My Dinner with Don Jr.

“Jim, he’s literally in your shadow.”

That’s what a subversive friend and colleague of mine said to me about the picture here (see below) with me and President Trump’s son, Donald Trump, Jr. So, how did I meet “Don Jr.” (he embraces the nickname) and what was I doing having dinner with the man?

Last Wednesday, I had a full day of face-to-face meetings at the opulent Breakers resort in Palm Beach, Florida, with some of the smartest men and women from the nuclear energy space. I’ll be telling you more about this in the weeks ahead, as investment opportunities in one particular company in this space are developing quite nicely.

For now, let me just share with you that what I learned here confirmed my thesis that the world is thirsty for nuclear energy, and particularly the raw uranium that powers the nuclear reactors of the future. That future indeed looks bright, particularly with the advent of Small Modular Reactor (SMR) technologies that allow portable (semitruck sized) SMRs to provide on-site power to voracious consumers such as AI data centers, cloud computing server farms and cryptocurrency mining facilities.

Your editor, literally casting a shadow on the president’s son.

After my meetings and the hobnobbing with nuclear energy experts, we all gathered for dinner. Here’s where Don Jr. comes in. Along with joining us for dinner, he also delivered a talk and took questions on a variety of topics, ones that the audience knew he had insight into, being he is the eldest son of the president.

So, what were my impressions?

Well, two things stood out to me here about Don Jr. First, he started off his talk perfectly in my mind; by admitting that everyone in the room knew more about nuclear energy and investing in this field than he did. Socrates famously said that the only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing. And while Don Jr. is far from someone who knows nothing, admitting that one doesn’t have all the answers is the first step to cultivating wisdom.

I give Don Jr. kudos for being deferential to the expertise in the room, because in our current environment, everyone seems to think they’re an expert on the issues of the day. For example, during the Covid pandemic, people watched various YouTube videos and listened to a few podcasts, and suddenly they thought they were virologists.

During the onset of the Russia/Ukraine war, there were people who suddenly thought they were capable of solving complex geopolitical grievances with a few simple answers and some rudimentary military strategy they learned from playing the video game “Call of Duty.”

Sadly, there are now prominent people with actual policy positions that have zero expertise on subjects such as vaccines, tariffs, monetary policy, immigration policy, etc. Moreover, there’s a part of the citizenry who, after watching a few social media influencers make TikTok-level arguments on any given subject, suddenly think they are on par with people who have burned lean tissue via the intense hours of study required to become a real expert in their chosen field.

So, when someone acknowledges that they aren’t experts in a field, and when they defer to expertise, my respect level for that person immediately shoots higher.

Second, I must say that Don Jr. was both engaging, charming and funny, especially when he delivered a spot-on impression of his father. He also demonstrated that he knew his audience, as he told a room full of energy executives and American capitalists that we are the ones who are going to propel the United States’ economy to the front of the global race for AI dominance, energy dominance and economic dominance in the decades to come.

Was this a blatant red meat offering to hungry lions? Yes, but as hungry lions, we eat whatever red meat we can get, especially when that red meat comes from a powerbroker such as Don Jr.

Now, because this is The Deep Woods, you wouldn’t respect me in the morning if I didn’t tell you that there were a few remarks Don Jr. made that I thought missed the mark. Yet here isn’t the time to get into those missteps, as the more important point is that I enjoyed conversing with the man, as he left a positive impression on me, which says quite a bit as I’ve been known to be someone hard to favorably impress.

Hey, as long as someone is touting the virtue of expertise and promulgating American business success around the world, my impression will continue to be favorable.

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Carl Sagan’s Love

“For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.”

–Carl Sagan

One of my intellectual heroes is the great astronomer and science communicator Carl Sagan. A skeptic who always brought the light of reason required to illuminate the darkness of the unknown, Sagan lived a life of inspiration and education to those of us who value truth and knowledge.

Perhaps more importantly, he did it with a gentle sense of awe for the universe, for humans and for the animating factors that make life worth the struggle. If you want to experience 3:30 minutes of sublime thoughts on mankind and the universe, I invite you to watch Sagan’s “Pale Blue Dot” right now.

Wisdom about money, investing and life can be found anywhere. If you have a good quote that you’d like me to share with your fellow readers, send it to me, along with any comments, questions and suggestions you have about my newsletters, seminars or anything else. Click here to ask Jim.

In the name of the best within us,

Jim Woods