Ep 137: Gov. Chris Sununu on AI vs Harvard, DOGE 2.0, and a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution

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Dec 30, 2025

Chris Sununu, the former four-term governor of New Hampshire and MIT graduate, shares his unique insights on political leadership and fiscal reform. He cautions Harvard students about AI's impact on jobs, emphasizing trades will thrive while elite positions diminish. Sununu highlights the ongoing push for a balanced budget amendment, revealing how close they are to achieving a convention of states. He delves into lessons learned from DOGE, advocating for transparency in government spending. Sununu’s transformative vision for Washington offers hope for a fiscal future.

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INSIGHT

Engineering Mindset Improves Governance

Engineers bring system-design and problem-solving skills that improve government outcomes.
Chris Sununu applied an engineering mindset to fix opioid policy and reduce regulation in New Hampshire.

ADVICE

Give To Gain Bipartisan Support

Give a little to get a lot when building bipartisan coalitions and credit partners publicly.
Bring stakeholders in early and thank them to make cross-party deals easier to pass.

INSIGHT

States Prove Balanced Budgets Are Feasible

States routinely run balanced budgets and provide models the federal government could emulate.
Even states like California have formal balanced budget rules, albeit with accounting workarounds.

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Chris Sununu is an MIT-educated engineer who won four terms as governor of New Hampshire. Now, he's leading the charge for a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution. What are his key lessons in political leadership? Why is he telling Harvard students to be wary of AI? And are real fiscal constraints on Washington, D.C. close to becoming reality? The former governor of New Hampshire, Chris Sununu is now the President and CEO of Airlines for America and National Chair and Board Member of Balanced Budget Now, which has secured 27 of 34 states required to call a convention for a constitutional amendment. They're on the cusp of landing several more states and closing in on a convention of states, which he hopes will pressure Congress to step in and pass an amendment through the traditional process. This is a generational opportunity to upend how D.C. operates; my friends and I are supporting their work and hope you will too. We begin with Gov. Sununu's path to politics, and how he succeeded in lowering taxes, expanding school choice, and combating an opioid epidemic with a sharply divided state legislature. Next, we talk about the right political strategies for cutting wasteful spending, lessons from DOGE, and what he would do differently to make DOGE an enduring movement. Then, we dive into his efforts to get a balanced budget amendment across the finish line. Learn why nearly all states (even California, albeit it plays games with pension math) have a balanced budget requirement and what it will take to get D.C. on board. Finally, we discuss the AI revolution and why he's bullish on plumbers and welders over students pursuing "elite" white-collar professions. As Gov. Sununu suggests, more tradespeople and fewer lawyers might not be a bad thing for our society.

00:00 Episode intro

01:34 MIT engineer turned governor

06:35 Fighting special interests

12:50 Lessons from DOGE

16:37 Forcing a Balanced Budget Amendment

26:00 AI and welders vs lawyers

29:00 Making a Balanced Budget Amendment a reality

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