Now he's saying he wants to change the

name of the straight of Hormuz to the

Straight of Trump. It is the dumbest

thing I have ever heard.

>> I want to call it the gay of Hormuz, but

go ahead.

[music]

>> Hi everyone, this [music] is Pivot from

New York Magazine and the Vox Media

Podcast Network. I'm Carara Swisser and

this is the final day of

God August.

Yes, it's September, but Scott is still

gone. We don't know where he is now. Uh

he'll make his triumphant return next

week after Labor Day. In the meantime, I

have my final guest co-host. He's a

senior national and political reporter

for MS Now and the anchor of Connect

with Jacob Soberof. It is he, Jacob.

Hello, Jacob.

>> What a delight, Cara. And I was confused

if it was going to go to Scott Free

September, but uh to know it's it's

still can't do that. That's not Well,

there might be scotfree all the time at

some [laughter] point. Um, by the way,

judging from just when you were getting

ready, you were taking off your

sweatshirt and we thought you were going

to do a Scott thing, which is show us

his chest, which he likes to do, and you

very politely [laughter]

>> moved off the We We appreciated that. We

appreciate

>> Nobody wants to see this dad bud.

>> Well, in any case, we don't want to see

Scots either. We [laughter] are subject

to it on a on on a twice weekly basis

sometimes. Anyway, we appreciate it. We

appreciate it.

>> Thank you so much. I'm I'm seriously I'm

I'm uh I'm tickled to do this. This is

very very cool and fun for me. Thank

you.

>> Well, it was kicked off with Hillary

Clinton and you're the last one. We've

had some great uh co-hosts, Caitlyn

Collins,

>> the downward slide. I was just watching

Caitlyn. [laughter]

>> Yeah, it was good. She was great. So,

where are you broadcasting now from Los

Angeles?

>> This is Yeah, this is our LA bureau um

at MS Now. And uh this is this is the

newsroom.

>> So, so the newsroom and you you live in

LA now, right? That's where you're

broadcasting your shows from.

>> Born and raised and I spent the summer

in New York. Um, exactly about the

fires. Um, but uh, born and raised here.

Spent the summer in New York and our

studio here in LA is just about ready.

So, we're bringing Connect my show back

to LA. Um,

>> Oh, great. We've been doing it from

here.

>> Special LA thing for it. Explain your

show. It just sort of started, right?

Correct. Yeah, it started um on June

13th and you know I started at MS Now um

in the summer of 2015 and over these 11

years that I've been here I have

traveled the country and I've traveled

the world and I've been a you know a guy

in the field. Um I think I got the best

job in TV. I love people. Um I love

hanging around people and from polling

place lines to the border to Ukraine to

Haiti to Greenland to Guatemala.

um getting to be around people um has

been I think like the greatest blessing

not just of my professional life but I I

honestly really really it it makes it

fills me up and makes me who I am and so

we wanted to bring that essence Rebecca

Cutler um my boss back into the studio

and so she asked me if I would do a show

and um and that's what connect is all

about. It's a show about people.

Politics is it per me it's everything we

do. Um but I wanted to center people we

don't normally hear. You're not going to

see political panels. Um I got three

hours a day. I took over for Ali Velry

who moved to prime time and on Saturday

and Sunday. Uh we just spend an enormous

amount of time on on on basically the

stuff that our the people that watch us

um care about and worry about and we

don't really do the sort of news of the

week thing.

>> How is Los Angeles doing? I was just I

just got back from San Francisco this

morning.

>> I love it here. And I'm ducking

anticipating the incoming, but I think

it's the greatest city in the world. And

um

>> why why who would I love Los Angeles?

Why?

>> I I don't know why I'm self-conscious

about being from LA. I I honestly I grew

up here um and I grew up as you

mentioned in the Palisades that burned

down in the in the costliest wildfire

event in American history, but I've

spent most of my adult life on the other

side of town in northeast LA. And I I

think that you can get in LA um a slice

of anything um and meet people from all

over the world.

>> I call it New York if you flattened

everything out.

>> So, you enjoy spending time here?

>> I do. I love I don't insult Los Angeles

like I don't insult California the way

other people do, you know, and they just

it's a magnificent state. It's got a lot

of issues.

>> We had obviously that's exactly right.

We had a really tough year um in 2025

with the fires and then the ice raids

that kicked off here. And I think it was

really bruising to so many people, but

the resilience of this city, we sort of

modeled it here during the ice raids um

for for everyone else. And to see people

spontaneously pour out into the streets.

I was out there on June whatever it was,

7th or 8th of 25. Um, to me that that it

it instantly gave hope to me and I think

to so many people in the city and so

many people watching around the country

that like there's a way to band together

in the face of all of this

that's going on.

>> I just interviewed Chris Larson

yesterday. He's a billionaire up in San

Francisco who's given a lot of money and

is very civically oriented which is

unusual and and uh we had a really

interesting discussion about what's

going on there. obviously is continued

homeless problems very significant um

you know climate problems tax problems

um you know the government has grown

quite a bit but it seems like and even

on its worst day it's I would rather

live there than many states across the

country and it it contributes to so much

for the for for that and I think people

have sort of a warped vision of it that

um that doesn't it doesn't comply with

reality and of course that's why it's

done like that anyway I really like well

thank you for getting up so early. I

really appreciate it.

>> You can. And I I was in for Chris Hayes

last night. I I don't have any makeup on

other than a little powder under my

eyeballs.

>> Oh, come on. You look Oh, stop it. Stop

your Clark heads of it all. You know,

you people do call you that, right? Greg

with [laughter] the hair.

>> Better than Al Frankensteon or Steven

Colbear's brother. Although I'm honored.

>> Oh, you get those two. Oh, no. No, no,

no. We picked you precisely for your

hair on the final day to remind people

what hair looks like. Scott will be

We'll have a hair desert when when Scott

comes. May I just say uh Propecia works

and I've been taking it for a very long

time. So

>> Oh, okay. Well, it's working for you. Um

uh so we have a speaking um of men,

let's not talk about them for a second.

Um I want to mention Gloria Steinham has

died at uh age 92. She was a feminist,

an activist, a journalist, and so much

more. Uh we talk a lot about business on

the podcast, and uh Gloria once

described herself as an entrepreneur of

social change. Um she in that title many

times over. Um, I met her on several

occasions. Really interesting, sometimes

controversial, some with even within the

feminist movement. Uh, very good

journalist. If you go back and read her

stuff, I remember loving her Playboy

Bunny uh, piece. It was, if you go back

and read, it's actually quite good. Uh,

where she was a Playboy Bunny or just I

guess an sort of an investigative piece.

It was just interesting. Um, uh, and

just a very impactful person. And it's

kind of interesting that, you know, two

people I consider some of the leading

feminist uh uh Dolly Parton and Gloria

Steinum uh die within the same couple of

you know weeks or week or so. How do you

look at this change? How would you cover

it on Saturday for example?

>> I just said to my team, I have about 25

people that work for me and I think

three of them are men. Um I almost want

to hand the floor over to the team. Um

the I got never got to meet Gloria. Um,

I did get to meet Dolly, uh, which was

one of the most extraordinary

experiences I've ever had. Um, but when

I think about Gloria, two things. one, I

was just reading the Miz Magazine 50th

anniversary, which she founded, um,

introduction that she wrote, and I guess

I didn't realize how much of what that

magazine did was informed by the readers

and the letters that were written into

Gloria and how much um, almost in an

open- source way 50 years ago, she let

the second wave feminism movement and

particularly through the magazine be

guided by the people who were her

readers, her clientele, our customers.

And I'm so inspired by some of the stuff

that that I was reading. The other

thought that flashed through my head is

I'm the father of a a 10-year-old boy

and a six-year-old girl. And when my

son, I guess I'll never forget that she

was the honorary co-chair of the women's

march. Um, which was the day after the

inauguration of Donald Trump. And I was

in Washington DC for the first

inauguration. And I was out on the lawn

where Donald Trump said it was the and

Sean Spicer said it was the greatest

crowd of all time. And I wrote in my

first book about how I stood there on

that big white empty plastic tarp and no

one was there. Nope. Um, but then I came

home that night and the following

morning I wasn't supposed to work, but

my wife Nicole and our son Noah and a

bunch of her um girlfriends and our our

and other kids went to the march and I

called uh the bureau chief at NBC News

at the time, Paulie Pal, after dropping

them off and said, you know, I would

like to report. And I have never ever

I'm getting the chills talking about

this um seen a crowd of people like I

saw um that day. And I remember watching

her make a speech from Washington DC. I

remember standing on on the roof. Man,

what was that like?

>> Cool. It was amazing. You know, a lot of

hats. I mean, a lot of people felt

like it,

>> you know, I I'm I'm here and there on

marches because I feel like sometimes

what's the point? Like I think a lot of

people felt very hopeful that there was

a point and then you had you know

especially this administration which is

I would say misogynist in many ways.

>> Um would uh it was it was great. It was

great. I took my sons I took my two

sons. Um and

>> uh I didn't force them into hats

but they [laughter] would have if I

asked. Uh especially my older son who I

consider very much a feminist. Um but uh

but it was uh more so than me in a lot

of ways. Uh and uh he uh they had a

great time. We had a great we just had a

it was a joyous occasion.

>> That's how I felt too. And and so while

I never got to meet Gloria um to me in a

way in spirit that was the closest I've

come to um being around her. I remember

standing on the roof of the satellite

truck because I wanted to get a vantage

point of how many I' you know I've been

to a lot of marches and I actually I

really do believe in the power of all of

that. I've seen it um kick Greg Bavino

out of every one of those cities just in

the last year. And

>> yes, you're right. There are some

>> there's an extraordinary power in it.

And I looking back at the pictures

today, I still have the sign actually

that my wife carried there um in the

back of our Volvo and I found it the

other day. Um and uh to me, I can't wait

actually to talk to our kids about the

fact that no was there that day and that

Gloria Steinum was one of the people

behind it.

>> What did the sign say? There were some

good signs.

>> Love wins forever. Love wins forever.

>> Oh, that's a nice one. You have a nice

family.

>> No, wait. I got to find it. [laughter]

Where's my phone? There were some other

good ones. Hang on. I'll find it. I was

just looking at this. I just sent it to

my family text thread.

>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's

>> rules forever.

>> Stop the war on women. Another friend of

ours Zoe held up

>> women freedom. Um this very special day.

>> Yeah. Yeah. I'm partial to the vagina

ones. Um I like the really funny ones.

Uh which are great. I think today it's

kind of interesting. I was uh at when I

was speaking yesterday, I was talking

about the um the series Furious on Hulu,

which is about, you know, lady serial

killer and anger towards men. And it's

about Epstein kind of like figures and

getting getting what they deserve and

everything else. And the the it's really

interesting because a lot of men have

had a very bad reaction to it. And I'm

like, do you understand how angry

lots of people, especially women, are

very powerful. There's incredible women

actors in it. Um, and just the anger is

there visceral. And was interesting

about Lori Steinum and then we we'll

move on is um, of course Ted Cruz

yesterday before she died said, you

know, Lord help us from white liberal

women. Uh, which I'm an idiot. I was I

said, you know, yeah, a regular Lincoln

that guy is [laughter] right. Like you

think about like what in the world pos

how can you want to be president if

that's how you feel about a large swath

of people like it's really and if he's

going to continue on in the Trump way

and he's such an unappealing character.

Trump uh had appeal to people this guy

is you know I has zero charm and almost

despised by his people he went to school

with and things like that. It just

seemed like I I thought about it today

after he did that yesterday before she

died. Or look at look at um what we

talked about it last night on Hayes's

show. Um what Pete Hgset posted about

those uh two Canadian one cadet and one

soul one train uh you know instructor at

the summer camp um military summer camp

for I think kids and teenagers.

>> Yes, it is

>> basically body shaming them. What a what

I said on the show was what a sad loser

that this is the dude that's in charge

of the most powerful military in human

history and he is posting. But

that's that is the world in which we

live. Which is why um I'm so I'm so I

think I felt so emotional today when I

saw the news about Gloria Steinum and I

saw the reaction of people not just on

my show but in other you know signal

chats that I'm in with other

journalists.

>> She lived quite a life. Um we've got a

lot more to get into today so let's dig

in. Apple just followed Google's lead in

being a quizing, changing Lake Ontario

to Lake America for US users of Apple

Maps. Trump celebrated the update,

writing on True Social that the renaming

is now complete, ratified, and binding.

None of which is true. The name change

came on John Turnis' first day as Apple

CEO, taking the reigns from Tim Cook. Uh

just not a surprise, Google had had done

it before, uh as I said. Um, and one

company, a little company called Map

Quest, which I covered 100 years ago, is

Backbaby. Uh, the downloads at 1.5 uh

million, the top of the charts.

Actually, I changed myself. It's I

forgot how good it is, actually, how how

uncreative

Google Maps are. Um, and changed

everything. And then I've spent the past

couple of days sort of giving advice to

people how to shift off of a search off

of Google that you can go to duck.go go

or or some others uh which I used to do.

Go and then this morning I moved to the

Vivaldi browser which is a Norwegian

browser.

>> I saw you post that. How is it?

>> It's great. It's a great browser. It's a

you know it's a much you know very

privacy focused because it's from

Europe. It's from Norway. Um I like so

far so good. It's just getting off of

things you're used to, right? Like you

kind of do things. Now a lot of stuff

only works on Chrome for example. This

this the the software we use for this

show for example. Uh so I can't use

that. So you have to use it in some ways

but disentangling yourself a little bit

or having some sensibility

uh is hard because you can't really pick

there's things that you can avoid

there's things that you can but I want

people to have a sense that there is

choices that you can make as consumers

and messages you can send um let me hear

what you think about this lake America I

mean it followed in the wake of uh Gulf

of you know the Gulf one

>> Gulf of America yeah exactly

>> the Gulf of America um he's talked about

doing an ocean I think it's just

bothering people changing the Pacific

Ocean.

>> Now he's saying he wants to change the

name of the straight of Hormuz to the

Straight of Trump. It is the dumbest

thing ever.

>> I want to call it the gay of hormuz. But

go ahead. [laughter]

Sorry.

>> It's pathetic. um and really sad and

obviously just a massive attempt to

distract us from

>> the war of choice that he has gotten us

into and 18 US service members are are

dead and the USS Lincoln is rolling in

rusty to Thailand and there is no

strategy in the war and people are

suffering in the United States and can

barely afford to um pay for anything

groceries much less uh gasoline.

Exactly. And um what are these companies

doing? What are these companies do?

>> What do you think they're doing?

>> It calls back to the moment at the

inauguration when all of the tech titans

were sitting right behind him and

they're obviously obviously um in some

attempt, my opinion, to to curry favor

with him. And I just love the Map Quest

thing because I used to Did you print

them out? I used to print them out.

>> No, no, I have printed them out. You

don't have to now. They have an

excellent app, but

>> So I'm gonna download the app, too. I

haven't done it yet, but I I used to I

love that there

>> you can put it on your CarPlay, by the

way. It can go on to CarPlay, use it

from there. Absolutely.

>> Okay. So, I I will do that. But no, I it

actually there is some level of

nostalgia. I have recently talked to so

many people about how um my dad

collected for a long time typewriters

analog lifestyle is coming back into fog

in a way. And like it's it is a very

nostalgic feeling to even hear the words

map quest. And I'd so much rather be

messing around with that and playing

with that than like, you know, giving

Donald Trump the satisfaction or but I

don't, you know, it's very very

disappointing.

>> I'm not sure they'll do anything about

it. But at the same time, it was an

unusual choice for John Turnis to do on

his first day and quite disappointing.

they look and at the, you know, at the

very end of what feels like the Nero

regime essentially when things could

turn really quickly to do something like

this and obviously the minute it's

possible this will be changed. Uh these

are easy things to change just as we'll

you know we'll do whatever he did all

around Washington um will change back.

Um but you know at on some level Trump

is Trump right? This is what he's going

to do. He's got an obsession with names

and things like that and he's trying to

cement his legacy. I think that's what's

happening here with these buildings. All

of which can be taken down, by the way,

or moved or changed or something like

that and are are relatively pathetic.

But it's the companies, these tech

companies that continue to behave in

ways that are really disturbing

>> to bow down. That's what they're doing.

And for what? For what? And I I love

actually also I saw what you posted

about how you can report on Apple. Was

it on Apple Maps?

>> Um where you can click on it and

basically say report a problem with it.

And I mean I love that form of

resistance. It's so easy to sit there

>> and and and do it. And I do agree as as

soon as they'll have the opportunity or

as soon as they feel like they have the

cover, they'll they will undo this. But

it's just it's pretty shameful. They

think the Democrats will not be uh

revengeful vengeful the way Trump is.

That's their that's their that's their

bet. I tell them not to be so sure cuz I

talk to a lot of Democrats.

>> I do think that you're right that the

consumer we all have so few options and

particularly when it comes to a

smartphone. You know, it's not easy just

to to find something else or different

or independent or I'm certainly not

getting the Trump phone if that still

exists. But what you what you can do is

make how you feel heard. And these these

sort of suggestions that you have been

putting forward, I've gotten great joy

out of them because I do think they're

so easy. So easy to do. Yeah.

>> They're not happy about it. I'm like, I

literally like click.

>> Just to say about the rest of the stuff

that he renamed. You know, I I do worry

that it's not it may not be so easy to

particularly the stuff in Washington and

if this I mean

>> well we're going to have the gold golden

ass statues

>> and he's torn down the East Wing and he

may tear down the Kennedy Center if he

has the opportunity just because he

feels sad um that his name had to be

taken off of that. There's a story that

I would love to share with you which is

and we put on my show. I went there to

take a look at some of the stuff that he

had done around the the 250th

anniversary. And I was standing outside

the Kennedy Center as that big silly

tarp was there covering up his name

because he wouldn't take it down and it

was behind the tarp. And a woman

approached and said she had just walked

from Arlington National Cemetery. I

think her name was Meline and laid her

brother to rest who she said in her

words was a war hero. And I said, "Why

did you come here after to the Kennedy

Center to see the tarp where Donald

Trump's name was under?" And she said,

"Because I'm ashamed of our country."

And I want to go from there where she

felt something so meaningful to come and

take a look at where we had where we had

come.

>> Interesting. You talk about that

cemetery. The arch that's supposed to go

there that he's moving forward on is

going to block that view that people

don't realize that it's actually Robert

El's plantation. Those were all

plantations back in the day. And it's

been reconfigured as something quite

beautiful. I happen to like um

cemeteries and I think it's one of the

there's a beautiful one in San

Francisco. There's a lot of them. and uh

and it's going to just deface that that

monument to the fallen. And so again,

it's it's so it's such a strange and

weird thing. And but more seriously, it

is it is distracting, but it is serious

at the same time. But he's continuing

his quest to find voter fraud, something

that you've all covered a lot,

>> whether it exists or not. Hundreds of

federal agents from the Department of

Homeland Security are working at finding

non-citizens on voter roles. This this

very small problem, what's being

internally called the unlawful voter

initiative. Meanwhile, a whistleblower

is warning of potentially catastrophic

problems with the new US Postal Service

screening system for mail and ballots,

which will be used if Trump's executive

order survives the courts, which

probably will not. That said, they still

may go ahead with it. Uh like today in

Missouri, they said they might go ahead

with stuff that's already been decided

um around gerrymandering. Um the

whistleblower says that the system is

being rushed out without enough testing.

Under a 0% failure policy, one barcode

error could delay thousands of ballots

from being sent out. Now, you spoke with

Leticia James, the New York Attorney

General, this past Sunday. Let's listen

to what she said about Trump's crackdown

on mail in voting. If you think

affordability is a hoax, if you

recognize that tariffs are having an

impact on groceries and on the economy,

if you have nothing to offer, then you

have to cheat. And at the end of the

day, um, mail and ballots have been

secure and the constitution basically

gives the right of elections, time,

place, and manner to the states, not to

the president and not to the postal

system. And so, it's important that

individuals recognize um that the

election system is up to the state. And

we have not had a problem with regards

to mailin ballots. Now, North Carolina

is mailing ballots out this week. Um,

and and many other states are moving to

to protect these things and urging

people to use those drop boxes and

everything else. So, how chaotic could

this get as more states start sending

out ballots?

>> I think it I mean that's the whole

intention here is that he continually

lose Let me back up and just say you're

exactly right. Voter fraud is a a a

solution in search of a problem. The

idea that we have some kind of

widespread voter fraud, the idea that

there are non-citizens voting in any way

that would meaningfully affect the

outcome um of any election is just a

pile of Sorry. Um and for many

many years before I was a journalist, I

was an election reform advocate with an

organization called ytuesday.org.

And the whole idea was let's move

election day to the weekend. Why do we

vote on Tuesday? No good reason.

>> And or give people the day off perhaps.

>> Make it a holiday. Move to whatever. Um

and and all these years after the voting

rights act was passed, our voter turnout

was amongst the lowest of all so many

countries in the world. During co it

slightly went up because we were forced

to vote by mail. Um forced to make

voting more accessible uh and convenient

but also secure. And there the evidence

um is indisputable that voting by mail

is secure uh and safe. It's effective

and it's a way for people to exercise

the franchise. What are they trying to

do? They're trying to sew um chaos.

Donald Trump said about his Save Act,

his voter suppression bill, that it

would guarantee Republican rule, I

think, for a hundred years. Somebody

will correct me if I got that wrong, but

um

>> he couldn't pass it. The Republicans

wouldn't pass it. And so he went about

all this other cockami ways of trying to

um take the elections. And if he cannot

get this mail and if the Supreme Court

um blocks him from doing it, what he's

going to do, um so many experts that I

talked to think, including election

observers, um secretaries of state,

administrators, that he could very well

use it as a pretext on the back end to

go do what he did in Fulton County,

Georgia, which is to go in and seize

ballots and say there's fraud or this

was a fraudulent election. Think about

like in Texas if James Terico um

prevails there over Ken Paxton.

He he will use it as a way to say after

the fact, these were rigged elections. I

didn't get to do what I wanted to do to

make elections more secure and so now

I'm going to I'm going to go in there

and send my Justice Department or my

FBI. And he's already doing it. He's

sending these Department of Justice I

>> Yeah. It's ridiculous. I was in um where

was I? In Detroit

>> uh where he sent observers in the during

the Michigan primary. He did it in

Minnesota. He did it out here in LA.

>> Although the Wyoming governor's

complaining about it, not a

>> Republicans. The thing about election

administrators is that and and the

people who work under them, they are

some of the most civic-minded,

nonpartisan,

um, dedicated civil servants that I have

ever met and have met many civil

servants across many different types of

government, municipal government, and

state government, federal government.

They're doing it because they want

everyday ordinary people to have a say

in how we run our lives. And it is

pathetic that the leader of the free

world of our country um targets these

folks who all they want to do is allow

all of us to be able to speak our minds.

And it comes from this place, my

opinion, of of just being a small

person. I've talked to a lot of mayors

and governors uh that they they said

they're going to have police forces

there to counter which is terrifying if

the if there is some sort of clash at

any of these places because they only

need to do it in a couple of places

right it doesn't have

>> the whole idea is to intimidate and and

I I do think my biggest concern is that

it will scare away these dedicated civil

servants from participating in our

elections and upholding the democracy

that has worked so well for so many

years. There's a reason that we're 50

ununited states of voting when it comes

to our election system. The whole point

is that the constitution calls for the

time, place, and manner of elections to

be um determined by the state

legislators so that there isn't a king

in Washington DC that is putting his

thumb on the scale of how we

participate. And yeah, the idea of

sending uh ICE agents out to polling

places to look for non-citizens. It's

the same it's the exact same strategy

that they carried out in all these

places that I was from LA to Charlotte

to the hallways of 26 Federal Plaza in

New York to

>> Didn't work.

>> Yeah. But the but but the point was send

these Greg Bevino in his military

costume out into the streets to scare

the out of people so that in his

mind people would self-deport or Steven

Miller's mind people would leave the

country.

>> Greg says they're trying to kill him.

>> Give me a break. Give me a break.

[laughter]

Um and by the way,

>> how could you find him? How could you?

Sorry.

>> No, it's okay.

>> I'm gonna make a height joke. You're

>> I'm a short person. I can do so.

>> Um I'm I'm I'm a little height

challenged also. Yeah. I come in right

about I'll say I'm on the shorter side.

Maybe not. I don't know.

>> But you're taller than [laughter] Greg

Pavino. But anyway,

>> Rachel Meadow says that I'm the same

size in real life that I am on

television.

>> You know what? She is a giant. People

don't realize how tall she was.

>> I'm always like, "Sit down before

[laughter] we talk because you're far

too tall." There's only two people I do

that with. One was a supermodel and one

is Rachel Madam. Sit down.

>> She is much taller in real life. Uh

>> absolutely. So, all this to say, it's an

effort to intimidate both the voters and

the election workers and to and to put

forward a pretext to come in and mess

with the elections after the fact, which

is why it's so so so important that

everybody gets out to vote. Um, we just

did a story last night about Taran

County, Texas, where they've reduced by,

I think, over 100 um the amount of

polling places there because they have a

county commission that's 3 to2

Republican, even though the Democratic

electorate is growing there. This is um

this is uh you know one of the biggest

population centers in all of Texas at a

time when the Democrats could take

control of the Senate there in that seat

and it's just a naked attempt at

stealing the election and and there will

be more and more of this.

>> Yes, absolutely. If you can't win, you

have to cheat

at golf and cheats at most things.

Cheats on his wives, cheats at golf and

that's his kind of brand. Uh it's

interesting again how many people these

enablers same thing going along with

him. That to me is um a really

interesting uh idea of who who is who

are these people um who are are doing

this and what will be not just their

regrets which I'm assume they will have

them is what is what do you do about

that you know

>> you know what though yet they're all so

afraid to show up at his silly midterm

convention in Texas all these folks that

are on board with his plans that have

been

>> this is this convention he's doing

whatever it happens

>> he says it's a midterm convention

convention in Dallas.

>> I've covered many conventions for our

network. Uh never a midterm convention

and never one where the president of the

United States wants to make himself the

center of the story

>> at a time when they're not going. Yeah.

>> No. When his own party number one

doesn't want to go, number two doesn't

want anything to do with him

>> at the ballot box. But yeah, they're all

they're those are all his enablers. And

that's the funniest part about it is

they don't want us to be seen anywhere

near him at this convention ultimately.

>> No, not at all. It's interesting to see

what'll happen there. I mean, I suspect

there's going to be a bust presumably.

Uh, and there are some push back. I

mean, Tom Tillis just said Pete Haget

should go. Um, uh, he could have said it

a little sooner or perhaps not voted for

him when he absolutely knew he was

incompetent before.

>> Well, it's like Susan Collins. I was up

in Maine, um, a couple weeks ago.

>> You know, she's concerned about

everything, quote unquote, but you know,

she confirmed Brett talk about the

legacy of of Gloria Steinum. she

confirmed Brett Kavanaaugh um even

though she was so worried about the the

fate of Row versus Wade. Um and now

she's up for election again up there.

It'll be really interesting to see what

plays out. But

>> I think I think finally this guy's going

to take her down.

>> It it'll be I think it's going to be

really interesting. But yeah, there's

how many of them have um are now

speaking out because it's safe for them

to do so.

>> Uh Cornin um Tillis who got defeated

because Trump came after them. You know,

>> you know, I called Tom Tillis too late

Tom in an interview. He's like, "Oh, not

too late." I'm like, "You're too late."

[laughter] He goes, "It's not too late."

I'm like, "Too late?"

>> Well, really? What are you doing after

January? Exactly.

>> Yeah. Well, he wants to he wants to get

on boards. He wants to he wants a life,

you know, Republican life outside. You

can't push too far. But I have to say he

that the the stuff he did on uh Hegath,

including a tweet that just made, you

know, essentially called him a drunk. Um

was uh in jinning things up. You know,

we he needs to act soberly, blah blah

blah. Um, you know, that's cute, but

honestly, but he did call for his that

he should be fired. So, I read that last

night. There was a couple like that.

Anyway, uh, we'll see what happens.

Speaking of which, predictions on on

whether it would be successful given

you're you're an electoral advocate.

>> Whether whether which part of it will be

successful,

>> will will these efforts any of them get

gain traction or you just don't know.

And um I what I think is that I don't

know if we're going to see record voter

participation, but what I do feel as I

travel the country is that people are

keenly aware that not only are the

policies of this administration screwing

over so many people, Republicans and

Democrats. Look at this thing with the

beef. Everybody understands that Donald

Trump, I think, is in it for Donald

Trump. And I I I would be very surprised

if

>> I I I don't want to be in the business

of making a prediction about who's going

to win, but I I I feel the energy on the

streets

>> that feels um unlike any other time

other than maybe during family

separation during the first term when

hundreds of thousands if not millions of

people came out in the streets opposed

to that policy.

>> And I and I and I really do believe in

the power of people pushing back. And I

think

>> Yeah, I do too. I think it's really

interesting. the data center thing is,

you know, it's interesting the attempts

again with the neighbors like Brooke

Rollins, the Secretary of Agriculture

saying that Kla Harris would put farmers

in prison and I was like, you nitwit,

you sickopantic nitwit. I mean, the

nitwits, I don't I was you trying to be

more of a nitwit than Doug Bergam or

perhaps Howard Lutnik saying there's no

water in data centers, another area of

great anger. Um, they've all sort of,

you know, soiled themselves rather

significantly. that issue is is a pretty

um pretty incredible issue and how

salient it's become is really remarkable

and I saw it in

>> proxy we talk about that a lot we talk

we've been talking about this for a long

time and when I saw some tech companies

recently uh about six eight eight months

ago I was like this data center is going

to catch on you understand people are

mad especially when Musk was doing this

this gas powered one was hurting

citizens in I think it was Tennessee and

Memphis and um and I they they were just

sort try to we were at a just a lunch

kind of thing and they're like well what

do you think is going on? I said we all

hate you like I said all of us like hate

you me Marjorie Taylor Green like all

these people like you're just awful and

we've had it with you people and it will

manifest itself around AI around

everything else. Anyway uh let's go on a

quick break. When we get back we'll dig

into the global bond sell-off.

Support for the show comes from HIMS. If

weight [music] loss has felt like a

losing battle, now could be your chance

to change it. Skip the guesswork and try

weight loss by HIMS, an affordable range

of FDA approved GLP-1 medications,

including the WGOI pill and the WGOI

pen. With WGO at HIMS, they say you can

lose up to 20% of your body weight when

combined with diet [music] and exercise.

It helps you regulate your appetite, eat

less, and keep weight off. Plus, WGO is

the first [music] ever GLP-1 pill for

weight loss, so there are no needles

involved. Through HIMS, everything

happens online. You'll connect with a

licensed provider who [music] will

determine if treatment is right for you.

If prescribed, your medication is

delivered right to your door. No

insurance necessary. Ready to reach your

goals? Visit hymns.com/pivot [music]

to get a personalized, affordable plan

that gets you. Spelled hs.com/pivot.

[music]

Hymns.com/pivot.

Weight loss by HIMS is not available in

all 50 states. WGOI is a registered

trademark of Novo Nordisk AS. [music]

To get started and learn more, including

important safety information, WGO

clinical study information and

restrictions, [music] visit hymns.com.

This is advertiser content from Harvey

AI. We have a choice over who we work

with and who we don't, specifically who

we allow to advertise and who we don't.

And for those of you who watch my

content, I am not an AI catastrophist.

I'm an AI optimist. I think it's going

to create [music] more jobs than it

destroys. And I think our job as

professionals is to figure out how to

leverage these these tools. AI more than

almost anything I do in terms of what I

could point to for real economic

leverage and savings is 100% in the

legal [music] fields. Harvey is the AI

designed specifically for legal work

trusted by leading law firms and

enterprise legal teams. All right, so

now I'm looking at their demo. It plugs

into tools that lawyers already work

with Lexus Nexus Microsoft and this is a

key and I do this internally with my

LLMs with permissions. It lets you look

at the firm's own files and databases.

[music]

So here it's answering a question, reads

the complaint, pulls the relevant terms,

checks the web, weighs the evidence, and

drafts a response. But it also can do

this in a shared workspace between the

[music] firm and the client. So they

both have visibility into the work being

done [clears throat] and can both add

value to it. I I think this [music]

space is clearly sort of handinand glove

for AI, right? There's no doubt about

it. This, I think, is uh going to be

super helpful not only for law firms

themselves, but internally for general

counsels at [music] companies. Harvey is

AI tailored for law. You can learn more

at harvey.ai.

Jacob, we're back with more news. The

global sell-off in government bonds is

pushing borrowing uh costs to

multi-deade highs. The US uh 10-year

Treasury yield briefly hit about 4.8%.

8% its highest since early 2025. That is

a big number. That means it costs more

to borrow just for everyone, including

the US government. Let's listen to what

our friend at Park, Bill Cohen, has to

say about it.

>> James Carville, famously said that he

wanted to uh come back reincarnated as

the bond market. And he says that

because uh the bond market is all

powerful uh can topple desperates and uh

can even get the current uh occupant of

the Oval Office to change uh his policy

directions and change his mind even

though he's a stubborn guy and loves to

double down. And what we see now is that

the bond market is basically a fountain

of wisdom. And right now it's sort of

flashing bright yellow nearly red. $40

trillion of debt. Uh 6% budget deficits

warn Iran straight of horm rising

gasoline prices and oil prices. uh

inflation generally being at three plus

percent is not sustainable, not good for

the economy and uh we need to start

taking remedial action and quickly.

Basically, the bond market is

telegraphing economic distress. Uh and

we better get our mind around it and fix

it or else we could be headed for

another dreaded financial crisis. Uh, by

the way, Bill Cohen has a new book out

called Money to Burn: The Unvarnished

Truth About Leon Black, Apollo, and the

Rise of the New Wall Street. Um, this is

a really big deal. This is something

Trump has sort of hung his hat on the

stock market raging, which it has been.

And Wall Street has said, "Oh, we're not

going to do anything about him because

because uh because the stock market's

doing so well and it really is the

economy." And of course speaking of

another sickopantic nitwit Biscott

Bessant who has really soiled his

reputation entirely was trying to fight

the bond market which means I was even I

know you don't fight the bond market. It

just doesn't you never win. Uh it knows

Wall Street is hard is a greed machine

and so it will do what is best for

itself and in that way it's a good it's

a good indication of where people are.

So uh talk a little bit about this

because I think this goes to

affordability. It goes to a lot of

issues.

>> That's that's the terrifying part uh of

all of this for me. And I'm certainly no

economist and nobody should uh listen to

me for financial advice. But what I will

say is I live in the most unaffordable

city in the most unaffordable state in

the union. It is not hard to see um the

dividing line between the rich and the

poor getting greater and greater,

particularly here in my in my home city

and in our um home state. And I

it is becoming increasingly unaffordable

to do just about anything in this

country. And the idea that any of the

folks that I when you get into a a ride

share and I'm sure you do all the time

and you talk to people, they've got all

almost always two jobs if not three

jobs. Um nobody can afford to do

anything today. Okay. And so the idea

that we could have some kind of future

where through borrowing money and

finding a a way to build equity in homes

or or even to get a car or to do any of

the things that we need to live our

daily lives is going to get harder and

harder is um to me is a terrifying

prospect but it's not one that I'm

surprised by because it's a trajectory

that we've been on for a long time now.

>> What way would you cover say a stock

market route because this is where it's

going. I mean he's saying flashing you

know a lot a lot of really smart people

I follow a lot are quite worried about a

stock market crash. Um now I know you

can't ever predict this and it happens

suddenly and even though it's

directionally the way things are going

and a little terrifying in that regard.

Um this is this is all like primed for

something really disastrous. How would

you cover that?

>> For so many people whatever whatever a

bubble pop would look like they're

already living it in in some respects. I

think the vast majority of people are

are living um in a life that is

emblematic of this of this incredible

incoming inequality that we have in the

country. And so

>> less for more what is the real trickle

down? Sure. If we have a bubble pop,

it'll only get worse and worse for the

people that have already been um already

been experiencing it. You know what I

was just thinking about is the the

coming back from the fires here in Los

Angeles. The amount of people who have

been able to rebuild is a fraction of

the people who lost their homes, the

16,000 structures. Uh the insurance

marketplace has been devastated. The

cost of building materials uh has gone

up. The idea that so many of them are

underwater, um that number continues to

grow. And when you don't have some of

the institutional levers that would help

people come back, it'll be it'll be

exponentially more devastating. So, like

that's one on the ground story. But as I

go across the country, you see people

every day who live with the if you want

to know what it would look like for the

stock market to crash, all you got to do

is go out to small communities all

around the country because they're

already living it. You go places and you

go down main streets and and and every

other building or every building is

shuttered. People are um looking for

work, you know, in ways that I've almost

never seen in my 11 years doing this

here. the way of life that a stock

market bubble crash portends is the way

of life so many people are already

living I guess is what I'm trying to

say.

>> Yeah, that's a very good point. That's

an excellent point. I mean it is it the

cost of borrowing is the part that I

think people don't realize is that the

debt gets bigger and that it gets bigger

because of the cost of buyer and again

Wall Street is a very um emotionless

like this is what it's going to cost you

and whatever it happens to be and when

you see a lot of it of course the stock

market itself is predicated on AI

companies u so that you have you know

some of them will get public some of

them will do well but the vast majority

of them as it did in every other

internet tech thing I've covered most of

them will be washed out um and gone and

then will be will again be subject to

just a few powerful companies. And of

course they're shoveling money into um

political, you know, political stuff

that's in their interest, not in the

public interest in any way. And you

know, even when they have kind of like

shitty AI efforts like Grock, um he's

putting hundreds, probably hundreds of

millions of dollars into the next

elections. Elon Musk is uh again, which

sort of messes up the entire process uh

of of how we vote.

>> It's only going to become more acute. Um

the wealthiest among us being able to

put their finger on the scale of these

elections in order to to to further

exacerbate the divide. I think it's

going to be the defining issue of Gavin

Newsome's presidential campaign if and

when he decides to run. meaning

>> it's going to be one of his greatest

challenges that he has presided over

this state which is as I said the most

unaffordable in unequal state in the

union where the rich have gotten richer

the poor have gotten poorer and um while

we can look at California as a leader on

so many issues it's also a place where

we can see what the future might look

like if we don't if we don't contend

with it now

>> it's going to be tough form anyway let's

go on a quick break we come back we'll

talk about Khi issuing its first ever

lifetime ban Support for [music] the

show comes from Quint. Is there

something in your closet you can't wait

to bring back into rotation every year?

Maybe it's the jacket you throw on for

just about anything, the boots [music]

that fit perfectly, or the scarf that

instantly makes an outfit feel put

together. Those are the reliable pieces

you come back to season after season.

[music] They're exactly what Quint does

best. Quint makes premium essentials for

any season using highquality materials

[music] like Mongolian Kashmir, organic

cotton, and washable silk. The designs

are timeless, expertly craft, and made

to be worn again and again. And all of

their items are priced 50 [music] to 80%

less than similar brands. Plus, they

work directly with top factories,

cutting out the middlemen. That way,

you're only paying for [music]

exceptional quality and not brand

markup. I just got Quinc sheets of all

things, and I was surprised. I [music]

love them. They were incredibly well

priced. They're so soft. They're well

done. I didn't have to like [music]

wash them. They didn't feel scratchy in

any way and they were quite beautiful. I

also have this um cardigan that I'm

ready to wear for the fall when it stops

being 90° here in Washington DC. And I'm

looking forward to buying other things

from [music] Quint for the fall. Find

the fall pieces you'll reach for most at

Quint. Download the Quint app for

[music] app exclusive offers or go to

quint.com/pivot.

Get free shipping with your order and

365day [music]

returns. Now available in Canada and the

UK, too. That's quinc nce.com/pivot.

>> Support for the show comes from Ripling.

Imagine you just found out your sales

team is at risk of missing quota. No

need to panic. Just ask Ripling AI since

it's built on your real-time people and

business data. Ripling AI can pull

metrics from Ripling and Salesforce into

a meeting ready dashboard showing

[music] quota attainment, headcount

trajectory, and monthly revenue to quota

by region. In seconds, you can see

exactly what's behind your quota risk

and fix it before it's missed. Question

answered, [music] action taken, crisis

averted. So, when you have critical

business questions that need answers,

don't just file a ticket and wait weeks

for an outdated report, describe what

you need and have Ripling AI build it

instantly from your live people and

business data. Whether it's a dashboard

with detailed charts or automated

workflows with the right triggers,

conditions, and approvals, [music] ready

to rule your business? Head to

rippling.ai/pivot AI/pivot to get the

only AI built to give you full

visibility and take complex actions

across your entire organization. That's

ripp ping.ai/pivot.

Sign up for [music] exclusive access

today.

Jacob, we're back with more news. Khi

has issued its first ever lifetime ban

to none other than former Congressman

George Santos. Of course,

>> poor one out for George Santos.

>> What a surprise. A regulator's uh

cheating cheater is cheating. Regulators

say Santos made more than uh $17,000 by

He's such a small ball, too, by the way,

by betting on his own attendance of

Trump's uh State of the Union while

making misleading social media posts

about his plans. Kowi also hit Santos

with a $70,000 penalty. The company also

temporarily suspended three political

candidates after they bet on the races.

Of course, there's a lot of political um

anger towards these betting markets. uh

in some states declaring them illegal.

They're betting they're gambling

essentially. They need to be regular

like gambling uh uh companies. Um uh

he'll probably be banned from poly

market, but I I'm not sure if he will. I

don't I think they're less inclined that

way. Ki's trying desperately to look

legitimate, you know, to sort of be the

the good cop kind of thing in this

market, which is incredibly popular. How

do you look at these markets? And

obviously a lot of companies, I don't

know if Ms are doing deals with these

people. I I'm not I don't know. I'm not

privy to it. I look at it I I I look at

it with disdain and I think that the the

the reason I say that is that there's

new reporting now that it could very

well affect the outcome of the election

in November because people will be

betting on and then voting based on

their bets um who could become who could

control Congress or who could become the

next president of the United States. I

think it's really dangerous. I I think

it's a very very serious concern that we

should all have that ultimately this

will affect the outcome of the

elections. Not because this is what

people want for their lives, but because

this is how they think they're going to

make a quick buck um on these online

betting markets. And

>> yeah, they're very easy to cheat.

They're easy to cheat.

>> How about the story of um Donald Trump's

teleprompter operator betting on on the

words

>> I think he was hit with a fine. Yeah.

>> Yeah. The words that Donald Trump and I

think they let him go from the White

House. The words that Donald Trump would

say in any given speech. It is. Um I'm

very I'm not a betting person. Um if you

don't want to see me in Las Vegas, it's

pathetic. Uh but

>> it's a very scary proposition to me.

>> How how would you do sentiment? I mean,

you can't go to just farmers markets to

get that right. Like it's that's just

sort of the caps captures the moment

right then with people and you can't and

polling has certainly been badly, you

know, tarnished by

>> especially this year. We look at

Michigan,

>> Michigan, Wisconsin. Polls aren't

people. Betting markets are not people.

And and anecdotally,

>> well, they are they're people with

financial incentives. So often more

truthful.

>> Well, well said. Talking to people

anecdotally at farmers markets is not

the is not the the pulse of the people,

but it's why I do it every week and why

I don't do it once. And I actually think

I have so much admiration for the for

the early late night hosts like like

Letterman or even Leno who would go out

onto the street and talk to people.

Billy Iikner who would do Billy on the

street. Like when you get people in that

raw and most unfiltered moment, that is

actually what what they think and what's

on people's minds and they're not

expecting it. There's no calculation

behind it and it's and it's what I love

about it. We can see it reflected in the

viewership of the show. Actually, we

just had a meeting yesterday where we're

talking about this.

>> I think people want to see themselves

reflected back on television. Um,

Kronite had a quote and I'm going to

butcher it, but it was something about

holding a mirror up to society so people

can see um themselves on broadcasts like

these. And that's why I love that's why

I love doing it. It's not someone hiding

behind a computer screen making a bet.

>> True. But that you know the the watching

trends are using Cali as entertainment,

using Poly Market as entertainment,

especially for young men. You know, it

is their television in some fashion.

>> And I I really do I really really really

do worry about that. The only thing I

can do, I think, in addition to covering

it and the negative impacts of it is, as

I tell my 10-year-old, touch grass or

touch dirt. Like, get out there and be

around real people because being in a

studio is a um is an air conditioning.

>> They call it airless.

>> Yeah, exactly.

>> Well, you have a newsroom behind you.

Newsrooms are not airless. I've been in

plenty. I was at the Washington Post,

the Wall Street Journal.

>> I do love being in this type of

environment and around people. And

because it's early in the morning here,

it's quiet. Although news rooms are

empty now compared to the way they used

to be. They used to be just pubs of

>> Oh, if I can get on my high horse about

that for one second, I the there is

nothing that has made me feel more

confident and a bigger fan of uh

actually local news and the the

definition of public service um that

they provide than what we went through

in LA uh over the course of the last

couple years with the fires and then

with the ice raids. I don't know if you

know them, but I would love to give them

a shout out. LA Taco is a small

independent media organization out here

in LA. Memo Torres. Um Izzy Ramirez, who

is who has um almost on a daily basis

track the ICE raids here. Uh uh KABC won

a Peabody award because of their

coverage during the fires.

>> No, journalists do swing into action

when there's a crisis and I thought the

fire coverage was

>> incredible and and the coverage of the

>> same with the ice rags in Minnesota.

There's been several stories like where

you have to be on the ground

>> club in Chicago. There are so many of

these and the more if I was a um if I

was a billionaire and wanted to put my

money behind something in philanthropy,

I would fund the holy hell out of local

newsrooms and independent journalist.

>> Oddly enough, I said that many many

years ago to several of them. They're

like, "Where should we do this?" I was

like, "Local

>> dump money into these local independent

newsrooms." Exactly. And and because

they they are

>> they literally were life-saving in many

instances during the fire. this street's

on fire or that person's on his roof or

that we've just seen this person where

even though I was from here and on the

national news I can't get into that

level of granularity about stuff.

>> No, that was what my concept for owning

the Washington Post. I was going to make

it like a a newsroom for the country.

>> There's still time here.

>> Yeah. Yeah. No, he's not selling. He's

not selling. Although, I have to say

their news has gotten a lot better. Uh

he seems to be being much more they seem

to be more aggressive in the news

sections on Trump. They've broken a

number of really important stories. That

said, he's still a terrible owner of it

and should sell it to me. All right, uh,

Jacob, one more quick break. Oh, we'll

be back for predictions. Support for

Pivot comes from Anthropic. Finding your

flow at work isn't always easy,

especially [music] when it comes to the

right tools. That's where Claude comes

in, helping you handle the day-to-day

details while keeping sight of the

bigger [music] picture. Claude is the AI

for minds that don't stop at good

enough. It's a collaborator that

actually understands your entire

workflow [music] and thinks with you.

Whether you're debugging code at

midnight or strategizing your next

business move, Claude extends [music]

your thinking to tackle the problems

that matter. You can delegate tasks of

any size to Claude, from tedious bug

fixes to building out new feature ideas,

then focus on other work while [music]

Claude runs the background. Checkpoints

let you save your progress and quickly

roll back to an earlier state, while

scheduled workflows can automate

recurring tasks like daily reports,

weekly [music] summaries, and regular

data polls. Together, these tools can

take the repetitive work off your plate

[music] and make day-to-day operations

run more smoothly. For problems worth

solving, get started with Claude at

claude.ai/pivot. [music]

That's claude.ai/pivot.

And check out Claude Pro, which includes

access to all [music] the features

mentioned in today's episode.

flawed.ai/pivot.

>> You're listening to Deepgram Flux TTS.

[music] Different voices, same model,

all ready to speak.

>> Flux TTS is a streaming texttospech

model built for voice agents.

>> Flux reads the room. It holds context

across the conversation [music] turn

after turn

>> with consistent tone, interruption

handling, and plenty of personality

[music]

>> so your agents keep it flowing and

customers can just keep talking.

>> Try Deepgram Flux TTS [music] free now

until September 12th. Visit

deepgram.com/keeptalk.

Terms apply.

>> Now it's time for predictions. I'm going

to start. I want to give a shout out to

Pablo Tore who was given enormous

amounts of grief for reporting on Steve

Bomber has been kicked off his team for

a year. He essentially can't participate

paying enor $30 million because

essentially he tried to find a way to

pay a player more to get away from the

salary constraints in basketball. And so

get all these sweetheart deals. This was

with like a sign company I didn't even

and he invested in and essentially as a

way to pay someone under the table, you

know, and and and these salary and get

away from these salary caps. Pablo had

reported a lot about this. Um there was

a a story in ESPN, a really shitty story

that said no, nothing was to see here.

Turned out there was a lot to see here.

And the uh the NBA just really smacked

them hard. I think they're not gonna I

think the people when they have a first

round draft pick going forward um I

think they're 10 year olds right now.

They're going to be able to pick from

people who are 10 years old right now.

>> My son has a chance.

>> Now your son has a chance. Uh so I would

that is that hitting LA in a big way?

>> I think so. I was just on my on my

family text thread. My dad, my

brother-in-law, my brother and I were

all just texting about Pablo I think

either this morning or late last night

um before I came in here. I was uh

embarrassingly for a very long time a

Clipper fan um because we my parents

didn't want to pay for the expensive

seats to go to the Lakers so we would go

to the Clipper games at the sports

arena. I've been to hundreds I don't

know LA Clipper games.

>> Oh the Lakers are also in flux because

of the fan fighting. So

>> in the Steve Balmer era though as it

became I I've been into it once. I did a

story for the Today Show before it

opened about the Olympics and how we

were going to have events there. But I

haven't been to the to the Clipper games

in this sort of tech Steve Balmer State

Balmer era very much. It is um it's

really disappointing. It's really

disappointing that the team feels

increasingly inaccessible when

historically the team was the team of

the working class in Los Angeles.

>> Now it's going to be shitty so it'll be

free.

>> Yeah, it'll be back to free. But yeah,

he's I think I think he's banned from

even showing up at games um now for for

a year.

>> Yeah.

>> Great. Um yeah, this this whole thing

was very very disappointing. and and

Pablo, again to to echo you, Pablo Tori,

unbelievable. That dude is incredible

and I'm proud to call him a colleague at

MS, too.

>> Yeah. You know what? They um uh the

sports reporters usually are in the can

for the owners most of the time. And he

should a lot of sports reporters were

attacking him. Um it was really

something to see. And even Mark Cuban

also said it he didn't have a story here

and scammers. It was blamed it on the

company that did this deal. Um, and Mark

said, you know, congratulations, Bob. I

mean, like they all kind of called it

wrong. Uh, maybe they couldn't conceive

that Bomber would do this, but it looks

like he's pushing, by the way, let me be

a fair, he's pushing back and calling it

a witch hunt, which to me like, don't

use that word. Uh, which is, you know,

he's tried to become a civic-minded

looking.

>> He he does have a big charity here in

LA, and I do know that he's spent put a

lot of money through his charity towards

a lot of causes, and they've renovated a

lot of the parks here and stuff.

>> That's not good, Steve.

>> Yeah. old Steve. Anyway, prediction. Go

ahead.

>> We talked a little bit around it

throughout our conversation, but I

predict that we're going to see just an

extraordinary flood of people come out

to participate in the midterm elections.

Um, more than we're anticipating, the

level of enthusiasm that I've seen, the

amount of people that I'm hearing from,

just the vibes. Um, nobody's ever

accused me of being a particularly uh

vibe person, but when I'm out and I'm

around people these days, you can sense

that something is going on and people

feel uneasy and people feel like they

want to take control of their lives

back. And I'm very eager to see what how

that actually manifests. But the the

prediction is um not only are people

very pissed off, but they're finding

ways um I think hopefully at the ballot

box that they're going to actually that

they're actually going to manifest all

of that.

>> Yeah, that's the only thing I believe in

is voters. Honestly though, I have to

say if I had to pick anybody, will Will

Mitch McConnell be among them? He hasn't

been seen in public for 80 days, and

it's nearly been a month since his team

provided an update.

>> Why aren't we even talking about that

anymore? I'm so glad that you brought

that up. It's true. Where is he?

>> Where is he? Well, now Scott Jennings

isn't sure he's coming back after

honestly, Scott, and speaking of soiling

yourself over an issue. Um, uh, it's

really astonishing. It's an astonishing

thing that he's allowed to do this, you

know, that I'm sorry if he's sick, but

he should quit then if he's sick.

That's, you know, I'm sorry if anyone is

incapacitated like that, even people I

don't particularly like, but it's gross.

Um, I will another interesting I have a

prediction, a short one about the

Speaking of Los Angeles, the Paramount

merger. Uh, it it was sort of dueling

handsome men stars. Uh, George Clooney

when asked about the Paramount merger

said, "I don't know how this goes

through. There are so many issues

involved." adding, "I always worry

whenever big companies are consulting

because it usually means a lot of people

lose their jobs." He also defended Mark

Ruffalo against charges of anti-semitism

the Paramount level against him, which I

think they overstepped in that regard.

Um and and then they Tom Cruz came out

for it saying it'll help people when of

course he's ti he's mobbed up with them

in a really significant way. They pay

for all his movies including the Days of

Thunder, which I'm looking forward to. I

like Tom Cruz's movies, but yeah, I

wouldn't I would say he has more at

stake here from a financial interest to

say to back them. Um, but it's really

interesting that you have this kind of

shift happening. I I I can't say unless

there's a settlement and I don't know

why Rob Bont would settle at this point,

right? Uh

>> he's accusing them of being liars and

walked away from a a meeting.

>> He had and but you know that tomorrow

they could settle in seconds. Um but he

he has the upper hand now with his meta

settlement which makes him look good and

he look and he's showing that people can

settle. He's willing to settle in the

right terms. So it'll be interesting to

see if they will present anything that's

acceptable now to um these groups.

They're trying to peel off attorney

generals. I don't think they're peeling

anytime soon. If they get one big deal

um but they shouldn't. They're they have

the upper hand here. And so it'll be

interesting to see if Clooney or Cruz

will prevail here. I suspect uh Clooney

might at this point. Um he's a pretty

powerful figure in Hollywood still.

>> Be certainly everybody out here is

watching that um extremely closely. And

in in our line of work too um you know I

think the biggest topic of conversation

is the CBS CNN potential merger and

>> yes I know I live it every day

>> and exactly and what that pretends I've

been following um your journey uh in

that regard. But told me when he when he

was on my show, he's been on my show a

bunch of times.

>> Um, it was one of the things that was

front of mind for him. And so, uh, um,

>> yeah, but but again, he didn't put it in

the case, which is interesting.

>> I think a lot of people are thinking

about it. See, I can tell you they are.

I just am articulating the mood inside.

Let me say I I don't think I'm way Some

people, you know, see opportunity as

always. People climbing up greasy poles

love to see if they can get up higher.

Um, but I think most people are pretty

like I don't think so. Especially after

this recent terrible CBS story about El

Sal, which was entirely uh fictional. I

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

it was. So, we'll see where it goes. But

George Clooney is on the job and I think

he will top Tom Cruz in this in this

regard. And even though I'm very excited

about the new day of Days of Thunder

with Anne Hathaway and I always love me

a Top Gun and I love me a Mission

Impossible, but Tom, come on. I you are

actually supportive of workers. I'm

surprised that you you know that you're

pro power in this situation. Anyway, we

want to hear from you. Send us your

questions about business tech or

whatever is on your mind and go to

nymag.com/pivot

to submit a question for the show or

call 8551

pivot. Okay, that is the show, our last

show of Scott free August and couldn't

have had a nicer guy with more

magnificent hair to do that with. Uh,

thanks for listening to Scott is will be

so jealous of your hair that he really

will honestly it'll be a large

and and as a longtime listener, first-

time caller. Thank you so much for

having me.

>> Of course. And thanks everyone to listen

to Pivot. Be sure to like and subscribe

uh to our YouTube channel. We'll be back

next week with a return of Scott

Galloway and watch Jacob's show, Connect

with Jacob Soof uh on MS Now. Uh, and

uh, we'll be back. Scott will be back

next next Friday, a week from today. So,

get ready everybody.

[music]