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Scott Galloway and Kara Swisher Agree to Disagree on Zohran Mamdani's Policies | Pivot

November 07, 2025 / 59:54

This episode of Pivot covers topics including Zoron Mandami's election victory, the implications of Trump's tariffs, and the recent performance of Palantir. Hosts Cara Swisser and Scott Galloway discuss the political landscape following key Democratic wins in Virginia and New Jersey, as well as the significance of Mandami's stance against Trump.

Scott Galloway shares insights from his recent media tour, including his experiences on The Daily Show and other platforms. He emphasizes the importance of addressing income inequality and the disparities in education funding between wealthy and poor neighborhoods.

The hosts analyze the Supreme Court's skepticism regarding Trump's tariffs, highlighting the potential financial implications for the government and businesses. They discuss how tariffs impact consumers and the broader economy.

Palantir's recent earnings report is also a focal point, with Galloway noting the company's impressive growth despite concerns over its valuation. The conversation touches on the influence of short-sellers like Michael Burry and the challenges facing the tech industry.

Finally, the episode addresses the ongoing tensions within the Republican Party, particularly in light of Tucker Carlson's controversial interview with white nationalist Nick Fuentes. The hosts reflect on the implications for the GOP and the future of American politics.

TL;DR

Scott Galloway and Cara Swisser discuss Zoron Mandami's election win, Trump's tariffs, and Palantir's performance amid political tensions.

Video

00:00:00
Wow. Zoron Mandami, the new man. You've got to stop that.
00:00:05
You've got to stop that. I know, but you have a lot of I'm not suggesting government sponsored food lines where the DMV picks out my
00:00:11
produce. No. Again, the rich get everything. And this is the smallest of things.
00:00:24
Hi everyone, this is Pivot from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network. I'm Cara Swisser. I'm Scott
00:00:29
Galloway. How is the Scott media tour going? I'm seeing you everywhere, Scott Galloway. Yeah. Uh,
00:00:35
you seem tired. You're a little tired. Not a media [ __ ] just a [ __ ] I am tired. I went to u I did the Daily Show yesterday and then I did uh Ben Stellar
00:00:43
interviewed me at the 92nd Street Y. Oh my god. Last night. Last night. Yeah. Well, just so everybody knows, you have
00:00:50
the number one book on Amazon right now. That's right. That's right. There he is. Oh my god. How did that happen?
00:00:56
There he is. How did that happen? Yeah. Yeah. Well, who's what's next? What's next? Like a a
00:01:02
concert tour with Taylor Swift? What? Oh my god. I got all these podcasts and then I've got this I'm headed out with
00:01:09
this crazy lady for this seven city tour. Oh yeah. Um so we got we got that. Um
00:01:16
yeah, we're going to sell some [ __ ] books. We are. We're going to sell some books and then I finish with Mar a week from
00:01:22
Yes. Can I come with you to that? Of course you can. Yeah, if you're interested, tell Bill that way.
00:01:28
So, yeah, we got and we're What are we doing? We're presenting to 13,000 people over the next seven or eight days.
00:01:35
It's going to be great. Are you excited? Are you getting psyched? Uh, the answer is yes. Um, am I excited? Not especially. I'm tired.
00:01:43
You must be. You're going to have to rest. Okay. You're going to have to take I used to do this when I was younger and I realized I don't rest it. I used to I
00:01:49
used to burn it from both ends for 20, 30 years. Yeah. I um I was supposed to do something in New York tonight and I
00:01:55
canceled it. I had I'm I'm not I want to be well for the tour. I was in Seattle for 24 hours for for
00:02:01
what? In between the last time we spoke. You've been to Seattle, Mac. Oh, you got to stop that, Karen. I know, but it was for one of our
00:02:06
sponsors. So, I'm trying to, you know, you're busy. Two words, ca and ch.
00:02:12
But, you know, speaking of our tour, which is going to be do very well financially, but um uh there's going to
00:02:18
be a lot of Swisser energy, just so you know. Just be be ready for that. You mean swenery.
00:02:24
Swenergy. Um Lucky gonna come up to me and ask me if I'm gay. Ly's coming with her. Aren't
00:02:30
you gay? Yeah, she's I'm going to make her say that from the Yeah, she's she's
00:02:35
in a poochie in an Ailio Poochie dress. Yeah, something like that. And then Louis Swisser might be in Boston. He's
00:02:40
thinking of coming down. I know. I'm very excited. They he called me. Hey, I already I've got his life plan. Is he
00:02:46
going to go to law school or he's going to be a high school math teacher? Yeah, he's moving to San Francisco. I'm very excited.
00:02:51
He's I can totally see that with his girlfriend. Yeah, he's totally This is his house. Really? I actually
00:02:58
They're going to name their first kid like Hope or or or Wonder or something like that.
00:03:03
You talk about boys having good both of my sons have great relationships and I'm happy. And I
00:03:09
because they were raised in dual parent homes and they're wealthy. Romance and marriage have become luxury items.
00:03:15
Literally the percentage of young men in relationships with women is is unfortunately
00:03:21
it is sadly tied to their to tied to their income levels. Well, they're also very nice boyfriend.
00:03:28
No, no, no. I'm not saying I'm not I don't even think it's because uh women are that attracted. As women
00:03:34
get older, they figure out that that a man's ability to signal resources is increasingly important.
00:03:39
Yes. But at that age, it's more about confidence and uh skills. And there's
00:03:46
just some [ __ ] really depressing stats, you know, in terms of the SAT. You've been on this tour. Let's go. Give me one and then we've got to get to
00:03:52
things. Go ahead. Okay. So, we're going to do this on the tour. We're going to talk about this. People talk about income inequality and
00:03:57
they assume that income inequality is greatest between the middle class and the poor. It's not. The income inequality, the greatest gap is between
00:04:03
the middle class and the rich. The rich have just literally launched into space in terms of income. And what what you
00:04:10
have in wealthy households is that so u the average high school public high
00:04:16
school in America can spend about $15,000 per student on educating them. Poor schools in poor neighborhoods
00:04:22
because it's based on property taxes which is probably one of the worst laws or constructs in America. It's about
00:04:28
poor neighborhoods get about $8 to $10,000 per student. The top the top private schools in
00:04:34
America spend about $75,000 per student. Right. They charge about 50 or 60 and they have big endowments which they
00:04:40
subsidize. So that's everything for you know better compensation for teachers, teachers training, more
00:04:45
teachers, resources, after school sports, I mean just all kinds of things. And the result is the following. The
00:04:52
delta in the average SAT score for middle class to uh poor kids is 120
00:04:57
points. That is huge, right? Get this though. this the delta between
00:05:03
that middle class score which is 120 points higher than than poor households.
00:05:08
The delta between middle class scores and kids from upper inome homes is 250
00:05:14
points. Amazing. So if you're if you're a kid coming from a a low-inccome home just out of the
00:05:21
gates on average you're going to be 370 points down on the SAT.
00:05:26
That's right. And that's the difference. Don't even go into health statistics, but so and this is my big rant. I'm a huge
00:05:34
believer in affirmative action. It should be based on uh income of the household the kid was raised in. Full
00:05:40
stop. Wow. Zoron Mandami, the new man. You got to stop that.
00:05:46
You got to stop that. I know, but you have a lot of I'm not suggesting government sponsored food lines where the DMV picks out my
00:05:52
produce. No. Again, the rich get everything. And this is the smallest of things. The
00:05:59
smallest of things to make them healthier so they are better employees for the rich people, I guess.
00:06:04
All right, let me back up. No, we're not. We got to We got We're going to get Sorry. Sorry. You can't throw this [ __ ] out there and then just let it
00:06:10
sit there. It's not [ __ ] It's framing. It's gaslighting me. Let's be clear.
00:06:16
Budgets, and you and I are going to agree on this, reflect values, and this is America's values right now.
00:06:22
21% of Americans are under the age of 18, but 40% of SNAP food recipients
00:06:29
are under the age of 18, which says America's values are the following. We don't care about our [ __ ]
00:06:36
children. We do not. If if we have public policy that is decided that double the amount
00:06:42
of children are food insecure than the regular than than the rest of the population, that is a conscious decision
00:06:49
on voters from both sides of the aisle that it's okay for the most vulnerable
00:06:55
to be hungry. And so you and I have common ground on that. Where we disagree
00:07:00
is how to fix it. Sure. And when you insert government in the middle, cents on the dollar end up in
00:07:07
the pockets of the people the program is supposedly for. So if you believe that people in the New York State metro that
00:07:13
a lot of people need help finding food, then give them money and let them spend it at Kroger's or Trader Joe's or
00:07:20
wherever they want. Not government sponsored food stores where you'll end up with 10 or 20 cents on the dollar in
00:07:26
the pockets of people who need it. This is a great debate to have. He's the only one who brought it up, right? So
00:07:32
that's I'm saying it's fine if we don't want a his solution. Anyway, we're going to talk that next. So it's the how to
00:07:38
get there is the thing, but the fact is he's one of the few people bring it up and all of a sudden Republicans are talking affordability now. But let's we
00:07:45
got a lot to get to today, including the Supreme Court question. Trump got elected. I don't know. I'm stopping you because Trump got elected on talk about that in
00:07:52
one. Yes, but he didn't do it. But he didn't do I agree. But that was his message. Yes, it was. But now he's back to it. He
00:07:58
and Mandami are the same person. Stop talking. We're going to get to By the way, I would have voted for him the moment my in-laws threatened to
00:08:04
leave New York if he was elected. He got my vote. Okay. Did they leave? No. All right. Just a minute. Let's get to leaving.
00:08:10
Aren't him and Hilaria leaving now? What? Who is Alec and Hilaria? He doesn't he threaten to leave the US every time there's an
00:08:16
election? Bye. See you. Um anyway, we've got a lot to get to today, including the Supreme Court questioning Trump's tariffs, which
00:08:23
was really interesting arguments. um and why Palanteer stock took a massive dive. But first, let us talk about this.
00:08:30
Democrats are riding high after sweeping key elections across the country this week. Abigail Spanberger and Mikey
00:08:35
Cheryl won the governor's races in Virginia and New Jersey, respectively. California voters passed Proposition 50,
00:08:41
giving Democrats a win in the redistricting wars with potential uh pick up five seats in next year's
00:08:46
midterms. And of course, Zoran Madani uh won the New York uh mayoral race, handily defeating Andrew Cuomo and
00:08:53
Curtis Slooh. Um, in his victory speech, Mandani spoke about Mandani spoke about
00:08:59
pushing back against Trump and his policies. Let's listen. Together, we will usher in a generation
00:09:05
of change. And if we embrace this brave new course rather than fleeing from it,
00:09:12
we can respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the strength it fears, not the appeasement it craves.
00:09:24
After all, if anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat
00:09:30
him, it is the city that gave rise to him.
00:09:36
Meanwhile, Republicans are down. Can I just respond to that? Not yet. In a second. Let me just go through.
00:09:41
Yeah. Your job is to pick up the trash. Okay. Can Can we I know you're mad about Mandani, but you're going to have to get
00:09:46
over voters vote. He's going to fight autocracy and the oligarchy as mayor of
00:09:51
You need to calm the [ __ ] down. Let me finish. Meanwhile, Republicans are downplaying these losses as best they
00:09:57
can with Trump blaming the shutdown and others writing wins off as blue state blips. Let's listen to House Speaker uh
00:10:04
Mike Johnson. What happened last night was blue states and blue cities voted blue. We all saw that coming. And no one should read too
00:10:11
much into last night's election results. off-year elections are not indicative of
00:10:17
what's to come. That's what history teaches us. Oh, he's wrong. That is not true, actually. Except it wasn't just blue
00:10:22
states. Democrats also gained ground with victories in Georgia, Mississippi, and lots of places. Bucks County,
00:10:28
Pennsylvania, all over Virginia, uh Montana, like Colorado, all it was all
00:10:34
over the place. And in fact, they they lost their supermajority in Mississippi. There were some unusual uh voting
00:10:40
patterns, especially among Latinos. And now they're worried about that redistricting um things they've been
00:10:46
pushing out of greed um because it looks like Democrats can flip these red seats
00:10:52
which is interesting. Um now go ahead um
00:10:57
uh just but so before you go ahead lot of male voters played a big role in the
00:11:03
last election moving to the right to vote for Trump things swung back this time. Exaposial Mamdani won 68% of men
00:11:10
between the ages of 18 and 29. Spanberger won 57% of that group and
00:11:16
Cheryl won 56%. All right, I've given you lots to go at. Let's take a swing at
00:11:21
it. Scott grumble about mom Donnie and then let's go. It felt I don't know about you. I felt
00:11:28
alien to wake up yesterday morning as a Democrat and having won this decisively. Like I don't remember feeling this. I
00:11:35
didn't recognize the feeling. the Obama feeling when he won. Remember I just didn't recognize it. And it
00:11:40
wasn't it wasn't that these candidates won. It was the margin that they won by up and down the ballot. It just went
00:11:47
blue all over the place. And there's some there's some credibility to the
00:11:54
Republicans comments and also Trump was probably right that when Trump's not on the ticket, these these these ideas and
00:11:59
policies just don't work. They don't resonate. But it was also because of Trump. It was a very Trump fueled election.
00:12:05
Well, his policies people, you know, people vote for Trump, not his policies was what it looks like,
00:12:10
right? Uh the, you know, some of the observations, the things that unfortunately I find it really
00:12:17
discouraging the delta between different different age groups and the genders. It just feels like we're separating. I
00:12:23
mean, you realize for Mandani, women, young women, he won by
00:12:30
72 points. Yeah. Women 18 to 29 went 84 to 12,
00:12:36
right? Mom, Damian, and Cuomo. And then people over the age of 65, women over the age
00:12:42
of 65 went 21 points for Quomo, right? I mean, it's as if they're living in
00:12:48
different nations. Yeah. That's just it's just so strange to me that we have
00:12:54
two Americas unfortunately built by age. And the reality is this all in my opinion it all comes back to
00:13:01
the same place and that is old people such as myself and you to a certain extent we have figured out a way to vote
00:13:07
ourselves more money and create a series of policies that young people just say
00:13:13
I'm not down with anything you believe and you have done you have not left me the America that you enjoyed the
00:13:22
disparity in except that look mom won 68% of men
00:13:27
between 18 and 29. That is astonishing. Oh, I'm I'm not saying it's by gender. It's by age.
00:13:32
Yeah. Age. Uhhuh. Uh I I think Cuomo won by like 20 points among men over the age of 65. The the
00:13:40
thing here was with the the the drive the fulcrum of these results. And by the way, it was a landslide. He won. And and
00:13:47
I've said this before, I'm not a New York resident, but if I was here, I think you give the guy the benefit of
00:13:52
the doubt and you rally behind Bill Aman did. Did you see that note? I just think he's a [ __ ] attention
00:13:58
[ __ ] I want to help you. Okay, fine. Fine. Great. But okay, that's I
00:14:04
shouldn't be so cynical. That's the right tone. That's the right tone. Yeah, it should be
00:14:09
we all we all have a vested interest in the success of the city, the state, and the country. take people at their word,
00:14:15
rally behind them, and let's let's give them the opportunity. You know, let's let them cook. Instead of spending all
00:14:21
their time defending cynical or biased allegations or trying to undermine them
00:14:26
at every step, give them the benefit of the doubt and try and help them be successful. I think every American,
00:14:32
every person in New York City has an obligation to do that. Good for them. The other observation I would have is
00:14:39
the following. Molly Jung Fast did a a video piece on and I like Molly. I just
00:14:45
had her on the podcast for the New York Times saying, you know, does America have a bias against female candidates?
00:14:51
And I'm like, no [ __ ] Captain [ __ ] obvious. Let me just give you the basic statistics here.
00:14:57
If you were to look at all of our elected representatives, all 535 people in Congress,
00:15:03
the only thing they all have in common, like 90 plus or 97% of them, the primary
00:15:11
requisite, the box they have to all check, which is which means it's the key consideration for electing someone to a
00:15:17
senior level of Congress is they have college degrees. So that's the primary qualification. For
00:15:24
the last 40 years, almost 60% of college graduates have
00:15:30
been women. And yet, 26% of our elected representatives are women. The reality
00:15:37
is Americans still very much conflate height and depth of voice with leadership qualities when it comes to
00:15:44
our elected representatives. And if you look at the candidate quality of the New Jersey and Virginia governor races,
00:15:50
Yeah. the quality of the c I I think I can speak to this with some credibility
00:15:56
because if you look at their backgrounds, they were built in the factory from parts of lesser candidates.
00:16:02
Yeah. And their opponents were just, you know, fairly mediocre. Yeah. And the fact that they
00:16:09
the fact that it was even and granted towards the end they just pulled away close though. Yeah. But the reality is
00:16:15
unless if you don't believe that America still has really antibbias feelings against uh
00:16:24
uh women with indoor plumbing running for an elected office. I mean I the two
00:16:30
prime examples are Harris versus Trump and Clinton versus Trump. Yes. But there is still while I talk a
00:16:36
lot about the advantages or disadvantages facing young men when it comes to elected politics, our nation is
00:16:44
still highly sexist. Absolutely. Let me let me jump in here. One of the things about Abby Spanberger,
00:16:49
which is really interesting, is her mother uh was like a massive fighter for the Equal Rights Amendment and was sort
00:16:55
of mocked by the Virginia legislature and her daughter is the first women
00:17:01
woman governor of Virginia, which I I think it's take time, Scott. I I would agree with you here.
00:17:06
It's taken too long in the US. Other nations are way ahead of us. Far too long. But now we have all these
00:17:11
like women governors. There's a lot of women governors, which is really interesting. Not I think it should be
00:17:16
half and half, but there's there's quite a gang now of them. Um, you mean a gaggle? A gaggle of women.
00:17:23
You mean white white women drinking wine? No, it's not just white. No, but all
00:17:28
there's all these You know what? Actually, there's a lot of women of color who won mayorships. Um, Detroit around around the
00:17:34
Detroit, I think, was the first black woman. There's a bunch there's a whole bunch in smaller cities and and and a lot of these city councils
00:17:41
shifted to Democrat up the ballot up and down the bot like city councils in places and there are a lot of women
00:17:47
in those groups and so you've got to bring them up like you've got to just keep shoving them through the pipeline essentially all the way up and I think
00:17:54
possibly some of the ones that have run for public office at the higher level just got so beat up over Hillary Clinton
00:18:01
got the [ __ ] beat out of her by the right like you know what I mean like they they made made it so she was so
00:18:06
unattractive to voters in many ways. And I think the same thing for Harris. I think there will be a series of younger
00:18:14
women candidates that are coming up that will not have to deal with the baggage that both uh Clintons particularly and
00:18:21
um and Harris definitely had. Now, let's get back to um uh Mamani, which I think
00:18:27
one of the things I know you're making fun of the oligarchy. I think running against the oligarchy is a great message
00:18:32
for Democrats and I think that is that does resonate. I'm telling you when I
00:18:38
talk to people like Bernie Sanders. Yeah. I got to say these rich people the Lincoln why is he putting pictures of
00:18:43
Lincoln bathroom up? you know, he's building a marble bathroom while they can't afford it is such it's it's next
00:18:50
to the affordability thing, but tax the rich and make things groceries more
00:18:56
affordable is a very good message uh for whichever party gets it, except that Trump has been embracing the rich
00:19:03
as his best friends and having them on his patio. The visuals are very clear and that gold office.
00:19:09
So, first off, and this is why I'll never run or be elected. I'm focused on the mechanics and that is rather than
00:19:15
saying tax the rich where most rich people pay really high taxes, it's the
00:19:20
super rich and a better message is just to enforce the current tax laws.
00:19:26
There's a $700 billion tax gap because what the Republicans did, which is genius, which the Democrats have not
00:19:32
called out as they argue around the tax code. What the Republicans have done is
00:19:38
delivered the biggest tax cut in history by virtue of cutting the budget of the IRS. The tax code is meaningless
00:19:46
for rich people because here's the bottom line. The law laws in America, the top 1% are now protected by the law
00:19:53
but not bound by it. Whereas the bottom 99% are bound by the law but not protected by it. Who pays their exact
00:20:00
share according to the IRS of taxes. People with simple tax returns.
00:20:05
No, I don't have that have a number that goes under income and then there's a tax rate. But if you have a 80page tax return through
00:20:13
limited partnerships and capital expenditures and your tax lawyer says,
00:20:18
"Wink wink, trust me on this. Don't hide income, but be as aggressive as possible because they don't have the manpower any
00:20:25
longer to look at this thing. You're just we we need to be smart about
00:20:30
what's the objective. The objective is to get more money into the treasury. It's very simple. You don't even need an
00:20:36
alternative minimum tax. No loopholes. If you make over a million dollars, you pay an alternative an AMT of federal
00:20:43
income taxes of 40%. That would massively increase, of course. And guess what? Trump is like
00:20:50
friend of billionaire, right? That that's his image. And and he'll try to
00:20:55
not do that, but these people have open access to the White House, right? That's what they have.
00:21:00
It's an oligarchy. Oligarchy meets cronyism meets socialism. Well, it's a good message. So,
00:21:06
I don't know if you saw this, but there were billboards all over New York showing it was just thing.
00:21:12
Oh my god. [ __ ] brilliant. And it said Mammi 92% likelihood of winning Cuomo 8%. When
00:21:18
you see that when you see that, you're like, uh, if I'm voting for Cuomo, I might
00:21:24
just not bother, right? My that's it. We're done. And it gives it gives mom
00:21:30
dami or whoever is projected as the runaway winner. It's basically the biggest endorsement ever that they could
00:21:36
get from any group. It really helps the candidate. They were accurate. They were also accurate.
00:21:41
Well, but here's the thing. I'm saying for any candidate, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. When you see
00:21:47
polls showing that person way up, you start believing, well, maybe they deserve to win and there's a reason they're winning by such a large margin.
00:21:53
Right. And you know where the majority of bets right are coming from uh uh these
00:22:00
prediction markets? Not here. The majority of the bets on poly market
00:22:07
um uh that indicate and send a signal about the election and likely affect the election. The majority of that of those
00:22:14
bets are coming out of China and the Middle East. Oh yeah. So if you're the CCP, again, this is
00:22:19
what we would do. I think they'd be stupid not to do it. I would be [ __ ] with our elections by uh skewing the
00:22:27
numbers from the reality based on what we saw as divisive. We being the CCP on calcium poly market which sends a very
00:22:34
very strong signal around who's going to win. Well, we'll see if more people I don't think as many people know about it as
00:22:40
you think. But the media it's the new it's the new Dow Jones and NASDAQ. Yes, I get that. I get that. But, you
00:22:46
know, I don't know. Polling has gotten tarnished. I think they all get tarnished eventually if it's too gamed and we'll see where it goes from there.
00:22:52
Well, you know my suggestion around polling. What? What? You should absolutely take a poll and stick it up your ass.
00:22:57
Okay. All right. Excellent. Okay. And then look for the on switch. Look for the on switch. He's back. He's back.
00:23:05
I tried to bet when I was in when I was in London during the the the presidential election,
00:23:11
I went on every podcast it was 30% that it was 30% Harris, 70% Trump. I'm like,
00:23:18
it's a coin flip, folks. And so I thought, I'm smarter than your average bear and da da da. And I I said,
00:23:23
I'm going to bet $300,000 on Harris, and if I win, I'm going to get a million back. And I was up till goddamn 2 in the
00:23:29
morning in London trying to figure out how to bet. And it ends up you can't as a as a US citizen in London. Oh,
00:23:37
and I brought in the big guns. I brought in my 15-year-old to to aid in a bet his father's gambling and dopamine
00:23:42
addiction. Yeah. And the next day and of course you know the results and everyone online just went crazy like this guy lost 300
00:23:50
grand on Harris and I would have had I been able to figure out cashier. Maybe not. Okay. All right
00:23:57
then. Maybe I just don't understand. I tried to understand. It was very hard. Yeah. I'm not the person to help you figure that out. Okay. I'll find someone. Um we're going
00:24:03
to go on a quick break. When we come back Trump's tariffs face the Supreme Court.
00:24:09
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may apply. Scott, we're back. A majority of the
00:25:21
Supreme Court justices are skeptical of the Trump administration's authority to impose sweeping global tariffs. The
00:25:27
court heard arguments this week about Trump's use of emergency powers to set up tariffs on goods from over 100
00:25:34
countries. The administration is claiming tariffs are just regulatory, but justices on both sides basically
00:25:39
said these are taxes and only Congress can tax people. Trump is calling for a ca for for the case quote literally life
00:25:47
or death for our country. If the terrorists stand, they'll collect $3 trillion by revenue um for the US by
00:25:53
2035. If not, the government might have to refund $750 billion, which it
00:25:58
shouldn't have gotten. It's not clear when the court will issue the ruling, but what does it mean for Trump signature economic policy if he loses? I
00:26:05
think they're going to to decide against him and I think they're doing him a favor because they're going to get him out of this jam and then he can pretend
00:26:12
it was them who did it. Um I don't know what do what do you what do you think of this?
00:26:17
So, um, speaking of investing, uh, you know how I went out and I bought claims
00:26:24
against a bankrupt FDX because I thought they're going to they're going to be I found in the
00:26:30
bankruptcy filing, which is, if you're wondering what I do late at night on edibles, I read bankruptcy filings, that
00:26:36
they owned that they had invested um, about uh, I think it was $500 million in
00:26:42
anthropic. And I thought this has got to be worth two or three billion dollars. meaning that 30 cents on the dollar cuz the
00:26:48
total claims were 8 billion against a bankrupt FDX. Yeah. Were just in they were going to get back
00:26:53
just in anthropic stock and you could buy these things for about 22 cents. So I went out and for me bought a lot of
00:26:59
bankruptcy claims against or claims against the bankrupt FDX. What I've had someone working on the last two weeks is
00:27:06
the following. If you're first off there was an economist who went on Fox and they said who's paying these tariffs?
00:27:12
And he went into this whole song and dance. Sometimes it's the the person um exporting in say it's Mercedes.
00:27:19
Sometimes it's Mercedes takes a little bit, the consumer takes a little bit, and the recipient of the product pays.
00:27:26
Okay, first off, what he's trying to say, he's he's claiming that, okay,
00:27:31
because Mercedes might have to reduce its prices if they don't want to lose share. Fine. But be clear, folks. The
00:27:38
recipient in America who signs for the Mercedes that gets off a ship pays the
00:27:43
tariff. Okay? They may not they may choose not to pass it on to consumers or they may eventually they will because
00:27:49
because companies need certain operating margins, but it's disingenuous to say it's being split across all these
00:27:55
entities. It's not. A tariff is paid by the recipient in our country. Now,
00:28:02
what I've been doing is looking into the following. I am considering buying
00:28:08
claims, and that is if Mercedes of Wisconsin has paid $11 million in
00:28:14
tariffs, you can go buy them right now from Mercedes of Wisconsin for somewhere
00:28:20
between 10 and 15 cents on the dollar because they didn't think they'd get them back, right? Because they didn't think they'd get
00:28:25
that money. They'd ever see that money again. And I believe there's a greater than 10 or 15% likelihood that these
00:28:32
tariffs are reversed and the government has to cut a check to all those claimants who paid tariffs. So I
00:28:39
actually think this is a decent investment strategy is to go buy claims or go buy tariff uh payment claims.
00:28:45
So you this money will be refunded is your point. Exactly right. Mercedes of Wisconsin
00:28:51
spent $10 million on tariffs. These tariffs are being challenged in court and if the Supreme Court overrules it,
00:28:58
the government is going to have to send a check to either Mercedes of Wisconsin or whoever owns that car.
00:29:03
Although that was what the Supreme Court was all wrapped around the axelon. My a friend of mine, Neil Kotel, did the
00:29:10
argument and I thought he was brilliant by the way. Um that that was the one thing they were
00:29:16
like, "Oh, now how are we gonna give it back?" Right? And oddly enough, Howard Belutnik, who was such a [ __ ] Every
00:29:22
time I see him, I think a [ __ ] Um was like, "Oh, I think the Supreme Court's going to going to say yes to us." And
00:29:29
stuff like that. He was going on and on as if he knew exactly what would happen. Um is there any way that could happen?
00:29:35
Only cuz I thought when you say anyway, anyway, what it that the Supreme Court could be in Trump's favor? one and two, the one
00:29:43
thing that that did stick in their crawl was how to pay back the money the the government took from consumers.
00:29:50
So, let me be clear. I think what people don't realize when they reverse engineer
00:29:55
it to what has really hurt America, it's things like Ruth Bader Ginsburgg believing she's going to live forever.
00:30:02
It's it's appointment of exceptionally conservative justices. The Supreme Court, in my opinion, is no longer
00:30:10
really a a check against power. It's an enabler. And the reality is the president who the
00:30:17
people elect gets to make those appointments. So, but through a series of unfortunate timing and biology, the
00:30:24
pres the lasting impact of this presidency won't be tariffs, anti-immigration policy, a destruction
00:30:31
of our alliances, although that'll be right up there. a lot of marble in the Lincoln bathroom. It it's essentially the the final backs
00:30:39
stop against the most important decisions that impact Americans, whether it's bodily autonomy or international
00:30:45
policy, whether or not the president right now is essentially ordering extrajudicial
00:30:52
killings of people in [ __ ] fishing boats. Yeah. that. And by the way, folks, if
00:30:58
you're really worried about drugs, do you realize these fishing boats would have to refuel 20 times to get to Miami? And that there is no fentinel being
00:31:04
produced in Venezuela. Yet supposedly, we're taking our trillion dollar military budget to bomb fishing to
00:31:11
strike fishing points without has to do something. But get back get back to this. What do you think's going to happen here? And and how is they going
00:31:18
to return the money? Let me be clear. I think probably the likelihood is if I buy these claims that
00:31:24
I don't see my money. But there's there's more than a 10% chance I see the money, right? So, I like my upside. I I think maybe
00:31:30
there's a one in three chance. I'm just I'm just using that number that the Supreme Court rules against Trump
00:31:37
and says you got to give them money back. And then I think I see I actually think logistically if they can figure out a way to take the money, they can
00:31:42
figure out a way to send it back. The government figures out ways to send refunds, IRS refunds all the time. It takes a while.
00:31:48
I found out I overpaid my taxes this year. Mhm. And I'm like, "Okay, how long will it take to get it back?" and they said 12
00:31:54
to 18 months because there's no one home. The lights aren't on on the IRS. We'll apply it to your next year's tax. Yeah. Whatever it is. But they're
00:32:01
they're very good at taking it out. The IRS has in fact figured out a way to like take it right out of your account,
00:32:06
right? Getting it back. It's like trying to cancel your Verizon bill, right? I got one from DC and I got a couple
00:32:12
thousand dollars back. They're like, "We'll keep it for next year." I was like, "Well, send it back to me." Like, "Why should you keep it? I'll give." But
00:32:18
they their first move was to keep it. That's for sure. Hulu. It's super easy to sign up and try
00:32:23
and cancel it. Exactly. It's like canceling. And by the way, I have a consumer bone to pick. I'm like, seven on your side. Remember those local TV things where
00:32:30
they'd go on some consumer thing? I wanted to do that for you. All right. I got a seven on your side. So, when my mom passed, I set up an
00:32:36
account and put some money in it in her account such that we could pay bills that would keep rolling in. Right. And I
00:32:44
noticed like three years later, it was down. I couldn't account for something like seven or $8,000 of it. maybe four
00:32:51
years later. I'm like, where did this go? And her auto insurance was automatic
00:32:57
pay to GEICO after I'd sold the car 3 years later.
00:33:02
They will still take that money out. And guess what? I just got my AT&T bill. I switched to Noble Mobile, Andrew Yang's
00:33:08
new startup in the in the mobile space. And my AT&T bill, I've always said this,
00:33:14
for some reason, is about 450 bucks. But Scott being the lazy douche that he is,
00:33:19
never actually checked out the bill. And so my assistant when we switched over said, "Wow, you're paying $450 a month."
00:33:25
I'm like, "Yeah." She goes, "You know why you're pay $450 a month? My actual phone bill is $240, which by the way is
00:33:32
about 2 and a halfx what I'm going to be paying on Noble. But I was paying another $200 on three
00:33:39
other accounts." Oh. That aren't on there. And one of them was for a Blackberry from 10 years
00:33:46
ago. Oh my god, Scott. So, I have been paying $700 a year for the better part of a
00:33:54
decade on a Blackberry that's been in a landfill for the last nine years because guess what? They could easily
00:34:01
send a signal to say, "Is this in fact an active line?" And maybe send you a quick email. They could do this so
00:34:08
easily. Yeah, of course they don't. And they're like, "Oh, no." They would be charging me for a Blackberry 10 years
00:34:13
after my death. Is no one that I I have to say I'm down with the company on Twitter.
00:34:19
You think if you're that stupid, let you're that stupid. Let them cook. Let them pick your pocket. Anyway,
00:34:26
anyways, AT&T literally you somebody someone like I I have paid for the
00:34:32
snacks in the in in the Madison, Wisconsin office of AT&T for the last 10
00:34:39
years. because you're a dumbass. You don't pay attention to anything like that. You are dumb ass.
00:34:44
Dumb ass. Dumb ass. That's the name of our our pivot tour. Dumb ass. Karen. Dumb ass.
00:34:49
Cara. Dumbass. Everybody wants to hear about me, not about any of this [ __ ] Cara, let's let's be honest. All right. Well, good to know. So, just
00:34:56
I'm going to move very quickly to this one. Just as I predicted, billionaire and friend of Elon Jared Isaacman is back in the running to head up NASA.
00:35:03
President Trump has renominated him after pulling back over concerns uh about past Democratic donations. Isaac
00:35:10
men's uh the 42-year-old payment company founder who's actually been to space twice on his own dime via SpaceX. I mean
00:35:16
just the short ride to space. Two weeks ago, Elon Musk went after current interim chief Shawn Duffy for opening up
00:35:23
SpaceX moon contract other companies. No love lost there. Um Trump's gone back to
00:35:28
Elon's pick like I thought he might. Um, but the agency is still facing massive budget cuts and trying to beat China
00:35:34
back to the moon. Um, you know, I guess he's fine. I mean, he's more qualified than other people, I suppose. But the
00:35:41
whole thing is just it's kind of too little too late. Um, I would like an actual space scientist to be running
00:35:48
NASA, not friends of Elon or people that give I think this guy ended up giving Trump some money, too, although he must
00:35:54
have given some Democrats money, which I think drove Laura Loomer crazy. I don't know. Um I'm not sure it matters at all
00:36:01
here. Um but Elon definitely is a good that that was a good thing for Elon. So
00:36:07
well it reflects a dangerous trend in that is we've decided to privatize a lot of uh efforts that that usually the
00:36:13
nation undertakes and the this is pretty straightforward. Elon Musk is a very
00:36:18
smart guy. He said if we reduce the government's ability to launch aircraft
00:36:24
or explore space they're going to depend upon the private sector. And I'm I'm I'm the you know I'm the prettiest girl at
00:36:30
the dance in the private sector and I don't want to compete with a space agency that does not have a profit
00:36:36
motive and therefore can make these forward-leaning investments in space exploration. And I think the saddest thing about this is that NASA has
00:36:44
consistently been an enormous point of national pride in an in an era when we need more connective tissue where
00:36:50
Republicans and Democrats both rally around, you know, the the the the Mars
00:36:55
lander, you know, like somehow crashing and inflating and figuring out a way to survive, how to get on the, you know,
00:37:01
the Mars Mars surface and take these amazing photos or these I forget what it
00:37:07
was that that the Hubble telescope sending those unbelievable images of deep space and making you feel
00:37:13
insignificant in kind of a wonderful way. So that's a that's a bummer. Having said that, as far as this guy goes,
00:37:20
this is like the least triggering thing for me right now. Yeah, exactly. I mean, John Duffy was the other choice. So I'm like, he's
00:37:27
better. And also, there's something to be said for bringing in a civilian to manage
00:37:33
government agencies who can have a broader perspective. Like typically the secretary of defense is a private sector
00:37:39
person. Yeah. Because when you bring in a former captain show host.
00:37:46
No, but some I mean they've said it. If if we had a general running was who was
00:37:52
was secretary of uh defense, we'd still be in Vietnam. I mean that's true. They're fond. Although a lot of them I I
00:37:59
got to I got to give it to them seem to be more tempered and measured than many of our leaders now. It is good to have a
00:38:05
civilian check. Yeah. On government. I I don't I don't mind this. This is the bottom. I'm not offended by it. He's not the
00:38:11
best choice, but he's not a terrible choice. And the other choice was Shawn Duffy, who seems like a Speaking of
00:38:16
morons, a [ __ ] Um anyway, uh we'll see what happens. I was correct about this, though. And it's it's a good day for
00:38:23
Elon. And I was right. I was right. The new book from Cara Swisser, the new autobiography, and dot dot dot.
00:38:30
Oh my god. Four are getting vegetables. I was right. How dare they get I used to run driver's
00:38:38
license tests at the DMV and now I'm picking out produce for New Yorkers.
00:38:44
That makes all kinds of sense. We're going to have to have a makes all kinds of sense stage over this situation. All right,
00:38:49
I'm going to invite Zoron Mandani to the to He'll say no. I've already invited him several times. He's the only person that
00:38:55
said no to us on raging moderates. You know what? I I I concur with him. Interview the guy.
00:39:00
All right, let's He'll get on to you sometime. He He'll take you downtown. He's very Oh, yeah. I hope so. He's very quick.
00:39:07
He's very quick. Let me tell you, he shows some He's not quick. He floods the zone with nothingness
00:39:13
and like reh rehitted rhetorical flourish. Your favorite southern person, James
00:39:19
Carville, was like, "This guy's reality. He's a real talent. We're going to have us an election. Count some votes." I love James
00:39:26
Carville. Jimmy C. All right, Scott. Let's go on a quick break. We come back, we'll talk about
00:39:31
Palunteer's rough week. Support for the show comes from Saks Fifth Avenue. Sakfth Avenue makes it
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00:41:02
Scott, we're back. Palanteer is having a really roller coaster week. The company posted Blockbuster earnings Monday,
00:41:08
topping analyst expectations and raising its fullear guidance. CEO Alex Karp, who
00:41:13
seems something's going on with Alex Karp, called he's he was started strange and now he's moved to very strange uh
00:41:18
called uh the quarter quote arguably the best results than any software company has ever delivered. Despite those
00:41:24
numbers, the stock fell 8% part of a concerns over the valuation which is soaring. But also because of filing
00:41:30
revealed the big short investor Michael Bur bought more than $1 billion in put options in Palunteer and Nvidia. The Bur
00:41:38
news really got under Karp's skin. He really should have taken a breath before he did this. He got a little
00:41:43
testy talking about it on CNBC. Let's listen. As far as I can tell, the two companies he's shorting are the ones making all
00:41:50
the money, which is super weird. Like the idea that chips and what you want to short is batshit crazy.
00:41:58
He seemed crazy, but whatever. And then he went on about anti-woke companies. He used to be sort of weirdly Democrat, but
00:42:05
a little bit libertarian. Now he seems to have been, you know, sucking on the on the Kool-Aid of right-wingery. But
00:42:13
what do you think of these Palanteer numbers and what Bur might be up to possibly shorting these stocks? You've
00:42:19
talked about these valuations quite a lot. Uh so look, uh Karp, the question is, is
00:42:26
Karp a brilliant CEO and is this an amazing company or is it dramatically
00:42:32
overvalued? The answer is yes. This is an incredible company. It it had it blew
00:42:38
away really aggressive earnings. It had 21 cents uh delivered 21 cents versus 17 cents, 1.2 billion versus 1.1 expected.
00:42:46
Their commercial software sales grew 121% year-over-year. US government sales
00:42:52
or sales to the government grew 52% which is actually better revenue because while the government is really hard to
00:42:58
sell to, once you sell into them, it's they become like AT&T just billing you over and over. overall sales grew uh 63%
00:43:06
up from year-over-year revenue growth of 48% last quarter. So, it's an incredible company. And I would argue that in terms
00:43:12
of investor relations, he's probably one of the most talented CEOs in history.
00:43:18
He's the one that did an earnings call uh on uh his phone walking around the office. He's just he's able to paint a
00:43:25
vision that gets people excited. At the same time, if it went down 70% tomorrow, it still
00:43:33
wouldn't look cheap. It trades at almost 300 times earnings and 100
00:43:39
125 times sales. It has the greatest or the highest price of sales multiple in the S&P 500. And get this,
00:43:45
it's got a similar market capitalization or value to Netflix with with onetenth
00:43:52
of the revenue. It's trading at the same Bur doing so what is Bur doing? explain. Well, Bur, it's very simple. Bur's
00:43:59
basically shorted the stock where you basically agree. You enter into a relationship with a third party who
00:44:04
says, "All right, if the stock's trading at $400 right now, in 6 months, I'll give you I'll give you 10 or $15 now. In
00:44:12
exchange, I get to sell you stock in 6 months for $400. And if the stock goes down to 300, I get to go into the market
00:44:18
and buy it for 300 and sell it to you for 400, which you agreed to cuz I paid you a small premium 6 months ago."
00:44:24
You're basically betting the stock goes down. That's all. And it's an important part of the market because it creates a
00:44:32
balance. It creates opportunity to hedge such that people who are invested long,
00:44:37
including widows and orphans, have more diversification and more downside protection. Shorting the market is a key
00:44:43
component of the market. But a lot of people dangerous now because look at Tesla, which is has no not good results and is
00:44:51
still up. Oh, don't kids don't do this at home because when you when you go
00:44:56
short a stock, you technically have unlimited downside. And the reason why I have not shorted Palunteer,
00:45:02
uh although I think it's dramatically overvalued is this is no longer a company, it's a meme stock. And that is,
00:45:09
you know, he can make an announcement and people buy Palunteer and trade it. It it is there are certain companies now
00:45:15
where and this is really kind of the arguably I think a decent definition of a meme stock where it's lost all
00:45:20
connection to the underlying metrics that we traditionally value stocks on. So is it dramatically overvalued by all
00:45:28
traditional valuation metrics and cash flows? Yeah. Could it double? Yeah, it
00:45:33
could. And it would make even less move again. Do you think he's taking enormous risks here? because got very
00:45:39
testy in a way that I was like, "Wow, you're usually quite controlled." Yeah, I thought that I thought that was a bad look for him. But
00:45:45
yeah, Bur who is he, you know, obviously made one of the best bets ever going short against the subprime market and good for
00:45:52
him. I love it when people do that sort of work. And the other guys that did that were John Paulson, a guy I actually worked
00:45:58
for, consulted to for a couple years named Phil Falconee. There were two or three people that made kind of these
00:46:04
historic bets uh against subprime mortgages and again could go out and short these things for no money because
00:46:10
they were considered they were considered money good and bulletproof and then they just started collapsing like it was a pyramid you know built on
00:46:17
card so to speak. Now no investor gets it right all the time. He's had a lot of
00:46:23
big misses, right? He's he his five he
00:46:28
he's he's shorted a bunch of companies that went up. So nobody knows. He might
00:46:33
he's taking a risk here. I would argue this is a really good risk for a guy like that who has investors who are
00:46:39
willing to take these kinds of risks and and he's hoping to drive it down by pointing out the ridiculousness of
00:46:45
Well, I love I love it. I find it so fascinating when these companies go short and then they put out really
00:46:51
thoughtful, rigorous research showing why the company is dramatically overvalued
00:46:56
and it's re it impacts the market. He didn't just say he didn't just announce that he's shorting it. He has a very
00:47:02
thoughtful rigorous analysis and the stock's down 11%. Yeah. So he's done I mean he could
00:47:07
probably be you anyway it's a really interesting we have to keep watching that company because question is is it going to be a meme stock for a long time
00:47:14
but we'll see. Um, very quickly, right-wing civil war is erupting. This is a we'll talk about this on the road,
00:47:19
I think, is erupting after Tucker Carlson's recent interview with na white nationalist Nick Fuentes, where Fuentes
00:47:25
called for an exclusive pro-white Christian movement. The backlash has been swift with Republicans like Ted
00:47:30
Cruz, Josh Holly, and Speaker Mike Johnson condemning the interview. The Heritage Foundation is an open res vault
00:47:36
after its president defended Carlson. For his part, Carlson says the uproar is really a fight over what happens after
00:47:41
Donald Trump. I think he's absolutely correct. Um the guy who's head of the heritage apologized again after all
00:47:47
these people left. The whole one whole group that focuses on anti-semitism and heritage resigned. This is a a real open
00:47:55
wound for the Republican party. The the the flirtation with both anti-semitism
00:48:01
and and white nationalism um and racism. And I this is going to be a real fight
00:48:09
going forward for them. And once Trump is out, he's been able to hold it together, but they won't be able to hold
00:48:16
this one together. Yeah. Remember the Republican party was putting out these memes or these images
00:48:21
that said that said Trump, Elon, Kanye, that these are the three people that
00:48:27
represent the Republican party, right? Yeah. Uh, I was on the phone two days
00:48:32
ago with someone who runs or does comms for uh, Democrats and I said, "You need
00:48:37
to put out the exact same image, but instead have it be Trump, Epstein, and
00:48:43
Fuentes." Oh, interesting. That's who you want Trump associated with. I'm like, go for go for the
00:48:48
[ __ ] jugular. It would be fair to visually associate them because he
00:48:54
decided to associate with them physically, spiritually, intellectually. And the most disturbing thing about that
00:49:01
interview with Fuentes and Carlson, first off, Carlson really does deserve some push back and legitimate criticism
00:49:08
for platforming someone like this and enabling and laughing when he said the following. Yeah,
00:49:13
I'm a fan of Stalin. Yeah, there are there's kind of a Hard Rock
00:49:20
first ballot hall of fame of murderers in history. Paul Pot, Hitler, they have
00:49:27
nothing on Stalin. Agreed. And we like to kind of ignore Stalin a little bit because they were our friends
00:49:33
back then and they played a huge role in defeating Hitler. But he then went on to kill millions.
00:49:40
Some say up to 20 million people. This is a murderous maniac.
00:49:47
And this young man is saying I'm a fan. So I
00:49:53
and Trump has this issue of like we want your votes and we want you to think we're with you. Wink wink such that you
00:49:58
get out and turn out the vote, but try to keep those views to yourself as opposed to coming out and saying we're
00:50:05
Republicans and the GOP has a history of evaluating people based on their
00:50:13
character and equality and pushing back on fascism and saying what this is. These people
00:50:19
could not be more anti-American. Yeah. And against the values not only of America, but the core values of the GOP.
00:50:26
Well, the old GOP, let's just be clear, cuz some people are backing, which is, you know, I don't I don't mind him
00:50:32
interviewing him. I he all kinds of [ __ ] but the way he did it again was like, wo. You could push back a
00:50:38
little bit there. And the Heritage Foundation president, I think he'll be out. I think he'll be out. I think this is a death now for this guy. I I don't
00:50:44
know. I just felt very weird the whole thing. We'll see what's happening. This is a story that's going to continue.
00:50:50
My favorite was Steven Miller's wife when she was criticized for her comments saying it was anti-semitism.
00:50:56
Said, "What? Where'd that come from? Where did that come from?" Yeah. Yeah. She's I don't think they even know you're What are you talking about?
00:51:01
Ratioed all over the place. People um uh Steven Schmidt, who's a very funny but
00:51:08
sort of sometimes erratic guy, he's very funny, put up all these pictures of Steven Miller with creep and fascist and
00:51:14
Nazi and she all got all up. She's because she's trying to make make Megan Kelly happen, I guess, around herself,
00:51:20
which is impossible. Um, and she's like, she said something and and she goes,
00:51:25
"How how could you do this?" And he wrote, "Because your husband's a Nazi." Like, it was really it was really it was
00:51:30
a she, this whole fight is not good for the Republican party. How whether they're Nazis or not. All
00:51:37
right, Scott, one more quick break. We'll be back for predictions.
00:51:42
Support for the show comes from Apple. Before the show was even a podcast, all I had was an idea. And once I had that,
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Support for this show comes from Quint. It's fall and the weather outside is well, actually, I'm not sure what the
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too. That's quinc.com/pivot to get free shipping and 365day returns.
00:53:59
quint.com/pivot. Okay, Scott, we're going to do it a
00:54:04
little differently today um for your prediction. We have a lot of predictions next week, but we're recording ahead of Tesla's annual meeting where
00:54:11
shareholders are set to vote on Elon's $1 trillion pay packages. A lot of people have gone against him, including
00:54:17
these stockhold shareholder services and the Norway, I guess there's a Norwegian
00:54:23
investor that's that's out. I predict he's going to get it. I predict he's going to get it because all these now
00:54:29
I'm paying attention to the stock market now. There's all these calls at a higher level of buying a Tesla stock at 480 and
00:54:35
it's at 462. I think people know and I think he's going to get it. Yeah, it's um
00:54:43
well look so so some things why why it may pass. it is structured to be
00:54:49
performance-based and that is he's saying if he grows the market cap to eight half trillion
00:54:55
dollars that he gets a trillion. So theoretically you can support it, right? And also some
00:55:03
people including arguably the worst investor of the modern age but the best brand builder Kathy Wood from Arc Invest
00:55:10
her. Yeah. She's predicted a strong approval. She's a loyalist. She's a shareholder. Um uh
00:55:16
Tesla's board and Musk are saying that the package may risk Musk continued
00:55:21
leadership if if in fact he doesn't get it. Uh now major proxy advisory firms
00:55:27
and I've met with these guys when I was an activist ISS and Glass Lewis which quite frankly have diminishing power
00:55:34
these days. They've recommended voting against the package citing you know saying it's just ridiculously excessive and risk of dilution and also the term
00:55:44
they use that I love is insufficient guard rails. I'm like well that's the mother of all understatements. And then
00:55:49
there's a pretty big investor I think it's called Norest or Norris Bank. Yeah, it's this Norwegian group. Yeah.
00:55:55
That they own about 1% of Tesla's shares has declared it'll vote against the proposal.
00:56:00
And so what's your prediction? Uh I think it's going to be approved, but not overwhelmingly, but I think
00:56:06
it'll be because keep in mind if you've bought shares, if you're a shareholder in Tesla right now, you've decided
00:56:13
you've gone in on Musk because you're not investing in there's no way you could justify investing in what is an
00:56:19
automobile company because it makes no sense. He's this company has consistently missed delivery deadlines.
00:56:24
It's it's revenues on the automobile side are declining faster. You're basically betting on a that this guy can
00:56:31
pull another rabbit the size of Jupiter out of a hat, which he has done before.
00:56:37
So, they're kind of all in on this guy. And this can pass. He's going to get it. And if he go I'm sorry. Go ahead.
00:56:43
They say one thing. He's not going to be a Everyone's like the world's first trillionaire. He's not going to be a trillionaire until he pulls it off. Just
00:56:49
so you know. Yeah, he has to create he has to create an additional seven trillion in value. But that stock's going to go up.
00:56:56
Speaking of meme stocks, that's what I think. I just have no idea with this thing. So,
00:57:02
in terms of the stock price here, but it's I think shareholders
00:57:09
who have invested in a company at this type of valuation do not want to wake up and hear that
00:57:14
hear that Elon, you know, is out because he got angry. I don't if he walks this
00:57:20
thing. God, it would be so interesting to see what happens to the stock. I don't think he's going to, but they just would
00:57:26
rather say, "Okay, look, if he creates seven trillion, if Tim Cook went to Apple shareholders and said, "It's worth
00:57:33
4 trillion now. If I grow it to 10, if I grow it to 12 trillion, I want a trillion."
00:57:39
Theoretically, that's not outrageous. What the problem is, we're focused on the wrong problem.
00:57:44
And that is if Elon Musk makes a trillion dollars in my view, he should pay an alternative minimum tax of 60 or
00:57:51
70%. Back to that, the oligarchy and authoritarianism and grocery stores for poor people.
00:57:58
No. And and I and I want I want someone from the Navy picking out my my my
00:58:04
uh my my cold cuts and fruits and vegetables. Oh, for goodness sake.
00:58:09
I just think I think someone from the IRS discuss this should be picking out my grapefruits. I'm going to do everything I can to get
00:58:15
Mom Dy come out to our show. Well, ask him questions and he'll say nothing, but he's good-looking. I should have someone you who doesn't
00:58:21
like you in every city. I love to think about that. That That's going to be pretty easy. You're not going to have to reach very
00:58:26
far. That's true. Anyway, we want to hear from you. Send us your questions about business tech or whatever's on your
00:58:32
mind. Go to nymag.com/pivot to submit a question for the show or call 85551 pivot. Scott, are you ready
00:58:39
for the tour? Are you ready? It's time to put your your head on for this. Are you ready for a week?
00:58:44
It's going to be great to see the Swissers. We got a whole gaggle coming with us. We're literally like we're like a rock. We're like a bad rock band in
00:58:51
the 70s. We have groupies coming with us. I'm like, you want to come? Like, sure. Yeah, sure. Why not? Yeah. Yeah. Um, we
00:58:56
have some great people coming and showing up at each of the cities. And we have a few tickets left in some cities. not many um especially Los Angeles and
00:59:04
Chicago because they're much bigger venues. But go to pivot tour.com for more info. Um okay, that's the show.
00:59:11
Thanks for listening to Pivot and be sure to like and subscribe to our YouTube channel. We'll be back next week. Scott, read us out and I will see
00:59:18
you Saturday in Canada. Yeah, I'll see you soon, sweetheart. Today's show was produced by Larara Neon, Zoe Marcus, Taylor Griffin, and
00:59:24
Karen Ruff. Ernie, Todd engineered this episode. Jim Mle edited the video. Thanks also to Jubos, Miss Severo, Dan
00:59:30
Shalon, and Kate Gallagher. Nishak Kura is Vox Media's executive producer of podcast. Make sure to follow Pivot on
00:59:36
your favorite podcast platform. Thanks for listening to Pivot from New York Magazine and Vox Media. You can subscribe to the magazine at
00:59:42
nymag.com/pod. We'll be back next week for another breakdown of all things tech and
00:59:48
business.

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 60
    Most shocking
  • 60
    Most talked-about

Episode Highlights

  • Income Inequality Discussion
    The greatest income inequality gap is between the middle class and the rich, not the poor.
    “The rich have just literally launched into space in terms of income.”
    @ 04m 03s
    November 07, 2025
  • Election Results Impact
    Democrats swept key elections, with Mandami winning the New York mayoral race decisively.
    “Democrats are riding high after sweeping key elections across the country this week.”
    @ 08m 30s
    November 07, 2025
  • Zoron Mandami's Victory Speech
    Mandami spoke about pushing back against Trump and his policies, calling for a new generation of change.
    “Together, we will usher in a generation of change.”
    @ 08m 59s
    November 07, 2025
  • Trump's Tariffs Face Supreme Court
    The Supreme Court is skeptical about Trump's authority to impose tariffs, questioning their legality.
    “This case is literally life or death for our country.”
    @ 25m 47s
    November 07, 2025
  • Elon Musk's Influence on NASA
    Trump renominates Jared Isaacman to head NASA, reflecting a trend of privatizing space exploration.
    “I would like an actual space scientist to be running NASA, not friends of Elon.”
    @ 35m 41s
    November 07, 2025
  • Palantir's Roller Coaster Week
    Despite blockbuster earnings, Palantir's stock fell due to valuation concerns and a major investor shorting the company.
    “Karp called the quarter arguably the best results than any software company has ever delivered.”
    @ 41m 13s
    November 07, 2025
  • The Rise of Meme Stocks
    A discussion on how some companies have lost connection to traditional valuation metrics, becoming meme stocks.
    “This is no longer a company, it's a meme stock.”
    @ 45m 02s
    November 07, 2025
  • Republican Party's Internal Struggles
    The backlash from Tucker Carlson's interview with Nick Fuentes highlights a rift in the GOP.
    “This is a real open wound for the Republican party.”
    @ 47m 55s
    November 07, 2025

Episode Quotes

Key Moments

  • Income Inequality04:03
  • Mandami's Rise08:59
  • Election Betting23:18
  • Supreme Court Skepticism25:21
  • NASA Leadership35:41
  • Meme Stock Discussion45:02
  • Tucker Carlson Controversy47:25
  • Republican Party Rift47:55

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown

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