EVERY SPOKEN WORD
20 min read · 4,108 words- 0:00 – 1:16
Trump’s transition optics and the rapid slide into chaotic cabinet picks
- KSKara Swisher
Donald Trump is back at the White House this week meeting with President Joe Biden and promising a smooth transition, unlike what he did, by the way. Trump has also been busy with lots of announcements about his cabinet advisors. The one that is... They started off normal, Susie Wiles, Marco Rubio, and now we're at the Matt Gaetz's pick for Attorney General. Um, uh, and, uh, Fox News weekend host, Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense. Um, we'll get to Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy's leading the Department of Government Efficiency, or as I'm calling it, the Department of Grotesque Egomaniacs, or the Department of Grandstanding Edgelords. Um, I don't... This is like, gets weirder and fucking weirder. And this is, uh, you- your initial, uh, your initial thoughts on this cadre of offensively unqualified sycophants, as one writer called them. Also in the mix, Tels- uh, Russia's best friend, Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence, and Kristi Noem, killer of dogs, for Homeland Security Secretary. Chuck Todd posted these confirmation hearings may just save cable TV for the short term. He got sort of dinged for it, but I would have to agree. Uh, first, before whether they'll make it through, overall thoughts? It just degenerated. It was like, "Okay," and then, "No." Like that kind of thing. What do you think?
- 1:16 – 1:49
Satire as a signal: ‘this can’t be real’ cabinet humor
- SGScott Galloway
Well, he's made... There's some additional announcements that have come out. He's announced that Sue Sylvester, Jane Lynch's character from Glee-
- KSKara Swisher
(laughs)
- SGScott Galloway
... is gonna lead the Department of Performing Arts. Um, uh, and also Lea Michele will lead the Department of Punctuation and Spelling.
- KSKara Swisher
Uh-huh (laughs) .
- SGScott Galloway
Um, also, I don't know if you heard the most recent one, but Gab Bluth from, um-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
... Arrested Development, Will Arnett's character-
- KSKara Swisher
Uh-huh.
- SGScott Galloway
... is gonna be the new Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
- KSKara Swisher
Oh my God.
- SGScott Galloway
And also, Baron Harkonnen from, uh, Dune will head spice production on the planet of Arrakis.
- KSKara Swisher
Nice. Nice. I like it.
- 1:49 – 2:27
Matt Gaetz for AG: loyalty reward, ‘cloud cover,’ and Senate reality checks
- SGScott Galloway
Uh, look, uh, I now believe, I now believe that the appointment or the, the floating of the idea of Matt Gaetz for Attorney General, within about an hour, Lisa Murkowski or Senator Murkowski, who I love, uh, basically said, "This is... That Matt Gaetz is an unserious candidate and I look forward to vetting a serious candidate." I don't... I think this was them saying, "You're a loyalist, give him something." And what they've done, I think, is run cloud cover for just a shitty pick as opposed to-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
... a fucking crazy, stupid pick. And that's what Matt Gaetz is-
- KSKara Swisher
Right.
- SGScott Galloway
... to be AG. That just makes no sense. And then if you really want to talk-
- 2:27 – 2:58
Senate GOP dynamics: leadership tests and the Thune vs. Rick Scott backdrop
- KSKara Swisher
It's been called a loyalty test for Senate Republicans and their newly elected reader- sen- like leader, Senator John Thune. They all were pushing for Rick, uh, whatever the Florida idiot, um-
- SGScott Galloway
Rick Scott?
- KSKara Swisher
Rick Scott. He was, he was the one that MAGA was pushing. Absolutely.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, I don't think Rick Scott is an idiot. I don't love his politics, but-
- KSKara Swisher
Oh my God, he made a mess of the Senate committee he was running, uh-
- SGScott Galloway
100%. But he's, he's at least competent. He's elected. I- I don't know. Uh, uh, look, look, perfect is not on the menu here. I mean-
- KSKara Swisher
Right.
- SGScott Galloway
... when Senator Rubio looks like a thoughtful pick with gravitas-
- KSKara Swisher
Right.
- 2:58 – 3:52
‘Department of Government Efficiency’: déjà vu commissions and why it’s politically popular
- SGScott Galloway
... for Secretary of State, everyone's just hoping for someone who has some administrative and some leadership experience. But my favorite is that there are not one, but two heads of a committee on efficiency.
- KSKara Swisher
Right.
- SGScott Galloway
I mean, that kind of tells you-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, I know. I know.
- SGScott Galloway
... this makes no fucking sense.
- KSKara Swisher
(laughs)
- SGScott Galloway
And I-
- KSKara Swisher
Are you kidding? It's like-
- SGScott Galloway
And I just want to-
- KSKara Swisher
It's like the Grace Commission, right? Do you remember the Grace Commission under Reagan? He was gonna drain the swamp, and he created that commission of leaders to cut everything.
- SGScott Galloway
The Private Sector Survey on Cost Control to Reduce Government Waste.
- KSKara Swisher
Yes.
- SGScott Galloway
Clinton had it, launched the National-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
... Performance Review.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
George W. had the President's Management Agenda. Obama had efficiency reforms. And Trump created the Reform Task Force to Eliminate Inefficiencies. He attempted unsuccessfully to shut down 19 agencies.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
And it... This is a popular political move. Two thirds of Americans think the federal government is wasteful and-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
... bureaucratic. And... But let's just look at some data here.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- 3:52 – 4:34
Efficiency claims vs. data: staffing, spending, and international comparisons
- SGScott Galloway
Trump is by no means our most efficient president. Federal employment, fl- federal employment under Trump rose 3.4% during his first term, compared to an increase of 1.3% in Obama's, uh, second term. Um, uh, it did increase, federal employment did increase by over 6% under Biden. Despite all the rhetoric, the US government spends less as a share of GDP than its peers. Uh, US government spending is projected to be about 38% of GDP. That's less than Japan, which spends 42%, UK, 43%, and Germany at 48%.
- KSKara Swisher
Wow.
- SGScott Galloway
The US public sector, which they claim is overstaffed-
- KSKara Swisher
Well, they do more for their citizens, but go ahead. Yeah.
- 4:34 – 5:57
Elon as ‘efficiency’ czar? Tesla productivity metrics and skepticism about $2T cuts
- SGScott Galloway
True. The US public sector employs 14% of workers, which is more than Germany's 13% and Mexico's 12%, which connotes, based on what you said, as probably inefficient, but less than France's 21% and the UK's 23%. Now, let's just specifically go to the pick of, of, uh, Elon or Alania, First Lady Alania to head efficiency.
- KSKara Swisher
Alania.
- SGScott Galloway
Let's just talk about efficiency at Tesla, the automobile industry. Revenue per employee is 1.07 million per employee at BMW. GM, 1.2, 1.- excuse me, 1.02 million per employee. Ford, $980,000 million per employee. Mercedes-Benz, 950,000. Toyota, 760,000. And pulling up the rear as the least efficient-
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
... of these companies is Tesla-
- KSKara Swisher
Tesla.
- SGScott Galloway
... clocks or registers revenue of 740,000 per employee. So the least efficient car company revenue-
- KSKara Swisher
Sure.
- SGScott Galloway
... per employee is Tesla. So, uh, anyways, I find the whole thing... It'll be very interesting. They claim they're gonna cut this thing by, I don't know, $2 trillion, which means they'd have to, like-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. No, but he didn't mention it in the press release. No numbers or... Like he went on and on on Twitter, but of course, like that's just nonsense. It's just nonsense. It's just nonsense.
- SGScott Galloway
Anyways, I, I'm finding... This thing is so... If you're gonna be dumb, be dum- don't be dumb, be outrageous. No one's really taking this seriously, because it just seems-
- KSKara Swisher
No.
- SGScott Galloway
... so outrageous.
- 5:57 – 7:03
Why go ‘outrageous’? Gaetz allegations, resignation timing, and a nomination endgame question
- KSKara Swisher
No, well, even congressmen were like, "Yeah, he can ask. We're not doing it." Um, you know, even the Repub- the Republican ones. It, the, the Gaetz nomination is interesting only because, um, he... What's interesting about this is, of course, his behavior with young women, women underage. He resigned from Congress on-
- SGScott Galloway
Alleged, alleged.
- KSKara Swisher
Alleged, whatever. Okay. Alleged Gaetz, whatever, uh, resigned from Congress on Wednesday, days before the House Ethics Committee was set to vote on releasing a highly critical report of their investigation into him.
- SGScott Galloway
What is your take? I agree with you that I, I think-I, I just think there's a lot of Republican... First off, the thing I don't think the market or people have absorbed is, as of today, Donald Trump is a lame duck president.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, that's what I mean.
- SGScott Galloway
And he's not gonna have, he's not gonna have nearly the power to intimidate Republicans. And I gotta think it's gonna be very tempting for Republicans on a pick like this to go, "No," to basically pull a Murkowski and say, "This is not a serious candidate." I gotta think the Trump administration realized he probably wasn't gonna be able to get Gaetz through, but they did it anyways. What do you think they're trying to do here? What's their endgame?
- 7:03 – 8:03
Frittering away a win: Kara’s theory of distraction, impulsivity, and governance by spectacle
- KSKara Swisher
I, I don't know because they're frittering away an amazing victory, right? You know, it seems like now they're like, now we're like, "Oh God, the idiots are back." Like, I don't know, he has such an opportunity to not fritter away what was a spectacular return to power. And now we're talking about Matt Gaetz and, and, and, uh, and, and jailbait. That's what we're talking about now. Like, as opposed to, like, what he could be doing. And Elon doing these stupid, you know, he's gonna, calling it the Manhattan Project of our time. You know, it's gonna blow up in their face, that's, that's why it's the Manhattan Project of their time. Like, it's such a waste of opportunity here. And largely because I think he is of the mind as, "I'll say something crazy and then I'll say the next thing that's crazy, and the next thing that's crazy." But it's, I'm talking about being effective, and this is not effective in any way. If he really, you know, maybe over to the right they're, like, gonna be deporting people and hoping that people no- don't notice that if it's particularly ugly-looking. And so I, I, honestly, I think there's no planning here, and I think they're just letting
- 8:03 – 8:54
Mar-a-Lago friction: ‘co-president’ Musk and the ‘guest who won’t leave’
- KSKara Swisher
people in. Interestingly, um, you know, I think the Doge thing is just fucking nonsense. It's just ridiculous. And, um, you know, you can't really, uh, there's not gonna be a government department, which is kind of ridiculous, and you'd need to be created by, with Congress's authorization. They're not wasting their time on that, and they're not, they're gonna cut what they want, right? Um, so one of the things that's interesting is that he's been down in Mar-a-Lago, and as I said was an issue, everyone's now reporting, um, how irritating he is. Um, and NBC News quoted a source saying, "Elon is behaving as if he's co-president." People are irritated by him, the guests that won't leave. Um, I think this is just... They're frittering away what, what was clear and definitive win, and I'm not sure why they're doing it. S- suicidal nature? I don't know. I have no idea.
- 8:54 – 9:45
Back to parody—and a brief detour to Senate leadership optics
- SGScott Galloway
I don't know, I do think that the appointment of the Bass Pro Shop swimmer guy as head of US Fish and Wildlife Service makes sense.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
I don't... (laughs)
- KSKara Swisher
Just, it's...
- SGScott Galloway
Um, oh, and Roman Roy-
- KSKara Swisher
It's certainly making sense.
- SGScott Galloway
... will be the new deputy administrator of NASA.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, I just don't, I don't get... Hannibal Lecter as the new Secretary of Health and Human Services.
- KSKara Swisher
Services. Oh, God.
- SGScott Galloway
I don't, I don't get it. By the way, I'm, I'm still on BuzzFeed right now.
- KSKara Swisher
Kristi Noem? What a laughable, ridiculous personality she is. They're all Fox News people. It's like-
- SGScott Galloway
You know who I like though, who's now the new...
- KSKara Swisher
Who, who?
- SGScott Galloway
... uh, Senate majority leader, is, um-
- KSKara Swisher
Thune.
- SGScott Galloway
Thune.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, Thune. He's very reasonable.
- SGScott Galloway
I like him. I think he's reasonable. Uh, and not only that-
- KSKara Swisher
He pushes back on Trump.
- SGScott Galloway
And not only that, he's very handsome, Kara.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, you like him? Did you go-
- SGScott Galloway
Oh-
- KSKara Swisher
... for drinks with him?
- SGScott Galloway
He's very handsome. I don't know if he'd be up for impromptu drinks with me and George Hahn. I'll try. (laughs) But I'm not sure.
- 9:45 – 10:40
The governing concept: ‘kakistocracy’ as the word of the day
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, all right, I'm gonna give, I'm gonna give you a word of the day. It's called kakistocracy, government by the least suitable or competent citizens of the states, a state or society governed by the least suitable or competent citizens. It's, the modern regime is at once a plutocracy and a kakistocracy. That is the word of the day here at-
- SGScott Galloway
Okay, no joke, I heard that word an hour ago. Scott Burns, who's the showrunner and the writer on this, this show I'm working on-
- KSKara Swisher
Oh. Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
... said, uh, was talking about rebranding the Democratic Party, and someone suggested kakistocracy, and he's like, "Are you crazy? No one's gonna, no one can spell that word." Anyway, I-
- KSKara Swisher
Right.
- SGScott Galloway
No joke, I feel like I should throw salt over my shoulder or whatever it is you do when you're-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
... when you're, I don't know, superstitious. But I heard that word, no joke, 90 minutes ago. Kakistocracy.
- KSKara Swisher
It's the word of the day. It's the word of the week. Well, we'll see what happens.
Episode duration: 10:40
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