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I'm sure there are lesbians who have cyber trucks but I'm not speaking to them [Music]
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anymore hi everyone this is Pivot from New York Magazine and the VOX media podcast Network I'm Cara swisser and I
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heard you're going on vacation I am just for a few short days few short days I'm
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taking I don't think I've ever known you to go on a vacation I know I know Amanda required it um he didn't require it
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actually um my two younger kids have different vacations because they're different schools and this was the only
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crossover and then um Louis's coming too Alex just recently went on his own vacation so he's not coming he's got
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school um but yeah I know I'm going to like not do anything for four days which is probably not true but I'll be
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probably be talking to you well you you may be too old for this to really have any impact on you but my wife claims
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that she just loves to [ __ ] on vacation which is okay was kind of a weird postcard to get
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that's good oh my God where are you coming up with all these bad jokes did you get a joke book for that's good it's
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called internet what what is the internet for other than watching videos I know I know I know but lately there's
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been five or six really bad jokes tracking the slow descendant to Fascism and funny jokes that's it yeah that's
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true that's true I am so pissed off I believe I'm that Dad I send at least two dozen ridiculously hilarious memes to my sons every day and I will see I will
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wake I will get up at 2 in the morning and find out that they still have not seen them much less respond they don't
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even open or look at my memes anymore no text you text them my sons don't pay attention oh I didn't read your text I
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didn't read your text there a wor how can you not read a text I agree I don't even what if the house was on fire I
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know that well you wouldn't text that would you would you text that uh I don't know hi the house on fire probably call
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anyways are you stand what's the is it the four seasons of the rich CS no no we rented a Airbnb by the ocean and so it's
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near El Yun uh Amanda loves Puerto Rico I went there as a kid I've haven't been there in a long time it's a beautiful
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place um and uh and so it's near it's on the beach and it's near the beautiful rainforest there so we're going to go hiking get Louie to cook obviously because he's now he's now the babysitter
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and cook for the situation um and just relax for just a few days it's just not very long but it's I need it I think I
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finally oh you've needed for a few years yes I haven't vacation in a long time when I vacation I don't vacation for
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people who need to understand this I don't take time off I'm pretty much on an extended vacation I'm I'm not
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exaggerating I think I vacation arguably like 15 to 20 weeks a year and I'm planning to increase it yeah I know that
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I'm aware I'm aware of the entire thing we're going to have some guest hosts in a few weeks because actually you're doing a thing with your kid but that's
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different that's a little College Tour College oh my God I'm literally where are we going to next where are we going
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to next that you have absolutely no chance of getting in no don't say that it's hard to get in but actually I heard
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Harvard was off like in terms of application Harvard oh my God but you know I'm just by the way can we just can
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we just talk for a moment about Harvard yes okay sure Harvard puts out this ridiculously know this virtue signaling of all virtually wokan meets total
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virtue signaling [ __ ] Wan okay they announced that anyone any family under that makes less than $200,000 is free tuition well aren't theyes [ __ ] amazing but here's the thing I think I
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did the math okay so you have about 1,500 students I bet maybe a third come from families that make less than $200,000 and of those they would have gotten some financial aid so call it
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call it I don't know 500 kids are going to get a $50,000 benefit and that's being really really generous I think it
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comes out to about 20 or $25 million yeah so that's not that big a deal so they have a $53 billion endowment if
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it's matching if it's matching the market it's doing about 4 billion a year so they've decided to step up and give a
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whopping um what is that a whopping half a percent and put out a press release rather than taking some of that $ 52
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billion and stop acting like rejectionist exclusionary self-important and expand the number of
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for and here's what it is just give me a second here it makes things even worse because this is what's happening in
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America if you're the son of somebody who's rich or the daughter of someone who's rich or freakishly [ __ ]
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remarkable you not only get into an amazing University you get to go for free but the rest the other 99.9% of
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America gets arbed down to a mediocre school that doesn't have a $53 billion endowment this is nothing but making
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everything worse in terms of income inequality and yet they have the [ __ ] nads to put out a thing acting as if
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they're doing the world of service here's what you do folks you take some of that $52 billion endowment and you
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make your freshman class bigger than what a good Starbucks serves d has an 8 billion doll endowment I would agree uh
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except for your obsession with wokan and colleges because I think they're mostly beaten down by now so I think we can
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move along on that issue I think that is oh I don't think so suck okay in any case I think a lot of colleges do do
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this for people who don't know it's not a new and fresh idea from Harvard that was the thing I was I was not aware of
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and it is true and if you make under a certain amount you get the whole thing free right that was if you get in if you
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get in pricing at Elite universities is the following that there's the there's the sticker price which is for foreign
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students and rich people so they can charge them a ridiculous amount of money and almost everybody else does not pay the sticker price and the problem with
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these Elite universities that that hoard this amazing drug called higher education is that they have so much money that it means absolutely nothing
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for the if you get into Princeton or Harvard it doesn't matter how much money if you
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have enough money then don't worry about it if you don't you will absolutely get financial aid it's the other 99% of our
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youth that has to go to a university that doesn't have these enormous endowments that has to go into student
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debt end up with a degree in Philosophy from a Joey bag of donuts University that they can't not only pay off but is one of the few few forms of debt that is
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not dischargeable in bankruptcy and they want to put out a press release acting like we'll [ __ ] smell you Harvard
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aren't you aren't you good people okay you know I'm going to Puerto Rico did I tell you oh sorry go really fun I'm
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going I'm lot of sunblock sunblock sun block they are also Under Siege by the government right now too
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let's just put we've got a lot to get today president SI Siege yeah come on stop it Trump is acting like a total
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[ __ ] we've got a lot to get to today including more Presidential Power grabs the Chinese EV company putting Tesla on
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blast and the fast fashion War claims its latest victim by the way I I had a little text thing with Jessica Jess
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tarlo uh she'll come to Paris with me just I'm just saying yeah you too she's she's she has a I'm going to steal you
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from her kind of a little bit of a crush you guys have a little bit of a crush on it yeah yeah
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really all right okay no I just she teasing she goes I can't believe you won't go to now you know that there was
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a movie where all the uh people who had affairs with a guy got together and took revenge on him it's with Cameron Diaz
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and oh my God what's that movie called uh anyway uh that's what's happening here all your exes are getting together
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and we're going to take revenge on you well we could fit all those people in a closet it I that is correct that is correct the the line is long of lovers
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of the dog that's right in any case that's right in any case almost all of them still have their teeth yeah okay uh anyway let's bring it back all right first let's speaking of losing uh the
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Judiciary is really pushing back on Donald Trump Chief Justice John Roberts clapping back against President Trump
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earli this week Trump called for the impeachment of a district judge who'd ruled against him over the deportation
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of Venezuelans which led Roberts to issue a very rare response let me read part of it for the two for more than two
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centuries been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a Judicial decision the normal appell it
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review process exists for that purpose it's a little bit weak sauce but there it was uh one GOP Representatives
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introduce articles of impeachment against the judge let's listen to what president Trump had to say about it on Laura Ingram we have very bad judges and
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these are Judges that shouldn't be allowed I think they I think at a certain point you have to start looking at what do you do when you have a rogue
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judge the judge that we're talking about he's you look at his other rulings I mean rulings unrelated but having to do
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with me he's a lunatic this is what he said about every judge who deals with him this is just a typical thing he does is insults the judges in anyway according to a sworn filing in an
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Immigration and Customs Enforcement official many of those deported did not have criminal records it's really quite
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amazing they just grab people um he's lost I think six times with judges so again appell at courts are the way you win here Donald Trump you you tend not to win because what you do is illegal
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but um but anyway this is a major Showdown and he's setting up a real fight with the Supreme Court because all
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of these are going to eventually get to the Supreme Court any thoughts well this is I I think probably one of the most
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significant historical events happened kind of it got some coverage but I don't think people realize how important it
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was and that is the White House essentially defied a court order and and um let those planes carrying um carrying
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the people they wanted deported some of whom had done nothing but had the wrong tattoo and then they created what I
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think is basically a republican snuff film did you see the video of them being dragged off planes yeah that was by the
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guy who runs El Salvador who seems like a [ __ ] um that I think that was his with the music I think he put them up I
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mean El Salvador is a really interesting situation what's happened there but that's another talk show but effectively
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if the if the White House is going to ignore court orders the question is well okay what power does the Judiciary or
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the or the court have if they start violating court orders and what the power they have is they could say all
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right if you carry out these if if you actively are the individuals Define these court orders we can put you in jail or F you but the problem is the president can then pardon them so I if
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you have we're in Uncharted territories we look we have a criminal as president and you know
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this is a convicted felon someone who appears to have absolutely no regard for the law who's set or seems comfortable carving up the world with another mob boss another autocrat who is now Define
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court orders and if he has the power of the pardon and can threaten judges and it appears to be comfortable toine court orders then folks you know it might feel
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good right a decent number of Democrats Republicans have both said in polls they'd be comfortable with an autocrat
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as long as he or she agreed with their views all right just wait until that knock on the door comes for you and your
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nephew or your outspoken um friend on politics is kind of disappeared is shipped off is put on a plane to somewhere where they don't
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aren't protected by the law is incarcerated without due process has their livelihood taken away and has no
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recourse I mean they it's really interesting that they are doing exactly what they said they would do when he said I will concede the election if I win that was a blatant I'm going to be
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an autocrat and everyone is like oh isn't that funny isn't that cute he doesn't really mean it he's pretty much
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done everything he said he was going to do but if if the courts are neutered by the power of the pardon or president or an Administration supported by one party that controls Congress it says it's okay
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to violate court orders we're we're essentially well I think that's why why Roberts did that he issuing a warning because he lost he's lost in the Supreme Court several times recently especially
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because of uh Amy con Barrett and Roberts together with the liberal wing of the party it keeps being 54 and I
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think that he doesn't seem to he the supreme court orders he's has yet to over not do the issue is he's also the enforcer of these things and so and J JD
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Vance keeps quoting Andrew Jackson let him enforce it if he wants to say this let him enforce it was also you know
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really it's just it's this is what he's doing and he's what he's doing is he's raising he goes you wouldn't you can't
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do that however we have bad judges the only judge he likes is Ean Cannon who does whatever he wants right anything
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that's for him and she's a she's a incompetent a judge essentially but she gets to stay there until they remove her
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and she can be overturned on appell at court and that's the whole system which is what Roberts was talking about but
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we'll see how far he goes here like he's already gone very very far down the line and and his little handmaidens to
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sedition like uh uh Laura Ingram is are really disturbing like it's a disturbing
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thing to agree uh that you're going to attack judges now in other countries where they've tried this the guys
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typically they don't win the courts tend to win um but we'll see we'll see what happens look what's going on in Hungary
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I mean for I mean Victor Orban who's sort of the role model of the Idol here for how Trump is executing his
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presidential Powers there are there's real there's enormous protest in Hungary which is actually really hopeful I do too I the future of the GOP right here right here it is you can only do so much
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we'll see what happens that I think Roberts is a critically important character even though most people think he's a he's a he's a a limp noodle um
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but he did that and that for him that was like screaming I think I believe according to lawyers I know um in
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another power and by the way he keep Trump has lost and lost and lost yesterday particularly over and over and
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over again but the question then becomes does that mean anything when you lose if they just stop if they just start
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ignoring those those those Court decisions cor right he I think he has started to not ignore them on some
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things and the others they play fast in cute especially that bordar Tom homman what a clown anyway uh president Trump
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just uh fired by the way the two Democratic members of the FDC which is very illegal saying their services is
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inconsistent with my administration's policies that's right CU they're Democrats just for people to know the
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FDC typically has five members with the president's party holding three of those seats they're seven-year terms you can't
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fire them except for gross incompetence not inconsistent with my administration's policies that's the
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whole point of having two members be from a different party the two fired Democrats Rebecca Kelly Slaughter who I
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know very well and uh Al alvara badya plan to challenge Trump's decision in court obviously B doya told the New York Times when people hear the news they need not think about me they need to
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think about the billionaires behind uh the president in his inauguration and that's exactly what this is um this is a
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payback to uh to the to the people who who sat on the front row um FTC is investigating all of these companies whether you agree with them or not they'll lose in court if they're not they don't have a good case again um so
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you know and the guy who runs the FTC is such a anxious toy Andrew Ferguson let me name him you're an anxious toady
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um to allow these people they already have they're going to have a dominance they need to add one more person to the
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uh FTC but they're going to have a dominance anyway so I don't know why they need to do this um but uh it really
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does it feels like payback to to everybody standing up there at Trump all the tech billionaires uh in terms of of
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antitrust cases and everything else even if you didn't agree with Lena KH uh that's the whole point here is the
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person com uh party in power gets to decide and this is just a wholesale um giveaway to the billionaires um again once again yeah you have essentially what people or what
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Democrats have failed to do is connect an trust with lower inflation and that is it's no accident that Google announced they were going to
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acquire I think it was called whiz company last year and the FDC and doj said we have some concerns and they
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called it off and um what just happened whiz filed to go public now had Biden been reelected or excuse me Harris been elected it's likely that whiz would have gone public and Google would have had a
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competitor which would have meant that enterprises that Ed these products would have had more options which results in
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competition which results in lower prices but because uh Trump was elected the FDC and the doj have effectively have an entirely different complexion now in terms of the bar or how high the
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bar needs to be to file an action to block a merger and acquisition and what do you know Google came back and said
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let's let's acquire this company so under the Biden Administration you know last year was a record low for m&a but you're going to see a lot you're going to see a further consolidation of power
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and one of the biggest issues facing our economy is really boring you know it's the boring stuff that moves the needle
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and it's the fact that across everything from home renovations to chicken to things like fertilizer much less digital
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media there are a small handful of companies that control the entire market and the
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result is in concentrated Industries they can charge higher rents on corporations and on consumers so if you
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want I mean it sounds really boring but if you want inflation to come down over the medium and the long term you want a
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really robust FDC and doj and they're no longer that they're basically there to say okay Jonathan caner WR on the
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podcast was more optimistic he said that a lot of people still at the and the doj are not exactly they're not just going
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to roll over um but especially the doj but I would we still haven't been able to
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effectively on on the left communicate that m&a while it feels like capitalism and it's more Macho and get out of the way of companies there are a surprise we have seven companies basically driving
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the stock market right now we we need sorry go ahead Cara Google bought the whiz for $32 billion for people don't
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know it's a security Cloud uh company Cloud security it's the biggest acquisition ever it is it's it's
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enormous it's an enormous obviously Microsoft and Amazon have been doing great in the cloud services area and so
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Google wanted to Beef It Up There is competition here but this is a crazy this is a lot of people feel um you know
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they were going to buy it for $23 billion last year but there was concerns from fed Federal Regulators um and and
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the especially uh about the need for more competition including with Amazon and Microsoft so now it does boil down to three right all the time it boils down to two to three um so it's it
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really is anti-competitive um because it's one of the most fast growing software companies in the world right
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now so it's taking out again a really a a robust competitor um which is really something to see well when companies so it sound okay it's their
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biggest it's their biggest acquisition ever it's only a one and a half per dilution to their stock price they have
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a$2 trillion market cap they can make a $30 billion acquisition I mean these companies these companies are just so
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enormous and have so much Capital that they can I mean quite frankly they could afford to buy this and they're not going
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to do it here but they could afford to buy this and do an aqua kill and just kill it if they were bothering them because a 1 and a half% delution to the
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stock price it's just not quite frankly 32 billion is dollar is a lot of money a
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dilution of one and a half% of your outstanding stock is not not and these companies these big companies have such
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an advantage because the reality is if they see any sort of strategic reason whatsoever to acquire a
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company no one else can compete it just there's a small handful of companies that have multi-trillion dollar market caps that you just can't it's like when the kingdom decides they're bidding on
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the World Cup no other bidder even shows up because every other country was like why bother why why even why even go
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through the hle of finding the former Governor of the province of Brazil or whatever putting together a team putting
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together a group of people putting our best foot forward why even bother when we know the kingdom is showing up and if
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one of these players shows up for an acquisition it it's over it's over it's done FTC chairperson Ferguson again
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anxious Toody uh his new nickname posted a statement on X saying he had no doubts about Trump's constitutional authority
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to remove Commissioners oh my God it it literally says he can't remove Commissioners it's it's so weird it's
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like them like saying oh president some in met Maga are saying um you can uh president can stay three terms and I was like the 22nd Amendment says you can't and these people are arguing the
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Constitution says you can't literally the opposite of what it says they say and it's so irritating Senator Maria canwell and Amy kichar by the way uh who
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who serve on the Committees that oversee the FDC even though they don't have power right now president Trump's dismissal of commissioner Slaughter and
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doya not only illegal but also hurts consumers by undermining an independent agency that Congress established to protect consumers from fraud scams and
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Monopoly power now the FTC is moving forward with its uh meta uh lawsuits uh he said uh Ferguson said uh they're going to move forward uh with with meta
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we'll see we'll see um I think that's probably their strongest case and again if they they can move forward with these
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things and if they lose they lose right um so you know we'll see how um how much
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they're going to afford so I guess Mark Zuckerberg's appearance didn't help as much as the others essentially anyway um
00:22:07
let's go on a quick break and we come back starlink gets installed at the White House even worse God it just gets
00:22:12
worse and worse Scott we're back starlink is now accessible at the White House White House officials said the move was an effort to increase internet
00:22:19
availability saying some areas the property couldn't get sell service this is nonsense that the system was
00:22:24
reportedly routed through the White House data center officials said Starling donated the service and the
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gift was vetted by lawyers overseeing ethics issues at the White House council's office so many tech people say
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this is really dangerous like I just I can't even tell you it's like putting like Putin's uh you
00:22:42
know listening device in the white house and just opens everything up but lots and lots of tech people are like o this
00:22:49
is not something you want to happen on the White House grounds but presumably they already have a direct line so I
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don't know what do you think it's also ethically ridiculous well it's more just sort of the White House is turning into
00:23:01
a giant infomercial for its political allies but in addition yes you're right I think it's stupid of SpaceX and starlink starlink I absolutely love
00:23:11
starlink I think it's an amazing product it's a superior product and its competitors all of a sudden have seen
00:23:16
their stock prices Surge and have access to Capital to potentially at some point be a competitor I think Jeff Bezos I
00:23:22
think everyone is eyeing this space going these guys have created an opening because because of um kind of over
00:23:30
political activity I'm now thinking how do I get rid of or how do I not use starlink and
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I I just think this is a dumb move for them I people are you he is alienating 52% of the population overnight with his products and I just want to give a shout out to me I sold my Tesla before it was
00:23:50
cool three years ago you did I remember and I don't know if you saw the senator Kelly just did a just had made a big deal of him selling his Tesla uh this is next starlink if you they basically
00:24:05
decided to politicize this product and I think just on an economic level shareholders SpaceX is one of the most
00:24:13
actively traded and most valuable private companies on the secondary Market it's also responsible now for the
00:24:18
majority it's the largest source of wealth now for um musk because he owns so much of it and it's an incredible
00:24:26
product but it's it's it looks like it's going to go the same way of Tesla and that is it's attracting a ton of
00:24:32
competition people will catch up and then people given sort of a coin flip or a tiebreaker will opt for the company
00:24:39
that's not run by someone whose politics they don't agree with so I think it's a stupid move I just don't know why they
00:24:45
the security issues to me or whatever they they can get whatever they want from this guy the Russians you can imagine this creates a more porous
00:24:52
environment which is maybe the point um uh another thing that I think I thought of you when I read it was the HHS has removed another thing they're doing besides making us less secure is also
00:25:04
from a technical point of view is removing information from websites all over the government that is you know
00:25:10
mentions people and there's two things that really stood out the first uh the HHS has removed the surgeon general's
00:25:15
advisory on gun violence from its website spokesperson for the agency said the content was removed to comply with
00:25:20
Trump's executive order to protect second amendment rights Firearms are the leading cause of death for children and teens in the US also recently removed
00:25:28
this was heinous articles about Native American code talkers have been removed from some military websites include
00:25:34
having been labeled Dei the Navajo code talkers aided America's victory at eima historically critically important uh
00:25:42
group of people who did this um and I think they they just they're removing all kinds of things that well they some
00:25:49
words don't work and they end up removing the wrong thing because they have a list of [ __ ] words that don't work instead of going through this kind
00:25:55
of thing they just do this wholesale you know cut and paste essentially uh replacing this information is going to be very difficult over time because it will be replaced eventually but the
00:26:06
between the firearms and these code talkers it's I feel like I'm living in 1984 like in the in the book 1984 I
00:26:13
don't know how you feel this is I mean again it's difficult to know where to focus because the you know the hits keep
00:26:19
on coming but as you reference number one source of death for children in the United States past accidents cancer
00:26:27
drowning drug poisonings is now firearms and as someone who left the US 18 or um
00:26:34
2 and a half years ago I'm just telling a free gift with purchase living in the UK is you don't have these horror
00:26:39
fantasies involving gun deaths or mass Shooters and yeah you talk about that 54% of us adults report that either they or a family member have experienced a
00:26:50
firearm related incident one and five have a family member who was killed by a firearm including
00:26:56
suicide and then going back to I always like to ground everything in a personal Parable when I sold my first company profit um there was a like a 20y year
00:27:09
anniversary of the company I started the company when was 26 and me and the other co-founder were not invited the the the
00:27:16
CEO wanted it to be all about him fine okay how about it and we used to joke that we were like that we were living in a fascist State and we were trosky being erased from photos and even we heard
00:27:27
about them showing up to clients and and referring to themselves as the founders
00:27:32
like we were literally erased from the the squirrels of history from this company despite the fact that we had
00:27:38
hired everybody was that was now claiming they were the founders and to go back to go back in
00:27:44
history and say to the you know the 2 and a half million African-Americans that registered for the draft the 1 million African-Americans that fought in World War II the 33,000 Japanese
00:27:55
Americans who fought mostly in the Europe theater despite the fact that maybe their parents had been sent to
00:28:02
confinement camps 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry and and then to not at least
00:28:08
nod that many of them served in World War II there was 20,000 Chinese Americans there were 44,000 Native
00:28:15
Americans somewhere between 5 and 10% of the entire indigenous population fought
00:28:21
in World War II a quar of a million Filipino Americans 400,000 Hispanic Americans and to not ackn knowledge that
00:28:28
is to not acknowledge one of the great one of the great victories one of the great civil rights
00:28:37
advancements in American history that makes our military so the US military I believe is the most impressive organization in history and a across you know many of its achievements and many
00:28:48
of its victories it was also a tremendous means of progress in civil rights because there's something about wearing the same uniform and being dependent upon the or the G next to you
00:28:59
that has a tendency to make you look at each other for your character and your skills and nothing else and the arm
00:29:06
Services have been an outstanding means of progress for special interest groups and to remove their commitment and their
00:29:13
sacrifice it it's just so unamerican and basally it's Petty and it's cruel and it's weird it's just weird it's just so
00:29:20
weird I mean especially these know the gun stuff is beyond belief it's just a fact and I think what what's really you know obviously it's yet another attempt like with the judges this has a theme
00:29:31
everybody you remove the judges you remove information you only tell people I don't think it works at all I honestly
00:29:37
don't I think people are sick and tired of this and they get it and Americans are a uniquely difficult group of people
00:29:43
and so I don't think it works I don't think it it holds I think in other countries sometimes it does but in this
00:29:49
one I think people get furious about especially stuff like this um I mean literally just to they have one issue with Dei and they cannot stop that's the
00:30:00
thing they cannot stop with one or two things they've got to completely erase everything especially this cut and paste
00:30:06
of words like they I forget what they took out some dumb thing and but that's beyond Bel this is this to me is
00:30:12
ridiculous and everyone everyone knows that gun violence kills kids that's it there's I don't care how many things
00:30:18
they take down everybody knows and everyone's aware of it and they will pay the price here for going overboard on almost everything well we we hope pay the price so far so far they so far they
00:30:30
haven't we keep we keep hoping and waiting but just back to the the erasing people from photos of history and a really positive part of our history you're going to Puerto Rico 53,000
00:30:41
Puerto Ricans fought in World War II I love all your stats 400,000 Hispanic Americans including 350,000 Mexican
00:30:49
Americans these are people who came here felt really fortunate to be a part of this great experiment called America and decided to put themselves you know and risk bodily harm to serve
00:31:01
in a uniform to fight for the rights of all Americans and we're we're erasing them from from history uh it's it's just it's very strange and self-defeating and
00:31:12
how How likely are people going to be to raise their hand and say I will fight for my country thinking that at some
00:31:19
point my contribution might be starts from history it's it's very disappointing to say the least and it's very typical it's not a surprise I think is a [ __ ] I think putting people in jail that never had a criminal record
00:31:31
without due process everything is karma is going to be such a [ __ ] here I I I just believe that because it's one thing
00:31:37
after the next where Injustice happens and so we'll see let's go on a quick break we come back we'll talk about uh byd's big breakthrough Scott we're back Chinese Eevee company byd is promoting a
00:31:49
new fast charging technology that can allegedly add 250 mile range in a 5 minute charge woo I was very excited
00:31:55
about this the new battery and charging system used uh in byd's Next Generation Vehicles the company plans to build more
00:32:01
than 4,000 Ultra fast Chargers across China this puts byd well ahead of Tesla whose supercharg is currently at around
00:32:07
170 miles on a range of range for a 15minute charge it takes longer than that just so you know BD uh shares hit a
00:32:15
record high yesterday on the news the company is up more than 50% for the year with a60 billion market cap as Tesla is down
00:32:23
30 some perent 37% it goes up and down but it's mostly 30% for the year um is this Tesla's deep seek moment Tesla stock is currently headed for its nine straight weekly loss it's now 53% below
00:32:36
all-time highs statistically everybody's gaining including us uh makers of EVS uh
00:32:43
all over the place uh and Tesla is losing a market share and of course there's the protests that go on across
00:32:49
the country um attorney general but they're trying to he's trying to get an assist from attorney general Pam Bondi
00:32:54
is labeling recent attacks on Tesla dealerships an active domestic terrorism directed at Elon Musk who was weeping
00:33:00
about it on Fox News saying he's only done lovely things for people his whole life and he's never been violent I well
00:33:07
fine he's created the situation where people die but that's whatever you say Elon Bondi said in a statement that the
00:33:14
day doj will investigate these incidents and pose severe consequences on the people involved there's definitely an
00:33:19
organized protest across interestingly by the person paying for it is the wife of Steve jison who is elon's pal the ex wife uh who's a big Democratic donor is
00:33:30
helping uh you know helping get these things organized uh these these protest which is perfectly within the rights of her and the protesters to do obviously not within the rights are um our
00:33:43
violence but they're certainly allowed to cause all kinds of ruckuses in front of these places and put up Nazi pictures
00:33:49
of Elon and stuff like that so these two things byd is just doing the in on one hand byd is doing the Innovative things Tesla should be doing if its CEO was paying attention and secondly if people
00:34:01
don't like Elon Musk they can protest against him and for the Attorney General to call it domestic terrorism is really
00:34:08
Beyond The Pale again an ad for Elon Musk by the president his own personal attorney general in the first two months
00:34:15
of this year Tesla sold 60,000 Vehicles byd sold 481 th000 and that represents that's amazing that represents a 75% Inc increase year on-year of byd and a 14%
00:34:31
decline for Tesla and despite Tesla losing you know a third of its value in the last month it's still if if Tesla trades like other car
00:34:43
companies that are growing at the same rate which is declining now the majority of car companies are growing faster than Tesla that puts it stock at about $14 a share so the notion that somehow Tesla's
00:34:56
been has had some Market correction we haven't even seen a correction and the protests what do you
00:35:02
think of the protests they continue they haven't stopped which is really interesting I'm look I I it tickles my
00:35:10
sensors um I I like I'm I'm of two minds and that is I don't think people should damage physical property I joke that when ever I get a Tesla I cancel or I let it wait
00:35:24
outside I have started cancelling when I get Teslas and I try to put it in the notes whether you can on Uber um I don't
00:35:30
think people should deface property I don't I don't think people should feel unsafe in their cars but a protest
00:35:37
peaceful protest is an American calling it cyber truck owner an [ __ ] that's that's if you choose to buy it I think
00:35:43
that's perfectly fine I think if it as long as I don't agree I I you buy a cyber truck I do think there needs to be
00:35:50
it's such a for the benefit of all of us I I think we air on the side of Civility
00:35:56
I quite frankly I didn't like when JD Vance gets booed on a ski mountain with his family I it tickles my sensors but I
00:36:04
think that in America ideally you want to air on the side of giving people some Grace when they're out in public I
00:36:09
including driving their car I I I I'm turning into an old person you are because I think that's exactly what it
00:36:16
is to be an America I think Americans do that I think you I I didn't mind when the when all the Christians went nuts
00:36:22
about Disney they can protest I didn't love the Nazis front I'm not saying you can't protest when I'm saying is if
00:36:28
someone is out sking with their family if someone is driving a car I don't think verbally assaulting them or
00:36:33
verbally screaming at them that's your right I'm not saying it's not legal but it doesn't mean it's right and I think
00:36:39
one of the nice things about America is that we do have a certain level of Comet or respect for each other I was at a
00:36:46
party an F1 party in Las Vegas and someone showed up wearing a Maga hat and that individual a woman was kind of immediately surrounded and people started shouting at her I did not think that was right either
00:36:58
that's they should be able to wear a Maga hat and I I think we have to air on the side when we're out in public on air
00:37:05
on the side of Civility you have the right to say things but calling someone an [ __ ] because they get out of a
00:37:11
certain brand of car that we're just a slow burn into an erosion in everyone's quality of life I don't know I think I think it's sort of a long tradition of the United States doing this I think
00:37:21
you're you're living in a country that doesn't I mean I you know I just I feel like I don't love a lot of it but this
00:37:28
cyber truck in particular is somewhat offensive to my eyes and that's probably one of the reasons it compared to a lot
00:37:33
of cars um but you know you've been in a in a line and some dick do douche nozzle
00:37:38
drives up in a Ferrari who obviously is just rich and try it's compensating and everyone goes like this under the breath
00:37:46
right and but they don't start screaming hey you little dick weirdo they just say let him let him or her get his or her
00:37:51
coffee and get about their day I don't true true true I I don't know I think the protests in front of
00:37:57
of in front of these uh Tesla showrooms are fine I think that's that's the way you express your I agree I think there's
00:38:04
a difference between that and yelling at people while they're going about their day I don't anyway I'll stop yelling at
00:38:12
you Scott okay fine you want to F dick I do this I have to pay women to yell at me I should do that to you I don't know Scott I like your like niceness but I think it's okay people
00:38:26
want to express themselves I think people get the message obviously a lot of people are selling them because they don't like being called car there's
00:38:32
there's places in there's very Republican dominated Maga loving parts of this country that I think you and I
00:38:38
can go to go about our day and people generally say I don't agree with their politics I maybe I don't even think
00:38:43
they're maybe I even think Cara and Scott are bad for America but I'm going to let them get on with their day uh see
00:38:49
you live a different life than I've been called a D in so many Southern States I can't even tell you and that's wrong and
00:38:54
that's wrong I am F I'm like whatever dude like and I always I always have a line I always go they they'll say
00:39:01
something like Les especially the kids and things like that um I would they'll they'll say something and I'll go you're
00:39:07
the alternative and then it tends to shut it down but I have been attacked so many times and apparently civil states
00:39:15
that and I don't I don't care I don't care I'm I always have a line and I feel sorry you should be able to have a
00:39:21
certain confidence in America you're going to be able to live your life without worrying about being verbally
00:39:27
assaulted or treated with a lack of respect or dignity that's what that's what you do in a civil society that's
00:39:33
what you do in America that would be nice for all of us who aren't some people but it doesn't happen well again
00:39:38
I don't have your lived experience but don't you generally feel that you're that you're fairly you can go about your
00:39:44
day and I mean is that the case you really feel like in in a lot certain places I don't go yeah I keep telling
00:39:50
you this I feel uncomfortable I feel like if I say something about my kids or or Amanda and I express any affection in
00:39:56
public I'm very worried and especially comments it's always comments and I um you know I it's something you think about in the back of your mind and I think a lot of people very different
00:40:08
people think about it all the time women walking down a street at night you know it just is it's a very different living experience but I I I always have a
00:40:15
Lineback I always you know because I've gotten it so much I always have like is are you the alternative um blah blah blah I have a
00:40:22
bunch of them um that I do and I it's it feels like it's like breathing you know you you you undo it all the time one
00:40:29
time um it happens when I was the kids who you know who's the not who's the mother that's another one people loved who's the dad they always like to do that one which is fine whatever they're ignorant for for people driving a
00:40:42
certain car and for people have a different sexual orientation I think that we should shame anyone that gives
00:40:47
those people a hard time I don't what about a lesbian in a cyber truck there you go you do that that isn't that if
00:40:54
you'd said a lesbian and a Subaru I would have said well that's redundant um that's true see we don't mind we're fine
00:40:59
with it I don't care um but I I'm sure there are lesbians who have cyber trucks but I'm not speaking to them anymore the
00:41:05
thing that you got to be really fearful of is if the LGBT starts a militia and they call themselves alada oh my God
00:41:12
it's militia eage that's that's right sorry that's right anyway Al that's very funny I like that um so uh this is one
00:41:19
that's sort of in your wheelhouse Forever 21 filed for bankruptcy this week the two second time in six years is
00:41:25
uh this time putting the blame on fast fashion retailers uh teu and uh Shen in the court find Forever 21 noted non us retailers sending products at drastically lower prices made it
00:41:36
difficult to retain a core customer base company Plant to liquidate while looking for a buyer for its business or its assets uh she and and uh teu are facing
00:41:44
their own struggles with Trump's teror as though he delayed cracking down on the loophole that exempts lowcost items from getting taxed uh he probably won't
00:41:51
delay on it um I don't know I just think Forever 21 sucks but what do you think here I just think it sucks it just sucks the other two don't and the other two don't even even if they have advantages
00:42:04
in China uh look I've said this that a dominous a dominous loophole that favors foreign retailers over domestic fine I can I think there's an argument that they they should do away with it create
00:42:18
a Level Playing Field I get that but Forever 21 I group into a group of specialty retailers whose value
00:42:24
proposition I would identify is dressing 15-year-old girls up like slots I just that I know that there was an entire genre of retailers who literally
00:42:35
like send your 15-year-old and we'll make her look like a [ __ ] I mean that's essentially what the fashion was or the
00:42:41
genre it was you know anyways I don't I would agree I had I I I used to I I get some even today when you're looking for kids clothes a lot of the girls clothes are really questionable and the boys
00:42:54
clothes Rock they're like so cool they're like so interesting and the girl clothes are always like some of them are
00:42:59
like o no no no I think it's Instagram I think it's the algorithm sexualizing girls talking fivey olds yeah but look
00:43:08
there is I mean if you look at what's happening and I love this that if you look at over the past 20 years inflation
00:43:15
adjusted clothing prices have dropped about 50% and unit consumption has doubled and this kind of connects back
00:43:20
to Annie trust the clothing and apparel industry is globalized it's relatively Care Friendly and it's incredibly robust meaning there's a ton of competition what does that mean it means that
00:43:32
Americans can buy more at a lower price on an inflation adjusted basis the price
00:43:37
of apparel has been cut in half and by the way folks when things get cut in half in price it means your Prosperity skyrockets we want competition we want
00:43:48
and if you if you if you don't realize what tariffs are going to do about 99% of our cloes no I'm sorry 97% % of
00:43:57
our clothes made abroad are made abroad what what's a good us retailer that competes with Shen and timu like who would you say I mean they're all the expensive ones right G there's no low
00:44:09
cost maker I remember no low cost there's expensive ones like Hannah Anderson rocks or there's all kinds of
00:44:14
really wonderful higher-end children's clothing for example I I'm just thinking of children's clothing um but it's I
00:44:22
mean I'm trying to think H&M I like a lot I like um the the other H&M's not us um I mean know they're not us not the iconic us t-shirts the iconic us fashion
00:44:35
specially retailers are in my opinion Urban Outfitters Urban and Free People are two of the hottest Brands but the
00:44:42
majority if not all of their manufacturing is abroad I remember and I always love an opportunity to have a
00:44:48
professional Flex the first one of the first Consulting clients I had one of my mentors was a guy named Warren Helman of Helman and Freedman and he said I have a great assignment for you I was like 27 and I started this quote unquote
00:44:58
strategy firm said I wanted you to come to Levi straon company board meetings I don't want you to talk to anybody I want
00:45:03
you to listen to the entire board meeting and I want you to stand up and give your view and it was me and a guy named Lee CLA from CH day got to do this
00:45:11
for four board meetings and one of the first things I said was they had back in the 9s Levis Json companies still had
00:45:19
domestic manufacturing and the hos family who are very paternal and really civic-minded we're very committed to
00:45:24
keeping domestic Manufacturing and the CFO got up there and I you know I can do math I said what is the cost per unit uh producing domestically and it was like I think it was 11 bucks a pair and the
00:45:37
cost uh to bring in the same quality from just across the border in Mexico I forget where we were Honduras was $3.80 and so I'm like okay but just to
00:45:47
be clear what you have decided is that you're giving people naturally artificially High wages that once
00:45:55
they're laid off there's going to be no else to go and eventually of course they outsourced all of their production we
00:46:01
are meant to go to the lowest cost provider for more Prosperity we need to maintain a certain level of domestic
00:46:07
production for example the shoe industry has these ridiculous tariffs claiming that if we go to war we need domestic
00:46:13
manufacturer of boots which is just stupid right we could spin up a factory to build boots pretty quickly but the
00:46:19
clothing industry is an example of an increase in prosperity because we've globalized it and we don't have massive
00:46:25
tariffs so I mean it's it's striking how Teemu and Shen like one out of five things purchased over the holidays were from those two companies but Forever 21
00:46:37
you know it just like you said it just didn't it just couldn't compete nor should it I I like it when nations
00:46:43
compete for our dollar just sucked I never could go in that store it was like terrible and I like a cheap clothing store in any case um we'll see what
00:46:51
happens with the others but obviously as Scott said it's Global all right Scott one more quick break okay Scott pivot to
00:46:57
a listener question hey Scott Cara it's Kyle from New York big fan of the show I
00:47:03
had a question about Trump's proposed federal income tax elimination for anyone making less than
00:47:10
$150,000 a year I've heard a lot of discussion recently about how Trump's economic policies really only benefit the wealthy and harm the younger less
00:47:23
wealthy portion of the population this policy seems like it's in response to that discussion I'm curious from your perspective is this a moment where credit is given or credit is due or is
00:47:37
this more handwavy Curious your thoughts thanks guys C scottt why don't you take this
00:47:42
quickly U I would like to see a tax holiday um on on anyone making under a certain amount or people under the age of 40 similar to what Portugal's done uh the problem is will this come at the
00:47:54
cost of Social Security we need to we need to hear more I hope it's not populous [ __ ] I need to do more um
00:48:00
do more analysis uh I think it makes a lot more sense in this ridiculous no tax on tips the waiter gets a tax cut and
00:48:07
not the dishwasher and the reality is the majority of people in the services industry don't pay any taxes anyways because they don't make enough money but
00:48:12
I just need to understand more about this we'll see yeah yeah we'll see I mean and in concept it's a great idea um
00:48:19
and you know again which really the point is rich people need to pay more taxes like I I don't know why that and
00:48:24
corporations corporations that's really paying the lowest lowest amount of GDP as represented by their taxes since 1939
00:48:31
and just just a quick note on the last thing people it's worth noting the Americans in this income range who make
00:48:36
less than $150,000 they pay more in payroll taxes than in income taxes yeah so hand waving for right now anyway uh
00:48:43
you got a question your own go to nymag.com Pivot subit a question for the show or call 85551 pivot okay Scott one
00:48:50
more quick break we'll be back for predictions okay Scott let's hear a prediction uh look I'm I'm going to go
00:48:56
Off Script here and um I'm going to I don't have a prediction but I'm especially slow today because I was up till 400 a.m. uh binge watching all four
00:49:09
um episodes of what I think is so far the the media property other than the White Lotus of course the media property of 2025 or the media achievement have you seen adolescence Cara uh no I
00:49:22
haven't no I haven't seen it at all I I've heard about it I've heard it's amazing and and depressing and upsetting
00:49:28
but everyone I've heard several people talk about it it is really powerful so I'm not going to give anything away here
00:49:33
it's a British crime drama miniseries from Jack Thorne and Steven Graham and directed by Philip bartini it's about a 13-year-old school boy uh who's arrested for the murder of
00:49:45
a female classmate and the interesting thing from a creative standpoint is each each scene is shot in one take and it is
00:49:54
so powerful it it brings up Social media it's you know obviously violence crime fatherson
00:50:03
relationships families the impact of social media um the anxiety and depression that
00:50:09
young people are dealing with it is it is it's like if you wanted to explain to someone the stress that young people or adolescents are under and facing and
00:50:21
what it means and how it ripples out in so many negative ways it would be it would be really hard to do it more
00:50:28
efficiently than watching this this four-part series this can I ask you a question is it is it because I tend to
00:50:34
avoid these things now even though I've heard a lot about this show and also Euphoria or any of these there was a
00:50:39
documentary about teens um there's there's all kinds of these I kind of avoid them because they're so upsetting
00:50:45
to me how do you deal with that because you're writing a book on it obviously which comes out when I'm moving it up I'm turning in my
00:50:52
manuscript early I'm hoping that it'll come out in November it was supposed to be stream next year but feel like the the moment is going to pass if I don't
00:50:58
get it out soon no you should you Jos H's writing a book on masculinity I got to get it out no you need to you need to
00:51:05
DARE him to a fight but how how is it watching these things because I think I I have noticed I have tended towards
00:51:11
happy things when I'm watching things and Severance because it's so Good by the way season end this Friday um I just
00:51:19
they either have to be really astonishing like Severance or very happy like running point right I can't talk a
00:51:25
little bit about this because you're writing a book on it these topics are dire how do you manage to feel hopeful
00:51:30
watching it in this and that's one of the reasons I avoided adolescence well it's easy care I've leaned into my anger and my depression I mean I'm not the
00:51:38
person to talk to about maintaining a positive outlook I struggle with this [ __ ] and what you one of the things you
00:51:44
reference which is a social Norm which is kind of interesting is that in boom times or positive times tragedies and
00:51:51
dramas are more popular and then in depressing times romantic comedies are much more popular people want to get out
00:51:58
of the mood they're in or like White Lotus something that's like yeah that's just pure that's just that's just that's
00:52:04
just pure entertainment with some you know some subculture by the way Sam Rockwell's monologue from last week is
00:52:10
incredible I heard I heard I haven't seen it yet uh but this is I mean it talks a lot about um it talks a lot
00:52:18
about school bowling via social media centered on incel subculture and people don't realize how powerful that is this
00:52:24
week's post I'm writing about porn which I think I think is playing an unfortunately increasingly not important large role in
00:52:30
in young men's lives but this if you if you want to if you read about this stuff
00:52:36
but don't understand it and wonder want to see how it's really impacting people on a ground level and an exceptionally
00:52:41
compelling and gripping way so but you asked me how I deal with it I to be honest Cara I'm having trouble dealing with it I for the first time in my life I was thinking about this the other day
00:52:53
I've always been able to disassociate from the news since last election I'm having trouble disassociating I'm I'm
00:53:00
I'm just a I'm that guy who's that [ __ ] Downer at a dinner party that turns everything into well yeah has anyone you are posting happy things on
00:53:07
on I've noticed you have a lot of them are delightful by the way oh thanks um yeah but yeah I not so the answer is how do I how do I handle this [ __ ] the answer is not well but this is such a
00:53:18
powerful piece of media that it is it's so satisfying because you feel as if you've learned and you can't I watch I
00:53:25
watched I I turned the thing on at midnight uh and I was up till 4 in the morning I just couldn't you go couldn't
00:53:32
turn away from it all right adolescence is a recommendation and a prediction I guess okay elsewhere in the Cara and
00:53:38
Scott Universe this week on profy conversation Scott spoke another happy thing with Dr Fiona Hill a senior fellow
00:53:44
at Brookings Chancellor at Durham University and former White House Russia expert also testified during the
00:53:50
impeachment hearing is really smart person who worked for us and Now does not uh let's listen to a clip the
00:53:58
big difference between Trump and Putin is Trump is a totally one man show he's destroying the state Putin operates within the state he's a creature of the deep State he's not dismantling the
00:54:09
Russian state that was already dismantled you know under Mel gorbachov and Boris yelton but Trump he doesn't
00:54:15
really pay any attention to any of the people around him he uses them as emissaries and envoys but he doesn't do his homework they can't actually advise
00:54:21
him on anything and that makes Trump very unpredictable so I think if Putin's looking at his own crystal ball he also
00:54:27
can't say where this is going to go okay that's the show thanks for listening to Pivot be sure to like And subscribe to
00:54:33
our YouTube channel we'll be back on Tuesday Scott read us out Today's show was produced by Lara n zoy Marcus and
00:54:39
Taylor Griffin our aner totd engineered this episode thanks also to Drew burough Miss sario and Dan Shalon n shot kurera
00:54:46
Vox media's executive producer of audio make sure you subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcast thanks for listening to Pivot from New York
00:54:52
Magazine and box media you can subscribe to the magazine at nymag.com pod we'll be back next week for another breakdown
00:54:58
of all things Tech and business adolescence on Netflix