October 2025 Q&A: Post-Trump America, Zohran Mamdani as Mayor, and more

0:01And Doug. Here we have the Lemu-emu in its natural habitat, helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. fascinating it's accompanied by his natural ally doug uh limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us cut the camera they see us only pay for what you need at liberty mutual.com

0:34hey everybody welcome back to open book now i'm seeing all the comments on youtube x linkedin and Instagram. And I'm loving the feedback and questions, even the criticism. So you can send the criticisms because I like reading those as well. There are questions that we answered in August. I thought we were super impressed actually with those questions. And I thought we did a great job getting those out there. And the response back from you guys has been tremendous as well. So keep an eye out on my posts in the future. Feel free to comment on anything you'd like to discuss, whether it's business, politics, or personal stories.

1:09And oh, by the way, thank you for tuning in and thank you for the great engagement in the show. You know what to do. If you're not following us, you got to press the follow button, subscribe button on YouTube. But anyway, it would mean a lot to me if you did that. So let's look at some of these. The first one is from YouTube at HKW1997. So something tells me you're 48 years old. I'm just taking a wild guess at that. Hello, Mr. Scarabucci from New Zealand. What does America look like post-Trump? Now, you could be thinking like Will Smith shit where like everybody's dead and it's like a dangerous, brutish world, but I'm not thinking that.

1:48I think America is going to survive Trump. And I think that there's winds of change happening right now. Just look at the Jimmy Kimmel situation where corporations are finally pushing back on the bullying and the intimidation. Moreover, I'm hearing, at least on Capitol Hill, from lots of Republican senators that they're sort of fed up. And I give Ted Cruz, who I think generally has been a jellyfish to Donald Trump's antics, I give Ted Cruz credit for sticking up for free speech last week. So I'm optimistic. Won't be as much fun as your beautiful country, New Zealand. I've been there. Absolutely gorgeous place.

2:26But America is going to repair itself. You know why? Because America always repairs itself. And I'm a big believer in America. Okay. LinkedIn. This is from Tom Mumford. What advice would you give to a young person who's trying to become more articulate? I've always admired how coherently you present your thoughts on your podcast. Well, that's very complimentary. And thank you. Is it simply reading widely or is there more to it? So there got to read. You want to be a better writer? You got to read. You want to be a better public speaker? You got to read. But the thing that you need to do the most when you are talking is slow down.

3:06One of the best pieces of media advice I got when I was a younger man was actually from Bill Clinton's media coach. And he said, Anthony, if you want to be a compelling speaker, slow down. You see that pregnant pause that I just gave you guys? It forces people into the conversation. They will drop their phone and they'll look up. They're probably thinking I'm having a stroke or something like that. Like, see that? But if you do that, what ends up happening is it pulls the people in. So read, read, read. Practice your public speaking. It's okay to get and do cameos to yourself to test your timing and your elocution.

3:51But those are some of the tips that I have for you, Tom. Okay, number three, Instagram, Stuker, at Stuker. Do you consider yourself independent now? I don't, actually. So you're probably mad at me for saying that. I consider myself a lifelong Republican and a traditional Republican. Now, I also happen to be a Met fan, and the Mets suck right now. And I'm a Jet fan, and the Jets actually suck way worse than the Mets. But you know what I am is I'm an old school loyalist. So I'm an old school traditional Republican hoping and praying that after this Trump nightmare is over, we can win back that party.

4:28So not necessarily an independent. I do have independent views, but I'm not an independent in my mind. OK, this is from X at 10 investing. Does New York survive Mondami or does the finance industry abandon New York? So a little bit of both. I think a lot of people are going to move out of the city as a result of Mondami coming into power. Mondami does not understand the harmony between the private sector doing well and his social programs. He wants to punish the rich and figure out a way to benefit the poor. But I'm going to tell you something right now that never works. Can't punish the rich to benefit the poor.

5:08You got to find good policies to help the rich and poor work together to lift the poor up. Mondami doesn't understand that. So finance people will leave, unfortunately. The city will survive. Again, just like the country, we've been through very bad periods of time in this city. There's a tremendous amount of energy here and a tremendous amount of dynamism. And it'll be here long after Mondami's off the stage. The only good news about Mondami, he sucks so badly that if he does get into office, it looks likely that he might get into office. If he does, that type of experimentation will lead to a pendulum swing back to something way more normal like what's happening in San Francisco.

5:52Okay, let's keep going here. LinkedIn, at Orts Lamro. Skybridge intern for the summer. I actually remember you. Okay, thanks, Mr. Lamro. Okay. Mr. Scaramucci, it seems like we're entering a world so different from the one people like your grandfather helped to create 80 years ago. Where do you look to make sense of where we're headed in the next 80 years without being disoriented? So listen, first of all, thank you for being here for the summer. I would recommend a book to you by Neil Howe called The Fourth Turning. Also, his second book was called The Fourth Turning is Here. And so you're bringing up 80 years, and that's what Neil says in the book.

6:30Every 80 or so years, we have an epic change in a society. And basically what happens, if you think about 80 years since the Second World War, it ended in 1945. We've now had four generations. And there are people in the country 40 or 50 years old that don't remember why we set up certain institutions like the IMF, the World Bank, the UN. These institutions, which were part of the post-World War II order, the history of that, the actual physical memory of that is no longer with us. And so what ends up happening is after four generations or 80 years, you get it turning. And so it'll be tumultuous in the beginning.

7:14But I do predict it will settle out and settle out for the better because a lot of great things are happening in this country and our society from a technological perspective that are going to make us more abundant and are going to make people at the lower income scales more prosperous. So I am optimistic. This is from Gina Bancardi from LinkedIn. Are you first or second generation Italian? And how has your heritage influenced you? What does being Italian mean to you today? And do you stay connected to your culture? Do you encourage your children to embrace their Italian background? If so, how?

7:49I'm assuming you're a paesan like me, Gina. So let me say a couple of things. I was born 19 years after the end of the Second World War. And my grandparents who emigrated here in the 1920s were very Italian. So if you're first or second generation. I might actually be third generation. Let me explain why. Because my grandparents got here, my parents were born here in the United States, and then, of course, I was born here in the United States. I think that may be third generation, depending on how you calculate. But I will say this. I grew up with cigarillos. I grew up with steaming espresso coming from cast iron pots.

8:27It came out of that cast iron pot like motor oil. I don't even know how these people were drinking it. They were smoking cigarellos and drinking motor oil like espresso to midnight and then getting up and going to work, eating cannolis and Zeppeli and all kinds of stuff. It was unbelievable how old school the whole thing was. My uncle had an accordion. My grandparents read El Progresso. So, yes, I am very Italian. My kids are less so, but my daughter, who's an opera singer, has learned Italian and speaks it fluently. She's frankly the only one in the second and third generation that knows how to do that.

9:02But I am very committed to my culture, travel back and forth to Italy, have relatives still in Italy. And I would just say, if you want your kids to be steeped in your culture, go back to the old country, spend a few weeks there every summer, or at least once or twice a year on vacation. I hope that's helpful. Anyway, Instagram, at Junior Linden. What are your main disagreements with Catty Cat? Well, the number one disagreement, she's going to be pissed at me if she ever watches this, but the number one disagreement is the whole fascist thing. Because Erdogan, Orban, Trump, guys like that, they act like fascists.

9:41So you should drop the penalty flag and call them that. You know, when someone's saying that they should use the federal government to persecute their enemies, That's fascist. Someone's saying they're going to pull FCC licenses if someone's saying something they don't like about them. That's thin-skinned, but also fascist. When you're having an us versus them story or you're picking winners, also fascist. But Katty K says, no, can't call that fascist. So that's our big disagreement on the podcast. I generally don't disagree with her, though. I think she's got very important, very relevant views, and she's very well prepared for that podcast.

10:18And let me tell you something, with that British accent, she's like, sounds like she's got 150 IQ points higher than me. Could you imagine if I could talk with a British accent, how fucking great that would be? But anyway, that's a side topic. I don't really disagree with her that much. Let's go to number eight, X, Rogers Razorback. What is the number one piece of free advice you would give to any entrepreneur trying to start a business in the current chaotic and uncertain environment? So, Raj, the number one piece of advice, start. So many people are waiting for the perfect opportunity, waiting for the perfect website.

10:56Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn, said, if you're waiting to perfect your website, you're waiting too long. Just put the stuff out there, get the business started, and adapt yourself on the way. One of the best lines I heard about entrepreneurship, you're jumping off a cliff and you're trying to build a plane as you're descending down the cliff. And that's entrepreneurship. And so you're either built for that and the excitement of that and the trepidations of that or you're not. But I know you are. So just get the business started. Good things will happen. Take the risks. Live your dream.

11:32Number nine, this is Shaughness Batman. This is from YouTube. Given the Trump's family's shameless grift with regard to their crypto schemes, do you think that the support Trump has shown with crypto has been overall positive or negative for the industry? This is a great question. And so I'm not trying to split the baby here. So I'm going to answer it directly. Overall positive. Because we were in the doldrums with Joe Biden. Gary Gensler, I mean, literally the worst SEC chairman probably in the history of the SEC, humiliated himself by being so nonsensically anti-crypto. So that yoke off the industry makes the Trump administration net positive.

12:17Are there some things I wish Trump didn't do, like start a meme coin, start a Melania meme coin, invest alongside of his family members and benefit and earn salary from these crypto companies while he's the president? I certainly don't think that's the right thing to do. Moreover, he shouldn't be selling sneakers and watches and I don't know, whatever the hell he's selling as president. But again, that's me. You know, there's certain rules and there's certain spirit of the law and there's certain letter of the law. And he may not be in some cases breaking the letter of the law, but it does feel like the spirit is being broken.

12:55I wish the president would just stick to being president. Well, if you don't like the president, maybe you'd want him to sell more stuff and be less president. But anyway, those are my thoughts there. OK, this is Daryl T. This is from LinkedIn. Anthony, I've been an admirer from a distance. Thank you. Please share some book recommendations. Okay, so for fiction, I would read The Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown. I found that to be a fascinating book. I finished it this weekend. Truly loved it. I would read Apple in China. If you really want to understand American business and the dynamic that we have going, some of our largest, most successful corporations have going with China, I would certainly read that.

13:38There's a great book out on 1942, which is the height, in my opinion, of the Second World War, because we're fighting in North Africa and we're fighting all over the Pacific. And it's just a great story about how the Western allies had to come together after the attack on Pearl Harbor. But there's so many great books. OK, a Brad Meltzer book, a Ken Follett book. Ken has a new book out. You pick up a Ken Follett, a Brad Meltzer, or a Daniel Silva book, and I guarantee you it won't be the last one of those authors' books that you read. So those are some recommendations there. But start reading. Even 10 pages a day, believe it or not, 10 pages a day, just think about that, is 12 books a year.

14:26Think about how that enriches you intellectually. So start reading. Great question. Instagram, JohnDavy77, what's the one thing that is misunderstood about how power actually works? I think the number one thing is the more powerful you are and the more powerful you can become is by giving the power away. Think about that. Because if you can give the power away, you can delegate. And the more you delegate, the more things you can get done if you provide the right direction and the right vision. Ronald Reagan once had a great line, I have it here in my office. There's no limit to what a man can do or where he can go or she can go if he or she doesn't care who gets the credit.

15:16Okay, that was on the desk in the Oval Office. And so the irony of power, share the power, give the power away, it makes you more powerful. Okay, number 12, Roscoe 45, this is from X, Why has the assassination of Charlie Kirk affected Americans as deeply as it has? And what do you think are the long-term consequences of his death for American society? So another great question. I knew Charlie personally, campaigned with Charlie. Charlie was on my podcast. I knew lots of Charlie's donors and friends. And I even got Charlie into my wine party in Davos, Switzerland a few years back. And I like Charlie.

15:54And I may have disagreed with Charlie, but you know what I didn't disagree with? I didn't disagree with his civility. I didn't disagree with his openness to the debate. And he may have said some hurtful things over the years to certain ethnic groups or something like that. I'm sure he did. And so I'm not here to parse words. I'm just saying he had a point of view. And I think what affected people so deeply is the cynicism of killing somebody that's not even in political power, but is just sharing or expressing a political view. The notion that someone like that could get killed in the country, I think, was met by deep sadness on both sides of the aisle.

16:34So that's my opinion. And will we get over it or what will the long-term consequences be? I'm hoping it'll be what Erica, his wife Erica, Kirk said, and that is there'll be some level of healing and some level of unity. That's my hope. All right, guys, this is from YouTube Cody, C8952. I contend the impact of AI on the U.S. workforce is the squatting elephant that no politician wants to address coherently. What are your thoughts on this from the different perspectives of the labor force, enterprise, and markets and public policy? So listen, this is a great question, a very complicated question.

17:15So the negative scenario is that the proliferation and the exponential growth of AI weakens the labor force and displaces lots of people and takes jobs. I think some of that will be true, but I always believe in America, and I always believe that when we go through technological transitions, the jobs show up in other industries. There's no more horse and buggy riders, but there are chauffeurs. I could give hundreds of different examples of how this works. So I'm less concerned about this. I think on a positive side, three, five, 10 years from now, you may be at a four-day work week where most people are working a little less, enjoying a little bit more leisure, and potentially having more abundant lifestyles.

18:04So let's look at this thing from a positive perspective. I just think from a public policy, we have to protect ourselves from AI. There has to be checks and balances in the system so that we don't run amok in AI. That's the Elon Musk sort of negative view of it. And I think we can do that through good policy and good legislation. So I hope that certainly happens. Okay, this is from Brew 1701. What did you think about James Gunn's Superman? And what is it about that hero? Or what is it about the hero that makes you love him so much? I've got a lot of Superman adornments in my office. I think the, I love the movie this past summer.

18:42I saw it twice. Just to me, it's a battle of good and evil. Remember, if you really understand the lore, the history of Superman, it's a mythological character. It was written during the rise of Nazism, and it was actually created by two Jewish young men, Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster. They were living in suburban Cleveland. Hitler was talking about the Obermensch or the Superman, and these boys decided they were going to write their own version of Superman. and they made him quintessentially American. How did they do that? They created a immigrant story. Most of us are immigrants. They created a story of mobility and aspiration.

19:24He sort of lands from this alien world and he's raised in Kansas in the Midwest. So he's raised in the Midwest, steeped in these Midwestern values and then he moves to the big city. Such a great American story. But the keen thing to pay attention to with Superman is he's lonely because sometimes leadership and sometimes doing the right thing is loneliness. And he certainly has those attributes to him. But he stands for truth, justice, and the American way, at least the American old way. I'll tell you something, Superman is who we all want to be. Batman, with all of his darkness and all of his warped behavior, Batman is who we are, but Superman is who we want to be.

20:03So there's sort of that aspiration that I really love about him. What a great question. All right, let's keep moving.

20:11YouTube, WhiteChocolate7777. What's my favorite James Bond film? Dr. No. Absolutely the best film. Number one film, first film. Ursula Andress in that film is stunning. Bond, played by the uber-masculine Sean Connery, all of the motif of that, the 60s motif of that. His, I don't know, bravado, the swag, the gadgetry. This coincided with a big movement of Esquire magazine, Playboy magazine, and others in the 1960s. And it's part of a cultural time capsule that I adore. And it happened a few years before I was born. So I do love that movie the most of all the movies. And I've seen all the movies many times.

20:59Linked in Ryan Bullock, M. As could you please discuss the institutional memory or the lack thereof in our culture and society? Very simple. So if I'm coming out of the Second World War and I'm a soldier and I saw death and pestilence and help to liberate concentration camps, it's influencing my behavior in terms of how we're going to set up a peaceful society in the post-World War II era. Moreover, if I'm a Democrat like George McGovern or I'm a Republican like Bob Dole, if we both fought in the army together, there's going to be some level of respect for the Constitution and some civil discourse.

21:35But I'm born in 1985 as opposed to 1925. Guess what? I have no memory of that. And I sort of think that these older things, that's what happens with the young people, they think these older things should be swept away and new organizations or new policies or new ideas could be formed. We also find, you can read The Guns of August or other historical books about war and the beginning of war. What we find is that when the institutional memory is at a low, you get a systemic rise of nationalism and the bellicosity of rhetoric. And so these are the things that I super worry about right now. And I appreciate you bringing it up.

22:14It means that some of the things that I'm saying on this program are resonating. But those are some of my thoughts there. This is from X, and it's Gourma55992. OK, this is from James, 55992. What are your opinions on traditional index ETFs as a method of building wealth for middle-income Americans? And are you worried at all that passive investment in equities has oversaturated the market? What is your advice for diversifying if so? Well, I'm a big index investor. So I hear the thing that this has been overexposed to, overweighted by most people. But I'm an index investor. I typically own the S &P 500.

22:56Of course, you could branch out and own the Russell 5000, or you could own the Dow 100. You could mix and match them. But ultimately, I think if you own the index, we've learned long ago that the index beats about 85 % to 90 % of the money managers, and you can get access to the stock market at a very low cost. So I'm going to stick with that despite the concerns. Number 19, YouTube, the Arbiter, at Arbiter3110. Again, please suggest American news sites that aren't too biased. It's exhausting attempting to weed out sites to find balanced ones. So I don't know any balanced American news sites. So I'm going to recommend something to you.

23:36Go to your iPad, download the English version of the Lamont. It's the French newspaper. A lot of my friends in the CIA do that. The French really don't care about American politics, so they report it fairly accurately and fairly objectively. But you probably can't read French. I can't. So download the English version and you can get your news there. Well-sourced and very independent. Not American though, however. Okay. Last one. Instagram, feelings overrated. Can you give us some hope? I love your upbeat attitude. Well, it's not just an upbeat attitude. First of all, thank you. But I think it's really grounded in history.

24:15America is a risk-taking country. It's narrowly plastic. It's an adaptive country. We made some mistakes. We let three generations of Americans feel left out. And over the last 30 years, middle and lower income people felt like they got the shaft, particularly during the global financial crisis, where the banks got the trillion dollars and the rest of us got no trillion dollars. And it caused the Tea Party movement and Occupy Wall Street and a systemic rise in populism that was captured by politicians like Donald Trump and politicians like Bernie Sanders. And so we could do better as a group of establishment politicians to get the right policies in place.

24:56That didn't happen. Okay, but that era is now also passing. You know, the good news is when things get bad, America wakes up and says, hey, we got to make this better. That happened during the Dave Dickens era here in New York, where he was ousted for Mayor Giuliani. It's happening in San Francisco. where we have a new mayor there that's on cleanup after years of decadence and years of bad policy, but bad policies leading to crime in San Francisco. And so don't lose hope. Unbelievably innovative, unbelievably dynamic country. It's been generally stable for the last 250 years. And even though we have some weirdos running it right now, I think it's going to get better pretty quickly.

25:39All right, that's a wrap on today's questions. Okay, this Q &A episode of Open Book, I hope you enjoyed as much as I did. Remember, I'm reading all your comments, and I love hearing what's on your mind. So keep sending those questions in. And if I missed any of your questions, we'll be back next month with another round of answers. So please keep them coming. And in the meantime, don't forget to subscribe, share, leave a review if you enjoyed the episode. Until then, keep the conversation going, and I'll see you next time here at Open Book. Thanks again for listening.