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Howard Lutnick | All-in DC

All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg

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  • Friendship with Trump
    • Howard Lutnick’s friendship with Donald Trump began 30+ years ago.
    • They met on the New York charity circuit, bonding over shared interests. Transcript: David Friedberg Thanks for being here. Thanks for joining myself and David Freeberg on the All In podcast. I want to take a step back before we talk about today and instead talk about your friendship with the president, how it started, how you guys got to know each other, and walk us through The moment when you, you know, frankly, went out on a limb a little bit, stepped up, became the campaign finance chair, and then just that evolution. (Time 0:01:11)
  • Early Encounters
    • As a young CEO, Lutnick accompanied his boss’s wife to charity events.
    • Afterward, he and Trump would often go out together. Transcript: Howard Lutnick Right. So he didn’t want to go. So he would send me with his wife and I would be her walker. You know, I’m 30 year old ceo of the company and i take her to the party and uh and after the party i’d put her in a limo and she’d go home and djt would say well let’s go out and so we’d go out it Wasn’t planned but he was at the party he’s 45 i’m at the party 30. And we chased the same girls. Okay. David Friedberg It was basically, it worked out fine. Howard Lutnick And by the way, here’s the thing about Donald Trump. He was the most famous, the most fun, the most interesting person 30 years ago, 33 years ago. I mean, here’s the best thing. Been on the cover of time magazine 59 times no and then he leans over to me and he goes and 20 were good like but who can take that (Time 0:01:59)
  • Trump’s Energy
    • Trump thrives on energy, even negative energy fuels him.
    • Attacks don’t deter him; they empower him. Transcript: Howard Lutnick Mean who could take like other people when you have a bad cover of time magazine you’d crumple right and be sand on the floor and said he’s like it. David Friedberg But so Howard, is it that he’s just totally wired to understand that moment, like, of being a public figure? Or, like, what is it that’s so unique about what constitutes the ability to navigate that over 40 years? I think it adds energy to him. Howard Lutnick To him. Right? So everybody else’s energy, what they don’t understand, is people bring negative energy to Donald Trump, right? And they’re just charging his battery. David Friedberg Okay? (Time 0:02:56)
  • Trump’s Intuition
    • Trump’s intuition is remarkable; he senses things others miss.
    • Lutnick cites Trump sensing something was ‘wrong’ with the Panama Canal. Transcript: Howard Lutnick Your energy around him comes to him. So when I come at him with a lot of energy, he comes back with a lot of energy. Right. Right? It doesn’t matter. He never steps back. He just sort of takes it like the centrifuge and then hurls it back at you and he’s been that way always so this is not new this is just who he is this is who he is so so those other people who Attack him yeah they think they’re attacking him they’re charging his battery they’re literally charging his battery so he comes back bigger stronger bigger stronger And once you Understand the man, the most intuitive person that you’ve ever met. (Time 0:03:32)
  • Panama Canal Investigation
    • Lutnick investigated Trump’s hunch about the Panama Canal.
    • He found Chinese influence through deepwater ports and signage on ships. Transcript: Howard Lutnick And people say, well, okay, so people who know me, I don’t suffer fools. And they have all these derogatory, all my left liberal friends, all these derogatory statements about the guy. And they know me really well. And they’d say, well, how can you work for him? I’d say, how can I work for him? The most intuitive person. He senses it. He knows it. He calls me up and he says, Panama Canal. That’s what he says. He goes, Panama Canal. It just feels wrong. And then he sends me on the quest to go. I didn’t do anything. I just start the quest to go look at it. The mouth that’s east is a deep water port by the Chinese. The mouth that’s west is a deep water port by the Chinese. They’re building bridges over it. So our ships and our military ships should go under, right, in our hemisphere, a Chinese bridge. So then I said, okay, let’s go prove it. So I have a friend of mine. He owns a big shipping company. I said, take two iPhones, put them on a stand, and just go through the Panama Canal. You know, the Panama Canal, they sort of drag ships through like this. And I said, just go video both ways. Just video both ways. 70 every letter is chinese then i’m talking like the sides of container ships the stores like i’m not talking signage it just just random signs like you’re riding on a road it’s all chinese And then i do the research and i call him back and i say the magic words between me and him. (Time 0:04:09)
  • Lutnick’s Political Involvement
    • Lutnick’s involvement with Trump stemmed from friendship and 9/11.
    • Lutnick was focused on rebuilding his company after the tragedy. Transcript: David Friedberg And he was just so concerned that these deficits and debts were getting so out of control. He went to the president and said, how can I help? Can I help? That’s a story. But was there a moment for you that was like rooted in something other than friendship? Like, was there something on the ground where you said, hold on a second, this is a train wreck and we need to do something? Chamath Palihapitiya Because you were the finance chair for the campaign. David Friedberg Well, no, I wasn’t the finance chair. I was the transition chair. You were the transition chair. I ran transition, (Time 0:06:45)
  • Cantor Fitzgerald’s Culture
    • Cantor Fitzgerald’s hiring policy fostered a close-knit environment.
    • The company prioritized hiring people known by existing employees. Transcript: Howard Lutnick So, you know, young lady works for me, says, you know, my best friend is an HR person. They have to have capacity. But once they have capacity imagine we hire that person yeah now what happens is it’s it’s not one big happy family but people really really care about the company and that’s our company That’s on the top five floors of the world trade center on 9 11 when the plane hits it kills everybody at the office my brother Gary he dies at 36 my best friend Doug he dies at 39 uh I had just Turned 40 that summer I had a party 65 couples it’s my my 40th birthday right 27 people at my party get killed Jesus my friends these are my friends so I’m driven to take care of the families Of the people who died. And I commit 25% of all of our profits. But the company is destroyed. So we go from making a million a day. I was a rich guy. Right. What’s the definition of a rich guy? No personal debt. No corporate debt. Can’t Fitzgerald. No debt so how do you survive 9 11 if you don’t owe anybody any money the only money you’re losing is is your money is your money so we survive and we take care of our friends families and then We build the company back up so you could see like i’m uh i’m a special guest on the celebrity apprentice therentice, the first season of Celebrity Apprentice. (Time 0:07:58)
  • Campaign Donations
    • Lutnick donated to both Trump and Hillary Clinton’s campaigns.
    • He supported Hillary due to her assistance post-9/11. Transcript: Chamath Palihapitiya So he already had his first term. You didn’t support or get involved? Howard Lutnick No, no. So I gave him money and I gave Hillary money. Chamath Palihapitiya You gave Hillary money in the first term. Howard Lutnick Yeah, because Hillary was incredibly helpful to me post 9-11. Remember, she was a senator. Right. And New York needed help. Right. And Hillary was incredibly helpful. And I was driving the team to help New York rebuild because I had relationships with a whole bunch of congressmen. (Time 0:11:16)
  • Friendship with Bill Young
    • Lutnick became friends with Bill Young through charity work at Bethesda Naval Hospital.
    • They helped families of injured military personnel. Transcript: Howard Lutnick Right. And they were going to do nice things like Bill Young ran house appropriations. Bill Young was my friend through a whole variety of things that had to do with. I used to go to Bethesda Naval Hospital. And I used to walk around and I would bring music down for the men who got hurt from the military who were in Bethesda Naval Hospital. And we would walk around. I’d go with my wife and then I would engage the young man with music. I’d give him music and ask him what CDs he wanted. This is when CDs were there. And I’d bring up a walkman. And my wife would pull the family outside. And she’d pay a year of mortgage and all their expenses because what people don’t realize is your son loses his leg right dad and mom come flying in and they’re going to stay by his bedside What job do these people have yeah that allows them to be at their son’s world and their world is falling apart because their son lost his leg so the world is falling apart but at home their World is falling apart falling apart yeah and so my my wife uh would just just try to figure out how much money was and just give him a check yeah and no no form no nothing just give him the Money yeah and and help him so i would bump into billy young and his wife who they were just they ran then defense appropriations and they were there just being good human beings and so We became friends and he said to me once he said is there anything i could ever do to help you i’m like look you run you’re like a congressman from florida who does defense appropriations And i’m like a jewish guy from new york who’s in finance if there ever were two skews that we’re never going to meet, this is two ships going, right? (Time 0:11:42)
  • Increased Political Involvement
    • Lutnick agreed to help Trump in 2023, marking his deeper involvement in politics.
    • He studied extensively, focusing on transitions and tariffs. Transcript: Howard Lutnick Did you love it? Chamath Palihapitiya Because our friend Sax, we were talking at dinner last night, he seems to love it. There is nothing not to love. As Donald Trump says, this is a thousand Super Bowls for him. Howard Lutnick And for me, it is only a hundred Super Bowls. I mean if if you’re dedicated to America and you’re willing to wear America’s clothing and to stop worrying about yourself and only care about America yeah and have no objective post Yeah the president hates when these people have like they raise money post from people they’ve met in here. So I’m never going to work again. I’m never going to work. This is all I care about. I’m just going to help America. So he asked me to help him. And I start thinking about it. I start studying everything. And I read everything. And I read everything about the White House. I read everything about everything I can possibly read because I’m just that way. And then I start helping him. (Time 0:15:48)
  • Chief of Staff Role
    • Lutnick criticizes the traditional ‘gatekeeper’ role of Chiefs of Staff.
    • He advocated for a Chief of Staff who empowers, not restricts, the president. Transcript: Howard Lutnick Did you find that was so interesting like I’ll give you an example so there’s a book called The Gatekeepers that was written. People gave me, oh, you should read this book. It’s about chiefs of staff. And basically there’s another way to call it. It’s called the jerks. Because what they do, imagine you’re the gatekeeper. You’re the gatekeeper of what? Of the man who was elected president of the United States of America? He needs the gates kept from him? And if you listen to Nixon tapes, you hear him scheming to try to learn anything. Because what happens is the chief of staff, everybody reports to the chief of staff and the chief of staff reports to you. So you can’t get on Air Force One without asking the chief of staff. You can’t get a document unless you have the chief of staff. No one can come see you unless you have the chief of staff and if they take your phone away you know what you are you’re imprisoned and that’s the gatekeepers so i said to donald trump i said Look you fired reince previs who was your chief of staff then you fired john kelly was the chief of staff then you fired mick milvaney’s chief of staff then you would have fired meadows But you didn’t get a chance because of the next election. So I said, why don’t you fire the job? What you need is a chief of staff who’s actually a chief of staff, not who’s the gatekeeper. (Time 0:17:20)
  • Balancing the Budget
    • Lutnick pitched his ideas to Trump during a visit to the Ohel.
    • He proposed balancing the budget by cutting entitlements and increasing revenue. Transcript: Howard Lutnick And go, what is it? I go, you need to join the administration. He goes, that’s what the emergency was? I go, of course. David Friedberg And Howard, was that when you conceived originally Doge in that initial, was that during the transition? Chamath Palihapitiya All right. So Doge. Yeah, we should talk about Doge and tariffs. Okay. Howard Lutnick So Doge comes, it’s October of, before the election. Okay. Early october 2024 october 2020 yeah like the beginning yeah of october 2024 and i called the president and i said i need uh i need to spend an hour with you because i have my big ideas yeah Right so he gives me he says look i’m not sure what to do october 7th right why don’t we figure out what i should be doing october 7th so we decide we’re going to go out to the ohel which is uh Uh a super religious uh hasidic jewish um messiah you know the people who wear black hats think he’s the messiah and they have a crypt for him where you write a note and you put a note in And So we agreed we’d go out to that grave site and we’d probably win 60,000 of those kind of voters which is pretty cool for a day. (Time 0:19:22)
  • Meeting with Elon Musk
    • Lutnick met with Elon Musk in Brownsville, Texas, to discuss government efficiency.
    • He witnessed a rocket catch before their meeting. Transcript: Howard Lutnick Yeah. Right. He’s already said he’s all in. He’s already said he’s going to Pennsylvania. Yes. Right. So I call Elon and I don’t know. I don’t know. But he’s perfect for this. So I use my superpower, which I call everybody else I know who knows him and they arrange and I’m texting with him and he agrees to meet me on October 14th. So I fly down to Brownsville, Texas. He’s going to catch the rocket on October 14th. So that’s what he invites me down for the rocket catch. Having nothing, he’s not inviting me for the rocket catch. He’s just invited me down that that’s a good day for me to meet him. So I fly down. I see the rocket catch, which is awesome. Yeah. Awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome. And then I expect to meet him. Chamath Palihapitiya By the way, very pivotal day in the campaign. If you remember, Biden sort of didn’t pay as much attention to it. Trump was pretty engaged. Elon was supportive of Trump. So when he actually caught the rocket, the media was almost like frozen, waiting for it to fail. Howard Lutnick And it didn’t fail and it worked and it was this incredible I was waiting for Elon okay so I flew down to see Elon and uh with with my uh with my son and uh so we watched the rocket right and then They say okay he’s gonna go hang out with his engineers and party with them seems reasonable it’s like hour hour and a half and then he just goes dark. (Time 0:23:31)
  • Doge and Gratis Vendors
    • Lutnick used ‘gratis vendors’ to bypass government procurement processes.
    • He named the Department of Government Efficiency ‘Doge’ to amuse Trump. Transcript: Howard Lutnick It doesn’t sell it. Okay. So therefore, I don’t have to go through the whole process of becoming a proper vendor because you’re giving it to us. And then if you give it to article two which is the president stuff then the president can accept it right because it’s give sorry what’s an example of this like just to make i write some Software you write some software i write some software for the commerce department to do a better job of xyz you just give it to me and then i do qa on it and i can take it. If you sell it to me for $1, we go into government hell. Right. The whole rigmarole. Right. But if you give it to me, right, and then I set up, you know, so I said I’m calling it Doge. And I registered the name Doge. (Time 0:27:14)
  • Transition Process
    • Lutnick tweeted about Doge, gaining millions of views.
    • He ran the transition, using a high-tech setup at Mar-a-Lago. Transcript: David Friedberg You’re outside. Howard Lutnick And so we had fun. We talked for two hours. And then on my Twitter feed, I took a picture of me and Elon outside. And I put up, welcome to Doge. We are going to rip the waste out of our $6.5 trillion government and balance the budget. We must elect Donald J. Trump president. Yeah. Right. And I posted that with my, I probably at the time had 25,000 viewers and I got 45 million views. Wow. Right. So it was me and Elon. Yeah. And that was the beginning of Doge. Yeah. Right. Then I ran transition, which is so for the transition. We had, I had a room in Mar-a Yeah. Okay. (Time 0:29:12)
  • Cabinet Selection
    • Trump’s cabinet selection prioritized strong individuals like Matt Gaetz.
    • Pam Bondi was a backup choice if Gaetz’s vetting raised issues. Transcript: Howard Lutnick Right. And I made sure he had the greatest choices. And then every once in a while he would call me at night and say, throw this guy in, throw this guy in, throw this guy in. We did a vet on everybody. But I didn’t take out anything negative. I am not a negative person. You can tell. I’m positive. So why would I discuss anything negative about any candidate until I get picked? Chamath Palihapitiya There was no game theory. A lot of people speculated there was game theory that we’ll put a mix of people that will assume some won’t make it out of committee and then we’ll end up with the ones that we do want everyone David Friedberg Was the number one only one only one and that was matt yeah what happened what happened with matt howard how did that process we he was tortured by his attorney general in the first term Howard Lutnick And we were not going to have that ever again. Right. So we needed strong backbone, strong capacity of which Matt Gaetz has it. And I know Matt Gaetz and he has it. Right. But we did not know what that vet was going to say from that report from Congress. So here was the idea. We fight for him and we fight for him to get through. And then we read the report. The report’s not bad. Remember, the president’s been tortured by people blaming him for stuff that never happened. Oh, 30 years ago, he raped this woman in the dressing room of Bloomingdale’s. I mean, what a load of crap. Right? It’s just not true. None of it’s true. It’s ridiculous. So he comes at this saying, I know you’re going to get tortured with ridiculous. So then he says, if it’s ridiculous, then we support men. And if it’s not, we have Pam right here, right now. So that was lined up. So that everybody knows it’s right here, right now. And it’s 3D chess. So we read it, Pam. It’s like Pam in a hundredth of a second. And Pam is a rock star. And you could argue that you would say, well, why didn’t you pick her first? You know what? He’s the president. He plays 3D chess. He did it his way. And you know what? But there was no candidate up there who wasn’t right. (Time 0:35:00)
  • Domestic Terrorism and Fraud
    • Lutnick describes domestic terrorism as a response to cutting expenses.
    • Fraudsters, not legitimate recipients, will complain the loudest. Transcript: David Friedberg Tell us how it happens. Well, hold on a second. So, Howard, let’s finish this and then we’ll move to tariffs and revenue generation. So there’s a lot of domestic terrorism. Is that the response to try to slow down the expense side of the house? Is it basically to put fear into people that are trying to find this waste and fraud? Is that what that is? The burning of the dealerships? Howard Lutnick If you were, I describe it to people this way. Let’s say Social Security didn’t send out their checks this month. My mother-in who’s 94, she wouldn’t call and complain. She just wouldn’t. She thinks something got messed up and she’ll get it next month. A fraudster always makes the loudest noise screaming, yelling, and complaining. And if all the guys who did PayPal, like Elon knows this by heart, right? Anybody who’s been in the payment system and the process system knows the easiest way to find the fraudster is to stop payments and listen. Because whoever screams is the one stealing. Because my mother-in is not calling. I mean, come on, your mother, 80-year 90-year they trust the government. They trust, okay, maybe it got screwed up. Big deal. They’re not going to call and scream at someone. But someone who’s stealing always does. So what happens is we need to get to. So the people who are getting that free money, stealing the money, inappropriately getting the money, have an inside person who’s routing the money, they are going to yell and scream. (Time 0:41:10)
  • GDP Recalculation
    • Lutnick aims to remove non-productive government spending from GDP calculations.
    • This will create a more accurate picture of economic activity. Transcript: David Friedberg By the way, you’re responsible for all the core data collection as well, aren’t you? Isn’t commerce responsible for generating a lot of the. Oh, GDP. Howard Lutnick Oh, that’s right. I get to talk about GDP and how I’m going to clean up the nonsense that isn’t GDP. You know, I can explain that. If you make a tank and someone buys a tank, that is GDP. Yeah. But 1,000 people thinking about buying a tank, right, who take your tax money and I give it to them and they go, hmm, I wonder, should we buy a tank or not? That’s not GDP. Chamath Palihapitiya Right. You’re saying government spending should not be counted in GDP. Howard Lutnick No. Government spending to buy a tank should be. Right. Government spending- That’s non-productive. Non-productive should not be. This is so important. I don’t think a (Time 0:44:34)
  • Tariffs and American History
    • America was built on tariffs without income tax until 1913.
    • Tariffs funded the nation’s growth and prosperity. Transcript: David Friedberg I think that that’s really well said. Okay. Let’s put a pin in this Trade. So let’s, Howard, explain to us global trade as you understand it, and then the context of tariffs, and maybe historically, and what role they play now. Howard Lutnick So I remind people that on the earth there was the Dark Ages. So the Dark Ages meant that the world knew how to read. And then because of religious and other actions, they burned all the books. And literally, the earth stopped learning how to read for 500 years or 400 years. We didn’t know how to read. And we knew how to read before. So how could So, America was built on tariffs with no income tax. No income tax till 1913. None. Greatest, richest country in the world. So, when Donald Trump says, make America great again, what he’s talking about is from 1880 to 1913, when the country had so much money that we had blue ribbon commissions which you guys Would have been on yeah (Time 0:52:20)
  • Post-War Tariff Strategy
    • Post-WWII, America lowered tariffs to aid global rebuilding.
    • This strategy continued through the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Transcript: Howard Lutnick Right to try to figure out how to spend the money right right and no income tax then we put in the income tax in 1913 why because we’re entering world war one yeah and don’t we all need to contribute To protect democracy and to protect our way of life right then what happens is the world goes into chaos we come out of chaos right and then we’re starting to think of what do we do what do We do and then 1929 the stock market crashes right 1933 we start to say oh god we forgot we need to do tariffs 1933 how can you do tariffs when the markets crash, the world’s going into depression, And you’re going to do tariffs in 1933? You can’t charge the rest of the world money unless the rest of the world’s okay. That’s right. So it was too little too late, right? So then we come out of World War II. It’s 1945. We need to rebuild the world. So we decide we’re going to take our tariffs down and we’ll let them… here’s the key. We’ll let them have tariffs be up. And we will export the power of our economy to let them rebuild. And we’ll let them rebuild. And that’s what happens. So 1945 we have the marshall plan right and we do it in japan of course because they need to be rebuilt what’s the difference right so they need to be rebuilt and then what happens we have The 50s and we have the korean war so we let them rebuild which means low tariffs here high tariffs there low tariffs here high tariffs there then we have the vietnam war right So now all Of a sudden we have all of Southeast Asia. (Time 0:53:29)
  • Kuwait Tariffs
    • Kuwait has high tariffs against the US despite American aid in the Gulf War.
    • Lutnick cites this as a failure to reset trade balances. Transcript: Howard Lutnick Low tariffs here, high tariffs there. You know what the best example I can give you to make it crystal clear? Kuwait. We spend almost $100 billion freeing Kuwait. Right? You know who has the highest tariffs against the United States of America? The number one country with the highest tariffs against the United States of America? Kuwait. And you think, what? That’s insane. But here’s what it is. If you go back to this understanding the way America thinks, you need to be rebuilt. Were just destroyed right all their oils were you remember red the guy’s name was red something and he was the guy who capped all the there were fires and all the the the oil wells and he Capped them all and it was amazing so we let them put up high tariffs but you know what the problem is then we forget right and we let it go yeah so Donald Trump comes in and says, it’s got to Stop. (Time 0:55:07)
  • Tariffs and Inflation
    • Lutnick refutes the claim that tariffs lead to inflation.
    • He argues inflation is caused by increased money supply. Transcript: Chamath Palihapitiya Well, let me give you the economist counter, and then you can respond to it, which is tariffs on imports in the United States will ultimately pass to the consumer. Higher prices, inflationary. So the things that our consumers, that our citizens are buying gets more expensive. And as a result, they buy less. And it’s recessionary. It shrinks the economy. It shrinks spending. It shrinks consumption. You kind of respond to the you know that’s the typical economist refrain on this independent and maybe they’re isolating the imbalance okay india has a 50 tariff on average 50. Howard Lutnick We have, on average, four. Okay? I would say to the person who said that, can I ask you a question? What are you talking about? (Time 0:57:22)
  • Trump Card Origin
    • Hank Paulson suggested selling visas instead of giving them away.
    • This led to the development of the Trump Card. Transcript: David Friedberg I’m trying to do. Speaking of potentially great ideas, can you tell us about the Trump card? Sure. So whose idea was that? And how did that come about? Howard Lutnick Paulson had a call with Donald Trump and was talking to Donald Trump and was kicking around the idea of we should sell. Right. Why do we give away visas? We should sell them. And they’re talking about it. Donald Trump calls me, gets me on the phone. Right. We all talk about it, right? And then we go from there. And then my job is to figure out, like I always figure out, how to do it. What’s the path? Do you have a path? Of course. About two weeks from today, it goes out. Okay? Elon’s building me the software right now. (Time 1:10:38)
  • Government Software
    • Lutnick encourages American companies to build government software for free.
    • This would allow them to sell it to other countries. Transcript: Howard Lutnick To do, and that’s with regulatory, is post-quantum cryptography. Chamath Palihapitiya Yeah. Okay? Howard Lutnick I think that is vital to us. Chamath Palihapitiya That asymmetric… I would bet this happens during this administration. He bets post. I’m going to put it out because we all have passwords. Howard Lutnick For those who are watching who don’t know this, our password is called asymmetric. Yours is different than mine. That’s the key. And cryptography is just the computing. So asymmetric, key, cryptography. You have your password, I have mine, and they’re the key. That’s right. Obviously, the central hub has our key, the. Okay? A quantum computer we know can break all of them in a nanosecond. Like all of them in the whole world, including the CIA, all of them are, say, 2048. All of them can get broken in a nanosecond by a quantum computer. So the defense of it is called post-quantum cryptography. Right? We know how to do it. And we’ll come out with a rule that says America’s got to protect itself. (Time 1:21:40)
  • Post-Quantum Cryptography
    • Lutnick stresses the urgency of implementing post-quantum cryptography.
    • Current passwords are vulnerable to quantum computers. Transcript: Chamath Palihapitiya Standards. And by the way, there are… Because every once in a while, you need to have a new standard that says it’s coming. Howard Lutnick We know what it is. Please, God, go put it in because we need to have it in. We need America to live in. Great segue. (Time 1:22:43)
  • US Government as Customer
    • Lutnick views the US government as the world’s greatest customer.
    • He plans to leverage this buying power for financial gain. Transcript: David Friedberg Let’s sort of segue now to a couple of things that we can enjoin together in this concept. Crypto, obviously, Bitcoin. You guys announced the strategic Bitcoin reserve. But broadly speaking, you also announced sort of this idea of the sovereign wealth fund. Can we talk about that? Sort of what is the vision behind that? How do you want that to be executed? How do you think it should be run? What assets are on the table? What assets and strategies should never be on the table? Howard Lutnick How are you thinking about it? The greatest customer in the world, the United States government, the most powerful, the greatest customer, buys stuff. (Time 1:22:54)
  • Attracting Entrepreneurs
    • A balanced budget, lower taxes, and the Trump Card could attract entrepreneurs.
    • This would boost the American economy. Transcript: Howard Lutnick And then imagine America. This is just an imagination moment. OK. We have a balanced budget in the United States. We’re starting to knock down the the deficit of america we can cut tax and we have a gold card a trump card that you can come to america which entrepreneur have you ever met who wouldn’t Buy one yeah and wouldn’t start building business when they think the tax rate here is going to come down and eventually it’s going to come down to 20 and eventually it’s going to come Chamath Palihapitiya Down to 15 you won’t be able to find a plot of land in america you know what i predict will happen i predict the just like in the medallion industry for taxi cabs there’ll be a financing industry That’ll build up around these uh these gold cards or these trump cards that great entrepreneurs great executives will be able to finance their purchase along with someone getting Venture capital interest or equity interest in their business. Howard Lutnick We’re going to take that money. So we’ll sell them every year. Yeah. Right? So they’ll knock down our budget deficit. And then eventually, right? If Donald Trump is right, and ultimately we can sell 7 million cards, you realize there is no debt in america no debt in america is a trillion dollars a year in debt coverage right trillion Dollars a year in debt coverage you know what that changes that changes the internal revenue service you you start to rethink and i just want to remind you right we are the richest country On earth our balance sheet is 500 trillion i give you an example what What’s the court system of America worth? (Time 1:31:18)
  • Family Life
    • Lutnick’s family had to adjust to his sudden government role.
    • His wife has been incredibly supportive. Transcript: David Friedberg Can’t do anything with it last question as we wrap tell us about your family your kids how they think about all of this your son’s running canter now how’s that going Just give us the lay Of the land. How’s the Lutnik family? Howard Lutnick All right. So I have the best wife. I’ve been married 30 years. She lets me be me. And she’s gorgeous, spectacular. I love my girl. She agreed. I mean, imagine this. I’m not joining the government. I’m not joining the government. I’m doing this doge thing with Elon. I’m not joining. I’m not joining. Honey, we got to move. Honey, we got to move. Two weeks after Election Day, I’m like, we’re moving. And in five weeks, we’re going to live in Washington, OK? And so the fact that that wasn’t unsettling would be the understatement of a lifetime. But she’s the most supportive and fantastic i have four kids uh my oldest son about to turn 29 i was taking him to kindergarten so that’s why i’m alive my second son brandon i dropped him Off in nursery school and then took my oldest son to kindergarten um so the two oldest boys are running canter now until i dev asked is it going well i don’t know oh yeah of course you’re Not supposed to know you know i would love to talk to them about it you have no idea but i’m not allowed like i literally am not allowed yeah and you know we all know the phones yeah so since The phone’s always with me and i assume the phone is listening you know ever since we couldn’t take a battery out of our phone you know the phone is listening so you know I’m not no so I never Talk to my son so uh I’m sure they’re happy but I don’t know how it’s going guys if you’re listening he’s doing great as you think but and then my my daughter is going to go to med school yeah And she’s on a gap year now and my youngest son also on a gap year now and he’s going to uh start duke in the fall right so i have the best kids uh my kids have lived with me and they lived with This kind of energy and this positive sort of momentum and and my wife being just a spectacular mom just keeping them what we taught our kids which is a fun one is uh i taught them two things Uh i would sit down with my kids and say how great is your life and this is only maybe something that people like we can say but i’m talking to my kids i say how great is your life they go great Because they came home and they say i got a bad grade teacher doesn’t like me it’s a classic line right yeah i said well how good your life they’re really good i go could it be be any better No well do you realize your teacher has given up her whole life no and she makes how much money yeah and she’s given her whole life to teach you yeah so can i ask you a question is it her job To like you or is it your job for her to like you? Who’s failing in what you just said? Right? It’s your job to have her like you. So when she says, raise your hand, raise your hand. And the other thing is, do me a favor, color inside the lines. Okay. In high school, if she says this guy is orange the answer to the test is orange when you get to college you can argue with the professor all you want high school color inside the lines give The teacher what she wants make sure she loves you and you’re getting a good grade that’s the rules of life yeah and my wife beat that into my children so that they would have it in their Souls, in their moral character of someone who’s fighting for you needs to have your love and respect back. You take them for granted. If you treat them badly, if you treat them like, oh, aren’t I so great, then you deserve what you get. And my wife has taught that moral fiber into my children, and it resides in them. And the other thing my kids have is they have empathy, which is a very unusual thing for young people. And it’s because they were raised with their father crying every day I cried every day until October 21st 2004 Wow every day because I thought of someone I hadn’t thought of you know or Someone would say 650 people died and I just there was you can’t process all of that death yeah without crying. And the only reason I remember is because as I fell asleep, I told my wife that I didn’t cry today, and she wrote it down. That’s the only reason I remember. So my kids are fantastic. They’ve been incredibly supportive. And my wife’s the best. And she lives with me in Washington. (Time 1:37:20)
  • Raising Children
    • Lutnick taught his children to respect those who serve them.
    • His wife instilled empathy in their children. Transcript: Howard Lutnick And then my my daughter is going to go to med school yeah and she’s on a gap year now and my youngest son also on a gap year now and he’s going to uh start duke in the fall right so i have the best Kids uh my kids have lived with me and they lived with this kind of energy and this positive sort of momentum and and my wife being just a spectacular mom just keeping them what we taught Our kids which is a fun one is uh i taught them two things uh i would sit down with my kids and say how great is your life and this is only maybe something that people like we can say but i’m talking To my kids i say how great is your life they go great because they came home and they say i got a bad grade teacher doesn’t like me it’s a classic line right yeah i said well how good your life They’re really good i go could it be be any better no well do you realize your teacher has given up her whole life no and she makes how much money yeah and she’s given her whole life to teach You yeah so can i ask you a question is it her job to like you or is it your job for her to like you? Who’s failing in what you just said? Right? It’s your job to have her like you. So when she says, raise your hand, raise your hand. And the other thing is, do me a favor, color inside the lines. Okay. In high school, if she says this guy is orange the answer to the test is orange when you get to college you can argue with the professor all you want high school color inside the lines give The teacher what she wants make sure she loves you and you’re getting a good grade that’s the rules of life yeah and my wife beat that into my children so that they would have it in their Souls, in their moral character of someone who’s fighting for you needs to have your love and respect back. You take them for granted. If you treat them badly, if you treat them like, oh, aren’t I so great, then you deserve what you get. And my wife has taught that moral fiber into my children, and it resides in them. (Time 1:38:58)