Timothy Mellon: Top Trump donor accused of making racist comments in his autobiography

Mr Mellon claims social programs are 'slavery redux'

A top donor to President Donald Trump has come under fire for using racial stereotypes to describe African Americans in his autobiography.

Timothy Mellon, the 77-year-old Mellon family heir, said that African Americans became "even more belligerent" after the expansion of social programs and said that individuals who rely on government assistance have become "slaves to a new Master, Uncle Sam."

According to the Washington Post, Mr Mellon has donated $30m into Republican super PACs in over five months.

In his biography, Mr Mellon referred to social safety programs as "slavery redux" and alleged that African American's votes were bought by Democrats promising them "freebies."

"For delivering their votes in the Federal Elections, they are awarded with yet more and more freebies: food stamps, cell phones, WIC payments, Obamacare, and on, and on, and on. The largess is funded by the hardworking folks, fewer and fewer in number, who are too honest or too proud to allow themselves to sink into this morass," Mr Mellon wrote.

Mr Mellon's family has had substantial wealth since the late 1860's.

One of Mr Mellon's donations was $10m to the America First Action Super PAC, the largest known contribution to the group. The PAC was founded by Linda McMahon, who Mr Trump appointed to head the Small Business Association and who is married to Mr Trump's longtime friend and owner of World Wrestling Entertainment Vince McMahon.

In addition to the donations Mr Mellon has made to Trump affiliated Super PACs, he has made smaller donations to various conservative causes and campaigns for years.

In 2010, Mr Mellon also donated $1.5 million to Arizona's legal defence fund to help defend the state's SB 1070 bill. The bill - Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act - was a strict anti-illegal immigration bill that was criticised for encouraging racial profiling.

Mr Mellon's donations haven't been solely focused on Republicans, however. He also gave a maxed-out donation to Democratic congresswoman and former presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard's primary campaign and gave a donation to progressive Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Mr Mellon's self-published autobiography was available for download on the website of his company, Pan Am Systems, but was recently removed following enquiries from the Washington Post.

A request for comment from Mr Mellon went unanswered as of the time of this writing.