The internet doesn't have a speech

problem. It has an accountability

problem. And our fetishization for free

speech and anonymity has resulted in a

total lack of accountability.

We've got a lot to get to today, so

let's dig in. We we there's so much

news. Scott even participated in the

group chat. He was like, there's so much

news. But actually, his selections were

correct. But because the first one is

something I think I was a little was I

surprised Comcast is spinning off NBC

Universal and Sky into a separate

publicly traded company. The new NBC

Universal will include NBC, the

Universal Film Studio, theme parks and

Sky. This is the the satellite service

they have in in the in Europe. Comcast

keeps Exfinity Internet and Wireless. So

it's back to square one. I guess the

market liked it. Comcast shares jumped

21% in pre-market trading Monday

morning. It's not a total clean bait.

Comcast will hold a roughly 20% stake in

the new NBC Universal. I think they

still have a big stake in MS now, too.

Um, and the deal is expected to close

with in about a year. There's a catch,

though. Analysts say, well, the spin-off

gives NBC Universal more freedom to do

deals. It leaves Comcast broadband

business more exposed at a time when

cable is already under pressure. So,

talk about this. The people they're

putting in place are very good

executives. Um, but does NBC now now

remerge with MS now or what in the You

need to explain this to me. I really

didn't quite understand why they're

doing it now. Uh, what the troubles

they're seeking. I know they had looked

at uh buying Warner at one point. Um, so

could Netflix buy NBC Universal? Um,

what what there's a lot there. There's a

lot at those studios. So thoughts.

>> So this is why companies conglomerate.

The board who decides to see his

compensation hires a firm called Towers

Parent- because compensation is the

hardest part and one of the most

important things that a board does. And

because boards don't want to do any

work, they pay this firm, Towers Parent,

$200 or $300,000, and they come in with

a survey. And the survey says on a scale

of 0 to 100, 50 being the average

compensation, and they look at the

industry and the size of the business.

And so if you're running a bank that

does 10 billion a year in business and

50% might be three million a year. But

if you're running a bank that does 80

mill 80 billion in business or whatever,

then the average compensation is 20

million. So the incentives and also the

ego and the also the testosterone and

the and the and the penis and the

midlife crisis all lead

>> incentives for the CEO to get bigger and

bigger and bigger. And sometimes there

are real synergies around different

businesses, but almost always not.

Typically what happens is you end up

with a Frankenstein. And so the market,

it gets to a point where the you have

these Frankensteines of businesses that

had no synergy. And what the market

>> can I change the metan

has a tendency to do is it looks at the

shittiest business because it says

there's no synergy here. And it says,

"Okay, New York Times, you own 17% of

the Boston Red Sox and the seventh

tallest building in America."

>> This is previously.

>> This is how much the building is worth.

This is how much the Boston Red Sox are

worth. But instead, we're going to look

at your shittiest business, your

regional newspapers, which traded four

to five times, and we're going to assign

that multiple to the entire business

because they don't give you any credit

for the for the stuff that's working

really well. So the dispositions the

disposition of assets becomes accretive

to shareholders and in this case you

have a media business that's strong and

growing while the connectivity business

is shrinking and what they do is

shareholders assign the multiple on the

connectivity business to the strong and

growing business. Last quarter the media

division get this reported a 40%

increase in revenue to nearly 12 billion

for the quarter. Theme parks grew 24%.

Media

>> grew 61% and studios grew 21% and over

the same business over the same period

>> the connectivity division shrunk

revenues 3%.

>> So what you have

>> connectivity that's not as

>> that's right residential connectivity

shrunk about 4% while business

connectivity grew 6%. So what happens is

if you split these things apart, you

have one company, the connectivity

business, which is a mature business

that's in structural decline but still

spends off a ton of cash. And then you

have a growth business when it becomes a

pure play growth business gets a much

higher multiple and the result is a

stock that was up 25% based on these two

companies.

>> Two companies. So what happens to each

of them? Is there like look you have MS

they they split off MS now and now it's

trying to create its own little new

division and doing well for what it is

right it actually has seen some growth

under uh those executives and then you

have the media business that has by the

way there's some fine executives at the

media part like

>> Don Donna Langley it's a very smart

group of people whenever I meet them I'm

always so impressed um but they weren't

able to participate in the Warner thing

for example and I know it was

frustrating because they were actually

the natural owner for that. You know, I

was like,

>> of all the things I was like, Paramount,

they're a bunch of incompetence. Netflix

is going to is too big and going to get

in trouble. Comcast was the perfect

buyer for that, you know, in terms of

quality people and the theme parks and

everything else. Um, so what what

happens here? And the other thing just

just for as a sidlight the other two

things. Could Netflix come in and do

something here? I think it's too much.

Um Disney CFO has signaled they intend

to keep the linear and streaming

businesses together for now. They don't

they don't own a cable division and not

split it off. So they're keeping those

together, the studios and the streaming

and everything else. So, is the strategy

seems like it's the same strategy if

they're going to hold on to uh NBC,

Universal, Film Studio, theme parks, and

Sky, right? So, they're So, that's a

little connectivity, I guess. But

thoughts on that? What what what happens

to each of these parts? What happens to

the cable parts? And then what happens

to the I mean could like Elon come in

and buy the cable parts for Starlink or

there were rumors of him buying one of

the uh the phone service businesses.

>> Well well I mean it's scary but with a

$2 trillion market cap there's very

little he couldn't buy right now. Um so

Versant their stock is down 21% since

the spin-off.

I don't know what happens. Okay, first

off, Disney for the time being is

holding on to its cable assets. That

means they no one's offered the price

they want. It it will make sense for

them to shed that business because the

parks, the IRL business, the parks is an

unbelievable business. So, this is all a

long-winded way of saying I'm not sure

what they're going to do, but they have

simplified and created pure plays

because here's the bottom line. If you

put yourself in the shoes of an

investor, they don't need the Roberts

family to diversify for them. CEOs love

diversification. Why? Okay, my

connectivity business is down, but my

parks were up 24%. In other words,

>> right? Yeah,

>> they sleep better at night because they

can grow six, eight, 10% a year and not

worry that, oh [ __ ] I got a problem at

MSNBC.

Whereas, this is the thing though,

investors, I don't need you to diversify

for me. I can buy Versant stock if I

think it's really cheap. I can buy the

parks business stock if I think it's a

grower and I want growth. But CEO's

incentive and compensation and quite

frankly wanting to sleep at night and be

bigger and better leads to an

elomeration or a conglomeration that

eventually the stock market throws up

on. And that's what's happened here. And

you know what the next really there's a

stock right now that if it broke up it

would triple. You know what that company

is?

>> What is

>> I'll give you a hint. I went to their

dinner last Sunday night.

>> I don't know. What is it? Maybe you've

mentioned it before.

>> I'll give you another hint. The um VR

but only Subscale.

>> Oh, Snapchat.

>> If Snap spun their spectacles group, the

stock would triple or quadruple.

>> Oh, interesting. Yeah,

>> that is the most that is the greatest

unlock spectacles though.

>> Well, that's the problem. It's a single

It's a dual class shareholder and Evan

controls the company.

>> Yeah, he loves them spectacles. Do you

realize that? I think Meta gets about

$400 in market cap per user. Uh, Snap

gets 17.

>> Wow. Yeah, you're right. He should get

rid of the spectacles.

>> If they spun and did a deal with Shia or

something. If they spun the Spectacles

group and it was just a pure play social

media platform, rocket ship.

>> Get this. Do you know how much the stock

>> I like that idea.

>> Do you know how much the stock is off

the last 5 years?

>> A lot. A lot. Yeah.

>> 93%.

>> Yeah. It's crazy.

>> 93%. Oh, I like that little

>> pure play 500 million people a day

social media network that has the most

attractive user base for advertisers in

history that is people under the age of

25

>> is still inventive.

>> You get rid of this weeping sore called

the spectacles unit that is subscale

>> rocket ship.

>> What happens to each of these? So what

there's there's Versent obviously um

Warner is his own little nightmare

although there's rumors that CNN will

get spun off um with Rob Bont and the

California attorney general. But what

happens to each of these divisions?

>> Well, I think I think the media parks

business has real synergy because if you

put out a Harry Potter film, you can

have a Harry Potter ride, right?

>> Yeah. Right. Right. Exactly.

>> The connectivity business should be

indeed.

>> Yes, they do indeed.

>> They just get focused. Now, in terms of

Versa and the cable assets, those are

declining businesses, but those can be

amazing businesses. You go yellow pages,

and that was this is the weakest flex in

the world. I was on the board of the

world's largest yellow pages company,

and all we did was just go around the

world

>> and buy other yellow pages companies and

basically hold on to the salespeople,

get rid of everybody else and their cash

machines.

>> And that's what you're going to see. It

doesn't make CN CNN should go into

Versant and ABC should sell their [ __ ]

They need to consolidate the backend on

these these cable properties and that's

what they'll do and they'll still be

good businesses. They'll just be in

decline.

>> Yeah, that's absolutely right. They

could buy they could be the largest uh

small player, right? The like it it'll

do well. It'll do well for a long time.

>> Well, they're hugely profitable

businesses.

>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It'll be interesting.

I wonder if they'll bring Versant back.

Will they? Why would you Why would you

want them?

>> No, I don't think so. Again, the story

has to be clean, right? I I mean,

Alphabets learned their lesson. They're

going to spin Whimo. Whimo is already

spent. I guess it's an independent

company.

>> Why didn't Sky stay with the cable

business?

>> That's a correct question. I don't know.

>> That was the one that stuck in my head.

So, it'll be interesting. Yeah, because

they do. You're right. Theme Parks, the

film studio, NBC. I'm not sure where

that fits in exact. A broadcast network.

>> I guess it just Why not? Probably

doesn't cost that much. It's a good

>> Comcast and Hurst are the most

underrated management teams in media.

>> I would agree. They're just very smart

people who consistently do the right

thing for shareholders. They're

aggressive. They're smart and they're

totally under the radar. Like they they

don't want they don't want their their

CEOs getting in trouble or making

earnings doing

>> they also couldn't play in the Warner

thing. I remember I went to the Wicked

premiere and I ran into a bunch of them

and they were like, "We are the obvious

right owner." I was like, "Oh, I know

but you're not getting it cuz Richie

Rich over there and the crazies at

Netflix can't you can't beat them,

right? You can't beat either of those

companies, but I think this does give

them a cleaner shot at buying stuff up.

You know, there's all kinds of things

for sale like Lionsgate. There's a man

there's all manner of stuff for sale in

Hollywood. So, we'll see what happens.

You're going to see a lot of M&A, as

Scott Galloway says. Uh, anyway,

interesting move by Brian Roberts, who I

really like a lot. I have to say he's a

classy guy. Everyone over there is

classy. They're a classy gang. They're

very competent.

>> They're from Philadelphia, which means

they've killed people. That's all I

know.

I'm sorry. Anyone who's anyone any

family that is self-made billionaires in

Philadelphia, there's definitely people

buried in the foundation of a building

of that sky tower.

>> You know why I have a good feeling for

Brian Roberts is because I was working

for Murdoch and then I went over to

Comcast and it was such a pleasure. Let

me just tell you it was I went it was

such a different personality. Although

Rupert was more fun at a party. Anyway,

let's go on a quick break. When we come

back, why Open AI might delay its IPO.

We're all tech this week.

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>> Scott, we're back. Open is reportedly

considering delaying its IPO until next

year. According to the New York Times,

the company has been planning to go

public as soon as the third or fourth

quarter this year. Valuation appears to

be one of the sticking points. Sam Alman

is reportedly holding out for a $1

trillion when they all want this. The

company was valued at $850 billion back

in March, 850 billion. There's also some

hesitation in light of SpaceX IPO, which

is sort of bumpy, which has been

trending downward after the sky-high

debut, though it's doing a little better

as we record. News of the possible delay

led to a a tech selloff, stock selloff

with shares of Oracle, Core Weave, and

Soft Bank all falling. Um, and there's a

possibility that Anthropic is breathing

down their neck that they may delay,

too. There was some chatter about that.

So, is it important for them to wait? As

you talked about, the money is getting

sucked out of the system. And their

financials leaked a few weeks ago with

losses increasing nearly 8x in 2025 and

spending hitting $34 billion. It's not

the greatest story in the world. And of

course, they've got Enthropic right in

front of them. Not breathing down their

neck right in front of them. They're

riding behind it. I think this is not

systemic or I think this is uh an

individual thing and that is I I believe

the anthropic is still going to get out.

This is what I call the great flipping

and that is

>> flipping. Is that a word you made up? Is

that a vulgar word you made up?

>> Flipping. Yeah, there you go.

>> There you go. In the Lincoln bedroom

tonight.

>> Sound like a sex act, doesn't it?

>> There you go.

>> Flipping. What would that be?

>> Well, I feel as if I need to use my safe

word right now.

>> Mhm.

>> Maybe. Anyways, the the great flipping

>> I laugh at that every time. You've said

it hundreds of times to me and I laugh

every time. Go ahead.

>> Um, so Q4 of 2025, OpenAI is the

dominant leader. Right now, Anthropic is

the We've never seen Avis overtake Herz

this fast. This isn't even Pepsi

overtaking Coke. It's like RCA one

morning is the market leader.

>> RCA.

>> And I think Anthropic gets out. But I

think open AI if they were going to have

to show their wares or open their

cupboards there was just going to be

evidence everywhere that Anthropic is

eating their lunch. And I talked to a

lot of CEOs about AI and the comp a

company I'm an investor in section talks

it does all this helps companies upscale

around AI. what they're seeing is the

following is quote unquote blame the

model and everyone's blaming open AI and

swapping them out for anthropic

believing they're going to get a much

greater ROI.

So I think that basically if when we

look back on the great draw down that

will be AI valuations that is I think

going to happen in the next 12 months.

This will be seen as a real crack that

that it kind of was a signal of what's

to come.

>> Is it smart to wait? You talked about

the sort of lack of cap. There's not

enough money here essentially.

>> I don't I I if they could get out, they

would. I I think what I think what this

says is the CFO talked to the banker and

the banker said, "Okay, there's no

wallpapering over this. Your business

has lost a ton of momentum." And then

you combine it with the second thing

that is different than Anthropic. Alman

has taken the Amazon and Netflix fake it

until you make it, spend more money than

anyone else and your stock will go up.

He's taken that to an extreme that is

too much and that is if you look at how

much money they are burning. I think

with the S1's and they would be they

would be side by side immediately.

Everyone would be comparing Anthropic

and Open AAI's financials against each

other.

>> Yeah.

>> And I think what you would see is the

following. Not only has OpenAI massively

lost momentum against Anthropic, it is

also operating much more promiscuously

with cash. And that is despite

Anthropic's massive investments and

massive losses, it's projecting that

it'll break even by 2030. And Sam

Alman's whole thing is, oh no, I'm

committing to a trillion dollars in

capex because the future there's only

one winner. And I think the market I I

think the S1 side by side would show a

company that is losing momentum and is

spending way too much money and losing

too much money. And I think the bankers

have come back and said

>> they don't want the comparison.

>> Well, this is what's going to happen in

the next 6 months. This is going to be

the great

exit from cost. This is going to be the

great reduction in spending and capex

commitments by open AI. they are going

to massively decrease

their expenditure and capex commitments

because I think

>> Oracle, it hits a lot of them. It hits

all of them, right?

>> Still an amazing company. It's still

growing really fast. But the the amount

of money they were committing to in

terms of capex has gotten out of

control. And then you couple that with a

reversal in momentum. I think Goldman

and JP Morgan and the CFO have said to

Sam, uh, this is going to be hard. So,

so then what do they do if is it is it

if Anthropic gets out at over a

trillion, they've got to meet that,

right? Speaking of dick measuring

contests, they kind of want that number.

Can they actually get out then in 2027?

>> Oh, I think I think this is a cost story

and that is I think they're just going

to have to reduce their

>> clean up. They got to clean it up.

>> Yeah. Because Okay, say they get out at

700 and not a trillion, that's still

pretty good. I mean,

>> yeah,

>> at some point at some point they're

going to need to raise capital in the

public markets, I think.

>> Or maybe could they raise in the private

markets? The weird thing is I wonder if

TBG and the private equity firms that

got a 16 or 17% pick, which is really or

guaranteed return, which is really

unusual in the private markets. I wonder

if they would still do that deal today

because the reversal in fortunes here

has been like nothing I've ever seen in

business without a scandal. And so

>> weird question, does it get bought?

>> There's so few players that could buy

it. I mean, it's a handful of companies

that could afford to buy it. It's one of

the big tech companies or SpaceX. That's

it. There's maybe five.

>> There was all this online plotting that

Elon did sort of bought made sure the

SpaceX IPO was too big and then failed a

little bit to stop them. Just so you

know, there was a conspiracy.

>> Well, if the next round see rather than

do a down round, uh what Altman did was

he he he offered

>> he guaranteed it. Yeah, he offered these

these terms that typically you don't

agree to, I a guaranteed return because

he wanted the headline number to be

whatever it was 850 billion or whatever.

>> Yeah.

>> But at some point if they start running

into a cash crunch, which I don't think

they will. The bottom line, I think the

second half of 2026 is about Sam Alman

rationalizing the expense side of the

business and their capex uh commitments

because it's still growing like crazy.

>> Drop it goes out, doesn't delay, goes

out. If I were Dario, I'd want to be

like, I'm on top, [ __ ] I'm going

public.

>> Yeah. Yeah. Right away. Yeah. They've

got to It's a momentum story for them.

Absolutely.

>> And they have a great story. I think the

S1 is going to look really good for

Anthropic.

>> Yeah. In comparison. I mean, what's

really interesting is how kind of pissy

the open people are about the story

Daario gets over and over again. I mean,

he can be imperious himself and, you

know, a little bit self-righteous, which

is interesting, but uh I think he's got

the better story. He does. And a lot of

this is narrative and it actually be

good for anthropic for not to have them

there. Although, you know, looking

better than open AI is a good thing for

them, right? Presumably,

>> this is the CFO and JP Morgan and

Goldman Sachs said, uh, you don't want

these numbers public right now.

>> Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Absolutely. And by the

way, the perception to the ones that did

go public wasn't great. Um, all right.

We'll see what happens. Interesting

story. very interesting developing

story, but it will impact companies like

Oracle and other ones. You saw that draw

just a a small draw down of their shares

uh because they have so many commitments

all around the board. All right, Scott,

let's go on a quick break. When we come

back, we'll discuss Pete Buddha Judge

getting targeted.

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>> Uh Scott, we're back. I want to talk

about a story that came out over the

weekend about Pete Buddha Judge's

family. Buddha Judge says police showed

up at his house after an anonymous tip

claimed his four-year-old twins were at

risk. CPS investigated the claim and the

Michigan State Police later confirmed

the report was completely fabricated. Uh

while the incident was being

investigated, Buddha Judge was not

allowed to be alone with his

four-year-old children for 24 hours, and

they were interviewed by authorities

without either parent present. The

incident happened during Pride Month,

right after the family posted of

Father's Day uh photos online. Uh I was

I this was terrifying to someone like

myself. This was like it was just some

tip that was called in about another tip

of something Pete allegedly. It was all

nonsense from but they had to because

their authorities and he's a well-known

person. They had to actually investigate

which is their job. I think they felt

sick to do it but uh turned out to be

all false. Uh it's a it's a version of

swatting but more nefarious

>> swarming

>> swarming or whatever. uh and you know

he's polling well for the 2028

presidential run. This is just I can't

imagine I know I know them pretty well.

I know especially Chaston uh uh you know

this is the fear they have as gay

parents and something I've discussed

with them. You know this is the fear

this is this sort of weird feeling

people have about gay parenting that is

just it's I don't even want to call it

gay parenting just parenting um but that

they get stuck with. Um they are

wonderful parents and these kids are

lovely. Uh and for them to have to go

through this just sent a chill when I

read his piece and he's not someone who

usually is particularly dramatic but he

was furious about what happened as he

should have been. Any any thoughts on

this?

>> I don't think this is a gay thing. I

think this is stochastic terrorism. I I

know a couple I know a couple a straight

couple in the Midwest and Child

Protective Services showed up at their

door one day and said, "We need we're

from Child Protective Services. we need

to speak to your children. They had no

idea what was going on. Uh, by the way,

the whole neighborhood found out about

it. There's no way you recover from

that. No, no matter how innocent you are

proven, that's on your Wikipedia page.

>> If you're ever on trial for anything,

the prosecutor can ask, "Weren't Child

Protective Services called to your

house?" And when I go through TSA, I

immediately feel guilty. I immediately

like, "Oh, where's that joint in my p?

I've done something wrong." when they

when you see your suitcase go to the go

to the part of the the the part where

they they investigate it, you

immediately feel guilty. How does a

four-year-old not remember that

strangers who you're supposed to speak

to who have the authority to separate

you from your parents start asking these

types of questions? How do you not

somewhere in your brain think are mommy

and daddy not good people?

>> Right? How do you 100%

>> how do the parents, the community, their

reputation and the kids

>> ever recover from that?

>> Yeah.

>> Ever.

>> I agree.

>> And this is the problem. This is a

result of the fetishization

and anonymity being linked to

shareholder value. And that is

democracy depends upon disagreement but

also accountability.

And when the loudest voices face no

consequences,

the most thoughtful ones log off in

fear. And what happens here is the

following. Child protective services,

their heart is in the right place.

They're trying to encourage people to to

to bubble up real instances of child

abuse.

>> Yeah. Because they usually miss a lot of

them, right? You know, that's

>> that's right. But here's the problem,

and here's what needs to be done. The

fix isn't to end anonymity. It's smarter

than that. The solution is verified yet

anonymous credentiing and that is

online. There should be a digital stamp

that proves you are a unique human being

without revealing which human you are.

When you call child protective services

and as it ended up so the family I was

referencing, you know what it ended up?

Two months later they found out one of

their daughters was in a beef with

another girl in the same high school.

And the girl, the rival girl called.

>> Wow.

>> This happens all over. But here's the

problem. The family faces no

consequence.

So if you call child protective

services,

we're going to guarantee your anonymity,

but after investigation, if we find out

there's no evidence, guess what?

>> We're going to investigate you.

>> I agree. I was I was like, who are these

people who did this? And you know,

swatting is bad. Swatting is dangerous

because there's guns involved like with

kids and everything else. And to me,

it's so heinous the idea of it. U

swatting is when you call in that

there's some terrible thing happening at

the house and then you know SWAT teams

come in as they should when cuz they

never know, right? And so this is such

an abuse of a system that's already

broken, right? It's already a

problematic system. They don't catch

enough child abuse and sometimes kids

don't get checked on. And you read those

stories over and over again. But in this

case, what what sick [ __ ] would think of

this thing? Like what sick [ __ ] would

make this stuff up? That to me, and I

would like to find them. And you know

what I do to them, but I think the

authorities really need to have a

system. And the thing is, you don't want

to discourage people from telling on

real issues of abuse, right? That's the

thing. It's a it's just I I was so upset

by this. But the bigger issue is the

following. That same architecture,

anonymous, consequence-free,

u infinitely scalable

uh online platforms. They let bots flood

elections, radicalize millions, and make

public service a target sport. And the

bottom line is this is where the right

gets it wrong and the left gets it

wrong. The internet doesn't have a

speech problem. It has an accountability

problem. And our fetishization for free

speech and anonymity has resulted in a

total lack of accountability. If you

believe the kids across the street are

being abused and child protective

services shows up and they find out, oh,

you misunderstood the situation, you're

still not liable. You didn't do anything

wrong. Your your reasons were valid. But

if it finds out you're just a homophobic

[ __ ] weirdo or your your daughter has

had a beef with the other with with

another girl in the high school,

>> there should be consequences.

>> There's consequences

>> there. I think Pete was talking about

that. I know they're worried about this

these issues as gay parents as we all

are because I was always worried about

I've been it's just sticks in the back

of your mind. If it prevents him from

running, which is really I hope it

doesn't. That's what I hope it doesn't.

I mean, because let me just say, they're

wonderful parents. They're wonderful

people and they're wonderful parents.

>> Yeah. But what do you say to the kids?

And there's these strange people in

suits saying, "We need you to go stay."

>> Yeah. The whole thing is

>> like, what do you say to your kids? Like

a fouryear-old, what do you say to them?

>> I wouldn't even I don't even want to

think about it. It was so upsetting.

Anyway, uh Pete uh and and Chest, we're

so sorry. This is just this is

disgusting and this is not how you

behave towards people who are decent,

great parents. And uh whoever did this,

I hope they find you and I hope you have

some sort of reckoning. As of this

recording, by the way, we're going to

move on. House Speaker Mike Johnson says

he's sending the landmark housing bill

to the White House days after Trump

abruptly canled the signing ceremony for

that bill. Interesting move. The bill,

which passed both houses of Congress

with overwhelming bipartisan support,

aims to and also would be a win for

Trump, aims to bring down housing costs,

expand home ownership, and boost

construction. But Trump says he won't

sign it into law until Congress passes

his Save America Act, which would

require a photo ID to vote and

effectively end mail-in voting. By the

way, the Supreme Court just upheld a

Mississippi law for late arriving

mail-in ballots, a blow to the Trump

administration's efforts to queer the

election, which is what they're trying

to do. Uh, and the housing bill can

still become law even if Trump doesn't

sign it. So, it's technical. If he

doesn't sign it, it can become law. if

he vetos it, I believe they have the

votes to overcome his veto. So, they're

kind of putting him in a position. Uh,

under the Constitution, the president

doesn't sign a bill within 10 days, it

becomes law without his signature. And

again, Congress can override this one.

And so, it was interesting that Johnson

did this. He obviously knows it's a good

thing for to have this on the Republican

record or at least take credit for it,

even though it's kind of bipartisan. Uh,

thoughts on that? Housing is one of the

biggest problems in America. Whether

it's I was reading this morning that

Finland took an opposite route. Instead

of focusing on mental health or veterans

affairs for the homeless, they just

focus on housing. They're like, just

build cheap housing and get people in

housing. And it ends up that housing is

a weird form of birth control that every

10% increase in housing prices, birth

rates go down 1%. It reduces people

coupling. It reduces birth rates. It

reduces self-esteem.

you know, housing, affordable housing is

really important. And what we have here

is again the incumbents once they've

owned homes make it more and more

difficult for new permits. It's gone way

too far. Uh Congress, to their credit,

recognized it. This bill attempts to get

rid of NIMI legislation and proposed

Yimi legislation, credits, more credits,

more federal sponsorship for communities

that have more housing. This is I

actually thought the bill itself when

you read it is pretty weak sauce but

it's a very strong symbolic

>> movement in the right direction. And in

addition,

>> when does the last time Congress voted

358 to 32 on anything,

>> right? Right.

>> So this makes all sorts of sense. Trump

getting in the way of this was just

stupid. And again, it's veto proof. So I

I think this is a win.

>> What does he do? What does he do? Sign?

He's got to sign it and take credit,

right?

>> Yeah, I think so. I I

>> He should. But he's going to He's still

going to try everything possible. This

Save Act that's not going to pass,

President Trump. It's not It's not

happening.

>> So why does he keep doing this?

>> Oh [ __ ] I I mean, you're asking me to

get into this guy's brain. I would have

thought he would, if I were advising

him, I would say, "Oh my god, put on

>> put on a put put on a tool belt like

you're on a construction site and and

run around and take credit for this

thing. take credit for

>> housing. This is this is a big big issue

for Americans,

>> right? You know, instead he's obsessed

with, you know, now he wants to build a

golf course and put trees in front of

the White House. He's just obsessed with

all these weird obsessive things around

the DC area to preserve his legacy,

which seems more interest to him. He

went and visited. It was pouring rain

yesterday and he was out at Hannes Point

where he wants to put in a a golf course

of some sort. Uh there is a golf course

there, but he wants to improve it. Um,

and then putting maple trees around

Lafayette Square, all this stuff. And

then of course touting his really loser,

uh, American State Fair, whatever, that

was nobody went to. Um, he just seems

all obsessed with that kind of stuff and

not something that is, even if it's

symbolically,

even symbolically, it's important to to

I don't get this. This is this guy. I

think he's terrified that things are

going to go very badly after November.

And so it seems to he's going to self

soothe with maple trees.

>> There you go. Self

>> soo.

>> Self soo. Right. But he should take

credit for this one and he won't. Um all

right, Scott, we'll be uh we're going to

have one more quick break. We'll be back

for wins and fails. Okay, Scott, we're

going to do some wins and fails. I think

I shall go first. There were so many

failed choices. The grift watch of the

Trump mining deal in Kazakhstan with Don

and Eric Stand profit along with uh

Lutnik's Lutnik family. Um the what's

happening in Venezuela is really

depressing watching them try to find

people. So many people have died. But

I'm going to be a little personal here.

There's two people who died this week uh

who I know very well and were very

impactful on my life. One was uh Malik

uh one of the very early tech bloggers.

Uh someone who had worked very like me

in regular media. Um but then sort of

spun off and started doing a really

fascinating kind of bloggy and yet fully

reported uh attitude uh attitudinal

stuff back way back in the day an

excellent reporter. He also did events.

He did parties and I really I got a lot

of inspiration from M who was one of the

most jolly fellows. Uh I just really

enjoyed we thought a lot about a lot of

things but what an amazing impact he had

on early tech journalism when it was a

lot more help you know a lot more

hopeful in a lot of ways but he actually

did call people on things very early

very wonderful guy um he had uh you know

he had shifted to becoming a venture

capitalist I didn't go that direction um

but just a really wonderful and he's

getting much deserved um praise from all

of us who are around then and He

struggled with heart issues for a long

long time and uh was uh just a really

wonderful guy. The other one was my

assistant. I don't have an assistant but

I did for many years. Ed Dailyaly also

died. Um another he had also had health

problems with around diabetes and

everything else and just a tremendous

important part of the growth of my

businesses in the beginning of them and

worked for me for a long time was an

invaluable help and you know the kind of

person you don't hear about. thought he

wasn't a reporter, but did so much stuff

to really build the businesses Walt and

I built. Um, and just was a wonderful

guy and was wonderful to my kids. Uh,

especi Louis and Alex took them on

camping trips with his partner Mark and

just just a one one of these hardworking

really wonderful people who who helped

so many people and uh just really sad.

I'm sorry he Louie just went to see him

recently. So, I'm glad that happened.

but really big impact on my life and uh

just a tremendously huge-hearted person.

Uh so that is my fail. Um although I I I

also my heart goes out the people in

Venezuela and everything else. Um and my

win is the Supreme Court just rejected

Trump's attempt to get $5 million

verdict in the Eene Carol sexual abuse

case toss out. This is the end of the

road for him. Now I think he's gonna I

just texted Robbie Kaplan. Let me see if

she wrote back. but uh who is the lawyer

in the case. Um we'll see where it goes.

Uh on the smaller verdict, he has to pay

the 5 million. There is the 80 I think

85 million $80 million verdict that is

still being disputed. Uh but he has to

give her the 5 million. Um and which I

just kind of love. Uh and now he is very

firmly what he is accused of he did. Um

and he can't take it any further. Uh and

we'll see on the second part of which is

a defam had defamation related to this

case. Um, anyway, good for Eugene Carol

and pay up Donald Trump you for what you

did to her. And I just felt that it was

like today is the day that the Supreme

Court kicks Trump in the teeth a little

bit after giving him a lot of wins on

immigration. Uh, which were that the

Haitian particularly the Haitian ruling

was really terrible for really

hardworking people in this country. Um,

in any case, uh, congratulations to

Eugene Carol.

>> Nice. So, uh, okay. So, my fail is

uh I can't get over well, you could

argue it's a win for uh

broadcast news, but there were two

really illuminating interviews uh this

weekend. The first was John Carl from

ABC News interviewed Senator Todd Young

and uh along with Senator Mark Kelly.

>> I saw that.

>> And they talked about how President

Trump accused Mark Kelly of sedition.

Senator Kelly flew combat missions and

also flew the space shuttle at 20,000

[ __ ] miles an hour. I mean, there are

few things more patriotic or than than

the actions of Senator Mark Kelly. And

uh and they asked I I appreciate John

Carl calling Senator Todd Young out in

front and say how come you didn't do you

agree with this? And of course, Senator

Todd Young broke into song about he

texted

Senator Kelly to make sure he was all

right, but he didn't say a [ __ ] word.

>> He didn't.

>> And at some point, I'm waiting for

people before they are, you know, lose

their primary.

At NYU, we have we have a second year,

which is really a waste of money. It's

such that we can charge the kids

140,000, not 70. And we teach all these

electives like sustainability and

leadership and ethics. Let me save you

$7,000 on the leadership course of any

major university.

Do the right thing even when it's hard.

There you just save $7,000. And we bring

in a formally important person to talk

about what a [ __ ] amazing person they

are and how the world was against them,

but they did the right thing. And we

call it a leadership course. Thank you

for your $7,000 in student debt.

There is such a lack of leadership on

the most obvious issues. And I don't

understand the calculus from a senator

who I believe is a probably a good man

and respects his fellow colleague coming

out and saying it is wrong to accuse

Senator Kelly, an American hero and

patriot of sedition. That is just beyond

the line. And in the same time,

um, Ryan Nobles, who was an outstanding

standin for Kristen Welker, who I also

think is wonderful. on Meet the Press

basically kind of got in the face of

Senator Roger Marshall and asked him to

site a single example of where voter

fraud has influenced an election.

>> He did a great job

>> and I thought he I watched it. I'm like

go and and of course this guy just went

into blather and and

>> doctors need to be trusted by I was like

what in the [ __ ] are you talking about?

pilots need to be and it's like but

there's no problem here planes crash

there there is no

>> no one has ever been able to provide

evidence that a single election has been

influenced much less decided by voter

fraud

>> this guy's been all over the TV the Dr.

Roger from Ganzas, the senator, and he's

doing the same song and dance

everywhere. I don't know why. Maybe he's

in a tough fight. I don't know. It's

weird. He does this a lot. He's just

done this a lot.

>> Well, I understand that the only way you

can do good is to get elected. But at

some point, they've got to recognize

that, you know, this guy is coming is

becoming a lame tradan, as you would

say. And at some point, they're going to

show something resembling leadership.

And I can't I can't swear the calculus

of a senator coming out and saying

Senator Kelly is an American hero

>> here. Exactly. I don't get it. It's the

same thing when they when Fox News was

broadcasting from that American States

thing which looks like a like the fire

festival and they're like look at all

the people and I'm like there's nobody

behind you. Like how do they do that?

Peter Ducey, how did you manage to do

that? Oh, everyone's having fun here and

there's 26 people there. And it was so

weird. I don't get it. Like when are

they going to give? when are they going

to give? When do you think they're going

to give on? Same thing with this guy.

It's like, you know, don't believe your

lion eyes kind of thing. I don't know.

>> Anyways, I guess it's sort of a win for

for uh ABC and NBC News. And these these

programs still matter despite the

declining audiences. They do are still

really relevant. And specifically, it

just strikes me at some point senators

who are elected to six-year terms

at some point are going to begin to

understand that,

>> okay, with the definition of

quoteunquote leadership. My my win is

that Bill Maher was awarded the um um

>> Mark Twain Award,

>> the Mark Twain Award, and I thought it

was really fitting that it was at the

Kennedy Center. Uh, but look, I have

said this. Something I don't like about

myself is I have been way too influenced

by comments in social media, which I

think are so [ __ ] corrosive because

they start influencing me to say this

type of thing and not this type of

thing. And I've tried really hard in the

last couple years to say, "I'm going to

say what I mean, mean what I say, and I

don't care what the comments are." There

are very few posts that get as much

blowback as when I say the following and

I mean it. Bill Maher is a hero of mine.

And I think if you were to take every

political pundit and have at zero say I

don't know who the craziest right-wing

person is and on 100 be the craziest

left-wing person. If I had to identify

someone who was exactly at 50, it would

be Bill Maher. And evidence that he is a

centrist is that everyone appears to

hate the guy publicly. And then every

podcast I go on, the hosts when I follow

up and say, "Is there anything I can do

to help you?" They ask me, "Can I can I

introduce him to someone at Bill Maher?"

>> Oh, interesting.

>> The guy has been in the business for 33

years. He is fearless. He is funny. His

contribution isn't defending the idea

that people uh who disagree should be

allowed in the same room. is that the

weirdest thing is that it's so

remarkable. And today that is

remarkable. And he he didn't build an

audience by telling people what they

wanted to hear. He built one by telling

everyone something they didn't want to

hear. He literally pisses off everybody.

>> Yeah. Which is why he gets a blow. I

mean, he does he does seek out like his

earlier stuff on Islam and stuff like

that. So he he is who he is. And I do

I'm always fascinated by how much I get

blowback on your behalf, which is

interesting. um or why are you on that

show when I go on? I I it's a really

interesting discussion and I don't I

don't lump him in with all the others

who I do find somewhat heinous in that

regard and I agree. I think he deserve

that. I think he's very funny. I think

he I don't always agree with him. That's

for sure. Um but it really is

>> that's the point.

>> Yeah. I I don't find it um I don't know.

He attracts an unusual amount of eye. He

really does.

>> We'll get push back on this. I when I

say he's a role model mine there are few

like when I gradu I was trying to think

when I graduated from college when I got

my first bonus check when I sold my

first business there are moments in your

life you remember professionally

>> one of those biggest moments for me was

three or four years ago during co when

Susan Bennett called me and said we'd

like you to be on Bill Marcus it's the

only show my dad watches

>> Susan's a producer for having

>> a producer

>> terrific producer

>> and I think the guy is is fearless and

he he brings to light the notion that

free speech isn't isn't tested by

popular opinions. It's tested by the

people who piss you off. And and he does

that. And he's an equal opportunity

um agitator. And uh he was one of the

last people in television willing to to

make both sides equally uncomfortable. I

mean, he's really an independent voice.

And I don't think it his contribution

will be remembered as changing minds. It

was proving that you can disagree

without deciding the other person is

evil. and his legacy, although he's a

great comedian, I don't think his legacy

is comedy. It's defending the

proposition that democracy requires

conversation, not just conviction. And

we have lost so much of that. I don't

know him. I I sort of know him, but

don't know him well. But the people he

surrounds himself with, here's some

things about Bill Maher. He has this big

rant on how he doesn't have kids and

married.

>> Yeah.

>> Everyone around him has been working

with him for 20 years.

>> Yeah. the woman in makeup, the guy who

brings you to your COVID test,

>> his producers. I think he's a very loyal

man.

>> I think he shows up. I think he works

very hard. I think he's unafraid. I

think he's a great role model for people

who, like me, want to be centrist,

distinct of the the hate you get because

you piss off everybody. I thought he is

an outstanding

>> recipient for the Mark Twain Prize.

Anyways, my

>> I would agree. My win is the unafraid,

courageous

uh believer in free speech that pisses

off everybody and everybody wants to be

on his show after 33 years. And that is

Bill Maher.

>> Good for you. Good for you. You do care

about comments, Scott. You're never

going to not care about comments. Never.

>> Well, I'm addicted to the affirmation of

others here. It's really pathetic.

>> It's not pathetic. You're It's not

pathetic. You'll give yourself a hard

time. It does get to you. It gets It

doesn't get to me as much as it gets to

you, but it gets to me, too. I mean, I

think it's uh I think you will it's okay

for it to hurt. I have to tell you that

>> shaming is a very popular a very

powerful feeling because until about 50

years ago, if you were shamed and

expuned from the tribe, it meant you

were going to starve or beaten by a bear

in 72 hours or less.

>> Well, you're not going to get eaten by a

bear.

>> Yeah, I don't think so.

>> You're vulgar, but you're not getting

eaten by a bear. But no, I agree with

you. I think Bill deserved that award.

And I know people, you know, we often

disagree. We really do. Listen, if you

don't like Bill Maher, don't watch him.

I don't know what else to say. That's my

feeling. It's like that's what I say to

people. And by the way, you know, people

in my family, my one of my kids was

like, "Why are you going on his show?"

And I'm like, "You know what? It's none

of your [ __ ] business." I am cuz I

like I like going on it. I enjoy the

show. So,

>> I'm going I'm going I'm going on later.

I'm going on I think July 29th. I'm

going to take my I'm going to take

Bayata and I'm going to take my both my

sons and

>> I never take them all to anything. And I

said, "This is important to me. I want

you to come with me."

>> Anyway, uh good ones. Good ones for you.

That was a good one. Um, can I do one

more brief fail and I don't want any I

just want to say Scott Weiner is a

friend of mine and what happened to him

in San Francisco last week was heinous.

Like I don't usually mind criticism

around uh of Israel and I think it's

really important for and I don't think

every criticism in Israel is

anti-semitic but what happened to him

and he has been a supporter of all

manner of things in San Francisco he's

was anti-semitic was really truly and

strange and that kind of that really

shouldn't I feel terrible for Scott for

because he's been you know there's lots

of things you could disagree has got on

but not what they were yelling at him

about. And so it had a real tinge of

real hatred. And I that is a real that

really repulsed me in a way that I

usually am okay with some critic with

criticism of all manner of countries and

stuff like that. And so just that cannot

be tolerated by the Democrats. That

cannot be tolerated that kind of

behavior. So I would just want to say

that but I feel bad for Scott who's been

a really um hardworking public servant.

Anyway, um, all right. So, that's the

show. Um, congratulations to Bill Maher.

We want to hear from you. Send us your

questions about business, tech, or

whatever is on your mind. Go to

nymag.com/pivot

to submit a question for the show or

call 855-51

pivot. Elsewhere in the Karen Scott

universe, this week on I just spoke to

Jim Bankov, the CEO of Vox Media, and

Meredith uh Copit Levian, president and

CEO of the New York Times at K Lions,

uh, which was really fun. We talked

about the ways they adapted to a

changing media landscape and the effects

of AI on publishing and it was a great

session and thanks to UTA for hosting us

uh and keeping it quiet. Let's listen to

a clip. The leverage is even the LLMs

will need an information ecosystem with

high quality independently produced

verified information. If they don't have

it their products will not ultimately be

good either. We all want to live in a

society where quality information is

available and I believe they do too and

I think that's leverage.

>> I believe they do too.

>> I think that they the they're these are

information companies. These are

information tools and I think

information at a certain point for you

to have a healthy functioning democracy

you have to have high quality

information and people have to be able

to identify the difference. This was a

really good uh discussion and we had a

little testiness around some a couple of

things but uh they it was great. It was

a really interesting discussion about

media and where it's going and Meredith

both Scott and I have huge regard for

her and that Jim Bankoff guy is nice

too. Um

>> so you want a little known fact about

the CEO of New York Times.

>> No, let me tell.

>> He's got a dreamy boyfriend. He's a tall

drink of lemonade. Have you met him?

>> Yes, I have.

>> I went up to her and I'm like that

dude's so handsome. And she looked

around and she's like I know. He's like

literally like I I'll take my

masculinity to go. Jesus Christ.

>> She's I I love everything about

Meredith. I think she's a great uh

executive. She's a great parent. Um

>> she's really she's she's all that in a

bag of chips, as they say. So, so lucky

for him to have her. Okay. Uh 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.