While Elon Musk built rockets and electric cars and became the world’s richest man, he largely stayed out of politics and donated money. relatively modest amount Vote for candidates of both parties and vote for Barack Obama and the Democratic Party for President. joe biden.
But Musk’s political restraint has evaporated over the past two years, with the tycoon using his vast wealth, celebrity and huge online presence to become former President Trump’s most visible and well-oiled defender. He decided to become one of the people.
In the three months ending Sept. 30, Musk spent $75 million in new super PACs that spent more than $110 million supporting Republican candidates, according to a federal campaign report released late Tuesday. I invested close to it.
Most of the money went to campaign and vote-getting efforts to support Trump. But the group has backed Republicans in some of the nation’s closest congressional races, a move that could determine whether Republicans maintain a razor-thin majority in the House. .
Musk’s organization, America PAC, has spent more money on California legislative races than in any other state, spending nearly $2.8 million supporting embattled Republican incumbents in the Central Valley and Southern California. A new filing reveals that
“I think he literally thinks he can sway the election himself. That’s why he doesn’t do the vague demeanor or traditional businessman-like things that politicians do.” Edward Niedermayer, author of “Ludicrous: The Unvarnished Story of Tesla Motors.” ” “He has to give it his all…because that’s how he’s been successful in everything. He memes things into reality.”
Musk said he turned to Republicans because Democrats had become too liberal. But his vast business portfolio, which includes Tesla, SpaceX and its broadband internet subsidiary Starlink, could also benefit from cooperation in Congress and a caring ally in the White House.
Experts believe that by getting the president and his friends in Congress to listen, Mr. Musk could win more favorable federal contracts, tax credits to boost electric vehicle sales and clashes with a growing number of federal regulators. point out that it may help lead to results.
Larry Noble, who teaches campaign finance law at American University’s Washington College, said, “A lot of what Musk does has to do with government oversight and government contracts, so the House of Representatives appears to be advantageous for Musk.” , the Senate and the White House are very important to his business.” He is an attorney and previously served as general counsel for the Federal Election Commission for 13 years.
Tesla is facing a lawsuit from a federal agency that enforces workplace discrimination laws alleging racial harassment of black employees at the company’s Fremont, California, factory. some research Tesla has influenced the company’s claim that it is “fully self-driving.”
The Justice Department sued SpaceX last year, alleging that the company discriminated against asylum seekers and refugees by denying them employment based on their citizenship status.
President Trump has previously said he wants to tighten control over the Justice Department. Noble said that once Trump returns to the White House, Musk “may call him and say, ‘The Department of Justice should stop these lawsuits against me.'”
After the National Labor Relations Board Blame SpaceX The company filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to have the agency declared unconstitutional for illegally firing eight workers at its Hawthorne plant. And last month, Musk announced that Spaceoverregulation” after authorities proposed a fine of more than $600,000.
Trump also promised to lower taxes on corporations and the wealthy and dismantle the traditional civil service system to empower his supporters.
“If you look at the way President Trump governs by reducing all kinds of regulators as much as possible, you can see how Elon Musk runs his company as if regulations don’t apply to him,” business journalist Niedermayer said. You can see how they are managing the business.” he. …it matches perfectly.
Musk and Trump have hugged each other since Musk endorsed him in July, and Trump mentioned Musk by name in speeches and invited Musk to the stage and sat with him at a rally in Pennsylvania. 2 hours conversationstreamed live on X.
During the meeting, which was viewed by Musk’s 201 million followers on X, Trump flatteringly described Musk as an efficiency expert:you are the best cutter‘Then he thought, “I need Elon Musk. I need someone with a lot of strength and courage and smarts.”
Unlike many super PACs that spend money on TV ads, Mr. Musk’s group focuses almost exclusively on so-called ground operations, such as door-to-door canvassing and voter outreach.
Noble said gaining support in the House could be crucial for Musk. Lawmakers have the power to order oversight hearings and cut, or threaten to cut, the budgets of government agencies that “do not do what Congress wants.”
Musk’s group is spending to support candidates in 18 congressional districts. Nationally, Republicans hold House seats in 15 battleground districts, and Democrats need to win four seats to regain control of the chamber.
Even if the embattled Republican retains his job, “it will be because of outside funding,” said one Democratic consultant who was not authorized to speak publicly about the race. “No one expected Elon Musk to be so involved in the House election.”
Musk’s America PAC spent $1.1 million to support incumbent Republican Rep. Ken Calvert, who is running against Democrat Will Rollins, a former federal prosecutor, in Riverside County’s 41st Congressional District.
Mr. Musk’s group is the second-largest outside spender in the close race, behind the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC defending incumbent Republicans, according to federal data.
Recruiters went door-to-door in the area, which includes Corona, Menifee and Palm Springs, hanging tags on doorknobs that read, Rollins “Too Liberal for California Families” and Calvert “Reclaiming the American Dream.” There is.
Mr. Calvert has been a member of Congress since 1993 and chairs the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, which oversees the Pentagon’s budget. SpaceX has secured hundreds of millions of dollars in defense contracts, including: $150 million in prize money Rocket launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County.
Because Mr. Calvert chairs such a powerful committee, “there is an increased industry interest in preserving his seat,” said Erin Covey, House editor of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. says Mr.
Coby S., Rollins’ campaign manager, said the race “at the end of the day is about a few billionaires and special interests who are funding Ken Calvert, and a few of the billionaires and special interests who are funding Will Rollins. “It’s being contested by more than 70,000 grassroots donors,” he said.
Calvert was one of California’s 14 congressmen. I sent you a letter in August. Officials asked the California Coastal Commission to approve a U.S. Air Force plan to greenlight up to 36 SpaceX rockets a year from Vandenberg.
“SpaceX employs more than 6,000 people in Southern California and makes invaluable contributions to national security,” said Calvert campaign spokesman Calvin Moore. Similarly, it is natural for Ken to support the mission at Vandenberg.” .
Another signer of the letter is U.S. Rep. Michelle Steele (R-Seal Beach), who is running for re-election in Orange County.
America PAC spent more than $940,000 on advertising and digital media to support Steele against Democrat Derek Tran, according to filings.
Paul Iskajian, a spokesman for the Tran campaign, said Mr. Steele “cannot protect his own record, so he is backed by a billionaire crank.” A spokesperson for Steele’s campaign declined to comment.
The PAC also spent more than $700,000 supporting Central Valley Republican Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford), who signed the SpaceX letter. Valadao is running against Democrat Rudy Salas, who lost to Valadao in 2022 by about 3,100 votes.
Musk’s political transformation is not just about money. The billionaire is now slamming the left’s “wake mind virus” and trumpeting the fallacy of right-wing theories. These include Democrats encouraging illegal immigration to shift the U.S. voting base in their favor, and the Biden-Harris administration downplaying U.S. hurricane victims while pouring money into immigration. etc. In the US without legal permission.
Musk did not respond to interview requests sent to SpaceX. But he has previously argued that the Democratic Party has moved to the “far left,” forcing him to move toward the Republican Party.
“While the Democratic Party has become the party of the rich and the entitled (just look at their donor list), the Republican Party has become the party of the people,” said Musk, who is worth well over $200 billion. , I said this in this month’s X.
The 53-year-old businessman said he felt treated unfairly when Democrats, including Biden, criticized him and denied him credit.
In 2021, the Biden administration did not invite Musk and Tesla to a summit of electric car manufacturers at the White House, which is somewhat related to the company’s refusal to unionize. Technology journalist Kara Swisher said she was “very angry” with Musk and took that message to the White House.
Congressman Ro Khanna, who represents parts of Silicon Valley, recently told CNN that he thinks the reason Democrats are “starting to lose Elon” is actually personal.
Despite his non-union status, Khanna said party leaders should have praised Musk for his groundbreaking work in space and his leadership on electric vehicles. In 2022, Musk said on the X show that the Biden administration “has done everything in its power to sideline and ignore Tesla.”
“He felt offended because we didn’t celebrate it,” Khanna said.
millionaire stated in may 2022 He said that the Democratic Party, which was once the “party of kindness,” “has become the party of division and hatred, and I can no longer support it, so I will vote for the Republican Party.” But in July of that year, Trump said people should still “put their hats on and sail off into the sunset.”
But by this year, Musk’s distaste for Democrats had become even more pronounced. He criticized Gov. Gavin Newsom for signing a bill that prohibits school districts from requiring teachers to notify families about changes in a child’s gender identity.
This followed Musk’s own public falling out with his transgender daughter. Call for gender law.”the last straw“This summer, Musk said he would protest California’s “woke” policies by moving X and SpaceX’s headquarters from California to Texas.
Less than an hour after a young gunman attempted to assassinate the Republican presidential candidate in mid-July, Mr. Musk publicly announced his support for the first time. “I fully support President Trump,” he posted on X, adding, “I wish him a speedy recovery.”
Most business tycoons prefer to wield their power behind the scenes, but Musk defied convention by literally jumping onto the campaign stage in Butler, Pennsylvania, to endorse Trump earlier this month. He jumped with his hands over his head. Musk praised President Trump’s “courage under fire” and urged the large crowd to register to “vote, vote, vote!”
But Mr. Musk went further, spreading the Republican Party’s most incendiary claims.
For example, Mr. Musk amplified the thoroughly debunked Republican claim that victims of recent hurricanes in the Southeast were being stripped of government benefits because U.S. tax dollars were diverted to immigrants. Ta. He also promoted the idea that the U.S. voting system is vulnerable to fraud, despite studies showing that elections are secure.
In a recent X-Video interview with Tucker Carlson, Musk promoted another extreme accusation. The theory is that Democrats are intentionally allowing illegal immigration and giving newcomers government “benefits.” [immigrants] Thank you Democrats. ”
Musk claimed this was part of a program to “legalize so many illegal activities.” [in] …There will be no battleground states in the next election, [it] It would become a one-party state, just as California is a one-party state. ” There is no evidence that illegal immigrants register or vote in large numbers.
President Trump has suggested that Musk is too busy with multiple initiatives to serve in the Trump administration. But the former president told Fox News on Sunday that he plans to involve his wealthiest supporters. Trump even offered Musk a new title: “Secretary of Cost Reduction.”
