Two years after launching 1789 Capital and one year after Donald Trump clinched the presidency, investors Chris Buskirk, Omeed Malik, and Donald Trump Jr. have raised more than $2 billion — and they’re putting that money towards a cause they’ve branded “patriotic capitalism.”
In practice, that means prioritizing investments that “boost American competitiveness” as Trump Jr. told me. Thus far, the fund has invested in defense technology companies like Anduril and Hadrian that use artificial intelligence to create the weapons of the future; rare earth magnet producer Vulcan Elements, which aims to secure domestic supply chains; and all of Elon Musk’s major ventures, including SpaceX, xAI, Neuralink and X.
“How do we increase America’s security and prosperity? That is how we assess our investments,” Malik told me. “Defense tech and re-industrialization of the United States are probably now the most important part of the overall patriotic capitalism bucket,” he added, emphasizing that it’s all in service of defeating China.
“We’re investing in anything that boosts American competitiveness,” Don Jr. said. ”We’re the only prominent fund that only invests in America,” he said, calling out firms like Sequoia that have launched Chinese-focused investment vehicles.
In some ways, the investments look like an extension of Donald Trump’s America First agenda, but in the private sector. In other ways, it’s an opportunity for the Right to advance its charm offensive with Silicon Valley and continue winning over technology.
“Republicans have an opportunity here to embrace technology and be the party of the future,” Buskirk told me. He believes they can redefine “progressive” as a term that applies to the GOP rather than Democrats by loosening regulations related to crypto and defense tech startups. “We can use that word to mean pro-technology, pro-growth.”
Patriotic capitalism can also mean saying no to potentially lucrative deals when a company’s values don’t match theirs.
Last year, 1789 passed on an opportunity to invest in OpenAI — at what Malik described as “very low valuations” — over concerns ChatGPT was too far left.
“I’ve turned down major deals where the ethos doesn’t align,” Malik said. That also applied to avoiding investment with people who aren’t clearly aligned with the MAGA worldview.
But, the America-only investment thesis doesn’t mean America-only capital — 1789 has raised large amounts of money from Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds (as most funds now do), a fact that has drawn criticism from some on the right.
But Malik pointed out that taking money from abroad to invest in American companies ultimately benefits Americans and national security. It is also true that if America doesn’t ally itself with the Middle East, China will.
“You have to have a strategic partnership with these countries … if you don’t, then they’re going to go over to China and you’re going to lose,” he said.
“It’s great for America,” Malik added, framing the Gulf partnerships as essential to American competitiveness rather than a contradiction of their America First mission.
Of course, critics argue 1789 is benefiting from its proximity to power. And those criticisms could turn into congressional hearings if Democrats take the House in 2026,
“Even if they were in both houses, you’re just dealing with inquiries,” Malik said. “There’s nothing they can do … there’s no there there.”
The idea that 1789 — named for the year the Bill of Rights was introduced — could be the recipient of such scrutiny was almost unthinkable when Malik and co-founder Chris Buskirk launched the fund in 2023. At the time, banks, social media and even e-commerce shops were kicking conservatives off their platforms — offering an alternative to that was necessary.
“The first battle of patriotic capitalism was the parallel economy,” Malik explained. “When you were out of power and all the large corporations were dealing with an administration where there were existential threats to the First and Second Amendment, we had to start creating a parallel economy.”
That meant providing capital to businesses cut off from mainstream finance or actively shunned by ESG-focused investors: online firearms retailer GrabAGun (Trump Jr. calls it “the Amazon of guns”), fossil fuel companies and platforms like Public Square that served conservative consumers.
Now that the country has escaped the “death spiral” as Malik puts it, 1789 is going on the offensive.
Ultimately, Buskirk told me, he just wants “Americans to prosper.”
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