It is regrettable that Maryland is not a swing state. Billionaire Elon Musk has created a lottery to encourage voters to sign a petition that he believes will benefit Trump. The scheme may be illegal, but if Musk is true to his word, some lucky voter in a swing state will get $1 million every day between now and election day. Too bad none of them will be Maryland registered voters.
The Washington Post reported: ”Musk . . . on Saturday announced that daily through Election Day, America PAC, the super PAC Musk created to campaign for Trump, will give away “$1M to someone in swing states who signed our petition to support free speech & the right to bear arms.”
Musk advertised his plan on X, his social media platform, and has already made payments.
The petition reads: “The First and Second Amendments guarantee freedom of speech and the right to bear arms. By signing below, I am pledging my support for the First and Second Amendments.”
In Pennsylvania, in a special offer that ended on Monday, October 21, Musk paid $100 to each Pennsylvania voter who signed the petition and an additional $100 referral fee for persuading another registered Pennsylvania voter to sign.
See the petition and Pennsylvania offer here.
What is going on? Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro thinks the plan stinks. He commented, “Musk obviously has a right to be able to express his views. He has made it very, very clear that he supports Donald Trump. I do not – obviously, we have a difference of opinion. I don’t deny him that right. But when you start flowing this kind of money into politics, I think it raises serious questions that folks may want to take a look at.”
Election law experts note that it is illegal to pay anyone to vote for a particular candidate or to register to vote. Musk’s offer appears to avoid those prohibitions—His payments, made through his Political Action Committee, are to sign a petition expressing support for two Constitutional Amendments, the First and Second, not to vote. It does not appear likely the scheme is illegal.
Musk is known as an advocate for the First Amendment, but why pay voters in swing states money to commit to support them? The answer is that Musk believes these voters will be more likely to vote for Trump.
Musk’s support for Trump seems obvious. Elon Musk wants to go to Mars and is spending billions of his own money (he has more than $265 billion) to build rockets to get there. Unfortunately, the Federal Aviation Administration, environmentalists, and others have slowed down the development of Musk’s Mars rocket, called Starship.
My speculation is that Musk has secured a commitment from Donald Trump to “cut red tape” to expedite Starship and to support other policies favored by Trump, including blocking any attempt to restrict content on X or other social media platforms.
If my speculation is right, Musk’s PAC may be making an illegal contribution to the Trump campaign. Will that happen? I am no election law expert, but the theory sounds murky, at best to me.
More troubling than Musk doling out dollars in the hopes of bolstering the Trump vote in swing states is Trump’s promise to give him a position in his administration. Musk and his various enterprises are huge government contractors. I doubt Trump knows what “conflict of interest” means, but Musk, is better educated. (Note that I did not say more ethical.)
It is likely that inquiries into the Trump-Musk relationship will increase in the coming months, especially if Trump wins the election. Musk’s new, intense interest in politics is troubling, to say the least. Is Musk arrogant enough to believe he can buy his way around government rules and regulations? Yes. Is Donald Trump for sale? What do you think? If something looks like a duck and quacks like one, it probably is one. (I added that adage with Waterfowl Season in mind.)
Make sure you vote, preferably for the candidate who does not plan to curtail women’s reproductive rights, deport “illegals” in massive numbers, and crash the economy through an ill-conceived set of tariffs created to offset more tax cuts for the uber-rich and corporations.
J.E. Dean is a retired attorney and public affairs consultant. He writes on politics, government, and, too infrequently, other subjects.
Bob Moores says
Whatever thoughts I might have had on buying a Tesla next time are now extinguished.
I have added Teslas to my My Pillows boycott list.
I enjoy your work, John!
John Dean says
Bob, thank you. I will also not be buying a Tesla.
Chris Gordon says
I don’t care about privacy What I would liike is an easy way” preferably, by email, to contact either Stephanie or Dr Shanahan. I keep running into”do not reply”
Patricia Heaps says
With the election SO close, there Has been a lot of scrutiny around TDS and most indications are that you’re reached the mouth-Foaming stage. Read the room. Mass deportations are sounding appealing. The national ban on abortions lie is just that – a lie. Abortion isn’t going anywhere and the rabid support of ” at any time” tends to be a little off-putting. Non-elites aren’t talking Tariffs as much as they talk about how tax cuts were beneficial and now it’s $900 more A month to simply live and it’s a hardship.
The more your candidate speaks, the bigger the Trump train grows. Your TDS precludes you from seeing anything positive about Trump, and judging by past columns, or his supporters. Even diehard Democrats are jumping ship, tired of the hyperbole and rhetoric, questioning what their candidate brings to the table and finding out it’s nothing. Clown world.
John Dean says
Thank you for your kind words. I’m curious: Did you see what General Kelly, Trump’s former chief of staff, had to say about the ex-president? I did.
Patricia Heap says
Of course I have. As a bitter, disgruntled ex-employee, his words – 10 days before an election – are as credible as the authors of the Russian dossier and the 51 who signed on to swear stories of Hunter Biden’s laptop were Russian disinformation. What does it say to his character, integrity and honor that he continued to work for a “fascist” who admired Hitler? That he didn’t condemn him at the time and walk away? However, with the help of an ever-compliant media, his words were enough to label Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally as a “Nazi” rally. Watching a compilation of how the story was presented across the MSM really highlighted their complicity as they all worked in lockstep to draw parallels with a true Hitler rally in the 30’s. All the while ignoring what was really happening in NYC that day because they just couldn’t stand it. So yeah, I’ve heard the words of John Kelly. Thank you for your response.