How Silicon Valley’s ‘Vampire’ CEOs Are Just Like Trump
In Ep. 24 of The New Abnormal, tech expert Kara Swisher picks apart Silicon Valley, and the author of “Separated” shares what the Trump administration really thinks about the wall.
Photo Illustration by the Daily Beast / Photo Getty
Recode co-founder Kara Swisher has this thing she likes to call the “prick to productivity ratio”—how big of a jerk a particular executive is, versus how much he gets done. And these days, both in Silicon Valley and in Washington, that ratio has gone all wrong.
“Taking advantage, just not caring about the consequences—that’s being played out in Silicon Valley over and over again. So don’t be surprised at what Trump is doing. Silicon Valley sets the tone,” Swisher tells Molly Jong-Fast and Rick Wilson in the latest episode of The New Abnormal.
“Their lack of self-reflection is so vast that I always say they can’t see themselves in mirrors, like they’re vampires,” she adds. “These are the richest people on the planet with the most power and lack of accountability.”
Then Separated author Jacob Soboroff talks about exposing the Trump administration’s child-detention facilities.
“When you had the opportunity to see what these 5,400 families go through,” he tells Rick and Molly, “it’s impossible to understand this for anything other than a government-sanctioned torture program.”
As far as the wall? Well, to the Trump administration, “it’s a shiny object to be distracted by.” And Soboroff explains why.
Plus! Rick and Molly discover that the Donald used to kick his own children back in the day. And our dynamic duo wonder if anyone can stop the man in the White House from making this pandemic worse. “We need a federal government to control our president,” Molly says.
Listen to The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Stitcher.
