00:00:00
I got to say, everyone's like, "Why is Scott out?" And I'm like, "Uh." And
00:00:04
they're like, "Facelift." Hi everyone. This is Pivot from New York
00:00:13
Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network. I'm Carara Swisser and guess who's back? Back again.
00:00:19
>> It's Audi Cornish. >> You wish. She's good. You know what I
00:00:24
learned from her? She said something. She had the best line >> of any guest host. She said, "You asked
00:00:31
her for advice on the economy or asked her for input." And she said, "No, this
00:00:34
isn't my area. I'm here to learn." I have got I sent her a note saying, "I
00:00:39
took real notes from that cuz I have yet to find the confidence to actually say that I don't know and that everything
00:00:46
doesn't demand my judgment." Anyways, Audi Cornish gets co-host or gets
00:00:50
substitute host of the week. How are you, Car? Did you miss me? >> I did. I need you to explain where
00:00:56
you've been to people. Sir, >> I was presented with an opportunity to bring potable water to the good people
00:01:01
of subsaharan Africa. >> No. >> Which is which is Latin for I have had
00:01:06
cosmetic surgery, Cara. Um and u essentially >> uh I just wanted to look natural and I
00:01:13
guess if looking natural means look looking like you're surprised all the [ __ ] time and your nose looks like a
00:01:19
minivan from the 80s, we've achieved that. Cara, we have liftoff. So the camera is off. Sorry folks, I'm I'm
00:01:27
confident enough to be transparent. I'm not confident enough for the comments
00:01:31
that we would receive right now. >> Yeah, you I have seen the pictures picture pictures. Scott kindly sent me a
00:01:36
picture and I was at first I was like, "Oh, come on. How bad could it be?" And
00:01:39
then I'm like, "Oh, no." >> And there was no response. You usually
00:01:42
respond within like 10 seconds with something really crisp and funny or supportive. You're actually you're a
00:01:47
very people don't know this about you. You're actually you're a very loving,
00:01:51
kind friend. People don't get that vibe. And you were just silent for 15 minutes
00:01:56
and I'm like, is she gonna respond? >> Anything? >> You were off the tramodol by then.
00:02:01
>> I told I told my doctor I said I wanted to look people have compared me to Ryan
00:02:05
Reynolds older brother and I'm like that's the look I'm going for. And I do
00:02:09
look like him, but I look like his grandfather after he's gone into witness protection from literally trying to flee
00:02:14
narot terrorists and has had bad cosmetic surgery in in Brazil. >> This is good. I hope it's good. You're
00:02:21
gonna see. We're gonna see what what it is. But uh when you have the big reveal
00:02:25
or something like that, I'd love you to actually talk about that because men
00:02:28
don't talk most people don't talk about their plastic surgery or or whatever.
00:02:32
And there's been a huge boom in men doing this. Like >> huge. It's the fastest growing part of
00:02:37
the market. >> Yeah. Explain why you did it. I have never had plastic surgery. I do not
00:02:41
judge it. A lot of people I know have it. Um a lot of bls, that's what they keep saying, the word ble to me. Um I
00:02:49
don't I think my mother had it. Like tell me tell me it's mostly women. I
00:02:54
don't know a lot. I mean I do know some VCs who have gotten it and I can't say
00:02:58
this was many years ago. It worked well. But >> I I am glad to be back with these
00:03:03
questions >> masquerading as virtue signaling. What is this not being able to make a [ __ ]
00:03:09
ton of money because you're not so [ __ ] talented thing that people complain about? Um
00:03:14
>> you are so going under the knife. Give me a [ __ ] break. By the way, you were
00:03:18
asking me questions. >> I never will. Never. Never. >> Well, anyways, the the honest answer,
00:03:25
Cara, after having a lot of Xanax and opiates to think about it is I cannot for the life of me figuring out the
00:03:31
[ __ ] hole I am trying to fill here. Um, I think it I think it I think it comes from a lot of places. Um, I was
00:03:39
very insecure about my looks growing up, as I think is probably natural for a teenager. And then in my 20s and 30s
00:03:47
when I put on some weight and we've talked about this and my skin cleared up, I then got a lot of confidence for
00:03:53
my looks and I really like that part of the program. And also I think in a little bit of my business I have felt I
00:04:02
don't want to call it agism but I've been really cognizant of my age recently. A lot of people a lot of
00:04:08
people online are referencing my age to criticize me like what does this guy know? And also I think uh just more
00:04:15
practically I'm on I've been on TV a lot because of the book tour and I've just
00:04:20
noticed the dark circles under my eyes. And also to a strange I'm kind of interested in the technology
00:04:29
and also the bottom line is if I have [ __ ] you money I want to [ __ ] you face.
00:04:34
>> Okay. So you you said something really interesting. You said it's mediation not
00:04:37
renovation. Although these doctors are very convincing right? You weren't going
00:04:41
to do as much as you did or were you or >> Well, I mean, it's very easy to get I
00:04:47
was going to just do my I was just going to do my eyes and I didn't do a lot, but
00:04:51
I you add on stuff because >> Can you explain what the eyes is? It it >> Well, the circles around your eyes, you
00:04:55
have dark circles under your eyes as you get older. >> When people have hooded
00:04:59
>> Yeah. And what they do is very simple is they transfer fat from other parts of
00:05:03
your body into the soft tissue that creates the uh the dark circle. And uh the temptation to keep adding
00:05:12
stuff if you're not careful is the following. Everything heals at the same time. And if you're going under the
00:05:16
knife, you just start thinking, "Yeah, sure. I'll have fat transferred from my
00:05:20
hip to my chin." You just they they will add on stuff. I had some crazy [ __ ]
00:05:26
laser that they wouldn't dare. >> Do you have any fat? You're so skinny.
00:05:28
You're such a skinny. >> Um yeah, I'm I'm entering that nice part
00:05:32
of my life where I'm skinny yet fat at the same time, which is really attractive. Uh but yeah, it's easy to
00:05:38
get upsold and it's it's I think I find the whole thing fascinating. I've of
00:05:43
course made friends with my surgeon and his team and I I'm I'm being serious
00:05:49
now. The most inspiring part of the whole process was I went to this place called Pearl
00:05:55
Recovery and it's this amazing family-owned business where they take over a floor of what is a fairly
00:06:01
mediocre hotel and they have nurses around the clock looking after you. And I had, you know, through through the
00:06:09
different shifts, four or five different nurses and they were all out of central
00:06:11
casting. They were all the same person in the sense that they were all immigrants in their 30s and 40s, all
00:06:17
single mothers and all working their ass off and the loveliest, most talented women. It made me feel so good about
00:06:24
America. It made me realize how important, again, not that I need to know this, immigration is. These women
00:06:29
are work all women working four to six 12-h hour shifts all with a single all with a kid all come to America all
00:06:37
making a good living they do get paid well I think nursing is actually a fantastic profession it's something that
00:06:42
will probably survive AI for a while and they just couldn't they brought expertise empathy humanity they were
00:06:49
great interacting with me they they had great leadership skills occasionally I'd
00:06:53
be like no I don't I don't want to sleep upright and they'd be like get your ass
00:06:57
upright I mean they They were fantastic. They were f Oh, no. They knew me. They They all Google you. They all like, "Who
00:07:05
is this? Is this a star?" Because they can't tell. And they'd be coming in and
00:07:09
they like They'd be coming. They like, "So, I listen to a podcast." And I'm
00:07:14
like, "Oh, really? What' you think?" I'm like, "Sit down. I'm going nowhere for
00:07:18
the next two days. Sit down and tell me what you think." And they were just such
00:07:21
lovely women. It was really >> I'm glad you had this this international
00:07:26
experience while you got your >> Oh, it was fantastic. >> Can I can I ask just one more question?
00:07:31
We'll we'll move on and we're going to have a big reveal. Is did you what we
00:07:36
talked about whether you should say anything and I said I am not going to pretend if it looks really different and
00:07:41
it does. It looks slightly slightly different I would say. And from what I know we we don't know. I'm really
00:07:46
swollen right now. The reality is we have no idea. >> Your nose is very swollen. Yeah.
00:07:50
>> Yeah. We have no idea. >> Yeah. I mean most when people get their
00:07:53
eyes done there is a refresh and you can you assume that's what it is but what
00:07:58
they've done today everybody looks pretty pretty good unless it's like you
00:08:02
know >> this guy this guy's known for >> I said the following thing I said I want
00:08:08
modification not transformation and if we're going to air here and I kept saying this we're going to air on the
00:08:14
side of underdone not overdone. >> I see. And I think most surgeons probably say this uh but they say the
00:08:20
key is that people think you look good but they don't know how you you've had
00:08:23
anything done. >> I see it looks it's it's it's Chris Chris Jenner sort of is like you see you
00:08:29
remember once we were joking about Jennifer Gray. Everyone noticed it immediately cuz she changed her entire
00:08:33
look. Um and she got she got piled the [ __ ] on. I used to I thought that was very unfair. She wants to do that.
00:08:39
That's >> you're a public figure. People if you're known for your looks you're going to be
00:08:43
known for your looks. That's the bottom line, Rene. >> Yes. Well, that's what you're known for.
00:08:48
>> Yes, that's right. That's right. For that. >> Well, I virtually I'm not I don't want
00:08:53
to have any facial surgery done. I don't >> Cara, it's not easy being a four. And
00:08:57
you know what's so scary is last night >> always been a four. >> Last night I was looking at Ferraris. I
00:09:04
have save me. >> What? >> Say I was looking at Ferrari. I don't know. I don't know.
00:09:09
>> I really don't know >> what is next. >> I don't know. ED drugs. That's what's
00:09:13
coming next. >> Yeah, >> I'm trying to think. Oh my god. >> No, I'm definitely I'm definitely
00:09:19
>> Scott. Well, you'll be dating the guys from Heated Rivalry soon enough. That's
00:09:22
where >> Jesus, those dudes are great actors and they're hot. Did you watch
00:09:26
>> Oh my god, I could have won the award for visual effects last night. I just
00:09:30
should have showed up and accepted the rushed stage when they said and the award for visual effects and they would
00:09:36
have figured out it was me. Our podcast would be number one right now. We should
00:09:39
have won that >> because I was at I was staying at the Waldorf which is next to the hotel that
00:09:43
was having the visual and I walked around with all this plastic surgery and it was really strange. It was like
00:09:48
having a credential badge. They let me go wherever I want cuz if you have plastic clearly you have just had a nose
00:09:53
job. They're like, "Oh, they must be a star. Let them in." So I could have
00:09:58
rushed the stage and picked up the award and I decided definitely would have been
00:10:01
the award for visual effects. Oh >> good. That we deserve the podcast award.
00:10:05
Honestly, Polar is very nice. That was a weird dogs breakfast of a group of podcasters. None of them were like each
00:10:11
other. >> I thought, you know what though, I got to give it to the Golden Globes. I read
00:10:15
the list of nominees mostly because we aren't we weren't on it. But I thought
00:10:19
they did a great job. I thought all of those podcasts Mel's great. I love Dak
00:10:25
Shepard. Was J Shetty in there. Who else was it? >> It was NPR. Stephen >> Fantastic.
00:10:31
>> Yeah, Steve. Amy Puller, obviously. Um, >> fantastic. Oh, the the guys from
00:10:36
Smartless. >> Those guys are amazing. I thought I thought, "Wow." I And by the way, I've
00:10:41
been on every one of them except for Call Me Daddy >> and uh Amy's. I've been on Amy's.
00:10:48
>> Um I was I don't know about you, I was a little bit I don't know what the term
00:10:52
is, a little bit I don't say resentful. I My understanding of Amy Polish, she's
00:10:55
a lovely person and I I haven't listened to her pod. People love it. But I was
00:10:59
kind of bummed that it was someone who felt like they were late to the game who got it. I was kind of hoping one of the
00:11:04
original gangsters would have got it. >> Yeah, the smartest guy. >> But I thought I thought actually, you
00:11:10
know what? It's interesting. That's a big mo I think that's a big moment for
00:11:13
podcasting. >> Here's the only thing. There was an interesting article in the New York
00:11:16
Times. It's like these are all the others are so desperate and everyone's
00:11:20
in their place. You you can't really put like they didn't have any narrative
00:11:24
podcasts which sort of began this. They should split have more podcast awards. That's all.
00:11:29
>> Well, that's what they'll do eventually. They'll have best crime drama, best
00:11:33
episode, best best host. But they already do that. I mean, we're up for Webbbies again. And everyone wins a
00:11:40
Webbby. Everyone's like everyone's like, you know, best male co-host who's going
00:11:45
through the mother of all midlife crisis. >> It's like they they've they've decided
00:11:52
the Webbies and the Streamies have decided they need to make money, so they charge you and they have a million
00:11:58
categories. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Well, I don't that's fine. I think
00:12:02
it's it's a huge It's a 2.14 billion dollar business now. I mean, >> it's the fastest growing media. It's
00:12:07
growing now faster than Google or or MetaF a smaller base. But >> yeah, >> we've said this before. It's because of
00:12:12
the audience we're attracting. >> We're geniuses now. We're going to have
00:12:15
plastic surgery. They don't call it what do they call it now? Is it plastic surgery?
00:12:20
>> Cosmetic surgery. I don't know. Pathetic. >> I like you doing it cuz I'm I'm living
00:12:24
vicariously through you because I find out all manner of nonsense. >> You want to drive my Ferrari in Palm
00:12:29
Beach? Wait, did you buy a Ferrari, too? >> I'm think I I the fact I'm even looking
00:12:33
at one. I Right now, I don't own a car. Right now, I don't own a car. I I I I
00:12:38
literally I take the tube. >> Coming back to the US. >> I take the tube and I take this amazing
00:12:42
ride hailing service called uh uh Wheelie. And when I'm in US, I take Lift because I like the CEO. He's very
00:12:48
spiritual. I would like him to be my rabbi. U But no, I don't I I haven't
00:12:53
owned a car in a bunch of years, but I'm seriously trolling Ferraris. They're so
00:12:58
beautiful. I think they would say that I'm refined and elegant and young lady,
00:13:03
you should have a random sexual experience with me. >> No, I don't think so. I think you should
00:13:07
think about a Chevy Bolt. Yeah. >> Hasn't even entered like you literally I don't know what you
00:13:14
could do. I don't know what the opposite of an ED drug is, but that's what the
00:13:18
term Chevy Bolt is for me. >> I am telling you, look how well I'm doing with my Chevy Bolt. I'm
00:13:23
successful. I have a beautiful wife. I just don't I think you have all of that
00:13:28
despite the Bolt. >> No, it's >> in spite of the Bolt. I think the Bolt I
00:13:33
think the Bolt does say, you know what, I don't care. >> Yeah, I'm looking at the new Rivian.
00:13:37
It's really cool. >> Oh, those are great. >> You know what? That is the Aspen car, by
00:13:41
the way. >> And then I'm not looking at the Rivian. Okay. >> You say that when my house was ready in
00:13:47
Aspen, you're literally my house in Aspen, you're literally going to be like, "Hey, just FYI, I'm swinging by
00:13:52
Aspen." And it, no pressure at all, but I'd like to stay there for the spring.
00:13:57
I'd like to stay there for the spring. No pressure. You can say no, but I'd
00:14:02
like to meet Jeffrey Swisser and my uncles and cousins and Lucky for the spring. That is so coming. So, do not
00:14:09
mock Aspen. It is so I am waiting for that. I it is is I think Aspen is a little too much now. I used to like it.
00:14:16
It seems like something poppy. >> A little too much. Awesome. >> Awesome. All right. Okay. I do I'm
00:14:22
putting in my reservation now. All right. We're going to move on from Scott to Jennifer Granny Rene. We didn't
00:14:28
>> Welcome back Cornish. >> Cornish Cornish. >> Audi Cornish has not had plastic
00:14:34
surgery. >> She has perfect skin. She has perfect skin. That's what happens when you have
00:14:40
plastic surgery. You're sitting there wrapped up like a [ __ ] mommy going, "Atie Cornish has perfect skin." That's
00:14:46
That's my week. >> Can you Can I tell you we want to thank everybody who took filled in for you
00:14:53
during I'm a >> Everybody came Stephanie Rule and Bill Con. Thank you.
00:15:02
>> She was spicy. I figured out Stephanie's I came to so many observations under the
00:15:06
influence of opiates. Stephanie's peanut butter and chocolate. is she is smart
00:15:10
and spicy. She's smart and spicy. >> Oh my god. Where are you now? You had to
00:15:16
skip TV. >> Oh my god. I had to fly back from LA last night. I had to try and pretend to
00:15:21
sleep. >> Hello. Hello, Lunesta. >> And then I'm going after this. I go to
00:15:27
Miami for a speaking gig, which should be interesting with this. >> I was just there
00:15:30
>> with this face. Yeah. But my friend said he saw you >> and then I have to come back for another
00:15:35
speaking gig on Wednesday. And then I go to Davos on Sunday. So I also >> you also are being interviewed by me. So
00:15:40
I have to rethink that. >> I'm not being interviewed by you. >> Yeah. For my CNN thing. We're doing a
00:15:46
followup on our sound bar. Our sound. >> Is that how poorly the show is going?
00:15:49
I'm on twice. >> No, it's going great. It's going great. Do you know where I am right now?
00:15:54
>> Where are you? >> Morgantown, West Virginia. I'm going to film at my dad's grave today.
00:15:58
>> But how do they relate that to health? Or is it just what it's like to
00:16:01
>> It's about longevity. It's about try. They're trying. I hate to say this, but
00:16:05
one of the feedback from the stuff we've >> is your void of all emotion or humanity.
00:16:11
>> Take her to her father's grave. >> She's faceeliftless. She needs a
00:16:14
faceelift. >> She refuses to get her eyes done. Take her to her father's grave and wide
00:16:20
angle. Focus back. Focus back. >> No, they want more Cara. They want more Cara in this in the series.
00:16:27
>> Yeah, more Cara. >> We have so much to talk about. There's You missed quite a bit. Just Just
00:16:31
saying. >> Oh my god. She like crazy on your tram at all. >> First time first time in my life I was
00:16:36
scared to look at the news. >> Really scared. I'm like, you know, I think I'm just going to ignore the news.
00:16:41
>> Yeah. >> Watch hot white butt sex on off the ice. >> Okay, let's start that. The Justice
00:16:47
Department has opened, this just happened yesterday, has opened a criminal investigation into Fed Chair uh
00:16:52
Jerome Powell over the central bank's renovation of its headquarters and whether he lied to Congress about it.
00:16:56
The inquiry includes analysis of Powell's public statements and spending records. Powell called the investigation
00:17:02
unprecedented in a video released by the Fed on Sunday. Let me say he's finally
00:17:07
said enough is [ __ ] enough. Let's listen to the clip. >> The threat of criminal charges is a
00:17:12
consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public
00:17:19
rather than following the preferences of the president. This is about whether the Fed will be
00:17:24
able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions or whether instead monetary
00:17:30
policy will be directed by political pressure or intimidation. >> This guy is a [ __ ] corrupt octopus.
00:17:36
When asked about the investigation, not not Powell, Trump. President Trump said he didn't know anything about it. He's a
00:17:42
liar. Powell's term as chair ends in May and his term as governor though runs
00:17:47
through January 2028. What in the world is he doing? They've but they've been
00:17:52
lowering interest rates. I I think they were going to keep them the same for this particular next session. But what
00:17:58
in the world? He's going to get his guy in May. What he he actually pointed Powell, but let's move on from that.
00:18:04
Thoughts? >> Well, before Chairman Powell released that statement, there was a 15% likely
00:18:10
like likelihood that he would resign before August. By the end of his statement, it had dropped to 5%. And
00:18:16
that is the market where the wisdom crowd said, "This guy's going nowhere.
00:18:20
He's very good. He nailed his speech. He did exactly what he needed to do. He
00:18:24
wasn't defensive. He just stated the obvious. This is prosecuting or criminally pursuing your political
00:18:30
enemies. And I think even most Republicans deep down acknowledge that. Also, Republicans who are supposed to be
00:18:37
the ones that are more fiscally responsible recognize that one of the keys to the most prosperous economies in
00:18:42
the world. And the majority of western economies that grow their economies while not risking u spiraling inflation
00:18:51
have one thing in common and that is they have an independent equivalent of a monetary fund or or excuse me a monetary
00:18:58
association or a federal reserve that is independent because of the following. Presidents are under huge pressure to
00:19:05
perform and usually there's term limits and they're only there for a limited
00:19:09
amount of time. So it would be almost near impossible for them not to believe that it would be good for them, the
00:19:14
country, and the world to lower interest rates because people don't typically
00:19:18
realize lowering interest rates is full stop putting more money in people's pockets.
00:19:25
If you lower interest rates, you pay a lower fee on your credit cards, your mortgage, your auto loan, your student
00:19:30
loan. If you take mortgage rates or excuse me, if you take interest rates from 5% to 2%, you're putting somewhere
00:19:37
between a few hundred or a few hundred,000 every month in the pocket of consumers, corporations, CFOs. Everyone
00:19:44
in the short run is happy. But the problem is you risk having too much money facing few products. The supply
00:19:51
chain doesn't increase and you end up with upward spiraling inflation. And the
00:19:56
thing about inflation going up is that if people get to a point where they start panic buying and that is they
00:20:01
don't hold the currency and they constantly transfer it into goods, it can spin out of control. And a lot of
00:20:06
revolutions start because of inflation. The primary job of an independent Fed is
00:20:11
to say, "Look, we're going to appoint you for 12 years and your job is not to
00:20:16
listen to anybody but the data and make sure this entire society doesn't crumble
00:20:22
under massive spiral inflation." And just a few data points on chairman pal.
00:20:26
He had an unprecedented increase in rates when he saw inflation peak at 9% and he's brought it down to about 2.8%.
00:20:35
He will go down arguably is one of the most seinal figures uh uh positively in terms of the US economy. The inflation
00:20:44
has mostly moved towards its target. He avoided a deep recession. He pulled off a Mary Lou Retin like sticking the
00:20:51
economy landing. Yeah, there was a little complaint about a little too much. Remember that part when they were
00:20:57
doing >> everyone was complaining when he was doing it. The far left is like you're
00:21:01
hurting Americans. The far right was you're being you're hurting corporations. But this is the bottom
00:21:05
line. He managed to cool inflation massively while avoiding a recession. He did.
00:21:12
>> People don't >> I mean before this what is it called? He kept something going too long and
00:21:17
>> easing. Quantitative easing. >> Yeah. Well, Janet Yellen basically said,
00:21:22
and I've made this argument, we pumped seven trillion dollars into the economy
00:21:25
and 85% of it wasn't spent. It's impossible to argue we didn't overdo it.
00:21:30
Her viewpoint is the risk of overdoing it are far outweighed by the risk of undoing it. Yeah.
00:21:36
>> If you look at the real economic strife throughout our society, it's when the
00:21:40
thing that that took the the Great Depression and turned it in from a great recession to a great depression is we
00:21:45
decided to tighten rather than loosen. Anyways, also he's done, including up
00:21:51
until the point of the speech yesterday, the Fed has maintained institutional credibility and independence.
00:21:57
>> The the piece of insight is I think everyone realizes this is prosecuting or
00:22:01
pursuing your political enemies. >> James, those cases are all falling apart, by the way. But go ahead.
00:22:06
>> They couldn't even get an indictment against her. >> Yeah. >> Um the evidence, the grand jury or the
00:22:10
evidence presented, they said it's not even worthy of an indictment. The the
00:22:13
piece of nuance that I found interesting here, the the little bit of insight that
00:22:17
people may not know is the following. This isn't about trying to intimidate him into resigning. That's not what this
00:22:24
is about. This is about trying to intimidate him into resigning from the board of governors
00:22:32
because his role on this board, basically on every board, this is the dynamic. There's 12 board members, say
00:22:40
on a board, a public company board. It's usually less than that, but let's say
00:22:43
it's 12. There's everybody speaks, everyone nods, and then there's one or two people when
00:22:49
they speak, everyone [ __ ] listens. You got to believe that when chairman Powell is just is no longer chairman,
00:22:56
but the governor, when he speaks, everyone's going to listen. He's going
00:23:01
to have huge influence. And Trump Trump wants him off. Trump wants someone Trump
00:23:07
wants a board of governors that is not independent that will take interest rates way down and give him the sugar
00:23:12
high he wants and if pal is still on this board what we are going to have is a much safer much more robust economy
00:23:21
anywhere >> well even he he's done in May this is about trying to get him to say
00:23:28
>> I get it I'm just saying he's not he's not coming off the board there this is
00:23:32
like >> I don't think so either >> oh I think he's he wouldn't
00:23:35
This is not a man who makes a video like >> this dude does not scare easily. He
00:23:40
didn't he didn't get on there and and start being defensive about the actual
00:23:43
thing he's been accused of. He's like he's basically said this is nonsense and
00:23:47
anyone with half a brain isn't even going to get near this. Even Fox News I don't think is going to go after him.
00:23:53
They realize okay this is a bridge cockaman mean like well everything they're saying now is coming out of
00:23:59
their mouths as a lie. So, I mean, what's what's really interesting was this video that he find there's a lot of
00:24:05
sudden push back in lots of different places you're starting to see and um including Republicans voting against him
00:24:12
particular AC subsidies. I have to say this was this is such a like a signal of you know what's incredible to me is he's
00:24:21
very active and everything he's doing to me um is it I think it it's this one
00:24:28
reaped of desperation because he can't this is not going to work and it does it
00:24:33
makes it makes Powell stronger that is my feeling like this gives him much more credibility to influence the Fed even
00:24:40
after he's gone you know he's going to whoever he picks is no match for Jerome
00:24:45
Powell, even if he's not the Fed chair. So, >> I have never been more confident about a
00:24:50
future recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom than Chairman Powell. >> Yep. Yep.
00:24:54
>> I mean, he kind of right now he kind of defines leadership. >> Yeah. Maybe Miss Mat will give him
00:25:01
surprise. Well, anyway, let's go on a quick break. When we come back, the ongoing fallout from the ICE shootings
00:25:07
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00:26:31
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up and get 10% off at betterhelp.com/pivot. That's betterhp.com/pivot. >> We're back with more news. Thousands of
00:27:23
people across the country took to the streets this weekend to protest the killing of 37year-old Renee Good by an
00:27:28
ICE agent in Minneapolis. This as Homeland Security Secretary Christy Gnome says she's sending
00:27:34
hundreds more federal agents to Minneapolis this week. Vice President JD Vance and others are arguing that the
00:27:40
footage supports a claim of self-defense. Most people don't well most people aren't lying. Don't agree
00:27:46
with that. Meanwhile, Good's wife spoke out saying on Wednesday, January 7th, we
00:27:50
stopped to support our neighbors. We had whistles. They had guns. Um, you you shared your thoughts with me, and you
00:27:56
know, this is uh this is a terrible uh thing. And and and of course, you know, I think people rightly point out that um
00:28:04
that it's it gets an enormous amount of attention. This is a a white woman coming back from school. I mean, the
00:28:11
narrative is really quite something, but it still has sparked protests everywhere. Um, because and
00:28:19
it's when it's especially when it's combined with all these videos of these
00:28:23
thugs going around with masks on, um, you see reaction from sheriffs and local police who don't like it. They don't
00:28:31
wear masks. Um, talk a little bit about what you you think is happening here right now. Well, I just want to
00:28:36
acknowledge the point you referenced and that the black community is like, "Yeah,
00:28:39
welcome to our world." The look, the very founding of America, the very principles and the reason why people
00:28:47
took so many risks and brought together such thoughtful people to start this new
00:28:52
experiment called America, the very cornerstone of why America was found founded was to avoid this [ __ ] was they
00:28:58
didn't want an autocrat with unchecked power that could harm them. And so this
00:29:04
in so many ways is just a violation of everything we're supposed to stand for.
00:29:09
And the worst thing you could say about uh Miss is that she was I don't even say
00:29:15
fleeing the scene, but leaving a controlled environment without permission. That is absolutely the worst
00:29:20
thing you could say about her, but Department of Justice policy clearly states you cannot discharge a weapon or
00:29:28
use lethal force when someone is fleeing the scene. And I'm not even sure it
00:29:32
qualifies as fleeing the scene, but take the worst interpretation of what she was
00:29:37
doing. You still cannot justify >> That's right. >> what this agent did. And also, if you're
00:29:43
in front of a jury talking about situations like this, and look, federal agents and police deal with very hot in
00:29:50
the- moment complicated situations. >> And a lot of it goes to um what they
00:29:56
refer to in court as state of mind. Let me give you this guy's state of mind. [ __ ] [ __ ]
00:30:05
>> He put three bullets in the torso and face of a woman who has not physically
00:30:12
threatened him and then decided after she had clearly been killed and ran off the road to say [ __ ] [ __ ] That was
00:30:22
his state of mind. This is a tragedy on a meta level for American principles. It's obviously a huge tragedy for her
00:30:31
and her family. What was even more disappointing and salt in the wounds of the current state of America is
00:30:38
conservative media, including Fox, used a lot of code words when describing Miss
00:30:44
Good. And I'm sure you saw this. >> Oh, I saw it. >> Uh, first off, a self-proclaimed poet.
00:30:51
[ __ ] She was an award-winning poet, a divorced person. Oh, divorced people aren't as worthy. And then the one I'm
00:30:58
sure you noticed, they kept referring to her as a lesbian. >> Yep. >> Okay. The guy who shot her three times
00:31:05
in the face. I would bet 95% probability he sleeps with women. That makes him no
00:31:13
more or no less guilty. And the fact that she sleeps with women makes her no less or more guilty of of anything or no
00:31:22
less a tragedy or a victim. And when Fox consistently describes her as a lesbian
00:31:28
activist, what they're saying is, "Dear viewers, we think you are such raging
00:31:33
[ __ ] homophobes that if we highlight that this woman sleeps with other women, you will have an easier time justifying
00:31:40
the murder of this woman because being gay is a bad thing." In other words,
00:31:45
dear viewers, we think you too are homophobic. All of this >> took out a mouthy lesbian. That's
00:31:51
exactly what they're doing. >> All of this coded language to try is basically an acknowledgement that the
00:31:57
viewers of of whatever conservative media starts using those words. It makes no it makes no go. If we ever
00:32:06
get to a point of America, it makes no sense in any trial or jury to talk about someone's sexual orientation. I have
00:32:13
long said and and also I think the left sometimes has a problem with wrapping virtue around people if they're of a
00:32:20
certain special interest group. No, they're no better and they're no worse.
00:32:24
>> This this had nothing to do with that. It was terrifying as a you know because
00:32:28
I think it was someone who has there's some personal thing happening here with
00:32:33
him and gay >> well supposedly had another altercation with a car. >> Yeah. And I don't know something else.
00:32:39
>> Her heirs are going to be rich. >> [ __ ] [ __ ] says a lot to me.
00:32:42
something else. Um and so uh you know the the what really look this guy is clearly a thug,
00:32:51
right? Just one and this is what they hired. This is the the people that killed all those people in Germany were
00:32:57
thugs. Hitler did not kill everybody. He hired people who did so. And one of the
00:33:03
things um that you you notice from this is the reaction from people who know better. The JD Vances, the Christy
00:33:10
Gnomes, etc. and Trump himself who immediately, you know, uh, decided she was guilty no matter what
00:33:19
and kept pushing this thing before any investigation. The only person who tried to say, "Well, let's just wait and see,"
00:33:25
was of all people, Tom Hman. And then he was slapped back like he was incredible.
00:33:30
He had the correct response, which is, "Let's wait and see." Like, because, you
00:33:35
know, and of course now we we're living in an era of video. And when they release that thing and let [ __ ] [ __ ]
00:33:41
out, like they think that helps their case. It sounds like this guy was in a rage from someone and she her last words
00:33:49
of of her life were, "I'm not mad at you, dude." Like honestly, the
00:33:54
juxaposition and her name good. Um, it was and it's so clear what's happening
00:33:59
in that video. I think what's really going to what's grotesque is and I have
00:34:03
to give credit to Jake Tapper for riding Christy Gnome about this which was how can you you she showed pictures
00:34:10
obviously of January 6 where they were squeezing a police officer hitting them with with um pipes and and and flags and
00:34:19
and squeezing one officer in a door and they got pardoned you know and she was like everyone gets the same law and he's
00:34:27
like but they don't and she goes everyone get the same law. Then he shows the pictures again and says, "She's
00:34:32
saying I'm not mad at you, dude." And driving away. They are attacking police
00:34:37
officers. You cannot say this. I mean, as far as I'm concerned, Christine Gnome
00:34:40
needs to be impeached and hopefully go to jail. JD Vance is particularly losome in this thing. And this
00:34:49
to me was sort of a shock. this idea of like trying to impugn this victim long before there's an investigation and then
00:34:56
not letting the state also be participatory. This is not going to end well for any of these people at some
00:35:02
point. >> Well, the it's the administration has been consistent. It's the Roy Con
00:35:06
communication strategy. Double down, deny, attack, attack, attack. Never admit any guilt. If they'd had a really
00:35:14
talented communications person with the presidency, what would have actually helped the administration is if the
00:35:20
president had done the following. I saw the video. Quite frankly, I found it very upsetting. Americans, you know, ICE
00:35:26
is there for a reason. Uh, I need to review this. I need to see what the full investigation says, but I found what I
00:35:33
saw disturbing. And then say nothing else. I think that actually would quite frankly have given ICE more cloud cover
00:35:40
and license if he had just said that. I don't know if you remember when George
00:35:45
Bush they had video of when Saddam Hussein was hanged and I remember him saying yeah I watched the video and I
00:35:53
quite frankly I found it very disturbing and I it was a real moment where you said okay I feel better about this guy
00:36:02
being president. you know, as angry as he was, as much military hardware as he'd committed, he knew he had been he
00:36:07
had been sentenced to death, but he just said, "I I found the whole thing disturbing." They they would have helped
00:36:14
themselves if they had just said, "We need to have a full investigation. Anyone who saw the video, including us,
00:36:21
uh found this disturbing >> and we need to investigate it. We need to investigate
00:36:25
>> and we'll see we'll see what where the a full investigation turns up."
00:36:28
>> I these people are out of control. I mean, I've talked to a lot of this is
00:36:32
him unhinged with people, you know, essentially his his low rent versions of the SS with them. That's what it feels
00:36:40
like. My heart goes out to these the children of this woman, which is um she dropped a kid off at school and then
00:36:48
>> she had stuffed animals in her glove box. >> Yeah. I mean, there was a dog. This is
00:36:51
not a dangerous. >> Yeah. Driving a Honda Pilot. It was like something out of
00:36:55
>> Speaking of great cars. this. Um, but he's also trying to roll over uh big oil companies. He says
00:37:01
they'll invest hundred billion dollars to rebuild Venezuela's oil industry, but
00:37:05
executives do not say this. And they did not say it in public. Um, at a White House meeting, oil companies expressed
00:37:12
interest but didn't commit to spending, which means they don't want to. And I
00:37:15
have talked to several people and they're they do not want to. with Exxon CEO calling Venezuela uninvestable under
00:37:22
current conditions. Trump is now saying he's inclined to keep Exxon out. I guess
00:37:26
he's doing them a favor. They don't want to be there. He's also turning up the
00:37:29
heat on Cuba, warning the country will receive zero oil and money from Venezuela and telling them to make a
00:37:33
deal before it's too late. I mean, this guy is like a mobster. If you were an
00:37:37
oil company executive, I mean, most of them are like, I I no matter what he says, they're not going to waste their
00:37:44
money on things. They've already lost. He, as correctly, these oil executives
00:37:48
pointed out, they lost money there. It's sunk costs that they're never getting
00:37:52
back. And they written down a lot of these assets. They had to explain a lot of this to him. Um, you know, which cuz
00:37:58
he's he just didn't have any idea what seemed not to have any idea what had
00:38:03
happened in Venezuela. Um, so what do you think about this? That was really interesting for the Exxonic, the biggest
00:38:08
oil company to say, "Yeah, no, I don't think so." Right in public at the White
00:38:13
House. I I know what's going to happen here. The the oil companies will just, you
00:38:19
know, give them a hand job, say they're very interested in looking at it, wait
00:38:23
them out. But economics are going to win here. And the economics at a very basic
00:38:27
level are the following. The type of oil that Venezuela has, and it does sit on the largest untapped reserves of oil in
00:38:33
the world, but it's heavy crude. And heavy crude requires special chemicals and more efforts to extract. And
00:38:41
basically the cost >> fine. >> Yeah, that's right. But the cost of just
00:38:44
of extraction are 70 to 80 bucks a barrel. And right now in the open market, it's at about 62 bucks. Now,
00:38:51
they continue to do that because they have fixed costs they need to cover. But right now with the current marketplace,
00:38:56
it just doesn't make an economic argument for any incremental investment. In addition,
00:39:01
>> big oil companies have made massive multi-billion dollar investments in
00:39:04
Venezuela twice, and each of those times their assets have been seized. So they're kind of like, okay, fool me
00:39:10
once, fool me twice, fool me three times. >> We don't need it. They don't need it.
00:39:15
>> Well, there is something, and I will come back to Venezuela because I have a
00:39:19
lot of thoughts on it, and I was I was jonesing to talk about it. But what I do think Rubio, but the president doesn't
00:39:25
seem to understand, is that while oil has shaped the world, where it is now is that it's not about the it's not about
00:39:32
the amount of oil. The US is a net exporter. We have more oil than we need. On an inflationadjusted basis, oil is
00:39:39
cheaper than it was 50 years ago. But the control of the flow of oil is actually very important because you can
00:39:47
in fact shut off without so 90% of their oil experts from Venezuela were going to
00:39:53
China. There was a shadow fleet coming in and out of Venezuela and it was going to the people quite frankly that we
00:39:59
don't like. So the ability to turn off that tap, if China, if you were able to
00:40:04
basically sequester China from supplies of energy, they'd be out of business in
00:40:08
about 6 to 8 weeks and cannot wage war. Whereas the US is energy independent. That is a big
00:40:14
>> big deal. But for Exxon or Chevron or name, you know, name your fossil fuels
00:40:21
company, they have shareholders and on a riskadjusted basis, they look at this thing. It might be worthy of some
00:40:27
incremental investment if they get guarantees or backs stops from the government or something like that to
00:40:33
upgrade certain facilities. But be clear, this isn't going to be a massive it just doesn't it doesn't pencil out
00:40:40
when oil is at 62 bucks a share. Now, if oil goes to $110 a share, then they're
00:40:46
going to get, you know, they're going to get their wallets out and say, "Okay,
00:40:50
we'll buy futures to lock in that price, and we'll make sure that the president
00:40:54
gives us a sweetheart deal and security guarantees from the Venezuelan government." But the the old regime was
00:41:01
wildly corrupt. Guess who's there right now? The same regime. >> I know. So I it we're not going to see I
00:41:08
don't see in the near future a wave of additional incremental investment capital where you could see massive
00:41:14
investment capital is Chipotle and the Four Seasons. There's a lot of companies
00:41:19
that are probably interested. I'm actually more optimistic about Venezuela than I am say about Iraq or Afghanistan
00:41:24
where you had basically these countries that are a mishmash of different tribes with borders drawn up by you know the
00:41:32
British. Venezuela has been a democracy a many times. It's an homogeneous population. I I'm actually quite
00:41:39
optimistic, not with this administration, but I'm op optimistic in general about the prospects. Anyways,
00:41:45
I'm getting off track. But we're not going to see big capital investments in
00:41:48
the short term from from oil companies. >> No, but it's true. And you have to think
00:41:52
about the economic benefits of this country, right? I mean, in terms of what he's done here. Um, and it was really
00:41:59
interesting because I think he expected them all to follow the script and as the
00:42:02
tech bros tend to do. Um, and they absolutely didn't. Which when he said that I my head jerked up. I'm like, oh
00:42:09
wow, that's a big word. Un uninvestable. Like it wasn't like, oh, it's
00:42:13
problematic, but we'll figure it out. It was unin It was sort of very clear. Um,
00:42:19
and he was obviously irked by that. But leaving them out, they're they listen,
00:42:23
he's not gonna be able to leave them out if they want to be in there. They're the
00:42:25
oil companies. they'll do what they want. Um, as as much as he thinks he controls everything, because he likes to
00:42:31
say that the more he says I control everything, the more I know he doesn't in so many ways. But
00:42:36
>> we don't have an embassy in Karacus. We don't have boots on the ground. I'm not
00:42:39
exactly sure other than the threat. >> I'm not exactly sure how we >> control to go there. Do you think
00:42:46
America Americans want to especially his base, they absolutely don't want to go
00:42:50
there. I think Venezuela could be one of the most attractive tourist uh destinations in the world. Yeah.
00:42:57
>> If if this is handled rightly. This is >> and again this might might have been me
00:43:02
thinking about this under the influence of opiates. I think the analogy I would use is a Bond film
00:43:07
>> and that is Bond films always have amazing openings. They always nail the
00:43:13
opening >> but then it goes on to be great, good or awful. There's been some awful Bond
00:43:18
movies. There's been some great ones. Whenever we do these adventures and overseas conquest, it almost always
00:43:24
starts really well. We were able to do, when I say we, I'm talking about the
00:43:29
best performing organization in history, the US military. We were able to do in 35 minutes what Putin has not been able
00:43:34
to do in 35 months. I mean, >> Ukraine, you're talking about in Ukraine.
00:43:40
>> Yeah, I'm sorry. In Ukraine. Thank you, Cara. This was such a flex and an
00:43:46
extraordinary demonstration of skill, strength, and bravery from the US military. I mean, just absolutely
00:43:52
extraordinary. Now, >> if they hadn't won though, come on. It's Venezuela. Sorry. Like, come on.
00:44:00
>> Single US fatality or casualty. >> If there had been, I would have been
00:44:04
like, "What in the hell? How did we lose one person in this?" >> Oh god. Of course not. You have
00:44:09
mercenaries all around them. >> No, I get it. They know they're coming.
00:44:12
You would have thought supposedly the people on the ground there didn't even
00:44:16
hear them coming, right? They were hell. This was such an unbelievably massive flex. The problem is the administration
00:44:26
has not taken a note out of the most obvious and best written geopolitical strategy in history. And it's the
00:44:33
following. The Marshall Plan. All right. We have the Imperial Navy which was shooting surviving sailors in the sea.
00:44:41
We had the Third Reich which obviously did some terrible things. So what did the American people and our leadership
00:44:46
decide to do? >> Give them money. >> We invested in their nations. >> Yeah.
00:44:50
>> And we weren't punitive. We invested. We rebuilt. And what do you know? Germany
00:44:55
and Japan 80 years later are amazing allies. >> Well, we're turning on them now because
00:45:00
of Greenland. >> Well, hold on. Let me let let's just stick with Venezuela. the opportunity to
00:45:06
not say, "Give me your [ __ ] oil." and and more deeply impoverish them and have
00:45:12
a transition government and then have international uh voting oversight, free elections, have our great institutions,
00:45:19
our great and companies encourage to invest in Venezuela. Give Venezuelan people a shot. Show them why democracy
00:45:25
and capitalism is so wonderful. Create an amazing ally in Latin America. >> Yeah, you're talking about the wrong
00:45:30
president. The movie could have been so this is a Bond film. It started amazing.
00:45:36
Now we're gonna find out this may not be a great movie because already he's
00:45:40
saying give me the oil. >> Yeah. Pretty explicitly. So that's you know related is both Greenland and Iran.
00:45:48
President Trump is considering very strong options to intervene in Iran amid a violent crackdown on anti-government
00:45:53
protests. He likes to help protesters in other countries, but human rights groups
00:45:57
say over 500 people have been killed in the last 2 weeks with over 10,000 arrested. PE other other estimates are
00:46:04
much higher. People are saying uh reports are coming out of much higher than 500. Internet access has also been
00:46:10
shut down. Telephone service, Iran's foreign minister just a little while ago
00:46:13
that the country is ready for war but prepared to negotiate. Um obviously most most smart people on this issue whether
00:46:22
it's far there's all kinds of people talking about it this this this regime
00:46:26
is facing some you know they have this has happened before but most people feel this is really bad for the regime which
00:46:34
is good for everybody. Um but uh uh taking military action again is quagmire feels quagmire and and rather dangerous
00:46:45
although it's the maybe the point to attack because the this this country is
00:46:49
is on the brink I think from most from what I can read from experts. >> I can't think of a military operation
00:46:55
that has a higher ROI for the world and for women and for feminism right now. >> We have been here before where it looked
00:47:01
like the regime was going to fall. >> Yeah. And uh because of the IDF and uh
00:47:07
the US air force uh we have taken out Iran's air defenses. It is clear that the MOSAD has penetrated the highest
00:47:14
levels in terms of uh soft assets and espionage. We should absolutely be supporting incredibly brave young women
00:47:23
and men who are risking their lives every day and we should be striking civilian support centers. We need to
00:47:31
help these folks finish the job. This is argu we are on the precipice car of what
00:47:36
is arguably the greatest unlock for women's rights and and to unlock what is
00:47:43
an incredible civilization and turn and stabilize the Middle East for decades. There is so in my opinion there is
00:47:51
nowhere in the world that canotes a better reason and a bigger opportunity for why we spend more than the next 10
00:47:58
militaries combined. We should be coordinating with our allies in the west. Although they're not going to
00:48:03
coordinate us anymore, but Israel will coordinate with us and we should absolutely be providing military cloud
00:48:09
cover and on the ground uh assets to make sure that this isn't the 11th hour
00:48:16
for the regime. This is this is lights out. >> This is it right. Lights out. So again,
00:48:21
as you noted, this has happened before. There have been protests across the country and they've managed to tamp them
00:48:26
down over and over again. this regime, >> but so many people still supposedly I
00:48:31
read this morning that 2,000 people have been have been murdered. >> The best way to end a war is to win it.
00:48:41
>> We have the resources. They have no air defenses. We have assets. Russia is
00:48:46
preoccupied. Uh I I mean, I'm a hawk. I don't think there's any reason to to spend$ 1.1
00:48:53
trillion dollars on the US military and then not use it in situations like this.
00:48:59
>> So So what does that look like? Does it look like again, you know, does it it
00:49:03
does it have that Bush feel to it that that of course I suspect much regret for the United States's
00:49:10
involvement there whether it was Afghanistan or Iraq etc. I think I think that's a fair question because the
00:49:18
reality is we are we are very good and I think it would not incur much danger to
00:49:23
our men and women to filament regime change here. The problem is is when we decide to start trying nation build but
00:49:32
Iraq I think that that there is an infrastructure and a populace and they even you know everyone's excited about
00:49:39
the sha son potentially coming back and he has said the right language he wants to be a transition leader to free and
00:49:45
fair elections but the current what we know is the current state is not good for the people of Iran especially bad
00:49:54
for the women of Iran who have been uh subject subject to what is arguably one of the worst gender apartheides in the
00:50:00
world. Keep in mind Iran just a year ago was considered the superpower of the Middle East.
00:50:05
>> In addition, I mean, >> when you look at geopolitics, you're not
00:50:08
only going to look at what's happened, but what's not happened. Have the
00:50:10
Houthis been causing problems in the Suez Canal? No. Has Hezbollah been firing rockets into their neighbors? No.
00:50:18
We need to finish the job here. And just personally having grown up at UCLA and having friends David Ail, my mentor
00:50:28
Hamid Moadam, Bak Baseri, Alex Dilei, I have never met a group of people who are more American
00:50:35
than Americans than Iranians. And I think they could actually be an outstanding ally for us. I think the
00:50:42
cultures are much more similar between the US and Iran than a lot of our existing allies. Well then weigh in what
00:50:48
the hell he's doing with Greenland then. >> I'll tell you exactly news conference.
00:50:53
>> I'll tell you exactly what's going on. Cara, >> it makes absolutely no sense.
00:50:58
>> It's all downside. Any anything they that we say we want, they're like,
00:51:02
"Fine, put military bases here. Do you want >> Do we have rare earth?
00:51:06
>> We're allowed to." As Dave I injured David Sanger, we can put them there.
00:51:09
There's there's >> rare earth. Sure. What What's your What's your idea? Instead, we want to go
00:51:14
to war with NATO. I mean, this one is really out of a out of a I maybe you've
00:51:22
done some reporting here or talked some. >> Here's what I think. This is what people
00:51:25
around. He just wants to take land to show he'd be the first president to do
00:51:30
it since I don't know, Jefferson. I whoever >> like a real estate deal or something.
00:51:34
>> Yeah. Yeah. And he he he's someone was speculating, you know, the map, it's
00:51:39
called a marator map, shows Greenland is enormous, but it's actually not. It's
00:51:45
not as big as just because the way maps are made. It's a real estate deal that
00:51:50
that he's obsessed with. Um, and of course, it'll create so much damage to
00:51:55
our relationship with Europe. >> If we start attacking an a NATO ally. Yeah. I don't I don't This makes
00:52:02
>> Yeah, >> I got to think even the administration would go, "Uh, what are we doing?"
00:52:07
>> No, they seem to be going along with him. They seem to like whatever crazy
00:52:11
[ __ ] comes out of his mouth. But we'll see. Do you think he'll take military
00:52:15
action here? Prediction, Scott, and then we >> I don't. >> Yeah.
00:52:18
>> Well, let me go this way. I think they would just show up, but in Iraq. In
00:52:22
Iran. Yes. >> I'm really hopeful. I think this is why we have him. I think if if we're really
00:52:29
serious, I can I was trying to find what Secretary Clinton thought about this cuz
00:52:33
the thing about Secretary Clinton was she was always pragmatic, was always willing to exert US force.
00:52:38
>> Oh, she loved it. She loved she loved a bomb drop. >> And she never she never forgot where she
00:52:45
came from and that is she always in the back of her mind said, "We are here for
00:52:49
a lot of reasons, but we're here to protect and advance the rights of women all over the world."
00:52:53
>> Yeah. And there's a double whammy effect there because the rights of women are
00:52:59
largely a forward-looking indicator of your economic growth, prosperity, and your move towards democracy. So there's
00:53:04
a lot of reasons to just >> Trump is a well-known feminist because you know that's
00:53:09
>> we are on the verge of such an enormous unlock by toppling the Islamic Republic.
00:53:18
And unfortunately, I I didn't watch the Golden Globes, but I doubt there was very many mentions of
00:53:23
Iran because when you're >> mentioned, Scott, let's be fair to them.
00:53:27
There was no political there was >> there was there was hardly >> Yeah. But quite frankly, I would argue,
00:53:32
you tell me, I would argue the amount of mentions uh around Iran is is vastly underproportionate or underwhelming
00:53:41
relative to its importance. And this will trigger a lot of people, but I want a spicy comeback. And I've decided my
00:53:47
theme for 2026 is zero [ __ ] given. It's because of the moral color code. And
00:53:53
that is the media and progressives on our side of the aisle, especially the far left.
00:54:00
>> All right. >> Uh get moral polaralysis when the oppressors are brown.
00:54:04
And the number of people there I don't see any flotillas. I don't see Greta
00:54:08
Tumbberg. I don't see actors talking about what has been one of the most oppressive, misogynistic,
00:54:14
anti-democracy. Cara, they blind women. >> I am aware of also all of many of those countries which
00:54:23
they have protested against. Come on, Scott. I mean, even if they're going in
00:54:27
the right direction, that government should be eradicated. >> So, let's let's let's stop there. And
00:54:31
the way we do that is is just as we should be supporting the unbelievable bravery of the Ukrainian people with our
00:54:39
military hardware and intelligence, we should be supporting uh the brave men and women of Iran right now. And we have
00:54:46
the ability to do it. We have intelligence and technology from the IDF and we have the muscle. It is time. It
00:54:55
is time to move to the next stage of this incredible multi,000-year civilization.
00:55:01
and the potential. I >> I get it. I get it. We got to move on. But let me just say if the goal is to do
00:55:06
that, threatening our allies over Greenland is not >> No [ __ ] sense. No [ __ ] anyway.
00:55:10
>> No [ __ ] sense. >> All right, let's take a quick break. When we come back, here's something else
00:55:14
you have an opinion on. California's elite is not happy about a proposed billionaire wealth tax.
00:55:19
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00:57:33
>> Scott, we're back with some more news. Google co-founders Sergey Brenn and
00:57:36
Larry Page are cutting some business ties with California ahead of a proposed billionaire wealth tax in the state.
00:57:41
They aren't the only ones plotting for a way around it. Silicon Valley leads have
00:57:44
been privately organizing to block the tax through a signal chat group called Save California. The tax would be a
00:57:49
one-time levy on people worth more than a billion dollars. It's a couple hundred
00:57:53
people actually. It's not that many people, but uh some of them are not are not have a problem with. Jensen Wong
00:57:58
said he's perfectly happy to pay it. Um uh at the end of the day, uh I'm not so
00:58:03
sure these people will cut ties. Uh they all seem to come back to California over
00:58:07
and over again, and that's happening right now. As you saw, San Francisco is
00:58:12
is is sort of back baby kind of thing. um in general I know you have an issue about this at the ballot passes um but a
00:58:20
lot of it's not a great look and I suspect this is my feeling and I've been
00:58:25
talking to some of these people is they'll have some sort of they I think the smart ones understand the jig is up
00:58:32
on them being rich like being behaving the way they're behaving and the image
00:58:36
of Silicon Valley and they know they need to do something to to because they I think they feel the smart ones do feel
00:58:45
that there is a real backlash against enormous wealth and the gimmies they get. And so I suspect behind the scenes
00:58:53
there's a deal at play here. Um but I know behind the scenes there's a deal at
00:58:57
play. But uh thoughts that you have on this. I mean I think these the Google guys benefited from California. So did
00:59:03
all these billionaires the the the wonderful state of California. And it's not a great look the way they're
00:59:09
behaving. At the same time they can move anywhere they want. So, >> so if the objective is to signal to
00:59:16
billionaires that income inequality is out of control and their weaponization of the tax code has really damaged
00:59:22
America and created income inequality that threatens and tears of the fabric of our society and you want to reduce
00:59:30
receipts in the California government, then this is your bill. Because this is the bottom line, regardless of what you
00:59:36
think is right or ethical, um billionaires are the most mobile people in the world.
00:59:43
And uh this has been tried before and whoever wrote this bill has just not done the work. One of the people who's
00:59:49
senior in this effort reached out to me thinking that I would get on board with this and I said
00:59:54
there's no reason to do a call cuz I'm against this. In 1990 there were 12
00:59:59
European countries with wealth taxes and now only three remain. France repealed its wealth tax in 2017. Sweden repealed
01:00:07
it in 2007. Finland 2006. Denmark repealed its wealth tax in 1997. Ireland repealed its wealth tax in 1978. Austria
01:00:15
repealed its wealth tax in 1994. Where I'm living now in the UK, they have a
01:00:20
nondom act. And ethically and logically, it makes a lot of sense. For a long time, if you moved from Dubai or Hong
01:00:28
Kong to London and you were paying zero taxes there, you got to bring your zero tax status to London. That's kind of
01:00:34
unfair if you're using the UK infrastructure. So, they said, "Buck that. You've been here 5 years. You got
01:00:39
to pay UK taxes. Makes all the sense in the world. Over a thousand million 10,000 millionaires have left. The UK
01:00:46
government is going to collect less revenue this year, not more. Ethically also or principally I'm against it
01:00:55
because I think once you get through the gauntlet of taxes, it's private property. And I think one of the things
01:01:01
about the West is we respect private property. I don't think you can go after
01:01:05
people's assets retroactively. what they should have done or what they should do,
01:01:09
and I love tax policy, they should have an AMT. We don't care who you are and
01:01:14
how many tax goodies you've come up with, you're going to pay at least 40%
01:01:19
above a million dollars AMT. Um uh do away with a inheritance tax uh deduction or vastly reduce it,
01:01:30
raise corporate taxes. There's better ways to do this. >> But impossible, by the way, because they
01:01:36
have all the money to stop every single one of those things. I don't mind the
01:01:40
signal here to these people at all. And I think it is a signal. I'm not so sure.
01:01:45
And I know there's some >> I think higher taxes are coming for the wealthy.
01:01:48
>> You are. It's enough with you people. And I think the signal is enough to
01:01:52
begin the discussions. And they listen, they don't look good. Like here's
01:01:56
especially the Google guys. They made their fortune in California. So did Elon, by the way. All of them did. And
01:02:03
to like kick it on the way out is such a look of of greed. And it was really interesting that Jensen Wong because he
01:02:11
probably knows it's not going to really >> Jensen doesn't think this is going to go
01:02:14
through. >> He's saying so he's saying, >> "I'm a good guy. I'm one of you. I'm in
01:02:19
favor of this." He's not worried about it. >> He's not worried about it, but he also
01:02:23
knows he understands what's coming. See, I find him much more canny. They're just
01:02:28
so [ __ ] dumb and greedy. Like there's they just they just always have to react
01:02:34
when anyone wants them to do the right thing. Like, oh, I don't want to have to
01:02:37
do what I want to do. That kind of thing. And so, I think there's a real interesting interplay here with these
01:02:42
wealthy people because I do think brand Silicon Valley is not good, is that? >> Oh, no [ __ ]
01:02:49
>> You know, so they they need to make a deal here. The UK is talking about UK
01:02:53
Australian talking about banning >> banning X and it's only going to get
01:02:58
it's only going to get worse. I think Europe is probably going to consider banning Meta if this [ __ ] continues with
01:03:02
Trump. But just going back to tax policy, >> a better tax policy that would be more
01:03:08
effective. I mean, this is the problem is this with this ballot and some of the conversation we're having here is
01:03:13
something I've struggled with my whole life professionally. The difference between being right and being effective.
01:03:18
billionaires paying more tax in California to support the incredible infrastructure, the Cal State, the UC
01:03:23
system, the hospitals, the environment. H absolutely, that's right. But the question is how do you be effective? How
01:03:28
do you actually increase the treasury to invest in the middle class and the infrastructure that made these people
01:03:33
rich? And one thing you could do, it's boring, but it would be effective is the
01:03:36
following. You get taxed when you recognize a capital gain based on where the wealth was accreted. So when Bezos
01:03:45
accretes whatever it is 80 or $120 billion in wealth and then he recognizes it the tax authorities go okay it's we
01:03:54
estimate that 90 of that hundred billion was accreted while you were a resident of Washington state and so you are going
01:04:01
to pay Washington state taxes on 90 billion instead of like you know I'm thinking about selling my stock I'm
01:04:09
going to piece out to Miami and [ __ ] post San Francisco and then pay and pretend that I'm seeing being my father.
01:04:14
I couldn't handle San Francisco politics or homeless anymore. So, I'm piecing out
01:04:18
to a zero tax state and you can literally be there for 12 months and then recognize the entire capital gain
01:04:25
without paying anything back to the great infrastructure. I think there are much more much more elegant
01:04:30
>> I think this is the beginning of a dialogue. I just I don't I don't know
01:04:33
but I have a they let me just tell you they can walk you know do their angry walk out of California but they're
01:04:40
coming for you folks. you're not. Nobody likes you and they don't think you're
01:04:45
heroes and they don't think you're great and they don't think what you've done is
01:04:49
great. And so if there's one brand that's been more has has shot itself in
01:04:54
the foot more, it's Silicon Valley. Um, not everybody, but a lot of people. Anyway, um, one more quick break. We'll
01:05:00
be back for wins and fails. Support for today's show comes from Upwork. If you're a small business owner, your
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ready to help your business grow. That's upw.com. upwork.com. Okay, Scott, let's hear some wins and
01:06:04
fails. >> Okay. Uh my win is actually uh well the the US military that executed the
01:06:14
capture of Madura, Delta Force, First Special Forces Operation Detachment Delta, which is an elite army special
01:06:21
unit. Um that led the direct raid and the apprehension of Madora, the 160th special operation aviation regiment. Um
01:06:29
and then there are these quiet helicopters just un night prowlers and then supporting the uh our brave men and
01:06:38
women on the ground there where uh uh elements from multiple um units and intelligence mobility uh
01:06:46
the United States Air Force, United States Navy, the Marine Corps all had all had a role in this. I just think if
01:06:54
you think about kind of soft power, if you think about America's influence around the world, of the 7 billion
01:07:02
people in the world, 6.7 billion don't live here and 6 billion are never going
01:07:08
to come here and four billion are never going to have any interaction or 3 billion are probably never going to have
01:07:12
any interaction with an American to an extent. So our ability to do business, to continue to attract the best and
01:07:20
brightest, to convince them maybe not to cooperate with people planning to come here and harm us is based on our brand.
01:07:27
And part of that brand should be soft power in a positive way. And that's why
01:07:31
the cancellation of USAD was so terrible. But also some of it is is quite frankly as Maline Albbright said,
01:07:39
Secretary Albbright said, are reached as far in our memory as long. The brand message of this military flex and how it
01:07:47
is executed has sent a chill down the spine of every adversary globally. Jesus Christ, did you see what they did and
01:07:55
how easily they did it? Uh, I think that the win here and I I'm actually in favor
01:08:02
of the operation. US, Russia and China were operating a shadow fleet. We also actually didn't get enough press. We
01:08:09
seized a Russian tanker like it was wiping sweat from our brow. They did it so elegantly even though it was being
01:08:16
shadowed by an Achilas uh or class Russian sub. It could be an amazing ally. Anyways, we talked about this, but
01:08:25
my win is the best performing organization in the history of of the world and that is the US military. I
01:08:30
just don't I I'm just fascinated by what people my loss here is the moral color
01:08:36
code of America where unfortunately my business academics have created a zeicist of oppressor and oppressed and
01:08:46
we've decided the shorthand for that is the color of the skin of the oppressor.
01:08:52
And we go into moral paralysis, whether it's in Sudan or Afghanistan, uh, or in this case, Iran, when the
01:08:59
oppressors are brown. And I I just am disappointed that there's not more attention to what I don't think you can
01:09:06
call yourself a feminist if you're not talking about, excited, and very supportive of robust of robust action to
01:09:13
overthrow what has been one of the most oppressive regimes globally. Uh, and I just don't see that nearly the type of
01:09:21
coverage that some some other conflicts have received. And I think it's because
01:09:25
in America we do have what I would refer to as a a moral color code. And that is
01:09:30
the the damage done to the oppressed, the violation of human rights, the pursuit
01:09:37
of democracy, the out of control misogyny are not what dictates our response. What largely
01:09:45
dictates our response is the color of the skin of the oppressor. That's my fail. Also, I would be remiss
01:09:52
if I didn't credit a lot of my thoughts around this to this this really impressive woman who I had the pleasure
01:09:57
of meeting, a woman named Elica Leon. And if you're not following her, you should. Uh I think she's just so brave
01:10:03
and so thoughtful around issues as it relates to Iran and other conflicts around the world.
01:10:07
>> All right. Um, it's kind of funny you say that because there was a story on
01:10:10
Fox about wine moms, white wine moms. Oh my god. >> I love that. >> Now the lesbians and white wine the
01:10:19
women of white wine. >> Oh my god. Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. >> That got started with that that
01:10:24
justice's wife who had drank wine and hung the flag upside down. >> Yeah. Oh, well, she's a different white
01:10:30
wine mom. She's the other side. Um uh my win is uh well no let me do my fail
01:10:37
first. I just had them in my head and now I've forgotten them. Oh what's
01:10:40
happening with Grock? Uh we haven't talked about it and we we should on Thursday but uh this and and the fails
01:10:46
are Apple and Google and of course Grock as always is in terms of um allowing child abuse and misogyny to just thrive
01:10:55
and pretending it's free speech. Um what back in the day I feel like child pornography was something we all agreed
01:11:02
shouldn't happen. Um the fact that these companies haven't thrown Grock out or
01:11:06
demanded changes or anything or been vocal about this issue and maybe they are behind the scenes but I don't care.
01:11:11
They should say it publicly um about what uh Musk has been doing at Grock which is disturbing. There were pictures
01:11:19
of the woman who was killed in Minnesota with bikinis on in his spicy mode. Look,
01:11:25
people are going to make these things stupid anti-women things all the time, but this is really repulsive when it
01:11:32
comes to um children and and and this is something we shouldn't I'm going to do a
01:11:38
whole show on it because I'm just so tired and I I do I I don't think the
01:11:41
media has paid enough attention to this, but I don't think it's the media's
01:11:44
fault. So, I'm not going to like slap the media for it. I I think Apple and Google had have some influence here in
01:11:51
terms of the app store and everything else. And um I I know for example that a federal judge just ruled that the
01:11:57
lawsuit against open air should go to trial and that's perfectly fine, but the
01:12:01
behavior of Grock is really pretty heinous. And so um and if they're never going to do something because it's Elon
01:12:07
Musk and he has no values whatsoever at this point. Um but Apple and Google certainly should and stand up and the
01:12:15
lack of standing up by many companies these days is pretty disturbing on every level. But this this to me is the most
01:12:22
disturbing that I've seen so far. And my win is um my win continues to be uh
01:12:28
people that um you know that that are standing up whether it's Jerome Powell,
01:12:33
whether it's even the Exxon executive, he just said the truth out loud um about
01:12:38
things. This is an administration of of cronies and hacks and terrible people that are still doing damage even if
01:12:46
they're incompetent. And so anybody who speaks out and says things, I'm really
01:12:51
and Jerome Powell this week sort of gets that uh that for me absolutely even in a
01:12:56
small way. Um I I I don't love when actors do it from stages. And I thought actually Jean Smart at the besides
01:13:03
saying she's a greedy [ __ ] for winning three times which was very funny was
01:13:07
really did it well. Like she said something very clearly and at the same time she understood. She's like, I
01:13:14
understand people don't like to hear actors talking about these things, but I'm a citizen and this we have to do the
01:13:18
right thing. I thought she did it in a really classy way. So, that was a small way. I think Jerome Powell is doing the
01:13:24
same thing. And I think everyone who calls attention to all this [ __ ] nonsense. Um, and also Jake Tapper for
01:13:31
doing that excellent interview with Christine um deserves credit for for for just saying, "Oh, come on. [ __ ]
01:13:37
enough with you people." Anyway, we want to hear from you. Send us your questions
01:13:41
about business, tech, or whatever's on your mind. Go to nymag.com/pivot to send a question for the show or call
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85551 pivot. Okay, that's the show. Thanks for listening to Pivot and our new Scott Galloway. She's so pretty. Be
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sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel. We'll be back on Friday. Scott, welcome.
01:14:00
>> Stop laughing. Stop laughing. >> I just I love every >> It's lucky it's not at my expense.
01:14:07
>> I got to say, everyone's like, "Why is Scott out?" And I'm like, uh, and
01:14:11
they're like, facelift. >> No, it wasn't a facelift. Yeah, that's
01:14:15
coming. >> Remember, that was what they said. >> That's coming. >> That's coming. All right, read us out,
01:14:19
you pretty little lady. >> Today's show is produced by Laran, Zoe Marcus, and Taylor Griffin. Ernie Todd
01:14:24
engineered this episode. Rich Shibi edited the video. Thanks also to J Bros. Miss Sea and Dan Shalon Crow, Vox
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subscribe to the magazine at edmyag.com/pod. We'll be back later this week for
01:14:42
another breakdown of all things tech and business. I asked the surgeon just to look natural and I think he misheard me
01:14:49
and said uh I want to look naturally surprised. I'm looking at Ferraris, Cara. I'm
01:14:55
looking at Ferraris. What is the hole I'm trying to fill here? What is the hole?
01:15:02
>> Oh, it's a big one. >> See you later in the week.