Scott Galloway · 20:27
So when the FTC and the DOJ have decided to finally look at smaller acquisitions because the consolidation that I constantly harp on across big tech is happening across every industry, whether it's anti plagiarizing software or food, it's just happening or syndicated research. You see a consolidation of power that is bad for private business, the economy and job creation. And again, have now four telcos going to three. So that's one externality of what's happening here. As it relates to SoftBank, I would argue SoftBank is a pretty good investment right now. If you're looking for something with more kind of modest upside, I'm not talking the kind of gains that we expect from venture backed companies. But if you're looking at a 10 to 30% gainer over the next twelve to twenty four months with limited downside, SoftBank is actually a pretty good stock to own because the headline news there, the headline risk is so dramatic because Vision One Fund is just such a spectacle. But the core business of SoftBank is actually pretty strong. And even if they lose all $60,000,000,000 that they've invested in, or excuse me, $40,000,000,000 that they've invested in Vision Fund One, they're still fine. It's such a big company. It has so much, they still own a large portion of Alibaba. They own a big portion of Sprint, is now their third largest telco. Yeah. So if you're looking for a company that they they qualify
Kara Swisher · 21:43
counter thinking, you're a counter thinker. Alright. Let me give you another crowder thinker. Very quick. Brandless. Fold it. This was a company Right. That was Yeah. Direct to consumer goods, labelless products. A lot of people who used the products didn't think they were very good. That was one issue. But you know, most of these branded products are just made in the same factory essentially. So what does it tell us about this? What do think about brandless itself, just closing? It just doesn't work. People don't want to buy that way.
Scott Galloway · 22:07
Well, so some of the most underrated companies in the world, I've worked very closely with P and G and Unilever. These are extraordinarily innovative companies. I mean, don't understand how difficult it is to manufacture a good razor, a good diaper or a Tide pod. And their ability to balance capital allocation across media, packaging, retailer relationships. I mean, this shit is hard and they do a fantastic job and they're also amazing at retaining or attracting and retaining some of the best human capital in the world. Just get very talented people. And the notion that it was kind of a cute idea where, oh, don't need a brand, we'll focus on the product. But you're right, the product... It's like, okay, we have a marginal product, but a mediocre brand. That just doesn't cut it. Right? And then you have...
Kara Swisher · 22:57
No, it wasn't. It wasn't so much better. It wasn't like, oh my god, these chips are so good. Yeah. I don't think people think that way. You're right. I agree. And by the way, let me just say I had an experience with that with Nabisco, a division of Mondelez, which they have, like, a a 14 stuffed Oreo that my son and I bought, and then there was a great Tic Tac on it. But these Oreos had, like, so much stuff inside, like, the... Whatever that white stuff is. And I have to say, I was like, this is so innovative. I... We had to buy it, and we had to eat it, and then we had to regret it. It was fascinating. It was a fascinating moment
Scott Galloway · 23:25
for guys. The CPG guys are are strikingly innovative. They just don't attract cheap capital. And obviously, it's a difficult business to to... You can only scale that business six to 8%, but P and G has actually been a pretty good performer over
Kara Swisher · 23:36
the last twenty four months in terms of Agreed. I think it's harder than you think in this... I thought it was a cute idea, but it wasn't gonna go anywhere too. So last one, another exit at Google. Eileen Naughton, the longtime head of Google's HR. She used to work at Time magazine by the time Inc, stepped down this week. She was a key figure at the company during Google Walkouts, another internal striker at the company. Been there a long time. She was in advertising. I met her a million years ago. She's the fourth big player to exit Google in the last few months. Larry and Sergei left Alphabet in December. The founders, David Drummond, the legal officer left in January. I had talked about some of these exits in a recent episode of Pivot, about this cleanup. Let's roll take. You know, I think what's happening is Sundar Pichai, who has been the one to move in and clean some of this up, you can see his sort of invisible hand everywhere. What he's trying to do is clean it up quietly because he's a good guy, and he's actually... You know, and move it away and move Google into the next era. Alright. What do you do about this?
Scott Galloway · 24:30
And there... On. Hold on. We're now playing old clips of Pivot on Pivot?
Kara Swisher · 24:36
Yes. We do that all
Speaker · 24:37
the time. We will do... We do...
Scott Galloway · 24:38
Oh my god. Talk about shavings of shit on a shit salad.
Kara Swisher · 24:41
My god. Jesus Christ. Don't get jealous.
Speaker · 24:43
Don't get jealous because I'm a brilliant
Scott Galloway · 24:45
person.
Kara Swisher · 24:46
Listen. Want you to
Speaker · 24:46
talk about Google. The few things you got right. Oh, wait minute.
Kara Swisher · 24:50
Are you going there? Are you going there? Are you
Scott Galloway · 24:52
you... Alright.
Kara Swisher · 24:53
You go...
Scott Galloway · 24:53
That's how desperate we become for affirmation.
Kara Swisher · 24:56
No. No. No. We have not. Oh my god. Move along.
Speaker · 24:59
Remember when I said
Scott Galloway · 25:00
this smart thing two years ago? Let's play that.
Kara Swisher · 25:02
No. It wasn't two years ago. That was recently. Anyway, could you please comment on this? Don't be trying to attack Wait.
Speaker · 25:07
Wait. What are we talking about again?
Kara Swisher · 25:09
We're talking about Google, what's going on there, the executives. This is a... These are
Scott Galloway · 25:12
a lot of executives. Gonna forget more about this than I'm ever gonna know. I don't know these people. I don't know what it means. I don't know who she is. What what are your thoughts on it? I I I I I have nothing to say.
Kara Swisher · 25:21
I think it's fascinating. These are major figures that have been moved out of Google. The old Google is go... Is going. And so it's interesting to see who he puts in place and who's going run. They face a lot of challenges. You know, they had this penalty. Google's in the EU for a three day hearing. They're fighting a penalty they got. They've got they've got all kinds of issues that they need to battle at the same time. They've been doing a really interesting job on marketing and trying to sort of... As opposed to Facebook, which is coming at things really hard, they're coming at things in a softer way, which is interesting. Then they face these antitrust issues. The FTC ordering these special orders for these companies for Google, Amazon, Apple, and Facebook, and Microsoft, which you referred to, which is looking at the small mergers. So I think they really need a better team there to face what's are some real big problems coming up.
Scott Galloway · 26:06
Well it goes back to what we just referenced and that is the kind of the algorithm, MDC, is go there, work your ass off and try and leave with your reputation somewhat intact and then go monetize the influence and contacts you have. And I don't Yeah. It's not, it sounds gross. That's the way the game is played. And I don't resent their ability. Everyone deserves to make a living. They work really hard. Think it's a good thing to go on to make it now. Should it be a revolving door into lobbyists? Probably not. But anyways, that's the algorithm there. The algorithm in big tech, quite frankly, is now just try and save your reputation and get out with your money. Right? Because they make a ton of money while they're there. I mean, as an example, what would David Drummond give? Would he give up $50,000,000 to have left twenty four months ago? I mean, of these guys, they're doing the math. They're like, okay, I'm starting to take heat in incoming and some of it is warranted. I'm just going to get out of Dodge because there are a ton of tech executives who think, you know what, I wished I'd left twelve or twenty four months ago before the New York Times someone started deciding, I know, Pulitzer slash ruin this person's life slash dig deeper and I keep finding more ugly shit. So I think you're gonna see a lot of these guys say, you know, have $30.50, $80,000,000. Peace the fuck out. Is algorithm for happiness, Kara, is to be anonymous and rich.
Kara Swisher · 27:28
That's what I was saying. This is your new thing. Your new thing. And now we will announce Scott will be leaving. Be quietly spending his money in
Scott Galloway · 27:34
the Word. Drop the mic. The dog is leaving the building.
Kara Swisher · 27:39
This is your thematic thing. This is your thematic thing.
Scott Galloway · 27:42
There's a dignity to leaving the stage when people are clapping.
Kara Swisher · 27:46
Oh, that's true. That's a fair point. Well, who... I wonder who's gonna be out next at Google. It's interesting. I think you're gonna see... You're absolutely right. You are gonna see a lot of departures at some of these companies.
Scott Galloway · 27:53
Do you think should come as they think they're leaving?
Kara Swisher · 27:55
Maybe not. I don't know. Maybe not as much at Amazon. And, I was just going to say Facebook is going to be less leaving because, look, Jeff's had those executives in there for seventeen, twenty years, whatever. They don't leave, those top executives. And and Facebook has an unusual amount of people who were there from the early days, except for the companies they bought. So, you know, And it'll be Apple. Apple, the same executives. So it might
Scott Galloway · 28:17
Because be a of quite a because Amazon and to a similar extent Apple, they don't appear to have the kind of fraternity culture they had at Google which is rearing its ugly head. They don't have, they're not, Prime isn't depressing teens. Apple has not been weaponized by the GRU. I mean it's just an entirely different level of scandal waiting to blow up in your face at Google and Facebook. And also the value accretion there has been so dramatic that a lot of these guys are like okay, I'm the VP of communications for Facebook and I've made $20,000,000 and people are starting to recognize that me roaming the world saying we want to give voice to the unheard when there's absolutely nothing in my background that would in any way indicate I give a flying fuck about the First Amendment. And I'm using this as cloud cover such that we continue to have technology where Indians are pulled out of their cars and hanged because of a rumor spread on WhatsApp and our response is to refuse to hand over information, we're just gonna run some newspaper ads. You know, there might be some bad press on me and I have a bunch of money. Like it when I drop off my kids at school and people don't point at me and refuse to have dinner with me. I'd like to keep it that way. So these people are smart. They're getting it. They're piecing out.
Kara Swisher · 29:40
They're piecing out. You know what they're gonna do then? They're gonna take their money and go to Hollywood and it stolen from them.
Scott Galloway · 29:45
100%.
Kara Swisher · 29:46
It's gonna happen. Alright. We're
Speaker · 29:48
gonna take... See see how I brought that around?
Kara Swisher · 29:49
See what a brilliant person I am.
Scott Galloway · 29:51
Let's play it again on the next pivot.
Kara Swisher · 29:53
Oh, you know what? You know what?
Scott Galloway · 29:54
Oh my god.
Kara Swisher · 29:55
You take so many freaking laps around the around
Speaker · 29:58
the The dog does like to scratch himself.
Scott Galloway · 30:00
The dog does like to put his
Kara Swisher · 30:01
even leg begin to dignify your
Scott Galloway · 30:04
The dog does like to put his leg back and lick himself.
Kara Swisher · 30:06
No lie. Morning arguing about laundry with my two sons. He gonna put up with it from you. No.
Scott Galloway · 30:11
He can.
Kara Swisher · 30:12
No. I already handled the Swisher boys this morning. You are gonna be handled. Anyway, we're gonna
Speaker · 30:16
have a quick break. We'll be
Kara Swisher · 30:17
right back with listener mail and wins and fails and predictions.
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Kara Swisher · 31:51
Scott? Yeah. Yeah. Listen to me.
Scott Galloway · 31:53
Okay.
Kara Swisher · 31:53
We need to see a therapist together, a couple's therapist. Listen to me. Listener male. Let's dig into the listener male bag.
Scott Galloway · 32:00
Okay.
Kara Swisher · 32:01
Go ahead, tape.
Scott Galloway · 32:02
You've got you've got I can't believe I'm gonna be a mailman. You've got mail.
Speaker · 32:06
Hey, Kara and Scott. This is Asmi from New York City. I'm a part time yoga teacher and have firsthand knowledge of yoga studio economics. Last month, ClassPass hit the $1,000,000,000 valuation mark, making it the first unicorn of the new decade. I've heard studio owners complain that ClassPass doesn't pay enough per student, which they don't understand since it's a billion dollar company. Does ClassPass have a sustainable business model? Do you think the bubble is ready to burst? And what does this tell us about the fitness industry disruptors in general? Thanks.
Kara Swisher · 32:34
So, Scott, what do you think about this? This... I've heard a lot about that. I've gotten a lot of emails about ClassPass. This is... This reminds me a little bit of Groupon and some others, like Yeah. What what what the valuation people are getting out of it. But there is a lot of disruption in the fitness industry. There's, you know, not just ClassPass, but Peloton, Mirror, Rumble, Orangetheory. What what do you think about this whole the whole fitness space? Well, first It's always been individualized before.
Scott Galloway · 33:00
ClassPass is really interesting. I wouldn't have bet on ClassPass. But if you look at the dynamics of the industry, there's a ton of suppliers that are very fragmented and are so desperate for new customers that if you can create a middleman platform, if you can become the app store, if you can become the search engine that basically influences where people go, you're just gonna have a lot of power. Now I don't know what's sustainable about ClassPass. I don't understand the business that well. But a billion dollar market cap for ClassPass. And also I think I need to disclose, I think it's backed by my backers, General Catalyst. Think that's one of our winners. I bet it seems like an industry where someone could insert themselves and take advantage of the fragmentation, what I'll loosely call the artisanal sweating industry, where there's a lot of individual players that are probably not great at using technology to acquire customers. What are your thoughts?
Kara Swisher · 33:52
Yeah. There was there was a really good piece in Vice this last week by Maxwell, I think, Strachan. It said the headline is ClassPass is squeezing studios to the point of death. The first billion dollar unicorn of the decade says it's saving the fitness industry. Some of its own studio partners insist it's doing the exact opposite. So I think you're gonna get a push pull here because you're right. These these are usually individual operators. And Right. There have now... There's now a lot of more chains. There always were chains, but with Rumble, Orangetheory, Soul Cycle, etcetera. So there's more of this changing where people... It's almost like the McDonald's method of of fitness. So you're going to see that happening, and then this at home stuff that's going on with Peloton, Mirror, and others. And then these these most of these studios, I've noticed a lot of the bike studios, they've closed. You know, I bought a pair of shoes off of a bike studio that was closing in New York at one point because, you know, you can't you can't attract enough. You can't do enough marketing to get people to come. So people, if they can rely on a Soul Cycle or a what... Orangetheory or whatever, they kind of do it. Right? And so you do have this idea of this this ClassPass is going to save me by helping with marketing or getting me customers regularly. But then they're going to get squozin no matter how you, you know what I mean? Like that's the problem is There's the... There's bigger things happening here in the industry where there's consolidation among people wanting to get in thirty five minutes, and that's it. Right? You know what I mean? I want to do my thirty five minute workout.
Scott Galloway · 35:11
When they want to
Kara Swisher · 35:11
do it. They want do Yeah. In this class. And also go into these classes, which are super organized. I find them... Like, orange theory I go to now, it's like easy, and it it's regular, and it makes sense, and I don't... I could probably do it. I mean, I have been going to the why too, but it's really... It's a real problematic for all these companies I think. No, it's
Scott Galloway · 35:30
it's interesting you've got an orange theory. Now I like orange theory too because I find CrossFits too intense for me. I've downgraded to like the non carbonated CrossFit which is orange theory. But the metaphor here is movie theaters. And that is the home experience. So they did some innovation but the majority of gyms really haven't changed that much. New York Sports Club or LA Fitness or whatever you wanna call it. The majority of workout establishments have not really innovated. Meanwhile, the home fitness industry has innovated dramatically similar to the way your TV viewing experience has just exploded in value but movie theaters really haven't innovated. As a result, fewer people are going to the movies and more people are watching Game of Thrones at home. And the sad part about it is that slowly but surely all the places we went and occasionally saw someone from a different income level or a different ethnicity or a different age, we're slowly but surely casting, segmenting and segregating ourselves out of community places like movie theaters, like gyms.
Kara Swisher · 36:28
That's a big theme.
Scott Galloway · 36:29
And it creates a lot a lack of empathy. It creates fear to be around people who don't have the same background as you, and it's an unhealthy There's been lot
Kara Swisher · 36:37
of writing about this. There was a great place that says we shouldn't get our avocados delivered to us. You know, there was should go to the store. Yeah. You go to the store. This was... There's this a big theme. I think it's... I think it could be your next book, Scott Galloway. I know Al... Algorithm is having a thing just focusing on this community aspect of of that. And, you know, David Brooks was, I'm not always the hugest fan of him, did write a very good story in the Atlantic about... I think it's probably his next book about people, the nuclear family, the loneliness essentially of the nuclear family and how it's falling apart. Same themes. But in terms of ClassPass, the story in Vice, which I urge you to read, one of the owners of a yoga student, a pilates studio in San Francisco called The Pad, said ClassPass continually tries to take more and more control of our business, but their latest iteration is now crystal clear is no longer financially viable for us to continue the partnership. So they pulled themselves. And so I think that's this... Again, as I said, the squoziness of it is really hard for these partner studios because, you know, ClassPass wants to get these discounts, and at the same time, businesses need to stay in business. And, the rates the rates don't work. And so you ruin the... You you you take away the relationship with the customer that these small studios have, and hand it over to someone like ClassPass. But it's inevitable. What's happened with ClassPass is whether it's you go to Orangetheory or Rumble, I think people find it much easier, and it's the way they wanna work out. So that, unfortunately, for these small studios, I think there's no winning in in general. So that's...
Scott Galloway · 37:59
It's a very difficult industry where we let Mhmm. The bigger players have access to cheaper capital, figure out a way to pay lower taxes and there's an accretion to scale such that the little guys who traditionally have been the biggest job creators have just a tough time. It used to be 15% of all businesses were less than a year old. But the yoga studio across from me, Y7, which is this wonderful little studio. They have three locations. What happens when ClassPass raises $30.40, $50,000,000 and starts finding all the yoga enthusiasts and slowly but surely starches all the margin in exchange for a short term sugar high of sending some people to your 04:00 class? It's no different than Google getting in between manufacturers, brands. I mean, it's fine if there's a bunch of them such that there's competition on all sides. A place that hasn't worked is the tech guys tried to roll up and SoftBank tried to roll up food delivery, right? There's so many players in there and there's so few, there's so few barriers of entry that the suppliers, the end suppliers have all the power. So they've not only not seen margin compression, they've seen margin expansion because Uber shows up or some of them show up, actually not Uber, but a couple of them showed up and said, we'll pay you, we'll give you more to deliver your $11 burrito in an attempt to steal market share. So the dynamics, it's all about, I mean it's kind of like, I mean it takes me back to Christina Romer when I was a graduate student instructor for her class in business school around economics. By the way, I just dropped that to try and signal that I'm smarter Oh than I you know who I am?
Kara Swisher · 39:27
Oh no, I'm glad you're off on a tangent. Finish your point.
Scott Galloway · 39:29
So Kara, I had a chance to meet with a hero of mine, Chancellor Carol Christ who is a warrior for lower income households where she will graduate more kids from lower income households, the entire Ivy League combined. And you meet with the chancellor and she does exactly what she's supposed to do. You're so inspired by her substance and her commitment to young people that you wanna get involved and look back and nod to the University of California taxpayers. But I'm just inspired by the chancellor and just feels so fortunate. Any graduate of the University of California feels so fortunate to have a warrior like that looking out for the interests of our future University of California graduates. So that was a real thrill for me.
Kara Swisher · 40:12
I should have her to code. I may invite her to code.
Scott Galloway · 40:15
She is such a gangster, such an impressive We are so fortunate. All of us at the University of California and generally
Kara Swisher · 40:21
Back to class pass. Alright. Anyway, so you were saying.
Scott Galloway · 40:24
Chancellor Christ. Back to class pass. We'll see. So I don't
Kara Swisher · 40:28
I think I I also think there's secular trends in how people like to work out. They didn't like... You know, going to gyms and wandering around is not what people like, and so a lot of those businesses fell apart. You paid your $40 Now if you
Scott Galloway · 40:37
go I wander in class Gronach, the people that are so ridiculously hot. I'm like, oh my god,
Speaker · 40:40
But look how hot that guy
— Predictions segment begins —
Kara Swisher · 40:42
many people just want to get in, get out. That's why those other companies... And so it's very difficult for these small businesses to keep competing and hold on to the relationship with the customer. Anyway, wins and fails. Would you like to go first?
Scott Galloway · 40:53
You go first.
Kara Swisher · 40:54
I would say... I was gonna say Jay Carney's meltdown on Twitter was that. But I do think the win for the FTC in terms of doing these... I have a column coming
Scott Galloway · 41:04
out in The
Kara Swisher · 41:04
Times about this. But in terms of... I don't know if they can pull it off, but studying the small companies where you don't know about what they're doing, I think, is critical. What they're doing, this sort of block and tackle, investigation is they're calling it a study and a review into these small companies. And I like that that was zero to five. I mean, five to zero, excuse me, was unanimous by the commission. They do understand... They're starting to understand the the insidious nature of these big companies buying up all these small companies that you don't know about for feature set and things like that. And sort of... I talk about this something called killer acquisition, which is they do it sometimes for talent. They do it it sometimes because they need a feature help, but in a lot of cases they do it so they don't have a competitor. And so I like that the I think it's a win for the FTC. I don't think they're well funded. They just have three thirty million dollars and they have 1,100 people fighting all these people, including the other things they have to cover. So I I I was I was very much... I was happy that they did this. And then a a fail, I think, is is is Bill Barr again, once again. Already low standards for an attorney general, and he's managed to go below them. And this is problematic and has repercussions. And I know everyone says they never have repercussions, but I think the karma is just building here with every... All of them. They're just overreaching in every single way, including, I'm sorry Rush Limbaugh has the cancer, but I'm not sorry he's still a fucking asshole. He attacked Pete Buttigieg in a really repulsive, homophobic way. And, you know, him getting the Medal of Freedom at the same week when he was just making these just horrible comments I haven't heard since the nineteen eighties.
Scott Galloway · 42:37
I didn't hear those. Can you repeat those just so so we can shame
Kara Swisher · 42:39
you? I don't wanna repeat them. I don't just... That he can... He... He's a... The man Donald Trump will take care of him, the the gay, essentially. It was just gross. And he calls him boot booty booty gidge or something. He just... He's gross. He is a gross man, and his legacy is grossness. And, again, sorry he has cancer, but, man, is he just an awful human being. Just an awful human being. So...
Scott Galloway · 43:02
So along along the lines of your win, I couldn't, you know, word my sister because if we wanted the best investment we could make in our economy over the next ten to thirty years, I mean to get staggering return on investment would be to take the FTC and the DOJ and triple their budget and say your job is to go across the most productive parts of our economy. And I'm not just talking about big tech, I'm talking about hundreds, of hundreds of
Kara Swisher · 43:31
solidation.
Scott Galloway · 43:33
Go in there and oxygenate it. And go in there and say what companies have flown under the radar, whether it's in textiles, whether it's rolling up rubber placemats and say what industries have used a series of size, scale and what's called killer acquisitions where you acquire a company and if it does great on its own, fine. But if it goes out of business you cauterize that competitor. You make all the executives who are the most talented upstart risk taking human capital in that sector sign onerous non competes and non solicits thereby not only ensuring that company won't survive but basically you take all the players out of that industry. It's like if the NFL, if a team said, okay, if you leave us, you can't play for anybody else. And one team would just emerge and soak up everything. So the most oxygenating longest term job creation thing we could do right now would be to over fund the FTC, DOJ and literally let them go unchained. Anyway, my win is India and The United Kingdom respectively have, looks like they're gonna pass legislation where India is gonna demand that Facebook cooperate with the government, which is means that they're saying you can't encrypt your backbone. And I recognize there's a downside and there's some risks here, but unfortunately we're not playing this clip, but remember when I predicted several months ago that Facebook would be banned from a country? I think Facebook is gonna be banned from India. Because I think Facebook is gonna say, look, our primary, we're gangster. Mark Zuckerberg has struck a very brazen posture. WhatsApp is huge over He's there but doesn't produce any just not gonna make an exception and start handing over information such that when those 11 men were pulled out of cars and hanged because of false rumors that had gone like wildfire on WhatsApp, Facebook refused to hand over the identities or the sources of those rumors. They refused to cooperate and instead ran some newspaper ads saying, don't peep... Pull people out of cars and hang them, which I'm sure solved the problem. Yeah. But... And anyways...
Kara Swisher · 45:39
That said his his... The person against him, Modi, is really an autocrat. Come on. He's... And he's pulling all kinds of racial problems in India, pushing them up for his own political gain. So it's a complicated situation.
Scott Galloway · 45:50
No doubt, and I think there's real downside. But I think, I'm just saying, I think India's had, I think India and The UK, and The UK has announced now that the senior level executives for Facebook are like company gonna start to be liable for the damage they cause. In other words, sort of almost...
Kara Swisher · 46:06
England is more interesting, I find, because I think they are... They've been very thoughtful, I think, in in Europe and much more so, though though Facebook. But I I think the brazen word you just used is absolutely true. I just I'm about to interview Stephen Levy, who's written... He had inside inside access to Facebook. They cooperated him on his book called Inside Facebook or or Facebook, the Inside Story. It's an interesting read. I think it's slightly too kind, quite a lot too kind. But, there there... What what does come through, whether Steven means it or not, is this brazenness throughout his career throughout his career since the beginning. And it wasn't that he was young and and arrogant. It is a it is a hallmark of... I had forgotten so much about the early history of Facebook. But the brazen is exactly the right word, I think. You've chosen well, Scott Scharl.
Scott Galloway · 46:52
I think there's a reason he and Trump get along. I think they both respect each other as autocrats and people who never give up and quite frankly have this, I wanna call it psychosociopathic element, where they really don't care what other people think of them. They don't they don't care about their place in the world. They don't... They look outside the window and they see themselves.
Kara Swisher · 47:08
Yeah. It was... There there was a scene in this book, which again, I don't think Stephen meant to show this through, but he was walking across the street and this guy, Joe Green, who was one of his roommates or in his in his whatever, his house in... At Harvard. And he was walking out the street, and he just walked even if he got hit, and someone was like, he feels his confident... Even then, his confidence shield will protect him. Like, you know what I mean? Like, he didn't... And it was a small little moment. I was like, oh, yes. I... I've seen that. And it's really... It's a... I... Not not... I think people should be confident, but it was really... The entire book so far is all about fuck you. Like, it's all about fuck you. And so I agree with you. It's really... He's really... He's kinda brazen it out. It works for a lot of people. I'll tell you that.
Scott Galloway · 47:50
You also have my... Or tangentially, you have my loss. Yeah. I don't understand how... I just don't understand how people work so hard, make so many personal sacrifices including oftentimes their own kind of integrity such they can get elected to office. And what do these people do in elected office for the most part? If they go to DC, they're there to make laws. And so if you have one branch of government, the executive branch has decided these laws are just convenient when they work for them or they don't work for them and they're starting to interfere in sentencing, then why the fuck do we have senators? And so I don't understand the tautology of a Republican senator, the thought process who's going to put up with that. I would have thought this would be the red You
Kara Swisher · 48:32
said nothing. Well, not the Democrats. Not the Democrats.
Scott Galloway · 48:36
Not a single Republican. They've all said there's the same three or four people who have moderate voters who are so horny
Kara Swisher · 48:42
Super, for their they're disappointed in him.
Scott Galloway · 48:44
Yeah, they want to get credit. They want to actually do anything, but they want to be seen as thoughtful and say, Oh, I think he's learned from his impeachment. Yeah, Sen. Senator Collins, he's definitely learned. He's a change man. Anyways, I think that is really Attorney General Barr deciding that he is no longer Attorney General, Republican senators deciding that the laws they made are not really laws. It's very... It's really chilling, and we keep
Kara Swisher · 49:12
saying It's culpability. I mean, and everyone... You know, look, Larry Ellison's about to throw a big fund raiser for Trump in Well,
Scott Galloway · 49:19
that's okay. You and I disagree with that. Why is that?
Kara Swisher · 49:21
Yeah. I know. I get it. I just... I'm just telling you, people just move along. They just literally... I got mine. I'm talking about a larger thing. And and they give lip service to this everyone's great. But I'm it's very disappointing leaders don't actually say leadership things. They just really just
Scott Galloway · 49:38
And by the way, you know, it number three in the latest Quinnipiac poll. Is that now at 15%?
Kara Swisher · 49:43
Amy Klobuchar?
Scott Galloway · 49:45
Nope. No? My man.
Kara Swisher · 49:47
Oh, Bloomberg. Bloomberg. Oh, your man. Yeah. He's moving up. And by the way, let's just finish, but he did an excellent job on the memes thing. Another great digital move by them. They're very you know, the the whole stop and frisk thing was not great, what happened to him trying to explain it. And, you know, he's he's quite conservative in many ways. And and that that was... The stop and frisk was... He's got to answer better. He just has to. But... And they're they're inadequate answers. But you're right. He's... This money is working, and he's spending it, and it's it seems to be having an impact. And as the as the as the parties by far hate in terms of left and and center essentially, It's gonna be something to watch. He might come right up the middle.
Scott Galloway · 50:28
I'm telling you though, I mean we talked about this thing about predictions is when you get them right they don't seem that impressive because a series of events between the prediction and what how it plays out make it more and more obvious. But it is all falling into place for him because Bernie is way ahead in the Democratic and the poll. And Democrats are gonna realize that if we're to end up being Sanders versus Trump effectively the entire election would be cast by the Republicans effectively as socialism versus capitalism and capitalism would win. And and then you have Klobuchar is probably... She's got the most momentum right now. And Biden and Elizabeth Warren have the most negative momentum. And you're gonna see Elizabeth Warren radically go on the attack against Trump personally, which is her raising her hand to be the vice president, the attack dog for whoever
Kara Swisher · 51:14
becomes the president the nominee. Impeachment. You're right. You're That is absolutely what she did.
Scott Galloway · 51:19
She's now running for vice president because the vice president's role is to be the attack dog, and she is an
Kara Swisher · 51:24
outstanding Standing attack outstanding. Dog. Except for you, Scott Galloway, who has not been as nice as you could be to me this week. When I make a good prediction, you should give me a pat on the head. Now I'm
Scott Galloway · 51:34
going to
Kara Swisher · 51:35
bite you because I'm a cat.
Scott Galloway · 51:36
Are you are you upset? I'm here for you. I am here for I
Kara Swisher · 51:40
need my ears rubbed. I feel like I need my ears rubbed.
Scott Galloway · 51:43
That got so much play. Got so much play, the whole Bankov coming over geography questions. Even Bankov texted me. I like this. So few of us are in touch with our emotions, Kara, like you and me. So few of us.
— Predictions segment ends —
Kara Swisher · 51:56
Yeah. I will be temporarily hurt, and then I will plot revenge. That's really how I work. Anyway, Scott, we're not for anyone not producing a biweekly news podcast, it's a three day weekend. What are you doing this weekend? And by the way, we will be back Monday. So just forget it for you. What are you doing? What are
Scott Galloway · 52:11
you I'm I have this wonderful Argentinian friend and he's celebrating their wonderful story. They're immigrants, came from Argentina and are wonderful people with wonderful kids. And he has an entire, he's built, and this is what Argentinians do I guess. He bought a house and immediately set about building, not a garage but basically what is a meat cave where he makes And he invites people over to eat his incredible Argentinian I'm beef in his beef doing that tonight.
Kara Swisher · 52:40
You're going to a beef cave.
Scott Galloway · 52:42
I'm going to a beef cave tonight.
Kara Swisher · 52:44
I need a photo from the beef cave.
Scott Galloway · 52:47
Oh my gosh. It's I need
Kara Swisher · 52:49
a photo
Scott Galloway · 52:49
from Argentina the beach beef cave. And then I have... Unfortunately, I have a soccer tournament. It's really terrible. My son is upticked in his athletic ability. It's just the worst thing ever.
Kara Swisher · 52:59
Beach season starts.
Scott Galloway · 53:01
Here I come.
Kara Swisher · 53:01
My friend, lacrosse season starts. It is my... I literally am. I'm not allowed to look at my phone during the entire process, and it's just agonizing.
Scott Galloway · 53:09
It's agonizing. It's rough.
Kara Swisher · 53:10
Anyway, I will be doing my children's laundry all weekend. Anyway
Scott Galloway · 53:15
Codes coming up, Kara. Codes We coming
Kara Swisher · 53:17
got a lot of things. A lot of stuff. You're gonna be a big part of it, Scott Galloway.
Scott Galloway · 53:21
Are you are you just teasing me? When you say big, how big?
Kara Swisher · 53:23
No. You are. I have some more big names coming. More big names. I cannot say who I'm talking to, but there's some ones that you will like quite a bit besides the ones I already got that were quite good.
Scott Galloway · 53:33
I like it.
Kara Swisher · 53:33
Alright. I like it. It's gonna be good. I actually like that.
Speaker · 53:35
I don't... God. The woman... If I
Kara Swisher · 53:36
have another space, I don't have space, but the the woman from Berkeley is a great idea. That's That's a great idea. Anyway Counselor Chris. Thank you so much.
Scott Galloway · 53:43
Good. Thank you, Kara. Have a great weekend.
Kara Swisher · 53:45
Alright. Remember, we love your questions. If you have a question about a story you're hearing in the news, email us at pivotvoxmedia dot com to be featured on the show. Scott, please read the credits.
Scott Galloway · 53:55
Today's episode was produced by Rebecca Sinanis. Our executive producer is Erica Anderson, and special thanks to Drew Burrows and Rebecca Castro. If you like what you heard, please download our podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. Please subscribe. Please recommend it to a friend and join us early next week for a breakdown of all things tech and business.
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Scott Galloway · 55:01
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Scott Galloway · 55:26
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