JD Vance stepped up his 2026 schedule.
Some figures in the Republican Party were red with rage.
And Mark Levin launched one onslaught against JD Vance that will leave you in disbelief.
What Actually Happened at the Southampton Event
Vice President JD Vance hosted a fundraiser in Southampton, NY, that brought in more than $5 million from roughly 35 attendees, according to Axios. The invitation that circulated offered $250,000 per couple for a “host committee and dinner” slot and $100,000 per couple for the reception. That is real money from a tight group of people, and it went to the Republican National Committee, of which Vance serves as finance chair.
Donald Trump Jr was listed as a host of the event.
Also listed as hosts: Omeed Malik and Chris Buskirk, two co-founders of 1789 Capital, the “anti-woke” venture capital firm that backs Tucker Carlson’s new media business.
The fundraiser was held at the home of Omeed Malik. That detail is the one that lit the fuse.
Malik was an original backer of Tucker Carlson.
Levin and Loomer Unload
Fox News host Mark Levin did not let the fundraiser invitation pass quietly. “Affordability discussed?” Levin posted on social media, sharing the flyer. That was the lighter shot.
Earlier in the same day, Levin had gone after Carlson over the Daily Caller’s coverage of Israel, writing, “It’s a joke. Qatarlson’s Islamist propaganda operation. Foster Freiss, an Evangelical Christian and major Israel supporter, and a friend of mine, would be disgusted. He put millions into Daily Caller when it was just starting. What a betrayal.”
Laura Loomer came in harder. The MAGA influencer and close Trump ally wrote about Malik directly, saying, “Omeed Malik, a half Pakistani and half Iranian Muslim, gave Tucker Qatarlson $15 million dollars to launch the Tucker Carlson Network, which has become a platform to spread Holocaust denial, rabid Jew hate, and the promotion of Sharia Law and Islam.” She added that Malik was at the Doha Forum when Carlson gave a speech there about his affinity for Islam and Qatar.
Loomer’s criticism of Vance stems from his opposition to neoconservative foreign policy and the interventionist approach to Iran, not from any broader anti-Trump history. That distinction matters. She is not a Never Trumper. Her objection is rooted in the foreign policy argument, and the Carlson connection is where that argument lands.
Loomer and Levin are attacking Carlson as a proxy since they want to avoid directly attacking Vance and Trump Jr.
What the Noise Around This Event Actually Reveals
Vance has been a principled advocate for restraint and against interventionism. His America First foreign policy position, which includes skepticism of open-ended military commitments in the Middle East, is a coherent philosophy rooted in the 2024 mandate voters gave the Trump-Vance ticket. That position put him closer to Carlson on foreign policy than to the neoconservative wing of the party, even as Carlson has since broken publicly and loudly with Trump himself.
The critics pointing to the Malik connection are essentially arguing that Vance should have screened his donor network for anyone with ties to Carlson’s business. That is a significant ask given that Vance’s role as RNC finance chair requires him to build the broadest possible donor base for the party. The fundraiser pulled in $5 million. That is not a small thing.
And the fact that Donald Trump Jr was a host of the same event has drawn almost none of the same fire from Levin or Loomer. That selective pattern is worth noting. The loudest attacks are aimed at Vance, not at Don Jr, who shared the same host list and the same venue. If the Malik connection is disqualifying, it applies equally to everyone on that invitation. The critics have not explained why it doesn’t.
The broader pattern here is one that neoconservative and interventionist voices have run before. When a figure associated with the America First movement declines to adopt their preferred foreign policy posture, the attacks follow. The specific vehicle changes. The underlying project does not.
Vance has not announced a 2028 presidential run. But the Southampton fundraiser, the donor network it assembled, and the reaction it triggered all confirm that the positioning for what comes after President Trump’s second term has already begun in earnest. The people who want to define the next Republican Party are moving now, and the fights breaking out over a Southampton guest list are a preview of something much larger.
The neoconservative foreign policy establishment and the interventionist media voices have an obvious interest in making Vance’s America First restraint look like a liability before 2028 ever formally arrives. That is the lens through which this episode should be understood. A fundraiser raised $5 million for the Republican Party. The same people who brought the country the Iraq War and a generation of failed nation-building are treating the host list as a scandal. Readers can draw their own conclusions about whose judgment deserves more weight.
Sources: Mediaite, “JD Vance’s Southampton Fundraiser With Tucker Carlson Funder Sparks Fury on the Right”; Axios, “Vance builds network of young donors at NY fundraiser”
