Musk boosts Trump campaign coffers; what is at stake for him?

With fourteen days left until the elections, Donald Trump is getting more help than the neck and neck race with Kamala Harris from the richest man in the world: Elon Musk. The billionaire is campaigning hard for the Republicans. What is involved in Musk?

“The future of America and civilization is at stake,” Musk himself said of his desire to help Trump to the White House. Musk previously gave 75 million dollars (68.9 million euros) to Trump’s campaign coffers. He also donates $1 another million to a registered voter each day leading up to the election.

“This is very unusual,” said Michael Kang, an election law professor at Northwestern University. Paying someone to vote or register as a voter is prohibited by law. Musk gets around this by raising the million among registered voters who have also signed his pro-Trump petition.

“The way Musk is doing this is creative,” says Kang. “He wants Trump voters to be able to register as eligible voters and then maybe encourage them to vote.” So there is no direct payment to potential voters. to be there, “but it comes as close as possible, without clearly breaking the rules.”

The US government is a major customer of Elon Musk’s company SpaceX. Investigative journalists from The New York Times estimated that the aerospace company signed defense contracts worth $3.6 billion over the past ten years. SpaceX even closed contracts with the space agency NASA for almost 12 billion.

“Elon Musk, more than anyone before him, has complicated ties to the government,” said NYT reporter David Fahrenthold. “Many government agencies buy from his companies, but at at the same time he is against the government because they manage his companies.”

Currently there are at least twenty investigations by government agencies against Musk’s companies Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink and to make all his dreams come true it would be beneficial and attractive for him to take control of the government.

Musk criticizes investigations against his companies. He is annoyed by what he sees as unnecessary bureaucracy. “It would be good if a government commission made sure that taxpayers’ hard-earned money is well spent,” he said in August. conversation by Trump.

The billionaire suggested that he himself might participate in such a committee. Musk can then advise Trump on where he believes unnecessary money is being spent within the government. According to Fahrenthold, this could lead to a major conflict of interest: “As a leader, he would have the power to say which organizations will be cut back.”

If a group interferes and controls it, he can say to Trump: they should get less money. “By this he can help friends and hurt enemies.”

These recommendations must then be adopted and submitted to Congress.

Democratic candidate Kamala Harris is also receiving financial support from wealthy donors. She did even until now A lotr then Trump. “Wealthy people have always supported candidates on both sides,” said journalist Fahrenthold. “And there are always questions about whether the elected candidate is using his power to influence donors. help.”

But according to the journalist, there is a difference now: “Musk is a donor who already said before the elections: this is the job I want. Yes I want direct control over the people who govern me.”