TikTok Deal About to Be... Consummated? | Pivot

Well, wasn't it What's happening with

Tik Tok?

>> Well, they said it's consummated or

gonna consummate it or whatever.

>> Hi everyone, this is Pivot from New York

Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast

Network. I'm Carara Swisser and I'm

still in Korea. Hi Scott.

>> Are you enjoying yourself?

>> Yeah, I am. I'm not a big traveler. I'm

not a big traveler. I like going home.

>> You're not a big traveler. You travel

all the time.

>> I know, but I like home if I had to

pick. If that makes sense. Does that

make sense?

>> Well, that's um you're I assume you're

not. It would be somewhat distressing if

if Amanda was listening, you said,

"Yeah, I just I like to be away from

home."

>> Well, she's been great.

>> Whether that's true or not, that's the

right thing to say.

>> I miss home. I miss home wherever it

happens to be.

>> I can't stand my kids. And then about an

hour into the drive to the airport, I

start missing them. I can't

>> Oh, really? I can stand my kids. I miss

them a lot. I do. I do. Oh, well, you're

a much better parent than me. I

>> am. Well, that's kind of

>> You get my point. I'm I'm Do

>> you want me to parent your kids if you'd

like? No. Your mo your wife is great.

>> I could use the help.

>> You know, Trump's coming here and I'm

leaving. That's That's one of my

favorite parts of this.

>> He's going to Korea.

>> Yeah. Are you coming here on Let me just

say for everybody, Scott's book comes

out what day? November.

>> Yeah, it comes out November I think it's

November the 4th. Is that right?

>> Notes on being a woman. Yes. No.

>> There you go.

>> That's your next one. That's that's what

people are looking for from me.

>> Um, but it's coming out and you're

coming on the my podcast. We're going to

talk this week.

>> That's right. I just saw that on my

counter. I'm going on on with Cara

Fisher. I feel like that's like

>> I have never stayed at your house.

That's what this feels like. It feels

very uncomfortable.

>> I'm excited. It's pretty high up now.

It's up in the top of the of the charts

getting up there. So, I'll hope they'll

sell books, but I'm excited to hear I'm

going to read the book. Oh, I have it on

the plane. I'm going to read it on the

plane. That's what I'll do. That's one

of the things that'll put me to sleep.

No,

>> no, I just want to know what it's like

to be a man. It'll be great.

>> Someone asked me what my body count was,

so I started counting and I fell asleep.

>> Get it? Like counting sheep.

>> I see.

>> All right. All right.

>> You'll get there. You're a little

jetlagged, but you'll get there. I know.

I'm a little jetlagged. No, I'm just

tired. It just was a long day cuz I I I

I have to say the crews here and the

people have been amazing. That's the one

thing. They're really lovely people. And

um hopefully it'll it'll turn out okay.

The TV always makes me There's a lot of

waiting in television. I'm kind of glad

to be done with the taping next thing.

>> I was thinking about going to uh Korea

for a scrotum lift. I think of it as

lowhanging fruit.

>> Oh my god. All right, we're going to

stop. Speaking of plastic surgery, which

you love.

>> Did you hear about this? The tech bros

are all getting plastic surgery. They're

following in your footsteps. Um some

surgeons have seen five-fold increases

demand for men in tech in the last 5

years. Not a surprise, according to

article in the Wall Street Journal. I I

don't think it's just men in tech, but

apparently so there's a lot of them.

Procedures, mini face lifts, neck lifts,

that deep plain thing, eyelid lifts to

stay looking youthful in a competitive

job market. I I just I didn't have any

work done, but it's, you know, I'm not

surprised. Do you think Are you

surprised? Seems silly.

>> Um, no. I mean, I get I've had I get

Botox and I'm sure at some point I'll go

into the knife. I think that

look, we're in a we're in an ages

culture. I think some of that is good.

>> Uh, and people want to feel youthful.

And I think the standards

and the benchmark, there are so many

people out there now. I don't know if

you've noticed, have you noticed this?

It seems like every young person is hot.

And between working out and skin

treatments in New York, all the young

people are hot. I think the tunnels have

some sort of x-ray or security post

where if you're not hot, you're not

allowed into New York. Um, but my sense

is the the aesthetic and the benchmark

has gotten so

>> especially for men, right? For men,

which I think is it's common more common

here or Brazil or different play or

Brazil, I think. Um, but I've noticed a

lot younger and a lot just the way they

were in some other countries. Um, a lot

younger and a lot more men. Well, that's

the big that's the growth part is that

women have always been look men are

disproportionately and unfairly

evaluated on their economic viability,

women on their aesthetics. So, there's

always been an emphasis and women have

always spent a disproportionate amount

of time and money on aesthetics. What's

the the delta or the change or the

uplift in surgery is mostly coming from

men because a lot of it used to be men

had to retire at 65 and now they say no

I want to come back and bend to Donald

Trump and [ __ ] up Disney and I'm 74 but

I want to look 73 so I get surgery. So

guys everywhere are getting if you have

the bottom line is the surgical

techniques have gotten much better and

and if why look 65 if you can look 57

and if you have money and it's not that

big a risk any longer. It

>> the question I have is why wouldn't you?

And some people say well I don't care.

Do do you really do you really not care

what you look like?

>> Yeah. So

>> yeah those neck things were men looked

better with the neck. I hate to say it,

but I'm not a big I don't like a lot of

surgery. Al although they, you know,

it's it's gotten better and better. I

mean, that deep plane thing, but um the

thing around the neck with the guys I

thought was really interesting is um you

know, they look kind of jowlly and then

they don't.

>> Has a lower face left.

>> Yeah, I have less jowls. I was told by

the skin people I don't have as many

jels.

>> Yeah. No, you're not.

>> Jowls are coming, of course. or the the

the thing around your eyes, sort of the

eye sockets and the double folds and

this and that and or the triple folds

and the the heavy eyelid.

>> Yeah.

>> Yeah. Anyway, go ahead. Well, I didn't

have any while I was here, but maybe you

could when you come anyway.

>> I'm all I'm I'm for it. I'm a huge fan

of it.

>> So, speaking of uh of of Trump being

here, he is actually coming Thursday.

He's been in Asia striking all manner of

deals, which we'll talk about in a

second. Um he he he's he's pulling

tariffs off it looks like or or putting

striking deals. But he said he's putting

a 10% tariff on imports from Canada

after already cancelling trade talks all

because of a TV ad that an audio

accurate audio audio of Ronald Reagan

criticizing tariffs. Trump called the ad

which was sponsored by the government of

Ontario that would be Doug Ford a fraud

and a hostile act. The spot features

excerpts from a 1987 Ronald Reagan radio

address on foreign trade. the audio is

authentic though it is slightly

different order from the original

speech. Um but it's what he said. Um he

the the Reagan Presidential Foundation

said the ad misrepresents Reagan words

but is unexplained was misrepresented

cuz I went back and and listened to the

original and it's this it was the intent

but so I guess they shouldn't have

rearranged it. But let's listen to some

of this ad.

When someone says, "Let's impose tariffs

on foreign imports," it looks like

they're doing the patriotic thing by

protecting American products and jobs.

And sometimes for a short while it

works, but only for a short time. But

over the long run, such trade barriers

hurt every American worker and consumer.

High tariffs inevitably lead to

retaliation by foreign countries and the

triggering of fierce trade wars.

Then the worst happens. Markets shrink

and collapse. Businesses and industries

shut down and millions of people lose

their jobs.

>> I'll tell you, it was nice hearings a

president who actually spoke in full

sentences. Um, a Republican one uh

Ontario's premier pulled the ad, but uh

it did air in major US markets over the

weekend, including during the World

Series. Um, talk about this from a

market. This is this Doug Ford who's

this conservative who was somewhat

proTrump as I recall and now is sort of

like you know smacking him around up

there up north. Um talk about from a

marketing not so much the essence

because this is what Reagan thought

actually but um but about doing this

kind of things and why Trump is reacting

like this.

>> Well, look, I I think Canada's never

looked stronger. It's just strange to be

rooting for the Blue Jays when they're

playing my home team, the Dodgers.

It's just Canada, the US's strategy

looks performative, faux masculinity,

sclerotic.

They're they're dictating trade policy

off of commercials that antagonize the

president. It's just and Canada, I

believe, is our biggest trading partner.

Some people would say it depends on how

you count it. It should be Mexico,

>> but I mean, one of the biggest problems

we have in the United States is housing.

And unfortunately because of nimiism and

incumbents who control the government

were fond of regulations that made it

make it harder for the entrance to buy a

home. And so we've let homes go from 290

to 410. And the you know two of the

largest inputs are gypsum drywall which

comes from Mexico and lumber which comes

from Canada. So we're going to make

homes more expensive unnecessarily.

And Canada just looks more consistent

and unafraid. And I think this has been

I think this has bolstered the brand of

Canada. I think they will end up this

will absolutely impact their economy

negatively for three or four years. They

will figure out different trade routes.

It's no accident

>> which they are trying. Of course

>> Carney's headed to Asia as we speak.

>> Yeah. Yeah.

>> And there's no shortage of of other

export nations that'll say, you know

what, we have really good products here

too and we're going to do it at zero

tariff and let's strengthen the

relationship between Canada and Asia and

Latin America.

And then those relationships will be

really unh hard to undo. And

>> yeah,

>> the next administration,

and I'm trying to manifest this, is

going to have to go on essentially a

48-month apology tour. And regardless of

how effective that is, there's no way

we're going to be able to compensate for

the destruction to these 80-year trade

alliances that has taken place over the

last, you know, 10 months. This is just,

no one likes to be insulted or have

economic warfare. And why this is just

so incredibly stupid is I'll just use an

example. The Kentucky bourbon industry

is basically going to be wiped off the

map if they're not careful. So

>> they have stopped buying Jack Daniels.

Do you know the margins? The margins on

lumber are probably like 10 to 30%. The

operating margins are probably high

single digits. Those companies don't

trade a big multiples. The public traded

>> lumber companies if there are any.

Whereas alcohol commands 90 points of

margin. The majority of restaurants, the

the kind of the ugly secret of

restaurants is they try to break even on

the food and they make all their money

on the alcohol.

>> On the alcohol. Yeah.

>> Because they'll charge you 14 bucks for

a Makaker Mark and ginger ale and it

costs them about 60 cents. And so that's

where they make all their margin. And we

have some of the best alcohol brands in

the world. And when we import them into

Canada and they say no, it's not tit for

tat. If we reduce our exports by a

dollar by declaring trade war and they

reduce their exports go down a dollar,

it's not dollar for dollar because our

margins on our products tend to be

higher.

>> Yeah. One of the things is interesting

to me is, you know, from a marketing

perspective, Reagan used to be the gold

standard of Republicans, right? And you

know, we're showing our age. We remember

the age of Reagan, which wasn't as great

as people are now making it out to be.

Although some of these speeches are

terrific, especially the immigration

one, which was one of his last speeches.

Um, but you know, the the the marketing

strength of Ronald Reagan is over Mr.

Morning in America, which is very

different from Make America Great Again,

right? In terms of that was some

marketing expertise, the Reagan

administration, but it doesn't work, I

guess, except to irritate Donald Trump.

I mean, he was an actor and he was very

handsome and regardless of some of his

policies.

>> I mean, I I like Ronald Reagan and it's

easy to play Monday morning quarterback,

but he refused to use the word AIDS

>> and in a period where anyways, we have a

tendency to decide people in history are

either very very good or very very bad.

And

>> because history is sort of a crude,

blunt instrument,

>> I mean, if you think about him as the

the there are no more Republicans or at

least

>> he was brand Republican forever, right?

Trump has completely

long time ago.

>> It's fiscal responsibility. Okay, that's

gone out the window. $7 trillion in

deficits from George Washington to

George Bush. Since then, it's been $30

trillion. and a Republican tried to

convince us and we believed him that we

could go to war and cut taxes at the

same time. That was W. And since then,

Democrats and Republican administrations

since then have said to the children

that are the United States voter right

now, no, you can stay up till 2 a.m. and

eat sugar and not have dinner and you

don't have to go to school tomorrow and

nothing bad will ever happen.

>> Yeah.

>> So, Americans have gotten used to

spending $7 trillion on 5 trillion and

believing that everything will be okay.

Okay. So, fiscal responsibility was a

touchstone of Republican

administrations. That's gone. Um, uh,

low involvement or less involvement, not

overarching government combined with

personal liberty.

>> And that was you get to make these

decisions and government should not be

in your life. And we now have a

government which is essentially a cross

between socialism

and cronyism. and that is the government

is very involved in corporate decisions,

but it's based on who he likes or

doesn't like, who curries favor with him

or doesn't.

>> That that could not be more that could

not be more non-Republican. So, I mean,

it's the Democrats who on economic

policy and individual rights appear to

be more Republican. If I could go back

in time, Teddy Roosevelt was all about

the environment. Everything is upside

down right now. an embrace of foreign

relationships, nonp protectionism was a

very

>> Republican thing.

>> Well, speaking of which, um, on the

other tariff front though, US and

Chinese officials have reached yet

another framework of a deal avoid 100%

tariffs that Trump threatened to impose

uh, Taco Trump. Uh, Treasury Secretary

Scott Bessant, who really is sort of

lost a seems to be undignified now, also

said on Face the Nation that Trump and G

are set to finalize a Tik Tok deal this

week. Let's listen uh to uh how he

talked about this.

>> We reached a final deal on Tik Tok. Uh

we've reached one in Madrid and I

believe that as of today all the details

are ironed out and that will be for the

two leaders to uh consummate that

transaction on Thursday in Korea.

>> I'm getting the hell out of Korea before

consummation. Let's let's hope not. Um,

so there's that happening, which I think

something you talked about needing to

happen, the Chinese uh to to come to

terms with China.

>> Yeah. But I don't I don't know what that

means. What What if they have a

commercial that pisses them off on the

way over? I don't

>> in that 100% tariff. And

>> um I think that they you know, China

definitely has its own problems. I mean

what you have to when you're

establishing or trying to understand a

battle and doing our game theory, you've

got to look at the strengths they have

that you don't have. And China has the

advantages of an authoritarian

government where the autocrat has

established power for the next 10, 20,

30 years. He's consolidated power. They

have the CCP. I don't know if it's

unpopular popular, but I don't think

it's very unpopular. The economy there

has struggles, but the Chinese, the

Chinese to a certain extent have the

same advantage that the Russians have in

Ukraine, and that is their willingness

to endure and inflict pain on their

populace for long-term interests.

>> Americans,

if you know, if AWS goes out and Netflix

goes down, the whole nation is freaks

out.

>> China is absolutely willing to put

companies out of business. It's willing

to decrease their prosperity, but is not

going to be pushed around by America.

And also we have a tendency to think

this this administration anyways that

it's the biggest customer at you know

rolling up to the bar. We're the third

largest trading partner. The Association

for Southeast Asian Nations is their

largest trading partner, the second

largest. They do more trade with the EU

than they do with the US. And they have

already vastly decreased the percentage

of trade going to the US. So he shows up

and again this is just a such a common

error in judgment and in strategy. He

shows up thinking he has cards he

doesn't have and Americans if if

inflation pops to five or six% here

Americans are going to freak out. They

could go to 15% in China and the Chinese

government has killed tens of millions

of its own people or let them starve for

what they perceive to be national

interests. M

>> so to think that he can show up and

muscle them around, he is totally mis

miscalculating and misappraising his his

adversary over there. So I don't trust

him nor any of his team to get a deal

done or you know quote unquote a

framework.

>> So we'll wait and see, right? A frame

framework of a deal. Yet another

>> what's happening with Tik Tok? I I mean

I don't know.

>> Well, they said it's consummated or

going to consummate or whatever. They're

going to [ __ ] each other. I don't know

what why he used that word, but

presumably it's going to Larry Ellison

as is everything. It's apparently in

media. Uh this is the most important

element of Ellison's

uh me burgeoning media empire of course.

Um you know what's going to happen here?

But um I don't know what it means. I

guess they just decided h give it to

him. What's the difference? Right? Like

we don't need this and if we can get

everything else. I mean there was an

interesting I read a lot of the analysis

of this and basically what they've

decided to do as every other leader

including leader of Japan is to flatter

him to compliment him and then get what

you want right essentially and and which

is kind of depressing like they've just

figured figured him out pretty easily

and uh we'll see the Chinese you're

absolutely right are in it for the long

haul so we'll see what they have to say

um you know it'll be an the Tik Tok

thing is what I'll be paying attention

to but we'll see if they um do I mean,

what I think Trump is trying to do, it's

so interesting because presidents all

start out locally and end up in foreign

places doing these these trips. And I

think Trump is very comfortable acting

like he's big BOC across the world

essentially. And so these these leaders

have figured out a way to to please him

in a it's kind of sad. It's like

pleasing an old man, like let's pet him

and this and that. So, we'll see. We'll

see what happens here. I Here's my

prediction. He's going to go up to the

DMZ and go visit his friend um uh in

North Korea. So, we'll see. He's so

close. I can't imagine he would, you

know, he keeps talking about him. He he

talks about him in a nicer way than he

talks about other Americans, which is

really kind of depressing given he's a

dictator and not just an autocrat, even

worse than that.

>> Well, those are his role models. He's

very much about strength. And again,

he's conflates

>> he conflates strength with coarseness

and cruelty and authoritarianism. And

that's not

>> it's just a terrible it's a terrible um

and the problem is he's been successful

in the short term at it. He's won the

presidency twice.

>> Everybody's falling in line behind him.

>> Yeah.

>> And it's out of the authoritarian

playbook. Reward reward the people who

are loyal to you. Punish severely the

people who aren't loyal to you. And the

53 Republican senators are all going

along with it as are the majority of the

House of Representatives. There's been a

few notable breaks. Senator Paul is

questioning us bombing boats. We have a

We spend a trillion dollars on our

military that's supposed to be so lethal

and yet we're now pushing back on a

murderous autocrat in Europe. We've

decided to bomb fishing boats.

>> We'll see what happens. We're going to

go on a quick break. When we come back,

this is a story that I think is not

getting nearly enough attention. We'll

discuss the latest crypto pardon.

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>> Scott, we're back. President Trump has

pardoned Shangpang Jiao, better known as

CZ, the founder of the crypto exchange

Binance. CZ pleaded guilty in 2023 to

violating anti-moneylaundering laws and

served four months in a federal prison

while Binance paid $4.3 billion to

settle with the Justice Department. CZ

has been working on a pardon for months.

There seems to be a playbook here with

the Trump people, hiring lobbyists with

ties to Trump and making podcast uh

appearances, praising the president.

Binance is also a key backer of the

Trump families. This is the key one.

Crypto venture, World Liberty Financial,

and helped launch its stable coin

earlier this year. In a post on X, CZ

said he was grateful to Trump and

pledged to help make America the capital

of crypto. I assume Sam Bankman Freed is

next. What do you think of this? because

we've been talking a lot about how this

focus on crypto with his family um sort

of larding itself over in um money and

uh just money really.

>> Well, I think it's important to

understand why CZ was incarcerated.

>> And he was incarcerated because Binance

was found guilty of laundering money.

And that sounds that sounds somewhat

innocuous, but according to the

Department of Treasury, Binance failed

to report the following transactions

associated with terrorist groups,

including al Qaeda,

>> ISIS, Hamas,

>> and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad,

millions of dollars in ransomware

transactions. Bance is one of the

largest receivers of ransomware

proceeds, transactions associated with

child sexual abuse material. So people

hear about sexation and think that is

the most heinous crime ever. Well folks,

there's a technical technological

infrastructure behind it and money

laundering with funds that can't be

tracked is part of it and then

transactions associated with drugs fraud

and other illegal contraband. His his

official charges were again around money

laundering and he'd served four four

months and Binance was barred from

operating the US. But here's what they

did.

Binance received a $2 billion investment

from the Abu Dhabi investment firm MGX.

And then Binance decided to accept the

investment via World Liberty Financial

USD1 stable coin, which by the way, the

majority stake is still connected in

World Liberty Financial USD1 is still

connected to the financial wealth and

butressing the financial wealth of the

Trump of Trump and his family, which

owns 38% of World Liberty Financial. Put

another way, make me richer and I will

let the person that a judge and jury and

our institutions decided to incarcerate

because he was facilitating transactions

to terrorists and people engaged in

child sex exploitation. I'm letting that

person out

>> if you agreed to make me and my family

richer.

>> Yeah. And because this feels very

circular and complicated and we're so

busy watching stupid [ __ ] videos of a

construction project at the at

Pennsylvania Avenue, we take our eye off

the ball. There's going to be more kids

who are going to be in scams, send naked

pictures of themselves, and then be

extorted and then potentially engage in

self harm because the people on the

other end can find a means of

transacting these payments and this

exploitation. you know, if you're

watching a Bond movie, CZ is the one he

ends up golfing in the end. Like, he's

the moneyaundering, you know, mogul

essentially. And so, this is was a

criminal act, this guy. And

>> but we're bombing fishing boats.

>> Most people in crypto think this too, by

the way, FYI. So, it's sort of a, you

know, he's they've just decided crypto

good no matter what. And it's like

saying banking good or whatever. There's

there's all kinds of bankers that are um

culpable in these kind of things, by the

way. It's not just limited to to crypto.

Um but this is just this was such a

straight line um

grift. It's just like absolutely out in

the open. you know, everything's out,

you know, when we even if you know, I I

agree with you every with all the

handwaving around the the White House

thing, which I'll talk about later, but

um it's really uh this one really

deserves more attention, especially for

what what what this company did, you

know, this company did. And I assume Sam

Bankman Freed is next, who is

comparatively minor compared to this

guy, right? This he was that was just

your basic I made a mess. I didn't

realize it. That was his excuse. But I

there there's a whole way to get a

pardon from Trump.

>> Yeah. But he doesn't have the power

right now. FDX doesn't have the platform

or the power to make the Trumps rich.

This is to a certain extent there's sort

of I don't want to call it low calorie

corruption. But when Eric goes over and

says, "Build a hotel and give me better

financing terms and finance it."

Somebody still has to build the hotel.

There is some risk. It's corruption. But

what they found is if we're going to be

corrupt, let's just figure out a way to

pump up,

>> let's go to the top. Yeah.

>> A synthetic currency that has no value

underlying utility.

>> And then we don't even have to report

when we sell it and nobody has to

operate it. And we don't even have to

pretend that we know how to be in the

hospitality business. We don't have to

build it. We just get people to

basically funnel money into it.

Massively inflate the market. We sell.

Nobody even knows we've sold. And boom.

this is the like most elegant, clean,

frictionless form of corruption. So

they're like they're like, "Okay, Nancy

Pelosi that does insider trading, but

you have to report those trades. Okay,

Trump who gets a 747, we actually see

the 747. He's got to fly it around. He's

got to justify it." No, this is easier.

Nobody even really, there's no records

of this. Uh they as far as we know we

think they've made3 to5 billion dollars

off these crypto scams but it's even

hard to tell how much money they've

made. We don't know how to connect it to

we know when the Qatari government says

give us give us NATO like protection

after giving the president a $400

million plane we can connect the dots.

But when he launches a memecoin and

someone calls him and says, "FYI,

tomorrow I'm gonna buy

>> a billion dollars or a hundred million

dollars worth of Trumpcoin, which will

take the price up. And if you want to

sell some, that's your business, Mr.

President.

>> But in addition, would you mind not

shipping Tomahawk missiles to the to

Ukraine for a while?

>> We're not able to connect those dots.

There's no public filing disclosure."

>> You know what? Actually, I've heard from

a lot of people. A lot of people in

crypto don't love all this stuff because

the the the hammer is going to come down

on this industry again. I thought the

Biden administration was too slow to to

embrace some of the good parts of it. I

would I talked to a lot of crypto people

and the reason was because it has such a

proclivity towards what you were just

talking about money laundering and uh

sexual abuse and terrorism and payoffs

and stuff like that in terms of the dis

the ability to disappear a lot of these

transactions but it was on its way you

know and and Biden was unnecessarily

Biden administration was unnecessarily

harsh on uh this group of people but um

I out of I think an abundance of

caution. I don't think it was a

particular hostility to it. It was just

more of the worries about the downside

versus the upside. And I just feel like

the the the hammer will come down on

this industry after this is all over.

And the second part is I was I've been

told by a lot of tech people that there

are people monitoring what is happening

here and there are ways to follow the

money. So there's always ways and

quietly they're doing that and

eventually some of these people are

going to pay. I I we'll see. But you

know, it just all you have to do is pay

this guy off to get out. And speaking of

which, the one the one that also

troubled me was the tech and business

leaders um are getting credit for

coordinated effort to stop Trump from

sending troops to San Francisco. Mayor

Daniel Luri reportedly worked with Sam

Alman, Jensen Wong, uh Mark Beni off,

and others to get the president to

reconsider. Trump acknowledged the

lobbying in a true social post saying he

got calls from friends of mine and

decided not to surge San Francisco, as

he put it. I find this repulsive this

strategy is that you know I'm not you

know I I've been in touch with Beni off

recently about this whole the whole

thing with the with the troops and he

knows what I think um which is that he

should have never called for them but

you know none of you get a thank you for

telling a bully not to do something

that's stupid right I don't want my

democracy to be run because these guys

can call him up or go to a dinner or

give him money um But you know this this

was the wrong thing to do for all these

cities and including San Francisco and

the fact that the only way it gets saved

is these guys call them like what in the

world no one's making decisions based on

the right thing to do. It's based on

these incredibly powerful people who

have access and then the regular

Americans don't have access to make

their argument one way or the other. But

this is this is a I find this truly

disturbing. Um and you know none of them

has said you should thank me Cara cuz

I'd be like go [ __ ] yourself. Like how

dare you that this is the way things are

done. I just I find it

something quite vague just disturbing

about this this uh this is how this is

how it's done done as they say in um uh

K-pop demon hunters. But but Mayor Lurri

trying to enlist local business people

to lobby the president to

>> he has to

>> to not set send in the National Guard

and create disruption and terrorize

local residents.

>> A kudos to him. I think that's the right

thing to do. I agree. The problem is

they're operating in a context that's

illegal and non-American. And that is

>> right. That's right.

>> Barry Goldwater said this. He said we're

we're placing too much power in the

office of the presidency. The whole

point of a democracy is you have a

diffused sense of power such that

there's checks and balances. And that

unfortunately you don't go as fast, but

it prevents the tragedy of the commons.

And when if you're going to send in the

National Guard into cities, there needs

to be some sort of oversight or there

needs to be some sort of legal

justification or systemic laws that say

this is when the National Guard can be

sent into a city and what its mission

is. Not, oh, I don't like the mayor

here. I don't like the governor here or

Epstein starting to creep back into the

news. I need to launch the National

Guard or pulse the National Guard into a

city. This is I mean it's just so I I

can't imagine and I don't know how much

of it I'm convinced now that you know

and I've said this before. We're just

going to be so angry at the mind control

that these algorithms have over us and

we don't even realize how much.

The most upsetting things I see I think

is this true is those is all of that

footage of of ICE agents.

>> Yeah.

>> I just find it the idea that these guys

are in masks.

>> Yeah.

>> The idea there is a basic principle that

is so core to our democracy and what is

wonderful about America and that is we

target and ideally reward behavior

not their identity. Mh.

>> And that is we say, okay,

I if you're a gay woman and you're great

at what you do and you take risks, you

can make a lot of money and have a nice

life here. And we aren't going to start

rounding up people or asking them, "Are

you born here?" which the ICE agents are

doing because they're brown

>> when they're on their way inside on

their way inside to uh, you know,

Kroger's.

>> Yeah. Yeah. Every one of these agents

seems like a brute, right? It feel I

feel like I'm in some like Steven Seagal

movie with bad people like you know the

way they're talking to people and how

the the masks and the they look like

they've had way too many steroids every

one of them like they it feels so

villainous and it's either villainous or

you got to be a rich guy to get through

and it feel it does feel unamerican.

When I heard that Sam Elman had to call

him to call him off, that's that's our

line of defense. Not because it's not

>> I just was like this is ridiculous.

>> Well, it kind of goes to the same thing

now where because of the government

shutdown rather than saying, okay,

there's a government shutdown. You need

to negotiate with a co-equal branch of

government. It's like, no, I'll just get

my rich friend to pay the the military

and the people I like in the government.

This is not how you're supposed to run a

government where individuals where the

president gets to decide, you know, who

in the government gets paid and who

doesn't and he can call someone and say,

"Hey, I look really bad here. Can you

give me $100 million? And by the way,

wink wink, I'll make it up to you with a

series of laws that transfer wealth from

small and medium-sized businesses and

your competitors to you." It might even

not impact the economy that much in the

short run because the economy turns on.

But what it does over the long term is a

lot of people don't want to invest here.

A lot of people don't want to immigrate

here. A lot of people don't want to

start businesses because they're worried

that they that they're not going to be

protected by the rule of fair play and

law. I don't think Americans realize how

many really talented people come here

and how much capital comes here because

they feel that there is a rule of fair

play here.

>> That's what it is. Rule of fair play.

>> I met a guy I met this Russian kid who

came over here and he'd started one of

those home delivery companies and he

made a bunch of money. He was a

successful entrepreneur in Russia. He

had a wonderful life. He said, "Why'd

you move here?" He said, "You live in

fear in Russia that someone you don't

even know makes a call and your business

is done the next day and you don't even

know who made the call."

>> I know.

>> And that's what's effectively we're

headed that way,

>> right? I know. I just for some reason

this just stuck in my craw. Thank god

Ben didn't text me like you wanted to

say thank you. I'd be like go [ __ ]

yourself. I I don't mean that, Mark. But

honestly, seriously, this is not the way

it should be done. Um, speaking of

things that are are uh in another thing

that speaking of robots, which I was

just I'm I'm seeing a lot of robot

companies here, by the way. Um, Amazon

executives believe the company can

replace more than half a million

warehouse jobs with robots because this

is where it's heading. I've I I'll go

into in a second with robots over the

next several years, according to

internal documents obtained by the New

York Times. Documents show Amazon's

robotics team has an ultimate goal to

automate 75% of its operations. I bet

it's even higher. They reveal Amazon is

planning to manage public backlash by

promoting a quote good corporate citizen

image, participating in community events

like parades and toy drives. Executives

also discuss ditching words like

automation and AI instead using advanced

technology and cobots, collaborative

robots. Amazon says the documents viewed

at the times were incomplete and did not

reflect its overall hiring strategy. Um,

let me tell you years and years ago and

I was looking for the picture. I was

going to show it to some people here.

Um, after Amazon bought KA, which was I

thought a critical purchase at the time,

it was it was a logistics, it was a

robotic, it moved things around the

factory and they Amazon for some reason

invited me in to see the factory. And um

I went to see it and watched these KA I

think they were KA powered robots moving

stuff around and they had people in the

factory but a lot of it was automated

obviously and it's pretty cool when you

see them put on labels or put on

whatever it was quite an automated

factory and I I guess publicly I said

they're never going to they're going to

they're moving towards no people in

these warehouses. This was about 10

years ago. You could see they're so

smart you could see what they were

doing, right? Um, and and I remember uh

one of the Kennedys who was representing

uh Massachusetts, I can't remember which

one it was, was saying, "Oh, they're

going to put an Amazon warehouse in my

district." I'm like, "They're not going

to have people in it." Like, and I

remember Amazon being calling me and

saying, "Don't be saying that." And I'm

like, "But it that's what's it seems so

obvious to me." And so, this is where

they're going with these. There there

will be no people in Amazon warehouses

or very few people. Um, and then

pretending otherwise seems kind of

ridiculous because they've really

they're really quite good at it and

they're a logistics company more than a

commerce company. How and here in in in

Korea, I was just in a thing called

Robot Valley. I mean, robotics do not

get enough attention compared to AI, but

AI combined with robotics is really like

one of these amazing and also terrifying

breakthroughs for humanity, it seems to

me. But I don't know. What do you think?

>> Yeah, I agree with you. It's sort of

it's a similar issue to all these data

centers that Congress people are excited

to get in their district, but the

reality is you could turn the lights off

during the day because there's nobody

working there. There's some labor

involved in building these things, but

once they're up and running, they're

just a huge draw on the local electric

or power supply and they don't create a

lot of jobs. I think robots and

automation are in many ways I it's

always it's always the [ __ ] you're not

expecting that impacts you to the upside

and the downside. I actually think the

more important technology over the next

24 months that would be the best bet for

America is not GPT5. I think it's GLP1.

>> I think that would be a better bet for

America if they put GLP1 in the hands of

every obese person in a low-inccome

home. And I think robotics, to your

point, are in some ways more important

than AI because I think that Jeff Bezos

and Darra Kasahi dream of a lack of

drivers and and factory workers. I think

they think, okay,

think about the majority of the bad

press that Amazon has probably received

in the last 10 years. A lot of it is

stories of these delivery men in vans

who have pea bottles and aren't aren't

paid well and have to hit quotas and

have health insurance. I I got to be

honest, I'm here for it. I want I would

love to see AI pilots and planes. If you

look at the majority of and it won't

happen because of psychological reasons,

but if you look at the majority of plane

crashes, and there's very few, they're

almost always pilot error.

>> Yeah.

>> And so there will be job creation

though. There people there will be

people that have to program and build

these things and service them. It'll be

a higher wage job. But the story of

America is that the low wage, low value

ad production jobs slowly but surely get

screened out as we move from an agrarian

to a a manufacturing to a services to a

quote unquote innovation economy. I

think it's a good thing. The problem

with America is that we're not very good

at retraining and supporting the people

on the wrong end of that trade. We're

very much winners and losers. like sorry

boss it's the hunger games here but I

think it'll be America actually if you

look at the economy right now it's a

giant bet on AI but there has been some

real investment in manufacturing of our

industrial base and I think the only way

we compete with China is to have these

types of factories

>> China's way ahead on this stuff I mean

all of Asia is in a lot of ways and

again AI gets all the attention but AI

combined with robotics is really now

there can be let me say there's there's

sort of a thing called human centric

robots where it's not replace not just

getting our coffee. Okay, that's right

where you go to. But I'm talking what I

the stuff I was the exoskeletons to help

people walk better, to help the elderly,

like eventually there there's all

manner. And one of the things I had a

really interesting discussion with Alex

who of is a mechan is mechanical

engineering student. He's like why do

robotics have like Elon Musk is they

laugh at Elon Musk here in Korea I have

to tell you and because he's like going

I'm going to make Optimus going to make

these you know humanoid robots. They

don't have to look like humans. Like the

real changes are in places like what

Amazon has done, which is they're

robots. They're just not the robots you

think of from science fiction. Um, you

know, doing a hand like Alice was like,

why does a dog walking robot have to

look like a person? In fact, that's

hard. They fall over the hand. It's

funny. Like automation is a very And I

think actually automation is not a is is

the right word, right? that's actually

instead of calling it advanced

technology, it's automation. Um, but

there's there's all kinds of ways

robotics are going to affect us and

especially when it's when it now like

this one thing I was wearing, it uses AI

to collect data in real time about my

body movements which would then

calculate how these ro you robots should

be adjusted per person in real time. And

it used to be they'd have to be adjusted

individually, but they don't have to

anymore. Same thing with cars. Same

thing. So the combination is really both

deadly to jobs and at the same time

breathtaking in terms of savings like

what it's going to do.

>> So each year and this is this is a

thinly veiled ad. I do my predictions

deck and that is sometime in November I

put together a deck and I say these are

my predictions for the oncoming year in

society, stock market, technology

and each year I pick one of the big tech

companies, one of the magnificent 10 or

one of the big four actually, Apple,

Facebook or Alphabet and I say this will

be the best performing stock and this is

why. Last year I picked Alphabet. It's

up 60% in the last year.

>> Well done.

>> Thank you. Pat myself on the back. This

year um my pick is probably going to be

Amazon and that is it hasn't it's

actually hasn't performed very well the

last couple years and but traditionally

>> their margin expansion has been powered

by

>> uh AWS and the unsung hero of the

business and that is Amazon media group

running the ads

>> on the platform and they force retailers

to run ads and it's very high margin now

the margin expansion is happening in

retail for over a decade, the

fulfillment and shipping costs ballooned

more quickly than sales, decreasing

margins. And then that reversed two

years ago and retail sales are now

growing faster than shipping costs.

>> That's cuz they got everyone to use

Prime, right? They got everybody in on

on it. They were losing money on Prime,

I would assume.

>> But also because robotics and the huge

investment they've made in robotics is

finally delivering operational leverage.

Amazon expects to save about I think

about 13 billion dollars from 2025 to

2027 as a result of automation. And

assuming no change in Amazon's

enterprise valued IBITA to multiple I

can as you can tell I'm doing a lot of

work on this

>> that translates to roughly $200 billion

extra in enterprise value. Plus it

expects to sell twice as many products

in by 2033.

I think all the investments they've made

in automation coupled with robotics and

AI, they're about to get huge leverage.

So whereas ads and AWS have added all

the margin, I actually think retail is

about to be where they expand their

margins.

>> That's interesting. I think it's going

to go across our envi the entire

country. Actually, when I at one time I

was visiting um we would finish up on

this, but um Kentucky and they were

talking about silicon holler and all

this stuff and bringing back coal.

remember Trump was a big black hole. And

I remember I stood up and I said,

"They're going to bring it back by

robots. What do they need you for? Like

you get sick. You have like you get it's

bad for you to be mining coal." And I

again I was cut off like don't say that.

I'm like, "Well, of course they're going

to use robots like or or whatever the

automation. I don't care what word you

use." But what's astonishing is how good

Korea and China and all these countries

are and they're really making

investments in robotics and you're

absolutely right Amazon has been far

ahead of any other uh there are lots of

manu that that's how we return with

manufacturing but it's not going to be

with people at all

>> but I would describe the last few years

in terms of robotics as it relates to

the retail as the investment phase and

it hasn't delivered

>> it's been expensive and it hasn't

delivered the leverage average yet, but

I think that's pivoting and switching.

And the stock,

even though it's up 20% in the last

year, it's underperformed its

competitors. Amazon typically trades at

a 5year average P multiple of 60.

>> And right now, it's trading at 34.

>> Mhm.

>> Anyways, I think those I think that

leverage, the fact that it's reasonably

priced anyways, I'm I'm excited about

>> I'm excited about Amazon over the next

12 months.

>> I'm glad you you've been focused on

this. This is interesting. Anyway, let's

go on a quick break and we come back,

we'll talk about Argentina's election

results.

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>> Scott, we're back with more news. The

payoff of Donald Trump to help the

Argentinian economy has helped.

Argentina's president Javier Malay's

party swept the country's midterm

elections, winning 40% of the votes.

They had to get above 35 compared with

around 204% for the main oppositions

with their which are the peronis who had

been running Argentina badly for many

years. President Trump endorsed Malay

earlier this month and said a 20 billion

currency swap bailout from the US was

contingent on his midterm success. Trump

took truth social to congratulate Malay,

saying he's making us all look good. And

don't worry about the cost of the

bailout. Let's listen the comforting

words of Treasury, the thirstiest

Treasury Secretary I've ever seen, Scott

Bessant, on Meet the Press this weekend.

>> It is America first because we are

supporting a US ally. Uh there will be

no taxpayer losses. This is a swap line.

This is not a bailout.

>> Well, this is working. I mean this

helped me I think quite a bit in in the

thing and there's been a lot of um pain

what he's doing some of which is it

should have happened because Argentina

has had like enormous inflation and

things like that but he's doing it in

sort of this incredibly um brutal way.

Um so how talk about uh talk about this

what explain what what Bessant was

saying here where this is a swap line.

This is not a bailout. Well, I believe

we're just exchanging dollars for pesos,

but the peso has has a habit of of

totally crashing and devaluing.

Argentina at the end of World War II was

the third or fourth largest economy in

the world because Britain had basically

spent everything it had. Two hugely

productive economies were decimated,

Japan and Germany. And Argentina has

been the kind of medium-sized engine

that can't. It has been a [ __ ]

disaster. Despite an incredibly

incredible blessing of natural

resources, really good universities, an

amazing culture, great natural

resources, they have just been [ __ ]

over and over by kind of socialist

corrupt governments.

>> The country has entered IMF uh has

entered into IMF rescue programs 23

times since 1956, more than any other

nation. This nation has been has been

bailed out more times than any other

nation by the IMF. The most recent major

IMF loan uh to Argentina was for 57

billion in 2018 and it failed to

stabilize the economy and led to a

default just two years later. Over the

past 50 years, Argentina has defaulted

defaulted nine times. So basically every

5 and a half years this country defaults

which has resulted in constant

hyperinflation and peso devaluation. In

the past year alone the US dollars

increased 350% against the peso. So the

and this is let's call this for what it

is. This is Trump bailing out one of his

friends in major

>> same thing like same thing.

>> But it's not even about Malay. It's

about Rob Satron, a longtime associate

of Treasury Secretary Bant who runs a

hedge fund and has significant exposure

to Argentine bonds and stocks. And what

does it do? Again, this is about [ __ ]

corruption. The bailout props up these

prices, offering a crucial window or

exit to mark up the investments of his

buddy who will make a huge donation to

the Trump campaign. Stan Ducken Miller,

Ben's former mentor at Soros Fund

Management, is also involved. His Dukane

family office was recently disclosed as

the second largest investor in

Argentina's main exchange related fund

traded fund. Catron, meanwhile, has made

Argentina his biggest bet in Latin

America. This is just you're you're

this is literally an orgy of corruption.

>> It really is. It's just

>> and and we're the ones that get like a

$5 tip and have been [ __ ] so many ways

and we just leave the party, you know,

you know, naked and like abused. And

that's basically anyone that doesn't get

to hang out in the mansion who's not

willing to fate the big fat man. I mean,

it's just to think that this isn't going

to cost other hedge funds looking for

true alpha and looking for investments

to think that somehow we're not going to

end up bailing them out again. And to

think about how just moronic this is. We

put a tariff on China, which makes no

sense. They're smart. They go, I know

I'm going to go for your heart and

lungs. I'm going to go after the red

states and the people who voted for you

four to one, the farmers, and we're

going to stop buying all of your

soybeans. Those farmers go out of

business, right? And who do the Chinese

get their soybeans from now?

>> Argentina where we're

>> soybean farmer.

>> We're getting I mean,

>> did you see that Bessant calling himself

a soybean?

>> Yeah, he's a soybean. He's worth a half

a billion dollars. Yeah, he's literally

You are my wife. Goodbye, city life.

>> City.

>> Yeah. I mean, yeah.

>> Anyone who's not real old like us

doesn't get that screen.

>> Yeah. Doesn't get that. By the way, that

guy, that guy, what was his name?

>> Eddie. Ed. Ed Albert. Eddie. Eddie

Albert. producer Eddie Albert. He was a

a very successful spy, a true patriot.

That guy was an that guy led a very

impressive life

>> and yet he ended up on Green Acres.

[Music]

>> Farm living is the life for me. Oh my

god, I remember the whole song. Land

spreading out so far and hot.

>> New York is where I'd rather be.

Oh my god.

>> Anyway, we're like them, you know.

>> I love that. That was right before the

Beverly Hillbillies.

>> I have that whole song in my [ __ ]

head. Anyway, go ahead.

>> Um, anyways, what we were talking about

the origing

out, we're punishing farmers with

sclerotic trade policy and then taking

money and sending it to the new trade

the new the new supplier of soybeans,

Argentina. That money, it's unlikely.

Argentina needs structural reform. To

Malay's credit, he is implementing

structural reform. He is. I think he's

kind of exactly what Argentina needed.

He would have won without Trump,

>> but because of Trump, I think he got

more seats, more total power.

>> Yeah.

>> And I think you can pretty much write

off prediction. You can write off 30 of

that $40 billion. It It's gone.

Nothing's going to get in the way of the

pace of devaluation over the short term.

>> This is an economy of structural issues.

I hope they come out of it.

>> Yeah. I was an investor in a company

that used to hire these amazing

engineers from the Cordova University or

University in Cordova, Argentina. And

the funniest thing was we had a down

quarter and we were cutting the budget.

It was a company called Olipek which we

ended up selling and it was a big win.

Great three really super intelligent

guys, two Spaniards, one Argentinian

guy. And the Argentinian guy was in

charge of the engineering team. And we

could get great engineers for like 40

grand instead of 140 or 240 outside of

Cordoba. And the only line item that we

could never cut

>> was the assado budget. That was beef.

Every Friday.

>> Yeah.

>> They had assado. They had beef for all

of the engineers. And that was like the

only thing you were never allowed to

touch. This was the key to the entire

culture.

>> Wow.

>> Was their beef.

>> Well, you know, I I I when I was looking

at that before this happened, besides

the Trump payoff, I think it did help

him. I think it absolutely the money

that he was getting from Trump. But one

of the things was everyone was like,

"Oh, he's going to lose." I'm like, but

the choice is the peronists were

terrible. Like 80 years of shitty

management. I don't see that being the

option. So he was the only option in a

lot of ways even though uh it's taking

its toll. He's also crazy. Like he's a

little seems insane, but you know, there

you go. There you have it. We'll see

what happens there. Uh all right, Scott,

one more quick break. We'll be back for

wins and fails.

>> Support for the show comes from AG1.

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>> Okay, Scott, let's hear some wins and

fails.

Well, my fail it's a it's a specific

issue of a much larger trend that has

become the zeicist in our economy and

that is the NBA gambling scandal.

>> Oh yeah.

>> So Miami Heat guard Terry Roger, I

believe his name is and Portland

Trailblazers head coach Chanty Bops were

among 30 arrested in an FBI

investigation that uncovered a poker

rigging in illegal betting ring. Yeah,

>> many politicians as well as the NBA

commissioner Adam Silver have increased

calls to Congress to tighten regulations

around sports gambling. Since the 2018

Supreme Court decision overturning a

federal law that prohibits sports

betting outside of Nevada, 38 states

have legalized gambling on sports. By

the way, the first thing that happens

when you legalize when you legalize

betting in a state is bankruptcies go up

20 to 30%. Wages on sports hit 160

billion last year, making it larger than

the the lottery. One in four adults say

they personally bet money on sports. And

by the way, last year, one in two men

just bet on the Super Bowl. And one in

10 US adults have placed a bet using an

online sports book. Despite the

proliferation, Americans see betting as

a bad thing. 43% of US adults agree that

legal sports betting is a bad thing for

society compared to just 34% who agreed

3 years ago. And this it pres I I don't

want to infantilize young men, but

they're more risk aggressive. And when

you put a a dopa hit and betting in

their pocket, it is in godlike

technology. And basically every ad now

when you turn on this TV to watch

Premier League is£10 free when you sign

up for 25. And folks, they make it

impossible to win over the long term. If

you're good at it, they basically don't

let you bet anymore. And the newest

trend in sports betting, which will

probably have the greatest appreciation

in market cap in private companies, is

predictions markets,

>> right? Poly. Currently the case is

making its way through the court to

decide the future of sports betting on

prediction markets and prediction market

weekly volume is about $2 billion with

about a fifth of the coming from sports

betting the highest category volume.

Yeah. Anyways, the but but on a bigger

level, a meta level, it's it essentially

is more indicative of our economy and

that is we're we're

the economy now resembles Vegas and

>> it's not a thing. It's just betting.

It's like crypto. It's not a thing. It's

not a making a thing. It's a it's

something else. What would you call it?

>> It's an economic activity. It's just not

productive.

>> Well, the houses always win. And the

machines of our are narrative platforms,

high-tech IPOs, meme coins, dudes and

hoodies pitching the next big thing.

>> And it it value our value in the economy

now is not derived from character or

hard work. It's from attention and

speculation rather than goods and

services.

>> And then the traditional levels of

power, business innovation, labor

productivity, real estate growth, they

all recede and young people no longer

aspire or calories is what you're

saying.

>> Yeah. And they don't they don't develop

the means, they don't develop the will,

and they don't develop the patience for

enduring value. Why?

>> Yeah, it's scary.

>> Why why actually figure out a way to get

through all the regulations and build a

building when you can go get it financed

from Qatar by monetizing the White

House? Or why even do that when you can

just launch a a mean coin and then

essentially

>> it means the winners get you know the

winners a small group of people who can

own or control or monetize healthcare

monetize the government win and the

losers get stuck with the odds. So

we have godlike technology and gambling

that's the dopa hit. For mo majority of

our time on this planet, we haven't

access had access to free free safe play

and gaming. So when we have it, we we go

crazy with it. Also, there's people

telling us we can be rich and we can be

popular and we can get women and they

hit you at exactly the wrong time when

you're most vulnerable. And you're just

seeing more and more people have their

lives ruined by this [ __ ] And then the

broader loss is that our economy is

becoming about synthetic risk-taking,

not enduring value, not the hard work,

the labor to build a company, to invest

in relationships. You get a quick hit

from this kind of gambling or casino

like economy. I think it's just creating

the wrong values and it's an erosion in

the character of long-term thinking.

>> Yeah. No, we're a casino. But okay. So,

what's your what's your win?

>> What is my win? You go first. I got to

think of one.

>> Um, you know, my God, I have so many

fails happening at this time at this

moment. But, um, probably the Jamaica

and and Haiti and Cuba with the uh with

the hurricanes headed our way. We're

going to have a lot more hurricanes. Um,

and it sounds like it's going to a

category 5 is going to hit this place.

So, my thoughts are with the people

there. I it seems very dire uh what's

happening there. And of course we've cut

back on all kinds of really import

speaking of important things we do

monitor. Um this is I just feel a sense

of unease for them and also our own

country which will get hit by all kinds

of weather mishaps that are highly

avoidable in terms of saving lives that

you can't you know we certainly have

climate change issues that are making

this worse but at the same time we

should be able to protect and save

people. So I just worry uh for those

right now it's happening right now

actually um at this my other real fail

they're both real fails but this is is

is all this which you're talking about

these empty calories these you know

pathways to corruption that are

everywhere you saw the media do it a

bunch of times this week whether it was

Comcast putting money into the ballroom

I must have really been difficult for

Brian Roberts but he did it because he's

on the outs with Trump so give him some

money for the stupid ballroom room. Um,

and and when I think about that, the way

it could have been done, look, I'm not

I'm not I don't care. Look, the White

House is not that attractive a thing of

our many things. I think the main part

is, but the East Wing was is not

necessarily a winner, but the way to

have redone it could have been so

fantastic and bipartisan, and there

could have been a contest. It could have

been everyone involved. It could have

been interesting the way we you know

what the what the what the people who

who are both pearl clutching and then

attacking the pearl clutchers. I don't

think they're pearl clutchers. I think

they really are sorry that happened that

way is is it could have been done in

such a great way like let's let's update

the White House. Let's do something and

been a contest. You could have kids

involved. you could have done a whole

thing that would have united us versus

this [ __ ] which is he just does what

he wants and then the people get upset

about him doing what he want and it goes

back and forth. It was such a missed

opportunity and you know that it feels

like that all over the place. Whoever it

gets to do what they want to do is not

American. It just feels very unamerican

a lot of these things. Um, and then a

win. Um, you know, speaking of Brian

Roberts, Taylor Sheridan, who's a really

important producer, there's always a

producer of the moment. He happens to be

that.

>> Um, he's behind Yellowstone and Landman.

Um, he is signed a deal to join NBC

Universal. It's not for a few years, but

when his Paramount deal is up, it's not

good for Ellison and Paramount, but it

doesn't matter because Ellison is

essentially a Nepo baby son of Larry

Ellison. So, he'll get his Tik Tok this

week or he'll get his deal to buy Warner

and uh and everyone will fall into line,

but I thought that was an interesting

situation for Taylor. I I thought it was

a win for NBC. Uh but who knows who

knows how much more Sheridan will keep,

you know, having the hits, but still an

interesting shift.

>> But I think if we were or what I want to

what I'm going to start doing is it's no

longer what are they calling it? I mean,

I know it was called the East Wing. It's

supposed to be called the ballroom now

or the Grand Ballroom. I'm not calling

it that, but go ahead.

>> Well, anyways,

>> just a ballroom.

>> From this point forward, we should we

should call it what it is. And this is

the Epstein bedroom.

>> There's the Lincoln bedroom. This is the

Epstein bedroom. Cuz all this is is

another attempt to distract us from

Jeffrey Epstein and the release of the

Epstein file. So,

>> and he won't seat Mike Johnson won't

seat that uh that representative.

>> But the bottom line is it really isn't I

quite frankly I don't think this is that

big a deal. Obama had renovations. Okay.

Yeah, I don't like the way he's going

about it for

>> this is a massive this is different than

anything.

>> I I do not think this is that

meaningful. I really don't.

>> I don't. But the way he did I think it's

more like this wasn't America. Like this

is what I'm saying. The guys calling him

to call off the San Francisco thing.

Let's just tear it down without

consultation. Not even like that is

unamerican. It is it is just not I guess

maybe it is American. I don't know.

Anyways, the win so the win is and just

a reminder there is u for all this

performative masculinity around taking a

trillion dollar a year expenditure and

having missile strikes which may be

quite frankly extraditial

uh murder at this point um which is just

so performative in my opinion stupid

there is a real war taking place with

real lethal force

>> in Ukraine and according to I think it's

Peter Orpo Finland's prime minister

>> Ukraine Ukrainian forces do appear to

have halted major Russian advances on

some fronts. Ukraine's capac

Yes, that's right. And Ukraine's

capacity to strike its targets inside

Russia has improved. I do hope we

provide them with the longrange missiles

and the tomahawk which is an incredible

weapon to target. They're refining

capabilities. An opinion piece in the

Guardian reports that Ukrainians mood in

Kev is more confident now than a year

ago. Though the situation is still grave

grave, there's much it still feels

>> like the mood is upbeat. there's greater

resolve and discussions are advancing

around using frozen Russian assets to

support Ukraine's reconstruction and

defense, which is on its own a sign of

growing international alignment. So

anyways, my my win and reminder is is

the the real fight here. The real

lethality that is proving, you know, is

upholding our freedom and our democracy

is taking place. It's not off the shores

of Venezuela.

It's in Ukraine right now where the

Ukrainian army does continue to punch

well above their weight class. So

anyway, that's my win.

>> That's a good one because you know

that's speaking of economic value. Think

about the the windfalls that's going to

happen there as we rebuild that very

vibrant and innovative culture, right?

This is like an opportunity again an

opportunity for the United States to

build real things versus this nonsense

like you know all the different people

that have to suck up to Trump. It's

grotesque to watch them one after the

next, you know, sucking up to them. But

there's no economic value there. It's

just a it's just a grift. It's just one

long grift. And that's not how you make

things, right? You get to get ahead

because you fluff a billionaire. Like,

stop it. Like, it's just it has no it

has no economic value. And our whether

you like us being involved in other

countries or not, the best thing would

be to have a a peaceful Ukraine that

will then innovate and create a better I

don't know. It just seems like it's not

econ none of this is economic. It's just

drift and so it's very disappointing.

I'll tell you that. Anyway, uh we want

to hear from you. Send us your questions

about business, tech, or whatever is on

your mind. Go to nymag.com/pivot

to submit a question for the show or

call 85551 pivot. And elsewhere in the

Cara and Scott universe this week on

onwitha Swisser, which Scott Galloway is

going to be on soon for his new book, I

spoke with writer, director, and

producer Jud Appattow. Let's listen to a

clip.

>> If you can go on a computer and make it

look like deep space and it doesn't cost

$3 million, it costs 40 grand. Well,

clearly in some ways that will help

people. It will decimate the people that

made space.

>> But it seems like we're not going to be

able to stop that when it gets cheaper.

But the writing uh and the directing

will always wind up generic because it's

scraped and it's just copying other

things.

>> Oh, we'll see about that, Jud. But he's

a really I mean that guy has got a

history of really amazing uh work in

comedy.

>> Anyway, a very he he actually he's just

really shar what's happening. I thought

it was a great talk.

>> Um and a reminder

>> he's really is. And a reminder we're

going but you're going to be even more

impressive.

>> Oh yeah. Go on.

>> It'll be good. I'm going to let you talk

and talk and talk so you'll have a good

time. Um reminder which I already do

here. We're going to go on tour. will be

going to Toronto, Boston, New York, DC,

Chicago, San Francisco, and LA. Scott

and I are going to be together so much.

We're sold out in Toronto and San

Francisco, and the other cities are very

close. But visit pivotour.com,

especially you Chicago. We've got

extra-large venue there. So, come and

see us. We also got some surprises

there. Some good big names coming. Uh,

okay, that's the show. Thanks for

listening to Pivot and make sure to like

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We'll be back on Friday. Scott, read us

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