EVERY SPOKEN WORD
70 min read · 14,364 words- 0:00 – 11:45
Intro
- SGScott Galloway
I'd say it's like an 80% chance he's lying, or 20% he's become so senile he believes his own mythology himself. But e- either it's not befitting of a president-
- KSKara Swisher
[upbeat music] Hi, everyone, this is Pivot from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network. I'm Kara Swisher.
- SGScott Galloway
And I'm Scott Galloway.
- KSKara Swisher
Scott, you're back after a whole month. We have a lot of news to talk about.
- SGScott Galloway
We do. Yeah
- KSKara Swisher
And we've got politics and AI, and so much happened. W- uh, it was a lot w- while you were away.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah. I think we should-- I don't like to make this about me. We should just press right i- Oh, wait, what is that, Kara? What is that? It's a sign, isn't it?
- KSKara Swisher
[laughs] It's a sign.
- SGScott Galloway
That's right. For all of you out there, you've suffered from withdrawals. I get it. I get it. You don't want me. You need me. That's right, you've been good. You've been very good, and here's your reward.
- KSKara Swisher
[laughs] Oh, God.
- SGScott Galloway
That's right, ladies.
- KSKara Swisher
Ah. [laughs]
- SGScott Galloway
Look at the shoulders. Is that inappropriate?
- KSKara Swisher
Yes. We can't hear you. Yes. Yes. We can't hear you. Yeah. Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
I want you to know-
- KSKara Swisher
Totally
- SGScott Galloway
... for those of you who are out there, I've learned a lot in August.
- KSKara Swisher
[laughs] Nothing.
- SGScott Galloway
I've learned a lot.
- KSKara Swisher
He's learned nothing.
- SGScott Galloway
I decided that my jokes are totally inappropriate, and I'm gonna be much more sensitive to your needs. I think of myself, Kara-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah
- SGScott Galloway
... I think of myself now as a feminist.
- KSKara Swisher
[laughs]
- SGScott Galloway
By the way, by the way, think of me as your prefrontal cortex pornography.
- KSKara Swisher
Okay. [laughs]
- SGScott Galloway
I'm 141 IQ, 61 year old who's economically secure with people who love him unconditionally. What do you get? You get unfiltered, unedited insights, and if it offends you, we're all gonna be fine.
- KSKara Swisher
[laughs]
- SGScott Galloway
And by the way, another gift. Another gift.
- KSKara Swisher
Oh, no.
- 11:45 – 27:48
What Scott Missed in August
- KSKara Swisher
so much. God, Jesus-
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, I did. I feel out of it
- KSKara Swisher
... freaking Christ.
- SGScott Galloway
I was really intimidated by today. I was really nervous about it.
- KSKara Swisher
No, you're gonna be great.
- SGScott Galloway
I hope this goes well.
- KSKara Swisher
We're gonna do a lightning round. Can you do that and give us your thoughts?
- SGScott Galloway
Um, I love the lightning round-
- KSKara Swisher
Good
- SGScott Galloway
... except I'm not, I'm not much like a strike of lightning. I'm more like a tsunami that lasts-
- KSKara Swisher
Okay
- SGScott Galloway
... for three days in my answers.
- KSKara Swisher
Okay. [laughs] We're not gonna do that.
- SGScott Galloway
It's more like a tsunami round.
- KSKara Swisher
You said you'd be crisp.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, I'll try.
- KSKara Swisher
So let's be crisp. I mean-
- SGScott Galloway
Okay
- KSKara Swisher
... I couldn't believe how much news there was. That was the one thing every week.
- SGScott Galloway
Oh, my God. Can you get over it?
- KSKara Swisher
Well, Trump is like, speaking of tsunamis, he's just a constant-
- SGScott Galloway
You have a tech and a hugging bear-
- KSKara Swisher
... chaos, tech, hug-
- SGScott Galloway
... or a hugging face
- KSKara Swisher
... hugging, hugging face, hugging bears.
- SGScott Galloway
All these people dying.
- KSKara Swisher
Yes, exactly. Uh, exactly. So huge losses, let's start with that, uh, including Dolly Parton, Gloria Steinem, a whole range of people. Um, thoughts?
- SGScott Galloway
Well, look, uh, Dolly Parton and Gloria Steinem, uh, built empires and on their own, but they did it differently. They went direct to consumer. They were kind of... They didn't ask for permission. The quotes that summarize their lives, in my view, Dolly said, I love her quote, she said, uh, "The ones who love me made up for the ones who didn't." That to me, just kinda captures her generosity. Gloria Steinem, my favorite quote of hers was, uh, "I think a truly liberated woman has, uh, has had sex before marriage and a job after." I thought [chuckles] that just, like, perfectly encapsulated her. Also, throughout all these, if you, if you're a woman and you have a credit card and a checking account, you kinda have to nod to Gloria Steinem.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
I mean, she really did have a big impact.
- 27:48 – 32:45
Trump Dividend Promise
- KSKara Swisher
Trump is asking voters to pretend he's on the ballot this November. He made that pitch at the GOP midterm convention in Dallas, an event the RNC dubbed Trumpapalooza. It seemed rather depressing, but during a speech that ran nearly two hours, I think he has another one tonight, Trump said the war with Iran would be over very shortly after the election. He also said prices would come down after the election. He also warned that Democratic victory would put a communist caucus in charge of Congress, but notably, he made a big promise to American voters. Let's listen.
- SGScott Galloway
[screen whooshes] If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, both of them, because of our economic, tremendous economic success, like, in, in history we've never had anything like what's happening. But because of our tremendous strength and success economically, I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000. [audience cheering] [audience applauding] Very much like a successful company will do a cash distribution to its shareholders.
- KSKara Swisher
[screen whooshes] Except we don't have money. He's calling it the Trump Dividend and says the money would have to be spent in the US. I don't know how he'd monitor that. Trump didn't explain where the funding will come from. Of course, we have a massive deficit under Donald Trump. Sending $5,000 to every adult in the US would cost roughly $1.3 trillion. Of course, pesky legal obstacles. Uh, thoughts, um, thoughts about this?
- SGScott Galloway
Well, let's talk about need and math. L- let's talk about need. 10% of US adults live in poverty, 15% are children, but he's decided not to give it to the children who need it. Uh, let's talk about the math. Uh, $1.3 trillion. This would... I- i- in absolutely no revenue plan for it, this would all be deficit funded, so let's talk about what this is. This is effectively saying to every household, "I'll give you a credit card w- that's preloaded with $5,000, but your kid, a newborn, in 18 years, is gonna owe $13,000, that even if you die, they still owe." So my question to every voter would be the following: If someone offered you a preloaded credit card for $5,000, but your kid in 18 years would have non-dischargeable debt of 13,000 Because of the good times you had 18 years ago, would you decide to accept that credit card? And the scary thing, Kara, is the answer may be yes, because you can't just blame Republicans for what has been decades-
- KSKara Swisher
Yep
- SGScott Galloway
... of fiscal irresponsibility.
- KSKara Swisher
Yep. Yep.
- SGScott Galloway
George Washington to George Bush, $7 trillion in deficits. George Bush to Trump to another $33 trillion. And that-- And the Republicans have been worse, but this has been a bipartisan effort, this fiscal irresponsibility. And at some point, the voters have to take responsibility for continuing to elect people and fall for this bullshit irresponsible rhetoric. And what disappoints me about many of the people you and I speak to every day who wanna be the Democratic nominee for president, none of them are talking about this.
- KSKara Swisher
Are talking about deficits. Yes. Yep.
- SGScott Galloway
At some point, someone has to stand up and say, "This is how I would restore fiscal sanity. I-- Am I going to raise taxes or cut spending?" The answer is yes, and they outline a reasonable plan for doing this. Not one Democrat who is running for president has outlined anything res- resembling a plan.
- KSKara Swisher
Romney, who I think did.
- SGScott Galloway
Rom's getting close-
- KSKara Swisher
Close
- SGScott Galloway
... but not really.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, right. Right
- SGScott Galloway
Rom, Rom has done more than anyone else, but he-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah
- SGScott Galloway
... still hasn't said we're gonna take-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah
- SGScott Galloway
... we're gonna means test. No one has actually put a-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah
- SGScott Galloway
... chart on the wall-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah
- SGScott Galloway
... and said, "This is how we do it."
- KSKara Swisher
Yep, absolutely, 'cause it's not a sexy thing to do. You'd rather just have these ridiculous-
- SGScott Galloway
Well-
- KSKara Swisher
... food fights
- SGScott Galloway
... a, a very popular bumper sticker is, "I can cut your taxes and go to war." That bumper sticker works, and it, uh, voters keep falling, voters keep falling for it. At some point, Americans have to decide. It's like what Michelle Obama said when asked if she wanted to run for president or would. She said, "America's not ready for a female president." I agree with her. I don't think Amer- It doesn't appear to me that America is, uh, appears to be ready for an adult conversation around our deficit.
- KSKara Swisher
I know, and it's, it's gonna kill us. It's absolutely gonna kill us. I know a lot of people say it off the record, but they never say it on the record, and him pretending everything's going great is really... I mean, it's, it's astonishing to watch. But this is just a bribe. This is an attempted bribe and stupidity as usual. Another thing he says that every, that occupies the, um, you know, the news cycle. He's very good at creating a news cycle that's stupid, like stupid news cycles.
- 32:45 – 36:48
Fetterman’s GOP Convention Appearance
- KSKara Swisher
Um, another big moment, speaking of which, from the convention, uh, midterm convention, was a surprise video appearance. Not surprised. I said he was gonna do it, by the way, couple, uh, about a week ago, by Democratic Senator John Fetterman, something, again, I predicted, um, on Threads.
- SGScott Galloway
Did you-- How did you-- You predicted that early. How did you-- Did you do reporting or you just guessed that?
- KSKara Swisher
No, I heard it from someone, and then I noticed that, um, Dave McCormick had a surprise, and I know that they have been hanging out a lot. And so I thought, "Oh, it's gotta be Fetterman." Um, it just was sort of, you know, putting it together s- from a, from a strategy point of view. But, uh, but I had heard that it was gonna happen from someone pretty good. Um, Fetterman introduced his fellow Pennsylvania senator, Dave McCormick, and said he was willing to work with Trump. I don't know what it meant. The appearance fueled more speculation that Fetterman might switch parties, but he shut that down. I don't think he's gonna do that. In the statement, he's, uh, he called himself a lifelong Democrat and said if Dems flip the Senate, he's staying put. He's probably gonna lose his job. He's much-- The numbers for him in Pennsylvania are really devastating, but he's still got year, couple years on his, his tenure. Um, it comes in the heels of a Wall Street Journal report that he has shown little interest in day-to-day work of being a senator. Um, he really likes being on television. He wouldn't meet with veterans. This was a devastating report. And it's not-- He says it's disgruntled staffers. It seems to be all his staffers think he's an asshole, um, and he's not doing the job o- of getting back. And, you know, I've heard from lots of people in Pennsylvania they're not getting their constituent services that, say, Bob Casey would have done or, or others, even, even McCormick. Um, he seems to like to be on Fox News quite a bit. Um, not... Look, it's a disease of a lot of those people, but any, any thoughts on this?
- SGScott Galloway
I had two observations about Trumpalooza, and that is, and granted, I'm biased, and as much as, as weak as the Democratic brand is right now, if you look at where the Republican brand i- There is no more GOP. John Thune, you may not like his politics, but he's what I would call a ground zero for r- the GOP. He's, he's conservative. He's dignified. He strikes me as a fairly rational actor. He got booed. It-- There's no longer a GOP. There's Trump and there's MAGA, and unless MAGA is able to produce a number of Trump-like characters that can create that cult-like feel, because they've hollowed out the GOP. The second observation is Fetterman, I think, has, like a lot of these senators, decided the most important thing in life is to cling to power like an African dictator. That's probably a hate crime. And he's... I, I thou- I saw his appearance as optionality, and that is he gets leverage from the Democrats by showing up there.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, even though they call him Benedict Arnold. Yeah. Yeah, but-
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, but, uh, you gotta bet-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah
- SGScott Galloway
... the Democrats are nervous-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah
- SGScott Galloway
... about him flipping.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
And also, if shit gets really bad, he might flip. So he's basically, he's basically kind of Senator Sinema minus the charm. He's, uh, there's always one or two senators that realize that being a holdout and being on the fence and threatening to go the other way gives them enormous leverage, and that Wall Street Journal piece was really damning. And so I, I think he's probably thinking, "If I can't get reelected as a Democrat, maybe I'll get reelected as a Republican."
- KSKara Swisher
Let me just say he won't. But that-- He won't. He will lose, and then he will be a, a footnote.
- SGScott Galloway
You think he's out. You think it's the end.
- KSKara Swisher
I... His, the, the anger, uh, uh, he'll make a Democrat get elected. Like, they'll bring in Conor Lamb or someone.
- SGScott Galloway
Right.
- KSKara Swisher
Pennsylvania's not, is not like this. Like, it's very... Like, they like a Jo- Like, it's interesting 'cause my family lives there, a lot of my family, and they-- My brother is, I would say, conservative, but he He loves the, the governor. He loves the governor
- SGScott Galloway
It's a purple state.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
I mean, it's a swing state, right?
- KSKara Swisher
And, and I'm just saying he- anyone effective, and I don't think they find him effective, and I think that's-
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah
- KSKara Swisher
... um, you know, he's, he, he definitely supported McCormick. I think he thinks he's competent, but he loves the governor, and he, you know, it's, it's a, it's not, uh, quite as angry MAGA as other states. Um, what...
- 36:48 – 44:24
Trump’s Evolving 9/11 Story
- KSKara Swisher
Speaking of something that was pretty appalling, Trump is sticking to his latest story about what he did in the aftermath of 9/11, insisting his lat- latest account is exactly accurate. Trump's version of events has evolved over the years, but here's what he said earlier this week
- SPSpeaker
United States steel building was creaking, really creaking, and we thought it was gonna fall down. The truth is, it creaked a lot. [laughs] It creaked. It still creaks. But, uh, it never came down. And, uh, I re- I'll never forget, two firemen, we thought it was coming down on top of us, and two firemen, big strong guys, and I'm not the smallest guy in the world, they grabbed me under the arms, said, "Gotta get outta here," and they literally lifted me up. This is not easy to do. I'm big. They lifted me up, and they started running with me. I said, "Fellas, I can run myself." But they were amazing. But they thought it was coming down. It didn't come down, U.S. Steel.
- KSKara Swisher
I... You know, creaking. Photos and videos show Trump in Lower Manhattan on September 13th and 18th, not until then, but there were no reports or evidence of his firefighter rescue. Um, what he definitely did on 9/11 is he called a local TV station and bragged that now he had the tallest building in Lower Manhattan, which he also didn't. Um, he won't be in New York for the 25th anniversary of 9/11, reportedly because he wasn't allowed to give a speech. He'll be at the Pentagon, and J.D. Vance will be at Ground Zero with all the ex-presidents. Um, of course, he's trying to make 9/11 about him. I thought this was one of the more appalling things. You know, uh, you know, the, all of the, the, uh, politicization around this, this me- memorial, the 25th anniversary, um, obviously Rudy Giuliani, who's made it his brand in a really grotesque way. He did a great job at the time, but it's... He has to stop making it all about him. Um, he didn't want Mamdani there, and then Mamdani very quickly released all these incredible documents showing how the Giuliani administration hid the dangers of what was happening down there and then had Jon Stewart there, who's been a real, uh... Of all the many things Jon Stewart has done, his backing of, of cancer, uh, victims and things has, has been astonishing. And then, of course, reports out the n- the cancer, um, has, has... Enormous for the people who were down there. You know, my... Amanda was there, underneath the World Trade Center at the time of the attack. Um, I, I wrote it to her. I was like, "Did, did you get-- breathe in a lot of that stuff?" She luckily got out very quickly and, and moved away from the area really quickly, uh, 'cause she felt it was toxic, what was happening. But, uh, thoughts about this? Trump just... This is grotesque. Uh, this to me, I don't know why I was like... It was such stolen valor, essentially.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, we've become numb to it. He's either lying-
- KSKara Swisher
Not this one
- SGScott Galloway
... I'd say it's, like, an 80% chance he's lying or 20% he's become so senile he believes his own mythology himself. But ei- either, it's, it... Not befitting of a president. The controversy around Mamdani, that's ridiculous. He's the mayor of New York. Of course he should be there. I'm glad Trump's not gonna be there. Uh, the, uh, and we'll kinda come, we're gonna come back to this at the end of the show, but after 9/11, I was in New York, and you could go down to the pile and volunteer to give out wa- You know, you could just go down and volunteer. And the CEO of AMB at the time, now he's the CEO of ProLogis, Hamid Moghadam, who's, uh, a, a mentor of mine, he called me, and he said, "Do not go downtown." I mean, he went out of his way, this is a busy guy, to s- deliver one message to me. He said, "There are millions of tons of pulverized, vaporized cement, asbestos, and glass-
- KSKara Swisher
And benzene
- SGScott Galloway
... in the air right now."
- KSKara Swisher
And benzene too.
- SGScott Galloway
And he said, "Do not go downtown." A- a- and this was before people were talking about it. And by the way, this was... I, I... There was nothing mali- malicious here, but Christine Todd Whitman really fucked up, 'cause more people have died in the aftermath from airborne illnesses and cancers than died on 9/11. And, you know, our government is supposed to keep us safe. She issued statements saying it was safe. It was not. This was a real error on the part of our leadership.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, I was kind of... I'm glad the Mamdani administration released those documents. I can't believe they weren't released. 25 years they've known about the situation. I mean, you can't be perfect in those cr- And that was a terrible crisis. Um, but man, it was sort of like, uh, I don't know. I was like, "Of course they lied about it," and made... And not, didn't give people enough warning, especially the workers down there. And the levels of cancer that are showing up right now, h- they get cancer quicker.
- SGScott Galloway
Governor Pataki is claiming-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah
- SGScott Galloway
... he has-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. Right
- SGScott Galloway
... cancer from, uh, a, a, a 9/11 airborne related illness.
- KSKara Swisher
He could. He was down there a lot. I recall speaking to people who were down there a lot, not Donald Trump. Um, but I, I, I, I agree with you. It's one stupid thing after another with Trump every fucking day, but, you know, whether it's Natalie Arup or whatever dumb shit that happened with him all the time. But this one, I, I, I, I was really like, "You appalling fuck." Like, I don't know what else to say. I was like, uh, "This is... These people risked their lives. All these people died. It is a cemetery." It was a sem... You know what I mean? And to try to, like, focus on himself, like, is there no... Like, to me, th- that was a, that was a moment for our country, and it's not his to have. Anyway, uh, let's go on a quick break. When we come back, Apple introduces a foldable phone. They're really good at folding, as I said Support for this show comes from Quince. Do you have a favorite thing in your closet? The thing you look forward to breaking out every year? Maybe it's your favorite sweater, the jeans that go with everything, or the bag that goes wherever you do. Those are the pieces that earn a permanent place in your wardrobe, and that's exactly what Quince does so well. Quince makes elevated everyday essentials using premium materials like Mongolian cashmere, organic cotton, and washable silk. The designs are timeless, thoughtfully crafted, and made to be worn again and again. It's also affordable, too. All of their items are priced fifty to eighty percent less than similar brands. Plus, they work directly with top factories, cutting out the middlemen. That way, you're only paying for exceptional quality and not brand markup. I just got a set of not clothes, but Quince sheets. I was very surprised how soft they were. They're made of organic cotton. They feel expensive, and they aren't, and that's what I liked about them. No scratchiness. I slept like a baby in them, and I was really happy, and I'm gonna buy more sets 'cause they're some of the best sheets I have slept on. Find the fall pieces you'll reach for most at Quince. Download the Quince app for app-exclusive offers or go to quince.com/pivot. Get free shipping on your order and three hundred and sixty-five day returns, now available in Canada and the UK, too. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash pivot.
- SGScott Galloway
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- KSKara Swisher
[upbeat music] Scott, we're back with more news.
- 44:24 – 58:35
Apple Unveils Foldable iPhone
- KSKara Swisher
Apple has unveiled the iPhone duo, its first foldable phone and the first major new product launch under new CEO John Ternus. The two thousand dollar phone opens like a book with a five-point-four-inch screen when closed and a seven-point-six-inch display when open. It's kind of like an iPad-sized experience when it's open, but at twenty times the price or whatever. A lot, a lot more. Um, it, it's... Someone said it's an iPad, uh, at the cost of a MacBook Air. Uh, the duo arrives, uh, years after Samsung, seven years, and other rivals enter the foldable market. My brother actually has a Samsung foldable phone, which still accounts for less than two percent of the global smartphone shipments. It's not... Foldable phones have not taken off that much. Um, some people think it's a great version of this. Um, and as you know, sc- uh, Apple is a pioneer. Is, it doesn't, is not a pioneer as often as it copies and does a good job. Uh, everyone who's had it says it's great, that I've talked to. Um, what do you think? I may buy one. I can't tell if I want it. I can't... I think it looks great, and I, I like foldable phones, uh, and I am in the Apple universe. Um, but it's not particularly inventive. It's just derivative in a good way. I don't know what else to say about it.
- SGScott Galloway
My former colleague at Stern and now at Tuck had this great insight that really struck me, and he said that the people that add the most shareholder value are not innovators. It's the second mouse. It's never the first. The first gets mud on their face, arrows in their back, and then someone comes in and scales it. As you referenced, this is a niche market right now, but Apple has a habit of coming in around MP3 players-
- KSKara Swisher
Phones or AirPods
- SGScott Galloway
... touchscreens-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah
- SGScott Galloway
... a- a- uh, laptops-
- KSKara Swisher
Wireless AirPods
- SGScott Galloway
... and making them more elegant and then, and then making them more aspirational and blowing up, you know, blowing out the market from a margin standpoint. They're usually not the market leader, but they blow out in terms of margin because of the self-expressive benefit, which is the strongest consumer brand in the world. I tried to order one last night. I couldn't. I don't know if-
- KSKara Swisher
You can't until October.
- SGScott Galloway
Oh, maybe that's why. [chuckles] There you go. But, uh, i- this is anecdotal 'cause I'm, I like to signal and, uh, you know, I'll do, try and do an honest product review. I'd be very interested to know what you think or what Walt Mossberg thinks. I personally, if I had to bet, I think, I think this is gonna be a hit. I think Samsung is gonna be so fucking angry that they came out with this thing seven years ago, and within about six months, not even six months, I bet within six da- sixty days, Apple sells more of these than all foldable phones have been sold in the last seven years.
- KSKara Swisher
Do you think the price is too high? It's a pretty high price. If you wanna get the pretty decent, uh, memory in it, it's, it goes up much higher, by the way, than two thousand. Two thousand's the bottom.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah.
- KSKara Swisher
And you, and if you trade in your phone, which you get a, you know, like mine is about six hundred and fifty dollars to trade it in.
- SGScott Galloway
I, I don't because everyb- everybody thinks Vuitton or Cartier are the ultimate luxury brands. They're not. The ultimate luxury brands are Stanford and MIT, but close second to those brands is Apple. The billion wealthiest people on the planet all have one thing in common. They're all iOS. I've said this for a long time. When you have an Android phone, you're saying to the world, "My life didn't pan out the way I'd hoped." iOS is the ultimate status symbol. It is the ultimate implicit way of saying, "I'm creative. I'm so good at what I do that I can af- afford to pay three months of salary in Turkey on a phone." And so I don't think two thousand dollars, when you think about the other products and the amount of money people spend on luxury items, I, I d- I don't think that... But again, I'm, I'm not the market because I'm a, I'm more price inelastic than most people around things I want. I don't think that's a crazy price for an aspirational flagship Apple product. What do you think?
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. Yeah. A lot of people though say it's an iPad that at three times the cost. But it looks, it looks really interesting, and, you know, one of the reasons I was thinking of buying it w- besides I heard a lot of good things from people who were there, even, you know, even Casey, who is not a... Casey Newton, who's not someone who buys things right away, was like, "I'm buying this thing." He must have seen it. Um, is that I'm tired of my iPhone. I want something different. I know it sounds crazy, but I've had this iPhone since the beginning of iPhones, and so I'm like, okay, I'm, I'm kinda bored with the, with my w- and I need a little more space 'cause I, I find myself watching a ton on my iPhone now. Like, I experience a lot of video on the phone, and so-
- SGScott Galloway
100%
- KSKara Swisher
... yeah. The keyboard is, is, is another issue. I think you can probably buy a little keyboard. It looks like something... I use my computer less and less and less and less now, and that, that means less.
- SGScott Galloway
But, but that's the key point.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
And that is, yeah, it's more expensive than an iPhone, but it's less expensive than an iPhone and a laptop. And if this, and if this can obviate the need for two or reduce the need f- from both those things to one thing, then arguably it's a good value.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. I absolutely will not be replacing my computer. They'd h- I don't know what they could do. I just... It's fine. It's fine, and I use it so little now, um, that I find it interesting. I think if, if... It depends on the keyboard, but even that, it's, I use these devices now as a watching device much more so than... I've noticed that. I watch lots of videos on Threads, by the way, which just, uh, Pa- Zuckerberg correctly said it just passed Twitter, um, as a, as a social media platform. I watch a lot of videos on this thing, and, and I watch television. I, you know, I watched a lot of Furious on my iPhone, which was interesting, when I was traveling. So I don't know. It'll, it'll be interesting to see. I'm gonna get it. You're gonna get it. Uh-
- SGScott Galloway
100%
- KSKara Swisher
... you'll probably get six. You'll probably get six of them. I'll just get one.
- SGScott Galloway
But, uh, I think the, [chuckles] the most important size of anything, [chuckles] uh, uh, fill, fill in the blank or bad joke, bad joke here, is the screen in terms of economic value. Tens of billions of dollars and influence have linked from a 90-foot screen known as a movie theater to the television, and then the television linked-
- KSKara Swisher
Absolutely
- SGScott Galloway
... to the PC.
- KSKara Swisher
Yep.
- SGScott Galloway
And that's linked to the, to the phone.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
I mean, just the... We're talking about trillions of dollars of market capitalization has flowed down to smaller screens, and where this is, is what they've basically said is there's a big market in between the space between your computer screen and your iPhone. Because I am, a- and again, I, I'm not the market, I now late at night have some trouble reading emails on my phone. And one of the reasons I'm gonna buy this is I like the idea of just having a bigger inter- a slightly bigger interface, but I also don't wanna pull out my laptop. I find I'm using my laptop less and less.
- 58:35 – 1:10:42
9/11 Reflections
- KSKara Swisher
[whooshing] Okay, Scott, we're gonna do something a little different. This episode is airing on the 25th anniversary of 9/11, and we wanted to look back on that day. Take it away.
- SGScott Galloway
Some people earn their way into history, whether it's storming the beaches at Omaha, or refusing to give up a bus seat, or we talked about Gloria Steinem and Dolly Parton through just sheer force of character or talent. Mine was serendipity around 9/11. I was living in-- I had just moved to New York, and my ex, who I was still, uh, I'm, I'm still good friends with, called me and said, "Can you come over?" And she had an apartment that overlooked downtown and had this unbelievable deck. And she said, "Can you come over? The, the World Trade Center's on fire." And I said, "Sure." So I bombed over there, and my friend Greg Shove, close friend, came with me, and we were over there, and it, it was, the Wall-- the World Trade Center was on fire. And then, and we saw this go down, we saw a plane flying low and then disappear behind one of the, the second tower, and then it explosion out the other end. And at that moment, it took about 10 seconds to figure out, "Oh, fuck. We're under attack. This is terrorism." And each of the three of us had different reactions, and Sixth Avenue became a sea of people just coming up from a... The, one of the, the largest maritime, uh, rescue was not Dunkirk, it was actually ferries, uh, lifted or s- or, uh, sequestered or, or got s- 500,000 people from Lower Manhattan, rescued them Uh, by water. And I remember the radio, a guy came on the radio and said, "There's 17 planes unaccounted for," and immediately you thought, "Are we in one of the tall buildings that might be targeted next?" And some of the things I noticed about the city during those three days was it was silent. No one was honking their ho- horn. It just went eerily quiet, except you would on a regular basis see someone on their phone sobbing that they had just received bad news. There was also a total absence... They immediately fired up and called in all nurses and emergency room doctors thinking they'd have a flood of people into the hospitals. They didn't. You were either killed or survived. And, uh, one of the, uh, more disturbing things was I walked over to Washington Square Park, where they were having a memorial, and a bunch of people who were searching for missing people were walking around passing out flyers like a lost pet. And you'd see all these people. There'd be huge groups of people trying to be supportive of their friend, passing out flyers, and someone would come up to you and give you a flyer with a picture of their son. I remember one was a, uh, waiter from Windows of the World in his, his waiter uniform, and you knew that this person was gone, and yet you-- these people were in this park passing out these flyers for days, and it was just so, uh, uh, so rattling. Per your comments, 3,000 people dead. Uh, more people have died because of, as you pointed out, some of the airborne illnesses. But a couple of other things worth, uh, noting or the lessons I take from it on its 25th, uh, year anniversary, just coming back to just how incredibly stupid our invented war against an ally, Canada is. Thirty-eight planes, the airspace for the first time ever in America was closed, and planes were diverted to Canada, and overnight, about 7,000 people found themselves in Gander, Canada, nearly doubling the population. They took them into their houses. They got additional prescription d- drugs. They [chuckles] figured out dry cleaning. They did their laundry. They figured out childcare, right? That's what Canadians did for us, and then the story, uh, trying to bring it back to the midterms that really moved me was, um, the story of Flight 93.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
And remember those phones they had in the back of seats? I think it was, like, GTE.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
You could actually call the ground.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, or you'd have to go stand near the, the top front.
- SGScott Galloway
Or so, yeah, they had phones. And so the, the cockpit had been seized, and they called, and in most previous hijackings, the passengers survive. They try to take them to Havana, or they land, or they make demands. The, the standard operating procedure was, uh, to not do anything, and when they called, they, they-- the Twin Towers had already been hit, and it was obvious. And they have recordings of a couple of the passengers who recognize, "Okay, this is a suicide mission." And there's this, this one very dramatic moment where the guy says, "Okay, let's roll." And they were-- they basically filled up, uh, what they think was a meal cart and crashed into the cockpit, and, uh, the terrorists, uh, lost control of the plane or decided rather than giving back control of the plane to crash it into the field, and they're technically considered kind of the first heroes of 9/11. And just bringing it back to the midterms, you know, you're faced with this question of, all right, we can hope that things work out, or we can try and take, retake control of the cockpit, meaning it's probably not gonna work out. And you know how they decided?
- KSKara Swisher
Mm. Vote.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, they voted.
- KSKara Swisher
They voted. Yep, I remember.
- SGScott Galloway
So where, where I go is it just-- whenever I think about that, I think about how blessed and under- blessed we are that we get to vote and how much we-
- KSKara Swisher
Absolutely
- SGScott Galloway
... under appreciate-
- KSKara Swisher
Absolutely
- SGScott Galloway
... just what a powerful construct it is.
- KSKara Swisher
Right. I agree. That's a very beautiful way of thinking about it.
- SGScott Galloway
Uh, anyways, I, so the, a long, it was long-winded way of... I think I would like to see a law. I've been thinking a lot about the midterms. I don't think anyone should get, [chuckles] uh, uh, or they should have reduced benefits. I don't think anyone should have a social media account if they don't vote. There are certain countries where you have to vote, and I think especially, and I think this infects the left as much, if not more, than the right. The delta between the amount of bitching on social media and into a mic relative to actual actions, that delta is growing broader and broader, and one simple way to somewhat narrow that delta is, for God's sakes, vote.
- KSKara Swisher
Yep, I agree. You know, I- I'll, I'll very quickly, in fact, I was not in New York at the time, but I was headed to New York. I was headed to DC and then New York. I was driving around the country with my ex-wife, Megan. We just rented a, a van and, uh, a Volkswagen van, and we're driving around with our dogs, um, just to see the country. We thought it would be cool. I was, uh, uh, I was pregnant, and I didn't know it, um, because I had tried, uh, and, you know, it usually takes a few times, but I got pregnant right away. And, uh, I slept a lot in the back of the van, and I should have known, known that that was the reason. And, uh, we stopped in Mississippi at Jim Barksdale's family. He's a wonderful, speaking of wonderful tech people, Jim Barksdale is the top-
- SGScott Galloway
CEO of AT&T and then Netscape
- KSKara Swisher
... amazing, kind, wonderful person. But, uh, he, uh, we were there at their, at their house, um, and, uh, his wife opened the door. We were leaving that morning, and she opened the door, and she goes, "Oh, you're not leaving," you know, in a big Southern accent. And I said, "Oh, I know you love us, but, uh, uh, we're leaving." [chuckles] And she's like, "You're not going anywhere." And we ended up, uh, you know, found out what was happening. It was shocking. And we ended up watching the entire thing, including the, the second building falling, um, in a In this redneck bar in Mississippi, and everybody was, was just devastated. There was no screaming, no yelling, no fighting, just total, uh, grief and shock, I think, that we could-- that this could happen. And then we ended up driving around the country. We had to drive back to California after we went to Washington, and, uh, we, um, it was... Everything was silent in the country. We drove across country.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah.
- KSKara Swisher
I mean, not just New York, everywhere. Everybody was quiet. And there were some banners, like, around, you know, at highway overpasses, like, beautiful banners about, you know, remember the dead and stuff like that. But I've never... The, the entire country was in a stupor, and, um, it just was... I, I, to this day, it makes me so sad. It was such a formative experience. At the same time, I was pregnant, you know, and I ended up having Louie, you know, nine months later. Um, but, uh, it, I think we all have to keep everything in mind of all the bravery that went and happened. And this-- I was thinking today, you know, the guy, the duct tape guy we didn't talk, the guy that got duct taped. And at first, for a minute, I thought it was you. Um, who got-
- SGScott Galloway
[laughs]
- KSKara Swisher
... duct taped into the seat for being racist and screaming and biting people. That's why his forehead was duct taped.
- SGScott Galloway
Come on. I'm, I'm-- When I, when I have a few cocktails on a plane, I become incredibly nice.
- KSKara Swisher
Yes, I get that. I'm teasing. I'm-- I didn't think it was you at all. You'd never do something like that. Um, uh, a-a-and I thought, "That fucker." Like, I was like, I don't know why. I'm like, I'm so sick of these angry, uh, privileged people when all these people sacrificed a lot. And, look, every country has had its crisises and tragedies, by the way. We're not the only ones, and it was brought home to us because we live in a c- in a country that's far away from others, so we don't experience that kind of devastation. But it makes you think of what's happening in, in Kyiv, and it makes you think what's happening, you know, all across the world. And we have-- This is-- It's enough with the duct tape fucking guy. We're, we're done with these people, and voters have to step up. And, you know, it's a privilege to live in this country, and that was a real wake-up call. And I thought maybe we'll be a little better, and we have not gotten a little better. And, uh, we have to stop handing power over to people that have no care for anything but themselves, like the tech companies, like, you know, at this moment, it happens to be the Trump administration, any administration that is just in it for themselves. Um, and, and that's... I have to say, 9/11 was a great, could've been a great unifying moment, and it, it wasn't, right? It-
- SGScott Galloway
You know, the, uh... See, I would argue it was the last time we were unified.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, I guess. I guess. But it, it should've had resonance, and we should reflect on that, on how we felt that day-
- SGScott Galloway
Mm-hmm
Episode duration: 1:10:44
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