Howard Lutnick Reveals How DOGE Was Conceived

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick (former chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald) appeared on the All-In podcast to discuss everything from President Trump’s transition team to creating DOGE with Elon Musk, fixing GDP, the tariff strategy driving the ‘America First’ agenda, immigration ‘Gold Cards,’ government software strategies, and much more.

All-In’s Chamath Palihapitiya and David Friedberg joined Lutnick in the White House in a long-form podcast (something Democrats consistently struggle with) to discuss his three-decade relationship with Trump and how he ultimately found himself in politics, backing the president.

Lutnick highlighted his role in leading Trump’s transition team and offered behind-the-scenes insight into creating DOGE with Musk: 

So I’m in the car with him [Trump]… And I said, “We’re going to balance the budget.” And I said, “I have one favor to ask of you If we can balance the budget for you – will you agree to wave all income tax I see for every person who makes less than $150,000 a year for the United States of America, which by the way is about 85% of America.

And the reason you want to work for Donald Trump is he looks at me, he goes, “Sure.” You realize the president of the United States said, “If you balance the budget, sure.” And he’s not lying. He’s not kidding. He’s like, “Yeah that seems that seems like a great idea.” Right and so and then I tell him “Okay I’m going to go recruit Elon because Elon’s all in…” 

Here are the highlights from the conversation: 

1. (0:00) chamath and friedberg welcome commerce secretary howard lutnick!

2. (1:10) howard describes his 30+ year relationship with president trump and his road from business to politics

3. (14:44) running trump’s transition team, doge origin story, what it’s like working for trump (38:01) balancing the budget and fixing gdp

4. (52:21) tariff history and strategy, global trade

5. (1:10:34) trump cards, building better government software, ai thoughts

6. (1:22:49) sovereign wealth fund strategy

7. (1:37:16) how his family reacted to his new role

Full interview here: 

all-in takes dc part 2!@chamath and @friedberg sit down with @CommerceGov secretary @howardlutnick for another long-form interview

— insights from running trump’s transition team

— creating @DOGE with @elonmusk

— fixing gdp

— tariff strategy

— how to sell 1m+… pic.twitter.com/mfmCdxhQvG

— The All-In Podcast (@theallinpod) March 20, 2025

This was one of the most entertaining and scoop-filled interviews from All-In.