Slate Money — "Christmas Adjacent Inciting Incident"

Episode Date: December 20, 2025
Host: Felix Salmon (Bloomberg)
Guests: Emily Peck (Axios), Elizabeth Spiers (New York Times), Craig Trudel (Bloomberg Global Automotive Editor)

Overview

This week, Slate Money dives into three core topics shaking up business, finance, and culture:

• The global electric vehicle (EV) market and what Ford’s multi-billion dollar write-down says about US automaking’s future in a world dominated by China and the EU.
• The bizarre and revealing pivot of Trump Media and Technology Group into nuclear fusion, and what it tells us about capital markets, celebrity branding, and scientific hope/hype.
• The economic engine and psychological comfort of Hallmark Christmas movies, including an in-depth rundown of their reliably cozy formula.

Expect the trademark Slate Money blend: rigorous yet breezy analysis, biting wit, memorable quotes, and a refreshing holiday spirit.

1. EVs: Ford, Tesla, and the Coming American Irrelevance

[02:09–17:28]

The Policy Whiplash and Ford’s Multi-Billion-Dollar Charge

• Felix opens: "Ford took a $19 billion charge and a bunch of that was real money, like actual cash that they've just sort of gone up in smoke. And correct me if I'm wrong here, but the general message that I got from Ford was we were doing EVs because that's what Joe Biden told us to. And now Donald Trump has told us to not do EVs, so we're not doing EVs." [02:53]
• Craig: Ford’s decisions are emblematic of automakers being “whipsawed” by US political shifts. Under Biden, there was a push for electrification (with subsidies). With Trump’s return, much of that policy support is gone, plus weakened emissions rules and penalties.

  “If only the US government could be consistent, that would be great...otherwise we’re just going to go back and forth according to who’s in the White House. This doesn’t seem smart.” — Felix [02:57]

Electric Vehicles and Consumer Reluctance

• Emily notes Ford isn’t blaming policy alone; consumer demand just isn’t real:

  "Customers weren't as into them as everyone had hoped, truly. And that doesn't seem like a fib, right?" [04:36]

• Craig: Totally valid. "I grew up in a rural area of Michigan... Forget about buying electric vehicles. They're still buying really thirsty F Series pickups." [04:56]
• Felix: “There is more of a love for EVs or like an excitement about EVs in principle than necessarily has shown up in the market.”

The Tesla Paradox

• Despite negative growth, Tesla’s market cap remains stratospheric — a fact which baffles Felix:

  “How is it possible for a company with not only zero, but negative growth to be worth like over $1 trillion? I don't understand how the stock market hasn't punished Tesla yet...” [06:05]

• Craig: Musk is “bored with making cars,” distracts with “shiny objects” (humanoid robots/robo-taxis) but car sales are slowing:

  "If I can wave these bright shiny objects...I can distract everybody from the fact that my sales are... actually declining." [07:17]

Why Americans Don’t Want EV Trucks

• Elizabeth: “Do you think that specifically maybe, like people are nervous about trucks as fully EV?” [07:51]
• Craig: “Absolutely... The battery depletes very quickly when you’re towing or hauling things. In retrospect, that skepticism was warranted.” [08:01]

The Pivot to Plug-In Hybrids ("Voltifying" Pickups)

• Ford is exploring "EREVs" (extended range electric vehicles: an electric motor plus a gas generator) for pickups.
• Craig: “We're basically going to voltify pickups and SUVs. I do think that actually sort of solves this issue of Americans liking bigger vehicles and extending the range....” [09:21]

Europe and China: Who’s Winning?

• Emily: “The US seems to be kind of moving backwards... But China is moving ahead. China is leading the way. Now, did China just basically win the EV race?" [10:20]
• Craig: Yes and no. China’s dominance is real in volumes, but “they have not set a timeline for going fully electric," and leading manufacturers like BYD make as many plug-in hybrids as pure EVs. Europe is ahead of the US but also softening targets (from 100% emissions reduction by 2035 to 90%).

The European Market's Future

• Felix: "Is it reasonable to assume that most of those EVs being sold in Europe are actually going to wind up being Chinese?" [12:12]
• Craig: Brand cachet is still lacking for the Chinese, e.g., “If you ask the average German or French person on the street to name a single BYD car...99 out of 100 would say, yeah, sorry, I can't do it.” [12:49]
• Ford is shifting to joint ventures in Europe (with Renault and previously Volkswagen for rebadged EVs).

Consequences for American Car Makers

• Felix: “...is this the End of American car companies as a global force?" [15:13]
• Craig: Real risk: "What the industry needs in order to make electric vehicles work is scale. And they have really struggled with reaching...global scale." [16:04]
• US automakers risk becoming a domestic-only niche, as global batteries and EVs are driven by Chinese scale and European policy.

Notable Quotes:

• "You're going to eventually reach a point where...we're just too far behind and EVs are just not going to work here the way they work in the rest of the world." — Craig [16:39]

2. Trump Media and the "Fusion SPAC": When Meme Stocks Meet Megawatt Tech

[18:26–27:26]

Truth Social + Nuclear Fusion = ??

• Felix: “The Trump Media and Technology Group, the parent company of Truth Social, announced this week that it was going to merge with a nuclear fusion company. And now it is a nuclear fusion company, which makes all the sense in the world, right, Emily?” [18:44]

• Emily: "It actually does make sense." Trump Media has little real revenue, but can raise loads of capital — exactly what a speculative nuclear fusion play needs.

  “What they [the fusion company] need is money. And what a company with Trump’s name on it... is able to do — not build a social media empire, but...amass cash. People want to give the company money for reasons." [19:49]

• The fusion company (TAE) is credible by startup standards (top investors, big claims about commercializing utility-scale fusion by 2031). Trump branding brings access to capital, no more, no less.

The Dance of Branding, Money, and Science

• Felix: “It’s a little bit AI coded in that the reason everyone wants power is because AI, but really it’s just, you know, people have been dreaming about nuclear fusion for decades.” [21:11]

• Elizabeth: (Citing Matt Levine) The company’s own rationale for merging is “completely unhinged," trying to explain synergies between social media and fusion in a pitch deck that looks "like a bad brainstorming session with...red yarn connecting all these disparate things.” [22:06]

• Craig: Musk is trolling the whole fusion space and Trump’s new venture, dubbing solar as the far more rational “fusion reactor.”

  “I’m getting a huge kick out of the fact that [Musk is] shitting all over nuclear fusion... even as he’s sort of made this grand makeup with Trump.” [23:10]

• Felix: “Musk...He’s like, guys, guys, we have the biggest...nuclear fusion reactor. It’s called the sun. ...Why would we want to recreate a sun on planet Earth when we actually have one right here?" [24:08]

A Classic SPAC/Celebrity Financier Money Grab

• Emily: "Theoretically, Trump is going to be president only for another three years. What happens to all this money and like, all this juice...Once he leaves office?” [25:25]
• Felix: “Obviously they just need to raise all of the money between now and the end of his presidency. Right. And then at that point they've reached takeoff velocity or they haven't. I think that's the bet.” [25:54]
• The board looks to remain split: physicists keep doing physics, Devin Nunes (Truth Social CEO) keeps on...Truth Socialing.
• Elizabeth: "Isn't there something just a little disconcerting though about a nuclear company tied to what's basically a meme stock?" [26:55]

3. The Formula and Economy of Hallmark Christmas Movies

[31:24–41:09]

Connecticut and the Boom in Holiday Films

• Emily (gleeful): Connecticut is now the setting for at least 22 Hallmark holiday films. The state is promoting tourism around the filming locations – take a tour, drink cocoa, wear an outdoor-only scarf (“in a Hallmark movie, [a scarf] is worn on the coat...has no purpose other than decoration”). [31:28]
• There’s an entire “booming industry” in original holiday films.

The (AI-Generated) Formula

• Felix (astounded by ChatGPT's answer): “What are the essential formulaic elements of a Hallmark Christmas movie?” He reads the top hits, which Emily confirms are accurate.

• Classic narrative beats include:

  • A careerist city protagonist (often a woman) is “temporarily displaced” to a picturesque small town;
  • Local love interest (typically a “hands on” profession like carpenter/fireman), low actual stakes (the “threat to tradition” is “never real”), montage-based intimacy (tree decorating, baking, ice skating), low-kiss quota;
  • “Closure without consequences” — at the end, “romance is secured, community is preserved, and future ambiguity is gently erased.” [34:45–37:43]

• Elizabeth: “All of this is a conservative wish casting. And this is why white evangelicals love Hallmark movies...the storylines are all about explaining to the big city career woman how wrong she was and she discovers that her hometown was great all along.” [36:10]

  • Emily gently pushes back: “I think it’s more progressive than Elizabeth might be saying... Many people did move to their hometowns or out of the big cities in pursuit of this very dream...” [37:38]

Hallmark Economics and Pop Culture

• Discussion of career archetypes in Hallmark films versus modern ambiguous job titles. Everyone in Hallmark is a clearly defined “firefighter, baker, teacher, etc.”, never something like “AI HR MC CP.”
• Hallmark’s simple clarity and “comfort food” formula explained — and why, in hard times, business is booming.
• Films are <2 hours: “Hollywood could take a lesson. Chris Nolan needs to sit down and watch a few of these things and take some pointers.” — Emily [38:43]

Short Movie Recommendations

• Felix: “K Pop Demon Hunters: 95 minutes, perfect length, fun and touching — it’s a K Pop girl band...fighting a K Pop boy band who are demons.” [39:22]

4. Numbers Round

[44:06–49:32]

• Elizabeth: 435 — The dollar price of a tomahawk steak at Lechen in Manhattan. “Anytime we put something on the menu that is insanely expensive, it immediately sells out. Doesn’t matter what it is.” [44:06]
• Felix: 159 — Starbucks locations in Manhattan, down from 192 last year. Dunkin Donuts is now the top chain (169 outlets).
• Emily: 11.2% — The share of 1990s songs in Q104.3’s “greatest classic rock songs.” In 2005, it was only 6.3%. “It’s basically like time passes and history changes with time and what people consider classic rock evolves.” [46:41]
• Craig: $1.629 trillion — Tesla’s all-time-high market cap as of this week, despite slowing growth and the dubious prospects of supposed “robo taxis.” “His humanoid robot…does nothing of use.” [48:01]

Notable Quotes

• Felix Salmon (on EV policy):
  "If only the US government could be consistent, that would be great...otherwise we’re just going to go back and forth according to who’s in the White House. This doesn’t seem smart." [02:57]

• Craig Trudel (on Tesla and Musk):
  "Elon Musk is bored with making cars...If I can sort of, you know, wave these bright shiny objects of humanoid robots and robo taxis...I can distract everybody from the fact that my sales are...actually declining." [07:07]

• Emily Peck (on Hallmark movies):
  "You can get like a hot cocoa and you can wear gloves and your hat and your scarf, but not around your neck. A scarf in a Hallmark movie is worn on the coat. It has no purpose other than decoration because it’s warm when they film those things." [32:00]

• Elizabeth Spiers (on Hallmark as cultural wish-casting):
  "This is a fantasy that every conservative parent I know has about their adult children who move to big cities." [36:10]

• Felix Salmon (re: time and classic rock):
  "But when I was growing up, there were no songs from the 2000s, because that was in the future. I feel like that is the greatest thing that anyone has ever said." [47:44]

5. Timestamps for Major Segments

• EV Industry Analysis: 02:09–17:28
• Trump Media/Nuclear Fusion Merger: 18:26–27:26
• Hallmark Christmas Movie Discourse: 31:24–41:09
• Numbers Round: 44:06–49:32

Recap & Tone

Slate Money brings its signature blend of humor, skepticism, and deeply sourced analysis, skewering business fads, policy incoherence, and the reassuring rituals of Christmas cinema. The episode is conversational, slightly irreverent, and rich with fun, quotable exchanges and interdisciplinary insight — a perfect listen for holidays and headlines alike.