PivotTrump’s Movie Tariff Threat Puts Hollywood on Edge | Pivot
EVERY SPOKEN WORD
125 min read · 24,863 words- 0:00 – 0:52
Intro
- KSKara Swisher
This was, like, deeply stupid.
- SGScott Galloway
I mean, he's literally going industry by industry, and at a minimum, he's putting it into a state of paralysis. (instrumental music)
- KSKara Swisher
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
So, I've just returned from my grand tour of California.
- SGScott Galloway
Oh, you're back already?
- KSKara Swisher
As you know. I'm back. I took a red eye last night just to get home for you, so I could be in the studio and look (imitates yawn) nice.
- SGScott Galloway
You're traveling too much. That worries me. Um...
- KSKara Swisher
No, I'm well.
- SGScott Galloway
And you, you received a Library Laureate Award, and you were on...
- KSKara Swisher
Yes, author (imitates talk over each other) .
- SGScott Galloway
... Bill Maher. Which do you wanna talk about first?
- KSKara Swisher
Oh, so many things. I saw Robert Reich. I, I, I did something for KQED for public, uh, media, which was, I was interviewed by PBS people, and right when, in the middle of my interview, Trump put out his executive order trying to cut funding for PBS and NPR. That was interesting. Um, I
- 0:52 – 6:12
Kara on Bill Maher
- KSKara Swisher
then flew to Los Angeles and did Bill Maher, which was really fun, which was, which was interesting. And, uh, I gave you a shout-out. Did you hear me give you a shout-out?
- SGScott Galloway
No, but a bunch of people texted me that...
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
... I, you name-checked me. And I watched the episode.
- KSKara Swisher
Uh-huh.
- SGScott Galloway
I thought you were really good. I also...
- KSKara Swisher
Thank you.
- SGScott Galloway
I thought, uh, Speaker McCarthy was quite good, and I thought Bill did a really good job of m- kind of...
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, except for the woke woman thing at the end. But, um, but let me, let's, let's listen to me. T-
- SGScott Galloway
The woke woman thing at the end? You mean the fact that...
- KSKara Swisher
Oh, I don't wanna talk about it. I made a face and everybody noticed. Um, but let's, uh...
- SGScott Galloway
Huh. Okay.
- KSKara Swisher
Let's... He, this... It was stupid. He keeps going on about this woman on Love is Blind. He's obsessed with her 'cause she rejected the man. Um, he just didn't like him. So, let's listen to me calling you out. But it's the idea that you're the madman theory, this idea that he's playing, I don't know, the 4D chess thing.
- SGScott Galloway
Mm-hmm.
- KSKara Swisher
I mean, as Scott Galloway on our podcast said, it's like, it's, he's not playing 4D chess. He's eating the chess pieces and he, and he's, he's...
- SGScott Galloway
(laughs)
- KSKara Swisher
Which is a good joke. I have to attribute it to Scott. But, I, uh, there's no point in being chaotic 'cause businesses can't plan. They don't know what to do next. Even Kevin McCarthy did enjoy that one, eating the chess pieces.
- SGScott Galloway
Thank you for that. I appreciate that. That was ni-
- KSKara Swisher
No problem. It was... You got a good laugh. And then I went back...
- SGScott Galloway
I nearly texted you. The most important...
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, I know.
- SGScott Galloway
The most important thing is you look good.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. Thank you. I know you said that. That was the, like... (laughs) What about what I said? What about the substance of what I said? Not how I look, see?
- SGScott Galloway
Uh, I, I thought you, you thread the needle really well. Uh, w- you're able to push back, but also come across as, like, goodwill. You're not trying to make the other person look stupid. You're just...
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
... saying exactly what you think, but you're not doing it in a...
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
And th- that's a skill. I don't have that skill. I get angry and combative.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
And...
- 6:12 – 14:28
Trump on Meet the Press
- KSKara Swisher
Um...... first of all, is the pres- all presidents swear an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution. They say it right when they get sworn in. But Donald Trump was rethinking that promise on Meet the Press this weekend, it was a very wide-ranging interview with Kristen Welker. Uh, let's listen.
- NANarrator
Even given those numbers that you're talking about, don't you need to uphold the Constitution of the United States as president?
- NANarrator
I don't know. Uh, I have to respond by saying, again, I have brilliant lawyers that work for me.
- KSKara Swisher
I don't know what he was saying. It came during a conversation about deportations. I don't know if he was referring to the deportations or the Constitution, it wasn't clear to me, actually. Also notable from the interview, the president continued to blame former President Biden for the bad parts of the economy, and of course he took credit for the good parts. Uh, he did not rule out the use of military force to take Greenland again, said he would add, uh, and self-fund a ballroom to the White House. I'm terrified of the gold situation. And he, of course, let us know that, quote, "Everything's okay," unquote. Um, some other fun things the president has done recently includes posting "Rebuild and Open Alcatraz" on Truth Social, and the president posted an AI image of himself as pope in the official White House account, reposted again on Instagram and X. Uh, many Catholics, including ... and they made some statements, uh, Catholic- Catholic bishop, uh, ba- bishops and cardinals made comments. Um, I, I think it, uh, uh, he's had quite a week. Any thoughts on any of these things?
- SGScott Galloway
Well, I sort of go to I'm sort of done with, okay, this is a guy who's interested or acknowledges that he's quite likely has no fidelity to the Constitution, that he might try to run for a third term, that he's using to we- uh, use military force against our allies, that he doesn't stand on his own two feet, and he finds ... he takes responsibility for deporting US citizens to what are effectively black sites and then claims that, uh, he can't get them back. So a lack of accountability, lack of-
- KSKara Swisher
But then says he can. He also said he could, he wanted to .
- SGScott Galloway
Well, but every time he's faced with a hard question like-
- KSKara Swisher
Uh-huh.
- SGScott Galloway
... "Will you uphold the Constitution?" he says, "Well, uh, you need to talk to the lawyers."
- KSKara Swisher
Right.
- SGScott Galloway
It's just ... And I'm, I'm sort of at the point now where I'm no longer ... Um, we know this is a person who's a stain on the American experience. The, the thing that I find so fascinating and we're not focused enough on in terms of being this force that's supposedly pushing back is that, uh, Democrats are less popular than the president. And I, I, I think the hard conversation we need to have is, "Okay, we all agree he's awful and a threat to America and has taken the global economy down. And yet, our leadership is so feckless, neutered, and ineffective they can't push back on it." And so what I would like to see-
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
... is, um, Leader Jeffries or Senator Bennet or someone who's, you know ... uh, Senators Klobuchar, I'd like to see them draft legislation that says, "If you're a nation and you're hosting black sites and US citizens have been found to be, uh, incarcerated in those black sites and you haven't returned them immediately and you're cooperating with this, uh, we are going to economically punish you severely. If you're a nation that is engaging in fraud around cryptocurrency or investing in schemes that ultimately hurt consumers around the world, we may, um, levy the same economic damage on you." That bill would not pass, but I think we need to send a flare across the bow that if we take back the House, this is coming. Uh, so, uh, enough already, like, what are we gonna do about it? I'm, I'm kinda sick of reporting-
- KSKara Swisher
Well-
- SGScott Galloway
... about how outrageous the president is.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
I wanna see the Democrats do something.
- KSKara Swisher
Some people are, individually, like Rahm Emanuel. There's a bunch that are sort of saying to get some muscle in this. It's just, it's not a coordinated effort, doesn't feel like to me.
- SGScott Galloway
Well, and also, shouldn't there, shouldn't there essentially be l- legislation or a lawsuit filed that says the statute of limitations on some of the crimes I believe are being committed are longer than three years and nine months? And the justice system, similar to America, its memory is long and its reach is far. And for those of you Republicans who think that ... or members of the administration or proxies of the administration who believe that you can commit securities fraud or, uh, uh, wrongful imprisonment, whatever you wanna call this, uh, i- i- i- God help you when there's an actual DOJ-
- KSKara Swisher
Right.
- SGScott Galloway
Because I, I-
- KSKara Swisher
Right.
- SGScott Galloway
You know what? I, I think at some point, the Democratic Party needs to be the party not fucking around.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. Right.
- SGScott Galloway
And I think we're just being run over. (laughs)
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
And it's not ... Our popularity is lower than an I- insurrectionist right now.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
Uh, not because we don't have the right ideas-
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- 14:28 – 21:00
Mark Zuckerberg Rawdogging Life
- KSKara Swisher
I regret to inform you, something-
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah.
- KSKara Swisher
... distracting, that Mark Zuckerberg is raw-dogging life. The Meta CEO went on the Theo Von podcast and said he drinks coffee recreationally, which was strange enough, and that the D.A.R.E. program really worked for him. Um, we're, we're gonna leave all the awkward in for this one. Let's listen to the whole clip. It's so strange.
- NANarrator
You drink coffee, man, or no?
- NANarrator
Nah.
- NANarrator
Really?
- NANarrator
Yeah.
- NANarrator
I mean, you've- you've had it.
- NANarrator
I have. Um, sometimes on vacation, I'll drink it recreationally. It's like every once in a while.
- NANarrator
(laughs) Just like a... Yeah, just like a- like a celebration.
- NANarrator
Yeah, yeah, no. (laughs) It's-
- NANarrator
Really?
- NANarrator
Yeah, no. I- I just, like, hate anything that messes with... Uh, like I don't- I don't like any kind of chemicals or anything like that.
- NANarrator
Oh, really? So you like to keep everything the equilibrium?
- NANarrator
Yeah, my sister gives me such a hard time about this. She's like, "You're just sitting there raw-dogging reality."
- NANarrator
Wow.
- NANarrator
(laughs)
- KSKara Swisher
Oh my God, does he know what raw-dogging is? I feel like he doesn't.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, I mean, again, that-
- KSKara Swisher
I-
- SGScott Galloway
... was... It's clear he's not- he's pretty awkward, but what people missed was that, and this is terrible, is he's-
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
... claiming that these new agents he's gonna put forward, these AI agents-
- KSKara Swisher
Yes.
- SGScott Galloway
... are gonna solve loneliness.
- KSKara Swisher
Yes.
- SGScott Galloway
And he said-
- KSKara Swisher
I'm still stuck on raw-dogging, that he doesn't know the meaning of it. But yes, this is the most important thing was that, the three friends, that people have three friends and therefore we're gonna replace them by, um-
- SGScott Galloway
With-
- KSKara Swisher
... with AI bots, essentially.
- 21:00 – 28:34
Warren Buffett Steps Down
- KSKara Swisher
Scott, we're back. Warren Buffett, the 94-year-old Oracle of Omaha is stepping down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway after 60 years at the helm. The surprise announcement shocked many shareholders at the company's annual meeting over the weekend. Uh, he's been aging and I think he always knows himself well. Buffett named Greg Abel, Berkshire Hathaway's vice president of non-insurance operations his successor, but he also said he'll hang around in a supporting role and plans to remain chairman. In addition to the big news, Buffett weighed on what's happening with tariffs, saying trade should not be a weapon. He explained how trade can be misused. Let's listen.
- NANarrator
Trade can be an act of war, and, uh, and I think it's led to bad things. Just the attitudes it's brought out, uh, in the United States. I mean, we should be looking to trade with the rest of the world and we should do what we do best and they should do what they do best.
- KSKara Swisher
You know, it just so sounds to me he also had a lot of stuff about kindness that was lovely. Um, as when Wall Street Journal, as The Wall Street Journal put it, "There's only one Warren Buffett and there will never be another." Um, I'm gonna start talking about as long as he... I h- I was lucky enough to talk to him many times and I'm hoping maybe one or two more times. Uh, I one time called him because he was a very... I called Berkshire Hathaway 'cause they, he wasn't doing any internet investing at the beginning and I wanted to know why when I was working at The Journal. And I called and I got the secretary and she said, um, and I thought, I, I, she said, "Can you hold please?" I said, "I have a question for Mr. Buffett." Uh, you know, and I assumed I was gonna get, uh, to the secret-, to the PR person. Phone clicks in and it's Warren Buffett. He's like, "Hi." (laughs) And I was like, "Hi." Uh, and he, we talked about the internet and why he didn't invest in it. He later invested and made a spectacular investment in Apple. Uh, but, um, it was really interesting and I ended up having dinner with him 'cause I have a friend who's on the board. And just as, he's really a sh- so sharp, so interesting, so lovely. Um, I met Greg Abel who also seemed terrific. Uh, obviously Charlie Munger who recently died, uh, another great. All the people around him are great. I don't know what else do you... He just surrounds himself with really high quality, common sense people. Um, and a lot of what he said in this last appearance was just common sense about kindness, about, about trade. Whatever he says seems so plainspoken. Um, you know, not everything he's done has been perfect, that's for sure, but I just find this to be the kind of person you want to be leaders of, leaders in society and it just so happens this guy happens to be an investor. Any thoughts from you?
- SGScott Galloway
Well, he revolutionized the world of investing in terms of buy and hold and buying good companies. And, uh, first off, uh, I think that meeting registered what is probably the greatest promotion in history to go from VP of non-insurance operations to CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (laughs) . I mean, congratulations to Greg. Uh-
- KSKara Swisher
Well, he was, he was just so... I, this office, which is the simplest office you're ever gonna see, I, I was surprised when I went there. It, it, there's not many people there and that was a big role actually, you know?
- SGScott Galloway
Oh, he's been named as the heir. I'm, I'm just saying from a title standpoint.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
I'm just saying (laughs) .
- KSKara Swisher
No, I know. Yeah, they just don't have titles.
- SGScott Galloway
That's a pretty big shift in title.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
That's a much cooler, that's a much cooler rap at a conference or at a bar.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
Uh, "Well, I'm VP of non-insurance operations." "Well, I'm CEO of Berkshire Hathaway." Those get entirely different responses.
- KSKara Swisher
(laughs) Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
Anyways, look, uh, he, uh, the part of the, the part of his speech which I watched which I thought was most powerful and which is totally counter to the current administration and quite frankly what infects-
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
... America a little bit is this notion that the global economy is a win/lose.And if you look at our economy since World War II, we've eight X'd our GDP. We have, we control, we control, basically have the most dominant media companies. Seven of the 10 most valuable companies in the world are American. We have the best universities. Our household, average household income has hit almost $80,000 which has vastly outpaced Asian or European countries. And this notion somehow that we've been taken advantage of, and if we increase our prosperity, it has to come at the cost of another nation, or if another nation's prosperity is going up, it comes at our cost, is just such lame, tired... Uh, the, the most, the most visionary act in my opinion of the last 100 years, was America said, "Okay, when we tried to punish Germany after World War I, it didn't work well." Because when people are doing really poorly abroad, to believe that you can protect your, your shores and your kids from that anger, is just naive. You can't. And when people are much more prosperous, they're less likely, A, they wanna buy your shit. They wanna buy your Netflix and they wanna buy your Ford trucks, and they're less likely to raise disaffected youth who think, "You know what? I would like to declare war on that country because I think their extraordinary advantage has come at my cost." So when you wanna build prosperity across the oceans, and the problem, uh, with this zero sum thinking that literally President Trump, uh, defines, is this notion somehow that we don't want other nations to do really well, that it comes at our, it comes at our cost. When other nations prosper, it's generally a proxy for how well we're doing, and we have through global trade, through IP, through our universities, when other nations do well, we do really well. And, and he, he just, he just laid this out. He wasn't political. He didn't use the presidents. He didn't invoke the president's name. But the zero sum... Gay marriage didn't come at the cost of heteronormative marriage. There's a very dangerous trope in the manosphere that the ascent of women has come at the cost of men. It has not. Men are struggling for a variety of reasons, but as women thrive, that doesn't mean it's a zero sum game and we start to do worse. You, you want, you want the world to prosper. You want your business-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, and that's the Buffett way.
- SGScott Galloway
You want nations you trade with... And if you look at... It's just so obvious since 1945, if you had to pick one nation that has done really well, a lot of people would say the ascent over the last 20 or 30 years of China is probably number one. And by the way, that's been amazing for them and amazing for us. Their ascent has resulted in incredible prosperity for Americans. Have we outsourced certain jobs and not thought about the people who were left behind? Absolutely. Is there asymmetry of trade? But the fact that we're able to enjoy such materially wealthy or rich lives is in large part 'cause the Chinese have ascended. Also, when countries ascend, they're really inclined not to declare war on you or their neighbors-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
... when they're prospering.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
Whenever I go to Mykonos or Ibiza, I have noticed a lot of young kids from the Gulf are dominating, um, these really expensive restaurants. And you know what? It's a wonderful thing because they think, "You know what? This whole prosperity thing, this whole Western notion of capitalism is really good for us, and so we're less likely to be radicalized. We're less likely to be angry." And he pointed that out so simply and so eloquently that we have to exit this zero sum thinking as, as embodied by the Trump administration right now.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. I thought he's just... You know what? Hats off to Warren Buffett.
- SGScott Galloway
Absolutely.
- KSKara Swisher
He's just a real classy guy. Terrific guy. Anyway, uh, we're gonna move on, but Warren, good job. And I... Mostly delightful dinner. One of the most delightful dinners I had with well, really well-known people. He also ate much of my meal. I couldn't believe how much that man put away and he's, and he's still walking around. Steak, some bloomin' some onion thing. A bunch of potatoes. Anyway, uh, it was a completely enjoyable meal. Um, and I was lucky. I was privileged to have dinner with him. Anyway, um, couple of quick things.
- 28:34 – 33:38
Apple and Amazon Earnings
- KSKara Swisher
Apple and Amazon reported earnings late last week. It was after we had talked. Um, both companies had strong quarters. Apple had $95 billion in revenue and nearly $25 billion in profit. Wow, what a juggernaut. iPhone sales were up too, hitting almost 47 billion. Uh, Amazon had 156 billion in revenue and profit was 17 billion, up 64%, though the cloud business is trailing Microsoft's. But tariffs remain a cause for concern for these companies who, uh, m- more obvious problems for these two companies than say a Google or a Meta. Tim Cook said tariff could cost Apple $900 million this quarter, even with the company moving to manufacture most iPhones in India. They're trying to do that. Amazon noted tariffs and trade policies and recessionary fears are among the range of factors that could make guidance subject to change. Uh, they were just signaling it. Um, just for people who don't know, Jeff Bezos planned to sell up to 25 million shares in the company over the next year. Probably pretty typical of these sales that happen. This is a big chunk. Um, very briefly, 'cause I wanna get to these Trump tariffs on Hollywood really quickly, but thoughts on the, on the results for those two?
- SGScott Galloway
Uh, I thought Amazon had a great quarter. I couldn't get over this, this Kuiper thing. I think that's a big deal.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
Amazon's probably most vulnerable to the tariffs 'cause two-thirds of-
- KSKara Swisher
Right.
- SGScott Galloway
... their business is in the US and obviously a lot of their products will be subject to the tariffs. But, uh, uh, you know, these companies are just so well, you know, they're so well-run.
- KSKara Swisher
So well-run.
- SGScott Galloway
AWS grew 17% year on year. North American retail s- sales grew 8%, which is the slowest since the pandemic, but it's still vastly outpacing any other retailer, other big retailers.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
And the stock fell, but, uh, uh, you know, right now, I think the, from the analyst community, they look at Amazon as a cloud company with a retail division. So they're really focused-
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
... on AWS. And, uh, I, I think the most exciting thing about Amazon right now is this, is this Kuiper, uh-
- KSKara Swisher
Kuiper. And by the way, it is Kuiper.
- SGScott Galloway
... is, is it competitor.
- KSKara Swisher
I got called by the Amazon people. I, I-
- SGScott Galloway
Oh, good.
- KSKara Swisher
... completely... It wasn't Cooper.
- SGScott Galloway
Kuiper. Thank you.
- KSKara Swisher
It's Kuiper. You were right. You were correct. It's Kuiper, not-... Cooper. Um, it's after, uh, it's after some astronomer or something like that. (laughs) I forget. I g- I should go look. Um, but... No, we got it wrong. I got it wrong. Um, but, uh, but yeah. I thought they were... I think they're just still signaling we don't know, especially Amazon and its retail division. Obviously, Apple's going through all kinds of changes 'cause of where they have to make things and pressures from the Trump administration and, you know, just the cost. So, w- w- w- what's in Apple's favor, people are used to paying high prices for Apple products. So, um, this is not, this is a little more price-resistant. It's not like they're, they're dealing with, um, people that can't pay the extra kinda stuff. But we'll see.
- SGScott Galloway
No, I was just gonna say, I thought Apple had the weakest of all of them. Uh, their sales were-
- KSKara Swisher
Of all-
- SGScott Galloway
... up 5%, which beat expectations, but I-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
I believe a lot of that was front-loading.
- KSKara Swisher
Oh, interesting.
- SGScott Galloway
And that was consumers thinking, "All right-"
- KSKara Swisher
How many guesses?
- SGScott Galloway
"... I keep seeing rumors of the phone going to $2,300 with-"
- KSKara Swisher
Oh.
- SGScott Galloway
"... with tariffs-"
- 33:38 – 43:21
Trump’s Hollywood Tariffs
- KSKara Swisher
tariff, other tariff updates. Trump says he... This one came out of nowhere yesterday. Says he's imposing 100% tariff on movies. This is not a distraction. This is strange. On movies made overseas, though it's unclear how that will work. By the way, we have a trade surplus when it comes to movies, just so you, be clear. Netflix shares dropped 3% at the opening bells. Disney, Warner, uh, Warner Brothers, and Paramount were also down. Uh, this one, I just don't, uh, get. And I'll get, uh, a couple more tariff things, but let me go through them, and then we can comment on them. Uh, Temu, the Chinese e-commerce, uh, platform has stopped, uh, shipping products from China directly to the US. And the executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, who knows from things, was on Bloomberg the other day, breaking down what it means, the chaos means for workers and, and more and the reverberations. Let's listen.
- NANarrator
The trucker hauling four or five containers today, next week, she probably hauls two or three. The dock workers are no longer gonna see overtime and double shifts. They're gonna probably work less than a traditional workweek, starting right off the bat.
- NANarrator
That's-
- NANarrator
Ev- every four containers mean a job. So, when we start dialing this back, it's less job opportunities.
- NANarrator
And what happens if we get a deal?
- NANarrator
If we get a deal, it's gonna take about a month. Let me walk you through that real quick. About two weeks to get the ships repositioned around these major ports, from Qingdao to Shanghai to Xiamen, load up all those containers, and then another two weeks to steam across the Pacific to get to us.
- KSKara Swisher
I mean, this guy's smart. He's got a lot of stats. He sees... You know, you can see it in real time. And then, of course, the reverberation just doesn't go to dock workers, then it's truckers, then it's... That, that just goes da, da, da, da throughout the economy. Um, uh, the tariffs movie thing just... I, I don't even... How are you gonna do... Most of Mission Impossible is coming up, by the way. I'm so excited. Uh, Final Reckoning was made abroad. A lot of people, there's a lot of breaks in, uh, in England, they do a lot of stuff. There's a l- certain in Canada, um, and, and everything else, to, to save cost. But how do you... There's... Movies aren't things either. And, and again, we have a trade surplus when it comes to, to movies going abroad. They also have big customers across the globe. That's another thing. A lot of their business is not just, uh, here in this country. It's, it's, they're global businesses. Um, this one was just nuts, as far as I can tell. I just, I, I... Thoughts? Any thoughts?
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah. It's, it's stupidity squared, more stupidity. We're a net exporter. One of the biggest advantages we have as a country is that we're basically running a 24 by 7 commercial on brand America called Baywatch or The Fantastic Four. These movies generally reflect an aspirational view of America, and the whole world consumes our media. And the notion that, uh, I... Uh, it's easy how this plays out. It's... This exact same thing that happened with Apple is gonna happen with Netflix. Someone is gonna go, "Okay. If we impose 100% tariff on their movies coming in," which may be e- w- even more difficult to surmise than looking at automobile...... manufacturing, where some parts go back and forth across the border a half a dozen or a dozen time. This will be even more difficult, because if you have an American Warner Brothers film, with Warner Brothers ... with American actors, American gaffers, but it's being filmed in Prague for tax credits. Like, what? Okay. Tell me how we tariff that.
- KSKara Swisher
What do you tariff? The tickets? What do you t- ticket sales?
- SGScott Galloway
I, I ...
- KSKara Swisher
What do you tariff?
- SGScott Galloway
The cost, the cost of production? I don't know. These are all really good questions.
- KSKara Swisher
Honestly.
- SGScott Galloway
And then when Netflix, who consumers love almost as much as Apple-
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
... start going, "Let me get this," I'm gonna have to pay more at the box office and, and, uh-
- KSKara Swisher
For production. They do things ac- across the globe, for people who don't know who Netflix is.
- SGScott Galloway
He's gonna send production and media businesses into a flurry, where they have to pause, stop, think through, "What is going on here?" And then he will blink, and then he will realize that when every European nation says, "Fine. If you want us to put 100% tariff on all of the media coming into Europe from the US," you wanna see LA really take a dive? I mean, LA has basically lost most of its production businesses as is.
- KSKara Swisher
It hasn't 20, down 26%. It definitely is. It's the cost. It's everything else. It's still very big there, but it's, it's much less than it was.
- SGScott Galloway
But if you wanna see ... I mean, he's literally going industry by industry, and at a minimum, he's putting it into a state of paralysis.
- KSKara Swisher
Correct. Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
And, uh, I, I've become pretty good friends with a guy who used to run Warner Brothers Europe.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
Basically, his job was to take Harry Potter and, you know, Batman, and come to Europe-
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
... and start just grabbing money, and to say t- to the biggest Polish streamer, "All right, I want $7 million for you to be able to run Batman," and then go to-
- KSKara Swisher
Oh, it's just so bad.
- SGScott Galloway
... the London theaters and say, "All right, I've got an idea for a Harry Potter play, and I, I need 14% royalties." We literally just suck money (laughs) -
- KSKara Swisher
You do. Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
... out of countries using our IP-
- 43:21 – 47:29
Elon’s New City
- KSKara Swisher
back. Elon Musk now has his own official company town after voters, um, in a small patch of South Texas overwhelmingly, most of them his employees, approved a ballot measure to establish the city of Starbase, uh, Mr. Potter ... Oh, I mean Elon Musk. The new city covers about one and a half square miles, is home to SpaceX headquarters. Nearly all the residents are Elon Musk employees, their family members, and the first city officials are current or former SpaceX staff. Starbase has been described as looking like the set of a science fiction movie, with rows of near-identical houses and a massive bronze bust of Elon Musk. I, I, I don't know what to say, but I'm gonna add that he's been on a bit of a media tour this week, trying to take victory laps of zero victories. He appeared on Fox News with Doge worker Edward, uh, Cor-... I think it's Corostine, uh, AKA Big Balls. I d- can't even believe we live in this timeline. He spoke to journalists about the White House and talked about sleeping in the Lincoln Bedroom, eating Haagen-Dazs, and also compared himself to Buddha, um, in another Fox News interview, this one with Lara Trump ... Oh God, the, ugh, oh God, the i- the insider insiderness here is so grotesque. Elon responded to the Nazi accusations and comparisons he's faced in recent months. Let's listen.
- NANarrator
I've not harmed anyone in my life. They've also called President Trump a Nazi, but he also is, uh, not a violent person, um, and in fact, has done a lot to prevent wars and stop wars, uh, which is the very opposite of being a Nazi, actually. (laughs)
- KSKara Swisher
Right. (laughs) He doesn't know history. Oh my God. How can we miss you if you won't go away, Elon? That's my feeling. It's- this is ridiculous. This is- uh, every bit of this. It's like, he's- he- he- uh, made a disaster of Doge. They are probably gonna cost us more money. He's hurt people's lives. You don't have to h- you've harmed people in your life. That's ridiculous. You don't have to kill people to harm them. Um, this- th- these- the- the way he's setting up these things show me he's not much of an intellectual in any way, and m- and not that he cares, but, um, just the, um ... I don't know what to say. This is just so ridiculous. We're in the most ridiculous timeline and he needs to pipe down and- and- and stop sucking up all the, uh, attention oxygen. I'd like to stop talking about him. Scott?
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, so, uh, w- we're not- we don't shy away from highlighting that he doesn't acquit himself well, but I (laughs) actually- I actually like the idea of new incorporated cities.
- KSKara Swisher
Oh, do you? That's ni-
- SGScott Galloway
Well, just because I- I- I ... If you look at it basically, the basic American dream, right? It's to meet somebody-
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
... uh, get a good job, and someday afford a house. And one of the things I like about these initiatives, including the one that those VCs were proposing in, you know, the Inland Empire or wherever it was-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, I thought that was interesting, too. I know it got a lot of pushback ............................
- SGScott Galloway
I like the idea of kind of a-
- KSKara Swisher
That one I liked.
- SGScott Galloway
... a free zone or a city where they could take manufactured homes and just build a shit ton of them without it being weaponized. I mean, essentially, one of the- one of the problems, uh, for this kind of NIMBYism is that housing permits have been taken out of the hands of bureaucrats and put into the hands of homeowners, who, once they own a home, decide there should be no more homes.
- KSKara Swisher
Mm-hmm.
- SGScott Galloway
So I actually like the idea. There's some flo-... so there's some developers in Florida-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, but this- this is a company town. That- that's different. What you're talking about is very different than a company town, which is what this is. This- I mean, the- the whole notion of company towns is such a- whether it's here or Ireland or wherever, the M- mines, it is- has a very negative connotations of a- like, one single person, um, controlling a town. I- I have no problem with town creation and I think that's a great... or housing creation. This is a little different, but go ahead.
- SGScott Galloway
Well, you know, there's- there's c-... like you said, there's company towns. I don't... Look, I- I don't like the- I don't like the man the town is focused around, but I- I like the idea of competition in cities and these things popping up and taking a different approach to how a city is run. He'll have capital. Hopefully he'll build housing for his employees. I don't- I don't have-... this is- this is like the-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
... least offensive thing he's done (laughs) along.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Well-
- SGScott Galloway
I'm okay with it.
- KSKara Swisher
... he's not a Nazi, Scott. He's not a Nazi. All right, one more quick break. We'll be back for Wins and Fails. Okay, Scott? Uh, some
- 47:29 – 59:54
Wins and Fails
- KSKara Swisher
wins and fails. Would you please go first?
- SGScott Galloway
So my win is, uh, Representative, uh, Talarico. I don't know if he's in the Texas House, but I saw his, uh- he did a speech. He's been fantastic on Texas schools. He- he's been talking a lot about vouchers. I hate vouchers. A lot of my, actually, wealthy friends really like vouchers and the idea of school choice and competition. I see vouchers as nothing more than a giveaway and another transfer of wealth from the middle class to the wealthy. And I think about, uh, the school my kids went to in Florida, which was a private school, a lovely school, and I don't doubt that some people would be able to afford to go there if we gave them vouchers, but essentially what happens is you lose, um, wealthy, dual-income parents in the public schools and all it is, i- i- as- uh, far as I can tell... not all it is, 70-80% of it ends up being essentially just a tax rate giveaway for the wealthy who are already in private schools, and now you're gonna subsidize- subsidize their tuition by $10,000 and take yet even more money out of the public school system. And not only that, skim off the most wealthiest parents who- it's not even just their money, it's their ability because of their wealth to be engaged in the quality of that school. And he also started talking about- he had this great, um, uh, session where he started questioning this law and how this law had, um, mistakenly referenced litter boxes in schools. Let's play the clip.
- NANarrator
Are you aware that Governor Abbott said, quote, "Kids go to school dressed up as cats with litter boxes in their classrooms"?
- SGScott Galloway
Sure.
- NANarrator
Are you also aware that when the governor was asked by the Dallas Morning News to name a single school where this happened, he couldn't, and PolitiFact called this a "pants-on-fire false claim started by online rumors"?
- SGScott Galloway
Okay. I mean, this guy, uh, he really brings, um... He's very forceful yet dignified. He's the Texas state representative. I really think this kid is a comer. He's 35, and he also, um... Uh, I mean, this is just so... It's so weird to, to go out there and to have, have the governor adopt this talking point that kids are dressing up as cats, and-
- KSKara Swisher
Oh, it's so ridiculous.
- SGScott Galloway
... this is not only an attack on public schools, but it's an attack, quite frankly, on the whole notion of transgender because they, they couch it-
- KSKara Swisher
(laughs)
- SGScott Galloway
... in the notion that kids are, are presenting themselves as all sorts of different things-
- KSKara Swisher
Oh, my God.
- SGScott Galloway
... and that public schools have gotten so woke and so weird that they're, that if you say you're presenting as a cat, they give you a litter box. Which, by the way, it's all a fucking lie. It's-
- KSKara Swisher
It's not.
- SGScott Galloway
It, it, it-
- KSKara Swisher
It's such a lie.
- SGScott Galloway
It, it- (laughs)
- KSKara Swisher
It's such a lie.
- SGScott Galloway
And this guy just-
- KSKara Swisher
It's like, the, the most that happens is, like, my son growled at someone, and they're like, "Oh, a lion. I'm scared." That's how it works, kids, in school. Uh, weird adults who think of this shit.
- SGScott Galloway
But this kid, this kid's a comer. So state Representative James Talarico-
- KSKara Swisher
All right. All right.
- SGScott Galloway
... I just thought he was so, uh, I don't know, dignified. I thought-
- KSKara Swisher
Dignified.
- SGScott Galloway
... "God, can that guy run for president?"
- KSKara Swisher
Okay, the other guy, "Uh, sure. Okay. Uh-huh."
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah. "I'm, I'm, I'm just gonna make up lies to give people fodder," and because we don't have a populous now 'cause of shitty K-12 that doesn't critically think-
- KSKara Swisher
(sighs)
- SGScott Galloway
... and because we have a media that will repeat any talking point, and the governor picks up this talking point-
- KSKara Swisher
Of course.
- SGScott Galloway
... and starts using this-
Episode duration: 59:54
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