Twitter Philanthropist gives Michigan veteran a new car

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. (FOX 2) - All it took was a retweet by President Donald Trump, and a Michigan veteran is now the owner of a new car.

Billionaire Bill Pulte knows the secret to making his tweets go viral: give something away. Typically it's money. But in this case, it was a car.

Pulte has almost 300,000 twitter followers. Look through them and you'll see a trend: a veteran whose teeth are missing and Pulte's call to get him help, or the story of baby Maisie who needed $2 million medicine. Pulte helped both of those cases and in others to turn social media into a way to help people in need.

"We have to get this drug to her. So we hired a great attorney and the attorney went in there, won it on appeal and the baby got the $2 million dollar drug," Pulte said. "Boom, boom, boom. People start donating right away. It's using social media for good."

Every day, his followers - or as he calls them, his Team - is asked to do something to make the world better, like finding a homeless man a job. 

Pulte is the inventor of Twitter philanthropy.

"If you can't give monetarily, everyone can do something kind," Pulte said.

Pulte says he has a million dollars to give away for good causes and, on Thursday, one of those causes for a Farmington Hills veteran. Pulte spent $20,000 to buy him a new Chevrolet Trax and surprised him with the new car.

Veteran Bill Belcher was shocked when Pulte gave him the car and couldn't believe he was the one picked.

"I dont know what to say. I'm kinda choked up," Belcher said.

The reason Pulte gave the car away? He said if President Trump retweeted him, he would give a car to a veteran in need. 

The President did exactly that, saying "Thank you Bill. Say hello to our great veterans."

But Pulte says this isn't a red or blue effort. It's an all-American one.

"Get the President involved. Get Democrats in Congress. Get everybody involved to raise awareness and by doing that we supercede politics," Pulte said. 

Belcher, not a Twitter use, says he's happy to see something like this taking off. 

"There are so many haters on there. It can be used for so much good but all I read is I hate this person and that person...and we oughtta be loving each other and not hating one another," Belcher said.