Scott Galloway, Constantine Kisin & Daniel Priestley: Scott Galloway is an American NYU marketing professor, serial entrepreneur and author. Constantine Kisin is a British-Russian commentator and co-host of the Trigonometry podcast. Daniel Priestley is a British entrepreneur and author who runs a business accelerator.
What this episode covers
Steven Bartlett convenes three of his favourite commentators the day after Trump's second inauguration to make sense of a moment of social, cultural and economic transition. They debate whether Trump's win is a kleptocratic turn or a rejection of 'managed decline', and clash over the US economy versus a UK they see as over-taxed and entrepreneur-repelling. A long, sober stretch covers the crisis of young men, masculinity, and loneliness, followed by DEI, free speech, Elon Musk, Section 230 and bot-driven platforms. They close on net zero and energy costs, and each father offers advice to his sons.
The guest's own work
Scott Galloway's upcoming book on masculinity
Scott Galloway
“I know Scott you've got a book coming on masculinity which we're all very very excited about. We've been waiting it's long overdue.”— Steven Bartlett
Also referenced (named, not recommended)
Isaac Asimov science fiction books
Isaac Asimov
“I used to as a kid love Isaac Asimov science fiction books. And one of the reasons I did enjoy reading them so much is it was a world in which there was an exploration of what does the creation of robots mean for morality”— Constantine Kisin
Big reveals from this episode
- Galloway calls America a 'kleptocracy', citing the Trump and Melania meme coins launched the day before the inauguration.
- Galloway refuses to see 'a man convicted of sexual abuse who inspired an insurrection' as a point of light for America.
- Galloway names Brexit the UK's greatest self-inflicted wound 'second only to our entry into Iraq'.
- Galloway argues no group has fallen further faster than young men in America, calling them a dangerous new 'asexual, asocial' species.
- Galloway says Elon Musk is a great role model for boys but not for men, citing his conduct and addiction.
- Kisin credits Elon Musk's amplification of the UK grooming-gangs scandal with forcing the British government into action.
- Galloway proposes removing Section 230 protection for algorithmically amplified content so platforms become liable for defamation.
- Kisin says net zero is 'deeply, deeply immoral', impoverishing pensioners while Britain emits only 2% of global carbon.
Worth remembering
- Galloway claims the US had 71 record market highs and grew 10% since 2020, triple Europe's rate.
- Around 10,800 millionaires left the UK last year, an increase of about 160% on the prior year.
- In the US you don't hit the top tax rate until six times the average wage; in the UK it's just 2.5 times.
- Some Britons deliberately cap income at 50,000 pounds to avoid the 40% tax band; Priestley says staff have asked for a day off to stay under it.
- Nvidia is now worth more than the entire UK stock market despite being unknown five years earlier.
- One in three US men under 30 has a girlfriend while two in three women do; one in five 30-year-old men live at home.
- One in seven men has no single friend and one in four cannot name a best friend, per Galloway.
- AI requires roughly ten times the energy of a Google query, making energy the choke point.
- Kisin says UK energy prices are about four times those in the United States.
- Kisin compares the social-media upheaval to the printing press, which he says triggered two centuries of religious war.