Donald Trump Jr. will join 1789 Capital, an “anti-woke” venture capital firm that invests in right-wing companies and counts a stake in Tucker Carlson’s media venture as its flagship asset.
The New York Times reported that President-elect Donald Trump’s eldest son told a crowd of donors on Sunday that he would become a partner at the MAGA investment firm rather than join his father’s administration in an official capacity.
Trump was one of the most active figures on the Republican presidential campaign, holding down double duty as a vociferous surrogate and a highly influential advisor who lobbied to get Vice President-elect JD Vance on the ticket.
He has also been helping vet potential appointees for the incoming administration based on their perceived fealty to his domineering dad.
Named after the year the Bill of Rights was drafted, 1789 Capital says it invests in what it calls EIG, or entrepreneurship, innovation, and growth.
It’s a dismissive play on ESG, or environmental, social, and governance investing which 1789’s co-founder Omeed Malik likened to a “cult.”
The firm’s site says it is openly “anti-ESG“ and wants to provide startup funding to companies focused on, among other things, ”deglobalization,” hinting at a nativist outlook that mirrors Trump’s unvarnished populism.
Malik, a former Bank of America managing director said he was a “run-of-the-mill corporate Democrat” before the pandemic, after which he became suspect of public health measures, which led him down a deeper conservative path.
“Rage Against the Machine requiring a vaccine passport to go to their show: this is an upside down world that we live in,” he told right-wing comedian Adam Carolla on The Adam Carolla Show earlier this year.
He co-founded 1789 with Rebekah Mercer, the heiress to a hedge fund fortune, and is also an investor in right-wing news site The Daily Caller.
Malik and Mercer were both co-chairs of a Trump campaign fundraising dinner earlier this year that the president-elect’s campaign said raised more than $50 million.
1789‘s first major investment was last year, part of a $15 million seed round for Fox News exile and alleged demon victim Tucker Carlson’s new media venture. It has also invested in Firehawk, a startup that is developing 3D-printable rocket fuel for missiles.
Donald Jr.‘s entry into the investing world means two of his heirs will be involved in dealmaking: son-in-law Jared Kushner leads private equity venture Affinity Partners, which despite raising $3 billion from investors including Saudi Arabia reportedly hasn’t made a dime for them.
1789’s first fund is a much more humble $150 million, so the firm will just have to hope Trump is more resourceful than his brother-in-law.
