# Isaacman says resistance to DOGE may explain his withdrawal

Markdown copy of https://realalpha.app/s/isaacman-says-resistance-to-doge-may-explain-his-withdrawal/ on Real Alpha, the best minutes from long interviews with the people building AI. Cite and link the page, not this copy.

- Speaker: [Jared Isaacman](https://realalpha.app/people/jared-isaacman/) · Jared Isaacman is founder of Shift4, pilot and commercial astronaut. · Commanded Inspiration4, the first all-civilian orbital flight, and founded Shift4 payments; now runs NASA.
- Host: [David Friedberg](https://realalpha.app/people/david-friedberg/) · CEO, Ohalo · Founded The Climate Corporation, sold to Monsanto for about $1.1B in 2013.
- Show: All-In
- Episode: [Jared Isaacman: What went wrong at NASA | The All-In Interview](https://realalpha.app/v/6YdOjoaQTOQ/), Jun 4, 2025
- Moment: 48:19 to 55:05 of the episode (7 min), playing on https://realalpha.app/s/isaacman-says-resistance-to-doge-may-explain-his-withdrawal/; the episode from there: https://realalpha.app/v/6YdOjoaQTOQ/?t=2899

## Quote

> “I don't blame, you know, an influential advisor coming in and saying, look, here's the facts. And I think we should **kill this guy**.”
> — [Jared Isaacman](https://realalpha.app/people/jared-isaacman/) at [51:51](https://realalpha.app/v/6YdOjoaQTOQ/?t=3111) · All-In

## Takeaways

1. He says the Senate process was fair and did not block him.
2. He doubts previously disclosed Democratic donations were the cause.
3. He suggests resistance to DOGE may explain the pressure, without naming names.

## About this segment

Jared Isaacman recounts being told Trump chose another direction and considers how resistance to DOGE may have played a role. He says the donation story was not new, but stops short of naming anyone.

From “Jared Isaacman: What went wrong at NASA | The All-In Interview”, Jun 4, 2025. [Watch the full episode](https://realalpha.app/v/6YdOjoaQTOQ/)

## Transcript

Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.

[48:31](https://realalpha.app/v/6YdOjoaQTOQ/?t=2911) right yeah okay so so let's talk a little bit about your nomination you seem i would give you my vote you should be the administrator of nasa it would be amazing um thanks you testified in front of the senate committee on april 9th i think it was a 19 to 9 vote to move you out of committee yes then there were reports going into this weekend that you were going to be voted on by the full senate this week and the estimates where you were going to get 70 confirmation votes or that was some news report i had read so it seems like you were going to fly right through and administer nasa um so then what happened so i mean i got a call um friday of last week that um you know the uh the president has decided to go into a uh go in a different direction uh it was a um uh it was a real bummer and i uh i know like a number of parties in

[49:22](https://realalpha.app/v/6YdOjoaQTOQ/?t=2962) government need to be notified of that which um you know i expected to kind of have just a peaceful weekend. And the next thing I knew on Saturday, you know, it was, uh, there was a lot of activity on the internet, but maybe that's just like my perspective. Cause I follow space, uh, and, and such, but it was certainly, uh, you know, disappointing, but, uh, you know, the president needs to have, you know, his person that, you know, he counts on to, to fulfill the agenda.

[49:44](https://realalpha.app/v/6YdOjoaQTOQ/?t=2984) And, um, yeah, I, uh, the person that called you, what was, what did they tell you was the reason the president was withdrawing his nomination? Uh, just said the president had decided to go in a different direction we all serve at the pleasure of the president um now i mean i started to get some more details as it went on i honestly also like i'm not like i don't like play dumb on this like i i had a pretty good idea of um you know that um you know i don't think that the timing was much of a coincidence uh that you know there was other changes going on the same day and uh you know it was kind of uh obviously a little bit of a disappointment so are you referring to elon i i just you know there was uh obviously there was a more than more than one you know departure that was covered on that day and um it became uh you know at least from what

[50:39](https://realalpha.app/v/6YdOjoaQTOQ/?t=3039) i what i've heard that it was uh there was a um you know there was and i'm just you know i read the news same as everybody else but i you know i had obviously was in the in dc for the last six months getting ready that you know there were some people that um you know that had some access to grind i guess and uh and i was a a good visible uh target i know they're like the news talks a lot about like the you know democratic donations is the cause um that was not a new development you just google you can they're all public the new york times published an article saying that president trump knew about your democratic donations in the past when you received the nomination. So that was actually not news, according to the New York Times, that that was well understood and well covered. So kind of put the kibosh on that explanation. So what are the

[51:26](https://realalpha.app/v/6YdOjoaQTOQ/?t=3086) axes to grind? Are the axes to grind with Elon? Are there kind of two factions? Whatever you can kind of provide some color on, I think it would be really helpful to understand because there's a lot of speculation going on right now. And I would say some folks are really disappointed in some of the transitions that are taking place. And some folks are really trying to grok it and understand it. So anything you can do to help folks understand would be, you know, I think helpful. You know, first, I just I want to be overwhelmingly clear, I don't fault the president at all, I fully support him that you know, the President United States, you know, the leader of the free world makes 1000 decisions a day with seconds of information, he's got to get a lot more right than wrong.

[52:01](https://realalpha.app/v/6YdOjoaQTOQ/?t=3121) Um, so I don't, I mean, you know, I don't blame, you know, an influential advisor coming in and saying, look, here's the facts. And I think we should kill this guy. And the president's got to make a call and move on. Um, I think that's exactly, uh, you know, kind of how it went. Um, it was not the Senate at all. Uh, you don't get floor time, by the way. Uh, you know, there's a hundred nominees that are like waiting for floor time. The only way you get floor time is when a lot of senators, you know, call Senator Thune and say, this is our guy and we got to move them along, that's how you know it's like a high, you're going to get a high vote count. So the Senate was very fair, really nice. I enjoyed that experience. I, you know, I think you got one person and I don't know the history on like what the trigger was or wasn't, but, you know, decided

[52:47](https://realalpha.app/v/6YdOjoaQTOQ/?t=3167) to kind of make a move. And again, I don't fault the president for it at all, but, you know, look in terms of donations, I've always been, you know, somewhat of a moderate. I actually like, I am like a right leaning. I do support the president's agenda. That's why I made as big of a donation as I did to his cause. Let me just ask for clarity. Sorry, go ahead. I was just going to say, when you fill out your questionnaire for the Senate committee, which is public, it asks you to list every donation. Before you go in front of a single senator, before you do a hearing, you do these prep sessions at the White House where people pretend to be senators and they prep you on the donation question. So that wasn't new news.

[53:24](https://realalpha.app/v/6YdOjoaQTOQ/?t=3204) Might have been new to the president at that, you know, might have refreshed his memory, perhaps. But I don't I don't think that was a cause. I think the media has got it pretty accurate. So was this a shot at Elon by someone that is anti-Elon? I mean, you know, people can draw their own conclusions. But I think the direction that people are going is or thinking on this seems seems to check out to me.

[53:48](https://realalpha.app/v/6YdOjoaQTOQ/?t=3228) And what is the root of that? Is it vested interest in spending that Elon is advocating gets cut? Is it diametrically opposed philosophical points of view on the role of government? What is the root anti-Elon sentiment that is kind of on the other side of the equation here, do you think? I mean, I think that the people overwhelmingly voted for the president to go in and shrink the government and bring about change and get rid of fraud, waste and abuse, of which I am 1000% behind the president. And I, I believe that that's what, you know, Elon and Doge was working towards, but people also hate change. Like we all know this and, um, you know, people can, uh, be very protective of their empire. And, you know, when somebody comes in, you know, Elon's got a playbook and I think he knows how to get things done. And I, and I, I think, you know, in a lot

[54:37](https://realalpha.app/v/6YdOjoaQTOQ/?t=3277) of respects that, um, that rub some people or, you know, what, I think it was one of, you know, or um had some axes to grind i don't know and uh and um you know we're just waiting i i don't i you know i don't want to speculate on all this but yeah no i mean um i think that that you've