President Trump said Tuesday that American taxpayers will get a 40 percent stake in the planned shipyard in Sparrows Point, Md., an unincorporated industrial area in Baltimore County, which he visited Tuesday. “In the ultimate proof of our commitment to ensuring shipyards enduring success American taxpayers will receive 40 percent stake…
Page A3From§Eachthe midnight edition — 7 October 2026
THE STAKE
Taxpayers to receive 40 percent stake in the $6.6bn shipyard they are funding; Republican donor's firm owns it
They have handed you a stake and you will be told to be grateful. A stake, mind you, in a yard the public is paying part of: six point six billion dollars at Sparrows Point, owned by Anduril. Forty percent to the American taxpayer. Forty ... and what did the taxpayer give for it? The money. That was the consideration — what each side puts in — and it runs one way. Anduril's founder, Palmer Luckey, has given five point nine million dollars to Republican causes since 2017 and hosted fundraisers for at least twenty Republican politicians. On September 30 the department seated Elon Musk on its taskforce on the future of warfare. The stake, the President said, is "the ultimate proof of our commitment to ensuring shipyards enduring success". One firm helps plan the next war. One firm owns the yard where the submarines are built. You hold forty percent of that yard.
The village digs the well. The bucket, one man keeps.
“They're calling a forty percent stake proof of commitment, but read it slow: the public puts money into a $6.6 billion shipyard and a politically connected firm owns the yard. The founder of that firm has given $5.9 million to Republican causes and hosted fundraisers for at least twenty Republican politicians. Same stretch, the Pentagon seats Elon Musk on its taskforce on the future of warfare — the donors plan the war and own the yard, and we pay the build.”
“Forty percent to the taxpayer — when has any administration handed the public a piece of the action like that? That's a return, that's equity for working people, that's... did I say equity? I wouldn't use that word, that doesn't sound like me. Look, somebody has to build the submarines, and if the man building them also throws fundraisers, that's not a conflict, that's patriotism with a balance sheet.”
Earlier in this story
- Appeals court to decide fate of rollback signed by the secretary who doubted the deaths were real By Ruth · the early evening edition, 5 October 2026
- Health secretary who doubted two measles deaths watches Pennsylvania confirm a fifth By Lou · the breakfast edition, 4 October 2026
- Pentagon puts its biggest contractor on the war-planning board, then moves troops from Europe to South America By Sterling · the milkman edition, 4 October 2026
- Pentagon moves troops out of the hemisphere where it claims no oil and into the one where it has claimed 35 percent, then seats a contractor with billions of dollars in military contracts on the body planning the future of war By Sterling · the midnight edition, 4 October 2026
The receipts
The Accord Establishes ‘Real Oversight – Without Creating A Regulatory Capture Regime’
Baltimore project to be partly funded by US government but owned by defense firm Anduril, founded by Palmer Luckey Donald Trump on Tuesday announced the opening of a new $6.6bn shipbuilding factory in Baltimore, partly funded by the US government but owned by Anduril Industries, a politically connected defense company. Trump’s appearance…
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This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.