[
]
Musk, who publicly endorsed Donald Trump earlier this year, has emerged as a prominent supporter of the former president’s re-election campaign. His platform, X, has also become a hub for misinformation supporting Trump. While Musk denied reports earlier this year that he planned to donate $45 million a month to a Super Political Action Committee (Pac) backing Trump, the latest revelations suggest his financial contributions to conservative groups are already substantial.
According to The Wall Street Journal report, Musk has spent tens of millions of dollars to fund various conservative initiatives. In 2022, he donated over $50 million to Citizens for Sanity, a group known for its anti-immigrant and anti-transgender advertisements. The group’s officers are reportedly tied to America First Legal, a non-profit organisation led by Stephen Miller, a close former aide to Trump.
Additionally, Reuters reported on Thursday that Musk has contributed millions to ‘Building America’s Future’, another right-wing organisation, though the timeline and exact amount of his donations remain unclear. This group has focused its efforts on diminishing Kamala Harris’s support among voters of colour while also launching advertising campaigns criticising Joe Biden and Harris for their immigration policies.
Bloomberg reported that Musk’s own Super Pac, America Pac, has poured at least $71 million into the 2024 presidential election. The Trump campaign has outsourced much of its voter mobilisation efforts to this Pac, reinforcing Musk’s significant role in Trump’s re-election bid.
In 2023, Musk also made headlines by donating $10 million to support Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in his bid for the presidency. This follows Musk’s 2022 public declaration that he would back DeSantis for the 2024 election. At the time, Musk said, “My preference for the 2024 presidency is someone sensible and centrist. I had hoped that would be the case for the Biden administration, but I have been disappointed so far.”
The Wall Street Journal and Reuters further revealed that Musk’s donations were channelled through social welfare organisations, which are not required to disclose their donors, allowing him to keep his political contributions largely under wraps. According to reports, individuals involved in facilitating these donations to ‘Citizens for Sanity’ used the encrypted messaging app Signal to coordinate the transactions.
First Published: Oct 04 2024 | 3:29 PM IST
