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Kara Swisher · 16:00
We're back to our show with Scott Galloway who's in Aspen in some library. God knows why. We're just talking about the college, admission scandal, the situation in New Zealand, and the culpability of plat... Online platforms. We're gonna talk about wins and fails of this week. You know, I'm gonna go... I'm gonna start with a win of George Conway, and I know it's the stupidest, most ludicrous story of all time, but he's brilliant on on Twitter and driving the president crazy. Now it may be part of some elaborate reality show to take our minds off this ridiculous budget that the Trump administration put through or maybe the Mueller report or or any number of things that are headed this way. But it's a really interesting use of technology, both both by president Trump against John McCain on the other side and then whacking back at George Conway. And one of my favorite tweets, and the the Twitter sphere is fantastic on this. I have to say it's been very funny, is the idea that George Conway, who is the husband of Kellyanne Conway, who works for president Trump, and John McCain are are... Have rented an Airbnb inside the head of Donald Trump, and it's all being played out on Twitter. And at the same time, the Devin Cow, thing with Devin Nunes who's suing, Twitter. Devin is... Nunes is obviously a fail, but the cow is a winner, has now surpassed users on Twitter. It's a silly, stupid... Both silly, stupid things, but totally enjoyable.
Scott Galloway · 17:27
That's that's hard to beat. Well, you brought up earlier Prime Minister... And I don't know. I hope I don't get her name wrong. Jacinda Ardern. You know, 49 people are And then a week later, they say, you know what, we're gonna ban assault rifles and they ban assault rifles, they ban, high capacity magazines, they ban the devices that turn regular rifles into assault weapons. And the opposition party that's generally a little bit more pro gun goes, Yeah, that seems reasonable. And they don't oppose it. And within seven days, they kind of make, they bust this move to sanity. And what's interesting is that the entire world was fixated on what happened in New Zealand. Yet we lost 40. 54 people were murdered at a country music festival in Las Vegas. We lost 49 people in an Orlando shooting. Mean, this is happening every six to twelve months for us, yet we can't seem to find the same sanity that New Zealand found in seven days. So my win
Kara Swisher · 18:20
is Why do you think that is? Is it what do you think that's for? The Prime Minister. Okay. What do you think that's because? Americans being Americans? Or the way this social media thing creates these ludicrous things that are one after the next after the next? It's like a reality show, really.
Scott Galloway · 18:35
No, I think it's because there are some very well organized lobbies, including Big Tech and including the NRA, where they have taken advantage of the fact that because of Citizens United and gerrymandering and hard left and hard right districts, that effectively government has become pay for play and well organized, well financed organizations can promote or delay and obfuscate sane legislation that even the majority of The U. Is against assault weapons, but we can't seem to get this done. So I think it's money and politics that is the culprit here, not anything that's, you know, about social
Kara Swisher · 19:11
Not noisiness, because it's real noisy out there. They're all using, it's so noisy. The noisiness is really... And the ability to get sucked into this breads and bread and circuses, you know, like these ridiculous... Feels like that with a lot of this stuff, some of which are amusing, like Devon Cow. I have to say I totally enjoy Devon Cow. But but but it's... You do get sort of dragged into the the... Like, the George... The Twitter war of George Conner. I can't tell you how much time I spent watching only because he's so funny. And, like, he infuriates
Scott Galloway · 19:42
is from so your man crush. He is so your man crush.
Kara Swisher · 19:45
I do. I don't know what's with He's so funny. Come on.
Scott Galloway · 19:48
You really love him.
Kara Swisher · 19:49
You love him, man. Personalities and his responses. Well, only because his responses are so clever. They're like... I'm like, wow. Where did he... Like, he's one of these... Like, Ocasio Cortez, he's good at it. And every day, you know, there... There's there's... It's just it's just like his little thing. It's just his little... Now he's moved into the Devon Newness area too, which is, like, even better. And then every now and then, he posts pictures of Corgis, which is, like, like insane. It's like really... It was wonderful and awful. So, yes, I do love it. I do. I have
Scott Galloway · 20:20
to say It makes Kellyanne Conway seem more human that that she decided to spend her life with this guy. No?
Kara Swisher · 20:25
Right.
Scott Galloway · 20:26
No. You won't acknowledge that point.
Kara Swisher · 20:28
That, but it...
Scott Galloway · 20:28
The
Kara Swisher · 20:28
whole no. I don't. I don't wanna know about their relation. I'm sure they're getting... I mean, it seems like they're getting interested. I know she she defended Trump, which was interesting, which is, which is fascinating.
Scott Galloway · 20:39
Yeah. So another winner. Our man, speaking of dreamy, Beto O'Rourke, $6,100,000 in the first twenty four hours. Isn't that crazy?
Kara Swisher · 20:47
Whatever.
Scott Galloway · 20:48
You're not down with Beto?
Kara Swisher · 20:49
He's your man. He's not my
Speaker · 20:51
Oh my god. Dreamy.
Kara Swisher · 20:52
In any way.
Speaker · 20:53
Dreamy, I could shower in that guy's sweat.
Kara Swisher · 20:55
I take Biden over him. Did you... I'd take Biden over him. You see the the predictions about Stacey Abrams, who I adore Yeah. Being a possible vice presidential candidate for Biden. That was interesting.
Scott Galloway · 21:05
Yeah. That's not gonna happen. We almost never elect the third term of any one administration, and that's his strategy. I don't think it's gonna work. I also think we're... I think his age probably takes him out. We'll see.
Kara Swisher · 21:16
I don't know. They're all so old. Beidou, you and that Beidou man.
Speaker · 21:20
Oh my god. That guy's...
Scott Galloway · 21:21
Come on, dreamy with a capital D. Six point... That Vanity Fair cover with him and his sad looking dog. It's like, oh my god. That dog is so sad. Please. He's gonna be Whatever. I
Kara Swisher · 21:32
don't know. I thought Margaret Sullivan from the Washington Post had a great call, but the three Bs, all the boys. Yeah. It was just so typical. I'm gonna move you on to something you actually know about instead of Beto, which is the non topic. And if you bring it up again, I'm gonna have to do something about it. Streamy. It's this Instagram letting you buy letting you buy things directly in the app now. Instagram will keep a small cut of the sale for facilitating the purchase and is partnering with PayPal to process the payments. What do you think of this? Is this an Amazon herder? You know, Facebook's tried to get into commerce a zillion times.
Scott Galloway · 22:01
Yeah. Except this one's going to work. This is staggeringly powerful.
Kara Swisher · 22:05
Tell me why.
Scott Galloway · 22:06
Because you take someone to the bot... It's the same reason that Amazon Media Group is so powerful because they can serve you an ad seamlessly right at the bottom of the funnel. So if you have Huggies in your cart, they can say to P and G, would you like to run an ad for Pampers as they're about to check out with Huggies? And the answer is yes, and they'll pay a lot of money. When you're on what is effectively the Conde Nast of our generation, which is Instagram, and you see this beautiful image of a Manolo Blahnik shoe.
Kara Swisher · 22:31
The Conde Nast of our generation. You like that? The old
Scott Galloway · 22:35
You like that?
Kara Swisher · 22:35
I like it. I actually like it. I think it's smart. Yes. It's very Like the the the... You mean, like, the... I don't know. Vogue's full of ads. Right? The ads are what you're looking at.
Scott Galloway · 22:44
Yeah. Not only full of ads, but
Kara Swisher · 22:46
They're beautiful right.
Scott Galloway · 22:47
Conanass is able to bring together this unbelievable talent and make the ads, these Annie Leibovitz shots of Kate Moss in a moment in time, and you think, I would really like to buy that $90 fragrance. I'm not sure why, but I'd like to buy it. And if I could buy it right now in this irrational moment where I am moved emotionally, I would. And Instagram is giving you the ability. They're bringing together that kind of top of the funnel, beautiful moment in time, and the ability to buy it with a touch and it's on
Kara Swisher · 23:15
its Yeah. They're, you know, Glossier has done very well on there. A lot of products have done. They've also got stuff like opiate. They've got to clean up some of the stuff they're selling. But I have to say, I have thought about buying a lot of things on Instagram and not an ability to do it. And so this is an interesting... I bet I would. I bet I would.
Scott Galloway · 23:32
No. I literally realized I had gone to hell and that social media had taken over my brain when I actually noticed... I saw an ad for a cruise and I thought, wow, a cruise doesn't sound awful. I'm like, oh my god, I'm 105. When a cruise doesn't sound like hell, you're like, okay, I'm one hundred and five.
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Scott Galloway · 23:48
cruise scenes.
Kara Swisher · 23:49
You know, get sick on boats, you know?
Scott Galloway · 23:50
Oh God. I get sick watching boats. Anyways, the, and then where I really had gone to hell and back is all of a sudden, you know what I bought because I saw it on Instagram. I bought a pair of Allbirds. What is wrong with me? I need an intervention. I bought a pair of Allbirds.
Kara Swisher · 24:06
Oh my god.
Scott Galloway · 24:07
But have you seen how incredible the ads are, but creepy in a good way? They're incredible. I
Kara Swisher · 24:13
have never... I I like the guy who found Allbirds, but no. None.
Scott Galloway · 24:17
Oh, the... Anyways
Kara Swisher · 24:18
It's like you and every VC in Silicon Valley love those things. Anyways And do you like your Allbirds? Are they nice?
Scott Galloway · 24:24
They're they're delicious. They're super comfy. Literally. I could wear these things ever... Everywhere. But I like to see
Kara Swisher · 24:30
It's lovely, Scott.
Scott Galloway · 24:32
I like to signal.
Kara Swisher · 24:33
I bet you and Beto could could bond over allbirds. He seems like he'd wear allbirds.
Scott Galloway · 24:37
Between your lips and god's ears. Between your lips and god's ears. Bring it, Beto.
— Predictions segment begins —
Kara Swisher · 24:41
You know, I'm gonna get I'm gonna get an interview with him, and then I'm gonna Oh my god. Doing mayor Pete from Indiana soon. I would be really excited to talk to him. I'm excited. He's so smart. Nice. He doesn't wear all birds. He wears sensible shoes. Anyway, predictions, Scott.
Scott Galloway · 24:55
Predictions.
Kara Swisher · 24:55
So add whatever you predict. We've been good on predict. We've been winning on predictions. What did we... Which... What did we predict? We had a bunch that we were right about.
Scott Galloway · 25:02
You predicted Amazon. You predicted Amazon was gonna leave New York twenty four hours before it happened.
Kara Swisher · 25:07
Yes. But then there was another one we did last. Someone was pointing to it. I can't tell which one of us did it. It was... Oh, Facebook executives would leave.
Scott Galloway · 25:14
Yeah. That's I
Kara Swisher · 25:15
think that
Scott Galloway · 25:15
was you or me.
Kara Swisher · 25:16
We both agreed on that one. That was good. Then they did. Chris, Chris, Cox left and so did the head of whoever his name is, the guy who runs WhatsApp. That was right. That wasn't that hard to predict. Think of another prediction, Scott. I need a prediction from you, and then we have to go.
Scott Galloway · 25:30
Well, my prediction is I think Beto is gonna jump out ahead in the polls. I I think that, this is... I know I know... I I... You're gonna hate this. I think a white male is gonna be the Democratic nominee because I think deep down everyone is freaked out. The number one criteria for the Democratic Party will be whoever can beat Trump. And I think people are freaked out that a woman spent a billion dollars to lose to a criminal, and they're gonna go safe and they're gonna nominate a white male.
Speaker · 25:57
That one? Okay. A white male.
Kara Swisher · 26:00
But he lost to Ted Cruz. Alright. He lost to... Alright.
Scott Galloway · 26:03
Well, take the other side of that, He got... He
Kara Swisher · 26:05
I saw Hickenlooper on CNN last night.
Scott Galloway · 26:09
What did you think of Hickenlooper? People think he's kind of a character, kind of
Kara Swisher · 26:12
odd think he did. In any other era, he could have won. In any other era, that's what I thought. I was like, in any other era, he would have been a very acceptable candidate. But he wasn't exciting enough. He tried. He plays a guitar, apparently. That was interesting. Samantha Bee did a great rundown of the Democratic candidates, and it was very funny. And she said that, she said... The funniest thing I think that she said was that that Bernie Sanders should borrow, Amy Klobuchar's comb, which I think Yeah.
Scott Galloway · 26:37
How's your buddy Kamala doing?
Kara Swisher · 26:39
I'll tweet That's
Scott Galloway · 26:40
okay. Feel about Kamala's campaign?
Kara Swisher · 26:42
I love her. She's great. She's my candidate. I like her. If if I had to pick among all of them, I think she's strong. I like I like a lot of them. I like a lot of them. There's several really good choices, but but not not the one you like. But that's okay. I'll I'll get I'll get behind whatever one. But I would like one that could win. I would like one.
Scott Galloway · 26:59
What's your prediction? Which would be great.
Kara Swisher · 27:01
Oh, this Mueller report is coming. Right? I don't know. I think it might be, I I... I'm torn between it being a nothing burger and something really significant. So that's where I'm torn. I don't know. I think people will be disappointed because a lot of the stuff has been out there and a lot of these indictments. And so if it doesn't say that he, like, did something just criminal, I think it'll be a it'll be a a big downer for everyone and that Trump will take advantage of that and, you know, keep repeating his incessant lies about things.
Scott Galloway · 27:29
No. I have a media recommendation. It just popped into my mind. I've been binge watching something called Afterlife with Ricky Gervais. Is that how you say his name?
Kara Swisher · 27:37
Yeah, I heard that's great.
Scott Galloway · 27:38
It's really, really wonderful. That guy brings together kind of dark comedy. He's a wonderful friend. It is real. It's a fantastic program after life. It's really well done and really moving and funny and
Kara Swisher · 27:49
all that All right. Is that a prediction? The prediction that I'll like it? I need a prediction.
Scott Galloway · 27:54
You're going to enjoy it.
Kara Swisher · 27:56
You're going enjoy it. I'm
Scott Galloway · 27:58
done. It's the altitude. It's the altitude the altitude and the edibles that are sold everywhere like big macs around this place.
Kara Swisher · 28:04
All right. Next week, we're going to talk about all these IPOs. So you better start thinking about it. Try to
Scott Galloway · 28:08
like A comment on your lot of stuff coming.
Kara Swisher · 28:12
A lot of IPOs.
Speaker · 28:12
By the way, just a quick shout out.
Kara Swisher · 28:14
Lyft was supposed to be 20,000,000,000.
Scott Galloway · 28:16
I'm now, I'm finally hitting my stride as we're over, as we're running over here. Levi Strauss and Company going public. The Haas Family, the original gangsters of progressive values, they were giving domestic partner benefits. They were giving paternity and maternity leave before it was cool. These are people who advertise their product as being about sex, drugs and rock and roll, but these are incredibly decent people who had kept the company private so they could take, you know, walk the walk and through a lot of incredible expense to shareholder value, really implement progressive values They around the
Kara Swisher · 28:50
want the money?
Scott Galloway · 28:51
Well, it's actually a very interesting case study because Levi Strauss and Company in the mid nineties, largest apparel company in the world, but it was a manufacturer's model stuffing it through JCPenney's and Sears and then running great advertisements about the time people were spending less time watching ads. So who took over Kara? Trivia question, who became the biggest apparel company? The Gap, who decided that brand building was moving to the stores. And by 2002, The Gap was the most valuable apparel company in the world. And now Levi's has made a nice comeback with more control over their distribution, great product. Anyways, shout out to the Haas family and Levi Strauss and Company, Going Public, a good brand.
Kara Swisher · 29:26
Alright. That's also not
Scott Galloway · 29:26
And a good people.
Kara Swisher · 29:28
Not a prediction.
Scott Galloway · 29:28
Okay. The the stock's gonna pop.
Kara Swisher · 29:30
No predictions.
Scott Galloway · 29:31
The stock's gonna pop. I I gave a a very, very bold prediction that the Democratic nominee is gonna be a white male.
Kara Swisher · 29:37
Alright. Okay.
Scott Galloway · 29:38
We've
Kara Swisher · 29:38
Okay. That's gonna... We have
Scott Galloway · 29:39
to wait to grips.
Kara Swisher · 29:41
Get ready on your IPOs for next week. We're talking IPOs next week.
Scott Galloway · 29:44
I will study up. Talk about And
Kara Swisher · 29:46
the and the numbers that these numb... The 20,000,000,000, the 120,000,000,000, that kind of
Scott Galloway · 29:51
works. Yeah. Lip's gonna make it out first. Alright. Crazy stuff. Crazy stuff, Kara.
— Predictions segment ends —
Kara Swisher · 29:56
Enjoy yourself on the slopes with your Allbirds. I hope you enjoy yourself. You're perfectly dressed for Aspen. You elitist. You terrible
Scott Galloway · 30:03
All of those things.
Kara Swisher · 30:04
I'm wearing tree torrents that I resol every three... Every six months. Anyway, it's time to go.
Scott Galloway · 30:09
Thanks, Kara.
Kara Swisher · 30:09
We'll talk to Thank you. Rebecca Sinanis produces this show. Nishad Kurwa is the executive producer. Thanks also to Eric Johnson. Thanks for listening to Pivot from Vox Media. We'll be back next week with more of a breakdown of all things tech and business. If you like what you heard, please subscribe, rate, and review Pivot on Apple Podcasts, and please say what you think about Scott's new Allbirds.
