Just returned from the @USNATO Transatlantic Defense Forum in Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium. A few things were clear to me: - Speed and live data are decisive resources - Anything slow, predictable, or concentrated dies - European partners want dual-use technology - NATO defense spending increases are welcome resources to the transatlantic industrial base, but success depends on directing those funds to innovation and real capabilities - not expanded bureaucracy. Big thank you to Ambassador Whitaker @USAmbNATO for hosting us. This administration has a clear mandate to strengthen private sector partnerships and innovation ecosystems across the transatlantic. And it has placed outstanding leaders throughout Europe - including Ambassador @usambnl Joseph Popolo in the Netherlands. We are in good hands, and so are our allies. Success over the next 20yrs is a clear and dramatic increase in capabilities from our allies.

Manila aims to sign an initial agreement with the US State Department this year and has an option to offer up to a 99-year lease to the US bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

JUST IN: SpaceX IPO reportedly expected to mint 4,000 new millionaires — “from engineers to cafeteria workers”

1/2 Thank you to the 50  🇺🇸 business leaders who joined the Transatlantic Defense Industry Access Forum 2026 in Munich, Germany. Today's security challenges require @NATO Allies to invest 5% of GDP for defense; American ingenuity, speed, and industrial cooperation can turn these investments into real, cutting-edge capabilities.

Everyone who over-hired or lowered the bar too much in the 2021-2023 wave, or isn’t growing as fast as budgeted, now pretends they’re laying people off “due to AI productivity.”

Is this the AI-driven job apocalypse I’ve been hearing so much about? At some point the Doomers & their many followers will have to admit that productivity-enhancing innovation creates jobs & broad-based prosperity not the opposite - just like the loom, the engine, & the PC.

SECRETARY RUBIO on American AI dominance, Pax Silica, and the importance of allies and ecosystems.

Speaker Mike Johnson on what Congress must deliver on AI: 1. "A single national framework that protects children, safeguards communities, supports creators, and avoids a patchwork of state regulations." 2. "Ensure our national security and well-being. Expand the American AI stack to friends and allies, while ensuring it stays out of the hands of America's adversaries and rivals." 3. "Move at the speed that victory demands. Inaction is unacceptable. While the window for American AI leadership is open, it will not stay open indefinitely." The Hill & Valley Forum 2026 (@HillValleyForum)

"You didn't become the banking G.O.A.T. by losing money. Why is investing in defense good for your shareholders?" Jamie Dimon on JPMorgan's $1.5 trillion security and resiliency initiative: "I am a patriot. I started to really worry about this after the invasion of Ukraine." "We hired Todd Combs to invest $10 billion of our own money into companies that need money, need a little help. It's commercial, 100% commercial." "Some of the weaknesses isn't that the companies can't double their production, it's that they don't have the workers who can double their production — electricians, welders, engineers." The Hill & Valley Forum 2026 @HillValleyForum @jpmorgan @ChairmanG

Undefeated

Back-of-envelope numbers for 1 gigawatt data center: All-in Capex: ~$50 bn Enterprise revenue generated: ~$25-30 bn/year Electricity cost: $1-2 bn/year ~2 year payback. The boom is real.

"America will win the AI race if two things happen: if government resists the siren song of control, and if industry steps up as our patriotic partner." @SpeakerJohnson: "President Trump gave us a monumental task. He said we have to make America the world leader in artificial intelligence. He compared this competition to the dawn of the Space Age." "Here in Congress, we want to ensure American AI is the gold standard of the future, and we intend to do that." The Hill & Valley Forum 2026 @HillValleyForum

what if everything goes right

"One of the big discussions in German rearmament is replacing Starlink. And I look at my German friends and say, 'You're not even a space power! You have no launch capability! What Starlink?' @DAlperovitch

🚨WE WELCOME ALLIED MANUFACTURER PROPOSALS TO OPERATE IN OUR NEW ECONOMIC SECURITY ZONE IN THE PHILIPPINES, OUR CLOSE PARTNER AND NEW PAX SILICA MEMBER. THE TIME TO SECURE OUR SUPPLY CHAINS IS NOW. LUZONZONE@STATE.GOV state.gov/releases/office-of…

"I went to the injection molder and said, 'I'd like to make this part in America, and I'd like to make the injection mold in America.' He goes, 'No, you can't do that. We go to China for the mold.'" @smartereveryday: "If we can't make the parts that make the parts in America, we're going to lose." "If you want a bolt and a nut, literally the simplest manufacturing component, you can't get made in America stuff. I think that's crazy. So I think we need to have small businesses that just do this, and we got to figure out a way to make it profitable." The Hill & Valley Forum 2026 @HillValleyForum @CGarrett_15 @DestinSandlin

"What Elon is probably seeing is the constraints and how they're going to play out, and saying, 'Well, we're going to be constrained by power, and so we have to go to space.' And that might be true at the limit." @ChaseLochmiller and @ZachBDell to @sriramk on the future of data center infrastructure: Chase: "There's a need for both terrestrial data centers and space data centers. The idea of having 24/7 low-cost solar power in space makes a ton of sense." Zach: "We and others are working on adding capacity on Earth here to unconstrain our ability to develop large infrastructure, and ultimately drive down prices for civilians, for homeowners." The Hill & Valley Forum 2026 @HillValleyForum @CrusoeAI @basepowerco @skrishnan47

We are honored to welcome Bob Iger back to Thrive. Bob leads with boldness and conviction because he knows what he is building and why. He is rejoining Thrive at a time when that kind of leadership matters most. We are living through the most consequential technology shift of our lifetimes, where AI will democratize access to intelligence in the way the internet democratized access to information. The companies that matter most will not just deploy the most advanced technology. They will understand what their customers truly want and place human judgment, taste, and craft at the center of what they build. Few people understand this as profoundly as Bob does. He has spent his career proving the things that feel the most human can also be the most eternal. Just as important, Bob embodies one of the firm’s core values; it is not just the business that we do, but how we do our business that will ultimately define our impact. We are deeply grateful to have him back and look forward to building together.

Virginia in 2024: 🔵52% Kamala 🔴47% Trump Virginia for this Redistricting: 🔵51% Yes 🔴49% No New Congressional Seats: 🔵91% Democrats 🔴9% Republicans