Kara Swisher · 50:47
Love the sopranos. I like, the bear. This one has me thinking and thinking and thinking about all kinds of issues around identity, everything else, but it's also really gripping at the same time and entertaining. And
Scott Galloway · 50:59
People love it.
Kara Swisher · 51:00
And let me just say, I don't... And I always can say, oh, that's gonna happen next. Like, when I watch White Lotus, as much as I like it, I get... I know exactly what's gonna happen, essentially. I don't know what's gonna happen in this fucking thing, and I... They're so inventive. I have to say Patricia Arquette. They're all good on this show. There's not a person that's not good. The guy who plays mister Milczek, he's amazing. But I love this show. And Ben, kudos. And it's, like, doing incredibly well for Apple. It's, like, one of the... Like, it's grow... The audience is growing week two. And it's not one of those small audiences that is, like, everyone's talking about. It's a big audience for Apple. It's making a ton of money. Kudos. Kudos. Kudos. This is... These are people at the top of their game. I have to say, I think about it all the time. So that is my win. My fail... Well, obviously, Chuck Schumer because... By the way, his book tour events were postponed after the backlash. He has a book... New book out called antisemitism in America, a warning that's been postponed, for security reasons, apparently. But that's not my my loss. It's
Scott Galloway · 52:01
I heard the original title, where are my testicles, that they changed.
Kara Swisher · 52:04
And where are my testicles? That's right. Yeah. Yeah. I would say this ridiculous... Trump is always doing a a ridiculous thing and a distracting thing, but his statement, this weekend about, Biden's pardons are void and vacant because of the auto pen. There's no power to undo a pardon in the constitution or case law. If he wants to do all his stupid pardons, I'm not a fan of the pardon system by presidents in any way whatsoever. I think they should get three, and that's it, and they can't get paid for it. But get your... Just, like, stop with this fucking ridiculousness. You can't... He's... And the way he does it, he goes, hereby declared in capital letters void, vacant, and no further force than effect because they were done by the auto pen. Fuck you. Like, honestly, like, this was even for him was a ridiculous stupid thing to do, and he has a list of stupid things. So, like, look. If we're gonna keep these dumb pardons, just stop acting like like, this this is what occupies your brain. Like, good maybe, I suppose. So I was really irritated by that for some reason. Anyway, that's my positive and negative. Severance, fantasticness, Trump, as usual, distraction, distraction, distraction, and it's working, unfortunately.
— Predictions segment begins —
Scott Galloway · 53:12
We share the same fail. There's always a good excuse for failure, and the Democratic Party has a total lack of leadership. I would like to see
Kara Swisher · 53:20
Who do you like in the Democrats? Can I ask you to pick someone? Chris Murphy's being kinda spicy, AOC?
Scott Galloway · 53:26
I think he's been fantastic. I think, you know, I wish... I'm a huge fan of, obviously, senators Benedict Warner. I'm... I think AOC, I appreciate, I think, representative Crockett. Is
Kara Swisher · 53:39
that Mhmm. Crockett. Jasmine Crockett.
Scott Galloway · 53:41
Mhmm. I mean, at least they're getting out there, and they're saying shit. My favorites are... I really like representative Torres. I just love that the... That he comes out with moderate policies, and and the far left is... Just just does not have to deal with his... The intersectionality of a black Latino gay man saying these moderate things. I just love that he's driving everyone crazy. Governor Wes Moore, who, in a State of the Union address, said his administration was gonna focus on the struggles of young men. I thought that was a very brave thing to do in a blue state.
Kara Swisher · 54:11
He's the one the Republicans are nervous about, I can tell you.
Scott Galloway · 54:14
So what I would say is anyone who's anyone who's willing to come out right now and say the Democratic Party lacks leadership and take an aggressive stand against this slide into autocracy, and I'm... I will give money to right now for your campaign. I I just we are desperate for someone to go a little bit gangster and have a strong voice here. I think this is... We are literally the party of eunuchs right now.
Kara Swisher · 54:40
Eunuchs. It's a word you don't use very often. I like that word.
Scott Galloway · 54:43
That's my favorite character in Game of Thrones is the eunuch. Is that my favorite character? That's a tough one. I like the prince of Dorne. A bisexual who drinks a lot and kills people. That's pretty... That guy is so fucking hot. By the way, just so you know, people kept asking me why I was dancing around on stage with my shirt off at South by Southwest. Yeah. And what they don't realize is that we had to bargain for our South by Southwest spot. And they said, okay. But if we come to you and ask you for a favor, you have to accept. And I said, yes. And before us, I don't know if you know this, but this is true story, with the last of us cast, Pedro Pascal went on stage, and all the women were literally going fucking crazy. And they said, okay, Scott. We need you to go out there and cool down the women.
Kara Swisher · 55:30
Okay. That's good.
Scott Galloway · 55:32
I love him.
Kara Swisher · 55:33
I have a I have a high school.
Scott Galloway · 55:35
Who doesn't love that guy? Who doesn't love that guy? Anyways, where the fuck were we?
Kara Swisher · 55:41
Wait. Oh, your win and fail. Oh, your fail fail is the the Democrats.
Scott Galloway · 55:46
Like, we we have gotta find our footing here. There is a... The bad news is our leadership brightens up a room by leaving it. They are literally... They're just so ineffective. They've just acquiesced. They've basically given now the Republicans carte blanche to do whatever they want, and it's just so incredibly discouraging. The the good news is we have a fantastic bench. And what I would say to this bench is command the space you occupy. Get out there. Be be fearless. Push back on this. What's going on here? There's an enormous void for the new generation of democratic leadership to step into. So my my fail is, senator Schumer, I think it is time for you to move on. I think you are just not up to the job, quite frankly. My win is I think Europe is a union again. It's a $19,000,000,000,000 economy. They are figuring out that with the resolve and the capital, the the latter of which they have in spades, the former of which we have to decide. In 1939 or 1940, my mother was sleeping and her family were sleeping in tube stations and passing out gas masks in the shape of Disney characters. The real fulcrum here is that, to be fair, Russia has shown tremendous resolve. Russia is willing to send 600 young men to their death by, quite frankly, offering money to these families in small villages in Russia. But you gotta give it... I mean, you gotta acknowledge the core competence of Russia is resolve and the willingness to sacrifice. The EU nations are a 20,000,000,000,000 or $19,000,000,000,000 economy. Russia is an economy that's 2,000,000,000,000 that's smaller than Canada. They have the capital. They have better weapons. They have better IP. They they they... Their AI and drone technology will be far superior. The question is, do they have the resolve? If they do, then let then let, you know, Trump bluster about pretending he gets to decide the terms of this surrender. He doesn't. If Europe wants to decide to come up and fill the void of leadership and capital and resolve that The US has abdicated from, they can absolutely, as they did in 1939, push back against a murderous autocrat. And I think we're beginning to see signs of it. I think these two meetings, one in England, one in Brussels, are showing that Starmer, Holz, and Macron are filling that void. So I'm hopeful. My win is that the European Union is going to begin to push back and fill the void of American leadership. I also believe, and I've said this before, it could inspire a dramatic upward spiral in the economy through the technology spillover and the stimulus of increased military spending and greater coordination and cutting the red tape, and we're already seeing that in the stock market.
Kara Swisher · 58:41
Yep. Can I put something out there? So they interviewed political... Chris Lasavita, who was one of the campaign managers of Donald Trump, and he was saying how stupid Europeans are. I'd love you to answer this. He goes, we basically subsidized Europe for the last fifty years, sixty years of post World War two. Of course, we did the rebuilding. We've done all those things. We're able to create these social paradises where the government paid for everything they didn't have to pay for was their national defense. You know, at some point in time, the gravy trains got to end. Well, the gravy train's ending now. The Cold War's over. The balance of power shifts. All these things have changed. Politicians in Europe don't wanna change. They sure don't wanna change at the pace that's being forced on them to change how they go about spending. So it's gonna create a new level of angst. And then he said, at the same time, they're arrogant as hell. I spent time in Europe in the last couple of years. They still don't get it. They don't understand. There's new sheriff in town, and he's a very, very set ways and opinions about America. First means that we're first. You're second. I think this guy's a fucking idiot. Like, he doesn't see what's actually... We're actually gonna gonna make them stronger by this. Correct? That's what you argued.
Scott Galloway · 59:41
Well, course, I spent too much time in these private members clubs in New York, and I went to Costa Cipriani. And I went with some friends, and we had some drinks and some carpaccio with lovely little pasta dinner, like, nice in the corner. And the bill was $740. And I I know the general manager, and I came over and I said I said, who is here? It's all young people. And I said, who are these young kids who can afford to spend $700 on drinks and a light dinner? And he said, no one here is paying. And that is the young women here, someone else is paying for them. If you think that sex is fine, it's also true. And the men, the young men, it's their parents' credit card. They're all trust fund kids, and this is an interesting thing. They said they're trust fund kids from New Jersey. I know a lot of trust fund kids. And to a certain extent, Europe has been a little bit of the negative externalities of being a trust fund kid, and that it is dependent upon the military and to a lesser extent, the economic umbrella of The US. And quite frankly, they have become indulgent and spoiled. And that is a harsh statement, and it is true. And what Europe realizes now is that they're smart. They can work hard. They have incredible skills, IP, artisanship. They literally are the home of the Renaissance. They are the home of, like, of of great philosophers. If they get their shit together, they cut the regulation, and they show some of the resolve, some of the grit, and some of the innovation that America and China has filled the void. If you look at the rise of China, it hasn't come at the expense of The US. The US still has the same GDP growth. The US still has the same number of of big companies of unicorns. Who it's come at the expense of is Europe. And I think a lot of this is that Europe needs to finally say, okay. We're gonna become a union. I believe this, in some ways, might be backs it. It might take England back into the European Union, and they need to coordinate, lower the bureaucracy, lower lower the the lack of... Or what I would say, the administrative state. They need to spar... Really increase their substantial spending, and they need to say, if need be, we're gonna put boots on the ground. And, yeah, fine. Trump, wave your arms. Be an ass clown. Fine. We're the ones that are gonna decide. We're we're going to back Ukraine. We have seen what happens when you let a a murderous autocrat run unchecked. We're not down for this anymore. We'd love your help. If it's there, great. If it's not, we're gonna count on it. Keep in mind that the Europeans substantially pushed back, pushed back viciously and victoriously on a murderous autocrat for two years before the Americans weighed into the war in 1930. You know, if... Were two long years of the greatest... One of the greatest industrial war machines ever, the Third Reich, was invading a Europe that had stopped spending and stopped preparing and stopped coordinating. That's where we are now. Europe can absolutely push back
Kara Swisher · 1:02:30
Okay.
Scott Galloway · 1:02:31
On Russia.
— Predictions segment ends —
Kara Swisher · 1:02:31
Crystal Savita, you're an idiot. You're the arrogant prick. Anyway, we wanna hear from you. Send 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 Elsewhere in the Kara and Scott universe, I talked to Ezra Klein this week with... On with Kara Swisher. Let's listen to a clip.
Guest · 1:02:52
There is an Orwellian ness to this, but efficiency needs a goal. Right? I mean, if you want a government that can be more efficiently taken over by Elon Musk's companies, then, yeah, Doge is doing great. If you want a government that can more efficiently do things in service of the public and execute big public projects, I'm like, no. It's not doing great. Goals here really matter. And what they're doing is trying to build something that is more open to high levels of crony capitalism. Right? It's a sort of an oligarchic takeover. I just wanna fight that.
Kara Swisher · 1:03:24
I thought it was good. His book is really interesting. It's about the government... The the democrats getting a set of balls, essentially, and I think it's an interesting book. I know you've interviewed him too. Okay. That's the show. Thanks for listening to Pivot, and be sure to like and subscribe to our YouTube channel, which is doing very well. We're getting
Scott Galloway · 1:03:41
Do you think Esther Klein has spoken of a ninety second lie?
Kara Swisher · 1:03:43
Yes. Many times. He's very popular. He's like the media sexy guy now, and you have to really compete. You need to compete. Okay? Anyway, we'll be back on Friday, by the way. Scott, do not sing YMCA, and read us out.
Scott Galloway · 1:03:56
Today's show was produced by Lara Niemann, Taylor Griffin, Corinne Ruff, and Kate Gallagher. Who are all these new people, and who's paying for them? Ernie Endertodd engineered this episode. Thanks also to Drew Burrows, Amiya Severio, and Dan Shulan, Nishat Kurowas, Vox Media's executive producer of audio. Make sure you subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Thanks for listening to Pivot from New York Magazine and Vox Media. You can subscribe to the magazine at nymag.com/pod. We'll be back later this week for another breakdown of all things tech and business. Who's gonna decide not to surrender to a murderous autocrat? Two words. First, e, second, you.
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