Elon Musk donates $75 million to boost Donald Trump’s campaign

The richest man in the world, Elon Musk, is betting heavily on Donald Trump to become the next president of the United States. The tycoon has not only expressed his support through social media and at public events, including the rally he spoke at on October 5, but has also loosened his purse strings. Musk donated $74.95 million in the third quarter to America PAC, a political action committee that supports the former president’s campaign, according to a filing that the group made with the Federal Election Commission.

Musk donated the first $5 million to America PAC on July 3, another $5 million on July 10, $4.95 million on July 18, $7.5 million on Aug. 5 and another $15 million on Aug. 20 and $30 million on Sept. 5, according to the filing. In total, $74.95 million in three months. Musk identifies himself in the filing as an Austin resident and a SpaceX employee.

These outlays represent just 0.03% of his fortune, valued at $241 billion and concentrated in his stakes in the car manufacturer Tesla, the satellite and rocket company SpaceX and the artificial intelligence firm xAI, mainly. Musk also owns the social platform X, where he has 200 million followers and from where he attacks Kamala Harris and the Democrats with all kinds of hoaxes while supporting Trump and the Republicans. During Joe Biden’s presidency, Musk’s fortune has increased by about $40 billion.

Campaign support organizations are required to publish quarterly details of the contributions they have received. Although it had already been reported that Musk had entered the campaign as a donor to Trump, with amounts that were presumed to be in the millions, this is the first time that it has been included in official documents. The deadline for submitting them expired at midnight on Tuesday and America PAC submitted its own at the last minute. America PAC has already spent the bulk of the money raised, which amounts to $83.7 million so far this year, according to the document. At the end of September it had about four million dollars left in cash.

Musk openly called for a vote for Donald Trump after the attack he suffered in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, in which he was slightly wounded by a bullet in the ear. Two years ago, he already called on voters to support the Republicans in the midterm elections. But relations between Musk and Trump have not always been this smooth.

Musk served on Trump’s business advisory boards during his first term, but resigned in June 2017 after Trump announced the U.S. would withdraw from the landmark Paris climate agreement. In 2022, Trump posted on Truth Social that Musk went to the White House asking for public support for his companies and that Trump might have said “get on your knees and beg” and Musk might have done so. However, they patched things up and their rapport has grown.

The former president announced at an event in New York a month ago that if he wins the election, he would put Musk at the head of a government efficiency task force whose job it would be to conduct a “complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government and make recommendations for drastic reforms.” Trump praised the billionaire as “the greatest cutter.” Musk wrote on X: “I look forward to serving America if the opportunity arises. No pay, no title, no recognition is needed.”

Musk then enthusiastically participated on October 5 in Trump’s rally at the same place where he suffered the attack in July. The billionaire claimed that it was “necessary” for Trump to win “to preserve democracy in the United States.” He launched into the baseless claim that if Trump does not win, “this will be the last election.”

Elon Musk’s political action committee is trying to mobilize voters in battleground states, especially Pennsylvania. The group is offering $30-an-hour wages to door-to-door canvassers for Trump, trying to offset the Harris campaign’s advantage on the ground. It is also spending money on digital advertising campaigns, some aimed at young people.

Through its X account, America PAC asked for signatures for a declaration in defense of freedom of expression and the right to bear arms. And it asked for help in attracting voters, promising money for referrals. “For every person you refer who is a swing state voter, you get $47! Easy money,” wrote Musk about the initiative, which hopes to obtain one million signatures. The next president will be the 47th. With these payments, the richest man in the world is not buying votes, but he is getting close to that limit.

Now, in addition, Musk is setting the signing of the petition and voting as conditions for attending a series of campaign events that he has scheduled for the coming days. “Tomorrow night through Monday, I will be giving a series of talks throughout Pennsylvania. If you’d like to attend one of my talks, there’s no attendance fee. You just need to have signed our petition supporting free speech & right to bear arms & have voted in this election,” he wrote on X. Pennsylvania is the most important of the decisive states, as it has 19 votes in the electoral college. Whoever wins there will have a good chance of reaching the White House.

Kamala Harris breaks records

With nearly $75 million in the third quarter, Musk has become one of the most prominent donors to Trump’s campaign. However, he did not surpass Miriam Adelson, the widow of Sheldon Adelson, owner of the Las Vegas Sands empire and a major shareholder of the Dallas Mavericks, the NBA team. Adelson gave $25 million in July, another $25 million in August and another $45 million in September to her own organization, Preserve America, which is in addition to another $5 million she had already donated in the previous quarter. With this, the Israeli-American donor has given $100 million to her political action committee to support Trumpism. Adelson’s fortune is valued by Bloomberg at around $37 billion, making her the wealthiest Israeli citizen.

The latest election records also show that Kamala Harris' campaign raised a record $633 million in the third quarter through the Harris Victory Fund. Partial data provided by the campaign had already shown how donations had skyrocketed since the vice president replaced President Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket.

Unlike Preserve America or America PAC (which are SuperPACs, with fewer fundraising restrictions and, in theory, must act independently without coordinating with candidates), the Harris Victory Fund is a campaign committee in its own right, with donations limited to a maximum of $929,600. Those who have made contributions include Melinda French Gates, Bill Gates’ ex-wife, and Hollywood manager Ari Emmanuel.

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