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How Kara Swisher "Cracked the Case"… and Got Dragged Into the Nuzzi-Lizza-RFK Jr drama | Pivot

First up, Oprah loves Scott, and Kara comments on her role in the Nuzzi-Lizza-RFK Jr drama. Then, they react to reports that Anthropic is eyeing an IPO, and Sam Altman declaring a “code red” at OpenAI. Plus, what it means that Netflix has sweetened its bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, and Scott’s coming around on Bitcoin. Stay tuned for predictions to hear which members of the Trump administration Scott thinks will get the boot soon. 00:00 Intro 9:06 Nuzzi & Lizza & RFK Jr 16:40 Anthropic IPO? 23:17 Warner Bros. Bids 34:58 Michael Dell’s Trump Accounts Donation 38:48 Bitcoin Takes a Dive 43:09 Costco Sues U.S. Government 48:17 Predictions Producers: Lara Naaman Zoë Marcus Taylor Griffin Kate Gallagher Video Producer: Manolo Moreno Vox Media's Executive Producer of Podcasts: Nishat Kurwa Subscribe to Pivot on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pivot/id1073226719 Subscribe to Pivot on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4MU3RFGELZxPT9XHVwTNPR Follow us on Instagram and Threads at: https://www.instagram.com/pivotpodcastofficial/ Follow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@PIVOTPODCAST Send us your questions by calling us at 855-51-PIVOT, or email pivot@voxmedia.com

Kara SwisherhostScott Gallowayhost
Dec 5, 202552mWatch on YouTube ↗

EVERY SPOKEN WORD

  1. 0:009:06

    Intro

    1. KS

      And then the last line is, "Kara Swisher had cracked the case." Like, I'm fucking e- like, Encyclopedia Brown, but the case of the make it fucking stop you two. And so I got dragged into their ridiculous drama. (instrumental music) Hi, everyone. This is Pivot from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network. I'm Kara Swisher.

    2. SG

      And I'm Scott Galloway.

    3. KS

      Scott, I just want to tell you, my mother-in-law agrees with you. She's a psychologist. And remember I said she was gonna be mad at you-

    4. SG

      Mm-hmm.

    5. KS

      ... um, about your therapy, uh, rant the other day?

    6. SG

      Mm-hmm.

    7. KS

      Well, it's, it turns out she agrees with you.

    8. SG

      Go on. (laughs)

    9. KS

      And I would like to tell you it's incredible. So I'm gonna just read it to you 'cause she's so thoughtful about everything. And she goes, "My thought is, I agree with Scott on every point he makes. I know you were joking about your mother-in-law coming after him. I listened to that part about therapy twice to make sure I heard, understood what he was saying. He was a little too strong at first, maybe understandable to me because of the oft criticisms from people who didn't get or even read his book, and he has good points about the therapy industrial complex too. Anyone who listens to Scott knows he isn't blaming women and that criticism is bullshit. The em- interpersonal therapy we think of as discovering and addressing unconscious conflicts and deep hurts can be helpful in freeing people to be their fuller selves, working through and accepting loss, disappointments, et cetera." And so she goes on, um, and she said, "Certainly, as Scott also points out, therapy is c- of this kind is not even remotely available to the vast majority of people." She agrees with you, everyone. And the last thing she said, um, "I don't believe Scott is saying that the competent and ethical therapists are overselling the benefits of therapy or thinking that structural economic vulnerabilities, insecure food, housing, income, chronically inexperienced trauma are healed through talk therapies, but as the other marketed efforts, uh, unscrupulous practitioners may and do take advantage of struggling people, and I'm sure Scott would agree that healthcare, including mental healthcare, needs to be broadly affordable and available, not just for the well-to-do." Boom.

    10. SG

      There you go.

    11. KS

      You're now getting married to Amanda 'cause... (laughs)

    12. SG

      Yeah, I'm, I'm trying to think, like, um...

    13. KS

      'Cause I know you were upset by the, by the therapeutic response and...

    14. SG

      Well, well, hearing that, my, my instincts or my muscle memory is to come up with a, a snarky comment, but the reality is, and you should pass this along to your mother-in-law, I really needed to hear that because-

    15. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    16. SG

      ... when you're just constantly getting comments on TikTok... I mean, the reviews of the book have been 98% positive, but when you get a significant number of TikToks and Reels in your feed from-

    17. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    18. SG

      ... people who clearly haven't read the book saying, "This guy is a pipeline to the red pill," I like to think of myself as an off-ramp from the red pill. And that... And the thing that really hurts is here's another man blaming women, and I'm like, "Oh my God, I'm not blaming women." Anyways, so please pass along or, uh, trust your mother-in-law is listening to this that I, I needed to hear that. It feels really good. So thank you.

    19. KS

      No problem. I mean, I think what was... She's a r- an avid listener, Pivot, and I think w- I think when... As I was thinking of it, I thought a therapist would be mad, but, you know, people are much more thoughtful, and I think what you're dealing with is people that just do these five-second takes, like hot takes on Scott Galloway. And I get that from people about you, and I'm like, "No, that's not true." Like, that's not... The, the blaming women thing I have gotten from a lot of people, and I'm like, "That... You didn't read it then. You didn't read it then." That's my, usually my defense.

    20. SG

      Well, what's interesting is that in, uh... (sighs) If you look at big tech algorithms and if you look at headlines, we do a lot of A/B testing around titles to see what YouTube, YouTube title or thumbnail will get, garner the most headlines or the most downloads. The, the one trend that is overwhelmingly clear, the more incendiary negative comments or words in titles, the more clicks. And also they did an analysis, inflammatory, negative commentary, uh, in headlines in the media is up 140%.

    21. KS

      It's true. It's true.

    22. SG

      You know, if someone wants to say in reviewing a book, "This is what he gets right and what he gets wrong," that's not nearly as powerful as, "I can't stand this misogynist."

    23. KS

      Yeah.

    24. SG

      I mean, it's just... (laughs)

    25. KS

      Yeah. Yeah.

    26. SG

      It, it, it, it's just every algorithm and profit incentive is to be as over the top and, quite frankly, not over the top positive. I, you know, to say, "I just love, love, love this." Uh, no, say why this is-

    27. KS

      Why this sucks.

    28. SG

      ... y- you know, why this is dangerous, you know?

    29. KS

      You know, I, I, I nearly almost got in a fist fight. Someone said, "Oh, well, he's sort of like Jordan Peterson." Like, he's the anti-fucking-Jordan-Peterson. I'm like, they're, they're, they're adjac- they're in the same category. But Jordan Peterson, I think is quite neg- I mean, I know you like parts of his stuff, but I was like, couldn't be more different. Anyway, I'm just saying.

    30. SG

      Anyway, thank you. Thank you for coming to my defense. Thank you for protecting me. Uh, I appreciate it.

  2. 9:0616:40

    Nuzzi & Lizza & RFK Jr

    1. KS

    2. SG

      Thank you.

    3. KS

      Of course, while-

    4. SG

      I understand that.

    5. KS

      ... you're getting fame and fortune from my mother-in-law and Oprah, uh, I-

    6. SG

      Kara Swisher's-

    7. KS

      ... am being called-

    8. SG

      ... in the news.

    9. KS

      I'm in the news with ... I am a swizzle stick.

    10. SG

      You're a swizzle stick.

    11. KS

      Uh, yeah, the New York Times referred to the Olivia Nuzzi-Ryan Lizza drama as, "A cocktail of cockamamy with a swizzle stick of Kara Swisher." Uh-

    12. SG

      Give us the CliffsNotes. Like, give-

    13. KS

      CliffsNotes, I'm gonna do this-

    14. SG

      ... the listeners the background.

    15. KS

      ... super quick.

    16. SG

      Okay.

    17. KS

      Olivia Nuzzi had a digital affair with Ry- uh, with RFK Jr.

    18. SG

      Wasn't it more than digital?

    19. KS

      Uh, I don't know. Now that she says digital, he's denying it completely, he's a big liar.

    20. SG

      Does that mean online or fingers?

    21. KS

      I don't know, Scott. It's pictures I think. I don't know. I don't know. You're dr- you're dragging me into this. I don't want to know about it. So here's the D- it was not good for a journalist to do this.

    22. SG

      What hotels did they check into, Ka- (laughs)

    23. KS

      Okay. (laughs) What did they where? I get it. Listen, it's none of our beeswax, but it was wrong for a journalist to do this and then not disclose it since she was covering the presidential campaign-

    24. SG

      Right, right.

    25. KS

      ... and he was a candidate. Right? Kind of an issue. This, it's fine if you're, you know, an episode of Scandal, but not if you're living in the real world. Anyway, I found out about it through means, nothing to do with Ryan, nothing to do with her, uh-

    26. SG

      And Ryan is her ex or-

    27. KS

      Ex-

    28. SG

      Yeah.

    29. KS

      Her fiance. They were getting married. They were getting married.

    30. SG

      Oh, yeah.

  3. 16:4023:17

    Anthropic IPO?

    1. KS

      But first, Anthropic is exploring an IPO as early as next year, according to the Financial Times, tapping the law firm that advised on Google's and LinkedIn's IPOs. That's interesting. Though the official word from Anthropic is that it hasn't decided when or if it will go public, but it feels like it is. Anthropic is also reportedly pursuing a private funding round that would value it at above $300 billion. Anthropic CEO, uh, Dario Amodi, was at New York Times DealBook Summit on Wednesday. While he didn't talk about the IPO directly, he did discuss the risks at play with all this AI spending. Uh, let's listen.

    2. NA

      When the timing of the economic value is, is uncertain, there's an inherent risk of, of under-reacting or over-extension, and because the companies are competing with each other, and frankly, we genuinely need to compete with, you know, our authoritarian adversaries. Um, uh, there, there's, there's kind of a lot of pressure to push things. So I think there's some amount of irreducible risk here, and I absolutely don't want to deny this. But at the same time as that, I think there are some players who are not managing that risk well.

    3. KS

      I like him a lot, I have to say. I like his product. I like the way he talks about safety. I talked about him last week when David Sacks, uh, was insulting the company for talking about safety as if there was something. Um, what do you... Um, I'm gonna add on one more thing-

    4. SG

      Mm-hmm.

    5. KS

      ... and speaking of other AI players, Sam Altman is clearly feeling the heat from Google, Anthropic and others. He told employees this week that the company was declaring a code red to improve ChatGBT, delaying other products in the process, like an advertising product. So, um, do we, do you think we see an Anthropic IPO before a, uh, OpenAI IPO and how... Talk about the bubble fears. I know you're a fan of Anthropic as a product, is Claude, um, but talk a little bit about this. I really think Dario is one of the people I appreciate 'cause he-... I don't always agree with him on everything, but at least he's, he seems to be telling the truth. That's, I, I know it's, it's like a, it's like the lowest bar of all time, but...

    6. SG

      He's positioned himself really well as sort of the-

    7. KS

      I agree.

    8. SG

      ... more measured, honest, less cheerleading. You know, he even said, he even acknowledged that this is probably going to, at least in the short and the medium term, destroy a lot of jobs. And he offered up the notion that maybe the exceptional market share or, uh, increases in shareholder values should be taxed to help pay for some of the retraining. And he's been pretty, I feel like he's a pretty honest broker here. And he's been a nice, a little bit of a nice antidote to Sam Altman, who I think is a little bit overexposed. And Anthropic's positioning is a little bit different. It, it has a much smaller consumer footprint, no mass market product like a ChatGPT. It primarily is in the business of enterprise APIs-

    9. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    10. SG

      ... and it's really deeply integrated into finance, legal, healthcare. Super strong partnerships with Amazon. And so they're trying to position themselves as sort of high trust, enterprise-first LLM provider, and I like that positioning 'cause in my experience, and I'm biased 'cause I like B2B, but B2B typically is more consistent. If a company si- signs an enterprise or a site-wide license, they tend to not... Consumers are fickle on the upside, something can get hot, you don't even know why, like, why is, you know, l- l- the boo-boo, w- like, explain to me the logic behind that. But they're positioning themselves-

    11. KS

      Beanie Babies, but go ahead.

    12. SG

      They're positioning themselves as, um, sort of the enterprise AI, and it's... You know, OpenAI is sort of universal AI platform, and Anthropic is sort of enterprise safety and reliability leader, and I think that's a really good positioning. And it sounds basic. Um, and they have, the trade-off is they have slower consumer adoption and less cultural buzz, but, um, some of the things they have tried to do is reduce hallucination rates, better model control, better governance, better regulatory comfort.

    13. KS

      Better safety. I mean, again-

    14. SG

      And, and they stepped on... I mean, it sounds basic, but they basically stepped on OpenAI and said, "We're thinking about going public," and they've got a ton of attention. Uh, so I, I think this was a really smart move, and I think that-

    15. KS

      They also did settle with copyright shareholders from that.

    16. SG

      That's right. He's trying to, yeah.

    17. KS

      Right. Right. So.

    18. SG

      So, uh, uh, uh, you know, whereas ChatGPT is about subscriptions and API usage and enterprise licenses and integration fees through Microsoft and Azure, Anthropic is really about API usage and enterprise contracts with long-term commitments and also cloud partnerships. So I like... It's also priced premium relative to competitors. It's mar- and marketed as a safer alternative for regulated industries.

    19. KS

      So OpenAI now, uh, you know, this, I've always talked about this idea of what if it becomes Netscape, right? This is my fear.

    20. SG

      Yeah. It's a good point.

    21. KS

      And not Google. And that feels like that, feels like Google's gonna stay Google or, or, or whatever it happens to be. Which one's gonna have the IPO first?

    22. SG

      You know, the honest answer is I don't know. It comes down... It's a lot about, um, the cap table, your shareholders, um, but you got to think that OpenAI's bankers are saying, "Let's file tomorrow. Let's go."

    23. KS

      Wouldn't it be good if they went together? Would, would it be a bad thing?

    24. SG

      What would be the best thing for both companies is if one goes out and rockets and gives everyone a chance to breathe, and then institutional investors look at the 80% first trade up on X firm and pile into Y. I don't think they want to go public too close to each other 'cause they'll soak up all of the "LLM IPO capital."

    25. KS

      With the worry. Right. And there's worry at the same time among investors. I think Anthropic should probably go fast. That's what I would do if I were them.

    26. SG

      Well, i- it's, it is quote, it's an instance where they quite frankly can establish a leadership position 'cause OpenAI right now is pretty dominant in almost every, you know... I mean, I mean, OpenAI is trying to become a full operating system for AI, uh, with consumer and enterprise ubiquity.

    27. KS

      Yeah. And, and even products, yeah.

    28. SG

      And Anthropic is trying to focus on enterprise-

    29. KS

      Yeah.

    30. SG

      ... and also the safety and, uh, more nod to the regulatory environment of different, of different, um, verticals-

  4. 23:1734:58

    Warner Bros. Bids

    1. KS

      another story, the latest bids are in for Warner Brothers Discovery. Netflix has come back with a mostly cash offer after leaning, uh, on its stock for the initial bid, but the stock has been a little bit down actually. Paramount is also putting together an all-cash bid financed by Apollo and some Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds, despite denying that involvement a few weeks ago. That'll tell you everything you need to know about these people. And Comcast has reportedly made a cash and stock bid that would merge NBCUniversal with Warner Brothers Discovery. Up next, Warner Brothers will either accept one of the offers or move to a third round of bids or break itself up like it was going to. Um, one thing that I find really particularly disturbing is that... Well, first of all, um, the Paramount bid has a five billion dollar breakup thing 'cause they're so confident in their closeness with Trump and White House officials and some Republicans are already raising antitrust concerns about Netflix. They're, the- their, part of their main strategy is, "Trump loves us and we'll do whatever it takes," uh, which is really horrible. I, I, you know, whatever. That's their strategy. It's so non-economic what they're doing here. And then involving the Saudis is really, I can't believe that, that they would be big in, any co- any foreign country would be a big investor in owning this much of news and entertainment. I find that troubling. I don't mind them owning the golf things, but this is a whole nother story. Uh, your thoughts?

    2. SG

      Emerson Junior High School, ninth grade. We had the ninth grade prom.

    3. KS

      Oh dear. (laughs) Okay.

    4. SG

      (laughs) "Buckle up. Where's Anne?"

    5. KS

      Okay. "Where's Anne?" (laughs) "Where's Anne?"

    6. SG

      "Where's Anne?" And you know you have your route, you have your pattern-

    7. KS

      Yeah.

    8. SG

      ... and how you walk to school. And my junior high school was not a hallmark. There were just certain routes you didn't go down 'cause there'd be a kid there that got used to sort of beating you up or-

    9. KS

      Yeah. Oh.

    10. SG

      ... or asking you for money.

    11. KS

      Were you beaten up?

    12. SG

      Oh, I was pulled into bathrooms and-

    13. KS

      Oh.

    14. SG

      ... and beaten, yeah.

    15. KS

      Oh.

    16. SG

      No, it wasn't-

    17. KS

      Not me.

    18. SG

      I mean, not a lot, but, uh, yeah, a lot of, a lot of that. Um, and by the way, I'm, I'm not gonna... In a weird way, I think some of it was probably good. You learn negotiation skills in-

    19. KS

      Okay. (laughs)

    20. SG

      ... in, in adversity.

    21. KS

      "Just don't break my face."

    22. SG

      Yeah.

    23. KS

      Okay, go ahead. Moving on. Let's-

    24. SG

      Well, there's a reason my nose goes to the right. Anyways-

    25. KS

      I can't wait to see how this relates. Go ahead.

    26. SG

      ... going from, going from Home Economics to Spanish class, me and my best friend, Brett Jarvis, would pass Kelly Mayhew and Lynn Sugimura. And Lynn was this beautiful, intelligent, um, 14-year-old. And we, neither of us had dates and I just yelled out as Lynn was passing me by, "Lynn, will you go to prom with me?" And they both laughed. And the next day, she cornered me outside and said, "Were you serious about me going to prom with you?" And I'm like, "You don't have a date?" I mean, Lynn was beautiful. And said, "No." I'm like, "Yeah, yeah. Will you go to the prom with me?" And she said yes. And then immediately I go to the next class and I tell everyone, "I'm going to the prom with Lynn Sugimura." And within, like, uh, the next day, she's like, "Five guys have asked me to the prom in the last day." So once people knew Lynn was actually going to go to the prom-

    27. KS

      Oh.

    28. SG

      ... and would go with Scott Galloway-

    29. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    30. SG

      ... all of a sudden, everyone-

  5. 34:5838:48

    Michael Dell’s Trump Accounts Donation

    1. KS

      Scott, we're back. Tech mogul Michael Dell and his wife, Susan Dell, have pledged $6.25 billion to fund 25 million Trump accounts for kids. The donation will extend the reach of the new child investment accounts beyond the pool made eligible by the Big Beautiful Bill. Now, most children, uh, 10 and under who were born prior to the qualifying federal date will receive just $250. Um, I- I don't know what you think of this. I feel like why don't we just tax Michael Dell properly, his fair share, and then decide where to put the money, including towards kids? This is symbolic. He did one of those White House things, calling it Trump accounts. The whole thing feels rather grotesque to me. But go for it.

    2. SG

      Yeah, I think the Dells ... Look, I- I think if you give $6 billion to try and inspire saving and investing in the markets for kids, I think they deserve praise for this. I- I- I realize ... I buy into the notion of what a non- says, that if we're just reliant on the generosity of billionaires, they get to dictate social policy, not our elected leaders. And you're right, we should have a progressive tax structure such that we could figure out a long-term solution. Uh, but I- I- I really find the criticism of the Dells unfair and really unproductive, because at some point billionaires just say, "Okay, you win. I'm just not giving any more." I- I don't think it's ... I- I think they should be praised for this type of philanthropy.

    3. KS

      No, I ... I feel like it's, it's the company man, like giving out company, the- the, you know, company towns that are run by one oligarch, essentially-

    4. SG

      Yeah.

    5. KS

      ... in a lot of places. "I'm gonna let ev- I'm gonna let three people go to college and I'll decide." Meanwhile, keeping everybody down. Like, I just ... I- I'm sorry, that's what it is.

    6. SG

      But do you think they're try- I think the system is fucked up. I agree that we need structural reform. But I don't, I don't think the Dells are trying to keep anybody down.

    7. KS

      I don't think It's just like why don't you just get taxed normally and let our, our elected officials-

    8. SG

      That's a structural issue.

    9. KS

      I- I get that, but I ... This whole, like, performative, calling them Trump accounts, he didn't have to call it that.

    10. SG

      Yeah, I agree.

    11. KS

      Like, it's just, like, gross. It's just gross.

    12. SG

      It, it-

    13. KS

      If you want to give money, give money the way Mackenzie Scott does it. I'm sorry.

    14. SG

      By the way, Mackenzie Scott gave $40 million to a teen, um, suicide prevention-... a charity I'm involved with, and I, I don't know her, so I, I in no way do I wanna, in any, in any way say that I was in any way (laughs) had anything to do with this.

    15. KS

      Mm-hmm. She might be listening to you.

    16. SG

      But she is... Well, three years ago, who was my person of the year?

    17. KS

      Yeah.

    18. SG

      MacKenzie Scott.

    19. KS

      I gotta say, that's-

    20. SG

      There's-

    21. KS

      ... that's who I want billionaires to be.

    22. SG

      There's just no denying that when these, the female side of the partnership gets divorced from these, these 100 billionaires, they immediately start giving money away.

    23. KS

      Yeah. Yeah.

    24. SG

      I mean, there is, there does appear to be a difference in the way men and women approach their wealth.

    25. KS

      Yeah.

    26. SG

      And I would argue one is much healthier. Anyways, the... I love the idea in theory, and that is, I think one of the advantages that China has over the US is they think in 50-year increments. And I believe Social Security is totally unsustainable, and because it's so popular, because of the age of Congress, and the old people keep voting, that I think we need to do similar to what Australia did and other places do. I would give $7,000 to every baby born, that's 40 billion, and then, and then basically not let them touch it until they were 65 and it's a million bucks, and then within 30 years, when you saw the end of Social Security, 'cause we'd no longer need it, interest rates would come down and pay for the program. So I would want something on a bigger scale. Australia has something c- super return, I forget what it's called. But this stuff, I like it. I think we need something bigger and bolder that has a structural shift to get rid of Social Security in the long term such that interest rates start coming down in the medium term.

    27. KS

      Those all sound great, but honestly, this is just for sucking up, another suck up to Trump. That's what I feel like. Anyway, uh, onto crypt- I don't think it's the best way to do it, that's all. And again, it's not capitalism as I see it, but...

  6. 38:4843:09

    Bitcoin Takes a Dive

    1. KS

      Uh, let's go onto crypto. Bitcoin remains turbulent despite the crypto president being in office, down 30% from its peak at one point this week. Bitcoin and other crypto assets have endured bigger drops, losing as much as 80% of value and then turning around, as we know. But the market appears spooked and worried about a crypto winter. Billionaire Michael Saylor's firm, Strategy, which pioneered selling corporate debt to buy Bitcoin, announced it raised $1.4 billion so ensure it can meet future payments. And Harvard, who had gotten in at the wrong time, the school increased its Bitcoin investments to $500 million last quarter, potentially leading to a 14% loss. Um, very briefly, let's do this real quick. What, what do you think about this? This is an ongoing story we really need to be paying attention to.

    2. SG

      I like to call balls and strikes when I talk a lot about my personal finances to hopefully, um, educate people, and I like to call out my losses as, as my fails. I have not had any Bitcoin exposure, and then a few months ago, I said, "Fuck, I need some exposure."

    3. KS

      Oh, I remember. Yeah, you talked-

    4. SG

      I bought one of these Bitcoin treasury stocks at 14 bucks a share.

    5. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    6. SG

      It, I think it closed today at, at $5.50.

    7. KS

      Ooh, ouch.

    8. SG

      So I've had my stock... I got in at exactly, me and Harvard got in exactly the wrong time.

    9. KS

      (laughs) I'm gonna call you Harvard.

    10. SG

      But having said that, I'm actually thinking about adding to the position because essentially, Bitcoin is an incredibly volatile asset. It, and that's what young people like about it, or young people think the system's rigged, so they've invented their own asset classes. But it's off roughly 25% from its peak in October. It's down 12% in the last month, but it's essentially flat from where it started at the beginning of the year. And it's the result of kind of a de-risking trade that has been ripping through the markets, and Bitcoin is an especially risky asset. It's a bit of a canary in the coal mine regarding how risk sentiment. Risk on, Bitcoin goes off, up, risk off-

    11. KS

      Yeah.

    12. SG

      ... Bitcoin goes down.

    13. KS

      Very good point.

    14. SG

      It's three times more volatile than the S&P 500. Retail participation in crypto is roughly two times out of US stocks, and the top 100 Bitcoin holders control about 15% of total supply.

    15. KS

      That's incredible. Did you see the military is getting, like, regular, like, like, privates are getting into Bitcoin. That made me like, okay, this reminds me of-

    16. SG

      Oh, young men. Risk aggressive-

    17. KS

      Yeah. I was like this-

    18. SG

      The risk aggressive brain of, of young men.

    19. KS

      Remember E-Trade and all that stuff, day traders? I felt like, "Oh, oh. Uh-oh."

    20. SG

      Yeah. Actually, I think the next big one, I think Bitcoin's gonna have oxygen taken out of it, 'cause I think the next Bitcoin, the next crypto is gonna be prediction markets.

    21. KS

      Mm.

    22. SG

      But anyways, there's also, people use... So here's a stat. 18 to 34-year-olds make up 51% of all crypto holders. Adults 45 and older make up just 22%, so it's the opposite of stocks. And male users are about two-thirds of all crypto owners. And 73% of male holders, uh, report active trading versus just 48% of women. I mean, look, folks, at some point we have to acknowledge, generally speaking, women are different than men.

    23. KS

      Yes.

    24. SG

      The way they approach philanthropy, investing, everything.

    25. KS

      Yeah. I gotta say, you know, when you talked about that a couple months ago, you were investing, I thought, "I should maybe," and then I didn't. I thought, "Hmm, too volatile for Kara Swisher. I'm gonna keep my p- I'm gonna sit on my pile of money." And I didn't.

    26. SG

      So a friend of mine named Eric Jackson, who's sort of this, he's this really interesting-

    27. KS

      I like Eric. I love Eric.

    28. SG

      ... investor, nice guy.

    29. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    30. SG

      Um, he and I became friendly back when I started L2. He's, like, pounding the table saying that this is an incredible buying opportunity. And it's not financial advice, but I'm going to add-

  7. 43:0948:17

    Costco Sues U.S. Government

    1. KS

      Scott, we're back with more news. Costco has sued the U.S. government for a full refund on tariffs it has paid if the Supreme Court rules them illegal. The complaint argues that the Trump Administration misused emergency powers to implement tariffs. Two lower courts have already ruled that Trump exceeded his authority. Uh, I love Costco. I love Cos- every bit of Costco, and I love how they're just like, "Yeah, we're liberal, and that's the way we're gonna stay." The same thing with ... There's several companies like that, like Patagonia and others, and they do rather well, both of them. Um, what do you, uh, what do you think of this? This is really interesting. I feel like it's time to fight back. It's time to be like, "That's enough, my friend. That's enough of your antics, your ridiculous taco antics."

    2. SG

      If Hobby Lobby wants to take a more conservative approach to their business-

    3. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    4. SG

      ... or if Target doesn't want to, uh, sell merchandise celebrating Pride, consumers have the right to boycott them, they have the right to do that. I think private enterprise, unless it's, it's discriminating against your, your consu- your customers or your employees, I think private enterprise gets to do what it wants.

    5. KS

      Yeah, agree.

    6. SG

      And Chick-fil-A has always been known as being more conservative.

    7. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    8. SG

      You don't like Chick-fil-A, don't eat at Chick-fil-A.

    9. KS

      Right, correct.

    10. SG

      I got that from you.

    11. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    12. SG

      So as long as you're not discriminating based on, you know, employees or customers and ... I think companies should have ... Companies now, unfortunately, or many of them, get positioned politically whether they want to or not.

    13. KS

      Right.

    14. SG

      The smart ones try to stay out of that mess.

    15. KS

      That's correct.

    16. SG

      But you're gonna have Trump, a guy who l- left a trail of unpaid subcontractors and bankrupt casinos, tell Costco how to run business? I mean, Costco, Costco's one of the most impressive retail companies in the last 100 years.

    17. KS

      I know. I love that they're suing him, though. Like, you know what?

    18. SG

      And do, do you realize it only t- I think it's only 2% of their revenues come from membership. Basically, Costco is, "We sell you everything at our cost, and then you pay us whatever it is, or 100, 180 bucks a year, and that's where we make all our money is membership." It's only 2% of their revenues, but it's like half their operating profits. And the model is so genius, it's so simple, but it's so-

    19. KS

      It's so fun to shop. It's also a great, it's also a great product. Like, I don't just think it ... Like, if it was kind of a shitty product, you'd be ... And you'd have to drag your way through it. It's actually so much fun to go to a Costco. And they have good hot dogs, but ...

    20. SG

      It's the only place where I go in for paper towels and I leave with a kayak, a gallon of salsa, and a financial crisis.

    21. KS

      And like 900 croissants.

    22. SG

      No, I leave with a kayak. "I need peanut butter. Oh, I gotta buy this kayak." (laughs) Um-

    23. KS

      Where's your kayak? I love kayaking.

    24. SG

      Yeah.

    25. KS

      Do you have a kayak?

    26. SG

      Uh, no, I've been kayaking. That's the closest I think-

    27. KS

      Yeah.

    28. SG

      ... I've came to death.

    29. KS

      Oh.

    30. SG

      My buddy, Doug Telcher at Berkeley-

  8. 48:1752:46

    Predictions

    1. KS

      Okay, Scott, let's hear your predictions. We've been saying predict-y stuff, but ... Um, by the way, another lawsuit. I predict New York Times just sued the Pentagon for infringing on First Amendment rights of being able to cover stuff. There's gonna be a lot more lawsuits agai- uh, by companies now against Trump. That's my prediction. Everyone's like, "That's fucking enough, dude." W- i- I call it the "this fucking guy" situation. This fucking guy, I'm gonna sue him. Anyway, sorry, go ahead.

    2. SG

      When I was living at home with my mother and had no, nothing going on when I was like 24 ... Um, um, by the way, I was one of those men I talk about all the time. I used to go to Nordstrom and cosplay someone who had their shit together. (laughs)

    3. KS

      (laughs)

    4. SG

      You just feel like when you're in there-

    5. KS

      You probably had a turtleneck-

    6. SG

      ... you must have your act together.

    7. KS

      ... and a blazer.

    8. SG

      Yeah, 'cause you're buying like $90 sweaters and you're like-

    9. KS

      (laughs) Yeah, you probably had-

    10. SG

      ... "I must have my act together."

    11. KS

      Yeah, yeah.

    12. SG

      "I'm at Nordstrom."

    13. KS

      Yeah.

    14. SG

      And yeah, it was-

    15. KS

      At Nordstrom.

    16. SG

      Or, or my favorite was ...I would go into the fragrance section and just take every fragrance, and I would-

    17. KS

      Yeah. Oh, no.

    18. SG

      It was like a chemical ambush.

    19. KS

      Fragrance masking.

    20. SG

      I'd start seeing my ancestors and my credit score at the same time.

    21. KS

      Yeah. Oh, fragrance masking.

    22. SG

      Yeah. All right, my prediction is the following.

    23. KS

      Go ahead.

    24. SG

      Uh, Hegseth, Patel, and RFK are out within the next 30 days. I think Trump has absolutely no loyalty. His administration is tanking. Uh, he's gonna have to face potential n- you know, allegations of war crimes. The economy sucks. Uh, tariffs aren't working and-

    25. KS

      So Patel, Hegseth, and Noem?

    26. SG

      I think he's gonna, I think he's gonna do one fell swoop. I think he's gonna, uh, within like a week of each other, I think. And a lot of presidents have done this.

    27. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    28. SG

      Presidents usually kind of go a year or two years and they say, "Okay, it's time to calibrate."

    29. KS

      Mm-hmm.

    30. SG

      And they let some people go.

Episode duration: 52:47

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