The Tesla and SpaceX boss has emerged as the most vocal Silicon Valley backer of Mr Trump, using X to lavish praise on the former president and appearing at his rallies.
The tech tycoon said: “If you’d like to attend one of my talks there’s no attendance fee. You just need to have signed our petition supporting free speech and the right to bear arms and have voted in this election.”
The funding from Mr Musk provides crucial additional cash to Mr Trump’s election campaign in the final weeks before the vote on Nov 5. The injection comes despite Mr Musk insisting in March that he would give no money to any candidate and denying reports he was planning a donation.
However, Mr Musk is one of a handful of influential Bay Area investors and entrepreneurs who have given millions of dollars to Mr Trump. Some are criticising the Biden administration’s crackdown on cryptocurrency and tough stance on technology regulation.
US election filings also show that Miriam Adelson, the heir to a casino fortune, gave $95m to Mr Trump’s re-election campaign, further boosting his war chest.
Mr Musk’s public support followed an assassination attempt on the Republican nominee.
While Mr Musk has said he previously voted for the Democratic Party, in recent years he has taken an increasingly hardline position on immigration and transgender rights.
In September, he posted an AI-generated image on his X profile falsely suggesting that Ms Harris was a Communist and earlier this year he accused the Biden administration of “treason”, without evidence, while amplifying baseless allegations of voter fraud to his 200m followers.
When future historians write about the fall of the United States, our corrupt Supreme Court will be the first chapter.
DramaticWesley on
A fool and his money.
JustAnotherYouMe on
Fuck this guy, I’m going to donate to Harris right now.
CobKorPok on
Next time anyone tells you that talking about wealth inequality is “politics of envy”, just point them at this article.
radicalindependence on
Apparently it is legal to give $100M+ to support a campaign, in exchange for a cabinet position, subsidies for a number of companies, and ensuring major tariffs on all foreign competitors.
Shigglyboo on
sounds like election interference to me. this shit shouldn’t be legal. If it’s free speech then I should get to have 40 million to speak with too.
Genereatedusername on
Good.
Elon will have less money, and Trump will still lose.
kevin5lynn on
Elon Musk BOUGHT Donald Trump.
ubix on
Hopefully he can do the same thing for Trump that he did for Twitter, and crash the campaign into the ground
atticusfinch1973 on
Imagine what that 75 million could do if he cared enough to put it towards actually helping people.
animalfath3r on
As I’ve said before. Musk is under some kind of government investigation (DOJ or SEC) and has made a deal with the devil (Trump) on the understanding that if Trump wins, the musk investigations go away.
SkyriderRJM on
Seriously, if the richest man in the world is trying to buy the presidency, it’s a sure fire reason to not elect his candidate
funktopus on
Shouldn’t be legal.
EarthDwellant on
Can you imagine, obtaining the height of political or financial power in the entire world, and you waste it on petty attacks against minorities, teen girls, and gender confused young people (to make them more confused and alone). If it were me I would want to go down in history as someone who went all out and actually did things with all my money and power that helped people. Either one of these guys could have been the most loved, most revered, respected and praised. Schools, entertainment venues, and special awards would be in their names. Instead they will be remembered as the purveyors of hate and disruption. They directly caused death and violent crimes against the vulnerable. Unbelievable
plsnfrd on
Billionaires should be taxed at 80%. Imagine being able to waste that much money and not bat an eye.
gentleman_bronco on
Richest human alive throws money at a felon in the hopes to get lower taxes. When can we acknowledge collectively that America is broken?
mrchris69 on
I’m pretty sure this violates some law about what is the max contribution to a campaign.
at0mheart on
How is this legal.
I guarantee they have an understanding on Twitter and Truth Social
This is a business investment
Delete Twitter today
Skastrik on
You can buy yourself a presidential candidate for only 75 million dollars?
That’s a bargain.
gloe64 on
He’s really worried about those Diddy tapes.
cecil285 on
Going straight to the legal defense fund. First thing they need to do after they fix roe is to fix citizens united
britchplz1 on
Musk needs to get on one of his rockets and just launch himself into space already. 🙄
AJ_Grey on
For all those anti union UAW comments.
Murky_Comparison1992 on
He could be doing so much good with that money. What a waste.
mikerichh on
He promised he wouldn’t
dogoodsilence1 on
Dude bitches about taxes and then flushes his money away on a con man.
Breklin76 on
This shit should be illegal. The PAC needs to go.
Maoleficent on
And not a dime to any charity; the wealthy sicken me. Loser gave $1300. to hurricane victims or so he says.
40 Comments
**From The Telegraph’s Senior Technology Reporter, Matthew Field:**
Elon Musk has donated $75m (£58m) to Donald Trump’s re-election bid, catapulting the Tesla billionaire into the ranks of Republican Party mega-donors.
The world’s richest man gave the sum to the pro-Trump America political action committee (PAC) in the three months to September after [endorsing him for president in July](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/07/16/musk-to-give-trump-campaign-45m-a-month-after-shooting/).
America Pac has focused on targeting voters in crucial battleground states and funded a door-knocking campaign for the Republican candidate.
The committee’s actions have included [offering voters $47 each](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/2024/10/07/elon-musk-offers-voters-47-dollars-petition-donald-trump/) to sign a petition supporting freedom of speech and gun rights – a possible attempt to secure voter data ahead of the election. Mr Musk has publicly promoted the campaign on his social networking site, X.
The Tesla and SpaceX boss has emerged as the most vocal Silicon Valley backer of Mr Trump, using X to lavish praise on the former president and appearing at his rallies.
Mr Musk on Monday said he planned to tour the key battleground state of Pennsylvania, giving talks to voters. The pledge came a day after he conducted a [groundbreaking launch of his Starship space rocket](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/10/13/spacex-successful-rocket-landing-boosts-hopes-travel-mars/).
The tech tycoon said: “If you’d like to attend one of my talks there’s no attendance fee. You just need to have signed our petition supporting free speech and the right to bear arms and have voted in this election.”
The funding from Mr Musk provides crucial additional cash to Mr Trump’s election campaign in the final weeks before the vote on Nov 5. The injection comes despite Mr Musk insisting in March that he would give no money to any candidate and denying reports he was planning a donation.
Since replacing Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket, [Kamala Harris has raised more than $1bn in donations](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/2024/08/02/kamala-harris-raises-more-than-double-donations-trump/), securing the backing of billionaires in Silicon Valley and Hollywood.
However, Mr Musk is one of a handful of influential Bay Area investors and entrepreneurs who have given millions of dollars to Mr Trump. Some are criticising the Biden administration’s crackdown on cryptocurrency and tough stance on technology regulation.
US election filings also show that Miriam Adelson, the heir to a casino fortune, gave $95m to Mr Trump’s re-election campaign, further boosting his war chest.
Mr Musk’s public support followed an assassination attempt on the Republican nominee.
While Mr Musk has said he previously voted for the Democratic Party, in recent years he has taken an increasingly hardline position on immigration and transgender rights.
In September, he posted an AI-generated image on his X profile falsely suggesting that Ms Harris was a Communist and earlier this year he accused the Biden administration of “treason”, without evidence, while amplifying baseless allegations of voter fraud to his 200m followers.
Mr Trump has suggested [giving the billionaire a government role](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/2024/05/29/trump-considering-role-elon-musk-in-administration-election/) if he wins in November, heading up a “government efficiency” task force to slash federal spending.
**Article Link:** [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/10/16/elon-musk-donates-75m-to-donald-trump-campaign/](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/10/16/elon-musk-donates-75m-to-donald-trump-campaign/)
>“I don’t need anybody’s money. I’m using my own money. I’m not using the lobbyists – not using donors. I’m really rich.” – Trump (June 2015)
No matter how much money you throw into the toilet, it still won’t spontaneously unclog.
And no matter how much money you throw at trump, he’s not going to get un-alzheimered.
It’s really gross that the wealthy can do this.
I mean, it’s gross that the wealthy exist at all, but this is especially foul.
No one here is surprised, right? Or is it just me?
I’ll be happy when the election is done, traffic drops on formerly and I don’t need to hear the name Musk
Every recent tesla/starlink customer is complicit.
Let’s make sure it was money poorly spent.
**Vote Kamala**.
**Vote Blue**.
This is what should have been expected after five Republicans ushered in election deregulation in the infamous *Citizens United* Supreme Court case.
Buy up the ‘public square’ to control what is spammed and what is censored, and spend unlimited amounts of money to push your candidate.
The US political system is completely broken. Why is a private business allowed to interfere with elections in this way?
That donation that’s worth many times the average worker’s life time earnings is 0.0003% of his net worth.
Absolute bullshit.
why is Musk funding a sexist, racist man🤬🤬
This is all because of John Roberts and his decision on [Citizen’s United](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._FEC). Nothing has been normal since.
When future historians write about the fall of the United States, our corrupt Supreme Court will be the first chapter.
A fool and his money.
Fuck this guy, I’m going to donate to Harris right now.
Next time anyone tells you that talking about wealth inequality is “politics of envy”, just point them at this article.
Apparently it is legal to give $100M+ to support a campaign, in exchange for a cabinet position, subsidies for a number of companies, and ensuring major tariffs on all foreign competitors.
sounds like election interference to me. this shit shouldn’t be legal. If it’s free speech then I should get to have 40 million to speak with too.
Good.
Elon will have less money, and Trump will still lose.
Elon Musk BOUGHT Donald Trump.
Hopefully he can do the same thing for Trump that he did for Twitter, and crash the campaign into the ground
Imagine what that 75 million could do if he cared enough to put it towards actually helping people.
As I’ve said before. Musk is under some kind of government investigation (DOJ or SEC) and has made a deal with the devil (Trump) on the understanding that if Trump wins, the musk investigations go away.
Seriously, if the richest man in the world is trying to buy the presidency, it’s a sure fire reason to not elect his candidate
Shouldn’t be legal.
Can you imagine, obtaining the height of political or financial power in the entire world, and you waste it on petty attacks against minorities, teen girls, and gender confused young people (to make them more confused and alone). If it were me I would want to go down in history as someone who went all out and actually did things with all my money and power that helped people. Either one of these guys could have been the most loved, most revered, respected and praised. Schools, entertainment venues, and special awards would be in their names. Instead they will be remembered as the purveyors of hate and disruption. They directly caused death and violent crimes against the vulnerable. Unbelievable
Billionaires should be taxed at 80%. Imagine being able to waste that much money and not bat an eye.
Richest human alive throws money at a felon in the hopes to get lower taxes. When can we acknowledge collectively that America is broken?
I’m pretty sure this violates some law about what is the max contribution to a campaign.
How is this legal.
I guarantee they have an understanding on Twitter and Truth Social
This is a business investment
Delete Twitter today
You can buy yourself a presidential candidate for only 75 million dollars?
That’s a bargain.
He’s really worried about those Diddy tapes.
Going straight to the legal defense fund. First thing they need to do after they fix roe is to fix citizens united
Musk needs to get on one of his rockets and just launch himself into space already. 🙄
For all those anti union UAW comments.
He could be doing so much good with that money. What a waste.
He promised he wouldn’t
Dude bitches about taxes and then flushes his money away on a con man.
This shit should be illegal. The PAC needs to go.
And not a dime to any charity; the wealthy sicken me. Loser gave $1300. to hurricane victims or so he says.