Earlier in July, President Donald Trump, Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Dave McCormick, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon gathered in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, for the first-ever Defense and Innovation Summit to yuck it up with investors about how they are all working overtime to revitalize American industry and defense manufacturing.
Sounds good on the surface, right?
Salena Zito of the Washington Examiner was at the event and covered it – to put it politely – breathlessly. She must have been hyperventilating when she heard Dimon tell Trump, “You reignited that arsenal of democracy that we have in this country, and it’s just critical.” Here’s how she characterized the banking mogul, who was announcing JP Morgan’s $24 million investment in a state-of-the-art submarine facility and worker training programs in Philadelphia’s Navy Yard (a quick side note: Dimon’s total compensation for the fiscal year of 2025 was $43 million):
Dimon’s unvarnished assessment is that of a man who understands that national strength is found in places like Pennsylvania, where laborers, investors, and innovators are at the heart of creating jobs and keeping the country safe.
I don’t blame Zito for being excited about this at all. She’s from Pennsylvania, and this is good for Pennsylvania’s economy. If I lived there, I’d be excited, too.
The problem is, Zito barely scratches the surface of Dimon’s past and what he has done as CEO of the world’s largest bank. There is an entirely different story to be told here, one that does not treat Dimon as a cartoon superhero swooping in to save American industry with a $24 million investment.
So before any more people give Dimon the histrionic “Titan of Industry” treatment, let’s rewind the clock a bit so we can set the record straighter – and more honestly. There’s a reason Dimon feels the need to