Mamdani's Win, Palantir's Stock Slide, and Tesla's Pay Package

Summary

Pivot Podcast Summary – November 7, 2025

Episode Title: Mamdani's Win, Palantir's Stock Slide, and Tesla's Pay Package
Hosts: Kara Swisher & Scott Galloway

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Overview

In this episode, Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway dive into the political implications of Zoran Mamdani’s surprise win as New York mayor, discuss Palantir’s volatile stock performance and Michael Burry’s short position, and analyze the drama around Elon Musk’s historic Tesla pay package. The hosts also touch on Supreme Court skepticism toward Trump’s tariffs, the privatization of space exploration, and the growing civil war within right-wing politics.

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1. Setting the Stage and Personal Updates

([02:27–07:11])

• Scott recounts his jam-packed media tour, including a sold-out interview with Ben Stiller and the rise of his book to #1 on Amazon.
• Kara jokes about their upcoming "Pivot" tour and their families’ involvement.
• Discussion of generational wealth and work ethic, with Scott reflecting on why people continue chasing money even when financially secure.

“I cannot get off the money train. I just can’t.”
— Scott Galloway ([05:26])

• Touches on inequality in romantic relationships, education, and SAT score gaps based on income.
• Kara notes her excitement for her son moving to San Francisco and discusses generational dynamics.

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2. Income, Education, and Policy Inequality

([07:11–11:45])

• Scott highlights staggering differences in education funding and results:
  • Public high schools: ~$15k/student (middle class), $8–10k (poor areas), ~$75k (top private schools).
  • Huge disparities in SAT scores by household income.

“If you’re a kid coming from a low income home... you’re gonna be 370 points down on the SAT.”
— Scott Galloway ([09:17])

• Affirms his support for income-based affirmative action.
• Debate intensifies over food insecurity and public policy, invoking SNAP statistics and widespread child food insecurity.

“Budgets... reflect values. And this is America’s values. Right now, 21% of Americans are under 18. But 40% of SNAP food recipients are under 18... It says America’s values [are]—we don’t care about our fucking children.”
— Scott Galloway ([10:13])

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3. Election Results & The Mamdani Moment

([12:12–22:27])

• Recap of major Democratic wins: Spanberger/Governor (VA), Sherrill/Governor (NJ), Prop 50 in California, and Mamdani as NYC Mayor.
• Mamdani’s victory speech focuses on combating oligarchy and authoritarianism.

“If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him.”
— Zoran Mamdani ([13:02])

• Scott expresses unease with Mamdani’s anti-oligarchy rhetoric, doubts the power of a mayor to fight such entrenched forces, but agrees all should rally behind the victor.

“If I was [in New York], I think you give the guy the benefit of the doubt and you rally behind him, which Bill Ackman did.”
— Scott Galloway ([17:22])

• Analysis of voting trends:
  • Mamdani won 68% of men, 72% of young women (18–29).
  • Stark differences among older voters, especially over 65.
• Broad conversation about generational divides in American politics.

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4. Gender Bias in Politics

([19:34–22:05])

• Scott discusses gender biases in political representation.
  • Despite women accounting for nearly 60% of college grads for 40 years, only 26% of Congress is female.
• Kara highlights the historic victory of Abby Spanberger as Virginia’s first woman governor.
• Optimism about the influx of women mayors and pipeline for future female leadership.

“The reality is Americans still very much conflate height and depth of voice with leadership qualities...”
— Scott Galloway ([18:49])

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5. Anti-Oligarchy Messaging and Political Dynamics

([22:15–25:17])

• Kara and Scott examine the resonance of anti-oligarchy, “tax the rich,” and affordability messaging as effective for Democrats.
• Scott: The issue isn’t just tax rates, but lack of enforcement for the super-rich, citing a $700B tax gap due to gutting the IRS.

“The laws in America, the top 1%, are now protected by the law but not bound by it... The bottom 99% are bound by the law but not protected by it.”
— Scott Galloway ([23:20])

• Discussion of polling and international influence on election prediction markets.

“You should absolutely take a poll and stick it up your ass.”
— Scott Galloway ([26:30])

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6. Supreme Court Scrutiny of Trump’s Tariffs

([30:44–37:31])

• Supreme Court voices skepticism about Trump’s sweeping use of emergency powers for global tariffs.
• Kara predicts the court will rule against Trump, which she sees as a political blessing in disguise.
• Scott details the mechanics of tariffs, their economic impact, and his personal investment strategies connected to potential government refunds.

“The recipient in America who signs for the Mercedes that gets off a ship pays the tariff.”
— Scott Galloway ([32:47])

“I think maybe there’s a 1 in 3 chance... that the Supreme Court rules against Trump and says you gotta give them money back.”
— Scott Galloway ([36:50])

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7. Privatization of Space: NASA, Musk, and Political Picks

([41:14–43:24])

• Trump re-nominates Jared Isaacman (friend of Elon Musk) to head NASA.
• Kara bemoans the privatization trend and loss of a unifying national scientific vision.
• Scott notes the strategic advantage Musk and other space entrepreneurs have gained.

“Elon Musk... has said if we reduce the government’s ability to launch aircraft or explore space, they’re gonna be dependent on the private sector. And I’m the prettiest girl at the dance in the private sector...”
— Scott Galloway ([41:23])

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8. Palantir’s Stock Rollercoaster & Meme Stock Warnings

([48:20–54:17])

• Palantir posts "blockbuster" earnings, but stock drops 8% as Michael Burry (The Big Short) announces a massive short position on Palantir and Nvidia.
• CEO Alex Karp gets rattled in a CNBC interview; Scott critiques Karp’s investor-relations style.
• Scott notes Palantir’s:
  • Massive performance growth
  • Insane valuation metrics (300x earnings, 125x sales)
  • Meme stock status (“...if it went down 70% tomorrow, it still wouldn’t look cheap” [49:40])
• Discussion of risks/rewards with short-selling meme stocks; Burry’s past successes and failures.

---

9. Right-Wing Civil War and Platforming Extremists

([54:17–58:44])

• Major backlash after Tucker Carlson interviews white nationalist Nick Fuentes.
• GOP splits erupted, with condemnation from major Republicans and resignations at the Heritage Foundation.
• Scott suggests Democrats should visually link Trump to toxic figures; condemns giving platforms to extremists.

“The most disturbing thing about that interview... Carlson really does deserve some pushback and legitimate criticism for platforming someone like this...”
— Scott Galloway ([55:53])

• Kara sees this as a looming crisis for the Republican Party post-Trump, stating they won't be able to keep the coalition together much longer.

---

10. Prediction: Tesla’s $1 Trillion Pay Package

([62:16–65:51])

• Kara predicts Tesla shareholders will approve Musk’s performance-based, potentially trillion-dollar pay package.
• Scott agrees, noting Musk’s cult of personality and that investors are backing him, not an “automobile company.”
• Debate over shareholder services voting against, but the "cult" factor overrides.
• Scott’s take: If Musk creates $7 trillion+ in new value, he deserves a huge reward—but needs to pay hefty taxes.

“If Elon Musk makes a trillion dollars. In my view, he should pay an alternative minimum tax of 60 or 70%.”
— Scott Galloway ([65:51])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I cannot get off the money train. I just can’t.” — Scott Galloway ([05:26])
• “If you’re a kid coming from a low income home... you’re gonna be 370 points down on the SAT.” — Scott Galloway ([09:17])
• “Budgets... reflect values... We don’t care about our fucking children.” — Scott Galloway ([10:13])
• “If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him.” — Zoran Mamdani ([13:02])
• “Americans still very much conflate height and depth of voice with leadership qualities...” — Scott Galloway ([18:49])
• “You should absolutely take a poll and stick it up your ass.” — Scott Galloway ([26:30])
• “This company has consistently missed delivery deadlines... You’re basically betting... this guy can pull another rabbit the size of Jupiter out of a hat, which he has done before.” — Scott Galloway on Tesla ([64:27])

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Key Timestamps/Segments

• Media tour/personal updates: [02:27–07:11]
• Inequality in education/income: [07:11–11:45]
• NY/US election analysis: [12:12–22:27]
• Gender bias in politics: [19:34–22:05]
• Anti-oligarchy messaging: [22:15–25:17]
• Polling/manipulation concerns: [25:17–27:31]
• SCOTUS on Trump’s tariffs/investment angle: [30:44–37:31]
• Privatization of NASA/space policy: [41:14–43:24]
• Palantir, meme stocks, and shorting: [48:20–54:17]
• Far-right politics’ internal crisis: [54:17–58:44]
• Tesla pay package prediction: [62:16–65:51]

---

Takeaways

• Zoran Mamdani’s upset victory and the “anti-oligarchy” message portend turbulence (and opportunity) for Democratic politics.
• Palantir stands at the intersection of strong fundamentals and dangerous meme valuation, with Michael Burry’s short of note.
• Tesla’s pay vote is the ultimate test of Musk’s gravity in the markets; shareholders seem poised to double down.
• The right’s civil war is breaking into public view, with platforming of extremists exposing existential risks ahead of 2026.
• Supreme Court’s likely rejection of Trump’s tariffs could set off a multi-billion-dollar refund spree—Scott’s betting on it.
• The episode is laced with biting humor, banter, and personal sharing, keeping the tone sharp, unfiltered, and deeply informed.

Transcript

[Host/Announcer]

Support for this show comes from Smartsheet. If you want to optimize your workflow, it's important to have all of your documents in one place. But it doesn't just stop at documents. You should have everything you need in one place. That's where smartsheet comes in. Smartsheet is the intelligent work management platform that embeds AI powered execution to drive the velocity of work. With AI first capabilities, you can make work management your superpower, getting personalized insights automatically, creating tailored solutions and streamlining workflows to elevate your work. Plus, this intelligence layer unites people processing and data, helping you tackle any work management challenge. Visit smartsheet.com Vox support for this show comes from Apple. Before it was Pivot, it was just an idea. And the place where my ideas could take flight was always on my Mac. I've been using a Mac for everything since I started using computers and of course an iPhone. I got one of the first ones.

[Kara Swisher]

You know, I use my Mac all.

[Host/Announcer]

The time when I'm doing podcasts, especially when I was traveling.

[Kara Swisher]

But I used it in the very.

[Host/Announcer]

Beginning of doing podcasts when I did remote stuff. And no matter what you have an idea for, whether it's an innovative piece of tech, a groundbreaking policy or short story concept you can't get out of your head, go for it. You just need to get started. Great ideas Start on Mac. Find [e-mail] Mac support for this show comes from Upwork. If you're overextended and understaffed, Upwork Business.

[Kara Swisher]

Plus helps you bring in top quality freelancers fast.

[Host/Announcer]

You can get instant access to the top 1% of talent on Upwork in.

[Kara Swisher]

Marketing, design, AI and more.

[Host/Announcer]

Ready to jump in and take work off your plate. Upwork Business plus sources, vets and shortlists, proven experts so you can stop doing it all and delegate with confidence.

[Kara Swisher]

Right now, when you spend a thousand.

[Host/Announcer]

Dollars on Upwork Business plus, you get 500 in credit.

[Kara Swisher]

Go to Upwork.comsave now and claim the.

[Host/Announcer]

Offer before December 31, 2025. Again, that's Upwork.comsave scale smarter with top talent and $500.

[Kara Swisher]

Terms and conditions apply. What's next? Like a concert tour with Taylor Swift?

[Scott Galloway]

Oh my God. I got all these podcasts and then I'm headed out with this crazy lady for this seven city tour.

[Kara Swisher]

Hi everyone, this is Pivot from New York Magazine and the Fox Media Podcast Network. I'm Kara Swisher.

[Scott Galloway]

I'm Scott Galloway.

[Kara Swisher]

How is the Scott Media Tour going? I'm seeing you Everywhere. Scott Galloway.

[Scott Galloway]

Yeah.

[Kara Swisher]

You seem tired.

[Scott Galloway]

Not a media whore, just a whore. I am tired. I went to. I did the Daily show yesterday, and then I did. Ben Stiller interviewed me at the 92nd.

[Kara Swisher]

Street Y. Oh, my God. Last night.

[Scott Galloway]

Last night? Yeah.

[Kara Swisher]

Oh, my God. How was that?

[Scott Galloway]

Look, it was great. It was very rewarding. I mean, it's the ultimate sell signal. When Ben Stiller is interviewing Scott Galloway, that means sell everything. But yeah, it was sold out.

[Kara Swisher]

Of course it is.

[Scott Galloway]

And Ben did a great job. It was quite personal. And I would flip it back on him. He would ask these very kind of personal, moving questions, and I'd say, and what about you? And he would just freeze.

[Kara Swisher]

Oh, because, you know, he just did that amazing documentary.

[Scott Galloway]

Not his parents. Yeah.

[Kara Swisher]

Yeah. And it's a lot about his dad, actually. I mean, it's about his mother, too, but it's about his relationship. It's about him becoming a man. It really is. It's a really. I thought it was spectacular. Everyone should go watch it.

[Scott Galloway]

But he put a lot of work into it. He prepped a whole thing, and I was very moved. He's obviously a pretty busy guy and he put a lot of work into it, so I like him.

[Kara Swisher]

Well, just so everybody knows, you have the number one book on Amazon right now.

[Scott Galloway]

That's right.

[Kara Swisher]

That's right.

[Scott Galloway]

There we go.

[Kara Swisher]

There we go. There he is.

[Scott Galloway]

How did that happen?

[Kara Swisher]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, who's. What's next? Like a concert tour with Taylor Swift?

[Scott Galloway]

Oh, my God. I got all these podcasts and then I've got this. I'm headed out with this crazy lady for this seven city tour.

[Kara Swisher]

Oh, yeah.

[Scott Galloway]

So we got. We got that.

[Kara Swisher]

Yeah. We're gonna sell some books.

[Scott Galloway]

We are gonna sell some books. And then I finish with Mar a week from tomorrow, so.

[Kara Swisher]

Yes. Can I come with you to that?

[Scott Galloway]

Of course you can, if you're interested.

[Kara Swisher]

Yeah, I'm coming with you. Tell Bill I'm headed that way.

[Scott Galloway]

So. Yeah, we got. And we're.

[Guest/Additional Speaker]

What are we doing?

[Scott Galloway]

We're presenting to 13, 000 people over the next seven.

[Kara Swisher]

Yes. It's gonna be great. Are you excited? Are you getting psyched?

[Scott Galloway]

The answer is yes. Am I excited? Not especially. I'm tired.

[Kara Swisher]

You must be. You're gonna have to rest.

[Host/Announcer]

Okay.

[Scott Galloway]

I used to do this when I was younger, and I realized I don't miss it. I know. I used to burn it from Both ends for 20, 30 years.

[Kara Swisher]

Yeah, I. I was supposed to do something in New York tonight and I canceled it.

[Host/Announcer]

I had.

[Kara Swisher]

I'm not. I want to be. Well, for the tour, I was in Seattle for 24 hours.

[Scott Galloway]

What? In between the last time we spoke. You've been to Seattle, man?

[Kara Swisher]

Yeah.

[Scott Galloway]

Oh, you gotta stop that, Kara.

[Kara Swisher]

I know, but it was for one of our sponsors, so I'm trying to, you know, do the work while you're busy.

[Scott Galloway]

Ah, so two words. K and Chang.

[Kara Swisher]

Yeah, whatever. And it was good, actually. It was interesting.

[Scott Galloway]

So I have. Unless I up again and I've fucked up a few times and lose everything again, I'm not done. But I'm pretty well I'm done. Okay, I'm done economically, but I still can't resist. I just got invited to speak at Jackson Hole for, like, my full speaking gig, and I'm like, well, maybe I should go. So I look at it in the middle of January when my kids are home, and, oh, I should be hanging out. I'm. I'm going from London to Jackson Hole.

[Kara Swisher]

Oh, that's a long.

[Scott Galloway]

I cannot get off the money train. I just can't.

[Kara Swisher]

Well, you know, sometimes it's a lot of money and you're like, I know, but that's.

[Scott Galloway]

But if. If you're at a point where you don't really need it, it doesn't matter. Right? Or it shouldn't matter. I know theoretically I shouldn't go because I know my kids are gone. I mean, my son is 18. He's gonna be gone next year.

[Kara Swisher]

We're lucky people's gone.

[Scott Galloway]

My youngest is at a great age and there's no. There's no quick turnaround to Jackson Hole from London.

[Kara Swisher]

Yeah.

[Scott Galloway]

And I'm like, well, if the money's not going to make any difference in my life, why am I doing this? And yet I keep saying yes.

[Kara Swisher]

Well, it does a little bit. You. When you're poor, you'll be like, I'm glad I did that Jackson whole thing. I actually now I've been asking Amanda. I'm like, okay. She's like, oh, do you have to go? And then I tell her the figure and she's like, you need to go like that. When she says no, like, it's. That's sort of how I'm judging it. But, you know, speaking of our tour, which is going to be. Do very well financially, but there's going to be a lot of swisher energy. Just so you know, just be. Be ready for that.

[Scott Galloway]

I mean, swenergy.

[Kara Swisher]

Swenergy.

[Scott Galloway]

Like you're going to come up to me and ask me if I'm gay.

[Kara Swisher]

Lucky's coming to D.C. wait, aren't you gay? Yeah, she's. I'm going to make her say that from the audience. Yeah, yeah, she's, she's.

[Scott Galloway]

She'll be in a poochie. In an Emilio Pucci dress.

[Kara Swisher]

Yes, something like that.

[Scott Galloway]

Yeah.

[Kara Swisher]

And then Louis Swisher might be in Boston. He's thinking of coming down.

[Scott Galloway]

Oh, nice.

[Kara Swisher]

I know. I'm very excited. He called me. He goes, hey, mom, can I come?

[Scott Galloway]

I already. I've got his life planned. He's gonna go to law school or he's gonna be a high school math teacher.

[Kara Swisher]

Yeah. He's moving to San Francisco. I'm very excited.

[Scott Galloway]

I can totally see that.

[Kara Swisher]

With his girlfriend. Yeah, he's gonna live in my house. His. His house really actually is in a trust.

[Scott Galloway]

They're gonna name their first kid like Hope or Wonder or something like that. They're total hippies.

[Kara Swisher]

You talk about boys having good. Both of my sons have great relationships and unhappy.

[Scott Galloway]

It's because they were raised in dual parent homes and they're wealthy. Romance and marriage have become luxury items. Literally the percentage of young men in relationships with women. Yeah. Is. Is. Unfortunately, it is sadly tied to their. To. Tied to their income levels.

[Kara Swisher]

Well, they're also very nice.

[Scott Galloway]

No, no, no, I'm not saying. I'm not. I don't even think it's because women are that attracted. As women get older, they figure out that a man's ability to signal resources is increasingly important.

[Kara Swisher]

Yes.

[Scott Galloway]

But at that age it's more about confidence and skills. And there's just some fucking really depressing stats. You know, in terms of the sat.

[Kara Swisher]

You've been on this tour. Let's go. Give me one. And then we've got to get to things.

[Scott Galloway]

Go ahead. Okay, so we're going to do this on the tour.

[Kara Swisher]

We're going to talk about this A lot.

[Scott Galloway]

People talk about income inequality and they assume that income inequality is greatest between the middle class and the poor. It's not the income inequality. The greatest gap is between the middle class and the rich. The rich have just literally launched into space in terms of income.

[Kara Swisher]

They have.

[Scott Galloway]

And what you have in wealthy households is that. So the average high school, public high school in America can spend about $15,000 per student on educating them. Poor schools in poor neighborhoods because it's based on property taxes, which is probably one of the worst laws or constructs in America. It's about. Poor neighborhoods get about 8 to $10,000 per student.

[Kara Swisher]

Inadequate.

[Scott Galloway]

The top private schools in America spend about $75,000 per student. Right. They charge about 50 or 60 and they have big endowments which they subsidize. So that's everything for, you know, better compensation for teachers, teachers training, more teachers, resources after school, sports. I mean, just all kinds of things. And the result is the following. The delta. And the average SAT score from middle class to poor kids is 120 points. That is huge. Right?

[Kara Swisher]

Yeah.

[Scott Galloway]

Get this though, this. The delta between that middle class score, which is 120 points higher than poor households, the delta between middle class scores and kids from upper income homes is 250 points.

[Kara Swisher]

Amazing.

[Scott Galloway]

So if you're a kid coming from a low income home just out of the gates on average, you're gonna be 370 points down on the SAT.

[Kara Swisher]

Don't even go into health statistics. But go ahead.

[Scott Galloway]

Yeah, and this is my big rant. I'm a huge believer in affirmative action. It should be based on income of the household the kid was raised in full stock.

[Kara Swisher]

Wow. Zoran Mandami, the new mayor.

[Scott Galloway]

You've got to stop that. You've got to stop that.

[Kara Swisher]

I know, but you have a lot of similar talking points.

[Scott Galloway]

I'm not suggesting government sponsored food lines where the DMV picks out my produce.

[Kara Swisher]

No, again, the rich get everything. And this is the smallest of things. The smallest of things to make them healthier. So they are better employees for the rich people. I guess. I don't know.

[Scott Galloway]

All right, let me back up.

[Kara Swisher]

No, we're not. We gotta.

[Scott Galloway]

I'm sorry. You can't throw this bullshit out there and then just let it sit there.

[Kara Swisher]

It's not bullshit.

[Scott Galloway]

It's just like the rich get everything. It's gaslighting me. Let's be clear. Budgets. And you and I are going to agree on this, reflect values. And this is America's values. Right now, 21% of Americans are under the age of 18. But 40% of SNAP food recipients are under the age of 18. Which says America's values are the following. We don't care about our fucking children.

[Kara Swisher]

We do not.

[Scott Galloway]

If we have public policy that is decided that double the amount of children are food insecure than the rest of the population, that is a conscious decision on voters from both sides of the aisle that it's okay for the most vulnerable to be hungry. And so you and I have common ground on that. Where we disagree is how to fix it.

[Host/Announcer]

Sure.

[Scott Galloway]

And when you insert government in the middle, cents on the dollar end up in the pockets of the people the program is supposedly for. So if you believe that people in the new York State metro, that a lot of people need help finding food. Then give them money and let them spend it at Kroger's or Trader Joe's or wherever they want. Not government sponsored food stores where you'll end up with 10 or 20 cents on the dollar in the pockets of people who need it.

[Kara Swisher]

This is a great debate to have. He's the only one who brought it up. Right. So that's. I'm saying it's fine if we don't want his solution. It's how to get there is the thing. The fact is he's one of the few people to bring it up. And all of a sudden Republicans are talking affordability now. But let's. We got a lot to get today, including the Supreme Court question.

[Scott Galloway]

Trump got elected on affordability.

[Kara Swisher]

I know, I'm stopping you because Trump got elected on. We're going to talk about that in one. Yes, but he didn't do it.

[Scott Galloway]

I agree, but that was his message.

[Kara Swisher]

Yes, it was, but now he's back to it.

[Scott Galloway]

He and Mondami are the same person.

[Kara Swisher]

Stop talking. We're going to get to it in one second.

[Scott Galloway]

By the way, I would have voted for him the moment my in laws threatened to leave New York if he was elected. He got my.

[Kara Swisher]

Did they leave?

[Host/Announcer]

No.

[Kara Swisher]

All right, just a minute. Let's get to him. We've got a lot to get.

[Scott Galloway]

Isn't Alec Baldwin leaving? Aren't him and hilarious leaving now?

[Host/Announcer]

What?

[Scott Galloway]

Who is Alec and hilarious? He doesn't. He threatened to leave the US Every time there's an election. Great.

[Kara Swisher]

Goodbye. See ya. Anyway, we've got a lot to get to today, including the Supreme Court questioning Trump's tariffs, which was really interesting arguments, and why Palantir stock took a massive dive. But first, let us talk about. Democrats are riding high after sweeping key elections across the country this week. Abigail Spanberger and Mikey Sherrill won the governor's races in Virginia and New Jersey, respectively. California voters passed Proposition 50, giving Democrats a win in the redistricting wars with potential pickup five seats in next year's midterms. And of course, Zoran Mamdani won the New York mayoral race, handily defeating Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa. In his victory speech, Mamdani spoke about pushing back against Trump and his policies. Let's listen together.

[Scott Galloway]

We will usher in a generation of change. And if we embrace this brave new course rather than fleeing from it, we can respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the strength it fears, not the appeasement it craves after all, if anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him.

[Kara Swisher]

Meanwhile, Republicans are downplaying these.

[Scott Galloway]

Can I just respond to that?

[Kara Swisher]

Not yet. In a second. Let me just go through everything.

[Scott Galloway]

Yeah. Your job's to pick up the trash.

[Kara Swisher]

Okay. I know you're mad about Mandani, but you're going to have to get over it. Voters voted a minute.

[Scott Galloway]

He's going to fight autocracy and the oligarchy as mayor of New York.

[Kara Swisher]

Scott, you need to calm the fuck down. Let me finish. Meanwhile, Republicans are downplaying these losses as best they can. Trump blaming the shutdown and others writing wins off as blue state blips. Let's listen to House Speaker Mike Johnson. There's no surprises. What happened last night was blue states in blue cities voted blue. We all saw that coming. And no one should read too much into last night's election results. Off year elections are not indicative of what's to come. That's what history teaches us. Oh, he's wrong. That is not true, actually. Except it wasn't just blue states. Democrats also gained ground with victories in Georgia, Mississippi, and lots of places. Bucks County, Pennsylvania, all over Virginia, Montana, like Colorado, it was all over the place. And in fact, they lost their super majority in Mississippi. There were some unusual voting patterns, especially among Latinos. And now they're worried about that redistricting things they've been pushing out of greed because it looks like Democrats can flip these red seats, which is interesting. Now, before you go ahead, a lot of male voters played a big role in the last election moving to the right to vote for Trump. Things swung back this time. Exapol's shaw Mamdani won 68% of men between the ages of 18 and 29. Spanberger won 57% of that group, and Cheryl won 56%. All right, giving you lots to go at. Let's take a swing at it. Scott, grumble about Mondani and then let's go.

[Scott Galloway]

It felt. I don't know about you. I felt alien to wake up yesterday morning as a Democrat and having won this decisively. Yeah, Like, I don't remember feeling this. I didn't recognize the feeling, the Obama.

[Kara Swisher]

Feeling when he won. Do you remember?

[Scott Galloway]

I just didn't recognize it. And it wasn't. It wasn't that these candidates won. It was the margin that they won by up and down the ballot. It just went blue all over the place. And there's some. There's some credibility to the Republicans Comments. And also Trump was probably right that when Trump's not on the ticket, these, these, these ideas and policies just don't work. They don'. Resonate.

[Kara Swisher]

But it was also because of Trump. It was a very Trump fueled election.

[Scott Galloway]

For, well, his policies. People vote for Trump, not his policies was what it looks like. Some of the observations, the things that unfortunately I find it really discouraging, the delta between different age groups and the genders. It just feels like we're separating. I mean, you realize for Mandani, women, young women, he won by 72 points. Women 18 to 29 went 84 to 12. Mom. Damian Cuomo. And then people over the age of 65. Women over the age of 65 went 21 points for Cuomo. I mean, it's as if they're living in different nations. It's just so strange to me that we have two Americas unfortunately built by age. And the reality is this all, in my opinion, it all comes back to the same place. And that is old people such as myself and you, to a certain extent, we have figured out a way to vote ourselves more money and create a series of policies that young people just say, I'm not down with anything you believe and you have done. You have not left me the America that you enjoyed.

[Kara Swisher]

Except that, Look, Mamdani won 68% of men between 18 and 29. That is astonishing.

[Scott Galloway]

Not saying it's by gender, it's by age. I think Cuomo won by like 20 points among men over the age of 65. The thing here was with the drive, the fulcrum of these results, and by the way, it was a landslide. He won. And I've said this before, I'm not a New York resident, but if I was here, I think you give the guy the benefit of the doubt and you rally behind him, which Bill Ackman did.

[Kara Swisher]

Did you see that?

[Scott Galloway]

I just think he's a attention whore.

[Kara Swisher]

Agreed, but I'll take it.

[Scott Galloway]

Okay, that's. I shouldn't be so cynical. That's the right tone.

[Kara Swisher]

No, you're right.

[Scott Galloway]

That's the right tone. Yeah, it should be. We all have a vested interest in the success of the city, the state and the country. Take people at their word, rally behind them, and let's give them the opportunity, you know, let's let them cook instead of spending all their time defending cynical or biased allegations or trying to undermine them at every step, Give them the benefit of the doubt and try and help them be successful. I think every American, every person in New York City has an obligation to do that. Good for them. The other observation I would have is the following. Molly, John Fast did a video piece on and I like Molly. I just had her on the podcast for the New York Times saying, does America have a bias against female candidates? And I'm like, no, Captain Obvious. Let me just give you the basic statistics here. If you were to look at all of our elected representatives, all 535 people in Congress, the only thing they all have in common, like 90 plus or 97% of them, the primary requisite, the box they have to all check, which means it's the key consideration for electing someone to a senior level of Congress is they have college degrees. So that's the primary qualification. For the last 40 years, almost 60% of college graduates have been women. And yet 26% of our elected representatives are women. The reality is Americans still very much conflate height and depth of voice with leadership qualities when it comes to our elected representatives. And if you look at the candid equality of the New Jersey and Virginia governor races.

[Kara Swisher]

Yeah.

[Scott Galloway]

The quality of the can I think I can speak to this with some credibility because if you look at their backgrounds, they were built in the factory from parts of lesser candidates and their opponents were just, you know, fairly mediocre. And the fact that they, the fact that it was even and granted, towards the end, they just pulled away.

[Kara Swisher]

It wasn't close.

[Scott Galloway]

But the reality is, if you don't believe that America still has really anti bias feelings against women with indoor plumbing running for an elected office, the two prime examples are Harris versus Trump and Clinton versus Trump.

[Kara Swisher]

Yes, yes.

[Scott Galloway]

But there is still, while I talk a lot about the advantages or disadvantages facing young men when it comes to elected politics, our nation is still highly sexist.

[Kara Swisher]

Absolutely. Let me jump in here. One of the things about Abby Spanberger, which is really interesting, is her mother was like a massive fighter for the Equal Rights Amendment and was sort of mocked by the Virginia legislature. And her daughter is the first woman governor of Virginia, which I think take time. Scott, I would agree with you here.

[Scott Galloway]

It's taken too long in the U.S. other nations are way ahead of us.

[Kara Swisher]

Far too long. But now we have all these women governors. There's a lot of women governors, which is really interesting. I think it should be half and half. But there's quite a gang now of them. You mean a gaggle, A gaggle of women, including.

[Scott Galloway]

You mean white women drinking?

[Kara Swisher]

No, it's not. But there's all these.

[Scott Galloway]

That's good.

[Kara Swisher]

You know what, actually there's a Lot of women of color who won mayorships.

[Scott Galloway]

Detroit, around Detroit, I think was the first black woman.

[Kara Swisher]

There's a bunch, there's a whole bunch in smaller cities. And a lot of these city councils shifted to Democrats.

[Scott Galloway]

Up and down the ballot, up and.

[Kara Swisher]

Down the ballot, like city councils in places. And there are a lot of women in those groups. And so you've gotta bring them up like you've gotta just keep shoving em through the pipeline essentially all the way up. And I think possibly some of the ones that have run for public office at the higher level just got so beat up. Hillary Clinton got the shit beat out of her by the right. Like, you know what I mean? Like they, they made it so she was so unattractive to voters in many ways. And I think the same thing for Harris. I think there will be a series of younger women candidates that are coming up that will not have to deal with the baggage that both Clintons particularly and Harris definitely had. Now let's get back to Mamdani, which I think one of the things, I know you're making fun of the oligarchy. I think running against the oligarchy is a great message for Democrats. And I think that is, that does resonate. I'm telling you, when I talk to.

[Scott Galloway]

People, they're like, well, it's the Bernie Sanders. Yeah.

[Kara Swisher]

I gotta say, these rich people, the Lincoln. Why is he putting pictures of Lincoln bathroom up? You know, he's building a marble bathroom while they can't afford it is such. It's next to the affordability thing. But tax the rich and make things groceries more affordable is a very good message for whichever party gets it. Except that Trump has been embracing the rich as his best friends and having them on his patio. The visuals are very clear. And that gold office Jesus.

[Scott Galloway]

So first off, and this is why I'll never run or be elected, I'm focused on the mechanics. And that is rather than saying tax the rich, where most rich people pay really high taxes, it's the super rich. And a better message is just to enforce the current tax laws. There's a $700 billion tax gap because what the Republicans did, which is genius, which the Democrats have not called out as they argue around the tax code. What the Republicans have done is delivered the biggest tax cut in history by virtue of cutting the budget of the irs.

[Kara Swisher]

Yeah.

[Scott Galloway]

The tax code is meaningless for rich people because here's the bottom line. The laws in America, the top 1%, are now protected by the law but not bound by it, Whereas the bottom 99% are bound by the law but not protected by it. Who pays their exact share according to the IRS of taxes? Kara Swisher, People with simple tax returns.

[Kara Swisher]

No, I don't have that.

[Scott Galloway]

That have a number that goes under income and then there's a tax rate. But if you have a 80 page tax return through limited partnerships and capital expenditures and your tax lawyer says, wink, wink, trust me on this, don't hide income, but be as aggressive as possible because they don't have the manpower any longer to look at this thing. You're just, we, we need to be smart about. What's the objective? The objective is to get more money into the treasury, more revenue. It's very simple. You don't even need an alternative minimum tax. No, no loopholes. If you make over a million dollars, you pay an alternative, an AMT of federal income taxes of 40%. That would massively increase our receipts, of course.

[Kara Swisher]

But guess what? Trump is like friend of billionaires. Agreed. That's his image. And, and he'll try to not do that. But these people have open access to the White House, right? That's what they have. They walk in and get what they want.

[Scott Galloway]

It's an oligarchy. Oligarchy meets cronyism, means socialism.

[Kara Swisher]

Well, it's a good message.

[Scott Galloway]

So I don't know if you saw this, but there were billboards all over New York showing it was just, oh my God, fucking brilliant. And it said Mamdami. 92% likelihood of winning Cuomo 8%. When you see that, when you see that, you're like, if I'm voting for Cuomo, I might just not bother. Right? That's it, we're done. And it gives Mamdame or whoever is projected as the runaway winner. It's basically the biggest endorsement ever that they could get from any group. It really helps the candidate.

[Kara Swisher]

But they were accurate. They were also accurate.

[Scott Galloway]

Well, but here's the thing, and I'm saying for any candidate, it's a self fulfilling prophecy. When you see polls showing that person way up, you start believing, well, maybe they deserve to win and there's a reason they're winning by such a large margin. And you know where the majority of bets right, are coming from? These prediction markets?

[Kara Swisher]

Not here.

[Scott Galloway]

The majority of the bets on polymarket that indicate and send a signal about the election and likely affect the election. The majority of those bets are coming out of China and the Middle East.

[Kara Swisher]

Oh yeah.

[Scott Galloway]

So if you're the CCP again, this is what we would do. I think they'd be stupid. Not to do it, I would be fucking with our elections by skewing the numbers from the reality based on what we saw as divisive, we being the CCP on calcium polymarket, which sends a very, very strong signal around who's gonna win.

[Kara Swisher]

Well, we'll see if more people, I don't think as many people know about it as you think.

[Scott Galloway]

Oh, the media, it's the new Dow Jones and nasdaq.

[Kara Swisher]

Yes, I get that. I get that. But, you know, I don't know, polling has gotten tarnished. I think they'll get tarnished eventually if it's too gamed and we'll see where it goes from there. But.

[Scott Galloway]

Well, you know, my suggestion around polling. What?

[Kara Swisher]

Don't have any.

[Scott Galloway]

You should absolutely take a poll and stick it up your ass.

[Kara Swisher]

Okay, all right. Excellent. Okay.

[Scott Galloway]

And then look for the on switch. Look for the on switch. He's back. He's back. When I was in London during the presidential election, I went on every podcast, it was 30%. It was 30% Harris, 70% Trump. And I'm like, it's a coin flip, folks. And so I thought, I'm smarter than your average bear and da, da, da. And I said, I'm gonna bet $300,000 on Harris and if I win, I'm gonna get a million back. And I was up till goddamn two in the morning in London trying to figure out how to bat. And it ends up, you can't as a US citizen in London. And I brought in the big guns. I brought in my 15 year old to aid and abet his father's gambling and dopamine addiction. And the next day, and of course you know the results. And everyone online just went crazy like, this guy lost 300 grand on Harris. And I would have had I been able to figure out calcium or polymorph.

[Kara Swisher]

Oh, exactly. Well, then maybe not. Okay, all right, then maybe I just don't tried to understand. It was very hard. We're going to go on a quick break. When we come back, Trump's tariffs face the Supreme Court.

[Host/Announcer]

Support for this show comes from Vanta. Here are a few things that are probably essential to your company's survival in the modern world. Internet access, a tax id, a great snack pantry. Well, here's something else that's essential. Trust. In today's fast changing digital world, proving your company is trustworthy isn't just important for growth. It's essential. That's why Vanta is here. Vanta helps companies of all sizes get compliant fast and stay that way. With industry leading AI automation and continuous monitoring. So whether you're a startup tackling your first SoC2 or ISO 27001, or you're an enterprise managing vendor risk, Vanta's trust management platform makes it quicker, easier and more scalable. Vanta also helps you complete security questionnaires up to five times faster so you can win bigger deals sooner. The results According to a recent IDC study, Vanta customers slash over $500,000 a year in costs and are three times more productive. Establishing trust isn't optional. Vanta makes it automatic. Visit vanta.com pivot to sign up for a free demo today. That's V A N T a dot com Pivot Support for this show comes.

[Kara Swisher]

From Framer if you run a business, you need a website. And sure, you could pay for one of those cookie cutter site builders, but you'll end up with a website looks like everyone else's. If you want to go a step further and get into TrueDesign, you could try Framer. Framer already built the fastest way to publish beautiful production ready websites and it's now redefining how we design for the web with the recent launch of Design Pages, a free canvas based design tool, Framer is more than a site builder. It's a true all in one design platform. From social assets to campaign visuals, to vectors and icons all the way to a live site, Framer is where ideas go live start to finish. Framer can even help you design more than websites create social assets, campaign visuals, icons and even site resources all in one place. Ready to design, iterate and publish all in one tool. Start creating for [e-mail] design and use the code Pivot for a free month of framer pro. That's framer.com design and use promo code pivot framer.com design promo code pivot Rules and restrictions may apply.

[Scott Galloway]

Support for the show comes from Saks Fifth Avenue.

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[Scott Galloway]

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[Kara Swisher]

Scott, we're back. A majority of the Supreme Court justices are skeptical of the Trump administration's authority to impose sweeping global tariffs. The court heard arguments this week about Trump's use of emergency powers to set up tariffs on goods, goods from over 100 countries. The administration is claiming tariffs are just regulatory, but justices on both sides basically said these are taxes and only Congress can tax people. Trump is calling for the case, quote, literally life or death for our country. If the terrorists stand, they'll collect $3 trillion by revenue for the US by 2035. If not, the government might have to refund $750 billion, which it shouldn't have gotten. It's not clear when the court will issue the ruling, but what does it mean for Trump's signature economic policy if he loses? I think they're going to decide against him and I think they're doing him a favor cuz they're gonna get him out of this jam and then he can pretend it was them who did it. I don't know. What do you think of this?

[Scott Galloway]

So speaking of investing, you know how I went out and I bought claims against a bankrupt FTX because I thought they're gonna to I found in the bankruptcy filing, which is if you're wondering what I do late at night on edibles, I read bankruptcy filings that they owned that they had invested about, I think it was $500 million in anthropic. And I thought this has got to be worth 2 or 3 billion dollars, meaning that 30 cents on the dollar because the total claims were 8 billion against a bankrupt FTX. They were going to get back just in anthropic stock and you could buy these things for about 22 cents. So I went out and for me bought a lot of bankruptcy claims against or claims against the bankrupt ftx. What I've had someone working on the last two weeks is the following. First off, there was an economist who went on Fox and they said who's paying these tariffs? And he went into this whole song and dance bike. Sometimes it's the person exporting in say it's Mercedes, sometimes it's Mercedes takes a little bit, the consumer takes a little bit and the recipient of the product pays. Okay, first off, what he's trying to say, he's claiming that okay, because Mercedes might have to reduce its prices if they don't want to lose share. Fine, but be clear Folks, the recipient in America who signs for the Mercedes that gets off a ship pays the tariff. Okay? They may choose not to pass it on to consumers or they may eventually they will because companies need certain operating margins. But it's disingenuous to say it's being split across all these entities. It's not a tariff is paid by the recipient in our country. Now, what I've been doing is looking into the following. I am considering buying claims and that is if Mercedes of Wisconsin has paid $11 million in tariffs, you can go buy them right now from Mercedes of Wisconsin for somewhere between 10 and 15 cents on the dollar.

[Kara Swisher]

Because they didn't think they'd get them back. Right?

[Scott Galloway]

Because they didn't think they'd get that money, they'd ever see that money again. And I believe there's a greater than 10 or 15% likelihood that these tariffs are reversed and the government has to cut a check to all those claimants who paid tariffs. So I actually think this is a decent investment strategy is to go buy claims or go buy tariff payment claims.

[Kara Swisher]

So this money will be refunded, is your point. So you feel like the Supreme Court's going to back him here? Not back him. The opposite of backing him. It's going to go against Trump.

[Scott Galloway]

Exactly right. Mercedes of Wisconsin spent $10 million on tariffs. These tariffs are being challenged in court. And if the Supreme Court overrules it, the government is going to have to send a check to either Mercedes of Wisconsin or whoever owns that claim.

[Kara Swisher]

Although that was what the Supreme Court was all wrapped around the axle on. A friend of mine, Neil Katiel did the argument and I thought he was brilliant, by the way. That was the one thing they were like, oh, now how are we going to. To give it back? Right. And oddly enough, Howard Lutnick, who is such a moron, every time I see him, I think moron was like, oh, I think the Supreme Court's gonna say yes to us and stuff like that. He was going on and on as if he knew exactly what would happen. Is there any way that could happen? Only cuz I thought, oh, he's a moron.

[Scott Galloway]

When you say anyway, anyway. What?

[Kara Swisher]

That the Supreme Court could be in Trump's favor. One and two. The one thing that did stick in their crawl was how to pay back the money the government took from consumers.

[Scott Galloway]

What people don't realize when they reverse engineer to what has really hurt America, it's things like Ruth Bader Ginsburg believing she's going to live forever.

[Host/Announcer]

Yes.

[Scott Galloway]

She should have reserved it's appointment of exceptionally conservative justices. The Supreme Court, in my opinion, is no longer really a check against power. It's an enabler. And the reality is the President, who the people elect, gets to make those appointments. But through a series of unfortunate timing and biology, the lasting impact of this presidency won't be tariffs, anti immigration policy, a destruction of our alliances, although that'll be right up there.

[Kara Swisher]

A lot of marble in the Lincoln bathroom.

[Scott Galloway]

It's essentially the final backstop against the most important decisions that impact Americans, whether it's bodily autonomy, our international policy, whether or not the president right now is essentially ordering extrajudicial killings of people in fucking fishing boats. And by the way, folks, if you're really worried about drugs, do you realize these fishing boats would have to refuel 20 times to get to Miami? And that there is no fentanyl being produced in Venezuela yet? Supposedly, we're taking our trillion dollar military budget to strike fishing boats without any.

[Kara Swisher]

Well, Pete Hegseth has to do something. But get back to this. What do you think's gonna here and how are they going to return the money?

[Scott Galloway]

Let me be clear. I think probably the likelihood is if I buy these claims that I don't see my money, but there's more than a 10% chance I see the money, right?

[Kara Swisher]

Okay.

[Scott Galloway]

So I like my upside.

[Kara Swisher]

All right.

[Scott Galloway]

I think maybe there's a 1 in 3 chance. I'm just using that number that the Supreme Court rules against Trump and says you got to give them money back. And then I think, see, I actually think logistically, if they can figure out a way to take the money, they can figure out a way to send it back. The government figures out ways to send refunds, IRS refunds all the time. It takes a while. I found out I overpowered, paid my taxes this year. They kept it, and I'm like, okay, how long will it take to get it back? And they said 12 to 18 months. Because there's no one home. The lights aren't on on the irs.

[Kara Swisher]

Or we'll apply it to your next year's tax.

[Scott Galloway]

Yeah, whatever it is. But they're very good at taking it out. The IRS has in fact, figured out a way to like, take it right out of your account.

[Kara Swisher]

Right.

[Scott Galloway]

Getting it back. I know it's like trying to cancel your Verizon bill, right?

[Kara Swisher]

I got one from D.C. and I got a couple thousand dollars back there. Like, we'll keep it for next year. I was like, well, send it back to me. Like, why should you keep it?

[Host/Announcer]

I'll Give.

[Kara Swisher]

But their first move was to keep it. That's for sure.

[Scott Galloway]

Well, try and cancel Hulu. It's super easy to sign up. Try and cancel it.

[Kara Swisher]

Yeah.

[Scott Galloway]

And by the way, I have a consumer bone to pick. I'm like seven on your side. Remember those local TV things where they'd go narc on some consumer thing?

[Kara Swisher]

Yeah, yeah, I love seven on your side. I wanted to do that for years.

[Scott Galloway]

All right, I got a seven on your side. So when my mom passed, I set up an account and put some money in it, in her account, such that we could pay bills that would keep rolling in. Right. And I noticed like three years later, it was down. I couldn't account for something like seven or $8,000 of it. Maybe four years later, I'm like, where did this go? And her auto insurance was automatic pay to Geico.

[Kara Swisher]

Oh, you didn't cancel it?

[Scott Galloway]

After I'd sold the car. Three years later, they will still take that money out. And guess what? I just got my ATT bill. I switched to Noble Mobile, Andrew Yang's new startup in the mobile space. And my AT&T bill. I've always said this for some reason, is about 450 bucks. But Scott, being the lazy douche that he is, never actually checked out the bill. And so my assistant, when we switched over, said, wow, you're paying $450 a month? I'm like, yeah. And she goes, you know why you're paying $450 a month? My actual phone bill is $240, which is ridiculous, by the way, is about 2 1/2x what I'm going to be paying on Noble. But I was paying another $200 on three other accounts.

[Kara Swisher]

Oh, that aren't on there.

[Scott Galloway]

And one of them was for a BlackBerry from 10 years ago.

[Kara Swisher]

Oh, my God, Scott.

[Scott Galloway]

So I have been paying $700 a year for the better part of a decade on a BlackBerry that's been in a landfill for the last nine years.

[Kara Swisher]

Because guess what, you're a lazy fuck.

[Scott Galloway]

They could easily send a signal to say, is this in fact an active line? And maybe send you a quick email. They could do this.

[Kara Swisher]

So of course they don't. You're a mark.

[Scott Galloway]

And they're like, oh, no. They would be charging me for a BlackBerry 10 years after my death.

[Kara Swisher]

I think you deserve that. I have to say, I'm down with the company.

[Scott Galloway]

You think, if you're that stupid, let me.

[Kara Swisher]

That stupid.

[Scott Galloway]

Let them cook.

[Kara Swisher]

Let them take your pocket.

[Scott Galloway]

Anyways, AT&T literally use somebody like, I have paid for the snacks in the Madison, Wisconsin office of AT&T for the last 10 years. My BlackBerry.

[Kara Swisher]

Well, much deserved because you're a dumb ass. You don't pay attention to any. Anything like that.

[Scott Galloway]

Dumbass.

[Kara Swisher]

Dumbass. Dumbass. That's the name of our pivot tour. Dumbass and Smarty Kara and Dumbass Kara. Dumbass.

[Scott Galloway]

I can't. Everybody wants to hear about me. Not about any of this shit. Kara. Let's, let's be honest.

[Kara Swisher]

All right, well, good to know. So just, I'm going to move very quickly to this one. Just as I predicted, billionaire and friend of Elon Jared Isaacman is back in the running to head up NASA. President Trump has renominated him after pulling back over concerns about past Democratic donations. Isaacman, the 42 year old payment company founder who's actually been to space twice on his own dime via SpaceX. I mean, just the short ride to space. Two weeks ago, Elon Musk went after current interim chief Sean Duffy for opening up SpaceX moon contract, other companies. No love lost there. Trump's gone back to Elon's pick like I thought he might. But the agency is still facing massive budget cuts and trying to beat China back to the moon. You know, I guess he's fine. I mean, he's more qualified than other people, I suppose, but the whole thing is just, it's kind of too little, too late. I would like an actual space scientist to be running NASA, not friends of Elon or people that give. I think this guy ended up giving Trump some money too, although he must have given some Democrats money, which I think drove Laura Loomer crazy. I don't know, I'm not sure it matters at all here, but Elon definitely is a good. That was a good thing for Elon.

[Scott Galloway]

Well, it reflects a dangerous trend and that is we've decided to privatize a lot of, of efforts that usually the nation undertakes. And this is pretty straightforward. Elon Musk, who's a very smart guy, has said if we reduce the government's ability to launch aircraft or explore space, they're going to be dependent upon the private sector. And I'm the prettiest girl at the dance in the private sector and I don't want to compete with a space agency that does not have a profit motive and therefore can make these forward leaning investments in space exploration. And I think the saddest thing about this is that that NASA has consistently been an enormous point of national pride in an era when we need more connective tissue where Republicans And Democrats both rally around the Mars lander somehow crashing and inflating and figuring out a way to survive, how to get on the Mars surface and take these amazing photos or these. I forget what it was. The Hubble telescope sending back those unbelievable images of deep space and making you feel insignificant in kind of a wonderful way. That's a bummer. Having said that, as far as this guy goes, this is like the least triggering thing for me right now.

[Kara Swisher]

Yeah, exactly.

[Scott Galloway]

I mean, fine.

[Kara Swisher]

John Duffy was the other choice. So I'm like. And he's better.

[Scott Galloway]

And also, there's something to be said for bringing in a civilian to manage government agencies who can have a broader perspective. Like, typically, the Secretary of defense is a private sector person. Because when you bring in a former captain.

[Kara Swisher]

Game show host.

[Scott Galloway]

No, but some. I mean, they've said it.

[Host/Announcer]

If.

[Scott Galloway]

If we had a general running was. Who was. Was Secretary of Defense, we'd still be in Vietnam. I mean, they're fond. Although a lot of them. I. I gotta. I gotta give it to them. Seem to be more tempered and measured than many of our leaders now. It is good to have a civilian check. Yeah. On government. I don't. I don't mind. This is the bottom line.

[Kara Swisher]

I don't. I'm not offended by it. He's not the best choice, but he's not a. And the other choice was Sean Duffy, who seems like, speaking of morons, a moron. Anyway, we'll see what happens. I was correct about this and I was right. I was right. You tout your rightness.

[Scott Galloway]

The new book from Kara Swisher, the new autobiography. And I was right.

[Kara Swisher]

Oh, my God. The poor are getting vegetables. How dare they get vegetables?

[Scott Galloway]

Driver's license tests at the dmv. And now I'm picking out produce for New Yorkers. That makes all kinds of sense.

[Kara Swisher]

Oh, my God. We're gonna have to have a wrestling match on stage over this situation. All right, I'm gonna invite Zoran Mandani to the. To the New York thing.

[Scott Galloway]

He'll say no. I've already invited him several times. He's the only person that said no to us on Raging Moderates.

[Kara Swisher]

I concur with him on that issue.

[Scott Galloway]

Interview.

[Kara Swisher]

All right. He'll get on you sometime. He'll take you downtown. He's very good at debating.

[Scott Galloway]

Oh, yeah, I hope so. He's fair. He's pretty handsome.

[Kara Swisher]

He's very quick.

[Scott Galloway]

He's not quick. He floods the with nothingness and like, rehided rhetorical flourish.

[Kara Swisher]

Even James Carville, your favorite Southern person. James Carville was like, this guy's a real talent. He's a real talent.

[Scott Galloway]

We're going to have us an election. Count some votes. I love James Carville.

[Kara Swisher]

Jimmy C. All right, let's go on a quick break. When we come back, Trump's tariffs face the Supreme Court.

[Host/Announcer]

Support for this show comes from Smartsheet. Look, everyone wants to go faster. Whether you're stuck in line standing at the DMV or you've got a huge to do list at work that doesn't seem to go away. But usually when things are rushed, mistakes tend to follow. That's where smartsheet steps in. They can get you the speed you need and the productivity to go alongside it. Smartsheet is the intelligent work management platform that embeds AI powered execution to drive the velocity of work. With their AI first capabilities, you can you can make work management your superpower, getting personalized insights automatically, creating tailored solutions and streamlining workflows to elevate your work. This intelligence layer unites people, processes and data, helping you tackle any work management challenge. Plus, smartsheet AI turns intent into guided workflows and smarter outcomes by generating tailored solutions and personalized insights through intelligent AI assistance. The result is an environment where humans plus AI work collectively to to anticipate needs, remove barriers and enable greater impact so you can move faster, think bigger, and drive greater business growth. Visit smartsheet.com Vox Support for Pivot comes from LinkedIn jobs as a small business owner, your work hours aren't dictated by the hands on a clock. Your business is on your mind 24 hours a day, seven days a week. So when you're hiring, you need a partner that works just as hard as you.

[Kara Swisher]

You do.

[Host/Announcer]

That hiring partner is LinkedIn Jobs. When you clock out, LinkedIn clocks in by making it easy to post your job, share it with your network and qualified candidates that you can manage all in one place. LinkedIn's new feature can help you write job descriptions and quickly get your job in front of the right people with deep candidate insights. Either post your job for free or pay to promote as promoted jobs. Get three times more qualified applicants at the end of the day, LinkedIn wants.

[Scott Galloway]

You to feel confident.

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[Guest/Additional Speaker]

Support for the show comes from BetterHelp. With the weather getting colder, it's a lot easier to stay inside, turn on the TV and ignore the rest of.

[Scott Galloway]

The world for a while.

[Guest/Additional Speaker]

But when you're all alone and isolated during these short dark days, it's very easy to get down on yourself. Human connection is important and this November, BetterHelp wants you to reach out. Make a coffee date with an old friend, write a letter to a distant family member and take steps to connect with a licensed therapist with BetterHelp. Just fill out a short questionnaire to help identify your needs and Preferences and BetterHelp's industry leading matching process will put you in touch with a qualified therapist. And if you aren't happy with your match, switch to a different therapist at any time from their tailored recommendations. Reaching out is one of those funny things where at first it feels like a chore and then once you've done it, you often think to yourself why didn't I do this sooner? Sooner this month, don't wait to reach out. Whether you're checking in on a friend or reaching out to a therapist yourself, BetterHelp makes it easier to take that first step. You can get 10% off their first [e-mail] pivot that's betterhelp.com pivot.

[Kara Swisher]

Scott, we're back. Palantir is having a really roller coaster week. The company posted blockbuster earnings month, topping analysts expectations and raising its full year. Guidance CEO Alex Karp, who seems something's going on with Alex Karp called. He was started strange and now he's moved to very strange. Called the quarter quote arguably the best results that any software company has ever delivered. Despite those numbers, the stock fell 8%, part of the concerns over the valuation, which is soaring, but also because of a filing revealed the big short investor Michael Burry bought more than $1 billion in put options in Palantir and Nvidia. The burry news really got under Karp's skin. He he really should have taken a breath before he did this. He got a little testy talking about it on cnbc. Let's listen.

[Scott Galloway]

Currently, as far as I can tell, the two companies he's shorting are the ones making all the money, which is super weird. Like the idea that chips and anthology is what you want to short is batshit crazy.

[Kara Swisher]

He seemed crazy, but whatever. And then he went on about anti woke companies. He used to be sort of weirdly Democrat but a little bit libertarian. Now he seems to have been sucking on the Kool Aid of right wingery. But what do you think of these Palantir numbers and what Burry might be up to possibly shorting these stocks? You've talked about these valuations quite a lot.

[Scott Galloway]

So look, the question is, is Karp a brilliant CEO and is this an amazing company or is it dramatically overvalued? The answer is yes. This is an incredible company. It blew away really aggressive earnings. It had 21 cents delivered. 21 cents versus 17 cents, 1.2 billion versus 1.1 expected. Their commercial software sales grew 121% year over year. US government sales, or sales to the government grew 52%, which is actually better revenue because while the government is really hard to sell to, once you sell into a them, they become like AT&T, just billing you over and over. Overall sales grew 63% up from year over year. Revenue growth of 48% last quarter. So it's an incredible company. And I would argue that in terms of investor relations, he's probably one of the most talented CEOs in history. He's the one that did an earnings call on his phone walking around the office. He's just, he's able to paint a vision that gets people excited. At the same time, if it went down 70% tomorrow, it still wouldn't look cheap. It trades at almost 300 times earnings and 125 times sales. It has the greatest or the highest price of sales multiple in the S&P 500. And get this, it's got a similar market capitalization or value to Netflix with one tenth of the revenue. It's trading at the same valuation.

[Kara Swisher]

So what does Burry do? Explain for the people.

[Scott Galloway]

Well, Burry, it's very simple. Burry's basically short of the stock where you basically agree you enter into a relationship with a third party who says, all right, if the Stock's trading at 400 right now, in six months, I'll give you 10 or $15. Now, in exchange, I get to sell you stock in six months for $400. And if the stock goes down to 300, I get to go into the market and buy up the 300 and sell it to you for 400, which you agreed to because I paid you a small premium. Six months ago. You're basically betting the stock goes down, down, that's all. And it's an important part of the market because it creates a balance. It creates opportunity to hedge, such that people who are invested long, including widows and orphans, have more diversification and more downside protection. Shorting the market is a key component.

[Kara Swisher]

Of the market, but it's dangerous now because look at Tesla, which has not good results and is still up.

[Scott Galloway]

Oh, don't. Kids, don't do this at home. Because when you. When you go short a stock, you technically have unlimited downside. And the reason why I have not shorted Palantir, although I think it's dramatically overvalued, is this is no longer a company, it's a meme stock. And that is, he can make an announcement and people buy Palantir and trade it. There are certain companies now where. And this is really kind of, arguably, I think, a decent definition of a meme stock where it's lost all connection to the underlying metrics that we traditionally value stocks on. So is it dramatically overvalued by all traditional valuation metrics and cash flows? Yeah. Could it double? Yeah, it could, and it would make even less sense.

[Kara Swisher]

So what do you think of Burry's move again? Do you think he's taking enormous risks here? Because Karp got very testy in a way that I was like, wow, you're usually quite controlled. And this was.

[Scott Galloway]

Yeah, I thought that. I thought that was a bad look for him. But Burry, who is obviously made one of the best bets ever, going short against the subprime market. And good for him. I love it when people do that sort of work. And the other guys that did that were John Paulson, a guy I actually worked for or consulted to for a couple years, named Phil Falcone. There were two or three people that made kind of these historic bets against subprime mortgages, and again, could go out and short these things for no money because they were considered money good and bulletproof proof. And then they just started collapsing like it was a pyramid, you know, built on card, so to speak. Now, no investor gets it right all the time. He's had a lot of big misses. He's shorted a bunch of companies that went up. So nobody knows he might.

[Kara Swisher]

Right.

[Scott Galloway]

He's taking a risk here. I would argue this is a really good risk for a guy like that who has investors who are willing to take these kinds of risks, and he's.

[Kara Swisher]

Hoping to drive it down by pointing out the ridiculousness of it.

[Scott Galloway]

Well, I Love. I love it. I find it so fascinating when these companies go short and then they put out really thoughtful, rigorous research showing why the company is dramatically overvalued and it's. It impacts the market. He didn't just say, he didn't just announce that he's shorting it. He has a very thoughtful, rigorous analysis. And the stock's down 11%.

[Kara Swisher]

Yeah. So he's done. I mean, he could probably be, you know, anyway, it's a really interesting. We have to keep watching that company because question is, is it going to be a meme stock for a long time? But we'll see very quickly. Right wing civil war is erupting. This is it. We'll talk about this on the road, I think is erupting after Tucker Carl recent interview with white nationalist Nick Fuentes where Fuentes called for an exclusive pro white Christian movement. The backlash has been swift with Republicans like Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley and Speaker Mike Johnson condemning the interview. The Heritage foundation is an open result after its president defended Carlson. For his part, Carlson says the uproar is really a fight over what happens after Donald Trump. I think he's absolutely correct. The guy who's head of the Heritage apologized again after all these people left. The whole. One whole group that focuses on anti Semitism and hero resigned. And so this is a real open wound for the Republican Party, the flirtation with both antisemitism and white nationalism and racism. And this is going to be a real fight going forward for them. And once Trump is. He's been able to hold it together. But. But they won't be able to hold this one together.

[Scott Galloway]

Yeah. Remember the Republican Party was putting out these memes or these images that said Trump, Elon, Kanye, that these are the three people that represent the Republican Party. Right. I was on the phone two days ago with someone who runs or does comms for Democrats and I said, you need to put out the exact same image, but instead have it be Trump. Trump, Epstein and Fuentes.

[Kara Swisher]

Oh, interesting.

[Scott Galloway]

That's who you want Trump associated with. I'm like, go for the fucking jugular. It would be fair to visually associate them because he decided to associate with them physically, spiritually, intellectually. And the most disturbing thing about that interview with Fuentes and Carlson, first off, Carlson really does deserve some pushback and legitimate criticism for platforming someone like this and enabling and laughing when he said the father following. I'm a fan of Stalin. Yeah, there's kind of a hard rock first ballot hall of fame of murderers in history.

[Kara Swisher]

Yeah, he's on the top.

[Scott Galloway]

Pol Pot, Hitler. They have nothing on Stalin.

[Kara Swisher]

Agreed.

[Scott Galloway]

And we like to kind of ignore Stalin a little bit because they were our friends back then, and they played a huge role in defeating Hitler. But he then went on to kill millions, some say up to 20 million people. This is a murderous maniac. And this young man is saying, I'm a fan. So Trump has this issue of like, we want your votes and we want you to think we're with you, wink, wink, such that you get out and turn out the vote, but try to keep those views to yourself as opposed to coming out and saying, we're Republicans. And the GOP has a history of evaluating people based on their character inequality and pushing back on fascism and saying what this is. These people could not be more anti American and against the values not only of America, but the core values of the gop.

[Kara Swisher]

Well, the old gop, let's just be clear, because some people are backing Carlson, which is, you know, I don't mind him interviewing him. He interviews all kinds of assholes. But. But the way he did it again was like, whoa, you could push back a little bit there. And the Heritage foundation president, I think he'll be out.

[Host/Announcer]

I think he'll be out.

[Kara Swisher]

I think this is a death knell for this guy. I don't know. I just felt very weird, the whole thing. We'll see what's happening. This is a story that's going to continue.

[Scott Galloway]

My favorite was Stephen Miller's wife when she was criticized for her comments saying it was anti Semitism. What? Where'd that come from?

[Kara Swisher]

Where'd that come from?

[Scott Galloway]

Yeah, I don't think they even know you're Jew. What are you talking about?

[Kara Swisher]

She's getting ratio videoed all over by people. Stephen Schmidt, who's a very funny, but sort of sometimes erratic guy. He's very funny, put up all these pictures of Stephen Miller with creep and fascist and Nazi. And she all got all up. She's. Because she's trying to make. Make Megyn Kelly happen, I guess, around herself, which is impossible. And she's like, she said something and. And she goes, how. How could you do this? And he wrote, because your husband's a Nazi. Like, this whole fight is not good for the Republican Party to be discussed. Discussing how. Whether they're Nazis or not.

[Scott Galloway]

No, it's not a good look.

[Kara Swisher]

All right, Scott, one more quick break. We'll be back for predictions.

[Host/Announcer]

Support for this show comes from Crucible Moments, a podcast from Sequoia Capital. We've all had pivotal decision points in our lives that, whether we know it or not at the time, changed everything. This is especially true in business. Like did you know that autonomous drone delivery company Zipline originally produced a robotic toy? Or that Bolt went from an Estonian transportation company company to one of the largest rideshare and food delivery platforms in the world? That's what Crucible Moments is all about. Deep diving into the make or break moments that set the course for some of the most important tech companies of our time, with interviews from some of the key players that made these companies a success. Hosted by Sequoia Capital's managing partner, Roelof Botha, Crucible Moments is back for a new season with stories of companies as they navigated the most consequential crossroads in their journey. Hear conversations with leaders at Zipline, Stripe, Palo Alto Networks, Klarna Supercell, and more. Subscribe to Season 3 of Crucible Moments and catch up on Seasons 1 and [e-mail] on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. Listen to Crucible Moments today. Support for the show comes from Apple. Before it was Pivot, it was just an idea, and the place where my ideas could take me flight was always on my Mac. I've been using a Mac for everything since I started using computers and of course an iPhone. I got one of the first ones.

[Kara Swisher]

You know, I use my Mac all.

[Host/Announcer]

The time when I'm doing podcasts, especially when I was traveling. But I used it in the very beginning of doing podcasts when I did remote stuff. No matter what you have an idea for, whether it's an innovative piece of tech, a groundbreaking policy, or a short story concept you can't get out of your head. Go for it. You just need to get started. Great idea. Start on Mac. Find [e-mail] Mac support for this show comes from Quince.

[Kara Swisher]

It's fall and the weather outside as well.

[Host/Announcer]

Actually, I'm not sure what the weather.

[Kara Swisher]

Looks like wherever you are.

[Host/Announcer]

That's the beauty of podcasts. You could literally be on the moon and still listen to me and Scott go back and forth on how handsome he looks.

[Kara Swisher]

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[Host/Announcer]

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[Kara Swisher]

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[Host/Announcer]

I guess it's a quilted cape and I'm very excited to wear it because.

[Kara Swisher]

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[Kara Swisher]

Okay, Scott, we're gonna do a little differently today for your prediction. We have a lot of purchases next week, but we're recording ahead of Tesla's annual meeting where shareholders are set to vote on Elon's $1 trillion pay packages. A lot of people have gone against him, including these shareholder services and Norway. I guess there's a Norwegian investor that's, that's out. I predict he's gonna get it. I predict he's gonna get it. Cause all these. Now I'm paying attention to the stock market now there's all these calls at a higher level level of buying a Tesla stock at 480 and it's at 462. I think people know and I think he's going to get it.

[Scott Galloway]

Yeah, it's. Well look, some things why it may pass it is structured to be performance based and that is he's saying if he grows the market cap to $8.5 trillion that he gets a trillion. So theoretically you can support it. Right. And also some people, including arguably the worst investor of the modern age, but the best builder, Cathie Wood from Ark Invest, she's predicted a strong approval. She's a loyalist, she's a shareholder. Tesla's board and Musk are saying that the package may risk Musk's continued leadership if in fact he doesn't get it. Now major proxy advisory firms and I've met with these guys when I was an activist, ISS and Glass Lewis, which quite frankly have diminishing power these days, they've recommended voting against the package. So deciding, saying it's just ridiculously excessive and risks of dilution and also the term they use that I love is insufficient guardrails. I'm like, well, that's the mother of all understatements. And then there's a pretty big investor. I think it's called norhest or Norgas Bank.

[Kara Swisher]

Yeah. It's this Norwegian group that they own.

[Scott Galloway]

About 1% of Tesla's shares has declared it'll vote against the proposal.

[Kara Swisher]

So what's your prediction?

[Scott Galloway]

I think it's going to be approved, but not overwhelmingly, but I think it'll be. Because keep in mind, if you bought shares, if you're a shareholder in Tesla right now, you've decided you've gone in on Musk because you're not investing in. There's no way you could justify investing in what is an automobile company, because it makes no sense.

[Kara Swisher]

Right.

[Scott Galloway]

He's. This company has consistently missed delivery deadlines. It's. It's revenues on the automobile side are declining faster, incredibly fast. You're basically betting on a. That this guy can pull another rabbit the size of Jupiter out of a hat, which he has done before. So they're kind of all in on this guy.

[Kara Swisher]

Yeah. This can pass. He's going to get it.

[Host/Announcer]

He's not going to be.

[Kara Swisher]

Everyone's like the world's first trillionaire. He's not going to be a trillionaire until he pulls it off. Just so you know.

[Scott Galloway]

Yeah. He has to create an additional 7.

[Kara Swisher]

Trillion in value, but that stock's going to go up. Speaking of meme stocks, that's what I think.

[Scott Galloway]

I just have no idea with this thing. So in terms of the stock price here. But it's. I think shareholders who have invested in a company at this type of valuation do not want to wake up and hear that Elon, you know, is out because he got angry. I don't. If he walks this thing, of course he'll walk. God, it would be so interesting to see what happens to the stock. I don't think he's going to, but they just would rather say, okay, look, if he creates 7 trillion, if Tim Cook went to Apple shareholders and said it's worth 4 trillion. Now if I go to 12 trillion, I want a trillion, they'd give it to him. Theoretically, they'd give it to him. That's not outrageous. What the problem is, we're focused on the wrong problem and that is if Elon Musk Makes a trillion dollars. In my view, he should pay an alternative minimum tax of 60 or 70%.

[Kara Swisher]

Back to that. The oligarchy and authoritarianism and grocery stores for poor people.

[Scott Galloway]

No. And I want someone from the Navy picking out my, my, my cold cuts and fruits and vegetables.

[Kara Swisher]

For goodness sake. It's like three stores.

[Scott Galloway]

I think someone from the IRS should be picking out my grapefruits.

[Kara Swisher]

I'm going to do everything I can to get Mom Dom to come out to our show.

[Scott Galloway]

Well, ask him questions and he'll say nothing. But he's good looking.

[Kara Swisher]

I should have someone who doesn't like you in every city. I love to think about that.

[Scott Galloway]

That, that's going to be pretty easy. You're not going to have to reach very far, Kara.

[Kara Swisher]

That's true. Anyway, we want to hear from you. Send us your questions about business, tech or whatever's on your mind. Go to nymag.com pivot to submit a question for the show or call 85551 pivot. Scott, are you ready for the tour? Are you ready? It's time to put your, your hat on for this. Are you ready for a week of Kara Swisher?

[Scott Galloway]

Yeah, I'm excited. It's, it's going to be great to see the Swishers. We got a whole gaggle coming with us. We're literally like, we're like a bad rock band in the 70s. We have groupies coming with us. I'm like, you wanna come?

[Kara Swisher]

Like, sure, yeah, sure, why not? Yeah, yeah. We have some great people coming and showing up at each of the cities. And we have a few tickets left in some cities, not many, especially Los Angeles and Chicago because they're much bigger venues. But go to PivotTour.com for more info. Okay, that's the show. Thanks for listening to Pivot and be sure to like and subscribe to our YouTube channel. We'll be back next week, Scott, read us out and I will see you Saturday in Canada.

[Scott Galloway]

Yeah, I'll see you soon, sweetheart. Today's show was produced by Lara Neyman, Zoe Marcus, Taylor Griffin and Corinne Roth. Earlier, Todd engineered this episode. Jim Mackle edited the video. Thanks also to Jaboros Miss of Ariel Dance, Shalon and Kate Gallagher. Nishat Kurwa is Vox Media's executive producer. Podcast. Make sure to follow Pivot on your favorite podcast platform. Thanks for listening to Pivot from New York Magazine and Vox Media. You can subscribe to the [e-mail] pod we'll be back next week for another breakdown of all things tech and business.