Pivot - Social Media Bad Guys, Mar-a-Lago Mania, and Co-Host Monica Lewinsky

Episode Date: August 23, 2022

Monica Lewinsky co-hosts Pivot! She and Kara discuss Andrew Tate's ban from Meta and TikTok, Dan Price's exit from Gravity Payments amid assault allegations, and the latest in the Trump investigation. Also, CNN axes Brian Stelter and “Reliable Sources," and the Finnish Prime Minister’s party fallout. Then, a listener question on social media regulation. You can find Monica on Twitter at @MonicaLewinsky. Send us your questions by calling us at 855-51-PIVOT, or via Yappa, at nymag.com/pivot. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Just go to Indeed.com slash podcast right now and say you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? You need Indeed. Hi, everyone. This is Pivot from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network. I'm Kara Swisher.

Scott Galloway is auditioning for the role of Professor X in the new Marvel movie. So today I'm joined by producer, writer, and social activist, and one of my favorite people, really, Monica Lewinsky. Welcome, Monica. Hey, Cara. Good morning. How's it going? What's going on? We talked last week, the most amazing podcast interview for Sway. People loved it. It was really a wonderful interview. And you were in the midst of your various and sundry production stuff. So I'd love to know what's, get an update from you.

I am loving producing and I'm kind of been crazy busy. I have, I think, seven projects in various stages of development. So I'm learning the process and kind of also how slow sometimes the business can be. Yes. And that, you know, selling a show doesn't necessarily mean I'll end up on TV, but, you know, it's been really interesting. I'm learning a lot. So I feel grateful. Out of the park right at the beginning, you were produced on American Crime Story, just impeachment, American Crime Story. And then you did your, which I thought, that was perfectly fine, but I really loved your bullying documentary. So what were the repercussions of that from your, we talked a lot about that issue.

In terms of the 15 Minutes of Shame documentary? Yes. Okay. Well, I think that, you know, what was amazing is we heard from people the exact kind of conversation we were hoping to hear people having. heard from people the exact kind of conversation we were hoping to hear people having of being really sort of shown a human side of what happens when we start down that kind of cancel spiral, both when it is warranted and when it's not. And just getting people to really think about their behavior online. But let me ask you, I mean, people, one of the things I was thinking of that because I was on a panel yesterday on a PBS panel, and George Farmer from Parler was there, which is, we get along rather well, which is shocking. But he was talking about graciousness in terms of being able, one of the things is people have to take control of it. I was making the point that some of it's addictive, and people lose their minds when they're on social media.

when they're on social media. And at the same time, some people take advantage of it. And that's, you know, Donald Trump's a perfect example, a constant victim, or they become grievance grifters, right? That I'm, you know, you can't pile on. And so it's hard to separate the stories you told,

which I thought were very fair, versus people who are taking advantage of it. Do you think that's gotten better or worse since you did the documentary? I think that we're seeing, I think we're probably seeing more of it as the cancel culture conversation continues and gets bigger and bigger.

And, you know, something I think I advocated for when we spoke last fall is really trying to parse out this umbrella of cancel culture. I think we, you know, consequence culture is, you know, and accountability is, you know, and accountability as you and Roxane Gay have kind of talked about it. And that would, I think, help us separate out people like the people that were in the documentary who are

regular people whose lives are unbelievably impacted, whether they've made a mistake or not, versus people who are in the public eye. But in terms of the stepping into a victim mode more in public people of being pounded on, you know, on social media. Yeah, we do. I think that there's people are looking for attention no matter, no matter what. But I actually want to go back to what you were saying about what Farmer was saying to you with the graciousness, because they think that something I've been thinking a lot about, you know, for online but also offline is really around the idea of dignity. And just like, how do we afford people more dignity? Even people I may not agree with politically.

But I think that sort of goes hand in hand with graciousness, you know, in terms of getting people to step into that more because it's a choice, right? Right. You know. Right. Well, at the same time, I was thinking about it because, you know, there is a grievance economy. There's an, you know, I'm mad at Dr. Seuss. I'm mad at whether it's for political or for money or for selling blogs or podcasts. Yeah.

There is a bit of that going on. And at the same time, people do pile on. It's a very difficult thing because you cannot separate the two from each other and the medium, which is naturally addictive, naturally, you know, hair trigger, anger, rage, and things like that. Well, I think, too, we talk about it in the doc and we call it outrage culture. So, I think that those can live side by side in a way. And I do think that people are, they're finding more and more ways to just get more attention and I think manipulate things. And unfortunately, often the people who are doing

that are the loudest and get the most attention. So that instances where we might actually want to be reevaluating how we're behaving become harder to see. Yeah, it totally does. So what are you working on? So what's after that? What is the topics that you're working on? Give us an idea. Yeah, I mean, I'm really focused. So I have a first look deal at 20th television. So I'm focused on scripted TV at the moment, and really interested in everything from, you know, kind of seeing stories that we think we know through a different lens to stories that show different aspects of women that we know about, but we maybe don't pay enough attention to. Something on privacy. So it's, I'm really. Call me up for that one.

But these are all scripted. So it's a whole new world. It's really a whole new world for me. And fortunately, all the people I'm working with have been really patient when I'm sort of, you know, don't know all the lingo. Because that's always the first thing you have to do in a new industry, right? Is learn all the lingo. Can I give you a pro tip? Yes. They're not that smart. It's not that hard. It's not that hard. I think so much of our world, right?

I mean, even think about what we're talking about right now about the, you know, grievance economy and stuff. And then another way to say it is it's storytelling, right? So it's people with their narratives and storytelling. So, you know, we think about what influences the stories that get told and the ones that don't. So I'm in a very lucky phase right now because I'm so new at this where I haven't had a lot of rejection. So I'm like, this is amazing. I love producing, but I'm really good at this. Yeah. Okay. All right. So today we'll talk about a lot of things, including how social media is holding men accountable for their bad behavior. We'll also unpack the latest update in the Trump investigation, and we'll hear from a listener about staying healthy on social media.

But first, an update from last week. In our last episode, Molly Wood and I talked about Germany's plan to keep three nuclear power plants online as part of an effort to free itself from Russian fuel. But over the weekend, Germany changed tack and announced that it will shut down those nuclear plants. After all, it's going to be a cold winter in Germany, I suspect, because things are not getting better there. In other news, let's talk about a few things. Brian Stelter is out at CNN

after the cancellation of Reliable Sources. Stelter did one last show on Sunday. Let's listen to a clip of his sign-off. Here's what I do know. I know it's not partisan to stand up for decency and democracy and dialogue. It's not partisan to stand up to demagogues. It's required. It's patriotic.

We must make sure we don't give platforms to those who are lying to our faces. But we also must make sure we are representing the full spectrum of debate and representing what's going on in this country and in this world. That's why CNN needs to be strong. All right. So CEO David Zasloff of the parent company Warner Brothers Discovery is trying to find $3 billion in cost savings. I doubt Brian's that much of a drop in the bucket for that. But some think this was part of a plan to make the network less opinionated. Key shareholder John Malone has called for CNN to return to nonpartisan coverage. At the same time, Chris Licht met with Republican lawmakers, apparently, talking about earning back trust. Talk a little bit about this, because as someone who's been the subject of that kind of demagoguery, speaking of which, and also you watch it and you've done documentaries about it. What do you think about this idea of moving back to the center and not being quite as political on cable, for example? I feel as if it's something that could be, lead us down a bad path. And it's something that could actually maybe lead to something

that we need, which is, I highly doubt Fox News is going to change how they do news. And wouldn't it be better to have something that's an alternative that might pull some people? I'm not a media expert, so I don't know. I mean, it's some of where I think. I know Brian just from Twitter, and he seems like a really lovely person. So it feels, on a personal level, it feels like, oh, this is not supposed to happen to the good people. He got really, he became the subject of a lot of right-wing attacks, you know, no matter what he did. And sometimes he made mistakes, you know, but at the same time, he Oh, he's human. Yes, yeah, exactly. Yeah. But one of the things I was thinking about is if he had had if it had it had been working at CNN, and the ratings were higher, they keep doing it. So this is all sort of a canard to John Malone to talk about it, because if it works, if they had a Fox News situation, you're right, Fox News isn't going to change.

And if CNN had as big ratings and they don't, they would stick with that if it works, in my estimation. I don't think it's good for society, any of it, by the way. What don't you think is good? Just trying to have a more neutral news? Not neutral, it's just news.

Just there is news, right? Not the constant commentary. And I get exhausted watching it. I can't watch cable news. Not neutral. It's just news. Just there is news, right? Not the constant commentary. And I get exhausted watching it. I can't watch cable news anymore because even if I agree, I'm sort of horrified with it at the same time. But Fox is very good at it. And the people who watch Fox are very motivated to be angry all the time. Right. Well, I think that we have seen sort of the, you know, more punditry that's there is there, there is also, you know, it does become kind of more like online. It's about the outrage culture. It's about stirring people up, getting reactions. So that's disconcerting.

And if the neutral, more neutral becomes the whataboutism. That's certainly not where we want to go either. Bradley Whitford had a great tweet yesterday. He's a very good tweeter. Yeah, he's very good. And he was saying something about, you know, it's like it's not a journalist's job if it's raining outside to put someone on saying, well, it's not raining, you know, it's just it's sunny out. Say what it is. Exactly. That it's not a journalist's job to show both sides of the weather, I think, really.

Right, that's exactly right. But one of the things I've noticed, you're not really on Punditry. You could easily have made a career of this, correct? You could have been a, I could see you on The View. I've certainly had offers. I've tried to navigate a path that has just felt right to an inner compass. And I'm not sure if that's always, I've always made the right decisions. But I have relied on that inner compass and being able to get advice.

Just take really smart people's temperatures, you know, and results. Yeah, I can see you, them wanting someone like you on there for lots of reasons, right? And then you do the hot takes, the constant hot takes. Yeah. I like being behind the camera more. So yeah, well, you could. I mean, yeah, I could see you on these shows.

By the way, Stelzer is already making close to a million dollars annually at CNN. Still not very much money if they're trying to cut 3 billion. Seems small. But we'll see what happens at that network. It's, I think they have many more challenges at CNN and also Warner itself than just this kind of stuff, which takes a lot of

attention. They have a really serious problem, as I've said many times, which I think irritated David Zasloff, but they're too small. They're just too small and too much debt, and they're going to have to sell CNN at some point. Oh, interesting. That's interesting. You know, one thing, I guess I should also say for full disclosure, because we've mentioned my doc, that my doc is on HBO Max,

which is now owned by. But I, what I wonder is, or what I wish, and maybe this is just, I'm too Pollyanna-ish. I wish they had given Brian an opportunity to change, to either make a show, a different show that was sort of more in line with what they were looking for or something different.

Because I think he did have a trusted, he had a lot of trust from his audience. And that has seemed to be something we don't have enough of in news, in my opinion. Interesting. I thought they were just throwing him to the, it was just a thing to the right. Here you go. Like the same thing with CNN Plus. They needed to save money and make Wall Street think they were serious, which it's very, the numbers, just the math ain't mathin', as they say. And then with Brian, it's just like, look, look, look what we did to earn goodwill. That's my feeling. It's totally cynical, but that's me. Speaking of,

totally cynical, Elon Musk will have a trick-or-treat this Halloween. He's announced a show-and-tell of Neuralink progress on October 31st. He's reportedly frustrated with the slow progress of his brain-computer interface company, because there really isn't a product, actually. He and I have talked about this a lot. It's a great idea, not so much in practice, and has posed his rival Synchron about a deal. Synchron's been doing a lot better. The competitor beat Neuralink to the first human trial as a brain interface. This is something super interesting to Elon, putting chips in your

brain. You tweeted a Salon article from Emil P. Torres about long-termism. What do you think that has to do with all of this? It's terrifying. I think it's terrifying. It's fascinating, but it's really ultimately terrifying. And I think really where my mind started going this morning after I read the Salon piece was thinking about, because Elon had also tweeted something earlier in his support of the belief structure. And I think that where I started to get concerned was just thinking about if Elon ends up owning Twitter, and then he's got Neuralink, and he has these beliefs, you know, and he's also got Tesla and SpaceX, and that this is, and they're talking about in long-termism, they're looking at the, you know, transhumanism, and looking at how to preserve humanity, and how to go into space, and some eugenics in there. It's terrifying. That's sort of a terrifying thing. And I don't know enough about antitrust

laws to know if that covers anything, I mean, in terms of a monopoly, so that we look at monopoly of competition. But is there anybody who looks out and says, actually, it's not okay for, and he is a brilliant mind, for brilliant mind, one of, or if not the wealthiest person in the world, to now have access to this much human information and influence? Right, right. There is no law, actually. But, you know, it's not an anti, it's like, it's not, one is because Twitter doesn't make money. And it's not a real business. This is about a bigger idea.

is because Twitter doesn't make money and it's not a real business. This is about a bigger idea. His Neuralink idea, which is still vaporware really at this point, is the concept of either putting chips in your brains in the very simplest sense, and I'm actually really dumbing it down, to enable you to compete with AI

or creating fully, this is a guy named Bostrom, who is their inspiration from England, who I've met many times, is the idea that we have digital minds, this concept, which is a sci-fi concept. It's a, lots of writers write about it, the idea. Some people feel that the body, it needs to be overcome, really. Like, we have to go beyond the body. Yeah, but I mean, in a different way, it's interesting because they talk about digital minds, but you're really talking about consciousness, you know, so from the more woo-woo perspective, which is where I come from.

Yeah. What did you— You like a good stone that's emanating energy. I have my crystal. I've got two crystals right here. You sent one to my friend Amina. Amina loves your crystals. Well, I'm a big believer.

But what's your take on Nick Bostrom? You know, all these people have their gurus, right? And it's just another guru kind of situation. Interesting ideas, you know, not present in sci-fi before. So nothing fresh and new in my estimation. If you read any sci-fi, even H.G. Wells, these ideas, not H.G. Wells in particular. Or even Ishiguro. Yeah, they all do. Even Scarlett Johansson was in one, if you remember.

She went into the computer. Remember that movie that came and went? But she became the computer. It was, anyway, there's tons of this. What was that called? Not her. You're not talking about her, right? No, because her was incredible.

Okay. Did you like that? I did not like that. I did. I her was incredible. Okay. Did you like that? I did not like that. I did. I liked her a lot. Why did you like that? This was a movie by Spike Jonze about a computer interface that you listen to in your ear. And it was, who was it?

What's his name? Joaquin Phoenix falls in love with the computer interface. And then she gets bored by him, essentially, because she's so smart, right? Or she or it or whatever it is. I think that it was foreshadowing what was going to happen with AI coming along. You think about that was before something like Alexa. And in a sort of strange way,

Alexa is a pulled-back version of that. And I think that we're seeing more and more as we go into the metaverse. I think that, you know, you look back to Second Life, you know, I'm continually, I want to make a doc on Second Life, actually, because I'm continually fascinated by how it sort of came, it seems to have gone, how that was a really first example of social behavior changing so drastically from computers, you know. And people having costumes.

And social media. And cosplay, really. That's really what it is. And people do it when they're dressed up in costumes and realize. It's a really, you know, I find it, when I think about her, I ran at Spike Jonze of all places. I was on a yacht in France at Cannes, and he was there on some yacht. I forget, some rich guy. And he really wanted to know what I thought. And I went, eh. I was like Larry David.

I'm like, eh. And he goes, what? He goes, this is my greatest movie. And I was like, okay, all right. And he goes, what are you talking about? And I said, they fall in love, really? That's all you can come up with, with like a sentient being who is in the cloud? Like, that's all you can think of is they take a picnic? Like, can't you get more creative? And he literally was like, get the fuck away from me. I was like, well, you asked me. I was like, yeah.

I literally felt like Larry David, you know, okay, okay, and walked away. But speaking of real life people, Finland's prime minister, it's Sanaa Marin, took a drug test after leaked videos, showed her partying with friends.

I thought she looked great. The videos don't appear to show any drugs and Marin denies taking any, but her opponents in parliament call for her partying with friends. I thought she looked great. The videos don't appear to show any drugs and Marin denies taking any, but her opponents in parliament called for her partying unbecoming and pushed for the test. It's ridiculous. She was having, a lady was having a good time,

just like AOC dancing. Remember that? That drove the Republicans crazy. Yeah, I hard agree with you, Cara. Hard agree. What's the problem here? Sexism? What else is new? I mean, it's just, yeah, exactly. Hard agree. So what's the problem here? Sexism? What else is new?

I mean, it's just, yeah, exactly. I mean, it's bullshit. It is complete fucking bullshit, this thing. Because if it were a video of a male prime minister, and certainly, and maybe a decade older too, so I think some of it has to do with her youth, but mainly about the fact that she's a woman, a woman in power who is also owning her own, I don't want to say narrative, but she's just fully herself, it seems. And we would never, we would show this video saying, how cool, this is part of the, I want to have a beer with you,

you know, moment of what happens. Possibly uncomfortable because an older man dancing is never as fun as this one. This one was having just joy. I just was like, she's having a great time with her friends, being silly and ridiculous. And the idea that she doesn't have a life outside of work is ridiculous. You know, it's incredible. Other things that happened in Finland over the past week, except for the dancing prime minister, were Russian's planes were suspected of violating Finnish airspace.

Finland got one step closer to joining NATO after French President Emmanuel Macron signed his country's support and Finland hit record high inflation. You'd think they could cover anything else, but they're dancing prime minister. Well, you know, when you have a chance to bash a woman, why not? Yeah. Why not? Why not? Why not? It's ridiculous. Monica and I have had it. Let her dance away. But also, too, what I think is interesting is had she had a private party in her own residence, right, then people would have sort of and something hadn't leaked. They would have accused her of, you know, a drug filled party on government time or, you know, who knows? Yeah. Yeah. She's not married to the government. These Finnish people have to lighten the fuck up. That's what I say. Anyway, speaking of dancing, I want to wish Sheryl Sandberg got married to the government. These Finnish people have to lighten the fuck up. That's what I say. Anyway, speaking of dancing,

I want to wish Sheryl Sandberg got married over the weekend. I know there's a lot of controversy on Sheryl, but her husband died many years ago and she married Tom Bernthal on a ceremony in Wyoming on Saturday. She'll officially step down from her role as CEO of Meta later this year. So a whole new life.

But she won't vanish from the public eye. The actress Claire Foy of The Crown will play Sandberg in a new TV show about Facebook's rocky years starting in 2016. I have met with the people who are making that, so I know quite a bit about it. Sandberg was reportedly concerned about how she'd be portrayed

in upcoming film and TV projects. She's said to have told one advisor, there's no scenario in which a successful businesswoman is not portrayed as a raging bitch. You know, I actually spoke with them. I don't think that's what's happening here. And I actually went out of my way to talk to the creators of this about her, and I hope they don't do that. That's a very complex story she has. Not all good. But what

do you think about that? I agree. I think she'll probably get a harder time than Mark Zuckerberg every time, even though he's in charge. Yeah. I hope that it's nuanced. I hope that I know Cheryl a little bit personally, and she's actually one of the handful of people who I think sort of powerful public people who was very kind to me early on in the last decade. So, and that meant a lot to me. I can't say I've certainly agreed with all the business decisions, but I mean, having spoken to the people with the show, I mean, what's your feeling?

That you think it'll be more nuanced? I hope so. That was my point. I brought them the column I wrote saying, you know, she certainly is culpable for things, the problems and this and that, and maybe cover that clearly, but the person in charge is Mark Zuckerberg

and very much like a lot of men in power, the women tend to get most of the fallout or the collateral damage around them. And that just happens over and over again. Like, Elizabeth Holmes gets to jail, and not that he committed fraud, but guess who just got $350 million? Adam Neumann, right? So, there's more forgiveness for men than there is for women. Certainly. But I also think, too, that Cheryl tried to do something as a powerful woman in business is that she, I think, with Lean In, with her book, I think that she tried to also bring a more human and nuanced side to the archetype, I guess, if you will, of a woman in business. And that's in a way trying to, we've seen that with women in politics,

but I think that that's a, she's trying to bridge a gap there, if you will. Yeah, certainly. I think she's got to own the business side and the business decisions. She's got to own them just like anybody else. But I do think, again, when a push comes to shove, Mark is a, oh, a boy that made a mistake and she is a raging bitch. I do think, again, when push comes to shove, Mark is a boy

that made a mistake, and she is a raging bitch. I do. And she's not. She's simply not that way. Well, we'll have to get a social network, too, right? It's a social network, too. All right. Yeah. When that was coming out, Mark was very upset. I remember having a conversation with him, and I was like, he's like, this is the way people are going to think of me. And I said, no, because you don't talk this much. I was like, stop talking. Mark never talks that much. This is just the way it is. She's going to be a character. And by the way, Claire Foy is playing you, Cheryl. That's a good person to play. That is exactly, exactly. I would like Claire Foy to play. Who would you like to play you? What would you have? You had two people. I have. I've

had Beanie. Beanie Feldstein. That's right. She did a really wonderful job, I think, of capturing that youth in my 20s and the emotional truth of that time period. It must be so weird to have someone play. It is very weird. It is a very strange process. Yeah. It is a very strange process. Yes. Yeah.

You know, I met one of the producers of White Lotus, and apparently in the second season, they were going to base a character on me. He's a big fan of Sway and everything. And I was like, really? And then they didn't do it. And I was like, damn. But they probably get like,

they were going to have Laura Dern play me, I think. I think. Which I was like, yay. It doesn't look anything like me. I mean, she's, yeah. It wasn't me, but it was a character based. Right, right. Well, let's talk, Kara.

Maybe there is a show there inspired by her. Holly Hunter. Holly Hunter. Holly Hunter. Remember Broadcast News? Yeah, of course. Who does not remember Broadcast News? Well, there you go.

There you go. Anyway, we'll see. Cheryl, congratulations on getting married. Congratulations on turning a chapter here. Let's see what big things you can do with all your blessings, which includes a lot of money, some changes you could make. They really do need people to work on things like abortion rights and things like that. Anyway, let's get to our first big story. story. It's been a week for bad men on social media. First, CEO Dan Price stepped down from his post at Gravity Payments after the New York Times article. Detail a history of alleged abuses against women, including an accusation of rape. Price first drew fawning headlines. It's really irritated me at the time when he took a million dollar pay cut and set his company's minimum salary at $70,000. Since then, he's been a prolific poster on Twitter and LinkedIn, putting out messages in support of social justice and

progressive politics. He's got the long hair, the sort of Jesus look. And then in another story, Meta and TikTok banned Manosphere influencer Andrew Tate. Tate is a former kickboxer and reality star and an all-around jode who went viral this year with misogynistic rants and interviews. He's been banned from Twitter since 2017 when he said that women, quote, bear some responsibility for their sexual assaults. Tate definitely gamed the TikTok algorithm to spread his content. He's a very clever man. What do you think this is evidence of? This is the first time social networks are doing something rather demonstrative in terms of that. Of course, they're getting into getting a lot of heat for it. What do you think about that? Because people like Tate and or Dan Price, interestingly,

he's on the sort of other end of the spectrum of politics, use social media to either, you know, enhance their profiles or make money or different things like that. I think it's a good thing in some ways for right now, because in a way it's a it's a pendulum swinging the opposite way. I think it's a good thing to start to see this change because had more of this happened before I think the 2016 election we might have seen different things happening of just people trying to take control and say okay yes we want to be mindful of the first amendment but we also we I was thinking the other day about the fact that like, sure, you can't yell fire in a crowded movie theater when there's not a fire. That seems like child's play now compared to what people are saying and the kind of, you know, lies and fake news and propaganda that is spewed on social media. I think the thing that is interesting to me about the Tate story is, and we saw this a bit with Donald Trump, is that the people who rise to these, like have a meteoric rise in social media, that what we don't do enough of is, I think, pay attention to what is it saying about the culture? What's it saying about people's underlying beliefs? Which is

ultimately what social media is mapping, in my opinion. So that's just kind of what terrifies me is that when we get too positive or negative, you know, enthralled with the shiny object of the one person, it's sort of ignoring that there are, yes, there are people who get turned on to those beliefs by the attention a person gets, but there were already people who were looking for someone who had those beliefs. And that's fucking terrifying. Fucking terrifying. Yes, it is. It is. Well, what they have is come out of the woodwork in terms of they were in the dark, right? A lot of the right wing. They were, you know, people are like, well, now we can see them. I'm like, I wish they'd go back to the dark because that's where they belong. But it's an interesting thing because it bangs up against – in Tate's situation, by the way, he has over 4 million followers on Instagram.

He ran a multi-level marketing scheme called Hustlers University 2.0 that promised students it would teach them how to earn wealth by investing in crypto, among other things. It was shut down, its affiliate program, last week after a ban from Meta went into effect. It's just – it's a Ponzi scheme. This guy's just a – I mean, he's more of a Trump kid than I think some of the other Trump kids are, you know? Yes. Yeah. If you look at that, he says it's performative in some ways, and he's acting out of part, which, whatever. Stripe allegedly stopped processing payments for his business. These get-rich-quick schemes that have been around since the beginning of time, they just get more amplification on social media.

In the case of Price, it's a little more interesting. He allegedly used Instagram DMs, et cetera, for predation on people. It's a very different side of cyberbullying, which is what Tate is doing. But here, people would write something. He'd write something very lovely and something a lot of people might agree with. Women need more money or it's wrong to be mean to women, etc. And then they first met him after they said, oh, I really appreciate you saying that. Because, oh, here's a man who understands.

Seemingly. Seemingly, yes. It's really interesting. Unlike bullying, a lot of this starts as flattery, you know, that you're great and stuff. And then, of course, you misbehave. He's denying all of this, by the way. It's something that really happens to a lot of women. I was watching Tinder Swindler on Netflix. Did you ever see that? I haven't seen that yet. No. Yeah. There's a million of them on Netflix. It's always like something like he was a predator,

really, in a lot of ways, taking their money, et cetera, et cetera. How do you—I never have had that happen to me. Has that happened to you, any of this kind of stuff? I've had a few people slide into my DMs, as I think one says. No one slides into my DMs, but nobody. Nobody slides. You're married, Kara. You're married.

I get it, but they don't ever, ever, ever, before marriage, I'm just saying. But go ahead. You're right. That's fair. They don't even try. I don't know what Amanda would think about that. She slid into my text when we first dated. But we were introduced.

But we were introduced on a blind date. Anyway, so has it happened to you? What's that like? It has, but it hasn't been. I don't know. Maybe it says something about me. I was flattered by the times that it's happened with the people with whom it's happened. And it didn't end up becoming creepy. So I haven't had that creepy thing. women, LGBTQI groups are the most targeted online for both, you know, visible harassment and what happens in DMs. I think a lot of times what can actually happen to some women, even worse than

Price, even though what he's done, allegedly, I think is women who are informed that they're sexual nudes, you know, that they're sort of private nudes have been exposed. That this is a lot of way that women, and they get targeted by companies, reputation companies, which can, or other, I don't know what, I guess I call it, you know, to pay money and have them taken down, et cetera, et cetera. But I think that this is, it's an unfortunate example of just the sort of the manipulation that we see. I mean, it happens offline, right? I mean, how many times have you had someone pick you up in a, I mean,

I don't really go to bars, but when I was younger, you'd go to a bar, you'd meet somebody, you know, you'd think you're going on a date with someone pre-Google. And then it turns out, you know, that they're not at all who they pretended to be. Never happened to me. I don't believe that. I do not believe that. Never. Never.

Lesbians are much better behaved. Never. Never. I'm telling you. I have a lot of lesbian friends. I'm going to, and I hear a lot about those relationships. I'm going to say I'm not. There's a lot of drama.

They're dramatic. Drama is different. Drama is different. I'm telling you, it never happened to me, Kara Swisher. I think people are just scared of me. How old were you when you first got married, though, to your first marriage? First wife. I was in my 30s.

In my 30s. Come on, Kara. College Kara? Oh, yeah. I went out with ladies in college. But it was very pleasant, except for the drama. Except for, you know, the typical lesbian drama. But that was because it was all hidden back then.

Because I'm old, Monica. So that's why it was. Because it was all furt drama. But that was because it was all hidden back then, because I'm old Monica. So that's why it was, because it was all furtive. And that was the damaging part, being gay back then. Now, I don't know what it would be like now. Honestly, I don't. I just keep getting married. That's what happens to me. Anyway, and having children.

That's all I keep doing. Hey, you and Elon. Elon, that's right. We share the idea that we should have many children. I don't. I'm not having 10 children like him. Although I probably would. I probably would.

Anyway, in any case, it's a really interesting thing that the companies are starting to crack down on this stuff. With visible people like Tate, for example. They never would have done that a couple of years ago. They just wouldn't have. And he also cherry-picked. He stayed on Instagram and Facebook long after he was removed from Twitter. Same thing Alex Jones did. He kept on Twitter and then he was banned and then he was banned elsewhere. They like to play games, these people. But I like that they're doing it. I was arguing with someone, they said the First Amendment, I said, it's like a restaurant,

you can't be an asshole in a restaurant. It's an asshole thing, right? We don't want you in our place of business. And I think to explain it like that is a lot better than you don't get to talk. Right, right. I know, I agree. I agree. All right, Monica, let's go on a quick break. When we come back, we'll be talking about the latest on the Trump investigation, and we'll take a listener question about regulating social media. Fox Creative.

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Yeah, right. Exactly. Yeah. One person who might not be looking forward, lame duck representative Liz Cheney. She said last week she's seeing no evidence that the Mar-a-Lago search was politically motivated. Meanwhile, her colleague Dan Crenshaw took the opposite tack, saying there was no evidence that Trump was asked to return the top secret documents. This is not true. I feel bad for Dan Crenshaw, who sort of stepped out Liz Cheney style and then stepped right back in after he got attacked. Here's what he told Jake Tapper. It was a very bad performance on his part, by the way. It's hard to justify what the Department of Justice did here.

I still haven't seen any evidence that he was even at, that Trump was even asked to give these documents back. He's been cooperating with them on these issues for a while now, for months. I think he's going to look bad. Obviously, they were in negotiations with him. All the reporting shows that. I feel bad for Dan Crenshaw. I don't know if the question has been asked and just no Republican has answered it. But in terms of the people who think that this is political or was an extreme measure, no one has listed at what point would it have been okay? What was the step that they think the DOJ

should have taken that they hadn't already taken? And that's what sort of baffles me. I mean, if you think about that, even from January, when those 15 boxes were returned to August, that even from January when those 15 boxes were returned to August, that's eight months. If it were either of us, it would have been eight hours, if not eight minutes. So, I mean, this is just fucking bullshit. It is. But it's true. And, of course, Trump is taking full advantage of this. He's shifting defense so far, and it's changed.

They're going to plant evidence, or they did plant evidence. Everyone brings work home, and these documents were declassified. No one sees any evidence of that. We're working with the government on returning the documents. We've been doing that. The document's protected by attorney-client privilege. He just has one after the next. It's crazy. And he's going to release videos. He's not going to release videos, whatever. But it's just the continued circus, you know? And I think what just feels, I don't know how you feel about it, but what feels frightening to me about all of this is that it's like we were supposed to be turning the page on Donald Trump by electing Biden. And here we are. He still, you know, feels above the fold front page news, you know.

He does. He does control the Republican Party in many ways. I know. He does. He does control the Republican Party in many ways. Yes, I know. But I mean, I wonder, do you feel like it's just that Mitch McConnell thinks he's effective? Or do you think that he has something on Mitch McConnell?

No, I think that they don't think he's going to get worse, and then he does. Why should he change? At this point, I don't even blame him. He is what, he's doing exactly what he's done on every one of these things, whether it's making fun of people with disabilities or, you know, the Russia stuff, which is not a hoax.

There's a lot going on. Parts of it were overwrought, but other parts, very clearly Russia is trying to destabilize this country and using Trump as the vehicle.

You know, this tribalism in American politics, I think they think that he was going to fade away. That's what's troubling me. I think they thought they could handle him. And we've heard that before with Hitler, with lots of people, lots of autocrats.

Oh, we can handle him. And they can't handle him. They can't. He lies like he breathes. And so he's not going to change. I saw Jon Favreau over the weekend and he was making the point that there's going to have to be a moment where the Republicans who are going to want to challenge him for 24 are going to have

to say that the election was legitimate. Otherwise, why wouldn't Republicans vote for Trump, like someone like DeSantis? You know, and I thought that was a very interesting point. So I don't know, maybe we're just playing a time game. And that soon we're going to have to see that more. I don't know. What do you think? I think the priceless chain you paid is exactly what the price you pay for this kind of thing, right? Again, someone I don't agree with, but nonetheless, has stuck with it and is going to continue. Mike Pence seems to be quietly trying to undermine Donald Trump over here. I might testify. I, of course, gave back my documents. It is wrong to attack the FBI. He's doing it in the most loud way compared to most of them,

which is a surprise to me because he was the most obsequious suck up that seen for the many years. And now he's sort of he's the most counter. And yet it's but it's all political. Right. So I mean, at least I feel in some ways and I think Liz Cheney deserves credit for how she's run, you know, worked on the January 6th committee. I think that I was very dismissive of that before it started. And I've been incredibly impressed with what they've done. But I think that it is, at least that feels about our democracy and less political in some ways. And whereas anybody who wants to be a candidate in 24, it's just political. It doesn't quite feel about the democracy in the same way.

Well, they do want to live. My money's on someone like Liz Cheney. She's never given up. She's just not given up. She's a persistent woman. She's a very interesting journey. Well, even if you disagreed with her, her journey has been, you know, but I think most of these men just want to hold on to power. That's pretty much it. Anyway, now we're going to get to a listener question. You've got, you've got, I can't believe I'm going to be a mailman. You've got mail. This one comes from Matt via email. I'll read it and it's perfect for you, Monica. Do either of you think there needs to be a regulatory body to evaluate the physical and mental health effects of new technologies apart from the Food and Drug Administration? After the revelations of Instagram's negative, if not lethal, impact on mental health, I wonder

what other technologies, platforms, etc. may be doing the equivalent harm as that of tobacco or other highly regulated and scrutinized products? Best, Matt. Monica, you did a whole documentary. What do you think about this? I agree a bajillion percent with Matt. So I think that we are behind in having some sort of governmental body that is examining these things, both not only being aware of what's happening and what, I think what's being developed and how that's coming out and how things are changing or being used in different ways too, but also how to communicate best practice. So I felt this way in general, I feel this about mental health. I wrote a piece last year for Vanity Fair advocating for a counterpart to Dr. Fauci for mental health during the pandemic,

that there was nobody who was telling us the best of, for mental health during the pandemic, that there was nobody who was telling us the best practices for our mental health during that point, you know, so, and that we, and that that's actually going to be, I think we're going to continue to see difficulties that are coming out of, as we, as we slowly roll out of the pandemic, you know, the damage. Yeah, it is. I, you know, I did an interview with Mark Benioff, and he talked about them like cigarette companies. That's how he, many years ago, which I thought was interesting. I would say that I don't, not sure if I want a government administration to do this, but

there are bills in Congress of algorithmic transparency and what's happening and the product choices they make. You know, I just was talking with Frances Haugen yesterday, who is the Facebook whistleblower. And the things that are here are different from what's happening back here, was her point. And the design choices, how they make it needs to be much more transparent. So you understand what goes into it and what the results are. So algorithm is transparency and data transparency of what happens and how they move people. You know, if you're looking up healthy recipes, how you get to pro-anorexia sites and things like that. Or bullying, same thing, how you get from

one place to the next. But I also think too, just, you know, you're sort of mentioning the recipes that I think transparency, I think that that is helpful to an intelligent population. People who, once we've had more transparency about ingredients, people who care about health have now stopped using products. But that doesn't mean that there aren't like still, you know, 20 ounce sodas and all of those things. So I think just though going back to the government body of that, and this was in 15 Minutes of Shame, is that we went, you know, talking, looking at Australia. Australia. So because Australia has a really wonderful program that has been developed by, you know, and is funded by the government that is looking at these issues that came out of, I think, child protection laws online. So I think that while they're looking more at harassment and protecting people online more, I do think that there, maybe not our government, but there can be ways government

gets involved. Yeah, mental health. There's such an anathema if we're talking about mental health, you know, on a governmental level. One of the stumbling blocks is that we're not a very preventative society. And so I think that the whole thing of focusing on mental health really is about being more preventative of what happens. You know, it's just even sometimes, you know, the simple example you think of someone who's suffering living on the streets, you know, to acknowledge their dignity for a moment could impact them not lashing out later, you know, at someone else on the street. I'm not sure it's a good example. No, no, it's 100%. One of the things that's interesting about that is if you start to study,

look, we all know magazines and movies impacted how women, for example, feel about themselves. You know, the messages coming through. There was a great movie about gay people of how they're portrayed in the media and places. And what we couldn't make the links between those, you can see them and it's not anecdotal, but you can see gay people are all horrible or they're predators or they kill themselves, et cetera, or women are this way or they want to have a man this way,

whatever the messages media is sending you or the big magazines that, you know, fashion magazines that make everybody feel ugly essentially because they don't look like that. We understand that on a very visceral level. Now we can prove it, like with online, right? Now we can, so now why wouldn't you? Why wouldn't you want to see that data and how it affects people? But, you know, I think they don't want people to see it, these companies, because it's more

damaging. And we're not, I think if it was done that we don't blame them for it, but then like what are the best practices they can use in design is something that would be very important. Matt, this is a great question. Anything else, Monica, last word? No, I just think it would be great if we could find ways to kind of bake in better mental health practices into technology, into social media. So yes, I agree. Good question, Matt. I'm using a bunch of different new devices. There's one called Apollo. It puts on your leg and it hums at you and I feel better. Okay. Yeah. Because I've been thinking about that because I do somatic therapy and so that's supposed to help your vagus nerve.

I guess. I don't know. I just feel better. It's like someone touching your hair. You know how you feel better? My daughter always fixes my hair and I'm always happy. It's just, I don't know what it is. There's something like the nerve endings and just going like this. Even things like color, you know, so certain colors can lead you to a mood or to a state, but activating different parts of your brain from color or font or those kinds of things. Yeah, technology can do all this in a good way. Happy technology. All right, Monica, one more quick break. Matt, thanks for your question. We'll be back for predictions. Okay, Monica, let's hear some predictions. Do you got any?

Okay, Monica, let's hear some predictions. Do you got any? going to AMC theaters to see Grease, that they are re-releasing in the theater as in tribute to Olivia Newton-John. And having been embarrassingly in kindergarten when Grease was out, I was obsessed with that, which probably should have been a first alarm that there was something wrong with me. I knew there isn't. It's a wonderful movie.

Six years. Yes, but it, you know, like six years old, I'm not sure that's the, but whatever. Yeah, that's not appropriate. Yeah. Yeah. So, but I was obsessed with that film. And so I think it's great that it's out there. And I think- Wait, are you Sandy or Rizzo? Yeah. Sandy. I mean, that was sort of, but I think that this might not surprise a lot of people.

I think I was more Sandy at the end. Like, I really actually was more Sandy throughout the movie, but I wanted to be Sandy at the end. So I have therapy after this. So I'm going to discuss that with my therapist. Yes. Okay. So wearing that outfit she wore, I was horrified. I was shocked by that. Oh, my God. I said, go back to Sandy. No, no, I loved that outfit and the curly hair and the red lipstick and the sort of, you know. But also, I think I identified with just even you think, remember back those first moments where she's sort of like, you know, teetering in the heels and not quite sure of how to embody that identity. That's how I sort of feel trying to. Yeah.

Yeah. What do you think happened to them after they drove from the car into the into the clouds essentially that i would like after greece that's a great idea i know there you go monica for your production exactly exactly what happened um i think that they probably they either broke up you think i think eventually they broke up because that happened so much to high school sweethearts um and he sort of discovered she was wearing a pushup bra and, you know, I don't know. Yeah. But I,

I also, I, in a, in a serious prediction way, I do. I'm very curious to see what's going to happen if they release part of the memo, the DOJ memo.

Yeah. So I think that that's, I feel torn because I'm curious, but I also feel that part of the tacit agreement we make in having these kinds of things be classified or redact, not redacted, but it's under seal. Is that it's, you know, it's trying to protect certain amounts of information, you know, so that's, you know. Someone who suffered with leaks, right? Right, exactly don't. Yeah, well, someone who's suffered with leaks, right? These are government proceedings. Right, exactly, exactly. So, I think that there is an element with all of this where I think and how I felt with some of WikiLeaks and those other things that, you know, I get to wake up every morning and not worry about all the threats, not knowing about all the threats that are out in the world.

Not knowing about all the threats that are out in the world, but that comes with having to trust the government that, you know, they're going to classify and keep secret different things to do that. Yeah. Yeah. They'll spin it no matter what. But back to Sandy. Back to Sandy. After Grease. You know what?

We'll have Clara watch it with you. Okay. Guess what we watched this weekend? Beauty and the Beast. And then the live action one, which was quite good, actually. The live action one was very good. Yeah. Have Frozen?

Of course. Are you kidding? You know what I use it for? I'll tell you. People hate that Let It Go song, although it's very much like the Wicked song. It's a great song. Forget it. It's like the Wicked song, the one that's in Wicked, the similar kind of song.

But I use it now because she's potty training and I sing it to her every morning when I'm trying to get her to pee. I go, let it flow, let it flow. And she thinks it's hysterical and then she literally pees on cue. It's the best thing ever. Thank you, Disney. Thank you, Bob Iger. That's amazing. You can use it anytime you need that. Okay. Anyway, Monica, that's a great prediction. I will not make a prediction. You're right. But you're playing Scott, and I have to say a much more charming version of him. Oh, well, thank you. Anyway, Monica, thank you so much. And I'm going to read us out. Thank you for your questions. We want to hear from you. Send us your questions about business tech or whatever's on your mind.

Go to nymag.com slash pivot to submit a question for the show or call 855-51-PIVOT. Monica, that is the show as usual. You're a classy dame, as I always say. Thank you, Cara. Classy d is the show as usual. You're a classy dame, as I always say. Thank you, Cara. Classy dame. Love seeing you. Love seeing you. And I'll see you in Los Angeles soon. We'll be back on Friday for more. Today's show was produced by Lara Naiman, Evan Engel, and Taylor Griffin. Ernie Enderdot engineered this episode. Make sure you subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts.

Thanks for listening to Pivot from New York Magazine and Vox Media. We'll be back later this week for another breakdown of all things tech and business. And again, Monica, thank you very much. Thanks, Cara.