Scott Galloway and Kara Swisher Agree to Disagree on Zohran Mamdani's Policies | Pivot

1. 0:00 – 8:30

   Intro

   1. KSKara Swisher0:00

      Wow, Zoron Mondami, uh, uh, the new mayor of-

   2. SGScott Galloway0:03

      You've gotta stop that.

   3. KSKara Swisher0:04

      Uh, no, no, no.

   4. SGScott Galloway0:05

      You've gotta stop that.

   5. KSKara Swisher0:06

      I know, but you have a lot of similar type people.

   6. SGScott Galloway0:07

      I'm not, I'm not suggesting government sponsored food lines where the DMV picks out my produce.

   7. KSKara Swisher0:12

      He's not... No, no. Again, the rich get everything, and this is the smallest of things. (instrumental music) Hi, everyone. This is Pivot from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network. I'm Kara Swisher.

   8. SGScott Galloway0:29

      I'm Scott Galloway.

   9. KSKara Swisher0:30

      How is the Scott media tour going? I'm seeing you everywhere Scott Galloway.

   10. SGScott Galloway0:34

       Yeah. Uh, med-

   11. KSKara Swisher0:35

       You seem tired. You're a little tired.

   12. SGScott Galloway0:36

       Not a media whore, just a whore. I am tired. I went to, uh, I did the Daily Show yesterday, and then I did, uh, Ben Stiller interviewed me at the 92nd Street Y.

   13. KSKara Swisher0:45

       Oh my God, last night?

   14. SGScott Galloway0:46

       Last night, yeah.

   15. KSKara Swisher0:47

       Well, just so everybody knows, you have the number one book on Amazon right now.

   16. SGScott Galloway0:52

       That's right.

   17. KSKara Swisher0:53

       That's right. There we go.

   18. SGScott Galloway0:54

       Oh my God, how did that happen?

   19. KSKara Swisher0:55

       There we go. There he is. Yeah.

   20. SGScott Galloway0:56

       How did that happen?

   21. KSKara Swisher0:58

       Yeah. Yeah. Well, well, who's, what's next? What's next, like a, a concert tour with Taylor Swift?

   22. SGScott Galloway1:04

       What's next? Be-

   23. KSKara Swisher1:04

       What?

   24. SGScott Galloway1:04

       Oh my God, I got all these podcasts, and then I've got this... I'm headed out with this crazy lady for this seven-city tour.

   25. KSKara Swisher1:12

       Oh, yeah.

   26. SGScott Galloway1:13

       Um, so we got-

   27. KSKara Swisher1:15

       Yeah.

   28. SGScott Galloway1:15

       We got that. Um-

   29. KSKara Swisher1:16

       Yeah.

   30. SGScott Galloway1:17

       Yeah, man.
2. 8:30 – 11:10

   Dems Sweep Elections

   1. KSKara Swisher8:30

      are riding high after sweeping key elections across the country this week. Abigail Spanberger and Mikey Sherrell won the governor's races in Virginia and New Jersey respectively. California voters passed Proposition 50, giving Democrats a win in the redistricting wars with potential, uh, pickup of five seats in next year's midterms. And, of course, Zohran Mamdani, uh, won the New York, uh, mayoral race, handily defeating Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa. Um, in his victory speech, Mamdani spoke about, Mamdani spoke about pushing back against Trump and his policies. Let's listen. Meanwhile, Republicans are downplaying these-

   2. SGScott Galloway9:37

      Can I just respond to that?

   3. KSKara Swisher9:39

      N- n- not yet. In a second. Let me just go through it.

   4. SGScott Galloway9:41

      Yeah, your job's to pick up the trash, Bonnie.

   5. KSKara Swisher9:42

      Uh, stop... Okay. C- can we s- l- I know you're mad about Mamdani, but you're gonna have to get over it. Voters vote in-

   6. SGScott Galloway9:47

      Ugh, he's gonna fight autocracy and the oligarchy-

   7. KSKara Swisher9:50

      Okay, okay.

   8. SGScott Galloway9:50

      ... as mayor of New York.

   9. KSKara Swisher9:51

      Scott, you need to calm the fuck down. Let me finish.

   10. SGScott Galloway9:53

       Oh, God.

   11. KSKara Swisher9:54

       Meanwhile, Republicans are downplaying these losses-

   12. SGScott Galloway9:56

       Ugh.

   13. KSKara Swisher9:56

       ... as best they can, with Trump blaming the shutdown, and others writing wins off as blue state blips. Let's listen to House Speaker, uh, Mike Johnson.

   14. NANarrator10:05

       What happened last night was blue states and blue cities voted blue. We all saw that coming. And no one should read too much into last night's election results. Off-year elections are not indicative of what's to come. That's what history teaches us.

   15. KSKara Swisher10:19

       Oh, he's wrong. That is not true, actually. Except it wasn't just blue states. Democrats also gained ground with victories in Georgia, Mississippi, and l- lots of places. Bucks County, Pennsylvania. All over Virginia. Uh, Montana. Like, Colorado. All... It was all over the place, and in fact, I m- they, they lost their supermajority in Mississippi. There were some unusual, uh, voting patterns, especially among Latinos, and now they're worried about that redistricting, um, things they've been pushing out of greed, um, because it looks like Democrats can flip these red seats, which is interesting. Um, now, go ahead, um, uh, w- just... But s- j- before you go ahead, lot of male voters played a big role in the last election moving to the right to vote for Trump. The- things swung back this time. Exit polls show Mamdani won 68%

3. 11:10 – 25:20

   Mamdani’s Victory

   1. KSKara Swisher11:10

      of men between the ages of 18 and 29. Spanberger won 57% of that group, and Sherrell won 56%. All right, I've given you lots to go at. Let's take a swing at it, Scott. Grumble about Mamdani and then let's go.

   2. SGScott Galloway11:26

      It felt... I don't know about you, I felt alien to wake up yesterday morning as a Democrat and having won this decisively.

   3. KSKara Swisher11:32

      Yeah.

   4. SGScott Galloway11:32

      Like, I don't remember feeling this... I didn't recognize-

   5. KSKara Swisher11:35

      Obama?

   6. SGScott Galloway11:35

      ... the feeling. I'm like-

   7. KSKara Swisher11:36

      The Obama feeling when he won. Do you remember that?

   8. SGScott Galloway11:38

      I, I just didn't recognize it. And-

   9. KSKara Swisher11:40

      Yeah.

   10. SGScott Galloway11:40

       ... it wasn't, it wasn't that these candidates won, it was the margin that they won by. Up and down the ballot, it just went blue all over the place. And there's some, there's some credibility to the Republicans' comments, and also Trump was probably right. That when Trump's not on the ticket, the- these, these, these ideas and policies just don't work. They don't resonate.

   11. KSKara Swisher12:01

       But it was also because of Trump. It was a very Trump-fueled election.

   12. SGScott Galloway12:05

       Well, his policies. People-

   13. KSKara Swisher12:06

       Yeah. Yeah.

   14. SGScott Galloway12:07

       ... you know, people vote for Trump not his policies, it was what it looks like.

   15. KSKara Swisher12:10

       Right, right.

   16. SGScott Galloway12:11

       Uh, the, you know... Some of the observations, the things... Unfortunately, I find it really discouraging, the delta between different...... different age groups and the genders. It just feels like we're separating. I mean, you realize for Mamdani, women, young women, he won by 72 points.

   17. KSKara Swisher12:32

       Yeah.

   18. SGScott Galloway12:32

       Women 18 to 29 went 84 to 12-

   19. KSKara Swisher12:36

       Right.

   20. SGScott Galloway12:36

       ... Mamdani and Cuomo. And then people over the age of 65, women over the age of 65-

   21. KSKara Swisher12:43

       Mm-hmm.

   22. SGScott Galloway12:43

       ... went 21 points for Cuomo.

   23. KSKara Swisher12:46

       Right, yeah.

   24. SGScott Galloway12:47

       I mean, it's as if they're living in different nations.

   25. KSKara Swisher12:50

       Yeah.

   26. SGScott Galloway12:50

       That's just... I- I- I- It's just so strange to me that we have two Americas, unfortunately, built by age. And the reality is this all, in my opinion, it all comes back to the same place, and that is old people, such as myself and you to a certain extent, we have figured out a way to vote ourselves more money and create a series of policies that young people just say, "I'm not down with anything you believe in you have done. You have not-"

   27. KSKara Swisher13:17

       Yeah.

   28. SGScott Galloway13:18

       "... left me the America that you enjoyed." The disparity in-

   29. KSKara Swisher13:24

       Except that, look, Mamdani won 68% of men between 18 and 29. That is astonishing.

   30. SGScott Galloway13:30

       No, I'm, I'm not saying it's by gender. It's by age.
4. 25:20 – 34:58

   Trump’s Tariffs Face SCOTUS

   1. KSKara Swisher25:20

      we're back. A majority of the Supreme Court justices are skeptical of the Trump Administration's authority to impose sweeping global tariffs. The Court heard arguments this week about Trump's use of emergency powers to set up tariffs on goods from over a hundred countries. The administration is claiming tariffs are just regulatory, but justices on both sides basically said these are taxes, and only Congress can tax people. Trump is calling for a ca- uh, for, for the case, quote, "Literally life or death for our country." If the tariffs stand, they'll collect three trillion dollars by revenue, um, for the US by 2035. If not, the government might have to refund 750 billion dollars, which it shouldn't have gotten. It's not clear when the Court will issue the ruling, but what does it mean for Trump's signature economic policy if he loses? I think they're going to, to decide against him, and I think he, they're doing him a favor, 'cause they're gonna get him out of this jam, and then he can pretend it was them who did it. Um, I don't know. What do you, what do you, what do you think of this?

   2. SGScott Galloway26:17

      So, um, speaking of investing, ah, you know how I went out and I bought claims against a bankrupt FDX? Because I thought, they're gonna, they're gonna be... I found in the bankruptcy filing, which is, if you're wondering what I do late at night on edibles, I read bankruptcy filings, that they owned, that they had invested, um, about, uh, uh, uh, I think it was 500 million dollars in Anthropic.

   3. KSKara Swisher26:43

      Mm-hmm.

   4. SGScott Galloway26:43

      And I thought, this has gotta be worth-

   5. KSKara Swisher26:45

      It's a lot of money.

   6. SGScott Galloway26:45

      ... two or three billion dollars, meaning that 30 cents on the dollar, 'cause the total claims were eight billion against a bankrupt FDX-

   7. KSKara Swisher26:51

      Yeah.

   8. SGScott Galloway26:51

      ... were just in, uh, they were gonna get back just in Anthropic stock. And you could buy these things for about 22 cents. So I went out, and for me, bought a lot of bankruptcy claims against, or claims against a bankrupt FDX. What I've had someone working on the last two weeks is the following. If you're... First off, there was an economist who went on Fox, and they said, "Who's paying these tariffs?" And he went into this whole song and dance about sometimes it's the, the person, um, exporting in. Say it's Mercedes. Sometimes it's M- Mercedes takes a little bit, the consumer takes a little bit, and the recipient of the product pays. Okay, first off, uh, what he's trying to say, he's, he's claiming that, okay, because Mercedes might have to reduce its prices if they don't wanna lose share, fine, but be clear, folks. The recipient in America who signs for the Mercedes that gets off a ship pays the tariff, okay? They may not, they may choose not to pass it onto consumers, or they may. Eventually, they will, because, because companies need certain operating margins. But it's disingenuous to say it's being split across all these entities. It's not. It, it, a tariff is paid by the recipient in our country. Now, what I've been doing is looking into the following. I am considering buying claims, and that is if Mercedes of Wisconsin has paid $11 million in tariffs, you can go buy them right now from Mercedes of Wisconsin for somewhere between 10 and 15 cents on the dollar.

   9. KSKara Swisher28:22

      'Cause they didn't think they'd get them back, right?

   10. SGScott Galloway28:24

       Because they didn't think they'd get that money, they'd ever see that money again.

   11. KSKara Swisher28:27

       Right.

   12. SGScott Galloway28:27

       And I believe-

   13. KSKara Swisher28:28

       Mm-hmm.

   14. SGScott Galloway28:28

       ... there's a greater than 10 or 15% likelihood that these tariffs are reversed and the government has to cut a check to all those claimants who paid tariffs. So, I actually think this is a decent investment strategy, is to go buy claims or go buy tariff, uh, payment claims.

   15. KSKara Swisher28:45

       So, you, this money will be refunded is your point?

   16. SGScott Galloway28:48

       Exactly right. Mer- Mercedes of Wisconsin spent $10 million on tariffs. These tariffs are being challenged in court, and if the Supreme Court overrules it, the government is gonna have to send a check to either Mercedes or Wisconsin or whoever owns that claim.

   17. KSKara Swisher29:03

       Although that was what the Supreme Court was all wa- wrapped around the axle on. My, a f- a friend of mine, Neal Katyal, did the argument, and I thought he was brilliant, by the way. Um, i- uh, that, that was the one thing they were like, "Oh, now how are we gonna give it back," right? And oddly enough, Howard Lutnick, who's such a moron. Every time I see him I think, "Moron." Um, was like, "Oh, I think the Supreme Court's gonna, gonna say yes to us," and stuff like that. He was going on and on as if he knew exactly what would happen. Um, is there any way that could happen? Only 'cause I thought, "Oh, moron."

   18. SGScott Galloway29:36

       When you say any way, any way what?

   19. KSKara Swisher29:38

       It c- that the Supreme Court could be in Trump's favor, one. And two, h- th- one thing that, that did stick in their craw was how to pay back the money the, the government took from consumers.

   20. SGScott Galloway29:50

       So, let me be clear. I think wh- what people don't realize, when they reverse engineer it to what has really hurt America, it's things like Ruth Bader Ginsburg believing she's gonna live forever. It's, it's appointment of exceptionally conservative justices. The Supreme Court, in my opinion, is no longer really a f- a, a check against power. It's an enabler.

   21. KSKara Swisher30:14

       Yeah.

   22. SGScott Galloway30:15

       And the, the reality is the president, who the, the people elect, gets to make those appointments. So, but through a series of unfortunate timing and biology, the presi- uh, the lasting impact of this presidency won't be tariffs, anti-immigration policy, a destruction of our alliances, although that'll be right up there.

   23. KSKara Swisher30:34

       A lot of marble in the Lincoln bathroom?

   24. SGScott Galloway30:36

       It, it's essentially the, the final backstop against the most important decisions that impact Americans, whether it's bodily autonomy or international policy, whether or not... The president right now is essentially ordering extrajudicial killings of people-

   25. KSKara Swisher30:53

       Yeah.

   26. SGScott Galloway30:53

       ... in fucking fishing boats-

   27. KSKara Swisher30:55

       Yeah.

   28. SGScott Galloway30:56

       ... that... And by the way, folks-... if you're really worried about drugs, do you realize these fishing boats would have to refuel 20 times to get to Miami? And that-

   29. KSKara Swisher31:03

       Yeah.

   30. SGScott Galloway31:03

       ... there is no fentanyl being produced in Venezuela, yet supposedly-
5. 34:58 – 41:03

   Trump’s NASA Nomination

   1. KSKara Swisher34:58

      billionaire and friend of Elon, Jared Isaacman, is back in the running to head up NASA. President Trump has renominated him after pulling back over concerns, uh, about past Democratic donations. Isaacman's, uh, the 42-year-old payment company founder who's actually been to space twice on his own dime via SpaceX. I mean, just the short ride to space. Two weeks ago, Elon Musk went after current interim, uh, chief, Sean Duffy, for opening up SpaceX's moon contract to other companies. No love lost there. Um, Trump's gone back to Elon's pick, like I thought he might. Um, but the agency is still facing massive budget cuts in trying to beat China back to the moon. Um, you know, I guess he's fine. I mean, he's more qualified than other people, I suppose. But the whole thing is just... it's kind of too little, too late. Um, I would like an actual space scientist to be running NASA, not friends of Elon or people that give... He... I think this guy ended up giving Trump some money too, although he must have given some Democrats money, which I think drove Laura Loomer crazy. I don't know. Um, I, I'm not sure it matters at all here. Um, but Elon definitely is a good... That, that was a good thing for Elon. So...

   2. SGScott Galloway36:07

      Well, it reflects a dangerous tr- trend, and that is we've decided to privatize a lot of, uh, efforts that, that usually the nation undertakes. And th- this is pretty straightforward. Elon Musk, who's a very smart guy, has said, "If we reduce the government's ability to launch aircraft or explore space, they're gonna be dependent upon the private sector. And I'm, I'm, I'm the, you know, I'm the prettiest girl at the dance in the private sector, and I don't want to compete with a space agency that does not have a profit motive and therefore can make these forward-leaning investments in space exploration." And I think the saddest thing about this is that NASA has consistently been an enormous point of national pride in an, in an era when we need more connective tissue, where Republicans and Democrats both rally around, you know, the, the, the, the Mars lander, you know, like somehow crashing and inflating and figuring out a way to survive (laughs) , how to get on the, you know, the Mars, Mars, you know, surface and take these amazing photos or these... I forget what it was that, that... the Hubble telescope sending back-

   3. KSKara Swisher37:10

      Oh, yeah. Unbelievable.

   4. SGScott Galloway37:11

      ... those unbelievable images of deep space-

   5. KSKara Swisher37:12

      Yeah.

   6. SGScott Galloway37:12

      ... and making you feel insignificant in kind of a wonderful way. And so...... that's a, that's a bummer. Having said that, as far as this guy goes, I, this is like the least triggering thing for me right now.

   7. KSKara Swisher37:23

      Yeah, exactly. I mean, J-

   8. SGScott Galloway37:24

      I mean, fine.

   9. KSKara Swisher37:24

      ... John Duffy was the other choice, so I'm like, "Eh, he's better."

   10. SGScott Galloway37:28

       Fine. And also...

   11. KSKara Swisher37:28

       He's, he's-

   12. SGScott Galloway37:28

       ... there's something to be said...

   13. KSKara Swisher37:30

       Mm-hmm.

   14. SGScott Galloway37:31

       ... for bringing in a civilian to manage government agencies who can have a broader perspective. Like, typically, the Secretary of Defense is a private sector person.

   15. KSKara Swisher37:40

       Yeah, yeah.

   16. SGScott Galloway37:40

       Because when you bring in a former captain-

   17. KSKara Swisher37:44

       Game show host. 100%.

   18. SGScott Galloway37:45

       Yeah. No, but some, uh, I mean, they, they've said it, if, if we had a general running, was, who was, was Secretary of, uh, Defense, we'd still be in Vietnam. I mean...

   19. KSKara Swisher37:56

       Yeah, that's true.

   20. SGScott Galloway37:57

       They're fond, al-although a lot of them, I, I gotta, I gotta give it to them, uh, seem to be more tempered and measured than many of our leaders now.

   21. KSKara Swisher38:04

       Mm-hmm.

   22. SGScott Galloway38:04

       It is good to have a civilian check...

   23. KSKara Swisher38:07

       Yeah.

   24. SGScott Galloway38:07

       ... on government. I don't, I don't, I don't mind this, is the bottom line.

   25. KSKara Swisher38:10

       And I'm, I'm not offended by it. He's not the best choice, but he's not a terrible choice. And the other choice was Sean Duffy, who seems like a, a, speaking of morons, a moron. Um, anyway, uh, we'll see what happens. I was correct about this, though. And it's g- it's a good day for Elon. All right.

   26. SGScott Galloway38:23

       And I was right.

   27. KSKara Swisher38:24

       I was right. Look at how your right face... Oh, my God.

   28. SGScott Galloway38:25

       The new book from Kara Swisher, the new autobiography, and... Dot, dot, dot.

   29. KSKara Swisher38:30

       Oh my God, the poor...

   30. SGScott Galloway38:30

       I was right.
6. 41:03 – 47:15

   Palantir Stock Shorting?

   1. KSKara Swisher41:03

      we're back. Palantir's having a really roller coaster week. The company posted blockbuster earnings Monday, topping analysts' ex- expectations and raising its full-year guidance. CEO Alex Karp, who seems something's going on with Alex Karp, called, he was, he was started strange and now he's moved to very strange, uh, called, uh, the quarter, quote, "Arguably the best results than any software company has ever delivered." Despite those numbers, the stock fell 8%, part of it concerns over the valuation, which is soaring, but also because a filing revealed the big short investor Michael Burry bought more than $1 billion in put options in Palantir and NVIDIA. The Burry news really got under Karp's skin. He, he really should've taken a breath before he did this. He got a little testy talking about it on CNBC. Let's listen.

   2. NANarrator41:46

      As far as I can tell, the two companies he's p- uh, shorting are the ones making all the money, which is super weird. And like, the idea that chips and ontology is what you wanna short is batshit crazy.

   3. KSKara Swisher41:58

      Mm, he seemed that bit crazy, but whatever. And then he went on about anti-woke companies. He used to be sort of weirdly Democrat, but a little bit libertarian. Now he seems to have been s- s- you know, sucking on the, on the Kool-Aid, uh, of right-wingery. But what do you think of these Palantir numbers and what Burry might be up to, possibly shorting these stocks? You've talked about these valuations quite a lot.

   4. SGScott Galloway42:22

      Uh, so look, uh, Karp... The question is, is Karp a brilliant CEO and is this an amazing company, or is it dramatically overvalued? The answer is yes. This is an incredible company. It, it ha- it blew away really aggressive earnings, it had 21 cents, uh, delivered 21 cents versus 17 cents, 1.2 billion versus 1.1 expected. Their commercial software sales grew 121% (laughs) year over year. US government sales or sales to the government grew 52%, which is actually better revenue, 'cause while the government is really hard to sell to, once you sell into them, it's, they're, they become like AT&T, just billing you over and over. Overall sales grew, uh, 63%, up from year over year revenue growth of 48% last quarter. So it's an incredible company. And I would argue that in terms of investor relations, he's probably one of the most talented CEOs in history. He's the one that did an earnings call, uh, on, uh, his phone walking around the office. He's just, he's able to paint a vision that gets people excited. At the same time-... if it went down 70% tomorrow-

   5. KSKara Swisher43:32

      Yeah.

   6. SGScott Galloway43:32

      ... it still wouldn't look cheap. (laughs)

   7. KSKara Swisher43:35

      Right.

   8. SGScott Galloway43:35

      It trades at almost 300 times earnings and 100-

   9. KSKara Swisher43:38

      Again, 100%.

   10. SGScott Galloway43:38

       ... 125 times sales. It has the greatest or the highest price-to-sales multiple in the S&P 500. And get this, it's got a similar market capitalization or value to Netflix, with t- with one-tenth of the revenue. It's trading at the same valuation.

   11. KSKara Swisher43:54

       So what is Burry doing? So what is Burry doing? Explain for the people.

   12. SGScott Galloway43:57

       Well, Burry, it's very simple. Burry's basically shorted the stock, where you basically agree, you, you enter into a relationship with a third party who says, "All right, if the stock's trading at 400 right now, in six months, I'll give you, I'll give you $10 or $15 now, in exchange, I get to sell you stock in six months for $400. And if the stock goes down to 300, I get to go into the market and buy it for 300 and sell it to you for 400, which you agreed to 'cause I paid you a small premium six months ago." You're basically betting the stock goes down, that's all. And it's an important part of the market because it creates a balance, it creates opportunity to hedge, such that people who are invested long, including widows and orphans, have more diversification and more downside protection. Shorting the market is a key component of the market. But a lot of people-

   13. KSKara Swisher44:45

       But it's dangerous now, because look at Tesla, which is n- has no re- n- not good results and they're, it's still up.

   14. SGScott Galloway44:51

       Oh, don't... Kids, don't do this at home, because when you, when you go short a stock, you technically have unlimited downside. And the reason why I have not shorted Palantir, uh, although I think it's dramatically overvalued, is this is no longer a company, it's a meme stock. And that is, you know, he can make an announcement and people buy Palantir and trade it. It, it is... There are certain companies now where, and this is really kind of, arguably, I think a decent definition of a meme stock, where it's lost all connection to the underlying metrics that we traditionally value stocks on. So, is it dramatically overvalued by all traditional valuation metrics and cash flows? Yeah. Could it double? Yeah, it could, and it would make even less sense.

   15. KSKara Swisher45:34

       So what do you think of Burry's move? Again, do you think he's taking enormous risks here? 'Cause-

   16. SGScott Galloway45:38

       Oh, yeah, but-

   17. KSKara Swisher45:38

       ... Carp got very testy in a way that I was like, "Wow, you're usually quite controlled in these things."

   18. SGScott Galloway45:43

       Yeah, I thought that, I thought that was a bad look for him, but-

   19. KSKara Swisher45:45

       Yeah.

   20. SGScott Galloway45:46

       ... Burry who has, he, you know, obviously made one of the best bets ever going short against the subprime market, and good for him. I love it when people do that sort of work. And the other guys that did that were John Paulson, a guy I actually worked for or consulted to for a couple years named Phil Falcone. There were two or three people that made kind of these historic bets, uh, against subprime mortgages, and again, could go out and short these things for no money 'cause they were considered, they were considered money good and bulletproof, and then they just started collapsing like it was a pyramid, you know, built-on card, so to speak. Now, no investor gets it right all the time. He's had a lot of big misses, right? He's, h- his fi- he, he, he's, he's shorted a bunch of companies that went up. So nobody knows. He might... He's taking a risk here. I would argue this is a really good risk for a guy like that who has investors who are willing to take these kinds of risks, and he's been-

   21. KSKara Swisher46:41

       And he's hoping to drive it down by pointing out the ridiculousness of it, I think.

   22. SGScott Galloway46:45

       Well, I love, I love it. I find it so fascinating-

   23. KSKara Swisher46:48

       Right.

   24. SGScott Galloway46:48

       ... when these companies go short and then they put out really thoughtful, rigorous research showing why the company is dramatically overvalued, and it's real- it impacts the market. He didn't just say, he didn't just announce that he's shorting it. He has a very thoughtful-

   25. KSKara Swisher47:02

       Yeah, I-

   26. SGScott Galloway47:03

       ... rigorous analysis.

   27. KSKara Swisher47:04

       Right.

   28. SGScott Galloway47:04

       And the stock's down 11%.

   29. KSKara Swisher47:05

       Yeah, so he's done, I mean, he could probably be... You know, anyway, it's a really interesting. We have to keep watching that company 'cause question is, is it gonna be a meme stock for a long time? But we'll see.

7. 47:15 – 54:04

   MAGA Civil War

   1. KSKara Swisher47:15

      Um, very quickly, right-wing civil war is erupting. This is a... We'll talk about this on the road, I think. Is erupting after Tucker Carlson's recent interview with na- white nationalist Nick Fuentes, where Fuentes called for an exclusive pro-white Christian movement. The backlash has been swift with Republicans like Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, and Speaker Mike Johnson condemning the interview. The Heritage Foundation is in open res- vault after its president defended Carlson. For his part, Carlson says the uproar is really a fight over what happens after Donald Trump. I think he's absolutely correct. Um, r- the guy who's head of the Heritage apologized again after all these people left, the whole, one whole group that focuses on antisemitism and heritage resigned. This is a, a real open wound for the Republican Party, the, the, the flirtation with both antisemitism and, and white nationalism, um, and racism. And I, this is gonna be a real fight going forward, uh, for them. A- and once Trump is o- he's been able to hold it together, but they won't be able to hold this one together.

   2. SGScott Galloway48:17

      Yeah. Remember the Republican Party was putting out these memes or these images that said, that said, "Trump, Elon, Kanye," that these are the three people that represent the Republican Party.

   3. KSKara Swisher48:28

      Yeah.

   4. SGScott Galloway48:29

      Right?

   5. KSKara Swisher48:29

      Yeah.

   6. SGScott Galloway48:30

      Uh, I was on the phone two days ago with someone who runs or does comms for, uh, Democrats, and I said, "You need to put out the exact same image, but instead have it be Trump, Epstein, and Fuentes."

   7. KSKara Swisher48:44

      Oh, interesting.

   8. SGScott Galloway48:45

      That's who you want Trump associated with. I'm like, "Go for-"

   9. KSKara Swisher48:48

      Yeah.

   10. SGScott Galloway48:48

       "... go for the fucking jugular." It, it would be fair to visually associate them because he decided to associate with them physically, spiritually, intellectually. And the most disturbing thing about that interview with Fuentes and Carlson... First off, Carlson really does deserve some pushback and legitimate criticism for platforming someone like this and enabling and laughing when he said the following.

   11. KSKara Swisher49:13

       Yeah, he, yeah.

   12. SGScott Galloway49:13

       "I'm a fan of Stalin."

   13. KSKara Swisher49:16

       Yeah.

   14. SGScott Galloway49:17

       There are, there's kind of a- a hard rock first ballot hall of fame of murderers in history.

   15. KSKara Swisher49:23

       Yeah, he's on the top.

   16. SGScott Galloway49:24

       Pol Pot, Hitler. They have nothing on Stalin.

   17. KSKara Swisher49:29

       Agree.

   18. SGScott Galloway49:29

       And we like to kind of ignore Stalin a little bit because they were our friends back then and they played a huge role in defeating-

   19. KSKara Swisher49:36

       Agree.

   20. SGScott Galloway49:36

       ... Hitler, but he then went on to kill millions...... some say up to 20 million people. This is a murderous maniac, and this young man is saying, "I'm a fan." So, uh, uh, I, I... An- and Trump has this issue of like, "We want your votes and we want you to think we're with you, wink wink, such that you get out and turn out the vote. But try to keep those views to yourself as opposed to coming out and saying, 'We're Republicans.'" And the GOP has a history of, uh, evaluating people based on their character and equality and pushing back on fascism, an- and saying what this is. These people could not be more anti-American-

   21. KSKara Swisher50:21

       Yeah.

   22. SGScott Galloway50:22

       ... and against the values, not only of America, but the core values of the GOP.

   23. KSKara Swisher50:26

       Well, the old GOP, let's just be clear, 'cause some people are backing-

   24. SGScott Galloway50:29

       Agreed.

   25. KSKara Swisher50:29

       ... Carlson, which is... You know, I don't, like I- I don't mind him interviewing him. I- he, like... He interviews all kinds of assholes. But the way he did it, again, was like, whoa. He could push back a little bit there. And the Heritage Foundation president, I think he'll be out. I think he'll be out. I think this is a death knell for this guy. I- I don't know. I just felt very weird, the whole thing. We'll see what time it is. It'll... This is a story that's gonna continue.

   26. SGScott Galloway50:50

       My favorite was Stephen Miller's wife when she was criticized for her comments, saying it was anti-Semitism (laughs) .

   27. KSKara Swisher50:55

       Yeah.

   28. SGScott Galloway50:56

       It's like, what? Where'd that come from (laughs) ?

   29. KSKara Swisher50:57

       Where'd that come from, yeah. Yeah, she's getting-

   30. SGScott Galloway50:59

       I don't think they even know you're Jew. What are you talking about?
8. 54:04 – 59:53

   Predictions

   1. KSKara Swisher54:04

      we're gonna do a little differently today, um, for your prediction. We have a lot of predictions next week, but we're recording ahead of Tesla's annual meeting where shareholders are set to vote on Elon's $1 trillion pay packages. A lot of people have gone against him, including these stockhold- shareholder services and the gov- Norway... I guess there's a Norwegian investor that's, that's out. I predict he's gonna get it. I predict he's gonna get it 'cause all these... Uh, now I'm paying attention to the stock market now. There's all these calls at a higher level of buying, uh, Tesla stock at 480 and it's at 462. I think people know and I think he's gonna get it.

   2. SGScott Galloway54:40

      Yeah. It's, um... Well, look, as, uh... So, so some things why, why it may pass, it is structured to be performance-based. And that is, he's saying if he grows the market cap to eight and a half trillion dollars, that he gets a trillion. So, theoretically, you can support it, right? And also, some people, including arguably the worst investor of the modern age but the best brand builder, Cathie Wood from Ark Invest-

   3. KSKara Swisher55:10

      (laughs) Her, yeah.

   4. SGScott Galloway55:10

      She's predicted a strong approval. She's a loyalist. She's a shareholder. Um, uh, Tesla's board and Musk are saying that the package may risk Musk's continued leadership if, if in fact he doesn't get it. Uh, now, major proxy advisory firms, and I've met with these guys when I was an activist, ISS and Glass Lewis, which quite frankly have diminishing power these days, they've recommended voting against the package, citing... You know, saying it's just ridiculously excessive and risks of delusion.And also, the term they used that I love is "insufficient guardrails." I'm like, "Well, that's the mother of all understatements." And then there's a pretty big investor, I think it's called Norhest or Norgest Bank.

   5. KSKara Swisher55:53

      Yeah, it's this Norwegian gr-... Yeah.

   6. SGScott Galloway55:55

      That, they own about 1% of Tesla's shares, has declared it'll vote against the proposal. And-

   7. KSKara Swisher56:00

      So what's your prediction?

   8. SGScott Galloway56:03

      Uh, I think it's gonna be approved, but-

   9. KSKara Swisher56:05

      Yeah.

   10. SGScott Galloway56:05

       N- not overwhelmingly, but I think it'll be. Because keep in mind, if you bought shares, if you are a shareholder in Tesla right now-

   11. KSKara Swisher56:11

       Yeah.

   12. SGScott Galloway56:11

       ... you've decided, (laughs) you've gone in on Musk. Because-

   13. KSKara Swisher56:15

       Yeah.

   14. SGScott Galloway56:15

       ... you're not investing in a, uh... There's no way you could justify investing-

   15. KSKara Swisher56:18

       As a car company.

   16. SGScott Galloway56:18

       ... in what is an automobile company 'cause it makes no sense.

   17. KSKara Swisher56:21

       Right.

   18. SGScott Galloway56:21

       He's, this company has consistently missed delivery deadlines. Its, its revenues on the automobile side are declining faster.

   19. KSKara Swisher56:28

       Incredible. Yeah.

   20. SGScott Galloway56:28

       You're basically betting on a, that this guy can pull another rabbit the size of Jupiter out of a hat.

   21. KSKara Swisher56:35

       Yeah.

   22. SGScott Galloway56:35

       Which he has done before. So they're kind of all in on this guy.

   23. KSKara Swisher56:39

       Yeah.

   24. SGScott Galloway56:39

       And-

   25. KSKara Swisher56:39

       It's gonna pass. He's gonna get it. He's got-

   26. SGScott Galloway56:41

       And if he-

   27. KSKara Swisher56:42

       But yeah.

   28. SGScott Galloway56:42

       Go on. I'm sorry. Go ahead, Kara. Kara.

   29. KSKara Swisher56:43

       Can I, can I say one thing? He's not gonna be a tr- Everyone's like, "The world's first trillionaire." He's not gonna be a trillionaire until he pulls it off, just so you know.

   30. SGScott Galloway56:50

       Yeah. He has to create-

Episode duration: 59:53