RFK Jr. Nomination Sparks Market Downturn and Public Health Concerns | Pivot

Kara Swisher 0:00 The postelection Trump bump has come to an end with the markets closing lower last Friday and the S&P 500 and NASDAQ seeing their biggest one-day losses in two weeks. The downturn is being attributed in part to President-Elect Donald Trump announcing RFK Jr. as his Health and Human Services Secretary. Shares of major vaccine, uh, drug, uh, and drug makers, including Moderna, Pfizer, and AstraZeneca tumbled in the wake of the news. Uh, what do you think? Shares of Eli Lilly and Novo, uh, Nordisk fell, he's against Ozempic by the way, as processed food stocks,

Kara Swisher 0:30 including PepsiCo, Coke, and General mis- Mills. The markets were also reacting to Jerome Powell saying the Fed is in no hurry to make further interest rate cuts. Um, what's your take on this? And the pick in general, he says he wants to make America healthy again. They have to stop with this Make America Whatever Again. Um, W- America was never healthy, let's start with that RFK Jr. um, which I loved eating at McDonald's on the private plane with Trump and Elon Musk. It was (laughs) someone likened it to making the cop take the drugs just to make sure he's not a cop. I-

Scott Galloway 1:01 (laughs) He's not a cop.

Kara Swisher 1:02 I love, what?

Scott Galloway 1:03 Yeah, that was it, making the new guy do drugs-

Kara Swisher 1:04 Uh, yeah.

Scott Galloway 1:04 ... to make sure he's not a cop.

Kara Swisher 1:05 Oh, he looked such in pain. What a fucking asshole. He talks about McDonald's being poison and then he's sitting there with one. What a dumbass that guy is. Anyway, what do you think of this? What do you think of this?

Scott Galloway 1:15 It's like when-

Kara Swisher 1:15 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 1:15 ... you're in Vegas and s- and a pro asks you to show your genitals to make sure you're not a cop. I just heard about this.

Kara Swisher 1:20 Yeah, no, okay.

Scott Galloway 1:20 I wouldn't know firsthand.

Kara Swisher 1:21 I don't either.

Scott Galloway 1:21 But I've heard that happens.

Kara Swisher 1:23 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 1:23 Um, Big Ed and the Twinster. Anyone wants to see Big Ed and the Twins, that's fine with me. The market has been remarkably, right? And I see that As a negative forward-looking indicator, because Moderna-

Kara Swisher 1:32 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 1:32 ... uh, on word that Kennedy would be head of, um, HHS-

Kara Swisher 1:37 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 1:38 ... um, was down 21%.

Kara Swisher 1:40 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 1:40 Yeah, Pfizer down seven. Uh, Eli Lilly, I mean, this is, uh, this is a- a tens if not... tens of billions-

Kara Swisher 1:48 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 1:48 ... if not even maybe over 100 billion in- in market value draw down. Because this guy has a reputation. No, he can't fool anybody.

Kara Swisher 1:56 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 1:56 He is crazy anti-vask- uh, anti-vax.

Kara Swisher 1:59 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 2:00 With the- with the key, you know, the operative term there being crazy. And it's very disappointed because, uh, uh... it's very disappointing because what I would argue is that whenever you have the far left on the far right-

Kara Swisher 2:12 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 2:12 ... come together on something, it's a really bad fucking idea.

Kara Swisher 2:14 Yeah, you're right.

Scott Galloway 2:15 Whether it's reckless-

Kara Swisher 2:15 He's left.

Scott Galloway 2:15 ... spending, antisemitism.

Kara Swisher 2:17 He's so far left, he's right. That's what happened with him.

Scott Galloway 2:19 Well, that's what happens. They meet at-

Kara Swisher 2:20 He went around the bend.

Scott Galloway 2:20 They meet at... they come together at crazy.

Kara Swisher 2:22 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 2:22 And actually, the anti-vax movement, uh, originated on the far left. You know, don't-

Kara Swisher 2:27 Oh, it did?

Scott Galloway 2:27 ... let corporations put-

Kara Swisher 2:29 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 2:29 Yeah, don't let corporations put crazy shit into your body. And then the far right picked it up 'cause for some reason, science and experts became associated-

Kara Swisher 2:36 Right.

Scott Galloway 2:36 ... with the left.

Kara Swisher 2:37 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 2:37 Anyways, so this is... and I would argue, and I think this is... there's real evidence here, that everyone is so fucking fascinated by innovation and chop, metal chopsticks, grabbing a rocket, and photo sharing apps, and GPS, and rightfully so, it creates a lot of economic value. But if you were gonna talk about how we come together as a species-

Kara Swisher 2:58 Mm-hmm.

Scott Galloway 2:58 ... and use communication and education and cooperation to accomplish something really incredible, the most positive innovation of the last couple hundred years I would put forward is vaccines. And there is nothing that has come out of our great academic institutions, that's been privatized, that has capitalist, that has capitalist fuel, that also government weighs in and says, "We can distribute these things in low-income areas," that have saved more lives than vaccines. Is it, maybe, is it food distribution? I don't know what it would be, or pesticides maybe? But these are... I mean, in my view, vaccines kind of arguably some of the best things ever. I am so pro-vax. If anyone's holding edibles or vaccines, meet me in the bathroom, and I'm gonna show you that the only thing better than feeling high is not feeling unwell.

Kara Swisher 3:49 He tries to be cute about it and says, "I have questions." And I don't think that's the case. I think he's done more damage. I call him best friend of measles and polio. Um, I think Zeke Emanuel, who's the brother of Ari and, and Rahm, appointing RFK Jr., uh, to the HHS is a big mistake. While I'll admit he has a few important ideas on chronic disease and processed food. I mean, yeah, everybody, we all think processed food sucks. These are overshadowed by his problematic views on vaccines that threaten to walk back major progress we've made. Above all, appointing people like RFK Jr.

Kara Swisher 4:19 who will bend to Trump's every whim is guaranteed to be truly dangerous. Um, I think he's right. I think that's 100% right. We can agree with some of the things, but this guy is anti-vax. I'm sorry, all you people, he's not questioning it. He's- he's truly anti-vax. And- and try to stop pretending it's otherwise. Um, what do you think of the o- the GLP drugs, the- the- the impact on US economies and global economies? I mentioned drug maker Novo Nordisk and E- Eli Lilly saw shares drop. Are people gonna listen to him here enough to do lasting damage to the industry? Kennedy has been critical of things like Ozempic in the past, calling it a drug that will "Gladden the wallets of Big Pharma execs" and think everyone should rely on eating better produce, I guess? That's the, that's his thing, which I- I think everyone should eat more produce, Robert. But seriously, seriously.

Scott Galloway 5:10 Look, uh, uh, the- the really upsetting thing about RFK Jr. is that, in my view, he is so good on a number of issues. He talks about the unholy alliance between the food industrial complex, PepsiCo, General Foods, you know, McDonald's. They want to get you addicted. L- l- let's go med on this. So w- when our species left the Savannah, there was an absence, there was a dearth of sugary, salty, or fatty foods. It was really hard to come across these things. And so when you found them, you gorged. There was an absence of safe free

Scott Galloway 5:41 play because there was always threats everywhere around. There was an absence of mating opportunities. 80% of women on this planet have reproduced, only 40% of men. So when you get industrial production of all of these things, people develop addictions to food, addictions to gambling, addictions to porn. And what GLP-1 has done, as far as I can tell, is it's like scaffolding on our instincts. And it says, "Look, even though you can find more calories than you can consume based on industrial production, almost anyone can eat as much as they want, they can gorge, we're gonna turn off that signal." And people on these drugs report that they're drinking less alcohol, they're biting their nails less. What's even- even more amazing about these things is not only are they eating less shitty food-... the people on these drugs are eating more fruits and vegetables and grains. It's as if this thing is, is actually calibrating what's good for you and what is bad for you. And when you look at the one thing Americans share other than a Netflix subscription and Amazon Prime, it's that we are, 70% of

Scott Galloway 6:40 us are either obese or overweight. And obesity is the COVID, or the, it is the epidemic that kills more people every year than COVID ever did. But because there's so much money involved from large corporations and hospital clinics and knee replacement and kidney dialysis and statins and pharmaceutical and McDonald's, we pretend that you're finding your truth. No, you're not. You're finding fucking diabetes. And he is very good on this issue. And then, all of a sudden, it's like, "Huh? What you wanna..."

Scott Galloway 7:11 This bullshit that he said r- repeatedly, that the best thing you can do when you see a woman with a newborn is go up to her and say, "Don't get her vaccinated." Jesus-

Kara Swisher 7:20 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 7:20 ... Christ. Really?

Kara Swisher 7:21 Do you know her, his, his cousin, uh, Caroline Kennedy, who's US Ambassador to Australia, I didn't know that, um, i- doesn't tend to speak up, said, um, said a lot of negative things about him this week. There's a whole story on it. Um, uh, she goes, "Others are just getting to know him." But she said everything he says, um, I don't think most Americans share them. Uh, he's, uh, you know, he's denied... He's against vaccination, just so you know, styling himself as a vacting, safety activist who questions corporate influence on science. His critics say he's promoted conspiratorial ideas about public health intervention, widely viewed as one of the most important advances. Um, he's embraced a debunked theory on vaccines can cause autism. He's questioned COVID-19 vaccinations. He's also been linked to a meas- been linked to a measles outbreak in Samoa. Um, and, you know, she, she, um, Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy, uh, the daughter of JFK and Jackie Onassis obviously, said her family was, "United in terms of our support for public health sector and infrastructure, the greatest admiration for the medical profession." Uh, and Bobby Kennedy has a different set of views. It's very unusual for her to speak out. His whole family says he's as crazy as can be, but, uh-

Scott Galloway 8:31 I just hope he comes clean, and I'm being serious here, about steroid use. Uh-

Kara Swisher 8:35 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 8:35 I've seen him without a shirt on.

Kara Swisher 8:37 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 8:37 He's 70.

Kara Swisher 8:38 Looks good.

Scott Galloway 8:38 That guy's on HGH or some sort of-

Kara Swisher 8:41 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 8:41 ... or Deca. He's on some sort... And by the way, I'm not sure. I'd love to hear him defend it and talk about it.

Kara Swisher 8:46 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 8:47 But he doesn't want a needle around a vaccine to stave off polio or rubella or measles.

Kara Swisher 8:51 Just the picture of-

Scott Galloway 8:52 But he-

Kara Swisher 8:52 ... McDonald's was perfect.

Scott Galloway 8:54 But he'll-

Kara Swisher 8:54 The picture of McDonald's was perfect.

Scott Galloway 8:55 But he'll inject human growth hormone to look jacked at 70.

Kara Swisher 8:59 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 8:59 So I would... And by the way, he might have, he might have... I take creatine, and I f- it's brain protective and heart protective. I'm not... Hormone replacement therapy I think is, uh, uh, they're finding it's a very positive thing for both men and women. A lot of people say that the biggest instance of malpractice was discouraging women from hormone replacement therapy. So I'd love to know his views on it. But just be clear, as someone who works out a lot and is beginning to look like Monty Burns despite every fucking thing I'm trying to do-

Kara Swisher 9:29 Aha.

Scott Galloway 9:29 ... that guy is on, is on some form of steroids. And I would just-

Kara Swisher 9:34 Can you just say allegedly?

Scott Galloway 9:36 All-

Kara Swisher 9:36 Just say allegedly there.

Scott Galloway 9:37 That guy-

Kara Swisher 9:37 Just saying.

Scott Galloway 9:37 I mean, I would argue, I would speculate that he-

Kara Swisher 9:40 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 9:40 ... he might be, in fact, taking some sort of human grow-

Kara Swisher 9:43 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 9:43 And I would just like to, him to speak openly about it and get his views on it-

Kara Swisher 9:46 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 9:46 ... because they seem to me, to me somewhat contrary to this notion, but don't put-

Kara Swisher 9:50 I do think that picture did a lot of damage, honestly, if he cares so much.

Scott Galloway 9:53 Which one?

Kara Swisher 9:54 Why... With him at the McDonald's box, the Big Mac. How the fuck could he do that after he called it poison? Like, what a dumbass. He's just such a dumbass. Anyway, should investors be worried about these, um, Trump cabinet picks impacting markets? The stocks of major defense contractors also dropped last week following Pete Hegseth announcement. God, the Washington Post wrote a story about him, and he looks, he, he, he looks very dangerous as a person. Um, but, um-

Scott Galloway 10:20 Why do you say that? I'm curious why. I, I mean, I'm asking for an answer, not, not as a comment. What, why do you think he seems dangerous?

Kara Swisher 10:26 I, I was reading the story. He looks like... Look, this guy, whatever happened in that encounter with this woman, I think he attacked her. This is my, this is my feeling, Pete. Every woman looks at him and goes, "Don't cover your drink when you're around this fella." That's, you know what I mean? That kind of thing. And, uh, between him and Matt Gaetz, I mean, they, they feel like weird sexual aggressors. Um, but, you know, whatever, whatever Pete Hegseth. The fact that he paid off a woman. You know, it's just like Bill O'Reilly, you know, "Oh, I, you know, I just paid her off because..." He did... Then, then there were tapes where he did say the things she said he said, right? So they're just all such weird... This, this whole gang of, of this GOP are all fucking each other down there at Mar-a-Lago. It's weird. It's a weird group of people. I'm sorry. (laughs) Like, you know, there's the rumors of Corey Lewandowski and Kristi Noem. There's the rumors of... Like, they all seem like Caligula down there. I don't know. It just, like, yikes. I find, you know, they talk about liberals being loose. I feel like they're, like, creepy and I don't... They're just... And then the guy who actually grabs someone's, some man's nuts, you know, it's always something. Anyway.

Scott Galloway 11:33 Yeah. The, the only thing is I would push back a little bit. I think it's unfair to conflate Peter Hegseth, is that his name?

Kara Swisher 11:40 Hmm. Yeah.

Scott Galloway 11:40 With Bill O'Reilly-

Kara Swisher 11:41 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 11:41 ... where Fox paid some woman 20 or $30 million after-

Kara Swisher 11:44 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 11:44 ... supposedly he was forcing her to watch gay porn and then describe it to him. You don't pay someone 20 or $30 million-

Kara Swisher 11:51 Yeah. I agree.

Scott Galloway 11:51 ... just to make a nuisance lawsuit go away.

Kara Swisher 11:53 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 11:53 Matt Gaetz supposedly has a witness, a credible witness that says she-

Kara Swisher 11:57 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 11:57 ... witnessed him having sex with a minor.

Kara Swisher 11:59 Yes.

Scott Galloway 11:59 That's pretty serious shit.

Kara Swisher 12:01 Yes, it is.

Scott Galloway 12:01 And in the case of, uh, uh, Pete, first off, he served very honorably. He, 20 years, I think two bronze stars. I mean, he really is a decorated service person.

Kara Swisher 12:13 Got it. He's-

Scott Galloway 12:14 Hold on, let me finish.

Kara Swisher 12:15 ... absolutely unqualified for this job.

Scott Galloway 12:16 Let me finish. I, I, I think he does not have kind of the executive management experience or the gravitas around, uh, that would qualify him to oversee three million people. I agree with you there. He, he is, he did pay somebody off to drop a suit. I don't see... I gotta think that's gonna go away because it doesn't accomplish what it's supposed to. You can see a scenario where someone accuses you of something, something and to make it go away, you just pay them. Let me be clear. I don't think he's qualified for the position, but I do think it's unfair to, to compare him to, um, what Matt Gaetz-

Kara Swisher 12:50 Oh.

Scott Galloway 12:50 ... is undergoing or-

Kara Swisher 12:51 Yeah. Okay. All right.

Scott Galloway 12:52 Um-

Kara Swisher 12:52 I mean, the whole gang of them, it's just... Something's happening down there, something in the water. I don't know.

Scott Galloway 12:57 But what do you... I'm curious. I don't understand. I think I-

Kara Swisher 13:01 They have such... Go ahead. Sorry, go ahead.

Scott Galloway 13:02 Well, I, I think I understand incentives. What is the Machiavellian weird 5D or 0D chess that's going on with putting Gaetz forward as AG?

Kara Swisher 13:13 Right.

Scott Galloway 13:13 I don't... Do they think if they-

Kara Swisher 13:15 Create havoc.

Scott Galloway 13:15 If they go-

Kara Swisher 13:16 Havoc.

Scott Galloway 13:16 If they go, "This guy's..." If they offer a blood offering and Susan Collins-

Kara Swisher 13:20 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 13:20 ... and Lisa Murkowski convince some people, and supposedly there's 20 or 30 Republicans who've said, "No fucking way." Then does it make some of their less crazy-

Kara Swisher 13:29 Yeah.

Scott Galloway 13:29 ... but still grade A crazy picks more likely to get through? What, what's the, what's the strategy here?

Kara Swisher 13:34 I think so, unless there isn't one. He just feels like it. He was on the plane at the last minute and did... He had another person for AG and then suddenly it was Matt Gaetz, you know. I think sometimes it's just, like, his whim at the moment. He just wants to do what he wants to do.