Trump's Movie Tariffs, Buffett's Retirement, and Elon's New City

Summary

Pivot Podcast Summary: "Trump's Movie Tariffs, Buffett's Retirement, and Elon's New City" | May 6, 2025

Hosted by Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway, "Pivot" from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network delves into the most pressing issues in tech, business, and politics. In this episode, released on May 6, 2025, Swisher and Galloway tackle a range of topics including President Trump's controversial movie tariffs, Warren Buffett's unexpected retirement, and Elon Musk's establishment of a new city in Texas.

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1. Personal Updates and Recent Appearances

Kara Swisher begins the episode by sharing her recent experiences traveling across California. She mentions receiving a "library laureate" award and appearing on Bill Maher's show, where she even gave Scott Galloway a shout-out.

Kara Swisher [02:31]: "I gave you a shout out. Did you hear me give you a shout out?"

Scott responds positively, appreciating Kara's ability to address contentious topics with grace.

Scott Galloway [03:29]: "You're able to push back, but also come across as goodwill. You're not trying to make the other person look stupid."

2. President Trump's Executive Actions and Public Statements

The hosts shift focus to President Donald Trump's recent activities. Swisher highlights Trump's executive order aiming to cut funding for PBS and MPO, and his appearance on "Meet the Press" where he appeared to question his oath to uphold the Constitution.

Kara Swisher [07:10]: "Root of the problem is... how can we support, if I have a question where do I go to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution."

Scott expresses deep concern over Trump's disregard for constitutional responsibilities and the potential misuse of military force.

Scott Galloway [09:04]: "He might try to run for a third term, that he's using military force against our allies... he finds he takes responsibility for deporting U.S. citizens... lack of accountability."

They discuss Trump's imposition of a 100% tariff on movies, which has perplexed both the hosts and the industry, given that the U.S. already has a trade surplus in film exports.

Scott Galloway [39:59]: "How are you going to tariff that? Movies aren't things either."

3. Warren Buffett's Retirement and Legacy

Warren Buffett, the venerable CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, announces his retirement after six decades at the helm. Scott and Kara commend Buffett's leadership style and his recent remarks on trade.

Kara Swisher [25:28]: "He just surrounds himself with really high-quality common sense people."

Scott Galloway [27:57]: "The most visionary act in my opinion of the last hundred years was America said, okay. When we tried to punish Germany after World War I, it didn't work well..."

Buffett emphasizes the importance of global trade as a non-zero-sum game, arguing against the notion that one nation's prosperity detracts from another's. He advocates for a win-win approach to international economics.

Scott Galloway [29:19]: "When other nations prosper, we do really well."

4. Impact of Tariffs on Major Corporations

The discussion turns to the financial performances of tech giants like Apple and Amazon amidst the new tariff environment. Apple reported $95 billion in revenue with a $25 billion profit, while Amazon saw $156 billion in revenue and a $17 billion profit. However, both companies are wary of the potential impact of tariffs on their operations.

Scott Galloway [33:41]: "From the analyst community, they look at Amazon as a cloud company with a retail division. So they're really focused on AWS."

Kara Swisher [35:16]: "Apple Intelligence, which is sort of their attempt at AI has been delayed again."

Galloway critiques Apple's valuation, suggesting it's "a growth company and the reality is it's flat."

5. Elon Musk's New Texas City: Starbase

Elon Musk has successfully established Starbase, a new city in South Texas dedicated to his SpaceX headquarters. The city resembles a science fiction set with uniform housing and a prominent bust of Musk. However, their creation has sparked debates on the implications of company towns.

Kara Swisher [49:27]: "Mr. Potter. Oh, I mean Elon Musk."

During their conversation, Musk's recent media appearances are scrutinized for their unusual and often perplexing content.

Kara Swisher [51:39]: "He's not a Nazi, Scott. He's not a Nazi."

Galloway, while critical of Musk's persona, expresses an interest in the concept of new incorporated cities, separate from Musk's controversial leadership.

Scott Galloway [53:26]: "I like the idea of competition in cities and these things popping up and taking a different approach to how a city is run."

6. Industry Reactions to Tariff Policies

The hosts discuss the broader economic repercussions of Trump's tariffs, particularly on the film industry. Tariffs on movies, many of which are already U.S. exports, pose logistical challenges and question the administration's understanding of the global media landscape.

Scott Galloway [39:59]: "How are you going to tariff that? Movies aren't things either."

Moreover, the discontinuation of direct shipments from Chinese e-commerce platform Temu to the U.S. port of Los Angeles signals potential disruptions across the supply chain.

Kara Swisher [38:34]: "Temu... stopped shipping all over the place."

7. Reflections on AI and Social Isolation

A significant portion of the episode critiques Mark Zuckerberg's recent statements about AI agents addressing human loneliness. Galloway emphasizes the detrimental effects of replacing human interaction with AI, highlighting the broader societal impacts.

Scott Galloway [17:55]: "Every accusation is a confession... we need some sack in fucking Congress to pass laws."

Kara Swisher [20:23]: "It was disturbed by every aspect... really quite disturbing to me."

They argue that such technological solutions exacerbate social isolation and mental health issues, rather than addressing the root causes.

8. Tribute to Jill Sobule

In a heartfelt segment, Kara mourns the tragic passing of Jill Sobule, a cherished friend and artist known for her song "I Kissed a Girl." The hosts honor her legacy and contributions to music and the arts.

Kara Swisher [58:24]: "She was best known for the song I Kissed a Girl... she was a ray of sunshine."

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Conclusion

In this episode of "Pivot," Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway navigate through a complex web of current events, offering incisive commentary on political maneuvers, economic policies, and technological advancements. From critiquing Trump's tariff strategies to celebrating Warren Buffett's enduring legacy and scrutinizing Elon Musk's latest ventures, the hosts provide listeners with a comprehensive analysis of the forces shaping today's business and political landscape.

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Notable Quotes:

• Kara Swisher [02:31]: "I gave you a shout out. Did you hear me give you a shout out?"

• Scott Galloway [03:29]: "You're able to push back, but also come across as goodwill. You're not trying to make the other person look stupid."

• Scott Galloway [09:04]: "He might try to run for a third term, that he's using military force against our allies... he finds he takes responsibility for deporting U.S. citizens... lack of accountability."

• Scott Galloway [27:57]: "The most visionary act in my opinion of the last hundred years was America said, okay..."

• Scott Galloway [33:41]: "From the analyst community, they look at Amazon as a cloud company with a retail division. So they're really focused on AWS."

• Kara Swisher [58:24]: "She was best known for the song I Kissed a Girl... she was a ray of sunshine."

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For those interested in staying informed on the intersections of technology, business, and politics, "Pivot" offers a compelling listen with insightful discussions and expert analysis.

Transcript

[Kara Swisher]

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[Scott Galloway]

This podcast is supported by Google. Hi, I'm Dave, one of the product leads on Google Gemini. We just launched Gemini Canvas. It's my new go to for real time collaboration with Gemini. Write docs, edit code, get feedback, iterate all in one new interactive space. From a blank slate to a built out prototype. My favorite part, Ask Gemini to leave feedback and suggestions just like you would with a teammate. Check it out for free at gemini.google.com avoiding your unfinished home projects because you're not sure where to start. Thumbtack knows homes, so you don't have to. Don't know the difference between matte, paint, finish and satin or what that clunking sound from your dryer is. With Thumbtack, you don't have to be a home pro. You just have to hire one. You can hire top rated pros, see price estimates and read reviews all on the app. Download today. PBS libraries. I mean, what's next? You're going to some interpretive dance with Alan Alda? You literally could not be more woke.

[Kara Swisher]

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

[Scott Galloway]

And I'm Scott Galloway.

[Kara Swisher]

So I've just returned from my grand tour of California.

[Scott Galloway]

Oh, you're back already?

[Kara Swisher]

I'm back. I took a red eye last night just to get home for you so I could be in the studio and look really nice.

[Scott Galloway]

You're traveling too much. That worries me. And you received a library laureate award and you were on Bill Maher. What did you want to talk about first?

[Kara Swisher]

Oh, so many things. I saw Robert Reich. I did something for KQED for Public Media, which was I was interviewed by PBS people. And right when in the middle of my interview, Trump put out his executive order trying to cut funding for PBS and mpo. That was interesting. I then flew to Los Angeles and did Bill Maher, which was really fun, which was interesting. And I gave you a shout out. Did you hear me give you a shout out?

[Scott Galloway]

No, but A bunch of people texted me that you name checked me and I watched the episode. I thought you were really good. Also, I thought Speaker McCarthy was quite good and I thought Bill did a really good job of killing.

[Kara Swisher]

Except for the woke woman thing at the end. But let me. Let's listen to me at the end.

[Scott Galloway]

Oh, you mean the fact that I.

[Kara Swisher]

Don'T want to talk about it. I made a face and everybody noticed.

[Scott Galloway]

Oh, ok.

[Kara Swisher]

It was stupid. He keeps going on and on about this woman on Love is Blind. He's obsessed with her because she rejected the man. He just didn't like him. So let's listen to me calling you out. It's the idea that you're the madman theory, this idea that he's playing. I know, the 4D chess thing. I mean, as Scott Gallery on our podcast said, it's like it's. He's not playing 4D chess, he's eating the chess pieces and he's. Which is a good joke. I have to attribute it to Scott. But there's no point in being chaotic because businesses can't plan. They don't know what to do next. Even Kevin McCarthy did enjoy that one eating the chess piece.

[Scott Galloway]

Thank you for that. I appreciate that. That was nice.

[Kara Swisher]

No problem. He's got a good laugh.

[Scott Galloway]

The most important thing is you look good.

[Kara Swisher]

Thank you. I know you said that. That was the, like. What about what I said? What about the substance of what I said, not how I looked.

[Scott Galloway]

I thought you thread the needle really well, you're able to push back, but also come across as goodwill. You're not trying to make the other person look stupid. You're just saying exactly what you think. But you're not doing it in a. That's a skill. I don't have that skill. I get angry and combative.

[Kara Swisher]

Yeah.

[Scott Galloway]

And it was good natured, I thought. I was actually surprised to the upside by the speaker or speaker Emrita or emeritus. And I thought Bill did a good job. I did not understand the Cheech and Chong episode.

[Kara Swisher]

Cheech and Chong, although they were lovely. They're fans of pivot, just so you know. Then they smoked afterwards, as you might imagine. He would have been quite comfortable. Yeah. Out on the. You know, it's kind of fun.

[Scott Galloway]

And they're nice guys.

[Kara Swisher]

Lovely, lovely. There's a lot of tension between Cheech and Chong. I would say there's a little bit.

[Scott Galloway]

Really?

[Kara Swisher]

Especially with Chong. Chong, yeah. Chong seems mad at Cheech sometimes, anyway. Yeah. Cheech is sort of younger seeming and more like seemingly in charge. I can't tell. It's sort of like, you know, it's like being together as a couple, as a professional couple, like we are. But they were. It was good. It was really fun. And then I went up to the San Francisco Public Library again in my theme of public stuff, and got the book laureate, which was lovely. The San Francisco library is great.

[Scott Galloway]

What does that mean, though? I don't.

[Kara Swisher]

I'm a laureate, Scott.

[Scott Galloway]

So wait, insulting billionaires is now literature? What does that mean? What did you.

[Kara Swisher]

Yes. Yes, that is correct. They love me there in San Francisco for insulting billionaires. Yes, in a beautiful way. In a beautiful, glorious way.

[Scott Galloway]

PBS libraries. I mean, what's next? You're going, like, to some interpretive dance with Alan Aldo. You literally could not.

[Kara Swisher]

Oh, I love Alan Alden. Did you see Four Seasons? They redid the Four Seasons with Tina Fey and a whole bunch of people and Alan Aldaman of Parents who was delightful.

[Scott Galloway]

I remember, actually, the last time I was in a library, I took my girlfriend in college to show her that my dick was in the Guinness Book of World Records, and then the librarian made me take it out.

[Kara Swisher]

Oh, my God. Although I have to say, I haven't been in a library in a very long time. That happens to be a gorgeous library. But being in the stacks gave me the. The feels, you know, hanging around in the stacks and sort of, you know, I don't know. I just have a lot of memories of the stacks.

[Scott Galloway]

Yeah. I asked the librarian if she had a book about men with small penises, and she said, well, it's not in yet. And I'm like, that's the one. That's the one.

[Kara Swisher]

Oh, my God. Why do you have library jokes? One thing I have to say, a lot of people did stop me throughout California loving Scott and Kara. I have to say that was really nice. And saying we make them feel better in this very difficult time. There's a lot of, like, angst among people and we calm their angst down. I suggested Cheech and Chong for that, but they.

[Scott Galloway]

I tried to check out a book on suicide, and they said no, they were worried I wouldn't return it. That's wrong. That's just wrong.

[Kara Swisher]

Oh, don't. No, there's no good suicide library jokes. That's wrong. As usual. As usual. Anyway, it was lovely. It was a lovely visit to California. I missed the whole.

[Scott Galloway]

Did you go to any cool restaurants with cool, hot people in la?

[Kara Swisher]

No, but I stayed at the Addition Hotel briefly.

[Scott Galloway]

Oh, what'd you think of that? I keep thinking that I might Stay there. I think it's too young for us.

[Kara Swisher]

Yeah. I was like, what is happening here?

[Scott Galloway]

And it has all those sharp edges. I'm already going to cut myself and bleed out on the floor.

[Kara Swisher]

Very sterile. And there was a lot of like, succulents. Actually, there's only one succulent. They were even chintzy with the succulents. Like, you can only have one succulent. I like succulents. But anyway, I like to say the word succulent. Anyway, it was lovely, but now I'm.

[Scott Galloway]

Back in D.C. so congratulations on your library Laureate award.

[Kara Swisher]

Library laureate. Book laureate is the technical term. And you can call me laureate from now on. Anyway, we've got a lot to get to today, including Warren Buffett's surprise announcement, Elon getting his own city, and whatever the fuck President Trump is up to. He's done a big public. He's all over the place with all kinds of wacky announcements and some of them disturbing. First of all, all presidents swear an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. They say it right when they get sworn in. But Donald Trump was rethinking that promise on Meet the Press this weekend. It was a very wide ranging interview with Kristen Welke. Uh, let's listen. But even given those numbers that you're talking about, don't you need to uphold.

[Scott Galloway]

The Constitution of the United States as President?

[Kara Swisher]

I don't know. I have to respond by saying, again, I have brilliant lawyers that work for me. I don't know what he was saying. It came during a conversation about deportations. I don't know if he was referring to the deportations of the Constitution. It wasn't clear to me, actually. Also notable from the interview, the President continued to blame former President Biden for the bad parts of the economy. And of course, he took credit for the good parts. He did not rule out the use of military force to take Greenland again. Said he would add and self fund a ballroom to the White House. I'm terrified of the gold situation. And he of course, let us know that, quote, everything's okay, unquote. Some other fun things the President has done recently includes posting rebuild and open Alcatraz on Truth Social. And the President posted an AI image of himself as Pope in the official White House account. Reposted again on Instagram and X. Many Catholics, including they made some statements. Catholic bishops and cardinals made comments. He's had quite a week. Any thoughts on any of these things?

[Scott Galloway]

Well, I sort of go to. I'm sort of done with. Okay, this is A guy who's interested or acknowledges that he's quite likely has no fidelity of the Constitution, that he might try to run for a third term, that he's using to use military force against our allies, that he doesn't stand on his own two feet. And he finds he takes responsibility for deporting U.S. citizens to what are effectively black sites and then claims that he can't get them back. So lack of accountability. Lack of.

[Kara Swisher]

But then says he can. He also said he could. He wanted to.

[Scott Galloway]

Well, but every time he's faced with a hard question like will you uphold the Constitution, he says, well, you need to talk to the lawyers. I'm sort of at the point now where I'm no longer. We know this is a person who's a stain on the American experience. The thing that I find so fascinating and we're not focused enough on in terms of being this force that's supposedly pushing back, is that Democrats are less popular than the president. And I think the hard conversation we need to have is, okay, we all agree he's awful and a threat to America and it's taking the global economy down, and yet our leadership is so feckless, neutered and ineffective, they can't push back on it. And so what I would like to see is Leader Jeffries or Senator Bennett or someone who's Senators Klobuchar. I'd like to see them draft legislation that says, if you're a nation and you're hosting black sites and US Citizens have been found to be incarcerated in those black sites and you haven't returned them immediately and you're cooperating with this, we are going to economically punish you severely. If you're a nation that is engaging in fraud around cryptocurrency or investing in schemes that ultimately hurt consumers around the world, we may levy the same economic damage in you. That bill would not pass, but I think we need to send a flare across the bow that if we take back the House, this is coming. So enough already. Like, what are we gonna do about it? I'm kind of sick of reporting about how outrageous the president is. I wanna see the Democrats do something.

[Kara Swisher]

Some people are individually, like Rahm Emanuel. There's a bunch that are sort of saying to get some muscle in this. It's just. It's not a coordinated effort.

[Scott Galloway]

Well, and also, shouldn't there essentially be legislation or a lawsuit filed that says the statute of limitations on some of the crimes I believe are being committed are longer than three years and nine months? And the justice system, similar to America. Its memory is long and its reach is far. And for those of you Republicans who think that, or members of the administration or proxies of the administration who believe that you can commit securities fraud or wrongful imprisonment, whatever you want to call this, God help you when there's an actual doj. Because you know what? I think at some point, the Democratic Party needs to be the party, not fucking around. And I think we're just being run over. And it's not. Our popularity is lower than an insurrectionist right now. Not because we don't have the right ideas, not because he's bad, but we're seeing. It's just so fucking weak. People would rather have. And I'm not saying this is the right thing. Americans have decided they'd rather have an autocrat than a weak party.

[Kara Swisher]

Well, it sounds like they don't want any of us, really. That's the.

[Scott Galloway]

That's a fair point.

[Kara Swisher]

Yeah. You know, I was thinking as I was. I flew on the red eye last night and I was thinking, he'll pardon him. He was part of the interview. He said he was sort of pushing at. He was noting Rubio and J.D. vance as the possible next presidents, as Republican presidential candidates and not himself. But I was thinking he'll pardon himself on the last day for everything.

[Scott Galloway]

Oh, no, he's going to party hundreds of people. But there needs to also be.

[Kara Swisher]

No, but he's going to party himself. That's who he's going to pardon. So he doesn't have to face this stuff.

[Scott Galloway]

I just think we need to come up with creative ways and indicate that. You want to talk about executive orders, you want to talk about a doj, you want to talk about. I mean, I just. We're sitting around just outraged. Just.

[Kara Swisher]

I agree, like, strongly.

[Scott Galloway]

You know what our response has been? The most ridiculous, ridiculous thing I've seen all year is. When asked how they were pushing back, Senate leader Schumer responded with a strongly worded letter.

[Kara Swisher]

Letter. Schumer's gotta go.

[Scott Galloway]

He's gotta go. I mean, my God, we need. Literally.

[Kara Swisher]

Pelosi got mad. Pelosi got mad about the Alcatraz thing. It's a very good tourist attraction and it lasts.

[Scott Galloway]

That's, again, another distraction. He knows it's never going to happen. Don't look at the fact, you know, don't look at the fact that my family has. Has increased their wealth by $3 billion with a crypto scam since I took president or I, I took the.

[Kara Swisher]

They're doing more. They're doing More with real estate and everything else anyway. You're absolutely right, Scott. Oddly enough, I am actually going to California for a very brief trip next week to talk to a whole mess of Democrats. You want to meet me? You want to come with me?

[Scott Galloway]

I'm in Hamburg, Germany. That's kind of. That's not an easy flight for me. And I'm at the age where I'm trying to reduce the things that are bad for my health, like traveling across time zones all the time.

[Kara Swisher]

I will channel you to them. I said, I'll only come if I can yell at you. Yeah, maybe I'll talk to them. I said, I can only come if I can yell at you. Like, a lot.

[Scott Galloway]

I did a zoom with a Republican congresswoman two days ago talking about the tax status of universities. And she wanted to talk about. I had said about a year ago that I thought universities with an endowment over a billion that weren't growing their freshman class size greater than population growth should lose their tax free status because they need to stop being LVMH and start living up to their mission of being public servants and letting in more kids. And immediately, a lot of Republicans have picked up on that and said under the auspices of revoking their tax free status. And so I said to her, look, if this is an attempt to be a good actor and try and expand freshman class size, I'm down and I want to help you and I want to work on it. I've thought a lot about this. If this is nothing but a false flag, such that you can attack institutions that you see as advancing critical thinking, which lately has been bad for the Republican Party. I mean, this ridiculous notion that they're revoking tax free status because of anti Semitism. There is some real concerns around antisemitism across Ivy Leagues. This is not why they're doing that, folks.

[Kara Swisher]

No, of course not. Of course not. The whole nonsense. Well, I will say, because I enjoy yelling at Democrats about these things and I will just, I'll just, I'll continue to attribute things to you. That's why.

[Scott Galloway]

Well, I appreciate that.

[Kara Swisher]

I regret to inform you something distracting, that Mark Zuckerberg is raw dogging life. The Meta CEO went on the Theo Vaughn podcast and said he drinks coffee recreationally, which was strange enough, and that the DARE program really worked for him. We're going to leave all the awkward in for this one. Let's listen to the whole clip. It's so strange.

[Scott Galloway]

You drink coffee, man, or no. No. Really?

[Kara Swisher]

Yeah.

[Scott Galloway]

I mean, you've had it. I Have sometimes on vacation, I'll drink it recreationally. It's like every once in a while, just like a. Yeah, it's like, Like a celebration. Yeah. Yeah. Really? Yeah. No, I. I just like, hate anything that messes with, like, I don't. I don't like any kind of chemicals or anything like that. Oh, really? So you like to keep everything, the equilibrium? Yeah. My sister gives me such a hard time about this. She's like, you're just sitting there raw dogging reality. Wow.

[Kara Swisher]

Oh, my God. Does he know what raw dogging is? I feel like he doesn't.

[Scott Galloway]

Yeah. I mean, again, that was. It's clear he's not. He's pretty awkward. But what people missed was that. And this is terrible is he's claiming that these new agents he's going to put forward, these AI agents are going to solve loneliness.

[Kara Swisher]

I'm still stuck on raw dogging that he doesn't know the meaning of it. But, yes, this is the most important thing was that the three friends that people have three friends, and therefore we're going to replace them with AI bots.

[Scott Galloway]

Essentially with AI and what you. I mean, leave it to Mark Zuckerberg to be the villain claiming to be the hero. I love what you said that every accusation is a confession. I mean, this is an awful man who has taken absolutely no responsibility for the damage that he's caused. And he wants to further sequester us from one another, not recognizing how dangerous that is.

[Kara Swisher]

Like, he's doing us a favor. I agree. He had the tone, the awkwardness aside, which was heavy here. He had a tone of like, I'm here to save you by giving you bots. So Instead of having three friends, you'll have probably no friends and 15 bot friends, which is pathetic.

[Scott Galloway]

And I get, I get mocked a lot for the quote unquote, you know, talking about the crisis of lonely young men. And you know, well, if you're more lonely, pull yourself up by your. By your bootstraps. And if you're only more emotionally, you know, in touch with your emotions. Not having friends has so many ripple effects on the rest of your life professionally. When Google puts out a job opening, the person who almost always gets the job is someone who has an advocate internally. My advice to young people when they're looking for a job is go out every night and be as social as possible because you want to be put in a room of opportunities when you're not in it. Two, do you realize you're much more inclined to stay married when you have a Lot of friends. Because you have someone you can bitch to about your partner, you're less likely to be depressed. You're much less likely to make really stupid fucking decisions financially. So money, marriage, professional opportunities are all correlated to your ability to establish and maintain friendships. And so when you see. On average men have gone from. You know, we now have. We now have. I think it's a. What is it? One in seven men don't have a single friend, and one in four men can't name a best friend. That means that cohort of men is going to be less likely to have relationships, romantic relationships, less likely to have professionally so friendships. And being mamalia, it really is an issue. And again, you have a bunch of tech firms who are compensated to sequester you from anything in the real world so you can spend more time in their world so they can sell you more Nissan ads.

[Kara Swisher]

Yeah, it's really. He just doesn't even. Under the part that got me. And I was at an AI thing last night in Los Angeles. But is this idea. And one of this woman who sort of combines ethics issues and philosophy and AI was like, the thing is, it didn't even occur to him to fix the loneliness problem in a way that included people instead of this without any sense of irony. You know what I mean? Like, here's my solution for this, and it's bad, right? And it's just there was no irony whatsoever of what he was saying, that this was the way to go anyway. It's a really. It was a very disturbed. I have to say, it was disturbed by every aspect. And I thought, this guy needs a PR person to get him to stop talking. But maybe it's good that you see this or something else. But just. He's gotten worse and more, I would say, twisted. I don't know what else to say. So strange and awkward and breathy and laughing at his own jokes. It's really quite disturbing to me.

[Scott Galloway]

Well, he's awkward. You're allowed to be awkward. There's a lot of awkward young people.

[Kara Swisher]

It's gotten to be something else. But. Go ahead again.

[Scott Galloway]

But that's a distraction from the fact that he keeps producing products that are gonna make young people more and more depressed and anxious and obese.

[Kara Swisher]

And I guess what I have to say is he really believes this bullshit more than ever. I feel like. Like he really thinks he has all the answers. And it was a tone of voice.

[Scott Galloway]

But we wanna pathologize, so let's move to solutions. The seven tobacco executives that stood in front of Congress, whenever it was 25 years ago, and raised their right hand and said, I do not believe that tobacco is addictive or nicotine is addictive. When you are paid not to believe something or you are paid not to understand something, it is really. You will find it's really difficult for you to understand it because you're paid not to understand it. These people are never going to come to their senses and see the world as it is. We need. We need some sack in fucking Congress to pass laws.

[Kara Swisher]

I agree.

[Scott Galloway]

Okay, we probably shouldn't have AI generated humanity and friends for people under the age of 18. We need to break these companies up. We need to remove section 230 protection with AI driven bots. So if a kid who thinks he's in a relationship with Cersei from Game of Thrones and he says, should I kill myself? And she says, I am waiting for you, my sweet. And then he puts a gun in his mouth, then fucking that. That character AI gets hit hard. Instead, we want to run all these stories about how awkward and weird he is. Who gives a fuck? He's awkward now. Figure out laws.

[Kara Swisher]

True. Oh, you're not into distractions, are you? I like this. I like the very clear, Scott. You don't want distractions. Enough of this shit.

[Scott Galloway]

Anyway, it's true.

[Kara Swisher]

You're right. You're right.

[Scott Galloway]

You.

[Kara Swisher]

Library laureate. Library laureate. Let's talk about someone that we all like. We'll go on a quick break. And we come back. Warren Buffett is stepping down. What a legend. Support for this show comes from Coda, powered by Grammarly. Having your team come together to get a project complete can be a euphoric feeling. But nobody loves trying to keep track of all the information, data and projects across dozens of platforms, products and tools. For that, there's Coda, the all in one collaborative workspace that's helped 50,000 teams all over the world get on the same page. Coda offers the flexibility of docs with the structure of spreadsheets to facilitate deeper teamwork and quicker creativity. Their new turnkey AI solution, Coda Brain, is a game changer. Powered by Grammarly, Coda is entering a new phase of innovation and expansion, aiming to redefine productivity for the AI era. Whether you're a startup looking to organize the chaos while staying nimble, or an enterprise organization looking for better alignment, Coda matches your working style. Its seamless workspace connects you to hundreds of your favorite tools, including Salesforce, Jira, Asana and Figma, helping your team transform their rituals and do more faster head over to Coda IO Pivot right now and get six months of the team plan for startups for free. That's C o D A IO pivot and get six months of the team plan for free. Coda IO pivot Support for this show comes from HubSpot. Growing a business can feel impossible, but HubSpot's customer platform can help. It's powered by Breeze, their suite of AI tools so you can generate more leads, close more deals and scale your service fast. With Breeze agents handling the busy work, customers are cutting sales cycles in half and saving hours on work each week. Best of all, you see the results in days, not months. Visit HubSpot.comai to learn more.

[Scott Galloway]

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[Kara Swisher]

Scott we're back. Warren Buffett, the 94 year old Oracle of Omaha, is stepping down as CEO of BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY After 60 years at the helm. The surprise announcement shocked many shareholders the company's annual meeting over the weekend. He's been aging and I think he always knows himself well. Buffett named Greg Abel, Berkshire Hathaway's vice president of non insurance operations, successor. But he also said he'll hang around in a supporting role and plans to remain chairman. In addition to the big news, Buffett weight on what's happening with tariffs, saying trade should not be a weapon. He explained how trade can be misused. Let's listen.

[Scott Galloway]

Trade can be an act of war and I think it's led to bad things, just the attitudes it's brought out in The United States.

[Kara Swisher]

I mean, we should be looking to trade with the rest of the world. And we should do what we do best.

[Scott Galloway]

And they should do what they do best.

[Kara Swisher]

You know, it just. So since we also had a lot of stuff about kindness that was lovely. As the Wall Street Journal put it, there's only one Warren Buffett and there'll never be another, I'm going to start talking about his legacy. I was lucky enough to talk to him many times and I'm hoping maybe one or two more times. I one time called him because he was a very. I called Berkshire Hathaway because he wasn't doing any Internet investing at the beginning. And I wanted to know why. When I was working at the Journal. And I called and I got the secretary and she said, and I thought, she said, can you hold please? I said, I have a question for Mr. Buffett. And I assumed I was gonna get to the PR person. Phone clicks in and it's Warren Buffett. He's like, hi. And I was like, hi. And we talked about the Internet and why he didn't invest in it. He later invested and made a spectacular investment in Apple. But it was really interesting. And I ended up having dinner with him. Cause I have a friend who's on the board. And just as he's really so sharp, so interesting, so lovely. I met Greg Abel, who also seemed terrific. Obviously Charlie Munger, who recently died, another great. All the people around him are great. I don't know what else. He just surrounds himself with really high quality common sense people. And a lot of what he said in this last appearance was just common sense about kindness, about trade. Whatever he says seems so plain spoken. Not everything he's done has been perfect, that's for sure. But I just find this to be the kind of person you want to be leaders of leaders in society. And it just so happens this guy happens to be an investor. Any thoughts from you?

[Scott Galloway]

Well, he revolutionized the world of investing in terms of buy and hold and buying good companies. And first off, I think that meeting registered what is probably the greatest promotion in history to go from VP of non insurance Operations to CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. I mean, congratulations to Greg.

[Kara Swisher]

Well, he was, he was just so I this office, which is the simplest office you're ever going to see. I was surprised when I went there. There's not many people there and that was a big role.

[Scott Galloway]

Oh, he's been named as the heir. I'm just saying from a title standpoint.

[Kara Swisher]

No, I know. Yeah, that's a pretty Big shift in title.

[Scott Galloway]

That's a much cooler, that's a much cooler rap at a conference or at a bar. Well, I'm VP of non insurance operations. Well, I'm CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. Those get entirely different responses. Anyways, look, the part of his speech which I watched, which I thought was most powerful and which is totally counter to the current administration and quite frankly, what infects America a little bit is this notion that the global economy is a win lose. And if you look at our economy Since World War II, we've 8X'd our GDP we control basically have the most dominant media companies. Seven of the ten most valuable companies in the world are American. We have the best universities. Our household average household income has hit almost $80,000, which has vastly outpaced Asian or European countries. And this notion somehow that we've been taking advantage of and if we increase our prosperity, it has to come at the cost of another nation. Or if another nation's prosperity is going up, it comes at our cost. It's just such lame, tired. The most visionary act in my opinion of the last hundred years was America said, okay. When we tried to punish Germany after World War I, it didn't work well, because when people are doing really poorly abroad, to believe that you can protect your shores and your kids from that anger is just naive. You can't. And when people are much more prosperous, they're less likely a they want to buy your shit, they want to buy your Netflix and they want to buy your Ford trucks and they're less likely to raise disaffected youth who think, you know what? I would like to declare war on that country because I think they're extraordinary advantage has come at my cost. So when you want to build prosperity across the oceans. And the problem with the zero sum thinking that literally President Trump defines is this notion somehow that we don't want other nations to do really well, that it comes at our cost. When other nations prosper, it's generally a proxy for how well we're doing. And we have through global trade, through ip, through our universities. When other nations do well, we do really well. And he just laid this out. He wasn't political, he didn't use the President's, he didn't vote the President's name. Gay marriage didn't come at the cost of heteronormative marriage. There's a very dangerous trope in the manosphere that the ascent of women has come at the cost of men. It has not. Men are struggling for a variety of reasons. But as women thrive, that doesn't mean it's a zero sum game and we start to do worse. You want the world to prosper. You want your business, you want nations you trade with. And if you look at. It's just so obvious since 1945, if you had to pick one nation that has done really well, a lot of people would say the ascent over the last 20 or 30 years of China is probably number one. And by the way, that's been amazing for them and amazing for us. Their ascent has resulted in incredible prosperity for Americans. Have we outsourced certain jobs and not thought about the people we were left behind? Absolutely. Is there asymmetry of trade? But the fact that we're able to enjoy such materially wealthy or rich lives is in large part because the Chinese have ascended. Also, when countries ascend, they're really inclined not to declare war on you or their neighbors when they're prospering. Whenever I go to Mykonos or Ibiza, I have noticed a lot of young kids from the Gulf are dominating these really expensive restaurants. And you know what, it's a wonderful thing because they think, you know what, this whole prosperity thing, this whole Western, Western notion of capitalism is really good for us. And so we're less likely to be radicalized, we're less likely to be angry. And he pointed that out so simply and so eloquently that we have to exit this zero sum thinking as embodied by the Trump administration right now.

[Kara Swisher]

Yeah, I thought he's just, you know what, Hats off to Warren Buffett.

[Scott Galloway]

Absolutely.

[Kara Swisher]

He's a real classy guy. Terrific guy. Anyway, we're gonna move on, but Warren, good job and most delightful dinner. One of the most delightful dinners I had with really well known people. He also ate much of my meal. I couldn't believe how much that man put away. And he's still walking around. Steak and blooming, some onion thing, a bunch of potatoes. Anyway, it was a completely enjoyable meal and I was lucky I was privileged to have dinner with him. Anyway, couple of quick things. Apple and Amazon reported earnings late last week. It was after we had talked. Both companies had strong quarters. Apple had $95 billion in revenue and nearly $25 billion in profit. A juggernaut. IPhone sales were up too, hitting almost 47 billion. Amazon had 156 billion in revenue and profit was 17 billion, up 64%, though the cloud business is trailing Microsoft's. But tariffs remain a cause for concern for these companies. More obvious problems for these two companies than, say, a Google or A meta. Tim Cook said tariff could cost Apple $900 million this quarter. Even with the company moving to manufacture most iPhones in India. They're trying to do that. Amazon noted tariffs and trade policies and recession fears are among the range of factors that could make guidance subject to change. They were just signaling it. Just for people who don't know. Jeff Bezos planned to sell up to 25 million shares in the company over the next year. Probably pretty typical, these sales that happen. This is a big chunk. Very briefly because I want to get to these Trump tariffs on Hollywood really quickly, but thoughts on the results for those two?

[Scott Galloway]

I thought Amazon had a great quarter. I couldn't get over this Kuiper thing. I think that's a big deal. Amazon's probably most vulnerable to the tariffs because two thirds of their business is in the US and obviously a lot of their products would be subject to the tariffs. But you know, these companies are just so well, you know, they're so well run. AWS grew 17% year on year. North American retail sales grew 8%, which is the slowest since the pandemic. But it's still vastly outpacing any other retail or other big retailers. And the stock fell. But you know, right now I think the. From the analyst community, they look at Amazon as a cloud company with a retail division. So they're really focused on aws. And I think the most exciting thing about Amazon right now is this. Kuiper.

[Kara Swisher]

Kuiper. And by the way, it is Kuiper. I got called by the Amazon people.

[Scott Galloway]

Oh my God, Kuiper.

[Kara Swisher]

It wasn't Cooper, it's Kuiper. You were right. You are correct. It's Kuiper, not Cooper. It's after. Just after some astronomer or something like that. I forget. I should go look. But we got it wrong. I got it wrong. But yeah, I thought they were. I think they're just still signaling, we don't know, especially Amazon and its retail division. Obviously, Apple's going through all kinds of changes, cause of where they have to make things and pressures from the Trump administration and just the cost. So what's in Apple's favor? People are used to paying high prices for Apple products, so this is a little more price resistant. It's not like they're. They're dealing with people that can't pay the extra kind of stuff.

[Scott Galloway]

I thought Apple had the weakest of all of them. Their sales were up 5%, which beat expectations. But I believe a lot of that was front loading and that is consumers thinking, all right, I keep seeing rumors of the phone going to $2,300 with tariffs and $3,500 if it's produced in the U.S. so I thought, a lot of people thought, well, it's time for a new iPhone, I'm going to pull it forward. And I've been selling down and I've been very public about this. My Apple stake, which I bought in 2010, because I think at a PE of 34, a company that is effectively not growing its price is a growth company and the reality is it's flat. And their big announcement was another increase in dividend and share buyback, which quite frankly is the sign of a very mature company that does not trade at 34 times earnings. And there's nothing, you use the word refresh, there's nothing that interesting really. And also Apple Intelligence, which is sort of their attempt at AI has been delayed again. So I think Apple's in for a rough road.

[Kara Swisher]

It does have a feel of a we've done so many hits, we're done with the hits. You know what I mean? I gotta say, I gotta give it to em for this particular team, which has been, I always call them the Rolling Stones, right? They keep going, but it feels like a little bit like they should maybe have a new, fresh and refresh on a lot of things. So that said, they're a must have for a lot of people, including myself. So it's not like I'm gonna abandon them.

[Scott Galloway]

It's an amazing product, but just looking at it from a valuation standpoint, let's look at earnings per share growth, right? It's 10 to 12%. Microsoft is 12%. They both trade at about 33 times a P of about 33 times. Alphabet is growing at 18% and trades at a P multiple of 18. Amazon grew their EPS 30% and trades at a lower P of 31. Meta grew their EPS by 10%, about the same as Apple. And they trade at 22 and Nvidia. Obviously that one's trading at a crazy PE. But if you just look at Bottoms up fundamentals, if you look at growth in earnings and top line revenue relative to their valuation or price on earnings, Alphabet is the least expensive and Apple by far is the most expensive.

[Kara Swisher]

Yep, I think that's true. I think that's true. But we'll see where they go. They certainly are doing better than most businesses in this country. Some other tariff updates. Trump says this one came out of nowhere yesterday. Says he's imposing 100% tariff on movies. This is not a distraction. This is strange on movies made overseas, though it's unclear how that will work. By the way, we have a trade surplus when it comes to movies. Just so you be clear, Netflix shares dropped 3% at the opening bells. Disney, Warner Brothers and Paramount were also down. This one I just don't get. And I'll get a couple more tariff things, but let me go through them and then comment on Temu. The Chinese e commerce platform has stopped shipping products from China directly to the US and the executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, who knows from things, was on Bloomberg the other day breaking down what it means, the chaos means for workers and more. And the reverberations. Let's listen. So the trucker hauling four or five containers today, next week she probably hauls two or three. The dock workers are no longer going.

[Scott Galloway]

To see overtime and double shifts.

[Kara Swisher]

They're going to probably work less than a traditional workweek. Starting right off the bat every four containers mean a job. So when we start dialing this back, it's less job opportunities. And what happens if we get a deal? If we get a deal, it's going to take about a month. Let me walk you through that real quick. About two weeks to get the ships repositioned around these major ports from Qingdao to Shanghai to Xiaomin, load up all those containers and then another two, two weeks to steam across the Pacific to get to us. I mean, this guy's smart. He's got a lot of stats. He sees, you know, you can see it in real time. And then of course, the reborn just doesn't go to dock workers and it's truckers and it's, it just goes throughout the economy. The terrorist movie thing just. I don't even. How are you going to. Most of Mission Impossible is coming up. And by the way, I'm so excited. Final Reckoning was made abroad. A lot of people, there's a lot of breaks in England. They do a lot of stuff. There's a certain Canada and everything else to save costs. But how do you. Movies aren't things either. And again, we have a trade surplus when it comes to movies going abroad. They also have big customers across the globe. That's another thing. A lot of their business is not just here in this country. It's their global businesses. This one was just nuts, as far as I could tell. I just. Thoughts? Any thoughts?

[Scott Galloway]

Yes, stupidity squared. More stupidity. We're a net exporter. One of the biggest advantages we have as a country is that we're basically running a 24 by 7 commercial on brand America called Baywatch or the Fantastic Four. These movies generally reflect an aspirational view of America, and the whole world consumes our media. And the notion that it's easy. How this plays out. Boat. It's this exact same thing that happened with Apple is going to happen with Netflix. Someone is going to go, okay, if we impose 100% tariff on their movies coming in, which may be even more difficult to surmise than looking at automobile manufacturing, where some parts go back and forth across the border a half a dozen or a dozen times, this will be even more difficult because if you have an American Warner Brothers film with Warner Brothers, with American actors, American gaffers, but it's being filmed in Prague for tax credits. Like what? Okay, tell me how we tariff that.

[Kara Swisher]

What do you tariff? The tickets? What do you. Ticket sales. What do you tariff?

[Scott Galloway]

The cost of production? I don't know. These are all really good questions, honestly. And then when Netflix, who consumers love almost as much as Apple, start going, let me get this. I'm gonna have to pay more at the box office and for production.

[Kara Swisher]

They do things across the globe.

[Scott Galloway]

He's gonna send production and media businesses into a flurry where they have to pause, stop, think through what is going on here. And then he will blink, and then he will realize that when every European nation says, fine, if you want US to put 100% tariff on all of the media coming into Europe from the US you want to see LA really take a dive. I mean, LA has basically lost most of its production business.

[Kara Swisher]

Yeah, it is down 26%. It definitely is. It's the cost. It's everything else. Still very big there, but it's much less than it was.

[Scott Galloway]

But if you want to see. I mean, he's literally going industry by industry, and at a minimum, he's putting it into a state of paralysis. And I become pretty good friends with a guy who used to run Warner Brothers Europe. Basically, his job was to take Harry Potter and Batman and come to Europe and start just grabbing money and to say to the biggest Polish streamer, all right, I want $7 million for you to be able to run Batman and then go to the London theaters and say, all right, I've got an idea for a Harry Potter play, and I need 14% royalties. We literally just suck money out of countries using our IP. And he doesn't believe they're gonna just say, okay, 100% tariff on any media coming in here.

[Kara Swisher]

But on what? That's the thing. It's like, it's so crazy. Someone who doesn't have a sense of how important this industry and how well it's doing. It's just this one is very dangerous. Especially these companies are sort of teetering a little bit, like are really trying really hard to get back on their feet with the, you know, with AI coming at them with everything coming out with costs, with unions, with. They've got a tough. Those people have a tough job now when it used to all be gravy and him doing this. And by the way, most of them didn't know it. I was at an event, they're like, what in the actual fuck was A lot of producers, a lot. They're like, what is he tariff? They just weren't. Utter confusion. Utter and complete confusion and really stupid. Just very quick thoughts on the ports and these things. Eric Schmidt, by the way, had an op ed in the New York Times worth reading. Noting between Temu, TikTok and Deep Sea, China was pulling ahead of us in AI was sort of one of those typical tech people like China, GE or me kind of thing. But worth reading anyway. Any thoughts about this slowdown that's gonna happen? And I interviewed Wes Moore today, the governor of Maryland. Same thing with the port of Baltimore, which is the other big port where lots of stuff comes in.

[Scott Galloway]

Yeah, this is a calm before the storm and I live in London, so I don't have a front row seat here. But my understanding is in about the next four to 12 weeks, you're just gonna start to see things trickle through the supply chain and prices will go up and there'll be some shelves that are empty. And Americans, Americans basically take their cues from their consumerism. And when they see empty shelves, as they did in Covid, the next thing they buy is a gun. They get very freaked out when the shelves are empty. And the notion somehow that American consumers won't respond, that is freak out about shortages or prices going up. This is a nation that was essentially formed off of a rebellion when the price, the tax on tea was increased.

[Kara Swisher]

Yeah, Whiskey Rebellion. And we've had a lot of them on products. It's always on products.

[Scott Galloway]

It's interesting and just TEMU and Shein are responsible. I mean, in the holidays, 20% of all purchases through the holidays were through either TEMU or Shein. And all of a sudden TEMU basically is essentially announced. They're just stopping all shipments. They're like. And I don't even think it's the tariffs, I think it's the insecurity. We know how to plan our business.

[Kara Swisher]

Scott, you're only getting two dolls this Christmas. Just so you know. I was going to give you 30.

[Scott Galloway]

To bring this home. I have my roommate my sophomore year in the fraternity. This lovely guy has that specialty products business. Everything you get at a conference. He had all this stuff on a boat, had to go down to the port and write like a $2 million check which he just does not have lying around. Nice little business, 180 employees. A family business built. Amazing living for himself and a lot of people. And I don't know if he's going to survive this. He just can't. He doesn't have time to reroute his supply chain. About 80% of it comes out of China. He doesn't have time to reroute a supply chain through all of these other Southeast Asian nations and people. 98%, 98% of the businesses that are run or dependent upon import export are small and medium sized business. And here's the problem. They don't have any fucking lobbyists. So let's go back to the media terror.

[Kara Swisher]

Yes, they don't have the checks like you said to pay it say.

[Scott Galloway]

Yeah, they don't have the capital say. In fact, he does manage to implement some sort of tariff around, around our content. You know who will get an exemption? Netflix. But the little independent producer of a film or someone who makes little documentaries, they're shit out of luck. So this is yet again this transnational oligarchy with a top 1% who have access, have lobbyists and can get on his lunch calendar, get quite frankly probably end up stronger in the small and medium sized business, which by the way, folks, create 2/3 of all new jobs in America. They're shit out of luck. I mean they're just. And I could just hear in his voice, she's like, he doesn't even know how to respond.

[Kara Swisher]

Right? Nope, nope. This is the stupid. This was deeply stupid. I was like, oh my God, this guy's an idiot. We have to move along. But it's really gonna, it's not going to be good. And this one, it just shows the. He's just moving from industry to industry. That's correct. You're saying that. All right, let's go on a quick break. We come back, Elon gets his own town in Texas. Let's make quick work of this.

[Scott Galloway]

Right now the Home Depot has spring deals under $20. So no matter what you're working on, the deals are blooming at the Home Depot with savings on plants, flowers, soil and more. Then light up your outdoor space with Hampton Bay string lights was $34.97. Now only $19.99. And get the grill going with two 16 pound bags of Kingsford charcoal was $19.98. Now only $17.88. Don't miss spring deals under $20 now through May 7th at the home Depot subject to availability valid on select items only. Have you ever gotten a medical bill and thought, how am I ever gonna pay for this? This week on Net Worth and Chill, we're tackling the financial emergency that is the American healthcare system. From navigating insurance nightmares to making sure your emergency fund actually covers those emergencies, we're diving deep into the hidden healthcare costs that no one warns you about. Most hospitals in the US are actually non profits, which means they have to have financial assistance or charity care policies. So essentially, if you make below a certain amount, the hospital legally has to waive your medical bill up to a certain percent. Listen wherever you get your podcast, podcasts or watch on YouTube.com YourRichBFF the regular season is in the rearview and now it's time for the games that matter the most. This is Kenny Beachum 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 would 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 passion, the 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 Beachum for new episodes of Small Ball throughout the playoffs. Don't miss Small Ball with Kenny Beecham. New episodes dropping through the playoffs, available on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.

[Kara Swisher]

Scott we're back. Elon Musk now is his own official company town after voters in a small patch of South Texas, overwhelmingly, most of them his employees, approved a ballot measure to establish the city of Starbase. Mr. Potter. Oh, I mean Elon Musk. The new city covers about 1 1/2 square miles, is home to SpaceX headquarters. Nearly all the residents are Elon Musk employees, their family members and the first city officials are current or former SpaceX staff. Starbase has been described as looking like the set of a science fiction movie with rows of near identical houses and a massive bronze bust of Elon Musk. I don't know what to say, but I'm gonna add that he's been on a bit of a media tour this week, trying to take victory laps of zero victories. He appeared on Fox News with Doge worker Edward. I think it's Korestein, AKA Big Balls. I can't even believe we live in this timeline. He spoke to journalists about the White House and talked about sleeping in the Lincoln Bedroom, eating Haagen Dazs, and also compared himself to Buddha in another Fox News interview, this one with Lara Trump. Oh, God. The insiderness here is so grotesque. Elon responded to the Nazi accusations and comparisons he's faced in recent months. Let's listen.

[Scott Galloway]

I've not harmed anyone in my life. They've also called President Trump a Nazi, but he also is not a violent person and in fact has done a lot to prevent wars and stop wars, which is the very opposite of being a Nazi, actually. Right.

[Kara Swisher]

He doesn't know history. Oh, my God. How can we miss you if you won't go away, Elon? That's my feeling. This is ridiculous. Every bit of this. It's like he's made a disaster of Doge. They are probably going to cost us more money. He's hurt people's lives. You don't have to. You've harmed people in your life. That's ridiculous. You don't have to kill people to harm them. The way he's setting up these things. Show me. He's not much of an intellectual in any way, and not that he cares, but just the. I don't know what to say. This is just so ridiculous. We're in the most ridiculous timeline and he needs to pipe down and stop sucking up all the attention oxygen. I'd like to stop talking about him.

[Scott Galloway]

Yeah, so we don't shy away from highlighting that he doesn't acquit himself well. But I actually like the idea of. Of new incorporated cities.

[Kara Swisher]

Oh, do you?

[Scott Galloway]

Well, just because if you look at the basic American dream, right, it's to meet somebody, get a good job and someday afford a house. And one of the things I like about these initiatives, including the one that those VCs were proposing and, you know, the Inland Empire.

[Kara Swisher]

Yeah, I thought that was interesting, too. I know it got a lot of.

[Scott Galloway]

I like the idea of kind of that one. I liked a free zone or a city where they could take manufactured homes and just build a shit ton of them. Them without it being weaponized. I mean, essentially, one of the problems for this kind of nimbyism is that housing permits have been taken out of the hands of bureaucrats and put into the hands of homeowners who, once they own a home, decide there should be no more homes. So I actually like the idea. There's some floats, there's some developers in Florida.

[Kara Swisher]

This is a company town. That's different. What you're talking about is very different than a company town, which is what this. I mean, the whole notion of company towns is such a. Whether it's here or Ireland or wherever the mines has a very negative connotation of, like, one single person controlling a town. I have no problem with town creation, and I think that's a great. Or housing creation. This is a little different, but go ahead.

[Scott Galloway]

Well, you know, there's. Like you said, there's company towns. I don't. Look, I don't like the man the town is focused around, but I like the idea of competition in cities and these things popping up and taking a different approach to how a city is run. He'll have capital. Hopefully he'll build housing for his employees. I don't. I don't. This is. This is like the least offensive thing. He's talking. I'm okay with it.

[Kara Swisher]

He's not a Nazi, Scott. He's not a Nazi. All right, one more quick break. We'll be back for wins and fails.

[Scott Galloway]

Tell me if this sounds interesting to you. A pickup truck with no screens, no stereo, no paint, no automatic windows, basically no features of any kind. But it costs less than $20,000, and you get to decide almost everything about it. That is the story of the Slate truck from a company called Slate Auto. And it might be the most interesting car we've seen in years. This week on the Vergecast, we talk all about the Slate truck. Plus what's going on in the antitrust trials against Meta and. And Google, and why the app store on your iPhone might change forever. All that on the Vergecast. Wherever you get podcasts looking for a political show that doesn't scream from the extremes. Raging Moderates is now twice a week. What a thrill.

[Kara Swisher]

Oh, my God.

[Scott Galloway]

Alert the media. Hosted by political strategist Jess Tarloff and myself, Scott Galloway Way, this is a show for those 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, our viewpoint on thing. 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 podcast 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.

[Kara Swisher]

Okay, Scott, Some wins and fails. Would you please go first?

[Scott Galloway]

So my win is Representative Talarico. I don't know if he's in the Texas house, but I saw his, he did a speech. He's been fantastic on Texas schools. He, he's been talking a lot about vouchers. I hate vouchers. A lot of my actually wealthy friends really like vouchers and the idea of school choice and competition. I see vouchers as nothing more than a giveaway and another transfer of wealth from the middle class to the wealthy. And I think about the school my kids went to in Florida, which was a private school, lovely school, and I don't doubt that some people would be able to afford to go there if we gave them vouchers. But essentially what happens is you lose wealthy dual income parents in the public schools and all it is, as far as I can tell, not all it is. 70, 80% of it ends up being essentially just a tax rate giveaway for the wealthy who are already in private schools. And now you're going to subsidize, subsidize their tuition by $10,000 and take yet even more money out of the public school system. And not only that, skim off the most wealthiest parents who. It's not even just their money, it's their ability because of their wealth to be engaged in the quality of that school. And he also started talking about, he had this great session where he started questioning this law and how this law had mistakenly referenced litter boxes in schools. Let's play the clip. Are you aware that Governor Abbott said, quote, kids go to school dressed up as cats with litter boxes in their classrooms? Sure. Are you also aware that when the governor was asked by the Dallas Morning News to name a single school where this happened, he couldn't. And PolitiFact called this a pants on fire false claim started by online rumors. Okay. I mean, this guy, he really brings, he's very forceful, yet dignified. He's a Texas state representative. I really think this kid is a comer. He's 35. And he also, I mean, this is just so. It's so weird to go out there and have the governor adopt this talking point that kids are dressing up as cats. And this is not only an attack on public schools, but it's an attack, quite frankly, on the whole notion of transgender. Because they couch it in the notion that kids are presenting themselves as all sorts of different things and that public schools have gotten so woke and so weird that if you say you're presenting as a cat, they give you a litter box. Which, by the way, it's all of lie.

[Kara Swisher]

It's such a lie. It's such a lie. It's the most happens is like my son growled to someone. They're like lying. I'm scared. That's how it works. Kids in school, weird adults who think.

[Scott Galloway]

But this kid, this kid's a comer. So State Representative James Talarico. I just thought he was so, I don't know, dignified. I thought, God, can that guy run for president?

[Kara Swisher]

Okay, the other guy. Sure. Okay.

[Scott Galloway]

Yeah. I'm just going to make up lies to give people fodder. And because we don't have a populace now because of shitty K through 12 that doesn't critically think, and because we have a media that we're repeating a talking point. And the governor picks up this talking.

[Kara Swisher]

Point and starts using this as an example again. Distraction, distraction, distraction. Constant and persistent distraction. So you're looking at all the stupid stuff. It's like network has come to life.

[Scott Galloway]

There you go. My fail is this whole maha movement make America healthy again. And this notion that it has something to do with vaccines or dies, all of that. That. But just as the pill had massive amounts of estrogen in the 60s and 70s and they've been able to achieve the job of birth control with lower and lower doses of hormones, vaccines have actually been able to do the same thing. They're just as effective with less of quote, unquote, with fewer antigens. The whole outrage around dyes. I understand our food supply and that it should be looked at at meticulously, but this again is nothing but a weapon of mass distraction from what is the real problem in health in America. And that is you and I, Kara. Because we're in the top 1% of income earners, we on average live eight to 10 years longer than someone in the lowest quintile because we don't have to work two jobs. We have access to working out. We have access to good food, we have access to good doctors, we have access to mental health. The reality is life expectancy is directly correlated to your income level. And unless we do something about income inequality, we're just shuffling chairs around on the Titanic. And if you look at what's happened in our healthcare system, despite the fact our household income has gone up, our costs per consumer have gone way up, our life expectancy on average has gone down. Because people live in food deserts, they can't get access to good food, they can't get access to exercise, they're sleep deprived because they're so fucking poor and working so much. All of this is a distraction from the fact that he's pushing through a tax cut, which will be a tax cut for the top 5% and a tax increase for the other 95%. So no matter what dyes or vaccines you try and demonize, until people in the middle class and lower income homes have the actual money to pursue health, these outcomes are going to get worse and worse.

[Kara Swisher]

That's a very, very, very good way of putting it, Scott. That's excellent. All right, I'll go. My win. Ryan Coogler with this movie Sinners shows once again that original programming really does.

[Scott Galloway]

Oh, you like that original?

[Kara Swisher]

Yeah.

[Scott Galloway]

Can you tell what is it?

[Kara Swisher]

It's a movie called Sinners. It's about vampires and it's music and all kinds of things. But what I'm more interested in is the deal he did with Warner Brothers where he got. He got 25. After 25 years, he gets ownership of the film's IP intellectual property. It's a huge achie to do this. Studios usually retain full ownership of things. And he also has something called First Dollar growth, where he'll receive a share of the film's gross ticket sales before any deductions. A deal. Let me read this. That was more common in the DVD boomer than it is. And it's very rare to do this. The movie's about ownership and autonomy in a racist society. And so I just. This guy is just such an interesting. He made obviously Black Panther, he made Fruitvale Station where I first noticed him. Obviously, that was a really big note. People got noticed of him. But he's just an astonishing filmmaker. And I just think these deals he's making as a creator of really new, fresh content in ways that are creative and interesting. I just think. I just love this idea of him. I'm looking at the box office right now of Sinners. So far, this film, which didn't cost that much to make, has grossed $236 million worldwide. Fifth highest growing film of 2025. So it's just doing it's impressing for its quality and everything else. Anyway, the other one that's doing well is Thunderbolts. It's supposed to be lovely. A Marvel movie finally is delightful. Everyone tells me I should go see it. I haven't seen it, so I feel really. I just. I don't know, I just feel like this guy's creatively incredible and he owns his IP and he's going to own his. I getting this. Like, creators like him who are creative can outrun AI or anybody else. And I just feel. I just have a lot of regard for that. In the Fail. A very good friend of mine died this week in a very tragic fire. Jill Sobule. She's a singer. She performed at All Things D and Code many years. Just I've known her forever. She was best known for the song I Kissed a Girl, which was sort of a song that got a lot of attention way back when. But she was an artist and endurer artist and one of these artists that traveled a lot, did a lot, made a lot of money traveling, which a lot of musicians make now. She did a show just recently called Fuck 7th Grade, which was funny about being a seventh grader. Wonderful. Such a creative and entrepreneurial spirit, but also one of the kindest people I knew. And just. I couldn't say enough good things about Jill Sobeil. She was kind and good and just always trying to be different and interesting and trying new things. She did a lot of where she would do house concerts for people and all kinds of things just to make it as an artist. And she had an enduring career doing that. And she was just recently doing incredibly well. And she was again in Minnesota staying with friends and the house was on fire and she did not make it out. Just a shock. 66 years old. I took Louis to see and George Hahn actually to see Fuck Seventh Grade and we had a lovely dinner with her after at Veselka and just laughed the entire time. She was just a ray of sunshine. I'm gonna play a clip from a song that she wrote called A Good Life from her album. I recommend a lot of her songs. I've been pummeling people, including Scott, with her songs from her album California Years. Let's listen.

[Scott Galloway]

Tomorrow we could all be gone when the Russian gangsters sell the bomb and the the waves come roaring from the sea A hundred foot swells over Venice beach well, don't be scared and take.

[Kara Swisher]

My hand we'll swim into the promised.

[Scott Galloway]

Land it was a good life it.

[Kara Swisher]

Was a good, good life it was.

[Scott Galloway]

A good life I'm sorry for your loss.

[Kara Swisher]

Thank you, Scott.

[Scott Galloway]

You know, we gotta live every day like we're meeting with J.D. vance.

[Kara Swisher]

Anyway. Good life. Let's have a good life. Scott, we want to hear from you. Send us your questions about business, tech or whatever's on your mind. Go to nymag.com pivot submit a question for the show or call 85551 pivot elsewhere in the Kara and Scott universe, as I noted this week I talked to Maryland's Democratic governor Wesmore, who's on the short list for presidential candidates. On with Kara Swisher. Let's listen to a clip where he talked about how Trump's cuts are impacting his state.

[Scott Galloway]

We have over 260,000 federal employees in the state of Maryland. We have over 160,000 federal jobs that are housed within the state of Maryland. So what they are doing, these are not glancing blows at Maryland. These are direct hits at us. These are direct shots that they are taking at Maryland, my state, and they're taking it my people.

[Kara Swisher]

And so there is nobody who is.

[Scott Galloway]

Experiencing this more than Maryland. No chief executive is experiencing more than me. And the thing I was very clear on from Jump street is that I get the relationship between state government and.

[Kara Swisher]

Federal government and I will work with.

[Scott Galloway]

Anyone, but I will bow down to no one, ever.

[Kara Swisher]

Impressive, impressive politician. We'll see where he goes. But it was a great interview. We talked about a lot of things, including the Francis Scott Key Bridge and a bunch of other stuff. So really interesting man and someone to watch and someone the right wing is very focused in on right now because he's a very appealing politician and young and vibrant. 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 on Friday. Scott, read us out.

[Scott Galloway]

Today's show was produced by Lara Naiman Zoe Marcus, Taylor Griffin and Kevin Oliver. Ernie Ercot engineered this episode. Thanks also to Drew Bros, Ms. Siervero and Dan Shalon. 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 [e-mail] pod we'll be back later this week for another breakdown of all things tech and business.