Mastodawn

Nonilex Aug 2, 2024

A Pedigreed Rail #Magnate Is Pouring #Millions Into Electing #Trump

#TimothyMellon, reclusive #heir to a storied fortune, is spending tens of millions to elect Trump. Precisely what he wants in return is one of many curiosities surrounding him.

#Mellon, a #wealthy #banking heir & #RailroadMagnate, has reached the stratosphere of #American #political #influence doling out millions

#WeirdAF
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/28/us/politics/donald-trump-2024-campaign-timothy-mellon.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb

A Pedigreed Rail Magnate Is Pouring Millions Into Electing Donald Trump

Timothy Mellon, a reclusive heir to a storied fortune, is spending tens of millions to elect Donald J. Trump. Precisely what he wants in return is one of many curiosities surrounding him.

The New York Times

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Nonilex Aug 2, 2024

But to his neighbors in a #RhodeIsland beachfront enclave, he is better known as the #PrimeSuspect in the #NarragansettRunestoneAffair.

A hulking boulder once positioned just offshore in #NarragansettBay, the #runestone bears inscriptions that some believe were left by #Viking #explorers. It was the stuff of local lore & attracted visitors at low tide — to the consternation of #Mellon, the pedigreed businessman whose home looked out on the rock.

And then one day it was gone.

#criminal #law

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Nonilex Aug 2, 2024

A #criminal investigation yielded a #witness who had heard sounds of heavy machinery at night. Mellon refused to talk & hired a former state AG as his lawyer. Nearly a year later, the matter was resolved quietly: Mellon agreed to return the stone, & prosecutors agreed not to bring charges.

#archaeology #anthropology #history #criminal #law

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Nonilex Aug 2, 2024

The episode was a rare glimpse into the private life & the public dealings of #Mellon, 81, a reclusive #heir & #RailroadMagnate who has recently turned himself into a #political force [presumably a #FauxNews consumer]. He has surprised even political insiders w/the size of his contributions this year, throwing $75M behind #Trump’s attempt to return to the WH & an additional $25M toward #RFKJr’s independent presidential run, making him both candidates’ single largest benefactor.
#DarkMoney #USpol

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Nonilex Aug 2, 2024

All told, he has given $227M in contributions to federal candidates & political committees since 2020, nearly all to #Republicans — a sum that puts him in the top echelon of the party’s donors, alongside far better-known megadonors like #MiriamAdelson & her husband, Sheldon, who died in 2021, & Liz & Dick #Uihlein.

Yet for all his financial #influence, #Mellon & his interests — & what exactly is motivating his largess — have remained largely a mystery.

#DarkMoney #USPol #criminal #law

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Nonilex Aug 2, 2024

Interviews w/his associates, along w/a review of #court documents & other public records, reveal an ideologically driven #conservative w/a #combative streak. #Mellon spent most of his life leveraging his family #fortune to create his own. His freight railroad, a regional line that repeatedly ran afoul of #worker & #environmental #protections, was recently sold for $600M.

#DarkMoney #USPol #criminal #law #OSHA #EPA

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Nonilex Aug 2, 2024

Okay too interesting & important so here’s another #GiftArticle on the first day of the month … this is how it goes …

#Trump #DarkMoney #MAGA #Republicans #authoritarianism #autocracy #kleptocracy #democracy #Harris2024
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/28/us/politics/donald-trump-2024-campaign-timothy-mellon.html?unlocked_article_code=1._00.dTtQ.adwSSBSrosHR&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb

A Pedigreed Rail Magnate Is Pouring Millions Into Electing Donald Trump

Timothy Mellon, a reclusive heir to a storied fortune, is spending tens of millions to elect Donald J. Trump. Precisely what he wants in return is one of many curiosities surrounding him.

The New York Times

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Rich Stein (he/him)

@Nonilex
👀
Mellon "was raised in a cocoon of wealth... in a Virginia mansion, with evenings spent in a 'Jeffersonian-style garden with serpentine brick walls,' a family chauffeur, a rotation of international governesses and a private plane that shuttled him to boarding school in Massachusetts, according to his memoir.

... [He] trashed his Yale education as 'a mish-mash of pseudo-scientific sociological clap-trap, largely based on Progressive dogma related to the redistribution of wealth.'”