There is a widespread misconception that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s biggest donor is also President Trump’s biggest donor, which some use to suggest that RFK Jr. aligns with far-right ideologies. While it is true that Timothy Mellon, a major donor to American Values 2024, has also supported President Trump, this narrative lacks crucial context.
Who is Timothy Mellon?
A Philanthropic Businessman
Timothy Mellon is a prominent businessman and philanthropist. He has been in the railroad business most of his life. He was also a trustee for 21 years at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation whose mission reads, “We believe that the arts and humanities are where we express our complex humanity, and we believe that everyone deserves the beauty, transcendence, and freedom to be found there. Through our grants, we seek to build just communities enriched by meaning and empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive.”
The Mellon family keeps out of the spotlight and rarely responds to interviews. Most of what we know about Timothy Mellon is through official public records. Although, Mellon’s autobiography, panam. captain, will be published on July 23, 2024. The book’s cover features a quote from RFK Jr., “Tim Mellon is a maverick entrepreneur who embodies the most admirable qualities of what FDR called ‘American Industrial genius.'”
Mellon’s Contributions
Donation Limits and Rules
It is essential to distinguish between campaign donations and contributions to Super PACs. Campaigns can only accept a maximum of $6,600 per person, while Super PACs can receive unlimited donations. However, PACs cannot coordinate directly with the campaigns they support.
Mellon’s Contributions
According to FEC records, Mellon has made five donations to the American Values 2024 PAC, totaling approximately $25 million, with the last donation dated April 23, 2024. This makes Mellon the largest donor to the PAC supporting RFK Jr.
Mellon made three donations while RFK Jr. was still running as a democrat.
American Values 2024 has currently raised just shy of $50 million to date.
Make America Great Again, Trump’s second biggest PAC, has raised about $182 million since 2021. $25 million of this total came from Timothy Mellon.
Cross-Party Support
Source: Opensecrets.org
While Timothy Mellon primarily donates to Republicans, he has also supported Democratic candidates such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) and Tulsi Gabbard. Note that these donations are much smaller, but they are still contributions to the opposite party.
Border Security Focus
Timothy Mellon donated $53.1 million in stock to the state of Texas to help build the border wall.
Mellon’s significant donation to Texas for the border wall underscores his commitment to border security, a priority shared by both RFK Jr. and President Trump. It is logical that Mellon would support candidates who advocate for policies he believes in.
The Broader Context
Family Connections
The Mellon family is no stranger to the Kennedy family. Bunny Mellon, a member of the Mellon family, was best friends with Jackie Kennedy, wife of President John F. Kennedy. Read more about their friendship.
Mega-Corporation Donations
Critics who highlight Mellon’s donations to RFK Jr. as evidence of far-right alignment ignore a broader trend in political donations. Many mega-corporations, including Amazon, Alphabet (Google), and Meta (Facebook), donate to both political parties.
Out of the top 25 donors in the 2024 election cycle reported by opensecrets, 9 of them have given to both republicans and democrats.
Out of the top 51 organizations that have donated in the 2024 election cycle, 32 have given to both republicans and democrats. Four of these organizations give evenly to both parties.
What RFK Jr. Has to Say:
RFK Jr. spoke to Brian Tyler Cohen on May 26th, 2024 where he was asked about Timothy Mellon.
“Brian and I want to run a campaign that appeals to both sides I want to run a campaign that makes Republicans forget they’re Republicans and Democrats forget they’re Democrats and everybody remember that they’re Americans.”
“I think Tim Mellon would prefer me to be president of the United States because he thinks that I would make a better president and that…if I’m not not going to be president that he would prefer president Trump to President Biden. I have a lot of donors who are in the same state…but Biden’s their second choice.”
Not a Far-Right Alignment
The claim that RFK Jr.’s biggest donor being President Trump’s biggest donor indicates far-right alignment is misleading. Out of the PAC’s top ten donors, only Timothy Mellon is an established republican. Timothy Mellon is a complex figure who keeps to himself which makes it difficult, if not impossible, to understand his true intentions behind his donations.
His donations appear to have the goal of achieving strict border security, rather than a strict partisan allegiance. This is underscored in his significant donations to Kennedy’s Super PAC even when he was a democrat.
