Epstein Saga Continues, Trump Launches Distractions, and Cuomo Relaunches Campaign

23:29Scott, we're back with more news. The Epstein mess continues. Since we last spoke, House Speaker Mike Johnson has broken with Trump and is calling for the administration to release the Epstein files. That said, he voted against doing a debate about whether to release them or not, which is interesting. But Republican Representative Thomas Massey, who's a real thorn in Trump's ass of Kentucky, is attempting to force a vote on the House directing the DOJ to release the files. The measure has been co-sponsored by at least five other Republicans. Interestingly, almost three minutes of footage is wiped from the video released by the DOJ of Epstein's cell door, according to the forensic experts working with Wired.

24:09Maureen Comey, the Manhattan federal prosecutor who worked on the Epstein case, has been fired. Yes, she is the daughter of James Comey. She also worked on the Diddy case. Meanwhile, President Trump has called the story Democratic bullshit and pretty boring stuff, labeling those who are invested in as weaklings and stupid. The Democrat stuff isn't working very well. Because one incredible thing is Bill O 'Reilly was going on about how this was the Biden administration doing all this. And the anchor was like, this was all under the Trump administration. He died under the Trump administration. He was prosecuted under the Trump administration.

24:46And all of a sudden, Riley went, oh, like, speaking of old man, he got it completely wrong. Anyway, it's not a Democratic thing. This is all done under Bill Barr and everyone else. So any change in opinion on whether Republicans will be pushing him? Because as I predicted, Laura Ingraham, many others sort of tamped it down. Looks like Dan Bongino is not going anywhere. I said they were all going to bow down. That said, I don't know if they'll bow down for too long. So and obviously Elon is not bowing down at all. He is tweeting up a storm about this. And he made a very good point that essentially deny everything, make other allegations and try to make it go away.

25:27and he said it's not going to work this time. And he's pushing on it really hard and probably changing the algorithms of X to push a lot of this stuff because it's good for X, I hate to say it. But he's certainly not backing down and neither are many others. Any thoughts? Alex Jones is not at all, but I'm not sure he matters as much. This is a rare, he's an incredible communicator kind of going. I think the learning is that when everyone is zigging, there's always a huge opportunity to zag. When everybody is following one strategy or one investment thesis, then it creates enormous alpha and upside to go the other way.

26:04And Trump, Anthony Scaramucci pointed this out, and I thought it was so remarkably insightful, that basically every politician in the world says something along the following. I'm socially liberal and fiscally conservative. I mean, what does 80 % of America say that? If you want to describe their politics and they don't want to assign themselves to a party, they go socially liberal, fiscally conservative. Actually, that's not true, but go ahead. It's the opposite. Most in the middle, they're more socially conservative and they want more Medicaid. Well, that's where I was headed, was that Trump decided, no, the opportunity is to be fiscally liberal.

26:41Keynesian, socialist, irresponsible fiscal policy. Shower money on everyone, increase the size of government, run up deficits. This is like if the Democrats all of a sudden said, oh, we are in charge and we can just continue printing money. And all of a sudden, the Democrats are now the adults in the room going, oh, my God, this has gotten out of control. He's also he zags around communication. American politics got so politically correct and starched. And there were so many lies and telling people what they wanted to hear and couching everything in passive aggressive behavior. And he just came out and said, oh, she's fat or he's an idiot.

27:26And America, quite frankly, just loved it. They absolutely loved it. Where he is really, this is such a rare misstep for him because if he had just taken the approach of, say, his taxes, he was never going to release his taxes. But he lied. That's a good comparison, yeah. He lied and said, oh, of course I'm going to release them. And then wink, wink to behind the scenes, don't ever fucking release my taxes. If he had done that here, eventually this would have gone away. But he became so defensive and obviously guilty. He looks guilty. It looks like when I walk in and my dog, my dog Leia, my great Dane, has gotten into the trash, I know it.

28:03She's sulking around like, uh-oh, won't make eye contact, putting her hindquarters. Yeah, that look, yeah, the dog look. He looks like this times 10. He has fanned these flames unbelievably and handled it so poorly. He could not, I think I said this on Monday, if someone had said to him, if he had said, tell me, give me the body language, the statements and the complexion of someone who is clearly guilty of something and freaked out about it, that is how he has behaved. So what should he do? Say, again, as I said, should he just say he's going to release them and then not release them or agree with his people and say it's terrible, nothing can be done about it?

28:45I mean, in this case, he does have the power to release it. So it's really hard to say, yeah, I agree, we should release it and then not release it because he's the one who promised it in the election. He's the one who talked about it incessantly. He's the one who trained his followers to be conspiracy theorists, right? And these people are committed, more committed to the conspiracy than they are to him at this point. It's just so weird about this and the statement about what it says about our politics. And that is, first off, what do you know the first bipartisan action or the first demonstration of bipartisanship in this fucked up electoral body is over a conspiracy.

29:26That's what it took to bring Democrats and some Republicans together was a conspiracy. And what's weird about it is I get the sense that they're not, the people who are so outraged about this, they're not outraged that they want to know if these people are guilty of raping children. They want to know if their conspiracy is valid. It's not, it's just so strange. And also, what I don't get is the following and why I believe, wow, there may be a there there, is that if he had just done what any number, I mean, at some point, this island looked like a little bit like what you would imagine Davos would look like, except with bathrobes and ankle monitors.

30:08I mean, this gathering, there were so many people there that are really powerful. And the majority of them have said, yeah, I fucked up. I thought it was going to be a good time and a good party and everybody else was going. Yeah, you talked about that. Keep in mind, Kara, this is a country that has forgiven him after he was found liable for sexual abuse. And so many accusations on top of that. And he's worried about, and he thinks this is worse. So how could it be worse? Yeah, who'd have thought that someone who had that history would have been. What are your thoughts here? I think I'm fascinated how interested I am now in understanding.

30:44I think there's a huge opportunity here for fraud that they will release certain things. Because he keeps saying she can release the credible things, right? And so I think there was a joke. I thought Jordan Klepper did a great job talking about that. They're going to try to fake things like fake conversations and things like that. There's a huge opportunity for manipulating this information if it does get released. So be dubious of some of it and creating kind of a mess. So you don't know what's what. There's a huge opportunity for really hurting people that are not guilty, who just stupidly went to his island.

31:20And at the same time, a lot of it probably is probably worse than you think, right, what this guy has on these people. Because he was operating for decades, by the way, Jeffrey Epstein. It wasn't a short time. And people kept going after he was convicted and in a sweetheart deal. All the people in Florida were involved in the sweetheart deal, including one of Trump's former cabinet members. And so and ended up having to leave because of it. I think Trump is, he's acting guilty because he is guilty. And the question is, what is he guilty of? Right? What exactly is he guilty of? And what proof is there?

31:59Why hasn't the proof come out till now? You know, you'd think this stuff would come out. And it's kind of interesting that it hasn't. That's another thing. The other thing is he keeps saying, if credible evidence, like, what is that? What does he say? Everything he says, I pay attention to. I think it's a big, giant mess. And if I were him, I'd let it all out and let the chips fall where they may and make it confusing for everybody, make it a bigger hot mess than it is. I think it's not going to go away. The Maureen Comey thing, why would you do that? Why would you file the prosecutor of Jelaine Maxwell?

32:35Is he preparing to pardon her? And I think, let me just say, I think Elon has a very good point. What is she doing in jail? He's calling it a hoax, the whole thing. Why is Ghislaine Maxwell in jail if it's a hoax? I'd like to know. Well, and again, if the election was stolen in 2020, how many people have been arrested? Zero. Anyway, so again, what is Maureen Comey's firing? Again, start playing the kazoo. Do you think it was an accident that he fired her yesterday? No, I just think what's interesting is a firing of federal prosecutor and a tape gap. That reminds me of someone, Nixon. I feel like just MAGA has given us license to talk about our favorite conspiracy.

33:21Do you remember The Godfather? I don't think he was murdered. I think this is what happened. You know how in Godfather 2, the Robert Duvall character visits that guy in witness protection or in prison who's going to testify against Michael Corleone? And Robert Duval, the concierge, comes to him and says, hey, you know, being ancient Rome, they used to kill themselves and then their families would be taken care of. He basically says to him, if you kill yourself, we'll take care of your family. I think something along the lines of, all right, if you want to kill yourself, we'll figure out a way such that no one gets in the way.

33:58But something went on here. This is just two cameras, two guards, and through just a series of very, very unlikely events, he was able to do this. This is, I mean, this really is the stuff of conspiracy theory. It's just sort of like you read about this, and there's no less than probably a dozen or two dozen people. If someone came to that person and said, oh, by the way, if somehow$10 million ends up in a Swiss banking account, this guy's going to end up dead. I think there's a lot of people who are on that island who would probably nod. So this is, and again, I come back to the same thing. First off, the Comey thing was another one of his attempts at distraction, hoping that the media would pick up on it.

34:40If I had to guess, he slept with someone underage, and there's proof of it. Yeah, that's called rape. Right? Exactly. Raping kids, raping children. That's what I'm saying. I think that is— Well, that's what everyone's guess is. That's the assumption. That's the assumption. It wasn't that he had mushroom chocolates on the island and watched the sunset. I mean, it's not. This is, he is really worried here. And you think, well, maybe he's worried about his friends. He doesn't give a flying fuck about anyone else. What about a special counsel? Did you see Lauren Bovard's suggestion? Matt Gaetz? Yeah, hire a special counsel.

35:13But how special will that counsel be? I know, Matt Gaetz was her suggestion. She's such a bubblehead. Man, she's such a bubble. Yeah, I don't know about that. Yeah, I don't think you hire her. Although he'd know how to find it. Yeah, look, appointing Matt Gaetz to the special counsel is like trying to defuse a bomb by strapping it to your ex-wife. I mean, that just, I thought that was funny. Don't even understand that. You're not really trying to solve the problem here. You're trying to kill two birds with one stone. This would be so bad. Oh, my God. Can you imagine? And, of course, he gets sucked up into it because, of course, it'll start talking about his problems, similar problems.

35:54Wait, we're going to have a special counsel who was accused and investigated, and I think he was clear, to be fair, of the crime he'd be investigating. Who knows? What's the next thing? Just very quickly and we'll move on. Well, I know what the next thing is. Something fucking outrageous and stupid that we all go over here, so we're not talking about Epstein. I don't think anyone's going over here. I know, but well, okay, but I was working out with my son yesterday and the Chiron and CNBC and CNN all talking about Chairman Powell. He's not going anywhere. Nothing is different about Chairman Powell's job than it was 48 hours ago, except it's crowded out more and more reporting about Epstein.

36:35Epstein's not going anywhere is what I meant. Epstein's not going anywhere until the files are released. That is it. That's what you think. You think this is going to, there's no camping this time. I mean, the Fox News is interesting. The other day, they were counting Fox News and it mentioned Epstein four times because Trump said something and Biden 52 times. It was crazy. They're trying very hard. A lot of conservative media is very nervous about what to do here because they love the conspiracy theory, but they don't love that it's linked to Trump so closely now. So it's going to be hard for them to figure out, although the Wall Street Journal certainly has been aggressive in covering it, but still not heavily, not as heavily as it should be.

37:18They sort of give it glancing attention. So it'll be hard for all these conservative media things, but I think it's going nowhere until they release the files. And then that will take up all the time. And now Trump's whole administration is Epstein. That's it. That's all it is until the midterms, I think. I don't think it's going away like his other. Most of his stuff moves on. This is not moving on. But we'll see. We'll see. In another news, Defense Department is going to start using Elon Musk's favorite chatbot, Grok, which is interesting because Elon's really attacking Trump. XAI announced this week that it secured a$200 million contract with DOD to develop and implement AI tools for the agency.

37:56Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI were awarded similar contracts. XAI is also rolling out Grok for government, a suite of products that can be customized for specific uses across science and healthcare and other sectors. And I suppose it can go into Hitler mode if it needs to. And that's not all. The latest Grok update includes companions for Super Grok subscribers, an anime girl, and a panda. They're already doing all sorts of problematic things. I'm not going into it. What happens, we'll see, when it gets into the government, I don't think they're capable of making a commercial product or product for government.

38:30But so far, they haven't been able to. Your thoughts? Any quick thoughts? Well, initially, in order to try and quell concerns about AI and stave off any possible regulation, they all had, literally all of them, whether it was LAMA or Anthropic or ChatGPT, all had language that essentially said that they would never use their models for military warfare or nuclear industries. They have all recently changed that language or gotten rid of it because there's money here and big money. So all of this, I mean, all of them were like, this is dangerous. We realize it's dangerous. We will never use it for military applications.

39:10And they're like, oh, there's a check here. Get rid of that line. I'm going to do the Michael Barger. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. So what you're saying is. What you're saying is, Scott, that they're greedy fucks. Yeah. Yeah. So what you're saying is, even though he claims to be a heterosexual, if you have a dreamy salt and pepper beard, he'd go there. He'd go there. Anyways, poor Michael Boba. The last thing anyone's going to do now is compliment us. Yeah, I know that. Literally the last thing. Let me just say, he is exquisite. No good deed goes unpunished, Michael. Exquisite, Michael. We think you're exquisite.

39:44But I have, but also I personally, I really endorse and in favor of this intersection, which for some reason we have avoided, between our nation's most innovative companies and our military industrial complex. I think other nations are trying to figure out. I mean, one of the learnings we're going to take away, I think, from the war we were talking about, the war in Ukraine is the following, that just stating you're going to increase your military budget by$100,$120 billion, that's, again, drunk uncle practicing his karate in front of everybody thinking it's impressive. Karate. Karate. The lesson you can take away from the war in Ukraine can come down to one word, asymmetric.

40:29And that is there have been$300 drones that have been taking out$3 million TU-144 tanks or whatever they're called. We should be massively investing in asymmetric warfare. Things like drones, things, AI, predictive technologies. Because the reality is the kinetic era is over. And that is thinking if you have more tanks, you're automatically going to win the war. That used to be true. Wars used to be a function of brute force. It's no longer the case. And I think companies like Anderell, Palantir, which I have been critical of, the reality is at the end of the day, we should have our brightest working hand in glove and stop all the fucking bitch, stupid, like walkouts at these companies saying we're not going to work with the defense industry.

41:17No, they can do that. They can leave. They can leave. People do what they want. And they should be inquired. Oh, come on. We're going to walk out over lunch. That'll show up. Well, no, no, they have to leave. That'll show up. If they don't want to do it, they should leave. And they have every right to do something. Yeah. I love what you say. You don't like Chick-fil-A? Don't eat a Chick-fil-A. But don't walk out over lunch and think that somehow that's going to make any difference. And in a lot of these, I don't. I've said this a lot. I sound very, I don't know what the term is Republican here.

41:43I think a lot of Americans take for granted just how many people out there would like to kill us and take our shit away. And that we need the most robust fighting force in history. And you invest in your opportunities, not your problems. The most successful organization in the modern world is the U.S. military. So we should continue to invest in it. But we should continue to invest in it smartly. And I do think these companies can bring a lot of value to the Defense Department. The one thing I like is, like, everybody got some. Like, I think there should be a lot of competition with the defense.

42:12They have an opportunity here not to have one. Like they have a problem with Starlink and with SpaceX, with the space stuff, putting up satellites. If you have all the companies here, that's great. One thing that's a problem is that ChatGPT is taken. I don't know if you've seen the recent stats. Still, ChatGPT is huge. The others are progressively smaller. Microsoft doesn't even show up and Grok doesn't show up at all. Yeah, it's running away with it. It's running away with it, even though they're losing all kinds of researchers. So that said, I think it's good to have competition in the sector if we're going to do this.

42:46Agreed. Did you get the anime girl at all? I didn't. Nobody's using Grok. No one's using. Very few people are using Grok. Anyway. Oh, really? Yeah. Look at the numbers. It's like crazy how far down the chart they are. Anyway. All right, Scott. Let's go on a quick break. When we come back, we'll talk about Andrew Cuomo taking on Zoran Mamdani again.

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45:42Scott, we're back with more news. Are you registered? No, you're Florida, Florida. Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo will officially run as an independent. Let's just make sure the New York State Comptroller heard that. I'm a Florida resident. Yes, you are. Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo officially run as an independent in the NYC mayoral race after being defeated very handily by Zoran Mamdani in the Democratic primary. I mean, he beat him like a rug. Cuomo posted a campaign video on X, which has under 6 ,000 likes. It's really sad. The reply from Mamdani with a link to donate to his campaign has over 181 ,000 likes.

46:19It was well done. The former governor plans to ask all candidates other than Mamdani to pledge to drop out of the race in mid-September if they aren't in the lead, including himself, I guess. And current mayor Eric Adams, who will also run his independence, said Cuomo asked him to drop out of the race, which he called the highest level of arrogance. I would agree with Eric Adams. I don't agree with him on anything. Meanwhile, Mamdani has been making the rounds, meeting business leaders and visiting D.C. to meet with Democratic leaders. He had a pretty cool reception from a lot of them. because he just did.

46:52He's tried a little bit to assuage their worries. A lot of people are looking at Bill de Blasio's policies and Mamdani's, and Bill de Blasio is left of Mamdani, which is interesting, according to a lot of stuff I've read. But Cuomo, oh, is so non-vibrant. He looks like an old man. He looks weird. People are making memes out of him walking around with his face and stuff like that, which are very funny. And he's getting, I know he's shook up his whole campaign, but I don't see him making any ground here. Any thoughts? Well, it reminds me of when in 2016, people said that only Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump could make each other viable.

47:37I feel as if Governor Cuomo, who I like more than most people, I think it's easy to be critical of him. I get it. But I actually think he's a decent man, would be a decent, like, I think he'd be a good placeholder. I think he'd be competent. I would have voted probably for Cuomo. Some of Mom Dominus, I've said this, I'm not a New York resident. I also think that people totally freaking out about his international policy is, he needs to make sure the subways run on time. I think some of his policies are absolutely asinine. But having said that, I, like you, I think I got swept up in this fever of young people taking charge and pushing back on the establishment.

48:18And he's a viable—I think it's going to be a rough summer for Momdame. He has done something very smart in the last week, and that is he is pivoting towards the center. He has agreed not to use or applaud the term globalize the infatata, which is deeply offensive. You said infatata. Intifata? Yeah, thank you. Only Cuomo and Eric Adams could make a guy who wrote a rap song praising the funders of Hamas a viable candidate. And also what this really is a lesson in, and I'm sort of here for it, is young people pushing back. And also he put on a masterclass in how to run a campaign for a new age. It is going to be a rough summer for him because I think these guys with their money and also I think New Yorkers are really going to start digging into some of these policies.

49:13And basically, you know, people are going to get smart when they start pushing back on him. They're going to start saying, OK, these quote unquote state sponsored grocery stores are nothing but state sponsored bread lines. He's going to have a rough summer. There's only going to be like three of them, Scott. That's like over. Maybe so. They could take advantage. There's only going to be like three or four of them. So it's fine to like try to get better. If he pivoted and said, you know, what I really want to do is get better food into these neighborhoods and let's figure out an interesting and good way to do it.

49:43He could do that. He could pivot that in a second. And he should. He will. He should. And he will. Second thing, a lot of the other stuff, he just has to be more explicit of what he means by rent freezes. So I think he has an opportunity actually to clarify himself in a really good way and in a very powerful way. Well, if he's smart, he'll pivot to the middle and he's sort of doing that. It's not just the middle. Clarify himself. Okay, here's what I want to do. You mean back away from ridiculously fucking stupid positions? No, but he wasn't specific. And when you start to actually hear the specifics, they're not quite as nutty as you think they are, as you think they are, which I did.

50:15Oh, he's backpedaling. The rent freezes. Rent freezes don't work. No, but it's a rent freeze on a certain number of things. Nonetheless, he has an opportunity to define himself, and he's got to do that. That's the key thing, is he's got to define him, not let them do it, because they'll do it in this ham-handed way that makes him look like an idiot. Secondly— Well, let's go. Let me finish. You think he's—I'm just going to ask you a question. You think he's going to have no problem that he's going to run away with it? No, I think he's going to have—he has an opportunity to keep the narrative going for himself, or they're going to do it for him.

50:46And so he needs—that's all I'm saying. And he's great at that. And it's an opportunity to clarify. And so anything that seems weak, the things that bug you, that drive you crazy, he should start to clarify for those voters. Secondly, it's an opportunity to reach out to voters of color, poor voters of color, and really go into those neighborhoods and start talking. That's where Cuomo's strong. He absolutely is. So he can start doing that. The third thing is that the rich people of New York have lost their fucking ever-loving minds about this. You know, calling them a march. I'm like, calm the fuck down.

51:22You've worked with all kinds. Like, the stuff they've tolerated on Trump. You have no credibility, you people. You're just no credibility. You look like rich people running for the hills. And that, to me, has astonished me. Like, Ken Langone. Like, just all of them. Like, calm down. Like, you might have to work with this guy. So let's figure out a way to work with him, right? Rather than like kneecap him almost constantly. I don't know if he's going to run away with it. I can tell you if Cuomo doesn't do something because he really looks, go look at his physical. He used to be a big, vibrant man.

51:58It looks like he's lost weight. I don't know how, but he looks like he's lost a substantive amount of weight. He looks non-vibrant. He looks old. He looks very awkward in regular settings with people. I think he's like he's all the energy that Cuomo did bring to the table and he absolutely did he's lost and so is Adams the other choice I think I think he and Adams are going to eat each other up and Mamdani's gonna win that's I don't see how he can't win unless he makes a big giant mistake and if he clarifies himself and becomes more palatable to more people and it doesn't have to be the rich people because they're never going to like him I think he's got a great chance I think Like, Cuomo is a flawed candidate.

52:39I think for 67, I think he looks great. I think he looks really robust. There's a lot of flaws there. Those flaws are dwarfed by a guy who cut a backroom deal with an unpopular president to let ice into his city. Adams, the only prediction I'm willing to make here is that it's not going to be Eric Adams. uh so but and also i to a certain extent you know everyone's focusing on the moment that mom dami in my opinion won at least the primary was when on the debate stage they asked them what is the first place you would visit and they all got out their virtue signaling and self-importance and said, well, I'd go to Israel.

53:22Dude, make sure the trash is picked up. And he said, and this was the moment for him. He said, I'd go to Brooklyn. I'd go to Harlem. I'm about improving the city. And these folks in operational roles, you know, when you're the governor of South Dakota, do you really need to go to Israel? Yeah. And you're basically saying, I'm going to take taxpayer money and instead of doing my fucking job, I'm going to pretend I'm bigger. I'm going to pretend that I should be president. No one gives a shit what you think about the war in Ukraine or Gaza. You're here to run the city and make sure we have good schools, that people are safe.

54:06And instead, and he ran right through that. That was brilliant on his part. And it also, more than what happened— That's why I think he's going to do a good job here. But go ahead. Well, and what it says is it might be a turning point. The most exciting thing about his win, and I would not have voted for him, but the most exciting thing about his win was within seven days of him winning, 4 ,000 young Democrats filled out paperwork to run for office across the nation. And that's what we need. We need more young people who think, if this guy can do it, so can I. I am so sick of the old pulling the future forward on my credit card.

54:45I have had it. And so I'm like, we both said, we're a little bit caught up in this fever and what it says about Democratic politics. And they should absolutely take some notes from his playbook around how he weaponized new media and also focused on affordability and represents, you know, a new generation. Anyways, TED Talk, over. Yeah, let me say one final thing. One of the things that drives me crazy is there was an Arizona race where an influencer didn't win, thought that she might. She got pretty far against an equally progressive candidate who was taking over her father's seat. And they're like, it's a sign of trouble for Mondami.

55:25No, it isn't. If you're genuine in your area, if you're Abby Spanberger and you want to be more conservative and centrist in Virginia, it works for Virginia, that'll work. If you're in Ohio and you're more centrist, that'll work. If you're AOC and you're who you are, that'll work. What you have to be is genuine and interested in where you are. It doesn't speak to the bigger Democratic Party. That said, they will use, if he wins, the Republicans will try to make Mondani into a demon. I think it's going to be very hard to do so. They tried really hard to do that with Nancy Pelosi. It didn't work.

56:00It worked for Hillary Clinton. He is so charming. It'll be very hard to demonize him. And I think making these people more than they are is probably a bad idea. Everyone should be who they are in the area they're in. That's my only thing. Have you interviewed him? I'm going to. Yeah, I just, I was saying, Kara Swisher and this guy are like, I think that'll be, he should do. it totally fits. I was deciding, should I interview Cuomo? I was talking about this with Amanda. Oh, yeah, I would. It'd be an interesting interview. Yes, it would be. You're getting your ass handed to you. What is your thought here?

56:36What are your plans? What's your plan? Yeah. You come across as tired of the past. How are you going to combat that? A lot of social media is cringed. You need some help. Anyway, blink your eyes three times if you do. I think the whole world is, well, not the whole world, but those of us who are, you know, the side piece of Michael Barbera are hoping that you interview both, especially Momdami, but also Cuomo. I'd love to see you interview both those guys. I'm going to ask him. I'm going to ask him this week. Or hear it, I should say. Anyway, the House has advanced three crypto bills. We're moving on.

57:09And a defense measure after setting a record for the longest vote in the history of the chamber. GOP holdouts agreed after being promised a future vote to ban the Federal Reserve from mishing digital currencies. The Genius Act, which would regulate stablecoins, is on track to hit Trump's desk this week and could mark Congress's first ever major crypto legislation. We'll see. Bitcoin is currently trading at$118 ,000 after hitting a high of$120 ,000 at the start of the week. very quickly on crypto. And also, I just want to note, they're also voting to cut funding for NPR and PBS, which is heinous on their part.

57:45They managed to get that through so far in this rescissions package. Thoughts on either of those things? Well, PBS, NPR, I grew up with them. I think they do enormous service. And there's just certain people who won't get straight down the news anymore with these funding cuts. I am a little bit, I have a little bit of a Republican twinge on this, and that is their public funding has become such a political football that I wonder if at some point they're better off without the public funding and just leaning on listeners such as myself who register enormous value to support it. It just feels like it's been such a political football for so long.

58:22That means people in rural areas will never have any news that is not tinged. I think, look, that's a fair point, and I touched on that at the beginning of my comments. It's going to be 1.1 billion, a couple percent. It'll hurt them, though. I would love to see an NPR and a PBS be really well-funded by private individuals such that the Republicans could stop using it as a punching bag at every hearing. For years. Yes, that's correct. So let me commit. I'm going to give, based on what you've said, I'm going to give some money to NPR and PBS and public radio because I think they do an amazing job.

58:59And they do their best. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is what you want to give to. Go ahead. Corporation for CPV. But here's what was interesting is a survey came out and they asked people what media entities are the most trusted for trying to be moderate. And what was interesting is the two that came up as the most trustworthy in the middle were formerly companies formerly known as having a conservative and or progressive bent. And the two are the Wall Street Journal and I think it was PBS. Was it PBS or NPR? I think it was PBS. But what's interesting is that quality journalism does break through even if you have a political bent or a reputation for a political bent.

59:44Because the Wall Street Journal was always known as conservative, but they said they limited their conservative viewpoint to the opinion section. They did. They do. And you know, I worked there. I know you did. And also amazing journalists. It's a testament, quite frankly, you got to give it to Rupert Murdoch. I agree. He left. He has done an amazing job stewarding that publication. He has. And then in our business, I've I've said for a long time, I think we should every time we do a podcast, send a royalty check to Joe Rogan, who blew the medium open. NPR's podcasts, they're the original gangster of saying that audio quality, it matters.

1:00:20Production quality, they do such a good job. When you listen to their stuff, it is so tight and so well produced. Anyway, I'm a fan. I'm going to, Corporation for Public Broadcasting. I think one of the things that you have to note is that they have, what drives me crazy is this idea that Elmo is woke or they're just saying, be nice. They're not like, they do, they go on and on these right wingers. And remember, you know, Tinky Winky was gay or whatever. And that, because he had a purse. And the thing that drives me crazy is the same thing with Superman. Like, they're like, Superman's woke. And then, of course, it's the most successful movie of this summer.

1:00:55Secondly, if you go back to old Superman things and you read it out loud, they would call that woke. It's like everyone, Superman says, this is from the 40s, be nice to everyone regardless of their religion or their race. This has been a Superman thing forever. It's just these people using these iconic things like Elmo and Superman and as a cudgel is really so lame. They're so lame. Be nice is not a woke thing. It's a nice thing to teach kids. And I love everything that NPR and PBS does. And please watch Ken Burns' American Revolution coming up. And we'll send you a tote bag if you give me$25.

1:01:32I don't know. Elmo, folks, Elmo is conservative. If you actually listen to Elmo, he talks like a dictator or a LinkedIn influencer on mushrooms. All right, crypto really quick. two seconds and then we'll get to your I think the space needs regulation there's just no getting around it by the way I bought my first I'm for the first time and I'm a coiner I bought I bought indirectly through a bitcoin treasury company I bought bitcoin finally um just for diversification real and I'm just so sick of missing out on all this what they've done bitcoin is just it's a remarkable phenomena there's no getting around it and I don't understand the nuances of the regulation, but this category needed some sort of clarity around regulation.

1:02:14The Genius Act sets rules for stable coin users, such as, I think it requires one-to-one backing with treasuries, monthly reports, redemption rights, anti-money laundering compliance. Those are good things. That'll be good for the space. Many of them already do this. I think Circle and Paxos already do this, and it will bring some clarity to the unregulated players. Then there's something actually called the Clarity Act. And it formalizes the regulating bodies, which I think is a good idea. Bitcoin and Ethereum will go to the CFTC or ICO tokens will go to the SEC. Stablecoins will have shared oversight.

1:02:51And then there's the Anti-CBDC Act. This is the one I really don't understand. And as far as I can tell, that act is to make sure that the Federal Reserve cannot create a digital currency. They're worried that threatens the dollar's reserve currency status. And they frame it as defensive privacy, preventing the government from spying on how you spend money. But it's essentially a play towards... My understanding is it's a nod towards the anti-surveillance crowd. But it's also the government probably doesn't want, wants to ensure that the dollar's reserve currency is not threatened. So to their credit, I think they're trying to bring some clarity to the space such that it maintains its momentum.

1:03:37Yeah. David Sachs got what he wanted in this one. He shepherded this one through. Anyway, we'll see where it goes. And we should be watching that. Absolutely. What's happening there. It's interesting that you invested. All right. One more quick break. We'll be back for predictions.

1:04:19We'll see you next time. Visit Sierra.ai to learn more. The spirit of innovation is deeply ingrained in America, and Google is helping Americans innovate in ways both big and small. From improving emergency response times to protecting against cyber attacks, local, state, and federal governments are innovating with Google AI. This is a new era of American innovation. Find out more at g.co slash American Innovation. 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?

1:05:03Even 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.

1:05:48Okay, Scott, before you get to Bridges, I just want to say, I had been approached by so many people about your incredibly touching tribute to your dad. And I just want to say, again, it was really wonderful. And I think our listeners really, I've been hugged more this week than ever before. People, without asking, people are like, I need to hug you. I was like, okay, on your behalf. So I just think you really, one of the strengths that you have is you show your emotions. and it's really important to a lot of not just men, but women seeing you do that, I have to say. And so it's been unusual this week to get so many responses.

1:06:25So there you have it. Thanks for saying that. I predict you're going to get even more woke. I love what you describe me as a San Francisco lesbian. By the way, I am in San Francisco. What are you? I'm in San Francisco, yeah. What are you doing there? I'm coming there next week. What are you doing? Where are you? I know that hotel. What hotel are you in? You don't have to say. I'm at the Four Seasons. And I'm visiting my sister. I'm going to have lunch with her today. Oh, say hi to your sister. She's fantastic. Yeah, so I was, as you know, I was in Colorado, so I took the opportunity to come out and just have lunch with my sister.

1:06:59Oh, lovely. Anyway, let's hear your prediction then. Besides the fact that you, me, and Michael will be in a cuddle puddle soon. Hello. Hello. Smack her ass, Michael. Smack her ass like she keeps correcting me. Poor Michael. God, Michael, we're so sorry. What's his relationship? Is he married? He's married. He's married. He's married? The three of us. The three of us will have a couple spicy margaritas and explore how serious is that relationship.

1:07:33We're going to have a sex tape and then we're going to send it to Meredith, his boss. He's a little European, yeah. He'd probably get a raise at the New York Times. Come on. That's a good one. If Chamomile Teal tried to explain the Fed rate hike, that's the daily. I love that. Oh, I'm sorry. My prediction. You know, I asked him to be a co-host during Scott Free August. And what did he say? He'd be perfect. He wants to do it. He's got to ask the time for permission. Meredith, if you can't do it, you're getting in the way of our throuple, which is discriminatory. And I mean, Meredith, stop giving into your heteronormative patriarchal management views around what daily the podcast host should do.

1:08:13Oh, that's so funny. Okay. Love Meredith. Love Meredith. Okay. My prediction is pretty straightforward. Before this podcast even airs tomorrow, there's going to be another incendiary, look over here, batshit crazy, hollow threat, promise. I'm raising. I'm putting a 200 % tariff on Myana Marie's rare earth minerals. I am firing. I have decided I'm going to imprison Alec Baldwin. And there's going to be something. We're at Area 51. He should release the files on Area. Who knows? That would work. This is my prediction. Meet a conspiracy with a conspiracy. Sasquatch? He's not focused. He's not doing anything.

1:08:58the majority of his time right now and efforts are not being spent on increasing the material or psychological well-being of Americans. No, they're not. It's on. They're in a room with AI going, what can he do or announce tomorrow? It doesn't matter if it's stupid. It doesn't matter if he has any intention of actually following through that will keep the news off of one word, Epstein. Every day for the next seven days, Kara, and we should track this. and read them out. Okay, all right. There's going to be something stupid, incendiary, which has absolutely no chance of ever becoming reality in an attempt.

1:09:38And the media will fall for it. They'll go, Jesus Christ, what is he thinking? And they'll start talking about that rather than what he doesn't want everyone to talk about. And that is he is freaked out for some reason about the release of the Epstein files. He thinks it's going to go away. He does. Internally, they're saying they think it's going to go away. I don't think it is. Sorry, Trump. You better address it. That's all he's got to do. He's got to address it. Do you have any predictions? I think he is going to probably have to release these things, and then we'll have to worry about the fraud involved in it.

1:10:07I think he has to release them. I don't think he has a choice here. I don't think he can. He is very good at pushing things off. I think he absolutely is going to have to release these things, and I don't think it's going to be like his taxes or anything else. He's not getting away with this one. I think Elon is correct about that. It's not going to work this time. 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 or call 855-51-PIVOT. Elsewhere in the Kara and Scott universe, this week on Prof G Conversations, Scott spoke with Greg Lukianoff, a free speech advocate, First Amendment attorney and president of FIRE, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.

1:10:47Let's listen to a clip. Well, in terms of First Amendment law, anonymous speech is protected. But I don't think that's sufficient enough of an answer. And I tend to think of the justification for anonymity as like a seesaw. That essentially, if we lived in a free and enlightened society in which people welcomed dissent and welcomed disagreement, and there was no imaginable idea that you'd be punished for it, then the justification for anonymity would kind of ring hollow to people. Yeah, I like that. You talk about that issue a lot, Scott. It's an important one. Okay, that's the show. Thanks for listening to Pivot.

1:11:26And be sure to like and subscribe to our YouTube channel. We'll be back next week. Scott, read us out. Today's show was produced by Lara Neiman, Zoe Marcus, Taylor Griffin, and Kevin Oliver. Ernie and her Todd engineered this episode. Thanks also to Drew Burrows, Mia Severo, and Dan Chalon. Nishat Kroa is Vox Media's executive producer of podcasts. Make 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 nrmag.com slash pod. We'll be back next week for another breakdown of all things tech and business.

1:11:58Michael, call us.