The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway
Raging Moderates: Trump’s Trade War vs. Hollywood (feat. Sen. Chris Murphy)
Tue, 06 May 2025
The economy’s on edge, Trump’s tariffs are targeting Hollywood, and there’s chaos in the West Wing as Mike Waltz is out—and Marco Rubio is somehow doing four jobs at once. Plus, Senator Chris Murphy joins to break down the GOP’s sweeping budget cuts, the Democratic response, and whether voters are finally starting to pay attention. Follow Jessica Tarlov, @JessicaTarlov. Follow Prof G, @profgalloway. Follow Raging Moderates, @RagingModeratesPod. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What are the latest changes in the West Wing under Trump?
I was—one of my favorite tourist things in the world is the fat bike or fat tire bike tours, especially the one in Berlin. It goes everywhere, and they look at the guard towers and Hitler's bunker. And anyways, I'm officially like 100 years old. I'm fascinated by anything to do with— World War II. All right. Banter done.
In today's episode of Raging Moderates, we're discussing the economy is one quarter away from a possible recession. Mike Waltz gets pushed out. Trump says he doesn't know if he has to uphold due process. And we have one of our favorites, Senator Chris Murphy, joining us to talk about the GOP budget bill and what Democrats are doing to message the possible harms to Americans.
All right, let's get into it. We've got our first major shakeup in the West Wing. Trump has ousted National Security Advisor Mike Walz, best known for launching the world's most famous group chat, and nominated him as U.N. ambassador. OK, so you're fired, but you get a free toaster.
Yeah, you get a demotion.
Yeah, that's it. Stepping in, at least for now, is a jack of all trades and master of none, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who will now be juggling four top-level roles in the administration. Meanwhile, the White House is touting strong April job numbers, but the economy shrunk in the first quarter, and Trump's tariffs really haven't really fully kicked in yet.
One of them, 100% tariff on foreign-made movies, which he claims is a national security issue. Huh. Okay. He's also warning of higher prices and toy shortages this holiday season and says he's okay with that. All right. I got banging porn stars that has a tacky 757 laced in four karat gold that calls every other day. He should lecture us about consumption. Trump's
New budget proposes $163 billion in cuts to education, health, and the environment while boosting law enforcement and border security. He also floated reopening Alcatraz as a symbol of law, order, and justice and said he's unsure whether due process rights must be honored during these mass deportations, though he'll follow the Supreme Court's lead. He hasn't so far.
All this comes as Trump and GOP leaders ramp up for the midterms, warning that a Democratic majority could bring a third impeachment, something they're hoping will rally the MAGA base. Jess, let's start with Waltz and the shakeup. Why do you think it was pushed out, and how realistic is it for Rubio to wear all those hats?
So someone had to go, and... Trump invested so much in getting Pete Hegseth through the confirmation process that it was increasingly looking like it had to be waltz.
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Chapter 2: Why is Hollywood concerned about Trump's tariffs?
I'll get a babysitter.
Maybe we'll see Katy Perry.
Is that that exciting now? She's not... Have you seen the weird dancing videos? She's not that good.
I'm convinced she was replaced with someone on the way back.
Like a robot?
No, some alien. There's something going on there.
Something bad is happening. But Walt's... So he got Trump's sign of approval where he said, you know, Walz is safe. And then he went on television and he went on with Laura Ingraham and he had a pretty testy interview. She was pushing him pretty hard about it, mostly about how was Jeffrey Goldberg in your phone in the first place.
And we know that the mix-up was that he thought he was putting in the trade representative, Jameson Greer, with the same initials as Jeffrey Goldberg. But we also know in Trump world that there is nothing more offensive than being someone that talks to the mainstream press, let alone Jeffrey Goldberg, who was responsible for the suckers and losers story that keeps Trump up at night still.
He's so mad about that. And how it kind of turned public opinion as to how he feels about those who have served, even though we know what he said about John McCain from the start. So it was pretty obvious what he thought. But it was interesting looking at Waltz being pushed out. And he was given some options, some ambassadorships.
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Chapter 3: What are the potential economic impacts of Trump's trade policies?
I actually got to say, I don't think it's gotten much attention. You know, I think they kind of accomplished what they wanted. I think it's poor leadership to say, oh, here, you go do this now. I just thought that was... And you, an ambassador, I mean, talk about... Talk about that's like what they did with Carrie Lake. Now she's in charge of, what, Radio Free Europe as they cut funding for it?
It reminds me of... Did you ever see the movie Broadcast News with William Hurt and Holly Hunter? Just a wonderful film. And Julia, I forget her name. She played a Bond girl. She played Holly Goodhead in one of the Bond films. And she was in the movie Broadcast News. And she's a competitive threat for William Hurt's affections to Holly Hunter.
And Holly, who's the assigning producer, basically sends her to do stories in Alaska. So she still has a job, but she's in Alaska. I feel like Carrie Lake and now Mike Waltz are in Alaska, if you will.
So Laura Loomer, who, you know, self-describes as an investigative journalist, but is really just a crackpot. And Trump loves her, and they've had to get her away from him, essentially, because she fills his head with even more craziness, apparently played a key role in Waltz's ouster. And her big thing is that Trump, in order to effectuate his agenda, needs to be surrounded by true believers.
And Waltz is not a true believer. He's a convert. And Marco Rubio is a convert as well, though it seems like he's, you know, making the cut in very serious ways now that he has, like, four jobs or something like that. But Laura Loomer, you know, she posted on X after Waltz was kicked out and just wrote Loomered. So, you know, take your victory lap. But she said something that I thought was...
Right, and that we should keep in mind as we're evaluating the administration as it unfolds. If there's anything that's going to torpedo Donald Trump and his agenda after he survived indictments and mugshots and multiple assassination attempts, it's going to be the vetting crisis and unforced errors of his administration. Contrary to what's been said, he doesn't hire the best people.
That's why it's so important that there's people to help support the president, because nobody is perfect. And that feels like a really good Trumpian organizing principle for whatever we are about to see over the next three and a half years.
Yeah, but this guy hasn't learned, this guy. The president hasn't learned the basis of greatness and success. And that is greatness is in the agency of others. And You essentially, when you're on a board, your job is to basically decide if and when to sell the company. But more than anything, really your only job is to ensure you have the right guy or gal.
And the right guy or gal needs to be good at what they do, set strategy, be an external spokesperson. But the best CEOs, the best leaders recognize that greatness is in the agency of others, and they surround themselves with just incredibly competent people.
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Chapter 4: How are Trump's tariffs affecting international trade relations?
On Today Explained, we're asking if any of his voters are experiencing voters remorse, especially those ones who are newer to his winning coalition. Younger voters, black voters, Latin voters. We're heading to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to ask them if regrets. Do they have a few? And just by way of spoiler to get this out of the way, the answer is yes, they do.
And he takes the fat, the fat shot drug.
Thank you. We'll be right back. So whether you've always been secular or have left religion behind, if you don't want someone else dictating the trip for you, the Freedom From Religion Foundation has your back. Go to ffrf.us slash freedom or text my first name, Scott, to 511511 and become a member today. Text Scott to 511511. or go to ffrf.us slash freedom.
Because when it comes to freedom, we all deserve to choose our own route. For membership information, text Scott to 511-511 today. Text fees may apply. Moving on here, the economy shrunk in the first quarter and we haven't seen the full impact of Trump's tariffs yet. Any sense for, have you heard anything about, quote unquote, this line out the door of people looking to do deals with him?
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The U.S. team is a bunch of yahoos and they sit down at the table and they don't even know what they want. You know, when you go on a on a first date and you realize maybe you're not up to it, you know, when you're not feeling it or whatever, or you're just not in the mood. So you can't even make conversation. And within 10 minutes, you're just kind of staring at each other.
I feel like that's what a lot of these traits.
I just want you to know, I have sat across from that a lot. Just a lot. I've experienced that a lot from the other side.
Yeah, that's what happens. The women aren't up to it.
Yeah, I see a lot of women.
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Chapter 5: Why do experts believe a recession is looming?
But effectively, this would be a boon to the local for in the short term. It'd be terrible for consumers in Poland, but they would get a short-term sugar high from domestically produced content. I don't even know how you would calculate the tariff. But over the long term, all it does is the following. Media becomes much more expensive in those nations.
The media industry in America, which employs millions of high-paid jobs, gets crushed, right? Because this truly is a frictionless export. You don't need ships, you don't need docks, you don't need retail distribution channels or trucks. Media can be transmitted over cables with zeros and ones. And we make unbelievable margins
And to think that these nations aren't going to impose reciprocal tariffs, which will dramatically decrease the demand of our content overseas, which we haven't, as you pointed out, an incredible trade surplus. And this is what will happen. He will threaten it.
Ted Sarandos from Netflix will call and say, you realize that this is going to take Netflix stock down dramatically as we do 51% of our content production is overseas now. We don't even know how to calculate. what the tariff would be. It'll take our stock way down. We're going to get very pissed off, as will the 315 million people who are on Netflix.
And he will do exactly what he's done across every single step in this process. He will blink. Netflix will be the new Apple. And that is, people say, well, what would happen to the price of Netflix in all these nations? And in our nation, if all of a sudden content produced overseas, of which 51% of Netflix content is now, whether it's the Umbrella Academy or
money heist, and Netflix says, oh, we might have to raise prices from $12.99 to $17.99. Americans started a revolution that basically resulted in the formation of our nation based on the action of people trying to raise taxes on tea, the Whiskey Rebellion. So this is again, nothing but chaos and paralysis, where the most talented people in the world in media, which happen to reside in America,
essentially have to spend all this time figuring out what the fuck does this mean? How do we even respond to it? Just in case, let's stop production overseas. Let's reroute our supply chain. We got to spend all of our time on earnings calls talking about how we respond to this instead of how we're actually trying to acquire consumers or produce more media.
It's more effective on a lower budget in our business models. And at the end of the day, he's going to do the same thing he did with Apple. He'll do the same thing with Netflix, and that is he will blink.
But if, in fact, the tariff does go through in some form, it's the small independent producers, the smaller media companies that will be shit out of luck, that don't have lobbyists and don't have a cult following similar to Apple and Netflix. This, again, is nothing but a self-inflicted injury.
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Chapter 6: How might Trump's policies lead to stagflation?
And when they have more money, they buy more of our products and it's an upward spiral. And one of the problems with this administration in terms of mentality that is just not prosperous or foots to the age is that they approach everything as a zero-sum game, that if another nation is prospering, it must be bad for us.
And China's ascent into the global economy as a kind of a tier one nation has been great for us. And you might say, well, it's not great for us. Only 3% of clothes in America are manufactured domestically. How can that be a good thing?
Okay, in the last 40 years, on an inflation-adjusted basis, the price of clothing has been cut in half, which means Americans can focus on manufacturing things with much higher margin. I don't know, chips, media. And with that additional gross margin, by focusing on high margin products and additional profitability, we get to buy more shit. And at the end of the day, America is about rights.
It's about defending our nation and giving people the opportunity to buy more shit. People don't come here. I mean, a lot of people do come here escaping totalitarian regimes or they want or asylum. But the majority of people who come here, come here because they want more shit. And what I mean by that is- We call that opportunity.
Yeah.
They want a more prosperous lifestyle. They want to be able to afford nice things for the kids. They want to take nice vacations. They want to have a nicer car. They want to buy better beer. They want to wear cooler clothes. They want to wear Nikes. They want to watch better media. And the notion that somehow... We have not benefited, since World War II, we have 8X'd our GDP.
Our average household income is about 80 grand. Granted, it is absolutely not fairly distributed, but that's our choosing. That has nothing to do with trade policy right now. But the notion that we haven't won, we've won, folks. We've won. And a big part of that is because of our incredible trade policy, where we've usually been both parties win, but we win equally.
even more, and he was very eloquent and said, by the way, when other nations are more prosperous and their children are more prosperous, your children are safer. And that is when nations don't do well, you know, they're just more inclined to declare war on their neighbors or be really angry at those gluttonous Americans who appear to be doing well and pulling ahead without us.
I thought his comments were really solid, but just a quick rundown of some of the products from China that are imported into the US, 99% of shoes are imported, 90% of microwaves are imported from China, 82% of pots and pans, 70% of utensils, 40% of coffee makers, 93% of children's books, 86% of gaming consoles, 98% of umbrellas, 82% of blankets, 96%. of fireworks.
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