Republican insiders say Elon Musk’s America PAC, to which the Tesla CEO has donated $75 million in three months, is doing a poor job of attracting voters.
The tech billionaire is hoping to unleash a “red wave” in a crucial state, with the expectation that former President Trump can ride it back to the White House.
DailyMail.com previously reported on some of the PAC’s problems, including the dismissal of major contractors and difficulties hiring knockers.
However, two anonymous sources said rolling stone that Trump supporters are worried that the effort will look less like Trump 2016 and more like Ron DeSantis’ failed primary campaign.
Musk initially supported DeSantis by running a campaign ad in X and hired many of the Florida governor’s top officials to run America PAC.
Republican pundits say Elon Musk’s America PAC, to which the Tesla CEO has donated $75 million in three months, is doing a poor job of attracting voters.
Two anonymous sources said Trump supporters are worried the effort will look less like Trump 2016 and more like Ron DeSantis’ failed primary campaign.
Republican operatives worry that Musk’s PAC now looks like the campaign that paid pollsters and failed to drum up much presidential support for the popular governor.
Generra Peck, briefly DeSantis’ presidential campaign manager, and former pro-DeSantis Never Back Down Super PAC official Phil Cox are leaders of the America PAC.
Conservative activists have complained that the effort to get votes was less than expected and others have complained that they are not doing enough in the seven key states that could decide the election.
This led a Trump adviser to ask the DeSantis campaign, “Why would we trust you with anything?”
Part of their complaints has to do with the fact that the US PAC is still trying to hire people to campaign for Trump.
A major Trump donor reportedly asked, “Why isn’t the military already in place?”
Another Republican operative says “we have been candid with our concerns” to Trump himself about the effort.
A Trump adviser says Trump “loves what Elon and his operation are doing in the battleground states, and lately no one trying to convince him otherwise has had any effect.”
They add that some of those closest to Trump believe that criticism of Musk is aimed at sowing discord within the campaign.
Musk initially supported DeSantis by running a campaign ad in X and hired many of the Florida governor’s top people to run America PAC.
A Trump adviser says Trump “loves what Elon and his operation are doing in the battleground states, and no one who has tried to convince him otherwise lately has had any effect.”
America PAC has not yet commented on the allegations.
The committee, which was founded by Musk to focus on turning out voters in hotly contested states, spent about $72 million of those funds in the July through September period alone, according to disclosures filed with the Federal Election Commission.
This is more than any other pro-Trump super PAC that focuses on getting out the vote and Musk, who is the richest man in the world, was the PAC’s only donor.
However, because Trump’s campaign relies on outside groups to poll voters, Musk now has a huge role in the upcoming election between Trump and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, in what is expected to be the closest election in decades.
Musk, who voted for President Biden in 2020, took a sharp turn to the right in this election and formally endorsed Trump in July.
He also recently appeared with Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania earlier this month.
On Wednesday, the Tesla CEO announced on X that he will return to the crucial battleground state to give a “series of talks.”
He said people who want to attend the talks, which run from tomorrow through Monday, will have to sign a petition on his America PAC website pledging to support “free speech and the right to bear arms and to have voted in this election.” “.
The tech billionaire hopes to unleash a “red wave” in a crucial state with the expectation that former President Trump can ride the wave back to the White House.
On Wednesday, the Tesla CEO announced on X that he will return to the crucial battleground state to give a “series of talks.” He said people who want to attend the talks will have to sign a petition on his America PAC website.
The super PAC hopes to get more than a million signatures for the petition and for every registered voter a person directs to sign the petition, they will receive $47.
He also hopes to encourage people to vote early before Election Day.
US PACs also have their feet on the ground in other battleground states, such as Wisconsin, where washington mail has been described as the most ambitious independent operation to get the vote of the Republican candidate.
The group is focused on encouraging Americans who like Trump but don’t always vote to vote this cycle, a high-risk and work-intensive strategy by the Trump campaign.
However, despite becoming a crucial player in Trump’s re-election campaign, they have faced significant obstacles along the way, ranging from entering the election later than other PACs to problems retaining staff and contractors.
Since July, he has fired two major contractors he hired to knock on doors.
It has also had difficulty hiring knockers in several battleground states, in part because by the time the PAC became operational, many other poll groups had already hired staff.
And in states like Nevada and Arizona, where summer and fall temperatures have been scorching, America PAC has struggled to retain the staff needed to go door-to-door in the crucial final weeks of the campaign.
The group had about $4 million left at the end of September, the documents show.
Musk’s donations to America PAC propel him into the exclusive club of Republican megadonors, a list that also includes banking heir Timothy Mellon and casino billionaire Miriam Adelson.
Separate filings on Tuesday showed that Miriam Adelson, the casino mogul, donated $95 million to another pro-Trump super PAC, Preserve America PAC, in the same period.
Despite his apparent damascene conversion to the right of American politics, it was reported earlier this month that Musk has secretly funded a conservative political group for years, long before his public embrace of Trump.
This included a group called Building America’s Future, which has been critical of the Biden administration, which received millions of dollars from Musk in 2022.
