I believe in the Constitution and in America. You conflate loyalty to the Constitution with blind submission to a corrupt bureaucracy, the Cleptocracy, that no longer serves the people. The Founders didn’t fight a revolution to protect entrenched institutions; they fought to break them when they became tyrannical. The Constitution is not the bureaucracy. It is not the corrupt administrative state. It is not the corporate-media cartel. It is not the unaccountable agencies that weaponize power against the people they were meant to serve. The Constitution is a covenant between the people and their government, and when that government becomes parasitic, draining, controlling, and silencing: patriots don’t kneel. They stand. Trump and Musk are not monarchs, and no one is asking for kings. But they are leaders who refuse to be controlled by the same self-dealing elite that hollowed out America’s institutions and sold the middle class for parts. They threaten the status quo, not the Constitution. You mistake rebellion against corruption for rebellion against America itself: when in fact, it is the most American thing of all.

Unbelievable but true, there more people in France born in 1946 (and still alive) than there are people born in 2024

It's difficult and surreal to write this. A titan has fallen. This weekend we lost Dick Kramlich, my beloved uncle, co-founder of @NEA and Green Bay Ventures. He lived a long and epic life that rippled through the technology world and the art world, not to mention his large family and countless friends. He was a huge reason I got into venture capital, letting me stay in his guest bedroom for six months when I moved to SF (though he charged me rent out of principle haha), inspiring me to dive into "deep" tech (not that he called it that; it was just venture to him), and reminding me to always put people and honor first. He was a true legend, a pioneer of our asset class, and hopelessly in love with the entrepreneurial journey right to the end, even hosting dinner for 20 people from a startup he backed the night before he passed. Very few people are fortunate enough to love what we do so much that it never feels like work. Uncle Dick was one of them. He always encouraged me to follow my passions (especially if they had to do with making money 😆), take (calculated) risks, and be courageous in my convictions even (especially?) when they're unpopular. I love this quote from him, which NEA shared in their tribute today: "A lot of people think venture capital is a game of numbers. It's not—it's a game of courage." I suspect this post will surface even more lives his impacted than the family knew about. He was that gracious, that giving of his time, and even through adversity exuded kindness, character, an innocently mischievous sense of humor. He had an undying optimism, always seeing a way through despite the odds, probably because he had been through so much––from joining the Air Force the week Sputnik launched to the dot com bubble. I can see him right now telling Saint Peter that he's still got one last grand slam investment to make before he rides into the sunset, turning back to us with his characteristic impish wink. I'll miss you, UD <3