'Everyone is scared': Professor reveals devil's bargain made with Trump

Billionaire CEOs have lined up to kiss President Donald Trump's feet — and NYU Professor Scott Galloway wants America to put a stop to it.

Speaking to MS NOW's Nicolle Wallace on the latest edition of her "All the Best People" podcast, Galloway, who is spearheading a movement to boycott tech companies like Apple and Amazon that have rolled over for the president, outlined why he thinks so many of them are knuckling under — and why it wouldn't take much to send the message that's not going to fly anymore.

"Their actions ... seem to be worse," said Wallace. "I mean, they are the executives that stood shoulder to shoulder with Donald Trump at his inauguration, which was an appalling spectacle. But I think [Apple CEO] Tim Cook was at the White House in a tuxedo the day after Alex Pretti was killed. Why do they act so immune to the things that enrage not 30-40 percent of Americans, but 67 percent of Americans don't approve of Donald Trump?"

"Well, I can tell you what they tell me, and I have empathy for them, is that they're a fiduciary for shareholder value, and they just want to wait this guy out," said Galloway. "And while they may not agree with all his actions, that a good autocrat and kleptocrat does a very good job of punishing anyone that goes first. So everyone is kind of scared to speak out. In addition, if you'll notice, the people who he parades around have avoided tariffs, might get carveouts from Chinese tariffs, might get a government-backed program that helps pay for their data centers or their chips programs."

That being said, Galloway continued, "the logical or the retort is the following. You have some fidelity, or you should have some loyalty to fair markets, to civil rights, to American values that have made you a billionaire and built these incredible companies."

"What I try to do, and I've spoken to about 20 percent of the CEOs on the list, is appeal to their emotions," he said. "And that is these are all older men. You're going to be dead soon when you're, you know, when your kids are around you towards the end. Do you want to be known as the guy who got your shareholder value up 3 percent or 10 percent, or do you want to be known as the guy that did the right thing, even when it was really hard?"

"So for the life of me to call, I can't understand why these guys — this is such an incredible opportunity to demonstrate some leadership and speak out and have the 70 percent of the American public stand up and say, right on, brother," said Galloway. "So to me, this is not only the wrong decision, it's an economic opportunity for one of them to take a leadership stand."

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