Speaker Johnson, Meta Lawsuit, and Elon's Twitter-versary

21:45In fact, he was at the forefront of that, the forefront of that, not just one of the many. He was at the top of that pile. Voted against aid to Ukraine, is anti-abortion, has worked to ban same-sex marriage, and last year sponsored a bill that basically a national version of Florida's don't say gay law. As you might imagine, I'm loving him. Now, he's really unqualified for this job, and the fact that he's second in line to the president is terrifying. This guy is unqualified for this job. And so far to the right of most Americans, it's really quite astonishing that they went with him. I can't believe it, but Jim Jordan's less problematic than this guy.

22:24Yeah. I mean, based on my initial read, it's just David Duke without the baggage. You know, it's just, if you read this guy, his background, first off, his statement was really troubling. He said that God had ordained us. Right. And when someone actually believes that God has ordained this, and then don't say gay bill. I think he believes it. Also, I think the most, he claimed that school shootings were a function of them teaching evolution in school. Yep. And then, and even equally disturbing, if not more disturbing, he used a more elegant, you know, legal language means of trying to arrest the peaceful transfer of power.

23:01So the second in line, I mean, it's just enormously disappointing. If you think more broadly, I believe our government is essentially being run by or kind of on three pillars, if you will. The first is economically our policies are dictated by what's best for the top 1%. Whether you look at our tax policy, whether you look at bailouts, it's really like, okay, throw some loaves of bread and some circuses for the bottom 90. But it's really all about ensuring the 1 % stay as wealthier, wealthier. On social policy, we've become this white Christian nationalist government. I mean, if you look at what has happened from a public policy, a social policy standpoint, whether it's Roe being overturned, I mean, school, ridiculous proposals around.

23:47It's very Handmaid's Tale. It is. It's white Christian nationalist. And then the third thing is, in order to pacify the far left of the left, well, let's engage in reckless spending and have$7 trillion in expenditures with$5.5 trillion in receipts. Well, the only thing that passes for anything bipartisan is reckless spending. Oh, you want to cut taxes? You want more social spending? I know. Let's do both. And so what you have is a country that is, in my opinion, where every country is making progress, is regressing. And the notion that, as you said, the second in command tried to get in the way of a peaceful.

24:25On an economic level. He didn't try to get. He was the key lawyer. This is not just some guy who just is like, oh, Trump is going to yell at me. This guy went into it with great enthusiasm and threatened other members. It's not. It's a very different level of involvement. And this guy was right at the top of this thing. Hand selected by Trump. He tried to get in the way of the peaceful transfer of power. And this is the person that's supposed to oversee the administration of the certification of the next election? Yeah, that's a true one situation. Oh, and he believes God doesn't like gay people?

24:53I mean, this is, I just hope Kamala and the vice president and the president don't travel together. I agree. I was thinking that myself. The thought that this guy might be president. Yeah. Also, the other Republicans are worse. The ones that don't believe these middle squishes who actually resisted Jordan didn't resist this guy because he's friendlier and wears a nicer suit. No, no, no, no. But here's the thing. What was really disturbing was that photo of all of them when a reporter asked a legitimate question about his election denial stuff. And the Republicans, including some old lady in the front, were booing and yelling, shut up.

25:30And response to that video, I tweeted, pure self-emoliation combined with toxic suck up and pathetic power jostling and a desperate need for attention. This is the GOP 2023. I can't believe they voted for this guy if they wouldn't vote for Jordan. I don't even get it. Jordan's less so of this guy. Let me just say he also has a podcast with his wife, Kelly, their podcast co-host. They have a show called Truth Be Told. Let's listen to a clip from earlier this year where the two talked about what scared them about some members of Congress. Some of these voices now are in this chamber arguing that our rights do not come from God.

26:09Think about how scary that is. If you believe your rights come from government, then it means you don't really owe any allegiance at all to God. Yeah. You have no accountability. Well, you're not free. You're not free because the people who are governing you and giving you things in exchange for those things always comes a sacrifice of your liberty. Absolutely. Okay. It's called the Constitution, sir. This is the guy in charge of the Constitution right now. I think I met them. I actually think I met them at a key party in Boca Raton. Yeah, no dick jokes on that podcast. They sound like fun people to roll with.

26:48I'm sorry. So as an atheist, I don't have – wait. I don't get it. I don't have an invisible friend. What does this mean for me? I'm not – I shouldn't pay taxes or I don't have rights. That means you are – you cannot make dick jokes on this podcast next year when he takes over as king. He's not exactly a household name. Do you think that's an asset? This is kind of where we are in terms of our politics. It's easier if you don't have a track record to run on. People knew who Jim Jordan is, and it sunk him. Nobody knows who this guy is, and they didn't have enough time to look into the fact that he's blatantly homophobic, that if you look at the most unstable nations in the world, they generally are run by people who you can't reason with and can't negotiate with because they think God is on their side.

27:35When armies, you know, when good people do good things, bad people do bad things, when good people do really bad things, it's usually because they live in a society where old men have convinced them that God is on their side when they do these things and that they are morally superior because of the God they worship. It's one of the basic foundations of our society is that we're secular, that we say, look. Yep. He also rules over one of the poorest districts in the United States, by the way. Real problems of poverty there. You know, even Susan Collins, you know, a reporter asked what it'd be like to work with him.

28:10And she said she'd have to Google him. That's, I mean, you've got to be kidding me. But now we know, you know, I mean, it's very clear what this guy is pretty quickly once you start to read up on him. Yeah, I don't know what this means. I'll be very curious. What do you think this means for the Republican Party and for the elections? Do you think this hurts them? I think they're fucked. I think, you know, he's super. He's not just anti-abortion. He's real anti-abortion. He's way down that lane. So I think that's a problem because the electorates have indicated they're not. There's, of course, the government shutdown coming up.

28:42So who knows where he stands on this? I think he's inexperienced at running this. So that's an issue. I don't know. I think he's anti-gay and anti-abortion is not particularly good. That ship has sailed for most of the electorate, not for these people, but most of the electorate. You know, I can't tell how much of it is just my anger and depression growing as I get older. But I look at the far right, white Christian nationalists. I'm incredibly disappointed, quite frankly, by some what you would think of as bastions of far less progressive leadership or thought on campuses. I can tell you the faculty on these campuses that we're just absolutely flummoxed at what we're seeing.

29:24Yeah, I agree. But you know what, Scott? I liked Ronald Reagan when I was 17 years old, so I don't know what to tell you. I think people come around as they become better educated. I can't get over that. I got so much shit in my fraternity. I was literally, I don't want to say ostracized. We'd given a lot of shit because I was the one guy who was supporting Mondale. were you and i i don't know why i liked reagan i guess i like oh my god he's impossible not to like he's a message of hope morning in america i was tired of jimmy carter i think that was all i don't know i i think ronald reagan is cuddly compared to these guys oh come on he's just your basic conservative although he was heinous on aids and things like that but nonetheless you know he's you can see why you can understand you know he was much more um but anyway we're so far away from Reagan.

30:13I can't even tell you what this guy, this guy is a dangerous person. And by the way, I think, you know, interestingly, everyone's like, he's, he's like Jim Jordan with a jacket and a smile. I think he looks the, when I looked at a picture of him holding gavel and he had a little smirk on his face, I thought, oh, he's preening. He's a preener. The word preening completely. And I thought he's a very fussy preener. And I don't know what to take away from that, but that was my first, I was like, oh, he knows exactly how he looks all the time. And I don't think Jim Jordan does. And that's a compliment, actually, for him.

30:44That's the only one he's going to get from me. But he's quite a dangerous choice. Anyway, Scott, let's go on a quick break. When we come back, we'll talk about Meta getting sued and take a listener mail question about leadership styles. When is it okay to be an asshole?

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33:20Scott, we're back with our second big story. Meta is facing a major legal battle. 41 states and the Washington D.C. are suing Meta, saying the company harms kids by building addictive features into Instagram and Facebook. No shit, Sherlock. A 233-page federal complaint alleges the company engaged in a scheme, a quote, scheme to exploit young users for profit by misleading them on safety features and harmful content. Another no shit, Sherlock. Consequences for Meta could include financial penalties and restitution. Meta said in a statement it agreed with a commitment to providing teens with safe, positive experiences online, but also expressed disappointment with state officials taking this path.

33:56This is something you've talked about a lot. What do you think of this sweeping action? And there's lots of other multiple lawsuits. Attorneys general from 33 states filed a federal suit together, and eight states in D.C. are filing separate suits. So it's a lot of legal activity. Yeah, it reminds me a little bit of the tobacco litigation. I think it'll be drawn out. I think it'll get to the right place, but I think it'll be a decade. And unfortunately, the numbers are just so enormous, they'll be able to register tens of billions. I don't know if you saw Meta's earnings. They're nothing short of staggering.

34:24Yeah, we're going to talk about those in a minute. They are stunning. But, you know, and I was heartened. I thought my first thought was, who are the nine states that didn't join this? I've said, look, Kara, I think when we look back on this era of big tech, I think we're going to feel bad about the monopoly abuse. The decile of companies who are the most valuable are running away with the stock market. And that's just not good for the economy. I think we're going to look back on the weaponization of our elections, vaccine, misinformation, and we're going to regret all of it. I think it's all going to be dwarfed by the one regret, and that is I think we're going to look back on this era and think, how the fuck did we let this happen to our children?

35:01And I think right at the center of that is going to be Meta. And so I hope this grinds through the courts more quickly than it should. I don't know what the legal complaint is. I don't know how they attribute it back to specific harm when they'll have very talented psychiatrists and experts saying, no, it's concierge, bulldozer parenting. They'll be able to see emails. They'll be able to see what they thought at the time. Yeah. And the problem is, again, the fines to date haven't been an algebra of deterrence have been an algebra of incentive. It's like, well, this is just the cost of doing business when we get these civil penalties.

35:37So I hope that I just, for example, I just for the life of me can't understand why social media isn't age gated. Why does a 14-year-old girl need to be on Instagram or Snap? It doesn't make any sense to me. Remember, they want to do Instagram for kids. Come on. They don't. They're way beyond that. If you were meta, how would you handle this? Just wait them out. Wait them out. I would do exactly what they are doing. And that is ignore the damage I am doing to the world because I'm making a lot of money and having a great career. And everyone around is so friendly and so nice that this can't be that terrible a place.

36:11And let the good people, the chief legal officer and our army of lawyers ask really thoughtful questions, hold us up in court, pretend to give a good goddamn and call for regulation. Yeah, protecting teens. We're for teens. Yeah, and just wait them out and fight the battle. Take 1 % of your operating profits in terms of lobbying and legal costs. And then if a 5, 10,$25 billion fine gets levied against you in three, five or seven years? No problem, because we've made a lot more than that. Depressing little Becky. Although, interestingly, I've been talking to a couple meta people who are there, and all of them are like, it's the best company I've worked for, so well run, and we'll talk about that in a second.

36:52And they're like, I hate myself, right? Every one of them has a version of I hate myself for this. And so it's a really, you know, and they're definitely like, how can I get out of here intact with my soul in some ways. And it's interesting at different jobs, like what they do, like some of them are involved in these particular products, but they get it, right? They understand what's happened here. And they've been there a long time, I would say. My theory has always been that the more, I don't know, sinful or damaging to society the company is, the more talented and the more likable and the better they treat their employees.

37:36Smartest, when I was working at Profit, a strategy firm, smartest organization, top to bottom, nicest people, some of the best treated employees, Chevron. Right up there, Altria. Right up there, Exxon. These are smart. They treat their employees really well because they're usually really profitable. It's really strange. And then, you know, you go to, you meet with management at like Tom's and like, God, what assholes. I've just, it's really weird. The, the, the more socially minded, I think there's an inverse correlation between how well companies treat their employees. Not Patagonia. Patagonia does a nice job.

38:16I think they're a nice. I mean, it comes back to the same thing. The more romantic and sexy a business sounds, the more awful the industry is. Go to work in fashion and see how much fun that is. Yes. So listen, here's the thing. They are really good at business. We should note it wasn't bad news for Meta this week at all. Company, More Money for Lobbying, just reported that revenue rose 23%. How impressive on a huge company to$34 billion in the third quarter. Profit was$11.6 billion, more than double from last year. They had a lot of costs last year because the metaverse, they made that shift back.

38:48They had a lot of problems last year, including recovering from the pandemic, etc. et cetera. By the way, another company, which is also running ahead of everyone else, also posting strong earnings, adding 8.76, this is Netflix, adding 8.76 million global subscribers during the third quarter doing, I think it's this password thing that they're working on and et cetera, 8.5 billion, revenue rising from 7.9 billion a year ago. Whoa, good job, both of these guys from a business point of view. The most underreported business story of this week was Meta and Netflix's earnings, because what they have pulled off, I think, is arguably unprecedented.

39:25And that is, the majority of big tech's massive acceleration in shareholder value is a function of one thing. They're investing in growth. They're smart. They know how to spend their money. Their expenses go up 15%. Their revenues go up 18%. Their profits go up 20 or 30%. What Meta pulled off this quarter, I have never seen before. And that is, they spent less money. Their operating expenses fell 7 % year-on-year as they reduced their head count by 24%. So they reduced head count, they reduced investment, and their revenue accelerated 23%. So when you have the champagne and cocaine of reduced costs but accelerating revenue growth, You end up with an increase in year-on-year earnings of like 100-plus percent.

40:15I've never seen it. And Netflix did the same thing. The Writers Guild effectively transferred wealth from the linear guys to Netflix. And what was central to Meta's performance was AI. And that is they're using AI to increase engagement on the Reels function of Instagram. And also they've used AI, and this gets less coverage. They've used AI to circumvent the non-tracking functionality put in place by Apple. And their advertisers are actually claiming that Facebook. That's one thing they did. You're right. You're right. They did that. And they also are being a little creative with Threads, I have to say.

40:49I think it's a good product. They moved away from their metaverse bullshit. You know, they save costs there. But Threads doesn't make any money yet. No, it isn't. But I'm saying they're doing something interesting, right? You know, they could turn on, they could make some money from that easily, the way they did at Instagram. You can see it on a path towards money. You can see that thing very easily making money. He's just a very good operator, Mark Zuckerberg and the people around him, like Bill Gates was in his heyday. Just a good business person. Not every founder is, but he happens to be. The other thing at Netflix is, first of all, they're cleaning up the passwords, which I think a lot of people converted to maybe their ad tier that weren't paying before, the cheaper tier.

41:29They raised the prices. Their advertising business isn't going as well as yet, but I don't think it doesn't mean it won't, right? I think you have an opportunity there. And they have costs across the globe compared to these other media companies. They can equalize it across the globe and, of course, save money from everything. So they're in an excellent position. And they're good at what they do. Again, another good managed product. They're good at managing their product. And someone said at the thing we were at, like, did anybody ever cancel? Netflix went up, I don't know,$4,$3. Who canceled?

42:04No one canceled. No one canceled because it's a product that's necessary. They raised their prices 15%. Coming out of a strike that was supposed to cripple content makers for five months, they felt confident. And during reduced costs, they would raise their prices because the delta between what they offer and everyone else offers, including linear television, is so great. They have the confidence to raise their prices 15%. I believe the ad product will eventually go away or they'll just let it die. Really? Why? Tell me. Because I've always said it's not quarter the brand. I think quarter Netflix's brand is that the key attribute of any company that wants to build a company worth over$100 billion is they build a time machine.

42:45And I've always believed that the core attribute of Netflix is that if you only let your children watch Netflix, they save 11 days a year watching commercials. And that ad tier, I just don't think it's going to be worth the diversion. I think it's for the rest of the world. I don't think it's necessarily for Americans, but I do think it's fine to have that product. It's like the cheaper iPhone, I guess. I don't know. I feel it's fine. I think it's fine. They did fire some of their ad people that were initially with them. But we'll see where it goes. We'll see where it goes. But just in contrast, let's talk a little bit.

43:16I think Snapchat is a great company with a great product. They did well this course. Facebook added the value, added the revenue of Snap in one quarter. It grew, their revenue, Snap's revenue grew 5%, which is great because it reversed two straight quarters of revenue declines. They have 400 million people. They have a 12 % increase in daily active users. Engagement increased. But we're talking about kind of the little engine to a certain extent that couldn't. Their losses are up. Their net losses have expanded from 72 million. same quarter two years ago,$368 million this year. I mean, quite frankly, it just wasn't a great, it was just okay.

43:58And then the really, the other thing that people missed was the market has decided to transfer revenues from Google to Microsoft. And that is Microsoft inspired investment in AI across, that they're incorporating the Microsoft Office, that they're incorporating it into their search. The revenues were up and people are punishing Google or Alphabet, which all of a sudden seems undermanaged, and transferring that capital to Microsoft. And if you look at the multiples now on kind of enterprise value to or price to sales, Meta's at 7x, Snap's at 3x, Microsoft's at 12x, and Google's at 5x. Google actually looks cheap.

44:39I personally think Snap will be bought up by someone because it's a great product. Well, it should be. It's subscale. Listen, their$4 a month subscription service has 5 million subscribers. That's$250 million. The intelligence thing, the AI, my AI is working really well. But who? I don't know. I don't know who should buy them, but it's actually not a bad property to look at given, you know, they continue to. It's a little engine that tries or could try. So, I don't know. I feel like it's a really good product. My kids use it. It's fantastic, and it's subscale. It's really too bad. Hence what I just said.

45:14And I think they're screaming bye to someone. Anyway, we'll see where that goes. Maybe Apple. I don't know. Is Apple or? I don't think Apple wants anywhere near social. I don't know. Netflix. Netflix. Netflix. Why not? It seems to me their business is fine on its own. That's the problem. Snap makes for a great acquisition, but by who? By who? You're right. Disney can't afford them now. I did an interview with Dara Kosar-Shahi that's appearing soon. And one of the things he was talking about was his ad business on Uber and Uber Eats, getting big, getting interesting. Anyway, that makes total sense.

45:47They know where you're going. They know where you're going. Start running ads. Anyway, they're doing rather well in that area. Surprise. Freight is not doing as well, but that certainly is. Anyway, let's pivot quickly to a listener question. You've got, you've got. I can't believe I'm going to be a mailman. You've got mail. This question comes from Marcus in Sao Paulo, Brazil. I'll read it. Hi, Kara and Scott. A quickish question on leadership. Scott talks a lot about how he's learned to be more positive, thoughtful, and considerate leader. However, he did reach a considerable level of success and wealth while he still had a much different style.

46:20While I do appreciate when he promotes this humane attitude, I wonder if a thoughtful, considerate person would have had the same opportunity when the market dynamics and social status dynamics to an extent still seem to reward assholeness rather than kindness in a nutshell. Scott, do you think you'd be in this position that you are today had you been a nicer version of yourself when you started off? Thanks. Much love to the show, Marcus. What a good question. Scott, could you be where you are without being an asshole? You mean hungover in Vegas after being at the sphere with friends? Yes. The answer is yes, because the way I would describe effective leaders in business is they have three attributes.

47:00The first is they demonstrate excellence. It's typically the CEO is as good or better than anyone in the building at one thing, whether it's selling or they have a great analytical mind. You know, I just don't think you can be a professional manager. You have to be really good at something. And people that's what I found, that the CEO is very good at something. David Solomon was a great trader at some point. Anyways, the second is that they hold people accountable. And you can call that being an asshole, but set out very clear goals for people. And then when people aren't meeting those objectives, they sit them down and they say, look, you're not meeting your objectives and you need to let me know how I can be helpful here.

47:38But you're not going to survive here if you continue to miss your numbers. And it's a difficult conversation that is really easy to avoid. But I think great leaders hold their people accountable. And also, I've said quite frankly that strategic firing, everyone talks about hiring. I never bought this notion, this Hallmark Channel movie that, oh, if we just find the right role for them or it's the culture's fault. No. Some good people sometimes should just be let go. They're just not working out for whatever reason. And I think that we're too slow to do that. I mean, I know that sounds terrible, but I've always been slow to hire and be quick to fire.

48:15And I know how terrible that sounds. But in a small company, you can't have people who aren't working out. And I've always thought the quicker you can fire them, the more generous you can be in terms of severance payments. And then finally, the team of the best players wins. And I think empathy is a form of compensation. And that is I'm going to get to know you and what you really value. And people value different things. Some people just want, they want to have their name in media. So if you get an inquiry from the New York Times, say this is the person you should speak to. And that's hugely valuable.

48:44Some people want to manage other people, whatever it might be, try and figure out their unique wants and needs and show that you will, you will, you know, you're on their side. You're trying to really figure out what's right for them. And people follow excellence. If they think you're going to make a lot of money and generate a lot of money, they'll follow you because they'll get the draft off of your success. What I do think you can do and that I didn't do was I thought that I was raised in an era of Steve Jobs, where occasionally in a meeting calling out people or saying provocative, rude, or aggressive things demonstrated leadership that if I was talented and a bit of an asshole, it meant I was a genius.

49:21Whereas if I'd been talented and just a little kinder on occasion, you know, in my era, that was considered you were sort of just talented. And I really do regret there are just some situations, especially with young people, they needed more watering. There's a few people I fired and I regret it. I thought, you know what, I should have worked harder to figure it out, especially a young person. I don't know. I don't think you're as much an asshole as you think you were. and I don't think Steve Jobs was either. Well, you might have. He didn't work with me. You also were kind of like just more strange than anything else, as I recall.

50:00Let me read. Let me do a dramatic reading from my book, Burn Book, in the section about Scott. In 2017, I attended a tech event in Germany called DLD, Digital Life Design. I watched as Scott Galloway, an NYU Stern business professor of brand strategy and digital marketing, delivered what was a wacko presentation that included him donning a wig and lip syncing to George Michael's Freedom 90 for way too long. While Scott's casual arrogance was familiar to me, his insights were fresh anew. I invited him to join me on Rico Decode, and he said yes. Oh, my God, my nipples are hard. I know. When does this book come out?

50:35There's more. There's a lot more. I have a lot more about you in there. Thank you. Yeah, I know. I'm just saying. I'm just saying. I think there's more to you than that. Yeah, but, Cara, I don't know if you feel this way. I feel as if I had, what you realize is if you attain any level of power and influence, a tiny bit of kindness, a tiny bit of generosity goes so far. The most wasted resource in the world is good intentions. When someone's doing a good job, when you admire somebody, especially when they're younger than you and you're in charge of the company, to bring them, pull them into a conference room and go, this was outstanding.

51:13Or you are such an impressive person. Yeah, more praise is definitely as someone who has been in both sides. It does. It goes so far. Yeah, although I'll tell you, it works the other way, too. A lot of tough people are really tough on me. Also, I learned from. So it just depends. Yeah, be honest. Be straight. Yeah, I don't know. I wasn't much of a screamer as a boss. I don't like being a boss. I don't think I was necessarily me. People would imagine that I was like that, but I wasn't actually. It's not. I don't really like managing. I know. I don't like managing, actually, is what it was. It's like teaching.

51:43I really don't like it. Like, it's not, there's nothing wrong with it. But anyway, good question from Brazil. Marcus, thank you so much. Scott remains an asshole. Trust me. He has some asshole. And strange, but strange. You are still strange. And you would put on a wig if you could much more than you would. Anyway. Hello. What are you going for as Halloween? Oh, my God. I told you. I'm going as Deadpool after the fire. People think I look like Ryan Reynolds after he's mutilated in that fire. Oh, yeah. I love Halloween. Anyway, it's Deadpool. Daddy's going as Deadpool. I hate it. I hate costumes.

52:16I'm going as Kara Swisher. That's who I'm going as. I'm going as Kara Swisher. I'm wearing soft pants and, you know, a general, I can't stand this attitude. Although I have to say, I do enjoy taking the kids trick-or-treating because, you know, Claire is all into it now and she has 17 costume changes, etc. But this is the year Saul gets it. He sort of got it last year, but he's two now, close to being two. and what happens in that year when they become two and they do trick-or-treating all of a sudden they that the penny drops and they're like this is a fantastic fucking racket free candy i dress up it's amazing you know i remember claire you could see her go wait a second here this is fantastic this is good i'm super excited for that moment for sol anyway um i forget what he's going on as a giraffe or something like that i don't know i absolutely loved how i mean i had little kids It's one of my favorite outfit was my youngest one is Einstein.

53:11My oldest one is an artist once. A good friend of mine, his daughter this year, they're Jews, but it's hilarious. The daughter is going as Santa Claus. That's what she wants to go as, which I thought was hilarious. But the power move as a parent, as a dad, is I not only, I used to sneak their candy, like when they were asleep, I'd eat it. Now I eat it in front of them. That's the power move. Do they still do trick-or-treating? They're a little too old, right? No, they're too old. Their father still does. Yeah, well, they show up, like teenagers like that show up with like no costumes and a bag.

53:41Yeah, they just want my bag. I'm like, no, you must perform for Carousel. I do not go trick-or-treating. Amanda likes to dress up. She goes, and I sit in front of the house with the candy. And I'm like, no. Yes. I absolutely love it. Anyway, if you've got a question of your own 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 your weekly prediction.

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55:06That's O-D-O-O dot com.

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56:20Okay, Scott, let's hear a prediction. Okay, so I just want to acknowledge this sounds tinfoil hat and a bit paranoid, but that doesn't mean I'm wrong. I think at some point in the future, we're going to find out that the CCP was using TikTok to manipulate and divide America with a disproportionate amount of anti-Israel content that they're elevating. I think they see this as an issue that is dividing America. Oh, you think they're actually manipulating it? It isn't just people. All I can tell you is if I worked for the NSA and the CIA and I had a neural plant into every Chinese youth, into their brains, I would be putting my thumb on the scale of content that diminished their view of their leadership and their society.

57:07They'd be – they would be stupid not to be doing this. Well, I know, but you know they do deny this rather vehemently, the U.S. people running the company. And I'm just saying. I doubt. the U.S. people have anything to do with it. I think this would be so easy and elegant and insidious. And I think there's data coming out. And I was, I got some interesting data from a guy who's been tracking this pretty closely. And it certainly looks like it. It doesn't mean there's proof. That's my, you know, I've been the one that's been sounding for years. Yeah. Yes. Okay. All right. Go ahead. But yeah, I think you're going to find out.

57:45I don't know when. It might be a year. It might be 10 years. I think you're going to find out that when the CCP saw an opportunity to create more—I mean, here's the thing. The biggest threat globally isn't Hamas. I think that's a huge threat. It isn't Putin, although I think it's a huge threat. The biggest threat in America is that we are dividing internally, and technology and gerrymandering and minority rule is ripping this nation apart. And the greatest geopolitical weapon against us isn't tanks. It isn't kinetic power. We spend more than anybody else. We have the finest fighting force in the world.

58:20It isn't economic. We continue to attract the most seminal breakthrough technology in history. What do you know? It's all within a bike ride of SFO called AI. the only way to come after us, the only way to reduce our power and what is the greatest experiment in history called U.S. democracy is to get us to continue to hate each other. And the cheapest, most elegant, most insidious way to do this, when you, again, have control over America's youth, is to start raising topics that divide us. I think they would be stupid not to be doing this. and some preliminary research on anti-Israel content. And I realize it sounds paranoid.

59:01And as a Jew, I realize there's some bias here. But I have been shocked at the amount of pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel content coming out of high schools and colleges. And then when I think, where do they get their information? Where are they getting this information? And all roads lead to the same place. It's TikTok. talk. So we'll see. But I think in several years, we're all going to say, oh, that was obvious they were doing it and find out they were. I think it's happening right now. Interesting prediction. I'm going to make a short prediction. Yep. There's something off about this speaker.

59:41There's something creepy, off, weird. You think? No, but I think he's in for a world of hurt. I think not just this crazy shit, But just that one podcast thing we ran was like already problematic. But there's something wrong with him. And I don't know what it is. This is just me as Kara Spisher, Spidey Sense reporter. I think he's in for a world of hurt. Not because people are trying to get him. It's that, I don't know, there's something off. There's something off about him. I don't say this about Jim Jordan. I think Jim Jordan's a terrible person. I think he looked the other way. But we knew him.

1:00:17He was the devil we knew. What you're saying is he hasn't been vetted. Yes. The deep corners of this guy's life have not been, there's been no flashlight on him. I mean, the thing about Jim Jordan is pretty much everything had been aired. He's so performative, this guy. You know, I have a lot of relatives who are religious in his, the way he is, and I find them genuine. I don't like a lot of what they say, but there's something off about this guy. That's just Kara saying something. Will he be at this White House thing? I don't know. Let's see. We'll sidle up to him. He's a speaker, right? Yeah, make a pass at him.

1:00:51Make a pass at him? Yeah, I don't know. All right. I'll make a pass at him. We'll see. Anyway, we'll both make a pass at him. I'm trying to think what is more disturbing. No, we're going to make a pass at him. Anyway, we are going to have a good time. We still won't be there. And when we tape next, it'll be before we go. So not until Thursday, we'll have a report, which you may read of in news accounts. But we will be here in Washington together on Monday. Yeah, I felt bad now that I was being cynical. I feel really honored to be invited and I'm looking forward to it. I know. You were. You were super excited.

1:01:21White House people. I am excited. Scott Galloway is super excited. He's never been there. We'd like to put the dog on, as they say, for Scott Galloway. And there's a ton of fans in the White House, just so you know. There you go. It'll be good. It'll be fun. There you go. All right, Scott, we're almost done. But I hear you're going to be on Bill Maher tomorrow. Fourth time tomorrow. Wow. I never get invited back. I'm going on with that total gangster, the woman from Fox. He's like insanely reasonable. She's my friend. Say hi, Jess Tarlow. Your friends are there? Yes, of course I am. She seems like an impressive person.

1:01:52She's amazing. And you know who they're interviewing at the beginning of the show? Who? Andrew Cuomo. Oh. Yeah, so that should be interesting. Wow, you got a good one. Jessie is great. Jess is great. Say hi to her. She's amazing. Yeah, I will. I'm excited about that. She's so smart. She just basically, you know, bitch slaps Judge whatever the five, whatever her name is. No, I turned on. I remember I turned on the TV a few weeks ago, and I saw this woman making all sorts of sense. and then I looked down and it was a Fox logo and my mind literally slipped and broke a head. I'm like, what show is this?

1:02:22She's great. I'm excited you're going there. Say hi to Bill. Say hi. He's probably mad at me because I'm not very nice to him. No, he's not. He likes you. They all like you. I doubt it. Anyway, Scott, that's the show. We'll be back on Tuesday with more Pivot. Please read us out. Today's show was produced by Lara Neiman, Zoe Marcus, and Travis Larchuk. Ernie Indertot engineered this episode. Thanks also to Drew Burrows, Mil Saverio, and Gaddy McBain. Make sure you subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Thanks for listening to Pivot from New York Magazine and Vox Media. We'll be back next week for another breakdown of all things tech and business care.

1:02:54I'll see you in our nation's capital.

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