Kristi Noem Fired — Her New Role Sounds Like a “Bad Marvel Movie” | Pivot

Scott Galloway 0:00 We used to be the cop or the protection when we hear a knock at the door. Now we are the knock at the door.

Speaker 0:09 [upbeat music]

Kara Swisher 0:13 Hi, everyone. This is Pivot from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network. I'm Kara Swisher.

Scott Galloway 0:17 And I'm Scott Galloway.

Kara Swisher 0:19 And where are you, Scott?

Scott Galloway 0:21 Uh, somewhere over the North Atlantic, Kara. Where are you?

Kara Swisher 0:24 All right. I am in my studio in DC, but we, we recorded-

Scott Galloway 0:28 Cory, maintain eye contact.

Kara Swisher 0:30 [laughing]

Scott Galloway 0:30 Maintain eye contact.

Kara Swisher 0:33 [laughing] Is Corey Lewandowski with you?

Scott Galloway 0:35 Yeah, Lewandowski. Yeah. So I'm fairly certain-

Kara Swisher 0:40 Yeah

Scott Galloway 0:40 ... he's not gonna keep his job either.

Kara Swisher 0:43 I'm guessing. Well, let me just give people... Back it up for a minute. Scott, we recorded earlier, but had to hop back on, hence why you're on a plane, and, and I'm, and we're redoing this. President Trump has fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem

Kara Swisher 0:55 or given her a fake job. Trump announced the move on Truth Social, saying Noem had served us well and had, has had numerous and spectacular results. He announced the Republican senator, Markwayne Mullin, would replace Noem. Noem is stepping into a new role, apparently. She wasn't quite fired. I don't know what this is. It's like a firing, kind of.

Scott Galloway 1:13 Oh no, she was fired.

Kara Swisher 1:14 I get it. Her new [chuckles] -- Her-

Scott Galloway 1:15 She's like special envoy to Hulu-

Kara Swisher 1:18 No, she's-

Scott Galloway 1:18 ... original programming or something.

Kara Swisher 1:19 No, she's [chuckles] special envoy, let's get it right, special envoy to the Shield of the Americas. I, I, I don't even... That's like a bad Marvel movie, I feel like. Like, the one that we don't wanna watch. But let's talk about this 'cause, uh, uh, later in the show, you have, uh, we, we'll be talking about a lot of things happening right now for the, for the Republicans. But, um, talk to me about this firing a little bit.

Scott Galloway 1:44 Well, supposedly... I mean, you might have more information than me on this, but supposedly it wasn't the conflict of interest of having an affair with her number two. It wasn't, uh, uh, essentially killing American citizens. It wasn't, it wasn't essentially overseeing what I would argue are the definition of concentration sy- camps, and that was black sites outside the legal jurisdiction or protection of your, of your, um, origin country, which is the definition of a concentration camp. It was... Supposedly what was the straw that broke Trump's back was that she had spent close to or over two hundred million dollars, I believe, on ads featuring her, which appeared to be, uh, courtesy of her, her number two, an attempt to raise her own awareness for a presidential run, that that, that that was what angered Trump. What have you heard, Kara?

Kara Swisher 2:40 She was advantaging herself, and Trump likes to only advantage himself, right? And so anybody else who's trying to do that... There was also the question, these two recent congressional hearings, to me I, w- I felt the writing was on the wall because Republicans in the Senate particularly were really going after her. So they knew that they had no repercussions to do so, right? If they had gone after her because they were good people or 'cause they had a, a backbone, I think only Tom Tillis has been doing that 'cause he's leaving. Um, uh, this is Senator Tillis from North Carolina. I think she, uh... I think they had permission to go after her, whether it was, uh, uh, Kennedy, uh, John Kennedy or, uh, or others that really did attack her. Um, and the Democrats did an excellent job too, bringing up all these issues you talked about. I just felt like it was open season on her, so to speak, someone who enjoys killing dogs. And, you know, even the reaction has been interesting. Uh, Senator Tom Tillis, uh, who was very upset about the disaster relief fuck-ups, I think very much so, and abo- also about fu- uh, getting rid of people, uh, g- I mean, going after people who didn't commit any crimes, right? Just in terms of, uh, he kept talking about a quota system, "Why are you doing it on a quota system?" in, in these hearings. He... H- his, uh, his thing on X saying goodbye was, "Senator Markwayne Mullin is a great guy and a great choice to lead DHS, restore competence, and refocus efforts on quickly distributing disaster aid," that's the first thing he noted, "keeping the border secure, and targeting violent illegal immigrants for deportation. Another big positive, he likes dogs," um, which of course is a reference to, to, uh, her, her killing, uh, her dog. Um, people are having a field day about this, of course, uh, on the thing, although one of the good ones about Markwayne Mullin, who is a senator from Oklahoma, was, uh, he can't even have a border between his name, uh, Mark and Wayne, Markwayne. Um, but no, they, they, you know, people... The Republicans felt emboldened to attack her, and therefore it was very clear that they got their signals from the White House, would be my guess.

Scott Galloway 4:37 I mean, that just goes to what a, a poor manager and what a low character person, uh, spoiler alert, the president is, and that is when you hire people and you expect them to be part of a team, if you know you're gonna fire them, which it sounds like he did because it took about three seconds, the moment they announced she was leaving, they announced her replacement, to quite frankly trot her out and use her as an anger pillow and humiliate her before showing her the door, knowing that you were gonna fire her, as opposed to saying, "Look, we're making a change. There's no reason for you to go in front of Congress," or, "Once you resign, you probably will not be called." Maybe, maybe they still would have called her in front of Congress.

Kara Swisher 5:17 Yeah, that, that last two days in Congress was bad.

Scott Galloway 5:20 But that was, "Okay, we have absolutely no respect, fidelity, camaraderie for the people I hire, and if it serves my political purposes, I will throw them under the bus and then back up the bus-

Kara Swisher 5:33 Well, that's the-

Scott Galloway 5:33 ... and run over them again."

Kara Swisher 5:34 That's the Trump way, right? That's the Trump way. And in fact, he doesn't even give her the, "I, I don't think she deserves any dignity," the dignity of just firing her, like, "You're fired." I mean, the guy who's so famous for doing "You're fired" cannot say, "You're fired." You have to give him this Sh- special envoy to the Shield of the Americas, which... And of course she's bragging as if she won, right? As if it was a good thing because, uh, like, even as she's humiliated, and by the next humiliation, by the way, is gonna be Pam Bondi, right?That's obvious. He's gonna go-- All the ladies, as, you know, of the Trump administration are in big trouble, um, and they will be the first to go. They'll get to Kash Patel at some point, or maybe not, but, like, another incompetent, another... You know, same thing with Pam Bondi, mendacious and incompetent. Um, and so y-he doesn't-- The fact that he hasn't let go so many of these people already who are just not up to the task is really-- says a ton about his management style.

Scott Galloway 6:28 I think they're more strategic than people want to give them credit for. And when I was a consultant, I was just-- And I would review decks of associates going in to present to a management team. I would say-- I would ask a series of questions, and one of the questions I would ask, but I would say-- I would ask, "Who's in the room that's not in the room?" And that is what is the context, what is the influences, what is the overarching theme of the vibe in this room or their objectives before you even show up? And the two people that are always in the room around any Trump official and any public activity are, one, Roy Cohn. If you look at the way these people equip themselves in front of the Senate and the Congress, one of the greatest erosions in the brand equity of the United States is there has always been a level of civility and decorum. We aren't that South Korean senate where they break into fisticuffs or they start yelling at each other. There was always a certain amount of respect. But this Roy Cohn deny, deflect, uh, o-obfuscate, attack, you're, you're a, you're, you're a-- "You should be ashamed of yourself. You're a failed lawyer. Go on, don't answer the question," that has in and among itself eroded the value and the prestige of the Senate. Roy Cohn is always in the room when these guys testify. The person that's always in the room is Epstein. And I believe there are three people armed with LLM saying, "Monitoring the temperature of Epstein in the news, and when it gets above a certain temperature, they think of distractions." And nothing is better than one of these hearings or declaring war or saying you're gonna raise tariffs to fifty percent. But I literally think they have-- they are monitoring the, the number of times Epstein and Trump are linked together. When it gets above a certain temperature in the press, they, they, they throw someone under the bus, announce a tariff, [laughs] start, start firing missiles, whatever it might be, you know, uh, capturing or, uh, absconding with, with, um, leaders of Central American countries. But Roy Cohn and Jeffrey Epstein are in every room.

Kara Swisher 8:32 That's really smart. That's a re-- Uh, and the Epstein stuff is not going away, let me just say. It is not, it is n- as I said a half a year ago, it is n- it is here to stay, like, it's the thing. But to, to Kristi Noem's credit, she did not go to the island on her fuck plane, um, so that's a good, that's a good part of her. But we wish you well, Kristi. You're completely incompetent and deserve to be fired. Um, but the fact that he kept you there that long says more about Donald Trump than it does about Kristi Noem. She, she's is what she is, I guess. Anyway-

Scott Galloway 9:03 I heard she's gonna be-

Kara Swisher 9:04 Right

Scott Galloway 9:04 ... volunteering at an all kill dog shelter.

Kara Swisher 9:07 Oh, very funny. I mean, that's gonna, that's gonna go to the end of her days, and deservedly so. Anyway, uh, now back to the rest of the show. And guess where I went last night?

Scott Galloway 9:19 Where'd you go?

Kara Swisher 9:19 Party for, uh, Andrew Ross Sorkin at the French Embassy, our favorite Canadian.

Scott Galloway 9:24 I was not invited.

Kara Swisher 9:25 I know. It was by Puck, and he got the First Amendment Award. He gave a-- He gave such a good speech. He's, like-

Scott Galloway 9:31 He's a very talented guy

Kara Swisher 9:32 ... he's such a nice boy. I don't know what else to say.

Scott Galloway 9:34 Very talented.

Kara Swisher 9:34 He's a nice boy. He gave an excellent speech about the First Amendment, and he, he said everyone thinks he's Canadian, 'cause we say that's the case. [laughs] He now is asked about his Canadian citizenship.

Scott Galloway 9:43 He's a lovely man. I like his wife too. His wife, they're, they're a very impressive couple.

Kara Swisher 9:45 But let's just say he's Canadian, even though he's not Canadian.

Scott Galloway 9:48 Can I tell you the first time I heard his name?

Kara Swisher 9:49 What? Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Galloway 9:50 My first board meeting at The New York Times, uh, they were going around, and we have this succ-succession strategy, and that's when I knew the CEO wasn't very good was it was clear she was, like, shooting everybody that got near the CEO spot. And they went through, and we were trying to-- Everyone was asking about compensation and equity awards, and they mentioned this one young reporter, and everyone's like, "Well, offer them eight percent." You know. But-- And they mentioned-- They go, "Oh, and we have this young reporter who's really talented, Andrew Sorkin." And everyone went, "Pay him whatever he wants."

Kara Swisher 10:20 Oh. [laughs]

Scott Galloway 10:21 Everyone literally said, you know, we're trying to manage a company that we need fiscal discipline. It wasn't doing well.

Kara Swisher 10:27 Yeah, at the time.

Scott Galloway 10:27 And his name comes up, and everyone looks around, "Pay him whatever he wants. We can't lose that guy."

Kara Swisher 10:31 Yeah. Yeah. Well, he's looks great. He gave-- He got the First Amendment Award. I, I-- And he gave a beautiful speech. Anyway, congratulations, Andrew. Uh-

Scott Galloway 10:38 Was it a fun party?

Kara Swisher 10:39 It was a good party.

Scott Galloway 10:40 Daddy's going to a big party.

Kara Swisher 10:42 What are you doing?

Scott Galloway 10:42 Well, you were invited, but you wouldn't be my plus one.

Kara Swisher 10:44 Oh, the Vanity Fair. I-- Actually, um, the guy who's the editor, his boyfriend, Shawn McCreesh, was there, and he sat where I was going. I said, "Well, Scott Galloway is gonna be there, so he'll shut the place the fuck down."

Scott Galloway 10:55 Um, uh, you wanna see someone at the bar having a good time?

Kara Swisher 10:58 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 10:58 I've been so nervous about what to wear.

Kara Swisher 11:00 You're gonna be really nervous.

Scott Galloway 11:00 I spent most of the weekend trying to, uh, style myself, which is not easy.

Kara Swisher 11:03 Don't wear jeans and a tux like Ted Sarandos. I didn't think that worked.

Scott Galloway 11:07 I'm rolling up to the bar, and I'm getting fucked up, and I'm just gonna observe. I don't need to speak to anybody.

Kara Swisher 11:11 No, you need to talk to people.

Scott Galloway 11:13 You know what I do. I talk to Ted Sarandos about strategy and who he should acquire. [laughs] That's, that's the limit of my social capabilities.

Kara Swisher 11:20 Do not do the executives. There-- Can I tell you two quick stories of Vanity Fair parties?

Scott Galloway 11:24 I wanna meet the gay hockey guys. Will they be there?

Kara Swisher 11:26 Oh, they prob- Oh, I'm sure they'll be there. Oh, I bet they'll be there.

Scott Galloway 11:28 Oh, yeah. Are we al- Are you allowed to take selfies at that thing, or do they kick you out?

Kara Swisher 11:31 Well, I don't know. They used to. Yeah, I don't-- No, I don't think so. I think you're not allowed to. Let me tell you two quick stories. I went to one when it was up at this, um, the San, uh, not this, it was in that hotel, Sunset Towers. It used to be at Sunset Towers.

Scott Galloway 11:43 Chateau Marmont? Oh, the Sunset Towers.

Kara Swisher 11:44 And it was small and much more intimate. And one year, all the tech people got went, like, all-- they invited all the tech people. And so I was like, "Fuck, I don't wanna see these people. I wanna see celebrities." And they ke- they kept-- They're s- really shy at the time, and they kept bothering me, like, to talk to me, and I was like, "I don't wanna talk to you, Sergey Brin. I don't wanna talk to you, all you people." And Sergey Brin wouldn't, wasn't able to talk to anybody, but except they were wearing Google Glass. He was wearing a Google Glass. And he goes, "No one's talking to me." And I'm like, "Take off your fucking Google Glass and, like, say you're a billionaire. That's how it's gonna work here."The second time, uh, the second time I went there, I ran into, um... I was talking, as you did, to Bob Iger or, uh, I forget, Comcast head, may have been Ted Sarandos, and the guy who plays, uh, Harry Potter came up to me and said, "Excuse me," you know, he, and he said, "I've noticed all the really important, uh, studio people are sort of circling-"

Scott Galloway 12:41 It's so unlike you to have a story that makes you sound powerful.

Kara Swisher 12:44 No, I did... No. Let me finish the story. Shut up.

Scott Galloway 12:46 Okay. Sorry about that.

Kara Swisher 12:47 So he said, "I've noticed you're talking, they're all talking to you, and they're very interested in talking to you. Who are you?" This guy was really smart. I love him, Daniel Radcliffe. And I said, "I'm their drug dealer." That's what I did.

Scott Galloway 12:59 Mm.

Kara Swisher 12:59 But I'm not. Mm. Anyway, I have a lot of good stories from there. You'll have a good time. Talk to people. Talk... Say hello to Robert De Niro if he's there, 'cause he-

Scott Galloway 13:07 Yeah, that's not my style. I wasn't gonna go. I said no. And then someone we both know said, "You have to go once."

Kara Swisher 13:13 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 13:13 So I'm going.

Kara Swisher 13:13 You do. You'll love it.

Scott Galloway 13:13 But I've literally... It's been very stressful picking out my outfit.

Kara Swisher 13:16 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 13:16 I'm having a tough time.

Kara Swisher 13:17 It's early. Remember, it's early. You go, like, like 10:00, 9:00.

Scott Galloway 13:19 I'm literally leaving you at South by Southwest.

Kara Swisher 13:22 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 13:22 I'm changing on the plane, and I'm going straight to the event.

Kara Swisher 13:25 Yeah. Yeah. It goes on forever, though. Stay till late. Stay till late.

Scott Galloway 13:28 I only think I was invited 'cause they thought I was gonna be your plus one.

Kara Swisher 13:31 No, that's not true.

Scott Galloway 13:31 And then you said no, and I said yes. [laughs]

Kara Swisher 13:34 No, I don't think so. Anyway, uh, have a great time. You'll have a great time. We've got a lot to, to get through today, 'cause we also, this weekend, will be in Minneapolis. We'll talk about that in a second. On Sunday, we're very excited to do Resist & Unsubscribe there. Um, but let's get to the news first.

Kara Swisher 13:47 Let's dig in. First, uh, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the war in Iran is far from over, warning that we've only just begun. It was such a ridiculous press conference. As a record, the House is set to vote on a measure to block President Trump from taking further action in Iran without congressional support, and the Senate already failed to do that, by the way. European leaders are pushing back on Trump, notably Spain's prime minister, who said, "We can't play Russian roulette with the destiny of millions of people." He's absolutely correct. Tr- the White House said they were cooperating, and then they said they weren't. Um, Trump is also facing pushback from parts of his MAGA base over the war, even as he insists, "MAGA loves what I'm doing." They do not love what he's doing. And looking at the economic impact, US gas prices saw their biggest single-day spike in three years this week, and oil prices continue to rise. Um, this drag on the, uh, in the US economy is gonna be very tough for Trump and, and the Republicans as we approach the midterms. I've been, uh, I've been talking to a lot of Republicans. In fact, had a meeting with a very prominent one yesterday, um, and they are... They... I can tell you, they do not like this. Or they, they think Pete Hegseth is, is an imbecile, that's for sure, and they don't think this was well thought out at all, I think, and that's, that's the Republicans, and these are people who maybe publicly are being supportive by at least voting against his- the restrictions on Trump. What, what are your thoughts about the economy, what's happening here?

Scott Galloway 15:09 It really hasn't taken much of a hit yet. It's the existential threat that it could digress into something much bigger and more dangerous. Uh, the, uh, oil is up about 11, 11 bucks a barrel, or 10%, uh, or 12%, which translates to about 25 cents a gallon. Typically, typically wars, the markets go down, and then they check back, and actually, the year after a war ends, markets typically outperform. So I don't think you can say that the markets have responded or that we know this is gonna be inflationary.

Kara Swisher 15:40 No, there hasn't been. Yeah.

Scott Galloway 15:41 What, what I think you can say is that I believe if he had gone to Congress and made an argument for why we're doing this, why now, and what are our objectives, he might have gotten an- the authorization for the use of military force. They, they never get declarations of war any longer. They get AUMFs. But unfortunately, what they've done is because they had to position this as a defensive action, they said, "Oh, one of our allies was about to be imminently attacked. We were gonna have to respond." So it's like, okay, you just gave into this very dangerous trope-

Kara Swisher 16:14 Mm-hmm

Scott Galloway 16:15 ... that Israel's controlling the US.

Kara Swisher 16:17 Yes. Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 16:17 That was just... And you have had such inconsistent messaging.

Kara Swisher 16:22 Absolutely.

Scott Galloway 16:22 This is regime change. No, we don't want regime change. This is gonna be five days. We'll be there as long as it takes.

Kara Swisher 16:28 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 16:28 This is a special-

Kara Swisher 16:29 Now the Kurds. We're bringing the Kurds in.

Scott Galloway 16:31 Yeah. Now we're gonna o- operate the Kurds. Well, okay, what does that mean when the Kurds get fired up in other regions? This is a special combat operation. No, it's a war. The, uh, uh, they have so much inconsistent messaging, and the fact that they didn't reflect the confidence to, at a minimum, think about the American citizens in the Gulf and a plan for getting them out of there-

Kara Swisher 16:50 Oh, that seems like... makes Biden's Afghanistan withdrawal seem, like, minor.

Scott Galloway 16:55 In, in addition, just, just tactically-

Kara Swisher 16:57 Mm-hmm

Scott Galloway 16:59 ... uh, tactically bombing Tehran, the, the, the majority... The, the real danger here is that the Iranian people are not on our side, turn against us, uh, because what the Iranian biggest miscalculation was firing... They, they basically... Jon Stewart summarized it as two guys start beating up on you, so what do you do? You try and start a fight with everyone in the bar. That was a real strategic mistake on the part of Iran. But our potentially biggest mistake is when we're bombing Tehran, you're essentially flattening s- neighborhoods of people who are probably more pro-West-

Kara Swisher 17:36 Yep

Scott Galloway 17:37 ... and empathetic. It's the, the-

Kara Swisher 17:38 The girls at the wa-

Scott Galloway 17:38 ... kind of religious, the theo- theocracies in the rural areas. So-

Kara Swisher 17:42 Mm-hmm

Scott Galloway 17:43 ... no one really trusts... I think the why, why now, and objectives had legitimacy here, and he potentially could have got 77% of Republicans are, or 72% of Republicans are in favor of this. Only 17% of progressives-

Kara Swisher 17:57 But that's low. 72% of Republicans is low. It's usually 95%.

Scott Galloway 18:01 Well, well, well, the, the, the broader number is 41/59, so let's be clear.

Kara Swisher 18:04 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 18:04 The majority of Americans do not-

Kara Swisher 18:06 Yeah

Scott Galloway 18:06 ... support this. I still think had he had a well-thought-out plan, he could have gotten potentially-

Kara Swisher 18:10 See, I don't agree with you. I think, uh, this, it was interesting listening to this Republican very high-profile politician. He was like, "They have 15 days to s- resolve this." Like, because if it drags on more and they don't seem to have a point, uh, it's a problem. And one of the things he was pointing toWas unaffiliated, um, voters. He's like, it, the, yeah, the independents. He says across there-

Scott Galloway 18:35 Yeah

Kara Swisher 18:35 ... there are red lights everywhere for Republicans around independents, and independents hate this. And he said if he doesn't have a very tight, sharp plan in place... I mean, he was flummoxed that they didn't have one, Mike, that they didn't have-- And they, they weren't communicating them. And I'll tell you, when, when he had gone to that briefing about whether there really was an imminent threat, and one of the reporters asked him, "Is, was there an inimin-im-imminent threat?" And he said, "Well, there's been one for forty-seven years." That's what it sounded like. [chuckles] Like, he was like didn't even buy their nonsensical reasons for-

Scott Galloway 19:06 But you asked, you asked about the economy.

Kara Swisher 19:09 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 19:10 Um, so the, the decision to, to go to war, in my opinion, is not what is gonna be, quote-unquote, the downfall or really hurt-

Kara Swisher 19:17 Mm

Scott Galloway 19:17 ... the Trump administration. It's the following. It appears that these types of actions, unilateral actions, where you don't make any attempt to get European or Gul-Gulf nations involved to increase legitimacy, much less the resources, right? These nations could've helped shoot down... These nations have their own military, their own intelligence. They could've served a real valuable role and helped protecting those Gulf States, achieving the objectives. The fact that we now have a one point one trillion dollar military that appears to be run by incompetents. In addition, America was the operating system. We... Everyone settles their trades in dollars. They operate on the IP agreements of America. We largely enforce the flows of energy with our navy. Our military bases make sure that rogue nations don't go too rogue. We're sort of been the operating system. Now, this decision amongst others, specifically going about it unilaterally with no attempt to even consult Congress or our allies, all of a sudden shows the nation that used to enforce that no nation go too rogue, they're now that rogue nation.

Kara Swisher 20:19 Yeah. Yep.

Scott Galloway 20:19 But I think the real existential threat to the economy and to American prosperity is the following: It's yet another data point that shows we used to be the cop or the protection when we hear a knock at the door, now we are the knock at the door.

Kara Swisher 20:34 Yeah, I get it. It's really-- What's interesting is that, um, how many people are, are secretly not for it, right? It's, it's a really a... You do see the strength of, of people pushing back now on Trump, which is really interesting, much more so all over the place, not listening to him, not going along with him. Now, typically, politicians go along with, uh, anybody when there's a war happening. They try not to be too difficult. But one of the things is this further abrogation of power by the Congress, you know, in terms of where they, where they... And they're sitting around a-talking and debating about whether they have power or not. If, I don't know if you've followed any of that. It's kind of ridiculous. And they do. And one of the... It just-- I think it just creates more cha-chaos around Trump.

Scott Galloway 21:17 Yeah.

Kara Swisher 21:17 Like he's chaotic. At same time as all his, his, his work, the people that work for him are incompetent, it seem more and more. And especially Pete Hegseth. He seemed completely out of sorts for this. And one of the, the, of course, there's conspiracy theories everywhere, but one of them is that if Iran hits the United States in some way, a city, a, a United States city, which is entirely possible, that's what he'll use as the excuse to call martial law. Just, just so you know, there's a lot of things happening all, all at the same time. And I don't, I just don't... It's not good because it's chaos and Trump, chaos and Trump. And so I think Trump, it's, it's the same thing as our domestic problems here with him. It's chaos. It's chaos, and it's not thought out, and it's incompetence. Um, and, uh, you know, l- there, obviously, the Republicans are worried about the midterms, and they should.

Kara Swisher 22:05 Um, the first primaries of the 2026 midterms, here are some of the highlights from Tuesday's elections. In Texas, incumbent Senator John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton are headed to a late May GOP Senate runoff. The GOP clash is already the most expensive Senate primary in history, with Republicans alone racking up nearly a hundred million dollars in ad buys. Um, Trump is supposedly gonna pick one and tell the other to get out, but Ken Paxton's already said he's not getting out, even if he doesn't get picked. Um, and State Representative James Talarico beat, uh, Representative Jasmine Crockett in Texas' Democratic Senate primary. Let's listen to a clip from Talarico's victory speech.

Scott Galloway 22:44 "To the billionaires who have taken over our state and taken over our country, your unchecked power is coming to an end" [crowd cheering] "Your days dividing working people are numbered"

Kara Swisher 23:00 Ooh, he sounds like a guy we should hang out with. Um, good, good, good, it was a good speech. And actually, I have to say, Crockett, uh, handled the, the defeat well. Uh, they seemed to come together. Everyone's-

Scott Galloway 23:10 Agreed

Kara Swisher 23:10 ... like, "We're all gonna come together." Um, and, uh, they both ran really tough campaigns, and, and then they, they... I have to say, everybody acted... The [chuckles] Democrats look like they're not, uh, d-in disarray, as they say. Uh, Texas Supreme Court stepped in to block a last-minute voting extension in two counties after GOP primary polling mix-ups, uh, backing an appeal from Ken Paxton. It seemed like he was just trying to create chaos. In North Carolina, former Governor Roy Cooper won the Democratic Senate primary quite easily and will face Republican Michael Whatley, uh, for, uh, Senator Thom Tillis's seat in a race that could help decide Senate control. Um, so interesting stuff going on there. A lot of people lost their jobs. Um, Dan Crenshaw lost his job. Uh, he was targeted by a billionaire, speaking of billionaires, who spent enormous amounts of money to get rid of him. In North Carolina, the head of the state senate, who'd been in power for a long, long time, uh, is in a very tight race. A lot of people losing, losing their jobs, like, all over the place. So, uh, what do you think, uh, this means for Democrats this year and for Republicans?

Scott Galloway 24:12 It's very exciting for Democrats. The, I mean, the Talarico race. Uh, first off, if Talarico wins the seat against the Republican nominee, I think he's likely or very likely to be the vice presidential pick in 2028 because if he w-wins this and shows an ability to win in Texas, if as VP they think he could deliver Texas, it's game over for whoever'sFor the, the Democrats win.

Kara Swisher 24:37 Interesting.

Scott Galloway 24:38 If you could flip Texas in a presidential race-

Kara Swisher 24:39 Don't you think he should stay there for a little bit? Get, amass power?

Scott Galloway 24:44 Well, how long did, how long was Obama senator?

Kara Swisher 24:46 Yeah, you're right. Yeah, that's right.

Scott Galloway 24:47 I mean-

Kara Swisher 24:48 Four years, four seconds

Scott Galloway 24:48 ... they, they do the, the VP is supposed to be the person who could take over. It's not. The VP is brought on to hopefully win a state that is a swing state, for the most part. Anyways, so it's excite- It's an exciting moment for Talarico, but what's really exciting for Democrats is that through the odds, the majority or the number of Democrats turning out in a primary was in the high hundreds of thousands-

Kara Swisher 25:11 Yeah, high

Scott Galloway 25:11 ... seven or 800,000. 2.1 million Democrats turned out, and the ver- The, the, the other very exciting thing is that I think it was 1.8 million Republicans turned out.

Kara Swisher 25:22 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 25:22 So whoever, whoever, whatever party is able to turn out more people for the primary-

Kara Swisher 25:28 Mm-hmm

Scott Galloway 25:28 ... gives you real insight into what's gonna happen in the general.

Kara Swisher 25:30 Yeah, especially among Hispanics. He really pulled in, the, he shifted them really.

Scott Galloway 25:35 And if we have the first Texas statewide Democrat elected in 20 or 30 years-

Kara Swisher 25:40 Yeah, Lloyd Benson-

Scott Galloway 25:40 ... that's gonna be-

Kara Swisher 25:41 ... was the last one.

Scott Galloway 25:42 What's that?

Kara Swisher 25:43 Lloyd Benson was the last one, I think.

Scott Galloway 25:45 I thought it was Ann Richards.

Kara Swisher 25:47 No, no. She was governor.

Scott Galloway 25:48 She was governor. There you go. So th- this is an exciting, This is just a super exciting moment, uh, for Democrats.

Kara Swisher 25:56 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 25:56 So I, I don't, you know, I don't, I don't think you can overstate it. All the races look to be, have been closer. The surprising stuff was some of the more, some of the Republicans who lost their p-

Kara Swisher 26:08 Mm-hmm

Scott Galloway 26:08 ... lost their seats. That was very interesting. Um, I was thinking of sending some money to Paxton 'cause I'd love to see him against Talarico-

Kara Swisher 26:14 No

Scott Galloway 26:14 ... 'cause I think against Talarico wins.

Kara Swisher 26:16 Yeah, yeah. [laughs]

Scott Galloway 26:17 Um, anyways-

Kara Swisher 26:18 He's, he's refusing to get out. I mean, who knows? If he... I mean, Trump's gonna try to get him out. Um, supposedly, they think Cornyn's the better person to run against him and-

Scott Galloway 26:26 Well, he's more electable. He's absolutely-

Kara Swisher 26:27 Right

Scott Galloway 26:27 ... more electable.

Kara Swisher 26:28 Except within the MAG- It doesn't excite the MAGA groups, right? They like Paxton. He's backed by all the MAGA groups, all of them.

Scott Galloway 26:35 Yeah. It's, uh, this is... Look, I, I looked at the results, and all I thought was, and I try to screen out my biases, I thought, "There's just no getting around this."

Kara Swisher 26:45 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 26:45 "This feels really good." [laughs]

Kara Swisher 26:47 Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll see. It was really interesting. Um, and I thought that, uh, Talarico's continued focus on the rich was really interesting. It's really, it's, it's just, He's got a similar vibe of obviously you would point to AOC and, um-

Scott Galloway 27:00 Or Bernie, yeah

Kara Swisher 27:01 ... Bernie and, uh, of course Mamdani. Like, he's like the Texas Mamdani kinda thing. Um, and so, you know, I kept saying, you know, if he wins, and of course Trump attacked him quite a bit, he'll be at the White House hanging out with Trump, like Trump will be hugging him, like, and stuff like that 'cause he loves a winner, that kind of thing. He's just the kind of person that will do, pull a similar thing that Mamdani did. Um-

Scott Galloway 27:23 Well, Mamdani was, to his credit, Mamdani was smart. He showed that he was a pragmatist-

Kara Swisher 27:26 Mm-hmm

Scott Galloway 27:27 ... and he was willing to, um, he, he wanted to be effective versus right and not politically grandstand and-

Kara Swisher 27:33 Yeah

Scott Galloway 27:33 ... and he got that woman released. He's, he's proven to be quite pragmatic.

Kara Swisher 27:37 He's kept Jessica Tisch as police commissioner, who is very effective. I just have a feeling Talarico's gonna have the same experience with Trump, that Trump will, will bear hug him.

Scott Galloway 27:46 The class warfare, if you will, around the billionaire class. So the, the Gini coefficient, which is a measure of inequality-

Kara Swisher 27:53 Mm-hmm

Scott Galloway 27:53 ... if it's zero to one, if you're at zero, it means everyone has exactly the same amount. If you're at one, it means one person has everything.

Kara Swisher 28:01 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 28:02 I think the revolution always takes on a different complexion. I think what we have now is a series of smaller revolutions, but when you start identifying a class of people based on their wealth, I mean, that, that kinda means the, the revolution is coming, and Trump and Epstein and the people Epstein surrounded himself with, it has created, I, I, I mean, we are... I mean, the revolution here might be a series of, of tax increase. I don't, I don't know how it's gonna play out.

Kara Swisher 28:28 Yeah. Well, let me, let me just read something. The r- this was in a story I read. "The richest Americans have amassed enormous wealth in recent years, while most Americans have seen theirs stagnate."

Scott Galloway 28:36 Yeah.

Kara Swisher 28:36 "The net worth of the top 0.1% doubled from 2020 to a collective sum of $24.9 trillion in the third quarter of 2025, and now accounts for 14.4% of the total household wealth, according to the Federal Reserve." That's an astonishing figure. That's just astonishing.

Scott Galloway 28:57 Well, yeah, the, what William Gibson said about technology is true about prosperity in that it's, prosperity is here in America. It's just not evenly distributed.

Kara Swisher 29:06 Yeah, but it's real.

Scott Galloway 29:06 And now te- And it's made us more fragile as an economy, distinct of the morality of it. 10%, the top 10% of US households are now responsible for 50% of the spend.

Kara Swisher 29:15 Right. I think tech billionaires have done so much damage to themselves in this-

Scott Galloway 29:19 Yeah, agreed

Kara Swisher 29:19 ... the way they behaved, and they do act like they have uncha- And I think Elon Musk will go down in history as someone who really began the pushback against this 'cause of the w- the imperious and ridiculous way he conducted himself. And all of them, all of them do, all of them do.

Scott Galloway 29:32 What, becoming the wealthiest man in the world such that you can cut off aid to HIV positive others?

Kara Swisher 29:35 Yes, exactly.

Scott Galloway 29:35 That's not a good look.

Kara Swisher 29:36 Yeah, it's not a good look. But anyway, congratulations to, uh, Talarico and others who won yesterday.

Scott Galloway 29:42 And to Jasmine Crockett, by the way.

Kara Swisher 29:43 Yes, class.

Scott Galloway 29:44 I thought she ran a great campaign and-

Kara Swisher 29:45 She went right up and then attacked, uh, Kristi Noem beautifully, like did a beautiful takedown of Kristi Noem, uh, which is, she's very good at her job. Um, I, I, we haven't seen the last of her.

Scott Galloway 29:55 Hope not.

Kara Swisher 29:55 For a long time.

Scott Galloway 29:56 I think she's great.

Kara Swisher 29:56 She really is. Okay, Scott, let's go on a quick break. When we come back, what Sam Altman is saying about OpenAI's deal with the Pentagon and what Dario Amodei is saying about Sam Altman. It's pretty eviscerating. [gentle music]

Scott Galloway 30:09 Support for the show comes from CoreWeave. AI isn't just a new tool. It encompasses so much more. It's spurring a revolution across all industries and reshaping itself to become a big part of our future together. CoreWeave is at the center, powering some of the biggest names in AI. As the essential cloud for AI, CoreWeave provides an AI platform that combines next-generation infrastructure, intelligent tools, and expert support. It's powering the world's most complex AI workloads faster and more efficiently, from medical research and diagnosis to education, from complex visual effects for movies to breakthroughs in science and technology. If it's AI, CoreWeave is uniquely ready to power it with purpose-built tech, the big ideas, the wild visions, and what-ifs and why-nots.CoreWeave is working to build what's never been built before. CoreWeave is the essential cloud for AI, ready for anything, ready for AI. To learn more about how CoreWeave powers the world's best AI, go to coreweave.com/readyforanything.

Kara Swisher 31:07 [instrumental music] Scott, we're back. OpenAI has

Kara Swisher 31:10 updated its deal with the Pentagon, adding language that says, uh, its AI systems, quote, "Shall n- shall not be intentionally used for domestic surveillance." CEO Sam Altman wrote, "It's critical to protect the civil liberties of Americans," but in an all-hands meeting this week, Sam told staff that OpenAI had no control over how the Defense Department uses its software. And while, uh, defending the deal in the Pentagon, he acknowledged that rolling it out so quickly made the company look, quote, "Opportunistic and sloppy." That's the, the opportunistic and sloppy is the poor name of, of OpenAI. Sam said it's been painful to try to do the, quote, "right thing" and then get, quote, "personally crushed for it." Oh my God, Sam, this is so... He needs to stop talking, I've gotta say. Um, it's a question of whether he's, uh, actually tarnished the brand too much in his actions. Um, ChatGPT uninstalls surged two hundred and ninety-five percent the day after the Pentagon deal was announced. Claude downloads continue to spike. Meanwhile, um, uh, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei told his staff that the Trump administration didn't like Anthropic because it didn't, uh, it, it hadn't given, um, dictator-style praise to Trump while Sam has. He really laid into... They, they-- There's-- If you think Elon Musk and Sam Altman have a problem, Dario Amodei and Sam Altman have a problem. So what do you think about this? This is like a m- a real... Oof, God, something's going on over there at OpenAI that they really need to fix.

Scott Galloway 32:36 I think of it on the other side and, you know, as, as people know, we're gonna be at Resist and Unsubscribe in Minneapolis on Sunday, and the way we're evolving it is we're now gonna, m- um, try and encourage people to sign up for who we think are good actors, and the most obvious contrast here is the contrast between OpenAI and Anthropic. And I've been saying for six months that I thought one of the biggest commercial opportunities was for a CEO basically to say no and say, "These are-- We're, we're done enabling these type of, this type of depraved behavior. We're not gonna engage in the violation of Americans', Americans' rights." And the hero we didn't think we needed is Dario Amodei. He's basically stepped up, and he said no, and just to the point of it being a huge commercial opportunity, uh, he, uh, Anthropic immediately surged to number one in the App Store, and its annual recurring revenue has gone from fourteen billion to nineteen billion in just one week. So this is going to be... This is a big moment because what Dario and Anthropic have done, even if they don't realize it, is they're all of a sudden g- gonna give a bunch of CEOs across America the confidence to-

Kara Swisher 33:45 Agreed

Scott Galloway 33:45 ... start saying no.

Kara Swisher 33:46 Yep.

Scott Galloway 33:47 Because I thought it was gonna be Nike, but we said this six months ago, it's a huge commercial opportunity.

Kara Swisher 33:52 It's gotta be a tech person.

Scott Galloway 33:54 Yeah, but it's a-

Kara Swisher 33:54 Since tech has been so in bed with Trump, it's gotta be a tech person doing it. That's my-

Scott Galloway 33:59 Fair point, but the, the point is the opportunity here-

Kara Swisher 34:02 Mm-hmm

Scott Galloway 34:02 ... was for someone to just stand up and say, "Enough already. I'm, I'm not going to. I'm done." And-

Kara Swisher 34:07 I'll tell you, a lot of Republican senators really have not liked the way Hegseth has handled... I, I've been talking to a lot of them. Quietly, they have been saying this, but-

Scott Galloway 34:16 It's anti-capitalist.

Kara Swisher 34:17 Yes, it's very-- They're very not disposed. They're like, "When did we become communists," essentially. And, and one of the things that'll be interesting, I mean, sort of Anthropic is a little like, um, what Tom Tillis has been doing. He's left, but he has enormous leverage over the Trump administration now 'cause he can say things, and so ins- he says, "This sucks," to Pete Heg- or, "Stephen Miller sucks," right? He does say it outright, and then others say, "Well, I'm not really liking some of the things that Stephen Miller..." It gives them the courage to say slightly less critical things, and I think that's a great way to be, and Dario is sort of-

Scott Galloway 34:52 Or just to say no

Kara Swisher 34:53 ... playing that role.

Scott Galloway 34:54 If you're-

Kara Swisher 34:54 I get it, but he's playing the role of a heat shield in a lot of ways.

Scott Galloway 34:57 If you're Anduril, you get to make weapons for the government. It's legal.

Kara Swisher 35:00 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 35:00 If you're, if you're, um, Palantir, you get to sell data to the government as long as it's legal and-

Kara Swisher 35:07 Mm-hmm

Scott Galloway 35:07 ... for whatever purposes they might use it for, and if you're Anthropic, you get to work with who you want.

Kara Swisher 35:14 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 35:14 You can't do it based on... You can't discriminate or not work with people based on their sexual orientation or their eth-ethnicity, but they can absolutely. We get to decide who we take ads from. We, we, we say no all the time to advertisers and say, "No, we're not comfortable with it." Uh, the op- w- what the, the big thing here is that s- in one week, C- uh, Claude went from number forty-two to number one in the free App Store. So this is... I, I mean, this is a big moment. This is a turning point 'cause I-- Just trust me on this. In the next thirty days, all of a sudden we're gonna see these, these CEOs cosplaying Nelson Mandela and acting all righteous.

Kara Swisher 35:56 Oh, do you think? I don't know. I don't know about that. One of the things that was interesting, there was a poll out, an Emerson poll, I can't remem- No, it wasn't Emerson. It was a, it was a more, uh, normal poll, um, that said that people want CEOs to remain neutral, but they also want them to be genuine. So they kind of like this, you know? Even though they say they don't want companies to weigh in, they kinda do, which is interesting. People answer differently. I do think people do vote, like with Resist and Unsubscribe, if you don't like how ChatGPT... I-- So many people have told me they have dumped ChatGPT more than any of the other ones, and Amazon would be the second one when they come up to me to ask me about your efforts with Resist and Unsubscribe. It's always Amazon and ch- and OpenAI that they focus in on. That's what I've noticed.

Scott Galloway 36:41 But we haven't had an option to the upside. We haven't had a carrot just to stick.

Kara Swisher 36:45 Yeah. Great idea.

Scott Galloway 36:45 And this has given everyone the ability to say, "All right. My lack of spending is a signal, but my spending can also be a signal."

Kara Swisher 36:52 Right. Right.

Scott Galloway 36:53 I think there's a big opportunity here, and I'm personally gonna urge people to sign up for and patronize Anthropic-

Kara Swisher 37:02 Mm-hmm

Scott Galloway 37:03 ... and to unsubscribe and not use OpenAI and send a very strong signal that people notice.

Kara Swisher 37:09 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 37:10 And when certain companies stand up at potentially, you know, potentially pretty severe risk of retribution-

Kara Swisher 37:15 It is

Scott Galloway 37:15 ... from the largest customer in the world.

Kara Swisher 37:15 It still is. There's all kinds of second-order effects of Palantir uses Claude. A lot of people use Claude.

Scott Galloway 37:20 100%. It's a real risk. It might cost them in the short run.

Kara Swisher 37:23 Well, there's a, there's a lawsuit too.

Scott Galloway 37:24 Over, over the medium and the long term, I believe this is one of the biggest commercial opportunities-

Kara Swisher 37:29 Yeah

Scott Galloway 37:29 ... presented to companies right now.

Kara Swisher 37:30 Yeah, we'll see where it goes. Um, uh, the, the issue-- let me just make a warning for Anthropic. Dario, who is a typical tech, tech person, arrogant, he can be arrogant and, um, imperious kind of thing. He loves to write, which I, I appreciate. I like a, I like a CEO that does real- is a good writer, actually. Um, he, he's gotta be careful not to appear too righteous, right? Too self-righteous. I think that's where it gets a-

Scott Galloway 37:56 I think he should go dark and just let his actions speak for his words.

Kara Swisher 37:58 Yeah, exactly. I think there is that... You know, he's definitely getting attacked by Emil, the idiot Emil Michael and David Sacks, the other moron, um-

Scott Galloway 38:07 Well, again, government, government officials deciding-

Kara Swisher 38:10 Yeah

Scott Galloway 38:11 ... that we're now, like you said, central planning.

Kara Swisher 38:13 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 38:14 [chuckles] It, it, it's another data point. You asked about the economy. Every time we diminish the rule of law, and that everyone gets to... is, is, is enable-- everyone is entitled to and subject to the same laws, every time we say, "Okay, the, the law is now a tool for political retribution based on who's in par- who's in power," we lose mon-- Uh, we-- Our price earnings multiple on the S&P goes down.

Kara Swisher 38:38 Right. He's more powerful. Tom- Derimotte is more powerful now than he was because he's the only one, right? And the same thing with the Tom Tellus. He has more leverage now in his three hundred days left 'cause it gives the, gives people permission to be, to push back, you know. Maybe not... He gets to be the louder one, both of them, and it'll, it'll be interesting. It'll be all over the place. Um, speaking of not pushing back [chuckles] FCC Chair Brendan Carr,

Kara Swisher 39:05 who I love to call a moron, 'cause he is, says he expects the Warner Brothers Paramount merger deal to get through approval pretty quickly. Of course, you lapdog. Let's listen to what he said when asked about whether he would have concerns about the Netflix deal.

Speaker 39:18 Yeah, there was a lot of concerns in DC, and you can see it already. Just the scope and scale on the streaming service in particular, they would have a very difficult path forward from a regulatory perspective. This deal, uh, is a lot cleaner, does not raise at all the same types of concerns. I think there's some real consumer benefits that could emerge from it.

Kara Swisher 39:33 Uh, he's right about it. It was obviously. They're smaller. That's, that's right, Brendan. But Brendan has nothing to do with this deal, and he always mouths off on everything. Um, meanwhile, Fitch Ratings, one of the Wall Street's big credit rating agencies, has cut Paramount's credit ratings to junk status. No surprise, enormous debt, I think from seventy-five to a hundred billion dollars in debt. It's a big, it's a big chunk of money. They say they're gonna deleverage quickly, but it's always hard, as Bill Cohen noted. Um, and David Zaslav, also not looking so good, president and CEO of Warner's, he's looking good to shareholders, filed to sell over a hundred and fourteen million dollars worth of stock in the company. He's getting pilloried by, 'cause it's very clear that, um, that, uh, Paramount will have to cut. They say six billion. It's much higher. Um, uh, you know, I-- Carr does not play a role here, just, just for people to understand, a real role. Um, but it will get through. It probably will. You know, they've been working Europe. They've been working the government. Um, it- it's just a question of how they get through and, and what damage, uh, they have done by doing this very non-economic deal. Um, any more thoughts on that?

Scott Galloway 40:37 When the book on the worst acquisitions in history-

Kara Swisher 40:40 Mm-hmm

Scott Galloway 40:41 ... is written, it should just be called Warner Brothers.

Kara Swisher 40:43 [laughs] It's true.

Scott Galloway 40:45 I mean, if you, if you ra- if you ran into-

Kara Swisher 40:48 That's funny

Scott Galloway 40:49 ... Time Warner executives in two thousand and five.

Kara Swisher 40:52 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 40:52 Steve Case, super smart. He realized that-

Kara Swisher 40:55 Yeah

Scott Galloway 40:55 ... AOL had nowhere near the value it was trading at.

Kara Swisher 40:57 No.

Scott Galloway 40:57 So he said, "This is a time to trade it in for boring revenues that come from records and books and parks and movies."

Kara Swisher 41:05 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 41:05 And if you find a Time Warner executive two or three years later, literally their retirements were ruined because of what was the worst acquisition, uh, in history, and that's Time Warner's merger with AOL. And AOL within, like, thirty-six months was worth ten percent of what Time Warner had to pay for it and give up. And then AT&T bought Time Warner and then barely... and then had to take a c- had to take a haircut.

Kara Swisher 41:30 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 41:30 And then Time Warner merged-

Kara Swisher 41:32 [laughs] I know. It's true

Scott Galloway 41:32 ... with Discovery.

Kara Swisher 41:34 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 41:34 And basically, it turned into just a giant, uh, public benefit organization. It's like basically the merger between Discovery and Warner Brothers is if David Zaslav had been honest, he would have stood up and said, "Look, this can make me almost a billionaire-

Kara Swisher 41:51 Yeah

Scott Galloway 41:51 ... regardless of whether I destroy or make shareholder value."

Kara Swisher 41:54 He certainly didn't improve it. He didn't improve it.

Scott Galloway 41:57 It, it did not... It's underperformed the S&P by any stretch of the imagination.

Kara Swisher 42:01 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 42:01 He's a brilliant investment banker, and he's gonna walk away with seven hundred million dollars. Whatever.

Kara Swisher 42:06 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 42:06 It's legal. Good for him. Shareholders. What I don't get is if I was Netflix, I would be, I'd be much meaner or more Machiavellian, and I'd be trying to fire up as many Democratic lawmakers as possible.

Kara Swisher 42:17 I think they are. I think probably they are. They're saying a lot of pub-- You know, uh, Jerry Cardinale, who's one of the investors, tried to clap back at Netflix. All the, all the... I've talked to some Paramount executives, and they're all like-

Scott Galloway 42:29 Where are the unions? I don't get it. I can't get over why they-

Kara Swisher 42:30 Paramount executive's like, "Netflix has got sor- sour grapes," and, like, they're accurate sour grapes. Like, [chuckles] sorry. I think it's very effective by slapping them, you know, making them a villain. But yeah, I agree. The unions, why-

Scott Galloway 42:42 It's gonna be eight X. And also, uh, Edgar Bronfman, Shari Redstone, and now David Ellison.

Kara Swisher 42:47 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 42:47 There's a general trend throughout history where Dad makes a shit ton of money through grit and creativity, and then Dad Junior loses it.

Kara Swisher 42:57 Yeah. Dad Junior. [chuckles]

Scott Galloway 42:57 And, uh-

Kara Swisher 42:59 Dad Junior. [chuckles]

Scott Galloway 42:59 But basically, the only ones who are willing-

Kara Swisher 43:01 Well, Rupert Murdoch. Rupert Murdoch took his da- But that was, like, a small-

Scott Galloway 43:04 Oh, no

Kara Swisher 43:05 ... hostage.

Scott Galloway 43:06 He, he-- I mean, he was a rich kid.

Kara Swisher 43:07 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 43:07 But he turned his father's-

Kara Swisher 43:08 Yeah

Scott Galloway 43:09 Into an empire

Kara Swisher 43:10 Into empire, yeah

Scott Galloway 43:11 And, and, and anyways, this, anyone involved in media now is basically a billionaire's kid looking to go to the Oscars and make the family eighty percent less wealthy.

Kara Swisher 43:23 Yeah, it's true.

Scott Galloway 43:24 And that's what Bronfman did.

Kara Swisher 43:26 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 43:26 That's what Shari Redstone did.

Kara Swisher 43:27 She definitely did.

Scott Galloway 43:28 And that's, that's what David Ellison is about to do.

Kara Swisher 43:31 Well, he has a lot of money, so he has a lot to lose. He really, really, really likes making movies, Scott.

Scott Galloway 43:36 This company, this company is gonna be-- they're gonna try to go to AI to cut res- to cut, I, I think, and I think you're gonna see an, a lot of AI slop.

Kara Swisher 43:43 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 43:43 I think the creative community is gonna turn on them.

Kara Swisher 43:46 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 43:46 And I think this is gonna be ver- I, I would not wanna own those bonds right now unless they're senior secured in the stack.

Kara Swisher 43:52 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 43:53 Uh, but I think this is gonna be very-

Kara Swisher 43:55 And, and of course -

Scott Galloway 43:56 Difficult

Kara Swisher 43:56 ... they're gonna get a lot of attention with the news thing, even though it's a smaller part of the empire. Um, you know, they're gonna merge.

Scott Galloway 44:02 I wouldn't be surprised if they sell it. I, I don't, I, I don't, I've never bought them out of control.

Kara Swisher 44:05 Well, they're mer- I know for sure they're merging CBS and CNN. They, they have to. They, it's economically untenable not to do so. I would hope they would put Mark Thompson in charge of the whole thing. Um, I think he's a really good, uh, person and very well-liked. I can tell you it's hair on fire over at CNN in terms of being... I get, I get, like, like, covered with CNN. "What's happening, Kara? What's happening, Kara?" And I have some knowledge, I will say. Uh, but they're definitely, uh, merging, um, merging the two of them. There's no other choice for them to do that.

Scott Galloway 44:36 I think they should have CNN anchors on Survivor, the CNN show.

Kara Swisher 44:40 [laughs]

Scott Galloway 44:41 Dana Bash, oh my God.

Kara Swisher 44:42 Who would win?

Scott Galloway 44:42 She would so-

Kara Swisher 44:43 Who would win? D- Kaitlan Collins would kill them all, don't you think?

Scott Galloway 44:47 Oh, no, I think Dana Bash, I think Dana Bash-

Kara Swisher 44:49 Oh, never mind

Scott Galloway 44:49 ... is the kind of person that would smother you in your sleep if she needed to.

Kara Swisher 44:52 Really? I feel like Kaitlan Collins. Did you see her, like-

Scott Galloway 44:54 No, no, no

Kara Swisher 44:55 ... kicking, kicking the-

Scott Galloway 44:56 I think there's a very dark-

Kara Swisher 44:57 ... press secretary's ass?

Scott Galloway 44:58 I think there's a very dark, interesting side to Dana.

Kara Swisher 45:00 Okay, all right. But we, no, we don't, we don't-

Scott Galloway 45:02 And I'm here for it, Dana, by the way.

Kara Swisher 45:03 All right. But, um-

Scott Galloway 45:03 I'm here for it

Kara Swisher 45:04 ... no, Jake probably will get go- gotten. Anderson, of course, is so sweet. Um, I'm trying to think if there's an outside [laughs] person. Bruno? I don't know. There's a lot of people there. There's a lot of people. I'm, I'm gonna vote Kaitlan Collins. You can vote Dana Bash. But we definitely think, uh, Anderson and Jake will be, will be off, will be [laughs] , will be dinner.

Scott Galloway 45:23 I think Fareed just opens a bar on the island-

Kara Swisher 45:25 Fareed [laughs]

Scott Galloway 45:26 ... and says, "I'm done. I'm done. I'm sick of telling people what's gonna happen."

Kara Swisher 45:30 Let's stack rank-

Scott Galloway 45:31 "I'm just gonna"-

Kara Swisher 45:31 ... the survivability on an island of CNN anchors. Oh, that's so funny.

Scott Galloway 45:36 Yeah.

Kara Swisher 45:36 That would be [laughs]

Scott Galloway 45:36 Who wins in Survivor? CNN Survivor.

Kara Swisher 45:38 Yeah [laughs]

Scott Galloway 45:38 And they're literally gonna have to do sh- create-

Kara Swisher 45:40 [laughs] That would be so good

Scott Galloway 45:42 ... Survivor, the CNN edition.

Kara Swisher 45:44 Oh, Scott, what do we do with Scott Jennings? What do you, where do you put him?

Scott Galloway 45:48 Oh, he's killed by his own troops.

Kara Swisher 45:49 [laughs]

Scott Galloway 45:49 [laughs] He's like, he is, they, they, I mean, yeah, no, he's the guy, he's the guy they bury, they bury up to his neck in sand and let's let the tide come in slowly.

Kara Swisher 46:01 [laughs] Right.

Scott Galloway 46:02 They're like, "Is there a fire ant, is there a fire ant hill on the island? We have an idea for Scott"

Kara Swisher 46:09 [laughs] Yes.

Scott Galloway 46:10 We have Michael Smerconish leading campfire songs-

Kara Swisher 46:13 Smerconish [laughs]

Scott Galloway 46:13 ... at the end of night to make everyone feel good.

Kara Swisher 46:15 He and Fareed will have a bar.

Scott Galloway 46:16 We have AC360, that guy who, whose substitute for Anderson, he just has to walk around with his shirt off. He's hot.

Kara Swisher 46:22 [laughs] John.

Scott Galloway 46:23 He just has to walk around with his shirt off. [laughs]

Kara Swisher 46:25 Okay.

Scott Galloway 46:25 I've got it all planned. If, if Ellison's call me, I take back everything I've said, I have a way to pay off your debt. Survivor, the CNN edition.

Kara Swisher 46:36 I'm telling you, Kaitlan Collins will take them all down. All right, Scott, let's go on a quick break. When we come back, the return of the burger wars. This is right in your wheelhouse. [gentle music] Support for this show comes from Harvey AI. Law is a craft forged through repetition, sharpened by judgment, perfected in the details most people never see. Practice makes perfect is Harvey's belief in relentless refinement, in turning complexity into clarity, pressure into precision, and experience into advantage. Legal work isn't just knowing the law. It's about applying it carefully, consistently, and under real stakes. Harvey is an AI platform built specifically for legal practice, helping teams analyze large volumes of documents, drafts with precision, and collaborate securely across complex matters. It doesn't replace expertise. It strengthens it, making teams faster, more exacting, more certain. Today, more than half of the AM Law 100 use Harvey as part of their workflow. Learn more at harvey.ai. Scott, we're back with more news. Burger King and McDonald's

Kara Swisher 47:41 have some social media beef. I can't believe I just read that. McDonald's posted a video of its CEO eating the company's Big Arch, uh, Burger last month, and while he says he was taking a big bite, the bite was small. He also called it the product. Uh, the video went viral because of the discrepancy, and then on the day of the release of the Big Arch, Burger King posted a video of its president eating a Whopper burger at a more enthusiastic fashion than the rest of them. There's a Wendy's one. I think there's a Taco Bell. I don't know. There's so many of them now. Um, and, and while it, it was... What did you think? Like, very briefly, what did you think of this? It's kind of fascinating. It really took off, the burger eating situation. Funny? Stupid?

Scott Galloway 48:21 Well, what, what no one wanted to talk about was-

Kara Swisher 48:23 Mm-hmm

Scott Galloway 48:23 ... there was a CEO of McDonald's who I think died of colorectal cancer in his late 40s.

Kara Swisher 48:28 Oh.

Scott Galloway 48:28 Um-

Kara Swisher 48:29 Oh, whoa

Scott Galloway 48:29 ... like, I, I don't... [laughs] Yeah, that, that's a real pick-me-up story.

Kara Swisher 48:33 Wow. Thanks, Scott. [laughs]

Scott Galloway 48:34 [laughs] Um, yeah, I don't know why I brought that up.

Kara Swisher 48:37 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 48:37 I don't, I... What, what do you... I could not be less interested in this story other than to say that-

Kara Swisher 48:42 Yeah, it's interesting

Scott Galloway 48:42 ... other than to say that I want, I want [laughs] to buy... I, I, I've been, as, as I'm sure you are, I've been talking to all these presidents, uh, presidential candidates who call me for ideas-

Kara Swisher 48:55 Mm-hmm

Scott Galloway 48:55 ... which is their way of saying, "Send me money." I'm like, "Negotiate, buy a billion doses of, of a GLP-1 dr- uh, drug."

Kara Swisher 49:01 Right. Yeah. Actually, these businesses are under siege. You're absolutely right.

Scott Galloway 49:04 Distribute it to rural communities.Uh, if you wanna, if you wanna solve the deficit, all roads lead to healthcare.

Kara Swisher 49:11 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 49:11 If we wanna reduce healthcare costs, all roads, in my opinion, lead to GLP-1.

Kara Swisher 49:15 All right.

Scott Galloway 49:16 And that the best-

Kara Swisher 49:16 Well

Scott Galloway 49:16 ... investment we could make, I, I think, I think fast food... By the way, I, I gotta be honest.

Kara Swisher 49:20 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 49:21 I look forward-- The only thing I'm, the only thing I like about travel-

Kara Swisher 49:24 In and out

Scott Galloway 49:24 ... is if I'm at an airport, I grant myself the luxury of eating McDonald's. I have a general rule.

Kara Swisher 49:29 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 49:29 I don't eat fast food or go to strip bars in cities I live in-

Kara Swisher 49:31 Mm-hmm

Scott Galloway 49:31 ... 'cause that could just go bad places.

Kara Swisher 49:33 Mm.

Scott Galloway 49:34 So but when I'm at the airport, the McDonald's in Newark is-

Kara Swisher 49:37 Yeah

Scott Galloway 49:37 ... the best McDonald's in the world. And-

Kara Swisher 49:39 Yeah, you like In-N-Out too, and Shake Shack, it's-

Scott Galloway 49:41 Oh, that's not even fast food.

Kara Swisher 49:42 That's different.

Scott Galloway 49:43 That's, that's-

Kara Swisher 49:43 That's very fresh

Scott Galloway 49:43 ... that's the best meal in the world.

Kara Swisher 49:45 It is. You're right. But let me-

Scott Galloway 49:46 That's literally the best meal in the world.

Kara Swisher 49:46 Well then let me get on this. We're on food chains. RFK Jr. questioned what's in Dunkin' Donuts products, and Massachusetts is not having it. Governor Maura Healey posted an image with a Dunkin' cup saying, "Come and take it." Others are having fun with, uh, the, the jab on social media, saying things like, "If this administration changes anything that goes into Dunkin', I will make January 6th look like a tea party." Um, you know, it's interesting. They're going after brands. Like, well, RFK's such a, such a, s- another moron. Um, it's, it's interesting because remember when Bloomberg did this with the co- with the sugar? It wasn't good. It wasn't a good minute for him when he-

Scott Galloway 50:19 Another Big Gulp-

Kara Swisher 50:20 The Big Gulp

Scott Galloway 50:21 ... controversy.

Kara Swisher 50:21 What do you, what do you think about this? I think Dunkin' is not a good thing to go after. I feel like people really like that Dunkin' Donuts. They really do.

Scott Galloway 50:29 America runs on-

Kara Swisher 50:29 And they know, they know it's full of sugar. They're aware. They're very aware.

Scott Galloway 50:32 America runs on Dunkin', Kara.

Kara Swisher 50:34 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 50:34 Um, look, I, I think people have the right to kill themselves. [laughs] And if they wanna do it slowly with McDonald's and Dunkin', that's kinda their opportunity. I think the government has an obligation to go the other way and provide more education. 70% of Americans are obese or overweight. It's like 38% are obese. In Japan, it's 4%. And it starts very early. They have, every s- public school has to have a nutritionist, and they are not allowed to have any processed food, and everything-

Kara Swisher 51:00 Same thing in Korea

Scott Galloway 51:01 ... has to be made fresh in the morning.

Kara Swisher 51:01 There's a whole scene in my documentary with me in a Korean school eating their food. It's astonishing when you see this food.

Scott Galloway 51:07 And you ask these kids what their favorite food is, they're like, "Broccoli."

Kara Swisher 51:10 Yes.

Scott Galloway 51:10 "Rice."

Kara Swisher 51:10 No, they were like, "Oh, this kimchi here." It was-

Scott Galloway 51:12 And guess what? They don't-

Kara Swisher 51:13 It was a fermented food. It was miso soup. It was rice, certainly. It was, it was so good. It was so healthy, it was crazy. It was-

Scott Galloway 51:20 And they end up paying $6,000 or $7,000 per consumer on healthcare, and we pay $13,000, folks.

Kara Swisher 51:26 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 51:26 Just do the math. So I don't like, I don't like demonizing... Like, I like McDonald's. I like Dunkin' Donuts. I like to think that because of education early on, I, I got some, you know, I'm-

Kara Swisher 51:39 You were fully aware

Scott Galloway 51:39 ... focused on eating the right foods. Also, the reality is fast food is a function of poverty, and that is... or, or going back to the same income inequality.

Kara Swisher 51:48 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 51:48 And that is, if you're a single mother, the cheapest caloric intake is fast food.

Kara Swisher 51:52 It is. Yeah.

Scott Galloway 51:53 And people, people wanna get moral and lecture people about the importance of cooking at home and cooking with good food. Actually, the, the myth is that cooking at home saves you money. No, it's not. To cook at home with natural ingredients is really expensive.

Kara Swisher 52:05 It is, mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 52:06 And so-

Kara Swisher 52:07 And also time, a lot of people have two jobs.

Scott Galloway 52:09 Or food deserts.

Kara Swisher 52:10 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 52:11 Uh, but again, I'm, I, I've said this before, I think the most transformative technology over the next five or 10 years is not AI.

Kara Swisher 52:17 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 52:17 I think it's GLP-1.

Kara Swisher 52:18 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 52:19 But, uh, love McDonald's, think people should have the right to kill themselves fast or slow if they want.

Kara Swisher 52:24 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 52:24 But I think a really good investment would be giving people enough money and enough education-

Kara Swisher 52:29 That's a really good point

Scott Galloway 52:29 ... such that they want to and can afford to eat well.

Kara Swisher 52:31 Yeah. But I have to say, I wouldn't go up against Maura Healey. [laughs] I would not if I were you, RFK. She's a tough nut. She was a big basketball player. I don't know if you know that. She was a very good one. Um, anyway, uh, we'll see what happens.

Scott Galloway 52:42 She came to our event, right? That one?

Kara Swisher 52:43 She did.

Scott Galloway 52:43 Yeah.

Kara Swisher 52:43 Yeah, she's great. But it's really interesting that, that these, these... I have to say, it, some of the brands on social media are really interesting. Um, and, uh, some of them are better than others. Wendy's does an amazing job, for example, online.

Scott Galloway 52:56 Well, you know what Peter Pan's favorite place to eat out is.

Kara Swisher 52:58 Where? Where is Peter-

Scott Galloway 52:59 Wendy's.

Kara Swisher 53:00 [laughs] Oh, God. I can't, I can't believe you have a dirty joke about Wendy's. Oh, good God. All right, Scott, one more quick break. We'll be back for predictions. [swishing sound] Okay, Scott,

Kara Swisher 53:13 um, let's hear a prediction. I have something very quickly to say-

Scott Galloway 53:16 Mm-hmm

Kara Swisher 53:16 ... in the prediction department. I, uh, uh, for people who didn't notice, there was a story, uh, again, on, uh, bots again about, uh, problems with wrongful deaths and suicides. This time it's Google with Gemini AI chatbot coached a man towards suicide, and it is... The story is devastating. This is an adult, not a chi- not a young person, not at, someone underage, but, uh, it's still, uh, just as devastating, th- th- it, what it did and what it told him to do, and it made him go to places and look for things in order to find a robot to put this digital girlfriend into. Um, I have to say, I, I predict some really significant legislation around this in a way that is probably gonna be too reactive and at the same time, um, uh, it necessary because of the way these companies are conducting their, their chatbots that interact with people on a personal level. And they have done nothing to, to rein the man, um, and so the, I think there's gonna be a flood of things around how we interact with technology, uh, that's gonna be bipartisan and pretty ugly for the tech companies. Go ahead. I've been talking about this for years, but I think-

Scott Galloway 54:23 Yeah, and I didn't mean to make light of fast food. That, there was that mass shooting at a fast food restaurant-

Kara Swisher 54:28 Mm-hmm

Scott Galloway 54:28 ... where the guy was screaming, "You've ordered your last McRib," and then one of the workers said, "Sir, this is a Wendy's."

Kara Swisher 54:33 Oh, my God. [laughs]

Scott Galloway 54:34 That's so wrong, Kara.

Kara Swisher 54:36 It's so wrong. [laughs]

Scott Galloway 54:37 That's so wrong.

Kara Swisher 54:37 Anyway, anyway, what's your prediction?

Scott Galloway 54:41 You know, [sighs] I wanna take some license here, and I wanted to talk, I wanted to do kind of a, a fail and a win, and that is, um, I just, I watched, um, one of my living heroes is, uh, Madam, uh, Secretary Clinton. It's the only person I've ever canvassed for, and I saw what I saw, uh, when I saw, I watched her entire testimony. I just thought the level of sexismWas so fucking insane, um, and that is, um, so first off, when is the last time a man was asked repeatedly to explain his wife's behavior or actions? And the, the, the absurdity of holding wives accountable for husbands, and here's what's so incredibly fucked up about this. We live in a world-

Kara Swisher 55:38 I don't hold they ought it responsible for you, so go ahead

Scott Galloway 55:40 ... we live in a world where a woman with her own fifty-year career in public service, senator, secretary of state, presidential candidate, gets hauled in front of a committee and asked to explain what her husband did. Not what you did, what he did. And also there's this implicit assumption that like, "And why didn't you stop him?" And we've seen the same bullshit for decades. When a powerful man does something wrong, we turn to his wife and ask, "Where were you? Why didn't you know? Why didn't you leave him? Why are you still with him?"

Kara Swisher 56:10 Yeah, she's often... Yeah.

Scott Galloway 56:12 And we never ask the inverse. When a woman in power screws up, we don't haul her husband in and ask him to explain her choices.

Kara Swisher 56:18 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 56:19 We don't demand he account for her behavior.

Kara Swisher 56:22 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 56:22 We don't ask, "Why did you stay with her?"

Kara Swisher 56:25 Right.

Scott Galloway 56:25 Because implicit in all this is this-

Kara Swisher 56:27 Well, we, we do ask that, but go ahead

Scott Galloway 56:30 ... implicit in all th-this is this assumption that men are autonomous agents responsible for their own actions, which is right, whereas women are responsible for everyone's actions, including their husbands'. The double standard is staggering. If, if, if H- if Hillary had left Bill after the Lewinsky scandal, she'd have been called a calculating opportunist who, who abandoned him, and that it was politically convenient. If she stays with him, she's complicit in everything, um, he's ever done. So i- i- I just think it's insane that they kept asking her questions when he was testifying the next fucking day.

Kara Swisher 57:06 Correct.

Scott Galloway 57:06 Well, ask him.

Kara Swisher 57:07 She handled it beautifully.

Scott Galloway 57:08 Yeah, I agree. So now just to, to piss off the Brooklyn-sandaled-

Kara Swisher 57:13 Mm-hmm

Scott Galloway 57:13 ... or Birkenstock crowd on the other side, there is absolutely a double standard for, for women when it comes to asking them to explain obvious discretions or conflicts of interest. Watching the exchange basically saying, "Are you having sex with... Are, are you in an extramarital..." And I'm, I'm gonna be clear, I'm not judging them on having an extramarital affair or having sex. When you're having a relationship with your number two who is unqualified, uh, that is reason to be fired at any organization, any corporation, much less be a cabinet position. And, and what the exchange reminded me of was how selectively we apply accountability in politics. And as someone who considers them a feminist, that means you're subject to the same opportunities, and also you're entitled to the same amount of shit as everybody else. And when male politicians face questions about personal conduct, the expectation is clear: Answer the fucking question. And when they dodge, the press and the opposition usually press harder until they deny it or, or admit it. Evasion-

Kara Swisher 58:18 That's Tony Gonzales. Did that just happen? Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 58:20 Evasion becomes the story. But when a woman, Secretary Noem, respond to a direct question about a relationship, uh, calling it total garbage and declining to actually say no, the moment largely passed without the same relentless follow-up.

Kara Swisher 58:34 Yeah, Gonzales is still in news for it. Yeah, you're right.

Scott Galloway 58:36 Because of this double standard-

Kara Swisher 58:37 Yep

Scott Galloway 58:37 ... of being accused of slut-shaming.

Kara Swisher 58:39 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 58:39 This is sexism the other way. If a male cabinet secretary responded that way to a similar question, the headlines would reads, would read, "Refuses to deny" -

Kara Swisher 58:47 Mm-hmm

Scott Galloway 58:47 ... and the questioning wouldn't stop.

Kara Swisher 58:50 Yeah. Okay. [laughs]

Scott Galloway 58:50 So there is sexism, asking women to take responsibility for their husbands, but at the same time, there is a l- a, a double standard-

Kara Swisher 58:57 All right

Scott Galloway 58:57 ... and a lack of accountability amongst women for the same types of things where the press and, and other lawmakers would not let up. God, I'm so preachy today.

Kara Swisher 59:06 I do think lawmakers-- I know. I, I think lawmakers did, did not let up. I think they said it. I've-

Scott Galloway 59:10 It's over. It's done.

Kara Swisher 59:12 Th- th- they are not-- They are doing their job. They did ask, and they asked several times. They asked-

Scott Galloway 59:17 If this had been Bill Clinton-

Kara Swisher 59:19 I get it. I get it

Scott Galloway 59:19 ... or another man-

Kara Swisher 59:20 I get it. I'm just saying-

Scott Galloway 59:21 ... it would be, it would be ongoing-

Kara Swisher 59:21 I think you're right about the media

Scott Galloway 59:22 ... until they clarified their comments

Kara Swisher 59:24 ... I think you're right. I'm gonna say you're right about the media. I'd say, I think they... They're, they asked as hard as they could, and she just refused. She went, she just wasn't impeccable.

Scott Galloway 59:33 See, I think, I think they should've said the following, and it's easy to be-

Kara Swisher 59:35 All right

Scott Galloway 59:36 ... when you're recording. I think one of the senators should've said, "You are having an inappropriate relationship with your number two, who is unqualified, and this puts the nation at risk." I would've backed her into a fucking corner.

Kara Swisher 59:47 That's fair. That, they could've done it a different way. You're right.

Scott Galloway 59:50 So I'll move on. Um, real quick.

Kara Swisher 59:52 Okay.

Scott Galloway 59:52 My prediction-

Kara Swisher 59:53 Yeah

Scott Galloway 59:54 ... is no.

Kara Swisher 59:56 No.

Scott Galloway 59:56 And that is Dario Amodei has given license and permission to CEOs to say no.

Kara Swisher 1:00:01 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 1:00:01 And in the next thirty days, you are going to see a raft of CEOs find their testicles and start saying no to this administration.

Kara Swisher 1:00:09 Say no. Mm-hmm. No. No. There's gonna be a lot of that. I agree with you 100%. Um, okay, well, speaking of yes, we will be in Minnesota, everybody. Just so you know, we're gonna be there on Sunday night, and we're-

Scott Galloway 1:00:22 We are

Kara Swisher 1:00:22 ... very excited, and we're very excited to do this show. It'll be a Pivot show, and at the same time, we're gonna talk a lot about resist and unsubscribe, and Scott's got some tricks up his sleeve. We've got some special guests, secret guests. Uh, we're sold out, um, so it's not like we're selling it, but we're, we're very excited to do it and raise money for a, a legal organization that, uh, helps immigrants there. Um, anyway, we wanna hear from you. Send us your question about business, tech or whatever's on your mind. Go to nytmag.com/pivot to submit a question for the show, or call 855-51-PIVOT. Elsewhere in the Kara and Scott universe, this week on Prof G Markets, Scott spoke with Big Short legend Steve Eisman about why he thinks the war in Iran is unlikely to rattle markets and why the bigger risk i- investors should be watching again is AI. Let's listen to a clip.

Speaker 1:01:07 Everything that's being created by people who are doing AI has value. The question is, how much value? So much money is being spent. Are, are the returns that these companies are gonna generate, are they gonna justify those returns? I suspect not. If I had to stake my life on it, I'd say we'd have some kind of replay where, you know, in the internet bubble, the first generation of internet companies basically failed, and it was the second generation of internet companies that, that took us on to glory in terms of the value of the internet.

Kara Swisher 1:01:42 Oh, very good. Very sensible. That makes sense. Okay, that's the show. Thanks for listening, uh, to Pivot, and be sure to like and subscribe to our YouTube channel. We'll be back next week with an episode, as I said, taped live in Minneapolis. Scott, I can't believe we did it. I mean, we just thought [laughs] about it on the show, and then we made it so.

Scott Galloway 1:02:00 Yeah, we had an idea, and it's happened. [outro music]