JD Vance and Peter Thiel convened a secret cabal of GOP-friendly businesspeople and influencers to a small Ohio town to brainstorm on building a MAGA movement that outlasts Trump.
A Washington Post report published Tuesday morning revealed details of a 2019 GOP strategy meeting in the small town of Rockbridge, Ohio, attended by billionaires and media personalities including former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, hedge fund manager Rebekah Mercer, and economist Oren Cass.
The attendees formed the “Rockbridge Network,” a GOP strategy network helmed by conservative venture capitalist Chris Buskirk, whose aim is to build a MAGA movement that outlasts Donald Trump by letting business leaders shape American policy.
It reportedly has already tapped its ideal successor to Trump: 41-year-old Vice President JD Vance.
“With significant funding from tech leaders, Rockbridge aims to equip MAGA to outlive Trump,” wrote The Post. “It is gearing up to deploy its arsenal in the 2026 midterms and in the 2028 presidential contest, when many Rockbridge members hope Vance will be the nominee.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to Vance for comment.
The Rockbridge Network dreams of having the GOP win every election with 55% of the popular vote, building a conservative media ecosystem, and identifying when they can manipulate the law to their advantage.
A passage from a 2021 brochure circulated by the Rockbridge Network reads: “Through Strategic Litigation, we will identify leverage points where the law allows us to hold bad actors, including the media, accountable.”
With wealth from his venture capital company 1789 Capital, which now has Donald Trump Jr. as a partner, the 56-year-old Buskirk aims to shape America through what he dubs “patriotic capitalism.” This amounts to courting the wealthiest GOP-aligned business leaders and donors to influence future elections.
For example, Buskirk recently launched “Executive Branch,” a $500,000 membership club where GOP-friendly millionaires willing to pay top dollar can hobnob with Republican politicians.
Buskirk has pushed the idea that building an aristocracy of wealthy elites isn’t at odds with MAGA populism. Instead, he has argued, aristocrats are the best way to reach the median American.
“You either have an extractive elite — an oligarchy — or you have a productive elite — an aristocracy — in every society,” he told The Post. Buskirk has coined this controversial approach “aristopopulism.”
But critics have failed to see how Buskirk’s vision will benefit Americans, instead viewing the Rockbridge Network as a way for GOP-aligned tech billionaires to line their own pockets.
“The government’s job is to advance the prosperity of the nation and not the prosperity of wealthy individuals, founders, and executives,” said Michael Strain of the American Enterprise Institute told the Post.
“It’s generally the case that what’s good for business is good for America, but I don’t think the people surrounding the president are representative of American business,” he said.
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