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