The Elon Musk & Donald Trump Bromance: Musk to gift $1million a day in support of Trump

What is Elon up to? A question asked almost too frequently, for good reason, and for bad.

This time, Musk isn’t just dipping his toes into the MAGA mix, he’s jumping into the deep end (pardon the pun). Musk, born in Pretoria, South Africa, became a US citizen in 2002, and had voted Democrat almost exclusively since. So what has happened? What sparked a full 180 degrees turn to becoming one of the top funders of the Trump campaign?

Through Tesla and a multitude of other companies, Musk has become one of the richest people in the world, and thus he has associated interests in this election. What can benefit him? Under the Biden-Harris administration, Musk faced many federal investigations and was snubbed from being invited to the 2021 White House Electric Vehicle Summit — despite being the founder of one of the most innovative electric vehicle companies: Tesla. Questioning one of the most powerful men in the world on employment practices and his business is threatening to Musk’s legacy and economic interests. Inevitably, Musk’s Democratic allegiance begins to fracture.

Musk, previously described as a ‘political chameleon’, has now inserted himself in the centre of the Republican Party. With Kamala Harris now set in stone as a fierce competitor to Trump, Musk has changed alliance for good, and to protect himself (and his mountain of cash). Trump and Musk have not always been so friendly, but since Musk bought Twitter (now X) and unbanned Trump’s infamous account, their friendship has blossomed over the joint passion for free speech. This a clear signpost of Musk’s Republican turn. But, how has this progressed?

In July of this year, Musk launched AmericaPAC. AmericaPAC was set up to support secure borders, safe cities, sensible spending, a fair justice system, free speech, and the right to self-protection. An intriguingly vague set of objectives. Vague enough to not be directly associated with the Republican party, but close enough to show support. And reading between the lines, and applying some context makes the objectives clear. “A fair justice system” or a swipe at current President Biden? Who has, ironically, used the justice system to install fairness into Musk’s employment practices. The inclusion of “free speech” is a nod to his newfound bond with Trump, with the former President calling Musk, “the man who saved free speech”, (or bought it and restricted it in his own way, according to some opinions). The AmericaPAC objectives get increasingly Republican as you go down the list, but the clearest sign of support is undoubtedly the $75m it has raised for the Trump campaign so far.

Now, Musk has taken his support to new levels. Elon Musk and his AmericaPAC have pledged to give $1 million a day in Pennsylvania, to a registered voter, until the day of the election. Those who sign a “pro-constitution” petition, organised by AmericaPAC, will be chosen from random to receive the life-changing amount of money. The winner is awarded a lottery-style cheque.

Now to cover the obvious assumption — surely, this is illegal? In the US, according to federal law, anyone who “pays or offers to pay or accepts payment either for registration to vote or voting” will face the fair justice system. Ironic. The crime leads to either a $10k fine or a five year sentence. Does this matter to Elon? A man with an estimated net worth of $248 billion (according to Forbes), and access to some of the best lawyers in the world? Seemingly, this is irrelevant, as this has been masked as “legal” through a loophole. No one is being payed directly, and it is just signing a petition. Musk has been painted by the media to have many flaws, but intelligence is not one of them.

The aim of Musk’s scheme is to get more voters to engage in the Trump campaign. The deeper implications of this are clear, Trump is worried about the Republican voting turn-out in an election where every vote counts, and only a few votes separate the two candidates. In his own way of admission, last Friday, at a rally Trump told women to tell their “fat pig” husbands to “get off the couch” to vote and “save the country”. This is a rare lapse in confidence shown by the former President, and a clear inclination of how he is feeling, and how the country is feeling — uncertain.

Uncertainty is the reason why Pennsylvania is the chosen state for Musk’s ventures. Pennsylvania is one of seven swing-states, the states that will likely determine the outcome of the election as a whole. The other swing states include Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina and Wisconsin. In these states, it is plausible that either candidate could win the electoral college votes. Millions of dollars have been spent by both campaigns in these states, as due to the closeness of the polls, winning these states is essential.

Pennsylvania holds 19 out of 538 electoral college votes and 13 million people. In the previous election, Biden won Pennsylvania by 82k votes. So, yeh, Pennsylvania is important — according to the BBC, it is hard to win without Pennsylvania. So Pennsylvania it is for Musk’s lottery! Pennsylvania has been a hotspot for this election in particular; it was in Butler where former President Trump survived the first assassination attempt, and that iconic image was born. It was also Butler where Musk joined Trump on stage to encourage people to don their MAGA merch and made claims to be “dark MAGA” — referring to his work behind the scenes, or, most likely, his black coloured MAGA hat he was wearing. Alongside this, he also made claims that voting Republican will save democracy, implying the Democrats were going to eliminate democracy in the land of the free.

Both Trump and Musk’s feelings here are transparent. Musk has economic interests in this election, and his reputation at stake. Biden’s already looking into his practices, and Harris is in position to do the same. Musk has been openly critical of Harris on X, to the point where the Secret Service was alerted. Musk described the election in an interview with right-wing political commentator Tucker Carlson as a “must-win” situation, even declaring how he is “f*cked” if Harris gets the White House. A lot is at stake for Musk and backing Trump financially and publicly is an attempt to take control, whilst crossing his fingers for a Republican administration.

In Trump’s case, is this a sign of desperation? Turning to a previous foe, and pleading with his supporters to take action and vote — doing whatever it takes. As I am writing this, just under two weeks out from the big day, the polls are essentially at a tie, with Kamala just one point ahead (data from The Times). There is no margin for error, and big plays like this Musk and Trump collaboration may be deemed necessary. It makes sense that now Musk is stepping out of the shadows and onto the stage, and the show of humanity in Trump’s plea may sway some undecided voters. Big names like Taylor Swift have come out in support of Kamala; is Elon Musk Trump’s Taylor Swift? A certainty, however, is that the election result is impossible to call. But only time will tell if Musk’s scheme will ensure victory for Donald Trump. And only time will tell if he will face consequences of his scheme under a new Harris-Walz administration. These are risky moves, but in an election this close and that raises this many questions, risk might be the winning step.

Thank you for reading my post, I’d like to hear your thoughts in the comments! I will see you next week.