Billionaire donor gave $130 million to help pay US military salaries during the government shutdown but wrongly doesn’t blame current administration.

    by NotBeingMeme

    44 Comments

    1. In this administration, there’s no such thing as a donation. He’s paying up front for a Trump-supplied financial windfall later.

    2. thomasjmarlowe on

      He’s not gullible- he’s rich. Rich people almost never line up against authoritarians

    3. flying_skwirrel on

      I think we should look at this another way. If he has enough money to pay 130 million to the military, why doesn’t he just pay more taxes? Seems like a simple solution.

    4. Lets not forget to do the math here. $130m for 1.3m service members. Everyone gets $100. Which is also taxed for most of them.

      Thanks for the 100 bucks, mr billionaire. It will surely take care of mortgages and groceries for these service members….

    5. Wait, did Trump just sell out our military to Timothy Mellon who has a merger pending to become an even bigger railroad baron? gives them each a value of what $56.00

    6. He and all billionaires should take care of the military who rob, loot, kill, and destroy on their behalf.

    7. mud_sha_sha_shark on

      Absolutely not a hero. This sets a dangerous precedent, it is unacceptable to have the wealthy deciding what gets paid for and what doesn’t. The DoD should tell him “Thanks but no thanks” and refuse the money.

    8. DrLaneDownUnder on

      While that’s true, it still allows Trump to claim that he personally secured military salaries. That is super dangerous because they make the military more loyal to him than the U.S.

    9. >As of March 2025, the US military consisted of 2.86 million people worldwide.

      So, like $45 per person?

    10. What the fuck?!? Wonder what kind of deal donnie shitpants made to this PRIVATE citizen?? This kind of con game quid pro quo is exactly why criminals shouldn’t be presidents.

    11. naththegrath10 on

      Anyone who is hoarding their billions in wealth isn’t an “American hero” they are a fucking dragon. I don’t give a shit if every now and then they give a little away

    12. Same guys crying about paying taxes suddenly don’t have a problem giving money to the government.

    13. Mellon Family has been financing Republicans to dismantle New Deal policies and save on taxes for decades. This is peanuts compared to how much they benefited from it.

    14. So billionaires can afford to pay for government programs… Interesting. Maybe we should make this a yearly thing they are obligated to pay. 

    15. “According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Trump administration’s 2025 budget requests about $600 billion in total military compensation. A $130 million donation would equal about **$100 a service member**.”

      It’s a drop in the bucket compared to the tax breaks trump gave him…

    16. ThatOldEngineerGuy on

      I’m sorry. In the history of our country, the president has never been a charity case.

      Now, despite the fact that I fully support helping out the mentally disabled, I don’t believe that is the reason for the donation.

      This leads me to believe that there’s a quo that this quid may be pro.

    17. Admirable_Tear_1438 on

      He’s not being kind. He’s paying the US military to do his bidding.

      Besides, $130M won’t get very far. Sounds like most of that cash is unlikely to “trickle down”.

    18. Lol

      It’s just a “small” payment to keep the army in line

      Witha rubber stamp congress, allied SCOTUS which may soon rule out in favor of gerrymanderred GOP maps, they all know very well the only threat comes from the US military

      Nothing heroic about it. Roman emperors lived and died by their army’s loyalty. Which in turn was only guaranteed by who would pay them the most or at least at all.

    19. To bad Soro’s wasted all his money paying me to hold up a cardboard sign for No King’s

    20. HauntingSentence6359 on

      He’s hoping to buy safety when this abomination of an administration is kaput.

    21. Once again, Trump created a problem that he then solved and made a hero out of one of his friends

    22. If the Pentagon applies that $130 million across the entire active duty payroll, it’s tiny. Roughly one quarter of a day of pay (approx 0.24 days, or 5.8 hours worth of the biweekly payroll). In other words, it wouldn’t cover a single full pay period; instead it’s a short, symbolic bridge for a single pay cycle and no where near being a long-term fix so I expect, like everything else that comes from Trump, this is yet another diversion from the real story.

      Based on example: DoD’s commonly quoted biweekly payroll is about $7.5 billion every two weeks → that’s roughly $535.7 million per day. $130M ÷ $535.7M is about 0.243 days or 5.8 hours.

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