All Things DNC, Election Updates, and Guest Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham

1h 3m
Laura Coates joins Kara as co-host to discuss all things DNC! Top speakers, funny moments, and better vibes than the RNC. And of course, Tim Walz’s pep talk for the country. Plus, the latest on the race: RFK Jr. plans to drop out and endorse former President Trump. Then we’re joined by Friend of Pivot and Governor of New Mexico, Michelle Lujan Grisham.
Watch Kara and Scott’s interviews with Congressman Maxwell Frost, and Senators Michael Bennet, Mark Kelly and Amy Klobuchar on our YouTube channel here.
You can follow Laura on X at @thelauracoates.
You can find Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on threads at @govmlg.
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Transcript

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Hi, everyone.

This is Pivot from New York Magazine and the Box Media Podcast Network.

I'm Kara Swisher.

I'm just back from Chicago and once again, Scott-free, although Scott and I had a fantastic time there after we got him past Secret Service, which was a problem.

but i have another amazing guest co-host it's cnn's laura coates one of my favorite people the host of the laura coates live in the late evening how are you how's it going i'm good you're still in chicago I'm still in Chicago.

It was a celery salt with the hot dogs.

So me and my acid reflux are going to remain for a little bit with these hot dogs.

You've got to do the entire time.

You've got to do it.

How long do you do?

Can people understand what

you all have to do there every night?

There's boxes that you sit in, right?

All these boxes.

There's boxes we sit in.

There's soap boxes we stand on.

It's all there.

No, we have, so my setup is, well, first, you know, I do Sirius XM in the morning, like 6 a.m.

to 8 a.m.

this time.

Then we kind of do the all day sort of going to the convention, talking to people, having the conversations, getting to where people are.

And then at night, with the primetime lineup, it starts.

And we are either in what's called this anchor suite overlooking the stage.

And I, of course, have that vibe being in the United States, are thinking, will Michael Jordan come out all of a sudden?

There'll be the whole great thing.

And then we've got the CNN Flego Grill where they just load us up with food.

We've got anywhere from the hot dogs to the mozzarella sticks to the Sunday bar just to make sure that we don't realize that we're up all night 24-7.

It works.

And honestly, it is a great time to get to see people in their element.

I mean, you know, the conventions.

People are out there.

There's the schmoozing and the elbow rubbing.

There's also people who are trying to understand what the platform is.

They're trying to network in order to get things done eventually because we're 75 days away, right?

Something like that for the election.

And so we are interviewing people.

We're trying to get a sense of what comes next because obviously the convention, you know, Kara, it's got that preacher, it's a choir feel, but they got to get it outside of the convention halls.

And so what's next is our focus.

And it was funny to watch the networking scene.

It's really healthy.

I mean, I saw Michael Cohen there.

I say, like Dean Phillips was there being very thirsty about talking to everybody.

Well, it was, it was, he's a Minnesotan, and he has been looking at another Minnesotan, getting a whole lot of attention.

Maybe he's one sip.

Damn,

damn, he's saying, damn, it was me.

You know, there were a lot of possible presidential candidates there, too, who, who could have, it could have been them, right?

Whether it's Gavin Newsom or Amy Klobuchar or anybody else.

And here it is this, right?

So they probably are all trying to like tamp down their ambition and then be like, we're here for the team, for Coach Walls kind of thing.

Well, that's why the Sunday bar good.

You can swallow down some of that pride

with a nice little hot fudge.

But you know what?

You're right.

The Democrats have been talking for a long time about the deep bench, right?

They're talking about their bench and they have the future and they've got their widest party and they're able to, there's room for everyone from the Bill Clinton Democrats to the AOC Democrats to everyone in between.

And they've been trying to show it this week.

Now,

you contrast that to the split screen of Milwaukee and you didn't have, say, George W.

coming out and you didn't have the same, you know, your grandfather's Republican Party.

You didn't have it.

Just so you know, we're recording this on Thursday morning before the big night tonight with Kamala Harris.

But I'm sure Beyonce and Taylor Swift were great.

I'm sorry to miss it.

But yeah, this is definitely a party vibe.

We're going to get, we're going to do a deep dive on all this today.

The speeches, the breakout moments, the good vibes.

Plus, our friend of Pivot is New Mexico's Democratic governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham.

She's lively.

She did a spoke at the convention this week, and her state is at the forefront of some most important issues of the election, especially immigration.

So what do you think of the messaging so far?

Aside from the fact that, look, it's a bubble, no matter how you slice it.

And I'm not trying to be the bummer here, but a lot of the Harris people I ran into kept saying that to me, like trying to bring it down.

It was really interesting, even though the messaging was forward, fast forward, Kamala's great, she's a leader, everything else.

Give me sort of your overall view of the messaging.

You know, what I thought was interesting is this word underdog we keep hearing about, right?

I mean, people in America and in the rest of the world, they love an underdog story.

So on the one hand, I think people like to feel as though there is a hurdle and then there's psychological dopamine effect to being able to overcome it.

But then there's also the realization of, no, no, it's not just for show.

There's actually an election to win or to lose and you can do both things.

And I feel like the vibe is optimistic.

It is certainly a whole different ballgame than what we were hearing about even a month ago.

People were prepping for like funeral vibes for the DM.

Can you imagine if it was the other?

I was thinking that.

I think my phone would blow up less about trying to come to the grill.

Right, right.

That would be a different thing.

But now I think they have to manage expectations.

And the lawyer in me is always like, when someone would ask in private practice, otherwise, are we going to win?

And you'd kind of be like, in the back of your mind, heck yeah.

On the other hand, I need to make sure that there is an equal part CYA and you're not getting ahead of your own skis.

I think that's what they're doing because I think the more people try to count Donald Trump out and have amnesia about the resilience of a man called Teflon Don,

it's going to be problematic.

They're trying to thread that needle.

What do you think about the, I mean, the way in which he works I think well, I think, I think they think he's like, you know, Dracula, right?

Right.

Like, are you sure that steak is in there?

Are you sure?

Are you sure?

You know, I think he gets up a lot, a lot more than you think.

Although it does seem, I mean, I think the messaging I thought was interesting is the shift from democracy is at risk which is like really big like oh god i've got to save democracy this morning i also have to feed my kids right breakfast and i've got to stop them fighting with each other do your kids actually eat breakfast because mine don't they just eat cheese and then they complain about hunger and starvation yes exactly right eat your grape nuts right now um but it's uh my kids weirdly enough love grape nuts wait a second am i one of your children because i happen to love i'm not going to age myself because i love grape nuts it's kind of an interesting thing for kids too it's very fibrous though i know it's fibrous it's fibrous they like it What can I say?

I'm

a better parent than you.

Sean,

no, I'm kidding.

But I think the idea of making him small rather than this sort of big villain is smart, I think.

I mean, existential threat to democracy doesn't fit on a t-shirt very well as much as, you know, other things.

But it's interesting because there has been a conscientious and intentional choice, I feel, like, to make him diminished, right?

And to suggest that, oh, it's just a mosquito one wants to gnat away in some way, or as Hakeem Jeffrey talked about, the boyfriend circling the block that, you know, there's a reason we broke up.

I think all those ways is doing perhaps a benefit to trying to get Democrats to focus on their platform, but it's also getting under the collar and under the skin of Donald Trump.

Yeah, he can't focus when he's being attacked like this.

I mean, I think the penis thing with Obama was the best thing I've ever seen.

I don't know if it'll work, but it was very funny.

He obviously was trying to insinuate that Donald Trump is a small penis, which I thought.

Was it an insinuation or did we go past that?

I think we went way past that.

But Scott and I talked to quite a few lawmakers at the convention.

We did actual interviews like you, including Congressman Maxwell Frost of Florida.

We wanted to talk to the first Gen Z member of Congress.

Here's what he had to say about the momentum of this campaign.

Let's listen.

I have one more quick question.

Kamala Harris has caught up.

Do you think she has a big chance of winning here?

She certainly has momentum.

Yeah.

We're going to win this campaign.

But what I'm telling people too, especially because I'm an organizer, organizer, is we can't let this excitement cloud us.

That's what the Republicans did.

Yeah, yeah.

We're not going to win no matter what.

We're going to win when we do the work, if we do the work.

And we will do the work.

And that's, as I've been traveling, I'll tell you, people are excited and they're getting to work.

So they use the word work a lot on stage.

Do you agree with this?

What's the, does this enthusiasm have momentum?

This honeymoon has gone on for quite a while.

And of course, the Republicans are blaming the media for being cheerleaders.

And it's not real.

It's AI'd, which I think is kind of strange.

It's a real thing.

I feel as though Democrats, again, they're aware that as much as people love an underdog and Cinderella story, the teardown can be enticing as well.

And you know that when you have people, you'll have,

what do they say?

And that's life.

It's all people say you're flying high on Monday, you're shot down in May, right?

That's part of the political give and take.

And I do think that.

The Democrats are going to have to really try to keep an eye on the prize.

But what that prize is, is shifting on one day the prize is just trying to stay above the fray and not roll around in the mud the other day it's trying to make sure people are convinced that there's not some disingenuous service from the governor of minnesota another day it's having conversations about whether it was ivf or whether it was iui then you've got swatting away of and you know when she turned black or otherwise and you got immigration and the economy still on the horizon so they're going to have to shift a lot and have to focus but this is the thing I've been talking to a lot of people about on the ground here, Kara.

They are frustrated by the double standard that's ahead.

And I don't just mean that I'm talking about a woman running for office or a woman of color running for office or being in office.

It's also about what is expected of Kamala Harris and what's expected as an incumbent versus a former president.

One would think that a former president would be held to the same granular detail standard of developing and explaining a platform.

Not the case.

What Harris and Walls will have to explain is very different than what Trump and Vance will have to explain and account for.

And I think the frustration is what will be the tactic going forward to address a double standard and not falling for the bait, which a lot of people are talking about, the bait of mispronunciation.

You know, I had Corey Lewandowski on my Sirius XM show just the other day, and I heard him mispronounce her name consistently.

And I have the impression when I hear this time and time again that people would like you to derail and focus on this detail as opposed to the questions that are being asked and what the people want to know about.

And so the frustration will be the fear of how it will be handled because the double standard is real and the derailment is possible.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're focusing on why you're pronouncing it that way.

I mean, Nancy May said it out loud on CNN the other day.

Like, I'm just going to mispronounce it because I want to.

It's so childish.

And then you end up talking about that.

See, what I would do is I would call him

Lebowski.

I'm sorry.

I can't.

I just keep mispronouncing his name and then not noting it.

It's just a tip there.

Just to note, Scott and I also spoke to senators Michael Bennett, Mark Kelly, Amy Klobuchard.

Those full videos are on our YouTube channel, Pivot with Kara Swisher and Scott Kelly, which you should subscribe to already.

But there have been a lot of great speakers so far, the Obamas, Doug Mhoff, Oprah, that was a some speech, Hillary Clinton.

Who have been, stack rank them for me.

Who have been your favorites?

And what do you think has been most effective?

i think that first lady michelle obama brought the house down yeah i think it's pretty clear that when she left the oval office she left the f's so to speak or the concerns behind about

here well i i could but then then i would have said that okay

very edges of it right she left it behind and i feel like there is a something very freeing it seems at times i'm experiencing and hearing from them all where they've got nothing left to lose and everything to lose.

And

I feel like she, in her address about the black jobs comment, I mean, the whole room went, oh, you know, fist to mouth leaning back and looking around.

I think after her, I think it was Barack Obama.

I thought for different reasons, Wes Moore and Secretary Buttigig were great at showing the future.

I thought the families of the hostages were particularly compelling and addressed partially an elephant in the room and outside the convention hall.

And then I thought Tim Waltz, coach,

I thought the folksy manner that we often are accustomed to for Bill Clinton compared to the true folksiness as well of coach, I thought played really well.

But if I'm remembering one person and Oprah, it goes without saying.

Yeah.

Purple suit alone.

I kept going, she's still, she's still got it.

She's still the best.

She was incredible.

And of course, she did the whole cobbler.

She had to.

She had to.

She knew it.

And she knew it's also.

Chicago's her town.

Right.

I get there was a hometown here.

Welcome.

Now, Biden was great too.

The first night.

I thought it was in many ways.

That was good.

I know.

I thought it was the goodbye for him.

Yes, but I thought it was like, we don't need to stay in the union speech right now.

We need a grandpa's going.

And I love you so much, kids, kind of thing.

I thought it was way too much.

He can do whatever he wants.

You know what I mean?

Same thing with Hillary.

She can do her little laugh about the locker up, but they've got to go, I think, is the whole, the idea of it, right?

It's time to go and turn, not just turn the page on Donald Trump, but turn the page on a lot of things, right?

To me, I'll tell you what the most effective thing so far, and I was there for two nights and I watched it on television because it's a very different experience on television versus being there.

I'll tell you that.

Cause you don't know, I kept thinking while I was in the hall, how is this actually looking on camera, right?

Like what, um, and some of them spoke right to the camera, like a lot of them, like obviously Oprah, Obama, Michelle Obama, they understood who they were speaking to, right?

Which was these ratings are pretty good, right?

They're 20 million or whatever, although they skew very old, by the way.

But I think it was, I think it was the football team that came out.

The guy who was the football guy, the guy who was talking about his, and then they brought out all the old guys in

like

that don't fit.

Like, you know what I mean?

I was like, oh my God, they must love this guy, right?

Well, first of all, good.

I'm glad for once a man's shirt doesn't fit on stage.

You know what?

The pouch is is real.

Whatever.

I thought that was like, okay, these do not look like Kamala Harris typical voters, but they are, right?

I thought that was really, and I thought the guy who introduced it was quite...

sharp.

I was like, oh, handsome man's coming out.

And then he delivered.

I thought that was really strong.

I felt like Doug Moffs was adorable.

It was adorable.

And that was nice.

Adorcable.

You said, I love that.

Hey,

Doug.

Like everybody could relate to that.

I think a lot of it was relatable.

But again, I think the most effective were like the football players, the girl who got raped by her stepfather.

That kind of stuff does resonate, I do think,

especially I could see ads being cut from a lot of this stuff.

Well, there's the organic idea.

I mean, every politician strives to be the everyday person.

Right.

And then when you actually bring on everyday real people who don't have the same, you know, cards in the game, it's a whole different ballgame.

But can we just talk for a second about Gus, his son, crying?

And that was very

sweet and endearing, wasn't it?

I don't cry ever.

And that made me, I was like, oh my God.

And obviously he is, he's neurodivergent.

And that was, that was real.

You know, the split screen, though, what do you think of the split screen of, you know, the moments when you bring out the families for, say, the RNC versus now?

They look like they like each other.

When we talked about the RNC, everyone kept saying, wow, this really humanizes Donald Trump.

It really humanizes him to see his grandchild on his lap or his granddaughter on the stage or his daughter's in law.

His granddaughter was good.

They didn't talk about the fact that the spouse, Melania Trump, did not speak, although she was there.

Yeah.

Does it really make a difference to voters whether the spouses speak?

Do you think?

Oh, I think Melania is doing him a disfavor by what she's doing.

I mean, you know, whatever.

She got paid, whatever.

But

I think they were much more.

Yes, I do think people like to see families who seem to like each other working or are complex because most people's families are complex.

But the contrast I really saw was the sense of humor.

Like there was no humor at the Republic.

It was very funereal, really, especially with everyone wearing maxi pads on their heads.

And

I don't know how you all kept a straight face and not know, what are you doing?

But they were ultra-thins.

They were ultra-thins.

Okay.

It's folded much better.

Still as absorbent.

Anyway,

so

they, I think Democrats use successfully used humor as a tactic.

And I think it worked.

I was trying to, I get a little worried if you're a little too snarky at people, like you're that the regular people are like, that's not funny.

But these were actual funny jokes.

Let's listen to Michelle Obama, you just referred to.

Who's gonna tell him that the job he's currently seeking might just be one of those black jobs

and now former President Barack Obama: There's the childish nicknames,

the crazy conspiracy theories,

this weird obsession with crowd sizes.

The other day I heard someone compare Trump to the neighbor who keeps running his leaf blower outside your window every minute of every day.

Did they succeed in making it fun and funny?

Because there's a thin, there's a line where you're too mean, right?

Or you're snarky and you're too elite in that regard.

I think this is a double-standard thing again.

Democrats have been traditionally so worried about maintaining the moral high ground that they don't engage in the same tactics that Republicans often do.

So they would even, they're probably having a conversation about, do you think it's too much or too little, which would never occur to the campaign of Trump versus Vance to figure out, are we being either snarky enough or combative enough or aggressive enough or below the belt enough?

And I wonder sometimes if voters, one, really do have the appetite for, you know, the mud, but also whether they're wondering, why isn't there more of this because they see well they well not just hit for tat it's like you know bringing a a grape to a fist fight you you gotta you gotta bring something 70 something days before an election i don't think they got too snarky but i think there is a risk kara back to your earlier point overconfidence can make you make missteps and you can take something that otherwise people were behind you and then it goes too far too quickly right right i i do think one of the things about kamala harris um and she and i've talked about this i've felt she's too cautious of who she is.

One of the things that Kamala Harris, I know, and I think Barack Obama had this problem, is she couldn't be an angry black man.

She can't be an angry black lady, right?

She can't be righteous.

She can't feel like the way she reacted to him calling her turning black, I thought was really interesting.

She just was like, that's nonsense.

She just, she ignored it, right?

She could have gone righteous easily.

And that would have annoyed people, even if it's correct to be angry about it.

And I think Michelle Obama decided to do that for her.

She's the one who's like, this guy, and let me tell you, like, she's absorbing the anger for Kamala, who can then be joyful.

You know, are you kidding?

I've never been accused of being an angry black woman at all.

I don't, I don't know what you mean with the resting bitch face.

I don't know what, what, I don't know what you're talking about at all.

But I tell you, how, how rare it is to see a former first lady become the attack dog for a candidate in the future, right?

And I think you're exactly right about why and what the assignment is.

Because as she said in her speech, her anger towards Trump was for how many years you tried to make the American people afraid of us, afraid of us, pointing to herself and successful, you know, black men and women and people of color and have otherism replace policy differences and objections.

And I think for Kamala, waiting to hear how all this was playing and having the ability to take a step back and see how the speech of the Obamas went over, how it's being received, what has has picked up.

It is a focus group in real time.

But I think she's got to address the issues of identity.

There is a lot of conversation about, hey, she's got to define herself and introduce herself.

But then she's also got to talk about the issues, right?

Once you get past what people already see, what are you going to do for us?

What are you going to do for us, right?

She is naturally a happy person.

I mean, when she's now this, like, oh, this is what she's like, I'm like, she's always been like this.

She just is cautious.

She's always been overly cautious, in my assumption.

And I get it.

I don't even like, I know why she's doing it.

But I think that she, you're right, she's got to say who she is.

And just like, you either like me or you don't.

This is what I, this is what I am.

All right, let's go on a quick break.

We come back.

We'll talk about Tim Waltz's big night and the DNC's roll call dance party.

And we'll talk to New Mexico Governor Michelle Luhan Grisham.

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Laura, we're back and we're talking about one of the biggest moments of the DNC so far.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walls accepted the Democratic nomination for vice president on Wednesday with a speech that really was a pep talk for the country.

Walls shared his personal story, talked about his record, made a case for Kamala Harris, and yes, reminded everyone about weird Republicans.

This is, are you the biggest speech of Tim Walls' career?

How do you look at it?

I thought it was a moment to define who he would be in relation to Kamala Harris.

Would he be somebody who had this spotlight on him and he focused on himself or would he focus on what as a team they could do with her at the helm?

I thought it was really effective.

And the idea that as a coach, the focus would still be on what's going on in the field and the players.

That and that analogy is going to continue throughout this entire thing.

I thought he came across as down-to-earth, as folksy, as an everyday sort of person.

The Second Amendment comments he raised, I think, were probably what will be most effective.

Yeah.

The only thing he didn't say, and I was waiting because he did the whole to take the ball down the line.

You know, she did that.

I was like, why didn't you say, give the ball to Kamala?

She's our quarterback and she's going to run it through with our help.

She didn't, he didn't do that.

That's the only like ridiculous football trope he didn't do.

And I was like, if you're going to go halfway, go all the way, sir.

Anyway, there was a talk when Waltz was chosen as VP.

If you said that he should have been Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, who also spoke last night.

Has Waltz silenced the doubters?

Obviously, one of the things I was getting from a lot of the Harris people was they're very worried about Pennsylvania.

That seems to be on their brains, the worry about losing Pennsylvania.

But is he silenced doubters now?

I thought when Josh Shapiro spoke, he's not a vice president.

He's a leading man.

Like, this is not a vice president.

Well, I think there were sources who said that that was precisely why he was not a chosen person, that he was not, you know, you remember we heard famously Biden talking about Obama and that he wanted to be the last guy in the room.

He didn't want to be sidelined.

He wasn't going to be the curtains in the room.

He was going to be the person sitting next to you at the desk.

I think you have to, if you are on the top of the ticket, decide who is going to be in that position so that when you go to them, they've got your back.

They don't have a knife aiming for your back.

Now, I'm not suggesting that he had that, but that's part of the calculus.

And I think watching Walls, I think it became clear to people who had never maybe heard of him before or been introduced in the same way that they go, oh, I get it.

And that epiphany is probably what you want to have among voters who are already on your camp, whether it entices other voters to go, oh, wait, I like him now.

The opposite effect has happened after the polling came out for J.D.

Vance.

Instead, it was,

I don't get it, you know?

And so I think that in the epiphany is a little bit different.

I think, though, Shapiro

is not done with his political ambition, nor, you know, for him, should he be.

I think there are a number of people, though, that we saw come across that stage who would find themselves in a primary, who would find themselves in an election in the future.

And I think more than them sizing up Tim Walls, they were sizing up one another and trying to figure out which of us is going to be our main contender and which of us us will be the person as the second in command.

Right.

What I thought when I saw both Super and Buddha Judge, and I thought Budajaj did a better job, honestly, because he comes off as much more likable in that regard, was I was I say Kamal Hera's won, so that's 2028, say she wins again.

I thought these are the two people fighting for 2032, which is interesting.

Or a Wes Moore?

Yeah, Wes Moore.

Oh, yeah, Wes Moore was terrific, too.

And who knows?

And that's the thing.

I mean, look, if the last month is any indication, you have no idea who's going to be on the top of it.

The things change like that.

I think they do.

Four years ago, we thought he'd be on the top of the ticket or not.

Yeah.

One last question about that.

He has a debate with J.D.

Vance.

I have this weird idea.

Listen, hear me out.

J.D.

Vance has an issue with men and strong men and the need to have them around.

You know what I mean?

Like, because, and he's written about it in his book.

So I'm not like going off on a limb here because of his own father and everything else.

He's talked about it rather significantly in that book.

And you could see that, like the need for a strong male figure in his life.

And I thought, how's he going to react to Tim Walls?

Right.

Who is dad?

Right.

Who's the good dad?

He had a bad dad.

In the debate, I thought, that's going to be an interesting, because here you have someone who's incredibly likable.

And I don't think J.D.

Mans is stupid, but he's not likable.

He's unlikable, actually, in that.

And even, you remember when Barack Obama called Hillary likable enough?

He's not even likable enough.

How do you see that,

the contrast playing out there?

Well, the Hollywood fan in me wants to see a good Will Hunting, Robin Williams, Matt Damon.

It's not your fault, man.

And then he cries a hug out.

And he cries and he goes, that's my dad.

That's what, I mean, you know, that would be a, that would be a moment.

He just keep repeating it.

It's not your fault.

It's not your fault.

It's not your fault.

That would be amazing.

But the realist, the pragmatist in me says, I think you're going to see, even though age was an issue before with Biden and Trump, I think the age difference and the coach to sort of could have been my student difference will show in a way where I don't think Walls will come across as condescending or patronizing.

And I think by default, you'll set up almost a teacher-student dynamic.

I think Vance has the risk of coming across as petulant.

The risk, that is his basic setting.

Well, yeah.

This is his noise range.

You know, that's he's always like, oh, well,

well,

I mean, well, imagine that in a classroom and Walls as the teacher.

I think that's what they have to balance against.

You have to balance against Waltz wanting to be instructive and not a teacher and Vance being a student of history and politics and not coming across as naive.

Right.

And that's going to be the tension.

And frankly, normally you wouldn't be tuning into these vice presidential debates as much as you would be.

I am dying to see this play out.

I really can't.

I am dying to see some of the stark because, you know, Waltz has been kind of the attack dog already.

And he didn't just focus on Trump.

He focused on J.D.

Vance, which normally says to me, you're scared of the person.

You want to go at him.

I don't get that vibe.

No.

I really don't.

Yeah.

But I really want the Robin Williams, Matt Damon.

Okay.

All right.

Okay.

We'll hope for it.

Let's hope for it.

Fingers crossed because everything's about our entertainment, not the future of the country.

Are you not entertained?

Okay, speaking of entertaining, there's no question the Dems are having a lot of fun at the convention this week.

The vibes are great.

It's been described as the Dems personal era's tour.

The fun was perhaps most prominent on Tuesday night as the traditional roll call became one big party and a DJ spinning tunes tied to each state.

Much is being made about the the contrast with the RNC.

Roll call, well, it's not even a contrast.

Let's listen to some of the differences between the two convention's back and forth clips starting with the RNC.

Delegates and alternates, let us commence with the roll,

with a call of the role of the states.

Delegates, are you ready?

Let me hear you.

Iowa, 40 delegates.

Georgia.

59 delegates.

DNC, turn out the woods.

Okay, we didn't make this up, but Jesus Christ.

That was little John's surprise performance at the DNC there.

What did you think of the musical role?

I mean, we are being fair here.

That's what it was.

I mean,

people are Googling Googling right now going, are they kidding?

First of all, the phrase from the window to the walls wrote itself in a day.

You know,

it was clearly there was enthusiasm.

Clearly they were trying to, but it just showed the contrast, I think, of how they were trying to make the tent of the party that much bigger.

But it also says to you that they are, this would not have been the roll call.

a month ago.

Do we think Lil John and others were coming out at the DMC a month ago?

I don't think they were.

Maybe, I don't know, I don't know his schedule.

I don't know anything about it, but the idea that it's happening right now tells you that this was renewed excitement and charge.

I think there's going to be moments, though, when Democrats are going to continually have to not count their chickens before they hatch.

And enthusiasm inside of a convention, they've got to bring that same fire and energy.

It's got to be turned down for what, 75 days from now as well.

Is there one part you didn't like that you thought, oh, no, no, no, no, no.

You know, I think that there were

so many speeches.

There is a risk of oversaturation.

I don't, I can't identify the person who I would say we could have not had on, but the sheer volume of content.

Too much content.

Yeah, I wondered.

I wondered in a world where we've got people who oftentimes have an attention span of sound bite alone, whether really key moments were lost by virtue of the fact that there was just so much.

and there was a lot of good content.

I also think that sometimes, I mean, with the Republican convention, they had very set themes each day.

And each day seemed to go on that.

This convention has been more fluid in that the theme is joy, right?

The theme is.

new and rejuvenation and and and and something that's more enthusiastic.

And I wonder if a thematic approach would have been helpful or

cumbersome.

But I think those are the only two things I thought, huh, how's, how is this going to go?

But, you know, you can't quibble with Stevie Wonder performing.

All right, last thing.

Someone who's not feeling the good vibes this week.

Robert F.

Kennedy, Jr.

reportedly be ending his independent presidential campaign, endorsing former President Donald Trump.

He's been wandering around trying to get a deal with someone.

He announced on Wednesday he'll be giving a speech at the end of the week to the nation on his path forward.

No, the nation is caring less and less about him.

Kennedy's running maid and campaign piggyback, Nicole Shanahan, said earlier this week that Ticket was considering ending the campaign and endorsing Trump before she had been anti-Trump just months earlier.

But go ahead, Nicole, whatever.

She's a terrible person, so that's not a surprise.

That was a pivot I didn't expect.

Well,

I'm sorry.

I know a lot about her.

Trump told CNN on Tuesday that he would be open to RFK Jr.

playing a role in his administration if Kennedy were to drop out and endorse him.

This is like trading an endorsement for a position seems somewhat strange.

Are you surprised by any of this?

And do you think there'll be an impact on the election?

The total share of voters supporting Kennedy and other third-party candidates has declined, especially for Kennedy.

He He was in the 13s.

I know he's at five and I think he's going that direction down.

So do you think it matters at all?

I think it matters to streamline the ticket so that voters have the binary choice.

Oh, there's still Jill Stein.

You know that.

She's still around.

So is Cornell.

Well, I mean, yeah, well, yeah, I mean, I think, but I think people, yes, realistically, I think people, we welcome all into the Democratic fold.

And yet I think people conceptually only ever see two, whether that's a good thing or a bad thing to let people debate amongst themselves.

But what I think is exhausting

are epiphanies and wanting people to believe that

180 is a feather in the cap and a sign of maturity, as opposed to what it normally is, which is hypocrisy.

The idea of turning around all of a sudden and having lambasted and having vilified and condemned and criticized, and then all of a sudden saying, but you know what?

We're good now.

I think for voters feels exhausting.

It makes them them think themselves, I can't trust any, any of you people for that very reason.

When you had Nikki Haley, for example, come on to saves the RNC, when you had Senator J.D.

Vance be the running mate, when you have, if you know, RFK Jr.

decides to do that for either endorsement.

Similarly, so it's a bunch of liars.

It's a bunch of opportunists, really.

Yeah, it makes people lean out.

And I think it's counterproductive to having everyone be a part of it.

Now, people have every right to campaign as hard as they can and then decide who they want to throw their numbers and weight behind, but the weight would have been more impactful when it was weighty.

Yes.

Yes.

Well, he wouldn't do it because he's an arrogant prick.

But anyway, you don't have to say that.

Anyway,

I think it doesn't have any impact.

I think he's done.

I stick a fork at him kind of thing.

Last thing, Scott and I talked to Senator Amy Klobuchar about the state of the election so far.

Here's what she had to say.

What are you most worried about?

It's even.

But she is surging ahead in a number of these swing states.

I mean, the polls are changing quickly.

And when I look at what she's done in 30 days, you know, anyone would look at that trajectory and think it's a positive one.

You always get worried about Donald Trump.

You know, he makes things up.

You've got to be ready.

I'll be chairing the inauguration no matter who wins, as well as in charge of making sure the electoral ballots are being counted.

So what do you think I'm worried about?

So we've got to make sure that whole thing moves in a much better way than it did on January 6th.

Let me ask you this question.

What would you do if you were Donald Trump right now?

She's saying that you always get worried about Donald Trump, and you noted that earlier.

If I were him, I'd be figuring out a way to exploit every Achilles' heel on the areas that I have spent eight years or more fear-mongering or trying to get people to believe are directly attributable to the Democratic Party.

I would spend very little time.

on the personal attacks.

I would spend time trying to tie Harris to the Biden administration in a way that was, in our voters' mind, disparaging and deflate the arguments that suggest that I am a narcissist.

But I also think that

all the advice in the world will not encourage somebody who believes that he is his own best champion, advocate, and publicist.

And that is going to be the challenge of the campaign from here until November.

But she also mentioned January 6th.

And I think that by virtue of it being on her mind and so many others' minds,

that he has to try to

take the wind out of the sails that he has some intention of a repeat of what happened that day.

He keeps saying he does.

It's just he's saying he's saying it, you know, but that's again, that's the idea, the exhaustion of the 180.

Right.

The exhaustion of the duplicitous.

He definitely has to go back to funny himself.

That's what was appealing about him.

And now he's dark.

I think Pete George has had it right.

And I don't think he's capable of it, but perhaps he is.

Well, we'll see.

The debate's coming up.

And we'll go in toe-to-toe with a woman and woman of color.

Will that bring a side of him that we either we've seen before or have never have yet to see?

No, he can't.

He can't do it.

Just the sight of her is, and also he thinks she's attractive.

You can tell that.

And he's everything is about looks with him.

So it's a problem.

Well, he thinks he's more beautiful.

No, he knows he's not.

His problem is he's attracted to her.

I hate to say that.

And I don't want want to, and I don't necessarily say

everything is looks for this man.

A lot of it is visual looks.

Anyway, Scott and I had some great conversations with Senator Mark Kelly and Senator Michael Bennett.

You can see all of our conversations with them, as well as Amy Klobuchar, Max Ross, and Mark Kelly on our YouTube channel, Pivot with Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway.

Let's go to our friend of Pivot.

Michelle Luhan Grisham is the Democratic Governor of New Mexico.

Governor, welcome.

Thank you, Kerry.

Nice to be here.

Nice to see you, Laura.

Nice to see you.

So all three of us were at the DNC this week.

I am back home now.

You're still, you're all still there marching around the United Center, but you were the only one who were on the podium among us.

We were not on the podium.

And you gave a fiery speech at the convention on Tuesday night.

Can you get that out there that it was a fiery speech?

That's not the feedback I'm getting.

I'm going to count on you two to fix that.

What did they say it was?

What did they say?

I'm just teasing you.

No, it was fire.

It was fire.

I would say fiery is a good thing.

Let me start by asking, what do kamala harris and the democrats need to do to keep the momentum after the convention and i should mention your connection that vice president harris runs pretty deep she officiated your wedding in 2022 congratulations thank you what do you need to do you're in a bubble right now you're all in a bubble right now and it's a good bubble it's a happy bubble and it feels exciting and fast moving but what do they need to do next

keep this momentum i mean it's very easy to your point in this bubble like we're on a high it's a sugar high what happens after a sugar high?

A crash.

And so we can't do that.

I think this enthusiasm really focused on a future.

You better make that relevant to a voter.

So you have to talk to them about what it's going to mean, right, in their monthly bills, what it means for the future of their children.

I actually think Governor Walsh did a really great job yesterday.

I've known him for a long time.

We served in Congress that making it relatable.

I now understand what all of these, and I'm a policy wonk.

You know, that's not always a strength of mine to be able to shift to making it real to everyday American families.

And I'm going to take these messages and make sure that it's meaningful and real to everyday New Mexico families who, in many ways, right, we've increased the minimum wage, we've seen incredible salary growth, we've seen incredible job growth.

And yet, if you, we have free child care free to anyone at 400% of poverty, we're going to be the first state to make it universal for for everyone.

But if you're still feeling like it's not enough and you don't know what tomorrow is and you're feeling like you can't protect your family, then we got a problem on Election Day.

And frankly, we got three weeks before early voting.

So take it to your families.

Get on the phone, get on the doors, take these messages home right now.

You know, interestingly enough, you've got a governor, as you know, as the running mate.

There is something very significant knowing that you governors and of course mayors and everyone at the state level are on the front lines looking to the chaos on Capitol Hill and saying, what are you going to do to make our lives and our work easier and also uplift?

What's the significance that you're seeing now with the enthusiasm around Governor Walls as an indication of how the governors and individual states will be able to be supported if they're successful?

Well, you said it.

Nobody can relate to the dysfunction in DC.

That just creates anger and a lack of credibility for anybody who's elected.

And

Governor Walls is able to say, here's my track record.

I got these things done.

I know you.

I get it.

We're going to fix it.

So when I tell you I'm going to bring that can-do attitude to now Washington, D.C., and we're a ticket that's going to make it real for you,

he can point directly to his successes.

That's the difference here.

Governors and mayors, as you said, are where the rubber meets the road.

We are, in fact, getting it done.

So one of the the big Republican talking points now seems to be hammering on Kamala Harris on immigration.

They've called her failed border czar, despite the fact that she was never the border czar.

She's getting criticized for some of Joe Biden's immigration policies, but she's attached to Joe Biden, so that's somewhat fair.

As governor of a border state, and she was a senator from a border state, do you think immigration will be a liability in the long run, or have other things precluded it?

Because in your DNC speech, you focused on health care, including women's reproductive freedom.

Is that the issue of the election?

Reproductive justice is something everyone can relate to.

We're clear.

And now we've got brand new, harrowing data that shows that now we've got higher infant mortality because women don't get access anywhere that they need.

I've got billboards in Texas recruiting doctors.

I mean, you don't have the right access points anywhere.

And we know that reproductive health services and clinics serve as a primary care, right, environment for women of childbearing age and beyond.

So So,

this is an issue that's relevant for everyone and will be important in the election.

But, look, immigration and crime, and frankly, even taxes-these are the sort of bread-and-butter issues that Republicans have always been able to sort of take from Democrats, even though their record on these issues are deplorable.

And often, they create the very barriers that prevent us from doing stuff.

So, you heard last night, I'm going to get to immigration, I promise, that Governor Wall said, Look, I've cut taxes.

I've had remarkable tax cuts all at the middle class.

Crime is down in America.

We're doing really robust interventions in New Mexico.

We're not quite there yet, given our, we've just got a decade where we didn't invest in policing, fair, just community policing.

We're changing that.

But they've been able to own that.

So, yes, I think there are always issues that Democrats got to be mindful about, and particularly since Trump has really worked to lie per usual, but really create this fear-based and fear-mongering and more racist hate and rhetoric in America.

But he's not just responsible for killing a bipartisan border deal in Congress this time.

Yeah, no, he did it.

He did it before that.

I was the Congressional Hispanic caucus chair.

And I think Americans have forgotten he stripped the executive order protections for dreamers

and then said, look, Congress has a responsibility to do this.

That was his out.

And again, he was manipulative and he was trying to work on getting Republicans not to do it.

We got a bipartisan deal.

We were about ready to get it passed in on the House.

Senator McCain,

we had it, in my view, greased in the Senate, ready to go.

No surprise to you all that there was no good relationship between he and Senator McCain.

And he destroyed that, including I literally had to sneak into the White House.

He had an immigration meeting.

I'm leading immigration.

I rolled up in a blanket like a burrito and went right through security and showed up at that damn meeting because I was disinvited.

He was never going to do immigration reform.

He's not interested in the fixes.

If we don't have enough personnel, you can't do the work.

And yes, nefarious activity can and will continue to occur.

And then people who are seeking fair asylum, whether it's through the ports of entry and we don't want them outside of a port of entry, we can't fix it.

And then we can't do the investments on visas and immigration reform here.

I met a three-year-old, a three-year-old.

I saw it when I was in Congress, who is by himself, doesn't speak English before an immigration judge, having to make as a little boy his case about whether he can seek asylum status in America.

That's disgusting.

How can we let that happen here?

Because there's no people.

There's no social workers.

There's no immigration staff.

There are no lawyers.

There are no judges.

You know how we we can let it happen?

We've had a history since the beginning of

making immigrants.

I mean, you know, Italians.

They're going to have to fight back on this issue.

Mandy Vance was just talking about how the Italians, I was offended for my grandfather, like who came over on a boat when he was saying, you know, criminal elements of the Italians.

I was like, hi, hello, that's me.

Yeah, it's disgusting.

But yes, so liability I disagree with, but don't.

Don't ignore that these are issues that we have long been sort of saddled with as not being effective on, and it's just a lie.

That doesn't mean the border is fixed.

And I think that they need more validators, governors like me, governors like Katie Hobbs, governors like Gavin Newsome, to really talk about we want these fixes.

We're not standing in America's way.

They are.

Well, Governor, what you articulate really is a tale as old as time as a tactic of otherism.

of trying to fearmonger and suggest that there is some one definition of what it means to be American, and then the fear of either the browning of America or the fear of somebody taking and usurping what entitled people feel belongs to them.

But that's part of the conversation being conflated about immigration, being conflated about crime and about jobs in this country.

It strikes me, of course, as somebody like yourself, a woman in power, a woman of color in power, there is something unique about the assaults and attacks that will be directed to you.

And of course, by virtue of her identity as well, Vice President Kamala Harris, it is enticing to hit hit back every time.

It is maybe political suicide to do so as well.

What would you advise in terms of the next 70-something days of how to grapple with the otherism directed at the candidate for office?

Again, she's trying to say, how black should she turn?

Sorry.

You are officially my translator.

I want to be on the other side of this.

I want to be the journalist and then I want to interview the elected person.

Yeah, look,

I do think, I hope I'm not oversimplifying,

I do think we need to be more positive.

Now, you know, my family is different.

Every family in America is different.

My family's been here for hundreds of years since the late 1400s.

I'm a seventh generation.

doctorate degreed educated individual.

That's not the story of every Hispanic Latino family by any stretch of the imagination.

And this sort of

this otherism is to create sort of this lack of diversity in all of our populations, that we all have our own stories.

I think they need to talk about the future of economic security and careers.

The fastest growing young group in America are Latinos and Latinas.

These are the individuals who are going to shape the future of this country.

country economically, strategically, intellectually, with the stuff that you do and talking about tech and cybersecurity.

You know where that's going to come from?

It's going to come from this population.

Don't let them stick you into this, it's terrible out there and disgusting, horrible labels.

Everyone who's Hispanic is a rapist and a criminal.

It is disgusting.

And quite frankly, we won't be able to feed the world unless we're really talking about fair,

ethical, just labor that we are recruiting and supporting and creating a pathway to success in this country.

And got to do it.

Well, you know, with Maura Healy is the governor of Massachusetts, and she's able to do that because she's a lesbian, in case you're interested.

Is that why she can do it?

Is that why I'm not any good at it?

We're never on the defensive.

We are on the defensive.

I thought it was because she was a basketball player.

I'll come back to the best.

She's not making sense.

How are you here, folks?

Come on.

It's all making sense to me now.

The key to success.

Be a lesbian.

Or think like one.

But you participated in a very special event on Wednesday, a forum with seven other Democratic female governors.

You're all badasses in different ways in the country.

Yes, moderated by Julia Louise Dreyfus, who I just interviewed, who is also a badass.

She had a great introduction.

Let's listen to it.

We are very honored to have eight highly intelligent, highly capable women leaders for the 21st century with us, or what J.D.

Vance might call a coven of semi-menstruating witches.

How did that come off?

How was it?

What was that like?

Honestly, that is our lives, right?

We get treated in that way.

I mean, J.D.

Vance, unfortunately, is not the first to be sexist and misogynistic, and he won't be the last.

But you know what I love about these Chingona badass women governors is we're making it harder and harder for the J.D.

Vance's and Trumps of the world to take that issue on in that way.

And we're going to make it nearly impossible when we get Vice President Harris elected in November.

What were the themes of

the coven?

What happened with the coven?

Are you taking notes right now, Karen?

You're trying to create a secondary journey.

Join us.

Oh, I already have one.

I don't know if you know this, but I have a militia etheridge.

But go ahead.

Get it?

Get it?

Fair.

Oh, I get it.

We got it.

I'll come to your window anytime, Carol.

Oh, wow.

Oh, my God.

She did a really Julie did a great job playing on all of our strikes and making it be a little lighthearted.

She weaved in, well, we're getting shit done.

You know, she really got the big Gretsch environment here.

We're focused on making the right things happen in our states, but I need to be a little bit more careful.

And my communications director, so for people listening in, is right here with me, and he's going to be

shaking his head.

I have a wicked sense of humor

and I use humor to create both opportunities for meaningful collaboration, to dial down the temperature when it gets too hot in a man's world and be too competitive, create collaboration.

I like, you know, being a little edgy in that environment.

So she really wanted me to talk about that.

So it was all over the map.

It was fun.

I think it was interesting for people.

And I think it showcased that we have a race to the top as governors.

We're focusing on the things that each of us do well and replicating them in meaningful, unique ways in our state.

We actually like each other.

We have real respect for each other.

Yeah.

And we have a little fun.

In fact, speaking of that, Governor Mora Healy, she punked me good during the convention.

So she should be on notice.

What did she do?

She messed with my speech.

So during my rehearsal, you know, they're pushing you through.

And, you know, I might have been a little crispy during the rehearsal,

crispy.

And my speech is all messed up.

And they want me to talk.

I'm talking about being infuego and spicy and hot and get fired up.

And I'm now talking about bell peppers and Shoshito peppers.

And I'm losing my mind.

Who wrote this?

That damn Maura Healy did that.

And how she got those guys who were like on this tight schedule to punk me like that is pretty damn good.

Be on notice, Maura Healy.

Be on notice.

Yeah, there's a lot happening.

And one of the things is this word underdog, Governor.

We keep hearing at the convention and Democrats trying to, on the one hand, capitalize on the momentum, but know that there's work to be done to get to that 270 after this convention is over.

Do you feel like the Democrats are still in an underdog position?

Or do you think that there is more than a light at the end of the tunnel, that there is a 270 at the end of the tunnel?

Yeah, it's both.

Laura, look, we know that this is going to be a close election.

We have seen already a couple different times that it's too close for comfort, particularly when we look at those electoral votes.

Any good candidate treats every race like you're the underdog.

And if you don't, you're not taking your race seriously.

The key here is we've moved from being a little defeatist and maybe apathetic, even though we were always on the right side of this election.

Joe Biden, Joe Biden and the vice president, Kamala Harris, created this in my state.

And I want to talk about it all across America.

Look, I've got the best cradle to career investments.

You want to move New Mexico out of poverty?

I'm doing that because I got the kind of federal leadership with the opportunities and flexibility, free child care, constitutional right to child care, free early childhood education, a moonshot in K through 12, new literacy programs, free college, two-year, four-year apprenticeships, trades, all of it.

All of it.

We're now paying childcare and early childhood workers in the same track.

They're not quite there, but we will get there as we do K through 12 educators.

And we lifted all of their salaries.

You know how that happens?

It happens because they did that work.

And even so, there was apathy about could we win, will we win?

And when you let apathy and despair get into an election, you can't motivate your base to turn out.

Now we at least we have an opportunity.

So the key is take this excitement, take this, you know history historic cursory

and translate it immediately into the work on the ground all across the country and that's exactly what i'm dedicated to do i will not wake up in fact forget election day early voting all across the country starts in just weeks you better be on the phone in every spare moment right now during this convention so i'm doing that can i ask one final question one of the things that's been you're talking about not being despair or apathetic this has been a very funny funny convention and funny and party and just like feel-good kind of thing.

How do you, do you think that's an effective way to do it rather than the more, the darker approach that Biden actually had, this idea of democracy on the line?

I despise, and I wish everyone despised it as much as me.

And I'd also like to tell you that I haven't been a bit of a hypocrite in order to win my election, that negative campaigning works.

All right.

And I don't know of a candidate who's had the luxury, particularly early in their elected careers, not to have to do that.

You know, somebody does a negative ad against you, you do another one.

So yes, negativity, darkness, anger, it does work.

It moves the needle.

But here's what's different about what we're doing that I see.

And particularly in Governor Waltz's remarks, he said directly, right, looking right at America, I hear you, I see you.

I know that working families don't have what they need to feel secure.

You know, and frankly, I'm a bit he didn't say it in this way, but I'm a little angry about that my own self as a working class American.

You know, we're not done until we're done, but we have a future that we can build together.

So own it, own that it isn't quite right.

And that was part of the problem, I think, in the overall democratic messaging.

And I'm guilty of that too in my reelect in 22.

And I've built the best economy ever

by any stretch or comparison in New Mexico.

And yet I had a close race because people weren't feeling it in every corner of the state.

That's also a fact.

And in that moment, I'm talking about all the numbers and all the things, but I'm not relating.

And I immediately pivoted.

You got to be able to relate to people where they are.

They're hurting.

And we're doing that finally.

Hear them, see them relate.

Tell them you're there for them.

Now tell them what their future looks like.

That's the secret recipe I believe for success.

And that seems to me to be alive and well in this convention.

All right.

Governor Grisham, thank you so much.

Go enjoy yourself.

I'll text you about what you should do to Maury Haley.

Don't worry.

Yeah, listen, I think we should all.

I mean, I don't want her to listen to this, so let's not give her a leg up here.

I mean, I got to win this thing.

But yeah, damn, so call me.

Wait, don't worry.

All right, I'll have to.

Don't tell me I'm a former lawyer, guys.

What are you doing?

I don't hear anything.

I don't hear anything here.

Only like pain.

What are you talking about?

Only like pain.

Okay, that's fine.

It's not going to be illegal.

Caitlin, go ahead.

Carry on, carry on, carry on.

All right.

I'll record it.

Vaguely, vaguely

illegal adjacent.

Anyway, thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Bye-bye.

All right, Laura, one more quick break.

We'll be back for predictions.

I'm Peter Kafka, the host of Channels, and on my podcast, we've been talking about the future of AI and media for what seems like forever.

But what if if I told you that the future is already here?

So, at what point, if any, does a human get involved before it gets sent to my inbox?

Not at all.

That's Warren St.

John, the CEO of Patch, the local news network, telling me how he's producing thousands of newsletters every day just using AI.

You can hear our entire conversation on channels wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

Okay, Laura, let's hear a prediction.

What's your prediction?

My prediction is that Beyoncé will somehow find herself on the campaign trail.

I don't know.

I don't know in what way.

I know her song is there, but there's got to be something.

Will she perform Freedom Live?

Will she walk by?

Will she come on like a horse and part of the cowboy Carter theme?

Something's going to happen.

Really?

Wouldn't that be an incredible moment?

That's my prediction.

Well, that's, I mean, that was a whole theme of her albums.

I'm here for it.

And Tim Walls will be putting on the saddle.

Let me help you.

Let me help help you, young lady.

Now that would be the ultimate folksiness.

Who knows?

Who knows?

But I predict that there will be more celebrity star power behind the politics of late, all the way through the election.

I think more people are going to be leaning in where they traditionally have leaned out these past couple years.

And I'll be curious to see how much that rubs Trump the wrong way.

The best moment for me of watching you doing this, you're doing a great job, was

the guy from Blackish, Anthony

Anderson, saying he was going to be your baby daddy and your face.

You were making a call out to your kids because they like him as an actor.

And your face.

How was that moment for you?

Because you couldn't hide it.

You're like, what?

That was hysterical.

First of all, I had just met him for the first time.

He and I hit it off wildly.

He was so funny.

He was so witty.

He was a natural.

You know, there's no writers for him, right?

He is a natural comic.

And I was telling about how my kids are big fans.

And he was, he's, he did, even did a video message for my kids later where he was like, hey, hey, Siddhane, Adrian, I'm your new daddy.

And I thought, okay, let's go with the kids.

I was like, dear, my husband, I said, listen, mommy's not coming home right now.

I'll see you later.

I mean, it was just fine.

And my kids, they started screaming when they saw it.

I got to tell you,

they're old enough and young enough not to understand what it meant when he said, I'm your new daddy.

Oh, my God.

Oh, you, but your face said it all.

And I, for a minute, was like, huh, interesting.

Sorry, honey.

I mean, you know, there are stranger questions that's considering what you're doing.

Well, he did a great job.

Anyway, we want to hear from you.

Send us your questions about business, tech, or whatever's on your mind.

Go to nymag.com/slash pivot to submit a question for the show or call 855-51-PIVOT.

Before we go, I want to thank a few people who helped us out at the Democratic National Convention: Tammy Hadded, Mariel Saez, Jack Sullivan, Dylan Rose Gearlings, Becky Schatz, Melissa Giamo, Osmond Noor, Courtney Flanzer, Lizzie Landau, Jane Meyer, and of course, the United States Secret Service who let Scott in.

Laura, that's the show.

You are one of my favorite people.

Let's just

stand at the beginning of which you're my new baby daddy.

I'm getting rid of Scott.

Well, I already told you, it's coming to your window.

I think there's a whole moment happening.

I don't know.

Oh, my God.

This is a moment.

People will be talking.

We'll be back on Tuesday with more Pivot, another great guest co-host.

I will read us out.

Today's show was produced by Lara Naaman, who was on the ground at the DNC.

Zoe Marcus, Taylor Griffin, and Travis Larchuk.

Ernie Enderdot engineered this episode.

Also, thanks to Drew Burroughs, who is also with us and helped us a great deal at the DNC.

Nishat Kura is Vox Media's executive producer of audio.

Make sure you subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts.

Thanks for listening to Pivot from New York Magazine and Vox Media.

You can subscribe to the magazine at nymag.com/slash pod.

We'll be back next week for another breakdown of all things tech and business.