Making Turkey & Keeping the Peace on Thanksgiving 11/26/25

0:00Bring in show music please. This is Squawk Pod and I'm CNBC producer Cameron Costa. Today, Thanksgiving Eve, we've got you covered on the conversation side with happiness guru Arthur Brooks. Don't go in ready for a fight and don't actually get into politics. And on the food side with director of the Butterball Turkey Talk line, Nicole Johnson. Tip number one, make sure whatever you're serving is edible. Number one question over 44 years that the talk line has been open is, how do I thaw my turkey? Plus, we've got some news in case headlines are on the menu at your holiday. A scandal for Campbell's Soup.

0:41And NVIDIA is the leader, but also a target. When you're the king, everybody's going to come at you. It's Wednesday, November 26th, 2025. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, everybody. Have a great Thanksgiving. Squawk Pod begins right now. Stand Becky by in 3, 2, 1. Cue it, please. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Squawk Box right here on CNBC. I'm Becky Quick, along with Andrew Ross Sorkin. Joe is off today. And yes, happy almost Thanksgiving. If you're traveling today, we hope you're doing it safely. We hope you're doing it with decent weather. But we've got a lot to be thankful, and we're going to think about that all day today.

1:19Meanwhile, we're watching a bit of a soap opera drama play out because we're watching shares of AI players NVIDIA and Google parent Alphabet. NVIDIA responded to concerns on Wall Street that its dominance in AI could be threatened by Google's AI chips. Yesterday in a post on X, NVIDIA said the following, in part, quote, we are delighted by Google's success. They've made great advances in AI and we continue to supply to Google. NVIDIA is a generation ahead of the industry. It's the only platform that runs every AI model. is everywhere computing is done. That followed, of course, that report that said that one of NVIDIA's key customers, Facebook parent Meta, could strike a deal with Google to use its tensor processing units for Meta's data centers.

2:04Now, shares of NVIDIA falling more than 2.5 % yesterday. Alphabet shares were up more than 1.5%. But to see, Becky, both of these companies now sort of going back and forth, I mean, for NVIDIA to respond to even this report in its own way publicly. I can't tell if it's a nice thing, a trolling thing, a what? Well, I feel like when you're the king, everybody's going to come at you. NVIDIA is clearly the king, not only when it comes to semiconductors, but also just in terms of how important its report has been for the overall market theme. So a lot of pressure, a lot of focus on that company. there was another report about how they kind of responded to Michael Burry, who has very publicly shorted the stock, and how they responded to some of the sell-side analysts refuting some of the claims that Michael Burry's put out there, too.

3:03It's interesting. There's different approaches to this. But they are a company that probably feels under attack from a lot of different places and maybe just wants to talk about things that they are proud of, too. It's not too often that you see a company that garners so much attention, not just from a sector, but from the entire marketplace. You know, what's so interesting is Jensen, of course, who runs NVIDIA. I remember him telling me, I think about a year ago, two years ago, I actually saw the video. It seems to reappear it online where he he says something about how I mean, he sort of lives in the Andy Grove mindset of only the paranoid survive.

3:42that even when you're succeeding, you feel like you're failing and that he that he doesn't wake up in the morning with great confidence, that he wakes up worried. And, you know, this is one of those moments, I'm sure, where these kinds of conversations probably make you more worried. But nonetheless, as you said, he is the king. He remains the king. And when you're the king, a lot of people come for you. The other interesting thing is there's got to be some frustration, I would assume, at the company because there were such high expectations heading into their earnings report last week. They beat on every metric, not just the expectations, but even the whisper numbers.

4:21They came out strong. The instant reaction in the stock was was a positive one. And then over the course of the next day, the stock traded down anyway. So there's probably some frustration at the idea of what do you want from me, people? You know, we're giving you everything you're asking for and much more. So maybe there's just a little frustration that's kind of come out of the reaction of what's happened. Obviously, the market trades on a forward-looking basis. And when you are at the top, people are going to be looking for cracks anywhere. That's why some of the things have picked up so much with Alphabet, with Google recently.

4:58But it's an interesting marketplace. And again, if you look at Nvidia shares, you mentioned they were down about two and a half percent yesterday, I think. Take a look, though, at year to date. That stock has still performed very well over the year to date. And of course, longer term, it's an even better performer. Yeah. OK, 31 percent. It's still up for the year to date. And longer term, again, that stock has been a phenomenal performer. Meantime, President Trump saying he doesn't want to keep funding Obamacare health subsidies, but floated a possible extension of the benefits. Trump's speaking with reporters aboard Air Force One as he flew to Florida for the Thanksgiving holiday.

5:36The health care subsidies were at the heart of the recent 43-day government shutdown, and premiums could spike for some Americans if Congress cannot reach a deal. On Monday, Politico reported the White House was working on a framework that would extend those subsidies for two years with some eligibility limits. So we'll see if things shift there. My guess is we will see something sooner rather than later because there has been a lot of political pressure that has built up as people are getting their premium notices for next year. The one thing to point out with this, though, is premiums are going up for everybody.

6:11Health care premiums, health care insurance premiums are going up for everybody, not just for those under the Affordable Care Act. And that is going to be a bigger issue. I think there's still a huge amount of pressure on Washington to come up with a way to kind of bend the cost curve on some of these things, too, because subsidies for a portion of it are not going to address the overall issue. That, by the way, has been decades in the making with health care costs outpacing the rate of inflation elsewhere. But with inflation so much higher over the last four or five years and with those gains kind of still working their way through the system, particularly when it comes to things like health insurance, auto insurance, other places, I just see this as being a really big sticking point that there is going to have to be more than just the extension of subsidies to tackle on some of these things, too.

7:03We'll see whether it happens and when it happens. Yeah. Campbell's is defending the ingredients it uses in its products and placing an executive on temporary leave after he was allegedly caught on tape saying that the company made, in his words, highly processed food for poor people. We have s*** for f***ing poor people. Right? We have s*** that's for poor people. Who buys our s***? People are f***ing ass. I don't buy f***ing Campbell's products barely anymore. It's unhealthy. Now that I know what the f*** it is, even in a can of soup, I look at it and eat it. Pop bioengineered meat. I don't want to eat a f***ing piece of chicken that came from a 3D printer.

7:46That leaked audio purportedly from Martin Bally, Campbell's vice president of information technology, emerged as part of a lawsuit filed last week by a former Campbell's employee who accused Bally of making racist comments. The former employee is also suing Campbell's for wrongful termination. In a statement, Campbell said that such language does not reflect our values and the culture of our company, adding the comments heard on the recording about our food are not only inaccurate, they are patently absurd. The company went on to say that it has not been able to verify the validity of that recording.

8:23It hasn't been provided with a copy of it either. But, Andrew, obviously, this is kicking up quite a storm. That'll be another debate. People will have a debate about eating Campbell's at Thanksgiving dinner. I don't know. I don't know what to say about that. I don't know what are you supposed to do? What do you think should happen? Well, look, the one thing I would say is let's hear more about it in these days of AI recordings. I mean, this is pretty inflammatory stuff. I will say that I look at everything with more skepticism than I did before, whether it's an audio recording, whether it's even video at this point.

9:01But we'll see. I'm sure somebody will get to the bottom of this. Highly inflammatory comments, troublesome from Campbell's from all kinds of perspective, insulting your customers. That's the absolute worst thing that could happen. Questions about the food. I guess that's another. I will say I know I've got some Campbell's cream of mushroom soup for the green bean casserole that I'm going to be making tomorrow. But this is a hot issue. So you're not going to the supermarket is what you're saying. You're not going to replace your Campbell's soup after this situation. Well, I use it for specified menus.

9:38I mean, for specified recipes. And this is like an oldie. Like the green bean casserole, that has been in my family for generations. So it's just the way we make it. We'll keep making it that way. Tees will be next. Up next on Squawk Pod, Harvard professor and happiness expert Arthur Brooks. He has some tips on how to make things a little bit more pleasant around the Thanksgiving table. Every time you talk about politics, this is almost always the case, not just at Thanksgiving. You get less happy.

10:15This is Squawk Pod today with Becky Quick and Andrew Ross-Sorkin. Here's Andrew. Extend Andrew by in three, two, one, cue Andrew. You're watching Squawk Box on CNBC this day before Thanksgiving. I'm Andrew Ross-Sorkin along with Becky Quick. Joe is off today. Our next guest is going to help us navigate holiday anxiety and lagging consumer confidence, affordability concerns, and most importantly, maybe some divisive political topics. Harvard professor Arthur Brooks. He hosts the podcast Office Hours with Arthur Brooks. He's, of course, the bestselling author of The Happiness Files and is a contributor for The Atlantic.

10:50Good morning to you. We always talk about getting around the Thanksgiving Day table and trying to have civil discourse, Arthur. I just want the tips and tricks for the civil discourse when you have some folks that you may not always agree with. Yeah, no, Andrew, it looks like you're on the road someplace. Are you visiting family? Does this spark your interest in what's going to happen tomorrow to you? I'm always trying to figure out how to have that. I need to have the civil discourse in the morning. You know, we do it over breakfast. It's called Squawk Box. Yeah, no, I hear you. And the truth of the matter is there's a lot written about this.

11:24There's a lot of research on this. Behavioral scientists have talked about not how to disagree less, but actually how to disagree better. And a couple of things to keep in mind for a lot of people who are going to their extended family, for example, there's Aunt Marge is going to be there. You don't see her, but once a year, and she's going to insist on talking about the federal government or something. And there's a couple of two don'ts that are actually just as important as the two do's, a couple of things to think about. The first is to remember that when you have a disagreement about something with somebody you rarely see, a contentious topic like politics, that's actually not, you're not going to convince anybody.

11:58But what we want to do is persuade when we're arguing. And we almost never persuade anybody. When somebody is shut down, when you're arguing with them, that they have something that psychologists call the boomerang effect. And they actually believe their ideological viewpoint more strongly than when you started arguing with them. So that's the first thing to kind of game out a little bit and to be thinking about. And the second thing to keep in mind is that every time you talk about politics, this is almost always the case, not just at Thanksgiving, you get less happy. There's a lot of research that shows that the more you think and talk about politics, the less happy you're going to be.

12:33And that makes you less grateful. It's kind of the counteracting mechanism to the whole point of Thanksgiving. So don't go in ready for a fight and don't actually get into politics. Those are the two don'ts, actually. So here's my question. We sometimes at our table, there's like a little bit of a rule with when certain topics go into certain places, sometimes someone will say, we're not talking about that. That's off limits. We got to just ixnay that from the whole discussion agenda. Is that the appropriate way or not? Well, you can make it explicit if you want. But what I recommend to people who are sort of the odd man out, I'm kind of the odd man out in many ways in my family discussions.

13:13I mean, all my kids are ideologically different than me and their spouses, as a matter of fact. My extended family, they're more conservative than I am. And that doesn't mean that we can't talk about these things, but it means that we have to not get into a big argument about it. And that requires kind of a skill on my part of leading the conversation into something that's more pleasant, that we all think about as a source of gratitude as opposed to a source of conflict in the family. Now, we can talk about those things. We've known these differences exist the whole time. But life is short, man.

13:46Why would you want to talk about politics when you're around the Thanksgiving table? How do you do that, Arthur? Do you steer it back to, oh, did you see the art project that my grandchild brought home last week? I mean, is it more subtle than that? Yeah, well, one of the things to actually be thinking about is to introduce a topic of your own gratitude, which is really important. And so, you know, I got something I got to say that I'm really, really grateful for. And it'll be a memory. It'll be a shared idea that you all have together. And especially when you're talking with extended family, when you have memories of something, when you reconstruct a memory of something that you that you all share, that's something that people are really quite interested in, as a matter of fact.

14:24So shared values are a lot better than unshared ideological viewpoints. Arthur, I have a different one, which is involving kids in these discussions. So I now have 15 year old boys and actually a very, very vocal eight year old, too, who likes to get in on all of this stuff. And I can't figure out, am I supposed to? I love when they're debating these things, but then I also don't know if it's going to upset my mother or their mother-in-law or who knows what. Yeah, yeah. Well, one of the things that's actually worth talking about is by modeling the behavior that you actually want to see and coaching people in a very specific way.

15:03To say, look, if we have any disagreement around the table, let's do it in a way that's actually not going to upset people and that we can actually laugh about it in a particular way. And the most important thing that you can do, Andrew, is making sure that you're never the source of the bitterness in the first place. Now, here's how to do that, by the way. Look, we all have strong opinions for sure. But the way to look at this is to say, you know, if there's somebody who really disagrees with me around the table, and especially if they're impossible to coach and manage, Aunt Marge can't shut up, is to actually think about it kind of like you were a social scientist in a field experiment.

15:35experiment. I've done so many of these experiments where I'm, you know, I'm sitting with people who disagree with each other and I'm just watching and learning and thinking about it kind of in that way will give you a lot better time and it'll give you kind of an equanimity that people will admire during the dinner. All right. Arthur, we got a wrap. We want to wish you a happy Thanksgiving. Want to thank you for always helping us through trying to keep us all a little happier. Very much appreciate it. Thanks. Happy Thanksgiving to you. Happy Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving. Oh, see you, Sarah.

16:06Yeah, Happy Thanksgiving. I was thinking serve a lot of wine or maybe that's part of the problem, too. Coming up on Squawk Pod. An annual tradition here on Squawk, the Butterball Turkey Talk Line. Director Nicole Johnson is one of many cooks standing by to help everyone in the kitchen this Thanksgiving. Just dial or text the hotline for your dinner needs. Regardless if you stuff your turkey or not, you do want to make sure your turkey is done with your best friend on Thanksgiving Day. And that's your meat thermometer. Turkey tips right after this.

16:46You're listening to Squawk Pod's Thanksgiving Eve episode, which means it's time for our own holiday tradition here at CNBC. Butterball Turkey Talk Line. Hi, how can I help you today? Here's Becky Quick. It is that time of the year again. The Butterball Turkey Talk Line is live to answer your holiday hosting questions. And joining us right now is Nicole Johnson. She is director of the Butterball Turkey Talk Line. Busy, busy, busy day of the year for you, Nicole. How are things shaping up so far? Hi, Becky. Good morning. Thanks for having us. We are expecting a lot of calls this year. You can reach us via email, chat, text, social media.

17:26The line is not quite open. We open this morning at 7 a.m. Central, and we're taking all of your phone calls through 9 this evening. And of course, we're open on Thanksgiving Day, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Central. Some things can't wait until Thanksgiving morning. If there's a tip you'd tell everybody right now, what would it be? Make sure your turkey's defrosted, for starters. Yes. Number one question over 44 years that the talk line has been open is how do I thaw my turkey? If you haven't used the refrigeration method, have no fear. You can still use the cold water bath method. Leave the wrapper on, put it in the sink.

18:04It's a half hour per pound using that method. A half hour per pound. So if you start it now, I mean, what's the average bird size for Butterball? Well, I have four little Butterballs at home myself, and we tend to purchase a turkey that's a pound and a half to two pounds per person. And we love the leftovers. You can hop on the butterball.com website. There's a lot of fun ways to incorporate the leftovers. Another common question we get is how long can I keep the leftovers for? You can put your leftovers in the Ziploc bag or container, in the refrigerator for up to three days. For longer storage, you can put your leftovers in the freezer for up to three months.

18:48Three days. Okay, so you better eat all your leftovers quickly. What's the best way to prepare the turkey? And we've talked in years past about not stuffing the stuffing into the cavity. That can lead to, I guess, salmonella poisoning at some point. I'm guessing you're going to tell people no stuffing the turkey. But I see we've got butter and a lot of other stuff in front of you. What would you do to base that bird? Well, let me address, Becky, if I can, the stuffing suggesting first. When we're asked if you can stuff your turkey, it's really a personal preference. My mom, our family tradition was always to stuff the turkey.

19:25Absolutely safe and acceptable to do that. From a food safety perspective, you do want to make sure that you do not stuff the turkey the night before. All of your wet and dry ingredients would be combined the day of. And you stuff that turkey right before you put it in the oven. I've had butterball turkey experts tell us in the past, and this is going back a lot of years, that you don't want to pack it in really tight. If you do stuff it inside, you've got to make sure that it's not too tightly packed or it may not cook through. Yes, that is a good recommendation. It's usually three-quarter cup, maybe even one cup of turkey per pound of turkey.

20:01I've been on the talk line for over 20 years, and I do get that phone call quite often to stuff or not to stuff. But really the key, Becky, regardless if you stuff your turkey or not, You do want to make sure your turkey is done with your best friend on Thanksgiving Day. And that's your meat thermometer. It's going to register 170 in the breast and thigh for best eating quality. And if you stuff your turkey in the center of the stuffing, that thermometer goes. And it's going to register 165 for best eating quality. Nicole, we have had a lot of talk about inflation and prices. Food prices obviously have gone higher, but I think turkey prices have come down.

20:43Is that the case? Well, I'm probably not the best person to talk to about pricing. What I can tell you is turkey is certainly one of the most economical part of your Thanksgiving meals. Of course, we always suggest a pound and a half to two pounds per turkey for those great leftover recipes. You wearing butterball pants today? I hear there are new pants that are supposed to be designed for all points of making the bird. I am not wearing them today. I wish I was. We wore them the first couple weeks of Thanksgiving. I work tomorrow, as you can imagine. But when I go home and celebrate with my own four little butter balls, I will be wearing those Hadley and Bennett Thanksgiving hosting pants.

21:29They were a lot of fun this year. Really hoping. A pocket for the meat thermometer, the phone pocket emblazoned with the Butterball hotline number, a towel loop, extra utensil loops. I think the most important thing it should have is a stretchy waistband for after you eat that meal. They were very comfortable. Really, we're hoping just to give hosts a leg up this year because Thanksgiving hosting can be really stressful. So those hosting pants, we're hoping gave our cooks some confidence. Okay. Nicole, thank you. I know you guys have a busy couple of days ahead of you. Good luck. Happy Thanksgiving.

22:02Thank you. Thank you, Becky. Happy Thanksgiving. That's the podcast for today. Thank you for tuning in. This holiday, as always, we're grateful to you, our listeners, for sticking with us and for giving us feedback all these years. We're also grateful to the team that brings this to life every day. This pod is produced by me, Cameron Costa, Katie Kramer, and Zach Valisi. And our editors, John Lazration and Rafael Gonzalez, make audio magic every day.

22:35And of course, we couldn't do any of it without Squawk Box hosts on CNBC's air every weekday morning. Joe Kernan, Becky Quick, and Andrew Ross-Sorkin. We're dark tomorrow, so happy Thanksgiving. We'll catch you right back here on Black Friday. All are clear, thanks guys.