Elon Musk will join Donald Trump at his election night party at Mar-a-Lago, continuing his aggressive campaign for the Republican candidate.
The billionaire businessman and owner of social media platform X has spent a whopping $119 million on his pro-Trump political action committee, America PAC, during this election.
He announced his support for the former president earlier this year after the July 13 assassination attempt in Pennsylvania, despite saying in 2022 that “it’s time for Trump to hang up his hat and sail into the sunset.”
Under Musk’s ownership, and with his decision to endorse Trump, many are concerned that he could use X and his influence on the platform to tip the scales in favor of the Republicans.
Musk, whose tweets reportedly receive special amplification for his more than 200 million followers and the site’s 500 million monthly users, frequently posts about his support for the former president.
Elon Musk will join Donald Trump at his election night party at Mar-a-Lago, continuing his aggressive campaign for the Republican candidate.
He announced his support for the former president earlier this year after the July 13 assassination attempt in Pennsylvania, despite saying in 2022 that “it’s time for Trump to hang up his hat and sail into the sunset.”
An exterior view of the ‘Mar a Lago’ pool, owned by businessman Donald Trump, circa 2000 in Palm Beach, Florida.
On the platform he has claimed, without any evidence, that the Trump campaign is headed toward a “landslide victory” over Harris.
X has also been heavily criticized for allowing the spread of misinformation on the platform, including false claims of voter fraud by Democrats and false voting issues.
The Wall Street Journal claimed in October that X serves political content to users who express no interest in politics and promotes pro-Trump posts over pro-Harris posts by a ratio of two to one.
In another controversial move, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX promised last month to donate $1 million a day until Election Day to people in swing states.
According to the America PAC website, 16 people, including four in Pennsylvania, have received $1 million awards. The winners were reportedly selected at random from those who signed a petition pledging support for free speech and the right to bear arms.
The offer was limited to voters registered in one of seven states likely to decide the outcome of the Nov. 5 election: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk presented Kristine Fishell with a $1 million check during the town hall at the Roxain Theater on October 20, 2024 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The Justice Department warned Musk and his US PAC last month that the giveaway could violate federal law, which prohibits paying people to register to vote.
He also appeared on stage with Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania and hosted a series of town hall meetings of his own in the eastern state, seen as pivotal in today’s election.
Former Federal Election Commission general counsel Larry Noble told The Guardian: “When Musk bought Twitter and renamed it X, he complained that it had been unfairly censoring conservative views and wanted to turn it into a marketplace of ideas. without censorship.”
“It now appears that Musk is using his wealth and ability to reach hundreds of millions of followers with lies and debunked conspiracy theories about how elections are administered.
“Now that he has fully and openly embraced Trump, he has joined Trump and his other minions in spreading the claim that the only way Trump can lose the next election is if there is widespread fraud. Of course, they already claim, without credible evidence, that electoral fraud is already occurring.’