The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway
Raging Moderates: Elon Musk’s Federal Government Takeover
Tue, 11 Feb 2025
Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov break down Elon Musk’s growing influence in the government and the legal battles piling up against him and DOGE. They dive into Trump’s latest federal worker buyout plan, his controversial comments on Gaza, and the Democrats’ strategy to push back. Follow Jessica Tarlov, @JessicaTarlov. Follow Prof G, @profgalloway. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What is 'Raging Moderates' podcast about?
There's also, because we've had what I would argue is the best functioning organization. I think the most impressive organization in history is a wing of the U.S. government, and that's our military. And I think in the top five is the U.S. government. And Mel Robbins, who I think is going to probably displace Joe Rogan if Stephen Bartlett doesn't, has this new book out called Let Them.
And I'm sort of at the point right now where the people who are under the illusion that Trump represents them, the genius of the Republican Party is they represent the top 1% in corporations and they've convinced the bottom 99 that you should endorse us because once you get into the top 1%, you're going to love it here and you have more of a chance with us. And when Democrats keep...
spewing out this elitist dribble and we continue to move towards a 30-year-old not doing as well as his or her parents, then the parents and the people under the age of 30 just want chaos. And what I say around some of this stuff, I'm at the point now where it's like, let them. The states that went for Trump are the states that are the biggest takers of federal assistance. And
So just see what happens when Veterans Affairs benefits, when we disrupt and shut down those people you can't trust. OK, let's see what happens to you and dad and your neighbors and what happens in these rural, dark red communities. when there is no head start. See what happens when you shut down DEI and there is no job opportunity for veterans. I'm at the point where it's like, you know what?
You broke it, you own it. You're gonna get to find out. just how quote unquote incompetent government is, you're gonna find out that government is a lot more competent than you had originally thought. And you're gonna get a very ugly awakening in my view. And I'm sort of at the point of, all right, it's time. You really wanna see what life is like
In these red states, the people who are most rabidly for Trump, who tend to be in rural areas, tend to be, quite frankly, have a larger body mass index, are more dependent upon Medicare, are more dependent on government services. The biggest takers from a state perspective are the ones that went hardest towards Trump.
which means when these payments and these programs get shut down, this isn't going to hurt us, Jess. I mean, we're upset about this because I'd like to think we have some fidelity to America and the Constitution and want to pay back based on the prosperity we've recognized because of this incredible system and rule of law and democracy. But quite frankly, this isn't going to really hurt you or me.
Our kids aren't in SNAP. We're not getting Veterans Affair payments. We're not getting Social Security payments, right? We're not. Yeah. We're not dying of malaria in Malawi or wherever, right? This won't affect us. It's just fascinating, though, that the people who I think are about to get the biggest dose of like, wow, be careful what you ask for, are the ones that are most rabidly pro-Trump.
So my sense is at this point, you know, as Mel Robbins would say, let them. Have at it. You asked for it. You got it. Toyota.
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Chapter 2: What are Scott and Jessica's thoughts on the Super Bowl?
It does appear that people, that the bloom is off the rose here. People no longer seem as a, you know, kind of this provocateur and innovator, but as someone who is a threat and that they just don't need to, Onus Carr, I'm curious, with all of these lawsuits and a DOJ investigation piling up, how serious do you think the legal threat is to Musk and Doge?
And what could the long-term fallout be other than, obviously, as popularity is going down? But I'll put forward a thesis. When you tell someone you can be a convicted felon and then reelect them, He's essentially decided the incentives and disincentives no longer apply to me, that I can break the law with impunity. Do you think there is a bridge too far here around these court cases?
Well, so far, like you mentioned earlier on, the courts have gone against them in every All of these instances. But the problem is, is that the courts move slower than 20 year old kids that are in the Treasury payment system to some degree. Right. It's already disrupted people's lives. Funding has been cut off, even if it is then getting reinstated.
There are all these lawsuits with harrowing testimony from people. who work for USAID and are stationed abroad and are saying, you're sending me back to America. I haven't lived there in 15 years. We have no infrastructure. We have no family. We have kids with special needs.
And if there is a disruption in their care, I have notes from their doctors about the long-term suffering that they will endure. Nobody in the government seems to care at all about that. So the courts are great. And we're going to have Mark Elias on the podcast in a few weeks. And I'm really interested to talk to him about the legal approach to all of this.
But they're moving to some degree too quickly. And I think on the fundamental level, what's most disturbing about all of this is that that they are going for a two-branch approach to government. I think they don't care at all about Congress because appropriated money means nothing to them. And we should note as well that the government is only funded through March 14th.
So they're offering buyouts to people. They have no cash to pay them for the next eight months. So Democrats actually have a lot of power in that respect. And some of them are already talking about shutting down the government to be able to shut down Elon Musk. So I think that they are looking at a world of essentially one and a half branches of government.
So they want the most powerful presidency or executive that you've ever seen in your life. And then they want about half of the judiciary. They want the good judges, right, which is always how Trump talks about things. Says, well, of course we want immigration. We just want the good immigrants. Right. And of course we want this. We just want the good ones. So he wants the judges right. Thank you.
Thank you.
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