Apple’s Future Under Trump, Voter Turnout in the 2024 Election, and Scott’s Writing Advice

Summary

The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway: Episode Summary Episode Title: Apple’s Future Under Trump, Voter Turnout in the 2024 Election, and Scott’s Writing Advice
Release Date: November 20, 2024
Podcast Network: Vox Media Podcast Network
Host: Scott Galloway

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Introduction

In this episode of The Prof G Pod, Scott Galloway delves into pressing topics that intersect technology, politics, and personal development. Through the Office Hours segment, Prof G addresses listener-submitted questions, providing his unique blend of business insight and candid analysis. This summary captures the essence of the discussions on Apple's future amid potential Trump-era tariffs, voter turnout trends in the 2024 election, and actionable advice on developing writing skills.

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1. Apple’s Future Under Trump: Tariffs and Self-Regulation

Listener Question: Daniel from Chicago
Timestamp: [02:21]
Daniel inquires about the impact of potential Trump-imposed tariffs on Apple products manufactured in China. He also speculates whether Apple might engage in self-regulation, such as age gating, as a strategy to mitigate these tariffs and challenge competitors like Meta.

Prof G’s Analysis

Prof G responds with a robust critique of self-regulation efforts by big tech companies. He argues that self-regulation often serves as a last-ditch effort to avert more stringent government-imposed regulations. Highlighting the psychological and societal impacts of social media, Prof G states:

“Social media use is directly correlated to self harm, anxiety, depression, and self harm.”
([04:10])

He criticizes tech giants like Apple and Google for their role in exacerbating mental health issues among teenagers, suggesting that implementing age restrictions is overdue:

“There's no reason any 14-year-old should have a smartphone... There's no reason anyone under the age of 16 should be on social media.”
([05:20])

Regarding tariffs, Prof G discusses Tim Cook’s past success in negotiating tariff exemptions by convincing the White House that tariffs would inflate product prices, harming both consumers and Apple itself. However, he remains skeptical about future tariff protections under Trump's potential second term:

“Tim Cook has been very savvy. Trump seems to have a soft spot for Cook... But why do you have terrorists on fucking anything?”
([06:15])

Prof G enumerates the potential economic fallout of new tariffs, estimating a substantial price increase for Apple products and predicting political pushback from both consumers and Republican lawmakers:

“If Trump implemented new tariffs... the price of your next thousand-dollar iPhone would cost an extra $300.”
([06:45])

He concludes that while Apple might attempt self-regulation to stave off tariffs, the likelihood of substantial tariffs being enforced remains uncertain due to economic and political realities.

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2. Voter Turnout in the 2024 Election

Listener Question: John from Austin, Texas
Timestamp: [07:58]
John reflects on the voter turnout in the 2024 presidential election, noting that preliminary estimates suggest a turnout slightly lower than the 66.6% recorded in 2020. He seeks Prof G’s perspective on the factors influencing voter participation.

Prof G’s Insights

Prof G acknowledges that the 2024 turnout, estimated at around 64.5%, remains robust compared to historical standards, albeit marginally below the unprecedented 2020 figures:

“I think this was a very emotional election... voter turnout was pretty, pretty strong here.”
([08:33])

He attributes the high engagement to the polarized and emotionally charged political climate, emphasizing that significant voter mobilization reflects deep-seated motivations rather than apathy. Prof G also touches upon societal factors, such as lingering sentiments from the COVID-19 pandemic and the contentious nature of Trump’s candidacy, which may have influenced voter behavior.

However, he concedes that the reasons behind slight decreases in turnout are not entirely clear, suggesting that factors like voter fatigue or differing public sentiments towards the candidates could play a role:

“The honest answer is I don't know. But historically speaking, we had pretty strong voter turnout here.”
([09:33])

Prof G emphasizes the importance of understanding voter psychology and the dynamics of each election cycle to fully grasp turnout trends.

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3. Scott’s Writing Advice: Developing Strong Writing and Storytelling Skills

Listener Question: Will from Philadelphia
Timestamp: [12:55]
Will, a recent Navy veteran utilizing his GI Bill for graduate studies, seeks guidance on enhancing his writing and storytelling abilities. He highlights his struggle with writing and his ambition to leverage storytelling as a professional and personal advantage.

Prof G’s Guidance

Prof G underscores the paramount importance of storytelling in various facets of life, from professional endeavors to personal relationships. He declares:

“The great storytelling is the lost art or the key competence.”
([13:46])

He outlines several strategies to develop writing skills:

1. Commit to Regular Writing: Prof G emphasizes the necessity of habitual writing practice, despite it being challenging. He shares his personal experience of committing to write a book every 18 months, acknowledging the difficulty but asserting its value.

2. Master the Basics: Understanding grammar and writing mechanics is crucial. Prof G recommends foundational texts like The Elements of Style by Strunk and White, which he admits to rereading multiple times to grasp the fundamentals.

3. Read Extensively: To improve writing, one must read a diverse array of quality literature. He cites Stephen King’s On Writing as an influential resource that illustrates effective storytelling through vivid examples.

4. Start Writing: Overcoming the inertia to begin writing is essential. Prof G advises aspiring writers to start with any fragment of their thoughts, whether it’s a paragraph, an outline, or a conclusion, to cultivate the habit of writing.

“The key... is starting. You just gotta open, get some thoughts... The real magic, there's two pieces—the magic starting and then going back and editing.”
([14:45])

5. Embrace the Editing Process: Writing is as much about drafting as it is about refining. Prof G encourages writers to allow their initial drafts to be imperfect, focusing instead on conveying their ideas and then honing them through revision.

He concludes by reiterating that writing, much like any other skill, requires persistent effort and dedication. Prof G encourages Will and other listeners to view writing not just as a task but as a muscle to be strengthened through consistent practice.

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Conclusion

In this episode, Scott Galloway delivers incisive commentary on the intersection of technology and politics, analyzing the potential ramifications of Trump's trade policies on Apple and the broader tech industry. He also provides a thoughtful examination of voter turnout trends, contextualizing the numbers within the emotional landscape of the 2024 election. Finally, Prof G offers pragmatic and motivational advice on developing writing and storytelling skills, underscoring their critical importance in both professional success and personal fulfillment.

For those who missed the episode, Prof G’s candid and insightful discussions offer valuable perspectives on navigating the complexities of modern business, political landscapes, and personal development.

---

Note: For a deeper dive into the topics discussed, listeners are encouraged to tune into the full episode of The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway on their preferred podcast platform.

Transcript

[Prof. G]

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[Co-host]

Welcome to the Propgy Pods Office Hours. This is the part of the show where we answer questions about business, big tech, entrepreneurship and whatever else is on your mind. If you'd like to submit a question, please email a voice recording to office hoursrofgmedia.com Again, that's office hoursmedia.com so with that first question.

[Daniel]

Hey ProfG, this is Daniel from Chicago and I have a question for you about Apple and tech regulation in the new Trump era. So the price of Apple products if these Trump tariffs he talks about go into effect with the products coming out of China now, could Apple decide to self regulate and start to impose age gating as kind of A way to counter these things. I also think this might be an opportunity for them to kind of stick it to meta in another way. So your thoughts on Apple and self regulation?

[Co-host]

Self regulation is nothing but an attempt to create a prophylactic in the 11th hour. Hoping that if you make a peace offering it won't be as bad. There is zero self regulation as far as I can tell. I've always been a fan of Apple, but let's be honest, Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai are really likable, but they're really likable. Crack dealers outside of junior high school Oxford just came out with a study showing a linear correlation between social media use and depression, anxiety and eating disorders and self harm among teenagers. Let me repeat that. Social media use is directly correlated to self harm, anxiety, depression and self harm. So is it Mark Zuckerberg's fault? Yeah, but also, also the person delivering and selling this crack cocaine or these opiates or this meth is in fact Google and Apple. They're the ones that could probably more easily age gate their products. There's no reason any 14 year old should have a smartphone. There's no reason anyone under the age of 16 should be on social media. We're starting to see real pushback from the private sector, I would say the public private sector, specifically schools that are starting to ban phones. Mostly because my colleagues breakthrough, seminal landmark work, the Anxious Generation. You're seeing entire countries. I think New Zealand has banned phones in schools. It's like it's just a talk everywhere banning phones in schools. And as someone who's a father of two sons, spare me your bullshit that it's about parenting. It's not. If you have kids, they're going to be on social media because when they're not on social media, they actually end up more depressed than the depressed kids on social media because they're ostracized and they feel alone. I don't think there's going to be any self regulation here. I think that you're going to see. I mean they might do it to try and stave off more punitive regulation. But be clear, if we're waiting for the better angels to show up, you're going to. Yeah, I don't know. You might as well wait for autonomous Tesla. Anyways, in terms of tariffs, Tim Cook has been very savvy. Trump seems to have a soft spot for Cook. He was able to avoid the majority of tariffs on most of its products during the first Trump presidency. How? Back during Trump's first term, Apple CEO Tim Cook convinced the White House to keep most of Apple's products, including iPhones, off the tariff list. Does that make sense? No. Even though most are made in China, he argued that tariffs would end up raising price on products including smartphones, tablets and computers, which would hurt Apple and some of its tech peers. The White House seemed to agree, and he's right. But why do you have terrorists on fucking anything? The argument that Tim Cook made could be made for any toy, any piece of clothing, anything. This is nothing but a tax on consumers. Except Tim and Apple are cool. And I think Trump liked hanging out with Tim Cook and thought, no, Apple's kind of appley and I want to be with the cool kids. Makes no sense. Now. Things could possibly change with Trump's second term. I doubt it. Trump has talked about putting a 10 to 20% tariff on imported goods with a 60% higher tariff on imports from China. Good fucking luck is all I have to say with that. First off, the reason why I don't think tariffs are going to come through or be levied to nearly the extent that Trump has been blustering about. First off, for Apple, economists estimate that if Trump implemented new tariffs on goods made in China, the price of your next thousand dollar iPhone would cost an extra $300. If you want to see people get really angry before they start self cutting or, or throwing up their lunch, raise their iPhone price $300. But some experts think it's possible that the next White House will skip tariffs on smartphones, computers and tablets again. Also, many companies have successfully shifted some of their marketing to other countries to steer clear of the higher tariffs on products made in China. In fact, Apple is one of them. Apple, you got to think in every goddamn meeting he's like, diversify away from China. Oh, factory in India, yeah, sure, we'll do that. Factory in Mexico, 100%. Also, one of the reasons I don't think these tariffs are going to have nearly the traction he's hoping is a couple things. One, Republicans do get the economy. Oftentimes they get it more than Democrats. And you're going to see a lot of Republicans grow a backbone and say, if you put these kind of tariffs on this, you're going to raise 88% of toys under the Christmas tree come from China. What happens when everyone's Christmas gets 20% more expensive for people with kids? You're going to see a number of Republicans break from the administration because one, they understand economics, they like populist arguments, and also, also what people aren't talking about in a couple weeks. President Trump is a lame duck. He can't run again. He can't boot people out of office. He can probably boot them out of office if they're up for reelection in the house in 2026. But other than that, he's not going to carry the kind of valerian steel he's had all along. He's been able to make or break careers. Pretty soon he's going to be kind of Joe Biden on his way out and not be able to intimidate nearly as many Republicans. Synonym for tariff? Let me think tax. Thanks for the question. Question number two hey, Prof. G. John.

[John]

Coming to you from Austin, Texas. In the autopsy of the presidential election, I have not heard much mentioned about the sheer number of votes cast in 2024 compared to 2020. Voter turnout percentage hasn't been calculated yet for 2024, but you can only assume it was much lower than the 66.6% from 2020. 2020. My question is what happened in 2024 with such low voter turnout compared to 2020? Is the answer that the mass voting public was just too lazy to get out of the House and cast a vote in person in 2024? I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Thanks.

[Co-host]

Thanks for the question, John. About 2/3 or 66% of eligible voters participated in the 2020 election. That was the highest turnout for a national election since 1900. Wow. As we're recording this, ballots are still being counted for this year's election, but according to estimates from the Associated Press and the University of Florida Election Lab, 64.5% of eligible voters participated. So I think that's actually a pretty decent turnout. So I think this was a very emotional election. And I think that this shows that this turnout was actually as high or higher than most elections. And typically oftentimes people don't vote because they get discouraged or they're confused or they don't know who to vote for. But in this instance, I think a lot of people are very motivated, very polarized, very emotional, a lot of rage. So actually, I think voter turnout was pretty, pretty strong here. Not as strong as 2/3. I think some of that was there was a bit of a gag reflex around Trump, very emotional time around Covid, and I think there were a lot of people who were just less comfortable with Trump. Now, but having said that, why didn't it even greater numbers in 2024? The honest answer is I don't know. But historically speaking, we had pretty strong voter turnout here. We have one quick break before our final question. Stay with us.

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Welcome back. Question number three hey Prof. G. This.

[Will]

Is Will in Philadelphia. I just got out of the Navy and now I'm using that sweet, sweet GI bill to go to grad school. Finding an internship has been an interesting process. I'm 31, and this is the first time in my life a job interview didn't involve running and pushups. I find myself spending a lot of time writing for schoolwork, networking, emails, cover letters, and questions for podcasts. Spending this much time writing is new for me. I find the process to be much more enjoyable than imagined, but I'm admittedly not a good writer. I'm trying to increase my skills and storytelling ability because a I want to be good at the things I enjoy and b I considered it an asymmetric advantage in my professional and personal future. My question is, how did you develop your writing skills? What aspects of writing and storytelling did you want to develop specifically? Thanks again.

[Co-host]

Thanks for the question, Will, and thanks for your service. And I mean that sincerely. One of the things I regret is never having served. I think the great storytelling is the lost art or the key competence. If I could give my kids anything, and I say this a lot, but it bears repeating, it wouldn't be Mandarin or computer science or programming or negotiation skills. It would be storytelling. Your ability to get capital, your ability to convince people to join you, your ability to sell clients, your ability to manage people, your ability to find a mate, friends, whatever it might be. Get elected to the House of Representatives based on your ability to be a great storyteller. And that's not just standing in front of a bunch of people. It's are you a great storyteller? Over text? Good. Twist a phrase? Are you good on threads? And I find that the hardest skill is writing. It's the hardest thing I do. I've committed to writing a book every 18 months until I kind of drop dead. And I've done that for the last seven years. And every time I do it I think, why the fuck did I agree to do this again? It is really difficult and I find I try and work out. I try and damage my muscles such that they'll grow back stronger and faster, although that's kind of going away. But I Also try and damage the muscle in between my ears. And I find that best way to do that is to try and write. There's a few things you can do to write well. One is academic. Get Strunk and White elements of style and just make sure that you understand basics of grammar. I read that book six or seven times and I still struggle with grammar. By the way, I was a shitty writer up until, I don't know, 25 or 30. The second thing is it sounds pat. You just gotta write all the fucking time. The most important thing, and this is true of most things, is starting. You want to write something, the key, flip open your laptop and start writing. Because the real magic, there's two pieces of magic starting and then going back in the edit. So you just gotta open, get some thoughts. As soon as you get a thought, start writing. It doesn't mean you don't have to start. It can be a paragraph that's gonna be in the body, it can be the conclusion. But the moment you have something, some form, some coagulation of thought, some gestation of a concept, some narrative arc, whatever you write an outline, whatever it is, you. You think you have some insight into what you. Or some idea what you wanna do, start writing. The next thing is, if you want to be a great writer is you need to read a lot because you'll start picking up on things, you'll start getting, you know, great writers will give you a sense for pace and cadence and the architecture, sentences. A book that really helped me was, I think was called On Writing by Stephen King. If you just type in Stephen King book on Writing, I thought it was fantastic. And he uses these examples where he cites a passage from one of his book where he's describing this metal chest that things are stored in. Or he describes how he used to go to the doctor and have his eardrums pierced to release the fluid. And he describes it in such horrific detail that you're literally just on the edge of your seat and you realize, this guy has such a gift. I think he's arguably my favorite writer. Is that true? Maybe John Irving, I don't know. Anyways, in some basic academics, elements of style just start. Practice, read. Wonderful writers. But again, it's like anything in life. What is the key? What is the key? Now start. That's all for this episode. If you'd like to submit a question, please email a voice recording to office hours at Prof. 2 Media. Again, that's officehoursoursproptunemedia.com this episode was produced by Jennifer Sanchez and Caroline Chagrin. Drew Burrows is our Technical Director. Thank you for listening to the prop chat from the Vox Media Podcast Network. We will catch you on Saturday for no Mercy, no Malice as read by George Hahn. And please follow our Profit Markets pod wherever you get your pods for new episodes every Monday and Thursday.

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