00:08:05 · Yoni Rechtman, Eric Newcomer
[00:08:05] S1: think there's anything... There's nothing evil, but there's nothing inherently good either. You know, I certainly believe that like entrepreneurial capitalism is is the best form... Is the best kind of market system to pair with liberal democracy Right. To like achieve freedom and broad prosperity. And so in that way, I think it's like ultimately serving some some good purpose, but like most of the people within it are, you know, I went to Stanford, I went to Princeton, I worked at Morgan Stanley, I worked at Meta, I know a bunch of people. I did some angel investments. Like, you know, my dad ran the TMT desk at Goldman. [00:08:44] S0: So you do think, like, animating thing they didn't like about Biden. You mentioned your tweet. Yeah. Like M and A, like blocking blocking deals. There was also, you know, the crypto I think crypto, Lina Khan. Making it hard for me to make money. This is [00:08:57] S1: really Gary Gensler and Lina Khan were, I think, legitimately overzealous in a lot of ways, and did a huge amount of reputational damage pushing tech to the right. And then obviously now more recently some of this cockamamie wealth tax idea in California is doing the same. And so much is, you know, look, my critique about the culture in venture capital is the same about the investing culture as it is about the political culture, which is it's fundamentally like Momo driven. You know, [00:09:34] S0: it's like... What you mean?
00:09:34 · Eric Newcomer, Yoni Rechtman
[00:09:34] S0: it's like... What you mean? [00:09:36] S1: Momentum driven. I like to be on the winning side, I like to back winners, I like to find winners. Right. And like, venture capitalists are always thinking about the world in terms of upside maximization, not looking stupid, job security, and you know, and like preserving optionality. And so when someone looks like they're winning, most venture capitalists will rush to back the winner, and that's just as true in politics as it is in their investing. [00:10:04] S0: But it feels like the momentum is gonna turn against Trump. I mean, he's [00:10:07] S1: pull over Well, Most venture capitalists are quite bad at at predicting those wins, but, you know. [00:10:13] S0: Yeah, it's always worrying, you know, do they think, you know, democracy itself will fail? Like, is it a prediction that there won't a lot of [00:10:22] S1: people I think a lot of people don't take seriously the extent to which our, like, system of entrepreneurial capitalism rests on strong institutions, and so what Trump is doing in our democracy, he is also doing to our market system. Right. And so, for instance, like, it should be extremely concerning to anyone who calls himself a capitalist to watch him start, like, nationalising companies, which is what he has done in the steel industry and in the chips industry, to watch him, you know, try and put... I mean, not put pressure, criminally prosecute Jerome Powell to, like, exert control. Like, central bank independence is one of the pillars the
00:10:22 · Yoni Rechtman, Eric Newcomer
[00:10:22] S1: people I think a lot of people don't take seriously the extent to which our, like, system of entrepreneurial capitalism rests on strong institutions, and so what Trump is doing in our democracy, he is also doing to our market system. Right. And so, for instance, like, it should be extremely concerning to anyone who calls himself a capitalist to watch him start, like, nationalising companies, which is what he has done in the steel industry and in the chips industry, to watch him, you know, try and put... I mean, not put pressure, criminally prosecute Jerome Powell to, like, exert control. Like, central bank independence is one of the pillars the [00:11:08] S0: idea that you could commit fraud, and probably if you can pull together a couple million dollars, you can get it to the Trump administration and then you can get a pardon and get out
00:11:08 · Eric Newcomer, Yoni Rechtman
[00:11:08] S0: idea that you could commit fraud, and probably if you can pull together a couple million dollars, you can get it to the Trump administration and then you can get a pardon and get out [00:11:17] S1: of it. And so, like, there is no democracy without... I I I really believe that there is no... Like, the systems of democracy, capitalism, property rights, institutions, independent judiciary, these are all actually one thing. And in countries that have one, they generally tend to have all of them. And And in countries where one fails, the rest fail shortly thereafter. Like, he's doing third world... You know, it's it's third world style corruption in The US and is is substantially undermining, like, the excellence of American institutions and the excellence of American capitalism, and, like, we are all gonna wind up paying for that. So even in the most strictly amoral terms, you don't care about any of the, like, ideas about the liberal world order, like, we're gonna wind up looking like Turkey or Argentina or Russia, where, like, there is no, you know, sort of free market, there is no meaningfully free market system, there is no central bank independence, there are no strong institutions, there is no, for the most part, judicial independence.
00:11:17 · Yoni Rechtman, Eric Newcomer
[00:11:17] S1: of it. And so, like, there is no democracy without... I I I really believe that there is no... Like, the systems of democracy, capitalism, property rights, institutions, independent judiciary, these are all actually one thing. And in countries that have one, they generally tend to have all of them. And And in countries where one fails, the rest fail shortly thereafter. Like, he's doing third world... You know, it's it's third world style corruption in The US and is is substantially undermining, like, the excellence of American institutions and the excellence of American capitalism, and, like, we are all gonna wind up paying for that. So even in the most strictly amoral terms, you don't care about any of the, like, ideas about the liberal world order, like, we're gonna wind up looking like Turkey or Argentina or Russia, where, like, there is no, you know, sort of free market, there is no meaningfully free market system, there is no central bank independence, there are no strong institutions, there is no, for the most part, judicial independence. [00:12:21] S0: What do make of these things all go together? That, you know, if you give Trump a golden crown or whatever, he's gonna treat you well. And Democrats, if you try and do it, they might say, oh, look, a billionaire, you know, we should I'm tax you not saying Democrats should get more corrupt, but there is this asymmetry where you get more out of cozying up to the Republicans as
00:12:21 · Eric Newcomer, Yoni Rechtman
[00:12:21] S0: What do make of these things all go together? That, you know, if you give Trump a golden crown or whatever, he's gonna treat you well. And Democrats, if you try and do it, they might say, oh, look, a billionaire, you know, we should I'm tax you not saying Democrats should get more corrupt, but there is this asymmetry where you get more out of cozying up to the Republicans as [00:12:43] S1: a business person. Totally. I think the Democrats often really struggle to articulate a positive vision for America and the world. You know, there's this like Simpsons meme that people always share that is hysterical, and it's the Republican National Convention, and it says like, you know you know like... But we're evil. We're evil and we know it, and then the Democratic National Convention is like we hate every... We're incompetent and we hate ourselves. Right. I think that Democrats really struggle for how much they... Because of how much they point out problems instead of being able to put forth a, like, positive vision for America. I think it's really challenging to hold the two conflicting ideas in your head. I am, you know, notwithstanding his, like, personal proclivities, often very inspired by Bill Clinton and, you know, his line, there's nothing that's wrong with America that can't be fixed with what's right with America. Like, I believe that very deeply. I think the idea of I still don't I agree with everything you're saying.