Omeed Malik Bnkr

---

an 8 26

It’s a bad day for a marketplace backed by the Trump family, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Online marketplace PublicSquare, created as a MAGA-aligned alternative with Donald Trump Jr.’s backing, is now facing severe financial difficulties and a 99 percent collapse in its share price, according to BGNES.

“Despite initial expectations, the conservative marketplace failed to gain traction, resulting in cumulative losses of nearly $160 million from the start of its stock trading in 2023 through the end of July this year,” reports BGNES.

Trump Jr. lauded the company's debut on the New York Stock Exchange in 2023 as an “anti-woke marketplace” aimed at conservative, “patriotic and religious consumers.” But apparently the market and investors didn’t think much of politics. The business model soon unraveled, leaving the company at risk of being delisted.

This year, PublicSquare announced that it was abandoning e-commerce in favor of financial technology, including cutting 41 percent of its workforce and cancelling a streaming program.

And, typically, of many star-driven business, BGNES reports company's financial difficulties are linked to princely consultancy costs.

“Since 2024, shortly after Donald Trump won the presidential election, the West Palm Beach, Florida-based company had been paying Trump Jr. $42,000 a month in consultancy fees. Last year, the president’s son earned more than the company's then-chief executive, while in 2025 he received more than $500,000,” reports BGNES.

“Former Trump administration official Nick Ayers and a firm run by Trump Jr. ally Omeed Malik also received hundreds of thousands of dollars in consultancy fees.”

According to financial filings, the company’s net losses have “significantly exceeded revenue” — $57.6 million in 2024 and $36.6 million in 2025.

---

AN 11 25

A controversial theory that states an “aristocracy” is needed to move the country forward is being pushed as the playbook for a post-President Donald Trump MAGA with tech-elites at the center of power, according to the Washington Post.

At the center of this theory is a lesser known "tech elite," Arizona insurance entrepreneur and conservative media Chris Buskirk, who according to the Post, "helms the Rockbridge Network, a secretive organization ... that has established itself as one of the most influential forces in GOP politics."

"With significant funding from tech leaders, Rockbridge aims to equip MAGA to outlive Trump," the Post explains.

The group is gearing up for the midterms and the 2028 presidential election, in which members "hope" Vice President JD Vance — a close ally of tech billionaire Peter Thiel — will be the Republican nominee.

Although Buskirk is much more low-key than Thiel and his more known billionaire buddies, his ties to the Trump world run deep, the Postexplains.

IFrame Content

1789 Capital, the venture capital firm Buskirk co-founded with investor Omeed Malik, focuses on what the partners call “patriotic capitalism” and now counts Donald Trump Jr. as a partner, the Post says, adding "the pair — along with administration officials and friends — recently launched Executive Branch, a $500,000-a-head membership club for Trump-supporting business leaders to hobnob in D.C."

While some see a direct contradiction to the notion of MAGA elite at the helm a populist movement, Buskirk, the Post says, argues they're "not in defiance of MAGA’s populism."

"Buskirk says the MAGA movement has energized a new generation of stewards for the country," the Post writes.

"His various projects echo what some on the right call 'aristopopulism' and aim to build a bridge between wealthy capitalists and the working-class people they intend to represent, according to interviews with Buskirk and nine other people in his inner circle, profitably reindustrializing the country and tying their interests to that of their base," the Post explains.

Buskirk explains it, saying, "You either have an extractive elite — an oligarchy — or you have a productive elite — an aristocracy — in every society."

And while Buskirk says he was initially skeptical of Trump as he emerged from reality television host to the presidency, "He’s actually been saying the same thing for 40 years! And that’s when I realized, okay, he’s for real. And the people that are saying he is not serious are lying.”

In his book "America and the Art of the Possible," Buskirk argues for "a proper elite that takes care of the country and governs it well so that everyone prospers.”

Oren Cass, chief economist of the conservative think tank American Compass, says that while some still view Trump’s support as “a cult of personality,” Buskirk helms a "powerful ecosystem" that now backs the MAGA movement.

“Chris is the convener of that ecosystem,” he tells the Post.

Malik agrees, telling the Post that Buskirk was “the first mover” to recognize that there were going to be thousands of well-off people who “no longer felt at home in the Democratic Party."

Vance, who became fast friends with Buskirk after being introduced by Thiel, also gave a rousing endorsement in a statement to the Post saying, he's an "original thinker” who saw “before almost anyone” how the “right combination of ideas, organizing and funding can ensure lasting political success for the Republican Party.”

Malik hosted a small fundraiser for Vance at a Palm Beach restaurant during his "long-shot bid" for public office in 2022. Following that, they went to Mar-a-Lago, where Buskirk was having a Rockbridge conference.

"The men spent the week bonding over their rage about what they viewed as online censorship and a feeling that innovation was being stymied in favor of liberal priorities such as sustainability and diversity initiatives," the Postwrites.

Critics, however, see Buskirk's movement as "the rise of a group of unelected American oligarchs who are undermining Trump’s promises to benefit working people," the Post writes.

Michael Strain, director of economic policy studies at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute, says "the government’s job is to advance the prosperity of the nation and not the prosperity of wealthy individuals, founders, and executives.”

However, thePost says that interest in Buskirk's group has surged and "the vibe is euphoric."

"Several of the group’s members are billionaires; prominent investors Marc Andreessenand David Sacks are already members," they explain.

Richard Painter, a corporate law professor at the University of Minnesota who served as chief ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush White House, "said this influx of interest in Rockbridge, 1789 and Executive Branch, creates the appearance of a 'pay-to-play' network, of people who are paying to get access to administration officials or the Trump family."

Buskirk insists he knows what will make America actually great, telling the Postthat American greatness will only be accomplished “by the intentional cultivation of talented, high-agency people working together in high-trust environments.”

SOUNDS LIKE THE Mafia?

---

an 5 25 beast

President Donald Trump's eldest son, Donald Jr., is opening a new exclusive club in Washington D.C. And he's making it clear that only a certain kind of Republican is welcome.

The Daily Beast reported Monday that the new club, which will be called "Executive Branch," is tailor-made for the MAGA crowd — and its founders are making it clear that traditional conservatives and journalists will be barred from entering. David Sacks, who the Beast described as Trump's "crypto czar," told the New York Times he wants to make sure that the type of conservatives who frequent other GOP-oriented D.C. clubs will be turned away at the door.

“To the extent there are Republican clubs, they tend to be like more Bush-era Republicans as opposed to Trump-era Republicans,” hSacks said. “So we wanted to create something new, hipper, and Trump-aligned.”

Aside from Trump Jr. and Sacks, other major investors in the club include Alex and Zach Witkoff (the sons of Trump administration Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff) along with investment banker Omeed Malik (who has separate business ventures with Trump Jr.) and Chris Buskirk, who cofounded the right-wing tech donor group "Rockbridge Network" with Vice President JD Vance. The founders will also be hands-on in approving would-be members.

IFrame Content

"[P]rospective members of the club have to be heavily vetted and approved by its founders," a spokesperson for Executive Branch told CNBC.

Membership fees may run as high as $500,000, in addition to an annual fee. And the spokesperson made it clear that the club was meant to serve as a safe haven for Trump in the event he doesn't want to fly all the way back to Mar-a-Lago in order to be around fellow travelers.

“We want people to feel comfortable having conversations in privacy," the spokesperson said, stressing that the media and corporate lobbyists would be blocked from the club's premises.

Click here to read the Beast's article in full, and click here to read the Times' full report (subscriptions required).

---