How J.D. Vance Got Tech Billionaire Backing | Pivot

1. KSKara Swisher0:00

   So, here we have it, here they have. They're trying to buy a presidency, essentially. I, I think Trump doesn't get what just happened with, with J.D. Vance. Uh, let me just take a moment. We talked about him last week. He, his job record is not good in tech, let me just say. Uh, and, and including Steve Case saying he didn't do much, right, when he worked for him. Um, he had a, uh, he had a firm that didn't do well. Uh, he, he had one company took public that's gone bankrupt. Um, he essentially was, you know, it was really interesting because Rachel Maddow did a great thing on him, uh, this week where she basically called him an intern for Peter Thiel. Peter Thiel got him all his jobs and then gave him money to run for Senate, and now has pushed him right into Trump's arms, including getting the, the Senate, um, endorsement, which was critical to him, and then convincing Donald Jr. to press the president for this. So, you know, this has been a Peter Thiel operation the whole time. I, I have to tip my hat to him because I do think he's quite brilliant. Um, not so much David Sacks, but he certainly is. But you know, it's a small group of people. They put up a list of them, David Sacks did, and it's all like the Winklevosses and a bunch of other... (sighs) This Sean Maguire person who never shuts up. Um, is it VC? It's all these unpleasant VCs and, um, (smacks lips) when you, th- the, The Information did a, a poll of voters, uh, in Silicon Valley and it was overwhelmingly Biden over Trump, the average people, um, and startup people and this and that. It's mostly these incredibly afflicted, uh, VCs who think they're victims. Um, so you know, and there's, there's, there's others on the other side. Obviously, um, Reid Hoffman, Mark Cuban, et cetera, et cetera. Quietly, Sheryl Sandberg.

2. SGScott Galloway1:40

   It is a dramatic shift red because in past, I think the past couple presidential elections, you've had like 80 plus percent of the dollar volume coming out of the valley has gone Democratic. These are real players. The thing that struck me was that I found it, a couple things. One, for Sequoia and Andreessen to come out and be this political overtly, um, must mean that they have such extraordinary, they feel they have such extraordinary upside probably around Bitcoin, probably around some sort of dialogue they've had with, with President Trump that if he's elected, he's gonna do something that, that totally legitimizes or integrates Bitcoin technology into whatever, the Federal Reserve or fiscal planning or some sort of monetary policy that would take the price of Bitcoin and crypto so far up that they've decided it's worth the risk. Because what I gotta think here is if I'm... Sequoia has like Ottawa Teachers-

3. KSKara Swisher2:34

   Yeah.

4. SGScott Galloway2:34

   ... or the state pension fund from Michigan as limited partners. I gotta think right away they got letters saying, "Okay, let's be clear. We gave you money to get an above market return investing in startups."

5. KSKara Swisher2:47

   Mm-hmm.

6. SGScott Galloway2:47

   "We are not interested in taking the pensions of teachers, of public school teachers in Michigan-"

7. KSKara Swisher2:54

   Yep.

8. SGScott Galloway2:54

   "... and having it go to a Trump PAC."

9. KSKara Swisher2:57

   Yeah.

10. SGScott Galloway2:57

    So, the, the deal here must be on the face of it so incredibly lucrative in terms of upside-

11. KSKara Swisher3:04

    Yeah.

12. SGScott Galloway3:04

    ... for them to publicly come out-

13. KSKara Swisher3:06

    Yeah, I agree.

14. SGScott Galloway3:06

    ... in favor of Trump.

15. KSKara Swisher3:07

    Yeah.

16. SGScott Galloway3:07

    It's just, it, it, it's dramatic. But the thing that's, the thing that's disappointing here is it, it's one thing when people... So first off, Citizens United, it's too much money in politics. It is what it is. The, the Supreme Court has decided that money is free speech. Okay, it is, it is what it is. People have the right to give money and it's gonna result in influence. This seems to have taken it though to kind of a next level of, uh, pay-to-play. That these are specific issues that aren't even connected to any sort of ideology or political way of thinking. It's a general notion that if I give $45 million a month, I'm pretty sure he will place s- slapped tariffs on BYD, the largest EV, Chinese EV company. I'm pretty sure that if these, if we and Andreessen give a lot of money to Trump that he will do what we want around crypto. This is, this feels like a kleptocracy. It's not supporting political ideology. It's just if I give you enough money, you will, you will, you will use the, the strength and the reach of the government-

17. KSKara Swisher4:10

    Mm-hmm.

18. SGScott Galloway4:10

    ... to ensure that I get-

19. KSKara Swisher4:12

    Oh, absolutely.

20. SGScott Galloway4:12

    ... I get sweetheart deals.

21. KSKara Swisher4:13

    And they're also trying to go against competitors. You know, Elon's way behind in AI, so attack OpenAI, attack Google. Uh, one thing that's interesting is, um, is with J.D. Vance, we'll talk about in a second, but one of the things, um, you know, E- Elon's bought Twitter and made it successful, but it's also part of a play, which Mark Cuban told me was, he said, "This isn't about Twitter or anything else that comes out of his stupid mouth. It's about his global impact in terms of dealing with autocrats and his other businesses," right? He always was like, "Focus on his businesses, Kara, not his stupid remarks about trans people, even though they're stupid." Um, you know, but he's erased any air of neutrality for the platform, The New York Times noted. Another thing I would note is back in March I said he was gonna back Trump and back him heavy, and those, his stances came down on me like a ton of bricks when I said that on Jennifer's, Jen Psaki's show. And right, you know, because I know he wants money and that was sort of inspired by my, our discussion I had with Mark Cuban. I think it was 100% right. He predicted that. And this role of J.D. Vance, uh, in all this is interesting. Um, you know, he's kind of a, a tech bro, uh, butler. He's a, he's a tech bro butler is what I, a billionaire butler. Um, Rachel Maddow called him Peter Thiel's intern, which I thought was funny. Um, Vance worked at this deep venture capital firm, as I said, um, and he's just been... Peter Thiel's been holding his hand the whole time, you know, you know, holding everything to, um, to help him along the way. You know, it's, it's literally like, um, you know, they say everyone gets on their own merit. This guy is like the, the, uh, a poster child for, uh, special needs. Um, he keeps getting pushed upward even though he's not that particularly successful. Um, but he has those stances. He's bullish on crypto. Um, he owns Bitcoin. Uh, he's, he's actually praised FC- FTC chair, Lina Khan, he's a conservative, for her efforts to crack down on big tech. But the tech he's going after is Google, uh, because in his words, it's explicitly progressive technology company. They're also going after Facebook, which is interesting. Marc Andreessen's on the board of that. He's called for the reform of Section 230. He's just in their, it's, he's in their pocket. I just don't know what else to say. (laughs) I, what do you think?

22. SGScott Galloway6:22

    Yeah. Th- like I said, it feels like a kleptocracy. It's pay for play, it's not around ideology, it's, you know, I think, I think we've covered this. I, I, the place I disagree with you and I... Look, JD Vance, d- does he have the credentials to be vice president? Probably not. He... Well, I don't know. He's-

23. KSKara Swisher6:39

    No, he's been there a year and a half, Scott. He's passed no significant legislation.

24. SGScott Galloway6:42

    Well, how long was Obama there? How long was Obama senator?

25. KSKara Swisher6:44

    I get that but, nonetheless, he's passed no significant legislation. He's, he had no business-

26. SGScott Galloway6:48

    I, I don't, I don't-

27. KSKara Swisher6:49

    He had, he had no business success.

28. SGScott Galloway6:51

    I'm not a fan of the man. I, I think that when... The scariest thing in my view around Trump is that he's, uh, in my opinion, lacks focus and wants to take us to The Handmaid's Tale. And 2025, if you're interested, is literally a manifesto for where they're planning to go. And the thing that scares me about Vance is that he has said repeatedly, "I don't care about Ukraine." And generally speaking, throughout history, when world leaders have shown, Western leaders have shown an indifference to an autocrat invading Europe, it doesn't end well. And so, I, I, you know, I find both of these people scarier and scariest. But in terms of just the pick itself and his performance as a politician, you know, my joke around Vance and I'll get, you know... Vance is half Trump's age, hot, and deep down hates Trump. It's Trump's fourth wife.

29. KSKara Swisher7:42

    (laughs) You know, I agree with you on that. I, I do think he's thinking this is Don Jr. successful, but this guy's not successful, neither is Don Jr. And it was shoved, it wa- he was, you know, they, he made the decision supposedly like right after he got shot, which is perfect. Murdoch and others.

30. SGScott Galloway7:56

    Sarah Palin wasn't successful.

Episode duration: 9:55