SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk participates in a town hall-style meeting to promote early and absentee voting at Ridley High School on October 17, 2024 in Folsom, Pennsylvania.
Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images
Billionaire Elon Musk on Saturday promised to donate $1 million every day until the November election to the person who signs an online petition supporting the US Constitution.
And he wasted no time, handing out a check for $1 million to an attendee of his event in Pennsylvania aimed at gathering supporters of Republican Donald Trump. According to event staff, the winner was a man named John Dreher.
“By the way, John doesn’t know. Anyway, you’re welcome,” the Tesla founder said as he handed the check to Dreher.
The money is the latest example of Musk using his extraordinary wealth to influence closely-knit competitors. presidential race between Trump and his Democratic opponent Kamala Harris.
Musk founded America PAC, a political action organization he founded to support Trump’s presidential campaign. The group is helping with canvassing and voter registration in battleground states, but There are signs it is having difficulty achieving its goals.
The Harrisburg event is the third in as many days in Pennsylvania where Musk is portraying November’s election in stark terms and encouraging supporters to vote early and urging others to do the same .
He said on Saturday that if Harris wins, this will be “the last election”, suggesting America will cease to exist.
He also said two people assassination plot against Trump proves that he is ruffling feathers and overturning the status quo in ways that Harris will not. He said that’s why no one tried to kill Harris.
“Assassining a puppet is worthless,” Musk said, repeating an argument he made in a social media post.
The petition Musk asked people to sign reads: “The First and Second Amendments guarantee freedom of speech and the right to bear arms. By signing below, I pledge support the First and Second Amendments.”
Those attending Saturday’s event had to sign a petition, allowing America PAC to collect contact information for more potential voters so they could get to the polls for Trump.
Musk, ranked by Forbes as the world’s richest person, has so far given at least $75 million to America PAC, according to federal disclosures, making the group part of important in Trump’s effort to regain the White House.
The businessman behind carmaker Tesla and rocket and satellite venture SpaceX has increasingly supported Republican causes and this year became an outspoken Trump supporter.
Trump, in turn, said that if elected, he would appoint Musk to head the government effectiveness commission.
