Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
Confronting the Ethical Vacuum Exposed by Trump and Epstein
04 Feb 2026
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Welcome to Raging Moderates. I'm Scott Galloway.
And I'm Jessica Tarliff.
In today's episode of Raging Moderates, Jess, we're discussing how Trump has over-flooded the zone, how he's trying to remake DC in his image, and Bad Bunny's influence in this moment. If you aren't already, make sure that you subscribe to our YouTube page to get up-to-date coverage on everything happening.
Chapter 2: How does Trump flood the zone with news?
We're doing more and more hot takes. And if you want to stay abreast of current events, please subscribe. All right, let's get into it. This past week feels like a masterclass in how Trump floods the zone. The Justice Department dumps more than 3 million pages of Epstein files, heavy on Trump references, light on new facts after months of delay.
instantly devouring, swallowing, occupying the news cycle. At the same time, a whistleblower complaint involving Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard remains so classified, Congress still hasn't seen it months after it was filed. And in Georgia, the FBI seizes 2020 ballots with Trump reportedly inserting himself directly into an active investigation.
That Georgia move comes as Trump openly calls for Republicans to nationalize the voting. reviving his baseless claims about stolen elections and previewing interesting things he says will emerge from seized ballots. Each story on its own raises red flags. Together, they show or reflect a familiar strategy. Move fast, create noise, overwhelm attention. Jess, how do we break this down?
Where do you want to start?
I feel like we have to start with how overwhelmed everyone is. Yeah. Because I don't know if it's something that is weighing on you like it's weighing on me, but I feel like someone is sitting on my chest basically every time that I have to prepare for something or even to talk to a friend who I know is interested in politics or whatever. Doesn't even have to be interested in politics anymore.
I mean, these stories are breaking through to normie folks that are going about their business. You know, my friend texted me asking, do you know a place where I can get an objective take on what's in these Epstein files? I had no answer for her. I can't even point to major publications to say that they've been doing a good job of ingesting these files or telling us what's in them.
Being able to cull through 3 million documents in a matter of hours is impossible. There were huge mistakes made also that naked images were released at first, names of survivors unredacted that had to be taken down from the DOJ site. And You know, it's like a poo-poo platter of hellscapes that you can pick from with what's going on in this news cycle.
Epstein, the 2020 election ballots, Donald Trump's conversation with Dan Bongino, which I want to get into, the story about... You know, a shake buying a 49 percent stake in the Trump family crypto account four days before inauguration.
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Chapter 3: What are the implications of the Epstein document dump?
I mean, that should be a presidency ending story on its own. And the Wall Street Journal did a huge investigation into it. And I feel like it barely made it into most people's algorithms. because of how much is being flooded. And I went back and revisited Steve Bannon's original flood the zone comment from 2019. And he said, every day we hit them with three things.
They'll bite on one and we'll get all our stuff done. Bang, bang, bang. Three things? Three things would be the slowest news day of the Trump administration. It's like 10 things on a daily basis. And I'm I'm feeling like I can't keep up and this responsibility to the people out there who depend on us, right, to be a good filter for this and to have a well-informed perspective.
And I don't want to let people down either with a rush to judgment about some of these things. They're complicated issues too. And so I'm stressed. How are you?
Yeah, I think overwhelmed, and I keep trying to parse how much of it is I just get older and more depressed or if this really is alarming, and I've decided it's a mix of both.
It's definitely alarming.
But they definitely understand, all right, the Epstein files are coming out. Let's talk about nationalizing election, which is nothing but an attempt to pervert democracy.
One thing that came out that's not getting any attention that would be the impeachment-ready news item of any other administration over the past 50 years is that essentially it looks like we have a sheik from the UAE, Tanun bin Zayed Al-Nayan—I apologize if I got that wrong—
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Chapter 4: How does Trump influence active investigations?
who's a UAE national security advisor, he signed a deal to purchase a 49% stake in the Trump family crypto venture, World Liberty Financial. So that's approximately $190 million directly to Trump family entities. And what do you know, a couple months later, Trump admin approved a framework allowing the UAE to purchase 500,000 advanced AI chips annually.
And the big fear is that these chips, which are essentially kind of the information age version of plutonium in the wrong hands, they serve as nuclear guidance systems, GPS for missiles, submarine navigation ships. I mean, our most sensitive military items are instructed, maintained rare earth materials, and are all powered by or guided by some form of AI, sophisticated chips.
And I just want to set some historical context. Because the president seems to be down with it or is the beneficiary of these bribes, we've just sort of lost all historical context.
Chapter 5: What does nationalizing voting mean for democracy?
And I just want to take us back to the 50s, and that is Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. And they were associated with communist circles in the 30s and 40s, and they were accused of espionage for the Soviet Union. But their similarities to me are striking, and that is the passing of sensitive information that could make an adversary more dangerous and lethal to our security interests.
an attempt to keep it quiet on the low down. But the outcomes here are much different. In one instance, a scientist and his wife were put in an electric chair. And in another, we have people advising the president to release more and more documents that allege he might have engaged in pedophilia.
I mean, just to give you a sense of just how far our democracy and our perception of the rule of law and what it means to be a patriot or commit treason, how much it's gone just 180. But anyone who studies history just looks at what has gone on here and said many of these actions would have traditionally put people in electric chairs. Anyways, that's where I am. I'm a little bit depressed.
Yeah, I was going to say, since you gave me those two options, like, are these big stories or am I just depressed? And I was leaning towards just big stories, but now I'm like, we got to get you to a doctor. I like it, though. It's a good dramatic effect at the top of the episode. But while you were talking, it made me think about...
just even the history of what's gone on during the Trump administration in terms of sharing secrets and all of the interplay between the administration and foreigners from getting them to stay at Trump International in D.C., what we know from the Mar-a-Lago documents case that Jack Smith had, which, you know, most people admit Republican or Democrat was the most ironclad case, right, where he had all...
all of our secrets sitting in ballrooms and in bathrooms. And there was a story about the Australian billionaire who was there that was talking about our submarine capacities, too, because everything's just a big party, right? And no matter what's going on in the world, you show up at Mar-a-Lago and there's a girl in a martini glass, right? Because you can't stop the fun in MAGA world.
And I think that that is an an apt story to use and kind of comparison to the current moment. And that's why this is flummoxing and disturbing so many people who have not only studied history, but just have been alive for longer than five minutes. You know, you talk to Gen Z's about our current political moment, and they all say, we know nothing but Donald Trump. Right.
Like they they don't know another.
Who is Obama again?
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Chapter 6: How is Trump's legacy shaping Washington D.C.?
They avoid homes with dogs. It's like, OK, go to the next one. This one has a dog. The presence of an involved father tends to be one of the greatest obstacles or what the term is.
Impediment.
Impediments. Thank you. Or discouragements. I can't find the right word to people who purposely seek out and target victims. of their crimes. So unfortunately, the people with all the power, and this kind of goes back to a lot of what affects the US around big tech, around quite frankly, males who aren't as worried about the problems of sexual assault as they should be.
It's that when you're never victimized, you have trouble empathizing with victims. If you're a dude who's 6'2", 200 pounds, you're just not as worried about men on the subway. You don't perceive those dangers and that discomfort. And when you're upper income and you're all over your kids all the time, You're not as worried, you're outraged, but it's not as big a threat to you.
And there needs to be a new set of incentives. There needs to be more thoughtful discernment and parsing of these people in the Epstein files. In some, more criminal prosecutions and more grace around the people who ended up at a fundraiser or are on some list of invites that he sent out. Because right now, courtesy of the Trump administration.
Oh, bribes from the UAE to send classified IP and technology. Oh, they're funding my kid's crypto scam. Oh, we want to nationalize elections. Why? So we can bastardize elections. That's before or after we invade Greenland and, oh, throw out three million pages of the Epstein files, including accusations against the president.
And what I would like to see is a bunch of attorney generals and DAs around the nation in different states start seeking grand jury indictments and start indicting and serving people, even if they get swatted down in the upper level courts or whatever.
But I think the nation is screaming for some sort of action from the one branch of government that does not appear to have been fully contaminated, and that is our justice system.
You're so right. I mean, the American people are wanting to be mobilized they are willing and able, but need direction. And that's the question that we're asking basically every Democrat that we interview, right?
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Chapter 7: What role does Bad Bunny play in cultural resistance?
Some of it is duplicative. This does not mean that he... raped anyone, that he is a pedophile.
Chapter 8: How does celebrity activism differ today?
I'm not going down that road. I'm just saying that the comfortability with something so sick and depraved blows all of the other stuff out of the water. It makes it seem like petty crimes, right? That he was like stealing a dollar from the cash register when he worked, you know, at a summer job, right? Like taking that money from the UAE if you're comfortable with what happened to these women.
Yeah, but this is a pattern. They take someone's reputation They give them talking points. They tell them to be forceful and push back. And then they throw the reputation on the funeral pyre. I mean, Pam Bondi is now just, I can't even imagine she's going to get offers to be on boards after, you know, hopefully Trump is booted out of the White House. I think her reputation has just been so.
I think Palm Beach actually becomes like a colony unto itself after this. And they're all just there. And like they can work and make money within itself.
Yeah. You know what I mean? Right. And it's a little bit like it. Cult is the right term. A cult leader typically ends up sexually abusing his cult members and the men go along with it and everyone goes along with it.
And because of this notion that somehow this person is otherworldly or, you know, a once in a once in a lifetime leader is Bannon or a wholly ordained leader, as Bannon has said about this individual leader. But when you have the personal lawyers of the president representing the DOJ, just one of the greatest institutions in the West, has just obviously been severely impaired.
The good news here is I think because of the Me Too movement and what's gone on here, I mean, what's interesting is this notion of being canceled. Peter Attia is getting a ton of attention right now because of these salacious emails that the algorithms love. I think that people can decide whether they want to listen to his podcast.
He probably won't be canceled because cancellation usually means you get fired. Matt Lauer could be canceled. Someone who has their own podcast, As long as the audience keeps showing up, some advertisers may leave.
But I'm curious what you think, though, on this point, because so he was just hired as a CBS medical contributor. And apparently Barry Weiss is dug in. This is according to most recent reporting that I saw. And by the time this comes out, who knows? You know, he could have been let go. But she doesn't believe in cancel culture. Right.
It's very foundational to the free press and that kind of, you know, that those vibes to not. fall victim to the mob mentality. So she's dug in on that side, whereas other people... I could have predicted that.
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