Trump Sends Military After Protesters in Authoritarian Move | Pivot

1. 0:00 – 0:39

   Intro

   1. SGScott Galloway0:00

      I think this is one piece of the chess board to what is a civil war. I think this is another step to America breaking up.

   2. KSKara Swisher0:08

      That's the plot of Hunger Games, just so you know. (instrumental music) Hi, everyone. This is Pivot from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network. I'm Kara Swisher.

   3. SGScott Galloway0:20

      And I'm Scott Galloway.

   4. KSKara Swisher0:21

      Scott, we've got a lot to get to today, including the Trump-Elon breakup getting uglier, uh, plus another breakup making headlines. Warner Brothers Discovery is splitting up, just like we said. Um, but let's get to the first thing because what's, what's happening, uh, there's lots of interesting... I wanna talk about your boxing match and etc., etc.

2. 0:39 – 14:03

   L.A. Protests/Military Deployed

   1. KSKara Swisher0:39

      But first, uh, let's talk about what's happening on the ground in California. Governor, uh, Gavin Newsom says California will sue the Trump administration, challenging the president's recent order to federalize National Guard forces amid protests in Los Angeles over immigration raids. Newsom already asked the White House to rescind its deployment of 2,000 National Guard troops to LA, accusing Trump of manufacturing chaos and violence. Trump made the order over the weekend, invoking a rarely used federal law. Uh, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, uh, created more of a problem when he also got in the mix by suggesting active-duty Marines could be sent in. Newsom called these comments "deranged behavior." I think it's a shitshow that Trump is creating on purpose, as many people do, um, and that he's creating attention in order to pick a fight. Essentially, this is what he's trying to do so they can, uh... and creating immigration actions that are, uh, things that would cause a f- would cause people to protest and then trying to egg them on into worse, uh, activities. So let's talk a little bit more about that. I've called, um, this complete overreach by a desperate despot. Uh, your thoughts?

   2. SGScott Galloway1:41

      Well, I've been called hysterical for, uh, you know, a while now comparing or drawing similarities between America right now and '30s Germany. And you don't have to be Hitler to borrow methods and worst practices from his playbook, and that is wh- when tanks roll through cities, it doesn't feel like strength. It feels like a funeral for civil society. Germany is n- Germany in the '30s didn't collapse overnight. It slid into tyranny by normalizing soldiers where citizens used to stand. Uh, you know, early Nazi propaganda decided, and we're doing the same thing, we have real problems overseas. You know, there are still Russian... (laughs) You know, Russia is still invading Europe. Chi- There's real significant issues around China, Pakistan and India, could, um, could eventually digress to a, a nuclear conflict. Uh, Iran is trying to spin up reactors. But if you look at... A- a- and again, I think, (sighs) I just... this has so many echoes of '30s Germany. Early Nazi propaganda emphasized that Germany's problems were due to internal saboteurs: communists, Jews, immigrants. And then today if you look at this rhetoric, they're blaming immigrants, academics, protesters, journalists. It, it mirrors kind of the same playbook here. And when you have a government who turns its military force inward against journalists, migrants or citizens who believe in exercising their right to protest in a civil peaceful manner in justice, you're not defending democracy. You're rehearsing for something much darker. So it's, it's not the protests themselves. It's not what's going... This is another step towards normalizing, uh, an attempt to rebrand, um, militarization as patriotism. And-

   3. KSKara Swisher3:36

      Right. Right. Right. T- So do you think it's working? As hist- uh, just for people who know, historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat wrote on Threads, "Fascists want to provoke violence so they can justify crackdowns and get some good footage to distort the state, uh, propaganda outlets," uh, for, for state propaganda outlets like Fox News, etc. Um, and, and, and the media is ill-prepared to push back in, in saying, "This is what it is," but it's obviously... You bring troops in and you create all kinds of, you know, people. There's rubberneckers, the people that show up. You know, if you recall what happened around the church near the White House when people were protesting, Trump created chaos in order to say it was chaotic. It, it, it... which is some- which is sort of like fascism 101, essentially. Um, when you w- how do you assess how California's dealing with this? Obviously, Gavin Newsom has suddenly found his backbone and, uh, is pushing back. He said, "Come on and arrest me" 'cause they were making threats to arrest Tom Homan who is literally... It looks like the Drunkle is running the show over there. Um, but, uh, but he, he said, "Arrest me then." Or, or, or, uh, but, but stand down. This obviously has to go to the Supreme Court, um, or in some fashion, which is problematic in and of itself, but w- when, when they, when the, when the state governors are asking them not to do this and to have it under control or say they have it under control, how do you, how do you assess what's going on with the Californ- California itself?

   4. SGScott Galloway5:01

      I actually think this is... I think this... Governor Newsom comes out of this a winner b- most likely, because I think what it's doing is it's sort of setting up the next presidential election between Trump's appointee, JD Vance, and Governor Newsom. And I think so far, Governor Newsom has tried to stay forceful yet dignified. I thought he was smart to say, you know, he's, he's not trying to whip people into a frenzy or he's trying to dial down and he's basically taking on Tom Homan and saying, "Arrest me." I think he's handling this... he's handling this quite well. So I don't... You know, it's... (sighs) It, it, it feels like literally, Kara, the way... the analogy I would use, I was trying to think of an analogy, it feels like you're trying to fix a smoke alarm with a flamethrower. And they're just looking for a reason. They're trying to provoke someone into shooting someone in uniform such that they can have an overreaction, and I... In 1992, I came home from graduate school and I found armed, um, National Guard on my corner. I lived in this-... very peaceful neighborhood in Westwood, and on the corners, there were two, what looked like boys, high school boys in fatigues with, you know, M15s or assault rifles. And that, that doesn't feel like safety. It feels like a breakdown s- in society. It makes you lose faith in your government, and it forces you to choose a side, and it's just very... It's just very strange. And then just more broadly, when I think about the role that, uh, presidents or past presidents have played, and when I think about the role of (laughs) someone who's powerful and really well-respected, the most, the biggest compliment you can ever receive is someone who asks you to play peacemaker and to de-escalate a situation, right? That's when you know you've made it in business is when people, you know, I'm patting myself on the back, but a lot of times I serve as a bu- a buffer or someone to mediate disputes between a board and its CEO. And I'm really, I'm really, that feels really good. That makes me feel important, and it makes me feel like I finally have some business maturity. When, uh, typically the president of United States is deployed all over the world to help bring warring parties back from the brink of war and to settle things and de-escalate. And so when you have a president who appears to be just manufacturing and escalating what could ultimately be... I mean, I'm, I wanna be clear. I'm a bit of a cat- catastrophist here. I think this is one piece of the chess board to what is a civil war, and that is when you have a, a government cosplaying authoritarianism that seems to have missed the last or the first half of the, the last century and what happened in the, in, um, in Europe. I mean, this is how, this is how it ends. I don't think America ends with a bang. I think it ends with a, a thump and some, I imagine, the next, a next move, all right? Newsom says, "We're sick of sending $80 billion to the federal government that you can deploy to red states that then you use to demonize us, so we're not paying our federal taxes." And then, or Texas, say Governor Newsom is elected president. Texas says, "We're not certifying the election. We don't, we don't honor your federal elections." And then before you have, know it, California becomes a tech economy doing trade with Asia. Texas and the South become an oil and gas economy. The East Coast becomes a services, financial services economy doing business with Europe, the Midwest, a manufacturing economy with strong relationships with Canada. They maybe develop their own currencies. Uh, Governor Newsom tried to weaponize volunteers to create his own army. This is what they did in the Weimar government. And before you know it, we're like the European Union, but a disunion of states. So I think this is another step to America breaking up.

   5. KSKara Swisher8:51

      That's the plot of Hunger Games, just so you know. (laughs)

   6. SGScott Galloway8:52

      I'm sorry?

   7. KSKara Swisher8:52

      That's the plot of Hunger Games, but go ahead.

   8. SGScott Galloway8:55

      Oh, really?

   9. KSKara Swisher8:55

      You know, the different districts.

   10. SGScott Galloway8:56

       I, I literally didn't-

   11. KSKara Swisher8:57

       Yeah. (laughs)

   12. SGScott Galloway8:57

       I didn't-

   13. KSKara Swisher8:57

       Yeah.

   14. SGScott Galloway8:58

       I-

   15. KSKara Swisher8:58

       I was like, "Huh. Wait a minute. Wait, who's Jennifer Lawrence?" That's me.

   16. SGScott Galloway9:01

       That's funny. I don't, I, I never saw the full series of Hunger Games, um.

   17. KSKara Swisher9:04

       Yeah, yeah.

   18. SGScott Galloway9:05

       Um.

   19. KSKara Swisher9:06

       That's the plot.

   20. SGScott Galloway9:06

       Although I'm a big Donald Southern, Sutherland fan. I'm not a huge Jennifer Lawrence fan. But anyways-

   21. KSKara Swisher9:10

       Mm-hmm.

   22. SGScott Galloway9:10

       That's the, that's what-

   23. KSKara Swisher9:11

       She's the hero of that movie.

   24. SGScott Galloway9:12

       They break into districts? That's the, that's the story of Hunger Games?

   25. KSKara Swisher9:14

       Well, they break into districts and then the districts try, then the center tries to hold 'em, and it's a- it's a- it's a version of it.

   26. SGScott Galloway9:20

       My point is, people think that the end of America would be some huge civil war. I think it could happen much more quietly than that.

   27. KSKara Swisher9:27

       Huh, interesting.

   28. SGScott Galloway9:27

       And that is, well, this is what's being set up.

   29. KSKara Swisher9:30

       Mm-hmm.

   30. SGScott Galloway9:30

       There's gonna be a number of states, I believe, who are gonna economically sequester and/or refuse to honor the next results of the presidential election. I think that is what is being set up here.
3. 14:03 – 20:19

   What Democrat Will Step Up?

   1. SGScott Galloway14:03

      your point, did... I'd like to move to what Democrats should be doing.

   2. KSKara Swisher14:06

      Mm-hmm.

   3. SGScott Galloway14:06

      I don't understand-

   4. KSKara Swisher14:08

      Mm-hmm.

   5. SGScott Galloway14:09

      ... why a Democrat hasn't forcefully... We're so, we're so obsessed with grabbing social virtue and taking the higher road.

   6. KSKara Swisher14:16

      Mm-hmm. Agreed.

   7. SGScott Galloway14:17

      I don't understand why a Democrat hasn't announced for president and said, "And on the order, I'm passing a constit- I'm, I'm getting congressional approval to arrest people who have engaged in fraud, to arrest people who have engaged in trading off our country's, um, geopolitical power for personal enrichment. Uh, I'm arresting people who have fomented violence while using the military while knowing that these, these actions were un-American, unconstitutional, and not needed. And here is the exact legislation I'm going to propose that will pierce any pardon." Why has no one stood up and said, "Hi, I'm a Democrat, and I have actual fucking testicles"? What would they be saying? This would be the mother of all, "Lock her up." Can you imagine what they would be threatening?

   8. KSKara Swisher15:07

      What's really interesting is, is that Kamala Harris warned about troops in the streets. So did Hillary Clinton. Clari- everything Hillary Clinton warned about, he did exactly. So I'm gonna listen to the women in this case. She also... Kamala Harris talked about this. You can make fun of her all you want, but she, she had this one cold of what he was, his, his movement. And he's, she's not, uh, she's not the only one who said he would do this. Um, but she was the, probably the most outspoken. W- there was a great story in The Atlantic, uh, this week by a friend of mine, Mark Leibovich, about Obama's sort of chill pill kind of attitude. I do not know where this man is. Like, I'm sorry. There is not a strong Democrat yet who has emerged. And it could be someone who announces for president. You're right. That's a great way to do it. But the only person with the gravitas... And people are like, "Why doesn't George Bush Junior do it?" I, he doesn't have the same gravitas that President Obama has. Stand up and con... Not just when he feels like it, not just when he wants to make some announcement and then he goes off and plays basketball with celebrities, th- which is what he's been doing, honestly. But someone like that. They're very... I was trying to think who, who could do this and create a nationwide problem for Trump, and it, it is only Obama. It is only Obama.

   9. SGScott Galloway16:23

      I think it could be a new voice. The problem is, I, I, I, I agree with you. I'd love to see Obama do it. But the office of president, uh, th- there is a ex- generally accepted principle that former presidents do not get involved in politics and come out swinging.

   10. KSKara Swisher16:37

       Not this guy.

   11. SGScott Galloway16:38

       No. I, I-

   12. KSKara Swisher16:39

       This guy doesn't deserve that.

   13. SGScott Galloway16:40

       I get it. I under- I understand it, and I'm not saying I don't disagree with it. The, the better opportunity is for someone to emerge with a new vision for America who's a Democrat and just comes right out and says, "I think there are crimes that have been committed here. I'm not going to threaten my political opponents with incarceration, but I am going to uphold the Constitution. And my belief is that there have been several criminal acts committed here, and I'm going to hold this... And I'm gonna... And i- i- by the way, if some Democrats have, continue to engage in insider trading, I'm gonna hold them accountable." (laughs) I mean, somebody needs to stand up and say, "I am running to defend the Constitution, and on day one, I am going to demonstrate and put on full display what the Constitution actually..." If th- we don't restore incentives... If we don't restore incentives to the downside as well as the upside, then it's kind of game over. And no one's running on it. No one's stood up and said, "I'm ready. This is what I'm gonna do."

   14. KSKara Swisher17:38

       I'm not sure who has. You can't name, I can't name someone.

   15. SGScott Galloway17:40

       I think it's someone TBD. I think it's probably a Democratic governor-

   16. KSKara Swisher17:44

       Mm-hmm.

   17. SGScott Galloway17:44

       ... who we don't even know yet because at this time-

   18. KSKara Swisher17:46

       Well, we know who they are.

   19. SGScott Galloway17:48

       ... in... Well, yeah. But we didn't re- Okay, they weren't household names. We, Clinton and Obama were not... Nobody knew who they were in this part of the election cycle. This is a huge white space and opportunity for a Democrat. Uh, I don't think it can be-

   20. KSKara Swisher17:59

       But, all right. I see.

   21. SGScott Galloway17:59

       I, I-

   22. KSKara Swisher18:00

       I see that. I think right now, uh, Barack Obama's got to stand the fuck up and stop, stop playing basketball and hanging out-

   23. SGScott Galloway18:05

       I'd like to see it, but I don't think it's gonna happen.

   24. KSKara Swisher18:06

       ... and going to celebrity things-

   25. SGScott Galloway18:07

       He did the-

   26. KSKara Swisher18:08

       ... and stop...

   27. SGScott Galloway18:09

       He did the whole-

   28. KSKara Swisher18:09

       He's gotta stop.

   29. SGScott Galloway18:10

       He did the whole, "If this were me, uh, can you imagine if I did that?" But I think-

   30. KSKara Swisher18:14

       No.
4. 20:19 – 29:47

   Trump/Elon Breakup Fallout

   1. KSKara Swisher20:19

      has acquiesced, it looks like. Scott, we're back with the latest fallout from the Elon/Trump breakup. Trump says his relationship with Elon Musk is over and threatening serious consequences if Elon funds Democratic candidates. Trump is, he's not th- Trump is pushing everyone around. Trump has been busy talking to reporters and working the phones over the last few days, calling Elon disrespectful, a big-time drug addict. He's also selling that new Tesla apparently. There's been talk about a possible truce, of course. Politico reported there was a call with representatives for both men on Friday, I think that was just David Sacks calling Donald Trump up. Elon, for his part, has deleted several of his tweets from last week, including the one tying Trump to Jeffrey Epstein, and on Sunday he appeared to be kissing the ring, retweeting posts from Trump and JD Dance about the LA protests. I was, I've been, I've been actually unfortunately going on Twitter and watching s- what he's up to, and he seems to be... First, he was focused a lot on, on SpaceX and things like that, and now he's, um, he's, he's sort of retweeting a lot of support for Donald Trump again. So I think he's probably trying to get in there, he doesn't want to, uh... He, he realizes he's in a, in a deleveraged position and he's decided not to go rogue. People have actually calmed him down. I, I don't... I'm, I don't think it's gonna last for him. Um, but a lot of people are trying to get Elon to back off and acquiesce. So, a- and I think largely, a lot of it is because his businesses will be at risk. Uh, Tesla stock recovered a bit at the end of the week, although the company is still facing some pain if Trump's spending bill passes. Uh, in terms of SpaceX, Elon appears to have changed his mind on decommissioning the Dragon spacecraft. That was so ridiculous, but NASA and the Pentagon officials are urging SpaceX competitors to quickly develop rockets and spacecraft according to the Washington Post. And, um, and we're just learning now that some Trump officials had some concerns about the Starlink getting installed at the White House earlier this year, which we brought up many times. The, uh, a lot of Tesla's getting downgraded all over the place, um, uh, and obviously people in MAGA world have to choose sides. Though new polling by YouGov suggests that Republicans are not conflicted with their loyalties. They ask, uh, w- how, w- what, w- who they would choose between Trump and Musk, seven in 10 Republicans said Trump, although three, that's interesting. Same thing with JD Vance, who was pushed forward by, who got his job through Elon Musk es- and Peter Thiel essentially, he's always gonna be loyal to the President, and he hopes Elon eventually comes back in the fold. Uh, David Sacks of course, 'cause the, he's an unctuous toady, has been privately encouraging Musk to call the President to try to mend their relationship. Now Steve Bannon on the other hand is making trouble. He's urged, uh, Trump to deport Elon and seize control of SpaceX. Bannon also provided details with Elon's Oval Office fight with Treasury Secretary Scott Besson to the Washington Post, revealing how the fight got physical, like apparently there was a ramming, h- h-... Elon rammed his shoulder into Besson's rib cage like a rugby player and Besson hit him back. Um, uh, Musk has called him a liar, and we haven't heard anything from Stephen Miller's wife, Katy, who recently left Doje and the White House to work for Elon.

   2. SGScott Galloway23:14

      Oh, she's here under the desk.

   3. KSKara Swisher23:15

      (laughs)

   4. SGScott Galloway23:16

      Oh, that's wrong.

   5. KSKara Swisher23:17

      (laughs) Oh, that's wrong.

   6. SGScott Galloway23:17

      That's wrong.

   7. KSKara Swisher23:18

      So Elon had to rebuke-

   8. SGScott Galloway23:19

      That's wrong.

   9. KSKara Swisher23:19

      ... his chat box, uh, his chat bot Grok after it falsely claimed that a tweet where Elon bragged about taking Katy Miller from her husband was real. Um, Grok believes it was and Elon said it wasn't. Um, uh, as I said, Elon called Bannon a liar. Um, so what do you think? What d- wh- how do you look at this?

   10. SGScott Galloway23:38

       What do I think? I think if this were any gay-er it'd be a Bravo reality show sponsored by Grindr.

   11. KSKara Swisher23:43

       (laughs)

   12. SGScott Galloway23:44

       I just, I mean forgot- can you imagine two bigger bitches than this?

   13. KSKara Swisher23:48

       (laughs)

   14. SGScott Galloway23:48

       I mean it's just like God...

   15. KSKara Swisher23:52

       It is. (laughs) It is.

   16. SGScott Galloway23:52

       I, I... If I had two 12-year-olds behaving this way... Let me get this, and I just love how okay, Trump or Musk thinks he's illuminating to the world that Trump was guilty of a sex crime on an island and then Trump threatening to deport him?

   17. KSKara Swisher24:11

       No, not Trump, Bannon. Bannon suggested it.

   18. SGScott Galloway24:14

       Oh was that... I thought Trump said he w- he had, it had come to his attention that he was (laughs) that... he was here illegally or some... Again, this is all just such a, such a distraction, and to be clear, Trump... Uh, Musk has no problem-... with the bill. He knew-

   19. KSKara Swisher24:28

       Mm-hmm.

   20. SGScott Galloway24:28

       ... what was in the bill. He, he wa- he's part of the architecture here. He's part of... This notion that it's exploding the deficit borrows- bothers him as he tries to cut 40 or 50% of the IRS. (laughs)

   21. KSKara Swisher24:39

       Mm-hmm.

   22. SGScott Galloway24:40

       It, this is what happened. Eh, or my read. He wanted to get involved in China relations. He wanted, he wanted-

   23. KSKara Swisher24:46

       He wanted to be co-president.

   24. SGScott Galloway24:47

       Yeah. H- n- no, he wanted to be an unelected president.

   25. KSKara Swisher24:50

       Yeah.

   26. SGScott Galloway24:50

       And Trump said no. Scott Basent said, "I'm not letting you pick these people." Eh, they got into a fight, he got punched in the face, it looks like.

   27. KSKara Swisher25:01

       Mm-hmm.

   28. SGScott Galloway25:01

       And now he's decided that all of a sudden, he doesn't like the t- the tax bill. And-

   29. KSKara Swisher25:06

       Mm-hmm.

   30. SGScott Galloway25:07

       ... and Trump is hitting back. The problem is, it's a huge distraction from, from more important issues here. Uh, Musk has more to lose because th- the government could, he, uh, Trump is not above absolutely weaponizing the government and threatening specific punishment for his companies, whether it's tariffs, taxes, uh, rescinding EV taxes, canceling all contracts with SpaceX. But we said it was dangerous.
5. 29:47 – 33:26

   DOGE’s Future

   1. SGScott Galloway29:47

      me, Cara. Hold me.

   2. KSKara Swisher29:49

      Anyway, um, w- and one thing though, D- DOGE has collected two wins from the Supreme Court. First, the Court granted and emerged to the application filed by the Trump administration to allow members of the DOGE to access Social Security Administration data. Second, SCOTUS ruled that DOGE doesn't have to turn over internal records to a government watchdog group for now. Now, the three liberal, uh, members descended from both rulings. Uh, you know, I think DOGE is over. I think they're leaving. There's people that are gonna stay embedded, but, and, and different cabinet members will do what they want and use the DOGE people there. But, you know, they've cut the head off of this thing and the Dogefath- whenever he called himself, the Dogefather, uh, it's ridiculous. It's this cosplaying. It's so stupid. Um-Uh, so, uh, i- it was interesting. My favorite part was Bill Gates reportedly visited the White House on Friday to argue for reversing DOGE cuts. (laughs) Just moving on in there. And, uh, and, and they, they will ... All those different tech people will do whatever they're in, in, in, in Bill Gates' ... In case he's trying to reverse USAID thing, so good for Bill for going. Uh, good job, Bill, is what I say. Go right in there and it show, showing how he was the original DOGE father, really, and all that. Godfather in a lot of ways. Um, but I think, uh, th- pretty much DOGE is over and, and they will, um, n- n- the cabinet members will do whatever they want. But Russell Vought still remains, uh, i- in charge in trying to push through the idea of dismantling government and that is certainly isn't gonna stop. DOGE. Goodbye, DOGE.

   3. SGScott Galloway31:14

      DOGE. I think it's ... Yeah, you're right. It's over. It's ... I'm really curious what the state of the tax bill is. I'd love to be in those Senate hearings right now-

   4. KSKara Swisher31:23

      Yeah.

   5. SGScott Galloway31:23

      ... around if this thing has any, you know, any chance of getting through or if this is all posturing from Rand Paul and the few Republican senators who claim to-

   6. KSKara Swisher31:31

      He'll get it through.

   7. SGScott Galloway31:33

      ... uh, claim to care. And if you-

   8. KSKara Swisher31:35

      Yeah.

   9. SGScott Galloway31:35

      (laughs) If you upload ... Get this. If you upload the tax bill into ChatGPT and ask it to summarize it, it says-

   10. KSKara Swisher31:41

       Yeah.

   11. SGScott Galloway31:41

       ... it's an authoritarianism wrapped in bureaucratic language. It doesn't even-

   12. KSKara Swisher31:44

       Yeah.

   13. SGScott Galloway31:44

       ... talk about the tax end of it.

   14. KSKara Swisher31:46

       Yeah.

   15. SGScott Galloway31:46

       It talks about things like, essentially, uh, they no longer can be ... These senior officials can no longer be found in contempt of court. It transfers (laughs) massive ... So if any, if they get congressional subpoenas to come testify on an alleged crime, they can ignore them. It, it massively transfers power from, uh, agencies where it's full-time-

   16. KSKara Swisher32:09

       Mm-hmm.

   17. SGScott Galloway32:09

       ... full-time government officials to a massive transfer of power from them to appointed officials, i.e. Trump acolytes.

   18. KSKara Swisher32:15

       Yeah, executive. It moves everything to the executive in a way, from-

   19. SGScott Galloway32:18

       Yeah, it moves everything upward towards appointees and the executive. It's really ... It's so funny that ChatGPT focused on (laughs) the authoritarianism as opposed to the economics of this tax bill. And it also-

   20. KSKara Swisher32:29

       Yeah.

   21. SGScott Galloway32:29

       ... said what was interesting. One of the points it came back with was this is a really elegant, legally deft piece of legislation, if you are-

   22. KSKara Swisher32:37

       Russell Vought, Russell Vought is the one you need not focus on. Elon, that fucking clown. Russell Vought is the one that's trying to dismantle, uh, and, and give power to the executive. That's the whole goal here.

   23. SGScott Galloway32:47

       Yeah.

   24. KSKara Swisher32:47

       I think they'll regret it when Democrats come into power if they give these powers, if Democrats-

   25. SGScott Galloway32:50

       Well, it's very ... That, that's a really interesting point. And again-

   26. KSKara Swisher32:54

       Democrats love to come into power.

   27. SGScott Galloway32:55

       Again, I would love to see ... I, you know, I would love to see, uh, Senator, soon-to-be Governor Bennett-

   28. KSKara Swisher33:01

       Mm-hmm.

   29. SGScott Galloway33:02

       ... um, basically put out a li- ... Well, there's so, there's so many things that Democrat to get up there and start talking. Yeah. I'm a, I'm a huge fan of, of the senators.

   30. KSKara Swisher33:10

       Yeah. Get one.
6. 33:26 – 45:57

   Warner Bros. Discovery Splits

   1. KSKara Swisher33:26

      All right, let's go on a quick break and when we come back, Warner Brothers Discovery is splitting in two as we said it would. Scott, we're back. Warner Brothers Discovery will split into two public companies. Streaming and studios will be one company, including movie properties and HBO Max, and the other company will be the global networks company, including CNN, TNN- TNT Sports and Discovery. Uh, CEO David Zaslav will lead streaming and studios, and the company's current CFO, Gunnar, I think his name is, will become the CEO of global networks business. The split is expected to be complete by the, uh, the middle of next year. Shares of Warner Brothers Discovery are up over 7% at the time of the taping, although it's, they've been really down. Scott, we discussed that possibility last month and, uh, you got this partly right, but this is something we've talked about for a while, that this was gonna a- à la Versant, which is the Comcast runoff, and we both have talked about this extensively, but let's, uh, uh, let's, let's listen to what we just said recently.

   2. SGScott Galloway34:21

      I think I know what's gonna happen here. The company is gonna go good bank, bad bank. It's gonna be HBO and Warner Brothers, the theater business, the characters, the IP, which will feed into HBO. HBO is the brand. It'll have another component, a sub- a subset, HBO Max or something, that's all the other shit, and then they will spin all the TV and the cable assets into ... They'll either consolidate or be part of a consolidator, a consolidation with Comcast. And that is, they're just ... Uh, these are still highly profitable businesses, but they're shrinking, so that means consolidation and cost cutting.

   3. KSKara Swisher34:54

      Right, which is exact- it's ex- it's almost exactly what happened at Comcast here. It's a com- uh, which is about to almost be completed, I think, um, and therefore possibly a, a, a, a merger acquisition or, or, or the opposite, they merge in some way. The company has not yet announced how it will split Warner Brothers Discovery's huge debt, uh, 37 billion, although it's, it's, it's cheap debt but it's still debt nonetheless. Um, but it will take out a $17 billion short-term loan ahead of the split to bring down that. Um, how should they divvy up the da- wh- wh- does this ... I mean, again, a bunch of small little boats, little media boats. I was on a panel with Anderson Cooper over the, you know, after they showed Goodnight and Good Luck, and, uh, Anderson was asking me, you know, "Are there gonna be this big thing?" I'm like, "No, everything's getting split up." And like, that's, uh, these ... You can't have these big entities anymore, um, w- with- that are, that are spending enormous amounts of money and don't make any sense anymore from an audience point of view. Um, so how, how do you look at this and how should they divvy up the debt? I think that's probably the most important thing here.

   4. SGScott Galloway35:52

      Well, thi- this was absolutely the smart thing to do. 'Cause the market, uh, the market wants a, a consistent story, and the story around legacy cable assets are that they're still hugely profitable, but they're declining businesses and really the business strategy, and it can be a very effective strategy for creating shareholder value, is to go acquire other struggling cable assets and cut costs faster than the business declines. So these things usually don't decline as quickly as people think. So-

   5. KSKara Swisher36:20

      Yeah, it's like AOL dial-up, yeah.

   6. SGScott Galloway36:22

      Well, that's right or so if they're, if the business is declining 6% to 8% a year, as long as you can go roll it up with Comedy Central and, you know, n- name, name, name your TV, Bravo or whatever it is, as long as you can consolidate the backend-... and cut costs faster than 8% a year, that is accretive to the bottom line, and that's a decent trading stock. And then you have the other thing that requires capital to grow because HBO and Warner are still, you know, technically growth assets. So you have to have a consistent story, and these stories don't, these stories don't work. So it makes sense. Um, the argument they're having right now... And, and, and, and I knew this before it happened. David Zaslav gets the cool ship, he gets to be on the cool side.

   7. KSKara Swisher37:04

      (laughs)

   8. SGScott Galloway37:04

      He gets Warner Bros. and HBO.

   9. KSKara Swisher37:07

      Yeah.

   10. SGScott Galloway37:07

       And the CFO, who is always the bad cop-

   11. KSKara Swisher37:10

       Who actually is considered a very good executive, but go ahead.

   12. SGScott Galloway37:13

       I'm sure. But his job-

   13. KSKara Swisher37:14

       He's cut a lot of the debt.

   14. SGScott Galloway37:14

       ... is to consolidate and cut costs and go on a nomination.

   15. KSKara Swisher37:16

       Right. He's very good at cost cutting, that's what he's known for.

   16. SGScott Galloway37:19

       And to call Brian Roberts and say, "All right. Uh, how do we, how do we put, how do we put these two things together?" And the argument they're having right now, and consultants are in there and they're all posturing is, how much debt is, is, uh, is the bad bank gonna have to take with them? 'Cause they're the more profitable one in the short term, but they're all looking at I think, I think they have a total of about 33 billion in debt, and they're all saying, "Okay, who ha- who has to take Mom?" Right? (laughs) Who has to... It's a divorce and we're taking care of our parents and they're a real liability. Who gets, you know, Dad's a real liability living upstairs. Who has, who has to take Dad, right? It's like in the fight between Musk and Trump, who ha- who gets custody of JD Vance? Who has to take him, right?

   17. KSKara Swisher38:01

       Mm-hmm.

   18. SGScott Galloway38:01

       So-

   19. KSKara Swisher38:02

       So who does?

   20. SGScott Galloway38:03

       Well, they'll come to some accommodation. Uh, it won't be, it won't... One won't get all, all the debt. They'll split it-

   21. KSKara Swisher38:08

       Hmm.

   22. SGScott Galloway38:08

       ... but it's just a question of what the split is.

   23. KSKara Swisher38:11

       Right.

   24. SGScott Galloway38:12

       And they could-

   25. KSKara Swisher38:13

       Why should the money-making one take it at all? Why should the s- you're the, the streamer is the one-

   26. SGScott Galloway38:17

       Because they have the ability to service the debt.

   27. KSKara Swisher38:19

       Right. Okay.

   28. SGScott Galloway38:20

       And, and what they wanna do is make sure they don't, these, these companies still have... And their existing shareholders are gonna get shares in both.

   29. KSKara Swisher38:27

       Mm-hmm.

   30. SGScott Galloway38:27

       And also, if you saddle, if you saddle the, the bad bank, the cable TV news, news company, let's call it the cable division, with too much debt, it creates a poison pill where no one can acquire it or merge with it. So they're, they're doing a delicate dance here to try and, and as you, um, you know... Uh, uh, uh, so this reverse engineers, it's all very incestuous. David Zaslav was the highest paid CEO in media, or old media. He made $53 million, 52% I believe of the shareholders said, "We are, we don't approve your compensation," while the stock has gone down 66% because his compensation was tied to paying down debt, and he has done that. He and the CFDO have, CFO have paid down the debt I think from like 50 or $55 billion to that 33.
7. 45:57 – 1:00:15

   Wins and Fails

   1. KSKara Swisher45:57

      network. I thought that was just a lovely thing to do. Um, all right, one more quick break. We'll be back for wins and fails. Okay, Scott, let's hear some wins and fails. I guess I'll go first. There were a lot of options for me for the win. DC public schools will enforce a cell phone ban starting next year. My, my kids are in DC public schools, I'm very happy about that. Um, also, um, uh, the o- uh, the Tonys were amazing, were amazing, were really fun. I love Cynthia Erivo, she provided a really good show. And even though that's a small business too in a lot of ways, I thought they did a gr- it was really fun and entertaining, which is what they should be. Um, and minimum of lecturing. It was just really good performances. Especially bringing back the Hamilton group together to sing, it was super fun. Um, but I think my, my win of the week is you, seeing you in a satin boxing robe, Scott.

   2. SGScott Galloway46:44

      Come on.

   3. KSKara Swisher46:45

      Um, I have to say, first of all, I, I sent it to Alex. He's like, "Scott's in good shape for, for, for a man of his age," essentially. Um, I, that was, looked really fun. You looked adorable. What a cute thing.

   4. SGScott Galloway46:57

      Well, thanks.

   5. KSKara Swisher46:57

      You were, you w- but w- your shirt off was the best part with the drag queens. I loved e- this Scott Galloway who's yelling at Piers Morgan, who's wearing a box su- I like this Sc- I like what I've made here, this man that I've affected in some way.

   6. SGScott Galloway47:11

      You've molded.

   7. KSKara Swisher47:11

      But tell me, explain to me how that went, very briefly.

   8. SGScott Galloway47:15

      Uh, a good friend of mine, Pablo Doreitis, does this thing called the Final Rumble-

   9. KSKara Swisher47:18

      Mm-hmm.

   10. SGScott Galloway47:18

       ... where two people pretend to be boxers, they answer questions, they each answer them, and then the crowd decides who wins the round. At the end of the bout, you get a belt on, based on who wins. So, the last one was Anthony Scaramucci versus-

   11. KSKara Swisher47:31

       Mm-hmm.

   12. SGScott Galloway47:31

       ... Kevin O'Leary. And this one was-

   13. KSKara Swisher47:32

       Oh, God.

   14. SGScott Galloway47:32

       ... me and a really impressive young man named-

   15. KSKara Swisher47:36

       Shermichael.

   16. SGScott Galloway47:37

       ... Shermichael Singleton, who I just thought was lovely. And I hope that-

   17. KSKara Swisher47:39

       He's terrific.

   18. SGScott Galloway47:40

       ... I hope there's more conservatives like him.

   19. KSKara Swisher47:42

       Mm-hmm.

   20. SGScott Galloway47:43

       Yeah. I mean, let's be honest, I'm in Detroit, I go up against a 34-year-old Black Republican, the odds were-

   21. KSKara Swisher47:47

       Mm-hmm.

   22. SGScott Galloway47:47

       ... he was gonna win. I mean... (laughs)

   23. KSKara Swisher47:49

       But he didn't. You won.

   24. SGScott Galloway47:50

       Um, yeah, well, I, you know, Daddy, Daddy did a little-

   25. KSKara Swisher47:53

       How'd you win? You had the belt.

   26. SGScott Galloway47:55

       I had the belt, yeah.

   27. KSKara Swisher47:56

       Are you gonna wear that?

   28. SGScott Galloway47:56

       Um, but it was a ton of fun. I really enjoyed it. And the, the, the thing I'm so excited about is like, I said to Pablo, I said, "Okay, but I get to announce my entrance." You know when boxers come out?

   29. KSKara Swisher48:07

       Yeah, yeah, of course.

   30. SGScott Galloway48:07

       And Shermichael's was really good. He did a, he did a drumline from an all Black-

Episode duration: 1:00:15