Remember, a few days before the American presidential election, Elon Musk hit the headlines by organizing, via his Super PAC, a draw awarding one million dollars per day to a signatory of a petition in support of the first and the Second Amendment.
His opponents (and most observers) saw it as disguised support for Donald Trump’s campaign, or even a quasi-buying of voters, and the American justice system has just ruled on this matter.
“A scam”
A Pennsylvania judge, Angelo Foglietta, ruled that the drawing could continue. And for good reason, it is not a draw, because the winners are paid spokespersons and not chosen by chance, argued Elon Musk’s lawyers.
In any case, this did not convince the Democratic district attorney, Larry Krasner, who considered this process to be a scam “designed to influence a national election”. He adds: “This whole thing was just political marketing disguised as a lottery,” Krasner testified Monday. “It is what it is. A scam. »
Chris Young, director and treasurer of America PAC, for his part clarified that the beneficiaries are selected in advance, to “probe their personality (and) ensure that they are people whose values are aligned”on the group.
The arguments of Elon Musk’s lawyers are very clear and understandable, but that is not what the general public understood from the words of the entrepreneur who publicly presented his project as a lottery.
Elon Musk’s support for Donald Trump raises questions
Elon Musk has therefore provisionally won, but this initiative is in any case coming to an end since the election is being played today. His strong support for Donald Trump in any case continues to raise questions.
As a reminder, its companies receive generous orders from the American government and its federal agencies. Certain disputes also pit its companies against national regulators. However, Donald Trump promised to appoint him as head of a new “governmental efficiency commission” with the power to recommend wide-ranging budget cuts to federal agencies and changes to federal rules, if he wins.
This perspective had made our colleagues say in particular New York Times : “This would essentially give the world’s richest man and a major government contractor the power to regulate regulators who have influence over his companies, which would constitute a potentially enormous conflict of interest. »
To delve deeper into this question of Elon Musk’s support for the Republican candidate, we invite you to read our in-depth analysis of the subject here.
