As Tesla Sales Tank, Elon Musk Issues Unconvincing Denial That He's Giving Donald Trump $45 Million Per Month
PAC Man
Elon Musk has denied reports that he's donating $45 million a month to support Donald Trump's presidential campaign — but given the fishy timing and his evolving explanation, we're not convinced.
"What's been reported in the media is simply not true," Musk said in an interview with the popular far-right commentator — and fellow culture warrior — Jordan Peterson. "I am not donating $45 million a month to Trump."
Instead, Musk attempted to clarify, he helped create a Super PAC, or political action committee, called The America PAC, which supports Trump and other right-wing candidates.
"The intent is to promote the principles that made America great in the first place," Musk said. He didn't discuss his personal contributions to the America PAC.
Jack Endorsey
Musk may be denying the donation reports, but his support of Trump is a matter of record. In the wake of the failed assassination attempt on the former President, Musk took to Twitter to give his full, enthusiastic endorsement, garnering millions of likes.
Since then, more has come to light about Musk's involvement with the secretive America PAC, which he and several of his friends, including Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, helped create to support Trump.
Super PACs are allowed to raise unlimited amounts of money, providing a lucrative workaround to restrictions that cap direct donations to a campaign. According to The New York Time's sources, the America PAC is expected to donate over $160 million over the course of Trump's campaign.
Long Wait
Musk's supposed donations to Trump were first reported by The Wall Street Journal over a week ago — and it's curious that he's waited until now to deny them.
When the report came out, there was a lot of optimism over Trump's odds of victory, but the mood has quickly shifted since then: Vice President Kamala Harris has become the Democratic Party's frontrunner for the Presidency, bringing a surge of liberal enthusiasm that suddenly made Trump's campaign seem more precarious.
There's also been additional scrutiny over how his overtures to the far-right could be hurting sales at Tesla, with the automaker posting an absolutely dire second-quarter that saw profits plunge by 45 percent. Maybe he's finally seeing the writing on the wall.
Musk did post a meme responding to the story at the time, implying it was fake news. But that same day, he responded to another post on Twitter praising him for pledging $180 million to Trump with a seemingly affirming "Yeah."
And really, who knows what to make of any of this. Musk is an inveterate liar who often makes cheeky remarks online to confuse people. Earlier this year, for instance, he promised he wasn't "donating money to either candidate for US President."
For him to make an about-face now to save face, in other words, wouldn't really be unprecedented.
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