Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
Trump’s First Moves, Biden’s Final Words
Tue, 21 Jan 2025
Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov unpack the dramatic start of Donald Trump’s second presidency, including sweeping executive actions and controversial pardons. They also reflect on Joe Biden’s final days in office. Plus, the TikTok ban reversal: what it means for U.S.-China relations and the future of tech regulation. Follow Jessica Tarlov, @JessicaTarlov. Follow Prof G, @profgalloway. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What are Scott Galloway's thoughts on Trump's second presidency?
I'm going to have them look into it. He's so high off his own supply or whatever you're supposed to say. And I mean, he did become president again. So I guess it's a big day. But if you try to take him seriously and not literally, how do you square that with like the first flurry of executive actions, which are literally the bad stuff that he said? Right. This isn't I'm not coming after Abuela.
Don't worry. I'm just coming after the criminals. Or why is your hair on fire? Like my hair is on fire because you just tried to take away birthright citizenship from the vice president's wife. Right. Or from Kamala Harris, if this was actually to be implemented and it'll be challenged in the courts. But I don't know how to do this yet. And it's going to be a long four years.
It was always going to be a long four years. But what do you think about the take him seriously, not literally, and how to navigate this in a sane way that doesn't make you personally crazy, but also doesn't continue to alienate people who might want to be part of your coalition?
I think a lot of us are struggling with, so do we sort of come together and recognize the election has been decided, it's time to all be Americans, versus an inclination I think I lean on, and that is, I just sort of refuse to normalize this shit. I can't kind of come together around a guy who inspired people to attack Capitol Police. and refuse to show up at the last inauguration.
It doesn't believe in the peaceful transfer of power. I don't, you know, I'm just sort of, look, I purposely didn't want to watch the inauguration because I wouldn't be able to resist shitposting it online. And I thought, well, at least give them 24 or 48 hours of grace.
But I do struggle with the tension between being more graceful and trying to come together and also thinking, you know what, I'll do about, I'll show half the grace they showed us. Which is none.
Well, anything times zero, right? Which is none. Yeah, half of zero is— Thinking back to my math days.
And then the thing that was on display that I saw these pictures of that was so disappointing for me was the kind of—the knee-bending of all these tech billionaires. And I know what they're thinking. The smartest thing to do—this guy's pretty easy to manipulate, and that is if I show up and I give a million bucks to his inaugural committee—
It's worth tens, if not hundreds of billions of dollars to my company's shareholder value because I'll stay in his good graces. This is just a good trade. At the same time, where are the Americans? Where's the fidelity to competition? These guys don't like him. They don't like each other.
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Chapter 2: How did Joe Biden's final days in office unfold?
A transgender woman can cross the finish line in a bike race five minutes early and everybody, all the Democrats gather around and say it's inspiring. So I'm always sort of like, give them that, let them move on, stop demonizing. this group of people of which there are less than the number of people probably paying PEDEL in California.
But some of this just felt, yeah, I don't agree with his economic policies. The tariffs thing, I actually think is being, I don't think tariffs are a good idea, but I think he's more pragmatic. And if you look at his first term, he was seen more, he proved to be more of a pragmatist than an ideologue. I think he's trying to, he sees himself as a dealmaker here and
And I think he's trying to send a shot across the bow of these nations saying, you need to come to the table and give me something or I'll implement. Because he could have implemented those tariffs today, but he decided not to. So I do think he's being pragmatic around that.
I mean, I hope so. And maybe it goes down to 10 percent. I just I think in his race to always do the most like I'm going to sign the most executive orders of anyone on their first day in history. You have a lot of bullshit in there. And it creates these outrage headlines, and then you can slip a Trump coin in, right? Because we're all hair on fire.
Yeah, 100%.
Right, totally. But one thing that I cannot look over here about is the nearly 1,660 Afghans that had their resettlement in America canceled because he got rid of these refugee programs. These are people, a lot of them who have American service members, family, people who worked with us during the Afghan war. And... They're up a creek there.
A lot of them are going to have retribution coming their way from the Taliban. And this is making one of Biden's biggest mistakes. Right. The way that we left Afghanistan. So much worse. And I don't understand it. If you made it a centerpiece of your campaign that Biden. was a terrible foreign policy president, right?
And that he, 13 of our service members died and that we left thousands of people that helped us over the course of this long war and risked their lives for us. And now you're just like, F it. You got to stay. I, hair on fire about that one, for sure.
Well said, Jess. Okay, we have one more quick break. Stay with us.
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