RETURN TO CHANNEL

Search Captions & Ask AI

Kara Swisher Calls Out White House Spin on Minneapolis ICE Shooting | Pivot

January 09, 2026 / 01:03:57

Video

00:00:00

The US is actively discussing uh a

00:00:02

potential offer to buy Greenland. I

00:00:04

mean, they're not just murdering US

00:00:06

citizens. They're very busy on other

00:00:07

things.

00:00:14

Hi everyone, this is Pivot from New York

00:00:16

Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast

00:00:17

Network. I'm Cara Swisser. Scott

00:00:20

Galloway continues to be under the

00:00:23

weather, so I brought in two more

00:00:26

amazing co-hosts. We've got Audi

00:00:28

Cornish, host of CNN This Morning and

00:00:30

the podcast The Assignment. Uh, and Bill

00:00:33

Cohen, one of my favorite people to talk

00:00:35

about business because there's a lot

00:00:36

going on there, author and founding

00:00:38

partner of Puck. Welcome, Audi and Bill.

00:00:41

>> Hey.

00:00:42

>> Hey. Great to be here.

00:00:43

>> Thank you.

00:00:44

>> So, I had nothing to do with Scott's

00:00:45

disappearance. Yeah.

00:00:47

>> Not that I haven't wanted to be on the

00:00:48

show a lot. Like, I've been waiting with

00:00:50

this quarterzip just so that I could be

00:00:52

a part of the dialogue.

00:00:53

>> Quarter zip.

00:00:54

>> I did. And I was like, are we talking

00:00:56

business?

00:00:57

>> Yeah. Um, no.

00:00:59

>> So, I'm sure Scott's fine. I didn't do

00:01:00

anything to him at all.

00:01:01

>> No. Okay. All right. You were trying.

00:01:02

Yes. That would be a really good show of

00:01:04

like trying to take down a co-host.

00:01:07

>> Like a Nancy Carib

00:01:09

on, Bill.

00:01:10

>> I do, but I don't have a Warner Brothers

00:01:12

Discovery quarter zip.

00:01:14

>> I wore that for you. I got this from

00:01:16

David Zoff

00:01:17

>> himself.

00:01:18

>> I technically did as well.

00:01:20

>> Yeah, exactly. Yeah, he gives them out.

00:01:22

He dresses I'm going to say this

00:01:24

honestly. He dresses I told him he

00:01:25

dressed like a lesbian and he sent me

00:01:27

this.

00:01:28

>> Only lesbians can say that. I opt out. I

00:01:30

unsubscribe.

00:01:31

>> Unsubscribe. Um but yes, there a it's

00:01:33

actually a fantastic vest. I have

00:01:35

>> You look great in it.

00:01:37

>> Thank you. It's really comfortable and I

00:01:38

wear it all the time. And uh my son this

00:01:41

morning uh said, "Oh, that's the uh

00:01:43

Scooby-Doo people." So I guess

00:01:46

>> that is of all the things

00:01:47

>> of all the things.

00:01:48

>> That's such a

00:01:50

for

00:01:52

Yes, exactly. We're going to talk about

00:01:53

that and I really enjoyed your stuff,

00:01:55

Bill, but we've got a lot to get to

00:01:57

today. Um, so we're going to dig in.

00:01:58

There's a lot of news and the first one

00:02:00

obviously is the fatal shooting of a

00:02:02

37year-old woman in her car by an ICE

00:02:04

agent in Minneapolis and sparking n

00:02:07

outrage and protests again. Uh, the

00:02:10

woman, Renee Nicole Good, uh, was a US

00:02:12

citizen, a mother of of three, and a

00:02:14

poet. She's was not under any kind of

00:02:17

investigation, according to law

00:02:18

enforcement officials. Homeland Security

00:02:20

Secretary Christy Gnome uh said Good was

00:02:23

quote stalking officers in attempting an

00:02:25

act of domestic terrorism. What a

00:02:26

heinous person she is. And Minneapolis

00:02:29

Mayor Jacob uh Fry called that [ __ ]

00:02:32

and told ICE to quote, "Get the [ __ ] out

00:02:35

of Minneapolis." Uh President Trump

00:02:37

weighed in on True Social and once again

00:02:39

blamed the radical left. Um he did an

00:02:43

interview just where where the reporters

00:02:45

from New showed it to him and he sort of

00:02:47

walked it back. Uh but he he didn't

00:02:50

precisely. Um and of course they're

00:02:52

doubling down Tom Hman for a second was

00:02:54

reasonable and he got the memo that

00:02:56

they're supposed to call this woman a

00:02:58

radical terrorist. Um I want to get both

00:03:00

your takes here, but first let me share

00:03:02

Scott Galloway's thoughts on this which

00:03:04

he texted me last night. I'm horrified.

00:03:07

History shows politics uh becomes a

00:03:09

blood sport. A nation's light begins to

00:03:11

flicker. uh uh Adam Nuome Whitmer

00:03:15

Shapiro should announce candidacy this

00:03:17

week and say if elected we are going to

00:03:19

have the equivalent of the Nermberg

00:03:20

trials. There needs to be a reckoning to

00:03:22

start the stain of corruption,

00:03:24

insurrection and bigotry dems are such

00:03:26

[ __ ] wimps. That was from Scott. Um

00:03:29

the words of Scott Galloway, ladies and

00:03:30

gentlemen, from his sick bed. Audi, I'll

00:03:33

start with you. What do you make of what

00:03:34

we're seeing? You reported on it all

00:03:36

morning on your show on CNN, your

00:03:38

morning show. So talk a little bit about

00:03:40

and you've covered this kind of stuff

00:03:42

many times.

00:03:43

>> I have. And I mean talk about grim. Like

00:03:46

I think this woman had dropped her kid

00:03:47

off at school like a six-year-old. Um

00:03:51

and so many people right now wherever

00:03:54

they fall on the political spectrum feel

00:03:57

a kind of helplessness like wait a

00:03:58

second am I really where where I thought

00:04:01

I the country would be? And so if you're

00:04:04

one of those people and you decide well

00:04:06

I'm going to go out somewhere. I'm going

00:04:08

to do something. I'm going to be

00:04:09

present.

00:04:10

>> Um, and kind Yeah. protest. And I'm not

00:04:15

saying she definitely was protesting,

00:04:16

but just the idea that you are in mortal

00:04:19

danger now, uh, in these scenarios, I

00:04:23

think is pretty terrifying. Also the

00:04:26

setting, it being Minneapolis, it being

00:04:28

this many years after the death of

00:04:30

George Floyd, it being in a place where

00:04:33

protests went for a very long time and

00:04:35

in fact other protesters were killed,

00:04:37

like it can it can spin out into

00:04:40

something else. And then lastly, the

00:04:43

fact that this whole operation, you

00:04:45

know, almost 90% I think 87% of the

00:04:49

Somali in the state are naturalized

00:04:53

citizens. They are legal. So now you are

00:04:56

really trying to find one and two and

00:04:58

three people and you have a city that is

00:05:02

prepared. You'll look on your TVs in the

00:05:04

next day or two and see some protesters

00:05:06

wearing their gas masks already because

00:05:09

they have seen this movie before a kind

00:05:10

of militarized um response from law

00:05:13

enforcement.

00:05:14

>> So can I ask you one other question? The

00:05:16

response from the Trump administration

00:05:17

immediately was trying to spin it. Of

00:05:19

course, Christy Gnome had put on

00:05:20

whatever hat she had that day and

00:05:23

started to spew lies. And then the

00:05:24

videos, all of them were very much

00:05:27

different, including Fox News

00:05:29

commentators commenting on, well, she

00:05:31

was turning away from the ICE person,

00:05:33

not, you know, the there he she was

00:05:34

trying to hit him. She's obviously

00:05:36

dropped her kid off from school. There's

00:05:38

very little known.

00:05:39

>> I mean, look, if there's one thing we

00:05:40

know how to do as Americans is, uh,

00:05:42

scrutinize a video of a law enforcement

00:05:45

involved killing. Uh, I think we had a

00:05:47

fair amount of practice at that. We have

00:05:49

not had practice doing that with a white

00:05:51

mother, you know, of a couple kids. And

00:05:54

I think this has looked very shocking

00:05:56

for people and familiar in ways that

00:05:59

feel very sort of dark. The

00:06:01

administration's whole stance on this

00:06:03

entire process has been always double

00:06:05

down, always triple down, never give any

00:06:07

ground. Um because they feel they have

00:06:10

not just uh some kind of moral

00:06:12

authority. They'll evoke this mandate

00:06:15

you hear over and over on these cable

00:06:17

news panels. this is what people voted

00:06:19

for. Um, I'll just wrap up by saying we

00:06:23

don't matter what the TV news says or

00:06:26

commentators. People have eyes and they

00:06:28

have social media. And I have watched

00:06:31

all of these ICE enforcements and

00:06:32

arrests and protests on social media

00:06:36

where people offer their own commentary.

00:06:39

And I think that is having way more

00:06:41

impact than the administration would

00:06:43

like to think. They want to think it's a

00:06:45

Democratic governor somewhere saying

00:06:46

something that's rhetoric that make

00:06:48

people say f ICE. Uh check the hashtag,

00:06:51

you know, it it's not run certainly by

00:06:53

any Democratic uh messaging operation.

00:06:56

>> Right. Right. So, Bill, I want to bring

00:06:57

you one of the things that I'm watching

00:06:58

though is a lot of suddenly business

00:07:01

people, well-known people, the head of

00:07:03

the guy who runs Jeopardy spoke up.

00:07:05

Right. And just I just was noticing Paul

00:07:07

Graham, who I think you know, he was the

00:07:09

head of Y Combinator, um wrote, "Ice

00:07:12

just shot and killed a woman in

00:07:13

Minneapolis, a US citizen. How long

00:07:14

before we say enough is enough?" Elon

00:07:17

Musk responded, "Uh, she tried to run

00:07:19

people over." And Paul wrote back and

00:07:21

Paul is I wouldn't call him a liberal by

00:07:23

in fact, he's somewhat irritating on

00:07:25

many levels. Um uh she didn't. Uh no,

00:07:28

she didn't. Here's the evidence. She's

00:07:29

turning the wheel the front wheels of

00:07:31

the car to the right away from the ICE

00:07:32

officer on her left. She was trying to

00:07:34

run him over. or why would she turn in

00:07:36

the other direction? Um there's Do you

00:07:38

think Bill because a lot of the you

00:07:40

haven't heard, you know, word one from

00:07:43

any tech people on any of this or any

00:07:46

business people on this stuff?

00:07:48

>> Yeah, I I think we may be reaching a

00:07:51

tipping point on that. uh to use a

00:07:54

phrase that a lot of business people can

00:07:56

understand. I think um this is obviously

00:07:59

the inevitable outcome of the wider

00:08:02

Steven Miller agenda uh which is heinous

00:08:06

in almost every respect. And you know

00:08:09

and you'll have to remember that Steven

00:08:10

Miller's grandparents were immigrants

00:08:12

and if uh his policies were in place for

00:08:17

them uh you know maybe they never would

00:08:19

have come to this country. Grocking

00:08:21

Steven Miller will be a year a decades

00:08:24

long thing for future historians. But go

00:08:26

ahead.

00:08:27

>> Absolutely. I mean this guy is

00:08:29

completely out of control. Witness the

00:08:31

uh interview he gave to Jake Tapper the

00:08:34

other day uh which was happened to be

00:08:36

about Venezuela. But the same kind of

00:08:38

arrogance and hubris applies here. Uh so

00:08:42

I mean these situations are p powder

00:08:44

kegs uh you know bringing in highly

00:08:47

militarized uh you know ICE officers

00:08:50

into neighborhoods and rounding up

00:08:53

people who should never be rounded up.

00:08:56

You know so it seems so unamerican to

00:08:58

me. I don't think this is what we voted

00:09:00

for at all.

00:09:01

>> But why why have businesses remained

00:09:03

largely silent

00:09:04

>> because you know it it doesn't

00:09:06

>> during George Floyd. Well, I mean, first

00:09:09

of all, it see that seems like a

00:09:11

lifetime ago, you know, the reaction to

00:09:13

George Floyd. I mean, people have

00:09:15

whatever gotten with the program. Uh, I

00:09:18

remember, uh, having a dinner a few

00:09:20

months ago with the CEO of a tech

00:09:23

company, uh, Cara, who you probably know

00:09:25

well, who I asked this exact thing. Why

00:09:28

are you not speaking up more, uh, uh,

00:09:31

profoundly about what's going on here?

00:09:33

No, because it doesn't affect my

00:09:34

business. uh what affects my business

00:09:36

is, you know, my shareholders, my

00:09:38

creditors, my employees. Uh you know,

00:09:40

this doesn't affect what Donald Trump is

00:09:42

doing, what the regime is doing doesn't

00:09:44

affect me. It's not my business. I'm

00:09:46

going to stay out of it even though it's

00:09:49

totally reprehensible and that these

00:09:51

people should be speaking up.

00:09:52

>> Mhm.

00:09:53

>> I mean, why have FU money if you're not

00:09:55

going to speak up and use it?

00:09:57

>> Yep. Yep. Absolutely. I mean, it'll be

00:10:00

interesting. Last thing, a Where do you

00:10:01

imagine this going now with these

00:10:03

videos? I mean, it was really

00:10:05

interesting the New York Times interview

00:10:06

because it looks like he was like, "Oh,

00:10:08

yeah, I guess not." Will they continue

00:10:09

to double down? What is the Because, of

00:10:12

course, it takes away from their

00:10:13

Venezuela capers, which we'll get to in

00:10:15

a second. It takes away from their

00:10:16

Greenland capers.

00:10:17

>> I'll be honest, it depends on what

00:10:18

happens next. I mean, you'll notice my

00:10:20

eyes are kind of going like this every

00:10:21

few minutes is because right now there

00:10:23

is this kind of images of what looks

00:10:25

like a standoff and uh between

00:10:28

protesters who are like linking arms and

00:10:30

then you have uh this is the state of

00:10:33

the country we're in right now. I'm like

00:10:34

are these National Guard? Are these

00:10:36

police? Are these ICE police? Like who

00:10:38

am I even looking at? And is this even

00:10:41

how you do crowd control? Is this how

00:10:43

you enforce things? And I just want to

00:10:45

add one more thing here.

00:10:48

the the ramp up that we are witnessing

00:10:51

of this law enforcement agency that is

00:10:54

not structured the way the others are

00:10:56

does not have it's unaccountable in such

00:10:59

profound ways and I think that I will be

00:11:04

very curious if people feel like they

00:11:06

voted for that cuz when I hear the

00:11:08

manosphere and the podcast bros kind of

00:11:11

be like I don't know man I don't know if

00:11:12

you should be I can't believe they're

00:11:14

doing this I can't believe they're doing

00:11:15

that to me that's now reached the stage

00:11:17

where the average person does not

00:11:19

perceive this as just a mass deportation

00:11:23

of criminals. I do think that horse has

00:11:25

left the barn. It's now do they think

00:11:28

that what's being grown in their name um

00:11:32

that they as voters should step in and

00:11:33

somehow try and stop it or make their

00:11:35

displeasure known

00:11:36

>> that the which they are have been doing.

00:11:37

I mean Gustapo wasn't what we voted for.

00:11:39

I guess that's go ahead.

00:11:42

>> I mean I just think we're living sorry

00:11:44

uh through an era of unaccountability.

00:11:46

There's no accountability for ICE.

00:11:48

There's no accountability for Venezuela.

00:11:50

There's no accountability for ripping

00:11:52

down the east wing of the White House.

00:11:54

There's no accountability for re uh

00:11:57

describing what happened on January uh

00:12:00

6th in on on the White House website. I

00:12:03

mean, every day there's uh an example of

00:12:06

bad behavior that would normally be

00:12:09

unacceptable. In my lifetime, uh it

00:12:12

would be completely unacceptable for our

00:12:15

our our politicians to act this way. And

00:12:18

yet, uh they do it with impunity and

00:12:20

there's never any accountability.

00:12:22

>> But there is a lever, just no one's

00:12:24

pulling it. I mean, I hear Scott talk

00:12:25

like this all the time, but the business

00:12:28

community seems to have walked away from

00:12:30

the awakening

00:12:32

>> and a bunch of them went, "That really

00:12:34

went too far, don't you think?" And so,

00:12:36

they don't give a [ __ ] Like honestly, I

00:12:40

genuinely feel like they are going on

00:12:43

yachts and building up fortresses for

00:12:46

themselves and they no longer feel

00:12:47

actually engaged with the country in a

00:12:50

lot of ways. And I don't say this as

00:12:51

some like raving liberal. I'm just like

00:12:53

they are absent. They don't yank funding

00:12:55

from things. They don't get advertising

00:12:57

from things. They go to every dinner

00:12:59

they have at the White House. Like I

00:13:01

don't know what the business community

00:13:03

>> I think they do. I think they do give a

00:13:04

[ __ ] I I think that they prefer not to

00:13:07

be the nail that sticks up that gets

00:13:09

this madman's attention and then puts

00:13:12

them in the crosshairs and they have to

00:13:14

deal with some, you know, analogous

00:13:18

event that uh that they didn't want to

00:13:20

have to deal with because they spoke up.

00:13:21

So, I think they do care.

00:13:24

>> Renee Good took a risk. Billionaires

00:13:26

won't. And I'm confused.

00:13:27

>> Yeah. All right. Well, that's a good

00:13:28

point. Yeah. Go ahead.

00:13:29

>> That's why I say if you've got a few

00:13:31

money, why aren't you using it?

00:13:33

>> Yep. Yep. I I have to say I'm with Audi

00:13:35

on this one. It's like they could This

00:13:37

is not hard. None of this is

00:13:38

particularly hard and it doesn't affect

00:13:39

your own

00:13:40

>> midterms are coming up. You can throw

00:13:41

around all your Free Amendment money,

00:13:43

you know, First Amendment money then.

00:13:45

Yeah. Will they? I'm not holding my

00:13:47

breath.

00:13:47

>> Well, now we're going to talk about

00:13:48

Venezuela. Here are some of the

00:13:50

highlights of the story since our last

00:13:51

episode. President Trump will meet with

00:13:53

oil industry executives on Friday at the

00:13:55

White House after saying the US may

00:13:57

subsidize the company's efforts to

00:13:58

rebuild in Venezuela. In other words,

00:14:00

the taxpayer will pay for it, which he

00:14:02

estimated would take 18 months. Uh,

00:14:04

probably just made that up. On

00:14:05

Wednesday, President Trump said US

00:14:07

control of Venezuela could last for

00:14:09

years. The president has withdrawn the

00:14:11

US from 66 international organizations

00:14:13

and treaties, including climate groups.

00:14:15

The US seized two oil tankers, including

00:14:17

a Russian flagged vessel linked to

00:14:20

Venezuela in the North Atlantic. The

00:14:23

national security leaders have said the

00:14:24

administration does not plan to use

00:14:26

ground troops in Venezuela. Of course,

00:14:28

in related news, the US is actively

00:14:30

discussing uh a potential offer to buy

00:14:32

Greenland and hasn't ruled out military

00:14:35

uh action. I mean, they're not just

00:14:37

murdering US citizens. They're very busy

00:14:39

on other things. Um so, Bill, start. How

00:14:42

do you suspect these oil executives will

00:14:43

be responding in this meeting? Um

00:14:45

because it's it's a dicey situation for

00:14:47

them no matter what, and the price of

00:14:49

oil, of course, is not as high as they'd

00:14:51

like it to be,

00:14:53

>> right? So, how do you respond to this

00:14:56

rampant imperialism? Uh, if you're a CEO

00:14:59

of a of an oil company that might or

00:15:01

might not benefit from this imperialism,

00:15:04

uh, I think that the economics of the

00:15:07

situation do not necessarily lend itself

00:15:08

to these companies wanting to go in

00:15:11

there. Uh, it's going to take billions

00:15:14

of dollars to apparently fix up the

00:15:16

refiner,

00:15:17

>> which they also had lost previously,

00:15:19

right? whatever sunk sunk money

00:15:22

different companies whatever uh you know

00:15:25

okay so you give them a heads up early

00:15:27

that you're doing this cuz he loves to

00:15:29

court their favor uh but I don't think

00:15:32

this is nearly going to be nearly as

00:15:34

smooth and as easy uh it never is first

00:15:36

of all look what happened in in Iraq and

00:15:38

that was supposed to be over in 10 days

00:15:40

right

00:15:41

>> and good for oil companies similar words

00:15:43

actually

00:15:44

>> right similar words didn't work out that

00:15:46

way and I don't see this working out

00:15:47

that way either besides car we are net

00:15:50

exporters of oil. Now, why why do we

00:15:52

need more oil from Venezuela? I mean,

00:15:57

this is just this crazy uh hubristic uh

00:16:02

uh ugly uh American behavior that I

00:16:05

thought we would have learned from over

00:16:07

the decades of doing similar things,

00:16:09

especially in Latin America. And and I'm

00:16:11

not I mean obviously if you're the CEO

00:16:13

of one of these oil companies, you get

00:16:14

invited to the White House by a madman,

00:16:16

you know, you go and you listen to what

00:16:19

he has to say. But I think as an

00:16:20

economic matter, it's going to take a

00:16:22

long time before they, you know, raise

00:16:24

their hands and say, "Oh, yes, me too. I

00:16:26

want to get in here and, you know,

00:16:27

extract this oil because

00:16:29

>> even if they get a freebie from

00:16:30

taxpayers, if he's able to do that at

00:16:32

all, right, which is

00:16:33

>> yeah, we don't know the mechanisms about

00:16:35

how this will work." Also, Bill, I was

00:16:37

wondering in the era of this kind of

00:16:39

Trump administration

00:16:42

trans transactional foreign policy and

00:16:45

transactional business policy, can

00:16:48

>> everything's a transaction.

00:16:49

>> Yeah. So, you can't do a no strings

00:16:52

attached situation with the Trump

00:16:53

administration, even as an oil company,

00:16:55

I would think, right? Like, if they're

00:16:57

going to not like even Nvidia has to

00:16:59

give a slice, so like why wouldn't you?

00:17:01

And our company starting to be wary

00:17:04

about that.

00:17:05

>> Totally. I mean there's I mean he said

00:17:07

he's going to you know seize the oil

00:17:10

that has apparently been you know ours

00:17:12

and locked up apparently and he's going

00:17:14

to sell it on the market and control the

00:17:18

proceeds of that sale. I mean he's got

00:17:21

his fingers in all these pies. It's this

00:17:24

ultimate grift. You know the Center for

00:17:26

American Progress has got a website now

00:17:28

that tracks the grift. It's nearly $2

00:17:30

billion since January uh since he was

00:17:33

inaugurated. This is another part of the

00:17:35

grift and and and I'm always uh very

00:17:39

concerned about, you know, you have

00:17:40

these big uh exogenous events you like

00:17:43

going into Venezuela or or what happened

00:17:45

in Min Minneapolis. What's what are they

00:17:48

doing? What are they trying to deflect

00:17:50

from? All right. Uh is it is it the

00:17:53

rewriting of January 6th? Is it Jeffrey

00:17:56

Epstein? Is it, you know, Graph? I mean,

00:17:59

taking down the east wing of the White

00:18:01

House, the $400 million ballroom. I

00:18:04

mean, what kind of crazy thing is he

00:18:06

trying to distract us from? It's wag the

00:18:09

dog, it's Orwellian, and you know, we're

00:18:12

just again, there's no accountability

00:18:13

for an oil executive going to that

00:18:15

meeting. What I I I have talked to two

00:18:18

of them and they're like, "This is not

00:18:20

good for us. The price of oil, you know,

00:18:22

they I mean, economically, it's kind of

00:18:24

insane.

00:18:25

Why are you going to invest billions of

00:18:26

dollars trying to extract oil in

00:18:29

Venezuela when we're already net

00:18:30

exporters of oil? I don't I don't

00:18:32

understand.

00:18:33

>> In an easier situation, right?

00:18:35

>> I mean, the potential there is huge,

00:18:36

right? Like they're sitting on the

00:18:38

reserve. It's just does this

00:18:40

administration have the attention span?

00:18:42

Is the country willing to do what it

00:18:45

takes to secure a long-term investment?

00:18:49

I mean, no one has the appetite for a

00:18:51

very long list of things for the reasons

00:18:53

you guys everyone has said, which is

00:18:55

like the ghost of Iraq and and that

00:18:58

whole conversation just haunted foreign

00:19:01

policy.

00:19:02

>> So many others. I mean, why are we I

00:19:04

mean, what what if the reverse situation

00:19:07

were happening? I mean, honestly, what

00:19:08

if Venezuela came in, kidnapped Trump

00:19:11

and Melania, took them off in Venezuela,

00:19:13

and then started saying, "Okay, now we

00:19:15

own Exxon, Chevron, you know, and and

00:19:18

all the Kono and all the other oil

00:19:21

companies and we're just going to

00:19:22

extract all the oil because we we want

00:19:24

to. I mean,

00:19:25

>> I have to Cara, I want to raise

00:19:27

something with you and get your point of

00:19:28

view, which is that there's a lot of

00:19:30

people who would say all the Trump

00:19:32

people really do is overt versions of

00:19:35

things that the US has always done

00:19:37

covertly. So, the long list of Latin

00:19:39

American regime change and

00:19:41

interventions, I I'm just going to pick

00:19:43

a date and go back to like 51 or

00:19:45

something. Um, now the only difference

00:19:47

is they just do it, right? And instead

00:19:49

of us playing this like absurd game with

00:19:52

Donald Rumsfeld about oil and whether

00:19:54

it's the oil and whether it's not and

00:19:55

then Jim Baker is like, "Oh, it's

00:19:57

definitely I mean just nonsense." Now we

00:19:59

just have people saying the thing

00:20:01

>> they saying it's oil.

00:20:02

>> Yeah. And like is there something to be

00:20:04

said for a like you're addressing

00:20:06

everything more directly? And number

00:20:09

two, what is for Democrats? What's their

00:20:11

response? What are you going to tell a

00:20:13

Venezuelan expat? like, well, we really

00:20:15

want that dictator to stay because we

00:20:18

don't like the way they're doing this.

00:20:20

>> Well, as as many people point out,

00:20:21

Maduro is a is an autocrat and a very

00:20:24

tyrannical one, right? It's not like I

00:20:26

think his own people knifed him in the

00:20:27

back. That's my my take on the whole

00:20:30

thing is is a Deli who looks harmless

00:20:32

but is not in any way.

00:20:34

>> She was head of the intelligence correct

00:20:36

department at one point and she was head

00:20:38

of the oil. Like that regime is still

00:20:40

there. They're violent. They're

00:20:41

repressive. They're turning on each

00:20:42

other. And if you're a Democrat, do you

00:20:44

just say, "But uh actually he needs to

00:20:46

come to Congress appropriation something

00:20:48

something when you have all these people

00:20:50

in the country saying we needed the

00:20:52

help. Maybe this maybe we want to thank

00:20:55

Trump for doing this."

00:20:56

>> They do. They do. I mean, but that it's

00:20:58

hardly pointful who he's not he's not

00:21:00

the president of Venezuela, so who

00:21:01

cares? He it's not his job.

00:21:03

>> I mean, I think a lot of Venezuelans in

00:21:04

Florida do like I think

00:21:06

>> expats who have left, right? They're a

00:21:08

very different group of people and

00:21:09

people there. I just did a a long uh

00:21:11

podcast with some historian uh David

00:21:14

Sanger and some others about this and

00:21:16

one of the things that was interesting

00:21:18

to me was that there's a real rift

00:21:20

between the people who 25% of the

00:21:23

population left and the people who were

00:21:24

there and you know there's a whole there

00:21:27

again not our country not our problem

00:21:29

>> but we saw this with the Cuban community

00:21:30

and the Cuban Republican community right

00:21:33

like uh Democrats lost that community

00:21:35

for decades after and now the secretary

00:21:38

of state is basically the product of

00:21:40

that political lineage Right. Exactly.

00:21:43

Which is why they're focusing on Cuba

00:21:45

next. And but one of the things is I

00:21:47

think would you cringing in plain sight

00:21:49

is what you're asking about. They're

00:21:50

crimeing in plain sight. I do think

00:21:52

there are one of the things the response

00:21:55

was in the no one's ever done this. I'm

00:21:56

like hold the hold my beer. Yes they

00:21:59

did. Panama. Yes they did. Haiti. Yes we

00:22:02

did. Iraq. Iran. Like Chile. Like yes we

00:22:06

did. And except what Donald Trump is

00:22:08

doing is not saying oh it's a democracy

00:22:11

thing. Oh, it's because of this. He's or

00:22:14

it's because of political prisoners or

00:22:16

it's because he's just saying, "Yeah,

00:22:17

it's the oil." And then you have Howard

00:22:19

Nutnik who seems to be in a bathroom

00:22:20

piping up at the minerals like like

00:22:23

that. I don't think and I think actually

00:22:25

the Trump administration has made when

00:22:27

people point to his grift, they go,

00:22:29

"Well, he's doing it transparently."

00:22:31

Like, so cramming in plain sight is

00:22:34

better and it's on a scale that's

00:22:35

unprecedented. That's really the more

00:22:38

interesting part of it. Um, but it's

00:22:40

still it's still stupid. Like I don't

00:22:42

know what else to say. It's stupid as

00:22:43

Bill pointed out because of the price of

00:22:45

oil is going to come down, crashing down

00:22:47

presumably,

00:22:48

>> right? I mean, did he really think this

00:22:49

through? I mean, you know, the oil

00:22:51

executives will go to this meeting, but

00:22:53

to get them to invest billions of

00:22:55

dollars to refine or get that oil out of

00:22:59

the ground and sell it into a market

00:23:00

where the price of oil is low,

00:23:02

relatively speaking, and we're already

00:23:04

net exporters of oil. Why are they going

00:23:06

to do that?

00:23:08

think that

00:23:10

you can't even get a guarantee from the

00:23:11

government that they'll secure the

00:23:12

workforce that would do this. I mean

00:23:14

there there's been there is no day two

00:23:17

>> uh why are we invading another country

00:23:21

kidnapping their president so we can

00:23:23

take their natural resources.

00:23:25

>> Yeah, it does happen with the shoeer on

00:23:27

the other foot. I I think there might be

00:23:29

a little bit of

00:23:30

>> the old if Obama did this. We're sort of

00:23:32

way beyond if Obama did this kind of

00:23:34

thing. But in related news, speaking of

00:23:36

which, um, speaking of minerals and

00:23:39

things we want there and and

00:23:40

strategically indeed important place,

00:23:43

Greenland. Um, now from what I

00:23:45

understand from this panel I did, we can

00:23:48

go to Greenland right now and put as

00:23:49

many bases on it as we want. We could

00:23:51

put 300 bases. We had 16 17 bases there.

00:23:55

We closed 16 of them. So we have every

00:23:58

right to be in Greenland from a 1950s

00:24:01

treaty. So we don't even have to

00:24:03

>> Yeah. 51

00:24:04

>> 50 like we don't have to do anything. We

00:24:07

can just open all those things and like

00:24:09

squat I guess squat in Greenland. I

00:24:11

think that's the way I think that's the

00:24:13

technical term for it. Um so what what

00:24:16

happens but but it has created this this

00:24:19

NATO crisis existential crisis um

00:24:22

especially if he does something milit

00:24:25

with the military rather than just offer

00:24:27

to buy it. Uh thoughts first Audi and

00:24:30

then Bill.

00:24:31

>> Oh no I want to hear Bill first. I'm

00:24:32

kind of curious

00:24:33

>> economically is is it a good is it a

00:24:36

good deal?

00:24:37

>> Look, he he he he doesn't care uh as

00:24:39

he's proven for years, it doesn't care

00:24:41

about NATO. So, if he's provoking uh

00:24:44

confrontation with NATO and a way to get

00:24:46

out of NATO, okay, fine. Or maybe it's

00:24:50

bluster. And I mean, do we need to buy

00:24:53

Greenland? As you said, we can do

00:24:55

already or allowed to do what we want.

00:24:57

is just another example of this crazy

00:25:00

wacky uh uh imperialistic behavior that

00:25:04

is so unbecoming and you would think

00:25:05

that we would have learned from our past

00:25:08

mistakes in this area and it makes

00:25:10

people hate us and resent us which is

00:25:13

part of the reason we got a 9/11

00:25:15

situation is that hate and resentment uh

00:25:18

around the world and he's fmenting it

00:25:20

without any accountability. Uh and to

00:25:23

what end? I mean, again, if you if

00:25:25

there's a treaty that says we can

00:25:26

already put bases there and we haven't

00:25:28

done it, well, why not just do that? Why

00:25:30

are we provoking uh a confrontation with

00:25:33

one of

00:25:34

>> He wants to be the first US president to

00:25:37

expand territory since whoever it was.

00:25:39

Yeah,

00:25:40

>> that's that is to me the

00:25:42

>> So, he wants to do this his version of

00:25:44

Louisiana purchase, does he?

00:25:46

>> Yes. Yeah. Yeah. He could he wants his

00:25:49

face on Mount Rushmore? He wants his

00:25:51

face on the coin.

00:25:51

>> On a coin. Yeah. He's building his $400

00:25:54

million uh ballroom. I mean, this guy

00:25:59

>> never going to get built. I'm just

00:26:00

telling you, never going to get built.

00:26:01

That's my That's my feeling. My thoughts

00:26:03

is that, you know, I think it's baffling

00:26:05

for all of us because he tends to uh

00:26:07

first of all, his ideas of foreign

00:26:09

policy are often frozen in particular uh

00:26:11

vintage, right? It's like he really does

00:26:14

just care a lot about tariffs. He thinks

00:26:16

that's the way to do it. So tariffs it

00:26:19

is you know um resources and

00:26:22

transactional uh I think Google called

00:26:24

it transactional predation of resources

00:26:28

he sees himself as doing like what China

00:26:30

is doing or something like that. Now, of

00:26:33

course, it's very different. It's very,

00:26:35

very different. And it's often, as you

00:26:37

mentioned, Bill, um, undermining our

00:26:40

allies. And I think that it is very,

00:26:44

it's very difficult to watch in real

00:26:46

time the postworld war II world order

00:26:49

and systems be not just chipped away,

00:26:53

but kind of kicked in the knee. And

00:26:55

maybe like retirement.

00:26:57

>> Yeah, you can go. Maybe like retirement

00:27:00

it was always a myth you know like maybe

00:27:01

it was never going to last more than 50

00:27:03

to 80 years but we are witnessing the

00:27:05

falling apart of something that doesn't

00:27:08

mean that something else can't be

00:27:09

rebuilt in its place but uh for sure I

00:27:12

think that it might be baffling to the

00:27:14

average person because you're like why

00:27:15

are we suddenly talking about Greenland

00:27:18

and you can say that almost every week

00:27:20

why are we talking about X why are we

00:27:22

talking about

00:27:22

>> let me just add in one of the Greenland

00:27:25

certainly is a strategic and there are

00:27:27

minerals to be whatever that kind of

00:27:29

stuff.

00:27:30

>> Under a lot of ice.

00:27:31

>> Under a lot of ice. By the way,

00:27:33

Greenland isn't green and Iceland isn't

00:27:35

ice. Um I I'd like to point that out.

00:27:37

>> Thank you for that.

00:27:38

>> Anytime. Anytime. Um but to me, the best

00:27:42

economic thing to do from a business

00:27:44

point of view is to help Ukraine because

00:27:46

that is a country if it was renovated,

00:27:49

they have high technical expertise. Uh

00:27:51

we would we would speaking of US

00:27:53

benefiting economically that's our best

00:27:56

economic bet to get

00:27:57

>> that's like the one thing we won't do

00:28:00

the Russians out and create a very

00:28:02

vibrant technologically forward

00:28:06

we would make a lot of bank there versus

00:28:09

a Greenland or a Venezuela or anywhere

00:28:11

else to me if that's your criteria is

00:28:14

what's the best deal to me Ukraine is

00:28:16

the best deal from an if you're just

00:28:18

going to be that venal of

00:28:20

>> Can I raise one more thing that's sort

00:28:21

of baffling to me. You have a generation

00:28:24

of Republicans in MAGA world, whatever,

00:28:27

who were against the Forever Wars. You

00:28:30

have Navy Seals in Congress now,

00:28:31

lawmakers. They're there because they

00:28:34

were against Forever Wars. They were

00:28:36

against our actions abroad and

00:28:38

interventions, and they hate the

00:28:39

neocons, and they're kicking dirt over

00:28:41

Dick Janie's grave. And I don't

00:28:44

understand them right now. I don't know

00:28:46

if this is going to be like the fiscal

00:28:48

hawks who just sort of like squirm away,

00:28:51

you know, and don't say anything about

00:28:52

what he's doing. But when it comes to

00:28:54

foreign policy, the far right that is

00:28:58

against interventionism

00:29:00

has lost on every single argument. Like

00:29:02

whether it's Iran, whether it's

00:29:03

whatever, like he doesn't care what they

00:29:06

think about that. There are people green

00:29:07

has been talking about it. Mass there's

00:29:10

>> well she

00:29:11

>> resigns like leaving never gives zero fs

00:29:14

anyway like Rand Paul I mean it's sort

00:29:17

of the same handful of people right

00:29:19

>> and I legit it's like

00:29:22

>> Lindsey Graham has gotten his wings

00:29:23

again right

00:29:24

>> um and all those people who allegedly

00:29:27

didn't want intervention are oddly

00:29:30

silent in these moments.

00:29:32

>> Uh Bill, last question here. Um, is

00:29:34

there any economic goodness to this

00:29:38

>> of trying to, you know, buy Greenland?

00:29:40

>> I mean,

00:29:42

>> for again, first of all, it's it's it's

00:29:44

it's

00:29:45

so unattractive

00:29:47

>> the way he's going about it and doing

00:29:49

what he's doing. Are there economic

00:29:50

benefits? There might be, Cara. How how

00:29:53

the hell are we going to know? I mean,

00:29:55

how do we know right now whether there

00:29:58

might be economic benefits? First of

00:29:59

all, what I mean is if a client came to

00:30:01

you and said, "I want to buy Greenland."

00:30:02

What would be the thing as an investment

00:30:04

banker you would do?

00:30:06

>> I want to buy Greenland. Are you out of

00:30:07

your [ __ ] mind? Oh,

00:30:09

>> okay. That's

00:30:10

>> going to piss off one of our best allies

00:30:12

to try to obtain this, you know, block

00:30:15

of ice, you know, that may have

00:30:17

strategic value. And if it's like

00:30:18

strategic defensive value, we are, as

00:30:20

you said, we already have the right to

00:30:22

put bases up there. Why do we close 16

00:30:24

of the 17? Let's open them again or

00:30:26

whatever it is. If if if it's if it's

00:30:28

like controlling the Arctic and being

00:30:30

having a policy matter and a national

00:30:32

defense issue. Yeah. Okay. I get that. I

00:30:34

get that. But what you want to mine for

00:30:36

minerals under

00:30:38

>> a mile of ice. Yeah, that might work.

00:30:40

Maybe, you know, with global warming, of

00:30:43

course, that's not an issue anymore.

00:30:44

We're not we're not warming up anymore

00:30:46

apparently. So, it's going to be like

00:30:48

many millennium before we get under that

00:30:50

to a client like that.

00:30:51

>> You know, I'm curious. I hope that's the

00:30:54

way I was speaking last night. One

00:30:56

thing, Bill, I think there's so much

00:30:58

foreign policy uh action that I think

00:31:00

when you look at say the Abraham Accords

00:31:02

for the Trump administration, they feel

00:31:03

like if you can get people doing

00:31:05

business together, that inherently

00:31:08

creates the um environment for peaceful

00:31:12

interaction that the money is what is

00:31:14

going to make those things work, not

00:31:17

arbitrary red lines in diplomatic

00:31:19

conference rooms. Maybe, but it's just

00:31:22

been a graft for the Trump

00:31:24

administration and the Trump family.

00:31:26

It's all been about graft. It hasn't

00:31:28

been about opening up.

00:31:30

>> Grift, but Graph, too. All right. When

00:31:33

we get uh we're going to take a quick

00:31:34

break. We come back. Uh maybe Bill's

00:31:37

Bills and my favorite topic, Warner

00:31:39

Brothers rebuffs. Paramount again. No

00:31:41

surprise. I'm back with Audi Cornish and

00:31:43

Bill Cohen. Warner Brothers Discovery

00:31:45

has rejected Paramount's latest buyouted

00:31:47

offer, urging its shareholders to stick

00:31:48

with Netflix. Warner Brothers said

00:31:50

Paramount's bid was not superior to the

00:31:52

72 billion Netflix offer for its studios

00:31:55

and streaming businesses. The board also

00:31:56

flagged the uncertainty risk around

00:31:58

Paramount's offer, saying it would

00:31:59

effectively be a leverage buyout, the

00:32:01

largest in history. This comes after

00:32:03

Larry Ellison stepped in to personally

00:32:05

backs stop Paramount's offer with a $40

00:32:07

billion equity guarantee. And just a

00:32:09

little while ago, Paramount reaffirmed

00:32:10

its $30 a share allcash offer for Warner

00:32:13

Brothers. No more bill. um you've done a

00:32:16

lot of reporting on this and let me just

00:32:17

add in how Versent also Versant is what

00:32:21

I like to call it um like Quasant uh

00:32:23

factors in all of this. Comcast

00:32:25

completed a spin-off of Versent this

00:32:26

week which includes MS Now, CNBC and

00:32:29

other networks. Versent shares closed

00:32:31

down 13% on their first day and now down

00:32:33

29% for the week. Although that is index

00:32:36

funds repurposing themselves according

00:32:38

to many investors and I think that's

00:32:39

correct. All well, Paramount has been

00:32:41

arguing that Warner's cable channels

00:32:43

stub are worth around a dollar a share.

00:32:45

Um, let's talk a little bit about this.

00:32:47

Now, Audi works for CNN, which is

00:32:50

>> Yeah, that's my disclaimer.

00:32:52

>> Is the parent company

00:32:53

>> is the parent company. Um, I am a

00:32:55

contributor to them, but I will be

00:32:57

leaving if if Paramount gets it. So, I

00:33:00

don't and I don't give a [ __ ] Um, so

00:33:02

I'm going to a lot of you may weigh in

00:33:03

as you want. Uh, I am happy.

00:33:05

>> I am literally here to learn on this

00:33:07

front.

00:33:07

>> Okay. All right. Okay. Bill, why don't

00:33:08

you walk us through this and what

00:33:10

happens next?

00:33:11

>> Sure. Well, the the key point that what

00:33:13

just happened was this idea that the

00:33:15

Paramount offer uh at $30 a share is the

00:33:19

deemed by the board of WBD not to be

00:33:21

quote superior at this time. Okay? Cuz

00:33:24

if they did deem it to be superior, uh

00:33:27

whatever that means, that's a sort of a

00:33:29

vague term which comes a lot of judgment

00:33:31

comes into that. uh uh if they did deem

00:33:33

it to be superior, they could break

00:33:35

their merger agreement with Netflix and

00:33:37

turn their attention to the Paramount

00:33:39

deal. They would owe Netflix a breakup

00:33:41

fee of $2.8 billion and then, you know,

00:33:44

we'd have the bidding war would begin

00:33:45

again. Uh so they they did what you

00:33:49

would expect them to do, which was say,

00:33:50

why are we going to you know, we've

00:33:52

we've got this merger agreement with

00:33:54

Netflix. We're happy with it. We think

00:33:55

it's worth more, and uh there's no

00:33:58

reason at this moment to to change that

00:34:01

recommendation. That doesn't mean that

00:34:02

they uh if Paramount uh were to raise

00:34:05

its bid as it sort of indicated that it

00:34:08

uh might do because it said it wasn't

00:34:10

hadn't made its best and final offer but

00:34:12

yet it hasn't done anything beyond $30

00:34:15

yet that they wouldn't change that

00:34:17

recommendation and

00:34:18

>> they did note they would listen. One of

00:34:20

the board members noted that on CNBC

00:34:22

like if they want to lob another number

00:34:24

over, we're happy to take

00:34:26

>> they are in what is called Revlon mode

00:34:29

now of selling they have to sell the

00:34:31

company to the highest bidder. They are

00:34:33

required, you know, by Delaware law

00:34:35

essentially to do that. And that's why

00:34:38

they're constantly re-evaluating this uh

00:34:40

these two bids. And once again, they've

00:34:42

I mean, there's no difference between uh

00:34:45

uh this, you know, the December 4th bid,

00:34:47

final bid that Paramount made of $30 a

00:34:50

share hasn't changed in a month. So, if

00:34:52

if they want to upset the Apple Card

00:34:55

here, they are going to have to raise

00:34:56

their bid. Now, they may not want to.

00:34:57

>> You also had noted these fees of uh that

00:35:00

Paramount wants more control over uh

00:35:03

certain loans and the the there's a lot

00:35:06

of money there. Warner Brothers is

00:35:08

concerned about the uh way that

00:35:11

Paramount would let them operate their

00:35:13

own company between signing and closing.

00:35:16

And since it's like an 18-month process

00:35:18

generally to get this kind of a deal uh

00:35:21

uh regulators approval both in the EU

00:35:23

and here to get it closed, they need to

00:35:26

know that they can operate their

00:35:27

business in the normal course. And uh

00:35:30

Paramount put several covenants into

00:35:32

their proposed merger agreement that

00:35:34

would limit the flexibility that Warner

00:35:36

Brothers has during that period. And

00:35:38

Warner Brothers believes that that would

00:35:40

cost them

00:35:40

>> which Netflix has said no problem.

00:35:42

>> Netflix has said you know do what you

00:35:44

want which is another reason that

00:35:46

they're gone with the Netflix deal.

00:35:47

Netflix also said you know if you don't

00:35:49

take our deal we're going to walk away

00:35:51

which you know put a little gun to their

00:35:52

head and so they you know they went with

00:35:54

the bird in the hand and it at the time

00:35:56

it was the better deal. made total sense

00:35:58

and it still basically makes total

00:36:00

sense. It's a real tossup now because of

00:36:03

the value of this global network stub

00:36:07

the you know part of the business where

00:36:09

Audi works CNN uh is potentially going

00:36:12

to be spun off under the Netflix deal

00:36:15

and so the value of that business is a

00:36:18

spunoff entity comes into play

00:36:20

>> under the Paramount deal they're buying

00:36:22

the whole company so that's a mood point

00:36:24

so you know that's why you're know

00:36:26

trying to judge the value

00:36:27

>> what it's valued at right and certain

00:36:29

people is paying three to five three $3

00:36:32

a share. Now she was $3. Now the

00:36:34

chairman of Warner Brothers Discovery

00:36:36

Board said on CNBC $3 to $5. Uh Morgan

00:36:40

Stanley says, you know, A$150.

00:36:43

Uh the the uh Paramount people say a

00:36:46

$140

00:36:47

>> and there's all debt issues around if

00:36:49

they pull some more debt off it could go

00:36:50

up. If if if uh when they there's what

00:36:53

$15 billion in debt a moment uh at the

00:36:56

moment they're talking about putting $15

00:36:58

billion on Audi's company and you know

00:37:00

is that too much. Is that going to

00:37:02

>> Can you pay for that Audi?

00:37:03

>> Yeah. That's why I'm wearing a quarter

00:37:04

zip. I can afford the full zip.

00:37:07

>> Yeah,

00:37:08

>> but it's not a vest. It's a full quarter

00:37:10

zip. If you really want to pay down that

00:37:12

debt, you may need to wear a vest.

00:37:14

>> Exactly. Uh, so I mean there are a lot

00:37:16

of kind of subtle nuances going on here

00:37:18

which which really puts Paramount, you

00:37:21

know, in a in a bad position to be

00:37:23

honest. Uh, if they really want to win,

00:37:25

they just have to spend more of Larry's

00:37:28

money.

00:37:28

>> Larry's money. He's got to get daddy.

00:37:29

Nepomogle has to get daddy. Pay more.

00:37:31

You know, when this started, did I tell

00:37:33

you not as smart as you think? Like, and

00:37:35

you said they have smart advisors. I'm

00:37:37

like

00:37:38

>> dumb. But I don't think they're

00:37:39

listening to them.

00:37:40

>> No, I think that's part of the problem.

00:37:41

>> Well, cuz still dumb, right? And you can

00:37:43

see that over at CBS. Very dumb. What's

00:37:46

happening there? Like what a way to run

00:37:48

a network right into the wall like on a

00:37:50

day on the daily essentially.

00:37:52

>> We won't get into it, but they suck. Um

00:37:56

so so when is when what happens next?

00:37:59

They have to just raise the price. And

00:38:00

then what is Netflix do? What is and

00:38:02

then there's the whole Trump thing. See,

00:38:04

let me just add one more question.

00:38:06

There's the whole Trump thing which

00:38:07

they've touted their friendship with

00:38:08

Trump, but as far as I'm concerned, he's

00:38:10

a little busy. I don't think he's going

00:38:11

to and he's got limited time before the

00:38:13

midterms. That dragging this thing out

00:38:16

is not good for Paramount because the

00:38:18

closer you get to the election and if

00:38:20

the Democrats take over, they will not

00:38:21

get it through either. They don't they

00:38:23

will lose that ability to control the

00:38:26

process because Trump will be

00:38:28

essentially, you know, left naked

00:38:29

without clothes, right? Essenti with he

00:38:32

won't be able to help his friend Larry.

00:38:34

I'm sure right now he can't help his

00:38:36

friend Larry. I think less and less

00:38:37

every passing day. But your thoughts?

00:38:41

>> Well, everybody's now quote unquote

00:38:43

Trump's friend and uh Larry's his

00:38:45

friend. Ted Sarendos is his friend. You

00:38:47

know,

00:38:48

>> he's played it beautifully, I will say.

00:38:50

>> But he's a, you know, big Democrat. His

00:38:52

wife was ambassador, you know, under

00:38:55

Obama. I mean, so, uh,

00:38:57

>> not sure that matters anymore. No, I

00:38:59

mean everybody, you know, he wants

00:39:01

fieldalty paid to him and if you've got

00:39:03

a big deal that you want to get through,

00:39:05

you're going to pay that feelalty

00:39:06

because

00:39:07

>> except I don't know if he has that power

00:39:09

as much as everybody. I don't think he

00:39:11

will rush to Larry's any he loves to get

00:39:14

involved in this car.

00:39:15

>> Yeah, he's busy with other things now.

00:39:17

He's got

00:39:18

>> seems

00:39:19

he he's he's our most healthy president

00:39:22

ever. He's there's no time. He doesn't

00:39:24

sleep.

00:39:25

>> There's no time. There's no time.

00:39:26

>> I hope you're right. shouldn't be

00:39:27

involved in this. All right. So, so far

00:39:29

I've been right about all of this. So,

00:39:30

as I said to Scott all the time, but

00:39:32

what happens next

00:39:32

>> is that going to be the title of your

00:39:33

memoir?

00:39:34

>> Yes. Yes, I'm right.

00:39:35

>> Yeah. Uh, look, what happens next is

00:39:37

that the their tender offer is open till

00:39:39

January 21st and they're going to

00:39:41

between now and then go around their

00:39:44

hostile tender offer that Paramount has

00:39:46

made. They're going to go around to the

00:39:47

big shareholders

00:39:48

>> and you noted it was only a small

00:39:49

amount. It was only

00:39:51

>> well so far. But that that's

00:39:52

understandable because there are a lot

00:39:53

of conditions to this deal that are kind

00:39:55

of like they the tender offer can't

00:39:58

happen unless they have a merger

00:39:59

agreement with Warner Brothers. Well,

00:40:01

they're not going to get a merger

00:40:02

agreement with Warner Brothers unless

00:40:04

there's a superior offer. So, uh, you

00:40:07

know, basically people aren't going to

00:40:08

tender, but they are going to go until

00:40:11

maybe the last minute at at most at

00:40:13

best, but they are going to go around

00:40:15

and make this case that their $30 a

00:40:17

share allcash deal is superior to

00:40:19

Netflix because of this business of the

00:40:23

Audi's company not being worth this $3

00:40:25

to5 a share or whatever it's called,

00:40:28

>> which is kind of technical and confusing

00:40:29

to most people, right?

00:40:30

>> Yes. But this is the kind of thing that

00:40:32

these guys get into the weeds about. And

00:40:34

so what is your what what's the next

00:40:36

they raising the price is the only thing

00:40:38

to do, right? Correct.

00:40:39

>> And raising the price to around $34 a

00:40:42

share is the only way for Paramount to

00:40:44

win this thing. Otherwise,

00:40:46

>> the Saudis. What about the There's also,

00:40:48

>> you know, it's Larry's another 10

00:40:49

billion for Larry.

00:40:51

>> Mhm. And

00:40:51

>> that's it's it's you know, a dollar a

00:40:54

share is because it's already

00:40:55

non-economic, Bill. This thing is

00:40:57

already so ridiculous.

00:40:58

>> They've decided that they have to have

00:40:59

it. They've made seven bids. Uh, I

00:41:02

suspect they're going to do it. I

00:41:04

suspect they will raise their offer to

00:41:06

34 and they will win. I hate to, you

00:41:09

know, I think they will end up winning,

00:41:11

but I, you know, it could could be

00:41:13

wrong. I mean, there's no way without

00:41:15

raising this bid that that Warner

00:41:18

Brothers going to change its

00:41:20

recommendation. Not going to happen.

00:41:22

>> I I I don't know about that, but I think

00:41:24

if they do win, they're not going to get

00:41:25

it through. That's too much. The time is

00:41:27

too short. And by that time it will be

00:41:30

the Democrats calling for blood and then

00:41:32

it will be okay.

00:41:33

>> Well, there's also a risk that Netflix

00:41:35

won't get their deal done either,

00:41:37

>> but less I mean that's fine, but it's

00:41:39

not the same thing, right? It's not like

00:41:41

this. I'm the best. Their whole argument

00:41:43

has been I'm the best friend of um

00:41:45

>> Well, right.

00:41:46

>> Stupid argument.

00:41:47

>> Well, it's so transactional. You know,

00:41:50

what is Larry? What have you done for me

00:41:52

this week? Did you donate to my ballroom

00:41:54

this week or not? Did you have you

00:41:57

>> and Ted could do the same thing. A lot

00:41:58

of the stuff Larry can do, Ted can do.

00:42:00

>> Comcast did it which was quite

00:42:02

surprising

00:42:04

but you know everybody is paying filty

00:42:06

now. Uh Cara.

00:42:07

>> So Audi any thoughts? Any thoughts?

00:42:10

>> I know that coming from NPR uh and

00:42:13

coming from like nonprofit like oh what

00:42:16

are we going to do? the politics will

00:42:18

change that I was not fully prepared for

00:42:21

like corporate media and it has been an

00:42:25

education like for sure it's been an

00:42:27

education I think one of the hundreds of

00:42:30

thousands of reasons for me not to

00:42:31

comment on this is kind of for the thing

00:42:34

you guys say are saying which is like

00:42:37

>> we're in the realm of like personalities

00:42:39

and regulation and the government and

00:42:42

and so it's not the same as sitting

00:42:44

around talking about a business deal or

00:42:46

even a hostile takeover. It's kind of

00:42:49

something else. And if you notice people

00:42:52

not speaking up, I mean, A, we can't,

00:42:55

right? Because we're in the middle of a

00:42:56

regulatory issue,

00:42:59

but B, to say it's above our pay grade

00:43:01

is an understatement,

00:43:02

>> right? That's a fair point. That's a

00:43:03

fair point. But, by the way, over at

00:43:05

NPR, they've said, "Fuck you,

00:43:06

government." And they're doing great,

00:43:07

just fine.

00:43:08

>> I had breakfast with NPR host this

00:43:11

morning, and he was like, "We don't even

00:43:13

want to talk about it." Also, the thing

00:43:15

is they've moved on and they're doing

00:43:17

rather well under Katherine.

00:43:18

>> It was always, like I said, it was

00:43:19

always haunting us there.

00:43:22

And now it's like now you got to just

00:43:24

compete in the marketplace. But lucky

00:43:25

for them, they do fundamentally have a

00:43:27

brand people trust.

00:43:28

>> Yeah. Yeah. I think

00:43:30

>> for a president

00:43:32

>> uh for a president to be sticking his

00:43:34

fingers into a individual deal, you

00:43:36

know, is not normal. There are agencies

00:43:41

that are supposed to be at arms length

00:43:43

that deal with these issues and that's

00:43:44

the way it has worked.

00:43:46

>> Yes.

00:43:47

>> But this president likes to

00:43:49

>> get his people often often let me let me

00:43:52

end on this. I have a lot of people like

00:43:55

always go a couple years ago would be

00:43:57

like can you believe he did this? And I

00:43:58

was like I do. I believe it. He's done

00:44:00

it seven times before. Let me tell you

00:44:02

he's he does it see Greenland. See

00:44:05

Venezuela. See

00:44:06

>> that's why Carrie he does have time for

00:44:08

this. He makes time for this kind of

00:44:09

crazy [ __ ]

00:44:10

>> I don't think so.

00:44:12

>> All right. Well,

00:44:12

>> we I just I just this I think they have

00:44:15

taken far too long for this. They could

00:44:18

have done the 34.

00:44:19

>> You are right

00:44:20

>> if they were smarter. But we'll see.

00:44:21

We'll see. And by the way, and if they

00:44:23

don't do it,

00:44:24

>> he is holding a very expensive leaky

00:44:26

Larry has bought himself an expensive

00:44:28

leaky yacht uh that he is going to not

00:44:30

know how to unload because that's

00:44:32

there's no way around it's too small.

00:44:34

But but without doing this, it's only a

00:44:36

six billion only only a $6 billion

00:44:38

equity bet for him. So if he loses

00:44:41

>> But I'm saying he's just a he's just

00:44:43

>> Yeah. No, that's why they're serious

00:44:45

about trying to do it.

00:44:46

>> You know, they know that they're at a

00:44:48

>> they know that they're at a strategic

00:44:50

disadvantage with

00:44:51

>> it. And even with it, still a hobbit.

00:44:53

Anyway, um let's go uh cuz hello YouTube

00:44:56

by the way. All right, let's go on a

00:44:58

quick break. When we come back, Grock

00:44:59

hits despicable new lows. Oh, we're back

00:45:02

with another headline. Elon Musk AI

00:45:04

chatbot Grock is facing criticism from

00:45:06

governments around the world as it

00:45:07

continues to create sexualized images of

00:45:09

women and children. Grock imagine an AI

00:45:12

image generator includes spicy mode that

00:45:14

can generate adult content. Meanwhile,

00:45:16

Musk's XAI says it raised $20 billion in

00:45:19

funding round exceeding the target of 15

00:45:21

billion including from Fidelity. Um just

00:45:24

that just today they're making uh uh

00:45:26

filthy images of the woman who was

00:45:28

killed in Minneapolis. Um the European

00:45:31

countries are are losing their minds.

00:45:33

You haven't heard word one from Sundar

00:45:35

Pachai at at Google or um Tim Cook at

00:45:39

Apple who would have should have been

00:45:40

tam is supposed to be against the law.

00:45:44

So you two you're you're you're you're

00:45:47

soiling yourselves in public by not

00:45:49

doing anything about this. That's my

00:45:51

point of view. But why this funding

00:45:53

round suggests investors don't care

00:45:54

about these issues? I'd love each of you

00:45:56

to weigh in. Bill, you first on uh on

00:45:59

what's happening here.

00:46:00

>> As a great American once said, uh Cara

00:46:04

uh X is a Nazi porn bar. And so yes, it

00:46:08

was. Thank you. Uh and it certainly is.

00:46:12

It certainly is. And this is just

00:46:14

another example of it. Uh but look, from

00:46:17

a business point of view, uh XAI and the

00:46:20

merger between XAI and X saved X, right?

00:46:24

It saved uh Fidelity's investment in X

00:46:27

as well as Larry Ellison's and Mark

00:46:30

Andre's and uh you know uh and other

00:46:34

friends of Elon's uh so I guess and the

00:46:37

banks who were about sitting on $13

00:46:40

billion of of loans that they might lose

00:46:43

a lot of money on. Uh so that merger uh

00:46:47

uh saved the X deal which you know got

00:46:50

to give I guess uh Elon credit for

00:46:52

devising and conceptualizing that and

00:46:55

now he's raising $20 billion at a what

00:46:59

$350 billion valuation or whatever it

00:47:01

is. I mean, uh, you know, I guess from a

00:47:05

purely business point of view, Cara, you

00:47:07

have to admire, uh, Elon's ability to,

00:47:12

uh, make, uh, chicken salad out of

00:47:14

chicken [ __ ] And you've got to admire,

00:47:17

I guess, the fact that suddenly he's now

00:47:19

worth, you know, $700 billion because of

00:47:23

SpaceX, etc., going public. I mean, so

00:47:25

the guy knows how to make money for

00:47:28

himself. A trillion dollar pay package

00:47:30

out of Tesla. uh his old pay package was

00:47:33

reinstated by the courts. I mean, so all

00:47:36

right, on one level, you have to kind of

00:47:38

admire that if you're an American who

00:47:41

believes in sort of Darwinian

00:47:42

capitalism. On the other hand, you know,

00:47:45

you expect Elon Musk, and you know this

00:47:48

better than anyone, to to eliminate

00:47:51

these images and go, you know, whole hog

00:47:54

on trying to reduce the Nazi porn bar

00:47:57

aspect of what he's created here. So why

00:47:59

haven't this is cease samp this is this

00:48:03

is porn of children like I I think he

00:48:05

would utterly allow porn of women. I

00:48:07

think he's he's a misogynist. So that's

00:48:09

sort of that's water under the bridge

00:48:11

for him so to speak. But with children

00:48:14

this is something that usually sets off

00:48:15

a firestorm a problem. Any reason why

00:48:19

they're like fine with c Sam? I mean, I

00:48:22

mean, again, does Elon Musk uh like to

00:48:25

do the right thing when it comes to

00:48:27

these things, or does he just like to

00:48:29

claim it's free speech and, you know,

00:48:31

whatever? Let it let it ride. I mean,

00:48:34

you know, he reinstated uh Trump. you

00:48:36

know, you know, I I don't I I wouldn't

00:48:41

uh lose sleep or or hold my breath

00:48:43

thinking that Elon Musk is going to do

00:48:45

the right thing here, but but you know,

00:48:46

he might do that one simple basic thing

00:48:49

that is so obvious that has to be done.

00:48:52

Meanwhile, leaving the rest of the Nazi

00:48:54

porn bar to thrive. So,

00:48:55

>> yeah. Audie, thoughts? Uh, I'm curious

00:48:58

about the people who, you know, like the

00:49:02

first lady or or Ted Cruz who were so

00:49:06

touting the take it down act, you know,

00:49:08

which was supposed to um allow people a

00:49:11

chance to take down non-consensual

00:49:13

images, sexualized images, and Marcia

00:49:17

Blackmer.

00:49:18

>> Marcia Black. Yeah. Again, it's one of

00:49:20

those moments where you're like, do do

00:49:21

you actually care about this or do you

00:49:22

not care about this? The other thing I

00:49:24

think about is there's this weird

00:49:26

collision course between the very

00:49:28

muddied aspect of AI and that culture

00:49:31

which says onward no matter what and a

00:49:35

pretty broad-based not quite a moral

00:49:37

panic yet but very much something

00:49:39

brewing among parents and in school

00:49:42

systems where they're like ban phones

00:49:44

and we're Australia we're saying kids

00:49:47

can't even be on there. We're on a

00:49:49

collision course and sometimes it feels

00:49:51

like the industry their plan is just to

00:49:53

outra us. Build all the data centers.

00:49:56

You can make this thing your make your

00:49:58

born bot quickly. Just do it all while

00:50:00

Trump is okay with it.

00:50:01

>> Um and and then people can't really stop

00:50:04

you.

00:50:04

>> Yeah. That is policy for everything by

00:50:07

the way.

00:50:07

>> Yeah. And Amazon and taxes. Uh

00:50:09

>> but it's not 1995. Nobody is looking at

00:50:12

the industry and being like well they do

00:50:14

have our interests at heart and they

00:50:16

might cure cancer. No one is saying

00:50:18

that. Everybody is just like, I want to

00:50:20

throw my phone out the window. I hate

00:50:22

this. I'm not on socials anymore. I'm a

00:50:24

teen in a lite club. Like the backlash

00:50:27

is real and I'm very curious about going

00:50:30

forward if that turns into a political

00:50:33

action so to speak. Is there a candidate

00:50:34

who represents that?

00:50:35

>> I will speak to that. I think the CS Sam

00:50:38

stuff is going to kill them. They're

00:50:39

going to there this is not this is not a

00:50:42

this is where it stops. And you've

00:50:43

noticed that that Google settled with

00:50:45

the parents of Unchhater AI. Uh I don't

00:50:49

know what the settlement is and I did

00:50:50

interview uh that mother and I've

00:50:52

interviewed I'm I'm

00:50:54

>> I'm I've been interviewing a lot of

00:50:56

these parents because it's a big issue

00:50:57

since 2023. I've been doing it. Yeah.

00:51:00

And but at a certain point it won't be

00:51:01

settlements, right? It'll be you know

00:51:03

what, maybe we're going to have this

00:51:05

conversation with the public in public.

00:51:08

>> I'm not sure why she

00:51:09

>> No, I'm not. This is in no way have

00:51:11

decision parents. But I'm saying this is

00:51:14

how movements start. I

00:51:15

>> I think the reason Google settled is

00:51:17

because they are not protected under

00:51:19

section 230 on this one. And their

00:51:21

arguments were not ultimately if this

00:51:24

stuff gets out. It's very ugly for them.

00:51:26

And I wish one of the parents would just

00:51:28

say, you know what, I'm going to just

00:51:30

take you to court. It's just expensive

00:51:32

for them. It's exhausting. Their child

00:51:33

has committed suicide. Um, but the same

00:51:36

thing with these imagery that it does I

00:51:38

think there there is a group of people

00:51:40

that will not settle and they will try

00:51:43

everything to settle because so much of

00:51:45

this stuff is so heinous and also what

00:51:48

you once you what what I had is one of

00:51:50

the parents read the dialogue and when

00:51:52

any parent hears it you're like put

00:51:54

those people in jail and so to me

00:51:57

they're headed for a per walk is what I

00:51:59

feel like it's they're in this in this

00:52:01

issue and it's well beyond what

00:52:02

Australia is doing but they're going to

00:52:04

get a backlash like you've absolutely

00:52:06

never seen.

00:52:07

>> Yeah. So, where does that affect at one

00:52:09

point Elon Musk? You know what I mean?

00:52:11

Like that's what I'm curious about is

00:52:13

like

00:52:13

>> I don't think he is like

00:52:14

>> do you think it's because it just

00:52:16

becomes the gutter? Like this is the red

00:52:18

light district of the internet. He runs

00:52:20

it and

00:52:21

>> and because a lot of you know if you've

00:52:23

noticed the the internet is becoming

00:52:25

less and less useful. I think people

00:52:27

using it the AI slob they're it's really

00:52:30

becoming less and less useful. And so

00:52:32

the promise was this would be more

00:52:33

useful and a lot of AI absolutely is. I

00:52:36

just think there's no business in child

00:52:38

porn. There's no business in from now

00:52:41

until 200 years from now.

00:52:43

>> Why why aren't this should be an issue

00:52:44

for federal regulation, right? Regular

00:52:47

regulators. But you'll never get the

00:52:49

Trump administration to do the right

00:52:50

thing. They they preferred to do the

00:52:53

wrong thing

00:52:54

>> purposefully to, you know, own the libs,

00:52:57

so to speak.

00:52:57

>> But is it just the Trump administration?

00:52:59

I mean, Cara, I feel like you and I have

00:53:00

talked so many times about 230 and how

00:53:03

lawmakers are just very reluctant to

00:53:05

step on the walked away industry.

00:53:07

>> Yeah, I talked to it from two I'm like,

00:53:09

let's leave 230 aside because that's a

00:53:10

complex much more complex thing when

00:53:12

this h when the when I started

00:53:14

interviewing these parents back in 2024.

00:53:17

Um, I called 10 legislators. I'm like,

00:53:19

can you please [ __ ] listen to this

00:53:20

and do something about it? And they're

00:53:22

like, uh, I hadn't heard of it. Like,

00:53:24

and I was like, get on it. Like, get the

00:53:26

[ __ ] on this. Like, I can't do anything.

00:53:28

And I think, you know, and then

00:53:29

unfortunately the people that get on it

00:53:31

are are you sort of have have um you

00:53:34

know, they they're trying to kill a fly

00:53:35

with a with an anvil, right? Like

00:53:37

there's there's a way to do this. This

00:53:39

is illegal. There are already laws in

00:53:41

place about these things.

00:53:42

>> Yeah. But they don't really understand

00:53:43

the technology.

00:53:44

>> I would prosecute XAI. That's I would

00:53:46

just like time to pro if there was a

00:53:48

very ambitious prosecutor out there. I

00:53:51

don't care if it is conservative or

00:53:53

>> you're gonna prosecute the 700 billion

00:53:55

dollar man.

00:53:56

>> Yes. Yes. for for child

00:53:58

>> the Trump administration.

00:53:59

>> No, I I would do a state. I do one of

00:54:02

the one of the big states, you know,

00:54:03

just like in order to have people

00:54:05

talking about it, right? Because he's

00:54:07

the one I would go for because he's the

00:54:08

biggest and the most villainous.

00:54:10

>> He's the most villainous. Anyway, we'll

00:54:12

see what happens here. But let me just

00:54:13

say I'm going to I I look, it's mostly

00:54:16

Elon Musk's fault because he doesn't

00:54:17

give a [ __ ] Um obviously he brought

00:54:19

back Andrew Tate and others who are just

00:54:21

heinous creatures. Um but ultimately

00:54:24

Sundar Pachai and Tim Cook, you're

00:54:26

soiling yourself in public by letting

00:54:28

this continue. You're supposed to

00:54:30

>> When you say by letting you mean not

00:54:32

speaking out, not coming up with

00:54:33

counter.

00:54:34

>> They took down took down a lot of that n

00:54:37

that that January 6 stuff pretty quickly

00:54:39

when it looked when I did that one

00:54:41

interview with the guy from whatever

00:54:42

that site that was used for planning. Um

00:54:45

they they've acted before on the app

00:54:47

store, but this is child porn and you

00:54:50

own this both of you. I'm sorry. Anyway,

00:54:53

uh they they're in a position to stop

00:54:54

it, like for at least speak out against

00:54:56

it or temporarily stop it and get him to

00:54:59

do something about it. Anyway, uh one

00:55:01

more quick break. We'll be back for

00:55:03

predictions. Okay, Audi and Bill, uh

00:55:06

let's hear some predictions. I will go

00:55:08

last.

00:55:09

>> You will go?

00:55:10

>> I shall go last. Who wants to go first?

00:55:12

That's not fair.

00:55:13

>> Okay, I'll go I'll go first. I I have

00:55:15

two predictions. Cara, one is that I I

00:55:20

do think uh AI valuations are going to

00:55:22

return to Earth in 2026, the latter half

00:55:26

of 2026. Uh not that AI uh isn't a

00:55:30

valuable tool like the internet is a

00:55:33

valuable tool, but just like with

00:55:35

internet 1.0, you know, you slap, you

00:55:38

know, com at the end of you know, uh a

00:55:41

company going public and it's suddenly

00:55:42

everybody falls over themselves to

00:55:44

invest. That's where we are now with AI.

00:55:46

It's ridiculous and uh it will come down

00:55:49

to earth and a lot of people will lose a

00:55:51

lot of money which is always I think uh

00:55:54

justice to some extent. Not that AI

00:55:56

won't be incredibly valuable tool as it

00:55:59

already proves is proving to be and will

00:56:01

become more so in the future. And the uh

00:56:04

second prediction is uh one of my

00:56:06

favorites which is that Hakee Jeff will

00:56:08

be a year from now the speaker of the

00:56:11

house

00:56:11

>> if not sooner. Yeah, more and more

00:56:13

people are talking like that. Frankly,

00:56:15

it's sooner the better as far as I'm

00:56:17

concerned.

00:56:17

>> All right, Audie. Well,

00:56:19

>> well, just to give you a sense of how

00:56:21

it's going. So, my staff made this at

00:56:23

the end of the year meme of me. These

00:56:25

are these are mouse pads, which they

00:56:27

come in bulk. So, if anyone wants to buy

00:56:30

one,

00:56:30

>> that

00:56:32

is fine. Like

00:56:33

>> our merch. Um, and a likeness of me that

00:56:36

was startlingly accurate. Uh, cuz every

00:56:38

day there's been something. I would say

00:56:41

that uh this is maybe more a wish. I I

00:56:45

predict there will be a movement of

00:56:48

human verified social media apps that

00:56:51

someone is going to find a way to tap

00:56:54

into the market of people who want to

00:56:56

avoid AI uh slop and imagery. And I was

00:57:00

thinking of this when I saw Adam Miseri

00:57:02

of Instagram do this big carousel little

00:57:04

essay where he was basically saying like

00:57:06

Instagram as we know it is going to be

00:57:08

pretty much dead under this scenario and

00:57:10

here are the things you need to think

00:57:11

about. And the first thing I thought is

00:57:13

there's going to be someone who makes an

00:57:15

app that somehow is human verifiable and

00:57:19

that people are really going to want

00:57:21

that.

00:57:22

>> Yeah. Yeah. Or else get off. I mean

00:57:24

there's a trend among young people of

00:57:25

getting off completely

00:57:26

>> because as you said if it's not useful

00:57:29

>> Yeah. then you just you can't find your

00:57:31

way to it in the day. Tik Tok is useful

00:57:33

for people right now because it's TV to

00:57:35

them. They are being entertained by this

00:57:37

thing on a loop. But if they're no

00:57:39

longer entertained because what they're

00:57:40

seeing is uh an algorithm owned by, you

00:57:44

know, uh the government's friends or

00:57:47

just AI slop and by slop I mean

00:57:50

everything that is just generated for

00:57:53

generating sake. Why? Fortunately, the

00:57:57

head the head of Roku, who's a really

00:57:59

smart guy, Anthony Wood, um, founder and

00:58:02

CEO, did say that he thought there was

00:58:04

going to be an AI movie hit, AI

00:58:06

generated movie hit. He's always talked

00:58:08

about the back end, and I think he's

00:58:10

completely right. Um, when I interviewed

00:58:12

the head of runway, same thing. There's

00:58:14

a lot of back-end efficiencies about to

00:58:16

be imposed upon Hollywood and that will

00:58:18

be helpful for their business. Um, but

00:58:22

uh, but make the move when it moves into

00:58:24

content, it's a really different thing.

00:58:25

And one of the things the runway CEO

00:58:27

suggested is that instead of labeling

00:58:29

AI, we label real.

00:58:31

>> Yes.

00:58:32

>> Because it's smaller.

00:58:33

>> Very much so.

00:58:34

>> So this is like

00:58:35

>> that's that's my prediction as well. So

00:58:36

you're telling me the wind is at my

00:58:38

back. Wind is at your back. I know

00:58:40

nothing about business, but I'm ready.

00:58:42

>> All right. I will I will do this. I

00:58:44

think time is running out for Trump and

00:58:46

the desperate there. Listen, he's very

00:58:48

active and vibrant like an old man in a

00:58:50

my mom's in a in a senior facility.

00:58:52

There's always one guy who's just loud

00:58:54

and fast and moving around. And listen,

00:58:56

that's where we are with this guy. And I

00:58:58

think he's he's much sicker than people

00:59:00

realize.

00:59:00

>> Oh, this is a health prediction. I

00:59:02

thought this was a political. He's not

00:59:04

going to get all this stuff done. Like

00:59:05

he's got there's too much stuff

00:59:07

happening and not enough lackis. I know

00:59:11

it sounds crazy, but even the lackey are

00:59:13

probably lacking at this point. And so

00:59:15

when when I saw that Susie Wilds

00:59:17

interview, I'm like, the rats, they

00:59:19

getting ready. Um I as I told Scott,

00:59:22

I've I've meeting with Trump people a

00:59:23

lot and they all are asking for pardons.

00:59:26

They're all like getting ready for the

00:59:28

inevitable,

00:59:30

>> right? They're getting ready for

00:59:32

>> ready for those

00:59:32

>> for them. And so

00:59:33

>> that's different from saying there's no

00:59:35

after cuz he plans to stay. Like I hear

00:59:37

you making a prediction that's

00:59:39

different.

00:59:39

>> I'm going to as Scott says, biology is

00:59:42

undefeated. Um and nobody, you know, I'm

00:59:45

not sure who's less charming, Don Jr. or

00:59:47

JD Vance, but they as I as I said about

00:59:50

Vance, he's the cyber truck of

00:59:51

politicians. Um, but one of the um It's

00:59:55

true.

00:59:55

>> It took me a be You're like, "Of

00:59:57

course." Yes. Correct.

01:00:00

>> Yes. Uh but that's why I talk about the

01:00:02

ballroom. I I think it is there's also

01:00:04

some legal stuff happening to slow it

01:00:06

down quite a bit. It's everything that

01:00:08

gets slowed down is a problem. Whether

01:00:10

it's the Paramount deal, whether it's

01:00:12

the ballroom, and I think, by the way,

01:00:14

FYI, they do need a ballroom at the

01:00:16

White House, having covered it. There's

01:00:18

nowhere to there, as odd as it sounds,

01:00:19

>> it's always a bunch of tents.

01:00:21

>> It's a bunch of tents, and there's small

01:00:22

rooms. They really are people, and the

01:00:24

offices are small. It's really quite fun

01:00:27

to go there, but at the same time,

01:00:29

you're like, what a shitty office this

01:00:30

is. Um, and so there needs to be some

01:00:33

renovation. Just the way it was done

01:00:35

was, of course, awful, but I don't think

01:00:38

you're going to get the huge ballroom. I

01:00:39

don't think he's going to get what he

01:00:40

wants and I think the gold leaf is going

01:00:42

to come down and that and they will have

01:00:45

a they will have a decent better side to

01:00:48

it and that's okay. Um but but the big

01:00:52

one isn't going to happen. I'm I'm sorry

01:00:54

to say he's not going to get his a Trump

01:00:57

uh triumph triumphal arch either. So

01:01:01

>> is he going to get his face on Mount

01:01:03

Rushmore or on the coins?

01:01:04

>> I don't care. Do you care?

01:01:05

>> The coins might happen.

01:01:07

>> He can have the coins. I don't care.

01:01:08

Like at a certain point you're like,

01:01:09

"Yeah, give him a coin. Why not?" Like I

01:01:12

>> none of us mentioned the 250 year

01:01:15

anniversary. I mean, we are about to see

01:01:18

uh

01:01:19

>> I think propaganda is actually the the

01:01:21

safest word to use definitionally here,

01:01:24

Car. I'll defer to you because that's

01:01:26

your area of expertise. Um because it's

01:01:29

going to be

01:01:30

>> the the country's birthday in his frame.

01:01:35

>> That's right. just completely in the

01:01:37

context of him

01:01:38

>> which is well done stakes and

01:01:41

>> you know it's a USC octagon it's

01:01:43

whatever I mean just uh something

01:01:46

>> yeah something that could be very sort

01:01:49

of academic and a little sleepy and

01:01:51

history nerd in another year is going to

01:01:54

be something else

01:01:55

>> yeah I just think I don't care ahead go

01:01:57

for it old man it's your last harrah go

01:01:59

for it

01:02:00

>> I don't give I'm not going to get mad

01:02:02

about those things anyway so we'll see

01:02:03

about that but it's time Tik Tok as they

01:02:06

say. Anyway, I really appreciate it. But

01:02:08

let me just read this. We want to hear

01:02:09

from you. Send us your questions about

01:02:11

business if you don't agree with me or

01:02:12

Bill or Audi or whatever is on your

01:02:14

mind. Go to nymag.com/pivot to send a

01:02:16

question for the show or comment or call

01:02:18

8551 pivot. Again, that is the show.

01:02:22

Thank you so much. Audi and Bill came on

01:02:25

at the last minute and I really

01:02:27

appreciate it. It was incredibly

01:02:29

substantive and really helpful for

01:02:30

people because right now the news

01:02:31

>> total honor to meet you this way. This

01:02:33

is so cool. Thank you. You had a great

01:02:36

job together, too. You had a nice

01:02:38

rapport, the two of you. Anyway, uh we

01:02:40

And the thing is the last show was uh

01:02:42

Brooke Hammerling, uh Stephanie Rule and

01:02:44

Don Lemon, and all they talked about was

01:02:46

speaking of gay porn, uh the heated

01:02:48

rivalry, so this was a little different.

01:02:50

>> All right. Well, ask me back to this

01:02:52

show. I don't want to have to like harm

01:02:53

Scott every time I want to come back.

01:02:55

>> Don't you worry. Absolutely. Both of you

01:02:57

have been valued contributors to a lot

01:02:59

of my podcast, and I really appreciate

01:03:00

it. So, please watch, listen to, and

01:03:03

read all the amazing work they're doing

01:03:04

at CNN and Puck. Uh, Audi has the

01:03:07

morning show. Uh, Bill has a must must

01:03:09

readad

01:03:11

column that is so helpful to me in

01:03:13

understanding these things. Um, anyway,

01:03:16

thanks for listening to Pivot and be

01:03:17

sure to like and subscribe to our

01:03:19

YouTube channel, which is doing rather

01:03:21

well, I have to say. Uh, we'll be back

01:03:23

next week and I will read us out.

01:03:25

Today's show is produced by Lara Neon,

01:03:27

Zoe Marcus, and Taylor Griffin. Ernie

01:03:29

Anderdot engineered this episode. Manolo

01:03:32

Moreno edited this video. Nishhat Curwa

01:03:34

is Vox Media's executive producer of

01:03:36

podcasts. Make sure to follow Pivot on

01:03:38

your favorite podcast platform. Thanks

01:03:40

for listening to Pivot from New York

01:03:41

Magazine and Vox Media. You can

01:03:43

subscribe to the magazine at

01:03:44

nymag.com/pod.

01:03:46

We'll be back next week for another

01:03:48

breakdown of all things tech and

01:03:50

business. Scott, come home.

Words per Minute Over Time