Elon Musk – October surprise of the 2024 elections

“There needs to be a federal approval process for autonomous vehicles,” Musk said on Tesla’s Oct. 23 conference call. “If there is a Department of Government Effectiveness, I will try to help make that happen.”

Instead of operating behind the scenes, Musk has made himself the public face of Trump’s closing argument, a human October surprise that could fund his own campaign army, attract his own media attention and organize pro-Trump rallies throughout the swing state of Pennsylvania. Musk’s group, America PAC, to which he has given at least $118.5 million, is coordinating closely with the Trump campaign to get out the vote, even as it remains legally independent.

“Are you ready to join Elon Musk and become a Dark MAGA?” read the subject line of Trump’s fundraising email last week, which treated Musk as a celebrity like Democratic Party supporters. George Clooney or Sarah Jessica Parker. For a suggested donation of $47, the email offered an entry into a drawing for a signed black MAGA cap similar to the one Musk once wore while standing next to Trump.

“This is such an extraordinary scene that we haven’t even realized its magnitude – or its uniqueness,” said Trevor Potter, the former Republican chairman of the Federal Election Commission and an adviser to John McCain’s presidential campaign. “You have the richest man in the world building a campaign apparatus with the help of the Trump campaign at a time when one of the reasons he is the richest man in the world is because all government contracts and business dealings are controlled by those who is in government. White House.”

The nation’s modern campaign finance system, created by a 1976 Supreme Court decision in the wake of the Watergate scandal, is based on the premise that large donations from wealthy interests can give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption. The Supreme Court overhauled the system in 2010 when it found that “independent expenditures, including those made by corporations, do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption.” Since then, the role of the wealthiest people in politics has increased dramatically, fueled by repeated judicial and regulatory expansions of the concept of “independence.”

As it stands, Musk remains legally “independent” of the Trump campaign, even though he appears at its rallies; communicates regularly with the candidate; funds field operations that share data with the Trump campaign; promotes Trump’s election through direct mail, text messages and radio; secured an advisory role in the future Trump administration; and publicly announced that he planned to use the position to improve his business fortunes.

In this sense, Musk is not unlike many of the other members of his billionaire cohort, including Trump, who has shown an interest in politics in recent years. Musk did not respond to an email requesting an interview. An America PAC spokesman declined to comment for this story.

A 2023 study by Northwestern University political scientist Daniel Krcmaric and two colleagues found that 11 percent of people on the Forbes International Billionaires List had held or sought to hold a formal political position, including by appointment. The rate was much higher in authoritarian countries than in the United States, where less than 4 percent sought direct political participation and the very rich preferred to keep a low profile. (Jeff Bezos, the world’s second richest man who also has significant business interests with the federal government, owns The Washington Post. He chairs the Post’s editorial board and recently decided not to endorse Harris. But he has no direct control over the newsroom that produced this article.)

“The difference is that Musk wants everyone to know about it,” Krcmarik said, “while others want to keep it secret.”

Musk publicly opposed Trump’s election in 2016 and resigned in protest of a government advisory board in 2017 after Trump withdrew from the Paris climate accords. Just two years ago, Trump called Musk a “bull artist” and ridiculed his “self-driving cars that crash or rocket ships that go to nowhere.” Trump wrote that Musk is “useless” without government subsidies for his business. Musk said Trump should “hang up his hat and ride off into the sunset.”

Earlier this year, Musk remained skeptical about getting too involved in Trump’s efforts, telling other billionaire donors that a Trump win would be better for them, but he understood the skepticism about giving big checks directly to Trump-controlled efforts. “He didn’t want to be the public face of this at all,” said a person who spoke with him in the spring. “He was trying to figure out how to help Trump without getting involved with him.”

Now the two are praising each other, and Trump advisers have come to see Musk as a key ally. “Elon Musk is a once-in-a-generation industry leader, and our broken federal bureaucracy could certainly benefit from his insights and effectiveness,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt said in a statement.

The two men speak on the phone fairly regularly, and Musk has met with Trump’s top political team, according to Trump advisers who, like others involved in this story, spoke on condition of anonymity to describe private conversations. Musk regularly discussed immigration, election rules and censorship with Trump, the people said.

“They probably talk about it every day,” said a person close to Trump, who described the former president as impressed by Musk’s commitment and ability to draw a crowd.

At a dinner for major donors in New York in September, Trump told other donors that they should give money like Musk, a person who attended said. Musk, who was born in South Africa and began his career in the United States working illegally, has grown close to Trump over their concerns about illegal immigration and election fraud, according to The Washington Post.

Musk is now the fourth-largest donor this election cycle, although he could move up given the level of late spending. Campaign finance reports show Musk began donating to America PAC in early July, but announced his support only after the former president survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania.

“He believes that if Trump wins Pennsylvania, he will win the election. He repeatedly told us about this. He treats it almost like a business deal,” said one Trump adviser. “He knows that if he loses this election, he’s screwed. The rules, the position of the new Democratic administration, the hostility they will feel about all the money he spent helping Trump – this is a big bet in business for him.”