Joe Lonsdale, co-founder of Palantir and founder and general partner of the firm 8VC, spoke to Brian Kilmeade about consulting with ideas and strategy for the Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. Lonsdale said you want the people who operate our very best companies to give their insight on how to cut the waste and operate more efficiently. Lonsdale added, “If I was a bureaucrat working in D.C. and I thought I was smart and knew what’s going on, I’d be mapping out things in my department ready to show the new administration…because they’re going to be looking to get rid of any nonsense.”
Lonsdale also explained how Silicon Valley has swung toward supporting Trump, especially compared to 2016. According to Lonsdale over the last decade more companies have been hurt by government regulations and they realized they were voting for the left, but it was the left that was against them with their rules. Lonsdale says while most are still quiet, he gets hundreds of notes from people in Silicon Valley thanking him for speaking up.
When discussing the changes needed in how the Department of Defense operates, Lonsdale says it is currently run like a communist entity and is being ripped off by legacy defense companies. Lonsdale believes we need someone who is not just a warrior but who is smart and went to Princton or Harvard and is not all about cronyism. Lonsdale also pointed to the need to get away from DEI and other nonsense in the DOD and the people who are focused on virtue signaling, which is why he believes Pete Hegseth is the type of guy you want to see running the DOD.
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