This Billionaire Heir Has Kept Donald Trump’s 2024 Campaign Afloat
Andrew Perez Rolling Stone
Former President Donald Trump delivers remarks on crime and safety at the Livingston County Sheriff's Office in Howell, Michigan, August 20, 2024. (photo: AFP)
Timothy Mellon has donated $125 million to Trump’s Super PAC. That’s half of what it’s raised and close to what Trump’s campaign has on hand
Here’s how important those dollars are: It’s roughly half of what MAGA Inc. has raised — and as much cash as the group has on hand. It’s $3 million shy of the $128 million that Trump’s campaign has in its coffers. The Republican National Committee has $99 million on hand.
Mellon, the press-shy heir to the Andrew Mellon banking fortune, has emerged as one of America’s top conservative donors during the 2024 election. While he previously helped finance Robert Kennedy Jr. — a candidate widely seen as a spoiler campaign boosting Trump — Mellon has gone all in on Trump.
The money has poured in quickly. On May 31, a day after Trump was convicted on felony charges in his New York hush money trial, Mellon donated $50 million to Donald Trump’s primary Super PAC. Mellon, who has been criticized in the past for using racist stereotypes in his autobiography, gave another $50 million on July 15, the day the Republican National Convention started.
Last week, MAGA Inc. announced it was launching a $100 million advertising blitz targeting Vice President Kamala Harris. MAGA Inc. has raised more than $60 million since the start of the RNC, a person familiar with its spending plans told Politico.