Lovett or Leave It - Caitlyn Jenner killed someone?

Episode Date: May 1, 2021

Gavin Newsom faces a recall election. Joe Biden addresses Congress. The Feds raid Rudy's apartment. And the CDC relaxes restrictions for vaccinated people. Ron Funches joins to cover all the news. Kara Swisher is back to talk about the war over privacy between Apple and Facebook as well as Elon Musk's delightful public persona. And we don't think you'll be able to tell the difference between California recall candidates and Masked Singer contestants. What a week.For a closed-captioned version of this episode, please visit crooked.com/lovettorleaveit. For a transcript of this episode, please email [e-mail] and include the name of the podcast.

Welcome to Love It or Leave It, Vaxxed to the Future. As I sip a vodka soda My ketchup's on the couch He sees that I am smiling And when he's wondering I boop his nose And then disclose It's cause I got my second Fauci-ouchie What does this mean For the future

I begin to wonder How will we keep ourselves from completely going under? The CDC says we are free to hang out with our mask off, but only with our vaccinated

friends, so don't be such a jack-off. Please keep it on, we're almost done. This is no time to relax as we get Vags to the Future. I wanna go to a

Broadway show in theaters back in business. I'll take on the mean girls and jagged pills with the kids at dear old Shiz, and while we're on the subject, scabrudin', go fuck yourself. Besides, the music, man, I'd never stand. Some revivals need the axe when we get vaxxed to the future. But not Carolina Change or Assassins.

I'm gonna need those revivals to happen. But all joking aside, the deficit we could puncture and pay for infrastructure if we'd just raise the corporate tax and get back to the future. And here's one for all you centrist democratic senators out there. The courage you should muster to abolish the filibuster. You gotta grow a spine in your backs and take us back to the future. That incredible song was by Eric Anderson Jr. It was like, what would you call that? Vaudeville? Tin Pan Alley? It was great.

If you want to make a Vaxxed to the Future theme song, please send it to us at leaveit at crooked.com. This week, we mark the end of Biden's first 100 days in office and the season finale of Rubicon. Join Brian Boitler as he reviews the administration's biggest wins and fails. It's a great way to understand the debates. We spend so much of our time on the debates between Democrats and Republicans, but this show is about the big debates inside of liberalism, and it's really worth checking out. The last episode of this

season is on Friday. Listen and subscribe to Rubicon wherever you get your podcasts. Also, the trailer for season three of America Dissected just dropped. In this new season, Dr. Abdul Al-Sayed sits down with scientists and policy leaders to talk about mental health, climate change, and new scientific discoveries. Guests will include Cori Bush, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, and so many more. It's a great show about health and some of the biggest questions in science. They're fascinating conversations. Listen to new episodes of America Dissected every Tuesday and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify,

or wherever you listen. On the show this week, Kara Swisher is back. We talked about the war between Apple and Facebook and a little bit on Elon Musk and the difference between his work as a company leader and his public persona as he heads to SNL. And we played a game about the California recall election and how it resembles a game show. But first, he is the host of a cannabis cooking show, Chopped 420, now streaming on Discovery Plus, the co-host of True TV's top secret videos, and in the new movie Golden Arm, which was released yesterday.

Please welcome Ron Funches. Ron, it's good to see you. Hi. Thank you for having me. Let's get into it. What a week. The CDC announced at a White House press conference on Tuesday that Americans who are fully vaccinated no longer need to wear masks outdoors with the exception of large and crowded gatherings. Ron, I'm unlocking my iPhone with my face just thinking about it. That's a good one. That is a good one. I like that joke. You said

how I react. I like that one. My wife doesn't agree with the CDC right now. She still says yes to mask outside, no to free face outside. No free face? No free face outside? Not when I'm walking with her, no. Like a classic Oscar and Felix. We're very good opposites attract. She's very careful. I'm very carefree. She's very

clean. I'm very messy. She's Canadian. I'm American. I get it. Classic. Classic. I'm moving forward. And then I was circling something around spaghetti. In my mind, I see Felix and Oscar. I see spaghetti.

There's messy spaghetti involved. There's also, I was thinking about duct tape down the middle and it's masks on one side and no masks on the other these are just some options if you're trying to build out the sitcom dynamic inside of your relationship oh classic duct tape who who does not want a duct tape style relationship where you're like this side of the house is mine this side of the house is yours everybody that's what you hope for in a relationship

and then early wed, federal investigators executed a search warrant at the home and office of former New York City mayor and current guy who definitely doesn't drink enough water, Rudy Giuliani, as part of an investigation into his illicit dealings on behalf of Donald Trump. Both his lawyer's statement and his son's press conference tried to point the finger at Hunter Biden, forgetting that while that does work on television, you can't go into court and say, what about this other thing? They don't ever go for that. You can't say somebody else did something bad in court. You have to actually deny the thing that's happening to you. Yeah. Which is unfair in a way. Like you should be able to like be like pass the buck to whoever, whoever is the worst criminal of the day

you know you'd be like look yes i i did something bad but i was talking to this guy he this guy is mansplaining to everyone in this line so like clearly your honor not guilty your honor not guilty if i could just to come back to where i started just to keep one thought in your mind not guilty yes uh there's one thing you take away from what i'm saying here we've been on a journey but just not guilty yes he's like tax evasion sure did i. But your honor, murder. It's so much worse. Yes. Consider that. Consider it. That's a solid defense to me.

So far, investigators are mum on what they've discovered, except for revealing a vision board from the apartment of Rudy Giuliani. But it was just pictures of Michael Chiklis in happy relationships. Okay. That's all that was on there. I get that. What's weird about it is it looks like he hired Michael Chiklis in happy relationships. Okay. That's all that was on there. I get that. What's weird about it is like, it looks like he hired Michael Chiklis. Like it's like Michael Chiklis pushing a woman on a swing.

Michael Chiklis at a fancy restaurant. Yeah, what's weird about this? I don't get it. I do vision boards all the time. I believe in it. You got to envision it to achieve it. That is simple. Believe it to achieve it.

If it rhymes, it's for real. And if you if you got to me there's two goals in one he's saying what he wants happy family life you know riches and fun times at restaurants and then he's using Michael Chiklis as his health goals so he's like this is what I want to see myself as this is I'm not going to go and just put someone unobtainable for me. The best I could be is Michael Chigley. It's achievable. You're right. Yes, exactly. He's not going to put some full-headed Lothario on there. He's going to put a handsome, stocky, but athletic, charming, bald man on there. Exactly. Yeah, there is nothing weird about that. You're right. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. The fun continued Wednesday night when President Biden delivered his first joint address to Congress to mark 100 days of his administration. He began by saying this.

Madam Speaker, Madam Vice President, no president has ever said those words from this podium. No president has ever said those words from this podium. No president has ever said those words. And it's about time. It was pretty moving. Biden distracted from the moment when he added, also, no one has ever said this before. I didn't get Joker.

He's a crazy clown in the opening scene. There's nowhere to go but a great performance. Great performance. God love him. Also, I just think it's weird to just phrase it that way. That's just like the classic you can't let somebody else shine when you're like you know, Madam Speaker,

Madam Vice President. Well, how cool is it of me that I get to say that? Man, I'm killing it. He's like, hey, the first two women are up here. The three of us are part of something pretty great. Only 200 people were allowed in the House chamber due to coronavirus restrictions, which definitely changed the feel. It's like a party that's not as big as you thought it was going to be.

And so it's a little bit too intimate. And then you get this terrible feeling that Jon Ossoff is going to pull out an acoustic guitar at like any moment. Like that's the risk. That's the risk when you only allow 200 people in. Jon Ossoff is like, should I play a song? And not enough people say no. A couple of people kind of are nice and then it happens. Yeah, that's one of my least favorite things in the world. Doesn't matter who you are. I told Conan O'Brien to his face.

I don't like it when he does that because it's all put in. What am I supposed to do? You're putting me in a situation where you you're basically assaulting me with music and I have nowhere to go I have to look like I'm somewhat enjoying it to be just serenaded out the blue I think is I mean there you go if I showed up at that court I would be like look your honor did I commit tax evasion did I lie under oh yes have i possibly murdered one or two people on occasion but have i ever serenaded people without them wanting it no not guilty have i ever sat down at a grand piano unbidden and forced everybody to stop their their conversations mid-conversation. No, not guilty.

Yeah, exactly. That's the last thing you want. As a stand-up, I used to do that to people. They go to eat. They go to a restaurant, truck stop restaurant, coffee shop, thinking that they were going to chat with their friends. And me and my friends would come in and say, no, you is your time to shut up and time for you to listen to us tell jokes. And then we will wonder

why it didn't go well. At some point you got to go, oh, right. They didn't know what they were getting into. They should. That's partly on them. Honestly, that's on the establishment for not setting the clear expectations. True. That's is true. President Biden also delivered a message about jobs, the economy, and the end of the pandemic. We all know life can knock us down, but in America, we never, ever, ever stay down. Americans always get up. A beautiful quote, of course, by President Franklin Delano Chabawamba. That's all that was worth. That's all that was worth. That was all that was worth.

Chabawamba. President Chabawamba. It's fun to say. It is super fun to say. It sounds furry. It does. It does. Well, it evokes Chewbacca in some sense. Or a little creature. Oom creature oompa

loompa is in there i saw a furby a giant furby is what i saw in my head yeah yes and it made me feel safe and actually protected so i'm gonna vote for him the one the wumba sound doesn't just make them to me furry it also makes them wide like kind of a wide leg you know they're they're they have a good platform yeah they're not threatening they're pear- leg you know they're they're they have a good platform yeah they're not threatening they're pear-shaped you know well it sounds like womb there's a lovingness to it there's a you know a duality if you will to it masculine and feminine and the chumba and the wumba yeah and within that is where you find unity is where you find true peace so i've always said that i thought

within each of us there's chubba and there's wumba and actually a society that fails to reflect both the chubba and the wumba uh is a broken society society in a lot of pain said cruz appeared to doze off during the speech, but he was obviously faking it for attention because you do not live for 50 years as Ted Cruz without learning enough to fall asleep in public. Think about how many dicks his roommates drew on his face at Princeton.

There is no way that this man is going to fall asleep in front of other people. I think even now, on C-SPAN, on television, Ted Cruz falls asleep in a committee hearing. I think you can definitely get a couple Democrats and a couple Republicans to mess with him. I think that there are 60 votes to take Ted Cruz's hand, put it in some warm water, you know, just see what happens.

I think you get Joe Manchin, put a little shaving cream on Ted's nose, Pat Toomey, put a little feather on his hand you know you could do it i just feel like it's such a weird like childlike way to rebel against something it's like you know i guess that's classic but that's like my not even my son just turned 18 he wouldn't even do that that's like a classic like where you later on he's just like elbowing his friends he says you see me you see me? Do you see me? I look well sleeping. I wasn't sleeping, but I made, you know, I look like I was sleeping.

Let him know he was boring. That's what I'm doing. Oh, I miss that guy that yelled at me and talked about my wife. Yeah, that guy was interesting. Kept me awake. He was a monster, but you never were bored. Biden also made arguments against the economic policies of the previous four years when he said this.

My fellow Americans, trickle down economics is never worth. It's time to grow the economy from the bottom in the middle out. My fellow Americans, it's time to take the economy to white castle time to really fatten this economy up it's time to give this economy the energy bars they used in mean girls to make sure they couldn't fit into their prom dresses of economic inequality time to get this economy get that quarantine 15 everybody the whole, we all been growing from the bottom in the middle out. And you know what? That's true. Let's go.

Let's give it the Sir Mix-a-Lot economy. You know, I want my economy to have back. I cannot lie about that. The Sir Mix-a-Lot economy. We're sick of its economy with a, I guess, very skinny up until it's giant at the top. We're sick of the Pez dispenser economy. It's time for this Mix-a-Lot

economy that has butt for days. Yep, it's got curves everywhere. There's a little something for everybody. Anyway, after a muted version of the joint address this year, as long as Americans keep getting vaccinated, the CDC promises we're on track for next year's State of the Union to return to the kind of large scale fuck fest we're used to. No party. I mean, everybody's missing that party. I was sad I didn't get my invite this year. I always show up.

Yeah, you wait there really early. Get in there. For the State of the Union bugfest. State of the Union, Wrestlemania, Super Bowl, Met Gala, everybody, you know, those are my events. Aw, man, I got my dates confused, and I got my Wrestlemania outfit on for the Met Gala. It would work. It would work.

Make top ten for sure. Also this week in an episode of his podcast the joe rogan experience joe rogan advised young people not to get vaccinated if they're otherwise healthy he said if you're eating well you don't need to be vaccinated which is like saying if you're keto you can't get eaten by a fucking shark oh oh oh i don't wear a seat belt i do pilates what are you talking about these are not related things yeah well i always feel like you don't listen to comedians comedians are stupid and they just talk and they say things and then they post to either laugh or reject or and adjust that's the thing i don't go you know i think joe's

great as far as like building his empire and doing all the stuff that he's been doing but i never understood when people are just like if anyone votes or does something off of my opinion or his opinion i feel like you gotta make better choices to really there's you know true truly don't like he's not a doctor he hosted fear factor yes if you like the parts about ultimate fighting great yes great he's not an epidemiologist that's what he's really good he's really good i don't like i don't like mma or i watched the other one last week and i was like man he is really good at getting me interested in this and that he's really good at telling some jokes on stage but as far as knowing what you should do with vaccines and things like that

i think you should look elsewhere just i mean just like you shouldn't come to me for nothing like that and you come to me about knowledge about video games and the love of sir makes a lot and how i could relate that to the economy exactly Exactly. Well, as far as anything else, don't listen to me. Speaking of people who you shouldn't listen to because they were good at one thing and are now talking about other things, who is your favorite SNL host who denied the pandemic and the vaccines? Mine is Elon Musk. Oh, did he do both those things? I never keep track of that guy

i'm never i was just like he just seems like a guy that a lot of like sad men like you know like that he's the michael chiklis to a lot of sad men you know that's right that's right he does perform that role he is on the michael chiklis vision board for a lot of dudes you give me a lot to think about. Oh, thank you. Former Olympian turned reality television star, Caitlyn Jenner has announced her run for California governor in the recall against Gavin Newsom.

I have a feeling her campaign will do for our great state, what her SUV did to the Pacific coast highway. Cause I'm Iran, do you remember that story? Yeah, I recall. Yeah, I met her one time, the match game episode with her. From her match game expertise and

ability to problem solve in that, I'm not going to vote for her. You don't think on match game she did enough to demonstrate her qualifications for being governor of the largest state in the country and one of the biggest economies on the earth no i mean i may have missed some things that she has done that you know on different episodes of the kardashians or whatnot but as far as i could tell from that match game interaction um no i wouldn't let her manage a target.

She didn't seem like she had much things together, to tell you the truth. But, you know, neither do I. But I'm not running for anything. You could. If anybody can. It seems like it. The recall election may cost the state

as much as $400 million. Was French laundry worth it? Until you've eaten there, you don't understand. It was. It's that good. It's that special, what they do there. dollars uh was french laundry worth it until you've eaten there you don't understand it was it's that good it's that special what they do there it's an amazing meal it was worth it that's what i think i think i think gavin was right to go it was worth it yeah yeah full catering yeah also on sunday chloe jow won the oscar for best director the first woman of color to accept the award news of the nomadland win was censored across chinese media a disturbing outcome that means the average chinese citizen will know

as little about nomadland as my father who i believe is also just at a full zero on the existence of nomadland i'm at it too where i know now that it's not a video game like i thought it was a video game it sounds like a video game it should be a video game. I thought it was a video game. It sounds like a video game. It should be a video game from the name of it to me, but it's not. And one day I will find out what it is, but I know it's not a video game. Well, that's a good place to start.

That's a good place to start. And finally, a Japanese zoo just discovered one of the two toucans they were trying to get to procreate for years was actually a female and not a male like they originally thought. You know what they say, Ron? Sometimes toucan and sometimes toucan. I'm really sorry that that's the last. That's the one. I mean, I guess if you go in with that, I've always heard if it's going to be bad, at least have it be quick. I've always heard if it's going to be bad, at least have it be quick. You know, nothing. You could be good and long.

You could be good and quick is preferred. But if you're going to be bad, be quick. And that's that's all I could say about. I've often I often think that one thing that I've learned about comedy is you put your absolute dog shit worst joke at the end um because you that you leave people disgusted yeah um you always want people to feel bad at the end build them up and let them down you want yeah like life yeah absolutely yeah uh ron thank you for being here before we let you go i did want because i know that you're a gamer, and I know you've just been streaming Portal and Portal 2, and you were just talking about Mortal Kombat, which is apparently

the Mortal Kombat movie has made more money in one weekend than all the Best Picture nominees combined. That makes sense. There's no fatalities and no Mad Land. No. No fatalities. In the Mortal Kombat film, I haven't seen it yet, Is there a pit?

Do they have the pit? No pit that I recall. No pit. Because I always struggled with the fatalities, but the uppercut into the pit was your kind of easy way into a cool finish. What would you say is the best video game film ever made? game film ever made oh now does that mean there's got to be an adaptation of a video game or is it just a movie about video games i i would prefer an adaptation i accept instead a movie about video games as long as it's not ready player one okay absolutely well i will say my favorites would be i mean i really think this this Mortal Kombat one is great.

It's cheesy. It's fun. It really captures the spirit of the game. So I think this one is one of my top favorites. I actually think the Street Fighter one is not great, but it holds a special place in my heart. It's just because I just love that game so much. And it also was very cheesy but i think some of the my favorite actual video game based movie is probably grandma's boy because i think i like the

culture of that one i think it's really funny and i think it actually it was the first time where i saw like a lot of times when you watch movies or shows and people play games they're always like they're like you're like you never yeah this movies or shows and people play games, they're always like, you're like, you never. Yeah. And this was a time where they're like, oh, they're playing games. And I was like, oh, they play games over at grandma's boy. They know what they're doing over there. So I'm picking.

I know that's a weird one to pick. Also because I love comedy and I like Nick Swartzen a lot. So I'm picking grandma's boy. Now, let me ask you this. We're in the divide over the bob hoskins john liquizamo dennis hopper samantha mathis super mario brothers movie do you fall do you do you think it is a total disaster or have you come like some of us to appreciate that it is a wonderful, wonderful mess.

Now, there's one thing I will never hate, and that's John Leguizamo. I love John Leguizamo. He is the best. He is so many wonderful things. And so I like some of the performances. And also, I am old enough to know the times of being like, back then, they just didn't really make anything for you. So you couldn't have like a real adaptation.

And then also what would have real adaptation been? We had the Super Mario Super Show and that was just a wrestler named Captain Lou Albano. I remember that show. I love that show. That was awesome. It's a great show, but it also doesn't make much sense at all. So I think it's like it's not a good movie. I would never be like, it's good, but

is it horrible? I don't think so. I'm happy it exists. I'm happy it exists too. I'm happy it exists too. I think they just, they took a they took the story, which is what it is, and they made something incredibly strange and I will always appreciate that. Thank you so much

to Ron Funches for being here. When we come back, I'm joined by Kara Swisher. Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up. And we're back. She is the co-host of the Pivot podcast by Vox, the host of Sway by New York Times Opinion, as well as a contributing opinion writer since 2018.

Please welcome back returning champion, Kara Swisher. Kara, good to see you. Good to see you. You look good. Thank you. Thank you for saying so. Yeah, you look like you lost weight. That's all the time we have. I think we covered everything that I needed to cover today. You know what? I'm back in California, and it has a good impact on my general well-being. How are you doing, Cara? Good. Really good. I was just in Miami for the weekend, and now I'm back. I'm back in D.C.

It's the same old, same old here, let me just say. So I'm really glad you're here. The Cold War between Apple and Facebook has turned hotter than usual. And I wanted to talk to you about it. You've obviously spent time with both Zuckerberg and Tim Cook. You interviewed Tim Cook just a few weeks ago on Sway. It was a great conversation. Thank you.

At issue here is an update to the Apple operating system. Can you talk a little bit about what the change is and why Facebook is so upset? Let me just make it simple. There's going to be a pop-up like a lot of people are used to them.

And it's going to say, you know, do you want these people to be tracking you? And everyone can do their little pop-up the way they want, as long as they're within Apple's standards. Facebook has one that says, we're helping you do better ads and Instagram is free. And we're helping small businesses if you don't disallow us essentially. And so it's changing the idea from opt out, which is what everything is now. You have to find somewhere deep in the bowels of your system. And this makes it opt in. And so you have to make the people aware of that you're

tracking them. And Apple is requiring that in this essentially. They're basically being a cop here of the Internet. There's also a disconnect between how the companies see each other. Zuckerberg on an earnings call recently said, we increasingly see Apple as one of our biggest competitors. But then Tim Cook says to you, I'm not focused on Facebook. I think Facebook, he says, I'm not. He said, if I'm asked who our biggest competitors are, they would not be listed.

It's sort of sad for Mark. It's like a Harvard and Tufts. He's correct. He's not in the social media business. He's not in the advertising business. He's not in any of the businesses Mark is in. So I would see why he would do that. Unless Mark got into media or making a phone, perhaps. Right now, they have had a failure with their phone. So they're not in the phone business. And so I would agree. I have to say with Tim on that one, I'm not sure what Mark is talking about. He could be their most, Mark should probably say their most annoying partner, essentially.

What's interesting is he's like, oh, I'm not focused on Facebook. Facebook, yeah, we're not thinking about them. And then when they announce the change, right, when they show you, when Apple puts forward, here's how it would work in an app, right? What's the app they use to demonstrate that you can opt out? It's Facebook. Facebook is the example that they're using to show everybody. Yeah. It's one of the biggest apps on the thing. It would be one of the top five, I would imagine. What's interesting is Tim always takes a chance to scare Zuckerberg. He did an interview with me many years ago in 2018 when I asked during the Cambridge Analytica, the data leaks and everything going on with the Russians,

I said, what would you do if you were in this situation? And he said, I wouldn't be in this situation. And he got a big laugh. He got a big laugh when he said that. He's basically, that was around Facebook's privacy problems. And he basically said, I don't need to deal with the hypothetical because I would never allow my company to behave the way his company is behaving, which I think

gets at something here, which is this is like a longer term. This is not just business. In some ways, this is personal, that there is a real personal antipathy between these two companies, or at least in this sense. Apple seems to have both business interest and a genuine moral concern about how Facebook does business. And it seems like Facebook finds Apple annoying, annoying, basically. What essentially Tim Cook was saying, and I think they showed this as a meeting they had in 2019, I guess, where Tim just said, get out of the business you're in. Your business is dirty. You know, I think that really was what he essentially said.

And so, you know, Mark takes offense at that, obviously. A lot of people think their business is dirty. And so, and it goes back a long way. Steve Jobs talked about this too. Like, and it's also a brand attribute for Apple. Privacy is a brand attribute they use in their business. And so, you know, it's a little bit hypocritical because they let Google Maps on there and Google Maps gets lots of information. I just think they feel that Facebook is hugely egregious in the amount of information it sucks from users. And so using the iPhone to facilitate it, I guess they just were like, why should we? Why should this is a better and if we're protecting users, it's better for us as a business to do so. And then they can throw in the what what a scummy group of people thing.

And then for Mark, he's like making the argument that, well, you know, not everybody can afford an iPhone and it's really expensive. And how dare he say we can't have these businesses that are paid for by advertising and we're helping small businesses. What he leaves out of his equation is that no small business has a choice except to advertise on Google and Facebook because they have a duopoly that has crushed everybody else. So they're all a little hypocritical. Well, right. So I want to get to that, too, because there is this sort of like at root here. Apple's like, we're going to use the power of our rent seeking business to undermine your rent seeking business while still working with

Google's rent seeking business. And by the way, all three of us have gotten far larger in the past few years, especially during the pandemic. Oh, by the way, our monopolistic position has grown stronger. All three of us separately, independently have grown stronger during this pandemic. So, of course, Facebook, as always, seems to like lead with their most inauthentic and kind of like sleazy argument. Right. They never they never they always do this. It's actually like an incredible kind of company culture thing. So they're like, how could you do this to small businesses? Right.

Which is, I think like the most ridiculous argument they put forward, but there was a couple others that I actually thought struck me as being more fair was what you just mentioned, right? Like, oh, you have a problem with us, but you have this business relationship with, with Google. But the other one, which is, the more I was thinking about your conversation with Tim Cook and the kind of, there does seem to be a genuine concern about privacy. The more frustrated I was by the fact that like, okay, you have now said that as a company,

you have a value, which is privacy is a fundamental human right. Your phones are assembled in China. You are desperately trying to build out your business in China. How does Tim Cook reconcile with that? Right. Because if I'm Mark Zuckerberg, I'm like, oh, OK, so privacy is great when you're trying to fuck my business. But when it comes to your business, privacy is a I would say a second order right compared to bottom lines.

Lots of American companies do business in China. So you know what I mean? They manufacture in China. And I think most people, I think nobody really has a good answer for doing any manufacturing in China. But mostly everything in that room of yours comes from China. So I agree with you. I think they have tried to deal with the human rights issues that they had many years ago in these factories. Obviously, the system is in China to build these phones. And that's just, and all of them, not just their phones, but everybody else's and everything, other products. And so it is a difficult issue because it is a big client. Now, Facebook is not in China, but Mark wanted to be in China. So the minute, if he could get in, in the proper way, I think they would. I don't think

they did sort of the grand flounce out that Google did and then regret it a little bit. Getting down to it ultimately is should Facebook be allowed to take your information and do anything it wants with it without you knowing about it? And you should give consent. Because what they try to do is they drag in everything else. Like you did the Russia thing, you did this, you did that. But I think at the heart of it is if they're bought, if you want to use their app, you should know how they're using your information. I think it's as simple as that. You know what I mean? And we could accuse each of like the app store issues with Apple. Facebook has a myriad of issues,

right? Around Donald Trump, around everything else, around et cetera, et cetera. It just goes on and on with Facebook, with hate speech, with white supremacists, with QAnon, with anti-vaxxers. I mean, they've got a, they're dragging a train of crap behind them or other law, which is becoming rather large. So, but the that issue is you're a consumer. You need to know what Facebook is doing and you need to opt into it, not have to opt out of it. And I think that's really in that case, Apple's correct. Yeah, no, I take your point.

And I agree, right? You know, Facebook wants to make this about everything. Ultimately, Apple as a company is making a decision to put some more privacy protections. I think that's a great thing. That's a great thing. But I think when the issue of China comes up, when some of the monopolistic practices of Apple come up, put this specific issue aside. Aren't you uncomfortable with where we're at now, which is we have some of the largest companies on earth litigating matters of privacy, matters of public policy, matters of the safety of online communities, the reach of misinformation, all of this now kind of because of an absence of

regulation being determined based on the like, the whims of individual corporate leaders. Aren't I uncomfortable? I've been screaming about it for years. I've been saying these companies are too powerful. So I'm like John the frigging Baptist here on this issue. Yes, I'm uncomfortable. And I'm very, you know, before the pandemic, I go, just you wait, they'll be richer than ever. And in fact, President Biden discussed it last night on, he was, he was talking only about tech people. Those are the people who made all the money during the pandemic, for the most part, it wasn't the cruise people, the airline people, it was the tech people. And if you look at the amount of money that all of them have put into their bank account and in the value of their company, it's

unheard of. I mean, unheard of the size that they've grown to and the power they've amassed during the pandemic. And they accelerated all these trends, hurting retail, hurting everybody. It's not just Apple. It's Amazon. It's Apple. It's companies like Zoom. It's Uber. It's Airbnb. It's absolutely Facebook. It's absolutely Google and everyone else. And so I think that's, I've been screaming about this for a long time, is too much power is coalescing among too few companies. doing because our regulators have not gotten behind any kind of significant bipartisan legislation to deal with this. And not just legislation, but they've got to do, there's been some antitrust moves in the Justice Department. In fact, the Trump Justice Department, and that's continuing. There's been some state and local moves around antitrust. There's been some, Amy Klobuchar, Senator Klobuchar has done a lot in terms of proposing. They just have to pass these bills. And then the other, the last thing is they have issues around taxing, around all kinds of things. And so we're waiting. We're

waiting for something to happen, whether it's the FTC or of legislation or fines. One thing the Biden administration has done is added in two people, significant people, Tim Wu and Lena Kahn. Lena at the FTC and Tim at the White House, very anti-tech people. I don't want to call anti-tech suspect of tech, I would say, and very outspoken in that regard. So that's really interesting to me. So they mean business by putting in these kind of people going forward, I think. It was interesting listening to your conversation with Tim Cook, and you talked about this on

Pivot as well. Some of this is what happens when companies that don't make physical objects suddenly realize that that creates a lack of power, right? Like Apple's power is like they make these things. And at the end of the day, you can have an algorithm. You can be one of the biggest companies on the earth. But for your ones and zeros to reach people's eyeballs, they need to be translated through a physical object.

Right. And I was thinking about that because you also spoke to somebody from DoorDash about their efforts to kind of build scale and be a similar kind of interface, right? Like kind of basically be that last step for people. Can you talk a little bit about like, you know, that is a situation where you have a company trying to create the kind of rent-seeking industry

that Apple has done in their app store, that Google has done on Facebook, has done in ads. What do you think is happening inside of that fight between, you know, you have DoorDash, you have Uber Eats, you have a few others? You have a lot. And not just that. Amazon's in it in a way. Instacart is in it. Like they're all sort of in each other's way. It's a very competitive space. That said, in the very basic food delivery, restaurant delivery area, DoorDash, I think is 50 some percent. Uber is pretty high. And then Grubhub, I think is somewhere in there. They're all competing in that space. That said, they have it over on all these restaurants who can't get together by themselves and pay the money that it would take to do this properly or to market or get people to

use it. And again, the pandemic has been the biggest experiment, not just in American history around, excuse me, world history around vaccines, but the biggest experiment in delivery. Now, it used to be just New York and Los Angeles and some cities. Now, like he was talking about, rural Kentucky is now using delivery. Well, now they're not going to go backwards. People don't go backwards once they find a practice. Same thing with Amazon. Everyone now gets their food delivered. They don't go and get it. So that gives the power to the delivery service who holds a lot of the cards. And so it's a really big issue. He was talking about doing more for their customers to try, the restaurant customers at least, to try to make them not feel quite as under their thumb. But,

you know, they've been plagued by tipping issues, employment issues, emissions issues, like people delivering. That said, I have to get in a car to go to the store. So, like, is it more efficient? And so I think it's a really interesting area where certain people are grabbing landscape here in a new way that consumers interact with getting physical products.

And then the same thing with digital products, depending, you know, depending on what that might be. They're changing their policies to lower the fees for certain aspects of the services they provide. But then when you, you really say, wait, hold on a second. You were keeping the tips. You were charging 30% to businesses. You were charging some exorbitant amount for people just walk in basically who order on the app and then walk in and pick it up. And you never even pay anybody for that. You're just connecting.

You're just a credit card service at that point. Yeah. Before I let you go, I did. There's one last question I did want to ask you about, which is Elon Musk. Yeah. Don't bother. Is hosting Saturday Night Live. I know you're excited about the show.

You're a huge fan of Elon's comedy. Some people were upset about it. I don't really understand even being upset about it. He's just're excited about the show. You're a huge fan of Elon's comedy. Some people were upset about it. I don't really understand even being upset about it. He's just going to get up there and he's going to read off the cue cards and kind of fuck it up. That's sort of my expectation for Elon on SNL. I think he's accidentally funny. That's what I think. I don't think he's funny in the intentional way. I think he just is like, what a funny character he is. You know, it's an interesting issue that he's become so famous in a very in a pop culture way. It's a little bit like Trump.

You know what I mean? Anything he says, his groups follow. He says Doge and everyone buys. You know, he has real power. Now, interestingly, he was talking about Bitcoin. And when you look at the recent earnings by Tesla, part of their doing very well this quarter is because their Bitcoin investments went up. So but then he goes Bitcoin. So is he manipulating?

Like, it's a really interesting situation that he's gotten himself into is whatever he says they do. He's got this fan base that's crazy. And so it's not unusual, I think, that I don't know, to have him. And it'll be interesting to see what he says and does on that show, because he could turn and say, everybody buy Dogecoin, and then everybody will. And then is he manipulating it? Is he doing what? Or is he just having fun? And so, you know, he's a he's a there's very few people I'm trying to think of who you could compare him

to PT Barnum, who is a much better business person than people go history. Is he Howard Hughes? Is he who is he exactly? When I think about Elon Musk right now, what I think about is it's hard to find public figures for whom the delta between their core work and their public persona have gotten so far apart. Well, he's doing very well at work, actually. He's doing really well. Well, that's my point, that it is a testament

to how silly and dumb his online persona is, that it has convinced a lot of people that creating Tesla was easy. No, this is not. It's not a persona. I'm telling you it's not. He's like that away from everything. He's been like that for decades. I've known him for decades. He was always like this. It's just the way he is. I don't know what else to say. How do you explain the difference though, right? Like SpaceX, Tesla, these are significant, genuine achievements. Yeah, very significant achievements. And when I say persona,

yeah, I mean, I do mean his online persona, but how do you explain the difference then between someone who's able to do what he has done for electric cars, which is significant. Right. And yet conducts himself like such a fucking moron in every other respect. Was making Tesla easy? I don't think Edison was a walk in the park.

He was an asshole, but he was smart. Sorry, I don't think. No, I don't know. Look back at some of the, he did some crazy stuff. He did some stunts and he was a stuntman. Talk about someone who pulled all kinds of hijinks off. Like a lot of, You have a vision of our inventors as not being weird and unusual, and they are. You know what I mean? Ben Franklin was kooky.

You know what I mean? He just was. And I know in history, he looks more burnished, but you can feel it coming through. And lots of inventors are. I think what's really significant here is, look, he's hitting on all cylinders at SpaceX. They just want a big contract to basically make a moon base or make a moon lander, which Jeff Bezos wanted is now suing over. They want a big defense contract beating out Lockheed. They're doing incredible work on these rockets, like bringing down the cost and doing all kinds of really innovative things. Tesla has two percent of the cars on the road are electric or autonomous, that kind of thing. 80% of those are Teslas. Okay. So now the government is about to do this

big infrastructure package. I just interviewed Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, former Mayor Pete. And a lot of it is around electric vehicles. Well, guess who's going to benefit from that? And guess who, by the way, was in the pioneering forefront of this? And he dragged GM and the rest of the world into this space, 100%. He's going to benefit from it. And now the government's going to pay for charging stations everywhere. It's going to pay for all kinds of things. He's going to do great for this. What's really interesting is people forget the Obama administration gave Tesla a loan of $500 million when it was on the ropes. And now it's the most, he's the richest man in the world after, and building really amazing things. So

why didn't we get a piece of that? That's an interesting question. Like I would ask myself that, but I mean, I've talked to lots of economists like Mariana Mazzucato about this. So he's really, he can be, he contains multitudes, John, just like you, for example. Yeah, but right. Kooky is one thing. Kooky is one thing. But it's quite another to be sophisticated enough to do what he's done in business and then go on Twitter and deny the pandemic, deny the efficacy of vaccines, right?

This isn't kooky. This isn't Benjamin Franklin having a sex party in Paris. This is somebody spreading misinformation and seeming to completely misunderstand the science of the disease. I don't know what Edison would have been like with Twitter. Thank God we'll never know. I think sometimes he's playing. Sometimes he's rushing.

And the COVID stuff, he and I had a very bad back and forth about that, about I thought it was really irresponsible. At the same time, you know, you can't deny some of these things. It's a very difficult, the stuff he did in Thailand, which he got off for really in court, or I'm calling that guy a pedophile. You know, his 420 stuff when he was weeping to the New York Times, he's a very, he's a complex figure. I just don't know what else to say. I don't think you have, he can still be a brilliant technologist and an inspirational figure. And also, He can still be a brilliant technologist and an inspirational figure.

And also, you know, P.T. Barnum comes to mind quite a bit when I think about him. Yeah, I think of Kanye. Kanye's brilliant, too. Yeah. It's just hard to grok because we're seeing him all the time versus any of these other business figures. There's a lot of kooky business figures running around this world. Howard Hughes was a big innovator before he lost his mind, really. But he kind of had lost his mind during that time period.

And then he did also, aviation would not be the same without Howard Hughes' contributions, even though we think of him as the guy with the tissues and the long fingernails and hair. But important figure in aviation. We'll see how Elon transitions from his misinformation and SNL phase

to his urine and bottles phase. But hopefully that doesn't happen for a while. He's problematic, I would say, but also very impactful. He's had more impact on more areas. I think he's going to do the same thing in solar, with space, with cars. Meanwhile, everyone in Silicon Valley is like making dating services. He's doing significant things. And he's a little bit wacky, is a lot wacky, actually.

They're making dating service. You know, Mark Zuckerberg is sort of doing hate speech all over Facebook, but he's a really nice young man. Like, I don't know what to say. It's complex. It is. Thank you to Cara, as always, for being here. When we come back, we'll play a game about the California recall.

Don't go anywhere. This is Love It or Leave It, and there's more on the way. And we're back. Hi, Mariko. Hi, John. We're going to play a game. It'll be fun. Oh, my gosh.

I'm so excited. Where in the world are you right now? I was born and raised in Washington, D.C. Okay. And you're there now. Yep. Well, I'm, I'm in Silver Spring, but I'm, so I'm just inside of DC. How's the mood change since, uh, we got the new president. I have some kind of psychosomatic stomach trouble and like up to and including January 20th, it was a mess. And after that, it was like 98% reduction. It was wild. That's cool. Yeah. Joe Biden. Joe Biden cures IBS. The. Without even trying.

All right. Well, this is great. We're already this. Let's play a game on Monday. State officials revealed that Republicans in California had officially gathered enough signatures to trigger a recall election. It's bad news for Governor Gavin Newsom, but good news for people who like ballots as long as CVS receipts. That's because, as we learned when this happened to California Governor Greg Davis in 2003, recall elections are a big draw for celebrities with weird politics who are holding onto relevancy by the barest of threats. They're sort of like game shows in that regard. In fact, the list of candidates looks so much like the list of celebrities who were on The Masked Singer, we're not sure you'll be able to tell them apart. That's why it's time

for a game we're calling The Masked Governor. And here to play, we have Mariko. Hi, Mariko. Hi, John. We've already, you've already met her. We already started talking. We had a lovely chat. Hi, John. We've already, you've already met her. We already started talking. We had a lovely chat. She's here to play the game.

Here's how it works, Mariko. We'll give you the name of a celebrity. And you have to, celebrity is the stretchiest of meanings. And you have to tell us if they're a recall candidate from 2003, a potential recall candidate in 2021, or someone who dressed up like a mascot to do bad karaoke on network TV. All right. Yep. So basically it's 2003, 2021 or singer.

Are you ready? I'm ready. Logan Paul. 2003. Mass singer. Ariana Huffington. Mass singer. 2003 candidate.

Dr. Drew Pinsky. 2021. Mass singer. Randy Quaid 2003 2021 but it could have been rick grinnell former ambassador to germany 2021 2021 that's right sarah palin i hope only 2003 she was on the mass singer here's what i've come to. There have been a lot of people on the Masked Singer that would surprise you. Really? That's what I've learned. Drew Carey. 2003. Masked Singer. Mary Carey, former adult film actress. 2021. 2021 and 2003. Kelly Osbourne. Masked Singer. Yep. She was a ladybug. Caitlyn Jenner. 2021. Yes. And she was also on The Masked Singer. Oh, wow.

Apparently she got eliminated pretty quick. Let's hope that's all foreshadowing. Yes. Agreed. Gallagher, the Watermelon Smashing Comedian. 2003. Correct. Bob Saget.

Masked Singer. Correct. And finally, Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray. 2003? He was the orca on the Masked Singer. Mariko, I will say, I think you did fine on the whole. You got stronger as you went. But on the whole, I'm still going to give it to you.

You won the game. Thank you so much for playing. And let's keep these people on the Masked Singer. I'm on it. Out of the governor's mansion, I think. I'm on it. My dog and I are on it. We are in solidarity with you and Pundit. Thank you so much for everything. Thank you. So nice to meet you. When we come back, we'll end on a high note.

Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up. Don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up. And we're back. Because we all need it this week, here it is, the high note. Hi, Love It and crew. This is Carrie Ann. I'm an OBGYN in eastern North Carolina. I wanted to share my high note for the week. Since 2019, when I took care of a patient who just broke my heart into a million pieces, When I took care of a patient who just broke my heart into a million pieces, I've been advocating for a bill that would put limitations on the use of restraints on women who are incarcerated while pregnant in our state. And there have been a lot of other groups and individuals advocating for this for a long time.

And the right sequence of events took place. And it was actually introduced to the North Carolina General Assembly last Monday and has received really warm bipartisan support since that time. It's going to be heard in committee hopefully soon, and hopefully we'll keep moving through the General Assembly. So I'm really hopeful. And thanks so much for your show and everybody who's sharing uplifting things. It's been really, really wonderful.

Take care. Bye-bye. Hey, John. Calling with my high note. This is Matthew in Spokane, Washington, and I'm hopeful this week because I just got back from an outdoor protest in March for our houseless neighbors. It was called Humanizing Spokane. There's a documentary to go along with it. It's run by a bunch of college students,

and it's amazing to see what people can do when they fight for something local. So those vans are eliminating single-family zoning, fighting for attendance rights, and getting public facilities for basic human dignity. So I hope some listeners can fight for some local causes, too, and happy summer. Hi, Levin. It's Brooke in Denver, Colorado.

I was just calling to leave you my high note for me. Yesterday I received my divorce decree, making my divorce finalized, which I know sounds bleak, but I am so excited to be out of my 11 year abusive relationship and I am finally free. So that has been, what's been giving me hope and I'm very excited. Love your show.

Thank you. Bye. Hi, John. I'm a physician living in Philadelphia and I wanted to share a high note with you today. I have a two-year-old daughter named Zoe and though I'm not an artist, I started to draw her favorite literary characters inside Lock Chalk during our community as a way to lift spirits during the pandemic. A neighborhood organization will be designing street murals in the area to improve traffic safety near the school, and my idea to feature characters from children's literature was selected.

I'm really excited to potentially leave a fun and lasting mark on this city and to honor my mom, who's a children's librarian. First traffic safety, then on to filibuster reform. Thanks for all that you do. Hi, Lovett. My name is Ben Triggs, and my high note of this week is that I am driving home three hours from spending the weekend with my biological family. I'm 32 next week and met them last October after a search, research, gene search, trying to find them. And they have been nothing but warm and chaotic and welcoming and wonderful. And this last weekend, since we're all finally vaccinated, we got together and I got to hang out with my bio mom and my grandma and my two aunts and my two half siblings and some other people that I'm not 100% sure how everyone knows them.

But it was just a wonderful weekend of chaos and love and happy. And a little bit sad from some other extenuating circumstances, but I think that being able to all be together helped everyone out with all of the other things going on in our lives. So it was just fucking wonderful, and I'm really, really happy. Thanks for the show and this wonderful little segment you do at the end. I love it a lot. Thank you. Bye.

I'm really glad we do these high notes, by the way. I think we'll keep doing it, you know? I don't think we should ever stop doing it. And if you want to leave us a message about something that gave you hope, call us at 213-262-4427. Maybe someday, someday soon, we'll get some high notes in person. Everybody's got high notes, you know? We'll be live again.

That's something to think about. That's my high note. Also, one note, thanks to everybody who pointed this out. Last week on the show, we accidentally misgendered Sam Smith. That is my fault. I apologize. And that's the show. Thanks to Ron Funch Sam Smith. That is my fault. I apologize. And that's the show. Thanks to Ron Funches, Kara Swisher, and everybody who called in.

I also wanted to thank Sydney Rapp for her hard work producing this show. She's sticking around Crooked, but she's working on some other shows now. And I just wanted to say how much I appreciated her in her time working on this show. So grateful for her. And so glad she's going to be working on so many other great things at Crooked. I'm so grateful for her and so glad she's going to be working on so many other great things at Crooked. There are 556 days until the 2022 midterm elections. Have a great weekend.

Love It or Leave It is a Crooked Media production. It is written and produced by me, John Lovett, Ryan Woodruff, and Lee Eisenberg. Jocelyn Kaufman, Pola Viganolin, and Peter Miller are the writers. Our associate producer is Brian Semel. Bill Lance is our editor, and Kyle Seglin is our sound engineer. Thank you.