Pod Save America’s Jon Lovett wants to win an election and make money - podcast episode cover

Pod Save America’s Jon Lovett wants to win an election and make money

Oct 30, 202444 min
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Episode description

Jon Lovett and his cofounders at Crooked Media are a good story - former Obama aides who started their own media company after the 2016 election, and are now generating 25 million podcast downloads a month. But for a few weeks this summer, after they became prominent voices in the push to replace Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket, their story got even more interesting. I’ve wanted to talk to Lovett about that experience for months, so a week before the election seems like good timing, no? Also discussed here: How to navigate a media landscape dominated by Donald Trump; Elon Musk, and the upside of getting kicked off of Survivor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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$45 up from payment to $15 per month. New customers on first three month plan only. Taxes and fees extra. Speed slower above 40 gigabyte C.D. tail. From the Vox Media Podcast Network, this is channels. Peter Kafka, that is me and the Chief Course Fund, our Business Insider, where I cover media and technology. And that is what we're doing here too.

I'm recording this on Tuesday, October 29th. It's a week before the election, as you know. So there's only one thing to talk about. And I wanted to talk to John Love it about it. Love it is a co-founder of Crooked Media, the Lefty Podcast company. Behind Pots in America, among other shows. He's also very funny. He was also on Survivor this year. I would have had Love it on any time, but this is a particularly good week to do it.

I think because we're seeing a reported 250,000 Washington Post subscribers cancel their subscriptions because of their anger towards Jeff Bezos and his decision to have the post not endorse a presidential candidate. To be clear, that is an enormous number of people canceling their subscriptions. That's 10% of the post subscriber base. Really, really, really difficult for the post to get those people back.

That anger, I think, is misplaced. And John Love it on I end up talking about that as well. But the energy behind that anger also explains why Crooked Media exists in the first place. Because even though a big chunk of the country is totally tuned out of politics, amazingly to me, there is also a large and hyper engaged audience that can't get enough of this stuff.

And Crooked Media, which again is an explicitly partisan media company, says it generates 25 million downloads a month. That's a huge number. But it's more interesting to hear John Love it. Talk about this than me. So let's do that now. I'm speaking to John Love it. He is a podcaster, a comedian, an entrepreneur, a political activist, and weirdly a contestant on survivor. The TV show. Welcome back, John.

Thanks for having me. Thanks for coming on. I know that you make podcasts. I'll be I'm glad you could squeeze me in here. Everyone I know in media is tired. Everyone who's not media is either dreading next week's election or trying to pretend it's not happening. You run a political media company or you co founded one. How are you doing? How you holding up?

So I'm past the point feeling what I used to know as emotions and I am just sort of wanting to make sure that we here at Crooked are doing everything we're supposed to do over the next seven days and that we're doing the best job we can to get everybody listening to do what they're supposed to do over the next seven days in the

hope and deeply felt belief that if we do everything we're supposed to do over the next seven days we will win or we will have proven that we did everything we could to win. And I don't know the difference yet and we won't know until after the election.

Are you when you're in a planning meeting and someone says well really you're not done in seven days this thing could stretch on for weeks and months. Are you are you allowing yourself reserved stamina as a human and also as a media person to go I have to keep I can't blow it all out on Tuesday night I gotta keep going.

I worry a little bit about that not for me but for the team and also just the broader democratic and sort of small d democratic coalition that will have to keep up the fight because you know I was talking about this on another podcast that like oh are you worried about an October surprise and how I feel about that at this point is we're.

What we're living through is what it's like when bad actors try to unleash a million October surprises right it's let a million October surprises bloom misinformation and false stories and all the bullshit that we're living with but yes I am worried about what how we may be surprised by what happens in the days following the election but right now you know we'll.

Well burn that bridge when we come to it I just think we have to get to election day and do everything we can to get every vote we can and then we have to see how hard we have to fight to make sure that the legitimate results of the election win the day so one sign that I'm a broken person is I probably listen to you like four or five times a week.

Oh wow because I think you do what the three three pie in same America episodes you do two shows of your own so yeah I'm pretty broken another is that when I saw people posting clips of Tony Hinchcliffe on Sunday is the committee and I did the Puerto Rico floating garbage joke and Trump's rally my thought was that doesn't mean anything he's a comic he's a roast comic his vibe sinks with the vibe of Donald Trump going back to

2015 people are going to shrug this off this is this is just for snowflake online people are going to care about this no one else will it seem and I'm recording so the you two's day Tuesday night it seems like it broke through in some way at least temporarily were you surprised. No here's what I thought when I saw that which is I felt the two thoughts right the thought number one is the kind of I think human.

Right just thought which is well that's disgusting that shouldn't be said at a presidential campaign stop and that represents something deeply fucked up about this movement this republican campaign this moment and then there's that more cynical part of ourselves that I think is a bit broken by the last decade of feeling like L.O.L nothing matters but I I do think this goes to.

Why in the debate with Donald Trump comma Harris said I invite you to watch his rallies that's why at her rally she is showing clips of Donald Trump we were doing a recording of love to leave it this morning and David one of our people on our video team we were just playing moments from the rallies and some jack off says something to the effect of comma Harris and her

and Pam Pam and the handlers yeah Pam Pam and David who's not on my and an absolute professional goes whoa whoa and we maybe have lost our ability to be shocked but we have been exposed to Donald Trump on an unfiltered basis for a decade a lot of people tune out politics and boy am I jealous and boy do I respect it we may be the rats at the bottom of the

age shocked so many times that we just lay down and take it but most people still have some outrage and some shock left in them and this can break through and once people see it once they confront it they don't like it but why do you think that one broke through compared to anything else that not just to surrogate but Donald Trump has said in the last year let alone last decade that's a great question I don't know the answer I do think it isn't part because

because of larger politics around port oriko specifically i i i we had a oc on potsy america than it is going to come out tomorrow but there's a lot of really interesting politics happening in port oriko right now and a lot of it is around the bad response to the hurricanes that hit port oriko the corrupt response the corruption that Donald trump and his goons were deeply involved into this court there was corruption in port oriko but there was also corruption

that involved the trump administration and i think that is the kind of fertile soil into which this kind of fell and what is a straw like why is this the straw i don't know exactly and we don't know if it is something that broke through it did break through we know we will have an impact who knows we will time will tell but it clearly did break because

republicans were saying hey that's that's bad don't say republicans were saying it was bad and i also think as with anything else like part of it is that it comports with the narrative of these republicans that was it look jadey vans a lot of the kind of more cynical pro-Trump republicans they want to make this about one bad joke wasn't one bad joke it was not and why by the way wasn't just one bad speaker it was a night of vulgarity and bigotry and obscenity

that was getting tons and tons of cheers and applause right this is what that movement has become this was a good example and i think for a lot of people part of what i think maybe is why this is breaking through and why i think in the last week these moments are important is because you know i put these two things side by side because i think it's a bit instructive you have on the one hand joe rogan and donald trump sitting down for three hours and actually being honest about it

i thought donald trump that was his best forum he seemed normal ish and by the way i first saw and i was a helpful way for me to for me to see it i first saw a bunch of clips that were made it seem as though it was a bad conversation for trump in which rogan was hard on him and rogan found him embarrassing

and shocked by trump whatever yeah i saw those bullshit bullshit bullshit bullshit it was a it was a solicitous forum for trump trump did well in that setting however you take that and you put it up against michelle obama giving a moving personal speech about the stakes and a plea from women to men about why women need the men in their lives to vote with them and vote out on trump you put those things side by side i think

michelle obama wins and i think this portareko joke as you know as as much as it's just you know another exit you know senator on the pile it comes at a time when people are going to the people in their lives and saying hey i know you're undecided i know you're so softly supporting trump please listen to me i'm begging you to listen to me as someone you love don't vote for this guy please vote with me do it because you love me

so like i said i'm broken listen to you guys way too much i can tell i can tell one reason i know you've listened is because if i'm hitting something i've hit on pottape america like i've heard this already but your audience may not have i know i know i was gonna say that i was listening to your new is show this afternoon you guys played the most show obama clip and that is the first time i've encountered i don't know how many days old it is i have not seen it and i'm part of my job literally is to just inhale media all day

and i'm more or less think about it and that that clip is not getting to me i'm ideologically aligned with michelle obama which brings me to just the whole question of how and again to be clear you guys are both a media company and your political organization right you're supporting liberals democrats the left in general how have you guys collectively gotten better at getting your message out to what we call low information voters

and what things are still sort of immovable obstacles for you when it comes to to getting your message out i don't know about the outcomes that was a question about outcomes but i'll tell you about what i think our means are for as well it's a hard question it's the hard question of politics today it's a hard question for media organizations that are trying to broaden their audience beyond hyper engage people

and that's a hard question for campaigns to hard question people that just want a society in which people are sharing a set of facts and living in a shared reality what i view it as sort of two parts one part is we have a very engaged progressive audience and we try to arm that audience with the most useful and help and helpful messages and information so that they can go to the people in their lives that aren't paying as close attention

like i think that's a lot of what we've been doing especially as we come down the home stretch try to talk to your uncle or right right like here like you know here's here's the best argument so like you know i asked a us about this is interviews going to that interview is going to come out on on when does this come out just right now on Wednesday so let's have you hear this you be able to hear that yeah so so talk to a us about this and she divided it into two groups of people

right one is really less engaged people that are paying to politics in a week's in a couple of that don't believe it's for them the other really engage but very left young people who feel pretty disenchanted with the democratic party often for very legitimate reasons

how do you talk to these groups of people she offers her perspective on how to talk to those group of people right so those are the ways in which I think we can arm the audience that is paying attention to politics maybe their intention went up because maybe they weren't before Trump

or maybe they become more engaged because of Trump whatever it might be giving them the tools and that's also by the way votes of America which if you're listening to this and you're looking for way to help you go to votes of America dot com you go to vote to America dot com and we will give you the tools you need to help but then there is this other group that is maybe more cynical less engage with politics can we reach them directly and I think one one way we try to do that is to just before

you can be a party people want to join you got to be a party people would want to attend and I think we try to just I think we try to just have a fun entertaining conversation so that if maybe you are new to politics and you have been paying attention you can feel like you're part of this community and you can learn about it it can be an on ramp for you so I think we try to do both party you'd like to attend

let's get how much of the challenge that you're facing and that the conventional media companies are facing and just turn turn cover Donald Trump how much of that is is Trump specific and how much of that is going to remain a factor in in political life post Trump whenever that

era is I have no idea just simply no idea and to be honest I'm not I'm not in a very reflective mindset I there were two moments though in the last 24 hours to 36 hours that I that reminded me of some of the challenges that the Trump movement faces without Trump at the helm one of them is the Jake Tapper interview with JD Vance and the other is this moment awful moment on CNN where somebody made a very offensive joke at many Hassan about about Lebanon basically you know

he said Joe Palestinian and he said where's your people he hope your beabirds and go off and I thought they were both instructive moments the Tony Hinchcliffe one is to but because you know Donald Trump runs around the country for a decade bullshitting about how amazing he is how much of a genius he is how he never makes a mistake how everything is a disaster when he's not around and it's funny the word that you would you would do a narcissistic ego maniac you wouldn't

necessarily say arrogant it's just not the it it absolutely describes him but it's not the first word that comes to mind when you see JD Vance the first word that comes to mind is arrogant and it is a difference to me to me that there's an arrogance to him that's less on display despite the ego mania of a Donald Trump and you watch JD Vance arrogantly angrily bicker and try to kind of get one over on Jake Tapper fail to do so in part because as JD Vance

as JD Vance surely knows what Tapper is saying is unequivocal impossible to respond to unquestionately true etc. and it's just an ugly moment and maybe there are some hardcore fans for whom that appeals but JD Vance is in appealing when he's doing the Trump so shame same thing with that guy on CNN it's like oh you're going to try to pull off this kind of hostile thing you don't have it man these people don't have it look like he he he's like

what a mess right what a mess right the thought is oh this is this works at 4chan or 8chan or wherever online you're hanging out you get in the real world and people just look at you like you just took a dump on the floor

because you did but there but there is a big right wing I mean there is a large group of people who see that stuff and go yeah that's I'm fine with that yes but and by the way like we managed to win Trumpism remains a threat this kind of politics has to be defeated again and again in part to send a

message to the less ideological more craven republicans who have embraced it that you know there's no sin like losing for these people right like that they turned against them on January 6th because he was

leaving power and they thought that January 6th meant he was going to be a prior forever so the cost of going against him went down dramatically when it when the cost went back up because they thought he was going to be the nominee and very well might win because Joe Biden seemed like he couldn't

suddenly they all forgot what they said about the insurrection we back with John love it in a minute but first a word from a sponsor support for the show comes from pole star innovation is at the heart of every pole star car

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pole star car and their SUV pole star 3 is no different from the intuitive infotainment system to its head turning design pole star 3 is for drivers on willing to compromise that means merging a spacious comfortable interior with the torque and handling of a sports car now you can go from 0 to 60 in as little as 4.8 seconds and get an EPA estimated range of up to 315 miles per charge pole star 3 even allows the driver to optimize the powertrain between

performance and range mode depending on your drives needs experience an unclutter dashboard showing you everything you want to know and nothing you don't the innovation doesn't stop there because you can just have Google turn on your favorite podcast and be immersed in 3D sound by Bowers and Wilkins pole star has put in the time designing and refining pole star 3 and that means the time you spend in it will be the best time of your day book a test drive at pole star dot com

and we're back to begin the year you guys were pursuing this plan that said you originally started running a network of podcasts and you still have that but your plan was that we're going to sort of double down on the shows that you make and your co-founders make we're going to do a lot more of those and it was clearly like a lot of political media you guys were synced to the primaries was going to this primary we're going to cover it and by February for sure but

really in January was clear that there was no primary and you guys were sort of I can hear it you were in this position where we've got to do another show and there's really nothing to talk about we could tell you that maybe Nikki Hayley is going to have a surge but there's just this the election is what it's going to be it's going to be Biden versus Trump did you have a plan B or a plan C at that point I just have to sort of barrel through and hope there was enough interest

well I just think we didn't know what the future would hold obviously the more interesting the primary the better but we had to cover what we had to cover I did I will say when I when I did leave to go film survivor I and I gave up my I gave up my phone and I had a month a month without

politics without any of it and I did have this moment when I was just sort of alone with my thoughts at some point thinking oh man I am just not looking forward to this election to to sort of fight like hell to get people out to vote and to persuade them of why it's important and to kind of help people find their own enthusiasm and passion when the election itself wasn't necessarily generating it and I was really not looking forward to that I really wasn't and it was pretty disperting

yeah it was also very very nice to be offline like I have kind of I kind of generates high for the first couple days right and then like how long did it take you in a total digital detox to go oh I like this you're checking your pockets and you don't have a phone and keep checking your

pockets where's my phone where I got it what times it let me check my phone you don't have your phone and then I really did notice that my attention span started to heal that I was able to kind of within my mind that the wavelength of my thoughts got bigger the frequency got lower and

everything was a bit quieter and I was able to have a little bit more space to think and be comfortable being alone with my thoughts I was reading books before and after and just sitting and reading for an hour or two without having my hand reach for an update and that was very good and you went

straight from that to I'm back making television I'm back making content I'm checking my Twitter I'm checking phone as bad as it's ever been absolutely took none of the experience and turned it into better behavior none of it absolutely not I was going to save this for later let's let's keep talking about the survivor so it's it's an election year you're a political media company you go on survivor what was your initial thought like I'll try out and I won't

get on and that'll just be a fun experience or did you think you would actually cast that's not how I ever never of course I just thought I'd be on survivor from the get go you're like this is the thing I want to do the second I

decided to make a video I thought I was going to do it it was going to happen why did you decide I want to do it this year well because no no you know make hey well the sun shines the reason to do it was because I do think I could lose my nerve the other is there was a part of me that thought in May

which is a little bit of a low whatever was happening with the primary before the conventions before things really heat up it'll be an opportunity to take time completely outside of politics have this challenge this interesting experience and then at a time when all of us are thinking about and

focused on electoral democracy to be part of this show that is ultimately a social experiment in democracy that was sincere I said it when I talk to Jeff the very first time that really was my motivation and I do think that there is

a kinship there now I would have liked to have made it a little bit longer on the program I will say the most nerve-racking experience of it was the run-up to the episode airing I'm sure I would have felt a little bit less nervous if I didn't think I was good I was well I got you were you were the

first person the first person voted out yes thank you thank you yes for those listen I was the first person voted out but I will say if I was going to go home early I'm glad it was first is opposed to fourth fifth or sixth because it was so nerve-racking watching it and I got to watch it I got to by the way talk to a lot of people about the election of Oats-Ave America in the run-up to the airing and in the press it drew people to vote to have America I hope

in this home stretch and exposure to a different audience and in that sense it was worth it good job thank you thank you so much I've still never seen an episode that's not familiar with it we back with John love it in a minute but first a word from a sponsor every wonder why we like being scared

I would read a Stephen King novel or watch a slasher movie and then feel compelled to sleep with the lights on for several nights and found myself asking what the hell what's going on when people voluntarily seek out things to fight them this week on unexplained a boom

why fear can be fun follow unexplainable for new episodes every Wednesday Candidate Trump as you've likely heard jimmy the over 10 window up a few inches at a rally in Madison Square Garden on Sunday with racist sexist vulgar wasn't even a particularly good joke and etc. commentary from speakers

but did you hear the really weird part the speaker of the house Mike Johnson Park that comment is making people nervous because Trump does have a plan for a few minutes and I think we're going to do really well with the house right our little secret is having a big impact he and I have a secret

will tell you what it is when the race is over that comment is making people nervous because Trump does have a plan for a few loses this election a reporter did some digging into it we're going to talk to him today explain little secrets every weekday wherever and whenever you get your podcasts

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written about so you can be confident that your gift has a strategist still of approval visit the strategist dot com slash gift scout to try it out yourself and we're back trump debate and a tune and does what he does you guys recorded a show that night and started floating the idea that maybe Biden should not be on the ticket how much discussion did you have about that discussion in advance because you were basically the first prominent democrats people the

left saying that out loud after that night so as it were watching the debate the way that I would describe it is that at first it was nerve-wracking then it was shocking then it was terrifying and then it started to become it started to become undeniable that we were going to have to have a conversation about what this represented and look I think part of why that conversation happened so quickly is because first of all the conversation the conversation

and quotes was behind where voters were it just was but the question was always what's the bigger risk here right Joe Biden's biggest liability is his age we know that and it is a big liability but every time it has been saying it over and over and over and they voters have been saying it but other candidates will have liabilities Joe Biden is tested Joe Biden is also certainly on domestic policy an excellent president I really believe that he is an excellent

excellent excellent president and you can't point to any place in which is being older had been a liability if he was 10 15 years younger it wouldn't be a question that he would deserve a chance to seek re-election and so do you stick with the person whose liability you know or do you seek out a different candidate and by the way that different candidate would have to run and they didn't they just didn't and so you take solace in the moments where the state

union he really kind of silenced by doing a great job a lot of his critics and the window for a vigorous primary had closed only kooks had challenged him right this is what you've been saying all spring like this is we've this is the boat we're on right and you know right the only I think non-cook

was Dean Phillips and that was I think a miss begotten option and we have to be practical here we just have to win we have to do everything we can to help him when despite this reliability despite the fact that the polling was getting rough and then that debate happens and I think the math changed the risk of sticking with this path is greater but did you guys huddled say okay we're all think this or maybe some of us think this but let's let this sit for a day

or two before we come out and say we should start thinking about replacing Joe Biden I just remember that as we were watching the debate there was a moment where I can't remember it might have been when he said we're going to I can't remember exact phrasing but I'm the guy that killed Medicare or whatever he said beat Medicare I'm the guy we beat Medicare or the answer where he went from talking about abortion to a terrible immigration story and it was just

sort of more I don't know this is different it's we have to talk about it and it was just it was there was never a question that we're going to be honest about what we saw because that's what we do right we're just like there's always a lot of problems right we come from being part of politics being part of campaigns and as is true in life some of the worst people in the world are the people say well I'm just being honest and so sometimes you say to yourself well

what you want to be honest you want to be practical it became important to be honest and practical about what it would mean to stick with Joe Biden and why it was necessary to have the debate and that you guys became part of the story

then like you were referenced as Obama bros who were trying to take him down or like references the New York Times to to podcast bros that was all about you the the fact that you guys had stuck your neck out or just had said we think this is something we should change was you got a lot of blowback

politically and then I'm assuming your audience in fact I know I heard one of the shows you did afterwards was a live show the audience could not even hear a clip of Biden acting badly on stage you don't necessarily need the white house to do your job but you need your audience did you was there ever a moment after that we thought fuck maybe we stepped in it maybe shouldn't have gone this way there are definitely moments where we wondered is Biden really going to stick

this out right because there was a lot of a lot of pushback was Biden's not going anywhere and you're hurting Joe Biden now the argument in response is we the voters have already told you that Joe Biden's age is their biggest factor I'm not going to say only but the the biggest opportunity he would have in the entire campaign to reverse that impression he just made worse it wasn't just one bad night and so it is not the fact that this is now a debate on

social media and on podcast and on television that is a debate that reflects what people were already feeling and so that was the response but there were moments where he said oh he's really going to try to stick it out and he did

really try to stick it out but I really sincerely I said this on podcast I said this on in a on social media that I've always believed that Joe Biden became president because there's a righteousness to him and yeah there's a politician and an ego and and all that but that he

he ran because he believed he in defeating Donald Trump and that was a way to preserve democracy and that ultimately that sense of patriotism would went out and I personally continue to believe that through the entire time I there were moments where I was I doubted it but I really believed

that he would do the right thing I just curious what you think is sort of the idea of audience capture right I mean you see it with the near times now the Washington Post right they've there's a contingent of their readers and subscribers that are liberal left leaning they're very angry about the state of the world and and some of that they they focus some of that anger on the way they think the times the post are falling short in various ways yeah and

you guys are again explicitly liberal like you're the whole point is for you elect Democrats and you're out there saying well maybe we should rethink this and we're going to screw things up were you getting a visceral reaction from them or was it not really factoring into what you're thinking yeah

we heard criticisms for sure and we heard criticism from the audience but also the audience grew dramatically during that time like people saw us out I think they saw the place where people were having this honest conversation because there was conversation they were having and it was a huge

story it was a huge story and it was also a place where people were hammering this out like we had a had a many Hassan on and we did a real debate about whether we should change candidates and that was a really honest we decided we were assigned but it was a real debate about the merits of both and

understanding that there were there were fine people on both sides and and being honest about that I think made us a place where people felt like there was a catharsis and value to hearing that and so yes there are people that were upset I will say you know we're watching a bunch of people cancel the Washington Post because they're upset about Jeff Bezos taking an action that will have zero impact on Jeff Bezos but might actually have a negative impact

on the journalists who work at the Washington was 10% of their subscriber base as of today and first of all and it set off I think of legitimate debate about compliance right a voluntary compliance with fascism doing it in advance right avoiding retribution by complying before it's even put upon you and I think that I actually think that is not just a concern that's an undeniable fact that is taking place republicans have have said I would come out against

Donald Trump but I'm afraid of the threats my family will will face there is more than just craving politics in the reason Liz Cheney and Mark Cuban are out there alone I think they're concerned the concern to the people canceling our legitimate however sometimes I think in this era when people feel a bit powerless they feel dispirited they feel confused and rightfully angry about a politics and when someone as heinous and despicable and obviously on fit can

get so close to the White House and may well become president you look for the places where you can have influence and sometimes this feels a little bit like what we're watching is a national divorce and mom is the better parent who will listen when you get upset and so they take out they people take it out on mom and you just see that over and over again like the reporters of the Washington Post who are doing great work investigating and reporting on Donald Trump we want

them there we want them there in part because of the threat that he poses and and I just like there is a kind of the the we have to it's a heart this is I think one thing we try to do and like I understand that feeling I have the same anger and frustration but we have to direct it especially in this last week in productive ways am I worried that that corporations and and the wealthy will capitulate to Donald Trump to protect their own interests of course I am one way to prevent that from

happening is defeating Donald Trump and I worried when Mike Johnson and Donald Trump tell each other that they have a secret and we don't know what it means does me a bit in a bad feeling and the pit of my stomach that I trust it does but one way to make sure we never have to worry about that winning the house on January 3rd and Kim Jeffries become speaker we have seven days and practically speaking we can win this and it has absolutely nothing to do with other people

keep or cancel the Washington Post I want to end it there but I wanted to ask you out of the line before we go okay you still in a Tesla I did I used on it because of Elon's behavior and it rattled and rattled he has lost a lot of money on Twitter billions and billions of dollars his net worth is

unaffected because Tesla stock went down and now it's back up in my world he is a very Trumpian figure and that he agitates people he says crazy things my world being people who write about tech and business we cover almost all of the crazy things he says there's a woman of the New York Times who's an awesome reporter and her job is to report about Elon Musk basically full time and I think that we have not learned some lessons from the Trump era when it comes to

Elon but then I also think I don't know man he's he's at least as powerful as Donald Trump and maybe we should be over reacting to everything he says or does as a former Tesla owner as someone who who consumes a lot of media makes a lot of media and he invites about how to think about Elon Musk in the world and how he should cover him Elon Musk what a puzzle you know it's very hard to keep I'm gonna this is gonna be the most pedantic thing I say which is I think

impressive do you ever read the crack up by F Scott but Sheryl no it's a lot of drinking it's it's a lot of drinking but he he has this line which I think has been repeated which is the the sign of a first-rate intelligence is keeping to opposing ideas in the mining to retain the ability to function and you know we're sort of being asked to make sense of anything this is some of the reason why it's interesting to people right it's not just because he's I mean obviously

his he has a billionaire incredible influence that he's using in corrupt and a furious and despicable ways but it's also just a an interesting mystery it is right how is this person I have net how did it happen and how did it happen and

how do you explain that a person I am not one of those people that has been able to so easily dismiss the idea that this man is smart because of his ability and vialness around politics right because I just can't ascribe these various successes I don't think that says oh you had a done is dead at a

diamond mine that's why you so rich that's just a true it's just it's just does that maybe explain how we had some resources to get started is there luck of course there's a luck there's luck there's luck that I'm sitting here

there's luck there's a luck everywhere but Tesla SpaceX PayPal you go down the list this is a person who has some kind of aptitude and genius for making things happen doing things getting the best out of engineers understanding the difference between difficult and impossible there's a genuine

talent there right it's just I don't believe that's deniable and then on the other hand you have to square that with the circle of his inane adult ridiculous despicable politics and I just don't think you can and I don't think you have to there is Elon Musk business person there is Elon Musk

right wing troll and conspiracy theorist people contain multitudes and I am sort of bored of and done with looking for a deeper explanation and I think it just ought to be taken at face value this is a very sophisticated and intelligent actor who has a great deal of knowledge and acumen in building

things and doing things he also has despicable political views rooted in his own psychology and his own personal interests and I don't know what else you need to know beyond that Johnny just wants people to tell me he's funny couldn't

you like set up a comedy club for him and stock it with goons for a night and just kind of solve everything tell me he's hilarious yeah people need therapy man a lot of people need therapy originally on a needs therapy Elon needs therapy these people need to talk to somebody and we have a lot of

damage being done by people who are would rather be angry than sad John love it you make me happy you're part of my therapy good good glad I could do that thanks job thank you thanks again to John love it last time I got the talk to John love it on a podcast it was early early in the pandemic spring

of 2020 so glad to speak with him in less pandemic times thanks for advertisers you probably don't want to hear me say the word pandemic very much but God bless them God bless you the people who listen to the show they like it the

people who tell me you like it people who I think are telling other people they like it we love all of that we'll see you next week Robinhood is introducing forecast contracts so you can trade the presidential election through Robinhood you can now trade financial derivatives contracts

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