PivotJimmy Kimmel’s Removal Proves America Is Now a "Full Oligarchy" | Pivot
EVERY SPOKEN WORD
140 min read · 27,832 words- 0:00 – 3:30
Intro
- SGScott Galloway
You said something that always struck me that I love the Washington Post statement, "Democracy dies in darkness." And you've always said, "No, it's dying in full light of day." (instrumental music)
- KSKara Swisher
Hi, everyone. This is Pivot from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network. I'm Kara Swisher, and I have not been canceled yet. What about you?
- SGScott Galloway
I think the key word there is yet. Um...
- KSKara Swisher
(laughs) As if.
- SGScott Galloway
As if. Uh, I'm, uh, yeah, I'm Scott Galloway. I'm sitting here in Nashville, massively jack, jet-lagged. I was in London about 22 hours ago, and I'm in New York and now here, and I'm watching across, I'm staying at the... Where am I? The Grand Hyatt? No. I'm staring at the Grand Hyatt, um, and the JW Marriott. And across the street is this parking lot being torn down-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
... by these two massive cranes.
- KSKara Swisher
That's fun to watch.
- SGScott Galloway
And it's oddly relaxing.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. It's fun.
- SGScott Galloway
I've just been sitting here thinking about, you know, metaphors with the U.S. society, but anyways, I'm in Nashville. Where are you?
- KSKara Swisher
I, I'm back in D.C. I was in, um, Ann Arbor yesterday doing my class at the University of Michigan, and also interviewing Pete Buttigieg.
- SGScott Galloway
You mean where your son is?
- KSKara Swisher
Yes, yes, where my son is.
- SGScott Galloway
Oh my God. What, what are you... I'm sorry. What are you teaching in Michigan? Uh, Justin Wolfers.
- KSKara Swisher
Scott Galloway 101. That's really, I just talk about you. That's all.
- SGScott Galloway
Baby, unlocking my heart is an enigma.
- KSKara Swisher
Will you come talk to the class? I think they would like that.
- SGScott Galloway
Oh, 100% no.
- KSKara Swisher
R- remote, remotely.
- SGScott Galloway
Oh, remote? Yeah, I would do remote.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. You have to look at the camera so people can look at your pretty face.
- SGScott Galloway
No, I'm sorry. I'm, I'm looking literally at this parking lot being torn down.
- KSKara Swisher
I know, you're staring at the like, we're, it's, you know what? There, there are videos.
- SGScott Galloway
Next thing you're gonna want me to stop masturbating in the middle of our podcast.
- KSKara Swisher
Okay. All right.
- SGScott Galloway
Leave me alone.
- KSKara Swisher
Listen to him, listen to him. Um, I think I'm the only person who didn't care that he did that. I saw him recently at CNN. I didn't care. I didn't care.
- SGScott Galloway
You know, remote work is just gonna have some externalities, folks, I mean... (laughs)
- KSKara Swisher
Whatever. I mean-
- 3:30 – 13:40
ABC Pulls Jimmy Kimmel Off Air
- KSKara Swisher
Kimmel Live off the air indefinitely after a comedian made a joke about the Charlie Kirk shooting, which was actually factual. Let's listen to exactly what Kimmel said.
- JKJimmy Kimmel
We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it. In between the finger-pointing, there was, uh, grieving. On Friday, the White House flew the flags at half-staff, which got some criticism. But on a human level, you can see how hard the president is taking this.
- NANarrator
My condolences on the loss of your friend, Charlie Kirk. May I ask, sir, personally, how are you holding up over the last day and a half, sir?
- DTDonald Trump
I think very good, and by the way, right there, you see all the trucks? They've just started construction of the new ballroom for the White House, which is something they've been trying to get, as you know, for about 150 years, and it's gonna be a beauty.
- JKJimmy Kimmel
(laughing)
- NANarrator
Yes, okay. He's at the fourth stage of grief, construction.
- JKJimmy Kimmel
(laughing)
- KSKara Swisher
By the way, Kimmel posted on social media after Kirk was killed, sending his love to the Kirk family and to all victims of gun violence. FCC Chair Brendan Carr, who's got to be the most unctuous toady in a, in a sea of them in the Trump administration, blasted Kimmel in an interview with right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson on Wednesday, calling Simmel's com- uh, Kimmel's comments, "The sickest conduct possible," uh, uh, which is, uh, inexplicable. He suggested ABC's broadcast license was at risk, threatening, "We can do this the easy way or the hard way," which gives me every indication his penis is very small. Nexstar, the owner of several ABC affiliates and the company seeking FCC approval for its $6.2 billion acquisition of rival media company Tegna, they need a, they need it out because they're over 39% ownership across the country, announced it would drop, uh, Kimmel's show. Sinclair Broadcast Group, which is also conservative, owned by conservatives, who also own ABC stations, followed, demanding Kimmel apologize and make a personal donation to the Kirk family and Turning Point USA, Kirk's organization. Disney CEO Bob Iger and the company's TV chief, Dana, Dana Walden, then made a decision to take Kimmel off the air. Trump celebrated the move as great news for America and urged NBC to pull the plug on Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon. I, I, I don't know where to fucking begin here. Do, uh... Is, is Bob Iger the worst person on Earth at this moment? I think possibly, and I'm not really clear what happened here with them. Secondly, uh, Nexstar and Sinclair are now telling us what, what we can do and don't do? They can, they can take it off the air. They own the company. Fine, whatever. Uh...Brendan Carr, to me, is- should be the focus of this. Um, and Donald Trump. This was a "shit, uh, rolls downhill" kind of thing. He essentially threatened them and, uh, with, "We can do this the easy way." I'm excited for the lawsuit that will ensue because of this. They are quashing free speech, and I'm not talking about Nexstar and, uh, Sinclair. They're just horrible toads. Um, th- this is a problem with Bren- uh, Brendan Carr, who's always been a problem, um, who has- who has had millions of quotes saying, "We should never do this." Uh, I- I can read them over and over again. But- and then, of course, it began with Donald Trump, who's been attacking Kimmel for a long time and predicting he would be fired. Um, Scott, initial reaction when you heard the news?
- SGScott Galloway
Well, I think Bob Iger is gonna go down in history as Neville Chamberlain in a cashmere sweater, minus the dignity.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
I mean, unfortu- Neville Chamberlain was actually a pretty decent man and-
- KSKara Swisher
He was.
- SGScott Galloway
... thought he was doing the right thing, and he's become a bit of a footnote in history as someone who's-
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm, quiz me.
- SGScott Galloway
... you know, defines the word appeasement.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, please.
- SGScott Galloway
But, (laughs) I mean, one thing- one thing's clear. I doubt- I doubt Bob Iger's really happy he came back. Um, I think this is a terrible footnote on his legacy and when... You know, these people bent a knee, they kind of broke the dam. So Shari Redstone paid basically a vig-
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
... to get her deal done.
- KSKara Swisher
Iger did too.
- SGScott Galloway
Uh, Iger did, and now you have, um, the- this guy, Brendan Carr. You know, the- these people aren't F- we don't have a director of an FBI, we don't have an FCC chair. What we have is people who, uh, are acolytes of President Trump and are just enacting his will in hope that once they get out of office, he'll carve up ByteDance or some other company and make them rich. This is full- this is full oligarchy now, it has nothing to do with the government. They control all three houses, they es- essentially have a very sympathetic Supreme Court and, you know, I kind of admire. They're like all about, "We're just gonna do everything we want, we're- we're an autocrat." They're not even... You said something though that struck me, that I love the Washington Post statement, "Democracy dies in darkness," and you've always said, "No, it's dying in full light of day." And so look, uh, I don't... The could make an argument. I said this about Colbert, I don't think this is the same here. Let's just talk a little bit about Jimmy Kimmel. Uh, Disney is not... D- Disney is not losing a lot by canceling Kimmel. Only 12% of his viewers are age 18 to 49 and at an average of just 200- 228,000 viewers within the demographic, um, and by the way, that's down 10% from the same period last year, it's down two thirds by 2015. Overall, the show averages about 1.8 million viewers a night. That means about 1.6 of that 1.8 are 50 plus. So look, it's not- and the show has probably 180-
- KSKara Swisher
Sure, that's a different decision.
- SGScott Galloway
It's at 180 employees. Having said that, if the folks- if Bob Iger had decided, "You know, I'm a billionaire, I've had a wonderful life in no small part because of the rights of free speech and appreciation for basic capitalism and appreciation for fidelity to the law," you know, "I'm already a billionaire, maybe it's time I actually tried to do the right thing." He decided not to do that. He wants to get the stock price up and I think just get the hell out of Dodge or get the company sold, I don't know. So that's the sup-
- KSKara Swisher
He wants to sell it to Apple from what I c- that's what it feels like to me. I mean, uh, go ahead, finish. I have- I wanna read some Brendan Quarr- Quarr quotes 'cause I think we should f- listen, Iger, I- I don't even want to speak to him again (laughs) at this moment and I really like Bob Iger, we know each other very well, I've interviewed him dozens of times, but I am so embarrassed for him. I'm embarrassed for his wife, who runs a journalism school. I don't know what she's going to say to her students today, I don't want to drag her into it, but she runs a journalism school. So she's got some- some explaining to do, I think, on behalf of her husband. Um, uh, it's not- it's not her decision, but nonetheless, it's- it's awkward, I would say. Um, I- Iger is- has- could have quit, he could have- I- he could make excuses all he wants about shareholders. I know he had some right-wingers on his ass, um, quite a bit, including Elon Musk, including Ike- I think it's Ike Perlmutter, e- e- et cetera. It doesn't matter, he- he- he had a duty to something bigger here and ha- and is one of the few people who probably could have done this and pulled it off correctly. I know he was very upset when Nazis were, uh, uh, and worried about danger when Nazis were, um, protesting outside of, uh, neo-Nazis were protesting outside of Disney. I get all that, I get the shareholder thing, I get worried about safety, but at some point, stand up, man. Like this is just like ridi- and he could do it. L- let me focus on Brendan Carr though because this is really the- the real problem here. They- all the right is now saying, "Oh, Sinclair can ask anything of anyone." Of course they can, they're terrible people and they wanna- they- that- that used to happen in the old days when television first started. But let me read some Brendan Carr things. From, uh, 2019, "Should the government censor speech it doesn't like? Of course not. The FCC does not have a roving mandate to police speech in the name of the 'public interest.'" Then he said in 2023, uh, 2023, "Free speech is the counterweight and is the check on government control. This is why censorship is an authoritarian's dream." And then back in 2022, "President Biden is right. Political satire is one of the oldest and most important forms of free speech. It challenges those in power while using humor to draw more people into the discussion. That's why people in influential positions have always targeted it for censorship." J.D. Vance today, "Everyone please congratulate Marco Rubio, the host of ABC's new, uh, late night show." I mean, whatever that alleged couch fucker says is always stupid. Um-Uh, I- I- I don't think he did fuck a couch by the way, let me just be clear. Um, and y- this is what's the problem here. And then today, um, Carr also then said, FCC chair, he said, "Sinclair has every right to demand that Jimmy Kimmel donate to Turning Point USA." He needs to shut the fuck up. I honestly don't know what else to say about this guy. He's- i- it's gonna be lawsuits, he is crossing the line as a government official making these kind of threats d- due to speech. I- I don't know. I- I- I- I- he's the one we need to focus on despite the fact that Iger, uh, i- is such a disappointment.
- SGScott Galloway
Well, just, uh, I wanna talk about-
- KSKara Swisher
Sorry, I ranted.
- SGScott Galloway
... I mean, it's gonna be easy to talk about how h- in- insanely hypocritical (laughs) this is, and then we should try and move to, uh, I have s- uh, I'm, uh, going down a rabbit hole around what we can do about it. In 2023, Fox des- described cancel culture driven largely by woke ideology. Tucker Carlson asked his audience, "If you wanna know how free your society is, just ask a really basic question. Am I allowed to make fun of people in charge? Can I mock them? Can I tweet? That- not with violence, but with words. And if you can, you're in a free country. If you can't, it's not." That's Tucker Carlson. Representative Jim Jordan claimed in 2021 that cancel culture is "The most dangerous thing happening in our country today." In 2020, Trump told the RNC, "The goal of cancel culture is to make decent Americans live in fear of being fired, expelled, shamed, humiliated and driven from s- from society as we know it." In a 2020 campaign rally, Trump said, "The unhinged left-wing mob is trying to vandalize our history and punish, cancel, and persecute anyone who does not conform to their demands for absolute and total control." Pam Bondi, targeting hate speech. On the Katie Miller podcast on Monday, Pam Bondi said that the DOJ-
- KSKara Swisher
We're gonna play, we're gonna- let's have
- 13:40 – 34:17
Pam Bondi on Hate Speech
- KSKara Swisher
her play it. But w- this is-
- SGScott Galloway
Okay.
- KSKara Swisher
... Attorney General Pam Bondi i- i- is cleaning up after the mess after remarks about free speech pissed off people on both sides. Le- let's listen to it and then you can comment on it.
- SGScott Galloway
Okay.
- KSKara Swisher
She made this on the Katie Miller podcast.
- PBPam Bondi
There's free speech and then there's hate speech. And there is no place, especially now, especially after what happened to Charlie, in our society.
- NANarrator
Do you see more law enforcement going after these groups who are using hate speech and putting cuffs on people so we show them that some action is better than no action?
- PBPam Bondi
We will absolutely target you, go after you if you are targeting anyone with hate speech.
- KSKara Swisher
A- now, to- to be fair, as you know, Tucker Carlson was one of the o- ones on the far right who was pretty fired up about this, but in the way that's different. Let's listen.
- CSCommentator (hate speech / Kimmel segment)
You hope that a year from now, the turmoil we're seeing in the aftermath of his murder won't be leveraged to bring hate speech laws to this country. And trust me, if it is, if that does happen, there is never a more justified moment for civil disobedience than that, ever, and there never will be. Because if they can tell you what to say, they're telling you what to think, there is nothing they can't do to you because they don't consider you human. They don't believe you have a soul. A human being with a soul, a free man has a right to say what he believes. Not to hurt other people, but to express his views.
- KSKara Swisher
You can also hurt people with your speech, that's fine too. I mean, anyway, uh, uh, go ahead, and we'll get to Trump in a minute, but go ahead, what your point was?
- SGScott Galloway
Well, okay, so hate speech. What Jimmy Kimmel said, I- I thought I had the wrong clip. Th- that's- that qualifies as hate speech? I mean, there are- the First Amendment, it basically says, all right, it's not absolute. If you incite violence, if you defame people, that's not legal. But what- I- quite frankly, we've said much worse things about Trump than (laughs) than what Jimmy Kimmel said. And this notion... So okay, could hate speech be, uh, President Trump should be incarcerated at a minimum and possibly executed, uh, while in prison? Is that hate speech? Well, Charlie Kirk said that about Biden. So, we're gonna have the Attorney General is now threatening to target people, and that's- that's an authoritarian government. So it's- it's pretty clear what's going on here. CBS has been sold to the Ellisons, and NBC and ABC are basically under threat of being silenced and potentially losing their business 'cause the, um, you know, the acolyte of- of Trump running the FCC is threatening to pull their licenses, and the top- nation's top cop is threatening to target people based on what appears to be a bar for hate speech that is the following speech that disparages or that is critical or even mocks in a humorous way the president. So I'm sort of- I mean, this is just so- we're gonna spend the next few days distracting from Epstein, talking about invalidating what we all know. This is- this is a violation of law which may not be he- upheld or take a long time in court to be upheld with current- the current Supreme Court. We know it's directly contrary to everything or m- one of the things that's been key around free speech in our country that makes our country great, and we're gonna spend a ton of time talking about it. And what I wanna talk about and what I've been researching, getting up at 3:00 in the morning with jaggle- jet lag, is what we can do about it. And I used to think, "Well, people will rise up, you know, we- they'll vote in '26." Okay, I don't know how much damage will be done by then. People will be outraged. But the bottom line is the majority of people, um, here in Nashville, when out to get some coffee, are kind of just going about their lives and don't see a big difference, so to call on them to think they're gonna do something, yeah, you hope so, but so far- I mean, the markets are up today. What I think we need to think about and, uh, I think the only thing that moves the needle here, I'm increasingly convinced, is some sort of national economic strike. And I was going pretty deep into the rate cut yesterday and some of the economic reports, and get this, the top 10 economic, uh, income e- earning households now are responsible for 50% of the spending, which basically says what we all know, income inequality is out of control and it's rich people who have all the money.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
But the top three and a third percent are responsible for 25% of all spending.... and I don't think consumers and people who have money realize how much power they have. They have more power now than Senators Warren or, you know, any- anyone, any comedian on the left. I think what we're gonna need to do, and I've been thinking about this myself, I was doing a ton of research on this this morning. I mean, there's- there's the meaningful and there's the profound. The meaningful would be to, or the trivial I should say, cancel your Disney+ subscription. Okay, and then we're gonna see a bunch of screenshots of people who've canceled their-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. We've seen them.
- SGScott Galloway
... their Disney+ subscri- subscription. Oh my God, the whole fucking parking lot just collapsed, Kara.
- KSKara Swisher
(laughs)
- SGScott Galloway
Oh, I wish I had that on film. Anyways...
- KSKara Swisher
(laughs)
- SGScott Galloway
Jesus, that's a metaphor. Did it just happen?
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
Did- did they just cancel Anderson Cooper?
- KSKara Swisher
(laughs)
- SGScott Galloway
Anyways, the, what I'm beginning to think about personally, 'cause I don't wanna wait 'til 26, I have business relationships and capital, uh, with and in Silicon Valley Bank, JP Morgan, Bank of America, Northern Trust Goldman Sachs. I'm contemplating transferring all of my assets to Lloyds or HSBC. I'm trying to figure out if there's someone we could call on who's a real leader who could rally the top three and a third percent responsible for 25% of the spending to, in say December, not buy Christmas presents, maybe stay at home, not go to Saint Barts. Maybe, you know, try and reduce their spending by 10, 20%, which quite frankly really doesn't impact the top three and a percent income-earning households. That's just, that is literally pure consumption. And trying to take the economy, if you took the economy's growth down for one month by 1%...
- KSKara Swisher
In protest, that's what you're saying?
- SGScott Galloway
Say, "Look, uh, uh, uh, I'm not going to fund a move towards an autocracy."
- KSKara Swisher
Well, unfortunately-
- SGScott Galloway
And it would com-
- KSKara Swisher
... the people you're talking about feel very comfortable and that's what they do. They keep those people comfortable. Um-
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah.
- 34:17 – 38:57
FBI Director Kash Patel Faces Congress
- KSKara Swisher
for two heated days this week. It was kind of ridiculous. Before questioning began, Patel used his opening statement to take credit for identifying Charlie Kirk's assassin and told the committee he wasn't going anywhere. That's probably true. Donald Trump doesn't fire incompetent people. When questioned, uh, on the Epstein files, Patel claimed he was barred from releasing corridors, from releasing all the documents. This is not so. Let's listen to a clip of Representative Eric Swalwell pressing him on the issue.
- NANarrator
It's a simple question. Did you tell the Attorney General that the president's name is in the Epstein files?
- JKJimmy Kimmel
During many conversations that the Attorney General and I have had on the matter of Epstein, we have reviewed painstakingly-
- NANarrator
The question is simple.
- JKJimmy Kimmel
... who can be-
- NANarrator
Did you tell the, uh, attorney general that Donald Trump's name is in the Epstein files? Yes or no?
- JKJimmy Kimmel
Why don't you try spelling it out if you're gonna mock me?
- NANarrator
Yes or no, Director?
- JKJimmy Kimmel
Use the alphabet.
- NANarrator
Yes or no?
- JKJimmy Kimmel
No? A, B, C, D, E, F?
- NANarrator
Director, did-
- JKJimmy Kimmel
Don't wanna do it?
- NANarrator
It sounds like you don't wanna tell us.
- JKJimmy Kimmel
Yeah.
- NANarrator
Did you tell the attorney general that Donald Trump's name was in the Epstein files?
- JKJimmy Kimmel
Why don't you try serving your constituency-
- NANarrator
Director, did you tell the attorney general-
- JKJimmy Kimmel
... by focusing on reducing violent crime-
- NANarrator
... that Donald Trump's name-
- JKJimmy Kimmel
... in this country and the number of pedophiles-
- NANarrator
Director-
- JKJimmy Kimmel
... that are legally-
- NANarrator
Reclaim your time, Director.
- JKJimmy Kimmel
... harbored in your sanctuary cities-
- NANarrator
Director.
- JKJimmy Kimmel
... in California?
- KSKara Swisher
Oh my God, he's such an idiot. He's li- he's such an idiot. Like, it's just... Answer the question. Like, it's red- I mean, think Swalwell day. It's just, it- it... Of course, a lot of this is theater, but God, he's stupid. Like, that's- uh, that's what I came out from it. Thoughts?
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, it's just bad for the American brand, uh, uh, when you see that sort of, uh, uncivil back and forth. Um, I mean, a little bit of it is- a little bit of it is- is that, uh, these- these hearings have become not really doing their job. They're- they're more or less just to... I mean... (sighs)
- KSKara Swisher
It was okay with RFK. I think that was actually helpful to see in that context.
- 38:57 – 44:12
Nvidia Invests $5B in Intel
- KSKara Swisher
was NVIDIA investing $5 billion in Intel. Um, even Joe Karna didn't like this. The stake was worth about 4% of the company. As part of the deal, NVIDIA and Intel would collaborate on developing chips for personal computers and data centers. Intel's stock jumped over 25%, not a surprise in pre-market trading. Um, by the way, and other NVID- NVIDIA needs, needs to focus on this 'cause China's internet watchdog has instructed companies to terminate orders from, for NVIDIA chips, which is one of its, um, uh, one of its, uh, bigger clients. Um, what do you think about this? I mean, Joe Karna was even like, "Does... this feels like industrial policy or that he's trying to please Trump or create this national chip." Part of me is like, we do need to have, uh, stronger chip companies in this country. At the same time, this seems... I don't know. It feels very industrial policy Soviet Union. I, I, I'd love to know what you think of this.
- SGScott Galloway
Well, I think this is the kind of thing that warrants... i- if we had... and if we had a, uh, you know, a DOJ and an FTC that was act- that hadn't been weaponized, and a lot of people would argue there's still good people working there. The thing I don't like about it is I don't like... in a, an environment as important as chips, I don't like the idea of these guys coordinating. And that is... now, at the same time you could argue Intel's a shadow of itself and needs to be bailed out.
- KSKara Swisher
Right. We talked about that before.
- SGScott Galloway
And, and the government's gone, gone in, bought a stake. Now NVIDIA's bought a stake, but the problem with your competitor buying a 5% stake is say in... some... say some engineer from Intel pops up and says, "You know what? I think I can build, uh, the equivalent of a GPU Hopper chip from N- from NVIDIA for 20% less. We just need a billion dollars." And they say, "Yeah, but one of our owners is NVIDIA." Uh, you want the full body contact violence of capitalism.
- KSKara Swisher
Correct.
- SGScott Galloway
You want crazy out of control competition so when these companies start buying... I mean, people could probably fairly look back on Microsoft buying a stake in Apple.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. That's a good-
- SGScott Galloway
Um-
- KSKara Swisher
That's a very good comparative.
- SGScott Galloway
So I'd-
- KSKara Swisher
Different, different political environment, right?
- SGScott Galloway
But this is the kind of thing where I want really thoughtful economists and lawyers reviewing it and saying-
- KSKara Swisher
Right.
- SGScott Galloway
... "Is this likely gonna reduce competition across, you know, the, the most, the, the most important high margin products we produce in America right now, which is these chips?" So-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
... the honest answer is I don't know, but I think it at least warrants a pretty thoughtful, uh, review.
- KSKara Swisher
And will it get that?
- SGScott Galloway
So if you speak to Jonathan Kanter, he says there's still really good people at the, um, FTC and the DOJ, but in this environment-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
... it just feels like anything that sends stocks up, uh, the Trump administration likes and is gonna, and is gonna squelch. So I don't-
- KSKara Swisher
I'm just trying to find the deal for Trump in here. You know, every, everything he does with any chips deal, there seems to be a Trump family member there, uh, ahead of the deal to get their ............................
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah. Yeah.
- KSKara Swisher
I don't even know. I just... I would love to know m-... I would love some reporters to explain what happened here and how it happened, but seems like NVIDIA is just, you know, jumping at whatever Trump says. He... I think Jensen Huang was at that, uh, that really weird looking dinner in Britain with the, with the king, the king and queen of Britain. That was one weird, weird dinner.... I don't feel interested.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah. And-
- KSKara Swisher
What's with him wearing this hat?
- SGScott Galloway
... I mean, the more, the more significant news with NVIDIA is basically China has announced they're striking back and-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
... they're saying, "Okay-"
- KSKara Swisher
Absolutely.
- SGScott Galloway
"... we're not gonna buy any, we're not gonna buy any soybeans, so all you farmers (laughs) who love Trump, you want a trade war? Fine, we'll go after, we'll go after your heart and lungs, and that is farmers." And two, they basically said, "We're no longer gonna buy, uh-"
- 44:12 – 53:48
Trump’s TikTok Deal
- KSKara Swisher
I know this will shock you, but Donald Trump has extended the TikTok deadline again, uh, I don't even know if it's illegal this time, until December the 16th. It's the fourth extension so far, for those keeping score at home. We're also learning more about the deal. If it goes through, ByteDance would spin US operations into a new company owned by investor consortium Oracle, Silver Lake, and Andreessen Horowitz are among the investors, expected to own about 80% of the company. What a shock. All Trump supporting people. Uh, the company would have a majority US board, including a member appointed by the Trump administration. That gave me pause. And Trump, uh, just said at his news conference with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer that the US is getting a tremendous fee, plus, uh, for just th- this vig for just making the deal. Uh, it's basically another payoff. Um, uh, it's gonna go in the hands... I, there's all this question of how, what's really happening to the algorithm? I suspect the, the Chinese will only go along if they're allowed to keep, uh, their algorithm and, and if it's in this system, that's a problem. If it's not, that's a problem for the product. So, uh, I don't know, I feel TikTok is, will go, I think Instagram and others will bypass it rather quickly given all the sturm and drang around this. Um, any thoughts?
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, uh, it, the news today is just sort of a shit salad with shavings of shit on it.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
I- i- so this is, uh, effectively the whole point of passing a law signed by the President, uh, Biden, passed by both Houses of Congress was that TikTok prevents a defense threat. We have two thirds of our nation's youth spends time on TikTok every day, the average of an hour and a half, so TikTok has more influence over our future business, nonprofit, civic, and military leaders than NBC, ABC, and CBS did during their height in the '60s. And as a result, people my age, or one of the impacts is people my age, 50% of us feel good about America, it's one in ten Gen Z. And I think there's no doubt about it, it's the, the connection to the rage machine, but also I think in addition to the rage equals profitability, ByteDance has a vested interest, uh, with, with coordination with the CCP of dividing us internally. So that was a threat, all the government, all branches of government decided, "This is bad, let's ban it." And then the president decided, "No, I'm not gonna ban it, I'm not gonna enforce it, and I think I can do a," quote unquote, "great deal here." First off, this is such cronyism. So I would like, I'm, I'm, I'm hoping that, that you and I can play a role in getting the next president elected, and then-
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
... I'm gonna ask him to give me the license, the US license to LVMH because I'm really into RIMOWA luggage.
- KSKara Swisher
(laughs)
- SGScott Galloway
And, but that's exactly what this is. This is, I am going to use the power of the presidency to force a great company in terms of economics and upside-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
... to be sold to my donors.
- KSKara Swisher
Right.
- SGScott Galloway
That's not how you do shit. You don't car-
- KSKara Swisher
Right.
- SGScott Galloway
... that's literally we're in Russia-
- KSKara Swisher
It is.
- SGScott Galloway
... where Putin carved up all of the commodities and companies and said, "Okay, you're a billionaire who's friendly to my interests and you're gonna give me s- transfer money to my Swiss banking"-
- KSKara Swisher
Correct.
- SGScott Galloway
"... account. I'm gonna give you the biggest nickel mine in Irkutsk and you can go buy Premier League's football teams and have yachts in the South of France." That is exactly what this is.
- KSKara Swisher
Yep.
- SGScott Galloway
You don't carve up companies and give them to your political allies, and then it's also not as a cronyist-
- KSKara Swisher
And ignore Congress. Let's say you're also ignoring what, uh, law.
- SGScott Galloway
It's also cronyist, and that is-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
... uh, well, that's the cronyist part. It's also socialist. Also, someone from the government is gonna be on-
- KSKara Swisher
On the board.
- SGScott Galloway
... the board here. What we're-
- KSKara Swisher
What?
- SGScott Galloway
... gonna put, we're gonna put Peter Navarro on the board of ByteDance?
- KSKara Swisher
Peter Navarro. Something like that.
- SGScott Galloway
I mean, what... That is, that is socialism. That is-
- 53:48 – 1:05:57
Predictions
- KSKara Swisher
Okay, Scott, let's hear a prediction.
- SGScott Galloway
Well, I gotta be honest, Kara. I don't think I'm thinking very straight. I was, uh, I was asked to do a prediction on Profchi, and I'm like, I- I'm m- I'm just out of sorts right now.
- KSKara Swisher
Me too.
- SGScott Galloway
And so I don't feel like I'm thinking clearly. The only prediction I could sort of muster is the following. You have, with NVIDIA saying they'll take a 5% stake in Intel, that's like the sweat off their brow.
- KSKara Swisher
Right.
- SGScott Galloway
It's just not a big deal.
- KSKara Swisher
That's correct.
- SGScott Galloway
So if it... It's like, uh, uh, these companies, now representing 40% of the S&P, like, I don't know, $20 trillion in value, what you do when you're w-... so, and I like to point this out a lot. I've been on a lot of corporate boards. When you feel like your stock is inflated in a bit, we call it fully valued, which means our stock is overvalued for some reason, what you do is you go shopping. 'Cause what you wanna do is find companies that are undervalued because then the acquisition is accretive. If you go buy a c- when you have a lot of money and you're trading... When you're trading at, when you're trading at 80 times earnings, if you buy a company that's trading at, at 20 times earnings, it's accretive right away. So it's like, okay, we have a lot of money on our credit cards that may not be there in three, six or 12 months, let's go shopping. And I think Intel, I was thinking about NVIDIA and Intel, and also a total absence of any sort of scrutiny or DOJ or antitrust, uh, concern. It all adds up to me to I think the next two quarters are gonna be historically good or the best in 10 or 20 years for M&A, because I think-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, it's crazy.
- SGScott Galloway
... everyone is gonna say, "Well, we would have never even contemplated buying a company like this because the FTC-"
- KSKara Swisher
Right.
- SGScott Galloway
"... or the DOJ would get in the way."
- KSKara Swisher
But they won't.
- SGScott Galloway
I mean, Warner Brothers' stock, get this Kara, it was up 55% last week because, uh, the father of a kid increased his wealth by 90 billion in one day at the hands-
- KSKara Swisher
Yep.
- SGScott Galloway
... of AI. So you have so much money, such inflated earnings of companies who could make so many acquisitions that would be accretive, that I would bet Goldman and JPMorgan are in the offices of, of the Magnificent Ten saying, "Here's a list-"
- KSKara Swisher
Right, let's go.
- SGScott Galloway
"... of 30 companies."
- KSKara Swisher
Let's go. That's a great prediction, Scott.
- SGScott Galloway
Mm-hmm.
- KSKara Swisher
That is a great prediction.
- SGScott Galloway
But a company that they would have never been able to acquire or never been able to afford to acquire that's 10, 20 or 30 billion, these guys-
- KSKara Swisher
Give me one.
- SGScott Galloway
Do you realize-
- KSKara Swisher
Give me one. Give me one. If you were blank, you would... Comcast.
- SGScott Galloway
Well, the thing is about-
- KSKara Swisher
Warn-.
- SGScott Galloway
... Comcast though, it's controlled by the Roberts family, but that's an interesting, that's a really interesting idea. You could see... I don't know. There's just, uh... Who are the biggest media companies that are still independent-
- KSKara Swisher
Warn-.
- SGScott Galloway
... and out there?
Episode duration: 1:05:57
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