This country lives on hope. I had hope as a kid. Now, my parents had a tight budget. We were in the middle class, but you know what? I had hope that I was going to break out. And Henry Ford, he had one great line that I always repeat: if you think you can or you think you can't, you're right. And when you take hope away from people and they think they can't, guess what happens? They start taking their careers, they start taking their lives in a different direction. And we have to have a hope restoration in the United States. You need to have some accountability for this egregious stuff that's happening in Washington. You need reform. There's a lot of things we could do that are in the best interest of everybody and that can make the system a lot fairer.
Citizens United is creating a separate but equal democracy. So, that's a big thing. Gerrymandering, look at what's going on now. You know, they used to gerrymander quietly. Now, it's like an open arms race where they're trying to redistrict each other to gain an advantage. And I submit to my fellow Americans, are we in a real democracy if the politicians are picking the voters? I thought the voters were supposed to pick the politicians.
Good to go. Let's do it. All right. Do you have any viewers? I mean, are we live? I want to talk to this kid. Do you have any viewers? Just want to make sure it's working. We're both freezing our asses off out here. I just want to get bigger media hits.
You got me into this. And I love the fact that you're trying to get me killed in New York City traffic. Robbie, give me your coat. I want to say and talk to the kid, but I'm freezing my ass off and I don't want to get sick. Obama inherited the George Bush plan on the bailouts. He executed that plan. Now, one of the reasons why I did that was Tim Geithner. He came in, he was part of the architecture of the Bush bailout plan. He came in as Secretary of Treasury. Larry Summers was one of the president's advisors. And so, they executed the plan. But by 2010, I think the president knew that that plan was too lopsided. It was giving too much money to the fat cats. So, he was lighting up the Wall Streeters at that time. He's being very critical of them. Langer planes, don't be fat cats. And if you watch that video with me and him in that sparring...
He also went to law school with you with Brian Mathis back in the day. Um, you've done very well.
That's great. The question I have, sir, and this is something I really, you know, a lot of my friends are thinking about. Listen, I represent the Wall Street community. We have felt like a piñata. Maybe you don't feel like you're whacking us with a stick, but we certainly feel like we've been whacked with a stick.
I hear folks who say that somehow we're being too tough on Wall Street. But after a huge crisis, the top 25 hedge fund managers took home a billion dollars in income that year. A billion. If you're making a billion dollars a year after a very bad financial crisis where 8 million people lost their jobs and small businesses can't get loans, the notion that somehow me saying maybe you should be taxed more like your secretary, I don't think is me being extremist or being anti-business.
He explained it. He said, 'Hey, the banks got bailed out, but 5,000 people in the year of the bailout made bonuses of a million dollars or more a year. How crazy is that?' While their fellow neighbors on the ground are suffering. And so Obama was ultimately right about that. He was trying to figure out a way to correct it, but it was too late. And so yeah, he hit me back with that, and it did open my eyes to having a little bit more empathy and a little bit more understanding to what he was saying.
People keep asking me for your book and all that.
Well, don't worry. This is going to be plenty of books. Don't worry. Yeah, we have 300 books that will be hitting. What we're going to do, we're going to have a book cannon and we're going to be shooting them at houses in Minnesota. Okay.
All right. When a book goes through your front window, you'll know it was from me.
Just make sure you write something in it to take the edge off.
All right. All right, I'll call you a little later. All right, love you. All right, bye.
So excited to welcome in my next guest. I talked to him all the time, but he's the author of the new book All the Wrong Moves: How Three Catastrophic Decisions Led to the Rise of Trump. That's Anthony Scaramucci. Good to see you.
Good to see you, too. I mean, yeah, you know, I'm just saying that if that book was about all my wrong moves, it would have been the size of a phone book, Brian. So, it was just about a historical analysis of how we got to where we are.
I think you become way more relatable as a human being if you're able to admit your mistakes. Some of these guys have a very tough time doing that, but I think...
When I got my ass kicked at the White House, and you've met my older son, he's the CEO of Treasure Trove, he goes, 'Hey, Dad, are you going to be okay?' Well, it was the first time in my life where my kid was trying to parent me. I mean, I'm getting my ass fired from the White House, I'm getting lit up by the late-night comedians, excoriated in the press, and I said, 'Yeah, I'm going to be okay. Watch what I do with this.' And I think for our children's sake, expressing vulnerability, observation of vulnerability, too many of my wealthy friends try to pretend everything is perfect. Their life went up in a 45° angle, they never made a mistake. I read some of these biographies, this guy never made a mistake. He was in the first grade, he got everything right, and everything right since then.
And I feel that that puts huge pressure on the kids. I'd rather be like, 'Hey, here's me, warts and all,' to give my kids space to fail, to give my kids comfortable with the idea they can go further passion projects, and if they have ups and downs, they can put it together if something goes unexpectedly. So, that's part of the motivation of me being so honest about things.
You see what these people are like? You see what they're like? Look at that. Now he's laughing at his own jokes. You see what he's doing, Brian? Let me call you back cuz I'm leaving Yahoo, okay? I'll call you in a couple minutes. All right, love you.
Uh, I mean, I'm a SpaceX and xAI and Tesla investor. I also own some of the Boring Company. Um, and I own some of Neuralink.
You know, I got very lucky that Antonio Gracias, who I think you know, he's one of his board members. He worked with me at Goldman, so he helped me get into some of those deals.
No, that's his mic. That's his mic cuz we're celebrities in our own mind. You follow what I'm saying? I'm a big shot, right? Am I tall like Shaq or no?
Have a good day, man. We're happy campers. Everybody's happy. Yeah, so jump in the car.
We're looking up All the Wrong Moves. Let's take a look. Hopefully it's going in the right direction, All the Wrong Moves. Who knew that Amazon would be so important, hm? Look at this. Amazon UK. Well, let's take a look at All the Wrong Moves. 123. All right, still not bad though. Still selling.
We told them that we had you guys on the list, right?
I was just telling Casey that my parents love you.
I'm surprised by the Democrats actually. I'm surprised that their messaging isn't sharper. I mean, they should have bumper stickers everywhere saying, 'Promises made, promises broken.' The president campaigned on affordability. He sent prices skyrocketing with his illegal tariffs and then this unilateral war. He campaigned on transparency. He withheld the Epstein files. He said, 'No more forever wars.' We're back in a forever war. And I do think that you're seeing a melting ice cube of MAGA supporters now. That poll yesterday was to me as a politician, I've never seen a number like that. Only 26% of the Americans feel like Donald Trump is doing a good job on the economy. I'm trying to figure out who those 26% are, but they're likely people who feel angry and feel disaffected and they see him as an avatar for their anger.
Because I was expecting it to be just a litany of, oh god, Donald Trump said he was...
I was actually trying to...
You know, I got to number two on the one and the London Times bestseller list there. I got... You know, I did the Intelligence Squared stuff last...
That's what I saw. That's why I was over in the UK with you as well.
I did seven cities in six days.
You're a very big name in the UK. You look 10. You look rested. I mean, you look like you're ready to run...
You're going to be Prime Minister? I'm not sure or what you're doing.
Good. I'll see you. So, why am I such a big deal on the... I can't figure it out. I'm like the Jerry Lewis of the UK. I don't...
