MW Trump-supporting investors are doubling down on these names as tariff war rages

By James Rogers

There's a 'parallel economy' of companies offering products and services to 'a conservative user base that wants to align their money with their values,' says the CEO of conservative investing app Monorail

President Donald Trump's tariffs war may have roiled the markets, but investors aligned with his political values are ramping up their activity, according to conservative investing app Monorail.

"We have seen an uptick, in our analytics, of people making accounts," Monorail Chief Executive Phillip Dickson told MarketWatch. This trend, he added, has played out over the last couple of months.

Monorail, which describes itself as "America's investing app," was launched in mid-2024. The app offers investors access to a Patriot Portfolio, a group of three equity exchange-traded funds and one bond ETF from Inspire ISMD PTL.

Related: Stocks have never been so political as Howard Lutnick says buy Tesla and Tim Walz says sell

Dickson told MarketWatch that the Patriot Portfolio excludes the likes of state-owned enterprises and companies involved in gambling, tobacco, pornography, embryonic stem-cell research and anything related to abortion. Companies engaged in left-wing activism are also excluded from the portfolio, according to Monrail's website.

As of Friday morning, the primary stock bought within the Patriot Portfolio was right-leaning video platform Rumble Inc. (RUM), followed by Black Rifle Coffee Company $(BRCC)$, Tesla Inc. $(TSLA)$, Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. $(DJT)$ and Nvidia Corp. $(NVDA)$, according to Dickson.

"People are coming to the platform to purchase conservative [financial] products," said the CEO. "Rumble has seen tremendous growth in the 'parallel economy,' so that doesn't surprise me."

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Dickson defines the parallel economy as companies that offer products and services to "a conservative user base that wants to align their money with their values."

Rumble shares have risen 19.2% in the last 12 months, while veteran-founded Black Rifle Coffee shares are down 49.4%. Shares of electric-vehicle giant Tesla - which has faced a backlash against CEO Elon Musk's leadership role in the controversial Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE - are up 47.5% over the same period. Trump Media, which operates the president's social-media platform Truth Social, is down 42% in the last 12 months, while AI darling Nvidia is up 25.8%.

Politics has been increasingly seeping into the stock market, as evidenced when Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick recently urged people to buy shares of Tesla, while former Democratic vice-presidential candidate and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz mocked the EV company's share-price drop.

Related: Forget the 'Magnificent 7.' These 'MAGA 7' stocks have soared since Trump's election.

Last month, Trump Media announced that it is working with Crypto.com to offer ETFs. The funds, which will launch later this year through Crypto.com broker-dealer Foris Capital LLC, will be made up of digital assets and securities with a "made in America" focus, according to Trump Media, and will encompass industries such as energy.

-James Rogers

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April 11, 2025 19:19 ET (23:19 GMT)

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