00:00:00
It was particularly gross and especially Zuckerberg who tried to explain himself looked like a real toad in a room full
00:00:06
of toadies. I thought they made sex work look dignified.
00:00:16
Hi everyone. This is Pivot from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network. I'm Cara Swisser
00:00:21
and I'm Scott Galloway. Well, hello Scott. Do you have your shirt on today? You know, why not?
00:00:27
You know, why not? that people seem to like that quite a bit and then some people didn't, but a lot of people did more than they
00:00:33
they think they're used to you at this point. I think it's quite polarizing. Is it? I think it gives people hope. When
00:00:38
they're 80, they can look 79. We've got a lot to get to today, including Trump's dinner with the tech bros and Tesla offering Elon a massive
00:00:46
new pay package. But first, uh, Trump is rebranding the Department of Defense as the Department of War, restoring a name
00:00:52
last used in the 1940s. Let's listen to him explain the rebrand in the Oval Office last week. So we won the first
00:00:59
world war, we won the second world war, we won everything before that and in
00:01:04
between and then we decided to go woke and we changed the name to department of defense. So we're going department of
00:01:09
war. That's ridiculous. But Pete Hegath, the Secretary of War a, as we're
00:01:15
now being asked to call him, which I refuse, took it further. Let's listen. We're going to go on offense, not just
00:01:20
on defense. Maximum lethality, not tepid legality. violent effect, not
00:01:28
politically correct. We're going to raise up warriors, not just defenders.
00:01:33
Oh my god. I I don't even know what to say. He is such a small penis. All right. I'll note now the Department of
00:01:38
War is just a secondary title for the Defense Department. Official name change would require an act of Congress. And
00:01:44
while Trump is downplaying the price tag of his name change, reports suggest it could rebrand, could cost billions, just
00:01:49
even changing like all the the logos and stuff like that. Um, I'd love to get
00:01:55
your thoughts on this. Um, and then over the weekend, Trump posted a very controversial thing. Chicago's about to
00:02:00
find out why it's called the Department of War. So, he's always using a name that was incredibly violent to a US city
00:02:06
that's done nothing to him. Um, this idea of maximum lethality, violent effect, offense, not defense, going
00:02:13
woke. I I mean, the whole thing is just insane, I think. But I don't know. What do you think from a banding perspective?
00:02:19
Well, it's just not accurate. Um, first off, the there's they're trying to solve a problem that doesn't need solving. The
00:02:26
US Defense Department and our there is no one more lethal than the United
00:02:31
States Marine SEALs, special ops, CIA. I mean, we can deliver more lethality
00:02:37
anywhere in the world than any entity in history. So, the notion somehow that it
00:02:42
needs some sort of rebranding to give this performative um, you know, masculine weirdness,
00:02:49
that's not masculinity. That's little dick weirdness. And this unfortunately this attempt to create some sort of
00:02:56
illusion uh machoess is making us less safe because one of the things they're doing
00:03:01
is saying to transgender people who have served our nation proudly and competently, we're just going to kick
00:03:07
you out in some attempt to show that we're tough. It's also not accurate. the
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we changed the name for a reason and that is conquest was in fact a way you developed economic security and
00:03:18
prosperity back in the 15th 16th 17th century and before that when the nation's largest powers developed the
00:03:25
bomb it was clear that trying to invade Russia or Russia trying to invade a democratic nation could result in
00:03:32
nuclear armageddon so we reconfigured our our policies around the military and
00:03:39
we accurately and justifi ably changed the name to defense and modern warfare. The reality of modern warfare is the
00:03:45
following. It's about cyber and space domains. It's about information warfare. It's about economic sanctions and it's
00:03:52
about diplomacy and also a really good defense department is about deterrent. And that is when Hamas
00:04:00
tries to inspire a fivef frontont war by going in and butchering people in in
00:04:06
Israel and Biden deploys two carrier strike forces, he's there to tell the Iranian proxies to sit the down,
00:04:13
not to invade Iran. No. NATO, which is arguably the largest
00:04:19
military force in the world outside of the US, is there to present to keep in check the Soviet sphere. We're not we're
00:04:26
not planning to invade Russia. So defense is the right term. And even on practical levels, it hurts us because
00:04:35
our defense department does a lot of recruiting at NYU. Um the CIA is a big
00:04:40
recruiter. The NSA is a big recruiter. The armed services are a big recruiter. And do you think more people are
00:04:47
inclined to consider going to work for the Defense Department or the Department of War?
00:04:52
The War Department. And when you show up with representatives trying to strike a deal or negotiate, just saying, "Hi, I'm
00:04:57
here from the Department of War," it reflects this aggressive faux macho culture where he's threatening to take
00:05:04
over Canada and Greenland. And it further alienates our enemies and
00:05:09
convinces them they have a need to bind together and form a unified force
00:05:15
against us against us. Right? So, here's the thing. What? First of all, let's keep in mind that Donald Trump has never served in
00:05:20
the military and got out because of bone spurs. Let's never forget that. That's right. And this idea that we decided to go
00:05:26
woke. We didn't win the Second World War. We were brought into these wars and actually settled them is what we did. We
00:05:32
didn't like go on offensive uh for these wars and just and then Pete Heget is so
00:05:39
such small dick energy. He can't. By the way, speaking of not being able to do a pull-up, he barely could do one. Just
00:05:46
that's unfair. Just to be clear, not unfair. It was a challen No, no, no, no. You're referring to a challenge.
00:05:51
Yes. which I'm going to do where it's 100 push-ups and 50 pull-ups. And that was his 50th, which was terrible form.
00:05:57
But Secretary Secretary is actually in great shape. So is so is RFK Jr. And by
00:06:02
the way, I'm going to do the same thing. And I'm going to kick both their asses. Oh, okay. Good. But I'm just saying this
00:06:07
like performative masculinity is so strange. And this is the idea. This is what like teenage very badly raised
00:06:15
teenage boys think of as manliness. Like you're right. You've written a whole book on this. We're not we're not going
00:06:20
to raise up warriors, not just defenders. They are warriors. They just happen to defend violent. The word
00:06:26
violent lethality. Um it's just I I don't even understand it. It's so weird
00:06:32
and up. I mean, this is such a bad message to young men. That's the other part. Real men who are in great shape and have
00:06:40
the ability to deploy violence should they need. They're the ones that break up fights in bars. They don't start
00:06:46
them. Correct. They're the ones that that don't post their country. They they
00:06:52
compliment it and defend it. They're the ones that their first instinct is towards protection. It's towards
00:06:58
defense. It's not going on offense to try. We live in a world where no one
00:07:04
nation has the power to take over the world. And the notion that what are we
00:07:10
gonna name? We're going to change the name of the Coast Guard to Coast Attack, right? I mean, it's just Yeah.
00:07:16
This is unnecessarily performative. It sends entirely the wrong signal. It's going to make recruiting harder. It's a
00:07:22
bureaucratic nightmare for all just from stationary to treaties that say Department of Defense. It doesn't
00:07:27
reflect the most violent nations in the world, whether it's Russia or North Korea. They call it defense because they
00:07:33
want to say no, we're here to defend. The US is about defending its interests overseas and when it needs to, it can go
00:07:40
on offense like no other entity in history. There's no no one no one is saying, "Oh, those Americans are so
00:07:46
gentle." We've had so many military incursions. We have killed so many people. And the notion that changing the name
00:07:53
where we are where we are screwing up is this faux macho. Yeah. Is I thought it like the 80s. I
00:08:01
thought this faux macho thing. It's limiting the talent pool. You need super thoughtful people who believe in
00:08:07
our nation and believe in our defense. And also, I do believe there are a lot of people out there that want to kill us. I believe in going on the offense
00:08:13
militarily. I just do. And if we don't, then let's take our military budget down to two or 300 billion because we'd use the money and Canada's not about to
00:08:20
invade us. So, I'm all for an offensive strategy, but it's there to protect our interests, defend our allies. It's not
00:08:26
there to conquer nations. I think we'll go get something. Yeah. That that shit's over. That era is
00:08:32
over. We're not going to decide. Okay. I mean, you could argue and I would argue that there's a there's a strategic
00:08:37
interest in placing Maduro and then having a very strong reliance alliance with Guyana because of that lightweight
00:08:43
crude they have. I I I get that. But that's going to be done through diplomacy, maybe some covert operations,
00:08:50
but it's about information warfare, economic sanctions, deterrence, all kinds of Department of War. That's just
00:08:56
same thing with with uh JD Vance and the we'll just bomb whoever we want without proof of anything was insane. Like, I'm
00:09:02
so sorry, JD. Your mother was a drug addict, but you really have to stop. Like, it's really like it's so
00:09:08
extrajudicial. It's so um duterte. It's so not American. Like, all this stuff.
00:09:14
It's so unamerican. But it's just me. I mean, they're all just just to correct the record. Just I I realize, by the way, I think Hillbilly
00:09:21
Elegy was a brilliant book. I think he's a fantastic writer. I think he's a very intelligent man. But also, let's just
00:09:26
clarify a little bit about JD Vance's Appalachian upbringing. This was a guy taking golf lessons in high school who
00:09:32
tried out for the varsity golf team. I mean, he's definitely rebranded himself a little bit more country. He's
00:09:38
definitely gone a little bit more Maria of Donnie and Maria in terms of his upbringing. I know. I agree. But I'm just saying
00:09:44
this is this is all such such small dick energy. And then with all the the the
00:09:49
we'll get to that in a minute. They're all fighting with each other talking about throwing hands all these. It's
00:09:55
ridiculous. They're ridiculous. Supposedly Bent is getting in fist fights or threatening. And the guy he was yelling at is an
00:10:01
Punchable face. No question. PY and same thing with Elon. But still,
00:10:06
it's such bl such bl. Anyway, um let's move on. Speaking of someone people who
00:10:11
are throwing weight around, the US tech companies gained a combined $420 billion in market cap last week. The gains
00:10:17
lifted their total value to $21 trillion, making them the third of the S&P 500. You have referenced this many
00:10:23
times. Well, one uh one cause the junch was Google's antirust win in the US. The
00:10:28
company is facing a new 3.545 billion fine in the EU for anti-competitive
00:10:33
practices. Not off the hook. President Trump threatened the EU with an investigation that could lead to higher tariffs over the fine. Whatever. Any
00:10:40
prediction here for what the rest of the year? You know, you you did pick Google as you noted. Um but this is a lot. this
00:10:47
is like a little too much of the S&P when we should, as you said last week, focused on the other 400 companies, not
00:10:53
these seven companies, right? Everything from the tariffs to
00:10:59
um you know what's going on with this new AI bill that basically gives them free reign is an is essentially a
00:11:05
transfer of wealth from the 490 traditional or more traditional companies in the S&P to the Magnificent
00:11:12
10. And I had dinner um with a friend of mine who works at Apollo and he said something just fascinating. He said that
00:11:18
if to justify the current valuations of the AI centered companies specifically in Magnificent 10, it
00:11:25
implies that they're going to be able to find an incremental trillion dollars in revenues or efficiencies from their
00:11:32
clients. Right? What that means is okay, if we buy more Nvidia chip and have enterprise licenses with Anthropic or
00:11:39
OpenAI, we'll be able to cut a trillion dollars of the cost. So far, I would argue the vast majority is coming from
00:11:46
efficiencies, which is Latin for cutting your legal expenses. I talked to a Fortune 500 company CEO
00:11:54
last week. He thinks that this year they're going to reduce their legal expenses by a third and next year by another third.
00:11:59
Yeah. Right. So, it one of two things is going to happen. If you think about a trillion dollars in
00:12:06
quote unquote savings, right, and there are 150 million Americans who work, it's
00:12:13
only 150 million. And assume half that industry is immune somewhat from AI.
00:12:18
Chiropractors, plumbers, you know, massuses, whoever it is, right? Hairdressers,
00:12:24
they're somewhat immune from AI. Let's assume that half the market, and that's probably generous, is uh susceptible to
00:12:31
these quote unquote efficiencies or cost cuts in AI, which is Latin for I you need less lawyers, consultants, whoever,
00:12:38
right? It's just a huge destruction. Producers, the 192 people that are about to be laid off from the Cole Bear show
00:12:44
as he takes six to a podcast. If you assume a load factor and salary
00:12:49
of a h 100,000, a trillion dollars is 10 million jobs. 10 million jobs from a universe of 75 million is about a 15%
00:12:57
destruction in employment. A 15% destruction in employment in any industry over the next 24 to 36 months
00:13:03
is literally Armageddon. That may not sound like a lot, but that means that industry is is in a state of chaos. So,
00:13:09
one of two things is going to happen. Either these companies valuations are
00:13:14
going to get cut in half or we're going to have massive employment destruction across a small
00:13:21
number of industries. Now, someone would say, "Scott, there's a door three and that it creates incremental opportunities, incremental revenue."
00:13:26
I see that. I I don't see any company saying, "Oh, we're putting out a new car because of AI that's making us more money." I don't
00:13:33
see L'Oreal going, "We've launched new moisturizers using AI and it's created new markets for us." What you're seeing
00:13:39
is big companies are saying we're going to we're going to starch out a lot of costs with AI. So, which is it?
00:13:49
Either these companies are going to get cut in half or we're going to see a massive and maybe that's capitalism. I'm
00:13:56
not saying it's a bad thing or we're going to see a massive destruction and reduction in cost in the means of
00:14:02
production which is Latin for massive layoffs and I actually do say it's a bad thing because those are consumers who don't
00:14:07
spend right those are it's a it's a problematic situation if people feel you
00:14:12
know look every tech person anytime you say they're always like every tech change has created more wealth. Okay,
00:14:18
let's see that. What is it? Explain to us. Well, it's shareholder wealth right now. It's shareholder wealth. That's correct.
00:14:24
It's stock wealth. And so the question is like you remember we had I'm not gonna say who it was. We Scott and I had
00:14:29
uh sort of a drinks with someone and he was saying remember he said he was going to cut his software people from 6,000 to
00:14:35
2,000 or some number like that. It was some massive number. Um and that was about a year ago like noticing
00:14:42
efficiencies but again it didn't make a better product or a new product or move into new areas. It wasn't it was only
00:14:48
just cutting people that really I'll make the I'll I'll do the strong math. So the average in 1995 the average
00:14:55
profit margin of the S&P 500 was about 5%. Today it's roughly 11%. So the average profits have more than doubled.
00:15:02
That should imply that they in fact have more money and the bar for greenlighting
00:15:07
new products, new ideas, new factories has been lowered and they are building
00:15:12
massive they are making massive capex investments. If you want if if you are good with your hands and comfortable in
00:15:19
a construction site and are willing to go 12 or 24 months and get a degree in like specialy construction as it relates
00:15:24
to nuclear power plants, you can probably make $150,000 by the time you're 23 or 25. So there is going to be
00:15:31
new jobs, new creation. I don't think you get in the way of this destruction. Now, unfortunately, a lot of that
00:15:37
additional margin is going to profits that companies like Apple are spending on share buybacks or 110 bill.
00:15:45
Apple spent more on share buybacks last year. I believe it was $110 billion. It's rivaling their R&D. So, what does
00:15:50
that do? It takes the existing share price up, but you could argue it's not really going back into the economy. It's going
00:15:56
into the pockets of the 10% that own 90% of the stocks. So, there is growth. It
00:16:02
it does result in economic growth and it should result in in new industries with
00:16:07
higher paying jobs. And I don't think you can get in the way of it, but it what we're really bad at here, we're
00:16:13
really good at figuring out ways to lay off people and force them to find industries where there's growth and
00:16:18
create more profit and more margin. What we're really bad at is figuring out systemic training and means to to help
00:16:26
give those people the runway such that what happens is did you see all these farmers
00:16:32
complaining about I love Oh yeah. I mean and no one has it's like the world's tiniest violins. Twothirds of
00:16:37
farmers voted for Trump and now they're all freaked out. We voted for racism but not this. Yeah. Yeah. They're all freaked out that and
00:16:44
they're all asking for a bailout and these were the same people that were just horrified by a student loan bailout. Right. I agree. We should have
00:16:51
capitalism. Companies should go out of business. If we have technology that puts, you know, Co Bear's team out of
00:16:56
work or mediocre lawyers out of work or mediocre consultants, I'm all for it. But what you need to do is tax these
00:17:03
organizations such that you have the capital to retrain people and not have people live in a state of fear and not
00:17:09
worry about not having health insurance if they're one of those consultants or bankers or whoever it is that gets laid
00:17:15
off. That's what we're really bad at. But we are. Can I just point out you put up something about taxing the rich I
00:17:21
thought was interesting your statistics about how we've moved from 90% to like 28%.
00:17:27
Well, we'll talk about that when we talk about Elon. But our taxes on corporations are the lowest they've been
00:17:33
since 1939. And every, you know, with these deficits, it's pretty easy, folks. We
00:17:39
got to do one of two things. We either got to spend less money or we got to tax people more. Otherwise, our kids are
00:17:44
just not going to have uh uh the benefit of the investments in public infrastructure and technology and
00:17:50
education that we've enjoyed. Yep. Absolutely. Anyway, uh we'll see what happens, but these tech companies
00:17:55
will still lead the way. Uh and when we get back, we'll find out why. We'll go on a quick break. When we come back, Trump's big tech dinner party. Scott,
00:18:03
we're back. President Trump hosted a big dinner party at the White House last week with attendees including Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and Sam Alman.
00:18:10
All of them were there. One Tim Cook was there. Not Sergey Brin, Sachin. Everybody was there. One notable figure
00:18:15
was missing Elon Musk. Musk says he was invited but couldn't make it, but other people say he wasn't invited. I don't
00:18:20
care. I don't care. The guests were full of praise for the president. It was pretty grotesque to watch. Bill Gates
00:18:26
thanked him for quote setting the tone such that we could make a major investment in the US. I think Bill Gates
00:18:31
is doing it so he can save us. I'm okay with him. I'm guess I'm going to give him the only out. the rest of it
00:18:38
was so they will live to regret what they're doing here, I think. Or maybe they won't. I mean, this short-term
00:18:44
gains, I think this is this was so grotesque. And it reminded me of that story I broke in 2016 when they went up
00:18:51
the Trump Tower and did the exact same thing because it was in their interests. Um, they're not going to grow a back
00:18:56
burn bone anyone. They're going to keep up this shtick. It's good for their business. It was particularly gross. and
00:19:02
especially Zuckerberg who tried to explain himself looked like a real toad in a room full of toadies. Um, any
00:19:09
thoughts on this? I thought they make I thought they made sex work look dignified. I mean I think
00:19:17
I think paying some guy 50 bucks to suck my is more dignified than what
00:19:22
these guys did. What is the point? What is the point of aggregating all
00:19:28
these skills? These guys work so hard. They're so talented. They rally hundreds of
00:19:33
thousands if not millions of people. They build these amazing products so they can become billionaires so they can go
00:19:40
and fate. I know. I was thinking an insurrectionist. What the And they all complained
00:19:46
about the insurrection. I understand the notion of staying below the radar. Don't antagonize him. Don't
00:19:53
say anything. Just stay out of his way. I get it. I'm meeting I'm having lunch with the chancellor of a iconic public
00:20:00
college tomorrow when they talk they want to talk about a variety of things including how they respond to Trump and
00:20:05
I'm like you are not and I I'm I'm loathed to even say the name which I won't but my basic thing is don't say
00:20:11
anything just stay out of his sights stay out of his crosshairs right but these guys
00:20:18
Sam Sam Harris sort of changed my life of making sense the podcaster he said if
00:20:24
you have economic security and people who love you unconditionally, you have an obligation to speak out.
00:20:30
Yeah. Because so few people can. People have to worry about their economic livelihood. They have to maybe,
00:20:38
you know, there's a lot of reasons why you may want not want to be provocative as a
00:20:44
younger person if you're not economically secure. And these guys will always say, "Well, it's about shareholder value. I I'm going to add a
00:20:50
lot of value to Apple because I'm going to get this contract blah blah blah. But you would think one of them
00:20:56
Yeah. would say, "Okay, the the asser showing up pretty soon, Bezos Cook, you're not
00:21:03
young men." And are you going to say on your deathbed? What I would think one of them would think, you know what, I'd
00:21:08
like to be that guy that said I just don't and we're not asking to
00:21:13
fall on like Benny off maybe who's pushed back. Oh, he probably wanted to go. um you know, nobody nobody nobody nobody.
00:21:20
They're just they all they do is filate. That's all they do now. And I'm sort of like I I got I got some texts from
00:21:27
someone and they were like, "Oh, yes, we're embarrassed, too." And I'm like, "Fuck you." Like I at this point, like
00:21:32
why have all that money if you can't at least Exactly. Right. What's the point? What's
00:21:38
is there nothing you could do? Like, you know, of all the people, at least Elon went out on a limb for Trump. He did
00:21:44
something, right? He thought that. However misguided you may think he is, like do any of them like I guess Reed
00:21:50
Reed Hoffman does and has been pretty firm about it. But even Reed's Yeah. pull back. Reed is I think Reed is probably
00:21:57
justifiably like worried. He is worried. He's telling he's he's trying to stay out of his crosshairs right now. But the economic
00:22:04
opportunity is not for a tech company but for a consumer company to just in a
00:22:09
very thoughtful elegant way without even saying the president's name run commercials talking about what an
00:22:15
important role immigrants have played. What an important role the gay community and the transgender community have played in our defense department. What
00:22:21
an important role how how uh rights in America and you know equality and
00:22:29
respect for institutions. I mean you you could fire up so many amazing creative agencies to have the most powerful
00:22:35
commercials. It would be very clear what you are saying and you know what would happen? They would have a torrent of
00:22:42
business because the bottom line is the people who are against this are the mostly the only people who really
00:22:48
matter in consumer America educated people with disposable income. You know what's interesting? The only people who actually are much more public
00:22:55
or would be celebrities like Co Bear or Ariana Grande when she won yesterday the I think it was the MTV music whatever um
00:23:02
said I want to thank my therapist and the gays and it was just like adorable. She's adorable. Um but it's really
00:23:09
celebrities seem to be saying things right and not worrying about it's comedians and celebrities but yeah I'm just saying they don't they
00:23:15
they aren't they're much more I would say they're much more outspoken than they've ever been and it's not just
00:23:21
virtue signaling. But here's the problem. It kind of doesn't matter. I know it doesn't. It matters that these
00:23:26
guys do. I know. I'm just trying to think of who speaks up. Celebrities don't sway a We fall under
00:23:32
the cold comfort of believing that America is a democracy. Okay. Sort of. Because the reality is the passive
00:23:39
populace doesn't win elections. It's organized special interest groups. And technology is now so powerful and has so
00:23:45
much money that they can kind of sway elections and sway government. I mean,
00:23:51
I'm I'm I'm increasingly about this notion that the only real means of fighting back at this point is if we can
00:23:57
rally enough Americans to at least pick a time period and stop spending money, right? Or stopping stopping doing
00:24:03
things, stoping. No, it's it's these organized special interest groups that impact Washington and have all the power. And if tech if
00:24:11
we could figure out a way to get tech on our side, they could absolutely check back on Trump. If they all together met
00:24:18
in the parking lot in 2016, Scott, they won't.
00:24:23
But I just I I mean this sincerely. I sincerely mean how many times have they been in front of the president other people don't get to be?
00:24:30
Like how many times have we seen Mark Zuckerberg at the inauguration? Mark Zuckerberg at the White House. Mark Zuckerberg Marago. Mark Zuckerberg and
00:24:35
the stupid White House. Like enough. You've had enough facetime with that though like what why did they
00:24:42
why does why didn't they have the head of Caterpillar there at least or something some company that matters
00:24:47
beyond these bunch of but if Bob Iger just said look I'm I've been around the block
00:24:55
u you know Disney is about American values and I'm just very uncomfortable
00:25:00
with the idea of censorship I think Disney Plus subscriptions would triple in 60 days
00:25:06
I think you've come under the Elliot Hill from Nike said, "We're about we're about winning and part of winning
00:25:12
is strong American institutions. We are an American company. They could do such an outstanding commercial."
00:25:18
Make a comment after the vaccine thing in Florida. Said nothing. Well, I I think this is I think it's not
00:25:25
only the right thing to do. I think it's an enormous commercial opportunity for a consumer brand to just talk about
00:25:30
American traditional American values. Let me say crickets is what is happening. Um, speaking of weirdnesses
00:25:35
and someone who wasn't a thing, Elon Musk could become the world's first trillionaire. He's not going to I just I wish we could stop saying we could like
00:25:41
the news reports under a new pay package from Tesla's board. The compensation all in Tesla stock is tied to hitting
00:25:47
ambitious targets in the next 10 years including getting the company's market value from where it's around just above 1 trillion to which is ridiculous price
00:25:55
anyway to 8.5 trillion delivering a total of 20 million vehicles which the declining sales every it's now at its
00:26:02
lowest rates putting a million robo taxes on the road and also a million I think of those robots that don't exist
00:26:09
there's just a few of them the board is also saying that Elon needs to develop a succession framework to earn a portion of the pay that. Um, these benchmarks
00:26:16
are just watered down versions of promises Elon's been making for years as Techrunch pointed out correctly. Uh,
00:26:21
Tesla shareholders also set to vote on investing in XAI an upcoming annual meeting. I mean, the whole thing he
00:26:28
should just mash all his companies together and hope for the best. Look, I I don't think we need
00:26:33
trillionaires, but I don't think we should get in the way of people becoming trillionaires. I think one of the wonderful things about American
00:26:39
capitalism is that if you take risks, you start your own companies, you you invent something new, the literally the
00:26:46
upside is unlimited. And no government agency or bureaucrats is going to tell you is going to say to you, "Oh, you're
00:26:51
too rich." That's fine. Have at it. I I like having billionaires. I like having trillionaires. Let's talk about this
00:26:57
specific pay package. It's saying, "We're going to give you options on 14% of the outstanding stock of the
00:27:03
company." That is well outside of the range of most CEO packages find he's an exceptional individual. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt. In addition,
00:27:10
the board of Tesla, which has a compensation committee deciding the compensation package of the CEO, which
00:27:16
by the way is the hardest thing on a board, I find is compensation is elected by the owners. We believe in
00:27:23
private capital and we believe in private property. So the owners of a company get to decide
00:27:29
what they are going to pay the CEO. So there's nothing in my opinion if I was
00:27:35
on that comp committee I would say no it's probably more like 3 to 8% not 14%. And what it's basically saying is if he
00:27:41
increases the value of all shareholders for 7 trillion he gets a trillion dollar commission. I I don't think that is
00:27:47
totally outrageous. What we should be focused on is if somebody makes a trillion dollars I like
00:27:55
where we were in the 50s60s that they pay an incremental marginal tax rate of 90%.
00:28:00
So I like the idea of full body contact capitalism that motivates people to work
00:28:06
really hard and come up with new ideas. I just think we those people need to pay a lot more taxes rather than move to
00:28:12
Texas and end up paying you know he'll end up paying about 17 or 18% if in fact
00:28:17
he gets that money whereas the people working in those factories are probably paying 30 or 35%.
00:28:22
I want you from can he hit these targets? I can't imagine he can what can he do to get to $8.5 trillion, deliver
00:28:30
20 million vehicles and put a million robo taxis on the road. The cars are being overwhelmed by competitors like
00:28:37
BYD and and others. By the way, there's two new competitors to him, I think, from I can't remember who it was.
00:28:43
There's some really beautiful cars out there. Um, how does he do it, Scott?
00:28:48
Whether you give it to him or not, sure, why not? I want to, you know, Carol, if you can, if you can beat, I don't know,
00:28:54
LeBron James, you can be in the NBA. Sure. Like, I don't get it. I don't get how he gets there.
00:29:01
Standing here and now with BYD basically offering
00:29:06
a a a Tesla, let's be kind, 80% of a Tesla. Some people think it's 100 or 110% of a Tesla for 40 to 60% of the
00:29:14
price where his autonomous driving seems to be well behind. and all these jazz hands trying to distract people from a
00:29:21
trillion dollar market cap company that's really probably worth somewhere between 50 and 200 billion by with
00:29:26
like robots and Mars and um how he would get there in my view or uh to
00:29:33
be clear SpaceX has monopoly that's you know having 80% market share of space is
00:29:38
really enticing but if you just look at the actual numbers and what would be required to add $7 trillion in market
00:29:45
cap they're basically saying you're going to at a trillion dollars. If this becomes the most valuable company in the world by a factor of two, it looks near
00:29:54
impossible. I would take I I would be willing to bet a lot of money that he is
00:29:59
never going to get a trillion that trillion dollars. Having said that, Cara, I said the same thing seven years
00:30:05
ago that Tesla could never be worth more than every automobile company combined.
00:30:11
It was a meme stock and he was on the upswing. Right. But it happened, right? It did. So
00:30:18
he would have to do again what he has accomplished to date in terms of valuation, in terms of performance, it's
00:30:23
remarkable. In terms of the market's response to it, it's insanely like
00:30:29
unbelievable. So could he do it? Is it likely to happen? Highly unlikely. Was
00:30:36
it likely he was going to get to this point? Also highly unlikely. So Oh, much much
00:30:43
less. You think this is much more aggressive than I think he's old. I think he's
00:30:48
has some personal problems. I think he's got some health problems. I think he can't come up with a new trick. I think
00:30:55
listen, everyone's like, "Oh, if anyone he can't." I'm like, "Can he now? He This is an number that's just beyond
00:31:02
belief. It could be a meme stock. That's the only way to me it could happen." Or he merged SpaceX with this and who cares
00:31:09
about X XAI or the other one. Maybe if he merged them all, I guess, and then
00:31:14
pretended it was called Tesla. I suppose the meme stocks have generally had other other than you could argue Palanteer. Is
00:31:21
Palanteer a meme stock trading at 100? I don't generally speaking, they haven't had there aren't enough meme investors
00:31:27
to justify a multi-t trillion dollar market cap company, right? But again, it all comes back to he needs a new product is all I'm saying
00:31:33
and a new bit of energy in and of himself. I don't know. Yeah, we continue to talk about him like he's a runaway teen. He's
00:31:39
getting AP mail. That's what I'm saying. I 100% agree with you, but again, I I don't think we're having the right conversation. And
00:31:46
I like the idea of a kid reading someone might be a trillionaire. I want to pay
00:31:52
him a trillion dollars and then I want 90% of it to go to the US Treasury.
00:31:57
Because here's the thing, we're spending five. We're spending $7 trillion. We're taking in five. We have
00:32:04
to raise taxes. We have to cut spending. So, let's shove cutting spending for right now. All roads lead to entitlement
00:32:09
cuts, by the way. But let's talk about revenues or taxes. The key is to find taxes that are the least taxing.
00:32:17
And what what Israeli American psycho psychologist Daniel Conorman discovered,
00:32:22
and he did a lot of research here, is that once you get above a certain level, no incremental happiness. If Elon Musk
00:32:28
on that trillion dollars gets to hold on to 800 billion of it or 200 billion of
00:32:34
it, it's going to make no difference in his life. In addition, and I'm going off scripture, we should eliminate the
00:32:40
exemption on trust because you inheriting 10 million versus 15 from
00:32:47
lucky, it's going to have it's going to make no difference in your life. It's not. Okay. So,
00:32:53
the the vast majority of wealth that is inherited is from a small number of people to a small number of kids. And if
00:33:00
your kid is going to get five million instead of seven, no one's any no one's
00:33:05
any less happier. So there are some fairly When we had a society with much
00:33:12
less income inequality and people felt much better about America, guess what?
00:33:18
The incremental tax rates on people making so much money they couldn't spend it all were much higher.
00:33:24
Anyway, I'm ranting. lower taxes on everyone up to a million and above a
00:33:29
million. Oh my god, you progressive all caps tax structure and no one was any less happy.
00:33:34
They looked so miserable at that dinner and they plus they didn't get to go on to the new patio, the new rose garden.
00:33:41
What looks like such a cheap version of a Marriott. It was It looks like a Marriott. Like a medium level Marriott.
00:33:47
They're prostitutes with a half bottle. Did you see that? What do you think of the Rose Garden Club? They're
00:33:52
prostitutes with a half bottle of cheap jack of cheap bourbon drink, condoms
00:33:58
hanging out of their ass. My pimp has just said, "You got another 11 John's tonight." Oh my god.
00:34:03
They look exhausted, abused, tired, and humiliated. They're like,
00:34:09
"How did I end up here?" First off, eliminate I hate to say it.
00:34:15
Eliminate ICE just symbolically. Absolutely. Department of Defense. There
00:34:20
are so many the whoever the new president is, assuming he's not Vance, is going to have spend all his time cleaning up.
00:34:27
It's literally going to be the circus clown behind an elephant just scooping up for the first three or six months.
00:34:32
Three or six months. I agree. All right, let's go on a quick break and when we come back, RFK Jr. continues to create
00:34:38
chaos. What a mess. Scott, we're back. President Trump has mixed reactions to RFK Jr.'s heated
00:34:44
appearance of the Senate Finance Committee last week. Let's listen to a clip from the hearing. Did you do you accept the fact that a million Americans
00:34:52
died from CO? I don't know how many died. You're the Secretary of Health and Human
00:34:58
Services. You don't have any idea how many Americans died from CO? I don't
00:35:03
think anybody knows that because the there was so much data chaos coming out
00:35:09
of the CDC. Oh my god, this voice just tried and clear. That was Senator Warner. In response, Trump said of the vaccines are
00:35:16
quote, "Pure and simple, they work." But also defended RFK Jr. saying he's a different type of guy. And he's not the
00:35:21
only one. Several Republican senators, including Bill Cassidy and Tom Tillis, expressed concern during Kennedy's
00:35:26
hearing. Meanwhile, RFK Jr. reportedly plans to announce that pregnant women's use of Tylenol is potentially linked to
00:35:32
autism. Conservative, he has no proof of much of this. And in fact, um, it's the
00:35:37
same thing with the Florida Surgeon General said he didn't use any science when it came to deciding on the vaccines. Conservative polling from is
00:35:44
reported warning Japu lawmakers that only 75% of Trump voters believe vaccines save lives. Um thoughts?
00:35:52
Uh second most dangerous person in the administration is um Peter Nabaro who will substantially reduce our
00:35:57
prosperity. Most dangerous person is RFK because he's when he gets up in front of
00:36:02
Congress and lies and says I'm not antivaccine and anyone can get a vaccine. No. When you can't
00:36:08
when you claim when you now say that it has to be under prescription or from a doctor's orders, you're going to reduce
00:36:15
the penetration of vaccines 1/3 to 2/3 and you're going to increase disease by much more than that because you'll have
00:36:21
a bunch of kids in third grade that have measles or rebella. This is this is
00:36:26
arguably if this guy gains more traction and the CDC continues to be emasculated
00:36:32
and this antivaccine conspiracy continues to gain traction and people are confused even if they believe it or
00:36:38
not gaining traction by the way if you don't make it easy for people to get vaccines fewer people are going to get vaccines
00:36:44
and more kids are going to have their limbs cut off from advanced measles this is just it's it's one thing Europe is
00:36:52
not prospered because they haven't grown but they make good decisions They're generally a smart people. We are growing
00:36:57
and yet we've decided how do we it's suicide. How do we take a giant step back? This is this is insane. I I do have to be
00:37:05
honest though. I was really proud. That was Senator Warner. He's fantastic. I wish he would run for president. I I
00:37:11
thought Senator Bennett was good. I thought Senator Warren, Elizabeth Warren was really good. Senator Canwell. I also
00:37:16
thought Senator Cassidy except he was actually quite deaf. I know. He had to win because he had
00:37:22
been the one that had wasn't going to vote for him and he would have been the deciding one and then he did. He got
00:37:27
pressured from Trump. They all they all claim they all claim to have concerns and then they all vote.
00:37:32
That's what I mean. That's all I'm saying. I'm not going to give but he did say he did. He was good. He he did say look you told me that you
00:37:40
were going to support vaccines and you don't seem to be doing this. So I thought he Let me put it this way. He's
00:37:47
he's done a whole hell of a lot more. But if you're if you want to talk about a lasting legacy of death, disease, and
00:37:53
disability, this is Bobby Kennedy. And also to the president's credit, he did
00:37:58
say in a in a press or after that, I think some vaccines are good. I mean, he doesn't get him rid of him. That he
00:38:03
it doesn't matter. Again, it's like Cassie, I don't care. Have you heard this Florida surgeon general equating vaccine mandates with
00:38:09
slavery? I He is He is so stupid. I I don't He's so stupid. And then was was asked about
00:38:16
the science and he was I didn't use science. I I just think parents should be able to I think really interestingly
00:38:21
like someone had a question on online and my brother the doctor answered um like if you get a vaccine what do you
00:38:28
care if they do like it's a public health issue you get other there are im immuno compromised people who can't get
00:38:34
vaccines for one secondly if you make them hard to get and more expense insurance if CDC doesn't back them
00:38:41
insurance companies don't pay for them and therefore poor people don't get them people with money can get them as always
00:38:47
But people who don't have means can't get them. And then lastly, it's a public health danger because also little babies
00:38:54
don't get vaccines for what a year and a half, two years. I have so many children, I don't remember, but there's
00:38:59
a there's a period of time when babies that's why when you go to like any
00:39:05
cemetery of before we had vaccines, you see so many baby graves, right? Because
00:39:11
they died of all kinds of diseases. We have eradicated and now it's back. It's
00:39:17
just there's so many reasons to do it um that will protect everybody, but it's such a typical Trump thing.
00:39:23
I feel as if quote unquote the worm has turned against RFK Jr. Yes, seems like it, but he's still
00:39:28
there. Trump doesn't let people go. People Trump doesn't he doesn't want to admit he was wrong. I think that's a bigger
00:39:35
issue. I think Do you think his job is safe? I think it would take a lot for him to
00:39:40
get He's done a lot and he and I think a lot. I don't know. I just I just think Trump is just sticks to his guns. He
00:39:45
doesn't I don't think Trump cares. I think he's an old man and he could and he was always a selfish prick and he's going to remain a selfish brick the day
00:39:52
he dies. That's all. Doesn't care. He doesn't care about public health. Doesn't care about people, poor people.
00:39:57
Doesn't care about like I don't think he thinks about one day in his life. He thinks about whether people booing for
00:40:03
him or caring at the US Open. By the way, they were booing mostly. Um anyway, let's move on. Last thing. Anthropic has
00:40:10
agreed to a one point, this is a really interesting case. I really want to know what you think about this $ 1.5 billion settlement with a group of authors and
00:40:16
publishers. That's after a judge ruled the company illegally acquired millions of copyrighted books. They were they
00:40:21
nicked them as they say. The settlement $3,000 per work for about 500,000 authors is the largest payout in the
00:40:27
history of US copyright cases. By settling, Anthropic avoids a trial that could have carried damages in the hundreds of billions. Also, I bet there
00:40:33
were some nice emails around. All of this comes as Enthropic just closed a$ 13 billion funding round tripling its
00:40:39
valuation to 183 billion. Um what do you think this means for other AI companies? I just love your thoughts on this cuz
00:40:46
you know they they definitely probably there was probably a lot of stuff would be my guess and they thought let's get
00:40:52
this out of our way. We just got this funding. We can just fork over this money as part of it. It gets it goes
00:40:58
away. I think you have a a better grasp with IP and journalism and books. I want you
00:41:04
to take this and I'll comment on it. Okay. Um I I you know I I may have been in this group. I don't I didn't do
00:41:09
anything but um I have found my book stolen by these people and they they maybe they pay for one copy. I guess I
00:41:16
suppose that's what they did or something like that. I don't know. They don't have to buy it. Right. Exactly. Or maybe they buy the Well, yeah. Maybe
00:41:22
they do. You're right. Buy one copy. Right. It's such It's so ridiculous the kind of stuff they're stealing. And it's
00:41:29
and and to me, if we have these US copyright cases, they should copyright should matter here, just like it did
00:41:35
YouTube back in the day. Um YouTube figured it out and ended up paying people and it's turned out to be a great
00:41:40
business. You know, you don't talk about YouTube stealing, but you did forever. Why would you build your business on
00:41:46
stealing other people's content and then remaking it and and and putting, you
00:41:52
know, these people worked on these things? They deserve to be paid. If you don't, you're a shoplifter. That's the only thing I can think of. And I suspect
00:41:58
they settled cuz I'll bet there was emails. I bet there was some proof of what they did and they would have been
00:42:04
on the hook for this would have been over for this company had had it gone to trial would be my guess probably.
00:42:10
Yeah, we the incumbents benefit from the illusion of complexity like what's
00:42:16
crawling, what's actual IP infringement, what isn't. No, it's pretty simple. Th
00:42:21
this industry needs to adopt some sort of similar construct to what musicians
00:42:26
do. And that is if you play if you're Kroq in Los Angeles and you're playing
00:42:32
the B-52s and every year they say, "Okay, you can run it's very seamless.
00:42:38
You just track it. You play B-52 songs. You have to spend Warner Brothers or
00:42:45
whoever is the publisher of the B-52s. You have to send them $1,100 to a rights
00:42:50
management group. The rights management group then sends out checks to everyone from Madonna to Luke Holmes. And that's
00:42:57
how they make money. And they say, "Okay, we have an infrastructure that's seamless, frictionless. People can use our content, but we get paid for it."
00:43:04
These guys have plenty of money to pay for these rights. All they need is a
00:43:09
tracking mechanism that says, "Okay, Carara's books informed us on this many queries, so she gets X amount of money,
00:43:17
and we send it to a rights group who then distributes the IP distributes the payments." This is a this is a system
00:43:24
they could easily prop up, but instead they pretend it's too difficult because they'd rather just steal it. So, I like
00:43:30
this because it sets a precedent that you the these companies have committed
00:43:35
IP theft. That that's what it says. It says that they have taken something that has economic value and they owe these
00:43:42
authors. The next step that I think is is really what we really need is again what I
00:43:49
wanted the New York Times to do is I wanted us all to get together and bind together as one group and then negotiate
00:43:54
Microsoft against Google to see who got to crawl our stuff and who didn't because the biggest mistake we made back
00:44:00
then was to just let them crawl it thinking it was going to send us more traffic and we'd we'd serve them banner
00:44:05
ads and that just didn't work. So this is a moment in time. I think this is a step in the right direction, but I still
00:44:12
think we got to get to a point where it's like, okay, when your book comes out, when your TV show comes out, when
00:44:18
your podcast comes out, we have a means of tracking what percentage of it in
00:44:24
terms of nuance and context or direct direct data or direct quotes from this
00:44:29
book have been used across all of our queries and we're going to give you a certain percentage of our profits and
00:44:35
we're going to figure out a mechanism for figuring out who gets what. It just these guys could figure it out with a bunch of economists and uh what we don't
00:44:43
have is on our side we don't have strong representation. We don't have someone I mean you know our idea we wanted Barry
00:44:48
Diller to do this right absolutely to get everyone from Penguin Portfolio Random House to Disney to cond Hurst to
00:44:55
Dow Jones and then basically say all right it's a bidding war and whoever gives us the biggest slice of their pie
00:45:02
gets access to this data and maybe it's both maybe we do it for both for everybody anthropic llama but there's
00:45:08
enough money here to go it's theft let me just say I'm just I just went to Amazon right remember I complained when my book came out that
00:45:14
they were ripping it off And so the first thing the results would do Cara Swisser is my burn book and then my book
00:45:20
there must be a pony in here somewhere and before that awe.com those are all Cara Swisser books then right away Cara
00:45:26
Swisser the fear's voice of text speaking up asking questions and making a difference like as if I wrote it like
00:45:32
it's by some fake name and then there's Cara Swisser text queen bee with sting and then there's Cara Swisser navigating
00:45:39
the digital ear insights and perspectives from a trailblazing journalist I cooperated on none of it by
00:45:44
Somebody name Scott P. Monday. It that's all AI. They're thieves is what they are. They're thieving my stuff and I
00:45:52
paid for I I paid for it with my time and my money and I should get all the money related to my stuff and same
00:45:58
thing. What happens? Let me look up Scott Galloway now. Well, they're going to start crawling our podcasts and they'll be able to say
00:46:06
put out a pivot-like context. Same voices, same feel, same banter, same dick jokes,
00:46:12
but cover business. same dick jokes, but but cover business in Turkey and they'll be able to spin it up.
00:46:19
And I'm actually down with that as long as we get paid for it. Well, except for a Scott Galloway
00:46:24
biography, honest reflections on being a real man and dad in an uncertain, everchanging world. A new 2025 memoir
00:46:31
from you. I don't know if you know that. Um, you know, it looks like looks like
00:46:36
that's yours then. Okay. incl biography of Steve of Scott Galloway including
00:46:42
exercises for notes on being a man. They've already making an exercise book for you. The algebra of wealth workbook
00:46:49
fix in Scott Galloway's teachings into your mind. They Isue McDonald wrote that. Whoever the that is. Scott
00:46:55
Galloway. The untold story. Oh, I'm going to get that one. The untold story of Scott Galloway. It's just
00:47:00
there's nothing that hasn't been told. I mean, seriously, you. Like
00:47:06
this is Amazon. Amazon. That's just Amazon. All right, we're gonna move on. We're We're mad as hell and we're not gonna take it
00:47:11
anymore. That's what I say. Behind the music. I just need a heroin habit. I don't I want to hook up with a
00:47:17
former supermodel and see what it's unread from it. Um all right, Scott, one more quick break. We'll be back for wins
00:47:23
and fails. Okay, Scott. Uh I guess I'll start with wins and fails. Um I think um
00:47:31
gosh, the fail, you got to read this story in the New York Times about JP Morgan enabling the crimes of Jeffrey
00:47:36
Epstein. It's an investigation. Uh it's astonishing how much they were warned
00:47:42
about uh all this money. This they ignored red flags uh suspicious activity. Executives were
00:47:49
conf uh were concerned and they continued to uh let Jeffrey MC use their bank to to do his and they kind of knew
00:47:57
it. They kind of knew it. And so I just think that that kind of enabling I'm sort of in an enabling point of view
00:48:03
right now especially with those tech sucking Trump's dick as you
00:48:08
say. Um and my win is uh Eugene Carol's uh appeals court upheld her $83 million
00:48:16
judgment against Trump. She'll probably get the five. The 83 million is a different story. Um but um they're going
00:48:23
to ask to go to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court has been very Trumpy lately. It just allowed ICE to make
00:48:29
indiscriminate stops in LA temporarily at least up upturning another federal
00:48:34
judge's order not to do that. So, it's got to go to they're going to ask the second I was talking to the lawyer for
00:48:39
Egene Carol, Robera uh Kaplan and she said they they'll ask this entire second
00:48:44
circuit to reconsider and if and then what they'll ask uh the Supreme Court to decide this. Uh I think he'll probably
00:48:51
have to pay at least part of the money to her and she deserves it and I think that's great. I hope he has to pay at
00:48:58
least someone for his behavior at some point. Um, and then the last very quick things, I don't know, Scott, there's
00:49:04
actually a really also another great story in the New York Times about how your zodiac sign is 2,000 years out of
00:49:09
date. Do you know that? I'm not a Sagittarius. I'm a Let me tell you what I am. It's another thing called a
00:49:17
there's an earth wobble that our worth has has moved and the zodiac signs are very out ofd. And I'd have to put your
00:49:24
birthday. Can you will you say your birthday publicly? I think you know, right? Uh it's November the 3rd. Okay, I'll look at election day.
00:49:30
Oh, okay. Um so mine is now this thing called Hold on. Opucus.
00:49:37
I'm an opi. It's the 13th constellation. That about you. Opucus means serpent bearer in ancient
00:49:43
Greece. That's me. So I'm not Sagittarius. I'm Opukus, which is the 13th constellation. They
00:49:50
just decided to do 12 because of the month. All right. All right, I'm going to put yours in while you tell yours and I'll tell you what your actual zodiac
00:49:55
sign is. Uh, I actually have two wins and I'm hoping the uh our team can pull together
00:50:01
a mashup, but I thought the senators at the I think it was the Senate Finance Committee were oddly enough
00:50:06
testified. I people are very cynical about our elected officials. I think Senators Cassidy, um, Warren, Canwell,
00:50:16
Bennett, uh, Warner, um, Sanders, I thought they were outstanding. um and they were not
00:50:23
taking prisoners. This is a serious issue and we elect these people to
00:50:28
prevent a tragedy that commons and think long term and there's nothing that can better prevent a tragedy that commons
00:50:34
and is more longterm than vaccines and these guys in my view they just brought it. I thought they were outstanding.
00:50:39
Yeah. And also they did. It is clear that Senate
00:50:44
offices continue to attract incredibly impressive staff and aids because these
00:50:50
guys came ready to play. Their facts were on point. They had charts. I mean,
00:50:56
it's just it's the, you know, the team with the best players wins. But I thought there were really talented
00:51:01
people behind the scenes pulling together this data for our outstanding elected leaders. So that was my win. My
00:51:08
other win was I was thinking about it's about to be what is it the 20 um 4 year anniversary
00:51:16
of September the 11th and I just want to reflect on that for a minute. Um I was in New York when it happened and my ex
00:51:24
called me. We had split up about a year before but we were still good friends. She called me and said can you come over
00:51:30
and I said sure. She said the the World Trade Center is on fire and we went over and it was on fire. She had a huge deck
00:51:35
overlooking the World Trade Center about a mile north of it. And then we saw a second plane disappear behind the second
00:51:41
tower and come out the other end. And right then we knew it was a terrorist attack and the flood of people coming up
00:51:46
6th Avenue. And I remember the radio, they come over the radio and said there's 23 planes that are unaccounted
00:51:52
for. I remember thinking like, am I in a building that's too tall? Should I get down to the ground? And for the next
00:51:58
several days, two things struck out. It was it was the quietest Manhattan has ever been. No honking. Occasionally
00:52:05
you'd see someone on the street on the cell phone crying, but other than that, no one was talking. No one was saying
00:52:10
anything. It was very strange. No, it was very, it was like we were at a and appropriately it was as if the city was
00:52:17
in mourning. The thing that really struck me and I will remember for a long time and serves as sort of marks the um
00:52:23
event was I went to Union Square to that memorial and there was this tiny couple. They must have been like 4 foot 10 uh in
00:52:30
very cheap clothing, Ukrainian. were passing out flyers similar to the flyers you get when someone has lost their dog.
00:52:36
And it was a picture of this, you know, of course, this beautiful young man who was a waiter at the windows of the world and they thought they might find him.
00:52:42
They were out walking around trying to find their son, right? Very upsetting. And then the reason I bring it up as a
00:52:48
win is that it really did show that our reach as far in our memory is long. If
00:52:56
you think about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, it started in the 90s with criminal charges and we had some early
00:53:01
setbacks including bin Laden's escape from Tora Bora in 2001 and then with
00:53:07
some key intelligence breakthroughs and some intelligence officers that would not give up. We attract we tracked a
00:53:14
courier to Badabad and and then it culminated in this incredible seal raid
00:53:20
in u May of 2011 which ended in bin Laden's death. And in addition, this
00:53:27
left a treasure trove of intelligence files and spurred critical retrospection uh on foreign and domestic intelligence
00:53:33
operations. And I just I take huge pride in the in our security apparatus, our
00:53:39
defense department, our incredible special ops. I love the idea that the last thought that ran through this guy's
00:53:47
head before we put a bullet in his eyes is that um we had found him. And it was
00:53:52
also, I would argue, the last time America really felt like it was unified.
00:53:57
And it was just such an incredible uh uh demonstration of persistence,
00:54:03
resilience, our intelligence apparatus, our bravery. Um, and uh uh uh and I love my favorite
00:54:12
visual memorial in history is each year they light up two beams into the sky
00:54:17
right where the uh twin towers were. But there were just so many people who came
00:54:23
together to um I would like to think um give some some semblance of closure uh
00:54:31
to the people who lost people and to demonstrate that America, you know, again, our reach is far and our memory
00:54:37
is long. But I just wanted to comment on uh the 24 year anniversary of uh
00:54:43
September 11th for If you were in New York, it really it really stands out as
00:54:49
a big line. You know where Amanda was underneath the tower. She was in a subway going down there. Oh, really? Did she Did she know?
00:54:56
Subway stop. No, the subway stopped and filled with smoke. She thought she was going to die and didn't know what nobody
00:55:01
knew. And they they managed to get them out and get up in the street and far enough away that it didn't before it
00:55:07
fell. and stuff like that. So, one of them fell and one of the strange things about 911 was I'm sure
00:55:12
they had that hospital and they they fired it up and said get ready. And the thing was you either died or you got off
00:55:18
scotfree. There were actually very few injuries. Yep. Uh it's but you know we lost we lost something like 350 firefighters lost about 3,000
00:55:25
people from the cleanup and another 4,500 people have died from
00:55:30
um clean up uh yeah from from uh 9/11 related illnesses. Um
00:55:36
right. And who knows who was down there who would act, you know. Anyway, but my my emotionally manipulative
00:55:42
moment is I if you really want to like feel like emotional, go listen to the calls from the people on the planes who
00:55:47
knew that that was it. All of them, none of them called to say take care of my affairs or there's money in the banana stand
00:55:54
or I I never told you how much I'm pissed off. They all said the same thing. I'm just calling to say I love you. Love you. Yep.
00:55:59
Really gripping. Really gripping. Anyways, good one, Scott Galloway. our fine our fine public servants, our elected
00:56:05
senators uh I thought did an outstanding job at that hearing. Y and it has been 24 years uh that
00:56:11
unfortunately because of because of tragedy I felt like we were a nation. But uh I think the that the nation
00:56:18
really did pull together and demonstrate a great deal of excellence post um post 911. And let's guess who was the one
00:56:24
person who told lies about it and said he was there and said fake things about people of uh of descent from uh Muslims.
00:56:32
One person said terrible things and he's the president of the United States. I'm not but anyway. Oh, this is when he said they're
00:56:38
celebrating New Jersey and also that he was down there. All this stuff. Anyway, we got to finish up. But just so you know, Scott, you're a
00:56:43
Libra, not a Scorpio. Really? I like being a Scorpio. It means I'm an but I'm interesting.
00:56:49
You're now a Libra. So, just just remember you're a Libra, my friend. You go look. I'll send you the link.
00:56:55
You're a Libra. Sorry, you're going to have to rethink your whole life. Anyway, I'm an u I can't even pronounce it. I'm
00:57:00
the 13th constellation. Sweater made from the height of that. Anyway, we want to hear from you. Send
00:57:06
us your questions about business tech or whatever's on your mind. Go to nymag.com/pivot to submit a question for the show or call 85551 pivot. Elsewhere
00:57:14
in the Karen Scott universe, this week I spoke with historian, New Yorker staff writer and Harvard University professor Jill Laapour about her new book, We the
00:57:21
People. It's a giant book about the history of the Constitution. Let's listen to a clip. Trump and Trumpism are
00:57:26
also a product of a world where the constitution became unmenable. I mean
00:57:32
after the ERRA, the amendment that Americans most seriously considered in the 70s and
00:57:38
' 80s was the balanced budget amendment which had like ERRA about 80% popular approval like say around 1979 or so.
00:57:45
There just a lot of people were really worried about federal government spending. So that um
00:57:52
essentially constitutional frustration of a large segment of of the American
00:57:57
public I think Trump tapped into that. Yes. It's the un amendable constitution. We had some good ones but not now. Okay.
00:58:04
Uh it's worth listening to. Okay, that's the show. Thanks for listening to Pivot and be sure to like and subscribe to our YouTube channel. We'll be back on
00:58:10
Friday. Scott read us out. Today's show is produced by Laura Name and Zoe Marcus, Taylor Griffin and Kate
00:58:16
Gallagher. Ernie and engineered this episode. Jim Mel edited the video. Thanks also to Jim Bros, Ma and Dan
00:58:22
Shalon, the Shak Car Vox meetings executive producer podcast. Make sure to follow Pivot on your favorite podcast
00:58:28
platform. And thanks for listening to Pivot from New York Magazine and Vox Media. You can subscribe to the magazine nymag.com/pod. We'll be back later this
00:58:34
week for another breakdown of all things tech and business. Cara, have a great rest of the week.
