Last Thursday, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s campaign released an ad featuring a Michigan bar own claiming “a lot of restaurants and bars that have been mainstays for years” will go out of business unless Biden is elected.
The man, Joe Malcoun, claims the bar he co-owns, the Blind Pig, is struggling due to President Donald Trump’s COVID-19 response. But as the Washington Free Beacon reported, Malcoun is actually a “wealthy tech investor whose startup was seeded by a large family inheritance.”
Further, it’s unlikely that Malcoun would lose his livelihood due to the coronavirus pandemic. In 2018, the Free Beacon reported, Malcoun was interviewed on a local NBC affiliate called Click on Detroit. In the interview, Malcoun explains how he received a large inheritance from his wife’s grandfather nearly a decade ago, an inheritance he said was “almost like winning the lottery.” He used that money to become a prominent “angel investor” in Michigan.
“Usually you become a CEO and you make money, and then the money allows you to become an angel investor first,” he said in the 2018 interview. “I happened to have different circumstances where I had money [first].”
The Free Beacon also noted that Malcoun had previously blamed the bar’s low business on communication issues.
“There weren’t a lot of people showing up, which is frankly what we wanted and expected,” he said in an interview with MLive. “Now that we tried it and saw it’s really hard to communicate what it means to have a really socially distanced and live music show, we decided it’s not really worth trying.”
It is also odd for Malcoun to blame Trump considering it has been Democratic governors that forced businesses such as the Blind Pig to shut down, and Biden promised to do “whatever it takes” to stop the coronavirus, which would include a national shutdown order. Trump has actively refused to institute such an economy-destroying order.
For example, Malcoun has praised Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s (D-MI) response to the pandemic. Whitmer has instituted lockdown orders that harmed businesses without slowing the spread of COVID-19.
In addition, Biden has promised to enact policies that would hurt small businesses like the Blind Pig, including tax hikes and changes to the energy industry that would raise energy costs.
More from the Free Beacon:
Malcoun founded CKM Capital Partners in January 2013, his LinkedIn shows. He went on to invest in “several local tech companies” and became “the go-to guy when it came to seeking investments” in Michigan, according to Click on Detroit.
Malcoun has also served as CEO of customer relationship management service Nutshell since 2014. The company has since received at least $5.5 million in venture capital investments, according to his Crain’s Detroit “40 under 40” profile.
In 2016, Malcoun cofounded Cahoots, a self-described “hub” and “co-working space” for tech companies in the state. The venture saw Malcoun put up the funds necessary to purchase three office buildings in Ann Arbor, according to his Click on Detroit interview.