We’re in Day 25 of the Schumer Shutdown as the Democrats keep the government hostage over their leftist demands; somehow, they expected that the Republicans would simply bend the knee and agree to every one of their pet projects.
On Thursday, they showed once again how little they care about the people as they nuked a bill that would have temporarily provided pay to essential government workers. Nice.
On Friday, we got some good news when President Trump announced that a mystery anonymous donor was giving $150 million to help pay the troops. Then, today (Saturday), The New York Times reported that the Good Samaritan is Timothy Mellon, the reclusive billionaire heir to the Mellon banking fortune.
It’s important to note that although the story is being covered widely in the media, neither Mellon nor Trump has confirmed it as of this writing. However, the Wyoming resident has given bigly before: the day after Trump was convicted of 34 counts of falsification of business records in 2024 as part of New York Attorney General Letitia James’ partisan crusade against him, he gave a stunning $50 million to a Trump PAC.
Despite his immense wealth (estimated by Forbes at $14.1 billion) and recent history of donating large sums, Mellon remains somewhat of a Mystery Man:
Mr Mellon, the heir to the Pittsburgh-based Mellon banking family, also has been the biggest donor to independent candidate Robert F Kennedy's campaign.
The BBC has contacted Mr Mellon for comment about his political donations.
Known as a recluse, the Wyoming-based Mr Mellon avoids the spotlight and social circles of other US billionaires.
He’s also known for his love of flying airplanes and even once bankrolled an effort to find out what happened to Amelia Earhart, the famous American aviator who disappeared without a trace while flying over the Pacific in 1937. In 1998, he bought the rights to the name, logo, and branding of Pan Am (the former airline) for his railroad empire. (CSX Corporation took over Pan Am Railways in 2022.)
While it’s an extremely generous gift, there are some questions about the legality of using the funds while Schumer continues his tantrum:
The Pentagon accepted his grandson’s donation, but might not be able to use the funds: the Antideficiency Act bars agencies from spending money that has not been appropriated by Congress during a shutdown.
“The donation was made on the condition that it be used to offset the cost of service members’ salaries and benefits,” said Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell.
Let’s hope the administration figures out a way to use this money and pay the troops, because of all people, our brave warriors shouldn’t be suffering because of the left’s extremist wish list.