According to Politico, Wyoming billionaire Timothy Mellon, the largest GOP donor in the 2024 campaign cycle to date, has now given the super PAC backing Robert Kennedy Jr.’s presidential spoiler campaign a total of $25 million, including a recent $5 million cash infusion. The massive donation also made up the vast majority of the super PAC’s $6 million donations in the last month.
Mellon is a well-known Republican donor helping fund the MAGA movement this cycle. To date, Mellon has given $15 million to Make America Great Again Inc., the super PAC backing former President Donald Trump. He’s also given $5 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC dedicated to electing MAGA loyalists to the House, and $4 million to The Sentinel Action Fund, a super PAC affiliated with the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation.
While accepting millions from right-wing MAGA donors, an analysis done by the Washington Post shows RFK Jr.’s campaign has done little to promote his running mate Nichole Shanahan or indoctrinate her into broad campaign strategy since announcing her involvement in the campaign nearly two months ago.
According to the Washington Post, RFK Jr. falsely claimed Shanahan spent multiple days touring the southern border (she made just a one-day visit), that she had been speaking to a lot of press (she has given no interviews to mainstream publications), and that he couldn’t say “exactly what her schedule is.”
RFK Jr’s insurrection-attending communications director, Del Bigtree, dismissed the campaign’s vice presidential candidate completely when the Washington Post asked who could speak on Shanahan’s behalf, “I’ve never had a conversation with her about who shares her perspective,” Bigtree told the paper. “The only perspective I’m really focused on is Bobby’s.”
Shanahan has invested a total of $10 million of her own money directly into the campaign, not including an additional $4.5 million she previously donated to super PACs backing the RFK Jr.’s spoiler candidacy. Still, she repeatedly and publicly expresses doubt about whether she is really running for vice president.
“Let us get this straight, RFK Jr. is essentially being bankrolled by MAGA mega donors, while taking millions of extra donations from his running mate, who he’s kept hidden from the press and in the dark on the campaign’s strategy to win. This might be the first time we’ve seen a presidential candidate run a grift on their own running mate,” said American Bridge 21st Century Presidential Campaigns Communications Director Brandon Weathersby. “Shanahan is right to question whether she is actually running for vice president. When your biggest donor is the same as Trump’s biggest donor, it’s clear your campaign only exists to spoil the election for Trump in November, not usher you into the White House.”
Published: May 21, 2024 | Last Modified: May 22, 2024