# Geopolitical Tensions, AI Risks, and the Shift in Global Politics

**Podcast:** Pivot
**Published:** 2026-04-14

## Transcript

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Megan Rapino here.
This week on a touchmore, we're bringing you our live show in Phoenix with WNBA four-time champion Chelsea Gray and the Naismith Coach of the Year, Shay Rao.
Together we talk about the NCAA semifinals, the crazy activity in the transfer portal, and of course the final matchup for the NCAA championship.
Check out the latest episode of A Touch More wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube.
What should we make of the Iran War ceasefire announcement and where do things go from here?
If anything has surprised me over the last 24 hours, it's that Iran agreed to a ceasefire, and particularly that Iran agreed to a ceasefire after that outrageous message that President Trump put out.
I'm Jake Sullivan.
And I'm John Finer.
And we're the hosts of the Long Game, a weekly national security podcast.
This week we break down the latest news on Iran and share our net assessment of where things stand for the U.S.
The episode's out now.
Search for and follow the long game wherever you get your podcasts.
Aren't we adorable?
I know we're adorable.
Hi everyone, this is Pivot from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network.
I'm Kara Swisher.
And I'm Scott Galloway.
Y'all back.
I'm back.
That's right.
Did you have a good time off?
Did you have a nice time?
Yeah, I didn't do a whole lot, but yeah, it was really nice.
I was in Florida, a lot of walks on the beach with my dogs.
Um actually got kind of bored, which was a lovely and strange feeling.
Well, we missed you.
We had some good hosts, but no one is you.
Let's just say.
And I just want to say Go on.
No, no one is you.
That's a that's what people said to me when they come up to me, Coachella, they're like, no one is you.
No one is that I think that was the beat.
I think that was Justin Bieber's first song at Coachella.
I liked what he did there.
I know a lot of people criticized him, but I like it.
I can't say I went.
I have finally figured out Coachella.
The key is to go during that weekend.
I hang out in my friend's house, watch the day go by, have beers, work out, and then everybody goes to the festival.
I go and get Mexican food at a dive place and have some margaritas at the bar.
And then I go to the after parties.
I actually don't go to the festival.
Have you gone?
Or did you go?
No, you weren't there, were you?
Uh yeah, I was at Cochellas weekend.
Oh my god, you're kidding.
Yeah.
No, the arrested adolescents tour continues, Kara.
Wow, amazing.
In and out burger, both days.
I know.
I saw those pictures.
That was nice.
People like insulting you because they're Christian y, but I don't care.
They're fantastic burgers.
I'm sorry.
Oh, and Jesus is coming back.
He's coming to an in and out.
We'll get to Jesus in a minute.
Um, Jesus Christ, as they say.
Um, I just want to say thank you so much for showing up to the premiere of my show.
Scott showed up and interviewed me.
For my first the premiere of my show, Kara Swisher Wants to live forever on CNN.
And he did a real you did a great job.
You came prepared.
I was expecting like a lot of time.
Well, I learned from the best.
Yeah, I know.
Well, you did a good job, asked good questions.
Um, and it was a fun party.
We you stayed long too.
You never I was sort of shocked to look over, and there you are still.
Well, two words.
First word, open, second bar.
Yes.
Anytime for you.
And there were some important people there.
I thought, oh fuck, I should I should talk to some of these.
Yeah, yeah, there were.
And Jess Tarloff showed up.
That was very nice.
Fantastic.
And a bunch of friends.
All my work wise.
Yeah.
Yeah, it was really fun.
She's great.
And her new book's coming out.
She'll be our cover.
It looks really good.
And the thing, the thing that struck me about your show was um Please tell me.
You should do a shout out.
The production values were fantastic.
Yes.
Really beautiful cinematography.
Ever wonder was the producer's, yeah.
The images from the cemetery where you went to your dad's grave.
The it all was it was beautifully shot.
Yeah.
I gotta say, TV at times has got it.
Like there is like they don't do like YouTube doesn't really unless you do it as a television production.
And you got cock blocked by JD Vance.
That kind of made my weekend.
Explain what happened.
Kara's show is supposed to premiere.
And they had breaking news to announce that J.D.
Vance had accomplished absolutely nothing in Iran.
I know.
And they had to delay Kara's premiere.
And I know for an hour.
That is so rich.
That is just so deliciously ironic.
We don't care.
We don't care.
I think Peter Teal called them and said, announce it now.
I hate that bitch.
Announce it.
I hate that bitch.
No, no, it's fine.
Whatever.
I'm going to LA this week, and I'm going to be on Bill Maher as the main guest, which I'm very excited about.
I heard that.
Going to see Gwyneth Paltrow.
Susan Bennett, who's my Sherpa there.
I would texted me and I thought, oh, they're going to ask me to be on again.
She's like, I just thought you'd want to know Kara Swisher's going to be on.
I'm like, oh.
Yeah, thanks.
Oh, that's great, I mean.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's great.
Anyway, I'm doing a lot in LA.
I'm interviewing uh Clara Wu, who is uh one of the owners of the Brooklyn Nets and Liberty and stuff about sports.
So I'm doing a lot.
I'm doing a lot.
I may see my friend Harvey Levin.
Um it's I'm gonna do a lot in LA.
And I'm going to see for the weekend my beautiful son Louis Swisher and his lovely girlfriend Ivy.
Where do you stay when you're in LA?
I'm into hotels here.
Where do you think?
Uh at Brooks' house, of course.
Brooks.
You know, I we stay at Friends.
I don't like hotels as much.
How do you yell at people though when you're at breakfast is late?
Like, where's the gym?
Where's the I don't?
She has everything.
You know, Brooke like gets me everything that I like and then makes me a nice egg.
So she's excellent.
She's an excellent Airbnb host.
Anyway, and I love her dogs.
Um she has two um Frenchies now.
Anyway, we got to get to things.
Let's get to things.
There's a lot of news.
Jesus Christ, there was so much for your way.
I think we've forgotten that stuff.
But Pope Leo says he has no fear of the Trump administration after the president lashed out at him on True Social Sunday night.
Trump called the Pope, quote, weak on crime and quote, terrible on foreign policy in his post.
Neither one of those are his jobs.
He accused Pope Leo of, quote, catering to the radical left, and then told him to focus on, quote, being a great Pope, not a politician.
Trump later posted an AI-generated image of himself as Jesus, though it looks like he might have deleted it and told reporters that he thought the image was him as a doctor.
Oh my God, he's such a liar.
It's not just the Pope.
Trump called out Tucker Carlson, Megan Kelly, Candace Owens, and Alex Jones over their criticism of the war last week.
Alex Jones responded, we are witnessing the Epstein presidency.
He's a nod to Scott Galloway there, that Candace Owens said that it may be time to put grandpa up in a home.
We'll get to the latest on the war, but first talk about this alienation of everybody.
It seems demented.
He was tweeting all last night from like 9 p.m.
to 4 a.m.
like regularly.
Thoughts?
I I don't see the strategy here.
And granted, I think Trump has had an ability to zag when everyone else is zigging.
I thought one of the greatest insights in political history was when Trump told somebody everybody claims to be socially liberal and fiscally conservative.
He said the key is to be fiscally liberal and socially conservative.
And it struck me that that was sort of a genius political positioning.
But I failed to see how alienating a core constituency, the Republican Party, and that is evangelical Christians, by taking on the Pope.
I mean, people say Social Security is the third rail.
I do think the American public is coming to grips with the fact that the wealthiest generation in the history of the planet probably shouldn't be taking 1.2 trillion dollars from the most anxious, obese, and depressed generation in history, and that's people under the age of 40.
But Dow used to be the third rail, but I would argue kind of the most obvious third rail.
You don't go after the I mean, El P don't fuck with El Papa.
So I I just, even though I I always think there's certain political instincts that the president has that I don't see that end up being less wrong than I thought and sometimes right, I do not see any upside here.
Also an articulate Pope, but very articulate and younger Pope.
Outstanding, smart, measured, everything you would want in a leader.
Uh what are your thoughts?
I don't get this at all.
I I think this guy is incredibly popular.
I don't I don't understand why I think he's jealous of his popularity and his intelligence.
And you know, this guy's been speaking out as as popes sometimes do on wars.
You know, Francis did the same thing, and we don't want to see all this war in the way you talk about like last week when you weren't here talking, you know, the decimation of a civilization in just as a as a tactic.
It was just demented.
It was demented.
And I think he was responsibly talking out the way a Pope might do.
And he has been very firm on war.
Like, let's stop it, let's stop the war thing.
He's still, you know, awfully conservative, even though you you don't think about it.
But he seem I suppose he seems liberal because he says no war.
I don't know how that is no work.
And he dovetails, by the way, with the media, with the MAGA media, which is very against the war.
Like not just the m Marjorie Taylor Green, another one.
There's bunches of them that are now uh Tim Poole.
All of them are sort of I mean, uh to an extent, um, Rogan, but he, of course, you know, high-fived him at this whatever wrestling stupid thing they were at.
Um, but I think, you know, uh they're like MAGA Media doesn't speak full of MAGA.
I'm like, they kind of do.
They kind of, there's millions and millions and millions of followers, and they're growing like crazy.
And so I'm not so sure picking a fight with these mouthy people from Alex Jones to Megan Kelly and Tucker Carlson, Candace and Owen and um uh Marjorie Taylor Green's a particularly good idea at this moment.
But I don't know.
I think he uh as I said, I think he's suffering deeply cognitively, and he's losing it.
That's my feeling.
Just looking at the tweets, it seems to me.
Yeah, he it does feel like he's lashing out.
I don't yeah, I I I I'm having trouble.
Susie Wiles has ended up being more genius than crazy.
This just feels crazy.
It feels the same.
Yeah, she's she is uh breast cancer, you know.
She may not be as there as president.
She says she is, but it feels like she's gone left the building.
Oh, I didn't know.
Um I don't know who's around him.
And then look, Marco Rubio looked like a loser at that WW, whatever, whatever was happening, the MF, whatever the fight.
Yeah.
You have to go.
No, there's no I'm going.
Come on.
And with a little camera on your head, that would be good.
I find UFC fights disturbing.
I really don't like seeing young men who are in peak physical shape, beating each other up like that.
I just even boxing, which I think is I can see is such an in some ways such so incredible.
Uh even that disturbs me now as I get older.
I went to a lot of boxing matches with my grandfather when I was a kid.
Not a lot, but enough wrestling.
He was into wrestling, boxing.
Uh, my brother, Jeff, went to a lot of them.
Anyway, he was a big sports and wrestling and boxing nut, but um, and was a promoter in in of a lot of stuff up in Northeast Pennsylvania.
Cole and boxing, and you turned out lesbian.
What a shocker.
What a shocker.
I know.
I know I think I think it's a good thing.
It's in the battery you homophobe.
Anyway, I'm going to hear people now going to do with your environment.
Yes, yes.
I think it had to do exactly.
I'm a lesbian because my grandfather took me to boxing.
Um so as of this recording, by the way, the the point is it's all about um what's happening in Iran and with Iran.
And the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is underway with more than 15 U.S.
warships in place to support the oh my God, this feels like a bad idea.
Trump announced the blockade plan on Sunday, accusing Iran of world extortion.
He'd know.
His threats came after peace talks ended, as you know, without a resolution, which often happens, by the way.
I give JD Vance a hard time, but these things take time, obviously.
Um he was there leading the negotiations with the U.S.
and said Iran chose not to accept our terms.
I think there was issues around the nuclear proliferation stuff.
Um Trump is also reported looking at limited military strikes in Iran in addition to the blockade.
Um it's really um hard for him because he's stuck, as you said.
He's painted himself into a corner many times.
Um they're not budging.
And and also uh one of I want to note we've seen a big new type of target in this war, big tech data centers last month.
Amazon data centers in the UAE and Bahrain were damaged in drone strikes, and Iran has been threatening to attack U.S.
companies in the Middle East.
I don't know what to say here.
What a mess.
He just can't like get himself out of this situation since these people aren't budging.
Even if they're on their back foot, they're still have advantage in a very it in a weird way the way Ukraine does with Russia in in, you know, it's very hard to unseat them.
So I actually think the illuminating analogy here is the WGA strike.
And that is key, Robert McNamara um said this back in the Vietnam War that to defeat an enemy, you have to really understand them.
And also you have to understand the incentives at play.
And so going back to the WGA strike, they said, All right, we're gonna shut, we're gonna go on strike, which means your ability to create content has been cut off.
But what they didn't realize is the most powerful person on the other side of the table was Netflix.
And Netflix could look around and say, okay, our queue, you know, people's playlist is two or three years deep.
I could watch Netflix for the next two or three years and still not get through my playlist.
Linear TV, especially late-night TV, which people tune in every night.
They're not interested in w watching Jimmy Kimmel run down the day's news from two years ago.
The other streaming networks who had not been spending $18 billion a year, who had spent 10-2 billion dollars a year, their pool was really shallow.
So the most powerful person on the other side of the table had an incentive to not come to an agreement.
And the WTA never recognized that they were negotiating against themselves because the the other side would pretend to care and not offend anybody and make sure this strike went on for as long as possible to cede advantage to Netflix as everybody else.
All that happened coming out of that that strike was the most powerful player on the other side of the table garnered and registered additional value.
And this is exactly what's going on here.
And to a certain extent, JD Vance would they poured honey on them and sent him hunting for bears because the reality is the incentive was to draw out the talks for two or three weeks, uh have an opportunity to maybe rearm, regroup your missile launch capability, lay some more mines in the Strait of Hormuz.
But their incentive is for this thing to go longer because they have stumbled upon vis-a-vis our in our head up your ass, strategic planning around not going in with allies, around not securing the Strait of Hormuz before military action.
No aims, no goals.
No goals, not not enabling and coordinating with our Gulf allies.
Iran's Iran has, we have given Iran something that quite frankly is probably more dangerous and effective than enriched uranium, and that is their ability to put a stranglehold on a chokehold of the global economy called the strait.
So they have an incentive for this to go longer right now.
The IRGC looks to be gaining strength, not losing it through this.
They have shown an ability to resist or survive this type of military action, and they have stumbled upon a choke point, which has given them unbelievable political levels.
They had, but didn't think they had before.
This is it's a really and sort of Trump's like, don't block that straight.
And it'll be interesting with U.S.
ships there.
Now, this could be an economic way to squeeze them, which is important, I think, as always.
Um, but it puts like I'm like, a ship is there.
Oh my god, a drone, a speed boat coming towards it.
You just feel like they're we're kind of big and right out there, so open for attack in a way that they don't have to do much to really create a problem for all of us, right?
So that's 15 ships sitting there, like, oh geez.
This guy, this is the guy who governed who who campaigned on America first and not this.
So I think it would only hurt his political standing here, and at the same time make them crazier than ever when they don't behave, which they don't want, they don't have to behave.
And it's their kind there, it's you know, they have the I guess they have the home advantage in some weird way compared, unless we really want to commit troops.
I can't I can't imagine being, I don't have sympathy for JD Vance because I think he's the cyber truck of politicians.
But he they really put him like in a situation, and there he was not going to succeed in these talks.
That's exactly.
You know, failed venture capitalists with two real estate people, and then apparently the guy who's leading, I was reading David Ignatius's column, and I'm gonna mispronounce his name, so I'm not going to leading it as one of the possible candidates to run Iran at some point.
Very, very worldly person, high level on every ad.
They sent apparently their best people, and we sent them, which is like I I know we probably sent experts with them too, but it's not like we aren't showing our finest diplomatic showing if we're gonna have any seriousness.
If maybe, maybe he doesn't.
Because he said, and he's like, I don't care if it works or not.
That's not some messaging from the president you like to hear.
I don't know.
He just keeps stepping in it because he's old.
The majority of battles are won before anyone steps on the field, and that is their supply chain, their strength, their military, their brute force advantage.
This negotiation was over before it star started, because one group showed up with incentives to not negotiate or to extend the negotiations to re-arm, but not to come to an agreement.
Now, having said that, to be fair, this is in my view, the exact right move given where we are right now, and that is that we block the Strait of Hormuz from any Iranian ports, because that will bring European allies and China to the table who quite frankly are doing that.
Who who have more to lose than we do.
Now, this notion of we broke it, you fix it, it diminishes our credibility globally for a long time.
But something we have taken for granted, like a lot of things we've taken for granted, that took took huge sacrifice, huge resources, a lot of brave patriots from around the world giving their lives such that we can enjoy these things.
One of those things is the freedom of maritime navigation.
And that is Singapore has decided not to sequester and block and control the Straits of Singapore.
And if you if you start blocking straights through the fear of military action, such as no one will ensure the 100 or 200 million dollars of cargo, that strait is blocked off.
So everybody, especially the golf players, and most especially Russia, Iran, and China have a vested interest in the Strait of Hormuz being open for their ships.
So America, and I think this is the right thing.
Yeah, many Ignatius thought so too.
But here's the thing.
I just these little drones and these little boats, I feel like 15 U.S.
warships, yikes.
I just feel like we are putting ourselves way out there in an i unnecessarily now that this is our only choice.
That's the problem.
I think it just we uh let's be clear.
Not going to Congress, not enlisting Gulf allies, not enlisting European allies, not having a clear exit strategy after certain military objectives were met or not met, has put us in the definition of a quagmire.
By the way, just a quick fun fact the mining sweeping or the demining vessels in the Navy, do you know what they're made out of?
They're made out of wood.
Isn't that interesting?
They don't try to get it.
Then the drones.
And then the mines can't detect them.
And then they when they detect them, they have unbelievable.
They're ancient, basically ancient structures with the most sophisticated radar equipment.
And when they detect, when they detect a mine, they drop a metal figure, and then it's drawn to the metal figure and they blow it up.
It's really sophisticated technology.
But right now, they have to say to China and Iran, we're gonna create an incentive for you to make sure that the strait is open.
And a multinational force that keep keeps the strait open to everyone's benefit.
That is job that is objectives one, two, and three here.
No one wants to help Trump because he's not Jesus.
Um but like speaking of the sad m situation for J.D.
Vance, by the way, JD Vance happens to be Catholic, so that's even better.
Uh and he failed in Iran, which I think everyone expected.
Despite some last-minute campaigning from him, as well as Trump's endorsement, Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban has been ousted after 16 years in power.
Not a good sign for the Trump people.
By the way, Maggiear was a loyalist of Orban and just broke with him over a pardon.
Um, and so we he it's like as if a Rhino Republican won, essentially.
He's not, you know, Mr.
Liberal in any way.
More than 77% of registered voters cast ballots, amazing.
The highest turnout in a Hungarian election since the fall of communism.
You know, it's a really interesting winner.
Obviously, he's super handsome and kind of sexy and everything else.
But he's not, he's not as liberal as you think.
Let's just be clear.
Um, and he also was an Orban uh in the Orban University, switched parties.
But again, it's very much like, oh, who switched?
I don't know, George Conway becoming the president.
You know what I mean?
Someone who was conservative and now is it looks as if he's not.
Um so and and George can be conservative and liberal and different things, but uh he's also running for Congress, by the way.
Is this an indicator of a larger move away from the far right?
I mean, obviously Democrats can learn a lot.
Um, but this is a little different in in Hungary, but it is a it's the end of an era, and J.D.
Vance and Trump hugged, bear-hugged Orban, so and so did uh Tucker Carlson, so did Elon Musk, that whole gang did also.
Thoughts?
Since the U.S.'s decision to bomb Iran or increase whatever you want to call it, increase the military escalation, or if some people will call it a new war, this is the biggest thing that's happened in the last month.
This is Europe uh and a key component in a healthy, important, powerful economy saying, rejecting the movement to the far right.
He said nice things about he hopes the UK rejoins the European Union.
It is a huge win for Ukraine.
They are pro-Ukraine, and it is a huge defeat for Russia that was hoping to turn uh Orban and Hungary into a Russian satellite.
Orbon was the friction.
She was headed that way.
Orban was the friction in more European aid and support of Ukraine.
It says something, it was symbolic that J.D.
Vance went over there, and after going over, Orban's popularity actually went down.
But something even more important, or I would argue more important happened.
They had the the largest turnout in the history of Hungary.
More, a much greater percentage of Hungarians voted than have ever voted in a U.S.
election.
There were people singing in the metro.
There were people laughing and crying.
This was this was really a wonderful moment for the West.
And that's still not the best thing that happened here.
The best thing that happened, and it's a real testament to Victor Orban, was he conceded the election.
Immediately, yeah.
He said he he he thanked his people, he talked about Hungary, and he conceded the election.
And when I saw three judges seeking Senate approval for to become judges, and all three of those bitches, and when I say bitch, I mean someone who has a low character.
I use it as an androgynous comment, refused to acknowledge that Biden had won the 2020 election.
Victor Orban has greater character now than many of our Republican elected officials.
If you do not concede elections, the very basis, the very foundation of democracy does not exist.
And a right wing, some people would call fascist in Eastern Europe had the decency and the character to concede the election.
Yep, absolutely.
I mean, he's uh, you know, it'll be interesting to see what he does next.
He'll probably become a right wing figure.
But it seems like right wingery is sort of on the way out.
This guy is a dressed up version of a conservative for sure.
But at the same time, he was, as you said, back in Ukraine, was not a satellite of Russia.
Let's hope he, you know, he certainly looks great.
I know it's a he's he seems young and vibrant.
Orban seems old and corrupt, essentially.
It'll be interesting to see which way he goes, how he deals with Trump, Trump's I think Trump is a past tense figure at this point for a lot of these leaders, whoever it happens to be.
Um, but it's really is interesting, and you're right.
This country looked like when I saw all those crowds, all those people, I was like, oh, this guy's absolute toast in the way people are handling it.
And they just, they just were sick and tired of corruption and fascism.
And this is a country which has suffered at the hands of fascists and different difficult uh leaders for a long time.
So what's our excuse?
That's what I say.
Um, anyway, let's take a quick break.
When we come back, Eric Swalwell ends his campaign for governor of California.
What a mess.
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Scott, we're back.
Representative Eric Swalwell of California says he is resigning from Congress and has suspended his campaign already for California governor amid multiple allegations of rape, sexual assault, and misconduct.
In a post on X, the Congressman said he is deeply sorry for mistakes and judgment I've made in my past.
He said he would fight the quote false allegations, unquote.
The allegations triggered swift political fallout with Swalwell losing nearly all of his endorsements within 24 hours.
The governor's race remains crowded, with other leading Democrats being billionaire Tom Steyer and former representative Katie Porter.
Just so you're clear, this was started online by someone named Miss Frazel, um, who was who had done an interview with Swalwell and then had gotten a lot of incoming about his behavior, which is was very well known across the spectrum.
I did not, but I I I think a lot of people within politics knew about him the same way I think many people knew about Gonzalez.
Like there's there's a lot of men in politics that people know their behavior, and I think this was pretty well known, and which is incredible that he he walked into this um race with a bomb strapped to his chest.
He had to have known, or maybe he doesn't think he did anything.
That's what he seems to do.
So any thoughts on this?
You can often you could o possibly see Kamala Harris come back in.
I don't know.
I don't I don't what do you think about this?
Steve Hilton was ahead.
Uh what do you think is gonna happen here?
Well, there's two things.
And then it's it's its impact on the governor's race, and then what this says about the dynamic of uh potential or accusations of misconduct and how we're supposed to evaluate that.
So I'll go in that order.
Uh I think this probably is going to make Tom Steyr governor.
I think the California is still a heavily Democratic state.
I think if if the Democrats consolidate to one or two leaders and that person gets into the general after the jungle primary, whatever you call it, I think the Democrats gonna win.
And I think Star has the money.
I think the next shoe top candidates, I think Speaker Pelosi was waiting till there was some something resembling an emerging leader here.
The unions don's Tom Star.
I think she will endorse him, but money is more important than unions, even in California.
I think he will be.
I think with hit with Swalwell dropping out in a consolidation across the Democrats, I think this is probably the moment that we'll look back on and say this is how Steyr became governor.
Now, to the second issue, and we face this all the time on boards.
When a senior level person has sex with somebody, and then that person accuses them of harassment or conduct, sometimes they're bullshit cases and opportunistic.
Other times there is a power imbalance that the person takes advantage of.
My view on this shit is the following.
I'm not sure this is comparable, but go ahead.
But if you are, and this is true on boards, if you once you are above a certain level of power, as a general, not a general, as a red line, you fuck anybody who works here, you're out.
It creates too much risk.
So for me, the question is if if law enforcement needs to get involved and decide if there was a crime here in sexual assault, is obviously a very serious crime.
Needs to be investigated.
Then have it investigated.
But before that even happens, if it's did you have sex with a staffer as an elected representative?
If the answer is yes, then you are out.
If you're the Secretary of Homeland Security and you're fucking your number two, then you are out.
If you're the attorney general in Georgia investigating an important case against the president and you are fucking your number two, then you are out.
The staffers are there to fuck each other, not the elected representative who has power over them because all you're doing is injecting risk into the entire organization.
And there is a power imbalance.
So whether or not he's guilty of sexual assault, the crime, the legal authorities should investigate that, but he should be out before that if he was engaging in sexual relationships with the staffers.
What's interesting is how many people knew about it, right?
He's texted me that he's wanted to come on the podcast, and I wrote back, I'm like, I might until there's two left, and then I'll think about who we're gonna, you know.
I I think there's there was so many people in this jungle.
Yeah, styles teams with us trying to get on.
Yeah, exactly.
They were all every one of them, every every candidate in primaries, whether it's Iowa or Texas or wherever, they're all trying to get on these things.
But I was like, well, let's just wait till there's two, which is what I told him.
Um, but I did I did think I was surprised to find out.
And by the way, kudos to the people online who actually handled it rather well.
It was it was until nobody no credible journalist from a major media organization would look into it.
Now, it was broken, it was broken online by this Ms.
Frazald uh who did had done an interview with him and then had a lot of incoming.
But i she covers education, like that's the thing.
And and I think a lot of the political reporters had some sense of this from what I could understand.
Um, but it was broken by the Chronicle and CNN, um, Pam Brown did a report on it.
I was sort of flummoxed by one, why would you run when this many things were you would be aware of things you did?
And then two, why nobody in media had started to look at it because same thing with Tony Gonzalez, too.
Like a lot of the, and there's more than that in Congress.
That I don't think that you should be on a hunt for this stuff necessarily, but this was really well known now in hindsight.
Like, I think it was kind of healthy for the Democratic Party to speak out, right?
To like people to even if they were friends with him or had endorsed him.
I thought that was relatively healthy response from the Democratic Party for lots of reasons.
And there should be an investigation.
That's exactly what every single party in this deserves and the public should expect.
And that that that was the only part I was sort of like, really?
It was I was surprised I guess I'm not surprised anytime by anything, but I was amazed by how many people within these parties, both of them know this stuff pretty well.
That always surprises me.
I don't know about you.
Look, I I think we need I mean, there's just need structural reform, or this will continue to happen.
We need Citizens United to go away, we need Jeremandy to go away.
We need to pay Representative Swalwell and the other representatives five to ten times more than they're getting paid now, such that they can do their job and not have to compromise themselves and start trading stocks.
I heard Rokonnell, one of my heroes, is actually outperforming the SP all of a sudden.
We need structural reform.
And part of that structural reform is very clear lines.
And that is if you are a powerful senator or congressperson, the moment someone comes to the city.
I would say any, not powerful, any.
Any, 100%.
Any, any person elected to federal office, it's awesome to be you.
You're gonna go, you have the best rap at a bar.
What do you do?
Oh, I'm the I'm the elected congressperson from the great state of California.
Wow, I would really like to have sex with you.
Wow, you sir, we'll get we'll find a reservation for you.
Sir, let us escort you to where you're plane and circumvent security.
Sir, let us be let you can you be our honored guest?
Can you be the commencement speaker at your former high school?
It is awesome to be an elected federal official.
One of the few downsides is that anyone who works for you, that you have power over their livelihood, you cannot have sex with.
Simple, cut and dry.
No story, no context dependent.
If you decide you have feelings for each other, then one of you needs to resign and pursue the relationship because it creates way too much risk, distraction from the important work they do.
And guess what?
I I'm sympathetic.
And by the way, I don't, I'm not one of these people that doesn't believe in intra-office romance.
If you get a bunch of people in a close intense environment, they're gonna start having sex.
It's the senior level people that have power that don't get to do it.
The young people have at it.
As long as it's consensual, as long as no one feels pressured.
That's what young people are supposed to be doing.
Well, this case has more than that.
This is not a good idea.
That's not this.
I agree with you.
Right.
So I mean, that's in that's it's a it's a problem for Let's have some common sense laws or common sense norms and standards.
When when you have this kind of power imbalance, you are injecting risk, and your fly is up and locked, you take it off campus.
You want to have extramarital affairs, you want to have orgies, you want to have sex with people the same sex as you while passing anti- or homophobic laws.
Fine.
It's a it's a lack of character, but you don't get expelled from Congress.
You abuse your power dynamic and inject the entire office to risk.
You're out.
Make it simpler for them.
No gray area.
I guess.
I don't know.
We'll see what happens here.
It's not a great story.
Anyway, and speaking of not a great story, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant met with the country's top bank executives last week, along with Fed Chair Jerome Powell, warning them about anthropic's new mythos model.
Uh Bessant raised concerns about cybersecurity, making sure banks are aware of the risk, taking precautions.
Anthropic itself has been sounding the alarm, saying mythos is so powerful, uh, it's potentially dangerous.
It's not been released to the public yet.
Instead, they're keeping it to a small group of companies to test to find vulnerability, it finds vulnerabilities in all manner of places.
This Bessent meeting appears to be separate from the Pentagon's clash with anthropic, which is still playing out in court.
Um you know, this is really a problem where the uh as these uh as these models continue to evolve in terms of uh staying too far ahead of the defense.
The offense is much stronger than the defense.
Um, and of course, Bessent uh is talking to banks about using it, but also at the same time using it to protect themselves.
What a mess.
What a mess.
Another mess.
Yeah, I don't have a uh I find that the worst thing to do right now is to be a cabinet member going on and trying to try to defend these policies.
I think it is the government's interest to help companies figure out as these see one might start to regulate these things in terms of the way we do everything else, nuclear arms, etc.
etc.
Development of important technologies.
And if it's going to be dangerous to companies and let everyone in the back down and take everybody's money, it seems I don't know.
Bess I mean, Bessin's is doing the right thing here, but it's just ridiculous that they have that the Pentagon is then mooring with Anthropic, which came forward, which companies usually don't in this case.
Often companies keep it to themselves until a disaster.
Anyway, let's go in a quick break.
When we come back, Sam Alton's home gets targeted in multiple attacks.
When you think of a phone, not a smartphone, but like a telephone, you almost certainly think of one particular device.
This boxy thing that's out on your desk, it has a bunch of buttons on it, it.
It has a handset that you pick up, it has a braided cable.
You're thinking of a phone called the Western Electric 500.
And for decades, it was absolutely everywhere in American homes.
It was essentially illegal not to have it in your house if you had a phone.
This week on Virgin History, our chat show about the best and worst and most interesting products in tech history.
We're telling the story of the Western Electric 500, which is actually the story about the ATT monopoly and how it fell apart.
All that on Virgin History on YouTube and wherever you get podcasts.
Scott, we're back with more news.
Sam Altman's home was targeted twice over the weekend, once with a suspect throwing a Molotov cocktail, and the second time with a car stopping and firing a gun at the residents.
He lives in San Francisco.
The subject in the first suspect in the first attack was later found at the open AI headquarters, threatening to burn down the building.
Probably has some mental problems.
Altman responded to the first attack in a blog post saying he empathized with anti-technology sentiments.
And clearly technology isn't always good for everyone.
In the post, Sam uh Altman noted that the incident came a few days after an incendiary article was published about him in the New Yorker raising questions about his trustworthiness.
He shouldn't blame the article.
It was an excellent article by uh Ronan Farrow.
That's not what caused it.
Uh but nearly a third of young adults say IEI makes them angry.
These are new polls.
Um, you know, this is unfortunately where it leads.
These and I and to blame using the word incendiary was really unfortunate on Altman's behalf.
Um, but there is, you know, this is I hate to blame someone for what's happening here because anyone that uses violence is should be widely derided um by everybody, but it's still this is how it goes.
I used to say this to them.
If you don't, if you don't do something about this, you're gonna have to armor plate your Tesla, unfortunately, because people start to get really uh prop violent, is what where it ought often leads to.
Your thoughts?
I just think there I I mean speaking of red lines here.
We we just can't we can't in any way justify we have to move swiftly against any violence against any citizen.
And I know I'm not a fan of Sam Altman.
I think big tech has done tremendous damage, and these CEOs have done tremendous damage to the United States and most importantly to our youth, ripping at the fabric of America.
We have to have zero tolerance for violence against them in any fashion.
Absolutely.
Um, I don't like Sam Altman.
I I think he's I I we were talking about this off mic earlier when you were on my podcast.
I think there are few people who have seen such a 180 in their brand in such a short span of time.
If effectively the brand march of tech executives is they're very likable, they're very charming.
We need to do better.
She should run for president.
Oh, I love her book, lean in.
And then over time, we find out that they make a bunch of incremental decisions that are bad for America such that they can get richer and richer.
And eventually they turn into a bond villain.
That march is usually about a seven to ten year march.
For Sam Altman, it was 18 months.
Remember, Sam was the more thoughtful guy with the hushed tones.
Like, there are really, really, we are very concerned about some of the implications of AI.
And we need to oh, Senator, I don't, I don't own any equity.
That's Dario now.
I don't own any equity in open AI.
Oh, what a guy.
This nice young gay man in t shirts who seems to be the caring tech CEO.
Okay, uh, I just want to go on record as saying this guy's gonna go, this guy will say, Hey, say or do anything to make more money.
That's why they go into this business.
There are easier ways to find self-satisfaction than running a tech company right now.
You're there for the money, you get tremendous pressure and obligation to represent your shareholders, you want to win.
It is a thunderdome.
It is easy to understand why they get there.
The real failure is there's absolutely no regulation on these individuals.
And so when people start coming at them, it like I don't like it when people start yelling insults verbally at JD Vance.
I I think there has to be a level of civility and safety such that we work things out at a government level.
And I know there's a lot of people who disagree with my views on Israel.
People don't assault me verbally on the street.
I feel like I'm poking the bear here.
I think it's important.
I saw Senator John Thune in Nantucket.
I went up to him and I thanked him for his service.
I don't agree.
I disagree with almost everything he does.
And I immediately disclosed I'm a Democrat, but I said we're both Americans.
I we one of the hallmarks of a progressive society that we all want to live in is we recognize we're all Americans, and as long as we're operating with the con within the confines of the law, which quite frankly, Sam Altman is, and that's the problem, is there aren't any laws.
He deserves to live in peace and safety.
Yeah, let me say he shouldn't have blamed the article for it.
This was a rarely well-reported article.
Did not suddenly people don't hate Sam Altman because of this article.
They have these feelings and unstable people act on them because of a perceived uh rapaciousness by tech companies.
And so probably a mentally ill young man.
That's correct.
That's who read about Sam Altman.
Yeah.
You know, the the guy who killed John L.
Crazy people are drawn.
They they believe that in a in a historic act of violence, it will restore or give them social capital.
Yeah.
That's why they do it.
I don't know anything about this individual, but there's a very good chance it's someone who's isolated and is hoping to gain social capital through what they see is a heroic act of violence.
And the FBI and our security apparatus need to ensure that that famous people can walk the streets and have some semblance.
My old home, I bought a home in San Francisco and I bought it for $720,000.
And two years later I wanted to move to New York and I sold it for $950,000 and thought I was a fucking real estate genius.
That home ended up being next to the home where ultimately is no longer there now, so you don't need to look up the address.
But it ended up being the home next to where Mark Zuckerberg lived in San Francisco, in the neighborhood you live in.
And now my home is where his security detail lived.
Oh yeah.
Because he had they basically started blocking off the block.
I know.
It's my neighborhood.
So after that election in the Netherlands, and I love this, the prime minister stepped down and then got on his bike and rode away.
We live in a such peaceful society.
When I'm done, I got on a bike.
Yeah, he wanted up on a bike.
I mean, like they they win.
They win.
He doesn't need the beast.
He he doesn't need he doesn't need his kids escorted to school.
I have been unfortunately seeing the the need for it.
They do need it.
It's really crazy.
But one of the things was I was like, we gotta deal with what's happening here.
You're gonna have crazy people attracted to you.
It's gonna happen because it's inevitable.
And with just the enormous wealth, the same thing.
It's really creates real problems.
But you should not whoever did these things or considering it.
We you are horrible people.
That's how you you deal with problems.
There's lots of ways to deal with problems, and even if you feel desperate, you should seek help.
Um the anger needs to be funneled towards the ballot booth.
That's right.
And that is, I need people who will keep these people in check.
I need people that when Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk, peace out to Florida and Texas, that there are elected representatives who will figure out a way to tax the earnings they accreted from the great states of Washington and from California.
I need people who will ensure that social media is gated.
There is no reason people under the age of 16.
But be clear, folks, if you're waiting on the better angels or these tech executives to show up, don't hold your breath.
And then when they take advantage of the system and accrete massive wealth, uh that is not a cause for violence.
We do have to acknowledge there is an huge I get yelled at for not stopping Elon Musk before.
And I I I get like more than yelled at, like threatened.
So I don't know what to say.
It's not the way to handle these things.
Anyway, uh lastly, a quick grab bag of other topics I'd like to hit.
Over a thousand Hollywood Heavyweeds have released a letter opposing Paramount's acquisition of Warner Brothers Discovery, saying the deal would harm the industry.
Paramount uh responded to the letter by saying we hear and understand the concerns of some in our creative community have raised and respect the commitment to protecting and expanding creativity.
This transaction uniquely brings together complimentary strengths to create a company that can green light more projects, back bold ideas, support talent across multiple stages of their careers, and bring stories to audiences of truly global scale while strengthening competition by ensuring multiple scale players and investing and creative talent.
Um they also said they're gonna they have they continue their commitment to increasing output to a minimum of 30 high quality feature films with full theatrical releases, continuing to license content and brands.
Um and he they said we understand the concerns, we're gonna do what we say.
Scott and I do not believe them, but they they're re-establishing their commitment to it.
Very quickly, Scott.
Reaction, where's this going?
Also, Europe is looking like it's gonna possibly block part of it.
Slow going.
They'll eventually get it through, I see.
And what is the greatest movie of all time, Obi-Wan Jedi, Obi-Wan Kenobi feels a disturbance in the forest because the planet of Alderon is killed by a space laser and millions of people screamed.
If this deal goes through, you're gonna hear millions of people in the creative community scream because this is gonna be the most destructive uh force of human capital in the creative community we've ever seen.
There is no way they can justify this price if they don't implement the AI that they believe will give them the efficiencies they need to justify this price.
So I've been saying this for three months.
Why the f where the fuck are the unions?
So if it's should have gone the way they were gonna do it, which was spin off CNN and spin off the studios and then maybe do acquisitions of pieces of it that made economic sense.
They're too fucking late.
This letter should have come out.
They should have said to Ellison and and also the Gulf states and the people financing this deal, the day this goes through, you are not gonna get a single piece of content made.
This is unworkable for us.
Absolutely.
Uh next one.
Elon Musk gave $10 million dollars to two major Republican super PACs at the end of last year, according to campaign finance disclosure.
Then the FDC investigated ad firms that had steered clear of Twitter as they are allowed to do, and those firms just settled to make it all go away.
I just this is ridiculous.
He's been using FCC, the FTC in all manner of ways, including Marco Rubio around the Center for Countering Digital Hate in order to get his beast won that he can't win in court.
Uh and the FTC does this, and these firms finally just settled, even though it's within their right not to not to advertise on an at a Nazi porn bar.
So quick thoughts?
This goes back to the same thing.
That's two things.
You need you need structural reform.
He's allowed to do this.
Until we get rid of Citizens of the United, billionaires are going to continue to control more and more billionaires and corporations are going to continue to leak or we're going to continue to leak capital from labor in the middle class and consumers to billionaires and corporations because of their ability to strategically weaponize government.
300 people now are responsible for a fifth of all PAC spending, and guess what?
They can deploy it wherever they need it strategically.
The best ROI in history.
She poor.
Well, you don't expect the FTC and the FCC to make it.
I don't ask for anything.
But my point is.
Oh, it's gone.
Uh look, this has been going on for a while.
These guys are more brazen about it, and quite frankly, more efficient about it.
There needs to be an absolute restriction.
Until Citizens United is overturned, we're going to have more and more of this.
Also, until the this this straight corruption, it used to be more opaque.
But I'm I'm I've said if I had someone in prison who I wanted out, I think for between one and three million dollars to a third party, I could get them out within 24 months.
Yeah, the head of the FTC and the head of the FCC really are are are creatures of these uh of Elon Musk essentially and others.
Um and a federal judge has dismissed President Trump's.
He doesn't always win $10 billion lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal, which claimed the paper defame Trump with a story saying he had sent the birthday card to Jeffrey Epstein.
Uh the courts keep pushing back at Trump on all, you know.
In this case, the journal fought as opposed to CBS and settled, or other other ABC, C BS settled.
So uh it looks like the journal has a real victory here.
Um, you know, I think good thing.
I mean, what a stupid he does all these stupid nuisance cases and loses them.
We've been really weak on government corruption.
The one the silver lining here, the thing that's holding is First Amendment.
It does feel like both Trump appointees and appointees before Trump are saying free speech is paramount and we're yeah, we're gonna throw this out.
The problem is is enough suits creates a chill.
I was talking to a producer of a of a very popular show, and they said, We're checking everything now, double, triple checking, and occasionally when something's on the margin, we don't print it because we're we're freaked out.
So uh but it does appear when they these things do go to court, they are universally swatted away.
Absolutely.
Well, we'll see where that goes.
He doesn't have much time.
Trump does not have much time.
All right, Scott, one more quick break.
We'll be back for wins and fails.
Yeah, unsere autos sind in absolute gewachsen.
Then egal of road trip or geschäftsreise, when your fluke for spa ton hats, your aku gleich off gives, or as if your hunger danach richten muss, was Garde offen hat, yeah, out then we for you here.
Enterprise here for siege.
Okay, Scott, let's hear some wins and fails.
Would you like to go first?
I'll go first.
So my win is Kara Swisher wants to live forever.
I was pleasantly surprised.
I really were shocked.
I I knew you would do a good job, but I was really surprised, quite frankly, at the production values.
It feels cinematic.
The colors, the cinematography.
It was it felt very rich for lack of a better word.
It felt like an you know what I felt like?
I thought that could have easily been an original scripted series on Apple TV.
It felt very for lack of evidence, it just felt very rich.
So congratulations.
I think it's nice for you.
I know you spent a lot of time on it.
And I really I've only seen the first episode, but I really enjoyed it.
Um it airs Saturday night at 10.
When does it nine?
No.
Saturday night at nine.
Unless JD Vance does not get it.
Unless JD Vance.
That made me so happy.
I know it didn't.
I'm like, oh my God, I turned it on.
I turned it on because I want I want you to have good numbers.
And and I turned on both TVs.
I don't know if they count them twice.
And then I see JD Vance.
I'm like, this has to be.
I'm like, I'd love to see Kara's face when she saw JD Vance at her in her hour slot.
We laughed.
You know, we had an extra cop.
We had a party.
We were having a party in DC.
Tammy had it ran it.
Um, and we had a copy of the show, so we were able to show it to people.
But first we're like, oh fucking.
It just the thing is CNN had a picture of a door.
Did you see that for an hour?
There was the the door that JD Vance was behind.
And so it was just the door.
Where he came out and said we've got nothing accomplished.
Yeah.
I know.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, so that's my thank you, sweetie.
That's my win.
Um my my fail out.
It's not even a it's not even a fail.
I have two wins.
Look, uh the election in in Hungary is so huge and so wonderful on a lot of levels.
But my win is Victor Orban.
I I I if a fascist who ruled for 16 years can concede an election, so can we.
So can we.
And think about what we have done in this country.
If you had a team, a basketball team and a head coach, and they lost 68 to 72, and then the head coach refused to shake the hand, told his team we won the game, told the media we won the game, refused to show up for the the medal ceremony or whatever it was.
Would you decide to make that guy the head of the league?
If we can't have the peaceful transfer of power, none of this other shit matters.
And Victor Orbon, who I'm not a fan of, who I am not a fan of, understood, understood.
He said his For now.
He's only 62, so okay.
But he said, Orman said he congrat he called to congratulate Magyar.
Is that his name?
Maggyar.
And he wrote, Orban said, the responsibility and possibility of governing was not given to us.
I mean, a simple line, a simple line.
This guy showed more fidelity to democracy than not only our corrupt president, but so many of the people who want to be a judge are willing to do right now.
So it's a strange win, but my win goes to Victor Orban for conceding an election.
I am so thrilled for the Hungarian people.
It is an inspiration the way they have.
And it also, quite frankly, it bodes really well for us because we are a lot more connected.
That's right than people believe we have to let's see JD when you lose the presidency you better act like that anyway uh I have a fail I usually like when women say their peace, but I thought two women this week weren't so great.
Melania Trump made a rare speech to talk about God, that was weird.
Would you think it had so much what the fuck any fuck?
It was what the hell?
Why is she talking about this?
There must we thought there was a story and then there it's just because she's mad about it.
She doesn't she's like I was not a paid escort or sex trafficked you know and it's like well like I think she wants to make it clear she wasn't a prostitute that's what or a sept aren't we all prostitutes at some point I know I was like well you still you like okay so you went through a marriage broker kind of thing like she didn't do that but you know I think she wants to doesn't want to I don't know what she was doing.
I thought what in the actual fuck is happening here and I you know they say Trump didn't know but there's such like I was like what is happening and why is Epstein back like oh good let's talk about Epstein and then I think she like crapped on those survivor the real survivors who really did suffer because she you know just to get her little piece out there and what a selfish uh person she was well she is what am I talking about and then this strange profile of Lawrence Sanchez in the New York Times which Katie Crack had the best reaction is were you forced to do this assignment to the writer Amy Chosick.
I I didn't know why she she was telling one how happy she is, which is great, but I don't know what it was there for.
There was nothing to hang it on.
I guess the Met Gala.
I'm not sure.
But it was like so tone-deaf.
Like I'm really happy.
And in our $230 million dollar house in Florida, we talk, do gratitude to each other every morning.
Just more of this sort of performative romance with Bezos is so icky.
I just find it, I just didn't understand it.
Kara, do you remember that line from broadcast news?
It's it's one of the greatest lines in movie history.
Tell me.
I love that movie.
Where William Heard says to Albert Brooks, what happens when your real life exceeds your wildest dreams?
And Albert Brooks turns and says, Keep it to yourself.
Keep it to yourself.
And my dad uh I've been thinking, you know, I I love this statement, and I use it as one of the definitions of masculinity.
Are you optimizing for attention or service?
And Lauren Sanchez, from everything I've heard, is a really nice woman.
People who know her say wonderful things about her.
Yep, they do.
You have an amazing life.
Keep it to your fucking self.
Talking about your amazing life and virtue signaling, I it's saying I have a buddy who is so successful, such a good friend, such a good citizen, and he's a fucking disaster when it comes to his relationships.
And I said to him, I said, Don't you have any really good friends that can tell you what they think of what you're doing?
Like who saves you from yourself?
Nobody here.
She's got the money.
If she um and this is the same thing with Lauren, it's like, don't you have any friends to say to you, go, girl, have an amazing life, do good things with your money, be take care of your parents, take care of your community, give money away.
You don't need articles in the New York Times talking about what a spiritual, wonderful person you are and how wonderful your relationship is.
There's no way it's just gonna make you look like an asshole.
Like, don't you?
That's my question, Kara.
Don't these people have friends?
Especially as the ex-wife of Jeff Bezos just gave $70 million dollars to Meals on Wheels and never said a word about herself.
About the mugs they have where Hunk or She needs friends.
Well, she has friends.
She has the wrong friends.
Lauren, call us up.
We'll help you.
We'll bring you back down to earth.
But I don't think she cares.
I think she she could do so much good.
And instead she's I just don't know.
It's something I I started with.
My dad told me, just I started to get some success before he passed away.
And the last thing he said to me that really stuck with me was he said, the key to happiness in America is to be rich and anonymous.
And he said, You said that to me a long time ago, Scott.
I loved when you said that to me.
And he said to me, he said, he goes, I'm really happy that you've achieved your the former.
I'm worried about the latter.
Oh.
Smart.
You don't appreciate the value of anonymity.
Well, too bad.
Too late.
Um, but I if you ever do an interview about us cuddling and doing gratitude, I'll fucking kill you.
Okay, I gave her a mug.
It said you look like Rachel Maddow's accountant.
I gave you a bunch of things.
Rachel Maddow's mechanic.
That's that's your fashion.
See you next Tuesday, mug.
Oh my God.
Aren't we adorable?
Aren't we adorable?
I know we're adorable.
Aren't we adorbs?
Adorbs.
Um I my win is another outspoken woman, Hacks is the final season.
I saw the first episode.
So good.
Gene Smart, Hannah Einbender, the whole friggin' cast.
It's about a woman who talks out loud and is so wonderful.
I just love it, love it, love it.
And I just I recommend everybody watch this last season.
The whole team there is spectacular.
There's not they and they all share in the wonderfulness.
And I have to say it's very sweet.
It's about a family.
It's about anyway.
My favorite, one of my favorite lines.
They're gonna name a street after you.
It'll probably be a dead end with an abortion clinic on it.
Just beautiful writing.
Um anyway, those are those are the kind of things I I think you should pay attention because you'll make you laugh out loud.
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 8551 Pivot.
And elsewhere in the Karen Scott Universe this week on on, I talked uh more about my CNN series, Kara Swisher Wants to live forever on the topic with longevity.
I talked to a panel of experts, including journalist Katie Kirk.
She talked about why people seem more inclined to trust dubious wellness claims than doctors.
Obviously, Katie was really well known for being one of the first people to call attention to colon cancer.
She had a her husband died of this, and she had a colonoscopy on on camera.
Speaking of power broadcast news back then, it was really important to bringing down uh cancer rates.
Really amazing thing she did and continues to do.
Let's listen to a clip.
People want answers, and honestly, they they often don't like the answers that they get.
You know, they want to believe.
They, you know, my joints hurt.
I want to believe that collagen is gonna make me less achy when I get up in the morning.
I want to believe that I'm gonna be more flexible with collagen, you know.
And so I think that that people, you know, are grasping for ways to feel better.
And I think there is a lot of suffering out there.
Really smart uh voice on all this.
Okay, that's the show.
Thanks for listening to pivot.
And be sure to like and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
We'll be back on Friday.
Today's show is produced by Lara Neyman, Zoe Marcus, and Taylor Griffin and Kate Gallagher.
Ernie Nurt introduced that episode.
Rich Chibly edited the video.
Thanks also to Drew Burrows and Mill Severo and Dan Shallon.
Thanks for listening to Pivot from New York Magazine and Vox Media.
You can subscribe to the magazine at NYMag.com slash pod.
We'll be back later this week for another breakdown of all things tech and business.
Congratulations to the good people of Hungary who voted for Europe, who voted for Ukraine, who voted for uh progressive politics, and congratulations to Victor Orbon after 16 years of rule, conceded the election