Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov - A Rare Republican Break With Trump Raises New Questions

Episode Date: June 4, 2026

Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov break down the latest developments from Congress, as the House advanced a War Powers measure designed to limit Donald Trump’s authority in the region. Most notably, four Republicans broke ranks to support the resolution — raising new questions about whether cracks are finally beginning to emerge inside the GOP. They also unpack the broader political implications of this week’s primary results across Iowa, California, and beyond. Then, they analyze a strange appearance before Congress by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, where some past brawls are remembered. Back in Washington, Trump plans to permanently nominate Todd Blanche as attorney general after Blanche aggressively pursued Trump’s enemies and his agenda while serving as his private personal attorney, and during his time as acting attorney general since Pam Bondi’s departure. Plus: there is controversy surrounding Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner’s $1.4 billion luxury resort project in Albania. And, a new study finds highly educated American fathers are spending significantly more time on childcare and housework while reducing hours spent at paid jobs — pointing to major shifts in work, family life, and the meaning of masculinity. For ad-free episodes, exclusive livestreams, and to connect with Scott, Jessica, and the Raging Moderates community, join us at ProfG+ on Substack: https://ragingmoderates.profgmedia.com/ Get The Monday Rage newsletter: https://profgmedia.com/s/monday-rage/ Follow Raging Moderates on IG, Tiktok, and Facebook: https://www.instagram.com/ragingmoderatespod/ https://www.tiktok.com/@ragingmoderates https://www.facebook.com/ragingmoderates Follow Jessica Tarlov on Instagram, Substack, and Bluesky: https://instagram.com/jessicatarlov https://substack.com/@jessietarlov https://bsky.app/profile/jessicatarlov.bsky.social Follow Scott on Instagram, Substack, and Bluesky: https://instagram.com/profgalloway https://substack.com/@profgalloway https://bsky.app/profile/profgalloway.com Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@RagingModerates Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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available at drinkend.com and in stores nationwide. Welcome to Rachel Moterts. I'm Scott Galloway. And I'm Jessica Tarliffe. Please subscribe to our YouTube channel. It's free, and it helps grow the show and reach new audiences. Okay, let's get into it. I have to say first, though, is it Nixon 4 or Nixon 5? Are you feeling the energy? You're still here, right? In New York?

I am still here, and I want to pretend to care, and I don't. I'm just not a sports person. And I'm waiting for the World Cup until then. I don't even know what happened last night. What happened? Well, we won. The next one. That's why we could be Nixon 4.

It's like a really big deal. I will say this. I turn on the TV and it was like 6550. The next were down by 15, I think. Well, things can change. Jalen Brunson. I mean, Kat had a great game and a very sweet interview afterwards about how his mother who passed away. He felt like she was there, her presence.

Anyway, let's talk about Tehran. I thought we're going to have some New York, some New York flare here. No, yeah. Okay. Toronto has launched a series of attacks against the Gulf states of Bahrain and Kuwait, further straining a ceasefire in the region. This occurred as the House of Representatives delivered their disapproval of the president in the form of a war powers vote.

Four Republicans broke ranks with the Democrats to advance the measure which will move to the Senate for consideration. Trump, unsurprisingly, took to Truth Social this morning to call it a meaningless vote. Jess, is the tide turning among Republicans that we've been waiting for? Yeah. So I do think that the vote is a big deal because they've done this several times before and haven't been able to get the four that they needed to come over. Kind of usual suspects in Thomas Massey and Brennan Fitzpatrick.

They got Tom Barrett from Michigan and Warren Davidson from Ohio to sign on. People are concerned. Some people are pissed. would say in general, people are concerned even within the Republican caucus about this because things are just not going to plan. They had a leaked audio from Ashley Hinson, who's going to be the Republican candidate for the Senate seat in Iowa, which they really need to hold with Joni Ernst retiring. That's Josh Turrick, the Paralympian, is the Democrat who won the primary for that on Tuesday. And she's on tape saying, I do hope we can get this done by the next

couple of weeks. If it drags on beyond that, it's a political liability for us, too, because we've lost Iowa soldiers. I've been to four funerals since December. It's awful. So in that quote, you have what's very important that we're losing lives as a result of this war. And she's not even talking about the impact on the Iowa farming community. Record levels of bankruptcies, no fertilizer getting out of the Strait of Hormuz. So Donald Trump, back against the wall, you know, they're trying to paint it as unpatriotic. that people would vote to assert their constitutionally granted power to declare war or to decide whether we go to war or not after that 60-day period. I think that's really falling flat. The interesting test will be what happens in the Senate. There have been symbolic votes forward,

but not when the House has agreed. So the Senate would have to as well in order for this to really matter. I think it's a very strong signal that this is not going to anyone's plan and the Republicans are fed up. And I could not believe this headline. I think it was Bloomberg that was first to report that now the International Atomic Energy Agency is saying that Iran's nuclear risk is higher than it was before the U.S. and Israeli military strikes. Like, how is that possible that we're there? Yeah. It is a little bit. I'm curious. My sense is the analogy I've heard is that it's a little bit. bit like passing a war powers resolution act is a bit like when your kids take pop-up or Nana's keys away and say you can't drive again. That symbolically it's important, but historically it doesn't change much.

Congress has never successfully used one to stop an ongoing military operation. So it's more symbolic than having an actual effect. Is that not correct? Yes. It is. And also, according to the administration, we're not at war anymore. I remember they were jockeying around with the terms. But there is, and we've seen this with like the 1776 slush fund, for instance, being pulled back that the ballroom funding isn't moving forward.

Like, it's not being appropriated. That it seems like the caucus is a bit fed up with the direction of the administration. And they're all looking at their watches and saying, we now have less than six months before people go to the polls. We know that gas prices are not going to go back to anything that's acceptable, probably. until 2027 at the very least. And they're like, we can't get anything done if we haven't won seats. And every survey that comes out is just an increasingly strong indicator that Democrats should have a very good night in November, at least on the House side.

I think the Senate, you know, obviously tougher. And we can talk about what's going on in Maine. There was a very tense meeting with Democratic senators in Graham Platner yesterday in Washington, D.C. But things are looking up for the Democrats and things are looking down for the Republicans. Yeah, it does feel, it feels even though in terms of actual effect on the conflict, it doesn't feel as if there's much tensile strength here, but it does feel as if it signals a switch and momentum. And that is, you know, politics is about authority, but it's also about momentum. And the market turns before, if you will, you know, stocks tend to turn down before the actual earnings

report. And four members of your own party voting against you on a military conflict is it's not a rebellion, but it definitely feels like a bit of a hedge. You could argue, and again, I'm always seeing dead people here, and that is, I'm always hoping that it was a red line or this is a switch and how the American people feel. And I was fine that, no, I was living in my own bubble again. But this does feel like a pretty stern rebuke, if you will. I'm curious, you said something that's not on the script that I want to talk about. I hadn't heard much about this meeting between Platner and Democrats. Can you say more about that?

Yeah, so Grand Platner's in trouble. He still has the texting scandal, which came out over the weekend that he had this account on the site kick, which there was no evidence that he was messing around with minors, but it is known to be a place that a lot of child exploitation goes on. Which I think is like, yes. So that starts to concern people even more than they already had been concerned. And there has been this rumor swirling for a while that there is a big story to come out. What I have heard and there is no verification that this is the case.

And he was asked about it explicitly in this meeting with Democratic Senators, even in Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who have been two very strong backers of Grand Platner, were pushing him on this. But that there was something to come out. around domestic violence. And in this meeting, reportedly, he denied that the worst things that you were hearing are true. But he was supposed to hang around. I think he did one fundraiser, but he was supposed to stay longer for more events. He went back to Maine because reporters were apparently staking out his mother's restaurant and his in-laws house. And he wanted to get back there. He's been canceling interviews as well, which doesn't look good, right? Like, you should sit there and take it.

And he said in the meeting with the Democratic senators that he understood that and that voters and the press had a right to push him about these things said, you know, there's no doubt that I've had, you know, a darker, complicated life. But trust me, essentially, that the worst of what you're hearing is not true. You know, people are girding their proverbial loins for what is to happen. And Janet Mills said, which, I mean, it doesn't make a difference. because she's not going to win in the primary. But she said, I'm still on the ballot. I just suspended my active campaigning. Oh, gosh.

It's pretty, I don't want to say it's messy because, like, I understand, and I very much feel like we've just got to win seats and that I don't want to be lectured by the party of Donald Trump and Ken Paxton. But I am concerned about it, honestly. And I never got past the idea of having a Nazi tattoo and knowing what it was. and not having it removed and lying about it. Yeah, well, maybe if these accusations move from sexing to assault and is accused by 26 other women of assault, he can run for president.

So look, there's always that. There's that. Let's move on and let's talk about the primary results in Iowa on Tuesday. Trump's endorsed gubernatorial candidate, felt to a little non-conservative outsider, marking a rare occasion where the president's endorsement seems to have its limits. and Democratic establishment candidates seem to hold firm in California, although a number of races are still too close to call.

Jess, now that you've had a couple of days to sit on it, what do you think of the big takeaways from this week's election? You know, I think we have great candidates in Iowa, feel good about that, feel good about the chance to pick up a couple seats on the congressional level. In California, it's going about as planned. Bacera is in. It's a fight for second place. Same on the mayoral side with Karen Bass and then Spencer Pratt and Nithia Rahman. The big problem for me or the big concern is that now Donald Trump is out there talking about election fraud again. And we all knew that this was going to happen that California takes a very long time to count ballots. I understand that there are protocols in a way of that they do things and they want to accept people even mailing in their ballots. at the last possible moment. And I think democracy works best when everybody gets a chance to vote. And I want to

encourage that. But it leaves this lag time that then Republicans seize upon where they say, well, how is it possible that Spencer's lead is going down? It's like, well, I don't know, it's a blue town. And they're looking at the ballots and a bunch of Democrats are voting. And guess what? They're voting for the DSA candidate and not for your candidate. And so Donald Trump, you know, posting on true social that There's fraud again and Ron DeSantis jumping in on this. That's what really concerns me because it always feels like a precursor for why they're going to try to restrict voting the next time we all go to the polls. Yeah, it's just to point out, one of the stats jumped out to me. California has spent about a third of a billion dollars on the governor's race and it's not even finished.

You know, these are sort of like superhero budgets being spent on trying to figure out who's going to run the DMV. and it's they estimate the political advertising the cycle is going to touch $11 billion. And, you know, that's more than the annual revenues of Fortune 1,000 companies. So it feels like politics has kind of become a media business that occasionally has an election. And what was encouraging was that Steyer looks like he's not, it looks like money isn't everything anymore. You know, Steyer, I think, spent a quarter of a billion dollars and isn't going to make the runoff. But you're right. The thing that does stand out and you think, oh, no, is this, when one side starts screaming fraud, you know, they're not, and they know these things aren't going to survive in court, but they're trying to, they're trying to win the first draft of history, and they're trying to, or he's trying to basically say, no, I broke up with you. If he loses an election, he just, you know, screams fraud. I have a question for you about balance, I guess, because, like, so I know Steve Hilton, I used to work with.

Steve Hilton. You know, he's definitely Trumpy. Now he has Trump's endorsement. But in general, he's, you know, he's British. Like, he's not an extreme, he's not like a Nigel Farage type, even, I would say, on the British scale. Yeah, not at all. And I was talking to my husband about this, like, well, what would it look like if Steve Hilton won? And if we want to move towards a purple states of America, right? Is this a terrible thing? Like Arnold Schwarzenegger was a great governor for California. And I said the problem for me today with the Republican Party is that very few have shown a capacity to not be a rubber stamp for Trump. So while maybe in a normal environment, I would be okay with a moderate Republican, you know, running a state that might typically be blue.

Like, does that mean that then Steve Hilton says, sure, no problem. Set in the National Garden as we're having elections in November? Or what happens during the election? Olympics. So I was curious what you thought about that. Well, you summarized it perfectly in an environment where nobody trusts each other. It's hard to elect moderates from the other side. Remember when we had, I forget his name, the guy Larry Hogan on? You know, perfectly reasonable guy, the kind of guy, Republican or moderate you would want in Congress. But when we're talking about votes on bodily autonomy, it's like, no, we need the Democrat in office. And I grew up in California and there was a governor named Pete Wilson, who was a Republican. but he was a moderate and kind of a technocrat, and I think he was a good governor. But now, you brought up exactly what happens when they send in ice agents to man polling booths. And also, again, going back to just symbolism, the bluest big state in the nation, we should, you would think in this era we should be able to find a Democrat. But I hope we get back to a point where people, especially in these executive roles,

where it's less about policy and more about making sure the trash gets picked up and the, you know, the quote-al-quote subway works, if you will, which I'm excited to take in L.A. Although I heard no one takes it. But anyways, when I was, back to me, when I was in Los Angeles working at Morgan Stanley in fixed income, we raised money. There was a quarter of a cent sales tax increased to fund something called the L.A. Sorry, L.A. County Transportation Authority, Lactma, or whatever it was called. And it was, this was 1980. This was a vision for a California subway, which makes no sense quite frankly because it's not dense enough, but 40 years later, here we are. Have you taken the Metro in L.A.? Have you taken the subway?

No. I honestly didn't know that. It exists? No, I knew that it exists, but I thought it was like the bus system where no one does it, unless, frankly, you're here undocumented and you don't want to get pulled over. I know they can get licenses, but in Trump's America, it's a little bit more concerning. I used to take the RTD-83 bus line down Wilshire to Southwestern School, a lot of work in the mailroom, and then to school at uni on the west side. Anyways, I love living my past through municipal transportation routes.

But California is basically, as goes California, as goes the rest of the nation. So it is a, you know, it is kind of a big deal. But I think a lot of it goes back to Canada quality, although I will say, I mean, if you think about it, there's a lot not to like about Steve Hilton. He seems like a reasonable guy. He seems intelligent. He seems moderate. Beyond his association with Trump, I really like Mark Cuban a lot. I think his company, is it drugs first?

Cost plus drugs. Is a great idea. I think he's a good man. I think he's super smart. I don't think he should run for president. Or actually, I would love to see him run because I think he would shape the election with good ideas. But I'm kind of done.

I think that the part of the program where we elect business people, especially failed business people as president, and Mark's not a failed business person. And he's not a rich kid, so he's a lot different than Trump. But I think people, I hope people are finally coming to the recognition in America that experience in D.C. or Washington or in government, at your state level, it's a feature, not a bug. And this notion that we can't trust institutions

and all politicians are bad, and be careful when you ask a politician to be a heart surgeon, much less when you ask a business person to be a politician. So I hope, and the notion that now, I would really like to cauterize the notion that being a host on cable TV somehow qualifies you to be in politics, this- I'm doomed, but I understand.

I know, yeah, but you have some background. Anyways, we'll, oh, I'll be fine. You'll be, yeah. You'll have more qualifications than that. But this is, we live in an attention economy where awareness is more than anything. But the reason to be hopeful around the California gubernatorial race is that so Star was about money. It didn't work. Hilton is about attention with no qualifications or definitive plans other than I'll get things done. I'm a moderate and Trump likes me. And it looks like the thing that won, at least so far, is confidence. And that's Bacera, confidence and experience. So I would that the gubernatorial race is actually a silver lining. With respect to the mayoral race, if the councilwoman who comes in third drops out, doesn't that make it look really good for Bass? Because won't she pick up more of those votes than Pratt would? Definitely. I mean, Bass wanted a D versus R matchup, right? Because then people go to their tribal corners. I mean, it cuts both ways because there will be five more months of Spencer Pratt talking about Karen Bass's failures, but there will also be five more months to see

video of Spencer Pratt talking about crystals and blowing $10 million because the Mayan apocalypse is coming and how he likes Alex Jones. So it'll be very interesting if Rahman is the one who gets through, right? And it's a D versus D. It'll be the establishment Democrats versus the DSA Democrats. You know, that is possible. I think she needs to be gaining on him. He's to win 14% more than him and all of the last drops that are to come. And once this is released this evening, we know we're recording in the morning, we will probably have another report on some more ballots that came in. But it could really take, you know, a week to get through this.

Okay, let's take a quick break. Stay with us. Support for this show comes from Odu. Running a business is hard enough. So why make it harder with a dozen different apps that don't tell you? talk to each other. Introducing O-Doo. It's the only business software you'll ever need. It's an all-in-one fully integrated platform that makes your work easier,

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Canva, the thing that makes anything a thing. Support for this show comes from Odu. Running a business is hard enough, so why make it harder with a dozen different apps that don't talk to each other? Introducing Odu. It's the only business software you'll ever need. It's an all-in-one fully integrated platform that makes your work easier, CRM, accounting, inventory, e-commerce, and more.

And the best part, O-DU replaces multiple expensive platforms for a fraction of the cost. That's why over thousands of businesses, have made the switch. So why not you? Try O-D-U for free at Odu.com. That's O-D-O-O-O-O-com. Welcome back. So President Trump will nominate acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to fill that role permanently. Since taking over from Van Bond in April, Blanche has demonstrated his loyalty to Trump by going after Trump's perceived enemies. Any thoughts here, Jess? I mean, I guess he's thinking, like, we've got to, you know, try to ram this through. but Tom Tellis, who is in his Yolo phase of life, is going to have some serious questions.

Yeah. I mean, Tom Tillis, you know, he held up Kevin Warsh about the Jerome Powell situation until they dropped the prosecution into that. And he's going to reportedly be digging into, you know, where Todd Blanche had his fingerprints. I mean, his fingerprints, he has like peanut butter fingers all over the prosecutions of Trump's political enemies. like a Jim Comey. So I'm curious as to how far Tillis will go. And if you will get others on board with trying to stop this, like, you know, a John Cornyn, who's in a scorned phase after he lost the primary. Cassidy, for sure, who like still can't take back the biggest mistake of your career in voting to confirm RFK Jr. But, you know, has shown a willingness to help out where it is sane and needed. But then the question becomes, Like, who are you going to get instead of Todd Blanche? And he could just sit as acting AG anyway. But, like, who would be better?

Like, I guess they could beg for, like, Bill Barr to come back. But I don't think Trump likes Bill Barr anymore. And I don't think Bill Barr wants that job. So, like, what are your options? I mean, do you think Todd Blanche is better than Pam Bondi? So Sophie's choice of bad shit, I know. I actually think it's more dangerous because I think he's smarter. This is a pretty serious perrereferious.

version of the Justice Department and the statue out front that has the blindfold on it. They should take the blindfold on and put, you know, a Trump hat on that statue because... I think he tried to do that, actually. I would be surprised. I mean, they're no longer trying to pursue justice. This just has to be... I can't even imagine how demoralize this department is that I think if you're going to go to work for the Department of Justice and pass up going to work for Scat and ARPs, who's a very talented lawyers and legal minds and clerks and administrators, I think if all of a sudden, I got to imagine you decide to go there and take a cut of pants to your country because you have a really strong sense of, for lack of a better term, justice. And to see it perverted like this, it just must be, and you've seen just a hemorrhaging of talent out of the DOJ.

So I think Todd is actually, you know, Pam Bondi was, I think, less dangerous because it was pretty obvious who she was. And that is just an acolyte for Trump. And I thought she just wasn't as good. I think Blanche is smoother. So I think Blanche is just, quite frankly, it's just more dangerous. I think he's going to potentially do more damage. So, in speaking of cabinet drama, we wanted to get a little clarification

on the tension between newly named acting director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte and Treasury Secretary Scott Bacent. Here's Senator Tillis asking Bacent for his side of the story. I do have one awkward question to ask you real quick, and then I want to get to some of the trends and how you're going to work on them.

Did you actually tell Pulte, you were going to punch him in the face? No, sir. I actually said it was going to kick his ass. Good. Okay, good. I share the emotion. Thank you.

And as I said, that was last summer, summer 25, and many teams have fights in the locker room and then go out and win for the team on the table. Yeah. Now, I was just curious because everybody's going to be showing that. I made it clear I'm not going to support Pulte for DNI, but I'm sure they're going to dredge that up. So I thought I gave you an opportunity. I had a very good exchange with the director yesterday want to keep the momentum going on the FH.

Yeah, well, he lost me when he went after Powell. So we can move on to your core job. So Bill Pulte is the Jackson Dart of the administration. Sorry, too much sports today. Yeah, it's a lot going on there. I thought that was some sort of historical reference. I should know. I'm glad it's just a sports reference. No, it's about a New York giant. Anyway, it's fine. A New York nickname? No. I moved to football. Scott, you can't.

Catch me. I'm all over the board. Wow. You are the perfect woman. My God, you know, sports. Look, the thing I thought about that comment was, I think, up until now, no cabinet member would acknowledge threatening physical violence against another cabinet member with pride. That this is, you know how he said it like, I'm a real man? And this performative masculinity of coarseness and weirdness that I think just sets a terrible role model for young men that the most important, positions in the world and the dialogue amongst the most important positions in the world making really important decisions. One of the keys, I think, to masculinity and being just a role model of men is the ability to regulate your emotions. Are you willing, do you have the discipline

and strength and control to sit with discomfort? And that as someone else in the oval or wherever it is says something you disagree with, and do you have the skills to have a conversation and make your point without threatening violence. It's just, this isn't, yeah, you're right, dude. It's supposed to happen in fucking locker rooms with 19-year-olds or 23-year-olds in the NBA finals. It's not supposed to happen at the highest levels of government. The thing that bothered me about that was him saying it with pride, like, no, I threatened to kick his ass. Yeah, well, aren't you a big fucking man? I mean, it's just sort of, this shit is supposed to be left at the door by the time you're like, I don't know, 30 years old. And especially if you are charged with having a temperament to make the most

important decisions for not only the U.S. and the world, these guys have done such tremendous damage to, in my opinion, not only to the nation, but as role models or lack their up are terrible role models for young men. That's just stupid. Anyway, I heard just a counter to that, you don't always have to like win in every altercation and show people that avoiding violence is always a pretty good plan B, even for a guy who's probably going to come out on the right side of violence a lot. Anyways, I was triggered by that statement and his sense of pride about, yeah, I threatened violence against another potential cabinet member. Should we move on to something more fun like Ivanka? Well, can I just say, it wasn't the first time this has happened because Besson and Elon Musk apparently got into a fight as well.

I do think that there is something around an openly gay member of the cabinet being this kind of like physically aggressive, right? pushing back on those stereotypes or people like it for that reason. Like he's very, you know, Besson's an interesting figure. He was someone that was actually qualified for the job or a lot of people felt that way. He lives in like a huge Barbie dream house in South Carolina is six foot five. And he's the guy who's always threatening violence. So like there's a lot of stuff going on there. But I think what is almost most important about it is the lack of professionalism of the government these days.

because that would be something in a previous administration that you would be fighting tooth and nail to cover up, right? Like, and they just kind of revel in the fact that they have this hodgepodge of crazy characters who might actually turn to fisticuffs depending on the day. And, you know, I think it's also important that TILA said, I'm not supporting Pulte for DNI. Senator Thune has said I'm not interested in the weaponization of the DNI's office. Like I think Bill Pulte goes back to, you know, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac basically and leaves this part-time job for, you know, another gift for Marco Rubio to handle because, you know, unless they're going to pick someone who is actually deserving of that job with the kind of intelligence background that you need to command, you know, 18 agencies, they're not getting anyone through for confirmation. Yeah, I think, and they won't do this, but I think the politically savvy move would be to ask Senator Mark Warner to be the temporary head of the agents. I think it would create a lot of, I don't know, he's in such trouble around his foreign misadventures here that if he doesn't get some level of bipartisan support or be seen as being measured and thoughtful about actually getting confidence in there,

they won't do that. But I think that would be politically a very, very smart move, that this is one job where he needs to, in a typical fashion, opt for competence, especially at this moment. Let's take one last quick break. Support for this show comes from Harvey AI. The future of law is agentic, not just tools that assist, but AI agents that navigate complex matters. That's why Harvey created agents that can do the work from end to end. They build a plan, pull from secure data sources, run subagents in parallel, and draft the work product ready for your review. So you delegate the work and on the judgment. Trusted by more than 60% of the Amlaw 100 and leading Fortune 500 legal teams,

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what it's doing, what it's done, and what it's about to do. So you stay in control. To put AI to work for people, visit servicenav.com. Who is actually winning the war between Russia and Ukraine? Right now, it's clear that Ukraine is much more confident. Time now looks increasing on Ukraine's side. And there's no obvious reasons for them to negotiate a ceasefire in the near term just because the United States or somebody else wants it.

I'm John Feiner. And I'm Jake Sullivan. And we're the hosts of The Long Game, a weekly national, Security Podcast. This week, we discussed the war in Ukraine with Michael Kaufman, one of the leading analysts of the conflict who recently returned from the front lines. The episode's out now. Search for and follow The Long Game, wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back. Ivanka and Trump and Jared Kushner announced plans to pour $1.4 million into transforming an island in Albania, which has been sealed for the public for over 50 years into an exclusive resort. The project will be

by Kushner's private equity firm affinity partners, but now faces growing scrutiny as prosecutors investigate and protests escalate across Albania. Here's Ivanka describing the island. I'm working on an incredible project with my husband in the Mediterranean. It's massive in scale. I think that's an understatement.

Can you explain? Yes, it is. There's no power on this island. You're building everything from scratch. Correct? It's an unbelievable, beautiful 1,400-hector private island in the middle of the Mediterranean. We were on a friend's boat, and we stopped for a swim.

Effectively, that's how we found it. You know, it's not even a business for me, despite the scale of it. Not only the island, but we have five miles of beachfront, directly across from the island, this beautiful peninsula with a lagoon on one side, the ocean on the other, beautiful white sand beaches. For me, this is, it feels more like a challenge

than anything else. The culmination of all of my experience in real estate. state, all of my travel, a lot of reflection on how I want to live, how I think people increasingly are wanting to live and trying to really build something that's a tangible manifestation of that. It's increasingly how people want to live. Did you know that? Is this that somehow? Well, I thought it was AI, actually. Like, she looks so fake at this point also.

I agree. It looked like AI slop. When I saw it, I thought, is this SNL or is this AI? I'm like, no, this person really is this out of touch. Like, this is how people want to live. They want to be on a boat. I agree with her. This is how people want to live. In the meantime, people trying to figure out of fill up their gas tank. I mean, it's just, what is it about? Don't these people have friends to tell them you're going to look. I mean, because here's the thing, the reporting on this, she's going to become a meme. And I think she'll be upset. I had, Jared was my student. I met a Von, I think they're both nice people or I shouldn't say that. They were both nice to me. They were both seem lovely. Like a lovely young couple. I met them 15 years ago. And it's as if no one could say, yeah, you may want to not talk about this private island in Albania. And then, you know, they heard.

Or not do it while your dad is the president. Well, that's. And you're already making all the money. That goes to emoluments. That's just the law, which we seem to be ignoring. But Ivanka describing an untouched island in Albania. You know, it's like a mosquito describing a blood bank. The moment she says it's beautiful, you know, a luxury development permit is about to appear. It's just so, it's so ridiculous.

This whole notion of this new asset class of influence arbitrage, the old American dream was building a business. Now the American dream is getting a close enough to, or proximity to power, such that country starts showing you real estate opportunities. I mean, it's just like, when does this end? When does the, when does the populace push back on that? you know, she's talking about it the way that guy, the nature film guy, David Attenborough talks about endangered habitats. You know, Attenborough is trying to preserve them. She's trying to develop, they're trying to develop condos.

I find this whole thing, it's just, in addition to me corrupt, it just is so tone-death that at this moment they're talking about a luxury resort in Albania, they discovered while swimming from a yacht. I mean, I agree with you. I don't think that. I know it's too much to ask that everybody halt their outside businesses completely, even though that is how this is normally supposed to work, is you get no bid contracts from your dad and continue to extort foreign countries

who live in fear of being extra-tariffed, which we didn't even talk about, that Trump is going to tariff, what is, like, 59 new countries. But anyway, like, it's also just terrible for them electorally because they're going to cut that up and put it in ads as well, right? It's the entire infrastructure, the whole family unit plus the administration, that has no semblance of care or understanding for the average American's life. Well, I would just be interested. I mean, you know, I'm good at running other people's lives, but I can't wait for just see you on the five and ask the other four that what if Hunter Biden bought an island and turned from a foreign government and turned it into a luxury resort back by politically connected money. Like, I think Fox would be running a telethon.

The double standard here is just striking. All right, let's move on to something more fun, and that is the study. The American Institute for Boys and Men run by Richard Reeves, who's sort of my, not sort of, is my Yoda around the struggles of young men, very data-driven. He started an institute looking at the struggles of young men and boys. He found that fathers with degrees and young children are working less

and spending more time on housework and child care. The study found that they cut their time on the job by six hours and increased work at home by more than four hours in a three-year period ending in 2024. So, Jess, is Brian working less outside of the home and more in the home? So I think for Brian, he's just added on hours in other times where he shouldn't be working, frankly. Like, he's not actually doing less work, but he is certainly doing more at home. So he's just working more? Well, yeah, but he's working because they do have flexibility to be at home as well to do a lot of it. Like, it helps out a ton, right?

Like he can do a school run and pop out for 20 minutes. And I don't think your green dot on Bloomberg goes off during that amount of time, right? Or is, you know, in conversations. Like he actually knows when all the school events are taking kids to birthday parties. He said to me the other day, give me more birthday parties because this is going to go away. Right, you know, like, the days are long, the years are short, right? Like, in just a few years, our eldest is not going to want us to be hanging around while she's at a gymnastics birthday party or whatever is going on.

But it is so incredible. Like, I had the most amazing dad. He didn't miss a sporting event. We were always together. But, like, that guy did not change diapers, right? And my mom always says, I wish that your dad were here to see the kind of fathers that. that we have now with Gen Z, with millennials, and younger Gen X's, who are so wildly hands-on, who get up in the middle of the night, right, who are co-sleeping, which I don't think is a great policy,

but, like, you know, doing all the things that were typically relegated to the mom. So I think this is incredible progress. And a lot of it is due to the fact that we have bigger, more demanding jobs and we're earning a lot more. So the division of labor becomes different in that way as well. But I love to see this. Yeah, it really represents two shifts. One is a really positive shift in society where men are recognizing that emotional labor needs to be distributed. Emotional and, like a better term, domestic labor, needs to be more evenly distributed.

And why wouldn't it? Because more women are now working. So it just makes sense that men step up at home. But for the first time in modern history, women under the age of 30 are more likely than men to have a degree, a job, and a social network. I mean, look, I think about this a lot. I don't think the biggest inequality challenge in America is between rich and poor. It's increasingly between young men and everyone else. Men without college degrees have seen labor force participation fall from roughly 95% in the 60s to around 85% today.

So that's basically millions of men have disappeared from work. And there's really good news here, and that as educated fathers are spending more time with their kids, the bad news is we continue to create a bifurcated society of halves and ham. has-nots, and that is we're creating a fork in society where affluent men are becoming better dads while struggling men are increasingly detached from work, family, and community. And again, the presence, there's just so many studies coming out that the, you know, the most important thing for your kid, I think the most important thing a man can do for his boys is be really good to his mother. And quite frankly, that means a certain amount of presence and

support and help at home. And I think that, you know, that's a certain amount of presence and support and help at home. And I think that NASDAQ and a DAO, which we obsess over, are really dangerous metrics because I don't think the most important statistic in America is the Dow or GDP. It's that boys are falling behind girls at almost every stage of educational attainment. And it's not, I don't think it's a men's issue. I think it's an economic issue. A positive and realistic outcome should be that men pick up the slack at home. And also, there's a very, there's a lot of public. positive data that as you go younger and younger, men are spending more time with their kids.

And I think that's a good thing. It's, I don't see how, I don't see how any news or data about men spending more time at home with their children picking up some of the slack domestically. You know, I don't see how that can be anything but overdue and a good thing. Any closing thoughts on this, Jess? I'd be curious to see the data on dads without college degree. and, you know, how this is being spread. Because I do think that some of this change is generational or attitudinal for, you know, a certain block versus a socioeconomic argument that obviously impacts everything. But you do. And I just notice things more because I have kids.

So I feel like I'm paying more attention to dynamics on the playground or, you know, who you're seeing around on the streets. But I would think that this was a trend across the board for fathers that are. are present that are part of their family structure and where they're intact. So I'd like to see more data on that, which we can find for another conversation. But NetNet, I think it's a good thing and it certainly helps my life. And it's cool to see what a point of pride it is for young fathers that they're doing the work and that they're spending time with their kids. And frankly, by extension, I think have more loving symbiotic relationships with their partners.

because they're doing this together because it is exhausting and it is hard. It is exhausting and you're in the soup, so to speak. Yeah. I was thinking that the connective tissue across all our stories today is how institutions to a certain extent are losing, I don't call it the monopoly power, but leverage. Congress can't constrain the president. Party leaders can't fully control voters. Intelligent jobs are becoming loyalty tests or political jobs

and families are being reshaped by economic forces, which is nothing new. It just feels like the old rules are breaking down faster than the new ones are being written. Anyways, that's my closing thought for the day. Poignant. There you go. All right, Jess, let's leave it there. Cool. Let's go next.

Let's go next, whoever that is. Go sport ball. That's off of this episode. Thank you so much for joining us today. Support for this show comes from Odoo. Running a business is hard enough, so why make it harder with a dozen different apps that don't talk to each other? Introducing Odu. It's the only business software you'll ever need. It's an all-in-one fully integrated platform that makes your work easier, CRM, accounting, inventory, e-commerce, and more.

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