Billionaire allies of President Trump and Vice President JD Vance, as well as the president’s son Donald Trump Jr., are in line to profit from the administration’s plans to build a “Golden Dome” missile defense system, projected to cost hundreds of billions of dollars over the next 20 years.
Trump Jr. could join in the Golden Dome profits through his role at the venture capital firm 1789 Capital, which is reportedly invested in SpaceX and Anduril, two of the companies rumored to be in line for gigantic contracts to build and operate the system. The president’s son joined the Palm Beach-based firm as a partner less than a week after Trump won back the White House in November. In March, Bloomberg reported that the firm had invested more than $50 million in Elon Musk’s SpaceX and xAI, adding that “Trump Jr.’s role at 1789 will be a sort of MAGA magnet, sourcing deals as well as investors into the firm.”
1789 Capital is also invested in Anduril, according to a May report by Business Insider, the robotics and artificial intelligence company founded by Trump donor Palmer Luckey. The startup Anduril has been raking in defense contracts since Trump came back into office, including taking over a $22 billion Army headset program from Microsoft earlier this year.
Trump Jr.’s potential ties to the Golden Dome frontrunners were first flagged by the watchdog group Accountable.US.
Another company that is expected to get contracts for the Golden Dome project is Palantir, the software and data analytics firm co-founded by Vance megadonor Peter Thiel and led by CEO Alex Karp that is reported to be working with the DOGE team inside federal agencies including the IRS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
On May 22, the House passed a budget reconciliation bill that includes $25 billion to start Golden Dome’s construction. The bill is now pending in the Senate, and Majority Leader John Thune is hoping to have the multi-trillion-dollar measure on the president’s desk by July 4. On May 20, Trump announced he had picked a $175 billion design for the shield, but its total cost remains a moving target; new reporting in Wired suggests that top defense contractors like Lockheed Martin are angling to stay involved in planning discussions for the system.
