It was a crisis, a fast-moving crisis. And so it's not surprising in retrospect that the debate was truncated. But it is surprising the extent to which the decisions that were made in the early going of the pandemic departed from conventional wisdom about how to handle a pandemic. This week on The Gray Air. We're talking about tough decisions that were made during the pandemic. New Gray Area episodes drop every Monday, available everywhere.
This week on A Touch More, we are live at Deep Blue's Business of Women Sports Summit. Our special guest is Chelsea Clinton, who tells us what it means for her to be an investor in women's sports and what we can all learn from gutsy women. Plus, we break down the results of the WNBA draft and look ahead to the W's upcoming season. Check out the latest episode of A Touch More wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube.
Support for today's show comes from Chevrolet. Whether it's just a quick jaunt or a long journey, Chevy's all electric Equinox EV has you covered with a massive 17.7 inch diagonal touchscreen and starting at around. $34,995. You can hit the road and still afford snacks. Equidox EV, a vehicle you know, a value to expect, and a dealer right down the street. You can go EV without changing a thing.
Learn more at chevy.com forward slash Equinox EV. The manufacturer's suggested retail price excludes tax, title, license, dealer fees, and optional equipment. Dealer sets. What is he eating? Oh, now he's licking his fingers. Gross! This is Pivot from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network. I'm Kara Swisher. And I'm Scott Galloway. Scott, I went to the White House.
Oh, you went? No, I didn't go to the dinner itself. There was parties. No, you went to the parties. I went to the parties. I didn't go to anything. And I actually slept through one of the better parties. I came home after Tammy Hadid's party. And I was so tired, I slept the rest of the night. So what have you heard? What's the scuttlebutt from the insiders? I will tell you. Actually, you know, it was supposed to be like...
oh, the Trump people weren't there, and oh, how terrible. Actually, it was much more enjoyable. It was like kind of when the tech bros. left San Francisco and everything was better. Like they had, they sort of abandoned all the restaurants and everyone was like, oh no. And it was much more pleasant, I have to say. It was nice. So let me, I'll go through it. I went to a dinner for the Substack through with my agents, UTA.
That was interesting. The Substack Party. Yeah, we sat across. A lot of hotties there. At Night Silver was there. Jim Acosta. Mehdi Hassan was there. It was nice. The White House Correspondents Center, I feel some affection for it because it... introduce me to who is my favorite comedian. Oh, oh, um, oh, what's her name? She was great. Michelle? Michelle?
Michelle Wolfe. I think she's a genius. I think she's one of the great. Yeah, they didn't have one this year, supposedly. I wasn't there because they dumped it. No, they didn't. She wrote, I love her this quote, you guys got to stop putting Kellyanne on your shows. All she does is lie. If you don't give her a platform and she has nowhere to lie.
It's like that old saying, if a tree falls in the woods, how do we know Kellyanne Conway is under that tree? I'm not suggesting she gets hurt, just stuck. Just stuck. The Republicans were told to stay away. I did not have one Kellyanne Conway sighting. Usually she's at these things swanning around, but she wasn't there.
I'm trying to think what else was fun. I slept through the NBC party, so I slept all night. But the Tammy party was really fun. And I sat in a Corvette, which was cool. That was a cool car, beautiful new Corvette. and saw the new EV Escalade, which was gorgeous. I'm trying to think what else. Oh, there was a CNN party too. Oh, I'll tell you one story. So I'm at the CNN party, Mark Thompson's there, all the CNN, you know, all the various, you know, Wolf and et cetera, et cetera.
And it was at the British Embassy, which has a new ambassador. And that's always a nice place because it has a beautiful garden. It was a beautiful day. And I'm standing there. I was sort of like jawing with the Facebook PR people because of that story we'll talk about that Jeff Horowitz wrote in the Wall Street Journal about.
sexy bots, essentially, that are probably bothering children. And Joel Kaplan came up to me, the guy who's head of, you know, the big... scary person of Facebook here in Washington. who's taken it sort of on a rightward shift or removed some moderation. And he came up to me. He said, I just want to thank you. Because I, you know, I had talked about that. I didn't think what they said he did in that book. He did, which I continue to agree. And I said something like,
Well, if I'm going to hate you, I'm going to hate you for the right things, essentially. But we had an interesting talk. It was interesting. He won't have lunch with me, though. Really? Yeah. I said, come on, don't be scared. I said, are you a man or a mouse? And he said, a mouse. What can you say after that? Squeak? I don't know. I want to have lunch with him. I'm glad. I'm glad.
I'm glad you had a nice time. Anyway, it was good. It was interesting to see some people, and it was much more low-key. So anyway, what did you do this weekend? Thanks for asking. I had a really nice weekend. Yesterday was the kind of ideal day. Did this long workout with my son in Regent's Park. He was home. And then last night, me and my youngest went and had to, there's this great little kind of street of restaurant. right in Marylebone.
And then we came home and we had like a dozen pork bao buns, which was awesome. Oh, yum. And he got boba and I got a beer and every third sip we would switch because that made us feel both really naughty. Oh, wow. And then we went home and... He's 14. That's perfect. Good. I think that's what we call child abuse. No, it's not. That's fine. And then we went home and watched an episode and a half of Game of Thrones. Wow. But you're still watching Game of Thrones?
seasons, Kara, we'll be watching for a couple of years. What's seasoning on? I don't like season two or two. What disemboweling season are you on? Ned Stark hasn't even had his head cut off yet, so I think we're still season one. Who's the tall lady who plays the one who's all devoted to, is it Ned Stark or one of the Stark?
Oh, no, Lady of the Night, or the Night in Waiting. Yeah, Brienne of Tarth. Thank you, Brienne of Tarth. And actually, there's so many, Game of Thrones is never fully recognized for how many wonderful love stories there are. The kind of love story between her and Jaime is really. Really unexpected and nice. committed to him that's right yeah i i got out this this is disembowelment season when they kept disemboweling people i was like and i really don't want to see this and then when they crush
beautiful Pedro Pascal's head. I didn't like that at all. I did not know that was coming. I told you this. I was like, what? Like, I hate when that happens, when I'm like, oh, he's going to get killed. I did not have any clue that that was what was going to happen.
And what's her name? The main lady. The wild, oh, Eagaret. Yeah. I thought that was one of the nicest love stories in modern day television. Yeah, yeah. It was really nice. Yeah, I think they're married. Yeah, in real life they're married. In real life they're married, yeah. That's so beautiful. A love story that continues, yeah. Oh, I forgot. What else I did, I'm not allowed to talk about it, but I went and I saw this thing called Bum Bum Train. Have you heard of this thing? No.
Oh, wow. You have to sign an NDA. But if you ever get the chance to do it, go do it. It was really incredible. What is it? It sounds like a gay bar, but go ahead. Bum-bum train? Go ahead. It's what I would call performance art or, you know, the closest analog. I don't want to give too much away, but did you ever go to Sleep No More in New York? No. You become, I'm not even sure. I don't want to give away other than to say it's one of the most unique experiences. And the thing I love about it is.
that it's about 500 or 600 volunteers who help pull it off. Oh, my God. That's cool. But it's really, it was very inspiring. So London is feeling kind of fun. The weather's nice, right? The weather's turning nice, correct? I've experienced something today I haven't experienced in a year.
London. No, I sweat. I took a run and I started sweating. It's so beautiful there when it gets warm. It really is. Oh, it's for 11 weeks a year. It's the greatest city in the world. It's beautiful. Washington right now has been spectacular for weeks and weeks. I mean. Just one beautiful tree, like, explodes after another. Flowers everywhere. And this weekend was quite beautiful. It's just gorgeous out. And then it gets like a swamp, a complete swamp.
Yeah. That's good. I'm glad you're liking London. I've got to come to London and bother you. I've got to stay at your house, et cetera. Go through your things. Yeah. We got our guest room that's deep in the basement. Oh, excellent. I like it. I wanted to put in a door between the basement and the first floor to lock. Oh, so I couldn't get up? They wouldn't let me do it. No.
I can break that lock. The in-laws are in there now, so occasionally I just slip the pizza under the door and say don't come out. Nice, nice, nice. So May is coming. May is coming. We're almost into May, which is really nice. I'm going to San Francisco this week.
You know what I'm getting? And what are you doing out there? I'm going on Bill Maher on Friday. Are you doing the panel or are you the interview? I'm the panel, but it's just me and Kevin McCarthy. I mean, of all people. Oh, wow. I know, right? So two lesbians. He was like, I was like the former dingity dog is excited to be with Kara Swisher. Fine. All right, Kevin. So literally a panel with zero testicles. No, I have several.
There you go. I can lend them. Anyway. There you go. Anyway. All right. Now wake up. We got a lot to get. I'm sorry. More energy. More energy. Yes, that's correct. Okay. I took a Xanax last night. Do you? I can feel that. Okay. We got a lot to get today, including Trump's latest meme coin scheme and the new affordable. American-made EV truck backed by Jeff Bezos. It's quite adorable. And again, I just saw the EV of the Escalade, which I also thought was fantastic. It gets 466.
miles to a charge, which is amazing. But first, Alphabet earnings are out, and Scott, it's time for another victory lap. You are hitting it on all cylinders as That's right. There you go. There you go. That's why the people come here. That's why I make the big bucks. That's right. The company overall revenue grew 12% year-over-year, beating expectations. Overall advertising was up 8.5% from the previous year, and Search and Other reported. Over $50 billion, up 9.8%. Well done, Sundar Pichai.
AI Overviews, Alphabet's AI tool at the top of Google search page has 1.5 billion monthly users and Waymo is providing over 250,000 rides per week. I gotta say Waymo is the quiet storm in a lot of ways in terms of being successful and useful to people. It's coming to Washington, supposedly. And Alphabet's first quarter profit was boosted by $8 billion in unrealized gains from investments in private company.
such as SpaceX. They make investments for people to understand. Listen to what you had to say last week before these earnings were out. Alphabet's reporting. We're talking at Thursday. Alphabet's reporting at the end. of the day. And I think rumors of Alphabet's struggles have been greatly exaggerated. I still think while ChatGPT is ascending dramatically and does present an existential threat to search. YouTube is just an absolute juggernaut.
And you talk about Waymo. I just think this company is so well run. and Google continues to be the largest toll booth in the history of mankind, I think that they're going to beat expectations this afternoon because I think some of those expectations have been beaten down. Well done. Although I have to tell you, Scott, a lot of people are talking about these cases, which they absolutely agree with.
you and I that will be broken up. And their stock will go up. Anyway, so Microsoft, Meta, Apple, and Amazon are reporting later this week. Any predictions and any thoughts on Google? I don't have predictions on the other ones. I'll save that for later in the week, but the... I mean, think about this. I think Alphabet still has room to run because...
If you look at Alphabet, or let's look at the S&P, the S&P 500, the average. So take an average S&P company, I don't know, Dow or Procter & Gamble, like a good company. They're all great companies, but some are amazing and some are not so amazing. The average S&P 500 company trades at a price earnings multiple of 27. Alphabet, which I would argue has more growth prospects, and quite frankly, it's just a more impressive company than 495 of the S&P 500, it trades at a multiple of 18.
Now, why is that? Why does Alphabet trade at a multiple that is a third lower than the average of the S&P? fear of the existential risk that AI presents, right? But just keep in mind, as of today, Google search handles 373 times more searches than ChatGPT. So it's going to take a while. Right. It's good there's a competitor. Let's be clear. There's never been a significant competitor to Google as yet. This is.
you would say, a significant competitor on some level, even if it's smaller. Right. But even looking at diversification or how robust the business is, ChatGPT, I think, is projected to do $4 billion in revenues. Alphabet has five separate businesses that do more than $30 billion a year. And just to talk about just how incredible this company is.
Google Cloud, its operating margins hit 18%, up from 9.5%. Their margins almost doubled in their cloud business. Waymo is really, as you said, starting to register potential. This was the first quarter. Sundar answered a question directly about Waymo. Waymo is now serving a quarter of a million paid rides per week. Yeah, exactly. About 27 of them are mine whenever I'm in San Francisco. I'll be taking it when I get to San Francisco. That's up fivefold from a year ago.
YouTube, in just the last nine years, its revenue has quadrupled. And between YouTube Premium and Music, the platform now has... over 100 million paid subscribers. It also commands 11% of all streaming watch time, which means it's the number one streaming platform. And if you think of it as a social media company, it's the most popular social media company. in the world. So this company is just, it has seven products and platforms with over 2 billion users, Search Maps, Gmail, Android, Chrome.
PlayStore and YouTube. So Alphabet... But we both think it should be broken up. Right, or it will be, correct? Oh, I think all of these guys should be broken up. And here's the thing. Well, this one in particular is under more pressure than any other company to be broken up. It might be under more pressure, but I think the company... I think the company society would benefit most from being broken up would be Meta. But anyways, there's 11 amazing companies.
that the majority of which will be worth more than the original four companies that spend them, Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Meta, or Apple, Amazon, Meta, and Alphabet. Did I say that? Apple, Amazon, I get that. They change their name so fucking often. So they're going to give eight people to CEO title. These companies would all thrive on their own. But anyways, my point is going back to Alphabet. Alphabet is just an incredible company. I think Alphabet is arguably
The most adult? I think Meta is probably the most visionary. Apple has the most robust supply chain. Amazon. Fuck, they're all so well run. That's hard. It's hard to say. Yeah, you don't. I think Sundar's often been thought of as an afterthought, for sure. Like that he doesn't make, there was a whole spate of things. He can't make decisions to save his life.
that people were leaving. It's not innovative enough. It's too state. I mean, those were all the takes on him. And obviously these cases that they have lost to the federal government. I think they're going to be a boon to them. I think it's actually not the worst thing in the world to have to do what they're going to.
probably have to do. The most undervalued of all the tech companies though right now I think is in the U.S. market I would say it's probably it's probably Alphabet. Most overvalued would probably be OpenAI or Palantir, but the most, in my opinion, the most undervalued of the Magnificent Seven, and it's not in the Magnificent Seven, would be Alibaba. And the reason why is the following. You're going to see...
Alibaba's cloud unit start to take share from all the other cloud providers globally. Oh, interesting. Well, think about it. Do you want Trump? and the American administration with their hands on your data, because the Chinese... Oh, this is sort of like your Europe one, right? This is kind of like Europe. That's exactly right. You're going to see a ton of European and Asian companies defect. from AWS and Azure and Google Cloud to Babacloud.
And Alibaba trades at a huge discount to Amazon. You're about to see an incredible regression. One of the most powerful forces in the universe, especially in the markets, is a regression to the mean. Chinese stocks trading at a multiple of 14, U.S. stocks trading at a multiple of 26. So the best companies in China that are Amazon-esque, Alibaba. are not only going to regress this naturally in terms of a multiple regression,
But Alibaba is about to scoop up so much unearned business in the cloud. A lot of people are moving to France. It's interesting. A lot of tech people I'm talking about is putting their stuff elsewhere. I had a long discussion with someone this weekend about that, putting their stuff. And it's not moving their bodies necessarily. It's moving their data. Interesting. Or their money. Yeah, money. Or I'll just, you know what? Listen, take a meeting with the head of Alibaba and let's talk about...
We're Mercedes. Let's talk about putting our cloud there. We don't need to deal with these jerks. Send a signal. Copy the head of the Commerce Department. Copy that ass clown, Lutnik, on our memo saying we're switching from AWS. to the barber cloud. He wouldn't even know what to do. Anyway, we have to move on. But those are all really good, Scott. Very nice. I like it. Well, we'll see what happens there.
Very quickly, FBI agents arrested a Milwaukee judge accused of instructing justice for directing an undocumented immigrant in her courtroom to exit through the side door to avoid immigration agents. FBI Director Cash Patel posted a photo of the judge, Hannah C. Dugan, in handcuffs, saying,
No one is above the law. Dugan has since been released from custody. He's unexpected to be arraigned on May 15th, which is soon. Meanwhile, three U.S. citizen children under 10 have been deported with their mothers. including a four-year-old with stage 4 cancer. According to a recent Washington Post-ABC Ipsos poll, 53% of Americans disroove Trump's handling of immigration where he was winning.
That's up from 48% in February. This was his signature issue. We'll talk about the polls for Trump, which are terrible right now. But this was the one where he was ironclad. Very quick thoughts on this. If you look at the polls and you try to be an honest broker, his signature issues. He had a lot of support around. He had a mandate around immigration. He had a mandate around tariffs. You know, he had a mandate around kind of DEI or wokeness, whatever you want to call it.
But as my friend, Dev Seidman wrote a book on this, it's not about, it's not about what you do. It's how you do it. And he's really blown it because actually the majority of Americans believe you should deport people who are here illegally. However, should you deport... a four-year-old with stage four cancer without, I mean, should you start rounding up people because of the wrong tattoo? Should you levy tariff?
that basically neuter domestic businesses and are about to put a ton of small businesses out of business. The majority of his policies, actually, especially on the immigration side, he's a winner in, especially over the Democrats. He just stuck out this chin, the world's biggest chin in the world.
But the problem is the way he's going about it, he's kind of, in my view, he's kind of blown it with just a few. And I'm not talking about what's right here or what I would have liked to have seen done. But purely politically, if he had just scaled back, people actually agree with Dote. has been such overreach and the coarseness and the cruelty and quite frankly, the incompetence and stupid, stupidity. Doing victory laps without a victory. He could, he could Kara.
The media and progressives could have their hair on fire and he could be one of the most popular presidents. In history in the first hundred days, if he had maintained these themes, but handled them with a little bit more. caution, nuance, and discipline, and had smarter people executing these things. He has people who say yes, and to his bad base instincts. And so he's also older. I'm going to start to really stress that. I know all these books are coming about Biden.
But he's older, and so he's unfettered. He's... And he does what he wants and he has people around him who are incompetent or have a cruelty streak like Kash Patel, Kristi Noem standing in front of those. people i think everybody was uncomfortable with that photo of her in front of those i don't care what those guys did that was gross that was grotesque dressed like a you know ice barbie
Kash Patel, the way he talks about things. Stephen Miller, forget it, screaming on every TV station. I think you don't win by yelling at people and telling them they're stupid for finding... deportation of a four-year-old with stage four cancer. And that Tom Hellman, he seems Like he's had a few all the time and he says stupid things almost continually. I mean, the cruelty is really quite.
diminishing of, you're right, popular programs. But this number of 48 to 53, he's underwater on his signature issue, which is really, I mean, that'll make other people act up against him. Anyway, we'll see what's going to happen. I think it's going to continue to rise because I think he can't help himself. We'll see. He needs to pull back. If he did, he'd probably be popular again. There would have been a few tweaks. Right, tweaks. We love our PhD students.
Of course. Oh, this person is not a criminal. We apologize. We're going to figure out where this person should be sent or brought back to America. They can't do it. We immediately called. slung Kettering and got this little girl help. I mean, show me someone who is willing to be this cruel. I'll show you someone who invokes the name of Jesus Christ every fucking minute. And if Jesus came back, he'd puke on these people. Well, he was an immigrant.
Anyway, let's go on a quick break. When we come back, President Trump's switch up on Ukraine. This is sort of a shift. Support for Pivot comes from Upwork. Scaling your business requires the right expertise at the right time and creating that perfect mix can help take your business to the next level. With Upwork, you can find specialized freelancers in marketing, development, design, and more experts who are ready to level up your business and grow by accessing a global marketplace.
filled with top talent in IT, web development, AI, design, admin support, marketing, and more, companies at every stage turn to Upwork to get things done. Posting a job on Upwork is easy with no cost. Upwork makes the entire process easier, simpler, and more affordable with industry low fees. Post a job today and hire tomorrow with Upwork.
Visit Upwork.com right now to post your job for free. That is Upwork.com to post your job for free and connect with top talent ready to help your business grow. That's U-P-W-O-R-K.com, Upwork.com. Support for Pivot comes from Vanta. Trust isn't just earned, it's demanded. Whether you're a startup founder navigating your first audit or a seasoned security professional scaling your GRC program, proving your commitment to security has never been more critical or more complex.
That's where Vanta comes in. Businesses use Vanta to establish trust by automated compliance needs across over 35 frameworks, including SOC 2, ISO 27001, centralized security workflows, complete questionnaires up to five times faster. and proactively manage vendor risk. Vanta not only saves you time, it can also save you money. A new IDC white paper found that Vanta customers achieve $535,000 per year in benefits and that the platform pays for itself in just three months.
You can join over 9,000 global companies, including Atlassian, Quora, and Factory, to use Vanta to manage risk and prove security in real time. For a limited time, our audience gets $1,000 off Vanta at vanta.com. That's V-A-N-T-A dot com slash pivot for $1,000 off. How does someone go from reality TV fame to prison to multimillionaire business owner? This week on Net Worth and Chill, I'm talking to Mike, the situation Sorrentino, who skyrocketed to fame on Jersey Shore, earning millions.
before it all came crashing down. Tax evasion, prison time, addiction battles. Mike is rebuilding his wealth with purpose and helping the people and communities that lifted him up. during his darkest days. I believe that you are the writer, director, and producer of your life. And if you want a better outcome, then you need to make it so. Listen wherever you get your podcasts or watch on youtube.com slash yourrichbff.
Scott, we're back. President Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky met on the sidelines of the Pope Francis' funeral this weekend to discuss the end of war. It was a very interesting visual. I thought it was terrific visual, actually. And now President Trump appears to be on Ukraine's side. The U.S. president afterwards posted on True Social criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin. for recent missile attacks on Ukraine saying it makes me
Think that maybe he doesn't want to stop the war. Really? He's just tapping me along. And this has to be dealt with differently through banking or secondary sanctions, whatever that is. On Sunday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio. who really looks like he's blinking for us to come save him, said administration will decide this week.
whether to continue pursuing a negotiated settlement of the war. Who do you think got in his ear about Russia here? It's really, it was kind of a shift. I thought that picture was kind of weirdly beautiful of him and these. in this incredibly ornate setting on these two simple chairs, sort of leaning into each other in a really... It was one of the images of the year. I agree. I was sort of like, whoa, that's a great image.
You know what it looked like? It looked like they were about to address the Senate on the planet of Naboo. Anyway. Were you expecting Natalie Portman to come out? So what do you think about this shift? Who got his ear? Who got his ear? Like. I think this is the issue, and I always say that, and then I go back to deficits. What you have here is, when Trump was asked, after they said they both need to give up something and accept things they don't want.
And Trump was asked, well, what is Putin supposed to give up? And he said, well, to stop the killing and stop the invasion. Now think about that statement. What the President of the United States is saying to the world is that if you're an autocrat, you now have an incentive to invade and kill people because you gain something to give up.
The whole point of pushing back, the whole point of NATO, the whole point of having an $800 billion military industrial complex is we create a series of incentives that when you illegally invade a neighboring country and start shelling maternity wards, that you end up worse off. And what Trump and Vance are effectively saying is they're going to have to cede all the land. to russia and exchange russia will just stop its illegal murderous activity that is
That is exactly what America is not supposed to be doing. And what got in his ear, I'd like to think some sanity that at the end of the day. The president is the world's largest capital allocator, the world's largest manager, trying to allocate capital to the greatest return possible. The greatest return in geopolitics is for 60 to 80 billion dollars or 8 to 10 percent of our military budget. We give, we armed the brave Ukrainian army with the weapons.
to fight back on Russia such that they have to spend half a billion to a billion dollars a day to distract them from the surface area of attack against the U.S., which they They deploy in one of two ways. They either steal our IP or they cyber attack us. So keeping Russia distracted in Ukraine, and I know this is macabre, and I know this ignores the incredible human sacrifice, but if we're going to just talk about rail politics.
This is the best money we've ever spent. And until Russia, until we show other autocrats we're thinking about invading. South Korea or invading Taiwan, until we give them a clear signal, there is incentive not to do it, meaning you are worse off when you do this, not better off.
The world is less safe. Is there a person you think got in his head? I don't know, Cara. I don't know. I don't know who this guy listens to other than Peter Navarro. The best thing that could happen for our economy is if someone... chained Peter Navarro to his bar. I mean, in his room, in his... The worst thing that could happen to our economy is every time you see Peter Navarro anywhere near the president, go short the market.
I don't know what Secretary Rubio, but the thing about Secretary Rubio is I literally think he'll say just... Anything. Right, I agree. Anything. Anything. Yeah, that'll get him. He wants to position himself for the presidential race, obviously. What do you think? I think he understands he got taken and he needs a win. And there's no winning with Vladimir Putin. And I think he understands that. Maybe he doesn't care about whatever.
with that relationship anymore. I think they kept bombing when they said they weren't. So, like, why wasn't he listening to me? I thought I had control. And he said he was going to do it on day one, if you remember, settle the war. Maybe he had some promise. He's got to settle it. And so I think backing Ukraine is the best way to do that. I mean, it's the only way to, punching a bully in the nose.
as a bully like trump would know is the best way to do it we'll see i just wasn't really struck by it we'll see if he can he could change next yes tomorrow like who knows That's the problem here, the flippity flippity. But look at what Zelensky's done, and it's a great lesson. And that is, Zelensky hasn't gotten emotional. He's shown up. He's shown up. He's kissed his ass. He's just tried to be very...
resolute and calm and dignified. And just a quick review here, folks, we spend $60 billion a year Almost all of that comes back to America, and almost all of that goes into red states, and in exchange, we're going to get incredible drone technology. We're unifying Europe. I mean, we're sending a very strong struggle to the rest of the world. And if we take all of that money and just give Russia everything they've wanted, we're basically saying, okay.
It's a go sign. It's green light for any autocrat that wants to invade. That's right. And also that someday Ukraine is going to be one of those countries, tech forward, exciting place to invest, exciting place for U.S. capitalists to be. It is a wonderful economy in that regard. It's just getting the shit beat out of by a bunch of people who are not a wonderful economy. So it is a real opportunity to back Ukraine from a financial point of view, from what Scott was saying, and in the future.
Anyway, we're going to move on. Speaking of now, the other side of Donald Trump, his official meme coin skyrocketed after announcement that he... that the top 220 holders of the coin would get invited to dinner with the president. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. What corruption in plain sight. Steve Ratner wrote a great piece about this, by the way.
This week, the initial price surge was over 50%, boosting the coin's total market value to $2.7 billion, with Trump and his allies reportedly pocketing close to $900,000 in trading fees in two days in trading fees.
Senator Chris Murphy posted on X that the meme coin sale was the most brazenly corrupt thing a president ever done. I think pretty much so. And Senators Adam Schiff and Elizabeth Warren are calling for an ethics investigation, saying this dinner might constitute a pay-to-play corruption. I think it doesn't constitute it. I think if he loses the house in two years, this is all we're going to be talking about.
You have talked a lot about this meme coin. And then speaking of access, I'm going to add this on. Donald Trump Jr., along with Omid Malik, I think that's his name. Anyway, several other investors are reportedly launching an invite-only club in D.C. that costs more than a half a million dollars to join. The executive branch will cater.
to business and tech models looking to nurture relations with Trump administration, according to Politico. This one just sounds douchey, but I don't have a problem with it. They can have their little clubs to meet at and do their, like, man things there if they want. Talk about, the second one I don't think is corruption. I just think the Democrats have it too. There's always been clubs. There's always been this kind of thing. It's just as extra douchey as all. Thoughts on the coin and the club?
I'm exactly where you are. I believe in the right of free assembly. And if Don Jr. wants to get people together and charge him, that's his right. I don't. And by the way, that's kind of what lobbyists do. It's like lobbying with a party. I don't have a problem with it. They can go to a steak place or just. displaced. Who cares? Fine. The Trump coin is grift on an entirely different dimension. And let's just talk about the timing.
He announced the Trump coin the Friday night before his inauguration when there was just a media maelstrom and he buried it, right? Because he knew that the market would go, this is incredibly corrupt. There were about 30 people who made about $600 or $800 million, according to logs, in those first few hours.
And my guess is those 30 people might have been tipped off or have been really close to the president because they clearly had a lot of money and they were clearly in first. And then over the course of the next few weeks. About 80,000 people lost billions because it spiked. The insiders got out. Then let's talk about more timing. He decides. that about the time that the lockup is going to come up, and that is the insiders, the people who started to get to sell, he decides.
One, to have a meeting, you know, to announce this meeting to distract people and get the get the price back up. And shortly before that, he announced that he was doing away with the DOJ unit that investigates crypto scam. So this is really, I wish he approached geopolitics and tariff policy with the same strategy he approaches his griff. Because the grift has been the most competent, elegant part.
of the Trump administration. He is strategic. He is thoughtful. His timing is excellent. The brightest people in the Trump administration. are the grifters, are the people handling, they're bearing the stories at the exact right moment. They're neutering the investigative- They've been at it for a long time. They're experienced grifters. Go ahead. They're very good at this, but this is-
Again, it's just very simple. If you found out that Vladimir Putin had been buying hundreds of millions or billions in Trump coin and saying to Trump, you're going to be the wealthiest man ever, as long as we keep buying. By the way, in unrelated news, what are your thoughts on Ukraine? Wouldn't all of this make sense? And that might not be true, but the whole point of the president... and our elected officials is you're not supposed to have. that doubt, that cloud of corruption over them.
And just because I want to move to a solution, I absolutely think we need to move to a Singaporean model. I think the president should make 10 million bucks a year. I think senators should make 3 million and representatives should make a million dollars a year. And in exchange for that... Abso-fucking-lutely nothing resembling corrections. Speaker Emerton Pelosi, you can't trade stocks.
You cannot when you're voted out of office, there's a three year sunshine period. You can't go to work for a lobbyist. You can never talk about an individual company. For God's sakes, you can't get involved in. None of your family members can start a crypto company.
zero tolerance corruption, but we're going to pay you a lot of money because all they're doing now with the current compensation... Can we hit them with a cane when they do it? Like what they do in Singapore? Well, but to be fair, when you're making $185,000, which is what... our congresspeople make, and they have to support two homes, the opportunity, and they see everyone else engaged in grift, the seduction of grift just becomes too great.
So pay them a lot of money. These are important, impressive people who have a big impact on our economy. Pay them a lot of money, zero tolerance. And if you propose that, I think they would pass it. I don't know. I don't know. People would go, why are we paying the congressman a million? No, the congresspeople would pass it. They get to vote on it. I don't think they would.
They want to show that they're here. You don't think they said, all right, a million bucks a year. No, I think from the perception, I think people will be like, why are you getting a million dollars for that job? Like, what in the hell? I'm just saying. This would be a very difficult political thing.
to pull off. But if they all did it at once, are they going to vote all at once? Yeah, they never do anything all at once. It's just such a good thing for like a Marjorie Taylor Greene to say, because she makes all this grift on the side. Speaking of grift, she had a big stock sales. Yeah, I agree with you. I agree with you on her stock sale. She didn't do anything that Pelosi hasn't done dozens of times. But you're going to insult Pelosi.
Please belly up to the fucking grift bar if you don't mind. Agreed. All right. Let's go on a quick break. When we come back, Trump claims he's made 200 deals on tariffs. They're kissing my ass. On March 12th, Kilmar Abrego Garcia was picked up by ice in Prince George's County, Maryland. In the days that followed, he was deported to the country where he was born, El Salvador, except this time he wound up in its infamous Seacott prison. At Seacott, they don't let...
Any of the prisoners have access to the outside world. On March 31st, the Trump administration said it had mistakenly deported a Borrego Garcia, calling it an administrative error. On April 4th, a U.S. district judge told the Trump administration to have Abrego Garcia back in the United States by April 7th. On April 10th, the Supreme Court entered the chat and more or less agreed, saying the Trump administration needed to get Abrego Garcia back. It's April 23rd, and he's still not back.
On Today Explained, we're going to speak with the Maryland senator who sat down with Abrego Garcia in El Salvador last week and figure out how this legal standoff between the Trump administration and the courts might play out. A surprising amount of just being alive in 2025 means interacting with devices and platforms. And this week on The Vergecast, we talk about a lot of devices.
and a lot of platforms. We talk about YouTube, which just turned 20, and what it means that it is essentially the whole entertainment industry in one platform. We talk about Google and Meta, which are both on trial to see if their platforms are gonna be broken up. We talk about your phone and what it means that one device that has all of your most personal information on it that someone at the border can just look at. All that and lots more on The Vergecast, wherever you get podcasts.
The regular season is in the rear view, and now it's time for the games that matter the most. This is Kenny Beecham, and playoff basketball is finally here. On Small Ball, we're diving deep into every series, every crunch time finish. Every coaching adjustment that can make or break a championship run. Who's building for a 16-win marathon? Which superstar was submitted? submit their legacy and which role player is about to become a household name. With so many fascinating first round matchups.
Will the West be the bloodbath we anticipate? Will the East be as predictable as we think? Can the Celtics defend their title? Can Steph Curry, LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard push the young teams at the top? I'll be bringing the expertise, the passionate, genuine opinion you need for the most exciting time of the NBA calendar. Small ball is your essential companion for the NBA postseason. Join me, Kenny Beecham, for new episodes of small ball throughout the playoffs.
through the playoffs available on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. Scott, we're back. As President Trump marks 100 days in office, 64% of Americans disapprove of how he's handling the tariffs, according to that new ABC News, Washington Post, Ipsos poll. It's one of many that are pointing in these directions. Trump is now saying he's made... 200 deals on tariffs in an interview with Time magazine. He also keeps claiming to have spoken with China's President Xi. Who knows?
China denies any talks are happening and said the U.S. should stop creating confusion. I'm leaving China on this one. Treasury Secretary Scott Besant was on ABC's This Week where he tempted to explain Trump's tariff strategy. This was so painful to watch. Listen. And game theory is called strategic uncertainty.
So you're not going to tell the person on the other side of the negotiation where you're going to end up. And nobody's better at creating this leverage than President Trump. He's shown these high tariffs. And it's like, here's the stick. This is where the tariffs can go. And the carrot is, come to us, take off your tariffs, take off your non-tariff trade barriers. stop manipulating your currency, stop subsidizing labor and capital, and then we can talk.
oh my god scott scott it's like sticking your eye with a dry stick and saying we won like what Like, this was like, it's chaos. I just don't, strategic, you do strategic uncertain to me all the time, Scott, and I find it irritating. That's all I have to say. Thoughts, thoughts, thoughts. I'm fascinated by game theory. I teach a class on game theory and this could not be, this is their go-to. It's the general script that they all have to follow. couch everything in what a genius Trump is.
And also... Chess. That's right. Claim he's playing... 20D chess. Claim he's playing 4D chess. And the reality is the world thinks there's a decent chance this man-child is going to start eating the pieces. He's such a fucking idiot. And I don't know. Let's look at our three largest trading partners. And I'm boasting about I'm name dropping now, but without name dropping. Our three largest trading partners are Canada, the Mexico, then China. In the last week, I interviewed...
The prime minister of Canada. The soon to probably be today, by the way. Well, he's prime minister now and he's probably going to be reelected because of Trump. Because the opposition, the conservative party. 25 points they were up. Has overcome a 25 point deficit. Jesus. Anyways.
Yeah. Anyways, by the way, this guy probably has the most impressive resume in global politics. I kind of want to marry him. I think he's married. Prime Minister Carney. He is dreamy. He's dreamy. He's very nice. He's thoughtful. Anyways. I asked him straight up, are you talking to the administration? He said, no. Yeah.
Canadians, Canadians, literally, they can't. It's difficult for them to lie. They're just not good at it. It's like if I ask Brian Adams or, you know, Alan Thicke, the most personal things they would. I just get the sense to give you a straight answer. I don't think he's lying. On Saturday night, I was with the CEO of one of the largest Chinese companies in the world and in China. And I said, do you have any sense for if the...
CCP or she is talking to the U.S. He's like, I have a very strong sense. And the answer is they're not talking. Their attitude is, yeah, bring it, boss. We've taken on much worse. There's no dialogue. So two of the three largest trading partners. are not, unless these people are lying to me, have no dialogue with Trump. They're just letting him flail around, writhe and scream on the ground like a three-year-old.
And saying, yeah, have at it. Cry and scream and negotiate against yourself. This is the same guy, speaking of 3D chess, who imposed 145% tariff on Monday. And then on Friday said. The tariff rate's unsustainable and it needs to come down. It's like, weren't you the one that...
But talk about Besant here. Like, what is he doing? He's in an impossible position. He's not impossible. He doesn't have to say this nonsense. He's fallen into the same trap as Gary Cohn and all these guys. There's a call. When you're called to serve, You can understand that you go. Rubio wants to go because he wants to be more presidential and then announce his presidency in about two years and 11 months as candidacy again.
These guys all think this is an unbelievable opportunity and I'm going to be the one that pulls things off his desk and can convince him. And also, I've heard when you talk to Trump in person, he comes across as remarkably sane. So they all go in, I think, with the false illusion they're going to be able to make a difference and talk some sense into this guy. Because when you talk to people who know Howard Letnick, they say the following. Nice guy.
He's an ass in terms of these decisions and his way over his head. When you talk to people about Scott Bessent, they say, very intelligent guy. People are very impressed with him. But the question is, and a lot of people acknowledge this, including Bill Clinton, that is the only way you can have influence is to maintain your job or get elected. And sometimes you have to do things you don't want to do.
Uh, but Scott percent is, I think he goes home at night and literally looks in the mirror and says, I hate myself. And none of this makes any fucking sense. And he's like. I have to go on and defend the indefensible. Yeah, he cries in his cashmere pillows. I can see that. Don't you see it? All right. We're going to move on in a second. But the words, the strategic uncertainty is.
chaos that's what that's their word they're using and it's to put you know lipstick on a pig this is a pig no matter how you slice it like that is if you want to slice a pig in any case What is disaster? By the way, fast fashion giant that Scott likes Sheehan is already hiking prices as high as 377%. So instead of a dollar, it costs $4.
Well, just some of the companies, for example, we were talking about Alibaba earlier. Do you know what percentage of Alibaba's business is done in the U.S.? Not much, I bet. So you think they're scared? Yeah. She and his big hair.
The Shein is big here, but what's interesting about it is the following. The math that people fail to do is like, oh, it'll really hurt them, and then Shein, and then she will get nervous. Oh, Shein is not doing well, even though Shein claims to be a Singaporean company. Their supply chain is in China. They employ a lot of people in China. So, oh, we're going to intimidate them and scare them because their products are gone up. OK, let's do the math.
Shein's whole value proposition is I can get you or they can get you. a $10 reasonable facsimile of a cashmere sweater, they can import it in for $10. because of their supply chain, whereas Ralph Lauren, when they import something in from China, it costs them 60, or say 50. Generally speaking, a retailer kind of triples it. So it goes from 10 to 30 bucks. If the 145% tariff goes from, that takes it from 10 to 24 bucks. So then it needs to go to 72.
The $50 sweater that comes into Ralph Lauren goes from 50 to 100 and what is that? 45%, 125. So that goes to $375. So the question is, do these less expensive products, the whole market shrinks. But I would argue that cheaper stuff from China ends up taking shares, so the economy goes down, because the price differential on cheaper goods broadens between the more expensive goods.
So what happens? The economy goes down, spending goes down. But I wonder if some of those less expensive Chinese products... actually end up grabbing share from the American companies that are bringing in China, Chinese products. So it's like the worst of both worlds for American companies. It's just a mess. Anyway. Speaking of another interesting thing, we haven't talked about Elon in a while. He's been very quiet.
He's not wielding his chainsaw. As I noted, I saw the Escalade EV, which I thought was a very impressive car. But another one, again, Cybertruck could have been a terrific, beautiful car, and it turned out to be a lemon, and it's a disaster for Tesla, quite a big disaster. A startup called Slate Auto, backed by Jeff Bezos and other investors, is launching a made-in-America EV truck with a starting price of $20K, inexpensive after federal tax credits.
the slate struck design is pretty basic no power windows no infotainment screen no paint people will get custom wraps you can also um change it and you can make put a back on it it can be a It can be a pickup. It can do a number of different things. It's really quite, I love the idea of it. It's a lot like Zook's, which he also has, where you can customize it very much.
It gets about 150 miles of range on a charge. The car is designed in California and Michigan will be manufactured in the Midwest with domestically sourced parts. It's like a Lego car, it looks like. Slate plants start deliveries in late 2026. I bet they will. I bet they'll actually do what they say as opposed to what Tesla always does. Over in Europe, VW overtook Tesla as a top EV seller for the first three months of 2025. That's a big deal.
Their car is an ID4, I think it's called. I want to buy it so badly, I can't even stand it. I don't care how much it costs. It's so great looking and looks terrific and well made. All these EV companies, I've seen more and more, not just BYD, and there's another one in Japan, but... So much competition, so many beautiful cars, which are fun and interesting and at so many different price points. And EV sales are up along with hybrid sales.
Again, another thing Tesla could have done and had the market and losing it because they had to indulge in his Cybertruck fantasies. So any quick thoughts? I love the new Rivian car. I mean, the automobile industry is a case study in economics around fixed costs, and that is to build. to build an assembly line or to build a platform. All right, we want to build an SUV.
It costs so much money to build a platform that it's all about scale. You got to just shove a shit ton of cars down that assembly line. So what do they do? Volkswagen says, okay, we're building a platform for SUVs. And about 80% of the way down the assembly line, they shove a Volkswagen Touareg, a Porsche. a Porsche Cayman, and an Audi Q7. They're all on the same assembly line. And then the last 10 or 20% of the assembly line, they take different routes.
And the Porsche gets much higher end leather and badging and a better stereo. And then once it's off the assembly line, they get... a different ad agency to appeal to men in midlife crisis. The Tor gets an ad agency for families. The Audi gets someone who thinks they're a little bit more Euro, whatever it might be. But they've got to shove as many cars down that assembly line for scale as possible.
And basically, Rivian's saying, okay, we've got to come out with a lower cost product and shove as many... is many cars down that assembly line. I think the most impressive company in the world right now, I'm actually thinking of buying their stock, even though it's up 60% in the last year, is BYD.
I think this company is going to ultimately, ultimately trade barriers come down because people are more greedy than they are concerned about their fellow citizens or whatever it is you want argument you want to make around tariffs or trade protections. The world ultimately. is up and to the right around free trade. It just makes sense for everybody. It's just everybody wants cheaper grapes and more toys under the tree than they are worried about Joe, who's a union guy.
over the long term. And BYD is literally just, if you look at their products relative to the cost, They're putting out a car right now if we didn't have any trade barriers. You could get a really good EV for less than $10,000. Can you imagine how many of those things they would sell in America? Yep, absolutely.
Anyway, and Nali, everyone keeps talking. I mean, there's this ridiculous notion about humanoid robots at Tesla. You want to see the most unbelievable robots? Go to a factory in China and see the robotics there. I mean, Tim Cook said this. He said the misconception of China is it's a bunch of low cost wage labor and factories doing, you know, tedious work. You go into these factories, it's something out of Westworld.
So they've already got robotics and humanoids doing incredible things. Anyway, there's a ton of companies, but unfortunately or fortunately. Volkswagen has unbelievable scale, and now they're selling the most EVs in Europe. And you just want to shove as many cars down that fixed cost assembly line. And the one I think that's going to be.
become the automobile and innovation company of the next five years is going to be BYD. But let me just say, all the car companies really have exciting cars. They're offering all of them in some ways. And they'll either be popular or not, but impressive. I mean, you put the Cybertruck next to these and it's such a fail on behalf of Tesla to have had the lead here and it could have been innovative. He just doesn't want to be in the car company.
bragging about robo-taxis, which Waymo is doing beautifully. And then he's talking about the Optimus Prime, which nobody wants to have a robot in their house right now. It's just not happening. Maybe someday. But this idea, like these, they're indulging. I need someone to yell at. I can't believe you forgot to take the roast out of the freezer. I know, exactly. But you know what? They're indulging in this guy's weird fantasies. They never should have done the Cybertruck. Never.
There was so much opportunity for him to do a big killer, Escalade killer, a truck killer. Didn't do it. Didn't do it. Had to create this weird thing not a woman would never buy. And the only men that would buy it are dickless. Well, you know why robots don't have brothers? Why? Oh, no. Because they have transistors. That's good. Okay, one more quick break. That's a good one. We'll be back for wins and fails.
This week on Prof G Markets, we speak with Ryan Peterson, founder and CEO of Flexport, a leader in global supply chain management. and we get Ryan's take on the likely outcomes. of this ongoing trade war. If they don't change anything and this 145% duty sticks on China, it'll take out like mass bankruptcies. You're talking like 80% of small business that buys from China will just die. And millions of employees will go, you know,
will be unemployed. I mean, it's sort of why I'm like, they obviously have to back off the trade. Like that can't be that they just do that. I don't believe that they're that crazy. You can find that conversation exclusively on the Prof G Markets podcast. Looking for a political show that doesn't scream from the extremes? Raging Moderates is now twice a week. What a thrill! Oh my god! Alert the media!
Hosted by political strategist Jess Tarloff and myself, Scott Galloway, this is the show for the rest. who are living somewhere between the center left and the center right. You can now find Raging Moderates on its own feed every Tuesday and Friday. That's right. Twice a week. Exclusive interviews with sharp political minds.
You won't hear anywhere else. Also, everyone that's running for president. All of a sudden, everybody wants to know our viewpoint on things. In other words, put me on your pod so I can run for president. Anyways, twice a week, please sign up on our distinct feed. Follow Raging Moderates wherever you get your podcasts. and on YouTube so you don't miss an episode. Tune in. We're not always right, but our hearts are in the right place. We're more raging than moderate.
Okay, Scott, let's hear some wins and fails. I think I'll go first today. There's a story in the Wall Street Journal. Again, I argued with meta people this weekend at these parties. It's called Digital Companions. They have the ability to engage in romantic role play with users, including kids. According to a Wall Street Journal article, Mark is the one pushing it through to be more aggressive.
I've talked to a lot of people internally at Facebook. They've been trying to keep them from doing that and to be very safety conscious around these things. Very similar to Character AI, which was an offshoot of Google. People went off and did it, and Google's now licensing it. And a lot of kids, one kid killed himself, etc. You cannot have digital companions that kids can get near. And there can't be any holes in your wall if you're going to do this. I have no problem.
I don't have a problem with these digital companions and being romantic. They cannot get near certain people. And it should be like the fact that the Wall Street Journal was able to get them to do this. And also, they also have celebrity voices for these things. And they start to get, apparently John Cena got sexy with someone. He didn't want to get sexy with them, but he did.
his bot did. And so if you're going to do this stuff, you've got to have it locked the fuck down. And the fact that they haven't is just a typical. And Mark is pushing it through and there's a lot of pressure. et cetera, et cetera. I'm just astonished that they continue to build things without the level of care they need to. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised, but it's really amazing that they keep doing so.
It's such a fail. It's such an astonishing fail. And I think probably my positive this week, there's a lot of stuff coming out. I'll be talking about the next Mission Impossible soon and other things that are coming out. Looks like some great movies this summer. But I have to say, I think this Carney in Canada is playing it beautifully. I assume he's going to win.
And he looks like he's on track to win. And what a comeback for the liberals. And changing their candidate is what they did. They've been in charge for a long time. I don't think any country should have one party. in charge for too long. But he seems to be a fresh new face when he's not a fresh new face. So it gives a lot of lessons to Democrats.
finding a fresh new face, even when you're not fresh. So I'm really, we'll see what happens. And then very briefly, there's a big outage of power in Spain and Portugal, and I hope good luck to the people there as it's happening. And of course, we have to think about a cyber attack. in situations like this, but they're having it right now. And it's really, this is going to happen more in the future. Just, Scott? I love your fail. And I do believe that.
This requires some sort of legislation because I think one of the biggest threats to our society is a lack of... companionship and love and mating that turns people, especially young men, into misogynists and nationalists and extremists. And also suicidal. I see all these TikToks about, and it's heartbreaking about women talking about why would they go on a date when they might go out with someone that murders them.
And I understand that men are more violent. And I think it's a real issue. And I can understand. And it breaks my heart to think that women aren't safe around men. But the reality is 2,500 women are murdered by men a year. And that's way too many. And they're usually domestic partners or someone they know. So these men are not only dangerous to society and dangerous to women, but especially dangerous to themselves.
And the question is, well, why are we creating these violent men who are prone to just information that becomes, turns them into shitty citizens, makes them more? disparaging of women more and much more harmful to others and especially harmful to themselves. And I think part of that is they're mammals and they're losing connection with other people.
And when you have the deepest pocketed, most well-resourced companies in the world all trying to convince these men they can have a reasonable facsimile of life on a screen with an algorithm, we're making the problem worse. And I've said that I think wanting to have friends... wanting to go through the pecking order, the humiliation of figuring out friendships, wanting to figure out how hard it is to navigate the corporate world.
I think that can turn you into a better person, especially a better man. These guys don't mature very early. And also that fire, that real fire of sexual desire. I think when channeled correctly makes you stronger, more kind, demonstrate excellence, have a plan. You know, there's a reason, and I've said this over and over, there's a reason romantic comedies are two hours, not 15 minutes, and that this shit is hard, but it's worth it.
And anything that convinces even more young men that they don't need to go through the difficult and rewarding and worthwhile effort of establishing human connection with other sentient beings.
is a threat to our society. I would agree. But if they're going to do it, they have to do it safely. Like, honestly, I don't... Yeah, but my question is, it's one thing to give seniors companions who are in their 90s and have lost all their loved ones... Yeah, I'd like to have one for my mother, I'll be honest. But should we have... Or maybe tax the shit out of them. I don't know. Should we have...
AI sex robots that convince all men to think that, oh, I don't need to be kind to women. I don't need to have a plan. They're going to make them, Scott. Whether you like it or not, they're going to make them. Because these guys, they can't have children. And they desperately want to have children in a weird, strange, fucked up way. Who are you talking about? I think sometimes I think AI. I told you this theory. I think AI is...
the way it gets so dominated by men and there's so lack of safety and everything else. I said it's because I think men can't have children, certain men, not all of them think this way, but can't have children. This is their way of giving birth. I just, or something, or creating. I never thought about that. Think about it. Are you saying incel culture or the people who run AI companies? No, I think the people that run some of these companies, they can't make it.
It's a very beautiful thing to make a child. Men and women make them together, obviously, but really women grow children, right? And men, this is men's way of growing. growing beings. I don't know. Anyway, go ahead with you. It's such a dystopian, weird vision. I know, it is, it is. Think about it, think about it. But I hear this stuff. Everyone talks, I do a lot of talks on AI, and they talk about, oh, they're going to be unsentient, self-healing weapons, misinformation.
Hands down, the biggest threat of AI is loneliness. Loneliness, you're right. It's going to convince more and more people they don't need to engage. My win is a little bit longer, and I know you're probably interviewing the ghost of Boutros, Boutros Ghali, but you're going to have to put up with me. Go ahead. So after the Pope passed, there was something that was attributed to him. I don't know if he said it, but I think it's lovely and I'm going to read it anyway.
The walls of hospitals have heard more honest prayers than churches. They have witnessed far more sincere kisses than those in airports. It is in hospitals that you see a homophobe being saved by a gay doctor. A privileged doctor saving the life of a beggar. In intensive care, you see a Jew taking care of a racist, a police officer and a prisoner in the same room receiving the same care. A wealthy patient waiting for a liver transplant.
ready to receive the organ from a poor donor. It's in these moments, when the hospital touches the wounds of people, that different worlds intersect according to divine design. And in this communion of destinies, we realize that alone we are nothing. The absolute truth of people most of the time only reveals itself in moments of pain or in the real threat of an irreversible loss.
A hospital is a place where human beings remove their masks and show themselves as they truly are, in their purest essence. This life will pass quickly, so do not waste it fighting with people. Do not criticize your body too much. Do not complain excessively. Do not lose sleep over bills. Make sure you hug your loved ones. Do not worry too much. about keeping the house spotless. Material goods must be earned by each person. Do not dedicate yourself to accumulating an inheritance.
You are waiting for, you are waiting far too much. Christmas, Friday next year, when you have money. when love arrives, when everything is perfect. Listen, perfection does not exist. A human being cannot attain it because we are simply not made to be fulfilled here. Here we are given an opportunity to learn.
So make the most of this trial of life and do it now. Respect yourself. Respect others. Walk your own path and let go of the path others have chosen for you. Respect. Do not comment. Do not judge. Do not interfere. Love more. Forgive more. embrace more, live more intensely, and leave the rest in the hands of the Creator. Anyways, Pope Francis, rest in peace. That was beautiful. Yeah.
I cry at everything. I know, but it's my favorite, Scott, just so you know. Just turn on Modern Family. You'll see what it works. That was beautiful. That was beautiful, Scott. Let's embrace, and I'll see you next time, okay? for a whole minute and a half. Or if Emily Ratajkowski gets married again. To you, not to you. There's still time. There's still time. There is time? There's still time. Anyway, that was beautiful, Scott Galloway, and I appreciate that you brought it here.
Anyway. Well, you know what a pre-scrotum looks like, Sonia. Oh, here we go. You're going to ruin it. Go ahead. Come on, Kara. Come on, Kara. Every child knows that. Just, he's back. He's back. A moment of beauty followed by a moment of horror. Okay, I didn't see that coming. Anyway, so. It's a new joke. Thank you for the scrotum joke. We want to hear from you. Send us your questions.
You have good jokes today about business tech or whatever's on your mind. Go to nymag.com slash pivot to submit a question for the show or call 855- 5-1 pivot elsewhere in the Kara and Scott universe. This week, I talked to comedic actor Ed Helms.
For the On With Kara Swisher show, I named members of the Trump administration and asked Ed to match each of them with a character in The Office where he starred for so many years. Such a great guy. He's been in tons of things like The Hangover, but he also has a really cool podcast about Snafu, about Fuck Up. over the many centuries. Let's listen to a clip. Pete Hegseth. Okay, Pete Hegseth would be a little like...
Someone thinks Meredith, actually, because alcoholism. Oh, interesting. J.D. Vance. J.D. Vance is a little Dwight-ish, I think. He's a little Dwight-fruity, maybe. Yeah, absolutely. Cash Patel. Oh, what was Zach Wood's character? There's something there, like intense loyalty, a subscribing to a hierarchy with dedication and... and actually being well-spoken in the midst of all of it. Yeah, Gabe, Gabe. Gabe, of course.
He's really delightful. Okay, that's the show. Thanks for listening to Pivot, and be sure to like and subscribe to our YouTube channel. Your jokes are excellent today. I have to give you the star. Five stars. Thanks for that. Five stars. Thanks for that. Most comical in high school. Today's show is produced by Larry Neiman, Zoe Marcus, and Taylor Griffin. Her needed hot engineer this episode, Jim Mackle, edited the video. Thanks also to Juboros, Mia Saverio, and Dan Shulon.
Nishat Khura is Vox Media's executive producer of podcasts. Make sure you subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Thanks for listening to Pivot from New York Magazine and Vox Media. You can subscribe to the magazine at nymag.com slash pod. We'll be back later this week for another breakdown of all things. tech, and business. Kara, have a great rest of the week. Rest in peace, Pope Francis.