PivotDid Gavin Newsom Just Become the Best Democratic Nominee for President? | Pivot
EVERY SPOKEN WORD
135 min read · 26,701 words- 0:00 – 5:20
Intro
- SGScott Galloway
I think Gavin Newsom is now coming out of this the de facto leader of the Democratic Party.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
And that was a void the size of the fricking Grand Canyon.
- KSKara Swisher
(instrumental music) Hi, everyone. This is Pivot from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network. I'm Kara Swisher.
- SGScott Galloway
And I'm Scott Galloway. This episode is presented by IBM.
- KSKara Swisher
I am about to be in a city that is having a military parade, Scott. I am wishing I had gotten out of town. We'll talk about that in a minute, but ...
- SGScott Galloway
Oh, are you, are you in L.A.?
- KSKara Swisher
I'm in D.C.
- SGScott Galloway
You're in D.C.
- KSKara Swisher
No, no, not L.A. There's nothing. I have all the tanks here. That's where the actual, uh, insurrection-
- SGScott Galloway
Oh, really?
- KSKara Swisher
... is going on, yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
That's what I thought. Uh, literally, why doesn't he just stay at home-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
... and like, like masturbate to The Apprentice martial law episode or something? I mean-
- KSKara Swisher
I don't know. I don't know.
- SGScott Galloway
(laughs)
- KSKara Swisher
There's tanks.
- SGScott Galloway
Can you believe it? A military par- (laughs) A military parade.
- KSKara Swisher
It's insane. It's insane. It's, the last time I was recalling one was during the Bush admin- the first Bush administration. There was, it was after something with Ir- Iraq. I don't know. It was something. But he had a lot of military people, and it was very disconcerting. And it wasn't like this gang here. It's like there's a lot here. It's sort of like North Korea plus Old Russia kind of stuff. And, uh, the only thing I remember is a stealth bomber going down the Mall, uh, in Washington from the Capitol to the, to the Washington Monument. And it was terrifying. It, I was like, "This is not America." Like, the stealth bomber. Even though it was cool and enormous, but it was just chilling to the entire crowd.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, I mean, we, we won't, (laughs) we don't wanna put tanks on the ground in Ukraine as Russian troops pour over the border. But a guy wants to roll out tanks as he, you know, shit-posts or tweets from a golf cord- golf cart in orthopedic shoes. I mean, the whole thing is just such cosplaying masculinity. It's so weird.
- KSKara Swisher
It is. It's so sad.
- SGScott Galloway
It's so ...
- KSKara Swisher
It keeps, every, every one of these things I'm thinking, how small is this? Well, anyway. Anyway, uh, we got a lot to get to today, including Elon groveling and Trump and China making nice for now. And just for everyone to know, next week, Scott and I will be together in France again.
- SGScott Galloway
That's right.
- KSKara Swisher
Our annual trip to France.
- SGScott Galloway
They tried to keep us out, so it's the impenetrable Maginot Line.
- KSKara Swisher
Was that your French accent?
- SGScott Galloway
I used to do amazing accents. Now it sounds like-
- KSKara Swisher
Really? It's German.
- 5:20 – 16:28
Minnesota Lawmaker Shootings
- NANarrator
independent government. There are no longer any checks and balances. Congress is nowhere to be found. Speaker Johnson has completely abdicated that responsibility. The rule of law has increasingly been given way to the rule of Don.
- KSKara Swisher
Well done, Gavin, I have to say. He's, he's l- he's, he's taken, he's taken every opportunity here to show himself off, which he is. Uh, more protests are expected this weekend, uh, tied to the massive military parade in D.C. that's officially, as I noted, celebrating the Army's 250th birthday. But just so happens to fall on Trump's 79th birthday, which will call attention to the fact that the man is really old. The No Kings protests are set to be the largest nationwide mobilization since Trump took office. These look like astonishing actually. They're all over the place. Trump is already warning that any protesters at the parade will be met with very big force, whatever that is. They are allowed to protest, by the way, FYI. But m- many of the No Kings people are saying don't protest in D.C. and give him a reason to, to attack us. But they're, they are pretty much nationwide. Um-Uh, first, let's talk about Newsom, and then, uh, y- uh, let me just also add that, um, Tom Cotton, as usual, popped up like a bad penny, uh, with an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal titled Send in the Troops for Real, playing off his infamous New York Times op-ed in 2020. Um, we're recording this ahead of Trump's military parade, which is on Saturday. Uh, t- talk a little bit about Newsom, Trump, these, these protests. Um, it, it feels very North Korean to me, but your thoughts?
- SGScott Galloway
I think Newsom, um, has basically identified himself right now. I think he's the big winner in all of this. Um, I think he kind of accidentally has become the spokesperson for the pushback. And so I think i- i- this- one of the silver linings here is that it is w- we now have what is kind of a de facto leader of the Democratic Party, and I think it's... Essentially, Governor Newsom leads the fourth-largest economy in the world. It's a net giver in terms of federal tax income. For all the problems California has, it's, it's actually, on most metrics, doing really well, whether it's a center of the newest technology in the world, more people are moving back to California now, and California has more billionaires than any other state. These are people with options. For all the shit-posting these techno-libertarians like to do about California, they could move anywhere in the world and they decide to stay in, see above, California. And so he-
- KSKara Swisher
FYI, Scott, they're all back, just so you know. They are all back.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, you've been saying that for a while. You said there was gonna be a boomerang-
- KSKara Swisher
I told you it was coming back-
- SGScott Galloway
... and you were right.
- KSKara Swisher
... because of AI, especially, but go ahead.
- SGScott Galloway
So look, and anyone who has driven up, driven up Highway 1 or, or checked out the surfers at Zuma Beach or been to the Hollywood Bowl or, I mean, (laughs) it just, or, or been in the desert. It's, it, and seen a sunset in the desert or been to Carmel or Yosem- I mean, you just... Yeah, it's, it is, (laughs) it, it's, it's arguably the most beautiful country in the world. It just happens to be a, a state within, in the United States, and it offers the best universities, best technology. Anyway, he has become, sort of overnight, kind of the spokesperson for or the leader of the Democratic Party. The, the bad news here is that I think a lot of these protesters are playing into Trump's hands. And that is you can't, you can't tell people how to protest, but when you see images... So for example, I, I, you know, if you could give the protesters... If the protesters are generally trying to help their own cause, and that is say, "Look, a lot of us have been here for 10 years. It's one thing if you want to deport criminals, but if you're deporting people... If you're rounding up people at a Home Depot that have paid their taxes for 20 years and then going to their schools and their churches, I don't think most people are on board with that."
- KSKara Swisher
No, they're not. According to polling, not at all, but go ahead.
- SGScott Galloway
But in my opinion, they hurt their own cause when they show up with more Mexican flags than American flags. And I understand what they're doing, but keep in mind, a lot of Trump supporters and a lot of moderates, when they see protesters with Mexican flags, they think invasion. And the, the things that really hurt this protest, in my mind, and there's nothing you can do about it 'cause it's free speech, when sho- someone shows up with a Palestinian flag and a mask, what people see as terrorism. So, and unfortunately, the media will cover those limited instances, which are 0.01% of these protests, as opposed to covering a really thoughtful civil protest with signs, and that's what most of this is. And just to show you how incredibly asinine this is, how the snake is eating its own tail, is that if y- who is the National Guard that's been pulled or deployed or activated? A lot of them are cops. A lot of them are people who work in law enforcement, and a lot of them are in this division called the Rattlesnakes that Governor Newsom uses for f- fire reclamation or clearing out brush, and then they get called up to the National Guard. But during the day, if they get called up to be police officers or if the LAPD gets called up, the LAPD is being deployed... Additional LADPD de- forces are being to- deployed to where the National Guard is because the National Guard's presence increases hostilities and likelihoods-
- KSKara Swisher
Right, which is why-
- SGScott Galloway
... of violence. (laughs)
- KSKara Swisher
... the police department is like, "Get the fuck out of here." Like, "We're, we've- we're handling it."
- SGScott Galloway
So the LAPD has to be deployed to protect the National Guard-
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
... who is creating problems-
- KSKara Swisher
Of course.
- SGScott Galloway
... and dissent and agita where there doesn't need to be any.
- KSKara Swisher
I do think that is sinking into people. They're like, "What are they doing here?" And especially in areas, um, that o- that... I think the protests, uh, uh, I get it. They're gonna play the picture of the, the burning Waymo over and over again. The flags don't look good. But I think this weekend will be interesting because one o- I think this No Kings thing, uh, uh, could be really effective 'cause they're... uh, I was just looking at some of the stuff, and Amanda was pointing out to me, like, they have 20 different No Kings events in Maine. Like, and they're very oversubscribed, kind of. They think a lot of people are gonna show up. So if there's a peaceful show of support, I think Americans do like that. They don't... A- and the Republicans have tried to weaponize protesting, right? They're trying to say protesting is insurrection when in fact, of course, and because they're the most hit- critical group on the planet, you know, the real insurrection was of course that attack on the Capitol. And so it, uh, when it suits them, they say protests are dangerous. When it suits them, they say they're patriotic tourist visits or whatever they call it. What I... I think they, they continue... I think pe- the penny seems to be dropping with a lot more people, I think, than you think.
- SGScott Galloway
I hope so. I really do, because, um, I think that at the end of the day, this is... I mean, uh, well, first off, le- uh, let's go to some historical analogies here, right? Uh, Kent State, right? The, the Ohio National Guard hopped up on authority and bad intel, basically killed four kids protesting the Vietnam War. And, uh, the governor called in troops to, quote-unquote, "restore order." Right? That sound familiar? He didn't restore anything. He radicalized (laughs) a generation and permanently scarred the American psyche.... the, the, the really, the best analogy here is Hitler in the '30s, the Reichstag Fire decree. And that is, he wanted to consolidate power. So, when an autocrat wants to consolidate power, essentially, Hitler didn't invade Poland to consolidate power, he invaded civil liberties. And he, and what, the playbook here is you use the threat of chaos to invoke emergency powers and suspend basic rights and criminalize dissent, and that's exactly what's going on here. And this is essentially, President Trump is lighting a match and kind of pointing at the smoke, so to speak.
- KSKara Swisher
Which is why I don't think there's a lot of push, a lot more pushback than you, I think there's a lot of pushback. Every s- every Democratic governor is now prepared, has seen his playbook, are handle, are trying to handle this in a different way. Um, I think he's just incompetent at it. Now I know, again, you don't have to be competent to be, to do this, you can be cloddish and idiotic. But it, it, to me, I mean, the question is will, it, which message will get through? And I do think Newsom has been an effective messenger, finally, right? And so, it's a question of messaging is, we're not, we, we've been trying to get out of cr- he's also, every time he speaks, he goes, "We've worked to remove criminals, immigrants from our count-, you know, from our state. We do it all the time." And, but these are, but these, there was images today of ICE people chasing farm workers across a field. This is not, this is weird to people, especially employers, it's w- it's weird. You know, it starts to hit businesses because of, they, 'cause Stephen Miller can't find enough immigrants. It's a similar, reminds me a little bit of Dodge, they didn't really find as much, right? They didn't find as much trouble, they're, they have to go after law-abiding people who are here illegally, uh, who are paying taxes. I, I feel like which of the dueling messages is gonna work, is, is, we'll see. We'll see. We'll see which one it is.
- SGScott Galloway
When, when ICE has to go to, to a Home Depot-
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
... a church or a school-
- KSKara Swisher
And a field.
- SGScott Galloway
But it, it's a larger point, and that is are these the people we should be kicking out (laughs) ? I mean, are these church-going people working at Home Depot picking your crops? Are those really the people you want out? And, uh, so, look, I hope you're right. I, if I could, you can't manage or procure or manicure First Amendment speech, but if I had any advice, if I wanted to say, I've struggled my whole life with the difference between being right and being effective. And I think civil protest against, you know, the No Kings movement, it's very powerful, they're right. Where they lose all effectiveness and play into the enemy's hands is when they show up with masks, Palestinian flags and Mexican flags. Bring the fucking American flags and be civil and be, make it impossible... I remember once you said to me, I always used to say very provocative things, and all of a sudden people were attacking me on Twitter, and you said something, you said, "Scott, don't give them anything." And right now, I worry sometimes the protesters, and I, and I'll give you an ex-, I mean, I'm really Machiavellian. If I were part of this Trump MAGA weird fucked up Stephen Miller movement, I'd send out 100 people with Palestinian flags and masks-
- KSKara Swisher
Oh, I'm sure.
- SGScott Galloway
... to try and cause trouble.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. Yes. I get it. That's, you know-
- 16:28 – 28:24
Trump’s Military Parade and No Kings Protests
- KSKara Swisher
dueling messages here. So, one of the things that doesn't help the Trump people, there's new reporting, this incredible piece in ProPublica, uh, on Trump's favorite autocrats, President, uh, Bukele of, um, El Salvador. The US investi- a US investigation found that Bukele colluded with MS-13. Of course he did. Even paying the gangs for votes, according to ProPublica, and despite his crime-fighting reputation, Bukele has his top aides blocking extraditions of MS-13 leaders to the US. Um, this guy is working hand-in-glove, so US money is going to pay MS-13 people. This piece is astonishing. And of course, no surprise whatsoever. This guy is such a, a sleazy... He, he presents sleazy and he is sleazy. Um, and the way he's gotten into, you know, this is like the plot of a Harrison Ford movie, of a Jack, you know, a Clancy, Tom Clancy thing where the, the alleged good guy crime fighter is like up in, up in the grill of drug dealers and other people. So this piece is really not great for Trump, 'cause it looks like Trump is paying for MS-13 leaders, um, to stay out of too-
- SGScott Galloway
I don't even think it'll rise to the top, like-
- KSKara Swisher
I don't know. I think it, it has a little minute. I, I sent it to a lot of people I know from El Salvador, I'm like, "You might want to read this." Like, uh, 'cause they do, they, they, it looks like he's not, um, pushing back crime, he's just, like, he's getting MS-, one of the things in the story is he's getting people, like there was a lot of crime in the streets and so there'd be dead bodies in the streets and what MS-13 is doing at his behest is burying them. So, it's, you know, it's sort of, I don't know. This guy is, I think this guy is-
- SGScott Galloway
But I think if you, I mean, what I was trying to do was I try and step back from the, you know, forest, if you will, or, or get outside the matrix. I think the biggest takeaway is, I think this is all gonna calm down. I think, to your point, I think the administration realizes, "No, this isn't working as well as we'd hoped." Um, one, I think the big takeaways here are that, I think, to your point, a lot of states are gonna prepare for this. This has created, I think, a bit of an, uh, like a fascist indigestion. Uh, I do think more and more people are like, "Wow, is this really..."I mean, it- the- all of these emergency- fake emergency orders to violate people's rights, it seems like it's going really far. Two, I do think that Newsom is now kind of the de facto party leader. Um, and, um, I, uh... But the biggest thing is that it's been- it will be a two-week distraction from thoughtful, robust discussion about th- around this tax bill. Um, which is really- will have much more impact on the nation than- than- than, um, than this.
- KSKara Swisher
Absolutely. But let me just say, and then this is not in here, but these polls that are coming out, the Quinnipac- Quinnipac show very bad polling for Trump on immigration. He's- he's underwater on every issue, including the bill, right? Including Medicaid cuts, including immigration.
- SGScott Galloway
I thought he was still positive on immigration. I thought that was the one thing he still had a positive on.
- KSKara Swisher
No, no. No, no. It's- it's not. Uh, he is way down. And there- th- we'll see how the rest of them, but there's several polls where he's show- where people are, including- what's more interesting is obviously Democrats are gonna be against all this stuff, but Republicans, uh, are particularly irked. And they were irked by the Elon thing, too. That seemed to have set their nose- set- set them off. Um, and so these poll- this polling is interesting, is he's not- uh, it doesn't give him strength with going into this bill. Um, because polling is showing that y- that people don't like it, don't like the bill itself. And so I- I do think at some point, the Republican members of Congress are gonna look very carefully at these polls. Um, and if Trump is not as strong as he, um, as he seems, it- it- it'll- it'll take some shine off of him, I think. I think it absolutely does. Um, 'cause projection of strength when polling is showing lack of th- strength is- is to me a problem. Um, speaking of lack of anything, Trump says the US and China have a trade deal again. It's essentially the old deal, uh, which- going back to zero. He posted on Truth Social, "The deal is done, pending final approval of both him and President Xi." It's such nonsense. According to Trump, China will resume shipments of rare earth minerals, though the Wall Street Journal reports China put a six-month limit on those export licenses. The US will roll back some of the export restrictions and scrap proposed visa limits on Chin- Chinese students. More- more taco. But tr- tariffs will remain. US tariffs on Chinese goods will now total 55%, while Chinese tariffs on American products are 10%. It- we're back... I feel like we're ba- we're back at square one. It surprise, um, no one, of course, also that Trump is highly likely to push back his July 8th deadline to reach trade deals according to Treasury Secretary Bessent. This- this is like spinning wheels. It's like... And it- and you're back exactly where you started, essentially.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, that's been our prediction all along, that after all of this nonsense, after this erosion of brand equity of the US, after creating a brand association toxic uncertainty, we're gonna end up kind of where we were before the tariffs. I would argue we may even be a little bit worse off. They have-
- KSKara Swisher
Worse off 'cause if the brand is...
- SGScott Galloway
Well, but even-
- KSKara Swisher
US brand is broken.
- SGScott Galloway
Even on straight empirical terms, because I think China has recognized they have a very strong hand because of their, of all things, their rare earth mineral magnets-
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
... which I guess are key to automakers. They kind of have a-
- KSKara Swisher
They- they're key to a lot of people. Lot of company.
- SGScott Galloway
They have... And they kind of have a monopoly on. And again, the- the calculus these guys just haven't been able to do is they look at both sides of the equation and who is bigger or where the- the sum is greater, but what they forget is that it's a different scale, because China will starve people. You know, we freak out when our Netflix goes- goes down for 30 minutes. Um, it's just, uh, their tolerance for pain is much greater than ours. And their leadership's ability or willingness to impose pain for national interests are just, you know... It- it's just such a different system. We- we say to our companies, you know, our companies that donate money to PACS who get people nominated 'cause of gerrymandering... So essentially you have kind of corporate profits sort of are the most- at this point are the most influential thing. Uh, America's run for profit, you know, uh, China's run for power, and that is they decide what would be best, uh, according to the CCP would be best for the long-term interest of China according to them. And for them, they- the number one thing is, "We maintain power." But it's- it's- it's different, and kind of the long-term thinking, if you will, is much more on China's side, because they're not worried about quarterly earnings. They're not worried about BYD hitting its numbers this quarter for fear that BYD isn't going to give money to the CCB, 'cause basically all the money BYD has is in the CCP's...
- KSKara Swisher
Control.
- SGScott Galloway
Um, yeah, control. (laughs) So...
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, I- I- i- this is-
- SGScott Galloway
Go ahead.
- KSKara Swisher
... just ridiculous. This is so... He- you know what he should've just done is settled the situation in Gaza and settled the situation in Ukraine. He'd look- he'd get his famous Nobel Prize, right? Like, that's all he had to do, and shut the fuck up instead of all this manic... He confuses... Uh, there's an expression I use with people. I- I used it when I was a manager, and I'm not a manager anymore, but that people that confuse activity with productivity, right? Like, people that are manic and move around a lot, y- they look like they're doing things. Um, it's sort of like, "Look busy, Jesus is coming," kind of thing. They- e- this guy confuses activity with productivity, and none of this is productive whatsoever, and it makes us look stupider, and it gives an enormous amount of tells to all kinds of people, whether it's Europeans or Chinese or whoever we're dealing with. Everyone can tell what's gonna happen here. Um, you know, wor- world's worst poker player of all time, like really. The- the sucker, when the- when you don't know who the sucker in the room is, it is- as it's turned out, Trump. Um, but it just, uh, I find this just ridiculous waste of our time, um, and not good for the US economy. Um, okay, Scott, let's go on a quick break. When we come back, Elon's caving continues. What a surprise.
- NANarrator
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- KSKara Swisher
Scott, we're back. Elon Musk says he regrets some, and only some, of his recent posts, he didn't say which ones, about President Trump, writing in an X post at 3:00 AM this week that, quote, "They went too far," although he didn't exactly say which posts or what he meant in which ones. The public groveling comes after a private phone call with Elon reaching out to Trump late Monday, according to the New York Times. Vice President J.D. Vance and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles were reportedly the peacemakers pushing Elon to repair his relation with Trump. When asked about Elon's, uh, post, Trump told the New York Post, "I thought it was very nice that he did that." Um, I, I don't know what to say. What a... M- it's just, I, I don't think he can hold on after, if Trump does some things he doesn't like. I think he'll, he'll have another 3:00 AM something else happening, but we'll see. Um, he's trying to turn his attention to Tesla, hyping the robo-taxi launch in Austin this next week. He says it, it could slide because Tesla is being super paranoid about safety. Uh, also, um, we'll talk about this advertising thing in a second, but talk about this apology. I mean, it's just, uh, uh, Trump's never letting him back. That's what I read from it. And Susie Wiles has played this beautifully, um, in, in jacking this guy out of the picture and is, by the way, speaking of polling, his polling's even worse than Trump's.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, I think he's... I think right now he looks like a dog roaming around with one of those domes.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm. (laughs)
- SGScott Galloway
You know? It's like, okay, I've ju-
- KSKara Swisher
I'm gonna get you one of those.
- SGScott Galloway
(laughs) I've just been neutered and I look stupid and I'm upset and depressed. I think he's just walking around with his dog dome right now. He just, he, he, he... The, the president is more powerful than Elon, and I think he was under the impression that, you know, "I'm, I'm invincible. I'm Rocket Man. I'm Iron Man." And, and he gets into a fight, uh, it's a giant fucking distraction. He's not gonna get anywhere near the West Lawn again unless it's highly catered and manicured. And I just thought it was so funny listening to all these Fox people talk about how sad it was the fight was. And they're like, they don't seem to be worried about Ukraine or Gaza. They don't, they just don't s- but they're just so, like, heartbroken over (laughs) the breakup-
- KSKara Swisher
I know, right?
- SGScott Galloway
... of Musk and Trump.
- 28:24 – 39:57
Iran-Israel Conflict Escalates
- SGScott Galloway
be interesting 'cause he has a launch event, they, which they-
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
... delayed another couple weeks. It's being in a, done in a geo-fenced area of Austin-
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
... to try and control it. But even he said, "Okay, I've got..." Um, he said, "Tesla is either gonna be worth a lot more with, uh, self-autonomous," and Cathie Wood's out there saying that autonomous is the future and putting $1,000, $1,000 price target on, uh, Tesla. Or he said, "Or it's gonna be worth next to zero." And if you were to value Tesla as just an automobile company and say, "All right, it looks like they've, are losing/lost the autonomous race," and you valued every Tesla at the same market cap as BYD, which is generous 'cause BYD is doing better and it seems to have a better car for less money. But if you gave Tesla the benefit of the doubt and said, "Okay, it's at least a BYD-like brand," and gave them the same market cap per vehicle that BYD commands, it would mean that Tesla stock would, uh, decline by 95%.
- KSKara Swisher
It's such a brand destruction. You know, I honestly, Scott, when I s- I, when I see them on the street, I don't let them in. I don't know why. I g- I just hate the brand now. Like, and I liked the brand. I really did like the Tesla brand. Um, but I, I, I just don't like people in them, and I know that's unfair. I feel like a jerk for doing that. Um, uh, you know, first time in a while I saw the Cybertruck in DC. There were a bunch of them here at the beginning of the Trump era, and I, I saw one and I hadn't seen one in a while. And having seen it not in a while, it was like, "Oh, what a terrible..." Who s- who didn't stop him and say, "You can't do this. You cannot release this truck"?
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, but just, just some compensation for that is, it's good to know that right now there are more National Guard troops and marines in LA than there are stationed in Syria or Iraq combined. I mean, who are you talking about? If you're, if you're the president... Uh, for me, it always comes back to management. What is a manager supposed to do? You're supposed to deploy capital to a greater return than your competitive set. And this is how he is deploying the military capital. He's taking it down in Syria and Iraq. He's not using his sway and power to force Israel to announce a multinational air force into Gaza and stop the destruction there. He's not, he's not figuring out a bipartisan legislation which he could get to put more teeth into the sanctions against Russia to get them to the table. He's sending in the National Guard (laughs) to fucking Paramount Boulevard, to like Culver City. I mean, he does not know how to allocate capital. I, I just don't... And at the end of the day, the president, folks... Who you want as a president-... is someone you don't hear about and is just a very good manager. And, and, yeah, and knows how to allocate more capital than any capital allocator in history. And this guy is just a-
- KSKara Swisher
Well, he never did.
- SGScott Galloway
... terrible capital allocator.
- KSKara Swisher
Come on, he was such a shitty businessperson. Um, one of the things that my favorite part of, uh, we'll go back to the Zelly thing, is all these people posting pictures of, like, having lunch in LA and, like, (sighs) it's terrible here. Uh, there, there, there is a-
- SGScott Galloway
I grew up in LA and I'm-
- KSKara Swisher
... there is a lot of AI slop, by the way. There's a-
- SGScott Galloway
... I've texted all my friends.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
And I said, "What's going on there? How is it?" And they're like, "You're watching the same thing I am. It's not..."
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
I mean, granted, a lot of my friends are pretty privileged. They're not living in, uh, downtown LA, but they're like, "Yeah, we haven't seen anything."
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. I have friends all over LA and they're like, "This is fucking ridiculous." But a- anyway, there's a lot of AI slop out there, showing much worse than it is. It's just not true, a lot of the, a lot of the imagery that's being used. And Fox, of course, it's like, it's Armageddon there. It's like, I feel like they're using clips from that movie, Escape From LA, or something like that. Anyway, um, the second thing, this is interesting 'cause we're headed off to France which for, for Cannes Lions, um, and it's the, um, or is it Cannes Lion? I don't know. Um-
- SGScott Galloway
Cannes, it's called Cannes, I know it's not-
- KSKara Swisher
Cannes.
- SGScott Galloway
It's there, it's Cannes.
- KSKara Swisher
Cannes Lions, whatever.
- SGScott Galloway
Cannes Lions.
- KSKara Swisher
We're going to France.
- SGScott Galloway
Oh, yeah?
- KSKara Swisher
Um, underpants. Uh, and, uh, and, and advertising is the big deal here, but this was an interesting story and I don't know if Linda Yaccarino's gonna be there, but I hope not to see her. Um, Elon Musk's X has made a habit of threatening advertisers with legal action if they don't spend-
- SGScott Galloway
(laughs) I love that.
- KSKara Swisher
(laughs)
- SGScott Galloway
Advertiser with us or we'll sue your ass. (laughs)
- KSKara Swisher
Sue your ass. X has really used threats of lawsuits. This is a Wall Street Journal story, it was really interesting. It, everybody... I'd heard this from a lot of people. So, to secure at least six large advertisers, the pressure campaigns targeted advertisers like Amazon, Verizon, Pinterest, Ralph Lauren, including some of the illegally... Uh, uh, including, accusing of illegally, uh, colluding in an ad boycott after Musk take over the platform and the threats were an empty. Pinterest declined to increase ad spending on X and found itself added to the ad boycott suit, which is, they're gonna lose. And as the world goes these days, the FTC is investigating whether antitrust laws were violated by coordinated boycotts of advertisers. So, they're e- they're... I think this is probably gonna go away. Um, what in the fu- actual fuck? You, the, you have to, like, like, you have to take my ads if I don't think it's a safe p- you know, I'm sure they've made, uh, tried to make safety improvements on that platform, but it's not working. It's not, it's not a safe place to advertise so easily. It's so clearly not a safe place to advertise. What do you think about this? This is nuts.
- 39:57 – 56:18
Defense Department Reviews SpaceX Contracts
- SGScott Galloway
Prospect Park every afternoon. And so a lot of people will leave. So, but what's interesting is Google, which has got the greatest concentration of intellectual I- of IP around AI, has real insight into the world- where the economy and jobs are gonna have said, "AI is going to eliminate a lot of these jobs."
- KSKara Swisher
Which we've heard from a lot of companies, you know. We, we've heard from a lo- when, even when we were together, we were with, I forget who it was, Diller or someone else. Um, he was talking about it. All these companies have been talking about this, a- and are on the front end. I, I think it's actually a good thing that Google does this. I think it's a good thing that Mark, everyone was sort of writing, "Oh, Meta's AI thing got shook up." I'm like, "Good." Like, they're doing it quickly, right? They're adding and subtracting people. He's, he's, Mark is a going-for-it kinda guy. Like, right? He always, like, "Meta, Meta's not working? Gone." Like, that kinda thing. And that's, that's his superpower, I think, is his control. Uh, uh, and speaking of good managers, he is a good manager. Um, and so it's interesting that people look at it as a bad thing. I don't think any of this is a bad thing. I think it shows that people are sort of adjusting as they're extending, if that makes sense.
- SGScott Galloway
Yep.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. You know, it makes sense to do this. And, and, uh, the more these companies do this, the stronger they're gonna be. Um, but I do, uh, pretty much everyone at the other companies, I've been talking to a lot of these other companies, do acknowledge that, that OpenAI has been running away with it in terms of features moving faster, uh, getting things done obviously. One of the worries at Meta is that ChatGPT has become the Kleenex, right? Just like Google became the word for search, that ChatGPT is now the word for this. Um, and so can you catch up if, if, if a c- one company represents, you know, that's what people think of when they think of AI. From a marketing point of view, it's an interesting moment, I think.
- SGScott Galloway
Uh, I agree. I have nothing to add. (laughs)
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, but I mean, it, uh, it depends on how-
- SGScott Galloway
When, well, when have you heard that from me? (laughs)
- KSKara Swisher
... important it'll be to them today. I know, yeah. They're the Kleenex, everyone thinks is interesting.
- SGScott Galloway
There you go.
- KSKara Swisher
All right, last thing, these two interesting little stories which I thought we should talk about very briefly. ABC News has parted ways with senior national correspondent Terry Moran after he called President Trump and Stephen Miller world-class haters on X. Uh, if you remember, Moran was the one who did that testy MS-13 interview with, uh, Trump, who kept pretending a Photoshop thing was real. The network announced it would not renew M- Moran's contract after a 28-year stint, calling the expose a clear violation of policies. As a reminder, ABC paid $60 million to settle a case over comments made by anchor George Stephanopoulos last year. Moran seems okay. He's, he's already told followers he did a really, uh, delightful video that'll be on Substack shortly. He's sort of taking it well. Um, any thoughts on this? I, he shouldn't have posted that, largely because he was a, he was a beat reporter and was covering the White House. It's, he probably, even if he thought that, he shoulda kept it to himself, or he could've done it in a different way by pointing to polls or things they've done or videos or other people talking about it. Um, he, I mean, he shouldn't have done that.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, but Dan Rather and Peter Jennings did much worse, but when the market was booming, they didn't fire people for this. They just called them in and said, "Hey, boss, sucks to be a grownup. Don't do this again." So he wasn't fired by ABC. He was fired by Alphabet and Meta, who are sucking so much oxygen outta the room of cable ad-supported news that these guys are looking for, looking for reasons to fire people. And I, I think this is, uh, quite frankly, I think this is bullshit. I, I don't think this is how you treat people. The guy worked there 28 years. He was the kinda guy that in my mind sorta did the work and was good at what he did. So what you do is you call him in and you say, "You know what? You made life hard for us. Business sucks. Um, y- you need to announce that..." I, I know, I don't know, I don't know Terry. I mean, I know Terry. I don't know him well. I think he was looking for his next gig. ABC needs to cut costs. There's a way they could've done this without publicly shaming the guy and pretending to have fucking virtue. If the company was going, if the company's revenues were increasing 10 or 15% a year, they would've called him in and said, "Boss, you can't do this again." He would've said, "Fine," and they would've wink-wink, see you at the country club. But now they're all looking to cut costs, so they pretend to be virtuous and have these journalistic standards. If, if Terry had been anchoring a news program where they had more and more...... opioid-induced constipation ads that were, they were increasing the ad rates faster than inflation. They would've found out-
- KSKara Swisher
Sky Rizzi. It's Sky Rizzi is the ads, but go ahead.
- SGScott Galloway
But they, they, uh, uh, uh, Mark Zuckerberg fired him, not ABC. ABC's looking for any reason it can to lay off people and then pretend they're journalists. Meanwhile, they're about to get fucked in the ass by, in a bad way, not the, not the pleasurable way, by a fascist, uh, and bend the knee like every other media company that's scared to death of this guy right now and trying to stay out of his crosshairs. So yeah, fine. Uh, uh, when people work for you for 28 years-
- KSKara Swisher
I agree. Uh, uh, Scott-
- SGScott Galloway
... they're given do-overs.
- KSKara Swisher
I think he's a talented bro, but he did put himself in a... Given the history here recently, not a smart move on his part. I, I, I agree.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah.
- KSKara Swisher
I, he should've been just, uh, taken off for a little while, talked to.
- SGScott Galloway
Remember when Dan Rather walked off set and CBS went to black for, what was it, six minutes?
- KSKara Swisher
Yes, I remember. I remember. He did.
- SGScott Galloway
He left the air, and the, and the, but they found excuses to keep Big Dan around.
- KSKara Swisher
Yes. Yeah, until he did that lawsuit that didn't work out so well. They, they, they definitely-
- SGScott Galloway
Th- these-
- KSKara Swisher
I agree. I agree. I, when it, when I saw it, I was like, "Oh, no, no, no. He's gonna have to, uh, go."
- SGScott Galloway
All these companies talk about how, "We're a family and a team."
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
You don't need a family or a team when you're doing well. You need them when you fuck up.
- KSKara Swisher
(laughs)
- SGScott Galloway
They should've treated him...
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- 56:18 – 1:02:40
Wins and Fails
- SGScott Galloway
candidates.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
I think... Yeah. Um, I don't know. They'll figure out what states they need help in. Who do you like?
- KSKara Swisher
Uh, I think, I think there's a lot of interesting people, but I, I, I think there... I think there's a lot of interesting people. I don't know yet, because I think Wes Moore is always talked about and most feared by the right. That's for sure. Um, I think, um, uh-
- SGScott Galloway
He's very good.
- KSKara Swisher
I still like... Uh, you know, I... In my life, a Michael Bennet would be such a good president. Um, I, I always think of who'd be a good president. Of course, that doesn't matter anymore. Celebrity matters. Um, probably, I think... I, I... When I ran into Gina Raimondo the other day, I was like, "Oh, she's so fucking oppressive."
- SGScott Galloway
She's so good. Yeah.
- KSKara Swisher
"She's so fucking oppressive."
- SGScott Galloway
So good.
- KSKara Swisher
Um, anyway, um-
- SGScott Galloway
You know who we just had on, uh, on the Raging Moderates pod yesterday, was Richie Torres.
- KSKara Swisher
Uh, oh, I don't... I'm not a fan.
- SGScott Galloway
What?
- KSKara Swisher
Not a fan. Sorry.
- SGScott Galloway
Oh, my God.
- KSKara Swisher
I think he's so performative.
- SGScott Galloway
I love that guy.
- KSKara Swisher
I think he's so performative.
- SGScott Galloway
Oh.
- KSKara Swisher
I, I still keep thinking... I agree with you about the woman thing.
- SGScott Galloway
Raised by a single mother, struggled with depression.
- KSKara Swisher
I understand. Not imp-... I don't like him.
- SGScott Galloway
No, he's really good.
- KSKara Swisher
Oh, by the way, let me say, um, uh, by the way, our producers are saying there have been presidents under 5'10", but not this-
- SGScott Galloway
In the last 100 years?
- KSKara Swisher
N- I don't know who it is. Let's see.
- SGScott Galloway
Who?
- KSKara Swisher
They're gonna tell us.
- SGScott Galloway
Who?
- KSKara Swisher
Harry Truman, Jimmy Carter.
Episode duration: 1:02:40
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