Kara Swisher · 50:00
Conscious, extremely safety conscious. So I would just ask them, and I don't worry about your kids. You're trying to protect them, you're not being overly... I think you should ask that. I had that happen to me once in San Francisco. There was a guy who had just joined the FBI, and I went out of the room, and he had his gun out showing the kids the gun, and the safety was not on. And I wanted to kill him. I was like, I'm gonna call the FBI on you. Like, what the fuck? It didn't ask me if it was okay. That's totally inappropriate. Totally inappropriate. And I was like... He's like, oh, you just don't like guns? I'm like, no. Not necessarily. I just think you shouldn't... You should ask a
Scott Galloway · 50:36
parent if you
Kara Swisher · 50:36
want them to be able grab it around them. No. These things go off. She has I
Scott Galloway · 50:42
this about I I don't don't think this is about her kids. I think this is about her. And that's important.
Kara Swisher · 50:47
Okay. Swain.
Scott Galloway · 50:49
Well well, I have a lot of fears around my kids and guns. Yeah. And it causes a lot of stress in my life. And that's important. And if I can do things to relieve that stress, that should be taken into account. If you look at the actual stats, the likelihood a kid is gonna get killed by a handgun at a play date, the drive to the play date is much more dangerous.
Kara Swisher · 51:11
Yeah. Of
Scott Galloway · 51:11
course. Sixty percent, I think, of deaths from handguns are someone in the house, has a you know, a depressive event, suicidal ideation, and thinks, I know how to end this all. There's a gun upstairs, they go upstairs, and they kill themselves.
Kara Swisher · 51:26
Yeah. The availability.
Scott Galloway · 51:27
And just the fact that people have kids and are having play dates probably means they're fairly responsible people. So I I wanna be clear. The data shows your fears are probably not what I'd call... There are bigger dangers Yeah. Than kids... Your kid being killed at a play date by a gun. Now having said that, if it causes you a lot of stress, you have to decide you're gonna be known as that mom. I mean, I I don't... I'm sorry. But when you call me and say, do you have firearms, and are are they locked up before you let your kid come over for a play date? I I understand. I'm a progressive. I get it. I say, no. We do not. You do not need to be worried. I'm... And then I'm like, that's that mom. So... But that might be worth it to you. You might say, I don't care. I I... It may... Gives... It gives me a sense of comfort and relief. I think this is a very personal issue.
Kara Swisher · 52:23
Yeah. It is. I I think it's fine. I wouldn't I wouldn't be offended if I was a gun owner. If someone asked me, I'd be fine... They're fine.
Scott Galloway · 52:29
I'm offended that, oh, that's
Kara Swisher · 52:31
that mom. No. I think it's fine. I mean, I think it's fine. I would not be mad about someone asking about that at all. I would not. If they thought I had a gun, I wouldn't say that mom. Usually, it's over snacks. I'm giving my kids Ritz crackers. That's just the way it's going. Or, you know, do you... You're not... I mean, I would be more like if they were
Scott Galloway · 52:54
The danger is to the kids that live in that house. The danger around firearms is that the kid is bored, looking around, finds a shoebox, finds a gun, starts playing with it, and and something... You know, tragedy occurs. Anyway, I... This is... But see, this is a kind of conversation that's uniquely American
Kara Swisher · 53:13
Yeah.
Scott Galloway · 53:14
In a bad way. Yeah. And we just shouldn't be having these conversations in this type of listener mail. It's it's just so insane that we've let it come this far that this is now something a mom needs to worry about, whether she should prophylactically be asking questions around where her kids play.
Kara Swisher · 53:31
Well, I don't know where she lives, but if she's in a red state, it is a good question. It is... Like, lots of people have guns in their homes and lots of guns. I did walk into one Silicon Valley house and was a venture capitalist woman. I brought my sons a beautiful house, and it was some crazy party they were having. There was
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Kara Swisher · 53:55
of party. And I was like, I'm taking my kids to see a camel. And I walked into her husband's office. They've since gotten divorced, and he had guns everywhere, out and everywhere on the wall. Like antique
Scott Galloway · 54:07
guns or firearms?
Kara Swisher · 54:08
That and all kinds. Like, he loved a gun. He loved a lot of beautiful antique firearms. And my kids were immediately riveted, and I had to spend the whole party keeping him out of that room. I was like, You're not going to that room. They just wanted to see and touch these things. And I was like, oh, for fuck's sake. Like, there were so many guns. It was crazy. And I I didn't know if they were safe or not. I couldn't tell because they were right there. And I always feel like if there's a gun, it's gonna go off. Like, it's just... I'm assuming it's gonna go off at some point.
Scott Galloway · 54:38
Godfather... Yeah. Just to just to take this really to a depressing place. My godfather killed himself with an antigun. Oh, wow. Charlie Evans, this wonderful, very successful man, you know, kind of a baller, lived in the Hollywood Hills, beautiful wife, like, had the life. Right? And lost his business. Wife told him she was leaving him and went to the garage, pulled out some very expensive antique guns, put it to his chest.
Kara Swisher · 55:04
I'm so sorry. Oh.
Scott Galloway · 55:05
A long time ago.
Kara Swisher · 55:06
Well, this has gone...
Scott Galloway · 55:07
This is taking
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Scott Galloway · 55:09
Really rocked my mother.
Kara Swisher · 55:10
Ask the parents. Be that mother, mother. And thank you for saying Karen, Scott, and Scott and Kara. But don't don't worry about how you act, but don't ask about Ritz crackers. Okay? Just don't do it. Alright. If you've got a question of your own you'd like answered, send it our way. Go to nymag.com/pivot to submit a question for the show, or call 85551 Alright, Scott. One more quick break. We'll be back for predictions, your favorite part.
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— Predictions segment begins —
Kara Swisher · 56:26
Okay, Scott. Let's hear a prediction.
Scott Galloway · 56:28
So my prediction comes back to AI. I do think we're gonna see... I think the first realization of all the catastrophizing that's going around in AI is gonna come to light in the next twelve to eighteen months, or it's gonna happen in the next twelve to eighteen months. We just don't know if it's... We might not find out about it till after. Mhmm. But, essentially, you have an invasion of Europe, and you have an individual, Putin, who horribly miscalculated and is losing thousands of soldiers a week. His popularity is going down. And this war is literally life or death for him. Mhmm. If he... If this ends up in a stalemate, slowly but surely, that means a loss for Russia because we have more resources, I believe, and more staying power. The Russian economy will start to go down. If he has... If he loses, if he picks up and leaves, I think he'll either be murdered by his own people or it's just not... There are a lot... He has to... There there are a lot of bad options here for him. He horribly miscalculated the the Ukrainian, army and the support of the West. There is one thing. The shortest distance between him and victory there is what? How does he win this war theoretically overnight? What would need to happen? Any thoughts?
Kara Swisher · 57:47
Bomb. Bomb. I don't because it's not really winning either.
Scott Galloway · 57:51
I think that's where most people would go, and it's it's a correct response. But I think he would be he would he would be singular and and isolated. Even China and India would turn against him if he used a bomb. He would... Mhmm. It'd be over for him. Think I he would have already used one if he didn't realize that he would be... I think his own people would kill him if he decided to... I mean, the fallout starts spreading across China. I mean, he... I don't think he can can use a bomb. I think the shortest distance between him and victory is if Trump is reelected. If Trump is reelected, he wins the war. And and so what I think you're gonna see, if I'm... So if I'm Putin, and I have very smart people, and I also think he's very intelligent, have done the game theory here. They think the... This war is not going well. We can't win it conventionally or through kinetic power. Our fastest path to a victory in Ukraine is the following, and that is if Trump gets reelected. So we need our best and brightest. We need our assets overseas to use generative AI and every tool possible to come up with misinformation that results in a Trump victory. And I think you're gonna see the mother of all and where they're gonna take advantage of porous social media platforms and people who are not immoral but amoral and will delay and obfuscate and wanna take the money that they'll get from these campaigns as opposed to... You wanna you wanna know where we need a pause? For ninety days before the election, social media should have a pause on anything political.
Kara Swisher · 59:16
Yeah, that's true. That's
Scott Galloway · 59:18
true. That's where we need a fucking pause.
Kara Swisher · 59:20
You know, I've been hearing from a lot of... Because I live in Washington, I run into a lot of lawyers and just take... That's the type people. They're like, this case that the government has is quite dangerous for Trump, this espionage, essentially the documents case. They are like, this is serious. And so, it may derail him. I'd never heard them say that. They're always like, oh, he'll get out of this this way.
Scott Galloway · 59:43
Hope you're right.
Kara Swisher · 59:44
But if
Scott Galloway · 59:45
history is any Interesting. Indicator, he's gonna get to run for president.
Kara Swisher · 59:49
Guess who's in prison, Elizabeth Holmes? Like, it it it does ultimately get you. I know. But my prediction doesn't.
Scott Galloway · 59:55
But prediction is the following, is that there are a group of very smart... I mean, they're gonna spend... If we're spending... If just The US is spending 60 or 70,000,000,000 a year on this war, imagine what Russia's spending, and it's got an economy one twelfth the size. So if Putin, don't you think, why don't we take $5,000,000,000 and get the smartest scientists and rally all of our assets, all of our spies in The United States
Kara Swisher · 1:00:17
Mhmm.
Scott Galloway · 1:00:18
And the best and brightest psychologists, linguists, and start testing this shit around out of misinformation that depositions Biden and elevates Trump? Yeah. That's what I would be doing. Yeah. Because the shortest path to victory in Ukraine for Russia is very simple. If Trump is elected, they win the war. If Trump is not elected, they're gonna lose this war. It comes... It's that simple.
Kara Swisher · 1:00:40
I don't know. I think Trump's got a lot of, a lot of problems with his own party. Look, Lindsey Graham isn't... Well, he turns all the time, doesn't he? But he seems pretty stuck on on on Ukraine, like, in defending them. There's a lot of Republicans who
Scott Galloway · 1:00:55
are I'm not... The prediction is whether Trump will win or not. If you look at the map and issues, Trump looks really weak.
Kara Swisher · 1:01:01
Trump Right.
Scott Galloway · 1:01:02
Right now, it looks like unless something weird happens, it looks like Biden handily beats him.
Kara Swisher · 1:01:07
Yeah. We'll
Scott Galloway · 1:01:08
see. But the odds of ending this war Yeah. Are... The the the best odds they have is to get Trump back in office. You're about to see the mother of all AI generated misinformation around this election.
Kara Swisher · 1:01:20
Well, yeah, they could just have to get, Rod DeSantis in. He's another one. You know what I mean? Like, he's been questioning it.
Scott Galloway · 1:01:26
So That's
Kara Swisher · 1:01:27
a good point. Have to get him, and then they'll take him over. And Trump is harder to get in. So if I were the Russians, I'd
Scott Galloway · 1:01:31
bet Ron's a wrinkle I hadn't thought about.
Kara Swisher · 1:01:33
Yeah. Interesting. So why would you back Trump? He's trouble. Like, you never know what he's gonna do and DeSantis is kinda do.
Scott Galloway · 1:01:38
He's definitely... Because he's he's he's the ultimate useful idiot. I mean
Kara Swisher · 1:01:42
Yeah. But just feels the same. I just feel like he's the same. And we'll see. We'll see. You know, he's he's he's got so much money back in him, DeSantis. It's kinda... At least here in the valley, he's definitely
Scott Galloway · 1:01:54
So did Hillary.
Kara Swisher · 1:01:56
I get it, but I don't know. I... People do think he's gotta he's gotta come back. You know?
Scott Galloway · 1:02:00
I I think he actually has a lot to run on. Yeah. I mean, we we... We're on opposite sides of this last one. You said he brightens up a room by leaving it, and you're right. He's not very charming.
Kara Swisher · 1:02:09
No. I agree.
Scott Galloway · 1:02:10
He's got a $100,000,000, I think, already raised, and he he has a strong case to make to people who are gonna be receptive about his property.
Kara Swisher · 1:02:18
If you've noticed, it's like, well, he's... Well, we love Trump, but he's going to jail. That's essentially his message. So I think a lot of people are making that calculation, is why they're giving him money versus Trump. And, you know, I get that Trump's super popular and may get to it, but I... This... I don't know. I just feel like maybe DeSantis
Scott Galloway · 1:02:35
Well, maybe he... You know,
Kara Swisher · 1:02:36
someone else.
Scott Galloway · 1:02:37
If you think about who are the who are the beneficiaries of this tsunami of AI generated misinformation, is it Trump or is it DeSantis, the answer might be yes. They might just do do it for both. Or let me put this... Or they'll just go the other way and start circulating just a ton of misinformation around around Trump.
Kara Swisher · 1:02:55
Well, he's already doing that to DeSantis about his wife with cancer, whether she had cancer or not. And another thing, he... They've been doing a lot of it just explicitly.
Scott Galloway · 1:03:04
And you know who's gonna get a of attention?
Kara Swisher · 1:03:06
Who? Who?
Scott Galloway · 1:03:07
You know who's gonna get a lot of attention is vice president Harris.
Kara Swisher · 1:03:11
Yes. Well, so far not yet, but they will. Speaking of vice presidents and other things someone was talking about, which I hadn't thought about, is Trump's pick of a VP will be critically important. If he goes the Kerry Lee crazy route, he's... It's problematic. If he goes to a more Tim Scott kind of pick. It moves him closer to the center. Anyway, it's an interesting situation politically. We'll see. But right now, the debt ceiling looks like it's on its way to being passed. So old Joe Biden, old Joe Biden seems to have been doing pretty well for a doddering old man. Anyway, that's the show. We'll be back on Tuesday with more pivot. Scott, read us out.
— Predictions segment ends —
Scott Galloway · 1:03:53
Today's show is produced by Lara Naiman, Evan Engel, and Taylor Griffin. Ernie Itertaut engineered this episode. Thanks also to Drew Burrows and Museverio. Make sure you subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Thank you for listening to Pivot from New York Magazine and Vox Media. We'll be back next week for another breakdown of all things tech and business. Kara, have a wonderful weekend.
Kara Swisher · 1:04:11
Thanks. You too.
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