Trump's 9/11 Fiction, a Major AI Warning, and Apple's Foldable iPhone

Pivot

Scott Galloway returns to Pivot after a month-long break, reuniting with Kara Swisher to discuss major developments in politics, technology,

Key takeaways

• Trump's shifting 9/11 story reveals inconsistencies that undermine his credibility on national security matters.
• The rise of AI agents presents both transformative potential and severe cybersecurity vulnerabilities.

Main topics

• Trump's evolving narrative about 9/11
• AI safety and cybersecurity threats in the age of autonomous agents

Notable quotes

"I'm not good with that much time off. If I'm not busy, I get down on my head." – Scott Galloway

Conclusion

The episode blends sharp political critique, urgent warnings about AI

Transcript preview

Speaker 6 (0:00) Support for this show comes from Harvey AI. The future of law is agentic, not just tools that assist, but AI agents that navigate complex matters. That's why Harvey created agents that can do the work from end to end. They build a plan, pull from the secure data sources, run sub-agents in parallel, and draft work product ready for your review. So you can delegate work and own the judgment. Trusted by more than 60 % of the AM Law 100 and leading Fortune 500 legal teams, Harvey is an AI operating system designed specifically for legal work. Harvey, AI tailored for law. Learn more at harvey.ai. Speaker 7 (0:41) It's late. Your team has a launch to plan while your customer inbox fills up. No worries. In one prompt, Klaviyo builds the whole campaign. The emails, the texts, WhatsApp, all in your voice. Never without your OK. Plus, Klaviyo spots the revenue you're leaving on the table and answers those customer questions so your team can get some rest. Go to klaviyo.com slash best friends. Speaker 2 (1:08) We're in the AI era, where agents access data, use tools, make decisions, and automate work across the enterprise. It's tremendous innovation, but it's also an incredible cybersecurity challenge, one that CrowdStrike helps solve. CrowdStrike AI detection and response helps organizations detect, investigate, and respond to threats targeting and originating from AI systems, so companies can innovate faster while securing the AI era. Learn more at CrowdStrike.com slash Vox. CrowdStrike. We secure AI. We stop breaches. Put Speaker 6 (1:43) your shirt back on! Speaker 6 (1:50) Hi, everyone. This is Pivot from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network. I'm Cara Swisher. And Speaker 4 (1:56) I'm Scott Galloway. Speaker 6 (1:57) Scott, you're back after a whole month. We have a lot of news to talk about. And we've got politics and AI and so much happened. It was a lot while you were away. Speaker 4 (2:07) Yeah, I think we should. I don't like to make this about me. We should just best write it. Oh, wait, what is that, Cara? What is that? It's a sign, isn't it? That's right. Speaker 3 (2:17) For all of you out there, you've suffered from withdrawals. I get it. I get it. You don't want me. You need me. That's right. You've been good. You've been very good. And here's your reward. Speaker 6 (2:30) Oh, God, your shirt is off. His shirt is off, people. Of course it's off. That's right, ladies. Speaker 3 (2:36) Look at the shoulders. Look at the shoulders. I want you to know, for those of you who are out there, I've learned a lot in August. I've learned a lot. I decided that my jokes are totally inappropriate and I'm going to be much more sensitive to your needs. I think of my self-care. I think of myself now as a feminist. By the Speaker 4 (2:55) way, by the way, think of me as your prefrontal cortex pornography. I'm a Speaker 3 (3:00) 141 IQ, 61 year old who's economically secure with people who love him unconditionally. What do you get? You get unfiltered, unedited insights. And if it offends you, we're all going to be fine. And by the way, another gift. Another gift for Speaker 6 (3:17) all Speaker 3 (3:18) the haters in the comments. Don't take off your pants. Do not Speaker 6 (3:21) take off your pants. You Speaker 3 (3:21) tell her not to associate with me. Yes. I've got a gift for you. I promise for the next 11 months, here's my gift to you. Okay. Speaker 4 (3:30) Zero. Fox. Speaker 3 (3:35) That's Speaker 4 (3:35) right, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, progressive Speaker 3 (3:38) weirdos. It is not the former Secretary of State. Speaker 4 (3:42) It is not a female comedian. It is not some woke sub-stacker who's renting Cara's carriage house. And it is most definitely not a guy with great hair. Remember, it's now, ladies and Speaker 3 (3:53) gentlemen, boys and Speaker 4 (3:54) girls, and also the Speaker 3 (3:54) good media buyers from Athletic Greens and ZipRecorder. Ladies and gentlemen, it is 11 months of unfiltered. Speaker 3 (4:05) Okay. Speaker 6 (4:08) Oh, my God. Put your shirt back on. Oh, my God. Okay, Speaker 3 (4:15) hold on. I Speaker 6 (4:16) am literally going to have to fire him like yesterday. Speaker 3 (4:19) Okay. Speaker 6 (4:20) AI, please save me. Please kill humanity. Can I just say, AI cannot kill us soon enough. Speaker 3 (4:31) Sometimes that works. Speaker 6 (4:32) I don't Speaker 4 (4:32) think Speaker 6 (4:32) that did. I have one thought on that entire appalling performance. Just Speaker 4 (4:37) one? Speaker 6 (4:37) You're still not as hot as Hasan Piker. Speaker 4 (4:40) Oh, my God. Did you see that photo? He looks great. Speaker 6 (4:43) I know. You're out of breath. Hasan Piker wouldn't be out of breath. Speaker 4 (4:46) Kara, at 51, this is not easy. Even as hopped up on testosterone and NAD as I am, I still get very winded. Speaker 6 (4:55) I'm a little tired because I had to carry the entire business on my back for the past, you know, four weeks. Speaker 4 (5:02) Yeah, but I will say I thought you did, and the team did a great job, actually. Thank Speaker 6 (5:06) you. It was Speaker 4 (5:06) a little bit jelly. The views and the downloads and the comments were all very positive. Speaker 6 (5:11) Yeah, yeah, a lot of them. Many people have come up to me, and they enjoyed all the Scott Triaga's co-hosts. They were amazing, and they were all different. They all had a good time, but they all knew they had huge, tiny feet to fill. Shoes to fill. Speaker 4 (5:26) Huge sandals to fill. Huge Speaker 6 (5:27) sandals to fill, tiny sandals to fill. They were great. Huge crocs to fill. They were great. Did you have a favorite? Did you have a favorite of them? I'm curious. Well, you can Speaker 4 (5:36) probably guess my favorite. My favorite is Secretary Clinton. And the insight she had that really struck me was when you asked her, what are the qualities you would want to see in the next president? I was waiting for empathy, geopolitical understanding. And she said, whoever can win the electoral college. Yeah. Speaker 6 (5:49) She's brass tacks, that lady. And Speaker 4 (5:52) that's where I am. I'm like, let this incredible process called the primary run. And not only find the right person, but the right person for the moment. But I thought that was actually quite simple and quite insightful. But as you know, I love the secretary. Speaker 6 (6:05) Yeah, she was on Morning Go this morning. Another, you know, she was really good. And anyone's hair that you like besides Caitlin Collins? Caitlin was fantastic, too. Speaker 4 (6:15) Oh, my God. That tall drink of water from MS Now. Yes. What's Speaker 6 (6:19) that Speaker 4 (6:19) guy's name? Speaker 6 (6:20) Jacob Soboroff. Speaker 4 (6:21) Yeah, that guy's a star. I couldn't hear a word he said. Speaker 6 (6:25) Yeah. I just kept looking Speaker 4 (6:27) at him. He's very handsome. He's Speaker 6 (6:28) dreamy. I wanted to end on a dreamy man. That's the kind of thing. He also happens to be smart, you know, they say about ladies. Well, they're all smart. Speaker 4 (6:36) Yeah. Okay. Smart is not in short supply. They're all the most pop. They're all the prom king that also got a scholarship in journalism. They're all literally cut from the same cloth. Speaker 6 (6:46) Yeah, they were really good. Not all of them are journalists. Cuban's not a journalist. Speaker 6 (6:51) Chelsea's not a journalist. They're all Speaker 4 (6:52) great storytellers. That's one thing they all have in common. I also like that comedian. I thought he was funny. Roy Wood Jr.? Yeah, he was great. He Speaker 6 (6:58) was Speaker 4 (6:58) good. Speaker 6 (6:58) What did you do? Tell me about your adventures while you were away from me. Speaker 4 (7:03) A lot of time with family. Speaker 6 (7:05) I Speaker 4 (7:05) tried to get really fit during August. I Speaker 6 (7:08) saw that story. Actually, quite Speaker 4 (7:09) frankly, I got—I'm just being serious for a moment. It freaked me out about the idea of retirement because I've just—I had too much time off. Speaker 6 (7:18) Yeah. Speaker 4 (7:19) And I'm not good with that much time off. Me Speaker 6 (7:21) neither, yeah. Speaker 4 (7:21) I start getting too much in my head Speaker 6 (7:23) and, Speaker 4 (7:24) you know, give a busy person something to do and it gets done. If I'm not busy, I get down on my, I recognize I need to be busy. Speaker 6 (7:32) Right. Speaker 4 (7:33) And it was actually too long a break. Oh, interesting. And I was sort of, I started on my next book. I spent some time on that. The most rewarding thing was I got to hang out with my boys and the cousins and. You know, that family stuff. So that was nice. But it was basically a very indulgent August. Yeah, Speaker 6 (7:50) it's very hard for me to vacation. You Speaker 4 (7:53) don't vacation. I Speaker 6 (7:54) don't. Speaker 4 (7:55) I don't really know. I've talked to your brother about this. We're both worried that you are. I mean, it's one thing to love your work and get energy from it, which you do. You are the hardest working. man and show business. Thank Speaker 6 (8:11) you. You know, I actually, it's relaxing to me. I know it sounds crazy, but I don't do well sitting around. I don't know what to do. I want to clean something. I want to... If Speaker 4 (8:19) I could change anything in your life, though, I would tell you not to travel as much. I don't care how much you like work. Travel takes a toll on you at our age. Speaker 6 (8:26) It does. It does. And this fall's not great. But I have big chunks of time here at the house. We spent, you know, we... to a lot of places. We went to Vermont, I mean, this summer and stuff like that. But while you were gone, you know, we were in New York at the new place quite a bit. Speaker 4 (8:42) You've been working a lot. Speaker 6 (8:43) Yeah, yeah. And we're planning some really cool stuff we're doing. I just really feel it's really important at this moment in time while you're gone. But I did do one thing that I think was very good. I participated in the cat distribution system. I'm just going to open this bag here and let out our new family pet, Stripes the cat. Speaker 4 (9:03) Oh, wow. Say Speaker 6 (9:04) hi to Stripes. Speaker 4 (9:05) Hi, Stripes. How Speaker 6 (9:06) you doing? Oh, there he goes. Speaker 4 (9:07) Is this the only pet you have in the household now? Speaker 6 (9:09) No, I have another cat. We drove up to New York in the car because we like to bring a bunch of stuff up. And there was a rest stop in Maryland, in Northern Maryland. And there wasn't like a McDonald's one. It was like a state one. And there were porta-potties, and Clara didn't want to use the porta-potty. And so we were like, oh, we'll go behind the shed or something like that and she'd go to the bathroom. And there was this cat was there just meowing away and very friendly. Nobody around, clearly skinny as can be. And so we put her in a box in the car and took her up to New York, got her checked, full of fleas and ticks. worms, everything else, just a stray cat. And I have a cat. I have Lovely, who is not very happy about the situation right now. Speaker 4 (9:55) Yeah, I Speaker 6 (9:55) was going to say, Speaker 4 (9:55) how are they getting along? Well, we'll see. We'll see. Speaker 6 (9:57) You have to keep them apart because she's still got to be dewormed and everything else. She'll be on medication and everything. But it was lovely. This cat is lovely. I love the cat. You know the cat distribution system. It's called the cats find their way to a home. It's not everybody. Some people get you get your dogs from a breeder, right? Correct. Is that correct? Yeah, Speaker 4 (10:17) because I want to see more strays put down. No, I got one. Speaker 3 (10:21) I've always Speaker 4 (10:22) had rescue dogs as a gift to myself on my birthday. I've always wanted a great day. And when you get a rescue dog, it's as if they know you've saved their lives. They're healthier. They're happier in general. They're just better dogs, mostly. because they don't inbreed them. But I had a Great Dane when I was very young, and I've always wanted a Great Dane. Yeah, Speaker 3 (10:42) you Speaker 4 (10:42) have a Speaker 6 (10:42) beautiful dog. I Speaker 4 (10:43) afforded myself the luxury of getting a quote-unquote purebred, but of the... 10 dogs I've had, 9 have been rescued. Speaker 6 (10:48) Yeah, I think it's really important for kids to have pets. I think it's important for people to have pets. Speaker 4 (10:53) Every Speaker 6 (10:54) animal I found has found me. Like, either showed up, I found one of my dogs in a box, lovely, I did get from the ASPCA, stuff like that. So I urge everybody for the fall, get yourself a pet. It makes you feel better. You feel better with animals. And you, particularly, I think, get a lot of comfort from your pets. It seems like it to me. Speaker 4 (11:14) Huge. First of all, I've never had a cat, but there's something special about a species that can look deeply into your soul while knocking your coffee off your counter. Speaker 6 (11:22) I'm watching my coffee right here. Speaker 4 (11:24) Well, just to talk about animals for a second, as I've talked about a lot, I struggle or do struggle with depression, and I have this kind of... series of hacks for trying to reverse the downward spiral. And one of them is I let my dog sleep with me and I let them up on the couch, which I usually don't do. I find the warmth and proximity to mammals is really restorative. Yeah, Speaker 6 (11:47) absolutely. It's really important. Anyway, I urge everyone to get a cat. Stripes is now a member of our family. Didn't have a chip. Didn't have, we did the whole, like, got all the shots. We'll get her fixed at some point. But we're very happy. We're happy. The kids are really excited. But Stripes is... Here to stay. Anyway, let's get going. Scott, you missed so much. God, Jesus frigging Christ. Yeah, I Speaker 4 (12:10) did. I feel out of it. I was really intimidated by today. I was really nervous about it. No, you're going to be great. We're Speaker 6 (12:15) going to do a lightning round. Can you do that and give us your thoughts? I love Speaker 4 (12:17) lightning round, except I'm Speaker 6 (12:18) not Speaker 4 (12:18) much like a strike a lightning. I'm more like a tsunami that lasts for three days in my answers. We're not going to do that. It's Speaker 6 (12:24) more Speaker 4 (12:24) like a tsunami round. Speaker 6 (12:25) You said you'd be crisp. Yeah, I'll try. So let's be crisp. I mean, I couldn't believe how much news there was. That was the one thing every week. Oh Speaker 4 (12:32) my God, can you Speaker 6 (12:32) get over it? Well, Trump is like, speaking of tsunamis, just a constant. Hugging bear or hugging face. Hugging face. Speaker 4 (12:39) All these people dying. Speaker 6 (12:40) Yes, exactly. Huge losses. Let's start with that, including Dolly Parton, Gloria Steinem, a whole range of people. Thoughts? Speaker 4 (12:48) Well, look, Dolly Parton and Gloria Steinem built empires on their own, but they did it differently. They went direct to consumer. They were kind of, they didn't ask for permission. The quotes that summarize their lives, in my view. Dolly said, I love her quote. She said, the ones who love me made up for the ones who didn't. That to me just kind of captures her generosity. Gloria Steinem, my favorite quote of hers was, I think a truly liberated woman has had sex before marriage and a job after. I thought that just like perfectly encapsulated her. Also, the reality is if you're a woman and you have a credit card and a checking account, you kind of have to nod to Gloria Steinem. I mean, she really did have a big impact. She did. The one that didn't get enough attention or the one that sort of moved me was Tim Curry. Not because... Oh, Speaker 6 (13:39) yeah, of course. I Speaker 4 (13:40) mean, he had an outstanding career. But the Rocky Horror Picture Show was a cultural phenomena. There was a kid named Rick Patesky in my high school who was overweight, not very smart, not athletic, not very nice, had very little quote-unquote social capital. And I was an usher at the UA Cinema in Westwood and the Man Bruin. I've been fired from most of the movie theaters in Westwood. And we played the Rocky Horror Picture Show every Friday night. And Rick, I recognized him, Rick, this total dork, used to come in a white tuxedo every Friday night for the Rocky Horror Picture Show. And people, two-thirds of the audience would be dressed up as characters. Speaker 6 (14:22) Yeah, sure. Speaker 4 (14:23) And there was a moment, there's a moment in the film where this super hot guy, someone will remind us in the comments, he's sleeping. And I guess he's nervous because he's actually in a movie. And his muscle begins to twitch. And Rick would climb up on stage, which you're not supposed to do in a movie, and he would point at the muscle twitching, and the entire audience would stand up and go apeshit crazy for Rick. Speaker 6 (14:48) Yeah. And Speaker 4 (14:49) similar to my favorite writer, John Irving, the Rocky Horror Picture Show, I think, gave... licensed to an audience and people to recognize how strange people are. Yes. But there's a beauty and a wonder in that. And all these freaks and weirdos used to show up for the Rocky Horror Picture Show, and guess what? They liked themselves, and they had a great time. So it wasn't so much Tim Curry's passing. It was, I thought that movie was sort of, you know how people get dressed up for Star Wars? It was a cultural phenomenon. I Speaker 6 (15:22) agree. So let's get through the rest of these. Trump's trade war with Canada. Give me a sentence or two. Speaker 4 (15:28) We've declared war on the nation that has bought more of our goods over the last 60 years than any other nation. It's the definition of stupid. We sell a $1,000 iPhone into Canada, 60 points of margin, P of 30. We make $18,000 in shareholder value. They sell low margin crude oil into us. And this trading relationship has been so wildly accretive and asymmetric benefiting us. And when I was a kid, my mom made a nine-year-old walk to the corner because she didn't want to see my dad's car. And it's like, look, you were married to this guy for a while. And regardless of what you think of Canada, the notion that we're somehow going to disentangle ourselves from a partner where we've been. married for 60 years. Auto parts cross the border back and forth eight times before a final finish and assembly. They sell $120 billion of energy into our nation. You want to talk about energy security? We're going to start fucking with Canada. And this isn't even about the morality of turning on your best friend in the world. This is just playing, not only is it stupid, it's impractical. There is no way we are separating from Canada. Speaker 6 (16:46) Yeah, I bet he's trying to offend them with Lake America, Lake Ontario. Just yesterday, I was at an event where Julie Pace, head of AP, said they're not changing it. The Apple and Google doing that was pretty- Well, Speaker 4 (16:57) they're changing the name of the San Andreas Fault to Joe Biden's Fault. Speaker 6 (17:01) Oh, God, where'd you find that? That's funny. Yeah, someone had a good one also that Apple got ready for its phone. We'll