Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's do something completely different.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I am so pleased to welcome back to the show
Charlie Gasprino. He is senior correspondent at Fox Business. UH
and one time, during a a sparring session with Muhammad Ali,
Ali said, look, this guy's too tough. Can I spar
with somebody else?
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Please? Charlie, it's good to have you back.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
I want to spend almost all of our time talking
about Bernie Marcus, but give me just a few seconds
on what's going on between you and some dude named
Sonenfeld at Yale.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Well, first, you know, I pull disclosure. I like I
like Jeff. I've known him for a long time, but
he's full of it. And you know, this is a
guy that led a bunch of CEOs over the years,
and you know kind of was there. They're sort of
(00:56):
the ring leader of lope in, one of the ring
leaders of low capitalism in my view. You know, he
led an effort for CEOs to protest the Georgia voting
law as discriminatory. He has a whole rational why he
did it, but as you know, among other things, that
that that that law wanted you to show voter id
(01:17):
limited drop boxes so they could be monitored. Uh, there's
a whole process with involving the Secretary of how elections
would be certified, which he claims is his main, his main,
his main critique of it as discriminatory and it's bogus
in my view, because voting was voting and Georgia, what
(01:40):
since that law was passed? Uh, you know, yes, they
took the All Star Game out because Major League Baseball
bowed to the Wolkesters like how sharpened. But you know
he was part of that effort to demonize the law
that works. More people today, more African Americans vote than
ever before in Georgia. Okay, a joke, and as many
(02:01):
many other things. But now he's trying to say this
is after months of pouting Kamala Harris as better for
business than Donald Trump and as CEOs are behind Kamala Harris,
where he kind of hid in the lead that these
were former CEOs that he was that he was touting
as behind Kamala Harris. Now he's trying to say that
he's not woke, he's not progressive, and it's and I
(02:21):
think what he does at Yale using conduits like CNBC
and the these woke TV programs and woke publications like
Fortune to spread this nonsense. His band for America, and
you know, we should be we shouldn't. We shouldn't treat
him as some sort of a suit sayer. He's a
(02:42):
liberal academic that you know uses liberals in the boardroom,
which there are many. I've written about it. I wrote
a whole book, well, Go Woke, Go Broke. He uses
them to further this political cause, he says, no, and
I have been essentially going back and forth with him
shown why. I mean, just all you really have to
do Ross is google woke and Son and tild trust me.
(03:07):
See all right?
Speaker 2 (03:09):
All right, so I want to get to be by
the way, folks, Charlie's book, Go Woke, Go Broke is great.
I've read the whole book, and we had Charlie on
the show to talk about it, Uh, not that long ago,
a couple of months ago, and it's Go Broke, Go Broke.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Is a wonderful read and you will learn a lot.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
About wokeness in the business world, and it's it's really
worth reading.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
All right.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
So we only got about four and a half or
five minutes here, unfortunately at this point, but you you
did one of the last interviews with Bernie Marcus, co
founder of Home Depot, before his health got to a
point where he couldn't do anymore, and he passed away recently.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
And I just want to kind of open this up to.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
You to tell us anything you want to tell us
about Bernie Marcus, his life story, his impact once he
got rich, all this stuff.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Well, I mean, what's fascinating about Bernie is that it
his life ran parallel to another guy, and they almost
came from the same sort of backgrounds. I mean, Bernie
grew up poor in New York, New Jersey, Kena and
Grohn grew up poor in like Long Island. His dad
was a plumber, and both of their lives began working
(04:22):
blue collar, going to school, fighting their way to the top.
And then like im probably they come together through happenstance
and they become these guys that founded one of the
greatest American companies on Depot. And to me, it's one
(04:43):
of the greatest. It should be a movie. It's one
of the greatest stories. How and Bernie, as you know, passed,
Kennis still alive halping me. You know, a great hospital
system is named after Ken here in New York City
Lango and the NYU Lango and it's just this amazing
American story. And you know, you and I, you know,
we're all addicted to scandal. You know, I'm a journalist reporter.
(05:04):
I love a good scandal story. But you know, Bernie
Madoff is a big scandal that represents I would say
five percent of what goes on in capitalism. Ninety five
percent is the guy like Bernie Marcus who starts with
nothing and tries to make something of it. That's most capitalism.
It's not the crooks. Yeah, we tend to like focus
(05:27):
on the crooks, and then that gives fodder to Kamala Harris,
who jeff Sonenfeld loved to say that, you know, capitalism
is bad and we must, you know, we must go
after the greedy fat cats and you know, Joe Biden
and you know, and their their class warfare garbage. You know.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Bonnie Marcus was a huge donor to Jewish causes, including
including subsidizing trips for young Jewish people to go to
Israel to learn more about their culture and heritage and
all that and what and and one of my kids
went on one of those one of those trips. So
(06:08):
I personally am grateful to him for for that. But
tell us a little bit about I got about two minutes.
Tell us a little bit about something non political that
Bernie did with his money when he got.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Rich, that do you think is noteworthy?
Speaker 2 (06:23):
And also just maybe a little bit on how he
was thinking about today's politics and President Trump.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Well, he created he did create a non an advocacy
group which you might say is conservative, well, the Job
Creators Network, but it's not. It's an advocacy group for
small business. And I think that is huge because again,
most business people are trying to make it and they
face long eye odds because it's none of this is easy.
(06:52):
When they face a federal government is particularly depending on
whose an office or want to confiscate there. Whatever they
make make it more difficult for them to make a
living and hire people. And he created an advocacy group
to essentially fight that. And he does a very good job,
you know, and it goes into the belly of the beast.
You know. I come off the subway in Manhattan and
(07:13):
there's one of Bernie Marcus's signs right up there. The
marketing guy called Alfredo Ortiz. He's amazing, and you know he's, uh,
he's just so good and he's you know, he you know,
he had this great attack against Disney where they basically
(07:34):
showed a woman's high heel shoe kicking a mouse and said,
no mouse in my house.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
You know, all right, So give me, give me forty
seconds on Bernie and politics.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Listen, he likes Trump, he was, He's not, he's not
a total fanboy, but their friends really good friends. He
thinks he should focus more on policy and less on Twitter.
But he said it to me a year ago. The
guy in the White House is at duns. He was
particularly pissed off in his view of his words that
Biden and Harris were destroying American capitalism making moves, and
(08:07):
he was going to do whatever he could to get
Trump elected. He died hours before Trump was elected. I
am the saying he died serenely knowing Trump would be
elected and that he played a role in it. Wow.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Great story.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Charlie Gasprino, senior correspondent at Fox Business, author of Go Woke,
Go Broke. It's a must read book about the intersection
of wokeness and business, really deep into the heart of business.
It's a wonderful read, and Charlie did one of the last,
if not the last.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Long form interview with Bernie.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Marcus before his health caused him to not be able
to do those anymore.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
I'm a little.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Jealous you guys had the chance to know him that well.
I've had Ken on the show, but you know, not
not for as long as that with Bernie.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
So it's pretty fabulous you got to do.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
That, Charlie, Yeah, it was. It was. It was a
career moment for me because I because I you know,
a lot of guys you interview, you interview him, but
I really like Bernie and his story is just so amazing, folks.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Charlie's article about this is.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
On my blog at Rosskominsky dot com, and you can
find Charlie at FoxBusiness dot com and.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Also at the New York Post. Thanks as always, Charlie,
Thank you, Ross, so you
Let's do something completely different.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I am so pleased to welcome back to the show
Charlie Gasprino. He is senior correspondent at Fox Business. UH
and one time, during a a sparring session with Muhammad Ali,
Ali said, look, this guy's too tough. Can I spar
with somebody else?
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Please? Charlie, it's good to have you back.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
I want to spend almost all of our time talking
about Bernie Marcus, but give me just a few seconds
on what's going on between you and some dude named
Sonenfeld at Yale.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Well, first, you know, I pull disclosure. I like I
like Jeff. I've known him for a long time, but
he's full of it. And you know, this is a
guy that led a bunch of CEOs over the years,
and you know kind of was there. They're sort of
(00:56):
the ring leader of lope in, one of the ring
leaders of low capitalism in my view. You know, he
led an effort for CEOs to protest the Georgia voting
law as discriminatory. He has a whole rational why he
did it, but as you know, among other things, that
that that that law wanted you to show voter id
(01:17):
limited drop boxes so they could be monitored. Uh, there's
a whole process with involving the Secretary of how elections
would be certified, which he claims is his main, his main,
his main critique of it as discriminatory and it's bogus
in my view, because voting was voting and Georgia, what
(01:40):
since that law was passed? Uh, you know, yes, they
took the All Star Game out because Major League Baseball
bowed to the Wolkesters like how sharpened. But you know
he was part of that effort to demonize the law
that works. More people today, more African Americans vote than
ever before in Georgia. Okay, a joke, and as many
(02:01):
many other things. But now he's trying to say this
is after months of pouting Kamala Harris as better for
business than Donald Trump and as CEOs are behind Kamala Harris,
where he kind of hid in the lead that these
were former CEOs that he was that he was touting
as behind Kamala Harris. Now he's trying to say that
he's not woke, he's not progressive, and it's and I
(02:21):
think what he does at Yale using conduits like CNBC
and the these woke TV programs and woke publications like
Fortune to spread this nonsense. His band for America, and
you know, we should be we shouldn't. We shouldn't treat
him as some sort of a suit sayer. He's a
(02:42):
liberal academic that you know uses liberals in the boardroom,
which there are many. I've written about it. I wrote
a whole book, well, Go Woke, Go Broke. He uses
them to further this political cause, he says, no, and
I have been essentially going back and forth with him
shown why. I mean, just all you really have to
do Ross is google woke and Son and tild trust me.
(03:07):
See all right?
Speaker 2 (03:09):
All right, so I want to get to be by
the way, folks, Charlie's book, Go Woke, Go Broke is great.
I've read the whole book, and we had Charlie on
the show to talk about it, Uh, not that long ago,
a couple of months ago, and it's Go Broke, Go Broke.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Is a wonderful read and you will learn a lot.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
About wokeness in the business world, and it's it's really
worth reading.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
All right.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
So we only got about four and a half or
five minutes here, unfortunately at this point, but you you
did one of the last interviews with Bernie Marcus, co
founder of Home Depot, before his health got to a
point where he couldn't do anymore, and he passed away recently.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
And I just want to kind of open this up to.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
You to tell us anything you want to tell us
about Bernie Marcus, his life story, his impact once he
got rich, all this stuff.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Well, I mean, what's fascinating about Bernie is that it
his life ran parallel to another guy, and they almost
came from the same sort of backgrounds. I mean, Bernie
grew up poor in New York, New Jersey, Kena and
Grohn grew up poor in like Long Island. His dad
was a plumber, and both of their lives began working
(04:22):
blue collar, going to school, fighting their way to the top.
And then like im probably they come together through happenstance
and they become these guys that founded one of the
greatest American companies on Depot. And to me, it's one
(04:43):
of the greatest. It should be a movie. It's one
of the greatest stories. How and Bernie, as you know, passed,
Kennis still alive halping me. You know, a great hospital
system is named after Ken here in New York City
Lango and the NYU Lango and it's just this amazing
American story. And you know, you and I, you know,
we're all addicted to scandal. You know, I'm a journalist reporter.
(05:04):
I love a good scandal story. But you know, Bernie
Madoff is a big scandal that represents I would say
five percent of what goes on in capitalism. Ninety five
percent is the guy like Bernie Marcus who starts with
nothing and tries to make something of it. That's most capitalism.
It's not the crooks. Yeah, we tend to like focus
(05:27):
on the crooks, and then that gives fodder to Kamala Harris,
who jeff Sonenfeld loved to say that, you know, capitalism
is bad and we must, you know, we must go
after the greedy fat cats and you know, Joe Biden
and you know, and their their class warfare garbage. You know.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Bonnie Marcus was a huge donor to Jewish causes, including
including subsidizing trips for young Jewish people to go to
Israel to learn more about their culture and heritage and
all that and what and and one of my kids
went on one of those one of those trips. So
(06:08):
I personally am grateful to him for for that. But
tell us a little bit about I got about two minutes.
Tell us a little bit about something non political that
Bernie did with his money when he got.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Rich, that do you think is noteworthy?
Speaker 2 (06:23):
And also just maybe a little bit on how he
was thinking about today's politics and President Trump.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Well, he created he did create a non an advocacy
group which you might say is conservative, well, the Job
Creators Network, but it's not. It's an advocacy group for
small business. And I think that is huge because again,
most business people are trying to make it and they
face long eye odds because it's none of this is easy.
(06:52):
When they face a federal government is particularly depending on
whose an office or want to confiscate there. Whatever they
make make it more difficult for them to make a
living and hire people. And he created an advocacy group
to essentially fight that. And he does a very good job,
you know, and it goes into the belly of the beast.
You know. I come off the subway in Manhattan and
(07:13):
there's one of Bernie Marcus's signs right up there. The
marketing guy called Alfredo Ortiz. He's amazing, and you know he's, uh,
he's just so good and he's you know, he you know,
he had this great attack against Disney where they basically
(07:34):
showed a woman's high heel shoe kicking a mouse and said,
no mouse in my house.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
You know, all right, So give me, give me forty
seconds on Bernie and politics.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Listen, he likes Trump, he was, He's not, he's not
a total fanboy, but their friends really good friends. He
thinks he should focus more on policy and less on Twitter.
But he said it to me a year ago. The
guy in the White House is at duns. He was
particularly pissed off in his view of his words that
Biden and Harris were destroying American capitalism making moves, and
(08:07):
he was going to do whatever he could to get
Trump elected. He died hours before Trump was elected. I
am the saying he died serenely knowing Trump would be
elected and that he played a role in it. Wow.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Great story.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Charlie Gasprino, senior correspondent at Fox Business, author of Go Woke,
Go Broke. It's a must read book about the intersection
of wokeness and business, really deep into the heart of business.
It's a wonderful read, and Charlie did one of the last,
if not the last.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Long form interview with Bernie.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Marcus before his health caused him to not be able
to do those anymore.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
I'm a little.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Jealous you guys had the chance to know him that well.
I've had Ken on the show, but you know, not
not for as long as that with Bernie.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
So it's pretty fabulous you got to do.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
That, Charlie, Yeah, it was. It was. It was a
career moment for me because I because I you know,
a lot of guys you interview, you interview him, but
I really like Bernie and his story is just so amazing, folks.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Charlie's article about this is.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
On my blog at Rosskominsky dot com, and you can
find Charlie at FoxBusiness dot com and.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Also at the New York Post. Thanks as always, Charlie,
Thank you, Ross, so you
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