Elon Musk furthered his support of Donald Trump earlier this week through the announcement of a daily lottery for registered voters in Pennsylvania who signed a petition supporting First and Second Amendment rights. The petition, created by the Musk-owned PAC “America PAC”, has been called into question by the media and legal experts for suspected voter bribery.
Musk has been a vocal and powerful figure this election, giving $75 million to a political action committee he created to back Republicans, as well as attending multiple rallies. Meanwhile, another Musk-funded PAC has been pushing advertisements falsely attributing policy positions on Israel to Harris that she hasn't embraced.
Some on the left were quick to criticize Musk, calling his efforts insidious and purposefully questionable to attract attention. Some on the right praised him, on the other hand, and framed criticisms of Musk as hypocritical.
The Washington Post Editorial Board (Lean Left bias) published an article claiming “Mr. Musk’s oversize checks are distracting from a less-visible campaign the world’s richest man is conducting: laying the groundwork to cast doubt on the election results,” maintaining that “the danger is that Mr. Musk and Mr. Trump might convince supporters that the only way they could lose is through fraud. Encouraging vigilante vote-integrity investigations via social media, of the sort that spread confusion and misunderstandings about the 2020 election, threatens to stoke unfounded doubt about the country’s electoral system.”
A writer for RedState (Right bias) argued Musk’s efforts were commonplace on the other side of the article, writing, “For Democrats, billionaires are perfectly fine...as long as they are supporting them,” and that “as a businessman, Musk knows that Kamala Harris' and Democrats' economic policies would not only be a disaster for his businesses but the American economy as a whole. But as an American citizen, he is also aware that Democrat policies would mean the end of America as we know it.”
A writer for The Atlantic (Left bias) called into question Musk's motives, writing, “Musk’s pursuit of this dream clearly transcends billionaire hobbyism,” continuing, “In the evolving topography of Trumpland, none of his supporters or cronies will have chits to compare with Musk’s. If Trump wins, it will likely be by a narrow margin that can be attributed to turnout. Musk can tout himself as the single variable of success.”
Townhall (Right bias) published an article where a writer took the opposite perspective, claiming “Elon Musk is not perfect, but he may well just be the perfect man for the moment. I just hope he’s not getting ripped off,” and “The conservative world – activism, media, radio, etc. – is full of a lot of people who swear they are about the cause of conservatism. Elon Musk is the biggest fish in the ocean, and there are a million would-be Captain Ahabs out there hunting his wallet.”
