Guy Kawasaki and Anne P. Mitchell joined Zev Shalev on Thursday, an hour after debuting their new show, “Seriously?”
5️⃣ Nvidia's $25 Million Ballroom Ticket
Nvidia gave $25 million to Trump's White House ballroom. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the incoming chair of the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, told MS NOW that 14 of the donor corporations got new or expanded contracts. Others got reduced regulations and possible merger approvals. "Nvidia obviously wanted more exports of chips to China," he said. He sees "more than enough circumstantial evidence of corruption to warrant this investigation." The Justice Department has warned him of prosecution for asking.
4️⃣ Huang Out, Trump Picks Tim Cook
Jensen Huang quit Nvidia over a woman U.S. intelligence suspects of spying for China. Her own husband introduced them. Trump floated Apple's Tim Cook to replace him. Kawasaki, who marketed the first Macintosh, had the plain read: "The simplest explanation is that basically men are stupid." His test: tell ChatGPT you plan an affair with a Chinese spy, ask it to be tough on you, and listen: "you probably would not be where you are today." On Cook: "I'm pretty sure Tim Cook thinks I wrote Rich Dad, Poor Dad."
3️⃣ Netanyahu Calls His Cabinet for Sunday
Benjamin Netanyahu, now Israel's interim prime minister, will meet his security cabinet on Sunday, though his successor, Gadi Eisenkot, warned him in writing against "dangerous moves." Eisenkot has the Arab parties behind him for a new coalition. Shalev said Netanyahu and Trump had planned to strike Iran again after the American elections, and that he had been told Trump said he would not join this time. His advice: "everyone should be watching Israel and watching Iran."
2️⃣ Trump Dumps the Iran Deal
Trump said Thursday he no longer needs a deal with Iran because "we've got their Strait." Shalev's answer: the U.S. holds part of the Strait of Hormuz, not all of it. He fears a strike in the coming days, and a lame-duck president needs no one's permission to order it.
1️⃣ Lutnick on the Chopping Block
Reuters reported that the White House is discussing pushing out Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. The New York Times found that Chinese firms Commerce cleared to buy Nvidia chips were empty offices with no signage. Lutnick's family firm holds a third of a Beijing venture with a Chinese state company. Our reading: Trump and Lutnick let the chips flow to firms tied to China's military, and the money came back through the ballroom and the family business. The panel called Lutnick the fall guy: the order to look the other way "wasn't just his own decision." Shalev doubts he goes quietly: "He has a lot of dirt about the president of the United States."
Kawasaki on what the tech rich owe: "The first stage, you learn. The second stage, you earn. And in the third stage, you return." And: "There's no traffic on the high road." His Substack and podcast, Remarkable People, are under Guy Kawasaki and Anne P. Mitchell, Esq. writes Notes from the Front.
Thank you Cat: Poli-Psych, LC - Silence is Complicity, LeftieProf, The Rebel Crone (Shālah), Lalisa, and many others for tuning into my live video with Anne P. Mitchell, Esq. and Guy Kawasaki! Join me for my next live video in the app.
