Elon Musk has launched a new super political action committee (PAC) to fund the billionaire Republican candidate, but he’s not spending $45 million a month trying to get former President Donald Trump elected. Said “It’s a big deal,” conservative commentator Jordan Peterson said in an interview Monday night.
During the interview on Musk’s platform X, Peterson asked Musk if he was “shocked” by the fact that he donated so much money to the Trump campaign. Musk had previously called Trump “a scammer.”Bull “In a china shop” – he paused to correct “media.”
“The things being reported in the media are completely untrue,” Musk said. “I am not giving $45 million a month to Donald Trump.”
The Wall Street Journal beginning report The outlet cited sources “familiar with the matter” to comment on the allegations, and has yet to issue a retraction or follow-up change to its reporting.
Musk said he’s set up a super PAC called America PAC to support Trump. A super PAC is an entity that can raise unlimited amounts of money for independent expenditures of a campaign, such as advertising and day-to-day operations, but does not donate directly to the campaign. Super PACs have become prominent in both the Democratic and Republican parties since the 2010 D.C. Court of Appeals case against Trump. decision It authorized the existence of super PACs. For regular PACs, donors are limited to giving $5,000 a year.
Several technology leaders have donated to the America PAC, including Ken Howley, an early PayPal executive alongside Musk, private equity leader Antonio Gracias, Sequoia Capital’s Shuan Maguire and the Winklevoss twins.
The super PAC is also led by Joe Lonsdale, a co-founder of the software company Palantir and an Austin venture capitalist and close friend of Musk with political ambitions. according to In The New York Times.
Musk said the Austin-based USA PAC is “not an extremely partisan organization.” He said he is not a member of MAGA, which stands for “Make America Great Again,” Trump’s campaign slogan, but rather that his ideals align with MAG, which stands for “Make America Greater.”
“I [a] “It’s a cult of personality,” Musk said, but added that Trump has shown “great courage” since being shot by an assassin on July 13 and that this strength helps intimidate America’s enemies.
Musk also spoke about the “core values” that make America great, which he believes are embodied by the Republican Party more than the Democrats.
“One of those values ​​is as much meritocracy as possible, so that you can get promoted based on your skills and nothing else matters,” Musk said.
He added that one of the principles the PAC supports is “freedom,” specifically freedom from “as much government interference as possible.” Government interference has grown over the years, Musk said, and unless some restrictions and regulations are lifted, eventually “everything will become illegal.”
When Peterson asked Musk why he switched to Trump after voting Democratic for so long, Musk replied that the Democrats had become the party of censorship.
He also criticized a lawsuit filed last year by President Joe Biden’s Justice Department against Musk’s company, SpaceX, which alleged that Musk had denied refugees and asylum seekers jobs at the aerospace company. A court order subsequently prevented the US from moving forward with the case.
