Reboots, Dropouts, Trump Deals & Charlie Rose's Comeback: Navigating Modern Media & Power Shifts

This week at the box office, reboots and sequels dominated once again, proving that audiences still love what they already know. Meanwhile, a wave of Gen Z dropouts is flooding San Francisco to build the next wave of AI startups. And they're raising millions. Think Donald Trump's too old to last in office? Well, think again. Science says that high status and wealth are powerful predictors of longevity. Trump's also flipping the global trade game, demanding foreign countries pay cash to dodge new tariffs. And finally, Charlie Rose is back, 82 years old. He is relaunching and putting out a lot of new content on his YouTube show. And some of his videos are generating a quarter million views. That's not that far off from his old PBS show. All that and more today on the Communiverse. Hi and welcome. I'm TJ Walker. This is the Communiverse. We're changing names of the show, but for another few days we are the Communiverse. I'm here in my new studio still playing around with how things look and setting up the lighting and such. It's a work in progress but wanted to try to get right in front of you every day on a daily basis and make the show a little bit better. Iterate to not perfection, but to get a little better every single day. Let's dive in. Nostalgia reboots rule the box office Again. It's official, Hollywood is stuck in a time loop and we're the ones hitting replay. This weekend's box office was dominated almost entirely by sequels, reboots and and long running franchises. The Fantastic Four first steps led the pack with $40 million.66 drop from last week, but still pretty good. That was followed by Bad Guys 2, the Naked Gun reboot and the upteenth version of Superman. Jurassic World and Mission Impossible. Still clinging to life of the top 10. Only one title together was original. Everything else safe bets. Why? Because our brain is wired for it. Psychologists call it familiarity bias. We gravitate towards names, things we already know. Pair that with risk aversion and suddenly a mediocre Smurf sequel feels safer than a brilliant news story you never heard of. Hollywood isn't just recycling, it's profit maximizing by tapping into how our minds crave the known. And as long as we reward the behavior with ticket sales, the sequels will keep coming. So it's very popular in certain circles to bash Hollywood say well, there's no original ideas in Hollywood. That's not quite true. There's plenty of original ideas. There are thousands and thousands and Thousands of scripts that are written every year registered with the guild. Pretty much none of them get made because it is too risky. Now, there was a time when you could do a movie like Sweet Smell of Success, one of my favorite movies of all time, or Chinatown. Something new, different, original, creative. And it could work because so little competition. There weren't Internet, there wasn't Tic Tac, there wasn't social media, there weren't a thousand cable channels. And it was just, frankly, a lot easier to try something completely new. And it could work. These days, the stakes are too high. The cost of production is too high. The cost of promotion is so high, studio heads are looking for sure things. And nothing beats something already well known. I gotta say, I feel sorry for teenagers today, having to look at the same movies, same concepts that I had to look at 30, 40, 50 years ago. So it is a little odd that people have to look at the same old stuff on the one hand. On the other hand, realize this is who we are as human beings. If you've ever gone to a restaurant and there are 50, 60, 70 entrees to choose from, and you pick the same thing you had last time, well, that's like going to see Jurassic Park 2 or Mission Impossible 11. You're sticking with the traditional of what you already know. If you've ever gone to an ice cream store that had 31 flavors or 52 flavors, and you picked vanilla or chocolate, well, you're essentially getting the reboot of the latest Marvel movie. You're getting what you already know. You're already familiar with it, and you're comfortable with it. So what does that mean to you and me if we're trying to be more successful? I think what it does mean is don't be afraid to not steal and just copy and do the same old thing and be boring and original, but build on things that people already know. William Shakespeare built on the fact that people already knew who Julius Caesar was. He didn't just create that new character out of thin air. Great novelists do it all the time. Great musicians build on a musical environment there, and they. They draw inspiration from people that already know. Now, there's a. There's an old saying that, you know, thieves steal from one person. Great artists steal from 10. When you're stealing from 10, you're bringing together enough ideas that people have seen other places. You're building on their ideas. Sometimes it's as little as 10% new ideas, whether it's a creative idea, whether it is a work of fiction or non. Fiction. If you try to create something new, 100% new, original, creative, sometimes it just falls flat. People can't relate to it. There's no frame of reference. Again, I'm not telling you. Just be content with making another Marvel movie of superheroes because everyone has a superhero they like. I'm not telling you that. What I am telling you is think about how you can incorporate at least one item, something already known, something people are familiar with. When you're launching something, everybody does do it. I'm guilty of it. Right now I am in a set that in some way looks similar to other successful superstars and podcasters on YouTube and other places. It wasn't a completely original idea. I am wearing a jacket and a pocket square. Is it completely original idea? Maybe I'd be original wearing a bathrobe, but that might be weird to people and turn people off. So I'm trying to do things that build on things that are already familiar to bring you in. I hope to give you some new ideas because that's what this show is all about. This show is changing its name to Filtered with TJ Walker because every day we look at the top business, technology and cultural stories filtered through the lens of communication skills and personal development. So that's we're about here. I appreciate you joining me. And we don't have a set time for the live yet every day. And I just moved into a new house building a new TV studio, so the schedule is a bit up in the year, but mark your calendars. On September 2, 2025, I'll be coming to you every single day. This is sort of a soft launch now, but we'll be coming to you every day. Video on demand, audio on demand, on every major podcast, on every major social media platform. And yes, we're going to try to do live as well. So if you have particular stories that you would like analyze through the lens of communication skills and personal development, let me know. The whole goal of this show is to improve you. It's so easy to watch the news and just get angry and depressed. Doom scroll. Oh, everything's awful. Well, certainly there are bad things going on in the world, but you and I can have a little fun when we look at the news and learn from it and improve so that you can be more successful and we can all be successful right here in this community. So that's really what the show is all about. Issue two, Gen Z is dropping out to chase the AI dream. And in San Francisco, artificial intelligence isn't just attracting PhDs and tech titans. It's drawing college dropouts and teenagers to San Francisco in droves. Mit, Stanford and Georgetown students are leaving schools mid degree to build AI startups. Why is this? The moment feels too big, too exciting to just sit in the classroom and study about it when you can be out creating the future. Take BRANDON Foody. He's 22 years old. He dropped out of Georgetown to co found Mercor, now valued at $2 billion. Or Jasper Carmichael. Jack, age 23, raised $35 million for his AI sales startup Artisan. Some are even younger. 18 year olds backed by VC firms are skipping college altogether to ride the AI wave. The energy is contagious. They're sharing ping pong tables, poker games and millions in venture capital. It kind of feels like 2004 again with Facebook getting really going then. Or I'm old enough to remember the late 1990s. In mid 96 to 99, 2000, things were really hopping. If you're waiting for a diploma before you bill something, you might be too late. That's what's being pushed out by the media. This is a story courtesy of the New York Times. I wouldn't go quite that far. We're all guilty of success wise. We read about Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates dropping out of college and becoming billionaires. It's far more likely to drop out of college and see a permanent lifetime loss of yearly income and net worth. So I'm not here telling you you've got to go out and quit college. The reason this story jumped out at me is it's yet another reminder to me that so much of communication that's really important in people's lives is face to face. Because when you think about it, we're all connected online. I'm here in Florida today and the next few months I'll be coming to you. Whether I'm in San Francisco or Taipei. I'll be coming to you from a lot of places. It doesn't matter. But especially when you're early in your career and you're trying to find yourself, build relationships, find funding, there's nothing like face to face conversations. Not everything can be done on the cell phone. I know that's shocking to some people. Not everything can be done on Zoom or YouTube or through a podcast. There's still a role for one on one in person conversation. Now it's true. Some of the 19 year olds out in San Francisco may be in a workspace or a coffee shop and they're chatting with someone on their cell phone who's two feet away, and they're doing it on their cell phone. There's still something about knowing you're physically close to someone. Now, the pandemic made a lot of people think, oh, no one needs to be in an office anymore. No one needs to be in a place like New York City or San Francisco anymore. Let's just all go off on our private island. And it did work for a while, and I moved away from the greater New York City area. But I'm in a little different place in my career than someone 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 years old. So my recommendation to you is if you are not doing exactly what you want to be doing in your career, especially if you're young and mobile, you really need to give thought to where are the people who are already doing the things you're most excited about doing? Living. And then you need to live there, move there, and maybe you have to live in a crummy studio apartment with five other people, if that's what it takes to be in that area. Now, you look at throughout history, and certainly a lot of beatniks, poets and artisans lived in Greenwich village from the 1930s until it got too expensive in late 1980s, 1990s. You look at the Impressionists who all flocked around the Montmartre district of Paris in the Impressionistic age and the 19th century, and it was an exciting and early 20th century exciting, exciting time where people feed on each other's energy. You do that by going out, having dinner together, having drinks together, having coffee together, I guess vaping together, if that's what you do. Human beings crave human contact in person. So if you want to be successful, you don't have to move far away, you don't have to leave your country, but you might want to consider doing it at some point in your career. I moved from North Carolina, where I grew up, right to New York City right out of college, because I thought that's the most exciting place to be in the world if you're fascinated by media. And I did make a lot of interesting contents. Interestingly, I made a contact there that then sent me to Alabama, Florida, D.C. and a handful of other places. Didn't get back to New York City for 10 years, but that was my primary professional home for the next two decades. I want you to really think about, if your career isn't going exactly where you want, figure out where are the people you care about. If you're really into music, maybe you move to Los Angeles. If you're into acting, move to New York City or Los Angeles now make short form video on YouTube. All along the way, you can in fact become an entertainer these days from anywhere in the world. Like the foremost tick tocker in the world is from Senegal and lives in Paris. A lot of the time you can live anywhere. But if you want that extra edge, certainly in certain industries and if you're trying to raise money for a startup, follow the money. And if you are in the AI and technology, the money is in San Francisco. There's more money in about six miles surrounding downtown San Francisco than there is in most of the countries of the world. In certain continents of the world, there's more money in that little area. So go where the money is. But not because it's easy to get money. It's because that's where there are interesting people already talking about the things you're talking about. That's where it's easy to get jobs, connections, information. If you are doing a startup, the people you need to hire are right there. You might meet them at a meetup in a way that you can't just do by posting a job opening on indeed or monster.com. it's just different meeting people in person, having a conversation, getting excited together, bringing people in. And that's why it's so important. Are there exceptions to this rule? Sure. Probably. The most successful personal development guru of the last decade is James Clear. As far as I know, he's lived in Columbus, Ohio most of his life, still lives there. And he can live wherever he wants. He can be around friends, family, relatives. He didn't have to move to New York to be a literary sensation. So yes, things are different for some fields. Being a writer is one of the fields that's different. But even there, so many of the most famous writers like to talk to other writers. They socialize with other writers. They share connections on who's got the podcast that will help me sell the most books. And they are networking constantly like that and going to each other's parties and having fun. So that is my lesson to you. It's. It's also very relevant to a lot of young people who are given the option in their first job to work remotely or go to an office. It's tempting to say, oh, great work remote. I can just be in my pajamas and drink coffee in bed and work. Big mistake. Especially if you're a young person, you don't build the relationships you do. If you were in the same office and could bump into people at the coffee copy machine or the coffee pot, the lunchroom and have real conversations. It's the serendipity of being physically together, having real conversations. That's where you get mentors. That's where you get told about upcoming job that no one else knows about yet that maybe never gets advertised, but you're already there. The people who have personal connections through actual conversations are always the last people to be fired. They're always the last people to get downsized. That remote worker that you never really met, it's just a name on a screen. They're the easiest ones to lay off because there's no personal connection. So that's really the point of this story today. It's not just about AI people moving to San Francisco. It's about finding a community of people that you care about. And yeah, you can do it online. And I try to do a little of that right here online too. But if you can do it in the real world, all the better. We'll be back after these commercial messages. Imagine having a communication coach who never sleeps. Meet your new secret weapon, the TJ Walker AI clone. Go to TJWalker AI and start getting custom coaching 24 7. No scheduling, no hourly fees. I train presidents, prime ministers and Fortune 500 CEOs. But the same exact communication I've delivered to work world leaders is now available to you online anytime@mediatrainingworldwide.com whether you're speaking on camera, pitching a client or handling a crisis, you need these tools. These aren't fluffy motivational videos. They're practical, battle tested techniques to help you speak clearly, competently and persuasively. Go to mediatrainingworldwide.com and get your communication to the next level. Got feedback or a question for me? I actually read them and if you send one I'll send you a free mini course as a thank you. Just head to tjwalker.com feedback ever wish you could just ask me your question live now? You can. Every week I go live with members only on YouTube. It's called TJLive. I review pitches, fix presentations and answer your questions on the spot. It's interactive, personal and hands on. If you want real time coaching in a small group setting, go to tjwalker.comlive and become a member. This isn't passive content, it's a two way conversation. Want to make sure we stay connected even if YouTube deletes me again? Join my newsletter@substack.com J WalkerSuccess it's free, fast and packed with exclusive insights. Donald Trump could live 20 more years or more like it or not. Some people are banking on Donald Trump's age catching up with him. They think the presidency or even the campaign trail might outlast him. But if you're counting on nature to do what politics hasn't, you might be in for a long wait. Now, this is a little bit of a different story. This is one of the few stories about Trump you'll see in the news where it's not particularly partisan. And I might upset people on all ends of the spectrum, too. Even though it's not an ideological point I'm making. Here's why I'm suggesting that Trump might actually live a very long time. Research shows that high status individuals live longer. It might not be fair, but it is. A landmark study found that Academy Award winners live on average five years longer than people who were nominated for the Academy Awards but didn't win. Why? Well, the thinking is it's the prestige, it's the attention, it's the positive reinforcement. These things have real physiological benefits and effects. It lowers your stress, it gives you a better immune function. Plus there's more access to care. Now, Trump doesn't just have status, he's drowning in it. He is these days, and I won't say whether it's good or bad or how he got it. He is a billionaire. So wealth brings you better access to health care, plus being president gives you better access to health care. I mean, Jimmy Carter just made it to 100. So the average age of people who get to be president has been pretty high in the last quarter century or so. Other things he has going for them, he's got the cameras, he's got the crowds, he's got the gold plated cards. All of these things give affirmation, positive attention. The other thing, sorry if this sounds superficial, but it's related to health. He's no longer clinically obese. Trump has lost a lot of weight. I won't speculate whether it's Wegovy or Ozipic or one of those things, but he has dropped a lot of weight. He does what doctors recommend and health experts, longevity experts. He's active in the sense that he's golfing a lot. He's maybe not burning up the treadmill, but he's not just sitting. He is active and plays golf, a low impact activity, which is often recommended for people near 80. And he will be 80 in the next year. He avoids all alcohol. That's considered a good thing. And his father lived to age 93. Now, it's true, his father did have Alzheimer's but lived at 93. That's a pretty ripe old age. And Trump seems, again, he's visibly thinner than he was in 2016 and appears to have as much energy. He's also very socially connected. That is considered a key to longevity. So often people, as they get older, retreat. They're in their own little bubble of watching tv, watching Wheel of Fortune or Fox News Channel, and not really talking to people. One thing we know about Trump, he does talk to people all day long. He's not isolated in a cabin. He's surrounded by allies, staff. He has purpose. I mean, one of the things that does make people seem to live a lot longer is waking up every day and saying, I've got a purpose. Well, if you're President of the United States, even if you're one, doing things that maybe a lot of people don't approve of, there's no doubt you get up in the morning feeling like you have purpose in your life. So he's actively engaged. This helps mental and physical health. And it's. It's bizarre. There have been many cases showing you take two people, one of them low status, low income, does all the healthy things. That person does not live as long as the person who's a bad eater doesn't exercise well, but has high status and attention. It's not fair. Not saying it's fair, but it is real. So barring a freak accident, Donald Trump could easily be on the stage for another 10, 15, or even 20 years. The idea that he's not even going to finish his first term, that's not science, that is wishful thinking. Now, now we get to the part that might annoy some people, because you could say there's a partisan twist to this. I am predicting. I've said it on this show before, I'll say it again, that Donald Trump does not leave the White House at the end of this term. I think he's going to do something along the lines of simply saying it's fake news, that presidents can only serve two terms, that there's not written in the Constitution anywhere, that a president can't run for a third term. I think we've, we've seen again and again and again. When he sees a rule he doesn't like, when he sees a constitutional provision he doesn't like, he just ignores it. And people say, well, wait a minute, that's illegal, unconstitutional. He ignores them. He attacks them. He eventually appoints it up judges to tell them they are wrong, and it's ignored. I do not believe that Trump will leave office while he's alive. And. And I'm not predicting any. And I'm not wishing anyone ill health. I'm not predicting he passes away anytime in the next 10 years. So don't act like I'm wishing ill will on him. I'm saying he's not leaving office. Maybe there's some loophole where they run Donald Trump Jr. So it's not technically the same person, and Donald Trump Senior is his chief of staff. But make no mistake about it, I think Donald Trump will be in the White House running things for as long as he lives. And those who take solace in the idea that he seems in very poor health, I think they are fooling themselves. That is my take on Donald Trump. So how is that relevant to you? Well, believe it or not, as much as I think, and a lot of observers think Donald Trump is the worst possible role model for people morally, intellectually, and in so many ways, ethically. There is something to him about the longevity and the energy he brings. When you see him speak, he doesn't seem like this tired old man. You might think he's a crazy old man, but he doesn't seem tired. He does seem to have good energy. And I think that's in part because he does have a purpose in life. He's not just content to sit back and count his money and watch TV and go to parties in Palm Beach. He is actively engaged. He is. He does appear to like golf. Now he is a golf cart. People who are serious about exercise and health would say far better to walk the lengths. But at least he's out doing some form of exercise. And whether it was through Ozempic or something else, he seemed to take seriously the idea of that maybe he weighed too much and he's done something to reduce his weight, not gain his weight, as so many people do when they get older. And he's certainly social. You can debate whether or not he has any true friend in the world. But I mean, this is somebody who surrounds himself with people all day long, every day, socializing with people, talking with. He's. He's connected to other human beings. So that is something all of us who want to live longer. And I don't know anyone who wouldn't want to be healthy and live longer. If you're unhealthy or in pain, okay? But if you could live a healthy, long life, that's really what we all want, because maybe it takes you longer to be successful than others in pain, okay? But if you could live a healthy, long life, that's really what we all want because it maybe it takes you longer to be successful than others. That's okay. Warren Buffett made some 93% of his wealth after the age of 60. Donald Trump was born in the very same year Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were born. And here he is. So the fact that it's taken him longer doesn't matter. If you're healthy and energetic and active, that's okay. So that's really my point that I wanted to get across here with this, with this age thing, because I do think it's, it's highly relevant to all of us because we all want to live longer and be healthy. If you have a comment, feel free to share. I I see a new format with my office desk today, but I see Pablo has joined. Checking with Pablo, saying hello from sunny Mexico. Hola, senor. Glad, glad you're there. Glad you're joining us. As long as people do not start using your AI clone for Tinder, just as somebody did with a rubber finger swiping right till the infinite and beyond. I'm not sure I quite got that. But, but yes, I do have an AI clone, TJ Walker AI and you know, if you can use that clone to get dates, good for you, I hope. If nothing else, it might help you figure out what to say for small talk on a date if it helps you with that. That's not how I programmed it, but it probably could help you rehearse if you wanted to rehearse how to ask someone out on a date on a phone. I don't know if people even do that anymore, but if you wanted to rehearse, yes, my AI clone is there for you, TJ Walker AI and it costs nothing the first handful of times you try it. Pablo, where are you in Mexico? I my sister just got back from spending a couple of weeks and I believe the southwestern part of Mexico, she loves it there. I've been to Mexico City, I guess three or four times in my life. Always have a fantastic time and hoping to spend more time in Your great country. Issue 4 Trump's trade tactic Pay cash or pay tariffs. This is bizarre by normal standards, but bizarre is now the norm for the Trump administration. So some of you might have liked my last story about predicting Trump is going to live a long, long healthy life. You might not like this one. President Trump, it's been announced today, has turned trade negotiations and into reality tv. It's essentially show me the money or pay a tariff in his second term strategy. Trump isn't just Asking nations to lower tariffs. He's demanding they pledge billions in US investments to earn lower rates. South Korea, they pledged $350 billion. Japan, $550 billion. The European Union, $600 billion, or so they claim. Some of this could just be smoke and mirrors. This isn't standard trade policy. It's more like art of the deal kind of. Art of the deal meets global shakedown. Experts say it's unclear if these numbers are enforceable. Hint they're not. And others like 90% of profits going to Americans. That's what he claims. That sounds like complete BS branding, not policy. Still, Trump's tactics might work politically, at least in the short term. He gets headlines, photo ops, and boast about bringing $10 trillion to the United States, even if it's mostly smoke and mirrors. Forget free trade. This is fee trade, and everyone's got to pay to play. Okay, what's really going on here? This is corruption, folks. The only thing that surprises me in this story is that Trump isn't telling foreign countries, wire a billion dollars into my own personal bank account. Although with his cryptocurrencies and various things on the blockchain, that can be happening, too. And you. And I don't know about it because it can be done anonymously, but that's really the only. Only thing that surprises me is that he's not just demanding that it go to Mar a Lago in gold bullion or that he be given a percentage ownership of foreign countries, exchanges and their infrastructure. Yes, it is a global shakedown. Yes, it is, by traditional standards, insanity. And it's really making us hate it. When I say us Americans, it's making us hated around the world that we. We treat good trading partners so shabbily. But even worse, we're treating Americans poorly because Americans are seeing their prices go up. Yes, inflation is going up. Americans are also feeling it in lower productivity. We're seeing it as was just revised last week, with unemployment going up. Our labor markets are not doing as well because people are like, what's going on? The whole world is crazy with what's going on with international commerce, all because of the whims of one person. Pablo has a heart message and says, yeah, Durango, the land of scorpions. Okay, I guess that's where you're from. Thank you so much for joining and telling us about that. And I apologize on behalf of the United States for the shabby treatment our current leadership has given the good people of Mexico, implying, as he did in his first bid for office, that Mexico is Essentially full of rapists, which is an absolute smear. So what's really going on here? What's the significance of this? It is yet another example of how if you erode the lines a little bit every day, people don't even notice. I doubt I'll even remember this story 24 hours now. Because if every single day is a breaking of a standardized norm that has worked well for hundreds of years or at least decades for worldwide commerce and the United States government, if you break one line every day, no one's going to remember any one line you broke. At some point, though, there will be accountability. Even if Trump takes control of everyone who gives up statistics from the Labor Department and the Commerce Department and every other department. And even if we have 30% inflation, he just tells people it's 0% inflation. You and I are not stupid. We will notice that our prices have gone up a third and politicians lose their popularity very quickly when that happens, as we saw in the last couple of years here in the United States, even having inflation go up a couple of points beyond the standard 2, 3% is enough to destroy a presidency. So it's going to be interesting to see the. There were a lot of naysayers and a lot of commentators who predicted earlier this year that Trump's gambit on tariffs would destroy the stock market, destroy the worldwide economy, cause massive inflation and massive unemployment. And that has not happened yet, in fairness. So the people who said this is going to be so awful, it's instantaneously going to destroy markets, they are, are wrong. But if they said, if they didn't predict it was going to happen in the first six months, they're not wrong yet. We'll be following this very carefully. I do think that the real lesson here is when you have leverage, when you have power, you can twist people's arm. You can be the bully. If you're in sixth grade and you're already 5, 10, 180 pounds and the kids walking down the street past your household to go to the school bus or to go to the, to the playground are in first grade and they're four feet tall and they're 80 pounds, yes, you can demand that they give you their lunch money and short term, you can get away with it. Get away with it for a day. You get away with it for a week, maybe a month. But at some point, the kid's going to tell their parents and there's going to be some 6 foot 2, 220 pound father is going to come out and, or mother and they're going to say, what are you doing? Give me the money back. How dare you torture my child just because you had the power to do so. And if you ever do that again, I'm going to wring your neck at some point. That day is coming, maybe not for this individual, but it's happening reputationally for Americans. Americans are developing nasty reputations around the world, or America is, because of this sort of extortion. Let's call it what it is. We've seen it domestically with CBS and Paramount paying $16 million bribes. I mean, it's a fine line. What's a bribe? What's an extortion? Depends on who's. Who's doing what first. But it's happened domestically now, it's happening internationally and it's ruining our reputation. In your own personal life, you don't go out of your way to work with people who demand bribes and extort you. You go out of your way to avoid those people. You don't cut them in on deals. You don't invite them to the next business you start. You try to stay away from them. Unfortunately, that is what is happening to the United States because of exactly what's going on in our federal government today. Let's switch gears for the final story. It's a little more uplifting, although, depending on your perspective, you might not find this particularly uplifting, but a blast from the past. Charlie Rose is back. Charlie Rose was someone who had some problems a few years ago. Let's bring you up to speed. Charlie Rose is back, and he's bringing his signature hush tones and cerebral interviews to YouTube. The former PBS and CBS talk show host is now 82 years old. He's quietly launched a new channel. I should say relaunch. He's had the channel for a while and he's got some clips from 10, 15 years ago on it, but he's got new clips interspersed and he's putting out a bunch of new, interesting content. Some of his videos. I'm going to show you one in a moment. Have racked up 250,000 views and he's got a quarter million subscribers. His new show follows the old formula. One on one interviews with intellectuals, artists and newspapers, this time without a major network, although you could make the case. YouTube is a major network these days. Rose's career imploded in 2017. Wow, it's been that long now? It's been eight years. It happened after eight women accused him of sexual harassment, including groping and unwanted advances. He was swiftly fired from CBS this Morning and his long running PBS show was canceled. Now in the age of digital reinvention, Rose is attempting a second act or a third or fourth. He's been around a while. There's no network, no studio, just a table, two chairs and a camera. Whether audiences forgive or forget remains to be seen, but the view count suggests many are at least curious. Let's take a look directly and I will give you a few of my thoughts of what he's doing. Is a New York writer whose books have been about media and power, Rupert Murdoch and Fox News and Donald Trump and the presidency. His most recent is all or Nothing How Trump Recaptured America. So pretty similar to his old show that was on for decades. A black background. Now look, I don't look like I did 15 or 20 or 30 years ago, so let me show enough self awareness to not seem like I'm, I'm petty and lacking self awareness. He looks old. Let's not, let's not kid ourselves. Charlie Rose was always considered by most common standards to be a good looking man. Michael Wolf and James Truman, former 82 Editor. I guess he's good looking for Fire and Fury, but let's take a look. Jeffrey Epstein's also recorded many conversations between them for a possible book. He kind of sounds the same, although a little older. And he's got a lot more hair than I do, so I'm not knocking his hair, but it's sort of wild. You can tell he doesn't have the full makeup department and hair department of CBS News behind him anymore or even pbs. And his glasses, to me, I mean they look almost like he took them from an old lady. But he's out there, he's reinventing himself, he's doing new shows. And here's the interesting thing. This interview was done just a few days ago. He's doing current things. Michael Wolf, renowned author and journalist, has a new book out and this, this video was posted just six days ago, has almost 300,000 views. So those are very respected. He has more audience than I do. Here's why I put this up here. And I, I don't in any way mean to suggest that the charges that brought him down, that got him kicked out shouldn't be taken seriously. I'm not here to absolve him sins or crimes, nor has he asked for me to absolve him. My point is here's a guy who, plenty of money, rich, rich guy. He can just ride off in the sunset on his farm, his oceanfront property in Long island, his other vacations. He doesn't ever have to work again at 82. And yet he craves communication with people. Communication is fun. Being able to have conversations with the most interesting people in the world is a fun, fun thing. He wants back in the game. And he realized, I think finally that okay, no big network is going to come give him another gig after this scandal hit him. At the time he was 75 years old. I mean, he was already a little long in the tooth to be a network anchor on a major show like the CBS morning show. But he finally realized that, you know what, I don't need the gatekeepers stamp of approval. I could just be my own TV network. Which he's doing right here now. Interestingly, he's doing a mix of old interviews and new ones, but he's putting in new stuff regularly, seems to be having fun. What's the real message to you? What I want you to take away is stop using excuses. He could use the excuse of, oh, I've, I've been disgraced, I've been run out of the industry. I better not, I better hide my face. No, he's putting his face out there again. He's opening himself up to criticism. That part I applaud. Again, I'm not applauding the what he did or saying the allegations were not serious or credible. I'm not weighing into that debate right now. What I am saying is he wasn't convicted of any crimes. He sort of took a public shaming, retreated from public life a number of years. And I say I want to be a part of fix. And the fact that not everybody loves me, I'm not holding back the fact that I'm not the young, good looking 30 year old Charlie Rose, he's not letting that hold him back. The fact that no TV network is demanding him to come back and giving him the sound, he's not letting that bother him either. He's just saying, I want to speak out, I want, I'm going to do it. And if I don't have the money for the right hair and makeup people anymore, that's okay, I'm just going to do it. Too many of us, I think, use the excuse of we don't have fame or looks or power or charm. We can't do a YouTube show or we can't do a podcast. Look, I'm no spring chicken, but compared to Charlie Rose, I'm practically eye candy. I mean, he's old. He's literally old enough to be my father. He is a good two decades older than I am and he's out essentially working on a new channel. What excuse do I have? And what excuse do you have to not be doing your own channel, your own podcast or your own tick tock or something for you are communicating? Because communication, it can be a great way of building wealth. It's worked out nicely for me. It can be a great way to be a, to enhance any career. It can also just be really fun to talk to interesting people. So I applaud Charlie Rose for getting out, back in the game, getting involved, not letting people tell him you don't have the right to speak out anymore. Again, let's assume for a moment he did these horrible things and whether amends were made or apologies were made, I don't believe anything went too far in the legal system. He's back and I would predict that he'll probably keep doing this until health prevents him or expiration prevents him, as can happen to all of us. Certainly that's my goal. I hope to be here with you every day or near every day until I can't speak or until I'm not around anymore. Because it's fun, I enjoy it and I like to think I'm helping you. And I'm helping myself, too. I'm TJ Walker. Thanks so much for joining me today. If you're watching this on Demand, please tell me what you like, what you don't like in general. What I try to do is look at the top five news stories of the day that relate to business, technology and culture, and then analyze it through the lens of communication skills and personal development, all with the goal of improving your personal success. Thanks for joining me. Please like the channel, subscribe to it, like the video, leave comments and sign up for notifications. Thanks.