DOGE Insider Joe Lonsdale: Deep State Has Finally ‘Met Their Match’ With Elon Musk

Palantir co-founder and billionaire venture capitalist Joe Lonsdale believes that the entrenched U.S. government bureaucracy has finally met its match in President Donald Trump’s second term—thanks to the world’s richest man and Department of Government Efficiency head, Elon Musk. Lonsdale, who is assisting DOGE from outside the cut cutting machine, made the remark during an interview with CNBC on Wednesday morning. 

NEW: @JTLonsdale‘s epic CNBC debate on DOGE

Andrew Sorkin: I just think there’s a question about how careful @ElonMusk & DOGE need to be…

Joe Lonsdale: Andrew, we’ve been careful for 50 years, right? You have a bunch of white flag Republicans, you have a bunch of people on… pic.twitter.com/kziU8bURqb

— American Optimist (@AmOptimistShow) February 12, 2025

ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: I think there’s a question about how careful either Elon [Musk] or others need to be.

JOE KERNAN: Slash and burn a lot of the stuff.

JOE LONSDALE: Andrew, we’ve been careful for 50 years, right? You have a bunch of white flag Republicans, you have a bunch of people on the left making money off of it, people on the right making money off it too. Everyone wants to be careful and keep it going. You’re not going to get perfect answers in life. I think this is by far the best thing for our civilization, to very boldly confront this. You’re probably right—some things will need to be turned back on, and some things were mislabeled that no one knew what they were. It’s a mess, and it’s such a mess that I think being bold is the right answer. I get that it’s going to have a few mistakes, but I’d rather have those few mistakes and fix it.

REBECCA QUICK: This may be very deliberate because part of the Washington grinding machine is, “Don’t worry, we will survive this too. We’ll live through this too because the Washington grind machine always slows everything to a complete stop, and nothing gets done.” My guess is this was a very deliberate attempt or deliberate decision to do it this way just to make sure you actually make some progress.

JOE LONSDALE: Being careful and slow isn’t how we get to Mars. It is what it is.

JOE KERNAN: Joe, the deep state’s still going to win. Don’t you think?

JOE LONSDALE: I think they’ve met their match. I think they think they are going to win, but I think they’ve met their match.