Trump assassination attempt, Secret Service failure, Inside the RNC, VC liquidity problem

Watch: youtube.com/watch?v=3z73JXD3pYU

Trump's a legend—survived an assassination attempt! 😱💪

David Sachs is now the architect behind many of the strategic moves; I like to think of him as the Puppet Master. It's funny, all these times and Business Insider and other publications are giving me all this credit, but honestly, I was probably just one of a thousand people, or at least hundreds, who offered my opinion. Ultimately, the president makes the decision; he solicits feedback from lots of people.

Let's maybe just get into the assassination attempt—that's really the thing to talk about here. I couldn't believe it, to be totally honest with you. I thought, "This can't be possible in this day and age." When you see the level of negligence and incompetence, my mind started racing—how could this even happen? We need to figure out where incompetence ended and negligence began because that's going to be the most critical aspect. Trump is an absolute legend, what a boss.

I remember I was with a group of people, drinking beer outside. We were on our fourth beer, and I thought it was a joke. That's it, it's over—Trump's win. It was probably one of the most iconic, patriotic visuals any of us have seen. It doesn't matter if Biden drops out now because it's over; Biden could stay in or leave, but this just feels like a lot of momentum. It really was amazing that the Secret Service let this happen. If you see all the data and stuff coming out now about how the Secret Service managed this, it's pretty scary that it was so botched.

David Sachs recounts where he was and his reaction: "I was just working in my office in Los Angeles. I was going to fly to the Republican convention in Milwaukee a few hours later. Someone texted me that the president's been shot, Trump had been shot, and my heart sank. I immediately went online to see the video."

Biden vs. Trump: The showdown just got real! 🇺🇸🔥

See, you know all the data and the stuff that's coming out now about how the Secret Service managed this, it seems pretty scary that this was so botched. Certainly now, the dust has settled five days later, and it seems like they're back into the conversation about let's remove Biden and figure out who can run against Trump, although there is conflicting polling data. Where were you when this occurred and your thoughts on the event itself? I was just working in my office in Los Angeles when someone texted me that the president had been shot. My heart sank. I immediately went online to see the video and saw in almost real time him go down. When he stood back up and faced the crowd, he wanted to let the crowd know that he was fine. My father-in-law was actually at that rally, and when the shots rang out and the president went down, there was really a feeling of bedlam and pandemonium in the crowd. But when he stood back up and faced the crowd, it created this huge sense of relief. The crowd started chanting "USA! USA! USA!" Trump's like a global legend for that. There's just no way to fake what he did in that moment—him telling the Secret Service to stop, to face the crowd—that's courage that nobody can fake. He just rose to the occasion in such an incredible way that I think it's inspired the whole country and the whole world. As brave as it was for him to stand up, that was a crazy thing to do. I can't believe the Secret Service allowed him to get back up because there could have been a second shooter. We've got a lot of questions that need to be answered here. I think we have to put both of these things aside; the leadership Trump and Biden should be saying right now that this rhetoric is not to be done anymore. People have to tone things down. You could be passionate about politics, but using violent language—sick people take it a different way. We have gone through years and years of literally the words that the former president has said being perverted and misconstrued. The mainstream media has really gone out of their way to amplify violent rhetoric. I saw so many reactions to the former and probably future president of the United States getting shot, which were along the lines of basically hoping that person hadn't missed. That person could only have gotten that idea because the media fed them that language and that idea.

Media twists words, fuels hate, and sparks violence 💥📰

The conversation centers around the media's portrayal of political figures and the resulting impact on public sentiment and actions. We have gone through years and years of literally the words that the former president has said being perverted and misconstrued and chopped up into sound bites that advance a mainstream media's agenda to try to vilify a person. This has led to extreme reactions: I saw so many reactions to the former and probably future president of the United States getting shot which was along the lines of basically hoping that that person hadn't missed and or justifying that violence on Donald Trump was somehow justified. Biden himself, days before the shooting, said that it was time to put Trump in the bullseye. I don't think Biden meant it in a literal sense, but the broader strategy is problematic. The Democrats made it a campaign strategy; their entire argument against Donald Trump is not about issues, it's about this man being Hitler. Look at the cover of the New Republic; they literally turned Donald Trump's face into a mashup of him and Adolf Hitler, and it's been amplified and repeated over and over again. How the Secret Service director hasn't resigned now is beyond me. I know she's had a storied career and she's probably a good person who's done plenty of great things, but if the outcome of what you've done results in something this tragic and that could have been avoided, the proper thing is ownership and resignation. Is it that they just got completely distracted on things that are not germane to doing their job? If it was about needing a diverse Secret Service or inclusion, all of those things have nothing to do, in my mind, with protecting somebody.

Leadership means owning mistakes and stepping down when lives are at risk 🚨⬇️

If the outcome of what you've done results in something this tragic and that could have been avoided, the proper thing is ownership and resignation. The job of the Secret Service is to jump in front of a bullet, and it did look pretty bad that she was having trouble holstering her weapon. How do they fail to cover that roof? It was the most obvious shooting spot in that entire Butler Farm area and it was not properly covered. The Secret Service releases this statement that they didn't cover it because it was a slope roof, which is the most ridiculous cover story ever. Right there she should be fired because she's lying to us at a moment where she should be cooperating and doing a full investigation. He was a person of interest an hour before the shooting and no one went to go resolve that situation. They see him with a rangefinder, and they let the president go out there. There was no agent stationed at the fence, so in order to get there they rammed the fence with an SUV. What harm would have come from just taking a half hour and have Trump have a cup of coffee and then go make sure that this person is not a danger? The people of this country need accountability. Cheel should resign. The first person that needs to speak in a congressional hearing is the sniper himself.

Accountability is key: Secret Service needs an independent investigation 🔍👀

Director Cheel is obviously in the way and putting out nonsense at a time when we need a proper investigation. Cheel should resign. The Secret Service agents need to be offered up to testify on Capitol Hill with no fear of reprisal from the Biden administration. The first person that needs to speak in a congressional hearing is the sniper himself. There are actually two snipers—no, sorry, there's two sets of snipers, four in total. There's a tree blocking their ability to see Crooks, and the other set of snipers are the ones that apparently took the fatal shot and they had a line of sight but they're not on camera. If they saw the guy on the roof and still let the president on the stage, someone really messed up. You could put two Blues up there, just two beat officers, and it would have solved the whole problem if you don't have enough Secret Service agents. I got detained by the Secret Service and went into secondary screening; they literally took my phone apart in front of me, took all the batteries out, and went through every bag. They take this incredibly seriously. They even wanted to know what kind of steak knives we were using to make sure they were safe. Maybe those snipers from the Secret Service thought those were friendlies—that's the only possible explanation of why they paused. Our institutions are incompetent; there's a lot of incompetence. Heads rolled, but there was no proper investigation of why so many people died unnecessarily in that Afghanistan withdrawal, and nobody's fired for anything anymore. Why would you not strip it down from top to bottom and rebuild it? We have lost that ability in our federal government; when people fail, they have to be held accountable or you don't get good performance. Why would you give more money to a failing company? You'd never do that. We need to have a series of actions that drive accountability in federal programs, and then a review on the intention of those programs to make sure they still hold. You cannot have the Secret Service investigate themselves on this one; they deleted all their text messages and did a major cover-up the last time around, so you cannot trust them to investigate themselves. A bunch of the senators confronted the head of the Secret Service—Cheet is her name, right? They confronted her and someone videoed the whole thing on their iPhone, demanding answers and asking why this was allowed to happen.

Senators blocked from answers by Secret Service—transparency needed now! 🚫🕵️‍♂️

We need to have a series of actions that drive accountability in federal programs, and then a review on the intention of those programs to ensure they still hold before we can move forward with new initiatives. You cannot have the Secret Service investigate themselves on this one; they deleted all their text messages and did a major cover-up the last time around, so you cannot trust them to handle this investigation. When the Senators confronted the head of the Secret Service, someone was videoing the whole thing on their iPhone, capturing them demanding answers and asking why this was allowed to happen. She responded that now was not the time and this wasn't the forum, then took off. They followed her, but she went into the Secret Service secure room upstairs, and her staff blocked all the Senators from coming in.

Preparing for the RNC speech, I started working on it about a week before the convention. They sent me some ideas for remarks, and then I completely rewrote it with my research assistant/writer. There was some back and forth, but by and large, they let me do what I wanted to do. They told me I had six minutes, which is about 600 words, so that's what we worked towards. They had these rooms set up with teleprompters where I could train on how to read a speech using one. There was actually someone in the room physically advancing the words as I spoke.

Regarding the war in Ukraine, I stated that it was not an unprovoked war; it was a provoked war, with the Biden Administration provoking it with talk of NATO expansion. There were murmurs at first, but then people got it and started applauding, even though I never intended it to be an applause line. The speech also attacked the forever wars and the warmongers, while complimenting President Trump for keeping us out of wars and for his savviness and ability to negotiate with our adversaries.

On JD Vance, he represents a couple of very interesting characteristics. On one hand, he's from a poor region of Appalachia that really represents the forgotten man or the forgotten cities and towns in America—the MAGA heartland. MAGA really likes him. At the same time, he's worked in tech and was a venture capitalist, so he understands the future and is popular in tech. He's an American patriot who had the courage to serve in America's wars but also has the wisdom and judgment to want to avoid those wars when we don't need to fight them.

JD Vance: From war hero to tech-savvy patriot, ready to shake up politics! 🇺🇸💼✨

JD Vance represents a couple of very interesting characteristics that make him stand out. He's from this poor region of Appalachia that really represents the forgotten man or the forgotten cities and towns in America, and MAGA really likes him for that. At the same time, he's worked in tech, he was a venture capitalist, and he understands the future, which makes him popular in tech. It's very unusual to get somebody who has both MAGA and tech on their side together. JD Vance was in high school when the Twin Towers came down, and then we invaded Iraq. He was gung-ho to serve and to go exact retribution and justice on America's enemies, so he enlisted in the Marine Corps and went off to serve in the Iraq War. Subsequently, he realized that we had all been lied to about the Iraq War and that it was a gigantic mistake. Moreover, the forever wars were a huge mistake. For these reasons, I very much support JD. He's an American patriot who had the courage to serve in America's wars but also has the wisdom and judgment to want to avoid those wars when we don't need to fight them. JD Vance worked at Peter Thiel's Mithril Capital and Steve Case's Revolution. He went to Ohio State and graduated, and he's only 39 years old. He came from nothing, less than nothing, and he talks a lot in his book about social capital and the fact that he didn't even understand the name of a firm as social capital because he just didn't have the social capital to even understand that a lawyer went to law school. I thought he was an incredible pick before his speech last night, and he even exceeded my expectations in that speech. The introduction by his wife Usha was really incredible. A friend texted me, who's not really into politics, saying this guy seems so normal, he's happy, he's normal, and he seems competent. There was one commentator who said that when you're at a fast food restaurant and need to ask for the manager, JD Vance is the person you hope is the manager. He comes out, he's friendly, he's competent, he's reasonable, and he knows how to get stuff done. The tent of the Republican Party at this RNC is the most wide-open tent I've ever seen in politics. They had Amber Rose, and people were criticizing her, but she was excellent. We're trending into a direction where, based on Donald Trump's pick for the vice president and some of the other surrogates, what you're going to see is a very youthful cabinet of a lot of 30-somethings and 40-somethings versus a bunch of 60, 70, and 80-year-old career politicians. This is Donald Trump's Republican Party, the MAGA Wing, the America First wing of the Republican Party. We're moving from a party of basically the Chamber of Commerce, Business Roundtable, a bunch of oligarchic fat cats to being a populist party that actually represents the people.

Donald Trump & JD Vance: The heart and soul of a new GOP revolution! ❤️🇺🇸🚀

That's a really important thing to consider versus a bunch of 60, 70, and 80-year-old career politicians. Youth and vigor, and again this new direction, are what make this shift so significant. I think this is Donald Trump's Republican Party, this is the MAGA Wing, the America First wing of the Republican Party. We're moving from a party of basically the Chamber of Commerce, Business Roundtable, a bunch of oligarchic fat cats to being a populist party that actually represents the people. The part of JD's speech that I liked the best is when he described that, "Hey, I went off and many other people went off to fight in these forever wars risking our lives or giving our lives. We come back to our home communities and what do we find? We find them hollowed out, the jobs have all been exported, the factories have shut down, and instead, the town has been poisoned by fentanyl."

I think that Donald Trump choosing JD Vance was so important to cement this new vision of the Republican Party. It was a legacy pick because it means that this America First MAGA message is going to continue many years into the future. Reflecting on the past, my friends, these people are our people. They don't read Adam Smith or Edmund Burke, but they come from the same schoolyards and the same playgrounds and towns as we come from. They share our beliefs and convictions, our hopes and dreams. They are the conservatives of the heart. They are our people, and we need to reconnect with them. We need to let them know we know how bad they're hurting. They don't expect miracles of us, but they need to know we care.

For too long, Republican leaders ignored that advice. They didn't connect with everyday Americans. They were foolishly willing to cut programs like Social Security or Medicare while at the same time funding forever wars. The party was basically led by warmongers like Dick Cheney or Mitch McConnell or soulless bean counters like Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan. JD Vance represents the future of the party. He trashed the Iraq War, he promised no more foreign interventions, and he railed against policies that benefit multinational corporations at the expense of workers. I think that Donald Trump and JD Vance represent a conservatism of the heart that we haven't seen before, and I think this is the future of the Republican Party.

Doug Bergham is a very nice man who I think can play a very important role. There's nobody who understands energy better and all the regulations that have gotten in the way of making America energy independent and tapping our vast energy reserves. However, I have concerns about the nationalist and isolationist agenda. I think that the nationalism and isolationism agenda is counter to global trade, which can be deeply inflationary. The ability for the US to export and import with other trade partners around the world is critical for us to continue to grow our economy and keep inflation down. If you introduce tariffs on imports, it will drive prices up. As we heard from President Trump, his belief is that this is an important security stick that we use to drive reciprocity and hold China in check. That may be a more important strategic priority over the increase in the price of certain goods.

Tariffs on China? 🚜💸 Farmers felt the burn, Trump had to step in with billions! 💵👨‍🌾

If you introduce tariffs on imports, it will drive prices up, but President Trump believes that this is an important security stick that we use to drive reciprocity and hold China in check. China, in response, put tariffs on our exports or stopped buying from the US, opting instead to buy from Brazil. This hurt our farmers significantly, and when the farmers are hurt, the Trump administration had to spend tens of billions of dollars to support them.

Now, transitioning to something more exciting, this week we are opening up scholarship applications for the All Summit. You can go to summit.Allin podcast.co to apply. We have a very limited number of scholarship tickets available, just like we did the last two years. Some of these scholarships are generously sponsored by Athletic Brewing Company.

Moving on to the secondary sale of Stripe shares by Sequoia, Sequoia Capital has invested $517 million in Stripe, which is currently worth about $10 billion—a 20x return. Legacy fund LPs have the option to hold, sell some, or sell all of their Stripe shares, and they are offering $2750 a share, which is quite generous, valuing Stripe at $70 billion.

However, there are potential issues with Sequoia's approach to providing liquidity. One fund is essentially scratching the back of another fund, and while this may look a bit smelly and unseemly on the surface, it's not uncommon in private equity. That said, it's not something we see very often in venture capital.