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— Predictions segment begins —
Kara Swisher · 55:10
Okay, Scott. Let's hear a prediction.
Scott Galloway · 55:13
I think Doge is gonna be over and done by the end of the year. I think the reason that that Musk invented it and came up with it is for money. People talk about patriotism or... I I I... Every time It
Kara Swisher · 55:26
looks like it.
Scott Galloway · 55:27
Yeah. Every time we dig further into these things, we find out that these individuals are doing everything to try and get richer. And I think he thought, can get in there And under the auspices of some sort of fucked up perverted means of patriotism or getting out my anger or whatever it is or getting more news about me, I'll also get a twofer because I'll basically fire everybody who's getting in the way of my autonomous car.
Kara Swisher · 55:49
Yeah. He's got... His work is done.
Scott Galloway · 55:51
Yeah. I'll get in the way. I'll I'll defenestrate anyone around trying to get in the way of space launches. I think it's all about money, and I think he saw an opportunity to clear out the regulatory hurdles that's between him and a trillion dollars. Having said that, I think over the last thirty days, he's found out there's a tax to this, and that is, I think I felt a noticeable pivot in the last forty eight hours of the narrative around all this shit. Think people well, my... You tell me because I'm in a bubble, and I don't understand the American people anymore, and I realize how out of touch I am. But I felt like, okay. People wanna give Trump the benefit of the doubt. He should get to pick his cabinet. A lot of people voted
Guest · 56:32
for this.
Kara Swisher · 56:32
They don't like Musk. Nobody likes Musk.
Scott Galloway · 56:35
Right. People think, okay. Government is too fat. I kinda like. It kinda tickles some of my sensors. They feel... They're feeling some of the pain of the private sector. It feels as if the narrative has turned just in the last forty eight hours, where all of a sudden Trump and Doge are on their heels, and people, including Republicans that voted for Trump, are pissed off. They're like, we wanted we wanted more efficiency. We wanted, you know, leadership. We did not want this type of kind of heartless recklessness. This does not appear to make any sense. And I think with Musk, I think the straw that's gonna break his camel's... The camel's back here is when people start canceling contracts at, Starlink, and he says, wow. I'm actually losing money doing this. And I think that is about to happen. I think he... He's a brilliant guy, but it's all about money. The math is gonna show that he is better off pulling a Vivek Ramaswani, and it's like fate... Remember Vivek? Vivek was the co head of Doge. Remember him?
Kara Swisher · 57:40
Mhmm. Yeah. He's
Scott Galloway · 57:41
not This is what's gonna happen. It's gonna be like what happens to old actors. They don't die. They just fade away. Is gonna... Doge and Elon Musk are gonna fade away because you can be sure he's doing the math, he's like, even if I can even if I can get rid of all those pesky regulators, I'm still losing money here because my sales are plummeting because the general public across The US, much less Europe, when they see these idiots surrendering to Putin, and when they see the type of recklessness, and they see that they're not saving any money, all they're doing is making our government less competent, you're going to see Tesla sales continue to plummet, Tesla stock continue to go down. And, again, the pivotal moment here is when it starts to infect Starlink, and I think he's gonna fade into the... He's gonna fade back to the corporate sector.
Kara Swisher · 58:31
Yeah. It's interesting. People like the idea of the government efficiency thing. So do you and I.
Scott Galloway · 58:35
Well, Glenn Gore did it. Almost every president's done it.
Kara Swisher · 58:38
Yeah. Right. Exactly. But listen to this. This was, pucks Peter Hamby wrote a piece not just about the polls, which you can take... The White House is saying polls show people love him and love it, which isn't true. Hamby looked at focus groups and swing voters. Not... Who cares about the MAGA people? They're gonna like no... He can shit on the stage. They like it. Recent focus groups of swing voters in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Florida, they like the idea of efficiency. They hate Elon Musk. And this is some... Polls, for instance, don't tell you that Musk is a weird nerd, which is how Adam, a Trump voting hockey fan from Macomb County, described the billionaire last week, or that he's a complete tool, as Michael from Milwaukee put it, or scary, Taisha from Toledo, or selfish, Deandre from Milwaukee, just looking to enrich himself. Perhaps Eric, a real estate appraiser from Pittsburgh, put it most poignantly, extremely radical, scary. I just shudder that Trump has given him carte blanche. It's really... These are the big things. Musk and Doge are treated with skepticism. They like Trump because he looks strong when Biden was weak. So it's not affecting Trump. It's... They just don't like Musk. You know? And, eventually, it will affect Trump, and that's when he'll act. But swing voters do not like this fella, no matter how you slice it. Anyway, we'll see. You're right. That's a great prediction. Elsewhere in the Scott and Cara universe, this week, spoke with David Burnett, the Emmy winning executive producer behind HBO's White Lotus. They discussed the making of the hit series, the shifting landscape in Hollywood, and wait for it, Scott's surprise cameo in the next episode of
— Predictions segment ends —
Scott Galloway · 1:00:12
White The big screen. It's about time.
Kara Swisher · 1:00:14
I'm so excited. I'm gonna watch White Lotus.
Scott Galloway · 1:00:17
Tell me Clint Eastwood dog.
Kara Swisher · 1:00:19
I am gonna download it. I'm going to Australia Saturday, just so you know. I'm I'm going Really? Yeah. I am. I'm listen to White Lotus so I can hear your voice.
Scott Galloway · 1:00:26
Long way, someone of your age. Yeah. I know. It's
Kara Swisher · 1:00:29
Selling... Moving the books. Okay. Let's listen to Scott. I... Let's listen to this interview.
Guest · 1:00:34
I was in Khozamui. You sent me the first... Your first recordings. I listened to it. I almost shit my pants because I was like, I don't know if
Scott Galloway · 1:00:43
This sucks.
Guest · 1:00:44
This sucks. I don't know if it's gonna fly. And I think I had... Then I heard you mention it on on, I think, on Pivot. And so I was extra nervous that I was gonna somehow disappoint you. I did not wanna disappoint you. And so I I called... I I think I got, maybe I was back in LA or might have might have been still in Thailand. And then I was like, I had the smart idea of sending Jason Isaacs over to your apartment. Just, you know, I was like, maybe Jason could help you read with you. And I remember... I was, like, very anxious. I was like, Jason, call me as soon as I get out of there. Jason called me, he goes, we did an hour of takes. It could be all dog shit. Maybe there's something in there. And I have to say, genuinely, you are great in the show. In that... In those hour of recordings, we found gold. I'm hoping this is the beginning of a long Hollywood career for you.
Kara Swisher · 1:01:38
Let me just say, I came to your apartment. I go into Scott's apartment. I walk in, and there is Lucius Malfoy sitting there and a guy from the... Asshole from the Patriot. I was like, oh my god. Hello. And he was lovely. And you and he were running lines, whatever. He was in the kitchen. You were in the studio, and I was like, hello, Lucius Malfoy. What the fuck are you doing here?
Scott Galloway · 1:02:00
He's a tall drink of lemonade.
Kara Swisher · 1:02:02
He's a handsome man. I'm handsome man. Yeah. So this is great. This is this is great. I'm excited to hear you. I'm excited to
Scott Galloway · 1:02:10
hear So I gotta add some color here. He called me and said, would you consider doing a cameo? I'm like, yes. How much will it cost me? I I'm so excited about it.
Kara Swisher · 1:02:19
They love Pivot, the whole white Yeah. The whole team.
Scott Galloway · 1:02:22
Yeah. And he he... Basically, I did... I read my lines, and I thought, oh, he's like, kind of own a room. You're a lawyer giving some very bad news to someone. It's just, course, face radio. It's just my voice. And I thought, oh my god. I nailed it. And I sent it, and they wrote back, well, we love it, but we think it can be even better. And I later found out that they were thinking about cutting it out. I was so bad.
Kara Swisher · 1:02:41
Oh, god.
Scott Galloway · 1:02:42
And Jason took me into the studio, and it was such a learning experience for me because he would do stuff like, I'd do a line and he'd go, no. He's like, you're scared of this dude, but you're also angry. Have you ever been scared and angry? And he's like, think about it. And I talked about it. He's like, okay. Now hit it. And he's like, no. No. No. And then on another line, he'd be like, this dude is banging your wife, and you are now really pissed off, and you just found out, and you're gonna tell him this. Hit it. And we did this back and forth where he was trying to bring out emotions. I mean, he'd be like, no. No. No. You're reading to an eight year old a comic book. Be more animated. Hit it. We did this back and forth for an hour, and I was practically sweating. I was so exhausted by the end of the hour, and it made me walk away with such an incredible appreciation for just how fucking hard acting and directing is. And this guy literally turned my chicken shit into what I'm hoping is chicken salad, and it was so generous of him. He's not a director. He... I didn't get paid to do this, but he wanted a scene to
Kara Swisher · 1:03:43
be green. Lovely. He was lovely.
Scott Galloway · 1:03:45
And he was the guy... He's the he's the lead in the show, by the way. Parker Pozzi is hilarious.
Kara Swisher · 1:03:51
Oh my god. There's a great article about her in
Scott Galloway · 1:03:53
She's fantastic.
Kara Swisher · 1:03:54
New York Times today. I love Parker Pozzi so much. I I get so thrilled she's getting these.
Scott Galloway · 1:03:58
She's fantastic. I think Jason owns a screen whenever he's on it, but, obviously, I'm I'm a little bit biased. But he was so... It just gave me an appreciation. You think acting is, like, they're really good looking and just act like themselves. That is hard. That was one of the hardest hours I have ever
Kara Swisher · 1:04:14
You were you were a
Scott Galloway · 1:04:14
little bit
Kara Swisher · 1:04:15
shook up, but you loved it. Let me just say he still is handsome and has a great head of hair. Scott, I'm excited to hear you. I'm gonna listen to White Lotus because of you. While we're at it, let's put this question on threads. Which one of us would survive an entire season at the White Lotus, and who would get killed off, Scott or Cara and how You
Scott Galloway · 1:04:32
don't even need to put that question out. It's gonna be 9010.
Kara Swisher · 1:04:35
You auto asphyxiating. That's really where it's happening.
Scott Galloway · 1:04:39
I'm done.
Kara Swisher · 1:04:40
It's gonna be you doing the David Carradine out
Scott Galloway · 1:04:42
100%.
Kara Swisher · 1:04:43
Thailand. That's what's gonna... Anyway, just weigh in if you could think of something. By the way, we're killing it on YouTube. We're growing like crazy, and I'm very excited. We're all over the place. So visit us at Pivot Podcast official to answer. Scott, before we go, this just just came over the wires. Katy Perry, Gail King, and Lauren Sanchez are going to space on the next launch from, Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos' rocket company. It's not really a mission. They're calling it a mission, but they're gonna join three other women as the crew of the... Set to launch in the spring. Just so I I thought it would give you a chance. It's the eleventh crewed flight of the New Shepard rocket.
Scott Galloway · 1:05:18
I wish them the best of luck. I mean, I wish them
Kara Swisher · 1:05:24
Okay. Alright.
Scott Galloway · 1:05:26
If there's if there's if there's an explosion in the capsule, I... We gotta we gotta be quick to Oh,
Kara Swisher · 1:05:32
I knew you would do this. That's okay. I'm... I allowed it. I allowed it. I allowed it. Anyway, good luck.
Scott Galloway · 1:05:37
I'm a Godspeed. I'm a fan of I'm a fan of fake breasts, and I have found so far that they taste real.
Kara Swisher · 1:05:43
Okay. And
Scott Galloway · 1:05:45
Godspeed. Why the people come here, Kayla. Godspeed. That's why they come here.
Kara Swisher · 1:05:49
Godspeed. Okay, Scott. That's the show. We'll be back on Tuesday with more pivot. Please read us out.
Scott Galloway · 1:05:54
Today's show is produced by Lara Nayman, Zoe Marcus, Taylor Griffin, and Corinne Ruff. Ernie and her Todd entered into this episode. Thanks also to Drew Burrows, Miss Savaria, and Dan Shillan. Is 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 nymag.com/pod. We'll be back next week for another breakdown of all things tech and business.
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