Elon's Drug Denial, Trump's Tariff Play, and Taylor Swift's Master Move

24:16Yeah, toilet paper. So this is what she gets. She doesn't have a toilet paper company or a suppository using Shake It Off. I mean, so she gets control. Good. Good idea. Anybody who has, and this is really going to go crazy in AI, when all of a sudden Lincoln starts giving people advice because whoever owns his image and likeness licenses it to AI. Or if Warren Buffett doesn't have serious IP protection that his heirs will agree to, his heirs in three generations, some kid who's got a cocaine habit and has squandered all of his inheritance says, well, I'm going to start an investment app using Warren Buffett, his likeness and his image.

25:03So the advantage to her is that she has other considerations than just purely monetizing every ounce and every dollar out of her songs. Yeah, it's a smart move to have on them. It's worth it to her. It's worth it. It's worth it to her. She can control her legacy. She can decide how it's used and how it's not used. Yeah, she proves herself to be a very good business person. And at the time, it was the standard deal to give away almost all your rights. And so it is really interesting that a lot of artists, including Ryan Coogler and others, are getting their rights in some fashion, whatever. The deals are getting very interesting in that regard.

25:34And the reasons are very many. In her case, it is to be able to monetize it in the way she wants to monetize it versus some hedge fund, for example. So smart move by Taylor Swift. She owns herself. She's a young woman. She'll be able to benefit from this for many, many decades to come, I suspect. And she wants her legacy to be what she wants it to be. So good for her. Good for her. Good for her. Good. Not making one Taylor Swift. Very nice. Okay, Scott, let's go on a quick break. When we come back, Elon leaves Doge with a black eye, a literal one, and a new report on his ketamine use.

26:27We'll see you next time.

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27:44Scott, we're back. Elon Musk says the New York Times was lying their ass off. I didn't know they had an ass. In a new report about his alleged drug use, he posted on Exit that he tried the prescription ketamine a few years ago. And while it helps for getting out of the, quote, dark mental holes, he hasn't taken it since, which is not true because he told Don Lemon he was taking it last year. The article claims Musk used ketamine often and also took ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms in the last year. The Times is standing by its reporting quite strongly, noting the story was based on interviews, private texts, documents, and photos.

28:16The drug use story dropped just as Elon had his big Oval Office farewell, which was weird, where he sported a black eye he says came from his five-year-old son. After the send-off, Trump insisted Elon's not really leaving, saying Musk will be back and for since Doge is his baby. Talk a little bit first about the drug use, which I think everybody, it's so clear. What was interesting, the internet was populated with videos of him looking like he was on drugs. Like there's not, you can't find a video or he's not doing this weird neck eye thing that he does all the time. Talk a little bit about the drug use and then go to the Oval Office press conference and sort of any takeaways from the whole Doge saga.

28:57Just so people are clear, Elon's right-hand man, Steve Davis, also left Doge. Like Elon, he was Special Government Employee Limited. A lot of people are leaving. All the people that came in and took over, Steve Davis' wife is leaving. They're sort of dropping off. We'll get to the NASA head in a second, but talk a little bit about the drugs and sort of the legacy of Doge. Well, sure, but the key piece of data here is that Taylor Swift has 500 songs about dudes leaving her and not one single song about giving a good blowjob. Just connect the dots, Kara. Connect the dots. I've got a sickness, Kara.

29:30I couldn't help it. I couldn't help it. I didn't hear anything you said I was thinking about my Taylor Swift joke. I know you were waiting. You couldn't hold it in. You can't hold it in. I didn't hear anything you said. Something about Elon Musk. You love talking about Elon Musk. You put up so many posts about diapers. Just so you know, excessive ketamine causes you to pee too much in your pants. So go ahead. We got the world's most powerful man, the president, and the world's wealthiest man, both wearing diapers. Look, I go to a different place with this. The first thing is, I think that there is a mythology and lazy thinking around drugs and alcohol.

30:03And that is between 90 and 94 percent of people are able to manage their professional, their personal and their substance lives. That a lot of people do recreational drugs. A lot of people drink a lot of alcohol and are able to manage all of it really well. As a matter of fact, speaking for a majority, but go ahead. Yeah. The majority of people can manage it. But that five or 10 percent, it can come off the rails. And not only that, you become very susceptible to moving into that decile if you have other stressors in your life. And for me, this isn't a story about drug abuse. So I think the guy is coming off the rails.

30:43And I want to be clear here. I'm not in no way am I intimating violence or wish or harm against anyone. I think this guy probably has some of the lowest life expectancy of any public figure right now. Because when you are, I've been involved in two, quote unquote, interventions. I've had a decent amount of people professionally and personally who've struggled with drugs and alcohol. If the New York Times reporting is accurate, which I believe it is, his ketamine use and his other drug abuse here is so out of control. And then you couple it with something that's even more dangerous, and it's the following.

31:20What all of the research is showing is that there's this myth or this trope of the woman who can't find a dude and poor her. her life is awful because she can't find a guy and have kids, right? And the majority of the research is all leading to one place, and that is relationships in a heteronormative relationship are actually more beneficial and important to the male than to the female. Widows are happier after the guy dies than when they were married. Widowers are much less happy. I will be sad when you go, but go ahead. I appreciate that. When men don't have a romantic relationship as a guardrail, they come off the tracks.

31:55They become much more prone to self-harm. They reinvest that energy in nationalist content, conspiracy theory, video games, porn. And I'm not pathologizing all single men here, but a single man is much more vulnerable to bad things in life than a single woman. A woman, oftentimes when she has a lack of romantic opportunities, rechannels that energy into her friend network, into professional opportunities. And a lot of what's happening, I think in, quote unquote, if you call it a mating crisis, everything's a crisis now, is that women, as they've economically become more prosperous, have just decided on the whole, these heteronormative relationships just aren't a great deal for them.

32:34And men really need relationships. And I think the thing that is really dangerous in the cautionary tale here is that I don't think Elon Musk, in addition, the nitron glycerin here is that not only does he appear to have out-of-control drug use, but he appears to have absolutely no guardrails in terms of a close friend network or a monogamous romantic relationship. And I think that is just an incredibly dangerous cocktail. And what defines America right now is that we have an individual who is the world's wealthiest man making decisions that supposedly, according to several agencies, are going to result in several hundred thousand of the poorest children around the world dying.

33:11But we forgive him, even though of this rampant out-of-control drug abuse and this personal life that just seems chaotic because he has so much money. Yeah, look, it's well known that he takes drugs. I mean, there's not anyone that you, people come up to me and tell me about a party in Los Angeles, whether it's Los Angeles. It's just this, this is 100 % accurate reporting by the New York Times. like you said a lot of people can be functional and do it at the same time but there are so many warning signs here but one of the ones that troubled me there was a line deep in the story where it's like he was given one of the things that he the Trump people rail against is that people who are getting Medicaid have to have drug testing or this and that they have all these rules for people he was warned in advance that to me jumped out when the drug tests were coming that was like are you kidding me like he doesn't have to follow the same rules and he gets warned And who was warning him in advance?

34:06I was like, this is a whole story by itself. Who is warning him in advance? It was a single line in the piece. And I was like, of course he was warned in advance so that he could get clean or however he handles that. And that to me was disturbing. It just sort of was like watching in real time someone who is headed to a very bad place. I've always thought that. And at the same time, hurting people as he hurdles through this very strange life of his and without a caring. So give me your take on Doge, because I think it's been incredibly damaging. I don't think there's been good things about it at all.

34:41In fact, it's sullied the idea of government efficiency in many ways. I think in some ways, it's essentially the government's come out with a much cleaner bill of health around this bullshit notion of wise fraud and abuse. They just weren't able to find it as easily as they'd hoped. Or they're just bad. Some people are reporting that it's actually the real loss is the effective, or I'm sorry, the effective savings are like$7 to$9 billion, which isn't even the amount of the subsidies. I mean, I always come back to this statement, look what money's done to us. Cara, if you had a sibling, if you had a brother who was exceptionally talented, right, and say he was worth, he was just very good at business, and say he was worth$400 million, which means he's remarkably successful.

35:22But it was clear he was radically addicted to ketamine. At a parent-teacher's conference, he was giving Nazi salutes. He was fathering multiple children with multiple women who were all suing him, or many of them were suing him for sole custody of that child because he hadn't seen that child. He had declared war on one of the children publicly. And he was clearly like, and then he shows up with a black eye. I mean, wouldn't you get anyone who cares about this guy to do an intervention? Yes, 100%. I don't think his kid hit him. I don't think his kid hit him. But here's the thing. If you're worth$400 billion, not$400 million, the world admires you and thinks it's not drug abuse.

36:01It's you're provocative and you're authentic and you're different. I just come back to the same place. The idolatry of money, that we have decided that money somehow conflates with character and leadership. If he was worth$400 million, no one would put up with this shit. They'd be like, Jesus Christ, this guy is an addict. We're not listening to this guy around. An accounting firm, a mid-level accounting firm wouldn't let him be a partner in their firm if they saw evidence of this. Yeah, well, money takes care of a lot of things. What's interesting is influence over Trump may be fading. You know, Trump is sort of not a thrill with people with substance abuse problems.

36:39He was cruel to his own brother. It may be fading more quickly than expected. the White House has withdrawn the nomination of Elon's billionaire pal Jared Isaacman to lead NASA just days before the expected Senate confirmation. Trump announced the decision Saturday night, citing a thorough review of prior associations as if they didn't know he gave to Democrats. Apparently, Isaacman had donated to both Republicans and Democrats, which is totally normal to do. If you're a business person, that's what you do. But according to New York Times, Trump was aware that Isaacman had made those donations before nominating them.

37:10He's just using it, the pulling back, is a setback for Musk because this is his pal. Having Isaacman, who's flown two private missions with SpaceX at the helm of NASA, would likely have been a major asset in securing contracts and missions. What did you think of this? This was really interesting. And they're sort of purging all the Musk people, it looks like, in terms of perks. I think if he hands, it may be a pressure to hand over that$100 million check he promised. Maybe, I don't know, maybe he's just flexing his muscles. But it seems like a direct hit at Elon to do this right. And that whole Oval Office thing has such a performative quality.

37:48The key was so, this is what I became actual, felt sorry for Musk, is Trump handed him a shitty little key to the White House. And I thought, oh my God, that is so awkward and embarrassing. Like, thank you for your work. Here's a key in a box, in a cheap box with a shitty key. That to me was like, ouch. But what do you think about the political power here? The president has incredible political instincts. He sees things that other people don't see and goes places no one else would go. And it ends up not only being less damaging than we thought, but we hate to admit it, that even despite what the media's reaction to it, it appears to sometimes resonate with the larger population.

38:27and he's, I think he's decided that his, the half-life of, of Musk's usefulness to him is over and he absolutely doesn't want to piss him off. He's got an incredibly powerful platform. He would still, you know, he does not want him spending a lot of money. I mean, the thing about Musk and drug addicts in general is they generally aren't that reliable or they're, or consistent. And so he I think I think Trump is a bit afraid of Musk and goes, this guy could turn on me. So I think he's trying to thread this needle of like getting him out of the White House. Supposedly him and Bacent basically almost came to blows and it was creating real chaos in the West Wing.

39:07So he wants to get him out, move him aside and at the same time stay on good terms with him. It's like this is essentially what every manager's goal is. What Trump is trying to do is what every good manager's goal is. And that is the following. And this is my approach to firing. And that is you will constantly managers, whenever I ask about someone that we're worried about, people will constantly make excuses for them. Oh, we're reassigned. We're doing this. We're redefining the job role. And I'm like, and this is going to sound terrible. I'm like, fire them. I've found nine times out of 10 when someone's not working, the people making excuses and recasting that it's the organization's fault.

39:45I'm like, OK, the organization's not changing. And the sooner we can move, the more generous we can be. I think you are rapacious and capitalist when it comes to these decisions. But then you're as generous as possible. You sit them down and you say, listen, it's not working here. We can go into why. But what we're going to do is we're going to let you stay as long as you need to so you don't lose your health insurance. You don't have to worry about money in the short term. We're going to help you find another job. And I think that's the objective here. I think he is trying to— Except why do Isaacman?

40:14Why do that the same weekend? It was really interesting. I mean, I guess the vote was coming up, but still. I think something came out. Wasn't there something about his path? I think they basically said, this is not the guy. Or there's someone—who knows? There's probably another donor who's given more money or something. Who knows? Yeah, but why do that? Why such a public in the place that Elon loves? I mean, I just felt it was a weird— You felt it was a shot across the bow. It was an affront to Musk. I did. I was like, why bother? Because you could still control NASA contracts with him there, right?

40:46If they really didn't want Elon to get special favors. But they'd have to watch it, I guess. I don't know. It was interesting. I think he'd probably be going away for a little while now and maybe getting that much the help he desperately needs, obviously. All right, Scott, let's go on a quick break. We come back. Trump goes back to the taco playbook with his latest tariffs.

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43:30Scott, we're back. President Trump is doubling tariffs on steel and aluminum from 25 % to 50%. It moves says we'll boost U.S. manufacturing. The U.S. is already saying they're prepared to retaliate. Canada is not too happy either. The timing of this tariff announcement coincides with what Trump is calling a blockbuster agreement between U.S. steel and Japan's Nippon steel. Details of the deal are somewhat murky, though Trump is claiming U.S. steel will remain controlled by the U.S. Senator David McCormick also said the U.S. government will get a golden share in this deal, giving the administration U.S.

44:01board member approval along other key decisions. This has been rattling about for a while. I think it has almost nothing to do with this. And while Trump has been facing legal roadblocks on his tariffs, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutton explained on Fox over the weekend that tariffs are here to stay. They've been signaling that to all the reporters, just so you know. Rest assured, tariffs are not going away. He has so many other authorities that even in the weird and unusual circumstance where this was taken away, we just bring on another or another or another. Congress has given this authority to the president and he's going to use it.

44:37So he's talking about the legal pushback on legal stuff that he couldn't do some tariffs. There's certain ways he can get around it and this and that. But he really is just doubling down on these tariffs. and, you know, it's fine for the U.S. steel thing. They get a golden share. Sure, why not? Talk a little bit about this because, and then we'll talk a little bit about China. He's now, again, accusing Beijing of totally violating the trade agreement that paused retaliatory tariffs. It looks like he's ginning things up and he's done with being Mr. Nice Guy there. Talk first about this steel and then we'll get to China.

45:14I think a lot of people have heard of sort of the taco trade, but they don't really understand it. Trump always chickens out for people to get that. But what it actually means is the following, is that the stock market will move. So he announces tariffs on Apple products, and Apple goes down 3 % to 5%. It takes a little bit of a hit. He announces huge, huge tariffs on China, 135%, and shipping companies that are dependent upon Chinese exports into the port of Long Beach, they lose 30 % or 40 % of their value overnight. Right. EU tariffs, EU stock market announcement, EU stock market declines. The incredibly consistent, massively profitable trade has been to assume that this is all bluster and these tariffs will not hold and the companies that took an initial dive will recover.

46:03And it has been one of the most consistent profitable trades that Trump always chickens out, that his threats are bluster and that he's bluffing. And the companies that take a short term hit, you go long those companies and you make a shit ton of money. He has announced or reduced tariffs 50 times. And so far, as far as I can tell, we're going to get a reduction in the price of Austin Martin engines from Britain. I mean, there's been absolutely almost no meaningful deal struck here. Now, my belief is it's the following. I used to think that he was an idiot in terms of basic understanding of economics and was hoping through bluster and by saber rattling to bring different economies to the table, thinking that that was going to benefit Americans.

46:49I no longer believe that. I believe he is purposely creating massive volatility such that him and his insiders can make billions of dollars in market manipulation and insider trading. And that in a year, the tariffs are going to look remarkably similar to the way they did before the Trump administration. When Attorney General Bondi is trading and selling Trump media shares, the morning he announces these incredible tariffs taking the markets down, it means that all rules and fear around insider trading criminality have gone away. And I think you are seeing that he has basically said, all right, saying to his local cronies, his PE and hedge fund guys who tuck him in at night, I'm thinking about massively increasing steel tariffs tomorrow, which, by the way, took Cleveland Cliffs, new core steel dynamics up 27%, 11%, and 5.9%.

47:44because essentially local domestic steel manufacturers are going to get to charge unearned prices because there's such massive tariffs on steel coming in. What does that mean? That means the prices of homes and cars are going to go up. Now, if you believe the taco trade, what you would do is you would now go short those companies believing he's not going to be able to implement those tariffs against steel manufacturers. So I'm now beginning to believe that given that the courts or the, I forget what it's called, the IEEPA is basically saying, this is not a wartime. You do not have license to impose these tariffs.

48:19There can only be done in exceptional measures during times of terrorism or cyber attacks. I think George W. Bush invoked them during 9-11. They said, this does not meet that test for what you are trying to do. It's basically like an exceptional wartime act. The trade would be to go the other way. But I'm now of the mind of these people are not dumb. What they're doing is creating massive volatility that them and their cronies and their loyalists are making tens of billions of dollars off. It's all market manipulation and insider trading. Yeah, I think you've been talking about this for a couple of weeks now.

48:51One of the things that he's really focused on, as I said, was China. He didn't give specifics about the problems with China that they were violating these things. But U.S. trade rep Jamison Greer said China has been slow rolling compliance, particularly on exports of rare earth materials, which we need desperately. China is hitting back, accusing the U.S. of undermining the recent agreement with the so-called discriminatory measures like AI chip export controls and also criticizing the plan to revoke student visas, which Trump has been doing, specifically targeting Chinese students in America, which there are many.

49:21Despite all the tough talk from both sides, Trump says he sure held chat with Chinese President Xi to work things out. I mean, one of the things, is it even more taco behavior here? Because this is the key relationship, presumably, but the Wall Street Journal also had a piece that was really interesting about all these attempts to hobble China, particularly when it comes to tech, aren't working and in a lot of ways are backfiring. Scarcity brings innovation, and many people feel, and that China's doing just fine in these agreements. So is China different from your perspective, what he's doing here?

49:53There's the tariffs, and then there's the war on these elite institutions. And I think the tariffs will do structural damage, and that is everyone's trying to reroute their supply chain around America. They're like, we can't handle this toxic uncertainty. The fear around this nonsense with Harvard, by the way, both Xi Jinping and his rival, who disagreed on a lot, both had one thing in common. They sent their kids to Harvard. And what's just so insane and so cynical about this move is they're doing it under the banner of anti-Semitism. But the funding they're trying to cut is around medical research or scientific research, of which we get huge dividends and which Harvard is outstanding at.

50:30Now, having said that, I do believe personally, I'm sorry, you asked about China. I think that he is looking for some sort of big, beautiful deal and that she is going to call his bluff. I think they have totally overplayed their hand. And the kid or the person torn between two lovers right now is Tim Cook. And that is Tim has nowhere to go. Tim, it would be easier. It was easier to get to splitting the atom during World War II than it would be for us to return all manufacturing of the iPhone to the U.S. right now. It's just an impossibility. And China is restricting the granting of visas to Chinese people in China who Apple is trying to transition to India such that they can assemble one screw and say made in India.

51:21It's all tariff gaming right now. People, I mean, it's just so, Tim Cook is literally caught between these two people. And quite frankly, the more consistent player right now and the easier player to deal with is Xi. He doesn't know what Trump's going to do. But if you look at what's happened to Apple stock, people sort of don't believe it's really going to affect them. They sort of believe that that supply chain that has absorbed 25 million people and$50 billion a year in five super centers around China, that it's going to survive, that Trump will eventually back down. Or go away. Or go away.

51:57Or forget about it or move on to something else. Yeah, yeah. I feel like China has got his number more than anybody else in terms of manipulating him. I mean, obviously, Putin does. He's so easily manipulates because he's so obvious. And the idea that he's playing 3G chess is just ridiculous. I think we're going to, as you said, we're going to end up in exactly the same place. And we are not going to realize the threat that China does. our best move is to get along with China, right, in terms of protecting ourselves as a country and to figure out ways that we can protect ourselves from all kinds of things that they could do.

52:32But this way, to me, they are in the pole position with him. And you're right. Everyone's just waiting for him to stop talking and move on. And his mouthpiece, Howard Lutnick, seems like an idiot. No one believes them because they're so capricious. No one believes anything. But what you see is every time they make a new announcement about a tariff, there's even less volatility. The market is absorbing these threats and saying they're not credible. Yeah, he's making himself less credible. That's absolutely what's happening here. He's not a very good negotiator, as it turns out, which you would have known if you followed his business dealings over the many decades.

53:09All right, Scott, one more quick break. We'll be back for wins and fails.

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55:25Okay, Scott, let's hear some wins and fails. Why don't you go first? Well, my fail, the two images were summarized here. My fail was seeing kids, teenage boys in zip ties detained by ICE. Do you realize how much damage that does to America? the cocktail the peanut butter and chocolate that has created the strongest the strongest nation in history and most people don't know most people around the world don't know americans don't come to america but they're willing to work with us they're there they think twice before they try to damage us or steal from us because they know our memory is long and our reach is far and also that coupled with a general sense that at the end of the day they're the good guys.

56:10And when an image is shot around the world of our own security agencies putting children in zip ties, it just does so much damage to our reputation as the good guys. Basically, we're no longer the good guys. And as evidenced by the scariest piece of data I've seen this year, other than 51 % of men 18 to 24 have never asked a woman out in person, the second scariest piece of data is that now globally, more people think China is a force of good in the world than the U.S. And that makes our deep pools of capital more shallow. People don't want to invest in us. People are less likely to inform when they think there's a terrorist cell trying to infiltrate our borders.

56:51It makes their scientists less likely to come here. It makes them much less likely to want to buy our products over Chinese products. That is my fail, that image. And I won't go into the semantics of it. I don't know the specifics, but there's just some basics here. Okay, memo, memo to all ICE employees. Never, ever have a minor in zip ties or in handcuffs. Ever, ever. If they pose a risk to you, you have to incur that risk. If they become violent, fine. But we never put miners in zip ties or any other sort of restraining advice. Anyways, that's my loss. And I was equally excited by the image and the video of 40 strategic bombers, different Russian airfields being blown up.

57:44I mean, you cannot imagine. This is arguably the most precise, genius, and well-thought-out and bold military operation since the IDF's operation against Hezbollah and the Pager operation. They managed to smuggle in trucks to different areas, a thousand miles inside Russian territory, figure out a way at the exact right moment with soft assets on the ground, i.e. Ukrainian spies on the ground to geolocate these strategic bombers. And then these trucks, their roofs would collapse or retract and they would launch these drones. And these drones took out 40 long-term strategic bombers precisely that had been bombing Ukrainian cities.

58:34And by the time I knew what was going on, the agents and the launch vehicles and the trucks had returned to safety or been abandoned. This was 18 months in the planning. It was incredibly strategic, brave. I mean, nothing creates momentum and respect like this type of bravery and this type of thoughtful action. action. I was just so excited to see this. I think it puts new wind in the sails and morale of not only people within Ukraine fighting this fight on behalf of all of us, but it also makes it more, we're more inclined in the West to support Ukraine because we see when we put our dollars and our support to work, these people are not fucking around.

59:22They are very good at what they do. This will go down in history as one of the great, brave military operations. And you're going to see in about 18 months, two or three different dramas on Netflix and on Hulu about this operation. Anyways, the Ukrainian special operation to take out 40 long-range strategic bombers who were shelling and bombing Ukrainian cities, that's my win. I've got to say, a remarkable country. The minute this is over, that is going to be the most important technological country, I think. We talk about certain countries like Israel and others. It already was, but going forward, once they get out of this mess, the rebuilding of Ukraine should be really interesting, especially for technology.

1:00:05I think it's going to be one of those great countries. And in 10 years, we'll be sort of like, what? Like that kind of thing. I just feel like Ukraine is so impressive in terms of pushing people out of their country, trying to, as difficult as it is. You're right. I was sort of gobsmacked that they were able to do that. and relatively easily, it looks like, which tells you everything you need to know about Putin's Russia. That's a good one. Might fail continues to be, is this idea that, you know, the damage Elon Musk has caused through Doge and the damage of the coarsening really has to stop. I think it's really, the fact that everyone was sitting around acting like this guy was great at the Oval Office when he clearly is in distress.

1:00:51and I listen I have no sympathy for Elon Musk but it's sad to look at it's sad to watch someone of so much possibility become such a small-minded angry victim all the interviews were depressing every single interview was depressing you know the people wrote a lot about you know money doesn't buy happiness and that seems to be the case here but the fact that we excuse it and just don't call it out and say, listen, and to be attacked. The New York Times, I thought, did a great job in that story and has kept at it. That's a hard story to say yes to, I suspect, because he could easily sue them or whatever else with a lot of nonsense.

1:01:33But it just makes you feel like you feel like you know where this is all going. And it's sad that nobody will intervene or can intervene, really, in that regard. For Wynn, there's a new musical here in San Francisco. I'm hoping to see it this week called Co-Founders that's described as Hamilton meets Silicon Valley and Reid Hoffman is the backer. And the show, I've been listening to the soundtrack. It's pretty good. The show has a song that feels particularly appropriate. It's called Pivot, and it's not about us, Scott. Let's listen to a short bit of it. YouTube, hey. What's a dating site with video?

1:02:08Twitter. was a podcast old Odeo Flickr was an early MMO never ending game way before the photos the pivoting folklore so when you're thinking you can't score just make your way to the dance floor you'll get a second chance but you might have to dance for you pivot turn your feet 90 degrees get down and get up so bend those knees all right we've been pivoting isn't that good it's pretty good yeah it was good yeah yeah I think that should be our new scene so that's what Reed's been up to that's what Reed's been up to He's trying not to get attacked by Trump and Musk and doing that. I love that read off.

1:02:44I wrote him, I'm like, what? And it was like, good for you. Good for you, read off, and doing that. I kind of liked it. It's here in San Francisco until July, so you should go see it. I'm excited to see it. I love the theater. It makes me happy whenever I go. Anyway, we want to hear from you. Send us your questions about business, tech, or whatever's on your mind. Go to nymag.com slash pivot to submit a question for the show call 855-51-PIVOT. And elsewhere in the Kara and Scott universe, this week on On with Kara Swisher, I talked to editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, Jeff Goldberg, Mr. Signalgate.

1:03:17Let's listen to a clip. Deeply corrupt governments and societies don't work very well. And sometimes they bring themselves to a crisis point, at which point the people say enough and something good happens out of that. So, Unless the American people who are supplied with cheap calories, abundant video entertainment, and actual drugs just have given up on the idea of standing up for traditional American principles. I mean, we have to consider that. As long as you feed people enough food and give them enough diversion. I mean, it sounds very Roman because it is. Bread and circuses. Yeah, bread and circuses.

1:04:03Maybe it won't. So anyway, it was a great interview. He's really terrific. What a thoughtful person leading a very important publication right now. He's made it important through his leadership. Okay, that's the show. Thanks for listening to Pivot. And make sure you like and subscribe to our YouTube channel. We'll be back on Friday. Scott, read us out. Today's show was produced by Lara Neiman, Zoe Marcus, Taylor Griffin, and Kevin Oliver. Ernie Andrews Todd entering this episode. Thanks also to Drew Burrows, Ms. Severo, and Dan Chalon. The Shaq Kruas, Vox Media's executive producer of podcasts.

1:04:32Make sure to follow Pivot on your favorite podcast platform. Thanks for listening to Pivot from New York Magazine and Vox Media. You can subscribe to the magazine at nymag.com slash pod. We'll be back later this week for another breakdown of all things tech and business. Cara, have a great rest of the week.

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