Billionaire Meltdowns, Powell Attacks, and Pfeiffer’s Food Panic

What happens when a billionaire steps out on a tennis court? Bill Ackman found out, and let's just say his backhand isn't as strong as his portfolio. Then we remember David Gergen, the ultimate political insider who served four presidents without ever torching democracy or his microphone. Next up, the White House is accusing Jerome Powell of, believe it or not, overspending on office renovations. Yes, the same folks who ran a $2 trillion deficit now suddenly care about Marvel. Meanwhile, podcast bro Andrew Schultz is backpedaling faster than a segue after helping normalize Trump. Now he's shocked. Shocked. He's got the real version. And finally, Michelle Pfeiffer goes full TikTok conspiracy warning. Bill Gates is poisoning your produce. Spoiler. He's not. Just rinse your kale and calm down. All that and more right now on Communiverse, where we decode the news and expose the spin so you don't fall for the bs. Welcome. If this is your first time, thank you for stopping by. My name is TJ Walker, and for decades I've been a media trainer, communications consultant to Fortune 500 executives, Wall street wizards, presidents of countries, Nobel Peace Prize winners, teaching them how to look their best, how to shape their message to the media. Now I'm here on the other side for you, teaching you how to decode what's really going on in the media and how to make sense of it all in order for you to, frankly, improve yourself, to be as successful as you can. So let's take a look at this first story, which is good in one sense, but also a little bit troubling. Bill Ackman Bombs on the Tennis Court Bill Ackman has spent decades dominating Wall street and influencing everything from presidential campaigns to Ivy League drama. But this week he took on a new challenge. Professional tennis. Yes, the billionaire financier played an actual ATP Challenger tour match with former doubles champion Jack Sock. And I've seen Sock play in person here in Delray Beach, Florida, a couple of years ago when he'd become a professional pickleball player, which is what he's doing now. So this was the professional tennis tournament happened this weekend? Let's just say it didn't go quite as smoothly as Bill Ackman's hedge fund returns have gone lately. They lost in straight sets. And while Ackman described it as a one and done experience, critics weren't so generous. Andy Roddick called it the biggest joke he'd ever seen in pro tennis. Others called it what it was. A wealthy man buying his way into A dream that real pros spend their whole lives grinding for. Still, you have to give him credit. He showed up, took the loss, and even smashed a few solid winners. But in tennis, unlike investing, there's no hedge against reality. So why is this news? Why do I really care about it? Why do I think you care about it? Well, in part because in our modern culture, I happen to believe that sports is one of the few things that can appeal to people across the political spectrum. It's really the last thing where people feel like merit counts. Facts actually matter. Very few people think that because their team lost in the super bowl or the world cup, it was people I hit. Regardless of whether it's in or out, you're just going to call it in. So if I hit it over the head of my opponent, it doesn't land in the court and it goes in the stands, you're going to call it in and claim it's my point. Well, pretty soon, Bill ackman could be winning wimbledon if those are the new rules. So that's really the challenge. Certain individuals who can pay $50 million for a dorm to be built at Harvard, and what do you know, their son gets into Harvard with average grades. And that is an actual case of what happened with a member of the first family right now. We'll talk about that later. We live in a world where when politicians don't win, they simply say there was cheating, demand a recount, and then when that doesn't work, they put pressure on elected officials to lie and cheat and steal and give them whatever they want. So this happens again and again and again. We see startup founders who just fudge numbers, make up phony revenues, make up products. In the case of the theranos blood testing situation. So sports is one of those few things where people feel like, okay, facts still matter. No matter how rich I am, I'm not going to be able to buy my way on to be the center of the Boston celtics, of the new york knicks. The people who are there are there purely because of their own talents and their own merits. That's why this case with bill ackman buying his way onto a professional tennis tournament is a little unseemly. Rubs people the wrong way. Now, he is bail accounts, a good tennis player. He's better than I am. I'm sure he would beat me. But as one of the pros mentioned, in any given big club in america around the world, there's probably 50 players who could beat bill ackman. That on merit alone, he should not be In a professional tennis tournament. Now he is a major donor to the international tennis hall of fame. That's nice. And he did get in a legal way because jack sock had a wild card entry, could get him in. Jack sock, formerly one of the best professional tennis players in the world. So it wasn't out and out illegal corruption. But still, there's a part of me that thinks we're not that far away from okay. If he can buy his way in, what is to prevent, for example, the Dallas mavericks owner Mark Cuban from simply ordering his coach saying, I want you to start me as the center in this game. Now, Mark cuban is taller than the average person. I think he's about 6:2. But he's not going to be a center for a professional basketball team. But. But why not? What's to keep him from saying, well, if it's good enough for bill ackman, maybe it's good enough for me. That's a part. That's the first step. That's chipping away. But what about the next step? Because one of the reasons that I. Even though this show is based primarily on focusing on business news, technology news, cultural news, so much of our culture in America, and this makes me sound like an ugly american, But a lot of culture around the world is dictated or at least influenced by what happens in the white house and the highest elected office in the United States. And we see this so often from the white house where if they don't like the factual results of something, they just demand that the facts be changed. So today Bill ackman accepted when the referees called his bulls out. So for example, in his very first service return, apparently he didn't get it over the net. He didn't get it within about 20ft of his own side of the net. It was that bad. What happens if he applies pressure to refs in a match, let's say six months or a year from now, and demands that the ref give him the point even though he hit the ball out? What are we going to do? Who's going to stand up to it? Because that is certainly the situation. We are in the political arena where one politician of one party can lose an election. Where every fair minded observer says this was a fair election, the votes were counted properly, and he simply says, no, I want you to keep recounting until you declare me the victory, the victor. And he got virtually every single member of his party to back him up on that. Well, what happens if the bill ackman's of the world simply tell the ref, hey, I'm paying your salary. You are going to declare any serve that I couldn't return. You're going to declare that serve a fault. Well, you don't have to be that good of a tennis player if that's how the rules are going to be bent. Shift it to your favorite. You're probably going to win some games, especially if he then tells the ref, any ball I hit, regardless of whether it's in or out, you're just going to call it in. So if I hit it over the head of my opponent, it doesn't land in the court and it goes in the stands, you're going to call it in and claim it's my point. Well, pretty soon, Bill ackman could be winning Wimbledon if those are the new rules. So that's really the challenge. I think that when I see a story like this is our culture is eroding to the point where so many people. And this is bipartisan in some sense, and across the spectrum where people say, oh, you're a billionaire. The rules don't apply to you. You get to do whatever you want. We certainly saw this for many years with a lot of liberals embracing elon musk, saying, oh, elon musk, you're good at making cars, so you can do you. You can father a gazillion children, be seen as a horrible parent, have people disowning you and your own family and, oh, we're not going to criticize. That's perfectly fine. It's especially a problem with someone like elon musk, where because he's fabulously wealthy, he can get away with sig heil nazi salutes, and people are like, oh, that's just Elon. He can get away with saying outrageous, despicable things on twitter and in real life, and people dismiss it. Well, you know, he's a genius. And there are people that say, well, bill ackman's a genius. He's a billionaire. He must be a genius. So who are we to question him? Well, I'm here to tell you, you are the person who needs to be questioning that. I'm the person who needs to be questioning. We all need to be questioning. Everyone in public, not just billionaires, but especially people who have tremendous wealth who are used to simply buying whatever they want. Any problem they have. Typically enough money. You throw enough money at it, it can sweep the problem away. It's one thing to say, okay, my kid couldn't get into college, let me pay someone to tutor him so he can at least get into a decent state school. Okay. I don't begrudge anyone for using money to solve a problem like that. But when you start using money to change the rules, to bend the rules, to squeeze out people who earned a place to be their true merit, whether it's earning a right to play in a professional tennis tournament or winning the right to take office because they got more votes than anyone else, that's the real problem. Hey, thanks for joining me. I see we have a number of people joining us live. I appreciate that. If you have any questions or comments, you can post it right here. Whether you are watching this on YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitch, and typically we try to be on every social media platform. I do take a moment to look at comments from time to time and again. If you are, if you are new to the show, this is communiverse. This is about looking at top news stories in the business world, technology world and culture and then decoding these stories through the lens of communication skills, all in order to boost your personal success. So that's what we're about. That is why we are here today and really appreciate you being with us. Now we're in a test mode right here. You don't see a lot of B roll and fancy special effects, and that's by design. Our official launch for this show is going to be September 2nd, and that's when we're going to be a little fancier. We'll be on every single podcast platform. It's typically going to be about an hour long, looking at the top five news stories of the day, occasional guests, and a lot of fun and growth together. Together. So what I'm trying to really do is fuse news with personal development so you're not just wasting your time doom scrolling or just looking for someone to agree with you, to tell you what you want to hear and bash people the same old way. But you're actually learning something that that can benefit you at a personal level. So that's what we are about right here on the community. David Gergen, the Presidential Advisor, dies at age 83 David Gergen was the calm voice behind four presidencies and countless pundit panels. He died this weekend at age 83. He wasn't just a beltway, or I should say he died on Friday. He wasn't just a Beltway insider, he was the Beltway insider. Gergen advised Presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton. Now that sounds like an unusual list together. It is, because three Republicans and one Democrat, he was shaping everything from White House speeches to national messages. And he's given some responsibility for Reagan zinger in the Carter presidential debate. Are you better off than you were four years ago? Gergen later became a respected TV analyst and taught public leadership at Harvard. He promoted centrism, not a mushy compromise, but as solution seeking. He was also self aware, once admitting much of his messaging career was selling the sizzle without the steak. Still, he remained a trusted advisor, never implicated in scandals and always more interesting and elevating the dialogue than burning it down. Now he was a towering figure in both height and influence. He was 6 foot 5, so he was literally very tall. Gergen's death marks the end of a more measured political era. I could tell you he was someone who I certainly looked up to and respected. He was a role model for me. He was also an instructor at Duke University, my alma mater. He grew up in Durham, where Duke University is based. I never met him. Even though I've debated hundreds if not thousands of pundits on tv, I never got on the same show with him. One of my few regrets in what I've done in the political world so far. It seemed like just the other day that I was watching him on CNN and critiquing political speeches and debates. And yet on the other hand, it seems like decades and decades ago because it was such a different era. Believe it or not, there was a time on national newscast where you had people from different political parties analyzing speeches, analyzing public policy, analyzing political conventions. And regardless of their own political backgrounds, they could give you not unbiased perspective. Everyone has biases, but they could do it without hate and invective, and they could do it without saying, okay, because this person's in a party that I'm not in, I'm going to just assume they're evil and they're trying to destroy democracy and they have no respect for democracy. You don't see that much anymore. And the most popular format on TV nowadays is everyone agrees with each other and they spend all their time talking about how awful another party is. So I'm not here to suggest that everything is equal. There is true asymmetry in American politics today, where one political party, one political party only, has absolutely gone off the deep end and in my opinion is flirting with fascism, if not outright endorsing authoritarian measures on a daily basis. So it's not that it's an equal problem, but when it comes to punditry, the world of punditry has changed dramatically. It's very difficult these days for someone seen as a centrist who may have mildly conservative or mildly liberal viewpoints to get visibility, to make a living because they don't easily fit into a slot on the political talk shows. So in that sense, David Gergen is kind of a real throwback. He was always seen as someone gentlemanly and had soft spoken voice. But when he spoke, I know I personally always listened because he gave genuine insight. The first thing out of his mouth was not instantly picking apart something saying, say this guy who's in a party opposite of mine said this and it's clearly insane and therefore he's completely discredited and he's a jerk. And well, aren't I smart in the process because that's the typical mode of so much punditry in mainstream media today and in cable news. So I do appreciate what he did. He also, to me, was an interesting role model of just someone who had an interesting career. He was a graduate of Harvard Law School. And those of you in India and other, other parts of the world watching this, you've obviously heard of Harvard and Harvard Law School. But what you might not know is, especially in his time, in his era, if you're a graduate of Harvard Law School, it wasn't that hard to then get a job at a big major Wall Street, New York City law firm, put in your time, become a partner. Worst case scenario, you're making a million dollars a year, someone with good political skills, networking skills, as he did, you're making $5 million a year and you don't get any gruff from the public. You don't even have to travel much if you don't want to. Life is pretty cushy. He could have gone that route and instead he took dramatically lower paying jobs in public service. First with the Nixon administration, the Ford administration. He took a huge pay cut to work with Bill Clinton in the 1990s when he could have been cashing out like crazy. He was someone who actually believed in public service and he's someone who actually believed that you can help the country and you can help the office of the White House, regardless of what party is in there. I don't know if we're going to see that again in my lifetime, but I love the fact that he, he had a passion for communication, as I do. And while he went the law school route, as far as I know he never even practiced law. He focused his life on public service, made a lot of money as a public speaker and as a teacher, as an educator and as a communicator and put together a, and as a TV commentator and put together a fabulous work, well lived life. So David Gergen, we will miss you and condolences to your family. This is the Communiverse. Thanks for watching. If you like any part of this, please one Whatever platform you're watching, like it, subscribe to it. If there's a subscribe button, leave a comment. Tell me what you like, what you don't like, what you like to hear more of, seen less of, let me know. As I mentioned to you, this is not a pilot, but we're in a stealth launch mode here. Not really telling many people about it because we're working at the Kinks. My colleague Ben is in the green room doing some edits and trying to make we're trying to figure out how to put the logos on the best way and all of that. So I appreciate you spending a little time with us and any feedback you have is much appreciated. Some of you have liked the backdrop around to frame it, give it a little more professional feel. Others have said, eh, too busy. Let me know what you think. I'm experimenting with different looks. These are brand new glasses. The first time I'm wearing them, they frame my face a little better than these old glasses because my face is narrow and these are not narrow glasses. So let me know what you think about it. If it's something I can change or tweak, I will. If it's something like tj, you're bald and ugly. Not much I'll be able to do about that anytime. But really, I do read every comment and look forward to your feedback. Let's shift now to story three, and this relates to the chairman of the Federal Reserve. Let's take a look at that. Right now, the White House is accusing Jerome Powell of interior decorating. That's the latest nonsense. And a string of attacks on the Federal Reserve chair. After months of pressuring Powell to cut interest rates, Trump allies are now fuming over supposed luxury renovations at the Fed's D.C. headquarters, a $2.5 billion upgrade that began back in 2021. They're accusing Powell of misleading Congress over things like beehives, water features and marble elevators. Powell flatly denies those features exist. The Fed even posted a full FAQ on its website debunking the claims. Legal experts say the real goal isn't accountability, its pressure. They're trying to manufacture a case to fire Powell, even though the Supreme Court has ruled a president can't just sack the Fed chair without a cause. This isn't about fiscal stewardship. It's political theater, and it's as flimsy as the marble countertops that don't exist. So this is a troubling story at many levels for anyone who, who cares about democracy, the rule of law, and anyone who believes in worldwide commerce and free trade, because what's holding together so much of international commerce, the whole pillar of our modern worldwide economy, is an independent Federal Reserve. People don't realize, I don't understand, I don't even realize it most of the time. How many decisions around the globe are affected by, by not just the Federal Reserve here in the United States, but by the idea that it's an independent Federal Reserve and other investors, other governments, can count on it, thinking long term, even when presidents don't like it. Now, if you dialed back the clock or got in a time machine and went back to 1980, the interest rates were 20% that the Fed set because there was massive inflation. Now, the president at the time, President Jimmy Carter, I'm sure, would have loved the Fed to reduce the interest rates down to zero to juice up the economy because we had high unemployment and a lot of other problems. But he didn't force the Fed, he didn't try to fire the Fed, he didn't accuse him of impropriety because there was a respect and, and there was by both parties for an independent Fed. Now, President Trump would like to see interest rates down so the economy could explode. And if that results in long term massive inflation and completely destroying our society and the worldwide economy, well, you know, Trump is almost 80 years old. Why should he care? Or does he care is the question a lot of people are asking. Again, I want to point out, the accusations are about all sorts of luxury features like rooftop gardens and VIP rooms. All of these have been denied. These charges against the Fed chair are especially rich, I guess is the best word for it, considering all the tacky gold in redecorating Trump has spent redoing the Oval Office. So talk about the pot calling the kettle black or the, the golden pot calling other things idiotic things. It just, it's bizarre. Now, experts say the case is weak when it comes to really accusing Powell of something so improper that it would be legitimate for a president to try to get rid of them. Obviously, if a Fed chair does something illegal, if a Fed chair murders someone, yes, the President of the United States can force that person out and pick someone new. But when it gets right down to it, no serious person thinks that this Fed chair has done anything wrong other than not become a puppet of Donald Trump. Sure, reasonable people could differ on when interest rates could Go up a little bit or down a little bit, faster or slower. I'm not suggesting there's a unanimous sense among economists of what the right interest rate is at any one point. But to suggest that it's a firing offense, that every single time the President feels a Fed chair has not raised or lowered an interest rate the way they like, they should be fired. No serious economist, no serious human being actually believes that. So this is once again this administration sending a clear cut message to the globe. And people in the United States, rules don't apply to us. Norms of society do not apply to us. Norms of democracy do not apply to us. The only thing that matters is the will of dear Leader. Now, we're used to seeing this in places like North Korea. Increasingly the world is used to seeing this in places like Hungary and Turkey. But it's a relatively new phenomenon in the United States and the people who don't want that need to speak up. And that's part of what I'm trying to do right here. Again, I should point out to you, this show, Community is not primarily a political show. This is a show about business, technology, culture viewed through the lens of communication, all with the designs of helping you improve yourself and to be more successful personally. That's what the show's about. But these days, when you live in an increasingly authoritarian society, it touches business, it touches technology, and it absolutely dominates culture. So there's really no way around that. So you can figure out if you like it or don't like it. You can figure out if you agree or disagree with me. But here's what I ask. Don't watch me just because you agree with me and don't click away just because you disagree. Try to challenge me if you like. Think I get my facts wrong? State it. Post in the comments. If you think I made a particularly good argument, let me know and share it with others. That is all I ask. Okay. More, more news that does have a political touch to it, but it's about, I think, about the world of media. It's about the world of young men and attitudes, but it does touch on a political figure, as you will see in one moment. So let's switch over to story four. Andrew Schultz, well known comedian and podcaster. He's the podcast bro, Andrew Schultz, and he's having some serious buyer's remorse. After voting for Trump and practically helping rebrand him for a new generation of young male voters, Schultz now says, as of this week, I voted for none of this. Talking about his vote for Trump on his Podcast, which is called flagrant. Wildly popular, and this is a funny guy. I've watched his one man specials on. I don't know if it was YouTube or HBO recently, but he's a funny guy and his podcast is wildly popular, especially with young men. He blasted Trump for doing the exact opposite of what he promised. Funding wars, inflating spending, slashing Medicaid. Schultz helped mainstream Trump among the influencers set during the campaign last year. At one point, and I've seen the clip, this is remarkable, he was even laughing in Trump's face when Trump called himself, I'm basically a truthful person. And look it up if you want to see it. Because Trump is with a straight face saying, oh, I'm basically a very honest person. And Schultz, to his credit, just starts laughing as if he'd never heard anything so funny in his life. So I do have to give him credit for that. But Schultz still voted for Trump and he told his audience Trump would win in a landslide. Now that reality is hitting. He's doing what many voters do by pretending they ordered a different combo meal. As Pete Buttigieg warned Schultz months ago, believing Trump will do what he says. That's not skepticism, it's gullibility. And now even Trump's biggest podcast fanboys are waking up with a political hangover. So let's summarize the facts again. Schultz voted for Trump and he endorsed him on his wildly popular podcast. He said, yeah, I didn't vote for funding wars and increasing the deficit and, you know, cutting Medigas. That what I voted for. Well, that's what he got. And he was warned about this. Most fair minded observers, and I like to think of myself as a fair minded observer. You can judge this. A lot of people predicted all sorts of horrible things. They predicted in Trump's first term that he would bomb a nation just because some leader said he wasn't manly enough or said he was fat. Well, he didn't do that. Some of the predictions about Trump were wrong. But there were a lot of predictions that when Trump said, I'm going to come up with something better than Obamacare, it was a lie and he wouldn't do it. Well, people who made that assessment were correct. There were a lot of people who said, oh, Trump is promising to reduce the deficit, he won't do it. He didn't do that. There were a lot of people who said, he's going to solve the problems that make the economy grow better than ever. Well, he didn't do that. Many people don't realize It. But more jobs were lost in Trump's first term than under any other president in America since Herbert Hoover. Now he said, well, that doesn't count for me. There was a pandemic. Well, for some reason, when inflation went up during the pandemic for Biden, that counted. So very selective about what counts on someone's economic report card and what doesn't count. So I do find this interesting. If Andrew Schultz is just a one off, is he going to be seen as sort of a gadfly, someone that people discount? Oh, well, he was never really one of us. Or is this the beginning of something new? Are we going to see other brocasters, other comedians who have podcasts with millions of followers? The Joe Rogans of the world, the Tim Dillons of the world? Are they going to follow Andrew Schultz and turn against Trump? If so, it could be a huge, huge political problem because the Democrats are in big, big trouble. Or certainly were in 2024 and still are today. According to polling, among young men, especially white men, young men 18 to 45, young white men basically hate the Democratic Party. They basically see that as a feminine vessel that does nothing but tell young men, you're the problem, you're toxic, you're a predator, you're a rapist, you're dysfunctional. That's what a lot of young men are hearing. They're, they're being told that's the message from the Democratic Party. I would quibble that that's really the dominant message of leaders in the Democratic Party. But rightly or wrongly, that's what young men are told. And they're told that by influencers like Andrew Schultz and Joe Rogan and Tim Dillon. Plus you have the pure political podcasters, the Tucker Carlson's of the world and the Jordan Petersons of the world, all coming at it from the lens of you young men are victims and these horrible, evil liberal Democrats think that all men are bad. That's the zeitgeist we lived in in 2024 and it's still out there today. Is Andrew Schultz going to change that? Is this the beginning of a shift? I don't know. I'm going to be monitoring it. I will say that throughout Trump's tenure, in his first term of office, it seems as though none of his fans cared that he broke all of his promises. Objectively, when you look at all the promises Trump made, you could say he kept his words about not starting new wars in the first term, second term, a little different. But the biggest accomplishment he had, according to his supporters really is a big tax cut for wealthy people. Now, is that why middle class Americans and young men who don't even have their first job, did that benefit them? No. But Trump did campaign in part on the idea of cutting taxes for the wealthy. He did get that through. Arguably, that was not only his biggest accomplishment in the first term, it was his only accomplishment. And again, the accomplishment has to be with an asterisk because it shot up the deficit more than any other president has ever done in the history of the world until right now with his most recent term. So where I am perplexed where a lot of centrist observers and centrist people who think of themselves as centrists in our political system who've been pushed out of the Republican Party or have been in other parties the whole time where they don't quite know how this jives with reality, is his own supporter don't ever seem to hold him accountable. He can shift at a moment, he can say, I'll never, ever, ever get us in a war in the Middle East. And they say, yes, that's great, that's wonderful. And then the very next day shipped and start bombing the Middle east. And they're like, yes, that's wonderful. That's strength, that's power. So it does seem that Trump is a singular political force in America today, where the normal rules of messaging and consistency being held accountable, delivering on what you promised. None of that applies. It really is more like a modern day cult where if dear leader says this or that, we are going to do whatever he says, even if it is 100% completely different from what we were promised or what was said the day before. Fatima says hello. And Fatima, we're talking about a whole range of topics today, so glad you're with us. Specifically right now, we're talking about very well known talk show host, a podcaster and comedian Andrew Schultz, who's suddenly having a lot of buyer's remorse when it comes to President Trump. But enough of Trump. Again, this is, this is not a show. That's just an anti Trump show. I'm trying to look at all stories as I see them that relate to business, technology, culture and looking at it through the lens of communication. And that's just an anti Trump show. I'm trying to look at all stories as I see them that relate to business. Take personal development. So let's switch gears and go to the next and final big story of the day. It revolves around an actress that I always liked, her roles and how she performed. But this is kind of Bizarre. Michelle Pfeiffer has officially joined the conspiracy crowd. The famously private actress took to Instagram this week to warn fans that Bill Gates, yes, Bill Gates, is secretly contaminating the organic food supply through a produce coating called Appeal. The only problem, none of it is true. Apeel is a plant based coating that helps fruits and veggies last longer. It's been approved by the FDA and organic regulators for nearly a decade. Gates gave a small grant to the company more than 10 years ago, but has no current involvement, no stake, no control, none. Even worse, Pfeiffer claimed Appeal can't be washed off. It can be with water and scrubbing, just like wax on an apple. The kind of misinformation. This kind is ridiculous. Bill Gates isn't slipping chemicals into your kale. He's not hiding in your spinach. And if you're going to worry about the food system, maybe start with actual problems, not Instagram paranoia. You know, actual problems like the fact that the average American is drinking about 10 gallons of sugar water a day and we're eating tons of processed food. We're putting bacon and cheese on everything. Actual problems. Michelle Pfeiffer, instead of this utter, utter nonsense. Now, there certainly was a time when, when Bill Gates did some bad things, okay? The way he built Microsoft, you could argue, and regulators did, that he just crushed competition to the ground, that he used monopolistic practices and he was punished for that. So I'm not here to tell you Bill Gates has been a saint his whole life. But I can tell you that since he stepped down as the active CEO of Microsoft, which has now been decades, he's devoted his life to philanthropy and he's devoted his life to horrible things like trying to rid the world of malaria. But I can tell you that since he stepped down as the active CEO so that millions of kids don't die prematurely. Oh, isn't that awful? Trying to help the hell of Microsoft, which has now been decades. He's devoted his life to philanthropy and he's devoted his life to horrible things like trying to rid the world of malaria and welfare of the developing world so we don't have hundreds of millions of people dying prematurely around the world. That's what he's devoted his life to. And yet people who hate the idea of anyone helping anyone consistently attacking him. There were so many rumors during COVID I don't even want to repeat the messages of the nonsense about, oh, he's got the vaccine stuff and Bill Gates owns it. He's getting rich. Bill Gates is Already rich. In fact, he's given away so many tens of millions of dollars, one of his old assistants is now richer than he is. Steve Ballmer, who became the CEO after him, is now richer than Bill Gates because Bill Gates has given away so many tens of millions of dollars to philanthropy and he's giving more than 99% of it away to help the world with foundations and nonprofits, mostly to help public health around the world. Is Bill Gates perfect? No. I frankly wish he had spent a lot more of that money in the United States helping us retain foundations of democracy and a stronger media. And I wish he'd done more things to help our politicians who actually care about democracy win in the last decade. But he didn't do that. But you can't say he's squandered the money. You can't say he used it selfishly. And the idea that. So the reason I wanted to pick this story, a couple of reasons. This is a perfect example, frankly, of everything that's wrong with the media. And I almost feel guilty perpetuating it. Why in the world is anybody giving attention to Michelle Pfeiffer? She's a good actress, but as far as I know, her knowledge of science, technology, epidemiology, for that matter, anything health related is zero. Chances are she's a complete moron. She good actress, as far as I know, has zero academic credentials to talk about any of these things. But we live in a world where if you make an attack on somebody famous like Bill Gates and you're famous, it's going to get coverage. So let's just take a look. This particular publication is the Daily Mail, which is a well known British publication and it's typically picked up in the United States on place. We live in a world where if you make an attack on somebody famous is like the Drudge Report, a news aggregator. And full disclosure, that's where I found it. That's like Bill Gates and you're famous. It's going to get coverage. So let's just take a look. This particular publication is the Daily Mail, which is a well known British publication and it's typically picked up in the United States on place. Why do I look at the Drudge Report? Because that is what thousands of talk show hosts, producers, media analysts look at every day. And there was a time when Matt Drudge was seen as a hundred percent like the Drudge Report, a news aggregator, and full disclosure, that's where I found it. Why do I look at the Drudge Report? Because that is what thousands of talk show hosts helping one party and attacking delivering bad news for another party. His producers, media analysts look at every day. And there was a time when Matt Drudge was seen as a hundred percent whole claim to fame was being the first person in the world to break the news about the Monica Lewinsky scandal affecting Bill Clinton. And I'll never forget hardly anyone knew about it. But I was skiing in Vermont with friends and helping one party and attacking delivering bad news for another party. His whole claim to fame was being the first person in the world to break the news about the Monica Lewinsky scandal affecting Bill Clinton. And I'll never forget hardly anyone looking at my phone. And I got this email from Matt Dry. I was on a news list he sent out by email, knew about it, but I was skiing in Vermont with friends and showing it to my friend. Can you believe this? There's a story about the President of the United States and an intern. It seemed incredulous and yet that made him famous. And his website to this day gets millions and millions of views every day and is a part of a media ecosystem that has tremendous influence. So that's where I found this story today. And it's going to be amplified. It's going to get a lot of attention. And unfortunately we live in a world where a lot of people are just going to read the headline. Looking at my phone and I got this email from Matt Dry. I was on a news list he sent out by email showing it to my friend. I can you believe this? There's a story about the President of the United States and an intern. It seemed incredulous and yet that made him famous. And his website to this day gets millions and millions of views every day and is a part Michelle Pfeiffer says Bill Clinton, excuse me, Bill Gates is killing the world with his secret evil product. And no one's going to bother bother to read the fine print and actually find out, oh, Bill Gates doesn't own a single share of stock in this company. He gave them a grant, which he often does because he tries to use his business experience of a media ecosystem that has tremendous influence. So that's where I found experience to make the world of philanthropy more efficient. So often essentially give this story today and it's going to be amplified, it's going to get a lot of attention and unfortunately we live in a world where a lot of people are just going to read the headline. Michelle Pfeiffer says Bill Clinton, excuse me, Bill Gates is grants to for profit businesses with no strings attached, which is very different from how most foundations are structured to only give funds to other nonprofit organizations. So he tries to do things a little differently. And to me, Bill Gates is a perfect example of no good deed goes. Killing the world with his secret evil product. And no one's going to bother to read the fine print and actually find out, oh, Bill Gates doesn't own a single share of stock in this company. He gave them a grant, which he often does because he tries to use his business experience to make the world of philanthropy more efficient. So he'll often essentially give unpunished. He's constantly trying to make the world a better place and getting punished for. Again, am I saying he's perfect? No. By all accounts, he spent way too much time with Jeffrey Epstein. Bill Gates wife, former wife, says that's one of the reasons she wanted a divorce. Now, there's no evidence that he was involved with sex trafficking or pedophilia grants to for profit businesses with no strings attached, which is very different from how most foundations are structured to only give funds to other nonprofit organizations. So he tries to do things a little differently. And to me, Bill Gates is a perfect example of no good deed goes. But he was made aware of allegations and convictions of Jeffrey Epstein regarding this pedophilia stuff, and he continued to take meetings with him. What he did beyond that, I don't know. So you could certainly say he had less than ideal judgment. But Bill Gates, by all accounts, just spends 60 hours plus a week trying to learn how to solve problems in the world. Big problems about starvation, about inadequate health care, about fighting disease like malaria. He spends his time meeting with people, reading about this, giving money, trying to solve these problems, and yet utter nitwits like Michelle Pfeiffer just, you know, I guess she read something somewhere unpunished. He's constantly trying to make the world a better place and getting punished for. Again, am I saying he's perfect? No. By all accounts, he spent way too much time with Jeffrey Epstein. Bill Gates wife, former wife, says that's one of the reasons she wanted a divorce. Now, there's no evidence that he was involved with sex trafficking or pedophilia, but he was made aware of allegations and, and convictions of Jeffrey Epstein regarding this pedophilia stuff. And he continued to take meetings with him. What, what he did beyond that, I don't. She heard some conspiracy theorists and then she's sending it out to the world knowing, just because she's famous, just because she was at one point considered one of the most beautiful women in the world and glamorous. It's going to get attention and we know. So you could certainly say he had less than ideal judgment. But Bill Gates by all accounts just spends, you know, 60 hours plus a week trying to learn how to solve problems in the world. Big problems about starvation, about inadequate. When you put those two things together, celebrity plus attack, boom, boom. That's what gets attention in the media. Certainly we see that coming out of Washington. Every single health care about fighting disease like malaria, he spends his time meeting with people day. And it is driving discourse into the gutter. I'm trying to do the opposite here. I'm trying to elevate public discourse so that you have an accurate reading about this. Giving money, trying to solve these problems and yet utter nitwits like Michelle Pfeiffer just, you know, I guess she read something somewhere she heard some conspiracy theorist and then she's sending it out to the world knowing sense of what are the real messages going on here. If you're someone who hates science, if you're someone who actually would like to see the rest of the world devolve into chaos and disease and famine because you think, oh, those third world types, we'd all be better if they die off. Then you like seeing stories like this because it's feeding. Just because she's famous, just because she was at one point considered one of the most beautiful women in the world and glamorous, it's going to get attention. And when you put those two things together, celebrity plus attack, boom, boom, that's what gets attention in the media. Certainly we see that coming out of Washington every single day. And it is driving discourse into the gutter. I'm trying to do the. Your overall mission, it's, it's supporting your version of the, the zeitgeist. I happen to think it's sad. I want to thank all of you for joining me today. On Saturday, I try to come every single day to you just to look through the daily news so we can all learn about what's really being communicated and how we can use these four skills ourselves. The opposite here. I'm trying to elevate public discourse so that you have an accurate sense of what are the real messages going on here. If you're someone who hates science, if you're someone who actually would like to see the rest of the world, I do want to leave you with something and I've mentioned it from time to time. I'm here every day talking. You know, once we put in ads an hour a day. I'm not suggesting you have to do that. I would recommend that you share one idea a day with the world that you think will help people devolve into chaos and disease and famine. Because you think oh those third world types we'd all be I try to help people with my communication skills because that's what I do. I'm a communications and personal development better if they die off then you like seeing stories like this because it's feeding your overall mission. It's it's supporting your version of Atreus. You may be a gardener. You may be a pastry chef. Myrick the Zeitgeist I happen to think it's sad. I want to thank all of you for joining me today on Saturday is think about sharing just one idea a day. Doesn't it have to be in video like this? But it could be could be an audio podcast. Could be just a post on your Facebook page or a blog. But think about sharing something. You have an idea. I try to come every single day to you just to look through the daily news so we could all learn about what's really being communicated and how we can use these for skills ourselves. I do want to leave you with something and I've mentioned it from time to time. I'm here every day talking. You know once we put in ads an hour a day. I'm not suggesting you have to do that. I would recommend because have that could help other people. The more we all communicate good messages the better off the world can be. Thanks so much for joining me. I will see you here tomorrow. And please take a look at the shorts. I do post shorts typically throughout the day and like the video. Sign up for notifications and subscribe.