Debate Reax, Taylor's Endorsement, Apple's AI Upgrades

24:29And I don't think they're lightweights and don't, you know, interestingly, the, oh God, the Trump spokesperson called her a teeny bopper. It makes him seem, oh, what is a teeny bopper? That's from the 50s, right? Let's go get a sundae. Let's go down to the malt shop. The spokesperson, oh, she's a teeny bopper. And then they put Vance out, creep number two, you know, on there saying, oh, she doesn't matter. I mean, I like her music, but she doesn't matter. And you're like, would you just not say anything because you look like a frigging idiot, right? And I think people do care about grocery surprises.

25:03I do think, by the way, inflation's down a little bit. I think people do care about those things. but they also care about Taylor Swift and to insult her is such a mistake. It's so, and then one of the last thing, J.D. Vance is so dumb. I don't even understand it. He goes, nobody likes a billionaire celebrity. It was literally like your boss is a billionaire celebrity. Like it was, he just, and then the Elon thing was just repulsive. And his daughter smacked him down on that one. And that was grotesque, you know, his weird rapey comments. Yeah, the thing that really frustrated, I thought she was outstanding.

25:42So immediately because I'm unhappy, I went to what I don't like. I think both of their stated economic policies are so terrible and so populist. Her price controls make no fucking sense. Both of them on this no taxes on tips, this populist bullshit. Both of them trying to protect steel because they think it's some sort of American icon when it's going to end up with less jobs if they don't let Nippon actually come in and invest. Their economic policy so far, even, I want to be clear, her Vice President Harris has proposed a$50 ,000 tax credit for new businesses. I don't like that. I think as a small business owner, we are the most tax-advantaged sector in America other than real estate.

26:23And the reality is with that kind of tax credit, you'd have too many shitty businesses being started. They should do away with regulations, but they shouldn't give people$50 ,000 to start a business. I think that's a bad idea and pure populism. What do you like? Oh, I love the child tax credit. I like the idea of some sort of not a wealth tax, but we need to restore a more progressive tax structure. But it should be to an alternative minimum tax, not a wealth tax, which just does not work. But both of their economic policies are purely at this point. And Trump tariffs. Everyone, you know, everyone's like, go with Harris on this because the tariff stuff is.

27:03Goldman Sachs said this, like his policies will cost. Yeah, that her economic plan would result in stronger. Anyways, his tariffs, a combination of tariffs and an anti-immigration policy. it's as if you set out if you said the meta goal of our economic agenda is to restore inflation to record highs decrease the labor pool send wages up in specific areas where we desperately need immigrants and I'm going to put a tax on everything through tariffs and we'll raise the deficit by giving rich people and by the way the CPI just came out and it's the lowest it's a 2.5 % it's the lowest it's been in 3 years inflation is now almost down to its target Yeah.

27:46Well, we'll see. I think she did herself a great deal of good. Now she's got to really, she's not very much time, but there's still enough time. So she's got to really get people excited. She just got people excited again. She's good at this. So far, she's done a great job. Now she's got to put more meat on the bones. I think a lot of the independent, all these undecided voters are like, I need more information. I would also argue that if she loses, it's kind of our fault in the sense that there's a group of people that feel very passionate and are willing to, you know, get emotional and talk about this.

28:19We need canvassing. We need people have got to, you know, the difference between an opinion and a principle is that you're willing to sacrifice for something. And people have got to decide if they really do believe that he or she is an existential threat to America's future. Well, okay, fine. What are you doing? And are you canvassing? Are you giving money? Are you talking to people? Are you signing up voters to be registered? Are you helping to go? I did this once in San Francisco. You go to people and actually walk them who may not have an easy time getting to the polling stations. It's like there is so much rhetoric.

28:55There's so much heat. Yeah, you've got to get off of Twitter or wherever. And do something. You know what I've started to do? It's interesting. I find people I know are sort of on the fence, sort of Trump. Kamala Curious, I keep calling them. And I sit and talk with them about her. And you can see them not wanting to vote for Trump, right? Like, they do not like Trump. There's a group that loves him, period. But a lot of people don't like him, right? And they don't want to vote for him. And if you sit, I think I've convinced 10 people to vote for her at least. And I just keep doing it everywhere I go.

29:30I'm like, listen, I know her. Let me tell you the person I know. She is much more conservative than you think. I said, let me lay it out for you. She, you know, she's got to bring that information to them. But that's the thing I'm doing is I'm going around and saying, this is what I think. I agree with you here. That's maybe problematic, but what about this? And when I say tariffs and stuff like that, they then go, yeah, tariffs are bad, you know. And I was like, terrorists are communist. I do something that's much easier and more scalable. I say to someone, if you commit now to voting for Vice President Harris, right now, right here, I will give you five seconds of uninterrupted eye contact.

30:09Oh, that's repulsive. Say you'll do it for Trump and it'll work. I've said that several times and people just sort of pause and then try and end the conversation and walk away. Yeah, that's a new on-pass move. And as they're walking away, I say, okay, seven seconds, seven seconds. Right, right, right. That's very Elon Musk. Anyway, we have a sweet moment of relief here. And Trump was fucking nuts with those animals. He's really. Hide your dogs. Hide Daisy. You know who he's hanging out with all the time? Laura Loomer. She's a lunatic. Even Marjorie Taylor Greene thinks she's a racist. She insulted all these Indians.

30:47She's with him all the time. There are a few. natural resources we have been able to extract from the rest of the world that have added more value than Indian Americans or Indians immigrating to America. It was shocking what she said. And then Marjorie Taylor Greene then went after and said, this is racist, you know, which is sort of like, and then she went after Marjorie Taylor Greene for being a whore, essentially. And Trump doesn't like her and he likes me. Isn't that Lauren Boebert? Oh, I'm slut shaming. Lauren, I'd like a date. Raging moderates. Let's rage. We're moderates. So they started fighting Laura Loomer, who's heinous, and Marjorie Chellegrine, who's heinous.

31:25Although I was on Marjorie's side this time. And someone on Threads, which I thought was very funny, say it's like watching chlamydia fight gonorrhea. Oh, God. That's bad. Anyhow, it's going well for the Trump campaign. All right, Scott, let's go on a quick break. We come back, we'll talk about Apple bringing AI to its new models and take a listener mail question about who's really responsible for keeping kids safe online, one of our favorite topics. There is a lot to talk about when we talk about Donald Trump and Jimmy Kimmel. One big question I've got is why in 2025 are late night TV shows like Jimmy Kimmel's show still on TV?

32:04Even in our diminished times, Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, they're just some of the biggest faces of their networks. If you start taking the biggest faces off your networks, you might save some nickels and dimes. But what are you even anymore? What even is your brand anymore? I'm Peter Kafka, the host of Channels. And that was James Ponowozik, the TV critic for The New York Times. This week, we're talking about Trump and Kimmel, free speech, and a TV format that's remained surprisingly durable for now. That's This Week on Channels, wherever you get your favorite podcasts.

32:50Scott, we're back with our second big story. I went to the Apple event this week, drove my little self out to Cupertino, the beautiful and had delicious snacks there. They have such good snacks. At the event, Apple unveiled the iPhone 16, which is designed to run Apple's generative AI, Apple Intelligence. Starting next month, the phones will summarize notifications, offer writing recommendations, and help you find photos and other capabilities. We'll come over time. That was the most interesting part to me of the AI stuff. For requests not related to personal information, the phones will route to ChatGPT as a result of the company's deal with OpenAI and some other services.

33:22It'll be in a private cloud, they say. Wall Street analysts predict new features will help Apple sell 240 million phones next year, a 12 % increase from this year. Would you like to weigh in? I have thoughts since I was there, but seeing the whole presentation and talking. Why don't you go first, Cara? You were there. Well, I thought I will buy this phone. I have a 14, and I didn't buy the 15 because it was a better phone, but it wasn't that much better. There's a couple of things that I thought were interesting. I'm not so, the Apple intelligence, they will get it right over time, right? It'll help summarize this and that.

33:56I don't find the ones on Google Mail or anything else very helpful. I don't use them. I don't use it on Microsoft. They always are asking, would you like help? And I see what they're trying to do, but I haven't found efficacy in any of it. We'll see how they do. I thought the photo search stuff was great. That's one area of real friction for me is when I want to find photos. Whereas Scott and I make it out, such as, for example. And it's all just natural language, which I thought was interesting. It's not quite there yet. Some of the stuff is in beta, but I sort of was encouraged by it. They're much thinner phones, I would say.

34:33Not tons thinner, but thinner. They have a new chip in them, the A18 chip. They have a better battery, which is much longer and more streamlined. And there's two, it sounds crazy, actual things, these buttons on them. One's an action button on the side that I think is useful. And you can have like six to nine, you use it for your flashlight. Other times it calls up whatever you use a lot, Uber or whatever it happens to be. And then there's a camera toggle that I think is really great. It's almost like a camera clicker on the side. It's very sleek. And I thought it was incredibly helpful. I know it sounds dumb, but reducing steps is something I'm very interested in on the phone because I do a lot of steps.

35:18And I thought that was great. I was super interested in the watch. I have an iPhone, I mean a Watch 8, and the 10 is beautiful. It's really quite beautiful, and I think it's much better. It's much sleeker. It does a lot more. That I certainly will buy. The AirPods, we're having an update, and they, there was an interesting thing about the hearing, turning them for mild to mid-level hearing loss, making them hearing aids was interesting. It's the sleep apnea stuff. I don't happen to have that, but it's, you know, adding more capabilities to these devices, and the working together of them was interesting.

35:56I think it will get people to switch. It's a good enough shift. And the camera stuff, the spatial photography was, you know, it wasn't like, wow, but it was like, these are very competent people making great changes. We'll see on the AI. I'm still, you know, I don't think anyone's, you know, putting glory all over themselves on this stuff. But I think it's just a that's a slow moving thing. What do you think? Oh, I one word perfectly describes this underwhelming. And of course, I went to my favorite source for tech reviews. I went to Wales Online and read an article by Robert Dowling and Adam Kyler.

36:39I believe the name is. Anyways, they summarized it perfectly. Numerous features present in the newest model have been common among competitor brands for quite some time. moreover they said the design changes like repositioning the camera lenses are not innovation you know it's just it's just moving shit around and then what i thought kind of summarized it up was um it felt more like other why have a release when it's clear you don't have any breakthroughs but just essentially it's just a a money grab or trying to give people a reason to upgrade and i felt I did what these guys are so smart I think what they did which which is kind of like a jujitsu move as they said there's nothing here where the the the bezeling is different the camera's a little different that what you talked about easy access to the pictures you kind of improved it they improved it but this was just a definition of incremental but what they did that was really brilliant was they essentially did called it apple intelligence and started talking about all the things that AI is going to do here.

37:43And that created some excitement, but I would argue this was the most incremental, non-exciting improvements in the phone that we've ever seen. I just think they're running out of it. No, I think the last one was. I think they definitely added stuff here. Incremental is a very good way to put it. I did see, go get it and you thought, what do you think? I go, well, good stuff. You know what I mean? It was good stuff. And I think some of the ideas are interesting. There's only so much you can do to innovate this thing, right? I mean, right now, actually, Huawei just came out with a new trifold phone.

38:20Have you seen this thing? But it's$2 ,800. It has 5 million pre-orders. That's a very different direction. That's innovation. The quote I like is, what's the point of making a new iPhone all the time without a major leap in technological advancements besides just blatantly wanting more money? And that's what this was. It's just not. That's true. And the AI stuff, shouldn't you be able to do that with an iOS upgrade? I just don't. I think it's a brilliant company. They're brilliant marketers. This was marketing. This was an innovation. I would agree with you on that. But they cannot not keep up.

38:55You know, Pixel, as you were noting, Google announced a Pixel phone that includes conversational virtual assistant, AI photo editing capabilities, and ability to ask the company's AI complex questions. So I think they had to keep up here. This was table stakes. And one of the things, you know, and again, it was little things, but again, I'm going to get it because I think the AirPods, it stops when you're conversing. And I know some of them do and some of them don't, but they can't not keep up. I am fascinated by this trifold. I definitely turned my head when I saw it. And some of these folding phones, who else has one?

39:31There was another half folding phone. I think it's Samsung. Doesn't Samsung have a folding phone? I don't know why I'm fascinated by these phones, but I am. I'll probably break one. And they're very, you know, it's interesting. I think they have to be incremental a little bit unless they decide to completely change the phone dynamic. Or do fewer product release events and wait till you actually have something to talk about. Yeah, but, yeah. This is the most powerful luxury brand in the history of mankind. And it sends a very strong signal about who you are. Everyone immediately sees what kind of phone you have.

40:08But this event, oh my God, Snoozerama. And the product that has been the most exciting Apple product, or let me put it this way, the most underhyped that doesn't get its credit, hands down, is AirPods. In 2022, AirPods sales totaled$15 billion. I didn't get more recent numbers. It's probably closer to 20 now. If I get into, I bet I spend, it feels like, I probably spend two, 300 bucks a month on two things, sunglasses and AirPods. Because if I'm getting into a cab, it means I'm getting out without a pair of sunglasses and AirPods. Yeah, I saw a couple from you. Go ahead. I now have an unopened box of AirPods that I just travel with.

40:50You do. I just travel with. You have them in your apartment. Did you see them? They're everywhere. They're everywhere. Anyways, I spend, I think I spend more on AirPods as I think about it than any technology. Maybe you porn? I don't know. Hence, that's why they have to be incremental. That's why they have to. That's why AirPods got incremental updates. They have to keep them fresh. I don't agree with you. What I'm arguing for here is that they are running out of ideas and it's becoming like, let's try and pretend this is some sort of breakthrough when it isn't. well anyway i think ai once it becomes this assistant that talks to all your devices really will shift your relationship with all and they have all of the pieces right this kind of thing and so they have to keep the pieces looking good is what they have to do um and one of the i have to say the there's a there's a the gold the gold colored with that mesh uh band it's a beautiful watch.

41:49It's a beautiful watch. They own the watch business now, practically. I know some people buy beautiful watches, but man, have they stolen that business. And I thought, they're going to own the hearing aid business or the lesser hearing aid business. It really is dramatic what they've done in watches. Well, speaking of things that aren't so good for Apple and also other tech companies, EU's top court hits Apple and Google with fines in the billions this week. The court ruled that Apple must repay over$14 billion for illegally receiving tax benefits in Ireland, and that Google must pay $2.6 billion in the antitrust fines for abuse of its dominant position.

42:26Both companies have been fighting the fines for almost a decade. The case is seen as a win for antitrust regulator Marguerite Vestager's legacy. Fines, that's kind of a lot of fines, Scott. You don't like fines, but it's kind of fines. No, I like fines. I just don't think they're... Everything's relative, though. Let me just give you an example here. The point of a fine and the point of taxes is it's meant to foot to some sort of deterrence around behavior. Now, the deterrence is a function of the size relative to your economic power, right? So I'll give you an example. Occasionally, I'll get an alert on American Express saying there's a charge for$9.99 on your Amex on Amazon.

43:09was this you? One, if yes, two, if no. It's not. It's fraud. And you know what I hit? One, it was me. Because for 10 bucks and some limited fraud, that is less of a cost to me than having to wait for a week to get another fucking credit card and having every single site that already has my card have to be re-registered. And the credit card companies, generally speaking, do a pretty good job of cauterizing repeat fraud. So I will lie. Because I have money, I would rather say no. I would rather pay the 10 bucks to the criminal that figured out a way to get my card and buy something on Amazon than tell American Express, no, it wasn't me.

43:55And then they shut off the card and my life goes into logistical disarray every time I try to log on to Uber. I find that immediately when they cancel the card, I can no longer get Uber or, by the way, Wheelie, which is a better ride hailing system. I find it's a nightmare. My point is it's about incentives relative to your economic well-being. And we're nowhere near that in terms of these fines. They need to be fined. So what I do like about some of the constructs that the EU is putting in place, they're not defining numbers. They're defining percentage of profits or multiple of annual revenues.

44:32But be clear, when these guys, when we find META$5 billion for refusing to comply with the consent decree, all the government did was validate to them that the smart thing to do was to ignore the government consent decree. Yeah, well, we'll see where it goes. You know, it's interesting because also in this country, Amy Klobuchar, group of Democrats. Senator Kay. Kay, we love her, is urging the FTC and the Justice Department to investigate whether AI summary tools are anti-competitive, which they're all doing. I think OpenAI is about to release some more new stuff this week, too. In the letter, the senators say AI summary features hit publishers, while platforms like Google and Meta profit from content created by others.

45:13Right now, AI summaries are often keep users in the original search platform instead of directing them to the publisher's website. a publisher would have to opt out of being included in search in order to avoid having their contents summarized. This is another way of these companies. It's a very good thing to be investigated. You have to be basically stolen by them in order to be seen by others, which of course is, you know, this should be a slam dunk for regulators and for courts, but it hasn't been. There's another version of what they're doing. You blew my mind on this about a month ago or two months ago.

45:49You highlighted a very obvious thing that I hadn't thought about. And that is basically Google is kind of the, you know, it's the front end directory. All right, I want to go see a dermatologist on the fourth floor of this building. I look on, you know, the directory and it says go to the fourth floor. But I go to the dermatologist, right? Right. I do a I this morning I was looking at minimum wage statistics like what industries, by the way, minimum wage on inflation adjusted basis is down 40 percent since 1970. Anyway, but but I go to Statista. I go to the National Bureau of Labor and Statistics.

46:25I leave Google and this and you pointed this out. Essentially, no one's ever going to leave because what they're saying is you don't need to go anywhere. And the analogy I've used is that Google is Walmart. We have everything, but it's a pain to sort through. And OpenAI or ChatGPT is William Snow or Sephora and says, we're not giving you every toaster. We're going to attempt to give you the best answer such that you don't go anywhere. This is literally, I don't want to call it the last nail in the coffin of traditional media, but Google does send a lot of traffic to NYT.com. Now these guys are saying, no, you're not going to need to go anywhere.

47:02And then I took that, and then this is a bit of a tangent, but I think it's an interesting one. Did you see that a former OpenAI co-founder raised a billion dollars for a new quote-unquote safe AI? He got a bunch of money. A billion at a$5 billion market capitalization, and they're positioning it as a safer AI. I'm like, boss, if you take a billion dollars from VCs, your priority is not the commonwealth. And from Andreessen, that was the irony, Mr. Not Safe. Give us a break. Call it what it is, something AI. But at$5 billion, I think that's one of the most overvalued companies right now. Well, here's the thing.

47:37OpenAI is seeking$150 billion valuation in a funding round. I heard it was$100, but even at$100? Now it's$150. Okay, even at$150, Cara, it's undervalued. Because it's got about somewhere between, depending on which source you look at, 60 to 70 % share. I mean, if these, in my sense, all the stats I see on OpenAI, and they're turning into TikTok, they're starting to sandbag their numbers. All the numbers I see indicate one thing. OpenAI slash Microsoft AI, same thing, are running away with it. They are running away with it. Elon Musk is trying to cheat in Memphis by putting up things that are hurting the neighborhood, like gas generators to keep.

48:24There's an enormous cost to doing this and the energy expenses. So he's trying to keep up by doing that. It's crazy how many people are trying to raise money to compete. This is$6.5 billion they're raising at a valuation of, and it's a$70 billion increase from its valuation nine months ago. Incredible. Nice. And by the way, I think that's probably a good investment. Right. We'll see. We'll see. I do think this is the appropriate place for regulators to look at because they will dominate everything. Although, you know, it's an expensive race, which is happening with these tech companies. And they're doing all kinds of manner of things to compete with each other.

48:59So do you want to hear my story about peak Scott Galloway? Okay, go ahead. I'm so glad you said yes. So in 1999, I had a shaved head, I had credentials, a good wrap, and I had started a couple of e-commerce companies. I was one of the most fundable people in the world. In late 99, I went and raised 15 million from Goldman, Maveron, which is Howard Schultz's company, everyone, all these masters of the universe, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs. And I started an e-commerce incubator called Brand Farm. And the entire company was me and an employment contract for four years. I'm like, I'm going to stay here at least four years and a PowerPoint presentation.

49:36And I raised 15 million at a pre of 35. So at the age of 32, I was worth with a PowerPoint presentation,$35 million pre 50 million posts, which on an inflation adjusted basis now would be, I think about 130 or$150 million. That's how frothy things were. I could show up at the age of 33 with a PowerPoint presentation and raise 15 million from very credible investors and say, I am worth, my commitment to this company for four years is worth, with the capital you're going to put in, is worth$50 million. That was peak. That's when I thought I was going to be I was going to melt to something I remember those times Kara now I'm here with you dating Patty Stonecipher what happened to me what happened to me we're in kilts in the highlands by the way did you hear about did you hear about Prince Harry's birthday party my birthday party sounds so much cooler than his who's Prince Harry is that his name Harry and Meghan he's having it at the same time I'm going to that yeah you've left me fucking Don Lemon texts me and says bitch you didn't invite me to your birthday party I'm like Don I'd love to have you and he's like I'm coming and then a day later, he's like, I can't.

50:47I've got a book party. I'm like, well, you just wanted to be invited. Yeah, he did. That's it. Dilemon, you are off the list. Scott, let's pivot to a listener question.

51:02The question comes in via voicemail. Let's listen. Hi, Cara. Hi, Scott. My listener question is in regard to the Child Safety Protection Act. I'm wondering how much of the responsibility for protecting kids online falls on the parents. You both talk so much and give so much insightful input into where the responsibility lies with all the big companies. I'm a teacher, and we've started to take cell phones from students in school this year. They've been putting them in little pouches and keeping them in their lockers for the entire day. And I feel like at this point, teachers are having a lot of responsibility for keeping kids safe during school and keeping kids safe, at least during school hours online.

51:53How much of the responsibility do you think is falling on parents? And do you think that there is a lack in responsibility at this point in how much parents are monitoring their kids online? Would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks always. You guys are awesome to listen to. Oh, that's nice. Nice. I love hearing from a teacher. I'm going to start with this. You know, it's a mixed thing, like a lot of things. I think tech companies are responsible for creating tools that parents can use and being serious about it. They have a responsibility in how they design these things. I think obviously schools are going to have to be involved.

52:29They have the kids all day. And so they have to put in systems in place with cooperation of parents to keep the phones away from kids during the day. I'm all for the idea of doing that for my kids, for sure. And then countries and legislators all over the world have a responsibility for doing this. Australia, the prime minister, announced his government would introduce legislation for age restrictions between 14 and 16. It's gotten a backlash from people, but I think it's not a bad idea. There should be lots of ideas from our regulators. But lastly, it is up to the parents, even though it's really difficult.

53:08This stuff is addictive. Parents are addicted themselves. and it's complex and the tools aren't very good, I'll tell you from using them. They're just not. They're very confusing to me and I'm very good at this. Parents do have a responsibility to have some control over their kids and their phone usage. It's just like anything else, like television, like eating bad foods, like please don't go out with that kid, you know, et cetera. But teachers certainly shouldn't bear the brunt of this And I hate when parents start yelling at teachers about these cell phones, although, you know, a lot of parents, the only argument I find actually even slightly good is depressing, which is in case of shootings.

53:53Kids should have their phones and that they certainly should. So that's the only thing that sort of gives me pause about kids not having cell phones in schools. But that's that's heinous, unfortunately, the heinous situation there. Scott. There's a lot of nuance here. I would argue that if public schools are lower middle income, schools are lower middle income, the way you can tell if a school is going to be successful or not successful is a level of parental involvement. And unfortunately, what's happened, there's no reason to have phones in schools. But parents want to be able to communicate with their kids.

54:26And there's this collective problem where people immediately go to, well, okay, just don't allow your kid on social media, on Snap. Well, here's the problem. Your kid ends up more depressed if he's the only one not on SNAP. So unless schools ban phones collectively, unless we have age gating that's federally mandated, we're doubly fucked. Now, I empathize. So I really empathize with her point as it comes to the relationship between parents and schools. And I found myself when I was in the position on our school saying to people, calm the fuck down. If at some point you think things are so bad, then put pressure on me as your representative to find a new headmaster.

55:05But until then, your job is to support this person who has a PhD in education and has been teaching for 40 fucking years. All right. So just back the fuck off. as opposed to these parents showing up and deciding that all of a sudden there are many experts in education because they have kids. Anyways, as it relates to parents, generally speaking, we overprotect offline, we underprotect online. And I would think most people would look at me and think, he probably gets it around this stuff. Oh, lucky for him and his kids. This is what has happened to my kids that they have experienced online bullying, both being bullied and being accused of bullying, hiding in the bathroom so they could be on TikTok for hours on end, severe during COVID device addiction that sent one of my kids into a really frightening tailspin.

56:08Device addiction. I'm the guy that's basically been railing on big tech. You would I think if anyone understood the threats, it would be me. And unbeknownst to me, one of my kids several years ago developed a full-blown device addiction. They have resources. They have involved parents. Can you imagine what it's like for a single mother? So while I understand the parent's role on this, that is basically the go-to of people who don't have children. Because when you have kids at this age and realize they're going through puberty and desperate for other people's affirmation, and no one including Apple, no one including Meta, no one including Alphabet has any incentive other than to get them totally fucking addicted with a casino, an arcade, a gambling, a dating, the high school cafeteria in their pocket at all times, unless there is legislation saying no one under the age of 16 should be on social media and unless we as parents all bind together and say schools cannot have phones in schools, maybe a flip phone so you can communicate with them, fine.

57:13None of this is going to change because I'm telling you, their addiction is greater than our parenting skills. Right. And we're addicted. You know, you talked to me about this. 100%. You know, I had to say it to two different people this week. I'm like, put down your fucking phone, put it down. Like, and I like my phone, by the way, but I actually am pretty good about putting it down a lot. I feel as if I text you, I'm going to hear back from you within about three to ten minutes. It's on my watch because I see it on my watch. Oh, is that what it is? Yeah. I think text. That's different to me.

57:44That's like a phone call. So it's not the addiction nature of it. That's a communication thing. I don't find that necessarily addictive. It's being responsive in a relationship. That's how I feel. Well, I'm glad to know that you care. I like to respond to you. But I think you're 100 % right. A couple of things Scott and I believe in completely and we agree on. We don't agree on every part of this. But age limits, we think go for it, Australia. I think age limits is important. I know there's the worry about driving dangerous activity online and kids are going to smoke in the back of an alley too.

58:14But we have to have some rules. The second thing is you have to be a parent and think about it and think about your own addiction at the same time. And you've got to let these schools get these cell phones out of schools and let these teachers do what they think is best and stop frigging second-guessing them every minute of the day. I agree with you. I am so, so far, so pleased in letting these teachers that declare is going to this public school. They're terrific and they're trained. So anyway, we, you know, thank you for this incredibly thoughtful thing. And you guys, teachers are doing God's work.

58:53I know people slap them around a lot, and some teachers aren't good. But boy, what a challenge in today's society to be a teacher. Anyway, if you've got a question of your own, if you'd like answered, send it our way. Go to nymag.com slash pivot to submit a question for the show or call 855-51-PIVOT. All right, Scott, one more quick break. We'll be back for Wins and Fails.

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59:49okay scott let's hear some wins and fails i you know we've got to keep this tight because i'm going to interview hillary clinton in a minute just so you know oh god here we go really i'm just saying what should i ask hillary i think secretary i've said this all the time i think secretary clinton is the best president that never was i'm just i'm she's literally a hero of mine I think she's fantastic. I think on foreign policy, she's one of the brightest minds in the world right now. Anyways, wins and fails. So look, my win is Vice President Harris. I just imagined as she pulled into Pennsylvania to the debate stage, can you imagine, can you imagine the pressure on her shoulders?

1:00:31There are millions of women who are going to become pregnant, who will not have options, who will not have choices if I fuck this up. Those women are counting on me. The West is counting on me. Democrats are counting on me. Non-whites, women are all counting on me. and in about 90 minutes, I can either be their hero or fuck it up for all of them. I don't think people appreciate the amount of pressure these people feel and register that is placed on their shoulders. Basically, if Vice President Harris had not stuck the landing here, I think she would probably be out of politics and we'd have Trump for another four years.

1:01:19And I think, I literally think these people are superhuman. So, and she just absolutely rose to the occasion. And I also want to just draw a lot of attention to the team that prepped her. Her team was outstanding. You could just feel people going, I'm in charge of the split screen. Here's what you want to look like when he says this kind of thing. Here's what you want to look like when he says this kind of thing. The split screen expertise here was fantastic. You're going to go in a two minute response. You're going to spend exactly 72 seconds making your points. And you're going to spend 18 triggering him at the end because we're going to emasculate.

1:02:01We're going to obviate. We're going to puncture the next 45 of his 90 when he comes back with some stupid defensive rant because he can't handle you saying that his crowds are exhausted and, and, um, board. They were outstanding in my win. And again, people know this who have followed me, and I've gotten a lot of shit for it. Fine. I am not an enormous fan and have not been a Vice President Harris. Are you now? Oh, I'm sold. I think she deserves. I mean, she had my vote. I'm so glad you said that, because if you'd said I'm waiting and seeing, because there's so many voters who's like, I really liked it, but I need more from her.

1:02:40Women She landed it again and again and again. And you're like, I'd like some more. This would have been locked up for a man. I'm just saying. But go ahead. I don't know. I've gotten a bunch of shit for that. I'm like, okay, I'm knocking on doors in fucking Wisconsin, and I've given six figures to our campaign. What have you done? I've done a lot of stuff. No, no, I'm not saying that to you. I'm not saying that to you. I'm saying it to all the people who give me shit because I'm not part of the cult. Anyways, that sounded arrogant. So I'm going to go to my fail. My fail is this jingoism, nationalism, ridiculousness that is the blocking of acquisitions by international firms.

1:03:18Most recently highlighted by this ridiculous politicization of what was once a great company. U.S. Steel was actually the biggest company in the world at one point, employed a third of a million people, was the first company to hit a billion dollars in revenues. And as happens with almost every industry from the end of World War II to now, when Japan and Germany, who had had their infrastructure totally leveled and had the advantage of building an infrastructure or an industry up from scratch, they are just much better at it now. The combined market share or the total market share of the global steel industry is, I think, 5 % Japan, 4 % the U.S.

1:03:55We're not even a player in that industry anymore. And in China, it's over half. They control the majority of the world's steel. The only way we can compete against China, the only way you're going to save much less grow those scant 20 ,000 jobs, 4 ,000 of which are in Pennsylvania. We're not talking about a big economic opportunity here. We're talking about a company that's got about a, I think it's got about a$7 or$8 billion market cap. I mean, essentially, this company is worth 1 % of, I don't know, or half a percent of what an Amazon is. Anyways, you're going to discourage. You're going to put a chill on international companies that want to invest in American companies because of this bullshit.

1:04:35And nobody has the sack to go and tell the American public, okay, this is how we create more jobs. This is how we create more prosperity. We create free flows of capital and we let our allies invest in our companies when they're better at shit than we are. And they give us the right to invest in their companies when we're better at it than they are. This is going to create jobs for everyone. This is so – this just drives me nuts. It's so politically motivated. It is so, in my opinion, a waste of resources and such a fundamental lack of understanding of basic economics and trade. That's my favorite.

1:05:11All right. Thank you. All right. I have a win and a fail. The win is, I hope the three Murdoch siblings win in this case in court, not just because I don't like Rupert Murdoch, but I don't like Rupert Murdoch, but he's trying to change an irrevocable trust in the most cynical of ways in order to live past his death. And I'm sorry, Robert, someday you'll die and you don't get to run things. That's just the way it goes. He's 93. He's trying to amend his trust. And he's trying to do an end run around his three children and trying to put his older son in place. He signed it away years ago. And his attempts to do this is just an old man yelling, screaming at the universe that he doesn't want to die.

1:05:56And I'm sorry, you will be dying. And so will I. And so will Scott. So this is a very consequential case, I think, and it's going on right now in Nevada. A single probate judge. They tried to keep it out of the news. In this case, I think it should have been. I'm sorry you don't get along with some of your children, but really, please stop. Like, don't end your life in this way. It's depressing to me to try to do this. And I understand it. I'm not sure it's depressing. He's banging women much hotter than him. I think he's going to marry Britney Spears in his next life. Anyway, there's a great piece in the Wall Street Journal, including a dinner with Robert De Niro, who is in a business relationship with both James and Elizabeth Murdoch around the Trebekah Film Festival.

1:06:41And there's a great scene of him talking where he says, you can still love your father, but you can tell him he's wrong for doing what he's doing to this country. De Niro called telling Elizabeth at the dinner. She was visibly shaken after the conversation. The actor later apologized. I called Elizabeth and told her I was sorry, said De Niro. The journal in email. I saw how upset she was, how badly she felt about that. You know, I think she does love her father, but, you know, to put her through that, there's a less good relationship with James, but it's just grotesque. I'm sorry. I hope you lose, Rupert.

1:07:12I hope you lose. So, and in my fail is Mark Zuckerberg appeared at a packed thing. He's been doing, he's decided not to talk to journalists anymore. Talk about insulting Kamala Harris for this. but there's a thing called the acquired podcast and he goes and the times that the new york times had a great piece about it great pod by the way uh it may be but it's very nice to the people that they cover it's not he's been going to things where he has where he can be adored um and that's fine if he wants to do that he can go to things he's being adored but this is what he's doing now he's decided to go only on um on podcasts where he doesn't get any pushback for anything and i'm Sorry, you may like it, but he didn't get any pushback whatsoever.

1:07:56And you have been a critic of him, so I think you wouldn't even. No, no, no. It's a great, I'm just saying it's a great podcast. And some podcasts and some media decide that they're going to give people a chance to present the best selves. Have you listened to Acquired, by the way? I have. I'm just saying. I think it licks people up and down. That's what I think. But fine, that's great. Well, their job is there to celebrate business and help people understand business. It's not to hold people accountable. I guess. I suppose. It's your fail. I suppose. I'm sorry. Go ahead. It's my fail. I think it's a fail.

1:08:20I don't care what they do. It's fine. That's their business. They can do that. You know, look at your big brain, Mr. Zuckerberg. How did it get that big? I get that it's a good thing to do that. But what he said, and they didn't push back on it all, was some of the things they were asserting we were doing or were responsible for, I don't think, I actually don't think we were. And he said the mistake was apologizing. Honestly, take responsibility for the things you are responsible for then and talk about them with an adult. And all reporters are not trying to get you. It's such a ridiculous, victim-y personality disorder that most of these people have.

1:08:56And he's fine to go on these things, Scott. I'm not meaning to attack the acquired people. But he's never going to face any real questions and scrutiny. And that seems to be the way he's going. But you can't—whatever, Mark. It's just tired of saying I'm sorry. Then start to do something about it. That's my feeling. You know what absolutely would help address these problems? Whiskey and haggis. We're going to Scotland. We're going to Scotland. I'm not having haggis. We're going to a nation whose brightest people all have one thing in common. They've left. Oh, my God. No, stop. You're absolutely going to love it.

1:09:36Have you been to Scotland before? You're insulting the country. Don't insult the country. I am Scotland's biggest fan. I was trying to buy Rangers FC. Happy birthday, Scott. But we're going with you're turning 50. Is that what we're going with? That's right. Okay. That's what it says on the invitation. It goes, let's go with it. Just go with it. Just go with it. You like that. You love that, right? You made me laugh, though. In Scotland, though, this is a true story. If you buy a three-year-old whiskey, you can call it scotch. Younger than that, it's just called bad parenting. Oh, my God. It's the worst.

1:10:09Let me just say, welcome to the non-50s. We will have pictures at the event. We'll be talking about the event. Things will have happened next time we see you, audience. And by the way, thank you to every person who came up to me in Austin, in LA, in San Francisco. And just this morning, someone chased me when I was going to baggage claim and saying how much he loves us. So thank you. I've forgotten everybody's name, but you're all wonderful. And thank you for your kind thoughts on the show. Okay, Scott. And they love you, Scott. Happy birthday. They said happy birthday. Everyone said happy birthday to Scott.

1:10:43Everyone wish Scott a happy birthday. And when we get back, we'll have tales from the Scottish Highlands. Okay, Scott, that's the show. We'll be back on Tuesday with more Pivot. Please read us out. Today's episode was produced by Lara Neiman, Zoe Marcus, and Taylor Griffin. Aaliyah Jackson engineered this episode. Thanks also to Drew Burrows and Emil Saverio. Nishak Kurwa is Vox Media's executive producer of audio. 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 magazine at nymag.com slash pod.

1:11:13We'll be back next week for another breakdown of all things tech and business. Cara, I will see you just south of the Arctic Circle in a place that's known for being the homeland of golf, whiskey, kilts, plaid, Pringle, the great fashion brand Pringle. Very excited to see you. Safe travels.

1:11:39Thank you.