The Daily Beast Podcast - U.S. Leaders Ignored Warning Signs That Musk Would Help Putin

Episode Date: September 10, 2023

The Daily Beast columnist David Rothkopf tells The New Abnormal’s Danielle Moodie that U.S. politicians should rethink their support of Elon Musk after his intervention to help Russia. Hosted on Aca...st. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Hi, I'm Andy Levy, former Fox News and CNN-HLN guy, and current cable news conscientious objector. I'm a former libertarian who now sits pretty comfortably on the left. Hi, I'm Danielle Moody, former educator and recovering lobbyist. But today, I'm an unapologetic, woke commentator on America's threats to democracy. And I'm producer Jesse Cannon, and I'm here to make sure things don't go too far off the rails. We're here to have fun, smart conversations with some of the most knowledgeable and entertaining people in politics, media, and beyond. goal is to try and make sense of our current crazy world, our new abnormal, and hopefully even make you laugh through the tears. Hello and welcome to another bonus episode of the new abnormal.
Starting point is 00:00:40 We thank you so much for being here. Today we have an extra special guest with David Rothk, who's the CEO of the Rothkof, who's the CEO of the chief state radio. And he's going to talk to us about why people need to stop playing ball with Elon Musk and his abuses of the Starlink communications platform in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But first, let's have some fun. Are you guys ready to listen to some clips. Clips. Clips. Yeah, those real beatings continue at less the moral and peruse energy right there. Okay, I want to start off with a little bit of a job advice for you two. I'm just saying as someone who mutually benefits from the success of this podcast, I would like to see you two out there promoting it with the zeal of one Raphael. Ted Cruz does on this Fox News hit,
Starting point is 00:01:22 just as we've heard them do before. You know, it really is stunning to see number one, the White House, dissemble and and lie from the White House podium. Listen, this latest indictment that is coming on Hunter Biden, it's not a surprise. It's completely expected. And unfortunately, it's part of a pattern. As you know, I do every week a podcast. The podcast is called Verdict with Ted Cruz.
Starting point is 00:01:47 We do it every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I'm just saying. I'm just saying. Yeah. Andy and I will make. sure to do that, you know, the next time we go on his show to promote the new abnormal. It's nice that he has a part-time job that allows him to do this podcast three times a week. You know, that's right.
Starting point is 00:02:12 It gets being a represent. It's not a full-time job. Yeah. You're right. You're right. Maybe that's his hobby. So my favorite thing in that clip, though, is the actual substantive thing, too, which is that their new conspiracy theory is indicting Hunter Biden for the gun charge with taxes thing that, you know, this is all just a distraction
Starting point is 00:02:35 now because, you know, we have to find some way to put points on the board about anything that has to do with Hunter Biden because they're just drawn to him so much. But, Jesse, I thought indictments didn't matter. Well, I thought indictments just didn't mean anything and just, does it only matter if it's Hunter Biden, I guess? Because he would only have like one indictment. Donald Trump has four. Sometimes I think they're so obsessed with him that they just like they can't really process much else. Like facts?
Starting point is 00:03:05 It is bizarre that they have spent all this time because obviously what they want is to indict Joe Biden. Yes. But they haven't, despite their best efforts and putting most of their, you know, time and effort into this, they just haven't found anything. So they got to go for the wayward son. Speaking of Joe Biden, so now that there's signs everywhere showing that his infrastructure bill is changing communities and making lives better, and Biden has said this last week that Trump didn't build a damn thing, well, the copes kicked in pretty hard over on Fox and Freds, where they are joined by a man Mr. Trump dubbed Will Marco Rubio to defend Mr. Trump. Talking about, oh, Joe Biden making fun of infrastructure week that they never got it going during the Trump administration.
Starting point is 00:03:52 You know why? because of the Russia stuff that they brought up at the time. Every time they roll out infrastructure, some of the fake Russian lead would pop up and distract everybody. Well, that and a global pandemic in which local authorities across the country were prohibiting people from working. Right. And by the way. A quick correction.
Starting point is 00:04:12 It wasn't Lil Marco Rubio. It was little. L-I-D-D-L-E. Oh, oh, I was doing L-I-L like a rapper. I know. I know. I heard that. And I just, Trump made a very big.
Starting point is 00:04:23 deal out of the fact that it was spelled with D's and not T's and that it was little. Little. So I needed to correct the record there. I do want to say this is like Trump nailed that one though because that's exactly what Rubio is. He's just a little little man. And he and Ted Cruz at one point were supposed to be like the future of the party. And Trump just demolished all of that. and Ted just set himself up as the chief sycophant.
Starting point is 00:04:54 And he just goes out there and spouts things. He's too smart to actually believe. And which makes him one of the most pathetic people in the country. And Rubio is just, he's just a nothing now. He just turned into it from like a potential future of the party. He is now, he's just not like, when do you even talk about Marco Rubio? Never. I'll tell you when you see which one of these MAGA people down in Florida is going to
Starting point is 00:05:20 probably primary him. Yeah. Because they see how weak and pathetic he is. I mean, that whole clip was just an excuse, right? Like, as to why Trump couldn't get anything done. Because COVID, the last 10 months of his administration, yeah. Oh, I get it. He couldn't do the infrastructure projects because he was too busy lying about COVID
Starting point is 00:05:40 and calling it a hoax every time that he had the opportunity or using racial slurs in order to talk because he sure as fuck was not educating the American people are doing anything to help them during the global health pandemic. So that can't possibly be the excuse these idiots just used. Oh my God, I hate these. I hate them. I hate them. It is interesting though, because Trump still maintains to this day that he built the wall. But like not even Rubio will go on and use that as a defense like during infrastructure week or something like that. He won't even like It's just funny to watch where these guys draw lines. You mean the wall that Steve Badden swindled people out of money for?
Starting point is 00:06:24 We're talking about the same thing here, Daniel. Okay. Okay. I just wanted to make sure. So now we come to Marjorie Taylor Gangrene of the Brain. She's once again back to demonstrate her cutting analysis where she really cuts through to the truth. Of course, I'm kidding. Yet again, I think you guys be the judge.
Starting point is 00:06:43 You tell me what you think. I think this is the dumbest thing. she's ever said in the congressional floor. People are not affecting climate change. You're going to tell me that back in the ice age, how much taxes did people pay and how many changes did governments make to melt the ice? The climate is going to continue to change.
Starting point is 00:07:03 And there is no reason to just open up our borders and allow everyone in and continue to funnel over $50 billion, or however many billions of dollars or trillions of dollars, to foreign countries all over the world, simply because they don't like the climate change. What? You know what would be amazing if in fact we were spending $50 billion to fight climate change? You know, like that would be amazing.
Starting point is 00:07:35 She's a cave woman. Can I say that? Like, and just like we'd be done with it? Like, I don't, like, she has an amoeba in her brain. She must. There can't be a brain. in there. She has to be, you know, there was somebody that was operated on in Australia that had a live worm. Yeah, yeah, yeah, brain worms. I believe she requires medical attention. She's not.
Starting point is 00:08:00 It's not. She's nuts. I just got to do abnormal merch idea. I believe and it's the worm going into Marjorie's brain. I like it. Yeah. I don't even know what else to say about. Well, speaking of brain worms. We now come to my favorite cable news anchor, Medi Hassan, who does not have brain worms, I should say, wiping the floor with Internet message board, Edge Lord turned presidential candidate, Vivek the fake Ramos Swaming.
Starting point is 00:08:29 Let's listen. You say he behaved in downright, abhorrent behavior that makes him a danger to democracy. What was it that was downright? Tell you what he did that was downright of harm. Let's actually be, let's actually be really fair to your audience. So on January 10th, 2021, thereabout. days after that incident, I wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, arguing that censorship
Starting point is 00:08:49 was the real cause of what happened on January 6th. When asked in response, somebody asked me the question, are you, that's, well, that's what I wrote. I'm giving you the facts of what I said. That's a hard fact. That was published in the Wall Street Journal. When pressed on, was that condoning what Trump did, my answer was no. There's a difference between a bad judgment and a crime.
Starting point is 00:09:08 We need to be able to tell the difference in this country. What did Donald Trump do in your view that was downright? abhorrent, second time I'll ask that question. I think that the thing that I would have done differently if I were in his shoes is I would have declared re-election on January 7th. I'll ask you the third time. That's exactly the thing I would have done. What did Trump do that was egregious, quote, downright abhorrent and a danger to democracy? Can you just explain to our viewers? Your words? So you're mixing two different quotes. But what did I think was reprehensible about what happened that day? Look, I think that the way a true leader should have handled that
Starting point is 00:09:41 situation should have been to actually say, this is me running for re-election, not actually litigating what is already passed in behind us. And I would have done things differently. That is not a crime, though, what he did. And the reason I have been so vehement. You keep saying what you would have done. I just want to hear from your mouth. No, no, unless you're scared of him, why won't you say what he did that was downright abhorrent? I'm not going to let you're stitching together three things with three places to create a caricature. Do you want to have an actual conversation? Yes, I want you answer my question, Vivek, three times I've asked it. What did Trump do that was downright abhorrent?
Starting point is 00:10:16 It's a simple question. It's your words. It's on screen. What did he do that was downright abhorrent? I believe that failing to unite this country falls short of what a true leader ought to do. That is why I'm in this race is to do things differently than any prior president has done them. That's the hard truth. Okay. And that's what made him a sore loser and abhorrent. Yes. Your word. Well, the reality is none of that is a crime. And the reason I have been so vocal. The reason I have been so vocal is because when somebody actually prosecutes somebody for a bad judgment, and I've been clear. I understand your objections to the litigation.
Starting point is 00:10:53 I would have made different judgments. That's all I understand. That is a distinction we have to draw. Understood. Mm-mm. Medi should win an Emmy for that, boy. That was fun. That was so fucking good.
Starting point is 00:11:09 Oh, man. He also nailed him, I think, in that same interview about the grant that he took. Oh, yeah. $750,000. Yeah, from the Soros Foundation or whatever. And Vivek tried to say that, well, he didn't have a lot of money back then. And Medi had his tax return. He had his tax.
Starting point is 00:11:30 Because he said, he said, this is Medi. Did you not make $750,000, Vivek the Faye? Not at the time I had applied for the Soros scholarship. Medi, yes, you did, Vivek. This is awkward for you because you did. I've got the tax returns in front of my face. Yeah. Just amazing.
Starting point is 00:11:53 I think the most interesting thing, too, is did you see that our colleague, Justin Barragona at the Daily Beast, pointed out that a lot of right-wing people are saying, this is what RSB and One News Network should be doing to candidates too, which is hilarious. What asking them real questions? And hammering people on lies, which it's like, that's going to be a rough job for those anchors. And honestly, from what I've seen, they're not up for it. Like, you, sir, are no Betty Hassad. I assume the conservatives who are saying this mean that this is what those anchors should be doing to everyone who's not Trump.
Starting point is 00:12:26 Yes. And really what they're saying is, please, can we get rid of this twerp? Yeah. Which I also stand by because I'd love to never hear from him again. That would be amazing. Let him go the way of the Andrew Yag he is. Exactly. Okay, one last one.
Starting point is 00:12:44 Now we have who I like to think of as the most unlikable man in America until I had to derve a vague. What Rod DeSantis is going to do what Republicans often do on issues like guns and do everything but get the fucking point. And this time, it'll be on abortion. But one thing that the pro-life movement is about is supporting vulnerable women. Senator Rubio has proposed the Unborn Child Care or Child Protection Act that would essentially give child support from the moment of conception. Is that something you'd consider would force states to force men to give women what they're due from the moment of conception? These men, look, most of these women do not want to have abortions, but they feel like they have no other options because they get no support. And that's because a lot of these men are nowhere to be found.
Starting point is 00:13:30 They should absolutely be providing support. they should absolutely be held accountable. What we've done in Florida is we've recognized that being pro-life means for the whole kitten caboodle. So we've expanded postpartum medical care for poor women to a full year after they have a child. We've also done things to advance options for foster care and adoption because that is something that we want to be able to foster. I think a lot of it comes down to whether women think it's financially feasible to do that. And when they don't get support from the father, then it can be overwhelmed. I don't know. I mean, I'd love to know where he gets his pretend stat from that most of these women don't want to have an abortion.
Starting point is 00:14:09 It's the same place where the Republicans get that locks on doors will help school shootings. It must be inside of the kit and caboodle. It's a caboodle kit. Yeah, it's a caboodle. Yeah. So it's in there underneath the rest of their bullshit. Because Republicans vote against families every single opportunity they have. We don't have childcare and wraparound services.
Starting point is 00:14:35 They say that they're pro-life. And then you look at these states where they have these bans on abortion, just look at the maternal mortality rate, right? Like look at the maternal mortality rate in these states. They don't give a fuck about women. They don't care about babies. And they certainly don't give a damn about the poor. And so it's just, it's just wild to me that they're able to just go out on these
Starting point is 00:15:00 fucking tangents of just lies and say that they care about families when in fact if you did then your policies wouldn't just be about banning abortion it would be about creating robust safety nets for all of these babies that you're forcing people to have i hate him yeah it is just amazing they get up there like this in a different clip he was talking about abortion and he talked about how liberals being in favor of like post birth abortion Fourth trimester abortions, Andy, get with it. But they go unchallenged. Like they say these things. And they talk about even third trimester abortions, which are not legal in most states, I believe.
Starting point is 00:15:43 And they talk about these things, like they're commonplace. Like this, it's like stop letting them spout this nonsense unchallenged. That's what bugs me the most. More Maddie Hassan's less Kaylee McEnanis. Yeah. Folks, I am very happy to. So welcome fellow Daily Beast columnist David Rothkopf and the CEO of the Rothkopf Group and the host of Deep State Radio to the new abnormal. David, your recent piece, enough.
Starting point is 00:16:19 Advertisers and governments must dump Elon Musk. Why? I mean, I can think of a million reasons to dump Elon Musk, but what is the straw that has broken the camel's back for you? Well, it's not just one straw. There's been a lot of straws recently, and I do. There are a million reasons. I think you're right about that. But I try to name several of their most important. I think one of them is the recent fight he's had over the weekend with the Anti-Defamation League. There's nothing wrong with having a fight with the Anti-Defamation League. It's that in engaging in this fight, he has been amplifying, elevating, and embracing the messages of some known anti-Semites and white supremacists. It's not the first thing. time. In fact, the reason he got into struggle with the Anti-Defamation League is that since he took over the site, he has invited back Nazis and white supremacists and so forth. And, you know, I mean, I think there was a period where advertisers might have looked at this and said, well, let's see how it
Starting point is 00:17:18 goes. Well, we've seen how it goes. If you support Elon Musk's Twitter or X, what you're supporting is a platform that not just tolerates, but embraces the worst kind of hate that there is. out there. But that's not the only reason recently. Elon Musk came in and said, I'm a big champion of free speech. He came in with a bunch of money from Saudi Arabia. So when the Saudi Arabian government recently decided they were going to put someone to death for tweeting, Elon Musk remained absolutely silent as a church mouse. Now, there's been more. There's a story that comes from a new book about Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson, which reports that Elon Musk turned off Starlink, a service that he's involved with, to foil an effort by Ukraine to invade and
Starting point is 00:18:11 try to reclaim Crimea. In other words, he took a step on a project that's heavily subsidized by the United States government to support Russia. That's not the first time, by the way. He did that several times with regard to Starlink. I don't have to get into the scandals associated with Tesla and lying. I don't have to get into some of the other odious things he has said or crazy ideas he's embraced, like anti-vax ideas and so forth. It's core ideas like these that say, look, Elon Musk is perfectly free to be an asshole. He's perfectly free to be one of the world's worst people. He's even perfectly free to throw his money down the toilet if that's what he wants to do. What he's not free to do is make the world a more dangerous place for certain people
Starting point is 00:19:04 because of who they are, what they look like, what they believe in. He's not free to take the money of the United States government and use it to undermine the interests of the United States government and advertisers and governments have got to look at this and say, no, enough's enough. Do what you want, being the world's richest man, Elon, but we're not going to support your habit. We're not going to make the world a worse place by enabling you to continue doing these awful things that you've done. David, you make so many good points about the fact that, you know, when you wrote in your piece, you're not merely eccentric. And that stood out to me because the way that the media has discussed Elon Musk and has followed his every move is by giving him as much runway as needed.
Starting point is 00:19:52 Because he's eccentric. Because he's brilliant. He's a genius. And what he's shown himself to be since he's taken over Twitter is a radical right winger who wants to be able to use his platform and his wealth to cause as much harm as possible to those that are marginalized. And I'm wondering, you know, my question for you is, why do you think there remains a kind of love affair with Elon's genius when he continues to show us the kind of person that he is. There are a few reasons. First of all, as we've discovered in the United States in the past few years, you know, they're a third of all Americans who share these horrible views. They, for most of their
Starting point is 00:20:37 lives, have been told, you know, that racism that lingers inside you? Keep it to yourself. Or, you know, the fact that you don't like women much and you think men should be on top, keep it to yourself. And all of a sudden, Trump comes along or Musk comes along. And they say, no, it's okay to be awful. No, it's okay to be awful in public. Will, in fact, put you together with groups of other awful people and we'll treat your opinions, even though they're based on nonsense or worse, based on terrible ideas, will treat it as though it's exactly the same as real facts or moral thinking. And so those people are like, this is my savior. I've been having to be quiet in the back of the room, you know, just sticking a Confederate flag on my bumper.
Starting point is 00:21:21 Now I can really sink my teeth into my hatred. So that's one group of people. There's another group of people that bought into this genius nonsense, even though Elon Musk is not a scientist, not an engineer, is not somebody who has invented anything. He is a huckster who's gone and raised money and bought other people's ideas and turned those ideas into bigger companies. He's part of the Wall Street problem. He's not part of the Silicon Valley solution. But for years, we said, Tesla, that's amazing. Space, that's fantastic. You know, Starlink or SpaceX or whatever. But the reality is, of course, the story isn't what we were told. Those people, though, they don't want to feel like idiots. Right. They have a Tesla in their garage. They invested in this stock. They bought a Tesla to say,
Starting point is 00:22:17 hey, I'm virtuous. When it turns out that in buying that Tesla, what did they do? They supported one of the world's worst people. As it turns out, the car may not have been all that it was cracked up to be, or as it turned out, the car may have just cracked up. Then, you know, there's a lot of people out there who are just ignorant. And if you take the ignorant, and then you take the ones who had a vested interest in the mythology of Elon Musk, and then you take the ones who are hateful people who, like the fact that he's a hateful person, you got a pretty big chunk of people. And those are the ones who when somebody tweets the truth about Elon, come back and say, yeah, you're jealous. He's the richest guy in the world.
Starting point is 00:22:56 Or yeah, he wants free speech. Shut up, Jew. And believe me, as a Jew, I have gotten a lot of this. It's much uglier than most people know. And since Elon took over, it's much worse. And I'm sure other people from other groups have had the same experience. I mean, it's one of the reasons why I spend very little time on that platform. there had been pushes and boycotts before with regard to, let's say, Fox and Tucker Carlson's now former show and getting advertisers to leave.
Starting point is 00:23:29 Why do you think that up until this point, I mean, there was an exodus, but it wasn't everybody? Why do you think that advertisers are still hanging on to this platform and this person? Well, first of all, let's note what you just said, right? Tucker Carlson doesn't have a job anymore. So these things do work. Secondly, if you followed Elon's attacks on the ADL over the weekend, one of the things that he chose to reveal in his attack was that sales have fallen since he took over Twitter by two-thirds. That is spectacular failure. This plane is spinning, heading straight down for the mountain, right? I mean, it is in bad shape.
Starting point is 00:24:12 And why is that? Well, it's because people didn't want to be associated with Elon Musk. So I would argue that the boycott, that the decision to abandon this guy and his odiousness is actually working pretty well. And, you know, given that he's getting worse and worse, the resolve to deny him the support of companies or governments should get stronger and stronger. You know, I want to talk about the Starlink because I think that that part that has just been kind of brought to light is really wild. It is crazy to think. It is crazy to think. that one man had the ability to pull the plug on this country fighting for its freedom and fighting
Starting point is 00:24:55 for its life. Talk to us about that revelation and also the fact that it is subsidized, not just by the United States, a lot by the United States, but other nations as well, and why that in it of itself is dangerous. Well, first of all, this is clearly what happens when you concentrate too much power in the hands of any individual. Secondly, there were a lot of warning signs that this would happen. Elon boasted of how close he was to Putin. And as the Starlink story unfolded, we saw multiple examples of him deciding unilaterally to provide the service or not to provide the service that should have been an alarm bell. He and his supporters even went out there and said, but he's giving this service to the people of Ukraine. Well, no, he wasn't, right? The U.S. government,
Starting point is 00:25:44 other governments were subsidizing the service. And that gets me to sort of the core point, because I'm as outraged as you are that this guy who is a Putin lover, who absolutely does not appreciate the hideousness of the war crimes inflicted by Russia upon Ukraine, is in the position to say, no, I'm going to scuttle this effort by Ukraine to reclaim the land of Crimea. But where, since American politicians knew this all along, where were they? Why wasn't somebody saying, stop, put the brakes on giving these guys money? Why wasn't somebody saying, if this guy is supporting Putin in this war, maybe we shouldn't support him with our support of SpaceX. Maybe we shouldn't be dependent on a guy like this. There were no Democrats. There were no Republicans.
Starting point is 00:26:35 Nobody, nobody was saying it. And I think it's really important right now for reporters, whenever they run into a politician, to say, do you think we should be subsidizing through Tesla, through SpaceX, directly through Starlink, a guy who is trying to undermine our national security by supporting one of our worst enemies, openly, flaunting it in front of us, and causing undoubtedly loss of life and hardship in Ukraine. And I think the answer is, no, stop, find other choices. It's so heinous. Like what he's had the ability and the power to do. We know what is he worth, $122, $144 billion. I mean, when it gets into that numbers, it doesn't even make sense that one person has that kind of money, more money than some nations than most nations. And for our government, what is the reasoning to subsidize Elon Musk? And what is the reasoning you think that some would give?
Starting point is 00:27:38 because it wasn't, this was not a Democrat or a Republican issue and push. It was bipartisan in its nature and support. So what is the questions that they need to honestly be asked and what would push them to let go of their support at this point with so much of our money, let us just say that, that they have invested? Well, you know, it's a little similar to what we were talking about earlier with regard to the Tesla buyers got the Tesla in his garage, right? These were people who were like, yay, we have a Tesla plant or yay, we have a SpaceX plan, or yay, we've got, you know, some of that Elon Musk fairy dust sprinkling down on our local economy and yay, Elon, and let me be on TV with you.
Starting point is 00:28:19 And they went around for years saying, you know, this is the future. This man is ushering in the future. So they don't want to look like they were idiots or that they were buying some line from Elon. That problem is they were. I think the only thing that's going to get them to change is, if they think the cost of maintaining their silence or support for Elon is high politically. And the only way that can be the case is when people do shows like the one that we're on right now and you ask questions like the ones that you're asking and then the people who are listening,
Starting point is 00:28:53 you know, go to their political leaders and they say, nope, if you support Elon, I don't support you. This is just too damn dangerous for the United States. Now, there are other deeper issues here, right? If you have a society in which a handful of people control more wealth than the bottom 90% of the population, as is the case in our society, as is in the case in the global society, those handful of people are not just rich. They're powerful. American politics is about money. And there are a lot of people who are near or close to somebody like this. They may be his banker. They may be his lawyer. They may know as banker. They may see themselves possibly being in a similar situation. And they go, whoa, slow down. We have to behave morally. Whoa, slow down. We have to put the interests of the public ahead of our narrow interest.
Starting point is 00:29:40 That's not capitalism. Capitalism is as much for me as possible and screw everybody else. That's a problem. And we have entered into a period of such grotesque inequality and such blind adherence to not true sensible capitalism, but rapacious Darwinian winner take all capitalism, that there are a handful of people with just vastly too much power. And it manifests itself in lots of different ways. This is one of the worst. I'll give you another one very quickly. And that is, government doesn't have a lot of money. Why? Because we don't tax these people. So what do we do?
Starting point is 00:30:15 We say they'll decide because they're going to, you know, set up a foundation. So Bill Gates gets to determine where the money goes to solve which disease on which continent, as opposed to some mechanism that's responsive to the people. Now, Bill Gates's intention, may be just fine. But is this the situation that we want on the planet where the richest people get to determine who has medicine and who doesn't have medicine? Which countries survive and which don't? Which wars are won and which are lost? That's grotesque. The system has spun out of control. And I think this is also a good moment to wake up and say, let's roll back the tape a little bit here. Let's remember that these companies were incorporated in order to serve the
Starting point is 00:31:01 state to serve the people, to serve the national interests, and not just so they could go out and do whatever they wanted and the rest of us be damned. David, let me ask you this last question, which is, you know, you've laid out in so many ways for the listeners of this show. They know that I have talked about this movie, which is a terrible movie, but just make sense, LSCM, where the rich control everything and they get to decide who gets to leave the planet in order to get health care, among other things. And that's where we are. Does this genie go back in? in the bottle? Or have we just, I mean, we have reached a point where a billionaire can pull the plug on a war? I mean, is it even possible to put this genie back in the bottle? It may be possible.
Starting point is 00:31:44 By the way, I didn't think that was such a bad move. Because I thought the point was a good one. It's not just billionaires. It's super empowered corporations. The super empowered corporations that love America but charge Americans, you know, 10 times as much for a drug as they charge in other countries. that have more sensible policies. And the answer is, I don't know if it's too late or not. I really don't know. We have one political party in this country where if you say anything, you know, could be a benefit to the community. They call it communist. And that's craziness, right? There are other parts of the world that have the balance better, Northern Europe or whatever. But, you know, if I said that to one of these people, they go, well, those are socialists, which is as bad as communism because
Starting point is 00:32:26 nobody knows what any of these words mean anymore. But I'll tell you something. We're about to enter another period of revolution over the next 10, 20 years, where the real power is going to lie with the people who have hundreds of billions of dollars to buy computational power in order to harness artificial intelligence, in order to produce goods and services, or fight wars, or produce products like drugs, without people. And fewer and fewer people with more and more capital and more and more access to computational power and the energy that is needed to support it, are going to have even more power. And small countries may gain more power than big countries because people won't matter as much anymore. And I think there is every reason to believe,
Starting point is 00:33:15 and this doesn't have to be the case, but there's every reason to fear that the inequality that we've seen over the course of the past 40 years in the United States, the inequality that's been growing since the beginning of time, but as accelerated, is going to accelerate further in the next couple of decades. Well, David, we will leave it there today, folks. The article is enough. Advertisers and governments must dump Elon Musk, and it is up now at the Daily Beast.
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