February 2026 Q&A: Saving American Democracy, Future for Democrats, and Building Your Network

0:00Hey, everybody, and welcome back to Open Book. I've been reading your comments on YouTube, X, LinkedIn, Instagram, and I've been loving the feedback and the questions. So without any delay, let's jump into the latest questions. The first one is on X. It's from at Rios Web 3. What's one belief you've completely changed your mind on? Wow. I mean, this doesn't really reflect well on me, but I was a big Fox News watcher. And I was also a person that worked at Fox News as a Fox business and Fox News contributor. And I guess I missed the memo about the propaganda that they're feeding to people. I didn't really understand the whole design of it.

0:42Maybe that's naivete or maybe I sucked into some false level of patriotism. But if you read The Loudest Voice in the room by my friend Gabe Sherman, you'll see how dangerous Fox News is. Not to say that the left-leaning channels are not also dangerous, but these guys tip over into more hate, as evidenced by the recent shootings that are going on with ICE and their defense of them. So I've completely changed my mind on that. So it doesn't reflect well on me, but that's an honest reaction. LinkedIn, Nebosa Zlatanovic, hopefully I pronounced your name right, with an ambitious China and some brick interest to grow as a block.

1:23Under what circumstances do you think the dollar could cease being the world's reserve currency? And what would that mean for the U.S. domestic economy? So no time soon for that to happen. But I understand why people are interested in that, because some transactions are happening away from the dollar. And of course, President Trump is doing everything he can to alienate us from our allies. And our allies are now thinking about their own defense capabilities and thinking about their alliances. And as we say, these middle powers are now searching for outside of the United States alliances. So that's not great for the U.S.

2:03But with the U.S. having the strongest military and the predominance of the most valuable commodity in the world, oil, being priced in U.S. dollars, that's going to keep the banking community in reserves of U.S. dollars. So that's going to continue to happen, at least in my opinion, the next 25 years. If that should somehow unwind, it would be absolutely catastrophic for the United States. You just have to read Ray Dalio's missives and what he's worried about, which is a super debt cycle where the United States is either printing money to pay the interest or borrowing money to pay the interest.

2:45And so now you're setting off a super debt cycle where people leave the dollar completely. I can tell you that the marketplace right now doesn't necessarily believe that. They're hedging with things like gold and silver. However, you'll see Bitcoin really rally if the dollar starts to lose that hegemony because they'll turn to something that's digital as a potential new standard. It won't be gold because Bitcoin is much easier to move around than gold. So anyway, those are my thoughts there, but no time soon, in my opinion. This is YouTube, Len Messi, 27. Mr. Scaramucci, how many hours per day do you spend reading and studying?

3:27I'm a big fan of your podcast and an avid listener. Okay, well, first of all, thank you very much. But I, you know, I'm probably, you know, Buffett says he reads six hours a day. I would be lying if I said I read that much a day. But I will tell you, I'm probably good for four and a half to five hours a day. That's two hours before I go to bed, an hour when I wake up. And I would say during the day, I am reading and or listening to a book tape. I could be in a car. I could be traveling, commuting. I could be in the gym. I'll be on my way to London, as an example, this afternoon. I'll probably get three or four hours of reading in on the way out the door and over to the plane.

4:07So again, you got to read. Expand your mind. Force the reading. Put down the Instagram account. Put down Twitter or X and start reading. It'll just make you a more interesting person, but also it'll make you smarter at your job. Instagram, Jeff Vanderland, seven. what is the thing that you bought for yourself that made you the happiest wow that's crazy i mean i don't know i mean i probably my lamborghini i know is that too nouveau riche and garish i mean i don't know i always wanted to have when i was a kid i had no money i'm like someday i'm gonna own a lamborghini an italian sports car so when i went and bought it i guess there was some satisfaction to that.

4:46But that is one of my favorite toys. But I think more stupidly, I own a, here it is. This is a Corgi Batmobile. This is the original from 1966. It actually shoots missiles out of the back. And I bought that off of eBay. It cost me a pretty penny anyway. So I don't know. I'm a sentimentalist with stuff like that. But the truth of the matter is, you don't want to be that much of a materialist because what ends up happening is you focus on material instead of the people. So focus on the people, buy yourself experiences over things. That would be my message. Okay, let's keep going here. LinkedIn, Tony N., I've been following your work and respect how you built Skybridge.

5:31I'm curious during the early days of launching the firm, what were some of the biggest challenges you didn't fully anticipate? And looking back, What decisions or habits do you think mattered most in getting through that phase successfully? Because that's the classic entrepreneur's question. So when you're an entrepreneur, you jump off a cliff and you're trying to build the airplane as you're descending down the cliff. And so there's a lot of hysteria. There's a lot of uncertainty. And there's a lot of things that are going on that you're not planning for. I guess for me, the formation of the firm, I got quite lucky because we formed the firm in 05.

6:07was a good stock market year. 06, a good stock market year. Things I didn't anticipate was the shakiness of 07 and 08. I actually thought by the end of 2008, September, I thought we were going to go out of business. I was really worried about it. It caused us to create the SALT conference. And then we went out and bought a piece of Citibank's fund-to-funds business, which was successful for us. But generally, I would say the habits that you need or what Simon Cowell calls the X factor. What is that? Where you're gonna eat through the wallboard to be successful. And you're gonna force yourself out of any comfort zone in your personality.

6:49And you're gonna be willing to take no from hundreds of people that you have to ask favors of. I think those are the mission critical things you need to be successful as an entrepreneur. This is from Instagram, INTDL1. One, how did you reinvent yourself after leaving politics? You know, funny enough, I don't see it that way. I don't really think I reinvented myself. I think what happened is my reputation recasted or got reimagined by the public. And I think what happens when you go into politics and you get your ass kicked the way I got my ass kicked, you know, you get two dimensionalized and caricatured and think people think you're a buffoon or a bozo.

7:32And I just made a decision. I wasn't going to accept that. I was going to push myself back into the social media domain, push myself back into the mainstream media domain and flesh out my true character and then let people decide what they think without it being defined by, let's say, my enemies or my detractors. And so I don't really think I've reinvented myself, to be honest. But anyway, I appreciate you saying that. I guess it's a backhanded compliment. Instagram. This is Steph9741. How do you keep positive with all the shit going on in the world? Great question. Don't give a shit. That is the answer, okay?

8:17If you overly internalize and you are seeking permanency in your brain, you're making very big mistakes. And so the great Stoic Marcus Aurelius would say to you that you're here impermanently. You're actually experiencing what Aurelius would talk about are micro deaths throughout the cycle of your life, meaning the five-year-old version of me is no longer here on planet Earth, nor is that time, era, or culture of America here. That would have been 1969. There's a 62-year-old version of me now, which is packed with 57 years of that wisdom. And so I guess what I would say to you is recognize your impermanence, or as Mel Brooks says, relax.

9:03None of us are getting out of here alive. Try not to take it that seriously. on his deathbed the great caesar augustus who uh as he always pointed out uh when i inherited rome it was uh it was mud roads and wooden sheds and i turned it into marble and concrete uh on his deathbed he was actually dying on the island of capri uh and he asked the people around him as he was slowly leaving the earth he said how did i do how did i act upon the world stage that i present my character appropriately. And Augustus was trying to tell you something, you know, you're here for a minute, handle yourself in the right way.

9:44Don't let these outside forces overly dictate your positivity. Okay. YouTube, Olja Vanek 3745, what can we do between now and the midterms to save the country? Well, I mean, listen, you got to vote, you got to vote these assholes out of, out of office, you know, and we need an anti-incumbency movement. So there's assholes on the left and the right, but you know, it's interesting about the right, the right is filled with more hate. You know, the left, I think the wokeism is ridiculous and the relativism is ridiculous, but the right has decided that they literally, uh, I don't know, they want to pummel the left into the ground.

10:23Okay. So I don't get that, but you got to just work on trying to vote these people out of office and have an anti-incumbency movement. But after the midterm, Trump will be a lame duck. So it'll be even more interesting to see how crazy he gets post-midterms. Jay Vogel, this is on X, 1991-0. Why is Trump so suspicious of the world outside the United States? Why does he dislike the world outside the United States?

10:51Anthony Scaramucci:This is sort of that Neanderthal 50s, 60s view of the United States. There was a lot of racism and there was a lot of what the hell is the United States doing with the Marshall Plan? Why are we helping all these people outside the United States? Why are they living off our backs and so forth? And it's very, very misguided because when you are the world's largest superpower, as Thomas Hobbes would point out, or John Locke throughout history, when you're the world's largest superpower, you can maintain your power by being benevolent, by being malicious and just projecting power for the sake of power.

11:31What ends up happening is you create all of these unintended alliances against you. And that's what Trump is doing now. But yeah, this is just that classic American nativism. It's classic American xenophobia. And whether you like it or not, our history is filled with this. We have knuckle-dragging people. It was Huey Long, Charles Lindbergh, Father Coughlin in the 1930s. Without the great Franklin Roosevelt, they would have probably risen to power, and that would have made a very difficult time for us during the Second World War. So hopefully this position that Trump is taking, hopefully the U.S., and I predict this will happen, the U.S.

12:11will become more reflective of that and begin a process of renewal. What's my favorite pizza spot on Long Island? Okay. This is from the Real Matty D 1975. Okay. Sal's Coal Fire Pizza in Port Washington on Shore Road. I think they've got the best pizza. It's wholly and totally addictive. And listen, there's so many great pizzerias in New York. I like the original Ray's, but you can go anywhere in New York and just get a slice of pizza. I don't have a specific spot in New York, but when I feel like pizza, I just walk into different places. That's how good the pizza is in New York City. Okay. What advice would you give to a 25-year-old?

12:57This is Samuel LaPosada from LinkedIn. What advice would you give to a 25-year-old working in finance, living in New York, who is looking to build out a great network? So the advice is find the people that you look up to in the industry. Find the people that you want to be like in the industry and hang out with them. The weighted average of the five people that you hang out with the most. So pick really good people. Jettison horrific people, okay? And jettison people that have bad energy or are filled with jealousy. You don't need that in your life. So that would be my recommendation. LinkedIn, Troy Root, what is your view of stable coins?

13:36Well, stable coins is the foundation of the future of finance. And so the banks know this, which is why the banks are trying to block the yield associated with stablecoins because they feel like they're behind the curve. And so the way to protect your market is to use legislation to block progress.

13:52Anthony Scaramucci:Okay. And this is the reason why Brian Armstrong and others are so upset about the current legislation leaving the stablecoins out of the ability to produce yield for their stablecoin holders. But stablecoins to me are a big future. I like Circle in particular. I also like Tether, but I'm very close to Jeremy Allaire and his team. And so I own those stable coins in my wallet in various places where I hold my Bitcoin. Instagram at CFOX62. What is the smartest strategy for the Dems starting now and heading into the midterms? Well, they'll never listen to me. But if they did listen to me, I would say go back 32 years ago and look at what Newt Gindridge did with the Republicans and do that for the Democrats.

14:40Coalesce, put a list together and say whether I'm AOC or Bernie Sanders or Gavin Newsom, this whole disparate ideological mix in that party, here are the 10 things we're going to adhere to to improve America. And if they do that, they'll kick the shit out of the opposite side. But they can't do that because they're so self-righteous. They fight with each other left and right. But that's what they should do, see Fox 62. Okay. Instagram, Lazaros Karavidas one. Okay. As a public administration student, what are your favorite books for public finance? Such a great question. The title of the book is Island at the Center of the World.

15:25And you'll say, well, why the hell is he recommending that to me as a public finance person. The reason I'm recommending that to you is that this book is about Manhattan and it is about the rise of Manhattan. And it's a story of the Dutch Manhattan and the forgotten colony that shaped it. And there's administration in there. Okay. And it's written by a guy named Russell Shorto, S-H-O-R-T-O. He should say, well, it's not 100 % perfect as it relates to administration and public finance, but it sort of is. If you read that book, I think you're going to be, you're going to get a lot of great ideas for that book in terms of how New York City became New York City.

16:14And I think it's important more so than anything I could offer you in public finance or administration. Taking Manhattan. It's the second book, The Extraordinary Events That Created New York and Shaped America. Those are the two books I'd recommend. Okay, let's keep going. BKUS73 on Instagram. Have you or would you ever vote for Democrats? Yes, of course, I voted for Democrats. I voted for Barack Obama in 08. I voted for Bill Clinton twice. I have voted for Democrats, will vote for Democrats, smart Democrats. But I'm not going to vote for woke Democrats who I think are ridiculously misguided. Same time, though, you can't vote for MAGA Republicans.

16:56So we're in a little bit of a box right now. Instagram Free Cotto. What would you say are tactics that work well in politics but do not work in the private sector and the other way around? What a great question. This is unfortunate, but the tactics that work in politics are the mudslinging. The tactics that work in politics are the negative campaigning. People beat that living daylights out of each other and accuse each other of so many ridiculous things, primarily because it works. They can create a negative feeling about the opposition that sticks to the opposition. They've done it to me, and so I know it works.

17:37A lot of people have a negative opinion of me because of it, and that's fine. But I don't think that works well in the public sector, meaning in the private sector, meaning in business. I think you're way better off declaring what your interest is, seeking mutual interest and figuring out a way to collaborate as opposed to overly compete. So those are the two differences to me. YouTube, Norman Wood, 8844. Two questions. Do you still believe it's possible to save liberal democracy in this country after all the wholesale destruction of every institution? So the short answer to that question is yes.

18:13Yes. Do you think the video footage of ICE brutality will have the same effect on the public as the brutal dog attacks on the civil rights activists in the 60s and on Americans? OK, so the so the first answer is yes. And I want to go to that first. I think you got to see America in 80 year time blocks. So let's talk about 1776. We form the country. There's a revolution. Eighty years later, we have to reform the country because of the great civil war and the fight over slavery. Eighty years after that, we go into the Great Depression, and we ultimately build elements of the welfare state, and we build what ultimately becomes Pax Americana.

18:52And we have a pretty good 80-year run of tremendous peace and prosperity. But now that era is being threatened and it's going to force some type of American renewal. So I weirdly predict that the Trump era, which will end badly for Trump and end badly for his MAGA people, I think will end well for the United States, meaning that we will do what we typically do. We'll reflect on it like we did the Civil War or the Great Depression, and then we'll begin the process of renewal. It's an incredibly neurally plastic country. Lots of great immigrant stories in here, lots of strivers. And so I wouldn't bet against America.

19:33The ICE footage is different. Back in the day, in the 1960s, we had three or four media outlets. You show the footage. The footage is ridiculously horrific. And everybody looks at it and says, okay, we've got to change this. The ICE footage that we're seeing today, if you're watching Fox News, they're apologetic of it. And if you're watching other news channels, they're outraged by it. But I think the real tell here is what Trump is doing. Trump himself is looking at the ice footage saying, holy shit, I got to get Bovino out of Minnesota and making terrible mistakes here. Noam is a jackass. I got to get Holman up to Minnesota.

20:11And he's tweeting now about talking to both the mayor of Minneapolis and the governor of Minnesota. So to me, I think we'll have a mixed view. It's never going to be like what happened in the civil rights movement. We had few media stations, but just follow Trump. He's got good political instincts and he knows what a disaster this is. Instagram, Patrick Bolton. What is your opinion of an MBA? So I like that. I like getting an MBA, especially if you leave school for a couple of years, you get a couple of years experience and you want to return to get an MBA. I think it's a great network for people, and I think it's a great grounding spot.

20:51And by the way, you know, you got a long career, so think about it this way. A couple of years of getting an extra education is not going to hurt you. Anything, it'll bolster and make you wiser. What are your favorite authors and books about history? Well, too many. Too many. American history, I would say, you want to read Lepore and These Truths. I would say European history and the Second World War. I would go to James Holland. More broadly about European history, I'd go to his brother, Tom Holland. Those are some great authors, and they are great narrators, some fascinating stuff. The ancient history, you're never going to read through the cities, but you should because it's so instructive to what's going on today.

21:42But those are some of the great authors. There's just so many. And so I'm doing a disservice by not listing all of them, but I would be here for several days. YouTube, Knit Nut with Blisters. I don't know how you come up with these names, guys, but I'm impressed. How much influence does POTUS have over the U.S. economy? So on the margin, he has influence. He can project a lot of money through executive action into the economy. Typically, if you look at a stock trading almanac, the midterm years are typically good years because they're full throttle trying to win the midterms. And they're full throttle using as much stimulus as possible to goose the economy.

22:24The Federal Reserve has a lot of influence, but assuming the Fed remains an independent body, what can POTUS do to make things affordable? Can tax reform help? Well, look, on the margin, tax reform could help, but I think the real issue is if you want price stability, you've got to contain the deficit because what happens is we have to inflate our money. We have to make our money less valuable in order to pay off the deficit. We're borrowing money and we're paying it back with dollars that are worth less than the ones that we borrowed. And that's why our money has gotten really out of control.

23:02I want to show you guys something. Let me just reach over here. This is something I bought in 1976. And I spent$2 on it in 1976. They just brought it back out. And you can see the price there is$19.99. Okay, so 50 years ago, this was one-tenth the price. right that just shows you what we're doing to the u.s dollar in terms of crippling the u.s dollar and hurting the poor people in the country the people that don't have assets so to me you got to get the deficit under control uh tax reform or tax hikes may help that um but that's the only way out of

23:43Anthony Scaramucci:this uh affordability crisis if we're being honest in the background do you own an original neil adams art from that book and what's your favorite okay so that piece behind me is actually not neil Adams, because if you look, it's Superboy versus Muhammad Ali, not Superman. And you can probably see in the lower corner there, that's a picture of me and Deirdre watching it. So it's not from Neil Adams, but that's actually from Mike Grell, the very famous 1970s illustrator who did all of the Superboy comics and the Legion of Superheroes for Superboy. And I made him drop 20 pounds off of Ali, put him in the Olympic garb to fight Superboy.

24:27Okay. So that's an original and, uh, Tali Savalas is in there and Batman and Sonny Bono are sitting next to me and, and Deirdre. That's a wrap on the Q and a of open book. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. I love doing these things and since they're well-rated, we'll keep doing them. Okay. Remember I'm reading all your comments and I love hearing what's on your mind. So keep sending the questions that if I missed any of your questions. We'll be back next month with another round of answers. And in the meantime, don't forget to subscribe. Okay. The subscribe button is somewhere. I don't know where it is, but it's somewhere.

25:00Please do me the favor and my production team, the favor of subscribing if you've enjoyed the episode. And until then, let's keep the conversation going and I'll see you next time on Open Book. Thanks again.

25:43Anthony Scaramucci:We'll be right back.

25:49Anthony Scaramucci:your first year, visit lifelock.com slash podcast for the threats you can't control. Terms apply.