Tim Walz is "Petty As Hell" After Kristi Noem Firing | Pivot
Kara Swisher (host), Scott Galloway (host), Tim Walz (guest), Scott Galloway (host), Kara Swisher (host), Tim Walz (guest), Kara Swisher (host), Kara Swisher (host)
In this episode of Pivot, featuring Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway, Tim Walz is "Petty As Hell" After Kristi Noem Firing | Pivot explores walz on ICE crackdown, corporate cowardice, and subscription-driven resistance strategy Recorded live at Minneapolis’ Pantages Theater to benefit the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, the episode opens with Gov. Tim Walz reacting to Kristi Noem’s firing and demanding federal and state accountability for alleged constitutional and human-rights violations tied to ICE operations in Minnesota.
Walz on ICE crackdown, corporate cowardice, and subscription-driven resistance strategy
Recorded live at Minneapolis’ Pantages Theater to benefit the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, the episode opens with Gov. Tim Walz reacting to Kristi Noem’s firing and demanding federal and state accountability for alleged constitutional and human-rights violations tied to ICE operations in Minnesota.
Walz argues community-led street-level organizing—not elected officials—was decisive in forcing federal pullback, and he urges investigations, potential indictments, and a rejection of “just following orders” defenses.
Swisher and Galloway then cover headlines: Target’s perceived failure to defend employees/customers, Anthropic’s clash with the Trump administration and Pentagon restrictions, Elon Musk’s market-manipulation lawsuit, Kansas invalidating trans IDs, and Minneapolis’ high OnlyFans spending as a lens on male loneliness.
Galloway closes with a data-heavy update on “Resist and Unsubscribe,” pitching subscription cancellations as a scalable economic strike to change CEO and White House incentives, citing traffic, conversion rates, and plans to focus campaigns (e.g., ChatGPT) and hire staff to sustain momentum.
Key Takeaways
Walz frames Noem’s removal as insufficient; accountability must continue.
He describes himself as “petty as hell” but argues the harm in Minnesota demands investigations and consequences—potentially indictments and imprisonment—while insisting the chain of responsibility leads back to Trump.
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Local, organic community action is portrayed as the primary lever against federal overreach.
Walz credits “people on the streets,” mutual-aid networks, and parents protecting schools for changing outcomes, advising leaders elsewhere to support (not supplant) grassroots coordination and be prepared for rapid response.
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Democrats’ credibility depends on delivering tangible improvements, not “strongly worded letters.”
Walz contrasts norm-bound Democratic behavior with Republicans’ willingness to break institutions, arguing Democrats should be willing to “break all the norms” to pass priorities like universal healthcare and middle-class strengthening.
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Target’s CEO missed a rare moment to convert values into shareholder advantage.
Swisher and Galloway argue Target’s bland messaging (“North Star” talking points) squandered the chance to defend employees and win loyalty, with Galloway framing it as “spine, not spin” and a major market opportunity.
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The safest way for CEOs to resist is collective action, not solo defiance.
Galloway suggests individual firms fear retaliation (government as major customer/regulator), so what’s needed is a coordinated coalition of dozens of major CEOs issuing clear constitutional and stakeholder-based red lines.
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Musk exemplifies how extreme wealth can dilute deterrence for market manipulation.
Galloway notes alleged SEC-definition behavior (tweet-driven price impacts) and argues civil fines aren’t meaningful at billionaire scale, proposing penalties pegged to wealth or market cap to restore accountability.
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Democrats should defend trans civil rights while avoiding culture-war agenda capture.
In discussing Kansas invalidating trans IDs and enabling bathroom lawsuits, the hosts agree it’s cruel persecution; Galloway argues it should be treated as settled dignity/right-to-documentation law, not the centerpiece of a national platform.
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Notable Quotes
““In this case, I’m petty as hell.””
— Tim Walz
““Just following orders didn’t get you out of anything.””
— Tim Walz
““What happened right and why they left was because of the people on the streets.””
— Tim Walz
““What this city deserves is spine, not spin.””
— Scott Galloway
““The most radical act in capitalism is non-participation.””
— Scott Galloway
Questions Answered in This Episode
What specific Minneapolis incident(s) does Walz cite as “beyond the pale,” and what evidence is publicly available to support criminal investigations?
Recorded live at Minneapolis’ Pantages Theater to benefit the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, the episode opens with Gov. ...
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
Walz says Congress should demand investigations before confirmations/funding—what exact federal levers (appropriations, subpoenas, DOJ/IG actions) is he asking Minnesota’s delegation to use?
Walz argues community-led street-level organizing—not elected officials—was decisive in forcing federal pullback, and he urges investigations, potential indictments, and a rejection of “just following orders” defenses.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
If “the people on the streets” were decisive, what were the 2–3 most effective tactics (school protections, carpools, mutual aid, documentation) that other cities could replicate quickly?
Swisher and Galloway then cover headlines: Target’s perceived failure to defend employees/customers, Anthropic’s clash with the Trump administration and Pentagon restrictions, Elon Musk’s market-manipulation lawsuit, Kansas invalidating trans IDs, and Minneapolis’ high OnlyFans spending as a lens on male loneliness.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
Target: What would an effective CEO statement/action plan have looked like that protects employees while minimizing legal/regulatory exposure?
Galloway closes with a data-heavy update on “Resist and Unsubscribe,” pitching subscription cancellations as a scalable economic strike to change CEO and White House incentives, citing traffic, conversion rates, and plans to focus campaigns (e. ...
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
Anthropic: What is the practical scope of the Pentagon “supply chain risk” label—what contracts or integrations are actually constrained, and what’s the revenue risk?
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
Transcript Preview
[cheering]
This is the original heated rivalry, but a hundred percent [laughing]
[laughing]
A hundred percent less fucking.
[laughing]
Yeah.
[laughing]
Actually-
Two hundred percent.
[laughing]
Yeah, boner killer. Um-
[laughing]
So caption this photo: Gay man in his sixties who never found love or family of his own goes to Romania to adopt eight-year-old boy.
[laughing]
[upbeat music] I'm Kara Swisher.
And I'm Scott Galloway.
And welcome to the first Resist and Unsubscribe live event at the Pantages Theater in Minneapolis.
Yeah.
Um, wow.
[cheering]
Whoa. Man. You know, you guys are in the lead right now. We're gonna try to... We're, we had a, a, a, a, a, a Pivot tour last year. We're doing it again this fall, and we have to kill at least two or three cities, but I think you just killed one. I'm not sure. I feel bad for Boston right now.
[laughing]
Anyway, uh, uh, thank you for showing up tonight and helping us support the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota. We're recording tonight's show, and we'll run it on the Pivot podcast audio feed and on our YouTube channel. We're gonna do a lot tonight. We'll talk about some headlines, just like we do on a Pivot show, and Scott will give us an update. If you've never seen Scott present, it's an amazing thing. That's how I met him and ended up in this relationship.
[laughing]
Um, he was very seductive on the presentation situation.
[laughing]
Um, but he's gonna give us an update on the massive impact of Resist and Unsubscribe. People have questions, and Scott's gonna answer them, and, on how much it's made. It really has, and I'm glad he's, to be here to support it with, for him. Um, but first, we have a special guest we're gonna chat with tonight. We always have special guests you don't know about. Please give a round of applause to Governor Tim Walz.
[cheering]
I love him.
Wow. Wow. Maybe you should tell Klobuchar you changed your mind.
Well, I [laughs] ... No, this is what happens when you don't run, I guess.
Oh, yeah.
I don't know. So...
Oh, suddenly you're popular.
Yeah.
Okay. All right. Um, I think we're gonna start. We're gonna ask him a bunch of questions. We've done this on all the tours that we've had, and we've had a great time and had a... We had lots of governors and various things. But first things first, what was your immediate reaction to Kristi Noem's, um, departure?
[laughing]
Self-deportation.
Well, I, I was trying to act all serious and say, "You know, I'm, I'm not a petty person," and then I checked myself and I said, "In this case, I'm petty as hell." [laughs] So-
So-
So it was-
Give a, give a-
And I was saying this, that I, I knew Kristi Noem as a member of Congress, and I... When they get in the orbit of Donald Trump, because we-- I think you would've considered us friends at one time. We authored some legislation around water quality and things like that, and then all of a sudden it, it, it turns into this. And, um, but I think for me, uh, what happened here in, in Minneapolis was so far beyond the pale that the sense of, uh, the sense of anger I had towards her that whatever happens isn't enough.
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