming out. Y- there's- there's a trailer for it. Um, but yeah, and I- I- I ... Yes. Yes. I would agree with you. I don't think they're picking the most recent characters, um, that kids today like. But they're classics, right? Right?
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah. This is- this is a- this is smart for both of them. I don't know-
- KSKara Swisher
Uh-huh.
- SGScott Galloway
... if it's gonna amount to anything, but it's a good press release, um, probably-
- KSKara Swisher
No lawsuits. Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah. It's smart and it- it ... the- the question is, or what I would want to know is, does it end up being some sort of supporting evidence for why OpenAI should not be using other characters and identities when they're willing to pay for these ones but not others?
- KSKara Swisher
It just depends on what ... I would use all. Like, what's the difference? You're in for a dime, you're in for a dollar. People are stealing it anyway. Why not have it licensed and get money from it? I don't know. It just seems like ... Look, this is inevitable that they're ... Be- they're either gonna steal it ... And one thing that happened with YouTube is it- is, uh, you know, is it took too long, right, to do what is now very lucrative for everybody, right? And the question is, who is it more lucrative for? But it's inevitable. And so I think, you know, YouTube could have done it sooner and the companies instead of ... Remember Philippe, Philippe Dauman did the lawsuit? Um, they were gonna steal it anyway, guys. So figure out a way you can do a deal with them. And I think a lot of them, including TikTok, is open to- to doing deals with- is wanting and open to doing deals with these companies, and they should as long as they're ... it protects their right. It puts you in partnership with them to get rid of cheaters, I guess, presumably.
- 6:18 – 12:50
Trump Lets Nvidia Sell Chips to China
- KSKara Swisher
speaking of AI and speaking of fragging, President Trump will allow NVIDIA to sell H200 chips to China. Reactions and move are muted, actually negative, with NVIDIA stock slightly down. Uh, critics warn it could advance Chinese AI capabilities. Um, gosh, the Wall Street Journal really took him to town on this thing. Um, essentially, uh, you know, and everybody did. Ian Bremmer did, a whole bunch of people. And the idea is, like, look, they're getting all the stuff and NVIDIA's getting, getting what it wants. That's it. And the American, American public doesn't benefit in any way from this. Um, uh, so it seems like Jensen Huang's, you know, full-court press of wearing his leather jacket and hanging around Donald Trump and praising him has worked here. This is what he wanted.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah. I- I'm, I'm mixed on this, uh, because when we didn't sell them the, our chips, it feels to me like they got to work on workarounds. Um, I, I think the policy, uh, it's like this is why we need Gio Raimondo back in charge of this shit, because this stuff is not black and white. And I like the idea, I like the idea of slow-balling it, and that is giving them enough access to our chips such that they didn't make a statewide massive investment in innovation of their own. (laughs) In other words, y- y- ... Like, cable companies would pay content companies just enough such that they could ... (laughs) It didn't make sense for them to go to other means of distribution, but not enough, but, you know, n- not enough such that they were more powerful than the distribution players. I would've thought ... I would've n- n- just tried to get every economist in the room and say, "Okay, how, how can we give the Chinese just enough chip technology that it grows our economy and our champions, but s- we still maintain a lead?" Because when we did embar- ... There was a very solid argument that all you do when you embargo, uh, China from doing this is they come up with workarounds that are really innovative. So the problems I have are autonomous weapons, supercomputing, military simulations. And, and the problem is with high-end GPUs, it can dramatically reduce the training time for, like, combat algorithms and missile targeting and cyberwarfare and drone storms. And the reality is, I just don't trust Hegseth to get in a room with, with our commerce secretary and kind of figure this shit out on a thoughtful level. I think essentially Jensen Huang has likely said, "We're very supportive of you. You're handsome. And NVIDIA should get involved in your next renovation," and ...
- KSKara Swisher
Right. Exactly.
- SGScott Galloway
Uh, so I, I don't ... Unfortunately, I, uh, I, I, I dislike this almost as much, it's probably more impactful, but no less or more egregious than Witkoff's kids and the Trump kids getting money for their shitcoin investment in exchange for us agreeing to sell chips to the UAE, who has not proven that they don't have a leaky boat in terms of sending chip technology to Russia or China-
- KSKara Swisher
Yes. Yeah. Uh, that-
- SGScott Galloway
... itself.
- KSKara Swisher
Go ahead.
- SGScott Galloway
We just don't have thoughtful people figuring this shit out.
- KSKara Swisher
No. Well, this is ... I have to say, the Journal was very explicit. "President Trump said this week he will let NVIDIA sell H- sell its H200 chips to China in return for US Treasury getting 25% cut of the sales. The Indians struck a better deal when they sold Manhattan to the Dutch. Why would the president give away one America's chief technological advantage to an adversary and his chief economic competitor?" And they do say-
- SGScott Galloway
Good point.
- KSKara Swisher
... they're gonna do it anyway. But, uh, but, uh, he said, "Yet now Mr. Trump wants to sell the advanced H200 without strings. The question is why. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang has lobbied for loosening the restrictions. The company's friends in the White House argued that doing so could retard, uh, could retard China's drive to develop competing chips and make its AI developers dependent on US chips." That's their best argument. And, and he s- ... Uh, went on to say, "No, this is, this is, this is really bad on every ..." And what we get is bupkis, essentially. Um-
- SGScott Galloway
That's a great point. We should've ... At a minimum, we should've gotten more. If you look at-
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
... uh, in the last five years, it's gone from 17% of exports to the US to 10%. They have vastly reduced their dependence on us. I get that. What is asymmetric in the trading relationship with everybody is that China, since 2019, has increased its exports 40%.
- KSKara Swisher
Correct. That's what they were saying. "We got-"
- SGScott Galloway
And-
- KSKara Swisher
"... we got more." Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
Meanwhile, has only increased their imports, buying other people's products, by 1%. (laughs)
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
So they've decided, "We'll sell you everything." Uh, w- we, at a minimum, should have extracted a pound of flesh here that said, "Okay. We're ... You g- need to open your markets for the following things for us." But this is ... Uh, it's ... And not only that. It ... The, the, the waterfall effect, Huawei will be a much more competitive product against-
- KSKara Swisher
And they make great products. And this is the last line. "We sure hope Mr. Trump isn't doing this for the NVIDIA's 25% tax payments to Treasury. The Constitution vests taxing power in Congress, yet Mr. Trump is essentially trading national security for pennies on the dollar." So I would agree. He's gotten nothing for this. Hm ... Even with the H20 chips, we got some rare earth minerals. Um, I think at the time, uh, they, they, they ... He said the administration agreed, but they, they put more restrictions in October. So, uh, just this is stupid. We're ... He's the worst dealmaker in, uh, in am- in America, (laughs) anywhere.
- SGScott Galloway
We, we gave a strategic competitor AI progress, stronger military capability, um, likely a more kind of self-sufficient or innovative tech ecosystem, while exposing all of our own firms to regulatory, geopolitical, and long-term competitive risks. And in exchange, you know, what we got was NVIDIA stock's gonna go up.
- KSKara Swisher
Right.
- SGScott Galloway
Okay.
- KSKara Swisher
And 25 whatever. You know, it's just ... It's really ... Jensen Huang is the most, and I mean this-... you know, as, as a compliment, manipulative CEO there is. Um, and he gets what he wants, and it's all good for NVIDIA, but-
- SGScott Galloway
Oh, this can- I hate to say this, but Jensen and Ted Sarandos and all these guys who, uh, when they go to meet with the president-
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
... the only thing they repeat over in their heads over and over is, "Don't forget to swallow."
- KSKara Swisher
Right.
- SGScott Galloway
These guys are the most obsequious-
- 12:50 – 29:05
Trump Calls For CNN Sale
- KSKara Swisher
mind, uh, Trump says it's imperative that CNN be sold in Warner Brothers deal. The president is not supposed to say things like this, but of course what, whatever, it's this one. Conveniently, David Ellison has reportedly told Trump officials if Paramount wins out, he'll make sweeping changes at CNN. What a, what a cuck he is. Although Trump got a little testy with the Ellisons this week, lashing out on Truth Social after 60 Minutes ran an interview with Marjorie Taylor Greene. Meanwhile, Ellison has been pitching Warner shareholders directly, got apparently Mario Delbeli interested, trying to tender their shares. Um, I have, I feel like I've talked to a lot of people here all this week, and, you know, money is gonna win out here, but the kind, like people would have lost their minds if their... and this was in the Wall Street Journal also, that he has told them he will, you know, he will change CNN as part of the deal. Um, when one of, uh, Oliver Darcy told me when he tried, and he wrote, when he tried to get a comment, they didn't, they're like, "What are you talking about?" Like, they didn't even deny it that they were doing that, making this paper... You know, uh, "We'll, we'll stop CNN from being so mean to you, Mr. President, if you give us thing." That would have been a four-alarm journalistic fire at any other time, um, not with these, these punks out here.
- SGScott Galloway
Well, imagine if Obama had said that-
- KSKara Swisher
(laughs)
- SGScott Galloway
... when Fox was trying to-
- KSKara Swisher
No.
- SGScott Galloway
... merge with Disney or whatever it was.
- KSKara Swisher
Exactly.
- SGScott Galloway
(laughs)
- KSKara Swisher
Like just, it doesn't, I- I'm not even gonna imagine it. It's bad. It's bad now, it was bad then, it's bad all the time. I mean, again, it sort of absolutely puts, solidifies, I'm walking right out of there the day they get their f- like I'm walk- I'm, there's no way I'm working for these terrible people. But, um, and I've said, I said that on an interview with Rachel Maddow 'cause she was asking me. Um, but, uh, but money, let's go to the deal. Uh, what, regardless of what they do with CNN and what they're doing is heinous, what they're considering doing is heinous, um, the money wins out here. It's the, it's if they go up to 34, I understand, they will get this, they will get this.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, we had, I thought we had a really productive conversation around this. And the way this is supposed to work is that the one with the most money wins.
- KSKara Swisher
Right.
- SGScott Galloway
At least initially, at least initially.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. Right.
- SGScott Galloway
It's meant to be a competi- It doesn't fucking matter what the president thinks, or it shouldn't matter, right?
- KSKara Swisher
No, it doesn't. It's-
- SGScott Galloway
And, and quite frankly, it doesn't matter-
- KSKara Swisher
... investors matter.
- SGScott Galloway
It doesn't matter what podcast or who podcasters think would be, quote-unquote, "better owners." The person that shows up with the biggest check in capitalism in a single class shareholder company, which this is, gets the prize. And then, subject to the following, regulators bring an economist and, and, and econometrics experts and consumer behavior experts, and they try and discern whether or not the very valid argument you made, that this is, in fact, one big market for eyeballs, or if it's a distinct market, 'cause it's original content creation and a subscriber model, and they make a call around whether or not this will reduce competition and leak value and leverage from consumers and labor to the shareholders of the consolidated ecosystem or not. And then, and then it goes through an additional, I think it's called, I, I, I used to do this for a living, and then it goes through something called a, I think it's called a CFIUS review that says, "All right-"
- KSKara Swisher
Right, which they're just under, they just made it so they're just under, just so you know. But go ahead.
- SGScott Galloway
They're just under-
- KSKara Swisher
All the Mideast countries in this deal, what they did is they manipulated it so that these numbers are, that, that doesn't have to go through a CIFI-
- SGScott Galloway
Well-
- KSKara Swisher
... CFIUS review.
- SGScott Galloway
Uh, the bottom line is, there should be a national security review that says-
- KSKara Swisher
But there's not gonna be 'cause of the way they designed it because-
- SGScott Galloway
Well, I know, but I'm talking about what should happen. I-
- KSKara Swisher
Correct, right.
- SGScott Galloway
Look, what, what, what will happen is totally (laughs) like, up for grabs-
- KSKara Swisher
Right, right.
- SGScott Galloway
... in a corrupt kleptocracy, and that is-
- 29:05 – 35:48
U.S. Wants to Review Visitors’ Social Media
- KSKara Swisher
visitors' social media history. This is ahead of the, the World Cup coming here. The plan would apply to citizens of 42 countries that are allowed visa-free travel to the US. The list of countries includes the United Kingdom, Australia, France and Germany. The proposal is not yet final, and US Customs and Border Protection says it will accept 60 days of comments. Uh, I mean, are you fucking kidding me? In the free speech nation, um, a, and, and as you said, our, the numbers on visitors have declined so precipitously and has sort of hollowed out, I, I can't believe they're even considering looking at people's social media. Like, what do you fucking care if you think Marco Rubio is dickless, which I do, and I will say on social media. Um, this is insane, uh, from a business point of view, correct?
- SGScott Galloway
Like, this obsession with manufacturing, where 80% of Americans think we need more manufacturing, but-
- KSKara Swisher
Right.
- SGScott Galloway
... only 20% of Americans have any interest in being in manufacturing.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
You can't take your dog to the factory floor. People don't want the, for the most part, people don't want to be in manufacturing. This obsession with manufacturing, we do need a certain level of a manufacturing base, but it needs to be advanced manufacturing, high margin.... but the obsession is coming at the cost of an even better higher margin industry, and that is the tourism business.
- KSKara Swisher
It's insane.
- SGScott Galloway
And so, and I- I, just so people can fill up our comments with calling me a fascist or a weirdo or whatever-
- KSKara Swisher
Well, that's ev- every Tuesday, but go ahead.
- SGScott Galloway
There you go. I do believe if you are applying to come here and be a citizen or get a, uh, a visa or a green card, I think everything is open game because what ... And, and young people, let's be clear. When you get a job at Goldman Sachs, before you get the offer or you apply for a job, you know what they do? They look at your social media and if they think you're an idiot that is going to embarrass them and you're, you're saying misogynistic things or you're out just rubbing your wealth in people's face or doing shots or acting like a total asshole, guess what? They will not give you a job. They also run credit trek- checks on you. So I, I, there's a difference between what I call tourism where we benefit ... Vegas is dying and amongst ... There are two reasons Vegas is dying, or a lot of reasons, but one of them is we now move, we've put Vegas in everyone's pocket, but also-
- KSKara Swisher
Right, online betting.
- SGScott Galloway
Canadians were a huge source-
- KSKara Swisher
Huge.
- SGScott Galloway
... of, of revenue for, for Vegas. They're out. They're like, "Fuck you."
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
You're gonna treat us like assholes and take 70% of our exports which go to you and start playing being reckless with our economic wellbeing?
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm. No, they're pissed.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, we're done.
- KSKara Swisher
Yep.
- SGScott Galloway
So this is yet another reason-
- KSKara Swisher
But what, what, who would even think of this? This is, like, where's it ... By the way, we ... The First Amendment-
- SGScott Galloway
Gestazi, which is what we're becoming.
- KSKara Swisher
Literally the first fucking amendment, it says you can say whatever you think. Like at the, you know-
- SGScott Galloway
But-
- KSKara Swisher
... he also tweeted that if you s- ... That he's ... Apparently incandescent over New York Times-
- SGScott Galloway
Well, hold on.
- KSKara Swisher
Let, let me finish.
- SGScott Galloway
The First Amendment though. I'm sorry, go ahead.
- KSKara Swisher
They should be able to say anything they want about the United States of America on social media, period. Period. Full stop.
- SGScott Galloway
Okay. But, but do we have an obligation to let them in? I don't, I, uh-
- 35:48 – 43:05
Trump Mocks Affordability
- KSKara Swisher
speeches, for him even, 'cause, uh, he seemed rather low energy and m- Meandering, intended to ease the cost of living concerns by mocking affordability. Let's listen to a clip of the speech in Pennsylvania this week.
- NANarrator
But they have a new word. You know, they always have a hoax. The new word is affordability.
- NANarrator
(laughs)
- NANarrator
So they look at the camera and they say, "This election is all about affordability." Now they never talk about it.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. They're talking about it now, sir. Um, he got distracted by someone in the crowd telling him to run for four more years during the speech. Also suggested Americans should buy less pencils and dolls from overseas. That's an old trope he was doing. Um, he was quite ... I mean-I don't think he has Alzheimer's, I think he has this frontal lo- 'cause you get more aggressive and more fanciful with that one. Uh, uh, uh, uh, Alzheimer's is a forgetting disease, really. Um, but this idea of you can get your dolls elsewhere, buy less pencils, um, n- nobody cares about affordability. They must be dr- they must be beside themselves in the White House that he's doing this.
- SGScott Galloway
He ran on affordability.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
Um, and 57% of voters-
- KSKara Swisher
Afford ability. Sorry.
- SGScott Galloway
57% of voters in a, uh, agree that Trump was losing the battle against inflation. 68% believe that the economy is poor or very poor. And according to a recent political poll, um, get this, 27% (laughs) percent of respondents have skipped a medical checkup because of the costs, because of costs have, uh, accelerating in the last two years. A quarter have skipped a prescription. A third said they could not afford to attend a professional sports event with their family or friends, and almost half said they can't pay for a vacation that involves air travel. I- I mean, this is the problem, neither Democrats or Republicans wanna have a serious fucking conversation around affordability. Republicans want a tariff, Democrats wanna throw money at people to say, "We'll, we'll short-term solve your problem." The structural, the structural answers to inflation and affordability are really boring, and Amer- the American public doesn't seem to want to elect people who are willing to have these conversations. The things that drive inflation, you, you start with the shit that drives the CPI. 40%, unfortunately, of middle income homes now is going towards housing. We need-
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
... and you've said this, we need a massive increase in housing.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
The next biggest cost, in terms of acceleration-
- KSKara Swisher
Healthcare.
- SGScott Galloway
... the two and three, are education and healthcare. We need national medicine or socialized medicine, and we need tuition caps based on income of the household. I- i- but no one wants to talk about, and we need massive antitrust to ma-
- KSKara Swisher
Well, it's also, it's also food though, Scott. I mean, I was noticing-
- SGScott Galloway
Also food. Go ahead.
- KSKara Swisher
... and I have, I, I, I have plenty of money to buy food, but I was in a store the other day and the, the, the, the, the, the, the chicken sandwich was $8, and Amanda saw one too, 8, $9, like for just a basic chicken. And I was like, that's like less, more than minimum wage. Like everything, like even the most basic stuff is more than minimum wage. And I, I, I don't kn- I don't pay attention to prices as much as I should. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. But boy do you notice them now, 'cause you're like, "What?"
- SGScott Galloway
But okay, but the question is, I, uh, uh, you're saying what everyone will agree with.
- KSKara Swisher
Right.
- SGScott Galloway
And that is the rent is too damn high.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
Uh, you know, remember that mayoral candidate?
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
We all agree. The question is, what do we do about it? And the answer is, in my view, if you're talking about a chicken sandwich, there are three companies controlling the majority of the poultry market. There are too few, uh, grocers and too much regulation, and too m- and too much red tape that increases the cost of, of grocery prices. You need more competition. There are literally seven food companies responsible for the vast majority of our food products right now. We need m- we need dramatically more competition-
- KSKara Swisher
But, but from a marketing point of view, him making fun of it? Uh, I don't even understand what the theory is here, except that he has frontal lobe dementia. I don't know what else he could be.
- SGScott Galloway
See, I don't, I don't, I, I, I don't think it's fair to say he has dementia or Alzheimer's. What I think it's-
- KSKara Swisher
No.
- SGScott Galloway
... fair to say is he suffers from an ailment that is very obvious and is true. He suffers from 79.
- 43:05 – 50:34
Australia Bans Teens’ Social Media
- KSKara Swisher
Snapchat, Reddit, and several other platforms face fines of up to 33 million dollars if they don't take reasonable steps to remove underage users. Of course, Aussie teens are already finding workarounds. Of course they are creating accounts with fake ages using less popular apps and even taking the government to court. Fine, well, and good. That's what, that's what teens are there for. And here in the US, the Florida law banning social media accounts for kids under 14 is, uh, going into effect after surviving a court challenge. I gotta say, I agree with that idiot. Remember him, down in Florida? The DeSantis on this? This works. Will the rest of the world follow? Now, just for ... Let me just say, we give Facebook and Meta a hard time, and by the way, they are not keeping young people safe, no matter what they say. Um, Tim Cook was on Capitol Hill this week, lobbying against legislation that requires platforms to authenticate, um, users' age, pushing instead to, uh, put the burden on parents. You know, that both Meta and they are arguing of who's the responsible. I think they're both responsible, the, whether the phones are, or the, uh, social media sites, but putting it on parents when they make these products is just not ... I- is just, I, I find really shameful for Tim Cook to do. But I know why he's doing it. I just find it shameful. Go ahead.
- SGScott Galloway
We just gave back in one move, or I should say the Australian government and their leadership just gave back. This was the most generous, accretive gift to kids likely in Australian history.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
Uh, their time with their friends, their self-esteem, their time outside, their time playing sports, their time with their parents, their ability to navigate relationship in per- in person, their ability to focus on their schoolwork, their test scores. The, the Australian government just gave back more childhood to children than any single legislation I think passed in the West in the last decade. And, and I, I just wanna call out, I think the most influential scholar in the world right now is my colleague Jonathan Haidt. I just don't think this would've happened without his book, The Anxious Generation. It might've, might've happened, but it wouldn't ha- have happened as soon. And I hope that it ignites an absolute firestorm of ... And they say, "Well, it's about parenting." Oh, fuck you, Tim Cook.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
Do you think it's parenting that, that bars should be able to serve my kid alcohol?
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
And that it's up to me to make sure that he never-
- KSKara Swisher
Yep.
- SGScott Galloway
... gets access to alcohol?
- KSKara Swisher
I mean, it is some of your responsibility. By the way, Tim Cook doesn't have children, so they don't know the difficulty of, of-
- SGScott Galloway
Okay. And here's the problem. Parenting, okay.
- KSKara Swisher
(laughs)
- SGScott Galloway
You don't have children when you say that.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, you don't. That's what I thought.
- SGScott Galloway
Because unless it's a collective action, unless every 15-year-old is off Snap, you move in with parenting and you manage to figure out a way to use Qustodia or Qustodio and get them off Snap, and guess what? They're more depressed, as my other colleague, Adam Alter, uh, did research around this, because they're ostracized 'cause they're the only ones not on Snap. So unless there's this collective action through legislation, and this is my favorite argument for Meta, that they're violating their First Amendment rights. Do you know what? A 14-year-old doesn't need to know. We don't need to know what a 14-year-old thinks about mRNA vaccines. I'm sorry. Uh, this is such an insane argument that it's, that (laughs) they're worried about the free speech, and they say this is nothing but the following. This is Joe Camel. It was shown that the tobacco industry had a series of cartoon-like characters to try and incorporate new people into their addiction, which would continue to kill our sisters and our brothers and our, our mothers, and they said, "Sorry, you don't get to feed the pipeline with cartoon-like characters." Nor should social media, at a minimum, be allowed to spread this depression, this disassociation, and this sequestration from life and family. My fear, I would love to think this ignites similar bans around the world. I, I'm hopeful it does, but the problem is, in America, we are ... fall into this delusion that we are a democracy. We're not. We have a-
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
... passive majority that is weaponized and influenced by very activated, sophisticated, well-funded special interest groups.
- KSKara Swisher
Yes.
- SGScott Galloway
And the special interest group around tech-
- KSKara Swisher
Sing it, sister.
- SGScott Galloway
Well, this special interest group around tech is only second to the health industrial complex in terms of money, and maybe number one right now, 'cause the entire economy and the Trump administration is making a big bet on AI.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
So these people have so much fucking p-
- KSKara Swisher
Right.
- SGScott Galloway
I, I ... We have minority rule.
- KSKara Swisher
The two areas that are the worst for Americans, healthcare and social media, among the worst-
- SGScott Galloway
100-
- KSKara Swisher
... biggest, biggest lobbyists. So it's in their-
- SGScott Galloway
(laughs)
- 50:34 – 59:15
Time Person of the Year
- KSKara Swisher
The cover shows Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Jensen Huang, uh, Fei-Fei Li, and a few others. Um, let me ask you, who would you have picked as the Time Person Thing/Thing of the Year? And I will tell you my choice.
- SGScott Galloway
I, you know, I really haven't thought about it. I mean, I can tell you who I'd like. My ... (laughs) I would've loved if they picked Mackenzie Bezos for her new type of giving. Um-
- KSKara Swisher
Excellent choice.
- SGScott Galloway
Um-
- KSKara Swisher
There you go.
- SGScott Galloway
Uh, uh, I like that-
- KSKara Swisher
$7 billion she's given away this year.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah. Yeah.
- KSKara Swisher
Amazing.
- SGScott Galloway
There's definitely a different approach to what I'll call feminine giving versus masculine giving.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
The, the ... I think the woman who won the Nobel Peace Prize is gonna play a seminal role.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
I think Maduro's gonna be ... I think we're gonna have regime change in Venezuela. I don't know who's-
- KSKara Swisher
Let them do it themselves. That's my feeling, but go ahead.
- SGScott Galloway
100%. 100%, but he ... Uh, anyway, well, we- ... I won't go there. But, um, give me a 30 seconds. Who would you pick?
- KSKara Swisher
I like Mackenzie. I think Mackenzie Scott. Ms. Kenzie Scott is her new full name. She doesn't use Bezos anymore. Um, I would pick ... (laughs) I'm gonna go pop culture actually. Um, I would pick, uh, K-Pop Demon Hunters because-
- SGScott Galloway
No.
- KSKara Swisher
I would. I would. Here's why. 'Cause I think y- you know, I know you didn't ... You don't pay attention to cultural things as much as I do-
- SGScott Galloway
No.
- KSKara Swisher
... but, um-
- SGScott Galloway
I don't like culture, Kara.
- KSKara Swisher
I love it. And so, uh-
- SGScott Galloway
Occasionally I buy branded edibles. That's about it.
- KSKara Swisher
... watching what happened at the Macy's parade, which everybody loved and made everybody feel good, was a moment. And at the center of that was a moment of, "Let's all, like, stop this hatefulness. Let's be interesting. Let's have all different ki-" There was country people, there was all kinds of people there. Like, it wasn't like ... It wasn't woke. It was just America. I felt really good about it, right? Um, uh, I think they represent a lot of things that I think we have to get back to, which is, um, which is the idea that differ- uh, that difference is okay. You shouldn't hide yourself. Um, the, the, the, the good feeling about this country and this world, like, feeling good about that we are, are, um ... We can be ... And I'm not a religious person. That we can be saved. There, there's a grace. There's-
- SGScott Galloway
Hm.
- KSKara Swisher
... amazing grace. And that's what that, the music there, and I ... It's played on co- ... Any parent on their Spotify playlist or whatever of the year, whatever music pl- ... It's K-Pop Demon Hunters, which is amazing because kids are really responding to it. And so, it's not just it's ... It's not just the song Golden. It's not just, uh, you know, Take Down and everything else. It's a complex look at how difficult it is to deal with differences. And I just, uh, I find it to be one of the most moving cultural moments this year. Is ... And you know I, I want to pick Taylor Swift and Fate of Ophelia, which I loved. But, uh, uh, I think it, uh, I think it's a really ... You can see people as they listen to it. Um, and, uh, I know it sounds dumb, but do you remember Ted and ... Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure when they become the band that brings the ma- amer- ... Uh, the ... Their whole thing is in the future they become this band. Uh, what was it called? Hoarse or whatever. Um, which was funny. But that's what I felt like with this movie. It's like this could ... This unites people in a way I find very lovely. And so I would pick K-Pop Demon Hunters. Thank you.
- SGScott Galloway
Did you know my big, uh, and YEO ... I want to bring this back to me. Uh, I know I don't like to talk about it. You know I don't like to talk about myself, Kara. But-
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
... there was something called YEO, and I joined when I was, like, 30 years old-
Episode duration: 59:15
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