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JD Vance raises $5 million — and Tucker Carlson’s backer sets off a MAGA civil war

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(White House Intern Photo by Julian Casciano)

 

BS BULLETIN:

  • Vice President JD Vance raised more than $5 million from roughly 35 donors Wednesday at a Southampton fundraiser benefiting the Republican National Committee.
  • The event was held at the home of Omeed Malik, whose 1789 Capital invested $15 million in Tucker Carlson’s media venture — an alliance suddenly under scrutiny as Carlson battles Trump over foreign policy.
  • But Malik is much more than “Tucker’s funder”: he is a longtime conservative financier, Trump Jr. business partner and central figure in a rapidly growing MAGA-aligned investment network.

Vice President JD Vance just pulled off a fundraising haul that would make almost any politician salivate — more than $5 million from roughly 35 people in a single evening.

Instead of celebrating the money pouring into Republican coffers, portions of the right immediately started fighting over the guest list.

The Wednesday night event in Southampton, New York, was held at the home of financier Omeed Malik and benefited the Republican National Committee, where Vance serves as finance chair. Axios reported that donors paid $100,000 per couple for the reception and $250,000 per couple for the smaller dinner, which included about 20 people.

That works out to a very expensive plate of whatever they were serving.

But the money itself wasn’t what triggered the MAGA fireworks.

It was Malik.

Malik is a co-founder and president of 1789 Capital, the conservative investment firm that put $15 million into Tucker Carlson’s media company after Carlson left Fox News. And Tucker, of course, has spent recent months in an increasingly nasty public break with President Trump, especially over foreign policy and Iran.

So when the fundraiser invitation surfaced showing Malik and fellow 1789 co-founder Chris Buskirk among the hosts — alongside Donald Trump Jr. — critics on the right immediately began connecting dots. Fox host Mark Levin reacted to the eye-watering ticket prices with two words:

“Affordability discussed?”

Others went much further, portraying Malik’s ties to Carlson as evidence that Vance is becoming too closely connected to the faction of the right currently attacking Trump over foreign policy.

Omeed Malik isn’t simply “the guy funding Tucker Carlson.”

He has been deeply embedded in conservative politics and business for years. He co-founded 1789 Capital with Buskirk and Rebekah Mercer in 2022 to invest in businesses the firm believed were underserved or penalized by ESG and progressive corporate politics. Donald Trump Jr. later joined the firm as a partner.

And 1789 has become considerably larger than one media investment. Axios reported this month that the firm now manages more than $3 billion, recently closed a $1.2 billion real-estate fund and holds investments spanning technology, defense, manufacturing, AI and other sectors.

So describing Wednesday’s event simply as Vance raising money with “Tucker Carlson’s funder” is technically true but incomplete. It would be a little like describing somebody who invested in one newspaper as “the newspaper guy” after he built an entire financial empire.

There is also a long-standing political connection between Vance and this donor network.

Buskirk helped create the Rockbridge Network with Vance years ago, and CBS recently reported that Vance attended a Rockbridge donor gathering where Malik, Mercer and other major conservative financiers were present. One conservative investor described the overlap between Rockbridge and 1789 this way: “There is a Venn diagram where Rockbridge and 1789 meet, and they want JD to be the heir apparent.”

That may explain why the Southampton fundraiser is drawing so much attention.

This wasn’t merely an RNC dinner. It was another glimpse at the network of donors and investors gathering around Vance as speculation about 2028 grows.

Axios reports that Vance has been aggressively cultivating a younger generation of wealthy Republican donors and that his role as RNC finance chair gives him extraordinary access to the party’s financial infrastructure. He has said he will make decisions about his own political future only after the midterms.

Wednesday’s haul follows a $4.2 million Silicon Valley fundraiser Vance headlined in June. So, yes, the vice president is building relationships. That is generally what politicians do at fundraisers.

MY QUICK TAKE

I understand why people are looking at this.

Tucker Carlson and President Trump have been throwing punches at each other in public. Omeed Malik helped finance Tucker’s company. Then Malik hosts a giant fundraiser for JD Vance.

Okay. Interesting. Worth reporting. But some of the reaction has reached the point where apparently everyone who has ever written a check to somebody we currently dislike must be placed under a heat lamp.

Omeed Malik invested in Tucker Carlson. He also built a major conservative investment firm. Donald Trump Jr. is his business partner. His network has been intertwined with Vance and Republican politics for years.

So perhaps the fact that he hosted an RNC fundraiser is not quite the shocking infiltration operation some people are presenting it as.

And may I suggest another possibility?

Republicans are allowed to disagree.

Even vigorously.

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