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.
Wilson Dean says
Cutting through all the technicalities, this boils down to offering money for votes. This is not what democracy is all about, but it is very much what the Trump/Musk alliance is all about.
John D says
I agree. A very sad situation.
sarah Oppenheimer says
Worked for Zuckerberg and the Dems in 2020
Catherine Nobles says
Sure did. And Zuckerberg suppressed important information at the instructions of the Biden administration
Barbara Denton says
You are pathetic. If you cannot come up with anything better than this you should stop writing these articles. Elon Musk’s pledge is to remind voters they need to protect the first and second amendments from the Democrats. If the Democratic elites have their way they will be removed from the Constitution permanently. The Bill of Rights are the glue that has held our Country together for 248 years. The Democrats have been attacking free speech, religious liberty and the right to keep and bear arms for years.
Donald Trump has his own money. He does not need Elon Musk’s money. I guess it is OK for Bill Gates to pour 50 million dollars into Kamala’s campaign. If so what do you think he is trying to get from her. This is absurd. If it weren’t for Elon Musk our astronauts would have a much longer stay at the space station than they do now. Since it is Elon Musk do you want to cancel the rescue? Any slow down of Musk developing a rocket to go to Mars is political. He dared to buy Twitter (now X) and stop censorship on that platform.
Musk a legal immigrant and probably the smartest man in the world is trying to help us save our Country. He too will help Make America Great Again. You are really grasping at straws throwing your mud at him.
John Dean says
Thank you for reading my piece.
I’m curious: If Trump is not in financial trouble, why is he selling $60 Bibles, gold tennis shoes with his picture on them, and, of course, Chinese watches?
And why did he talk about Arnold Palmer’s private parts at a rally in Pennsylvania? That was very strange.
Also, if you haven’t read General John Kelly’s comments about Trump, I would recommend it.
Reed fawell 3 says
I agree with Barbara.
John Dean says
Really? I just reread her comment.
Marty Sparks says
What’s worst a Bible selling, gold sneaker Rapist, that meets porn stars in hotel rooms ? or women like you both that support a man that promotes Misogyny ?
HR Worthington says
The WSJ ran a rather interesting story this week: “Democrats Make Elon Musk’s Pay Day.” As it turns out, Tesla benefited from the Inflation Reduction Act’s $7,500 per EV tax credit, which amounted to about $1.25 billion this past quarter, plus consumer EV rebates in some states (including Maryland). He added about $35BN to his wealth this week on the earnings surprise after the financial press (which has become just as useless as the general media) all but left TSLA for dead.
What a genius piece of $891BN legislation that was. Think of all the blue-collar, middle-income swing state voters who drive Teslas. That vote is definitely in the bag for Kamala. That’s why she so ahead in those…never mind. Well, at least we’re fighting climate change, right?
You really can’t make this stuff up. Subsidized student loans have produced financial Jounalists who can’t read an annual report, and subsidized car companies have produced Elon Musk. Brilliant. Great job Democrats! -HR
Reed Fawell 3 says
Ha,ha,ha. The most costly education system in world history, from top to bottom, has created generations of morons, as is on plain display here.
Catherine Nobles says
Trump is a business man. John Kelly is a bitter man as is Miley and a few other of their comrads
Kate Tillman says
Barbara vis correct. A very weak analysis while giving an argument made up of speculation.
Reed Fawell 3 says
If you take the time to read “How Congress Unleashed the Presidency” by Christoper DeMuth on Page A-11 of this Weekend’s Opinion section of the Wall Street Journal, you will learn an enormous about how our US Congress, Office of the US President, and its Federal Administrative State operates today.
In addition, Peggy Noonan’s Opinion piece “The U.S. Can Take a Tough Election,” speaks the truth, to deflate the hot air of today’s politicians and pundits breeding hate, fear, and tribal politics among today’s electorate some 9 days before the final election day for the US President.
Joe Rogan’s three hour interview of Donald Trump that is free on YouTube is also well worth watching. And I mean all three hours of it. It is a quite remarkable interview. Likely this interview marks the final beginning of the end of much of the highly biased traditional newspaper print media in the United States, unless of course, the citizens and institutions of the United States lose their freedom of speech, and these biased traditional print media willingly become house organs controlled by the regime in power in the United States, which is a counter trend of the Joe Rogan interview.