Conor here: The reported $130 million donation to the Pentagon sounds a lot like another privatization stepping stone. The amount is a drop in the bucket for the Department of War, and reportedly amounts to only about $100 per soldier, but is likely a trial balloon for other billionaires with big ideas. The marketing pitch:
And they try so hard to make rich capitalists look evil! This is literally what rich capitalists are for in God’s economy! https://t.co/vDoqeFME1Y
— Garrett (@McGarrett50H) October 24, 2025
As it as now the plutocrats still need to buy members of Congress, the President, and fund think tanks pushing their pet projects. Imagine how much easier it would be to simply pay set prices for color revolutions, air strikes, invasions, etc. If that were the case in many ways it would be making official what already exists:
- The main function of the US military is already to spread freedom for American capital abroad.
- Billionaires apparently already tell Trump whether or not to send troops into “their” cities.
- We have Zionist billionaires dictating much of US foreign policy.
- Congress is already mostly sidelined from decision making on matters of war and intelligence operations.
The “gift” might be blatantly illegal but with judges who rule against the administration seeing their houses burn down, who knows? The source of the gift has since been revealed:
🚨 BREAKING:
The anonymous donor who gave $130 million to fund U.S. troops during the federal shutdown is reportedly Timothy Mellon — the same billionaire who gave $53 million to build Texas’s private border wall.
He’s funded border enforcement, Trump’s Super PACs, and…
— Amber Speaks Up (@AmberWoods100) October 25, 2025
The grandson of Andrew Mellon. Time is a haunted merry-go-round.
As we yearn for what’s next, my greatest fear is that we’ll be duped into doubling down on corrupt billionaires and monopolists under the guise of a “return to normal.” It will be the biggest repeat con in history. pic.twitter.com/Qe9ratawVu
— Lee Hepner (@LeeHepner) October 25, 2025
By Jessica Corbett, a staff writer at Common Dreams. Originally published at Common Dreams.
As the Pentagon plans to put a $130 million donation from an anonymous “friend” of President Donald Trump toward military salaries, the largest federation of unions in the United States on Friday demanded that federal lawmakers “stop playing political games” and pay all workers affected by the government shutdown.
“As the government shutdown drags into its fourth week, 1.4 million federal workers and at least 1 million federal contractors have missed a paycheck and will soon miss another if Congress fails to act,” the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) noted in a statement.
The government shut down at the beginning of October because Republicans—who have majorities in both chambers of Congress—wanted to maintain their funding plans, while Democrats sought to undo the GOP’s recent Medicaid cuts and extend expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies so millions of Americans don’t lose their healthcare.
Republicans were able to get their funding proposal through the US House of Representatives, but their narrow control of the Senate means they require some Democratic support to pass most bills. The AFL-CIO released a letter that its director of advocacy, Jody Calemine, sent to all senators on Thursday.
Calemine called on them to support Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s (D-Md.) True Shutdown Fairness Act, which would provide backpay and continued pay to federal workers, contractors, and military personnel during the shutdown, as well as Sen. Gary Peters’ (D-Mich.) Military and Federal Employee Protection Act, which would provide an immediate backpay installment.
“These workers—military, civilian, and private sector alike—serve the American people day in and day out in myriad ways,” Calemine wrote. “Many federal workers, along with the military, have been required to perform their duties without pay. Other federal workers and contractors want to work but have been furloughed and locked out from their jobs. While the paychecks have stopped, the bills have not. Rent needs to be paid. Mortgage payments are due. Groceries must be bought.”
“Sadly, their financial pain is being used as political leverage. The Trump administration has been exacerbating their hardship and anxiety, announcing unlawful, permanent reductions-in-force while blaming a temporary shutdown and threatening to deny federal workers backpay in violation of the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act,” Calemine continued. “Workers and their families should not be used as pawns.”
The letter was sent before the Senate voted on both bills, which Republicans blocked on Thursday. All Democrats except Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, both of Georgia, also opposed Sen. Ron Johnson’s (R-Wis.) bill that would have paid members of the military and some federal workers who are not furloughed.
Working families are facing a dual crisis: hunger, and their health insurance costs doubling, tripling or worse.
Working people can’t afford inaction.
Fund the government.
Fix the health care crisis.
Put working people first.https://t.co/QFoJAe9ky4 https://t.co/sBMdh8TOpG pic.twitter.com/Dh2FrMQlm1— AFL-CIO ✊ (@AFLCIO) October 24, 2025
Also on Thursday, Trump told reporters at the White House that “a friend of mine” who didn’t want public recognition had made a donation toward military salaries, adding, “That’s what I call a patriot.”
Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesperson, confirmed in a Friday statement that the US Department of Defense had accepted the donation “under its general gift acceptance authority.”
“The donation was made on the condition that it be used to offset the cost of service members’ salaries and benefits,” he said. “We are grateful for this donor’s assistance after Democrats opted to withhold pay from troops.”
According to the Associated Press:
While the $130 million is a hefty sum, it would cover just a fraction of the billions needed for military paychecks. Trump said the donation was to cover any “shortfall.”
What’s unclear, however, is the regulations around such a donation.
“That’s crazy,” said Max Stier, president and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service, a nonpartisan organization focused on the federal government. “It’s treating the payment of our uniformed services as if someone’s picking up your bar tab.”
CNN reported that critics have raised concerns that taking the $130 million may run afoul of the Pentagon’s gift acceptance authority and the Antideficiency Act—and “congressional appropriators on both sides of the aisle said Friday that they were seeking more information from the administration about the specifics of the donation, but had yet to receive any explanation.”
Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), the ranking member on the chamber’s defense appropriations subcommittee, said in a statement that “using anonymous donations to fund our military raises troubling questions of whether our own troops are at risk of literally being bought and paid for by foreign powers.”
Sharing CNN‘s report on social media, the watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington wrote: “This should go without saying, but the American government should be funded by the American people, not anonymous megadonor friends of the president. This is not how things should work in a democracy—this raises all sorts of legal and ethical alarms.”
Meanwhile, the House clerk on Friday read a message from Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) designating October 27-November 2 as a district work period. Responding on social media, Congressman Jason Crow (D-Colo.) said: “Republicans just extended their vacation AGAIN. Trump is heading to Asia. All as the government is shutdown. A total failure of leadership.”
I am a patriot and have paid my income tax without squealing like a stuck pig year after year. But now, I think it’s time for those of us who are opposed to the perversion of governance that is underway to establish some sort of escrow account to pay our income taxes into, some vehicle to withhold our money from this corrupt bunch of grifters while creating a reserve for a sane future for our kids and grandkids. Perhaps this could be done by states or cities. I don’t know how it would work, to be honest. I just know that I really do not want to send any payments to a government that looks on federal revenue as just another slush fund.
Modern Monetary Theory – Quick refresher
Posted here three years ago.
Thank you. As a currency issuer, the US government can never run out of dollars; it doesn’t need anyone to “give” it dollars because it’s supposedly out.
But many USians don’t seem to understand this. There is no real reason for the “shutdown” except for some self-serving rules the government itself made. The whole “shutdown” is politics to make the other “party” look like the problem at the expense of the population, foremost government employees, which are the real targets of this family-blog show.
Instead, many erroneously think the “shutdown” is acceptable and unavoidable, instead of an outright attack on their standard of living.
That this level of government dysfunction has become normalized is a huge problem. We should not be angry at either the Democrat Party or the Republican Party; we should be angry at both. They are hurting us on purpose. Where’s the outrage about that?
I agree, the politricksters and media oligopoly are there to distract and divide the plebs at all times.This diverts attention away from the lawlessness, institutional corruption, kleptocracy, declining living standards etc. The oligarchy loot the place until they become the first trillionaires…
The dumbed-down, misinformed population fight among themselves as directed by the puppet-masters.
Aye, JonnyJames. Terrifying how well it works.
Hence the immiseration will continue, because people refuse (imo) to step back and see the bigger picture, especially how they are being played, manipulated and lied to.
Personally I think it’s the result of a lack of self-respect – who tolerates being lied to for decades while their standard of living keeps dropping and the number of billionaires with their obscene wealth and control of government keeps growing?
JonnyJames, I think we agree that our present situation consists of corrupt oligarchies at the top and an atomized population below. But, from my perspective, you appear to be endorsing, as an alternative, some kind of state socialism in a Marxist-Leninist form. Yet, how does replacing one set of oligarchs with a new set of merged ruling families in the name of socialism solve the problem of oligarchy?
? Marxist-Leninist? The USSR has been gone for over 3 decades, I really don’t know what you are on about. If you must use labels and names: Call me cynical, pessimistic, and irreverent, but there is no “solution”, only power and interests
A personal favorite of mine is a peaceful dissolution of the “united” states along lines such as suggested by Joel Garreau:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nine_Nations_of_North_America
Not feasible at the moment, but at this rate of decline we might get there eventually.
That is correct! at his is just some sort of game for both parties of rich people, and thier billionaire buddies! My home owner insurance increased 800.oo dollars just this year! I had to drop my health insurance. My husband had to have cancer surgery and
It took all of our savings just for my out of pocket Medicare cost. People now have to go without food! Because that’s “run out” and some jack ass Trump supporter just gave the military money to pay troops. Meanwhile orange man is tearing up the east
Wing to build a ballroom paid for by more millionaires and federal workers are getting nothing! Now he wants the tax payer to pay his legal bills. Meanwhile the Demorats have done nothing to stop him and the press concerns itself with the latest cover from Time magazine and protest have consisted of silly “ No Kings” nonsense.
Protest should be about these insane things being done to the country and its citizens.
Not silly democrat BS about he thinks he is a king!
“No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law;” (USCons I/9/7)
The shutdown is due to provisions enacted since the 1820s or 30s in appropriation acts that required funds appropriated in the annual bills to be expended during the fiscal year. This because departments were carrying over balances from year-to-year.
I suppose in this instance the phrase “drawn from the treasury” is at issue. At first glance it doesn’t appear that a gift is “drawn from the treasury”, though I guess there could be laws regarding processing of gifts. I doubt the framers thought that gifts could somehow be an end-run around the power of the purse.
A more straight forward path would be to use the existing “relief” non-profits, such as Navy-Marine Relief Society created in 1904 as vehicles, though they aren’t set up to handle mass numbers of people.
Thanks, scott s. It’s very telling to me that these old rules have never been amended, but of course that is by design: they can be used as an excuse to hurt the working class and the poor when needed. It’s all legal, you see, says so right there.
Reminds me of this article that was posted recently:
https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/the-moral-stupefaction-of-the-american-public/
Nice introduction, Conor.
Yes, but it goes a bit deeper. Money itself is just something made up by H. sapiens. As David Graeber put it,
This is painfully true when it comes to money, war, politics, police, class.
Yes, the federal government as a currency issuer doesn’t need the tax money to fund itself.
I have however seen the idea for states to place tax money in escrow rather than pass it on. This would be in order to prevent the federal executive government to hold money to the states hostage – money Congress has allocated to the states. The states not being currency issuers, but being tax collectors.
I had a friend, and I don’t remember the specifics, but essentially they never paid their taxes. Her point was that she would rather have her money (taxes) pay for collection services than bombs. I thought her intent was well focussed.
Of course since Thoreau went to jail this is been a topic and method of protest, but obviously not without its consequences. A good start is to check out the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee’s website and contact them for a conversation. Rest assured your Uncle is paying attention, and the few I know who have gone this route (70’s and 80’s) were committed to, at the very least, living the remainder of their lives well below the “poverty line” when it comes to income.
Things may have changed since then, but I wouldn’t count on it being for the better. You will want a good solid network of support before you make a big deal out of it, but if you go that route, please do make a big deal out of it!
During Trump’s first term, he didn’t accomplish much while being constantly harangued by ridiculous investigations and impeachments designed to hamstring him because he was not one of the approved Washington elite. People went nuts anyway accusing a fairly powerless president with few allies in DC of being some “dictator” set on overturning the government. My question at the time was “Trump and what army?”
After he left office, rather than ignoring Trump and providing concrete material benefits for the American people, the Democrats spent four years going after him with lawfare, contorting the law to do so, practically begging the man to run again to exact some vengeance, and pushing him into the arms of some of the worst people in the US in the process.
Now he does has a power base and is in the process of buying an army. Any opposition is tepid at best. The “paper of record” posts an editorial urging a move to the center as a solution to Trumpism, which in DC means a further lurch rightward. Politicians who come out with any attempt to change the status quo are demonized and smeared.
News flash for the NYT – the center will not hold. And nobody in power seems to want it to. The rough beast is already in Bethlehem, literally, and here in the US too.
I think the key point is that both parties are intellectually and morally bankrupt and that the Republicans are currently asserting power–perhaps absolute power–but have no idea what to do with it. And so all these silly gestures like renaming things and tearing down part of the White House are dominance displays without a plan. Trump is floundering, not winning, and his approvals keep sinking. The country’s real problem is how do we get rid of him? A caudillo who can’t even “make the trains run on time” serves no purpose.
I don’t believe I’ve ever watched Fox News even for five minutes but it seems the Murdochians and Netanyahu are running our DC world at the moment. It can’t last.
I agree almost totally with this. I would differ only for the description “begging the man to run again” as I think it is too kind to the Democrats. I would change begging to forcing. Along with not choosing to provide real benefits to the American people, they recognized that running against Trump meant they didn’t even have to take a position on real issues, and misread the world enough to think it was an endless winner.
Decades of Bipartisan fecklessness has not only allowed the decimation of government but by not destroying the myth of privatization and its acceptance of American mercenaries for fun and profit have paved the way for much destruction.
Reclusive billionaire contributes to the cause. I would give more verbal or written support behind this alleged “virtue signaling gesture” if there were a few more gazillionaire donations to the broader federal employees who are severely impacted and find their personal economy to be unfortunately pinched. All those NFL teams who feature their military pride and support of the armed forces ( paid in full or in part by those same forces ) annually around the Veterans day could afford a few millions as well…
Hey where and what is billionaire Erik Prince of Blackwater fame / infamy up to lately…? Just thinking of prominent supporters in the past of all those US military efforts and battles in the ME….whose pockets were lined with taxpayer dollars of course.
The worst government money can buy. I saw a back of envelope breakdown of how small the end dollar amount would be per military payee.
We truly are seeing the worst government money has bought. $130 Millions? Trump change.
I don’t know how American taxpayers’ money is used besides lining the pockets of corrupt oligarchs and exploiting ordinary people at home and abroad. If the U.S. military only exists to protect the interests of the wealthy, then the wealthy should be the only ones funding it.
I wonder if the donation is “targeted” – say, just for the special forces (or some of the special forces), it would be a worrisome further step towards direct US armed forces privatization. The US already is well along that (Roman empire decline) path, e.g., outsourcing to mercenaries like Erik Prince’s outfit and many basic military activities, e.g., security, to contractors – even intelligence (e.g., Snowden)!
One minor quibble: “… extend expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies so millions of Americans don’t lose their healthcare.”
This formulation is patently untrue. Healthcare insurance is not healthcare—one involves doctors and nurses, while the other involves insurance companies that arguably worsen health. For many, healthcare insurance with deductibles and copays means they have insurance but cannot afford needed healthcare.
Personal example, my company offers a robust health insurance package, but I still have a concierge doctor (not covered!) because my health insurance medical group never lets me see an actual GP, and the NPs have been incapable of even understanding ANY of my health issues – they just play telephone with the actual doctor.
After Hegseth and Trump gathered the generals to tell them that they are fat and need to invade IS cities, I was thinking about how the Nazis payed of their generals:
The idea is as old as the fall of the Roman republic, the troops are loyal to the one who pays them (at least for a while, Roman generals tended to become disloyal when they figured they would look better as emperor, but that was a later story).
Point of interest. Towards the end of the Empire, Rome was paying out something
like 40% of its total income to the Roman army. Of course it didn’t help that a number
of the late emperors debased the currency, and the whole government was riddled
with corruption, as it had always been. I think its fair to say that our current military
budget (which includes a ‘carved’ portion never seen by the public) is sacrosanct
and utterly immune to any budget cuts, ever.
The French monarchy famously fell in 1789 because of the revenue spent helping
American independence. Also, part of the ‘pay’ for the Roman army was being
allowed to loot cities and nations. The current occupant of the White House
also has no concept of political clemency, which the Emperor used to show
how magnanimous (and therefore worthy of the title of “Emperor”) he was.