 "Latests reports suggested that Tesla CEO Elon Musk have been donnating to right-wing causes way before he publically endorsed former US President Donald Trump. Reuters")
Way before endorsing former US President Donald Trump publically, billionaire Elon Musk gave tens of millions of dollars to multiple right-wing groups in recent years. On Thursday, a Wall Street Journal report dived into the Tesla CEO’s political inclination. The report came months after Musk endorsed Trump and even started spreading misinformation in support of his favourite presidential candidate.
The report mentioned how at the start of this year, Musk had said he planned to donate $45 million every month to a Super Pac backing Trump. The SpaceX CEO eventually denied the claims. However, a recent report revealed that Musk has already been spending tens of millions of dollars to back conservative causes.
According to WSJ, Musk has donated more than a whopping $50m to fund anti-immigrant and anti-transgender advertisements by a group called Citizens for Sanity. Interestingly, the group’s officers are employees of America First Legal, a non-profit led by Stephen Miller, who is a close aide of Trump.
Musk’s support for right-wing causes goes way back
According to another report from Reuters, Musk donated millions to other right-wing groups like Building America’s Future. However, the timing of the donation and the exact amount Musk donated were not clear. Throughout this campaigning cycle, the group focused on reducing Kamala Harris’s voter support.
Not only this, the group infamously launched an advertisement in which they lambasted both Harris and US President Joe Biden for their approach towards the ongoing border crisis. Meanwhile, a Super Pac started by Musk, America Pac, has spent at least $71m on the presidential election, according to Bloomberg. It is pertinent to note that the Trump campaign has largely outsourced its get-out-the-vote operation to the Pac.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsAs per the WSJ report, in 2023, Musk gave $10 million to support Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. In fact, in 2022, the billionaire expressed his intention to support DeSantis if he ran for the presidency. “My preference for the 2024 presidency is someone sensible and centrist. I had hoped that would be the case for the Biden administration, but have been disappointed so far,” the billionaire said at that time.
With inputs from agencies.