00:00:00
I hope that a a Democratic or a civic or business leader comes up and figures out
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a way without being too preachy and too drunk with power, figures out targeted ways to deploy the economic power. We're
00:00:12
in America. It's all about money, folks, to deploy that economic power.
00:00:23
Hi everyone, this is Pivot from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network. I'm Cara Swisser. And I'm Scott Galloway.
00:00:29
And Scott, we are hitting the road together. Bringing Pivot Live to the people.
00:00:34
This is so exciting. Are you excited? I am excited. I think it's going to be great. I like I love meeting our I call
00:00:41
our fans. Our family. They're really family for us. Ser. Okay. Well, we're going to seven cities,
00:00:47
just so you know. Fans. Toronto, Boston, New York, DC, Chicago, San Francisco, and LA.
00:00:53
Some of the most poorly managed cities in the union. We're there. We're coming in with rifles. We're going to clean
00:00:59
this [ __ ] up, Cara. They're sending us in. Thank god we're here. Thank god
00:01:04
we're here. This will be bigger than Bad Bunny at the Super Bowl. Bigger than Taylor Swift and also much, much less
00:01:13
expensive. Imagine you're on psilocybin and you go see the remake of the Wizard of Oz at the Sphere and you run into
00:01:21
dead Nana and dead pop. Nothing compared to what's about to happen at Pivot Live
00:01:26
in Toronto. And I promise you, Scott's going to dress up like a showgirl. Anyway, for
00:01:32
tickets, head to pivot tour.com. Uh, but we have slightly uh less
00:01:37
important stuff to talk about today, too. A lot of news. So, let's dig in. Donald Trump just announced that he's imposing 100% tariff on any and all
00:01:44
movies that are made outside of the United States. He did not explain uh when this will happen or how it will
00:01:51
work. remember he made the same threat back in May. I just they make a lot of movies outside. This actually will
00:01:57
affect Netflix finally. But um what do you think of this situation?
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Uh I think it's more unnecessary own cell phone stupidity.
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So more than 50% one of the best performing stocks in media and arguably what has kept
00:02:14
the entire media ETF ecosystem above you
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know that's kept it from being just abysmal and has fueled Hollywood with record content budgets is Netflix and
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more than 50% the majority of Netflix content budget is now produced overseas.
00:02:33
So, does that mean he's going to start tariffing Netflix and dramatically increase the cost of subscriptions,
00:02:40
dramatically decrease the amount of content people get for their Netflix disc subscription, and gut the stock
00:02:47
price, which has been one of the best performers over the last 10 years? Yes, that's what is in touch.
00:02:52
Almost every Marvel movie now has some component of it made overseas. All of them. All of them.
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Yeah. So if you think about with the what's happening I love the
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term arbitrage and that is there's two ways to add shareholder value. One is to increase the top line the other is to
00:03:10
decrease costs and if you think about media media has mostly well it's been
00:03:16
both. There's been because of streaming, there's been a war and an increase in
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subscriptions and topline revenue because everyone now has three or four subscriptions per household, which has
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inspired an arms race where there's a ton of content spending on the top line. The other way you add shareholder value
00:03:32
is that $18 billion in content that Netflix produces is $30 billion worth of
00:03:38
content from 10 years ago because they say, "Okay, we can make Squid Games in Korea for 70% of the price it would cost
00:03:44
to make it in Atlanta." and for 30% of what it would cost to produce in Los Angeles. So, there's been a geographic
00:03:50
arbitrage over the last 10, 20 years. And by the way, Los Angeles has been on the wrong end of that arbitrage.
00:03:57
It's just too damn expensive. I'm going through this right now. We're producing our our scripted series on big tech.
00:04:02
Mhm. And we really did try to make it in LA. There's no way. There's just no way.
00:04:07
Yeah. It adds to cost. Yeah. You absolutely want a certain look, right? That's the in some cases you want it to
00:04:14
look like what it looks like what you're trying to do. Correct. Is a lot of things can be made to look like
00:04:20
that. Sure. But what we'll do is we'll film we'll cram a bunch of shots in this case
00:04:25
in the Bay Area where it's also Yeah. irrational to film and where we're and again probably end up filming is in New
00:04:32
Jersey because New Jersey New Jersey just superersized their tax credit budget. Yeah. And it's near New York and we'll do a
00:04:38
lot of filming in New York. Yeah. So, and then the other arbitrage that's about to take place is through
00:04:44
AI. I think I think AI is going to take out just a lot of unfortunately a lot of Yeah, especially storyboarding. I just,
00:04:50
as you know, I did the CEO of Runway and we were talking about a bunch of just storyboards, production, how to create,
00:04:57
you know, try these 10 outfits on someone and this and that. Um, it's a,
00:05:02
you know, I know California and other states have been trying to get better and better terms for movie makers to
00:05:08
bring them back, but they did lose it. They did like act like they had no other choice and then it was obvious they had
00:05:14
another choice. And so Trump's trying to solve it by this. This is just ridiculous. So what will likely happen is the same
00:05:20
thing. one, I don't think it's going to go anywhere because I think he's impressed by movie stars and I think a guy like Ted Sarandos
00:05:27
probably carries a lot of weight or Reed Hastings. And in addition, all that's going to happen is the following. His attempt to
00:05:33
to punish foreign firms who ship almost no films into the US. I mean,
00:05:39
some but not a lot. Uh they're going to impose reciprocal tariff. Canada had this used to have
00:05:45
this. I don't know if they still had it, but like a quarter or some percentage of content had to be locally produced in Canada.
00:05:50
Often they do that. A lot of countries do that, right? And then we would say no, let let competition reign because we're just
00:05:57
better at it. So what nations will do is they love the idea of saying we want to support a nent film industry in Poland.
00:06:04
So we'll impose reciprocal tariffs which will do nothing but reduce the consumption and the business for US
00:06:11
media firms. So this is just so stupid. It's just stupid. And I don't
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I don't know where this is coming from other than his AI came back and said, "What can I announce today?"
00:06:22
That's crazy. That will keep That is crazy. Will command media attention and keep the word Epstein out of the news.
00:06:29
Let's say it again. Epstein. Um, let's make a movie Epste. The Epstein the movie. Oh, trust me. Let's do it all in
00:06:35
the US. Let's make We should make it in the US. There's going to be a lot of nervous people that nervous people about that.
00:06:40
Yeah. Um, one of the things that's critical to remember here is that um,
00:06:45
these movie companies all acquies to Donald Trump and this is what they get. I'm just saying boys, guess what? He'll
00:06:52
kick you in the [ __ ] nuts just the same as look, take your money. Anyway, um, speaking of taking money, top
00:06:58
comedians are criticizing their peers for participating in the Riad Comedy Festival, a state sponsored Saudi event.
00:07:05
The event will feature over 50 comedians including Kevin Hart, Hannibal Baress, and Dave Chappelle. As a reminder, the
00:07:12
Biden administration held the country responsible for the 2018 killing of Saudi journalist uh Washington Post
00:07:18
columnist Jamal Kosigible. Uh people different comics have put up the the
00:07:24
terms. It's enormous amounts of money these people are getting, but they have to promise not to uh talk about the
00:07:29
kingdom in negative ways. Uh so these are all the free free speechers being uh
00:07:35
completely um paid off not to speak. I I don't know what do you what do you think about this? It was pretty shocking when
00:07:42
I saw the contract itself. Uh so let me be clear. I' I have gone to Riad and spoken and cashed their checks
00:07:49
and so and I do so openly and wholeheartedly and without a total
00:07:54
absence of guilt. I don't and also I spoke last week in Nashville and I got
00:08:00
paid a lot of money to speak in front of the leadership of a tech team or of a big tech company and they asked me not
00:08:06
to bring up the struggles of young men because they're parents in the audience and they said it's kind of a downer. I mean if people are paying you
00:08:14
yes but these are comics Scott. These are people who who go on and on about free speech and insult everybody about
00:08:20
it. Let me just say I don't think you do that but go ahead. Yeah, but I think it's I think it's really easy to be a
00:08:26
purist with other people's money and the kingdom. One of the things I love
00:08:32
about living in So, let me be clear. I believe NBS ordered the murder of
00:08:37
Kosigible uh in our nation. In our nation, we're letting you know
00:08:44
we're taking away healthcare from people. We're we're we're removing security details from former
00:08:50
officials. we're incarcerating and pulling people out of work with people in mass. I I don't I literally think
00:08:57
we're in no position to wave our finger at anybody right now. I think we should wave our I I completely disagree with you. I think we
00:09:02
should absolutely wave our finger at these comics cuz these are the comics that literally lectured the left on free
00:09:10
speech. Then haul them out, say to them, look, yeah, but I I if you want to go to
00:09:16
they can do it, but they got censored. Like they they talk about censorship and literally make you feel like [ __ ] for
00:09:24
doing it and they're they they cosplay that they care about free speech and they've agreed. Comics are supposed to
00:09:30
talk about anything they want. And to agree I'm I'm giving comics a particular thing. You are different. You're doing a
00:09:36
speech there. They're like, "We don't want to hear about men. We want to hear about marketing, whatever the heck you're doing." But if you're going to
00:09:43
literally lecture people about free speech and then get paid an enormous
00:09:48
amount of not to not to do your act, which would be they it would easily make a joke. And one guy who did, I think it
00:09:55
was uh was it who was it? Tim Dylan was someone one of them made a talked about
00:10:01
it and said, "Yeah, I don't care. I'm getting the money. That's right. I'll do whatever they say." He got dumped from
00:10:06
the festival because he said what was everybody knew was happening, which was censorship. I I that's the only issue is
00:10:13
this particular gang of people, especially Dave Chappelle, especially the rest of them went on and on and on
00:10:19
about free speech. So I just that's all I'm you're you're not that person. If you're if you're a free speech
00:10:24
warrior and you're accepting money to have what is a highly edited censored version. I was never when I was in Riad,
00:10:32
I was never I I've spoken in Riad. I've spoken in in Dubai several times. I have
00:10:37
never been asked to censor my content ever over there. Two, just the rail
00:10:44
politic of the following. I'm focused on American interest. Well, first, let's be honest, I'm focused on my own interests and I get paid a lot when I go there.
00:10:51
But also, I personally believe the new swing votes in terms of geopolitical power are the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
00:10:56
and India. They're the two largest, fastest growing economies. They're the only kind of two economies that are up for grabs. It could either go towards
00:11:02
Russia, towards Iran, or it could go towards America. I think that we want to bear hug and really strengthen our
00:11:08
relationship with the kingdom and with India. And I think it's so ridiculously [ __ ] stupid that we insult India and
00:11:13
thrust them into the arms of China and Russia. I think our relationship with the Gulf is really important and our
00:11:19
relationship with the kingdom in terms of peace with Israel, peace in the region and also having secure safe um uh
00:11:26
pipelines uh uh and sources for fossil fuels and also we have a lot of army
00:11:31
bases there. They are a strong ally. And in terms of reforms, they're starting from a bad place. Let's
00:11:37
be honest. We're starting from a better place. We're headed in the wrong direction. Correct. They're headed in the right direction.
00:11:42
I don't have a problem with Saudi Arabia. Actually, I do have a problem with these comics. Now, Atsuko uh
00:11:48
Okatsuka, I think that's her name. She's a comic who was invited. Didn't go. This is the content restrictions. This is
00:11:54
this is the crowd that you can't that's always goes you can't say anything anymore, right? This is the crowd that
00:12:00
I think that's a fair point. knocks our [ __ ] block off about how open they are and what they get to. They don't get
00:12:05
to say what they want. Well, guess what? This is what they agreed to. Artists shall not prepare, perform any material that may be considered to degrade,
00:12:12
defame, or bring public disre uh disrepute, contempt, scandal, embarrassment, or ridicule the Kingdom
00:12:17
of Saudi Arabia, including its leadership, public figures, culture, and people, the Saudi royal family, legal
00:12:22
system, or government, and any religion, religious tradition, religious figure, or religious practice. Sorry, guys. And
00:12:29
it's mostly guys. You realize most def You realize most companies in the employment agreement have a defamation agreement that looks,
00:12:36
smells, and feels like that. Great. Except for these guys. I They don't get to because these are the ones
00:12:41
that literally couldn't shut the [ __ ] up about how they couldn't say things. And here they are agreeing. So I don't I
00:12:47
don't want to if they say it one more to me, one more time to me. I'm It's just also, by the way, someone who's going
00:12:53
Pete Davidson is performing. His father died on 911. He's he's he's allowing them to censor him and taking their
00:13:01
money. That's his choice. Again, you're right. That's his choice if he wants to do that. But yuck all over from Caris. I
00:13:08
I just want to acknowledge a point and I had not thought of that. And often times you illuminate me to things and create
00:13:15
nuance around my thinking. If you're one of these comedians that is constantly saying how you're censored and you can't
00:13:21
say stuff and the and the left has no humor, sense of humor, fine. I see the
00:13:26
hypocrisy there. I have spoken there. I It reminds me of the debate when
00:13:31
everyone was giving Uber a hard time from accepting money from the Middle East. And I'm like, cash their [ __ ] check.
00:13:36
That's I didn't have I don't have a problem. And I remember you you you were kind of with me, too. Remember how much [ __ ]
00:13:42
Uber was getting for taking money, dirty money from the Middle East? It's like, okay, you just want them investing in
00:13:47
Chinese companies. The lower our cost of capital, the more jobs we have. Cash their [ __ ] check. And I'm kind of the
00:13:54
comedians. If Louis CK wants to go there and make a [ __ ] ton of money, I've never heard him preach about censorship or say
00:14:00
that he's his speech is being squatchched or whatever, go. Also, I have found when I've gone to the Gulf that America has a tendency to wrap
00:14:08
every country there in the same blanket. The Qataris have a strained relationship with the UAE, but are close to Iran.
00:14:14
Meanwhile, they host our largest air force base. Saudi hates Iran yet gets along with us. We as Americans are so
00:14:22
reductive and feel like we can make these blanket statements. I agree. But would you would you sign that I'll never say a word about this.
00:14:28
You might. You might, but you never have. Have you signed I won't say bad things. Never. I've probably spoken in the Gulf.
00:14:35
First off, I've vacationed there. I know a lot of people there. I really enjoy it there. And it is much different
00:14:41
in Doha than it is in Riad. And it's much different when you're at a bar in Dubai for a lot
00:14:47
of reasons. So, you have to go country by country. I'm going to go to F1 in Bahrain and I'm really excited about it. Y
00:14:52
and I have generally found the people in the Gulf to be warm. It's not where I would want to live. I think they have real issues as we do.
00:14:59
For the most part, that region I'd like to think is headed in the right direction and also we have a very strong
00:15:04
strategic interest geopolitically just being selfish as American and establishing tighter bonds with some of
00:15:11
these governments. Having said that, so I'm sort of like make money, take their
00:15:16
money. If you are constantly preaching about being censored and you sign up to something like that, you should be
00:15:23
called out as you are doing. I had not thought of that. But what I find in general is that one of the problems with
00:15:28
the left often times Oh, no. It's about the left. Come on. Go ahead. Well, who's who's going after them?
00:15:34
The other comics. No, but I mean, no, of course not. Because they would like comments. They would like literally
00:15:40
Well, let me finish my statement. I this is one of the problems I have with the left and one of the reasons I think we lose elections is we are more prone to
00:15:48
virtue signal and whine and [ __ ] rather than focus on the material or economic well-being of people and our country's
00:15:55
strategic interests and we are often times very moral with other people's money. I
00:16:00
I don't again I don't care about Saudi Arabia. I care about these comics who exhausted me with their ridiculous
00:16:06
performative free speech though follow this closely all the tech people all the tech people who do the same thing oh
00:16:12
free speech and then they then they don't do it I don't want to hear word [ __ ] one from them anymore about these issues I just don't a lot of them
00:16:19
did trust me they're all like can't say anything anymore you can say but I am I am consistently asked
00:16:26
by people who I'm they'll say something along the lines of look Amazon's our his
00:16:32
client. We'd appreciate it if you didn't make fun of Jeff Bezos. You got in trouble for that. I got
00:16:37
yelled at at a conference that they were one of our sponsors. Well, and and and I want to be honest, as much as I like to think of I'm a
00:16:43
purist, that's an easy give for me. I'm a You didn't And then I got yelled at and then we lost them as a sponsor just if
00:16:49
you recall. And I didn't did I once tell you not to say it? Did I once tell you not to say it?
00:16:55
You have You have always been support. You have never said to me, Scott, dial it back. And I have said some stupid
00:17:00
things that have reduced our revenue and you have never once said dial it back or don't say that. You've often times
00:17:06
you've said to me that was stupid or whatever, but you've never once checked me back. But I'm what I'm saying is if I
00:17:12
go to a conference and they're paying me a [ __ ] ton of money and I can always tell they like are really worried about speaking to me and basically what
00:17:19
they're saying is it's the organizers usually who just they're like, "Do me a favor. don't talk about this because
00:17:26
it's a real hot button for and oftentimes it's something weird that I never would have thought of. And I'm
00:17:32
like, yeah, I don't want to make your life any harder. Fine. And I'm not a politician. I'm not a comic. I'm there
00:17:37
talking about AI and I'm there talking about, you know, income in I'm there about or making predictions on tech or
00:17:43
the algebra of happiness. And the reality is when you cash people's check, you have two choices. You either kind of
00:17:49
sign up or you don't cash their check. And as long as they make the the terms as long as they make the terms
00:17:55
transparent upfront and you feel like you're you know I I don't know when people pay a lot of money they're probably some
00:18:01
condition by way a lot of times you know what they tell me they say when I speak at Walmart
00:18:06
Scott lose the fbombs this is a very religious community do not be profane
00:18:11
that's that's an honest question because I haven't been following it that closely who among
00:18:17
those comment comics are constantly saying I'm being censored in almost I I get off the top of my head,
00:18:22
all of them. Like all of them, I've heard a version of that. Chappelle certainly has. They all are like, "You
00:18:28
can't say anything. You can't say anything." And of course they can, but I I would love it for one of them to say
00:18:33
something. That's what I would love. I think that I think great. I think our comics are an incredible
00:18:39
export, and I think the more comics in different parts of the world makes us look good and and makes them less likely
00:18:45
to declare war on us and feel affinity for us. Um, I I'm in. go cash their checkpoint time.
00:18:53
[ __ ] hypocrites. If you say free speech to me, I'm going to punch you in the nuts. Anyway, NextStar and Sinclair
00:18:59
have brought back Oh, speaking of people like paper tigers, NextStar and Sinclair have brought back Jimmy Kibble Live to
00:19:05
their local stations after the standoff with ABC and Disney. Sinclair said it received quote thoughtful feedback from
00:19:11
viewers and advertisers during the blackout and proposed some measures for ABC to adopt, none of which ABC adopted.
00:19:18
They remember they were asking him to give money to Turning Point and apologize. [ __ ] you.
00:19:23
Being generous with other being virtue signaling with other people's money. Exactly. Next are also referenced constructive conversations with Disney
00:19:29
in a statement, but Disney and ABC have not made concessions to either company. I mean, seriously, these two. Former
00:19:36
leverage secretary Robert Reich wrote in the Guardian in the Kimmel drama proves consumers have extraordinary power. You seem to be taking a page from Scott
00:19:43
Galloway. Trump is now threatening another company, Microsoft, telling to fire their head of global affairs, Lisa Monaco, who served in the Biden
00:19:49
administration. Again, these are the people who are actual like trying to
00:19:54
tell people what to do. I'm just pointing out I mean, these NextStar people, any thoughts on what they what
00:20:01
happened there? I'm just really into this idea of the economic power of American citizens that
00:20:07
they if they if they're coordinated and can rally around. I was film I was doing
00:20:12
a live podcast with these two Canadian kids. I wish it was what's on your mind or something like that. And this guy
00:20:19
came up to me and shook my hand and he's like no by Friday. I have gotten so much
00:20:25
positive feedback from the idea of an economic strike. Mhm. And it's really intoxicating and
00:20:31
inspiring. Lots of people have come up to me and mentioned to me what and said because look what these guys
00:20:36
did. Clearly a bunch of advertisers, a bunch of stars, a bunch of people called Iger, canceled cruise ship reservations,
00:20:42
canceled trips to Disney, people calling saying I want to cancel my contract or I don't want to advertise with Sinclair.
00:20:49
And you know what? They back the [ __ ] down. And so I love this idea of a co-equal branch of government of which
00:20:55
there are none right now. There's no co there's no equal. There's Trump. There's MAGA right now being established via
00:21:01
people's purchasing power. And this is the first time kind of shockingly enough that it has really changed the tide. It
00:21:09
has literally reversed the the flow of the river was reversed in about 72 hours
00:21:15
and it's just it speaks to that and it makes sense. America is such a consumer economy. Why would they ask for like that from
00:21:21
Kimmel? Like ask for demands. First of all, by the way, these contracts are somewhat strict. If they dump shows too
00:21:27
much, they're in breach of their contract. That's one thing. All they were doing it for was in order to get the deal from Brendan Carr. That's all
00:21:34
they were. It was They had no values they were trying to protect. They had no public interest they were interested in.
00:21:39
They were interested in this deal to buy Tegna. Both of them I apparently want Tegna. Um and that's all this is about.
00:21:46
Just so you know, it's money. And then they had to go the step further and ask for ridiculous things like that Jimmy
00:21:52
Kimmel give money to Turning Point. He shouldn't have to do anything. Like it's ridiculous. And then you know this new
00:21:58
one about Lisa Monaco who I know who's a tremendous public servant um demanding
00:22:04
that Microsoft get rid of her. What? Let me let me just say before you say
00:22:09
anything. If they do that Sachin Adella I'm I'm going to make your life so uncomfortable if you do something like
00:22:16
this. If you give in to someone you hired who's perfectly qualified for the job you hired her for. you fire or or
00:22:23
Lisa Monica leaves, I'm going to just talk about it endlessly for years to come. That's all I have to say. Thank
00:22:29
you. I don't think I don't think he's going to. And I think that I'd like to think this sort of represents a firewall. The
00:22:36
first the the first I've seen so far. I mean, they totally had to backtrack. I again, I hate this not I thought that
00:22:42
was just ridiculous that they he should give money to Turning Point. Well, I'll tell you what, Sinclair and Nexter,
00:22:48
whatever the or next, whoever, or Tangga, TGNA,
00:22:53
stupid names. You you guys should really donate money to the ACLU. I mean, and that's an obnoxious
00:23:00
statement. You don't say that. It's But this is they have the right to not
00:23:05
carry Kimmel. They were trying to curry favor with the president. People recognize that all the free speechers
00:23:10
are actually more sensorious than anyone. And consumers and actors and and
00:23:16
travelers and advertisers push back. And it was what they accomplished
00:23:22
was they accomplished in 72 hours. What no one in the Democratic Party has been
00:23:27
able to accomplish in 8 months. And I understand that the Democratic Party is
00:23:32
neutered, but no one in the Democratic Party, Charles Schumer, hasn't been able to rally a bunch of advertisers or cruise ship goers.
00:23:38
I mean, you saw their texts this weekend over the shutdown, honestly. So, I I think this is really exciting. I
00:23:45
think I hope that a a Democratic or a civic or business leader comes up and figures out a way without being too
00:23:52
preachy and too drunk with power figures out targeted ways to deploy the
00:23:57
economic. We're in America. It's all about money, folks, to deploy that economic power,
00:24:02
but asking different individuals get fired. They did that to Chris Krabs who had to leave his company um and is now
00:24:09
involved because they threatened all kinds of investigations and so he had to fall on the on his sword because the
00:24:15
rest of the company was under threat, right? This is the kind of thing that autocrats do. If you ask Microsoft to
00:24:21
fire someone they hired in and by name, it is sickening as far as I can I can
00:24:27
tell. The left of the the left is guilty on a lower level. And that is the left for a while was really into the idea of,
00:24:34
oh, you said something that hurts our feelings or offends us. We would like you to fire them.
00:24:39
Oh, you're an actress in the Mandalorian and you said conservative things that offend the sensibilities of people in
00:24:45
Hollywood or offends our sensibilities, we want you to fire her. And they removed her from the series. That was
00:24:50
wrong. the Republican party and Trump have taken it to an absolutely new level where they are trying to go after entire
00:24:57
industries and companies and also uh basically weaponize the government to go
00:25:02
after people and threaten to put them in jail. So they have taken this is this is generally speaking the pattern of
00:25:09
politics right now. The Democratic party does something really [ __ ] stupid. They say, "Okay, or the Democrats, let's
00:25:17
let a transgender woman swim in a woman's meat. Let's let's have let's
00:25:23
have a a DI department of 200 people in Michigan when 55% of the freshman class
00:25:29
are non-white and we take pride in just not letting in people. That's actually not fair for Michigan. Harvard.
00:25:34
Harvard's a better case study." And then the Republicans come in and use all of
00:25:40
that that wrong and come in with a with a nuclear response where I know let's
00:25:47
let's kick all transgender people out of the military. I know under a false flag of DEI and DI correction, let's let's
00:25:54
let's take the most well- deployed capital in history and cut it against research
00:26:01
funding. It's like the Democrats do something stupid. Well-intentioned but stupid. Take it too far. And then the
00:26:08
Democrat, Speaker Amerta is allowed to trade stocks. Uh the S&P is up 200% in
00:26:15
10 years. Warren Buffett is up 300%. The Pelosi family is up 697%.
00:26:20
They engage. It's not insider trading, but it's clearly trading based on information the rest of us do not have.
00:26:27
So what does what does Trump do? He comes in and he says, "I know. I'll make 5 billion on a crypto scam." So,
00:26:34
or letting that company that that um the the the the Gulf company into this Tik
00:26:39
Tok deal at a ridiculous 14 billion. We're dividing up Tik Tok among your donors
00:26:44
for 14 billion. 14 billion, which is probably about a 60 to 80% discount to what the thing is worth. And
00:26:51
by the way, Democrats not allowed to invest in it. And nor should it should be an auction. It should be capitalism.
00:26:58
So, it's almost like we do something really [ __ ] stupid and we give them cloud cover to come in and be menacious
00:27:05
and scale that ridiculous behavior. But I I I find
00:27:10
I find all of this very I'm very excited. The silver lining here is that
00:27:16
and I didn't think it would happen over Jimmy Kimmel. It appears that people have figured out a way to push back and
00:27:22
that's encouraging. Yeah, we'll see. Okay. They'll keep trying though. Um, okay, Scott, let's go on a quick break. When we come back,
00:27:28
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00:28:49
Scott, we're back with more news. Threads just hit a major milestone, passing X in daily active users,
00:28:54
according to data from a similar web. The number of threads users is steadily growing while the number of daily active
00:29:00
users on X continues to drop. So, they're sort of crossing streams essentially, though data shows users
00:29:06
spend more time on X than threads. The Wall Street Journal is also predicting the next Elon Zuckerberg battle is going
00:29:11
to be over humanoid robots. They're both into this. Um uh and speaking of that um
00:29:17
President Trump said he would make Tik Tok 100% MAGA if he could. President made the comment while signing an
00:29:22
executive order to pave the way for American investors to own a majority share of the app. But then he added, unfortunately, it won't work out that
00:29:28
way, saying every group philosophy uh policy will be treated fairly. Um I I'm not so um concerned about that. I'm
00:29:35
concerned about the price and the gimme. You know, it's a really good deal for his friends. Um, and in a and and
00:29:41
speaking of his friends, in a recently service surfaced uh resurfaced Q&A, Larry Ellison predicted the rise of
00:29:46
modern surveillance, which would cause citizens to be on their best behavior, and that's a good thing. Um, because
00:29:52
they're being surveiled. Um, I don't know. There's a lot here. Larry Ellison
00:29:57
just really has managed to do really well, but Zuckerberg has really done a nice job with Threads. And Blue Sky is
00:30:03
also growing. They're both growing. Um, but X is really, nobody thought that Threads would uh would do this. I did
00:30:10
cuz I I I he's good at this stuff. Um, any thoughts on that? And then their humanoid uh robot battle.
00:30:18
So, a lot there. So, so with respect to threads, I think threads is fantastic. I find myself I was doing So, I invested
00:30:27
in one of these things. I invested in Post and it got a ton of traction out of the gates and then it kind of lost steam
00:30:33
and and now it's closed down. Um, people love Blue Sky. I was using Blue Sky and
00:30:39
Threads. I got off of Twitter uh for my own mental health and because I love your quote. I'm not going to
00:30:44
paint that guy's [ __ ] fence and I found it just so ugly. And I've been on Threads and Blue Sky
00:30:50
and I'm curious what you think, but I find myself increasingly using Threads. I find it so seamlessly integrated into
00:30:58
Instagram, which I love. Yeah. And also, I find the content that they elevate on threads is a little bit more
00:31:06
positive. Yeah. Your feed is probably done that way because of what you pull from. It depends on the feed, right? Because
00:31:12
Amanda tried Threads and she just doesn't have a good feed. And I'm like, it's cuz you're pulling from doom scrolling or something. I have a great
00:31:17
feed on threads. It's all like cooking and like there's a there's a thread of something called fabric something where
00:31:23
they they take old toys and old old things and refurbish them. There's a guy
00:31:29
who's a gardener on threads who is like this hunky gay gardener who I like. There's a lot of pleasant stuff. It's a
00:31:35
lot like Instagram as you said but a little easier to consume. I really enjoy Threads and I again, you know, I don't
00:31:43
throw a Mark Zuckerberg a bone if I can avoid it but it's a really good product. Um, I find it really enjoyable. Um, I do
00:31:49
like I think blue sky people are smarter a little bit, although they're much more like um finger waggy, you know?
00:31:55
It's a little bit more artal and a little bit more like Atlantic kind of. Yeah. Yeah. I But I like it. I don't I
00:32:02
find interesting news. I have to say my news consumption uh threads is not as good for news consumption. Uh, blue sky
00:32:09
is better for news consumption. And I I like both of them because you can block people easily and get rid of all the
00:32:15
shitty people who like either lecture at you or say vile things. But not many people say vile things on either of
00:32:21
them. It's rare. It's usually just irritating. Just like leave me the [ __ ] alone if I
00:32:26
like Scott. Like stop bothering me essentially. Um so that's their beef with you.
00:32:32
Whatever. That's their beef. Some of them just like whatever. Like anyway, um
00:32:38
they it's usually fine and it's never I'll tell you it's not what happens on X which is just vile and gross and a
00:32:45
little scary right now. And so I'm thrilled that people are seeing all these different competitors. So I'm kind
00:32:51
of hoping for all of them if that makes sense, you know. Yeah. I Well, first off, I mean, and
00:32:59
they it should probably be broken up, but Threads has just an unnatural advantage because three billion people are on Instagram.
00:33:05
Yeah. And so the data they can mine that informs the threads feed when you go onto threads about what you already like
00:33:10
and also just making it really seamless for those three billion people to say, "Hey, you don't need to log off and go
00:33:15
on to Twitter. If you want to share content here, we're just going to make it easier and the content is more likely to be elevated and get more of those
00:33:21
precious likes for whatever it is you're trying to build trying to build, whether it's social capital or drive people to your website. we're just going to make
00:33:27
it very seductive and very seamless to go from the three bill for the three billion people to just ease of slip over
00:33:34
here to threads. They have a huge built-in advantage and I would argue that at some point you're probably going
00:33:40
to have more innovation if these companies were separate companies. Having said that, I just find I really like threads. I I got to admit
00:33:47
it. I'm spending more time on Instagram, less time on Tik Tok, though I love Tik Tok. Agree. I think the nicest vibe of all of them
00:33:54
is LinkedIn. I think it's because everyone's thinking maybe someday this guy will give me a job. So they're just
00:33:59
nicer to people because it's useful, right? It's meant to be. It's more professional and it's just but people are generally speaking are
00:34:04
kinder. I also to be honest I think the environment at least on the stuff I post
00:34:09
on YouTube is quite positive. Yeah. Same thing with Reddit. I I would say there's lots of choices now which is
00:34:15
great actually. Reddit is really enjoyable. I go there all the time to find different and discover things. news
00:34:20
discovery. Again, I would say Reddit and Blue Sky threads is sort of fun and food
00:34:26
and silly and ASMR stuff. You know, there's a guy who just does the lawn and
00:34:31
I watch he does the lawn. I forget what is He's from Australia, I think. Um, and I like that. It's It's I have to tell
00:34:37
you, you know what? It's replacing TV. I I find myself not watching as much television. It is. I I was on Smirkish last weekend
00:34:45
with Richard Reeves talking about young men and I said to Drew, my tech guy, I'm
00:34:51
like, "Pull up CNN." I didn't have it on my TV. My live Hulu thing had lapsed or
00:34:56
I had too many locations. I tried to pull it up on live on CNN. We couldn't figure out the credit card situation and
00:35:03
it kept timing out, asking me who I was with, Cox and everything. And finally, I gave up. I haven't watched CNN live in a
00:35:09
year. I do. I don't watch live TV. And I've also noticed like you, I'm launching less streaming. And I hate to
00:35:15
admit this, I used to get my news from the Economist, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times. Now I'm getting
00:35:21
all of my news from social. Well, it's from those places that way. Yeah. A lot of times it's clipped, but
00:35:27
they do a better job of curating the New York Times than the New York Times does of curating the New York Times. Well, I would agree. I would agree that
00:35:33
was it's just I have become I say the enemy. You and I are the same. I'm not I am the
00:35:39
only time I turn on the bigger screen in my household sports is for Premier League football or my
00:35:45
boys want to watch something and I want to trap them somewhere or you want to watch a movie with your kids, right? That kind of
00:35:50
and even now like my kids are what I advise people who want to be in the media ecosystem is the following. It's
00:35:57
very easy. The bigger the screen, the lower the ROI. If you're doing anything
00:36:03
anything that depends upon your ability to monetize content on a 30 m by 10 m
00:36:08
screen called a movie theater, you're [ __ ] Don't go into that business. I I I thought about going to the movies
00:36:13
the other day and I was like, I don't want to go to the movies. I'll just I do I do particularly watch like I watch the Gilded Age. I watch uh I'm very excited
00:36:21
for The Diplomat to start again. I'm very excited. Um but think about how we grew up. I used to get up I used to get home from school
00:36:28
at 3:30. Mhm. wait till my watch cartoons until my mom got home and then we'd watch Happy Days and Night Rider
00:36:35
America. Seven hours I'd watch seven hours of TV. Yeah. Six hour six times a week.
00:36:40
Yeah. I mean, and now I'm down to maybe an hour, an hour and a half. And then again, that screen big business still
00:36:49
money. My phone now everything on my phone. the screen where there's champagne and cocaine is if you can figure out a way
00:36:55
to monetize content on a tiny screen called a phone. So ROI is inversely
00:37:01
correlated to the size of the screen. I think that's true. In the last 24 months, and again it's
00:37:06
pulse marketing, I have literally stopped watching TV and I hate to say this
00:37:12
going to the original site of the media. I go to Bloomberg's site, but only after an article is recommended to me on
00:37:18
Threads or Blue Sky. Yeah, it's true. And eventually if you're the gatekeeper, you will find the
00:37:23
way to starch the margin from the initial creator. Yeah, it's true. We have we we are a perfect case study. I I watch everything
00:37:30
on my phone now. I watch I wanted to watch the morning show the other day and I was like, "Oh, should I put on the TV?" I'm like, you know, no, I'm going
00:37:35
to sit here and eat dinner and watch it on my phone. Like that kind of thing. So anyway, it was a lot easier and easier
00:37:40
to pull up, by the way. But tell me about TikTok. This I don't care about the 100% MAGA. It'll be what it is,
00:37:46
right? They could maybe manipulate it. Um, I'm sure they have on occasion. I feel like this whole thing, it's going
00:37:52
to lease the algorithm from the Chinese. It the number 14 billion is what
00:37:58
Snapchat is worth right now. It was in the 55 to hundred billion range before.
00:38:03
So, they're getting a deal. Um, and and I I have a feeling Tik Tok's going to go
00:38:08
down. I This is my feeling at this moment with this gang of old men running
00:38:14
it. But what do you think? Well, first off, do we want the Ellison family or any family controlling CBS,
00:38:21
CBS, CNN, and Tik Tok? We do not. We do not. Keep in mind, Tik Tok, and this is in the Ellison's, Tik Tok has more mind
00:38:28
share of our youth than CBS, NBC, and ABC had of adults in the 60s. We
00:38:34
wouldn't have liked the Kremlin controlling. So, I'm I am all about banning Tik Tok, and I have been for a
00:38:40
long time. What is illegal here and wrong is carving it up and giving it to your best Republican donors at a
00:38:46
discount. Huge discount because bite dance trades at a valuation of about 300 or 350 billion in the
00:38:53
private markets. By the way, most undervalued tech company in the world. It's trading at about I think two times
00:39:00
revenues. Open AAI is trading at like like 30 times forward revenues in
00:39:05
add and it's still growing. about 20% I believe of the revenues come from the US which means based on the suppressed
00:39:12
valuation of 350 billion it's worth about 70. So these guys are getting an 80% discount. And by the way, there
00:39:18
isn't a single they can't lose. There is there isn't a single Democrat involved in this [ __ ] thing, of
00:39:24
course. So what do you get? You get to I mean this is totally anti- capitalist. You don't force you don't ban a company
00:39:31
and then carve it up and give it to your biggest donors and don't auction price. Don't get the best price.
00:39:38
And also I'm convinced that the only way this goes through and I got this wrong. I said this isn't going to happen. And
00:39:44
by the way, I met the CEO of Tik Tok and he's like the most likable guy in the world. Yeah. If there's if there's anything I if this
00:39:53
does go through, I think the only way it goes through is if she figures out a
00:39:59
back door into the algorithm and figure because if they the algorithm is everything. Tik Tok really has I believe
00:40:07
they're using the algorithm. They're using the Chinese algorithm apparently. But that's my point. My point is, as
00:40:12
long as the CCP can dial up or down things that continue to make young
00:40:17
Americans feel bad about America or continue to dial Trump wanted to Trump was going to ban it. He didn't
00:40:24
like Tik Tok. How you know what they did? They said, "Take take the dial on proTrump content and dial it up. They
00:40:30
will notice and they will decide they like Tik Tok." Y uh dial down content saying that an
00:40:36
invasion of Taiwan is coming and would be banned. I mean, also the CCP wants Trump to dial it down on Taiwan. There was a big story in I
00:40:43
think the Journal or the one of them that he really she she is hoping to get is Trump to shut up about Taiwan so they
00:40:50
can soften up their approach there. And then secondly, he wants a summit and so this is a nothing burger because he
00:40:56
doesn't I don't think the Chinese think they're giving up anything. I think they're tap dancing in Beijing. This is
00:41:01
a great deal for them. And then these stupid rich guys get get something at a real discount. But this is what we're
00:41:07
missing. Forgive me. It's it's all of the it's all of the bad taste of an oligarchy and not and and
00:41:16
it's like oligarchy meets cronyism meets socialism with all of the calories of the fact
00:41:21
that it'll still probably be a propaganda tool for the CCP. And this is
00:41:27
what I am pissed off about Democrats. If I were running for president, I would say Mark Andre, Larry Ellison, Michael
00:41:35
Dell, I am going to hit you so [ __ ] hard when I'm in the White House because
00:41:42
of your engaging. You're all free marketers until you get a chance to be total [ __ ] oligarchs
00:41:47
with the co with the comics. They're all anti-censorship until they get censored. Well, this is this is like, okay, fine.
00:41:55
And it's the same message to the folks in El Salvador. you're found incarcerating good Americans. I don't
00:42:01
care if the previous president said it was okay. I'm coming for your ass. And I
00:42:07
would I would if I were Rahm Emanuel or Governor Nuome or Governor Moore, I would be saying, look, my reach and my
00:42:15
memory are are long and far. And for those of you who claim to be free
00:42:21
marketers engaging in this type of cronyism and this oligarchy, be clear.
00:42:26
I'm coming for your ass. Yeah, you need to break the back of that immediately and start saying for those of you for
00:42:32
those of you engaging in this type of of of ridiculous, you know, ridiculous prosecution of your political enemies,
00:42:39
okay, we can do that, too. No, I'm going to start making a list. That's their nightmare.
00:42:45
But instead, we're like, this is illegal. This is wrong. This is America
00:42:51
needs to come together. [ __ ] that. Guess what? Scott and I are coming for you people. We're coming for you.
00:42:58
Speaking of paper tigers, um uh we'll go on a quick break. When we come back, Trump's retribution campaign. Speaking
00:43:03
of retribution, Scott, we're back. Donald Trump is insisting uh the indictment of former FBI director James
00:43:10
Comey isn't about revenge, saying it's really about justice. Comey was Oh, whatever. Comey was indicted on two
00:43:15
felony counts last week, both tied to his 2020 Senate testimony on the Trump Russia investigation. The indictment
00:43:21
came after Trump put his former attorney Lindseay Halligan and former beauty queen in charge of the case despite the
00:43:27
fact that she had never prosecuted a federal case. Um, in a video posted on Instagram, Comey declared his innocence
00:43:34
and said he would welcome a trial. Let's listen. My family and I have known for years that there are costs to standing up to
00:43:41
Donald Trump. But we couldn't imagine ourselves living any other way. We will
00:43:47
not live on our knees. and you shouldn't either. He gets to take the high ground. Not one
00:43:52
of my favorite people, I'll be honest with you. But still, he didn't do anything wrong. And Lindsay Haligan has made like error after error in the
00:43:58
filing of this thing. And the grand jury only indicted on two counts even though there were three. Uh, every lawyer I
00:44:04
know said this is going to be a slam dunk for Comey to get out of. Uh, Trump is also indicating that said, and he, by
00:44:10
the way, people within the White House said don't do it, including Pam Bondi. Uh, Trump is also indicating more
00:44:15
indictments are likely, pointing to New York Attorney General Leticia James, as well as George Soros and Reed Hoffman as
00:44:21
potential targets. Um, I don't know. He's putting up really shitty cases and
00:44:27
probably will lose. So, thoughts? This isn't about legal victory. It's
00:44:32
about intimidation. Yeah. And first off, if anyone should have a gripe with Director Comey, it should be
00:44:38
Secretary Clinton. Mhm. Going into like weeks left in the campaign,
00:44:44
you're never supposed to discuss an investigation until you have actual indictments in the FBI. That's standard practice.
00:44:50
And James Comey, always posing for the [ __ ] cameras, who likes to think of himself as a bald eagle flying into an
00:44:55
apple pie. He's so [ __ ] sanctimonious, decided to pose more for the cameras and
00:45:00
put out a letter saying that they had found more emails with no specifics, which casts this incredible doubt on
00:45:07
Secretary C. uh uh Clinton's campaign. If anyone has a beef with the director,
00:45:13
it's Secretary Clinton. And the fact that he's doing this, again, I think it's another some another data point,
00:45:20
another suggestion from Open AI, it will not from what I understand of the case is it if it's not swatted away right
00:45:27
away, it'll be soon swatted away. Meanwhile, he will have to raise millions of dollars to defend this. But
00:45:35
what he this isn't about this isn't about winning cases. This is about intimidation and convincing people it's
00:45:42
better to just give him what he wants and stay out of his way. Whether it's cut him a check for $14 million or 7
00:45:48
million or just don't say anything. But Director Comey, even a statement there,
00:45:54
Director Comey is really poorly advised. We will not live on our knees. Oh Jesus Christ, you're not Amelana Zapata. Just
00:46:01
get over yourself. All right. It's it's like look this is this is this is political
00:46:07
vengeance and it's one thing to say you know he should have read that quote from the the the Presbyterian minister first they
00:46:15
came for the socialists and I did not say he goes just be clear folks at some point they come for you.
00:46:20
Yeah. And and this is this is awful. It will not go anywhere but it's more
00:46:26
distraction. It keeps Epstein out and it intimidates people. People stop speaking
00:46:31
their mind. It does. These are all intimidations whether it's to Microsoft or anybody else. That's what it's doing.
00:46:37
It's it's sending a flare saying, "I might be wrong. It may not hold up in court, but I am going to irritate you
00:46:44
distract people. I'm going to come after you." you know, the Comey household right now,
00:46:49
the job of the job of a government, the job of you to a certain extent
00:46:56
as a man is the job of a woman and the job of a combination of masculine and
00:47:02
feminine energy is to create leadership, nurturing, care, concern such that you
00:47:08
ease people's pain and make them feel comfortable. Make them you ease their
00:47:13
anxiety. You make them you make them have rewarding lives. You let them focus on the tough stuff. Losing people they
00:47:19
love. How do they deal with kids who are struggling? And the people who are supposed to be the best at that and have
00:47:25
the most resources are elected leaders. Our elected leaders are supposed to remove anxiety from our lives. They're
00:47:31
supposed to give us a sense that you're safe and you're secure. We're going to lower the crime. We're going to give your kids more opportunity. And if your
00:47:38
wife gets lung cancer, it means you're not going to go bankrupt. That is what the government is supposed to do. We're going to come up with great research
00:47:44
such that if your wife gets metastatic breast cancer, we've done this incredible research. You don't need to understand it, but there's better
00:47:49
prospects every day that she will live. You don't need to worry about being invaded. You don't need to worry about,
00:47:57
you know, if someone commits a crime against you that they go unpunished. And instead, we have a government that seems
00:48:02
more focused on increasing the anxiety of certain groups of people because this is now
00:48:08
this is now a party of vengeance. It's not a party of preventing a tragedy to the commons. Ridiculous. They're always so angry. How
00:48:14
do you get so angry? Seriously. And while less angry. And while he's spending all his time
00:48:20
trying to figure out how to keep Epstein out of the news and how to harass fellow Americans and weaponize our great
00:48:27
institutions, not against our enemies, but against the enemy within. Putin and she are taking advantage of it,
00:48:33
establishing new alliances and sending attack aircraft into NATO countries. Yeah. And we're sitting out here, you
00:48:39
know, trying to like dodge incoming missiles that are fired domestically from from Pennsylvania Avenue.
00:48:45
Agreed. And by the way, we didn't we're not we didn't have time to talk about this today, but um the Epstein there
00:48:50
were more Epstein file stuff coming out that had come out and including names of people like Peter Teal and Elon Musk.
00:48:58
Elon's denying it. I I I think he probably was invited and didn't go. I believe him on that and I know he did go
00:49:03
to the New York um the New York thing. I was invited to the New York thing and I didn't go like so I I'm not I don't know
00:49:10
necessarily if it means anything but more Epstein files the better. And you saw Marjorie Taylor Green saying she's going to be killed that she's keeping
00:49:17
going on this thing. People should focus on the Epstein files some more. That's what I say. Anyway, uh one more quick
00:49:23
break. We'll be back for wins and fails. Okay, Scott, let's hear some wins and
00:49:29
fails. Would you like me to go first? Would you? Please do. Um you know, Hakee Jeff is my fail this
00:49:34
week. Um, first of all, his social media is so bad. I just want to cry. He could benefit from a Gavin Newsen social media
00:49:41
intervention. It is so boring. It's so dumb. It's so He should just get off
00:49:46
social media if he's not going to do it well. Um, but when Eric Adams dropped out of the New York mayoral race, which
00:49:51
I think people expected, although he did it after his name is now still on the ballot, I believe, um, uh, he's still
00:49:58
not endorsing Amumdani. And then he eusively complimented Eric Adams. It was
00:50:04
so strange. And I just, you know, I had a lot of hopes for Hakeem Jeff that he would live up. I know you don't like
00:50:09
Nancy Pelosi, but she was good at her job what she did there. Very strategic. Very strategic. This guy doesn't seem to
00:50:15
have a clue. I just feel like what a I just every everything Hakeem Jefferson is a big L on it as far as I'm
00:50:22
concerned. again, just like it's just so ridiculous, especially with Trump on the
00:50:27
opposite side saying that if you vote for him, I'm going to hurt New York and you what's the point of voting? He's,
00:50:33
you know, putting his finger on the thumb of everything, which is also grotesque, but uh typical from um uh
00:50:40
from him. Um, and then, uh, my win is I'm excited for the slate of movies for
00:50:46
I know you say like I'm gonna see them not in the movie theater, but there's all these like great movies coming out
00:50:52
in the fall. I do always like the fall. I just keep seeing all these, you know, ads and stuff for different movies and
00:50:57
things opening and I'm super excited. Obviously, I'm most excited for Wicked as I've noticed, Wicked for Good. And
00:51:03
they're they keep dropping stuff and I'm very um pleased with with that. I really like that. Um, and uh, so I'm excited.
00:51:10
I'll be talking about them as we move forward. But there's a ton of really cool stuff that looks like it's coming out, including this movie that George
00:51:16
Clooney is in. It's called Jay Kelly and it looks it's by Noah um Bombach. I
00:51:22
think it it looks really good. He's playing himself really and it looks funny. It's Are you going to see the Leo film?
00:51:27
No, I can't do it. I don't have enough energy. It's supposed to be It's supposed to be outstanding. All is his I I didn't see the one the
00:51:33
Indian one where where he poisons Indian America uh Native Americans. So,
00:51:39
peak artistic masturbation. I don't know. I just can't. I just I'm so tired. I want to see fun things. So,
00:51:44
I'm going to go see great. I'm going to see it tonight. I'll record. All right. Well, tell me how it is. Tell me how it is. Yeah. Um, so just a couple things in
00:51:51
with leader Jeff. I've met him, interviewed him on stage. Really like him. In the corporate world, we have
00:51:58
this this pattern or this problem where often
00:52:04
times we when people are great at what they do, we keep promoting them until we find a position they're not great at. In
00:52:10
other words, you promote them out of their competency. And so they came up with this idea, I think it's called solar, solo contributor, where they say,
00:52:16
"Look, this guy's a great bond trader. He or she can't manage people out of a [ __ ] paper bag, right? So just keep
00:52:24
them as a bond trader. don't put them in charge of the of the fixed income department. And some people are just
00:52:29
good at what they do and they end up being great managers. I think that applies to Leader Jeff. I think he's an
00:52:35
outstanding elected representative. I think he he's a great representative in the House for his core constituents in
00:52:41
Brooklyn. He lacks the killer instinct and gravitas
00:52:46
and what I' I don't want to call leadership ability, but ability to capture narrative and compel people to
00:52:53
be the speaker of the house. I just don't think he has those skills. And especially for this moment and him him
00:53:01
and him him and Chuck Schumer, it's kind of a it's kind of like wet meat blanket. I
00:53:07
mean, it's just it's just I agree. I think it's just these aren't
00:53:13
these aren't the guys for the moment. And I think leader Jeff is is should should should go on and be
00:53:20
his representative. And he's outstanding. maybe run for Senate someday, but he's not the person for
00:53:25
this moment. And and Senator Schumer is literally become the invisible man. Like
00:53:31
I I just don't even I don't even see him when he's on screen anymore. Anyway,
00:53:37
um so my my fail is
00:53:43
it is so insane that we are now talking about bailing out farmers.
00:53:49
Uh, I mean, let me get this. We go, we walk up to someone, the US government,
00:53:54
shoot them in the leg, and then borrow money from future generations to pay for their hospital bills. And essentially,
00:54:01
what do you know? We place all these tariffs on foreign goods. And China, who's much smarter than us, goes, I'm
00:54:07
going to go after the heart and lungs here and put on a huge tariff on soybeans for all those farmers in red
00:54:14
states. And they're basically their entire businesses collapsed. And by the way, without previous government
00:54:20
subsidies, many of these farms are no longer economically viable anyways. So what do
00:54:25
you have? You have circular payments. The government collects tariffs, which is a tax on US consumers, then pays
00:54:31
billions to farmers hurt by those same tariffs. So everyone loses. Consumers
00:54:36
pay higher prices. Taxpayers fund the bailouts. And farmers get temporary cash, but permanent loss of China
00:54:43
market. The Chinese have already established new trade relationships with Brazil and Argentina and they're not
00:54:48
coming back to Iowa, folks. They're not doing it. This is done. This is not a shift. This is a structural shift. So
00:54:55
unless the government and taxpayers are going to keep propping up these people to pay for the stupid tariffs,
00:55:01
eventually they're going to go away. The money props up inefficiency instead of investing in infrastructure. What they
00:55:07
need to be doing is crop diversification. And it's just pure political theater. It's bailouts are less about economic
00:55:14
policy and they're just they're doing what Democrats do and that is they're throwing money at people for votes and
00:55:21
we've literally we've lit the house on fire and then sent taxpayers the bill
00:55:27
for the fire department. They they don't these payments this circular payments they don't build
00:55:32
competitiveness they build dependency. Yep. And they're doing it just because they're they're MAGA. That's why or they
00:55:38
were they were Trump supporters and they're not helping others who were not. It's the same thing that's going to happen if this government shuts down.
00:55:44
And so while young people So while we cut a check on young people's backs in terms of debt, Brazil builds railroad
00:55:51
Brazil builds railroads and steals China as a customer. It's just this couldn't
00:55:56
be more stupid. Anyway, all right. So that's my fail. My win is what we talked about before.
00:56:02
Sinclair and NextStar had blacked out uh Jimmy Kimmel on their affiliates. I And
00:56:07
I think that I think the blackout was pretty significant. It covered about I think about a quarter of US households. It did. Mostly small places except for
00:56:14
Seattle and DC. But go ahead. Yeah. But these late night guys need everything. Yep. And then on the 26th,
00:56:20
both companies announced it would end the boycott and restore the show to their stations. It's not because they saw God or decided that they weren't
00:56:26
sensorious. It was because of the backlash of consumer of the backlash from viewers, media observers, advocacy
00:56:33
groups, um, and all kinds of pressure from different consumers. Sinclair's the
00:56:38
bigger one. They own about 15% of US television households via ABC affiliates
00:56:43
and NextStar is 9%. So, it's almost a quarter. And after the reversal, Jimmy
00:56:49
Kimmel um, regained its reach in those markets, obviously restoring viewership.
00:56:54
And the bottom line is the distributors blinked. And I love this. You can try to mute descent, but when the market and
00:57:02
money pushed back, they restarted. And I think it's a it's a good moment for us. And this and also this just isn't this
00:57:08
really isn't just about one late night host. It's about broadcasters recognizing that bowing to the president's pressure
00:57:16
is a precedent toward censorship and can cost their shareholders money. And we
00:57:21
need to start connecting these really these this overreach and vile activities on the part of the White House with
00:57:27
economic punishment. That's the connection. This socialist government is really getting on my nerves. Um anyway, uh
00:57:34
those are both good ones. I agree with you and you were correct about this um this uh idea of economic pressure that
00:57:41
that consumers can bring to bear. We want to hear from you. Send us your questions about business, tech, or whatever is on your mind. Go to
00:57:47
nymag.com/pivot to submit a question for the show or call 85551 pivot. And elsewhere in the
00:57:52
Cara and Scott universe on on with Cara Swisser. I recently spoke with Matt and Maria Rain whose 16-year-old son died by
00:57:59
suicide after starting to use chat GPT. Let's listen to a clip. What would you
00:58:04
right now say to Sam Alman if you were looking at him? Now that's a loaded question. Do you want to talk?
00:58:12
Uh, why did you put out a product that killed my son? And why haven't you
00:58:21
called me and expressed any remorse?
00:58:27
I don't know, among other things. But I just I don't understand how
00:58:35
he can just be going through life knowing that my son is gone. like my son
00:58:41
doesn't matter. It's your product that matters. That was a tough tough tough show. I
00:58:48
It's well worth listening to. It's really upsetting, but at the same time really incredibly cogent argument
00:58:53
they're making as parents and as consumers, too. Oddly enough, you did a really nice job. you were able
00:58:58
to thread the needle there and and it was very I had to I listened to it this weekend and I had to turn it off a couple times, but you you were very um
00:59:06
you made it about as just the facts as you could on a very heavy topic and it was very emotional, but you were you
00:59:12
managed to just kind of get through it in a way that felt I don't know very journalistic. I wouldn't I wouldn't have
00:59:17
been able to do that interview. So, um it was hard as a parent. I can tell you that I'm I am incandescent about some of
00:59:23
this and I just think AI should be limited with kids. It's just I now
00:59:28
absolutely of that mind. It shouldn't be in toys. It shouldn't be in anything%.
00:59:34
We We have PG-13 content for people under the age of 13. We have
00:59:40
R-rated content where an adult has to be present. We It's not to say we can't have AI for kids, but it should be
00:59:46
severely different. Severely different. And character AI should just not exist for people under the age of 18.
00:59:52
Yeah. Synthetic relationships. No. No. There's nobody there. people do not,
00:59:57
you know, it's fine if you want to like figure out your business plan, but this is [ __ ] And I have been talking to,
01:00:03
let me just say, a lot of legislators about a lot of this stuff aimed at kids. And every time I get the chance, and I'm
01:00:09
going to continue to do so. Okay, that's the show. Thanks for listening to Pivot and be sure to like and subscribe to our
01:00:14
YouTube channel. We'll be back on Friday. Scott, read us out. Today's show is produced by Larara Neon,
01:00:20
Zoe Marcus, and Taylor Griffin. Ernie and Todd engineered this episode. Jim M edited the video. Thanks also J Bros and
01:00:26
Dan Shalon. Mhach Vox Media's executive producer podcast. Make sure to follow Pivot on your favorite podcast platform.
01:00:33
Thanks for listening to Pivot from New York Magazine and Vox Media. You can subscribe to the magazine nymag.com/pod.
01:00:38
We'll be back later this week for another breakdown of all things tech and business.
01:00:44
[Music]
