Consumers Force Companies to Cave on Kimmel | Pivot

1. 0:00 – 1:41

   Intro

   1. SGScott Galloway0:00

      ... I hope that a, a democratic or a civic or business leader comes up and figures out a way, without being too preachy and too drunk with power, figures out targeted ways to deploy the economic power. We're in America, it's all about money folks. To deploy that economic power.

   2. KSKara Swisher0:17

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

   3. SGScott Galloway0:28

      And I'm Scott Galloway.

   4. KSKara Swisher0:29

      And Scott, we are hitting the road together, bringing Pivot Live to the people.

   5. SGScott Galloway0:34

      This is so exciting.

   6. KSKara Swisher0:36

      Are you excited?

   7. SGScott Galloway0:37

      I am excited. I think it's gonna be great. I like, I love meeting our, I think they're more fans, our family. They're really family for us, Kara.

   8. KSKara Swisher0:44

      They're really family. Yeah, okay.

   9. SGScott Galloway0:45

      We're family.

   10. KSKara Swisher0:46

       Well, we're going to seven cities, just so you know, fans. Toronto, Boston, New York, D.C., Chicago, San Francisco, and L.A.

   11. SGScott Galloway0:53

       Some of the most poorly managed cities in the union, we're there.

   12. KSKara Swisher0:56

       (laughs)

   13. SGScott Galloway0:56

       We're coming in with rifles. We're gonna clean this shit up, Kara.

   14. KSKara Swisher1:00

       (laughs)

   15. SGScott Galloway1:00

       They're sending us in. Thank God we're here. Thank God we're here.

   16. KSKara Swisher1:04

       (laughs)

   17. SGScott Galloway1:06

       This'll be bigger than Bad Bunny at the Super Bowl, bigger than Taylor Swift, and also much, much less expensive.

   18. KSKara Swisher1:14

       Much cheaper. (laughs)

   19. SGScott Galloway1:14

       Imagine you're on psilocybin and you go to see the remake of The Wizard of Oz at the Sphere and you run into dead Nana and dead Pop-Pop. Nothing compared to what's about to happen at Pivot Live in Toronto.

   20. KSKara Swisher1:28

       (laughs) And I promise you, Scott's gonna dress up like a showgirl. Anyway, for tickets, head to pivottour.com. Uh, but we have slightly, uh, less important stuff to talk about today too. A lot of news. So let's dig in.

2. 1:41 – 6:58

   Trump’s Movie Tariff

   1. KSKara Swisher1:41

      Donald Trump just announced that he's imposing 100% tariff on any and all movies that are made outside of the United States. He did not explain, uh, when this will happen or how it will work. Remember, he made the same threat back in May. I just, they make a lot of movies outside. This actually will affect Netflix finally, but, um, what do you think of this situation?

   2. SGScott Galloway2:02

      Uh, I think it's more unnecessary own goal cell phone stupidity. So more than 50%, one of the best performing stocks in media, and arguably what has kept the entire media ETF ecosystem above, you know, that's kept it from being just abysmal, and has fueled Hollywood with record content budgets is Netflix. And more than 50%, the majority of Netflix content budget, is now produced overseas. So does that mean he's going to start tariffing Netflix and dramatically increase the cost of subscriptions, dramatically decrease the amount of content people get for their Netflix descri- uh, subscription and gut the stock price, which has been one of the best performers over the last 10 years?

   3. KSKara Swisher2:50

      Yes, that's what his intention is, it looks like.

   4. SGScott Galloway2:51

      And, uh, almost every Marvel movie now has some component of it made overseas. It's a-

   5. KSKara Swisher2:57

      All of them. All of them.

   6. SGScott Galloway2:58

      Yeah, so if, if you think about (sighs) with, uh, w- what's happening, (sighs) I love the term arbitrage, and that is there's two ways to add shareholder value. One is to increase the top line, the other is to decrease costs. And if you think about media, media has mostly, well it's been both, there's been, because of streaming, there's been a war and an increase in subscriptions and top line revenue because e- everyone now has three or four subscriptions per household, which has inspired an arms race where there's a ton of content spending on the top line. The other way you add shareholder value is that $18 billion in content that Netflix produces is $30 billion worth of content from 10 years ago, 'cause they say, "Okay, we can make Squid Games in Korea for 70% of the price it would cost to make it in Atlanta, and for 30% of what it would cost to produce in Los Angeles." So there's been a geographic arbitrage over the last 10, 20 years.

   7. KSKara Swisher3:53

      Sure.

   8. SGScott Galloway3:53

      And by the way, Los Angeles has been on the wrong end of that arbitrage. It's just too damn expensive.

   9. KSKara Swisher3:58

      Right.

   10. SGScott Galloway3:58

       I'm going through this right now. We're producing our, our scripted series on big tech.

   11. KSKara Swisher4:02

       Mm-hmm.

   12. SGScott Galloway4:03

       And we really did try to make it in LA.

   13. KSKara Swisher4:05

       Mm-hmm.

   14. SGScott Galloway4:05

       There's no way.

   15. KSKara Swisher4:06

       Mm-hmm.

   16. SGScott Galloway4:06

       There's just no way.

   17. KSKara Swisher4:07

       Yeah, it adds to costs, yeah.

   18. SGScott Galloway4:09

       And, and so now it's-

   19. KSKara Swisher4:09

       Unless you absolutely want a certain look, right? That's the, in some cases, you want it to look like what it looks like, what you're trying to do, correct? Is-

   20. SGScott Galloway4:18

       Well-

   21. KSKara Swisher4:18

       Like, a lot of things can be made to look like that.

   22. SGScott Galloway4:21

       Sure, but what we'll do is we'll film, we'll cram a bunch of shots, in this case, in the Bay Area, where it's also-

   23. KSKara Swisher4:27

       Yeah.

   24. SGScott Galloway4:28

       ... irrational to film. And where we're and, again, probably end up filming is in New Jersey, 'cause New Jersey, New Jersey just supersized their tax credit budget.

   25. KSKara Swisher4:36

       Yeah.

   26. SGScott Galloway4:37

       And it's near New York and we'll do a lot of filming in New York.

   27. KSKara Swisher4:39

       Yeah.

   28. SGScott Galloway4:40

       So, and then the other arbitrage that's about to take place is through AI, I think. I think AI is gonna take out just a lot of-

   29. KSKara Swisher4:47

       Yeah.

   30. SGScott Galloway4:47

       ... unfortunately a lot of-
3. 6:58 – 19:03

   Riyadh Comedy Festival Controversy

   1. KSKara Swisher6:58

      top comedians are criticizing their peers for participating in the Riyadh Comedy Festival, a state-sponsored Saudi event. The event will feature over 50 comedians, including Kevin Hart, Hannibal Bu-buress, and Dave Chappelle. As a reminder, the Biden administration held the country responsible for the 2018 killing of Saudi journalist, uh, Washington Post, uh, columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Uh, people, uh, uh, different comics have put up the, the terms. It's enormous amounts of money these people are getting, but they have to promise not to, uh, talk about the kingdom in negative ways. Uh, so these are all the free, free speechers being, uh, completely, um, paid off not to speak. I, I don't know. What do you, what do you think about this? It was pretty shocking when I saw the contract itself.

   2. SGScott Galloway7:43

      Uh, so let me be clear. I've, I have gone to Riyadh and spoken and cashed their checks, and so, uh, and I do so openly and wholeheartedly and with u- uh, total absence of guilt. I don't... And also, uh, I spoke last week at Nashville, and I got paid a lot of money to speak in front of the leadership of a tech team or of a big tech company, and they asked me not to bring up the struggles of young men because there are parents in the audience, and they said it's kind of a downer. I mean, if, if people are paying you, that-

   3. KSKara Swisher8:14

      Yes, but these are comics, Scott. These are people who sh- who go on and on about free speech and insult everybody about it. Uh, let me just say, I don't think you do that, but go ahead.

   4. SGScott Galloway8:24

      Yeah, but I, I, I think it's o- I think it's really easy to be a purist with other people's money, and uh, the kingdom. One of the things I love about living in... So let me be clear. I believe MBS ordered the, the murder of Khashoggi. Uh, in our nation, (laughs) in our nation, we're letting, you know, (laughs) we're taking away healthcare from people. We're, we're, w- w- we're removing security details from former officials. We're incarcerating and pulling people out of work, people en masse. I, I don't... I literally think we're in no position to wave our finger at anybody right now.

   5. KSKara Swisher8:59

      I think we should wave our... I, I completely disagree with you. I think we should absolutely wave our finger at these comics 'cause these are the comics that literally lectured the left on free speech and s-

   6. SGScott Galloway9:11

      Then haul them out. Say to them, "Look. Yeah, but I, I... If you wanna go to, uh-"

   7. KSKara Swisher9:16

      They can do it, but they got censored. Like, they, they talk about censorship and literally make you feel like shit for doing it, and they're, they, they cosplay that they care about free speech, and they've agreed... Comics are supposed to talk about anything they want, and to agree? Uh, I'm, I'm giving comics a particular thing. You were different. You were doing a speech there. They were like, "We don't wanna hear about men. We wanna hear about marketing," whatever the heck y- you're doing. But if you're gonna literally lecture people about free speech and then get paid an enormous amount of money not to, not to do your act, which would be they, you would easily make a joke. And one guy who did, I think it was, uh, was it... Who was it, Tim Dillon? It was someone. One of them made a, t- t- talked about it and said, "Yeah, I don't care. I'm getting the money. That's right. I'll do whatever they say." He got dumped from the festival because he said what was, everybody knew was happening, which was censorship. I, I, that's the only issue is th- this particular gang of people, especially Dave Chappelle, especially the rest of them, went on and on and on about free speech, so I just... That's all I'm... You're, you're not that person.

   8. SGScott Galloway10:23

      Look, if you're, if you're a free speech warrior and you're accepting money to have what is a highly edited, censored version... I was never, when I was in Riyadh, I was never, I, I, I mean, I've spoken in Riyadh. I've spoken in, in Dubai several times. I have never been asked, uh, to censor my content ever over there. Two, just the realpolitik of the following, I'm focused on American interests. Well, first, I, let's be honest. I'm focused on my own interests, and I get paid a lot when I go there. But also, I personally believe the new swing votes in terms of geopolitical power are the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and India. They're the two largest, fastest-growing economies. They're the only kind of two economies that are up for grabs. It could either go towards Russia, towards Iran, or it could go towards America. I think that we wanna bear hug and really strengthen our relationship with the kingdom and with India, and I think it's so ridiculously fucking stupid that we insult India and thrust them into the arms of China and Russia. I think our relationship with the Gulf is really important and our relationship with the kingdom in terms of peace with Israel, peace in the region, and also having secure, safe, um, uh, pipelines, uh, uh, and sources for fossil fuels, and also, we have a lot of army bases there. They are a strong ally, and in terms of reforms-... they're starting from a bad place, let's be honest. We're starting from a better place. We're headed in the wrong direction.

   9. KSKara Swisher11:41

      Correct. (laughs)

   10. SGScott Galloway11:41

       They're headed in the right direction.

   11. KSKara Swisher11:42

       I don't have a problem with Saudi Arabia, actually.

   12. SGScott Galloway11:45

       Yeah, yeah.

   13. KSKara Swisher11:45

       I do have a problem with these comics. Now, Atsuko, uh, Oh-kah-tsoo-kah, I think that's her name, she's a comic-

   14. SGScott Galloway11:50

       Oh.

   15. KSKara Swisher11:50

       ... who was invited, didn't go. This is the content restrictions. This is, this is the crowd that you can't, that's always goes, "You can't say anything anymore," right? This is a crowd-

   16. SGScott Galloway11:59

       Yeah.

   17. KSKara Swisher11:59

       ... that like-

   18. SGScott Galloway12:00

       I think that's a fair point.

   19. KSKara Swisher12:01

       ... knocks our fucking block off about how open they are and what they get to, they don't get to say what they want. Well, guess what? This is what they agreed to. "Artists shall not prepare or perform any material that may be considered to degrade, defame, or bring public disre- uh, disrepute, contempt, scandal, embarrassment or ridicule the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, including its leadership, public figures, culture and people; the Saudi royal family, legal system, or government; and any religion, religious tradition, religious figure or religious practice." Sorry, guys. Um, a- and it's mostly guys. Give me a-

   20. SGScott Galloway12:30

       You realize most defam- You realize most companies-

   21. KSKara Swisher12:33

       Yeah.

   22. SGScott Galloway12:33

       ... in their employment agreement have a defamation agreement that-

   23. KSKara Swisher12:35

       Great.

   24. SGScott Galloway12:35

       ... looks, smells and feels like that.

   25. KSKara Swisher12:37

       Great, except for these guys. I, they don't get to, because these are the ones that literally couldn't shut the fuck up about how they couldn't say things.

   26. SGScott Galloway12:45

       So true.

   27. KSKara Swisher12:45

       And here they are agreeing. So I don't, I don't wanna-

   28. SGScott Galloway12:47

       I got it.

   29. KSKara Swisher12:47

       If they say it one more to me, one more time to me, I'm, g- is, just... Also, by the way, someone who's going, Pete Davidson is performing, his father died on 9/11. He's, he's, he's allowing them to censor him? Uh, uh, and taking their money? That's his choice. Again, you're right, that's his choice if he wants to do that. But yuck all over from Kara Swisher, I'm saying.

   30. SGScott Galloway13:08

       I, I, I just wanna acknowledge her point, and I had not thought of it. And oftentimes, uh, you illuminate m- me to things and create nuance around my thinking. If you're one of these comedians that is constantly saying how you're censored and you can't say stuff and the, and the left has no humor, sense of humor, fine. I see the hypocrisy there. I have spoken there. Uh, uh, I, it reminds me of the debate when everyone was giving Uber a hard time from accepting money from the Middle East, and I'm like-
4. 19:03 – 28:51

   Nexstar and Sinclair Cave on Kimmel

   1. KSKara Swisher19:03

      and Sinclair have brought back Jimmy Kimmel Live! to their local stations. After the standoff with ABC and Disney, Sinclair said it received, quote, "thoughtful feedback" from viewers and advertisers during the blackout and proposed some measures for ABC to adopt, none of which ABC adopted. They... Remember they were asking him to give money to Turning Point and apologize? Fuck you, Sinclair.

   2. SGScott Galloway19:22

      Yeah, that's being, being generous with other... Being... Virtue signaling with other people's money.

   3. KSKara Swisher19:26

      Exactly. Nexstar also referenced constructive conversations with Disney in a statement, but Disney and ABC have not made concessions to either company. I mean, seriously, these two. Former L- Library Secretary Robert Reich wrote in The Guardian, "And the Kimmel drama proves consumers have extraordinary power." You seem to be taking a page from Scott Galloway. Trump is now threatening another company, Microsoft, telling them to fire their head of global affairs, Lisa Monaco, who served in the Biden administration. Again, these are the people who are actual, like, trying to tell people what to do. I'm just pointing out-

   4. SGScott Galloway19:57

      Agreed.

   5. KSKara Swisher19:57

      I mean, these Nexstar people, any thoughts on what they... what happened there?

   6. SGScott Galloway20:02

      I'm just really into this idea of the economic power of American citizens, that they... if they, if they're coordinated and can rally around... I, I was film... I was doing a live podcast with these two Canadian kids. I wish it was, uh, What's On Your Mind or something like that. And this guy came up to me and shook my hand, and he's like, "No buy Friday." I have gotten so-

   7. KSKara Swisher20:24

      Oh.

   8. SGScott Galloway20:24

      ... much positive feedback from the idea of an economic strike.

   9. KSKara Swisher20:28

      Mm-hmm.

   10. SGScott Galloway20:29

       And it's really intoxicating and inspiring.

   11. KSKara Swisher20:31

       Lots of people have come up to me and mentioned it to me, what you've done.

   12. SGScott Galloway20:34

       And said... Because look what these guys did. Clearly, a bunch of advertisers, a bunch of stars, a bunch of people called Eiger, canceled cruise ship reservations, canceled trips to Disney. People calling, saying, "I wanna cancel my contract," or, "I don't wanna advertise with Sinclair." And you know what? They backed the fuck down. And so I love this idea of a co-equal branch of government, of which there are none right now. There's no co-, there's no equal. (laughs) There's Trump, there's MAGA right now, being established. We have people's purchasing power. And this is the first time, kind of shockingly enough, that it has really changed the tide. It has literally reversed the... The flow of the river was reversed in about 72 hours.

   13. KSKara Swisher21:15

       Yeah.

   14. SGScott Galloway21:15

       And it's just, it speaks to the... And it makes sense. America is such a consumer economy, the whole-

   15. KSKara Swisher21:18

       Why would they ask for like that from Kimmel? Like, ask for demands, first of all. By the way, these contracts are somewhat strict. If they dump shows too much-

   16. SGScott Galloway21:27

       Mm-hmm.

   17. KSKara Swisher21:27

       ... they're in breach of their contract. That's one thing. All they were doing it for was in order to get the deal from Brendan Carr. That's all they were d-... It wasn't that... They had no values they were trying to protect. They had no public interests they were interested in. They were interested in this deal to buy Tegna. Both of them apparently want Tegna. Um, and that's all this is about, just so you know. It's money. And then they had to go this step further and ask for ridiculous things like that Jimmy Kimmel give money to Turning Point. He shouldn't have to do anything. Like, it's ridiculous. And then, you know, this new one about Lisa Monaco, who I know, who's a tremendous public servant, um, demanding that Microsoft get rid of her? What? H- uh, uh l- l- let me, let me just say before you say anything, if they do that, Satya Nadella, I'm... I'm gonna make your life so uncomfortable if you do something like this, if you give in to someone you hired who's perfectly qualified for the job you hired her for. If you fire or, or Lisa Monaco leaves, I'm gonna just talk about it endlessly for years to come. That's all I have to say. Thank you.

   18. SGScott Galloway22:30

       I don't think, I don't think he's going to, and I think that... I'd like to think this sort of represents a firewall, the first, the, the first I've seen so far. I mean, they totally had to backtrack. I, again, I hate this notion. I thought that was just ridiculous that they... he should give money to Turning Point. Well, I'll tell you what, Sinclair and Nexster or whatever the f- or Nexstar-

   19. KSKara Swisher22:50

       Nexstar.

   20. SGScott Galloway22:50

       ... or whoever, or Tenga-

   21. KSKara Swisher22:52

       Tegna. (laughs)

   22. SGScott Galloway22:53

       ... Tegna.

   23. KSKara Swisher22:53

       That's some stupid names.

   24. SGScott Galloway22:54

       You, you guys should really donate money to the ACLU.

   25. KSKara Swisher22:57

       Mm-hmm.

   26. SGScott Galloway22:58

       I mean, a- a- and that's an obnoxious statement. I'm-

   27. KSKara Swisher23:01

       Yeah, I agree.

   28. SGScott Galloway23:01

       You don't say that. It's... But this is... They have the right to not carry Kimmel. They were trying to curry favor with the president. People recognize that all the free speechers are actually more censorious than anyone. And consumers and actors and, and travelers and advertisers pushed back. And it was... What they accomplished was... They, they accomplished in 72 hours what no one in the Democratic Party has been able to accomplish in eight months. And I understand that the Democratic Party is neutered, but no one in the Democratic Party... Charles Schumer hasn't been able to rally a bunch of advertisers-

   29. KSKara Swisher23:37

       Oh, well.

   30. SGScott Galloway23:37

       ... or cruise ship-goers.
5. 28:51 – 43:06

   Threads’ Major Milestone

   1. KSKara Swisher28:51

      Threads just hit a major milestone, passing X in daily active users according to data from, uh, SimilarWeb. The number of Threads users is steadily growing while the number of daily active users on X continues to drop. So, they're sort of crossing streams essentially. Though data shows users spend more time on X than Threads, the Wall Street Journal is also predicting the next Elon/Zuckerberg battle is gonna be over humanoid robots. They're both into this. Um, uh, and speaking of that, um, President Trump said he would make TikTok 100% MAGA if he could. The president made the comment while signing an executive order to pave the way for American investors to own a majority share of the app. But then he added, "Unfortunately, it won't work out that way," saying every group, philosophy, and f- uh, policy will be treated fairly. Um, I don't, I'm not so, um, concerned (laughs) about that. I'm concerned about the price and the gimme. You know, it's a really good deal for his friends. Um, and in a, and, and speaking of his friends, in a recently serviced, uh, surfaced, uh, resurfaced Q&A, Larry Ellison predicted the rise of modern surveillance, which would cause citizens to be on their best behavior, and that's a good thing, um, because they're being surveilled. Um-... I don't know. There's a lot here. Larry Ellison just really has managed to do really well, but Zuckerberg has really done a nice job with Threads. And, uh, Bluesky's also growing, they're both growing, um, but X is really... Nobody thought that Threads would, uh, would do this. I did, 'cause I- I- I... he's good at this stuff. Um, any thoughts on that and then their humanoid robot battle?

   2. SGScott Galloway30:18

      So a lot there. So, so with respect to Threads, I think Threads is fantastic. I find myself, I was doing... So I invested in one of these things, I invested in Post, and it got a ton of traction out of the gates and then it kind of lost steam and- and now it's closed down. Um, people love Bluesky. I was using Bluesky and Threads. I got off of Twitter, uh, for my own mental health and 'cause I love your quote-

   3. KSKara Swisher30:44

      We talked about this.

   4. SGScott Galloway30:44

      ... "I'm not gonna paint that guy's fucking fence," and I found it just so ugly.

   5. KSKara Swisher30:47

      Mm-hmm.

   6. SGScott Galloway30:48

      And I've been on Threads and Bluesky. And I'm curious what you think, but I find myself increasingly using Threads. I find it so seamlessly integrated into Instagram-

   7. KSKara Swisher30:59

      Instagram.

   8. SGScott Galloway30:59

      ... which I love.

   9. KSKara Swisher30:59

      Yeah. Yeah.

   10. SGScott Galloway31:00

       And also, I find the content that they elevate on Threads is a little bit more positive.

   11. KSKara Swisher31:07

       Yeah. Your feed is probably done that way because of what you pull from. It depends on the feed.

   12. SGScott Galloway31:11

       Yeah. Yeah, that's true.

   13. KSKara Swisher31:11

       Right? 'Cause A- Amanda tried Threads and she just doesn't have a good feed, and I'm like, "It's 'cause you're pulling from doom-scrolling or something." I have-

   14. SGScott Galloway31:17

       Right.

   15. KSKara Swisher31:17

       ... a great feed on Threads.

   16. SGScott Galloway31:18

       Yeah.

   17. KSKara Swisher31:18

       It's all, like, cooking and, like, there's a- there's a thread of something called Fabrique something, where they- they take old toys and old- old things and refurbish them. Uh, there's a guy who's a gardener on (laughs) Threads who's, like, this hunky gay gardener who I like. There's a lot of pleasant stuff. It's a lot like Instagram, as you said, but a little easier to consume. I really enjoy Threads, and I- uh, again, uh, uh, you know I don't throw Mark Zuckerberg a bone if I can avoid it, but it's a really good product. Um, I find it really enjoyable. Um, I do like B- I think Bluesky people are smarter a little bit, although they're much more-

   18. SGScott Galloway31:53

       Mm-hmm.

   19. KSKara Swisher31:53

       ... like, uh, finger-waggy, you know?

   20. SGScott Galloway31:55

       It's a little bit more artisanal and a little bit-

   21. KSKara Swisher31:57

       It-

   22. SGScott Galloway31:57

       ... more, like, Atlantic, kind of.

   23. KSKara Swisher31:59

       Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I don't- but I like it. I don't- I find interesting news. I have to say, my news consumption, uh, T- Threads is not as good for news consumption. It's- uh-

   24. SGScott Galloway32:08

       You like Bluesky more?

   25. KSKara Swisher32:09

       ... Bluesky's better for news consumption. And I- I like both of them because you can block people easily and get rid of all the shitty people who like-

   26. SGScott Galloway32:16

       Hm.

   27. KSKara Swisher32:16

       ... either lecture at you or say vile things. But not many people say vile things on either of them. It's rare. It's usually just irritating.

   28. SGScott Galloway32:24

       I find the same thing. Yeah.

   29. KSKara Swisher32:24

       Just irri- just like, "Leave me the fuck alone if I like Scott." Like, "Stop bothering me-"

   30. SGScott Galloway32:28

       (laughs)
6. 43:06 – 49:26

   Comey Indicted

   1. KSKara Swisher43:06

      Donald Trump is insisting, uh, the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey isn't about revenge, saying it's really about justice. Comey was... Oh, whatever. Comey was indicted on two felony counts last week, both tied to his 2020 Senate testimony on the Trump-Russia investigation. The indictment came after Trump put his former attorney, Lindsey Halligan, uh, and former beauty queen, in charge of the case, despite the fact that she had never prosecuted a federal case. Um, in a video posted on Instagram, Comey declared his innocence and said he would welcome a trial. Let's listen.

   2. LCLiz Cheney43:36

      My family and I have known for years that there are costs to standing up to Donald Trump. But we couldn't imagine ourselves living any other way. We will not live on our knees, and you shouldn't either.

   3. KSKara Swisher43:51

      He gets to take the high ground. Not one of my favorite people, I'll be honest with you. But still, he didn't do anything wrong, and Lindsey Halligan has made, like, error after error in the filing of this thing, and the grand jury only indicted on two counts, even though there were three. Uh, every lawyer I know said this is gonna be a slam dunk for Comey to get out of. Uh, Trump is also indicating, that said... And he, by the way, people within the White House said, "Don't do it," including Pam Bondi. Uh, Trump is also indicating more indictments are likely, pointing to New York Attorney General Letitia James, as well as George Soros and Reid Hoffman as potential targets. Um, I don't know. He, w- he's putting up really shitty cases and probably will lose. So, thoughts?

   4. SGScott Galloway44:30

      This isn't about legal victory.

   5. KSKara Swisher44:32

      Mm-mm.

   6. SGScott Galloway44:32

      It's about intimidation.

   7. KSKara Swisher44:33

      Yeah.

   8. SGScott Galloway44:34

      And first off, if anyone should have a gripe with Director Comey, it should be Secretary Clinton.

   9. KSKara Swisher44:39

      Mm-hmm.

   10. SGScott Galloway44:40

       Going into, like, weeks-

   11. KSKara Swisher44:41

       Yeah.

   12. SGScott Galloway44:41

       ... left in the campaign, y- y- you're never supposed to discuss an investigation until you have actual indictments in the FBI. That's standard practice. And James Comey, always posing for the fucking cameras, who likes to think of himself as a bald eagle flying into an apple pie he's so fucking sanctimonious, decided to pose more for the cameras and put out a letter saying that they had found more emails with no specifics, which casts this incredible doubt on Secretary Ca- uh, uh, Clinton's campaign. If anyone has a beef with the director, it's Secretary Clinton. And the fact that he's doing this, again, I think it's another su- another data point, another suggestion from OpenAI, it will not s- e- from what I understand of the case is it, i- if it's not b- swatted away right away, it'll be soon swatted away. Meanwhile, he will have to raise millions of dollars to defend this. But what he, this isn't about, this isn't about winning cases. This is about intimidation and convincing people it's better to just give him what he wants and stay out of his way, whether it's cut him a check for $14 million or seven million or just don't say anything. But Director Comey, even a statement there... Director Comey has really poorly advised, "We will not live on our y- knees." Oh, Jesus Christ. You're not Emiliana Zapata.

   13. KSKara Swisher46:00

       (laughs) .

   14. SGScott Galloway46:00

       Just get over yourself. All right? It's, it's like-

   15. KSKara Swisher46:04

       I thought the same thing.

   16. SGScott Galloway46:04

       Look, this is-

   17. KSKara Swisher46:05

       It's all right.

   18. SGScott Galloway46:06

       This is-

   19. KSKara Swisher46:06

       He's got nothing.

   20. SGScott Galloway46:06

       ... political vengeance.

   21. KSKara Swisher46:08

       Yeah.

   22. SGScott Galloway46:08

       And it's one thing to say... You know, he should have read that quote from the, the, the, uh, Presbyterian minister, "First they came for the socialists and I did not s-" And, and he goes-

   23. KSKara Swisher46:17

       Yeah.

   24. SGScott Galloway46:17

       "Just be clear, folks. At some point, they come for you."

   25. KSKara Swisher46:20

       Yeah.

   26. SGScott Galloway46:20

       And, and, uh, this is, this is awful. It will not go anywhere, but it's more distraction, it keeps Epstein out, and it intimidates people.

   27. KSKara Swisher46:29

       Yeah.

   28. SGScott Galloway46:29

       People stop speaking their mind.

   29. KSKara Swisher46:32

       It does.

   30. SGScott Galloway46:33

       And-
7. 49:26 – 1:00:48

   Wins and Fails

   1. KSKara Swisher49:27

      Okay, Scott, let's hear some wins and fails. Would you like me to go first or would you like to go first?

   2. SGScott Galloway49:30

      Please do.

   3. KSKara Swisher49:32

      Um, you know, Hakeem Jeffries is my fail this week. Um, first of all, his social media is so bad I just wanna cry. He could benefit from a Gavin Newsom social media intervention. It is so boring. It's so dumb. It's so ... He should just get off social media if he's not gonna do it well. Um, but when Eric Adams dropped out of the New York mayoral race, which I think people expected, although he did it after, his name is now still on the ballot, I believe. Um, uh, he's still not endorsing Mamdani and then he effusively complimented Eric Adams. It was so strange. And I just, I, you know, I had a lot of hopes for Hakeem Jeffries that he would live up ... I know you don't like Nancy Pelosi but she was good at her job, what she did there.

   4. SGScott Galloway50:12

      Very strategic.

   5. KSKara Swisher50:13

      Very strategic. This guy doesn't seem to have a clue. I just feel like what a, I just, every- everything Hakeem Jeffries is doing was a big L on it as far as I'm concerned. Again, just like, it's just so ridiculous, especially with Trump on the opposite side saying that if you vote for him, I'm gonna hurt New York and you, what's the point of voting? He's, you know, putting his finger on the thumb of everything, which is also grotesque but, uh, typical from, um, uh, from him. Um, and then, uh, my win is I'm excited for the slate of movies for ... I know you say, like, I'm gonna see them not in the movie theater but there's all these, like, great movies coming out in the fall. I do always like the fall. I just keep seeing all these, you know, ads and stuff for different movies and things opening and I'm super excited. Obviously I'm most excited for Wicked as I've noticed, Wicked: For Good and they're, they keep dropping stuff and I'm very, um, pleased with, with that. I really like that. Um, and, uh, so I'm excited. I'll be talking about them as we move forward but there's a ton of really cool stuff that looks like it's coming out. Including this movie that George Clooney's in. It's called Jay Kelly and it looks ... It's by Noah, um, uh, Baumbach. I think it, it looks really good. He's playing himself really and it looks funny as an Adams fan.

   6. SGScott Galloway51:25

      Are you gonna see the Leo film?

   7. KSKara Swisher51:27

      No, I can't do it. I don't have enough energy.

   8. SGScott Galloway51:29

      It's supposed to be, it's supposed to be outstanding. I'm gonna see it tonight.

   9. KSKara Swisher51:31

      All is his. I, I didn't see the one, the Indian one where ver- where he poisons Indian, um, Amer- uh, Native Americans. So I just-

   10. SGScott Galloway51:39

       Oh, peak artistic masturbation?

   11. KSKara Swisher51:40

       I don't know. I just can't. I just, I'm so tired. I wanna see fun things. So I'm gonna go see Jay Kelly.

   12. SGScott Galloway51:45

       It's supposed to be great. I'm going to see it tonight

   13. NANarrator51:46

       Yeah.

   14. KSKara Swisher51:46

       All right. Well, tell me how it is. Tell me how it is.

   15. SGScott Galloway51:48

       Yeah. Um, so just a couple of things. In, with Leader Jeffries, I've met him, interviewed him on stage, really like him. In the corporate world, we have this, this pattern or this problem where oftentimes we, when people are great at what they do, we keep promoting them until we find a position they're not great at. (laughs) In other words, you promote them out of their competency. And so they came up with this idea of, I think it's called solo or solo contributor where they say, "Look, this guy's a great bond trader. He or she can't manage people out of a fucking paper bag," right? "So just keep them as a bond trader. Don't put them in charge of the b- of the fixed income department." And some people are just good at what they do and they end up being great managers. I think that applies to Leader Jeffries. I think he's an outstanding elected representative. I think he, he's a great representative in the House for his core constituents in Brooklyn. He lacks the killer instinct and gravitas and what I, I don't wanna call leadership ability, but ability to capture narrative and compel people to be the Speaker of the House. I just don't think he has those skills. And especially for this moment. And him, him and, him and Chuck Schumer, it's kind of a, it's kinda like-

   16. KSKara Swisher53:06

       Ugh.

   17. SGScott Galloway53:06

       ... wet meat blanket.

   18. KSKara Swisher53:07

       (laughs)

   19. SGScott Galloway53:07

       I mean, it's just, it's just-

   20. KSKara Swisher53:09

       I agree. I'm like-

   21. SGScott Galloway53:10

       It's just, these, these aren't-

   22. KSKara Swisher53:13

       ... "Oh, come on."

   23. SGScott Galloway53:13

       These aren't the guys for the moment.

   24. KSKara Swisher53:14

       Right.

   25. SGScott Galloway53:14

       And I think Leader Jeffries is, is should, should, should go on and be his representative and he's outstanding. Maybe run for Senate someday. But he's not the person for this moment. And, and Senator Schumer is literally become the invisible man. Like I, I just don't even, I don't even see him when he's on screen anymore. Anyway, um, uh, so my, my fail is ... It is so insane that we are now talking about bailing out farmers. Uh, I mean, let me get this. We go, we walk up to someone, the US government, shoot them in the leg and then borrow money from future generations to pay for their hospital bills. And essentially, what do you know? We place all these tariffs on foreign goods and China, who's much smarter than us goes, "I'm gonna go after the heart and lungs here and put on a huge tariff on soy beans for all those farmers in red states." And they're basically, their entire business has collapsed. And by the way, without previous government subsidies, many of these farms are no longer economically viable anyways.So what do you have? You have circular payments. The government collects tariffs, which is a tax on you as consumers, then pays billions to farmers hurt by those same tariffs, so everyone loses. Consumers pay higher prices, taxpayers fund the bailouts, and farmers get temporary cash but permanent loss of China market. The Chinese have already established new trade relationships with Brazil and Argentina, and they're not coming back to Iowa, folks. They're not doing it. This is done. This is not a shift. This is a structural shift. So unless the government and taxpayers are gonna keep propping up these people to pay for the stupid tariffs, eventually they're gonna go away. The, the money props up inefficiency instead of investing in infrastructure. What they need to be doing is crop diversification. And it's just pure political theater. Its bailouts are less about economic policy, and they're just... they're doing what Democrats do, and that is they're throwing money at people for votes. And it, it... we've literally... we've lit the house on fire and then sent taxpayers the bill for the fire department.

   26. KSKara Swisher55:29

       Yep.

   27. SGScott Galloway55:29

       They, they don't... These payments, these circular payments, they don't build competitiveness, they build dependency.

   28. KSKara Swisher55:34

       Yep. Yep.

   29. SGScott Galloway55:35

       And-

   30. KSKara Swisher55:35

       And they're doing it just because they're, they're MAGA, that's why, or they were-

Episode duration: 1:00:48