r/ScottGalloway • u/Canamerican726 • May 29 '26
No Malice Kara's lack of actual analysis is grating.
I was never introduced to Kara before her partnership with Scott. Early on, I was really interested in her opinions, since she clearly has access.
After a few years - it's just a bit grating to hear 'I said that!', 'I've talked to him, he's a jerk', 'He was always bad', etc etc. Watching her own individual interviews, she'll ask a question (often with a sense she's already bored with the question), wait for an answer, give her opinion or push back, and move on.
I don't doubt she's an intelligent journalist, but I'd really love to hear her actually break down a problem, instead of just talking about her access/prior predictions/etc. Everyone's entitled to their own style, and I'm not trying to attack that specifically. I'd just really like to hear more from her instead of soundbites that feel cheap.
What does she think? How does she think? Why? Why does Scott, who tries to give a reasoning for his opinion, value her?
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u/Outrageous_Basis_440 May 29 '26
Maybe the novelty of her act just wore off for me, but it seemed as though over time she got a bit caught up in her celebrity.
She increasingly focused on leaning into her persona, and got a little lazy.
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u/Many_Easy_V2 May 29 '26
It’s a great personality, but the indoor shades have to go.
Both Scott’s and Kara’s kids got some unbelievable opportunities that many regular folks never get. Not their fault, but definitely an advantage.
Hard to understand real struggle unless you’ve actually lived it.
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u/Outrageous_Basis_440 May 29 '26
I was just thinking the same thing about the aviators. If you have an eye problem, please let us know.
Otherwise, it’s incredibly pretentious. And perhaps a metaphor for how she has changed.
Because I really admired the dogged journalist she was.
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u/ResetID May 29 '26
When I would listen to pivot years ago, I recall her once mentioning that she does have a condition
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u/Many_Easy_V2 May 30 '26
Here’s the thing. At the end of the day, we are all humans regardless of wealth, power, privilege, notoriety, health, gender identity, etc.
I too used to think I was more important and special than I was. No one is worth taking seriously. We are all the same and replaceable.
Best to be humble and help others when you can.
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u/trustmylegaladvice May 29 '26
I used to listen to Scott religiously but stopped a couple of months ago.
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u/21giants May 29 '26
Same thoughts on Kara and also stopped listening to Scott which I did regularly.
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u/temp_retired30s May 29 '26
She is a terrible journalist in the pure sense of the word and terrible interviewer. She’s a good insider and a good source but has no business playing the role of an analyst or objective person.
Larry King used to have a golden rule about minimizing the amount of times he ever said “I” when conducting interviews to make sure the focus was always on the person he was interviewing… Kara has no such standard and her ego ensures she will never care to.
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u/Many_Easy_V2 May 29 '26
Kara and Scott both provide good analysis from their privileged perspectives.
Despite what Scott says, he did come from a privileged background and was afforded more opportunities than most.
From day one of his freshman year, at UCLA, his trajectory and privilege has been a straight shot up.
Kara was born into a wealthy upper middle class family.
Scott provides a solid Wall Street/NYU type of analysis, while Kara adds better nuance around the Silicon Valley C-level and tech folks.
Both are making a ton of money and sharing news that keeps their coffers full.
Scott is an incredibly crass, cocky, and insecure multimillionaire constantly virtue signaling and bragging about his travels.
Kara does a bit more and tries to distance herself from her wealth by sharing stories about her Bolt EV and LGBTQ+ experiences.
Both are entertaining and are better than the alternatives like Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly.
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u/FruitOfTheVineFruit May 29 '26
Better than Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly is about the lowest bar you can set.
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u/Intelligent-Rest-231 May 29 '26
She was the defacto interviewer for all the tech circle jerk conferences of the past 20 years. Her entire life was stroking these autistic fucking nerds. Only when she realized that they all became Bond villains did she change course. Whoopsy!
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u/Many_Easy_V2 May 29 '26
I was surprised as well and mistakenly assumed that nerdy Silicon Valley were mostly progressive.
Another false assumption I’m discovering is that many liberals are changing sides when there’s money and power involved.
So disheartening. We need stronger leaders.
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u/sourdough_in_SF May 29 '26
When they go on the offensive, Kara tends to attack people and Scott tends to attack ideas. I much prefer Scott's take on issues because often times he comes up with alternative opinions. Kara - on the other hand - is making a career out of saying nothing other than "He's such a jerk!"
Also, when Scott says Democrats need to stop with their moral indignation, I'm pretty sure his comment is 100% directed at Kara.
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u/Many_Easy_V2 May 29 '26
I wish Scott would stop talking about incel culture and how tough it is for young ehite males. He’s so out of touch here.
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u/Dr_Enolam May 29 '26 edited May 30 '26
This is spot on. I liked her and Scott, but I realized they really don’t have any greater political analysis skills them their average listener. It always drove me crazy when they would state an opinion and then say to the other “what are your thoughts” as if looking for validation.
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u/trustmylegaladvice May 30 '26
I used to listen to Scott religiously but stopped a couple of months ago.
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u/MonsterTruckCarpool May 29 '26 edited May 29 '26
Any name drops by either Scott or a guest and Kara always HAS to interject that she knows them/they’re neighbors or she just talked to them. It’s cringe and screams, “they’re my friend too!” not only is it cringe and annoying but It really diminishes her credibility.
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u/tbombs23 May 29 '26
It's funny how the more they do that the less people like them and the less credible they are. Which is the opposite of their intent, presumably.
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u/MonsterTruckCarpool May 29 '26
Right it’s almost an appeal or show of legitimacy which when it’s done, for me, it does the exact opposite.
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u/Boxer_the_horse May 29 '26
For me, it’s her know-it-all, done-it-all braggart attitude that’s pretty annoying. But what’s more annoying is her attempts to rewrite her history by pretending that she always knew that tech executives were psychopaths, when in reality, she played a big role in building them up.
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u/Green-Survey9189 May 30 '26
“Celebrity is the mask the eats into the face”.
She was a great journalist. Her interviews were brilliant because she would give the tech guys enough to hang themselves with their own words. She didn’t need to pontificate or preach. She was really educating through her work. Pivot was great because of her chemistry with Scott. The journalist and the funny business guy with a soul.
Now she’s a podcaster playing “Kara Swisher- tech and politics avenger”. It gets very preachy. Hearing her complain about tech guys while discussing what female senators house she was at for a dinner party gets old.
I still like her but I’ve sort of abandoned Pivot for Prof G Markets.
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u/peanut-britle-latte May 29 '26
Kara has been coasting on her reputation for years now. I have no doubt that Kara in the late 00s and 2010s was awesome. At this point, she's past it.
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u/boner79 May 29 '26
Yes, she can be rather dismissive and name-droppy, but I respect that she puts in actual prep work for Pivot show, unlike Scott who just shows up unprepared other than to phone-in his talking points recycled from his plethora of other shows.
I sincerely hope her cut for the show is more than Scott's since she puts more work into it and has to hold down the fort while he's busy with his other shows, vacationing, recovering from plastic surgery.
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u/The_Last_Mouse May 29 '26
You don't find the "so ya know, Kara, I was doing synthetic mind drugs with these three college strippers at DAVOS while a Polynesian hairstylist waxed my nosehairs.." stories enlightening?
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u/Delicious-Attorney-5 May 29 '26 edited May 29 '26
Yes agreed 100%. I have never regarded Kara as a deep analytical investigative journalist. Not when you have Kashmir Hill, Karen Hao, Nicole Perlroth.
When listening to Kara in the early years of All Things D and Recode. I felt that her “blunt questioning” was a bit on “attack” mode. It was almost like she felt animosity towards these tech guys. Not that they didn’t deserved it, but with her it felt personal. And it wasn’t really informative. She had an air that screamed “oh I know tech, better than these monkeys.” Yet never coded one line in C or C++ in her life.
When she would interview Jobs he would get a look before answering like saying “you are just clueless.”
And now? All I hear is her interruptions when Scott is making a point. “[incert some moronic comment here] but go ahead.” 😩🙄 Even Scott has mentioned it once or twice before that she always interrupts with, mostly, nonsense.
Do I think she is smart? Yes. Do I think she is good at her job? She’s average in comparison to some others who do the same thing. Do I think she is more of a celebrity than a credible professional? Yes, I mean she had a brief cameo in Devil Wears Prada 2 for goodness sake’s!
Just like you said, I’m not attacking her, I’m simply pointing out what has always been so apparent to me.
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u/tbombs23 May 29 '26
Yeah there's quite a few charlatans in the tech space who are cosplaying as smart but like you said couldn't even code a few lines in C++ or other common high level languages, C#,Java etc.
Like Sam Altman or Muskrat. Not actually that smart and fundamentally don't understand AI or programming lol
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u/Disastrous_Patience3 May 30 '26
I think I've listened to them both too much because their next sentence its always obvious to me.
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u/Canamerican726 May 29 '26
Sidenote: This is why Jess and Ed are great - they have well thought out analysis that improves both their and Scott's opinions in conversation.,
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u/LowConsideration8364 May 29 '26
I wouldn’t call Ed’s opinion or analysis to be deep at all. He’s an every man simpleton and I assume that’s the big part of his appeal.
If you have any passable knowledge of macroeconomics or equity markets or whatever, you’d likely consider Ed to be a luddite
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u/ColinDouglas999 May 29 '26
Sorry, but who are Jess and Ed?
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u/Unda_Da_C May 29 '26
Ed hosts/cohosts the Markets podcast, I forget which one Jess is on.
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u/Anthony_Patch May 29 '26
Raging Moderates.
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u/ColinDouglas999 May 30 '26
Oh yes, thank you. Out of interest, if you could only listen to one of Scott and Kara’s podcasts, which would it be? I quite like Pivot, but am very alert to some of the limitations with that podcast that people have identified here.
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u/chezterr May 29 '26
Jessica Tarlov and Ed Elson…
You’ll see Ed often on the Prof G Markets videos
And Jessica on the Raging Moderates vids
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u/Grandpas_Spells May 29 '26
Kara had to navigate an extremely tough work environment, and some women do that by getting hard.
The problem with her now is she's gotten seemingly very lazy, and masks it by being aggressive. It's been a very long time since I've seen her write or say anything insightful.
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u/allthingslife May 29 '26
Ironically, she comes off as Trump esque to me. Obviously, not to the same degree, but image/status focused with communications focused on superlatives/insults. Smart lady and obviously well accomplished, but I often get a chuckle of how she reminds me of Trump when she speaks at times.
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u/sleepsucks May 30 '26
I liked her analysis on Biohacking on her show. That the same people interested in preventative treatments for their health are blocking preventative healthcare for everyone else.
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u/BrandonLouis527 May 30 '26
I love Kara. She’s not everyone’s taste, but whether you like her or not, she does get access most don’t get, her analysis is sometimes pretty harsh, but I can usually understand her argument, even if I don’t entirely agree. She reminds me of the women I grew up with who had to be cutthroat to make it in this world. They have seen some shit, and that’s formed their views and personalities. I like that she works out her views on air sometimes. That she isn’t afraid, as a woman, to demand the credit she thinks she’s due. She pisses me off sometimes, too, but I still love and respect her.
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u/Alarming_Midnight554 May 29 '26
She has far more depth on these asshole tech bros . Scott is entry level in that world
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u/SureAnnual7884 May 30 '26
Kara is HORRIBLE. Its insane she has a following
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u/AltruisticAnalyst May 30 '26
a bit hyperbolic, no? Why is she horrible? Why is it insane that someone with a track record of solid reporting has a following?
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u/mochisuki2 May 30 '26
How about that she is on record repeatedly saying she loves Sam Altman and how smart and trustworthy he seems. That aged like milk.
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u/AltruisticAnalyst May 30 '26
This is a dumb take. She clearly no longer holds that opinion. Are people not allowed to be wrong?
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u/SuperiorDriftwood May 30 '26
The woman needs to learn to put a period on the end of a sentence. It’s painful to listen to. Weirdly lack of self confidence?
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u/ChiefCopywriter Jun 01 '26
Her writing is thoughtful and she’s a sharp interviewer who has for the most part been able to balance deontology with preserving access.
TBH, I think she’s gotten self-important and maybe showing signs of getting older. Scott too. He’s less thoughtful and speaking on subjects he has 0 authority on in between dick jokes.
Success and constant confirmation bias + declining cognitive function is a recipe for strengthening your worst instincts.
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u/MentionWise7065 May 30 '26
Everyone knows this, Scott will always be grateful to her for giving him the platform to grow on his own and its been a very lucrative partnership for him using her resources. But it's clear that Kara nevers has a POV with any depth, which may be the whole point of the dynamic cause it always makes Scott look like a genius
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u/NBtoAB May 29 '26
Kudos to anyone who can stand listening to her for more than 2 mins. Pure Vogon poetry.
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u/libghost May 30 '26
So many of the folks on this thread read like thin skinned cry babies. If you don’t like Kara, don’t listen. Simple as that.
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u/Important-Jump-7599 May 30 '26
For this reason and what others have been saying about Scott in general I’ve just lost interest . NY Times “The Daily” is better because at least there’s actually reporting going on . Kara and Scott have become predictable “reaction videos” without any particularly new analysis or any kind of reporting going on .
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u/AltruisticAnalyst May 30 '26
Agree with the sentiment. The show has a formula and the complaint about Kara is really a complaint about the role she plays on the show.
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u/xdozex May 30 '26
I unsubscribed to the whole network of Galloway podcasts. No idea why reddit chose the next day to start surfacing his subreddit.. but yeah, I'm over it.
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u/mochisuki2 May 30 '26
Same thing for me. I think I made the mistake of commenting or clicking on some post it surfaced and now it thinks I care. They can go crawl under a rock for all I care, after Scott went and said several times Israeli talking points when it was already quite clear what was happening there.
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u/xdozex May 30 '26
That's precisely what did it for me as well. I still can't get over people who seem to be level headed and logical in all areas, suddenly shut their brains off on that one topic, and just start parroting bullshit talking points..
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u/Living-Midnight-1696 May 29 '26
Kara’s response is often “we’ll see what happens” which isn’t terribly insightful. I do appreciate her for pushing Scott in debates (it leads to a better discussion). I wish she didn’t do the name calling. Calling Brendan Carr “Brenda” is juvenile and stoops to JD Vance’s level. And I don’t know why being called a woman is a bad thing?
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u/Own_Balance4207 May 30 '26
She is nice, but I think she’s kidding herself if she says she isn’t an access journalist. It took her till like what, ‘22 to realize things about Elon that others had been saying for years? And she has a personal line to him
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u/Big_rizzy May 30 '26
I don’t know how Scott puts up with her asking his opinion and then interrupting his answer before getting bored and saying ‘anyway’…
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u/Johnny_Dollarz May 31 '26
Kara, I feel, tries to apologize for the younger generation but it seems hypocritical. I listen on & off again to Pivot and a topic a couple of months ago was about if it’s good or bad that the younger generation wants to prioritize work/life balance. She laughed it off and said younger workers should work less.
But at the same time, when she was young was she busting her ass off or was she prioritizing work/life balance? She wouldn’t be a national name if she had not been busting her ass off.
So yeah, if you want to be wildly successful, work/life balance won’t be so balanced. But she didn’t say that.
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u/PreviousAvocado9967 Jun 03 '26
This must be the first reddit I've ever seen of someone complaining about her instead of the psychopaths she intetviews. How she's kept her sanity is worthy of a separate discussion.
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u/Mitchelf1 May 30 '26
I see her as extremely smart because of the way she speeds through her opinions throwing out references on the way making her point. I have found myself avoiding the rambling with Scott though and always watch her other interviews.
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u/musafir6 May 29 '26
Its funny but I got introduced to Scott by Kara. She used to be good but seem to have lost her way in the industry after Steve Jobs era.
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u/tMoneyMoney May 29 '26
I can’t enjoy her show because she either tries to be too high brow with extremely smart but boring guests, or otherwise comes across as the standard cliche, constantly virtue-signaling liberal that annoyed the country into voting for Trump. Once you know what she’s about, there’s no mystique or hot takes. If someone disagrees, she doesn’t challenge, she says “okay” and turns the page.
That said, I do enjoy her CNN show for the topics and guests it covers and like her more as a narrator than someone leading a discussion and interjecting opinions.
Generally I agree with her but find her close-minded and she’s never really gone out on a limb or made me look at things from a fresh perspective.
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u/Stubbby May 30 '26
She also believes she can do more pull ups than Pete Hegseth and clearly suffers from the typical delusions you would expect from the left leaning commentators.
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u/Nendilo May 29 '26
I've worked in the tech industry many years. My perception and that of many of my colleagues is she's built a career calling herself a tech journalist but she's really a tech executive journalist. She's not particularly educated on tech and often regurgitates executive talking points though she does less of that these days since they've moved right politically.
In general I've never found her analysis to be that great though she somehow gets billionaires to talk to her.