Democrats are nothing if not hypocritical. They say they're for the little guy, and a living wage, but then they turn around and support unfettered illegal immigration and oppose deportations. Why? Because they say we'll lose cheap labor in the agriculture, construction, and healthcare sectors. So we have to look not at what the Democrats and the Left say, but what they do.
For quite some time now, Congress has been scrutinizing ESG — Environmental, Social, Governance — issues, and the coordination of ESG among corporations and asset managers. In its "Introduction to Financial Services: Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG Issues), the Library of Congress notes "as ESG is not a legally defined term and it encompasses a wide array of issues, arguably, what should be considered ESG is subject to interpretation. In recent Congresses, including the 119th, some Members have introduced proposals in support of and against ESG-related disclosure requirements, including materiality requirements. Furthermore, efforts are underway to roll back climate disclosures at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the President has recently signed an executive order to end diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) issues in federal contracting, and deregulation on a wide range of environmental issues is being proposed and implemented."
Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust Chairman Thomas Massie (R-KY) demanded information from more than 60 U.S.-based asset managers regarding their involvement with the Net Zero Asset Managers (NZAM) initiative, a woke ESG cartel.
In June, the Committee released an interim staff report titled, "Climate Control: Exposing the Decarbonization Collusion in Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Investing," which details direct evidence of a "climate cartel" consisting of left-wing activists and major financial institutions that collude to impose radical environmental, social, and governance goals on American companies.
The Committee continues to examine whether existing civil and criminal penalties and current antitrust law enforcement efforts are sufficient to deter anticompetitive collusion to promote ESG-related goals in the investment industry. The over 60 asset managers with membership in NZAM must answer for their involvement in prioritizing woke investments over their own fiduciary duties.
The Committee also found back in June of 2024, that this collusion meant the "climate cartel colludes to decarbonize companies by leveraging negotiations with management, shareholder resolutions, and board of director votes. This cartel forces companies to disclose their carbon emissions, reduce their carbon emissions, and enforce their disclosure and reduction commitments by handcuffing and restricting company management. This 'decarbonization' collusion necessarily causes reduced output and higher prices, including in the critical fossil fuel, aviation, and agriculture industries, posing a significant threat to the economy and to the well-being of American consumers."
Democrats, who have been hammering the Trump administration on affordability, are backing these policies that make things more expensive and give consumers less freedom and choice.
Through this ESG investigation, the name of one Democrat donor, James Rosenwald, keeps surfacing in ESG inquiries and other reports, and it's a testament to the broader hypocrisy of the Democratic Party.
Rosenwald is not just another Wall Street fund manager quietly signing climate pledges. As the co-founder of Dalton Investments — also a Climate Action 100+ signatory — Rosenwald has become a behind-the-scenes figure in the climate-investor world. But he’s also a major Democratic donor, a double-digit voting-power owner of a cannabis conglomerate caught up in an ICE raid that uncovered illegal migrant labor and minors, and — newly revealed — a man who emailed Jeffrey Epstein warm praise in 2015, two years before Epstein’s 2019 arrest.
According to The Daily Caller, Rosenwald has a "sizeable stake" in that California pot company recently raided by ICE.
A high-powered investment manager with an ownership stake in marijuana facilities allegedly staffed by children and criminal illegal migrants has poured thousands into mostly Democratic campaigns — and even Republican Nikki Haley’s failed presidential bid.
Although the staffing of pot farms with children and illegal immigrants may violate several laws, there is no illegality with regard to simply maintaining a marijuana grow site in California.
A joint Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) operation in July targeted two marijuana grow sites in Southern California, resulting in the apprehension of hundreds of illegal migrants and the rescue of roughly 14 migrant children. James Rosenwald— a founding partner of Dalton Investments and a direct owner of a large stake in Glass House Brands, the company targeted by the raid — has donated more than $93,000 in support of high-profile Democrats and Democrat-aligned groups over the past decade, according to campaign donation filings reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Democrats objected to the raids, saying the Trump administration vowed to only go after "violent criminals" and forgetting that all illegal immigrants are, in fact, criminals who have broken federal immigration laws.
NYU's student newspaper, Washington Square News, also reported on Rosenwald recently. Rosenwald has been a Stern professor at NYU since 2012, and the newspaper reported he commended convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein after Epstein was first accused of exploiting underage girls.
A Stern adjunct professor congratulated Jeffrey Epstein on his “wonderful financial successes” in a newly released email exchange that took place in 2015, around one week after the convicted sex offender was accused of forcing a female minor to have repeated sexual relations with the former Prince Andrew and other men.
James Rosenwald, who has taught at NYU since 2012, sent Epstein an email titled “High Profile” on Jan. 5, 2015. He wrote that he had “toasted” to Epstein during his Thanksgiving weekend in Long Island with David Asch, the Senior Vice President of University of Pennsylvania. Epstein’s publicist, Christina Galbraith, forwarded the message to his other email address — where he had exchanges with high profile politicians and business professionals about his sex-trafficking activities. Around six hours later, Epstein replied, “thanks, what is david doing?”
“Your name popped up again in the Press and I thought it was time to congratulate you on your wonderful financial successes since your days as my Physics prof at Dalton!!” Rosenwald wrote to Epstein. “Unless your PR advisor is Donald Trump, I am not sure that current press provides you with much benefit.”
When you step back and look at the whole picture, it's impossible to ignore the patterns. Democrats claim to be champions of justice, fairness, and “protecting the vulnerable,” yet the very donors and activists shaping their environmental and social agenda can’t seem to live up to those standards themselves. James Rosenwald — ESG true-believer, Democratic financier, pot-farm investor caught in the middle of an ICE child-labor raid, and Epstein correspondent — is not an outlier but a perfect symbol of what the Democratic Party has become. It isn’t about ethics, transparency, affordability, or the American people. It’s about power. And as long as the Democrats keep hiding behind lofty promises while tolerating and excusing the conduct of the people funding their agenda, Americans should treat their moral preening with nothing but disdain.